Ingredients to avoid and prefer

Avoid


☠ Toxins ☠
(cleaning & personal hygiene products, containers)

Prefer

G-BOMBS

Sources

Posted at 05:11 AM in Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Science | | Comments (0)

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January 9, 2012

Amazon woes

Unfreakinbelievable. First I order some audio cables from Amazon (UnitedIntegral) and they're the wrong item. Then they resend me the same wrong item after I specifically explain to them what the correct item is (which they then claim they don't have and that it was a product listing error). So I buy the correct cables from Cmple (also through Amazon) instead. 6 months pass and I decide to get a new battery for a laptop through Amazon (ACCDEPOT) but here the darn battery doesn't have a notch/indentation in it to fit the battery compartment! Arrrgggghh! Seriously...really?? Even the damn picture shows the freakin' notch/indentation!

Posted at 03:42 PM in Web/Tech | | Comments (0)

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May 1, 2011

Mauz

Today I learned that Mauz, from Active Worlds and Wurm "fame", has died. I knew Mauz (real name Marita) since 1997 when she entered the Active Worlds world Saxon for the first time. We formed a friendship and had fun building up Saxon (which was transferred to Hole after she bought a world), then Hole and Cubed (for some virtual education institute competition) with LaraCat. Around 2003, I moved on to Second Life and tried to get her to like it as much, or more, than Active Worlds, but she never really got into it aside from hanging out in the welcome areas and chatting. Later, I found Wurm and she really liked it and was there up until her passing.

I recently came back to Wurm around Halloween 2010 and, soon after while exploring the free server, Golden Valley, saw Mauz's name enter my local chat avatar list. Turns out she had created an alt(ernate account) to hang out on GV. Soon after, the Freedom server was opened up to free accounts so I sent an alt through to check it out and hook up with Mauz's main character. Since my alt was brand new, she helped me out giving me high quality armor and weapon--and even picked me up in her rowboat to save me a long walk. She let me stay at her settlement, Mouse Hole, until I built up enough skill to build my own place nearby.

She was in Wurm almost every day, it seemed, so when she wasn't there for a few days I emailed her on Tuesday, March 14, 2011 and she said she had "been really sick and tired with stomach flu to even open computer much lately" and that she had sick leave until the end of the week. 5 more days passed and I emailed her again but no reply. Then 5 more days passed and, again, no reply. I had no other way to contact her and asked people settled around her in Wurm if they had any contact with her but they did not. I didn't even think to contact someone in Active Worlds, even though I knew she was a gatekeeper there every Friday from when she would leave Wurm to go do, religiously, it seemed. ;)

She was definitely devoted to her hobbies--loved to document things like the Active Worlds citizen count and take lots of screenshots. She was friendly, helpful, but also reserved and controlled. She seemed to be as comfortable by herself or with other people.

For posterity (as long as Net communication hangs around anyway), I am posting her forum history for Wurm and Active Worlds. Also, her website, for as long as it lasts, is at http://mauz.info/ (which I am archiving and will host on my website if/when hers goes down).

Goodbye, Mauz/Marita.

Posted at 05:59 PM in Games, Spirituality | | Comments (1)

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September 8, 2010

Google Instant

With Google Instant enabled, my search results are limited to 10 instead of 50 (as I have set). Google Instant shouldn't limit search results to 10 but should instead have the same limit as normal results as set per user.

Posted at 02:04 PM in Web/Tech | | Comments (3)

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August 12, 2010

Creating

I used to like creating—I still do up to a point. But, the more I create, the more I see it as an addiction that perpetuates more creation and improvement ala a catch-22, positive feedback loop, pyramid scheme, etc. Procreation, the act of breeding to produce offspring, is included in this, which is why I am not planning on having any children. I just cannot intentionally participate in something I don't agree with philosophically (and also has spiritual implications).

Physically, procreating produces another mouth to feed and care for and, given the intense pleasure copulating can give, can easily be abused and get out of control. Teenagers, young adults, and immature adults can be especially promiscuous. Many third-world countries have families of three or more children to help support the family economically or for religious reasons (for example, some cultures don't like females as much as males so the female babies are aborted). Aside from these situations, controlled/restrained breeding that maintains the same population level is another option but that doesn't address the larger issue of having offspring in the first place.

Why do people have kids? Aside from the aforementioned reasons, a couple may want to have a child to symbolize their bond in love. Wouldn't getting a pet suffice? How about a tattoo or just let the ring suffice? Even more basic is simply the idea of perpetuating the human species. This, of course, goes back to the philosophical idea of why one exists in the first place (besides from the obvious physical act of copulation). What is the point of humanity? Why are we here? Until these questions are answered—or do they even need answering in the first place—why perpetuate a system that only exists to serve itself? That is circular reasoning.

