March 27, 2008
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate
I saw this over on BoingBoing:
Avi sez, “Starship Sofa has made Ted Chiang’s marvelous arabesque time travel story ‘The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate’ available as a podcast.”
Arabesque time travel? My curiosity was piqued so I gave it a listen and I was mighty impressed. I heartily encourage you all to give it a try.
Posted by Aaron on March 27, 2008, 7:33 pm permalink top | general
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In a hole in the ground…
I’ve played my fair share of MMORPGs in the past, and I like to think I have a fairly good idea of what’s out there. My experiences began back in 1999 with Everquest. It was the first game of its type that we - my brothers and I - had seen, with amazing 3D graphics and a huge world to explore.
The game held my interest for a year or so, and waned with the release of Diablo II, which offered gameplay built around immediate gratification - a relief at the time, after languishing for hours on EQ’s long camps. Eventually I gave up EQ for good and moved on to other games and other genres. I occasionally dipped my toe back in the pool to try others like Asheron’s Call, Anarchy Online, Shadowbane, Ultima Online, etc, but never made it past the trial phase.
My brother was in to Star Wars Galaxies for a while, but I had been pretty much burned out by the genre as a whole at the time and let it pass. The next big fish was, of course, World of Warcraft which - for myself - lasted a year or two, with the occasional relapse, but eventually befell the same fate as its predecessors.
The lures of the genre itself are many; persistent character advancement, a shared world with many players, numerous adventures to be seen and experienced. In the end however, for me at least, they all succumbed to the same faults. The adventures felt more like chores, compounded by the fact that quests usually fell into the same routine of “Go kill me X of these” and “Go fetch me Y of those.” These early-game tasks were weathered easily enough, and the promise of better loot and more exciting adventures perpetually over the next horizon didn’t hurt.
Eventually, however, there are no more horizons to cross — unless you are willing to shell out 40$ for the next expansion, but even that is a temporary solution — and I realized that the road I took to get there was somewhat insubstantial. To be sure, I had fun on the trip and more so because there were friends to share it with. But looking back on the experience, I realized that the games themselves didn’t hold much of interest to me. It was the people I played with that made it exciting; that same shared experience that draws me to offline games like Dungeons & Dragons or Arkham Horror.
With that realization, I once again pulled back from the MMO genre and for the next few months I reallocated to my spare time to other creative endeavors.
Posted by Aaron on March 27, 2008, 4:57 pm permalink top | general
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March 25, 2008
U.S. Politics / Election 2008
I don’t know if you are the type of person who follows U.S. politics. The extent of my attention amounts to the occasional groan or hand-to-the-forehead when I hear what Bush did this time. Or what <insert politician here> is proposing next. That being said, I do have my radar tuned in to the electoral race. I can’t claim to have a favorite candidate - though at one point I was curious to see what, if anything, would come of Ron Paul’s efforts. Not much apparently.
Over the easter weekend, my brother mentioned that Obama had given a really good speech on race and politics. I found it yesterday on YouTube. It really is good, and after hearing it I couldn’t help but think that, between him, Clinton or McCain, I hope he wins it.
Here it is:
Posted by Aaron on March 25, 2008, 9:22 am permalink top | general
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March 13, 2008
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
I picked this one up earlier in the week and have managed to play through it for a couple of hours - mostly focusing on the “solo” Adventure mode. I say “solo” because a second player can jump in to lend a hand - but this requires some coordination from both parties since the camera stays firmly glued to Player 1.
The game is vast, and there are lots of cool things to explore besides the core Brawls; retro game demos, sticker and trophy collecting, characters (and levels?) to unlock, a level builder, etc.
I haven’t tried the multi-player mode yet, as I am still negotiating the prolonged Friend Code-based “handshake” that seems to be required for all of Nintendo’s titles. I suppose I could just try the public online-matches if I want to get a taste. Some people have mentioned that online games are harried by latency - but I suspect this will calm down once the initial furor passes.
Besides SSBB, the next big wiilease coming down the tube is Mario Kart Wii, which should hit sometime near the end of April.
