WIL WHEATON dot NET

50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong

and now, some further reading

I have pictures and stories about kyle + rosemary from yesterday, but
I’ve got to go to the cleaners and get my tights on my way to Warner
Brothers for my Legion of Super Heroes session that starts in an hour. Man, it’s so weird (and so
cool) to work two days in a row on different voice projects! If I’ve
got anything left when I get home, I’ll post about them both.

But if you’re looking for something to read until then, here’s your occasional linkfest to stuff I’ve written elsewhere in the last week, that you probably missed if you just read WWdN:iX:

Geek News @ Suicide Girls:

Earth’s Artificial Ring – (This is probably my favorite story I’ve ever put onto the Geekwire.)

During the height of the Cold War, American scientists were also geeked
out on the Ionosphere, because using it was the only reliable way to
communicate over long distances, should ground-based microwave or
undersea cable communication become unusable because of those godless
commies. Not happy to accept the Ionosphere as nature intended it, they
attempted to create an artificial Ionosphere by launching 480 million tiny copper needles into orbit, which briefly gave our planet an artificial ring in 1963.

The Last Webreference You’ll Ever Need

Protolize breaks everything down into categories, from General to RSS
to CMS and beyond, and then further sub-categorizes them into Tools,
Resources, and Inspirations. Just about everything you need to take
that idea in your head and make it something real online is gathered
together in one place, and if there’s a site you know of that isn’t
listed, adding it to the list is as simple as filling out a form. It’s
like Webmonkey meets del.icio.us, and exemplifies the power of sharing and organizing knowledge using the Internets.

Dude Tracks His Transatlantic Flight By Watching Internet Routing

The best part of Todd’s blog post is his explanation of routing
protocols and how the engineers at Boeing overcame what could have been
service-crippling problems, including all sorts of really cool and
useful graphics that even a level 010 geek can easily understand. In
fact, if you grok and get excited by his story, you’re probably on your
way to being a level 1010 geek. If you understand what I’m talking
about and are giggling right now, you’re a level 101010 geek, and we’re
looking forward to seeing you at the meeting tonight. Excelsior!

Poker Stuff @ CardSquad:

In Washington State, Online Poker Players Are Now Class C Felons, Just Like Sex Offenders

Lawmakers in Washington state have decided that they know what’s best
for all their residents, and recently passed Senate Bill 6613, which
"[reaffirms and clarifies] the prohibition against Internet and certain
other interactive electronic or mechanical devices to engage in
gambling."

I am the UltraGigli (note: in poker blogger land, Gigli is what we call the first person to be knocked out of a tourney. At the WPBT events in Vegas, the first person eliminated gets a copy of Gilgli on DVD from Dr. Pauly.)

Since I was Gigli’d in back-to-back tourneys, first with Aces and then with Kings, I now
declare that I am the JLo’s glorious ass part of Gigli. I am, in fact, the UltraGigli.

REVIEW: Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book of Poker

During the 2005 WPT Championship at Bellagio, I
had the great fortune of spending some time with Phil — not at the same table, thank gods — and he really helped me a
lot.

[. . .]

We had dinner together at the end of the first day, and Phil gave me a bit of a lesson while we ate. When we
were done, he told me that he was working on a little book that would compile lots of useful information from existing
works by Caro and Sklansky, filtered through and expanded upon by Phil’s personal experience. He was particularly
excited about the tournament chapter, and all the math he’d done to figure out very reliably how often players needed
to steal blinds, and make moves to survive into the deeper levels of play. He graciously offered to e-mail me a copy of
the manuscript so I could read it over later that night, and it significantly helped my game. The book,
of course, became Phil
Gordon’s Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold’em
.

Thanks for reading!

5 May, 2006 Wil 12 Comments

Rev. Horton Heat and Van Halen in Guitar Hero II!!

I’m kind of crazy in love with Guitar Hero. Does that make me weird?
 
I have a list of seven songs for Guitar Hero II, as well as some awesome rumors about the sequel, at the SGGeekwire, and I dugg a site that has tablatures for all the songs available in the current Guitar Hero.

The only reason I’m suffering through E3 this year is so I can play this game, and write about the quest. Somehow, I’m pretty confident it’s going to be worth it.

Technorati Tags: guitar hero 2, gaming

5 May, 2006 Wil 15 Comments

quasi-live blogging wednesday’s dodger bullpen meltdown

Molskine_fish_jerky
I
was supposed to take Nolan to the Dodger game on Wednesday, but he opted to stay home and work on a history project, because he wants to get the best grade possible. "There will be a lot of Dodger games this year," he said on Tuesday, "but if I blow it on this project, I don’t get a second chance. I’m sorry we can’t go together."

Longtime readers of my blog know how that made me feel, and I’m still proud of him, three days later.

Since I already bought our tickets, I called my brother Jeremy and asked him if he’d like to go in Nolan’s place. He accepted, and we had an absolute blast at the game, even though the Dodger bullpen is painfully bad this year.

I blogged it, live-to-Molskine, and transcribed the whole thing at blogging.la:

7:47 PM – Navarro is up with the bases empty. I say to
Jeremy, "You know, not only can Navarro not make the throw to second,
he can’t hit, either." The words are barely out of my mouth when
Navarro slams the second pitch about 380′ for a solo homer. Jeremy
says, "Yes! Get angry at my brother, Navarro! Who’s up next? You also
suck!"

7:50 PM – The kid in front of us to our left has a chocolate
malt with a wooden spoon-shaped thing. I guess the plastic spoon was
just user error. Whew.

7:55 PM – Seo has a really great curveball.

7:58 PM – Piazza breaks up the no-hitter with a double to the
wall in center-right. Whatever. He’s still totally gay (not that
there’s anything wrong with that.) Jeremy blames me because I pointed
out that Seo had a no-hitter through four.

