Maebius Musings

You know those shirts and posters with “you are here” and an arrow pointing to some speck in the galaxy or some-such?

Here’s a better look at the place we all live, care of NASA’s newest satellite composite images.
Animated: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4401845574/

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Interesting article from LiveScience hints at a “brain location” for spirituality.

Technically, it is more related to a personality trait called self-transcendence. Self-transcendence “reflects a decreased sense of self and an ability to identify one’s self as an integral part of the universe as a whole.“

http://www.livescience.com/health/spirituality-brain-link-100211.html

My thoughts on this study are a bit divided. On one hand, it’s always kinda interesting to me how Science keeps tapping away at the walls of our unknown in search of the hollow passages and studs behind them.

On the other hand, while the physiology is described here as a deficit, could it not be that lessened Ego is actually better, and those unspiritual types are less adapted? (like having webbed feet, which are cool, but not most efficient at perambulating around town?)

I still think there’s not enough details here to really base a potential-filled claim like “Brain Bits that cause Spirituality” so I’ll simply choose to ignore and gloss past that particular facet of the headline. The study itself holds some nugget of muse-worthiness at least.

Food for thought, but I’m not sure of there’s empty calories here, or whole grains.

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No words needed here.
This was an amazingly beautiful and heart-tugging PSA about seat belts.

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((For neko-Taka, hunter (and Maaruish Priest) in my World of Warcraft Guild))

Symphony uv Pain Guild Chartah

Prefaec

dis chartah shoodz b read adn understanded by awl Guild memberz. If yoo haz n e kweschunz or remarks doez nawt hesitaet ta contact a Officah or teh Guild Mastah. Srsly!

misshun Statement

Symphony uv Pain (SOP) iz a wurld uv Warcraft Raidin Guild awn teh Uz Farstridah RP servah. Awr focuz iz buildin a stron guild wif gud relationshipz thru gud recruitin adn teamwurk. We iz currently lukin foar memberz uv awl classez hoo wish ta posetivly contribuet ta awr guild.

Organizashun

Leadership - Officerz adn Guild Mastah

Teh followin iz a list uv requirementz foar teh Officerz adn Guild Mastah:

·         b Respectful – nawt ownlee uv teh Guild Memberz but uv everywun dat dey meets in game.

·         Willin ta halp – halp owt Guild Memberz wehnivvah yoo kan.

·         Willin ta lissen – halp Guild Memberz wif deir WOW problemz adn lissen ta new ideaz.

·         Communicaet – Talk in oficah chat adn guild chat, communicatin teh problemz adn ideaz dat yuv heerd.

·         Knowledgeable – haz gud, solid knowledge uv teh game.

·         Committeded – Officerz shoodz b committeded ta teh well bein adn advancement uv teh Guild.

·         posetiv attitueded – Officerz iz xpectud ta haz a posetiv attitueded in guild chat adn wif teh Guild Memberz.

·         Officerz iz roel modelz foar teh new adn youngah memberz uv teh guild. Officerz shoodz behaev az we wud lieks awl Guild Memberz ta behaev.

·         Abuz uv officah powurz iz nawt permitteded. If yoo feel a officah iz abusin deir powa, pleez inform teh Guild Mastah.

Ta b promoteded ta teh rank uv Officah yoo must b nominateded by a Officah adn den twotheded by anudda Officah. dis will initiaet a voet wif teh final decizhun ta b maeded by teh Guild Mastah.

Ranks

·         Initiaet

Teh rank uv Initiaet iz assigneded ta anyoen hoo loses deir rank.  Initiatez iz nawt permitteded ta meaow in guild chat nor seez bank content.

·         Recruit

Teh rank uv Recruit iz given ta new memberz hoo must furst go thru a 30 dai probationary period. Teh probationary period may b waiveded at n e tyme at teh Officah’s discreshun.  Recruitz may b askeded ta leef teh guild at n e tyme foar negatiev behavior or foar violashun uv teh Guild Chartah rulez.  Recruitz may meaow in guild chat but noes kan seez bank content. Recruitz iz also permitteded ta host guild eventz, raid, etc, but guild bank repair costz iz nawt available.

