How to Have your Pickles, and Eat them, Too...

I love pickles, always have, but they're REALLY bad for you. All store-bought pickles have HORRIBLY high sodium content and sugar content, even if they're not sweet pickles. I've looked up recipes to make my own, and it's the same for homemade pickles if you're making them and canning. I know the salt is a preservative, but I have no idea why a jar of pickles has more sugar than a soft drink.

What I've started doing, however, is making my own "refrigerator pickles" (in other words, not canned). I just make a mixture of vinegars in a container, throw in some seasonings, and then put slices of cucumber, onion or bell pepper into the liquid and put in the fridge.

A couple of days later, I can start enjoying my pickles. I'll throw them on top of my salads for some extra flavor or just have a few as a snack. Cucumbers have almost nothing in them except some vitamins and most of that is in the skin. This could also be done with carrots and cauliflower, for an "Italian mix"-esque sort of pickles, or cabbage with some hot sauce to have your own kimchi, of sorts. I don't want to use seasonings that have a lot of salt in them (that would defeat the purpose), but most of the flavor comes from the vinegar, anyway. I sometimes use dill, Mrs. Dash or even hot sauces - to bring the heat up a bit. This way, I can tailor the taste as I like and cut out a huge amount of sodium and sugar.

If you try this, you'll want to try mixing different vinegars to get a flavor your really like. Don't overlook white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and, of course, apple cider vinegar.

One thing you want to do is to keep from introducing too much water into the jar, since bacteria can grow in water. I have put pepper slices in the oven to dry them out a bit prior to making them into pickles and will let the water drain out of cucumber slices and them dry them a bit by pressing them in a paper towel before dropping them into the mix.

Not only is this healthier than buying store-bought pickles, but you do this with vegetables that you "overbought," to help them last longer if you're not going to get around to eating them in other ways quickly. If you need to store them long term, you probably need to go the higher sodium route and actually can them, but, if you like pickles as much as I do, a few jars in the fridge won't last long enough to be a problem.

Want safe veggies? Grow'em yourself!

Looking at my scary-thing-of-the-day calendar, i see that independent studies have evidently concluded that consumers are most likely to be exposed to high levels of pesticides via bell peppers, celery, carrots, lettuce, potatoes and kale.

This makes sense, as these are all either root vegetables, which would absorb the pesticides in their root, or vegetables that have a high water content but grow close to the ground.

Yup, if you want these veggies, best grow them yourself.

Harlem Shaking...

By day, I am a programmer at Lamar Advertising. We recently did our own Harlem Shake video, partially for the exercise (we've got a wellness challenge thing going on) - and partly just for fun. Well, it was a lot of fun - and a surprising amount of exercise, to boot.

Noteworthy things about this particular video? I'm in it, for one - I'm wearing a "I'm blogging this"* T-Shirt and a Bumble-bee Transformer mask. The guy who leads the whole thing off is wearing my Call of Duty helicopter helmet (although you can't really make out the "GameVortexGeck0" written on it... and, for those who play COD, he's Stabby McStabberton, aka StabbyMcStabberton aka Awful Me on Steam.

Also, to the left of Bumble-bee, you may see none other than Hardy, GV's own Junior Hardware Intern - wearing a blue and black luchador mask.

Check it out and see what you can spot...

Game Vortex Shouts Out to Little Rock with LamarPostr

I'm reaching out to the folks in Little Rock, Arkansas, using a new special digital billboard advertising program offered by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Lamar Postr (LamarPostr.com) to introduce them to Game Vortex.

If you're in Little Rock, you might have seen any of these messages. This is just the beginning of the advertisement campaign, so they're just teasers, so far...

