Timestamp and QOTD back up

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Kip

I put the quote of the day and the timestamp back up at the very top of the page. Enjoy.

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Welcome to kiplange.com 2.0 :-)

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Kip

Well, there we go. I switched over from Blogger to WordPress, since Blogger is shutting down FTP access.

I know the imported posts look kinda ugly, with no paragraph breaks. Not much I can do about that. Just bear with me.

I’ll try to get quote of the day and the timestamp back up when I get a chance, as well.

For now, welcome to the new kiplange.com!

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Will kiplange.com survive Blogger’s FTP shutdown?

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Kip

Curse you, Blogger. Damn you to hell.

Blogger.com is shutting down FTP services, meaning I will no longer be able to publish my blog directly to my site. I’m looking into alternatives right now, including using Blogger to redirect to my website using its “Custom Domains” feature, although right now my favorite choice is simply to switch to WordPress. The only problem is, WordPress requires a MySQL database, and I don’t know if I can get one of those set up on my server.
May 1st is the cutoff date. I’ll keep you informed as to how things go. Hopefully I’ll continue blogging, but…kiplange.com’s blog *may* be dead for a while.
The Kipster feels your pain.
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kiplange.com has switched nameservers…

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Kip

Okay, folks, I switched nameservers, and had a little bit of trouble initially getting blogger to go along with it, but eventually I got it fixed. Please post a comment if you see anything going wrong, or are unable to access the archives, stuff like that. Peace out.

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E-cig review: Blu cigarettes

Posted on January 30, 2010 by Kip

Manufacturer’s website (for retail purchase): http://www.blucigs.com.

If you know I got one of those new-fangled electronic cigarettes, you’re probably wondering what I think of it.
Here’s the gist of it: It pleasantly surprised me, but it also disappointed me a little.
Blu cigs ship free, fairly fast, within about five days. When the kit comes, you get two batteries, two atomizers (the heart of an e-cig), and one “variety” carton of flavor cartridges in the nicotine strength of your choice (which ranges from high — 16 mg — to “none”).
Blu’s big advantage over other e-cigs is its “pack”, which is a rechargeable battery package that can charge one of your batteries while you’re using the other one to smoke, as well as hold five flavor cartridges, and an extra e-cig entirely.
How does it smoke? Well, it’s not as satisfying as a regular cigarette, I’m sorry to say — it just doesn’t kick out enough vapor — but it is satisfying. I’ve found myself beginning to jones for the Blu cig in the same way I would jones for a regular cigarette. Same nicotine craving.
To really get a pull, you have to huff and puff, kinda, to heat the cartridge up enough, which sometimes gives you a bit of a nasty plastic-like taste in your mouth. However, for the most part, the flavor cartridges taste like they’re supposed to taste. Vanilla tastes like vanilla and cherry tastes like cherry (they also make a “Classic Tobacco” flavor).
Each cartridge is good for around 150 puffs, or — so they say — 15 cigarettes. Given that you’re going to be puffing on this thing a lot harder than you’d puff on a regular cigarette, it’s not nearly that many. I seem to go through a cartridge a day. But that’s still cheap: 25 cartridges is $25, and price goes down as you buy in bulk.
Is it satisfying? Yes, and no. Yes, it is satisfying in many ways, and gets you that nicotine fix you need, but I would challenge anyone to go cold turkey from regular cigarettes to strictly these. One is smoke, the other is water vapor. Of course the smoke is going to be more intense.
But, still, I thought this thing wouldn’t work at all, and it turns out it does work, and fairly well at that, so, as I said, I was pleasantly surprised.
So, to sum up: something like a B for these cigarettes, and an A for effort, because they certainly try to make it as satisfying as a regular cigarette, and it comes damn close.
The starter kit costs around $60, ships free, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. I’m not returning mine, so I can’t testify as to how easy it is to return them, but I have used their online help chat, and it was helpful. You can also order spare atomizers, spare batteries, a spare pack — you can order all the bits and pieces if something in particular breaks for you or goes wrong.
If you’re a heavy smoker, or looking for a “cleaner” alternative to smoking, Blu cigs might be for you. Just remember, it’s not anywhere near as satisfying as choking down a real cancer stick. Just the nature of the beast.
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Overused Word of the Week: “Pivot”

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Kip

In the 1990s we had “triangulation” with Bill Clinton, especially after the Republican victory in ’94. And, this week, with Barry Obama and Scott Brown, we have “pivot”. As in, “The Presidential Pivot”.