·         Membah

Recruitz hoo haz stayeded adn haz playeded durin teh 30 dai probationary period may b promoteded ta Membah at teh Officerz/GM approval.  Memberz iz permitteded ta meaow in guild chat, alloweded access ta bank content adn repair costz uv 20 gold per dai.  Memberz may adn iz encourageded ta scheduel adn host guild eventz adn raidz.

·         Officah

Same az memberz, also haz teh riet ta enforce disciplinary acshun.  May eject memberz frum teh guild in xtreem circumstancez. Officerz haz full votin privilegez within teh guild.  Officerz iz permitteded ta full access uv teh guild bank adn may distwibyut eetemz ta uddah guildmatez.

Officerz iz appointeded by teh Guild Mastah wif teh approval uv teh Officerz.

·         Guild Mastah

Teh rank uv Guild Mastah containz awl uv teh ritez adn privilegez uv a Officah. In addishun, teh Guild Mastah may veto n e acshun put in plaec by officerz.

Teh Guild Mastah servez az lawng az him or her desirez, adn a successor will b nameded by awl officerz uv teh Guild ownlee wehn teh Guild Mastah haz decideded ta resign. Teh Guild may b disbandeded at anytyme wifout prior notiec.

noat dat whiel teh Guild haz noes foarmal democratic structuer, teh Guild Masterz adn Officerz will taek teh wishez uv teh memberz into account wehnivvah possible.

·        Altz

Altz inducteded into teh guild iz automaticawly promoteded ta teh rank teh current Main iz at.  If yur Alt iz in anudda guild, we still welcum yoo ta raid wif awr, but Guild memberz will haz furst choys ta raid spotz.

Recruitment

§  We requier dat new memberz read adn understand teh guild chartah. Yoo must indicaet dis by notificashun finded awn teh SOP websiet.

§  Recruitment iz at teh discreshun uv teh Recruitment Officah adn ownlee aftah guild rulez iz agreeded ta by teh new recruit.

§  By joinin Symphony uv Pain yoo haz agreeded ta teh Rulez adn Regulationz uv teh Guild provideded in dis chartah.

§  Yoo must b 18 yearz old or ovah ta join Symphony uv Pain.

§  Yur charactah must b yur Main charactah.  We wantz guildmatez committeded ta SOP. If ur moar  inclineded ta raid wif anudda guild, pleez join dat guild.

§  Yur charactah must b Level 40 or abuv ta join.  dis iz ta keep trial account characterz frum sittin in teh guild foar monthz.  We will inviet yur Alt at yur request at n e level once yur Main iz a actiev membah.

Communicashun

* wun meanz uv communicatin wif each uddah iz teh SOP foarumz. uz dem ta tell guildmatez abowt yur game experiencez, ta post screenshotz, ta foarm a party, ta plan raidz, etc. adn ta check foar newz frum teh Guild Mastah, Officerz, or udderz. Check eet often!
* We expect awr memberz ta adheah ta teh foarum rulez.
* We uz Ventrilo sow we kan talk wif uddah guild memberz whiel in game. dis speedz up playin adn increasez teh success uv raidin. Ta uz Ventrilo yoo needz a hedset wif a microfoen adn teh Ventrilo client wich kan b downloadeded at www.ventrilo.com . Teh info foar teh Ventrilo servah kan b finded awn mai territory paeg uv teh websiet adn awr passwurd will b given ta yoo in-game.
* Teh SOP Ventrilo iz a 35 person servah.  If ur runnin a owt-uv-guild 10- or 25- man raid, ur required ta getz permisshun ta uz SOP’s vent frum a Officah prior ta givin owt teh guild vent info.  By nawt doin sow, yoo will b banneded frum vent foar a period uv tyme at teh Officerz/GM’s discreshun. Srsly!
* Wehn loggin off uv vent, maeks suer yoo “Disconnect” furst, or else yur charactah will b put in teh AFK sexshun adn will taek up a channel awn teh servah.
* Teh Guild Mastah adn Officerz haz teh riet ta eject/ban anyoen frum vent foar bein disrespectful, abusiev, uninviteded adn/or showin n e bad behavior either ovah vent or in-game.

