CRS's Diary

Technophobes unite

2011-02-13T10:35:00.003-05:00

I wonder if all this technology hurts or helps kids. I think for those far down the functionality spectrum, ipads and devices that enable faster communication are a boon. On the other end of the scale, though, part of me feels technology is enabling us to be lazier.

Now that computers and phones have morphed from simple tools to achieve small things to essentially controlling our lives, I think the age of great discussion and deep thinking has ended. Now we are all about tweets, instant messaging, and self aggrandizement.

Procrastination

2011-02-11T11:36:00.002-05:00

I yearn to meticulously follow a schedule. I lack the discipline to repeat it, though. Some of this is the product of telecommuting and having 4 kids. A good chunk of blame falls on my head, though.

In the words of that Old Indian Guy from 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', I shall endeavor to persevere.

I have no frickin' idea what that means, but it seems about where my schedule and I happen to be.

The Surreal life

2010-09-30T08:04:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was one of those odd days I need to record just to laugh about it in 20 years.

I had emergency after hours work I needed to get done. However, said emergency work was stalled due to my mega corporation locking the parts for their super expensive mission critical server in the mail room, which closes at 5 and no operations person can access.

In a moment of honesty of 4 year olds, my niece who was looking at my 2 very beautiful little guys, then me, declared that compared to them, I was kinda ugly.

I learned one of my coworkers had a parasite, and left the U.S. to get it treated.. in China. Said coworker left in June, and has yet to return.

My management asked us to apply for other positions within our company last week.. No reasons given. Then yesterday AM declared we weren't going to have the layoffs we didn't know about it, due to it being put off for the foreseeable future.

I'm curious to see what today will bring.

2009-09-12T20:56:00.002-05:00

This has been an interesting week.

My two year old continues to want to climb everything in the house.

My four year old has decided he now owns the house.

I have a new fridge, not by choice. The old one decided it was time to depart the realm of the working. There's nothing like four kids and no cold food. The peasant's were not pleased.

The teenagers continue to dwell in the subterranean.

My wife had a major collision with a bass drum on Friday, resulting in a hospital visit. The drum won.

Given the soap opera level of drama going on, I'm going to try and update this blog at least once a day for posterity's sake.

Warmth!

2009-05-27T11:00:00.004-05:00

It's finally gotten decently warm here in Ohio. I'm looking forward to a nice summer with plenty of time outdoors. Given my libertarian leanings and desire to be optimistic I'm staying away from political comments for a while.

It's time

2009-05-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

It's time to ressurect this diary and to once again write.

Diaries are subject to the whims of life

2008-07-23T09:51:00.002-05:00

Work, kids, dogs, bills, family, obligations and life can slow one down.

I need motivation to write, and even moreso to make excuses and justification to avoid doing so.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

2008-03-28T07:44:00.003-05:00

Looking at the John Mccain and Mitt Romney buddy buddy pictures, and given the overt hostility between these two in a very antagonistic primary, it really is easy to correlate why some think Al Qaeda may be working in concert with some in Iran. As someone who has spent a lot of time in the Middle East, the one thing Persians and Arabs are is pragmatic.

Autism and Vaccines

2008-03-26T13:07:00.003-05:00

This has been a very difficult subject for me to address being the father of an autistic child who saw noticeable changes in his son following his being vaccinated.

I've read much about this, and I accept the fact I'm not an immunologist, but I also feel parents and others who have good first hand accounts of changes also have knowledge and a baseline of experience are wrongly being discounted.

My autistic son is 15. He went from normal in the development cycle to having autistic tendencies after being vaccinated almost 14 years ago. I inquired about this to doctors and were reassured the vaccines were not the root of the problem. I, like most parents, knew nothing of the fund out there for reparations due to vaccine accidents, nor of the immunity the vaccine makers enjoy.

Like most parents I spent the majority of my time following research, finding ways to better educate and mainstream my child, and to try and make him as comfortable as possible to spur the growth and social skills that so many ASD children lack.

Fourteen years later I'm learning things I should have known in 1994. The vaccine lawsuit pot is not generally known. The fact so many other parents see the exact signs and things I see is scorned in a derogatory manner by so called professionals, who admit they still are generally in the dark about the causes. To date, there is still not even the simplest of studies contrasting vaccinated to non vaccinated and the rate of autism.

There are valid needs for vaccinations and they have done immense good for the world. However, the side effects are not well presented to parents, and information regarding vaccines is sorely lacking. The attitude of this debate is too polarized and lacking in valid studies and good comparative analysis.

It's time for the discussion to quit being run by the CDC, and for our elected officials who are seeing their own kids becoming autistic to legislate proper research and to push for independent studies by groups not affiliated with the vaccination companies.

Media Center DRUMMED

2008-03-26T09:43:00.002-05:00

I love media center. I like the fact I can tape my favorite shows, like Lost and Battlestar Galactica and watch them at my leisure, anywhere in my house.

Houston we have a problem. Thy name is DRM. Some of my shows in Media Center seem to not be able to be recorded, due to broadcast flags. I don't have this problem with my DirecTV DVR, but media center has informed me they can't tape shows due to content issues.

Er, what?

I've perused the MS site and it's not very helpful. I'm running Media Center 2005, and most of the answers pertain to Vista.

I wonder if apple has a version of this that works better?

Sometimes it's good to stop and smell the roses

2008-02-28T12:51:00.001-05:00

In this case, to ride the waterslides and lounge in the hot tub!

Three day weekend and indoor waterpark trips are a nice break from the corporate grind!

Endless Ocean

2008-02-26T20:34:00.002-05:00

The more I play and see games on the Wii, the more I like it and feel it is the best console out there for everyone except angst ridden twenty something boys.

My latest love for the Wii is Endless Oceans. it essentially is a freeform sandbox dive simulation. It's like nothing that is currently out.

If you're a parent and don't have a console, do yourself a favor and do not get an xbox or PS3, but grab a Wii. Many of the games are fresh and fun, and not based on shooting people, stealing cars, pointless killing, or just regurgitated first person shooters.

Better, their games are fun for everyone and all ages. Really. Go get a Wii and start getting the fresh and fun games that are out there for it.

Titus leads the way.

2008-02-25T23:39:00.004-05:00

Living in Ohio during an election cycle is an adventure. I've noticed the rhetoric and sales pitches becoming more and more frenzied, and we're still only in the primary cycle.

I'm looking at both political parties, and I don't see much in the way of real leadership to that which should make up the minds of the electorate.

In reading Titus, perhaps we should see which candidate adheres more to what we should be looking for. Namely, the following:

2: older men should be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance.
3: Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good,
6: Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves,
7: showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity,
8: and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us.

All is far in politics they say, but as a voter I'd like to see us vote more according to the teachings of Titus and Christianity and less to the malign thoughts of Howard Dean or Rush Limbaugh.

Duck Derby

2008-02-22T22:28:00.001-05:00

So, tonight I had the fun of participating in a Duck Derby at Kalahari, our local large waterpark.

It was fun, but sadly my duck did not win.

San Diego to Dallas to Cleveland

2008-02-19T07:58:00.002-05:00

This morning as I walked out into the 20 degree temperature, I wondered how on earth did someone raised in California end up on the edge of Lake Erie in Ohio?

The answer, as with most who move, is simple. People. In my case I came here due to family and schools for my son. So, people and people. Others move due to work to support their job. Again, a people answer.

Still, I think about growing up in southern California with the beaches and warm weather and atmosphere, and I wonder if moving is about something more. Is it escape? Being the youngest in a family of 4 I was somewhat kicked out the door, with my parents literally counting the days until freedom. I think some of this translated into a desire to be migratory. Plus, once you leave California, it's very difficult to go back due to how expensive it is, and the general condition of most communities. I see so many people I know heading West, but that's not for me anymore unfortunately. I've made my roost in the Buckeye State.

A lot of parents never move, and I think that's the best scenario for their kids. Stability and home is a precious thing, and the longer I stay in Ohio, the more I value it over beaches or night life. Besides, there's always vacations in the tropics.

Time

2008-02-18T08:28:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to figure out how it suddenly became 2008. I'm still stuck in 2004, and really still have things on my planner from the 90s.

It seems like the sands in my hourglass of life are going faster the older I get.

Why Obama will win Ohio

2008-02-16T12:09:00.003-05:00

Everyone accepts the GOP Primary is over. It's easy to change ones party at will here and vote for whomever one wants.

When voting, the voter just asks for a ballot for either party and votes for that primary.

