Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Home Team Hype Is Infectious

By

On October 13, 2015

In General Cogitation

Paul-footballlgo_mlb_chicago_cubsI am, and always will be, a Cubs fan, Bears fan and Dolphins fan despite living in Cincinnati. When a Cincinnati team has a great year (or is currently undefeated in the NFL) the air around the city is electric. It’s hard not to be swallowed up by the excitement and hype centered around a winning team. You can see the elation in the faces of the locals and the news anchors. The Cincinnati Reds are in the same division as the Cubs so its far more difficult to be excited for the Reds when they are doing well (for obvious reasons); however, being such a big football fan, I find that I often get caught up in the hype of the Bengals 5-0 start to their season.

I don’t mind watching the Bengals doing well, especially when the Dolphins and Bears are off to a fairly rough start. I’m sure the love a city shows for its football team would be just as contagious if I were in any other city (except Boston, nothing could make me root for the Deflatriots; NOTHING!) I’m not saying that I will become a die hard Bengals fan. I don’t even know if I will become a mediocre Bengals fan. Be that as it may, I don’t feel guilty that I’m happy they are winning when I never would have given them a second glance prior to living in Cincinnati.Bengals_helmet

I think it should be acceptable by all the die-hard and local fans to allow someone of different allegiances so suddenly become a fan of their team. It shouldn’t be any different than someone who becomes a fan of a college team because they attended/graduated from said school. Don’t get me wrong, nobody has accused me of being a “fair weather fan” nor have I given up one iota of allegiance to the Bears or Dolphins. In fact I’m trying to compliment the enthusiasm of the Cincinnati Bengals fans and how their love and excitement for their team has become quite endearing even before their 5-0 start.

Either way its going to be another exciting NFL season and the Bengals and Bengals fans are going to make living in Cincinnati a lot of fun too!

/cheers

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

Why Cubs Will Win

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On October 9, 2015

In General Cogitation

There is a pretty entertaining article on FoxSports today about why the Cubs will win the World Series. It isn’t because of Robert Zemekis, or the fact that it’s the year of the goat or any of that other superstitious nonsense, he gives actual, statistical reasons and its a good article. The last slide is probably the best and where I stole lovingly borrowed the picture below (with caption).

#LetsGoCubs #FlyTheW

Because curses are stupid and don't exist

Because curses are stupid and don’t exist

Empire (In Her Name: Redemption)

Book Review: Blood and Masks

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On October 8, 2015

In Book Review, Fantasy

Blood and Masks (Neva Cora, #1)Blood and Masks by Alex Ziebart
My rating: [rating=4]
(Click here to see this review on Goodreads.)

If you’re a gamer, specifically MMOs like World of Warcraft, then you will enjoy this book. If you happen to read Blizzard Watch frequently then you should know this author. Alex Ziebart is the Editor-in-Chief and owner of the Blizzard Watch blog site. This book was his debut novel as a fantasy author.

I’d say, for a newbie author, his first book was well done. I haven’t read a lot of fantasy novels but the world he created in Blood and Masks seemed pretty unique to me. That’s not to say he didn’t borrow from the vast world of fantasy races, but he doesn’t violate any canon rules (i.e. elves). He does create his own class of fantasy race called “minari”, which does have some “demon hunter” influence but still remains unique. The minari world Ziebart creates is intriguing and I hope to learn more about their kind in future novels.

I hope this novel brings Alex success and motivation to continue writing fantasy. I think, with Blood and Masks, he is off to a great start.

Recommended for any fantasy reader.

View all my reviews

Missing Harry, Ernie, Ron and Grandpa

By

On October 6, 2015

In General Cogitation

me_gpav_wrigley-sm

Me and Grandpa Vleaminck. Wrigley Field. circa 1982

In 2003 the Cubs finished 88-74 and it was the last time I remember being excited about post-season baseball. This year they finish at a more impressive 97-64, but I’m trying not to let myself get too excited. Who knows what calamity will befall the Cubs this post-season to knock them out of the playoffs, but I’m going to remain positive. I don’t really believe in curses because to err is human. The impressive statistics from the season, I hope, will continue over the next couple of weeks and the mistakes and errors will not cost the Cubs another shot at redemption.

