One Forty

I tend to use the two services differently and each get an ‘exclusive’ insight into me and my life. I don’t think one is more important than the other and they both have their flaws and vices.

I rid people from my friends list on both with the same agenda: remove people I no longer want to associate with because I disagree with their energy and attitude and also to remove those who are bots or simply aren’t willing to take any action to interact or be a part of my life. I will always make an effort to converse with people, establish a relationship at some level but if that person does not return in kind (or only does so when it’s convenient for them/want something from me), they’re out.

I would suggest that I prefer Twitter and use it more than Facebook but that doesn’t mean quality content isn’t submitted by me on Facebook when I do use it.

Asked by Crushtor.

Go ahead, ask me another question.

Honest to myself. I think I definitely fall into this category already; I have very few people whom I consider very close friends and then a small circle of friends beyond that. I don’t find it difficult to make friends, I’m just not interested in keeping toxic people in my life and I cut my connections with such people quickly. In one case, this actually meant doing so to a family member. It’s disappointing but necessary, I feel, to maintain a stable and healthy life.

Asked by Crushtor.

Go ahead, ask me another question.

Sneakers. They’re more versatile from an activity point of view but I guess they can sometimes be harder to match with your outfit. Sandals just seem silly and are a step removed from Crocks, which I can never forgive.

Go ahead, ask me another question.

Today I was fortunate enough to get a hands-on, sneak peak preview of InFAMOUS 2, as well as catch up with two guys from Sucker Punch Productions who have poured their hearts, souls and almost every waking moment of the past two years to bring this game to us – Ken Schramm and Joe Ishikura. This was an amazing opportunity and really gave me a chance to get a deeper understanding of why the game was developed the way it was and what the team at Sucker Punch hoped to provide us as their gamers.

The Australian release date is June 7, 2011. Let me start by saying that this is no “InFAMOUS 1.5” release. You know the kind I’m talking about – the ‘second release’ of a game title that doesn’t quite have enough new content to warrant feeling like it’s a whole new experience; the kind of game release that feels like it is an expansion pack, patch or DLC. The guys have worked hard to ensure that InFAMOUS 2 does not fall into this category.

Our super hero, Cole, has gone under some visual transformation! His outfit has changed and there are differences in his facial appearance too. This had a lot to do with the new development approach Sucker Punch took with cinematic and modeling of Cole; motion capture has been used this time around the actor they have used, well, simply didn’t fit the same physical appearance as our original hero.

Location, location, location. The world you explore and complete missions in is set in New Orleans and if any of you have played Left 4 Dead 2, there will come a moment in the game where you’ll stop, take a look around and think, “This place looks strangely familiar.” At this point, you’ll probably also be cursing me for causing you to realise this. The city looks stunning, extremely detailed and this time around, smashing things is taken the next step further.

Buildings are more destructible than the first InFAMOUS, making the entire experience more enjoyable, especially when you’re in a HULK SMASH mood. It also means greater consequence and planning needs to be considered during the game, too – fighting under a balcony as you destroy one of its support pillars may not be the best option. As it turns out, Cole doesn’t really do well when loads of building materials comes crashing down on him… but neither do the bad guys! Cole also comes with a beefcake of power as you begin the game – roughly about the same amount of strength as what he had by the end of InFAMOUS. This strength becomes even greater throughout InFAMOUS 2 and a new range of abilities come into play, including the option for melee lovers to run into battles, arms swinging, using Cole’s new weapon “The Amp.”

In terms of open world exploration, there is plenty; the basic rule of thumb is “if you can see it, you can get to it… but so can the baddies.” The guys have tried as hard as possible to keep the open world exactly that – open. They don’t want to put you into an open world and then restrict you to a little cubicle of space during boss fights. You’re in an open world environment and in the opinion of the game developers it should stay that way, no matter what.

There is a massive increase in the amount of missions to complete, including the newest option of playing missions created by other users (User-Generated Content/UGC). These missions will appear in the open world as green missions that you can slip into at any time – no fiddling through menus to enable UGC, no exiting the game to begin a different gameplay mode, it’s all there just waiting to be explored. Don’t worry, for those of you who don’t want to take the opportunity to explore user content, there will be an option available to filter these missions out. ‘Original’ game missions can be “remixed” also, meaning that you can customise any missions the way you want and play them! If you thought that guy with a shotgun in the corner shouldn’t have been there, you can remove him altogether or move him where you want – the choices are yours and the choices are endless!

