A Constructed Reality Expression
05.15.2013 by potato
I can feel the humidity of Planet Caladan, hear the wind, and smell the greenery. When I think of Planet Geidi Prime, I feel dirty and polluted. And Arrakis, the desert planet, I can taste your dust, feel the burn of your suns, and smell the acrid odor of worm in the air and on the rocks. Your sand grates against every nerve, and your dust chokes me. But I love you.
It had been at least 10 years since I had last read the Dune Chronicles. The other night, I picked up my copy of The Illustrated Dune by Frank Herbert, and began to read again. My brother gave me this copy when I was a teenager. He had also gotten me my first copy of the mass market paperback version and encouraged me to read the story, knowing how much I enjoyed the movie.
This will be my ninth time reading this story, and I am excited to be with some of my best friends again. The world which Frank Herbert created in Dune is one I enjoy losing myself in and exploring the rich scenery his words forge.
I am excited like a child, when I think of the places and people I will read about again. The thoughts of Leto the II while he endures his curse, the fall of St. Alia of the Knife, Miles Teg and his battles, Stilgar, Scytale, and so many more.
Already my thoughts drift back to the story, and I am losing focus on this post.
0 Comments Top05.13.2013 by potato
Doing a little bit of reading here, I am learning a bit more about the cannabinoids found in the amazing cannabis plant. Supposedly there have been around 40 different cannabinoids confirmed to exist, but only a few of them are of primary interest to the average person.
Most who smoke or use marijuana, are familiar with the Delta-9 THC cannabinoid, and maybe also with the Delta-8 THC cannabinoid. These are those responsible for providing the euphoric sensations with marijuana use. However, less known are the other cannabinoids which add to the uniqueness of each plant.
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD is found in nearly every variety of cannabis. The quantities can range from traces on up to 95% of the cannabinoids present. CBD generally has a sedative quality, and when combined with THC, the high comes on much slower and drawn out. But this is not bad news! CBD can make the high last up to twice as long also. When I was younger, we called this 'creeper'.
As THC oxidizes, CBN, or Cannabinol is produced, thus only traces exist in fresh marijuana. CBN tends to generally make the high lethargic or groggy, and at best contains 10% of the psychoactive quality of the THC.
Tetrahyrocanabivarin. What? Let's just call it THCV for short. THCV is the compound associated with the frangrance of the marijuana plant. Heat will bring more out in the plant, and is more common to the species that come from Asia and Africa. THCV usually makes the effects come on faster, though also leave faster too.
CBC is for Cannabichromene, and may occupy up to 20% of the cannabinoids in a cannabis plant. Little other information is provided on CBC, though is is believed that it may intensify the eurphoric effects of THC.
My source for this information comes from Indoor Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor Bible by Jorge Cervantes.
0 Comments Top02.21.2013 by potato
I occasionally see these bumper stickers as I drive which shows a silhouette of the Rockies, with the word Native above.
I often wonder at these stickers, as I see young people driving these vehicles. I wonder, have these proud natives ever seen anywhere else?
The world may be a small place while sitting and reading the news or watching TV. Yet, when you set out on foot, the world is large and wide open.
I do not think my travels and experiences are anything unique, though I do realize they are not common. When I share the stories of my moves around the country or backpacking in Mexico, people often respond with wide eyes and amazement.
So I wonder, even with how beautiful and wonderful the land is here in Colorado, how many have had the opportunity to explore the rest of the world around them?
I would like to find one of these stickers which says 'Alien'. I do not think there is anything wrong with the pride in their native land, but I am as prideful of my wanderlust.
Maybe one day I will write about my travels and adventures.
0 Comments Top02.19.2013 by potato
First, I would like to thank Valve for delivering on their goal to release Steam for Linux. Over the weekend I was able to successfully install Ubuntu 12.10 and Steam.
