I have been playing around with my design lately, and want to share some of the cool things that I've done.

The old behavior of making links bigger when you mouse over them is gone. This was done by using the transition, transform, and scale CSS properties, like so (Firefox example shown):

a, a:visited {
  -moz-transition: -moz-transform 0.3s linear 0s;
}
a:hover {
  -moz-transform: scale(1.15);
}

This design decision had certain discrepancies in different browsers, like whether the text should remain centered on where it did, has a line break in it, should move towards the center if it's on the edge of the screen, and other questions.

In its place, there is a glowy effect. I intended this to be like a neon or fluorescent light turning on and off. This is implemented by the transition and text-shadow properties:

a, a:visited {
  -moz-transition: text-shadow 0.3s linear 0s;
}
a:hover {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px currentcolor, 0 0 15px currentcolor;
}

This cannot be easily done in Internet Explorer, but should work for the other horsemen of the web (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera), but Opera does not support the nice turn on/off effect, but still glows.

The side bar has a gradient going from a dark red to the page background color. I'm not sure if one would call that maroon, burgundy, or something else; I was never good at tertiary colors like that. On an LCD monitor, if you look at it from the side, the color changes a bit, like it's a hologram!

#sideContent {
  background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(#130017, #020A1D);
  background-color: #130017; /* fallback */
}

I have also implemented a print style sheet. This was rather easy, just add display: none to every part of the page I don't want printed. I used some no-frills alignment, black on white colors, and an appropriate font size.

@media print{
  body{
    font-size: 0.8em;
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
    color: #000000;
    width: 100%;
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  }h1,h2,h3{
    font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;
  }pre,code{
    font-family: "Lucida Console", monospace;
  }#sideContent,.articleDatea,form,#pagenation,#downContent{
    display: none;
}}

Only if more people knew about this secret, there would be no use for "print friendly" buttons on websites.

I noted that my web fonts do not work reliably all the time when printed, so I fall back to the next fonts in the list. Internet Explorer 9 surprised me, being the only browser that actually printed web fonts as expected.

I heeded the call of nostalgia today, and played some StarCraft: Brood War.

I've played so much of this over the years, but still not at all good at it. One slip up in your build order and you've just lost to a Korean. I've found that I'm not that good at Protoss as compared to the Terran or Zerg, but I can still do some nasty damage with any one.

The thing about StarCraft that shines above all other RTSes, is the completely asymmetrical factions. Each side and unit type is unique. Most other RTSes have mostly one faction that is reskinned and the only differentiation is a few unique units.

StarCraft 2 is far more organic feeling than Brood War. The Terrans pulled off that fresh-from-the-trailer-park, everything's-going-to-break-soon feeling in the first. I appreciate the Zerg looking more alive in 2, but hate the comical proportions of the Protoss. However, I will save that for later.

My friends and I made dozens of maps. For a while, there was a new map every week between us. Of course, one friend always wanted to play on his favorite (ironically not made by him), and was kind of annoying about it. Everyone else was always interested in the resource rich maps (but not Big Game Hunter rich), whereas I was focused on creating more interesting, varied, and balanced maps with plenty of expansion spots, but not crazy rich. I have attempted to port that one annoying map to 2, but due to the different sizes of buildings (always larger, rarely smaller), and the affinity of narrow passages everywhere, it does not feel right at all.

Then there's the tragic space opera of the single player campaign. There's everyone's favorite space cowboy Raynor, the rebel Mengsk, the powerful and beautiful (well, initially) Kerrigan, and the strangers Tassadar and Zeratul. Whenever I've played through, I always HATE playing the New Gettysburg mission. That's why Mengsk needs to die. Fortunately Kerrigan's head can be screwed on just right to make her realize that.

Maybe Blizzard can wrap it off in a sensible way (they've already did that once), unlike some other people have done with their stories.

Several months ago, I was pondering about the good old days, as one is wont to do. But it wasn't good enough, I wanted to define exactly when this was.

Turns out, all I was thinking about was in 2006. It was the year I graduated "high school"*, had a girlfriend, but went to a college I didn't really like, and much of the rest of it was working in fast food. I found it kind of ironic that the good old days involved people yelling at me: "I said no MAYONNAISE!" Go figure.

In my spare time, I was mostly playing Oblivion, Far Cry, and Starcraft. Another thing was podcasts. I started listening to the PC Gamer and MaximumPC podcasts, soon to be followed by Game Theory and the GFW Podcast, AKA 97.5 "The Brodeo". I started reading a selection of web comics. Also, Gary Whitta.

