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. . .