Hong Kong Translations
posted by pfunk on 2006-12-04 15:13:01 Some subtitle fun:Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.
MOTOFONE Update N+1
posted by pfunk on 2006-12-04 13:03:35 The Chicago Tribune reports that the MOTOFONE should indeed be released in the US by the end of the year. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0611290144nov29,1,1504739.story (no hotlink. Who puts commas in a URL? Is that kosher?) permalink and replies (1)Blogging Done Simpler
posted by pfunk on 2006-12-03 23:39:42 I've seen new some blog software move away from having registered users altogether. I'm considering whether it would be best to take that step to further simplify my blog code. Thoughts: - Drop the user table. No longer needed. - A separate page is used to create a root blog post. This is protected with a simple .htaccess file. - Response post pages offer the fields Name, Email (not shown), URL, and Body - Root post pages offer the same plus Title. - An edit page is protected by htaccess and is only accessible by the right URL. With URL rewriting this could be access by: http://url.com/edit/title_goes_here - No session data ever need be stored. No user passwords ever need be stored. A lot of the past security features become moot. I think forcing people to log in to respond is a barrier to conversation. And people don't care to log into anywhere but their most visited pages. permalink and replies (4)LEGO Elements
posted by pfunk on 2006-11-29 14:31:14 Some of us old fogeys complain about the number of overly-specialized LEGO elements in today's LEGO sets. Where before you may have a dozen pieces to make a curved hull of a jet, it's now replaced with two moulded pieces that are about useless anywhere else. Is this surge of specialized pieces related to patents? The patents on the original brick specifications have expired and Megablox and other competitors can now make compatible bricks. By making (and patenting?) new brick designs are they merely fighting a war against the ticking clock of patent expiration? [Full Disclosure: I'm a LEGO junkie.] permalink and replies (1)Child's Play Charity
posted by pfunk on 2006-11-29 09:43:24 Each year [http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ Child's Play] raises money and toys (primarily video games) for childrens' hospitals across the world. I've been a part of it the last few years. If you want to brighten a suffering kid's life this holiday season, check it out. From their FAQ page:Q: What is Child’s Play? A: Child’s Play is a Seattle based, gamer-run organization that holds an annual toy drive for childrens’ hospitals. Many of the gifts donated by gamers are, as you might imagine, age appropriate videogames and gaming systems - but they are by no means the only things donated. We received eager donations of coloring books, art supplies, crafts, movies, cartoons, virtually anything a young person could ask for. We asked the world-wide community of gamers, and they gave so much we had to move to larger storage facilities three separate times. Our 2005 event raised over six hundred thousand dollars in toys and cash for twenty children’s hospitals around the US and the world, putting the community’s total contribution level well over the one million dollar mark. This year, we’ve expanded Child’s Play once more, including our first hospitals in Australia and Africa. Q: Who is behind Child’s Play? A: Child’s Play was started by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of the online comic strip Penny Arcade, which concerns itself with videogames and gamer culture. Q: Why did Penny-Arcade create Child’s Play? A: Giving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of toys to children in long-term care is its own reward. Past that, it’s a way to show a different side of people who play videogames as a hobby. Q: How does Child’s Play work? A: We have partnered with Amazon.com and DStore.com.au, which hosts a series of “Wish Lists” stocked with toys the hospitals have requested, as well as age appropriate videogames and game systems selected by Child’s Play. Simply choose the hospital nearest you from our interactive map at http://www.childsplaycharity.org and the toys you purchase will be delivered directly. We also accept cash donations via Paypal to childsplaycharity@penny-arcade.com, which will be split evenly among the hospitals in this year’s drive. There are no “administrative fees” or other hidden costs associated with giving to Child’s Play – every cent is passed on. Q: Where can I find more information about Child’s Play and its creators? A: We welcome you to visit our online hub at [http://www.childsplaycharity.org]. Take advantage of the interactive map, choose the town nearest you and give a gift.