d20 + 1

Sweet Jegus

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:10:04 -0500

I just used Jegus in a conversation without even trying.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!?

I used to speak eloquently and now a mere fandom has corrupted my brilliant speech.

At least you’re not snickering whenever someone brings out a bucket.

I gave up fried food for Lent...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:07:56 -0500

…and mozzarella sticks have never before sounded so appetizing.

Theft in the Magic Community

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:38:31 -0500

Theft in the Magic Community:

Just reprinting an important message:

“To thieves:

My name is Justin Parnell. I don’t think we’ve met. Well, actually, we probably have. That’s too bad I didn’t know who you were at the time. If I did, I doubt I would be writing you this letter.

You took my blue and grey Vans backpack from me on Sunday, February 26th around 6:45 at Grand Prix Baltimore. You were able to grab it in the moments I had my eyes off of it, while I was just feet away around a group of people I know and trust. You must be good at what you do, because that was the only time it foolishly left my touch or sight all weekend. Just in case you’ve forgotten, let’s go over everything you’ve taken from me.

Well, you certainly got my bag, which I’ve loved for many years because it was secure and sturdy enough to hold my most prized possession. It has a tear in the right shoulder at the strap from lovingly caring me on my journeys around the country to play the game I love. You probably dumped my bag in a trashcan somewhere.

You got several of the notes from a project I was working on with my best friend, which we’ve put hundreds and hundreds of hours into. Those notes meant everything to me and my friend, and nothing to everyone else in the world. You probably scanned over them before realizing that and discarded them too.

You got my extra sleeves and favorite dice, including some of each that I was holding for a friend. The dice are an assorted variety, collected from trading with generous people to finally get all of the shapes and sizes I needed. There’s only about one of each kind, so those probably got tossed in the trash with my bag.

You got 95% of my Legacy and Modern staples. Those mean something to you for sure. Maybe you can sell them like I was going to. I was going to use the large portion of the money from those cards to put towards a new car for my girlfriend. We really can’t afford it, but we can afford even less for her current car to break down. I’m sure she’ll understand why we’ll have to wait several months longer and work a little bit harder at our average paying jobs. I guess we can just cross our fingers.

You’re probably licking your chops now, because you know what’s coming next. It’s likely why you grabbed my bag in the first place.

You took my cube from me. My entirely foiled cube, you know, aside from stuff like Mana Drain, Library of Alexandria, or dual lands. The single most valuable thing I own. It’s taken me over four years to get it completely foiled, but of course I couldn’t do it alone. I’ve had tons of people donate cards, as well as their time to locate hard to find items for me. Even dealers have gone out of their way to make sure I got the best deals possible, because they know how much this cube means to me and how much a player’s happiness in Magic means to them. This cube was more than a collection of cards. It was an extension of me, and representation of what I stand for in the Magic community. I had thousands of hours sharing that cube with hundreds of people. I’ve touched the community and helped countless others discover what they loved about the game. All the way from a kid who starting playing Magic because cubing looked so much fun to our current National Champion.

You most likely spent a few minutes figuring out how to sell it the quickest way.

Really, you’ve take this cube from the community. I can no longer share what I love most about this game with anyone. I’ll have to cancel my weekly cube event at my local store. A place where the love for cube drafting has become so strong I have had to tell people there isn’t enough room on multiple occasions. I won’t be able to share my joy on the Open Series or at any Grand Prixes, bringing people together to do what we all love. You’ve stolen a peg in both the cube and Magic community.

What’s taken me so long to craft and perfect through time, money, and dedication was destroyed in seconds. I’ve had an average job with average pay since I was sixteen, and Magic is where I’ve choose to put the little excess funds I’ve had.

You even have my favorite lands that are each worth no more than any foil basic lands. I’ve been collecting them since the release of Invasion.

My worst nightmare in the hobby that I deeply love has become a reality.

You won’t find anything else in that bag, but you’ve taken incredibly so much more that you can’t possibly see.

You stole a moment away from one of my best friends, who had just secured a Pro Tour invite by Top 4ing the Grand Prix. In what would have been the best moment in his career and an awesome celebration you managed to turn into hours of panic and despair for our close group of friends. We’ll just have to wait until he does it again to celebrate.

While my friends were helping me in my search, you broke into their car and stole their bags, containing a computer used to run a business and the portion of a collection, minus the cards that he was loaning me for use in my cube. You know, which you have as well.

