2008 March | discardia

Archive for March, 2008

The Myth of the Media Myth

From here:

Ultimately, Edison arrived at the same conclusion I did. “To me, that implies that the biggest myth might indeed be that there is a media myth at all – that non-gamers rarely think about games until they have to, and then tend to dismiss the industry wholesale. That part seems to come pretty easily.”

More and more, Edison sees a split between two extremes. “I see popular thought divided starkly between those who play, enjoy or appreciate interactive media and those whose feelings fall somewhere along the lines of ‘I hate videogames,’ ‘Videogames are for kids’ and ‘There is no redeeming value to be found in gaming.’ If you take the latter group, you hear two contradictory beliefs: that videogames are a children’s medium, and that videogames are too violent and explicit for children. Just those two conflicting biases alone would be enough, I think, for a person unfamiliar with videogames to throw up their hands and be done with the subject until someone more invested works it all out.”

An interesting piece by a Professor and Game Designer, about the outstanding bias in our culture today when confronting video games and people being gamers.

Thanks, mefi.

2008: 03/31
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Life, work, and play

My wife and I have a recurring fight that we cannot seem to meet in the middle on. And it all has to do with how I like to spend my downtime.

I like to play online video games. To me, video games are no different than watching TV. If I had a choice between watching an hour of TV and gaming for an hour, I would pick the gaming. Without hesitation.

Because, for lack of a better term, TV sucks balls. All of it. We have hundreds of channels and they all have shit on all the time. So, absolutely, give me my games. At least online, I am actively involved with something.

Games give me an odd sense of community. I know it sounds weird, and ultimately superficial, but there is a sense of community with online gaming that lends itself to some primal sort of gravitas with the other players. Achieving goals and fighting bitter battles, is the equivalent in many ways to chess. Just think of it as online chess, but with rockets.

Now I admit, sometimes, I can be selfish. But at least I recognize the fact I am being selfish when I do it. That is huge for most guys. Most rarely are able to see past their own nose when they are being dicks. As a result, I try to spend my time playing when it absolutely does not interfere with family or work. And that leaves odd hours to play. Either late at night or when the family is tied up with something else, like a swimming lesson.

The basis of the fight I think is that my wife views video gaming as being a poor choice, anytime. They shouldn’t interfere with her expectations at all. And most of the time, she does not communicate those expectations. Like most women, she expects me to just to know better. Same planets, different worlds.

I hate the fact that I am relegated to having to make a choice between family, work or games. I don’t think they have to be mutually exclusive. I think you can have all three in a balance that offends no one and makes everyone happy. I love my wife, and love my kids, and I love the time I spend with them. It is invaluable. And games will never replace my family. But when I want to have some downtime, I think I should be able to say what I can do without any repercussion or recourse.

In my opinion, there is nothing unreasonable about that. Especially since I see the big picture. I understand the need for balance. And I think that fact alone is what makes me right.

The response I get the most often is that I don’t care about my wife’s feelings or her being honest with me. And it has nothing to do with that. I listen to her, I try very hard to understand her side. And I apologize when I need I to. I know when I am wrong. But I think the deeper issue is about choice.

What we choose, is who we are.

And I am a gamer. Father/husband first, computer geek second.

But a gamer, never the less.

2008: 03/27
CATEGORY: Rants
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Keeping it all together

I tell you what, keeping this environment up and fully operational is sometimes a bit taxing. I am always short on something, whether it be resources, time, money, or people, keeping everything up and operational is a bit of stretch. It is getting to the point that I almost avoid work, just in case something bad happens. I can’t spend my time developing something new when, at any moment, something else is going to break and just take me away from the new thing. So my output of improvements has drastically dropped in the last year.

I either don’t have the time myself to do it, or I am a rationalizing half-assed coward procrastinator.

I have this laundry list of sorts. It is a list of all the things I want to accomplish before I leave my current company. I have always felt that when I get all the items on the list knocked off, I can brush up my resume and move on to other things.

My laundry list has gotten awfully short.

I have like three or four major things left on it, and then I am done. I could conceivably have everything completed on it by early next year. That is huge. My laundry list has kept me busy for over four years. And I know that at a certain point, the balance will be reached between entropy and order. My work will turn completely to maintenance.

Maybe that is why I push things back or avoid work. Maybe I am afraid. I know that definitely hate maintenance.

Deep down, perhaps even subconsciously, I don’t want to finish the list.

Because that way, I will always have something that no one else can see. An objective that only I care about, something to keep me at this job that, admittedly, has lost some of its luster. Because I know for sure that I rather be excited about what I do, and my job has not been exciting for quite a while.

It is just tedious and draining now. I am so sick of fighting users. It’s like I am a parent and/or a janitor. I spend more time telling users “no” than I do making things better. And that really pisses me off. I am not going to rant. I have done that enough about users, so I will just move on.

