The folks who work there are really interesting, and we hung out for close to half an hour, I think. They are definitely folks that I want to be in the computer business. As for the laptops themselves, I totally dig the Hoverboard. It was slick looking, a very nice display, full size keyboard (sans keypad) and was really, really light. As in 3.1 pounds. I want it!

There was a couple of caveats, though. The current model, which comes with a Celeron processor, is sold out. The new one will have something else, so that is cool. I will wait to see what it is, so that may be taken care of. The other thing is that the touchpad isn’t multitouch. This sounds just as silly to me as it does to you, but that really is a deal breaker for me. I am just really accustomed to using it as an interface, and the thought of having to do anything besides swiping two fingers to scroll makes me cringe. However, I am going to do a little research, because I bet I could either find one to install myself, or get it to them to install as a custom job. Even if the laptop weren’t already really cheap, I think it would be worth it.

I never thought I would be able to “buy local” when it comes to laptops, but being this close to down-to-earth cool people, I don’t think I could do otherwise. ^_^

It is a tough to be me right now.

But I am alright. ^_^

Even though it is three months in, I am going to spend this year building out the background details for Nexia, my fictional fantasy world. If tonight was any indication, I can have a substantial, encyclopedic timeline created, and then I can just drop my existing characters and stories in where I think they belong.

This really works out for me, since I end up obsessing over the details when I am writing. I am learning this, now that I am DMing a D&D game. It is all I can do to not go ballistic on that world, but I really don’t care about Wizards‘ scenarios. I want to make my own, from scratch.

As I flesh out particular years, I will post them here. My method is insanely cool, but I am going to keep it internal for now. I will say this, when I start writing I have no idea where or when the thing I am writing will be. But it fits perfectly, and what I need right now is something that is both creative and enjoyable (currently my work and hobbies engage me in one or the other way).

First of all, participation in communities based on a social tool equates to creating culture, as well as the only real value they have. That is a difficult way of saying that “social networks” depend on people to use them. I believe those same people deserve open access to the culture they create.

Twitter is a closed platform, and I can’t in good conscience support it. Of all possible internets, I want the one that is most open.

So I am “leaving”. If I ever get around to it I will archive my posts. For the time being I am just going to let them remain there, and hopefully folks will find this post and understand my decision. Open micro-blogging is our destination. ^_^

Quick note: I am trying to write more about the stuff I watch, but I am borderline neurotic about avoiding spoilers. So I am trying some formatting tricks to keep them hidden, without using a plugin (I don’t like any of them).

I only have a few thoughts to share on the show, one being that is one of my favorites. It is incredibly entertaining, and as I see the characters branch out from the fortress I fall into a cathartic state; the landscape and art work are just so beautiful!

Ahem… the have a quad-legged mecha tank! Not fully operational, mind you, but that is a minor detail. I am okay with it never being operational, partially because I am okay with the war being over and everyone just trying to get over their own personal tragedies.

The level of tech in this world, really all the various cultural and temporal mashups used, amazes me. I am looking forward to how they are going to weave more of what happened in the past into the story, which seems inevitable, at least as far as the characters personal lives are concerned. But seriously, lost tech from the old world? Sign me up!

Speaking of things to be explained, what is up with Rio and Yumina, and how the Bishop looked at Rio when they sent lanterns down the river? The only time I have seen Rio with the blonde woman that we now know to be Princess Iria was when she (Rio) is playing her trumpet for Iria and Rio’s mother. Are they related? That would explain the Bishop’s reaction. More intrigue!

I really happy with Felicia’s conversation with Rio about the lack of meaning in life. As it was translated I have almost said those exact words, and it both shocked and warm-fuzzied me. The scene just prior to that, where the three junior members admit their worry and need for hugs had me tearing up, and I wondered later how that is received in different parts of the world (like Japan). That is some raw emotion, and I adore such scenes in media. We should have more modeled behavior of positive reinforcement and healthy emoting.

One last point: episode 6 (Kanata’s Day Off: Hair Braiding) reminded me of a particular series, both in style (clothing and character design) and pacing (separate stories told out of chronological order). Can you guess which series I am thinking about?

Baccano!

I was thrilled to find out that they had an illegal liquor-making enterprise, though I wonder if that is what they were referring to in the second episode when they were sitting so solemnly, discussing how Kanata (I presume, though I thought they meant Kureha as well) didn’t know, or suspect something.

Oh well, I am sure everything will be revealed in time (or if we are lucky, it won’t be). ^_^

What interest me about it is how different it is from Magic: The Gathering. I aspire to create a card game, but my head is so wrapped around MTG that I figured I need to break for a couple of years and let the rules slip from my mind before tackling the creation of a new system. However, the was this game handles it has broken the mold, and I am inspired to check out more games and see what cool stuff folks are doing out there.