You’ve taken the thing that allowed me to meet my best friends, travel to fantastic places, create amazing memories, and grow as a person.

You stole Magic from me. If fourteen years ago, when I first opened that pack of Urza’s Legacy, someone had told me that eventually everything that I held dear would be stripped away by some immoral slime who never made anything of himself, I would have never gone on this incredible journey.

I am not alone. At GP Baltimore more than 25 backpacks were taken by you. Some of you were caught, most of you were not. These people you stole from had, in large part, come to this Grand Prix to have a wonderful time with the people they enjoy and playing the game they love. How many people have you hurt? How many days, weeks, months, years have you ruined? Every night since has been sleepless for me, and I can only imagine what you’ve done to thousands of others. How many have quit this game, with tears, anger, and frustration, to fuel your greed?

This problem you cause has become absolutely ridiculous. I speak for the community when I say that this is the tipping point, where we say no more. We will watch out for each other’s bags, boxes and decks. Not just watch for you walking off with them, but taking the time to know what our friends are carrying. We will be sure to never let our bags leave our grasps, even for sixty seconds. That was all it took for you to take a huge part of my life.

We’ll know it is not enough to simply acknowledge that theft exists. We have to actively seek you out, and let everyone know who you are. You and I both know that the tournament organizers are not doing enough to curb your appetite for crime, and I hope that changes. We do not deserve to be fearful of our property vanishing.

Luckily, the community has been more amazing than you could ever imagine. We are coming together to stop this from happening to anyone else. This is the breaking point. We have had enough of you. There is no place for you in our community. Every player, vendor, tournament organizer, and Wizards employee will come together to stop you.

So what do I do now that you’ve taken everything from me? I can’t build decks, trade, sell my cards, or cube. It looks like I’ll have to use my time doing something else.

I will dedicate my new found time to finding you.

Once you are found, I am going to put every necessary resource into prosecuting you to the fullest extent of the law. I am going to take from you everything you have taken from me. As much as I can from all of you will all be given back to the community, to help them move forward as they have helped me to do.

I want justice, and I will not stop until I get it. I hope you understand exactly what you’re up against. You are a few fighting against thousands. You will not win. You will not deter us. This is only the beginning.

The Baltimore PD doesn’t take grand larceny lightly. Neither will any other city you are in.

The community is fighting back.

Justin Parnell

Please reshare this message.

Please contact me at jparnell.101@gmail.com or through Facebook or Twitter (@JParnell1) directly with any information on my case, or any other case you would like me to share. Getting every bit of information shared with our amazing community, the city’s convention center staff and the local police for ANY case involving belongings stolen at events helps prevents future theft and will help lead to these criminals. Any piece of concrete evidence helps in these situations. Thanks for listening and sharing, you guys are all truly amazing.”

To Anyone who follows me because of my occasional MTG posts:

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:42:32 -0500

A good friend of mine, who is a much better card player than I am (he actually just finished a 0-4 thrashing of me) recently started tumbling. His tumblog is almost exclusively about deck building, and he’s known as “The Innovator” around the card shop where he hangs out. Check him out at http://gendrizzit.tumblr.com/.

Test Tube Cheeseburgers?

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:12:07 -0500

Test Tube Cheeseburgers?:

Sounds delicious.

Photo

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:41:50 -0500

Goodness of Guinness

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:09:05 -0500

There really hasn’t been much food snobbery on this blog, and I fully intended for that to occur more often. So, I’ll go with this:

Bud, Coors, Miller, and Pabst all suck. Terribly.

So, what do I drink when the occasion calls for something alcoholic? Pretty much anything from the Guinness brewery. From the original to the foreign extra stout, I pretty much love all of them. Even Smithwicks (pronounced SMITH - ICKS, the W is silent) and Harp have their place. Recently, I’ve been on a kick for the Guinness Black Lager. All of the good parts of cool, refreshing lager, with the smooth deliciousness of a Guinness.

Seriously though, nothing really beats the original. Starting when it’s first poured and you stumble into that alternate reality where bubbles sink to the bottom, followed by the first drink of froth and dark liquid. The only thing to dislike is that the best temperature to drink a Guinness at is not the ice cold one that it is most often served at. In fact, it is claimed that the optimal temperature can be found by mixing half a cold Guinness with half a room temperature one. At most bars that I’ve ever been to that isn’t an option, so you end up having to wait a few minutes. In the end I think they’re worth it though. Besides, it gives you a chance to watch the cool nitrogenated bubbles float down in frothy waves.

