Yeah, that thing. It holds paper together with its steel grip.
Let’s do a Top 10 thing here and list 5 Pros and 5 Cons about the staple…
Afterall, the staple might not be the perfect device for securing paper together. So, after the Pros and Cons, how about a little discussion of what else a staple can do for you…
Pros:
- Small, compact
- Fastens paper together
- Ease of use
- Simple design
- Inexpensive
Cons:
- Bulky, delivery mechanism
- Hard to remove
- Can rust, causing discoloration
- Doesn’t always work
- Has a maximum number of pages that can be used (usually around 20-30)
So, the staple is ok if you have a reasonable stapler and a stack of papers under 25…
What else can the staple be used for?
- Impromptu dental floss?
- Stabbing weapon?
- Scratching the paint job of that dude’s car who totally took your parking spot?
- Bridging an electric project with a low resistance wire?
- Corollary to previous, burning down your house?
- Posting banners on telephone poles?
Please list other uses in the comments…
Thanks.
Galaxy Trucker
This is a two part type boardgame that has distinct mechanics in each part. There is the planning or building stage and then, the action stage. The first part consists of a race to build your ship. You want to have weapons and shields and cargo space and crew quarters, but you do not have enough space for everything and each piece must fit together (there are connectors that have to be followed). After each player finishes building their ship, they are sent on their “run”. This consists of flipping up cards to see what happens. Each ship is affected in order. Some are good, like landing on planets to get resources.
Others are bad, like encountering vicious pirates or smugglers. If you have the right stuff on your ship, you can get around these obstacles, but, inevitably, you lack everything necessary to defeat every challenge and you may lose crew or, even, parts of your ship.
I only played this game once last weekend, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think it will be in my Top 100, if I ever do that list (don’t bet on it, but, perhaps…) as it combines some nice elements together. I really like the building of the ship to start and the advance planning that this requires. There is an expansion which I have not had a chance to try out that I believe will make this game better, but I am worried that the increase of tiles will mean that it is easier to build a good ship. Part of the appeal is surviving the “run” with minimal life support and a single laser to your name.
The components are pretty good, though the battery counters (those little green beads) are pretty tiny and could have easily been green cubes without the game suffering too much. The little crew guys and aliens are a nice touch and the tiles are thick cardboard, so they are easy to handle (since you will be mixing these up three times each game, I still wonder how long they will last, think, Carcasonne).
Both games played over the weekend of Galaxy Trucker were great fun, even for the losers. I will definitely play this one again.
Review score: A (great game, will see more play)
Tags: boardgame, galaxy trucker, game, Games, Reviews
- RT @Schwarzenegger – I do still have the Conan sword, and I keep it in my office. Here's a picture — http://twitpic.com/f92jm #
- Working on SSIS article, debugging two web services, one is C# and Linq, the other VB.net… Wish I could just watch Doctor Who… #
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The picture to the right is how I will remember Favre. Not in a Jets uniform, not as a Minnesota Viking…
I have always been a Favre fan. I like his style of play. Sling the ball, hope for a good play, take risks… I think that his bravado has led to many interceptions but also quite a few spectacular plays. I watched him during the good Green Bay seasons as my “adopted” team (when the Browns left town in 1995, a lot of us latched onto similar teams: Bears, Packers, Steelers, etc.), so Favre was my guy. I won at least two Fantasy Football leagues with Favre at the helm. Is this guy a great quarterback? Yes, he is. Currently, he is a bit of an egomaniac, but, if you look at his career, he is one of the best quarterbacks of the last two decades (I think that Elway was a bit better and proved it in the 1997 Super Bowl).
So, how do I evaluate this QB. Most touchdowns, check; most interceptions, check; most fun to watch, check…
What about his un-retiring over the past three years? Well, the first time, it was okay. The second time was even okay, as I can see his point-of-view… And this last one… well, I blame Minnesota for enabling him. After all, Favre is an addict (whether it is under control is irrelevant), and he can succumb to pressure more than some. Minnesota should have asked once and let it go… If Favre suffers mid-season, I blame Childress and the Vikings, not Favre.
