140conf in Kingston

Been awhile since I dusted off the old blog. I figure I ought to start using this for business-related things like reviewing important conferences. Like the 140 conference yesterday in Kingston that I went to. So here we go.

So yesterday, I went to a 140conference. It was the first conference of its kind, and essentially it was about Social Media technology, which in college we were calling multimedia technology. Maybe if I start calling it Social Media technology, I will get more people who know what I am talking about, and less people trying to use the name Multimedia in places it should not be used.

The conference itself was a fantastic exercise. I was a little nervous at first because of not knowing anyone at the conference. This was only compounded by the fact that several people had used the conference as a way of meeting up after knowing each other for a long time on Twitter, which is something I long ago thought was pretty much a waste of time. This, it turns out, is the exact opposite of what everyone at the conference believed.

Turns out Twitter is a pretty big deal. Who knew?

Ric Dragon is, to my understanding, the man responsible for bringing the conference to Kingston, along with his wife Jen Dragon. I am assuming they are responsible because he was the welcoming speaker, and because everyone at the conference knew who he was. As a student who was mostly trying to learn more about his field, I felt a little in the dark about what was going on. In terms of learning what was going on locally in my field though, this entire conference was a rousing success.

Most of the speakers had something to say about growing your business. The first speaker, a young guy from South Carolina, I got to talk with during the lunch break. He apparently owns two programming companies and is developing app. Software for mobile phones. He is nineteen and he owns two companies. That is two more than I own, and four less years than I have. This is the biggest slice of humble pie I have ever been served.

This slice of Key Lime Pie is Public Domain. It is the only reason I used Key Lime Pie.

Since I said I would post this tonight, I do not have time to get twitter name permission from all of the conference speakers. If I had a little more foresight, I would’ve done this already. I also might have two programming companies. But I do feel that going to this conference was definitely a good thing for me, in the more common hindsight that I have. The speakers were insightful, the atmosphere was friendly, the bag lunches were a nice surprise mid-way through, and besides the earthquake that shook the East coast, the entire thing went very smoothly.

This was the first 140 Conference in Kingston, and I think if it were being held next year, I would definitely return.

Twitter logo is a Copywright of Twitter. I do not own the Twitter logo, but for purposes of review I am using the logo under Fair Use. Twitter, as it turns out, is pretty cool. So I don't think that they business as a whole will mind.

Movie Review - Green Lantern

A hero who is handsome and rebellious finds himself at odds with the system. He is chosen by an alien force for a greater purpose, and after some awkward training and promises that he has been chosen for a very important reason, he has some doubt about his own ability. His friends help reassure him that he is great, while one is secretly planning betrayal. The hero fails to overcome his first major hurdle, but fares much better on his second attempt, and very nearly loses everything before taking on the incredibly difficult task no one ever thought he could do.

The funny thing about this is that I don't even have to come up with a movie to pretend I was describing all along. You can probably think of one yourself. The Matrix would be a good choice. As would the first Spider-Man movie. And the second. I've never seen the third, but I imagine you could work it in there too. Heck, I just saw Thor a few weeks ago, and it has the same formula.

Green Lantern is not a mind blowing departure from traditional action movie fair. In fact, it's almost to the point where it is parodying its own adhesion to the formula.

It works though. I grinned and laughed at the jokes that were made, and enjoyed the human-juxtaposed-to-alien interaction that stands for humor in these kinds of movies. If you thought that Peter Parker shouting "Shazam!" on top of a building while trying to get his web to work was clever, you will enjoy this movie (And for that matter, it does stay fairly true to the source material, according to my incredibly reliable Dad.) Just don't expect yourself to think very hard while watching the film.

Some minor complaints though; There are some obvious editing issues towards the end, and some unpolished bits that make it sub-par even as a B-ranking superhero movie, which is probably why critics are hammering it hard (IMDB 65%, Metacritic 40/100, Rotten Tomatoes 24%), but from an audience perspective, there's nothing truly terrible about the film, and you might even enjoy it, especially if you enjoyed the original. Just don't expect it to take itself too seriously.

Edit: Oh, and towards the beginning he has some family members that make him seem like an everyday man who just screws up in a very human and relatable way. They play such an important part in the movie that I completely forgot about them until just now, and nothing about the movie would change if they didn't exist at all. Also his father died when he was young. No word on his mother though, since she makes all of zero appearances in the film.

I Should Probably Change The Name Of This Blog

Seeing how I've utterly failed my original goal to write a page of something every single day, I should probably change the name of this blog so that I can keep updating it without the overbearing guilt of failing to finish my project weighing down on me each time.

A little of that is hyperbole. <.<; And a lot of it is melodrama.

So...I really don't know what else to call this blog. o.o I guess I should call it something that relates to myself...I'm a Gamer who likes to occasionally draw and write and post on message boards, I like to RP and I like things that are cute. And I also enjoy puppies and kittens, and the strange combination of the two in my head that is called a kuppy.

Maybe my blog name should be about Kuppies?

...Well, that is a strange stream of consciousness.

Why I Will Never, Ever, Ever Open an E-mail That Has Less Than Two Words In The Subject

So I just deleted about 243 different e-mails from my hotmail account today. While MOST of those e-mails were automatic notifications from Facebook, there was one other "type" of e-mail that raised my ire considerably just by seeing it in my account.

Frequently, repeatedly in fact, I get e-mails from family members in which the subject line is blank. It breaks my heart to delete all of them, because I am well aware that they may be entirely benign, but I will never, ever open a single one of them.

In fact, any e-mail without at least two unique words attached to it (I.E., not a date or a common greeting, you need a minimum of 15 characters as well) will never, ever be opened. And here's why.

1: It probably contains a virus.

If your e-mail has been hacked, there's a good chance that it is being used to send viruses out to everyone on your contact list, with the kind of subject lines that either do not exist or contain such generic things that they have no real substance.

2: It is probably spam.

I'm sure that your video of a water buffalo fending off a pack of lions until the entire herd comes back to kick their ass is incredibly awesome, but if I haven't seen it before, then your e-mail with the subject "Very cool!" is not going to get me interested.

3: You are not interested in sending me an e-mail.

People tend to think that they can get away with this in their subject line because "people don't even read the subject line" or "It's not as if it's an important part of the message "Or the most grating excuse, "It's just an e-mail!", when in fact, what you are telling me when you send this e-mail with a subject line that either does not exist or shows no creativity is that you do not care about the recipient at all. That being the case, why should I care what it contains?

So, for all of you who send me e-mails, for goodness sake, put some effort into writing a subject line! It doesn't have to be shakespearian, it just has to let me know that you aren't a spambot.

Zzzz-nkh? Whuh? OH! BLOG! *Review - I Am Number 4*

Wow...been a long time since I did a blog update.

