Map of Humanity

I found this amazing thing yesterday. The url says it comes from www.joeydevilla.com, but I didn't see it on that fella's blog.



This reminds me of my relationship with maps in general. Topographical maps sooth me. I can literally feel my blood pressure drop, in a good way, in an almost spa-like way, when I have a good map in front of me. This comes, at least partially from my time in Explorer Search and Rescue as a teenager. Navigating with map and compass was one of the earliest real-world and useful things I was good at. We spent many nights running along behind a black lab who was chasing a scent. There were no GPSs then; it was up to us, with flashlight and map to keep track of where we were so we could find our way home. Good times.

Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind

It sounds like willpower is just like a muscle. You can develop your ability to resist temptation through things like money management classes, brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand and other medium to long term activities.

On the other hand, people who must exert their willpower multiple times in short succession experience diminishing ability. Just as you wouldn’t expect to run your fastest mile shortly after completing a 10K, it is more difficult to work toward multiple goals at the same time.

This makes me think of the White Wolf willpower mechanic, which models this real world description of will very well. In that game, you have a max number of will points, which can be increased gradually, and as your character exerts his or her will throughout the game, your current bank dwindles. Over time, the bank of will points grows back to that character’s max.

It’s always nice when a game mechanic both resembles real life and is simple to use.

Facilitative Interventions

As a padawan facilitator, I’ve observed a commonly arising decision when dealing with groups: to intervene, or not to intervene. One large part of a facilitator’s work is to establish boundaries, or at least, to lead the group to establish boundaries, so less intervention is required on the facilitator’s part. When intervention is necessary, the group understands and respects the reasons why.

This same decision is common in everyday life as well. After observing something against your sense of order, do you intervene? If so, how?

I will admit that I choose my bus seat (and sometimes stop) to avoid the practicality of intervention. I generally avoid those seats up front, so I reduce my involvement with the elderly, handicapped or impaired. I usually stay out of the back to avoid the rowdy kids and poorly behaved adults.

This also applies when one’s friends are having a disagreement, or seem to otherwise be drifting astray. When do you intervene? We’re all familiar with ‘Interventions’ in the addict sense, but the word also applies to smaller interactions. For example, if you are with a group that’s running late, it’s generally appropriate to remind them of the time. The next step might be to seek out your server and ask for the check.

Anyway, this is a topic that’s been on my mind some. There’s no real point to it.

'Manners police' hit Japan metros

This article is about a week old. Yes please, I would like the etiquette police to begin patrolling my mass transit system, please.

Badly behaved commuters riding on Yokohama's public transport will soon be risking a dressing-down.

Weekend Warcraft

Lately I've been trying to focus on group dungeon running. This is quite a trick, particularly as a fury spec'd warrior. Tanks and healers have a much easier time of finding groups, because they hold an awesome responsibility. Really tanks and healers are the engines that make group adventuring run in WoW.

Today, I wound up taking the Underbog. This is not what I'm good at. My character, Shadrachgrey, is designed to inflict lots of damage quickly. He is not designed to keep bad guys' attention and survive while doing it. Since Underbog is a bit below my level (68 at the time), and we couldn't find anyone else, I gave tanking a go. It worked out okay, I guess. It was pretty fun, and I don't think my inexperience caused too much trouble.

This was a non-guild pick-up group (PUG), and one of the group members apparently loves his guild too. He mentioned that they have a 'never leave the group' policy. After a particularly hair fight, which we all survived, he said that we were all invited into his guild, if we wanted. I don't think there were any takers. He was a very smug fellow, and I can't help but imagine a guild filled with guys like that. Thanks, but no thanks.

This experience did show me that tanking can be fun. I expect at some point I'll respec to 'prot' (in other words, redesign my character's abilities), for the series of big dungeons at the 'end' of the game.

4C System

This is a cool genericized adaptation from the Marvel Superheroes game from the late '80's and early '90's.

While there are pdf's of the original around, this contains all the important bits, without the Marvel brand.

Easter Raid

The guild had an Easter morning raid that wound up laying waste to Southshore. I don't have a microphone, but I was able to eavesdrop on Ventrilo and answer back using in-game raid chat.

It was a good time. We even killed their cows. More trickily, we also killed their flightmaster. The raid group only had a couple 70's, myself (at 67) and the rest were low to mid level toons.

I pulled some Halloween costume wands out of the bank to add some more festivity to the occasion.

Hatebringer

A couple of weeks ago, while in the Underbog with some guildies, this beautiful blue dropped. I was the only warrior in the group, so it was offered to me. When I accepted, I thought it was a one handed mace.

Shadrachgrey has been almost exclusively dual wielding for months, with a brief, and unsatisfying exploration into two handed maces many, many levels ago.

After the group disbanded, and I went to arm myself with the new toy, I realized my mistake. However, since my guild mates had so graciously given the mace to me, I felt some requirement to at least try the thing. After all, it's bind on pick-up, so I couldn't pass it along to anyone.

I suffered through leveling my two handed mace skill, put some gems in the slots, and must admit, it's working well for me now. The screenshot won't show it, but the Hatebringer pulses. And, come on, it's called Hatebringer. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I say.

This configuration doesn't take full advantage of my fury spec, so when better weapons come, I'll surely switch back to dual wield. In the meantime, I'm having a blast. With Hatebringer.

Two Thoughts for the Day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7305023.stm

Just as it is too early to declare the Iraq adventure a failure, it is far too early to declare success. I agree that it’s been a relatively successful several months, and there are reasons for optimism. Violence has declined, and the government is becoming more stable and capable.

What follows is some self indulgent processing. It wasn’t written to be read, it was written to help me think.

Lately I’ve been pondering the tension between respect for the Tao, the infinite harmony of the universe, and my belief that the universe is essentially uncaring and we are self determined beings.

I clearly see that bad things happen to people for no reason. I also see that hard work often leads to success; oftentimes success is only found after long battles that seemed pointless midway through.

