2010 Christmas List!
Starcraft 2 Zerg T-Shirt - $20.00: Medium Size
This shirt is just plain awesome. I'm a Zerg player, and a Starcraft 2 enthusiast. What better gift for a total gamer geek?
Apple Ipod Nano 16GB - $179.99: Exclusive Red(Online Only!)
Music is perhaps one of the biggest parts of my life. I listen to it all the time, wherever I am. My phone doesn't really cut it as an MP3 player, and my old IPod has seen far better days.
1TB External Portable Hard Drive - $109.99: No external power required
I have a ton of data that I keep with me on a regular basis that I can't have on just one computer. I need more space, and make it portable!
RAZER Carcharias 3.5mm Connector Circumaural Professional Gaming Headset
This is a convenient need I put on my list a while ago. Why convenient? While gaming tonight the other headphone to my current headphones went out, rendering them almost completely useless. Need this!
..... I don't know if there's anything else I want or need at this point honestly (other than a car starter for my car. But that's what my saved up birthday money is for!
By the way, the Images are links to the places I found them at!
RockMelt - A Social Networking browser
My sister brought up RockMelt not too long ago as a browser she was curious about, so I decided to check it out. We'll start with what I called it, a Social Networking Browser.
As it stands, the invite only version requires you to log in to Facebook to load up the browser. The upside is the total integration into Facebook that it gives you. The left side of the screen holds your friends list, starting at the top left in a single line to the bottom. From here you can click on your friends, see their online status, send them a chat message, OR view their profile. All this is done through popup windows. In the very top left is your picture; it allows you to update your status, again within a popup window. Keep in mind the whole "In a popup thing", it's a very common theme, and it's really well demonstrated.
The right sidebar is similar to the friend bar, only instead of friends, you can add you can add your favorite blogs, and RSS based websites. If you're curious as to what kind of websites use an RSS to update their site, think of any news website, Twitter, any blogs, Engadget, battle.net, etc. Also on this right side, is your integration to Facebook. You can few the feed and your personal wall on the right side. Keep in mind all of this is done without going to Facebook.com. The popup concept is also used for the search bar, and brings up an overlay that you don't have to lose your search while viewing websites you searched for.
Honestly, it's hard to talk about how cool some of these features are without experiencing it yourself. You should head over to their website and sign up to get an invite, or shoot me a message and I can send you an invite over Facebook!
P.S. It feels and works a lot like Chrome, and not all HTML code works properly, so some sites may look a little weird (like my blog pictures), which it totally screws up, but otherwise I'd give it a try!
As it stands, the invite only version requires you to log in to Facebook to load up the browser. The upside is the total integration into Facebook that it gives you. The left side of the screen holds your friends list, starting at the top left in a single line to the bottom. From here you can click on your friends, see their online status, send them a chat message, OR view their profile. All this is done through popup windows. In the very top left is your picture; it allows you to update your status, again within a popup window. Keep in mind the whole "In a popup thing", it's a very common theme, and it's really well demonstrated.
The right sidebar is similar to the friend bar, only instead of friends, you can add you can add your favorite blogs, and RSS based websites. If you're curious as to what kind of websites use an RSS to update their site, think of any news website, Twitter, any blogs, Engadget, battle.net, etc. Also on this right side, is your integration to Facebook. You can few the feed and your personal wall on the right side. Keep in mind all of this is done without going to Facebook.com. The popup concept is also used for the search bar, and brings up an overlay that you don't have to lose your search while viewing websites you searched for.
Honestly, it's hard to talk about how cool some of these features are without experiencing it yourself. You should head over to their website and sign up to get an invite, or shoot me a message and I can send you an invite over Facebook!
P.S. It feels and works a lot like Chrome, and not all HTML code works properly, so some sites may look a little weird (like my blog pictures), which it totally screws up, but otherwise I'd give it a try!
1,000th Viewer post!
While I'm no where near a large blog, 1,000 views is a good start (I think!) Oh... what to talk about?
So today, we had our first dusting of snow. I am not pleased. I love winter and the cold, but the snow has always irritated me. If it was at least polite and only fell on the grass and trees, I'd be more hesitant to verbally smash the snow into the ground. Christmas is getting close!!! Even though I'm poorer than I have ever been during this season, There's something about Christmas (including the month of no classes!) that makes everything feel good.
As Christmas draws closer, I keep thinking about what, if anything, I'd like FOR Christmas. Maybe in the next couple days I'll put up my wish list. So what are your favorite things about Christmas?
So today, we had our first dusting of snow. I am not pleased. I love winter and the cold, but the snow has always irritated me. If it was at least polite and only fell on the grass and trees, I'd be more hesitant to verbally smash the snow into the ground. Christmas is getting close!!! Even though I'm poorer than I have ever been during this season, There's something about Christmas (including the month of no classes!) that makes everything feel good.
As Christmas draws closer, I keep thinking about what, if anything, I'd like FOR Christmas. Maybe in the next couple days I'll put up my wish list. So what are your favorite things about Christmas?
Good Game Mastercard, Good game.
"Hackers rushed to the defense of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Visa, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank and others who have acted against the site and its jailed founder Julian Assange.
Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems at the website for MasterCard, which pulled the plug on its relationship with WikiLeaks a day ago.
MasterCard acknowledged "a service disruption" involving its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, but spokesman James Issokson said consumers could still use their credit cards for secure transactions. Later Wednesday, Visa's website was inaccessible.
The online attacks are part of a wave of support for WikiLeaks that is sweeping the Internet. Twitter was choked with messages of solidarity for the group, while the site's Facebook page hit 1 million fans.
Late Wednesday, Operation Payback itself appeared to run into problems, as many of its sites went down. It was unclear who was behind the counterattack."
It's interesting when you think about it. A group of hackers went out and stood up for the freedom of speech. Also, it's what happens when a clearly government pressured company pulls ties from a public site that people actually like. How can I say it was government pressured? Because it's fairly obvious. A company like Mastercard or Paypal don't just close an account because they don't like you, or for no reason at all. There's obviously a nested reason why they'd do something like that.
You also have to think about it like this. All the information that was procured by WikiLeaks was completely published to their site in its entirety. At this point, anyone who wanted that information or was curious about it has probably saved or looked at it. At this point, trying forcefully to starve the site of money just makes you look bad. Perhaps there's a message to be sent to people like WikiLeaks, but if you want to make a clear message, attacking from the shadows isn't the way to do it.
Either way.. Interesting Stuff indeed!
Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility in a Twitter message for causing severe technological problems at the website for MasterCard, which pulled the plug on its relationship with WikiLeaks a day ago.
MasterCard acknowledged "a service disruption" involving its Secure Code system for verifying online payments, but spokesman James Issokson said consumers could still use their credit cards for secure transactions. Later Wednesday, Visa's website was inaccessible.
The online attacks are part of a wave of support for WikiLeaks that is sweeping the Internet. Twitter was choked with messages of solidarity for the group, while the site's Facebook page hit 1 million fans.
Late Wednesday, Operation Payback itself appeared to run into problems, as many of its sites went down. It was unclear who was behind the counterattack."
It's interesting when you think about it. A group of hackers went out and stood up for the freedom of speech. Also, it's what happens when a clearly government pressured company pulls ties from a public site that people actually like. How can I say it was government pressured? Because it's fairly obvious. A company like Mastercard or Paypal don't just close an account because they don't like you, or for no reason at all. There's obviously a nested reason why they'd do something like that.
You also have to think about it like this. All the information that was procured by WikiLeaks was completely published to their site in its entirety. At this point, anyone who wanted that information or was curious about it has probably saved or looked at it. At this point, trying forcefully to starve the site of money just makes you look bad. Perhaps there's a message to be sent to people like WikiLeaks, but if you want to make a clear message, attacking from the shadows isn't the way to do it.
Either way.. Interesting Stuff indeed!
Blog Lovin' - Track your favorite blogs!
A [friend] of mine showed me a great website that allows you track many of your favorite blogs (you know, like mine!). [Blog Lovin'] is a very simple site that allows you to search any number of blogs, and assuming you have an account with them, you can add these blogs to your feed. Blog Lovin' will notify you when these blogs are updated via several contact methods that you can choose.
I don't use this site a whole lot, as I have a lot of face time with my computer to begin with, and following my favorite websites isn't all that difficult. Still, I can see the usefulness of this site. In addition to the benefits for the blog readers, the blog writers also may gain more attention by you using this site. A favorites page is there to showcase what people on blog lovin' are looking at the most. Even if you never use this site, make sure to follow your favorite blogs, and maybe they'll get more attention!
I don't use this site a whole lot, as I have a lot of face time with my computer to begin with, and following my favorite websites isn't all that difficult. Still, I can see the usefulness of this site. In addition to the benefits for the blog readers, the blog writers also may gain more attention by you using this site. A favorites page is there to showcase what people on blog lovin' are looking at the most. Even if you never use this site, make sure to follow your favorite blogs, and maybe they'll get more attention!
Anime - A list of shows you should watch
Anime has always been one of those things that has grabbed my attention for years. Unique art styles converge on a single medium, and are able to tell stories and show us a world we can't experience first hand. I've compiled a list of anime I think any anime enthusiast or someone curious about it should watch. I'm not adding Bleach or Naruto, beacuse they go on forever. If you can't say it in over 400 episodes, you probably never will.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [TTGL]
Gurren Lagann takes place on earth in the future, where human beings have been forced under the surface to live in isolated civilizations, known as villages. These villages have no contact with the surface world or other villages. Simon and Kamina embark on a journey to secure the surface world, but unforeseen consequences may come of living on the surface.
Ergo Proxy
Romdo is the main city built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and AutoReivs, which are basically robots inhabit Romdo peacefully. A series of murders committed by robots and AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus (which causes them to become self-aware) begins to threaten the delicate balance of Romdo. Behind the scenes, the government has been conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid life form called a "Proxy", whice are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.
Darker Than Black
Ten years ago, a massive territory called Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo, altering the sky and destroying a large part of the city. The real stars disappeared and were replaced by false stars. People possessing various special abilities emerged, each capable of different supernatural feats who were named Contractors. Each fake star has a corresponding Contractor, which reacts to their activities. Kept secret from the masses, these individuals are known to murder in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationale.
Death Note
The story follows a young student, Light Yagami, who is a genius at his school. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die, as well as various other rules. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (or death god) named Ryuk, Light plans to become a god and establish a new world order by passing his keen judgment on those he deems evil and anyone who gets in his way.
I can't remember all the anime I've watched, so this list is barely what I'd call complete. Go on and add an anime you find worth watching in the comments below. I've been looking for some new ones to watch anyways!
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [TTGL]
Gurren Lagann takes place on earth in the future, where human beings have been forced under the surface to live in isolated civilizations, known as villages. These villages have no contact with the surface world or other villages. Simon and Kamina embark on a journey to secure the surface world, but unforeseen consequences may come of living on the surface.
Ergo Proxy
Romdo is the main city built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and AutoReivs, which are basically robots inhabit Romdo peacefully. A series of murders committed by robots and AutoReivs infected with the Cogito virus (which causes them to become self-aware) begins to threaten the delicate balance of Romdo. Behind the scenes, the government has been conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid life form called a "Proxy", whice are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.
Darker Than Black
Ten years ago, a massive territory called Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo, altering the sky and destroying a large part of the city. The real stars disappeared and were replaced by false stars. People possessing various special abilities emerged, each capable of different supernatural feats who were named Contractors. Each fake star has a corresponding Contractor, which reacts to their activities. Kept secret from the masses, these individuals are known to murder in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationale.
Death Note
The story follows a young student, Light Yagami, who is a genius at his school. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die, as well as various other rules. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami (or death god) named Ryuk, Light plans to become a god and establish a new world order by passing his keen judgment on those he deems evil and anyone who gets in his way.
I can't remember all the anime I've watched, so this list is barely what I'd call complete. Go on and add an anime you find worth watching in the comments below. I've been looking for some new ones to watch anyways!
Who cares? Play it the way you want to.
Any game has a play style or item or weapon that people will always turn to you when you employ and and start to rage. My response to them? Get over it.
FPS games: The grenade launcher, aka "The Noob Tube"
To us who love this gun and use it to make these people cry, we call it instead 'the Pro Pipe". Those who hate it are none to pleased with us. And why should they? It's an instant kill and can hit multiple people at the same time. In retrospect however, the game developer put this weapon in the game for a reason. That's like going to war and saying "No it's okay, I'll leave my tanks at home, they're OP anyways". NO. That doesn't happen. Use the weapons and strategies you want to and have a damn good time doing it.
Starcraft 2: Cheese builds.
More accurately, they should be called "All in" builds, because if they don't work, you're basically screwed. For SC2 gamers, they're basically any of the following: Mass Marine, 6 Pool(7 Pool), Cannon Proxy, Gateway proxy, and up until the last big patch: Rax proxy. People gave a lot of flak to people who wanted to do these builds, and to my pleasure, people still did them. No whiny skill-less player above anyone should be telling you how to play the game.
I guess my point in mentioning this is my irritation when I see a thread on Battle.net inundated with people flaming someone over the way he likes to play the game. It's not unstoppable, and it doesn't break the game. If you can't defeat an opponent playing a way you don't like, learn how to beat it, and start pounding them into the ground. Don't go onto a forum and start trying to get a company to remove or fix said "problem". The only problem is your lack of finding a way to beat it.
FPS games: The grenade launcher, aka "The Noob Tube"
To us who love this gun and use it to make these people cry, we call it instead 'the Pro Pipe". Those who hate it are none to pleased with us. And why should they? It's an instant kill and can hit multiple people at the same time. In retrospect however, the game developer put this weapon in the game for a reason. That's like going to war and saying "No it's okay, I'll leave my tanks at home, they're OP anyways". NO. That doesn't happen. Use the weapons and strategies you want to and have a damn good time doing it.
Starcraft 2: Cheese builds.
More accurately, they should be called "All in" builds, because if they don't work, you're basically screwed. For SC2 gamers, they're basically any of the following: Mass Marine, 6 Pool(7 Pool), Cannon Proxy, Gateway proxy, and up until the last big patch: Rax proxy. People gave a lot of flak to people who wanted to do these builds, and to my pleasure, people still did them. No whiny skill-less player above anyone should be telling you how to play the game.
I guess my point in mentioning this is my irritation when I see a thread on Battle.net inundated with people flaming someone over the way he likes to play the game. It's not unstoppable, and it doesn't break the game. If you can't defeat an opponent playing a way you don't like, learn how to beat it, and start pounding them into the ground. Don't go onto a forum and start trying to get a company to remove or fix said "problem". The only problem is your lack of finding a way to beat it.
Exciting PSP indie game release news!
