Year: 2004

Doom 3 for $30

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Via Joystiq, I discovered that GoGamer is offering Doom 3 for $30 as part of a 48-Hour Madness Sale. That sounded like a good price, especially since most other stores are selling it for $60 or so. But, before ordering, I first checked ResllerRatings to see whether it was worth buying from them.

As it turns out, GoGamer has a 6-month rating of 7.50/10 along with a “Gold” Elite Customer Excellence Award. That was good enough for me, so I placed an order. And, shipping was only $5.99 for FedEx 2-Day (bringing the total to about $36). If you’re thinking about ordering one for yourself, just keep in mind that there are about 12 hours left in the sale (as I write this).

Ben & Jerry’s Blueberry Splenda Ice Cream

Ashley Bischoff11 Comments

I’m on vacation in South Africa celebrating my dad’s 60th birthday (returning on Saturday). I flew from Dallas to Atlanta and from there to Cape Town; and, as I walked from my incoming gate in Atlanta airport to my connecting gate, I passed by a Ben & Jerry’s. It was about 9am at the time, but I couldn’t resist a peek at their menu ;).

I looked around for any sugar free flavors as the last thing I really needed was full-sugar ice cream first thing in the morning. As I peered down the list of flavors, one of them had Splenda: blueberry. So, I ordered one scoop of blueberry and I ate it as I walked to my next gate.

I’ve had sugar-free ice cream before — though I’m not sure I’ve had Splenda-sweetened ice cream. And, while sugar-free ice cream is usually very close to the real thing, this was a disaster. It was as if it was all ice and no cream. As I plowed my plastic spoon into the ice cream, the ice cream merely broke off in chunks — like a rock face — rather than pulling apart like the creamy confection it should have been.

You might expect this sort of behavior from a fat-free ice cream, but that shouldn’t have been the case this time. I can only figure that it was over-frozen as even when I attempted to savor the ice cream, it merely disintegrated in my mouth like an ice cube rather than dissolving creamily. I’ve had Ben & Jerry’s ice cream before and it’s often very good (if over priced). So, it’s not that I’ve given up on Ben & Jerry’s, but I don't think I’ll have their sugar free varieties again any time soon.

Sandwiches at Plaza Health Foods

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I was walking around Snider Plaza last weekend and I was getting a bit peckish since it was nearing 3:00 at the time. At that moment, I passed by Plaza Health Foods. Normally, I'd keep on walking, but the lettering on the awning caught my eye: “Health Food * Vitamins * Sandwiches”. Curious as to what kind of sandwiches a health food store might have, I stepped in.

To little surprise, most of the store was shelves and shelves of vitamins and other elixirs. But, towards the back was a lunch counter. And as I walked closer, I saw a chalkboard listing the sandwiches available. Among them, there was turkey & swiss, ham & cheese and tuna. And, as I was reading it, the store owner walked up and asked if he could help me. I mentioned that I was just looking over the sandwiches and he offered that an additional sandwich not listed was their chicken salad sandwich.

I hadn’t eaten a chicken salad sandwich in quite a while and that did seem tempting. But, there was also a something-and-avocado sandwich on the board (“turkey and avocado”, I think) that taunted me. I just can’t resist avocado and I was drawn to it; but, the chicken salad still beckoned. Taking a chance, I asked the owner if I could get a chicken salad sandwich with avocado. He readily agreed and relayed my order to a girl behind the counter.

A few minutes later, my sandwich was ready: wheat bread along with chicken salad, avocado, lettuce and tomato. It wasn’t overstuffed or Dagwooderized, but just a respectable size. As I took a bite, I was surprised by how good thes sandwich was — the ripe avocado blended perfectly with the creamy chicken salad. But, the best part was the bread. It wasn’t that thick, maybe a quarter inch, but it was virtually unprocessed wheat. There were so many granules and knobbly bits that it was like eating wheat gravel.

