Insufficient Light and Madness

Wonder WHAT?

2013-06-12T18:53:00.004-07:00

Some of my brony-related searches for humor information, mostly relating to copyright issues vis a vis fan parodies (YouTube's copyright protection software is somewhat trigger happy, even if Hasbro and/or the studios and cast have no issues with parodies that duly cite sources), led me to find something on YouTube...botched voice castings and translations for roles...sometimes giving male voices to female voice actors, or producing a translation that is often way too literal. A Swedish translation of the name of Rainbow Dash's favorite flight demonstration group (the "Wonderbolts") led to the word "Underskruvarna..." which translates to "Wonderscrews."

An artist on DeviantArt "derped" the character of Soarin, and created a new cutie mark for him based on the Swedish translation. Links follow:

Soarin the Wonderscrew
Wonderscrews source video

Well at least they were in the right section of the hardware store! I mean if they missed the aisle, we could have had "Wonderkeys," "Wonderplanks," or "Wondersaws!"

Don't even get me started on "Wondernuts."

I'd tried running "Wonderbolts" through digital translators...most of the time you have to break up the words "wonder" and "bolt" (the software treats "wonderbolts" as untranslatable or a proper noun), but sometimes they turn out amusing results. I used iTranslate, which tends to yield a lot of accuracy with Spanish, but like any digital system, it's only as good as the programming.

Most of the time you end up with something that makes some sense (e.g., back and forth with romance languages like French or Spanish yields "Bolts of Wonder"), and some even produce near accurate translations (e.g. Hindi yields "Wonder bolt") but in some languages...

So, these all use "Wonder Bolts" as the input string, which is translated into a language, and then translated back into English. The results are entered here verbatim, with my notes in parentheses. Punctuation marks which appear are straight out of the result. Results which return to the original string or a close approximation (i.e., "Wonder Bolt(s)" or "Bolt(s) of Wonder") are omitted.

Arabic: Nails Wonder (Captain Spitfire opens a pedicure salon in the Middle East? Well if it helps the peace talks...)

Belarussian: Interestingly, Balta (Um...what about Balta?)

Bengali: Bolts surprise (A dessert for the iron deficient? Pinkie Pie must be desperate for ideas...)

Bulgarian: No wonder the bolts

Catalan: It's no wonder the screws

Chinese: No wonder bolt (Great, they've restricted their airspace. Someone tell Celestia. And tell Spitfire the demo's cancelled.)

Czech: The miracle of screws (The carpentry version of the birds and the bees? "You see, when a screwdriver loves a two-by-four very very much...)

Danish: Weird bolts (Sung by Oingo Boingo.)

Estonian: Interestingly, the bolts (Yes, what about the bolts? Are you going to finish that sentence?)

Finnish, Russian: The miracle of bolts (Same as Czech, but with auto mechanics. "You see, when a socket wrench loves an oil sump very very much...")

Georgian: Interestingly, bolts (Is it just me, or is Eastern Europe and the Russian Commonwealth getting cut off a lot in translation?)

German: Miracle Screws (Sounds something the late Billy Mays would sell.)

Greek, Latvian: Wonder Screws ('Nuff said.)

Hatian Creole: Is Vice (Yes, is very very vice. Amazivgy vice, in fact.)

Hebrew: This Screws (Wow. Creative. I'd have thought "This Blows" and "This Sucks" would be enough.)

Hungarian: Wonder, screws (and sodium benzoate as a preservative)

Japanese: What bolt? (Either they lost 'em, or they're preoccupied by Spikezilla.)

Kannada: Bolt wonder

Korean: The Wonder Vault (So that's where Kim Jong-un keeps his MLP:FIM downloads...)

Latin: Wonder and bolts (Name for a pegasus death metal band?)

Lithuanian: Interestingly Bolts

Macedonian: I Wonder Bolts (Philosophical, an Apple product, or a parody of an Issac Asimov novel?)

Norwegian, Swahili: Strange bolts (Yes, they sure are...)

Polish: Interestingly, Screws (...there goes the connection again. They really need better internet among their mechanics.)

Portugese: Screws of wonder (Didn't they make an NC-17 rated version of Teddy Ruxpin?)

Romanian: Ask bolts (I think Japan needs to. They still don't know Soarin is lost on the subway.)

Slovak, Slovenian: I wonder screws (The NC-17 version of Macedonia's attempt on the franchise.)

Swedish: Wonder Bolts (Seriously?! iTranslate gets it right when an educated human can't? I'm beginning to think Ikea had a hand in this...)

Tamil: Bolt unknown (Well that's why you have people at the hardware store who know these things.)

Thai: Bolts. (Period. End of discussion.)

Turkish: I wonder if the bolt (What? You wonder if the bolt what? Struck? Loosened?)

Ukranian: Surprisingly, the bolts (You know what? Forget it, we'll try again when Discord stops messing with the connection.)

Digital Art, Screenshot, or clueless with the software?

2013-02-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I started with pencil and paper. My best efforts are in my gallery, but I moved into the digital realm...

First, I have an undo function.

Second, I can save what I do and re-use it at my own discretion (it is, after all, stuff I produced, even a copy of my own material slightly altered).

Humans as primates are tool-users. What the old and new artists all need to realize is that the computer is a machine, it is a tool. A paintbrush is a simple machine: a lever. At its end is a brush, nib, swab, spray, or other device executing material dynamics upon a frictional surface to result in a line, a penstroke, a pencil line...

The computer is another kind of art studio. It can do whatever you want. It cannot create art on its own. The artist must impose a vision.

3D art has become easier thanks to Poser, Daz Studio, and Adobe Photoshop Extended. The problem is...how do we interpret art?

In truth, there is a great deal of 3D art on DA. Many people have produced quality images, although with many I have some technical issues...however, they're minor. But there's also more material that debases 3D art as a medium...mainly because too many people think all you need to do is throw a model together, push a button, and you have instant art without effort.

NOT TRUE.

Daz3D for example, in the Daz Studio 4.5 pro system (geez, you can get this for free) provides the basic Genesis model. This is a universally morphable model that can produce male and female forms of varying types. Additional non-human forms require add-ons...this system produces humanoid models. However, if you buy the Genesis Evolution head and body morphs (yeah, buy...come on, it's like buying a paintbrush set or an easel...or a neverending tube of a particular paint color), you can fine-tune a head to a particular facial structure. If you dig into the software, learn more of the ins and outs, you can even go beyond that.

Examples:

When I created my fan-art of Tavis Harts for , I had to look at a lot of drawn artwork and figure out how to translate it into a three-dimensional life-like model, or a stylized simulacrum. I'd had some old stuff kicking around and used a GenX emulator to make it work with the Genesis system. The head is the hardest part, as it carries a great deal of the fine detail that makes a character unique.

When I created my "Awakened Worlds" images, I didn't have the surface maps or shaders (basically, these are render system add-ons that tell the computer to make the image look like something else, working pixel by pixel...you can make something more realistic or more cartoony, whatever you tell the shader to do) I needed...so I rendered as realistically as possible, and worked everything together with Photoshop.

If art was as simple as throwing it together and pushing a button, then Michaelangelo could have just thrown a few globs of clay together carelessly and called it "David." But part of art is imposing your will on the medium and seeing what happens, even with a few mistakes along the way...sometimes those mistakes can produce inspiration. (The chocolate chip cookie, for example, originated as an accident...and became a popular treat.)

It's impossible for me to create an editorial that explains the whole of 3D art...I barely know the terminology myself, but I grew up with rendering systems, playing around with computers since I was very young and learning the ins and outs of graphics since high school. I had to play around with the system, make ludicrous paintings and butcher pictures before I got the hang of it. Even when people said I had an eye for photography, it didn't make me an expert at creating a picture from scratch.

3D art is part painting and part photography. You create the environment, but you need to know how to create it. I can't explain everything, but I can demystify some things.

First, just like in basic physics...you need to find your axes. The computer should give you a clue as to where up/down, forwards/backwards, and left/right are. The concepts of X, Y, and Z vary from program to program...but they are consistent. X is one way, Y is another, and Z is another throughout the software. Don't strain your brain on this, it's part of getting the feel of the program.

Second...terminology. It might be a pain, and it might seem like I'm insulting your intelligence, but a few terms can help out a lot. Some of these terms are quite universal, but sometimes you have to re-orient yourself to a program...once upon a time, I worked with "lathing" in Strata StudioPro. When I began learning AutoCAD, I couldn't find a "lathe" command, it was hidden as REVOLVE.

Model: A model is a 3D representation of a physical form, anything from a primitive (like a ball or cube) to a complex humanoid form and beyond. The term can refer to an item in a 3D construct, or to the construct as a whole.

Solid: A 3D model that defines a physical shape.

Primitive: the simplest kind of model represented by simple mathematical geometry. These can range from 2D models (squares, triangles, circles, ellipses, polygons) to 3d models (pyramids, cubes, spheres, cones, toruses).

Extrusion or sweep: this is what happens when you take a flat shape and extend it along a path. Extrusions usually refer to shapes extended along a straight line, while sweeps (extrude along path) can follow any line up to the limits of the software. A square can extrude to a cube or rectangular prism, for example, or a circle can extrude to a cylinder.

