To someone not in the health care industry, Surgery is a kind of bogeyman word. Any mention of it, conjurs up all sorts of nasty preconceptions about whats going to happen. And frequently, what is just a minor procedure can completely be blown out of the water, by misconcieved notions and rumor.
Yesterday I had an appointment with a Dental specialist over a possible problem with a tooth that's being involved in a bridge. My normal dentist was worried about what an X-ray might or might not have shown and wanted me to visit the other, before proceeding on sealing up the bridge work, again. The specialist proceeded to check me out and pronounced that tooth fine. However he had found the problem that was causing the blip on the X-ray. It seems, that the fron tooth of the bridge had developed a small cyst at the root, and was causing some gum distortions.
Since the tooth in question had previously been root canalled, the normal procedure would to just retreat it with another root canal, clean out the cyst and use anti-biotics. In this case however, the tooth in question was fragile, and had a post inserted to shore it up. Because it was so fragile, the specialist deemed it ill advised to remove the post, which might destroy the tooth. Instead he advised a "minor surgical" procedure, where he'd cut into the gum's above the tooth, a do a kind of reverse root canal from the roots of the tooth on down, and then stitch the gumline back close.
The procedure itself is relatively straight forward, and will most likely be even less painfull then a root canal. However, since I'm not in the medicial profession, Surgery has always been something to dread and avoid. Admittedly I'm also ferverent about my teeth with all the problems I have with them, and thus have allready scheduled an apointment for the procedure, but the very thought of Surgery brought up this bogeyman spector.
Since it's late however, and it has been a long day, I'll leave you with this and touch back on the subject Friday. Why, are we, as a human race anthamine to the notion that cutting into the body in order to correct something that could otherwise not be reached or treated?
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
[TB] Planetside: Go, Go, Go....
My eyes fluttered open to darkness. A constant thruming permeated the cabin, vibrating the deck behind my back. 'Had I fallen asleep?' I thought, 'Was I just dreaming?' A snore to the right broke into my silence. Turning my head I saw another soldier, cradling a Cycler machine gun. Looking beyond him I saw the third guy in our compartment. Then it all came flooding back to me. My platoon and I had departed from Sanctuary in a Dropship, on a long haul through the night to a continent bordering the New Conglomerate. We were on our way to battle, and all we could do was sleep while we had the chance.
How long I had been out was a mystery. It had probably only been minutes, but even those few minutes had been precious jewels to treasure. Allready I was beginning to miss them. Sleep on the hand, wasn't to be forthcoming. Instead the Squad Commander's voice broke through the constant hum, banishing any further thoughts os sleep.
"Allright people, stop sleeping and listen up," came the command from the comm speakers.
I nudged the soldier snoring to the right of me. His snores abruptly stopped with a suck and a cough. Straightening in his seat, he briefly glared at me for daring to wake him. However, just as he was about to spew forth some hot retort, he abruptly swallowed it back as the Commander's voice continued.
"We're coming up on Dagnor, on the continent of Easmir," intoned the Commander.
"There are reports that the New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty have reached a compromise here. This is allowing them to divert troops to other areas, putting pressure on some of our bases close to Sanctuary. Our job is to disrupt this by taking Dagnor and opening a whole for future forces to pour into the area," the Commander paused.
"This is likely to be a hot drop, so I want all of you to check your equipment and get yourselves ready...
"Johnson," asked the Commander, subtly changing track, "You and Haussin will advance to the vehicle pad, hack it and get us an AMS unit. Turner, soon as we are in, I need you to hack the outboard med and equipment term. The rest, make your way to the Command Center and take it...
"Once we've got the base hacked, we'll set up some patrols. Now all we have to do is hold the base at least 15 minutes. After that and reinforcements will begin to arrive. I don't want any funny business so you all stick to the plan and keep an eye out for each other...
"One last thing," paused the Commander, "We've done this before, and we'll do this again. None of us our raw recruits, and I expect you all to do the job. These idiots don't know what real war is, and it's up to us, the Terran Repbulic to show them. 2 minutes to drop..." and the comm clicked off.
I grimaced to myself in the dark cabin, and swung my Cycler around. Quickly I checked my gear, priming a concussion grenade in my quick snatch spot, as I went over the orders in my head. Finally I was done and looked up, in time to meet the snoring soldier's grin. I signaled a quick reply with a single thumbs up, then settled myself back into chair, bracing for ejection, just in time for the Commander to speak again.
"Well sweethearts, I hope you had a nice nap, cause it's now time to go to work, and this will be a hot drop. On my mark, I'll see you on the ground."
I grinned, my energy levels spiking with anticipation. The dark cabin subtly changed in hue as the side panels of the dropship slipped aside. The time was at hand.
"On my mark, prepare to drop...
"Go, go, go!"
How long I had been out was a mystery. It had probably only been minutes, but even those few minutes had been precious jewels to treasure. Allready I was beginning to miss them. Sleep on the hand, wasn't to be forthcoming. Instead the Squad Commander's voice broke through the constant hum, banishing any further thoughts os sleep.
"Allright people, stop sleeping and listen up," came the command from the comm speakers.
I nudged the soldier snoring to the right of me. His snores abruptly stopped with a suck and a cough. Straightening in his seat, he briefly glared at me for daring to wake him. However, just as he was about to spew forth some hot retort, he abruptly swallowed it back as the Commander's voice continued.
"We're coming up on Dagnor, on the continent of Easmir," intoned the Commander.
"There are reports that the New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty have reached a compromise here. This is allowing them to divert troops to other areas, putting pressure on some of our bases close to Sanctuary. Our job is to disrupt this by taking Dagnor and opening a whole for future forces to pour into the area," the Commander paused.
"This is likely to be a hot drop, so I want all of you to check your equipment and get yourselves ready...
