If knowledge can create problems,

Moving Journals

2009-09-24T17:57:27Z

Hey guys, I'm closing this journal (and my dead tumblr blog too.) I think I might start posting again, over at logicalworld. Anyway, I'll be archiving my old posts here. See you there!

Moving, moved

2008-11-16T01:23:25Z

I moved my blog to http://signaltonoise.tumblr.com/ I updated it with some thoughts, mostly recently on games (Deus Ex) and some thoughts on politics.

I'm planning on using RobotDreams.tumblr.com for my creative writing (eventually). ^^;

This is too awesome

2008-10-27T15:44:33Z

(Parody of every Sentai show ever made (think Power Rangers))

Ninja Cat

2008-10-25T02:31:18Z

So adorable T_T

Also, while I'm still keeping this account to read communities and post comments, this journal really isn't updated anymore. I'm moving to tumblr. I've already got a links and (awesome) things blog called maycontainrobots.tumblr.com and my journal blog will be at robotdreams.tumblr.com (currently empty, updates later)

Lastly, I don't know if my sis ever got around to posting about her new blog, but hers is at andoceans.tumblr.com (art blog ephemeralart.tumblr.com)

Still Alive

2008-10-25T02:08:34Z

I've seen a lot of "Still Alive" fanvids, but this one is my favorite. It's just so stylish!

Team Fortress machinima. Kinda long actually, but still kind of amusing and well done.

Thinking about Brains

2008-06-01T03:44:30Z

(This was originally was going to be a review, but it turned out more as a personal reaction. So I thought I might post it here since it's pretty much a blog post.)

[Best American Science Writing 2000]

I've been reading this essay collection in fits and starts. Originally I had marked this as three stars, because I'd read a few and they didn't particularly impress me (other than the fact they were done well) but I've upped it to four after discovering the incredibly personal, descriptive and yet still managing to be strongly scientific and well researched essay, entitled Gray Area: Thinking with a Damaged Brain.

I've taken many neuroscience courses, but as Feynman has so often noted, there is no bigger difference than between knowing the names and the facts of a thing and truly understanding their substance, the real heart of the matter. In this same way, I've heard so much and studied so much about brains, but actually seeing the effect of brain damage on this writer's life speaks volumes, with both a strength and subtly that would be incredibly difficult for a normal, undamaged writer to match. (who lacks the experience and much make up for it with just imagination)

Everything, from the types of mistakes he makes, the things that give him the most trouble in the everyday things in his life, to the ways he has learned to cope with them, say so much about how the brain works. Forget the cartoonish handlings of the brain, the crudeness and simplicity of people getting knocked on the head and forgetting who they are, this is the real deal. The picture of the brain, when it works and when it is damaged, as researched by one who has experience and come to terms with firsthand, whose own life has become irreparably touched by all those fundamental and sometimes so distant facts which us healthy people can barely phantom.

[Also of note, if some reason you cannot get your hands on this book, the "Gray Area" essay is also available for free online at http://www.lostmag.com/issue3/grayarea.php ]

Crossposted at my Goodreads

It's funny...

2008-05-21T02:26:23Z

A few years back, when I was getting out of scanlations and into actual printed manga, I was trying practically every series I could for cheap. I even read some volumes of truely terrible ones (Ragnarok, i'm looking at you) and some others, which I really enjoyed at the time, ultimately aren't as good as I remembered them. (Chronicles of the Cursed Sword in particular, which I loved when i read it, and then I went back and thought it was awful.)

And now, I'm positively swimming in manga. I just did a quick count, out of some morbid curiosity, and I have almost 750 and another 300 up for sale and trade. I have so many I find myself passing over many of the marginally interesting new titles and now i'm trying to concentrate on reading these series i've been so steadily collecting for so long...

Ultimately, while it's pretty cool to be earning money (to spend on more books xd) I have much less time to read than I used to. Which i guess isn't a big loss since I used to read almost all the time, and now I just read most of the time, but still, I used to average 5-7 books a week (counting a manga series as one since they're short) and now I average about 2 or 3. ^^;

Anyway, i'm going to be posting up my impressions and comments on stuff i'm reading over at my anime/manga journal alierarobot

edit: I changed my mind, joined Goodreads instead.

Link of the day

2008-04-06T00:00:51Z

Real life reviewed as a MMO Amusing.

Edit: Also!!! New Doctor Who and Battlestar are here! Can't wait! X)

Best Knytt Stories levels (fan-made)

2008-02-26T02:56:09Z

Don't Eat the Mushroom: I agree with erf_, it's very *something*. As in "what the heck..?"
Weird: another nonsense level, but fun.

