GLaDOS Explains Nuclear Fusion and Fission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oIe1EDExxyg

The title says it all really.  I mean, I didn't learn anything new, but it was entertaining, and definitely worth the watch, even if you know the difference.

Not Dead Yet

I've just been having a lot of trouble focusing on maintaining this.  Every day, I think, "I should post on my blog," but then I think, "Ehhh."  So I don't.  I don't have a good excuse, I'm certainly not busy with other things, it's just that I haven't had any motivation these past couple weeks.  Winter does that to me, it really does hit me hard around this time of year.  It's so close to spring, but the weather is still terrible, and the news that the polar vortex is returning just makes me feel worse.  But it was nice today, and I did get out to the driving range, I hit a ton of golf balls, and I feel a little better.  I think if I can hold out another week, the weather will improve for the better.  I really hope it does, I can't take much more of this cold weather.  Hopefully, normal service will be resuming here, hopefully I can remain diligent for the next week or so.  Once it warms up, I don't think it'll be a problem.  I'm rambling at this point, so I'll stop

Team Fortress Tuesday #12

Sniping in Team Fortress 2.  This isn't going to be a rant about how there are too many snipers around, nor is it going to be a rant about how Snipers are too good.  I don't have much trouble with Snipers.  I just don't like the mechanic in general.  In every game I've ever played that's had a sniper class, or even a sniper rifle, I have never touched it.  I can't stand sniping, it's boring and I just have absolutely no fun with it.  I also just find the ability to instantly kill someone at long range the opposite of fun.

I feel this is especially true in TF2, because other than sniping, combat in the game is mid and short range.  You can always see your opponents(except for Spies, but that's different), and you're always very involved in the engagement.  Now, the Huntsman does a great job of getting the Sniper in the thick of battle and allows for proper engagement.  Even if you die, you feel as if you had control of the situation.  I think that if TF2 went back to the drawing board, something like the Huntsman would be the stock weapon for Sniper, because I think it's more fair and enjoyable in every way.

Of course, I would be a fool to think that the Huntsman is the better weapon. If I have to snipe, I'm going to use the regular rifle.  It's just more powerful.  I don't want to say that the rifle is necessary, because I'm not sure it is, but as the game currently stands right now, it's just something that we have to deal with.  I hate it, I really do, but there it is. 

Winter is Stupid

I would just like to go on record to say that I hate snow, I hate winter, and I can't wait for spring.  Seriously, I'm getting real tired of the cold.  Stuck inside for days on end, it's terrible.  When I went to Florida a month ago, I could tell that it wasn't my kind of place.  No mountains and way too many people.  But I'll give it this, at least it's warm.  I don't care how necessary winter's supposed to be, it's stupid and I don't like it.

Mario Kart

I play a lot of Mario Kart with my younger brothers.  I use the Offroader, which I hear isn't very good, but I enjoy it.  It's big, so you can shove people around, and it actually accelerates.  Now, I don't usually win when we all play.  My brothers use better carts, and being big means you get hit with more stuff.  Now, one of my brothers gets ridiculously mad at the game.  He's a very competitive person, and he definitely expects skill to be rewarded in kind.  Now, if you've played Mario Kart, you know perfectly well that skill is usually rewarded with blue shells.  I'm a competitive person too, but I've learned a valuable tool that everybody should utilize when playing multiplayer Nintendo games.  Never try to win, you'll just end up tossing a controller out a window.  Just try to have fun, and wait for the other guy to get mad.  Then you win.  Or if you're playing Brawl, use Snake, lay mines and grenades everywhere, get kills somebody else spent a minute working on.  See, fun.  But seriously, especially with Mario Kart, it just doesn't pay to get too bent out of shape on the constant blue shells, and other annoying hazards.  You'll just end up losing your voice.

Team Fortress Tuesday #11

A lot of times, when you play an online video game long enough, you get attached to certain items.  There's no good reason for it, the items are virtual, but you can't help feeling something for them.  Back when I played Runescape, I was very proud of my Thieving skill cape, and I wore it around everywhere.  It was my first (and only) 99, and to this day, I still feel a bit of pride in owning it.  I got a Quest Cape, but I never felt the same sense of achievement, even though the effort was about the same. 

Team Fortress 2 has proven to be no different.  I have plenty of items in my backpack, and they're all basically interchangable and not particularly special in any way, but despite this, a couple of things have more value to me, and are even a bit special.  My strange Degreaser for Pyro was the first strange weapon I ever got, and since Pyro has always been a favorite of mine, it has just grown on me so much.  Sure, the Degreaser is the best choice for what I do when I play Pyro, but I'm attached to the thing, I genuinely enjoy using it, and I would never consider getting rid of it. 

The same feeling goes for my strange Crusader's Crossbow.  While it isn't nearly as old, I've been using the Crossbow for a very long time.  There's just something about it that appeals to me, and because of that, I don't think I've used any of the syringe guns in a year and a half.  I held off on getting a strange version because I figured, "Oh, I'll never be able to level it up all the way, what's the point?"  But I did get one eventually, and I am very glad I did.  Sure, I'll never see the day when it reaches Hale's Own.  At the same time though, I don't feel any pressure to level it up, and I can just have fun with the thing.  The Crossbow is a great weapon, and although I've only got 186 kills on mine, there are a lot of funny stories that I've gotten along the way.  I have 3400 kills on my Degreaser, and I have over 14,000 on my strange Rocket Launcher, but I don't remember them.  They don't have stories like my Crossbow does.

TPC at Scottsdale

From boring to exciting.  That's the PGA from last week to this week.  Torrey Pines was a snooze, but luckily, Scottsdale is much more interesting.  Now, I'm not going to claim that it's a particularly good golf course, I certainly wouldn't put it on any top 100 list.  It's not bad, but it's not great.  It isn't very hard, and I think that's a good thing.  The course will give up lots of birdies if you play it well, but there's enough trouble that if you miss some shots, you're going to make bogeys.  There are two decent eagle opportunities in the last four holes, and even the last hole is not too difficult, which is a welcome change from something like the last hole at TPC Sawgrass.

Scottsdale is set up very well for spectators, and the 16th hole is one of the most exciting holes in golf during the tournament, thanks to its stadium setting.  It's a shortish par 3 with a large green and no water, but whenever a guy steps up to the tee, he's got 25,000 rowdy fans watching him, and suddenly a simple short iron becomes not so easy.  This tournament is ridiculously popular, and while I think the course is simply set up to handle a lot of people, it is also geared towards producing exciting golf, and contrary to what a lot of people think, golf can be a very interesting spectator sport.  There's about 170,000 people on that course, and they're there because the golf being played is worth watching.  I really think that the PGA Tour would be better off if they played courses like Scottsdale every week.