incarna

The world is ideas is a dangerous place.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:03:28 -0500

I got an e-mail from a guy today asking me to assist him with an idea that, well meaning, was not well thought out. I've coppied his e-mail below and my response.

Hey man!

I saw your post on the forum topic for a charitable internet. I am actually trying to build this entity and I am looking for leaders and artists to help make this dream a reality. I think that the world would be much better off if the major internet media entities donated their profits to charity. There are a number of new problems that have arisen due to the desperation to make money, of internet websites. These include compatibility issues, lower security requirements so that people can upload cookies into your browser, privacy issues, not to mention the ways that people of all backgrounds are depicted to play on our most basic human instincts, driving us further apart, instead of closer together and all for money.

Now I love the controversial media as much as anyone. At the same I believe when artists focus on provacative ways to make the world a better place that the world of media will reach greater hieghts. I also believe that this path will lead them in that direction without preaching. I am all about free speech I just want people to be inspired to work for the greater good.

I understand that the internet is not now the cash cow that I believe that it soon will be. People need to feel secure with the transactions that they are making online. I also fear that when these systems become more secure, and efficient that even more jobs will be lost, and many Americans feel richous turning a blind eye to people that suffer. As the economy becomes more automated, fewer jobs will be available. Soon people around the world will be competing with machines, and slaves for jobs. There is such baligarant ignorance preached by the major media enties, creeping fascism in the US, I am really concerned about the direction of the country. I want to give the people the power to choose their own direction, and invest in the technologies that they believe will make the world a better place, without concern of profit. I want to be part of the answer. I want to inspire the people to demand technologies that will produce virtually unlmited free food and housing. China and Japan are already investing in these areas, I don't think that we can afford to fall behind in these pursuits because recent technologies have made these dreams an inevitable reality.

This is all deep and philosphical, and I am not asking anyone to be like me. I just want everyone to have as much fun, and happiness as possible. I think that this is a dream that people around the world would embrace. There has been as much interest from people overseas in this project, as there have been people here, so I really believe that this could be a world uniting cause. There are many people who believe that economics is the key to world peace. That if we trade, and do business together that we will not want to fight with one another.

Hopefully you will feel inspired to chat a bit more, and possibly join the effort. When we are successful you will be happy you made the decision that you did. I also believe that their will be a place in history for the greatest contributors. I can tell that you like to think. I like to think too. We have a great team of possitive thinkers put together at this point. I hope that you will feel inspired to join the team.

Have fun!

Tony Purdom
www.youmanity.com

The following is my response:

The internet is the greatest invention in all of human history. As the printing press braught the printed word to the illiterate masses of humanity it dawned a new era of knowledge and inlightenment never before seen in all of civilization; The Renisance, so too does the Internet bring knowledge INSTANTLY to every corner of the earth. The printing companies that braught first the bible, followed by millions of other works, to the Great Unwashed did so NOT because they were knowingly invested in some lofty pursuit of knowledge, but because they could turn a profit. They needed to feed their families and they did so through paper, ink, glue, and binding which were formed into books and sold to whoever could afford them.

This new age, the dawn of the modern renisance is in its infancy but it is coming, and fast. There will be a day, in our lifetimes, when a doctor can instantly diagnose your illness because he can tap into a digital database housing all medical knowledge. There will be a day, in our lifetimes, when a child can learn to read before he steps foot in a kindergarden through e-learning. When we are gone, the internet will benefit humanity in ways we can not even dream of; nevermind the movies we watch, the websites we browse, or the funny pictures we look at - humanity will literally become to us what we are to the ancient cave man - a civilization capable of limitless potential and awe-inspiring accomplishments. This will come about because TODAY, a company can sell a product ; be it media or physical, on a digital network requiring servers, web developers, IT professionals, security systems, and an army of artists, businessmen, and academics and turn a profit - a HUGE profit - that snowballs into an even MORE complex array of requirments and technology pushing the boundries, EVERY DAY, of human limitation.

The internet is the venue through which the ruthlessly oppressed Chinese worker learns about the concept of American organized labor and learns to fight for the freedom and equality he is entitled to. The internet is the venue through which an African at risk of contracting AIDS, learns about how that disease is transmitted and how to avoid it. The internet is the venue through which a South American learns about the corruption in his countries government and becomes an agent of change for the better. While we sit and surf myspace forums, engage in e-love, and laugh at Lolcats, the internet is changing the world by bringing knowledge to the ignorant. It is ABLE to do this because the same server housing free medical help, free history lessons, or free news coverage is paid for, in part, by a company that needs that server to house it's 900 hours of Ghost Hunters or 72,000 hours of anime... and it is paid for because that company can turn a profit... but it certainly isn't easy and there are many hurdles.

What you seek to acomplish isn't some lofty dream of diverting a little internet profit toward charity for the betterment of humanity. What you seek to accomlish is nothing short of the strangling of the infant internet in its crib. If a company can't use internet based media to turn a profit, than that company will LEAVE the business of internet-based media... and, eventually, there's no incentive to pay for a server or pay a web developer or IT professional or anyone with experience in technology to build and maintain the internet. And, eventually the greatest achievement of mankind sufocates and dies.

You have no right to lay claim to the products of another mans labor no matter what your cause is. Millions of men and women, just like me, contribute to the internet in a wide range of creative and intelectual ways. We are able to do so, and make a living doing so, because the companies we work for see the internet as a venue for bringing their product to customers and bringing their customers to them; a digital arena in which to compete JUST as commercial venues compete in your neighborhood. Their profits, which you want to divert to charity, pay MY sallary and the sallary of millions of people arround the world. The companies we work for make profits and compete in a commercial world that is NO different that the physcial world we live in except it is faster, bigger, and ever changing - but JUST as compeditive... and we work HARD to provide internet based prducts that people are willing to pay for and NO ONE has a right to the SWEAT and BLOOD that I, and millions like me, shed in pursuit of carving a niche within this new digital era... and THROUGH our sweat and blood, as we toil day in and day out keeping ahead of technology, staying secure, learning about the next trend, wanting nothing more than to feed our families and pay our mortgages and maybe take a vacation once a year it is *WE* who are forging the destiny of humanity. It is *WE* who bringing in the new dawn of human enlightenment. It is *WE*who are crafting the next age of enlightenment. It is *WE* who cary that torch, not some obscure group with a heart of gold but no understanding of basic economics.

I appreciate you contacting me in regard to this issue but I must decline. The unfortunate truth is, although you may have the most admerable of intentions, your method for achieving this "dream" is nothing short of the blackest evil that one person can inflict upon another short of rape or murder. What's more, your movement is as to humanity as the barbarians were to Rome; the unenlightened hordes raging ignorantly against the greatest bastion of civilization for nothing more than their own minute and unworthy cause.

