Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Book Review: Dune

By

On June 25, 2015

In Book Review, Science Fiction

DuneDune by Frank Herbert

My rating: [rating=5]
(Click here to read this review on Goodreads)

How do you write a review for a book like Dune? I don’t think you can! I have seen the movie several times so it was time that I finally read the book. I have to say that I was surprised how different the book is compared to the movie (btw, I’m referring to the movie with Kyle MacLachlan as Paul).

As always, the book was better, however I was a little disappointed that a few of my favorite lines from the movie were not in the book (ex: “The sleeper has awaken”, “He is the Kwisatz Hadarach!” and the mentat creed).

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series (as soon as I acquire copies of said books) but its a nerd classic that I’m glad I finally got around to reading.

View all my reviews

Walk to Mordor Progress

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On June 25, 2015

In General Cogitation

walk-into-mordorBack in January of this year I told folks on Facebook that I was going to participate in the Walk-to-Mordor Nerd Fitness challenge. I can’t remember how I originally found out about this challenge. I feel like I read about it on someone else’s feed and searched for it on Google. I found most of the logistics from a blog site called Nerd Fitness where I downloaded an Excel file to track the progress. After logging my progress the first couple of times, being the pragmatic nerd that I am, I realized I could build a web page to do this for me!

Enough about how big of a nerd I am; I’m here to talk about my progress since we are nearing the end of six months.

As I said I am tracking my progress on a web page I created at http://www.vleaminck.com/#/walkToMordor and, as you would be able to tell from the page, it appears I am on track to complete the challenge. If you recall, back in January when I decided to take on this quest, not only were we a couple of days into January but I was several miles behind. Only through perseverance [and +50 Fortitude] I managed to catch up and get back on track.

If any of you want to participate in this challenge, let me know and I can add you to the web page so you can track your progress as well. It doesn’t have to be January 1 to participate, you just need to complete the challenge within a calendar year. So you could start right now if you wanted to or you can wait and do it with me as I will probably try to do it again next year. I think it would be great to get more people actively doing this challenge so who is willing to “step up”? (pun intended).

The MMO Times: It’s E3 Week!

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On June 20, 2015

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

VaderProfile2013May610Issue 119:  E3 was this week in sunny California, what goodies were in store for us? Speaking of “store”, don’t forget that the Steam ‘Monster’ Summer Sale ends on the 21st (Father’s Day – which I don’t think is a coincidence … just sayin 😉 ). Despite the fact that this is usually a post about MMORPGs, usually during big conventions I make an exception so there are going to be posts about games that are not MMOs. 

I think several of these companies are as excited to tell us their news as we are to hear it. Bathesda rocked our world with their E3 presentation and E3 didn’t even officially begin until June 16th. BioWare has some “leaked” news about SWTOR, Microsoft making some big announcements for X-Box, Sony has a surprise too about a beloved franchise, and many, many more things. I’m sure E3 this year has given all of us gaming nerds strange tingling feelings in our special places. What was your favorite E3 moment? KCGO

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Great Tweets from Today: 6.14.15

By

On June 14, 2015

In Uncategorized

This one kind of makes me like otters:

https://twitter.com/wilw/status/610136660014043136

Lost FitBit? Use Your Phone

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On June 12, 2015

In General Cogitation, Technology

FitbitI have been using the same FitBit for over two and a half years now so losing it would give me a great deal of angst. I have probably convinced dozens of friends and family to get their own FitBits and it sometimes baffles me when they say they can’t find theirs (I’m very OCD about checking my pocket probably once an hour for my FitBit, even if I have been sitting for an hour). So the obvious excuse, when I taunt them, is they “lost it” *sigh*

Well now that excuse is no longer valid. An update to the phone app a few weeks ago will now allow you to link multiple devices to one account, including your phone. You can now add your phone to your FitBit account as a “Mobile Tracker” and it will record your steps just as your FitBit would (granted I don’t know if the accuracy is the same).

If you don’t know how to hook up your phone as a tracker, I can help you out (unless you have already performed a search on Google and found the answer in the FitBit forums). You will need to have the FitBit app installed on your phone which you can get from the App Store or the Android Store.

Once you have the app installed and you have launched it:

  • Tap on “Account” at the bottom of the screen.
  • Tap “Set Up a New Fitbit Device” – which should be right in the middle of your screen.
  • Tap on the “MobileTrack” option at the bottom and follow any additional prompts.

This should set your phone up as a tracker and it will only track the basics (i.e. it won’t track sleep, stairs, etc). I use this option when my FitBit is charging and I am still going to be somewhat active – because every step counts! Once it has finished charging (or you find your by gone FitBit) I would remove the phone, which I recommend as only one device can be tracking steps at a time. Steps from all devices will be aggregated on your FitBit account.

So there you have it. If you have lost your FitBit or its charging, and you have a phone that supports all the functionality of the app (I believe the FitBit app still has functionality issues on iPhone 4) then you no longer have an excuse for your lower rank on the leader boards 🙂

Keep Calm and Walk On!

The MMO Times: RIP Sir Christopher Lee

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On June 11, 2015

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

count-dookuIssue 118: The man we all thought was really immortal, Christopher Lee, passed away on June 7th (his wife wanted to delay the public announcement so his family could be made aware privately). Everyone mostly remembers him for his role in Lord of the Rings and, of course, Star Wars. He also played a pretty frightening Dracula (opposite fellow Star Wars legend, Peter Cushing). He lived a very full and epic life and passed away at 93. RIP my good man.

We are a week away from E3 and I wonder what will happen that will make it exciting since everyone keeps making major announcements before the opening ceremonies. First we heard about Fallout 4 and rumors of a new XBox controller which Microsoft just confirmed along with a 1TB hard drive (to be revealed at E3). My 80’s nerd-child squealed with joy when I heard about the Mega Man Legacy Collection coming soon.

Even Blizzard is unearthing several announcements (as you will read below). In fact, this post seems pretty Blizzard-heavy again but they seem to be the only ones producing MMO news. In fact I think I touched on all of their current titles, but there is other news, including the annual Steam money-sink. KCGO

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