The Orc, Spork, and Blog

¿Que pasó al Guy?

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:51:00 +0000

It has been many months since I last posted anything to the Orc, Spork, and Blog. I, as they say, have been busy. Aside from the day job and the dad job, I have launched a new site. Well, it's not that new now, but it--like many things--was new once. GuyRoyse.com is my brand new "professional" blog. There I will be posting my works including game development (both board and web), writing efforts, fun sites, experiments with technology and coding, and all that sort of geekery that I either are or would like to be paid to do.

This site will remain to be a personal site for all the things I do in my personal life. If you care, you can follow. Honestly, I really only expect my family to follow this blog but you're all welcome to spectate if you wish.

I have also engaged in a couple of new pursuits that do belong on this site. First, I have finally decided to loose the gut and have started Weight Watchers. My wife has so made this possible for me by blazing the trailing. If she hadn't started this, I would still be getting fatter until I became the guy who can't leave his house. She has lost well over 100 pounds and is only 6 or 7 pounds to goal. So far I have lost about 65 pounds, but I've been stuck there for the past couple of months. It's not a plateau, I'm just eating crap I shouldn't and not exercising enough. At last weigh in I was 279.8 pounds, down from 343.0 when I started.

I also am involved in Cub Scouts now. Luke is 8 and is a Wolf in Pack 770 here in town. I am the Assistant Cubmaster poised to be the Cubmaster next year. I'm sure this is gonna be a huge time-suck but I think it sets a really good example for my kids. An example that says, "I'm not just here to take what others have to offer. I can lead and serve others and be involved." I think that's a very good thing to teach my boys and is a very Scouting oriented message. Of course, I have put up a site for the pack, although it's pretty bare-bones at the moment.

And, because I don't have enough going on already, I have decided to learn Spanish. I found a podcast called Coffee Break Spanish and have been absorbing it. It's very good and I have learned a lot. I just need to master the last few lessons and then start practicing. I have also gotten some use out of LiveMocha and StudySpanish.com Gotta find me some practice partners and perhaps a good book to read as well. Or at least a pen-pal.

So, that's what I've been up to. I'll try to post more frequently since there is actually quite a bit going on to share.

¡Hasta proximo!

Personal Effects: Dark Art

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:13:00 +0000

There's this author named J.C. Hutchins. I've mentioned him before for his podcast novel trilogy 7th Son which is soon to be available in print. He has a new book out called Personal Effects: Dark Art which is about an art therapist named Zach Taylor who works for Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital. It's a supernatural thriller with a twist:

The book is a gateway into an Alternate Reality Game or ARG.

Huh? Follow the Wikipedia link. Find out what and ARG is and come back. I'll wait.

Done? Good.

So the book actually comes with clues to the associated ARG. Some are in the text of the novel. Some are in the illustrations in the novel. Some are in a pocket in the front of the book including things like birth certificates, a drivers license, and photographs.

The book is pretty cool but I was initially on the fence about it. This isn't a reflection of J.C.'s ability at his craft just a simple matter of time. While I have time to listen to podiobooks when working out, driving, and pretending to work, it's a lot harder to find time to read anything that isn't on a screen. And I knew, just knew, that the ARG would suck me in and consume my time. So, I resisted the urge to dive in.

And then the Hutch released the podcast prequel, Personal Effects: Sword of Blood. I listened. Idiot. A website was mentioned. Zach's girl, Rachel has a gaming blog. I checked the URL. It, of course, existed. From there I find that she has a twitter account, works for the New York Journal Ledger, and that her boyfriend has a MySpace page.

Dammit! I'm hooked.

I pre-ordered the book from Amazon. Then I proceed to check out the remaining sites and call the number on the front of the book (that's 212.629.1951 for those so inclined). I get Zach's voicemail greeting. Cool! I try to hack into the Staff Login section of Brinkvale's site with no luck. The password hint is obvious but I have trouble with the username. I'll try again later.

So, I'm fully engaged in the ARG and at the time of this writing have actually finished the book and explored much further into the game. I plan to blog all of my discoveries here but need to play a little catch up over the next couple of days. Expect more posts.

Luke's Artwork

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by groyse.

My son was inspired by Guitar Hero to create this drawing. I like the skulls and the variety of hair styles. Rock on Luke!

A Small Sample

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Here's a little bit of what I am working on. It's very rough so keep that in mind if you want to comment but constructive criticism is still welcome. This scene is somewhere in the middle of the book.

“These things are everywhere. What’re we gonna do?” Gills paced about the room, the most animated anyone had ever seen him. Behind the hatch Floyd they could hear scratching sounds. They were clawing at the door, trying to get them.