I recently looked through old instant messenger logs, and realized that I started to have LAN parties with my friends. One of them had just got done with a house addition (now plenty of space), but by the time I got there, there wasn't any spots left to set up. I eventually ended up in the basement with a TV tray! BEST LAN PARTY EVER! (at least at that place.)

But then Oblivion started to crash, I moved on to Supreme Commander, the Brodeo disbanded, and (eventually) MaximumPC stopped doing their podcasts as frequently. Said web comics were, upon reflection, of questionable entertainment value. I've been nostalgic for the Brodeo of late, mostly just listening to cuts of the Heroes of the Web segments. I got out of fast food, went to a better college, and got jobs that involve less exposure to the insane public.

Now the Elder Scrolls are back in full force, Whitta is back, and Schlock Mercenary is excellent (in stark contrast to Mass Effect).

About darned time those days came around again.

*I was homeschooled, so take the term "high school" as you please.

This is very spoilerific, even to the end of the game. Skip this post if wanted.

After leaving Earth, Shepard moves the stars, and does impossible things, making most of ME3 quite epic and good. There were several moments that I took special note of. When you tell the guy that he is the new primarch, then stands in front of Palaven, I thought that was moving. Shortly after playing ME1, I thought that turians were awesome. The first hours of ME3 were therefore very satisfying.

My first (and so far, only) playthrough was an engineer played from ME1. After deciding to not be the generic white default Manshep, I decided for a different look with more melanin. I eventually settled on him looking like Obama, mostly out of ironic political commentary.

I am overall satisfied with the game itself. A crucial negative point is that there isn't much variety in the enemy factions. For every mission, I predicted whether I would be fighting husks or Cerberus, because that's pretty much it. There's only 2 or 3 missions where you're not (mostly in a row), and those are geth.

For every mission, I thought of what choices brought me here, and what could I have done to get out of this mission, but it seems that it would not have mattered. Reapers enslaved the only rachni queen? If you killed her, they would probably just find or have another. Gave the collector base to Cerberus? TIM still wants you dead.

The initial few hours seems uncharacteristically linear. The end does too; it seems that there are three or so missions there.

ME3 is a case of where the ending just went on too long. There was no ending boss fight (Mr. Shields did not put up a fight), the adrenaline ran out at some point, then it got confusing. If it had ended just after Anderson died, with all the Reapers being destroyed and all existential threats eliminated, it would have been fine. But it went straight downhill to that kid.

So this godchild says that it is the catalyst, of which the Citadel is a part thereof, and that the Reapers are his "solution". I swear I could not have made this crap up. If the Citadel was a part of a larger entity, I'm surprised that there weren't any cults or rumors of such. Someone over the past few million years would have caught on.

Solution to what, you ask? The struggle between organic and synthetic life, because "the created always rebel against creator." Then he gives an example of the geth. Except the geth stopped fighting, are far more "organic" thanks to Legion, and are cooperating with their quarian creators to build a better future for everyone. I guess he might be referring to rebellious teenagers who then make peace with their parents?

Then there's the thing where the ending is a three way choice, not something that is determined by adding up what you've done. These choices take care of the Reapers (if not destroys them outright). But unless the middle path is chosen, the existential threat is not gone. No matter what, the relays and Citadel are destroyed and it is implied that all squadmates survived. This plot hole is big enough to go to China.

Squadmates survived? I took Garrus on that last mission, but there he is walking off the Normandy with Joker. How did he get there? There was a Reaper or two there by that gate where Shepard passed out, and Garrus was there. When Shepard wakes up, no one's around, and if everyone else woke up at a different time, they would have went into the light as was the plan, not call for a ride out. And that's just the good ending. The bad ends up with everyone in their own blood pools when you pass out, and no one gets off the Normandy.

I can understand the Citadel being destroyed, but the relays too? In my post ME2 speculation, I started to expect that the Citadel would be destroyed, being a mere pretty face to a sinister purpose. Once I knew what it was for, it started creeping me out to no end; I'm not sad to see it go. As seen in the ME1 intro:

In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.

They called it the greatest discovery in human history.

The civilizations of the galaxy call it... MASS EFFECT.

Without the relays, I don't think that you can call Mass Effect "Mass Effect" anymore. Think of the people who are stranded. Turians on Earth will starve, as will every non-turian on Palaven. Unless relays can be built quickly, everyone carries seeds, or has cryogenic tech (ask Cerberus?), thousands, if not millions, are at risk.

Good job Bioware for complicating and confusing something that should have been straightforward and simple. Now how are you and the rest of us supposed to clean up this mess? It seems that Bioware want to pull the big existential threat thing again, and repeat this whole mess again.