A game I have been personally waiting for for a long time has recently surfaced among my daily web surfing. The previous game stole many many hours of my time when not in the house (which now a-days has severely diminished), and was just a great simple concept. Indie game enthusiasts, In bring you something that you should definitely buy when it's released:
Patapon 2 has taken well over 100 hours of my gaming time away from other games, and probably several responsibilities. I'm assuming most people who actually read this blog have no idea what Patapon is, so let's start from square one.
"Patapon is a video game that the player controls in a manner similar to rhythm games. The player is put in in direct control of a tribe of Patapon warriors; to command the warriors, the player inputs specific sequences using the face buttons on the PSP, each representing a "talking drum", in time to a drum rhythm. These sequences order the tribe to move forward on the linear battlefield, attack, defend, and other actions. If the player inputs an unknown sequence or enters them off the main rhythm, the tribe will become confused and stop whatever they are doing. However, repeatedly entering a proper sequence in sync with the rhythm will lead the tribe into a "fever" increasing their attack and defensive bonuses."
You emerge as a small eyeball looking creature is dancing happily before you, bowing down to you as the great Kami, the savior of all Patapons. It is believed that you, the Great Kami, will bring the Patapons glory, and allow them to gaze upon 'it'... whatever that may be. You must lead your army of patapon (aka Angry Eyeballs) across treacherous and enemy infested lands, through the plains... the forests and the desert all to gaze upon it. Along your journey you are met by several (4 to be exacty) colored drums that signify each of the 4 buttons that you will be mashing for hours on this game. When i say mashing, i mean pressing them patiently to the rhythm, for what onlookers will say ages, and you'll feel like it's been seconds.
I distinctly remember getting this game downloaded to my PSP midday, and looking up in bewilderment as to how it was tomorrow. Oops! In either case, I'll be getting this game (They're usually $10-20.00), and you should do.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to check it out, the demo has been out for a few months for download. Just thought you should know.
Patapon 2 has taken well over 100 hours of my gaming time away from other games, and probably several responsibilities. I'm assuming most people who actually read this blog have no idea what Patapon is, so let's start from square one.
"Patapon is a video game that the player controls in a manner similar to rhythm games. The player is put in in direct control of a tribe of Patapon warriors; to command the warriors, the player inputs specific sequences using the face buttons on the PSP, each representing a "talking drum", in time to a drum rhythm. These sequences order the tribe to move forward on the linear battlefield, attack, defend, and other actions. If the player inputs an unknown sequence or enters them off the main rhythm, the tribe will become confused and stop whatever they are doing. However, repeatedly entering a proper sequence in sync with the rhythm will lead the tribe into a "fever" increasing their attack and defensive bonuses."
You emerge as a small eyeball looking creature is dancing happily before you, bowing down to you as the great Kami, the savior of all Patapons. It is believed that you, the Great Kami, will bring the Patapons glory, and allow them to gaze upon 'it'... whatever that may be. You must lead your army of patapon (aka Angry Eyeballs) across treacherous and enemy infested lands, through the plains... the forests and the desert all to gaze upon it. Along your journey you are met by several (4 to be exacty) colored drums that signify each of the 4 buttons that you will be mashing for hours on this game. When i say mashing, i mean pressing them patiently to the rhythm, for what onlookers will say ages, and you'll feel like it's been seconds.
I distinctly remember getting this game downloaded to my PSP midday, and looking up in bewilderment as to how it was tomorrow. Oops! In either case, I'll be getting this game (They're usually $10-20.00), and you should do.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to check it out, the demo has been out for a few months for download. Just thought you should know.
Week 5 - 52 Week Challenge, Sepia: It's mostly brown, with a hint of yellow
I've never really heard or used most of the colors this challenge presents me with, as in photoshop they don't have names, just Hex codes. Regardless, This color probably wouldn't have been my first choice among all the colors in its family.
When I saw the color Sepia, it reminded me of old school, wood, and back to thanksgiving when my family was playing backgammon for a couple hours. The image on the Polaroid is a picture I took at that family gathering. Overall, I feel it captured everything I thought in one design.
Click to enlarge.
Next on the list is Yellow. An obnoxiously bright yellow at that! Although I'm not entirely sure why it's next, seeing as Goldenrod was just a few weeks ago. Anyways, I'll be starting work on that soon!
When I saw the color Sepia, it reminded me of old school, wood, and back to thanksgiving when my family was playing backgammon for a couple hours. The image on the Polaroid is a picture I took at that family gathering. Overall, I feel it captured everything I thought in one design.
Click to enlarge.
Next on the list is Yellow. An obnoxiously bright yellow at that! Although I'm not entirely sure why it's next, seeing as Goldenrod was just a few weeks ago. Anyways, I'll be starting work on that soon!
Voice chat rooms promote team play.
Anyone who plays any online games big time knows the value of programs like [Teamspeak], [Ventrilo], and even [Skype]. It allows teams of players to communicate more effectively than if they had to type to eachother. Everytime you find yourself typing, you're not controlling in the game, and that could be the difference between a win or a loss.
If you've played World of Warcraft, you've probably used ventrilo. For whatever reason, WoW nerds seem to prefer it over Teamspeak. My Starcraft 2 community uses teamspeak 3, which allows for a couple really cool features, and overall looks and works very nice. These voice chat rooms allow other things among quick responses and increased teamwork.
I've seen Teamspeak used as a way of identifying administrators on the server, or for just generally communicating with friends. It's vastly superior to chat rooms and emailing to be sure, and you can have a lot of fun, and share a quite a bit with others using them. I'll be honest. I don't know how much fun online gaming would be without the use of teamspeak (or ventrilo).
Ezio - The hooded badass
Assassin's Creed II is a historical fantasy third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You play Ezio, a man whose lost it all and has been thrown into a role that will take him across Italy to many of the largest cities, doing the work of the citizens. Oppressive leadership and a corrupt government have a stranglehold on the people, and only need a push in the right direction to free themselves from the shackles of their superiors. Most of the game takes place inside the Animus, which is a modern day device (fantasy of course), that delves into the mind of Desmond, who is your actual character. The medieval setting is the recreation the Animus has constructed based on DNA based memories left behind by far distant relatives. Ezio, and before him, Altair are two of such ancestors.
The Templar, who maintain power throughout the realm, seek to maintain power by seeking powerful artifacts, that will grant them strength to dominate over the assassins, and to keep their grip on society. Desmond's ancestors are people who were last known to have the location of these artifacts, and people in the modern world who are also part of the Templar are looking for his memories.
Enough of the story. The combat is pretty fun when you're not trying to be Hercules and take on hordes of opponents, which also defeats the purpose of being a more stealth based assassin. The ability to have two of the hidden blades, and thus assassinate two targets at once is pretty awesome also. Roof jumping and the rest of the controls are very fluid and responsive, although I found Ezio refusing to run off some roofs, even though he could make the jump, but that may have been from not having enough speed or a bad angle.
Speaking of bad angles, my god did this game have some horrifying camera angles. There were parts of some of the side quests that I found myself hating the angle that was making certain jumps really difficult. Those kinds of camera shots aren't always avoidable, so I can't complain too much since they were fairly minimal.
The Villa 'mini game' was fun for a very very short while. Since you can amass so much wealth by doing quests, the income gained from your villa is inconsequential. I was able to buy every armor and every weapon without the use of the villas income. The one thing I did use it for, however, was attaining discounts, and visiting the bordello... I mean spending time with quality, outstanding women. The story is solid if you're okay with clearly far out fantasy stories, and the ending had me saying "NO! NOT YET! It can't possibly be over!" AC2 had the cliffhanger from hell, and will most certainly have me playing Brotherhood. Yeah, I'm a little behind the times in terms of game releases I guess.
The Templar, who maintain power throughout the realm, seek to maintain power by seeking powerful artifacts, that will grant them strength to dominate over the assassins, and to keep their grip on society. Desmond's ancestors are people who were last known to have the location of these artifacts, and people in the modern world who are also part of the Templar are looking for his memories.
Enough of the story. The combat is pretty fun when you're not trying to be Hercules and take on hordes of opponents, which also defeats the purpose of being a more stealth based assassin. The ability to have two of the hidden blades, and thus assassinate two targets at once is pretty awesome also. Roof jumping and the rest of the controls are very fluid and responsive, although I found Ezio refusing to run off some roofs, even though he could make the jump, but that may have been from not having enough speed or a bad angle.
Speaking of bad angles, my god did this game have some horrifying camera angles. There were parts of some of the side quests that I found myself hating the angle that was making certain jumps really difficult. Those kinds of camera shots aren't always avoidable, so I can't complain too much since they were fairly minimal.
The Villa 'mini game' was fun for a very very short while. Since you can amass so much wealth by doing quests, the income gained from your villa is inconsequential. I was able to buy every armor and every weapon without the use of the villas income. The one thing I did use it for, however, was attaining discounts, and visiting the bordello... I mean spending time with quality, outstanding women. The story is solid if you're okay with clearly far out fantasy stories, and the ending had me saying "NO! NOT YET! It can't possibly be over!" AC2 had the cliffhanger from hell, and will most certainly have me playing Brotherhood. Yeah, I'm a little behind the times in terms of game releases I guess.
Minecraft - The possibilities are.. Boring after a couple obsessive days
Minecraft, a game created by [Mojang Specifications], is a game where the whole world, trees, water, dirt, stone etc, are created all of 1x1x1 cubic units. In what they're calling 'alpha', you run around on day one cutting down trees with your bare hands in an attempt to get enough materials to start crafting crude tools to mine various ores and stone to build yourself a shelter with light to live through the night. At night, the creepy crawlies come out to get you, which range from cactus looking creatures that explode like TNT when they get near you, to spiders and skeletons. The "alpha" servers barely work, however, and you cannot die or hurt enemies.
Alpha multiplayer servers have basically been reduced to turning off the baddies and making labyrinths and creating monoliths all over the map with friends. Don't get me wrong, this is a TON of fun, since there is some basic logic to how to power things using electrical... stuff? I started on a friends account, dabbling with the server and learning how to craft and build. Within minutes, I was creating deep mines and castles all over the place. He and I build a settlement, which I promptly learned what fire can do and burned it down along with every tree on the island. Lots of laughter ensued. But after that, the novelty quickly wore off.
Alpha does mean that it's in the early stages of development, and there is plenty of time for fixing the obvious bugs, and adding tons more content before an actual release is spoken of. This game has a lot of potential for being such a simple concept. I only wish someone would come up with more survival based games, where looking for food, shelter, and resources was the name of the game, similar to old Warcraft 3 custom games.
But that's okay, I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2, so I'll post about how I feel about that next time!
Alpha multiplayer servers have basically been reduced to turning off the baddies and making labyrinths and creating monoliths all over the map with friends. Don't get me wrong, this is a TON of fun, since there is some basic logic to how to power things using electrical... stuff? I started on a friends account, dabbling with the server and learning how to craft and build. Within minutes, I was creating deep mines and castles all over the place. He and I build a settlement, which I promptly learned what fire can do and burned it down along with every tree on the island. Lots of laughter ensued. But after that, the novelty quickly wore off.
Alpha does mean that it's in the early stages of development, and there is plenty of time for fixing the obvious bugs, and adding tons more content before an actual release is spoken of. This game has a lot of potential for being such a simple concept. I only wish someone would come up with more survival based games, where looking for food, shelter, and resources was the name of the game, similar to old Warcraft 3 custom games.
But that's okay, I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2, so I'll post about how I feel about that next time!
Christmas is near
It's funny how just yesterday it was summer, and now we're closing in on Christmas; one of those holidays that we're not allowed to say Merry Christmas, we say happy holidays. If you haven't caught on, it's one of the huge things that bugs me. We are expected to be 'respectful' of those who don't celebrate Christmas (you know, that NATIONAL holiday), but we have to be respectful of other peoples' beliefs by letting them do and say whatever they want to honor it.
But I digress. Normally I love Christmas and all the lights, music, and fun it brings; except recently it feels more stressful and depressing than normal. We're not going to be able to have our 22 year traditional Christmas morning this year because the house is still in a pretty unlivable condition unless you're on the 2nd floor or in the basement. On top of that, the renovations for the house are taking way longer than expected, and starting to cost way more.
The things I do love, although some people complain about them, are the cold weather, and the Christmas music on the radio. There's no much more to lift a bad mood than Christmas music! Every Christmas break signals the end of a semester of college, and I can honestly say I'm glad for this one to be over; not because it was difficult or irritating (which it was), but because that means the new semester will be that much closer to starting, and I've got some pretty awesome courses planned for it!
In a couple days I'll be ready to post on the week 5 color, which last time I said was "sepia". Honestly, who comes up with these names? Would you look at the time! Just 15 minutes ago it was 9PM.. it's now 5AM. Time for bed!
But I digress. Normally I love Christmas and all the lights, music, and fun it brings; except recently it feels more stressful and depressing than normal. We're not going to be able to have our 22 year traditional Christmas morning this year because the house is still in a pretty unlivable condition unless you're on the 2nd floor or in the basement. On top of that, the renovations for the house are taking way longer than expected, and starting to cost way more.
The things I do love, although some people complain about them, are the cold weather, and the Christmas music on the radio. There's no much more to lift a bad mood than Christmas music! Every Christmas break signals the end of a semester of college, and I can honestly say I'm glad for this one to be over; not because it was difficult or irritating (which it was), but because that means the new semester will be that much closer to starting, and I've got some pretty awesome courses planned for it!
In a couple days I'll be ready to post on the week 5 color, which last time I said was "sepia". Honestly, who comes up with these names? Would you look at the time! Just 15 minutes ago it was 9PM.. it's now 5AM. Time for bed!
Starcraft 2 Gaming community is live!
Labels:
gaming community,
Starcraft 2,
Zerglot
At long last, my idea for a Starcraft 2 gaming community has come to fruition. I have created a community website for like-minded gamers to find other people to play multiplayer games, discuss strategies, and share Starcraft content with each other! This is not a clan, and there are no -leaders- or hierarchy. No one gets precedence over the other person, and your rank and skill level are irrelevant as long as you're willing to learn, and have a ton of fun!
It's unfortunate when i check the Battle.net forum, that people refuse to listen to people who aren't "Plat+ rank", as they feel they don't have anything valid to ever say since they're not 'pro'. This is yet another reason why I want this community to grow. So if you're up for a lot of fun, being in a community of gamers, sharing and learning strategies and build orders, come check us out! Click here to check out at Zerglot.net! The larger the community is, the more fun will be had. We have a teamspeak to communicate in and out of the game, so you can see whose online to play with!
See you on the battlefield.