And now for something completely different.

Biggest Loser on TV. A two hour show every week that should only be an hour long. Yet somehow, the network has stretched it to last two hours, with commercials every two minutes, way over dramatized camera cuts and audio buildups, and embedded commercials in the actual show. Product placement is everywhere. If you are going to make commercials part of the damn show, please cut the number of actual commercial breaks, and make the show a damn hour! Come on. And the dramatic cuts before the commercials, and the 30 second lead in after the commercials is just silly. My wife likes watching it, but it is almost painful for me. I rather watch Survivor.

And that is saying something.

2008: 03/26
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Seriously we can’t help it.

From here:

Security requires a particular mindset. Security professionals — at least the good ones — see the world differently. They can’t walk into a store without noticing how they might shoplift. They can’t use a computer without wondering about the security vulnerabilities. They can’t vote without trying to figure out how to vote twice. They just can’t help it.

…

Really, we can’t help it.

This kind of thinking is not natural for most people. It’s not natural for engineers. Good engineering involves thinking about how things can be made to work; the security mindset involves thinking about how things can be made to fail. It involves thinking like an attacker, an adversary or a criminal. You don’t have to exploit the vulnerabilities you find, but if you don’t see the world that way, you’ll never notice most security problems.

This is so true. So unbelievably true. And a key reason so many users just don’t get the reasons behind some of the practices IT follows. Especially when you work for an engineering company.

Engineers just don’t get it. They can’t get it. It is not in their vocabulary.

2008: 03/24
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Ever have one of those days?

Every have one of those days, where you just don’t want to be at work? And you don’t want to be at home?

You really don’t know what you want, you just feel restless.

Uncentered. Without cause. Movement without meaning or intention.

I am definitely having one of those days.

Just want to escape something, but I don’t what it is, and I don’t know where I would escape to.

And it’s a mild sensation. Just lurking on the edges of my consciousness. A soft fuzziness that keeps invading upon my thoughts and actions.

Maybe caffeine would help.

2008: 03/19
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Another St. Patrick’s Day, Another Hangover

I love Irish Car Bombs. They are delicious, yet dangerous.

Because, my word, they make you feel it the next day. There is no escape from the raging black and tan fury of the Guinness, the Whiskey, and the Irish Cream. A Molotov cocktail for the the discerning Irish drunk.

I almost view them as my own personal analogue of Romulan Ale.

“Captain’s log, supplemental. The Enterprise hosted Chancellor Gorkon and his party to dinner last night. Our manners weren’t exactly Emily Post. Oh, note to the galley, Romulan ale no longer to be served at diplomatic functions.”
- James T. Kirk, Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country

“Do you know anything about a radiation surge, Chekov?’
“Only the size of my head.”
“I know what you mean…”
- Kirk and Chekov (both nursing a terrible hangover), Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country

I am beat, a bit short of flogged. My eyes are red, a bit short of Sweeney Todd kind of blood red.

And there is no one to blame but myself. No sympathy for the willing drunk, right?

Well twice a year is rare enough that I just have to remind myself why I shouldn’t drink so much.

…

What? What do you mean, St. Patty’s day is only once a year?

2008: 03/18
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Baby #2 is a boy

So says the ultrasound tech… and sometimes they are like weathermen.

You know… Idiots. And completely wrong.

Guess we will find out for sure on Birthday.

Now if only my wife and I could agree on a damn name. So far, we have agreed to disagree on every single name.

She picks names for boys that like to get beat up every day at school, and so far she thinks I pick names that will make for a poor career options when our baby is older. I am thinking that we may have to pick two first names, and give the kid his own choice of the two when he is old enough to pick for himself.

So it goes. Guess I will just have to wait until inspiration hits me.

Like a bag of broken bowling balls.

Hopefully.

2008: 03/17
CATEGORY: Stuff
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Un Lun Dun by China Mieville

I finished Un Lun Dun over the weekend, and as the third book I have read by China Mieville, I found it just a tad weaker than some of his other works. I think what threw me off was the tone and style. The style was more simple in nature, and the tone was softer than his other books.

On its own though, it was a good book. Closer to Neil Gaiman’s style in the form of a modern fairy tale, it enjoyed some of the spin of the Alice in Wonderland series and much of the subversive nature we come to expect from Mievelle. Some of the wordplay and puns were kind of fun, and the plot moved well enough along. I kept getting hung up on the fairy tale format, and it kept me from truly investing myself in the book.

I think as a first book for a new reader to Mieville, it would be a brilliant start. Mieville is a great author, nonetheless.

I thought all in all, it was good. Just not great. But again, Mieville is published, whereas I am not, so what room do I have to criticize?

Amen.