Where UC had a logical tree-style progression through the race and carnage modes, 3 gives you a ridiculous selection of half assed modes.  The entire game feels like a B side.  Plenty of detailed tracks, plenty of cars, but no balance whatsoever.  Every race is a practice in sheer frustration.  Vehicles either have control or speed, the AI is absurdly aggressive, some of the tracks are insanely huge, and just about every car you can get does a few percentage of damage to the AI cars while you’ll self destruct after tapping the smallest obstacle.

In short, the game feels rushed, sloppy, and incomplete… not even close to the $30 sticker price that makes me wish Steam had a return policy.  If you enjoy a good arcade racer, pick up Flatout Ultimate Carnage, and spare yourself the steaming pungent load of shit that is Flatout 3.

At least now if the power goes out (like it did the other night for about an hour) I can have the house back online in under 5 minutes…  I still have a fairly long list of things to address – but so far I’m having fun with it.   One thing is certain, if I ever look to buy another house, I’ll have a list of things to check even before I bring in the home inspector, etc…

Could it be a mistake?  I then decided to follow the link to the actual story, here: The Root 100 2011: Influencers and Iconoclasts.  Again I look and see that the only constant between the two images is the lovely Beyonce, as evidenced by this screen shot:

In fact, there is no mention whatsoever on the front page of the article of the noble, the anointed, the one and only – President Barack Hussein Obama.  In fact, he isn’t even on the list!  There are plenty of entries of people who have worked with Obama, but not the Man Himself.  Now maybe I’m missing something here, but theroot.com claims “The Root is the leading online source of news and commentary from an African-American perspective. Founded in 2008 under the leadership of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University.“  Not even an organization founded by the guy that Obama stood up and jammed a size-11 in his mouth for is stumping for the One.

In my humble opinion, I’m not surprised he’s not on the list.  While he may have elevated the African American community by achieving the highest office in the land, it’s no secret that he has completely squandered the opportunity and continues to embarrass his party by repeatedly making decisions that are analogous to George W Bush’s public speaking ability.  Who’d have thought that Joe Biden would be the brains of the operation?

The Left is in trouble, Obama is in trouble, and if they want to stand a chance in 2012 – Barack should bow out gracefully and hopefully allow someone into office that can actually move this country forward instead of continuing the failed policies of George W Bush and attempting to act on the failed ideology of Socialism.

The following list is in alphabetical order, listing games that I have played through the single player campaigns until completion, and earned my miniscule contribution to the developers retirement plans.

1. 3 Kingdoms TD – Legend of Shu. Straight forward TD with an Asian theme and guided maps.
2. Anomaly HD.  A different take on the TD concept, in this game you are the attacker controlling a single wave of units as you attempt to push out an unknown invasion force from Iraq.  Units can be upgraded and rerouted on the fly.
3. Castle Attack HD. More or less a “Plants Vs. Zombies” knockoff, where you must prevent various units from crossing the field of battle.
4. Epic War TD / Pro.  Typical TD, tons of creeps, decent weapon selection, very challenging, guided maps.  Many of the titles I’ve played involve accessing new maps only after succeeding at a previous one.  This title has all maps unlocked to begin with.  My biggest complaint however is that after purchasing, you are forced to go to either an advertisement for the new content, or the new content itself.  I’d like one reminder, maybe a link on the main screen, but I don’t need to be reminded every time I load the game that you’ve got new crap.
5. Fieldrunners. Fun game with mainly open maps.
6. GDefense HD.  Typical tower defense, mainly open map, ants trying to reach your food.  Kill them at all costs.  Can be frustrating when certain bugs are able to go over structures that others must go around.
7. GemCraft.  Guided maps, use various gems to power your towers and traps.  A little more complicated than I’d care to deal with, but fun.
8. geoDefense.  Vector graphics stand out in this TD title, which can be excruciatingly difficult, and guided maps that are as confusing as they are fun.
9. GunsNGlory.  This game could be better if it had a fast forward button.
10. iBomber Defense. Guided maps and a world war 2 theme.
11. Medieval HD. Two castles, one field, upgradable units and weaponry.  Fun until you have everything just about maxed out.
12. LandGrabbers.  Not so much tower defense, but fun nonetheless.  Multiple enemies per map all competing for the same structures, whoever controls all the structures first wins.
13. Lord Of The Rings Prologue. Besides familiar characters, nothing much to say here.  I didn’t care for it.
14. Sentinel 3. Typical tower defense with guided maps.
15. Starfall. Amazing TD with a combination of challenging open and guided maps.
16. Swarm. Same setup as geoDefense, only with open maps.
17. TanksNTurrets HD. Typical TD, guided maps and challenging gameplay until you figure out that all you need are rocket towers.
18. Tower Defense HD.  Typical TD with open and guided maps.

I’m still waiting for TowerMadness to either have a free offer or come down in price, as I’m not paying $7.99 for any game I don’t care how popular it is.  I’ve played the iPhone version which is OK, but I generally prefer games that are already optimized for the iPad.

The following list are TD style games that I’ve either played, tried to play, but either way determined that they are complete rubbish.

