Log -- David Chess

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Scene: A sightly snow-covered valley somewhere in Dun Morogh. To one side, a small but growing pile of temporarily-dead white wolves. Apparently from within the pile, sporadic explosions, as from a home-made blunderbus.

<bang!>

Small gnomish voice: woot! Here, wolfie, wolfie!

<bang!>

Narrative voice: Um, Spennix?

Small gnomish voice: Wut?

A tiny figure emerges from the pile of wolves, and we see that it is indeed Spennix, now a 21st-level gnome rogue. She is holding a primitive, but very shiny, wide-mouthed long-gun, with something whirring in the stock.

Narrative voice: You're a rogue, yes?

Spennix: Yep yep!

Spying yet another wolf running past, Spennix turns and fires,

<bang!>

and the enraged injured wolf rushes at her to be neatly sliced up by her blades.

Spennix: Ha, tha's for gangin' up on me an' killin' me wen I was 8th level! Gun skill now 42! Woot!

Narrative voice: And you're mostly a Subtlety Specialization rogue at that, who just maxed out her Master of Deception talent. You shouldn't like things that flash and explode!

<bang!>

Spennix: Ha! Specialization is for insects. I'm also a Gnome, and we Gnomes luuuurve things that flash an' whiz an' 'splode. See this gun? Whirring bronze gizmo in stock improves accuracy. Made it myself! Ha!

<bang!>

Spennix: Take that, ya wolfish scalliwag!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Finally the World of Warcraft pictures that you've all been eagerly waiting for!

This is Spennix, my lil gnome rogue, standing on the road in Khranos, back when she was like 11th level (before she got Dual Wield, it looks like, since she's only wearing the one dagger). She was consciously designed to look somewhat like my usual female AV in Second Life (of whom I don't seem to have a really good recent portrait up; have to do something about that), modulo being a gnome an' all.

WoW isn't as good as SL about snapshots (and SL in turn isn't as good as The Sims 2, which I haven't touched in a long time now). So among other things (like having bits of the UI showing in it), this next picture is rather overexposed-looking:

This is Spennix and dear (and high-level) friend R, in a peaceful moment on a pond-bank in the extremely cool elf-city, which R took me on a cross-country expedition (fending off the higher-level monsters as we went) to show me. Great stuff!

So that's WoW. Things in SL are about as usual; nothing smashing to report that springs to mind.

Ol' RL, of course, continues to be all messed up. I really really really don't understand, for instance, stuff like this.

I mean, it's great that some people have a book that they really like that has lots of stories and advice and stuff in it, and that they admire the person who wrote the book and think that they were inspired or instructed by deities and all, that's fine. But I don't understand, and I mean I actually don't understand despite how common it is and how we all assume that that's how the world is, why those people then get enraged and have violent demonstrations and even propose killing when someone says something negative about the book and/or its author, or tells a story that shows the book or its author in a negative light.

It just doesn't follow.

Now from a memetic point of view I can see it: a viral meme complex (belief system) that has as an axiom, or as a fact easily derived from its axioms, "people who say things against this belief system must be punished or preferably killed" will be protected to some extent against certain kinds of criticism that might weaken it or slow its spread, and so might (all other things being equal) tend to spread better than rival memes without that feature.

But come on! I mean, we're rational creatures, we shouldn't do bad things just because we've been parasitized by some meme complex. And there's no other plausible reason I can think of for this behavior. So wtf??

Which is to say, I guess, that I do in fact understand why this happens, and my thinking that it shouldn't happen is just sort of wishful thinking. But still...

Amusing Phrase o' the Day: I was listening to NPR the other day, and the correspondant or anchor or someone said about Mr. X that the question was "the extent to which he was allegedly involved in" some nefarious scheme or other.

And I thought that was funny.

I mean, it's easy to determine the extent to which he was allegedly involved: just read the allegations and see what they say. Determining the extent to which he was in fact involved might be considerably harder!

I'm sure this is just the editorial or reportorial reflex of changing "X did Y" to "X allegedly did Y", for any Y that X might sue you about. But in this case it entirely changes the meaning of the text.

Question an Answer:

But with me and Peppy Longstockings, what would the children look like?
*Word* of Warcraft?
Alien abduction lamp!
What is Jeopardy?
How to win at rock-paper-scissors!