Posted by Aaron on March 13, 2008, 9:39 am permalink top | general
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March 11, 2008
Saemangeum
A couple of weeks ago we were watching Thalassa - a French TV show reporting on lives and cultures around the world, with a focus on the sea - and watched a report on South Korea.
During the 1970’s, South Korea’s economy was largely based on agriculture. The GNP was about the same as Ghana and the military government was looking for a way to turn their agrarian country into an industrial power. Their plan involved damming an area at the mouths of the Dongjin and Mangyeong rivers, along the coast of the Yellow Sea.
The plan was approved internally in the 1980s, and in 1991 construction began on a 33 kilometer long dam of concrete and steel. You can make it out in the picture over there. When completed, the dam would drain this huge tidal flat and reclaim about 400 km2) of the coast.
The Seoul Government’s reasoning was that with about 30,000 hectares of prime farmland lost to creeping urbanisation each year, it needed to create more agricultural land. The irony is that since the mid 1990s the country has consistently recorded an annual rice surplus of nearly two million tonnes. Improved rice varieties and changing dietary habits have led to a glut rather than a shortage.
More recent plans have called for commercial development along the lines of what is seen in Dubai. The only problem is these tidal flats were an important part of the 24,000 km migration of some 400,000 shorebirds, including several endangered species. Not only that, about 25,000 people depending on these tidal flats for their livelihoods for fishing and other recreational activities.
The US$2.3 billion scheme is also devastating the local fishing and shellfish collecting communities living between the Mangyeung and Tongjin rivers on the West Coast. The tidal flats form a significant part of the Yellow Sea Eco-region that is vital for 158 fish species as well for crabs and sea-weeds.
The Shellfish gatherers had no idea of the impact of a dyke that will enclose 400 square kilometres of the mudflat. 72 year old Kim Yeon-Ok has made a living collecting shellfish since she was a girl. She told Earth Report: “We got 80,000Won [US$7,500] compensation…but we didn’t realize it would block the sea.”
The construction of the seawall has caused controversy since it was announced, mobilizing environmental and religious groups around the country - leading up to a challenge in the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, these proved to be mere speed bumps, and the project has continued.
The report we saw on TV has some moving video of the protests: picture a line of people - 2 wide and thousands long - led by a group of representatives from several different religions taking two steps, kneeling down and lying prostrate on the ground, then getting up and doing it again, over and over, on their way to the capitol. It was heartening to see that this country came together to reject this damaging project, and it is unfortunate that they were unable to stop it.
At this time the project is nearing completion, and proposals for investments and construction in the area have already begun. It is too late to undo any of the damage that has already been done, and I suspect that few people will ever know the story behind “the next Dubai” - but I think it is important for people to be aware.
In 10 years when we are being sent photos of shiny new billion-dollar hotels and resorts along the coast of South Korea - we should know what the real cost was.
You can read more by following these links:
TVE Earth Report
Infometrics
Answers.com
Posted by Aaron on March 11, 2008, 8:34 am permalink top | general
1 Comment »
March 4, 2008
Gary Gygax 1938 - 2008
The original DM just failed his save.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/report-gary-gyg.html
R.I.P. Mr Gygax.
Posted by Aaron on March 4, 2008, 3:28 pm permalink top | general
2 Comments »
February 25, 2008
In search of the Higgs boson
Joel Achenbach has a fascinating article over at National Geographic about The Large Hadron Collider, with amazing pictures by Peter Ginter.
The Large Hadron Collider is an enormous particle accelerator that’s being constructed by CERN, about 300 feet beneath the French-Swiss border. How enormous? Try 17 miles in circumference!
The article is full of crunchy scientific bits about what they plan on doing, but the pictures alone are worth the visit.
Starting sometime in the coming months, two beams of particles will race in opposite directions around the tunnel, which forms an underground ring 17 miles in circumference. The particles will be guided by more than a thousand cylindrical, supercooled magnets, linked like sausages. At four locations the beams will converge, sending the particles crashing into each other at nearly the speed of light. If all goes right, matter will be transformed by the violent collisions into wads of energy, which will in turn condense back into various intriguing types of particles, some of them never seen before. That’s the essence of experimental particle physics: You smash stuff together and see what other stuff comes out.
