Hooper's Electric

Image from thomashooper.wordpress.com

Just to get back in the habit of posting, at least infrequently, I wanted to take a second just to expose some more people to one of my favorite blogs, Hooper's Electric. If you're any kind of fan of tattoos, whether just an admirer or an aficionado, you'll want to take a long look at this site. The tattooist who runs the blog, Thomas Hooper, always makes sure to post pictures of the tattoos he's been working on, whether completed tats or works in progress. You might even find yourself perusing all the way back through his blog archive like I did just to see his past work.

In short, if you're a fan of esoteric ink, or just an infrequent admirer of well-crafted body art, give Hooper's a visit.

Google Chrome

I am typing this blog from within Google Chrome, Google's new browser that has received surprisingly little fanfare. I can actually say that I am pleasantly surprised by its performance. I heard that Chrome was faster than other browsers in many benchmark tests, but I didn't think I'd see any noticeable difference. The text input issues I mentioned in the last post are nonexistant in this browser, and page elements of many sites load at a speed I didn't think I'd ever see on this computer. Give Google Chrome a try!

IntenseDebate

I admit that this is a post that many people won't care about, so if you're not at all interested in blogging, site hosting, or comments systems, you may stop reading now. For those still here, the topic of discussion is IntenseDebate.

If you don't know, IntenseDebate is a 3rd-party comments system that is meant to replace either your blog's default comment system, or whatever set-up you're running. It has a few great features, such as tracking users across blogs and sites that use this system. It's easy to install, well programmed, and has just about every function that you could ask for from a comments system.

In fact, the only problem that I had is that its text input boxes responded abnormally slow to my typing (I also had this problem on Squidoo), but only in FireFox. I'm actually not sure if it's a problem with their service, the browser, or my outdated system, but I actually don't care enough about this issue to ask the team at IntenseDebate. The fact that anyone at all who reads my blog might have to suffer through the slow response time of an otherwise excellently-executed system is enough for me to not use it at all!

Does anyone else have thoughts on this, or similar issues with other web apps? Comments, Blogspot default, always open.

Fallout 2 and Fallout 3

Like many others, my good friend and I are waiting with bated breath for the next installment in the Fallout franchise. We're keeping up with the news and the new videos coming out as the October 28th release date approaches, and we can't remember being more excited for a new game before. I've already pre-ordered my copy, special edition, though I didn't shell out 120 for the Amazon-only edition.

In any case, my friend and I decided to relive what brought us to this point in the first place, so we loaded up Fallout 2. It wasn't quite what we expected, actually. All of the awesomeness that we're anticipating from the new game, the old game lacks. Isometric combat and movement? I can't believe that people were actually sad that this would be gone when we found out that Bethesda was taking over the franchise.

The game is definitely still fun, but it's dated to an extreme. Blowing up raiders in primitive 3D hardly compares to what we've seen in the videos for Fallout 3. If you're looking forward to Fallout 3 but haven't played the original two games... consider passing on them if you're easily irritated by the old limits of video gaming. If you don't like the old games, or got tired of them, I think that Fallout 3 is definitely still worth a shot. The point here is that the old games were amazing in their time, and though they've lost some of their luster, don't let that deter you from playing Fallout 3!

2012 Apocalypse

Seriously. What is it about the 2012 apocalypse theory that is so believable to so many people? I don't understand it.

Most people believe it simply because "the Mayan calendar ended in 2012", as if that's some great evidence in of itself. The calendar had to end sometime, didn't it? After all, there are no more Mayans left to update the calendar, now are there? Nor are there any to explain why the calendar ends when it does. It could be arbitrary. Maybe the scribe's hand or the astronomer's mind got tired and they figured they were set for at least 1500 years, so why bother going any further? It would be pretty futile, you know.

What might be even worse is when people cite reasons besides the Mayan calendar for the 2012 apocalypse date. Don't these people find it odd that another major apocalypse theory majorly coincides with theirs? Shouldn't that be a sign that your theory is the result of mangled hearsay, much like a fevered version of the game 'telephone'?

People have been harping about the endtimes since the beginning of time, and honestly, we don't seem to be getting any closer. But really, am I the only one who thinks that the numbers of the people who believe in this particular apocalypse theory are massively overstated? Apparently, the Dutch are taking this really seriously. But isn't that an overstatement in itself? The article says "thousands of people", but how many people are in the Netherlands? Is this a majority or a minority?

Do many people believe this and they just keep quiet about it? In fact, do my friends, and your friends too, believe in it, and they just haven't said anything? What an odd thought. Better still... Do you believe in it? I just need to know how many intelligent, blog-reading people believe in this. The anticipation is killing me.

Work in Progress

Exactly as the title implies, this blog is a work in progress. New logo coming up soon, and hopefully a few javascript tricks that will help spruce the blog up.

Brand Spankin' New

I plan to do a lot of things on this blog, point people to the hidden places of the Internet, show you what I like (and what you should like), what I'm working on, or anything else you might request. Most of all, I'd like to post consistently, starting now.

Cheers.