"Johnson," asked the Commander, subtly changing track, "You and Haussin will advance to the vehicle pad, hack it and get us an AMS unit. Turner, soon as we are in, I need you to hack the outboard med and equipment term. The rest, make your way to the Command Center and take it...
"Once we've got the base hacked, we'll set up some patrols. Now all we have to do is hold the base at least 15 minutes. After that and reinforcements will begin to arrive. I don't want any funny business so you all stick to the plan and keep an eye out for each other...
"One last thing," paused the Commander, "We've done this before, and we'll do this again. None of us our raw recruits, and I expect you all to do the job. These idiots don't know what real war is, and it's up to us, the Terran Repbulic to show them. 2 minutes to drop..." and the comm clicked off.
I grimaced to myself in the dark cabin, and swung my Cycler around. Quickly I checked my gear, priming a concussion grenade in my quick snatch spot, as I went over the orders in my head. Finally I was done and looked up, in time to meet the snoring soldier's grin. I signaled a quick reply with a single thumbs up, then settled myself back into chair, bracing for ejection, just in time for the Commander to speak again.
"Well sweethearts, I hope you had a nice nap, cause it's now time to go to work, and this will be a hot drop. On my mark, I'll see you on the ground."
I grinned, my energy levels spiking with anticipation. The dark cabin subtly changed in hue as the side panels of the dropship slipped aside. The time was at hand.
"On my mark, prepare to drop...
"Go, go, go!"
Monday, April 21, 2003
[TB] Sex, Politics, and Religion
At formal dinning events, it is always advised that one avoid three heated topics; Sex, Politics, and Religion. The numero uno reason why, is that these three topics have the most disparging, and dangerous opinions in the world today. If you want to get a heated arguement going, you just have to mention an opinion on one of these, and the night could end in a fist fight. Thus of course, I've decided to write about one of these topics here.
However, before you go flying off at the handle, let me expound a little. This past weekend I visited my parents and sister. While talking about web coding I ventured to show them this webpage. Of course my sister, being the way she is, wondered if I had written anything about the current conflict. Being the way I am, I had not. Invariably, this lead to a discussion on politics in general, why I haven't discussed them and why I might. The answer as it were, might just astound you.
The truth of the matter is that I had begun to write a political discourse on friday. I even had a page set-up for further political editorials. The only real reason I hadn't posted one, was that I had felt that what I had written was so much crap, that I deleted it entirely twice before giving up for the day. As a side note if you will, you might notice that on Friday's I've been writing just reviews on entertainment, this is entirely because by Friday, the whole weeks worth of stress has effectively made my brain taffioca. You might also notice that Monday's articles are always such higher quality then the rest of the week and thus you might presume why.
Politics by their very nature, are actually broad enough to cover the other two topics entirely, as politics are really about one's opinions and beliefs on virtually everything. Thus to attempt to avoid discussions about politics, would be rather pointless as anything you'd write, would reflect your politics in some way. What I'm really doing is avoiding those extremely heated and pointed discussions about current events. I am still voicing my opinion in these blogs, and thus my politics, but I am also doing so only tangently.
As it were, I prefer to write about these things borderly, mostly due to my own personal politics. You see, in life, I am what you'd call a Moderate, or Independent. I have not, and probably will not ever give allegiance to either of the two dominant political parties. I do hold several opinions to be the same as both mind you, but my own personaly beliefs keep me aligning with one side or the other permenantly. Instead I continue to question both sides, as well as my own, and in the process hopefully maintaining some balance and sense of abjact opinion.
The problem arises, is that by not joining one party or the other, when it comes down to it, I really have no say so in the creation of policy. As a moderate I only have the say so in accepting the proposals or not. The upside is, that my vote is more powerful because of this. Yes, my vote is more powerful as a Moderate, then as a Republican or Democrat, believe it.
Simply put, Yes Virigina, every vote does count. Like every drop of water in the river, take away a vote, and it loses its meaning in the flow, add it, and that one little drop will help to shape the course of even the mightest river. Every vote does count, but when you are talking about two balanced sides, a third side can count for a heck of a lot. Lets put it another way. Currently the United States of America is divided into two significantly distinct parties, the Republicans, and the Democrats. Unfortunately, the number of registered voters, only makes up roughly 40% for each party, that is 40% of votes are Republican, and 40% are Democrat, making up 80% of votes. Of the other 20%, Thrid parties make up about 2%, with the other 18% being Moderates. Thus when an election comes along, its almost automatically guaranteed that each party will win 40% of the vote. The other 18% however is what they fight over. Thus even though Moderates don't make up a majority of votes, their votes tend to count just a tad more since they become the fulcrum by which votes can be turned.
Or putting it another way: I could be called a Liberal Conservative, or a Conservative Liberal, but the truth of the matter is, I'm a Strong Moderate. In everything I write, I voice an opinion, on ethics, on privacy, on law, and civil rights. I have since day one been writing about polictics, just like at a formal dinner party, I've been doing it by sneaking it in through the backdoor of discussion. I have also not been conscience of the process, but instead have been just being me. Eventually I will discuss specific topics on politics, but like Sex and Religion, I will wait till the lightning strikes and I'm more informed and eloquent on the topic, so that I might not deprive you of the fun of a heated arguement.
However, before you go flying off at the handle, let me expound a little. This past weekend I visited my parents and sister. While talking about web coding I ventured to show them this webpage. Of course my sister, being the way she is, wondered if I had written anything about the current conflict. Being the way I am, I had not. Invariably, this lead to a discussion on politics in general, why I haven't discussed them and why I might. The answer as it were, might just astound you.
The truth of the matter is that I had begun to write a political discourse on friday. I even had a page set-up for further political editorials. The only real reason I hadn't posted one, was that I had felt that what I had written was so much crap, that I deleted it entirely twice before giving up for the day. As a side note if you will, you might notice that on Friday's I've been writing just reviews on entertainment, this is entirely because by Friday, the whole weeks worth of stress has effectively made my brain taffioca. You might also notice that Monday's articles are always such higher quality then the rest of the week and thus you might presume why.
