Turing Machine’s up the ass, camping and Texas phase 1.

So I completed my last final at 10:00pm last night. I took the full two hours to work on it; however I managed to finish all 10 problems within 90 minutes. So I did cleanup and fixed some of my errors and actually ended up rewriting another problem. Thanks to this man right here, half of our test was on Turing Machines. I was fairly comfortable with them, however they get extremely detailed so a couple mistakes and I could have royally screwed things up. Needless to say, I definitely saved par on that test.

I was glancing around the room trying to get a feel for were everyone was at on the test. I noticed a lot of puzzled faces and saw the 3 people around me stuck on what was one of the more difficult problems on the test.

Find a regular expression for the language a^i b^j where (i ˑ j) % 2 = 1.

Basically what this is saying is find a statement that gives me ANY number of a’s followed any number of b’s given the rules.

Where if I multiply the number of a’s I have by the number of b’s I have then I divide it by 2, I get a remainder of 1. By definition this is an odd number.

This is sort of a trick question as long as you know the definition of an odd number. Note if we multiply an even number times an even we have an even number, which is wrong. Same goes for multipling an even number by an odd number. The only way to get a correct solution is to multiply an odd number of a’s by an odd number of b’s.

So this language produces words (strings for you computer science people) such as…

aaab , aaabbb , aaaaab, abbbbb….. Notice if I multiply the number of a’s and b’s together its always odd. The solution I came up with was (a(aa)*(bb)*b). The * means I can have an infinite amount of those or zero. So I can have infinite amounts of aa’s and bb’s and I attach a single a and b to it to each end. Guaranteeing an odd multiplying another odd. (I guess that math shit is kind of helpful).

I built me 3 of these last night, on paper......

So we decided to scale down our camping trip. Instead of Kern River we are going to a small campground called Atwood Meadows out here some place. Kevo seems to know where it is at and apparently it’s “Tight”. I purchased a tent and cool chair that match the color of my Jeep. I’ll have to get a picture this weekend to post.

My plans for this summer are somewhat up in the air. I’m still debating on taking the last Calculus class I have been putting off for years know and I have an insanely good job offer from Verizon however I risk slowing down my academic progression by taking it. The things I do know for sure are that I need to brush up on my C skills. I need an operating systems class next semester and it is very C heavy programming. Having weak C skills killed me in my Architecture Class.

I also plan to work got http://www.gotgame.com/ once again. Simply having a place to publish more of my written work and add another years worth of skills is only going to help. I also brought home a bunch of game theory programming books from the library I plan to read, but we will see how far that goes.

Texas Phase 1 is underway. For those who are not in the know, our family has been attempting to sell the house for some time now with the intention of moving to Texas. My father has a great job offer out there and the family is honestly quite sick of this communistic state. The people here act like there shit don’t stink and the women are some of the most snobby/bratty/spoiled bitches I have every met.
Texas phase 1 include my father, brother and my brothers girlfriend all going to Texas as of June 1st. They plan to live there and begin establishing their life while my mom and I stay here to maintain the house and I continue going to school. My fate is still uncertain as to how soon I will be going to Texas. If CSUN is going to continue throwing money at me to go there I have no good reason to stop and out of state tuition will kill me in Texas.

An old urge of my past is slowing creeping back into me....

http://paladintales.blogspot.com/2008/03/vial-of-sunwell.html

Finals, Starcraft II Beta and Kern River…

I feel very strong about finals week. Once again, to my luck ALL three of my finals were to land on a single day, but I will have none of that this time around. I asked one of my professors if I could move my Comp 310 final to Thursday night at 8:00 pm. The time is late but I would rather avoid a potential disaster. On the flipside I get two whole days to study for a final that I could probably take today and do very well.

Without warning and barely a week after my Battle.net rant the beta signups for Starcraft II fell upon us! This tells us we have nearly a finished game and in the worse case we are only a year away from its release. But that case is highly unlikely. We are probably looking at a late fall or quarter 1 of 2010 release. Beside the release date we also know there are no plans to release another World of Warcraft expansion probably until at least summer of 2010 and Diablo III is way off in the distant haze some ware.

