My biggest regret

My biggest regret today is that I didn't get a chance to tell off this guy for his terrible understanding of crude oil fractionation in an Ask Historians thread before his post was deleted for being stupid.

My biggest regret yesterday was that I didn't go to ball hockey.

Words that I like but people will misunderstand if I use them

Impressed, as in to be pressed into service (as opposed to being struck with reverence)

August, as in of grandeur (as opposed to the calendar month)

Incredible, as in lacking of credibility (as opposed to being of spectacularity)

Social media, what is the value of awareness?

I'm fucking annoyed with "gamergate" for no other reason than because my Twitter feed is infested with gamergate related items that

a) Still fail to elucidate what the hell this is all about except something something feminism something something videogames

b) Add zero new and meaningful insight into the situation; it seriously the same rhetoric rehashed over and over agains in endless 140 character permutations

And I'm pretty sure I'm only getting one side of the story anyways.

"Story"

I tried to read an article once and it was just fucking hot garbage. All I got was incomprehensible nonsense.

And I hate this stupid goddamn -gate suffix. Watergate was the goddamn name of the hotel, it wasn't some fucking controversy about water, you philistines.

In conclusion, fuck y'all.

The Hong Kongers are out celebrating National Day!

The short of it is that since the British handover of Hong Kong, it's been a self-governed city-state and a bastion of democracy in the holdings of China. China has recently decided that candidates in Hong Kong elections must now be approved by the Central Government and people are out in the streets. Whatever, you can find the story in other places, pictures and everything, I don't need to explain it here. So I'm just going to toss out some observations since you know, I'm around, and talking with the locals and stuff.

1) China announced their intentions months ago (by my recollection and internal memory clock) but the occupation was planned for and executed on last weekend, in advance of what is now National Day by students and teachers. (You can probably guess what National Day celebrates) It's snowballed from there.

2) Some differences with other occupy movements: the scale is enormous. All the main commercial districts are occupied. It's hard for people outside to understand when names like Central or Admiralty or Mong Kok are being tossed out but it's not exactly a bunch of yahoos sitting in Queen's Park. In many areas there's actually no police presence but fortunately this seems to be the most civil demonstration I've ever heard of. (Yeah yeah, there's pictures of tear gas and rubber shot being circulated but most of those incidents actually occurred Sunday, things are more settled now; isn't funny that nobody in the west reported things when they happened, but the images are posted everywhere now that they're out of date?)

Also, the fuckin' Triads are on the steets, wut?

3) A Tienanmen situation will not happen. At the time the Chinese government had no experience in riot control and also had no riot gear. It wouldn't have happened the way it did if they had that knowledge and experience back then.

4) A lot of expats I think were indifferent (there were smaller scale protests earlier), hoping that either a) there's no disruption to their work or b) so much disruption that they can take holiday. Personally I've softened as I have local friends, acquaintances and coworkers who feel very strongly about the situation and are out there showing support. Hard to be indifferent to that, so I wish them best of luck. Democracy, as ugly as it is, is something we really take for granted in the West.

I know some Canadians that went out for a bit, and then hit up a pub after for drinks and are now at a sheesha bar. That is some seriously low intensity activism. My Hong Kong friend seemed appreciative though, so okay lol.

5) That said, I'm generally skeptical of occupy movements to effect change and especially so in this case. Hong Kong has been on the decline for a while now (in my opinion, and I could go on a lot about this) and is not an important component to Chinese prosperity. Realistically I don't think the Chinese government has much to gain by relenting or much to lose otherwise. Another thing is that Hong Kong people hate Mainlander people, in a way that makes me uncomfortable actually. That'll hurt their chances of getting any kind of populist support in China, which is what the Central Government is really worried about.

Also, this isn't a universally supported position within Hong Kong, especially among the older population. Some are even skeptical that the pro-democracy protesters aren't paid picketers. The Hong Kong nationalist streak is much stronger among the young population even though many of them were born after Chinese rule. The pro-chinese camp was actually quite strong at one point, which is why China was willing to accede to the sovereignty terms laid out by the British: the Central Government was expecting their favoured candidates to win naturally. Of course that didn't happen so..

