The map does not scale planets and stars in a way that is realistic in the absolute sense.   That's because the basis of interstellar travel rests on folding space.   Ships don’t travel that fast in real terms. Instead, propulsion systems such as HyperDrive (the key technology in the background of the GalCiv universe) fold space so that traveling from Point A to Point B is far less in real distance.   However, folding space is dramatically interfered with by mass – planets an...

"Having your own business".  It's a phrase I have heard friends and others use.  But what most people think of when they say "Having your own business" is having a business that includes themselves and maybe a couple other guys. In nearly all cases of companies that have 30 or more employees, the company is founded either by venture capital or through a group of friends/associates who build the business together. My business I founded on my own.  I didn't have partners. ...

Holy cow are things going fast now.  Up till now, it's been engine building. And even now, it's still engine building. But now we're starting to get into gameplay features which are far more fun. Fleets are in. Totally in. Of course, at the AI guy, I have to get the AI to effectively use them.  I just finished working on the AI's handling of the planetary improvements.  The planet surface code is all done with STL which I'm a bit sketchy with.  So my first crack at it was ...

(received this in my email today) For your review:  An outstanding rebuttal (published in National Review) to novelist and occasional New Orleans resident Anne Rice's op-ed which appeared in last week's New York Times. September 07, 2005, 8:26 a.m. We Failed You? Try Again. Anne Rice blames America , not local officials. "To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismi...

Episode 6 of our podcast, PowerUser.tv is up! Check it out for lots of commentary on the latest tech news by me, Kristin Hatcher, Tom Chick (Quarter to Three), and WishX from Neowin.net

Well our guild at one point had over 120 players in it.  But as time has gone on, I've lost interest and so have my officers who have slowly quit or drifted off. I just don't find WoW compelling anymore but that's okay, it gave me many months of enjoyment which is more than can be said of most games that are released. To those who were part of the guild, thank you for sharing your characters with my character. It has been fun.

We've been so busy lately that we haven't had time to do much in the way of journals.  Things have been going a mile a minute. We're internally working on what will eventually be considered beta 3B. It's the last beta drop before we move onto beta 4 which is due out just before Halloween.  What we want to do is get all the non-diplomacy, non-campaign stuff done so that when we move towards beta 4, we're feeling pretty good about the core parts of the game. Beta 3A, which is the vers...

Back in 2003, I had my basement finished using the Owens Corning Basement System.  It's an alternative to dry-wall that looks similar to dry-wall but is actually soft to the touch (that is, it is almost like a cushion). The advantages of Owens Corning's system to normal dry-wall (According to Owens Corning) include: Basements can be finished much quicker.  The 1200 square foot or so of our basement that we got finished was done in about 10 days (compared to months with dry-wall...

Back in 2003, I had my basement finished using the Owens Corning Basement System.  It's an alternative to dry-wall that looks similar to dry-wall but is actually soft to the touch (that is, it is almost like a cushion). The advantages of Owens Corning's system to normal dry-wall (According to Owens Corning) include: Basements can be finished much quicker.  The 1200 square foot or so of our basement that we got finished was done in about 10 days (compared to months with dry-wall...

http://top500.feedster.com/ According to Feedster, JoeUser.com isn't in the top 500.  Which is surprising given our relative traffic. It makes me wonder how their system works. Perhaps we aren't even registered in there.  So I'm creating this blog item to make sure we are. No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:f531b608b914eec2d8483a525d3a2174

I cringe everytime I hear people yell about SUVs and their gas mileage. I was talking to a friend of mine in California who made some pretty...militant remarks about people who drive SUVs and their irresponsible behavior.  To which I said, "Wait, don't you commute an hour per day to work?" To which he said, "Well sure, but I drive a Toyota Corolla."  So what? I don't care what kind of car you're driving, if you're driving over an hour (total) per day, you're burning a lot of gas. So...

Source The people who blame global warming on CO2 emissions have a lot in common with the people who claim that intelligent design is a "theory". Which is ironic since they politically disagree on almost everything else. Whenever I get into a discussion on global warming with someone in person, they are almost always, universally, completely devoid of first-hand knowledge on global climate history, other factors that can cause the warming and cooling of the earth.  They often sound,...

I've been working massive hours these past two weeks so I haven't had much time to pay attention to the Katrina situation.  From what little I've seen, it's incredibly tragic and my thoughts definitely go to the families and friends of those who are involved in that terrible situation. It's also amazing to see how the situation brings the best and worst out of people.  I've read a lot of articles on the subject this evening and I'm just amazed at the vitriol and emotion involved on ...

I've spent the better half of a half hour trying to buy a song off of BuyMusic.com.  It's unbelievably, ridiculously over complicated.  The number of steps required to actually purchase a song off their awkward website is amazing.  Then, when it downloaded, it actually downloads a little EXE that installs it. It finishes with a "Listen now". But Listen now just opens the folder where it allegedly installed it (which I gave to sift through a gazillion files to find it). THIS is ...

Last year the family and I tried to go to Higgins Lake for vacation.  I can't find the blogs on it. Which reminds me, we need a calendar interface for accessing blogs as I know when I blogged about it. Anyway, it was a bit of a disaster. The cabin we rented was supposed by be "by the beach" but I think they meant "by the beech" as in tree.  It was across a fairly busy street from a dirty wad of sand. This year, we didn't even try to get something next to the beach.  We opt...