Arc Attack and the Big Time
This evening, Julie and I wandered down to campus and watched part of an Arc Attack concert.
They make music with lightening. After it got going, a dude in a... let's call it a "Faraday Suit", hopped up on stage and played juggle the electricity.
We took off when they started offering rides on-stage in their Faraday cage. It was a pretty sweet show though. It's like you're being cultural (Airwolf is high culture indeed) while you're still a nerd.
The "Big Time"
Speaking of "still a nerd", I've finally hit the big time! Way back in '02, I was a recently-married computer science senior at K-State. Classes were keeping me busy to the tune of 4-6 hours of sleep at night - I remember thinking 6 was luxurious. Lots of stuff due all the freaking time and I was wearing down pretty quickly.
Eventually, I had the Charlie equivalent of a light nervous breakdown. I just wandered over to the computer and started making a Tetris game. For a week. I think I kept going to work, but I definitely stopped going to class, stopped doing homework, stopped doing most everything. Julie noticed, but didn't make much of it because she was just as busy as me and I wasn't in any obvious danger.
After a week, I posted the game on my student web page. I resumed trips to class and picked up where I left off. Everything was fine, no harm done. I think the break did me good.
...and on my web page it remained. Long after I had graduated and they wiped out my login access, that web site lingered. Now it's 10 years later (the internet equivalent to 9000 years) and all that stuff is still there. A couple days ago I got a surprising email...
It went on a bit longer, but you get the idea. There are a bunch of these download sites that try to index a bunch of programs. The more programs they list, the better they are and the more ads they can sell. This one happens to specialize in mac software. Here's my little program's name in lights.
My first instinct was to have them take it down. I didn't care that they had it, but there was no license in there and I don't even remember where I harvested the music and graphics from. Eventually, I decided it was all gray enough that it wasn't worth the effort to try to have them pull it.
That's how "Game with the Blocks and the Dropping" made the big time. Never mind that there's no Game Over screen (it just continues to fill past the top) and never mind that you have to get lucky and have the right configuration to run it. I think it's cute. I always have enjoyed the music.
I think it's pretty cool that the softpedia guys had to play it to make their screenshots. It even has 29 downloads! I'm totally out-pacing the "Syracuse Orange Football Schedule" dashboard widget and the "Soggy Kitten" font.
(If you're curious, it works just fine on a PC too.)
They make music with lightening. After it got going, a dude in a... let's call it a "Faraday Suit", hopped up on stage and played juggle the electricity.
 |
The "Big Time"
Speaking of "still a nerd", I've finally hit the big time! Way back in '02, I was a recently-married computer science senior at K-State. Classes were keeping me busy to the tune of 4-6 hours of sleep at night - I remember thinking 6 was luxurious. Lots of stuff due all the freaking time and I was wearing down pretty quickly.
Eventually, I had the Charlie equivalent of a light nervous breakdown. I just wandered over to the computer and started making a Tetris game. For a week. I think I kept going to work, but I definitely stopped going to class, stopped doing homework, stopped doing most everything. Julie noticed, but didn't make much of it because she was just as busy as me and I wasn't in any obvious danger.
After a week, I posted the game on my student web page. I resumed trips to class and picked up where I left off. Everything was fine, no harm done. I think the break did me good.
...and on my web page it remained. Long after I had graduated and they wiped out my login access, that web site lingered. Now it's 10 years later (the internet equivalent to 9000 years) and all that stuff is still there. A couple days ago I got a surprising email...
Congratulations,
Blocks, one of your products, has been added to Softpedia's database of software programs for Mac OS. It is featured with a description text, screenshots, download links and technical details on this page: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Games/Thornton-Blocks.shtml
The description text was created by our editors, using sources such as text from your product's homepage, information from its help system, the PAD file (if available) and the editor's own...
It went on a bit longer, but you get the idea. There are a bunch of these download sites that try to index a bunch of programs. The more programs they list, the better they are and the more ads they can sell. This one happens to specialize in mac software. Here's my little program's name in lights.
Notice there are no fewer than three advertising spaces shown.
That's how "Game with the Blocks and the Dropping" made the big time. Never mind that there's no Game Over screen (it just continues to fill past the top) and never mind that you have to get lucky and have the right configuration to run it. I think it's cute. I always have enjoyed the music.
I think it's pretty cool that the softpedia guys had to play it to make their screenshots. It even has 29 downloads! I'm totally out-pacing the "Syracuse Orange Football Schedule" dashboard widget and the "Soggy Kitten" font.
(If you're curious, it works just fine on a PC too.)
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