http://www.dylanwolf.com/DylanWolf.com BlogMon, 09 Jan 2012 17:27:37 GMTPyRSS2Gen-1.0.0http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Live.comhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/7Gqje9mV6lg/<p>I've heard some rumblings about a new edition of D&D today, and finally caught a <a href="http://critical-hits.com/2012/01/09/new-edition-of-dungeons-dragons-announced/">couple</a> of <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/316069-wizards-coast-seeks-unity-new-edition.html">links</a> in my Twitter feed. (I could just Google this stuff, but I'm lazy and feel like I can trust re-tweeted links from known sources better.)</p> <p>I'm having two reactions to these rumors, and I think these apply to not only gaming, but technology and programming and all sorts of other things. (Admittedly, they are gut reactions.)</p> <p><strong>Learn to recognize when you're being sold the "next big thing" line, but don't overreact.</strong> 4E's marketing was all about how it makes the game more accessible and easier to play. And it did that, mainly by adopting some game mechanics from MMOs. Fundamentally, this isn't a bad thing. Rumors pointing to a more old-school approach suggest either it didn't work or it went too far.</p> <p>This seems to be the fundamental problem with a lot of leaps in design/technology: to ease the uncertainty, it's hailed as the "next big thing" (the implication usually being that those who don't like it don't "get it"). For other examples, look at WPF vs. WinForms and .NET vs. WinRT. Or look at any new programming methodology that gets some good buzz behind it. Maybe we'd do well to consciously remember almost every "next big thing" will somehow, someday be "old and busted," if only because it loses its novelty, and that you can't say with certainty what "the next big thing" will be until well after it actually becomes "the next big thing".</p> <p>But being a naysayer may be as bad as being sold on the party line. 4E was a different system than 3E. It did some things better and some things worse, but it wasn't on the whole a huge step back--more like a lateral move. Ultimately, I hope the update will capitialize on the good things while dropping the things that didn't work. But if you deny that an about-face means the whole thing wasn't as successful as hoped, you might end up missing the "next small, iterative thing" because it's not the much-heralded "next big thing."</p> <p>My point, I suppose, is that the best response is to <em>realize it is a line</em> and <em>ignore it</em>. And railing against it is not ignoring it--you're still allowing the line to dictate the terms of the conversation.</p> <p>As an aside, I think companies damage trust with their customers when they play a strong "next big thing" line and it fizzles. Of course, that's just me--I'm overly literal and I have a strong reaction to trying to reframe reality in ways that turn out to be decidedly unrealistic. But I have a feeling the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community">"reality-based community"</a> is not a large portion of anyone's target audience.</p> <p>WotC is doing well to frame this announcement by focusing on the fact that game development is an iterative, sometimes opinionated process, rather than playing "the next big thing" card again. I don't know if that will convince people to buy a new set of books.</p> <p><strong>There is no universal system for anything.</strong> I find the talk of a single system a bit disconcerting. 3E was a very tools-oriented system and 4E was a very game-experience-oriented system. Both of these are valid approaches for different types of people, the success of which depends upon whether a niche will buy enough to support the product line. And the quality of each approach depends on making design choices that support that approach--it's nearly impossible to create a good restricted, simplified system <em>and</em> cater to people who want an open, free-form toolbox.</p> <p>To put it another way, even if it's community-driven, it will not necessarily be universal.</p> <p>4E was divisive is because it told 3E D&D fans "this is what we're about now." That didn't sit well with me, but I recognized 3E and 4E were the right tools for different types of campaigns (in terms of genre, feel, player types, and scheduling/effort). No matter what the company line was, I was free to choose which tools I would use.</p> <p>The two approaches could almost be separate product lines, or maybe alternate rules sets of rules &agrave; la <em>Unearthed Arcana</em>. (And it appears <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/316036-off-see-wizards-day-wizards-coast-showed-me-d-d-5th-edition.html">this is not too far off</a>.) But any attempt to say "<em>this</em> is the secret formula" will end up looking dated in a few years, even if it was borne out of community involvement and playtesting.</p> <p>Of course, the rub in WotC's case is that you have to have a business model to go along with whatever decision you make. Will subscriptions work as well as they hope? I'm not sure. I only recently decided to shell out for D&D Insider, but $9.95/month is painful for one semi-regular game. Is there a middle way between a subscription-based model and model based on endless splatbooks? I don't know.</p> <p>Anyway, that's my two cents. I haven't played a lot of 4E. For reasons I'm not entirely sure of (and which may have little to do with the game itself) I haven't been all that excited about learning the rules in depth as I was with 3E. Will these updates fix that for me, or will it make me say "screw it, I'm sticking with 3E"?</p> <p>(EDIT: I actually went back and read some of the original source articles and updated this post.)</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/200">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7Gqje9mV6lg:T04gINmZROU:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/7Gqje9mV6lg" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/200/Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:27:37 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/200/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/l-8XWyotuCQ/<p>This is a recipe I developed last year, and it never quite came together until a few months ago. I had worked with the apple cider/cinnamon combination a bit. Then my friend Charlie suggested that, for a potluck around Halloween, everyone should include pumpkin in their dishes. (Challenge accepted, allez-cuisine, and all that.)</p> <p>It turns out adding pumpkin puree to the recipe thickens up the chili and adds a bit of sweetness, which is just what the combination needs.</p> <p>What you need:</p> <ul><li> A slow cooker</li> <li> 1 pound of ground turkey or beef</li> <li> 2 green peppers, diced</li> <li> 2 onions, diced</li> <li> 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced</li> <li> 1-2 jalapenos (or other type of pepper), diced</li> <li> about 1 pound of dry beans (I usually use half a bag of red beans + half a bag of black beans)</li> <li> 2 12oz bottles hard apple cider (I typically use Hardcore, since it's more crisp than sweet)</li> <li> half of a 15oz can of pureed pumpkin</li> <li> apple cider vinegar (to taste)</li> <li> about 1-2tsp each of cinnamon, smoked paprika, and chili powder (I've never measured this exactly, so it's really to taste)</li> <li> other spices to taste (I usually throw in salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, rosemary, and coriander, but I'm a bit of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_programming">cargo cult cook</a> when it comes to spice usage)</li></ul> <p>First, start soaking your beans. I usually do a quick soak/rinse: fill a pot with water, boil your beans on high for about 10 minutes, remove from heat, and sit covered for an hour. Once that's done done, rinse them under running water in a strainer. After that's done, boil them again until they're tender.</p> <p>While the beans are soaking, start dicing your peppers, onions, and jalapenos, and mince your garlic. If you don't like your chili to be hot, remove the seeds from the jalapenos; otherwise, leave them in. You may want to cook the vegetables on the stove to remove some of the moisture before they go into the chili, but they should get tender enough cooking in the crock pot.</p> <p>Brown the meat in a skillet. Here's where I'll usually toss in the cumin and rosemary. (Again, that's cargo cult cooking that I've swiped from other recipes.)</p> <p>Once all of the above are complete, put the beans, vegetables, and meat into the slow cooker. Add one bottle of cider. Cook for several hours. (I usually leave it to cook overnight.)</p> <p>Add the rest of the cider and the pumpkin. Add spices and vinegar to taste. Continue cooking for an hour or so.</p> <p>Alternate ideas:</p> <ul> <li>It's been suggested that some type of pork (sausage, bacon, etc.) would be a good replacement for beef or turkey.</li> <li>If you want a non-alcoholic version, vegetable stock might work in place of apple cider. The cider taste isn't overpowering, so the difference would be subtle.</li> <li>I've left out the jalapenos entirely and just used a bit of cayenne pepper to add heat. This is good for those who don't like hot chili.</p> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/199">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=l-8XWyotuCQ:cag0sBGyrJA:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/l-8XWyotuCQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/199/Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:27:38 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/199/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/7A1KopBrbDQ/I am not much of a drinker, but I know some people who are. <br /> <br />Somewhere along the way I decided that, as Christmas presents this year, I was going to make bacon-infused vodka for my sister and my friend Chad (both connoisseurs of drink and bacon--or as Chad likes to call it, "the holiest of meats"). The inspiration may have come from my sister's talk of making various edibles for Christmas gifts. I don't know. <br /> <br />(A step-by-step recounting of the process, with photos, in the full post.)<p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/198">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=7A1KopBrbDQ:9SEOW4dc5lM:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/7A1KopBrbDQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/198/Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:16:49 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/198/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/w-2xwTqslqE/<p>So I have an interesting road trip planned in a couple of weeks.</p> <p>I say "interesting" because it's been a while since I've done any serious travel on my own and I'm looking forward to it. But also because it's just a crazy combination of destinations.</p> <div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em;"><a href="http://www.geekmediaexpo.com/"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/gmx3.png" alt="Geek Media Expo" /></a></div> <p>October 21-23 I'll be in Nashville for the <a href="http://www.geekmediaexpo.com/">Geek Media Expo</a>. So far I've had three panels accepted (XNA Jam, Podcasting 101, Nonfiction for Geeks), but the schedule isn't up yet.</p> <p>GMX has been in the cards for months. I wasn't really sure which days I'd be going or where we'd stay, but I knew I was going. (As it turns out, "all three days" and "in the con hotel.")</p> <p>The new thing, and the thing that turns this into an honest-to-goodness road trip, is that I'm also going to be in Memphis. I'll be at <a href="http://www.stjude.org/">St. Jude Children's Research Hospital</a> earlier that week to participate in a medical study.</p> <div style="float: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.5em 0.5em;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/stjude0008.png" alt="St. Jude" /></div> <p>When I was in high school, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and went through treatment at St. Jude. (Incidentally, since I haven't had a relapse after 14 years, the chance of recurrence is nil.) I'm taking part in a study on the long-term effects of treatment.