Tinker's Air Jordan 2012

I recently wore these sneakers to NutMeg's 30th birthday. When I mean recently, I mean it was in June. As you have seen from what I have been writing, I do not have much time to update this blog, but I will attempt to do it when I can.

The Air Jordan 2012 was created as a modular shoe. It had one outer shell, 2 inner cuffs, and 3 insoles. You can mix'n'match all the different components. Currently I am happy with the low inner liner, with the Fly Over insoles. They are very comfortable, and I would not have a problem using them for casual wear, as well as sport.

The query some of you may have is why am I wearing sneakers to a 30th birthday. Was it a casual affair? Well not it was not. The birthday was a theme dress-up. NutMeg asked people to come dressed in the 50s, but KittyKat and I dressed in the 30s. The Air Jordan 2012 (in this instance, Tinker Hatfield's personal design) looks similar to a wingtip shoe with spat look on it, as you can see:

These shoes were worn under a grey pinstripe suit, with tie and fedora hat. The best thing I liked about this shoe was that no one who saw me thought I was wearing sneakers until I pointed it out. I am definitely looking for the next formal occasion I can slip into these.

My first green triangle

I've made my first green triangle in Ingress. Here it is:

For the effort I have put in, I get +744 Mind Units (MUs) for the Enlightened faction. This was done while I grinded my way up to level 3. The game does get somewhat easier the higher you advance, but it also means you do a lot more grinding to get up to higher levels.

I'm not sure on the strategy to follow. Either I will let the Resistance faction take back what I have claimed, or I will defend what I have claimed. The game does not seem to have a definite path, except for the constant exchange of portals between the two factions.

Toddler Adidas Shelltoes

With someone special on his way, KittyKat and I decided we needed to purchase some sneakers for the little man. KittyKat saw these on special and knew that I would be getting them. There is not much I can write about the Adidas Superstar II for toddlers, as I cannot actually try them on, but they look just as sturdy as the Shelltoes I have.

The main difference is the laces with the adult version and the toddler version - with the toddler version not having any laces but velcro straps instead.

After little man arrives, I'll report on what they appear to do, but keep in mind, this is more of an exercise in marketing than in comfort for any toddler. Most toddlers may get about 2 months usage out of these type of shoes (especially in this shoe size) before they are not longer usable. I have already made comments on this in the Adidas Toy Story Woody shoes article I have written, and my stance is still the same.

The revised SplinterWin deck on Android

I've recently been working on my Infinite Copies Modern deck for Magic: The Gathering (MTG), and this is the latest iteration of it:


SplinterWin (Modern) [blue/red]
CREATURES

• 2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 4 Pestermite
• 4 Deceiver Exarch
• 2 Spellskite

NONCREATURES

• 4 Splinter Twin
• 3 Pact of Negation
• 4 Remand
• 2 Mana Leak
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Firespout
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Serum Visions
• 1 Spreading Seas
• 2 Echoing Truth

LANDS

• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Reflecting Pool
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Cascade Bluffs
• 4 Sulfur Falls
• 2 Island
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Stomping Ground

SIDEBOARDS

• 2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 2 Spellskite
• 3 Nihil Spellbomb
• 3 Naturalize
• 2 Firespout
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Dispel
• 1 Lightning Bolt

I have been working on this deck with my new Android phone and it the MTG toolbox application. The application itself is quiet interesting, but appears to be prone to crashing during mid operation. SpecialK has the same application on his iPhone, and it does not appear to have the same crashing problems. The application's features include a card viewer, a location finder, a news reader - all of this is to do with MTG, of course. Additionally, I am able to analyse the decks I create (seeing percentage breakdowns of different cards in the deck), build different decks at the same time, share the decks (via email or sms), and even draw sample hands.

Another fault (other than the random crashing) I have seen in the application is that during the simulated drawing of sample hands, there is a significant doubling up of cards in sequence. I do not think the randomiser works well. I have not seen behaviour like this in real life draws.


I am still keen to know of alternative applications, as well as decks in the modern format that are competitive against this deck, which can win by turn 4 around 35% of the time, and by turn 5 around 60% of the time. It would win easier if Preordain and Ponder were not banned in the format - but there are reasons for that, and it has been discussed in:

• What’s Up with the Modern Banned List?

Other Modern format deck ideas have been discussed in:

• Analyzing the Modern Format - Post-Dark Ascension Edition

Avacyn breaks out of the Helvault

I can now confirm what was in the Helvault (as you may be able to see from my previous post). It is Avacyn breaking out of the promotional material:

And I can also confirm that along with the promotional material, there was spindown life counters with the Avacyn Restored symbol on it, over-sized cards of Avacyn, other angels, and Griselbrand, and additionally, some Angel / Demon two sided token cards. All images of these products were spoiled a day or two before the release. I was fortunate enough to obtain the life counter and 4 of the the token cards. I did not try to get the over-sized cards - which I believe would be suited for Commander / EDH.

I am not overly impressed with this set in a sealed format, but neither am I disappointed with it. It has a feel that for this Magic: The Gathering (MTG) set, it is only somewhat connected to the rest of the block via its flavour and the undying mechanic. It did have a feel that it was made for the Commander / EDH format. I do not think this is a bad concept, but playing it in a sealed format meant I did not have much to do until turn 4 or 5. If my opponent could swarm out better smaller creatures than me, then he was able to subdue me. In my sealed pool, I did not have much that was large or any cards with the miracle mechanic - so I did not experience those mechanics. I did not feel that this set was strong enough to stand on its own. I believe that Innistrad, and even Dark Ascension were far better stand alone sets.

