Monday, December 20, 2004

Half-Life 2 Demo Released -- 10:00 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Undecided about whether or not to get Half-Life 2? Have some bandwidth you don't know what to do with? Why not download the 751M Half-Life 2 demo from your favorite software repository, like 3D Gamers. You will need a Steam account to play. Modem users might be better off just hitting themselves repeatedly in the head.

NFL Week #15 So Far -- 11:07 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

With one game left Eeyore and I are tied at 10-5. I can't believe the Lions botched an extra point attempt to lose to the Viqueens. You'd think in almost 37 years of being a Lions fan, I would have seen it all. My Wombats put up a valiant fight, but lost in the semifinals of the playoffs. Just like the Lions, there's always next year.

C-64 on a Chip -- 10:18 am CST, Update by The Master

Just finished reading Commodore 64 reincarnated on a chip, a news.com.org.net.com.com article on Jeri Ellsworth and her design of a C-64-on-a-chip that is selling like mad on QVC. Cool to see a self-taught chip designer can still thrive in today's world.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Preview -- 10:06 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Inquirer took a look at a preview release of OpenOffice.org 2.0 with some slick screenshots. Here is a list of the new features. Most interesting is the addition of OpenOffice Base, an MS Access-compatible database program. That, my friends, will be a killer app. I will be following this with great interest. If you are interested in trying this out, you can download a build for Windows, Linux, and Solaris (Sparc and x86). Note that this is beta software and likely will have bugs. Caveat emptor. Thanks Linux Today.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Pondering the Imponderable -- 11:12 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Just when I thought Half-Life 2 was getting boring, it starts to get exciting. The point where it really became fun for me is when you are done driving the buggy. Ordering Ant Lions around is a blast. My main gripe with the game still stands. The whole time I'm asking myself, "Why am I here? Why am I fighting for these people? Is there a point to me making it through this level other than to get from point A to point B?" I realize that they are trying to get you to figure things out as you go along, but it's getting annoying. Unfortunately from what I've heard, the game never does explain much.

Patrick Volkerding Back in Action -- 11:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Patrick Volkerding, the father of Slackware, posted in the Slackware -current changelog that he is doing much better. He had been battling some mystery illness that landed him at the Mayo Clinic, among other places. I'm glad to see he's back in action. I've been using Slackware for some time now and have no interest in switching to something else. Stay healthy, Pat! Thanks Slashdot.

Cost of Spam? A Cool Billion -- 10:12 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Our own J sent along word that a group of spamming companies have been ordered to pay one billion dollars for sending junk email. I know the plaintiff will never see all the money, but maybe the suit will put the companies out of business. Sadly, this is the only way to do it. You have to make spam unprofitable. Unfortunately the law frowns on the old "lead pipe to the kneecaps" trick which might also prove effective.

Past Two Days' News

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