Joust-astic


Man my brother (smart, funny and generally very nice guy) has been completely obsessed with Joust since the Xbox 360 launched. And I can see why!

First, check out these awesome sounds... PRICELESS. I've certainly found my new cellphone ring.

Second, I had always thought that the image section on the lower right was the enemy birds holding a carcass above the lava to lure the lava troll out. I realize now that that image is just the lava troll grasping the bird. But I can't shake that original image... it's so endearing. That an enemy AI would taunt your enemies into the open is just too funny. (thanks to AtariHQ for the image)

One additional thought, generally I don't think there are enough carcasses in video games. Why do they decide to get rid of the enemies you have dispatched in those styles of games? I think it'd be kind of pleasing to see the death and destruction you had rendered.

D

Killing the Messenger?

AGH!

Bush says leaking spy program a ‘shameful act’

What, seriously? Administration officials obviously have no idea how paranoid criminals are. So instead, we're going to get mad at the people who leaked it? You know what, I'd be happy to back this position if you can tell me what metrics we can use to say at some point in the future when we are NOT in "a time of war".

I actually was turning the corner on this... I thought Bush was, for the first time, really listening to critics and at least RESPONDING to them. I don't think the critics want instant agreement, just the recognition that they exist and are not complete looney toons. However, now the administration starts attacking the people who talked about this supposed secret. Give me a break. The fact that I, who am engaged in no criminal activity and pay little attention to what law enforcement does or does not do, knew about this program means that the criminals and terrorists knew about it intimately. I promise you.

D

Team Foundation Server Errors, part 2

Next error:

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Setup
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The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 26204.
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OK
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And here's the solution.

D

Continuing Log of Errors I Find

I believe BIG TIME in doing nothing more than recording how I solved problems when fooling around, both as a log for myself, as well as a log for search engines.

Here's my story:

I just did an install of SQL Server 2005 and ran into a weird problem. Actually, I first started doing an install of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Beta 3 (VSTF) and ran into a weirdo dialog box saying that the reporting server that couldn't be started. THANKFULLY, the dialog could be copied and restarted, and so I copied the text and tried to run it from the command line. So when I ran it, here's what I saw:

C:\>"d:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server\Tools\createds.exe" /setup /install "http://Localhost/ReportServer/ReportService.asmx" TfsReportDS "Data source=COMPUTERNAME;initial catalog=TFSWarehouse" "DOMAIN\SERVICEACCOUNT" "VERYLONGSTRING"
Unable to connect to the Yukon Reporting Server. Please check that the Yukon Reporting Web and NT services are running and you have sufficient privileges on the data tier: The request failed with HTTP status 404: Not Found.Data source creation failed.

Upon trying to open the Sql Configuration Manager and tried to connect to the Reporting Server, I got hit with this.

TITLE: Connect to Server
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Cannot connect to Localhost.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The attempt to connect to the report server failed. Check your connection information and that the report server is a compatible version. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.RSClient)

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The request failed with HTTP status 404: Not Found. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.RSClient)
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Turns out that I had previously done an install (SUS) and it turns out that it was installed on port 80. When SQL Server did the Reporting Server install, it did it in the default webserver which was also on port 80, and stopped. Changing the SUS port to 85 and starting up the default web server solved the problem.

No big insight here, just wanted to log it for the search engines.

D

The Infinite Data Store

I wish there was a source of infinite data. We're getting there, with all the search engines and such, but that's just the surface. The other day, I was reading a description of the utopias and McMansions which have blanketed the country. There was a great comment, about how the parking lots were big enough to fight the Battle of Gettysburg in. As someone who generally dislikes concrete and pavement, I naturally bemoaned this situation. But it's totally accurate. In my home, in SoCal, there are 15 lane wide freeways and parking lots that are EASILY twice the square footage (just horizontal, not even vertical!) as the shopping malls they support.

What I'd like data on is a correlation of the size of cars and the size of parking lots. I bet that if parking lots were to shrink their size alloted per space, people would be encouraged to buy smaller cars. Of course, they could then just go somewhere else, too. But if it's a constant pain to park, you'd be all over going smaller, wouldn't you?

D