Fitness Tools

Lifehacker did a post recently about some (tech) fitness tools anyone can use to get in shape. They had some tips / tools that I was already aware of or seemed obvious to me (such as listening to music, finding proper running shoes, and the nike+ system), but there were a couple of items I found particularly interesting.

First was an everyman's workout routine known as "shovelgloving". It only requires one piece of equipment, a sledgehammer wrapped in a sweatshirt. What's more manly than that?

The other is a tool called MapMyRun. It's powered by Google Maps and used for what else but mapping your runs. Other features include a calories burned calculator and even gps support if you upgrade to the pro version.

Other honorable mentions include a couch to 5k to marathon plan as well as a plan to go from 0 to 100 pushups in 6 weeks. Well with that I'm off to go find a sledgehammer, have fun with the tools.

Ever noticed how it's always runners who find dead bodies? -Pearl Izumi ad

Dr. Horrible

Pure Genius. I love it.

Thanks to Tycho over at Penny Arcade for sharing the joy that is Dr. Horrible.

A brief synopsis: A three part musical written by Joss Whedon about a C-list supervillain named Dr. Evil played by Neil Patrick Harris.

Supposedly it's coming down soon, so time is of the essence.




"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

I'm out.

GTA IV revisted

Okay, my thoughts on GTA IV. I have to say that I am quite impressed with the story line and dialogue. This is the first time I've felt compelled to complete the entire story line of a game in the series, granted before GTA IV I had only played GTA III as well as Vice City.
There are a few control issues that become frustrating at times. Niko seems unable to take fewer than two or three steps at a time, not a huge issue until you decide to shoot up Liberty City using your combat sniper from the roof of an office building and need to creep up to the edge in order to peer over. I lost count of the number of times I was in the sandbox multiplayer with friends and after taking the time to get everyone loaded for bear then flying to a rooftop, half of us decided to go base jumping. It got frustrating. Fast.
Second, the auto targeting feels a bit clumsy at times, particularly late in the game when many of the firefights have niko facing a large number of enemies. In conjunction with this, the free aim feels clumsy as well, though it often serves as a better alternative to the autotargeting.
Overall I would have to say that this game was $60 well spent, and I would absolutely recommend that anyone interested in the genre pick it up if you haven't already.

Niko, buddy, you're gonna be alright.