I stumbled onto this page indirectly via digg and couldn’t help but admire the design work. The Pee Pee Project was simply defined: design a better place to pee in public. Well, not necessarily public (though some of the designs are for just that!), but at least in public facilities.
One definitely has to at least respect the pee tree.
Keeping on a trend of WoW related posts, I’ve found indisputable evidence on the forums of why there are more Alliance characters than Horde characters.
Just in case the forums are a bit of a pain, here’s a direct quote of “Bluegoth” a Level 9 Tauren Warrior on the Destromath realm as she talks about her Night Elf character:
And the money started rolling in. I have another tauren, an orc and a troll, all female, and I have never ran into anything like what is happening. I took off my clothes and started dancing with the cooking supplies vendor in the low level area just to be silly. Lo and behold, a gnome ran up to me and asked me if I was new to the game (hmm a naked level 6 character dancing with an npc…). I said yes and he gave me 4 silk bags and 10 gold. I put my armor back on and he helped me destroy all of my quest critters. I thanked him and gave him a /hug. He still sends me tells asking how I’m doing ( a week later).
I started fishing as I wanted to eventually catch oily blackmouth. I ran to Darnassus to build up my skills. A Dwarf ran up to me (I was wearing my “lucky” outfit). He asked me if I needed any help. I decided to be nice and said, “No thank you. I am trying to raise my fishing, but they are being difficult.” He gave me the upgraded pole, some lures and 1 gold. I /hugged him, /smiled at him, said “thank you” and he left sending me a tell later asking me to let him know if I needed help.
I head over to the fireworks quest person and purchased some fireworks. I launch them and /clap after each one launches. A Night Elf rogue comes up to me and asks if I need help. I asked him if he knew why my quest wasn’t being filled by launching the fireworks from the launchers. He tells me that it currently only works in IF and volunteers to take me there. I tell him that it will be too much of a bother to him and I’d be just as happy blowing up the fireworks here. he gives me a gold for fireworks, blows me a /kiss and takes off. I, of course, spend the gold blowing up fireworks.
Finally, yesterday, I was grousing out loud to other lowbies that my gear is sad and that the enemies all laugh when they see me coming. A Human paladin comes up to me and says, “What’s wrong Hun?” I say, “Nothing really. I was just complaining that my gear is terrible and my weapons are better suited for ren faire performers.” He says to wait. 5 minutes later, he returns with AH goodies. I happily thank him, and as he leaves, he emotes /spanks your behind to keep you out of mischief.
To this day, I still get tells for cyber, guys calling me “hun” and “sweetie” and guys asking me if I would like them to help me on my quests (almost all are 60). I never got anything like this from my horde characters. Hell, my trollie looks damn sexy and she never got such treatment! How do you guys know I am not a man playing as a female Night Elf? I appreciate the gifts (but not the cyber requests), but really. Come on. Do any of you other players get this sort of treatment when you play as female Alliance characters? I am almost afraid to start a gnome female character as I would be horrified to see what that would attract.
Not only is it amazing that she made money from having a “sexy” computer character, it’s amazing the behaviors and attitudes of the characters on the server who treat the attractive Night Elf female character model as if it’s a realistic depiction of the player.
I don’t think it takes much understanding to realize that it isn’t a “real” Night Elf bombshell, it’s just a character model crafted out of polygons by a Blizzard employee. Importantly, that character model has no reflection on the player, the suitability of the character for combat, or the knowledge-ability of the player/character in the game world. Even with those finely crafted “curves” and scantly clad armor sets… the stats that drive events in the world are identical to male characters.
I can’t help but think that the reason that it does matter has a lot to do with the pathetic nature of decent of the WoW players. 
So while my World of Warcraft progress might be slacking, I’ve picked up the pace with the Bunker Management System project. I spent a good couple hours working on use cases and updating the project page.
