A disturbing trend in the media is to draw sweeping conclusions from isolated scientific research without any scrutiny or analysis. A blanket statement will be issued such as: SCIENTISTS DISCOVER THAT TUNA FISH IS HIGH IN MERCURY. Therefore, everyone and their brother is supposed to stop eating tuna fish, because that would be the same as eating pure mercury.
Balderdash. Left unanswered is, how much mercury? How much mercury can the human body tolerate? How much mercury resides in other foods like apples or oranges? At what rate does the human body excrete mercury, if at all? What was the population of the control group and the test group of humans used in the experiment(s)? What were these humans like--thin, fat, average; old, young; male or female; sedentary or active lifestyle? Where were the samples of tuna obtained--from a single geographical region, or all over the world? How were the samples obtained and what is the likelihood those samples were corrupted by other factors?
Last of all comes the most important question which is almost never revealed in the media. Who funded the experiment? In the case of any study finding harm in seafood, I would highly suspect the cattle industry, because fewer people eating seafood translates into more people buying beef. I'm just joking in this instance, because such an obvious connection would likely be discovered with an ensuing scandal. The point is that journalists should ask all of the standard questions and include them in their report. Brief articles touching upon science are utterly useless. The only valid way of reporting upon science is including all of the pertinent information in summary form. First and foremost a journalist must ask, WHERE IS THE MONEY? If this question is not answered, the report is rubbish. Only by tracing the financial backing of research can it can become clear if a particular bias is at play. However, the absence of a clear conflict of interest does not mean there aren't any prejudices--only that the most obvious prejudice is absent.
The activity of a scientist is tightly constrained by the flow of grant money from corporations and the government. Research is not free. We simply do not have that many independently wealthy scientists researching whatever they please. We just don't live in a world like that. What we have are powerful people like CEO's and government bureaucrats who decide what will be studied--and more often than we like to think, what the results will be!
Just for the record, I eat tuna whenever and wherever I please. Mercury be damned. I eat salmon, too, despite reports of PCB contamination. Besides the excellent flavor, I like the beneficial effects of the omega-3 fatty acids found in high quantities in these excellent foods. The stuff seems to counter mild forms of depression. I will go so far as to eat raw sushi, too, because I'm not terribly concerned about media reports that indicate sushi contains little worms. Yeah, right. Maybe at your sushi bar, but not mine.
Science is a good thing, but too many journalists nowadays approach it as if it were some sort of religion. They approach scientists like shaman whose pronouncements must be accepted uncritically, without any difficult questions. This is a slippery slope that has led to every manner of evil, beginning with racist theories asserting the inferiority of non-white people, theories that predated the Holocaust. Pseudoscience has caused enormous harm in the world and continues to do so.
I am not impressed with studies involving rats or mice that purport to reveal universal truths about human psychology. Biology, maybe; psychology, no. Rats are a world away from the complexity of the human brain. I am not impressed with scientists who devote their energies to constructing sadistic experiments harming animals in order to "prove" just one side of a sociological issue such as whether single moms raise kids better or worse than intact families. Any time that animals are harmed, there must be clear and succinct benefits accruing to the human or animal species as a direct result. Minor and insignificant studies should be jettisoned if their only purpose is to satisfy a scientist's private thirst for sadism.
I'm not impressed when scientists encourage journalists to draw sweeping conclusions based largely upon anecdotal or flawed evidence. If you have conducted an experiment involving only twenty mice, you have proved exactly nothing. A sizable proportion of those twenty mice might well be freaks. If you have just five freaks out of twenty, that means 25% of your research is bunk. At any rate, what are you experimenting with mice for, when human subjects are often willing and available? Shoddy research and lax ethics invite refutation and tarnishes the image of science, such that many people even to this very day reject legitimate scientific theories such as evolution and the benefits of modern medical treatment.
Of all the scientific fields, psychology is without a doubt the one most rife with pseudoscience. Anecdotal evidence is commonly exaggerated to draw unjustified conclusions. Stereotypes and prejudice are too often accepted without a murmur. The entire classification of mental illnesses is fuzzy and subjective. Instead of a desire to find out the truth about a subject, psychologists all too often have the desire to impose their truth upon the world, seeing what they want to see. The experiments they conduct have foregone conclusions designed to prove whatever the researcher already feels to be so.
Any scientist that wants to learn the truth needs to ask one question. What are the factors in your own life that might prevent you from seeing the world as it really is? "Know thyself," as Socrates said. Research should be designed in such a way as to encourage the contrary answer, in opposition to what the scientist expects, because the desires of his own heart will tend to tilt the results in subtle ways.
For instance, in the early days of psychology, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness. There were actual scientific studies showing that homosexuality had a negative effect on a person's mental health. These were alluded to by Ayn Rand, who like many thinkers of her time also believed that gays and lesbians needed medical treatment to reverse their sexual orientation. (I just threw that grenade in there to jar any conservative gay Objectivists that might be reading. Yes, it's true.)
Many of these anti-gay studies were based upon clinical populations, i.e. patients already admitted into a mental hospital and receiving treatment who identified themselves as homosexual. The scientists conducting the study had prior experience in counseling mentally ill homosexuals. If all you have experienced in your professional life has been homosexuals with mental problems, and you have been acquainted with very few well-adjusted homosexuals, then you are already prejudiced. Any study you create is going to focus more than likely upon negative aspects concerning homosexuality. The same applies to any research involving drugs, homelessness, anxiety disorder, and sexuality in general. If you have been counseling drug addicts for your entire professional life, you are going to have morbid thoughts concerning drugs and probably will have a difficult time accepting any positive aspects at all.
Scientists sometimes ignore the larger picture involving society and social attitudes and the role that such elements play. Instead, they focus in single-minded fashion upon one narrow topic, ignoring the myriad of other influences that warp results. At least from a psychological perspective, homosexuality cannot be studied out of context of the larger society in which it exists. One must be careful in drawing any conclusions upon the subject, because there have been grave errors with harmful consequences made in the past both in this area and in the area of ethnic background.
Another trouble with science has to do with human nature. People have a tendency to adhere to orthodoxy. Society despises all nonconformists. If you think the same way everyone else in your profession thinks, then you won't ever be condemned; you will be respected and admired. If you buck the fashionable trends like a maverick, you risk being ostracized in the worst case scenario, or criticized at best. Conformism stifles new ideas in science.
What university professors should treasure is independent thinking, creativity, and originality; in practice, what they reward is the ability to memorize sterile facts. I remember Botany class in college, when we were asked to memorize the genus, species, and family, both the Latin and the common names, of a hundred different trees. I sailed through the exam with flying colors. Does that mean I would make a great scientist? Not necessarily. I don't remember a single one of those names today and am at a loss as to what good it did me to learn them. I'm sure things the professor liked having an easy method of grading students--multiple choice tests that could be graded by an assistant. In my opinion, what really is important in the subject of Botany is the mechanism of photosynthesis. In comparison, all else pales in importance. I believe the professor devoted a single lecture to that vital discussion. I am still curious about it.
I'm a big fan of science, subscribe to Discover magazine, and watch documentaries on scientific subjects at least twice a week. Pseudoscience irritates me when I find it in the media. In order to evaluate science, we need a reasonable argument based upon sound, unbiased research. Journalists should ask hard questions, not simply repeat the words of scientists as though they were sacred. Science is not an exclusive club that you can only join by completing a four-year degree. Science is the birthright of everyone upon this planet. Nor is science all that difficult to understand until you get into quantum mechanics. Give us all the facts, not just the words of the holy men in the white lab coats.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Seven Reasons to Stay with Windows XP
1. You will not have to buy additional hardware or software, saving potentially hundreds or thousands of dollars.
2. You will not contribute to pollution by dumping your old hardware before its time. Many commentators believe Microsoft made some kind of mistake by rendering so much legacy hardware obsolete with their Windows Vista. I do not think it was a mistake, but intentional, in order to generate more unnecessary consumer spending worldwide. Microsoft has a partnership with many hardware vendors and cares less about the end user than about those lucrative partnerships. The main new "feature" in Windows Vista was Digital Rights Management. Of course, this was not the feature that Microsoft chose to advertise.
3. You will not experience the many hidden problems that Windows Vista users have reported.
4. You will not experience any learning curve as you would with Vista.
5. After so many years of using XP, you have probably adjusted to its foibles, downloading third party applications to overcome certain of its limitations. A good anti-virus package such as Avast!, which is free, makes Windows XP secure enough.
6. Most of your newer applications are now delivered via your web browser, which is independent of Windows anyway. Firefox remains fully compatible with Windows XP and due to its add-ons, is superior to Internet Explorer. Vista quite simply has nothing to offer the end user other than fancier games, which I don’t care about. Microsoft does not understand the Internet and probably never will.
7. Vista is a step in the wrong direction, towards a fatter and less efficient OS demanding more and more electricity, memory, and resources. This in a time when energy costs are at a premium. This is quite unnecessary and simply the result of Microsoft adding bloat to enhance their own and their partners’ profit margins. It is self-evident that Microsoft does not develop with the end user in mind, but with their shareholders in mind.
Personally, when Vista came out, I used that moment as an excuse to try out the latest version of Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it did not install successfully on my computer, which was optimized for Windows. After several hours of trying to get Ubuntu to work, I gave up. Besides, I was reluctant to leave the world of Windows compatibility. I returned to Windows XP, which I am satisfied with. I am not concerned about Microsoft dropping support for Windows XP as long as Avast antivirus and Mozilla Firefox continue to support Windows XP.
What about Windows 7? After the Vista fiasco, I'm skeptical, but I may upgrade at a very late stage if 90% of the world does so. But I certainly won't be waiting in line at Wal-Mart to buy the first copy. I'm far more excited about new versions of Firefox than I am about overpriced bloatware like Windows.