This is directly from the Ohio Voting Information Guide

You may vote the primary ballot of the political party with which you currently wish to be affiliated. If you voted the primary ballot of a different political party in 2005 or 2006, you will complete a statement at your polling place confirming the change in your political party affiliation.

Ohio is populated by a large amount of GOP people who will be democrats in March. I certainly will be one of them. While I personally would rather see Hillary win, due to her being more moderate and beatable, I think the vast majority of moderate/libertarian/right leaning people have such bad feelings for Hillary that she will lose here.

The other thing is Ohio has a lot of populists who are more interested in a pure liberal candidate. While Hillary has painted herself as such, the rank and file people know she's a moderate and will accordingly vote against her.

I live in Ohio, in a blue county and it's amazing how much the tide has turned against the Clinton machine. People who six months ago were stalwart Hillary backers are now taking a hard lock at Obama. I think due to the Hillary machine, she'll capture a majority of the Democratic voters in Ohio. However, I think enough of the base will give Obama support that the defecting GOP voters will swing it to his favor.

A paradigm shift in MMO gaming

2008-02-15T08:22:00.001-05:00

I've become disenchanted with all current MMOs and their focus on grinding. WOW, EQ2, LOTRO, DAOC, SWG, and on and on. Even the upcoming games, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online seem to offer little new.

They all use a small variation of the AD&D level, spell, static growth, gear system and are all just more or less polished EQ clones, with feature creep.

Sadly, I see no change in the kill 1000 critters, level, acquire gear, perhaps raid some bigger similar critter then rinse and repeat formula that is in every MMO. Every. Single. One.

So, CRS, great whine and way to ignore all the neat new shinies that have been added to EQ2 and WOW, as well as the population jump!

The simple answer to that is the world is moving towards more broadband, so the pool of players is expanding. In addition, the worldwide market is still just entering the MMO genre. For many young people, their first MMO will be an addictive and tremendously fun experience. Even older jaded gamers like me will continue to put their quarter in the slot and play what is out there, just because we are trained like Pavlov's Dog.

This does not change the fact that I would love to see a paradigm shift to a real virtual online world, with in depth design not based on the EQ diku leveling mode. Some will point to Second Life, but I'm talking a fun fantasy escape world, and not the Sims Online.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything on the horizon, perhaps due to the limited technology, but probably more so to the fact WOW is raking in such large amounts of cash, for what is a limited game and engine, solely being sold due to polish, but what is in essence just another Everquest clone.

Election year fun

2008-02-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

So here in Ohio the political game is ramping up. While watching TV yesterday I saw no less than 6 political commercials. They were all for the DNC candidates.

I lean Republican, but like so many other voters have no voice in the GOP primary process, since it was decided before I was able to cast my vote. This is a huge flaw in the system, and hopefully something that will eventually be discussed.

I guess this is no different than so many states that are red or blue and whose participants feel their vote does not matter in the general election. At least this isn't the case here in Ohio, and we have importance in the non-primary election process.

Belated New Years Resolution

2008-02-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

So, 1.5 months into 2008, I've finally decided on a resolution. Mine will be to add at least one entry per day here about Ohio, Politics, Gaming, Kids, or just something silly that occurred.

My initial goals were the same as others. I want to lose a few pounds. I need to get more skilled at my trade. I want to do more with my kids. I want to be a better person. After some thought, I realized those aren't resolutions but life. A resolution should be a tangible change, and not an abstract momentous thing/

So, as of Valentine's Day 2008, I shall attempt to keep a better running tally of things occuring.

Oh, and I'll still try to lose a few pounds, too!

Gomer Huckabee

2007-12-12T21:23:00.000-05:00

My wife just pointed out that Mike Huckabee is a clone of Gomer Pyle.

Mask of the Betrayer and I'm jonesing for Planescape

2007-11-10T22:19:00.001-05:00

So I picked up the NWN2 expansion. So far, so good, but while it has nice eye candy and a decent story, it really makes me want more.

Lum seems to recommend The Witcher, so I'll give that a go. It seems to be deeper, but with more of an adult theme.

2007 Fall TV Shows

2007-10-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

I've been watching the fall lineup of TV Shows and there seems to be more good than bad out there. This season is one of the better new show lineups of recent history. A few seem to have potential to be long term good entertainment. Some of the older shows are really showing their age, and I hope they either have makover's or are retired before they jump the shark. Yes, that's you CSI, Survivor, and all dozen Law and Order shows that I'm talking about.

Chuck from NBC is good that it's an original show, and seems to have potential. However, they need to work to keep Chuck more in character, and also to add a bit more depth to the show. The success of this show depends moreso on the adventures, and it needs a bit more Jason Bourne flavor from the supporting spy cast. Overall, I'd give this a 6 out of 10 so far, but with potential.

Big Shots from ABC is my personal favorite TV show so far. The writing has been top notch, and is actually ahead of the actors, who are quite good. The premise of the show, like Chuck, is very, very original. The setup with Dylan Mcdermott's lead, his ex wife, daughter, and supporting CEO friends works quite nicely. I think this show probably has the best chance to be a hit, since it appeals cross genre. I give it an 8 out of 10 and hope they keep it edgy and fun.

Reaper is an interesting new show from WB, featuring the creative input of Kevin Smith, of Jay & Silent Bob/Dogma fame. The premise is also fairly original for a TV series. It's a comedy based on a family that sold their firstborn child's soul to the devil in exchange for allowing the father not to die. The cast is a bit mediocre, save Ray Wise as the devil who is absolutely brilliant and makes the show good. The writing is also pretty good, with the usual Kevin Smith type of Character Development. My only complaint is which idiot at WB placed this show across from the mega hit House. Not a fair time slot fight, and I hope it gets moved or I don't see it surviving. 7 out of 10 so far ranking wise.

Ok, next post I'll examine Cane, Life, and I'll give my opinion of Survivor: China, CSI, House. and Weeds.

Time Flies

2007-10-16T09:09:00.001-05:00

I can't believe how fast time moves once one gets into their 30s. It seems I was in my 20's yesterday, and I'm staring the big four zero right in the face all of a sudden.

I seem to do a better job keeping up with news than writing, even though it's moreso my passion.

The good news is the Cleveland Indian's have knocked off the Evil Empire, and the world seems to be still in one piece. I'm not sure which is more important, however.

I guess the world is more important. especially with my eye out for
an angel.

History of the World, Part I

2007-07-16T08:35:00.000-05:00

Has withstood the test of time nicely. I'm curious what movies today will be watchable in 25 years. Although most movies put out today are barely watchable....

War! Treaties! Politics! Lies!

2007-06-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

I've found a neat little web based game, which seemingly is based on the old Risk board game.

I think the model that's imposed on this game will be the future of massive online games in the future. A free gameplay, with additions, or more content available via pay. Plus, this game allows one to play with a bunch of people, advance, and allows for true casual gameplay without a hierarchical system.

Good stuff

Baby Christopher

2007-06-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

Life is short

2007-06-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

Not just for Tony Soprano....

Lord of the very generic Rings Online

2007-05-06T20:05:00.000-05:00

So, after tiring of the pain of Vanguard, growing weary of the same old, same old of WOW, and having run Oblivion, Dark Messiah, and Gothic 3 into the ground, one would think Lord of the Rings Online would be just the medicine a grizzled old, bored MMO vet would need.

As Lee Corso would say on College Gameday, not so fast! I briefly tried LOTRO out during beta, and while the game looked pretty, and seemed to be true to the Tolkien mythos, to me it was like a very well made sandwich.. without the Miracle Whip. Tasty looking, but missing that special ingredient.

Let me explain:

First, let me say this game should and apparently is selling well. I'm sure it will flesh out to be a nice alternative to WOW and EQ2. Also, I am an avid Tolkien fan, and would love a shot of leading an Oblivion or WOW style Mines of Moria raid someday.

However, after playing umpteen MMOs and loads more single player MMOs, I can honestly say there is not one single original idea implemented in LOTRO. The classes are rather bland copies of other games, obviously derived from AD&D but without the depth or appeal that other games currently have. The combat is boring and generic. The levelling is likewise stale and on par with the last dozen fantasy MMOs out there. The questing is a combination of other games, with a bit of Tolkien love put in, but it does not stand out at all.

In closing, this game is a great change of pace for those who started MMOing during the WOW days, or are somewhat new to Online RPGs. For those of us who have been around the block, this is simply Lord of the very generic Rings Online with no actual hook or reason to play.

I'll stick to rereading Tolkien when I want to visit Middle Earth. I prefer my adventures there without tinges of Norrath or Kalimdor.

