One has to wonder what’s going through Charlie Sheens mind. But I suspect that I’m not the only person who’s wondered how often the mega successful think “Why should I put up with crap? I’m rich!” The problem is, that place only leads to ruin. As tempting as it is to lash out at your critics and demonstrate your capacity to operate without restraint, no man is an island. When my son was younger, he asked me why certain words were considered “dirty”. I told him that these were wer...
The Internet is full of haters. Haters hate. Nothing you can do. But what has surprised me over the years is seeing cliques of haters. That is, specific groups of people who are friends who get off on trying make someone else miserable. It’s a stunning thing to see on message boards I lurk on from time to time. I’m on the plane now lurking on various gaming and tech forums and I just feel disgusted when I see what is a reasonably organized effort to harm some other forum goer for wha...
It’s called Aerotitus. And it sucks. Every time I fly I get vertigo. Every time. When I was a kid, I had a lot of ear infections and is messed up my Eustachian tubes. So when the plane takes off or lands, my ears plug up and I get vertigo. Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much everything to address it. Gum chewing. Pinching my nose and blowing air. Yawning. Decongestants. Nasal Sprays. Ear plugs. Patches. Ginger. Asperin. You name it. They all help to be s...
As I mentioned last month, I started monitoring our energy usage very closely. It turned out we had two key areas that were running away with power. The first was keeping the pool room warm. That was costing us a fortune. And by warm I mean like 80 degrees (it’s supposed to be about the same temp as the water). The other was the recirculating hot water which was using a lot of gas. Using this knowledge and making lots of other adjustments, I cut our energy bill by 45% thi...
When things are tough, what are your sources for coping? Here’s a brief list of mine. My wife My kids My sister-in-law The people I work with Learning new “Tech” Internet Communities Learning new things Helping others Passing on skills to others Reading a good book.
I play MP online and I hate to say it but it sometimes brings out the worst in me. I am a big believer in being a good sport but if someone’s being nasty enough online and they’re winning, I know how to drag it out a very…very…long time.
You hear about executive producers sending “notes” down to the director or producer of a movie. That’s what I’m doing these days. “Maybe we should have robots in this scene instead of a dragon?” I’m leaving the dream. I assume a lot of people read these journals because they like seeing what happens at a game company that they would normally not get to find out about because most game companies these days are publicly held and thus there’s a strict PR leash on everyone. So today I’m...
As some of you know, I’m a kook. As I get more time, I intend to indulge in this further but with life being so busy, I only get to do the smash and grab type of kookiness. This past year I got into supplements and I’ve managed to stick with that. The big ones I recommend are: 1. CQ10 if you’re on a Statin drug (which I’m on to control cholesterol). These reduce those general “aches and pains” people get as they get older. 2. Fish oil pills in general. These just gener...
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a creature of the Internet. Some people are “private people”. I’m not. I like sharing stuff with other people because, frankly, I do believe that people are inherently good. I believe this because I’m a believer of natural selection. People who can’t play well with others have tended not to be as likely to pass on their genes. There are clearly exceptions to that but all in all, most people I interact with fall well into the “good” category.
Over the years I’ve found out what I’m good at: Business. At the same time, I know what I like to do: Software and game design. For awhile, I held the conceit that I was pretty decent at game design. But since hiring Derek (Kael) Paxton and Jon Shafer, I’ve come to realize that my skills at a game designer are much like my skills at graphics design or software development – I can do it in a pinch but I’m out of my league compared to a specialist. It’s a bit of a bummer. Actua...
The Energy Detective is a kit that you can purchase online that lets people monitor how much power their house is using in real-time. While there are newer kits that work with your power meter, many advanced power meters (such as what I have) won’t work with them. The way TED works is as follows: The measuring “donuts” hook up inside your electrical panel. These donuts then are connected (and powered) by one of the breakers. The electrical line connected to the breaker is used to...
Twenty years ago, if you wanted to make a real game you made it for the PC. The toughest choice was to support either an Adlib card or a Sound Blaster card. Now, game developers have to decide between PC, High End Consoles (Xbox/Playstation), Family consoles Wii), Handhelds, iOS, Android, or Web. My answer remains the same: It depends on the type of game you want to make. And the type of game you want to make should also consider how much money you have available to you. ...
As we enter the New Year, 2011 has some hope in front of it but I’m not ready to predict anything too exciting. For business owners, interest rates remain very low which makes capital for those with good credit ratings readily available. 3.25% interest rates are not uncommon right now for those who know how to obtain it. Thus, it becomes a question of how certain you are to generate net revenue that exceeds what you borrow at the going interest rate. Historically, I’ve disl...
The BMW X5 is an SUV for drivers who want an SUV that is both sporty (read: Can go fast) as well as works as a good utility vehicle. In other words, an SUV that really is an SUV as opposed to simply a car that is shaped like a closed pickup. My previous X5 was somewhat disappointing. BMW has its “iDrive” system for controlling the internal gadgets and it was just awful. The 2011 edition has a far superior iDrive with buttons that take you right to where you want to go. Its iPhone/iPod...