</p> <p>Essentially, it's three days of medical tests. My After Completion of Therapy checkups stopped 10 years after treatment, so it's more data to help future research, as well as some medical tests at no cost to me. Plus, there are no travel costs and they're paying me for my time (for some reason, participating in a medical study just sounds cooler than merely a very thorough checkup). In short, it's a good excuse to take some time off and travel.</p> <p>I won't lie, I'm a terrified of the whole thing. First, the idea of three days of procedures and tests isn't pleasant. And while I see it as an opportunity to catch potential health problems early (whether side effects from treatment or not), there's always the slight chance that a battery of medical tests will turn up something serious. The best I can hope for is getting griped at about my weight and general being out of shape (which, not surprisingly, doesn't help the blood pressure reading).</p> <p>The plan is to leave out that Sunday, drive to Nashville for a day, head on to Memphis on Monday night, and then come back to Nashville Thursday after my last appointment.</p> <p>Since I have some extra time, I will try to see family when I'm out that way. I've talked to dad about nailing down some plans on that front--mom and dad will likely be going on Sunday and Monday. (I'm in Nashville every year for MTAC, but usually ride with friends and spend all my time at the con. I always feel a little guilty.)</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/197">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w-2xwTqslqE:pIHWm9gpXvU:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/w-2xwTqslqE" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/197/Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:41:00 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/197/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/jPz4aYg0kA0/THE SHORT VERSION: I felt bad and was running a low fever on Thursday. I fretted about whether I should go. I went to the Minute Clinic and they said I had shingles. I fretted about whether this was correct and whether I should go, fearing I'd be contagious. I didn't go. I did nothing but read. It was kind of relaxing and I needed that, so I'm not completely bummed out about missing it.<p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/196">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=jPz4aYg0kA0:fr8V-xhY--I:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/jPz4aYg0kA0" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/196/Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:01:09 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/196/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/RaKPAqzN0qM/<p>(For those interested, I'm on Google+ at <a href="http://gplus.to/dylanwolf">http://gplus.to/dylanwolf</a>.)</p> <p>I've been on Google+ less than a week, and I'm still calculating my approach. Setting up on a new social network always feels like the most fun part of social networking--exploring the profile options, making new connections, and organizing all of this information. If nothing else, it's a blank slate with nothing but potential.</p> <p>As I said on Twitter, I still don't know that I have much interesting to say, but I can organize the crap out of people I could say it to if I did. With Google+'s Circles, I'm living the backwards, introverted, OCD social networking dream.</p> <p>The most surprising part of the process has been groking my own reactions to the way Google+ expects me to think. It feels like Google+ is triangulating a position between Facebook's seemingly out-of-control privacy and app sprawl and Twitter's more limited, content-focused service. But since it's neither Twitter nor Facebook, it's also given me some insight into the different ways I use other social networks (or rather, how they've conditioned me to think).</p> <p>On Facebook, I'm careful with who I friend. I try to only friend people I've met in real life (although I've posted in a few "post your Facebook" forum threads, and feel a little awkward having Facebook friends I barely know, but feel it would be rude to unfriend). Because it's a two-way street, I'm also careful about who I add--usually, I wait for other people to send the request. It's a filter, really--a logical rule I can use to avoid playing fast and loose with gut decisions. I would feel creepy if I added everyone within one or two degrees of separation without thinking, but unsure where I'd draw the line otherwise.</p> <p>But, as reading between the lines of that last paragraph might imply, it's not just about filter, it's about my perspective on what each service aims to be. Facebook centers around the concept of a "profile," so Interests, Friends, and all that good stuff feels like an intrinsic part of the public profile I'm presenting to the interwebs. Even the apps I use--or, rather, the chance that an app will misuse access to my profile--feels like a defining characteristic.</p> <p>On Twitter, I'm looser with who I follow. This is where I follow the musicians, actors, writers, artists, prominent developers, etc. that I want to keep up with. Like Facebook, I often wait for acquaintences to follow me first, but I'm much more loose with that filter. Twitter is a one-way street, so I don't feel like I'm intruding by following.</p> <p>Since there's no true "about me" page, my Follow list doesn't seem like it's intrinsically supposed to communicate something about myself or my connections. People only care about my tweets, because that's the main way I'm defining myself. As long as apps don't post to my feed, I'm a little less nervous about giving them access to Twitter than Facebook, because they're going to be lost in someone else's Tweet stream. (I have been feeling guilty that most of my non-reply Tweets anymore are <a href="http://www.gamemarx.com/">GameMarx</a> retweets, but that's another issue.)</p> <p>I feel like Facebook defines, while Twitter communicates. One isn't necessarily better than the other. In fact, because they're for different purposes, I'm not sure the comparison is even valid.</p> <p>Google+ threw me for a loop because I instantly wanted to categorize it as either a clone of Facebook or Twitter. At first glance it's trying to be Facebook. It's a profile and supports more than 140-character text messages. It uses a language of connection ("in a circle") like Facebook rather than action or content like Twitter ("following," "followers," "lists"). (Thankfully, Google+ isn't using the overly chummy "Friends" terminology--I think that's a very responsible choice given the connotation of the word, and its inaccuracy in the online world.)</p> <p>Because of this, I keep wanting to think that Google+ connections should ideally be two-way, Facebook-style. Of course Circles act more like Twitter's one-way follows, but this assumption immediately sent me into the fearful, cautionary approach I use with Facebook. Knowing this is a false assumption, I'd like to break this and use Google+ to build a wide, multi-tiered network of connections, something I don't feel the urge to do on Twitter and don't have the ability to do on Facebook.</p> <p>I assume more people will be like me and feel the need to make two-way connections on Google+ than with Twitter. I assume many people will have a throw-away Circle that they filter out. (Actually, I guess people do this with Twitter now, but I don't really use Lists.) Right now, I'm using Acquaintances as my catch-all, but I'm not filtering anything out of my stream. (Also, I guess I need to learn how to spell "acquaintances" now. It has an 'a,' not an 'e.')</p> <p>Circles seem like an ingenious way of building privacy into the model. (Again, that'll never work as a sales pitch, but I wish it did.) It provides organization, filtering, and privacy, but without exposing that in an obvious way. Additionally, it uses the Incoming feed as a loophole to allow a privacy model that's based on <em>pushing</em> content in a medium that requires <em>pulling</em> content to prevent spam. (Time will tell if that actually works, or if Incoming undergoes some major changes.)</p> <p>Facebook's grouping tries to achieve the goal of privacy, but it doesn't feel like it has the disconnected, ACL-quality that Circles has. On the plus side, Facebook allows you to explain to profile visitors how they're connected to you. On the other hand, you can't stick people in a Facebook group called <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/tma/status/86496250718986240">"JERKS"</a> and not look like... well, a jerk.</p> <p>Of course, I'm looking at Google+ through rose-colored glasses right now. Every major piece of technology seems to go through an arc where it manages to do something awesome, builds to an apex and becomes a household name, and then goes on to become as maligned as the product it replaced. Partly, it's because the application starts out as a blank slate, or as an exclusive club (it's obscure; you've probably never heard of it). But in other cases, it's because of deliberate choices the developers made. I submit Firefox, MySpace, and Facebook as examples.</p> <p>I have to believe this is a corollary to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Quotes">Zawinski's Law</a>, or at least a version of the law for the next generation of applications. Every web application attempts to expand until one of two things happens:</p> <ol> <li> Believing that, because they're popular, they can do no wrong, the developers will make boneheaded or outright anti-user decisions.</li> <li> Developers will provide users with more and more flexibility until such time as they can create retina-burning animated backgrounds or send out a hundred game requests a day to hapless followers.</li> </ol> <p>The latter point, incidentally, is a natural consequence. As much as I gripe about Farmville, there are legitimate Facebook apps that wouldn't exist without many of the API features it uses. All other factors being equal, services that provide this flexibility and openness will eventually usurp those who don't.</p> <p>So even if all goes well, eventually we're all going to fall out of love with Google+ and we're going to go chasing after the next social service that decides to embrace simplicity. At least until we realize all the things simplicity didn't let us do.</p> <p>And well but so anyway, I'm not going to make a prediction about Google+'s ultimate success or failure. None of my discussion here takes into account the big-picture choices that will make or break the service. I'd like it to fight the Facebook monster and win, both as a victory for privacy and for a more sensible approach to social networking. (I feel like the latter is partly the reason Facebook usurped MySpace.) I'd like it to do so without becoming a monster in the process.</p> <p>Either way, I'm fascinated at how Circles represent a new take on the conventional wisdom of social network connections. I'm even more fascinated at how I have to adjust my initial assumptions to deal with it. I won't say it's necessarily the best take on social networking; that's going to depend on how users decide to use it.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/195">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=RaKPAqzN0qM:7Fte4kcRqVE:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/RaKPAqzN0qM" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/195/Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:19:34 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/195/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/fmykKzR25bg/<p><em>(Since I was recently taunted about the fact that I haven't posted anything here since August, and I've been meaning to write about this for a while, here you go.)