Umm...Hi? o.o

OH right! I just saw a movie.

Review: I Am Number 4


Before going to see this film, I looked up a few reviews to see if I'd enjoy it. What they had to say wasn't very pleasant. What I was promised was a very Michael Bay style action movie mixed with a romantic subplot out of the Twilight saga coupled with some obvious marketing-based decisions.

While this is all completely true, I still managed to enjoy the film.

This may have been in part to the personal riff tracks that I played in the back of my head - the gecko/dog at the beginning who, by the way, turns out to be a significant character, becomes a source of much amusement when you pretend he could save you hundreds on car insurance - but it could also be the fact that it's drawing on things I DO like. The high school fight scene chimes in with visions of Buffy the Vampire slayer, and I have to admit it is visually entertaining...though I do wish Joss Whedon had been on hand to write the one-liner quips.

Granted the plot does have some interesting points, like the nature of the war between two alien species that wind up on Earth. Yes, I know it's the same plot as Transformers, but this is based on a previously existing work...which may say more about the writer's creativity than anything else, but I'm going to give credit to the author for keeping me hooked on the intrigue of extraterrestrial life.

But it does feel like the plot is dragging on the "we want our demographic to love this" hook as hard as possible. The love hook feels about as forced as it could possibly be, and the sex appeal of one character (hint: It's another number) piles on about as thick as the mantle of the Earth.

Still, I enjoyed it, and if you like action and science fiction, you might enjoy it too. But good grief, do not expect this to be a deep or compelling story. Just...don't.

Slow Night

All I really have to say about tonight is that I went to my cousin's birthday party, had some pizza, and saw Little Big Planet 2 in action. It is totally the kind of game I would get if I had a PS3.

This does not mean I am getting a PS3. I did not suddenly start being made of money, and I did not suddenly have the urge to spend the money I was allegedly made out of. I probably wouldn't either. I mean, could you imagine a guy made of money, trying to spend himself on something? The implications are just...ugh...not to mention it would still be a part of him, so it would practically be selling himself into slavery.

So yeah, Little Big Planet 2 is pretty cool, but being made of money is not.

Thesis Pager

Well, I've written my thesis "Pager". I feel comfortable posting this here since it is just a summary, but I probably won't be doing that for the rest of my thesis.

Pager for Thesis

Title:

Online Gaming and Social Interaction: The Effects of Online Gaming on One's Social Interactions in both Virtual Worlds and Reality

Thesis Question:

What is the socioeconomic impact of online gaming on the people who play these games?

Secondary Question:

How does this impact differ between different types of online gaming?

Current Knowledge:

Papers have been done on the impact of online gaming, both in the positive and negative light, largely surrounding the social implications of gaming and, on occasion, whether or not such online experiences could be used to improve social interaction or aid in education. Research has been done on the ethical implication of online gaming, and online ethics in general. The gap that this paper fills is a more comprehensive examination of the impact that online gaming has on the individual, both socially and economically, and how different games affect people in different ways.

Methodology:

There are several different methods for gathering data on this subject. I will be using the following three:

• Research
• Survey
• Interview

I will be researching the current literature on the subject to get a full comprehension of how one can be affected by online gaming. I will then use my connections in the online gaming world to find research subjects who are willing to take surveys on their experience in online gaming. Finally, through those surveys, I will find research subjects who are willing to take part in interviews to further analyze the status of their online experience.

The surveys and interviews will be conducted with people who play MMORPGs, Social Network games, and those who role-play without a gaming interface through forums, chat rooms and AIM clients.

Possible Implications:

Gathering the data that is available on the subject of online gaming will help compile the information that is currently available on online gaming – many different fields of research have an interest in the subject, so a compilation of this information would be useful for anyone trying to discover more about the phenomena.

Furthermore, surveys and interviews with the online gaming public will help us identify how these players view themselves from a wide variety of perspectives – both in socioeconomic status and in their playing experience.

---------------------------

Furthermore, here are the timeline time tables I've written up as a rough estimate for the time I need to spend on the thesis for the next 2 months. Please forgive the page runoff.

Timeline - Proposal:

Feb. 3-7: Research	Feb. 8-10: Introduction & Research Question	Feb. 11-16: Literature Review	Feb. 17-19: Methodology & Analysis Plan	Feb. 20-21: Anticipated Findings	Feb. 22-23: Compile Proposal
Finish compiling and reviewing research material on subject	Thoroughly describe the research questions I am answering in 3-5 pages	Finish preliminary review by 13th, submit to drop box, and rewrite by 16th	Write out & Describe Survey/Interview questions	Expected results of the research	Put together all previous parts to create final proposal for submission

Timeline – Post-Proposal:

Feb. 16-20: Request Survey Participation	Feb. 26-28: Survey Distribution	Mar. 1-5: Refine Research Into Summary	Mar. 6-12: Request interviews	Mar. 13-20: Interviews
Prior to proposal completion, request participants for survey from contacts	Send out survey requests after proposal has been approved	Begin writing process – refine research material into workable thesis summary and topic description	Surveys due. Find participants who are willing to take interviews. Begin compiling survey information	Perform interviews. Finish research compilation into topic discussion, utilize survey information in thesis

Snowed In

We've gotten a spectacular level of snow here as of late. In the spirit of Snow Days (And in the spirit of being spectacularly undermotivated), I've made as little progress as possible on my Thesis since last post, which I just KNOW is going to come and bite me in the ass soon if I don't get something done .

There's a thing called a "Pager" that I'm supposed to have for it. I think I'll write that up tomorrow and see if there are any major holes in my thesis plans that need to be hammered out.

So far, the only thing that I could see as being an obstacle is the possibility that my idea is too ill-defined, or worse yet, that it has already been done in a more well-defined way. As I've discovered with a little extra digging, there are already some papers on the culture of online gamers, both in a positive and negative light, so I might have to consider how to make my paper a bit more unique, or else just do a reflective on the subject as a whole.

I really do want this thesis to be about online gaming culture though, so anything else would truly suck since I've set my heart so firmly on this premise.

Of course I haven't yet set myself upon the part that I really am going to dread, which is the mass reading of all the texts on the subject and the subsequent compilation of all the information that I'll need. Mind you, I don't have any problems with reading texts, especially if it's teaching me something new or giving me something interesting to consider, but this is all essentially text on things I have already read or know about, and forcing myself to read them again is going to be arduous at best.

Really though, there isn't any getting around that, as any paper or project will require me to read all of this (again, in many cases) and cite this information over and over, sometimes just to prove that I have gotten my information from somewhere. Just because I know that I've done my homework doesn't mean that they have any proof that I have, so it's necessary, tedious as it might be.

