Save Our Dogs, a grassroots effort to save working dogs from CA AB 1634, mandatory spay/neuter
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Love your Pets? Read my files on Label Animal_Control.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Play a Game and Win a Nobel Peace Prize?

I read a NewsBlog on The-Scientist.com about a protein folding game called Fold It.
I thought that was mildly interesting at first and somewhat amusing, but particularly because it combines science, puzzles and games, I became intrigued had to check it out!

My first laugh... It was amusing to find that they chose a domain name of FOLD with the country code (IT) of Italy. But you know how geeks can be. :D

Proteins are complex molecules in long chains that spring themselves into curly folds... and look like messy jumbles of utter chaos. The thing though, is that proteins operate like hardware or software in the body, depending on what the protein is and how it is folded, as well being affected by its environment. It is this manner in which proteins are structured that gives them the ability to react variably in their environment and do such things as keep us healthy, to make us sick, or to cure us of something. :)

I haven't tried the game yet but the ideas behind it are intriguing - as you can see from the beta version of game and site icon at the left.
"Solve Puzzles for Science".
Hrm...
"We're hopefully going to change the way science is done, and who it's done by," said Popovic, who presented the project today at the Games for Health meeting in Baltimore. "Our ultimate goal is to have ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize."
Hey, that Nobel Prize sounds a little far fetched but there is truth in the fact that some of us are strong on various types of puzzles. Some people are pretty genius at recognizing abstract patterns immediately in bundles of chaos and others have different strengths in problem solving, which together can crystalize innovative approaches. I see that the game is online and free. Apparently they are keeping track of how the game and its puzzles are played by its players.

The homesite for Fold It is here and more about the science of the game can be read in a FAQ. Here's a question from part of the FAQ...

How does my game playing contribute to curing diseases?

With all the things proteins do to keep our bodies functioning and healthy, they can be involved in disease in many different ways. The more we know about how certain proteins fold, the better new proteins we can design to combat the disease-related proteins and cure the diseases.

A short YouTube movie showing the game in action.


Last minute add, a writer on Gamezebo mentions how games can be more directly helpful in healing and therapy.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 5/28/2008 12:11:00 AM | Permanent link | (3) Comments

Blogger euthymic sent us a woof // May 28, 2008

i think it is a nice idea to make games that also teach science in such an interesting way. i also like your 2 er... little? dogs   

Blogger Semavi Lady sent us a woof // May 28, 2008

I agree about games that inspire and motivate.

Haha, about the little dogs. The pics of the dogs with Natalka are certainly impressive!   

Anonymous Anonymous sent us a woof // May 30, 2008

Do you think they would send my Nobel Prize in a bubble gum wrapper?

Mark   

Friday, May 02, 2008

Ah, Stress Relief!

A Paint Shop Pro creation featuring two of my favorite games. (yeah, I did that PSP in a hurry and you can tell although I might just get around to fixing that)

Above, a Sims 2 family guy, playing Big Kahuna Reef 2 - Chain Reaction on his free gaming computer. (Sims 2 Free Time features new hobbies that Sims can have, including gaming! ...a sort of "infinite picture", game creations playing a game)

Recent days without much internet access, various stressy issues and an ailing family member have me turning to my very useful and portable laptop for communication aid (nextalk.net deaf relay), ways of keeping myself from going nuts or being utterly bored in quiet moments, and if I have a space of time with no interruptions, some momentary stress relief in the form of DVD movies or casual games. Beats TV to death, as I have never been one to just turn it on and veg.