I hope I've helped to open your eyes to the profound wrongness of your intentions and I cincerely hope you fail at what you seek to accomplish.

Mark

Lunarpages Web Hosting Sucks Ass

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:38:43 -0500

A few years ago my coworker and I were requested by our boss to research some web hosting companies to host our corporate websites. Our current plan was about to expire and it didn't offer many of the tools and features of some other companies. After some research we narrowed it down to Lunarpages. Their company sounded great. They were cheap. They offered huge amounts of space and bandwidth. They had a lot of features on their control panel that helped monitor traffic and whatnot... it seemed like a great idea to go with this company.

So, some time later, one of our divisions decided to build their own website and use Lunarpages as its host. Lunarpages appeared to them as it did to us - a low-cost service with nearly every conceivable server option they could ever need. Slowly but surely, Lunarpages began to build itself as the crappiest web hosting company EVER.

First incident: This actually happened to the guy who worked on that divisions website before me but he relayed this bit of information. I should have known this incident would herald things to come.

The site database got wiped out. Don't ask me how it happened. It just did, it wasn't Lunarpages fault, it wasn't really anyone's fault... it just happened. No big deal. Shit happens. Just restore the backup and everything will be good to go.

WRONG!

This guy who built the site before me called up Lunarpages and told them he needed a database restore. There isn't much of a story here other than he sat on hold for quite some time, spoke with a tech support person who was completely incompetent, and eventually got a helpdesk ticket submitted. It then took four days to get the SQL database restored.

Seriously? Four days? Come on... it's a fucking button. Lunarpages strike 1.

Second Incident: So I'm working with one of our other division's websites when I discover I'm having some major connection issues, especially with the administrator control panel. Frustrated I eventually call Lunarpages helpdesk. After a very long time on hold I eventually get through to someone who sounds like a 19-year-old fresh out of high school kid who barely kowns anything about technology. After a few hours on the phone with the kid we EVENTUALLY came to the realization that I need to have certain firewall ports open on my computer in order to interface with the Lunarpages control panel correctly.

That may not sound like a HUGE deal... but it's actually a network security liability and, since my company has a network with a couple hundred computers on it, my IT department was a little hesitant to open the ports. The eventually did but were extremely unhappy about it. Lunarpages strike 2.

Third Incident: So eventually the website gets handed off to me and I'm FTPing files here and there. For some reason my files aren't getting uploaded correctly if at all even though my login and password are correct.

So, I call Lunarpages tech support. I wait on hold for god-know how long before getting in touch with another 19-year old who immediately asks me if I'm using FileZilla...

You see, Lunarpages FTP works best with one of the crappiest FTP programs that exist: FileZilla. It kinda works with other FTP programs but don't even think about using Dreamweaver because that DEFINITELY doesn't work... or more appropriately, it will work one day, not work the next, then it will work for a couple hours the next day before not working for the rest of the day and so on.

I download and install FileZilla - crap FTP software. It works but I'm timed out for no reason or every time I want to upload more than 20-some megs of information... whichever comes first. Lunarpages Strike 3.

Fourth Incident: Eventually the guy I mentioned from incident 1 hands his website off to me. I'm good to go, ready to rock and I'm working to bust this site out as soon as possible. I get the site up and running and we're bug testing when suddenly we discover that the website can e-mail to every e-mail extention (@aol.com, @hotmail.com, @gmail.com, etc.) EXCEPT the COMPANY for which the site is built. So, if my site were built for the company NinjaMasters I could not e-mail to bob@ninjamasters.com.

Why? I have no fucking clue. I'm talking with IT, Lunarpages, the URL registry, our company e-mail people... everyone. I decide to investigate from the ground up and ask for the e-mail logs of my Lunarpages web server.

Nope. I'm sorry. You can't have them.

Why? Why can't I have my e-mail logs? I need to know if the SERVICE my company is PAYING for is WORKING. You can tell me it is but I need to see that it is. Needless to say, I never did get the e-mail logs. Lunarpages Strike 4.

Fifth Incident: I get back from vacation to find that the website I've been working on doesn't show any images. Every page is completely fucked so I go into the FTP site to see what's up. The images are there but every file has an FTP date corresponding to a time where I was sitting in an inner tube in the middle of a lake 100 miles from civilization.

So why aren't my images showing? Because my website is infected with the Exploit.JPEG virus and my companies virus protection will not allow me to view my images. Now, my companies security makes the pentagon look like a grade school (not really, but it's pretty fucking good) and there is NO WAY my website became infected through my machine.

The ONLY way for my website to get infected was through the Lunarpages server poor security. What's worse; god-knows how many people accessed my website while it was infected and did not have security of their own to prevent infection. I called them up to get more information and... not surprisingly, Lunarpages was NOT helpful AT ALL and denied any responsibility on their part.

"Someone may have hacked your site sir."
"Your computer must be infected with a virus sir."

The next day they sent me a helpdesk response telling me I can't see my images because I have broken image links. I cried a little inside when I considered that these were the people that my multi-million dollar company was relying on for our web marketing needs.

My IT department and I theorize that Lunarpages transferred all the files from one server to another using a batch transfer. They turned off virus protection to expedite the process and every directory within the site became infected. When I probed for information on this possibility it was denied... but I could tell the individual I was speaking with was not telling me everything (probably covering his companies ass from any liability).

BULLSHIT. Lunarpages Strike 5.

My company has decided to move our web hosting in-house. The cost in man-hours invested in dealing with Lunarpages pile of steaming shit company MORE than makes up for the cost in equipment to host everything here. My recommendation as a web developer - if you see a website with a thumbnail advertisement for Lunarpages web hosting... check your virus protection because it's probably infected with the Explot.JPEG virus.

Oh, and choose someone, ANYONE else for your web hosting needs.

Random Morbid Thoughts

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:51:18 -0500

On Wednesday the pilot light to my water heater went out. It's the first time it happened since I owned my house so, before re-lighting it, I made sure to read the instructions on how to light it. Then I re-read them. Then I read them again. Then I read them one more time... you see, not only do I not want my house to blow up, I also do not want me to be in my house if it were to blow up.

As I was carefully, step by step, going through what would probably be considered an incredibly simple process (granted, with DIRE consequences if I were to screw it up) I had a rather morbid thought; "If I die... it will take days, maybe weeks, for my friends to find out."

First thing that would happen, if I were to incinerate myself in a freak water-heater accident, would be for emergency services to arrive and take my charred corpse to the coroners office. My next of kin; my mother and father, and my emergency contact person; Mick, would be contacted via phone. From there, things get tricky...

