today is Tea Party ‘07 - a historical concept to stir up the political realm as was done during the Boston Tea Party protest.
I donated because we need Paul. America is in deep deep shit and I agree with Dr. Paul on many fronts as to the cause and solution of our various entrenchments.
outspark may be making money afterall. after skimming threads such as this, basically identical to most the floods of complaints, it makes me go hmm as there is no offical statement on the matter (afaik.)
it is known that: outspark has numerous foreign offices - at least one other “official” in Seoul, KR (source). or, more likely, the “gold farms” are shadow entities of Outspark’s primary investing company “Altos” - not a bad way to earn a quick return on ones investment, eh?
the concept in question, “gold farming,” goes way back. it is essentially, a sweat shop for people (stereotypically, Chinese) (and sometimes bots) playing the “game” 24 hours a day, “earning” in-game currency or “power leveling” for sale on these websites. this allows players, not into the grind typically required to obtain such sums or ascend to such levels, to exchange the in-game services for real-life money. it is a scorned process but very popular nonetheless; tis taboo if you will.
my biggest personal complaint is the blatent lack of respect in *advertising* these gold vendoring websites. in the case of Fiesta, bots/people sit in major towns and spam in the “shout” channel - “www.blahblahbuyourgold.com customer respect is number one to you.” yes, the engrish is that bad and often worse. what’s worse, there is no /ignore command in Fiesta, no blacklist, shitlist, fracklist, nothing. these people spam all day and all night. often even when a “GM” (gamemaster, moderator if you will) is on.
so, does it not make you go hmm? this isn’t a bad idea either. and if it’s the extent of it, and we continue to play for free, I guess I’m OK with it. there really isn’t anything illegal going on, so long as the gold buyers aren’t getting ID theft, etc… gold farm sites are pretty f’n sketchy.
in this post I discuss variables, ideas to fix, and tips refering to outspark.com’s game Fiesta.
how many variables could their be? (not including non-disclosed ones)
for 15 spots and 5 chances - 75 people get to play per 2 hours -> 900 plays per day.
that’s a pretty small number considering how frackin’ popular the open beta is becoming.
first of all, how many level 5-16 people (speaking on King Slime KQ) on at any one time who are aware of the KQ - (as time goes this is certainly increasing) - oh, lets say how about 49%.
so 49% of… a few hundred… a few thousand? anyway, that sucks!
maybe connection speed? probably-certainly. I pity any dialup players, and imagine in it’s current state the game is unplayable especially in jam packed places such as roumen.
reflexes? doubtful. there are far too many variables for even the most reflexy of anyone to get in everytime. even still, I hold essentially hold my breath for the final 10-15 secs before a recruitment begins. Ugh.
My Idea to Fix Fiesta Kingdom Quest:
an internal Fiesta player priority Queue! this seems plausible, and come on, a damn good idea. it’s simple: 1st - monitor what players have partipated that day, and give them a lower priority. 2nd - monitor the level of people attempting to join, higher levels get a slightly higher priority; or maybe people lower than 8 levels to upper level cap get a lower priority.
Besides all that, I’ve tried a few tips/tricks with little increase in success - really doesn’t seem to make a frackin’ difference.
- LEAVE crowded areas, don’t huddle around the KQ guy.
- hold down participate button so that you only have to LET the button go when recruitment starts.
- be as quick as you can, but also patient - I know, it fuckin’ blows.
- try to play KQ at off PST peak hours (after midnight? before 8am?)
- log off and back on a minute or two before recruiting. it is rumored this alleviates acrued lag.
hopefully Outspark will fix the issue by adding more instance opportunities (possibly a bad idea in the long run) or taking my suggestion and giving me a job to implement it :).
good luck out there, Isya Fans.
Update - 9/14/07 -
as of about a week ago, outspark added a few more instances of the more popular KQs. this has somewhat bandaided the problem by simply allowing more supply to the demand. furthermore, I have not been offered a job at outspark.
citibank is my first CC with rewards - free of $$ charge; free of cost however - not even close.
#1 Gripe: thankyou network is pathetic.
the “reward” points you receive are approx. 100/dollar spent. ok fine. I decided to use some - 13,500 points for a PS2 - cool - about $135. I order it up on 11/20. it is now the 27th and the order status remains exactly what it was the day I placed it: “In Progress.” perhaps I need to send them a friendly reminder? oh, what’s this - no email or e-contact method whatsoever, an address and a phone #. fuuuck you!
#2 Gripe: my finance charge calculation cycle based on std purchases is *20* days. NOT the same as my billing cycle (30 days.) this underhanded practice basically forces you into paying every 20 days or else you get charged. this is the first time I’ve encountered this tactic; it is sneaky and irritating. fuck you.
#3 Gripe: seriously, where’s my ps2?! assholes.