6) As for China's democratization, remember, South Korea and Taiwan had shitty democratic-in-name-only governments until the 80s and 90s. That's really recent! Give things time, I'm optimistic.

So that's it. Cheers.

I'm waiting for F1 to reintroduce gas turbines

I think a gas turbine electric drive would be great for F1. I know it was tried before, but I think those cars were just ahead of their time, we have the technology now to exploit their potential.

As one might know, gas turbines are not very efficient. That's one disadvantage. And it's exacerbated when the engine is running off peak load as the massive compressor takes a lot of energy to run even on idle.

Another is the response lag when throttling a turbine engine.

There is a big advantage to gas turbines though: they have incredible power to weight ratio.

So optimally, you want to be running the turbine at its peak load all the time. An electric drive allows you to store energy when you don't need it, and delivers massive torque. It's a great combination.

Of course, F1 wouldn't be so eager to change their rules. But it's cool to think about.

International Airport Reviews

YYZ - Quite good actually, the T1 waiting areas are comparable to what you'd find in airport lounges, minus the wait staff and free buffet. Unfortunately, Canadian weather always delays everything.

HKG - Also quite good, automated immigration lines (insert your card and swipe your finger print) and basically no tariffs mean getting through customs is a snap.

NRT - Official airport of "sorry, we can't get any flights to Haneda, is Narita okay?"

CGK - Worst airport ever says everyone I've come across, how fitting for the worst city ever.

I know how to improve Exid

Throw away everything except the house beats and the chick that raps.

How I would manage the Thunder

Russell Westbrook takes season off to recover, comes back in 2014 with a 5" higher vertical.

Kevin Durant gets Lasik, comes back with an 8% increase in efficiency.

OKC tanks this season without KevBrook for the 2014 draft.

CAN'T FAIL

New Years Medley

Someone told me yesterday that Carly Rae was going to perform at Celebration Square. Good thing I had Twitter and can immediately clear up any misunderstandings.

I read an article about how New Years Eve is bound to end in anti-climax and disappointment.

It's true, all night interviewees were asked whose performance they were anticipating the most, and the answer was always Taylor Swift. Then the ball dropped and there was still no T-Swizzle.

We had to put on Youtube videos of her to scratch that itch.

By 2am we're watching old Chinese dramas. That's perfect, I need to get this stuff out of my system at least once a year.

"You know that image that's like, yes, I know some of those words? That's how I feel when seeing Chinese subtitles"
"我..什么..什么..什么..是..什么..什么..什么.."
"在..什么..什么..什么.."

I ended up in some super Asian photos yesterday. I'm not sure if I'm anticipating or dreading when they surface on Facebook one day.

So I found out that this cover was made today and that means my year is off to a great start. Good thing I have Twitter so I can immediately know if something like this happens.

Happy New Years.

And now for some more baseless speculation

I think the battleship may yet have its day again.

A2AD is starting to forcing large combatants to the limits of effective carrier air range.

This means more reliance on standoff weapons.

As guided missiles get more expensive to field, we'll be looking for direct energy weapons or mass drivers to fill the role.

Systems that'll require large powerplants on large platforms.

Battleships of the future.

Confidence

The standard of evidence for physics requires 5 sigma.

What's the standard of evidence in psych? Maybe 1.2 to 2?

Lol, food for thought.

Math

Indonesia is considering a purchase of 100 Leopard tanks from the Netherlands (source: The Economist).

Wait what?

They only have 82 tanks left.

On this note, it would appear that we are now finally more heavily armed than the Dutch.

We did it by buying the stuff out of those struggling Euros.

I hear those defense cuts are a pain.

I think

If were to start watching sports, I think I'd pick up football or basketball.

The main barrier is that I have to pay attention to little tiny numbers on jerseys or I won't know what's going on. Alternatively memorize starting lineups..but that seems like more work..

