27Dec

Christmas Toys

Posted in Reviews | Comments Off

So I got a Mac Mini for Christmas – mainly because I’d like to start learning XCode and the Mini is the least expensive platform I know of that I can use for that purpose. I’ve gotta admit – I’m digging it so far.

In a previous lifetime I used a big-ass Mac Pro that probably cost the government several thousand dollars, and the OS this Mini runs is virtually the same, so there’s some familiarity there. Macs have always had a reputation for user-friendliness and this is no exception. It only took a few minutes for me to remember where everything was and how to do everything. You get a lot for the money – even though it’s at the low end of what’s available, price-wise, it works just fine for my purposes. It’s a nice little device.

But have no fear, I’m not going to turn into one of those annoying Apple people. There’s an HP desktop three feet away from the Mac and so far they haven’t started fighting, although I do have the hose on standby just in case. I just like having gadgets in the house. And Apple does make good gadgets.

23Dec

Gun Control, Part 2

Posted in General | 12 Comments

The last post generated quite a bit of discussion. That really got out of hand quick. Brick killed a guy.

I learned above all that because I operate under a ridiculous pseudonym, I’m not to be taken seriously. Why someone would spend so much time debating someone they don’t take seriously is beyond me but whatever.

Anyway rather than continuing what I see as a mostly (like 99%) pointless argument with people who have made up their minds, facts be damned, I’ll just link this and be done with it. It’s the opinion of someone ridiculously knowledgable about gun law, stats, tactics, etc. I encourage pro-gun and anti-gun people to read the whole thing. It’s enlightening.

18Dec

Gun Control

Posted in Politics | 21 Comments

What happened in Connecticut and earlier this year in Aurora was tragic. Still, it would be nice to see one suggestion from the pro-gun control side that might actually have prevented either of them. Short of confiscating every firearm in the country – which seems virtually impossible – none of the solutions I’ve seen suggested would do a damned thing to prevent gun crimes.

Also, I’d love to see some logic explaining how the (admittedly horrific) actions of a very few disturbed individuals somehow justifies, say, taking away my daughter’s right to protect herself with a handgun someday. Because I don’t quite see the connection.

But what do I know?

UPDATE: The appropriately-named Jeff at protein wisdom has further thoughts. Read it all. I’ll wait.

21Oct

Told You

Posted in site news | 1 Comment

So we have finally made the changes we vaguely alluded to months ago.

I’m announcing the launch of The Buckeye Ninja which will handle all my Buckeye-related posting going forward. I’d like to thank the guys at MotSaG for letting me into the business and giving me a microphone that I too-rarely used there. My leaving is by no means an indictment of their site because I think it’s still one of the best out there. I have just felt as though I don’t have the time or inclination to post regularly and if I’m not posting at my own site, the only person I’m letting down is me. And like two people who read this still.

I intend to use this site to discuss the more personal stuff, political stuff, movies, video games, etc. Maybe on day I’ll break out a video game site called videogameninja (although I’m sure that’s been taken) but for now, this is how it’s gonna be.

Hopefully.

17Aug

New Project

Posted in General | Comments Off

This won’t be the last post at NDNS (I promise) but I thought I’d take the opportunity to shill for a new thing I’m working on. It’s a long story, or it will be one day. If you like reminiscing about the mid to late 90′s and all the stupid social BS that goes along with being in high school, check it out!

The official website (for now) is here.

The official Twitter feed is here.

The official Facebook page is here.

24May

Changes at NDNS

Posted in General, site news | 1 Comment

As you can probably tell, all my posts are gone. Don’t worry – they’re not lost, just private. I figure it’s better to have nothing than a bunch of posts from several months ago reminding you that I haven’t updated in a while.

But that’s going to change.  This post will serve as a placeholder until baconninja.com 4.0 is up an running. I don’t know yet exactly when that will happen, but when it does I hope that it’ll be AWESOME.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to have the new site up soon!

15Feb

High Speed Reviews

Posted in Gaming, Movies, Reviews | Comments Off

Before I begin, apologies for not posting in about forever. I’d like to say I have a good excuse but in reality I’m just lazy. If you’re butthurt about that, sorry. I did manage to post over at Men of the Scarlet and Gray for once, so I’ve got that going for me anyway.

An easy way to get back into the swing of things is to post reviews of … stuff … so here’s some stuff I have opinions about that I haven’t shared with you people yet.

MOVIES

Sherlock Holmes: a Game Of Shadows – pretty decent. It wasn’t all that intellectually stimulating or anything, but there was a lot of gratuitous violence and ***SPOILER*** Rachel McAdams got whacked pretty early on. ***END SPOILER*** So, you know, good times.
3/5 ninja stars

Haywire – better than I expected. It had a similar feel throughout to movies from the 60′s and 70′s like Bullitt. Gina what’s-her-name wasn’t half bad in it either, and I’m convinced she could murder me with any of her extremities and not break a sweat. Also an action movie with a female protagonist who kicks ass and has her ass kicked is something different. I said as we left the theater that an entire Sociology course could probably be taught on this movie, and for once that wasn’t a bad thing.
3.5/5 ninja stars

GAMES

Star Wars – the Old Republic – yeah. I’ve been playing the hell out of this since I got it on opening day. Unlike other MMO’s that I’ve played in the past, this has a very robust storyline and it must have taken a really long time just to come up with cogent stories for each of the classes in-game. I haven’t really gotten a feel for the PvP yet, but the stuff I have done has been pretty enthralling so far. If you like Star Wars and have a lot of free time, you could do worse than get this.
4/5 ninja stars

Forza Motorsport 4 – basically Forza 3 with some new cars and (squeal!) The Top Gear Test Track. Makes it all worthwhile.
3/5 ninja stars

Rocksmith – I’ve finally found a music game that appealed to me a little more than the Rock Band franchise does. Last July I bought a guitar and started to learn how to play. Rock Band 3′s Pro Mode, while awesome, is not too good for someone just learning from scratch. That’s where Rocksmith comes in. Plus you don’t have to use the crappy Squier or some other Midi guitar to play (like you do in RB3) – if you have an electric guitar you can play Rocksmith, even if you’ve never played a second in your life. Sure, it’s not as deep as RB3 (not as many songs, instruments, or other customizable things) but for what it’s intended to do I’m not sure they could have done much better.
4.5/5 ninja stars

 

 

 

11Dec

NDNS Bowl Challenge

Posted in Football, General | Comments Off

We had so much fun running a March Madness challenge we’re doing it again for bowl season. Sign up here if you think you can out-pick the master.

As with our March Madness contest we plan on having an awesome first prize. We just haven’t figured out yet what first prize will be. Oops. Guess you’ll have to sign up to find out.