The family that potters together, stays together

2007-05-06T19:58:00.000-05:00

Ubuntu - a leap ahead

2007-04-20T17:23:00.000-05:00

I've been playing with Linux since 1995. I'm not a heavy programmer, and my livelihood is based on databases with mostly high level programs and administrative functions.

In that timeframe, I've installed and run Redhat, Suse, FreeBSD, Gentoo, and Solaris at home. They've all been so-so as desktop replacements and I've had technical glitches in The Matrix while trying to do my day to day things on all of them. None seemed ready for primetime.

Over the last year I've been running Fedora with more or less success. It was stable, but had some things I didn't care for. Installing it was like most Linux installs, a pain.

One of the constants of Linux installs I've performed have been the need to 'tweak' to get things to work, and to ensure I have the drivers for my display, printer, sound, keyboard, network, and other peripherals working properly. In other words, it works in a half ass manner usually with one or more things requiring external intervention.

Ok, so yesterday I decided to give Ubuntu a try. I downloaded the .iso via bittorrent, and fired up my PC awaiting the upcoming Linux fix mousehunt. I finished installing, and... everything worked.

So, I went into my /home folder and double clicked on an .mp3 song waiting for the usual pain of finding codecs. A window popped up, and automatically installed it. Likewise for video. It imported all my old settings seamlessly.

Color me impressed.

Last month I struggled with Vista. My drivers didn't work. The interface felt like something was missing or haphazardly patched together. The media player ran like a tank with a cylinder engine. The desktop sidebar ate my cpu. The applications launched and gave me strage messages. It felt like a Linux install!

Ubuntu installed and just worked. I run a normal set of peripherals and I rely on my desktop to perform a variety of functions, including media center, printing, messaging, mail, and programming. So far, everything has worked out of the box with ubuntu.

Better, I've added the packaged I wanted and removed the ones I didn't need via the package manager, with no ill side effects.

Kudos to the Ubuntu team. I'll be on your distro for a while.

Godspeed Kurt

2007-04-12T07:08:00.000-05:00

Vonnegut was one of my favorite authors when I was young, as his books were very fluid, smart, and fun to read. As I grew up, it was easy to see through Kurt, and to wonder why so few people who were huge Vonnegut fans missed the simple point that the man was miserable due to a gaping whole by having little faith, as was his writing.

Despite that, in an age of vapid writing and the mass churning of Patterson novels and their clones, rereading Cat's Cradle is a breath of fresh air. I wish we had more Vonneguts out there.

Godspeed Kurt. You certainly were one of a kind.

A hypocritical paradox

2007-04-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

versus

Godspeed Johnny

2007-04-10T15:15:00.000-05:00

Thanks for many laughs.

Vista has vanquished me

2007-04-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

So, after running XP for years with no issues and being generally happy, I was not frightened off by all the bad PR Vista had been getting. I figured most of it was hyperbole. So I upgraded to check it out and be wooed.

Boy, was that a wrong decision. Vista runs like a product still in development. My shiny new PC, with it's killer hardware felt like it was actually a 286.

First, media center which runs like a champ on my older PC, was sluggish and froze up often while just taping in the background. The security interface just plain sucks. I read and figured out how to disable the annoying popups, but really an average end user would be lost, and probably annoyed. File copying is slow. Network devices are misidentified. DRM decided my music should not be copied, nor could my taped non protected TV shows.

I won't even get into gaming, but suffice to say by XP box runs twice as fast on Half Life 2 and Oblivion, with lesser hardware.

I imagine Vista eventually will turn into a decent OS, but for now stay with XP, or buy a Mac. Microsofts newest operating system is definitely not ready for primetime.

Originality and Laziness

2007-04-09T09:20:00.000-05:00

So, I have a plethora of ideas in my head and stories I wish to pen. The problem is that so much of fantasy is a rehash of Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien that it leaves very little wiggle room. I find those stories boring, as I crave, to quote Will Smith from MIB, New and Hotness.

Some creative people recently have borrowed minimally few ideas and through sheer prose power and fantastic writing ability have given us some of the most memorable fantasy works ever.

I hope to be published one day, but have no intentions of quitting my day job. More importantly, I'd like to actually finish one of the writing projects I begin, which is almost an equally monumental challenge for a working person with too many easy excuses for procrastination

Vanguard, Saga of Lone Wolf Mcquaid

2007-04-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

Set the wayback machine to 1997, Mr Peabody. John Romero of ID Software fame had joined ION Storm and was hyping his new FPS game he was rolling out named Daikatana. Romero had garnered fame as being part of the ID Software team, with it's early 90s hits, including Doom.

The Romero name was good enough to gather enough capital to spend an exhorbitant amount of coin to fund his team at EON to create his 'next gen' game, in which he would 'make you his bitch'.

The game was a flop, and is regarded as one of the worst ever, What went wrong? In the words of Romero's ID compatriot and programmer, John Carmack, Design is easy. Implementation is hard.

Vanguard: Saga of Hereos is Daikatana for the MMO market. It had lots of hype. It had a ton of cash infused based solely on Mcquaid's name and ties to EQ. It is currently a complete wreck of a game that could go down alongside Romero's heap of junk as one of the worst ever.

Everquest was successful because it was cutting edge and pretty much the only game in town. In 2007, the MMO market has done a 180 degree turn and is saturated with a lot of competition. MMOs thrive based on content, community, and communications. By communications, I mean the word of mouth and grass roots appeal that makes a large amount of gamers at a minimum want to try ones game. There is a lot of communications about Vanguard, but unfortunately for Sigil, none of it good.

Vanguard is an incomplete game due to a combination of feature creep, designer ignorance, and developer incompetence. The game is loaded with bugs and is neither easy to be immersed in, or fun to play unless one wants a larde dose of Sado-masochism. Sadly, there is no valid reason for any gamer to buy or play this wretch with the large dose of quality and polished games currently out.

The key to a good game is not following any of Jessica Mulligans ludicrous and wrong point papers, it is targeting your core audience, keeping it simple, and making it fun. It doesn't matter if your budget is 80 million, 8 million, or 8 dollars.

Fortunately for Mcquaid, there is always room in the cell phone games market for another 'game designer'.

Lord of the Rings Online

2007-04-09T09:07:00.000-05:00

I've been playing Turbine's latest MMO in their long line of massive games.

This one benefits from cross spectrum name recognition and should be a fairly easy one to market, given the widespread love of Tolkien from so many people of different ages.

My first impressions of the game is they've done a great job with the graphics, and an even better one copying the successful elements of World of Warcraft and Asherons Call.

The biggest negative I can think of is there is not a single original detail in this game that isn't currently in other MMOs out there. I suppose there is safety in consistency, but I really wish they had done at least one original thing.

Although, perhaps their burnt fingers have limited their desire to experiment.

Life is a highway

2006-12-06T11:34:00.001-05:00

But to where?

Godspeed Kirby

2006-03-07T10:03:00.000-05:00

Baseball needs more people like you. Hell, the WORLD needs more men like this.

The BCS must go

2005-10-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

In reading ESPNs website this AM, I see a pretty good argument being made for Virginia Tech needing to be in the Championship game against either Texas or USC. Likewise, Alabama could end up undefeated in the always tough SEC conference. This opens the door to two good teams ending up with no losses. In any higher tier of sports this is absolutely unacceptable.

However shall we fix this quandary of who should be playing for #1?

It's high time for college footballs bowl system to go away or be adapted into a round robin playoff system to give the championship title to the team that truly deserves it.

It's not tough. Take the top eight teams via the BCS/Rankings/Voodoo system of the moment used and put them in a playoff. Make each rounds playoff game be sponsored by such and such company just like the bowl game was. Play it in a neutral venue. This would require two extra games, but would leave no doubt who the National Champion really is.

Look at the excitement March Madness creates for the NCAA, and basketball isn't nearly the PR powerhouse college football is. Imagine the extra earnings from powerhouse teams matching up in games that actually matter?

The teams deserve this. The fans deserve this. It's time.

Unfrugal overlap

2005-10-25T07:38:00.000-05:00

This is a rant on the vast misappropriation of funds in the name of tradition. This is only a rant. No actual anger was directed at anyone, real or imagined. In the case of real anger I would've declared a state of national crisis and threatened to chain myself to some inanimate object, like the White House fence.

Onward.

A little backstory. I have never tried any drug, ever. I have never even smoked a ciggarette. I've never had the slightest inclination from a young age to try or do any drugs. I have also served in the military, worked for the government, and in private sector.