#4 Gripe: I called citi about a month ago to inquire about changing the due date of my payments. ‘ok np’ the CSR says in a garbled D-student english tongue. I ask to have a fee removed - ‘ok np, check back with us in 7 biz days’ - wtf? apparently ‘billing’ has to look over the acct and decide if I am worthy. ok fine I say. thanks…… at which point the CSR launches into a spcheel about some credit protection - y’know, 30 days free of “id/credit protection” yada yada shit that is probably included in my account already anyway. I say no. she launches into yet another spcheel. I am polite, I say no thanks I will consider it - mistake - as this is apparently another keyword for yet another speech. I am annoyed. I said no. good bye. in short - my gripe is NO FREE CUSTOMER SERVICE - you pay with your time as they WILL TRY TO SELL YOU SOMETHING after “helping” you. fu.
#5 semi-gripe: I did end up receiving the PS2. it took nearly *two* months and the status was never updated. well at least I got it…
naraku presents: a brief homage to the wonders that are component cables; a side-by-side comparison to composite cables; a ps2 component cable review.
I had a problem with my Playstation 2 on my 42″ Westinghouse LCD: using the composite cables included, it looked like utter shit! …I almost broke down and hooked it back up to my 27″ CRT. fortunately, there is a (relatively) cheap and effective way to recover lost quality due to stretched resolution issues from using a big screen - component cables.
using component cables, the color reproduction is increased an (arbitrarily biggish) factor of 7. there is a small downside however, where blur was with composite cables, component now shows you crisp pixel edges often called “jaggies”. in our humble opinion, the jaggies are far less annoying (by a factor of 38) than the blur. see for yourself.
here are some shots of my TV playing Final Fantasy XII that acutely demonstrates the dramatic improvement component cables make on image quality.
| (before) using composite: |
(after) using component: |
 |
 |
read on for more sample shots… no spoilers here, promise.
these kind of sites are a great idea for charities. they are basically the only type of webpage advertisement I will intentionally click.
http://www.TheAnimalRescueSite.com - Your daily free clicks provide food for animals in shelters & sanctuaries.
on the other hand - I imagine there’s a lot out there, with this ideal front and foremost, that are utterly fradulent. I mean, who’s to say my clicks that supposedly provided 1.2 bowls of food for some poor animal will actually get it? some convincing italicized text? pffsh, mayhaps the dilenquent in charge of actually feeding may take the pennies I (indirectly) provided and pool them into a ginormous crack fund! hey, anything’s possible.
still, I believe most people who like animals aren’t into crack, so I don’t mind the small chance for this. go clicky some ads for the poor hungry aminals. also, if you know any other ad-funded charities like this shoot them my way.
I need to get some t-shirts made that have a [ S A N E ] stamp on em. what better way to get someone to turn an’ give you the cock eyed looksy and/or the classic furrowed brow?
as my friend said last night, “if it said INSANE people would just laugh (or not), but SANE will get a ‘is he really?’ response!” classic humor from a classy lady.
in addition, I’m pleased to announce that I have been deemed *sane* by that very lady - after a much trying and difficult period in both of our lives, it has been decided: NOT CRAZY. time for a parade!
oh happy (sanity filled) days! no, seriously, being sane IS awesome!! woo woo yip yip hee!? :D
editors note: nate, despite his apparent “sanity stamp”, is in fact insane, totally, completely crazy.
seriously good to see this kind of thing. it is truly beautiful in that it illustrates we are all human beneath it all. it’s touching to see him use the gun in a most nonviolent of ways.
just as when I see hackey sack players I join in. though the surreality of doing so in a war zone makes this short clip all the better. this soldier makes me proud; god bless.
top 5’s of all time - impressions of these games were made generally when they were released, so I’ve tried take that into account as best I can recall.
the Final Fantasy series games originally Square, and now Square-Enix (Squeenix) are loved by me immensely.
1.)
- “How ’bout a little magitek mayhem?” -Kefka
- “Uwee hee hee! Don’t tease the octopus, kids!” -Ultros
- “Mr. Thou! Mr. Thou!” -Gau
- “In this world there are many like me who have killed their emotions. Don’t forget that.” -Shadow2.) FF VII - “My mother is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me. My father… ha ha ha…” -Sephiroth
3.) FF X - “Outside the dream world, life can be harsh–even cruel, but it is life.” -Auron
4.) FF IX
5.) FF XI
FF XII is fastly moving up this list though I will not place it until I finish it. I expect it to end up between 3 and 7… I doubt anything will topple the effect FF III had on me the first time I played through it, but it is too soon to call!
* Dragon Warrior 1 (2 and 3), Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross deserve honorable mentions (at the very least) while I am on the topic of Squeenix.
Blizzard (North) games:
1.)
Diablo II (LoD) / World of Warcraft2.) Starcraft (Brood war)
3.) Diablo I
4.) Warcraft 2
5.) Warcraft 1
this one was tough. I was obsessed with these games and owe a great deal of my years (15-25) engrossed in these extremely addictive games. WoW and D2 tied, though this may change with additional forthought. each are cause of a significant portion of joy and depression (time laden.)
