I Turn My Back on ICQ
My first encounter with IM was through ICQ. Over 10 years ago, the folks I chatted with on IRC encouraged me to try ICQ, and since then I’ve almost always had an IM client of some kind open. I’ve since expanded to AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk. But I kept an ICQ account […]
Uncle Morty’s Dub Shack
Imagine a bunch of twenty-somethings getting their hands on a dubbing rig and a bunch of old, cheesy kung fu films. Now imagine that they threw out the old audio tracks and completely redubbed scenes from the films. That’s Uncle Morty’s Dub Shack, currently airing on ImaginAsian TV. Here are a few YouTube clips to give you an idea of their humor (despite the titles, they’re all clean): Exploding Apples Red […]
Brent Gets Blasted with High-Powered Soda
I enjoy making homemade soda. It’s usually delicious, and I have no problems. Except with ginger ale. For some reason, ginger ale gets incredibly carbonated. Explosively carbonated. So, when I found an old bottle of it in the back of the fridge, I figured I’d do a Diet-Coke-and-Mentos sort of video. I took it outside […]
Test Your ISP’s Nefarious Internet Blocking with Switzerland
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have recently been cracking down on various kinds of internet traffic. Some is understandable; others interfere with legitimate uses of the ‘net. Worse, ISPs often do this without telling anyone. Well, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is striking back: they recently released Switzerland, a tool that will test your internet connection to […]
Surreal, Yet Real
Read a fascinating book lately: Boogiepop and Others. It’s the first novel in a whole franchise, which itself takes some explaining. The franchise focuses on an entity called Boogiepop, which exists in the collective unconscious, and surfaces in certain people whenever a paranormal danger to humanity manifests. So, yes, it’s something of an urban fantasy. […]
North World: The Legend of Conrad
For the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe the online comic North World. And I can’t. That’s one of the reasons I like it. North World has elements of a fantasy story—the protagonist wields a sword and confidently fights creatures in the wilderness. But that’s crossed with a very […]
What is Gunwave?
I’m developing Gunwave, a tabletop RPG for playing war with giant robots. You get to play the pilot of a giant robot in the midst of a big war. If you’re not familiar with tabletop RPGs: Imagine a game of “Let’s pretend,” but with defined rules. The hero you play has this much strength and […]
Freelancing Focus
Freelancing has challenged me far more than anything else I’ve attempted in my life. I have to be disciplined, and focused, in new ways. At work, there’s always someone giving you work to do. And there’s always work to do. Work is structured and busy. While that carries its own challenges, I’ve figured out the […]
Free Podcasting: How I Publish a Podcast Without Paying a Cent (Almost)
I’ll be giving a short presentation on my Otaku, No Video podcast today. The presentation’s called “Free Podcasting: How I Publish a Podcast Without Paying a Cent (Almost).” It covers the software I use to publish the podcast, and our publication process. You can view the presentation online, thanks to SlideRocket, an awesome online PowerPoint competitor.
Smart Computer Security – an eBook
I’ve noticed that a lot of folks online don’t take security very seriously. They use weak passwords (123456, their name, etc.), they use the same password everywhere, they don’t change their passwords, they turn off their virus scanner; every security violation you can think of. And I can understand that. It’s annoying and time-consuming. Besides, […]