It's unfortunate when i check the Battle.net forum, that people refuse to listen to people who aren't "Plat+ rank", as they feel they don't have anything valid to ever say since they're not 'pro'. This is yet another reason why I want this community to grow. So if you're up for a lot of fun, being in a community of gamers, sharing and learning strategies and build orders, come check us out! Click here to check out at Zerglot.net! The larger the community is, the more fun will be had. We have a teamspeak to communicate in and out of the game, so you can see whose online to play with!
See you on the battlefield.
If only I was this dedicated to things that mattered!
At long last. It is within my grasp. I have attained a key piece on my way to the macro king! What is it, you ask? well good reader, it is this:
I'd like to thank my lack of a real life for this monumental occasion, and all those who game with me, namely: Tylan, Slevin, Spectre, Hambone, Kenshi, DGeorge, Somesite, Virgil, Rysen, and all the others!
God I'm a total nerd. It's okay, I'll admit it. If you're not sure what I'm actually talking about, this image shows my wins as the Zerg race in Starcraft 2. After every milestone for amount of wins, you unlock a portrait that you can use for your account on battle.net, and Starcraft 2. As the image shows, I've wracked up a whopping 500 wins as Zerg, not including other wins!
If you're bored enough to check out my gamer profile, [here it is!]
I'd like to thank my lack of a real life for this monumental occasion, and all those who game with me, namely: Tylan, Slevin, Spectre, Hambone, Kenshi, DGeorge, Somesite, Virgil, Rysen, and all the others!
God I'm a total nerd. It's okay, I'll admit it. If you're not sure what I'm actually talking about, this image shows my wins as the Zerg race in Starcraft 2. After every milestone for amount of wins, you unlock a portrait that you can use for your account on battle.net, and Starcraft 2. As the image shows, I've wracked up a whopping 500 wins as Zerg, not including other wins!
If you're bored enough to check out my gamer profile, [here it is!]
Plum - The not purple, not red, and not blue color
Sorry for the delay! I've been working on a project that I'll get around to talking about soon, and that combined with school has gotten me fairly busy. (Assassin's Creed 2 may have some impact also :P.) So the week 4 color is Plum; a color that isn't really defined by a singular color. It's almost purple, almost red, and almost blue. Regardless of the actual color, the lady posted a color box that she declared to be plum that I used for my image.
When I thought of purple, I thought of parties, and bright lights. The glasses reflect a party hall, and the blurred image is taken from a live DJ at a club. The glasses are there, because they're sexy looking, and who doesn't want to look sexy when going to the club?
Next week is Sepia, a shade of brown. Stay tuned for that, and the posts coming inbetween the challenge posts!
When I thought of purple, I thought of parties, and bright lights. The glasses reflect a party hall, and the blurred image is taken from a live DJ at a club. The glasses are there, because they're sexy looking, and who doesn't want to look sexy when going to the club?
Next week is Sepia, a shade of brown. Stay tuned for that, and the posts coming inbetween the challenge posts!
The Secret World - Creative Writing
The Secret World is a game that... at this point I don't even know if it is coming out or not; but is a great concept for an MMO based on modern day, using factions like the Templar, Illuminati, and Dragon. These are secret societies in the past, but the game grants these factions special powers, in a world that has gone to hell.
This is a character I wrote in the forum. It is incomplete because I dropped the project, but it's still a good read I think:
Templar Log:
Log of: Rumor, a Reason for my madness
I am an information specialist, who goes only by the name "Rumor". A gun is quick, and if the user wishes: painless. In an instant, a person can simply cease to exist, but with them being extinguished, so too does all they can do for me. It is when an individual is backed into a corner that you can reap every ounce of who they are, and what they know. Their knowledge, is my power. Their wisdom, my weapon. It's when one thinks they know too much that I find out how much they have to contribute to the cause; they become interesting. You may question me... you may say that I believe that I know too much. This is a fallacy . I know so little, that I yearn to know what you know; know what they know. The fun is the path taken for you to spill your soul out for me. Crazy? No. It is my specialty to simply know, and those above me wish to learn as well. But now you know the why, I aim to reveal the how.
It wasn't until my first encounter with a fellow Perfectibilist leaking information of my cabal that I learned I had an inherent gift to make people talk. Of course it didn't matter what he was leaking.. it mattered to who. The cabal insisted on killing him and worrying about the rest for his insolence, but in less than 15 minutes, A meet had been set up with his contact and as the door shut behind me, he took his own life. Fucking coward. Now up to this point it may sound like guns are never the answer, and to that, I have to whole heartedly disagree. It wasn't until I discovered his contact was a member of the Templars that my job became a lot more real. Had this person been un-affiliated with any faction, I would have been happy to leave it at that. But it wasn't just one rich kid looking to learn our secrets, it was a whole faction, and a faction that we have had countless squabbles with. Personally I find the faction wars (it makes it ring true when i say it that way) to be beneath all of us, but there is always something pulling at me that all those chaos lovers and do-gooders need to leave well enough alone. Call it pride if you will, and if you did, you'd probably be right. But we need to take a step back to just why the Templars have a special place at the receiving end of my gun.
I began my operations as an "Information Broker", trading and selling secrets to the highest bidder, just inside Rome, Italy. I wasn't part of any faction at the time, and therefore eluded the petty squabble the major factions were caught up in. It didn't take them long to find me though. I'd call them "scouters", looking to recruit me into their ranks. The first were the Dragon, but their rabble was a bit much for a man looking for nothing but to be the one pulling the strings behind the curtain. They seemed to have a very hands on way of dealing with things, that I felt lacked a certain finesse. No, this isn't one of those stories where the final faction came and swept me off my feet, and I was hooked for life. The illuminati came second with the famous quote "We need a man with your expertise". Their greed pissed me off. Money, power being on top of their so called "new world"? All bullshit. I didn't have time to create a new world. I just wanted to live in the world we had, and make a healthy living doing what felt natural. Then along came the Templars, as one would expect. They loved tradition, purpose, a true warriors faction... warmongers, every last one of them. We need more time to talk about the Templars.
At first, I felt being a Templar would grant me protection from those who felt my practices wrong, unethical. Like somehow killing in cold blood was any better. It didn't take long to figure out that somehow, through a blunder or an act of fate, that I had joined a zealot agent group hell bent (oh the irony) on destroying the evil in the world. Noble as that may be, I wanted no part in it. The so called "evil", which I disagreed on why they were evil, were often my loyal paying customers. If I would have known the hell i'd have to go through, I would have taken longer to choose, or deny all of them, and live as a simple man. I defected only months after being labeled a Templar, and was forced to flee my country... my continent in order to hide from the bastards who were now out for my blood. I know, a foolish idea, but I don't regret it. In New York, it took my current cabal days to find me, and re-initiated the offer which I accepted immediately. I became Illuminati. Call me sentimental, but I still wear my cross necklace. Can't seem to take the damn thing off.
Never leave a faction with their secrets. They’ll haunt you forever. They’ll make sure you never feel safe… make sure you sleep without one eye open. But if there’s one thing you should do, it’d be to join a faction of people who would probably kill for you, for Klondike bar. ‘The Cabal’ as I’ll only refer to it as, often made use of their Cleaners to get rid of these nuisances. Maybe this is why I dislike the Templars… but it’s not like it’s my fault for making me hate them. They only wanted to remove my clients from the world; something about them being the reason for the gross corruption in the world, and how they wanted to purge the evil from our society. I want to believe this zealous nature was part of the particular cabal that I joined, but something tells me they’re all the same. For that I feel like I exist to oppose them. A devil’s advocate for sure, but killing my clients and ruining my intelligence trails is personal.
That’s all fine and dandy, but it undoubtedly begs the question: “Why do you hate them so much if that’s all they’ve done to you?” They’ve turned him against me. My younger brother, who I always protected and cared about first, now brainwashed into trying to claiming me as a heretic; a non-believer. I never thought I’d be face to face with him as the man who would try to take my life. He would have succeeded too. I was a finger twitch away from death, from meeting the greater power who made me (according to my x-Templar brethrens), such a terrible person. All I can say is, I got lucky.
I had closed my eyes, and pulled his gun closer to my heart, begging him to take me out of this world if he believed that it was my time to go. I encouraged him, asked him if he was going to be the man to end the madness. Maybe I knew too much, and the knowledge finally caught up with me. Maybe that higher power, whatever it may be, decided I tore too much information from peoples bleeding minds for me to be allowed to leave. I had no grand plan but to live in happiness and wealth, doing what I do best. Is that so wrong? So wrong that this man, my brother, was told to end my life, knowing that he’d be the only man I’d let in close enough to be able to pull the trigger? I thought I knew my brother well enough to be able to call his bluff. As I closed my eyes, the resounding gunshot rang out. I looked down, feeling the blood oozing out of the fresh hole in my chest .The room was spinning, the man who held the gun, my brother, standing above me now kneeling; the victor. I died that night, or at least that’s what they thought.
The muffled sounds.. voices perhaps. I couldn't tell, it was too hazy. My eyes were too heavy to open. Was this heaven... hell? The voices began to sharpen, clarifying.
"No damnit! this is your mess! This is what you get for allowing allowing him to go off alone!"
More muffled voices.. My head was pounding, fading in an out of consciousness.
"No you don't get it! It's gone, they have it now" ...
"He's here. If he's not dead, he damn well should be. There's..." ...
"Fine. but you owe me. This doesn't come..."
The conversation was sketchy at best. I could only fit pieces together to string any form of sentences. Either the man was talking to himself, or he was on the phone. I was inclined to believe the ladder. My eyes opened, as a new born's would, the light burning them as if they'd never see it before. I tossed my arm up, cords unbinding themselves, sliding out from under my skin. More voices, but this time they were directed at me. I didn't hesitate. Sliding off the tabletop, i began to knock over anything i could in a feeble attempt to distance myself from the man. A wall... My back hit cold stone; smooth and unwelcoming.
"Rumor.. It's.... calm down. stop...."
My eyes focused only for a second... then darkness.
This is a character I wrote in the forum. It is incomplete because I dropped the project, but it's still a good read I think:
Templar Log:
Log of: Rumor, a Reason for my madness
I am an information specialist, who goes only by the name "Rumor". A gun is quick, and if the user wishes: painless. In an instant, a person can simply cease to exist, but with them being extinguished, so too does all they can do for me. It is when an individual is backed into a corner that you can reap every ounce of who they are, and what they know. Their knowledge, is my power. Their wisdom, my weapon. It's when one thinks they know too much that I find out how much they have to contribute to the cause; they become interesting. You may question me... you may say that I believe that I know too much. This is a fallacy . I know so little, that I yearn to know what you know; know what they know. The fun is the path taken for you to spill your soul out for me. Crazy? No. It is my specialty to simply know, and those above me wish to learn as well. But now you know the why, I aim to reveal the how.
It wasn't until my first encounter with a fellow Perfectibilist leaking information of my cabal that I learned I had an inherent gift to make people talk. Of course it didn't matter what he was leaking.. it mattered to who. The cabal insisted on killing him and worrying about the rest for his insolence, but in less than 15 minutes, A meet had been set up with his contact and as the door shut behind me, he took his own life. Fucking coward. Now up to this point it may sound like guns are never the answer, and to that, I have to whole heartedly disagree. It wasn't until I discovered his contact was a member of the Templars that my job became a lot more real. Had this person been un-affiliated with any faction, I would have been happy to leave it at that. But it wasn't just one rich kid looking to learn our secrets, it was a whole faction, and a faction that we have had countless squabbles with. Personally I find the faction wars (it makes it ring true when i say it that way) to be beneath all of us, but there is always something pulling at me that all those chaos lovers and do-gooders need to leave well enough alone. Call it pride if you will, and if you did, you'd probably be right. But we need to take a step back to just why the Templars have a special place at the receiving end of my gun.
I began my operations as an "Information Broker", trading and selling secrets to the highest bidder, just inside Rome, Italy. I wasn't part of any faction at the time, and therefore eluded the petty squabble the major factions were caught up in. It didn't take them long to find me though. I'd call them "scouters", looking to recruit me into their ranks. The first were the Dragon, but their rabble was a bit much for a man looking for nothing but to be the one pulling the strings behind the curtain. They seemed to have a very hands on way of dealing with things, that I felt lacked a certain finesse. No, this isn't one of those stories where the final faction came and swept me off my feet, and I was hooked for life. The illuminati came second with the famous quote "We need a man with your expertise". Their greed pissed me off. Money, power being on top of their so called "new world"? All bullshit. I didn't have time to create a new world. I just wanted to live in the world we had, and make a healthy living doing what felt natural. Then along came the Templars, as one would expect. They loved tradition, purpose, a true warriors faction... warmongers, every last one of them. We need more time to talk about the Templars.
At first, I felt being a Templar would grant me protection from those who felt my practices wrong, unethical. Like somehow killing in cold blood was any better. It didn't take long to figure out that somehow, through a blunder or an act of fate, that I had joined a zealot agent group hell bent (oh the irony) on destroying the evil in the world. Noble as that may be, I wanted no part in it. The so called "evil", which I disagreed on why they were evil, were often my loyal paying customers. If I would have known the hell i'd have to go through, I would have taken longer to choose, or deny all of them, and live as a simple man. I defected only months after being labeled a Templar, and was forced to flee my country... my continent in order to hide from the bastards who were now out for my blood. I know, a foolish idea, but I don't regret it. In New York, it took my current cabal days to find me, and re-initiated the offer which I accepted immediately. I became Illuminati. Call me sentimental, but I still wear my cross necklace. Can't seem to take the damn thing off.
Never leave a faction with their secrets. They’ll haunt you forever. They’ll make sure you never feel safe… make sure you sleep without one eye open. But if there’s one thing you should do, it’d be to join a faction of people who would probably kill for you, for Klondike bar. ‘The Cabal’ as I’ll only refer to it as, often made use of their Cleaners to get rid of these nuisances. Maybe this is why I dislike the Templars… but it’s not like it’s my fault for making me hate them. They only wanted to remove my clients from the world; something about them being the reason for the gross corruption in the world, and how they wanted to purge the evil from our society. I want to believe this zealous nature was part of the particular cabal that I joined, but something tells me they’re all the same. For that I feel like I exist to oppose them. A devil’s advocate for sure, but killing my clients and ruining my intelligence trails is personal.
That’s all fine and dandy, but it undoubtedly begs the question: “Why do you hate them so much if that’s all they’ve done to you?” They’ve turned him against me. My younger brother, who I always protected and cared about first, now brainwashed into trying to claiming me as a heretic; a non-believer. I never thought I’d be face to face with him as the man who would try to take my life. He would have succeeded too. I was a finger twitch away from death, from meeting the greater power who made me (according to my x-Templar brethrens), such a terrible person. All I can say is, I got lucky.