Still considering what to post on this blog. Looking at a few other blogs of people I know, it seems like the really interesting thing would be to share my unique perspective on the world.

Now I just need to think about what is interesting and unique about my thoughts that I could share. Hmm...

Video Game Songs That Are Awesome

Okay, maybe this is a cop-out, but I'm going to take this post to share some awesome video game music that I recently shared with someone on Facebook. <.<;

Okay, I have a TON of Video Game music to suggest here, so bear with me while I link ALL of it.

A few examples of Duane & Brando:

The Cheetamen Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l3D-mZepC0 (Warning: Intentionally annoying at the start, because the actual game sucks)

Pac-Man Mutha' fucka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp1etqyxBPY (Seriously, badass Pac-Man)

Phoenix Wright Examples:

It's Gotta be the Butz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TDf_gZttxg (Because they made music for the Phoenix Wright game. And it's funny. Not the best, but fun.)

The Fragrance of Dark Coffee, Jazz Remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMnrl0tmd3k (Lots of good Phoenix Wright remixes out there, but this is the most appropriate)

Hayadin Examples:

Ron De Chocobo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oDTUY6crEo (Gotta put this in somewhere)

Metal Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0TaaD_fj4M (My favorite)

The Four Elements: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8vz186pjY0 (Final Fantasy Goodness)

Other examples:

Super Mario RPG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvB-lIcHHPQ (It IS the only game just for me.)

Pikmin Love Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYm9q-bi4w (Because...damn, it's kinda beautiful)

Ducktales Moon Song With Lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHEgzRtKC5o *Just to plug Brental Floss)

Re: Your Brains (From Left 4 Dead)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq6BFHfJeNE

I've Been Thinking...

This Blog needs more of two things:

1: A focused goal.

2: Comments.

So I'm going to ask the people who are reading this blog to post some comments here, and give me a suggestion as to how I could better focus this blog.

Ideas that I have in mind include:

-Making it a pure-writing blog, where I would update less frequently, but write longer posts and do more creative writing than before.
-Make it a personal blog, where I would post about personal things and forgo the writing aspect.
-Make it entirely about my thesis

But other suggestions are welcome and, honestly, very much desired. I haven't had a comment on the blog in awhile, and while I know it is a personal one, I would really like some feedback.

So to everyone who reads this, please tell me what you'd like to see!

Thesis Plans

Okay…so the proposal for my thesis paper is…a lot longer than I had thought it was. That’s okay, because I still have the rest of this month to do it. Granted, that includes compiling literature on the topic, describing my thesis adequately, preparing the survey in full for approval, submitting my list of subjects to be interviewed, and probably a number of other things that are included in the list of things I need to do for my proposal. (I’m not directly referencing all of them right here, just giving a review of what I need to do)

So for this month (Or rather, next month), my goals are the following – Describe my thesis as best I can and in such a way that the college will probably approve of my project. After doing so, begin sending out to my “contacts” for people who I can send surveys to for this thesis. Included in that survey, which I will write alongside asking for participants, will be a request for participation in interviews. Once the requests are sent out, my full review on the literature will begin, and all of the resources I have on the subject will be looked over and compiled into the literature review that the professors are requesting (which promises to be the largest part of the “proposal” that they’re asking for). With the literature review done, I’ll finish up the rest of the proposal sections with the remaining half of the month, in conjunction with beginning to send out the surveys.

Now if it starts to look like my “proposal” is going to take more effort and focus, I can put off the more complicated parts of my thesis writing until the proposal is complete. But at the moment, this is my basic plan.

No Post Tonight

Since my head currently feels like it has the consistency of mush on the inside right now, there'll be no new post tonight.

...Except this one that I've already started. <.<; So I'm being a little hypocritical, but hey, I told you it was mush-brain night.

Half-Life Fanfic

Image Source: http://www.tutorialpark.com/half-life-2-logo/

After half an hour of writing, I've come up with this 4 1/4-ish page fanfiction on the Half-Life universe, set before the Black Mesa incident. It's a little unpolished, but hopefully still enjoyable.

Unforseen Consequences

A Half-Life Fanfic

Deep within the Black Mesa research complex, where ICBM Missile launching silos have been converted into departments of science, three of the world’s most brilliant men hold a conference. A man might think that such a meeting of minds would affect the course of history. But then, they wouldn’t know just how these three men would shape the world.

They are scientists, Eli Vance, Isaac Kleiner, and and Arne Magnusson. Yet soon the three of them will be much more than that; they will usher in a change that will shape the world as we know it.

For better, or for worse.

“Reduce our funding?! Unthinkable!”

Magnusson waves his hands wildly at Eli Vance, while Kleiner watches from nearby. Vance has a despondent look about him, while Kleiner seems to be thinking about something very carefully.

“We’re barely receiving the funding we need as it is now.” Magnusson continued. “And that’s just to keep things operating at a decent level. This is what we get for my groundbreaking research into the fields of science?”

“Your research?” Kleiner begins, looking put-off. “You’re not the only one who-“

But before Magnusson has a chance, Dr. Vance interrupts them.

“Now hold on you two, we’ve got no time to be arguing among ourselves. We all know who’s really responsible for our reduced funding.”

“Ah yes, those ‘scientist’ at Aperture.” Magnusson says in disgust. “As if their research facility were more important than our own! As if they even had an inkling as to how far we’ve come with our portal technology!”

“If we weren’t keeping our best findings under wraps, maybe they WOULD know about it!” Kleiner replies innocently enough.

“Are you implying that-“ Magnusson began with distrust, before Vance again cut him off.

“IF we are to maintain our funding, we need a purer sample from Xen. That’s all there is to it.”

“But we don’t even know if there’ll BE a sample on our next trip.” Kleiner replied. “And we’ve only got so much of the sample with us right now as it is, every trip is a crucial one.”

“Which is why you should give your sample to ME.” Magnusson cut off. “Our research team have returned more samples than Isaac’s little crew ever has!”

“Perhaps, but Gordon’s research-“

“I don’t know this “Doctor” Freeman you have so much faith in,” Magnusson began, cutting Kleiner off once more, “but it sounds to me like you’re putting a little too much faith into the theories of a post-grad!”

“Now look, gentlemen, Breen put me in charge of resources, and I’m going to make sure you BOTH get the samples you need. But-“

“But we’re running short.” Magnusson was quick to point out. “And you know we need more before we can run Kleiner’s little ‘test’ on stable portal creation.”

“I assure you it WILL work! Given an ideal sample and, well a little bit of luck…”

“Luck?!” Magnusson cut him off again. “You’re placing the entire foundation of our company on LUCK?! I can’t believe you, Kleiner. I knew you were incompetent, but I didn’t think you were an...an IDIOT!”

“Arne!”