</em></p> <div style="float: right; margin: 1em;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599219948"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-t1TBWunL._SL160_.jpg" alt="Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks" /></a></div> <p>It's been a few months since I picked up this book at Dragon*Con (and mainly because I'd seen so many fliers for it), but I finally got around to reading it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Freaks-Gaming-Geeks-Imaginary/dp/1599219948/"><em>Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks</em></a> is one man's quest to investigate, firsthand and in-depth, the various subcultures and hobbies within fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming culture. I generally like the other books I've read that use that style and approach (Daniel Radosh's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rapture-Ready-Adventures-Parallel-Christian/dp/159376281X/"><em>Rapture Ready!</em></a>, A.J. Jacobs' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Year-Living-Biblically-Literally-Possible/dp/0743291484/"><em>The Year of Living Biblically</em></a>, and Zack Parson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Your-Next-Door-Neighbor-Dragon-Parsons/dp/0806527595/"><em>Your Next Door Neighbor Is a Dragon</em></a>), and while they're often as much about how the subculture affects the author as anything else, the investigation in <em>FF&GG</em> is inextricably tied to the author's own narrative. That makes it hard to read in some cases (for example, the introduction is a bit unexpected and emotionally heavy), but the personal quest angle makes it far more interesting than a series of essays on fandom.</p> <p>Ethan Gilsdorf grew up playing <em>Dungeons and Dragons</em> and reading Tolkein, which often provided an escape from the difficulties of his teenage years. Eventually he grew out of it, and much of this book is really him questioning whether he missed out on anything by giving up geekdom in his 20's and whether he's really ready to abandon it for good in his 40's. Over the course of the book, he visits J.R.R. Tolkein's home in Oxford, a gaming convention in Wisconsin (where Gary Gygax founded TSR), the Society for Creative Anachronism's annual Pennsic War, a LARP weekend, Gu&eacute;delon, France (where a group of people are re-creating the building of a medieval castle), Dragon*Con, and the New Zealand landmarks where <em>The Lord of the Rings</em> was filmed. He also discusses online gaming (mainly WoW) over the course of two chapters. Admittedly, it's not as impressive or interesting for me as some of the other subject matter, but he's thorough, giving a voice to both proponents who feel empowered by the phenomenon and detractors who have suffered addiction.</p> <div style="float: left; margin: 1em;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Camp-Shane-Macomber/dp/B001AZIRVS/"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QtJSEmO5L._SL160_.jpg" alt="Monster Camp" /></a></div> <p>For a veteran of D&amp;D and computer gaming, it's a fresh perspective on a culture I'm already familiar with and a reminder of how much I might have missed out on by settling into my own little niche. The book made me a little sad that Dragon*Con was 10 away; Gilsdorf's trip was in 2008, which was my second visit to the con. It made me want to take another trip to a major gaming convention like Origins. And yes, I may take crap for this, but it made me want to go to an SCA or LARP event, if only once to see what it's like. (To be fair, I don't see how you can go wrong with that mix of camping and gaming. And I think I'd rather volunteer with plot than take center-stage.)</p> <p>For those outside the genre, it might be an interesting introduction for you, but it's a bit extreme. Many of the people in this book are not the kids who meet at the local gaming shop every weekend to play D&amp;D. Many of these people are making a serious commitment that most people don't have the time for. However, it is a glimpse into the mind of fandom.</p> <p>Incidentally, that brings me to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Camp-Shane-Macomber/dp/B001AZIRVS/"><em>Monster Camp</em></a>, a documetary I got for Christmas this year. It follows several different participants (both players and plot) at the NERO Seattle LARP group.</p> <p>It could almost be a companion piece to this book. In addition to showing what a typical LARP is like, it delves into the various participants lives both in- and out-of-game. Why they play. How they play. How it affects their lives outside the game. It takes place over the course of a couple of years, so you see people moving from role to role--either to different player characters, or from player to plot member, or what have you.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/194">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fmykKzR25bg:eS3cLZwlyUU:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/fmykKzR25bg" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/194/Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:29:20 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/194/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/Bvv8HVEDsYQ/<p>This weekend, <a href="http://www.theporcelainidle.com">John</a> and I drove over to Nashville for <a href="http://www.whatisgmx.net/">Geek Media Expo</a> Volume 2.</p> <p>I didn't attend the first GMX last year, but we have been attending their parent convention, <a href="http://www.mtac.net/">Middle Tennessee Anime convention</a>, for several years now. Originally I'd pre-registered thinking I'd get away for a weekend and see what the new con was like. (The last couple of years, I had a distinct preference for the multi-fandom DragonCon over most of the anime conventions we usually attend. I blame kids these days with their <em>Naruto</em> and their <em>Bleach</em> and their <em>Axis Powers Hetalia</em>.)</p> <p>Through several twists and turns, it became a two-man, three-panel whirlwind tour.</p> <p>We didn't know what to expect at GMX. I assumed it would be something like MTAC, only smaller and slightly less anime-focused.</p> <p style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/gmx2010-mainevents1.jpg" alt="Main Events" /></p> <p>Smaller, yes. Not too small, but not too big. For the convention's size, I think the Opryland Radisson was the perfect choice. The large, open atrium was used as the Main Events track, which I thought was brilliant. Unless you were in a panel room, you knew what was going on at any given time. </p> <p style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/gmx2010-mainevents2.jpg" alt="Main Events" /><br />Main Events</p> <p>There wasn't as much anime as I expected based on the MTAC connection. The schedule was extremely varied, although (between our short stay and running our own panels) we missed a lot of interesting-looking panels. Given the breadth of the topics covered and the size of the con, there were occasionally blocks where I couldn't find much interesting going on. I suspect a lot of that will settle out in the coming years as the con grows and the most popular events return.</p> <p>Not being a huge <em>Stargate</em> or <em>Voyager</em> fan, I wasn't too excited about the guests. I was disappointed that Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol on <em>Battlestar Galactica</em>) canceled because of a scheduling conflict. However, I was surprised at the caliber of guests GMX, being only two years old, managed to line up.</p> <p>Still, I love the atmosphere. I'm sold on going back next year, and probably presenting a few more panels. If I can sell it to everyone else in the group, attending all three days and staying at the con hotel would be awesome. To save some cash on this experiment, we stayed one night at an Econo Lodge a ways down Briley Parkway, and I felt like I missed out on a lot.</p> <p style="font-size: 85%; text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/gmx2010-soap.jpg" alt="Upside, though: soap dispensers from the world of tomorrow" /><br /> Upside, though: soap dispensers from the world of tomorrow</p> <p>The panels I did attend were entertaining. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/themanpower">The Man Power</a> hosted the slightly off-topic but always hilarious <strong>Spoon! A Tick Fan Panel</strong> and <strong>Jackie Chan: Master of Cinema</strong>. The Man Power put on an awesome panel, even if you don't have the slightest clue about the topic (confession: I've only seen a handful of Jackie Chan's movies, and only the American ones).</p> <p>Saturday night, I was in <strong>Standing Too Close To The Fire: Burn Notice</strong>, which mostly featured stories from the set (the host was the son of one of the show's crew).</p> <p>I also caught <strong>Boba Fett: The Man, The Myth, The... Clone?</strong> on Sunday morning. I'm not a huge Boba Fett fan, but I did happen to agree with the general sentiment that making Boba Fett a clone was one of the horrible side-effects of the prequel trilogy.</p> <p>Our panels went fairly well, despite the fact that I nearly had a panic attack on Saturday morning worrying about them.</p> <p><strong>Game Development with XNA</strong> went over well. I'd initially geared my talk and slides for non-programmers, but I realized about halfway through that I was getting too technical while not touching a bit of code. Skipping through most of my technical points, I opened up for questions and discussion about halfway through. Turns out there were several coders in the audience with specific questions. (This is also where I'm glad I attended that Windows Phone 7 Developer Bootcamp.) The questions and discussions were great--it's always a good sign when discussion among attendees breaks out during the Q&A segment.</p> <p><strong>Dungeons and Dragons And Other Stuff, Too</strong> was surprisingly a success. As Chad and Charlie had to drop for various reasons, it was just John and me. I had no fear of contributing to a conversation, but I figured there'd be little to play on if audience participation was light. Thankfully, we had a great and active crowd and some amazing discussion take place. I learned a little bit that I didn't know about AD&D 2nd Edition.</p> <p>If there was anything I found slightly disturbing, it was that people were asking us for our opinions on general concepts like homebrew settings. I'm happy to offer my thoughts and spur discussion, but on such a broad and diverse subject as tabletop RPGs, I'm not sure my word is gospel. But open up a discussion panel and I guess people think you're an authority.</p> <p>Our final panel, <strong>Podcasting 101</strong> was a good end to the con. Gothic Gaara from the Naruto podcast <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Konoha-Corner/115005855192157">Konoha Corner</a>, who we'd met at the AWA Podcaster Roundtable, stepped in. (Having a second set of opinions was great, especially from someone who does a much different style of podcast than we do--there's no one right way to do a podcast.) The turnout was a bit light, but that meant Q&A was a bit more loose and free. We filmed this, and it should be up on YouTube sometime this week.</p> <p>Our time at GMX was fun, short, and too full. We met some new friends and caught up with old ones--something we've never been able to do quite the same way at MTAC or AWA, given the crowds those cons draw in. I'm impressed, and I'm looking forward to next year.</p> <p>(I took a very few photos, which can be <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/sets/72157625110121567/">found on Flickr</a>.)</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/193">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bvv8HVEDsYQ:nBOKThZ6iEw:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/Bvv8HVEDsYQ" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/193/Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:40:16 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/193/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/h_THaoK58a4/<p>I happen to subscribe to <a href="http://www.weirdal.com/">Weird Al</a>'s email updates, and I just got the following bizarre email from his list:</p> <blockquote> Sony Music is in the midst of transitioning to a new email service provider. Due to this switch over, an email meant for Kris Allen's list was mistakenly sent to Weird Al's list. We understand how valuable you are as a loyal member of Weird Al's email list. By no means was this an intentional act and we offer our deepest apologies.