I was browsing my web server when I came across these truly ancient images I created probably 10 years ago.

Winkin' Steve - This was probably supposed to be an avatar of some kind

Lego Skadar - Probably another avatar

FMTA Banners - My first real website was "From Mercury to Apollo"

Recently I was on a board gaming forum and noticed that a Java developer had taken a new board game and created a Java version of it in about 1 week. This impressed me. It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly fully playable with full graphics and some kind of artificial intelligence.

I was instantly inspired to copy his effort using Adobe Flex as a learning exercise. But then it began to dawn on me that I have no idea how to incorporate artificial intelligence into a game. Ugh... a prerequisite was born. So I decided to start looking into AI.

I am just in the very early stages, but here's a small demo that I came up with in just a few hours. The logic is 100% javascript and there's no true AI (at least I don't think it can be called AI). The computer uses a brute force method of determining where to move. Is that AI or not?

Ooine's Fabulous JavaScript Tic-Tac-Toe

Considering that there are only 9 possible moves in Tic Tac Toe, brute force is an acceptable method to use. However, in your typical Euro board game, the potential actions are much more varied, and often boil down to a sort of "floating probability". I don't know if that's a real term, but I'm using it to mean that the probability of a particular action will vary depending upon the future thread of actions that other players take.

But anyway... I guess I have a lot of reading to do.

--- update ---

In playing with my little program, I have come to realize the following situation with Tic-Tac-Toe.

X|X|X
X|O|X
X|X|F

If the first players choose any corner ("F" for example), as the second player, choosing any space marked "X" above is a guaranteed loss. The ONLY valid choice is the center space ("O" in the example), which will result in a tie.

I guess I should have learned this from The Wopper.

I love the classic Orange Julius drink but there are no Orange Julius stores anywhere nearby. So I had no choice but to create the World's Best Home Made Orange Julius recipe.

Follow these directions to create a perfect Orange Julius in your own home in about 5 minutes. I have perfected this recipe after trying many slight variations and I think I've got it exactly where it needs to be.

All you need is a blender and these ingredients:

• 1/2 tray of Ice (8 large cubes)
• 1 1/4 cup of Orange Juice
• 3/4 cup of Water
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 3 TBS Egg Whites (from a carton)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Follow these directions exactly for the best results.

1. Crush Ice in blender until impossible. After a minute or two, the ice will most likely get stuck and can't be blended any more.
2. Add Orange Juice and Sugar to partially crushed Ice. Blend until smooth.
3. Add remainder and blend until frothy (3-4 minutes).

Taste it! It's awesome. Orange and creamy. My 7 year-old son loves it, and so do I. If you let it sit in the blender, it will separate. Just give it a spin to mix it up again.

Notes on ingredients:

I've tried various amounts of ice, and BY FAR 8 cubes is best. It really does make a difference. This drink is an emulsion. If you use more ice, your drink will separate much more quickly, and ultimately not be as thick.

You can get the egg whites in the dairy section of your supermarket. It's a liquid that comes in a little carton that lasts a long time. This adds the froth.

this is the exact brand I use

I've found that the amount of sugar needs to be pretty precise. Exactly 1/4 cup (or a smidgen less) will work. Too little and the drink will be too tangy, too much and it will be too sweet for most people. The sugar needs to just balance the orange juice tang.

DO NOT attempt to add vanilla ice-cream to this recipe as it will mysteriously remove all flavor! I thought that adding a large scoop of vanilla ice-cream would create a creamsicle drink, but strangely it removed all the flavor. Strange but interesting.

Have fun!

My iPod is a G4 clickwheel, so it's getting old. The battery doesn't hold a charge like it used to, so I decided to replace it. I searched eBay for a replacement battery and it is positively rife with them... all of them suspiciously cheap. I ended up buying one for about $10, including the tools to install the replacement battery.

I received it, replaced the battery and went on my merry way. All was well for a few days, and the iPod seemed to have tremendous battery life again. Win!

Then the troubles began. Who knew that batteries are so freakin' integral to delicate electronics? Does it really matter if your system is receiving 3.6 volts instead of 3.7? I guess it does! My iPod started to act all funny. Suddenly half of my playlists were missing. And then one day songs started crashing in mid-play... forcing the iPod to skip to the next one. This happened for a while until finally the harddrive stopped working all together and I got the "sad iPod" icon on the screen. Lose!

I started browsing the Apple store to see how much new iPods cost. Yikes. Plan B.

Luckily I kept the original battery, so I used my trusty Chinese tools to re-open my iPod and surgically replace the battery again... back to the original. My iPod immediately came back to life and is running fine. Win! (sort of)

Guess I'll start researching OEM Apple batteries. I hope they aren't too rapeliciously expensive.

I've decided to make my own version of "Fire", the board game.



Well, it's not technically a board game.  It's more of a centerpiece, art game.  I enjoy art that actually does something, which is why I own one of these.  But because "Fire" seems so easy to build, I figured I would give it a shot instead of just buying it.  The other reason is that... um... I can't buy it because it's out of print.  Heh.

The first task is to obtain dimensions from somebody who already owns the game.  Check.  A friendly gamer over at BoardGameGeek.com came through for me by providing a series of accurate measurements.  I gave him 5 GeekGold in return for his efforts.  Not much, I know... but I don't have a lot to spare.

So now I've got the dimensions, where do I get the wood?  This turned out to be the hardest part of getting started.  Where does a person get fine hardwood?  If you want 2 square feet of 2-inch thick Cherry, where do you buy it?  See?  It's a tough question!  They don't just have that crap sitting on the shelf at Home Depot.  Well, in fact, they do have a lot of crap at Home Depot, but exactly none of it is high quality wood.  Home Depot did provide me with dowels to make the round pieces.

Because I'm going to accurately paint my version of "Fire", I don't actually need a piece of Cherry.  I'm just going to paint it black, so my main consideration is that the wood is solid, dense, and true.  Because it needs to be about 2 inches thick, you just can't get this at Home Depot.  They did have Red Oak that was 1.5 inches thick, but only 7 inches wide.  I need 11 inches wide.  Damn them.

Luckily, Google googled around the planet and found this site for me, The Woodworkers Source.  I ordered a couple slabs of wood from them in 3 different varieties: Ash, Maple, and African Mahogany.  That was a first for me... ordering wood on the Internet.  I figure that I will use the Ash and/or Maple for the black version (maybe 2 copies) and try my hand at making a cool stained version with custom colors using the Mahogany.  Or maybe I'll make an "Ice" version using whites and blues.  Or Maybe I could use Big Blue Saw to make a clear acrylic version for "Ice".  Neat.  Ideas rule.

I am currently waiting for the wood to arrive before beginning the project.  I don't want to cut my dowels until I see the true thickness of the board wood.