Solid of revolution or lathing: If you've ever seen a tradtional-style wooden chair leg, you might notice it's decorative bumps and grooves that run about its circumfrence. That is because the leg started out as a wooden cylinder that was placed upon a lathe...simply put, a machine which spun the rod about its axis while the machinist applied tools to it. The rotation against the tool carved it into shape. In a 3D rendering program, you create a line in the shape of the profile of the item you want...maybe a vase, a table leg, or a piston, and define an axis about which that line rotates to produce that shape. A simple example...if I take a circle, draw the axis through its center, and tell the computer "revolve it 360 degrees," I get a sphere. If I take the same circle, place the axis outside of it, and tell the computer the same thing, I get a torus (donut).

Wireframe: This is the network of line segments (edges) and intersections (each one is a vertex, plural vertices) that defines a model. A wireframe can be manipulated through:
-Edges: these are the individual "wires" making up the wireframe.
-Vertices: the points at which edges converge.
-Faces: Each closed polygon enclosed by edges.

Mesh: Some computer programs split hairs between meshes and solids...they may call a pure solid something that's immutable, but a mesh (in my opinion, a solid with an accessible wireframe) reshapable (3dsmax and AutoCAD do this, but usually they can inter-convert). Meshes allow you to fine-tune and tweak an object. Adding edges and vertices allow more fine shaping, but the more stuff there is, the more complex the object.

The model can only be made so detailed before it generates errors in the software or becomes so elaborate that the computer runs out of memory or processing power trying to maintain changes. Textures not only paint the surface, but they also generate fine details by giving instructions to the graphics processor. If you've played Halo...ever noticed how Master Chief's MJOLNIR suit is so highly detailed yet he can move so smoothly? The details aren't in the model (which has to update every frame so he can move), but in the texture mapping. This makes the details a function of the GPU (painting the stuff on screen) freeing the CPU up for physics and scripts.

Diffuse maps: this is the image itself that is applied over the surface of an object. It's basically the paint on the skin of your figure.

The following maps, though, are a little trickier to understand. They are (almost) all in grayscale. Think of it as a scale represented by black (0%) to white (100%) where each gray shaded pixel represents how much effect is applied. (Beware: sometimes the software scales black at 100% and white at 0%, so it takes some practice.)

Displacement: This is a fine-tuning factor where more displacement pushes the surface outward further. The graphics system will render fine three-dimensional details on a surface, treating them as actual physical mini-structures.

Bump: This creates the image of three-dimensionality on a surface...it's great to bring details in while saving render time.

Luminosity: In 2d artwork, it indicates how bright the pixels are (as in, I have a mixture of R, G, and B, but I need a brightness factor to make a color). In 3d artwork, this is a more potent factor...any luminosity above zero means the region generates light, that is, it becomes a light source.

Specularity: All things reflect light, that's how we see things in the first place. But...extra light produces "shininess." Specularity is how the computer knows how shiny something is. Think of a car...it's been on the road, it has a thin coat of dust, it's matte. Now have it washed and detailed...the car looks the same, but it has shine in most parts. The specularity is increased on the paint, greatly increased on the chrome, but still low on functional parts like the windshield wipers.

Gloss: More of a global factor in Daz Studio, gloss tells the computer how much light to reflect physically. 100% gloss is practically a mirror (although the computer is not going to create a mirror unless you have a generic object with 100% gloss in the model).

For dragon scales, the diffuse map is the scale picture...the displacement map is a black and white gradient on each scale (yeah, it's a lot of work, but this will make a more realistic map), with the bump map filling in the details. The specularity map will tell the computer where each scale is more shiny and where each scale is more dull.

The following examples come from my DeviantArt account here.

These images combine photographed environments and 3D rendered elements in a composite.

Will Do Biochemistry For Food

2012-10-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

The job hunt is driving me absolutely nuts. Now I have followed current events, and while I am not omniscient (read: "I could be wrong, I can't follow all the bazillions of news sources, both major and minor, it would take too long"), I'm not going to fault Obama...IMHO there are too many factors. And there is more than one branch of government. Greed, mindless opposition from the Tea Party (yeah, I've read up on them...they lost credibility with me on the 'death panels'), any wonder why his policies are suffering? (And I'd probably be a military officer if not for that stupid DODMERB...) The point is, I'm going out with a broad skill set, three degrees (BS, MS, MD), and nobody's hiring me. I'm not even putting up an ego...I have obligations to meet. And yeah, I'm wierd, but I never let down anyone who gave me a fair chance. This also explains why this latest ep of Kane's Mind is so late. However, I made a commitment when I started getting a lot of subscribers...that I would see this out to completion. Apparently...some people like the crap I do.

There are some issues I'd like to address...

I did retcon Kane's age owing to certain informational websites.
Allegedly, the Armstrong Station incident resulted in all personnel being killed except for Kane, and that he was sworn to secrecy. I consider this a discrepancy as there are indications it wasn't exactly suppressed. Kane may have pulled survivors out, and they're now working at SMC labs. Whatever the case, information got out, and the SMC grunts know...Kane may have been one of those people like Gordon Freeman, the right man in the wrong place. However he's still a Marine. I've known a few. Some have taught me tactics on the paintball field. They are trained brutally and come out the best on the ground. (Though USAF and USN will argue about the air...)
Some have argued about my political opinions. Personally I'm with Voltaire on this..."I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it." And actually, the line about Obamacare was on professional rather than political grounds.
"Kane has an artificial eye." This is another discrepancy between the lore sites and the game. The graphics would show at least a difference between his natural eye and his cybered eye. I went a different route using technology currently in actual experimentation, and following along similar lines as the "medchip." That said, I hoped to enrich Kane and stay within consistent precedents set by ID.

Oh...and by the way...here's the latest. Pardon errors with the Spanish...and I intended that there be a homage to Red vs. Blue, whom I sponsored since 2002...that and Spanish is a language in which I had high school training. (I'm retaking Spanish to hopefully attain fluency in a professional sense.) Some sentences need grammatical correction, others, it's deliberate. Example...

"I can has cheezburger" is grammatically incorrect, but it's an assembly of artistic license for a theme. So my best literal translation to Spanish would be..."¿Yo puedo tiene cheezburger?" That is, "Yo puedo" ("I can"), "tiene" ("has," the English conjugation, as in "he/she/it has," as opposed to "I have," "you have," or "they have,"), "cheezburger" (which would be translated as a foreign-derived cognate, like a brand name).

Seriously, I am not trying to rip off Red vs. Blue, I reference them in the dialogue (Kane is a history buff, so to him, Roosterteeth is part of modern media history) and in the credits.

Enjoy.

Kane's Mind Lives Again!

2012-07-28T16:22:00.001-07:00

Well, it never really died, but after a year of technical difficulties, chasing schedules across three time zones, professional issues, classes, and whatever else, Jared and I finally managed to wrap up Kane's Mind 25. His cameo is now DONE. Woot! Now to start work on KM26...that's going to be another trick and a half...but it'll be interesting.

So...where is the new episode?

2012-06-29T23:02:00.002-07:00

Okay. I have been largely busy, but with good reason, so my fans (at least those that read my posts on my site) shall be enlightened. I have been busy finishing up my MD. The bad news...I am not licensed to practice yet. The good news...I have my MD, which means I am as much a doctor as a PhD is a doctor. I'm working my way towards formal licensure bit by bit so sooner or later I will be fully trained and practicing. Or maybe not...I might end up like Michael Crichton and, while medically educated, produce something of worth on a sci-fi front. Kane's Mind is NOT dead. Let me make that clear. There have been technical and logistical issues. Bearing in mind that episodes 24 and 25 have been a dual effort by myself and Jared. Coordinating two people in two timezones with two lives and independent technical difficulties (my network and software issues and Jared's microphone breaking down) is not easy in an amateur production. Jared and I have been working hard to the best of our abilities to finish this joint project and get our own projects back on track. In the meantime I have been trying to apply some creativity in some spare time. I am glad that people actually like my work, and if people have constructive criticism (bearing in mind I'm working from the PC version, and making allowances for the rendering, models, and NPC scripts that ID software produced), I'd be glad to either make intelligent counter-arguments or improve my own work...or more likely, both. I'll try to keep kicking out some content that people actually enjoy. So far the MLTF2 dub spoofs have entertained bronies and non-bronies alike (kind of what I geared it for). I have one more in the works, and then I'm thinking of doing a TF2 dub based on "The Hunger Games" trailer. But Jared and I are going to finish KM25 so I can resume my own pace. So far...he's exceeded his own stellar performance on KM24. Ross Scott and Martin Billamy (Little Kuriboh) had long delays before releasing new episodes. I can only hope that I can meet the same demands for quality. Hang in there. It's coming.