So, the next time you come across the dilemma of what beer to drink, take a Guinness. It may be a little more expensive, but far and again I will take one Guinness stout over 20 Miller Lites.

mtgfan: “I’m a glassworker and I designed and sandblasted my...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:03:49 -0500

mtgfan:

“I’m a glassworker and I designed and sandblasted my own Magic table. What do you think?”

Do want.

LeonsBuddyDave: The entire idea of space is scary as hell

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:01:41 -0500

LeonsBuddyDave: The entire idea of space is scary as hell:

leonsbuddydave:

The idea that technology built by our greatest minds can see only a PATHETIC distance into the void of space is more than disconcerting, it’s terrifying

think about how small you are relative to your own house

now relative to the city you live in

now your country

now the world

and then think…

Unless of course you are Zaphod Beeblebrox

Tools for Project Euler: Prime Factorization

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:35:00 -0500

I started doing Project Euler a few weeks ago, and have noticed several techniques that have come up time and again to help solve the problems. So, rather than post solutions (which you can actually find mine on my github, linked in an earlier post) I decided I’d post some helpful functions.

The function I’m going to go over in this post, is an easy way to find the prime factorization of a number, something that is generally not an easy feat.

Basically, there are two things you want to check when you do this:

Make sure that you number is prime
Make sure that it goes into whatever you’re factoring

Whenever I think of prime factorization, I think of that tree they made us draw out whenever they first introduced the concept (I honestly don’t remember if it was elementary or middle school). You start at the top and work down to find the prime factors. As it turns out, that is no where near the best way to do it.

In fact, if you start at the bottom, and work up, you can cut out the primality test from you two checks. By starting at two and working up, you guarantee that the first number you find that is a factor of your number is prime. There are no smaller integers that can go into it, because otherwise you would have found them first to go into your big number. So, we start with 2 (the smallest prime), find out if it goes into your number. If it does, we divide the big number by two, and continue with the now smaller number, if it doesn’t we increment. So:

def prime_factors(big_num):
    num = big_num
    x = 2
    list_primes = []
    list_exponents = []
    while x < big_num
        if num % x == 0
            num = num / x
            if x in list_primes
                list_exponents[len(list_exponents) - 1] ++
            else
                list_primes.append(x)
                list_exponents.append(1)
        else
            x ++
    factorization = [list_primes, list_exponents]
    return factorization

This seems ok, but still has lots of room for improvement. First, we’ll work with our while loop’s condition. While it won’t be wrong to go all the way to the number, you are looking at a lot more numbers than you need to be. An obvious boundary is big_num/2. That effectively halves the numbers you need to look at. Better yet, we can stop at the square root of big_num, and if num is greater than 1 at the end of the look, add it to the list of factors. Something else to be aware of: every time you iterate through a while loop, the condition on top must be recalculated. This means, that you can speed up your run time considerably by storing the square root in a variable, and then setting that as the limit, rather than calculating the square root every iteration. So now, we end up with:

def prime_factors(big_num):
    num = big_num
    x = 2
    root = big_num ** 0.5
    list_primes = []
    list_exponents = []
    while x < root:
        if num % x == 0:
            num = num / x
            if x in list_primes:
                list_exponents[len(list_exponents) - 1] ++
            else:
                list_primes.append(x)
                list_exponents.append(1)
        else:
            x ++
    if x != 1:
        list_prime.append(x)
        list_exponents.append(1)
    factorization = [list_primes, list_exponents]
    return factorization

Ok, we’re almost done, and the above code will probably be good enough for most problems, but there is one more speed up that I know about. Once again, we’re going to try and cut down the number of times we need to iterate. After you get past 2, there are no more even numbers that are prime, so we shouldn’t even bother checking them. So, what we need to do is find out how many times 2 goes into the number, then, run the loop starting at three and iterating with x += 2. So our final code snippet for this function is:

def prime_factors(big_num):
    num = big_num
    x = 2
    root = big_num ** 0.5
    list_primes = []
    list_exponents = []
    while x == 2:
        if num % x == 0:
            num = num / x
            if x in list_primes:
                list_exponents[len(list_exponents) - 1] ++
            else:
                list_primes.append(x)
                list_exponents.append(1)
        else:
            x ++
    while x < root:
        if num % x == 0:
            num = num / x
            if x in list_primes:
                list_exponents[len(list_exponents) - 1] ++
            else:
                list_primes.append(x)
                list_exponents.append(1)
        else:
            x += 2
    if x != 1:
        list_prime.append(x)
        list_exponents.append(1)
    factorization = [list_primes, list_exponents]
    return factorization

This function returns a list of lists, the first one has all of the prime factors of a number, and the second one has how many times those factors appeared. There are probably better ways to do this, but this is how I do it, and so far it’s always been fast enough to for my function to beat the 1 minute mark.

