I recently went looking for Micro League Baseball 2, which was the greatest computer game of my childhood. It ranks up there with The Bard’s Tale in terms of sheer enjoyment.

You can still get The Bard’s Tale in a couple of forms… they’ve recently released the Ultimate RPG Archives, which I’d imagine is great if you wanted to replay every single one of them (it carries a $199 pricetag, which is just foolish if all you wanted was a copy of Bard’s Tale 2 and 3, which is what I would be after).

But Micro League Baseball 2 seems like it’s lost in cyberspace. Man, that is too bad. I used to make my own teams with my friends’ names on them, and then we’d go head to head with the 1969 Mets or the 1982 Orioles. Them was good times, indeed, and probably the only reason that the names Mickey Lolich, Ray Oyler, or Ed Kranepool are still floating around in my brain.

Chris McCarthy and I won Bard’s Tale 2 and 3 in about 3 weeks apiece, but it took us two years to get to the end of the original.

I have been dreaming.

Read the rest…

I don’t think they’ll go after everyone. I think they honestly believe that suing 1000 users, some big, some small, will discourage the file sharing. I think they’re wrong, they’re just pushing the file sharers to create new and better ways to file-share anonymously.

But hey, if the RIAA wants to sue everyone, it’ll be a while.

I kinda hope they sue me. I really do. Because for every piece of music I’ve downloaded in the past year, they’re going to find a CD that corresponds in my CD collection. (That doesn’t include eMusic downloads, which I assume they can’t and wouldn’t want to know about. And by the way, I finally got my eMusic subscription cancelled after 4 tries. Simple way to do it: let the credit card expire.) That’s right. I download what I already own because it’s easier than ripping, or because the CD I have is scratched, not in the case, whatever.

Seriously, I think that the RIAA is just galvanizing its opposition. We’re gonna have some really fantastic, really far-reaching file-sharing options, and we’re going to have them soon.

Heidi and I will be going to the O’Bryan household Friday to meet these new friends:

One of them could come live with us soon!

Some thoughts on PDFs and accessibility issues:

“PDF files have been an accessibility headache for screenreader users.
While we’ve seen some improvements in the accessibility of PDF files,
they shouldn’t be considered the sole format for your documents. All
users seem to have problems with them; here’s a critique from a
usability point of view:

‘PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption’
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, July 14, 2003

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030714.html”

source: UNC CIT

My dear lord.

Check it, I am engaged to a beautiful girl.

I’m not one to bitch, but let me tell you about a terrible meal that I had recently.

Read the rest…

Submitted my first mix to Tiny Mix Tapes.

request from Post-grad grrl: Songs that express the ennui that stems from the knowledge that your Ph.D. is not going to get you a job this year when meanwhile, down the street, your friend who has a Ph.D. in the same field as you is packing his apartment to move to the job that he managed to land.

01. The Breeders - “Little Fury” (Title TK)
02. Letters to Cleo - “Little Rosa” (Wholesale Meats and Fish)
03. Modest Mouse - “Never-Ending Math Equation” (Building Nothing Out of Something)
04. Phantom Planet - “In Our Darkest Hour” (The Guest)
05. Rainer Maria - “Lost, Dropped, and Cancelled” (Look Now Look Again)
06. The Pasties - “Average Day” (Platonica)
07. Jets to Brazil - “You’re Having the Time of My Life” (Four Cornered Night)
08. Frank Black & the Catholics - “Stupid Me” (Dog in the Sand)
09. Hooverphonic - “Plus Profond” (A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular)
10. Denali - “Gunner” (Denali)
11. Chisel - “Privileged and Impotent” (Set You Free)
12. Jane’s Addiction- “Idiots Rule” (Nothing’s Shocking)
13. Le Tigre - “Much Finer” (Feminist Sweepstakes)
14. Ms. Dynamite - “It Takes More [Bloodshy Main Mix]” (A Little Deeper)
15. Yo La Tengo - “Stockholm Syndrome” (I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One)
16. eels - “It’s a Motherfucker” (Daisies of the Galaxy)
17. Counting Crows - “A Long December” (Recovering the Satellites)
18. Clocker Redbury & Dusty Slosinger - “Collections Gettin’” (Clocker Redbury/Dusty Slosinger)
19. Jump, Little Children - “Say Goodnight” (Magazine)
20. Firewater - “Knock ‘em Down” (The Ponzi Scheme)

Boom, peoples, I now have some stuff at 1217 Odyssey, and my official premarital cohabitation has begun. Unsurprisingly, my first load of stuff included the following necessities: a spare computer that has no CD-ROM drive and no OS, my collection of hockey jerseys, a bunch of DVDs that we can’t watch yet over there because we don’t have a DVD player hooked up, and some packing envelopes.

Heidi asked that I refer to this period as my official “living in sin cohabitation gonna be struck by lightning and go to hell.” Seems about right to me.