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.