Got game? - Game Vortex	So, who's heard of Game Vortex?
So, what exactly IS Game Vortex?	Hello, Little Rock! - Game Vortex
What to Play? - Game Vortex	Calling all Gamers - Game Vortex
Try this at home: Game Vortex	Would you like to play a game? - Game Vortex
Never waste good money on bad games. - Game Vortex	Curl up with a good book? - Game Vortex
Game On! Game Vortex	Need ideas for movie night? - Game Vortex

One aspect that's pretty awesome is that you can change out the text on a given sign twice after the initial posted text, for a total of three messages per sign in a given day. The twelve messages you see above were posted in one day on four signs in the middle of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin an ad campaign that is alphabet-driven, highlighting some of the interesting aspects and featured content of Game Vortex. If you're in the area, pay close attention... we're looking at having a "pop-quiz" at the end, with a prize of some sort...

Stay tuned...

Awesome T-Shirts, Part 1

I wear T-shirts. Pretty much exclusively.

I often get compliments on the T-shirts that I wear, as I usually go for shirts that are a bit quirky, humorous and witty. Some of them are down-right punny.

I usually get my shirts from TeeFury or, occasionally, at Shirt.Woot, but I never really check out Threadless, even though I've heard of them before.

For both of you who also suffer from this oversight, here are ten awesome T-shirts from Threadless.
Some may make it into my collection soon...

  1) The King - Awesome mashup.
  2) Them Birds - Mashup almost as awesome as The King.
  3) The Beetles - A classic, revisited.
  4) Khaki Kickflip - What plastic soldiers do when you're not looking.
  5) Big Trouble in Little Japan - Donkey Kong must be in every fifth shirt. Period.
  6) Foam Monster in Emotional Reunion with Severed Limb - Bwah. Hahahah!
  7) The Incredible Hawk - In honor of The Avengers... also awesome as a windbreaker.
  8) Introduction to Molecular Bonding - Who's the life of the party?
  9) Rock Paper Scissors Recycled - Circle of Life and all that...
10) Occupational Hazard - Donkey Kong must be in every fifth shirt. Period.

This just in... Dub Step is awesome...

Okay, so I'm not the most wired-in person when it comes to music... especially trends taking place across the pond. Heck, I'm still greatly enthralled by Hot Buttered's Popcorn. However, I have recently discovered Dub Step (or, more likely and more often, Bro Step, which, as I understand it, is what we in America** think is Dub Step, but its bass fails to get into the truly sub-base range.)

I recently reviewed World of Tanks. The music in World of Tanks is cinematic and appropriate for the WWII period. However, once I had evaluated the game with its included music, I foudn myself muting the music, playing Dub Step on YouTube while I played and having a blast...

At any rate, I cannot fully express how awesome Dub Step is*. It is a nearly complete and ultimate synergistic manifestation of everything musical from my teenage years. It is Electronica. I uses samples from popular media, including not only movies, but videogames. It often has a certain amount of irreverence. It is often ambient or environmental in nature. It often utilizes (or, at least, sounds good with) rap. It is all about bass. Each of these elements resonate greatly with me.

I'm interested in trying my hand at forging some Dub Step*. I expect to do most of my creating on a computer, and must first find the appropriate software. I'm doing my research now, but I'm definitely open to any advice. Anyone know some good software for building up Dub Step and/or mashups?

---

* That is GOOD Dub Step. Like any other genre of music, it is possible to create something with no creativity or skill to mention and label it as Dub Step. The label, in and of itself, does not make music good. (Nor does simple addition of Wub-wubs.)

**United States of America... not necessarily the North American or South American continents. Just the U.S.

Yes, Virginia, there really is Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

I've worked a lot of different places in a lot of different capacities in my life so far. I've worked as an apprentice private investigator, as a telemarketer and as a computer consultant. I have operated a snocone stand and a video game review websites. I've worked at Autozone, Wal*mart, K-Mart and Service Merchandise. I learned something everywhere I went. One of the things that I learned first hand, while at Service Merchandise, is that every year there are one or two "hot items" that, statistically, every child wants for Christmas. It may not actually be every child, but from the perspective of someone working in the toy department, talking to parents that have trekked to every Toys'R'Us, K-Mart, Wal*Mart and department store in the city (and, possibly, the surrounding area) and they're all asking if you have that one toy that they couldn't find at any of those places... and that's the same toy that everyone else is asking about... and the next truck is expected to have two of them on it... that's certainly what it feels like.