Guild Eventz

* Officerz will organiez SOP Guild progresshun Raidin.
* It iz xpectud dat Memberz tri ta getz az involveded az possible wif deez eventz if dey haz classez suitable foar dem.
* uddah Guild eventz (5-manz, quest halp, vanilla wow raidz, etc) kan b scheduleded by Recruitz, Memberz, Officerz adn teh GM.

Guidelinez

Behavor

·         It iz xpectud dat awl memberz uv teh Guild treat each uddah wif respect.

·         Bad languaeg iz tolerateded, but if taken ta excess or if memberz complain abowt eet, teh offendah will b askeded ta moderaet deir languaeg. continud excessiev swarein kan ultimately lead ta disciplinary acshun. Also bearz in mind dat awr memberz com frum difrnt bakgroundz adn awl agez (ovah 18 yrz), racez, religion adn sexual orientashun.

·          If yoo needz halp wif eetem tradin or uddah deelinz in teh guild, feel free ta aks a Officah foar assistance.

·         Cooperashun iz sumfin we pried ourselvez awn. We wish dis tradishun ta continu. It iz nawt xpectud dat higher level characterz giev up too mutch tyme ta halp owt teh lowah level characterz; haoevah, halp iz olwayz appreciateded adn shoodz b reciprocateded.

·         agreez ta a leadah, uzually teh Main Tank (MT). Teh leadah iz teh wun hoo organizez teh run az eet progressez, sow pleez b cooperatiev. Raid Leadah (RL) or Main Healah (MH) will assign healin assignmentz.

·         Foar Offishal Guild partiez or raidz teh leadah will b pikkeded by teh Officerz.

·         It iz xpectud dat awl memberz uv a party involvin Guild Memberz behaev in teh spirit uv teh game. noes fingah pointin.  Yoo will b warneded once; twoth tyme -removeded.

·         Ta raid wif teh guild, yoo must haz installeded at least teh followin addonz:  Ventrilo, Omen3, adn dedly Boss Modz, srsly.  noes exceptionz.

o Acceptin a Guild Calendar inviet duz nawt guarantee a spot in a raid.  Class, experience, gear, adn level uv instance will deturmien teh raidin team maeded by teh GM/Officerz.
o Raid team memberz hoo continuously show up awn tyme, haz a posetiv attitueded, contribuet informashun adn iz generally enthusiastic abowt raidin will haz furst preference ovah sumoen hoo duz nawt.
o Pleez noat dat if ur ta secuer a spot awn teh raid team, yoo needz ta show up at least 15 minits prior ta teh raid, or yur raid spot will b filleded.
o If yoo noes kan maeks teh raid, pleez let a Officah nows either verbally, in-game male or send a messaeg ta thru teh websiet asap.
o If ur repeatedly a noes-show, yoo will nawt b askeded ta raid wif awr. Srsly!

·         Keep vent clear ta heer raid strat, instrucshuns, etc. frum teh RL adn especially durin lootin.

·         Minimum AFK/BRB/BIO’s pleez. RL will meaow foar breaks periodicawly.

·         nows teh fytez – kan b read at WOWWIKI or seen awn Youtueb, Project Loer, etc.

·         Loot rulez must b establisheded befoar teh group engagez teh furst mob. Examplez uv Lootin Systemz iz: needz befoar Greeded, Roll awn BOE, Pass awn BOP, etc. Pleez discuss teh mattah extensively befoarhand if thar iz teh intenshun ta uz a “non-standard” system.

·         Current Loot rulez iz az followz foar Offishal Guild Raidz:

