Sleepless in Midland

Is this bear market pause on stocks over yet?

It's fun to think of the stock market as a sports event. But with money in the game it's not much fun to see your side lose. On the other hand, there will always be buyers and sellers, and the most fun to be had is when buyers bid up the prices.

Anyway, investor sentiment is often a good indicator. When prices go up too much and buyers keep bidding them up -- i.e., when investor sentiment gets too high -- that's the time to be cautious. The opposite is true, too. When investors are in a panic to dump their stocks, that's often a good time to buy.

Mark Hulbert's sentiment index was always a good one to watch. But these days it costs money to see that index. Nevertheless, others attempt to gauge investor sentiment, and the one on the right hand side of this post was found at money.cnn.com called Fear & Greed Index.

Currently it's showing an 18 which they say is "extreme fear." That can be a good sign for investors.

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2:50 PM 11/27/2018

Ground agent could have learned to fly the Q400 in Microsoft game Flight Simulator

In many of the initial news reports about the ground agent taking off in a Bombardier Q400 at an airport near Seattle the reporters were astonished that someone without formal training could fly such a plane.

Anyone who has ever played with Microsoft's Flight Simulator computer game can tell you that there's a learning curve, but once the basics are learned, it's easy, especially if you don't bother to learn how to land. And yes, there's software for the Q400.

It will be interesting to learn what games he played on his computer once they finish a search of his living quarters.

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2:36 PM 8/13/2018

Taking a knee and biting the hand

All those rich professionals ball players on the field who refuse to respect the U.S. flag have every right to do so. They should thank our founding fathers for giving them that right, but that wouldn't fit the narrative.

In any event, the politicization of pro sports could have a positive effect. The case for taxpayer funded ball parks for pampered professionals and wealthy owners has always been a misuse of tax dollars. Voters who will inevitably be asked to pay for new sports stadiums might have second thoughts about that concept.

So maybe voters will balk the next time some pro team owner comes to them with his hand out. The ballot box is where conservatives protest. Let the millionaire players pay for their own stadium.

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9:13 AM 9/24/2017

Conan O'Brien reviews Grand Theft Auto V

There was a time long long ago when there were businesses called "game rooms" wherein patrons would put their coins in machines and play pin ball where a real ball would roll around and ring bells and make lights go off. Or maybe the customer preferred more high tech games like Pong or Pac-man.

Those games to today's gamers are like horse shoes or washers were to the hipsters who used those game rooms.

These days games like Grand Theft Auto V keep seem to keep the kids busy for hours. There must be others besides me who see TV commercials for such games and wonder, "How the heck to they do all that with just by pressing a couple of buttons?"

Well, along comes Conan O'Brien with a series called Clueless Gamer in which he attempts to conquer video games with jokes. Check out Conan O'Brien Reviews "Grand Theft Auto V" which really is enlightening, at least for this video game simpleton.

And if you watch it you'll figure out the answer to how they do it with just a couple of buttons. Practice, practice, practice.

Via BitsandPieces.us.

P.S. Be nice. Some day those kids will be using video game controllers to take out your prostate, conduct war, and audit your taxes. -- Robo-ed.

Obama Monopoly -- a board game

There's a board game out there called Communist Monopoly developed by a Polish research institute to teach people about life under communism. According to Spiegel.de the game lets the players experience the frustration of trying to obtain necessities in a communist economy. Excerpt:

Just like in the Communist era, players can leverage certain advantages to get what they need. The "colleague in the government" card is the equivalent of the famous "get out of jail free" card in Monopoly. Any player lucky enough to have one of these beauties can secretly find out when the next deliveries will arrive in the shops.

The game gets a rating of 7.09 out of 10 at Boardgamegeek.com.

If Mr. Obama gets reelected it might be time to bring out a new board game: Obama Monopoly. The objective would be to get as much from the government as possible through loans, bailouts, and special favors. The players get a certain number of tokens called "votes," and these votes can increase or decrease as the player advances around the board. A "Special Interest Group" card gives the player certain advantages provided the player has a minimum number of votes. However, a "friend of Obama" card automatically gets concessions from the government regardless of the number of votes the player has. The "Republican" card sends the player back to square one.