Mick would probably tell Wally, Don, Josh, and Rachel. Wally would probably tell my other friend Don and that's where things would stop. Mom and dad would tell my extended family... but I have a good number of friends who wouldn't find out for a long time... some of them might never find out.

People would see that I hadn't signed into Myspace for a long time but I'm a busy guy so that's not unthinkable. Heather, (my girlfriend), my friend Diane, and my other friend Heather might not know for weeks that I had been vaporized. They would probably get pissed at me for not talking to them. They would probably call, leave e-mails, and texts with more and more agitated tone. I would hope that they would take it upon themselves to contact my other friends and ask what had happened to me... but they might not do that for a couple weeks.

I think I need to make a hierarchy of who calls who in the event of my death.

After writing this, I had ANOTHER morbid thought... I can go for a couple weeks without writing a blog... what if I die before I write my next blog? How creepy would that be for a blog outlining the events of my demise to be the last blog I ever write?

I guess I'll be writing again soon.

I was an extra in a movie

Sun, 18 May 2008 12:52:27 -0500

So I got to be an extra in the romantic comedy; "She's Out of My League" directed by Jim Fields staring Krysten Ritter, Jay Baruchel, and Alice Eve. The experience was exactly that; and experience. I will admit, somwhere allong the line I must have misunderstood what I was going to be cast in because I originally thought it was a Kevin Smith film... apparently not.

Through working at the Scare House this past Halloween I was on a contact list through which I was able to get in touch with Nancy Mosser casting agency. I went to a wardrobe fitting on Wednsay, May 14th where they put me in trendy clothes and signed me up. The head guy there; Tony, was kinda rude but it didn't get to me (that time).

The shoot was three nights; 6:00pm to 6:00am Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. I showed up the first night, got into wardrobe, had makeup put on me (they needed to get rid of dark circles under my eyes), had my hair done (they parted my hair on the right which I thought was terrible but whatever), and sat in a tent for the majority of the night.

As time went on they eventually told us to pair off with a member of the opposite sex (to help them balance the gender in the room). I immediately sought out the tallest female in the tent which turned out to be a beautiful 6 foot 3 inch black woman named Pamela. She was even taller than me with her high heals on. She and I and the rest of the 200+ cast of extras took a little walk for a block to line up in front of the museum. There we stood in the cold waiting to be let inside.

As we waited I found myself standing next to one of the most attractive black women I've ever seen; Marie. I normally don't find black woman attractive (it's not a racist thing, it's just my preference) but this girl was gorgious. We stood there for a while Marie reveals that she was irritated that someone had made a rude comment about her shoes. Now, I know that girls can get upset over weird shit but come on Marie... you said you'd read this and, if you do; there are way more terrible things in this world than someone telling you your shoes look like grandma shoes. If it's any consolation, I thought your shoes looked fine (though I will admit I am by no means an expert on women's shoes). I sure you will be one of the few of us who will actually be in this movie and I doubt your shoes will be visible.

We stood in the cold until some dude in a beard started going down the long line and telling some people to go to the front. He came to me, picked me (at which point I regretfully had to take my jacket back from Pamela) and sent me to the front where I stood and waited. I was in what I had heard referred to as "the A group". After a while someone came out of the Warhol Museum and told us they didn't need anyone and sent us all back to holding (the tents).

Being in the "A group" apparently means in Hollywood talk that you get to be the first one to hear you stood around for 30 minutes in the cold for no reason.

I went back to the tents where I sat and read for a bit until they served us "lunch" (lunch in movie world is served at 1:30am). I don't remember what it was but it was ok... and free... and you could get as much as you want. When I finished I went to throw my food away. As I passed near the garbage someone else tossed their food into the trash can and splattered me with god-knows-what. I was irritated but I went to go find a napkin to clean myself off. As I walked Tony (rude guy) abruptly stopped me and asked in an accusatory tone; "What did you get on my jacket?" to which I replied, "I don't know" and continued to walk to find a napkin. He stopped me again and said; "What did you get on my jacket?" to which i replied; "I don't know. What did I just say?" and stormed off to find napkins. What I really wanted to say was; "Dude, if you wanna bust my balls at 1:00 in the morning for some shit that wasn't even my fault, you can go fuck yourself. Sorry about your $5 jacket from Gabes. Thanks for your concern for my welfare though." But I didn't.

I sat in the tent for the rest of the night reading and drinking coffee. It was DEFINITELY not worth missing Lost with my girl.

The next night was far more eventful. I got through wardrobe, makeup, and hair very quickly and sat in the far corner building models. People asked me about them and I told them and continued tinkering. Around 10:00 they called us to go do something. THIS time, they sent me over, and sent me directly inside the Warhol where we sat in a theater for a bit. Before long some very nice dude who appeared to be of Asian descent placed me next to a picture hanging on a wall next to my "date" Ali Bercar; singers, songwriter, aspiring actress. When they called action we were supposed to comment on the painting, move to the next painting, comment on that, walk up the hallway in front of a sofa, stand there for a bit before passing in front of the camera at the tale end of the shot... all in pantomime.

Ali Bercar was a stimulating pantomime conversationalist. She listed to me silently drone on and on about how I think Warhol is a fucking terrible artist and I have no idea how he became famous. Her pantomime back to me was god knows what but I could tell she was intrigued with what I wasn't saying. We had 7 takes on that shot and, surprisingly, it's a tad tedious standing around pretending to be happy and lively (we were supposed t be at some party).

We were sent back for "lunch" which, again, was ok... but free... and you could eat as much as you wanted.

After lunch they sent everyone in that shot back to the Warhol. This time they had Ali and I moving in the same direction we were moving at the end of the last shot (no longer directly in front of the camera, they moved it) and stand by a different sofa across the room. This time we had 4 takes and they sent us back into the theater. Ali pantomimed how much she loved some of Warhols painting and I decided I had been overly critical of Warhol and silently admitted to liking some of his work.

They sent us back into the theater where we sat and some of us tried to sleep (me included). One woman devoted herself utterly to the task of snoring so loudly that NO ONE could actually sleep. Periodically they would pull us back into the set for this shot or that shot. Ali, by this time, was exhausted (as was I) and we did our best to appear as lively and happy as possible despite being half asleep.

We were instructed by a woman with short dark hair who was very mean. At one point I asked her a question and she gave me a smart-ass answer. I figured it was no big deal though. It was her responsibility to keep track of continuity and I'm sure she had bigger things to worry about... a little courtesy goes a long way though.

At one point I got fed up with the woman who was snoring, walked over to her, and woke her up. I lied to her and told her that they were shooting (which they were) and needed quiet (which they did). I doubt they could hear her snoring but the whole damn room sure could and I wanted sleep.