+ Officerz reserve teh riet ta deturmien loot distribushun.
+ A Loot Mastah will b assigneded by teh GM/Officerz.
+ Rollz may ownlee b dun if eet iz a apparent upgraeded foar dat class.
+ 10 Main Raidz – Alloweded ta win 1 peec uv gear pluz Tier gear.  May roll awn Main Spec or Off Spec.  If yoo intend awn rollin foar Off Spec, den b prepared ta play dat spec wehn askeded.
+ 25 Main Raidz – Alloweded ta win 2 peecz uv gear pluz Tier gear.  May roll awn Main Spec or Off Spec.  If yoo intend awn Rollin foar Off Spec, den b prepared ta play dat spec wehn askeded.
+ n e gear nawt usable/wanteded will b shirdeded foar SOP Guild Bank foar SOP memberz ta uz.  If noes enchantah iz prezent, den gear will b rolleded by awl foar vendor/rp.
+ professhun eetemz kan ownlee b rolleded foar by characterz dat possess dat professhun adn haz meeted teh required proficiency ta uz eet.  (i.e. if Reciep: Mongooes dropz, ownlee enchanterz dat haz reecheded level 350 may roll foar eet).
+ Runz may b scheduleded ahedz uv tyme foar teh soel purpoes uv obtainin a eetem foar a specific person.  awl personz enterin dis party/raid shall nows adn agreez ahedz uv tyme dat if teh sayed eetem dropz, awl will “Pass” except teh specific person, hoo will “needz” awn teh eetem.  (i.e. Bronze Draek frum HCOZ).

·         Memberz iz xpectud nawt ta engaeg in negatiev behavior wif peeps frum owtsied teh Guild. Haoevah, shoodz teh behavior uv a external person in a party/raid b utterly intolerable (e.g. ninja-lootin, verbal abuz), awl memberz iz encourageded ta join together, adn, if appropriaet, ta warn teh Guild az a hooel against deez personz.  Namez will go awn a list uv dowz we haz haded bad experiencez wif adn doez nawt wish ta group wif in futurz runz. Srsly!

Resourcez

·         If possible, let awl peeps in a party skill up awn resourcez by takin turnz – minin, herb pikkin, skinnin.

·         We encouraeg complimentary servicez amongst Guild memberz. traid skill eetemz wich kan b maeded wifout a cool down adn if teh materialz iz supplied, teh eetem shoodz b free. Memberz iz encourageded, but certainly nawt obligateded, ta shaer looteded eetemz uv relatively modest value (traid-gudz, green eetemz) foar free. Srsly!

·         If yoo haz becom teh ownah uv a eetem thru a in-guild exchange dis duz nawt giev yoo teh riet ta uz eet az yoo wish. Srsly! If yoo meaow yoo will uz a eetem anudda Membah haz given ta yoo foar free, den sellin eet at teh AH immediately afterwardz wifout consent will b considered a serious breech uv teh Guild Chartah.

Guild Bank

·        Initiatez adn Recruitz haz noes Guild Bank content access.

·        Memberz haz Guild Bank access ta Tab 1-3.

·        Officerz adn GM haz Guild Bank access ta Tab 1-4.

·        awl depositz iz ta b maeded into Tab 1, wherin awr Guild Bank Officah will sort adn organiez eetemz into correspondin tabz.

·        Teh Guild encouragez Guild Bank uz.  If yoo seez sumfin yoo needz, den pleez taek eet. If eet iz a raer or epic eetem in Tab 4, pleez aks a Officah ta plaec eet in Tab 1 foar yoo.

·        Guild Bank gold depositz iz nawt mandatory but highly appreciateded if ur takin eetemz adn/or usin bank repairz often.

·        Yoo may nawt taek sumfin frum teh Guild Bank adn sell eet ta anudda playah or awn teh AH, nor taek sumfin ta disenchant adn uz or sell. dis acshun will b a automatic removal frum teh guild.

·        Guild Bank eetemz lef foar a period uv tyme will b vendored at teh discreshun uv teh Guild Bank Officah.  awl profitz will b returneded ta teh Guild Bank gold account.

·        If yur account iz hackeded adn teh guild bank haz bein involveded, yur rank will go down ta Recruit foar a minimum uv 30 daiz adn eet iz xpectud dat yoo will notify a Game Managah ta haz awl eetemz/gold restored.  nawt doin sow will b a automatic removal frum teh guild. Srsly!

Disputez adn Argumentz Between Memberz

·         awl disagreementz/disputez/argumentz shoodz b handleded discreetly. dis meanz noes spammin guild wif insultz, accusationz etc. awl argumentz shoodz b taken ta privaet channelz az soon az possible.

·         If a problem noes kan b resolveded pleez brin eet ta teh attenshun uv teh appropriaet GM or Officerz az soon az possible.