This reminds me of the importance of the journey; if the battles are purely distressing, if the journey is miserable, perhaps the adventure should be abandoned, at least on a personal level. This ties in with the Buddhist path of ‘right livelihood.’ It also ties in with the thesis of “First Break all the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Connecting the right employee with the right job is the essential skill of management. From the employee’s side, finding a job that fits right is an essential component to happiness and harmony.

Placed in a goal setting context, it is important to choose goals that will be satisfying to attempt. If the journey is positive, it matters less if the outcome is achievable.

Warcraft Screenshots

Warcraft cats don't mind the water.













This the most recent shot of Shadrach, with Greydog the black wolf and Wolpertinger.












This pic is several weeks old. It's from the guild parade, when we all took flight across Outland.

Otter in Lake Washington

I saw an otter today, paddling around in Lake Washington. I've never seen an otter down there before, and I run past there pretty often.

A Few Words about Prostitution

There is nothing morally wrong with a man hiring an expensive prostitute.

There are a number of ethical problems worth noting. The first depends on the relationship this person has with his wife. Some marriages have allowances for this sort of thing. While I don’t know the data, I believe most marriages in the U.S. do not include allowances for additional intimate relations of any kind.

From a political standpoint, the largest quandary is that the governor of a State should be expected to uphold the laws of said state. Such a governor is also expected to obey federal laws. There are many laws on the books that are patently ridiculous, and it’s not reasonable for anyone to stay in compliance all the time. I tend to believe that our nation’s laws regarding prostitution, for the most part, fall into this category.

I feel a need to point out that not every prostitution law is created equal. For example, no good comes from street prostitution. Everyone involved is at risk of violent crime, disease and general exploitation. On the other hand, controlled environments such as those found openly in Nevada and Amsterdam and often discretely advertised as ‘incall escorts’ in the U.S. should be permitted.

Not only should it be permitted, we would do well as a society to move beyond that taboo altogether.

Yes, Mr. Spitzer was stupid for engaging in illegal (though hardly ‘criminal’) activity as the governor of New York. If he lied to his wife about this activity, he has shown a remarkable lack of character.

However, we as a society are doubly stupid for adhering to a value system that assumes that visiting a prostitute is ‘wrong.’

Warcraft Roleplaying

The Earthen Ring server is technically a role-playing, or RP server. In reality, very few of us stay in character while out questing. On a whole, role playing is gladly accepted, though rarely perpetuated.

In my own head, however, my characters have strong personalities and histories. This comes from playing the Bioware games of the last decade, specifically Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. Both of those games allow for vastly different interactions based on decisions made by you on behalf of your character. Since those games are strictly single player, there is no chat interface, and conversations occur using a 'choose your adventure' format.

It is easy enough to translate that into WoW, primarily through the design of your character, and through the choice of quest lines. For example, Shadrachgrey is somewhat of a barbarian and feels out of place in Silvermoon City. His rep there is low, and he generally avoids Blood Elves. He'll take their money, mind you. Shadrach is all too happy to do mercenary quests, and to let the blood flow. Politics are not his concern. Keeping his bellly full is his concern. He has great affinity for Thrall, and orcs in general, and he has a sweet fondness for tauren.

On the other hand, my druid Sasquatch has a more gentle soul. He is fascinated by the Blood Elves (reflected by my journey there to do the starter quests in Silvermoon), and wishes to help the Forsaken find some sort of peace. He is, however, deeply disturbed by their insistence on creating a new plague to kill humans (Shadrach didn't mind so much, even though the undead make his skin crawl).

Now that Shadrach has spent some time in the Outlands, he has returned to Azeroth for deeper training to help him sustain his long term maneuvers. Like any good special forces type soldier (or warrior) he must be self sufficient. I had let his cooking, fishing and first aid skills slip, and it was becoming difficult to heal quickly between battle.

WoW Screenshots with Context

Here is a great picture of Sasquatch. I believe this is off one of the Thunder Bluff hills.








This is another of Sasquatch pic from Thunder Bluff, but in a very different setting. What are those two doing in the background?!








Here is a recent pic of Shadrachgrey. You can see he still has those immense pauldrons on his shoulders. Those took many hours of service to the Defilers to earn. Yesterday I traded them out for some Outland blues. That helmet is one of my favorite pieces of gear. I hope he doesn't outgrow it soon.

I'm having loads of fun with Shadrachgrey these days. It's refreshing to tear shit up the way that fury warriors are trained to do. With the Sunwell Plateau content coming up soon, and Wrath of the Lich King shortly thereafter, I'm trying to get him to 70, so I get to play along with all the big kids.

I'm trying to make a point of doing more instances with guild mates. It's a very different game, which requires very different play from soloing, running battlegrounds, or teaming up Iresine.

Comic Book Geek Pondering

All good comic geeks know, there's an endless mine of 'all-star team' topics to explore, and they're all endlessly satisfying.

What would it be like if you took the main powerful characters from all the main continuities?

Superman, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), Wildstorm's Apollo, Thor...you could also include Wonder Woman and Silver Surfer

Am I forgetting anyone? The characters on this team have to be able to fly, preferrably into outer space (can Captain Marvel do that? I think he can.), and they have to be virtually invulnerable and able to kick ass and tear shit up.

When the Warren Ellis started The Authority, it was the sort of book that this hypothetical book would have to be. Big battles, lots of explosion, gnarly bad guys who deserve what they get. Earth, and multi-verse shattering stories. That's what this would have to be like. Who else could challenge this group, united?

Energy and Transportation

The continuous climb in fuel prices isn’t really a bad thing, especially when placed in the context of global warming. As prices rise, usage should fall, and the environmental impact should be mitigated. I understand that this has a negative affect on the economy, but for the most part, it’s something we should suck up and adapt to.

However, there are some sectors who are being unduly punished by the continuous price increase. These sectors, by their very nature, use fuel, often very large amounts, in the service of the greater population. These groups should protected, or, at the very least, be offered tax relief.

I’m referring primarily to truckers and farmers. They should not be expected to carry the burden alone.

Always Go Left

I have long had a ‘always go left’ policy for exploring potentially confusing areas, both in video games and in real life. According to this article, I’m not the only one. It is so much an ingrained part of our nature, that police will often dedicate more resources to searching areas to the left of an escapee’s last known location. This strategy, apparently, yields improved results.