“We gotta get outta here. That’s what we have to do. We’ll go to the shuttle and just leave.”
Roger glared at Gills. “Are you fucking stupid? We can’t leave. We can’t even pilot the shuttle because they killed Penn.”

Floyd found himself speaking. “We need to figure out what is going on, get that object off of the ship. It’s causing this.”

“No! We need to get off the ship. I can fly it. I can fly a shuttle. I used to be a pilot when I was in the navy.”

“That was a fucking hovercraft! It didn’t even raise six feet above the ground!” Roger’s frustration boiled over into rage. “You’re talking about flying a goddamned shuttle! You fly that thing and you’ll get us all killed before we even leave the fucking ship.”

“We’re taking the shuttle off this ship and you all are coming. That’s an order!” Was Gills angry? Floyd didn’t think he had ever seen Gills angry before. But there he stood with flared nostrils, his bald head during a bright shade or read. The carotid artery in his throat throbbed menacingly like it was ready to jump out of his neck and strangle Roger.

Roger snorted, either oblivious to or unconcerned with just how angry Gills was. His words slowed and took on an incredulous tone. “Order? You’re ordering us to go with you?”
“No. Fuck you.” Roger said flatly. “You’re own your own fly boy.” Roger turned his back on Gills. Gills stared at Floyd who shook his head.

“Bad plan Gills. The shuttle wasn’t designed to operate for such a long duration. We’re only half-way through our trip. Even if we hooked up some cryo modules in the shuttle the power systems would fail before we met up with the other colony ships in Gamma Pavonis. Besides, I’m not sure I’d want to go into cryo with that thing in our ship. Look what it did to everyone else in cryo.”

“We have to take the chance. If we stay here we’re screwed.”

Floyd felt calm and his voice was smooth and placid. “No Gills. I’m not going. If you do this, you’re on your own.”

“Fine. If you all change your minds, I’ll be prepping the shuttle.”

“Don’t crash” said Roger, his back still turned to Gills.

It's Alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:19:00 +0000

I exist. I know that to many this might come as quite a surprise. Mostly, people have just looked at the photo of Mr. Davala and wondered who the hell that guy is. Well, I was simply demonstrating to a co-worker how Blogger would allow me to take a mobile photo and post if to me blog lickety-split. This was part of a conversation on how ubiquitous cameras in the hands of the public that can post things in seconds to the Internet will make police more accountable and news instantaneous or some rhetoric like that.

So what have I been up to? Well I've decided to get my geek on and do something creative in my allegedly free time. So, I'm writing a novel. Well, maybe it'll be more like a novella. We'll see how long it ends up. So what kinds of novel, you ask? Well, I am a geek so it would have to be science fiction. But not just any science fiction. Put it this way:

It takes place in space.

There are zombies.

How fun is that? As it turns out, not too much for the characters. It's alive indeed.

Arrr!

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:42:00 +0000

My pirate name is:

Mad Tom Kidd

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

A close one ...

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:22:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by aixcracker.

Amazing lightning strike.

"Are You The Singing Telsa Coil?"

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:40:00 +0000

This is probably one of the coolest Tesla coil "stunts" that I have ever seen.

In Case of Zombies, Break Glass

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:37:00 +0000

The title pretty much says it all. I would love to get one of these.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Hello Kitty

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:20:00 +0000

ChickenMafia.com, in an attempt to discredit Hello Kitty as the Antichrist using my detector, discovered that Hello Kitty in fact possess the the Holy number of the Christ. I think that Hello Kitty is probably evil, as Joyful Chicken explains, and is merely hiding behind a pseudonym of some sort or is just an alias for that known Antichrist, Bo Jackson.

Bo knows Satan.

Matchhead Mushroom Mayhem

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:25:00 +0000

In the spirit of the up coming Independence Day celebration here in the good ol' U. S. of A. I give you homemade bombs!

http://view.break.com/318201 - Watch more free videos

Uber Cool Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:07:00 +0000

Found this on digg. Very cool, in an 80s metal sort of way.

Only Teachers Hate a Smartass

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:57:00 +0000

I found this on digg and I have to say, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

The cute answers to the math problems were entertaining but the best part are the essays written by Peter Nguyen. It's obvious that he was a bored student since the papers are well written and very funny.

It is is definitely worth checking out.

The Columbus Destroyers vs. The Kansas City Brigade

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:52:00 +0000

Snapped this photo while at the game.

Steam-powered Computing

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:50:00 +0000

First you have the Steampunk Keyboard and then the Telegraph Sounder that clacks out feeds as Morse Code. Now, there's the Steampunk Monitor. All that is left, as the artist himself attests, it to make a Steampunk Mouse.