It's been quite some time since my Service Merchandise days and I'm not nearly as familiar with children's toys as I used to be, but it seems like a few years back, this trend was true of new consoles being released, as well. When the PS3 first launched, it was just as difficult to get one's hands on as a Tickle-Me-Elmo or a Color Blaster from back in the day. But, all of these were examples of products that caught the attention of the children. While it's true that the parents earn the money and make the purchasing decisions, it would be foolish to think that that adorable high-pitched whine (which can only be made by small children or dental drills) doesn't help them make their decision in favor of getting whatever it takes to shut the thing off.

These objects of desire that capture the waning attention of the American youth typically have certain key elements that make them more attractive. They may be: novel, new, interactive, collectible, and, of course, well marketed to children... ...which brings use to the subject of this post: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. This list could very well part of the features listed on the initial design for the game... and they've delivered on all of them.

I expect that Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is going to be a contender for the most popular product this Christmas season. I has all the earmarks of one, and, while the game is rated for Everyone 10+ and the figurines are rated 6+, our reviewers who played the game enjoyed it immensely and most pre-ordered every figure they could and ran out to Target and Sam's Club to get the exclusive characters, as well. I've read of people changing pre-orders based on getting access to special extra items and J.R. Nip went out and bought the game for a second system just to get the exclusive figure from it that he can't buy packaged separately from the game. While it's true that some of our reviewers are collectors, they're far above 10 years old, I assure you.

I don't know that supply will be able to meet the demand this Christmas season...

Maybe if we all just pretend there's no problem...

So, I just read an article on Daily Finance entitled, "Sony Spits on Innovation." No, they don't do so physically (I checked)... it's a metaphor for the fact that Sony's response to having their gaming network (the PlayStation Network - or "PSN") hacked to heck and back is to slap a Bandaid on it and then make everyone who uses it agree that they won't sue if the network gets hacked again.

I get it... and agree... with the basic sentiment. Sony is a major force in the world of electronic entertainment. IF they offer online gameplay, it should be secure. User information should not be vulnerable to attack... and the first step is that any unnecessary customer info should not be stored to begin with. My credit card should not be sitting on a server somewhere, waiting for some hacker to break in an buy themselves something nice simply because I decided I wanted to buy a DLC song for Rock Band.

However, in addition to being a gamer and a game reviewer, I am also a software engineer. As such, I can tell you that if you're interested in writing secure software, that pretty much has to be taken into consideration from the beginning. Every time a new function/method/interface/webpage/etc. is created/fixed/upgraded or otherwise changed, it has to be tested to make sure that it is still secure... and that changes to that piece don't cause exploitable issue in other parts that interact with the part that changed. It's a tall order, especially when a lot of software developers don't know how to write secure code.

So, truthfully, taking the network code they already have and simply throwing resources at it in the hopes of "securing" it isn't truly an option. It would be better -by far- to start from scratch, either by purchasing something from a third party (MicroSoft... wanna make some more money from XBox Live?) or by building a new online network from scratch, throwing some talented developers in a dark room and throwing pizza, Red Bull, Dr. Pepper and beer into the room at carefully metered dosages to achieve the optimum development environment and keeping them in there until a new, secure, PlayStation Network is done.

That process, however, takes money, talented individuals and, well, time. Lots of time... We're not talking geographic time, here, but we're definitely talking about more time that your average gamer (and, for that matter, even PlayStation fan-boys) are willing to wait to get back online with the PlayStation Consoles. Online gamers should be fairly familiar with these types of agreements, for that matter, since you sign agreements every time you join a network or start to play a game online. This time, however, someone actually read one... hence, the flack.

I like PlayStation games, but I'm not a big online gamer, personally. For that matter, it seemed the general consensus was that Xbox LIVE had won the online gaming contest some time ago. If Sony wants to compete (on any level) in the online gaming arena, they need to reinvent their online gaming network... and I expect that, at some point, they will.