Shortly thereafter they sent us home. It was 6:00am.

On Saturday I woke up at 4:00, ate, and headed to the final day of shooting. I got through wardrobe and makeup relatively quickly but stood for 2 hours in the hair line. My wait was no where near as bad as it could have been because I was standing next to Cat and Diane who were very nice.

After the hair line I went back to my corner where I built more models and talked with Dale and Mark. Mark was a Literature teacher at Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and Dale, as I understood it, built puppets professionally. Mark was very interested in my models and I told him all about them, as well as my girl and how she and I met.

Eventually I decided to give my models a break and I played Bullshit with a few people. In the moment that someone won Bullshit I was selected again to head back to the Warhol.

This time I was paired off with a woman from Lithuania; Ramona... apparently my character is quite the player (it's in the script). We were to walk from one section of the room and stand and talk in another section of the room.

The pantomime conversation took a personal turn as I silently decided to talk about how I wanted to see my girl. I may have crossed the line on more than one occasion when I began to silently talk about the things I wanted to do with her when I saw her next. Ramona didn't seem to mind though.

After about a dozen takes they sent us back to the tents where we ate. I started building models again and talked with Mark and Dale. After another few hours they gathered some of us up again and sent us back to the Warhol. Unfortunately, when we got there, I discovered that Ramona and my position was not in the shot so we sat with a few dozen other people in the theater.

After another hour or so they called "rap" and sent us home.

The experience was unique and I might do it again down the road. The people I met were all very interesting and cool. The free food was decent as far as free food goes. I know my positions were in the shots but whether they make it into the movie or end up on the cutting room floor remains to be seen. Three 12-hour days for around $300 seems decent though.

Save some cash on cable

Wed, 07 May 2008 13:26:56 -0500

So, for the past few months I've been watching the SciFi channel. Let me tell you that most of SciFi's programming is TERRIBLE... like amazingly bad. But I like to have it on as background noise while I paint because it is unlikely to grab my attention and pull me away from what I'm doing. It actually astounds me that SciFi can show such god-awful programming when it also has shows like Ghost Hunters and Battlestar Galactica as well as meni-series like Tin Man which are all decent shows (Battlestar Galactica is among the best television shows of all time). Anyway... Direct TV and Comcast TV are in an advertising war and, quite honestly, Direct TV's commercials are hilarious and effective depicting this incompetent businessman leading a board meeting for Comcast. You'd have to see the commercials to understand but I love them. I decided to look into and compare the things that Direct TV and Comcast offers and found a couple of things. My Comcast bill was about $100 a month because I got basic Cable service and internet (which I use FAR more than my TV). Because I have my internet bundled with my cable I get a discount on my internet connection. However, I found that if I stayed with Comcast for my internet (Direct TV's internet is not high quality and incredibly expensive. Not worth it in my opinion) but switched over to Direct TV for my television, I could get about 10-times as much programming for the same price. So, I called up Direct TV, made the deal and then called Comcast to drop television service. But hold the phone! I get directed to the customer loyalty department and they guy there is like; "What do you get with Direct TV? Wow, that's a lot of channels. How about I give you all those channels for $10 cheaper than what you would be paying if you went with Direct TV?" I thought to myself; sounds good. I'll stick with Comcast, reduce my bill and increase the shows I get. Good deal. But then I thought to myself... how come I didn't just get the lower price the whole time? It's because Comcast has a price then it has a SECOND price for people who may not want to continue the service... me. So, if you want to save money on Comcast cable, call them up and tell them you're going with Direct TV. The Customer loyalty representative will shave your bill down while offering you a bunch more channels. For the record, immediately afterward I pulled the same thing with Direct TV and they offered be some stuff but it wasn't as good as what Comcast offered. So, I'm stickin with Comcast... for now. I like your commercials Direct TV... just cut me a deal (preferably with internet) and I'm on board.

Information Overload

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:09:26 -0500

It's been quite a while since I've written a worthwhile blog. To be honest, I've just been busy as hell. I'm playing a lot of poker (I'm qualified in two different leagues for big tournaments). I'm painting. I'm dating a wicked-hot chick (she's a roller derby athlete and her body is BANGIN!). I'm getting ready to have a new roommate. My buddy just got the new Mario Cart for Wii. I've been selling a ton of old worthless crap on e-bay. I've just been screwed over with time but, as I sit here in front of the website I'm supposed to be doing at work, I'm overcome with a desire not to do it at all so, I've decided to write a blog.

This one's gonna be about technology and how it effects us.

I recently read a statistic that suggested we receive 100 times the amount of information in a single day as our great grandparents did in their entire lifetimes. I was, at first, shocked, but after thinking about it, I believe it.

In our great grandparents day, they would go all day, every day, interacting with the same 3 to 100 people depending on where they lived. If they wanted to learn something they first had to know how to read... IF they knew how to read they MIGHT be able to get a newspaper. If they wanted to learn more they MIGHT be able to go to the library. That's it... that was the extent of the information they received day to day.

Today, if we want to know what's going on in a region half way around the world we can hop online and get information that may be updated, not just daily, but hourly. If we want to interact with someone we can engage in social networking where millions of people from all walks of life are ready willing and able to bullshit. If we would like to know more about something that captures our interest we can do so immediately and choose a variety of online resources to help balance out the information we receive.

So, I was thinking, how is it that we are capable of processing so much information? Is there a threshold? Are there negative consequences?

Our senses and brain has evolved to meet the demands of wicked step-mother nature. We have to be able to perceive our environment and process the information we receive very rapidly, and make a decision that effects our survival. Whether it was our ancient ancestors running from a grizzly bear or fathers checking out fox-holes in Viet Nam, the quick brain lives, the slow brain dies (for the most part, some things are unavoidable). But that evolutionary environment is a focused environment. We tend to process a handful of things at once and we're able to make decisions. Today we are bombarded by tons of stuff simultaneously and continuously. While, for the most part, our survival is not 100% dependant on the decisions we make... I wonder if there's an evolutionary component to our environment.

There certainly is a threshold. Apparently fighter pilots, who are regularly immersed within an environment that is more intense than any other environment on earth have been known to, on occasion, freeze up... not because they're scared or don't know what to do... but because their brains have overloaded. It takes a few moments for their brains to reset and deal with the information they receive but I wonder if, some day, we will start to see people freezing up at their computer stations as they are overloaded with information.

I don't know if there are negative consequences so much as just plain consequences. As a species, I'm sure we will evolve but evolution is not a pretty process... it's messy. For better or for worse, I'd much prefer to make a balanced assessment of who I'm going to choose to lead my country based on information from dozens of news sources than by simply relying on Fox News of CNN. As a species, we benefit tremendously from increased access to information. The question I have is, even though we are the computer generation, will we be able to keep up with our children and grand children?