See also How to Win at Tic Tac Toe, which I couldn't resist editing to point out that if no one makes a mistake it's impossible. (I note with amusement that at the moment someone has reverted that change; gotta love Wikis...)

	log (2007/06/15 to 2007/06/21)
older log newer log reply about archive search random home words site news talking place login Enter coordinates:	Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Scene: A sightly snow-covered valley somewhere in Dun Morogh. To one side, a small but growing pile of temporarily-dead white wolves. Apparently from within the pile, sporadic explosions, as from a home-made blunderbus. <bang!> Small gnomish voice: woot! Here, wolfie, wolfie! <bang!> Narrative voice: Um, Spennix? Small gnomish voice: Wut? A tiny figure emerges from the pile of wolves, and we see that it is indeed Spennix, now a 21st-level gnome rogue. She is holding a primitive, but very shiny, wide-mouthed long-gun, with something whirring in the stock. Narrative voice: You're a rogue, yes? Spennix: Yep yep! Spying yet another wolf running past, Spennix turns and fires, <bang!> and the enraged injured wolf rushes at her to be neatly sliced up by her blades. Spennix: Ha, tha's for gangin' up on me an' killin' me wen I was 8th level! Gun skill now 42! Woot! Narrative voice: And you're mostly a Subtlety Specialization rogue at that, who just maxed out her Master of Deception talent. You shouldn't like things that flash and explode! <bang!> Spennix: Ha! Specialization is for insects. I'm also a Gnome, and we Gnomes luuuurve things that flash an' whiz an' 'splode. See this gun? Whirring bronze gizmo in stock improves accuracy. Made it myself! Ha! <bang!> Spennix: Take that, ya wolfish scalliwag! Monday, June 18, 2007 Finally the World of Warcraft pictures that you've all been eagerly waiting for! This is Spennix, my lil gnome rogue, standing on the road in Khranos, back when she was like 11th level (before she got Dual Wield, it looks like, since she's only wearing the one dagger). She was consciously designed to look somewhat like my usual female AV in Second Life (of whom I don't seem to have a really good recent portrait up; have to do something about that), modulo being a gnome an' all. WoW isn't as good as SL about snapshots (and SL in turn isn't as good as The Sims 2, which I haven't touched in a long time now). So among other things (like having bits of the UI showing in it), this next picture is rather overexposed-looking: This is Spennix and dear (and high-level) friend R, in a peaceful moment on a pond-bank in the extremely cool elf-city, which R took me on a cross-country expedition (fending off the higher-level monsters as we went) to show me. Great stuff! So that's WoW. Things in SL are about as usual; nothing smashing to report that springs to mind. Ol' RL, of course, continues to be all messed up. I really really really don't understand, for instance, stuff like this. I mean, it's great that some people have a book that they really like that has lots of stories and advice and stuff in it, and that they admire the person who wrote the book and think that they were inspired or instructed by deities and all, that's fine. But I don't understand, and I mean I actually don't understand despite how common it is and how we all assume that that's how the world is, why those people then get enraged and have violent demonstrations and even propose killing when someone says something negative about the book and/or its author, or tells a story that shows the book or its author in a negative light. It just doesn't follow. Now from a memetic point of view I can see it: a viral meme complex (belief system) that has as an axiom, or as a fact easily derived from its axioms, "people who say things against this belief system must be punished or preferably killed" will be protected to some extent against certain kinds of criticism that might weaken it or slow its spread, and so might (all other things being equal) tend to spread better than rival memes without that feature. But come on! I mean, we're rational creatures, we shouldn't do bad things just because we've been parasitized by some meme complex. And there's no other plausible reason I can think of for this behavior. So wtf?? Which is to say, I guess, that I do in fact understand why this happens, and my thinking that it shouldn't happen is just sort of wishful thinking. But still... Amusing Phrase o' the Day: I was listening to NPR the other day, and the correspondant or anchor or someone said about Mr. X that the question was "the extent to which he was allegedly involved in" some nefarious scheme or other. And I thought that was funny. I mean, it's easy to determine the extent to which he was allegedly involved: just read the allegations and see what they say. Determining the extent to which he was in fact involved might be considerably harder! I'm sure this is just the editorial or reportorial reflex of changing "X did Y" to "X allegedly did Y", for any Y that X might sue you about. But in this case it entirely changes the meaning of the text. Question an Answer: But with me and Peppy Longstockings, what would the children look like? Word of Warcraft? Alien abduction lamp! What is Jeopardy? How to win at rock-paper-scissors! See also How to Win at Tic Tac Toe, which I couldn't resist editing to point out that if no one makes a mistake it's impossible. (I note with amusement that at the moment someone has reverted that change; gotta love Wikis...)
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