March 1st, 2008
Yesterday evening at Tecumseh Middle School, part of Teen Tech’s Eagle Scout project was used as a prop during a presentation. Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch brought in one of the massive planters Aaron had designed and put together for use by the city in various parks throughout the downtown area. Mr. Welch used the planter as an example of a community service project in a presentation to Cub Scout Pack 673 (and their friends and families) at the pack’s annual Blue & Gold banquet. Teen Tech’s youngest brother Ryan received his Arrow Of Light award at the banquet and was also advanced from a Webelos 2 Cub Scout to the rank of Scout, being welcomed into Boy Scout Troop 632 later in the ceremonies. Unaware Mr. Welch was going to use this planter as a prop, Teen Tech was not in attendance at the banquet.
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February 15th, 2008
Well, I went online to www.toysrus.com and I bought myslef a world famous Rubiks Cube. Pretty amazing little toy. I got it scrambled it, then got stuck. I looked online for some algorithms (steps to achieve a predictable outcome), used them, then solved the cube. Easy. It took me nearly 20 minutes to solve after I had found the sequences. Next I want to work on speed. With this, I not only need to oil up my cube, but to either discover or look up some more optimized algorithms built for speed. Currently, according to www.speedcubing.com which is the unofficial world records page, the record is 7.12 seconds to solve the cube. That’s SECONDS. My best time right now is 2:27.265 minutes, so I’ve got a long way to go. According to Jessica Fridrich, who is a leading Rubik’s cube expert and mathematician, there are about 1211 possible algorithms that could potentially be used to solve a cube. She uses about 80 on a regular basis often getting times of less than 15 seconds. Wow. Well, I’m going to try to break from my current method which is slow and tedious, and ATTEMPT to learn some new stuff.
Posted in Fun Things, Games | 3 Comments »
February 3rd, 2008
Hey there everyone,
Well, like I said in my previous post, I like Team Fortress 2 (”TF2″). There is a stats program out there right now called HLStatsX at www.hlstatsx.com. The problem with this is that it costs five euros a month to use. I not only don’t want to pay for it, but I don’t want to outsource it. This software records stuff like who kills who, with what, how often. Your favorite class, and what not. It runs off of the server logs which all TF2 servers give, so, I decided, what if I created my own. This is all fine and good, except for when I actually opened the server logs. It looked a little something like this:
L 01/27/2008 – 21:43:43: “Programertobe<7><STEAM_0:1:7752907><Red>” killed “Bot05<8><BOT><Blue>” with “shotgun_hwg” (attacker_position “573 12 64″) (victim_position “739 141 64″)
L 01/27/2008 – 21:44:09: “Programertobe<7><STEAM_0:1:7752907><Red>” killed “Bot05<8><BOT><Blue>” with “fists” (attacker_position “691 119 64″) (victim_position “692 167 64″)
L 01/27/2008 – 21:44:13: “Programertobe<7><STEAM_0:1:7752907><Red>” changed role to “scout”
So, I’ve been working on writing my scripts to just pull out the relevant information, which has been a pain, but I’ve made some progress. I want to compile all of the information to a web interface so players can look at their rankings, and stats themselves, so the information has to be in a readable form. I’ve included with this post, a copy of my current source code and server logs, so you can see what I’ve been doing and hopefully where I plan to go with it.
http://tech-works.info/stats.txt
http://tech-works.info/logs.txt
Posted in Fun Things, Games | No Comments »
February 1st, 2008
| Seeing how it’s been FOREVER since my last post, I got to thinking “what have I been doing the past few weeks that’s tech related?” Then it hit me, “VIDEO GAMES.” I’ve been playing a ton of Valve Software’s games. So, I’m going to be writing some reviews on a few of my favorites. |
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Half Life 2: Lost Coast
While this is not exactly a game per se, it is still really really fun. This was a proof of concept for a new technology called HDR. HDR is used for dynamic lighting and textures in game. Just in this screenshot, you can see the light coming in the window because of the dust in the room, and the chandelier in the back is swaying slightly. The physics engine used is called “Havok” and is common in most modern games, and is even used in “Age of Empires 3.” The “Zero Point Energy Gravity Gun” uses this technology where you can pick up and use most anything that is not bolted down, opening the door for a whole host of new puzzles in Valve’s games. |
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Portal
Portal is a puzzle game. No killing, no shooting realistic guns, just a Rubik’s Cube of computer games. You get the Aperture Portal Device, and you are given the ability to shoot two portals. The portals are able to instantaneously send an object from one place to another. You can walk through these portals to reach heights that you could not reach otherwise. You can see right through these portals, as you demonstrated in the screenshot. This game, albeit short is great fun for about 2 solid hours of play time. Using Valve’s Hammer editor, a more advanced player can create their own maps and puzzles to add to the 19 puzzles already included. |
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Team Fortress 2
Of all of Valve’s games, this one is my top favorite. Using a cartoon style animation, it is able to be kind of serious, while being extraordinarily fun. This game is either a Capture the Flag style of game, or a control point style, where a team has to occupy a space for a set amount of time, while the other team defends it. The player can choose one of nine classes (Sniper, Engineer, Medic, Heavy, Soldier, Pyro, Scout, Demoman, and Spy). Each class has its own weapons and abilities, such as the Engineer can build sentry guns and teleporter, whereas the Spy has a sapper to destroy the Engineer’s buildings. So, it has extremely balanced play, and has something for even the most inexperienced players. I highly suggest this game to absolutely anyone. |
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| Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this overview of some of the games that are out there. And, now, I’ve got to get back to playing. |
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January 14th, 2008
Aaron, the author of Teen Tech, has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. You can read my own thoughts on the Eagle Scout Court of Honor that was held yesterday by clicking here. Feel free to leave Aaron your own thoughts on his achievement in the Comments section of this post. Thanks!