Vance called out to him, but Magnusson was already on his way out the door. The man shook his head, as Kleiner looked to his colleague and saw his distress, following Magnusson out shortly after.

Vance was left alone, thinking about the state of Black Mesa. Only yesterday had Breen dropped the bomb on him that their department was going to be “reduced, at least in personnel, unless better results were found to compete with the Aperture Science competitors”. Yet they were months behind the research they’d need before a safe trip could be made to Xen with a stable portal. The consequences of an uncontrolled portal that would not close on its own were…

Just then, as nightmares began to form in his mind of the consequences it would have, a knock came at his door. “Come in.” He called out, not sure who it would be on the other side.

The man who entered was dressed in a fine business suit, and carried a black briefcase. His eyes were green, like emeralds, and his skin white like ash. Dr. Vance couldn’t put his finger on it, but looking at this person felt…wrong.

And when he started to speak, it didn’t help his nerves in the slightest.

“Doctor…Vance, I presume?” The man said, in a manner that suggested he wasn’t comfortable with normal, human speech.

“Yes, I’m Dr. Eli Vance. Who are-?”

“Ah, then you ARE the man I was…hoping to see.” The strange man approached Eli, his grin not fading for a second, in a very uncanny way. Vance felt a bit put off by the unnatural expression, but found himself unable to confront it, as if trying to figure something out that wasn’t easy for his mind to comprehend. “What do you want?” He asked, looking at the man warily.

“Oh, this visit isn’t about what I want, Mister Vance. It’s about what you want. What you…need.”

Momentarily, Vance felt himself relax, and even allowed himself to laugh a little, even if it was an uneasy laugh. “Well, unless you happen to have the perfect specimen for a portal experiment, I don’t think you have what I-“

As he was finishing the sentence, the strange man produced something, from out of nowhere apparently, in his hand. A yellow crystal, as big as a football, as perfect and clear as a diamond, and glowing the eerie yellow of a Xen sample.

“A Xen sample…!” Vance whispered, not believing his eyes. “Where…how did you?”

“I believe this…discussion should be moved to a new location.” The strange man grinned, and as Eli looked up, he realized he was no longer in the room he had been in before. Around him, the laws of science were being defied. Platforms of strange minerals hovered in the air. A strange liquid pooling in a nearby puddle gave off an energy that felt warm and relaxing, while all around him everything felt light, and almost insignificant.

“This is…”

“The Xen Borderworld.” The strange man completed, still smiling, and holding the specimen. “From which I have extracted this very unique object, for your…purposes.”

Suddenly, before his eyes, Vance could see the center of the Aperture Science research complex, as they installed a large fixture into the ceiling. He could not tell what the thing was, bit it appeared to have eyes of some sort, and wires dangling around it everywhere. Vance became aware that the entire scene was frozen in place, and that the strange man was now there before his eyes.

“The governments of your world have seen fit to distribute their funding to the quickest scientists. The one who can provide conclusive results faster than the other. And in your case, the ones who are doing less to keep things...”safe” for their colleagues.”

A moment later, in a bright flash of light, the two of them were back in Black Mesa. Vance looked around, making sure the world around him was familiar, as the strange man continued.

“So I have seen fit to bring to you a sample, one of the finest qualities, to be used in an experiment. I believe it is scheduled to take place soon. One proposed by a mister…Gordon Freeman?”

“How do you…” Vance shook his head, coming to his senses. “Now listen here, I don’t know how you got that sample, but we can’t just use something that some stranger walked in with out of nowhere! We need lab tests to ensure-“

“All of the paperwork is right here on your desk, Eli Vance.” The man replied, and as Vance looked down, he saw the paper before him, with proper approval, to utilize a new sample for a test, administered by himself and Eli, along with a third party, and to be run by Dr. Gordon Freeman.

“Of course, you don’t have to accept my offer…” the strange man continued. “…you could go on the way you are, or you could change the world as you know it. What do you say, ‘Doctor’ Vance?”

Vance looked up at the man, furrowing his brows and grimacing.

“You can’t suggest such a thing! The safety of the people in this complex would be at risk, not to mention my own daughter! I-“

“Your…daughter?” The man grinned. “Is that for whom you are concerned?”

For a moment, Eli’s face went stiff, as fright overtook his senses, thinking of his daughter, and what this…monster of a man could do to her.

“Heh…very well then, Mister Vance. Use this sample at the end of the week, and I promise you that I will personally see to it that your daughter will not be harmed for as long as you live.”

The strange man placed the sample on the table, Eli’s face contorted with rage, fear, and awe.

“Of course, you can still ignore my offer, and not use this sample in your test…but I cannot assure you that this complex will continue to exist if you don’t. So use it, or don’t. The choice is yours.”

“If you lay one hand on my daughter…” Vance replied, though weak and in fear of what might happen.

“Oh, I won’t Vance…I won’t…” He began to walk away, but turned just before opening the door.

“Unless, of course, there are unforeseen consequences.”

-End-

Computers and My Dad

I know I said I was going to write a fanfic today, but I actually have something much better to write about, so I'm going to do it while it's still fresh in my mind.

I went out with my dad today to pick up his new computer. His old computer has inexplicably broken down, so he had the kid at our local computer shack hook him up with a brand new one. As he and I were driving on our way back home, we started talking about the computer and how he'd have to learn how to use OpenOffice. It was then that this exchange ensued:

Me: Of course, if your files aren't in the right format we can just find a file converting software online to make it the right format so that you can use them.
Dad: *Chuckles*
Me: Ah, you were thinking of that too, eh?
Dad: No, I was thinking of the little boy who used to sit on my lap and play Virtual Yahtzee who knows more about co...mputers than me now.
Me: ...*smile*

That really did make me smile, because it reminded me of exactly where I came from, and why I love computers so much. The first memory I have of computers is, in fact, sitting on my dad's lap and playing Virtual Yahtzee with him, not even fully understanding the rules of the game, but being mesmerized by how various numbers on the screen would appear by simply tapping against that magic board in front of the screen.

We also talked about later events in my "computer education", including the first computer they had before me (required a disc just to operate), the game menu that we had later (which had the epic Virtual Chess and some silly knight-buying land-owning game), and the fact that I actually begged my cousin to install Civilization onto our computer (which he did through an act of piracy which, by today's standards, would be considered a capital offense). We also talked about the Encyclopedia Britannica we had installed on the computer, and how I was fascinated at a young age how information could just be brought up on the screen as if from a real encyclopedia.

So that I could win at Carmen Sandiego.

Education was awesome when I was a kid.
Source: http://lukehimself.net/?p=65

So in a way, this blog is a product of all of those things - sitting there on his lap to play Yahtzee, buying knights to fend off barbarians, looking up the country that a bird comes from to catch Dick the Slick, all of that lead up to me writing this blog on the internet.

