[RANT MODE ON] The future of rally sims on the PC looks rather bleak to me… November 25, 2012
Posted by oktyabr in games, opinions, personal, software.Tags: dirt, dirt 3, games, PC, project CARS, racing, rally, rally world, rfactor, Rfactor 2, richard burns rally, rsrbr, simulation, WRC, xpand rally xtreme, xrx
1 comment so far
I am a “sim racer”. For those that don’t know that means that my love for all kinds of cars, racing, and anything else that goes fast has been extended to my computer as well. I not only play racing “games”, I play racing SIMULATIONS! Specifically I am quite fond of “rally racing”, both as a spectator sport and as a racing type that I like to play on the computer…
The sweet, sweet evil that is Facebook… November 24, 2012
Posted by oktyabr in it's debatable!, opinions, personal, social networking, web, web 2.0.Tags: blogging, internet, technology
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Facebook! How I love thee… How I HATE thee!
It seems as if Facebook has put a real dent in the more traditional examples of self-publishing, including this very blog. Is this a good thing? Well… it means that maybe you have an easier time finding like-minded people to have topical discussions with. Want to know the right way to milk a yak? Yup, there is a facebook group or page for it. And yet all is not sunny in the land of Facebook! It has many small problems that I am personally perplexed as to why they exist!
Ye old “GIMP vs. Photoshop” revisited March 29, 2011
Posted by oktyabr in consumer, GIMP, graphics, it's debatable!, open source, opinions, personal, software.20 comments
My original post GIMP vs. Photoshop is still one of the posts that I get the most comments on, even though I wrote it over a year ago! Not all of the comments get published though 😉 
This one did because after the name calling was done the writer actually had a point, sort of, so I thought maybe I’d revisit the topic… What follows is the comment and my reply:
Photo: BP oil leak July 5, 2010
Posted by oktyabr in consumer, energy, environment, green, opinions, personal, technology.2 comments
As a bit of a self-proclaimed “tree hugger” I know we can get kind of preachy about global warming, climate change, dependence on fossil fuels, pollution, etc. I’ve tried hard to resist the temptation to post a news update every other day concerning such topics because I think there is already enough of it out there. But recently a friend posted an AP photo that struck me so profoundly I just had to share it here too…
Listen to this! Calexico! July 3, 2010
Posted by oktyabr in listen to this, opinions, personal.add a comment
Calexico, Calexico, Calexico!!!!
I’m going to say this right off the bat: Anyone who writes a single paragraph review of any Calexico album didn’t listen to it. It’s that simple. Because their music is not.
I’m playing nearly all of their discography today and the more I listen to them the more I admire and respect them! Based in the sun parched realm of Tuscon, Arizona, Calexico defies easy categorization. Sure, there is a definite “tex mex” flavor to a lot of their music, maybe some blues and more than one tip of the hat to old school country (NOT the commercialized glitter pop stuff they play today), but there is also some serious jazz going on here, on more than one track from more than one CD, and maybe more than a smattering of experimental rock. And what’s that? Synth?!? Dub? Samples???? No matter what you pick out from these guy’s sound it’s almost always interesting, fun, more often than not cinematic, and uniquely Calexico.
Check them out on Pandora if nothing else!
Ideas for New Games July 2, 2010
Posted by oktyabr in games, opinions, software, technology.add a comment
I posted this on a forum for a major game company in a thread where members were invited to share their ideas about “Ideas for New Games”. I put a lot of time and thought into my post and thought it might be worthwhile to save it here as well. The original thread can be found by clicking >here<.
I’ve been an FPS (First Person Shooter) player since the original DOOM, have played these games extensively and watched them evolve and progress over the last (nearly) two decades. Before that I was a paper-and-pencil wargamer and RPG’er (Role Playing Games) and perhaps even a “rules junky”… collecting obscure games and rule books just to study the mechanics and the different ways of making a good game.
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My new dream car: Toyota Hilux Double Cab 3.0 D4-D January 6, 2010
Posted by oktyabr in consumer, movies, opinions, other cool stuff, personal, technology, television, vehicles, video.13 comments
I sat down to watch a little TV and spotted an episode of Top Gear, one of my favorite shows, had been recorded on my DVR. It was an episode I had never seen before so I would have watched it anyway but this particular episode was absolutely EPIC!
