| Interestingly, James Walls doesn't like the idea of the normal 1-10 or 1-100 rating scales.
He prefers the Michelin star.
Which reflects on the usefulness of statistics. If you're going to buy a game, you want to know how good a game is. If you only want to buy the best, a system that only rates 1 out of 50 things to be rated and ignores the rest is much better.
Which reminds me (again) of the difference between a metric and a KPI.
Plus more bad things about the government. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| While it doesn't show in the statuette, she's probably pregnant as well.
On the topic of pregnant, it seems to be abortion debate link time. Here (remember, the plural of 'anecdote' is 'fact') and here (which is generally thought provoking, except when it isn't - especially the comments).
Also amusing, someone says they'll never buy Starbucks again for daring to print atheist thoughts on the side of their coffee cups. When it's pointed out that they also print Christian stuff, the point is summarily and duly missed. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| The nice thing about the game is that you can play for an hour an accomplish something productive. Even in act 3. Find a waypoint, clear a dungeon, complete a quest, there's pretty much always something you can do.
And if it's not working (like my Amazon in Act 5), you can do something else!
And if you have a whole day, you can get a lot done!
Sort of like yesterday, when my arthritis was acting up (on the train was the first time I used that phrase correctly), after I was given good drugs to counter the pain (anti-inflammitories, unfortunately), I played Diablo 2. I also did other stuff, but in an orgy of killing I went from the River of Fire in act 4 through killing Diablo, clearing all of act 5 (where my Amazon was stuck), killing Baal and the Den of Evil on Nightmare level.
In part this stunning success was because I discovered I could outfit hirelings. Imagine, if you will, a group AC buff that, oh, doubles the AC of your army of pet skeletons (6 of 'em). Plus your golem. And the hireling makes a great place to dump of those pieces of armour with fighter stats on them that I can't use.
Plus I made some "crafted" items. The horadric cube wins.
And as an added bonus, I didn't listen to a single person whine about how I needed to help them complete their epic quest, so that they could get what they wanted from my guild and move on to a guild who does cool stuff.
Remember, if ensign crusher says it, it must be right: "Kids should play with other kids, and when they do, they should stay off my goddamn lawn."
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bradhicks talks about one of those great American myths. Suffering makes you a better person. He did miss explicitly stating that other canard about how rich people don't understand what it's like to be poor and are also bad people, but he was swinging the brush about and probably covered it a little.
Diablo 2. It rocks. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| You know you want to click.
Lots of statistics. The linked article is a comment on the approval rating score posted yesterday. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| A comment on socialized medicine. You could talk about wellness here, or how the US is pretty close to this model, or lots of other things.
I've never seen a set of more Dr. Manhatten-like answers to the question, "who won world war 2?"
A joke that's not really funny. How it's not funny depends on your sense of humor.
When CDs are outlawed only outlaws will have CDs. Seriously, they are trying to pass laws that would make re-selling CDs more restricted than guns (in the US, but it would be funnier if it was elsewhere).
"A new low, I'm so ashamed." (bonus points for knowing that reference)
Lessig crows about the presidental debates being freed. (see also: Bush malaria dance remixes)
From the long tail: spare cycles and why Rupert Murdoch is rich and you are not (well, there could be other reasons you are not). Also linked Bill Joy on the upsides to corporate blogging. The only downside? Scarcity of Attention.
Is this schitzoid paranoia or just existential blues? Mobhunter asks a lot of questions about EQ going to a yearly expansion. Seriously, Lore, we don't read your articles for questions (bear with me here). We want thoughts and answers from an expert. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| So, I was in a meeting, and someone commented about fixing outages when they happen (as opposed to our current state of having a customer tell us something is down and we fix it).
So someone commented on fixing outages before they happen, and I said, "If an outage doesn't impact any customers, is it still an outage?"
And someone did get the tree reference.
In other news, I was unsuccessful in my attempt to give an employee away. Which is too bad, because it would solve a lot of my problems, for different reasons. Not only did I fail, but I was laughed at. No, I correct myself. I was laughing while the other party was glaring at me.
In other other news, mobhunter asks if Sony is abandoning EQ. Given the whining about models, I can only assume that they are whining about STILL having the LUCLIN models. FTW. I miss the Velious armor textures, not that they'd ever be used. Except the male half elf one gave you wicked manboobs.
And a reflection on food. I know I've mentioned this, but the wonderful state of Illinois is 345 miles from top to bottom (Kenosha, Wisconsin to St. Louis Missouri if you want to get technical) and produces over 7% of the world's corn supply.
furthermore. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, the Creative Commons fund raising drive went over the top with a check from Microsoft. There were a few adult comments, the usual childish drivel and a link to help jim bob. Help Jim Bob amuses me, because it's a site by a guy who's trying to raise a million sterling (about 1.7m in US dollars) so he can open the nightclub of his dreams. Why work hard to make your dreams come true when you can beg over the internet.