Some nice environment themed levels
A Walk at Night: a night stroll through the city.
Rain: name says it all.
A Walk in Sad: a lovely little quiet level.
Night at the Arboretum: not much to do, but pretty.
(Gaia note: It's nicely polished, but after a while I got bored. Play another level.)

Dark Sky of Wish Mountain: An adventureish level. Nice, but wasn't always sure where to go next.
Station 07: a level with a simple but enjoyable scifi story
Return to Luminous City: Ok, so i haven't played this one yet but it's been recommended a lot.

It Waits: A fairly creepy level with great but unsettling atmosphere.

Puzzle levels
Scrolly Polly: very cleverly done
Chamber of Trials (in official 3rd party pack): darned hard, but kind of interesting.
Gustav's Daughter (official level): Neat use of themed puzzles.

(Note: obviously play the official levels first. Or the original game, Knytt. Though the original is kinda long, but also the best standalone game)
(Favorite official expansions! The Machine, Sky Flower, an Unfinished level)

New icons!

2008-02-20T22:23:38Z

I can't believe I spent so much time picking them out. Oh well, at least they look neat. Xd

Wherein random links are posted for no apparent reason.

2008-02-15T00:35:34Z

An interview with the designer of Lila's dreams, a small-scale flash MMO This sounds like it could be really unique.

A very tasty looking Valentine's day cake <drools>

New Indiana Jones movie trailer is out. I've never been a huge fan (especially since raiders of the lost ark all those years ago) but I gotta say that looks worth watching. Might be fun to go see at the theater come May.

To quote Dinosaur comics, what are the haps my friends

2008-02-13T08:08:52Z

What I've been up to lately, in no particular order:

Read "The Design of Everyday Things" and was fascinated how fundamental ideas of how humans interact with objects could be applied in interesting ways to video game creation, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, business and many other things besides.
Read "Blink" the bestseller about instant intuitive thinking. It had some interesting ideas but largely was flash over substance. Oh well.
Got offered a job, to help me get more experience in my path to grad school. Probably will start next month. I get paid to do science! Sometimes this seems too good to be true.
Got absolutely hooked for life on the new Doctor Who. (10th Doctor ftw)
Voted (today) for Obama in the primaries. Voting was at Howard High, which has had substantial renovations. It's like a totally different school. I'd thought it'd be mildy nostalgic being in the old school again, but it was just strange.
Discovered I still had half of my savings bond stashed away. Since I'll have to start paying taxes when I get paid, my mom suggested I cash it in. No problem.
I spent half of it and bought an awesome little laptop. (Asus eee 4GB Surf White) I also picked out a nice inexpensive but sturdy bag for it so we can be pals.

I spent most of the first day with it just fiddling around with it, trying to get it customized. Amusingly I inadvertently got a crash course in linux, now i can do simple things like add repositories and install some software. Unfortunately since it runs on a customized Xandros, you mostly have to install Debian builds and hope for the best.

I'm happy to say I got Kyntt and Kyntt Stories working under wine. At first it ran really slowly but after some tweaking I got it to run fine. I don't know what it is about this game, it never gets old. I mean, i liked fl0w a lot too, but you don't see me still playing that. (Now if i could play the shiny ps3 version it might be a different story)

I also got Urquan Masters/Starcon2 running. It takes a little tweaking cause the screen is small, but it runs great. It'd be a great way to pass time on the bus i think. Mine a few systems, fight some bad guys and then tackle traffic on the way home. :p

* * *

I'm also finally doing something about my book problem. It was kinda amusing at first, i mean too many books? It's like complaining the air is too clean and the grass is too green. But now the books are pushing 800+ and I just don't have the shelf/floor space. Plus i'm done reading a lot of them already so why keep em? Most of them are manga, which I read like popcorn anyway. I'm putting 45 manga into the mail tomorrow and trading away another 10. I'll probably sell the ones that are worth anything.

Speaking of manga, I read Jiro Taniguchi's Ice Wanderer and other stories the other day. It was easily one of the best graphic novels i've read all year. It has an amazing amount of depth to it. I gotta say graphic novels, manga and otherwise are good at what they do but it's a rare one that sticks with you and you find yourself still thinking about it the next day.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Going to sleep. (This post was brought to you by cynthia's awesome little laptop which doesn't have a name yet)

youtube vid

2008-01-21T09:51:06Z

"Gordon Freeman" calls into a radio show: youtube
*dies laughing*

Flash Games, or Where did my day go, i would like to know please

2007-11-18T05:34:41Z

Flash game/Indy Game recommendations!* Because you know you have too much time :p
Basically, these are the best ones i've played in the past year or so. Links give screenshots and a little mini review.