Personally, I hope that this agree-not-to-sue-us clause is merely something to buy Sony the time needed to complete the above-mentioned dark room-pizza-beverage scenario. In the mean time, you can either choose to play at your own risk or simply not play Sony games online.

How to keep a Programmer busy ...for about 2 minutes...

I can ALMOST see it...

Today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic (SMBC-Comics.com) depicts a bunch of nerds (what is a group of us called, exactly?) trying to employ the "pinhole trick" of reducing the direction of incoming light to remove the need for focusing to look at their own noses, which, typically, are too close to be successfully focused by the eye.

Actually, this works... or would work, if it weren't for the thickness of the fingers. In the various contortions that are depicted in the comic strip, the fingers block the view of the nose. That is why they keep trying different contortions.

However, I found that if you use two hands, you can actually do it. Take the pointer finger of the opposite hand and, with it pointing downward, tucked tight to the bridge of your nose, use its fingernail against the thumb and pointer from the hand on the same side as the eye being used to look at your nose.

Squeeze your fingertips together to allow just a small point of light to pass through, and use your other fingers to shield light from outside of this hole. Now adjust the pinhole so that you're looking at the end of your nose. If you are doing it right, you'll be able to see the end of your nose, in focus. (In my case, I can see several short, very light-colored hairs... What do you see?)

Oh, it also helps if you can get some extra light on your nose. I suggest close proximity to a lamp or other light.

Visual Studio Express is Trying to Kill Me.

I have a copy of Visual Studio. From quite some time ago. As in Pre-dot-net. I have, however, grown quite accustomed to C# and find that I can program quickly in it. At least, I can with a full-fledged version of Visual Studio.

I am working on a top-secret personal project, however, and I'm using Visual C# 2010 Express to develop it. So far. It's great that there is a free version for people to try out if they're not familiar with Visual Studio, I guess, but I keep finding things missing that I can't see living without.

One glaring case-in-point would be the lack of ability to attach to a running process and debug through it. Really? I was using NUnit in my developing effort and when I went to debug a unit test, I simply couldn't see a way to do it. I eventually found a post online that allowed me to at least debug through my code using the Console NUnit runner, thanks to a chap named [Blokely].

If you're interested, check out Blokely's reply on this blog:
http://kenthall.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/debugging-nunit-test-within-c-express/

This will tide me over for a bit, but I see a full version of Visual Studio in my very near future. Bah. Humbug!

The UFC Kicks My @$$...

So, UFC Personal Trainer came in for review on the Xbox 360 with Kinect. I asked for this when I saw a short write up in a magazine for it, thinking it would be exactly what I needed to whip myself into shape.

At least I got the "whipped" part right. The first time I started a "Quick Workout," I had to exit out of it. I couldn't get through the warmup. Since then, I've tried some of the activities and actually started a 30-day workout plan to work on my Endurance... mainly so I'll have the endurance to try a 60-day workout plan to lose weight.

As I write this, my muscles are considering mutiny. I am not looking forward to the pain I will experience tomorrow, but I plan to stick with it and see it through the 30 days.

One down, 29 to go...

Replacing a Daewoo Lanos Fuel Filter... the Cheap Way...

Here's some advice from the past for anyone who owns a Daewoo Lanos (and, perhaps, other models)...

I found that a certain cheap, readily available door panel remover tool from AutoZone allowed quick and easy removal of my old fuel filter. (I had previously attemted to remove it with everything from a wrench to a piece of cardboard cut in the shape of a KM-475-B, but to no avail.

Read the full article on the OEM Industrial Door Panel Remover on GameVortex.com

This Week on the 'Net - Elementary, Dear Watson...

IBM creates an artificial intelligence able to take on the best human players in a linguistically challenging game - Jeopardy.

