Minecraft customization 101

Posted by on May 22, 2013

I have little time this week but I would still like to try and publish a blog post every two three few weeks, so here you go.

I couldn’t find much time to write this last week as I was busy updating my guild’s Minecraft Server. We were several months back in versions. (We like it cool and stable, perhaps a bit too much.)

However, I also noticed that a lot of people who play Minecraft don’t know about the extensive modding and customization available. Or don’t know where to start.
So, as I will lack the time to properly research a subject to share with you today, the least I could do is to introduce them to the joys of a nice custom Minecraft.

A bunch of miencraft ores floating in the void, and nothing else.

Isn’t that a bit too custom?

I won’t go into lengthy tutorials, as I don’t have enough time for that. But I will give you a grocery list of Minecraft thingies, which hopefully will provide you with a solid starting point in this confusing world where there is literally hordes of Minecraft mods, some of them good, others awful, some of them essential, others useless.
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Trello: Kanban for everyone

Posted by on April 30, 2013

Sometimes, I wish I could draw. I mean, I can draw, pretty much like your three-year old nephew can draw too. What I mean is: I wish I could draw in a way that would not make me commit sepukku with my own pencil as an apology to anyone who would stumble upon my drawings.

The reason for this is that I had a ton of brilliant (from my point of view, anyway) ideas about comic strips that would illustrate why everybody can benefit from a bit of process management in their daily lives. Most of them involved Conan-esque barbarians worrying about their pillaging efficiency, because I happen to like barbarians, just like every other geek.

But I’m besides the point here. The important idea is that everyone’s life, personal, professional, or both, can benefit from some form of Agile management. (Although if you find yourself micro-managing your under-blanket activities, you may be going too far.)

So today, I’m going to talk about my favorite organizational tool of the moment.

The Trello logo

Trello. Kanban made simple and elegant.

So… What’s that about?

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The Kriegsmesser: A german 15th-century “pocket” knife

Posted by on April 14, 2013

German-speakers amongst you will transliterate Kriegsmesser easily: “War knife”. It makes sense. There are plenty of situations in which having a knife in times of war is useful. Cutting through the things trapping your teammates or yourself, preparing traps, opening reluctant stuff… A good KA-BAR can even cut through wires or cable if need be, and military forces all over the world know that, even nowadays, there are situations when no other tool or weapon could replace a good knife.

So it’s no wonder the Landsknechte of the Holy Roman Empire, back in the 15th century, would also carry a knife in battle, to cut ropes or carve wooden tools or whatever, right? Probably. Thing is, there’s a slight detail. You would probably not call the Kriegsmesser a knife at first sight nowadays.

A picture showing the kriegsmesser and a water bottle for size comparison.

Pictured: a regular 1.5L water bottle.

The thing is over 1 meter long. Hell, I’m pretty sure even Crocodile Dundee would raise an eyebrow. Good thing is: I have one now! A Kriegsmesser, not an eyebrow. I already had that. Anyway, review time!

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How-to: Dynamic DNS on a Dreamhost subdomain

Posted by on March 31, 2013

Having a website is neat. You can do a lot of things on those, really. From tools so useful and used that we forget they did not exist a few decades ago, to those completely useless (and consequently, essential), and of course, Internet wouldn’t be the same without the incredibly ugly official sites of authors so famous you think they could hire a web designer. (George RR Martin has finally caught up on this one, but we never forget.)

Sadly, for the little guy, having a website often means paying a moderate fee for decent, yet limited, space and functionality on a shared server. And it’s enough to do wonderful things. (Please don’t use “free” hosting. Would you eat free food given you by a creepy stranger on the street ? You can expect both to have filled your treat with feces or something even nastier.) Sadly, there are things you just can’t do without a dedicated server.

A hamster in a server.

Like an environmental-friendly extra power supply.

So today, I will show you how to merge gracefully your dedicated (home?) server with a Dreamhost web hosting plan, with breaking-edge technology… Dynamic DNS!

It was specified in 1997. About time I catch up. Read more »

A gamer’s ride

Posted by on July 24, 2012

In the days of old, some people’s definition of “fun” was to ride a horse and go slay whoever was their current enemy. And that was a game in a certain way – after all, “in the game of thrones, you win or you die.”

Centuries later, the horse was replaced by the motorbike, and banners by leather jackets. Alas, as Tron predicted, geeks will soon be the new knights of the modern age !

A small bike made of hard disks

Way shinier than a horse.

And when you war epic battle against hordes of monsters – or plan of conquering a whole galaxy – you need a good mount. Hardware review !

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