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October 31, 2004
The Politcal Machine
When I was a Senior in High School I took the 'mandated' Government class. Both my friend Andy, and my older brother had the opportunity to play a game that simulated the election process. My teacher had a different game in which you undertook a role (whether it be As a Campaign Leader, PAC Leader, and the electorate). Both Jim and Andy had mentioned this computer game lately (within the last week, what with the election coming).
Yesterday I picked up a copy of "The Polical Machine", which really captures both the live game's aspects along with the computer games interactivity. It is really fun, and it's a hoot to snake a home state away from your opponent. There are a few different gameplay modes, and the website provides up to date information on a regular basis. You can run the campaign of either of the two major parties, with either an candidate from the past, or you can create one yourself.
Posted by sgowell at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2004
Contemplating Switching....
So ... Apple released an updated iBook. I would definately wait until Tiger gets released, but I am really thinking of picking one up.
Heck, I could install Mono and do work from home. And as far as other coding goes, Xcode is damn cool.
Sure ... I could install the copy of Visual Basic.NET that I got from Microsoft (VB at the Movies), but that is neither here nor there. Well ... I guess it's here.
...and it would go with my iPod.
Posted by sgowell at 01:30 PM | Comments (1)
October 15, 2004
What did those birds ever do to you?
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai la tete,
Je te plumerai la tete,
Et la tete, et la tete, OH!
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai le bec,
Je te plumerai le bec,
Et le bec, et le bec,
Et la tete, et la tete, OH!
Alouette, gentile Alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Repeat, using:
Le nez; Le dos; Les jambes;
Les pieds; Les pattes; Le cou.
Posted by sgowell at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2004
What took so long?
I have been here I don't know how many months. I am the biggest computer nerd in the office, and it took me bringing in my copy of Wil Wheaton's Biography to read for them to nominate me. Little do they know, for I will display my new Alpha Geek status with pride.
Posted by sgowell at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2004
RSSImplement
There already exists CVS to RSS implementations that push information on builds and checkin/checkout procedures in a syndicated format. Adam Curry (and numerous others) are spearheading the Podcasting movement to use Enclosures to push content.
If a project centers around modular development, and uses a technology like XML to generate its interface, then why can't it read from a feed what it needs to update itself. Why is FTP/SCP, HTTP, or some proprietary format to download the patch installer the primary distribution method?
I would like to see Sourceforge not only show the CVS side of App development, and the diffs, but provide feeds of updates that an App can parse to patch itself.
What we need, is a framework. Who wants to help me write the spec?
Posted by sgowell at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)
DodgemBall
DodgemBall is a cross between Dodgem Cars (aka Bumper Cars) and Dodgeball. It is being developed by me, James Allen, for EECS 494 at the University of Michigan, to fulfill the assignment of "Make an arcade game."It is built on the DXFramework, a set of open-source classes and example code (not written by me) for programming DirectX in a very object-oriented fashion. If you're interested in making a game without worrying about a lot of the low-level junk that you need to know to make DirectX work, then I highly recommend checking out DXFramework.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmallen/eecs494
Thanks Jim!
Posted by sgowell at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)