Look at your grandparents and ask yourself, could they handle a computer in the same way you can? Now, ask yourself, will you be able to handle your grandchild's computer the way he or she will? Stay on top of technology grandpa, it's survival of the fittest out there.

I sleep with the lights on

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:15:32 -0500

I'm not kidding. I used to have a nightlight in my bedroom but it burnt out so I usually turn the living room light on and let the light flood up the stairs and gently into my bedroom from my cracked door. I prefer having the living room light on. It makes things easy when I get up in the middle of the night to piss.

I'm not afraid of monsters or the dark I just have an odd philosophy that requires that I have immediate access to light. If someone breaks into my house, the primary means of dealing with that issue is through the use of my .40 caliber handgun I have sitting in my night stand. I'm not interested in wrestling with a potentially armed intruder or walking around in the dark with a knife... I will see an intruder with my eyes, ideally from a distance, and unload my clip into him.

Does that sound paranoid? I don't think it's paranoid to want to protect your house with lethal force if necessary. I hope beyond hope that I never ever have to deal with an intruder and, if I do, I hope beyond hope, that I don't have to shoot them... but I will. I absolutely will without a moments hesitation if I believed it was necessary to protect myself and the people I care about.

I figure, having a light on is partially a deterrent. An intruder relies on darkness in many respects and, if he were to enter my home, he would have to make a choice; "lose the cover of darkness or turn off the lights potentially alerting the home-owner to my presence." Either way, I have the advantage and I'm not interested in playing fair.

The reason I'm writing the blog is because, last night, I couldn't sleep. It was a Sunday night and, of course, I had stayed up until 4:00am the previous two nights so my bedtime of 12:00 was not gonna happen. I have a very good understanding of all the sounds in my house and, although I'm not positive, I could have sworn I heard something moving around my front porch. I never heard anyone try the door or window but last night was one of the few times I had the living room light off.

I don't know if you've ever had the displeasure of looking through your home for an intruder because you heard an odd sound but I have... three times.

It starts out with you laying there in bed in silence listening. You listen and listen and whatever sound it was you heard until you're out of explanations; it's not the cat, it's not the creaky wall, its not traffic outside, it's not an animal outside, it's something inside and it is definitely NOT one of my houses normal sounds. Eventually you realize that you're wide awake. Your heart is pounding and the only way you're going to get back to sleep is to check out every inch of your home for an intruder.

The next step is to get the gun. It's easy. I reach into the drawer directly next to my bed and pull out my gun. I then quietly get out of bed.

The next process isn't as "James Bond" as you might think. You walk into a room, look around, check the closet (because if you don't you'll end up back in bed later asking yourself; "did I check the closet? Could an intruder be hiding in there?" and not able to sleep). And move on to the next room.

It actually sucks really bad to have to do that... to ask yourself; "is there a predator in my home? If so, what does he want? Where is he?" I'm immensely glad I made the decision to get a gun years ago. Walking from room to room lo0king for an intruder with an EAA Witness, I would imagine, is FAR easier than doing the same with a kitchen knife or baseball bat... and, as I said, I have absolutely no interest in playing fair. If there is someone in my house, I want them out or dead... that's it.

So, with the living room light on I have a much easier time of seeing an intruder and shooting him so, until there are no more burglars, rapists, or murderers in this world, I'll be sleeping with the lights on... but not because I'm afraid, but because I wanna kill the mother fuckers if I have to.

My Ghost Story

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:56:55 -0500

I moved to Pittsburgh in 1997 after graduation from Christmas-town Michigan High School. I enrolled in the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the major of Industrial Design. Students at that time were typically housed in an apartment complex called Allegheny Center, building 7. Looking back I can't remember what apartment I was in but I know it was on the 8th floor and, if you exit the elevator and turn left, it's the second to last apartment on the right... 818 rings a bell but I couldn't be sure. I'm certain about the 8th floor and second to last on the right though... like many AIP students, I was shuffled around every few quarters; you try and remember what apartment number you had 10 years ago when you've lived in about 5 different apartments in the same building.

During my first quarter I had a habit of cracking my door open at night when I went to bed. People would stop by at all hours of the night and hang out, bull-shit, whatever. One weekend my roommate Lance was out of town and I had the whole apartment to myself. It was late and I was laying in bed but was not yet asleep. The apartment had my bed in the far corner and my roommate's bed in the corner closer to the door. At night the only source of light was this gentile orange cast that shot a sliver all the way to my roommates bed.

As I lay in my bed I hear the heavy metal door creek open, orange light wash over my roommate's bed, and a long shadow enter my apartment. This was typical but usually visitors would call my name out first to get my attention. The visitor walked in and sat down on my roommate's bed.

A few moments passed as I expected the visitor to do or say something before I asked; "Carolyn?" (friend of mine at the time). There was no reply. The visitor just continued to sit there, his body cast in shadow, the sliver of hallway light illuminating his black form in contrast to the dark blue walls and dark brown bed cover.

"Lance?" I asked, thinking maybe my roommate had come home early. This time, a reply came back; "Maybe I am".

The voice was NOT that of Lance, or Carolyn, or any of my other friends for that matter. The voice was very deep but not distinctly masculine or feminine. It was certainly a voice I did not recognize so I shot out of bed and in a split second turned my lamp on.

In the instant it took for my eyes to rip off of the figure in my room, glance at the lamp, turn it on, and shoot my eyes back on the figure, it was gone. There was no violent swing of the apartment door open or slam close, as if someone had rushed out of my room. There was no sound of footsteps or movement as the figure ducked into my hallway closet or behind the couch between my and my roommate's bed. There was, however, the impression of pressure having been applied to the bed of my roommate... but nothing more.

I sat there awake for a few minutes trying to rationalize everything. I had been trying to sleep so perhaps I had had a dream. Supposedly people are prone to hallucinations in the moments immediately preceding REM sleep. Maybe, at some point, I had sat on my roommate's bed myself to make the impression. Maybe someone in the hall just decided to swing my door open and closed and I saw his shadow, mistakenly interpreted it as someone entering my room. Maybe someone was playing music or having a conversation in the apartment above me or below me or to my right or left and I interpreted those sounds as "Maybe I am".

But what if it isn't any of those things? What if my experience was exactly as I had undergone? What was that visitor? What did it want?

Alterac Valley Pre-made

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:47:49 -0500

I've always counted myself lucky at having rolled Horde on Gorefiend. Generally Horde dominated all battlegrounds with the exception of AV. That has all changed, however, with the advent of the AV pre-made generally lead by Drakee (Justrun).

