Benjamin Kohl

From the Blog

Dec

Deus Ex Human Revolution Mouse Lag

Posted by benjamin at 5:21 pm

First of all, I am a huge fan of the Deus Ex games. Yes, even the sequel, Invisible War. I am only posting this to share the solution to an issue I found while playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If you are new to the game and you are experiencing mouse lag where you look in a direction and the movement is slightly lagging, simply disable V-Sync in the graphics settings in the game and the problem will be fixed. It took me awhile to find this fix using Google, so I figured I would dedicate an entire blog post to it so others might be able to find it sooner.

Enjoy the game! I know I am.

Oct

Syntax Highlighter Test

Posted by benjamin at 9:18 pm

This post only exists to test a syntax highlighter on the site because I would like to share some code sometimes and I’d rather it not look like plain text.

<?php
   $message_recipient = "you silly goose";
   echo "This is a test, $message_recipient!";
?>

Aug

Facebook Comments

Posted by benjamin at 3:17 pm

I’m going to be switching over to Facebook Comments for this website soon. I need to do it to combat the spam. I have an approval process for comments but I really don’t feel like sifting through 50 spam comments everyday. I get everything from used car spam to bicycle shopping spam. The most fun part of the spam is how the author/bot always tries to pass it off like they are responding to the content of the blog entry. They’ll say things like, “This is very good. It is obvious you are an expert on this subject.” Great stuff.

Jul

The Crane Wives

Posted by benjamin at 10:54 pm

This is just a short little tidbit I’d like to share. Lately, I have been listening obsessively to this folk band called The Crane Wives from West Michigan. Folk is not normally my preferred style of music, but they are making a believer out of me. It makes me want to bust out the mountain dulcimer (yes, I have one) and play it. I’d also like to start playing my violin and guitar again as well. If only there were more time in the day! Anyway, give this band a listen. The singers have beautiful voices and every song is unique and amazing.

Jul

The First Two Days of P90x

Posted by benjamin at 8:57 am

I have now completed the first two days of the P90x exercise program and I have discovered that I was not at all prepared for it physically or mentally. I knew it was going to be difficult but I had no idea that I would be this sore after the first two days considering I have been lifting weights at the gym roughly 3 days each week for the last year and a half. At the very least, my gym membership helped me to shed 46 pounds. I’m sure I’d be struggling even more right now if I still weighed 227 pounds! I am so glad those days of being a blob are over but the best is yet to come.

Day one featured the Chest & Back exercises followed by Ab Ripper X. It took me nearly an hour and a half to complete both sets of exercises and I was pooped by the end of it. Though I had to take a few breaks, I know I didn’t take it too easy because I feel an incredible amount of soreness in my chest and back as well as my arms.

Day two introduced me to the Plyometrics portion of the P90x program. It involved a lot of jumping around giving me an intense cardio workout that tested the strength and endurance of my legs. By the end of it, my legs were like noodles and I could barely lift myself out of a chair when I sat down.

I am forced to take a night off from P90x tonight because I have a softball game. This is probably a good thing because I don’t think I’d be able to do much in the Arms & Shoulders portion tonight. My arms are still incredibly sore from the first day. In order to keep on schedule, I will not take a rest/stretch day at the end of the week. I don’t want my 90 days to last over 100.

Jul

Prelude to Foundation

Posted by benjamin at 7:43 pm

For the first time in a long time, I just completed a fiction novel that was so good that I had trouble putting it down. Thankfully, it is just part one in a series of seven books. The book is called Prelude to Foundation (Foundation, Book 1) (See all Literature & Fiction Books) by Isaac Asimov. Before starting this book, I learned that Asimov wrote it long after writing the original Foundation trilogy so I am fortunate enough to be able to read the series in chronological order though it was not written that way. One thing that I really liked about this book is that it has a great plot and it is very fast-paced. I can’t stand stories that drag on forever or spend ten pages describing nothing relevant in great detail. This story wastes no time with any of that nonsense.

I have also learned that Isaac Asimov’s robot series is part of this timeline though those stories take place many years prior to the Foundation series. I’m going to go ahead and finish up this series before taking a trip back in time to read the robot series. I’ve already read I, Robot (See all Literature & Fiction Books) a long time go which is what got me interested in Isaac Asimov in the first place. I highly recommend that book as well if you have never read it.

I won’t spoil any surprises, but Prelude to Foundation is about a mathematician that gives a presentation on his theory that mathematics can be used to predict the future. This concept captures the attention of many powerful people and the book follows his adventures as he is being pursued by various local governments and the emperor’s assistant. If you’ve already read the robot books by Asimov, this book is cool because it makes references to the existence of robots in “historical” times.

If you like science fiction as much as I do, I am pretty sure you will like this book. So get reading!

Jul

Basic Home Brewing

Posted by benjamin at 7:55 am

Yesterday I launched Basic Home Brewing as a resource for those that want to get started brewing their own beer. Brewing your own beer is fun, easy and rewarding. My very first attempt at brewing beer went well and the beer was great so don’t let the fear of having to struggle through a few bad batches get to you. All you have to do is follow instructions closely and you’ll make good beer from the beginning.

Basic Home Brewing will not bombard you with advanced methods or insane amounts of detail. The goal isn’t to baffle you, rather it is to point you in the right direction and get you thinking about the key concepts of the beer brewing process.