Disqus - Latest Comments for g_allen

Re: US reddit

g_allen — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 15:51:19 -0000

They bought the servers a drink! What more do you want?

Re: Hot Daze and back at it.

g_allen — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 12:37:27 -0000

Yeah - it's the first-year model too. Lots of upgrades, the cow-catcher alone goes for about $1000. It's got all this early 2000s tech-noir on the inside. Even an Inclinometer.

I drove it to Oklahoma for Cisco training (about 550 miles) and it purred like a kitten. Much easier to drive long distances than the Fit. But it does get a bit less than 20mpg. I'm keeping the Fit for the work commute.

Re: Another Year?

g_allen — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 09:01:41 -0000

"The Earth is a dust-mote spacecraft on a circular route around a nondescript star in a obscure galaxy."

Re: Moving – again!

g_allen — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 22:03:29 -0000

OMG! It's so quiet here. No sirens, no car-boys roaring by in the middle of the night. (Albuquerque has lots of car-boys.)

Re: THE House

g_allen — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 07:18:05 -0000

Well -no. It does have a hot tub. But that needs to be cleaned out and repaired. Trying to talk the landlord into doing that (or letting me do it.)

But in all seriousness - you know that Glenn's Mom's house has a hypocaust.

Re: One Year….

g_allen — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 21:20:42 -0000

Hey! The Fit is a great car! I was really worried in Texas though. Those roads were awful! The trailer took a beating.

Re: Mom world; party on!

g_allen — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 13:43:59 -0000

Wow! Haven't seen this in a while. All of the people in this tale are deceased now other than Deborah (who's just divorced.)

Re: End of One Long Jorney

g_allen — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 19:45:39 -0000

Yeah, been at Glenn and Kathy's for a couple of days (with a permanent pseudo hangover it would seem.) The altitude and the dryness are a shocking change from Florida. Mable seems to be having a good time.

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 06:32:29 -0000

I doubt that the writers of Star Trek in 1968 really thought very hard about 'how' the magic FTL drive of the Enterprise worked. The point is however that Roddenberry or somebody associated with that project made an attempt to create a believably framework to get our heroes into trouble each week. The other point is, they didn't make the mistake that I see on so many other space opera movies. Of low-balling just how big space really is and the unforgivable error of confusing galaxies and solar systems.

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 06:49:38 -0000

Well, Andromeda is like 2.5 million LY away while the Milkyway Galaxy is (only) 100 k LY across.

You are probably right though. Despite all of the cannon geeks out there, I don't think they ever got Star Trek's propulsion nailed down other than it's bloody fast and violates teh laws of physics,.

Re: à chacun son goût: lord-kitschener: pikeisaman: 511kinderheim: ...

g_allen — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:44:47 -0000

Needs more unicorns.

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:26:23 -0000

I'd agree, other than that nagging little "internal logic problem." If you establish that your spaceships/brooms/teleporters or other magical devices can get your heroes to another star system and into trouble in a few hours. Then you also toss in that you can go to the Andromeda galaxy in the same amount of time, you've effectively said that there is no consistency in your made up stuff and we should just roll credits and quit.

Remember Star Trek TOS? They ran into some folks from Andromeda including a very hot chick in a halter top. During the various plot complications it was revealed that that the Andromedans were not remotely human (or hot) and it would take the Enterprise generations to get there even after they souped up the engines and made everyone into plastic tetrahedrons ( Love writing stuff like that, it sounds so retarded these days! )

Re: Why Is Nic Cage the Least Crazy Thing About the 'Left Behind' Trailer?

g_allen — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:45:06 -0000

"Not the bees! AHHHHHHH Ahgarbulagabah my eyes! my eyes! AHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHhhhurgh!"

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 11:13:02 -0000

Monkeys might also fly out of my bunghole. ;) The point being that a person mistaking a galaxy for a solar system is like mistaking the corner drug store for Greenland. It's such an unbelievable mistake that even if the rest of the film were well written and used (some) established science and engineering, it would stain the entire story.

[HERO] "Oooo! The monsters came from another galaxy!" [ME] "groan!"