UPDATE: Now there's a theory going around that Shepard was indoctrinated right when he was blacked out. I like it, probably more than what I should. Does this mean I'm indoctrinated too?

All I wanted was to transfer my driver's license; I didn't want an epic quest. So I go the the PA License Bureau on the 18th. It's closed for President's Day, even though this is Saturday, not Monday. In the 2 minutes I was there, 5 other people walked up and jiggled the door. Looks like I wasn't the only one.

Last Saturday (25th), I finally make it. After waiting ~30 minutes, I get up there, and present my credentials and fill a form. Then I find out that they can't process it, because my license is suspended! I make some calls, find out that my license is fine, and this is another individual. I can't help but think that he's some drunk deadbeat dad or something. Maybe next time, they will go far enough to pull my picture off facebook!

My blog here has been getting spammed quite a bit recently. So I needed to develop countermeasures for that.

Oh, and I have rekindled my love of chiptunes.

I use Winamp, and have for over 14 years. I have a few playlists that I want to extract out of there, and backup with the rest of my music. I discovered Winamp's media directory, in C:\Users\your Windows username\AppData\Roaming\Winamp\Plugins\ml. Unfortunately, all the playlists (*.m3u8) files have intelligible filenames. So I reached for my handy Python skills, and got to programming.

Inside the same directory, there is a playlists.xml file. It looks like this:

<playlists playlists="11">
  <playlist filename="plf1B2C.m3u8" title="jazz" id="{018A9BC3-75D7-43AD-9877-A6C23F113B5A}" songs="42" seconds="11088" />
  <playlist filename="plf7B4.m3u8" title="latin" id="{8E432110-3DBC-4EC9-B5AD-537D16503C2E}" songs="158" seconds="36138" />
  <playlist filename="plf2EC4.m3u8" title="misc" id="{1444FCB4-41EB-4B10-9A61-BB6B1D4126AC}" songs="1261" seconds="281469" />
  <playlist filename="plf2ED3.m3u8" title="orchestral" id="{7D5FEBB4-0081-4554-BCC3-0FFB8E66FDA3}" songs="906" seconds="201768" />
  <playlist filename="plf7D3.m3u8" title="piano" id="{D55A9FC7-BB8B-4FEC-9E1A-12B41457DC0C}" songs="1162" seconds="247974" />
  <playlist filename="plf7E3.m3u8" title="bob" id="{9735824A-2A9A-4088-B6E9-BAA9DBA7A036}" songs="33" seconds="7688" />
  <playlist filename="plf1B6B.m3u8" title="christmas" id="{06603ED3-FE05-44F5-9492-B804B2B84981}" songs="514" seconds="98413" />
</playlists>

Ok, so that seems to match up the filenames to the titles that Winamp displays for my playlists in the media library. Just got to go through that list, copy them to somewhere else, rename them, and do a little search and replace all to format the filenames in the playlists properly. And now for something in Python. (Download source)

Change two variables around to your liking: outDir and stripFromEntries. outDir controls the output directory (where the processed playlists will end up), and stripFromEntries controls what gets removed from the beginning of every playlist entry, since Winamp likes to store complete filenames inside playlists. You might want to make both of those variables the same, since m3u playlists look for files starting where the playlist is located. Also, I find it's nice and convenient to keep your music and your playlists together. Do double up those backslashes, otherwise Python thinks you're escaping something.

If you do not have the Python runtime, get it. (if you don't know which one to get, get the Python 3.-something Windows x86 MSI one.) Feel free to run it, enjoy it, and mix it up. Just remember to close Winamp before you do, in order to force Winamp to save its playlists! Please leave a message if you appreciate!

Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.

It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It's a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.

A so-called 'blackout' is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this 'blackout' to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.

These are the words of Chris Dodd of the MPAA, in response to the Internet blackout protesting SOPA. This has got to be so dripping with lies that it gave me a good laugh.

First, let's forget for a moment that the MPAA also has corporate pawns. A lot of them just happen to be Congressmen, who then introduce legislation that the MPAA writes and unanimously benefits them only. Oh, and of the people* you speak of, only you guys do this. Also, companies that resort to legal action have failed.

Secondly, this is a simulation of what will happen when this SOPA thing passes. Not could, will. And 'abuse of power'? LOL! Look at who controls Congress and is talking like this bill is his baby!

Thirdly, you are part of the "media"; your news outlets tell people what to do all the time. It's time to wake up and realize that other people* have power too.

I've already done my part. Now, call your congressman. Tell them who you are, where you're from, and to vote no on SOPA. It's just that easy.

*Corporations are people too, you know. Hopefully not for long.