I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: a nerve where my hand and wrist meet is pinched and causing pain (I think it's pinched). To mitigate the pain I have a "splint" that keeps my hand in neutral overnight and while I work. Unfortunately this also makes playing video games on my computer near impossible because I play with keyboard and mouse. The control scheme allows me to play first person "shooters" with higher accuracy than a controller.
On the other hand, controllers allow me to play games without incurring pain in my wrists because my thumb and wrist is in a different position than it would be on my Logitech M570 Trackball Mouse. If only I can move my accurate tracking from the mouse to the controller then I would be set.
Enter the Steam Controller. The controller has triggers and shoulder buttons plus a third pair of buttons where the third, fourth, and fifth fingers would rest. It also has the standard face buttons of X/Y/A/B and the stick control. What it also has are two haptic control pads that react to my touch. The Left pad is okay but it's the right pad that gets me excited: I can use it for mouse control. That lets me play first person shooters with the accuracy of a mouse but I do not get wrist pain from the CTS. Awesome!
I have tried setting up Borderlands 2 for this and the haptic control pad requires a new level of training for my brain. I am confident that I can use the Steam Controller and will be able to stream my gameplays again.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Our Civic Duty
I live in California and registered to vote. I have voted on who will be President of the United States of America, who will be my representatives in the US Senate and House, and who are my local leaders for, I think, the next six years. I have voted on bond measures, state propositions, and changes to our state judicial system. Hopefully I voted with enough wisdom for my beautiful California Republic to continue being beautiful and honest.
So I voted. So I did my civic duty. Yay.
I did it for one day. One lousy November day. One lousy day in the over seven hundred days of the period until the mid-term elections. One lousy day where we do not get a do-over.
What the hell are we all doing between elections? Do not gripe to me about having the time to vote: this state has EARLY VOTING. The thousands of hours running up to the election is the reason that you at least know about the major ballot referendums and local issues plaguing your community. There is no excuse to not vote.
And there should be no excuse to not participate. Whatever town, city, or state you live in you should at least tune in once a month. I, myself, resolve to check on the political landscape once a month. God knows California can go down the tubes in a moment's notice.
Do not stop doing your civic duty after the election. Do it at least once a month. If anything you won't be surprised by the ballot comes two years later.
So I voted. So I did my civic duty. Yay.
I did it for one day. One lousy November day. One lousy day in the over seven hundred days of the period until the mid-term elections. One lousy day where we do not get a do-over.
What the hell are we all doing between elections? Do not gripe to me about having the time to vote: this state has EARLY VOTING. The thousands of hours running up to the election is the reason that you at least know about the major ballot referendums and local issues plaguing your community. There is no excuse to not vote.
And there should be no excuse to not participate. Whatever town, city, or state you live in you should at least tune in once a month. I, myself, resolve to check on the political landscape once a month. God knows California can go down the tubes in a moment's notice.
Do not stop doing your civic duty after the election. Do it at least once a month. If anything you won't be surprised by the ballot comes two years later.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Changes, They Need To Arrive
I used to watch the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Hearing about the concussions and the issues many players are facing after retiring I can no longer watch NFL games. My emotions are not in line with the other fans: I am saddened at the fact that football players have decreased mental capacity after a years of high impact sports.
I cannot in good conscience support the NFL anymore. I will always be a fan of the Forty-Niners and I do not forsake anyone else from enjoying the games. I just feel guilty for enjoying an activity that asks too much of its players for so little compensation. Just my two cents.
I cannot in good conscience support the NFL anymore. I will always be a fan of the Forty-Niners and I do not forsake anyone else from enjoying the games. I just feel guilty for enjoying an activity that asks too much of its players for so little compensation. Just my two cents.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Proposed Mileage Tax
Did I spell that correctly: "mileage"?
Anyways, Fortune's website has reported that several states are preparing to, at the very least, implement a prototype tax based on the number of miles you drive. This is to complement the gas tax as primary funding for transportation budgets.
The biggest reason to do so is to grab the people who are converting their cars to hybrid or fully electric cars. These vehicles either pay zero gas tax or very little because they infrequently gas up. Without that gas tax transportation budgets see (relatively) smaller funds for infrastructure like BRIDGE REPAIR. Yes, there are tolls and such but there are areas where tolls are a detractor.