</blockquote> <p>Wait, they're assuring me that <strong>by no means was this an intentional act</strong> and they're <strong>offering their deepest apologies</strong>? Did Sony run over my dog in their SUV or something?^*</p> <p>Oddly enough, I do remember getting the Kris Allen email. I shrugged it off because I figured it was something I'd downloaded from <a href="https://noisetrade.com/index.aspx">NoiseTrade</a> and then deleted.</p> <p>But, really, it sort of says something about our culture that we have to <em>deeply apologize</em> for a mistakenly sent email. Apologize, yes. Deeply apologize, deny intentions, and assure us of our value, not so much. Methinks they doth protest too much.</p> <p>Yes, we're sensitive to spam and invasion of privacy, and yes, as a developer, I've been on the other side of this phenomenon and can understand the absolute PR nightmare it can be. The only time I've ever been cursed out by a client is when I wrote an update that sent out a bunch of unexpected emails to their users. (Even then, that was because users weren't actually managing their data, but at least I should have checked it against production data first.)</p> <p>Still, email can be the most flippant and least personal form of communication at our disposal. Heck, most of the messages that hit my personal email box aren't even sent out manually, they're either automated notifications or subscriptions. That people might flip out over a <em>single stray email</em> blows my mind.</p> <p>This might be a good place to go back to reference <a href="http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/07/on-offendedness.html">David Dark via Slacktivist on the topic of offendedness</a>.</p> <p><br /><br />^* No, because I don't actually own a dog.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/192">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=h_THaoK58a4:IglL47ZEDqE:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/h_THaoK58a4" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/192/Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:47:13 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/192/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/XwOBnsL_K2I/<div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Loose-Canons-ebook/dp/B003RCJTV4/"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/LooseCanonsCover.png" alt="Loose Canons" /></a></div> <p>So yes, this makes two book blog posts almost back to back. (At least this one didn't sit around for over a week on my desktop--I just finished reading it last night.)</p> <p>I'm not making it a habit, but I did want to mention <em>Loose Canons</em> because I'm friends with the guy who wrote it and would really like to get the word out. (No, really, this is completely unsolicited--if you know Chad you know he'd probably grumble at the idea of someone else writing a blog post about his work.)</p> <p>The <em>Loose Canons</em> cycle is several years old, so--more or less quietly--<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Loose-Canons-ebook/dp/B003RCJTV4/">he put it up on Amazon's Kindle platform for $0.99</a> for the heck of it. You don't actually need a Kindle--you can read it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771">on your PC, Blackberry, Droid, fruitPhone, or fruitPad</a>.</p> <p>(This was actually the first time I'd read it all the way through, as sitting down to read it on my Blackberry is much more convenient than someone handing you a stack of papers and saying "what do you think of this?")</p> <p>So, for less than a dollar, you get all this:</p> <blockquote><p>Loose Canons is a collection of 10 interconnected short stories which explore a world in which even the gods themselves are faithless and incompetent. Along the way, it encompasses humor, mythology, and questioning faith as less-than-heroic characters are tested--and found wanting.</p> <ul> <li>A church conducts interviews to find their new god.</li> <li>A god puts one of his priests to the test - and the cleric flunks miserably.</li> <li>A cadre of deities files a lawsuit against God for putting them out of work.</li> <li>Two gods set out to keep the secrets of the hamburgers of the deities out of mortal hands.</li> <li>The village idiot sets out to kill Time so he can live forever.</li> </ul></blockquote> <p>The world (multiverse, I should say) of <em>Loose Canons</em> is complex and somewhat twisted, while still being whimsical in a Hitchiker's Guide sort of way.</p> <p>After losing all of his worshippers, Thoth, Lord of Knowledge, ends up flipping burgers at a fast food joint on modern-day Earth. Chanticleer, Lord of Storms, goes chasing after a demonic fast-food clown mascot who has stolen a secret hamburger recipe from Brahma's restaurant on Olympus (ironically called The Sacred Cow). Aurus, Slayer of the Undead, is stripped of his divinity wagering with another god on the faithfulness of his high priest. Eridain Calumna Spear-Thrower, chosen hero of the gods, gets caught in a spat between Time and Death.</p> <p>Incidentally, I ran this post by Chad, and he wanted me to add this disclaimer: "I'm an equal-opportunity offender. You may also want to mention that I'm probably going to hell, no matter what religion you follow."</p> <p>Also, Chad is working on a new book over the summer, a combination of dark fantasy and an even darker modern-day dystopia tentatively called <em>Revolution</em>.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/191">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=XwOBnsL_K2I:IT6H3Wp3QZI:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/XwOBnsL_K2I" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/191/Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:44:16 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/191/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/w5SrfTraOpM/<div style="float: right; margin: 1em;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/0143117467/"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51a5CbzuicL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" alt="Shop Class as Soulcraft" /></a></div> <p>This is a book I happened to pick up off a sale table at a bookstore because it looked interesting (and was buy-one-get-one-50% off). Having become surprisingly domestic (for me, anyway) in the last couple of years, I could buy into the premise of manual labor as an essential part of the human experience, and I wanted to see the author's take. (I tend to enjoy reading books that develop to a conclusion half-formed ideas I already have--it makes me feel like I'm not crazy, while still requiring me to think.)</p> <p>As a video-game-nerd-turned-software-developer (and yes, the former led into the latter) my life has been built around electronic abstractions. Yet I've come to a point where it usually doesn't make me feel as capable as putting my hand to an actual physical craft. (Having been programming for over a decade, part of that is that I know it well enough to be hypercritical--but I digress.)</p> <p>In large part, the book is arguing against the growing "knowledge worker" business culture, in that it (in the author's view) often thrives on rules versus critical thinking, produces no tangible product, and cultivates no real skill or appreciation for a craft.</p> <p>Parallel to this, he argues that we've become a culture of consumers, quick to dispose, ready to replace rather than repair--a culture based on the abstract rather than the concrete and physical. This changes not just the way we value our resources and possessions (the value of time versus money, if nothing else), but the way we value our own skillsets. Fixing and building just isn't worth the complexity, time, and frustration anymore--but the author is asking whether there's not something unquantifiable that we've left out of the equation. The author's argument sometimes feels a bit overstated but in my opinion he's not too far off the mark.</p> <p>As a software developer, in fact, I feel like I'm caught between the two extremes. Programming has an element of craftsmanship, and as such it's not a predictable job that can be governed by strict rules. But it doesn't quite have a tangible outcome--not in the same sense that, say, woodworking or engine repair does. There is definitely a product being produced, but it is (or at least is perceived as being) infinitely malleable. As such, much of the author's respect for physical, (semi-)permanent finished products doesn't really apply--and those properties are central to his point. In some ways, our attitudes towards software can be more in line with the disposable culture that the author rails against. And, to top it all off, software is often surrounded by the culture that the author associates with "knowledge worker" jobs.</p> <p>This is not to say anything bad about software development, because I enjoy it and couldn't see myself doing anything else. Rather, I think, it's a different perspective which can inform my own, and can remove some of the rough edges. It's an outsider's perspective--a safeguard against a vacuum chamber. And it's a reminder not to take things too seriously, because no hobby or craft is an end in itself.</p> <p>The book's tone towards the "knowledge worker" culture in business also seems a bit dire, but at the same time I've seen the problem when I consider some of the unemployed and underemployed people I know. It seems that, if you don't pick a specialized field, go for an advanced degree, and network like crazy while you're in college, you're left out in the cold. With those options exhausted, there seems to be little demand for specialization and no obvious path to prepare yourself to compete for a job--it's mostly retail or general office work or what have you. I happen to be (extremely) lucky to have fallen into a career path where there's a clear, inexpensive path for an amateur to work his way into a professional career. I'm thankful for that, but it's also very frustrating to know that's not the norm.</p> <p>But the book isn't looking at the macro scale, and as such, isn't offering a revolutionary solution. I'm not even sure it's saying that the system is totally and completely broken--only that we have taken a very one-sided mindset. The book is talking on a decidedly personal and philosophical level. Even so, it is not encouraging you to quit your job, mortgage your house, and set up some sort of repair shop.</p> <p>Overall, it's definitely a book that falls into the category of "mental exercise"--books I might not actually go back and read or reference, but it challenges the status quo. It makes you question your assumptions and gives you a taste of a different viewpoint, even if you don't come out seeing eye to eye with the author.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/190">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=w5SrfTraOpM:kHTv0NcijpA:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/w5SrfTraOpM" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/190/Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:18:57 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/190/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/ZYIazuOQcOk/<p>It appears, at least from my web stats, that I've been linked by a fairly popular blog. The intro to SharePoint development talk I gave at ETNUG a couple of years ago, <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/148/">"SharePoint For Developers Who Hate SharePoint"</a> was linked as an example of <a href="http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/dotdomino/entry/mores_goodness_from_the_sharepoint_community?lang=en_us">Micro$oft's Dirty Secret: SharePoint Sucks</a> on a Lotus Notes blog.</p> <p>I find this kind of ironic, mainly because I'm not really a polemic as far as software platforms go. (Heck, I'm OK with anything so long as it works and you're not so high on the corporate Kool-Aid you can't recognize the inherent weaknesses as well as the strengths.) And the title of the talk is sort of ironic, because so much of the suck is related to misuse. For all it's quirks I think I can still do a good job with SharePoint.