UGA Cyber Forum Users Gathering

We have lost a friend.

Zonker dropped me a note this morning that Mike Chenault (Berserker) died of a fatal heart attack while on a diving trip in Bonaire. No news yet of arrangements for services.

UPDATE:
Funeral services are scheduled for 2pm on Sunday, April 20 at the Presbyterian church in Shadydale, GA. (That's near Monticello.)

Arthur C. Clark Dead at 90

Another great author passes on. I wish that someday someone will finally put the Rama trilogy on film....

Brief, again; follow the linkie for more:
http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/03/18/2214208.shtml

Father of Roleplaying Dies

From The Register:

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax rolled a natural one on his fortitude save today, dying at level 69 at his home in Lake Geneva.

Best known for developing D&D with Dave Arneson in 1974, Gygax helped formulate a pen-and-pencil role playing ruleset that would become a touchstone for modern gaming across its genres.

As noted by the Associated Press, Gygax had been struggling with health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm. Despite his ill health, Gygax had still hosted weekly D&D games at his home until this January.

Will Wright's Spore To Release September 7th

After several delays and much anticipation, Spore looks like it will finally be coming out this year. EA has announced a September 7th release date for the game. The only confirmed platforms so far are Windows PCs, Macintoshes, the Nintendo DS and various mobile phones. Wright wants the Wii, 360, and PS3 to have the game, but they're not firm 'yes'es yet. Newsweek's LevelUp blog is celebrating the announcement with a series of interviews. N'Gai Croal spoke to Will Wright, and the man himself tries to convince us why it's been worth the wait, and (oh yeah) why it has taken so long. Croal also sat down with the game's Executive Producer, Lucy Bradshaw, who explains how the game has settled onto other platforms like the DS and mobile phones.

Source: Slashdot

Retro MPG online

From 1918 News: "If you were a geek last century, you will feel the warm fuzzies when you start playing Colony337.

You can live the "old school" world of a turn based, multi-player games, then you'll like this. You can sign up and team up with your other geeky pals.

It seems really bad the first time you play, but it does grow on you once you smarten up and read the wiki a bit.

Go sign up and kill about 30 minutes a day in 5 minute bursts. It's the perfect antidote to a boring job!"

Secessionist Convention

When I talked to a number of people about moving out of Georgia (and moving to Portland, Oregon) - I was reminded that I did realize that Oregon was part of the United States and not part of Canada.

So I was somewhat bemused by the unlikely story I saw on yahoo today about a secessionist movement - note that neither Georgia or Oregon was mentioned explicitly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_on_re_us/secessionist_movement

Transportation officials weigh future of commuter rail

Coastal Empire | Intown | Local News

Vicky Eckenrode | Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 12:30 am

ATLANTA - Once again, the beleaguered effort to get commuter trains running in Georgia could be tracking toward a setback.

The state Transportation Board's committee that deals with train issues appears poised to delay a decision until at least the fall on whether to continue pursing the decades-long plans for a commuter rail line.

Several committee members said Wednesday they want to see updated estimates of ridership and cost for the proposed line from Atlanta south to Lovejoy.

The holdup also could affect plans to start a commuter train route between Atlanta and Athens, which for years was expected to be the second route opened.

The current estimates for the Lovejoy route are six years old because the project has dragged out despite the availability of federal start-up money.

MUL Source code located!

I was just digging through an old box of printouts and ran across the full source code of MULTREK!

It's written in fortran with some assembly or perhaps compass routines.

Anyone interested in porting it to run on a linux host that I run?

We can set it to run at 9600 baud telnet logins and have a go at it!

Any takers?

*ZANGIN*

Is a virtual affair real-world infidelity?

Or are in-game chats and animated sex just harmless experiments?

Linden Labs

By Kristin Kalning

Games editor

MSNBC

Updated: 9:12 p.m. ET April 16, 2007

Kristin Kalning

Games editor

•

Sam had met someone, and it was getting serious.

It started out as a friendship, as many relationships do. But gradually Sam's feelings for Kat, a beautiful, smart and confident woman, had turned romantic.

Hang on — there’s a catch. Sam and Kat met in the virtual world Second Life. And although they shared all kinds of intimacies in Second Life, the real people have never laid eyes on each other.

Potentially habitable planet found

WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

Full Story Here