I can think of two uses for this information: when designing anything requiring the natural flow of people, whether a supermarket, airport, work cell or video game, encourage people to flow left, or counterclockwise. When fleeing from the police, go right.

William F Buckley Jr.

William F Buckley Jr died Wednesday at the age of 82. While I disagreed with many, if not most, of his political positions, I greatly admired and enjoyed his work. I particularly enjoyed the way he held and argued his strong, articulate and thoroughly thought out beliefs, without the mean-spiritedness present in so much of today’s conservative (and liberal) commentary.

Stabbing Contest

Stabbing Contest is a relatively new gaming podcast, done by a second degree of separation of mine.

It's good stuff, check it out!

Topless Wii

It's exactly what you think it is, and it's great.

Don't click the link if you aren't allowed to look at women's boobs, by law or rule of workplace.

Expanded Universes

The quality of novel franchises, as a rule, varies immensely. I’m intrigued to venture into World of Warcraft based fiction, but wouldn’t dare without a recommendation of some kind. I’ve heard through one podcast or other (probably the WoW Insider, could be the Instance) that Tides of Darkness by xxx Rosenberg and Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden are the best. I’ve been considering dipping my toe back into the Star Wars expanded universe of fiction, but I didn’t care much for the first round of novels written by Timothy Zahn.

On that note, I downloaded the 14 day trial version of Star Wars: Galaxies yesterday. I’ve been playing WoW almost exclusively for around 6 months, and have been longing for some science fiction gaming. The character modeling impresses me; unlike WoW, you can control your character’s height, and you have some more freedom of camera movement during character creation. I’ve always wished that WoW had a more Simsesque character personalization.

Game Design Notes

The game master of my game group recently passed around an interesting article abotu game design. This article emphasizes how the mechanic of the game should encourage fun play (to put it very simply).

I then started thinking about the type of science fiction game I might like to play. I've had a desire to design a science fiction rpg since high school, and I doubt I'll ever flesh it out. Still, here are a few ideas I had:

Ship combat that isn’t too complicated, but rewards quick decision making and tactical play

Niche jobs for everyone: for example pilot/helm, engineer, captain, security, science/medic specialist.

This does work somewhat for large scale, Star Trek / Battlestar Galactica activities, but would be best suited on a medium scale, Millenium Falcon, Serenity, Starship Defiant sized crew.

Exploration of planet surfaces and space stations in a way that everyone gets to go along. It’s no fun if the captain has to stay on the ship.

People Don't Use Semicolons Anymore?

I love semicolons and use them often. I had no idea they were fading from common use.

On this day, they're making a small comeback!

Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location

Sasquatch, Shadrach and a parade

Below are a few shots from this afternoon's parade by our guild. Shadrachgrey attended this, since it was in a high level area, in Outland.







This last is Sasquatch today!

He was dying a lot, and realized I should spend some of my money upgrading his gear.

The Daedalus Project - The Psychology of MMORGS

According to this (apparently scientific) survey, I'm not very interested in the Advancement or Mechanic aspect of play; I'm slightly above average in my interest in Competition; I'm at the low level of average in my interest in the Social elements, including Teamwork and Relationship building; I did score highly on the Role-play, Discovery and Customize categories, and low on Escapism.

No surprises here. Considering that I come from a storytelling based table top rpg, and that I don't use gaming to escape from my problems, it all lines up.

My lowest score was in the Mechanics category. I was around the 10th percentile there. This causes a dilemma, when combined with my high Discover score. I want to see the end game, fun stuff content, but to do that, you have to have a character that can hold his own. To do that, you need to know how the mechanics of the game work, and WoW game mechanics are fairly complicated.

Pro teams' losses are poor areas' gains (needs format update)

Since 1994, Federal Way-based World Vision has taken the clothes and sent them to impoverished communities abroad, where they are given to needy families who don't think about the Super Bowl, much less Brady and his love life.

I had assumed that this stuff was quickly destroyed: I can imagine some zealous fans might want the alternate versions. It might be vaguely satisfying to have a "Seattle Seahawks XL Superbowl Champions" sweatshirt.

Good for World Vision, and good for the NFL for putting those clothes to good use.

The True Crime of the Invasion of Iraq

During the preparation for the Iraqi invasion, I tended toward the hawkish side. I never expected to find weapons of mass destruction, and didn't really think Hussein had the giant stockpiles the Bush administration alleged.

Instead, it came down to two relatively simple things:

1) During the years following the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks, the United States had a primal need to smash a bad guy. We had already smashed the Taliban, and that might have been enough under different circumstances, under a different administration. The problem with our actions in Afghanistan was that we didn't get to do much smashing. We mostly used air power, with some special forces units, to help the other factions. We weren't allowed to Impose Our Will. As a result, we turned our attention to Iraq.

2) Even without new weapons of mass destruction, Hussein's administration had it coming. He used chemical weapons on his own people. He invaded a neighbor just a few years prior. He defied as many of the ceasefire agreements as he could get away with. Considering only what we absolutely knew about him, he was a Bad Guy.

I stand by these assertions. However, I had no idea that the post-war rebuilding would be such a disaster. I'm no expert in these things, and I knew much less then than I do now about these things.

A few years after the invasion, I would have (and did) said that it wasn't worth it. The chaos was too much, too many people were dying. We should not have invaded. Then I learned that the chaos of the post war period had been predicted, that there is an art and science to rebuilding nations during an occupation, and that the Bush administration was completely negligent in its planning for and execution of the post invasion phase.

That's what we should be angry about. That is the truly heinous crime committed by this administration. These people had the experts, they had the warning, they had the resources. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died because of hubris of the Bush administration. These people died because our elected leaders didn't do their jobs.

Sasquatch, all dressed up

I realize now that I need to work on my screenshot composition.

Still, here is Sasquatch, dressed in his Lunar Festival outfit.

Sasquatch, cat form

Here is a quick screenshot of my Tauren druid, Sasquatch, in his new cat form, with his pet.

The pet doesn't do much, and doesn't even have a name, but I love him just the same.