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/189">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZYIazuOQcOk:mhJDMhllNhs:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/ZYIazuOQcOk" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/189/Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:38:46 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/189/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/zO3Abr5GNCg/<div style="float: left; margin: 1em;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/elecguitar.jpg" alt="Electric Guitar" /></div> <p>So Guitar Center is having this big sale over Memorial Day weekend, and I stopped by while I was in Knoxville today...</p> <p>Yes, it's your basic starter guitar/amp combo because I was curious but cheap.</p> <p>I bought it knowing full well I might have to buy a $500 washing machine soon. (Turns out I <em>don't</em>, since I remembered I bought a service plan on the last one. I feel sorry for the pushy saleswoman at hhgregg that mentioned the "5 year service plan," because it reminded me of that.)</p> <p>I was That Guy and asked the guy at Guitar Center whether they had one sitting out of the box (because obviously people going for the starter set want to try it out first). And I asked whether it was good if you're just starting to play electric (I meant "since I am not a complete noob, am I going to be sorry I didn't shell out a couple hundred more for a better one in a few weeks?" but I think it came out "hi, I'm too lazy to read the box that plainly says 'START LEARNING TO PLAY.'")</p> <p>Yes, I feel guilty that I put the sales rep through all that crap, as if my decision to drop $129 in Guitar Center (where price tags often have four digits) was that important in the grand scheme of things.</p> <p>Yes, I'm pretty happy with it.</p> <p>Yes, I'm keeping it downstairs near the plastic rock instruments for now (because I don't really have room in my room, and I don't want to annoy the roommates.) And, yes, I love the fact that it looks just like the Rock Band 1 guitar.</p> <p>Yes, I've done some fingerpicking on it, so I think I've probably earned the wrath of the rock gods already.</p> <br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/188">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zO3Abr5GNCg:LLoTq3w3PdU:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/zO3Abr5GNCg" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/188/Sat, 29 May 2010 19:26:28 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/188/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/mlwnqhU7ius/<p>A few days ago, I posted photos from <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157623831080404">my trip to Louisville back in April</a> and <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157624002309089">my trip to Indian Boundary last weekend</a>.</p> <p>It had been so long ago that I'd last posted photos to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/">my Flickr account</a> that I didn't realize the sync between Flickr and the Photos section on my site wasn't working. That's right, last time I had worked on the script, I'd left the debug flag on. So it was still being run, but all of those changes were being sent straight to my beta database.</p> <p>Anyway, it does bring up something I've been considering, since is that the last time I posted a blog post was the beginning of Lent. It's been approximately two months since Easter, so add forty days to that and do the math. :)</p> <p>I haven't really had anything to post. I've spun up so many little side projects recently I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to keep up with them all, so my blog has been low on the old priority list. Writing about programming isn't really my strong suit anyway, I've found, since usually either (a) I never think to blog small one-off tips, and (b) anything I do think deserves a blog post will be insufferably long. I <em>could</em> do it, but I think it's time, effort and, focus that, given my strengths, would be better spent elsewhere.</p> <p>I have been tempted to write up short blurbs whenever I run into a movie, album, or book that I like, but being that I feel the main site is tied to me professionally I'm not sure if that's a good idea. (Then again, I'm softening on the idea that your professional image needs to be corporate and basically hide the personal side. I do occasionally find it useful to do some random writing, but given that whole "professional image" thing I'm not sure most of it would fit, and I can post them elsewhere.</p> <p>I've also been tempted to shift into writing shorter "this-is-what's-happening-in-my-life" sort of "grilled-cheese" posts, but... what is this, Blogger or Livejournal? But seriously, it's not really the type of thing I think there's much interesting to tell, or at least interesting to other people. (And, let's face it, it usually it ends up morphing into a "dear everyone that ignored my invitation, here's why you should have gone" post. :))</p> <p>Anyway, some possible thoughts of what to do with my blog in the future. Anyone have anything they'd be interested to see me blog about?</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/187">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=mlwnqhU7ius:Ha29IEp3eF8:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/mlwnqhU7ius" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/187/Fri, 28 May 2010 12:47:34 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/187/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/zfmwx85GmFs/<p>Last year was the first time I'd ever given up anything for Lent. I've just never been in a tradition that does that sort of thing. But last year I had a couple of friends who did it, so I joined in and gave up meat. I think it's a good experience to give up something voluntarily, for a lot of reasons--religious or not.</p> <p>So this year I'm going to give up meat again. And having seen bits and pieces of it last year <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%2340days">on Twitter</a>, I'm also going to do <a href="http://www.bloodwatermission.com/fortydays.php">40 days of Water</a>. The idea is that you drink only water for 40 days, and donate the money you would have spent on other beverages.</p> <p>Last year I was actually successful in avoiding meat. This year... we'll see.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/186">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=zfmwx85GmFs:yckgAaGW5Bc:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/zfmwx85GmFs" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/186/Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:15:06 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/186/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/sBAogxie4rw/<em>This is a short essay I wrote up a while ago. There are a number of topics like this going around in the back of my mind that I've thought about writing out. I'm not sure if the tone of all of those are quite right for this blog or any site where I post regularly, so I don't know if the rest will make it onto the web, but we'll see.</em> <br /> <br />Our generation, I think, has a funny way of looking at originality. And what's really funny is, this is especially prevalent in circles that are considered "geeky." Originality is the holy grail of this generation's geeks. If something is similar, it's a rip-off...<p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/185">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=sBAogxie4rw:45ifZfscJFY:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/sBAogxie4rw" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/185/Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:32:36 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/185/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/Bge8SOHN2UM/<div style="float: right; margin: 1em;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/spaceshooter-20100203.png" style="border: 1px solid #000;" alt="space shooter" /><div style="font-size: 85%;">Obviously, these aren't the final graphics.</div></div>A couple of weeks ago, I started working on an XNA space shooter game. It's 2D and completely sprite based--the type of thing that you wouldn't think was <em>that</em> hard to do. And yet, I put most of the inner workings of the gameplay through <em>two</em> rewrites in that time. <br /> <br /><h2>The first draft</h2> <br />At first, I wrote a nice class structure: every gameplay object originated from an abstract class called GameObjectBase, which defined methods to handle Update, Draw, and intersection with other types of game objects (projectiles, the player's ship, etc.). Then, each additional type of game object had its own abstract base class that, again, defined key pieces of behavior: EnemyBase, ProjectileBase, PowerupBase. The main game loop itself would keep track of all of these game objects, calling Update and Draw on them as necessary. <br /> <br />The plan here was to be able to define a new class for each type of enemy and weapon so that I can define whatever behavior I need for them. That's what I'm really going for here: I want the option to do interesting things with various weapon powerups. And I think I'd actually hit upon an elegant solution. <br /> <br />When you first fired it up, the game ran fine for a while. But there was a problem: garbage collection. Each new enemy or bullet created a new object and stuffed it into the main game object list; each time one of these enemies was destroyed it was removed. Considering that the player can fire ten bullets per second, that's a lot of objects. Eventually, the garbage collector had to clean up all of these old objects, essentially freezing up the game for a few seconds.<p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/184">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=Bge8SOHN2UM:8nt9eOEp36o:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/Bge8SOHN2UM" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/184/Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:05:01 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/184/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/07ks1BEfyPY/<div style="float: right; margin: 0.5em;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/kanban.jpg" /</div> <p>I've had my <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/176/">personal Kanban board</a> up for about four months now.</p> <p>No, it hasn't revolutionized my life. And no, I haven't become a scary productivity junkie, either. But there are a couple of good lessons to take away from the exercise so far.</p> <ul> <li>One, it's actually helpful to arrange the list of stuff you want to accomplish, and sort through it. You may decide not to do half of it, but at least you've taken the action of <em>throwing it out</em>.<br /><br /></li> <li>Two, don't buy the normal Post-Its. Use the Super Sticky kind. It is <a href="http://twitpic.com/lhtyv">mildly annoying</a> when notes continually fall off of your wall.<br /><br /></li> <li>Three, there is no magic approach to getting organized. Find one that works for you. Throw it out if it doesn't. The Kanban board is working for me, so I'm going to keep it for now.<br /><br /></li> <li>Four, you need to review your to-do list regularly to make sure it's in sync with what you're actually doing. If there are any conflicts, whatever's really happening in your life wins.</li> </ul> <p>Anyway, that's the lessons learned. Now onto what I really want to dig into: the thinking <em>behind</em> personal goals and to-do lists.</p> <p>When I set up the board, it was a way to organize a lot of different projects I had going (or, at least, wanted to have going). My main problem was that I wasn't organized and wasn't really motivated unless I was in a good mood and had a large chunk of downtime to waste. And, what's worse is, I wasn't able to force myself to let go of any items entirely--it really takes a certain amount of opportunity cost analysis to do that. That's where the task list approach comes into play.