His computer is set up now, and is running just fine. It'll take him a little time to figure out OpenOffice and a few other Windows 7 things, but hey, this is the guy who taught me how to play Virtual Yahtzee, so I'm sure he'll be fine.

New Thesis Idea

So it turns out my teacher isn't too keen on me interviewing people I know for my thesis.

I kind of figured that'd be the case anyway, so I have a back-up plan for handling my research. What I'm going to do is use the people who I was going to interview as launching points for finding people who are connected to the online gaming world. Rather than interviewing those people directly, I'm going to send them open surveys (roughly 20 questions) on their experience in online gaming world, and ask them in the survey to participate in interviews.

This way, I'll be able to gather preemptive information on each subject around which to frame the interviews, and from that frame my thesis. It'll also give me the best chance to plan out my interview schedule around my participants availability without invading into their lives too closely, and avoid the bias of interviewing my friends and family.

The only problem with this is the reliability of finding people through other people, and the time it'll take to hear back from those people. I'll have to schedule the survey carefully to make sure that I can include the interviews in my research without stretching too close to the deadline.

That solves that problem. However, another issue that I'm facing with this paper is the research question that I'm actually trying to answer. Right now, it's simply a matter of "how does this affect people, what does that mean, and why do they do it?", which might be considered too vague by my teacher. So I might need to come up with a more specific question to ask.

That's a bit of a problem, because I don't really have any specific questions I want answered other than those three things. I don't want to connect it to education or medical research, and while I wouldn't mind connecting it to the status of people's social or economic position, that's nto really my goal. What I want in the end is a paper that someone could pick up, read, and say "Ah, I understand this phenomenon now, and I can use this as a reference in answering my scholarly, medical, or socioeconomic questions about online gaming". Maybe even just shed some light on the effects it has on people, and the way people relate to one another in these online games.

I know, for example, that my Aunt has received friend requests from people that she has never met before or even heard of, just so they could get an extra person to join their guild or get their virtual item, and narrowly avoided being part of an online flame war by declining that request. That sort of interaction is what I want to research - the way people function in the online gaming world. I know for a fact that there is a dark side to it, but I also know that people keep going back to it and enjoy it anyway.

I could probably go on with the ways I want to research this topic *hence why I AM researching this topic*, but my main point is that I think I have a way in which I want to do it, and now I just need to know exactly where I'm going to go with that method.

Creative post tomorrow. I think I'll try to make it a fanfic of sorts.

The Woodsman

Another short story, this one with a different sort of theme.

The Woodsman

Smoke curled out of the chimney on the log cabin, curling like a python wrapped around a mouse as tightly as possible. The fire inside was built with care and conservation in mind, as the wood pile next to it was nearly empty. A dog lay curled up on the rug, its paws kicking every now and then through the air.

A loud thump sounded at the door, as a great big man pushed it open with an armful of logs, a small sleigh behind him carrying several more stacks that were freshly-cut.

His dog rose immediately, and walked over to him, wagging its tail and inspecting the freshly-cut wood. The big man just smiled, patting the dog on the head as he dragged in the logs, stacking them neatly on his wood pile so he could keep track of exactly how many he had left, while carefully adding one more to his dwindling flames.

Then he unfastened his coat and set it beside the fire to dry, dropping himself onto the worn-out couch in front of the hearth to bring some life back to his fingers and toes. It was a night he didn’t relish staying out in for long, and he was glad to be back inside.

At that moment, the phone rang out on the other side of the room. Groaning in disappointment as he lifted himself away from the warmth of his fire, the large man ambled over to the phone and picked it up, wiping some of the snow out of his beard.

“Clark, we need you down here right now!” said the woman through the phone. “Something’s come up that you’ll want to see!”

“Can’t it wait, Lynda?” Clark said, rubbing his aching back. “I just got back from-“

“Listen, we need you right NOW. We aren’t going to get another chance like this, just-“

“Alright already then!” Clark shouted back, irritation in his voice. “It’s damn cold out is all. I’ll be down there in an hour. Should I bring Sparky?”

“No, we won’t need him today, Clark. Just…drive safe, alright?”

Clark, despite himself, blushed a little. Lynda sometimes treated him like a little brother, even though he was nearly twice her height and looked nothing like her. But she knew what a soft heart he had, despite his…preferred lifestyle.

“You know I will, Lynda. I’ll see you in half an hour.”

He hung the phone up, letting out a great big sigh, as he reached into the closet and grabbed a white lab coat. As he walked over to grab his drying winter coat, he rubbed his robotic dog behind the ear, smirking as it nuzzled against him like a real dog.

“See you later, Sparky. They need me down at the lab. Probably to help finish building your brother more’n likely.” He grinned, proud of his work on the dog that now happily curled back up on the rug. Putting on his cap and shrugging on his coat, he walked outside to his truck, and began the long drive down to the research center at the base of the hill.

Down there, he would make strides in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. But back home, he would lead the simple life of a woodsman.

Did Not See a Movie - Instead: Miyamoto

So we didn't wind up seeing a movie at all last night. So no review today.

However, I DID promise that I'd do something creative today. So here instead I will provide you with a "proposal" for an Anime show I thought up a long time ago.

Working Title: Miyamoto

Genre: Action/Shonen

Summary:

It is modern-day Japan, and 15-year old Protagonist is living an ordinary life, attending High School and Kendo Club, at which he excels. Yet he is kicked out when he takes one fight too far, and critically injures a fellow Kendo Club member. He is horrified by his own power, and goes soul-searching on the streets, only to run into a gang of ruthless thugs. With his wooden sword, he somehow manages to defeat them with ease.

It is then that a girl approaches him, holding a gun. Her name is Robin, and she is a member of the Ancient Warriors Society. Our protagonist discovers that his body contains the spirit of the ancient Samurai Miyamoto, and she is here to recruit him.

Characters:

Protagonist: A 15-year old boy who was recently thrown out of Kendo club. He has a strong spirit, but is brash and often acts without considering the long-term solution.

Robin: A girl with an eye for accuracy and talent, she is the first to recognize the spirit of Miyamoto in the protagonist, and usually the first to take initiative against trouble.

Kojiro: The Protagonist’s Rival, he hates him for holding the spirit of Miyamoto, who defeated the ancient Kojiro using “Underhanded tactics”.

Arthur: The leader of the group, he is the only one that can make the others listen to each other. He has a heavy burden on his shoulders, keeping them from fighting each other.

The Dark Ones: Spirits of dark warriors who challenge the validity of the main group. It becomes evident over time that some of the “dark warriors” are being led by another leader, and that their intentions may be a dark reflection of the AWS.

