New Intel-based Mac Mini

Posted on February 28, 2006 by Steve

I’ll be brief about this. I may be an Apple employee but my site is not another outlet to shill for them when I’m not getting a piece of the marketing budget. 
 
Today, the big announcement was the revision of the Mac Mini. No more G4-based Macs under $500. Now they’re Intel-based Macs starting at $600. Maybe they can get the price lowered in a while because $500 is the magical pricepoint for a “cheap” computer these days. 
 
The main reason why I want to plug this Mac is one of the major revisions to its hardware, an audio-in port! The previous Mini was an awesome, el cheapo Mac, especially for musicians…until you find the lack of an audio-in port. No longer a problem and now I can really recommend this model to cost-sensitive friends I want to really turn on to Garage Band. 
 
Sadly, if you want to run the Adobe bundle of software or Mac OS X Server (like I do for Picayune), this Intel-based system isn’t recommended.

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Week 21 of NHL 2005-6

Posted on February 28, 2006 by Steve

Team USA did even worse in the medal round against Finland. Getting knocked out was one thing, but the 30 minutes of penalties, poor play and poor sportsmanship followed by a temper tantrum from Mike “Lady” Modano was unacceptable. Team Canada faired badly too by being eliminated in the first round by Russia. Herb Brooks was and always will be right, superstar teams don’t work. Congratulations to Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic with their medals and proof that finesse hockey beats the bullying, brutal style that dominates the NHL. 
 
I am convinced that sending the professionals to represent the USA is a mistake. Losing at hockey and basketball are one thing. Losing in bad form is insulting and a black eye. I don’t know about basketball but I think from now on, the US sends only players under 25 who are willing to make the sacrifice of leaving their lucrative NHL contracts for a few weeks. Then they can practice, bond and cooperate like a real team. I would also throw in one last mandatory requirement: these players must be good sports and have fun. It’s just a game anyway and if they lose, the USA won’t be descredited, George W. Bush and Co. have already succeeded. 
 
No new developments about the Penguins leaving Pittsburgh but the smart money is on them doing it. The Devils have a new rink with another city lined up in New Jersey. Works for me since they have the state in their name, not a city so the change is seamless. But Paul Allen and other western interests want an NHL team in Portland or Seattle so the Penguins are the new target. Personally I’m cheering for Portland to keep that “P” sound. Portland Penguins! Easy. Seattle Penguins? Nah. Hopefully they won’t have to change their name like the Jets, Nordiques, North Stars, Whalers and Scouts did (cheap prize to whoever can tell me what the current names of those teams are first in the comments!). They can remain the same like the Flames. 
 
Meanwhile, I told my more knowledgeable ex-roommate Paul that I had the solution to re-align the NHL teams should the move happen. Here it is. First, in the Western Conference you’d have the three divisions based upon time zones instead: Pacific, Mountain and Central; then you break up the teams like so. 
 
Pacific: Vancouver, LA, Anaheim, SJ and Portland 
Mountain: Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado, Phoenix and Minnesota (I know they’re Central, but they have to go somewhere) 
Central: Detroit, Chicago, STL, Nashville and Dallas 
 
With the Pens going west, someone from the East has to come over. I would’ve preferred Detroit but they make too much money in their current conference so that means the lame Blue Jackets come over. Here’s how to reorganize the East: Atlantic, East and Southeast. 
 
Southeast: Carolina, TB, FL, DC and Atlanta (no change) 
Atlantic: Philly, NJ, NYR, NYI and Boston (that city touches the Atlantic ocean like the other four) 
East: Columbus, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa 
 
I think the West will toughen up with the shuffle since the Central division is a joke outside Detroit and Nashville. Vancouver moving to the Pacific will also shake up LA, SJ and Phoenix. Maybe Columbus will benefit from playing the Eastern game too.