Also that everything changes season to season so I have to commit to following or else I won't know what's going on.

My interest in hockey is actually close to nil.

I am not Canadian..

Nicholas Cage

Okay, I've given this some thought.

If I were in a zombie apocalypse and I can pick 3 characters, real or fictional, to bring as sidekicks these would be my choices:

Autobot Hoist (Toyota Hilux tow-truck ver.) - Hoist is a good choice because in vehicle mode he offers moderate off-roading capability, is indestructible, can tow away epic loot and consumes no gasoline. He is also an expert on mechanical repair and can transform into a robot. Robots have a favourable matchup vs zombies because they have no brains and are made of metal.

Hayate Yagami (Force ver.) - Having a magical girl around is like the ultimate swiss army knife isn't it? Plus, having a healer is probably important in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I had also considered Hermione Granger, but felt that her load of useless art courses and clear inferiority in offensive magics would lessen her utility by comparison. <_<

Kirby (ice+spark) - I just really like the idea of having a refrigerator full of food around at all times.

Contemplations

What counter package do I want?

4 Counterspell, 3 Leak, 2 Exclude is what I had before.

It's hard to get off an Exclude but it's soo good when it resolves.

In elementary, someone else played Exclude. He'd play on the most terrible creatures and say he "just wanted to draw a card". Turns out, that's about right; just drop it on the first legal target and enjoy your +1. So good.

Back to my counter package, swapping a Leak for a singleton Negate felt right.

4 CS, 2 Leak, 1 Negate, 2 Exclude

I've neglected to put Preordains into my deck for all these years. It's hard for me to be excited about virtual card advantage even though on a mental level I know Preordain is probably better than anything ever printed in White.

No seriously, like what does White have? Stoneforge Mystic? Land Tax? Those are the only contenders.

So -2 Accumulated Knowledge, -2 Leak, +4 Preordain

Anyways, I'm finally losing my AK engine which was my favourite for so long for 2 more Mulldrifters. The number of sorcery speed white cards has drastically decreased the utility of instant-speed draw. And also I figure I needed more win conditions.

That's right, flying grizzly bear aggro is a legit win.

-2 AK, +2 Mulldrifter

Since I'm land light for control (i.e. 24 lands), I got to curve down.

The Excludes had to go (for Essence Scatter), the plan being:

4 CS, 2 Essence Scatter, 1 Negate

Incidentally, Patrick Chapin ran 4 Cancel, 2 Essence Scatter and 1 Negate as his Standard U/W Control counter package. Funny how I almost ended up at the same place independently.

Except I decided I liked the versatility of Mana Leaks over Essence Scatters so now I have:

4 CS, 2 Leak, 1 Negate

I was pondering this in bed and WAIT A MINUTE THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL

The sensible options are then:

4 CS, 3 Leak
4 CS, 2 Leak, 1 Essence Scatter
4 CS, 2 Essence Scatter, 1 Negate

Which do I go with? Decisions, decisions..

Addendum: If I go with the lattermost, there is also the fork of 4 CS, 1 Essence Scatter, 1 Remove Soul, 1 Negate. The benefit of this is that I get to show off old cards and different art. Also I'd sidestep..Extirpate and Meddling Mage? The downside is that old frames don't look as nice and people might be misled into thinking that I only have singletons. That's not true; I have full sets of all this shit. I got a counterspell stack nearly an inch high! I'm just waiting to bust out my Rewinds in another blue deck!

Putting the punk in steampunk

I should write about a realistic steampunk universe.

Everything is going to be broken all the time because everything is as complicated as shit and there is a constant part shortage.

There will also be a perpetual engineer, mechanic, fabricator shortage because everything is as complicated as shit and broken all the time.

There will be no stacks; Stirling engines, bitch! So much more practical.

People will get burned all the time because everything is powered by hot steam and made of copper.

This is getting a bit out of hand

I like Steve Jobs as much as anyone.

In fact, I probably appreciate his work more than the average person.

Suddenly today I find on my feed "Steve Jobs' Influence on the Military".