I can't wait to see it.

Of course, now that I think about it, there is always the Steampunk Casemod. Won't that be a site to see.

Oh... and since I've linked to almost every cool thing on the Steampunk Workshop, I might as well link to the Steampunk Stratocaster which is cool as well but not about computers.

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:56:00 +0000

Michael @ playground.

The Moonville Ghost

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 24 May 2007 03:31:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by groyse.

I took this photo in September of 2006 when the boys and I went on a camping trip to Lake Hope. While checking out the Moonville Cemetery, which is alleged to be haunted, I snapped this photo. Does this picture show a ghost or just a trick of the light? Maybe a bit of dust on the lens? You be the judge.

Sleepy Snake eats Mischievous Mouse

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:23:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by Mochimochi Land.

This is great! My kids would love it. If these were mass produced, one could probably sell them on the Internet for a tidy profit. I'd buy one.

But, I'll have to settle for Cthulu and microbial plushies instead.

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:05:00 +0000

I've recently saw an article on The Steampunk Workshop about a telegraph sounder that clacks out RSS feeds as Morse Code. This got me thinking about Morse Code, my Arduino, and the virtual serial port connecting it to my PC. So, time to build...

I got started writing a Text2Morse converter in C#. This was fairly straightforward and text that started like this:

SOS SOS SOS

Resulted in text that looked like this:

... --- .../... --- .../... --- ...

This text was then sent down the faux serial port that the Arduino uses to communicate over USB. The Arduino had the following code loaded to set pin 13 high and low in appropriate intervals to spit out the Morse Code:

/* Morse Code
*
* Reads incoming Morse code stream from
* serial port and blinks out code
* to LED.
*/

int ledPin = 13;

int dit = 150;
int dah = dit * 3;

int gap = dit;
int charGap = dah;
int wordGap = dit * 7;

int incomingByte = 0;
boolean previousByteGap = true;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{

  if (Serial.available() > 0)
  {
    incomingByte = Serial.read();

    if (incomingByte == '.')
    {
      if (!previousByteGap)
      {
        digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
        delay(gap);
      }
      previousByteGap = false;

      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
      delay(dit);
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    }
    else if (incomingByte == '-')
    {
      if (!previousByteGap)
      {
        digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
        delay(gap);
      }
      previousByteGap = false;

      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
      delay(dah);
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    }
    else if (incomingByte == ' ')
    {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      delay(charGap);
      previousByteGap = true;
    }
    else if (incomingByte == '/')
    {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      delay(wordGap);
      previousByteGap = true;
    }
  }
}

While I don't know if I'll build an actual clacker or feed RSS into this, it is an interesting toy. I'm not even sure where this is really going, but it's fun. Anything could be hooked to pin 13 to generate Morse Code. When I tested it, I used a simple LED to watch the blinking. Worked great. If you have ideas, submit a comment with them and maybe I'll build it. Regardless, I'll be sure to post whatever I end up with on here.

However, what I think is an even cooler idea (and I'm not sure how to tackle this yet) would be to take Morse Code input from the Arduino and have it send ASCII text up the serial port. Then, a simple Windows program could generate keyboard events from the input and you could "type" into your PC with a telegraph key.

Mysterious Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:39:00 +0000

I have a new favorite podcast and it's not a podiobook this time. It's a fringecast about aliens, UFOs, psychic phenomenon, cryptology, and other paranormal things called called Mysterious Universe. I found it on top ten popular podcasts on Podcast Alley.

Now, mind you, I don't buy into the fringe stuff. While I think the idea of aliens is possible, I don't think the described encounters are actually with aliens because they appear to be cultural phenomenon. The psychic stuff I generally dismiss as not having sufficient evidence. And other stuff is just patently absurd.

That said, I find this kind of stuff entertaining and enjoy listening to it and this particular podcast is a hoot! The production is excellent, Benjamin Grundy has a good voice (especially compared to many podcasters), and the content is much more interesting than the latest Roswell Nazi UFO Bigfoot abduction stories on the alleged History Channel. A recent episode talked about "Master Plant Teachers" (i.e. psychotropic drugs like peyote) and how they are sentient beings teaching us about the larger reality.

Generally, listening to the podcast either makes me laugh or give me ideas for Illuminati and Dark Matter games. I consider both to be good things.

Podcasting Sells Books

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 02:21:00 +0000

On my way to work the other morning, I listened to the latest installment (Episode 24) of The Rookie by Scott Sigler. Scott is a prolific fiction podcaster. He has several novels that he has written turned to podcasts. So far I have only listened to Infection and The Rookie, but I have downloaded EarthCore from Podiobooks and plan on listening to his other novels when I get the time. Scott also has a book called Ancestor that was recently released in print. And this is where the interesting part comes in because Ancestor made it to the top ten on Amazon.com on the day it was release.

