p.s. I finished MGS3, amazing game. The story does indeed wrap up nicely, and ties in with the other games well. It also seems to go to nice efforts to point you in the direction of why Big Boss himself defected in the first Metal Gear game. Yummo.
Quote:Can a New Disposable Battery Change Your Life? Parts of It, Maybe
Published: April 7, 2005
THIS June, Panasonic will introduce Oxyride batteries: AA and AAA disposable batteries that the company calls "the most significant developments in primary battery technology in 40 years." According to Panasonic, these batteries last up to twice as long as premium alkaline batteries like Duracell Ultra ($5 for four), yet cost the same as regular alkalines ($4 for four).
Astounded yet? Then get this: Oxyride batteries are also supposed to deliver more power. The result, the company says, is that battery-operated toothbrushes spin faster, flashlights shine brighter, camera flashes are quicker to recharge and music players produce richer sound.
Play your cards right, in other words, and these batteries might just clean out your gutters, wash the car and do your taxes.
Those are pretty fantastic claims, but Panasonic is certainly right about one thing: the time is right for some technical improvement in batteries. Technology has marched on in just about every other corner of modern life, but people still tiptoe nervously through birthday parties and weddings with their digital cameras, anxiously rationing shots so they'll have juice left for the big moment.
No wonder, then, that in Japan, the Oxyride batteries have captured 10 percent of the battery market in the one year they've been available. In fact, Panasonic predicts that Oxyride will eventually wipe out alkalines just the way alkalines blew regular "heavy-duty" batteries off the map.
Skeptics, however, are surely entitled to scoff, especially at that part about brighter flashlights, faster fans and better-sounding music. Aren't these gizmos somehow voltage-controlled so that they shine, spin or play at a certain rate, regardless of the battery?
Armed with a stopwatch, I spent several exceedingly boring days conducting battery-drain tests with identical pairs of flashlights, screwdrivers, cameras, hand-held fans and swimming bathtub fishies. (Note to the neighbors: You can call off the nice men in the white jackets. It was all in the name of science.)
As it turns out, the power-boosting effect is no marketing concoction; it's real. In identical flashlights, Oxyrides produce an obviously wider, whiter circle of light than Duracell Ultras. You can immediately tell the difference in portable fans, too, because the Oxyride fan hums at a higher pitch, a musical step higher than the Duracell one. The Oxyrides even make power screwdrivers spin faster: 364 r.p.m., compared with 316 r.p.m. for the Duracell Ultras.
Then there's that bit about Oxyrides making MP3 players and CD players produce richer, fuller sound. Panasonic cited a test in Japan in which 80 percent of the players in an orchestra said they preferred the sound from an Oxyride-powered music player. (Panasonic doesn't include sound-quality claims in its official marketing, but it does say it's investigating.)
This one's a tougher call. In blind tests, most people couldn't tell any difference between a CD player with Oxyrides and one with regular alkalines. A few identified the Oxyrides as maybe being a bit richer-sounding, but said that the difference was awfully subtle. All participants confessed, though, that they were not members of a Japanese orchestra.
Amazingly, then, Panasonic Oxyrides do deliver more power, for the same price as ordinary alkalines. To be precise, they deliver 1.7 volts, which is 13 percent more juice than the 1.5 volts of alkalines. (In both cases, the voltage diminishes as the batteries empty.) According to Panasonic, Oxyrides get their power not only from an improved chemical makeup, but also from a vacuum-assembly machine that packs more ingredients into the same space.
But what about the primary claim, that Oxyrides last longer than alkalines? Here, the answer is more complicated.
In rundown tests (put the batteries in, run nonstop till they're dead), Duracell Ultras, and even regular alkaline Duracells, actually beat the Oxyrides. In a krypton-bulb flashlight, the Oxyrides ran for two and a half hours; Duracell Ultras lasted 35 minutes longer. An Oxyride hand-held fan died after an hour; Duracell Ultras had another 25 minutes in them. And in a really cute swimming fish bathtub toy, the Oxyride fish gave up the ghost after 8.5 hours; a pair of ordinary alkalines kept finding Nemo for an amazing 25 hours, nearly three times as long.
Quote:Can a New Disposable Battery Change Your Life? Parts of It, Maybe
(Page 2 of 2)
Now, battery companies generally hate it when well-meaning journalists conduct rundown tests, for a very good reason: nobody uses batteries that way. In the real world, people play, pause and put aside their electronics for days or weeks. Properly conducted battery tests, experts say, are repetitive, expensive and computer-controlled. A battery that's designed to last a long time under real-world conditions may not do well in rundown tests. ("We'd be delighted to help you design valid tests," a battery company representative once told me. "And we'll look forward to reading the results around Christmas.")