Check it out:
Jeopardy Feb. 14 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 1 Part 1/2

Jeopardy Feb. 14 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 1 Part 2/2

Jeopardy Feb. 15 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 2 Part 1/2

Jeopardy Feb 15 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 2 Part 2/2

Jeopardy Feb. 16 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 3 Part 1/2

Jeopardy Feb. 16 2011 (HDTV) - Watson vs Ken Jennings vs Brad Rutter IBM Challenge Day 3 Part 2/2

Final Jeopardy! and the Future of Watson

This Week on the 'Net - OK, Go

If you're not familiar with the work of OK, Go, you're in for a treat. This band is fairly straightforward pop, but they have some of the most fantastic videos.

One of their early videos that got a lot of attention was their Here It Goes Again, which feature the band members performing imaginative choreography on several treadmills - all in one take.

OK Go - White Knuckles (Official Video)

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

OK Go - Get Over It

This Week on the 'Net - An Introduction...

My friend and fellow Game Vortex review, J.R. Nip, has said for quite some time that he hates YouTube. I thought that was funny, but understood much more when he finally explained that the reason he hates YouTube is because he can end up stuck there for hours on end, following one link to the next, and that most of the content is utter crap, but, occasionally, some of the stuff there is, well, epic.

Point taken. That's why I've made it my job to show him really cool things on YouTube, without all of the crap... Sort of "The Best of YouTube", if you will. It only occurred to me today that others might benefit from that selection process, so I will share my picks here, on a recurring 'column' (?) called "This Week on the 'Net". Oh, and don't assume that I plan to have something every single week... I just don't plan for this to be more frequent than that. (I do have lots of other things to do.) Furthermore, the name doesn't include "YouTube" so that I'm not unnecessarily limiting my scope.

Personally, I will also be using this as a way to quickly find content that I want to be able to see on my TV; This will primarily be focusing on content that will look good on a large screen, so you can do the same, if you like.

XKCD: Na... (Suggested Revision)

I'm a geek. I'm a nerd. Perhaps that's why I love xkcd so much. It's difficult to make it through Tuesdays and Thursdays as I wait to get my dose of xkcd on the next day.

A good deal of the humor is in the observations; there are a lot of really good thoughts that go into the making of xkcd. Another slice is the sheer simplicity of the artwork used to portray the humor - sometimes it's stick figures, other times it's graphs. The part that truly cinches it for me, personally, however, is the accuracy. I can laugh to myself over the truisms on his world map of the Internet for a better part of an hour, as I notice smaller gags I had overlooked at first glance.

It's for this reason that I was a bit shocked and saddened when comic #851 appeared to be riddled with inaccuracies...



First of all, there should be twice as many "Na"s before "Batman!". Second, as far as I could tell, from memory and looking on the Internet, there are three "Hey"s in "Hey, Hey, Hey... Goodbye!". I was unfamiliar with the Katamari Damacy song, so I checked that one out, and it appears that one was correct. And, while there are, undoubtedly, several other songs that could be added, "She's got the look" was extremely obvious, so I was surprised it wasn't included.

I'm no expert, so I may have gotten this wrong, but from what I could tell from multiple careful listenings to these songs, I suggest the following revised version:



I know this is a lot wider, and at first I thought, perhaps, he was intentionally truncating the Batman thing for space, but dimension has never been an issue for xkcd. I might be wrong; I might be crazy. If you see something wrong here, let me know. I welcome comments and suggestions.

Addendum: I just noticed on xkcd, that there is actually an officially "updated" version of Na, which simply features the addition of "Hey Jude".

And the Weiner is...

Yes, I admit it... Epic Fail.

I could complain about my wife being out of town and, therefore, not only not able to help me with my Venom costume, but causing me to be distracted, as I don't operate well (at all) when she's not around.

I could also blame the time I spent on reviewing stuff for the websites or helping to run the ACM Regional Programming Competition at LSU, but that would be unseemly, now wouldn't it?

Or, I could blame it on the red paint not drying on the rubber snake (it didn't for about a week, actually) or the fact that Hancock Fabrics didn't have enough of the material I wanted. I could even say it's all because my sewing machine refused to work the night before the contest... which is true, but hardly the one thing that went wrong...