Short games:
Three Wish adventure: a whole bunch of little short flash games, each with a little story and puzzle. The graphics are cute and the puzzles are humorous. Skip the rat one and play the No. 5 series, that's the best one.

Hoshi Saga 1+2: tons of little mini levels where you have to find the star in each one, but what you have to do is different for all of them. Fun and short little discovery type game.

Moderate Length:
Gateway 1+2: (links give screenshots and short review) Neat little point and click adventure game. The second one has more story. They're not too long, not too short, and the game has good atmosphere to it, and i liked the puzzles.

Escape the Room series: Crimson, Viridian and White. This japanese dude made a huge splash with the original Crimson Room a few years ago. Everyone was playing it, and i had fun competing with my friends on IRC to see who could escape first. Fun and addictive.

Blue Suburbia: It isn't a game, really. It's a surreal interactive thingy that displays a lot of the author's own thoughts and writings, but it feels a lot like a game. I really liked how the presentation added to the writings, but, the writings themselves felt a little... overly sentimental and simplistic. Still, a very unique concept, and i was impressed anyway.

Portal: the flash version: It's Portal. In flash. (but sadly lacking any references to cake. My cake. Mine!)

May take a while: (YMMV)
Knytt and Knytt Stories: An awesome little indie game. It's sort of a platformer, but the whole point of the game is just to explore. It's very untraditional, just a quiet, relaxing game, kind like flow. Personally, i spent several hours playing them, and it was a really enjoyable way to while away a quiet rainy day.

Makibishi Comic: a great lengthy point and click game, where you get to find ninjas. The artwork is great, and also, really *really* weird (seriously) I can safely say a lot of the solutions make no sense, just try and click on everything.

Daymare Town: Technically, it's a point and click adventure game, but it's bloody hard. I couldn't finish it without the help of several walkthroughs (that's right, several). Parts of the game are like pixel hunting, and the puzzles are decidedly surreal and nonsensical most of the time. That being said, it's got an unsettling atmosphere to it, and exploring the town was pretty neat. And the bird skeletons? Creepy but cool.

Mystery of Time and Space: More of a classic point and click adventure game. It's one of those that have been floating around for a while, but the difference is that the creator keeps adding new rooms to the game. The story, is very simple and not as good as Yahtzee's really, but it was fun, and it gets better as you go along. Easy puzzles.

*Yeah i was just going to be like "Kevin have you played these" and it turned into a much longer post.

Adventure gaming: or entertaining things you should be playing

2007-11-18T01:27:04Z

I first heard of Yahtzee through his short, popular animated flash reviews, which are all very entertaining and funny (sometimes even better than the actual games themselves!) They're great, he reminds me of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, totally irreverent with that flavor of chiefly british humor.

But that's not what this post is about (although you *should* watch em). It's about his indie games.

I guess i confess to being a bit of an adventure gamer. I've played all the greats, Monkey Island series, Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max etc. Plus a lot of the more recent adventure games, The Longest Journey and sequel Dreamfall (which came out just this year), the Neverhood, Sanitarium and a lot more besides. I guess one can never resist good writing, and personally, i think games have a lot of potential to tell stories in a novel and interactive way that has yet to be realized. (get it- novel?)

Overall, Yahtzee's games are really quite good, practically professional and compare favorably to the old Lucas Arts adventure games*. They're done in the same old point-and-click style, complete with old-fashioned pixelly graphics and puzzles. The puzzles are pretty sensible and not too difficult, the interface and level designs are straightforward. The graphics are (obviously) very primitive, although i didn't think they detracted from the game at all. And you know, i never thought 16-bit pixel graphics could be scary or pack any emotional punch before i played these, but it proved me wrong.

5 Days a Stranger: (links for screenshots and info) It's a sort of combination haunted house/ murder mystery plot. It's a decent start to the series, mostly it introduces the gentleman thief, Trilby, and the story behind the ill-fated DeFoe family. The puzzles are pretty straightforward, and there's only really one place you can die. Good, but not really that interesting on it's own.

7 Days a Skeptic: This stuck me as a parallel retelling of the first story, complete with the whole murder mystery bit, except it takes place on an Enterprise look-a-like in space. It was an OK story, but you don't really get to know the characters before they die, and there were too many being-chased-by-an-axe-murderer-style scenes for my taste. More scary in a 'nowhere to run' sort of way, but not as original as the first. (clever ending, though)

Trilby's Notes: This was the best one, and my personal favorite. It's told by Trilby, now older, wiser and working as a supernatural investigator for the british government. He tracks down an artifact to an antiques dealer at a remote hotel, which becomes increasingly surreal and disturbing by the moment. More story than gameplay, it's told a piece at a time through cutscenes and flashbacks. It's got the strongest writing and story, but i'm not sure who i would recommend it to (it would give my silly sister nightmares) and heck, i'm not really sure anyone i know likes adventure games anyway.