My final record was 1 win and 3 losses. This is a step down from the Dark Ascension pre-release where I won one more match, but better than the Innistrad pre-release where I did not win any matches.

Still, it was a great atmosphere at Games Laboratory. The staff there did a great job of organising and running the event.

Saying that, I have yet to play in a draft format with this set.

Does anyone want to comment on their experiences with the set so far?

What is inside the Helvault?

Games Laboratory has a Helvault for the Avacyn Restored set of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) pre-release tonight.

Anyone want to guess what is inside? I will confirm it tonight! Wish me luck!

No more N900 - now onto Android

This week I sadly said goodbye to the Nokia N900. The N900 came out in 2009, and offered so much promise as to what a truly free open sourced phone could offer, but Nokia managed it to failure.

I got my N900 after I was introduced to it by Ax - back in 2010. He showed me his N900 with all the great features:

• Keyboard slider design
• 5 Megapixel camera
• Linux (Maemo) as its Operating System
• No tedious technique to "root" the device
• Command line available

The device was a symbol of freedom. I was able to do what I wanted to it, and I did not have to go through Nokia to do it. Unfortunately, Nokia decided to continue development of the operating system, and moved onto MeeGo. MeeGo being Linux itself was also a good step, but it did not back port it to the N900. Nokia made it for the N9. Then Nokia made a horrific decision - they entered a partnership with Microsoft. Their phones went from being Symbian based, to running Linux, to in the future running Microsoft's mobile version - Windows Phone. I was not impressed. They should have gone to Android.

Regardless of their decisions, I stuck with the Nokia N900. I even purchased a second unit when my initial unit's micro USB port started to malfunction. KittyKat also had a N900, but made the jump to an Android phone (the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10) after she accidentally dropped the phone, and then ran over it. Little did she know she was paving the way for myself.

My second unit's micro USB port started to malfunction again, and I knew this was leading to an untimely end for the unit. It must have been a weak point of the phone, as I found out recently that Ax's N900 went down the same path. Ax is now using an Android phone as well.

What makes Android interesting is the fact it is also a Linux based phone. Unfortunately it does not have the initial freedom in-built to it like the N900 does, as the system is more locked down, but it does have the potential to be "root'ed". Therefore, it is goodbye to the N900 and hello to the Sony Ericsson Xperia pro. Fortunately, it has a slider keyboard, that is similar to the N900, the form is somewhat less clunky than the N900, and it has a 8.1 Megapixel camera.

In the first few days of using this new device has been interesting. I am still getting use to the new keyboard, and the new layout of the desktops, but otherwise it has made a good replacement.

I have already noticed there has been more applications written for the Android system than the Maemo system. This is evident in the Google Play site - the Android's market site. Another observation I have made is that Android multi-tasking is not as good as I have witnessed on the N900 - with the Android phone only really being able to background 6 applications. Other than that I am pleased with my new device, and if I do anything exceptional with it, I will write about it on this site.

Websites on strike

As mentioned in a previous post I made on this blog, SOPA is being considered by the US government. Apparently it is being "shelved" for the moment. This has not stopped websites like Wired.com or Wikipedia (English version) from depicting a SOPA'ed web site:



While both "strikes" from web sites can be bypassed with browser settings, they do show what the websites could look like if SOPA was enacted.

SOPA is censorship. It will allow companies that feel threatened from loss of profits to accuse international web sites of piracy, and be able to block them. Seeing how the government of the USA has in the past had a mentality of "shoot first, questions later" (eg. weapons of mass destruction in Iraq never eventuating), it would be feasible to consider that web sites and businesses will be shut down pending further investigations.

For more information, have a look at the latimes article for a more comprehensive list of sites that are trying to fight this new form of censorship. If you are in the USA, do something about it - sign up on the petition with Google.

And for Australia - openinternet.com.au.

Everyone - do something (useful (now))!

Air Jordan 11s - but not the Concords

The Air Jordan XIs Concords recently were released to a world wide frenzy amongst sneaker collectors. This article is not about them. This article is about the Air Jordan XI Retro Low shoe.

The main similarity with this shoe and its original incarnation is the sole of the shoe. The tread design is the same, and it appears that components that make up the sole are the same. There is a big shank of carbon fiber, but instead of the clear or icy sole, it is a smokey sole. This, I believe, is an improvement over the original soles. After wearing the shoe, I have noticed no yellowing of the sole, whereas the Air Jordan XI Concords and Space Jams that I own are already showing yellowing - out of the box.

The upper of the shoe does not have any patent leather, and this is where I think this shoe has an improvement over the original. Instead of the shiny leather, it has ventilation panels, and on hot days, it is greatly welcomed. The shoe stays breezy and my feet do not feel overheated. In comparison, my feet sweat and overheat in the Pewter Foamposites - but that is expected, as it has no ventilation to allow for the memory foam that makes up in inner lining of the shoe to mold to the shape of the wearer's foot.

I find these shoes comfortable to wear, but they have deteriorated quickly. I am hoping this is only confined to the pair I have. The left shoe appears to have bad glue or not enough of it, as it appears that sole has broken away from the midsole in the middle of the shoe. The edges of the sole are fine. What this translates to is that the shoe now squeaks when I walk. I am not impressed with the "Quality Basketball Products Inspired by the Greatest Player Ever" that have been recently made. I would have expected that from a fake / knock-off shoe, but these were purchased from the Nike Factory Outlet in Smith Street, Collingwood, so I doubt that would be fakes.

If I am willing to overlook the fact that my left foot squeaks when I walk, and I do, I do find these shoes versatile and comfortable, but I would not choose to play sports in them. I believe that is the general consensus on the internet.