Warm Fuzzy

I got a chance to play with Core Mind Builder Pro for Windows XP/Vista, and I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started with it. I got it for review purposes - but I've always enjoyed puzzles. Scores never meant much for me on these sorts of things, but the feeling when one sees the solution just appear is... addictive. The trick is usually knowing how to look at the problem.

As soon as I got some free time, I played with it the first time - establishing a baseline for myself. I'd share my scores with you, but if they are higher than average it would mean some would think I cheated and if they were lower than average, some would think I was a moron. I'm happy not to tell you and give you no reason to believe either way. What I will say is that it does take time to go through the test - there are a few curve balls in there. The clock ticks, it ticks, it ticks... after a while you can tune it out, though I think the added sense of pressure might add something to the experience.

The score was actually a little lower than I had expected. I was sure that I had nailed quite a few, but in going through the review I found some mistakes that I had made in haste - and a few that I had quite simply looked at the wrong way. Tick tock. Some people might be turned off by that, but it is sort of like working the weaker muscles in your body to strengthen them. That is the overall goal of Core Mind Builder Pro, after all - if you wanted a quick fix for strengthening your mind, there are none to be found. It requires some effort.

Over the next few days, as I had time, I did some of the building exercises. It was actually refreshing to work on problems that were so much more finite than I have grown used to, so in an odd way it was relaxing. And I learned a few things along the way.

Via email (and after trying it out... comments below):

EIDOS PARTNERS WITH TRIALPAY TO GIVE PLAYERS THOUSANDS OF WAYS TO GET TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY FOR FREE

Mountain View, Calif. – February 15, 2008 – Lara Croft celebrates her birthday this Valentine's Day and to commemorate the event, Eidos is inviting players to enjoy Tomb Raider Anniversary for free. Eidos, a world-leader in entertainment software, and TrialPay, the leader in alternative payments, have partnered to make it even easier for customers all over the world to play Tomb Raider.

Using TrialPay, players get a free subscription to Tomb Raider Anniversary by trying or buying an offer from blue-chip advertisers. With TrialPay everyone wins!

"I can't think of a better way to celebrate Lara Croft's 10th anniversary than by letting loyal players get the new Tomb Raider Anniversary game for free,” said Dave Clark, vice president of new business development for Eidos. "Through our partnership with TrialPay, more players will be able to enjoy the Tomb Raider series, and these players get a great deal which fosters the brand loyalty that has made Lara Croft the first lady of gaming for a decade.”

Tomb Raider Anniversary commemorates this occasion by offering a revisualization of a gaming classic using advanced rendering technology to bring the original Tomb Raider Game to life for today's audience. And through this partnership with TrialPay, anyone can get the game for free by completing one offer from the brand of his or her choice.

"TrialPay lets millions of Tomb Raider fans get the Anniversary game for free by trying or buying an offer from their preferred brands,” said Alex Rampell, TrialPay's CEO. "We are extremely proud to partner with Eidos for Lara Croft's 10th anniversary.”

Everyone's favorite Lego brick is now 50 years old, from humble beginnings in a carpenter workshop in Billund, Denmark - the carpenter workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Over the years, Lego has seemed to grow with me - from houses to spaceships (and some were both) to cars, from motor driven to programmable and computer controlled Lego Mindstorms.

Happy 50th, Lego, and hopefully all these gaming consoles and computing technology will not take away the satisfying feel of two Lego bricks joining together. And I saw that I am not alone: I see Google is also paying some tribute.

Its funny how one can go almost anywhere and talk about Legos... and have something in common with people.

In that way, Legos connect the world.

About a month ago, I got an email from an old friend about some dip I had made while in Clearwater, Florida, and so I got the ingredients together when I got back to Trinidad - and last night I made the best bachelor recipe ever - simple, fast and hot. It can be a dip, it can be a part of a sandwich, and it can be mixed with mashed potatoes or hash to create a bastardized Shepherd's Pie.

The history of this involves two bachelors in a kitchen - my father and I - scrounging what we could find in the kitchen on the weekend that the wicked stepmother left (Yay!). Times were tight, and the cupboards were not well stocked. Even so, we came up with this concoction.

Before you start, you will need the following:

• Clean saucepan, preferably iron.
• Clean fork.
• Clean plate
• Oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil so that something in the meal is considered healthy.
• A can of corned beef, a can of red kidney beans.