The other amusing thing is about how the people are special and if given a chance they could show their skills. Well, pretty much everyone is like that. Everyone has their special gift. Mine tend to be less practical (running RPGs and I seem to be a knitting prodigy), but there we are. It's the whole 'you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake thing' - Everyone is beautiful and unique, but most of us don't have the means to express it.
For those interested in healthy living, there's a walk to Rivendell.
Scott Adams has an interesting insight: And by invisible, I mean I’m an adult male over the age of 35. Being invisible would be cool if you could get away with crimes. If it just means being ignored... that's ok too I guess.
scott_lynch talks about how being a grown up sneaks up on you.
Terra Nova follows that with 'what are you missing' which is a study of addiction. They also do a bit on sex in MMOs and MMOs explicitly about sex (which makes you wonder how long they had been saving the 'dildo of Damocles' line).
On the topic of sex, misia observes: "What having sex with me actually does is makes men predisposed to lifelong celibacy thereafter."
On the eve front, I succumbed to a hard sell from a UK based counter strike clan (and a pretty decent one if you believe google), and I'm now part of a corporation. It's a small corp, and they're an interesting crew. They use voice chat, and I installed the client to listen, but I reply by typing, which is confusing everyone. Should be interesting, no doubt. | | comments: 11 comments or Leave a comment |
| Bonus link: President Bush acknowledged on Saturday that he had ordered the National Security Agency to conduct an electronic eavesdropping program in the United States without first obtaining warrants, and said he would continue the highly classified program because it was "a vital tool in our war against the terrorists." (I hope this doesn't disappear, the whole article is worth reading)
Let me also quote the bill of rights: Amendment IV: 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. (this poor bastard of an amendment has been under heavy attack recently. Luckily the second amendment, which enables us to shoot back when we get sick of it, is going strong. Look for it to be the next one to fall by the wayside. We've already given up on amendments 1, 5 and 6. 10, as well, has pretty much been swept aside)
After flying, I'm convinced we're one step away from a police state, and this article isn't reassuring me I'm wrong, either.
ETA: Evidently, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Nice to see that jwz did a round up of links.
So, the batteries in my camera ran out and I hadn't replaced them until just now...
( Read more... ) | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, work has been a madhouse. I've been flying, talking and generally raising a ruckus and solving problems. I've been staying late on a consistant basis, and I'm doing a day trip to Texas Friday.
So, this leaves little time for meaningful updates. Which is ok, 'cause y'all don't have time for long replies either. It all works out.
I am declaring the scarf done, 6' is enough. I need to look up binding off, and bind off. I then need to find a charity to donate it to. Then I need to get to work on the sweater again. Evidently everyone decided to notice I was knitting yesterday, and I heard a bunch of grief about it. Luckily, I can smile and hand the grief back out, or just smile as need be.
So, in lieu of more thinking, since I'm off and running again, I'll post some links. This, unfortunately, is not a complete list of things that caught my eye, since I'm about 2 days behind on aggregator reading.
Warren Ellis on the new chameleon shawl being made in Japan: (Fear not: very soon, those wily Japanese will find a way, as they do with everything, to fuck it.). He also posts a new "Edison hate future" and comments on the end of the film industry. Stupidest idea ever.
Terra Nova links a NYTimes article tracking down the wily gold farmer. Yes, it's been done to death, but hey, $250 a month is a good income in some places still. Again, it's sort of like living in the 19th century. Sure, the romance and being a pirate is fun, but people forget about losing your teeth at 30 and being old at 40 (note: this implies that 40 is not old. Make of that what you will), and despite what "dances with wolves" (pause to spit) showed us, immediate high amputation was necessary because you died without it. You died with it too. No penicillin, hell, they were still bleeding people to make them healthy. So, yes, living in a country where $250 lasts you a month would be nice... until you wanted all the comforts of the industrialized, expensive world. Of course, too, all the money going to the gold farmers will raise the overall standard of living there, which will mean that sooner or later, $250 won't last a month.
They also link an interesting article about the grey area. It's a topic I've tended to talk about a bit as well. Essentially, there is good and there is evil. Playing 'grey' characters is difficult. So a human paladin works (despite the heavy human membership in Venture Company), but a troll priest... well, trolls are sort of evil, sort of good... very grey overall. So, grey is hard. I'm not sure Alliance isn't grey too, but people ignore the grey. Dunno, some interesting thoughts.
theferrett links "Is our empathy killing us". I remember reading in the introduction to "hammer's slammers" a discussion of war and those who wage it that parallels this. We want to do the right thing and sometimes force is the best way to get what we think is right done, but we don't want to deal with the consequences of using force.
