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The Ant-pire Strikes Back
[ 10-6-01 ][ 7:43 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Let's get the good stuff out of the way first: Bonds passes Big Mac!

Consider Barry Bond's feat: 72 homers in 160 games. That's almost a homer every other game. To make it more amazing, he's drawn 177 walks. That's more than a walk per game. He's done it in ~200 less swings than Mark McGwire, seen less hittable pitches, and to cap it off, he did it in the thick of a pennant race!! And that's why this new home run record, however many Bonds will end up hitting, will stand for at least 30 more years. Way to go, Barry!

.....

In other news, the ants mounted a major offensive against our house earlier this evening. You see, there's a bit of history between us vs. them vermins. In the summer of 2000, my parents had our carpets removed for some reason unknown to me. The first strike came when I accidentally left a cup of soda in the living room overnight. The next day saw a swarm of those tiny, light brown infantry model ants engulf the cup. Eeek! After hours of meticulously tracing their origins, I realized they were surfacing from the cracks between the floor tiles. Crikey!

From thereon forth, it was a seesaw battle between us and them. Sometimes they would come in swarms, and we'd fight them off with Raid and seal their escape routes w/ rubber cement. Other times, there would only be a dozen or so, scattered in strategic locations (kitchen, trash bins, etc.), gathering intelligence. The latter is a harder situation to deal with. It's like guerilla warfare. I'd mercilessly decimate any that I saw, but alas, I can't be on guard 24/7. It went on like this until late October of 2000, when suddenly the ants pulled back their forces and retreated into their labyrinthian fortress in the ground.

All was peaceful in the land of the humans until late May eariler this year. Our bathroom went under seige as the ants spilled out from the sinks. It seems as though they've established camp there this summer, because no matter how hard we try to eradicate them, there are always five or six meandering around. They're not coming out from under the floor any more though... it seems as if their tiny, light brown stature has developed into a thicker, darker brown. Significant encounters include one a couple of weeks ago, when they penetrated a crack in the ceiling and formed an assembly line down into the kitchen, and the attack a couple of hours earlier when they poured out from our never-used fireplace. Whenever it seems like we have the upper hand, they would turn the table on us. Sigh. And so the war rages on...

Verizon Sucks
[ 10-3-01 ][ 2:46 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks!

Our apartment got disconnected because some dyslexic operator at Verizon couldn't read our phone number correctly. She called to confirm the DSL order, but got a "Sorry, wrong number" response on the other end. Consequently, she killed the connection and forwarded the order to some internal authenticity department, and now we have to wait 2-3 weeks for them to get back to us, and THEN place a NEW order which will take 2-3 MORE weeks. I found all this out when I called their support line this afternoon because our net access grinded to a halt last night. <Insert favorite swear word here. Repeat at a crecendo.>

Oh well. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger... erm... or something like that. This is like cold turkey therapy for those addicted to the internet. Maybe I'll even get some homework done for a change.

This is your webmaster... back in the dark... signing off... *Blip!*

The Pad is Hot...
[ 10-1-01 ][ 8:46 a.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

... meaning I am now wired at my apartment with DSL! YESSS! The quirk of this situation is that, if you've been following my rants, Verizon wasn't supposed to switch it on until this coming Friday. However, in a fit of boredom last night, I installed the DSL modem and nearly broke my jaw on my desk when I saw Yahoo! load in my browser.

What further amazed me was the lack of a PPPoE "dial-up" adapter. For those that use Pacbell DSL, you know you have to do a mock dial-in of sorts with a PPP Ethernet wrapper before you can access the net. Verzion required no such nonsense, and it acted much like a cable modem--just plug it in and it's off to the races. Bliss, baby! Thus I humbly retract all previous "Verizon sucks" statements.

Gerry has published Issue #5. Click!

Updates will be flowing more frequently now that I'm out of the dark, so keep your browser tuned in to Rice World. Until next time, cheers.

Shameless Plug
[ 9-26-01 ][ 2:49 a.m. pst ][ By Gerry ]

I know I said I wouldn't plug myself on Rice's news page, but since he's in the dark, I have to mention on my own that I've published a new issue. You can access it here. Click!

Air Jordan Returns!
[ 9-25-01 ][ 4:36 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Eh? What did I say? I knew he'd be back. All you naysayers can eat a mouthful of crow now. And watch... the Wizards will contend for the playoffs. He's just that good. Mike excels the most when people doubt him the most. Yeeehaaw!

"I'm back!"

In other news: Fall quarter began today at UCLA, which depresses me to no extent. In addition to shouldering 17 bruising units, I am rendered internet-less in my apartment until next Friday. Verizon DSL has this weird policy where they force new users to wait a week after their modem arrives before they can switch it on from their central office. Apparently it's to give people time to cancel. Their operators tell me there's no way around it. So here I am... holed up at work after-hours where I can suck the sweet nectar of their ethernet connection. I know... I am pathetic and in desperate need of a life.

Freecell Madness
[ 9-21-01 ][ 1:41 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Gerry has published Issue #3: Click!

It seems like I was the only one in the world who didn't have a clue how to solve the Freecell game mentioned in yesterday's post. After a plethora of success stories on game #15804 from you guys, I was finally able to beat it thanks to the help of Gerry and Kansur, walking me through parts of it. However, I can't reproduce it again for the life of me! I hate #15804 with a passion now. I give up.