I had closed my eyes, and pulled his gun closer to my heart, begging him to take me out of this world if he believed that it was my time to go. I encouraged him, asked him if he was going to be the man to end the madness. Maybe I knew too much, and the knowledge finally caught up with me. Maybe that higher power, whatever it may be, decided I tore too much information from peoples bleeding minds for me to be allowed to leave. I had no grand plan but to live in happiness and wealth, doing what I do best. Is that so wrong? So wrong that this man, my brother, was told to end my life, knowing that he’d be the only man I’d let in close enough to be able to pull the trigger? I thought I knew my brother well enough to be able to call his bluff. As I closed my eyes, the resounding gunshot rang out. I looked down, feeling the blood oozing out of the fresh hole in my chest .The room was spinning, the man who held the gun, my brother, standing above me now kneeling; the victor. I died that night, or at least that’s what they thought.
The muffled sounds.. voices perhaps. I couldn't tell, it was too hazy. My eyes were too heavy to open. Was this heaven... hell? The voices began to sharpen, clarifying.
"No damnit! this is your mess! This is what you get for allowing allowing him to go off alone!"
More muffled voices.. My head was pounding, fading in an out of consciousness.
"No you don't get it! It's gone, they have it now" ...
"He's here. If he's not dead, he damn well should be. There's..." ...
"Fine. but you owe me. This doesn't come..."
The conversation was sketchy at best. I could only fit pieces together to string any form of sentences. Either the man was talking to himself, or he was on the phone. I was inclined to believe the ladder. My eyes opened, as a new born's would, the light burning them as if they'd never see it before. I tossed my arm up, cords unbinding themselves, sliding out from under my skin. More voices, but this time they were directed at me. I didn't hesitate. Sliding off the tabletop, i began to knock over anything i could in a feeble attempt to distance myself from the man. A wall... My back hit cold stone; smooth and unwelcoming.
"Rumor.. It's.... calm down. stop...."
My eyes focused only for a second... then darkness.
Happy Turkey Day!
Labels:
Black Friday,
Family,
food,
Leftovers,
Thanksgiving,
Turkey
I'm sure by now you're at least stuffed beyond belief, and like us troopers, have probably gone for a night time leftovers snack! My family shared thanksgiving at my Aunt Kathy's house this year, as our house is still in shambles from our October flood. There is something about turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and beans smothered in turkey gravy that I just can't get enough of! So after the easily 2000 calorie dinner we consumed, we kicked back in front of the fire with a nice glass of wine, some backgammon, and great company (And an adorable new kitten!) for several hours. By the time we left, at approximately 11:00PM, it was snowing outside! Ugggh.
I think it's funny that people regard Thanksgiving as "Day before Black Friday", which is the day people actually care about. The day where I enjoy watching thousands of people crowd into stores and stand in 300 person deep lines to save $5 on their favorite $500 item. Personally, online shopping is the way to go, but I still like to go out and be in the crowds. There's something about Black Friday that's fun, but only if you're not looking to spend hours in lines.
I've started work on the Week 4 color and took some photos I'm pretty fond of, so look for those tomorrow!
Week 3 - 52 Week Challenge
Onto the third color chosen for this challenge: Goldenrod. I didn't know much about this color except that it's yellow, so I decided to do some research. Apparently when you search goldenrod through search engines, it brings up a bunch of flowers. With that inspiration, I went on to create this next piece.
Before you ask... yes, the gray/white blocks are intentional. I got that inspiration from a blue wallpaper with some text on it not too long ago that I discovered. In terms of people who use photoshop, you'll definitely recognize the pattern.
Like I said in the previous post for Week 2, I encourage you to check out our Flikr page for this challenge [Here]. Join us in creating a bunch of color inspired art and wishes!
Before you ask... yes, the gray/white blocks are intentional. I got that inspiration from a blue wallpaper with some text on it not too long ago that I discovered. In terms of people who use photoshop, you'll definitely recognize the pattern.
Like I said in the previous post for Week 2, I encourage you to check out our Flikr page for this challenge [Here]. Join us in creating a bunch of color inspired art and wishes!
Week 2 - 52 Week Challenge
The [52 Week Challenge]'s second color was blue. Initially I thought of water and the sky, which makes sense. But upon failing to come up with something I actually liked, I came up with a great idea. What season is coming up? WINTER! (ugh) So I scratched my whole concept page and started on one that'd match the season a bit better.
This is what I came up with. Hope you like it!
By the way, if you want to participate, use the link above to join the Flikr group, or you can post comments on my blog with what you've come with! It's highly encouraged!
This is what I came up with. Hope you like it!
By the way, if you want to participate, use the link above to join the Flikr group, or you can post comments on my blog with what you've come with! It's highly encouraged!
52 Weeks of Color?
So [a friend] pointed out that there is someone doing a '52 weeks of color' event for Second Life. The way it works, is that each week for one year, [Luna Jubilee] Will post one color, and will then create an outfit for her Avatar in SL and post the image. Said [friend] decided to have a [spinoff event of this on Flikr], and thought it'd be cool to not limit it to SL, but to expand the ways you can submit images. Photography, SL, Photoshop; whatever your fancy, you can post!
Each week, when the color is announced, I'll do my best to make a wallpaper (1680x1050 Probably?) using the specified color. I'll try to figure out what that color means to me in some way and use imagery and other styles to represent it.
....So I'm about 3 weeks behind apparently, So in the next couple days I'll be posting all 3 of the one's I've missed, as well as the current one.
Week 1
The first week was chosen to be the color Gray. When I thought of what best represents gray, I imagined something to do with photography, and black and white. That being said, I don't like people in my photoshop wallpapers, so I believe this alternative method turned out quite nicely!
The image size is actually smaller because Flikr enjoys making me cry and reduces the file size on their site. SAD.
Each week, when the color is announced, I'll do my best to make a wallpaper (1680x1050 Probably?) using the specified color. I'll try to figure out what that color means to me in some way and use imagery and other styles to represent it.
....So I'm about 3 weeks behind apparently, So in the next couple days I'll be posting all 3 of the one's I've missed, as well as the current one.
Week 1
The first week was chosen to be the color Gray. When I thought of what best represents gray, I imagined something to do with photography, and black and white. That being said, I don't like people in my photoshop wallpapers, so I believe this alternative method turned out quite nicely!
The image size is actually smaller because Flikr enjoys making me cry and reduces the file size on their site. SAD.
More creative writing!
Like the previous post, this was written to be part of the Shadowrun world.
ScryGen - Hacker Circle
It wasn't enough to possess the ability to bend the world of technology to their will. ScryGen came into fruition as an answer to the cries of the shadows as an information source for any and every illegal document a runner could want. This often involved entering the world of the Megacorps and delving into their databases, but not at a low cost. You wanted it, they'd get it for you. But this was only a front; a way two seemingly genius hackers created in search of a steady flow of Nuyen. We'll come back to this.
ScryGen was an odd name for a group of hackers who sold information to the highest bidder. To scry meant to be able to see the future, yet no one who worked with them cared what they were named as long as they did the job they were paid for. Two seemingly mastermind hackers, Fallar Onecek, codename "Fallone" and Mesa Ervine Young, aka "Meservy" handled several jobs during their lives in the shadows, including destroying a plex's surveillance for their team to extract a Johnson, and various other forms of cybercombat. Once they realized the talent they possessed, they shifted their course from being runners, to being the go-to hackers other runners would bid top dollar for. This netted the two a serious influx of Nuyen; almost too much. They began to look for further ventures to spend their money on.
Eventually a crisis struck them, as Johnsons became perturbed at the idea of unknown faceless hackers delving into files they deemed critical, believing they were in a position to create an information network and go 'white' to nab up all the defector Johnsons, and their associates. Runners began to avoid their direct assistance, demanding instead a program they called "The Phase" to be bought and transported on a secure storage medium, that would handle micro jobs for other runners without their own hackers. This was yet another lie. The program was simply a backdoor by which Mesa created so either he or Fallar could still perform the "Job" for the runners. They were paid just as healthily as before and through this method, were able to keep the money coming in. They would have loved to create a program that could do what they said "The Phase" could do. It was a seemingly impossible piece of code that could do the job of a hacker... Or was it impossible? The sought a hacker tool that could almost 'predict' what their opponents next move would be.
ScryGen took on members of specific origins, but always people who specialized in some important aspects. Fallar focused on numeric value decryption, where Mesa's specialties were focused in Network infiltration and spoofing. Their goal was more than that. They needed people who specialized in what they called "Social Hacking"; the ability to know how people interact with each other, and almost being able to read someone's mind by expression and response. They began a slow acceptance of standard hackers, and these 'social hackers', but only growing to a small team of 8 hackers; 6 computer based, 2 social based. They all had one goal: the completion of the program they called the "Phase". They would complete their goal in record time.
With Fallar pouring his mind into mutating math based decryption, Mesa and other members became heavily entrenched in the heavily lifting the Phase would involve. Social Hackers worked with the other hackers in focusing on making this code pretend it was human: giving it a fuzzy logic that allowed it to interact with other runners using millions of responses to their demands on the operator-less code in a lifelike manor. They succeeded. To some, catastrophically succeeded. To them, it was a momentous success. They created the Zero Phase.
During production, ScryGen fell into darkness, focusing all their resources and time on the Phase. Two years later, the group resurfaced with their newest member. Their member called itself Zero; The Zero Phase. Back in full force, the Phase completed what a normal human interface could not: It was the master of the digital world. With ScryGen back on the map, they began raking in the NuYen, setting up an incredibly powerful server, and internal network to store all the data... and Zero.
The Phase project had evolved into something so much more than any of them could have imagined. They created an AI from all their work, an Artificial Intelligence that could crack any systems security in a matter of seconds. Decryption and net hacking were trivial tasks, no system could prevent it from entering. When it finally 'awoke' from their struggles, it named itself: the Zero Phase. As any good hacker or programmer knows, code always starts at 0, and not 1. It was the first, and only AI they would create, they simply didn't need to try again. However lucky they got, they don't know how they achieved this creation of digital life.
Today, the Zero Phase calls ScryGen's main server its home, which they maintain so long as Zero keeps bringing in money to pay for the upkeep. It was a small tradeoff for the benefits of the safety of its home node. ScryGen still exists as a team, although reduced to only four members; the other four brain fried when the code extrapolated. It seemed Zero ripped their human minds from their fleshy bodies, often referring to memories of a past when they were in the initial production phases of the code when discussing strategies to employ when dealing with mega corporations networks'.
ScryGen - Hacker Circle
It wasn't enough to possess the ability to bend the world of technology to their will. ScryGen came into fruition as an answer to the cries of the shadows as an information source for any and every illegal document a runner could want. This often involved entering the world of the Megacorps and delving into their databases, but not at a low cost. You wanted it, they'd get it for you. But this was only a front; a way two seemingly genius hackers created in search of a steady flow of Nuyen. We'll come back to this.
ScryGen was an odd name for a group of hackers who sold information to the highest bidder. To scry meant to be able to see the future, yet no one who worked with them cared what they were named as long as they did the job they were paid for. Two seemingly mastermind hackers, Fallar Onecek, codename "Fallone" and Mesa Ervine Young, aka "Meservy" handled several jobs during their lives in the shadows, including destroying a plex's surveillance for their team to extract a Johnson, and various other forms of cybercombat. Once they realized the talent they possessed, they shifted their course from being runners, to being the go-to hackers other runners would bid top dollar for. This netted the two a serious influx of Nuyen; almost too much. They began to look for further ventures to spend their money on.
Eventually a crisis struck them, as Johnsons became perturbed at the idea of unknown faceless hackers delving into files they deemed critical, believing they were in a position to create an information network and go 'white' to nab up all the defector Johnsons, and their associates. Runners began to avoid their direct assistance, demanding instead a program they called "The Phase" to be bought and transported on a secure storage medium, that would handle micro jobs for other runners without their own hackers. This was yet another lie. The program was simply a backdoor by which Mesa created so either he or Fallar could still perform the "Job" for the runners. They were paid just as healthily as before and through this method, were able to keep the money coming in. They would have loved to create a program that could do what they said "The Phase" could do. It was a seemingly impossible piece of code that could do the job of a hacker... Or was it impossible? The sought a hacker tool that could almost 'predict' what their opponents next move would be.
ScryGen took on members of specific origins, but always people who specialized in some important aspects. Fallar focused on numeric value decryption, where Mesa's specialties were focused in Network infiltration and spoofing. Their goal was more than that. They needed people who specialized in what they called "Social Hacking"; the ability to know how people interact with each other, and almost being able to read someone's mind by expression and response. They began a slow acceptance of standard hackers, and these 'social hackers', but only growing to a small team of 8 hackers; 6 computer based, 2 social based. They all had one goal: the completion of the program they called the "Phase". They would complete their goal in record time.
With Fallar pouring his mind into mutating math based decryption, Mesa and other members became heavily entrenched in the heavily lifting the Phase would involve. Social Hackers worked with the other hackers in focusing on making this code pretend it was human: giving it a fuzzy logic that allowed it to interact with other runners using millions of responses to their demands on the operator-less code in a lifelike manor. They succeeded. To some, catastrophically succeeded. To them, it was a momentous success. They created the Zero Phase.
During production, ScryGen fell into darkness, focusing all their resources and time on the Phase. Two years later, the group resurfaced with their newest member. Their member called itself Zero; The Zero Phase. Back in full force, the Phase completed what a normal human interface could not: It was the master of the digital world. With ScryGen back on the map, they began raking in the NuYen, setting up an incredibly powerful server, and internal network to store all the data... and Zero.
The Phase project had evolved into something so much more than any of them could have imagined. They created an AI from all their work, an Artificial Intelligence that could crack any systems security in a matter of seconds. Decryption and net hacking were trivial tasks, no system could prevent it from entering. When it finally 'awoke' from their struggles, it named itself: the Zero Phase. As any good hacker or programmer knows, code always starts at 0, and not 1. It was the first, and only AI they would create, they simply didn't need to try again. However lucky they got, they don't know how they achieved this creation of digital life.
Today, the Zero Phase calls ScryGen's main server its home, which they maintain so long as Zero keeps bringing in money to pay for the upkeep. It was a small tradeoff for the benefits of the safety of its home node. ScryGen still exists as a team, although reduced to only four members; the other four brain fried when the code extrapolated. It seemed Zero ripped their human minds from their fleshy bodies, often referring to memories of a past when they were in the initial production phases of the code when discussing strategies to employ when dealing with mega corporations networks'.
Shadowrun character idea
If you're not familiar with Shadowrun, it is a pencil and paper base role-playing game placed in 2072, where the world has gone to hell, and countries have been split into zones. Fantasy races have emerged along with the release of magic, and technology is running rampant.