2. You will not contribute to pollution by dumping your old hardware before its time. Many commentators believe Microsoft made some kind of mistake by rendering so much legacy hardware obsolete with their Windows Vista. I do not think it was a mistake, but intentional, in order to generate more unnecessary consumer spending worldwide. Microsoft has a partnership with many hardware vendors and cares less about the end user than about those lucrative partnerships. The main new "feature" in Windows Vista was Digital Rights Management. Of course, this was not the feature that Microsoft chose to advertise.
3. You will not experience the many hidden problems that Windows Vista users have reported.
4. You will not experience any learning curve as you would with Vista.
5. After so many years of using XP, you have probably adjusted to its foibles, downloading third party applications to overcome certain of its limitations. A good anti-virus package such as Avast!, which is free, makes Windows XP secure enough.
6. Most of your newer applications are now delivered via your web browser, which is independent of Windows anyway. Firefox remains fully compatible with Windows XP and due to its add-ons, is superior to Internet Explorer. Vista quite simply has nothing to offer the end user other than fancier games, which I don’t care about. Microsoft does not understand the Internet and probably never will.
7. Vista is a step in the wrong direction, towards a fatter and less efficient OS demanding more and more electricity, memory, and resources. This in a time when energy costs are at a premium. This is quite unnecessary and simply the result of Microsoft adding bloat to enhance their own and their partners’ profit margins. It is self-evident that Microsoft does not develop with the end user in mind, but with their shareholders in mind.
Personally, when Vista came out, I used that moment as an excuse to try out the latest version of Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it did not install successfully on my computer, which was optimized for Windows. After several hours of trying to get Ubuntu to work, I gave up. Besides, I was reluctant to leave the world of Windows compatibility. I returned to Windows XP, which I am satisfied with. I am not concerned about Microsoft dropping support for Windows XP as long as Avast antivirus and Mozilla Firefox continue to support Windows XP.
What about Windows 7? After the Vista fiasco, I'm skeptical, but I may upgrade at a very late stage if 90% of the world does so. But I certainly won't be waiting in line at Wal-Mart to buy the first copy. I'm far more excited about new versions of Firefox than I am about overpriced bloatware like Windows.
How to Cheat in Dungeon Crawl
The only annoying element of the rogue-like game "Dungeon Crawl" is that your character can get killed suddenly and that's that. You have to start over. From scratch. After I have invested 50,000 turns in a character, I'm not in the mood for the reality of death. There are two ways to cheat death in Crawl: Wiz Mode and the use of a Windows batch file or Linux script to run the game. I prefer the latter. Due to the additional features offered by this batch file, even if one doesn't cheat, it is a convenient way to run Crawl.
The idea behind the batch file is that whenever you reach a point where you would like to preserve your existing character, you can save, exit the game, and the batch file will backup the Save directory to a new directory that the game will not modify. If you later get killed, then the batch file can copy this backup directory over to the Save directory, and you can resume from that point.
Hardcore crawlers refer to this practice as "save scumming," and prudes disapprove, which is weird, considering it's just a game. I find the angry reactions aroused by the idea of so-called "cheating" to be peculiar and amusing. All around the Internet and even in comments on my own blog, one can find Dungeon Crawlers scolding other players about this. It is like some kind of religious injunction. I pay it as much mind as I do other religious injunctions.
Here's my handy-dandy script (batch) file for cheating at Dungeon Crawl. At a minimum, it is compatible with either Linux or Windows, both of which I use.
Although I developed the Windows batch for Windows XP, it now supports Windows 10, which is what I use. I can no longer certify Windows XP or 7 support, since I no longer use XP or 7, and you should not use these outdated systems, either. Time to move on, chilluns. If you do not like Windows 10, that is certainly O.K., move over to the wonderful world of Linux, but do not stay with an antiquated security hole of an operating system. However, I suspect that the few remaining stubborn holdouts still risking their sanity with Windows XP or 7 could get the batch working without too much difficulty. I used to play Crawl on Windows XP, back when I had an XP system. I know for sure that the batch file then ran perfectly on XP back then. But you know, I have made changes since.
I've tried to distill as much intelligence as I can into the batch. I do not use the Installer, but the batch will adjust its pathnames automatically upon successful detection of an Installer-created Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup installation. If you encounter any problems, it will more than likely have to do with the pathnames used by your version of Windows or else unsupported batch commands. There is help widely available on the Internet for programming in batch, but I will attempt to help anyone that has a problem that is likely to be shared among many users. I enjoy programming in batch language, because it does not require a cumbersome and slow compiler, but concede that the language is quite limited both in capability and debugging options. I have my own ways of debugging that work for me although they are quite challenging, but the challenge is part of the fun for me. Even with good technique, often it takes guesswork and plenty of knowledge to deduce what is going on. So if you get into batch programming, first of all don't get into batch programming--but if you do, then prepare to search Google on a regular basis for tips, tricks and syntax, because Microsoft Help is not always quite as helpful as it could be. I have been banned by Google from searching in the past due to the frequency of my requests. Google interpreted my behavior as being similar to that of a bot. But that is how I learned how to program in Linux script and Windows batch.
I have been using some variation of this batch file for years to play Dungeon Crawl. Happy Crawling!
Release Notes:
The idea behind the batch file is that whenever you reach a point where you would like to preserve your existing character, you can save, exit the game, and the batch file will backup the Save directory to a new directory that the game will not modify. If you later get killed, then the batch file can copy this backup directory over to the Save directory, and you can resume from that point.
Hardcore crawlers refer to this practice as "save scumming," and prudes disapprove, which is weird, considering it's just a game. I find the angry reactions aroused by the idea of so-called "cheating" to be peculiar and amusing. All around the Internet and even in comments on my own blog, one can find Dungeon Crawlers scolding other players about this. It is like some kind of religious injunction. I pay it as much mind as I do other religious injunctions.
Here's my handy-dandy script (batch) file for cheating at Dungeon Crawl. At a minimum, it is compatible with either Linux or Windows, both of which I use.
Although I developed the Windows batch for Windows XP, it now supports Windows 10, which is what I use. I can no longer certify Windows XP or 7 support, since I no longer use XP or 7, and you should not use these outdated systems, either. Time to move on, chilluns. If you do not like Windows 10, that is certainly O.K., move over to the wonderful world of Linux, but do not stay with an antiquated security hole of an operating system. However, I suspect that the few remaining stubborn holdouts still risking their sanity with Windows XP or 7 could get the batch working without too much difficulty. I used to play Crawl on Windows XP, back when I had an XP system. I know for sure that the batch file then ran perfectly on XP back then. But you know, I have made changes since.
I've tried to distill as much intelligence as I can into the batch. I do not use the Installer, but the batch will adjust its pathnames automatically upon successful detection of an Installer-created Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup installation. If you encounter any problems, it will more than likely have to do with the pathnames used by your version of Windows or else unsupported batch commands. There is help widely available on the Internet for programming in batch, but I will attempt to help anyone that has a problem that is likely to be shared among many users. I enjoy programming in batch language, because it does not require a cumbersome and slow compiler, but concede that the language is quite limited both in capability and debugging options. I have my own ways of debugging that work for me although they are quite challenging, but the challenge is part of the fun for me. Even with good technique, often it takes guesswork and plenty of knowledge to deduce what is going on. So if you get into batch programming, first of all don't get into batch programming--but if you do, then prepare to search Google on a regular basis for tips, tricks and syntax, because Microsoft Help is not always quite as helpful as it could be. I have been banned by Google from searching in the past due to the frequency of my requests. Google interpreted my behavior as being similar to that of a bot. But that is how I learned how to program in Linux script and Windows batch.
I have been using some variation of this batch file for years to play Dungeon Crawl. Happy Crawling!
LINUX Installation: With your mouse, click somewhere in the box below. My javascript should highlight the entire contents of the textbox for your convenience. If it does not, then press Ctrl-A to highlight all of the text, then copy (i.e., press Ctrl-C) to your clipboard. Load a plain text editor and paste the clipboard contents (i.e., Ctrl-V) in that window. Inspect the batch, checking for any instances of Blogger's word wrapping breaking up long lines. Save the text file as "regen.sh". I place my script in /home/games/regen_as regen.sh, but you can store it wherever you like. Open a terminal and modify the security of the script using the syntax, "chmod +x regen.sh". Next, set up a launcher to run the included script file from your desktop. When creating the shortcut, click the "Application" tab, click the "Advanced Options" button, and check the box for "Run in terminal." Run the game at least once by itself before using regen.sh, so that the game can create all its data directories. Additional instructions will be found in the script itself. You can get creative for a launcher icon.
WINDOWS Installation: With your mouse, click somewhere in the box below. My javascript should highlight the entire contents of the textbox for your convenience. If it does not, then press Ctrl-A to highlight all of the text, then copy (i.e., press Ctrl-C) to your clipboard. Load Notepad++ or a similar plain text editor (Notepad, if you must) and paste the clipboard contents (i.e., Ctrl-V) in that window. Inspect the batch, checking for any instances of Blogger's word wrapping breaking up long lines. Save the text file as "regen.bat". The file must have a .bat extension, because Windows will not execute it if it does not. Create a shortcut to "regen.bat" on your Windows desktop and use that shortcut to play the game.General Notes:
- This batch file, and any page on Igor's blog, is not static but is subject to change--improvement--at any time. You may link to this page on other web sites and be assured of referencing the very latest version of regen.bat for Windows and regen.sh for Linux at all times now and in the future.
- To use this strategy effectively, you should save your game and quit at a point where you may wish to recover your character later upon any unexpected demise.
