Some Darkness Falls Progress

I've split up the work on the remake of Darkness Falls: The Crusade into three sections.  The programming, database work and all similar things are strictly in my hands (Draken) with some consultation from Niteninja on networking and security.  There was also a component of algorithm design and interaction that was developed by me with feedback from both Niteninja and Masterpuppet. The second section is more of a lore theme and is primarily in the hands of Niteninja.  Obviously I will consult with him a bit on this but I trust him to do a superb job.  The final section is a slightly related to lore and consists of the creation of lands, monsters and items.  This will mostly be in the hands of Masterpuppet and Niteninja, and maybe later on a few people who have commented on a previous post, expressing interest. (Note: I do have your info cataloged guys)

Now that that is sufficiently laid out, the news.  Awhile ago we decided that instead of a clean remake that we would make this a sort of "DF3" or a continuation in the story.  Unlike the change from DF1 to DFC, however, there won't really be a huge difference in mechanics.  Without going into too much detail, as Niteninja is still having fun with the lore, here is a rough breakdown in the timeline:

• World wide event to explain the "shutdown" of DFC
• Period of time in which the realms congregate in a single city
• This will be a beta-like situation to accommodate smaller player base with a similar format to DF1
• World wide event that shifts the 3 realms from a single city to 3 new realms, a return to DFC style setup
• This is to account for the fact that we do not have logs to cover all areas in all realms, while some of it can be reconstructed by memory, much cannot.
• Some old areas will make reappearances though possibly altered slightly

Our goal is to make this as much like DFC as possible, while fixing a few balance issues.

Michael Salman

There has been a big ruckus created recently about a man in Arizona who was supposedly arrested for holding Bible studies.  This is a gross mischaracterization of the issue.   A simple summary is that Mr. Salman wanted to build a building on his property, according to the permit, it was to be a sort of game room.  More than once he stated that it would not be used for what it was later used for, massive Bible studies.  It was reported that there was seating set up for close to 100 people.  The problem is the building was not build to code to properly support so many people.  In an emergency many could be trapped inside.  The city had no problem with him doing what he wanted to do, he could have built the building to code, he didn't.  More than once he stated it wouldn't be used for the Bible Studies/Church assemblies despite the fact there is a sign on his property indicating it is known as the "Harvest Christian Church" and his vehicles are also covered in advertisements.  Nobodies rights are being violated.  Mr. Salman just wants to the attention.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/07/michael_salman_is_not_in_jail.php

Star Trek: Enterprise

I finished watching all of Star Trek: Enterprise today.  It is a shame it was cancelled so early because it really was a fantastic series.  The story was never about the goal and all about the journey.  You knew the entire time where human history was headed, the forming of the United Federation of Planets and the level of technology ahead.  In many ways I think that is what made it so great.  With all of the other series, the science officers and engineers would just make up some bullshit and save the day.  With Enterprise, their options were limited.  They had no shields, no tractor beam, phasers and transporter technology were brand new concepts.  Don't get me wrong, I love the entire universe, but Enterprise really was fantastic.

Also, I'd totally Sub Command Her T'Pol.

Doctor Manhattanism

"Thermodynamic miracles... events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing. And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter... Until your mother loves a man she has every reason to hate, and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold... that is the crowning unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle." -Dr. Manhattan

That is one of my favorite quotes, from a fictional story ironically, but it illustrates very well how beautiful our existence in this universe is and that attributing such existence to a creator cheapens it to nothing more than a factory produced steel rod.

High School Civics

Recently a local group I am a quasi-member of put up a billboard at one of the busiest intersections in my city.  The billboard said "Don't believe in god? Join the group!" with a link to the groups website.   Tonight there were two stories on the local news stations covering it, a rather hateful posting on a local radio stations website and tomorrow the local paper will be covering it.  I spent hours pouring over the posts on the facebook page for one of the networks and it was very enlightening.  Most of the posts were respectful, but it was abundantly clear that too many people lacked a proper understanding of rights, including the poster of the article who stated "Should this be taken down?"  Other people posted claiming it infringed on their rights to even see such a thing.  It was really disappointing.  I think more people need to retake high school civics class.

Hitlerball

Anyone who uses facebook with any frequency has probably seen the wave of postings that consist of a picture of some figure, or an info-graphic, with a quote from that figure, usually anecdotal and out of context.   People see these, get a quick laugh out of them, assume they are correct if they fit their religious or political outlook and repost it, repeating the process.  As most of my friends come from varying ideologies, I see a wide range of them.  I look upon most of these with sadness because,whether I agree with them or not, all they do is to further divide people and like I said, their factual basis is usually questionable.  As we currently have a Democrat in the White House, much of what I see are quips about fascism, loss of freedom and liberty and how Barack Obama is driving the country into hell.  I remember 10 years ago, similar things being said about President Bush.  I was younger then, 18, and I remember participating in the hyperbole myself and I'm not particularly proud of it.  Another cool-headed friend of mine posted another one today.  An info-graphic making fun of info-graphics, my favorite kind.   It said basically what I am saying here, it was a picture of Adolf Hitler with a caption pointing out how everyone accuses everyone else of being Hitler-esque.  The minute someone kills 6 million innocent people because they have "inferior genes," is the only time Hitlerball should break out.

Ariel and Jordan Reunited

I had previous written a blog post about Jordan Clipstonand his efforts to be reunited with his daughter.  Jordan is an atheist and his mother comes from a very religiously conservative family and has done everything they could to keep his daughter from even knowing he exists.  The post can be found here:

http://nerdsandpoliticsandnerds.blogspot.com/2012/05/jordan-clipston.html

Good news though, Jordan and Ariel have been reunited and have had several visits that went great for Ariel.  The future does look bright for the two and the mother and her family do seem willing to at least meet minimum requirements.  To follow the story you can find his new page on facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/ArielJordanReunited

There is a very detailed post of the experience the two had together.  Please join me in supporting them.