jason's blog

A few days ago I revamped and relaunched my portfolio. The new site is now built upon Wordpress and should help expand the type of content I put on the site. The new launch also includes a blog which will be completely separate from this blog. For friends & family, don't worry; this blog is sticking around. I'll be able to post about mumbo-jumbo like "jquery, javascript, css, php" over on my portfolio's blog while keeping this one on things I find purely interesting (and non portfolio related).

If you have any remote interest in web design, or the things I post over on my portfolio, please feel free to add my portfolio's feed to your favorite RSS reader.

I'd tried the Dolphin emulator a while back, but wasn't able to get it configured to run somewhat smoothly until recently. I finally have some decent screenshots of what Nintendo Wii games could look like in 720p (click on the images for the full image).

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

I was able to get NSMB Wii running at a somewhat consistent rate, usually around 40-50 fps. NSMB appears to be a good game to start with, since it is supposed to run pretty well on most any system with at least a 2 Ghz processor.

I tried a few other games, but didn't have much success. Little King's Story had graphical glitches galore, Super Mario Galaxy looked fantastic, but ran slow (i.e. 5-15 fps), and Mario Kart Wii did run, but had a few glitches and was a sub-par frame rate for a racing game (20-30 fps).

If you're of the queasy persuasion, this game may not be for you. A rather interesting "spin" on the old classic if you're up for the challenge!

I know green screens are used in movies fairly frequently, but this is just impressive. I would have never guessed that the majority of these shots weren't on location. I'm just impressed at how much green screens can be used these days and studios' abilities to make it look real.

It's been a while since I've had a reflective post, and I've had a lot on my mind recently. So here goes...

A while back I heard an interview with Michael Caine where he was asked, "...do you have any regrets in life?" in which his reply was, "I only regret not having done something." He goes on further to say, "...if you did not do it and it was something great, that regret would stay with you for the rest of your life. Regrets about things you did do never stay with you."

Regrets about things you did do may not have the expected outcome you are looking for, but at least you can't say you didn't try. I've been trying to apply this philosophy more recently since I want to be able to say I have very few regrets for things not done. For the things you did try, you may regret doing it if the outcome did not result in your expectations but at least you can continuing in knowing that you tried.

I feel sad to say that even at 25, I feel like I have regrets for not having done things. I look back and see missed opportunities and think, "What if...?" What would have been the outcome had I followed that path? Would I have been happier? Could something great have happened? It's painful not knowing if I'll ever find out the answers to those questions, or if there's any chance at rekindling those opportunities.

That's not to say I'm not trying to learn from those regrets and move forward. It's difficult to try and adjust your life to a new philosophy especially when it pushes the limits of your comfort zone. But even in the midst of my failures and regrets I have to move forward realizing the potential of having no regrets. If I make it to be old and gray, I want to be able to look back on my life and say, "I have accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish and left no stones unturned." I want to do the best I possibly can with the opportunities that are presented to me and be satisfied with the outcome, no matter how horrible it may be.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and life changing philosophies take time as well. I'm taking it one day at a time and trying to learn from my mistakes. I think that's the best I can do.

I'm sure most of you have used Google at some point or another. I personally use it every day, and my job would become quite difficult without Google. As you may or may not know, Google Chrome was released a little over a year ago; Google's stab at an internet browser. It's advertised to be fast and small.

More recently, Google has announced Google Chrome OS. Based on Linux, Chrome OS is designed for the internet, and the below video explains that concept in more detail. It's hard to argue that the internet hasn't taken a major spotlight on our PCs, but it's even harder to predict whether or not a desktop os can truly survive when built around the internet. Take a look below at things to come from Google.

"Galileo, mee mee mee~"

As in years past, It's been requested that I put out a wish list and it appears to have been requested again. So here it is.

FYI, I do have a Bluray player, so I would prefer a bluray disc over a DVD if available for the movies/seasons I've listed. If you can't find it, it's not a big deal but I've tagged the ones which should have bluray discs.

• Monk Season 7
• Castle Season 1
• Dollhouse Season 1 (Bluray)
• Up (Bluray)
• PSN $20 Card
• REI Mesh Duffle - Large
• Snowboard Socks (2 pairs)
• CamelBak Better Bottle - 32oz (Gray)
• REI Membership
• Twizzlers
• Sour Candy (Lemonheads, Warheads, etc.)
• Cash/Check/Credit Cards Always Accepted! ;)

I may amend this list if I think of anything else, but this is the best I could do on short notice.

I always find it interesting how music and entertainment can change a person's perspective on a mundane task. A simple, uninteresting task can suddenly seem more appealing once an objective or reward is involved, and the video below is a perfect example.

According to social experiment 66% more people than normal chose the staircase over the escalator now that it was converted to a "piano". Of course, one has to wonder if that amount would decrease over time if something like this was "normal".

I'm not a meteorologist, but I must admit when I was a kid I always wanted to be one. Even though I never ended up in that line of work that general interest and fascination of weather still exists.

This curiosity has only been increased recently due to the precipitation totals we've received in the past month alone. It's kind of interesting considering last fall central Alabama was in a severe drought, but this year we can't seem to get rid of the rain. Here's some interesting facts from the climate report linked above:

• 2009's YTD precipitation total is 58.08", compared to 2008's 45.5" on the same date (Oct 15th), an increase of around 27%.
• Over 25% of this year's precipitation has happened since Sept. 1st.
• Normal rainfall from Sept. 1st - Oct. 15th is 5.5". 2009 is 16.42", 3x what the normal value is.
• The February/March snowfall is the latest I can remember receiving here since the winter storm of '93.

Of course not really related to Alabama weather, but it's also interesting to note that we've had quite the unusual (subdued) hurricane season compared to normal and those of recent years.