Kinda Lame

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Lil Wayne is a Cheesehead?

Despite claiming that he’d one day carry New Orleans on his back the Martian Lil’ Wayne has recorded a very interesting freestyle ahead of Super Bowl XLV for Green Bay Packers fans, such as himself, to enjoy. Posted first on his blog WeezyThanxYou.com it has started making the rounds to other sites like Rap-Up.com (where I found it linked to from Twitter). A good friend said the song was decent, I think the lyrics are lame (“I’m a cheese head, ya’ll *****s cheese whiz”). Listen or download the song below and judge for yourself;

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Download Link – Lil Wayne Freestyle – Green and Yellow

In other Exciting News… Monkeys Facepalm

Mandrill monkeys (they look like baboons, more info at link) have begun using the international sign of disgust to avoid social interactions. The Evolutionary Biologist studying the behavior has called it a monkey “Do not disturb” sign, holding the gesture for periods to avoid other monkeys (not a bad idea).

But why are they doing it? It’s unlikely that they’ve found something stupid on the Internet. Nor are the mandrills trying to block out light. They’ll make the same gesture in the shade or under overcast skies and only a third of the facepalms happened in direct sunlight. They’re not trying to wipe anything away, for the facepalms can last for as long as 17 minutes.
Via Discover Magazine – Monkey see, monkey facepalm

Teenager Creates Solar Death Ray, Threatens Governments Worldwide

Harnessing the power of over 5,000 suns (not yet 9,000) a 19 year old has created a death ray in the spirit of solar cooking devices built by survivalists and environmentalists. Though not exactly as effective as you’d want it to be the project is pretty cool and the only thing lame about it is that he actually spent the time to make it. Check out the YouTube video below, welcome your new laser wielding overlords!

Errata…

In other lame news, Earth is not “in another Solar System”. Thanks Gizmodo! Seems that when they aren’t stealing phones they have some (obvious) reporting value.

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I was recently talking to a friend who has not been able to log as many hours of WoW playtime since the Cataclysm caused by our beloved Deathwing; and his question was what to do about gearing up his toon to run Cataclysm heroics. He feels as if he’s a week behind other guild players because of the holiday so I gave him this little tidbit via Skype;

Greens < Quests < Dungeons < Heroics/Rep Rewards/Justice Points < Epic Rep < Raid Level

Now, for many this seems obvious due to the item levels of the gear at hand, but sometimes we forget a piece or two of this equation. Obviously if you were like me and immediately rushed to Blackrock Caverns at 3:02 AM when the expansion went live on the servers you picked up a few uncommon-level (green) items that put an ICC piece you’ve been wearing for months to shame. If you did a few quests on a neglected alt you also noticed those rewards were a bit amazing compared to the weak epic items (purple) you were wearing.

But as not everything in the game is mentioned - actually in the game – it may just be worth mentioning the general rundown if you are looking to build a heroic or early raid set. This isn’t class specific or trying to build a BiS (best in slot) set, just a guide to Cataclysm gearing, and doing it efficiently.