One of the major updates is the plan to use Turbo Gears as the rapid development framework for the web application portion of the project. On top of the excellent stack of mature open source frameworks, it appears that a number of smaller tools have been integrated into the stack as well that I wasn’t aware of. The idea of getting JSON for “free” is really cool. Not only for AJAX-like extension of the web interface, but also because I think it might make a good “free” interface for the python/gtk front ends as well!
There’s also the potential to have some great team collaboration on the project as well. Dan Razafsky has already pledged his effort, and I’m hoping to drag Aaron “Kuffs” Tygart into the fold as well. (That is, whenever he gets that homework thing taken care of that he was talking about.)
It feels good to be making progress on this project again.
This is just too amazing to pass up. A report on the “next” World of Warcraft instance has made the sports section of the New York Times. That’s right, the sports section of the New York Times.
Damn.
Caution: This blog post is a draft and mostly devoid of proof reading.
Part of my relaunch into frequent blogging is the realization that I’m just going to blog about World of Warcraft when the wild urge hits me.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the common “complaints” about the end-game in WoW (or really any MMO). The idea that the game devolves into a one dimensional “raiding” game after the top level is reached.
I think that these complaints really hedge on a faulty perspective. I think that the faulty perspective hinges on a misinterpretation of the MMO concept that “the game never ends”. One of the major differences in MMO’s compared to most games is that there is no ultimate victory over the challenges that are faced and the game is never “beaten”. To some, that is equated with a never ending game experience that directly parallels existing gaming experiences. That is to say they would expect “the game that never ends”, if it were say a Super Mario Game, to have infinite worlds all equally crafted to the beginning worlds.
But in reality that’s just not what’s going on. The game never ends because the game has a “persistent world”. This does not equate to an infinite set of single player experience. Instead it is the equivalent of completing a single player game and instead of being shown the end-game cinematic and informed it’s “The End”, you can complete the single player game and then you are left to your own devices to reign in whatever manner interests you. Like how you can continue playing the levels in Donkey Kong Country 3 after you have “beaten” the last boss. No additional progression, but still fun.
It just so happens that the early portions of an MMO often parallel the game style of a single player RPG. If you view World of Warcraft the same way that you would view Final Fantasy VII, then indeed after finishing some of the game at level 60 (the highest currently attainable level) the game experience is “complete”. However, instead of receiving an end-game cinematic you are given a sandbox to play in.
That sandbox happens to have some seriously bad ass content in it. It comes in the form of “raid” content with giant dungeons and dragons to slay that take huge numbers of amazing players to conquer. There are also great rewards for participating in the sandbox.
So does the game change after reaching level 60? Yes, most certainly. After spending some time at level 60 you have “beaten the game” in a classic gaming sense. After becoming one of the most powerful characters in existence and beaten the most powerful enemies that are possible to beat with only one to five characters, there just isn’t anything more amazing that a character to do. If it were a “real” fantasy world it would be time to retire. However, recognizing that some people want to continue, the logical next step is to have content that takes even more level 60 characters to conquer, leading to the current raid content.
However, the nice thing about the amazing amount of content that is currently in the game, one can always play the game through again with a new character type, identity, culture, storyline, and more. This can be repeated dozens and dozens of time before all of the game content is “experienced”.
I guess I just don’t see where the complaints from WoW gamers regarding the end game content format come from. If a person came into a game expected an infinitely long set of “single player”-esque (or even small group) questing, then they came into the game with unrealistic expectations. No one can create an infinite set of content, it’s just completely impossible. For those that complain that they can not be as “powerful” as players that enjoy raid content (for whatever reason)… well… yeah, it’s true. One must accomplish greater feats to achieve greater rewards, and there is just a finite logical limit to what one, five, or ten people can accomplish when there is a level cap.
Personally, I hope that sometime in my gaming experience I have the pleasure of joining a guild that will allow me to participate in that amazing raid content in the sandbox at the end of WoW. But until that comes to pass, I think I’m going to try an undead rogue next.
Now that Google has decided that they would be providing Google search services to the people of China while complying with local censorship laws, there has been a lot of commentary on how that relates with Google’s “Do No Evil” corporate value.