By using AV enabler and vent Gorefiend is able to run full 40-man raids into AV and dominate. It is tremendous fun and I think it is a very healthy concept for PvP. As I've been participating in Gorefiend AV pre-mades for over a month now I have had ample time to make some observations.

1. The Horde is learning as a collective.

It is rare that all 40 people within the pre-made actually get into one AV and, unfortunately, the remainder is filled out with PUG's. These PUG's are clearly relaying the pre-made strategy to other people on their server and the concept of how to win an AV is spreading. I have participated in PUG's that have used the exact same strategy as the pre-made, followed it accordingly, and won... I thought it was a fluke until I saw it again... and again... and again. Of course you get the majority of people doing the mindless zerg offense rush, but all you need is 15 defenders and a little direction on the offense and the game is yours.

2. The Alliance is learning as a collective.

I'm sure the Alliance is incredibly frustrated at loosing every BG on a fairly consistent basis. Up until now, at least they had AV... now they don't. Some suggest that it's a fluke... I don't believe that ti is. I believe that word of the Horde side pre-mades on vindication is spreading and they are adapting. It is inevitable. One day, a full 40-man horde pre-made will lose to a 40-man alliance PUG.

3. Mages on D > mages on O.

There's really only one way to dismount the alliance who try and "run the gauntlet" and that's through polymorph. Some get through the chokepoint and some of the D has to go back and do some cleanup work. It's a pain and can sometimes result in slowing down the game. If I were the pre-made leader I would make sure there were at least 4 mages on D at the choke at all times.

4. Shit needs to go faster between queues.

We're often sitting there for 5 or 10 minutes between queue's grabbing replacements to fill those who drop out and making sure a good majority gets into an AV. There are people CONSTANTLY spamming to get into the pre-made. There is no reason at all that it should take 10 minutes to fill up. I suspect Drakee (Justrun) doesn't pay very good attention to who's whispering him trying to get in.

5. People need to be less retarded about standing no the battlemaster.

Yes you can Shift + V and select the Battlemaster more easily but not everyone knows this. I don't care about being stubborn and standing on the Battlemaster so you can say; "LRN 2 SHFT+V LOL". Stop being retarded. Just move off him so people who don't know how to do that can open the AV queue and we can play!

6. More specific direction should be given.

It is my opinion that if more direction were given, specifically on offense, the games would go faster. We generally start with 4 or 5 groups on offense. If we have 4 groups, one can hit SH bunker, one can hit IW bunker, two can hit Balinda then move to reinforce the bunkers. Then, when the bunkers are capped everyone can move together as a group on the high road toward SP GY and the north and south towers.

That's my opinion on the situation. It's tremendous fun and I will continue to participate in the Gorefiend AV premade. I encourage everyone who participates to try and take on a roll of leadership within AV PUGS to spread the AV strategy through all of vindication.

Tailoring Profession

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:46:42 -0500

I recently dropped Skinning, a gathering profession, in exchange for tailoring. I've been doing some math lately and found that tailoring and enchanting together create an "effortless" wealth building combination. I will share the equation here. For this to work you have to keep an eye on the auction house and monitor the price of tailoring materials and enchanting materials.

For the purposes of this equation I'm going to assume a stack of Netherweave Cloth can be bought on the auction house for less than or equal to (<=) 4g. In reality, on my server, Netherweave Cloth prices vary wildly from 2g for 20 to 8g for 20.

We will also assume Arcane Dust sells on the auction house for 1.7g for 1 (My server prices usually range from 1.7g to 2.5g, averaging in at about 2g)

We will also assume Lesser Planar Essence sells on the auction house for 2.6g for 1 (My server prices usually range from 2.6g to 5g, averaging in at about 3g)

We will also assume Small Prismatic Shards sell on the auction house for 9g for 1 (My server prices usually range from 9g to 11.5g, averaging in at about 10g)

Netherweave Bracers and Netherweave Belts can be crafted for 3 Bolts of Netherweave (18 Netherweave cloth, costing, by the price given above; 3.6g) and 1 rune thread (which costs .5g). That is a 4.1g cost to you to craft this item.

According to http://www.wowhead.com if you disenchant this item, you have a 37.5% chance to get 2 arcane dust (3.4g AH value), 37.5% chance to get 3 arcane dust (5.1g AH value), 11% chance to get 2 Lesser Planar Essence (5.2g AH value), 11% chance to get 3 Lesser Planar Essence (7.8g AH value), and 3% chance to get 1 Small Prismatic Shard (9p AH value).

Now, if you take the AH value of each item, multiply it by the percent chance you have of getting it, add them all together, and then subtract 5% (auction house cut) and then subtract the cost to craft the item you get the value of the item.

So here's this item's mathematical equation:

((3.4 x .375 + 5.1 x .375 + 5.2 x .11 + 7.8 x .11 + 9 x .03) x .95) - 4.1 = .543125

That's a whole 54 silver profit for the creation of one item!... woopdey fricken do!

Doesn't sound that great but consider this; As long as you farm your Netherweave cloth or purchase stacks at 4g or less and sell the materials you get from disenchanting at the price I listed above or more (provided percents hold consistent) you will ALWAYS turn a profit (enchanting mats do not take a deposit to place no the AH)... the wider the disparity between enchanting mats and Netherweave cloth the greater the profit.

Lets look at another item; Netherweave Pants. Takes 6 Bolts of Netherweave (36 Netherweave Cloth = 7.2g) and 1 rune thread (.5g) for a total production cost of 7.7g.

Disenchanting the item generates the following mats; 18.75% for 2 arcane dust, 18.75% for 3 arcane dust, 18.75% for 3 arcane dust, 18.75% for 4 arcane dust, 18.75% for 5 arcane dust, 10.5% for 1 greater planar essence (we'll just count that as 3 lesser planar essences since they are interchangeable), 10.5% for 2 greater planar essence, and 4% chance for 1 large prismatic shard (which we will count as 3 small prismatic shards).

That makes the equation for this item:

((3.4 x .1875 + 5.1 x .1875 + 6.8 x .1875 + 8.5 x .1875 + 7.8 x .105 + 15.6 x .105 + 27 x .04) x .95) - 7.7 = -.100475

Losing 10 silver on a crafted item doesn't sound that great until you consider the possibility of a large disparity between my listed cost of enchanting mats and Netherweave cloth. Monitor the AH and look for awesome deals on Netherweave. Save the mats and sell them at peak periods when they cost 20% to 50% more than my listed price. The profit can be huge.

Now, what I want to do is to create a mod that allows you to walk up to the Auction House, automatically runs my equation and then purchases all Netherweave (or Runecloth, or mooncloth, or wool, or linen) that is deemed "profitable".

You then get the mats out of your mailbox, mosey on over to the tailoring supply person, and then click another button which automatically purchases all the thread that you need.

