Simple Room

This is a drawing I did on the fantastic app Paper. The app draws from the real world to create an experience similar to drawing on real paper, hence the name. It's very simple and intuitive, and can produce some pretty amazing work. 

Additionally, the creators of Paper, Fifthythree, have just released a stylus worthy of the name: Pencil. The stylus is designed with features unlocked while using the Paper app, but works just like a passive stylus with any other app or device. Visit fiftythree.com/pencil for details on that. 

This drawing harks back to my time in middle school art class. Pretty simple and abstract, yet attractive. 

Trolololol

During the past couple of days, I have been reading about trolling, flaming, and internet communication in general. I'm sure most of us have been the target of trolling and flaming, or have at least read it before. Anybody who has been involved in these activities knows how annoying and rude those people can be. However, most people do not think about the fundamental issues of internet communication which cause this behavior.

When we talk to somebody face to face, we subconsciously gather information about a person by their hand gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. These clues help us understand how a person feels about the subject they are talking about, and what they really mean when they say something. As well as body language clues, knowing the person gives us even more context to what they are saying. When we are on the phone, our communication worsens. The whole body language aspect is a not present. Our only clue is their tone of voice. The situation is even tougher when we text; but at least we know the person. Talking to people through chat rooms or forums is one of the worst ways to communicate. The only way we can gather information about the people we are talking to is through what they type, the website they are using (such as a gaming website), their profile picture, and their username. All other very important aspects of
communication are out the window. What somebody says could be skewed because their intentions are unknown to the reader. The lack of social context clouds communication between online users.

Another problem in anonymity. Because users are in an online environment, and could be anybody anywhere in the world, people are more daring in their conversation. A statement or question normally not appropriate for conversation can be said because there is no fear of embarrassment or punishment. "Nobody knows who I am, what are the consequences?" People become more daring, and begin to care less about other peoples' feelings because there are zero repercussions. This type of situation has the ability  foster an environment of negativity which is no fun to be a part of.

People can also get confused about who said what, when, and why. When conversations get to the point where it takes a couple of minutes to find a specific quote, things can get pretty crazy. The great length of the conversation causes people to falsely accuse others for saying something when it was really somebody else. The situation is compounded even more when a new user joins the conversation; they try to talk about things when they are out of context. It is really hard to track what is going on. This creates a lot more arguments.

The last issue is the way people type on the internet. There are different "rules" of typing that need to be understood; otherwise, a person's sentence could be perceived in a different way than intended. Simple things such as adding an exclamation point, or putting a word in caps can change the meaning of a sentence causing a person to become angry. This goes back to the first fundamental issue of online communication. The lack of face to face context makes is much harder to understand what a person is trying to say.

The online world is a very challenging place to navigate. The way people communicate online makes it even harder. One thing I have learned through my experiences is that one can not take things too seriously. You should patiently look over the conversation to get a feel for what was meant. Reading over the conversation can help pick up more context clues in order to make up for the lack of body language. Just letting things go can also make a huge difference; a comment that rubs you the wrong way could mean the exact opposite of what is expected. Just chill out. Take your attitude down half way because it will be blown back up on the other end anyway. This will make your experience with online communicating much more enjoyable, and less of a headache. Good luck!

Isolated

So here I am, the only thing separating me from madness is a hollow door with little structural support, and a cheap privacy lock. It is an unsettling thing when you are not safe in your own home. Those little ones are running crazy around the house with no restraint. I feel kind of bad for abandoning the four children in my house while their their mom and my mom are talking; but, I want some peace for a few minutes.

All of the kids are running around hitting and yelling, the only escape is my bedroom. I am all alone sitting on my bed, surrounded by cold air. My only source of entertainment and escape from physical containment is an iPad. Yes, it is quite entertaining. Currently I am using it to record these events in order to make sense of things. As I am tapping away, I hear a soft knock on the door. I know it is one of the little ones, so I ignore him. I feel bad for leaving him alone, but I need this peace. I hope they can forgive me.

Minecraft Pocket Edition review

Minecraft is an amazing indie game centered around mining resources and using them to manifest your inner creative genius. I have been playing Minecraft for about three years now and I love it! Over Christmas break I bought an iPad mini (and might I say it is FANTASTIC), so I made Minecraft Pocket Edition my first app purchase in order to compliment it. This was a grand plan, right? Well, sort of. This is my short review of the game.

"Game Experience May Change During Portable Play". This sentence, which gamers will recognize from many games (with a slight change), pretty much describes Minecraft PE; but let me go into a little more detail.

This game is great for when I am on a long drive, or need something to do for a while when I don't have access to a desktop computer or laptop; but it is very limited. There are many items that are not included that are in the desktop version. You have all of the basic items you need for the game, and little extra, but the game would be much better with all of the bells and whistles. Without these other items, you can not do all of the sophisticated things you can on the desktop version. You can't build minecart tracks all over the world for transportation, you can't build complicated electrical circuits to amaze your friends, you can't "suit up" to go fight monsters, and (most disappointing) you can't ride pigs off of cliffs. There are so many things you can do on the desktop version that leave an empty stomach when you play the pocket edition.

The graphics are disappointing as well. Any person who hasn't played the game before is probably thinking, "block shapes, how could the graphics be good?!" Just trust me, they are awesome. Those who play Minecraft understand what I am talking about. The big issue is the absence of the smooth lighting option. Smooth lighting does just what the name suggests: it makes the light levels more gradient, instead of one block looking like a fully lit room, and the next looking like you just turned off the lights. Smooth lighting has such a huge impact that without it, the game just isn't the same.

