Not much going on in Cyberville at the moment: Although it is "Field Trip Season" (we don't officially call it this!), today it's kinda slow, and I thought I'd use this opportunity to post!

If you don't follow robotics competitions, this might not interest you. But, to those who love a good robot match: FIRST National Robotics Competition in Atlanta, GA is this week! One of the cool things about being the Cyberville Gallery Leader is that the Science Center supports my involvement with FIRST! I am going to drive down to Atlanta on Wednesday and for the rest of the week, I'll be a competition referee! Normally, I'm the head referee for the St. Louis Regional, but at the national competition, I'm a normal ref. I need more years under my belt before I can head ref at nationals. If you're going, stop by my field (don't know which field I'm on) and say, "Hi!"

If you're into computer game history and reviving old gaming genres, this article about interactive fiction is fascinating. We used to call them text adventures, and technically, they're not "games" in the true sense of the word. However, it's good to know that "interactive fiction" is still alive albeit in an obscure part of the net. It let me take a walk down memory lane though!

Here's a cool new tech toy that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on: the Sony Reader(warning to those with a slow connection: this link leads to a page that uses Flash)! It uses e-ink to dynamically create pages that look just like paper! I wish Sony would donate some to our gallery! ;)

Since this is my weekly post, sometimes, I will just throw out a couple links of interesting stuff! Check these out!

Do you know what your zip code looks like? Check this page out! It uses Google Maps (if you haven't used Google maps before, it's fantastic!)

Are you an Apple fan!? For those who want a behind the scenes look at their retail operation, check out this account of an Apple retail employee. Since Apple is very hush hush about their product releases, even their store employees are left out of the loop! They do make some cool computers though!

And for all of you geeks out there: you know how much you love your coffee. Check out this flickr site on how to roast your own coffee beans! (flickr.com is a cool photo storage site that does a lot more than store your digital photos!)

I apologize for taking so long to update the Cyberville Blog...I'm going to make it a routine to update it on Friday mornings from now on! Don't worry, I'll finish the Furby Autopsy! I'm actually going to create a standalone page for it because if I do it in blog fashion, it would be backwards!

What has been happening in Cyberville? A lot!

In March, which is also known as "FIRST Robotics Season, the St. Louis Science Center sponsored the St. Louis FIRST Regional. I, Frank the Cyberville Gallery Leader, was the head referee (My 3rd year as head ref), and I had a blast! The game this year, "Aim High" was well conceived and a joy to ref: also the robots this year were really cool as the game was very demanding. I also want to take this time to "shout out" to the Zabriski's who are vital to pulling off the game: two of them refereed with me, and their father was the field manager! Thanks! The whole field crew this year was great! I also want to congratulate Team 71 ("Team Hammond"), as they were the Chairman's Cup winner and were a part of the competition's winning alliance (along with teams 537 and 547). I also went up to Chicago and head ref'd up there as well! Team 71 was there too, but this time, they lost in the final round! #71 is definitely one of those "legendary" teams as they have won the national competition a record 4 times!! Speaking of the national competition, I'll be finding my way to Atlanta at the end of April to be a referee. It's at the Georgia Dome again, and it's great fun!

Upcoming Event: At the end of May, we have the Science Center/Warfactory LANetarium LAN party!!! It will run from 9:30am to 2am on Saturday, May 27!! We'll even have the championship rounds on the Omnimax screen! Even if you're not a gamer, I invite you to watch the fast and furious gaming action as the event is open to the public from Noon to 5:30pm. If you have a sweet gaming rig and what to join us, go over to Warfactory's website to sign up! You have to be over 14, and bring your own computer! If and when there are any more announcements, I'll post them here!