While on the topic of “game politics” if you will, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is projected to release this November, putting it right in my potential time frame for Starcraft II. Activision, the publishers of the Call of Duty franchise, is partnered with Blizzard. So could this be a possible sign that Starcraft II may come sooner or later than late fall? I do not have that answer however I don’t think the companies will compete on top of each other. Call of Duty and anything Blizzard creates is really the only thing selling big in the game market.

Literally right after I get done with finals, I plan to head to bed, hit an 8 hour work day Friday morning then make a Blitz for Kern River. I’m fairly exited however I am not prepared at all! I still need a tent I got to grab food and all my critter containment devices! I also might go get one of those nifty snake grab thingy’s and go snake hunting at night. I also wanted to get a tube to down the river in, but I think the water is going to be extremely frigid.

Battle.net theory… Why you will pay to play Starcraft 2 and Diablo III

So the anticipation of Blizzards upcoming releases probably has most gamers in quirky funk. By now most of us have known Blizzard to announce a title and on average take about 4 years to actually produce it. It’s been almost two years since Starcraft 2 wasannounced, so were looking at no more than and additional two. But I have high hopes we will see it sometime 2010. But all that is really besides my main point, which has to do with monthly subscription services and Blizzard.

In case you have yet to witness the recent move by Blizzard, they have decided to create and merge all of your previous Battle.net games and your World of Warcraft Account in one happy little thing they like to call a “Battle.net Account.” Of course you don’t have to do this but in the end you will likely have to do it to continue playing. Why would Blizzard decide to do such a thing? Everything seemed to be great and happy the way it was?



Because in the end, Blizzard plans to make you “pay to play” your Battle.net account. Don’t believe me? Of course this is my crazy theory but I have a couple arguments to make that will hopefully get you thinking.

I’ll begin with my strongest argument. Blizzard is sitting on top of a mountain of 11 million players paying an average of $10 a month to play World of Warcraft. The only thing that is going to stop this gravy train is Blizzard themselves! Why would they even think to jeopardize this cash flow with another game they plan to release?

Blizzard knows that it is fairly inevitable that they would loose even a million players at the least to Starcraft 2 or Diablo III. That is 10 million in the minus per month for Blizzard at a minimum; that is an unacceptable business move. The way I see it is Blizzard will get the sales rush from the game, that a guarantee they can count on. So why loose monthly revenue?

The Next not so strong argument is that everyone is doing it, so Blizzard knows they can get away with it. Microsoft makes you pay monthly for Xbox live, If Microsoft can get away with it Blizzard can get away with it.

Lastly, if you remember in the late 1990’s (god I’m getting old) there was this tremendous emphasis on Battle.net being free to play all over www.Battle.net. I can’t say that I have looked hard enough to find the word free on the site, but I used to not have to look at all. I’m fairly certain the terminology is absent from the site. Why remove the word free? Players can easily distinguish between Battle.net and World of Warcraft right?

I could be wrong but it makes to much sense to me. My friends and I have always joked that we would pay to play Starcraft, Diablo or even Warcraft RTS. Then World of Warcraft came out, that’s when the laughing stopped.. While subscriptions to Battle.net would not be the end of the world, you know damn well you and everyone else will pay it!

CSUN, Modern Warfare and Turnoffs!

So we are finally entering the home stretch with regards to finals and the end of the semester. As always, it just seemed to fly by. I’ve been particularly upset with myself as of late allowing one to get carried away with my past relationship and how it has affected my academic performance this semester. I seem to be holding down two B’s a C’ and border-line D to C- in another.




The class in question with the D to C- happens to actually be my favorite class, go figure, Computational theory and Automata. I royaly fucked up the last test, missing about 15 points on stupid questions that I had studied for and I could solve. But of course my brain decided to stop working when these questions came up on the test. So this puts me in the danger zone for this particular class, he has yet to grade the homework so that could push me up.

