Velocity vs. Desires
Morning Runs - Velocity is almost proportional to the issues of the heart. Inversely related to distane (not shown).
Format inspired by Indexed
A Stargate Enthusiast’s Review of Stargate Universe
As of this articles writing Stargate Universe episode 5 “Justice” just aired. This post about Stargate Universe can be summarized in this thought; instead of being something to someone Stargate Universe is on the path of being nothing to everyone.
Exploring the unknown, meeting new species, discovering new technology, and portraying how it all impacts our society is what science fiction is all about. Those of you are trekkies, wasn’t this the same reason why Star Trek is so fascinating? The original Stargate movie and Stargate SG-1 story line provided the same sense of science fiction as Star Trek. Instead of considering the future Stargate dealt with the present and provided exciting story lines that had an interesting tie in to human history. The episodes were (except for some of the very early season 1 episodes) were modest and didn’t contain gratuitous nudity, sex, or profanity. The SG-1 team was civil with each other and the unique personalities of Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge were a source of positive character development and wry comic humor. Unrestrained equines could not remove me from posting about the enjoyment the original SG-1 team provided. Not even if you used a swiss army knife *grin*.
It pains me to give Stargate Universe bad press because I liked Stargate SG-1 so much. If I only “liked” Stargate Universe just a little I might focus on it’s virtues. Sadly my feelings towards Stargate Universe can’t be stretched enough to say it is likable.
Stargate Universe isn’t science fiction – it’s a drama… dare I say, a soap opera? It is a struggle to find the virtues in Stargate Universe (SGU) that I found in SG-1. The characters are bitter and aggressive with each other, there is only a minimal sense of exploration, and there is too much gratuitous sexuality. I don’t want to see overtly sensual over tones in my science fiction unless it directly applies to a specific situation. Don’t characters have private lives anymore? Other genres exist for these types of interpersonal “explorations”. I admit, given the storyline these types of issues arise but there is way too much focus on it and instead of focusing on the science fiction of what could be there is more emphasis on the drama with a science fiction storyline.
Oh cry.
How to Launch a WSH VBScript as Administrator in Windows 7 and Vista
The example below launches a VB script as administrator on Windows 7 and Vista regardless if the context menu contains the “Run as administrator” option. Registry tweaks exist to add the run as administrator option to the context menu for .vbs files but this creates complications if the script is distributed to other people.
When the script below is executed it checks to see if it was passed a command line argument named “elevated”. If it is not found the script recursively calls itself passing the elevated command line argument and requests to be run as administrator. The user is prompted to confirm the action and the restricted script exits leaving the escalated administrator script running. When the user grants permission the elevated argument is found and the script changes back from the %System32% working directory to the script where the script is located.
If WScript.Arguments.Named.Exists("elevated") = False Then
'Launch the script again as administrator
CreateObject("Shell.Application").ShellExecute "wscript.exe", """" & WScript.ScriptFullName & """ /elevated", "", "runas", 1
WScript.Quit
Else
'Change the working directory from the system32 folder back to the script's folder.
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
oShell.CurrentDirectory = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").GetParentFolderName(WScript.ScriptFullName)
MsgBox "Now running with elevated permissions"
End If
sayings of the wise … ready on your lips
Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise;
apply your heart to what I teach,
for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart
and have all of them ready on your lips.-Proverbs 22:17-18 NIV
Alhambra – Board Game To Build A Palace
Alhambra is a board game with the goal of building the best palace. Game play is fairly straight forward, the primary actions are; pickup coin, buy palace piece, or re-arrange existing palace piece. Each player has their own palace and the goal is to score the most points by having the most palace pieces of a specific designation. There are various rules about how the palace can be constructed which increase the level of complexity. The game is broke up into 2 scoring rounds with a final scoring round when all the palace pieces are in play.
Within 90 minutes we were taught the rules and had a very fulfilling first game. By chance I did win but I assure you that has no bearing on my appreciation for the game *wink*. My only complaint is that it was perhaps too isolated between players. The only direct interaction between players in the game is when players are deciding what palace pieces to buy.
The game reminds me of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects but with less confusion.
In attendance was AM (game leader), RT, CT, and me. It didn’t take long to grasp the finer points of palace construction but unfortunately the first game resulted in several gee-I-won’t-build-like-that-again moments. CT scored big in the end with a wicked long wall. RT was well rounded but stuck with several unusable pieces at the end of the game. AM had a fierce palace with some intricate but useless internal palace walls that tripped him up. My green pieces and modest outside wall were decent scoring each round.
It lacks the fierce competition of a game like risk or the fun frivolous player interactions between turns but it is a decent family game worth playing.