timwheatley.org

Ever wanted to play a game against a friend on the other side of the world, but the game only offers multiplayer support for a direct Local Area Connection (LAN) between the computers?

Ever wanted to share files like you would between connected computers in your own home, but do it with computers connected on the internet miles apart?

Well… I have the answer - and to my surprise - it is absolutely free! (The version of Hamachi - the utility you will be using - that is needed, is free).

I have tried and tested this with Command & Conquer 3, playing via ‘Network’ in the game’s menu. I am in Chicago, USA and my brother is in England, UK. The performance was excellent!

1. Go to the LogMeIn Web site and download Hamachi.
2. Install with all the (currently, anyway) default options onto all the machines you want to connect. Select the Free/Basic version, but if you have the money you can buy the higher version to help support the development team.
3. Run Hamachi on the machine that will be most often hosting games. It is best to use the fastest/best machine as the host.
4a. You can do the tutorial where you join their test network if you want to.
4b. Create a network on the machine that will be hosting the game most often. Make a note of the name of the network and it’s password. Make sure the network is active and minimise Hamachi (You should get three green icons in the taskbar when the Network is active).
5. Run Hamachi on all the client machines (all the machines you installed Hamachi on that are not the host machine you just setup).
6. Click Create or Join Networks and enter the name and password of the Network you created on the host machine.
7. Everything ’should’ be automatically setup by Windows. On Vista you will get an option of whether you want the Network to be Public or Private, select Private.
8. Run your game on the host, select LAN/Network game and create a game.
9. Run your game on the clients, select LAN/Network game and you should, I hope, be able to see the game listed - join it.

There, wasn’t that simple?

Devin Hester was rated #8 player of the year by the NFL Network, even though all he did was return kicks! If you think that American Football is all about big guys who can hardly move, think again…

Sheila and I went to the Museum yesterday. It’s free after 5pm.

I wonder how many will get the movie reference…? I’m not talking about Family Guy!

Go on, stare at it...

That’s what all the experts are saying… Who will the Chicago Bears pick from the NFL Draft this weekend? Only time will tell…

I think he would make an excellent choice for any team though, check out his speed and strength:

This is actually a really exciting prospect. Imagine being literally able to fight a war for your race within EVE, able to kill individuals of the other sides as and when you want to! This expansion is going to be fantastic!

Read more about the EVE-Online expansion called “Empryian Age”…

If you see this story on your news today, or read this article about this “study” - you might be inclined to think that this research is actually worth the paper it’s written on.

Let me get something straight - It is not.

The study found that 56% of women who eat a certain type of diet have a certain sex child. 56%. Doesn’t 56% sound awfully close to 50%? A result of 50% would mean that food makes NO DIFFERENCE.

The fact that this study was based upon information provided by just 740 women really makes me wonder, because you are literally talking about a difference of 44 children from that 740. There is no evidence that this is related to the mother’s food intake, not unless all the women lived in the same house, had the same job, ate EXACTLY the same food, etc. The fact that it’s so close to 50% just means that really they’re being silly saying that 6% means anything.

Like many of the scientific studies that researchers, statisticians and scientists seem to get paid to produce; this study is utterly, utterly flawed.

Yet another wasted research fund…

Sheila and I went for our interview at 9:30 this morning. We went in prepared to wait for three hours or more (like our Lawyer had warned us), went in with a mountain of evidence, but when it came to 9:20, we were already being called into the room ten minutes early. About twenty minutes later, we were approved.

I was actually so nervous before the interview that I noticed I had what I can only describe as hives forming on the palm of both my hands. I had convinced myself that we would get denied again and as we walked towards the interview room, following the interviewer, I felt myself starting to relax a little.

We went in, sat down and the interviewer took me through a number of really simple questions, such as where I live, what Sheila’s name is, that sort of thing. I guess if they suspect it’s a scam marriage they probably go deeper into their book of questions, but she never seemed to feel the need with us. Let’s face it, I am not coming to the U.S. for the healthcare system, the gun controls, the social security benefits or the economic stability am I!? I think perhaps the fact I am coming from the UK to the USA helps a lot…

We had to hand over various documents and copies, my birth certificate, Sheila’s birth certificate, proof of shared bank accounts, shared insurance, shared taxes we had filed, etc. We next went through photos of Sheila and I at various things such as weddings, the walk we did in aid of Breast Cancer Research, all that stuff. As we got to each photo the examiner asked us who each person was in each photo and obviously I pointed them out and said their name.

Then suddenly the examiner decided she had seen enough, she sat back in her chair and said: “Well, I think I’ve seen enough so I am going to approve your case today - you will get your Green Card in about two weeks.”

Sheila and I, totally shocked that we got a decision right then, both kind of said: “What?!” Then we both offered for the examiner to see more of the evidence we had brought, kind of still confused and shocked and when the examiner refused again, it finally hit us. So we got up out of our chairs and almost started stumbling towards the door like we both wanted to get out of the office before she changed her mind!

There really are so many people to thank. This has been a really hard thing to go through and the longer I have been away from my family, the more I have missed them and being ‘trapped’ here in the USA, not even being able to visit them, was really horrible. Everyone who helped, I really can’t say it enough: Thank You. You made dealing with all this and coming out of the other side as successful applicants a reality.

If anyone is going through immigration - get a lawyer. We were going through the Immigration process for fifteen months, twelve of those were with a failed application that we did without a lawyer, three months were this successful application where we made use of a lawyer.

If you are looking for a good Immigration Attorney in the Chicago area, try our guy: David Lehman, (312) 360 0050.

I know that before I met Sheila, I thought that Cheerleading involved standing there with ‘pom poms’, dancing a little and shouting “woo!” all the time. That’s all those of us outside the U.S. see of it when we occasionally catch sight of a Cheerleader on a game of American Football or Basketball.

Sheila used to be a cheerleader and before we met had told me about times when she has saved… Sheila’s job was to push people up into the air and try to catch anyone who fell. One particular girl who was flipping through the air was caught by Sheila just before landing on the top of her head. I can only imagine the serious spinal injuries that girl would have had if Sheila hadn’t been there…

Real cheerleading is actually something I’d call ‘group gymnastics’. It’s complex routines that include some shouting, some dancing, but also a fair amount of flips and stances where girls can be literally 15ft up in the air stood ontop of someone who happens to be stood ontop of someone else. Girls get pushed up into the air to heights of over 15ft and have to turn their body in the air to be in the right position to be caught by others below… It’s a very dangerous sport.

It’s with both great pride and a little frustration that I make this post…

I think I often post things worth reading, but most of my posts get maybe 1 or 2 views per day… One though, gets many, many views and has been my most popular post for a long time now.

So it’s sort of disappointing that all my ’soapbox’ posts seem ignored while a post that (to me) just shows how poorly Microsoft’s testing regime is, is my most popular post.

Here’s the stats from the admin section of my Web site.

So since I began collecting stats, on 1st March, just over one-third of all views have been of that post. 1311 views, so far.

Things got a little wobbly here in Chicago this morning as the ground started to shake and I heard a little rumble of noise. Nothing fell over though so I doubt it was a very big one, not here at least. I’m yet to see any coverage on TV so I don’t know if it’s just me going crazy.

Added: 5.4 Magnitude Earthquake just confirmed on TV.

Added: You can find out more information at CNN.