Posted May 13th, 2008 by Blake
Xeno Tactic is probably one of the funnest online Flash games I know of. The object of the game is very simple. Kill all the aliens as they pass through the room, from one door to the other. Sounds easy enough, huh? Well, trust me when I say you have to get creative to beat the latter missions.
In the first mission, the aliens will pass left to right. (You can click linked images to see them full size. Try it, there’s a cool animated effect!)
For each alien that makes it across, you will lose one bar of health. It’s important to keep in mind how much health and gold you have.
Fortunately, you have a good choice of weaponry at your disposal.
The wall is simply an obstacle that you can use to make the aliens follow a path. This is done to get them concentrated, making them easier to kill. The vulcan turret is the basic gun. It is slow firing, but it is cheap. It’s cheap to upgrade (all weapons can be upgraded 5 levels) and does a lot of damage once upgraded several times. I should also note that a level 5 vulcan turret has the largest range of any weapon. The plasma turret is a fairly expensive gun. It’s advantage is that it can fire rapidly. A level 5 plasma turret is one of the deadliest guns available. But beware, it’s takes a lot of gold to upgrade it that high!
The weapons mentioned above can fire at ground and air aliens. The wall, mentioned above, can only be used on ground aliens. Air aliens simply fly over the walls. For really strong air aliens, the DCA can be used. It only fires at air aliens, but it is very effective. It also causes damage to surrounding aliens, not just the one it hits directly (splash damage). On later missions, these are pretty much required.
The SAM turret, albeit mis-named, fires at ground aliens only. It is similar to the DCA in that it causes splash damage, making it useful for concentrated ground crowds.
The freeze turret and sonic turret do not seem very useful to me. The freeze turret makes ground aliens move slower than normal, giving you more time to kill them. However, it seems too costly compared to the impact it has. The sonic turret damages ground aliens in its vicinity. It too seems too costly given its ability.
In missions after the first, aliens travel in two lanes. Left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
Since I haven’t been able to beat the last mission, number 6, I’ve been replaying earlier missions and putting restrictions on how many guns I can use. I also require that I lose no health. I was able to beat mission 1 with two vulcan cannons.
The strategy in this layout (and any layout with weaponry restrictions) is maximizing aliens exposure to your guns. The aliens must pass on three sides of each gun, giving the slow-firing guns enough time to eliminate the targets.
Similarly, I beat mission 1 using one plasma turret.
This one was kind of tricky. And I still think it requires a little luck. I’ve saved as much gold as possible with this layout, while getting the most exposure.
I was able to beat mission 2 using four vulcan cannons. And I beat mission 4 using eleven vulcan cannons.
Try these out, and if you come up with any of your own challenges, post them here. Happy killing.
Posted in Sports and Entertainment | No Comments
Posted May 9th, 2008 by Matt
Many political pundits and commentators in the past few months have blasted Obama’s association with Jeremiah Wright. They have also been highly critical of Wright’s theology of black liberation. I have argued for months that, while some people make constructive criticism of this situation, many of the arguments are advanced because of people’s underlying racist feelings, although I am not trying to specifically accuse all media consumers, like my own mom or any of my readers, who are really concerned and opinionated about Wright. It is primarily the commentators/reporters who have pushed this issue to the forefront of everything, like Sean Hannity and perhaps others on Fox News. It’s really more of a collective form of racism that’s kept strong by key information gatekeepers.
Having said that, I invite you step back and take a look at the big picture: When election day comes, it could very well be that Obama is not elected, and it won’t be because he is a liberal baby killer or what have you, but because he has a black preacher. And sometimes black preachers say things white people don’t like and sometimes aren’t even true. It’s called the race problem in America, and Obama tried mightily to clarify it in his first speech on Jeremiah Wright. Oh well…
Some people say Jeremiah Wright is racist. I don’t think so myself, but that is not my point in this post and I don’t want to argue about it. My point is that the heavy criticism of Wright is motivated by racism, whether Wright himself is racist or not.
I say this, because while Wright and, for some reason, Obama are catching all kinds of criticism for being racist (because of people with political agendas not too dissimilar than those who blasted Trent Lott years ago), McCain’s spiritual advisers and religious backers (including primarily John Hagee and Rod Parsley) are practically Zionists who think America’s “Christian” purpose is to annihilate all Muslims. They think falsely that Christ will come back for so many years to reign over a kingdom of this world, and to prepare for that day, we must fight against Muslims in a World War III. This is infinitely worse than the beliefs advanced by Jeremiah Wright. But these religious leaders and the politicians they support won’t get as much attention because they’re white. Face it.