- I play the latest version of Crawl, either the trunk (beta) or the last stable release. You have a better chance of the script/batch file working correctly if this is also your scenario. Through the years, the Stone Soup developers have altered the path and file names of the saves directory. However, the script/batch is designed in such a way that modifications are elementary, consisting of one or two edits of constants at the most.
- On my Linux computer, I have created a new directory in Home called games and placed the linux shell script (regen.sh) and its icon in there. I believe it is important for the name of the directory to have no spaces. One must either chmod the two relevant crawl directories in order to permit file copies and deletions or else grant root permissions for this script, because otherwise Linux denies permission to the many file copies. I'm not well-versed on this sort of thing. I used to give my launcher root permissions via "sudo ~/regen.sh", but my current method is to chmod the two crawl directories, because that eliminates the need to enter the root password every time one plays.
- On a Windows computer, regen.bat attempts to self-adjust its assumptions regarding paths--it has some primitive intelligence, not much--but if that doesn't work, regen.bat will tell you so, and at that point you will have to edit the variables relating to pathnames. By design, few pathnames are hardcoded, meaning the batch should be relatively easy to modify.
- Linux has a built-in capability of accepting a single keypress for input and overall a far more robust scripting language than Windows. Batch programming in Windows, however, remains in the Stone Age. It is a wonder I ever programmed the Windows batch at all. For Windows users, as of 05/19/2019, I have finally found the syntax to accept single keypress and no longer use a third-party utility to achieve the same effect. Thus, this cheat is transparent with plain text source code, and no one should feel as though there is anything deceptive about it, although there is no doubt as to its being elaborate. Perhaps more than five minutes would be required to understand how the batch works, but not more than thirty minutes, for an experienced batch programmer.
Release Notes:
- 05/19/2019 Update:
Change to regen.bat only: modification to work with my Windows 10 system and allow single-keypress responses, i.e. not having to press the Enter key. Users are expected to modify one line in the batch specifying where the game is installed. - 06/15/2014 Update:
Change to regen.sh: fix for multi-desktop users like myself. No longer will crawl span both desktops. - 11/28/2013 Update:
Change to regen.sh: sleep a second after wmctrl, because the computer takes a random number of milliseconds to adjust the display. Clarify a display message. - 11/27/2013 Update:
Change to regen.sh: fix a few bugs. Maximize window if wmctrl is available. - 10/18/2013 Update:
Change to regen.sh: corrections to the menu display and new optional mods to automate setting tiles to full screen and other preferences of mine. The script now reflects a change in version 13 of the location of the macro file. - 9/16/2013 Update:
Change to regen.sh: Recognize the existence of Sprint and Zotdef saves and tidy up the code a little bit. - 1/31/2013 Update:
Change to regen.sh: Handle the case where Crawl has not yet been installed or executed. - 1/29/2013 Update:
Just a few minor refinements to text messages in regen.sh and the addition of a loop to handle permission-granting, in case the user types an incorrect password. - 1/21/2013 Update:
Once again, Linux refinements only. regen.sh was not handling chmod quite right; chmod -R is more to the point as it liberalizes permissions for all the files and folders within the two relevant Crawl directories. I made a few other changes of no special importance. It is my intention that regen.sh should handle DCSS upgrades seamlessly, asking for permission to chmod when necessary. - 1/19/2013 Update:
Further refinements to the Linux script, which is now coming into its own, looking better and acting smarter. Rather than have sudo ask me for my password everytime I play (ach!), I prefer to chmod 777 the permissions of two crawl directories, which is Linuxese for "allowing read/write access to everyone". - 1/16/2013 Update:
Added a few minor refinements to the Linux script that occurred to me this evening, including a suggestion for avoiding the annoyance of sudo. - 1/16/2013 Update:
Many improvements made and features added to the Linux script. It is somewhat more intelligent now and will attempt to detect and report certain problems before they occur. - 1/14/2013 Update:
I have successfully ported regen.bat to Linux! Many improvements made between Jan. 13 & Jan.14th to the Linux script, which does however require root permission in order to shift files around. Through trial and error, I have found that sudo is the thing, not kdesudo, which is for graphical programs. Kdesudo will cause errors. There is no way I know of getting around the permission requirement other than disabling the security altogether on one's system. I'm not quite confident enough to second-guess the Linux developers on that score. I'd rather just play along according to their rules. - 11/13/2012 Update:
Minor edits for compatibility with Crawl 12 beta. - 10/17/2012 Update:
Colorized the text, added for the first time a free public domain icon, reorganized the main menu, and fixed several bugs throughout the mods menu.
Fixed a little bug that had broken the 'edit batch file' option. Oopsy-daisy. Added a little colorizing trick that had occurred to me.
Improved the efficiency of the Install-New-Crawl option. Fixed the broken macro mod. Added polychromatic effect to mod menu.
Fixed a little issue with install-new-crawl. So many variables now, and of course batch language won't help me in keeping track of them. - 10/08/2012 Update:
Add option to install new version of Crawl using 7-Zip or WinRar. This will install the game into a directory that is the default for regen.bat and thus ensure 100% compatibility. Several bug fixes to the Mods menu. Added 'command enhancement' mod. - 09/30/2012 Update:
Just a few minor tweaks to improve efficiency. Improved start-up performance by skipping an unnecessary FIND. Eliminated a few redundancies through the use of subroutines. Reworded some comment statements. Everything working well on Windows XP with the latest beta version .11.
Peep Show, the Best Comedy on Television
Although the ratings are poor, DVD sales are high for Peep Show, a Channel 4 sitcom featuring Robert Webb and David Mitchell. How do I feel about the show? I have watched all thirty shows three times apiece. In my opinion, this is the best comedy show on television anywhere in the English-speaking world right now. No one can make me laugh like the Webb and Mitchell team.
The most novel innovation in Peep Show relates to how the camera is employed. Instead of watching all the characters on the set, we see the world through one of the character's eyes, literally, because the camera is mounted upon that character's forehead. The second innovation relates to the frequent narration by one of the two main characters, revealing their base hidden motivations and interpretations.
The writers do not shy away from getting intellectual on your ass. Historical, philosophical and academic references are on the menu. Expect witty dialog packed with maximum drama and strange asides that will leave you thinking. While there are countless references to homosexuality, heterosexuality, recreational drug use, casual sex, and monogamy, none of it is offensive, mean-spirited or didactic. Instead everything progresses along a natural arc with a focus upon the feelings and motivations of the characters. The stars and the supporting cast all meet the challenge presented by the brainy writing. My favorite characters? I like them all very much, even the most minor characters who appear in the show only once or twice. However, after Webb and Mitchell, I really like Olivia Colman, who also stars in the gay-friendly sitcom "Beautiful People," which I also recommend. But she shines brighter in Peep Show, where she represents a more sympathetic and believable character.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb also produce a show called "That Mitchell and Webb Look," which is just as funny as Peep Show, but in a completely different format, being a series of short, unrelated sketches. I recommend both of these shows and hope that these actors enjoy a long career in show biz, because I intend to follow their productions from now on. The five seasons of Peep Show already completed are destined to be classics, because they have broken exciting new ground in the art of television comedy.
I never laughed so hard. Thank you to England for producing superb comedy!
The most novel innovation in Peep Show relates to how the camera is employed. Instead of watching all the characters on the set, we see the world through one of the character's eyes, literally, because the camera is mounted upon that character's forehead. The second innovation relates to the frequent narration by one of the two main characters, revealing their base hidden motivations and interpretations.
The writers do not shy away from getting intellectual on your ass. Historical, philosophical and academic references are on the menu. Expect witty dialog packed with maximum drama and strange asides that will leave you thinking. While there are countless references to homosexuality, heterosexuality, recreational drug use, casual sex, and monogamy, none of it is offensive, mean-spirited or didactic. Instead everything progresses along a natural arc with a focus upon the feelings and motivations of the characters. The stars and the supporting cast all meet the challenge presented by the brainy writing. My favorite characters? I like them all very much, even the most minor characters who appear in the show only once or twice. However, after Webb and Mitchell, I really like Olivia Colman, who also stars in the gay-friendly sitcom "Beautiful People," which I also recommend. But she shines brighter in Peep Show, where she represents a more sympathetic and believable character.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb also produce a show called "That Mitchell and Webb Look," which is just as funny as Peep Show, but in a completely different format, being a series of short, unrelated sketches. I recommend both of these shows and hope that these actors enjoy a long career in show biz, because I intend to follow their productions from now on. The five seasons of Peep Show already completed are destined to be classics, because they have broken exciting new ground in the art of television comedy.
I never laughed so hard. Thank you to England for producing superb comedy!
Why I am a Liberal
Here's why I'm a liberal. I notice that the biggest annoyances in my life tend to come not from the government, but from the private sector, which tends to be opportunistic, selfish, deceptive, at times criminal, and exploitative both of the environment and of their employees. Liberals are big on government because it's the only power that can reign in the private sector.
People who complain about government should bear in mind that whenever government is bad, it can be changed through public pressure or the electoral process. When a private business is bad, it can't be changed. The public has no control over a private business. This is why I am against privatization of any more public assets, because that's a step in the wrong direction, toward the very things it is supposed to remedy: corruption, abuse and inefficiency.
The fact that we have had so many conservative politicians in power for so long is the reason the U.S. and world economy tanked. They have wasted over a trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan with pointless and counter-productive wars. Meanwhile, Republicans chafe at the thought of applying the same amount within the United States, and call Obama's stimulus package "uncontrolled and unnecessary spending." To me, unnecessary spending is when you bomb villages in Pakistan, thereby inflaming the entire Pakistani population against the United States. Why should we kill civilians and make new enemies, and not build roads here in the United States? It would seem to me that U.S. taxpayer money should be spent in the U.S. The only thing the war on terrorism has accomplished is creating new terrorists and wasting a trillion dollars.