And sure enough, when the flashlight test was repeated in a more realistic regimen - one hour on, followed by 30 minutes off for good behavior - the Oxyrides lasted 4 hours 14 minutes. The Duracells still won, but this time by only 10 minutes, and the light produced during the flashlight's final 20 minutes was so feeble it probably shouldn't count. (The Oxyrides tend to die more suddenly than alkalines.)
Panasonic further protested that the Oxyrides were designed to shine in high-drain gadgets (cameras, L.E.D. flashlights, remote-control toys, portable televisions and photo flash units) and moderate-drain gizmos (Game Boys, CD and music players, electric razors), not in low-drain devices like flashlights, fans, radios, clocks, remote controls and bathtub fishies. (So out came the Game Boy and the L.E.D. flashlight, and in went the Oxyrides. Test results: pending. After three days, both of them are still running strong.)
All of this brings us to the World Series of battery competitions: the digital camera test. These days, most digital cameras come with rectangular, proprietary rechargeable battery packs. But if your camera takes disposables, you're already aware of their pathetic battery-consumption record.
The challenge: See how many shots a pair of AA's can take in a digital camera. The test: 50 consecutive shots, alternating flash and nonflash, followed by 10 minutes turned off so the batteries could rest. Then another 50 shots, and so on until "Change the batteries" appears on the camera's screen. (I set the camera to capture low-resolution images, so they'd all fit without having to change or erase the memory card.)
Because this isn't a constant-drain test, you'd expect the Oxyrides to win - and this time, they do. The final score: Regular alkalines, 354 shots; premium alkalines, 566; Panasonic Oxyrides, 844. That's not exactly twice the longevity of premium alkalines, as Panasonic promises (and as PC World magazine found in its own Oxyride battery tests). But it's 2.4 times the life of regular alkalines, for the same price.
Now, even Panasonic admits that Oxyrides aren't the most economical, environmentally friendly, powerful batteries you can buy. That honor goes to rechargeable nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, which cost under $15 including charger. You can recharge NiMH batteries hundreds of times, and each charge lasts longer than Oxyride or any sort of alkaline.
But NiMHs aren't widely available in stores, they lose their charge quickly on the shelf, and the recharging and swapping process requires planning and discipline. Alas, not everybody has the patience; the road to the abandoned-gadgets drawer is paved with good intentions.
(Another Oxyride rival is AA disposable lithium batteries, offered by Energizer in a four-pack for about $23. Five times the power of standard alkalines, at six times the price. You do the math.)
The bottom line: Oxyride batteries may not quite live up to Panasonic's enthusiastic claims in all kinds of gadgets in every situation. But penny for penny, they deliver more power and, in power-hungry gadgets like digital cameras, last a lot longer than alkalines. Don't look now, but the Energizer bunny may soon be squashed by the Panasonic elephant.
Keyhole is this awesome program from Google that uses global satellite imagery to allow you to see a realtime map of anyplace on earth. In major metropolitan areas, you can see every single detail of the city, down to cars parked in parking lots. I used it to see lazy's apartment, since Orlando is one of the cities that has complete imaging. Its not free, but I may just end up buying it, because it's so much fun to play with.
Quote:Viewtiful Joe to grace PSP, GC; more DS details
Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle bound for PSP and GameCube; DS version named Scratch! Viewtiful Joe.
In the latest issue of Famitsu, Capcom released some details on the upcoming PSP and GameCube game based on the Viewtiful Joe series. Titled Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle, the game will feature familiar characters from the series, such as main man Viewtiful Joe; Joe's girlfriend, Silvia; Joe's rival, Alastor; and Captain Blue.
Click Here.
The game will also feature characters from the TV anime series of the same name currently airing in Japan. Captain Blue Jr. and Sprocket, a female labor shark working for the evil syndicate that Joe is pitted against, will both make cameos. This time, Captain Blue begins to produce a new movie, but he can't decide who should star as the main character. To find his movie's lead, he decides to have everyone in the movie fight for the role.
Screenshots of VFX Battle suggest that it will play like Nintendo's Smash Bros. series. However, it is not known how many players the game will support, as life bars for only two characters could be seen in the screens.
Viewtiful Joe series producer Atsushi Inaba commented that the key to winning the game will be to "stand out" more than the rival players--the more stylish the attack, the more points, especially when the screen zooms in on them.
No release date or price has been set for Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle, but Inaba hinted that the game is already deep into development.
The magazine also updated readers on new details concerning the DS version of Viewtiful Joe. Capcom is tentatively titling the upcoming game Scratch! Viewtiful Joe, according to Famitsu.