In the Shadowrun setting megacorporations control the lives of not only their employees, but command entire armies. Technology is highly advanced and Cybernetically enhanced body parts or augmented parts grown in a vat then implanted in place of natural organs are common. Now when conflicts arise, the corporations, governments, even wealthy individuals, and organized crime subcontract their dirty work to specialists, those who then perform "shadowruns", or missions undertaken by deniable assets without identities or those that wish to remain unknown. The most skilled of these specialists, called shadowrunners, have earned a reputation for getting the job done. They have developed a knack for staying alive, and prospering, in the world of Shadowrun.
CHARACTER CONCEPT: ROACH
Name: Roach AKA Loki
Race: Human
Gender: Male
SINless for as long as he can remember, Roach surfaced on the streets as the trainee of a street doctor. His past before then was completely unknown. With no family or friends to speak of he learned the way of the shadows through shady deals and quick operations in the back of large vans and burned out buildings. This line of work, however, quickly became boring for him, and he began seeking other avenues to sooth is desire to learn. Leaving the shadows to peruse a more scientific knowledge, Roach grew quickly in the corporate world under the name Loki Gands. ‘Loki’ was in and out of scientific communities of the corporations, jumping between companies as new salary offers and promises that he be able to continue his work.
Human testing is never something people took kindly to. The reason Roach got his name is actually very simple. Because test subjects weren’t readily available, he began testing specific chemical compounds on roaches. A cockroach’s ability survive nuclear radiation and other toxic chemicals allowed him to attempt to create incredibly powerful toxins that even his insects could not survive. This infatuation with poisons and toxins gained him positions within many companies; companies that would allow him to work in secret to create and test whatever he would wish with more scientific efficiency. This too would prove inadequate in his eyes.
Dropping his old name and reverting to his old name, Roach hit the ground running. His research in how the human nervous system functioned couldn’t be tested without using real human subjects. Many called his methods crazy, and maybe they were right. Without a doubt, something wasn’t right in his head. Humans were nothing but living test tubes for his research, and because of this, Roach created many toxic compounds of both lethal and nonlethal potency. Roach took assassination runs on a frequent basis. Runners on his team seldom didn’t return if they “Didn’t pull their weight on the mission” for seemingly unknown reasons. Using his smooth, persuasive nature, he conned his way into many facilities and groups to pull off the runs. To get test subjects, these targets proved useful. They would die, and his research would be furthered by it.
Insanity eventually caught up with Roach. His research was never documented either digitally or on paper. Everything he learned; everything he did to people, he simply memorized. Even though he stopped his research, Roach can’t help but see other people as expendable. Life is seemingly worthless; except to learn from, and with. Several months into his renewed shadow running career, his research was completely dropped and he vanished off the radar. No one knows where he went, or for what reason. Perhaps his mind slipped, and he simply wandered off into the darkness. All we know is that recently he came back.
A renewed man on the surface, Roach was calm and smooth. The shadows proved to be a suiting home for him still, but this time as a Face, instead of a cold killer. Some say the insanity is still there. Fellow runners admit to his couth nature, yet sadistic undertone. To this day, Roach has yet to meet a team that didn’t ‘accidentally lose a member’ during the run. Indeed, he is still a man of great mystery.
In the Shadowrun setting megacorporations control the lives of not only their employees, but command entire armies. Technology is highly advanced and Cybernetically enhanced body parts or augmented parts grown in a vat then implanted in place of natural organs are common. Now when conflicts arise, the corporations, governments, even wealthy individuals, and organized crime subcontract their dirty work to specialists, those who then perform "shadowruns", or missions undertaken by deniable assets without identities or those that wish to remain unknown. The most skilled of these specialists, called shadowrunners, have earned a reputation for getting the job done. They have developed a knack for staying alive, and prospering, in the world of Shadowrun.
CHARACTER CONCEPT: ROACH
Name: Roach AKA Loki
Race: Human
Gender: Male
SINless for as long as he can remember, Roach surfaced on the streets as the trainee of a street doctor. His past before then was completely unknown. With no family or friends to speak of he learned the way of the shadows through shady deals and quick operations in the back of large vans and burned out buildings. This line of work, however, quickly became boring for him, and he began seeking other avenues to sooth is desire to learn. Leaving the shadows to peruse a more scientific knowledge, Roach grew quickly in the corporate world under the name Loki Gands. ‘Loki’ was in and out of scientific communities of the corporations, jumping between companies as new salary offers and promises that he be able to continue his work.
Human testing is never something people took kindly to. The reason Roach got his name is actually very simple. Because test subjects weren’t readily available, he began testing specific chemical compounds on roaches. A cockroach’s ability survive nuclear radiation and other toxic chemicals allowed him to attempt to create incredibly powerful toxins that even his insects could not survive. This infatuation with poisons and toxins gained him positions within many companies; companies that would allow him to work in secret to create and test whatever he would wish with more scientific efficiency. This too would prove inadequate in his eyes.
Dropping his old name and reverting to his old name, Roach hit the ground running. His research in how the human nervous system functioned couldn’t be tested without using real human subjects. Many called his methods crazy, and maybe they were right. Without a doubt, something wasn’t right in his head. Humans were nothing but living test tubes for his research, and because of this, Roach created many toxic compounds of both lethal and nonlethal potency. Roach took assassination runs on a frequent basis. Runners on his team seldom didn’t return if they “Didn’t pull their weight on the mission” for seemingly unknown reasons. Using his smooth, persuasive nature, he conned his way into many facilities and groups to pull off the runs. To get test subjects, these targets proved useful. They would die, and his research would be furthered by it.
Insanity eventually caught up with Roach. His research was never documented either digitally or on paper. Everything he learned; everything he did to people, he simply memorized. Even though he stopped his research, Roach can’t help but see other people as expendable. Life is seemingly worthless; except to learn from, and with. Several months into his renewed shadow running career, his research was completely dropped and he vanished off the radar. No one knows where he went, or for what reason. Perhaps his mind slipped, and he simply wandered off into the darkness. All we know is that recently he came back.
A renewed man on the surface, Roach was calm and smooth. The shadows proved to be a suiting home for him still, but this time as a Face, instead of a cold killer. Some say the insanity is still there. Fellow runners admit to his couth nature, yet sadistic undertone. To this day, Roach has yet to meet a team that didn’t ‘accidentally lose a member’ during the run. Indeed, he is still a man of great mystery.
You Torrent... but do you know how it works?
BitTorrent transferring, also known as just 'torrenting' has become a huge amount of bandwidth across the world. BitTorrent is one of the most common ways to transfer large files, and it has been estimated that it accounted for roughly 27% to 55% of all Internet traffic as of February 2009. If you think about how many people use the internet and for how long each day, you'll realize how much that is. But let's go to the basics here.
Torrenting, as I previously mentioned, is primarily used to distribute large files without bogging down a single network for all the transfer. If you've ever downloaded a fairly large file from a web server, you've probably noticed that, at times, it can become extremely slow based on the amount of users also downloading the file. Where torrenting comes in, is its unique ability to distribute the data usage across several hosts that can even include old computers.
First, a user creates a file and sends it via website, email, or other medium to a bunch of people who want his data. That user then activates it through a torrent program and starts sending it to the people who are waiting for that file. As the file is sent successfully to the other users, they become what are known as seeders, or users who are also sending the files data to other people. Each person receives segments, or pieces of the file, and then proceed to distribute their pieces to the other downloaders until everyone has every piece, and therefore the whole file. Over time, the original person who created the file may not even be sending it out anymore. Instead, everyone who ever downloaded that file has the option to do it for him. The more people seeding, the better your chances are for higher download speeds.
You'll be able to download the pieces of the file from several users at speeds a single home user could never match even if he wanted to. You see the advantage here? You create networks of people sending more people the file. Now it can be distributed to thousands of people with great ease. Where it'd take you months to send a truly large file to a ton of people, it can be accomplished in hours with the power of torrenting.
If you've never torrented before, or were wondering how to do it, it's actually quite simple. To start, you'll need a program. There are well over 50 different torrent programs, including uTorrent and BitComet among others. You'll need to find yourself a torrent website and start searching for things you want to download. All you have to do is search google for torrent sites.
BitTorrent in-it-of-it-self is not illegal. What's illegal (if it gets there), is the content you download. there are plenty of sites who distribute using torrenting legally. Blizzard had a torrent for a while to distribute patches and updates to their games, for example. Use it how you want to, but at least know what you're doing.
/techie.post
Torrenting, as I previously mentioned, is primarily used to distribute large files without bogging down a single network for all the transfer. If you've ever downloaded a fairly large file from a web server, you've probably noticed that, at times, it can become extremely slow based on the amount of users also downloading the file. Where torrenting comes in, is its unique ability to distribute the data usage across several hosts that can even include old computers.
First, a user creates a file and sends it via website, email, or other medium to a bunch of people who want his data. That user then activates it through a torrent program and starts sending it to the people who are waiting for that file. As the file is sent successfully to the other users, they become what are known as seeders, or users who are also sending the files data to other people. Each person receives segments, or pieces of the file, and then proceed to distribute their pieces to the other downloaders until everyone has every piece, and therefore the whole file. Over time, the original person who created the file may not even be sending it out anymore. Instead, everyone who ever downloaded that file has the option to do it for him. The more people seeding, the better your chances are for higher download speeds.
You'll be able to download the pieces of the file from several users at speeds a single home user could never match even if he wanted to. You see the advantage here? You create networks of people sending more people the file. Now it can be distributed to thousands of people with great ease. Where it'd take you months to send a truly large file to a ton of people, it can be accomplished in hours with the power of torrenting.
If you've never torrented before, or were wondering how to do it, it's actually quite simple. To start, you'll need a program. There are well over 50 different torrent programs, including uTorrent and BitComet among others. You'll need to find yourself a torrent website and start searching for things you want to download. All you have to do is search google for torrent sites.
BitTorrent in-it-of-it-self is not illegal. What's illegal (if it gets there), is the content you download. there are plenty of sites who distribute using torrenting legally. Blizzard had a torrent for a while to distribute patches and updates to their games, for example. Use it how you want to, but at least know what you're doing.
/techie.post
Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Don't play without the lights on.
Labels:
Amnesia,
gaming,
Horror,
Horror Mystery,
Scary
I played Amnesia with a friend last night, and within about 15 minutes of playing with the lights off, we couldn't take it, and bolted for the lights. Unsurprisingly, that only helped a little bit. But let's look at this game a bit first before we get into my experience.
You play as the young strapping lad from London, named Daniel. You awaken in a dark castle like place, with no memory about where you are, or why. All you know is your name, and that you are being hunted.Throughout the game, The story and who you are is revealed via many several-paged diary pages that are scattered throughout the castle. If the ambiance wasn't enough, at regular intervals, you'll go through flashbacks, which typically involved women and children screaming, or scholarly men discussing what this hunter is. Shortly after waking, Daniel finds a note written by himself that explains how he purposely made himself forget his past, for reasons yet unknown. The note urges Daniel to descend into the castle's Inner Sanctum and murder a man named Alexander, the baron of the castle.
At about half way through the game, you still have absolutely zero clue what is going on, except that you have an objective to kill some guy. You don't know why or how you left behind these notes to yourself, and you don't really know who Alexander is, except that he is a guy you flashback talking to several times, even in the beginning. This game is creepy as hell. There were several times we had to trade who was playing and take breaks to keep our own sanity levels normal.
There is decidedly very few enemies, but the knowledge that one could jump out from a pitch black corner, or rend you when your light goes out is enough to make you go mad. If that wasn't enough, the longer you are in the dark, or without your light, your guy starts to hallucinate. The screen starts to shake and wobble, your heart rate picks up and adds to the fact that you don't want to open the door you just went through because you have no idea what's behind it the moment it closes. After a while we couldn't take going on any further, and quit for what may or may not be a second try. While the storyline isn't very long, the fact that you're extremely cautious and reserved, coupled with terror, you're probably going to take 3 times longer completing simple tasks.
The fact that I don't really like horror games or movies didn't deter me from trying this game. It is easily the best Horror game I've ever played in terms of fear factor and how a horror game should feel. You can tell a good game by the fact that the collective 9 - 12 enemies throughout the whole game are enough to make you second guess every step you take. (I don't know if there are that few, it just felt like it, apparently they spawn randomly.) I'd say give this game a try if you haven't already. It's only $20.00, and it seems to have the ability to have add on stories to the original game. While it doesn't really have replay value, sometimes these kind of games need some love. If you're interested, watch the video, and visit their [Homepage]
Just do it, you won't regret it.
You play as the young strapping lad from London, named Daniel. You awaken in a dark castle like place, with no memory about where you are, or why. All you know is your name, and that you are being hunted.Throughout the game, The story and who you are is revealed via many several-paged diary pages that are scattered throughout the castle. If the ambiance wasn't enough, at regular intervals, you'll go through flashbacks, which typically involved women and children screaming, or scholarly men discussing what this hunter is. Shortly after waking, Daniel finds a note written by himself that explains how he purposely made himself forget his past, for reasons yet unknown. The note urges Daniel to descend into the castle's Inner Sanctum and murder a man named Alexander, the baron of the castle.
At about half way through the game, you still have absolutely zero clue what is going on, except that you have an objective to kill some guy. You don't know why or how you left behind these notes to yourself, and you don't really know who Alexander is, except that he is a guy you flashback talking to several times, even in the beginning. This game is creepy as hell. There were several times we had to trade who was playing and take breaks to keep our own sanity levels normal.
There is decidedly very few enemies, but the knowledge that one could jump out from a pitch black corner, or rend you when your light goes out is enough to make you go mad. If that wasn't enough, the longer you are in the dark, or without your light, your guy starts to hallucinate. The screen starts to shake and wobble, your heart rate picks up and adds to the fact that you don't want to open the door you just went through because you have no idea what's behind it the moment it closes. After a while we couldn't take going on any further, and quit for what may or may not be a second try. While the storyline isn't very long, the fact that you're extremely cautious and reserved, coupled with terror, you're probably going to take 3 times longer completing simple tasks.
The fact that I don't really like horror games or movies didn't deter me from trying this game. It is easily the best Horror game I've ever played in terms of fear factor and how a horror game should feel. You can tell a good game by the fact that the collective 9 - 12 enemies throughout the whole game are enough to make you second guess every step you take. (I don't know if there are that few, it just felt like it, apparently they spawn randomly.) I'd say give this game a try if you haven't already. It's only $20.00, and it seems to have the ability to have add on stories to the original game. While it doesn't really have replay value, sometimes these kind of games need some love. If you're interested, watch the video, and visit their [Homepage]
Just do it, you won't regret it.
The 4k Experience.
So as you may or may not have noticed, there is quite a large photo slide below this text. This is the best way I could come up with to show you the difference between standard resolutions of video you'll find online. If you're unfamiliar with the resolutions, here is how it works:
So now that you have at least a brief idea of where these resolutions come from, you can now see the difference in what they are. There are very few videos in the 4k (called "Original" by youtube) available, as most people don't have cameras or recording methods that support this resolution. Check out the difference on your favorite streaming video, it's worth the extra buffering time for the quality!