Obamanopoly -- coming to a store near you this Christmas!

Lefty civility -- computer game where players kills Tea Party people

Jimmie Hoffa would enjoy this game.  It would be unbelievable if the game "Tea Party Zombies Must Die" were not available for anyone to see. Copy and past this into your browser to see it for yourself: http://teapartyzombiesmustdie.com/

The player walks through a dark courtyard encountering zombie Tea Party people, slaughtering each one with an ax to progress to the next level. Then once the courtyard is cleared the player moves into the Fox News office. You see where this is going. The screenshot below shows a couple of the zombies the player will kill:

Here's a writeup at MRCTV.org.

Via BigHollywood via GraniteGrok.

Don't you just love this new civility from the left?

Early air travel on the desk top computer

A little Fall cleaning project uncovered the instruction manual for Flight Simulator, a game that kept me occupied for hours many years ago. And I mean many years ago, like mid 80s, in the early days of desk top computering.

Check out the minimum computer requirement -- a PC, PC Jr., or PC XT with at least 128kb memory. It was even better if you had a color monitor. Those were the days when floppy disks really were floppy.

Microsoft has put out newer versions of the software, but the next version I got was Combat Flight Simulator which dispensed with all the real life flying simulation and sent you back to a WWII dogfight in the European theater. So the ace is up there in his P51minding his own business, and dead ahead is a pack of nasty Nazi Luftwaffe planes coming straight at him. Lock and load!

Hey, while we're talking about WWII warbirds, the CAF Airsho is coming up on October 9 & 10, 2010.

Geocaching -- We have a winner!

Congratulations to nine year old home schooled Eric Thames who found the hidden object today. His mom emailed the secret word, and he's the lucky winner of the $25 prepaid American Express card.

Here's a recap of the clues with photos to explain them:

Clue #1: A river doesn't run through it. But an airplane flies over it. The location was in the Pavilion at Windlands Park in Midland, Texas about a quarter mile from Midland Airpark.  When there's a Southerly wind, airplanes take off over the park.  See Google map below:

Clue #2: Earth day 1992. It's on the plaque at the Pavilion entrance.

 

Clue #3: A paper airplane. A fish head. Line them up and find the prize. Here are some photos of the art pieces in those clues. The airplane was actually stainless steel, but it looks like a folded paper airplane. And the fish head, well, see for yourself. If you draw a straight line from the airplane to the fish head and beyond, you reach the Pavilion.

   

Finally, a photo of the object itself:

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Congratulations Eric! And thanks for playing!

Post Script.  Anyone who might want to put their own geocaching game together should remember to get permission from the property owner, or if it's public property, notify the property administrator. In this case, it was the Midland Parks and Recreation Manager. Thanks Scott Swigert!  And notify the police to avoid a potential bomb scare.  Thanks, MPD Sgt. Brian Rackow!

Geocaching -- 3rd clue

To recap, there's an object hidden somewhere in the city of Midland, Texas, which contains a secret word. The first person to find it and email me the secret word will win an American Express card with a prepaid value of $25, subject to the rules set out in the first post.

There have been two clues so far, as follows:

Clue #1: A river doesn't run through it. But an airplane flies over it.

Clue #2: Earth day 1992.

And here is today's clue:

Clue #3: A paper airplane. A fish head. Line them up and find the prize. (Psst, you won't actually find the prize, but you'll find the secret word.)

Good luck! Don't make me spend that money on myself!

Geocaching game -- 2nd clue

A post yesterday announced the game. See Geocaching in Midland, TX -- a PRIZE!.

No winner has come forward yet, so here's the next clue.

Clue #2: Earth day 1992.

The first person who emails me the secret word will win the prize, subject to the excluded persons rule set out at the above link.

The third clue, if needed, will involve dead reckoning. Actually, it's straight line navigation, but dead reckoning has such a sound to it.

Geocaching in Midland, TX -- a PRIZE!

Find it and win a prize!

