Recently, I’ve uploaded some updates to the NPSOT chapter web sites I take care of:
Lisa and I updated the Austin chapter site to make the site more attractive.
Same for the Williamson County site.
Lisa created a Zilker Demonstration Garden page for the Austin chapter.
We added the spreadsheet version we created of Bill Carr’s annotated checklist of Travis County flora to the Travis County Flora project.
I played and completed Tron 2.0 last week. Pretty cool game, especially playing it on a 61" wide screen display with 7.1 surround sound! 🙂
Monolith and Touchdown did a really good job on the Tron glow effect. I also liked the Tron fiction, look, and especially the disc weapon. My favorite levels were the city and the Alliance level, in addition to the early levels that had a more Tron movie like feel.
The story seemed to get weaker toward the end of the game. For example, I didn’t like how the virus storyline ended early (I actually liked the virus storyline better than the overall fCon storyline). I liked the alliance with the ICPs and was disappointed that it ended so quickly.
Overall, I give Tron 2.0 a positive review and recommend it for some enjoyable single player gaming.
Do you support protecting nature and the environment? Most of us will answer yes. Many of us even give money to environmental causes, and many perform volunteer work at local parks and preserves.
But do the things in our everyday life reflect our environmentalism? For example, landscaping with non-native plants and non-native lawns wastes large amounts of ever more precious water, and increases dangerous pesticide and herbicide use which kills beneficial insects and pollutes our water sources. Lawns usually involve mowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers, which emit air and noise pollution. Non-native plants do not reflect our home area, and are not the plants butterflies and hummingbirds are searching for.
Native plant landscaping is much more environmental than traditional exotic landscaping. Native plants and native lawn grasses in general require little to no supplemental watering, and are resistant to diseases and insects and thus reduce use of and pollution from pesticides and herbicides. Native plants also increase our sense of place, making our home area unique and different from those in different parts of the country.
Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are looking for the native plants. By creating a backyard wildlife habitat, we can have a beautiful garden and attract the critters that we enjoy watching. We can even reduce or eliminate your lawn, reducing yard work while reducing pollution and increasing the number of attractive plants and critters around our homes.
Not only is native plant and wildlife landscaping attractive and enjoyable, but it is also a moral imperative in today’s world of increased environmental damage and habitat destruction.
For more information, see the following:
Scott, Coby, Lisa, and I took a trip through back roads and along railroad tracks in eastern Travis and western Bastrop Counties. Notable plants we saw include Baptisia (blooming), large wild hyacinth colonies, sandyland bluebonnet, coral-berry, split-beard bluestem (maybe in Travis Co. which isn’t in TEX-LL, waiting for bloom), puccoon (blooming), calyophus berlandieri (large colonies), viburnum (blooming), Drummond’s phlox (blooming), and toothache tree.
Richard Garriott hosted a final farewell party to Origin at his new place on Lake Austin last night. Many past and present Origin faces attended to say a final goodbye to the creator of worlds we all loved. A bonfire provided emotional release as we burnt many relics of Origin’ s past.
Fortunately, Ultima itself will live on with the dev teams and projects moving to California.
I took many photos, though some are blurry due to the nighttime darkness and a shaky hand on long exposures. You can find the photos here.
We created worlds. Goodbye, Origin.
Lisa won 1st place in 3D Art in the Hero Arts 2004 Love and Hearts contest! See more pictures in the Valentines section of her Creations page.
As usual, she is very excited about the free Hero Arts stamps coming her way!
Origin moving and people leaving has brought up some old memories that I thought others might enjoy.
I was working on player ships and player housing at one point during Ultima Online’s original development. I recall that the extent of the designs I received at the time were the words “player ships” and “player housing” from the schedule, so I had a lot of freedom in the design.
Before I had started implementing the player housing system, the feature was cut in a scheduling decision by the team management. I *knew* that player housing could be one of the killer features of UO, so I worked extra late and weekends to try and save it.
Watched the news lately? I tried but could not stand to watch for long. All of the big network, affiliate, and news channel programs seemed so overly dramatic, unbalanced, and/or shallow, or they pander to the emotions of their perceived audience rather than giving an in-depth balanced examination of the issues. Many blantantly give the viewer a conclusion rather than the information to make their own decision.
However, there is at least one exception: the News Hour on PBS. Jim Lehrer and team give a overall, balanced look at issues and stories, providing the viewer with the information to make their own opinions. I highly recommend the News Hour to those looking for a better news program.
I’ve received many questions from friends asking what I’m doing next after Origin moves to the EA Redwood City campus. I’m planning on working remotely for EA from home, which I hope works out for both parties. I’m looking forward to having more time to code when compared to the recent past.
Lisa went with the plant gang to McKinney Falls State Park today. I wanted to go but I could not sleep last night and was ill this morning. 🙁
They saw over a hundred turtles, a downy woodpecker, some terns, ruby-crowned kinglet, some warblers, a blue wing teal, a greater yellowlegs, mallards, chickadees, titmice, kingfishers, Bewick’s wren, cardinals, mockingbirds, and a red-tailed hawk.
Plants blooming included Mexican buckeye, Mexican plum, creek plum, red buckeye, redbud, agarita, golden groundsel, anenome, and greenthread. Other plants include spiderwart, rain lily, a huge bald cyprus (second largest in Travis County).
Afterward we all met for dinner, and I wrote this entry from the restaurant on the Treo 600 using Vagablog.
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