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Tenth anniversary of GDW’s demise

Posted on February 28, 2006 by Steve

I remember hearing the news about GDW finally shutting its doors on February 29, 1996. I just can’t remember how I found out since I wasn’t gaming then. Probably one of my friends because I don’t think I read about it. 
 
Back then I was rather thrilled to hear the news. It was definitely a very sweet, sweet revenge upon Frank Chadwick and Dave Nielsen while petty. They thought they knew what the world wanted when it came to roleplaying games. Too bad they never really played one on a regular basis. Might explain why their rules, mechanics and atmosphere were uninteresting thus resulting in boring games. The other problem was that Frank continued to siphon off money from the few profitable roleplaying games into his poor-selling wargames. Lester even showed him the writing on the wall in 1992 of how computer-driven versions of these games were the future. 
 
Sadly, Frank’s decision-making process and management style were very poor. There was always one person who had his ear and that person could do no wrong, until this person was discredited and eventually fired by Frank. His other ugly habit was all the shit he’d talk about his former employees such as his favorite phrase of “such and such never really did anything here.” Truth be told, people like Lester Smith, Tim Brown and Julia Martin probably kept GDW alive longer than Frank could comprehend. Plus the efforts of Steve Bryant in the art department were crucial in my opinion. After Lester bailed for TSR, Frank decided that Dave was his boy which put the bullseyes on me and Steve for sure. I can only wonder if Frank finally discovered the severity of Dave’s alcoholism. 
 
They say that living well is the best revenge and over the last ten years. Well I’ve exceeded the minimal standard these days: I own my car, I own a house, I have a cool wife, I live in a city with much better weather and my income is three times what GDW ever paid me. But it’s not the material things I feel vindicated about, it’s how I proved his parting words wrong. When he fired me, he made some inaccurate comment about me not being a team player. HA! I have a string of good evaluations from my time with Apple and several awards from PowerComputing. I think Frank’s real issue is that he didn’t want to hear the truth. He only latched on to what he wanted to believe and before GDW closed its doors, he earned the nickname of Homer in the game business (explains the above graphic).

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One Billion downloads from iTunes

Posted on February 24, 2006 by Steve

Apple reached that milestone yesterday and a very lucky teenager in Michigan hit the jackpot; a 20″ iMac, 10 iPods, a gift card for $10,000 worth of downloads and a scholarship donated to Juilliard’s school of music, in his name. 
 
I’m not jealous because I was already disqualified as an Apple employee. 
 
I am rather impressed with how well the iTunes side of the store has done though. A billion songs within a three-year period and it has expanded to 21 countries. For me, it’s just the successor to buying 45s and with my younger friends it’s the successor to cassingles. 
 
I still encounter people who pursue the “free” options on the Internet. Personally, I don’t have a gripe with what they do. They’re entitled to their opinion and consequences (if there ever will be). I only found iTunes’ “free” cousins rather lousy, difficult to use and filled with poor selection. Alright, the iTunes Store could use an improvement on its selection too but I think that’s more the fault of the labels not knowing what they actually have the rights on (especially Sony). 
 
So a big thumbs up for the store’s success on moving one billion mp3s. On to one trillion!

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26th Anniversary of Miracle on Ice

Posted on February 22, 2006 by Steve

Despite the US getting eliminated in the quarterfinals by Finland today, it is still a great day for US Hockey. 
 
On this day, 26 years ago, Team USA defeated the USSR at hockey in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. I don’t really care for the patriotic context of the victory because hockey is just a game and it doesn’t mean one country’s way of life is superior over a sport. Those hockey players from the Soviet Union were awesome athletes so they’re worthy of our respect for that and politics should be left at the door when it comes to games. 
 
To me, the win is a huge tribute to amateur athletes beating professionals, disguised as amateurs. Nowadays, pros are sent with hugely disappointing results. I think hockey teams for the Olympics should be staffed with players from the younger ranks like the Juniors competitions.

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Zathura

Posted on February 21, 2006 by Steve

Even if you’ve seen Jumanji, this movie is still different enough to stand on its own and be enjoyed but it is rather impossible not to be drawn into a comparison. 
 