GIMP vs. Photoshop! January 5, 2010
Posted by oktyabr in consumer, GIMP, graphics, open source, opinions, personal, software.64 comments
- The GIMP vs. Photoshop!
On any other forum those words would be considered trolling to start a flame war and the about.com post titled “GIMP: Like it or Lump it?” had some pretty strong opinions in the comments section and mine, which follows below, was one of them 😉 Some of the following might seem a bit out of context as I was referring to what others had said before me but I think you will get the gist of it:
Re: What makes a good MMORPG December 27, 2009
Posted by oktyabr in games, opinions, personal.Tags: game theory, games, MMORPG
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I originally posted the following on a forum thread with the above title. People that know me know that I’ve been working on a similar project literally for years, even before powerful computers were commonplace (yeah, I’m that old).
What I am more concerned about is doing what hasn’t been done before or at the very least striving to progress in that direction. Some things that are overlooked in *most* of today’s MMORPGs:
The Uninformed Skeptic: Eat Right For Your Type January 28, 2009
Posted by oktyabr in consumer, health, it's debatable!, opinions, personal, skeptic.Tags: blood type, D' Adamo, diet, food
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It was one of those occasions when a relatively large group of my extended family gathered together in a public establishment for an extended period of time, in this case, a fairly popular restaurant. The menu was extensive and offered many appetizing choices and I mulled my decision for quite awhile with a growing amount of impatience and suggestions from parent and sibling alike. One suggestion suddenly stuck out from the rest: “You shouldn’t eat that… you have the same blood type as me.” That’s how the argument started…
Music piracy a growing problem? January 19, 2009
Posted by oktyabr in music business, music technology, opinions, personal, technology.Tags: digital, internet, music business, piracy, technology
4 comments
I wrote this as an answer to a thread (on a sim racing forum of all places!) concerning a story from the BBC about how music piracy was still an ever growing problem. I spent too much time thinking about and writing my response to have it buried in a forum so thought I would put it here too. As always YOUR comments and opinions are welcome!
My D-Link wireless card, Madwifi and the state of linux distros for the desktop January 10, 2009
Posted by oktyabr in debian, distro reviews, hardware, open source, opinions, personal, ubuntu.add a comment
Here is one of those posts I write more for my personal reference in the future but I´m happy if someone else gets some use from the information too.
Today I´m posting from my new Ubuntu Studio 8.10 install. This is after trying several new releases of other distros first and even though Ubuntu Studio is still missing a decent realtime kernel it still somehow ended up on my harddrive! Here is the main reason why…
Back to Black vinyl! 60th Anniversary of the vinyl long play album December 28, 2008
Posted by oktyabr in audiophile, listen to this, musik links, opinions, other cool stuff, personal.14 comments
Think vinyl is dead? But it’s not! Far from it in fact. And as evidence take a look at Universal Music Group’s “Back to Black Vinyl” campaign celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the LP (“long play”) album! I know, I know, I’m sure at least one reader must think this born of quaint nostalgia known to frequent the “boomer” generation but think about it… when is the last time you saw a new release on cassette, reel to reel or 8 track?
By contrast vinyl has never gone away completely and fairly recent marketing schemes seem to indicate it might be making a bigger come back than you may think…
HDtracks – itunes for the audiophile? December 28, 2008
Posted by oktyabr in audiophile, listen to this, musik links, opinions, other cool stuff, personal.add a comment
HDTracks is a relatively new service that offers *extremely* high quality music for downloads. Their library is still relatively small but their prices are quite reasonable and the significant difference between their high bit rate offerings and 128kbs mp3s offered by their more well known competitors is literally astounding when played over similarly high quality speakers and equipment!
Codemaster’s GRID: Why I am recommending a game I didn’t like June 7, 2008
Posted by oktyabr in games, opinions, personal, software.3 comments
I noticed on Steam that a new racing game had been released from Codemaster’s simply called GRID and after watching a few videos and reading a healthy amount of reviews I decided I couldn’t loose by at least trying the free demo. I’m not going to go into a full review here (google for “Codemasters GRID” for plenty of those) but I AM going to tell you why I might recommend this game… even though I didn’t like it! 😯