The controls aren't that bad though. You have two options for building control. You can aim crosshairs where you want to place or break blocks, or you can set it so that you touch where you want to place or destroy. That is a nice option. One draw back is that you can't crouch. So when you are building fifteen blocks above the ground, be careful not to walk off the edge.

Despite the limitations. I have managed to build some pretty sweet structures. To answer your burning question, yes, I did fall a few times. And, as you can see, there is no option to turn off the HUD for nice screenshots.

In conclusion, this is a great game for when you need to kill time, but head over to your desktop (or laptop) to get the full, and AMAZING, Minecraft experience.

Wonderland

Today I made the best purchase in my life thus far. I bought an iPad Mini. I had to wait two days after Christmas to buy it because every store was out of stock, but it was well worth the wait. It is so amazing! Using it is like stepping into a new world full grace and beauty. Every swipe and tap on the screen is designed for productivity, for excitement. I love that there are multiple methods of navigation. For example, I can view/select running apps by double tapping home or by swiping up with four fingers.

One of my major appeals to Apple is the design of their hardware. They make such great looking devices that are very simple and elegant. The body is made of one piece of aluminum and one piece of glass that fit seamlessly together. It makes for a very robust device. Even the packaging is awesome. Though, it may seem kind of ridiculous to some people, it is just a fact of life; packaging can be awesome.

I need to stop typing now... Many more features to mess with!

22nd

I look out my war torn living room window. I see an icicle hanging from the rear bumper of a car. I watch a water drop run down the side of the upside down cone. It reaches the tip and stops. I watch it stretch toward the snow until it falls. It hits the snow, carving a tiny dip. I look toward the sky, my eyes latching onto a snow flake. I watch it fall. It slowly drifts through the air. A gust of wind carries it toward the house across the street. The flake finally comes to rest upon the carrot nose of a snowman. Apparently, the world can not handle this. It sends one of its demons to the snowman to topple it. A little girl kicks her laughing brother, not allowing the boy to let his poisonous breath into the air. A woman comes out of the house, and takes the girl by her left arm.
The boy rolls onto his hands and knees and then gets up. He watches as his sister is pulled into the house. The world allows this boy to escape punishment from his parents. I watch as another snowflake comes to rest on the broken carrot lying beside a piece of coal. The boy looks at the new pile of snow, hangs his head. The boy scoops some of the pile into his arms, slouches on the ground.
This is one of the calmer days since the war started. I honestly thought it wouldn’t happen; even made fun of those who did. But, here we are. Korean soldiers with submachine guns running down the streets. Automatic gunfire echoing in the distance. Battles running all day every day around the world. A little boy yelling for his cat, “Marko”, there is no reply in the distance. A boy and girl in scorched clothing stumbling along broken sidewalks, pecking for food like wandering chickens. It isn’t quite how people imagined. They thought the whole world would end, humanity being wiped clean from the face of the earth. But it wasn’t like that: this is much worse. A mother collapsed in the road hunches over the child in her arms, wailing, pleading that they take her instead. Today is better though. Despite a crumbling society, people still find some happiness.
I wake up and laugh. I realize that it was all a dream. Today is December twenty second, two thousand and twelve. The world is a wonderful place.

The Last Day

Today felt quite surreal. It was for a different reason than a lot of people might expect. Today was the last day I will attend Sandpoint High School, and one of the last days I will be in Sandpoint. I am moving. It was weird going through school today because it seemed like a normal day. The only difference was that I was spending my last moments there, seeing my friends for [most likely] the last time. The fact that it was a normal day was the weird part. There wasn't a whole lot of drama because I was leaving. That is not to say I wasn't sad, it's just that it wasn't a huge deal. It wasn't the "end of the world". Hehe. But then it did become sad. After school I stayed around for a bit. I all of the sudden started thinking about how this is the last time I will be in these halls, in these rooms. I will be leaving everything I love about this school. One of the highest things on that list is the "back room" of the nerdiest classrooms in the whole school, and the people in it. I might even go so far as to say it is the nerdiest room of Sandpoint. But the point is I will be leaving it. I will be leaving the beloved wireless keyboard that lights up with orange lights when you interact with it. I will miss Buddy, the much loved computer which is the hub of the tech room. Buddy was, well, my buddy. Even though it was really Mr. Gray's computer. I used it to take my knowledge of the command line to a whole new "directory". I downloaded multiple versions of Windows from Buddy (legally). My friends and I even hosted a Halo LAN battle from Buddy. That part was technically not covered by the school budget. The back room was where most of my knowledge of computers spawned. While many lectures were done outside that door, the real hands on experience was in the back room. Though, we did have a ton of conversations dealing with the technology world. We learned so many things that were not even in the lesson plan. In fact, often we would talk about things for so long we would have to postpone the planned lesson until the next class period! Those were probably some of the most important lessons; they were relevant to what we were experiencing right then. But, the class was not all work, it was also fun. I would venture to say it was more fun than work! We had so many hilarious moments in that room. What with Matt and Nate derping around all of the time; and all of the "facepalm" moments we shared. Nerd central is not the only part of school I am sad to leave. The school is great in general. We have a pretty good internet filter, it doesn't even block Google! [Almost] All of our teachers are reasonable. And the lunches aren't too shabby. I will of course miss my friends most of all. Mr. Gray is a great teacher and friend of mine as well! He has helped me so much and has immersed me in the world of technology much more than I would be otherwise. Thank your Mr. Gray!

The "last day" wasn't too bad after all. School went pretty well, and there weren't any major disasters. Pheww, what a great day to be a Bulldog!