“Portal” by Valve
Last night I had the priviledge of playing Valve software’s minigame “Portal”, and I must say I had a blast. The premise behind it is that the player can create “portals” (go in portal #1, you come out portal #2). Portal is a throw-back to problem solving games. Each level presents you with a problem (or collection of problems) and you need to really think (quite literally, look at it from a different angle) to solve it and move on. The tinny mechanical voice of the announcer as well as her sense of humor adds a nice touch to the game as well.
To understand it better, check out this clip:
Snails on the Ark?
“I never can comprehend how the snails managed to get into the ark, yet they did; they must have started very early.” - C.H. Spurgeon
One of spurgeon’s lesser known and light-hearted quotes…
Tim Cahill’s World-Class Goal (Everton at Chelsea)
Everton’s clash against the juggernaught Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was not televised over here in the states, so I watched the first half via gamecast on ESPN.com. As you can see from the shots on goal, the game seemed quite one-sided (the graphic shows the first half action - yellow dots are Chelsea’s shots, the black dot was Everton’s only first half chance).
During halftime, I did some research and found a helpful site, myp2p.eu that streams live european sporting events! The site’s design is awful, but the function it serves is fantastic! While I was not overly impressed with the quality (it’s not like ABC’s video player), it was at least equal to “youtube” quality. But more importantly, I WAS ABLE TO WATCH THE GAME (well the second half at least).
And what a second half it was… At halftime David Moyes subbed in Victor Anichebe and James McFadden in hopes of creating some sort of attack to keep Chelsea honest and maybe steal a goal. “SuperSub”Anichebe and Scotland’s hero McFadden did a respectable job keeping a little pressure on the rare chances they could create.
At the other end of the pitch, Chelsea continued to pepper USA goalkeeper Tim Howard with shots, but the defense proved up to the task (thanks to impressive performances from Jolean Lescott and Tim Howard). Chelsea finally broke the stalemate in the 70th minute when Didier Drogba headed a corner past Howard. Poor marking, but an excellent goal from one of the EPL’s top strikers.
Thinking they had it won, Chelsea didn’t press the ball quite as much and in the 89th minute, Everton made them pay with this GLORIOUS bicycle kick goal from my favorite Toffee, Tim Cahill.
Goals don’t get much better than that beauty - an equalizer at the death, away at one of the giants … 6 games in a row unbeaten for Everton (5 wins and a draw), my Blues are making me proud!
Trying out a new look
I was getting bored with the old style so I’ve spent some time tonight customizing a new template. Still not happy with this, but it is satisfying my desire for a little change over here.
Welcome Iranian web surfers!
Google Analytics is a very useful (and free) tool that tells me how many hits this site is getting, as well as what people are reading, how long they stay, what search terms they used (if they came from a search engine), and what countries they come from… While this little blog doesn’t get much traffic at all, it is fun to check every once and a while. Obviously the VAST majority of hits are coming from the USA. Not surprisingly, Canada and Australia (culturally similar and English speaking) and England (EPL/Everton/soccer posts) show up with some frequency.
What I can’t figure out is my recent “bump” of traffic from Iran of all countries? If you happen to be one of my Iranian visitors, welcome to chriswho, and please let me know what you would like to hear about (or how you found me). Oh, and I’d love to hear your opinion of President Ahmadinejad…
New Wiseacre Photo today
Paul has launched a new wiseacrephoto.com today. His photography is beautiful… Take a few moments to enjoy.