In other words, “pivoting” off of health care reform to take on jobs. We saw a preview with this when Obama attended the wind factory (yes, wind energy, employs a mighty 85,000 people, sure, that’s where the jobs will come from, we’re all going to be wind farmers) and gave his thumping, angry, “populist” (another overused word this week) anger message.
Which is in fact quite bizarre if you really think about it. Seriously, you have Howard Dean out there with Chris Matthews saying that a vote for Scott Brown was a vote for the health care bill. Seriously. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui4ElSz_bKU.
I want some of what Howard Dean is packing in his pipe, I’m telling you. This is the left spin: the revolt was our revolt, of course it is, every revolt is our revolt (and of course the country did eventually “revolt” over Republican rule). But it’s been a year. Obama now owns the economy, the country, and Matthews correctly said to Dean: “You’re crazy.”
Seriously, if Dems want to go that way, go right ahead, because they are killing themselves over health care. You have people who put their careers on the line in the Senate — the esteemed senators of the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback” (Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson). To their credit, of which there is not much, they did bring home the bacon for their states, which is basically what we’re supposed to do — note Scott Brown’s repeated emphasis on Massachussetts citizens coming first. That’s a large part of his being elected; a feeling in MA of, “These states get these special deals? What about us?”). But Landrieu and Nelson tied their careers to a health care bill that is now dead, and it makes them look bad, and yes, leaves the Dems with a black eye.
Point is, Barry and Nancy and Harry tried to push the country too far to the left, and it sprang right back on them, because we’re still a center-right country. The White House strategy seems to be to try to jump and surf the very tide that is sucking them out. Obama actually says it’s the “same anger” that “swept” him into office. Oh, now come on, nobody is buying that, Mr. President, come on, the people were so upset at George Bush that they elected a Republican in Massachussetts? Even if you’re an avid Obama supporter — gimme a break, that’s a rather elaborate tapdance to go through.
So: the “pivot”. Instead of trying the populist anger — what, is Obama going to start running against his own administration? — try that 1990s thing: triangulation. Take issues away from the Republicans, make them their own, give them Democratic spin, and set them forth as your own original ideas. See: Bill Clinton and welfare reform. I thought Barry was as smart as Bubba. I may be wrong; he may try running even further to the left, as he’s a pretty hardcore ideologue. If so, as I said, more power to him.
So now we wait and see. Does Obama “pivot” off this and go forward, or does he do the same and go back? I think if he tries maintaining campaign-mode populist rhetoric as he did in Ohio, well, I think so far as to say I even say the ’12 presidential election getting shaky (I would not have said that six months ago).
Final Note — Message to the Republicans — Don’t gloat. You got Teddy Kennedy’s seat, okay, you can feel good about things, but you’re still going to have to ride out having a president who is, if not politically, personally very popular. Do not see Obama as too weak.
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The Sea Change of Scott Brown

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Kip

The irony is unbelievable.

