(So I actually started writing this post in Opera, but it once again screwed up the WordPress visual posting page, so I've decided to use Firefox in it's most basic form for posting alone. No add-ons, no bookmarks... Just blog.)

So... Guess what I've been doing! After making a 180 on things that don't matter, one of the things I decided to at least check out with an open mind... Was Age Building. ALCUGS, H'uru, PRPExplorer, PlasmaShop, Blender, Python scripting... The works. I'd been asking Paradox lots of questions, lately, and I found it all rather interesting after all.

So then there was this Guild of Writers... "discussion". While I think it was pulled off in a less than savory nature, I was surprised at the amount of open-minded discussion that was going on, at least amongst those of us who were actually answering the questions. I wasn't really comfortable with some of the questions that were asked of us, but I think the answers gave me a little comfort about what the general idea of the guild would be like. (Barring, of course, that someone doesn't assume all power and control and turn it into a tyrannical monarchy.)

So after that, I decided that the underlying politics of this particular Guild are extremely interesting and fun, so I think I've officially decided to "support" the Guild of Writers instead of the Guild of Maintainers, even though the Maintainers are still very awesome. As such, I gave myself a crash course in the current array of popular Age Building tools:

Here is the result of about 6 hours of work in Blender! Yes... this is GermanShepherd making Ages now. 6 hours, and I had given myself a very intense course of importing terrains, making sure the face of the terrain was pointing in the correct direction, mathematical scaling, mathematical positioning, object organization, subdividing (which I destroyed Blender with... use subdivide SPARINGLY), decimating, programming collision maps, friction and light interaction. I don't think I've had that much fun with 3D design in quite a while.

But during all this, I couldn't help but think that it could still be somewhat meaningless. I mean, the reason I actually started figuring out how to make an Age was because I found the Writer's Guild interesting and I felt I needed to at least know how things are done. But I still feel that the Writer's Guild Cyan is trying to incorporate could be absolutely nothing like what we're expecting. Sure, they've said they'd like to allow user-content, but it's difficult. One use for a Writer's Guild that comes to mind is that it might help Cyan simply come up with ideas for Ages, and not actually learn to make them. Of course, that approach has several flaws, but it's just an example of what we might expect... The thing is, we don't know anything yet.

However, I was talking with TW lastnight. I think that user content could immensely help Cyan with keeping Uru online. It would be the first game of its kind to allow user content on this scale (to my knowledge) and we all know Cyan used to be known for going out on a limb and adopting early what everyone was afraid to do. (Sadly, that mentality contributed to Uru's current state of affairs, but it is still by no means a bad mentality to live by.)

It would take a lot of effort to filter and give approval to user Ages. We must remember at all times that Cyan is a little low on man-power right now. They simply can't do some of the things that larger companies like Blizzard could pull off in a flash. However, that's what the Maintainer's Guild would help with... bug testing, and possibly putting Ages to a test of Cyan-ordained qualifications that they need to pass before even being considered to go in Uru. Make sure it's legal, make sure it's family-friendly, basic things like that.

For actually making Ages, though, I think one of only two things could happen. First is that Cyan directly releases their tools for creating Ages. I believe they use 3D Studio Max, or they did last time I asked, so all their tools are going to be plug-ins for that. That could severely limit the amount of people who can contribute to Ages, and it would most definitely make a lot of people learn an entirely new application. As it is right now, Age making is restricted to reverse-engineered Blender plug-ins, because Blender is very Python-oriented as it is.

The other approach is to simply release the documentation for the format of the Ages and let the community take that and finally make a complete plug-in for Blender or any other program needed. For Cyan, this could be the better approach. There wouldn't be much preparation, and it might give them more time to figure other things out while everyone else is going nuts over having the opportunity to make a complete plug-in for not only Path of the Shell, but Myst Online.

I don't know... Those are just some thoughts I had that I'm sure a lot of other people have had, too, but OH WELL. But above all, I think we need to keep reassuring ourselves that the Guilds that Cyan is wanting to create could have the potential to be something entirely DIFFERENT than what ANYONE ever expected, but, equally, it could be exactly what everyone's always wanted. I just don't want to see anyone disappointed because they were caught up in what they were sure the Guild of Writers was going to be, and then it turned out NOT to be.

Here I go with my multi-post attack mode!

So I was entirely fed up with Firefox today. It crashed (repeatedly) when I was attempting to make a post on a discussion board for one of my online college courses. It wasn't mandatory, but posting during the semester IS mandatory, so a freezing Firefox is a very bad thing.

I decided to completely reinstall Firefox from the ground up! So I backed up my bookmarks and uninstalled Firefox, deleting every folder it has. And then I forgot about all my saved passwords, but what was done was done and any password I forget, I'll just have to recover them on the various sites I visit... Anyway, I installed it rather uneventfully, and it boots up exceptionally quick! I was impressed and relieved. This was the Firefox I knew!