With a trillion dollars, there are many good things that could have been done. The main area I'm thinking about involves scientific research that might cure diseases like cancer and AIDS. I have friends and family that suffer from these diseases. I would imagine most people do. What's not to like about curing these illnesses? Would that not be a better use of a trillion dollars than creating new enemies? Or what about developing an alternative energy source, so that we don't feel tempted to invade nations like Iraq? With a trillion dollars, we could have taken solar power to an entirely new level, just to name one example. We could have built a modern nuclear reactor beside every major city in the nation, which would reduce pollution by a massive amount. Right now, with the car companies asking for a government bailout, we should strong-arm them into producing only fuel efficient cars like hybrids and nothing else. If the automakers want government assistance, they should be willing to be part of the solution on the energy crisis as well.
Just think of all this money that has been wasted on the desert sands of Iraq. If you really hate the United States and want to hurt it the maximum amount, then and only then does invading Iraq makes sense. I was personally disgusted, appalled and disillusioned that my tax money was misused in this way. It's truly an appalling, massive waste of the nation's wealth that has tarnished our image abroad forever. In my opinion, George W. Bush was the worst President in our nation's history just for the horrible miscalculation he made over that single issue, Iraq. I am certain that in retrospect he probably wishes he had not done it, but the rush to war by his Administration was unforgivable. Bush ignored all the information that would have argued against invasion. Why is that? I believe Bush was a narrow-minded person, convinced that he was always right about everything; the type of person to think of all his detractors as traitors and scoundrels. In reality, who was the traitor and scoundrel other than George W. Bush himself, along with his henchmen in the Administration, starting with Dick Cheney? If they had really loved America in the genuine way that liberals do, they would not have squandered the nation's treasure on a pointless conflict.
Why does does the image of the United States matter? Who cares what other people around the world think of us? These are the questions that seemed to flicker through President Bush's mind. He did not seem to be concerned about the feelings of other countries, such as Arab countries, countries in Western Europe or in Asia. Many of our allies were aghast at the invasion of Iraq, and friction developed with France and Germany. Instead of heeding these signals, the Bush Administration ignored them, and the right wing in the U.S. looked upon France as a treacherous fair-weather friend.
How does a bad image abroad hurt the United States economy? People are making decisions every single day on what products to purchase for themselves, their families, and their businesses. If they have a choice between an American product and a product manufactured elsewhere, it might matter what they think about America. If we are perceived as a nation of arrogant war-mongers that thumb our nose at the U.N., then people will be less likely to buy American. If we are perceived as not following the Geneva Convention and torturing prisoners, do you think people in other countries will buy American? I see a shopper in a department store putting an item back down on the shelf, because the label says "MADE IN USA," and she thinks: my money would be used toward prisoner abuse and bombs raining down on helpless civilians, women and children. Multiply that one shopper by several billion, and it is not difficult to see that this ugly war hit our economy hard. I think the Iraq war and fallout resulting from it was the direct cause of the economic meltdown in the U.S.
The many hidden costs of war are never obvious to the people who start wars. President Clinton may not have been perfect in the area of sexual monogamy, but while in office, he knew better than to get the country deeply ensnared in an overseas conflict. I remember the Clinton years with fondness. The economy was booming, people were happy. Don't you wish we could travel back in time to the year 2000? Everyone would know not to vote for George W. Bush then, because to vote for Bush would be like voting to cut your retirement funds in half.
At no time between 2000 to the present day did I vote for any Republicans. I can recall with considerable pride that not only did I vote for Al Gore, but I contributed $100 to his election campaign. In 2004, I voted for Kerry. Neither of these candidates were perfect from my point of view, but they were both much better than Bush. I can imagine Gore being very interested in scientific research and development of industry here in the United States. Gore is the type of man that would immerse himself in the details and sniff out the right decision on important issues. Now the media mocked him, and continues to poke fun at him this day, for being serious, sober, and for caring enough to speak out about real issues, like global warming, instead of phony issues, like we often see on Fox News, which exists to promote war and hate on a 24-hour basis. I do not think Gore would have gotten us into Iraq. Kerry, too, had more sense than Bush. But in the case of Bush, it's a case of "like father, like son," because his father also tanked the economy and started a war with Iraq. George W. Bush was never a terribly original thinker. He simply did what his old man did before, with disastrous consequences.
The only possible gain from war is derived from looting a vanquished nation, but we cannot do that with impunity in the modern era. We would be viewed in the same light as the Nazis, although some people already view us in that light, thanks to the policies of George W. Bush. It may just be possible to undo some of the harm Bush has done in his eight years in office. I think Obama needs eight years, and the next Democrat after him will need eight years, and the Democrat after that, eight years as well, in order to get the U.S. economy back to where it was under President Clinton, before the disaster of the conservative right wing descended upon this nation. Indeed, unless the Republican party reverses much of its ideological positions, there should never again be a Republican elected to high office ever, based upon the abysmal performances of the Republicans during the last eight years.
Republicans wrecked the economy, started a wasteful pointless war, tarnished our image abroad, made the world a more dangerous place, did nothing about any real problems like pollution or energy dependence, and colluded with private interests to defraud investors and the public of billions--if not trillions--of dollars. The only thing the Republicans can be given credit for is not initiating an exchange of nuclear weapons, but that is faint praise indeed. Nuclear war is much more likely now than it was before the Republicans took over both the Congress and the White House.
Today, I support Obama's expensive stimulus package. At least this President is spending the money here at home, rather than on bombs that kill people overseas. In truth, I have not studied all of the details of the stimulus package. But for the time being, I am willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. If some money is indeed wasted, at least this time around it will be wasted here at home, on domestic rather than warlike actions. Rebuilding the nation's roads and working towards energy independence seems to me like adequate stewardship of taxpayer money.
The main problem in the U.S. today is that far too much government spending goes toward the defense industry. This has been an ongoing problem ever since WW2, although the situation has become aggravated over time. America needs to learn to produce products that the world actually wants to buy. We need a manufacturing sector that makes desirable products. We do not need more guns and bombs to kill people. If the current trend of mindless militarism continues, economic disaster looms. The way to remain strong is to have a strong economy and infrastructure, including education, energy, and scientific research. Our nation's largest socialist structure, the military, should be kept lean and modified over time to respond to new threats as they emerge.
These are the main reasons I consider myself a liberal. If you look at the record of liberal and conservative Congressmen, I think the liberals have more to be proud about. This is why Obama is sitting in the White House today, and why many Republican incumbents were voted out of office in the last election cycle.
The Republican party requires more than just a new face with a different gender or skin color. The American people are not all that stupid as the GOP might have supposed by this obsession with brand image, represented by the elevation of Sarah Palin, an airhead who had the sole advantage of being an attractive female. What the GOP needs is a complete transformation of their ideology, moving away from the far right wing where they are at now.
If Republicans are truly about less government spending, then they could easily show it by opposing military spending, which is the most obscene form of spending in a time of peace. This new consistent approach would be a good start for the GOP. In the past, Republicans used to oppose overseas intervention, as during the Woodrow Wilson years. Why not return to that policy? The largest area of spending by far is on foreign adventures and the maintenance of an over-sized and usually idle military. I would like to see troops performing public-work projects in the United States, much as the military of many other countries do.
Another thing the Republicans could do would be to open their party up to gays by abandoning all of their narrow-minded positions against gays. Gays only have one sane choice as far as political parties go. The Republicans have come a long way toward eliminating racism from their ranks, but they need to eliminate homophobia as well. Opposing equal rights for gays, such as the right to visit your partner when he is in the hospital, is just plain mean-spirited of Republicans. Gay spouses deserve medical insurance benefits, just as straight ones do. Things like this, you can expect a liberal to understand right away, whereas a conservative will hem and haw, while real people are suffering.
People who complain about government should bear in mind that whenever government is bad, it can be changed through public pressure or the electoral process. When a private business is bad, it can't be changed. The public has no control over a private business. This is why I am against privatization of any more public assets, because that's a step in the wrong direction, toward the very things it is supposed to remedy: corruption, abuse and inefficiency.
The fact that we have had so many conservative politicians in power for so long is the reason the U.S. and world economy tanked. They have wasted over a trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan with pointless and counter-productive wars. Meanwhile, Republicans chafe at the thought of applying the same amount within the United States, and call Obama's stimulus package "uncontrolled and unnecessary spending." To me, unnecessary spending is when you bomb villages in Pakistan, thereby inflaming the entire Pakistani population against the United States. Why should we kill civilians and make new enemies, and not build roads here in the United States? It would seem to me that U.S. taxpayer money should be spent in the U.S. The only thing the war on terrorism has accomplished is creating new terrorists and wasting a trillion dollars.
With a trillion dollars, there are many good things that could have been done. The main area I'm thinking about involves scientific research that might cure diseases like cancer and AIDS. I have friends and family that suffer from these diseases. I would imagine most people do. What's not to like about curing these illnesses? Would that not be a better use of a trillion dollars than creating new enemies? Or what about developing an alternative energy source, so that we don't feel tempted to invade nations like Iraq? With a trillion dollars, we could have taken solar power to an entirely new level, just to name one example. We could have built a modern nuclear reactor beside every major city in the nation, which would reduce pollution by a massive amount. Right now, with the car companies asking for a government bailout, we should strong-arm them into producing only fuel efficient cars like hybrids and nothing else. If the automakers want government assistance, they should be willing to be part of the solution on the energy crisis as well.