Personally, I think pacifism is... dunno. Wrong I guess. All the people who are pacifists live in a society that got to where it is by the willingness to use violence. There are a few good men who are willing to use violence to defend your right to be a pacifist weenie. I don't respect this. And there's nothing like the application of force to you and yours to really make you reassess how useful pacifism is. Don't believe me? Listen to the Dalai Lama: "But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, [the Dalai Lama] said, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. Not at the head, where a fatal wound might result. But at some other body part, such as a leg."
Free registration required, from the Seattle times May 15, 2001 edition.
Looks like all the Hollywood celebrities crying to "free Tibet" didn't work, and it's time to start shooting back.
And lastly, jwz links 90 reasons to hate the 90s. In 2 parts: 1 and 2. I'm so glad I ignored the 90s, and I look forward to ignoring cultural trends for the rest of my life. Vivan las 80s! | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| Porn beats you (from matociquala).
There's just something about Lite Beer ads that lead to their culturalization and parodying. "Slays Great! Less Killing!"
Oh, the link is a hardcore Russian coloring book. Yes, you read that right. | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, I was heading out to run some errands Saturday, and I happened to notice that I was wearing a jacket with a vendor logo, along with a denim shirt from another vendor. I thought it was sort of amusing. I mean, I'm moving up somewhat, in the world. Most people pay to have logos on them. Mostly, I think, it's for the status of having the right logo, but maybe it's something else. Me, I've moved up in the world. I wear the logo if I'm given the clothing with said logo on it (I collect pens and other weird crap too). Someday, I'll be like a NASCAR driver and people will pay me to wear their logos. Of course, that would be a violation of our compliance code, so I guess I'll never be as... whatever it is about a NASCAR driver that makes people pay them to wear their logo.
For those of you keeping track at home, we've had a bit of snow here. I took a shot of the snow (and the actual snowfall at the time didn't show) in the backyard from the basement and the bedroom. I have a few new cat pictures, including Ingrid doing her impression of an owl.
Anyway, on with the embedded pictures ( Read more... ) | | comments: 21 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, today, one of the guys who works for me brings in two shock tanks. These are RC controlled tanks that have IR guns, and when your tank gets hit, the controller shocks you (seriously). So, they're playing around with them in the aisle. Comments run from, "Hey, do these work?" (drops controller) "Ah! ok, they work" to "I guess it really is the freeze" (since we have a year end production freeze, that sort of knocks out a lot of the work that infrastructure support does. A lot of our work is changing production to add new stuff, which we can't do with a production freeze on).
Links:
Skotos on cheating. Great read on what makes cheating cheating. Sort of like Sirlin's article "play to win", only not exactly.
On the gaming front, Terra Nova talks about a law ournal article on Rivalrous Consumption of Virtual Assets which looks interesting.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) metaquotes has a post on not telling AIDS jokes. Because, you know, some stuff isn't just funny. Terrorism, for example, isn't funny - which means london_hurts isn't at all funny. Really.
Metaquotes also has a funny generic LJ post.
Management guru Tom Peters brings us: It's Obvious! Not! (Oil company profits), Who Woulda Thunk? (On a positive Wal*Mart article in the New York Times) and What the U.S. Does Right (Music, Movies, Microcode and Pizza Delivery... wait, wrong author). | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Metaquotes generally doesn't amuse me. This is probably because my sense of humor doesn't much overlap with... anyone's.
Today, however, there were three posts that amused me. I wonder how many gems of amusement I miss just skimming the top of the dross. I'll never know.
Anyway...
You don't know Jack, what Hulk Hogan does on vacation and making up the difference.
Enjoy.
Added: Dvorak does a piece on the national debt. You remember how we were making plans at the end of the Clinton years on how to spend the surplus that we'd be generating? No more. Selected quotes from the comments:
"I’m ashamed to admit this, but I actually voted for W. back in 2000 when he ran against Gore. I actually thought he’d be more fiscally conservative and better for the economy. Yeah, I’m a moron. I can honestly say that I’ve never been more wrong about something in my entire life."
"I will say this now. The Democrats AND Republicans BOTH suck."
"Agreed Rob…. and furthermore, the only way this Country will ever be as great as it once was would be if we had a third-party candidate with a good enough chance of winning too scare the Republicans into going back to what they’re supposed to stand for, and make the Democrats realize that their idea of what America wants is just as screwed up as the Republicans’"
"“The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
- H. L. Mencken"
Remember why I don't vote? Bingo, there you have it. How many people are out there wishing they had a choice (like a real choice, not "Idiot 1 or Idiot 2" or could recall Bush for utterly lying to them? You voted! The system works! Look at it!
Added again:
RPG take on the magic number 7 (number of pieces of information a person can keep track of at one time) and how it relates to RPGs and mechanics. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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