Instead of two orphans who miss their parents, there are two brothers who don’t get along because of the differences in their ages (10 year-olds aren’t very patient with kindergartners). The game’s destructiveness is restrained to the house, not an entire town. The bigger surprise is what the game’s conclusion brings. It’s been a while since I saw Jumanji but I think when that game ended, everything went right back to normal immediately and the two adult players were allowed to relive the previous 30 years. Zathura is a bit more preachy about telling children to work together and be nice to each other since they’ll miss each other when they grow older. 
 
Despite it being very predictable, it’s the execution that makes the movie enjoyable and not a waste of 90 minutes. Children under 12 will like it, especially if their parents are divorced and don’t have time for them. Director Jon Favreau did a decent job getting the kids’ acting to be convincing when they’re fighting, running around in fear or explaining to their teenage sister why the house is in space. He doesn’t let the kids be precocious, resourceful Disney characters; they continue to behave like children of the appropriate ages. For example, the kindergartner pushes his luck with his older brother to get his attention like my brother did or what I’ve seen in action with other people’s kids. Again, I would recommend this movie for young children. There’s nothing in it that will give them nightmares or teach them new foul words to demonstrate on the playground.

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Week 20 of NHL 2005-6

Posted on February 21, 2006 by Steve

It’s an off week for the NHL as the Olympics take their toll and the Rick Tocchet debacle unfolds. 
 
Team USA is awful this go round in the Olympics. After they lost to Slovakia, I pretty much lost interest since they’ll be lucky to be in the medal round. A repeat of the USA v. Canada for the Gold in 2002 at Salt Lake isn’t happening. Heck their opening game against Latvia ended in a tie. Pretty sad. 
 
The funnier news happened Saturday with Canada being upset by Switzerland 2-0! This game definitely hinged upon the goalie (Martin Gerber) for the Swiss since his shutout was composed of 49 saves. Those Canadians were putting the blitzkrieg on for that many shots. Despite that, they’re still the smart money for the Gold followed by the Swedes. After Sweden, it’s up for grabs with the remaining 10 nations. 
 
The NHL will be back on track next week. Let’s hope it doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the 30 teams when the 100 or so Olympians return. 
 
Meanwhile, it looks like the Penguins will be leaving Pittsburgh in the next several years. A bit of a shame but I don’t think it’s fair for the taxpayers of that city, county or state to build a really weak team a new rink. It’s even more unsettling that it has to be tied to a casino. Pittsburgh is still a has-been dump of a city like Peoria, IL (the one near by upbringing). I think it’s really pathetic when the local government feels that the solution if gambling. The good-paying jobs are leaving and the answer is playing on people’s desperation and poor math skills? Even so, winning is what will put butts in seats for the Penguins; not a new rink with more expensive seats, parking and concessions. I’m actually hoping they will move to Portland or Winnipeg. That would put them in the Western Conference and the NHL can finally re-align the teams in a manner that makes more sense. 
 
How? Let’s assume Portland Penguins because it has a good ring to it and I’ll just go with a simple shift. Penguins join the West so one of the others joins the East. There are two logical choices based upon the time zones; Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets. I would prefer the Red Wings to add more challenging games for the Flyers, Devils, ‘Canes, Leafs and Senators. But I think the NHL will go with the crummier Blue Jackets which might actually benefit from playing harder teams than the Blackhawks (cheap owner) or Blues (in freefall until they’re sold).

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The usual alarmist nonsense

Posted on February 17, 2006 by Steve

Once again, there’s allegedly another “virus” going around that proves Mac OS X isn’t secure and it’s just as flawed as Windows. 
 
