June 29th, 2009
by j4y
Those disgusting terrans are attacking the Zerg overmind. Build up the Zerg army and hold the territory.
June 24th, 2009
by j4y
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It’s one of the few holidays when people really throw themselves into decorating. Sure Christmas, every one does something for Christmas. But you’re more likely to remember a house that had animatronic zombies then the house with inflatable snow men.
Here are some links for making Halloween props.
Ground breaking
Dead man
A whole bunch Spooky stuff.
June 22nd, 2009
by j4y
Armed with Wings. Fly as an eagle to open locked doors, fight as a Samurai to revenge the oppressed land. Battle demons with your powers of the black mist.
If you like Straw Hat Samurai then you’ll want to check this out.
June 19th, 2009
by j4y
The site rule of no politics is going to be bent a little for this. Some rather thought provoking events in the news. It’s never clear how advancements in technology will impact politics, not until there are used. The news from Come from Iran just proves that fact once again.
Of course every one has heard on the news that about the cyber-warfare of the Iranian election. There have been concerns voiced that the protests may lead to massacre. There are fears that it could be possible for hard line government agents or devoted supporters to track down online protesters. It is unclear how real of a threat is, but recent world history has shown that heavy handed governments would kill any one who would air the ruling parties dirty laundry to foreign news. But that was when video cameras didn’t fit in your pocket. Today with the means to record and transmit images around the world is so prolific, it is clear that there is no stopping the flow of information.
When the two news groups in Iran reported conflicting election results in Iran sending many people to the streets. The state run news announced that the incumbent president was the winner, while the non state controlled news announced the reform candidate was winning. With Iran asking foreign correspondents to leave so the best means of conveying to the out side world what is happening is youtube, face book, and twitter. (Yeah twitter, make the world a better place 140 characters at a time.) With amateur footage of protests and some cases of police violence flowing out to major networks by social networks, not surprising that the Iranian government has tried to block access to those sites. And the sites have posted instructions on how to buy pass the block. As well as private individuals who have been setting up other bypasses to the Iran government blocks.
Watching this bit of history unfold reminds of other large protests. I find myself wonder how would things have played out if the protestors had access to modern communication? How different would the world be if all the students who gathered in Tiananmen Square could record and transmit as easily as the Iranian people can today? Would there have been five or six videos of the lone student facing down the lines of tanks? Would there have been even more protestors? How different would China be today?
If Ben Franklin was alive today would he been a blogger?
Moments after posting this I read that a student in the US was attacked while walking to class on a Ohio college campus. He has set up secured connections that allow protesters in Iran bypass the government block. It has been reported that his personal was released on the internet. This seems to confirms fears of reprisal.
June 18th, 2009
by j4y
Web Comics have quickly become one of my favorite past times in the past three years. When I find a new comic that I really like I can’t help but to read it straight through. It is interesting to see an artists work evolve as the story progresses. Some get more detailed, others get more daring, most become uniform. But the passion for the work is visible.
Web comics are for the most part independent productions. Often just a single person with an idea for a story and graphics software. There is no publisher that handles advertising, and promotion. Most of the web comics are done by people in their spare time, doing the sketching and coloring when there is some free time.
That independent nature is part of why I like web comics. When I was in high school I knew some one who had his own comic book. Even thought he had a story that ran about 15 books he only managed to get three installments printed. The amount of work to draw print and sell the book was more then a high school kid mange. It was possible for him to make enough money to break even on the cost of printing, Since he was limited to selling only at school he couldn’t build a big enough reader base to kept a float.
At the time there was not many places to rent or set up web space, and the few options were beyond the budget of the average person. The years that followed web hosting became cheaper and easier use, and with no limit to the reach to the potential readers it’s no wonder that the independent comics have settled on the web and built a community and economy. Often the artists are high school or college students. There are some who do work full time and up date regularly.
Even with the means to reach a wider population, and a chance to make some money through advertising services a web comic is still takes a lot of work. There are one or two artists whose web comics are their living. Even with some doing very well it’s no guarantee that every one can pay the rent with their own web comic. There are a lot of comics that often are abandoned because of the lack of time and sometimes the lack of money to keep them going.
So as a fan of web comics, and some who is sympathetic to independent artists; I’m offering any web comics a free link. Leave a comment with a url to your comic. You get a link, and I do have to search so hard for something new to read.
June 15th, 2009
by j4y
Save your long boat crew from the ice.