Now, this is a book that none of the big players in the publishing industry had heard of and it was released from a small press. The big players were completely blind-sided by this book. "Who's Scott Sigler?" seems to be the general response.

This demonstrates that Scott gets it and the big companies don't. The axiom is simple: fame is more valuable than intellectual property. If Scott had tried to make money directly from his books he would have sold none to few and would have been lucky to even get his books printed by anything other than a vanity press. Instead, he gives his stuff away for free on the Internet (in the form of a podcast), builds a name for himself based on said stuff, and then rattles the industry by coming out of "nowhere".

This pattern applies not just to books, I should add. Music, video, and all sorts of media are subject to this same principal. Giving stuff away that is worthwhile gets you attention that is much more valuable than insisting that people buy stuff from an unknown artist. In the case of music, bands are already starting to give their music away as MP3s and then making money off the fame by selling tickets to live shows.

It's a brave new world out there folks and there is money to be made.

Mother & Child

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:56:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by groyse.

Now that I have a scanner/printer/copier thingie, old photos are sure to follow on flickr. Here's one of me with my mother from the early 70s.

Massive flickr Upload

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:12:00 +0000

I just got myself a flickr pro account and uploaded a whole mess of photos. Check 'em out.

Fairfield Union Charging Knights! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:40:00 +0000

I heard about this school the other night while playing D&D and thought Snopes should know about it. Below is the text I send their way talking about the legend:

I was with my friends the other night and heard a story about Fairfield Union High School in Lancaster, Ohio. Apparently, their mascot was recently changed from the Charging Knights to the Falcons due to an unfortunate (depending on your point of view) acronym being made from the phrase "Fairfield Union Charging Knights".

Allegedly, students at football games would shout "Fairfield Union Charging Knights! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" and "Go Fuck!".

A quick Google search reveals little about the legend, although it does reveal that Fairfield Union High School exists and that their mascot is the Falcons. The number one hit was a link to rather humorous t-shirts for sale with the alleged logo of the Fairfield Union Charging Knights on them.

A related story discovered via Google talks about the Furman University Christian Knights who changed their name to the Furman University Paladins.

This story sounds rather apocryphal, especially since there is another similar sounding story, and seemed like good content for Snopes. So, I thought I would submit it for your review. I would imagine a quick call to Fairfield Union High School would answer the question, but they might not be eager to talk about it. :)

I look forward to learning the truth behind these stories and am thinking of buying that t-shirt.

If you wanna buy the t-shirt you can find them here. The logo is funny. I especially like the little FU on the knight's shield.

Bright Sun, Warm Earth. Coincidence?

noreply@blogger.com (Guy) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 04:19:00 +0000

I'm not sure if this article is true or not. It proposes the the problem of global warming has nothing to do with CO2 emissions and everything to do with the sun getting brighter. It points out that other planets in the solar system are seeing the effects of global warming as well.

Personally, I'd like to see some more data around it before I believe it. The article makes lots of claims without backing them up and the tone indicates a bias against the idea of CO2 being the cause of global warming. This doesn't mean it isn't true, but I prefer to get my science from as unbiased of a source as I can.

Now, if it were true, what does that mean? Does it really help us at all? Personally, I'd rather it be SUVs and fossil fuels causing global warming over increased solar activity. While it might be really hard, we can do something about fossil fuel consumption. But the sun getting brighter. Ugh! Not much we little old humans can do about that.

The source where I found for this article was a mailing list for members of my church and a brief discussion about it cropped up. They were fairly evenly split between those wanting to believe that there wasn't a problem (i.e. the conservatives), those wondering about the validity of the article (i.e. the thinkers), and those who seemed opposed to the idea (i.e. the liberals). I think that this is a testament to the political diversity found at my church compared to other churches.

However, I feel compelled to bring up a point about God and the environment that I think is worth sharing with everyone. First, a biblical passage:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Genesis 1:26-30

God gave us the earth, to be it's steward. Just like he gives us all of our gifts big and small. Gifts like our intelligence, our wealth, and our influence. We use what we must of them to meet our needs and use the rest for God's purposes. The earth is no different. God entrusted us with the earth. We should take care of it and take only what we need. It's that simple.

If CO2 is a drop in the bucket for global warming compared to solar activity, then I say, forget the whole global warming thing. There's nothing we can do about it. But, fossil fuels still create pollutants that damage the earth. The earth that God has entrusted us with.

So, how do you plan to take care of God's earth?