RL thingy

Just got a mail from FileMaker about their Bento 2 "Personal database", so I went to check it out. It's got a great UI, and they make much of its ability to integrate with many other OSX apps such as Mail.app & Address Book, Numbers & the like - but, BIG CAVEAT: it doesn't support one to many relationships between tables. This was an issue raised in version 1, and it still doesn't support it. One-to-many relationships are the backbone of any RDBMS, & without them, well, you might as well just use a spreadsheet. Numbers for example: great at presenting data & integrates well with Apple's other apps. Why pay more for something you already have, essentially?

Seriously, Bento 2's UI is sweet, so sweet I was even looking at possibly switching back to using Mail.app so I could integrate my system better (hey, it's what I *do*. I work in a division called Systems Integration, so if I'm not into integrating systems, mebbe I should get a different job, huh?) - TBH I dunno exactly what use I'd have put it to right away but I'm sure a use would occur to me. But now I'm wondering if maybe there's a way to get MySQL (as awful as it is) working well with Mail.app etc - are there libraries etc I could maybe use programmatically. Seriously, relationality is that important in a DB. It's basic normalisation. You need it.

FileMaker - guys, seriously, get your act together, please? I'd LOVE to buy Bento, if it actually supported any DB functionality (hey, how about implementing an ANSI SQL interfece while we're at it?).

WOW

Been doing mad amounts of WoW, trying to get the seasonal achievements in quick. Trouble is, when you're just level 49 or so, certain areas, you'll just get killed if you go there. The achievements I was after specifically are the Tricks & Treats ones where you have to get candy from the inns of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. I managed these two easily with my (now level 64 and a half) rogue, Skimakhos - he can go pretty much anywhere in the classic game without fear. Except for the zombie plague, that is. I can't seem to get into Stormwind's AH without getting turned into a freakin' zombie!

Anyway, so the past couple of days I ended up trying the same with Enkidu, my druid. The upshot being that he now has level 55 & has the Kalimdor treats thing sussed. Just going to try & get the Eastern Kingdoms one done during this week.

I upgraded my shammie's weapons to a couple of maces, but he took a fair drop in attack power & agility, so ended up with a lower crit chance. Most of his weapon buffs depend on crits to trigger, so I'll be looking for an agility enchant sometime soon I daresay. Still, he did need that upgrade - he's an ENH shammie & his weapons were like 5+ levels below him. Had to be done.

I gotta say though - QuestHelper rocks, now that I know how to use it. *VERY* useful addon.

ION I played a pretty excellent set in Dublin on Sunday morning. Sadly Kezzy was up a mountain in a gale in RL (eep - glad she survived ok) but Campanula did a good fill-in job hosting. Still paying rent for that damned land. 1 Linden land is undercutting me so I can't afford to sell - I dunno, you pay thousands for a crappy patch of ground & then a few weeks later people are offering quarter-sims for $1L. Cack...

Tempted to let it lapse & then just buy $1L land when I need it. Ah well. Spend a good morning in SL anyway before getting into the Warcrafting fray.

I'm not happy about those bloody zombies though. I joined a PVE realm specifically because I don't enjoy PVP. I'm not good at PVP & I don't really want to be good at it. I enjoy solving puzzles, finding hidden stuff, rescuing idiot night-elf girls who've wandered into a Harpies' lair by accident - that kind of thing. Blizzard should have made the zombie thing optional on PVE servers same as any PVP activity is. I do not like being forced into PVP. If I *really* feel like it, I'll go to the BG or (rarely) get my PVP characters out on the one PVP realm I'm on. But I don't. Almost never. Not my idea of fun. So stop it, Blizzard - and don't do it again, k?

Explico algunas cosas

1. Nature abhors a vacuum.
2. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
3. Myths and inaccurate models form in the absence of accurate information - hence, God, the tooth fairy, African witchdoctors, etc.
   
4. Apperceptions and false beliefs can result from the rigourous application of logic even in people of high IQ. Many such models have existed - see the geocentric model of the universe, the flat earth model etc. Such things are the fault of incomplete data, not the people holding those beliefs.
   
5. Therefore if someone has an inaccurate model & they are seeking after truth, do not attack them, for they are working in the absence of accurate information. Merely give them the information, or be happy with their ignorance.
6. Of course, if you've done your best to enlighten them, have given them the full picture, yet they continue to stick to their model, either they're right & you're wrong (get their info & investigate for yourself), or they're delusional. Feel free to change your opinion, point & laugh, or have them committed as appropriate.
   

Nothing much sort of post

It's been a while so I thought I'd update. Things are basically ok, not feeling awful. Wrath of the Lich King is out shortly so I may end up spending a LOT more time in WoW than in SL, getting my rogue up to level 70. I love the new Achievements window in the new version, and I'm trying to get the one for gathering candy at each of the inns in the Eastern kingdoms & Kalimdor, and I may try for the various explorer ones too - they're totally do-able.