But then I started installing my add-ons... And... It returned to its slothful nature, taking almost a minute to load up. I installed Adblock first, and it slowed down considerably, so it's either add-ons as a whole, or just Adblock. Either way, I can't live without Adblock, so I have no choice.

So I've once again returned to being very unhappy with Firefox. I'm quite certain that it won't load the discussion board, because that's a Java-related problem, and Firefox hates Java. (At least on my end. Always has, always will, on multiple platforms, I'm sorry, but it's true.) It has ever become more fat, slow and featureless. Or at least features I'll never use, but more or less featureless. That's the entire idea with having add-ons! Firefox was the smallest, fastest browser there was, and if you wanted added functionality, you downloaded an add-on! Well... Now Firefox is a giant mammoth of an application, chugging down the RAM like it's Mountain Dew and giving me what? A slower version of itself?

I need to figure out Opera's password saving feature... I need to just NOT EVER use Firefox for an entire week and see what happens. Any site not supporting Opera (by fault of those silly, uneducated web coders) will be browsed through with Internet Explorer 7, and I can hear the multitudes gasping their collective gasp of shock and horror, but Mozilla's applications have become what they've always become... fat, bloated, slow, with no features.

My next post will be using Opera, and perhaps I can figure out a way around that weird problem with posting...

Remember that Gallup poll I talked about a while ago? It said the (at the time) current approval rating of congress was 14%, being the most dismal approval rating ever received by a congress since they actually started monitoring ratings.

Remember back in November when the Democrats took over? Do you remember what the new congress said? Well, I'll tell you... I found an article on FOX News, but since they're obviously right-wing biased, I'll give you CNN's coverage, instead, since they're obviously the neutral, unbiased and most trust worthy reporting agency there is!

The CNN article is an incredibly long one, so I'll quote directly, and you can search for it if you want to see it in its entire context:

This Democratic -- new Democratic majority has heard the voices of the American people. They spoke out for new direction to bring integrity, integrity back to Washington, and we will make this the most honest, ethical and open Congress in history.

So back before they even did anything, they promised you that this Congress would be the best in the history of the entire United States. Better than the first Congress, the second, the third... Better than them all! That's a huge promise.

So for any of you who had any doubt about the Congress approval rating, perhaps citing "oh, it's just one poll, and potentially biased" (Even though everyone says Gallup is one of the more "honest" and "accurate" polling centers. Personally, I think if you don't poll everyone, which is impossible, numbers will be skewed.), lay those fears to rest, because Zogby has come out with a companion poll just a month later!

What's changed? Well, if you make a direct comparison, Bush's approval rating is 32% instead of 25% cited by the American Research Group. (Of which I provided a link last time I posted, but the server is now apparently offline... Hmm. Convenient! But hey! Even though nobody can check the numbers anymore, since they had Bush at a lower approval rating, they still must be accurate!)

The Gallup poll said Congress had a 14% approval rating. The recent Zogby poll says Congress has a 15% approval rating. That's not much of a difference, and pretty accurate, considering all the funky typical mathematical statistics variations. They say that the current Republican administration has twice the approval of the Democrat controlled Congress, who, I must point out, promised to be the best Congress anyone had ever seen in the history of the United States.

So with just these numbers alone... The country prefers the Republican president 2 to 1 over the Democrat Congress. While these numbers are exceptionally dismal overall, and I don't necessarily support either party at this time, I just wanted to make it abundantly clear that the Democrats are, according to the country, far worse than the Republicans, who are, according to the country, still not very good.

Just keep this in mind... When voting for leaders, especially lately, it's rare that you find someone who's absolutely perfect. You have to choose between the lesser of two evils. I think though, that if someone expressed true Conservative principles, unlike the current Republican party, that their approval rating would do FAR, FAR better than anyone's right now.

This little bit of news was brought to my attention by everyone's favorite political news... talk... guy... Peter Heck! Who has given me an interest in politics and has helped to educate me and keep me up to speed on everything important going on right now, and has helped me to approach such a hot topic without getting angry at those of you who don't agree with me.

...and I don't know why I just advertised for him, but I thought it appropriate. So there!

It was storming lastnight, so I had to prematurely cut short my Elite Force game with TW. DSL works properly now, and as such, it's far more sensitive to noise than before, which kind of makes sense, but is incredibly annoying. Every flash of lightning strong enough to cause the faintest crackle of static would make it disconnect. So I decided to watch the long overdue obligatory werewolf movie viewing of Blood and Chocolate. (Freaky odd name, yes...) I would have to say... While it isn't a good movie in and of itself, it IS a very good werewolf movie. (Seeing as how they're ALL TERRIBLE except this, and the werewolf episode in the new Doctor Who series.)

