Eclipse On My iMac

My new iMac has renewed my interest in doing a little programming in my free time. It's not hard to understand - a slick new computer with a 24" screen and UNIX underneath - what's not to love?

I downloaded Eclipse and it seems to work very well. I thought I would try a little application programming in Java. I've dabbled with Java over the years and I figured it was time to re-visit it. I found a library called Chesspresso that is LPGL. I've got a little to show for it so far - although obviously I don't have it picking up piece images very well just yet and the pieces aren't moveable.

I'm working on downloading the iPhone SDK so I can play with that. Meanwhile I'm listening to "The Stage Names" and "The Stand Ins" from Okkervil River.

Coke va Pepsi, Facebook

Coke drinking in te Obama administration -

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1882167,00.html

I would say Facebook is winning the battle over Twitter to get people to use it to post their status updates.  if there was a tool that pushed Facebook updates to Twitter I would use it.

I figured out how to push pictures taken on my iPhone to Facebook.  the Facebook app is awesome.  Flickr better get something similar set up.

Updates

I am now the proud owner of an iPhone.  The SIM in my Motorola RAZR 3 died a few weeks back.  Rather than replace my SIM for $6, I decided to buy a $300 iPhone that has 16g of memory and supports 3G.  I've really been enjoying it - listening to a lot of podcasts and watching video podcasts.

Connor has totally given up on Thomas and Friends and now is a huge Transformers fan.  I remember liking Transformers and owning all of the Constructicons.  I really I bought them slowly over a long period of time, probably when I was around 12.  I might have owned one other Transformers - that's about all I could afford.  On the other hand Connor is 5 and has 4 models of just Optimus Prime and a host of other Transformers.  Times have changed ...

Yesterday we had our first soccer game of the new season.  The previous weekend we had a washout.  Our coach was gone, so as assistant coach I had to get the game managed.  We play on two different fields  at this age group as 3 on 3, but one of the other parents helped out with the other field.  We were short handed most of the game but we held our own welll even playing 2 on 3 part of the time.  Connor is still not playing very aggressive and is a little awkward in his running, but I think the lack of aggressiveness comes from not having a sibling to fight over toys with.  The awkward running probably comes straight from me.

Back right before New Year's I splurged on a new living room setup.  I got a 46" TV, a BlueRay player, and a new computer that outputs HD.  I must say I'm a bit dissapointed with the result.  The TV is probably not as big as it needs to be (people - pay better attention to those distance versus TV size charts - they are not just trying to sell you a bigger TV) and as a result the computer is a bit hard to read from most parts of the living room.  Things have also been slow on remodeling the living room to better fit it all in - one of Sarah's brother started that but hasn't finished it.  I think I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and work on it.

Subway Lounge Page on Wikipedia

I was going through some old pictures I'd taken on my camera phone and ran across a couple I'd taken when visting the former site of the Summers Hotel and Subway Lounge.  I noticed there was no Wikipedia page for it, so the link is to the page I created.  First time I tried creating a Wikipedia page, although I made an edit to the U-Verse page once that has since been removed after seeing an article in the Clarion Ledger that the service was coming to Jackson.

I actually only went to the Subway Lounge once.  Jeff showed me the place back probably sometime in the 1998-2000 timeframe.

I remember back when they were wanting to tear it down there was an effort to save it, ultimately unsuccessful that made the papers.

I found a blog entry of someone from back in 2005 that said Subway Lounge would be re-opening as part of the Farish Street Entertainment District, which was the first time I'd heard that.  I've also heard that a B.B. King Blues Bar would be there, and I doubt both would ever come to fruition.  Heck, I'm not sure if anything will ever happen on Farish Street.  You never know though, since the King Edward is actually being renovated now.

Playing David Kernell, the Sarah Palin Email Hacker

I've played David Kernell in several chess tournaments over the years. According to my database of games we've played 6 times with an even record of 2 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws.

[Event "Oxford Open"]
[Site "Oxford, MS"]
[Date "2004.11.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Stewart, Douglas L"]
[Black "Kernell, David"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1854"]
[BlackElo "1781"]
[Annotator "Stewart, Douglas"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2004.11.20"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

{B12: Caro-Kann: Advance Variation} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. dxc5 Nc6 5.
Nf3 ({in our meeting the following month in the Mid-South Open I tried} 5. Bb5
e6 6. Be3 Nge7 7. c3 Bd7 8. Bxc6 Nxc6 {instead}) 5... Bg4 6. Bf4 e6 7. Bb5 Bxc5
8. O-O Nge7 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 O-O $6 11. Bxc6 (11. Qg3) 11... Nxc6 12. Nd2 $6
(12. Qg3) 12... Bd4 13. Qe2 Qc7 14. Nf3 Bxb2 15. Rab1 Nd4 16. Nxd4 Bxd4 17.
Rfd1 Bb6 18. Rb3 {I thought I had some good play here and I was semi-happy
with my position, but Black is really in control} f5 (18... Rac8 19. Rd2 $17)
19. Rg3 $6 (19. Rc1 $17) ({I spent a long time looking at sacrificing by
Bishop but I couldn't figure out how to make it work} 19. exf6 $2 Qxf4 20.
Qxe6+ Rf7 (20... Kh8 21. fxg7+ Kxg7 22. Rf3 Qe4 23. Qd7+ Kh8 24. Qxb7 Rae8 $19)
21. Rf3 Qe4 $19 {and White has run out of ideas}) 19... Rac8 $19 20. c3 Qc4 21.
Qh5 $4 {a simple oversight, although Black was in control} (21. Qd2 $142 $19)
21... Qxf4 {White resigned} 0-1

Sunshine

I saw a movie called Sunshine yesterday that I had rented from NetFlix. It's a Sci-Fi movie from the director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, both of which are movies I am a fan of. I'd rented it after seeing a trailer of it on another DVD - I think it was Stormbreaker. I don't remember hearing about it when it came out, but it only did about $5.3 million in the US and didn't seem to have gone in wide release.

I really enjoyed the film, although it did move a little too much in a slasher direction for the last 1/3 of the movie. It's an ensemble cast, and I recognized virtually everyone from some piece of previous work. I'm rarely disappointed with UK films or TV.

Doctor Who on YouTube

I was in a Doctor Who mood this morning, and I saw a couple of awesome videos on YouTube. Here is a spoof:



Here is a trailer from Season 4 Doctor Who taken in a movie theatre: