30 Today

I turn 30 today.

Where did my twenties go? I can say they were eventful. A lot happened right near the end, but it was rather busy all the way through. Two college degrees, a wife, a Star Wars wedding, the end of a career, the start of a new one where I belong, and a baby girl. Oh, and there's a house, two cats, and numerous other things.

One of these days I'll have to go back and fill in posts in this blog. Like little memory notes. If I don't I'll probably forget whole parts of my life. Like all the plays Rebecca was in, or the all night StarCraft games with my buddies.

Well today starts a new chapter in my life... or is it a new volume? How is one supposed to categorize their life?

Anyway, onward and upward!

Birthday Present

My birthday isn't until next Monday, but my brother-in-law and family's gift arrived today. I am in awe. I've been collecting Hayao Miyazaki's films for a while now. I already have quite a few, but was missing a few key ones.

Now I've got them all and then some. When I opened the package, inside sat the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection. This includes every Miyazaki movie plus others from Studio Ghibli! I am a very happy camper.

15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said...

He passed away not long ago, but Kurt Vonnegut's sayings still hold a lot of weight. His perspective is a little quirky to most. Some even take offense, or should. Point is, he makes you think differently if you let him.

If you let yourself have an open mind, the world can be a lot more interesting.

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The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony

Another adventure filled journey in the land of Xanth. It was just as fun as the first, but you can tell the author had to be more creative this time around. He’s got it pretty easy though since the main protagonist’s magical ability is pretty much a plot hole plugger.

If it doesn’t make much since, it’s okay his magic takes care of it. There was one point where I said, now that’s just stupid. Then he fixed it all up, made a happy ending, and tied it with a plot-hole bow.

That’s when I decided this is fantasy so just enjoy the ride and stop complaining. I’m planning to roll right into the next in the series, plot hole magic and all.

Guild Wars Hard Mode is Live

Hard Mode
Hard mode has been introduced for the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns. Players who have completed a campaign can now try playing it again in Hard mode for the ultimate challenge. By playing the game in Hard mode, players can find new treasures and earn new titles and rewards.

Now that players can choose their difficulty level, we've adjusted monster AI in Normal mode to present a more moderate challenge. The most advanced and difficult monster behaviors are now reserved for Hard mode. (Note: Certain elite missions may be extremely difficult to complete in Hard mode. We will examine these missions and make any necessary changes at a later date.)

Changes to Normal Mode

The following monster AI modifications have been made to Normal mode only. Monsters in Hard mode continue to use the most challenging AI available.

• Monsters in Normal mode now respond more slowly to AoE damage.


• Monsters in Normal mode are now less likely to kite for long periods of time.


• Melee monsters in Normal mode will once again focus all of their attacks on a single target.

Accessing Hard Mode

• To gain access to a campaign's Hard mode, you must win the final mission for that campaign in Normal mode.


• Once you win a campaign with any character on your account, every level 20 character on that same account will have access to Hard mode for that campaign.


• All Hard mode content is intended for level 20 characters. All monsters are at least level 20, and all henchmen who are below level 20 are automatically promoted to level 20 when taken into Hard mode.

Hard Mode Loot

• The average number of uncommon and rare items has been increased in Hard mode.


• While in Hard mode, the number of gemstones that players receive from chests after defeating each region of the Domain of Anguish has been doubled.


• Elite and non-elite Skill Tomes have been introduced into the game. You can acquire these new items by defeating creatures while in Hard mode.
  
  
  
  • There is a non-elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any non-elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Non-elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any normal creature in Hard mode.
  
  
  • There is an Elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any boss creature in Hard mode.
  
  
  
  

Hard Mode Rewards

• Players will receive the following gold, experience, and skill point rewards while in Hard mode:
  
  
  
  • Prophecies Mission Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  
  
  • Prophecies Bonus Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  
  
  • Factions and Nightfall Master’s Reward: 500 gold + 3,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  
  
  • Factions and Nightfall Expert’s Reward: 300 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  
  
  • Factions and Nightfall Standard Reward: 200 gold + 1,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  
  
  
  

Hard Mode Titles

Vanquisher Title

• A new Vanquisher title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles will keep track of which explorable areas have been vanquished in a given campaign's Hard mode.


• A new Legendary Vanquisher title track has been added. This title keeps track of the number of campaigns a player has successfully vanquished.


• Once an explorable area has been vanquished in Hard mode, players will receive gold equal to three times the number of creatures defeated, and experience equal to five times the number of creatures defeated.


• Some explorable areas have regions that are blocked off to players until the associated mission has been completed. It is recommended that players complete the mission before trying to vanquish the explorable area of the same name.


• In Hard Mode, if all party members of a group are dead and at 60% Death Penalty, they will be returned to the outpost instead of being resurrected.

Guardian Title

• A Guardian title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles are the Hard mode version of the existing mission completion titles.


• A Legendary Guardian title track has been added. This title keeps track of how many Protector and Guardian titles a player has accumulated throughout Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.

Lockpicks

• Your characters can now acquire lockpicks. These new, special items can be found in Hard mode and may also be purchased from any merchant (with the exception of those found in Pre-Searing Ascalon).
  
  
  
  • The chance to retain a lockpick upon opening a chest is determined by the following formula: (Character level / 2) + (3 * Treasure Hunter ranks) + (2 * Lucky ranks) (%).
  
  
  • In Normal mode, chests have built-in bonuses that make them easier to open than chests in Hard mode.
  