2012-06-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

I enrolled in MiraCosta college to engage in a surgical training course. However, this course was exclusive to vocational students...to the point that, on the day the course started, I found out it had a THREE YEAR WAITING LIST. On the other hand, I managed to get enrolled in a class on Adobe Photoshop. It's a decent and academically relevant way to defer student loans, especially since CS6 extended (and yes, I own a legitimate copy now, thanks to student discounts) handles DICOM files, which are the format for medical imaging systems. Basically if I requested the raw data from a CT scanner, I could have the full imaging data for a patient. If I needed data between two "slices" (images taken on a given plane) for details on a surgical site, I could work it out from the same data. The radiologist would be important for interpretation of the information, whereas I'd need a map for the procedure. Ah yes. The photoshop class has been immensely beneficial. After years of pirating Adobe Photoshop, I can now say...it is worth every penny to actually purchase a legitimate copy with a license. (To anyone trying to sue me or press charges...screw off. I'm doing genuine academic work, and I have invested in your product now that I know it is worth every penny. I have a recipt. Just one more case where piracy has led to long-run profits.) Also, I recently acquired a used Wacom Intuos2 tablet. The surface works great for my optical mouse, and the medium-scale tablet area gives me plenty of room to work. I need to set the pen buttons, but the tablet works great. Wacom tablets rule. I mean if you want to even do amateur work, it's worth investing in a basic tablet. My old Graphire lasted me since college (1999) until I lost the pen and couldn't get a replacement. While the science involved in making them work is a hair on the complicated side, the result is a robust and long-lasting system. It's like the Logitech of tablets. (My logitech keyboard has thus far exceeded 10 years, and looks near to pristene after I did a thorough cleaning of it...even without cleaning, it operates damn near perfectly.) A good used Wacom tablet will yield some great service life. Primarily, don't be concerned about gimmicks if you're an amateur...a pro would invest the thousand bucks in a Cintiq (that's basically a Wacom tablet with a built-in monitor so you see what your pen is operating on). A basic tablet gives you the operating surface of a notecard. If you can work that area, great. In fact I used it for fine work in my early photoshop projects. However, a medium-area tablet (6x8 active area) gives plenty of room to work. Even older models like the Intuos2 (the current one is Intuos4) are very good. My replacement tablet was a used model, US$50...didn't have the mouse, but since I used a Logitech optical mouse it didn't matter. The pen was there and the damn thing works like a charm. With my editorial done, I'm going to put up my first photoshop project. All subject matter is used either because I built it, it was public domain, or I obtained express written permission. The image links back to my DeviantArt site, which has links to the authors of other material...worth checking out if you're a fan of space exploration. Orbiter, the XR1, and the Arrow (from the UCGO add-on module) are awesome. The only hardware reccomendation I would make would be a cheap joystick for atmospheric maneuvers (launch or re-entry). Logitech makes a good one for $20 that handles the basics. Thrustmaster is another brand I've known to have a good track record...while more expensive, they are very versatile. Here's the product of assignment #1: From: I may not be able to build an FTL vessel in my backyard...but...Einstein is one of my heroes for one reason. "Imagination is more important than knowledge." We have to dream to come up with imaginative twists, new hypotheses, new ideas. Science is a modality of reason, not blind faith.

POW! Right to the moon...

2012-05-02T10:35:00.001-07:00

If anyone's ever had a curiosity about space flight (and I mean the real stuff, not like space fighter simulations from thousands of years in the future or galaxies far far away where the technology makes things way easier) then there's a free program out there called Orbiter. Currently only for the Windows OS, but I'm sure an enterprising programmer might work something out with Orbiter's creator and work on a port to MacOS or Linux. This program simulates gravity, orbits, failure conditions, even flights to other planets with realistic management of resources (fuel, oxygen, heat).

You begin with a few different space vehicles.

The Delta Glider (DG) is a hypothetical single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle capable of interplanetary flight. However, despite its fictitious powerplant and heat shield composition, it's still bound by a realistic physics system. Due to its small size and long range, though, it's far more forgiving. Expect to crash a few times, though. Though it takes off like an airplane from Earth, making that transition from atmospheric flight to orbit takes practice.

I reccomend running the "DG to the Moon" tutorial. This will give you an idea of what to expect, and it will also take you through some of the more esoteric and essential terms of space flight and orbital mechanics, things like apoapsis (the highest point on a given orbit, called "apogee" if the orbit is about earth, or "aphelion" when referring to orbits about the sun), or normal mode (an autopilot mode which points the spacecraft out of the plane of your orbit, used for adjusting the orbital plane), what a transition orbit is, how to do it, how to land on a moon when there's no atmosphere...and it'll involve you in the easier steps, also teaching you how to read the data displays and what the information means.

Space shuttle Atlantis. This is a realistic simulation of an actual launch vehicle. Bigger, heavier, and without the fuel capacity or engine power of the DG. Flying this takes patience, planning, and a lot more skill. The orbiter does not move as readily, so maneuvering is tricky. I haven't taken this one into orbit yet, I'm still learning the basics on the DG. However, I also reccomend running the "Atlantis to ISS" tutorial, as it'll demonstrate things like orbital planes and why they are important, and how to synchronize orbits.

Because it's a simulation, you can quicksave your state, or exit the simulation (Orbiter autosaves the last state of the simulator as "Current simulator state," so it picks up where you left off when you resume) where you can save your last simulation state in an independent file, or fast-forward time (the 3-day long flight to the moon can be sped up so you only spend an hour in realtime). Just remember to be in a stable orbit or trajectory with the autopilot turned off. The autopilot program can't calculate with time sped up 100 times or more, or you may find yourself slamming into something you were trying to avoid, or flying off into space. (If you're really careless you can end up killing yourself and your crew before liftoff by speeding up time with all the hatches closed and running out of oxygen.) The "time warp" feature is handy, just don't overdo it.

The program comes with documentation. If you can't find information on a particular vehicle in the main Orbiter manual, look for the relevant operations manual...it'll give you specific instructions on items specific to that spacecraft (SCRAM jets, hover thrusters, various keyboard commands). If all else fails, hold alt-shift, and it shows a list of keyboard commands on screen. Release alt-shift to clear your screen and return to the simulation.

Other ships include the dragonfly, a low-orbit shuttle used to move things around between orbits, Shuttle Alpha, a launch vehicle great for low-gravity worlds like the moon and mars, and any number of add-ons, including sci-fi starfighters and warp drive for those who just want to play around with "what if" scenarios.

Some things I found that'll make learning to fly to space easier include:
Go Play In Space by Bruce Irving. This is a great guide that puts terminology and techniques into plain English. Think of it like "Spaceflight for Dummies."
Dan's Orbiter Page is the home of "Orbiter Sound 3.5," the sound module for orbiter. This provides the user with engine sounds, hull noises, and audible warnings. He also hosts "Universal MMU," a module which allows you to perform EVA's in orbit.
Aerobrake MFD (Multifunction display) module is a great way to help plan re-entry paths, helping you predict when to burn engines to break orbit so that you can glide in over your destination spaceport.

And of course, there are plenty of really good add-ons that make an initial installation of orbiter complete...
Apollo Mission Simulator for Orbiter has complete meshes and documentation for flying the Apollo missions 8 through 17. Missions are even subdivided so you can skip ahead to different parts in a historical flight (say you want to take Neil's first steps on the moon...just skip ahead to the EVA), or play out the whole thing.
Altea Aerospace is the site which hosts the XR series of Delta Glider variants, from the upgraded Delta Glider XR1 (upgraded controls and an integrated cockpit system make this one easier to fly) to the XR5 Vanguard (the shuttle-scale SSTO vehicle).

You can even re-skin your vehicles. All you need to do is find the save (scenario) file, open it in a text editor, find your ship among the entries, and add a line:

SKIN [skin name here]

Here are some of the examples of the many available skins for download (all images drawn from their original source on Orbit Hangar Mods, another great source for lots of orbiter add-ons):

This is a higher-resolution skin for the Space Shuttle Atlantis, reskinned as Endeavor.

For those who want a more martial feel, this is a re-skin of the XR2 for the US Navy flight program.

Richard Branson did say he would be starting up commercial space flights, right? You can see the future with this XR2 re-skin.

Uh...oooookay, while the Sonic Rainboom, while disputed by physics students, has been observed in reality occuring with Space Shuttle Atlantis:

I don't think the NASA engineers would appreciate the paint job (unless of course it actually did make the heat shield 20% cooler).

Okay, now you're just being silly.

GAAAAHHH!!! GODS, WHAT HAVE I DONE?! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!!

Additional resources:
Orbiter Wiki

Anyway, it's a really cool game. And it's free.

In other news, I had a guest shot on "One Hour and a Half Later" by Mark Taylor.

And I still ask myself why I signed on for this...

"Where's the New Episode?"

2012-04-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Damn, you know, I thought only producers of the highest caliber like Ross Scott or Martin Billamy (Little Kuriboh) got that question. And, to be honest, when I do get asked, it is prefaced with a rather understanding statement, such as, "I know you have a life and you're busy." True that. I'm studying for one of my med school final exams, the FCCE. However, I also am trying to get some study break time, and even putting in an hour a day on my video work makes progress.

However, sometimes people don't get it, so I'm going to lay it out.

Because this latest episode is a cameo I promised someone, it is taking longer. This is due to the schedules we both keep, and the logistics of coordinating two people in two different time zones. Jared is exceedingly busy at times. I'm hoping we can grab some time.

So, here's the update.

Kane's Mind episode 25 is close to 15 minutes long.
We are, thus far, 5 minutes in, a pretty hefty chunk of time.
We are working on getting the rest of it done in one session assuming we can schedule the time for it, although this may be a week or two away. If we can't get it done in one session, I think we might be able to finish in two.