One thing that I really like about MS iTGC is how there are only three types of cards besides character cards: monsters, items and tactics. In addition to have their own statistics and abilities, each of the cards also serve as the resource of the game, which is processed by leveling the character, enabling them to utilize the cards.

An example is that a monster might so something like destroy an item when it comes into play, but as a resource it will allow you to play a creature or equip an item if you are high enough level (which is increased each turn by using a card for its resource value). It doesn’t make much sense now, and I honestly didn’t get it until about an hour in, but it is essentially making every card inclusion a balancing act, rather than using card type quotas (this many lands, these many creatures, etc.). While I don’t think it plays out this way, the dual nature of every card theoretically makes it so there don’t have to be “bad” cards, there could be “good” and “very good” (the latter corresponding with rarity to drive players to buy more cards, of course).

I chose the Magician/Warrior starter deck, and I tried to load up on as many tactics as possible, since they are a loose equivalent to instants/sorceries in MTG. However, there isn’t much in the way in interaction when it isn’t your turn. In this way the game almost seems like you are trying to build your character/entourage faster and stronger than your opponent. Interesting, and it plays out well as a flash game, though I am curious to see how it would work on tabletop.

I am not going to get into the crystals, levels, hit points or character classes. They are all neat ideas, but they don’t strike me as innovative the way the character building and dual value cards do. I am not sure how long this will hold my interest, but at any rate my Nexon ID is maikiinteri. It is free, unless you value your time. ^_^

They have a lot of licenses listed there, and I wish there was a way to fine tune the search even more, perhaps by checking which category or specific licenses you wanted to see. I mean, shareware and freeware aren’t technically licenses, so it isn’t helpful to me. I found this to be true when I was looking at a couple of cute fonts made by Flop Design. FontSpace said they were okay for commercial use. When I downloaded the zip it had a document inside that clearly stated otherwise. I know that doesn’t correlate with licensing, since any site that receives submissions are going to have problems like that. However, it becomes a lot easier if there is a Creative Commons or Open Font License included.

Fortunately FontSpace has a contact form for the case of a font being incorrectly submitted, and the day after I brought it to their attention I got this:

Thank you Maiki, I’ve updated the licenses for those fonts and will go through and update the rest.

Not bad. I applaud them for that, and for an overall decent site (though, ads, ugh).

What this also makes me wonder is if there is a need for a repository for free fonts that focuses on copyleft-ish licenses. As I was going through the site I was skipping over everything that wasn’t public domain, CC, or OFL. I would like a place where all the fonts were like that.

I made a features entry in my complex, but I haven’t added anything substantial there (I just didn’t want to have a blank page). It is an exercise combining a few graphical techniques I have been saving up with what I would call a paradigm in using WordPress. It is pretty amazing all the stuff they build into the software that is not tapped by most themes out there.

And of course I will be releasing it, for better or worse, under the GPL.

I get a kick of how candid some Creative Commons folks can be, in this case Joi Ito. He articulated the common sense behind the movement well. A recurring theme was the enforceability of the licenses. I kept thinking of the FSF, and their challenges. However, I think the difference between software and culture is that with culture it is very difficult, if at all possible, to obfuscate a transgression. We can all perceive the words, the images, the sounds. It can be fuzzy, no doubt, but culture also has built-in mechanisms for dealing with someone playing by different rules, and for better or worse, they do a good job of keeping folks in check.

Another thing that I heard repeated and felt validated by was the free culture stack. Joi used it as an ambiguous phrase to explain how we have specialists in this country, but in some other places there are a few people who fill in all the roles that allow for a free and open ecosystem. Off the top of my head I would say the major components of this stack would be: free and open software, open standards, and sharing (such as CC). The validation came in that I sometimes feel like I not specialized enough, and that I am unable to enact change in a meaningful way (besides being on hand to discuss how these components intersect). I am going to think on this, I think it would be worth my time and effort to see how I can help out somewhere that my skill sets and knowledge could help out.

I came away from there with a lot of information to digest, and I will try to get my thoughts together on here in the next few days. Also, PariSoMa did a decent job in their remodeling. Their pricing structure is changing as well, so that is pretty cool. I think that as both a coworking facility and a venue they are becoming more accessible. If I lived in the West Bay I would consider getting a key there.

I’ve watched the first two episodes of Sora no Woto.

Wow.

My initial impression is that it has a huge amount of potential, as long as they keep the moe-blobbing in check. There are obvious comparisons to K-on!, and with the setting it seems like a merging of that with Haibane Renmei. Also, a little bit of Valkyria Chronicles. I know!

While I have no idea where they are going with the story two episodes in, I am very intrigued. I can’t figure out if there is an actual supernatural element in the show, or if it is drawing on that particular Japanese teen-girl optimism to draw out some comparisons between the time before and after one becomes an adult. In all likeliness it is both.

I have four more episodes in queue, I will come back with commentary then.