Sasquatch

A few weeks ago, I shelved my higher level warrior and started a druid. I was delighted to discover that the name 'Sasquatch' was free.

Here's what he looks like now!

Washington Caucus

Yesterday was the Washington Caucus. Like all good Democrats, Nora and I attended, along with 1500 of our neighbors. We all packed into a high school cafeteria, divided by precinct and worked through the process for choosing delegates on behalf of our precinct.

The caucusing process reminds me of Unix. Whereas a primary would accomplish the same outocme (selecting delegates toward the goal of picking a Democratic nominee), the caucus in out in the open, kind of grubby, more work, and somehow more satisfying. At least, I imagine Unix is satisfying for those who use it. I can't be bothered myself.

Our precinct had over 60 people attend, which made for nearly impossible discussion, and no real debate. Four years ago the caucus was also very robust, but only about dozen people from my precinct of the time attended. That allowed for a more relaxed discussion and for some reasonable strategizing.

Our neighborhood was very Barak Obama oriented, with a handful of Hillary supporters. Of our six total delegates, five went for Obama, the other for Clinton.

Personally I never found the final lever that led me to a decision. That reminds me, I need to see who won Washington.

Warcraft and Seahawks

It's been almost two months since I posted last. I'm trying to work on that. I experimented with emailing posts directly, but the formatting got all messed up, and I'm very lazy with these things.

The Seahawks are primed and ready for their playoff run. In many ways, this team is better than their Super Bowl team of 2005. In one very big way, however, it's inferior. Last week's game against Baltimore notwithstanding, they simply cannot sustain a running game. The Ravens haven't really been showing up since they lost against the Patriots, so our success their is not much to talk about.

Coach Holmgren was wise to switch to a pass first offense, and it may be enough to take us deep into the playoffs. Hasselbeck is playing his best football ever, the receiving corps is performing at a very high level, and the defense has shown an ability to truly dominate opposing offenses.

Nora and I have been quietly continuing with our Warcraft addic... hobby. We've joined a giant and very pleasant guild, and that really adds to our enjoyment. The game culture is very different with these folks, and on this server, compared to our time on Frostwolf, the pvp server. It's much easier to get a hand with an instance or with gear. In some ways, it can be a little TOO easy, if you let it.

Formatting problems

For some reason when I email posts to this blog, the formatting gets all screwed up.

I hate this and have little patience for it. I have no knowledge of Html, and my attempts at correction don't seem to be helping.

My apologies for the formatting problems. I'll try to fix it more later.

Meta WoW: What kind of person ARE you?

What sort of person would do the things that our World of Warcraft characters do?

This varies depending on which quests and professions we choose, but some things are shared by all. To progress at all, every character is something of a hunter of beasts and enemies. The earliest quests involve killing a number of creatures and collecting trophies of some sort or other. Before long, the killing of creatures turns into the assassination of sentients. It can be argued that many of these assassination requests can be justified in the mind of a certain sort of person. This has a secret agent, “007 meets high fantasy” tone. Sometimes, our characters are asked to do things that are more difficult to justify. One quest in particular, suggested by a member of the Undead faction, is to murder a farmer and his family. Another of the Undead asks for components of a biological weapon to use against the humans. I keep expecting a ‘murder women and children in the Tusken Raider village’ quest. Thankfully, none have gone to that extreme.

It’s all shades of gray. There is a warm-to-cold war going on between the Alliance and the Horde, and in times of war, values and norms often shift. Every playable character must have, at best, a Conan the Barbarian code of ethics: enemies are to be killed, friends aided, life is short and brutal, death is cheap, and the strong flourish. I find it interesting that in Conan’s world, he was an extremely rare, if not unique individual. The World of Warcraft is filled with people like this.

More Warcraft: Proper Behavior in a Player Versus Player Environment

A character’s life on a player versus player server is filled with uncertainty.  In many of the game’s areas, combat between opposing factions is allowed and may erupt at any moment.  While this risk is consented to at the point of character generation, there are some behaviors that are downright uncalled for.

Don’t attack fishermen.  Fishing is a quiet, non conflict oriented activity.  Ganking someone who is armed only with her fishing pole is low and unfun.

Only jerks attack characters who are of significantly lower level.  When the level differential reaches a certain point, there is literally nothing to be gained from this battle.  There’s no challenge, and no honor points are rewarded.  All it does is frustrate the lower level character’s player.

It’s not okay to ‘camp’ at a corpse with the intent to re-kill the character upon resurrection.  In fact, repeatedly killing a character is also poor form, in general.

World of Warcraft does some things well.

Nora and I have been playing World of Warcraft (WoW) for a few months now, and it's clear there are some things the game and the community built around it do very well, and some things they don't do so well.

The greatest strength is the variety of play. It's easy to go on quests and adventure through the world by yourself, and this is very rewarding in itself. It's also very simple to find and adventure with folks that you already know. Nora and I spend quite a bit of time collaborating in our two person group. When we're up for a challenge, we choose quests that are at or a little above our characters' levels. If we want some quick accomplishments, we go after the stuff we're a little too powerful for. The spectrum is broad here. This is one of WoW's greatest strengths. If we want easy, there's easy, if we want difficult, there's difficult. If we don't want to kill stuff, we can go fishing, or spend time on any of the game's other professions. These professions all have rewards for excellence, and each has its own tone, style and feel.

Blizzard, the company behind the game, has also developed a deep player versus player environment. Again, the power generally belongs to the players. There are specific areas to go if one wants to join a large battle. In these areas the rules are clearly defined (think Capture the Flag and King of the Hill), and one can drop out at any time. The more wins a character accumulates, the greater the rewards. There is also the option to play in a more general player versus player environment. This decision must be made at character creation. If you accept this challenge, you are forevermore allowed into conflict with members of the opposing faction. However, even here there are some rules in place. For example, you cannot be attacked within your own capital city or starting low level starting area, unless you initiate the combat. In neutral areas, however, all bets, and rules are off. Some of us adhere to some general rules of honor, but many do not.