Regardless of the outcome of the post-season, I’m proud of the team this year. Their season has me thinking about four people: Harry Carey, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Grandpa Vleaminck.

My grandpa introduced me to Cubs baseball when I was just two years old. Harry made me love the Cubs during the 80s and 90s. It would be statistically improbable that either of them could have lived to see this team (both would be over 100 years old this year). Harry would have had to come up with a new catch phrase because “Holy Cow” would have been too trite for the spectacular season this year. “Elated” would have been too trite to describe how my grandpa would be feeling right now.

ErnieBanksCartoon_iru49ivi_rfrqjfgjErnie and Ron definitely left before their time and there is a definite sorrow in the air knowing that they could have lived to see this team (especially Ernie who only just passed away this year). As Cubs fans we know that they are all looking down, drinking some “ice cold Bud Light” and watching their favorite team play October baseball.

The first of the Cubs post-season games will be Wednesday night at 8pm (EST) against Pittsburgh.

#LetsGoCubs

The MMO Times: Prepare for Kylo Ren

By

On October 2, 2015

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens-Kylo-RenIssue 133: Welcome to the start of the fourth quarter of the year. Just think, in 3 months time it will be 2016 (and we will all be regaling about The Force Awakens and how awesome Kylo Ren is). First, before we are fully immersed in the extraordinary Star Wars universe, we must first have BlizzCon. Unfortunately that also is still a few weeks away, but the road to BlizzCon has begun. Don’t forget to get your tickets and pick up your goodie bag!

The road to BlizzCon, however, is not yet paved with headlines. In fact this posting is later than normal as there wasn’t a lot showing up in my feeds that really warranted a spotlight. Neverwinter does make the list again because R. A. Salvatore (one of my favorite fantasy authors) is apparently involved with the development of this game. WildStar’s F2P patch finally launches. Blizzard makes paid character services a little less cumbersome. So there are a few goodies in here. KCGO.

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Biggs On: iPhone 6S

By

On September 30, 2015

In Apple, Biggs On, Technology

iphone-6sI thought about making this another “Tech Talk” topic but in those posts I try to be less subjective and since I’ve only had an iPhone, this is going to be more of an opinion rather than a technical analysis.

The “S-cycle” of the iPhone 6 means that it’s time to upgrade. This must be one of Apple’s most successful iPhone launches (despite the smaller lines at the stores). Usually by now there has been some kind of “-gate” controversy everyone is talking about and the Twitter trolls are feasting on. Alas no “antennae-gate”, “bendgate”, “map-gate” (was that a thing?), just everyone talking about how the iPhone 6S is actually a pretty decent phone. In fact some folks are saying that Apple’s claim the iPhone 6S is a completely new phone might just have some credence. I didn’t have an iPhone 6 so I couldn’t tell you, personally, how different the phones are, I upgraded from an iPhone 5S so my perception is skewed from my “leap-frog” practice of upgrading phones.

When I first held the phone my initial thought was “this screen is huge!” I was momentarily concerned that perhaps the phone might feel a little too big. I’ve only had my phone a few days now and I don’t think I could go back to a smaller screen. Granted I’m glad I didn’t opt for the 6S Plus; that would have been too big. Once I learned the “double-touch” on the home button (Thanks, fuzzy) method for one-handed use, the size of the phone is no longer a concern.

minion_01The only problem I’ve had with the new phone is some issue with most of my apps after I restored from a recent backup. Several of my apps appeared darkened, as if they were waiting for an update. They didn’t appear in the list of updates in the app store and tapping on the icon didn’t launch the app but changed the text to “Waiting…”. If I searched for the app in the app store I was given the option to download from the cloud (as opposed to the option to “Open” the app). I couldn’t really find anything related to this issue after doing a Google search so it must have been some strange backup/restore glitch.

Aside from that weird issue, upgrading to the 6S was completely painless. In fact I sold my 5S back to Apple which rendered enough cash to purchase Apple Care+ so I essentially didn’t have to pay for the extra insurance. The phone obviously performs much faster than its predecessor. Actually I think the Touch ID is also faster and more accurate. I haven’t tried the 3D Touch or the “live picture” features yet, although I’ve read that the “live pictures” can take up a lot of memory so I doubt I will be taking many of those.

If you picked up the latest iPhone, what are your impressions?

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

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