The commentary usually runs along the gamut of “What did you expect? All corporations are evil?” to “Google’s action is mockery of it’s values.” But one thing that I’ve found oddly in common with all of the commentary is that people are almost always talking about the evils of censorship in regards to China.
But one thing I was careful to mention when I was typing is that Google is providing search service to the people of China. I think it makes a big difference when one takes the analysis from perspective of a service for individuals not in the perspective of a service for a country. The government in a totalitarian regime is not the people, the individual citizens are the people.
With that in mind, the question becomes. Which is evil: providing the best service that an individual can possibly have without totalitarianesque punishment or completely abstaining from commerce with the individual in protest of their government.
It certainly doesn’t have the crisp black and white that most people like to associate with “evil”, but I can’t help but think of one of my favorite movies (that I only recently viewed) Schindler’s List. In that movie Schindler worked directly with the Nazi party–directly with sick individuals personally participating in genocide–and managed to do a very great Good.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Google isn’t anywhere in the same ballpark as Mr. Schindler. Schindler was an angel. But my point (that a person/group/company can go great good while playing by the evil rules) I think is still valid. Google is providing search to Chinese individuals that–while censoring results–informs the individuals that results were blocked. To be best of my knowledge, that’s better than the other search engines that are participating in the Chinese market right now. I would almost consider that an invitation to those really looking for data to keep looking, you’re close but not creative enough.
Google has the potential to be a very subversive agent for freedom and information in the Chinese market. The real determination of “evil” or “good” will be completely impossible to tell for a long time, becuase it will be in the secret meetings of the top of Google that the choice is made between serving the Chinese government in good faith and doing the best Google can do to censor, or the alternative of serving the Chinese people in good faith and doing the best Google can do to stay technically on the good side of the government while serving the people.
It’s too early to tell, I’m hoping for “good”.
I didn’t even get close to completing my math510 homework. Indeed, I had a hard time even focusing on it. I’ve already done over ten hours of homework this week, and I’ve got several more hours ahead of me, and that’s without math510
There’s just no way that I can reasonably keep up with the homework load as the semester progresses. I know how bad math510 gets, and math551 is going to be getting a little more involved as well. With a good 25-30 hours a week of work, I’m not going to be able to pull off another 20-40 hours of homework every single week.
I’m white flagging it already.
It’s sad because math510 is genuinely interesting stuff. I’m not completely in love with it like T. Mehlinger is, but it’s still great. And my professor (Dr. Lin) is great. But in the interest of preventing failure and saving several hundred dollars I’m going to drop math510 and push it off to another semester. Perhaps this summer with Kuffs.
*sniff*
So I’ve really dug into what might be my most homework heavy semester, EVAR! My current class load of math551, math510, den325, econ520, and stat520 all appear to be delivering on the promise of homework load. Considering my history with managing homework, this could be disastrous for me.
Since yesterday was the first day that I really dug into homework, I was already a little too late to save them all. The first stat510 homework went to the side, as I hadn’t even purchased the book yet by the time the first assignment was due. (I’m not too concerned however, this stat class looks to be trivially easy.)
I was also a little too late (technically) to finish both math551 and math510. However I finished my math551 on time and then politely requested more time from Dr. Zongzhu Lin. After a bit of a lecture (well deserved) he decided that I can turn it in tomorrow rather than today.
I squeaked in my DEN325 homework and have an arrangement to work on econ520 with Lauren tonight (due tomorrow).
Damn, homework can be tough sometimes!
So I just read a very sad blog post today by Travis Mehlinger. Not that he was intending anything to be “sad” per se, it’s actually a story of intellectual honesty and triumph, but Travis’s post about mathematics versus computer science as exciting majors seems to illustrate the major deficiency within our department.
Here’s a student that, is passionate about math–of all things–and is convinced that CS is devoid of interesting personalities, lacking hack-free elegant solutions, barren of intellectual diversity, missing interesting problems yet to be solved, and (most damning of all) too petty-political. Rightfully so, the idea of being surrounded by “suits” seems like a poor use of a lifetime ripe for achievement.