I didn't get this far into the project to abandon it halfway. If I was going to pull the plug I'd have done so about twenty episodes ago.

About the April Fools' release:

I think this may have started with one of the Master Minds, with the Out of Our Minds series. It's lately become a tradition of sorts...mind makers might make at least one. I released this as an April Fool's joke because I had to give my fans SOMETHING...

Shout out to Curtis Trudeau-Brown (Corky064, Felix's Mind) for being the "Hendrix."

Until I can finish KM25, I'm working on bits and pieces of other projects, including another MLTF2 dub and an instructional video to teach technophobes how to build their own computer. Yes, even these days, there are still computer-illiterate people. However (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong because I would hate to misinform people), processors are hitting a new bottleneck...that is, the multicore processors improve efficiency, but you can still only cram so many transistors onto the silicon before heat becomes a greater issue. So, terms have slowed their evolution, which means people have time to learn about the tech before the learning curve jumps again.

Pieces out.

Build a computer and save hundreds of dollars. Part 1: shopping

2012-03-30T03:22:00.000-07:00

People don't know...but apparently when you get a computer, you pay a lot for preloaded software you don't need. You also pay for the labor for building the machine. If you do your homework and know what you buy when you buy the computer, you might be paying for honest labor and an honest price. However, for the most part, too many people don't know what they get.

I grew up with the tech trends. I messed around with an Apple IIe when I was six. I built thirty-six computers in high school in one batch. I went to med school instead of going into computer engineering...but computers are a part of life. However, they are a tool. They are only as smart as their users. Unfortunately, there are plenty of smart people whose minds bork at the modern computer. The thing is, it's not so fundamentally different as long as you do a little research. So, let's build you a new machine.

I make no money off of my brand reccomendations. Also do look at the date on my article, as the specific brands do change. However, if I plan this right, the algorithm should still be sound.

Planning:
1) General vs. specific purpose?
If I ask you what you want your computer to do, and your answer is 'I don't know,' you're asking for a general purpose machine. This is a balanced computer, not a lot of extravagance, but you don't want to be shorted on resources that will actually help. Specific purpose machines are built for people who know EXACTLY what they want. These are the people who aren't reading this. Next step...

2) Conventions and scale
What people need to know when buying are what the numbers really mean, and what practical scales imply. A few values are important, some can be varied, some have lower limits. If you have unlimited $$$, go for broke...but I'm trying to save some cash here. A newbie reading this can get a high-end system, know that it can do the job, and if he doesn't work it to the nth degree, it'll last a good long time...four years at least, over the two years expected.
Currently, as of 2012, there are some reccomendations on different variables. I'm going to talk you through them.

Hertz:
simply, cycles per second. This is a measure of raw speed, and requires a bit of mind-expanding stuff. Everything that goes on in a computer is based on math. Imagine doing your budget or working your taxes or even writing stuff by hand on a page. You could consider each action (doing a math problem or writing a sentence) a process that can be done in one unit of time, that is, a cycle. In fact, this is how programmers write the instructions (programs, software, applications). Each line of code (the stuff a programmer writes) roughly equates to something the computer carries out during a cycle.
Now...the operating system, plus the user interface (the stuff that you actually interact with in order to tell the computer what to do) runs in a loop, ready and waiting to accept commands.
Each second, the computer executes two to three billion cycles...that is, operations...every second. That's why it's measured in hertz...2-3 giga (billion) hertz (cycles per second.)
So, why should you care? Simply put, it's an unfortunate issue of the technology curve and the kind of computing power that the industry expects the consumer to have.
HOWEVER...the industry does not want to leave the consumer behind. What's more, before I got into med school, I worked in retail, and the industry had a love-hate relationship with people like me...I sometimes talked people out of a sale...to get a satisfied customer that came back for a sale they would want and were satisfied with.
So...this first part is kind of mind-boggling unless you spent some time either growing up with the technology or in a computer science class. However, there is a sound analogy:
A car.
Motor vehicles can be assessed in two key variables: torque (how much acceleration you can get out of the chassis) and brake horsepower (once you get it moving, how fast can you move it). If you think of a computer as a car in terms of overall performance, the CPU is the engine. (The CPU is, in fact, the backbone of the system on many levels, but I'm simplifying it here to explain.) The clock speed, rated in frequency (x amount of gigahertz...that's the frequency) is the raw base speed of the processor for its rated tolerance. CPU's will always run to their rated tolerance unless the software dictates otherwise. That's the basic brake horsepower. The torque equates to the power of the processor, which is a function of how it's constructed. That's a little more complicated. The bottom line is that the higher the hertz, the more oomph you get off the start. These days, 2.5-2.6GHz does wonders and satisfies basic needs.

That said, if you spend the amount of money asked for a low-grade computer and know how to shop, you can get a medium-to-high grade rig and, even if you don't use all the power today, it ought to keep you up to spec for a good long while.

Bytes:
Okay. When we talk bytes, we talk storage space. Storage space is divided two ways...volatile and nonvolatile. The key difference...if someone pulls the plug on your computer, anything in nonvolatile storage is still there, and can be retrieved after you reboot. (I know this from hard experience...I had medical essays set back by hours when my cat put her paw in the wrong place and shut my computer down...)
A computer is different from a calculator because it stores information in memory to be used in a later step in the program. This memory is RAM, random access memory. (The computer doesn't really store things randomly but it does seem that way over the course of a few billion operations. Don't worry about how many operations...at this scale it's a measure of speed...the people who do worry about it are dedicated and established programmers.) If you imagine the computer as someone doing your taxes by hand, the RAM is the scratch pad used for calculations. The bigger the pad, the more stuff can be done before it has to be turned over to a new page (next cycle). For RAM, you usually want 4GB at least. This is a decent amount to start. You can always add more later if you find you need it, but leave off such investments until you decide you want 'em later. RAM is cheap as long as you look for basic stuff like capacity. Some extravagances include built-in heatsinks, but that's for die-hard system tweakers at this point. Let's talk about getting you started, okay?
The other bytes you need to worry about are the onboard storage bytes. This is your hard drive. It's a high-speed magnetic storage device that is nonvolatile (remember what I said? If you pull the plug, anything stored here doesn't go away?). Because of its mechanical nature it is slower than RAM, but it is more robust.
For me, I think of a cell. The hard drive is your DNA. To make something work, it has to copy the information into something that works faster...the RAM is your RNA. After that, the system needs to do something with that info...so it takes it to a ribosome...
Okay. That's a little obscure. So, let me bring it down to earth. You want to get information from the encyclopedia at the local library (the information on the hard drive). But, library rules...you can't take the encyclopedia out of the library. However, they will let you take the encyclopedia to the photocopier (encoding the information to RAM), allowing you to use it.
The more RAM you have, the more information the computer can use at once. However, hard drives are dramatically larger by orders of magnitude (my computer has 8GB RAM...but 1000GB of hard disk space). Why? Because you, as the user, aren't using all of the information on the hard drive at once! However, you want it there because it's your information and needs to be stored.
That said...when it comes to hard drive space, in my experience, you can get away with 250-500 gigabytes of space. I have a terabyte (1000 gigabytes) and use it because I do more information-intensive tasks. 250-500 will get you started. You can always add another hard drive.

RPM:
Wait...revolutions per minute? Okay, this is a minor point, but something that might be important in the long run. I throw this in here to make things clear when buying hardware.
Hard disk drives have a raw speed rating based on how fast the discs (the actual components that store the information) spin past the drive heads (the things that read and write information...if you use cassette tapes, it's the same kind of operating principle). The faster the drive spins, the quicker you can access information. Unless you want to go cheap, I reccomend not skimping on RPM. You want to look for a 7200 RPM drive.

x:
8x, 20x, what does that mean? This refers to optical drive speed ratings. Don't worry about this unless you're buying drive media. In this day and age we have an engineering bottleneck, and the fastest drives are inexpensive.

3) CPU
Okay. Hopefully I haven't confused the hell out of you, but if I have, feel free to scroll back, print out, ask questions. I'd rather be patient and have you understand. Unfortunately I can't be there to help you so I'm going to lay things out as I've learned from experience.
First, brand names. If you're inexperienced, I would say forget Intel. Once upon a time, when model numbers indicated performance, I'd have gone wholeheartedly with Intel. These days, I'm trying to reccomend cost-performance benefits by experience. Now I'm not knocking Intel, they make a solid product. However, what I've used now and what I'm reccomending is an AMD Phenom II.
American Micro Devices (AMD) is a decent competitor for Intel, and like Intel, they make a solid product. AMD makes it less expensively for its performance. Depending on when you read this, I reccomend doing some homework...look up "benchmarks," that'll point you to performance data. Here's the deal...for fifty bucks a chip, you end up with (at last check, anyway) a 3.0 GHZ Phenom II x2 CPU. (I'll tell you about the x2 in a sec.) It doesn't take a lot of money to get some decent power.
Now, when it comes to CPU's, people may talk about dual-core or quad-core...the 'core' number is actually important for performance. I have an AMD Phenom II x4, which is an AMD (make) Phenom II (model) x4 (four cores). The physical chip breaks itself up into four processor cores, which divides the billions of tasks among them...this increases performance. More cores can be more effective if you run demanding apps. However, if you're not going for high-end applications (like massively powerful graphics applications, sound applications, pro-grade video software or massively powerful math programs) then a dual core (Phenom II x2) will give you plenty of power at a low price.