Scratch! takes place in a large theme park where the latest movie of Captain Blue is in filming. However, a mysterious syndicate named Madou appears and steals the film. It's up to you as Viewtiful Joe to get it back.
In addition to Joe, the game will feature his younger sister, Jasmine, as a new character. Jasmine is a strong-willed lady who hopes one day to become an actress. It's not clear whether Jasmine will have a role in gameplay or will just appear as a side character.
Scratch! Viewtiful Joe will inherit the same 2D-graphics style as its console predecessors, though the game does make use of the handheld's dual-screen and touch-sensitive panel.
According to the article, players will play the game primarily with the D pad and other buttons, like any standard action game, but the touch-sensitive screen will be used occasionally--with the fingers, not the stylus. Inaba said it would be a burden to switch to the stylus during the game, hinting that actions using the touch-sensitive screen will not require precise controls.
One of the touch-screen moves is called the "split VFX," which divides the screen into two halves. This is accomplished when players pass their finger horizontally across the screen. The move causes objects on the screen to get "sliced" and become horizontally displaced. For example, players can use the split VFX to slice a large billboard on the screen, and then drop it on top of an enemy half a screen away.
The bottom screen will be used for playing the game, while the upper screen zooms in on areas of the game where users are recommended to use the touch-sensitive capabilities. At other times, the upper screen appears to zoom in on Joe.
No release date or price has been announced for Scratch! Viewtiful Joe.
That's right, PMS. The school of PMS is located right down the road from Deanna's house and is populated by 48% women. Here is their scores when compared to the rest of Mississippi
Mississippi Curriculum Test (2002-2003)
About the Tests
* Mississippi uses the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT) to test students in grades 2-8.
* The MCT is a standards-based test, which means it measures how well students are mastering specific skills defined for each grade by the state of Mississippi.
* The goal is to have 100% of students meet or exceed grade-level standards on the test.
Scale: % of students meeting or exceeding standards
Grade 6
Language Arts
73% (2003)
The state average for grade 6 language arts was 62% in 2003.
Math
90% (2003)
The state average for grade 6 math was 62% in 2003.
Reading
89% (2003)
The state average for grade 6 reading was 74% in 2003
Grade 7
Language Arts
72% (2003)
The state average for grade 7 language arts was 52% in 2003.
Math
84% (2003)
The state average for grade 7 math was 54% in 2003.
Reading
84% (2003)
The state average for grade 7 reading was 63% in 2003
Grade 8
Language Arts
58% (2003)
The state average for grade 8 language arts was 53% in 2003.
Math
60% (2003)
The state average for grade 8 math was 48% in 2003.
Reading
59% (2003)
The state average for grade 8 reading was 57% in 2003.
MCT Results by Subgroup (2002-2003)
The test results by subgroup show how the designated group of students is performing in comparison to the general population. The goal is that all students will achieve at high levels.
Grade 6
Language Arts
73% (Total)
63% (African American)
71% (Economically Disadvantaged)
80% (Female)
67% (Male)
74% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
20% (Students with Disabilities)
78% (Students without Disabilities)
74% (White)
The state average for grade 6 language arts was 62% in 2003.
Math
90% (Total)
87% (African American)
80% (Economically Disadvantaged)
89% (Female)
90% (Male)
95% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
92% (Students without Disabilities)
90% (White)
The state average for grade 6 math was 62% in 2003.
Reading
89% (Total)
81% (African American)
86% (Economically Disadvantaged)
95% (Female)
84% (Male)
90% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
46% (Students with Disabilities)
93% (Students without Disabilities)
90% (White)
The state average for grade 6 reading was 74% in 2003
Grade 7
Language Arts
72% (Total)
59% (Economically Disadvantaged)
87% (Female)
53% (Male)
78% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
75% (Students without Disabilities)
74% (White)
The state average for grade 7 language arts was 52% in 2003.
Math
84% (Total)
78% (Economically Disadvantaged)
91% (Female)
75% (Male)
87% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
85% (Students without Disabilities)
85% (White)
The state average for grade 7 math was 54% in 2003.
Reading
84% (Total)
73% (Economically Disadvantaged)
83% (Female)
84% (Male)
88% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
85% (Students without Disabilities)
86% (White)
The state average for grade 7 reading was 63% in 2003
Grade 8
Language Arts
58% (Total)
59% (Economically Disadvantaged)
59% (Female)
56% (Male)
57% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
60% (Students without Disabilities)
56% (White)
The state average for grade 8 language arts was 53% in 2003.
Math
60% (Total)
62% (Economically Disadvantaged)
60% (Female)
59% (Male)
58% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
62% (Students without Disabilities)
60% (White)
The state average for grade 8 math was 48% in 2003.