Math is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but computer science is also ripe with interesting personalities (RMS? Come on!), elegant solutions, and all of the other things that T. Mehlinger is yearning for. But when you come from our computer science department, you’d never expect it. In a deliberate push to be “professional” our department is giving an impression of a boring field. Our 540/541 class, in an attempt to “prepare our students for the real world of business” is actually a perfect example of the worst possible job a computer scientist could ever possibly end up in. If 540/541 is our profession, I’d be happier as a manager at Taco Bell.
A computer saavy student with passion for math is potentially the best possible target for traditional CS. Our program scares them away. Shameful.
I’ve decided that I need to make a significant return to the blog-o-sphere*. There have been a number of reasons that my blogging has cut down significantly, including an increased time playing World of Warcraft. Not that I didn’t have time to blog, I just didn’t know if blogging about Warcraft was something I really wanted to do. I’ve also just been lacking a little focus lately and so didn’t feel particularly interesting.
I think I’ve been mostly shaken out of this situation thanks to a couple specific things. First DEN325, a new requirement of the CS curriculum entitled Professional and Personal Development. Generally speaking it’s a bullcrap class based on a few self help books. However, while I think that classes crafted on self help books are lame, the meta discussion on the classes have been great. That is to say, the information in the class is pretty valuable… it’s just the classroom format I don’t like. With the materials from the class primarily borrowing from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.
Generally speaking, I’m kind of liking the class in spite of itself (and perhaps in spite of myself). It helps that I’m sitting with fun people with perspective.
Second has been the recent blogging excitement and personal success of my relatively new friend Travis Mehlinger. That man has been tearing up blogger.com, over achieving in math510 (which is no simple task, major props), picking up toys/hobbies, logging in some quality rants, and more.
After considering the two combined, I can’t help but think. “I used to do that, what the hell have I been up to lately?” Other than landing a fantastic girlfriend and spending lots of time with her, I’ve been kind of wandering/floundering a bit motivationally. I think I might be ready to get a bit more directional… and with some peer pressure and help from navel gazing in DEN325, I think I can pull it off.
On an aside, especially regarding the last post, we’ve gotten things worked back out. Primarily a communication issue (aren’t they all?), we’ve resolved as a house to get the beer lines cleaned out and do things right before having a party here. (In addition, my roommates decided not to have that party I was so in a knot about.) The party itself turned out to be less of what was bothering me than how it was handled, but with the latest understanding that we’ve got as a house: it’s cool again.
Here’s hoping that this is the first post in an increased amount of activity. I’ve gotten a new cell phone I need to review, I was in a major auto accident (and managed to survive dispite myself), I’ve dealt with bit family issues, and I’ve hit 43 with my first WoW character. There has been plenty write about. But for now, back to math homework. 
* Thanks to the use of the word “blog-o-sphere”, this blog post has been certified buzz-word compliant. Thanks DEN325! I’m synergizing!!!
The period between semesters is always a little rough for Bunker life. The vacation time usually leads to slovenly lifestyles that tend to accumulate a bit of filth around the house. This semester is worst than most, as the accumulation had already reached a high point before the vacation began. This is especially strong in regards to our bar. The beer lines are long past their cleaning time, and even vomit stains the floor in the “lounge”.
Certainly nothing unsurmountable, we’ve came back from many a gruesome mess before. But a change in attitude has apparently came about the Bunker as well. Previously we prided ourselves in our home. Both the function of it as a residence, and as a venue of social gatherings of the very highest caliber. We partied long, hard, and strong, but we did it with a style that was all our own. We did it intelligently, with careful planning to insure safety, quality of entertainment, quality of beverage, and the safekeeping of our home. Each time we had a large party (some epic in scale for even a dedicated college town) we analyzed the aftermath. We took that time to improve, to squelch new problems, and to provide an avenue for an even more outrageous, larger, safer, and more extreme party next time.