I’m not proposing McCain should be blamed for merely being associated with these people. We all know he is just trying to get votes from a certain religious sector of America that doesn’t know anything about Jesus Christ and his church, a “kingdom not of this world.” But for many in the media to rant on and on about Wright and not focus as strongly on Rod Parsley and John Hagee is unfair and at least very much looks racist.
Posted in Politics, Religion | 10 Comments
Posted May 7th, 2008 by Blake
I didn’t realize that the last post about Facebook singles ads was actually the Knights’ hundredth post. I guess it’s really to late to celebrate now. So instead I’ll put up a screenshot I’ve been meaning to post for the longest.
I was trying to load Microsoft Word for Mac 2004. It was taking forever, resting nicely at the little splash screen. Like this:
How could it be taking so long? I decided to take a closer look. It turns out that of all the things Word has to load and prepare, one of them takes a long time.
Fancy new look, same ol’ Word. Some things never change.
Posted in Announcements, Random | No Comments
Posted May 6th, 2008 by Blake
Every time I log on to Facebook to write on someone’s wall, poke Matt, and change my profile picture all I see are these ridiculous ads trying to lure the click of my mouse. Five girls in five minutes? Really Facebook?
I suppose there are so many guys between the ages of 14 and 20-something on Facebook that it is a good place to advertise this type of, um, service.
But wait. What if the Facebook user is a Christian who doesn’t fall for this type of marketing?
Oh. Okay. I guess that works. It’s got the puppy and the innocent, yet luring smile. Nice and modest though.
Wait a minute. We were doing good. This is a probably a little too showy. Yes, the patriotism is good. God bless America! But don’t push your luck.
Stop! You’re undoing all that work. That shirt is simply too revealing. How is a good Christian guy not to be distracted by that. Shame! Shame! Oh well. I won’t have to worry about any of those girls anyway. I’m a little to plump for their tastes.
{sigh}
Posted in Business, Random | No Comments
Posted May 2nd, 2008 by Matt
Like every Mel Gibson film, “Apocalypto” is a well put together action/adventure movie. I wish I could have seen it in theaters first, but for some reason NOBODY got excited about it. So I could never find someone to go with and ended up renting it. What is up with that? Below is a picture of an “Apocalypto” scene I drew (in live color) yesterday on MS Paint. Sorry if these pictures are annoying anyone. I’m done with school for the summer, and I’m bored.
Posted in Pictures | 1 Comment
Posted May 1st, 2008 by Blake
Posted in Announcements, Contests | No Comments
Posted April 30th, 2008 by Matt
Below are some pictures I’ve drawn on MS Paint of Jesus. The first one is one I did today, and the other is from several months ago. Just for you to gaze in wonderment.
“Picture of Jesus” - Ben Harper
It hangs above my altar
Like they hung him from a cross
I keep one in my wallet
For the times I feel lost
I feel lost
In a wooden frame with splinters
Where my family kneels to pray
And if you listen close
You’ll hear the words he used to say
I’ve got a picture of Jesus
In his arms so many prayers rest
We’ve got a picture of Jesus
And with him we shall be forever blessed
Forever blessed
Forever blessed
Now it has been spoken
He would come again
But would we recognize
This king among men
There was a man in our time
His words shine bright like the sun
He tried to lift the masses
And was crucified by gun
He was a picture of Jesus
With him so many prayers rest
He is a picture of Jesus
In his arms so many prayers
So many prayers
So many prayers rest
With him we shall be forever blessed
Forever blessed
Forever blessed
Some days have no beginning
And some days have no end
Some roads are straight and narrow
And some roads only bend
So let us say a prayer
For every living thing
Walking towards a light
From the cross of a king
We long to be a picture of Jesus
Of Jesus
In his arms
In his arms so many prayers rest
I long to be a picture of Jesus
With him we shall be forever blessed
With him we shall
With him we shall be forever blessed
Oh- Oh- I long
I’ve got a picture of Jesus
Mmhh
Posted in Music, Pictures, Religion | 4 Comments
Posted April 28th, 2008 by Matt
Hola, todos. As many of you know, I am a die-hard Spanish student who devotes many of his days to reading articles and watching an untold number of YouTube videos in Spanish. I even have a religious blog in Spanish, which I encourage you to pass along to anyone who knows Spanish. There is no one on this Earth who wants to speak Spanish as much as I do. Not even Ricky Martin.