6 Days a Sacrifice: The last game of the four, and supposed to tie up all the loose plot ends. I really wanted to like this one, but as one reviewer said, the author was just juggling too many ideas to make it work well. Still good, but the main character (a crippled building inspector for heaven's sake) was just not all that interesting, killing the Trilby clones was just sad/silly/very sad, and parts of the game still make no sense to me. Probably overuses the whole dream sequence bits and you have to read all the text/talk to everyone in the game to really understand the plot. I would really only suggest playing it if you liked all the first three. (It was also the longest in the series)

All in all; i was really impressed by the quality of the stories and writing in these games. It's no secret to say that most games have pretty weak stories, meager things that are tacked on afterward as second thoughts. Especially with the popularity of the FPS games, where gameplay is put first and story is usually added as an afterthought if at all, they end up being pretty generic and predicatable 'one man takes on enemy army by himself, wins anyway' type stories (secret missions, government coverups, etc.) Because you know, as the gamer's attitude goes, "if I wanted a story I'd go read a book."*

*back when Lucas Arts did more than just Star Wars games.
*Obviously games like Half Life and Deus Ex are notable exceptions.

Edit: Did i mention they are free games?

Japanese kids shows

2007-05-02T03:06:29Z

..are great. As if normal kids shows weren't silly and random enough, how about in another language!?

Do the Algorithm Dance! (with ninjas!)

A whole episode with Rube-Goldberg-like devices and educational message! (this one is long, about 8min)

Another Rube-Goldberg invention (really short)

(re)Introduction

2007-04-01T23:51:44Z

I saw my sis do this, and i think it's a good idea. I don't really know that many people, and they don't really me that well.. sooo... an introduction is in order, i guess.

I'm 21 years old, a girl and currently i'm going to school at the University of Rochester,and if all goes well i should graduate this may. Online i tend to be mistaken for a guy because i'm such a geek <_< I major in Neuroscience, and I also take some History and Japanese language classes. I'm not very social, so sometimes I do strange things without realizing it. If I had a nickel for every time someone gave me a "what are you doing" type look, i'd be rich. I tend to make people nervous, but it's not at all intentional. :/ Generally it takes a long time for people to get to know me. >_>

I'm a solitary person mostly, and i have a lot of hobbies. I'm a particular fan of any medium that i consider to be a good potential for storytelling. Naturally, i love reading novels, but i also read manga, american comics, watch anime, and the occasional tv series and video games. I don't really like movies, mostly because i consider their storytelling potential to have already been realized and because the medium never really sat well with me. I do make an exception for scifi/fantasy movies though, some favorites that come to mind are Tron, Matrix and LoTR. I used to be a big fan of Star Wars, but after the prequels came out i got disenchanted with them. I still revisit it occasionally.

Science Fiction is a favorite of mine, and will probably always be. Asimov's writings have been so important and influential to me, i could talk about him and his works for weeks on end. But i tend not to, because i no one i know is interested in reading essays on asimov, and i think my sister got tired of hearing about him all the time. Naturally, i have thought a lot about the ideas found in his works, and his non-fiction writings have also been very valuable for something like me who is interested in history, but get bored if you go into too much detail. Minsky, the founder of modern AI, has also been very influential, although lately i've been examining his ideas very carefully. But, i've gotten sidetracked again. ^^;

As far as i can tell, i tend to like the golden age science fiction more so than the modern stuff. Asimov and Zelazny (Amber series) are my two ultimate favorite authors, and i also enjoy the works of Steven Brust (Jhereg), Haruki Murakami (Hardboiled Wonderland), Neil Gaiman (American Gods), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) and lately i've been liking Garth Nix (Sabriel). (Books in parentheses are their most famous works.)

Lately i've been on an anime and manga kick, but that's mostly because i've been getting excited about writing articles for mangacast. I've always wanted an audience to talk to about my favorite manga, ideas of what comics are, and techniques and such, so i'm really looking forward to it. After a while my focus will probably go back to science fiction and rant about that instead. And then back to manga or perhaps video games. Though i never really stop liking my different hobbies, they just take turns ^^;

My family is buying a Wii soon, so who knows? I may be ranting about it all summer :D

xkcd <3

2007-03-28T04:57:13Z

Oh man, today's xkcd is about Ender's game and features a bad pun that's a reference to a famous line in the book. How could this comic be any more awesome?

webcomics

2007-03-26T17:23:52Z

Today's xkcd has really convinced me- it' my new favorite webcomic. How does he write so well? And his art is just stick figures, but yet it manages to fit the words perfectly. How does he do that? One day i'm going to write a comic as geeky and awesome as this.. (and also, it's nice to know i'm not the only one that has bizarre reality-altering dreams, haha)

Rats...