You then click another button and you begin making all the bolts of cloth that you need followed immediately by the "profitable" items followed by disenchanting each of them into their respective mats.

You then walk back over to the AH and place all the mats on the AH for the appropriate price. The math would look a little different but I bet it could be done.

A bit busy

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:02:32 -0500

I've been a bit busy of late and haven't had time to write my usual daily Blogs. World of Warcraft is a typical "wind down immediately after work" staple but I'm beginning to withdrawal from that in favor of numerous other interests.

I've grown extremely interested in a chick who I see on a regular basis.

I've resumed writing my book which has been sitting on the shelf for about a year.

I've begun paining and modeling my Warhammer 40k army again.

I've returned to the poker table after a four-month hiatus.

I try and work out every day.

Work is heavy as usual.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm just busy as all hell.

Windows Vista

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:17:53 -0500

My dad sent me this video which I find hilarious and horrifyingly accurate.

Christmas

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:40:42 -0500

Being that I will be visiting my family in Michigan on Thursday and won't be back until the following Wednesday I figure I should take what little time I have and write a Christmas Uncooked blog. Christmas has quite an ancient history so this may turn out to be quite a long blog.

The holiday dates back to the cradle of civilization; Mesopotamia which existed in what is present day Iraq from about 5000BC to 400BC . This predates Christianity by quite a significant margin. Anyways, the Mesopotamians believed that their chief god Marduk would do battle with the forces of evil for 12 days during roughly corresponding to the vernal equinox. The Mesopotamians would hold a celebration during this time called Zagmuk. This, obviously, is part of the founding tradition of the 12 days of Christmas.

The Mesopotamians believed that their king needed to be sacrificed on the last day of the calibration so he could join Marduk in battle against chaos. Since the king obviously had no desire to be killed a policy of "replacing" the king for 12 days was created. A criminal was chosen, anointed king, and venerated as the Mesopotamian ruler for these 12 days. This criminal had the time of his life as the ruler of, quite literally, the first human civilization on earth for 12 days he went from a criminal in a jail to the ruler of civilization to a cold dead corpse on the 12th day. The Mesopotamians sacrificed this criminal and the original king stepped back up to take his rightful place as ruler.

As a little interesting side note, the Mesopotamians chose another criminal to set free to "balance out" the sacrifice of the other criminal... a similar story is repeated somewhere in the Bible...

The Zagmuk celebration evolved into many different festivals through out the centuries. Persians and Babylonians would celebrate by having masters and slaves switch places during a huge feast. The slaves were to command, the masters were to obey. Scandinavians lived in a region of the world where the sun would vanish for 30 days at a time. When the sun was first spotted again a festival was held called the Yuletide where a Yule log would be burned. Romans had a celebration called Saturnalia where they decorated their hallways with laurel garlands and candle-lit trees. They would exchange "lucky fruits" and then, once again, the masters would be made to obey and the slaves would be made to rule. All of these celebrations were fun and festive and took place at roughly the same time of year... so all of earth was having a good time from early December to early Januray.

As another side note, this was a time of year that agricultural civilizations slaughtered most of their livestock because they didn't want to have to feed animals through the winter and, since it was cold, meet could be "refrigerated" and kept for much longer than during any other time of year. This was one of the few times of year that fresh meat would be in abundance.

Then the Christians came along and fucked everything up. These pagan celebrations resembled Mardi Gras in their revelry and decadence. They were tired of all this happiness and joy (and sex! We all know Christians hate sex for some bizarre reason), especially during a time of year that was supposed to be fraught with hardship and turmoil. They were tired of all these pagan gods being celebrated and wanted everyone to celebrate Christ instead... but they didn't want him to be celebrated, exactly... they wanted the holiday to be solemn and religious. Round about 98AD Christians had had enough with 5000 years of festive happiness and started holding Christ's Mass to correspond with all the crazy festive holidays going on in other civilizations. So, if you were living n this time period, your Christian friends would invite you to some boring mass and your Pagan friends would invite you to a kick-ass party... not quite sure how the Christians eventually won out on that one.

By 137AD Rome had become heavily Christian and ordered the birthday of Christ Child to be celebrated as a solemn feast (never mind the fact that there is no way in hell Christ was born in winter, let alone December 25th). In 350AD the Romans chose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

So, now you have an idea of the foundations of our modern Christmas holiday but there are some other pieces of the puzzle that haven't fallen into place yet.

Fortunately, while Christian leaders may not have wanted anyone to have any fun actual Christian regular people did. This guy Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra (a city existing in what is now Turkey) was supposedly possessing of magical powers and generous with his wealth to the poor. He died in 340AD... and when the crusaders were shuffling back and forth between Europe and the Middle East, slaughtering innocent Christians and Muslims alike in a conflict lasting centuries, they managed to become distracted from their bloodshed long enough to notice Saint Nicholas' remains and trucked them over to Italy.

Christian pilgrims started kicking it over to Italy to visit the church of Saint Nicholas and brought his teachings of giving and goodwill toward men back to their respective countries. The holiday took many forms across Europe but was essentially a day of gift giving. Since Saint Nicholas was originally a bishop, and bishops wore red garb, Saint Nick was depicted as wearing a red outfit. In German/Dutch Sain Nicholas became Sinterklaas... later we bastardized the name and it became Santa Clause.

One of Saint Nicholis' acts of charity during his life supposedly involved visiting the family of a poor widower. The widower had three daughters who couldn't get married without dowries (marring for love is a modern concept. Back in the day women needed to pay the families of their husbands because male children were the laborers in a family and you were 'taking' part of a families labor force. You married someone you kinda got along with and paid the mom and dad of your husband-to-be. This tradition still exists in the form of the woman's parents paying for the wedding.). Anyways... The father was poor and had no choice but to sell the daughters into slavery and prostitution. One night the daughters had hung out the days laundry to dry by the fire, specifically the socks. Saint Nicholas showed up (probably because he heard there were three sisters who were going to be 'open for business' shortly) broke into the house by smashing down the door while standing shirtless with chiseled and throbbing sweaty chest (I made that part up to make the story sound cooler). He decided he didn't want any nookey (musta been tired from smashing down the door) and dumped gold in the socks of the women so they would have dowries. This is where we get the tradition of hanging stockings... we don't want to be sold into prostitution by our parents.

The idea of Saint Nick took on a number of different forms through the centuries and is the origin of the idea that children must be good. Some traditions believed that Saint Nick would give presents to good kids and have an assistant kidnap the bad ones. Other traditions had Santa smacking the bad kids with a stick. Santa was a mean bastard in some traditions.