Plot Twist Spoilers:

- It turns out that The Dark Ones are a government-funded group, selectively taking children who show signs of being “useful hosts” for especially strong spirits.

- Arthur introduces the mechanics of the world as being “the recycled spirits of ancient heroes”, but the actual spiritual essence each character holds matches more closely with the stories of those heroes, leading them to conclude that it is not just the “heroic spirit” that gives them their talents.

- It is revealed that the government organization has actively implanted some of the children with these spirits at birth, and that the few who gathered together simply “fell under the radar” because they did not exhibit signs of successful transfer early in life.

Things I Should Do, and Things I'd Like To Do

Today's post is a diary post, because I have a lot of things I want to say about myself today. If you read this more for the stories and reviews, you can just skip this post. I promise my next one will be one of the other two.

Tonight we're going to make our second attempt at movie-going, but since we aren't interested in the local options, we're heading to the mall, which is about an hour's drive away. While up there, we'll be doing some Christmas gift card shopping.

Tonight is also the night I would usually go on AIM and participate in a Star Trek RPG, which is where the point of this post comes in. I missed the SIM (as we call it) last week because of a family visit that kept me longer than I had intended, so I was hoping to catch up this week. But it has been weeks since I've had a chance to get out of the house. On one hand, there's a storyline that I really want to advance in my Saturday Night SIM, but at the same time I want to use this gift card and get a chance to step out of the house for the night.

The thing is, I can't change the day that this RP happens. It's a group game, and it's the only time of the week that some people can even show up to play, yet it's a Saturday night, the one day of the week that is more likely than any other day to have "other plans" get in the way.

So while I don't want to disappoint my friend and miss the RP, I also don't want to miss my chance to get out of the house and see a movie. And that's the thing that always bothers me - knowing that I will disappoint someone either way, but having to choose between the two anyway.

Well, that's my rant. Like I said, I promise that tomorrow I'll have a more "creative" post. Maybe if I do wind up seeing a movie, I'll review it.

The Green Hornet! ...Was not seen tonight

I was going to dedicate tonight's post to reviewing The Green Hornet, but seeing how movie night has been pushed to a later date, that's not going to happen. So instead, for no real reason at all, I'm going to rant about climates.

Climate is one of the first things people consider when they make the choice to move. Usually the choice is balanced somewhere between a warmer and colder climate, with the benefit of one being less of the other. The problem with either extreme is that, in the dead of Winter the cold will be extremely frigid, and in the Summer the warm will be terribly hot. The natural inclination is to head for a temperate climate, but then you get winters that are morbidly cold and summers that are unfortunately hot, the worst of both worlds but only in moderation.

There doesn't really seem to be a solution to this problem, so I'm pretty much just spinning my wheels at this point. In fact that debate sounds so boring, I'm going to end it right now and call this whole post off.

*Kzhkt!*

Thesis, GO!

Today I shared this blog with my thesis class. Let's see if any of them come by to read it. Comment here if you do!

Other than that, not a very eventful day. I'm considering what I should get with a Barnes & Noble gift card that I still have, but I've already got a book to read, and this thesis to do, so I'm not sure.

I think I'll add a very short story to this post.

Our Sister Luna

As it rose over the earth, the Moon gazed down upon her sister, filled with sorrow and regret.

They had once been alike – two planets orbiting the sun in near-unison. Luna, the elder sister, had been born closer to the sun, and thus was more mature and full of life than her younger sister. Her sister was growing, and knew she would one day catch up with Luna, so she had no regrets and held no spite towards her sister.

Neither of them could have predicted what happened, and neither one would ask for it again.

The sisters drew close when speedy Luna passed by her sister, and each time it pulled her closer and closer, helping her to grow. One time, however, Luna drew too close, and a chance collision caused the two sisters to change drastically. Much of Luna’s beautiful body was lost, absorbed by her younger but larger sister, while her sister felt the massive impact ripple through her, and forced her to start anew with her growth.

Luna, ever worrying for her sister, refused to depart despite her injury, and hovered around her sister to watch over her growth. To this day, she is watching over her.

And so, that is why the moon looks down upon her sister. She is sad, and full of regret, but has a bittersweet happiness, knowing that her sister has matured into a beautiful woman.

Still Considering My Thesis Plans

Because I want to keep it fresh in my head, I'm going to talk about my thesis again.

If it is a research paper, which I plan on it being, it will have to be about 50 pages long. This is the biggest "problem" for me, as 50 pages is a huge daunting project. Hence, why I want to split the paper up into sections so that I can make gradual progress. Ideally, I want to compile my research and write an outline for it, then start on the first "Part", and work on it until I'm ready for the next "Part", each one making up 10 or so pages out of the 50 I have to do.

The first thing I'll have to do is gather my research. I'll pull up those old virtual worlds articles from my old classes, and dig out the textbooks that are relevant to my topic. I'm also going to have to do some seeking for proper "online game" research, which shouldn't be too hard to find, since I've seen it before in my attempts to write papers.

I wanted to do a few interviews too, so I'll have to write out a list of questions and schedule some time for me to conduct those interviews. Since it is largely a research paper, and the interviews are supplementary to that, I think five or so will do. That way I can augment my research with first-hand perspectives.

Once I've finished the "parts" of my paper, I'll have to go back through each part and revise. I think as I go along, I'll have to make notes on what needs to be revised. Otherwise I'm just going to keep going back to my other "parts" and be stuck going back and forth and not feeling like I'm getting anywhere.

I guess this is both a post about my thesis and a journal post today. But I'm glad I'm getting this out of my head, because it'll help remind me what my plans are for the near future.

Arbitrary Review - Commander Keen Series

Today, as part of my now-ongoing arbitrary review theme, I'm going to do a review of Commander Keen, the series, as a whole.

I wouldn't trust those trees

Commander Keen is a 2D Action/shooter/Platformer from the 1990s. You play as Billy Blaze, the ten-year old genius who dons his brother's Packers helmet and hops in his home made space ship to defend the galaxy as the titular character himself. You use your neural stun gun to zap monsters and aliens while rescuing innocents and thwarting the plots of evil bullies/supervillains from down the street.

The games are the first foray of id software. Old school computer gamers might remember id as

the company that popularized Shareware distribution. You can now remember them as the people who also made Doom and Wolfenstein, two of the most classic FPS games ever made, before any of them were made at all.

And you can't get much more old-school than that

id software was pretty revolutionary in their early days. When they weren't pioneering the most popular style of gameplay today, they were creating the first full-scrolling platforming game ever made on a PC. That's Commander Keen for those of you keeping score at home.

The story goes (from the Wiki page, at least) that during the turn of the century, one of the guys who would found id Software discovered a way to do full screen scrolling on a computer using the latest graphics card of the time.