Gosh.

He invented iPods, not penicillin.

People need to stop treating this like the death of an American hero.

Thought exercise

I was thinking if I would take a Charger coloured like that.

No.

Nothing made in America could look like that.

But maybe a Veyron.

You know, black out all their stupid chrome.

Could be hot.

What if you just had an all beige car? Like wheels and everything.

But then you could have bright red brake calipers.

Anyone remember the time Richard Hammond brought on a dark grey GT3? Except its tyres were jet black, the rims were red, and it had yellow brake calipers.

What a retarded idea!

Don't use it, lose it

People think that the easy dissemination of information makes it difficult to lose knowledge in the modern age.

Actually, it's extremely easy to to lose knowledge. Especially technical expertise. So much of it is very specialized and only existent in the private hands of corporations. And within these corporations, specific and important facts are only kept in the minds of a handful of people.

If the engineers depart and the line workers depart, without replacement, you've already lost most of the knowledge.

For instance, the principals of an internal combustion engine are well known, and there's quite a bit more than that circulating around in papers. Do you think that's enough to reconstruct a modern car engine? Engine fundamentals from the Model T to the Fiesta haven't changed. But over the last century, Ford has figured out how to squeeze out more than 3 times the mileage and 6 times the power with an engine volume of half the size. Do you know what they did? Do you think your educational institution knows what they did? Not a chance, unless your professor worked in a very specific field within the industry. Even then, his knowledge grows more outdated year by year as Ford engineers continue to squeeze out a few more percentage points of performance year by year.

Or let's say that you already know that you can get a 5% efficiency gain by tweaking the inlet aero. How would you know where to tweak? You'd have to go through all the testing that was done before, and you'd need to design and build the infrastructure to conduct the tests in the first place.

It's the same across all fields, from cars to bridges to computers. Good luck building a modern virtual machine using the Dragon Book. And that's still only talking design knowledge.

Im CAD hat's passt.

It fits in CAD. Not good enough.

You can't learn how to build something without actually building it and, more than anything else, this is something kept exclusively in the minds of workers. And god help you if the toolset had been struck already (which is common), because now all of sudden all of your work instructions are worthless without the accompanying equipment. Now you have to redesign and rebuild the infrastructure too and go through the teething process all over again. Think you can make a violin from an instruction book? Nope, you learn by building a violin and a lot of crappy violins.

See how we've decided to stop going to the moon for a couple of decades and suddenly it's a pain in the ass to figure out how to do it again. And that's with all of the previous generation's artifacts around, more computing power than our predecessors could ever imagine and an extremely competent corp of people who've been shooting things into space non-stop in the intermediate period. Sure you don't have to go though the paradigm shift breakthroughs again, but most of being able to do something is just grinding, and that's a feat that'll need to be replicated if you ever forget. Technology has not dark age proofed us.

The trick is, I think...

When it comes to games, I don't really apply the same weighting factors as average people. For instance, I put a disproportionate amount of weighting into originality and UI. And by "originality" I don't actually mean the pioneering game of some mechanic set but rather the first decent game of the same set that happens to fall into my lap. Sorry, first come first serve.

An example.

I played Disgaea 2. This should be fairly obvious to any readers. I peddle the series to anyone who would listen, because it's a great set of games. But it's actually hard for me to actually be motivated to play any other game in the series or in fact any other tactical RPGs. You know, it's all flavours of fruit punch; once you've tried one you've tried them all.

Maniac shooters are different. That's because I've convinced myself that I have to conquer them all. Crazy, I know.

Anyways,

Let's talk about Ar Tonelico.

I will first discuss the UI.

Look at all these gauges! It is comforting that they are there. That is all.

People complain about its difficulty curve being too easy. I've never ran into that problem. The trick is, I think, to be too lazy to upgrade your equips. Some games are made for min/max-ing. Melding this, crystal that, who cares. This isn't one of those games; this is a game made for diving into Reyvateils.

Oh, and the story turns out to be pretty good.