Category Archives: Blog Updates
Mysteryblock Webhosting Suspended – I’m Back!
Revisions:
10-5-12: Initial release.
Hey guys, its been a few months and it feels great to be back here. It appears between yesterday and today, the web hosting company that hosted Mysteryblock.com (among other websites) had suspended the account.
Granted, I am not an account holder, so I cannot tell you why the account got suspended. The only good thing is I did not write as many articles on that website like I originally hoped, which now gives more fuel to my original philosophy of how I should NOT stray away from free wordpress.com.
In fact, today is a great example of what happens when you try to put all your eggs in one basket. What really ticks me off though is I have no idea if I can get my old posts back, but that is for another day.
If you guys haven’t been keeping up, I’ve been busy at youtube.com/vstPower making new videos since the GameDexterity account got shut down in June of 2012. Since then, I’ve been hard at work recreating vstPower, and man, we got a lot of good tutorial videos to show off!
The first article I am going to write is going to go back to the Underground roots, and its going to be HOT. Stay tuned!
July 6th – Underground Update
Revisions:
7-6-10: Initial release.
So without me posting for awhile, you as the reader may have been wondering what I have been up to for last few weeks. All I can say is that I have been busy with random projects, and because of some work related items, it has eaten into some of my free time.
Nonetheless, here are some quick items to discuss so you know whats going on:
Book Launched!
Revisions:
6-1-10: Initial release.
6-2-10: Added mirror for download.
6-3-10: Added video.
6-7-10: Added media fire mirror.
11-17-12: Removed video, fixed mediafire link.
6-3-13: Fixed the download link.
Download Mirrors:
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Versatile’s Section
Never has the “Print to PDF” button looked so useful until today. After what feels like a year in fruition, the e-book, book, diary, journal, memoir, or whatever you want to call it is finally released! Although I have been working on this book personally off and on starting end of summer 2009 and through the winter of 2010, the book is finally released today as promised. No delays, no excuses. On time as expected (relative to my time zone of course!)
I have been talking about this book off and on over the past few months, not really giving a strong synopsis of what the book truly is about. I think after you read it now, you can see why it would be hard for me to fully describe it. I am so glad that the book is now done, because now I can focus on other projects.
Yes, that is true. This summer I am looking at the UCC and see what I can do to help grow it and cultivate it. Perhaps do a “Underground Summer School?” 🙂 Anyway, I have another side project that I will reveal sometime this week that will involve the community. If you are able to participate, then I think the end effects will be amazing. We’ll see what happens.
What is the meaning behind the Title? I’ll let Voltaire explain that one, as it was his idea at the last minute. I really wanted to go with a whistle blower idea, but then decided in the end it was not the image or perception I wanted to portray. If you read the book, you will know what I am referring to, hopefully.
I am dead tired right now, but I can’t sleep because I am too excited. I want to thank everyone who is an avid follower of this blog. For those who are new, this book is the result of hard work and dedication to what we love to do here. I will most likely make a promotion video of the book on Youtube, but not tonight. Soon though, I promise. Now its time to rest until tomorrow. 🙂
See Book Overview:
Video will need to be re-made/uploaded since Youtube banned my previous youtube account.
Today Is Launch Day For The Underground Book!
Revisions:
6-1-10: Initial release.
6-1-10: Update 1 by Voltaire
6-1-10: Update 2 by Voltaire
6-1-10: Update 3 by Voltaire
Today is indeed launch day for the Underground Book. The title has changed significantly. Voltaire and I are working on wrapping up tonight. I expect to have it ready for download sometime before midnight GMT-5 Central time. Just refresh this page as the night goes on. 🙂
Update 1: It’s 11:37 PM EST. While Versatile is integrating some work by Chyea and myself, I’ve gone ahead and created some cover art for the book. Currently, the Table of Contents and the majority of the contents have been finished. Versatile is adding to the conclusion. Voltaire.
Update 2: It’s 11:49 EST. I’ve written a quick dedication. Final integrations are underway. The release plan is a PDF on megaupload, purely for stat tracking. Voltaire.
Update 3: It’s 11:05 CST. We make our own rules. Almost done! Voltaire.
The Underground Book – Day 7
It’s been a while since I’ve posted.
News on the book coming from me: I’ve finally finished my two chapters of the book along with some editing. Plus the title has gotten a slight update. Versatile updated a bunch of other chapters as well. The book as really gone far this past few months and it’s finally culminating into the piece that Versatile dreamed it would be. I finally gave him the material he wanted from me for a year. Getting into college took longer than I thought!
Next task: Finding a title cover art. It’s difficult; trying to find something interesting, inspiring, unique, and yet something that makes sense is somewhat hard. Plus we can’t just steal something; hopefully free things can be used in a clever way.