Politics by their very nature, are actually broad enough to cover the other two topics entirely, as politics are really about one's opinions and beliefs on virtually everything. Thus to attempt to avoid discussions about politics, would be rather pointless as anything you'd write, would reflect your politics in some way. What I'm really doing is avoiding those extremely heated and pointed discussions about current events. I am still voicing my opinion in these blogs, and thus my politics, but I am also doing so only tangently.
As it were, I prefer to write about these things borderly, mostly due to my own personal politics. You see, in life, I am what you'd call a Moderate, or Independent. I have not, and probably will not ever give allegiance to either of the two dominant political parties. I do hold several opinions to be the same as both mind you, but my own personaly beliefs keep me aligning with one side or the other permenantly. Instead I continue to question both sides, as well as my own, and in the process hopefully maintaining some balance and sense of abjact opinion.
The problem arises, is that by not joining one party or the other, when it comes down to it, I really have no say so in the creation of policy. As a moderate I only have the say so in accepting the proposals or not. The upside is, that my vote is more powerful because of this. Yes, my vote is more powerful as a Moderate, then as a Republican or Democrat, believe it.
Simply put, Yes Virigina, every vote does count. Like every drop of water in the river, take away a vote, and it loses its meaning in the flow, add it, and that one little drop will help to shape the course of even the mightest river. Every vote does count, but when you are talking about two balanced sides, a third side can count for a heck of a lot. Lets put it another way. Currently the United States of America is divided into two significantly distinct parties, the Republicans, and the Democrats. Unfortunately, the number of registered voters, only makes up roughly 40% for each party, that is 40% of votes are Republican, and 40% are Democrat, making up 80% of votes. Of the other 20%, Thrid parties make up about 2%, with the other 18% being Moderates. Thus when an election comes along, its almost automatically guaranteed that each party will win 40% of the vote. The other 18% however is what they fight over. Thus even though Moderates don't make up a majority of votes, their votes tend to count just a tad more since they become the fulcrum by which votes can be turned.
Or putting it another way: I could be called a Liberal Conservative, or a Conservative Liberal, but the truth of the matter is, I'm a Strong Moderate. In everything I write, I voice an opinion, on ethics, on privacy, on law, and civil rights. I have since day one been writing about polictics, just like at a formal dinner party, I've been doing it by sneaking it in through the backdoor of discussion. I have also not been conscience of the process, but instead have been just being me. Eventually I will discuss specific topics on politics, but like Sex and Religion, I will wait till the lightning strikes and I'm more informed and eloquent on the topic, so that I might not deprive you of the fun of a heated arguement.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
[TB] Aye Captain, the wind is taking us West!
Tis Wednesday and time is running short. I have practice this evening and thus little time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep. Yet, here I am typing away once more. At the moment, this all seems a little pointless. After a morning of catching up on some blogs that I like to read, checking up on all the news, editorials, comics and what not, I've come to the startling conclusion. This blog has no Direction! Whatever shall I do?
Yes, I freely admit it. This blog has no set Direction. In the week it has been alive, I have yet to take control of the rudder and steer this webpage into a definitive direction. Which of course begs the question, why haven't I? The answer: I'm not quite sure. It's true I have yet to set a purpose for this website. It's also true that my topics have jumped rather widely, from computers, to like, to a book I had just finished reading. I know that my initial stated purpose was to get myself writing again, but I also expected to find something specific on which to alight. And yet I still haven't.
Maybe its because setting a direction would lock my course to one subject, thereby driving me insance because one day I can't espouse on the political problems of China. That can't be it, can it? I mean I always though Direction was a good thing. It gives you goals to work toward, narrows the field of topics such that you don't get overwhelmed trying to think of a topic, and in general shows you have determination. Also having a direction allows one to fit you into a niche, and decide if they want to keep track of your blog too. So is it really such a good idea, to not have forced a direction on oneself allready? Fine, lets pick a topic to stick to.
How about Computers? Sure I want to talk all day long about how to install a motherboard properly, what a pain in the arse it can be to answer some customer's questions, and though it's a rather neat idea, I don't think I could talk about the sociological ramifications of computers on society, all day, everyday.
What about Politics? You pinko, commie, ultra-conservatice, peace loving, warhawk you... Okay, lets put this to bed right now, I'm neither Republican, nor Liberal. I have views on both, but belong to neither. I'm a moderate and very passionate about it. But even I'm not crazy enough to do a blog on politics all the time!
Humor? Mel Brooks I am not. Although I believe myself to be funny, I know that honestly I can be rather dry, and that often I miss my mark all because my brain runs to fast for my mouth. So the funny, no. I'll warn you though, I will occasionally force you to listen to what I pass for humor, especially on stuff I laugh at that I do.
Medicine? Dammit Jim, I'm a writer, not a Doctor
Err Computer Games? *boink* See Computers stupid. I don't play enough games to rate being an expert on all of them. Those I do, I can sometimes talk for hours on end about, but once I'm done, its hard starting again till inspiration does strike.
Education? Me Chris. Me hit you on head real hard. Me let you know, how much I can type about Edumucation. Get the idea Poindexter? I haven't been in school for several years, I currently have no kids, so discoursing for weeks on end about the education system is not something to swear a warrant out about.
Entertainment? Do you really want me to inform the RIAA on you? Yes, I have a few books I'd like to write about Hollywood, the music industry, and what not. At the same time, I don't want to piss them off that bad. Someday I want them to buy one of my books and make it into a movie. So yes I can write about them, but no, it won't be all the time.
Oo, Oo, I've got it, books! Here, put read this closely. Snap! Let that be the end of that thought. I want to write them, not be a critic of them all the time. Opinions, fine, nothing more, thank you very much.