For my fellow Mac users, let me explain and assure you what it really is. Firstly, it’s not a virus, it’s more along the lines of a Trojan horse because it claims to be one thing yet is another. Secondly, it claims to be screen shots of the next version of Mac OS but it needs your admin name and password to show you. If you enter your name and password to look at a picture, you’re a chump. Lastly, people should always be careful of where they’re downloading from. Maybe that’s a tad arrogant; sorry, it’s not meant to be. My point is that the Internet is filled with people making this bigger than it really is.

Posted in Apple, Science & Technology | 1 Comment

Ice Bats move closer to my house

Posted on February 16, 2006 by Steve

After ten years at the Travis County Expo Center, the Austin Ice Bats are moving to a new venue, Chaparral Ice. The details were basically the unavailability of the Center. I would also go with the smell on that place (the Center is used for livestock shows and rodeos). 
 
I’m rather stoked because Chaparral Ice is the rink near my house. It’s just a quick drive under the I-35 bridge over Wells Branch Parkway to the south-bound feeder next to the Whataburger. This rink will be making some major improvements to handle 2000 people. I would highly recommend doing something about the parking which barely handles the number of people attending the UT games. 
 
Other renovations will probably involve the concessions, thus no more bringing in your own cooler of beer or carrying in a #5 from Whataburger. I’m sure paying for parking will come into the picture too so I’ll see how hard of a walk it’ll be. 
 
The upside is that this move is temporary while the owners try to keep searching for their new, permanent home. I don’t recommend downtown like the Toros or other UT sports. The bigger upside is that I will definitely be taking in more games, heck I might even look into season tickets or a ten-game package.

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Justice League Unlimited

Posted on February 16, 2006 by Steve

This cartoon has been out for a few years now and it started out with the simpler title of just Justice League. Even when there were only seven superheroes saving the world, it was aweseome. It has only gotten better with the League expanded to include the vast DC Comics back catalog of heroes and villains. 
 
Originally, I was a bit skeptical when they expanded the membership to include dozens more superheroes. When there are too many characters, then character development is unevenly distributed. A famous example is Star Trek: The Next Generation. I wouldn’t say that Cmdr. Riker, Chief LaForge or Dr. Crusher were as fully developed as Capt. Picard, Lt. Worf or Mr. Data. 
 
Fortunately, the writers for JLU have done an excellent job integrating the DC Universe’s rich history into this cartoon while keeping it topical and a contemporary feeling. The only downside is how brief each episode is. Thanks to the FCC not doing its job anymore, the show is only 21 minutes long so we can be bombarded with 9 minutes of commercials on the Cartoon Network. 
 
If you’re not into superheroes and comic books, it’s still an interesting diversion. The live-action versions of superheroes are enjoyable when they’re done well. But I will always be biased in favor of animation covering this genre more effectively. It’s also more fun to discover who the voice actors are at the end credits, especially when it’s someone you recognize. The people behind this show also deserve a huge round of applause for getting Clancy Brown, Powers Boothe and Michael Ironside as the voices of supervillains and ultraheavies Lex Luthor, Gorrilla Grodd and Darkseid respectively. 
 
As a fan of superheroes since I was a small kid, this one has turned out to be all-time favorite animated comic-book character show because it has action, cool surprises and it even pokes fun at DC’s past (like the villains’ hideout looking pretty closely to the old Legion of Doom fortress from the horribleSuperfriends show of the late 70s). I can only muse why Marvel doesn’t have such good quality with their properties being animated.

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Picayune URL is safe for 2 more years

Posted on February 14, 2006 by Steve

Yesterday I renewed my lease on maggipicayune.net through dotster.com. Now I don’t want to start receiving e-mails from anyone about how I paid too much or there’s someone else who does it cheaper. I’m satisfied with the price I paid for a two-year period instead of my annual rate. 
 
So why maggipicayune.net instead of something simpler such as maggi.com or stevemaggi.com (my brother used to have brianmaggi.com)? Years ago, my family already discovered that some person in Europe already grabbed it and posted his website of his family. I couldn’t make out the language of it since it wasn’t in English nor French. There are probably a couple thousand people in the US, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria and Italy with this surname so I didn’t think it would be fair to wrestle it away to squat on it. 
 