·         Undah noes circumstancez iz argumentz ta b carryed awn usin n e foarum siet. dis cauzz moar  problemz between Memberz adn mayks teh Guild luk bad. Teh same ruel appliez awn Guild chat, traid chat, General chat, Ventrilo or Teamspeak or n e uddah plaec wher teh disagreement kan b vieweded/heerd publicly.

·         Teh GM adn officerz haz teh final wurd in n e dispuet between Memberz.

Sanctionz

We iz nawt a guild dat wantz ta poliec eets memberz. We hoep ta uz dis sexshun ownlee rarely, but n e breech kan b reporteded ta teh Guild Mastah adn/or Officerz hoo will deal wif teh mattah.

·         Teh Officerz iz responsible foar decidin hao ta deal wif Memberz hoo re-adjus Chartah rulez.

·         Officerz haz compleet freedom uv acshun adn kan warn, fien (az reparationz, in caes uv breechez relateded ta moneyz or eetemz), demoet or remoev Memberz az dey seez fit. Immediaet removal frum teh Guild will ownlee occur in teh gravest uv circumstancez. If possible, teh breechez shoodz b discusseded by several Officerz befoar teh moar  seveer measurez uv demoshun or removal iz taken.

·         Breechez by Recruitz will faec a lowah level uv tolerance than dowz uv full Memberz; dey may b removeded wifout consultashun if deir actionz maeks clear dey don’t shaer teh general guild spirit.

·         If problemz iz relateded ta a eetem, teh class uv a eetem (raer, epic) will b taken into account.

·         Teh Guild Officerz haz teh riet ta uz deir judgment concernin anyfin dat iz nawt covered in teh Guild Chartah.

SOP Guild Chartah Amendmentz

* Teh Guild Mastah haz teh final meaow. A Officah iz nawt alloweded ta deviaet frum dis chartah or enforce rulez nawt explicitly mentioneded heerin wifout consultin teh Guild Mastah furst, except undah xtreem circumstancez.
* Teh Guild reservez teh riet ta change teh contentz uv teh Chartah at anytyme eet iz deemeded necessary ta doez sow. Agreement between teh Officerz adn Guild Mastah iz sufficient foar such chanzes.
* n e Guild Chartah chanzes will b posteded awn teh websiet az a “SOP Guild Chartah Amendment”.

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I admit, I still have a few TV shows that I enjoy watching.   This time of year, it is “So You Think you Can Dance“, on FOX.

Very much related to the apparently more popular “American Idol”, this show starts with tryouts from around the country, with people dancing a short routine of their choice on stage.   The best ones get sent to Las Vegas for the “finals”.

Then, starting with the top 20, each person is coupled randomly with another, is given a semi-random style of dance, and works with a correographer to learn the routine in time for next week’s show.   I am in total awe of the contestants each year.  Singing never held my attention, but even the “worst of the best” dancers are amazing to watch.  My body can only dream of their talents.

So, during this time of the year, my ONLY television viewing is consumed by Reality TV.   I admit it.  

Still, when the opening week showcasing the top 20 has two people with diverse backgrounds who get paired up for “Bollywood” and dance an amazing performance of Jai Ho.  I’m in awe.

Jai Ho

They learned this in 4 days?!    wow.

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UPDATE: Site has now been completely migrated to the new location. I lost a few of the most recent entries here (Day 9, Day10, and Day11) but they were short unimportant posts in the large scale. I’ll be re-doing my month-long outdoor zen experiment next moon-cycle. I’m still spending time outside now, but not blogging about it on a daily basis due to the issues here recently.

After a few days of research by my web-host, we discovered the database for the blog was slightly corrupt, which is what was causing the RSS feed errors.

I tried to re-create the entire blog from an old backup, wiping it and re-uploading the entries, but the RSS still is borked. This means a post, or blog entry, or comment somewhere in the past has some sort of weirdness going on with it, which essentially broke the feed from that point forward.

In order to figure out where, I am in the process of making a second blog database, and copying over each post one at a time, to see where it stops working. We think it was a spam comment or an accidental mis-type in a user comment, since first glance at the entry database itself looks clean.