So, I’m going to give you some tips on learning Spanish. These have worked well for me over the years. Here we go:
1: The first and most important surefire way to learn Spanish, is to eat at Mexican restaurants as often as possible. Ingrained in every combination of beef or chicken, cheese, tortilla and salsa are little particles of Spanish knowledge that go straight to the brain. Going to Mexican restaurants also partially fulfills another requirement on this list, which is …
2: To listen to salsa and other Latin music. Over the past year, I’ve really gotten into this. The older stuff is better than the newer, as with anything. Héctor Lavoe is a good starting point. I would also suggest Jose Feliciano and an Afro-Cuban guy I recently invested in named Ibrahim Ferrer. Sometimes I look up the lyrics so I can tell what they’re saying since it can be hard to hear another language being sung.
3: Constantly talk to someone, anyone, in Spanish, whether they themselves know Spanish or not. For instance, I talk to Blake all the time in Spanish, and it’s cool because it makes him angry sometimes. But it’s really good for him, because he is forced to soak in “second-hand Spanish,” as he calls it.
4: Another important aspect of learning Spanish is to change you’re political views if necessary in order to become an advocate of a free, open border between Mexico and the United States. You must realize that anyone who is against you is just mad at you because they don’t know Spanish as well as you do.
Muchas gracias. Chao.
Posted in Random | No Comments
Posted April 27th, 2008 by Laz
Today, I feel like writing about compromise. Ever since my discussion with Blake concerning his argument with Matt about education (as written about in a previous blog post), I have been contemplating the “the tao of compromise.” For those of you “stupid, rich, ignorant, white Westerners” out there, “tao” means “way of” or “art of.”
Just in case you are either too lazy to read Blake’s post, or are like me and don’t care what Blake writes (hehe), his ingenious post articulated how he reached the epiphany of compromise between both his and Matt’s radical views. On one side, Matt advocated almost complete anarchy in our education system with no control by the federal government. Blake, on the other hand, was basically advocating a right-wing, religious, theocratic, and tyrannical education. (Another note: I have recently been experimenting with John Adam’s maxim, “Why use only one adjective when six or seven will do just as well?”) His compromising solution was to let the states handle education. In this issue, the two extremes involve federal control and anarchy. State regulation, therefore, is a compromise between the two sides.
My point that I’m trying to get at is that compromise is often-ignored political tool that can work wonders. Not only does it work to satisfy both sides, but it often ends up being the “right” thing to do anyway. Examples throughout history are numerous, and recently, I came across a personal, real-world example that I will reveal in a minute.
Historically, compromise was the foundation of our legislative branch. In The Great Compromise, otherwise known as the Connecticut Compromise, agreed to at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, the big states and small states agreed to a bicameral legislator, consequently forming the Senate and House of Representatives. The Great Compromise serves as the foundation of our great country’s legislative system.
Unfortunately, I can’t think of any other big historical examples, but here is my recent personal example. I am an officer in an organization called Arnold Air Society, which is basically a community service-oriented honors society exclusively for top Air Force ROTC cadets. Every year, candidates go through an extensive training process in order to be initiated. Near the end of their training, we have to evaluate whether we think they are worthy to go through with the final stage, an extended training exercise (usually a rough all-weekend, hardcore, paintball match in which they have to demonstrate teamwork, leadership, knowledge, and blah blah blah) and get formally initiated at the end). Naturally, we have to evaluate these candidates based on what we think they will do once they are in AAS, not what they have done in the past. However, it is only natural to want to initiate them after they have gone through all hard work of the training process.
Anyway, our squadron commander (CC) brought up the issue of a certain candidate whom he had worries about. This cadet supposedly has an “attitude,” and our CC thought, based in part on his performance, that this candidate, whom I will now call Bob, would only perform at a minimal level (meet standards and be done with it). So, our CC put it to a vote, and the kid was not accepted. Personally, I abstained from the vote simply because I had not interacted with Bob very much and was not very involved in the candidate training process. There are numerous details I could bore you with, but the simple matter is that it has to be understood within an AFROTC context…and it would be extremely boring. Several of us felt extremely disappointed because we felt bad for Bob after putting him through all that training.