There are some things missing from the WoW experience: I haven't seen any puzzle or musical quests, for example. There's a lot of harvesting, killing bad guys are vicious animals, fetching artifacts usually guarded by bad guys or animals. Aside from those fundamentals, there isn't much variety. The types of adversaries, and the environments in which they live varies, but the activities surrounding them generally don't.

Now that I wrote that, I remembered some a counter examples. During the Halloween season, there IS a special event, and as part of that event, characters must use buckets of water to put out fires caused by the WoW version of the Headless Horseman. In the WoW "Brewfest" there was a quest to ride a ram throughout the city to advertise the beer garden outside the city gates.

Maybe later I'll write my own personal code of honor for player versus player battling.

New York Times Error Correction

I noticed today that the New York Times web site doesn't include contact
information for its reporters, and its editors are only interested in
learning about errors that "call for correction."

http://nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#c

This came about when I noticed an error in an article about The
Darjeeling Limited. This article mentioned that Natalie Portman 'did
not appear' in the film. In fact, she did appear in a cameo near the
end of the movie.

I don't know, does that 'call for correction?'

From the Edward Tufte Forum

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000yO&topic_id=1

In my line of work (designing games) I have to give referees a mind set and tool set for describing relationships between antagonist characters, their motivations, and the motivations of the characters played by other players.

I use causal diagrams, based somewhat off of Tufte, and a few books on writing romance novels(!).

There are three basic ties that matter for writing fiction, and for running roleplaying games: Ties of blood, ties of sexual tension, and ties of obligation. These all form bonds between characters that can be used to coerce them into acting.

So I give the following advice:

"Start with a blank sheet of paper - the bigger the better. 11x17 is ideal. In the center of the paper, write the name of your chief antagonist. Under that character's name, write down what they want, and if different, what they think they want, preferably in two different colors of ink, or one in block printing, the other in cursive.

Next, write down the names, wants and believed wants of people related to your antagonist. "Related" in this context means one of the following relatioships: Ties of blood and kinship, ties of sex or sexual tension, and ties of obligation and duty.

Now, write down the names and the motivations of all the player characters who will be playing in this scenario.

Draw thick black lines between the names of characters that are related to each other by blood.

Draw medium weight black lines between characters that are related by sex or sexual tension.

Draw lightweight black lines between the names of characters related by duty and obligation.

If there's a power disparity, have an arrowhead on the end of the line of the person at the lower end of the power continuum. If the power level is roughly equal, use a circle to indicate this. If you havn't decided on the power level, don't adorn the ends of the line - do that during the game.

This is the "sinew" layer of your conflict and relationship map. The next layer up are the nerves.

Take two highlighters (we recommend blue and pink, but any two colors will work), and draw arrows between characters - a blue arrow means that the character the arrow originates from likes the character the arrow points to. A pink arrow means the target is disliked by the originating character. If the tenor of the relationship is mutual, draw two arrows, going in opposite directions. If you need to, you can specify a particularly intense relationship with a thicker highlighter line, but we recommend against it.

This map is an easily grasped graphic of all the relationships that give velocity to your story. In particular, note that we've minimized the words put on the map to motivations and wants; this is deliberate. You may not even know, until the game is running, why there's a pink line indicating dislike between two characters...and something will pop into your head when you're setting up the scene. Jot a quick note down for future reference, and run with it - this is giving you a frame work for improvisational storytelling, and should be fluid, rather than rigid.

Because this is a graphical display of narration, any scene that doesn't alter a relationship on the map, or alter the perception of any relationship on the map, is unimportant and should be minimized or skipped. Similarly, when assigning motivations (the only words on the maps), you're assigning motivations that will be interesting for your players, not motivations that are interesting to the characters in question.

-- Ken Burnside (email), March 24, 2007

More from gapminder

http://tools.google.com/gapminder/

The Recently Discovered

http://armsandinfluence.typepad.com/armsandinfluence/

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

Seattle Climate Action

Seattle leadership IS trying to do the right thing regarding climate change.

www.seattlecan.org

World of Darkness / Mage Updage

It looks like my Mage group is working the chronicle toward a conclusion. Plans are afoot to put together an amalgam of White Wolf rules for our next storyline, which will most likely contain new characters.

We still have several weeks of play before this story concludes. That gives us time to really prepare.

I think we're going to use the new World of Darkness stat system, and something based on the Dark Ages: Mage magic system. As far as I can tell, this means that each character has his own magic spheres, based on his understanding of magic. This ties paradigm directly to the rule set.

I've been hunting around for the appropriate books, and it isn't easy; most of them are either out of print (and difficult to find) or terribly expensive.

Podcast Summary

My podcast playlist has evolved. Here's a snapshot that includes most of what I'm listening to now:

Dungeons & Dragons Podcast - I don't even play D&D, but I like to know what they're up to. It's very professional if not terribly regular.

ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football - comes out almost daily this time of year, and is relatively short.

ESPN: Football Today - more professional in tone than its Fantasy Football counterpart.

The Game Master Show - I listen to several indie role palying gamer related podcasts, and this is my favorite.

Guilty Pleasures Blogs - One of several 'adult' podcasts. This one covers the gambit from porn star and director interviews, to watching porn Mystery Theater Style, to reading erotica.

iFanboy.com Comic Book Podcast - my one comics podcast. It's okay.

Polyamory Weekly - primarily one woman 'cast about all angles of polyamory. Kink friendly, but also has topics directly related to non-poly folks, such as managing relationships between extroverts and introverts.

Savage Love Podcast - sex advice 'cast from Seattle's own Dan Savage

Taverncast: A World of Warcraft Podcast - my favorite World of Warcraft podcast.

1Up.com - 1 UP Yours - the main video game podcast. It's done by an ensemble and is above average in quality and entertainment value.

Obesity linked to Zip Code in Seattle

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331292_obesezip12.html

An excerpt:

University of Washington researchers recently found wide disparities in obesity rates among King County ZIP codes. The rates range from less than 10 percent in parts of central Seattle and Bellevue to more than 25 percent in some south county neighborhoods.

The strongest predictor of obesity rates wasn't income or education but property values, the study found. Each additional $100,000 in median home value for a ZIP code corresponded with a drop in obesity of 2 percentage points.