Ted Kennedy lobbied heavily to make sure the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could not appoint a Senator; this was under Romney, and he wanted to make sure Romney would be unable to appoint any Senators.
A few short years later, the very rule Kennedy personally lobbied for allowed Scott Brown to take the independent, Reagan Democrat vote in MA, run with it, win a stunning victory, and subsequently torpedo the very health care legislation that Kennedy had spent 47 years trying to pass.
Sweet, sweet irony of unintended consequences. Be careful what you wish for.
On a different note, there’s a good story over at Politico.com that describes the dazed state the Democrats currently are in.
This is, quite literally, an election heard ’round the world. It was 1972 the last time MA had a Republican senator, and he was a liberal one at that. Brown is an unabashed, straight-up Republican; he ran on Republican issues and won on them.
What’s going on? It’s really not that hard, people. Barack Obama, much as personally like the guy, has squandered his political capital by pursuing a hard-left agenda. The fact is that this country remains center-right. Obama ran as a center-right candidate but governed as far to the left as we’ve really ever seen in this country.
You just can’t do that. Bill Clinton learned that early on, and it allowed him to move to the center, co-opt some Republican ideas, and coast to a re-election. The vaunted “triangulation” strategy thought up by Dick Morris.
But make no mistake; this state is the bluest of the blue states, and if a Republican can ride in on a tide of anti-establishment sentiment here, a Republican can do it anywhere. Still, I would caution the Republicans not to gloat too much over this election, or to think they can just put themselves on cruise control for the 2010 midterm elections.
Personally, I was amused at Keith Olberman’s rant on Scott Brown:
“In short, in Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees.”

Now, Olberman is right about the partially nude photo of Scott Brown in Cosmo — big frickin’ deal, he was paying his way through law school. On his other points he has nothing but rubbish to back him up. He claims he’s reactionary, as if anyone who disagrees with the cliff Obama has been trying to push us over is out of their minds. He calls him irresponsible because he’s…not a Democrat. He calls him homophobic because he made the unbelievable comment that two lesbian women raising a child together is “not normal”. I think that makes about ninety percent of the country homophobic. He throws in “teabagging” for the lascivious aspect of it; MSNBC loves to say “teabag” all the time — I would argue there’s more homophobia in that than there is in calling same-sex adoptions “not normal”.
Support of violence? Olberman gets this from when a supporter yelled that they should ram a curling iron up Coakley’s behind; Brown didn’t hear the remark and said, in response to an unconnected remark, “We can do that.”
Let’s not forget where that curling iron comment came from, by the way. Coakley desperately tried to bury a case against a supporter of hers, a police officer who raped a 23-month year old child with a curling iron. Read about it over here.
So Keith Olberman can go fuck himself. As can the three people and one crazed orangutan who watch him on MSNBC.
The people of Massachusetts have spoken, and they have said this: We are fed up with a Democrat-controlled government that is trying to take us in a far-left direction that we simply don’t want to go. We’re sick of the kickback deals on healthcare “reform”. We’re, to borrow a phrase from Network, mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.
I have never been prouder of my state than I am at this moment.
Now, liberals, you have 10 months to start moving yourselves back to the right, or you will lose your seat in the House or Senate.
The message has been delivered. Let’s see if Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are listening.

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Amphibious Attack Tigers and Jedi Squirrels

Posted on December 27, 2009 by Kip

Without further ado, here they are:

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A comment on the death penalty

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Kip

Tonight the DC sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was put to death.

And here, unfortunately, is where I break ranks with the vast majority of my conservative brethren. I do not believe in the death penalty.
I understand the desire for it, the need for some people to find closure in it, I understand the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality; I understand that many believe those who take the lives of others forfeit their own lives when they do so.
However, the only thing I can say, myself, is that the taking of a human life is strictly God’s business. The only exception is war, and even war is suspect — as a great man once said, “It is good that war is so terrible, else man should grow to love it too much.”
It’s not as simple as “two wrongs don’t make a right”, although I also feel that is the case. It is the fact that I believe that killing a person in the name of justice is not right. “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord, and I believe that to be the case.
I often waver on this subject, and I certainly understand and respect those who support the death penalty, and I do not seek to change their minds. I only seek to make known that I do not support the death penalty, for the simple fact that I think that it is not the business of one human to take another human’s life. Again, the exception is war, and war is a terrible business.
Do not take me to task for what you may perceive as a weakness in my conservative armor, please. It is a personal subject for me and I simply reiterate: It is God’s business, not man’s, to take life. I understand that Muhammad took on the role of God himself, as I am saying, when he took other people’s lives. Still, this does not justify taking his life.
However, for those of you who do support the death penalty, I hope tonight’s execution gave you some sort of sense of closure, of justice being served.
It did not for me.
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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves review

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Kip

Well, it’s been a while since I did one of my little videogame reviews, so, what the hell, I’ll tell you what I think of…

