Tickin' away

I wonder sometimes if I am an idealist that will eventually have my dreams completely crushed out of me. Then I wonder if I dream new dreams faster than the old ones are crushed. Picture a person placing eggs down in front of a slow-moving steam roller. One is likely moving faster than the other, resulting either lots of dreams or a guy doing his pancake impression.

That is possibly the secret to remaining idealistic - keep dreaming new dreams. The world needs dreamers to keep us moving forward.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - My first draft said "a person laying eggs down...".
PPS - Somehow it conjured the wrong image.

Kingdom of Loathing

Yesterday I started another low-tech online game that is feasible to play during my lunch hour at work: Kingdom of Loathing. Though I'd heard of it before, I had a different picture in my head, and a different idea of how it worked, and I'd decided it wasn't for me. This often happens to me. I originally thought a "web log" was just an automatically-posted browser history.

KoL is a role-playing game, but everything's just a little bit twisted and a bit tongue-in-cheek. My character is a "Pastamancer" who is currently wearing ravioli for a hat and attacking things with a pasta spoon.

I'm interested in this game primarily because it includes a crafting system (which is pretty standard in online RPGs, but not City of Heroes). Using "meat paste", you can fuse together items in your inventory to create other items. Somehow it's just a fascinating concept to me, and it may eventually lead me away from City of Heroes to World of Warcraft. But not today. Today I try to fuse my "magicalness in a can" with something, for no really good reason.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - KoL is a bit more involved than Urban Dead.
PPS - Also, it has pictures. Stick figures and the like.

Just Kidding

I need people to know that sometimes I can't tell if they're joking. Brad told me someone wanted to take my desk on Boundary Street. He was kidding and I didn't know. Bronwyn showed me some shoes she said she was considering to buy. She was kidding and I didn't know. Various evil intents and actions are often ascribed to me and were palmed off on my evil twin, Lucas. I just don't know if everyone is joking. You'd think someone who makes people laugh would be able to tell rather easily what's a joke and what's serious. Unfotunately, a lot of the time it just goes over my head when you kid with me and run a really long way with a gag. Even a short way and I can get lost. I usually have an inkling that something might be wrong, but I also get that inkling at times when someone is actually serious, so it's not a reliable indicator. It also seems that people don't know exactly when to take me seriously (not very often).

The point is this: if everyone could just wear big neon signs over their heads that say "kidding", and switch them on when they're not being serious, that'd help me a lot.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - There are probably other ways.
PPS - For now, I'm going to stick with my neon sign suggestion.

Pointless Endeavour

I've decided I don't like mowing the lawn. There are many possible explanations for this - the most likely being that it's a bit of hard work in the sun that has to be redone every couple of weeks. I also have a character that appreciates things primarily if they are improving. Somehow that doesn't include mowing. While I realise that mowing makes the lawn better, it gets worse again, and mowing will never improve it beyond a well-mowed state.

So my problem is: what do I do about it? I've thought of a few options, and the most appealing to me at the moment is to purchase some kind of robot to take care of everything. I suppose I could also buy a sheep or two, but I think the robot would work a little more consistently.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - An army of robot slaves is certainly an idea that appeals to me.
PPS - Perhaps that's my evil genius side talking.

The Sunday Mok - I should vacuum this keyboard

Last Sunday while grocery shopping I encountered Rory unexpectedly. He told me about Michael's visit from the UK. While I was glad to see him, it would have been nice if I'd managed to hear about it sooner.
I went back to work on Monday after a month off. The month's worth of email was primarily concerned with Christmas events and was summarily deleted. In the evening, I watched Angel at Deb's.
On Tuesday, I forgot to take my keys home from the office. This is a problem I've encountered before, but I usually catch it before I get to the bus. This time I was all the way home before it even registered. Despite knocking, ringing the doorbell and making noise outside a window, I had to call on my phone before Ug the Caveman answered the door.
I got approval on Wednesday to start on the work I'd been doing since Monday. It was all I had to do anyway. At lunchtime I wrote a quick and dirty program to solve sudoku puzzles. For dinner we went to Nando's at West End for Stu's birthday and ate some spicy chicken. Not very spicy, mind you.
On Thursday, for the regular family dinner, Deb and I brought a chocolate cheesecake for dessert. It was really very good. I like cheesecake. After we left, we came back to my place and watched Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill on DVD.
After work on Friday I came home and started watching a Stargate SG-1 episode, then went to Deb's to sit through dinner (I'd already eaten) and sit in relative silence while she caught up with her Mum who had just arrived back from Guam.
I mowed the lawn again on Saturday, as well as doing some washing and grocery shopping. Deb cooked lunch and I cooked dinner. In the afternoon some removalists came to get Sarah's washing machine that's been sitting in our garage for quite some time. The did not, however, remove the lounge suite that's been in our entryway.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - There was more Angel watching on Saturday.
PPS - In fact, besides what I mentioned, that's pretty much all that happened.