The ingredients are simple:

• one can of Corned Beef
• one can of Red beans
• anything else you want
• Seasoning to suit.
• Cheese to suit

Preheat your saucepan (it's the wide and shallow one); if it is a manly iron pan then put some extra virgin olive oil in the pan and wipe it around with a clean paper towel. Open the cans while waiting for the oil to become hot, and drain the beans. Select the medium heat.

About a week ago, I was contacted by a representative of a large company who any self-respecting geek would have given their mouse-hand to work for. It is a good company, one of the few I respect, so I was a bit flattered that they contacted me because of my LinkedIn profile. Of course, that profile and my resume give a sort of history of what I have done - so it was very flattering, but not necessarily what I wanted to do. It made me think. I didn't say 'no'. We agreed to talk, and days passed as we negotiated a voice connection - something we did today.

In email discussion, the basic stuff was outlined - stuff that, over 7 years ago, I used to live and breathe in dark corners such as MuppetLab. People threw problems at a group of people - solutions came out, no one understood how that group did it. I was a part of that group, and extremely lucky to have been. Very magical, that team of characters.

When I saw this insect at the Paramaribo Airport on the way out of Suriname, I was intrigued. 3-4 inches long, and very interesting patterns on its back (click image to see larger version) - I was curious to know what it was, guessing it to be some form of soldier beetle. I couldn't find it on the web anywhere, so I decided to write What's That Bug? and within 24 hours - despite being swamped, they identified it as a Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus. Apparently, this is the first bit of information on it on the web, as searching for Harlequin Beetle and Acrocinus longimanus turns up absolutely no results at the time of this writing other than noting that it is missing in the Wikipedia. Go figure.

In searching around for information on it, I found out that longimanus is 'μακρόχειρ "Macrocheir (Latin =Longimanus)"' through the referencec on Artaxerxes I of Persia, which is related to the disparity in length of appendages. Interesting stuff.

Daniel Marlos of WhatsThatBug.com wrote:

I forget exactly how I got there, but Trini Fake News seems to be an up and coming political commentary blog which may rattle a few cages.

From a spoof of the Trinidad Guardian's front page announcing cell phones are banned to an amusing interview with Larry Achong, this site is one to keep an eye on, especially since the news there seems to be as authentic as what is printed in the press - better, perhaps, because we know that the stuff on Trini Fake News isn't true.

In truth, Trinidad and Tobago politics is a lot like dentistry - the politicians constantly pull on our teeth. At least now we have some laughing gas.

In other news, Patrick Manning, Winston Dookeran and Basdeo Panday are all on Facebook, likely in some sort of strange attempt to do something for the election on November 5th, 2007. Being a nice person who would be willing to drink with any of them, I added them as friends on Facebook.

This only means that I would drink with them. This does not mean that I think any one of them could run a country.

When I got the odd request for powdered goat milk as I prepared to head to Suriname, I was taken with the thought of seeing some sloths - especially outside of cages, since I hate seeing any animal trapped. I, of course, consulted the Wikipedia entry on sloths and learned a few things since I knew regrettably little about Sloths other than Sid the Sloth from the The Ice Age movies.

You can read a lot from books, from websites and you can listen to what people tell you - but nothing is better than one's own observations. So, even as I read about Megatherium, the largest sloth on record (extinct; weighed as much as a bull elephant), I kept in mind that what I would see would be the most interesting part. Still, their slow metabolisms and the way that their hair grows away from their extremities instead of toward their extremities like most mammals is noteworthy. They take about a month to digest their food, and even have some symbiotic cyanobacteria which grows in their hair that gives them nutrients when they groom (I wish I got nutrients when I groomed). They have about half as much muscle tissue as animals of similar weight, and 2/3 of a well fed sloth's weight is held in its stomach - a stomach which is compartmentalized and holds bacteria which helps it break down the leaves it eats.

They sleep about as much as the average government official - 15-18 hours a day - and are only truly at risk when they are on the ground. Common sense dictates that sloths should stay off of the ground, and they appear to have that common sense. Still, humans with bulldozers knock down trees. Humans with axes and saws cut down trees. I suppose that while mankind is proud of the Iron Age, sloths may have an altogether different perspective.

So what did I see?