Let’s hope Launch Day will go as planned!
Voltaire.
The Underground Book – Day 6
Revision:
5-30-10: Initial release.
Today is a pretty light day. I started thinking about the title further, and I got one selected. Also, I found a picture that will serve pretty well as the cover art, so I think I can spin it pretty well.
Chyea and Voltaire are working on their sections as well, it will be tight. I do not know if I will have to delay launch date or not. I really don’t want to. Let’s see what the next two days will bring.
Tomorrow is Memorial day, so it will be tough to jumble the day’s activities. I will probably do a one last run down of the book, and check it over. For launch day, the e-book will be released here on the blog, probably very late at night because I got to wrap it up after work in the evening. It will be released very soon, that I can guarantee.
The Underground Book – Day 5
Revisions:
5-29-10: Initial release.
Today I got word from Chyea that he is working on the second portion of his chapter. So although I saw an initial draft (rev 27 lol), I am going to wait for him to finish up his section before I can move on.
Voltaire is out in Chicago this weekend apparently, but he said he will continue writing. Keep your finger’s crossed.
Today I started browsing around and gathering some pictures for the book. I think I am going to go with a “Whistle Blower” type title. I found a great picture of a 3D whistle that could very well be the cover art for the book. More to come.
The Underground Book – Day 4
Revisions:
5-28-10: Initial release.
Today was a pretty light day. I had looked over Voltaire’s initial draft which is a great overview of freeware and the differences between open source and closed source. It is a different chapter than the rest of the book, which I think will bring an interesting point of view once you get through my 5 chapters of “underground perspective”.
So what are we going to do about the book titles? That is a good question. I think what I will do is pick a short and sweet title. If the title is too long, then it doesn’t look right on the cover of the book. The other aspect of it is how to pick a book title that is descriptive enough to give the reader an idea of what the book is about, but then at the same time not be vague enough.
Sounds like a hard task to do, right? Well, it is!
Here are some tentative titles, nothing is set in stone yet. If you want to make a list minute contribution, do it now!
- The Underground Book
- Life of the Underground
- The World Down Under
- A Book of Tools
- A Book for Tools
- Underground Philosophies Revealed: The World Beneath Your Feet
- The Underground: Digital Secrets Revealed
- You Don’t Know Jack Squat About the Underground
- The Underground Light
- The Underground Whistle Blower: Set Your Mind Free
If anybody is curious, I am really digging the idea of a “whistle blower” idea, so if you got a spin off of that, let me know. Thanks.
Underground Book Status – Day 3
Revisions:
5-27-10: Initial release.
Tired. That is the best word I can say right now. 🙂 Actually, I just spent the last 2 to 3 hours going over the rest of the book, making revisions here and there and trying to clarify certain concepts better. What will probably happen is once I have the two new chapters, I will review the whole book one more time and see what needs to be done.
Chyea is gotten tied up at work, so I won’t have a draft ready from him until Friday or Saturday some time. Voltaire’s chapter is still in process last I heard. I have started to come up with some book title ideas so I’ll share some of them tomorrow. I need some time to sleep on it and see if it still makes sense in the morning. See you tomorrow.
Underground Book Update – Day 2
Revisions:
5-26-10: Initial release.
Today I got off on a shaky start time wise. I had spent some time working on a Blur tunngle tutorial (game works great btw), and also working on a side game project trying to figure out how to make LAN work with PES 2009 (no success yet).
Despite all the activity, I have managed to spend some time on the book. I have reviewed 29 out of 68 pages, and cleaned up some syntax and grammar errors. As I started to read what I had written, I noticed that the book in a broad sense does take up a journalistic type view, as I do switch from the first person to the third person every now and then to help clarify a point, thought, or process. I think in the end, it will be OK because it is the idea that matters.
Maybe if I was J.K. Rowling then yes I should be more careful of the writing style, but who cares? This is a book for us, by us so we will continue to work under the philosophy that anything goes.
I have given Chyea my updated revisions to his draft last night, so he will see what he can do about his section. Voltaire is continuing to work on his section, but I have not had a chance to read the chapter yet.
This weekend will be somewhat tight as I try to plan ahead. With Memorial day weekend coming, I can see this being a potential issue in terms of how my time will be spent. Nonetheless, we will continue to move on. I hope to have the rest of the book reviewed tomorrow. Incorporate the extra chapters sometime over the weekend.
A title and book cover art still has to be picked. I have some ideas in my head. With time running short, I may have to pull onto the community for some graphic assistance. Zax did have a nice mockup I do believe. 🙂
Next update is coming tomorrow.
Welcome to the Underground. 