I’ve had some good sandwiches in Dallas, but that was one of the best. It wasn't terribly fancy, but all of the ingredients came together so well. And, the bread was astounding in its own right — had I loaf of it at home, I could imagine just taking out a slice from the bag and nibbling on it plain. I wasn’t expecting much from a sandwich in a health food store — just some nourishment to keep me going — but this sandwich just about made my day.

A New Use for PowerPoint

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

I ran across a novel new use for PowerPoint today. I don’t want to say too much about it so as not to ruin it. And try not to look to far ahead along the outline on the left side of the screen. All the same, part of me wonders if it’s fake; then again, I think I’d still find it amusing even if that was the case.

Because it’s a web-based adaptation of a PowerPoint presentation, it does tend to look better in IE (as that browser also displays a proprietary next/previous bar across the bottom for PowerPoint documents). And if you normally use Firefox (as I do), you may find the Launchy extension useful — it adds an entry in the context menu for links to view them in a variety of applications (including IE).

(Due credit: MetaFilter)

Update 2005-08-13: URI fixed — thanks MetaFilter!

An Open Letter on the 2004 Presidential Elections

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

Preface: I’ve sent this letter to my parents and a few close friends. If you didn’t receive one, I probably thought you already believed as I do about this issue (this will make sense once you’ve read it). After changing the salutation, I now present this as an open letter to Hand Coding readers.

Dear Readers,

As you know, the presidential elections are coming up on November 2nd. And, the two leading candidates are John Kerry and George Bush. But, this letter isn’t about John Kerry.

In the aftermath of September 11th, George Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law (which stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”). Among other provisions, the USA PATRIOT Act:

  • Allows the FBI to obtain search warrants which would permit phone and Internet surveillance on every office and residence that an individual has visited over an entire year — without ever having to identify the suspect in question. This “roving” surveillance allows investigators to monitor those media whether or not other people who are not suspects also regularly use it. [Section 206]

  • Reclassified voice mail to be governed under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Before this step, if the FBI listened to your voice mail illegally, it couldn’t use the messages as evidence against you. But the ECPA has no such rule; so even if the FBI gains access to your voice mail in violation of the statute, it can freely use it as evidence against you. [Section 209]

  • Allows your phone company or Internet provider to hand over your messages (such as e-mail and voice mails) to any law enforcement agent without your knowledge or consent, so long as they reasonably believed that the immediate danger of death or serious physical injury required it to do so. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 later amended those requirements from “reasonable belief” to “good faith belief” and dropped the requirement that the threat to life or limb be immediate. [Section 212]

  • Authorizes the use of “sneak and peek” search warrants in connection with any federal crime, including misdemeanors. A “sneak and peek” warrant authorizes law enforcement officers to enter private premises without the occupant’s permission or knowledge and without informing the occupant that such a search was conducted. [Section 213]

  • Allows the FBI to request your personal information from businesses — including financial records, medical records, student records, even your library records — without ever having to prove that they have probable cause to suspect you of a crime, or even that your records are relevant to an investigation. Furthermore, these demands for records come with a “gag order” which prohibits the business from telling anyone, ever, that they received such an order. [Section 215]

While this wouldn’t be the first time that federal government passed dubious legislation, I took specific exception to the USA PATRIOT Act. Though I supported the Bush administration up until this point, I found that I could no longer stand behind a president that championed the removal of so many of our freedoms.

I’m not necessarily asking you to vote for John Kerry. But, I am urging you to not to vote for George Bush. Personally, I’ll be voting for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate. I can imagine what you may be thinking — if John Kerry is elected, might he raise our taxes or otherwise increase the size of government? Yeah, that is possible. But would you rather have higher taxes or fewer freedoms?

All the best,

[signed] Alex

To put this letter in context, both of my parents are registered Republicans (as Pennsylvania law requires registering with a political party in order to vote in primaries). They’re both conservative and have voted for Republicans for as long as I’ve known them.

I agree with some things that the Republican party stands for (lower taxes, for instance). But, this time around, I felt that I had to make an effort to change their minds — this election was just too important. And, if you would like to write a similar letter to your friends or relatives, I’m also granting permission for use of this letter as a starting point.