4) Mainboard
The Mainboard, aka the motherboard or MoBo, is the chassis that holds the engine (your CPU). There's a lot of choices out there. Once you select your CPU, it narrows down the choices of mainboard by socket...that is, the compatible socket that holds the CPU. It's not that hard...simply, will the chip fit the hole? This is easy enough. The CPU box will have a socket specification, and the mainboard will meet it. This will help you figure out which boards will meet your needs.
Mainboards rarely limit your capabilities by architecture (what's on all those squiggly lines running around the board) but might limit them by engineering (the slots on the surface into which you insert cards, or items that are physically built into the board). You will need to ask the sales rep. Here are some things to consider:
-Do you want to expand for the future? I reccomended 2-4 GB of RAM, but can the board handle more later? If so, how much?
-What items are built into the mainboard? Most mainboards at least have sound processors using Realtec or Creative chipsets (both are very good for basic needs), and some have graphics chips onboard (my computer mainboard came with an NVidia chipset, but when I bought it that chipset was bypassed in favor of a graphics card). A lot have ethernet (also known as 10-base-T or cat-5) adapters for hardwired networking...it looks like a fat version of a telephone socket. Sometimes the features of your mainboard may save you some money and hassle because items are already built in.
-What slots are available? Sometimes people add in their own hardware for different functions. You may end up picking out a new mainboard based on information you find out. Be prepared to adapt to meet current demands. These days tech has hit a bottleneck in physics, so you have low-cost opportunities to change.

5) Graphics
Well, you want to see what you work on, right?
I reccomend a mid-range graphics card rather than using one built into the mainboard. Simply put, the internet runs more and more elaborate websites, and if your internet connection handles the information, sometimes your computer will be hard-pressed to handle it. My personal mid-range reccomendation is an ATI Radeon 4550, but the equivalent nVidia will be just as good. At those specs it comes down to where you shop, and both will deliver equivalent performance. If the mainboard has an onboard GPU (graphics processing unit) of equivalent power, then you don't need to buy extra hardware.

6) Cooling
I am not kidding on this. By itself, a modern CPU can reach temperatures sufficient to fry an egg even before you start messing with the clock speed. This is within the manufacturer's ratings. It's also why when you get a computer there's a huge hunk of fluted metal on it with a fan on top. That hunk of metal is a heatsink. The fan is there to increase airflow. If you're reading this and want to build your own computer and save some money, this is how you make a long-term investment...
LIQUID COOLING.
Now for a basic computer...you do not need an extravagant kit with lots of tubes, a big radiator, and pumps. These days, it is simple. I reccomend an Antec Kuhler 620, a low-maintenance pre-built system. Sixty bucks saves peace of mind...and it cuts the operating noise. As far as cooling the rest of the system, this brings me to...

7) the case
This is what holds everything together. You have the backbone, the engine, the chassis, but you need a skeleton. Now, case sizes run in mini, mid, and full tower designs, with more exotic assemblies. I would reccomend a mid-tower...it's a reasonable size with plenty of space to build, and it's not overly huge. Full-tower designs have lots of space but...can get extravagantly BIG.
In a good mid-tower case you want 3-4 large drive bays (these are the 5.25" bays) for your CD/DVD/BluRay drives and one or two 3.5" bays for your hard disk drive (although a mid-tower case will have several more). Most importantly...you want airflow. A good case will allow airflow through the system in a consistent direction. Most cases are arranged so that most of the airflow will run lower/front to upper/back, drawing air over the components and exhausting heat from the case. These cases will often come with a couple of fans mounted strategically to propel air through the case. (The liquid cooler I mentioned earlier can have its radiator mounted in place of one of these fans so that it does double duty, moving air through the case and also cooling the radiator...it's worked for me. This mounting displaced one of the factory fans, but I mounted it so that it draws air past the RAM to keep those modules cool.)
With people concerned about whether they put things together right, I reccomend a windowed case. If you buy a simple case, an acrylic window isn't that much more expensive, and allows you to view the interior of the case without opening it. (I use an NZXT case, not too expensive, comes with two pre-mounted fans and an acrylic window.)

8) Optical drives
When I grew up with computers, I remember when the CD-ROM was a big deal. I also remember the 7th Guest, a game which pretty much sold the CD-ROM to the public, and became a proof of concept that turned this media from an extravagance into a reality. The optical drive is what you're going to need in order to install software, and perhaps create archival copies of your data for backups.
These days, you can inexpensively acquire a single optical drive that handles reading of CD's and DVD's...and also accomodates writing of writable and re-writable media. (Ideally, you want something which can write to CD's, DVD+/-R and RW. That handles all common media, and saves you the headache of looking for specific media for your drive.)

9) Power supply
Well, you can't just plug this into a wall just yet. You need an AC-to-DC converter system which delivers appropriate volts to each part of the computer and won't overload. Now...unless you decided you want a high-grade gaming graphics card, I would suggest you look for a power supply with a minimum rating of 300 watts. This will power the mainboard, CPU, graphics (whether on the mainboard or a graphics card), hard disc drive, and optical drives, as well as cooling systems including fans and a pre-built liquid cooler. If you use a higher-end graphics card, you will have to consider a higher-rating of power supply...as well as its configuration of rails. (Each "rail" is a circuit handling a specific volt/ampere combination. The volts are specific to the components to which the "rail" can connect. The amperes are an engineering limit of the power supply. In most applications, power supplies are easy. But, if you put in a high-end graphics card, look at the system requirements or consult with the sales rep to be sure you meet the power requirements.)

10) Extras that might be a good idea
Some people might call this extravagant, but I like to have these for peace of mind and utility. I've used them before many times.
One of these extras is an automatic fan controller with thermometer. I reccomend an electronic automatic system because it KEEPS THINGS SIMPLE. The one I use is an Aerocool FP-01 becaue it only occupies one 5.25" drive bay and can be set for automatic mode, allowing all onboard fail-safes to communicate. As long as the CPU sensor doesn't exceed 65C, I'm happy. (When I really work my computer, I rarely see the temperature exceed 37C, and most of the time it hovers around 30C...I set the alarm at 65C so that I have plenty of time to shut down before catastrophic failure, allowing me to shut down and save the hardware and software.) Bear in mind that this is only peace of mind. You have to spend extra to make it an insurance policy, including features that produce a second automatic shutdown in case of overheat. (A note here...most if not all mainboards and CPU's have this kind of fail-safe already built in to prevent damage in case of cooling failure. The sensors are built into the board and/or the processor, and kick in at a factory-set temperature, or in case the CPU cooling fan fails. The fan controller for the novice is a reassurance...as long as they install it properly.)
Another extra is based on preference...a front-facing multifunction port panel. These panels feature solid state media readers for things like digital cameras and video recorders, USB ports for extra peripherals like mice, direct connections for digital cameras, or external hard disks for backup (a good idea but let's deal with building the core system first). The FP-01 comes with a variety of ports, but do some homework...try to do what you want with less space and fewer $$$. You might find cheaper alternatives.

Next instructional post...how to put the thing together.

Skyrim: the character, the current state

2012-03-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

"If anyone had suggested that I would amount to a high position I would have called them mad. I was just one wood elf whose parents were wiped out in a purge, and ended up among other thinking people. I was raised to respect intelligent life. In my youth we had traded with humans and beastfolk in small groups. So what if humans didn't have pointed ears or lived as long as mer? They tried to live. So did we. I was an orphan, a survivor once destined for execution merely by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then I worked my way up to High Hrothgar with Lydia, my housecarl...although I treat her as a comrade in arms, as when open battle is nigh, she is invaluable as a frontline asset. It seems...although I cannot understand how...I have a skill with working the energy of magicka. When I reached the monastery...I did what the monks asked...and they pronounced me dragonborn. They taught me how to use my 'thu'um', that it was something that could be learned...but for me, would be natural."

"Ran into the Companions of Jorrvaskr...at first glance, the place looks like a stronghold of fighters...but going inside and speaking with these people on the reccomendation of one who pointed me here...these people, humans, elves, all...are all after my own heart. Honorable fighters, but given a task will get the job done. An order of true warriors, sparing the innocent lives. Although...there's something I see in a few of their eyes. A wildness...but it reminds me of the woods."

"Ran into a problem on a retrieval of an artifact fragment. Then...my senior went...big and furry. Wow. Werewolves are not only real, but the powerful ones aren't mindless beasts. They carry that power. I don't know if they mean to make me a werewolf...although...it seems to be up in the air. There is an issue, though, based on the conduct of people in the environment. This party...the 'silver hand.' My commanding companion's conduct is that like a soldier. Even as a werewolf, he handled himself well, choosing his targets. If he was a monster, I would have been fighting for my life."

"A later ritual...a human, Aela, was my 'forebear,' to invite me into the senior council of the companions, the 'circle.' I use the blood she gives..."

"HOLYCRAPWHATARUSH! Oh geez...I'm huge...I'm in Whiterun...no. The underforge. People will panic. Guards will arm themselves and I may have to act in defense. Better to duck out. There's a passage out another way..."

"Oh man, what'd I do last night? Oh, hi Aela..."