But perhaps there doesn’t need to be an answer. Perhaps the universe, and all its existents, is to go about being fruitful and multiplying exponentially until it collapses, rips itself apart, or something else entirely—rinse, lather, repeat. Who knows for certain? The jury is still out on the universe. Stop the universe; I want to get out.

Posted at 01:52 AM in Philosophy, Spirituality | | Comments (0)

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January 7, 2010

Wurm wiki ban

So I'm minding my own business, going about editing the Wurm wiki like I was doing intensively for weeks, when I add a few main namespace player page redirects (like "user" going to "User:User" or "Player:User") to hot food cooking for the guide author credit links. Then I get a mesage on my talk page from Thorgot about it being "policy" to not create player pages in the main namespace (even though they're not player pages but simply REDIRECTS to player pages). But he doesn't know WHY it's policy--and neither do the 2 other people (Wintermute and KaiH) who gang up on me in defense of this unsubstantiated "policy". So I revert Thorgot and KaiH's "deleteme" banners on the redirect pages and think nothing of it since they can't give any reasoning for their actions.

Then, KaiH bitches and moans about the wiki not being mine (never claimed it was) and that he's going to tattletale on me like a little girl, or something and the next thing I know I'm banned from it by Eir, who I private message:

Still waiting for an explanation as to why I was blocked from the wiki... I have messaged Kilean asking to ask you too since you have ignored my private message here.

It's probably because of me creating player name main namespace redirection pages, which 3 users objected to but could not provide ANY reason why they can't exist (yet ones for Rolf and Notch are OK, contradictorally). Also, Poolsclosed objected to his redirection page being deleted, which KaiH agreed could remain so I just don't get why I would be blocked for this fiasco if now, suddenly, player name main namespace redirection pages are OK...

...but he ignores me for a few days until I message him again (and Kilean, the GM who banned me from the wiki years ago for unknown "vandalism"--and never explained what "vandalism" I did). Eir finally replies:

The day I blocked you, I woke up to read the forums and saw the team had requested it. I blocked you indefinately until we could decide if it was permanent or not. During this time I received your other PM with cries of oppression. That is why I ignored you, it looked unreasonable and I didn't want to argue.

In the meantime, someone said they thought you had your permission removed before. I just let it go.

The Wiki is to help people learn how to do things in the game. Common sense should tell a person not to bother with another player's account.

You say 3 people objected to what you were doing with player pages. We don't want this kind of drama going on in the Wiki. It should be very plain, black and white, instructions, people's villages they want to write about, and that sort of thing.

I'll post this PM and my reply in the thread and see if the others want to give you another chance or not.

...completely misunderstanding what happened, believing I created main namespace PLAYER pages (vs. simply player REDIRECTS, as what I created). I message him again, pointing out these blaring unreasonable misunderstandings on his part:

Doesn't look like you actually looked at what the issue REALLY is, Eir. I wasn't messing with PLAYER pages but, simply, player REDIRECTION PAGES to user namespace pages. It's REALLY not that big a deal but a little gang, well, ganged up on me just to spout that such player namespace redirects in MAIN namespace were deleted before (for reasons none of the 3 people who objected could even give). So, the block is QUITE petty. Do you often knee-jerk overreact when anyone whines to you about someone else they don't like? Not very objective of you, Mr. "Game Moderator"...

It's not about ME getting another chance, but YOU, Eir. I did nothing wrong. Other people overreacted to unsubstantiated past "policy" (with no reasoning) and blindly acted--ganged up on--against me. Mob mentality, yo. Not cool!

He continues to ignore me (as does Kilean) so I'm posting here out of frustration dealing with 2 quite incompetent GMs.

As you can see from my edits, I don't vandalize--PERIOD. Like I explain on my talk page, if a player's name conflicts with some Wurm term, a disambiguation page can be used (or simply a link to the Wurm term page's "See also" section or something). Besides, no one has a stink about Notch and Rolf having main namespace player redirection pages--yet, gee, clutch the pearls and declare World War III if OTHER people do! Excuse me for tainting your precious "gods", lemming-peons Thorgot, Wintermute, and (mostly) KaiH!

Fucking ridiculous...and wiktatorial, I might add.

Note: this is a Wurm forum repost in case that post gets deleted by the oppressive GMs...

Posted at 03:10 AM | | Comments (1)

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November 18, 2009

Back to Wurm...