Considering a Battle Herald

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:13:52 -0500

So, my group is about to start this semester’s campaign, and, much to my delight, we decided to stick with Pathfinder. I’m considering starting the campaign as a cavalier, then grabbing a level of bard later on so that I can grab the Battle Herald prestige class. Does anyone have any experience with cavalier’s or battle heralds? I’ve only ever played arcane casters and have no real experience with them. Thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(Adding a question mark to allow answers…)?

Candy

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:40:00 -0500

My professor gave us candy in class again today. I think this makes 4 times in the past 6 classes. I think he plans on eating us before the semester ends…

Project Euler

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:10:56 -0500

Started doing Project Euler last Wednesday, so far I’ve gotten through the first 11 problems. I may start posting my answers, but if I don’t they’re located at https://github.com/rpkelly/Project-Euler

Anybody know a good image processing library for Python 3.2?

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:59:47 -0500

I was working through pythonchallenge.com and got to level 7 which requires image processing. I really don’t want to have to switch to 2.7, mostly because I’m somewhat stubborn.

SOPA EMERGENCY LIST.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:39:54 -0500

SOPA EMERGENCY LIST.:

mooojo:

SOPA Emergency IP list:         

So if these ass-fucks in DC decide to 
ruin the internet, here’s how to access your favorite sites
 in the event of a DNS takedown

        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        wikipedia.org 208.80.152.201

        # News
        bbc.co.uk 212.58.241.131
        aljazeera.com 198.78.201.252

        # Social media
        reddit.com 72.247.244.88
        imgur.com 173.231.140.219
        google.com 74.125.157.99
        youtube.com 74.125.65.91
        yahoo.com 98.137.149.56
        hotmail.com 65.55.72.135
        bing.com 65.55.175.254
        digg.com 64.191.203.30
        theonion.com 97.107.137.164
        hush.com 65.39.178.43
        gamespot.com 216.239.113.172
        ign.com 69.10.25.46
        cracked.com 98.124.248.77
        sidereel.com 144.198.29.112
        github.com 207.97.227.239

        # Torrent sites
        thepiratebay.org 194.71.107.15
        mininova.com 80.94.76.5
        btjunkie.com 93.158.65.211
        demonoid.com 62.149.24.66
        demonoid.me 62.149.24.67

        # Social networking
        facebook.com 69.171.224.11
        twitter.com 199.59.149.230
        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        livejournal.com  209.200.154.225
        dreamwidth.org  69.174.244.50

        # Live Streaming Content
        stickam.com 67.201.54.151
        blogtv.com 84.22.170.149
        justin.tv 199.9.249.21
        chatroulette.com 184.173.141.231
        omegle.com 97.107.132.144
        own3d.tv 208.94.146.80

        megavideo.com 174.140.154.32

        # Television
        gorillavid.com 178.17.165.74
        videoweed.com 91.220.176.248
        novamov.com 91.220.176.248
        tvlinks.com 208.223.219.206
        1channel.com 208.87.33.151

        # Shopping
        amazon.com 72.21.211.176
        newegg.com 216.52.208.187
        frys.com 209.31.22.39

        # File Sharing
        mediafire.com 205.196.120.13
        megaupload.com 174.140.154.20
        fileshare.com 208.87.33.151
        multiupload.com 95.211.149.7
        uploading.com 195.191.207.40
        warez-bb.org 31.7.57.13
        hotfile.com 199.7.177.218
        gamespy.com 69.10.25.46
        what.cd 67.21.232.223
        warez.ag 178.162.238.136
        putlocker.com 89.238.130.247
        uploaded.to 95.211.143.200
        dropbox.com 199.47.217.179
        pastebin.com 69.65.13.216


Here’s a tip for the do-it-yourself crowd: 
Go to your computer’s Start menu, and either go to
 “run” or just search for “cmd.” 
Open it up, and type in “ping [website address],” 


Once you have the IP for a website, all you really 
need to do is enter it like you would 
a normal URL nd hit enter/press go. Typing in
 “208.85.240.231” 
should bring you to the front page of AO3,
 for example, just as typing “174.121.194.34/dashboard” 
should bring you straight to your Tumblr dashboard. 
Since we’re obviously bracing for the worst case scenario 
which would involve you not being 
able to access the internet regularly, you should,
 save this list.