However, I still can't help but feel it's a stereotypical movie. In just about every wolf-centric story, the wolves are either giant evil monsters bent on devouring all of mankind and must be stopped at all costs, or they're misunderstood creatures who everyone is afraid of for the wrong reasons and must be stopped at all costs and they kill humans in self-defense... In either case, wolves are hunted and they kill humans. Doesn't seem to matter how glorified they get or how monstrous they get. So I again ask, can there be a GOOD, original werewolf movie? One that doesn't just rehash everything ever done before? It's like the fantasy genre! It's so stagnant... Everything that's been done is going to be redone over and over. You might have a few stand-outs like Blood and Chocolate or the Doctor Who episode, but not usually!

What I would like to see is a flip-side to the generic werewolf blah-ness... Like, I don't know, has anyone ever thought that it would be a PRIVILEGE to see one? Hey, if I somehow learned that you could willingly change back and forth between human and wolf form, I'm going to be the last person to ever freak out. In fact, I'd probably give you a big hug. Barring, of course, you didn't turn out to be a "disease" werewolf that goes insane every full moon and wreaks havoc all night. (Which, I might add, I would prefer NOT to be the werewolf theory... I'd hope for sane wolf shifters who could pass on their powers.)

But back to the movie, I would suggest you at least check it out, especially if you're a wolf/werewolf buff like me. I thought it was rated R, but it's only PG-13... For violence (which wasn't really so bad compared to other PG-13 movies), sexuality (of which I didn't notice any... I mean, there was a bar scene, but never any... James Bond flagship scenes), and substance abuse...

Substance abuse? Okay... I didn't see any drugs. At all. The only thing I could EVER think they would be referring to? Probably the drinking of alcoholic beverages. But when has THAT ever been considered substance abuse? Okay, not that... Hmm. Well, there's the whole silver-thing... Silver is deadly to werewolves! (I think that's something that should remain stereotypical. Just seems... Somehow... Well, I wouldn't say NICE, but it seems... Normal.) So some guy threw silver dust in a human-form werewolf's face. Yep... Substance abuse. Werewolves getting high off silver dust. Then there's the silver-poisoning antidote... Is THAT substance abuse? If it is, you should stop taking your vitamins. That's substance abuse.

Needless to say, I think it deserves the PG-13 rating for violence and overall themes, but everything listed is a BIT of a reach... There might have been suggestive themes I didn't pick up on, but nothing explicit like that sort of description usually defines.

I've burned over 100 gigabytes of data to DVD over the past week. I got my burner on Monday, set it up, crashed XP with the Roxio studio (horrible piece of software, but it's had the lowest "coaster" count of all the apps, so it's bad software, but a nice burner, so I use it), had to reinstall... So now I have a fresh XP installation, with a new SATA burner that can make DVDs in about 10 minutes. I've systematically backed up all my vital documents and downloaded material. I never delete anything, and I've had data spanning 4 harddrives: a 40GB, a 200GB, a 250GB and a 120GB. With only megabytes remaining on any harddrive at any given time, you can imagine how much data I've been accumulating since late 2000 when I first got online. DVDs for the WIN.

I'm going to have to buy another spindle of 50 or so DVDs... I need to pick up a few dual-layer discs, too, because I've acquired some pretty hefty files that need them. I might also check out a couple of those LightScribe discs and see how fancy those things REALLY are.

I've been thinking about reworking my site's style. I don't think I'll actually change any of the graphics or colors, but I'm definitely thinking about making the thing wider. Catering to 800x600 is beginning to become a little... suffocating. The way I see it, most popular sites make use of the entire window, so I might be making it dynamic width, but I think the minimum is going to be designed more with 1024x768 monitors in mind. Seriously... If you have 800x600, it's time to upgrade. If your monitor honestly doesn't go higher than that, you can buy an entirely new computer for the same price as that monitor when you bought it new. No excuse. :-p

So don't be alarmed if you see some... Weirdness. Broken borders, unbalanced gaps... I'm probably working on it while you're browsing. I think the hardest thing to change is going to be the banner image I spent a week trying to make look natural and balanced. I made the thing wider a few night ago and it very much made the page lean to the left, with all that weight over there with the title and trees and sun burst.

I have a Facebook account now. I'm sure you have heard of MySpace. (Not recommended that you visit!) Facebook is similar to MySpace, except it's classier and for more... dignified users? I believe it started out as more for college students who wanted to keep track of friends afterwards, but has since been opened up a bit more to the public. (I didn't have to specify a college this time, and I remember when I had to, but wasn't in a college, so couldn't apply.)

So far, my profile is strictly for friends-only eyes. You can find me, but you can't see ANYTHING I have posted there until I approve you as a friend. I would prefer to use it for what it is intended: to stay connected to existing friends. I'm not looking for any new friends on it, as some might do. But I hope to have existing friends hook up with me there so we can contact each other, or even get to know each other a little more. It's sorta like a repository for information on yourself, that you only allow your friends to see. I see it as a sort of... quick-blog. A quick glimpse into glorious ol' me!

I thought I'd throw that out for all you (small amounts of) readers... Granted I've only had it a few days, but I've still had people not know I had one. So for those of you who want to add me, here's the address to my profile! http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=669216836