"The werewolf blood isn't so bad...I'm used to not being rested, and I feel alive, like being in the forests at home at times. What's more...it's not like it's in control of me. I feel like it's like my sword, only active if I pull it."

"The companions are well and good, but I need guidance in other ways. Blade, bow, and armor work well, but I'm a dovahkiin, apparently. There's a lot more out there. I think I need to head to Winterhold."

Much later...

"Are these people KIDDING ME?! I could count at least three senior mages that could handle the task better than I...all I did was do detective work and find the necessary artifacts to keep one location from exploding on a scale that would have put a crater in the map of Skyrim! In the short term I could understand awarding me merit...but they made me Arch Mage of the College! I am very thin on arcane arts theory. I am glad they still allow me to learn. Frankly I think Tolfdir would be a better Archmage...he has not only the aptitude, but the professionalism and the wisdom of experience. I only knew Archmage Savos Aren briefly, I met him reporting on errands while I was in the college. He was just, firm, and a quiet academic...and had a way of quietly earning respect. I'd faced entities that would start tearing me apart in seconds. Archmage Aren was one who could do it faster, but had a restraint about him. How can I hope to replace him? On the plus side, there is a pragmatist who deals in...well, I would say questionable goods, but if I am to be the senior of the college, I have to say he does not deal in things that could be...overtly catastrophic. Surely, a powerful weapon could be dangerous...but given the fact we had an artifact here that could have blown a chunk of Skyrim off the map...Enthir's dealings are fair and circumspect. Mages on campus with high level spells aren't deploying them on fellow students. On the other hand, I've faced said spells in the field, and taken down the casters with blade and bow, still surviving.
...maybe that's why they made me Archmage?
Anyway, many of the young mages here give me hope. Our senior librarian is an orc, very protective of the books, justly so. We have an ambitious Khajit who hoped to be Archmage...Maybe not the archmage here but he may be a renowned mage if he develops better spells. We have a nord mage, highly dedicated with a drive that reminds me of me when I was learning my own basic spells."

"I swear, half the time I come back to the college another dragon drops on the place and starts attacking not only me but the staff and students. We prevail again. All are alive and well. But Faralda...I swear, if she didn't simply try to emphasize that she was 'most helpful,' and simply expanded her own aptitude...hell, I lived in the woods most of my life before coming to Skyrim and learned merit over station, and that nobility is defined by action...if she stopped brown-nosing and simply went professional...
Tolfdir needs to be on the senior instruction staff, and Mirabelle Ervine should have been my senior, but if I am to be Archmage, I want her on hand to be my second because she keeps this place running.
Elves live longer. Faralda will either have to be patient, or put aside ambition for academics."

"This is getting more and more tricky. First the college. Now the Companions. I can't deny the services I did them, but I am a newcomer. Surely Aela would be a better leader for the Companions than I! And yet, at times when we fought together, she had a pragmatic bent that I would not have expected, picking up a staff of fireballs and using it in battle. That, and coupled with the knowledge that nords are not only learning at the Winterhold College, but Teaching there...perhaps, as long as Jorrvaskr and the Winterhold College remain neutral, that we can open all possibilities to the citizens of Skyrim."

"Like it or not, I'm rooted here."

"Twice already. I get hit by people jumping out of the bushes to kill me...and they have written orders mentioning me by name. And now, I get hooked up with this kid who's summoning an assassin for the 'dark brotherhood...' the party mentioned on the notes..."

"Astrid, the leader of the dark brotherhood, tried to recruit me. You know, I might like to learn to be an assassin, it might help me be a more effective warrior for the companions. But...I am a bit miffed that these guys are actively out to kill me."

"Arch Mage, Arch Fighter, and now, thanks to entanglements with a guild of thieves, arch-thief. With all these arches, you could build a bridge out of me!!!"

Skyrim: the character, a quickie

2012-03-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

"Can't believe my luck. Tied up on a cart bound for a fort. Judgement? I can't believe it...what'd I do other than survive? My mother and father are dead from conflicts with other mer, and all I was...a hunter surviving on game. I did nothing against others. Not human, mer, or beastfolk..."

"That bitch! She ordered my execution even though I was not on the list of condemned prisoners! I had learned from my people of process of law, that to end a life on a judgement of law was a task to be taken not lightly! She wanted my head removed on a technicality?"

"They say the wood elves are uneducated, but we are learned in letter and lore. So I recognized that a dragon hit this keep. I'm outta here."

"I kept close to the imperial until I ran into the stormcloak...they debated for seconds. I followed the Stormcloak. At least the Stormcloaks aren't after my head on a whim."

"Clear of that death camp. At least, if I have to face justice, it shall be for laws I actually broke. I hope to stay clean. However...this region appears to be in civil war. My home was hit in a purge by other elves. I dare not go back. I am alone. But my fellow offered me shelter, work, food. Even if I come and go. The town even has an elven resident. He seems more pragmatic...although his facial structure does not suggest wood elf. Still, he is a decent character."

"General goods storekeeper has a bit of a problem...seems someone stole an ornament, a golden 'dragon claw.' Well, he offers good coin for its return."

"Hunted the 'dragon claw' to a barrow. Found the thief, tried to give amnesty for information. He bolted. Ended up at the business end of a mechanized deathtrap. Ow. Still, I recovered the claw. However, I investigate..."

"Curiosity killed the cat. But some cats avoid the deathtrap. I managed to clear traps and undead...until I find a wall of an ancient script. One set of markings seems so familliar...no, almost known. It burns itself into me...that word. To translate into the lingua franca, it is 'Force.' but there is more meaning under it...how do I know that?"

"Returned the artifact to the shopkeep. Gained some gold and some information. I met my friend at his home...and his fellow 'rebels.' Yes, rebels. It seemed that I had embroiled myself in a civil war by association. Well, I might not be a politician but I do know who tried to cut my head off. He told me to bring a plea of aid to Whiterun owing to the dragons. I know at least one dragon is a threat, and it tore up a fortified keep. Time to move."

"Moved on to Whiterun. A long trip, but a decent town...people here are varied. While the homes are of artifice, even the humans bear the look of the people I know, tested in adversity. I even met a couple of my fellow bosmer. But, I needed to plead a case."

"The dark elves, dunmer, are more honorable than one might think. I met one who was housecarl to the Jarl himself. There are differences...but we are all people. The Jarl hears my plea."

"We have a call to investigate at a watchpost near Whiterun. Things have gone seriously wrong."

"Okay, worse than seriously wrong. The main tower is all that's left. What did this...okay, never mind...INCOMING DRAGON!!!"

"We managed to pin the dragon with sustained fire and kill it. It took all of us, concerted fire from archers. We were lucky. I investigated the corpse and..."

"OMFGWHATARUSH!!!"

"After I regurgitate my lunch, I look up at a skeleton of a dragon. Unless I was out of it for a decade or two, that dragon had been fleshed...I was told that only a 'dragonborn' could have absorbed the dragon soul. Was that the rush I felt? I take stock of my faculties...and there's a bit more of me there. What I saw before now has new meaning. One of our number suggests I should 'shout.' But I have a feeling it could...be dangerous. So...I pick a clear spot."

"I never knew my voice could tear the skin off a local fox. Ow. That had to hurt. I have to go back to the Jarl. I seem to be on good terms with the locals...I should at least get some information."

"HOLY CRAP! What in all the divines was that?! A word...'dovahkiin.' But it just...exploded through everything! I'm surprised the holds still stand!"

"The people here believe in a legend of a 'dragonborn,' one born with the soul of a dragon. They say...it's me. Apparently, that thunderous word came from a place in the mountains called 'High Hrothgar,' a monestary where monks learn the way of the voice, whatever that is. And that I have been summoned. One dragon wiped out a fortified keep. Another hit a watchtower and took a company's worth of soldiers to dispatch. There is a threat, and if I've got a weapon in me...I need to know about it..."

Skyrim

2012-03-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

You know, I don't think it is possible to do a "mind" series based on Skyrim unless you have master-level editing skills. Largely, the gameplay includes a lot of menu accesses which freeze game time so you can equip your character. These equipment changes aren't all without penalty in a hot combat situation. You do need a split second to swap spells or weapons. A skilled editor could work frame-by-frame to find appropriate transitions.

However, as Simon James and Jared O'Brien had tried to say in so many words by presenting examples in "Out of Our Minds" (two episodes I had been involved in and I hope to do others because, hell, it was so much fun), Minds series are easy to do...but difficult to do well. I actually found one mind maker on YouTube who actually re-voiced a voiced character, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 of the Halo series, and did a good job of it:

He even got tongue in cheek and held the dialogue for the cutscenes. He didn't even deviate from the scenario of "what'd I do last night..." Most people push that too far. With someone coming out of cryo it's reasonable, but if you'd followed the Halo franchise, MCPO John-117 comes out of it.

And yeah, the voice seems a bit young, but in Halo:Fall of Reach, John always seemed a bit young to me. And the timbre matches quite a few Marine NCO's I'd met in person...and don't laugh (civvies) or take offense (marines) because these guys were (and hopefully still are) fully-trained ass kickers.

I will say this...if this is the same Bethesda that was "Bethesda Softworks," the same people who created "Terminator: Future Shock" I will say this...why the hell did you waste so much time with Fallout?! Okay, maybe it wasn't a waste, I hadn't played it. That statement was a gut reaction owing to RSMM2's "mind" series.

