[Update! Broken links are fixed! Sorry for the trouble.]
Ultimate Domain, known better as Genesia, was a popular DOS game released in 1994 by Microids and The Software Toolworks. It’s very rare now, but I still have a copy including the box, original installation disks, and user’s guide. So here are the box scans for Ultimate Domain. If you’re interested in learning more about this game then visit the information page for it on Abandonia.com.
Posted in Gaming
Tagged Abandoned Software, DOS, Game, Genesia, Microids, The Software Toolworks, Ultimate Domain
[Update! Broken links are fixed! Sorry for the trouble.]
Western North Carolina experienced a Lunar Eclipse on February 20th, 2008. I received some quality photos of this event in email from Tony, my mother’s boyfriend, and I made some wallpapers from them. Tony’s originals and my wallpapers are posted here for your enjoyment.
These images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted in Science
Tagged Astronomy, Background, Blood Moon, Desktop Background, Gray Moon, Lunar Eclipse, Moon, Wallpaper
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar, and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly so that the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They all agreed it was full.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty spaces between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions, and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.”
“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”
Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – baby sit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage. Right? Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and pay them for the hours they actually work, not any of that silly planning time. That would be $19.50 a day (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or so) PM with just 25 minutes off for lunch). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now, how many do they teach in a class on average, 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year! We’re not going to pay them for any vacations. Let’s see, that’s $585 x 180 = $105,300 per year.
What about those special teachers and the ones with master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage, and just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 x 6 1/2 hours x 30 children x 180 days = $245,700 per year.
Wait a minute – there’s something wrong here!
Average teacher salary $50,000 / 180 days = $277 / per day / 30 students = $9.23 / 6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student. Teachers are a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try – with your help – to EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL! And the parents don’t even have to buy us pizza!
For web development, you just can’t beat Mozilla Firefox and the excellent community extensions available specifically for that purpose. Here’s a short list of my favorite add-ons for web development:
(Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/ and install the following:)
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