Why this is all troubling to me is because I received my financial aid for the coming year and was once again awarded 2 more semester of paid tuition. This puts me in perfect place to have not paid really anything for my degree. It’s another reason to not be compromising my education with women, especially those who are going to toss my emotions around. I feel extremely stupid for allowing my ability to reason to diminish since attending CSUN.

It may seem as if I have yet to let go of this past relationship. That could actually be farther from the truth. I'm actually just more upset with myself for not growing the pair to end it sooner and get overly attached. I knew better! There were signs! But for whatever reason, love or raging male hormones I stuck around. /end side rant.

In the mean time, Facebook has allowed me to find an old high school friend. A friend who also plays Call of Duty! He convinced me to go purchase Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, however I was hesitant at first with Modern Warfare 2 arriving later this year. I said screw it, it’s only money and bought it anyway.





I have to say it is particularly fun and offers a different type of similar (if that makes sense) game play than World at War. I was a tad bit clunky with the weapons at first but I think I have finally found mine in the G3 Assault Riffle. Very accurate, low kick-back, moderate damage, semi-automatic and quick reload suites me well. Now it is a matter of splitting my time between the two games!

Even though I spent the better part of this writing explaining why I should NOT be investing my time into women, one can’t help the male portion of me examine and look them over! So I got to thinking and began compiling a list of complete turnoffs when I see even the most gorgeous of woman walking around.

1) An enormous picture of a marijuana leaf on their shirt. I really don’t have to explain why but I will anyway. It sign that this person has totally screwed around with such things, more drama more shit one doesn’t need.

2) Metal coming in and out of every orifice. I never really understood the reasoning to turn ones self into robo-bitch or a clunky Christmas tree. Too many women with nose and tongue rings, and gigantic bar-bell looking ones coming out of their eye sockets. Utterly disgusting.

3) An obscene amount of makeup! I would actually prefer that one doesn’t have on any at all! It’s just the way I am. If you feel the need to play dress up and look like a god damn clown so be it!

4) Finally, A bag or tee-shirt with Barack Obama on it. It’s one thing to have an actually political opinion on such things but sport a shirt or something with a face on it having no clue to what it actually means is just plain silly. Most of the woman I see with shirt like this you could easily pose a political question that lies on conservative grounds to them. Spoof it as Obama’s point of view and they would just shake their head and say, Yep! I belief that to! It screams utter ignorance

Wizard’s Hostile takeover and WOW 3.1 Patch

I was recently debating on going to Magic: The Gathering prerelease next Saturday, I however have changed my mind. In what seems to be another attempt at world domination, Wizards of the Coast has pointed their Death Star towards Magic-League.com. With the rising cost of a pack of cards, $300 Mana Bases and some of the most abstract patents known to gaming, can this company be any more greedy?



Essentially what Wizards is asking of Magic-League is to remove any logos and links to Apprentice and Magic Workstation. For those that do not know what these programs do is they emulate a game of magic to the bare bones and I do mean bare bones. These programs are bare to a point where it is not really that interesting to me. Other players use these programs to get practice before major tournaments in which they plan to fill Wizards coffers.

Fantastic move Wizards! Continue to isolate and push out the veterans that created your game. We all see where you are going; no one wants to pay to play your piece of shit Magic Online. Shame on you Wizards! Charging full price play your game with virtual cards, that have redemption value when you feel it is best. It is absolutely ridiculous that you expect us to pay $4.00 for a pack of virtual cards and with your shit program.

Unstable servers, clunky interface and still no solid mechanism for trading effectively with other players. You continue to enforce this BBS system for trading that is full of bots and requires a monocle to read through. If Wizards keeps this pace up, the game is going to be full of snobby rich kids looking for some sort of fame in playing Magic.

I have a great example, two summers ago I was at the ass-factory we call Costa Mesa Women’s Center playing in a qualifier. I sat across from a kid who couldn’t have been more than 16 years old. I noticed him from other tournaments in the Los Angeles area and began a conversation with him. He went on to brag about how he had been to a Grand Prix in Texas and one in Seattle.