Just think of all this money that has been wasted on the desert sands of Iraq. If you really hate the United States and want to hurt it the maximum amount, then and only then does invading Iraq makes sense. I was personally disgusted, appalled and disillusioned that my tax money was misused in this way. It's truly an appalling, massive waste of the nation's wealth that has tarnished our image abroad forever. In my opinion, George W. Bush was the worst President in our nation's history just for the horrible miscalculation he made over that single issue, Iraq. I am certain that in retrospect he probably wishes he had not done it, but the rush to war by his Administration was unforgivable. Bush ignored all the information that would have argued against invasion. Why is that? I believe Bush was a narrow-minded person, convinced that he was always right about everything; the type of person to think of all his detractors as traitors and scoundrels. In reality, who was the traitor and scoundrel other than George W. Bush himself, along with his henchmen in the Administration, starting with Dick Cheney? If they had really loved America in the genuine way that liberals do, they would not have squandered the nation's treasure on a pointless conflict.
Why does does the image of the United States matter? Who cares what other people around the world think of us? These are the questions that seemed to flicker through President Bush's mind. He did not seem to be concerned about the feelings of other countries, such as Arab countries, countries in Western Europe or in Asia. Many of our allies were aghast at the invasion of Iraq, and friction developed with France and Germany. Instead of heeding these signals, the Bush Administration ignored them, and the right wing in the U.S. looked upon France as a treacherous fair-weather friend.
How does a bad image abroad hurt the United States economy? People are making decisions every single day on what products to purchase for themselves, their families, and their businesses. If they have a choice between an American product and a product manufactured elsewhere, it might matter what they think about America. If we are perceived as a nation of arrogant war-mongers that thumb our nose at the U.N., then people will be less likely to buy American. If we are perceived as not following the Geneva Convention and torturing prisoners, do you think people in other countries will buy American? I see a shopper in a department store putting an item back down on the shelf, because the label says "MADE IN USA," and she thinks: my money would be used toward prisoner abuse and bombs raining down on helpless civilians, women and children. Multiply that one shopper by several billion, and it is not difficult to see that this ugly war hit our economy hard. I think the Iraq war and fallout resulting from it was the direct cause of the economic meltdown in the U.S.
The many hidden costs of war are never obvious to the people who start wars. President Clinton may not have been perfect in the area of sexual monogamy, but while in office, he knew better than to get the country deeply ensnared in an overseas conflict. I remember the Clinton years with fondness. The economy was booming, people were happy. Don't you wish we could travel back in time to the year 2000? Everyone would know not to vote for George W. Bush then, because to vote for Bush would be like voting to cut your retirement funds in half.
At no time between 2000 to the present day did I vote for any Republicans. I can recall with considerable pride that not only did I vote for Al Gore, but I contributed $100 to his election campaign. In 2004, I voted for Kerry. Neither of these candidates were perfect from my point of view, but they were both much better than Bush. I can imagine Gore being very interested in scientific research and development of industry here in the United States. Gore is the type of man that would immerse himself in the details and sniff out the right decision on important issues. Now the media mocked him, and continues to poke fun at him this day, for being serious, sober, and for caring enough to speak out about real issues, like global warming, instead of phony issues, like we often see on Fox News, which exists to promote war and hate on a 24-hour basis. I do not think Gore would have gotten us into Iraq. Kerry, too, had more sense than Bush. But in the case of Bush, it's a case of "like father, like son," because his father also tanked the economy and started a war with Iraq. George W. Bush was never a terribly original thinker. He simply did what his old man did before, with disastrous consequences.
The only possible gain from war is derived from looting a vanquished nation, but we cannot do that with impunity in the modern era. We would be viewed in the same light as the Nazis, although some people already view us in that light, thanks to the policies of George W. Bush. It may just be possible to undo some of the harm Bush has done in his eight years in office. I think Obama needs eight years, and the next Democrat after him will need eight years, and the Democrat after that, eight years as well, in order to get the U.S. economy back to where it was under President Clinton, before the disaster of the conservative right wing descended upon this nation. Indeed, unless the Republican party reverses much of its ideological positions, there should never again be a Republican elected to high office ever, based upon the abysmal performances of the Republicans during the last eight years.
Republicans wrecked the economy, started a wasteful pointless war, tarnished our image abroad, made the world a more dangerous place, did nothing about any real problems like pollution or energy dependence, and colluded with private interests to defraud investors and the public of billions--if not trillions--of dollars. The only thing the Republicans can be given credit for is not initiating an exchange of nuclear weapons, but that is faint praise indeed. Nuclear war is much more likely now than it was before the Republicans took over both the Congress and the White House.
Today, I support Obama's expensive stimulus package. At least this President is spending the money here at home, rather than on bombs that kill people overseas. In truth, I have not studied all of the details of the stimulus package. But for the time being, I am willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. If some money is indeed wasted, at least this time around it will be wasted here at home, on domestic rather than warlike actions. Rebuilding the nation's roads and working towards energy independence seems to me like adequate stewardship of taxpayer money.
The main problem in the U.S. today is that far too much government spending goes toward the defense industry. This has been an ongoing problem ever since WW2, although the situation has become aggravated over time. America needs to learn to produce products that the world actually wants to buy. We need a manufacturing sector that makes desirable products. We do not need more guns and bombs to kill people. If the current trend of mindless militarism continues, economic disaster looms. The way to remain strong is to have a strong economy and infrastructure, including education, energy, and scientific research. Our nation's largest socialist structure, the military, should be kept lean and modified over time to respond to new threats as they emerge.
These are the main reasons I consider myself a liberal. If you look at the record of liberal and conservative Congressmen, I think the liberals have more to be proud about. This is why Obama is sitting in the White House today, and why many Republican incumbents were voted out of office in the last election cycle.
The Republican party requires more than just a new face with a different gender or skin color. The American people are not all that stupid as the GOP might have supposed by this obsession with brand image, represented by the elevation of Sarah Palin, an airhead who had the sole advantage of being an attractive female. What the GOP needs is a complete transformation of their ideology, moving away from the far right wing where they are at now.
If Republicans are truly about less government spending, then they could easily show it by opposing military spending, which is the most obscene form of spending in a time of peace. This new consistent approach would be a good start for the GOP. In the past, Republicans used to oppose overseas intervention, as during the Woodrow Wilson years. Why not return to that policy? The largest area of spending by far is on foreign adventures and the maintenance of an over-sized and usually idle military. I would like to see troops performing public-work projects in the United States, much as the military of many other countries do.
Another thing the Republicans could do would be to open their party up to gays by abandoning all of their narrow-minded positions against gays. Gays only have one sane choice as far as political parties go. The Republicans have come a long way toward eliminating racism from their ranks, but they need to eliminate homophobia as well. Opposing equal rights for gays, such as the right to visit your partner when he is in the hospital, is just plain mean-spirited of Republicans. Gay spouses deserve medical insurance benefits, just as straight ones do. Things like this, you can expect a liberal to understand right away, whereas a conservative will hem and haw, while real people are suffering.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Races and Classes in Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl
New players to Dungeon Crawl are faced with an immediate decision as to which race and class they will play. All variations have their own special advantages, and some players develop a strong preference for a particular race/class combination. My position is that they are always right. Whatever works for them is best. The race/class they prefer is what best matches their particular style of play.
However, if you are curious and want to learn the specific aptitudes of each race, grounded in mathematics, then you should view the Tables of Attributes, which can be found by pressing ? for help, followed by %.
The Table of Attributes enlightened me about the deficiencies of the Mummy race. Early on, I preferred playing Mummies, because they alone among all the races need not eat. Also, they enjoy resistance to negative energy, mutation, cold, and poison. Only when one studies the Table of Attributes do their severe disadvantages become clear. Mummies learn all skills poorly, save for Fighting and Necromancy. In fact, in order to get anywhere with a Mummy, one has to remain at the lower levels for an extraordinary length of time, skulking about looking for magic items and easy monsters to slay in order to gradually build up power. Woe betide a Mummy that has not obtained an artificial means of resisting Fire! However, theoretically it seems possible to build an invulnerable character with a Mummy, if you are willing to invest enough time, because Mummies are immune to negative energy and mutation, and resistant to poison and cold. In addition, their immunity to hunger means they can cast spells with impunity, where other classes grow hungry from spell-casting. They need not carry abundant supplies of food in their inventory, but can devote all their inventory to weapons and magic. The best class for a Mummy is probably a Death Knight that dabbles in Necromancy but has strong fighting skills. Unfortunately, many of the powerful low-level spells of Necromancy, such as Regen and Vampiric Draining, cannot be used by Mummies. They are quite limited as spellcasters, but with patience throughout a long game, can master many low level spells.
An excellent choice for any player would be a Demonspawn Beserker, which may be the easiest combination to play. They are extremely powerful and in their beserk state, can blast through all but the most mighty monsters such as named Demons and Devils. The main drawback for the Beserker is being restricted from casting spells, but Demonspawns sometimes develop mutations that allow them to cast ranged attacks using poison, fire or negative energy. Also, the Beserker can rely upon Trog's munificence to employ certain useful magical powers. What I like about Demonspawn is how they develop random, but permanent, beneficial mutations, which are different in every game but always helpful. Especially for a Beserker, these are useful, because the Beserker cannot use magic and the mutations often grant magic-like abilities. The main drawback to the Demonspawn race is the increased need for food--they are a hungry lot, I have found. Also, Demonspawn are not particularly apt at any particular skill except Fighting and Necromancy, although much quicker at learning than Mummies. Demonspawn are excellent at Invocations, surpassing all other classes. It should be noted, however, that Beserkers do not exercise Invocations when they call upon Trog's abilities. Trog's gifts are given free of charge. Only the abilities of other gods, such as Sif Muna, tax the Invocation ability. This is a fine point I was unaware of for a long time, until I noticed that my Invocation skill never progressed.