A quick aside...I saw two "mind" series based on Skyrim. One had one episode and looked like it could turn into something good. One had multiple episodes and looked like it was going to turn into shit for a minds series and should have been established as a "Let's Play." I gave a lot of criticism to the latter. Response? He wanted more input. More ways to improve. He wanted something good.

Skyrim is something to experience. Bethesda gave us everything we could want in an MMORPG, including the interface, the interactivity, and the environment, with the AI dynamic...without worrying about PK's, resource farmers, and underground illicit economies. Plus, you only pay once. You don't get locked into a class. The only thing you're locked into as a character is your race. (The only thing I wish Bethesda did was offer more racial histories on each race so we could get more into our characters.)

If this Bethesda is the same Bethesda that did "Terminator:Future Shock" I only have one complaint...WHY DIDN'T YOU REVAMP IT FOR NEWER SYSTEMS?! Seriously. I remember playing it on a 386, then a 486...it had a solid plot and kept the ambeance. There are times I'd wished I'd been more of a computer game junkie in high school so I could run the story to conclusion...the story of a survivor, a lucky escapee of a Skynet death camp, joining the resistance under John Connor, fighting the battle. Things were silent...simple, you were running the solo ops, danger could occur anywhere.

Back to Skyrim...I have to say some things...but not from my PoV. Next post.

Familliarity through Education

2012-03-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

You know, I think relating my own experiences in learning how to work with this software might help the younger generation...the "underage" set who are making minds series before their voices mature...to become more effective editors. See...there's no crime in making mistakes. Nor is there a crime in posting it to YouTube, as long as you're willing to weather the rants and trolls. The crime is in refusing to acknowledge that you have room to improve. In fact, even the master machinimists, The crew of Roosterteeth, had mix problems and kludges in the earliest episodes of Red vs. Blue. (Actually I sponsored them from the start because I found the idea funny, and I think good arts deserve support, especially those that throw the product up for free.) Look at the difference between episode 1 season 1, and episode 1 season 2. And those two episodes were on the same original Halo title.

I started working on sound editing software in high school. These were the days of the 386/486, and when I moved to Mac (educational institutions loved macs back then for their resilience, and higher institutions love them now for their efficiency and power)...the 68030/68040. In my Junior year, the internet was just starting to become civillianized. Basically, I was living the tech trends and working with the tools, playing around with what we had. Lots of my stuff seemed pale imitation with bare improvement. However, I learned. With school projects, I tried to figure out the software...I created animated productions with the predecessor to flash. I made animations and movies in Adobe Premiere. I learned the rhythm and flow of various tools.

Thus, decades later, when I got to Kane's Mind, I was able to kludge Windows Live Movie Maker to produce a result and at least show that Sony Vegas was a worthwhile investment, that I could use it to produce something that people could enjoy.

So, I encourage you to familliarize yourself with the software. Figure out some tricks. Put stuff together. Don't submit it yet, just play with it and become familliar with various tools, even free ones. The better-written ones will seem intuitive. Also, work your files "stepwise," save alternate copies if you're not sure.

When I am working solo, I can do a lot of work in an hour a day.

Sink SOPA. Pop PIPA.

2012-01-18T17:24:00.000-08:00

The topic of this month and the next month...the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act.

A lot of people are "blacking" their sites in protest. Personally, I wrote my representative and senators regarding this matter. As far as "blacking" the sites goes, isn't this preparing for compliance with these rather draconic (and frankly unconstitutional) dictates?

To however many few of you actually watch my site, I would prefer to protest with the facts. And this person lays them out quite well. In fact, I post this video not only with his blessing, but his explicit request. Until I am sure SOPA and PIPA are dead where they should be, I am also putting it up on my featured tab on YouTube.

We already have copyright laws, which in practice are a double-edged sword. In fact, in practice, particularly with the music industry, the artists are making MORE profits with the file sharing and piracy in place. I would like to refer to a post by one of my acquaintances, Simon James:

http://parkers-mind.blogspot.com/2012/01/dear-mpaariaa.html

Especially where the RIAA is concerned, they can all burn. Frankly, I have heard that I could be sued simply for ripping a CD so I can use it on my iPhone. No file sharing involved...a legitimate transaction to purchase the disc, with transfer to an appropriate format for playing.

Furthermore, I have a prediction, if SOPA and/or PIPA pass...PIRACY WILL EXPLODE.

Cutting off the revenue streams to the major sites may stop them, but distributed file sharing will spread out. What if someone writes a tracker-free version of BitTorrent? You can't shut down the torrents by stopping the tracker servers then. Or, suppose we have another hacker attack on the US by foreign-based independent groups? It wouldn't take much to slip a brand new malware or spyware bot through (even US advertisers get away with this, gathering consumer information without prosecution) which bypasses a firewall or tricks firewall programs into allowing information traffic to this software. The program could then host a few hundred megabytes worth of packets. Expanded over a few hundred computers with redundancy, you effectively turn unwitting users into servers for pirated software. As virus checkers update to stop this malware, new malware is written to seek out the old stuff and patch it, making it different enough to fool the countermeasures.

With some more devious coding, you could even bait law enforcement into collaring people as software/media pirates, when in truth their only crime was plugging their computer into the internet.

Meanwhile, the legitimate users are tied up behind walls. Whenever you add a layer of protection, there is a cost in processing power and a cost in configuration. With one broad-reaching system, you end up with configuration problems simply because no two people are alike. Intellectual property debates will hamper expression. Unscrupulous and litigious parties will have grounds to throw lawsuits and criminal accusations around simply to secure more content rights just because the other guy's content is similar enough to have a case. And in the meantime, the real criminals, including the pirates and the RIAA, run unchecked.

You want to talk about lost jobs and lost profits then? How about an infrastructure that's turned against itself?

For those who haven't seen YouTube...

2012-01-12T22:53:00.000-08:00

By this time, it's been a while since the release of Kane's Mind episode 24. And well worth it too, because:
1) Synchronizing the schedules of two "Minds" can be a pain, and
2) The end result works.

Jared doesn't do improv the way I do improv. We have stylistic differences. So, I used my style of improv...and left an open canvas. What we got was a chocolate chip cookie.

Some background...I'd read books on invention, and the chocolate chip cookie was an accident in the plant. However, they ran out the batch...and it ran incredibly well. The rest is history.

Working with my style, that happens a lot. Sometimes I have an expectation, and then I take it on a tangent, editing or random ideas factor in...and then the lightbulb goes on. "Holy crap...this works better!"

Jared got a cameo for helping me figure out a technical issue a year ago. The first few lines were executed when we had a face-to-face meeting over July 4. I freewheeled it...and he came up with some great ideas in the process. Kane's Mind 24 is as much his talent as mine. And he finishes out his cameo (okay, not that big a spoiler, I mean if you've actually played Quake 4 you will know what happens, but...you don't know where we go with it, do you?) in KM 25.

So, here it is:

Furthermore, in the interim, I worked on another "My Little Team Portal 2" video. I did some research on the comments, and looked up some Brony opinions, and finally found roles for the Sniper and Pyro that did not insult the roles. (My first MLTF2 video had the Pyro as the "voice" of the snooty prince...) I hope to leave the Portal crossover out of any further MLTF2 dubs...it gets insanely complex at times.

On another note, I bought a Cherilee figure that I hoped to donate to Toys for Tots, but when I went to donate, the USMC already collected the bin. I'd welcome suggestions for agencies to which to donate.

And sorry, if I get too many private collectors, it goes on EBay. I bought this to give to charity. (Actually if EBay will let me, most of it will go to charity...like 75-90% of the proceeds from the sale).

Reactivated from the cruise!

2011-12-03T04:13:00.000-08:00

How did my cruise go?

I have three hours of digital video footage. However, I am not going to bore you with that, like some eccentric relative with home movies. Instead, I will show one high point of my cruise in a simple digital image:

Yep, that's a dolphin. Her name is Frida, she outweighed me 2 to 1, and I swear, out of all of us in the group, she liked to glide by me especially...she reminded me of Cortana (my cat). I'll tell you, this was better than what they offered at Sea World of California:

Don't get me wrong, Penny was a delight. However, there's a difference between the programs (the trainers will be there to ensure the well-being of the dolphins and the safety of the visitors, mind...the dolphins are trained but...if they don't want to interact, they will not interact!). In all my observation, the dolphins in both facilities were well-treated, healthy, and enriched...however at the Cabo center, these dolphins could expect random stimuli from random visitors (and the trainers watched the visitors like hawks, and the rules they gave...well, given my research and behavioral psych courses in college, I agreed with what they said)...

There are those that are strongly against captive dolphins. Me, I think the ideal would be like those dolphins at the facilities in florida where they are let loose into the open ocean, free, they get R&R, and come back when they want.

I'm back to work on my third (and hopefully final) rewrite of my Sci-Fi novel. As far as Kane's Mind goes, I'm getting back with Jared O'Brien, but I have to wait until he's done with finals. The voice work is ongoing and successful so far.

And IF I manage to finish and finally publish my novel (after more than ten years and three rewrites), look for this title:

And yes, I rendered that. That was back in high school, using Strata StudioPro. (And dammit, I will finish this book, it's the first of four in my plans...)