It's further evidence, experts say, that weight isn't solely about individual behavior and that the environment you live in matters.

"If you have this mind-set that obesity has to do with the individual alone, then ZIP codes or areas really should not come into this. But they do, big-time," said Adam Drewnowski, director of the UW Center for Obesity Research.

********

Let’s not forget that class is the biggest divider in our country today. Race is secondary.

Columbia City Cabaret September 21 2007!

Nora and I have been to the Columbia City Cabaret a couple of times, and it's absolutely fabulous. You can bring food in, or eat in one of the neighborhood's many fabulous eateries. They serve cocktails right to your table, and the show is delightfully R rated in a sexy, athletic, lots of skin showing-burlesque sort of way.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nancy Kennedy <trapezelady@hotmail.com>
Date: Sep 7, 2007 3:58 AM
Subject: Columbia City Cabaret September 21 2007!
To: trapezelady@hotmail.com

Press Release
For Immediate Release September 7th, 2007
Contact: Tamara 206-605-9920 www.TRAPEZELADY.COM

COLUMBIA CITY CABARET
At Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle 98118
Hosted by Tamara "The Trapeze Lady"
Tickets Available for 8 P.M. Show Only!

Purchase advance tickets on-line to Columbia City Cabaret shows!
http://www.brownpapertickets.com
(Just search for Columbia City Cabaret)
Tickets are available on-line until 3 P.M. Day of Show – Always $20.00
Then they are available - Cash Only $25. - At the door. 21+

Reservation Line: 206-605-9920
Reserve the Balcony for your celebration of 15 or more revelers!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21st "Uncontrollably Messy" 8 P.M.

What a Mess! Literally AND figuratively speaking!
PAOOLA THE SWEDISH HOUSEWIFE is finally back to play with us at the Cabaret!
She's getting all shiny and smooth just for us, and does this woman "Clean
Up" Good!! Seattle's Sapphic Sweetheart MISS INDIGO BLUE'S brand of
optimism will have everyone convinced the Glass is Half Full…of Lemonade!
Pure Circus Rope Aerialist MR. BEAU never fails to leave the stage all
cluttered up with Charm! Tap Dancing Superstar JOSH SCRIVNER is our new
initiate and we anticipate Hot Rhythms Flying at Dangerous Velocity! We're
not sure how Elegant Chanteuse ADE will address our Messy Theme, but where
she treads Fascination Follows!

Your Host TAMARA THE TRAPEZE LADY will exhibit her piece entitled
"Gratuitous Sex Thinly Disguised As Art" as well as proving without a doubt
that she is a very "Old Fashioned" Girl!

This show is so dirty even Stage Mistress NECO SUAVE needs a little help so
we're bringing on the Springtime Fresh Tidying Talents of MISS DAFODIL! We
can't wait to once again hear the heartwarming cries of: "Pick it up! Pick
it AAALL up!"


October 5th, 2007 we return to Weekly Cabaret Shows, every Friday Night at
8:00 P.M.
Don't forget the Columbia City Cabaret returns to every Friday starting
October 5th, and we're bursting with myriad new performers and favorites we
haven't seen in way too long!

Come to the Cabaret!

Check out a glimpse of past shows at YouTube! There is a link at
www.trapezelady.com

Flexcar Tax

According to current King County tax code, Flexcar useage is the same as car rental and will be taxed accordingly.

While I can't debate the interpretation of the current law, it seems obvious that Flexcar should be excluded because of its local user focus and its impact on car useage and ownership.

Here is the link to the article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/330673_flexcartax07.html

Quick Update, including World of Warcraft

Just a few months ago I thought I’d turned a new leaf. I had grand plans to update this blog a few times a week, and really hardwire a habit of writing for people to read. That hasn’t happened yet, but today is a new day!

This is the first direct to email post. Assuming this works, it should help my productivity. It’s much easier to write and post if I don’t have to go to the trouble of logging in first. I’m having a slow spell at work, but it’s still poor form to be too obvious about blogging from the office.

I started playing World of Warcraft around a month ago. My nephews play, and it’s a way to stay connected with them. At first, it worked pretty well, but there were difficulties. For one thing, they were playing on different servers. While Warcraft is a shared world, dozens of versions of the same environment exist independently. Players on one server (or version of the world) cannot interact with players on another server. It is possible to switch characters from one server to another, but Blizzard charges for this service. One way to manage this is to create one character per server. This allows for some variety of play, since different character types offer different play experiences. For a relatively new and casual gamer like myself, it slows down my character’s development and my own exploration of the game’s depths. I’m more of a pick one and stick with it player than a browse around player.

Then the nephews had complications with their accounts, and I’m not sure what server they’re on or what they’re up to. Meanwhile, my non-gaming wife has caught the WoW bug, and has progressed nicely with her character on our original server. This further complicates things, since I now have three people to coordinate with. Hopefully the nephews will settle on a new server somewhere and I can start an alt (‘alternate character’) there, while continuing to play my other character with my wife.

I will very likely blog more about in-game experiences in the future. This meta-game stuff isn’t very interesting.

Harvey Campbell

We had a great gaming session today. Now I want to document the high moments in my character, Harvey Campbell's role-playing existence:

Was given a peak into the spirit realm by the Akashic Master in northern California

Punched in the face by a Ghoul. Ghouls are strong. It hurt. This happened because Harvey didn't lock his car door.

Single handedly defeated three Men in Black (this is factually inaccurate because Harvey's compatriot Greg Davies used mind powers to nudge the last, wounded adversary into flight). Two out of three were killed.

Shot in the neck with a nanobot/robot dart. He fled the battle, magically converted the nanobots into water and returned to the battle.

Met and negotiated with 'Neb,' the ugly Nosferatu vampire. Twice.

Met and allied with the Garou. Is friends with 'Cleave' and 'Carla.' They healed him.

Sprayed a ghoul dog with acid. Then shot him with an aggravated bullet.

Paradox Backlash I: received shock during the catastrophe outside the vampire club. That was a poorly planned venture.

