Stuff I've read lately

Mirror Dance (Lois Bujold) - Another quality Vorkosigan book. About as good as "The Vor Game". Better than Komarr.

Ruled Britannia (Harry Turtledove) - It is a shame Turtledove has decided to sacrifice quality for quantity. The idea of a revolution hinging on a play is just weird.

A Song of Stone (Iain Banks) - I like the use of the second person ("I go this way and you go that way"). You don't see that very often. For the plot, all I can say is "Very postmodern." The main character is so weak and conflicted that he takes six pages to die.

Snowman!

I made me a snowman!

Stuff I've read lately

Jarhead (Anthony Swofford)(audio) - I wouldn't normally talk about an audio book, since I don't really count them. Going in, I was thinking, "How serious was the first Gulf War, really?" (for Americans) But, I forget, that at the time, it was deadly serious. In the end, it wasn't very serious (Swofford was in all of two "battles", and never fired his weapon), but it still affected the men involved. It was, of course, deadly serious to the Iraqis killed.


The Vor Game (Lois Bujold) - Another quality Vorkosigan book.


The Faded Sun: Kesrith (C. J. Cherryh) - Ahh, Cherryh. This book is classic Cherryh. 'The People' start the book with having been decimated from millions to maybe thousands. By the end, there are two...


Stanger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein) - Coming from a UNIX background, I already knew 'grok'. So I wasn't sure what effect it was supposed to have on me. Otherwise, this book is supposed to be one of Heinlein's best. But I didn't see anything special.

Infinite Improbability

Hello all! Not sure how many readers I have left (after chasing off most in the comments section...)

The Way of the Master radio is particularly vocal on proving the existence of God. I've dealt enough with atheists that I am skeptical.

Let me try to do their argument, and you can counter in the comments.

Thanks!

God is infinite. (definition)

The universe had a beginning (entropy, background radiation, expansion, etc.)

The creation event requires an infinite - one or more of:
infinite regression (turtles all the way)
multi-verse (infinite probabilistic universes)
infinite, uncreated, creator God

Thanks again!

Fixing Star Wars - Episode 6

So, a co-worker and I got to talking, and we decided to fix Star Wars. I mean, everyone likes Star Wars, but with just a little fixing, it could be great!

We started with Episode 6 (Return of the Jedi). An episode with a lot of good stuff, but showing the beginnings of Lucas' mad ego trip. A trip ending in the horror that is the prequel trilogy...

Ok, what problem(s) are we solving?

1. Two death stars (episodes 4 and 6) are just silly and irritating


2. The whole Luke-Leia brother-sister thing is kinda icky


3. How dangerous is this whole rebellion thing, if no major characters die?


4. Ewoks should of been wookies

The solution set is like this:
For #1, Episode 4 should probably keep its climactic ending. So, something big needs to blow up. Might as well leave it the Death Star, as originally filmed. The Empire should realize one, big capital ship is less useful than many (the whole "systems slipping through the fingers" statement). The project in Episode 6 should be a fleet of super star destroyers (probably best to remove the SSD from Ep 5). Or you could keep the Death Star in 6, and have Luke help to knock out a Star Destroyer using the force.

For #2, simply remove it. There are ways of resolving a love triangle beside declaring one leg illegal. More in point 3.

#3, kill Han. Probably at some point in the shield generator mission. This doesn't mean that Luke and Leia have to be together. It's ok for Leia to feel some grief and not be with anyone...

#4, 'nuff said.


That is on top of a lot of minor fixes. All the characters need de-cardboarding. The construction site makes no sense (a no-tech world in the middle of nowhere - should be a ship yard some where). We are not concerned with fixing, or remaining consistent with the books (most of which were terrible). You can keep Leia's encounter with the cute ewok as a young wookie.

New Stars Status

I've fixed the economics page. The last page of the race wizard is also done:



I still need to connect the "All expensive tech start at level 3" button to C++ (there was an engine change needed). And to add the drop down for "Spend extra points".