The truth, of course, is that I tried to do too much, in too short of a time. I didn't even wear a costume for Halloween this year. Live and (hopefully) learn, I suppose. My plan is to keep working on the Venom costume over the next year, in my "spare" time. I am generally a busy person, but I'm going to try to set aside a few hours a week to work on "Personal Projects," such as building a full-sized R-Series Droid, modifying my car, dabbling with electronics and making costumes, not the least of which is this Venom costume.

In other news, my best friend, neighbor, fellow Game Vortex game reviewer and partner in crime, J.R. Nip, did throw together a costume in a single night, and not only did it come out nice looking - he actually took first place at Lamar's Corporate Headquarters Costume Contest. He went as Dilbert, with black shoes, white socks, black pants, a white shirt, a flip-up red tie that I helped rig up with a metal coat hanger and a mask he made of poster board, skin-tone material and enough chemical adhesives to tranquilize a horse. He did an awesome job, and won a hundred dollar prize, to boot!

Ah, well... Venom will have to have his day next year. . .

A Weak Start... Head and Shoulders...

Well, actually, Head and Chest... Last night I didn't find much time at all to work on my Venom costume, so most of the work is going to be done tonight when I get home. What does that mean for drying times? Eh... flying by the seat of my pants, as usual on these projects; we'll have to see what develops...

Speaking of the seat of my pants, I sliced open an old jumpsuit from waist up to middle back and across the back, in a plus-sign shaped cut for stress relief, then plan to patch the jumpsuit tonight and use it as the underlayment of the Venom costume. I stitched out my first "rough draft" at making a muscle-suit chest out of an old pillow that, despite my dog's wishes, is otherwise destined for the city dump. I will need to pick up some super strength Velcro for attaching one half of the muscle chest and for other certain parts to work right, as well as a good bit of black fabric, but I plan to do that at Hancock Fabrics on the way home. Tonight is build night... Hope this goes well.

The baseball cap and coat hangers idea seems to be working out pretty well, so far. I plan to add in some black foam core board I have left over from another project, to keep it light while providing some rigidity, but it will need to be painted with a plasticized paint when it's in place.

I also need to stop by some place for my paints on the way home. I have some black dimensional fabric paint (puff paints rule!), but I need some black gloss, white gloss and black gloss paints... Maybe Vinyl? Perhaps Latex? There's a Rustoleum Vinyl made for fabrics, but I don't know if I can source it locally... we'll see...

(Pictures to be added later this evening.)

Tongue! (But not on the first date...)

I found a suitable rubber snake! After searching around Baton Rouge and finding snakes that were either not rubber, too expensive, too small or too flimsy, I found nearly the perfect thing at Party Time on Bluebonnet. This snake is not as thick as I was originally looking for, but it is three feet long and is made of a very "springy" rubber, such that a slight motion will start if bouncing and oscillating, giving it a generally "lively" appearance. Best of all? It was around a buck and a half. Can't easily beat that...

...And I'll Form the Head!

Venom's head, like his body, is larger than a human's, with an exaggerated, over-sized mouth. To create this head, I plan to incorporate a baseball cap (as the upper half of the mouth and a custom made jaw made of a metal coat hanger that hangs from the cap, forms the outline of the jawline and serves as an infrastructure for the jaw.

This image (Created by Andre Holzmeister) is what inspired me to go with a baseball cap-based mask. Note the baseball cap brim-shaped upper mouth. If you fill out the area above the brim a bit, and cover the entire thing with black, shiny fabric, you have half of Venom's head. (Well, you'd want to add the eyes, too.)

I don't know how well you can tell in this sketch, but I quickly sketched out a form-up of that idea, and I think it could turn out quite nicely.



The tongue is an interesting challenge. My first thought was to use (part of) a rubber snake. Find a rubber snake tail that had a good curve to it, paint it appropriately and you're done. Surprisingly, sourcing a decent rubber snake (considering size, curve and reasonable cost) proved to be a bit difficult. I am considering other possibilities, such as making one out of fabric and painting it with black vinyl paint, but I've not yet got a single solution that I am dead-set on. We'll have to see how things turn out, I suppose.