Then my brother told me that Nestle scored it. Nestle? As in the candybar company based in Switzerland? Yes, them. Turns out they own Maggi which is a food processing company that specializes in canned goods. This brand is pretty common in Mexico and the bordering US states. 
 
Score one for the heartless, Swiss food-processing conglomerate that’s a poor world citizen. My brother and me could’ve been rich cybersquatting on that.

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Week 19 of NHL 2005-6

Posted on February 14, 2006 by Steve

The Olympics have started but Men’s Hockey doesn’t kick off until tomorrow (Wednesday). I haven’t really checked yet to see if I get any of the games on my Dish set up. Won’t matter though. The matches take place seven hours earlier which means they’re playing in late morning here. Short of an upset during the medal round, I will have to agree that Canada is pretty much a given on the gold. 
 
My Flyers wrapped up rather poorly before the break. The injuries were piling up yet the rookies and back ups did a decent job beating the Caps on Friday night although they almost blew their lead. On Saturday, the game against the Senators was awful. Steve Coates of Comcast was trying to be optimistic by saying that they may be trying to use the Muhammed Ali rope-a-dope strategy. I disagreed with that statement on two points. Firstly, that’s not Coach Hitchcock’s style or plan. He believes in playing 60 minutes of your best so you can pound your opponent into the dirt immediately. Secondly, with Ottawa’s speed, shooting prowess and aggressiveness; you’d be a fool to ever let them jump out ahead because they’re not known for letting you catch up. Now we’re back to being in second for the Atlantic while the one-line Wonders known as the Rangers have first place. There are less than 30 games remaining. I can only hope that those who are left behind rest, practice and regain their hunger to bring home Philly’s first Cup in 30 years. 
 
Meanwhile, what’s my two cents on this whole Wayne “Betzky” mess? I’m saddened that Rick Tocchet is in the thick of this mess which automatically pulls Wayne into it (due to their working relationship on the Coyotes). When they said this involves the Mafia from southern New Jersey and Philly, I had a sinking feeling that Jeremy Roenick was part of this mess. My worst concerns came true last night when ESPN.com broke the story that JR is giving an affidavit over this. It doesn’t look well on the surface but here’s the silver lining: No one has bet on hockey at any level thus a repeat of what happened to Pete Rose is unlikely. No one has been murdered like the Michael Jordan situation. Lastly, my friend who’s a lawyer said that in Texas, gambling with an illegal operation is a misdemeanor. I imagine it isn’t that serious in New Jersey so the case they’ll probably make will be conspiracy (hard to prove), fraud (iffy) and tax evasion (that usually sticks). I think the media is just bored since they don’t really care about the game, they just look for blood in the water.

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Buy this comic!

Posted on February 13, 2006 by Steve

Yesterday, I’m at my local comic book store Dragon’s Lair to pick up my weekly fix of funny books, The Simpsons usually. I’m browsing all the new arrivals to make sure I don’t miss anything I normally get since I only made a committment to subscribe to a couple mini-series. Then I noticed this cover (see above) and I immediately thought, “hey, that artists draws like my friend Steve Bryant!” When I read the title Athena Voltaire, then I smacked my forehead (mentally and virtually) and realized, that’s Steve Bryant’s title that he does with Paul [Daly] and Chad [Fidler]! 
 
What’s this about? It’s about the adventures of this lady named Athena Voltaire (obviously) during the 1930s. To me it’s part Indiana Jones (fighting Nazis), part Aeon Flux (cuz she kicks serious ass) and part the Shadow (since she has some mystical training). There is also the additional comic/story of Paul’sTerranauts which I haven’t read yet. 
 