Ow, that hurt you bully... Hey, I know, Violence! Sigh, okay, lets set the record straight. Yes I appear to be a rather violent person, right here, and right now. The truth is, I'm not. In real life the most violent I get, is when I'm practicing in the SCA, using heavry Ratan bats on another human being, who is trying to do the same to me. The upside is that we are both wearing 40-50 pounds of protective armor, and secondly, I'm not that good yet so I usually take more blows then I deal. When I write however, I tend to exhibit a cartoonish sort of violence, because its funny to me. Hey, blame it on cartoons.
Life? Ah, life, that sciopathic exsistence that careens madly, to the beat of coincedence and chaos. Yet, people do seem to be learning, even with the occasional set-backs. I can discuss life to no end, however I freely admit, I'm no phillosopher. I don't know the meaning of life. And though I trully do like it, I'm not sure I could write about something different everyday.
Okay, I give, you pick. What do you think I've been trying to do for the last half dozen paragraphs? Talking with myself.... okay, so I have, big deal. So I can't seem to convince myself to concentrate on any one topic, and yet, I believe I have found a direction.
Like life, direction isn't always about getting from one place to another. Direction is sometimes about the getting there. Just take a look at humanities constant need to explore the world, to push new boundaries, to develop new technologies, to grow. This webpage was started because I wanted to write again. In the week that I have, I've also been constantly fiddiling with the html coding, improving pieces here and there, understanding new techniques, seeing life in new ways. In short, I've been growing. Thus in retrospect, I have found a direction for the webpage. It may not be a standard topic, but it is a topic. And although there is no one word to describe, it is a direction, that is, to learn, to grow, to explain, and to experience. The journey then is the direction, and here's to it!
"Mr Davenport! Raise the sail. We have a new course, and it is the New World!"
Yes, I freely admit it. This blog has no set Direction. In the week it has been alive, I have yet to take control of the rudder and steer this webpage into a definitive direction. Which of course begs the question, why haven't I? The answer: I'm not quite sure. It's true I have yet to set a purpose for this website. It's also true that my topics have jumped rather widely, from computers, to like, to a book I had just finished reading. I know that my initial stated purpose was to get myself writing again, but I also expected to find something specific on which to alight. And yet I still haven't.
Maybe its because setting a direction would lock my course to one subject, thereby driving me insance because one day I can't espouse on the political problems of China. That can't be it, can it? I mean I always though Direction was a good thing. It gives you goals to work toward, narrows the field of topics such that you don't get overwhelmed trying to think of a topic, and in general shows you have determination. Also having a direction allows one to fit you into a niche, and decide if they want to keep track of your blog too. So is it really such a good idea, to not have forced a direction on oneself allready? Fine, lets pick a topic to stick to.
How about Computers? Sure I want to talk all day long about how to install a motherboard properly, what a pain in the arse it can be to answer some customer's questions, and though it's a rather neat idea, I don't think I could talk about the sociological ramifications of computers on society, all day, everyday.
What about Politics? You pinko, commie, ultra-conservatice, peace loving, warhawk you... Okay, lets put this to bed right now, I'm neither Republican, nor Liberal. I have views on both, but belong to neither. I'm a moderate and very passionate about it. But even I'm not crazy enough to do a blog on politics all the time!
Humor? Mel Brooks I am not. Although I believe myself to be funny, I know that honestly I can be rather dry, and that often I miss my mark all because my brain runs to fast for my mouth. So the funny, no. I'll warn you though, I will occasionally force you to listen to what I pass for humor, especially on stuff I laugh at that I do.
Medicine? Dammit Jim, I'm a writer, not a Doctor
Err Computer Games? *boink* See Computers stupid. I don't play enough games to rate being an expert on all of them. Those I do, I can sometimes talk for hours on end about, but once I'm done, its hard starting again till inspiration does strike.
Education? Me Chris. Me hit you on head real hard. Me let you know, how much I can type about Edumucation. Get the idea Poindexter? I haven't been in school for several years, I currently have no kids, so discoursing for weeks on end about the education system is not something to swear a warrant out about.
Entertainment? Do you really want me to inform the RIAA on you? Yes, I have a few books I'd like to write about Hollywood, the music industry, and what not. At the same time, I don't want to piss them off that bad. Someday I want them to buy one of my books and make it into a movie. So yes I can write about them, but no, it won't be all the time.
Oo, Oo, I've got it, books! Here, put read this closely. Snap! Let that be the end of that thought. I want to write them, not be a critic of them all the time. Opinions, fine, nothing more, thank you very much.
Ow, that hurt you bully... Hey, I know, Violence! Sigh, okay, lets set the record straight. Yes I appear to be a rather violent person, right here, and right now. The truth is, I'm not. In real life the most violent I get, is when I'm practicing in the SCA, using heavry Ratan bats on another human being, who is trying to do the same to me. The upside is that we are both wearing 40-50 pounds of protective armor, and secondly, I'm not that good yet so I usually take more blows then I deal. When I write however, I tend to exhibit a cartoonish sort of violence, because its funny to me. Hey, blame it on cartoons.
Life? Ah, life, that sciopathic exsistence that careens madly, to the beat of coincedence and chaos. Yet, people do seem to be learning, even with the occasional set-backs. I can discuss life to no end, however I freely admit, I'm no phillosopher. I don't know the meaning of life. And though I trully do like it, I'm not sure I could write about something different everyday.
Okay, I give, you pick. What do you think I've been trying to do for the last half dozen paragraphs? Talking with myself.... okay, so I have, big deal. So I can't seem to convince myself to concentrate on any one topic, and yet, I believe I have found a direction.
Like life, direction isn't always about getting from one place to another. Direction is sometimes about the getting there. Just take a look at humanities constant need to explore the world, to push new boundaries, to develop new technologies, to grow. This webpage was started because I wanted to write again. In the week that I have, I've also been constantly fiddiling with the html coding, improving pieces here and there, understanding new techniques, seeing life in new ways. In short, I've been growing. Thus in retrospect, I have found a direction for the webpage. It may not be a standard topic, but it is a topic. And although there is no one word to describe, it is a direction, that is, to learn, to grow, to explain, and to experience. The journey then is the direction, and here's to it!