Dear Tumblr-ers, -ites, ettes, and whatever other things you may prefer,

Please reblog the crap out of this. Add to it if you feel there is stuff necessary but missing.

P.S. Thank you to the lovely who wrote this up.

Here’s a few more:

4chan.org 141.101.124.244

blogger.com 209.85.145.191

deviantart.com 199.15.160.100

imageshack.com 208.94.0.21

4walled.org 91.229.174.218

That Moment...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:59:10 -0500

…when you realize you need to restart the terminal for your new alias’s to take effect.

My Love Life

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:32:24 -0500

Ubuntu, sweetheart, you were my first, and nothing can take that away. Oh, those were happy days in 8.04. We really hit it off. So well, as you know, that our relationship was long and, for the most part, happy. You were everything I could have wanted, and I spent almost every moment with you. Oh, there were rough patches, moments of jealousy over Windows, but we worked through them. But then, suddenly, and almost inexplicably, it happened. Somehow what I wanted and what you wanted were no longer the same. You blathered constantly about “Unity”, and even went so far as to try and force that system on me! Your sister Kubuntu and I got to know each other a bit better then, but it was never quite the same.

Debian, darling, I’m going to say something things right now you’re not going to want to hear. Our relationship didn’t last very long, by its length some might assume it to have been a quick and passionate affair. You may even choose to remember it that way. But the truth is, the relationship, like yourself, was neither. Perhaps that was what I liked about about you, that you were frozen in a time similar to when I first met Ubuntu. But let’s face it. You were the easy solution, the rebound girl even. This last fight, were you left me without even a working Live CD to try again, was about as much as I could take from you.

Arch, beloved, our story has yet to truly begin. You scorned me after Ubuntu and I first separated, refusing to even show me your X. But you don’t seem to recall that today. Today, we finally went all the way. And today seems wonderful.

haha

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:49:42 -0500

haha

Pauper's Magic

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:01:23 -0500

Pauper’s Magic is possibly my favorite format, albeit one I don’t get to play often as it requires a deck to be built specifically for it. The rules for building a pauper’s deck are simple: 60 common cards. Cards that are commons in one set but uncommon or even rare in another are considered common for the purposes of building a pauper’s deck.

As a college student who seems to be broke half the time, I really appreciate the pauper rules. I don’t have to spend money keeping up with Standard, and I don’t have to buy expensive rares to complete decks. The mindset for building a pauper’s deck often feels much more small scale than that of a Standard deck. You aren’t working to get one card onto the field, and individual cards in a combo tend to be a lot less powerful. That said, a pauper deck can easily set off a combo that can end the game within 4 or 5 turns. Grapeshot-Storm and Gobbo-Storm come to mind.

My current deck uses fog and milling abilities for a slow, often times painful, game of battlefield control. Here’s the list:

TurboFog-Mill: Total Cards 60

Mana: Total Cards 22

7 Forest
13 Island
2 Halimar Depths

Creatures: Total Cards: 2

2 Reckless Scholar

Artifacts/Enchantments: Total Cards: 8

1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
2 Prophetic Prism
4 Jace’s Erasure

Instants/Sorceries: Total Cards: 28

1 Counsel of Soratami
4 Tome Scour
2 Forsee
4 Counterspell
2 Ponder
2 Treasure Hunt
3 Fog
4 Moment’s Peace
2 Constant Mists
2 Explore
1 Blunt the Assault
1 Spore Cloud

Sideboard: Total Cards: 15

2 Manaleak
2 Island
2 Thoughtbind
1 Stoic Rebuttal
2 Power Sink
1 Negate
1 ThinkTwice
1 Divination
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize

———————————————————————————————————————-

The basic idea is to take as much damage as you can handle, then start fogging until the opponent has been milled to death. The sideboard loads up on counterspell abilities to swap out the fog abilities in case you are facing a non-creature based deck such as mono red burn. Comments and suggestions on the deck are welcome.

Photo

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:29:32 -0500