Suck it, THIS is why I play Glasswalkers:

My score on The "HOLY CRAP, ROBOTS!!" Test:


(You scored 17 Robot Awareness!)

You're robot saavy enough to survive the coming Robo-Apocolypse. You're smart enough that you can impress your steel overlords without making them suspicious. You'll likely get the fine job of overseeing the slaves. Buddy, you're gonna live a nice long life.

Your most likely cause of death:
Slave Revolt.

You scored higher than 99% on Robot Awareness

Link: The "HOLY CRAP, ROBOTS!!" Test

Change of plans

As if I wasn't before, I'm putting things at TTS on hold, and isntead doing some In-Character Diary blogging for a Live Action Roleplaying character. it should be somewhat more entertaining (and obligatorily angsty) than my own normal sort of crap. You can find Crescent Calling at http://chiminage.blogspot.com

CC is going to be following Daniel Nicholas Arazon, a werewolf cub with an affinity and hatred of technology, too many brains for his own good, and a startling, overpowering vision for a communal future when all seems bleak.

Returneth..ething

I only seem to find it prudent to post when significant events occur. After all, my daily dealings are fairly basic, an daside from rounding up posts on world issues and crises, i could't contribute much.

So, It's generally the rare enjoyable events that cause me to feel like posting.

Events like Comic Con International right here in San Diego.

I've gone almost every year since.. Probably '95 or '96, a decade at least. It's gotten bigger every year... to the point of adding an entire days worth of programming. It's the main floor, the previews, trailer park, the anime... Just about everything that I return for, and I'm planning on hitting all *five* days of the event, preview night included.

The only real difference this year is that a few friends and I have cosnpired to do the 'cosplay' thing.. Although thankfully, no sailor uniforms are involved (x.x, there, a requisite emoticon). Rather, the lot of us should be showing up in style dressed as Turks, Ala FF7 and Advent Children.

Hopefully things will go well, and fun and enjoyment will be had by all... especially the lucky exhibitors who recieve a chunk of the 200$ or so I plan to spend on merch!

The Tiger Speaks, Tiredly.

Well, I've been back since Saturday, but I've been busy. Right off the place I came home, then went out to indulge in my roleplaying game addiction into the wee hours of Sunday.

Saturday, went to go see V for Vendetta. Interesting, and certainly entertaining movie, but I still want to get my paws on the original graphic novel. I did the same with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but i'm hoping that the gap from comic awesomeness to movie awesomeness is smaller with V than LXG. Or maybe I'm a purist.

My other Gaming hobby, at least for the week, has been a new Alliance character for WoW... I've played Horde forever past, so It's off to see the game from the other side. I think I've at last realized that the "Least Common Denominator" of each faction is generally how their opponents on the server view them. Enlightening, but it doesn't make me feel better about getting ganked while cooking at an inn...

Vacation, Gaming Updates

I've been (And will be) out of comission, with only sporadic access... So, In the meantime, I figured I would fill my gaming quota with some pointers to this week's hot topic in gaming: The 2006 Game Developer's Conference.

Another site with excellent coverage of this year's show is Kotaku, one of my fave Gaming Blogs. While it isn't E3, the GDC also... Isn't... E3. In any case, Will Wright, one of the greatest Simulator creators ever, is back this year... and I'm hoping for more details about Spore, his game which recieved a great deal of attention last year.

Anyway, go and keep up on things with Kotaku's wonderful coverage, and I'll likely be about later this week.

And so he Chuffed.
~The Tiger.

Oh, And...

Oh, and, if there is anything that constitutes "Must See Internet", -Especially- for the Retro Geek within you, it would be this...

'72 'Net Documentary Via Google Video

Trip

I'll be going on a trip for Spring Break... Tomorrow, around 8:30 AM PST, I grab a flight to go to Seattle. I'm going to see someone I haven't seen in a log time, so I'm not really sure how it'll go... but I have every intention of enjoying myself.

Ciao, Internet. I may catch glimpses of you on the horizon, but I will no longer be rooming with you. At least, for a week.

~The Tiger

Worrisome Trends

...The most obvious being, my inability to update.

But now that I'm here, I figure it's time to post on some things that have been creeping up on, and profusely nagging at the back of my mind. Two of the largest ones are tied together on a common trend these days... censorship.

Lately, Boing Boing has ended up on SmartFilter's Hit List... and no one is quite sure why, as far as I can tell. This means numerous coorporations, schools and governments are blocking access to the best source of tech news links and wierdness on the net. I think BoingBoing is fairly harmless, which does beg the question of why Smartfilter is blocking it. Currently the best summary of this episode is probably Google Current's 'Darth Tater' post (Link)

While the blocking of one of the most popular sites on the web is somewhat unusual, there is a slightly thicker stink surrounding the blocking of a number of left-leaning political blogs and sites from access by military personel in Iraq. i owuld like to imagine that this is a mix up, but ti does seem too convenient that thsoe sites are blocked, while access to Limbaugh and other conservative-canted sites are allowed. Hopefully someone will realize how embaressing that is, and turn off said filtering before it becomes any more problematic. (Link)

And, in another disturbing trend, Senators Clinton and Lieberman are proposing that the CDC investigate gaming. This seems to be the newest piece in what is shaping up to be a democratic war on video games.. and frankly, that leaves a sour taste in my mouth, as if anything the word 'Republican' should be in there somewhere. It just seems strange for a party that has been (rightfully) taking offense to the domestic wiretapping issue and shrinking civil liberties to go after gaming in a way that seems destined to hurt free speech.

In my opinion, which at the very least matters for my personal vote, the Dems who are jumping onto this wagon and becoming 'defenders of family' are shooting themselves in the foot. I se a fair overlap with the people who are part of the netroots leftist movement, and video game enthusiasts. I guess the gist of the gamble may be picking up the concerned parent vote, at the cost of the enthusiasm of the young politically active gamer. I think it's a losing proposition.

Kotaku and Slashdot are perhaps the best places to keep an eye on these issues, as they've carried all these stories in the past few weeks.

And that's all he chuffed.
-Tiger