Why are we spending tens of billions on a war on drugs, and on locking up drug users/dealers? Yes, selling drugs to children is bad. However, that is the fault of the parent, just as if their child were smoking or drinking alcohol.

Our prisons are there to lock up dangerous criminals. Way too many of them are filled with drug addicts who are a danger solely to themselves. Want to pay for all these hurricanes? Easy enough, get rid of the ridiculous war on drugs, and funnel all that money into infrastructure, rebuilding, and disaster relief. Problem solved.

Our country is way too beholden to spending cash on things 'because it has always been that way'. That is not a good reason.

Having four branches of the armed services with overlap of jobs and training centers is unnecessary and wasteful. Having four service acadamies essentially doing the same thing is not frugal or wise. If a city had four different police forces because it had always been that way, would it be ok? It's tradition! Baloney.

Why do we have so many federal law enforcement branches that have their piece of the pie? They all have their own bureaucracy and management facilities and once again, overlap of field agents and personnel.

I haven't even touched on tort reform, the many silly laws that need repealed, or the fact we have such an insurance quandary in this country.

It's high time we look at what is important in America, and spend our taxed dollars appropriately. No war on drugs. One military, not four times the need. Streamlined law enforcement with simple and effective goals. If we can add massive lawsuit reform, corporate tax reform, and reducing the red tape for small business', then we'd really get our country pointed in the right direction.

The real reason movies are becoming less appealing

2005-10-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend I'm watching the Firefly series which I ordered via Netflix. Last weekend I spent watching the second season of 24. In my queue, I have the Battlestar Galactica series, as well as some of the CSI episodes I've missed.

Hollywood is in a tiff regarding the fact the movie industry is losing money, and less people are inclined to go to theatres. While they lament the fact movies aren't as good as before, and that people are pirating away from watching releases, they miss the simple and obvious true cause of their decline. The acting, writing, and entertainment value on TV is better than it is at the movie theatres.

I love movies. However, I must admit that I do not feel a compulsion to go out to watch good entertainment. In fact, with my Home Theatre System the opposite is true. It's expensive and not worth the bang for the buck anymore. The picture isn't as good as my system at home, and one cannot discount the pause button while watching.

The fix for this is rather simple. First, we need must see movies that people know about and are inclined to see at the theatre. Second, we need theatres that are both compelling to visit and more affordable. 30 dollars for a couple for two hours is not a good deal, anyway you slice it. Finally, the paradigm needs to be re-evaluated. People like bundles and deals. Dinner, movies, and a free snack bag would be nice for a set price.

As TV continues to grow, and the art of creating movies becomes less expensive I don't see a way for the theatre to survive unless it reinvents itself.

ID vs Evolution

2005-10-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the last year I've read many different viewpoints on Intelligent Design versus Evolution. Now, I am a technical person with a background in science, but hardly a micro or evolutionary biologist. However, the discussions being represented on both sides really lean more towards what should be taught versus a knowledge of the cutting edge of discovery.

The problem I see is evolution is both fact and a great mystery. It encapsulates many, many different things and this is a problem. Animal physiology changing slightly is indeed fact. It is seen, can easily be verified, and is proven. Likewise, species slightly altering and forming newer ones is also in my mind verifiable. Common descent and the origins of life are not proveable, not factual, and not verifiable. Equating these as fact and putting them under the large umbrella of evolution is utter rubbish, but happens with more commonality. These are still a mystery and unfortunately many in the science community wish to present ideas as facts, when this is not at all what science should be about.

Intelligent Design is an interesting idea and it's supporters have some excellent points. However, the one single damning part of ID that seems to be ignored is it does not use materialistic naturalism in how it is setup. Saying we do not understand how something occured, and thus it is irreducibly complex is not a scientific answer, nor a good basis for an argument for anything. While this may indeed be true it misses the simple guiding point of science in a faux Occlams Razor argument.

So, where does this lead us? Well, there are certainly vast deceits being pushed by both sides here. Evolution tries to call it's many facets factual which is a great misleading of science. ID tries to hoist non scientific methodologies without a good reason.

I wish there was a way to wipe the slate clean, bring in fresh ideas, remove the pre concieved notions, and work towards progress which neither evolution or ID seems to be doing well. One is faux science, the other is science of faux principles. Galileo and Newton must be rolling over in their graves.

Information Overload on Miers

2005-10-18T14:58:00.000-05:00

I've come to the point where I feel there is just too much information for an inquisitive person to try and absorb via the Internet.

The Miers nomination is a great case in point regarding this dilemma. There is such a broad spectrum of opinion and news being presented it's somewhat difficult to envelop and remain objective. This is compounded because the average person has absolutely no idea who on earth Harriet Miers really is.

So, given that we're being bombarded via TV News, Blogs, Radio, and probably even Smoke Signals with various messages how does one determine if Ms Miers is the right stuff for our SCOTUS?

How did we determine Roberts was qualified? Ah yes, he was at the top of his class at Harvard and has been an administration 'constitutional' lawyer for years. However, most people had no clue about him prior to the nomination, so really outside of his years as a lawyer for the administration and a brief tenure on the Federal Court there is little difference between Mr. Roberts and Ms. Miers save that he is from an elitist school and has more of a meritorious paper trail.

As anyone who has worked a real job can tell someone, and unfortunately I do not include lawyers in this category, scholastic achievement means nothing. It's great if one is trying to show off their resume, but in practice it is merely ones past and not who one is. Our esteemed President is a prime example of this, as he was not what one would call an academic.

Miers could be 100 times the lawyer Roberts is and crush him in court and in character, however many are not even giving her the benefit of the doubt because she was succeeding in private practice. Likewise, her breadth of knowledge is obviously much larger than many others, due to the simple fact she has DONE so much more. This point seems to be missed by the blogger community and our mainstream media.

I guess the writers and lawyers covering this with their elitist attitude and disdain have forgotten one simple fact, private practice is more difficult and more of a benchmark for talent than being a well educated yes man.

Roberts is a much better scholar and teacher than Miers. However what he isn't is a better Lawyer based on what one can read.

SCOTUS is supposed to represent the best we have in the law community to perform their rule in the Judicial Branch. This is not limited to constitutionality as some tunnel visioned folk have misrepresented, but to be a bastion of right, wrong and the checks and balances that are in the best interest of our country and it's judicial branch.

Give me a Harriet Miers or William Rehnquist over a Roberts, Souter, or Bork any day and twice on Sunday.

The coming Voice over IP wars.

2005-09-22T09:16:00.000-05:00

Voice over IP is essentially when one can use the Internet with their phone service. Why would someone want to do this? Well, for starters POTS and residential phone service has lots of taxes and surcharges, and is more expensive overall. VOIP is much cheaper and easier to manage.

This leads us to Vonage, a new startup VOIP company. Vonage is being pressured to sell itself. I really hope they do not, as the world has enough goliath telecom companies, and I think they are positioned quite nicely to grow and become one on their own.

MCI & Verizon are becoming one. SBC purchasing AT&T does not help competition.

Consolidation is bad for consumers, and when does it become an anti trust issue? Seeing Microsoft and their desktop Operating System monopoly reminds me our government really doesn't mind such things.

You may now NOT kiss the bride

2005-09-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

Remind your friends never to get married in India, as its indecent to kiss one's spouse at your wedding.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

There is more to the season than Hurricanes

2005-09-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

While we continue to make progress with the blackmailing Kim Il Sung, very little attention is being paid to the continuing progress Iran is making towards being a Nuclear Power.

There is no doubt at all that Iran is in breach of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The problem we have is Russia, China, and others simply do not care, as they don't view Iran as a threat, and have no ties to peace in the Middle East.

Katrina is a tragedy, but Iran handing nukes to terrorist groups is 100 times more dangerous and something that is not getting enough attention.

The heat is on!

2005-09-20T09:26:00.000-05:00

Go Tribe!!!

Toda Raba, Simon

2005-09-20T06:29:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, Mr Wiesenthal, at the young age of 89.

What guy would fight changing this law?

2005-09-20T06:25:00.000-05:00

Not quite modest, but hey, if it works in Europe....I personally wouldn't mind, but the zealouts might freak!

Profootballtalk props

2005-09-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

I must say Profootballtalk.com has quickly become one of my favorite sites for the merging of humor and simple common sense analysis of the daily events in the NFL.

Hopefully they won't follow the path of so many other good sites and change what they do well in order to grow.

One comment they have which is interesting is in regards to Coach Mike Tice, whom I believe is a good coach, but has been struggling this season. PFT thinks he should be canned, and will be if he goes 0-4. I personally believe coaching turnover mid season is foolish, and that sort of change will probably torpedo a potential playoff teams chances.