So, if you don't see me about much unless I'm working, that's my story & I'm sticking to it. If you need me I'm just an IM or an email or a phonecall away, but I've a mission to fulfil here & it involves killing lots of monsters. My friends will see me if they wish anyway.

Did I mention btw that Retribution-spec Paladins now ROCK utterly? They got rid of the Seal of the Crusader but gave them a Hammer from the Holy talent tree. With Seal of Command & a high agility, you can be dealing 900+ at a stroke at level 46, easily.

I had thought of a LOT I could say here about last night in SL, but I won't. I did say this blog wasn't to be a whinge-engine. There's no point. I'm happy anyway.

RL Family Gathering thing - update

Just got back from Eire last night. I had a great time, though I missed one or two people I'd usually have been knocking about with - but anyway, we had a good old session in the hotel in Westport. My dad's cousin, Frank, reckons the Norman theory is tosh - that we're Milesian Gaels descended from Conn of the Hundred Battles, because the Normans never really conquered Connacht (which is the land of the descendents of Conn, Ard Ri of Ireland) So there you have it - we're noble & that's that.

Anyway. So I'm looking into getting my Irish nationality sorted out. I love it over there, so peaceful & uncluttered. I dunno - might go live & work there. I think I'd enjoy Dublin in particular.

Downgraded

I've now downgraded my account. I won't be bothering with land ownership any more. Might get involved in making stuff to sell, and I'd like to carry on DJing. I want to do more Machinima too. Maybe people might like to pay me to film their events?

In other news...

I'm off to Ireland again tomorrow in RL, to attend a huge get-together of my enormous extended family. Turns out we've a coat of arms, which isn't the cool looking one everyone always thinks is the Moran coat of arms. The one everyone thinks is ours is the coat of arms of the Offaly Morans, which is 3 golden stars on a black field, no crest, motto "Lucent in tenebris" - "They shine in the darkness". Ours is more complicated, and actually a LOT cooler. Ours is a white flag on a green hill, blue sky behind. The crest is a crown in the shape of a castle's crenellations, with a Saracen on the top. Apparently only crusaders can have the Saracen crest so somewhere in our family's past, one of our ancestors went on the Crusades. Way cooler. Our motto is "Fidelis non timet" - "The Faithful Fear Not", which is kind of a Crusader motto if ever there was one. This kind of backs up the notion that the Morans may have been Norman Irish, slightly - there's a theory that the name's from French, from the verb demeurer, to sojourn. Demeurant, a sojourner, became Moran, according to that theory. Apparently the white flag & saracen coat of arms is pretty widespread - there's branches of the family in Belgium & Spain, so I guess our knight got pretty busy on his way over.. :-)

Anyway, so I'm not doing my DJ slot on Saturday or Sunday this week either, which means my land is going to lapse anyway - I can't do anything about that. It's annoying because it's worth money, but hey. Guess I lose everything in the end anyway.

Burn, baby burn!

Last weekend was interesting. Lot of hard work & whatnot, but good mostly. Kezzy was off doing RL stuff so for lack of anything better to do I went & hung with some old friends. Upshot being I ended up DJing 3 hours at the centre stage in Burning Life, my set going out to 4 sims. Granted, it was the graveyard shift - about 3AM SL time - but still, I started with about 13 or 14 people listening & that went steadily up to 22, which ain't bad for so late in the night / early in the morning. TBH I'd have liked to have played my usual Sunday set as well, but RL intervened there.

I got doing some machinima at Something Wicked Within too - took some footage of Jolene Merlin poledancing in her demon avie, and some of one of my oldest friends at Burning Life.

I need a Buddhist priest avie to go with my "Make it Hotter" particle emitter. I just want to go sit on a street corner in the lotus position & burn for a few hours. I need a nice jet black skin to swap to as I burn, and a black version of the robe too. Any ideas? Perfect Hallowe'en costume I reckon. Whuff.

Yarr, cap'n's log wi' places in!

I'm quite enthused about Brightkite.com - it's in beta at the mo but it should be quite useful once there's enough of us using it. It's basically a microblog with Google Maps mashup, so you can (but don't have to, so you *can* use it just like Twitter et al) add your location to posts, and it'll show you who's nearby & so on, so you can use it to schedule impromptu meetups. I hear you gasp "But what about stalkers?" - well a) you don't have to update the location, and if you don't it still shows up as being at the previous location you did enter. You definitely aren't obliged to tell it when you're somewhere embarrassing like the clap clinic or whatever (hee hee). And b) you have 3 effective levels of security - you can make your location public (Hey, I'm 50 Cent, I been shot 9 times, ain't no-one gonna kill me, muthas!) or private. If private, your *exact* location will only be revealed to friends on your trusted list. Non-trusted "friends" i.e. loose acquaintences, get a vague idea of your area, so if they want to meet up they'll have to, I dunno - *phone* you or *email* you first. Your trusted friends are the only ones who'll descend on you unannounced as you nurse your pint in the local hostelry after a hard day's travail.

It's good - but it's only really good if all your mates join too, so if you know me (for real), drop me a line: I have 7 invites left, if you want in.