I will no longer be posting blog entries to Slashdot. Instead, I'm moving back to Blogger, this time with the new Blogger Beta. The new site is http://devshm2.blogspot.com/.

I've been testing it out (and posting in parallel) for a while now, and it hasn't given me any of the trouble I had with Blogger in the past. The main reason for me moving out, however, is embarassment.

Wait, what? You see, Slashdot has a button you can click that allows your blog posts to be submitted as potential Slashdot stories. This is never what I want, but through some browser glitch, this button gets selected about half the time. That means somewhere out there Slashdot editors have been forced to read blog entries about my personal life, the whole time wondering, "Why does this idiot think his daily going-ons are fit story material for Slashdot? WTF?"

It just happened again, and I can no longer take the shame. In fact, I'm tempted to click the button on purpose when I submit this -- easier than filing a proper bug report.

The other day I saw a great headline on the front page of the LA Times: "Bush warns of dangers of pulling out."

Wow. And here I thought his policy on sexual education was more draconian than that.

On an unrelated note, I might have a problem. A little while ago I noticed I had three beverages lined up in a row on my desk: a Coke, a Mountain Dew, and a coffee. At this point, all but the Coke is empty, and it won't last at that. It reminds me of visiting Curtis and Jenny for dinner, only s/C6H2O/C8H10N4O2/g.

(That was a Unix/Chemistry joke. Try and keep up, now.)

James passed this along, and it was too good not to post. I saw it linked soon after on Boingboing as part of a series of similar links.

INVISIBLE SANDWICH!

Safety warning: digging into the history of this meme can very quickly lead to very scary places. Instead, I provide you with the explanation of something completely different, via E2:
YOUR HEAD A SPLODE!.

WW + CCP = WTF?

So wait, White Wolf (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc etc etc) is merging with CCP (Eve: Online). It's not so much that I care as I'm just surprised.

Via Kotaku -- I love the pictures they pick for their posts.

I just found a fantastic to-do list. Time for me to get cracking! (Via Boingboing)

It doesn't, of course, take precedence over my existing list.

... is live for 2006. Only up for a few hours, and they're already at $50k. Here's hoping for another good year for them.

First of all, Gabe over at PA has finally seen the light (scroll down). The gambit system is strictly superior to the traditional FF combat management.

Rather than continue to prattle on about how much I'm enjoying it (read: a lot), I thought I'd do something different, and list the builds I'm using for each character. The leveling system gives you a great deal of freedom to specialize (or generalize) the abilities of each character. I have a few misgivings about the positions of some of the tiles on the license board, but beyond that I've been very happy with it.

Oh, if you think the character list is a spoiler, don't read, but since it appears in the friggin' manual, well, deal.

Vaan - MNK/WHM - High attack power and evades, weilding a pole (think shovel), and supporting with healing magic as needed. When I really want things to die, I set up gambits on my casters so that he's constantly buffed with Berserk and Haste.
Balthier - THF/THF - Steals stuff, uses lots of items (like a chemist) and wields a gun so he can hide in the back row. Bang bang. Gambit "Enemy HP 100% -> Steal" ftw.
Fran - BLM/WHM - Lots of attack magic, lots of heals. Super-nukey-doom, plus a good bow so she can still fight without getting into the thick of it.
Basch - PLD/WAR - Yeah, he's my tank. The best armor and weapons, plus a few healing spells so that he can look after himself. I often run a gambit keeping him buffed with Lure, since he's so much better at shrugging it off than anyone else.
Ashe - RDM/SAM - A huge spellbook with tons of support magic, and a competent physical combatant to boot. Either fights with a sword and shield (when the extra defense/evade is needed), or a big friggin' katana. She's versatile enough that I use her as a party leader whenever Vaan is out, 'zereked, or just dead.
Penelo - LOL/ROFL - Penelo is a little funny. I've had her in my party for a while, but still haven't found a good niche for her to fill. I've given her a bow which she fires from the back row, and she can cast a level 1 cure, but nothing else. She's a RDM in the 8-bit sense -- can't really do anything, but has tons of potential. I'm sitting on ~1500 license points at the moment, and that number keeps on growing. . .

Aside from going out each day to dance some Rueda, FF XII ate up my entire weekend, and I'm glad for it.

I've managed to hold off any assumptions whatsoever about the game, due in no small part to the bittersweet (well, mostly bitter) taste left in my mouth by FF XI.

Anyways. . .

It's been a blast so far. I'm about 5 hours in, and I'm having a great time. Most of the characters (Balthier and Fran ftw!) are quite likable (or, at least the ones that are supposed to be likable), and the gameplay is quite diggable as well. I think Tycho at PA described the gambit system as, "the means by which you relinquish control of the game", but I prefer to think of it as, "the thing that lets me go and pee without pausing."

Oh yeah, and the opening sequence totally makes me think of the Star Wars prequels -- oddly enough, I mean that in a good way.

Wait, what? It's a whole genre of music that's just nerds rapping, and typically poorly at that.

One of the leading artists, MC Frontalot, actually has some talent. I just peeped over to his website, and lo and behold, he's got a few new tracks up. There's one that I think everyone (especially AG -- he got a bonus email notification) needs to listen to, called Rhyme of the Nibelung.

Get your musical hookups here.

Another artist, MC Chris, has a funny skit about Kingdom Hearts II versus Resident Evil 4.
It's probably not very funny if you haven't played Kingdom Hearts, via VGCats.

Go Mason!

A stuffed zombie bear, via Make.

I love ironic good will, the latest example of which is a congratulatory cake from the IE7 crew to the Firefox team, celebrating their big 2.0. (via Boingboing)

Reminds me of the bit between SOE and PA a while back. You know, with the donuts?

I just read this forum thread over at xkcd.com, and I'm pleased to see that there are more of us out there. Yay!

Also, if you've heard enough of the logic puzzles going around, and are a fan of quality movies, you might get a kick out of this.

as seen from space, via Warrenellis.com. Very much the cool.

Not since Talk Like a Pirate Day, in fact.

First: A fantastic collection of futuristic warning signs, with descriptions. To quote the page, "All the truly cool transhuman technologies are going to require warning signs."

Second: Can someone PLEASE explain to me why several of the top-sellers on iTMS are pre-orders. It's not like I had any faith left in humanity, but come on people, you've actually managed to surprise ol' jaded me with the boundlessness of your senselessness.

Oh, and Mason said something funny about girls and pants.

PS - No Banksy photos, since all of the ones I took are complete rubbish compared to any you could easily google for online. Bah.