I've started adding the GUI elements for cargo load and unload:




I need to take changes in these elements back into C++, and add the ability to create these orders from scratch.

Musical Interlude

Everything you know is wrong!
Black is white, up is down, and short is long.
And everything you thought was just so important
doesn't really matter at all.

...

Just as the floating, disembodied head of colonel Sanders
starting yelling,
"Everything you know is wrong!"

New Stars Status

I fixed the oddity in the ship designer.

Here are the next pages of the race wizard:






Still need to connect some of the economic spinners to the C++ code. Then I can finish page 6, and the race wizard will be done!

New Stars Status

Here is the current status of the race wizard:




Steps 1 and 4 are done. The point calculation code is done. I need to fill in the other pages.

New Stars Status

Woohoo! Ship designer is mostly done...



Moving from slot to slot does not work (you have to discard, and re-add). There are also some oddities in the interface after finishing a design off a blank hull.

I will try to fix the oddity before polishing off the race wizard.

New Stars Status

Made some more progress on the ship designer today. The component button brings up the list of components, and the available hull types button brings up the list of hulls. This uncovered a bug in the engine; there is no function to determine if a particular player can build a given hull. This is currently stubbed to always true. I haven't looked into the enemy hull code yet...




Next step is to enable the copy button.

Shocking Interview

I was poking around on the Way of the Master Radio website, and I found this clip. Make sure to watch it all the way to the end, or skip to the end if you've had enough...

New Stars Status

Here is the next screen shot:



We can see: the planetary environment display under the ship designer, the planetary build queue, a packet in the space display, and the ship designer dialog.

The ship designer dialog still needs a lot of work. It will currently display existing designs, but it cannot separate ships and starbases. It will not display enemy designs.

I have the drag and drop code for doing new designs, and I need to plug it into the "Copy Existing Design" and "Edit Selected Design" buttons. I also need to transmit the drag and drop commands back to C++ so that the new design can be saved.

That brings us up to date on the New Stars GUI. I will hopefully make some progress now :)

Stuff I've read lately

Perelandra (C.S. Lewis) - These middle of Lewis' space trilogy. I like Perelandra. It presents a very interesting view of the early fictional view of the solar system (with habitable Mars and Venus). Mars represents the old way, with angels directly guiding people. The intended system on Earth is fuzzier, due to its lead angel rebelling against God. Earth then becomes the place where God is made flesh (in Jesus), for the salvation of all. Venus is the newest creation. The Adam and Eve of that planet are free to choose, but two representatives from Earth are sent to fight over them.

That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis) - The last of the space trilogy. I didn't like the ending so much. It did kind of remind me of Stross' "Atrocity Archives" some.

Have Space Suit - Will Travel (Robert Heinlein) - A fun book. I think he could of taken a more serious turn to it, but it is targeted at a younger audience.

New Stars Status

The first few screen shots will come quickly, as I catch up to the current status. Here is a turn file with a fleet in space, and a minefield selected. Note I need the little yellow pointer under the current selection, a minefield graphic, and better ship graphics... I also need to write the orbitting code. Our files have some issues with consistancy. The fleet really does have 0 fuel.

New Stars Progress

To help motivate me to make more progress, I will post updates on the current status of New Stars GUI. Here is the first shot:

Call Me Back, Ishmael

"Ishmael" (Daniel Quinn) is an update on the idea of the noble savage. The author presents a choice between two lifestyles - "Takers" and "Leavers". The Takers take their lives into their own hands. They plant more food than the can eat, and grow without limits. The Leavers leave their fates to the gods (growing and shrinking population as the environment shifts). He stops short of saying technology is evil.

Unfortunately, I do not think this jives with actual history. I believe "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (Jared Diamond) presents a much better view of pre-history and anthropology. The peoples who retained stone age technology throughout the technology revolution in the West did so because they lacked the opportunity to do so (not out of some conscience choice). New data is showing massive die-offs of local bird and animal populations in pre-Columbian America. It was only the plagues introduced in the 1600's by the Spanish allowed the animal populations to be restored in time for the American settlers of the 1800's to find an "unspoiled wilderness" and come in and kill them off again...