Paradox Backlash II: All Foci turned invisible, Harvey lost his own vision. This faded over a matter of days. This probably wouldn't have happened if he'd burned off or avoided some of that Paradox earlier.

Harvey's research led directly to discovery of Garou.

Feels partially responsible for the murder of defeated and captured ghouls. His cabal has no way of handling prisoners.

Also, feels some guilt about the death of MIB's during combat.

Got shot in the neck by an MIB while concealed as an Asian woman and suffering from Paradox Backlash II's affects.

Michael Moorcock and Andrea Dworkin

I ran across this article in which Moorcock interviews Dworkin, and Dworkin clarifies (and partially disavows) the 'intercourse equals rape' assertion that's been tied to her:

Michael Moorcock: After "Right-Wing Women" and "Ice and Fire" you wrote "Intercourse". Another book which helped me clarify confusions about my own sexual relationships. You argue that attitudes to conventional sexual intercourse enshrine and perpetuate sexual inequality. Several reviewers accused you of saying that all intercourse was rape. I haven't found a hint of that anywhere in the book. Is that what you are saying?

Andrea Dworkin: No, I wasn't saying that and I didn't say that, then or ever. There is a long section in Right-Wing Women on intercourse in marriage. My point was that as long as the law allows statutory exemption for a husband from rape charges, no married woman has legal protection from rape. I also argued, based on a reading of our laws, that marriage mandated intercourse--it was compulsory, part of the marriage contract. Under the circumstances, I said, it was impossible to view sexual intercourse in marriage as the free act of a free woman. I said that when we look at sexual liberation and the law, we need to look not only at which sexual acts are forbidden, but which are compelled.

The whole issue of intercourse as this culture's penultimate expression of male dominance became more and more interesting to me. In Intercourse I decided to approach the subject as a social practice, material reality. This may be my history, but I think the social explanation of the "all sex is rape" slander is different and probably simple. Most men and a good number of women experience sexual pleasure in inequality. Since the paradigm for sex has been one of conquest, possession, and violation, I think many men believe they need an unfair advantage, which at its extreme would be called rape. I don't think they need it. I think both intercourse and sexual pleasure can and will survive equality.

It's important to say, too, that the pornographers, especially Playboy, have published the "all sex is rape" slander repeatedly over the years, and it's been taken up by others like Time who, when challenged, cannot cite a source in my work.

While I'm still on the Playboy and pro-porn side of this fence, this puts a different spin on what I'd been led to believe.

This interview happened in 1995. At the very least, Andrea needs a new publicist. As long as 'intercourse equals rape' is associated with her, her credibility among otherwise like minded pro-feminists is completely undermined.

I Love the Internet: Pirates of Silicon Valley; Michael Moorcock; Stumble

Last week I found The Pirates of Silicon Valley on Youtube. It's there in 10 minute chunks, so you can watch as you want.

If this is new to you, Pirates is a made for cable (TNT, I think) biography telling the origin of Bill Gates/Microsoft and Steve Jobs/Apple. There is surely dramatic license taken, and both Bill and Steve are portrayed as broken people, I found it both informative and entertaining. Apparently Xerox is responsible for the modern look of computing. Their corporate office didn't know the power of what their west coast team had developed, and allowed Apple to steal it away. Then Gates and his crew snuck in and stole it from Apple. That's how MacIntosh and Windows were born.

Just today I found two articles by Michael Moorcock which describe his opinions on Tolkien, Heinlein and many other science fiction writers of his day.

The first is "Starship Troopers," the second I've lost in the Ether of the internet, but it has something to do with Tolkien and Winnie the Pooh. Michael Moorcock is something of an anarchist, so he takes issue with the authoritarian themes in these popular writers; he also takes issue with the quality of the actual writing. While I haven't been persuaded to toss out my Tolkien, he makes some valid points worth considering.

I've also been using the Stumble add-on to my Firefox browser entirely too much. The damned thing is as addictive as hell. It turns out you can set your profile to 'adult' if you want to see the naughty stuff....

Mage: The Ascension

This week I created a list of devices used by my Mage character. Some are purely stolen ideas, others are fairly original.

Harvey Campbell’s Gadgets
6/5/07

Short-range rocket-glider
Forces 2

Two compressed gas tanks, upside down with a simple, mundane igniter. A pair of small, retractable glider wings is mounted beneath. The wings are useable without the rocket propellant for pure descent or when particularly useful updrafts are present.

In game terms, I expect these to be paradox free for short distances (reflecting current jet pack technology). The longer the distance, the greater the chance for paradox. Forces magic is used to reverse and adjust gravity’s affect on Harvey. The rocket pack is relatively noisy (like the 60’s batmobile), but the glider function is silent.

Lab


Dr. Obrastoff’s Ether Blanket
Forces 2

This converted electric blanket changes its color, to duplicate the surrounding environment. When functioning at its highest level, this blanket can actually make its user seem to disappear. This is likely to cause an imbalance in the Ether if not handled properly.

Lab


Hansen’s Ether Electric Key Maker
Correspondence 1, Matter 2, Prime 2

With a quick push of a button, this small device scans a nearby lock and manufactures the perfect key. The button pops back up to its previous position when the key is ready.

This device can be plugged into Harvey’s Ether glasses to scan locks that are far away.

Hooks to belt








Epistemological Ether Evoker
Correspondence 2

This pink, spherical sphere is baseball sized, and has two buttons, one on either side. The first is triangular, the second is oval. Pressing both buttons activates the ward. The buttons are notoriously sensitive to pressure, which require very precise handling for maximum affect.

Bag




Emerald Incisor
Correspondence 2, Forces 2

This device has one cable leading to his watch, and the other to Harvey’s earpiece. By pressing the buttons on the face and side of the device, Harvey can create a direct telephonic connection to any other phone in the world.

Hooks to belt


Grand Matter Mega Nullifier
Matter 2

This device closely resembles this raygun http://www.wetanz.com/updates/rayguns/images/Goliathon1_500w.jpg



It fires liquid, gas and blue laser light. It also uses compressed Ether with the laser’s radiation to convert the liquids and gases to other types, as desired. The gun also fires irradiated Ether which can convert any substance into any other similar substance.