• Starting out – If you are hoping into Cataclysm for the first time you really have two options. You can quest or you can instantly just hop into the Looking For Group’s random dungeon queue (though now note that you need to discover the dungeon entrance before you can queue for that dungeon – this includes random dungeons, have only one discovered, and you’ll only land in that same one). There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and depending on the type of player you are you might level faster with one over the other or prefer one over the other. I’d say that doing the starting quests for the new zones is essential for two reasons; you will then unlock the portal to said zone and upon reaching friendly you can pick up reputation tabards for later, as well as getting a head start on building rep with the Cataclysm factions. For gearing up however, unless you really have nothing good left over from Wrath, you can easily just hop in dungeons and get instant upgrades from drops. However, keep in mind that you still need to win a few rolls.
  • Greens – Green, uncommon, OMG items. They will destroy a few of your WoTLK items simply because one stat is two to three times as much as what you currently have. Don’t feel bad about swapping out an epic piece for a new shiny green, it happens to the best. You can keep your ICC gear for a while, even until level 81 or 82 depending on the stuff you are wearing, but a lot of regular greens are impressive or weighted in the right areas to not switch. As a Resto Shaman though I had to be very careful. I was suddenly stacking stats I didn’t need and dropping so much needed haste that I had to go back to my ICC stuff as the dungeons became more challenging.
  • Quests Greens – Sometimes a bit better quality than the greens you’ll get from random drops and dungeon trash, and if you really have poor WoTLK-type gear then maybe this is a good route to take simply to get you in the door to Cataclysm dungeons (recommended, not required). Not every quest will give you a decent reward, but if you have two specs you can possibly build both gear sets up in a series of quests. Again, you’ll want to be building up rep with each of the new factions, and it’s worth researching which to go for first for the provided head enchants and higher level gear that each new faction has for sale.
  • Quest Blues – Though it will take more time to get to, you can snag some major (iLvL 325 mostly) upgrades by completing the quest chains in the new Cataclysm zones for blue/rare armor and weapons. This time invested vs. gear gained however is beaten, in my opinion, by simply grinding a dungeon a few times for the upgrades you could be getting from bosses. Then again, I couldn’t replace my Resto Shaman’s ICC boots (Earthsoul Boots) until researching a quest chain in Uldum that is based off a random dropped item that starts the chain. I literally ran each new instance more than a few times, and saw not one set of healing boots drop, at all. Wowhead.com is your best source for this type of research, using their character profiler, right clicking an item and selecting Find Upgrades.
• Next Steps;
  • Regular Dungeons – Yay, you feel confident enough to start running the new dungeons in Cataclysm! If you didn’t just blindly jump in you likely have a bunch of green/uncommon gear from leveling, running around exploring new stuff or grinding out materials for your newly upgraded professions. While in your first dungeon you’ll likely get at least a green drop that will make your old gear look stupid – if you are lucky you’ll grab a nice blue/rare item. The item levels will vary depending on the dungeon (level) and the boss – you’ll be able to pick up iLvL 308 to iLvL 333 gear, the latter level being able to get you into and destroying heroics if you can outfit your toon in 333 gear totally. Be aware, to step into the random heroic queue you’ll need an average item level of 329 (check the General section of your Character Sheet). I can attest, it isn’t easy getting to an average iLvL 329 by sporting 333-gear alone. You will almost need to get some gear from the below sources in order to get over having an iLvL 308 or 316 gear you just can’t find a replacement for.
• Getting somewhere (how to love level 85…);
  • Justice Points - If you were stacking Justice Points since the end of Wrath, when it made no sense to spend them, you likely have a few to spend on some decent gear. I can’t profess to know (or care) about each class in the game, but I can say that generally what I’ve seen in level 85 Justice Points reward gear has been somewhat disappointing. I can only suggest knowing what your new play style is, what stats are most important to your class/spec and taking an overall look at your gear and stats to find what you might currently need the most. I was, for example, pretty well stacked in the haste I needed to heal, almost perfectly balanced, and couldn’t justify a few of the upgrades they offered as the stat switch would have killed groups. Eventually though I was able to decide on a piece that could be reforged away from Mastery and was made to make up for the haste loss from upgrading from an iLvL 308 piece I had to drop.
    I’ve heard that Resto Druids are having a hard time finding Justice Point gear too, though I can’t confirm this. Paladins seem to actually have a set for each spec, where Shamans have just two (combining the Elemental and Restoration gear sets). I just think that reforging these items to personally fit you is 101% intended by Blizzard, though I could be wrong (I tend to argue that reforging is central to the game now for top-end players  - a lot of gear seems imperfect as it normally drops).
  • Reputation Rewards – Ignoring, for now, the upgrades you can get when reaching Exalted with the new factions, this is a great source of upgrades at even the Honored and Revered levels. Honored with each faction will unlock iLvL 333 rewards, and Revered with each faction will unlock iLvL 346 rewards. Be sure to check the quartermasters or Wowhead to see which faction you’ll want to level first, or which to balance to get different upgrades for different slots (or for your secondary talent specialization).
  • Heroics – This will be the same iLvL (346) as the gear you can get from revered reputation rewards, but you are going to have more options at your disposal once you can queue for or run some heroic dungeons (no iLvL required if you walk in with your own group – get your guildies to get you in the door!). Simply, bosses drop a much larger variety of stuff and there are more of them to kill than there are reputation vendors (while some rep rewards seem to overlap too between vendors).
    It seems the best method, oddly broken down in the middle of this post, is to;
    • Queue dungeons for 308-316 gear
    • Queue for level 85 dungeons for 333 gear (while wearing a reputation tabard!)
    • Grind/gain rep for revered level 346 gear (quest or instance grind – questing after revered seems to be the fastest)
    • Random heroics for remaining 346 gear (boss drops)
    • Finishing rep grind to then gain Exalted reputations for purple/epic gear
• Epic Reputation Rewards – Again, you’ll want to research which faction gives you the best Epic (iLvL 359) reputation rewards at exalted – but some of this gear is simply the best you’ll equip until you can step into raids and pick up loot from raid bosses.
• Raid Level Items – Go raid, stop reading this

