xkcd’s Munroe vs. New Yorker’s Katz in a cartoon-off.

There is nothing quite like attending an Icrontic event. There’s always something awesome going on, involving somebody, well… awesome. Whether it be impromptu “Run to Meijer at 2am to buy Rock Band”, taping people to objects, spontaneous deep frying of food in driveways, or just a lot of great times with great people, IC events never fail to please.

With that in mind, be sure to remember that we are having our second annual Oktoberfest celebration. This year we’re gonna be getting a half barrel of Kuhnhenn’s All Hallows Ale for the celebration (that’s 126 pints, ma’am), which is one of the best beers Kuhnhenn’s has ever produced.

Whether you are an old Icrontic fixture (I’m looking at you, Ghoosdum), or a complete newb (I wanna see some 0xDECAFBAD at this shindig!), you really should consider flying your autumn ass out to Warren, MI for what promises to be an incredible party. (more…)

You have to burn the rope. MAKE SURE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG AT THE END. Thanks CB Droege for finding this gem.

Hexus says they’ve found the browser to beat Chrome, Firefox, and IE.

Icrontic is now on Flickr. If you have a Flickr account, and you’ve got pics of Icrontic events, please feel free to add them to the group pool.

DJ Thrax - a pic from our Flickr group

Please tag your photos with the word “Icrontic” if you do choose to upload them. Also, tagging your photos with important words like “beer” or “chicago” or “LAN” or whatever is going on in the pics is cool too.

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/icrontic/

(Ed note: Check out these moves while I revolve it.)

How to build a PC in a briefcase for your LAN needs.

Valve have become masters of suspense, letting information trickle out and leading their fans along with tidbits of news about their continuing saga of TF2 “refreshes”.

Cry some more

I hesitate to call them “updates” because every time they release a new “update” it adds an entirely new dimension to the base gameplay. The refreshes generally require even expert players to learn a whole new map, skillset, or strategy to keep up with the game.

First we had the Medic update, then the Pyro, and now the Heavy update is here.

The Heavy update includes the following:

New Weapons

The KGB (Killing Gloves of Boxing) - Melee weapon that gives +5 seconds of guaranteed critical hits (cumulative) when used to kill an opponent. If you get into a situation where you can punch multiple enemies, you can build up a good crit charge and then switch to your other weapons to become a one man army.

Natascha - New minigun that does 25% less damage per hit than Sasha, but slows enemies.

Sandvich - A unique new weapon - instead of doing damage, you pull out a “sandvich”, and eat loudly for four seconds (during which time you are vulnerable to attack), but you regain 120 health when finished snacking.

New Game mode

TF2 Arena: Think of it as controlled Sudden Death. Teams are randomly assigned and you play to win 5 quick matches. You have a small arena with a single central control point. Rush it and take it for the win, OR kill off all enemies. Either way, count on frenzied, quick matches.

In our IC trial run of arena_lumberyard today, the game crashed for everyone. Probably some bugs to be worked out.

New maps

Badwater Basin - a new Payload map that emphasizes more “open” areas instead of creating chokepoints like Goldrush.

Steel - a “community” map that has 5 control points - except this time the map changes depending on which points you choose to capture. Goal is to cap the final point.

Arena maps - Lumberyard, Ravine, Well, Badlands, and Granary - Lumberyard is a new “Alpine”-style map, with a completely different style of environment (breaking away from the desert/miner theme). Ravine is a new map in the familiar desert/mine style, and Well, Granary, and Badlands have undergone “significant” changes in order to fit in with the new game mode.

New Achievements

35 new achievements for the Heavy. Like previous updates, some seem almost a given, and others seem almost impossible under normal circumstances.

All in all, this is another feature packed FREE update from Valve.

If you’d like to join the Icrontic Crew in TF2, we play almost nightly. Check into our forums or join our Steam group.

Recereating Batman’s Tumbler

Best alarm clock ever: WAKE n’ BACON

Mrs. Morgan found the volumizer.

This isn’t the first time Merriam-Webster has showed us nerds a little love. Last December, they announced that “Woot” was their 2007 word of the year. However, the “word of the year” award doesn’t mean the selected word will actually end up in print. This time around they really went big.

Last week Merriam-Webster announced over 100 new entries would be added to its new edition of the Collegiate Dictionary. Sure “dirty bomb”, “malware”, and “netroots” are all really great new words, but “fanboy” takes the cake.

Who would of known that the word fanboy has been around for almost a century?

Fanboy (1919): boy who is an enthusiastic devotee, such as of comics or movies.

What do you think should be next? My vote goes for “awesomesauce”!

Every year we haphazardly slide into the behemoth that is the IC LAN, and every year we come away glowing, grinning, laughing, and recalling all the great memories we made. When over 50 people congregate at ICHQ for a week(end?), amazing things happen.

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Ars is carrying a cute little story about the IE team sending Mozilla a cake to congratulate them on shipping Firefox 3.

Found at arstechnica.com

Once in a while, the faceless corporate behemoth shows that there are actual human beings working behind the scenes.

ThinkComputers reviews the SumoSac Sultan. It’s two sizes bigger than ours.

Sumo is a bit ubiquitous in certain circles on the web nowadays. If you spend time on sites like Icrontic, you’ve probably seen the ads with the beautiful girls on the big bean bags. Perhaps you’ve wondered if they’re really that comfortable or useful. Hopefully, after this read, it’ll be a little clearer for you.

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