Tonight, I learned of a study documenting that computer games give stress relief ...and it even comes with a slide show. Check out the title, I love it! "Study: Casual Video Games Demonstrate Ability to Relieve Stress, Improve Mood: Potential Clinical Significance Highlighted. First-of-Its-Kind 6-month Research Project Establishes Effects of Puzzle and Word Games on the Human Body and Mind" :)
Methodology

The study was conducted between October 2007 and April 2008 and included a total of 134 subjects. Thirty-one subjects served as members of the control group, tasked with surfing the Internet looking for journal articles. The experimental groups consisted of 31 subjects who played Bejeweled 2, 29 subjects who played Bookworm Adventures, and 36 subjects who played Peggle. The study included the collection of physical data (based on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measurements) and psychological data (based on POMS (a profile of mood states pre- and post-activity) and electroencephalography (EEG) measurements) during a 5-minute baseline period and 15 minutes of game playing or (in the case of the control group) Internet surfing.
I haven't played the three games featured in the study but anyone that is curious can get them as free downloads from any number of places including the creators site, Pop Cap games. Once you have them, you can play them offline. The trials are usually for an hour but if you like to play longer, offline and not buy the game, you can try the Wild Coins method of game trialing and playing. The way it seems to work is that Wild Games gives you any game you want as a freebie game which you can play for up to a 24 hour period with periodic 20 minute breaks. If your break gets too long, then if you want to resume the game, you will need to insert virtual coins, called Wild Coins. Depending on the complexity of the game, the number of coins varies and can be four to six coins for the fancier games. The coins can be bought in different plans or even acquired by purchasing other goods from magazines to coffee and fashions and other things. Some games are completely free however, and I get a kick out of Crickler which you must be online to play.

I didn't know anything about Wild Coins until I got my "new to me" refurb Gateway notebook which included a download for games, "Gateway Games". My nephew clicked on it (after asking of course) and I was so impressed with the graphics in the game of Fate he was playing and how quickly he learned the game, I had to learn about the game system that Fate was offered on. It's cute. The little guy battles bad guys and has a little dog that reminds me of a small spotted Terrier. I haven't played it yet but it might be the first game of its genre that I try.... eventually.

Had to stick this Sims 2 video on. I wish I could hear Natasha Bedingfield sing in "Simlish" but the video is beautiful (a nicer high res version is on youtube and you have to select it on the rating meter that has the stars).

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 5/02/2008 09:39:00 PM | Permanent link | (1) Comments

Anonymous Anonymous sent us a woof // May 03, 2008

That was fun! And the music in SIMlish was cute.

Mark   

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Odds and ends

Here's some odd stuff from a few days ago that I didn't have time to post...

Doggy panda bear politics.... Chinese police dog may teach pandas to fight. Conservation with an odd twist? I'm not sure what is involved with this but alarms go off in my head.
Other oddness, this link was in Yahoo's category of "Seriously strange- zany stories of 2007". One quoted below :D
The Chinese capital Beijing began a campaign to improve its signposting in English ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. Among signs in need of correcting were ones for "Pubic Toilets," and "Deformed Men" -- the latter indicating facilities for the handicapped.

Another distraction... iGoogle (your very own google start page), now features tabs and among those tabs is a gadget page for casual games! Yeesh. You are given a menu of tab topics and some default links & mashups are preset for you in categories such as News, Humor, Cooking (yay!), Art and Technology. I liked the default cooking ones well enough but have not tweaked. The game ones would have to be tweaked majorly if I were going to make use of it (eventually?). :)

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas Day. :)

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 12/26/2007 12:43:00 PM | Permanent link | (0) Comments

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Stress Relief and Free Games


A kitten vs puppy picture that's been circulating. :)
My caption? Dis is wut ve pupsters do to kitties dat stalk waggy tails!
The kitten reserves the right to disagree!

Free Games!

These cool little thingies are called Gadgets and there's so many to choose from. If the formatting doesn't cause problems with Blogger, I'll leave a few inserted here. These are a few from the game selection area of Lab Pixies but there are other interesting gadgets as well.

I like games that are about logic, strategy and memory type things.

While I do like big, involved, beautiful graphics-hungry strategy games, little gadget games like these below are quick, crunchy, potato chips. You can start them in a moment, finish them off quickly or just plain abandon them when another more productive project is ready to roll. :)



This game is almost like Tetris! You want to get at least three in a row of same color, to make rows disappear. This one is addicting. Not exactly a quick distraction. haha :)

You use the left and right arrow keys to make the string of beads go left or go right. You use the UP arrow key to shuffle the order of the beads. Use the DOWN arrow key to kerplunk it right to the bottom.