Holster on right hip
EFGA (Ether Fueled Gravity Adjuster)
Forces 2

This skeletal exoskeleton allows its user to lift extremely large objects. When not in use, it folds nicely into a small briefcase.

Lab


Etherdriver
Matter 3

This screwdriveresque device moves, adjusts and reshapes objects as desired.

Bag or pocket


Hand Powered Mega Manipulator
Prime 2 & 3

Part hand held barcode scanner, part hand drill, this device absorbs, adjusts and exhausts Ether.

Bag


1st, 2nd and 3rd Eyeglasses

Correspondence 1, Forces 1, Matter 1, Life 1, Prime 1 / Correspondence 2

These glasses have three small devices connected, plus a Bluetooth like earpiece. Each subdevice can be disconnected and used separately, though the scanning quality is much greater when used with the main structure.

The other use for these glasses is to find the small rifts in the ether, then through careful manipulation of the dials and small switches on the glasses’ frame, look through the realm of Ether in such a way that Harvey sometimes forgets that the locations are not adjacent.

Pocket or worn

My Year with Oom Yung Doe Martial Arts, Part I

On April 6th, 2000 I set out in search of a martial arts studio. I did a little research (very little), looked up some addresses and set out across the city. I believe I drove by three places. Of those, only one was open. By that quirk of fate, I was drawn into an intense year of amazing physical conditioning, financial hardship and persistent coercion and factual omission.

Instructor Tom impressed me immediately. He showed me a smooth and powerful wrist lock, explained the introductory membership package, and I was sold. Instructor Tom (all the school's instructors were always referred to using their titles) was (and presumably still is) the real deal. He was obviously strong, dexterous, talented, and exhibited no overt macho or violent tendencies.

During those first several weeks, my training was quite simple. The moves were repetitive, but led to a good work out, and I was essentially satisfied. Occasionally Instructor Tom or one of the other instructors affiliated with the school would show me something challenging or put me in a position my body wouldn't go. Life was good, and I was satisfied. I believe the price was $400 for three months of training in their 'basic' program, including uniform.

After a few weeks, I was invited into the office with Assistant Regional Head Instructor Kevin. Even ridiculous titles like that, were always used. This is my blog, and I haven't been affiliated with the school for several years, so hereafter Kevin's title will be omitted. Kevin was (and presumably still is) a fatherly, vaguely Santa Claus sort. He didn't have the massive physical skills as most of his cohorts, but he made you want to like and trust him. In retrospect, there is no doubt: he was working me. Before too long, I was convinced. I switched from the basic program to the Two Year Black Belt track. Black Belt programs came in 2-4 year varieties, and they charged by the knowledge. The 4 year bundle (recommended only for people with physical limitations) was less expensive by the year than the 2 year kind (designed for athletic types with some aptitude and time to dedicate). I was charged approximately $4000 - $5000 for that year of training. I used a credit card cash advance check to pay the annual fee, all in advance. You see, if you paid monthly installments, they would have to portion out the training, so you wouldn't get ahead of what you'd paid for. If you paid in advance, they could teach you whatever portion of the first year's curriculum that you could handle.

Autopsy

So, um, today. At work. I saw an autopsy.

It was a very strange experience that I'm still kind of processing. It wasn't anyone I knew; I was there to observe the process (it should take 30 days to get all the finalized reports out after an autopsy, including lab results and whatnot; it takes us around 90 days. We're in the early assessment for how to put together a workshop to reduce that time).

At first it was very intense, and I couldn't watch any of the actual... goings on. Then I saw an log of autopsies performed this year and saw that a patient I knew back when I worked in the Pulmonary clinic nearly 3 years ago had been there; that was at least as intense as what was going on a few feet away.

I think maybe I'll have a drink now.

Ultima III - Geekalicious!

Yay! Thanks to DosBox I was able to make my copy of Utima III playable. This game has been in my life for over 20 years, and finally it is complete. I played the heck out of Ultima IV when it came out, and finished it a few times. I also played a lot of Ultima V, but couldn't find British at the end. Ultima III really started the love, and I'm finally able to say I killed that darned Exodus!

8666737370

These bastards keep calling my cell phone. Cursory research through Google indicates it's Trendwest.

I'm on a pay by the minute plan, so I won't be answering that call. Ever.

Studies in Leadership, as Shown in Science Fiction, Part I: Paul Muad'dib Atreides

While Paul Muad'dib Atreides's leadership rests heavily on its fantastic elements, at its core is a real world lesson of how a group's energy dictates its actions, even over the decisions of the group's beloved leader. In the first novel of Frank Herbert's Dune series Paul becomes recognized as the messiah of the Fremen. He manages to unite the powerful desert people into the most powerful military force in the known universe.

What happens after his ascension to the imperial throne is especially notable: Paul realizes that he can't stop the Fremen jihad, and his vision of the future is filled with terrible alternatives. This illustrates a reality faced by leaders every day: those being led are often beyond control. Consider for a moment the humorous t-shirt or coffee cup, "Have you seen them? Which way did they go? I must find them because I am their LEADER!!" While this shows the extreme, it also illustrates that no leader can direct a group somewhere they don't want to go. Along the same vein, a leader also cannot prevent a group from doing something they are determined to do.

This does assume that the group has great potential energy with a pre-determined direction. In the Fremen example, this civilization had evolved for generations into a homogeneous group of survivors. Prior to Paul's appearance, they lacked the cohesion to express their energies beyond their cultural survival based taboos. Once united, these energies exploded upon the universe in the form of jihad.

Tolstoy illustrates similar concepts throughout his great novel, War and Peace. When the Russian Army stops Napoleon's invading force, no power on the planet could have stopped that desperate retreat. No Russian leader could have stopped the Russians from driving out the invaders, and no French leader could have reformed the French forces.

Spotbus

For people who use the bus in King County, I highly recommend spotbus.com for trip planning. The url is easy to remember, and the interface is awesomely simple. It uses the King County Trip Planner for its brains, but it's easier to find and use than the Trip Planner itself (which is a great tool too).

Podcasts

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