The problem with the Vikings are solely on the shoulders of Dante Culpepper. He played horribly last week, and was even worse this week against a Cinci D that hardly inspires fear around the league. If you turn the ball over, you lose. Period. In week one and two the Vikes have been a turnover machine, and are their own worst enemies.

Perhaps Tice should consider showing Culpepper to the bench, and bringing in Brad Johnson. He doesn't give you the firepower, but he doesn't have happy feet and knows how to hold on to the rock.

The same old North Korean song and dance

2005-09-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

North Korean agreed on Monday to stop developing Nukes and to allow inspectors general (I now subscribe to the ever evolving methodology of Bush speak!) in. Of course North Korea received cash and an agreement that we wouldn't go Saddam on them.

However, didn't Bubba send the peanut farmer to accomplish this same thing in the 90s, with the result being similar to trying to negotiate actual peace with the PLO?

So, like when President Clinton succeeded in the 90s, we have a nice signed piece of paper to assure us that Kim Il-Sung won't develop nukes.

Why do I feel nothing has really been accomplished?

Ohio taxes going up, pork also rises

2005-09-18T23:21:00.000-05:00

Following an interesting post from Instapundit, I investigated how Ohio is doing spending wise. Well, according to a CAGW report we have $3.5 billion in Pork spending!

Source is here

This includes:

$2.14 million by the Department of Agriculture to provide research and marketing to local wine makers.

$250,000 by the Cultural Facilities Commission on a museum of rock music and memorabilia.

$200,030 from the Board of Regents to the Canadian Studies Center at Bowling Green State University.

A good day for Ohio in the NFL!

2005-09-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

Both the Bengals and Browns paste a nice big W and answer many questions.

Now, if we could only get OSU to stick with one QB, things would be grand!

This is another strange year in the NFL, where it's hard to determine how things will turn out. The Bengals appear very strong. The Ravens who were touted as a probable Super Bowl team appear old and tired. Pittsburgh seems strong, but it'll be interesting to see how they'll do against a dangerous New England team that was outplayed in Carolina and behind the 8 ball for home field advantage.

Peyton Manning is playing anemic. Trent Dilfer is playing strong. Who'd a thunk?

The only thing I know for sure is Minnesota is most certainly not a better team without Randy Moss.

Ohio considering privatizing workers comp

2005-09-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Ohio is one of only five states that completely controls workers compensation. Given everyone else has privatized this, and it's a simple fact that doing so is much cheaper this is way, way overdue.

Nice to see after 200+ years, some branches of Ohio government are finally learning competition tends to make things cheaper, better, and more efficient.

Not making Ohio safer, at all

2005-09-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

My state friends ovr at Buckeye Firearms Association have a pleading title on their site that states they are "Making a difference, by making Ohio safer...."

Wow, lets take a look at this closer, shall we? Nationwide there are over 200,000 gun related accidents a year. There are over 30,000 gun fatalities per year. That's a lot of people who aren't very safe, I think.

But we NEED them for defense! These guns keep us safe!

Wrong.

The simple fact is a gunowner is 12 times more likely to kill a family member than an intruder.

I guess our friends should consider changing their title to reflect they in truth promote a much less safe Ohio.

Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association Open letter

2005-09-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Being a gamer, I am following the A.B. 1179 but not closely. It is supposed to ensure that kids do not get adult games. I personally do not have a problem with it, but below is the very interesting counter attack to A.B. 1179. Below is the retailers response.

I doubt the Governator will veto it, but he has surprised me in the past.

Re: Veto Request for A.B. 1179

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) is the non-profit trade organization representing the leading retailers of computer and video game products in the United States. IEMA member companies collectively account for almost 75% of the $10 billion annual games business in the U.S. The IEMA, and the retailers we represent in the State of California, respectfully urge you to veto A.B. 1179.

IEMA members take the issue of retailer enforcement of policies inhibiting the sale or rental of "Mature" rated games to minors very seriously; however, we do not believe that legislation is the answer. The IEMA believes that A.B. 1179 is unnecessary, as retailers are firmly committed to voluntarily enforcing and promoting the video game rating system. Second, legislation cannot and will not replace the ultimate role and responsibility of parents in their duty to raise their children, and this bill usurps the rights of parents by restricting minors' access to certain games, even if parents have approved them for their child. Further, federal courts have consistently recognized that video games are constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the restrictions in this bill impermissibly run afoul of that protection. Finally, the bill provides no meaningful standards to assist in determining whether games would fall within the legislation's purview.

What's wrong with science?

2005-09-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

I've noticed this article from the Guardian is getting a lot of attention from bloggers and papers. It essentially puts science on a pedestal and blames the big, bad media for overhyping and stupefying scientific issues.

However, the media are there to sell their stories, and accuracy has never been very important. It is a bit ironic for The Guardian, the bastion of media bias and unfair reporting, to complain about the lack of honesty in regards to any type of reporting.

Academia and Science are a bit different than mainstream America in that their work is not black and white. We'll have to forgive them if they make molehills into mountains or try to push one sided viewpoints to support things that are dodgy at best. It's tough work guessing about so many things and making it look scientific!

The Battle of Ohio - NFL Week 1

2005-09-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

Kickoff weekend in the NFL! What better way to start then Ohio versus Ohio.

As an Ohio guy, and one who has lived in Cincinnati, but now resides near Cleveland it was fun watching our teams battle each other.

Cincinnati is a great example of a team that has been built from the ground up and is getting better each year as it continues to mold itself in the image Marv Lewis envisions. The Cinci offense was rolling, but there was cause for concern about a few boneheaded Carson Palmer plays. The turnovers need to be fixed.

Cleveland had a few flashes of brilliance, but otherwise was mired in mediocrity. Their schemes were good, and Droughns especially looked good but they were overmatched.

The Browns are clearly a rebuilding team, especially on D where Palmer and Rudi Johnson had their way, and probably could've tagged 40+ on them if not for turnovers.

The Bengals still cannot stop the run and that must be addressed if they want to be better than a .500 ballclub at the end of the year.

The good news for Romeo Crennel is the other newbee coaches around the league are already winning, so if he can scheme well enough and figure out how to get a mediocre defense to step it up, the Browns can win some games this year.

Battle of Ohio Round one to the Bengals!

Ohio helps after Katrina

2005-09-04T13:42:00.000-05:00

The aftermath of Katrina and New Orleans cascades through Ohio

People throughout Ohio face the problems of relatives and friends looking for help and shelter following their losses from Katrina, as well as those working to help rescue and support the city after the devastation

In Toledo, Terri Dandridge has 18 people living in her 3 bedroom, 1 bath house, including her ex husband from New Orleans, who apparently won’t be providing child support

Schools around Dayton have enrolled children and expect many more, from military families coming to Wright Pat Air Force Base.

Also, Wright Pat Airmen were among the rescuers in New Orleans, and airlifted over 100 medical people from New Orleans to Nashville. The rescuers included 445th Airlift Wing and nine critical-care specialists from the 88th Medical Group

In Sycamore Township, Floyd Willians has taken in 28 relatives whom have lost everything and are currently living in his three bedroom house. Nearby, Mike and Darlene Rutledge have 10 additional family members currently staying in their two bedroom apartm

Over three hundred Ohio National Guardsmen of the 1st Battalion of the 148th Infantry from Cleveland have been working this week to help ease the suffering in New Orleans, by aiding in the evacuation and helping to feed the remaining people.

Katrina's Aftermath

2005-09-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

Watching the devastation in the wake of Katrina was brutal. Watching the political fingerpointing and blame game, leaves me to believe partisan politics is alive and well, regardless of the catastrope or setting.

I've watched numerous interviews all condemning the war in Iraq and the shortfall of Guardsmen in the US as the cause for the lack of quick response to the hurricane

A great response to this has been posted here.

So is the war in Iraq causing troop shortfalls for hurricane relief in New Orleans?

In a word, no. This from NRO

A look at the numbers should dispel that notion. Take the Army for example. There are 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard. Of them, 261,000 are deployed overseas in 120 countries. Iraq accounts for 103,000 soldiers, or 10.2 percent of the Army.

That’s all? Yes, 10.2 percent. That datum is significant in itself, a good one to keep handy the next time someone talks about how our forces are stretched too thin, our troops are at the breaking point, and so forth. If you add in Afghanistan (15,000) and the support troops in Kuwait (10,000) you still only have 12.6 percent.