"Mr Davenport! Raise the sail. We have a new course, and it is the New World!"
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
[TB] Planetside: All Hail, the NDA is Lifted!
A few weeks ago, while browsing a website I ran across an ad for a new game. Curious, I went to the website and checked it out. Astounded by what I could find on it, and wanting to sample it before I bought it, I decided to apply for an Open Beta position. A week later, I had the unmitigated fortune to be accepted into Exclusive Beta. Unfortunately, as I found out, this was both good luck, and a curse, because now I was privy to all the wonders of this game, but couldn't tell anyone! Now I can, as Open Beta starts this week, and the NDA is lifted.
Even though the NDA has been lifted, I still the find the quickest way tell people what it's like, is to give them my first impression... Tribes 2 on steriods.
In truth, Planetside, is not a Tribes 2 sequel in any shape or form, primarily because Planetside is being produced by Sony. Secondly, where Tribes 2 focused on specific team vs team combat, Planetside focuses on army vs army combat. Yes, both take place in the future. Yes both involve suits of armor, ground and air vehicles, and bases, but there the similarity stops.
For starters, Planetside is also and RPG game, with a persistent universe where you have a character that gains experience, and obtains certifications to qualify them to use equipment and weapons. Planetside's "maps" are also continent spanning, with a dozens of bases scattered across a globe. Movement is seamless transition from one base to another, although movement between continents is limited by warp gates, or HART transport. Bases are also more complex, with each giving special functions and capabilities to the faction that controls them.
Literally, there are hundreds of differences between the two games, with just enough similarity to attract almost all Tribes 2 fans. Although to mention it, this game has enough similarites to wet the appetite of Unreal, Quake, Battlefield 1942, Mechwarrior, and even some RPG fans as well. So it's less a Tribes 2 game on steriods, then a Bride of Frankstein genre merger, designed to crack barriers and be an instant favorite to a wide audience. And after playing it, even with the occasional Beta problems, I can saftely say it will be a success, and a genre killer.
Because of Planetside's emmense cross genre popularity, many a game will pale in comparison for some time to come. Not to say that not all gaming fans will flock to it, and its safe to assume that many multiplayer games will thrive in the coming years. However, Planetside will be a dominant force on the gaming market, with its First Person Action, on a massive world bending scale.
Or as Doc Brown says at the end of Back to the Future I, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."
Even though the NDA has been lifted, I still the find the quickest way tell people what it's like, is to give them my first impression... Tribes 2 on steriods.
In truth, Planetside, is not a Tribes 2 sequel in any shape or form, primarily because Planetside is being produced by Sony. Secondly, where Tribes 2 focused on specific team vs team combat, Planetside focuses on army vs army combat. Yes, both take place in the future. Yes both involve suits of armor, ground and air vehicles, and bases, but there the similarity stops.
For starters, Planetside is also and RPG game, with a persistent universe where you have a character that gains experience, and obtains certifications to qualify them to use equipment and weapons. Planetside's "maps" are also continent spanning, with a dozens of bases scattered across a globe. Movement is seamless transition from one base to another, although movement between continents is limited by warp gates, or HART transport. Bases are also more complex, with each giving special functions and capabilities to the faction that controls them.
Literally, there are hundreds of differences between the two games, with just enough similarity to attract almost all Tribes 2 fans. Although to mention it, this game has enough similarites to wet the appetite of Unreal, Quake, Battlefield 1942, Mechwarrior, and even some RPG fans as well. So it's less a Tribes 2 game on steriods, then a Bride of Frankstein genre merger, designed to crack barriers and be an instant favorite to a wide audience. And after playing it, even with the occasional Beta problems, I can saftely say it will be a success, and a genre killer.
Because of Planetside's emmense cross genre popularity, many a game will pale in comparison for some time to come. Not to say that not all gaming fans will flock to it, and its safe to assume that many multiplayer games will thrive in the coming years. However, Planetside will be a dominant force on the gaming market, with its First Person Action, on a massive world bending scale.
Or as Doc Brown says at the end of Back to the Future I, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."
Monday, April 14, 2003
[TB] Creativity in Action
Creating something out of nothing, is the virtual basis for humaity. Making new life, putting up a skyscraper, designing an aqueduct, playing music, writing a story, telling a story, are all part of the creative process enjoyed by people. For many people, this process is keyed by the imagination, in order to invoate, or invent that which hasn't been done. Since humanity has been around a long time however, this process often also occurs because someone was inspired by someone else's previous work. The problem becomes though, where does the fine line lie between actual inovation, and downright theft of an idea?
While creativity itself is a broad category, as evident by the act of destruction that in itself is unique for every event, the act we will focus on today, is the design of popular art, speficially fanfiction and fanart. The reason why this is our focus, lies in the inspiration of the author. First though, what is fanfiction (fanfic for short)? Fanfic is the art of taking popularized media, such as a favorite tv show, movie, story, or other artwork, and creating something new inside its universe. Usually such creation is a short story set in that magical universe, or a piece of art on the characters or things of said exsistence.
Fanfic itself, has been around for a long time, although the term and the genre as we know it, really came into itself just in the 60's and 70's at the height of liberalism and creationism. Prior to that, fanfic was mostly the retelling of popular stories from a parent to a child, where they change the story ever so slightly. Lifewise today's "fanfic" is still often a more personal form of creation, where one inserts themselves into the story. Thus many such pieces are never viewed beyond the artist's own hands.
However, starting in the 60's and especially in the 70's, fanfic began to rear its head into the daylight of society. Largely due to the popularity of expression, artists began to come together and promote magazines called Zines. Home made magazines, Zines were largely sold around conventions of fans. At the time, and even now, these conventions were also because of the popularity of science fiction.