No, just no...
So, a final grade for Brett Favre… A+ (I won’t ding him for Minnesota putting on the pressure)…
Tags: brett favre, football, Reviews
Well, I hope to finally get my motorcycle permit next month. I am taking the class at Liberty Harley-Davidson. One day of class, with two days of riding. Should be okay, we aren’t using the mammoth Harleys. I got my temps last year and rode my mother-in-law’s motor scooter for practice, but discovered that if I want to ever replace my commute, I am going to need to learn to ride a bigger bike. So, hopefully, in a few weeks, I will have my motorcycle certification and not a broken arm… 
I’ll let you know how the class went.
Tags: learning, motorcycles
So, I don’t like the Travel deck…
It made this game a Traitor’s paradise. Every time, we tried to get something going, we were lost in the woods or ambushed. Some might say that it made the game harder, I though it made the game frustrating. I have played SoC a number of times without the Merlin expansion and have enjoyed them each time. Even this play with Merlin was enjoyable except for that Travel Deck. I liked the new knights and the possibility of two traitors was nice (and they won!). The new knights abilities were nicely done (except possibily for the one that can share in all winnings, his ability hardly ever came into play).
We never drew many of the Merlin Travels cards from the Travel Deck, so his help was minimal and, in general, too late to be much use. We did manage to get the Grail and Excalibur (though we foolishly gave Excalibur to one of the traitors), but never won against the Black Knight or the Picts and Saxons. In the end, we allowed far too many catapults to come up and the traitors just placed one or two and we were finished…
We picked this game over Battlestar Galactica by flipping a coin. If you have the opportunity to play either game, I cannot suggest one over the other. They are both great cooperative and fun games. If you have never played one of these, I would recommend it.
Shadows over Camelot: A
Travel Deck: D+
Sometimes when I come across something in SQL, I usually don’t think of it as a blog topic because I have a mistaken belief that “everyone” already knows this. So, today, a quick tip that was needed for a situation that arose the other day.
We have a 2000, 2005 and (blessedly) 2008 environment currently and, on occassion, we need to copy a database from SQL2005 to SQL2000. Anyone who has done this knows that you cannot use a backup or detach and re-attach. What can you do? Script out all the objects and data to a file! Ok, now you have a multi-gigabyte file that is sitting on your hard drive. You can’t open it in Management Studio, what do you do…
sqlcmd -S <servername> -d <databasename> -i <script path>
If you need permissions, there are parameters for username and password that you can apply (“-U”, “-P”). ”-E” will allow you to use Trusted Connection. Microsoft has more options listed here.
So, if you need to copy a database and a backup doesn’t work (maybe you don’t have permissions), then you can use this method to copy a database.
Zebra Z-Grip Retractable Ballpoint Pen
Hi, I thought I’d start with a title for my esoteric review, now called Eso-reviews, because I am trying really hard to be “cool”, you know, hang with the popular crowd, and… wait, no, no, stop…
I mean, I am reviewing a PEN! But, I really like this pen. Everyone has a preference for their writing implement (and I don’t want to hear how pens are obsolete and computers have taken over, look around you, you’ll see a pen somewhere in your vicinity, don’t deny it!) and I happen to like Black, Ballpoint, Retractable. I am often found using the standard Bic style pen which I dislike because it lacks the “retractable” I so desire in my pens. This Zebra Z-Grip is a comfortable circumference for my mammoth mitts I call “hands” and the ridges on the comfort grip provide a nice texture for my writing callouses to scratch away the decaying epidermis as I while away at the latest meeting…
Ok, the downside… Yes, there is a downside… The clip, that little thing that lets you hang the pen from your pocket or use the pen as a makeshift paperclip (tune in next week for that riveting review… jk). Why is it so diffcult to make a clip that doesn’t snap off when the slightest pressure is applied? I know, we’ll make it out of molded plastic and purposefully place a weak point right near the top of the pen… The problem is that when this clip breaks, unless you have a rasp handy, you are stuck with a pen that has an irritating jagged plastic edge covering a quarter of its circumference. This suddenly makes the pen less than desirable as a quick note-taking device, because now you are required to adjust the pen so the jaggedness does not rub that delicate webbing between you forefinger and thumb (“Oh, the humanity!”). Fortunately, the pen is cheap enough to throw it away when this tragedy occurs (and it will occur!).