WC1 outed WC3 because of the time I was in it. it was the first computer game I could really play, at school mind you, as a TA long before I had a PC of my own capable of … well, anything fun.
this list inspired by my buddy abram who’s put up his:
“My most memorable video games.”
witness the amazing feat of (university) police brutality!
granted, guy was likely being exceedingly difficult for the UCPD to even come… I worked those late hours at the computer lab at CSUC a semester and occasionally had problems w/people who strongly felt they should not have to leave or show ID to stay… never so bad as to call the campus cops though. I doubt UCLA is that much different in that respect.
however, it does seem apparent that the UCPD used excessive force and should be repremanded accordingly… with that many of them they could have dragged him out rather than tazing the shit out of him yielding those blood curdling screams…. with the hall echos it sounded like a grievous torture chamber.
youtuber comments for this go both ways, as I have.
for me, change often comes suddenly and I am usually unprepared for it. I slump into old habits - many of which are gone for the better - for however long it takes me to recover… in the process of, I become more fascinated by passionate people as I often feel I lack it. many of these people find living life courageously natural. the drive these people exibit is interesting and generally worthy of respect. in my oft slouching state, I ponder these people: is it a passion gene, learned behavior, or hard work?
I am not good at hard work. I work smart or not at all. simply thinking about *hard work* makes me cringe. I do not like it and do not intend to ever learn how to do so. I believe I can achieve the same or greater simply by persistence - though this in itself can be considered hard… I digress.
some people make a healthy living off simply unloading their passion onto the intarnet - extroverted introverts. this concept is quite appealing to me and while feels close, has yet to be seen, as if when I open my eyes or turn my head at just the right time and direction, *it* will be there. I am becoming a believer that the universe will provide to those who make the call and are prepared for the answer, even though all I have now is faith….
firm belief in the idea of generating income and exposure while not working is fantastically rewarding. faith in creating systems that work all the time is what this era is all about. just because I have yet to create one that yielded $$ doesn’t mean they weren’t great experiences to build on - middlesyde, wildcatclassifieds, various personal sites…
I have a few goals (somewhat unrelated to my rant) :
.. further engage random people more comfortably particularly those I am attracted to; i.e. beyond an awkward two words - one sentence.
.. develop a small source of income entirely separate from my day job - I have a few ideas here - and eventually quit this (fucking) job.
.. purchase a motorcycle.
I’ve accomplished a couple other goals this past weekend.
for one, my house is no longer a place I dread returning to. I am hoping this is the first step towards creating a place to be more proactive and productive.
what empowers you to change?
…
I am freaking out at work and I fucking hate this town.
so I guess I drink too much: too much coffee, too much vodka. at least that’s what my mommy says. it rather happily explains why since as of this week, I have been wiping small amounts of red from my ass. but only when I poo, there is no leakage (eww).
it’s a much better explaination than pondering the possibility of ecoli - have you eaten spinich lately? (hope not!).
drink less baddies. that concludes my self-learned lesson of the day.
..I’ve become overly comfortable… or unusually lazy… or I’m getting old… in any case, it is reaching a very disturbing level. for the second time this week, I left myself completely at the mercy of the thieves / miscreants in my neighborhood.
monday, I left my car doors unlocked, ok, so my car could’ve been pillaged… fine. last night, I left my fucking keys in my front door all night. oh, I locked the front door… from the inside… but left THE DAMN KEYS HANGING THERE. at least I had the sense to turn off my porch light before bed… hah. my house and my car were essentially free for the taking for about 7 hours last night thru this morning. what gives?!
I stopped smoking pot regularly about a year ago. these little issues with short term memory should mitigate, right!? ugh, at least when I was smoking, I had added paranoia so this sort’ve thing would never have occured…
what can I do? do I need a live-in nagging mind-nurse? :(
…to the inner hacker/geek. I just saw a story posted on digg and before I knew it, I had it… “Look At All These Passwords!” may as well have said Look At All These HotAsses! and I may have been just intrigued.
the post itself is not even worth linking; it’s basic info propagated to the masses in lamen terms. serves a purpose but is no where near ground breaking.
password knowledge is sexy… regardless of whether it’s useful or not.
when you’re a stranger
faces look ugly when you’re alone
women seem wicked when you’re unwanted
she began as the acquaintance I always hoped would be around, to the loving and caring friend who quickly evolved and opened her heart to me becoming into an amazingly beautiful person. I fell in love with her and quickly established a bond I hoped and entrusted much of myself in. for a brief time, I had never known such wonders existed. then something broke. it healed, and evolved again. she was my friend again. soon after, we slipped into loving one another again. then without warning, something broke again, but this time even more ambiguously. it has stayed broken, and I have stayed in the dark as to why and how. it isn’t going to heal. it’s over.
if we could’ve remained honest as we were in the beginning, I think I could’ve married this girl. I saw it. I touched it. and now it’s gone. it escaped my fragile hold on reality.
I wish I knew what happened to my short-lived best friend.
grow up, grow strong and leave the past behind