Memory games are supposed to be good for everyone to help with mental sharpness. Not that clarity of recall rubs off on anything as soon as you're done playing. But above game is small and painless enough for random bursts of concentration, or reckless abandon. You can choose from a variety of picture collections by selecting a new 'theme' at the top. :)




Picture puzzle games are cute. In this game, click on the picture to begin the game. Then you have to find the blank spot and click on a nearby piece to get things moving. If you don't like the picture, you can choose others with the 'new game' option.

I actually like jigsaws better than these sliding type puzzles but I used to love those party favors that had numbers on them that you slide to new positions to make new patterns. Actually I still like them better than these. I don't know why! Maybe the hands on, double thumb strategy is more my thing.





As to Sudoku above, at the time of posting, I haven't actually played this version of the game yet.
When I first saw Sudoku, I wondered how these puzzles were played but wasn't even half curious enough to find out. A year later (already man, yep I'm sloooooooww!), I ran into this site called Sudoku Daily and bam, after seeing the 2x2 puzzle and playing it once, the game totally made sense and I momentarily became interested about the wide variety of online versions of the game. For those who can't be bothered to read pages of tutorial or a manual, the link at Sudoku Daily functions as an instant tutorial "A-HA!". :)

A free (tip-ware) version of Sudoku is at this link. If you like the game, tip the author. :)

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 9/09/2007 01:40:00 AM | Permanent link | (0) Comments

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Savage Chickens. Puzzles and Politics

The little guy at the left could well be me or anyone else trying to deal with stress, dilemmas, and General Pandemonium (...the latter guy whose uncle must be that famous fellow by the name of Murphy).

I got a just got a chuckle out of a recent Doug Savage Savage Chickens comic. If you're not familiar with it, it's a daily comic which is drawn on a square, yellow, sticky note. I get a kick out of it since I'm quite fond of chickens, humor, sticky notes, and Doug Savage's Savage Chickens. :) Check out the Wednesday, August 08, 2007 comic called Jigsaw. While it probably isn't a political cartoon, it struck me as being rather apt in characterizing bad political "solutions" to various problems. When one or more problems with the "solution" is pointed out by the opposition, you often get flocks of adamant "chickens" with a narrow perspective, who persist with their arguments that their solution is the ONE right solution. Of course, the issues of California AB 1634 come immediately to mind but I'm sure that all of us can certainly come up with many more examples inside and outside of politics and personal lives.

Check my label's links below for misc related topic including some free jigsaw puzzles for the PC.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 8/12/2007 10:36:00 PM | Permanent link | (2) Comments

Anonymous jan sent us a woof // August 14, 2007

And there are all of those who think that government will solve all our problems. Without having a firm idea of what the problems are.But that seldom stops the clucking.   

Blogger Semavi Lady sent us a woof // August 17, 2007

So true. Superficial knowledge can be a dangerous thing when aimed at far reaching mandates.   

Monday, May 28, 2007

Everything I really needed to know about life I learned from playing Tetris

Okay, not really on the subject line, at least not from me -- but I thought this piece by Geoffrey A. Landis was entertaining and has elements of truth! See it here:
Everything I really needed to know about life I learned from playing Tetris

My favorite free Tetris game is called "Bricks 2000" as seen in the screenshot.

I have a older version for download from this previous posting (which includes other free games) but you can also get a free copy of an updated version of just the tetris game right here.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 5/28/2007 04:19:00 PM | Permanent link | (2) Comments

Anonymous Anonymous sent us a woof // June 04, 2007

I think you really did learn it ALL from Tetris. Afterall, you were born AFTER it was created, right? I know you're not as old as me, right?

Janice?

Janice?

Hello?!? Is this thing on?

Mark   

Blogger Semavi Lady sent us a woof // June 05, 2007

LOL! };>   

Saturday, April 28, 2007

More Free Puzzles- Captain Jack Sparrow & Boris Vallejo

Capt Jack SparrowA few more puzzles to add to the cache.

A 221 piece puzzle of my favorite movie poster of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).