The project is set to begin in May of this year, and one of their main goals is to detect an extremely rare particle called the Higgs boson. Apparently only 1-in-several-trillion collisions is expected to produce the Higgs, and they hope the device will top out somewhere around 600 million impacts per second.
Posted by Aaron on February 25, 2008, 8:45 pm permalink top | general
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February 20, 2008
email apnea?
I saw this over on BoingBoing:
Linda Stone (who coined the phrase “continuous partial attention”) has noticed that people hold their breath and breathe shallowly when answering email, a phenomenon she’d dubbed “email apnea.” She’s posted a little rumination on the long-term health impacts of impaired email breathing.
From the original article:
As the email spills onto my screen, as my mind races with thoughts of what I’ll answer first, what can wait, who I should call, what should have been done two days ago; I’ve stopped the steady breathing I was doing only moments earlier in a morning meditation and now, I’m holding my breath.
And here’s the deal: You’re probably holding your breath, too.
I wanted to know — how widespread is email apnea*? I observed others on computers and BlackBerries: in their offices, their homes, at cafes. The vast majority of people held their breath, or breathed very shallowly, especially when responding to email. I watched people on cell phones, talking and walking, and noticed that most were mouth-breathing and hyperventilating. Consider also, that for many, posture while seated at a computer can contribute to restricted breathing.
Does it matter? How was holding my breath affecting me?
Do you hold your breath when scanning emails or certain websites? I think I do, sometimes. It’s not something that I really payed attention to before, so I can’t say for sure. I do know that I sometimes get a “compressed” feeling in my ribs sometimes if I slouch at my desk for too long. I’m going to make a conscious effort to breath regularly and see if I notice a difference.
Posted by Aaron on February 20, 2008, 5:02 pm permalink top | general
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February 9, 2008
rock climbing
This morning we went rock climbing. Indoors that is, and not on real rocks. There is a climbing gym not too far from here called Allez-Up, which translates roughly as “Up You Go”.
The whole experience was great fun, and I would definitely go again. The group I was with numbered about a dozen people - mostly coworkers from my girlfriend’s office, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it.
For myself, it was the first time I had done indoor climbing, but I didn’t have too many problems. I first tried 3 of the easier walls, these were straight 90-degree climbs, with a decent number of holds. No problem.
One of the belayers suggested I tried something more challenging so I moved to one of the side walls. This one was a bit harder, as there were fewer “good” holds and quite a few small nubs that were hard to get a grip on with my sneakers. Next time I would rent the climbing shoes. Also, the top of this wall leaned slightly outwards for the last 5 or 6 feet, just for fun apparently. On my first attempt my hands were still sweaty from my early climbs, so I slipped off halfway up and had to start over. Those bags of chalk must be essential for regular climbers. On my second attempt I made it to the top, slapped the pipe and was belayed back to the ground.
After that a bunch of us watched as people tried to climb this really hard wall. The first 3/4 was a straight climb, then the wall jutted out horizontally, about 4 feet, before resuming the vertical. Basically you had to hang from the ceiling to make it over the lip. A couple of guys (who had obviously climbed before) tried and failed but we all applauded their effort. Finally, a shorter guy made it over the lip and everyone cheered. After that a few more people tried, some made it and some didn’t, but everyone had fun.
Before going, Soizic and I tried another wall that was really fun. It was built into a corner, so you had two walls to climb against. The holds were decent, a bit easier than the more challenging wall I had tried before. To make it interesting, there was a large triangular lip that had to be overcome. It was easier than the horizontal lip mentioned above, but still challenging enough for us to put big grins on our face when we made it over the top.
Posted by Aaron on February 9, 2008, 9:24 pm permalink top | general
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February 8, 2008
Let’s Play Chrono Trigger
Some dude on the Penny Arcade forums is posting a video playthrough of Chrono Trigger for the SNES. I loved this game when I was a kid. Along with Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy VI*, it was one of my favorite console RPGs.
The videos are worth it just for the nostalgia trip, and the guy’s running commentary is an added bonus. You can check out the first 2 chapters here and here. I think all future chapters will be hosted on the Stage 6 site.
You can follow along the thread here.
*Final Fantasy III in North America
Posted by Aaron on February 8, 2008, 1:18 pm permalink top | general
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