March 2004 Archives
Online book marks. With a dash of social software. And a web-service, with a simple API and RSS feeds. For instance, if you want to keep track of any new links that i add, just use this feed in your news aggregator, or you can also see the web version. I thought it was kind-of-cool, till i stared to use the subscribe button, then i thought "holy shit, this thing is awesome". Check it out.
We were out at the park with Con this weekend. He was in the swings, and running around in the playground. Got sand in his mouth after a wipeout. Also, first time, got muddy pants! Here are some shots.
Conor and Me
Con on the Fence at the park
Ciara and Conor on the grass
In the garden with Con
"let it be..."
First, some photos:
Conor and cousin Liam in the kitchen
Conor and Liam playing the piano together
Conor eating some stew
Felix the cat in the sun
If you are reading this, you know a little about Blogs. Maybe you read a couple of blogs. Perhaps you've noticed that it can be hard to keep up with all the new posts. Well, there is a tool that could help you out. You might have heard of RSS or RSS Aggregators, tools that pull all the posts from blogs, and other sites, into one simple to digest format. The problem with most aggregators is that they are a whole separate tool that you need to download and run. If you have held off trying out an aggregator, you should try Bloglines. Its an online, free, RSS aggregator. You can add my rss feed and Tony's ClickableCulture feed as a start, to see what you think. There is the danger that you might start reading far too many blogs...
Was reading a post at Terra Nova about an article at the New York Times about Permadeath in Online Games. The discussion at TN is interesting, people taking the different sides in the argument. One particular post really struck me as perhaps the most insightfull.
... However, unless you boot people from using the service after dying, perma death of a character merely means that people will start rerolling characters. This ensures that friendships will be pushed outside the character - I don't care what shell you are inhabitating, I want to know your RL nick so we can meet again in our next shells. - Brask Mumei
Ever the frustrated game designer, i thought i'd chime in with my two cents. I was thinking that if you could have avatars which allow for the continuation of these relationships, as mentioned above, but also for some kind of earthly mortality, you might be able to get the best of both worlds. Some kind of mix of the stories of gods taking the form of a human, or along the lines of Dr. Who - There is a core, which can not be killed, but the shell is ever changing. The game could take place on two different levels, and some actions are only available to each level. Lets call the levels Realms, so you have a Realm where you have a physical avatar and can do all the typical game stuff. There is also a Realm where you go when your physical avatar is destroyed. Perhaps you could come back with the same shell, but it would be more expensive then "reincarnating" in a new shell. As it is still "you", you'd be able to maintain your relationships, but have new challenges to face as you'd have a new avatar with different skills, abilities etc. What do you think? I'm just brainstorming, so i'm sure i've not thought of many issues with this scheme...
But were too little of a freak to ask. "What is sex with a realdoll like?". Well, here is the answer. I almost didn't link to this because its just that close to being over the edge for me, but the bit "They're so realistic-looking, in fact, that the company produced a spinoff site showing the dolls getting it on with each other. People are paying to jerk off to inanimate objects that have been posed to look like they're fucking. If that isn't brilliant, I don't know what is. " hooked me in.
Damn it! Mozilla/Windows has eaten my bookmarks file! The only backup i have is something like 3 or 4 months old. Sigh. I've got to get some kind of frequent backup working, rsync or something... Poo.