While all this gift-giving and red-garbed fat-man worshiping was going on there was another pagan symbol that was popular in winter, primarily in what is now Germany... when all things were dying, going into hibernation, or moving to warmer climates there was one thing that seemed to have magical powers capable of withstanding the icy chill of winter; the evergreen tree. Ancient pagans decorated evergreen trees with 12 candles, fruit, holly, and other things to venerate the magical energies that allowed this one tree to withstand the winter season.

So Christians are like; "fuck! How do we jack this tree thing and make it our own?" And some other Christian's were like; "I know! We'll make up some lame story about St. Boniface cutting down an oak tree, sacred to the pagans, and having an evergreen tree miraculously emerge from the stump. We'll then say this story represents the death of paganism and the birth of Christianity in its place... everyone will totally buy that bullshit!" And they were right. Grermans decorated evergreen trees. Some English queen married some German prince and brought the tradition of decorating evergreens to England where people paid attention to what their rulers did (much like Paris Hilton today). People eventually started decorating evergreen trees and just accepted it as some weird aspect of the Christian holiday of Christmas never realizing that ancient religions worshiped the evergreen for entirely different reasons.

Another side note is the mistletoe which is also a pagan symbol. It was believed that two enemies who meet under a mistletoe must declare a truce for the day. Since you now know a little more about the true nature of marriage, dowries, and whatnot from a few paragraphs ago... it is easy to see how people were quick to adopt this tradition... So, for ONE DAY, you can not fight with your spouse and maybe get a piece.

So, Christmas existed in many forms all over the western, predominantly Christian world. In the 1800's to 1900's media shaped our modern vision of Christmas (media is the new religion in many ways). In 1820 Washington Irving wrote the book 'The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall" and In 1822 Clark Moore wrote the poem 'A Visit From Saint Nicholis' (T'was the Night before Christmas and all through the house... etc.) which is the FIRST appearance of Santa's reindeer within the Christmas tradition. In 1860 Thomas Nast illustrated Santa Caluse in the red garb we recognize him in today. Eventually Coca-Cola adopted this image and became the primary illustrative work by which we recognize him. The ideas of gift giving, goodwill toward men, feasts, family, trees, and everything else was thrown into one massive collective pot, churned around for a bit, and now manifests as the holiday we know of today. Christmas became an Oklahoma state holiday in 1907 and every other state and, eventually most countries around the world, followed suit.

I will close with this; I may have taken on a condescending view of Christianity in this blog but I should note that that was not my intention. Christianity, in many ways, won out over most other world religions and became what it is today through absorbing the beliefs of paganism into itself. That is a fact. If there's any condescending attitude it's comes from my distaste for people claiming, with righteous fury, that a holiday is one thing when, in truth, it is not.

I like Christmas... I grew up in a town that was decorated like Christmas 365 days a year so I'm a little desensitized... but the holiday is sill fun and there's nothing I like more than watching a fire while snow falls outside. Gift giving aside, I like to take time to indulge in good company of family and friends and don't personally take much credence in the religious undertones of the holiday. Christmas is a personal holiday for each of us and whether you're sitting in church or getting lit, enjoy every second of it.

The Mad Hatter

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:35:30 -0500

I've been having trouble finding something to write about lately and I'll be heading to Michigan for a week on Thursday and will be unable to write much. I've decided to give my readers a bit of useless information to entertain them before my "uncooked" blog about Christmas.

Did you know that the fictional character; The Mad Hatter encountered in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is based on a real person... or, more specifically, real people?

Hatters (people who made hats) in the 1800's often used mercury to cure felt. They would breathe these fumes (unintentionally) and, over time, the mercury would build up in their system. This, in turn, caused neurological damage and muscular tremors. Eventually they would develop confused speech and even hallucinations and psychotic symptoms. No one really knew mercury was toxic at these times so people just saw this odd trend of hat makers going insane.

The expression "Mad as a Hatter" was a term in use 30 years before Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland.

Welfare Epics?

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:48:42 -0500

I've heard this term thrown around lately. I understand it to be the epic rewards players get from honor and battleground tokens. I presume the expression comes from a perception that no effort has to be put forth, a person can literally stand around in an AV, and eventually, over time, accumulate enough honor and tokens to buy an epic item.

I'd like to offer my input on this.

If you think that putting in "effort" or "work" into a VIDEO GAME makes you deserving of something special above and beyond players who don't put in that effort, you are mistaken. This is a VIDEO GAME, not a second job.

Being in a 1337 guild does not make you 1337. It makes you a loser IRL with the TIME to invest in a raid schedule, guild drama, and consumable farming. I've been there but NEVER again. I have no interest in adhering to a raid schedule. I come home from work, I wanna blow off some steam, I jump into an AB and wreck some alliance. Then, AFTER I've blown off some steam for a bit I DO SOMETHING WORTH WHILE.

I USED to spend 15 minutes flying down to Kargath, waiting another 30 minutes for everyone to show up, then waiting ANOTHER 30 minutes while people griped about class balance, who "deserved" to go, and weather we had enough healers/tanks to do what we needed to do. Then rolling into MC or BWL to do the same TIRED bosses over and over again.

It's the same today. It's dressed up differently so people think it's different bu it isn't. Tank and Spank... that's all there is to it. Sometimes you have to do this little thing differently over here (dispel the tanks!) or that little thing differently over there (kite the adds!) but it's really the same. The only difference between you (the countless 1337 raiders out there) and me (the countless casual PvP gamers out there) is that YOU happen to put in an application to a group of people who, like you get satisfaction from fighting against AI bots who are, essentially, a puzzle... but, once the puzzle is figured out you get some bizarre gratification from doing the same puzzle over and over again.

You've done nothing special. You feel like it's a challenge but it isn't. You think you deserve your rewards beyond people who aren't "awesome" like you and your guild but you don't. If you derive entertainment from defeating Black Temple or conquering Cavern of Time, whatever... that's fine... that's YOUR GAME. Your epics are nothing but meaningless information in a database on some server somewhere. They aren't badges of honor, they aren't your reward for putting in hard work or effort. They are the things you've acquired while doing something you enjoy.

It isn't a question of whether I deserve my gladiator gear because I've invested a lot of time in BG's. This is a GAME. No one is toiling away day after day to make ends meet. You log on, you do what you wanna do for fun, you log off. Maybe you get an epic or two on the way, maybe you don't. That's all there is to it.

And, I might add... that, even though I've done very little PvE since the release of Burning Crusade, I would be willing to bet that the boss fights are NOTHING compared to the complexity and difficulty of Major Domo, Ragneros, Razorgor, Vael, Chromag, and Nef... and those epics, which were once "1337" back in their day are junk compared to whatever purple nonsense drop off of Gruul or Illidan.