Re: Groundhog Day

g_allen — Tue, 27 May 2014 22:28:31 -0000

That's because Science can't answer questions. It's not a person, it's not a god, it's not your father or your professor. Science is nothing more than a process that does one thing. It's a process that eliminates errors. The answers to your questions can be found using science, but it takes people to interpret and enunciate those answers. It takes a rigorous application of the scientific process to find true answers.

Or you could turn to religion which does not require any process other than belief and faith. i prefer to know rather than believe.

Re: Groundhog Day

g_allen — Mon, 26 May 2014 16:14:50 -0000

Yeah, I'd say you are making a trivial distinction. Actually I think that I was misquoting Clark; anyway. "The universe is stranger than we can imagine."

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Wed, 21 May 2014 14:03:07 -0000

It's done in movies all the time. I can't say how many times I've heard "that alien is from another galaxy!" in a Science Fiction film.

Re: Galactic position system

g_allen — Wed, 21 May 2014 08:10:30 -0000

Very nice essay.

I tend to agree about this business of people not understanding the scales of the cosmos. Most people seem to think planets are large objects that are relatively close to one another. Compared to interstellar distances this is true enough, but even the near planets are mind mindbogglingly far apart and moving extremely fast in relation to the Earth. But (to borrow a phrase from Douglas Adams.) is PEANUTS compared with interstellar space let alone intergalactic space.

To borrow another axiom, "The universe is not only more wonderful than we imagine, it's more wonderful than we can imagine."

Re: Rainy Days on Mondays….Tuesdays…Wednesdays…

g_allen — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 15:22:54 -0000

Zombie apocalypse is a trope that's been done far too many times. That and vampires. I read a few years ago that the best way to get thrown out of a slush file was to write a zombie apocalypse story. I do want to get "the Last of Us" for the PS3 whenever I get a PS3.

How about a tale about mutated forms of Toxoplasma gondii which rapidly changes one's personality and create cat-lover zombies.

No wait; I think that already happened..

Re: One Solstice

g_allen — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:59:04 -0000

Mable wants to go out west, she told me so.

Re: First shot in the Shooting Gallery!

g_allen — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:25:27 -0000

Updated;
And - are you kidding me? If we had a cat-III or more they might. This thing was nothing, .It even hit from the right angle to do the most harm and other than a few roofs blown off, it was a non-starter.

Re: Days of…

g_allen — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:55:36 -0000

Let me know when you do - I think I have a copy somewhere.

Re: Days of…

g_allen — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:10:45 -0000

Starcraft is more of a multiplayer tactical game. It's the Science Fiction version of Warcraft (not WoW.) I haven't tried Starcraft II yet, sounds like exactly the same game with upgraded code. Starcraft I with patches works fine on a Win7 box if you know how to config it. Might even work in Wine - got to try that someday

Yeah, I've been getting lazy, the pain is going to remind me that I need to keep working to keep working. I was cured of the knee problems in NM, but I was riding the bike more and running every day.

Re: Boston and the National Soap Opera.

g_allen — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:45:54 -0000

No it's "I'm sick of News as entertainment" and "I'm sick of vapid TV reporters" and "I got bored half way through this rant and forgot what it's about!."

Well you have to have bad stuff to conflict the good stuff, I allways say.

Re: The Week Behind.

g_allen — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:38:34 -0000

I managed to get the damn thing working, it turned out to be a combination of issues. The unit was overheating (red ring warning 2,) then it would return red ring warning 3. Red ring three is "fixed" by systematically overheating the CPU (!) Then I would get a brief video post and quickly go to red ring warning 3 again.

So the solution? Disassemble and blow out the dust caking the inside. (I had to make a tool to do this.) Then, leave the bottom cover off, and just lay a new heat sink on the metal shell (which attaches to the internal heat sink.) Then, I discovered that this mod Xbox has a history of failing IF PLUGGED INTO ANY KIND OF SURGE PROTECTOR!!!! That was a WTF! moment. It has an external power supply with a non grounded plug. So I found a power outlet that's not being use d for TV/computers/printers etc and the thing has been running like a champ.