Well, I decided to give Wurm another go but I'm not paying for a premium account this time. I'm fine with staying on the "newbie server" up to level 20--it's less crowded anyway and I can just move away if the noobs get to me too much. Wurm still has annoyingly fast decay on everything but if I stay small and don't expand a lot I should be OK. I'll just live out in the boonies away from the mindless treecutting noobs and grinders once I get my fight skill up enough to defeat most of the easier animals limited to this server. Wurm still has all of the same bugs it did 2 years ago too--and then some with its new things like boats and large carts that animals can lead. Still, its developer (now OneTooFree--whatever) would rather add new features (like meditation...meditation! and puppets! WTF?!) than fix years-old bugs. Stupid...

Posted at 09:00 AM | | Comments (0)

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August 11, 2009

Second Life ban

I was banned from Second Life (SL) about 3 years ago (see my SL page for more info) and recently got back into it on another account (having to recreate everything). Well, I was rebanned recently for yet more vague, obscure, and non-specific "various TOS violations".

The only real way these nonsensical bans will stop is for all of those who were banned unjustly to join together in a class-action lawsuit against Linden Lab (LL), who is violating United States copyright laws by denying the creator and holder of the copyrighted content a user creates with their account. Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer so I wouldn't know how to go about bringing a class-action lawsuit against LL but anyone who knows more about how do this please feel free to contact me.

Posted at 06:34 AM | | Comments (0)

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October 3, 2008

Stock Market = Pyramid Scheme

With all the stock market drama, I feel compelled to state the apparently not-so-obvious: the stock market (ANY stock market, not just the ones on Wall Street in New York City) is nothing but a pyramid scheme: people buy stock at a certain price, causing it to rise, spurring others to continue buying it. The original (first) buyers sell (or hold to rip off future buyers), driving the stock down and taking the money of those who bought the stock after the first buyers. Then, in order for the second group of buyers to make money there must be a third group to buy the stock to drive up its price again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Classic pyramid scheme antics. Next...

Stop living beyond your means! Credit is an illusion and is nothing but self-inflicted slavery. It's bad enough one has to "work" for "money" in the first place so don't compound the problem by digging your wage slavery hole even deeper by taking out a loan. If you can't afford it, don't buy it! A home is NOT the American dream--don't be suckered into the delusion. A loan from a bank is only possible because people have deposited money into the bank for the bank to loan out to other people with interest (of which you get far less in a standard savings or interest-bearing checking account). Credit/loans are just other parts of the greater monetary pyramid scheme.

The world is going to have to learn that it can't survive on mythological money backed by faith alone--it just doesn't work and isn't sustainable in the long run. Going into debt needs to become a thing of the past now as more and more people wake up to the realization that it is slavery, pure and simple. Knowledge is power...but power corrupts. (Ignorance is bliss.) However, the more people who have comparable knowledge, the less they can corrupt each other. Living within one's means will become more common as people become less materialistic and wanting things they don't need (or are marketed to "want" by greedy companies/corporations).

It's time to wake up already, people...

See this blog post for another perspective.

Posted at 12:26 AM | | Comments (0)

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April 11, 2008

Zzz...

Well, no post for months but just haven't been in an egotistical mood, I guess. I quit Wurm and have since reverted to playing single-player games and IRCing. I haven't even been working on the 3D game comparison--just too much work to maintain in its current state (and getting a more automated entry/management system just isn't working) so it's on the backburner for now. Oh and I found Keyboard King, a cool program to reduce the keyboard repeat delay and increase the keyboard repeat rate beyond what Windows can do--even to specific keys (like just arrows, backspace, and delete as I have it set up).

Posted at 03:43 AM | | Comments (0)

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December 17, 2007

Wurm

I've been playing Wurm for the past 2.5 months or so--the first online game I've ever paid for...for 2 months anyway. Wurm is an MMORPG which it claims it is not but, rather, a "fantasy simulation"--but Wurm is an MMORPG for all intents and purposes. Unfortunately, like Second Life and Active Worlds, its development is lacking, slow, and underdeveloped. And with only 1 developer I can't see supporting such an unorganized buggy still-beta (despite going "gold" in June 2006) game. Wurm has potential but its learning curve is way too high and requires far too much time and energy to be any real fun.

I used to call Wurm "fun work" but now it's just plain work for the most part. Practically everything decays and has a quality level (QL) to it, with lower QL things decaying faster than higher QL things. However, to get things to a high enough QL that they don't decay in, say, even a month, requires paying for a premium account and then, of course, building up one's skills in order to create/improve things, which takes months by itself. Obviously, the developer, Mojang Specification (1 person now, basically), thinks players won't have any life other than Wurm.

Combined with game/chat masters and players who mostly don't seem to care if newbies cut down all the trees in the area, Wurm just isn't worth continuing for me.

Posted at 02:08 AM | | Comments (0)

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