Hung Up

I don't know exactly what appeals to me about Madonna's song Hung Up. It's not the woman herself, and it's certainly not the music video. It might be the instruments used and the musical theme, which tend to remind me of old video games. It's probably also the rhythm of it all (as opposed to "The Beat", about which I care not at all). Whatever it is, I just have to say that I like it, as lizards like the Sun.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Madonna has had a long time to become good at what she does.
PPS - Fill in the mental blank yourself, there.

Sudoku

A while ago I was introduced to Sudoku puzzles - a kind of number crossword in a nine-by-nine grid. As is my habit, I started designing a program to work with them (even though plenty are available for sale or for free). After days of designing elegant software structures to enable the several features I wanted to include, I bit the bullet and hacked up a quick and dirty text-mode program that does nothing but solve the puzzle. It took about half an hour to write, and it works just by placing numbers and seeing if they fit, backtracking as necessary when a problem is encountered.

I'm not entirely sure what my point is, but I think it has something to do with wasted design effort.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I'm back in sleep-deprived mode.
PPS - It didn't take long, did it?

To die with a surprised look

It must be a terrible realisation in your last seconds of life when you realise that the answer to your sarcastic question "What's he gonna do, shoot me?" is actually "Yes.".

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It's probably the quickest way to bring an invincibility complex to an end.
PPS - Too bad it doesn't last.

Windows Vista Security

One thing Microsoft *must* get right in the next Windows is security. If any old worm, virus and trojan horse program is allowed to pop onto your PC and do its business in Windows Vista, Microsoft will start losing an alarming amount of market share. Not all of it, though, because there are still some users who are properly indoctrinated that they can't live without Windows. The point is that security is (or should be) a major concern of users these days, so if the operating system is built without that as a primary objective, it will be seen as a failure. The global and instant communication network presents an immediate opportunity to malicious and benevolent software alike, and steps must be taken to sift the good from the bad.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - We may gradually and eventually get there.
PPS - That is if the net doesn't first implode under the weight of corporate greed.

Miscommunication

My friend Michael came back from the UK for a visit about three weeks ago and is leaving today. By sheer luck I heard about yesterday's farewell dinner in time to be there. Why didn't I hear about this? I blame Microsoft, and this time I'm not being as flippant as you might think. Mister Michael announced his visit plans via email to everyone, which Hotmail counts as "mass email" and routed to my Junk Mail box. I didn't check in time, because I hardly use my Hotmail account at all anymore, and the announcement vanished forever. Curse you Microsoft!

Mokalus of Borg

PS - This just a few days after (almost) sticking up for them.
PPS - Why do they toy with me like this?

The Sunday Mok - A world of dreams

Last Sunday started twice. Once at 4am to watch the first sunrise of the new year and then again at 07:30. I slept at home after church, then played City of Heroes for a while. After the evening church service, I watched The Wedding Singer with Erin, Deb, Murrae, Scott, Michelle, René, Sam and Stu.
I spent Monday at Deb's, including a Youthworx reunion barbeque and swim. Deb and I left a little early for dinner at my Dad's place. We watched a little Angel at my place after that.
I bought a new DVD player on Tuesday, plus some shoes. We rented Signs on DVD and had to have it replaced because the disc was faulty. I didn't get to see it that night anyway, because of a power outage.
I spent Wednesday alone playing City of Heroes and also did some grocery shopping. I found the YAAFM videos on zipperfish.com and watched a few. You'll know what the acronym means if you go there. Deb and I cooked a Thai green chicken curry for dinner for her family.
I felt better on Thursday following a bit of a slump from Tuesday. I slept in and played City of Heroes for a while. After lunch, I picked up Debbie and we went to see Just Like Heaven.
I went for an exercise walk on Friday - the first in a long time. Following that, I spent the whole day at Deb's watching Angel. That's about it.
On Saturday I went to Dreamworld with Stu, Bridgit, Erin, Murrae and Kirsty. It was fun, especially going on The Claw, the latest big ride. I hadn't been on it before. I was exhausted when I got home.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Yeah, I think that about covers it.
PPS - I'm off to finish watching YAAFM.

(Almost) Sticking Up for Microsoft

The one thing I have noticed that Microsoft does slightly better than Google is supporting international users, like me. Google services tend to support primarily (or only) the United States. Sometimes there is a note to the effect that they plan, sometime in the future, to support international users.

Microsoft, on the other hand, will usually have at least some information or services with Australian information alongside the US info. Little as it may be, it's more than Google gives me sometimes.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I should have an example, shouldn't I?
PPS - Got one: the Weather box on Google Desktop Sidebar vs MSN Weather.

The worst of the worst

In Ann Rice's vampire novels, the vampires can move too quickly for human eyes to see, and basically the only things that can kill them are fire, beheading and sunlight. The older ones can hear your thoughts, move objects with their minds and fly. Their personalities are intact - they are the same person dead as they were alive.

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the vampires are demons in dead bodies who remember the life of their vessel. They are malicious and evil, every one. They take delight in the kill and creating pain, but cannot enter a home without an invitation.

In Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the vampire can enter any room that is not completely airtight, and can transform into various forms such as a wolf or bat.