For one example California does not toll many of its highways. If the state decided to toll I-80, Hwy-50, and I-8 then the relatively cheap trip along flat ground to Los Angeles, San Diego, Stockton, and San Francisco Bay become just as expensive as climbing over the Rocky Mountains to get to Portland and Seattle by burning more gas. As a counter example, New Jersey absolutely tolls its roads because for New York City and the rest of New England to access most of the country quickly they must pass through New Jersey. NJ is, geographically, the critical corridor for ground transport. The state government there would be insane not to toll their highways.
The second reason is to make sure that the burden of transportation maintenance is not sidestepped. For those who drive fully electric cars do not pay the gas tax, thus they do not help finance road maintenance. The catch is they STILL use the roads that they DON'T help pay for. To not acknowledge this change in society is to be blind to where we are trying to go.
And the article also states that the gas tax has not been raised in years. I blame lobbyists. Then again I blame lobbyists for nearly everything. But if the gas tax has not been raised then the funds we get for transportation dwindles relative to the number of vehicles on the road. With the dawn of electric cars entering the marketplace the need for a mileage tax becomes increasingly necessary.
Vote for a mileage tax if it comes up; you don't want more potholes in your highways.
Anyways, Fortune's website has reported that several states are preparing to, at the very least, implement a prototype tax based on the number of miles you drive. This is to complement the gas tax as primary funding for transportation budgets.
The biggest reason to do so is to grab the people who are converting their cars to hybrid or fully electric cars. These vehicles either pay zero gas tax or very little because they infrequently gas up. Without that gas tax transportation budgets see (relatively) smaller funds for infrastructure like BRIDGE REPAIR. Yes, there are tolls and such but there are areas where tolls are a detractor.
For one example California does not toll many of its highways. If the state decided to toll I-80, Hwy-50, and I-8 then the relatively cheap trip along flat ground to Los Angeles, San Diego, Stockton, and San Francisco Bay become just as expensive as climbing over the Rocky Mountains to get to Portland and Seattle by burning more gas. As a counter example, New Jersey absolutely tolls its roads because for New York City and the rest of New England to access most of the country quickly they must pass through New Jersey. NJ is, geographically, the critical corridor for ground transport. The state government there would be insane not to toll their highways.
The second reason is to make sure that the burden of transportation maintenance is not sidestepped. For those who drive fully electric cars do not pay the gas tax, thus they do not help finance road maintenance. The catch is they STILL use the roads that they DON'T help pay for. To not acknowledge this change in society is to be blind to where we are trying to go.
And the article also states that the gas tax has not been raised in years. I blame lobbyists. Then again I blame lobbyists for nearly everything. But if the gas tax has not been raised then the funds we get for transportation dwindles relative to the number of vehicles on the road. With the dawn of electric cars entering the marketplace the need for a mileage tax becomes increasingly necessary.
Vote for a mileage tax if it comes up; you don't want more potholes in your highways.
Monday, February 22, 2016
So Many Things to Say
Yeah, a whole seven months since I spoke here. I'm lazy, but I did remember.
I got XCom 2 and played it until I liberated Earth. I loaded over and over again because I'm too attached to my soldiers. I do not make a good general because I want to see all my soldiers succeed. It was like that with the original game back in the 90's, the reboot years ago, and it is true today.
The game is so much better than the reboot. The maps are more organic. There is more variety in the types of missions, and the pace is quicker. Unfortunately the errors that plagued the reboot also show up in XCom 2: characters clipping objects, shooting through walls (and hitting their targets), odd camera angles obscured by objects, and delays between actions. These are major gripes but I gloss over them because the game is so good and engrossing. Damn I played over 80 hours to get to the end on normal mode and I am playing again in Easy but with Ironman engaged.
Get XCom 2. You will enjoy freeing the Earth from the alien menace.
I got XCom 2 and played it until I liberated Earth. I loaded over and over again because I'm too attached to my soldiers. I do not make a good general because I want to see all my soldiers succeed. It was like that with the original game back in the 90's, the reboot years ago, and it is true today.
The game is so much better than the reboot. The maps are more organic. There is more variety in the types of missions, and the pace is quicker. Unfortunately the errors that plagued the reboot also show up in XCom 2: characters clipping objects, shooting through walls (and hitting their targets), odd camera angles obscured by objects, and delays between actions. These are major gripes but I gloss over them because the game is so good and engrossing. Damn I played over 80 hours to get to the end on normal mode and I am playing again in Easy but with Ironman engaged.
Get XCom 2. You will enjoy freeing the Earth from the alien menace.
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