Although many people know me as the computer repair guy, that is just one of my jobs. About two years ago I took on another task: fatherhood.
Crystal and I did the normal things parents do in caring for a child, including allowing him to be vaccinated at the appropriate times. One day we heard a rumor that the chickenpox vaccination was developed with tissue from an aborted baby. Not one to believe every conspiracy theory that comes along, I assumed it wasn’t true.
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I cringe when I hear of somebody buying a computer game. It’s like paying for the privilege of wasting time. I can’t be too critical, however; because a few years back I was an avid game player myself. At the height of my time-wasting addiction, I played Age of Empires II for as long as ten hours straight.
For those of you who are still into gaming, I can recommend a couple of very nice commercial-quality games available for free. They still waste your time, but not your money.
The first is Glest. It is a real-time strategy game with game play similar to the Age of Empires series. Like most modern RTS games, it uses a 3D rendering engine so you are free to change your point-of-view by rotating and zooming the display. The more recent versions have added the ability to play with others over the Internet. Nice!
Another good one is Battle for Wesnoth. This is a turn-based strategy game and there is a bit of a learning curve. If your experience is like mine, the effort will pay off with a LOT of wasted time and possibly a stubborn addition to the game. Like Glest, you can play against the computer or other humans. Since it is turn-based, Wesnoth can even be played like a board game by several time-wasting humans huddled around a single PC.
The Fulton County government is offering unneeded or retired equipment for sale to the highest bidder on their new auction web site. This auction includes some computer and electronic equipment, as well as several appliances and household items. The address is:
http://auction.co.fulton.pa.us
This is the first auction of its kind that the county has offered via the Internet. It was made possible by some PHP and MySQL programing by Bernardo himself. The auction web site could use a few enhancements, but it gets the job done.
The current auction will end on February 17. Three more auctions will be held later this year, ending April 15, July 15, and October 15. Items will be made available for bid approximately two weeks prior to the ending date. At the bottom of the first page you see when visiting the web site, there is a subscription link where you can sign up to be notified when there are items being sold.
Be sure to read the terms before bidding. A few important ones: everything is offered as-is with no warranty, payment must be made with cash or money order, and all items must be picked up by the buyer. The county will not package and ship your purchase to you.
Feel free to come back here and comment on the web site. Suggestions for improvements are welcome!