But before we get into that, some background. Early this year a Geocaching game player planted a harmless object in a store parking lot, and a suspicious store employee called the cops. Before you knew it, the MPD, MFD, EMS, FBI and ICE swarmed the place, sealed off the area and forced the store occupants to shelter in place to keep them from being blown to smithereens by that mysterious object.

A robot was sent in to check it out, and the authorities determined the device was a harmless Geocaching game object. Everyone took a deep breath and relaxed, everyone that is but the fellow who planted the device. He got stuck with a bill for the whole shebang. Kathleen Thurber tells the story.

Since then the city of Midland has issued some suggestions for Geocachers, as follows:

1. Before placing a geocache on private property seek permission of the property owner.
2. Before placing a geocache on public property, seek out the property manager, or the government agency responsible for the property, and determine if there are any rules that apply to leaving the object there.
3. Do not put leave a geocache that looks suspicious, looks like an explosive device, or in any way could cause public alarm.
4. Be thoughtful in your actions. When depositing a geocache, consider whether or not you might appear suspicious.
5. Never place geocaches near dams, airports, railroads, or other areas that would be considered sensitive targets for terrorist activities.

Say the secret word and win a prize!

So let's play that game. And yes, terrorist watchers, Sleepless in Midland follows the rules.

Modern Geocaching games typically involve GPS devices, and some GPS manufacturers promote these games. But this one will be the old fashioned kind -- after all, it wasn't too awfully long ago that dead reckoning was the way to get there. Or maybe we can call it a futurist Geocaching game -- a time when all the GPS satellites have been neutralized by space junk, satellite killers, meteors, solar flares, or what have you.

It's going to be a series of clues which will lead you to the object. If you find it, you'll find a secret word. Email that word to me -- see link in upper left corner -- and include your name and mailing address. I'll announce your name as the winner and snail mail the prize.

So what's the prize? It's a pre-paid American Express card worth a cool $25. Who says reading blogs doesn't pay off? Well okay, you have to do a little bit more than just read, but not much.

First clue: A river doesn't run through it. But an airplane flies over it.

Email me the secret word to win! More clues to come if necessary.  Good luck!

Oh yeah, some rules. Since I had to tell the police, I have to exclude them and all other city employees and their families from eligibility for the prize.  And the contest will end in about a week if it hasn't been found.

Updated 5/2/10 -- Second Clue: Earth day 1992.

Deficit Reduction -- the computer game

President Obama is facing a huge budget deficit, and while he has mostly himself to blame, he's looking for ways to tell us how difficult a job he has. And their brainstorming produced this interesting concept -- a Deficit Reduction computer game. According to USA Today (by way of Techdirt):

Bowles has been in touch with Microsoft's Steve Ballmer about creating a deficit-reduction video game that would enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget, much like the 1994 commission did.

Now that sounds like great fun. But here's the rub. As the old saying goes, the winner gets to write history. And the incumbent gets to write the game code. So the player wins only if he/she plays the game as the administration wants it played. Trim Obamacare? No, no way. Cut some Congressman's earmarks? Nah, might need that guy's vote down the line. Trim missile defense? You're headed for the winners circle. Smear Tea Parties? Score!

Tiger car parking -- the game

It didn't take the gamers long. And it's not as easy as it looks. Play Tiger Parking Slam.

OK, that was cruel. Try an educational game instead. Place the 50 states in place with this game for rehabilitation.

How hard is it to learn to walk?

It's computer game in which you control a runner with the keyboard. Two keys work the calves and two others work the thighs. It's too hard for me, I couldn't even keep him on his feet. Maybe you'll have better luck with Athletics.

Space Ship Evacuation, the game

The other day Sharon Begley's column informed us that the game Tetris exercises the same part of the brain that stores horrible images, and playing the game after witnessing horror might reduce post traumatic stress.

Well, here's a better one. Evacuation is a game that requires the player to figure out which doors to open on a space craft to eject hungry alien creatures before they can eat the ship's crew but without ejecting the crew, too. Lose the ship's captain and the game is over.

The mechanics of the game are quite simple. But the beauty of the game is that it so consumes the brain that the player can forget about just about anything from mundane choirs to really important stuff. (Don't ask me how I know this.)