</p> <p>So the main benefit of creating this complex organization scheme was to force myself to simplify. And it did. Sort of. Except not quite as much as I needed, apparently.</p> <p>The first realization came through reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anxiety-Phobias-Panic-Reneau-Peurifoy/dp/0446692778/"><em>Anxiety, Phobias, and Panic</em></a>¹. The book's first chapter goes over a number of otherwise beneficial personality traits that, out of moderation, can cause serious problems--among them <em>extremely high expectations of self</em>, <em>perfectionism</em>, and <em>excessive need for approval</em> (which, in turn, makes it hard to say no to other people). All of these should probably sound familiar if you're even slightly tempted to jump on the latest fad in personal productivity.</p> <p>The lesson here is, there's a balance. You can lock yourself down if you only sit around talking wistfully about things you'd like to do <em>someday</em>, when everything settles down (hint: it never will), and never do anything. But you can also lock yourself down if you set the bar too high, and put too much pressure on yourself. There's a sweet spot, and you usually have to lower your expectations to get there.</p> <p>The second realization came through reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Searching-Knows-What-Donald-Miller/dp/B001RTS90G/"><em>Searching for God Knows What</em></a>² by <a href="http://www.donmilleris.com/">Donald Miller</a>. One of the recurring themes in the book is what Miller calls "lifeboat mentality"³. It's the tendency to compare ourselves to others; the high-school-popularity-contest way of thinking about things. And his point is twofold: (1) it permeates our culture more than we'd like to admit, and (2) it's completely invalid.</p> <p>It's not so much that this thinking drives your to-do list, but it does seep into the way you prioritize each item. Maybe you think it's expected by the people around you. Or that it's expected of someone in your position. Or you promised someone you'd do it, because you didn't want to let them down. Or you added it for the marketing or networking opportunities.</p> <p>Whatever the case, you're giving it more weight than it really deserves--or, at least, more weight than the effort you're willing to put into it. And it's not because it's something you necessarily love to do or that you're uniquely qualified to do--if it were, you'd have no problem. You do it because you want to get ahead or (as is more the case for me) not fall behind. (Don't get me wrong, there is some place for that, but only in moderation.)</p> <p>So, a couple of weeks ago, I eliminated several tasks that I thought violated one of these issues: either my expectations were excessive, or it was driven by perfectionism, or I was doing it for someone else who really didn't care about it as much as I did, or I re-evaluated my reasons for leaving it on the list in the first place. (I made sure to finish up anything I had made a hard-and-fast commitment to do.)</p> <p>And then I noticed my board was <em>really</em> empty--except for the "DONE" column, which had greatly expanded. Which, strangely, made me breathe a little easier, even though every item on that board I put there voluntarily.</p> <p>So, oddly enough, I started on a new XNA game two weeks ago. I've now got a real, playable engine--not just playing around, something useful. This wasn't even on my to-do list and it wasn't something I obsessed about, I just did it.</p> <p>I didn't get there by using my to-do list, but I also wouldn't have gotten there without my to-do list.</p> <hr /> <p>¹ I've realized I've become a more tense and nervous person over the past several years, and when I saw this book mentioned in a completely unrelated discussion thread I was following, I picked it up. Like I said in a previous post, it's not a motivational-speaker self-help-panacea book, so it's the type of approach I was looking for.</p> <p>² I picked up this book knowing very little about it, only that I'd read two of Miller's other books, <em>Blue Like Jazz</em> and <em>A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life</em>. The book is basically an apologetic for Christianity, asserting that our culture has taken a relational narrative and turned it into a set of checklists and rules.</p> <p>Incidentally, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Million-Miles-Thousand-Years-Learned/dp/0785213066/"><em>A Million Miles</em></a> is a great book if you're one of those types that sits around wistfully talking about doing things <em>someday</em>, but never gets around to it. The idea of <em>living a story</em> seems a bit simplistic, but ultimately helpful--so long as you take it as one alternative perspective on life rather than a panacea and the basis for your worldview.</p> <p>³ The name comes from the game/exercise referred to as "Lifeboat"--you can read a dry written example <a href="http://www.nightowl.net/~mbooker/lifeboat.htm">here</a>, or you can <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaG2-MGtCVE">have it explained by a satirical 80's Christian rocker dressed in drag</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/183">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=07ks1BEfyPY:RRLe10oKQ3g:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/07ks1BEfyPY" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/183/Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:26:00 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/183/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/yWF6XWgMekY/<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/forums/BreadAndMilk.png" alt="The B&M Index" style="border: 1px solid #000;" /></div> <p>With apologies to <a href="http://twitter.com/wbm">@wbm</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/ViNull">@ViNull</a>, who I ripped off the concept and title from.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/182">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=yWF6XWgMekY:BFPnTSKmv_U:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/yWF6XWgMekY" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/182/Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:22:22 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/182/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/T19gjlDpNMA/<p>So. Maybe I should find some things to blog about.</p> <p>I got a secondhand guitar last year. For free, no less. (During one episode of <a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/">Feel The Func</a>, Mike was digging through his old audio equipment and ran across a guitar he couldn't otherwise get rid of.) So I've been trying to learn how to play.</p> <p>It's taken me about 6 months to actually play chords well enough. I've given up on the picking or single-note playing for the moment because I can barely get both hands cooperating on the simple stuff. (The simple stuff being anything with 4/4 time that doesn't abruptly change chords mid-measure.) Which is fine, because I'm not really looking to be a guitar god or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k5nEyuHRZc#t=3m05">go electric</a> anytime soon.</p> <p>The sad thing is, I've got a pretty good stack of songbooks in the corner of my room, and I tend to use sites like <a href="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/">Ultimate Guitar</a> and <a href="http://www.chordie.com/">Chordie</a> to look up other songs. (One thing I've learned is that, even if you hate a particular band or genre or music, you have to respect the amount of experience and effort that goes into creating that music.)</p> <p>I can actually play a few "easy guitar" versions of songs now:</p> <p>"Don't Think Twice It's Alright" and "Girl From the North Country," by Bob Dylan. There's a few more out of the Bob Dylan songbook I think I might be able to work out, but I'm not quite there yet. I can also sort of play the version of "Born in Time" listed on Ultimate Guitar, but I've only heard the alternate version off Tell-Tale Signs.</p> <p>"Hazy Shade of Winter" and "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon and Garfunkel. Again, there's a few more songs I know I can do the chords for, like "The Boxer" and "Scarborough Fair," but I haven't been able to figure out the rhythm. My problem is mainly that I try to match my strumming to the lyrics (one beat per syllable) because I seem to have a head for lyrics. That, and I have the real versions in my head, which don't sound anything like the easy guitar versions.</p> <p>"Oh My God" by Jars of Clay. It's got a strong rhythm part that's easy to pick up, although there are some nuances I can't pull off consistently. (I think if I'm going to learn to play any recent rock songs, it's going to be songs with a strong rhythm track.) I can also fingerpick the simple and repetitive rhythms for "Headphones" and "Shipwrecked."</p> <p>"The Hero of Canton" from Firefly. And something that sounds vaguely like Jonathan Coulton's "Re: Your Brains." Vaguely. And without the bridge.</p> <p>So, anyway, that's where I am, and I'm kind of amazed I got this far. I remember trying to learn guitar from my dad when I was a kid, which I think consisted of me picking a song in a songbook, learning two chords, and then realizing that it's hard as hell to actually string them together. Yes, I'm </p> <p>That said, I'm running low on new songs I actually have a shot at playing. Anyone have any suggestions for good song books? I'd really prefer something in the vein of classic rock/folk. And does anyone know which Jonathan Coulton songs wouldn't be too hard for a noob to pick up?</p> <p>Also, considering that <a href="http://twitter.com/nathanblevins">@nathanblevins</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/tma">@tma</a> have tried to harass <a href="http://twitter.com/jhckr">@jhckr</a> into teaching them to be "rawk stars," perhaps we should plan a guitar tweetup?</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/181">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=T19gjlDpNMA:di0_jBjq9zA:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/T19gjlDpNMA" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/181/Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:34:50 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/181/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/6M5oGaYFqYM/<p>I should start out by saying that, no, I don't have a New Year's Resolution to blog more. I actually don't have any New Year's Resolutions. But in the coming year I'd like to get into a mental state that I'm not so self-conscious about what I post, stop telling myself that I <em>should</em> post more, and don't feel so much pressure when I don't post. With the goal being shorter, more conversational posts.</p> <p>Anyway. That's not the point. The point is, my new year is off to an ominous start.</p> <p>First, I woke up about 30 minutes late for a meeting today. It wasn't critical that I be there, but it was just a really unpleasant way to wake up to the first work day of the new year.</p> <p>I blame the fact that I forgot to turn the alarm on my cell phone back on after the long weekend.</p> <p>Well, that, and I slept through my <em>actual</em> alarm clock. Which I do, because I'm a heavy sleeper. (At this point, current and previous roommates who are reading this are probably logging in to post snarky, vaguely passive-aggressive comments.) I don't even remember shutting it off or waking at all, but the best I can tell it was on.</p> <p>Last night, before going to bed, I was reading a chapter in this book on dealing with anxiety I started a couple of weeks ago. And I don't mean the fluffy, self-help-y, I'm-OK-You're-OK, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBM0Plz10Ic">Tony-Robbins-hungry</a> sort of stuff, I mean a real book written by a real therapist. <p>Anyway, the example given for the section on countering "should/must thinking" I was reading?</p> <p><em>Being late to a work function.