Now, that surely was a rambling worth a tl;dr tag! And we’ll skip over the fact that this isn’t really a complete guide to anything. The major missing portion is crafted items, and there are certainly some best in slot pieces out there coming from trade professions. It just seemed outside the scope of this write-up for “noobs”, and depending on your server you may find it almost impossible to get decent upgrades from crafted gear – no one may have the recipes needed or be willing to part with the materials needed for a reasonable price. You could go ahead and farm the mats for a crafted upgrade yourself, but take a close look at the time needed versus what you’ll be getting. You can pick up iLvL 339 crafted-epics (blues), but will it be worth the time spent away from dungeons (while most seem to be PVP based anyways)? Maybe using the Wowhead character profiler and the upgrade lists it gives you shows this is the best route – you’ll have to do your own research to be sure (if there isn’t an Elitist Jerks thread already pointing you to the crafted pieces you’d want…). I’ve also kind of skipped over what I call auction house drops, or the rare BoE items, because it’s going to vary and not easily counted on. One item, from Blackrock Caverns I’ve seen at least 10 times, while others just once or in-game not at all. I just hope the guild above helps your priorities if you feel like you are falling behind since the release of Cataclysm, maybe this will help a few players focus on gearing up for some end-game fun.

Here is a summary of links that might be useful that were mixed in above – for quick reference;

• Wowhead Character Profiler (Find an upgrade, view your items, enchants, gems)
• Bind on Account Head Enchants – From Reputation Vendors at Revered
• Purchased Reputation Rewards – From Honored to Exalted Reputation Levels
  • Purchased Reputation Rewards – Exalted Reputation Epic Items Only
• Cataclysm Reputation Quartermaster Listing – Click the name of each Quartermaster to then find their location, what they sell and discussion from users on other things about the faction (where to start? best quests? reward discussion?).

And one additional link, not included in the article anywhere else; Item Level entry at Wowpedia – Cataclysm. That will take you to the table showing the various item levels of items that come after Wrath of the Lich King – it’s a great way to get the above information without actually reading much

Feel free to point out changes that need to be made to the above (rambling) post, or flame me for ignorance in the comment section below.

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Yeah, it’s that time again. Time to stuff your face and be happy you are an American (even if the USA is heading toward Third-World status). Typically I just post random stuff here, but why not have a little holiday fun and point you towards two articles I found enjoyable – and great examples of what Thanksgiving can really be like – both from The Awl.

First up we have a list of ten things you shouldn’t say or discuss at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner from Dave Bry (article titled, My Sister’s Apple Cake – which is a misnomer as his sister’s apple cake is a Better Homes & Gardens apple cake, he admits).

Besides mentioning to not bring up the dreaded job search, Dave suggests avoiding even the topic of popular music – which given his example, I definitely agree with the sentiment. Music is always a tricky topic to broach with people who have varied interests or gasp, don’t know shit about music (or Prince);

Read more »

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This story caught my eye because they put torrent in quotes, like torrent sites don’t exist;

For those of you too busy downloading the entire Beatles catalogue to check out entertainment news, the second-to-last “Harry Potter” movie debuts Friday.

The first 36 minutes of the film are already online, circulating on a number of “torrent” sites, which help users download sometimes- pirated media files. The leaked chunk of the movie is raising some interesting questions. Among them: Will the film actually do better because a portion of it has been leaked online?

One blogger goes further, asking if Warner Bros. Entertainment, which made the film and shares a parent company with CNN, leaked the clip on purpose

“Warner Bros. Pictures is usually none too fond of leaks, especially if a film gets out before it premieres in theater,” writes Ernesto, editor-in-chief of the site TorrentFreak.com

The TorrentFreak editor doesn’t realize, I guess, the extreme amount of correlation between a movie being distributed by Warner Bros. and the likelihood it will show up on torrent sites before being released. Now I didn’t say causation – I’m not going to just say that Warner does this – but it seems odd. Then it seems odd that the news organization who is also part of their parent company would be running this as one of their top stories.

I’m just going to suggest that they may not have leaked the beginning of the movie – but they want you to go out and find it, watch it and want more. Because this is the perfect trick to pull on Potter fans. They won’t be happy with watching even half of it – and if the fans are not sure if they want to get out to see the movie some leaked footage is a great way to have them salivating for more. If it’s good enough – and God damn do people love their Harry Potter.