So where are the rest? 751,000 (74.2 percent) are in the U.S. About half are active duty, and half Guard and Reserve. The Guard is the real issue of course — the Left wants you to believe that the country has been denuded of its citizen soldiers, and that Louisiana has suffered inordinately because Guardsmen and women who would have been available to be mobilized by the state to stop looting and aid in reconstruction are instead risking their lives in Iraq.

Now, I believe Chertoff and Michael Brown do need to explain why the response was what it was, but it's a shame that the media is spending so much of their time allowing a few fringe people to play the blame game, versus looking at the reality of the situation, and the fact we should be coming together to repair after a devastating natural disaster.

Outsourcing

2004-09-28T09:22:00.000-05:00

As I read the news of the plethora of Presidential issues that need to be addressed, I still fail to see any answers to outsourcing.

Mr Bush follow's the doctrine of helping business, which isn't bad. However it doesn't address the problems of corporate greed in exploiting the vast and fast new Broadband supply which allows service jobs to be performed overseas for a fraction of the cost.

Likewise, Mr Kerry has a pro union position which will do little to aid those most severely impacted by the continuing migration of work to cheaper sources.

Businessmen follow the creed of Gordon Gecko. Greed is good. In their quest to gain advantages and up their stock a few dollars, they have no regard for the middle class or their displaced workers.

What these stock worshippers have forgotton is it is not a right to run a business here, it's a priviledge.

My answer to the outsourcing problem is simple. If a company is US based and contracts a services position overseas, tax the difference between what it's paying for the overseas asset and the fair market wage in the US. If Microsoft hires 1000 programmers in India for 500 dollars a month, the US Government needs to tax them 65,000 dollars per Indian and also surtax them for Health coverage for those displaced workers.

Removing Tax incentives is not punishment, as Mr Kerry suggests. Giving Small Business is not the answer, as Mr Bush suggests. Neither will have any effect.

The only way is to hit companies where it counts, in their wallet.

The problem is the Washingtonians stopped working for the people a long time ago, and now work for the special interests. The Special interests are the same companies who are outsourcing people en masse.

The answer is a grass roots push, and massive lawsuits against companies unfairly outsourcing. A few lawsuits will not be an issue, but when they turn into hundreds with an endless amount of red tape and bad press, then perhaps we'll see a shift in the tide..

The WOW Factor

2004-07-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

In the 1980s, the Japanese Auto Makers burst on the scene and revolutionized the car industry. They didn't do this by offering anything new, or by creating a paradigm shift. They simply offered a better product. These cars were more reliable, better made, and with more options for less price. Americans started to purchase their vehicles en masse and it created a panic within the Big Three US auto companies. The Big Three in turn made wholesale changes and re-engineered their cars to be competitive with the much more reliable and better made Japanese ones.

World of Warcraft is the MMORPG equivalent of what happened to the Big 3. Right now there are a few dominant MMOs, that have been staying in cruise control. When WOW is released, the industry will have to combat a stunning, well coded, detailed re-engineered MMO masterpiece. Once Blizzard releases their baby, I predict many will flock to it for the same reasons they bought Toyota's and Honda's, it is a better product.

There is no revolution or wholesale design change when one looks at WOW. It offers many of the things that Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot offer. What differentiates WOW from these two, is it has fixed the problems that plagued many, and is a far superior product. The graphics are nice and do not require a Cray to run. The quests are done much, much better. The land and immersion is superior.

Worlds of Warcraft will not kill any of the big MMO players. Mainly because these games are not about the world, but moreso about the people one is playing with. However, it will hurt them and cause them to look closely and makes changes to try and stay competitive.

At the end of the day, WOW will release not only a single powerful MMO, but it will cascade changes across the board and advance the genre moreso than if it were something completely different.

Woe is us!

2004-07-28T06:30:00.000-05:00

In watching the DNC convention it strikes me odd that we in America are all doing bad, and gloom and doom permeates. We must be saved.

If we elect Kerry, all our poor citizens will have jobs, health care coverage will be fixed, social security will be sorted, and he'll even do the robot dance to boot just to entertain you.

According to the DNC, our country is doing poor and only one man can save us from the foul, evil bastions of darkness, the Republicans.

The only problem with all these hard luck stories and Republican finger pointing episodes is that they portray a false picture of where we are. Yes, we do have some big issues regarding health coverage, outsourcing, and trade agreements, but our economy is doing well and most Americans are doing better than they were 4 years ago.

There were a lot of good jobs created, and there is a lot of positive momentum in regards to both our economy and the situation in Iraq. Checking out the DNC convention, you'd think we were in the middle of the second episode of the Great Depression.

The DNC has some good issues, but in pushing a partisan Bush bash agenda, they have ensured that they will go lower than the lowest Karl Rove speech. Attack. Attack. Attack. The only problem is when someone like myself watches all these attacks, and see's the outright false message being sold it does quite the opposite of selling the Democratic party to me.

Terry McAuliffe has been an overtly vocal nastyman for the DNC for months, and I understand he's playing the bad cop. That said, John Kerry is no Bill Clinton and when you debate and make the main issue personal attacks then you will alienate many fringe voters.

Its a shame that we didn't see a convention promoting ideas, differences between the parties, and a healthy dose of information as to why we should vote for their man. All we got was the same political rhetoric repackaged and pushed out in a way that helps keep that nasty, partisan edge.

People are surpised nobody is watching the convention. Nobody should be. Reruns tend to get low ratings.

The Microsoft gaming woes

2004-07-27T08:48:00.000-05:00

Microsoft owns the personal computer operating system market. That is a simple fact, and allows them tremendous leverage in marketing and selling other products. Not that they need to, mind you, since they make tens of billions from one piece of software every year.

They are powerful and use the Washington Lobby to perfection in a perfect dance allowing them to maintain their monopoly, crush any challengers, and still keep an appearance of being benevolent.

Microsoft was slow to move to the Internet. However, once they realized its potential, owning that market and controlling what goes on their OS has made them the software gatekeeper of our times. The demise of Netscape, which had the killer application of the Internet revolution should be proof of MS' ability to have its way on personal computers.

When it comes to games, however, the MS brass do not get it. Sure, they have a few hits like Dungeon Siege or Age of Empires. That said, you look at the next generation MMORPG games, and Microsoft is as far behind now as they were in 1996 with the Internet.

Asherons Call 2 was a disaster and despite heavy marketing and money, sold poorly. Mythica was cancelled after years and millions funding it. Microsoft's rival Sony owns the market with Everquest, and with Everquest2 and Worlds of Warcraft both being released this year, MS will continue to fall behind.

Micrsoft, in typical fashion, is trying to buy its way in, hiring the Everquest Architect Brad Mcquad to attempt to stop the bleeding and to get in on this market. Will it work? Time will tell as it seems Sigil's game won't be out for a while. However, if Microsoft insists on using it's technology, then I predict the same result that occured when they tried to migrate hotmail from Solaris to NT.

MMOs will be a multi billion dollar industry soon. I wonder how many of those billions will be revenue from Windows inserted into the gaming domain to try to crush the MMO equivalent of Netscape.

Power corrupts......absolute power...absolutely

2004-07-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

The truth regarding absolute power corrupting has been proven many times. However, the latest evidence comes from our humble gardener, Saddam.

According to the AP, Hussein appears depressed and demoralized in solitary confinement, spending his time writing poetry, tending a garden and reading the Quran.

I have a tough time comparing Saddam to Sam Gamgee, but really it does make one think what would've happened if this man had not wrestled power away in a Ba'ath power struggle, and had followed a different road.

If we look at ruthless leaders, it's easy to forget that they were not born megalomaniacal villains, but were products of power.

Josef Stalin studied for the priesthood.

Adolph Hitler's goal was to be an artist, but he was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts.

I look at the situation in Sudan, and realise that dictatorship is a step up from anarchy, but recalling the nastiness done by those in positions of power really makes it the lesser of two evils.

This week at the Democratic convention in Boston, while all the self important people explain how our lives should be, and our money should be spent, I hope they take a moment and realize that the Darfurs, like the Auschwitz' of the past demand our attention, and that the future priests, gardeners and artists should be given the chance to fulfill their dreams in democracies.

Moving Sucks

2004-07-19T09:53:00.000-05:00

After spending the previous month packing and moving my stuff, my sole link to sanity was comedy. Nobody is better at making one realise how silly life is than Stephen Wright...