  
  
  


• Lockpicks may be used to open any locked chest in Normal mode, but they are a requirement for opening any chests in Hard mode.

Mission Adjustments

The mission completion times for the purposes of Standard, Expert's, and Master's rewards have been increased in the following Hard mode missions:

Grand Court of Sebelkeh

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 12 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 12-16 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 16 minutes.

Ruins of Morah

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 10 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 10-14 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 14 minutes.

Vizunah Square

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 35 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 35-40 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 40 minutes.

Nahpui Quarter

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 40 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 40-45 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 45 minutes.

Tahnnakai Temple

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 30 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 30-35 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 35 minutes.

Sunjiang District

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 25 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 25-30 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 30 minutes.

Raisu Palace

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 26 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 26-28 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 28 minutes.

Imperial Sanctum

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 3 minutes.


• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 3-6 minutes.


• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 6 minutes.

Alternate Elite Mission Access

• Bosses in Hard mode now drop Underworld and Fissure of Woe Passage Scrolls. These scrolls allow a party to enter these realms even if their territory does not have the favor of the gods.


• The Kurzick Bureaucrat [Faction Rewards] in House zu Heltzer now offers Passage Scrolls into Urgoz's Warren. Players may exchange 1,000 Kurzick faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.


• The Luxon Scavenger [Faction Rewards] in Cavalon now offers Passage Scrolls into the Deep. Players may exchange 1,000 Luxon faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.

Existing Title Changes

• The Skill Hunter title track has been divided into individual title tracks for each campaign.


• You can now obtain the title Legendary Skill Hunter. This title track can be earned by gaining the Skill Hunter title across all campaigns.


• You can now obtain the title Legendary Cartographer. This title can be earned by full exploring all of Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.


• The final rank of the Sunspear title track now requires 50,000 Sunspear promotion points.

Realm of Torment Rebalancing

• Decreased the number of Torment Demons that cluster together in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.


• Decreased the overall number of enemy groups in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.


• Adjusted the enemy patrol routes in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.


• Adjusted the size and makeup of the Torment groups in the Domain of Fear.


• Adjusted the monster spawns in the Depths of Madness. The changes include (but are not limited to) the movement of patrols, the size and makeup of groups, and the location of boss encounters.

Audio Updates

• Combat sounds have been improved.

UI Updates

• Added a Rename button to the Manage Templates panel so that players can rename their saved skills and equipment templates.


• Added a Template Code panel to simplify template sharing. This panel can be accessed by clicking the disc-shaped icon in the Skills and Attributes panel.

Miscellaneous

• The price of keys that previously cost 1,500 gold have been reduced to 1,250 gold.


• The first-person camera has been adjusted to allow players to more easily play in first-person mode. Scrolling with the mouse wheel still allows you to leave first-person mode, however, you must now scroll a little more than before.


• Loot now scales according to party size.


• Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.


• Made preparations for the Double Sunspear Points and Double Lightbringer Points weekend event.


• Removed the Wintersday 2006 Championship Trophy.


• Added the Celestial Tournament 2007 Championship Trophy.


• The Xunlai Tournament House NPC has returned to the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion’s Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan to reward players with their Celestial Tournament prizes.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that made it possible for Heroes on a flag to be pulled too far from their ordered positions.


• Fixed a bug that could cause a Hero to stop responding when players set their skill priorities.


• Improved target locking for pets.


• Fixed a bug that prevented various team and boss auras from displaying properly.


• Fixed a bug that caused Kournan peasants to appear as if they were glowing.

It's Time to Tax Bullets

I wanted something to post onto digg, and I'm not a fan of sticking my own blog posts on digg. So I searched and searched for someone who wrote about the same topic. We should tax bullets, not outlaw guns. Or as it was stated in this person's blog, "Don't make them illegal—make them inconvenient. Make them expensive."

I don't remember where I first heard of this idea. It was a few years back, but it clicked in my head like a light bulb turning on. Duh, let people have their guns... but give them like 5 bullets. Hunters can't complain, their sport is supposed to be about skill. They shouldn't have to use that much ammo. Here's something to help them, bullets can be tax free at shooting ranges as long as they are used there.

Anyway, just like the government is spending its time doing dumb things like killing internet radio instead of anything worthwhile... here's another good idea that won't go anywhere. Still it's a good idea, and I wish someone had the guts to use it. Cigarettes are taxed like crazy now, the town next door just banned people from smoking in public (punishable by a $2000 fine), and I think it is time to make buying ammunition an experience that is just as an annoying.

read more | digg story

Top 7 Tower Defense Flash Games

I don't know if it started with WarCraft3, but that's the first time I played it. Tower Defense is a type of game where enemies travel from one side of a playing field to another, and your objective is to build defensive towers to destroy those foes. It is horribly addictive. The best one of these is probably Desktop Defender. I just wish it worked on the Wii Browser.

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GW-Gender-Flip

GW-Gender-Flip

Originally uploaded by FlipSide3.

For April Fool's Day, the folks at ArenaNet had a little surprise for us. If you went to a major town, you'd discover your character's gender had been switched. The guys became girls, and vice versa. That was a lot of fun! Here's all of my characters and their bizarro twins.

Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

This audio production by BBC Audiobooks America was simply amazing. The book itself is wonderful and touched on all the points that I was expecting to see in the previous books. I was particularly moved by the ending, which tied the story back to Ender.

Great book!