April 20, 2012
A demo (demonstration) is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling.
The key difference between a classical animation and a demo is that the display of a demo is computed in real time, making computing power considerations the biggest challenge. Demos are mostly composed of 3D animations mixed with 2D effects and full screen effects.
read more »
Posted in Art, Games, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 19, 2012
A double clutch is a driving procedure primarily used for vehicles with an unsynchronized manual transmission. The double clutching technique involves the following steps:
1) The throttle (accelerator) is released, the clutch pedal is pressed, and the gearbox is shifted into neutral. 2) The clutch pedal is then released, the driver matches the engine RPM to the gear RPM either using the throttle (accelerator) (when changing down) or waiting for RPM to decrease (when changing up) until they are at a level suitable for shifting into the next gear. 3) At the moment when the revs between engine and gear are closely matched, the driver then instantly presses the clutch again to shift into the next gear. The whole maneuver can, with practice, take no more than a fraction of a second, and the result is a very smooth gear change.
read more »
Posted in Games, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 18, 2012
Fighting in ice hockey is an established tradition of the sport in North America, with a long history involving many levels of amateur and professional play and including some notable individual fights. Although a source of criticism, it is a considerable draw for the sport. Fighting is usually performed by one or more enforcers, or ‘goons’—players whose role it is to fight and intimidate—on a given team and is governed by a complex system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials, and the media refer to as ‘the code.’
Some fights are spontaneous, while others are premeditated by the participants. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on players who engage in fights. The NHL and most minor professional leagues in North America do not eject players outright for fighting, but major European and collegiate hockey leagues do, and multi-game suspensions may be added on top of the ejection.
read more »
Posted in Games, Health, Politics |
Leave a Comment »
April 18, 2012
Dave Duerson (1960 – 2011) played in the NFL from 1983–1993. Duerson played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. He was given an opportunity to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a pitcher and outfielder in 1979, but declined, choosing to play football at Notre Dame from 1979 to 1982. He graduated with honors, with a BA in Economics. Duerson was selected to four consecutive Pro Bowls from 1986 to 1989 in his career, and won two championship rings, playing safety for the Bears (Super Bowl XX), and the Giants (Super Bowl XXV). He purchased the majority interest in Fair Oaks Farms (formerly Brooks Sausage Company) in 1995. Duerson grew the company from $24M revenue to over $63.5M in six years.
Duerson was found dead at his Florida home in the winter of 2011. The Miami-Dade County medical examiner reported that Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He sent a text message to his family saying he wanted his brain to be used for research at the Boston University School of Medicine, which is conducting research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) caused by playing pro football. Researcher neurologists at Boston University confirmed that he suffered from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions.
Posted in Death, Games, Health |
Leave a Comment »
April 18, 2012
An underground restaurant, sometimes known as a supper club or ‘closed door restaurant,’ is an eating establishment operated out of someone’s home, generally (though not invariably) bypassing local zoning and health-code regulations. They are, in effect, commercial dinner parties. They are usually advertised by word of mouth or guerilla advertising, often on Facebook, and may require references to make a reservation. An underground restaurant is also known as a ‘guestaurant,’ which is a hybrid between being a guest in a dinner party and a restaurant.
Underground restaurants are popular in Latin America, where they’re known as either a ‘paladar’ or a ‘restaurante de puertas cerradas’ (‘closed door restaurant’). Depending on local licensing laws, they may or may not be illegal; either way, they’ve been built into the culture for decades, and often have higher standards than many licensed establishments. The attraction of the underground restaurant for the customer is to sample new food, often at low cost outside the traditional restaurant experience, which can be expensive and disappointing—underground restaurants have been described as ‘anti-restaurants.’
Posted in Food, Games, World |
Leave a Comment »
April 13, 2012
Sager Midern Computer, Inc., is an American OEM (original equipment manufacturer) computer manufacturer specializing in laptop computers. Sager laptops are manufactured by Clevo which are also sold under many other brand names. Sager is the biggest Clevo retailer. In addition to selling physical hardware, Sager also offers support and repair services for all Clevo based Laptops. This service is offered even if the laptop was not ordered through Sager, although in that case the user must pay in full for all services provided.
