Get Steam Specials via RSS Feed

This is just a little hack I’ve used so I can subscribe to the “Specials” that are periodically released and published on the Steam website.

If you’re interested in letting your Feed client simplify your life by bringing the Steam updates directly to you then I suggest you subscribe to the feed that I’ve setup (via a great free service call Feed For Free).

The Steam News – Specials feed:

http://feed43.com/4758788726706067.xml

The Steam News – Announcements feed:

http://feed43.com/7724635415454743.xml

When I searched for a feed for these Specials I came across one forum post after another asking the same thing. We all know how annoying that can be, so to remedy the situation I decided to post a solution myself. 😉

As you can see below, these pages don’t have feeds of their own, but the very awesome Feed For Free site will let you pull the updates straight into your feed reader with ease. See my Google Reader pictured below.

Awesome, I beat Solitaire in one deal!

This is the first time that I’ve ever beat Solitaire without having to go through the deal more than once.

I think they call it Vegas style or something like that in Solitaire on Windows. 😉

I started to think that it wasn’t possible, but now I know. 😉

UPDATE (2008-11-15):

Some how I did it twice more tonight!

Sorry. I was watching Die Hard 4 (a.k.a. Live Free or Die Hard) while playing and was too lazy to crop the pictures. 😉

Wired: Win at Rock Paper Scissors

So after reading my feeds from Google Reader (which is just an awesome feed reader from any way you look at it) I came across on that was interesting and just plain humorous at the same time. I haven’t really played “Rock Paper Scissors” in years…at least not seriously.

This quick article gives you some good tips on what to look for to make your next move and how to lead the game. Not that I expect any of us to really be making use of these tips, but it’s funny so I thought I would share the info.

1. Play paper first. Rookies tend to lead with rock, so paper is the safest opener. (A savvy opponent will try the same, causing a tie.) If you win, claim victory; if not, start the next throw right away, because of course it’s two out of three.

2. Exploit copycats. Casual players often switch to the object that just beat them. You can encourage them to do this by shouting, “Paper wins!” when you defeat their rock. Then throw scissors on the next round.

3. Watch for doubles. People rarely throw the same hand three times in a row; if they play scissors twice, your next move is paper. Also, keep up the pace so they have less time to think and instead fall into patterns.

Hopefully you enjoyed learning these tips as much as I did, haha. 😀