Boris Vallejo, Hieroglyphic EggBoris Vallejo, 132 pieces, Hieroglyphic Egg.

I love the color in this one.
Fancy Oriental Fish were a near constant part of my childhood in Asia. And not so oddly, have symbolic meaning in my dreams to this day.


Boris Vallejo, BritorganBoris Vallejo, 117 pieces, Britorgan.

There's some fantastic twisting tale that goes with this piece. But I thought a winged unicorn, a dragon and a dragonslayer make for a lot of colorful interest for this puzzle.


Boris Vallejo, TattooBoris Vallejo, 96 pieces, Tattoo.

Rather monochromatic for a puzzle, so fewer pieces. This is just here so I can admire the ...tattoo, of course. ;)


See my other post- "Free Anatolian Puppy Jigsaw Puzzles With a Side of Shrimp!" for info on these jigsaws.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 4/28/2007 08:25:00 PM | Permanent link | (1) Comments

Blogger Diane sent us a woof // April 29, 2007

Mmm, Captain Jack :) Yet another thing to distract me from working, but in a good way!   

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Free Anatolian Puppy Jigsaw Puzzles With a Side of Shrimp!

In short bursts, I've had a little fun with a jigsaw puzzle program that Josephine MorningStar shared with me several months ago. She made several (numbers of pieces) versions of a puzzle based on Coco's photo. She has a website which has some of her art available here.

I liked the puzzle program so much that I went ahead and purchased it, made some gift puzzles with Anatolian photos from friends - with their own dogs featured. Josephine has the best ideas! :D

Gift puzzles are stand alone versions that don't have all the features of the full game but are still lots of fun. The full featured game allows you to modify puzzles or create them as gifts.

FREE Puzzle Samples!
Here are a few puzzles that use either my pix or public domain photos.

Shrimp PolentaHere is a yummy photo from http://www.pdphoto.org/, where you can get some public domain, gorgeous FREE photos that can be used any way you want. Did I mention that the pics are free? :)
-- Download this 104 piece shrimp polenta puzzle.
Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

Kung Pao Shrimp PuzzleAnother yummy photo decadent shrimp foodies (like me) can enjoy, from pdphoto.org.
-- Download the 221 piece Kung Pao Shrimp puzzle.
Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

I had also downloaded some of Jon Sullivan's (owner of PDPhoto.org) other pics, including Mexican food pics (food pics are relaxing!) and travel scenery photos, from which I made a few other puzzles for personal use.


Anatolian Puppy Jigsaw Puzzles!
Click on the puppy names to download the specific puzzle.

Jasmine and 'T', anatolian pupsA 104 piece puzzle with two Anatolian Shepherd Dog puppies, Jasmine and her brother 'T' relaxing in the grass under an old picnic table.
Aren't they cute? :)


CocoA 110 piece puzzle with my puppy Coco.
This is one of my favorite puppy photos of this little monster her.

No actually, she is a sweetheart and a character! :)
First time I'd ever had a rough coat or a chocolate puppy in a litter.
Lately she sometimes lines up with my walker and keeps along side. Maybe a service dog in the making.



Jasmine, Anatolian puppy
A 110 piece puzzle of gorgeous girl, Jasmine sunning herself on a warm wooden ramp.



How-tos for enjoying your puzzle!
First download to a location that you will remember. I made a folder called Puzzles and saved all of them into that folder.

Once you have your puzzle(s) in your folder, then open your new folder and click on the name of one puzzle.

A window will open and have this menu bar... (see below)
puzzlemenu.jpg (34218 bytes)

To get started... maximize the window for the open puzzle.

Note the crayons icon. Next to that are puzzle pieces.
Use the puzzle pieces icon to change the size of puzzle pieces. Bigger pieces make the puzzle larger than many computer screens, so you can adjust to make it fit.
The puzzle pieces icon can also alter shapes called FUN PIECES -adding cute cut outs of butterflies and kittens in the selection, try it by clicking directly on the arrows in the box.

While playing, if you need the puzzle enlarged or shrunk, just click on the puzzle piece icon above and adjust!

Another tip to help you get started - use the square outline of squares. That will put the flat sided edge pieces around the edges of the screen where you can see them more easily.