</em></p> <p>OK, so the actual example posited being stuck in traffic rather than oversleeping, but if I were a superstitious man, that would bother me.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/180">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=6M5oGaYFqYM:g9i04YCOIKo:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/6M5oGaYFqYM" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/180/Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:23:06 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/180/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/AKE7RjCPHCw/<p>This is a random post, but I figure it might help someone, since I couldn't figure out what was going on for the longest time.</p> <p>I installed Visual Studio 2010 / .NET 4.0 Beta 2 last night. When I restarted my laptop, I noticed that both the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In app and the Curse-Gaming Client crashed. When I tried to start them manually, the same thing happened.</p> <p>There were no errors in the Event viewer and no log files, so there was no obvious reasoning. Repairing the .NET 4.0 and .NET 3.5 SP1 installations didn't fix anything either. The only clue I had was from trying to debug the crash in Visual Studio when prompted by Windows. Even then, the error was still cryptic: <tt>The type initializer for 'MS.Win32.Penimc.UnsafeNativeMethods' threw an exception</tt>.</p> <p>Several Google searches later, I found the following fix:</p> <ol> <li> Run Command Prompt as Administrator.</li> <li> <tt>cd \windows\microsoft.net\framework\v3.0\wpf</tt></li> <li> <tt>regsvr32 PenIMC.dll</tt></li> <li> <tt>cd \windows\microsoft.net\framework\v4.0.21006\wpf</tt></li> <li> <tt>regsvr32 PenIMC.dll</tt></li> </ol> <p>Once that was done, I was able to run both applications without error.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/179">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=AKE7RjCPHCw:Yk3kH-Yyq5E:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/AKE7RjCPHCw" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/179/Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:08:30 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/179/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/B5_Rrplp9kk/<div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"><a href="http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855032f"><img src="http://www.vinull.com/Assets/Images/windowslivewriterincablocksreleasedfuncworksfirstxnagame_13492box_cover_0380a2b540504cb3b3302bc8609fbada.jpg" alt="IncaBlocks" /></a></div> <p>I'm proud to announce that today <a href="http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855032f">IncaBlocks</a>, <a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/">FuncWorks</a>' first game, released on the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace. It's a block-stacking family board game for 1-4 players.</p> <p>This represents a few months' work on the part of Mike, Cicelie, and myself (you can read more <a href="http://www.vinull.com/Post/2009/10/14/incablocks-released-thanks-agilezen-and-kanban.aspx">over on Mike's blog</a>), and it's exciting that it's finally paid off. It's amazing to think that code I wrote is not only running on a real game console, it's being sold on Microsoft's online service.</p> <p>So if you have a 360, please check it out. There's a free trial available, and the full game is just 80 points ($1). And if you like it, rating it would be much appreciated!</p> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/178">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=B5_Rrplp9kk:M1faXuJsw3k:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/B5_Rrplp9kk" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/178/Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:39:04 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/gaming/178/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/qDwelHXAx7M/<p>This relates a bit to my previous post, I suppose, but I ended up setting a personal task board up last week. Mike, Cicelie, and I had a lot of success doing this with <a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/">IncaBlocks</a> (although we also used <a href="http://www.agilezen.com/">Zen</a>).</p> <p>I've put my task board within view of my computer workstation. Literally, I can't miss it. The purpose is for me to organize all of this nebulous "stuff I need to do" (around the house, on projects like IncaBlocks, for other people, etc.) into an easy-to-maintain, prioritized list.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.dylanwolf.com/pics/posts/kanban.jpg" alt="Kanban board" /></p> <p>I'm hoping it also motivates me a bit more--most of the stuff I need to do could be knocked out in anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours. However, I'm usually reluctant (especially after working all day) to tackle it unless I'm completely relaxed and have a large block of free time. These things just seem bigger if you don't define them.</p> <p>To that end, I've set up five categories: "NOW" (the stuff I can do right now), "LATER" (the stuff that's lower priority), "PROBABLY NEVER" (the stuff I say I'm going to do but probably won't), "NOT MY PROBLEM" (the stuff that I'm waiting on other people for) and "DONE."</p> <p>"Not My Problem" is a bit harsh, but you have to understand my personality. I've found that lately I have approximately zero capacity for cognitive dissonance; I tend to throw myself in (at least mentally) pretty deep when people start tossing valid, doable ideas around. And then I get run down and impatient when I realize they're not serious. So I need "Not My Problem" as a reality check. (If you heard some of the project management and organization discussion on early episodes of <a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/">Feel The Func</a>, this shouldn't surprise you.)</p> <p>Also, the currently-empty "Probably Never" column has prompted my roommates to put up their own interesting and amusing items on my task list. (Let's not discuss just how interesting and amusing they were.)</p> <p>Success? Well, I've only finished one task so far.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/176">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=qDwelHXAx7M:AC0XQ7q-fSI:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/qDwelHXAx7M" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/176/Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:12:20 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/176/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/nM_UiMReFZA/<p>So, I just got back from Anime Weekend Atlanta. It was a fun time, and I swear there's a blog post coming... right after I finish my long-overdue post for DragonCon.</p> <p>My friends and I attended a couple of the costuming panels, mainly armor making and steampunk. And there seems to be some traction of trying to do a steampunk group for next year, which I'm all for--I like the idea of getting everyone together to work on a project as a group, although I'm not quite as gung-ho about steampunk as some of them.</p> <p>The problem is, discussion evolved from creating some basic themed costumes into talk of complex armor and props as the centerpiece. It went from things we know how to do (sewing and simple props) to things we don't (woodworking or vacu-forming or resin-casting or even large-scale paper mach&eacute;).</p> <p>In a word: feature creep. Waterfall design. One that could easily end up half finished before it runs out of... um, <em>steam</em>. No question that it's creative outside-the-box thinking. But you need to think inside-the-box to wrangle that vision into something possible and affordable.</p> <p>As a software developer, I'm naturally inclined to think iteratively. Start with the essential stuff that you know you can do. If you go no further, at least you have something usable. Then, when you have a working product, start tackling the tough stuff that you've not as familiar with. Break it up into phases, and be willing to say "I'm done" at the end of any phase if time, money, or motivation force you to do so.</p> <p>Now, when you're talking about projects in the real world, you can't always do that. It's tough to construct a single building in stages. Nor can you call a painting done once you've done the preliminary outlining. Nor would formal agile methodologies work quite the same way in a casual, small group environment. But it seems there's some value in having this alternate perspective in the back of your mind to guide you as you do your planning.</p> <p>It makes me want to write an article series, a con panel, <em>something</em> that would introduce these concepts in non-technical language to people outside of software development. Not to spread the agile kool-aid around (because if there's one thing I hate, it's buzzword kool-aid), but to give hobbyists of various types another tool in their toolbox that they can use when it's appropriate.</p> <p>Surely someone out there's already written this, though. Anyone know where to find it?</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/175">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=nM_UiMReFZA:A8cNGB97940:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/nM_UiMReFZA" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/175/Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:00:59 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/175/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/0I_rC0x1TI4/<p>So I got around to adding some new features to the site: you can now <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/forgot_password.html">reset your password</a>. Yes, that's how lame my blog is right now: you can't even reset your password or change your profile.</p> <p>Also, I widened the textboxes on the "edit page" form. But that's not something anyone else will see. Still, it helped me update <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/links.html">my links page</a>, which was woefully out-of-date.</p> <p>I was going to add in tagging, since my meta keyword system closely resembles that. But then I found out my meta keyword system is so fubared that, while it still works for writing meta tags, there's no way it'll work for tags. So that idea has been scrapped for now.</p> <p>Not that it really matters, since I'd have to go through and create all of the tags anyway, which I'd probably never do. Leading to one of the most depressing scenarios you'll ever face as a programmer: implementing a much-requested feature that no one takes the time to populate with valid data. So it's probably better that I don't add tags right now. :)</p> <p>Yes, the perils of writing your own blog software. But working on it was sort of fun. Reminds me of the parts of Linux/Python that I love (coding in vi, zipping between files!) and the parts I hate (no strong types! no intellisense in vi!).</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/173">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=0I_rC0x1TI4:vNHIARxoxE8:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/0I_rC0x1TI4" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/173/Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:19:04 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/173/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/s1giU6XqjiM/<div style="float: right; margin: 0.5em; border: 1px solid #000;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/sets/72157621342289914/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2612/3713793274_6b7a5a35ae_m.jpg" alt="Campfire" /></a></div> <p>Last weekend, <a href="http://twitter.com/chainsawbuffet">Chad</a>, his wife Kate, and I headed up to <a href="http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Indian_Boundary_Tn/r/campgroundDetails.do?page=details&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70494&topTabIndex=CampingSpot">Indian Boundary</a> in Tellico to go camping.