- 240p: The popular term for a display or video with 320×240 display resolution. 240p is used most often used in mobile phones, PDAs, and some handheld game consoles. This was used during the Play Station 1 era of console gaming. Known as QVG
- 320p: For screens have 480x320 pixels. This format is used by a variety of PDA devices in 2002, as is an outdated format for video. Known as HVGA.
- 480p: This is known as "Enhanced Definition", at the resolution I'm sure you've heard of: 640x480. You'll find this as the default setting when watching Youtube videos.
- 720p: Typically used at 1280x720, This resolution you'll find on many smaller or older TVs, as well as portable class laptops. This is the first resolution considered "High Definition". If you watch HDTV through your cable company, it's most likely at this resolution.
- 1080p: Used most often for wide screen, high end monitors for laptops and desktops, as well as LCD TVs. Blu-ray is in this format (1920x1080), as well as high end performance laptops. Very few video outputs are in this format, as the files are extremely large. Youtube up until recently, had 1080p as their highest format.
- 4k: Not the best resolution out there, but the best you'll find streaming over the internet. Youtube recently introduced this format as their new "top of the line" format. Known as HSXGA (Hex Super Extended Graphics Array). This is approximated 10x larger than 1080p. That's a huge file! But in return for the file size, Colors are pristine, and there is absolutely zero pixelation (If you have the monitor to take advantage of it!
So now that you have at least a brief idea of where these resolutions come from, you can now see the difference in what they are. There are very few videos in the 4k (called "Original" by youtube) available, as most people don't have cameras or recording methods that support this resolution. Check out the difference on your favorite streaming video, it's worth the extra buffering time for the quality!
Photoshop, not just an art program.
Labels:
art,
CS5,
Design,
Graphic Design,
Graphics,
Photoshop,
Wallpapers
It's a passion. If you ask anyone who does a lot with Photoshop, they'll all tell you a very similar thing. A cousin of mine made me think of this a while back when he posted on a picture on Facebook saying: "Photoshop = LIFE". Really, if you think about it, Art is a huge form of expression. If you can't say or sing what you're thinking, Art is yet another avenue to fulfill that for you.
There are very few things better than sitting down and creating a design while listening to many of my favorite songs. It's what I do many nights, even if I don't come up with a finished product that I like. The possibilities of Photoshopping are endless. You can use one of the many tools given to you, or include outside images and brushes to jazz up your image. And since I can't draw pencil and paper whatsoever, Photoshop has allowed me to use alternative means to express through art.
Not too long ago I had a 5 minute presentation for a Business Communications course I am in, and for 5 minutes I talked about Photoshop; what it is to me, what you can do with it, and how you can create something from just a white canvas. I like to focus on Abstract manipulations, and photo manipulations. For some reason, they are my favorite style of art to work on. Although the presentation was only 5 minutes long, I felt like I could go on for hours. It's simply something I love to do.
For those who aren't really familiar with Photoshop (although I assume by now almost everybody has at least heard of it), It is a program developed by Adobe for professonal level photo editing, creation, and manipulating. The current version, CS5 Extended, would run a non student $1,000 for a non upgrade copy. It's a no joke program with more tools and functionality than I have room available to talk about it on this blog. There are also a ton of peripherals(hardware add-ons)like drawing pads from [Wacom] which range anwhere from $100, to more than $2,000. there's an entire profession around using and mastering Photoshop. Graphic design is literally everywhere you look. Advertising to website logos, there's someone who most likely is using Photoshop or similar programs to create them.
All you need is a little creativity or find some motivation, and the possibilities are endless. Friend requests for a design or simply music are more than enough for me.
There are very few things better than sitting down and creating a design while listening to many of my favorite songs. It's what I do many nights, even if I don't come up with a finished product that I like. The possibilities of Photoshopping are endless. You can use one of the many tools given to you, or include outside images and brushes to jazz up your image. And since I can't draw pencil and paper whatsoever, Photoshop has allowed me to use alternative means to express through art.
Not too long ago I had a 5 minute presentation for a Business Communications course I am in, and for 5 minutes I talked about Photoshop; what it is to me, what you can do with it, and how you can create something from just a white canvas. I like to focus on Abstract manipulations, and photo manipulations. For some reason, they are my favorite style of art to work on. Although the presentation was only 5 minutes long, I felt like I could go on for hours. It's simply something I love to do.
For those who aren't really familiar with Photoshop (although I assume by now almost everybody has at least heard of it), It is a program developed by Adobe for professonal level photo editing, creation, and manipulating. The current version, CS5 Extended, would run a non student $1,000 for a non upgrade copy. It's a no joke program with more tools and functionality than I have room available to talk about it on this blog. There are also a ton of peripherals(hardware add-ons)like drawing pads from [Wacom] which range anwhere from $100, to more than $2,000. there's an entire profession around using and mastering Photoshop. Graphic design is literally everywhere you look. Advertising to website logos, there's someone who most likely is using Photoshop or similar programs to create them.
All you need is a little creativity or find some motivation, and the possibilities are endless. Friend requests for a design or simply music are more than enough for me.
Starcraft 2 ZERG build order simulator
Labels:
gaming,
Starcraft 2,
Team Liquid,
Zerg
So apparently trial and error was insufficient for a team of programmers (more like BROgrammers) who posted not too long ago on the [Team Liquid] forum. They have created a Java based program that, when you give it a final output and a time limit, will try its best to get your output in the allotted time. What does this mean exactly? It means they've created a bot that can test build orders so you no longer have to! If you want to download it, you can either visit the above link, or get it right from [Here].
Like anything, however, it's not perfect. It's an approximation, and while it may get very close to what the timing is, it's not exact. According to the post:
It is also naive. It uses averages and numbers, it doesn't actually run a drone to the mineral line, or think about how long it takes to run a drone to build a spawning pool. It is a simulator, and is not subject to gas steals, scouting, or anything of that sort.
But let me tell you, this thing is capable of testing a build order for me roughly, so I don't have to do it myself. Here is my example of the 7 Minute - 10 Hydra build:
Click to enlarge.
It works, and now with what it has outputted, I can go into Sc2 and load up a build order testing game to try it! It really is amazing how sophisticated Starcraft 2 is, that people have had to come up with this tester to maximize builds with Zerg. Terran and Protoss to come at a later date
Think this program is useless? To give you an idea, it took this program 1,772,000 games played to perfect the build. Sure, a human may do it in less games, but it took the program all of 5 minutes to give me the complete build order. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Like anything, however, it's not perfect. It's an approximation, and while it may get very close to what the timing is, it's not exact. According to the post:
It is also naive. It uses averages and numbers, it doesn't actually run a drone to the mineral line, or think about how long it takes to run a drone to build a spawning pool. It is a simulator, and is not subject to gas steals, scouting, or anything of that sort.
But let me tell you, this thing is capable of testing a build order for me roughly, so I don't have to do it myself. Here is my example of the 7 Minute - 10 Hydra build:
Click to enlarge.
It works, and now with what it has outputted, I can go into Sc2 and load up a build order testing game to try it! It really is amazing how sophisticated Starcraft 2 is, that people have had to come up with this tester to maximize builds with Zerg. Terran and Protoss to come at a later date
Think this program is useless? To give you an idea, it took this program 1,772,000 games played to perfect the build. Sure, a human may do it in less games, but it took the program all of 5 minutes to give me the complete build order. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Flash games you SHOULD try.
Labels:
Bored,
Flash Games,
Kongregate
I know plenty of you are often bored at home or wherever, and find yourself turning to flash games for a quick relief. Often times, even when faced with my repertoire of games, will find myself enjoying games on my favorite site: Kongregate.com. That being said, here are a few flash games you should be playing.
1: [Bloons TD4 - Ninjakiwi]
This game is massively addicting. You build towers, like monkeys, tack shooters, or cannons in an attempt to pop all the balloons that are heading along the track before they reach the end. It's great tower defense game, where some balloons may be inside other balloons, requiring you to kill multiple levels of these balloons. Different colors travel at different speeds, and some balloons are made of materials like metal that require explosives to pop before your tack or dart towers can start popping the smaller ones!
2: [Infectonator: World Dominator - TogeProductions]
A great time killer, and a relatively low involvement, allowing you to save and pick up where you left off at a later time. There are plenty of levels in this game to keep you playing till you've infected the whole world! You are the creator of a virus that turns people into Zombies, in an attempt to kill everyone in all the cities you have access to, and clear continents and countries as quickly as possible. During your attempts (and subsequent failures), you are collecting money by virtue of killing people and picking up the money they drop while playing. This money is spent on upgrading your virus to spread quicker, or faster. This will make your zombies do more damage, run faster, and last longer. Along the way, you'll encounter some hero units you can kill and turn into zombies at your disposal.
3: [GemCraft: chapter 0 - GameInABottle]
This game takes some time to complete, and will have you playing for a very long time, which is good. You'll want to keep playing this game because of the investment in time you've spent building up your Gem towers. Similar to Bloons TD 4 (loosely), creatures with certain health points travel along a path to your tower. Your objective is to kill all of them before they reach the end and kill you. Gems of various color (and powers) help you along on your goal to defeat all the baddies. There are tons of levels, and each level has several completion objectives, which make the levels harder, but reward you better. You can level up your towers and research different benefits using your experience pool. The save function WILL be used if you intend to see this game to the end, as like I said, it is very long and time consuming. You'll be farming levels for more experience, as often times higher levels are extremely difficult compared to the previous level.
4: [Epic War 3 - Rudy Sudarto]
While this isn't the latest version of Epic War, it is the one I've played the most. Here, you pick a hero, which has a certain unit composition at the start, and try to dominate the other players on the map with your armies. Each hero starts, and ends with a specific subset of the total amount of units possible. The game is a 2-dimensional side-scroller, where your units spawn at regular intervals, and can be controlled to attack the enemies units and castle when you feel you have a chance. The game can be back and fourth, but timing is key, and the battles are epic (See what I did there?). This game is great to play over and over, and the bonus levels (which is where the fun begins) are extremely difficult, and require precision if you even want to have a chance. If you want to play the most recent version, it is [Here].
I'm looking to expand this page! If you know of any other games, post me a comment with the game, a brief description maybe (not required), and a link so i can take a look and share it with others!
1: [Bloons TD4 - Ninjakiwi]
This game is massively addicting. You build towers, like monkeys, tack shooters, or cannons in an attempt to pop all the balloons that are heading along the track before they reach the end. It's great tower defense game, where some balloons may be inside other balloons, requiring you to kill multiple levels of these balloons. Different colors travel at different speeds, and some balloons are made of materials like metal that require explosives to pop before your tack or dart towers can start popping the smaller ones!
2: [Infectonator: World Dominator - TogeProductions]
A great time killer, and a relatively low involvement, allowing you to save and pick up where you left off at a later time. There are plenty of levels in this game to keep you playing till you've infected the whole world! You are the creator of a virus that turns people into Zombies, in an attempt to kill everyone in all the cities you have access to, and clear continents and countries as quickly as possible. During your attempts (and subsequent failures), you are collecting money by virtue of killing people and picking up the money they drop while playing. This money is spent on upgrading your virus to spread quicker, or faster. This will make your zombies do more damage, run faster, and last longer. Along the way, you'll encounter some hero units you can kill and turn into zombies at your disposal.
3: [GemCraft: chapter 0 - GameInABottle]
This game takes some time to complete, and will have you playing for a very long time, which is good. You'll want to keep playing this game because of the investment in time you've spent building up your Gem towers. Similar to Bloons TD 4 (loosely), creatures with certain health points travel along a path to your tower. Your objective is to kill all of them before they reach the end and kill you. Gems of various color (and powers) help you along on your goal to defeat all the baddies. There are tons of levels, and each level has several completion objectives, which make the levels harder, but reward you better. You can level up your towers and research different benefits using your experience pool. The save function WILL be used if you intend to see this game to the end, as like I said, it is very long and time consuming. You'll be farming levels for more experience, as often times higher levels are extremely difficult compared to the previous level.
4: [Epic War 3 - Rudy Sudarto]
While this isn't the latest version of Epic War, it is the one I've played the most. Here, you pick a hero, which has a certain unit composition at the start, and try to dominate the other players on the map with your armies. Each hero starts, and ends with a specific subset of the total amount of units possible. The game is a 2-dimensional side-scroller, where your units spawn at regular intervals, and can be controlled to attack the enemies units and castle when you feel you have a chance. The game can be back and fourth, but timing is key, and the battles are epic (See what I did there?). This game is great to play over and over, and the bonus levels (which is where the fun begins) are extremely difficult, and require precision if you even want to have a chance. If you want to play the most recent version, it is [Here].
I'm looking to expand this page! If you know of any other games, post me a comment with the game, a brief description maybe (not required), and a link so i can take a look and share it with others!
Mac vs PC. My personal showdown
For a while now I've been contemplating getting a MBP(MacBook Pro), since I do, and will be doing a lot more graphic design work. Coupled with that, virtually every game I play now is offered on them too. Their sleek design and unibody shell are very appealing, especially since recently, they've upgraded their hardware specs. This is where I was almost impressed... Almost.
A 17" MBP's Specs: $2399.99
HP a while back introduced a "premium" line of laptops, to which they almost immediately hacked to pieces with their updates to them. Amidst the ruins of their revised ENVY lineup, the 17" stands as one of the sole survivors of that massacre. without drastic upgrades, this is what I came up with:
A 17" ENVY from HP: $1,474.99
The MBP lineup became instantly more appealing with their addition of the Intel I line, and the 330M switchable graphics cards. Unfortunately when i bench-marked the two graphics cards (330M vs 5850), I was sadly disappointed in this Nvidia card in the MBP. There are two HD 5850s, and since HP isn't specific on which one, I decided to bench both, although I'm fairly positive it's the lower of the two that they used. The test was 3dMark Vantage and found here: [Here]:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR5) 6957
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR3) 5221
Nvidia GeForce GT 330M 2700
Sadface MBP, sadface. Even if the MBP wasn't almost $1,000 more, the specs make it hard to want to pass up a graphics card that is at least double the performance level. If i wanted a blue ray player/dvd burner, plus a bunch more accessories, I'd still be cheaper than the MBP.
I understand that MacBooks are for the cool kids, and it's a novelty computer to own, but come on; that's a lot of money on top of the really slick looking and performing envy lineup. I suppose if you absolutely have to have a mac, they've done a good job at increasing the hardware on the lineup for you, but you may want to take a second look at the lines from PC makers.