These days with the advent of the internet, and cable tv, fanfic has literally expanded at light speed across the world. More and more people have learned how to become self-published, and in the process released their creative spark upon a world that might have shunned them from being to individualistic before. Herein lies the problem.
Prior to the advent of zines, and especially the internet, such fanfic was largely ignorant of other fanfic. People might write a story similar to another, all beacause they didn't know of each other. Now though that others know and often see each others works, the problem of orginality falls into a murky water of ethics and morality.
Actually, you could even go beyond that and say that fanfic itself is an immoral thing as it is artwork base off of someone else's creation, and largely done without their permission. However, in most cases the orginial creator sees this form of expression as a tribute to the popularity and acceptance of their own work. Frequently they also then ignore such fanfic, so as to not become inspired from the grey copyright complications that might arise from the fanfic. Unfortunately when they do pay attention, sometimes unforseen problems, such as disagreements, general dis-like, or the fanfic artists attempts to capitilize on the work, can cause said same legal issues to arise, but usually in reverse.
Either way, fanfic and fanart are a largely tolerated being, pandering more to the unseen consumer artist then the creator artist(s). Thus, ethically, unless the creator blantantly challenges the use of their material, and as long as no money is made off of the fanfic, ethically the fanartist is fine to do with the universe as he likes. Often this either means putting the characters into sexual situations for adult purposes, or the "Mary-Sue" style of sticking oneself into the storyline just for the purposes of playing the hero and or villain.
The real problem is, once you've accepted fanfic as imitation art off a popular art, whats to stop some imitating the imitation? And is it ehtical or moral for the 2nd party to feel wronged by the 3rd party?
Lets take an example, and why I brought this up today. Star Trek, a very popular sci-fi series, has spawned its own culture and huge volumes of fanart and fanfiction. Personally I have tried my hand at writing a new fan-series inside the large universe. As part of the process I invented my own ship, and crew, but attempted to keep myself within certain boundaries that I saw and accepted. Make the ship look real, don't override the accepted cannon of the universe, don't use any previous characters, and make it good enough that people might question why keeping it offscreen. So far, I'm 3 out 4, though the last will probably take me awhile as this writer block is hindering finishing not only one epsiode, but more to the series.
Anyways, as part of the process that lead to this fanseries, I designed a new ship, never before used in the universe. I designed based off three known designs, and one therotical design, thus making the ship possible within the universe I had envisioned. Since I like designing starships, and such I felt a little pride in what I had done within the boundaries that I had set. Such pride that I submitted the design to a fan run website www.shipschematics.net about such designs. I considered my design to be better then 90% of the other designs there, and it made me feel good. Unfortunately, the site dropped offline not long afterwards and it dropped from my mind. A year and half later and I was doing some searching and found that the site had returned once more. At this time I was more actively considering writing the series to go along with the ship and did a search to check my spelling of the submitted craft.
Eventually I found the design, albeit slightly mispelled. Nothing major to worry about there, no need to even correct it. However I did find something that did worry me. Apparently someone else had seen the design, liked it, pulled it off the website, and then proceded to edit the design. I was shocked, not because it had been edited, but because when they did, they had just slapped a wierd pair of half nacelles (something not even inside the accepted universe), didn't even bother really matching it with the line, such that it looks out of place, and submitted it with their name attached.
Initially my first thoughts were, "How dare they!", however as I thought about it, and the whole morality of fanfic to begin with, I calmed down, and started to wonder, why my design? The first part of this was to determine how and when this had taken place, it was then I got my second shock. The person in question hadn't just done this with my design, they had done this with a couple of dozen designs. They had blantantly added some pieces of psuedo Star Trek stuff to each ship, sometimes the same items, sometimes something different, hadn't bothered to match the designs, the flow, or even the tech, and had submitted each and every design with their name attached. Thus they were now in the ship database where someone would almost invariably see their name, somewhere.
Unfortunately with no way to contact this artist, I can only begin to speculate why he did this. Most likely he is minor variant on what is called a "Troll", someone who does what they do, in order to get attention, usually by angering a 3rd party. Some consider themselves artists in how they go about doing this, others not as such. In this gentlemen's case though, I still feel a little wronged by what he has done to my design.
The final question though is; In this wierd, grey area of art, imitating art, imitating art, what is the ethical and moral right that I have, or anyone has, to a 3rd party changing my work, without my permission. Should I be allowed to feel angered, or sad, or should I just not care?
While creativity itself is a broad category, as evident by the act of destruction that in itself is unique for every event, the act we will focus on today, is the design of popular art, speficially fanfiction and fanart. The reason why this is our focus, lies in the inspiration of the author. First though, what is fanfiction (fanfic for short)? Fanfic is the art of taking popularized media, such as a favorite tv show, movie, story, or other artwork, and creating something new inside its universe. Usually such creation is a short story set in that magical universe, or a piece of art on the characters or things of said exsistence.
Fanfic itself, has been around for a long time, although the term and the genre as we know it, really came into itself just in the 60's and 70's at the height of liberalism and creationism. Prior to that, fanfic was mostly the retelling of popular stories from a parent to a child, where they change the story ever so slightly. Lifewise today's "fanfic" is still often a more personal form of creation, where one inserts themselves into the story. Thus many such pieces are never viewed beyond the artist's own hands.
However, starting in the 60's and especially in the 70's, fanfic began to rear its head into the daylight of society. Largely due to the popularity of expression, artists began to come together and promote magazines called Zines. Home made magazines, Zines were largely sold around conventions of fans. At the time, and even now, these conventions were also because of the popularity of science fiction.
These days with the advent of the internet, and cable tv, fanfic has literally expanded at light speed across the world. More and more people have learned how to become self-published, and in the process released their creative spark upon a world that might have shunned them from being to individualistic before. Herein lies the problem.
