This kind of intense hatred from a community I sometimes associate myself with is embarrassing. The attack by the hyper-vocal minority also reinforces the perception that non-gamers have of the gaming community at large. Namely, that *all* such members are misfits and behavioral trolls unable to interact with society at large.

While the personal nature of this attack is nothing short of abhorrent, it is not surprising to me given factors associated with gaming culture. And it’s not the first time it has happened. During my time as an Eve Online player, one of the top players in the game was banned for telling a customer service representative to DIAF (look it up) while having an argument over game matters via Twitter.

“Hardcore” members of the gaming community have a false sense of entitlement when it comes to interacting with game designers. Some players have an intense and sometimes unnatural amount of brand loyalty to their designer/publisher of choice and are upset when they perceive a threat to their vision of perfection. Other players feel like the amount of time they invest in playing specific titles entitles them to a voice directly proportional to time played. And players are often quick to remind designers and publishers that as a paid customer, they expect value even if their vision of value differs from others involved in the game.

The very nature of Twitter also contributes to these kinds of personal tirades. Twitter is anonymous, and therefore largely devoid of consequences for those on the attack. The very nature of Twitter as a distributed platform also means that messages can be sent quickly and associated via hashtag to allow a trend to snowball to national (and international) visibility quickly.

Instead of personally attacking game designers, writers, and employees, those gamers upset with the direction of a game company would do well to let their wallets do the talking. Withholding financial support by not purchasing games or cancelling monthly subscriptions will do more to change a publisher’s general direction then directly attacking one of their employees.

After discussing my care with my endocrinologist, I recently received a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) after having the unit approved by my insurance company. After initially charging the unit, following the directions for applying the sensor, and installing the software, I am pleased to report that this system works extremely well.

The use of a GGM is really a fundamental shift for how I view blood glucose (BG) readings. While testing 3-4 times a day was a useful measure of how my BG readings were at specific times of the day, it wasn’t possible to accurately analyze trending. I now have a fairly reliable read on my BG readings, and can view BG trends measured every 5 minutes in graphs on the device over 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hour periods. And the software grabs that data and can store it in multiple formats.

The GCM really is a game changer, I fully expect to have much better results on my long term BG numbers.

1990 was a very rough year for me in terms of health, career, and academics. Instead of dealing with events head on, I distracted myself through a campaign of unneeded purchases that fueled or at least helped enable my denial. Those financial indiscretions would follow me for years, requiring the assistance of an understanding wife to finally shed 15 or so years later.

One of the purchases I made during the 1990 spending spree was a Tag Heuer divers watch (pictured). I was almost afraid to see if the watch needed to be overhauled as I had not worn it in several years. I was also cognizant of the fact that it was all the rage to etch ones SSN onto precious jewelry in order to identify it in case of theft. Not currently such a bright idea given the threat of identity theft.

With a sense of dread, I hauled my watch into the place where I purchased it those many years ago knowing that I will set it aside for a while if it required expensive repairs. After discussing the situation with the salesperson, he agreed to take a look at it to see if there were any signs of corrosion or other wear requiring a thorough service. I was happy that a battery was all that was necessary, and it was free as a benefit of me being a loyal customer. He also recommended a jeweler that he trusted to remove the SSN. After getting the watch back today, it looks great.

While many of my indiscreet purchases didn’t stand the test of time, my Tag Heuer divers watch did. It serves as a reminder of where I’ve been and how far I have come.

One of the MP3 discs that I recorded for October’s Pacific-Northwest trip of last year contained a greatest hits collection from Roxy Music. I honestly can’t get into much of the music but one of the tracks is spectacular. The 1975 track Love is the Drug has some great elements including the intro walking/driving sequence taken from the movie Duel, a fantastic bass line, simplistic yet effective guitar, and Bryan Ferry’s vocals. The elements are interesting individually but are even stronger when combined.

As a bonus, the official video for the song is a spotlight on excesses of the past, not one of them looks completely sober or drug free.

Lytro’s technology relies on capturing far more information about a scene than a fixed grid of colored pixels. Using high resolution sensors combined with a specially designed micro lens array, the sensor captures the intensity, color, and direction of light rays entering a camera through a lens. That data can then be processed into the kind of flat, two-dimensional image that many of us are accustomed to.

However, that data can be mathematically manipulated to change various aspects of the image, including focus point, focal length, depth of field, and even perspective shift. All these details can be recalculated after the image is captured, removing the need to think about them while shooting.

What I find interesting about such technology is that it would potentially both simplify both the iPhone physical lens mechanism and make taking pictures easier at the same time. Such a combination would be a tough act to follow.

When I wanted a smartphone, AT&T still had exclusive rights to iPhone in the U.S. so I went with an HTC Incredible.  While the device worked well enough for many things, it did have some problems with my complex data desires.  I wanted to be able to grab mail from both my work account and my gmail account, but only wanted to grab contacts from my gmail.  While it was probably possible for some, I couldn’t figure out how to do it with native apps, and even after buying a dedicated client for my work account.  Then I ended up with multiple copies of my contacts in my device address book which I had to manually link per contact.

