I Read Stuff!!

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Monday, December 21, 2009

I'm a Firestarter, Twisted Firestarter

Oh man, I know what I'm getting for next year's men's gift exchange. Check this thing out.



It's a hairdryer on steroids.

Basically it solves 2 of the 3 necessary things for fire. It blows life giving oxygen, and it heats that oxygen to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit! You have to supply the wood.

You might say that this takes the fun out of building a fire, but I say it allows us to burn more stuff.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Interview Questions

A friend linked me to this entertaining list of the latest 'interview questions'. It reminded me of way back when I was in school. Microsoft was the big bad culmination of programming skill, and all the interview questions that were passed around came from them.

This set is from the current king of the hill, Google. While Microsoft's questions tended to be very technically oriented and not really worth posting, this assortment of questions are a bit more abstract.

And here they are,

  1. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus? Answer
  2. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle? Answer
  3. In a country in which people only want boys every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country? Answer
  4. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world? Answer
  5. Why are manhole covers round? Answer
  6. Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco. Answer
  7. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap? Answer
  8. Explain the significance of "dead beef". Answer
  9. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened? Answer
  10. You need to check that your friend, Bob, has your correct phone number, but you cannot ask him directly. You must write the question on a card which and give it to Eve who will take the card to Bob and return the answer to you. What must you write on the card, besides the question, to ensure Bob can encode the message so that Eve cannot read your phone number? Answer
  11. You're the captain of a pirate ship and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive? Answer
  12. You have eight balls all of the same size. 7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings? Answer
  13. You are given 2 eggs. You have access to a 100-story building. Eggs can be very hard or very fragile means it may break if dropped from the first floor or may not even break if dropped from 100th floor. Both eggs are identical. You need to figure out the highest floor of a 100-story building an egg can be dropped without breaking. The question is how many drops you need to make. You are allowed to break 2 eggs in the process. Answer
  14. Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew. Answer
  15. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel, and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do? Answer

Friday, December 11, 2009

What Linemen Do Best

Zebrie Sanders made one of those mistakes that will forever be mentioned at family gatherings. I imagine there won't be a week that goes by that he doesn't hear about this on the practice field.

Playing as an offensive lineman for Florida State, Zebrie didn't hear the snap count during a play in the 3rd quarter against Florida. In fact, most of the line missed it. The rest of the line tried to recover the broken play, but not Zebrie. He decided that the snap just hadn't happened yet, and waited for it.


Games
GameInterestRelease Date
Civilization IV1
C&C 31
Company of Heroes1
Half Life 21
Half Life 2: Episode One1
Supreme Commander1
Call of Duty 22
Darwinia2
Dungeon Runners2
Dungeon Siege II2
Far Cry2
Galactic Civilization II2
Hitman: Blood Money2
Jade Empire2
Neverwinter Nights 22
Prey2
Psychonauts2
Sam & Max: Episode 12
Titan Quest2
Dark Messiah Might and Magic3
Defcon3
Heroes of Might and Magic V3
Indigo Prophecy3
KOTOR II3
LEGO Star Wars3
Marvel Ultimate Alliance3
Space Rangers 2: The Rise of the Dominators3
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl3
Stubbs the Zombie3
War Front3
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos3
Infernal35/8/2007
Shadowrun25/9/07
Pirates of the Burning SeaM6/1/2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars?6/5/2007
Two Worlds?6/26/07
Sins of A Solar Empire?8/1/2007
BioShock18/21/2007
Mass Effect19/7/07
Age of ConanM10/30/07
Crysis1Fall 2007
Elveon?Fall 2007
Half-Life 2: Episode Two1Fall 2007
Portals1Fall 2007
Spore1Fall 2007
Stranglehold?Fall 2007
Tabula RasaMFall 2007
Team Fortress 22Fall 2007
Dragon Age?Winter 2007
Fable 2?Winter 2007
Field Ops?Winter 2007
Halo Wars?Winter 2007
Gods & Heroes: Rome RisingMWinter 2007
Haze?Winter 2007
Hellgate: London1Winter 2007
HuxleyMWinter 2007
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men?Winter 2007
Left 4 Dead?Winter 2007
The AgencyMSpring 2008
Empire Earth III?Spring 2008
Guild Wars 2 MSpring 2008
Jericho?Spring 2008
Sacred 2?Spring 2008
Savage 2?Spring 2008
Time Shift2Spring 2008
Universe at War: Earth Assault3Spring 2008
The Witcher?Spring 2008
CellFactor?2008
Darkest of Days?2008
On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkeness: Episode 122008
Warhammer OnlineM2008
Alliance: The Silent War??
Alone in the Dark??
Assassin's Creed??
BioWare MMO??
The Crossing??
Dungeon Hero??
Fallout 3??
Lego Batman??
Mythos??
Overloard??
Space Seige??
Culdcept SagaPC??
Gears of WarPC??
God of WarPC??
Beautiful KatamariPC??
OkamiPC??
Resistance: Fall of ManPC??
Odin's SpherePC??
Castle CrashersPC??

1 - I will buy it
2 - I'll buy it at discount
3 - Other people think it's good, but I wasn't interested when I first heard about it
M - Mainly Multiplayer. See if friends get interested.
? - Find out more about this game
PC? - Will it be released on the PC?