Many players swear by the Mountain Dwarf race, and I would be remiss not to mention it, although I never play dwarves, possibly out of a prejudice developed from watching "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy of movies, in which dwarves were depicted in a comical and unattractive light. A glance at the Table of Attributes is enough to confirm that dwarves are excellent fighters, although rather less gifted spellcasters, with the possible exception of Fire Magic. Any dwarven Fire Elementalist would be hampered by the low aptitude at spellcasting and mediocre aptitude at Conjurations. For this reason, I strongly suggest that dwarves that wish to learn Fire Magic, instead begin their career as a Conjurer, because that will grant them several levels of Conjuration skill from the start. Most Fire spells rely in part upon the Conjuration skill.
However, dwarves excel at Evocations, more so than any other race save Gnomes, their equal. Therefore, a dwarf character need only stock up on wands and other devices in order to cast spells indirectly using a device. Another key advantage for dwarves is the abundance of racial items throughout the dungeon. Dwarves, like orcs and elves, gain a bonus for using items crafted by their own race.
My newest infatuation would be for the race of elves, in particular sludge elves, which are good spellcasters, yet better than any other elf species at the Fighting ability, which helps to increase hit points. Sludge elves excel at unarmed combat, which is advisable until your character discovers a particularly good weapon. If staves were good at all, then sludge elves would be the best race to use them with. But I don't like staves, because they don't seem to work well with shields. The best enchanted shields convey resistance to both heat and cold, and help to avoid attacks and minimize the damage inflicted by a successful attack, including dragon breath and electrical discharge. In order for a staff to be a competitive weapon, it must inflict high damage, and to date the best candidate would be the lajatang, which is worth considering. But lajatangs are seldom encountered in the lower levels of the dungeon, when skills are being acquired, and I would be loath to switch weapon classes in mid-career. For that reason, my sludge elves usually practice with an elven short or long blade, and switch to a quick blade whenever one is found. It should be noted that proficiency with long blades lends itself to short blades as well.
Among short blades, which is better for an elf: a quick blade or an elven short sword of speed? After long consideration, I think I will go with the elven short sword of speed, because it should be both faster than the quick blade, and enjoy a racial bonus (if the character is an elf). The biggest drawback is that a short sword of speed, being already enchanted, cannot be vorpalized. Vorpalization is effected by a Scroll of Vorpalize Weapon, which causes an unenchanted weapon to yield additional damage on a permanent basis.
What is the advantage of a small but fast melee weapon? Every time that your character attacks, there is an opportunity for an additional, unarmed combat attack to occur. This is random, but by having more attacks per turn you increase the chances of your unarmed combat coming into play. Also, if you're fast, you can attack, then retreat, and the monster may not have an opportunity to do more than simply follow. Also, with each attack there is a chance you may kill the monster, and a fast rate of attack reduces the possibility that the monster might get off one last killing stroke before it dies. Although some players scoff at the low damage rating of short blades, a heavily enchanted short blade can inflict a great deal of damage, not so much less than larger weapons.
A career in Ice Magic should be considered by every sludge elf. No other race is better at Ice Magic save the white draconian. I begin my sludge elf as a Conjurer, so that he has several levels in that department, because Conjurations are important for many spells in Ice Magic. The best spells are Bolt of Ice and Ice Bolt, whose titles are similar and therefore confusing. To the best of my knowledge, Ice Bolt is a lower level spell that can only strike one monster, whereas Bolt of Ice can strike multiple monsters in a row, and seems more powerful. The main drawback to Ice Magic is that the undead, particularly mummies, have a low level of resistance to it. However, there are not many living creatures in the dungeon that can resist cold, and the many fire-breathing dragons, demons and efreeti suffer particularly from it. However, the defensive spells, such as Condensation Shield and Icozubu's Armour, cannot be used if the character is already heavily armored and wearing a shield. I tend to learn ice magic to a certain level and then begin to practice other schools of magic, such as transmutation, at which sludge elves excel, and earth magic. Note that the Ice and Earth schools of magic have an affinity for one another. Learning one assists in learning the other. This is also true of Fire and Air. Poison and Necromancy stand alone without relation to other schools.
Another class I find worthy of mention is the minotaur, which should be considered by anyone who despises spellcasting. Minotaurs make excellent Beserkers. They are very strong and robust and learn all forms of combat quickly. Unarmed combat is not a bad strategy for the minotaur due to its large set of horns. Go unarmed until you find the perfect weapon. What is the perfect weapon? You will know it when you find it. Maybe it will convey protection, or resistance to harm, or maybe it will freeze or drain your opponents. Minotaurs should always wear a shield and heavy armor, because they excel at those skills, as well as dodging. The minotaur may indeed be the easiest race to play.
Other races I regard as experimental. Although they may be quite powerful in their own way, I have not found cause to try them at length other than once or twice. The human race I regard as boring. I prefer a race that has specialties. Deep elves are certainly worth considering if spellcasting is to be the cornerstone of your strategy, but they are weak, though not as weak as Spriggans. Spriggans, however, are fast and dexterous and learn dodging at a rapid rate. I think that most players will find that warriors and hybrid classes of warrior/spellcasters will be the easiest choices, and for these, elves, dwarves, minotaurs, and demonspawn represent some of the best races.
However, if you are curious and want to learn the specific aptitudes of each race, grounded in mathematics, then you should view the Tables of Attributes, which can be found by pressing ? for help, followed by %.
The Table of Attributes enlightened me about the deficiencies of the Mummy race. Early on, I preferred playing Mummies, because they alone among all the races need not eat. Also, they enjoy resistance to negative energy, mutation, cold, and poison. Only when one studies the Table of Attributes do their severe disadvantages become clear. Mummies learn all skills poorly, save for Fighting and Necromancy. In fact, in order to get anywhere with a Mummy, one has to remain at the lower levels for an extraordinary length of time, skulking about looking for magic items and easy monsters to slay in order to gradually build up power. Woe betide a Mummy that has not obtained an artificial means of resisting Fire! However, theoretically it seems possible to build an invulnerable character with a Mummy, if you are willing to invest enough time, because Mummies are immune to negative energy and mutation, and resistant to poison and cold. In addition, their immunity to hunger means they can cast spells with impunity, where other classes grow hungry from spell-casting. They need not carry abundant supplies of food in their inventory, but can devote all their inventory to weapons and magic. The best class for a Mummy is probably a Death Knight that dabbles in Necromancy but has strong fighting skills. Unfortunately, many of the powerful low-level spells of Necromancy, such as Regen and Vampiric Draining, cannot be used by Mummies. They are quite limited as spellcasters, but with patience throughout a long game, can master many low level spells.
An excellent choice for any player would be a Demonspawn Beserker, which may be the easiest combination to play. They are extremely powerful and in their beserk state, can blast through all but the most mighty monsters such as named Demons and Devils. The main drawback for the Beserker is being restricted from casting spells, but Demonspawns sometimes develop mutations that allow them to cast ranged attacks using poison, fire or negative energy. Also, the Beserker can rely upon Trog's munificence to employ certain useful magical powers. What I like about Demonspawn is how they develop random, but permanent, beneficial mutations, which are different in every game but always helpful. Especially for a Beserker, these are useful, because the Beserker cannot use magic and the mutations often grant magic-like abilities. The main drawback to the Demonspawn race is the increased need for food--they are a hungry lot, I have found. Also, Demonspawn are not particularly apt at any particular skill except Fighting and Necromancy, although much quicker at learning than Mummies. Demonspawn are excellent at Invocations, surpassing all other classes. It should be noted, however, that Beserkers do not exercise Invocations when they call upon Trog's abilities. Trog's gifts are given free of charge. Only the abilities of other gods, such as Sif Muna, tax the Invocation ability. This is a fine point I was unaware of for a long time, until I noticed that my Invocation skill never progressed.
Many players swear by the Mountain Dwarf race, and I would be remiss not to mention it, although I never play dwarves, possibly out of a prejudice developed from watching "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy of movies, in which dwarves were depicted in a comical and unattractive light. A glance at the Table of Attributes is enough to confirm that dwarves are excellent fighters, although rather less gifted spellcasters, with the possible exception of Fire Magic. Any dwarven Fire Elementalist would be hampered by the low aptitude at spellcasting and mediocre aptitude at Conjurations. For this reason, I strongly suggest that dwarves that wish to learn Fire Magic, instead begin their career as a Conjurer, because that will grant them several levels of Conjuration skill from the start. Most Fire spells rely in part upon the Conjuration skill.
However, dwarves excel at Evocations, more so than any other race save Gnomes, their equal. Therefore, a dwarf character need only stock up on wands and other devices in order to cast spells indirectly using a device. Another key advantage for dwarves is the abundance of racial items throughout the dungeon. Dwarves, like orcs and elves, gain a bonus for using items crafted by their own race.
My newest infatuation would be for the race of elves, in particular sludge elves, which are good spellcasters, yet better than any other elf species at the Fighting ability, which helps to increase hit points. Sludge elves excel at unarmed combat, which is advisable until your character discovers a particularly good weapon. If staves were good at all, then sludge elves would be the best race to use them with. But I don't like staves, because they don't seem to work well with shields. The best enchanted shields convey resistance to both heat and cold, and help to avoid attacks and minimize the damage inflicted by a successful attack, including dragon breath and electrical discharge. In order for a staff to be a competitive weapon, it must inflict high damage, and to date the best candidate would be the lajatang, which is worth considering. But lajatangs are seldom encountered in the lower levels of the dungeon, when skills are being acquired, and I would be loath to switch weapon classes in mid-career. For that reason, my sludge elves usually practice with an elven short or long blade, and switch to a quick blade whenever one is found. It should be noted that proficiency with long blades lends itself to short blades as well.
Among short blades, which is better for an elf: a quick blade or an elven short sword of speed? After long consideration, I think I will go with the elven short sword of speed, because it should be both faster than the quick blade, and enjoy a racial bonus (if the character is an elf). The biggest drawback is that a short sword of speed, being already enchanted, cannot be vorpalized. Vorpalization is effected by a Scroll of Vorpalize Weapon, which causes an unenchanted weapon to yield additional damage on a permanent basis.