8:01 PM – Middle of the 4th, and they’re doing that Coca Cola
answer a question and win a coke thing down on the field. The guy gets
it right, and a really hot girl walks off the field with him. I say,
"Hey, she thinks she’s getting his coke, and doesn’t even know it’s soda!" Jeremy says, "Yeah, she’s toatally a Coke whore." We think we’re the funniest guys in the world. High-five.

8:06 PM – Kent is up with runners at the corners. I say to
Jeremy, "You know, the problem with Kent is that he’s really on the
downside of his career. Not only does he stuggle to turn two, he can’t
come through in the clutch with runners at the corners." I look down at
the field and say, "Your move, Mister Kent." Unfortunately, my
Navarro-fu doesn’t work and Kent is out.

5 May, 2006 Wil 24 Comments

it only makes me laugh

The April 19th issue of The Onion arrived in my mailbox yesterday (it is a massive perk of being an AV Club contributor) and it’s one of the funniest complete issues I’ve read in months. Seriously, from top to bottom this one is so funny, it makes you want to write hyperbolic statements that begin, "Seriously, from top to bottom . . ."

My two favorite stories are Drunk Will Show You, Everybody

YOUNGSTOWN, OH—In response to the shit he knows everyone is saying
about him, local resident Todd Stenerud, after a prolonged drinking
session, announced his intention to show you and everyone else just
minutes before closing time at a local bar Monday.

"You people don’t know [what] the fuck you’re talking about," Stenerud
announced from his stool at Dan’s Pub. "You think I can’t? Know what?
I’ll show you. I’ll show everybody."

And the op-ed Baby, You Mean the World of Warcraft to Me

Come on, honey, why do you have to be like that? You know that
you’re my Elven princess. My one and only. I would dare say that there
is no one in all the realm who doesn’t know of our love. I have sung
your praises from the mouth of the Shadowthread Cave to the
Stranglethorn Vale of the Eastern Kingdoms. I’ve introduced you to my
comrades-in-arms in the Ulster guild, and they all accept you as kin.

And now you want to dissolve the greatest love ever to brighten my basement?

As long as I’m linking to Onion-related funny, the AV Club’s Summer Movie Preview, titled "Why Bother?" is out:

[E]very summer arrives with at least a few movies that threaten to give popcorn escapism a good name, movies like last year’s Batman Begins and War Of The Worlds. With that in mind, The A.V Club humbly presents a list of reasons why you’re probably better off
skipping the multiplexes altogether this summer. Of course, we could be
wrong.

X-Men: The Last Stand

What it’s about: Those nutty X-Men are at it again, this time dealing with the ramifications of a supposed cure for mutants.

Why it’s probably a waste of time: Four words: "Directed by Brett Ratner." No wait, six more words: "With Kelsey Grammer as The Beast."

Why it might be worth seeing anyway: Ratner’s most
infuriating trait, his inability to create a distinct directorial
style, might serve him well here. The trailer makes this look like one
of Bryan Singer’s X-Men films. If Ratner apes those well enough, it might be okay.

Finally, I think this week’s Games of our Lives, Circus Charlie, is pretty funny, if I do say so myself.

Gameplay: Are you ready to jump? You’d better be, because that’s about all you’ll be doing in Circus Charlie.
There are six different levels, and the objectives range from easy
(jumping through hoops of fire while riding a lion, jumping over
monkeys while walking on a tightrope) to more difficult (jumping from
one bouncy ball or trampoline to another) to nearly impossible (jumping
from a moving horse to a springboard and back).

To succeed in Circus Charlie, you’ll need to carefully use
the joystick to set your speed as you time your jumps. However, that’s
the only skill you’ll need to master, and once you’ve got that down,
it’ll be easy to reach for the high score—and to collect all the bags
of money on each level so you can give yourself a sensual massage in
all their bonus-point-delivering glory.

Could be mistaken for: Track & Field, Jump Jump Revolution

I remember being so disappointed the first time I played Circus Charlie back in the 80s, and how furious I was when I inadvertently played it several months later, unsure if it was "that one stupid jumping game that really sucked." In the quarter-centric economy of 1985, it was a significant hit to my otherwise robust portfolio, which was frequently invested in Mr. Do! and Super Pac-Man, with a much more successful return.

3 May, 2006 Wil 11 Comments

dreaming is free

I had an incredibly vivid dream just before I woke up today about an earthquake, and when I got out of bed, I saw that there’d been a huge ‘quake near Tonga.

I’m going to take a nap now, and hope that I dream about the Dodgers not blowing a huge lead late in the game, because my brother and I are going to the game tonight.

3 May, 2006 Wil 10 Comments

Posts navigation

← Previous 1 … 470 471 472 … 773 Next →

It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton


Every Wednesday, Wil narrates a new short fiction story. Available right here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Also available at Patreon.

Wil Wheaton’s Audiobooks

Still Just A Geek is available wherever you get your audiobooks.

My books Dancing Barefoot, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and Dead Trees Give No Shelter, are all available, performed by me. You can listen to them for free, or download them, at wilwheaton.bandcamp.com.

Wil Wheaton’s Books

My New York Times bestselling memoir, Still Just A Geek is available wherever you get your books.


Visit Wil Wheaton Books dot Com for free stories, eBooks, and lots of other stuff I’ve created, including The Day After and Other Stories, and Hunter: A short, pay-what-you-want sci-fi story.

  • About
  • Books
  • Tumblr
  • Bluesky
  • Radio Free Burrito

Categories

Archives

 

  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Member of The Internet Defense League

Creative Commons License
WIL WHEATON dot NET by Wil Wheaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://wilwheaton.net.

Search my blog

Powered by WordPress | theme SG Double