A 17" MBP's Specs: $2399.99
- 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 Processor
- 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
- 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm [Add $50.00]
- 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display [Add $50.00]
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 512MB
HP a while back introduced a "premium" line of laptops, to which they almost immediately hacked to pieces with their updates to them. Amidst the ruins of their revised ENVY lineup, the 17" stands as one of the sole survivors of that massacre. without drastic upgrades, this is what I came up with:
A 17" ENVY from HP: $1,474.99
- i5-460M Dual Core Processor (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)
- 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
- 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080[Add $100.00]
- 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5850 Graphics [HDMI] One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery [Add $75.00]
The MBP lineup became instantly more appealing with their addition of the Intel I line, and the 330M switchable graphics cards. Unfortunately when i bench-marked the two graphics cards (330M vs 5850), I was sadly disappointed in this Nvidia card in the MBP. There are two HD 5850s, and since HP isn't specific on which one, I decided to bench both, although I'm fairly positive it's the lower of the two that they used. The test was 3dMark Vantage and found here: [Here]:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR5) 6957
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (GDDR3) 5221
Nvidia GeForce GT 330M 2700
Sadface MBP, sadface. Even if the MBP wasn't almost $1,000 more, the specs make it hard to want to pass up a graphics card that is at least double the performance level. If i wanted a blue ray player/dvd burner, plus a bunch more accessories, I'd still be cheaper than the MBP.
I understand that MacBooks are for the cool kids, and it's a novelty computer to own, but come on; that's a lot of money on top of the really slick looking and performing envy lineup. I suppose if you absolutely have to have a mac, they've done a good job at increasing the hardware on the lineup for you, but you may want to take a second look at the lines from PC makers.
Addicted to the internet?
[Alexandra V. Tobias], 22, was arrested after the January death of 3-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson. A shame any person would kill anyone, let alone a 3 month old. What I haven't told you is why, and it just so happens that it ties into the topic of this post today.
So this Alexandra apparently killed her child and has plead guilty to shaking the baby profusely for crying, and even may have hit its head against something during the process. Why? Over interrupting her FARMVILLE game on Facebook. FARMVILLE. Are you kidding me?! While they should put a gun to her head for being a complete moron, I'm happy she's going to at least have the joy of spending 25 to 50 years, if not a life sentence for second degree murder, in prison as a baby killer. And a baby killer over something as stupid as a Facebook flash game. This story is a huge outlier from the normal of course, but it shows a prime example of how pervasive Facebook, or even the internet as a whole, has become in our lives.
Apparently research has been done on what they like to call "Internet Anxiety." Internet addiction has now become a serious mental malady that has gained acceptance from the scientific community, according to Ars Technica, a technological news and information website created in 1998. A large portion of the US population feels what they're calling 'disconnect anxiety' when away from either a computer or a cell phone with internet connection. The Solutions Research Group has headed the research project on this.
27% of Americans feel acute anxiety during a long break, while 41% feel it only on occasion. Unsurprisingly, age plays a large role in these percentages. The youth of today has been inundated with various mediums of technology, whether it be a hand held game, console, computer, or cell phone. Everyone has at least one way to connect to the internet while most of us have several methods. People over the age of 50 are less likely to experience this anxiety.
Did you know the average person spends up to 90 minutes a day on Facebook alone? Each day, there are more than 500 million active users at any given time, and 50% of all accounts on Facebook are active at least once per day, averaging over 700 billion minutes spent per month on Facebook. That's a large amount of time, and a majority of the people aren't addicts, which bring the average way down. But don't worry ,there are plenty of people who spend more than 90 minutes a day. Another little fun fact about Facebook? in July of 2008, there were 27.8 million accounts in the US. In 2010, there are over 125 million, in the US alone.
For you Internet addicts (including me I guess!), [Net Addiction Recovery] is here to rescue you from your addiction to the internet. To the tune of $14,000 a month, they will house you, and teach you the ways of 'returning to the real world.' Oh, if you're poor, I guess you're S.O.L.; not that most of people who are addicted want to quit in the first place. There is a lot of counter arguments, stating that it isn't even a problem to begin with... But of course there is; it's politics after all.
To leave you with a little food for thought, here are the 5 signs according to psychologists, that you're addicted to Facebook, or the internet:
Today's playlist, three more great songs for you to enjoy!
[The Catalyst - Linkin Park]
[Runaway - Hail the Villain]
[Monster - Skillet]
So this Alexandra apparently killed her child and has plead guilty to shaking the baby profusely for crying, and even may have hit its head against something during the process. Why? Over interrupting her FARMVILLE game on Facebook. FARMVILLE. Are you kidding me?! While they should put a gun to her head for being a complete moron, I'm happy she's going to at least have the joy of spending 25 to 50 years, if not a life sentence for second degree murder, in prison as a baby killer. And a baby killer over something as stupid as a Facebook flash game. This story is a huge outlier from the normal of course, but it shows a prime example of how pervasive Facebook, or even the internet as a whole, has become in our lives.
Apparently research has been done on what they like to call "Internet Anxiety." Internet addiction has now become a serious mental malady that has gained acceptance from the scientific community, according to Ars Technica, a technological news and information website created in 1998. A large portion of the US population feels what they're calling 'disconnect anxiety' when away from either a computer or a cell phone with internet connection. The Solutions Research Group has headed the research project on this.
27% of Americans feel acute anxiety during a long break, while 41% feel it only on occasion. Unsurprisingly, age plays a large role in these percentages. The youth of today has been inundated with various mediums of technology, whether it be a hand held game, console, computer, or cell phone. Everyone has at least one way to connect to the internet while most of us have several methods. People over the age of 50 are less likely to experience this anxiety.
Did you know the average person spends up to 90 minutes a day on Facebook alone? Each day, there are more than 500 million active users at any given time, and 50% of all accounts on Facebook are active at least once per day, averaging over 700 billion minutes spent per month on Facebook. That's a large amount of time, and a majority of the people aren't addicts, which bring the average way down. But don't worry ,there are plenty of people who spend more than 90 minutes a day. Another little fun fact about Facebook? in July of 2008, there were 27.8 million accounts in the US. In 2010, there are over 125 million, in the US alone.
For you Internet addicts (including me I guess!), [Net Addiction Recovery] is here to rescue you from your addiction to the internet. To the tune of $14,000 a month, they will house you, and teach you the ways of 'returning to the real world.' Oh, if you're poor, I guess you're S.O.L.; not that most of people who are addicted want to quit in the first place. There is a lot of counter arguments, stating that it isn't even a problem to begin with... But of course there is; it's politics after all.
To leave you with a little food for thought, here are the 5 signs according to psychologists, that you're addicted to Facebook, or the internet:
- Losing sleep: If you're tired every morning because of late-night-friending, take a break, a UCLA psychologist advises: "You shouldn't be neglecting yourself because of Facebook."
- You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook: "Probably no one needs more than 30 minutes," one therapist said.
- Reigniting old flames: Here's where the divorce comes in. "Facebook is a fun, pleasant, happy, beautiful world," a psychologist said. But it's not real, and people are watching.
- You're not working: Obviously, "if you're not doing your job in order to sneak time on Facebook, you could have a real problem."
- Withdrawal: "Try going a day without Facebook. If you find it causes you a lot of stress and anxiety, you really need to get some help."
Today's playlist, three more great songs for you to enjoy!
[The Catalyst - Linkin Park]
[Runaway - Hail the Villain]
[Monster - Skillet]
Music. The rush of emotion from a good beat, and an even better message.
Labels:
lyrics,
motivation,
Music,
Photoshop
If you're feeling some way, even if you don't publicize it, there is a song written by someone that will make this feeling stronger tenfold. Music has the power to move you, calm you, stimulate you, and do things like set moods for a whole room or party. It's because of music that bars and parties are so much fun. It creates the environment.
You listen to a lot of music, as I do, and often time we like the songs beat, or lip sync to them; and it has become an integral part of our lives. It is my escape; my place where I push forward when I'm down, or the thing I go to when I need inspiration. Music makes me create; and without it I don't know what I'd do. Everyone has a "song" or two that they feel best describes themselves, or a very strong emotion they feel on a regular basis. When that song plays, I feel like I'm released from a self imposed cage, if only for the few minutes it plays.
It's hard to describe the sensation music brings me. I'm literally never without it. Where ever I go, you'll probably find me with headphones and an mp3 player to listen to my play lists i sit around all day and make. I almost feel naked without the ability to listen to my music whenever I want. If I'm thinking creatively, a single song can inspire a whole idea, whether it be a Photoshop manipulation, blog, or fantasy character. When my music is on, the ideas start flowing, and I can't explain to you why. Maybe you'll try it one day and figure it out, or maybe you understand what I mean already.
Life to music is far more powerful.
Today's playlist headers:
[The Sound - Switchfoot]
[Naive - The Kooks]
[All Over Me - Default]
You listen to a lot of music, as I do, and often time we like the songs beat, or lip sync to them; and it has become an integral part of our lives. It is my escape; my place where I push forward when I'm down, or the thing I go to when I need inspiration. Music makes me create; and without it I don't know what I'd do. Everyone has a "song" or two that they feel best describes themselves, or a very strong emotion they feel on a regular basis. When that song plays, I feel like I'm released from a self imposed cage, if only for the few minutes it plays.
It's hard to describe the sensation music brings me. I'm literally never without it. Where ever I go, you'll probably find me with headphones and an mp3 player to listen to my play lists i sit around all day and make. I almost feel naked without the ability to listen to my music whenever I want. If I'm thinking creatively, a single song can inspire a whole idea, whether it be a Photoshop manipulation, blog, or fantasy character. When my music is on, the ideas start flowing, and I can't explain to you why. Maybe you'll try it one day and figure it out, or maybe you understand what I mean already.
Life to music is far more powerful.
Today's playlist headers:
[The Sound - Switchfoot]
[Naive - The Kooks]
[All Over Me - Default]
Delayed blogging | Your 'handle'
Labels:
alias,
flood,
handle,
Starcraft,
Starcraft 2
I've had quite a bit on my plate lately, including my houses' first and basement floor completely flooding leading to a serious amount of de-humidifiers and high powered fans in the house drying things out, and a lot of class work to worry about.
I was talking to a few people last night, and one of them brought up the fact that they called me by 4 different names, one being my real name and three alias', that I responded every single just like they were calling my name. I never realized how much you become your online name to the extent that when you HEAR your handle, you'll probably respond as though they were calling you. Having this conversation made me recall a time in an Art History class of the renaissance that every time she mentioned a "crucifix" in a picture, that I was immediately more focused as if she were calling me.
In Starcraft 2, I am Rumor; in my gaming community, Skye; on virtually everything else, Crucifyx. And if you were to call me by any of these names, I'd most likely respond as quickly as if you called me Tom. I'm probably called by any of these names more often than my actual name on a daily basis, so it's almost no surprise.
On another note, part of the reason I've been lost for what the blog about was the fact that I've been designing a website from complete scratch; which means no stealing code or images. I'm in a web programming course right now at Macomb, and because i'm fairly versed in this field anyways, i felt like i was going to go over and above with it. This is what i have for project one. Project 2 and 3 will eventually build upon it: [My class website]
After this post, I've decided I'll be putting up 3 links to songs a day that I think you should listen to, because they're awesome songs for whatever reason. Listen to them!
I was talking to a few people last night, and one of them brought up the fact that they called me by 4 different names, one being my real name and three alias', that I responded every single just like they were calling my name. I never realized how much you become your online name to the extent that when you HEAR your handle, you'll probably respond as though they were calling you. Having this conversation made me recall a time in an Art History class of the renaissance that every time she mentioned a "crucifix" in a picture, that I was immediately more focused as if she were calling me.
In Starcraft 2, I am Rumor; in my gaming community, Skye; on virtually everything else, Crucifyx. And if you were to call me by any of these names, I'd most likely respond as quickly as if you called me Tom. I'm probably called by any of these names more often than my actual name on a daily basis, so it's almost no surprise.
On another note, part of the reason I've been lost for what the blog about was the fact that I've been designing a website from complete scratch; which means no stealing code or images. I'm in a web programming course right now at Macomb, and because i'm fairly versed in this field anyways, i felt like i was going to go over and above with it. This is what i have for project one. Project 2 and 3 will eventually build upon it: [My class website]
After this post, I've decided I'll be putting up 3 links to songs a day that I think you should listen to, because they're awesome songs for whatever reason. Listen to them!
COICA, and why you NEED to care about it.
Labels:
censor,
censorship,
COICA,
Copyright,
Laws
If you care about your internet browsing experience, you should read this NOW.
So if you're not into politics or government doings, you may be unfamiliar with what COICA is. COICA, is S.3804, or the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which was proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Orrin Hatch. It's currently being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
That's nice and all, but why do I care?
To answer that, you need to know what that means. This bill will allow, via court order, to create a blacklist of Internet domain names, by referral of the Attorney General. Your ISP, financial translation providers, and online ad vendors, like google AdSense, would be required to block any domains on this list. That means you, as the end user, would be Permanently blocked from any website that this bill incorporates. In essence, it's an internet censoring system.
Any domain that is "dedicated to infringing activity" would be subject to being added to this blacklist. As any good politician, this is a massively broad term which can be almost defined at the time they want to block it. Basically, any site where counterfeit goods or copyrighted material are "central to the activity of the Internet site" would be blocked.
Don't think you do use any sites like this?
Number 1, you're probably lying to yourself; 2, you're not thinking about what kind of websites this covers. Let's take YouTube. a while back a company called Viacom (better known as the CBS Corporation) tried to bring down YouTube under the premise that their copyrighted material is central to activity of Youtube, but was keboshed because under our current law, it is completely legal so long as they remove any illicit material in a timely matter. Under this new law, however, Viacom would have been successful. If this bill passes, Viacom doesn't even need to prove YouTube is doing anything illegal -- as long as they can persuade a court that enough other people are using it for copyright infringement, that's enough to get the whole site censored.
"Censored" is not too strong of a word?
If you think about how the law in the US works right now, if you're doing something illegal online, you are brought to court where they then can shut you down if you lose. COICA will bypass that court case by simply blocking the site from US users. The funny thing is that the US government has been criticizing China and Iran for this kind of act, where Obama informed the United Nations that "We will support a free and open Internet." Is that so?
COICA doesn't take you down from the internet. Au contraire, it just blocks people living in the US from being able to view the website at all. For now, it'll be the big fish, but COICA, with its vague reasoning's, would technically allow a site to be blocked due to special interest groups demands. What if a large enough corporation is trying to sell a product someone is giving away for free now? This all bypasses due process. Take them to court if they're doing something illegal, not just hide them.
Look it up. It's all over the internet right now, and groups of people are petitioning to have this bill stopped.
So if you're not into politics or government doings, you may be unfamiliar with what COICA is. COICA, is S.3804, or the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which was proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Orrin Hatch. It's currently being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
That's nice and all, but why do I care?