The company was founded in 1985 by Shung Song Yuan in City of Industry, California. While ‘A-brands’ such as Dell, Toshiba, IBM, or HP are manufactured on a contract basis where so-called contract manufacturers assemble laptop computers as specified by the brand, Sager instead purchases finished and generic chassis designed and built by Original Design Manufacturers or ODMs (such as Clevo). Sager then assembles the laptop with parts chosen by the final customer, puts its logo on the chassis and sells them under the brand Sager. Sager then provides support to these computers.
Posted in Games, Money, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 12, 2012
Amateur professionalism is a socioeconomic concept that describes a blurring of the distinction between professional and amateur within any endeavour or attainable skill that could be labelled professional, whether it is in the field of writing, computer programming, music, film, etc. The idea is distinct from the sports term ‘pro–am’ (professional–amateur), though related to and ultimately derived from it.
The concept and terms have been used, since 2004, as a descriptor for an emerging sociological and economic trend of ‘people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards,’ as described by Demos, a British think tank, in the 2004 book ‘The Pro-Am Revolution’ co-authored by eclectic writer Charles Leadbeater. Leadbeater has evangelized the idea (in ‘amateur professional’ order this time) by presenting it at TEDGlobal 2005.
read more »
Posted in Games, Money, Technology |
Leave a Comment »
April 10, 2012
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. The Second City Theatre opened in late 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles.
The Second City has produced television programs in both the United States and Canada including ‘SCTV,’ ‘Second City Presents’, and ‘Next Comedy Legend,’ as well as being heavily involved in the creation of the satirical 1969 science fiction film ‘The Monitors.’ Since its debut, the Second City has consistently been a starting point for comedians, award winning actors, directors, and others in show business.
read more »
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
April 10, 2012
The Compass Players (or Compass Theater) was a cabaret revue show started by alumni, dropouts and hangers-on from the University of Chicago from 1955-1958 in Chicago and St. Louis. Several of the members went on to form The Second City Theater in 1959. Founded by David Shepherd, the original idea was to produce a new play derived through improvisation from outlines (in the tradition of the Italian commedia dell’arte) or scenarios written by members of the ensemble.
Shepherd turned to director Paul Sills to head this venture based on his experience working with Sills on an earlier Chicago theater effort. He noticed that Sills in rehearsal employed theater games, structures designed to create spontaneous theatrical play between actors that had been developed and named by Sills’ mother, Viola Spolin (who would later author the ‘bible’ of theater games, ‘Improvisation for the Theatre’).
read more »
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
April 10, 2012
Viola Spolin (1906 — 1994) was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life. These acting exercises she later called ‘Theater Games’ and formed the first body of work that enabled other directors and actors to create improvisational theater.
Her book, ‘Improvisation for the Theater,’ which published these techniques, includes her philosophy, as well as her teaching and coaching methods and is considered the ‘bible of improvisational theater.’ Spolin’s contributions were seminal to the improvisational theater movement in the U.S. She is considered to be the mother of Improvisational theater. Her work has influenced American theater, television and film by providing new tools and techniques that are now used by actors, directors and writers.
read more »
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
March 29, 2012
TV Tropes is a wiki that collects and expands on various conventions and devices (tropes) found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television and film tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video-games, and even advertisements and toys. It is known for approaching topics with a casual and humorous tone.
The site initially focused on the television show ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ and has since increased its scope to include thousands of other series, films, novels, plays, video games, anime, manga, comic strips and books, fan fiction, and other subjects, including Internet works such as Wikipedia, which is referred to in-wiki as ‘The Other Wiki.’ Some believe that use of ‘TV Tropes’ teaches the user to analyze and dissect works of media. An unanticipated side effect causes some readers to become jaded and cynical, ‘[replacing] surprise almost entirely with recognition.’ This is referred to on the site as ‘TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life,’ referring to the inability to read books, watch films, etc. without identifying each trope as it occurs.
Posted in Art, Games, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
March 27, 2012
A language game (also called secret language or ludling or argot) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others.
Some common examples are Pig Latin, which is used all over the globe; the Gibberish family, prevalent in the United States and Sweden; and Verlan, spoken in France. Each of these language games involves a usually simple standard transformation to speech, thus encoding it. The languages can be easily mentally encoded and decoded by a skilled speaker at the rate of normal speech, while those who either don’t know the key or aren’t practiced in rapid speech are left hearing nothing but gibberish.
read more »
Posted in Games, Humor, Language |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 