In that vein, and since I need comedy more than I need another GW, JK, or MMO rant, I present you random Stephen Wright quotes, which make as much sense as moving does:

What's another word for "thesaurus"?
When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask if I'm leaving.
When I was a kid, we had a quicksand box in the backyard. I was an only child . . . eventually.
I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again.
For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
I bought a house on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there.
I have a hobby. I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it.
My school colors were clear.
I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wakeup letter.
I'm taking La maze classes. I'm not having a baby, I'm just having trouble breathing.
When I was in high school, I got in trouble with my girlfriend's Dad. He said, "I want my daughter back by 8:15." I said, "The middle of August? Cool!"
My girlfriend's weird. One day she asked me, "If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?" I said, "No." She said, "Okay, forget it."
I went for a walk last night and she asked me how long I was going to be gone. I said, "The whole time."
My buddy got busted for counterfeiting. He was making pennies. They caught him because he was putting the heads and tails on the wrong sides.
He's in a minimum security prison now; he's on a whiffle-ball and chain.
Hermits have no peer pressure.
Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories .
There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't live there?
Did Washington just flash a quarter for his ID?
I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.
Imagine if birds were tickled by feathers.
I got stopped by a cop the other day. He said, "Why'd you run that stop sign?" I said, "Because I don't believe everything I read."
It doesn't matter what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
Yesterday, my eyeglass prescription ran out.
I'm a peripheral visionary.
I make my own water - two glasses of H, one glass of O.
Ballerinas are always on their toes. Why don't they just get taller ballerinas?
The other day, I went to a tourist information booth and asked, "Tell me about some of the people who were here last year."
Why in a country of free speech, are there phone bills?

Mongo only pawn in game of life

2004-06-21T20:25:00.000-05:00

Damn Damn Damn Damn

why do the BEST MMOs get cancelled or killed while the crap keeps on being regurgitated?

Paint me jaded. There isn't a clueful MMO large developer out there. The guys at Climax were making a gem, but now its a footnote in history.

Its sad the only original one out there is from a small group making it out of passion.. something that the MMORPG industry sorely lacks in its regurgitation of new reincarnations of Diku Muds and level treadmills.

What we need is a small shop to do what ID did in the early 90s.

My only hope is as MMOs become simpler to support and design, we'll see the groundbreaking simulation world that has it all.

As bad as Warhammer Online closing was... This was totally amazing, and made it hard for me to be upset about a 'game'.

Then again, Life is just a game.

MMORPG Regurgitation and my 'Vision'

2004-06-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

In reading MMORPGdot this AM, I came across a very interesting article in regards to Single Player RPGs, MMORPGs, and the future written by a game designer.

He had an outstanding point regarding MMORPG design and development.

"The core of it is that there are five things that most current MMORPG's hold as law to presumably be successful; the player must be able to group, kill, loot, craft, and level. These items are held in the forefront of the core game design, with story and player centralism as secondary (or even tertiary) requirements - or so it seems. " - Damien Foletto

While his article went a different direction into what he wants, it made me consider what it is I want in an MMORPG.

My biggest problem with MMORPGs is they are big, static worlds without change and with the same treadmill and limitations.

I think the industry needs a paradigm shift.

My dream MMORPG would be to completely remove all five of the 'laws' that are now governing Online Worlds.
Here's what I would do:

1. Remove Levels and base treadmills of experience. These promote a caste system within the game and are not good for developing community.

2. Make death MEANINGFUL. Presently all MMOs subscribe to a theory of players killing nonstop. We kill, kill, kill until we die, then we respawn. My desire is for no respawns, period. If a player die, that character is dead and the player starts over. Likewise if a boss dies, he's a dead and a new boss moves in eventually. I want the word 'respawn' completely removed.

3. Crafting needs to follow the same 'dynamic' laws and respawn rules that death follows. Limits and levels in crafting is the same as limits and levels in other area's of MMOs, and should be removed.

4. A world with real change and a 'vision'. Dynamic Worlds are the key. Have a plan and have the players be part of this plan. Have storylines and let the actions of the player characters have real effects.

5. Finally, real factions and real repercussions for actions. Alignment should influence how people interact and how characters should act. The world should evolve based on how the people playing in it behave.

Unfortunately I don't see this happening in the near future, since companies copycat success and fear uncertainty.

World of Warcraft, Dragon Empires, Everquest 2 are all based on what has worked so far. What I call the treadmill model, but in actuality what is a single player world that allows for thousands of people, but has nothing dynamic or evolving.

I think it'll take a small shop with the courage to break free of copycat mode and to try something revolutionary. Hopefully it won't take them too long...

Relevant issues ignored for politics?

2004-06-14T19:45:00.000-05:00

Do the major media corporations ignore large news items in favor of spreading their personal political agenda?

There is a major international threat that should be headlining news. Iran is ignoring the UN Nuclear Inspections team in a desire to move forward with Nuclear testing. They also are training suicide bombers for future strikes.

Meanwhile, CNN is still headlining with vague stories in regards to Abu Ghraib.

Its sad that CNN, which used to be about cutting edge news stories, now is truly living up to its moniker of being the Clinton News Network.

Between Fox and CNN, we have about as much unbiased reporting as people in Tehran get.

Then again, maybe CNN is trying to get some sleazy free big advertising dollars.

A culture of super sizing

2004-06-11T12:01:00.000-05:00

Our culture is one that emphasizes bigger is better. Super size meals, gargantuan SUV cars, and hundreds of channels of TV.

This axiom is especially true in regards to news coverage. We have so many reporters, channels, and hours to fill that any significant event becomes the TV spotlight for as long as the networks think they can milk it for. Sometimes it's good for reflecting, as in Reagans funeral. However overtly 'good' news coverage is the exception. For every story of something meaningful, there are 20 about nasty events.

Last month I was subjected to the news channels devoting literally hundreds of hours to whether GW was where he should've been 30 years ago. Likewise, I had to suffer through endless debate regarding Kerry and his medal tossing agenda back when I was 6 years old.

There's an old Don Henley song that I thought was passe at the time, but seems more and more accurate as I grow older and more jaded. Here are some lyrics from Dirty Laundry:

"I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry"

Is it that we love bad news? Do we enjoy pure garbage? I have on occasion listened to Howard Stern. While his show is entertaining, it's brainless fodder with no real meat or redeeming value to it. This type of desire for 'shock' seems to sell. However is this our nature, or are we products of our environment?

In India today, many young people strive to be Doctors and Engineers and knowledge is their goal. When I was young I wanted to be a fighter pilot, mainly due to watching too many gunfighter movies, as well as Top Gun. Why do so few US kids strive to be doctors and engineers? Is the dirty laundry and sensationalistic lifestyle promoted by our media overriding our history of intellectual gains?

We have moved to being a drive-through, super-size, A.D.D. society who lives on pessimism. As we look upon the death of Reagan, the great communicator and optimist, perhaps we can shift gears and move a bit away from the death and pain and see the whole picture? Then again the media does love dirty laundry, and ratings are more important then being right...

Fire in the Hole! The SCO bomb is about to boom boom

2004-06-10T16:24:00.000-05:00

The time bomb that is SCO is slowly running out of time.

I wonder how long a company can survive by lawsuit solely? In reading our friends updates at Groklaw, it's apparent SCO has little of a case, and is merely a witting pawn of a larger power

I predict another 6 months of funded FUD, followed by a vindication of all, SCOs demise, and Linux's continued rapid ascension into the server rooms everywhere.

Maybe SCO could find another similarly lucrative market to enter.

Captain Obvious reporting from Gameland USA

2004-06-09T14:44:00.000-05:00

In a news report that would do Captain Obvious proud, Games Press is announcing casual gamers will generate more cash than the full time crowd.

With this type of thinking, no wonder we get the same games recylced over and over.

From Games Press:
"Screen Digest forecasts that the total online PC games market will top $1.1bn in the West in 2004 and reach $2.2bn by 2007. Nick Gibson, a games industry analyst and the author of the report states: "The casual online gaming market has matured rapidly since the end of the dotcom boom era and a number of new, high margin revenue models have emerged that have, following a three year hiatus, returned rapid growth to this sector. Amazingly, every single one of the major casual games service providers reported that this growth was being predominantly fuelled by middle-aged and female gamers, the antithesis of the MMOG and hard-core gaming markets."

These studies make me wonder if companies care about making money the old fashioned way, or are looking for a fly by night big dollar solution for peanuts. In the copycat world of Online games, someone is bound to cause a paradigm shift, and the initial company that gets it right could be the next Microsoft.

Online games are the future of entertainment, and it is still a mostly untapped reservoir. As technology and broadband spread across the country and the world, the revenues seen from online games will blow away these guesses.

