tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56496062024-03-07T03:52:40.345-05:00Cognitive DissonanceInformation and thoughts from my life of science, family, gaming and music.Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-68507543937182127522009-04-09T08:45:00.002-04:002009-04-09T09:11:16.958-04:00Idol Thoughts - Blind Scott editionThis entire week at American Idol was pretty lousy ... and I really cannot muster the energy to recap it again. I failed to take notes during the lackluster performances, and we were more interested in the return of Fringe than the fact that Idol was on. But really there were no surprises - Lil was mediocre but the judges made sure to praise her copiously Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-62208711918419303342009-04-02T08:20:00.004-04:002009-04-02T11:26:25.395-04:00Idol Thoughts - Top Downloads?Welcome back to another week of dreary singing, illiterate judges, and blatant pandering. Favorites are pampered while undesirables are trashed. Because this ... is American Idol.We got a quick glance at Alexis Grace in the audience, but I never caught Sarver. Alexis - who said she couldn't wait to get home to her daughter, was apparently pulled back for whatever Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-25784330944726594992009-03-27T12:58:00.003-04:002009-03-27T14:31:34.822-04:00The Digital Download DivideI have been a big proponent of digital downloads from the very beginning. Back in the early Newton PDA days it was a novelty to download a trial of a game like Deja Vu's 'Right of Way' (basically Milles Borne) and then purchase a registration code to enter. By the time I bought Call of Duty 2 for the Pocket PC ... it was standard practice. But things started to Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-88824596577586510132009-03-27T12:08:00.003-04:002009-03-27T14:10:13.500-04:00Idol Thoughts - Motown WeakWell, if you are new here ... welcome! If you have been reading these previously at GamingWithChildren, double welcome! Another week has come and gone, and with it another contestant has also departed. More shenanigans occurred, more embarrassing moments, and of course ... more cognitive dissonance. Because this ... is American Idol.Have you gotten over the loss of Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-70529480813356478012008-09-26T10:27:00.002-04:002008-09-26T10:56:48.424-04:00U R a Genius!OK, so color me SOLD on Apple's Genius system. It still has no idea what to do with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, but I will forgive that (I know very few people who know what to do with them! :D )I still barely touch them on my Mac or PC, but have started using them on my iPod. And it was one of those off-hand sorts of things - I was listening to a Miles Davis song from his Live atMichael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-59821407265408607922008-09-16T09:39:00.002-04:002008-09-16T09:45:27.259-04:00Retro-Gaming - killing my interest in handhelds?Just a thought - since I started doing all fo my retro-gaming, and in particular since I started using the HP2133 Mini-Note more and more for gaming, my time on the DS and PSP seems to have dwindled.There have certainly been many hours of handheld gaming, as demonstrated by my quarterly 'whole game in my hand' articles at RPGWatch. But right now, Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-51430864793542250962008-09-15T09:00:00.000-04:002008-09-15T09:00:01.811-04:00Retro: Revisiting Divine DivinityBefore I did reviews for GamerDad, I wrote these things called 'Game Comments' for another site. Having just played through Divine Divinity again i thought i would go back and revisit the one I did more than two and a half years ago for that game ... Game: Divine DivinityGenre: RPGSub-Genre: Single player, isometric.System: PCRating: T (Teen)My Score: 4.5+/5 Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-14568586603958110682008-09-14T09:00:00.000-04:002008-09-14T09:00:01.064-04:00Retro: Demos galore ... and no more PC games ...So I wandered into my local EBGames tonight on the way home from work to see if they had the new Mage Knight games for the DS and PC. I went straight to the counter because I didn't have much time. The guy there used to work at the store in the Mall, and is one of the more competent game store guys I've met. So while he grabbed me a copy of the Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-6497537895421621812008-09-13T09:00:00.000-04:002008-09-13T09:00:00.831-04:00Retro: Grandma is RightA couple of weeks ago my wife's dad finally died after a long struggle with leukemia ... and coronary issues ... and lung problems ... and fluid issues ... and, well lots of other stuff. The death certificate read like a laundry list. For perspective, it was three years ago at Thanksgiving that the family came together for a 'goodbye' dinner - no one, including his various Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-2159895633336842742008-09-12T11:00:00.000-04:002008-09-12T11:00:01.341-04:00Retro: Not to be confused with GamerDadWhat the heck? It seems like we should all be working together, but as usual Microsoft sees something that they like and stomp in like the 800lb gorilla. This time it is GamerDad - yep, place I've enjoyed being part of for the past few years. Seems Microsoft has launched a new site called 'Gamer Dad' - check it out here and here. The second one even Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-62020421848228765412008-09-12T10:46:00.001-04:002008-09-12T10:47:38.740-04:00Porting some other stuff ... I had decided to stick with Blogger rather than Windows Live Spaces a few months ago, but since I did things in both places for a while I have stuff that needs to be ported over. I'll label those as 'Retro' articles.Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-84331704483406620582008-09-11T13:56:00.001-04:002008-09-11T14:30:16.587-04:00Sacred 2 DRM - aw crap, NOW what do I do?!?Well, Sacred 2 is a game I have been looking forward to and plan to buy, but I was annoyed at reading the press release from Ascaron about their DRM. They have a less restrictive SecuROM than Mass Effect / Spore, where you can activate / de-activate yourself to keep your license up to date. The problem?"A transfer to a third (party) is not part of the Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-89041126790119796732008-09-11T09:34:00.002-04:002008-09-11T09:56:42.037-04:00How to recognize a good school.Last week the kids started school, the first full year in New York. They had gone to school for ~6 weeks at the end of last year, which gave them some familiarity and contacts. But they were quite nervous because they still missed their friends and Mass was the only home they had ever known.My wife had worked in the middle school for about a year and a half beforeMichael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-5648810406599664252008-09-11T08:58:00.002-04:002008-09-11T09:00:38.190-04:00September 11th ... a time to reflect.It was the first day of preschool for my younger son and my wife had my older son at the playground and when she came back to pick the little one up she found out.I was at work and had a visiting colleague who ended up stuck across the country from her family for an extra week.I have a blog post at GamingWithChildren today.Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-16611299338757577772008-09-10T15:42:00.002-04:002008-09-10T16:54:21.350-04:00News Flash: Apple's Mobile Me STILL SucksThere has been loads of activity since Apple launched the iPhone 3G back in July, but too little seems to be focused on the fact that the launch of MobileMe was a disaster - and that the service continues to be easily described as 'MobileMeh'!I have always liked the ability to access my .Mac email from the Mac or PC, and traditionally used the Mail app on Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-88346236492061252912008-09-09T15:27:00.002-04:002008-09-09T15:41:53.541-04:00Apple's new 'Genius' ... not too smart!Of course I just couldn't wait to grab iTunes 8 as soon as it was posted by Apple. There are supposedly a bunch of new features, but the one Steve Jobs was touting in his big announcement was the 'genius', which is supposed to look at your library and into iTunes and then suggest things in your library and on iTunes that you might like.Since the stuff I Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-4954993437296723222008-09-09T11:18:00.002-04:002008-09-09T12:07:55.298-04:00Spore - The heck with you EA, I'm *NOT* getting it!I have been interested but not frothing about Spore, but it is the sort of game - like Sid Meier's Pirates! a few years ago - that I would have bought for near full price within the first couple of weeks.I say 'would have' because I have decide that I will *not* be buying Spore. Why? Because of the draconian DRM scheme that EA has cooked up Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-1149882556845211952008-09-03T15:48:00.000-04:002008-09-03T16:07:26.638-04:00So what *do* you tell them ... ?It isn't really a question, more of a lamentation, I suppose ...I found out on Memorial Day that my uncle had killed himself ... 46 years ago. My mother took care of decorating the cemeteries and sent pictures of gravestones. I was casually asking some questions and it came to how my two uncles died. I knew my one uncle had died of kidney failure. Apparently heMichael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-30853166943131139662008-09-03T12:23:00.002-04:002008-09-03T12:28:26.722-04:00Negative feedback ... hard to take The other night I got my first negative feedback at Goozex. I didn't panic or freak out - I knew what to do, and sent PM's to 'feedback' and also to the other trader in order to work things out.But this is my first negative, and it really made me angry getting it! I was surprised, of course, and would have been with any game I had sent out. Unplayable disk wasMichael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-150600615628402012008-09-03T12:06:00.003-04:002008-09-03T12:20:29.645-04:00The Dumbest Generation - Harrowing First ThoughtsI've been reading the book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age is Stupefying Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future" recently, and reflecting upon what is being said as I travel through everyday life. The more I think about it the more I realize my kids are very much an isolated case - they read a ton for pleasure, listen to a wide Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-57160175050458363422008-09-02T14:43:00.003-04:002008-09-03T12:01:34.416-04:00 Thank you for smoking ... NOT!We love to go outdoors and do things together as a family. So naturally on Labor Day weekend we took advantage of the excellent weather to do as much as possible. There was a variety of activities, but one common theme - wherever we went, it was impossible to engage in the activity we wanted to without walking through a wall of second-hand smoke. These were Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-76229793638640067502008-08-28T12:42:00.002-04:002008-08-28T12:47:52.002-04:00Loving my iPod Touch once again!OK since my last comments on the iPod Touch as my least favorite iPod, Apple releases a new upgrade (2.02), and as a result I haven't touched my iPod Nano in a week.Has something happened to change my opinions of the MP3 player shortcomings of this otherwise wonderful device? No. It is still a major hassle to deal with.But it hasn't crashed since the new upgrade,Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-56620166574577835682008-08-18T12:54:00.002-04:002008-08-18T13:07:20.242-04:00Adventures in Babysitting.Well, this is somewhat redundant ... I posted nearly two months ago about catching up at Goozex and going through all of the posts, and how much of a strain it was looking at all of the posts from teens there who were complaining about every manner of injustice.Well, Goozex just got unblocked at work, so I have been trying to drop by to join back in the conversation. Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-82993024204377787192008-08-08T16:26:00.004-04:002008-08-18T12:54:40.447-04:00iPod Touch - my least favorite iPodOK, so I'm spoiled rotten ... I admit it. I have had digital music since I could play AIFF files on my Newton back in the 90's, and I bought the original iPod and have had one from every generation since. I have pretty much skipped the video-focused ones because, well, I have other gadgets to do that! I still have that first iPod, a 40GB one that had the Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5649606.post-17483778518165175972008-07-29T16:53:00.001-04:002008-07-29T16:53:54.573-04:00When the music dies ...One thing I have always liked about the 'less-than-commercial' music I enjoy is that the artists remain PEOPLE. I mean, I saw The Police three times during the late 70's - early 80's period, yet have nothing that really keys me into the trio as individual people. Contrast this with my elevator ride with jazz legend John Scofield in the Charles Hotel in Cambridge back in Michael Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061568790581429107noreply@blogger.com0