Hacker Puzzle

A quick weekend distraction, this puzzle is called the: Hacker Puzzle! To solve this puzzle you have to find secret files on the server, by following a trail of numbers ;-).
It only takes a couple of minutes and it's a bit of fun. Check it out at: Hacker Puzzle!
Have an awesome weekend!

OpenOffice EasterEggs

I thought I'd share a minor distraction with you, did you know that there are a number of Easter Eggs inside of OpenOffice?

"An Easter Egg is the name given to hidden exploits, media, or features available in console and PC video games, DVDs, or any other interactive media."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Egg

The following is from the OpenOffice Wiki.

ALL
There are a number of different parts of OpenOffice, Word processor, Spreadsheet, Database, this first Easter Eggs works in all parts of OpenOffice:
In the About box (Help -> About OpenOffice.org) press Ctrl + S, D, T one after another (SDT stands for Star Division Team).
The list of contributors scrolls in the dialog.

OpenOffice Word Processor
The next one is in OpenOffices Word Processor:
Open a New text Document and Enter the word "StarWriterTeam", then press F3.
The names and picture of the StarWriter developer team appears.

OpenOffice SpreadSheet
These Easter Eggs can be found in the Spreadsheet part of OpenOffice.

Games()
Putting '=GAME()' (without the ' ') into any cell results the text "say what?" in that cell.

Frogger
Putting '=GAME("Froggie")' into any cell results the text "Froggie" in that cell.

Tic-Tac-Toe
Put the '=GAME(A2:C4;"TicTacToe")' formula into A1 and press ENTER.
A version of the Tic-Tac-Toe game is playable.

Space Invaders
Put =GAME("StarWars") into any cell and press ENTER. A version of Space Invaders is playable.
Although if you try to play it again, the message "oh no, not again" appears. To play again, you must fully close OpenOffice.org.

Life, Universe and Everything
Put =ANTWORT("Das Leben, das Universum und der ganze Rest") into any cell and press ENTER.
The result is the famous number 42 from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

StarCalc team
Put =STARCALCTEAM() into any cell and press ENTER.
The names and picture of the StarCalc developer team appears.

Random smileys
Put =TTT() into any cell and press ENTER.
A random smiley appears. E.g. :-] ;-] B-) 8-}

Have Fun!!!

No Penguins Are Safe

Occasionally I need some stress relief from the penguins!
Today I found a really good game that helped me cool off when I needed it the most. It gets really boring after about 10-15 minutes, yet if you need a break from that Linux code thats driving you nuts, this is very refreshing:
Penguin Arcade

A virtual second life

After my vent on Friday, I decided to go and try something different. As I have mentioned before I am not much into graphical games. Yet I have been hearing a lot about Second Life. Second Life really isn't a game. It is a Second Life! Kinda like: What does an ant do? Answer: be an ant. There is no real objective, it is just like having an avatar of 'you' in a virtual world (grid).

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents.
What is Second Life?

I have only been looking at it since Friday, and I don't have the greatest graphics card, nor Internet connection. Yet so far I'm impressed, and I am enjoying my experience. The client is Open Source. I'm using the alpha Linux version of the client, and it has preformed very nicely. Especially given the limitations of my system (I have never needed a big graphics card in the console :|).

It is interesting to see the interactions between people, and how many people think that it is all about talking in a virtual chat-room. One thing that does annoy me is the currency in there, and how hard it is to come by at first. I can see how you can make money once you have money, but it only comes in trickles at first, (Especially if you don't have a pay-pal account like me). Kinda like the First Life ;)
Other than that I am really having fun. I can see many potentials, and I have already started to learn how to script it *blush*.
If what to join in and have a look. It is interesting to see where all this is going. Have Fun!

Computer role-playing games

Over the past couple of weeks I have been indulging in the world of online games. By online computer role-playing games; I mean games, which are played over the Internet, including; MMORPG's (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), and MUD's (Multi-User Dungeon or Domain or Dimension).

Personally I am not big on games, and I don't play them very often. If I do indulge I prefer text based Adventures, and puzzle solving games.
Well a couple of weeks ago, I was doing some research on telnet, and I stumbled across a MUD. I had never seen one before so I went and had a look around. It all started out innocently enough, yet it wasen't long before I was doing nothing else.
Within a couple of days I was starting to eat into my study time with game play. Then after a couple more days I started to spend even longer in front of the computer, doing less and less work. I was annoyed if I couldn't play, and dreaming about game play, and quests.

On Friday I was sitting in front of the game again, (after giving my partner another excuse about having to get another 45100 guild points so that I could do some new trick,) when I realised that I wasn't ever going to be happy with the outcome. I was working on getting these certain guild points. As soon as I got them I was annoyed, because I still needed another 200 exp points to raise my stats in the game. So even though I had reached a new milestone in the game, the psychological pull to move onto the next challenge was there, pulling me onwards into the game.
It was then that I realised that I was addicted and how true all of these stories are about, being trapped inside these games, these virtual worlds, really are, e.g. The View From the Top.

So I am going to slow down my playing right now. I haven't played since Friday. I would like to learn the language used to write MUD's, so in this way I may play more, yet I don't want to waste my life in front of a game. I don't want to get trapped.