So maybe this is a secret weapon. Rather than giving it to our soldiers, air drop portable games into terrorist training camps. Before long those suicide bomber recruits will be so consumed by the games that they will forget all about their holy text, not to mention their unholy missions. When the real missiles come sailing in they won't even know what hit them.

We always knew Tretis was good for something

It's the simple computer game of Tetris. Sharon Begley's Lab Notes tells us about experiments using Tetris games to interrupt memory formation which might lead to the use of the game to help soldiers avoid post traumatic stress. From the article:

The idea of using Tetris to vaccinate soldiers against PTSD rests on two facts. One, the brain has a finite processing capacity for each of two kinds of information: sensory/visual/spatial and narrative/meaning. Two, there is a window of about 6 hours to disrupt memory consolidation. What this implies, scientists led by Emily Holmes of the University of Oxford write in a new paper in the open-access journal PLoS One, is that a sufficiently demanding visuospatial task will keep the brain from retaining other spatial/visual information--that is, images, including traumatic ones. Tetris should be such a task, since recognizing the shapes and moving the blocks around places demands on the brain’s spatial-processing channel.

So in effect, "the narrative and meaning of the events should be unaffected, since that is a separate processing channel: people should remember that they witnessed or experienced a trauma, but should not be besieged by vivid visual images of it."

See trauma, play Tetris, not be traumatized. Interesting effect.

Politics -betting play money on the outcome

Here's a site that looks like fun.  It's Hubdub which lets participants gamble play money on the outcome of current event stories.

All eyes are on the presidential race this Super Tuesday.   Going farther out, this market is predicting the Republican nominee will be McCain by 82% and for the Democratic nominee the betting is Obama 62%, Clinton 38%.

What about the November outcome?  Click to see for yourself, but as of right now it give us these percentages:  McCain - 21%; Clinton - 30%; and Obama - 40%.

Place your bet and take your chance.

The wild child in you

Draw your own wild child self portrait here.

Via  Beancounter

Make a face

Here's a neat little Flash exercise.  It's a face building tool called FlashFace.

We've all seen those sketches of crime suspects, and one has to wonder what the capture rate is with suspect sketches.  See how good you would be at building a face.  I'm not very good.  Here's the face I was trying to copy.

Via Cowboy Blob's.

Games In the In box

Here are some goodies that arrived via email.  Richard E. sends a quiz in which you get to look at photos of people and decide whether the person is a Programing Language Inventor or a Serial Killer.

Betty O. sends this neat little game that tests your agility with the curser.   Click on the red square and avoid touching the sides or the blue blocks.  Beat 18 seconds and you are quite good.

Thanks y'all.

Computerized Face Recognition

To really enjoy a good fictional tv show it almost always requires a brief suspension of one's own sense of what's real and what isn't.

For example, it isn't too rare to see a tv show that utilizes some form of computer face recognition.  The good guys and gals stare at a monitor as a computer rummages through facial images, and then, "It's a match!"

It's so easy.  See for yourself.  MyHeritage.com has a free demo where you can upload your own photo, and it will match your face with that of a celebrity you most resemble.  (Link via A Welsh View.)

There aren't any photos of me on the hard drive, so I went browsing around some of my favorite sites, and there was one of  Wallace over at Streams.

It's a match!  He's actually Babe Ruth!

(Forgive me Wallace.  I'm clowning around while you're over there paying serious tribute to our veterans.)

Games for a Labor Day Holiday

Here are a couple of enjoyable Flash games that not only entertain but waste time as well.

First up, Avoider, where all you have to do is keep the little fellow from catching your curser arrow.  Warning:  he can jump, fire rockets, shoot cannons and more, and he wants your curser.

Next up, Planarity.  It's a connect-the-dots game in which the dots are already connected, and the player moves dots around so that no lines are crossed.

All of this is courtesy of Little Fluffy Industries whose motto is:  "Wasting your time... and ours."  Thanks for that, Little Fluffy.

Are you a hippie? How about white trash? Quizzes

Awww man?  Now that stings.

You are 30% Hippie.

