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Just one more cup.

Here it is, 10:51 on Monday morning and I’m starting in on my fourth cup of java, hoping to find that sweet spot between drowsiness and the shakes, and then I wonder: could I actually OD on this stuff?

I don’t mean jittery, can’t-stop-talking, eighth-time-to-visit-the-toilet overdosing–God knows I’ve had plenty of experience with that–but you know, for real collapsing-into-seizures, burst-blood-vessels-in-the-brain, dying-an-angry-noisy-death overdosing.

One internet search for “will coffee kill me?” later, and I have my answer: Yes, coffee can kill you. But not easily.

Death By Caffeine is a web app that offers precisely this information. You enter your caffeine based drink of choice–whether it’s Mountain Dew, Red Bull or plain old brewed coffee–and then your weight. Push the handy little “Kill Me” button, and you’ll have a surprisingly specific answer as to how much of the poison you can drink before keeling over.

In my case, it would take 94.14 cups of drip coffee to put me in the ground. Useful information, because now I know that if I’ve already had 94 cups of coffee and somebody says “Hey, Ty, can I get you another .15 cup?” I should answer with “No thanks, friend. I’m aware of my limits.” And then quiver my way homeward to spend the rest of the day screaming obscenities at the ceiling, secure in the knowledge that, while I won’t be able to close my eyes for a week, I haven’t actually risked death.

 

Nevermind. It stopped.

• OH, GOD (geoffreyplant) [ Wed Aug 17 2011 6:06 PM ]
  
• Thank God. (robertmcat) [ Fri Nov 25 2011 8:23 AM ]
  

Betty Ford died.

So did this woman (coroner report.)

President Obama has FAILED on his promise to end federal agencies fucking with the states' medical marijuana programs.

Satisfaction played on Peanut Butter Captain Crunch bass and other garbage made by the Garbage Kids.

Ready Steady Go! Cathy McGowan and the Rolling Stones lip-sync I Got you Babe.

News of the World, WTF. AND R.I.P. Murdoch empire?

Gay Marriage in New Mexico? Thanks to Steve Terrell.

Funereal strippers.

Sackville, New Brunswick is almost 250 years old.

Yes, Virginia, Al Capone had a hide-out in NM.

On this day in 1793, buying slaves was outlawed in Canada.

Person killed in overnight crash.

APD votes no confidence in Darren White.

Police nab suspects accused of stealing over 700,000 condoms.

Art made by kids thrown away.

Three officers injured in two days.

Cubs missing from bear sculpture.

Bahrain troops fire on crowds.

Dude had knife in head for four years without noticing.

Justin Bieber is against abortion, even in cases of rape.

Five killed in multi-vehicle crash.

 

This time I'm not kidding. He Died. Rest in peace, scary little Rafferty man.

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Francisco has just had his third stroke and is thought to be beyond rehabilitation. When we visited him, he clearly knew we were there, but was unable to communicate with us, as his speech and most of his movement had been affected by the stroke, except for movement in one arm. No communication was necessary for us to know that he was miserable. He so wanted to talk to us, and yet all that came out of his mouth was unintelligible sounds. His daughter (his wife was in the kitchen and didn't seem to want to talk to us) told us that the night before, he had made a hand signal across his throat indicating that he wanted to die. Hermana Jacci told him firmly it was God's decision when he would go, and he had no say in the matter. He cried when we left, and I did too.

Shannon Galvin's Are We Home?

I spent the majority of my gaming time this weekend checking out Jason Rohrer's recent indie release, Sleep Is Death, an interactive story tool that gets as much of its DNA from improvisational theater as it does from old school gaming. Participants are cast into one of two roles: controller or player, and connect to each other via the Internet. The controller interface provides tools for setting the player in a scene, and adding objects (people, dogs, zombies, etc.) to the scene for the player to interact with. The player's interface allows them to talk by typing into a speech bubble, and to tell the controller what actions they'd like to perform by typing verbs into an action box. This interaction plays back and forth, from scene to scene until the story reaches some sort of conclusion.

By default, each person has 30 seconds to take their turn, so playing the controller takes a fair amount of prep time in the controller interface. So far I've spent the majority of my time with the game there, getting used to the tools, building scenes, creating objects (persons, things) out of sprites, etc. The graphics have a real Gameboy Advance look to them, which gives Sleep Is Death a very classic feel. At first it was a little hard to see the possibilities given Rohrer's sample imagery - he's more of a programmer than a graphic artist - but after seeing Shannon Galvin's excellent "Are We Home?", I was sold.

I'm still not entirely certain where Sleep Is Death will take me. The $14 price includes 2 copies, one for each player, and I've passed my second copy on to a friend, but we've not jumped into a game as yet. Digging into the controller interface has been really interesting and addictive, though, so that should keep me occupied for a while. Rohrer has posted some sample playthroughs on his site that are quite good, and I've found a large, unfiltered collection of them at sidtube.com, which also has forums, IRC, art resources and a wiki.

Other than that,I played a tiny amount of Lego Star Wars with my son, and I finally started playing Trine.

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