Why should you read it? Not just because my friend Steve drew it, co-plots it and co-created it (I hope he’ll correct me if I get it wrong). There are some serious endorsements on the front and back covers. There’s author Warren Ellis (Justice League Unlimited TV show), Tim Bradstreet (cover artist for Dark Horse, Marvel and DC), Mark Schulz (creator of Cadillacs & Dinosaurs), Mike Barr (comic writer for Batman & the Outsiders) and the clincher, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (producer and writer for the hit show Lost). 
 
If that weren’t enough, there’s a plug saying that this book is up for an Eisner Award. What’s that? It’s a very prestigious award named after Wil Eisner who I feel is a key person responsible for setting the standard on quality comic book writing. This award has been presented to other famous books like Maus and it’s actually a legitimate prize, unlike a Grammy. 
 
Way to go Steve! He’s on his way and I know it’s a dream come true. Soon, I know he’ll be joining the ranks of the greats: Miller, Perez, Giordano, Thompson, Gibbons, Janson, Pini, Barta, and so on.

Posted in Comic Books | 1 Comment

Opening in our D&D group

Posted on February 11, 2006 by Steve

Recently we finally picked up that magical sixth player in our D&D group. Why six as opposed to the four that all the Third Edition rules are keyed toward? I’ve been a player, DM and fan of the game for 25 years so I was introduced to the game back in its First Edition days. Back then, the adventures were written for a group of six to nine heroes to take down the villains, monsters or demon lords. I’m sure they’ve changed up the game to accomodate four now because there’s so much more competition for people’s leisure time, especially with gamers (or nerds and geeks if you wish). Heck, it’s a major effort to get four players to show up regularly let alone five, six or even the epic nine. 
 
Anyway, for a good amount of time, the group has generally held together decently at five and six was always the ideal that we couldn’t maintain. Six still proved untenable with the player we did have briefly and his personality really started to conflict with me and another palyer. Thankfully, he chose to bow out which prevented any further tension. 
 
Sadly, we also had a long-term player bail out suddenly. At first I was rather irked. We all adjusted the evening of the game so he could continue a different hobby which he was entitled to pursue. Then he just quickly said, bye and I felt it was rather rude. I’m over it though because we still want to have him over for dinner or go to movies with him. I would still want to retain that more than his participation in D&D. Who knows, he may return to it because I felt he was a good player. 
 
This me brings me back to the overall nuisance of trying to find replacement players. It really can be hard work. It’s almost like getting a replacement drummer in a band. Everyone has to get along or else it’s just a waste of an evening. No one wants to drive to Pflugerville just to re-enact the Dead Alewives sketch. 
 
So if you know someone who likes to play and isn’t a social retard, rules lawyer or powergamer. Drop me a line.

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Picayune is now 15

Posted on February 8, 2006 by Steve

While writing some e-mail to my friend Deb (Baedke) and scanning photos (part of my archiving project to cut down on clutter), I realized that Picayunewas first put together and mailed 15 years ago. My friends Deb & Neal Baedke were the first recipients too. 
 
Back in 1991 it was originally a newsletter done with QuarkXpress or PageMaker on the Mac SEs belonging to Marquette’s Business Administration lab. I had already graduated so I was quietly using them with José. I don’t remember how we got them printed out. I think our friend Winston let us slide on that. Originally, I tried to make it look more like a newspaper. I don’t know if I succeeded. Then I moved over to a magazine style in 1993 when I gained access to DG’s resources. Finally made the move to a Web page in 1997 and finally the ‘blog format last summer. 
 
But the credit for this idea originally belongs to my friend Lee “Doc” Rhea who sent me his Doc Times at the end of 1990. He had access to better equipment then, yet the concept was what intrigued me. It also served the purpose of keeping my basic QuarkXpress and PageMaker skills sharp for the typesetting jobs I landed later on in 1991. When I started the joys of unemployment in 1993, I cranked out more of them to pass the time while relearning QuarkXpress (GDW used the cheaper, weaker PageMaker). 
 
So thanks to you all who have been receiving my missives over the last 15 years. It has been a long, evolving process of how to communicate with you all after I let my letter writing habits go down the toilet within my first semester of college.

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