Posted in Special Events | 6 Comments »
January 9th, 2008
This last Friday, I went to the Business Professionals of America Regional Competition at Henry Ford Community College. I competed in “VB.NET Programming”, “Computer Security Concepts”, and a few “open” events where you don’t have to pre-register, and you can take them at any time throughout the day. The top six in each event goes to the state leadership conference in Grand Rapids at the Amway Grand hotel. I placed third in Computer Security, second in VB.NET Programming, and sixth in “Insurance Concepts”, which I’d forgotten that I’d taken it. Except for the VB.NET test not being about VB.NET, and the Math Analysis test having way too many typos, it was a fun event. We had karaoke in the main student center, Transformes playing in one of the auditoriums, and a full cafe. I plan on going to the State conference in march, and from there, hopefully nationals which is going to be held in Reno, Nevada this year.
Posted in Fun Things | 1 Comment »
December 30th, 2007
OK,
I have in front of me three brocures from Alltel, Sprint, and Tracfone (I didn’t grab a Verizon brocure), trying to find the best value phone service. The companies always say “This phone free with 2 year service agreement.” Is this a real deal? Let’s look at this:
2 Year Basic agreements:
Sprint:
Nightly calling starting at 9
No Roaming charges
Unlimited Night and Weekends
Nationwide Long Distance
200 anytime minutes
29.99 / month –> 719.76 / 2 years
Alltel:
200 Anytime minutes
1000 Night and weekend minutes
Unlimited Calls to and from your favorite number
Text messaging 10 cents a Message In/Out
Additional Minutes 15 cents Each
34.99 / month –> 839.76 / 2 years
Tracfone:
400 minutes per year long card (800 for two cards = two years)
99.99 / year –> 199.98 / 2 years
So, if you can only talk for 800 minutes in two years (that’s only 13 hours over two years), then Tracfone has the best value, and if you don’t need any of the extra features. It depends on what features you need / want, and your coverage area. The reason that they can give you a 50 dollar phone with a two year contract, is because the phone probably only took 10$ to make, and you are agreeing to pay almost a grand for that “free” phone. What cell service you choose is up to you, but look at the long term costs of what you are getting.
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
December 22nd, 2007
Last night was the most intense sporting event (for me at least) that I have ever seen televised. It was MLG’s (Major Leage Gaming) finals for the national title held in Vegas. At this time, all of the bracket information that I’m giving out, may be incorrect as MLG’s site has not been updated with the new information at this time. I do know for a fact though that this is the very last year that MLG will be holding Halo 2 leagues because of the releas of Halo 3, so last night was the final Halo 2 matches to be played in that professional circuit.
Going in, there were a total of five teams left, Team 5k, Team Str8 Rippin, Team Agency, Team Carbon, and of course Team Final Boss. Teams Carbon and Final Boss were my favorites for making it to the finals, but I wanted Final Boss to come out on top. In the end though, Str8 Rippin knocked out 5K, Agency knocked out Str8 Rippin, Agency knocked out Str8 Rippin, then finally Carbon Knocked out Agency. It had happened. The single match that I’ve always wanted to watch with the new rosters, Carbon vs. Final Boss. Last year, team Carbon let “Strongside” go, and team Final Boss picked him up, but right after Carbon fired him, they went on to win the national title, so it was a grudge match. My favorite player in MLG is Dave “Walshy” Walsh on team Final Boss. Red Bull sponsorships, and a nice paycheck from MLG, he is considered by many to be the top player on the planet.
In the Carbon vs. Final Boss, it was a first to 50 team slayer match on midship, which is not my favorite map at all. The game was within 2 kills for almost the entire match with the lead being handed off back and forth. In the end, Team Final Boss won 50-48, and they were handed a check for 100,000$. It was an amazing match. Very intense. Every player played at the top of their game. “Ogre 2,” who is one of a set of twins on team Final Boss (”Ogre 1″ and “Ogre 2″) was given the MLG MVP award because he had over 160 more kills then deaths throughout the season. Simply amazing. In the end, hard work, dedication, and a little red bull got them through. It was a sight to behold.
Posted in Fun Things, Games | No Comments »
December 19th, 2007
Well,
I made Eagle. I went against the eagle board of review last night and I got confirmed. The review was easy. Six appointed members quizzing me about scouts and my life, some questions hard, some were easy. One of the members asked me “What is the secret to your success, and how can you teach it to others?” I didn’t know how to answer, so I told him “If I told you what my secret was, it wouldn’t be a secret.” The room cracked up, and just continued. That came up later after the deliberation about me, in the closing comments, where they said that by my making that comment, it showed that I was actually paying attention to every word and not just the important stuff. Next, I plan my ceremony, and that’s where I’ll formally accept the award.
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December 16th, 2007
Tuesday is going to be one of the most important nights of my life, and I’m not really exaggerating. Tuesday at 6:00, I’m going against my Eagle Scout Board of Review. It’s equivalent is when a president appoints a position, and the senate has to approve or deny their appointance. Same concept. Seven years of my life have been wrapped up in this one evening. Intense.
On a side note, our phone service has been out for the past three days. I’m on dialup, so when the phone goes out, the internet also goes out. It’s been terribly stressful for me because my mom has become accustomed to blaming me when the phone goes out because of my computers. It took a lot to convince her that the problem was with the phone company. Then, I had to actually call Verizon about 6 times over the matter of three days trying to get something done. They came out on the first available day and “fixed” something, but still no dial tone, then I was pissed because they promised that the issue was fixed, then it was another two days and many calls later that they actually fixed it. Now, I have the internet, and am here updating my blog.
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