This decision was made to also send some love out to those of us who want to play the game over and over again – the re-players that keep titles like this alive. There are a lot of choices to be made along the way during the game, with the moral system of being “good” or “bad” making a return. It is these choices we make which in turn will shape what happens next and allows missions to be played differently, with different outcomes. I will also note (SPOILER ALERT) that this means there is also an alternate ending.

I could go on forever about why InFAMOUS 2 is amazing and why we all should be excited about its release… but I will come to a close for now and perhaps expand my thoughts on this game further after its release and after I have finished the entire game. (Come on, you didn’t think they’d let me play the WHOLE game, did you?)

@SweatnqBullets, I hope this has satisfied your curiosity… for now.

So, I saw this photo posted by an old acquaintance of mine (who has been cropped from this photo) and noticed her friend. All I have to say is, “OH GOD, MY EYES!”

Sigh. Since when did I start acquainting with people that seem to befriend people that look like heroin addicts?

 

 

1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

8. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

9. Bad decisions make good stories.

10. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

11. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection … again.

12. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

13. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this – ever.

14. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

15. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

16. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

17. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

18. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid ” routing option.

19. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

20. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

21. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

22. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

23. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an a ** from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

24. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

25. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

26. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

27. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

28. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

29. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my behind everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

During the floods back in January, a family was trying to rescue belongings by boat in their residence at Goodna, when a little Chihuahua x Mini Foxy came swimming past, stressed and exhausted. They plucked him to safety and helped him warm up and relax – he appeared to have been swimming for a long while.

A good Samaritan in the area saw the family in the boat and went to assist, and agreed to look after the dog. He was then named ‘Flee’ and spent the next month with these Goodna residents, trying to locate his original family. After going to the vet, scanning for a microchip and not being able to find one, they searched for Flee’s family for quite a while.

The family then decided to keep Flee, and gave him all the vet treatment he needed (desexing, vaccinating and micro-chipping + a health check-up).

Due to uncontrollable circumstances, the family regretfully can no longer keep Flee and brought him to the RSPCA. Extremely upset, Queensland RSPCA were told by his rescuer of this little dog’s adventures over the last six months, and now want to see if they can find his original family.

If you lost your furry companion in the floods matching Flee’s description in the Goodna area, or know of someone who did, please contact the Queensland RSPCA – he is waiting for you!

If you can, please spread this message, as the RSPCA would love to reunite him with his family. Just email rspcaonline@rspcaqld.org.au if you have any information or would like to ask further questions.

1. UNEVEN EDGES: Pies and cakes should be cut neatly, in even wedges or slices. If not, the responsibility falls on the person putting them away to “straighten up the edges” by slicing away the offending irregularities, which have no calories when eaten.

2. BALANCED FOOD: If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they cancel each other out.

3. LEFT-HANDED FOOD: If you have a glass of punch in your right hand, anything eaten with the other hand has no calories. Several principles are at work here. First of all, you’re probably standing up at a wedding reception (see Food on Foot). Then there’s the electronic field: A wet glass in one hand forms a negative charge to reverse the polarity of the calories attracted to the other hand. It’s not quite known how it works, but it’s reversible if you’re left handed.

4. Hot chocolate contains no calories on cold days – they float off in the steam.

5. Chocolate which has melted and re-set contains no calories. They rise to the surface of the fluid and stick to the wrapper.

6. Butter doesn’t contain any fat if spread on brown bread.

7. FOOD FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES: Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER counts. This includes hot chocolate, malted milk, toast, and Sara Lee cheesecake.

8. WHIPPED CREAM, SOUR CREAM, BUTTER: These all act as a poultice that actually “draws out” the calories when placed on any food, leaving them calorie-free. Afterward, you can eat the poultice, too, as all calories are neutralized by it.

9. Diet sodas actually remove the calories from fattening food.

10. The salad on the side of your plate cancels out half the calories from your meal. If you actually eat it it cancels out all the calories.

11. Snacks consumed in a movie or a bowling alley or at a county fair (or similar places) do not count, as they are part of the entertainment.

12. Pieces of cookies contain no calories. The process of breaking causes all the calories to leak out. ALTERNATE: Broken cookies contain no calories as they leak out at the breaks.

13. Late-night snacks have no calories. The refrigerator light is not strong enough for the calories to see their way into the food.