Thus, at worst case, I will have to wipe the comments from the older blog entries, and manually re-enter a few of the better and important-to-the-discussion ones myself. If this fixes things, I will direct this blog to the other database, and copy over the theme and other style sheet files so it looks the same as this version.

Keep your fingers crossed. I hope to have RSS functionality again in the next few days Currently working again, YAY!.

PS: send my friend Nettle any extra warm fuzzies and strength if you have some extra fuzz. She’s being a mighty battle-druid in a stressful life-situation I am not at liberty to expand upon. Suffice it to say, I’m sending her as many good vibes as I can this week.

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Yet another computer-game post, which you folks here for odd musings can skip if you need to. Long rambling fanboy-glee to follow.

The newest patch in World of Warcraft enables an additional new boss for folks to try out, named Emalon the Storm Watcher. He is no lame pushover, either! (Nolame=Emalon backwards :/ )

This boss is available periodically only after your faction wins a player-vs-player battle in a zone of the game, and defeating the boss drops top-end awesome gear if you are lucky. I was lucky enough to run with some of my guild folks, and some other random characters, ten of us in total (plus pets), but he dropped rogue gear, so nothing for me.

While I am not quite epic-geared as many in my guild, I was not turned down for the boss run, which made me happy. I get really annoyed when random PuGs look at my character and say “no, sorry, you need moar purplz” (epic gear).

The fight is rather complex, with multiple enemies, and a few tricky gimmicks for timing and positioning. As a single-target healer, my job was a little less chaotic, but still fraught with stress and rapid-fire keypresses. Essentially, my job in this fight was to heal the off-tank, and toss some group-heals if time permits.

The boss has 4 helpers, and will energize/overcharge one of them every so often. The DPS classes must, MUST kill the overcharged helper within something like 25 seconds or it explodes, killing our group. While this is happening, the main tank is holding the attention of the big-boss, and the off-tank is keeping all 4 helpers in line. The overcharged helper gets initially healed to full life and every few seconds gets a “stacking buff” to deal a bit more damage. This means, every so often my off-tank rapidly, RAPIDLY takes increasing damage. Earthmother’s Ashes, does that damage hit hard and fast!

To round out the boss’s abilities, every so often he will stop and charge up a Lightning Nova, that damages anyone standing near the boss’s feet after 5 seconds. Thus, it’s all but impossible to stand still and just spam heals/damage. The group as a whole is spread out and must move away from the boss to avoid the nova.

To keep an epic-feeling story short, Kanandi shielded and queued up a heal to land a half-second after the boss was engaged, then moved quickly to a far corner where the off-tank would round-up the helpers. From there, I kept myself shielded and OMGWTF cast heal spells at my target. Only my off-tank. Did I mention only? …with about 4 minor exceptions where I could quick-miniheal someone who took some Nova damage. Otherwise, if I hesitated a moment, hit the wrong key, or otherwise made a ‘mistake’ like pausing to, you know, sneeze once, the person I was healing died.

In fact, the first time we engaged the boss we didn’t realize how FAST the DPS needed to switch to the overcharged enemy. 26 seconds later, the screen goes boom and 9-10 people were dead. 2 second or less after that, the still-standing main tank fell to 5 big nasties smacking on him. ..Woah!

All told, we wiped (died) as a group six times. Once from me tossing a few extra heals to patch up minor damage from the Nova on other characters, thus letting my target die (I learned quick!). Once from me and a few others getting a lag-spike that caused a fatal delay in healing/damage. And a few more on something/one else that eventually resulted in an Overcharged explosion. Still, each time we did noticeably better and closer to killing the boss.

The epic-ness of the whole evening was how little guilt and blame was given out. In the case of me not concentrating on my target, I understood, “do it differnet next time“. When the DPS zigged instead of zagged to pick up the overcharged enemy, those people nodded with a “yep, my bad“. The majority of us there were new to the encounter, and I suppose it showed.
Yet, each time, people understood the fight a bit better, smoothed out their strategy, and worked to improve. No one whined about repair bills, no one pointed fingers accusingly when things went wrong. We simply stopped, took mental notes on what happened, and vowed to push forward One.More.Time. until it was done. On the last attempt, with the local time of midnight and a few folks starting to mumble about sleep, we did it. The fight lasted just over 5 minutes, and had a rhythm and flow that was awesome to experience.