A couple days later, I pulled a “Blake Maneuver” and had an epiphany. Unfortunately, it was already too late to influence the decision. When you become a member of AAS, it is not necessary that you have a job or any responsibility. You have to get service hours, go to meetings, etc; but not necessarily any more than that. The circumstances upon which we rejected Bob were definitely ambiguous, but if we let him continue and finish the process, we would have given him a chance to prove us wrong. Furthermore, by initiating him and gradually giving him more responsibility, we would not have had to worry about him bringing the squadron down. Lastly, if he did not perform up to par, he would not have enjoyed the benefits or recognition of having a squadron job. On one side, we did not want to accept him. On the other side, he would have joined the squadron, performed poorly, and hurt the squadron. My idea represented the magic word: “compromise.”
My experiences with compromise now offer me a guiding light for any serious future decisions or opinions. Compromise and moderation are often the answer. In the future, hopefully, I can be more aware of the circumstances and the factors concerning my decision-making. In the AAS example, maybe I could have made the difference between Bob getting initiated into AAS or not. As a political figure one day, I never know, it may mean the difference between passing The Great Compromise or not.
Posted in Politics, Social Issues | 6 Comments
Posted April 25th, 2008 by Blake
8:40am: I just got connected. I ate breakfast with a really cool guy who is from New York, works in Georgia, and lives in Alabama. The first presentation began without me. Eric Meyer is covering something that I’m sure is really cool. I have no idea.
9:04am: He’s going on to a new section. Maybe I can join the ride. Oh, and Matt seems to have forgotten how to comment.
9:17am: I got nothing. I’m just here while Eric enlightens everyone else. Sorry to my readers for the crappy coverage of the first talk.
9:24am: I’m beginning to catch on. What I’m getting is more techniques similar, and in use with, CSS frameworks. I’ve never kept up a big enough site to use the things. Or maybe it’s because I didn’t know about them.
9:55am: Stephanie Sullivan is up now. She’s showing how to convert designs to standards-compliant Web sites. This is probably what I am most familiar with.
10:07am: Elastic layout for accessibility. So when grandma increases the text, the whole site gets proportionally bigger. So designers and users will like this—and that doesn’t happen often.
10:39am: Stephanie has been showing a lot of cool stuff you can do with spans. Changing spans to “display:block” can deliver some cool effects, depending on what you want to do.
I’m going to move to writing summary-like entries. I’m just not feeling as livebloggy today. Plus, let’s face it, you probably don’t care.
11:01am: Well, I’m still going. Aaron Gustofson is talking to us about Progressive Enhancement with JavaScript.
11:28am: Today’s talks are more technical and, unfortunately, less relevant to you. So I’m going to be tuning out for a while. I’ll post a summary at some point.
The next day, 10:24pm: I know, I know. It’s way to late now, but I’ve just now made time for this post. At 1:15 yesterday, I slipped away from the event to eat lunch at the Riverwalk Mall. The event offered a free lunch, but I was wanting to do a little site-seeing. It ended up being a crazy journey. I had to use 5 elevators on the way there. But once we got there, it was pretty cool. I had some awesome—and big—slices of pizza from Cento & Fanti Itallian Market: Brickoven Pizza and Bakery. Mom had a tasty-looking giro.
I was a little late by the time I got back, but I didn’t miss all of Robert Hoekman’s on-the-spot usability reviews. This was a cool idea. Robert took sites from the audience, showed them on the big screen, and gave usability advice.
For me, the event ended with Jeffrey Zeldman’s presentation about where Web standards have been, and where they might be going. This is going to be the nerdiest thing I’ve said thus far. His presentation was moving. Yeah, I said it.
What I learned
I learned that effective, even stunning, design doesn’t have to be complicated in terms of code. Thanks to Andy Clarke’s superhero CSS, I learned that it takes little markup to do cool things with a Web design. I learned that usability can mean throwing stuff you’ve worked on for a long time out the window. I learned that users are usually trying to get what they want from your site and get off—and you should help them as much as possible. I learned that SEO is achieved by making easy-to-follow code. If you can’t read it, Google can’t either. Business-driven people need to know the findability benefit of good markup. Lastly, I learned some simple techniques for page layouts. Cool stuff.
Credits
An Event Apart New Orleans
Photos on the AEA Flickr page
Posted in Tech | 2 Comments
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