14. A bite off someone else’s plate has no calories. (If you eat part of someone else’s cake, dessert, etc., all the calories stay in the main body of the food. This is known as the peripheral principle.)

15. Calories don’t count if you eat with someone else and you both eat the same food.

16. Food licked off knives, forks, etc. doesn’t count if you’re in the process of making something else, like a peanut butter sandwich or an ice cream sundae. Similar, food eaten off off beaters (e.g., whipped cream) serving spoons, cake knives, etc. also does not count – after all, you need to taste what you cook to make sure it’s all right.

17. Food eaten “out of context” has no calories – for example, any food eaten in a car, on airplanes, trains, etc.; food meant to be eaten hot that you eat cold (e.g., lasagna); food meant to be eaten cold that you eat warm (e.g., half-melted ice cream); food meant to be cooked that isn’t (e.g., cookie dough).

18. Food eaten when no one sees you doesn’t count.

19. If you think hard about which item on the menu to have, the brain power exerted cancels out 1/3 of the calories of the dish.

20. It’s all right to eat a little more if the people/person you’re with is fatter than you are.

21. Foods that are the same color have the same number of calories. For example, there is no difference between spinach and key lime pie, or between radishes and candy apples or cottage cheese and vanilla ice cream.
Note: Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other food color.

22. CHARITABLE FOODS: Girl Scout cookies, bake sale cakes, ice cream socials, and church strawberry festivals all have a religious dispensation from calories.

23. FOOD ON FOOT: Food eaten standing up has no calories. Exactly why is not clear but the current theory relates to gravity. The calories apparently bypass the stomach, flowing directly down the legs and through the soles of the feet into the floor, like electricity. Walking appears to accelerate this process, so that an ice cream bar or hot dog eaten at the state fair actually has a calorie deficit.

24. TV food: Anything eaten in front of the TV has no calories. This may have something to do with radiation leakage, which negates not only the calories in the food, but all recollections of having eaten it.

25. Food on toothpicks: Sausage, mini-franks, cheese and crackers are all fattening unless impaled on frilled toothpicks. The insertion of a sharp object allows the calories to leak out the bottom.

26. Children’s food: Anything produced, purchased or intended for minors is calorie-free when eaten by adults. This category covers a wide range, beginning with a spoonful of baby-food custard, consumed for demonstration purposes, up to and including cookies baked to send to college.

27. Custom-made food: Anything somebody makes “just for you” must be eaten regardless of calories because to do otherwise would be uncaring and insensitive. Our kind intentions will not go unrewarded!

28. FOOD THAT DOESN’T TASTE GOOD doesn’t count. This is an enormous category covering a diverse range including airline food, cafeteria meals, and dinner at your sister-in-law’s. Also dinners manufactured to be eaten in front of the TV.

29. Pickles count as green vegetables.

30. The calories listed per serving on packages applies to YOUR serving size, regardless of how big it is, as long as you eat it in one sitting.

31. Eating ANYTHING with lettuce or celery in it actually BURNS calories, regardless of what you put on it.

32. Anything whipped or mashed has no calories – they’ve been beaten out! (i.e. whipped cream, mashed potatoes, etc.)

33. CAKES WITH WRITING ON THEM: Primarily fat, starch and sugar, all cakes are horrendously fattening. However, the calories can be eliminated simply by inscribing “Happy Birthday, Charlie” or “Good Luck, Alice” in colored icing. Not only is it unnecessary to decline, it’s impolite.

34. LEFTOVERS: An extra pork chop, the crust of bread, half a Twinkie, anything intended for the garbage has no calories regardless of what happens to it in the kitchen.

35. Eating anything with any fruit or vegetable in it makes you LOSE weight. Anything flavored to taste like fruit products (natural or artificial) falls under this rule, as well. Want Twinkies? Get the ones with the strawberry swirls.

36. Anything you finish off someone else’s plate doesn’t count as your own calories.

37. Anything runny (like gravy or other sauces) can’t hold on to the calories – they all leak out!

38. If you hold a flame (or any heat source) under food, all the calories will be burned off.

39. ANYTHING SMALLER THAN ONE INCH: contains no calories to speak of. For example: chocolate kisses, maraschino cherries, cubes of cheese.

40. If you shake your pop before opening it, 99% of the calories escape into the atmosphere.

41. The more you eat, the faster your metabolism goes, and the more calories you’ll burn, so you’ll actually LOSE weight.

42. Reward yourself for being “good” all day with a banana split! (Also low-cal because it has a banana in it!)