Month: January 2010

video
2

Bourbon Street after Saints win

I was at the Saints’ first playoff victory in 2001. On the way out, walking along the concourse, we were high-fiving perfect strangers as they walked in the other direction. Last night, my parents called me as they drove home from where they’d gone to watch the game. I could hear people yelling, cars honking, and fireworks cracking.

Saints 31, Vikings 28

Unless I’ve been dreaming for the last eight hours, the Saints are going to the Super Bowl. Here, Tracy Porter celebrates the interception that kept the score tied at the end of the fourth quarter.

January 25, 2010
Saints 31, Vikings 28
code
2

Mock geolocation

Useful if you’re working on a website meant for mobile devices. Firefox 3.5 has geolocation, but I use this with Safari and GreaseKit. Replace with whatever latitude and longitude you prefer, naturally.

if (!('geolocation' in navigator)) {
  navigator.geolocation = {
    watchPosition: function(success, f, options) {
      var broadcast = function() {
        var position = {
          coords: {
            latitude: 30.2696384,
            longitude: -97.74947,
            accuracy: 10000,
          },
          timestamp: (new Date()).valueOf()
        };        
        success(position);
      };
      
      broadcast();
      window.setInterval(broadcast, 10000);
    }
  };
}
link
1

A stream‐of‐consciousness browsing session brought me to this writeup on how the Source engine deals with lag. Also serves as a parable for web developers — don’t rely on the client to validate input, for the same reason that a game server can’t trust a participant to tell it if that bullet hit anything. See also Ninjam, a clever latency workaround for online jam sessions. And consider that even without the inherent delays of Internet traffic, the speed of light would be a constraint on distant collaboration.

review
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Verdict: 95/100 (Minimum score is 0; maximum is 100.)

You don’t need me to tell you how good this game is; the rest of the gaming world got there first. I don’t know if any one game can be a “system‐seller” — but if you already own a PS3, it’s inexcusable not to own Uncharted 2.

It’s not just good; it’s unusually, surprisingly good. It’s unusual for a game to be this much better than its prequel. It’s unusual for a game to make such large graphical leaps over its prequel on same‐generation hardware.

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