What is the advantage of a small but fast melee weapon? Every time that your character attacks, there is an opportunity for an additional, unarmed combat attack to occur. This is random, but by having more attacks per turn you increase the chances of your unarmed combat coming into play. Also, if you're fast, you can attack, then retreat, and the monster may not have an opportunity to do more than simply follow. Also, with each attack there is a chance you may kill the monster, and a fast rate of attack reduces the possibility that the monster might get off one last killing stroke before it dies. Although some players scoff at the low damage rating of short blades, a heavily enchanted short blade can inflict a great deal of damage, not so much less than larger weapons.
A career in Ice Magic should be considered by every sludge elf. No other race is better at Ice Magic save the white draconian. I begin my sludge elf as a Conjurer, so that he has several levels in that department, because Conjurations are important for many spells in Ice Magic. The best spells are Bolt of Ice and Ice Bolt, whose titles are similar and therefore confusing. To the best of my knowledge, Ice Bolt is a lower level spell that can only strike one monster, whereas Bolt of Ice can strike multiple monsters in a row, and seems more powerful. The main drawback to Ice Magic is that the undead, particularly mummies, have a low level of resistance to it. However, there are not many living creatures in the dungeon that can resist cold, and the many fire-breathing dragons, demons and efreeti suffer particularly from it. However, the defensive spells, such as Condensation Shield and Icozubu's Armour, cannot be used if the character is already heavily armored and wearing a shield. I tend to learn ice magic to a certain level and then begin to practice other schools of magic, such as transmutation, at which sludge elves excel, and earth magic. Note that the Ice and Earth schools of magic have an affinity for one another. Learning one assists in learning the other. This is also true of Fire and Air. Poison and Necromancy stand alone without relation to other schools.
Another class I find worthy of mention is the minotaur, which should be considered by anyone who despises spellcasting. Minotaurs make excellent Beserkers. They are very strong and robust and learn all forms of combat quickly. Unarmed combat is not a bad strategy for the minotaur due to its large set of horns. Go unarmed until you find the perfect weapon. What is the perfect weapon? You will know it when you find it. Maybe it will convey protection, or resistance to harm, or maybe it will freeze or drain your opponents. Minotaurs should always wear a shield and heavy armor, because they excel at those skills, as well as dodging. The minotaur may indeed be the easiest race to play.
Other races I regard as experimental. Although they may be quite powerful in their own way, I have not found cause to try them at length other than once or twice. The human race I regard as boring. I prefer a race that has specialties. Deep elves are certainly worth considering if spellcasting is to be the cornerstone of your strategy, but they are weak, though not as weak as Spriggans. Spriggans, however, are fast and dexterous and learn dodging at a rapid rate. I think that most players will find that warriors and hybrid classes of warrior/spellcasters will be the easiest choices, and for these, elves, dwarves, minotaurs, and demonspawn represent some of the best races.
Stone Soup's Dungeon Crawl
Before I even begin a discussion of Dungeon Crawl, I realize most people have no idea what I am talking about, because it is the sort of game one does not find on the shelf at Wal-Mart. That doesn't mean it's not fun and addictive to the point where I can play it all night long, night after night without getting bored. However, it's free, which to some people is a drawback. "Free? Must not be very good, then," is the usual line of thinking. Of course, Mozilla Firefox is free, too, and that is the best web browser around for my money. I am not sure why developers work on free projects, but I'm glad they do. Probably, part of the motivation is learning how to program and getting valuable experience under their belts, which was also my motivation back in the Stone Age when I was first learning about programming. I churned out tons of utilities, games, simulations, and odd, weird programs, some of which other people actually found useful, but none of which would be recognized or remembered today, I think.
First of all, Dungeon Crawl is a roguelike game, meaning it has the same features as the original Rogue which was highly popular back in the 1980s and early 1990s among IBM-PC users and particularly UNIX users on college campuses. Rogue was a game without graphics other than symbolic graphics using text characters, monsters being represented by letters of the alphabet. Lame, you say? Not really; our imagination filled in the gaps, much like what happens when one reads a book. Until recently, Dungeon Crawl was text-only, but now there is a version that employs graphical tiles, which represents a vast improvement in both appearance and functionality. I highly recommend that all new players to the game download the "Tiles" version, unless they are impaired in vision or have some other special requirement.
Linley Henzell created Dungeon Crawl back in 1995, but then stopped development at some point, at which time the Stone Soup team of volunteers commenced development of their own branch of Dungeon Crawl, which continues to the present day. In my opinion, Dungeon Crawl is the best and most popular roguelike available. You can either play in graphic mode (which is known as Tiles) or non-graphic mode depending upon which package you download from the Dungeon Crawl headquarters.
I began playing Crawl back in version 2.x, which was before the advent of Stone Soup, but I kept crawling through the Stone Soup years, which have been very good ones, I must say. I am impressed with the improvements the Stone Soup team has made and even more impressed with the capability, on Sourceforge.net, for users like me to report bugs, suggest improvements, and generally contribute our two cents. The programmers do actually listen to you and consider what you have to say, though there is no guarantee they will accept all or even any of your ideas, which is at it should be. Suffice to say they know what they are doing, all being veteran players themselves.
Here is a screen capture from a game I am playing of the new Tiles version of Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl:
Or click here to view an enlarged version.
You may notice a reference to Sif Muna in the screen capture above. Sif Muna is a god my character worships in return for various abilities. Religion is very materialistic in Crawl. You pick a god based upon what that god can do for you. I happen to prefer a god that does not ask anything of my character or his behavior, but only gives benefits, and Sif Muna fits the bill, at least for a spellcaster. For a pure warrior, Sif Muna has nothing to offer.
In this blog, besides touting the many joys of Stone Soup Dungeon Crawling (and what a mouthful that is--"crawling" is what I prefer to say), I aim to give many tips on game play. First of all, most people with a modern PC system made in the last fifteen years should use the Tiles version, because it looks better. It is true however that people with special needs or a tiny monitor may prefer the alphabetic version. There are no sounds in Dungeon Crawl, so you do not need to leave your speakers turned on. In fact, you can play an .mp3 list in the background, if that does not impact your concentration.
If you are the type that prefers the latest and greatest version, and like to live on the edge and take chances, like me, then try out the alpha version of Crawl here. I am willing to risk the game crashing and losing my character stats in return for the very latest edition of code with the maximum amount of known bugs fixed (although new bugs may have been introduced, ho-ho). I check back at the trunk page regularly to see whether new editions are ready for trial.
There are many debates and discussions about this game to be found on rec.games.roguelike.misc, a Usenet group (see my earlier blog post on the Usenet). This game should probably have its own Usenet newsgroup, because most of the discussion on ".misc" actually concerns none other than Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl.
In my next blog entries, I plan to discuss different aspects of the game which I have come to appreciate through many years of playing.
First of all, Dungeon Crawl is a roguelike game, meaning it has the same features as the original Rogue which was highly popular back in the 1980s and early 1990s among IBM-PC users and particularly UNIX users on college campuses. Rogue was a game without graphics other than symbolic graphics using text characters, monsters being represented by letters of the alphabet. Lame, you say? Not really; our imagination filled in the gaps, much like what happens when one reads a book. Until recently, Dungeon Crawl was text-only, but now there is a version that employs graphical tiles, which represents a vast improvement in both appearance and functionality. I highly recommend that all new players to the game download the "Tiles" version, unless they are impaired in vision or have some other special requirement.
Linley Henzell created Dungeon Crawl back in 1995, but then stopped development at some point, at which time the Stone Soup team of volunteers commenced development of their own branch of Dungeon Crawl, which continues to the present day. In my opinion, Dungeon Crawl is the best and most popular roguelike available. You can either play in graphic mode (which is known as Tiles) or non-graphic mode depending upon which package you download from the Dungeon Crawl headquarters.
I began playing Crawl back in version 2.x, which was before the advent of Stone Soup, but I kept crawling through the Stone Soup years, which have been very good ones, I must say. I am impressed with the improvements the Stone Soup team has made and even more impressed with the capability, on Sourceforge.net, for users like me to report bugs, suggest improvements, and generally contribute our two cents. The programmers do actually listen to you and consider what you have to say, though there is no guarantee they will accept all or even any of your ideas, which is at it should be. Suffice to say they know what they are doing, all being veteran players themselves.
Here is a screen capture from a game I am playing of the new Tiles version of Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl:
Or click here to view an enlarged version.
You may notice a reference to Sif Muna in the screen capture above. Sif Muna is a god my character worships in return for various abilities. Religion is very materialistic in Crawl. You pick a god based upon what that god can do for you. I happen to prefer a god that does not ask anything of my character or his behavior, but only gives benefits, and Sif Muna fits the bill, at least for a spellcaster. For a pure warrior, Sif Muna has nothing to offer.
In this blog, besides touting the many joys of Stone Soup Dungeon Crawling (and what a mouthful that is--"crawling" is what I prefer to say), I aim to give many tips on game play. First of all, most people with a modern PC system made in the last fifteen years should use the Tiles version, because it looks better. It is true however that people with special needs or a tiny monitor may prefer the alphabetic version. There are no sounds in Dungeon Crawl, so you do not need to leave your speakers turned on. In fact, you can play an .mp3 list in the background, if that does not impact your concentration.
If you are the type that prefers the latest and greatest version, and like to live on the edge and take chances, like me, then try out the alpha version of Crawl here. I am willing to risk the game crashing and losing my character stats in return for the very latest edition of code with the maximum amount of known bugs fixed (although new bugs may have been introduced, ho-ho). I check back at the trunk page regularly to see whether new editions are ready for trial.