If I had a dollar for every Warner Bros. screener I’ve seen offered online I’d be a rich man. I think this is more of the same, guerilla, viral marketing. Otherwise they wouldn’t be pushing a news story on it – they might have kept quiet.

Quote and story via CNN News (who is in the umbrella of companies that Warner Bros. is also a part of..) @ http://m.cnn.com/primary/_nzxmS3-in6b0iFBoA

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Out of total coincidence I have something to go with out last story!

A Tory councillor has been arrested over claims he suggested on Twitter that Yasmin Alibai-Brown, a female newspaper columnist, should be stoned to death.

From The Telegraph – who offers a screenshot of his tweet, begging for someone to stone the journalist before it was deleted:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/8127081/Tory-councillor-Gareth-Compton-arrested-over-Twitter-stoning-tweet-about-Yasmin-Alibai-Brown.html

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Busted on the social networking site Facebook, a Palestinian man from the West Bank is facing the death penalty because he denounced Islam and told his followers to smoke up;

If that wasn’t enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Quran. At its peak, Husayin’s Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.

Via that liberal monster MSNBC;

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40143564

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“dankando: Back to school sale for stay-at-home parents http://twitpic.com/33qynn

–http://twitter.com/dankando/status/29646257823

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I like to read some things from my phone and some things from my PC (which is connected to a HDTV, running 720p – easy on text, though still too far to read from my recliner). For the things I’d like to read from my phone I simply visit Google Voice, use their SMS features, and send myself a text message of the cut-and-pasted URL I’d like to visit later. Works like a charm.

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A realization;

The more barbaric the world seems, the more likely it is you have to resort to violence to prove yourself

In other words; when people are idiots you have to act like an idiot to communicate with them.

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The Ubuntu Linux distribution simply does not want you to create a password for the user ROOT and descend upon the system with a flurry of commands. Read any Ubuntu Forums or Ubuntu-related blog posting and you’ll see a series of help or HOWTO steps that require you to prefix each with the command “sudo“. Which, provided you are a part of the admin group, sudo will allow you tp perform any ROOT or super user task as if you were one.

It is good advice not to break the default security system of Ubuntu by creating a root account that can be directly logged into. Selected users instead elevate themselves as ROOT during specific tasks through the sudo, gksudo and kdesu command containers. However this raises two issues;

• If operators are operating as ROOT, as part of the Ubuntu admin group, they must have secure passwords consisting of a variety of character types, and be lengthy (numbers, letters of mixed case and symbols). It is important to otherwise give access as needed to these users when it comes to various network services. Disable SSH logins if the user does not need it for example, and definitely do not allow them to access the system via FTP which will send their user password in the clear. If these accounts are able to be easily accessed they can do as much damage as if they were the ROOT user – the systems depends on each of the admin group’s users own security practices.
• Meanwhile there arises times where directly operating as ROOT at the command prompt will be desired as many commands are involved in the solution, hack or upgrade the system administrator would like to commit. and using the command example below you can temporary become the ROOT user and do just what Ubuntu wanted to avoid removing the su command – run a flurry of commands as ROOT.

First reach a terminal prompt, in the example below we are going to use Gnome Terminal. Once you’ve opened the terminal up to the command prompt issue the command:

sudo -i

Execute the command "sudo -i" as an admin group user at the Ubuntu command prompt to elevate your terminal session to become the ROOT user.

Then provide your user password;

Provide Your User Password to sudo For Elevated admin Group Access

Next you’ll see your console prompt change in two ways (provided you have not changed from the BASH shell). You will first notice that the user prefix now reads “root” and next you may notice that the last character of the prompt has changed from a dollar sign, $, to the number or pound sign, #. See the example below compared to the first screenshot where we showed the user john issuing the sudo -i command.

Command Prompt Showing User Has Root Access, Logged In As Root - Notice the user prefix reads "root" and the last character of the prompt is now a "#" (number sign) as opposed to a "$" (dollar sign).

+
There is now a security risk in t hat, I assume, you could lean on the keyboard or the cats can walk on it and accidentally “rm -rf /“ your entire installation. As a secondary way to show that you are in fact the super user the Gnome Terminal window title will then change to read as who you are logged in as – root;

The Gnome Terminal Shows User Logged in as ROOT on the Titlebar (root@ubuntu)

Hope this helps you tackle such fun projects as downloading, compiling and installing a custom Linux kernel for your Ubuntu system.