Offtank pulls everything, I heal-spam… main tank taunts boss and drags him to opposite corner… Boss novas, we run away, then move back in… helper gets Overcharged, all healers switch to the off-tank and pray he survives while DPS blows cooldowns to KILL IT NOW… Overcharge addd dies, I breathe for 1.834 seconds… Boss novas… another helper respawns and gets overcharged…. rinse… repeat. Every 30 seconds.

I have never, in all of Kanandi’s healing, had such a hair-trigger job, against such a challenging boss. I have never before felt that sense of “progression” where each attempt was better than the last with NO whining from the unguilded random people with us. I felt like a “Real Raider”, and was honestly and sincerely Proud to simply see some unknown stranger get the gear that dropped. The teamwork was palpable, and appreciated. We all worked our butts off to get things done, and each person had the most important part. If one fell, we all fell (within 25 seconds!).

It was epic.

I can’t wait to do it again next week!

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Back when I was younger, one of my more fond memories was hanging out with my dad (and sometimes uncle) and coming up with all manner of philosophical discussions on the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. (yes, also inspired by that book).

One of our more persistant ‘theories’ from back in… I don’t even know how long ago, but think it was around 1990-ish..was that of Dark Suckers. While going through the attic to clean out some stuff, my father found this ancient manuscript, reproduced here for your amusement!

DARK SUCKERS

For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don’t emit light,…….they suck Dark. Thus we should call these bulbs Dark suckers. The dark sucker theory proves the existence of Dark, that Dark has mass heavier than light, and that Dark is faster than light.

The basis of the Dark sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck Dark. Take for example, the Dark suckers in the room where you are. There is much less Dark right next to them than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark sucker, the greater it’s ability to suck Dark. Dark suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity than the ones in this room. As with all things, Dark suckers don’t last forever. Once they are full of Dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot[s] on a full Dark sucker. A candle is a primitive Dark sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You will notice after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the Dark which has been sucked into it. If you hold a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, the tip will turn black because it got in the way of the Dark flowing into the candle. Unfortunately, these primitive Dark suckers have a very limited range. There are also portable Dark suckers. The bulbs in these can’t handle all the Dark by themselves, and must be aided to a Dark storage unit [batteries]. When the Dark storage unit is full, it must be replaced before the portable Dark sucker can operate again.

Dark has mass. When Dark goes into a Dark sucker, friction from this mass generates heat. Thus it is not wise to touch an operating Dark sucker. Candles represent a special problem, as the Dark must travel into a solid wick instead of through clear glass. This generates a great amount of heat, thus it can be very dangerous to touch an operating candle. Dark is also heavier than light. If you swim just below the surface of a lake, you see a lot of light. If you slowly swim deeper and deeper, you notice it getting darker and darker. When you reach a depth of about 50 feet, you are in total darkness. This is because the heavier Dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats to the top. The immense power Dark can be utilized to man’s advantage. The deeper the body of water, the more Dark is stored, and the more potential can be derived from it. We can collect the Dark that has settled to the bottom of lakes and push it through a turbine, which generates electricity and helps move the Dark to the ocean, where it can be safely stored. Prior to turbines, it was much more difficult to get the Dark from the rivers and lakes to the ocean.

The Indians recognized this problem and tried to solve it, as they were well-attuned with the natural world. When on a river, in a canoe, traveling in the same direction as the flow of Dark, they paddled slowly, so as not to stop the flow of Dark. When they traveled against the flow of Dark, they paddled quickly, so as to help push the Dark along it’s way.

Finally we must prove that Dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in an illuminated room in front of a closed Dark closet, then slowly open the closet door, you will see the light slowly enter the closet. But, since Dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the Dark leave the closet.

In conclusion, I would like to say that Dark suckers make all our lives much easier. So the next time you look at an electric bulb, remember that it is indeed a Dark sucker.

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First, sorry for the lapse in posting. We’ve had a cycle of pneumonia, flu, and other plagues that worked its way through the entire family, and back through.. again. Poor little one was out of school all last week with a fever, and we are finally on the upside of illness, though not quite totally healthy yet.

Now on the the musing!