Eat your heart out, Miner VGA

The original game that he made was humorously called "Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement", and was basically a parody set of levels from Super Mario Bros. 3, showing that it could be done. John Carmack, the man who made this silly game, sent it to Nintendo to convince them that they could port Super Mario Bros 3 to the PC, but also sent it to one of his friends John Romero. They teamed up and made a full Super Mario Bros 3 port of the PC, but Nintendo declined their offer to license the game.

Oh what could have been...

The story would have ended there, but shortly after that, Apogee approached the programmers and offered to distribute a game for them using the software they had developed. Thus, Apogee and id teamed up to release Commander Keen.

The series ran up to episode 6, "Aliens Ate my Baby Sitter" (and had a non-canon game called "Keen Dreams"), but the series evaporated as id Software moved on to other, greener pastures.

Remember him?

But Commander Keen holds a special place in my heart. For one, I've always had a fondness for platformers, and for its time, it was the greatest platform game on the PC. On top of that, it appeals to everything a young boy dreams about. A genius ten-year old makes a rocket out of soup cans, listens in on alien signals, and goes off in his home-made rocket with a football helmet and what essentially is a toy gun to save the world. That's the sort of thing a kid would make up on his own and do in the back yard, and they present it here as an actual adventure. Silly yes, but they play that up so well that it's all the more fun for it.

Okay, so they probably wouldn't wear a pink shirt on purpose...

We will probably not see another Keen game in awhile though, unless the legal complications get cleared up somehow. But episodes 2-5 are available on Steam for download, so if you enjoy platforming games, I suggest you give it a try.

My personal favorite is the one we got with Shareware - number 5 - with the Dope Fish and deadly blue mushrooms.

And damn those mushrooms for all eternity.

I Should've Posted Sooner

I had a couple of good ideas for what I wanted to post tonight.

So naturally, when it comes time for me to post something, not a single thing is coming to my mind.

I partially blame reading the wiki page on "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream". I hate stories like that, and they always stick in my head and make me THINK about them anyway, so whatever I'd rather be thinking of is replaced with something grotesque that I don't care for at all.

Maybe I'll try posting earlier in the day tomorrow. Might have a better chance of feeling something kick.

Online Gaming as a Research Topic

I was talking with my aunt and uncle tonight, and I think a research paper on "Online Gaming" Or "Online Gaming Communities and Ethics" would be the best research topic I can pick.



While I don't play as many online games as some people I know (I purposefully avoid MMORPGs and Facebook games), I know about and have had a little experience in these types of games. On top of that, I have a number of interesting perspectives I could get for interviews - my aunt and uncle who play facebook games with people they have never met in real life, my friends who play MMORPGs, the group that I play AIM-based games with (By the way, sorry I missed last Saturday's game. :( ), and any number of people who have played just online-content games. Heck, I could even interview my brother and nephew who play X-Box games together online and see how their experience compares.

Selecting topics to divide it into might be a challenge. I could divide it into areas of different types of games, but that wouldn't really create a good progression, and I'd prefer to have the end point be emphasized by the data. I could do it by date of creation, though that would only help the emphasis go so far. OR I could ignore organizing it by different game types entirely and make the structure be based entirely around the issues being discussed, which might be the best choice.

The best thing about this is that most of my textbooks will be able to help me with this too. I've got a book on Cyber-Ethics, dated as it may be, and a few books on gaming theory that will help with the analysis. On top of that, the articles I saved from my Virtual Worlds class will come in handy for analysis of MMORPG-style games and internet social interactions. I'll have to sift through the rest of my articles to see if any of them will help, and check to see if I can find anything else that'll help, but not only do I already know about this topic, I'll be able to draw on my education to make a paper that is actually pretty interesting to me personally while also being relevant and informative.

Of course, the big problem I always have with papers like this is that they want a conclusion, but also want the data analyzed to be weighed evenly without bias. When you realize that much of the data is already balancing against itself and that interpretation of most texts, even research texts, is still subjective, you realize that drawing an unbiased conclusion is essentially an exercise in convincing other people that you ARE unbiased, then going out of your way to alter the way you present the evidence to prove how unbiased you are.

Regardless, I'll be presenting the information the way I feel it ought to be presented, and starting with the conclusion that I already have in my head so that I can at least work towards a point. If it turns out that it will be detrimental to me to continue to argue that point, I might just have to go back and revise my work, but I think the conclusion of "you really ought to be careful, but you can still enjoy yourself" is pretty unbiased. And, as long as I can make that sound important, I think I've got a pretty good thesis concept lined up.

Two more days until the class starts. Little bit nervous about this last one. Wish me luck.

Board Game Review - Power Grid

I've played "Power Grid" twice now, and both times I came in last place. Now that I have been a total loser at this game, I'm going to tell you all why I still had fun playing it, even while losing.

"Power Grid" is one of those heavy resource-management games. You play as the head of an energy company trying to optimize your power stations to supply energy to as many major cities as you can. The game ends when a certain number of cities have been built, and whoever can power the most cities on that turn wins the game.

There are basically two parts of the game that connect to each other - purchasing power plants and cities. You buy up cities (which gets more expensive over time) so you can use your power plants to provide them with power and earn money. To use your power plants to power the cities you have, you need to purchase resources, and as the game progresses, different resources become more difficult to obtain while other ones become easier to get.

The power plant mechanics are easily the most important part of the game, and a lot of care has been put into making sure the different types of plants are both useful for game mechanics and accurate for the energy that they use.

Coal starts out being plentiful and a good initial purchase, but slowly becomes harder to get and less efficient as an energy source. Oil is slightly better as time goes by, and hybrid stations can help a player shift from using coal to oil, or lets them purchase whichever resource is cheaper when it comes time to buy for their plants. Trash-using plants are initially not very efficient, but over time, as trash becomes more common, they become a viable supplement to the player's major power producers. Uranium is always an expensive resource, but a single unit produces high levels of energy. Green energy is the last "type" of energy, and requires no resources at all to power houses, but generally costs more than the other types of plants to purchase.

The different types of power plants allow for different types of strategies-> You can go for high-energy plants that might cost a lot to power, or invest in green energy to keep a steady supply of power without paying for resources, or use alternate energies to draw from resources other players aren't using. Meanwhile, you have to consider how many cities you are going to build versus how many you can afford to power.

There's also the fact that the person with the least number of cities gets a few advantages in their turn. They get to go last in power plant buying (which allows them to buy uncontested, and allows them to wait for better plant options to open up), they buy resources first, and they buy cities first. So a come-from-behind victory is possible, even planable if one does it right.

There is a limit to the number of strategies one can have though - and after a few playthroughs, players will have an idea of what makes the best strategy. That, and if you happen to have a large number of people learning the game for the first time (which we did on our first "attempt" to play), it can take awhile to learn and explain. But, as long as one person understands the rules, you should still be able to enjoy it.