The worst kind of vampire to encounter, combining these attributes, would be one who is too old to be burned by the sun, is evil through and through, can enter any room or home (even if the door is locked) and kill you before you even see it coming.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - You could be attacked in broad daylight.
PPS - And you'd be dead before you blink.

DVD luxury

Yesterday I enjoyed a certain novelty that most of you would take for granted. You see, I purchased a new DVD player, and it actually plays my discs! Our old "Palsonic" player had all kinds of troubles with my Buffy, Angel and Stargate: SG-1 DVDs. It's latest trick was to reset itself after I navigated through the menus and select an episode to play. Now, thankfully, that is all in the past.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - My only gripe with the new player is the short length of its power cord.
PPS - But I guess it's not size that matters.

Thy matriarch is corpulent

The word "Momma" for "Mother" does not translate into Commonwealth English at all. "Mumma" simply does not make sense. It may be this reason that has kept obnoxious "Your momma so fat" jokes out of Australia. For this, I am grateful.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I told you this was the best country in the world.
PPS - Even if it is only for that reason.

Physical file type abstraction

I have this idea about operating systems and file types - I shouldn't have to know much at all about file types themselves, but rather just that a particular file contains video information. One media player should be plenty, which means I just need drivers to encode and decode the data from the physical file type. I shouldn't need to install Windows Media Player, Quicktime and RealPlayer at home - I should be able to choose one that appeals to me and have it play any video format for which I have a codec. That's a layer of abstraction on top of the current Windows model, so what I end up with is literally video files, images, music, documents and so on, rather than .MOV, .AVI, .MPG, .RM, .JPG, .BMP, .PNG, .GIF, .MP3, .OGG, .WMA, .WAV, .DOC, .PDF, .TXT, .SXW...

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I realise that some media players can use enough different codecs to be almost universal.
PPS - That's just a start.

The Sunday Mok - Merry New Solar Circuit

Last Sunday, you recall, was Christmas Day. I spent lunch and dinner at Dad & Beth's with the step-siblings. I liked the layered salad (probably because it contained a tasty cheese and mayonnaise) and playing cards in the air conditioning.
I skipped breakfast on Monday, which is significant because I cannot actually remember ever doing so before. I was still full from Christmas. I watched Buffy with Deb past the end of season 6.
On Tuesday we finished the second-last Buffy box set. Time had begun to be measured in Buffy episodes and Buffy box sets. I ate dinner at home, because the holidays have meant an accumulation of fresh food here that's not otherwise getting eaten so much.
I spent Wednesday morning playing City of Heroes, then went to Deb's for more Buffy and dinner. After we stopped watching DVDs for the night, we had a long conversation.
Deb and I went shopping on Thursday, mostly to compare and price DVD players, since ours here doesn't play everything I've got. We swam at Stu's in the afternoon with representative portion of the church crowd, then had dinner at Dad and Beth's, as is the Thursday tradition.
I mowed the lawn on Friday, rather poorly. Since a poor job is much like a careful one, only quicker, I'm not too cut up about my slackness. I installed an old hard drive in an old PC for Dad, then Deb and I started spring cleaning the rumpus room. It'll be a nice (and comfortably-temperatured) place when we're done with it.
Saturday was New Year's Eve, and I tried to spend it resting up for a big night. I couldn't sleep or even doze, though. Deb and I headed out to Lydia and Rich's new place to see the fireworks and catch up with my friends who I see far too irregularly. That's all my fault, by the way.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - My tradition of staying awake for the sunrise had a three-hour nap component this year.
PPS - That's because I still made it to church this morning.

Joss Whedon as a wrap-up writer

I have come to a little conclusion regarding Joss Whedon, creator/writer/director of Buffy, Angel and Firefly: he can't write a really good final ending. The wrong characters die in stupid and unpredictable ways, the last part of the last scene is always foreshadowing instead of an ending, and permanent damage is done to the characters in some way. On the plus side, the endings are still dramatic, suspenseful and spectacular.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Joss' endings are probably his way of saying that life goes on.
PPS - And they're different from typical Hollywood tripe. I've got to give him that.

The Dire Sun Story

In City of Heroes, any individual character can have up to four different costumes. You have to earn them, and they gradually become available at higher levels. Yesterday I made it to level 30 with my main character, Dire Sun, which meant I could get a third costume, as pictured below.

The reason they all look very similar is that I use the costumes as part of telling the character story. The aspect of Dire Sun's story that is told by his costumes is his growing egotism and believing his own hype.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - The fourth costume will be mostly bright gold with a glowing aura.
PPS - Nobody said it was a happy story.

New, just like yesterday

I'd really like to know what "new information" triggers the little star beside a person's name in MSN Messenger, because I look at the info and am usually struck by the amount of total sameness shining from the contact card. I do notice that there are occasionally different songs listed as currently playing, and very occasionally a new Spaces blog post (but usually not). In either case, something is strangely wrong with that feature.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I feel justified in blaming Microsoft for this one.
PPS - After all, who else was involved in its creation?