We do not know why early American agricultural societies disappeared. It may of been disease, a long drought, or invasion by neighbors. It's possible that without animal power (see GGS) they simple said "it's not worth it" and returned to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

More Drugs

Let me start by saying some people need (or appear to need) less drugs. These are people you look at and say, "He needs less drugs". Some people need more drugs. "Are you SAD (social anxiety disorder)? Then you need more drugs." TV commercials are always telling people they need more drugs.

Well, I officially need more drugs (I couldn't use any less than my current 0). So newDrugs / oldDrugs == infinite. That's an infinite (percent) increase in drugs! Don't worry, it's not like I have some horrible disease or anything. Thanks for your concern.

So, if any new posts are particularly good (or bad); it's not me, it's the drugs.

Enjoy!

Now it begins

Space Ghost (SG): Now it begins! Who all here is evil?
Zorak (Z): I'm evil!
Brak (B): I'm evil!
Z: Oh, you are not!
B: I am too!
Z: You're as harmless as a babies butt!
SG: Zorak!
Z: Well he is.
B: I am not a babies butt.
SG: Sorry Brak, I'm going to have to go with Zorak on this one. You simply lack the mental capacity to be evil.
B: I don't get it.
SG: You have to, oh say; come up with plots against the universe, hatch evil plans to conquer planets, and just be plain mean most of the time.
Z: You're just too nice.
B: I forget how to be mean. That radiation half lobotomized me.
SG: Say, I've got an idea. Why doesn't Zorak teach you how to be mean?
Z: Oh man, do I haf'ta?
SG: Yes you haf'ta!
Z: Alright Brak, repeat after me: "Space Ghost, I will destroy you!"
B: Space Ghost, I will destroy you, if you don't mind.
Z: I WILL destroy YOU!
B: I will destroy you?
Z: I WILL DESTROY YOU!!
B: Alright! I will destroy you!
Z: You, and your little dog too.
B: You, and... Hey! I like his dog, Francine is a good puppy.
Z: No, that was just a threat.
B: You want to hurt Francine. You're a big, bad, green, thingy, guy...
SG: Bug?
B: Bug. Space Ghost, shoot that thingy-thing on your arm.
SG: Destructo-ray?
B: Destructo-ray, so he doesn't hurt Francine.
SG: Gladly, Brak, my dear old chum. {BLAST}
Z: Hey! What did you do that for!
SG: That was for Francine! Hey wait, I don't have a dog.
Z: Yea, tell me about it.

Mook?

Seeing Krull with the Mudge A209 crew was a defining moment for the word "mook". Modern culture has started to use the word to mean "an ineffectual, foolish, or contemptible person" (Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume II). But to us, the word has a much more specific meaning:

"A mook is a character in the story who serves no purpose, other than to absorb damage" (Mighty, Mighty Death Machine).

Every (good) action movie has mooks. You need them for the action. If nobody dies, the action can't really be that dangerous, can it? If your main character dies, the movie is over. This is different than a major-minor character (one who actually has a name, and people care if he dies).

Mooks come in two main flavors:

1. Hapless Mook - the hapless mook is movable scenery. His death serves little purpose, perhaps warning a hero of imminent danger. They rarely have a name ("I lost, a man, down there!", or "There goes what's his name!?"

2. Warrior Mook - the warrior mook is the main stay of war movies. They appear in tens or hundreds (or thousands), often on both sides. They die by tens or hundreds (or thousands), too.

The characters (besides the mains) in Krull were all hapless mooks. Several had names, but no one remembered them. Their presence did nothing to aid the hero in the completion of his quest, their deaths were quick and unmourned. One even received a "that's cool!" look from the mook captain for his spectacular plunging death.

Popular theory holds that mooks are dispensed from a "tree of mooks". It is imporatant that you pick your mooks fresh, in the proper season.