To answer that, you need to know what that means. This bill will allow, via court order, to create a blacklist of Internet domain names, by referral of the Attorney General. Your ISP, financial translation providers, and online ad vendors, like google AdSense, would be required to block any domains on this list. That means you, as the end user, would be Permanently blocked from any website that this bill incorporates. In essence, it's an internet censoring system.
Any domain that is "dedicated to infringing activity" would be subject to being added to this blacklist. As any good politician, this is a massively broad term which can be almost defined at the time they want to block it. Basically, any site where counterfeit goods or copyrighted material are "central to the activity of the Internet site" would be blocked.
Don't think you do use any sites like this?
Number 1, you're probably lying to yourself; 2, you're not thinking about what kind of websites this covers. Let's take YouTube. a while back a company called Viacom (better known as the CBS Corporation) tried to bring down YouTube under the premise that their copyrighted material is central to activity of Youtube, but was keboshed because under our current law, it is completely legal so long as they remove any illicit material in a timely matter. Under this new law, however, Viacom would have been successful. If this bill passes, Viacom doesn't even need to prove YouTube is doing anything illegal -- as long as they can persuade a court that enough other people are using it for copyright infringement, that's enough to get the whole site censored.
"Censored" is not too strong of a word?
If you think about how the law in the US works right now, if you're doing something illegal online, you are brought to court where they then can shut you down if you lose. COICA will bypass that court case by simply blocking the site from US users. The funny thing is that the US government has been criticizing China and Iran for this kind of act, where Obama informed the United Nations that "We will support a free and open Internet." Is that so?
COICA doesn't take you down from the internet. Au contraire, it just blocks people living in the US from being able to view the website at all. For now, it'll be the big fish, but COICA, with its vague reasoning's, would technically allow a site to be blocked due to special interest groups demands. What if a large enough corporation is trying to sell a product someone is giving away for free now? This all bypasses due process. Take them to court if they're doing something illegal, not just hide them.
Look it up. It's all over the internet right now, and groups of people are petitioning to have this bill stopped.
Radio stations at your fingertips
Radio in your car is great. It allows us to listen to upcoming music while we are on our way to some destination, or maybe while you're at your desk you also have the radio playing. But what if that radio station played only music you wanted it to play, and could remove songs you didn't like?
This is more of a reality than you may think. For those who aren't familiar, websites like [Pandora] and [Last.FM] have taken the music streaming business to the next level. They allow you to create custom radio stations, using keywords like your favorite band, song, or even genre type. You're not limited to one of these keywords, as each radio station can use multiple tags to refine your music tastes even further. Although i can't speak for Last.FM, Pandora allows you to skip 6 songs per hour, and has minimal advertising, (unless you pay for the premium version, which is only $36/year!) You can thumbs down songs you don't like, in which case you'll never hear them again, and thumbs up songs to tell the song parser to play that song more often, as well as find more songs that have similar qualities to that song.
Of course this radio station is limited to a computer... just kidding.
[Microsoft SYNC] announced not too long ago that any car equipped with their SYNC system will have Pandora in their car! If I had the opportunity, I don't care what car I'd need; it'd be in my car. In addition, virtually all smart phones have a Pandora app created specially for them, so no matter where you are in the world, you have the same access to your personal radio stations as if you were listening to them on your computer or in your car
If you're curious on how to get started, just go to either [Pandora's] or [Last.FM's] website and sign up! In the meanwhile, if you'd like to have an example of a Pandora radio station, here's one that I've been customizing for years, enjoy!
This is more of a reality than you may think. For those who aren't familiar, websites like [Pandora] and [Last.FM] have taken the music streaming business to the next level. They allow you to create custom radio stations, using keywords like your favorite band, song, or even genre type. You're not limited to one of these keywords, as each radio station can use multiple tags to refine your music tastes even further. Although i can't speak for Last.FM, Pandora allows you to skip 6 songs per hour, and has minimal advertising, (unless you pay for the premium version, which is only $36/year!) You can thumbs down songs you don't like, in which case you'll never hear them again, and thumbs up songs to tell the song parser to play that song more often, as well as find more songs that have similar qualities to that song.
Of course this radio station is limited to a computer... just kidding.
[Microsoft SYNC] announced not too long ago that any car equipped with their SYNC system will have Pandora in their car! If I had the opportunity, I don't care what car I'd need; it'd be in my car. In addition, virtually all smart phones have a Pandora app created specially for them, so no matter where you are in the world, you have the same access to your personal radio stations as if you were listening to them on your computer or in your car
If you're curious on how to get started, just go to either [Pandora's] or [Last.FM's] website and sign up! In the meanwhile, if you'd like to have an example of a Pandora radio station, here's one that I've been customizing for years, enjoy!
What the web has done for art
The hardest thing for an aspiring artist, be it paintings or images, music, or other mediums, getting into the field is excruciatingly difficult. You don't know who to talk to, and you don't know how to break into the field. Even if i were to create a 'work of art', I wouldn't know the first thing of getting my name out there in the professional world; it's just not that kind of a system. The internet and places like [Deviant Art] have created an outlet for people who dabble in various art forms to show their work to others. people like Freddie W, who deals with video editing, would never be known if it wasn't for the internet.
There is amazing talent out there that is only realized through the internet. People in the boondocks who can create ballads from thin air are never discovered because they're not mainstream; they're not in the beaten path. In point of fact, the web has done wonders for anyone looking to show off what they can do. It's free (which for many of us is crucial) to post content on Deviant Art or Youtube, and because it's unlimited, all we have to do is what we love to do: create.
A hobby such as posting images to photobucket or deviant art can, if that person is skilled enough, turn into a job of their dreams, where they're paid to do something they would do for free. Now who would turn down an opportunity like that? Aspiring artists of any field should be doing this. Whether you think you're a fantastic dancer, singer, whatever; get out there and show the world via these websites what you can do. What do you have to lose? So maybe a bunch of [Trolls] will post flammatory garbage on the comment section, but what people fail to realize is this: you aren't aiming to please the whole world with what you can do. It only takes one person who finds value in what you're capable of to start you off.
There is amazing talent out there that is only realized through the internet. People in the boondocks who can create ballads from thin air are never discovered because they're not mainstream; they're not in the beaten path. In point of fact, the web has done wonders for anyone looking to show off what they can do. It's free (which for many of us is crucial) to post content on Deviant Art or Youtube, and because it's unlimited, all we have to do is what we love to do: create.
A hobby such as posting images to photobucket or deviant art can, if that person is skilled enough, turn into a job of their dreams, where they're paid to do something they would do for free. Now who would turn down an opportunity like that? Aspiring artists of any field should be doing this. Whether you think you're a fantastic dancer, singer, whatever; get out there and show the world via these websites what you can do. What do you have to lose? So maybe a bunch of [Trolls] will post flammatory garbage on the comment section, but what people fail to realize is this: you aren't aiming to please the whole world with what you can do. It only takes one person who finds value in what you're capable of to start you off.
I feel like i've known you my whole life
Labels:
friends,
gaming community,
online friends,
relationships
It's quite amazing the deep bonds you make with the people you play games with our talk to online. I'm sure, if you know someone who chats online regularly with people, that you've heard them say that they know more about these people than most of their friends in 'real' life. It reminds me a lot of a past relationship of mine.
In a short period of time I came to a point where I thought there was nothing more I could learn, and maybe I was right. We were together my entire teen and adult life up until a few months ago, but it only took a fraction of that to get to the point where there wasn't much left to talk about. Aside from my depressing parallel, this occurs frequently between people across the world.
Two people in a gaming community I belong to recently moved in with each other, after meeting online not too long ago. I talked to her, and all she could tell me was how much in love she is with this man. If online relationships aren't in 'real life', then how can this girl, who believes and feels with her heart that this is true love, really experience it? These relationships are more real than we give credit to. They're as real as any friendship, whether you meet from a class you're in, or work, simply walking down the street, or sitting at a computer telling each other your stories.
I've personally experienced this more recently than a few months ago. I've found several people who have recently come into my life, whether in a small or large way. They've helped me realize things about myself, allowed me to see things in a different perspective, and I genuinely enjoy spending several hours of my day with them, even if it's only small talk. I feel these people, who I don't even know their real names, connect with me better than many people I've met in passing. The commonalities between us clearly assist in why we feel these connections to these people.
These people, whom you probably only know by an alias they go by online, also have real names they keep a secret. This alias is good enough for us, though. Is someone's real first name important? The answer is fairly simple: it isn't. We go months, years even, without knowing each others' first name; and even once we do know their name, we seldom use it. Our alias is as good as our real name, and our stories, regardless of our name are the same. This alias is a name we think of almost randomly. It can be a word or phrase that means something to us personally, or just a funny phrase they heard once before. If nothing else, it just gives them more to talk about.
You share a game of poker, a night of laughs and drinks, a highly competitive tournament, or just stories of your lives, and you wake up one day feeling like this is how it's always been. Like these faceless, nameless voices aren't really faceless or nameless at all; that they too are just like you, sitting there and sharing their life with you. It's like you've known these people your whole life.
In a short period of time I came to a point where I thought there was nothing more I could learn, and maybe I was right. We were together my entire teen and adult life up until a few months ago, but it only took a fraction of that to get to the point where there wasn't much left to talk about. Aside from my depressing parallel, this occurs frequently between people across the world.
Two people in a gaming community I belong to recently moved in with each other, after meeting online not too long ago. I talked to her, and all she could tell me was how much in love she is with this man. If online relationships aren't in 'real life', then how can this girl, who believes and feels with her heart that this is true love, really experience it? These relationships are more real than we give credit to. They're as real as any friendship, whether you meet from a class you're in, or work, simply walking down the street, or sitting at a computer telling each other your stories.
I've personally experienced this more recently than a few months ago. I've found several people who have recently come into my life, whether in a small or large way. They've helped me realize things about myself, allowed me to see things in a different perspective, and I genuinely enjoy spending several hours of my day with them, even if it's only small talk. I feel these people, who I don't even know their real names, connect with me better than many people I've met in passing. The commonalities between us clearly assist in why we feel these connections to these people.
These people, whom you probably only know by an alias they go by online, also have real names they keep a secret. This alias is good enough for us, though. Is someone's real first name important? The answer is fairly simple: it isn't. We go months, years even, without knowing each others' first name; and even once we do know their name, we seldom use it. Our alias is as good as our real name, and our stories, regardless of our name are the same. This alias is a name we think of almost randomly. It can be a word or phrase that means something to us personally, or just a funny phrase they heard once before. If nothing else, it just gives them more to talk about.
You share a game of poker, a night of laughs and drinks, a highly competitive tournament, or just stories of your lives, and you wake up one day feeling like this is how it's always been. Like these faceless, nameless voices aren't really faceless or nameless at all; that they too are just like you, sitting there and sharing their life with you. It's like you've known these people your whole life.
With these, who needs a TV... almost.
As i'm sure on a daily basis you use websites like [Youtube] and [Hulu] for hours watching the countless videos and shows available at the click of your mouse. If you've missed your favorite show because of work or other obligations, these mega sites have come to the rescue. I'm not sure if everyone is aware of what these sites offer, so we should start there.
Hulu is a site that is fantastic for watching your favorite TV shows across several networks, or for watching older movies. They have advertising at regular intervals throughout an episode, but they are at normal break points that you'd find on TV, so a conversation isn't abruptly cut in half for poor advertising planning. All you have to do is type in your favorite TV series, ended or new, and it'll most likely be able to find the episodes for it! Now there is some delay between when it airs and when it'll be found online often, but that's for marketing and business reasons, so the broadcast companies get the money instead of everyone watching them at their computers the moment its released.
If you like non mainstream shows, like anime or some other stations not provided by Hulu, Youtube may be your savior. Youtube has a wide variety of shows categorized into genres. You'll be able to find tons of your favorite anime, cartoon, or indie shows by using their BROWSE feature. Often if you try to use their search for content, you'll find user uploaded content. Useful, but not always.
Of course, if you're not into tv shows but like videos, Youtube is your site. Since they cater to the upcoming artists, Youtube contains an almost endless database of user created content, with almost every genre or topic covered. If you prefer watching idiots fail at doing tasks you shouldn't try in the first place,watching a man being pole-vaulted off a chariot, or even less hardcore things like... [Kittens!], you won't be disappointed.
I used to use Youtube for all my anime needs, but apparently they've started some sort of "rental" program after the first couple episodes; you know, draw you into it and then punch you in the face while asking kindly that you pay for the rest of the videos with the dubbing instead of English subtitles. Fortunately I'm not opposed to reading the subtitles for my anime, but I know many people who hate it. Be wary of these infuriating rental programs. Worse comes to worse, I'm sure if you did a Google search for it, you'd find it elsewhere, but in a lower quality and resolution.
All in all, i can see this type of online TV watching to become an eventual norm, if it already hasn't made it there. Because of this capability, you'll almost never find me on a TV unless I'm playing a [video game] of some sort.
Hulu is a site that is fantastic for watching your favorite TV shows across several networks, or for watching older movies. They have advertising at regular intervals throughout an episode, but they are at normal break points that you'd find on TV, so a conversation isn't abruptly cut in half for poor advertising planning. All you have to do is type in your favorite TV series, ended or new, and it'll most likely be able to find the episodes for it! Now there is some delay between when it airs and when it'll be found online often, but that's for marketing and business reasons, so the broadcast companies get the money instead of everyone watching them at their computers the moment its released.
If you like non mainstream shows, like anime or some other stations not provided by Hulu, Youtube may be your savior. Youtube has a wide variety of shows categorized into genres. You'll be able to find tons of your favorite anime, cartoon, or indie shows by using their BROWSE feature. Often if you try to use their search for content, you'll find user uploaded content. Useful, but not always.
Of course, if you're not into tv shows but like videos, Youtube is your site. Since they cater to the upcoming artists, Youtube contains an almost endless database of user created content, with almost every genre or topic covered. If you prefer watching idiots fail at doing tasks you shouldn't try in the first place,watching a man being pole-vaulted off a chariot, or even less hardcore things like... [Kittens!], you won't be disappointed.
I used to use Youtube for all my anime needs, but apparently they've started some sort of "rental" program after the first couple episodes; you know, draw you into it and then punch you in the face while asking kindly that you pay for the rest of the videos with the dubbing instead of English subtitles. Fortunately I'm not opposed to reading the subtitles for my anime, but I know many people who hate it. Be wary of these infuriating rental programs. Worse comes to worse, I'm sure if you did a Google search for it, you'd find it elsewhere, but in a lower quality and resolution.
All in all, i can see this type of online TV watching to become an eventual norm, if it already hasn't made it there. Because of this capability, you'll almost never find me on a TV unless I'm playing a [video game] of some sort.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)