More innocuous things: mpt on When good interfaces go crufty. In related user stuff, webword has put up a Userati list which tracks links among usability blogs. (that’s good stuff).

Instead of doing much useful the past few days, I played my eyes out on Chrono Trigger w/ Snes9x. After finishing that this morning, I decided to try out DreamSNES, a port of Snes9x to the Dreamcast. It’s an impressive effort, but runs sorta pokey (the SNES CPU is a 3.5MHz chip, but apparently, it’s the custom graphics/sound DSPs that are a PITA to emulate). Also, playing the games on a 50″ widescreen TV is a bit much. (The Dreamcast controller does beat the pants off the Gravis Xterminator I have lying around though.)

Sigh… news sucks. Happy new year.

• Israel’s human sheilds draw fire
• Foreign Policy Loses Its Logic
• 9 Northeastern States Challenge Pollution Rule
• RUBBISH! – ok, this is sorta funny, but just highlights how our civil liberties are out the door.
• Hooked on a Feeling

Seanbaby’s EGM’s Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time article is a way more entertaining read than GameSpy’s similarly themed recent Top 10 Shameful Games article. Surprisingly, Action 52 isn’t in Seanbaby’s list. The hilarious reviews on GameFAQs was almost enough to convince me to search for the ROM and d/l it. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.

More game funnies: SA’s Game Reviews, SA’s ROM Pit

I’d like to just take a moment to again reiterate my complete and utter disappointment in CSS2. A longer rant has been brewing for a few months now. It’s almost ready to make it’s way out.

Wow, there are some amazing panoramas over at WorldWide VR Panoramas.

Ha, next time one of your friends shows you their shiny new iPod, you can take consolation that with the non-replacable battery will be giving them headaches in a year. Of course, from the discussions, it looks like most of the most severe problems are probably due to the 1.2 firmware. And I suppose you could always try to replace the battery yourself.

I’ve had a Nex II for about a year and a half and overall have been pretty happy. It plays MP3s and WMAs, and uses type I & type II compact flash cards, and runs on AA’s (very convenient, since I was able to interchange both memory and recharagables w/ my old digital camera). It also cost me under $100. There’s a new Nex coming out soon. I might be motivated to upgrade, especially if it has OGG support…

I’m always a bit surprised when ‘miracle’ cleaning supplies actually work. Perhaps it’s from being jaded from being exposed to too many infomercials as a kid. I picked up some Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover recently, and when I tried it on a month old stain, it actually worked. That was a pleasant surprise.

Footnote: curiousity sent me to Google Groups. Looks like Folex is well known and generally recommended. Now, about cleaning those venetian blinds…

Proof that Disney is evil (swf). Well, maybe not, but an interesting little flash piece in the vein of They Rule. For more paranoia inducing graphics, a friend sent me this historical chart of the stock market. The can be only fun!

A few days ago I was sifting through the Saddle Creek Forums, and found a post on the Saddle Creek Hub, which got me to reinstall Direct Connect. I’d forgotten how much I’d liked DC (for some reason, I never got around to reinstalling it after I moved out of university housing a while back). Not only was I was able to find a copy of the Bright Eyes & Britt Daniel split I was looking for, (unfortunately I had put off sending a check to subscribe to the rest of the HOME split series, and it turns out it sold out on me – boo), but all kinds of live and rare stuff to boot.

Apparently there’s a Pitchfork hub that’s supposed to be pretty good, but I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet.

• Direct Connect Download (there’s a version for OS X.2 now)
• DC++
• Java Direct Connect (requires Java2)
• DC-GUI (QT-based, for Linux)
• Soulseek