2007-03-23T01:54:26Z

I have to get up at 7:30am tomorrow, to give a rat an injection. Yup, a live struggling, smelly rat, with a sharp syringe.

I'm reminded of yet another reason i'm not pre-med....

Blogging and meta-blogging, with logic and meta-logic :)

2007-03-16T21:13:45Z

So, i decided to divy things up a bit: i'll be blogging about manga and the occasional anime post over at alierarobot. Please friend me ^_^. Over here the focus will shift to: scifi novels/TV, science and maybe the occasional life-related post. Partly it's because i joined mangacast as a manga reviewer and commenter- i'd like to start participating in manga communities, and i don't think anyone who wanders over to my journal will be particularly interested in say, my #8th re-reading of the foundation trilogy :p

Also, i'm not too interested in writing any more super logical arguments posts- it was a fun exercise, if only to prove i could write them, but recently i've been thinking it's the wrong way to go about it. Why? For a few reasons.

1. Writing as communication/persuasion. The uber-logical style is not very persuasive. Sadly most people do not value hard logic. People would much rather read friendly and colloqiual reasonings than something that doesn't really appeal to them. I don't mean to say i'll start 'watering down' my posts though, the logic will just be more in the background- subtle, but present.

2. Hard logic makes explaining easy things difficult. While it wasn't the strictest logic proof, at the same time it was rigorous enough to make even the simplest subjects bloom into proofs of epic proportions. If it takes so long to discuss things that are normal and everyday, how long and difficult would it be to explain something complicated and not well understood? One thing i have learned recently from my neural development class- is that a subject should be studied from the stance that gives the best view- breaking down complexity into manageble pieces, not multiplying it. This is the most important reason to me.

3. Argument is not Proof. (Except maybe in Math..... ick) I'd have to admit that I was really enamoured and influenced by Minsky's arguments in Society of Mind. In it, he uses a very aesthetically pleasing mix of logic and common sense to argue how the mind works, and how it must be, all with incredibly minimal assumptions (about the world). But, I am reminded of the methods of the ancient philosophers (who felt that one could solely use thought experiments and logic to reason out the world)- ultimately a reasoned argument, no matter how persuasive, is not proof. That is the foundation of science, that it demands both argument and the data to back it up. I knew that already, but it's a different view to go from "it's a good argument so now it's just a matter of going out and digging up the data" to "it's a good argument, but there needs to be data before i will accept it."

It's still an incredible, thoughtful book, naturally. I can think of many books out there that are so far away from any kind of logic or science as to be hopelessly lost in the woods, whereas Society of Mind is one of the lights marking the right course. (Plus it's my favorite christmas present, evarrrr xd)

Camera!

2007-03-07T08:03:53Z

I got my card reader in the mail today. I'm going to post some of the pictures i took from the abandoned subway trip soon. But i haven't sorted through which ones came out the best yet. Until then, look at this pic instead!

OMG IT'S THE CRYSTALLINE ENTITY RUN FOR YOUR LIVESSSS

......

(actually it's the tree outside my window, back in january, when it was completely covered in ice)

randomness

2007-03-06T02:57:33Z

My silly brother never gave me his email address, so alas i cannot email him Mario: communist edition. But maybe he'll see it here instead?

たくさん　しろい雪

2007-02-14T18:15:02Z

Snow EVERYWHERE. Last night we got a foot of snow. Today we're forecast to get another foot of snow. I can't help but think if this was maryland, there would be no school for a week, and even a school like U of R would cancel classes today. And even though rochester has a lot more snow plows than maryland ever did, all the public schools here and most colleges are closed... except UR and RIT.

Movies

2007-02-14T04:51:51Z

I watched "A Scanner Darkly" and also re-watched the Matrix. The Matrix was better than i remembered (ie, awesome), but i'm still wondering what to think about "A Scanner Darkly". It was a very, very, odd film. I only watched it because it had Keanu Reeves and was based on a story by Phillip K Dick.

highlights from the movie on youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TqUVz11FwM4 nonsensical conversation about a bike
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PEor60gb3WM more surreal-ness, only humorously told

and my favorite part:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aqt6AkfmbgE It's hard to explain the context of this part, without spoilers. It's a pretty cool monologue though.