Those times have apparently past. Over my stern opposition to a party this weekend, the house has decided to have a party tomorrow anyway. The case for avoiding this weekend is unbelievably strong:
The case for having a party is simple. “We talked it over and we want to have a party.” No logic or argument will slow the idea, because it’s not about intelligence, maturity, or resolve. Like children unhappy to wait for Christmas, the cake must be had now and eaten as well.
I am so embarrassed that my roommates would serve sewage water from a otherwise well appearing kegerator to our good friends and pretend that it’s safe. Our house is a haven for amazingly good times. The safe environment that we have provided in the past has awarded us with a strong level of trust from our friends and those that come to our house by reputation alone. The Bunker was a great place to party.
Now the Bunker is nothing but an amatuer college hack party, complete with all of the dangers of every other college party. I am ashamed to have put so much time, effort, and money into my home to create something exceptional from an average college life with my greatest friends, only to have the huge number of people that have befriended us served poisonous beer, from my own tap, by my best friends, that I was certain knew better.
I wish I lived somewhere else.
I’ve had this idea formulating in my head regarding urban planning and it came to at least a first-draft fruition in a reply sent to the Libertarian Party of Kansas’s mailing list. I wanted to share it here as I’d love to hear any comments/suggestions from my economic minded friends. (I’m calling you out Matt. )
Here’s the unedited (but with a touch of added markup for layout) mail:
From: Travis Bradshaw
Subject: [LPKS] Vacant Storefronts in Johnson County
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 01:53:29 +0000
I recently spent some time in Johnson County and also noticed this
trend:
On Wed, 2006-01-11 at 19:24 -0600, Bill Baldwin wrote:
Also, see the number of vacant storefronts, all too often entire shopping centers, and malls. While the changes in spending patterns (more Internet spending, etc.) might explain some of the change, I suspect the main reason is the bad economy.
While it certainly could be an example of a “bad economy”, I think it
might be more specific. One thing that was undeniable while traveling
around Johnson County this weekend was both the number of completely
empty and/or desolate shopping centers and also the number of new
commercial areas under construction.
I have another hypothesis as to the empty shopping malls. It’s an
unsubstantiated hypothesis that I’ve tentatively named “slash and burn
urban planning.” It goes something like this:
One of the constant goals of city commissions and other urban planners
is the establishment of new businesses to increase tax revenue. It’s
not uncommon for huge incentives to be used–in various forms–to entice
otherwise uninterested commercial ventures to set up shop in a
particular area or development. From tax breaks, property subsidization
and/or pre-development, or outright theft–er, I mean, eminent domain,
lots of government intervention is often used to establish these
businesses in the governing bodies realm.
It seems logically sound, then, to believe that it’s entirely possible
for a region/city/township to use these incentives and actually bring in
business in surplus of the (to borrow a term from ecological biology)
“carrying capacity” of the area to support businesses.
New commercial areas are established using these incentives but are only
economically viable as long as the incentives are firmly in place. Soon
the hunger for more tax revenue and growth leads the urban planning body
to move towards the next development, consumer focus shifts to the newer
developments, and like the farming on the unfertile soil in the
rainforests the old developments die out.
I have a very strong hunch (that’s pretty well informed in free market
economics, but lightly informed on specifics in various regions) that
this new trend of heavy handed urban development in suburbian areas
around Kansas (especially NE Kansas) is destroying the diversity and
vitality of our relatively strong local economies. These new shopping
areas are less like gaining new options for commerce, and more like a
new pair of shoes in exchange for throwing out a previous pair.
During good times, the extra tax burden might be unnoticed and the new
commercial establishments might be sparkly enough that no one notices.
But, like Mr. Baldwin mentioned in his post, when this real estate debt
bubble pops… it could get very ugly.
All of the heavy planned shopping areas feel a little “fake” to me
anyway. I wouldn’t feel very comfortable at all when the carcass like
vacant storefronts (and perhaps houses lost to morgage debt) are all
that is left of a previously great place to live.
Travis Bradshaw