1. AutoRobot HD EX.  I generally try a free version of a game before paying for it.  In this case, loading the game resulted in a forced full screen video advertisement.  By forced I mean that it opens, gives you the option to exit it, and a few seconds after you reach the main menu you are forced to view it again.  Adding insult to injury, if you try to watch the whole ad just to play the game, you can’t escape the ‘Click here for more information’ screen.  I even tried starting the game before the ad, and you can hear it playing in the background behind the ad – but you have no way of actually getting to it.  Pointless rubbish.
2. Kretures HD Lite.  Huge maps, weapons with vast range, but completely chaotic.  Needs more structure IMHO.
3. TapDefenseHD. Guided maps, can’t recall why I disliked it, but I played it for about 5 minutes then deleted it.
4. Three Kingdoms TD – Fate of Wei.  Updated game from the “3 Kingdoms” franchise.  Might be fun if it worked correctly.  One of the fun parts of the 3 Kingdoms games I found were ‘magic’ units that could only be seen by specific towers.  In the version on the top list, you start the game with wizards who can see these creeps and make them visible to all other towers.  In this version, you have 20 lives and none of the characters you start with on the first map can see the 20 creeps that are invisible.  Rubbish!

There are a few other games I’ve played and have enjoyed, but I’ll save those for a non Tower-Defense related post.

Instead of keeping me on the highway for a majority of the trip, it sent me on back roads which shortened the overall drive by about 100 miles.  This would have been fine if the short cut wasn’t packed with 30mph zones and traffic lights.  Pretty much every other GPS and mapping application out there skipped the back roads and sent me on a more direct route.  100 more miles, nearly 2 hours less to drive.  That lead me to the Android Market to find a suitable replacement that provided more accurate routing.

Right now my top 2 are Waze and Sygic.

Waze is free, and community based.  So far its directions aren’t the best (a recent trip from North Jersey to my house skipped 3 other routes that I know for a fact are faster) – but it has a large user base and they constantly keep other users up to date on traffic, hazards, speed traps, etc… in the area.    The graphics are basic but effective, the navigation voice appears to be human (instead of the robot used by Google Nav), and the vehicle tracking is accurate.  That’s one thing I like about most GPS units, it shows you where your car is… something lacking in the next option, Sygic.

Sygic is a paid application, it runs $15.99 in Euros and has the bonus of being able to download updated maps directly to the SD storage on the phone.  Sygic attempts to bring a more traditional GPS interface to the Android phone, multiple map packages, voices, etc…  Its directions are accurate, and its short/fast options are also well implemented.  My biggest complaints are that Sygic will take the turn for you – and then auto-correct.  Meaning if it asks you take a left, and you continue straight, the mini-map will take the turn and for a few moments continue on before it corrects.  I’ve found other GPS options handle recalculating much quicker.  My other complaint is that the icon for your current location is a HUGE ORANGE ARROW that takes up a VERY large portion of the screen unless you’re driving very fast.  I want a small icon, that’s it.  Voice navigation is computerized, but also better than the Google Nav option.

I attempted to purchase Sygic the other day but had some trouble with the card processing…. going to give it another shot.  As much as I am enjoying Waze, I need a GPS app I can count on, and Sygic is it.

Nagasaki, 2011 – After the earthquake and tsunami…

What the FUCK is that arch made of?

The device itself contains two 700 mah batteries wired in parallel which offer up 1400mah of total power.  I’ve gone as long as 3 days without needing to recharge.  While it comes with a cartomizer (heating coil and wicking material in one) it is capable of supporting standard 510 atomizers.  I currently use Boge LR 510 atomizers which generally deliver more consistent vapor and flavor than any cartomizer I’ve tried thus far.  One thing to keep in mind is that the Revolution V2.1 is designed to use cartomizers.  Not all atomizers will work, but (and don’t blame me if you do this and break the thing) if you remove the fluid bottle and gently press an unsharped pencil against the underside of the port where the atomizer screws in, it will nudge it just enough so that the atomizer can make a solid contact with the Revolution.

A convenient on/off switch provides security from pocket-vaping (a lot like pocket dialing, only you’ll drain the battery, ruin your atomizer, and possibly burn your leg).  Apparently prior models had some sort of ionizer feature which was removed in order to make room for the additional battery – but the switch and LED’s were carried over.  It also has a set of 3 power LED’s which indicate the current battery level, as well as an indication of charging and full charge.

The underside has two removable panels, one that holds in the juice bottle and the other allows you to carry an extra cartomizer or atomizer.  The underside also holds one of my most favorite features, the micro-usb plug that allows you to charge the device on any USB port (computer, cellphone charger, etc…) as well as vape WHILE it is charging.

Without any atomizer/cartomizer attached, it is about 2/3 the width of a pack of cigarettes, which makes carrying it around very convenient.

My only complaint about the device are that if left in any position except upright, it has a tendency to leak.  It does come with a cap that can be screwed on in place of the atomizer – which if you’re like me, you will lose within 10 minutes of un-boxing the vaporizer. It leaks whether using a cartomizer or atomizer, although the cartomizer will absorb most of the fluid (thus flooding it) instead of coating the top of the device and whatever it is sitting on in smoke juice.

So far this is my 4th vaporizer and by far the most satisfying, efficient, and convenient of them all.  I still carry around my ‘box o stuff’ but if I don’t, I can be confident that a full bottle and charge will easily last me 2-3 days of constant vaping.  If you want to pick one up or check one out, I recommend visiting vapelite.com.  They’re based out of West Milford, NJ at PAC Computers (I’ve only bought things in the store) but the owner is well versed on everything related to vaping and is fantastic to deal with.

Let me get this straight . . . ..
We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care
plan we are forced to purchase and
fined if we don’t,
Which purportedly covers at least
ten million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,
written by a committee whose chairman
says he doesn’t understand it,
passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but
exempted themselves from it,
and signed by a President who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who
didn’t pay his taxes,
for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any
benefits take effect,
by a government which has
already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general
who is obese,
and financed by a country that’s broke!!!!!
‘What the hell could
possibly go wrong?’