I ran my HTC through the washing machine and dryer after getting back from vacation (no not intentionally), and my wife authorized a purchase of an iPhone 4S.  After having the phone for a few weeks, I’m amazed at how easy things seem to be with it compared to hoops that needed to be jumped through with the Incredible.  Multiple ActiveSync accounts natively?  Check.  Easy selection of where to draw contacts from?  Check.  Stable Gui and OS?  Check.

People may argue over which phone OS is better based on the software model and companies behind the technologies.   I’ve bantered on in the past about how unnecessarily restrictive Apple’s software approval model is, and how maintaining flexibility in terms of phone features and GUI implementations will ultimately give people what they want.  But I’ve come to see that, at least in my case, that flexibility means little if none can master it to the point of making it usable or stable.

I can’t say I am a complete Apple convert, but I am a satisfied Apple 4S customer.  The technology just works.

I then moved on to play more PC-based games, and I eventually was encouraged to donate my Xbox. A good friend of mine picked up an Xbox360 a while ago, and we played a bit of co-op Halo: Reach on his Xbox and his 50″ HD TV. As one might imagine, the overall experience changed significantly and I not so secretly envied an Xbox360 of my own so I could keel Covenant on my own. I never expected that such a desire would be fulfilled as I have always found other things (like a new iPhone) that attracted my discretionary income.

I was stunned when that very same friend bought me an Xbox360/250gb for Christmas (including the digital download version of Halo: Reach). After connecting the Xbox to my HDMI-switched tuner and 50″ Plasma, configuring the wireless adapter, and downloading the game, I fired off my first campaign mission. Wow. 1080p did this game a world of good, and the game play in the solo campaign was just as and sometimes more engaging as the original Halo and Halo 2. Even better, the multi-player via Live was useable and fun (even know I got my clock seriously cleaned by the online crowd).

Halo: Reach has a lot going for it, and I am very much looking forward to playing it online in co-op mode when my friend returns from his trip.

(btw, if anybody else out there is an Xbox Live gamer still playing Halo: Reach, let me know. Can’t say I’m any good, but I’m working on it.)

I finished reading my first new book as part of the reading initiative earlier this week. Ender’s Game is an award winning novel written by Orson Scott Card. The basic plot details a future Earth facing a third invasion by an alien species and their turning to Earth’s children in order to find the best and brightest tactical minds to fight the oncoming menace. Such a simplistic explanation does not do this book justice, there are very good reasons why this book is required reading by several military institutions as it delves into societal ethics, leadership issues, and the harsh reality of competitive society. This book can be as shallow or as complex as the reader desires, and that simply adds to the audience that would find this book interesting.

Anybody that enjoys reading science fiction *needs* to read Ender’s Game, it represents one of the best reads the genre has to offer.

There is no question about it, the smoker is bigger than I was imagining. Thankfully, the smoker breaks down into three manageable parts (charcoal pit, smoke ring, lid) so assembly and breakdown are manageable. And as can be expected from a Weber product, the smoker has a substantial feel.

I’m looking forward to perfecting my technique to the point that I don’t have to so closely monitor the temperature of the smoker. The temperature of the smoker can be regulated via 3 bottom vents and a lid vent. Other WSM owners have verified that sweet spots and settings for maintaining temperature are dependent on charcoal type used, outside environment, build of the specific smoker, type of starting method used for charcoal, etc… Part of the fun of a project like this is adjusting variables to determine eventual outcomes. Luckily, I have a very supportive wife so I don’t feel as much pressure to put out a perfect meal every time.

I’ve cooked on it twice, once doing baby back ribs, and once doing marinated chicken. I am looking forward to running this smoker through its paces as the years pass.

Rome was an HBO series that aired from 2005 to 2007, and was a co-production of HBO and BBC. The series is set in the first century AD as Rome transforms from a Republic to an Empire.

There is a great deal to like about this mini-series. The look of the series is lush even when viewed on standard DVD discs. The production is superb, with an obvious effort to shoot as much as possible in Italy. And although the events portrayed in Rome have varying degrees of authenticity in terms of participants and timing, the show is basically accurate in its portrayal of Roman politics, lifestyle, and brutality.

Rome chronicles the adventures of Titas Pullo and Lucius Vorunus, two Roman soldiers that often are at the right place at the right time. Their good luck are eventually noticed by Caesar, and they progress upwards through Roman ranks to witness key historical events including the Roman conquest of Gaul, Caesars civil war, the assassination of Caesar, the introduction and rise of Octavian to become Augustus, and Augustus’ battle with Marc Antony.

As in many HBO series, the acting in Rome is phenomenal. Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd do a fantastic job portraying Pullo and Vorunus, and Ciarán Hinds (pictured) is completely believable as Caesar, a politician that excercised his desire for pleasing the people as well as himself. James Purefoy is a delight to watch as Marc Antony, and Tobias Menzies excels as Brutus. The rest of the support cast do an amazing job in bringing the desires and motivations or key historical figures to life.

The series was not renewed at the end of the second season due to the prohibitive cost of producing it (aka Deadwood). Although a film was promised and looked like it was going forward in early 2010, there has been little word on when or if it will be completed. I hope so, I’d like to see more.