The higher demographic are women and 30something men, so why do we still see games predominately marketed and made with a single niche in mind?

I have ideas I think would revolutionize the industry, as do others, I'm sure. The problem is how does one realize this dream, without it being stolen by software companies with no soul, but bottomless bank accounts?

Then again, looking at how Asherons Call 2 turned out, maybe limitless resources do not enable a company to buy success.

Sneezy Patriot Talk

2004-06-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

A large portion of the United States suffers from some sort of an allergy.

Allergies tend to be inherited. So, if you can't be near the kitty next door, blame Mom and Dad as their genes are the reason why.

An allergy is defined as a hypersensitive reaction to something. Bills and ex-wives cannot cause an allergic reaction, despite reported evidence to the contrary.

Here's some basic information one may, or most likely may not, want to know. Allergic causing substances are known as 'allergens'. Ones body produces white blood cells called 'Basophils' which contain histamine and other allergy inhibitors. There are also other cells which also contain histamine and allergy inhibitors called 'Mast Cells'.

What causes some allergies? Ironically enough, ones immune system is the culprit. It wrongly identifies the substance as harmful, and then attacks the substance with a ferocity far greater than required. The problems this attack can cause range from inconvenient to deadly.

Allergic reactions specifically are caused by what the immune system does. When an immune system encounters a cell that is identified as 'evil' it immediately starts responding, fighting said cell and making all kinds of noise such as runny noses, sneezing, and watery eyes. To help alleviate the problem of ones body abusing itself, we take medications such as Anti-histamines. Ironically, these aren't to prevent the allergen from entering our body, since in most cases that won't cause us problems. It's to prevent the evil gestapo cells from hurting us while pretending to protect us.

In many cases, the Constitution and the liberties provided by it provide an interesting corelation to allergens and our body's destructive immune system. The nature of the Bill of Rights is to provide the citizens of our country with protection from the government. I would consider the Bill of Rights akin to an anti-histamine in the legal system of the US.

Unfortunately, I have some problems with our government removing our 'medication', and losing some protections we need.

The Patriot Act has some portions that give Government the power to abuse 'ourselves' without the benefit of the needed 'anti allergy' support that our laws provide for us. Essentially it grants increased surveillance and intercept powers to the government against our citizens that defy the guarantees given in the Bill of Rights.

Amendment 4 of the Bill of Rights reads, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Much of this is circumvented by the Patriot Act.

Amendment 6 of the Bill of Rights reads, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense"

U.S. citizens designated enemy combatants are being held for years without trials. This goes directly against the rights we are guaranteed. While this may, or may not, be done for the right reasons, the fact this is done at all should be scary. It effectively neutralizes our rights in the name of security, and this must not ever be allowed.

I personally believe the war on terror is important, and we need to ensure we are safe. However, we need to not take away our inalienable rights in our goals of safety, or we lose the battle before it has even begun.

They prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God.

2004-06-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

In 1986, I watched live as the Challenger blew up. Then, as so many young people of my generation who were fascinated by space and devastated by this, I was fortunate enough to hear one of the greatest speeches of my life. So, in respect for his passing, this is my lasting memory that will stay with me for my life:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God." - Ronald Reagan, 1986 at a speech commemorating the Challenger

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

2004-06-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

It seems Sun and IBM have realized there is coin to be had by investing in servers and software for Online/MMORP Games. This is good for future competition, and the ability of smaller shops to be able to compete with the larger established companies.

IBM is backing Butterfly.net, a growing effort to apply grid supercomputing power to operating online games.

Sun also is working to ensure their software and big iron runs Online Worlds through their Game Tech Group.

The North American online game market earns roughly 1 billion per year, and is expected to have heavy growth in the near future.

As reliability and scaleability become better, and total cost becomes cheaper we should see some amazing advanced in online games.

In the future, given more companies are either purchasing ready made 3D engines or have ones already available, we could see development cycles being cut in half or more, as the pieces to the puzzle of MMORPGs and Online games are ready made and available.

A future MMORPG project could start out 80% done. A team would purchase servers ready made from IBM with Linux loaded with Oracle grid technology. Then after licensing an engine, the game would be in alpha practically from the beginning of the project, and the development cost would be greatly reduced.

GW aka Harvey Dent

2004-06-04T12:43:00.000-05:00

In the last week, the esteemed U.S. President has been in France and Italy.

While there, it turns out there was no anger at the Frenchies, and the Congressional French Fry thing was indeed not done from any sort of madness at the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys.

Also, it turns out despite the Catholic Churches many issues this year, the Pope was awarded the Medal of Freedom

I get the feeling that we are watching 'Diplomacy for Dummies' being written live.

I saw an interesting link on the Andrew Sullivan page to a Marine's Diary of events. If you are curious what is really happening in Iraq, I suggest reading first hand accounts, and not just swallowing what Fox and CNN are spoonfeeding.

Unification by Domination

2004-06-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

In around 275 AD the young wife of a Roman Officer gave birth to a son she named Constantine. The Roman Officer had the disctinction of being in the right place at the right time, and became Emperor of Rome. His child's name was Constantine. At this time Rome had a large Christian population who suffered heavy persecution.

When the Emperor of Rome died in 305, there was the typical squabble for the throne that was common in those times. Constantine held his own lands, but shrewdly sat out the initial fight. When he did engage, he won decisive battles and made short term alliances which benefitted his expansion. By 323 Constantine had control of the entire Roman Empire.

Constantine in his early life was a Pagan and sun worshipper. While fighting in the succession wars he learned of Christianity, converted, and later adopted it as the official religion of the Roman Empire. In military matters, he was his fathers son. However, his mother's influence and compassion also left their imprint on him.

Constantine had an outward appearance of complete tolerance. There was no overt persecution of people of other faiths. Coins kept pictures of the Roman Gods. Constantine respected liberty, but he supported Christianity. He built temples, sought advice from bishops, and had the ruthlessness that many Christian leaders have, even when they espouse New Testament ideals, but govern from an Old Testament mentality. He put to death his eldest son and his second wife.

The way of Constantine was unification by domination. Looking at the world today, it's ironic how much has changed and yet stayed the same.

I'd buy that for a dollar...

2004-06-04T09:05:00.000-05:00

America, the land of Liberty.
America, land of the Judiciary.

Lets examine liberty. It means, "Exemption from subjection to
the will of another".

Of late, much of our news time has been devoted to three ongoing trials. The Scott Peterson case. The Kobe Bryant trial. The Michael Jackson case. These are a reminder of the nature of America. True liberty is attained via the almighty dollar. Knowledge is not objective analysis of facts, but what we are shown on TV.

The court of public opinion will make decisions based on what station they are watching, and what information they have been fed. This is unfair for those charged with said crimes, but it opens another interesting paradox. These people have coverage because of their status and/or access to money. They also have access to high money lawyers that the average Joe does not.

So, should we be outraged at the fact these people are getting unfair exposure and the media are spoonfeeding the masses what their view of the trial is? Then again, it's equally disturbing that potentially guilty people might easily walk from a crime due to being able to afford the whiz bang law people.

Young colored people who cannot afford representation get sent to jail for half their adult life without committing a violent crime. People get burnt with coffee and sue and make Millions. A doctor who spent his life attempting to heal people is bankrupted by an unhappy family of a terminally ill patient.

How much of our liberty is based on ones standing and ones assets? Too much. How many of our rights are decided by a panel of senior citizens sitting in power in a courtroom? Too much.

Did Kobe rape the young woman? The public is already decided. The same is mostly true with Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson.

Unfortunately, what we have learned may have nothing to do with the truth. But then, I wonder how often truth and justice is actually served in our courtrooms.

Another brick in the wall

2004-06-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

Agendas.

It seems that every news, media, and political group is focused totally on their important, urgent plans. Right wing, Left wing, Green Party, Libertarians, Red Party, Conservatives, Liberals, and the list goes on.

Listen to me! Do what I want. If you do this we are doomed! You did that, so you are incompetent!

Whatever the result of the Iraq War, the Economy, Outsourcing, and Judiciary decisions, it's a shame the days of courtesy and debate are over.

And the sad thing is this overhyped extremism portrays a terrible picture of the average American, and is completely and utterly inaccurate. I've spent time in every part of the world, and despite cultural differences, the divide between the people of the world is very slim. A Smile in Bahrain, and a joke in India are the same as they are in Canada.

The lessons of the past fall on deaf ears, as the US continues on the path of the Romans of the times of Caesar. The ironic thing is we are not alone in our political Soliloquy