Prior to the advent of zines, and especially the internet, such fanfic was largely ignorant of other fanfic. People might write a story similar to another, all beacause they didn't know of each other. Now though that others know and often see each others works, the problem of orginality falls into a murky water of ethics and morality.
Actually, you could even go beyond that and say that fanfic itself is an immoral thing as it is artwork base off of someone else's creation, and largely done without their permission. However, in most cases the orginial creator sees this form of expression as a tribute to the popularity and acceptance of their own work. Frequently they also then ignore such fanfic, so as to not become inspired from the grey copyright complications that might arise from the fanfic. Unfortunately when they do pay attention, sometimes unforseen problems, such as disagreements, general dis-like, or the fanfic artists attempts to capitilize on the work, can cause said same legal issues to arise, but usually in reverse.
Either way, fanfic and fanart are a largely tolerated being, pandering more to the unseen consumer artist then the creator artist(s). Thus, ethically, unless the creator blantantly challenges the use of their material, and as long as no money is made off of the fanfic, ethically the fanartist is fine to do with the universe as he likes. Often this either means putting the characters into sexual situations for adult purposes, or the "Mary-Sue" style of sticking oneself into the storyline just for the purposes of playing the hero and or villain.
The real problem is, once you've accepted fanfic as imitation art off a popular art, whats to stop some imitating the imitation? And is it ehtical or moral for the 2nd party to feel wronged by the 3rd party?
Lets take an example, and why I brought this up today. Star Trek, a very popular sci-fi series, has spawned its own culture and huge volumes of fanart and fanfiction. Personally I have tried my hand at writing a new fan-series inside the large universe. As part of the process I invented my own ship, and crew, but attempted to keep myself within certain boundaries that I saw and accepted. Make the ship look real, don't override the accepted cannon of the universe, don't use any previous characters, and make it good enough that people might question why keeping it offscreen. So far, I'm 3 out 4, though the last will probably take me awhile as this writer block is hindering finishing not only one epsiode, but more to the series.
Anyways, as part of the process that lead to this fanseries, I designed a new ship, never before used in the universe. I designed based off three known designs, and one therotical design, thus making the ship possible within the universe I had envisioned. Since I like designing starships, and such I felt a little pride in what I had done within the boundaries that I had set. Such pride that I submitted the design to a fan run website www.shipschematics.net about such designs. I considered my design to be better then 90% of the other designs there, and it made me feel good. Unfortunately, the site dropped offline not long afterwards and it dropped from my mind. A year and half later and I was doing some searching and found that the site had returned once more. At this time I was more actively considering writing the series to go along with the ship and did a search to check my spelling of the submitted craft.
Eventually I found the design, albeit slightly mispelled. Nothing major to worry about there, no need to even correct it. However I did find something that did worry me. Apparently someone else had seen the design, liked it, pulled it off the website, and then proceded to edit the design. I was shocked, not because it had been edited, but because when they did, they had just slapped a wierd pair of half nacelles (something not even inside the accepted universe), didn't even bother really matching it with the line, such that it looks out of place, and submitted it with their name attached.
Initially my first thoughts were, "How dare they!", however as I thought about it, and the whole morality of fanfic to begin with, I calmed down, and started to wonder, why my design? The first part of this was to determine how and when this had taken place, it was then I got my second shock. The person in question hadn't just done this with my design, they had done this with a couple of dozen designs. They had blantantly added some pieces of psuedo Star Trek stuff to each ship, sometimes the same items, sometimes something different, hadn't bothered to match the designs, the flow, or even the tech, and had submitted each and every design with their name attached. Thus they were now in the ship database where someone would almost invariably see their name, somewhere.
Unfortunately with no way to contact this artist, I can only begin to speculate why he did this. Most likely he is minor variant on what is called a "Troll", someone who does what they do, in order to get attention, usually by angering a 3rd party. Some consider themselves artists in how they go about doing this, others not as such. In this gentlemen's case though, I still feel a little wronged by what he has done to my design.
The final question though is; In this wierd, grey area of art, imitating art, imitating art, what is the ethical and moral right that I have, or anyone has, to a 3rd party changing my work, without my permission. Should I be allowed to feel angered, or sad, or should I just not care?
Thursday, April 10, 2003
[TB] Day 2 Blues
So its day two, and allready I'm feeling the pinch. This morning I got up, brimming with ideas for articles, wondering if I could keep myself from burning out to soon from writing. However now its the afternoon, and all those same ideas have fled. In this case though, I blame work. No, really, I blame work. Still don't believe me, allright how about I blame having worked on the webpage a lot more then I had intended today? Satisfied, then let's continue.
At this point I freely admit, that drained me of all creativity was the work on the webpage. Coupled to the fact that I'm a wee bit tired from having stayed up to late and this blog has just become a liability. However, I made a deal with myself, and a deal is a deal. So here I sit, writing something for today.
Hmmm, what should I write about then? The War going on over in Iraq? The game I'm in Beta testing with right now, that I really want to talk about, but can't cause of the NDA (such are the hassels of being in an Exclusive Beta. Luckily Open Beta will begin shortly.) How about my Big Fat Greek Life? Course, I'm neither Big, Fat, or Greek, but this is a column on life, and the general quirks, so I guess it'll do.
As Forrest Gump would say, "Life is like a box of chocolates."
Aaaannnnngggg.... Wrong Forrest, life isn't like a box chocolates, but tell him what he wins as a consolation prize Johnny? Well Chris, how about a meaningful life, full of surprises, sadness and happiness.
On the other hand, life trully is a strange thing, and a lot of times, you never know whats going to happen next. Whether you get a rich cholocate piece that puts a smile on your face, a carmel filled drop core, that sticks to the roof of your mouth like a bad aftertaste. And like a box, you have to take the good with the bad, till all is done with.
The silver linning in all this, is that over time you learn to appreciate the good with the bad, and the good becomes just that much sweeter to grab hold of. For example, right now...