Overall, I like the pen, it is made for larger hands, so you people with elven hands may find it simply too huge for you tiny fingers, but for those of us who have to hunt for X-Large gloves each winter, this is a very satisfactory implement to ink your last will and testament…
P.S. I need to stop playing Bookworm, I didn’t even need a thesaurus…
It takes me a while to review video games as I follow my “Don’t pay full price
” mantra as much as possible. In doing so, I generally wait until a game is under $25 before buying it. So, don’t expect reviews of Madden ’10 on here (besides the fact I despise that game now… give me 2K anyday).
I thought this game might be nice to review as a sequel has been announced. Ok, the basic premise of the game is that gangs have overrun your pleasent little town and the local cops have been ineffective in stopping the gang’s aggression. Using all the latest technology and a lot of chemicals, the Agency has deployed agents to aid the police. These agents are faster, stronger and more durable than the cops. They are also able to increase in skill over time to eventually be able to throw cars around and leap tall buildings in a single bound :p
So, the how does it play… The controls for the game utilize every single button of the Xbox360 controller, so if you are used to games using just the X,Y,A,B button and don’t generally pay attention to those bumper and triggers, get ready for a hand workout. The triggers control firing of weapons, the bumpers reload and throw grenades. The left analog stick moves your guy, the right aims the gun, the buttons jump, pick up, punch and use items. Got that? It is actually well laid out and my 3-year-old was able to figure it out pretty easily (not that I let him play too much, you know, violent video games and all that…)
Running around the large maps, trying to earn skill points for climbing buildings, and shooting the bad guys is probably as generic a game as you can get, but it works on a visceral level. Sometimes all you want in a game is the general plot of “kill bad guys”. The roleplaying element that increases your skills when you use them (shoot bad guys, gain shooty skill; use explosives, gain boom skill, and etc.) This is the “fun” aspect of the game. You feel that you can accomplish something even if you play for 10-20 minutes. Of course, there are goals, which consist of “kill this specific bad guy” (not straying from the theme here…) so you can finish those goals to progress the “storyline”.
The sound is good, getting in cars plays a song from the “radio”, but mostly I didn’t pay much attention to the music. So, nothing irritating but nothing memorable. The graphics are pretty good, I am playing through an HDMI to a 1080 46″ Sony and I didn’t see anything that screamed “bad art”. But, I also play Atari 2600 games without complaining about graphics, so, perhaps I am not the best judge…
Do I recommend this game? Depends, do you like GTA? Do you like Halo? I think this game is a little of those mixed together with some nice roleplaying elements that give you a feeling of accomplishment. I like it, but this is a game made with me in mind… I can play for 2 hours or 10 minutes and get some enjoyment from the game, some games require you to play for hours to get this type of enjoyment (I’m looking at you, grindtastic WoW!)
Two links on the same day, what am I doing? Here is another great article using hard data to prove that selling software for less money makes you more money. Since you sell more units when you sell software cheaper, you make more money. The study (using Valve’s Steam software distribution) found that a sale of 75% off MSRP garnered 1470% in sales meaning that for each 100 units sold at, say, $40, you would make $54,800 more than selling it at full price. Hey, Microsoft, Adobe, you listening?
Coding Horror: Software Pricing: Are We Doing It Wrong?.
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