With three people playing, Power Grid took us about an hour and a half to complete, but could last up to two hours or more, especially with more people playing. Not "Risk" or "Monopoly" levels of gameplay time, but set aside a game night if you're planning to play this game.

Overall, I'd recommend giving "Power Grid" a try, especially if you like resource management and strategic-building games. It's a pretty good game, and a fun way to pass the time if you want to try a new sort of game.

...Oh damn.

I have no idea what happened today, but I completely forgot to make a blog post.

This is clearly someone else's fault. I just need to find out who.

Let's see...I blame....the Media! Yeah! Okay, today it's the Media's fault!

Tomorrow The Press can have a turn. -_-;

...Yeah, I'm not even going to tag this one.

Snow and Dominion with the Family

Today was an incredibly snowy day. Not a blizzardy day, mind you. In fact, the sun came out about halfway through the day and there was hardly any wind when there was snow. But snow strongly marked today's "theme" if you will, because the first half of it involved pushing and shoveling it around. The Northeast is good for that kind of thing.

My aunt and uncle are here this week from Illinois. They usually get their own snow, but we're sharing with them while they're here. My uncle apparently LOVES to push snow around, and did so with his bare arms to get it off his car (though he did switch to shovels when it was time to scrape it out from around the car and dig out the path to my grandma's house).

Most of the rest of this day involved avoiding being outside for the rest of it in one way or another. Team Fortress 2 took up some of that time, and I swear that in public servers, there's always one side that is either so skilled or so cheating that it doesn't matter what the other side does, as the side with more skilled and/or cheating players will win, and people who are just "average" don't really have anything to add most of the time. Private servers wouldn't help much, since the players are usually all skilled.

Now for the second part of my blog post - Dominion. Dominion is one of those games that you break out when someone's coming over to visit and you want to do something interesting for an hour or so that doesn't involve talking about politics or books or movies or any of the other things that will enrage half the people in the room and/or alienate everyone who has no idea what's being talked about. (I should read more books anyway, but I digress) My Aunt and Uncle play this game all the time, and it shows in how thoroughly they've beaten us the two times we've played it since they were here. Granted, the first time they only had my grandma and I to contend with. This time, they had myself, my other aunt, my dad and my grandma. I'm not sure if the addition of players who didn't know the rules helped or hindered their success, but they once again wiped the floor with us.

Now I'm back here in my house, hoping that my girlfriend's internet connection starts working again so I can chat with her online. There's fresh bread downstairs that my dad baked earlier today.

So despite a crushing defeat in Team Fortress 2 AND Dominion, today has been a pretty good day, marked largely by snow.

The Legend of Absol

Bah, I wasn't inspired enough. :T So instead, you get an old fanfic story I wrote.

The Legend of Absol

A Pokemon Fanfic by Introbulus

Absol did not always have a horn. It also did not always take life so seriously. It used to be a very carefree pokemon, who would play practical jokes on the other pokemon, just for fun. He would always pick on weaker pokemon, so that he would not get punished for his actions.

One day, he decided to play a trick on a Vulpix. He decided he would tug on her tail to make her cry, because she was so proud of her beautiful tails. When he did so, the pain of having her tail pulled was so great, it caused her to evolve into a beautiful Ninetails. Absol was struck with her beauty, and paused, as the powerful Ninetails regarded him with spite.

"You are a selfish and careless pokemon." She said to him. "Thus, I will bestow upon you a terrible curse." And with a flick of her tails, Absol was given a black horn. A horn that would show him the most horrible disasters before they happened. Absol would try to stop them from happening, but they would happen anyway, and the pokemon would always blame him, because he had always been a trickster. But Absol knows that if he did not warn the Pokemon, they would suffer an even worse fate. Now, hated by all, Absol lives alone.

His cursed horn leads him to areas with bad luck, and he sees all of the world's most terrible disasters. When he is less wise, he will try to stop them, and be blamed for it, or else caught in the disaster himself. When he is wise, he can only warn those near the disaster to stay away, and he is still blamed for their misfortune. Thus he came to be known as the Disaster Pokemon, and he will always be around when disaster is about to strike.

In the last hours of daylight, in a tiny village by a tiny stream, the village elder told this story to a crowd of wide-eyed children. This was a new story for the children, but a story that every child eventually heard. Now came the difficult part…

“So the lesson is to never tease a nine-tailed fox?”

Getting them to understand it.

“No, my child, not quite. The legend is…”

“To be honest no matter what the consequences?”

“To respect your elders?”

“To never be late for dinner?”

The village elder sighed. This always happened. Despite an eloquent story, she could never get the children to understand. Of course, one boy always had a pretty good answer…

“Hah, you’re all wrong!” and that would be him. Shiro, the boy who thought he knew everything, and felt he knew more than the elders. This one was always a troublemaker. “The story is that you should never mess with anyone, or else you’ll receive a terrible curse!”

“Hmm? A curse, you say? But Ninetales gave Absol a blessing!”

The children were confused, and Shiro spoke up quickly.

“A blessing? But everyone knows that Absol is cursed with bad luck!”

“Ah, but isn’t it fortunate that we know the truth?” She grinned, showing several gaps in her line of pearly teeth. “Because now we know it is not his bad luck, but his ability to see the future. And because of that, we will always know that when Absol is around, misfortune is likely to follow.”

“Isn’t that awful though?” A young girl replied. “If Absol is always trying to warn people of misfortune, then he will always be lonely.”

“Hmm…yes, well it IS his punishment. But still, we are quite fortunate to have Absol at all, wouldn’t you say? “

None of the children could make heads or tales of the old lady’s words, and so they decided that it was a stupid story, heading off to their own huts to sleep.
The village elder slipped behind an old oak tree, after the children of the village had all drifted to sleep. She was not alone.

“I suppose you think it’s funny to regale them with stories of the old time?” The being that spoke to her was a Ninetales, though no ordinary Ninetales. This one had lived for many, many years.

“Oh come now…” She replied, her smile growing large, and her body growing round, as her disguise faded, revealing a mischievous Gengar. “Did I really misinterpret your story that badly?”

“Portents and omens are not to be taken lightly.” The Ninetales replied. “Nor are the lessons of the old.”

“Oh these humans, they never learn from the lessons anyway.” The old Gengar laughed, floating up to a tree branch. “And they wouldn’t have to, if you hadn’t cursed the poor boy like that.”

“It…was a blessing.” The Ninetales replied, turning her head away.

“Hah…so you say. But it hardly seems a blessing to the poor dear at all, wouldn’t you say?”

“Hmm…so you say…” The Ninetales grinned. “But who said it was a blessing for him?”