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, a Playstation 3 exclusive (I believe the first one since the decidedly awesome game Infamous).
Uncharted 2 is a third-person action/adventure shooter, a sort of combination of Resident Evil andTombraider. You play the role of Nathaniel “Nate” Drake, a supposed descendant of Sir Frances Drake (the backstory of which was covered in the first Uncharted).
The game opens with a bang, and then proceeds to flash back to the events that led you to said bang, a good portion of the game being the flashback.
Uncharted 2 uses a massive amount of the Playstation 3’s potential — one of the few games around that actually does so, and it’s not hard to tell, as your Playstation 3 will kick out enough warmth while running the game to keep you warm even if you haven’t paid your heating bill and you’re freezing your nuts (or nips; far be it from me to discriminate against grrrl gamers) off.
That intensive use of the CPU pays off. The game looks, to put it mildly, spectacular. It, like its predecessor, is one of the best-looking games for the PS3 out there. And rest assured that the camera, while mainly computer-controlled, is utilized extremely extremely effectively; at no point playing this game did I become frustrated with the camera angle. No poking through walls, defying the laws of physics and solid matter. No “Dammit, if I could only look over here!” moments.

Nate Drake wanders through a war-torn landscape…

The Tombraider aspects of the game are truly, truly fun; you spend the majority of the game leaping, shimmying, and swinging your way across the beautifully-textured landscape. And there are a variety of different locales the game takes you to, from the wilds of Borneo to a war-torn urban landscape, to elaborate temples containing hidden treasure.
Speaking of treasure, one of the key side aspects of the game is treasure-hunting in general. Scattered throughout the game are various treasures hidden in often hard-to-reach places that you can collect for fun, trophies, and “cash” that allows you to unlock goodies like alternate costumes for the characters.
As for the characters themselves — this is a game with some depth. Those of you who played the first Uncharted will be glad to see some of the main characters of that game returning for another go-round in the second installment. The story is well-thought out and develops nicely; something decidedly lacking in many games that are released these days.
Now to the meat and potatoes — the action. It’s a nice step up from the first Uncharted. You have more weapons to choose from this time, including my personal favorite, a sniper rifle with a laser site that allows you to perform headshots galore. The environment has been made more interactive, with propane tanks lying around that you can toss at your enemies and explode in mid-air. And the cover has been drastically improved. You’ll find all sorts of nooks and crannies to hide from your enemies in Uncharted 2. You can run-and-gun, you can blind fire, and you can take precision shots. It’s all up to you.
Stealth has also been improved, allowing you to sneak up behind enemies and perform silent kills that will not alert other baddies to your presence. The melee system has been slightly overhauled and now requires a little bit more finesses than simple button-mashing.
I mentioned the story before, and I want to return to it for a moment before concluding, as it’s own of the best things about this game. It’s complex and it’s done damn well. I won’t give anything away, but basically it is, like the first game, a massive treasure hunt, a la Indiana Jones. I promise you, the twists and turns will keep you on your feet and wanting more. The character acting is splendid.
The basic rule of thumb you can use is this: If you liked the first Uncharted, you’ll love the second Uncharted. The changes that have been made to the game will pleasantly surprise you and address any problems you had with the first installment. If you didn’t like the first installment, though, chances are you won’t like this one, either. I happen to think the first was one of the best games I have ever played, and so, in turn, I love the second even more.
The one downside, in my considered opinion, to Uncharted 2 — and the first game suffered from this problem as well — is that it’s too short. You can finish the game in sixteen hours or so of gameplay. It’s a minor gripe, there you have it.
As for multiplayer, well, I haven’t had a chance to test it yet, but I’ve heard from others that the online modes are fantastic and well-done — you’ll have to take their words for it. Perhaps, once I’m all done with the single-player campaign, I’ll try out the multiplayer modes and post an update for you.
To sum up:
Graphics: A+
Gameplay: A-
Story: A
OVERALL: A

I couldn’t be happier with this game, frankly, but then again, I’m a PS3 fanboy, so take it with a grain of salt.
Over and out, amigos!
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