There are many debates and discussions about this game to be found on rec.games.roguelike.misc, a Usenet group (see my earlier blog post on the Usenet). This game should probably have its own Usenet newsgroup, because most of the discussion on ".misc" actually concerns none other than Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl.
In my next blog entries, I plan to discuss different aspects of the game which I have come to appreciate through many years of playing.
Design your own Home Page
Recently, my ISP sent me an email boasting about NEW AND EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS that will make my internet FASTER AND BETTER. My curiosity piqued, I read further, only to discover they were redesigning the home page. Click here to view their actual email. A friend of mine complained that this new ISP home page was ugly. I wouldn't know, because never in this lifetime do I intend to use anybody else's home page. Instead, I hand-craft my own home page in pure html.
For the record, it is unwise to let any ISP pick your home page or to use their email account. You may change ISP's at some point and your email account with them would then become inactive. All that I desire from my ISP is internet access, period! Usenet access would also be nice, but ISP's get away with not providing that service anymore, in a cost-saving measure on their part.
Here are the reasons to create your own home page from scratch:
1. You do not become a tool of your ISP - no need to guess at their agenda
2. No ads, either blatant or subtle. Uh, yeah, this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, here, because my blog has ads, but hey... I gotta make a living, ya know. Besides, this is your home page we're talking about. You have to eyeball it every day. Do you plan to view my blog every day? I won't discourage you, but really don't expect that level of devotion.
3. No ugliness (you are the creator, so obviously your home page is beautiful in every way)
4. All the right links for you
5. A little bit more privacy than would be the case if your ISP handled all of your links in your home page - do you want them to know what bank you use?
6. Pride of ownership - because you made something! You! Not the ISP!
In order to design your own home page, you do need to know the rudiments of hyper-text mark-up language (HTML). If you would like to learn about the language underpinning this and most web pages, try this specialized search. Even I refer to Google on a regular basis in order to jog my memory on various html commands. Few of us are gifted with a perfect memory when it comes to computer languages.
These days, everybody and their grandmother knows html, and I am hardly the first person to propose making a home page. The advanced trick lies in incorporating the search boxes from various search engines so that I can search google, IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube, and so on from my home page without having to navigate to these pages. This way, not only do I conserve bandwidth on my end, but I save the search engine some bandwidth too. Maybe they should pay me for that. Hmm. Somehow, that seems unlikely. But I have finally found a way to get compensated for my inventions. Surely you have noticed the ads on this blog. I don't expect to get rich from them--not hardly. Maybe they will pay for a six pack of beer one of these days. A couple of years from now.
Here is an example of how to add the search engine for Wikipedia:
Search Wikipedia
Nice, huh? Be sure to click your "Back" button to come back here and read the rest of my blog. Don't get lost in Wikipedia as often happens to me. (I love Wikipedia.) Here is the actual html code:
Another useful feature your home page should have is the ability to look up definitions of words. This way, you will no longer have to use a printed dictionary. This is easily accomplished with the following code:
I still keep my trusty 1980 edition of Webster's NewWorld Dictionary beside my computer just in case the online definition fails to satisfy, which happens once a month or so. Online definitions tend to be short and snappy, to say the least. Also, I believe that there are some words for which you cannot find online definitions.
The other requirement for a decent home page is a place where you can check the local weather forecast. Now there are many commercial web sites offering the weather, but I prefer the site maintained by the U.S. government, which is only interested in my taxes (I hope) and not in selling me anything. The web site for the National Oceanic and Atmopheric Administration offers a free local forecast at: http://www.noaa.gov/. Navigate to your locality and then save that link, but not by using a bookmark, because we are getting more advanced than that. Bookmarks are fine for temporary links, but for something that you intend to use on a daily basis, forever, you really want that link to appear your home page. It is simpler to click within your home page than have to click on the menu for bookmarks and select from a long list of bookmarks.
When a nifty search engine comes to my attention, I study the html source code to try and cobble together code for my home page. The challenge is to find the code you need, while eliminating the extraneous code. Crisp and clean search engines like Google are easier to incorporate into your home page than busy web sites like IMDB or YouTube that have a hundred different things going on at once. Sometimes, you have to make adaptations. Here is my search box for IMDB:
It should be mentioned that adding a search box for Google is hardly necessary anymore, since Firefox adds such a search box to the upper right portion of the header bar. However, there are other functions that can be added as well that call upon the power of Google, such as a link for finding directions from your house to any other place in the world. Why should you have to enter your home address each time that you wish to search for directions? You should not, and with the help of Igor, will never do so again after modifying your home page with this little nugget.
First, you should navigate to http://maps.google.com/. Click on "Get Directions," and enter your home address. Do not enter a destination. Just press "Get Directions" and Google will show you a map of your home address. Next, click on the link over to the right that says, "Link," and Google will kindly generate for you the html that you require for your home page. You can insert this html directly into your home page and presto! You will never need to input your home address again! I am a big fan of this service and have used it often whenever my guests need directions to get somewhere.
I hope that these technical tips help you. In the past, I used to share the source code to my entire home page for free on internet forums in the interest of making the world a better place. But instead of gratitude, I was condemned as a "script-kiddy." People are paranoid these days and just won't accept html from anyone. For that reason, I have just outlined some of the main concepts of my home page here, and leave the rest to my reader's imagination.
For the record, it is unwise to let any ISP pick your home page or to use their email account. You may change ISP's at some point and your email account with them would then become inactive. All that I desire from my ISP is internet access, period! Usenet access would also be nice, but ISP's get away with not providing that service anymore, in a cost-saving measure on their part.
Here are the reasons to create your own home page from scratch:
1. You do not become a tool of your ISP - no need to guess at their agenda
2. No ads, either blatant or subtle. Uh, yeah, this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, here, because my blog has ads, but hey... I gotta make a living, ya know. Besides, this is your home page we're talking about. You have to eyeball it every day. Do you plan to view my blog every day? I won't discourage you, but really don't expect that level of devotion.
3. No ugliness (you are the creator, so obviously your home page is beautiful in every way)
4. All the right links for you
5. A little bit more privacy than would be the case if your ISP handled all of your links in your home page - do you want them to know what bank you use?
6. Pride of ownership - because you made something! You! Not the ISP!
In order to design your own home page, you do need to know the rudiments of hyper-text mark-up language (HTML). If you would like to learn about the language underpinning this and most web pages, try this specialized search. Even I refer to Google on a regular basis in order to jog my memory on various html commands. Few of us are gifted with a perfect memory when it comes to computer languages.
These days, everybody and their grandmother knows html, and I am hardly the first person to propose making a home page. The advanced trick lies in incorporating the search boxes from various search engines so that I can search google, IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube, and so on from my home page without having to navigate to these pages. This way, not only do I conserve bandwidth on my end, but I save the search engine some bandwidth too. Maybe they should pay me for that. Hmm. Somehow, that seems unlikely. But I have finally found a way to get compensated for my inventions. Surely you have noticed the ads on this blog. I don't expect to get rich from them--not hardly. Maybe they will pay for a six pack of beer one of these days. A couple of years from now.
Here is an example of how to add the search engine for Wikipedia:
Search Wikipedia
Nice, huh? Be sure to click your "Back" button to come back here and read the rest of my blog. Don't get lost in Wikipedia as often happens to me. (I love Wikipedia.) Here is the actual html code:
Another useful feature your home page should have is the ability to look up definitions of words. This way, you will no longer have to use a printed dictionary. This is easily accomplished with the following code:
I still keep my trusty 1980 edition of Webster's NewWorld Dictionary beside my computer just in case the online definition fails to satisfy, which happens once a month or so. Online definitions tend to be short and snappy, to say the least. Also, I believe that there are some words for which you cannot find online definitions.
The other requirement for a decent home page is a place where you can check the local weather forecast. Now there are many commercial web sites offering the weather, but I prefer the site maintained by the U.S. government, which is only interested in my taxes (I hope) and not in selling me anything. The web site for the National Oceanic and Atmopheric Administration offers a free local forecast at: http://www.noaa.gov/. Navigate to your locality and then save that link, but not by using a bookmark, because we are getting more advanced than that. Bookmarks are fine for temporary links, but for something that you intend to use on a daily basis, forever, you really want that link to appear your home page. It is simpler to click within your home page than have to click on the menu for bookmarks and select from a long list of bookmarks.
When a nifty search engine comes to my attention, I study the html source code to try and cobble together code for my home page. The challenge is to find the code you need, while eliminating the extraneous code. Crisp and clean search engines like Google are easier to incorporate into your home page than busy web sites like IMDB or YouTube that have a hundred different things going on at once. Sometimes, you have to make adaptations. Here is my search box for IMDB:
It should be mentioned that adding a search box for Google is hardly necessary anymore, since Firefox adds such a search box to the upper right portion of the header bar. However, there are other functions that can be added as well that call upon the power of Google, such as a link for finding directions from your house to any other place in the world. Why should you have to enter your home address each time that you wish to search for directions? You should not, and with the help of Igor, will never do so again after modifying your home page with this little nugget.
First, you should navigate to http://maps.google.com/. Click on "Get Directions," and enter your home address. Do not enter a destination. Just press "Get Directions" and Google will show you a map of your home address. Next, click on the link over to the right that says, "Link," and Google will kindly generate for you the html that you require for your home page. You can insert this html directly into your home page and presto! You will never need to input your home address again! I am a big fan of this service and have used it often whenever my guests need directions to get somewhere.
I hope that these technical tips help you. In the past, I used to share the source code to my entire home page for free on internet forums in the interest of making the world a better place. But instead of gratitude, I was condemned as a "script-kiddy." People are paranoid these days and just won't accept html from anyone. For that reason, I have just outlined some of the main concepts of my home page here, and leave the rest to my reader's imagination.
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