Below are the most recent 13 friends' journal entries.

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
sirvalence	6:02a	StoryCards Supplement I've found a great supplement for StoryCards! You can read about it on the StoryCardsRPG.com forums. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
sirvalence	6:14p	Doctor Horrible Oh my. Joss Whedon is presenting a made-for-web miniseries, called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. How did I miss this? Thanks to mazlynn for the alert! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
sirvalence	7:31p	Orkut No More I just received a friend request on Orkut. In looking at my profile, I discovered that I hadn't updated my Orkut account since we got off Earthlink dial-up, and before I started this LiveJournal. Rather than updating a system that I don't use, I removed my account. I hope those of you that were my friends there will still be my friends elsewhere on the Internet, and in real life. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
sirvalence	7:17p	Foodscapes A colleague at work just sent me a Powerpoint file with foodscapes by Carl Warner. Warner is a British photographer who, among other things, makes landscapes out of food. To see them: 1. Go to http://www.carlwarner.com/ 2. In the Flash window that pops up, select the orange square: FOTOGRAPHICS (you will have to allow popups). (Comment on this)
Friday, June 27th, 2008
sirvalence	8:21a	Speculation We'd like to get a Wii Fit, but they're sold out everywhere. Why are they sold out? Is it because people across the nation are happily playing with them? No, it's because as soon as they become available anywhere at their MSRP of $90, somebody buys every single one of them and sells them on the Internet for $150. *sigh* I think I mostly object to this because I hate it when people make money purely off speculation. I believe that people should make money by adding value to the world, not by just buying low and selling high. It just seems like parasitism. Hmm, I wonder how my 401k is doing. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
sirvalence	1:03p	Booklist Meme Booklist Meme (via kingtheseus) 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you love.   ( Read more... (an ironic LJ cut message, in this case...) )   Who compiled this list anyway? I haven’t even _heard_ of several of these books. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
sirvalence	7:25a	Wireless Switches EnOcean wireless switch Originally uploaded by cklutzke EnOcean makes a light switch that is not only wireless, it doesn't use batteries. The mechanical action of flipping the switch generates enough electricity to send a signal to the receiver, up to 150 feet away. And each receiver can be controlled by up to 30 switches. This would be a great way to separately control the light and the ceiling fan on our upstairs landing, since running all the three-wire cable to the three existing switch boxes would be a project from hell. Now I just need about $600 to buy the six switches and two receivers. (Comment on this)
sirvalence	5:52a	Working with Love I was poking around a little on The Forge this morning and found this tribute to Erick Wujcik. I really liked the poem Ron selected, so I wanted to remember it and share it. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
sirvalence	9:40a	Found Cadences I was walking in to work this morning and heard another pedestrian pulling his wheeled bag over some tiles outside the building. The tiles were of two different sizes and laid out in a pattern such that, as his wheels crossed the gaps, they made an interesting rhythm: dit-dit-dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit-dit-dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit, then repeating. My brain started trying to find ways to turn it into a game, in which you laid out tiles--or paths across existing tiles--to create such rhythms intentionally. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
sirvalence	10:37a	Iron Man So we saw Iron Man yesterday. Not having been a fan of the comic book character, I hadn't planned on seeing it, but enough people said good things that we decided to go. It was a good movie. Good story, good script, good acting, good effects. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I still enjoyed Crystal Skull more: there's an empathy with the characters there that's tough to beat, and covers a multitude of sins. Speaking of which, I only had a couple of gripes with Iron Man: * The weight of the suit isn't consistent (though it was good for a surprise laugh at one point). Maybe the prototype was heavier. * They never mention the incredible inertial dampers the suit must provide in order to survive some of those impacts. I also kept expecting Obadiah to say "Dude!", but that's just my problem. (Comment on this)
sirvalence	8:56a	60 Years Here's a link to the announcement of my mom and dad's 60th anniversary party on the local newspaper's website. That's their picture on the right, taken on a trip to Alaska a few years ago. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
sirvalence	8:45a	Cookie Monster Speaks Out on Nutrition and his flip-flops on the cookie issue, on The Colbert Report. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 20th, 2008
sirvalence	9:11a	I Hate IM Having a conversation with someone over IM is like having a phone conversation in which each party hangs up at the end of each sentence. Then they phone you again if they want to say something else. I find it too distracting to do anything else while an IM conversation is going on, but I can never be sure when it's over. Consider how conversations in other media conclude: In person: you walk away, or turn to do something else. Phone: you hang up. Email: you send the message. After each IM, you don't know if the other person is done, if they are pausing to think or research before replying again, or they're doing something else at the same time as the conversation (and consider that in any other media, that last option is considered to be very rude). You can tell if they are actively typing, but you can't tell how much longer they'll be typing, and you don't want to send your next message while they type because their next message might invalidate what you were going to say. I really don't see why people are so in love with this tool. If you need to say something right now, pick up the darned phone already. Otherwise, send an email. What good is this hybrid option that has the disadvantages of both? Actually, I do know one reason why some people IM: the user interface is easier than a phone. You don't have to translate a person's name into a meaningless set of digits and then key them in. You don't have to remember the special arcane codes to bring more people into the conversation. Maybe someday the standard office telephone's user interface will support common tasks easily, and then IM can die. I hope so. (9 Comments |Comment on this)