In this age of Facebook, ubiquitous mobile cell phones (is it even Cellular anymore?), and bluetooth Live Online IM (“I AM” not, thank you), it seems like the youth and upwardly mobile of today are more connected to each other’s personal daily lives than ever before. Folks are commonly known to Text, Twitter, Twirp?, and such from almost anywhere, any time.

In relation to this information overload, I’ve heard and read Op-Ed articles ranging the topics from the invasion of personal privacy, to the detachment to personal relations.

Yet one thing I pondered this weekend, which I had not really seen on the media sites I frequent, is that this interconnectedness and online availability of personal frivolities, may simply be a return to the small town community, redefined by current technology.

Back in “The Good old Days”, you hear some talk of the small towns, where everyone knows everyone, and the gossip grapevine bore plentiful fruit. It may have been true that everyone KNOWS old man Maebius likes to play some damned MMO computer game or hated tomatoes, but it didn’t matter in the overall scheme of things, since if you alternately needed gardening advice or cheap farm-fresh eggs, Maebius could hook you up.

I don’t recall the recollection-minded mentioning huge inroads on the personal privacy lawn, like online information does now (except in references to Big Brother or “the commies” depending on era).

Today’s mobile-connected are looking more and more like those communities, where the intimate details are available if you care to look, but most people aren’t looking anymore, because it’s so available. The communities are essentially becoming the Small Town Mind again, but instead of geographical locality as a border, it is self-limiting by Network Interest.

Imagine, if you would, if technology advanced to where sunglass cameras, or RFID devices on every person’s common gadget were hooked up to a Global Database. At a glance, if you wish, you could pass by some stranger in the hall, queue up their info, and instantly know marital status, favorite hobbies, and name (as described by that person’s self-described bio profile).

To make it more current and specific, the cellphone signal on that guy next to you on the bus would load their Facebook page and display it on your phone, if you loaded the appropriate app. In this case, nothing you would find out would be “private” as it is culled from the stranger’s public profile. They could even lie about things.

But why would you care? Just because information is available, does not mean it is necessary to see by everyone and by everyone at all times, like some folks have stated while decrying such social networking sites.

Such transparency in your personal life is only created, if you, yourself, choose to create it. And in doing so, you join the Little Big Town of today’s Network-Now.

I think overall, this just shows humanities intrinsic desire to belong to a Clan/Tribe/Family. We just keep shifting the lines on who gets included to ours, and how it is defined.

The trick though, is to forge communties as best we can, using whatever method we can. For those of the druidic persuasion, that may involve physicality again for the event of a technological network outage. For some folks though, such a situation is too far in the future, and the online communty still has value Now.
In the end, I don’t think it’s that big a deal, potentially knowing the minutiae of Maebius. I don’t update my Facebook anyway.

…and if you do need fresh eggs, stop over to Everthorn Farms for a cup of mint tea from my garden. I’ll share that with you strangers anytime.

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It’s no secret to some folks who know me, that I am a contradiction in lifestyles somewhat, in terms of my current job and Life Philosophy.

I have an active Virtual presence on a number of forums, MMO games, and of course, this blog, plus I work as a computer-support tech for a multinational corporation. While I don’t own the t-shirt, I have what I consider an appropriate amount of geek-cred on the intarwebs.

Still, my personal/spiritual/whatever life is one based on the sacredness of Nature, a relationship with the Divine (in whatever form you choose), and things that at a glance are the polar opposite of “The Internet”.

Facebook, MySpace, and such are pointless to me, and I’ve been quoted at work as saying that I dislike digital media and (while I do not practice what I rant) understand that Vinyl Records are probably the penultimate sound-storage concept. Even this Blog is a contradiction of Virtual and Reality, yet exists as convenience to share my thoughts with an otherwise unconnected population of e-friends.
I will not probably ever own a Kindle, or an iPhone, or any such “must-have” tech gadget, unless purchased for me by kindly associates and friends, though I’m starting to lean towards buying a cheap MP3 player just to listen to some good grooves while meditating outside under the stars during campouts when the usual crickets are too quiet.

Also, since the days of working at the local library during my school years, I just like books too much….
…as so wonderfully mocked explained by the folks over at Penny Arcade:

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