</p> <p>I can't say it didn't start without its issues. Chad had been talking this up to a handful of people for about two months, trying to get people to respond (unfortunately I hadn't really spread the word like I should have), haggling over a weekend that would work for everyone, and eventually (due to other circumstances) having people bail a week before.</p> <p>Morale was a little low and stress was a bit high trying to get camp set up on Friday evening before dark. Chad and Kate's new puppy Zoe was also a bit hard to handle, and so Chad ended up running Kate and Zoe back home late Friday night. (Leaving me tending to the fire for about two hours in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone signal and no car.) To be honest, if we'd had at least one more set of hands, I don't think it would have been so bad.</p> <p>Despite the rocky start, it was very relaxing. Most of my social activities--from simple trips up to Knoxville, to conventions like DragonCon, AWA, and MTAC, to walking around downtown St. Augustine and Disney--end up being indulgences into consumerism: if you're not buying, you're probably drooling over something you'd like to buy, or something you've already bought. Other than a trip to Gander Mountain for some minor camping gadgetry, there was barely a hint of that sort of thing.</p> <p>Addtionally, no cell phone signal meant no contact with the outside world--so my hopes of twittering and checking email with my brand-new Blackberry Storm were shot. But I learned to embrace it. Trying to curb the itch to twitter every quirky detail of the trip (including, ironically, the fact that I didn't have any signal) made me feel like the worst kind of attention whore. As I pointed out in my last post, you never realize how bad off you actually are until something forces you to reconsider it in a different light.</p> <div style="float: left; margin: 0.5em; border: 1px solid #000;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/sets/72157621342289914/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/3712994921_755a37de2d_m.jpg" alt="Indian Boundary" /></a></div> <p>I also kept reconsidering <a href="http://twitter.com/cdlowell/status/2569202407">a tweet I'd read earlier on Friday</a>: "Was challenged by a friend this morning to not look at life as 'Tweetable Moments' but to be present and grateful." There's really no better place to force yourself to stop worrying or pushing yourself and just be present than half an hour from civilization, up in the mountains, with no cell phone signal--only the distant, frightening sound of banjos.</p> <p>There's also something about being able to fend for yourself--well, as much as you can call what we did fending for ourselves. Between Chad and I, we were able to keep a small fire going for most of the cooking. And honestly, I think we went overboard on cooking. Kate prepared salmon with lemon and thyme for Friday night and chicken in Italian dressing for Saturday's lunch; I prepared some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/3713808808/in/set-72157621342289914/">beer-marinated steak and veggies</a> for Saturday's dinner. Very delicious stuff, but Chad kept griping about how we couldn't just do something simple like hot dogs.</p> <p>Also, Chad packed <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/3713793466/in/set-72157621342289914/">a very small flask of Jagermeister</a>, despite the "NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES" signs posted everywhere. I've discovered that I find it fairly delicious in small quantities when served extremely cold.</p> <p>Trying to plan a bigger camping trip was a nice idea, but there's something to be said for the autonomy in a very small group. Had we had several more people, there'd have been much to-do made over getting people motivated on the same schedule and making sure no one felt left out. I spent most of the morning wandering around the 3.2 mile trail that loops around the lake by myself. A good portion of the trail is far away from the main boating, swimming, and camping areas, and it's very beautiful out there.</p> <p>Having completely forgotten the memory card for my camera, I decided to try out the Storm's camera, which I really like. I'm still getting the hang of the settings, but I think I may prefer it to my digital camera, even if it doesn't have anywhere near the same number of megapixels. The photos are up on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylan_wolf/sets/72157621342289914/">Flickr</a> as well as <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157621342289914">this site</a>.</p> <p>Later, I walked the trail again with Chad. So all told, I probably walked about 8 miles on Saturday. There was some talk about planning a backpacking trip, but I suspect we'll get even less interest on that one.</p> <p>And the weather was great all weekend, save for an untimely rainstorm on Sunday that turned a packing job of a few hours into a 15 minute rush to stuff everything in the car and get the heck out of there.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/172">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s1giU6XqjiM:iOsQZLJaPYM:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/s1giU6XqjiM" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/172/Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:33:10 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/172/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/s889CVqtRMk/<p>Yesterday, I got sucked into reading the Something Awful forums because of this thread: <a href="http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3153779&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1">Awesome things with HORRIBLE fan bases</a>. Not just because it was funny, but because it immediately put me into an introspective mode.</p> <p>Hilarious as it is, it left me with the realization that I am tremendously annoying. I would like to think of myself as better, but I have taken on the characteristics of the worst of anime, video game, Firefly, and music fandoms, among others. Not that being fans of any of those things makes you annoying, but immersing yourself into the fandoms can be like entering an echo chamber, quickly convincing you that you are both original and funny. (Spoiler warning: you're usually not.)</p> <p>I have seen <em>those guys</em> in every online community I've been a part of. I have run into <em>those guys</em> at conventions. And left unchecked, I am quickly becoming one of <em>those guys</em>. To everyone who knows me: I'm so very, very sorry. I will try harder.</p> <p>If you are reading this blog, you likely are part of some geeky subculture or another. Even if you think it's a respectable and mature geeky subculture, five or ten minutes in the thread probably couldn't hurt you.</p> <p>Of course, my favorite response (of the 20-odd pages I read) was:</p> <blockquote>Everything.<br /><br /> Someone, somewhere, will ruin what you love. Every time, all the time.<br /><br /> <em>Forever.</em></blockquote> <p>Still, someone hit me next time I reference <em>Family Guy</em> or <em>Invader Zim</em>.</p> <hr /> <p>(Before anyone gets too offended, this post is slightly tongue-in-cheek.)</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/171">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=s889CVqtRMk:HQeYCEQ45rQ:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/s889CVqtRMk" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/171/Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:10:23 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/171/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/fIi_6zCw4S8/<div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; border: 1px solid #000;"><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620841850442/3680122123/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3658/3680122123_5d36ed3634_m.jpg" alt="St. Augustine Lighthouse" /></a></div> <p>I finally got all of my photos from our vacation to St. Augustine up on Flickr. I'm trying something a little different than I've done with past vacations or conventions--I'm separating out photos taken at various locations into different photo sets:</p> <ul> <li> <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620183916929">Condo</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620183430517">Beach</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620841305678">Old City</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620841850442">Lighthouse</a></li> <li> <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620701529995">Castillo de San Marcos</a></li> </ul> <p>As I <a href="http://twitter.com/dylanwolf/status/2255204031">mentioned on Twitter</a>, the condo layout was not at all what we expected, as you'll see in the <a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/photos/flickr72157620183916929">Condo</a> photo set. It actually made for a neat experience (even though we'd never have picked it if we'd known), but it could have been disaster for a different group of people. We expected three bedrooms: a master bedroom, a secondary bedroom, and a loft. What we got was more or less one big room: trundle beds in the living room, a spiral staircase up to the master bedroom, with the loft hanging open over the master bedroom.</p> <p>Still, the condo was very nice, and definitely worth it: beachfront access to a private beach, and the surf coming right up to the deck at high tide. Very relaxing.</p> <p>In addition, I snapped a couple of photos that ended up on TwitPic: <a href="http://twitpic.com/8hxvo">the infamous Wolf Shirt was spotted in a gift shop in the Old City</a>, <a href="http://twitpic.com/8luom">Georgia made me feel like I was stuck in an inspirational calendar</a>, and, oh yeah, the ride home <a href="http://twitter.com/dylanwolf/status/2367155924">absolutely</a> <a href="http://twitpic.com/8n77s">sucked</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/170">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=fIi_6zCw4S8:1Bn7pY1FrLo:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/fIi_6zCw4S8" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/170/Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:53:42 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/etc/170/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~3/ZOLhhgdTquw/<div style="float: right; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 0.25em 0.25em;"><a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/"><img src="http://feelthefunc.com/themes/FeelTheFunc/funcman.png" alt="Feel The Func" /></a></div> <p>A little side project I've been involved in, <a href="http://www.feelthefunc.com/">Feel The Func</a>, releases today.</p> <p>What is Feel The Func? It's the official podcast of FuncWorks.</p> <p>FuncWorks is a project organized by <a href="http://www.vinull.com/">Mike Neel</a>, <a href="http://www.finsandstems.com/">Cicelie Caulton</a>, and myself. It is, to put it simply, a banner under which we're going to work on various side projects--the first one being a website for Cicelie's t-shirt designs (Cicelie, by the way, created the FuncWorks mascot to the right, the <a href="http://www.codestock.org/">CodeStock logo</a>, and the CodeStock t-shirts for both 2008 and 2009.)</p> <p>The podcast is a chronicle of our weekly planning sessions--think <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/">Stack Overflow</a>, but with a mix of marketing, design, and art talk as well as code. The first two episodes, which are up today, revolve around trying to define user personas for the site; later episodes will delve into the code a bit more--which should prove to be interesting, because Mike and I often approach both marketing and design from very different angles.</p> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/169">More...</a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?a=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:-BTjWOF_DHI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DylanWolfBlog?i=ZOLhhgdTquw:YYroRS_O87U:-BTjWOF_DHI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DylanWolfBlog/~4/ZOLhhgdTquw" height="1" width="1"/>http://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/169/Tue, 26 May 2009 11:47:02 GMThttp://www.dylanwolf.com/programming/169/