This was not my first time running Ubuntu. I had tried once back, I think it was 10.10 or maybe 9.10. While I thought the change from XP was nice, I didn't care for how thrown together Ubuntu had felt. 12.10 doesn't seem to be much better.
To start my adventure, I had downloaded the ISO and burned a disc. I used a spare drive, and installed 12.10. While installing, I was able to download additional packages and files. Though when the install finished, and rebooted, I had no internet or network. The network manager on the taskbar was showing as connected.
I'm sure this issue is probably not too difficult to resolve, yet I still consider myself a noob with Linux and having no net access, I was going nowhere. I rebooted and read a little more.
I had read that OpenSUSE 12.2 was successfully working with Steam and I had seen screenshots. I downloaded the Gnome version and tried to install. About 70% through, and a kernel panic error and pffft.
I decide to give Ubuntu a shot again and did a fresh install. This time when I get to my desktop, Ive got net access.
Now when I had used Ubuntu before, My Nvidia graphics card was detected and prompted to install a driver. Not this time, I had just a slow and sluggish desktop. But I did have net. Searching around, I found a post in some forum or maybe a blog which provided me the answer for getting my drivers installed in Ubuntu.
After a reboot, I can see the difference in the screen drawing and I know the drivers are loaded. I proceed to download and install Steam.
The install of Steam was easy, and gave no issues. Though Steam would not update for me. After a bit, I was able to update and log into my account. Sweet!
I reboot, connect my primary drive and start copying TF2 files over. Several files needed to be renamed to match the format on Linux, and a couple files needed to download yet. After a few minutes TF2 was loading and I was greeted with a Tux.
Very nice work Valve. Thank you for delivering on your promise. Even nicer was to receive the Tux item in the game, and better yet, to have associated styles for it. Pyro being my favorite.
I logged out and called my boys over. Each took turns logging in and starting TF2, each got a Tux.
Now if only other companies will consider the Linux OS as a platform to publish their games for. And maybe also, Ubuntu will clean up their act and smooth out their OS. Though to be fair, at least Ubuntu 12.10 runs on my PC unlike OpenSUSE 12.2.
0 Comments Top02.11.2013 by potato
A few weeks ago, I had uncrated an Unusual Hound Dog with the effect Stormy Storm. While it was nice to have an unusual, I didn't care much for the Hound Dog hat, and I don't play heavy.
I put the hat up for trade/sale and within less than a week it sold. I had gotten my asking price which was the median value, 45 keys.
I was on a roll; I figured I would open some more crates. I had nearly 60 crates saved and hoped that I would get some decent gear. At the least, some strange weapons, strange parts, and crate issue hats.
Well, what a burn. I used the 45 keys I had and another six and began to open crates. By the end of the run, I had no keys left, no unusuals, and a large pile of crap.
I traded/sold a lot of the surplus and recovered what I could. At this time, I looked at the rest of my backpack. I had a lot of nice gear and a lot of value, but I was kinda burned out on playing TF2 all the time. Day after day, after day.
While looking at the trade networks, I found people trading full games for keys. I proceeded to trade most of my backpack, acquired keys again and went looking for available games I would like.
By the end of the weekend I had wiped out near half the value of my backpack, but had traded for a handful of new games.
My best score, Torchlight II. I love it. The game is fun, the world is interesting, the new monsters are awesome. I've only just started, but I know I will enjoy this game for a good while.
I also was able to repay what I owned Lukas yet, with a copy of Bioshock 2, and Chivalry: Medieval Warfare for Joshua. Also, I had gotten a copy of Death Rally for each of us, and have had some good fun racing each other.
Another gem, Terraria, I look forward to exploring a lot more into, but also is a nice, casual game. And lastly, a simulation, Universe Sandbox. Not a game at all, but an amazing piece of software for exploring the universe and its properties. I'll add some screen shots hopefully soon.
Overall, I think I did pretty well. I had a lot invested into TF2, but wanted other options for games too. It was great to be able to get other games from items I had in TF2.
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