Alright hotshots, here's a real challenge. While Gerry and I were discussing the incredible gameplay and depth of Freecell, we wondered if all games are beatable. So I went online earlier today to Freecell.org, and indeed #11982 is widely considered to be the only impossible arrangement of all #32000 games (it turns out there are actually psycho's out there that have played it ALL). For a game that is actually possible, but regarded as the most difficult, try #1941. I tried both, and of course being the utter Freecell dunce that I am, failed miserably. If any of you guys have success in either games, report in! Actually, if you beat #11982, you better skip Rice World and go straight to Guinness Records.

#11982... The Gibraltar of Freecell?

WTC disaster song of the day: Five For Fighting - Superman. A beautiful, soaring rock ballad (oxymoron?) by a group who named themselves after a hockey penalty. Was originally recommeded to me by Gerry, who was going to feature it in GWS Issue #3, but I guess it slipped his mind. Look for it at your nearest Napster-clone server.

WTC Aftermath / Geek Stuff
[ 9-20-01 ][ 8:36 a.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

So many things have been racing around my mind. It's tough trying to get back to normal life while everyone is still reeling from the shock last Tuesday and Operation Infinite Justice is revving up. Yep, that's the name of our retaliatory strikes against them bloody terrorists. Sounds kind of cool, but carries a bit of cheese--you can't help but picture superheroes wearing spandex underwear declaring in an overly baritone voice, "Long live freedom!" Heh heh.

Da-Da-Dum! America is, of course, Superman. I'd imagine France to be a hot chick, and Yasser Arafat can be that odd fellow in the back left (Note my extensive knowledge of comic characters).

Word from intelligence in Afghanistan is that they're threatening to declare jihad, or Holy War, against the U.S. if we proceed with Operation Infinite Justice. We have the world's mightiest military, not to mention covert ops and most of Europe behind us, and they're threatening us?! Sounds like scared-talk from a back against the wall Taliban to me. "If... if... if you attack us... we'll... we'll... declare war on you!!" Oh, please don't.... Putting the childish taunts aside, it's obvious how Bush and his administration handles this situation will determine his legacy.

There have been a series of interesting discussions on KROQ's Kevin & Bean morning show regarding the the changes and effects of last week's disaster, with first and foremost being: do new FAA security regulations really work? From what I know, you can't check-in curbside anymore, no more cars are allowed into the airport itself, no more carrying pocket knives, and you must have a physical ticket to get through the gates. What good do any of those do, with the exception of the no knives rule? All it seems like is added hassle without much benefit.

If I was a terrorist, how would forcing me to park in the perimeter and check-in inside have anything to do with me hijacking a plane? Obviously, I'd have purchased a legal ticket to get through the gate, and then all I have to do is tape a ceramic cutting tool to my leg to beat the metal detector. Voila! I'm in, and the plane is mine. Why are none of the effective measures being done, i.e. making the cockpit of a plane inaccessable from the outside and bullet proof? Rumor has it that we already have the technology to actually control a plane remotely from an airport tower. Why is that not being implemented?

Enough regarding the WTC event. I'm sure you all are just as sick of the over coverage as I am. I am, however, impressed with how ABC, NBC, CBS, et. al. handled it when the news broke. Apparently they forged a truce and agreed to share all incoming information, while cutting away all commericials. A pleasant surprise, to say the least. So, moving on...

For those looking to do a major upgrade or simply want a brand new computer rig, I still recommend an AMD Athlon over any Intel setup, although it's not quite as unanimous anymore. The standing argument is that AMD CPU's are cheaper (1.4 GHz for $115!) and faster than any Pentium 4 processor at the same speed range (Athlon 1.4 GHz approximately equals a P4 1.6 GHz, which costs $175). In addition, P4's are saddled with RDRAM, which cost 2.5 times as much as DDR-SDRAM. However, the latter point is more or less moot now because RAM is so bloody cheap.

Also, Tom's Hardware Guide has a fascinating article on how AMD & Intel CPU's respond differently to sudden heat exposure here. According to that piece, P4's automatically downclock IN REAL TIME, causing no crashes. P3's shut down internally, requiring a hard reboot to resume operation. It's not as saavy as their newer brothers, but still better than Athlons, which fry within 1 or 2 seconds. Yes, I'm serious! At the end of that article is a video clip showing their test run, and it caught on tape the Athlons bursting into a bonfire that engulfed their entire facility... Just kidding.... It just started to smoke, that's all, but still, a dead CPU is a dead CPU. No amount of rebooting can fix that.

The point of this little spiel is: take caution to secure your heatsink and fan onto your chip if you're building your own box! And if you're not familiar with constructing a rig from scratch, I recommend you have someone who is beside you (especially during a CPU installation).

PC game demo of the day: Return to Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer TEST. The developers of RtCW stress it's not a demo, but I'm calling it one anyway for the sake of simplicity. Needless to say, if you're a fan of the original, and/or a fan of the Quake 3 engine, you owe it to yourself to check this out. You only get one multiplayer level, called Beach Front (or something similar to that), where you choose to play as either Axis or Allies. Allies storm the beach and attempt to secure a top secret document while the Axis attempt to hold them off for 8 minutes. Think Unreal Tournament's Assault mode meets Team Fortress meets Counter-Strike World War 2 style. Good stuff.

Looks like another day, another worm scare. This time by the name of Nimda, and unlike Code Red, it'll go after personal computers as well, so be wary not to open attachments from people you ain't expecting attachments from. These are the kind of virus outbreaks that make me glad I use Linux.

I'll wrap up this ridiculously long update with a request: Can someone show me how to beat Freecell game #15804?!? I'm a newbie who just killed 2 hours on that (cumulative spanning two work days, not straight), and I can't beat it for the life of me. Is it even possible? Hm, probably is. I am just retarded. Just FYI in case you're unaware, you can specify which game you want under the File menu. Help!

This is what the setup looks like. Ahh!