So I asked him how he was able to makes these trips financially. I do admit the question was mildly inappropriate however my curiosity got the best of me. He looked down and never answered and I proceeded to smash his face in 2-0. The kid probably had no hair on his nuts and manages to get mom and dad to fork some green to fuel his Magic trips.

Some new and exciting World of Warcraft news has come out. For those who don’t know the World of Warcraft 3.1 Patch finally arrived. I can easily sum up my thoughts on this topic.

Tritton AX PRO and Newegg.com

Monday came and I finally got my hands on this hefty piece of gear. First I must give mad props to newegg because of the smooth and painless process of actually getting my headset. The shipping was free and they got it here within 3 days. I firmly believe if I placed my order Monday-Thursday I would have had my package the next day only because I live 60 miles from their warehouse.

Having done a hefty amount of research on this product there was almost nothing left to my surprise when I finally opened it. I place everything out on my bed and began rummaging through the instruction to discover what I had ultimately figured would be the case, I needed another cable. I ran out to Best Buy immediately and bought what I though was the right cable.

Microsoft Xbox 360 HDMI AV Cable.

At that point I made plans with a friend to watch a movie so that I never got home to really test the headset until later that evening. So I eventually arrive at home and begin setting this thing up. At first everything fits and seems to work out right. But everything doesn’t.

I would have had the right cable if my TV supported HD. The item I purchased comes with an HD cable and a component sound cable. What happens with this setup is your HD cable is intended to be your video and now your main port (I don’t recall the name of it. The big fat one) is exclusively your sound.

Defeated, bummed out and slightly anxious that there might not be a solution and I could be stuck with a $180 headset, I end up going to bed and plan to deal with it the next morning. I call Tritton and ask them about what I need and if there is a solution. He points me in this direction.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Component A/V Cable Set.

I fly to Best Buy and make the exchange not forgetting to grab some Subway and head back home. I hook it up, after a few minutes of head scratching and flicking a tiny switch on the cable it came alive! I do not plan to write a review kissing Tritton’s ass. But if you’re low on space, money and need to keep the girlfriend happy I suggest dropping your money here. It’s worth every penny.

Pathetic, Annoying and Anxious!!

So I was trudging along my list of internet links and I came across this piece of garbage information. Now who seriously gives a shit how fast anyone clears Naxxaramas? Congratulations to the 25 people have won looser of the year award. Not only do I find the 25 people who cleared it pathetic, but anyone who deems this moderately exciting information needs some sort of evaluation.

To be perfectly honest I have stepped foot in Naxxaramas twice since the release of Wrath of the Lich King and horrors ran through my brain once more. The voices of gamers who have yet to have their balls drop acting like General Patton in what simply a tank and spank dungeon. My favorite, which never seems to fail to exist in any Ventrillo or Teamspeak channel, is the lone female gamer who constantly flirts and gets hit on by a bunch of grease-balls. It just simply never fails.

Now if you’re getting sick of my Call of Duty rants you might want close the page now because here I go again! For those who do not know Call of Duty has a game mode called Search and Destroy. The idea here is to Search and Destroy an objective, I place more emphasis on Search. Now if your team is on offense, that being it is your turn to Search and Destroy, I don’t think that implies sitting in your spawning zone with a sniper rifle. What makes this frustrating is the faggotry of having to find this last person after you have eliminated everyone else. He has no chance to get to the bomb site in time and win the match with a sniper rifle.

Lastly, I’m still anxiously awaiting my Tritton headset. My tracking invoice states it should be here by tomorrow (Monday). I did some deeper research about the headset and I couldn’t confirm whether of not I needed an HDMI cable or whatever it was called to hook this bad boy up. I went back to the Tritton website and it hints that every thing you need to hook it up is in the box. I’m going to be a sad panda if I have to go purchase more equipment to get this thing going.

The great thing is even though I have yet to receive the product, I feel that I made a great buy. I thought long and hard about the Turtle Beach 4X at Best Buy the other day but all the reviews and comparison that I read came to the exact same conclusion I did at the store. The conclusion was that the audio quality that the Turtle Beach 4X spits up lacks because of the wireless. Wireless 5.1 surround has yet to be perfected, supposedly.