Reading
59% (Total)
61% (Economically Disadvantaged)
65% (Female)
51% (Male)
58% (Not Economically Disadvantaged)
59% (Students without Disabilities)
60% (White)
The state average for grade 8 reading was 57% in 2003
Here is their stats:
% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch
This school State average
49% 62%
Students per teacher 15.2
Student Ethnicity
Ethnicity This School State Avg.
African American 10% 57%
American Indian 1% 1%
Asian 0% 1%
Hispanic 3% 1%
White 87% 40%
So in other words, any young men attending this school are up shit creek. Middle school is when young girls start to become women (read: bleed for 6 days straight and tear heads off people for no reason). Images of young men wearing "PMS" jackets while young girls get their "I GRADUATED P.M.S." bracelets. I would lower my head in shame every day that I would have to attend that school. Every damn day.
This is seriously one of the most bizarre movies that I've ever had the misfortune of watching twenty minutes of. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, it uses tons of stock footage from Star Wars spliced together with a story about Earth being protected by a shield made of human brains and nuclear weapons and...I don't know, it's crazy, and it has music ripped from Indiana Jones. It also has mummies. Yes. Mummies. I kid you not. All of the stock footage is edited and abused in the worst possible ways and the rest is so incredibly low budget and insane that's it's hilarious. These people couldn't even afford lasor beams and all their own effects consists of horribly drawn matte-paintings and robots made out cardboard boxes. But, despite that...everyone should watch it at least one, because it's so bad that it's funny.
Quote:TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - Japanese videogame maker Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday raised its net profit forecast by 17 percent on foreign exchange gains and said it would pay a record270 yen dividend for the year just ended.
Nintendo, known for game characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokemon, said it nearly doubled its dividend payment because it now expected to post a net profit of 82 billion yen ($757.4 million) in the year ended in March, compared with its previous forecast of 70 billion yen.
Quote:The story will be much the same at Nintendo, which is expected to highlight new games for the DS, along with the highly anticipated "Legend of Zelda" for the GameCube. The company will, however, give the first details on its next generation home system, currently code-named "Revolution". As with Sony, though, don't expect to know all of the answers. <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--> "This year's E3 is not Revolution's coming out party," Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America told me last month.
Quote:New Demasked & Warp Pipe Info Our contact over at Warp Pipe gave us a "heads up" a couple days ago, notifying Nintendojo that their new corporate site is online, with a couple previously unreleased tidbits about their Demasked venture. As well, though we couldn't publicly state so before, a recent newsletter to the site's subscribers has confirmed that the team will no longer support their original GameCube tunneling project, "Warp Pipe", which allowed LAN-enabled GameCube games to be played "online". From this point onward, Warp Pipe refers to the company alias in general. Here are the full transcripts from both the recently relaunched site and aforementioned newsletter.
I have no idea how to introduce this, so I'll just post it. This is an email Maynard (the real one) sent in moments ago:
[indent] "hi, kabir. i thought it only fair to inform you first, before you hear it second or third hand. some recent events have led me to the rediscovery of jesus. tool will need to take the back seat. this may come as a shock. i just thought you should know considering all the support you given us over the years.all my faith. maynard."
[/indent]This is an actual email from actual MJK. I was going to type up a post about how the RIAA had sent us a letter shutting down The Tool Page (as this year's annual April Fools' Day joke), but now I just don't think it seems appropriate. More on this as it develops. [size=3]§[/size]
Has Maynard James Keenan, the frontman of both the dark, heavy-metal art band Tool and the somewhat lighter A Perfect Circle, found Jesus and been born again? Well ...
Recent postings on two Tool Web sites — one of them purportedly by
Keenan himself — contend that the singer has found religion and has left Tool. Could this really be? On Tuesday afternoon (April 5), MTV News' Kurt Loder e-mailed Keenan for confirmation, and this is what he e-mailed back: "I did, in fact, find Jesus. More news to follow. God bless ya."
Keenan's letter to fan site toolshed.down.net explains that "some recent events have led me to the rediscovery of Jesus" and that "Tool will need to take the back seat." A posting on Tool's Web site alludes to Maynard's newfound Christianity as well, but who wrote the post is unclear. It reads, "I went to the studio to give Maynard a bottle of wine ... [and] not only wasn't Maynard there, but ... I was told Maynard has indeed 'found Jesus' and that, for this reason, he's abandoned the project for the time being, if not entirely."
But given their timing (one dated March 31, the other April 1), both posts were dismissed as April Fools' pranks, leaving fans wondering whether Keenan and the rest of Tool were just having a little fun with everyone.
The band's management could not be reached for comment or confirmation on the matter.
![[Image: pms-swat.jpg]](http://www.vincepinto.com/misc/pms-swat.jpg)