You can save your progress or just leave the puzzle running in the background while you do the 'real work' you're supposed to be doing. ;)

Funfun!!

Depending on individual photos, some are really fun when they have over 300 pieces. Photos with poor clarity and too many objects or too much of the same colors are so much harder! I made one one of these harder ones that 400 some pieces before starting taxes and it took me almost a month to finish. It was a much needed break (and now time for something totally different) & distraction from doing taxes. :( I've associated that puzzle so much with doing taxes, I had to delete it when I was done. LOL

Best part of it is, the pieces never get lost, even if your dog comes to help with the puzzle! :)

The website for the game has free puzzles to play, and if you buy the program, there are free downloads to add to your gameplay. If you like professional, very high quality photos of different subject matter, there are collections that you can purchase to add to your game. For the collections go here and the freebies are at the bottom of the page.

For more puzzles on this blog, click on 'puzzles' below.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 4/25/2007 05:10:00 PM | Permanent link | (0) Comments

Top Windows Antivirus Software

From About.com-

8 Top Windows Antivirus Software
Internet Security Suites can sometimes burden older systems and cause conflicts for gamers. Standalone antivirus scanners (used in conjunction with a firewall) are a viable alternative.

Here's a list of the top 8 standalone antivirus scanners for Windows.

Speaking of games, I wonder if I'm ever going to find time to play The Sims 2 any time soon.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 4/25/2007 02:12:00 PM | Permanent link | (1) Comments

Blogger Diane sent us a woof // April 26, 2007

I haven't played The Sims in so long, and now there's *another* expansion pack that I don't get to try :( I have a huge list of "rewards" for when I finish my field work this summer, and that's one of them. Can't wait!   

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Amazon.com Sims 2 Pets "Unlockable" - Purple Pug!

I had to laugh when I saw this. :D

I think pugs are odd and cute (in their own way...) as it is, but the image at the left is shown as the representational offering one gets for pre-orders of the game from Amazon.com -- "... the exclusive, unlockable Purple Pug ..."

I found the original link here. There is a 'bandit cat' given as a preorder bonus at Gamestop and CompUSA at the same link.

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Semavi Lady woofed at @ 9/24/2006 03:08:00 PM | Permanent link | (0) Comments

Friday, September 22, 2006

Sims 2 Pets - Training Your Pet!

One more month to go before this expansion pack comes out!

There's a Sims 2 Pets Training Paper (Newsletter) on the Official Sims 2 site. The second edition is out now. Let me quote from it briefly! (Owners of real pets could take heed!)

Learned or Reinforced Behaviors
Start with the basics. There is no point trying to teach Prince to play dead if he isn't even potty-trained. Teaching Sim pets acceptable behaviors is the first step in helping them get along with their Sim families. These behaviors include where to relieve their bladders, what foods to eat, and more.

Just Say No
When Sim pets are up to no good (digging in the yard or chewing on something that they shouldn't), your Sims have the option to scold their pet. No pet loves to be chastised, so a few firm words can go a long way toward teaching Sim pets the manners they need to get along in their Sim families. Make sure your Sims praise their pets for good behavior to balance out the necessary reprimands and their relationships will benefit in the long run.

Take It Outside!
Encourage your Sim pup to piddle outside. Your Sims might still have a puddle to clean up, but if the pet chooses the sidewalk as their preferred spot, it will be much better than inside on your Sims' living room carpet.

Bad Dog?
If your Sims reinforce certain pet behaviors (like digging in the yard or sleeping on the bed) by praising the pet for these actions, the pet will repeat these acts. If a pet has been encouraged to behave a certain way (or wasn't discouraged either!), they aren't misbehaving. There is no such thing as a Bad Dog, only one that wasn't trained properly.



I had to highlight that last line! It's sweet how much the game is working to protect these cute critters and teach good things too. Of course, I'll always be convinced that a certain cat which used to hang out here ten years ago was a confirmed curmudgeon, if not truly evil and mean! :p

From YouTube, here's a copy of an official video (I wish it weren't so dark!)