Tag Archives: fun

JSON feed for Source servers

Posted by on March 6, 2009 No comments

I’m kind of a statistics whore.

To further my pursuit of more statistics, I’ve developed a Python CGI which provides a JSON feed of all sorts of information about servers based on Valve’s Source engine.

This script has three dependencies outside of what is in the standard Python library:

Once you have those installed (worst-case scenario just drop them in the same directory as sourcejson.py), you need to edit sourcejson.ini.  This file just has three options: rcon_pass, ip, and port.  If you don’t have the rcon password for the server you wish to monitor just leave it blank.

To access the JSON feed just use the url to sourcejson.py.  Something like this:

http://YOUR_DOMAIN/sourcejson.py

To access the extended information that having an rcon password allows use:

http://YOUR_DOMAIN/sourcejson.py?info=extended

If you use the extended format, but haven’t provided an rcon password in sourcejson.ini, it will just default to the basic feed.

Included in the zip is a .htaccess to prevent directory listings, which will help protect the contents of sourcejson.ini.

Download sourcejson here!

UFO rants are fun.

Posted by on February 6, 2009 No comments
Three people enjoy the summer sky over the Del...
Image via Wikipedia

Since I enjoy rants against those holding beliefs with no basis in reality, I enjoyed this little post on Skeptic Blog.

I had to laugh when I read fellow Skeptologist Brian Dunning’s article about the UFO True Believer™ Stan Friedman hating him. What an elite club! Friedman is no fan of me, either. A few years ago I wrote an article for Sky and Telescope magazine about UFOs, basically making the same claim I made here last week: if all these UFO sightings we hear about were real, the majority of them would be seen by amateur astronomers.

Friedman took exception to that (shocker, I know). In his internet newsletter (subscription required), he said: “Plait among other gems says about Amateur [sic] astronomers [sic] ‘Logically, they should be reporting most of the UFOs’. This is logic?”

Um, yeah, Mr. Friedman, it is. Maybe you should acquaint yourself with it. Note that this is all he said, just dismissing my point without actually saying anything about it. I know, it’s hard to believe that someone with such stature in the UFO community would make a claim with no evidence, and dismiss a claim that does have evidence!

Be sure to click on over and read it all.

Get fit with running, sit-ups, and push-ups

Posted by on January 30, 2009 1 comment
Uploaded by: Frank C.
Image via Wikipedia

This past fall I started this running program.

If you’ve done a lot of walking, but you’ve never run before, you might feel a bit intimidated to get out there and start running. This 8-week plan will help you ease into the sport. Before you get started with running, get familiar with how to do the run/walk method.

I’ve been idly looking for something else to do during the cold weather. Via Lifehacker I recently came across these two programs which I’m going to try implementing simultaneously.

one hundred push ups

If you’re serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you’ll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

two hundred sit-ups

Think there’s no way you could do this? I think you can! All you need is a good plan, plenty of discipline and about 30 minutes a week to achieve this goal!

No doubt some of you can already do 100 consecutive sit-ups, but let’s face it, you’re in a big minority. Most of you reading this won’t even be able to manage 20 sit-ups. Actually, I’m sure many of you can’t even do 10.

I’ll update with some info as I try to implement these. This quote holds so true for these sorts of goals.

For love of reading

Posted by on January 12, 2009 No comments

she really did read the impossible-sounding 462 books in 2008. Those 462 books marked a personal record — she’s been keeping a formal list since 2005. Below, she explains what it’s like to be a super-speedy reader.

From the LA Times.

462 books in one year.  Pretty impressive to me.  Granted, she’s a book reviewer so she has more time to read than some of us, but that’s still over a book per day.

One of my goals for this year is to read more.  Bare minimum, I’d like to read one book per week.  Since the 1st of December I’ve read the following:

  • Consider Phelebas by Iain M. Banks
  • The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
  • The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbet and Kevin J. Anderson
  • The Machine Crusade by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
  • The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbet and Kevin J. Anderson

I need to step up the pace a bit…

The Cold, Hard Data of Soda Ice

Posted by on October 8, 2008 No comments

I’m a cup-1/4-full-of-ice kinda man myself, and the data shows I’m right!

Depending on whom you ask, either ice-fiends are suckers who pay for frozen water or ice-avoiders are cheapskates with a perverse attachment to warm fountain syrup. To settle this once and for all, we went to a local cineplex and bought three Cokes with varying amounts of cubes at 4 smackaroos each. Then we broke out our thermometers and measuring cups. The cold, hard data says it all.