You need to step away from the tie-dye.  You smell too good to be a hippie.  Being a hippie is not a fashion craze, man.  It was a way of life, in the 60's, man.

Take the
Hippie Test
@ FualiDotCom

Find out whether or not you are a hippie at Hippie Test.

Or take the White Trash Test:

You are 26% White Trash.

The white trash in your blood will not keep you from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep you from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Nailed!

Found at Resistance is Futile.

For Sufferers of CGA - no relief in sight

CGA is an affliction which probably has a devastating effect on our nation's productivity.  And there appears to be no relief in sight for the millions of people who suffer from it.  I'm talking about Computer Game Addiction.  It can literally sap your time, attention and energy and leave you feeling defeated, that is unless you spend even more time, attention and energy mastering the game.

That being said, if you suffer from CGA then you'll want to avoid the flash game De-Animator.  It's based on H. P. Lovecraft short stories, and it requires the player to save himself by shooting approaching zombies with a six shot revolver.

Should you decide to venture into this land of the walking dead then it might be helpful to know that the zombies can be dispatched with just one shot while they are in the process of rising from the ground.  But once they are on their feet -- and some of them walk in from off screen -- then it takes multiple shots per zombie, and they get more resilient as the game progresses.  When the shotgun becomes available it can make quick work out of them, but our poor hero is so painfully show and methodical in reloading that the shotgun has very limited use.

Good luck.

Hints:  There are three types of zombies, and each has his/her own characteristics.  The big bearded brutes are the hardest to stop, and I've got no hints for them.  Once the easy stages have passed then these hints might be useful for the other two types.  The skinny ones with the tall forehead can be dispatched with two pistol shots:  the first one to the head and the second one to the chest area.  The skinny ones that appear to be wearing a cap can be dispatched with two shots to the shoulder.  My best score = 226.

Is your website gay?

Someone left a comment deep in the archives that said this:

This is gay!!!!  What kind of a site is this?????  U need games and music!!

Gee.  I thought this was a hetero site, but I had better check.  Turns out it's 20% gay.  I checked out a few other blogs to see where they stood, and the results were even more interesting (tee hee).  Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Check out your favorite website at How Gay is Your Website?

Test Your IQ

Well, I'm not as smart as I thought.  I only got eight out of 11 correct.  But if I had the inclination to do some research I might dispute one of those.  Here's what it predicts for my future:

Your Score: 8 out of 11
Your Rating: Honor Student.

Now Here's the Twist;
Your answers not only can tell your current intelligence,
but the combination can also forcast your upcoming love life:
Your Projected Love Life: Not Bad! Expect your love life to bloom soon!

Does that take any effort on my part our should I just sit here and wait for it to happen?  Test your own IQ at Monday Morning Test.  Thanks Gene and Anna.

Pop That Bubble Wrap

You don't have to be Adrian Monk to get some pleasure out of popping bubble wrap.  At  Bubble Wrap Popping Machine you can try to pop all the bubble wrap bubbles on a sheet within a set time.  The unadvertised benefit is that after doing this a while you'll find out whether or not you have carpal tunnel syndrome.  Via here's my byline.

Sunday Afternoon Games

Here are a couple of Flash games that are worth a try.

First, there's Match Practice, a golf putting game.  Note:  it's a real challenge.  (Thanks to Don H. for the pointer.)

Next, there's TrackMania Sunrise in which the goal is to keep the speed of the car within the range marked on the speedometer so that the car can jump the water.  If the speed is out of that range when the car reaches the ramp then it won't be a successful jump.  (Via A Welsh View.)

MI-5, skills game online

For fans of the BBC show "MI-5," shown here on A&E, there's an online game titled Spooks which is basically a skills level test to see if you could qualify to be an MI-5 agent.

Online Games

Here are a couple of mindless Flash games for those times when you just need a diversion.  First up:  Lunar Command.  You shoot down incoming missiles to protect your lunar base.  Hmmmm.  I wonder why they don't call it Missile Defense?

Here's one in which you shoot bubbles at bubbles.  It's more fun than it sounds.  It's Bubble Trouble.

Both of those games, and many many more, can be found at AddictingGames.com.