Right now, it's cold and it's raining outside. It has been raining for four days and I'm starting to feel like I need to go out and found two of each animal, and get them on to the nearest boat. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I spent to much time awake last night, I forgot my checkbook, I'm just one straw short of breaking that camel's back. But then I take a step back metaphorically and look at what's really going on around me. I take measure and my optimistic streak kicks in and I smile.
Why? Cause I'm writing. I'm bloody, balls to the wall writing. I sat down at this computer with nothing to say, and yet now I've written out an editorial. Admittedly it may not be my best, and it may tend to repeat itself, but I have written several paragraphs worth of semi-meaningful stuff. I've actually accomplished another day's worth of creativity and in the process kept my outlook going on this life.
Even more then that, I feel good about myself.
At this point I freely admit, that drained me of all creativity was the work on the webpage. Coupled to the fact that I'm a wee bit tired from having stayed up to late and this blog has just become a liability. However, I made a deal with myself, and a deal is a deal. So here I sit, writing something for today.
Hmmm, what should I write about then? The War going on over in Iraq? The game I'm in Beta testing with right now, that I really want to talk about, but can't cause of the NDA (such are the hassels of being in an Exclusive Beta. Luckily Open Beta will begin shortly.) How about my Big Fat Greek Life? Course, I'm neither Big, Fat, or Greek, but this is a column on life, and the general quirks, so I guess it'll do.
As Forrest Gump would say, "Life is like a box of chocolates."
Aaaannnnngggg.... Wrong Forrest, life isn't like a box chocolates, but tell him what he wins as a consolation prize Johnny? Well Chris, how about a meaningful life, full of surprises, sadness and happiness.
On the other hand, life trully is a strange thing, and a lot of times, you never know whats going to happen next. Whether you get a rich cholocate piece that puts a smile on your face, a carmel filled drop core, that sticks to the roof of your mouth like a bad aftertaste. And like a box, you have to take the good with the bad, till all is done with.
The silver linning in all this, is that over time you learn to appreciate the good with the bad, and the good becomes just that much sweeter to grab hold of. For example, right now...
Right now, it's cold and it's raining outside. It has been raining for four days and I'm starting to feel like I need to go out and found two of each animal, and get them on to the nearest boat. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I spent to much time awake last night, I forgot my checkbook, I'm just one straw short of breaking that camel's back. But then I take a step back metaphorically and look at what's really going on around me. I take measure and my optimistic streak kicks in and I smile.
Why? Cause I'm writing. I'm bloody, balls to the wall writing. I sat down at this computer with nothing to say, and yet now I've written out an editorial. Admittedly it may not be my best, and it may tend to repeat itself, but I have written several paragraphs worth of semi-meaningful stuff. I've actually accomplished another day's worth of creativity and in the process kept my outlook going on this life.
Even more then that, I feel good about myself.
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
[TB] Why Can I Never Leave Well Enough Alone?
As you may have noticed or not, this page has been updated. Ahem, as I said, as you may or may not have noticed, this page has been UPDATED. Spooky, ain't it?
So Two years, 8 months, and something like 25 days later, I finally get back to update my personal webpage. You'd think I was lazy or something? Au Contraie monfeit, not lazy, just nothing to really update. In its previous life, all the webpage had been, was a kind of world bookmark. Now some of the subpages could and should have been updated, but a very busy work like, plus an up and down social life, lead to a such a gigantic case of writer's block that, well, you get the idea. Hmmm, maybe I should watch those run-on's, ney? Sidetrack time boys and girls!
So Two years, 8 months, and something like 25 days later, I finally get back to update my personal webpage. You'd think I was lazy or something? Au Contraie monfeit, not lazy, just nothing to really update. In its previous life, all the webpage had been, was a kind of world bookmark. Now some of the subpages could and should have been updated, but a very busy work like, plus an up and down social life, lead to a such a gigantic case of writer's block that, well, you get the idea. Hmmm, maybe I should watch those run-on's, ney? Sidetrack time boys and girls!
As Robin Williams once said, "F*** It!"
I'll give you a warning, as part of this mega web update that is going on, I'm also forcing myself to write once more. Since this is part carthesis, part training myself again, a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes will appear in what I write. Thats not to say this will continue on forever, just while I working myself into this, expect some odd sentences, gramartizations, and plain bad spelling. 'Cause the whole point of this, is not to be a perfect writer, but to write. To write anything, every day, at any hour, and force this voodo block out of my fingertips. Also, eventually I will want to pride myself on a good story, and thus will get myself a spell checker to help out. As for today, "F*** It".
Alas, don't be surprised to see a few four letter words in these columns. As rants are primarily based on emotions, cuss words are sometimes the only thing to properly expound the emotion. And frankly, even I need to cuss every now and then.
Anyways, getting back to the thing at hand. A few days ago I was reminded that I started a webjournal a year ago, and never followed through on it. I'm not quite sure why, but I never did. Lately, I've also begun to read a few, very well written and interesting blogs. Thus on the way to work today, mulling over a possible columnist position with a website, I was struck dumb by an idea (Yes, yes, not far to go for me to be dumb). Why not update my personal page, updating and indexing the subpages I have and want to build, put up a place to archive my columns, and even further my personal blog. Hey, you doing the raspberry, pipe down!
As I said, this was an idea, and one I particularly like. And as stated above, it also produced a goal I had really, really, been wanting to obtain for most of my life, that is to finally become a "Writer". Not a hack, not an amatuer, but a real honest to god writer. So here we are.
Each day I'll be back to write something, anything at all. And just to be fair, the four major subjects will also be indexed seperately to provide a little spice (that and another simultaneous goal of learning a new html programming feature). As I move along, I might also adjust this main page to reflect the different columns. However, right now, I'll just use it as the springboard, and archive the rants/editorials/columns in there sub-sections.
For now, Pip-pip and all that jazz!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)