Kane's Mind will be done to completion. I started in, people like it, I should finish it. I cannot guarantee timing but...hell, I put my foot in it, I might as well finish what I started.

Oh yes. Also, I'm working on trying to go Windowless...I can't yet afford to go Mac/Windows transparent (I can't afford the uber-core minitower and if I'm going mac, I'm going Mac pro uber processor architecture), but I have set up a partition with Kubuntu...that is, Ubuntu with KDE. I've worked with KDE from Xandros, and I like the familliar environment and the interface. It's a little quirky, but at least it doesn't pretend to be perfect and ignore the user (like any Linux distro, you work with it and people try to improve it).

'Course I still have to boot back into Windows to use Vegas and Soundforge (I need all of the processor cycles and I don't know how to configure Wine to maximize performance, I am ten years out of date with these techniques). But, at least I have a fallback.

Addendum: I learned, on November 22, Anne McCaffrey, author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and for a brief time when I was in high school, my mentor over E-mail (I kid you not, I had some correspondence with her for a time, she even let me interview her for a school project...a really nice lady, and she gave me some simple advice, but hearing it from a pro really cemented it home) passed away.

I wish I could have finally finished and published my book so I could thank her in person.

Consumite Furore.

Hooyeah, Monetized.

2011-11-14T00:59:00.000-08:00

Well, those few of you who followed my blog...they've found I've put ads on there. It's the least intrusive means I can think of to raise revenue. Just visit the site and see the ad. I'm not going to prostitute myself to put adware or spyware on people's site (in fact I think that's probably against the rules of the ad agencies so if they violate that through my site, tell me, and tell Google, because someone's breaking the rules and I hate the douches who screw with the software on other people's computers).

That said, I'm not going to just go out and prostitute myself. I believe in hits for content. Now...at most, I may use YouTube as a hosting service and run hits through my blog in order to observe intellectual property rights...if I get money I'd rather have it be through my editing and voice work...and hopefully I can give a boost to ID Software...who made some good stuff through trust and sharing...I mean Doom 1 and Quake 1 started the same way, you got a whole ep for free...if you liked the game, you paid for the rest, but only if you liked it. And I like Quake. And I like to do Kane's Mind. In fact, when I was in grad school, when I wanted to put myself full onto studying but had a yen for gaming, I set up a quake 3 server. Smalltime (only through a DSL, didn't get many takers...and I had some good third party maps...), but I wanted to promo some awesomeness. (And ID made Q3A hybrid, so I ran it on my Mac G4 dual back in that day...hoo man that thing was hot).

If I get really desperate for income, I am going to put up a full announcement. YouTube will be hosting my vids, but the access will be through my site. At least that will be the case until I can run some independent hosting much like Ross Scott does with Accursed Farms. (I think. I don't know what he uses outside of Machinima.com.) YouTube gave me some wider permissions, so I can experiment a bit more.

On Kane's Mind...when people started liking my work, I decided to commit to completing the game. I had ideas to do a "point five" season (ID did hint at the end of Quake IV that Kane had additional orders). But here is what I will tell you. I started this. People liked it. So I will see this season through to the end.

Can I guarantee another season or another series? I don't know. Honestly. Like the Bungie reps were with me when I was at the Halo: Reach launch, they gave me an honest answer at the time. "We don't know." (343 industries, BTW, was formed of trusted Bungie people. The spirit, we all hope, is still there.)

Possibilities for a future series? Well assuming I don't get medical residency and it eats up all my time (which would be a big issue unless I can rig something to let technology help me...and if I do surgery as a specialty, I guarantee nothing...)...

Kane's Mind Legacy...Kane's grandfather, from Doom 3.
Clarke's Mind...Dead Space 1. Not WolfgamerX, I am not going to be Ben Stein on valium.
BJ's Mind...Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Jet's Mind...Tron 2.0. And at least in this one, where the fourth wall breaks down, there are reasons for it...awareness of being in a video game? The character is in a damn computer!!!

Kick me back some comments!

Let's Brony up this Shizzle!

2011-11-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

Oookay. When it came to the whole My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic phenomenon and the resultant "Brony" trend, I was largely in the dark until, thanks to my account on I can has cheezburger, I ran into a video on the front page:

I thought it was great.

I'd since worked with the Master Minds, working on two Out Of Our Minds videos with them. When I found out that a couple of the Master Minds were Bronies (figure it out yourself which ones, they're self-admitted), I had to investigate. What, in a cartoon based on a toy series geared towards seven year old girls, gets heterosexual men so interested?

So, I watched season one beginning to end.

You know what? It IS fun to watch. Lauren Faust created something that was not a little girl's tea party or slumber party. Frankly if I had a daughter I'd love if she watched this. It's not preachy, it's fun to watch, well animated, well-voiced, and ponies go batshit insane and cause mayhem. It inspired a physics presentation, for crying out loud. It's fun.

So frankly, yeah. I'm not going to go so uber-brony as to preach it, but yeah, I like what Faust has done. And in fact, the material has given me some stuff that I have used to create some Team Fortress 2 dubs. Yes, TF2 dubs. I actually found those amusing with some "America's Funniest Home Videos" clips, and even with "Saving Private Ryan." Like with a Minds series, when done well, it's awesome. I tried my hand at TF2 dubs using My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The first attempt went like this:

When I moved back to CA, I had only limited time to record for Kane's Mind. In the meantime, I found some material to create another MLP:FIM TF2 dub:

When season 2 came out, and the first two episodes ran along the same lines as the first, I had to admit...first, Demospike didn't have enough lines. Second, I had more material in terms of sound clips. End result:

Now...I am not abandoning Kane's mind. If anyone is still actually following my blog (granted I'm so not well known that I'm lucky if anyone is), then I have to let people know...I started this project, people like it, I want to see it to the conclusion of the game. I don't know whether there's going to be a follow-up project. As I said, I'm working on entering the medical profession. Time will be sparse on that score. However, I have found that I wouldn't be the first doctor with a machinima. And yeah, it helps that I have a life outside of med school.

So, on my blog, I must post what people have already seen through my YouTube account:

I must apologize for not providing even a heads-up sooner. Life happens. Enjoy. I'm already working on the next two episodes.

Enjoy!

On Mind Making, my humble opinion, #1

2011-07-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

I have this to say about the Master Minds...they know what they are doing. When it comes to the minds genre of machinima, it is easy to do, but very difficult to do well. This is no joke. There are people like me who just have a knack for certain kinds of improv work, shaping the scenario until it just plays out right. I don't know how I do it, sometimes I just make it work. I bet some of my harsher critics would say...sometimes I don't. Hey, I'd appreciate some constructive criticism, as I mention in each description for each YouTube post.

Making a mind series isn't as easy as filming a game and running commentary. Also, there's a lot of confusion between the "minds" genre and the "let's play" genre. Let me lay it out simply:

Minds:

Put the player/narrator in the shoes of the character. This requires acting and a role, as well as knowing the setting in which the character exists.
Have a fourth wall. Either there's some explanation for the game interface (in Kane's case, it's the implanted HUD system which every SMC Marine gets, with some cannibalized yet usable software), or it's ignored, or you have a hack to remove the extraneous items. Glitches are, to cite Jared O'Brien in Out Of Our Minds 11, ignored or explored.

The best example is taken from the best, so I show not my own work, but the first episode of Freeman's Mind, by Ross Scott.

Let's Play:
Can have the player/narrator in and out of the shoes of the character. Acting is intermittent, not essential, but not unwelcome. You can figure out or re-write where the character is, and change up things on the fly.
No fourth wall. You can act in a game or talk about the game.

A good example of this is rather tongue in cheek, taken from Little Kuriboh.

A big problem is when the two get confused.

Now, further, there are some fundamentals to doing this in Machinima and producing a good work. I may have said this before, but...some people don't listen.

Have the voice for it. If you want to do this as a prepubescent kid (and I'm not being insulting, we all grow up, voices change) keep it private and use it as a practice stage. Putting it up online will usually net you a lot of bad comments no matter how talented you are.
Tribute vs. spinoff. Tributes work very well (providing you have the voice and the skill for it). Mark it as such, and know...that this ain't a road to fame. It may give you some constructive criticism.
Constructive criticism is not insult. If they give you a reasonable idea or suggestion, it may behoove you to listen. People who bother to give constructive criticism may think you have what it takes, and everyone can improve. Even the best of the best.
Appropriate tools. Now you don't need to spend a fortune...my earliest Kane's Mind were done with a $30 headset, an evaluation copy of a sound editing program, and windows media player. You can make the best of what you got. George Lucas and James Cameron made masterworks before CGI, and Cameron even did it with a minimum of work. Even his prototypes were garbage bags and sticks before he okayed the money for the final work (I'm talking about Aliens, not T2 or Avatar here...).
The first take is not often the best. Yes, I improv. But at times, I do repeated takes owing to mic thump, or thinking I could say that line better. We do this for fun, not on a timeline. Take a few more seconds to do it better.
Mic skills. This is important. Don't just think that all that noise will be ignored. There are a lot more critical people out there, and YouTube is full of crap. Make your work more refined. You need to watch out for clipping ("mic overload," or when your voice recording is too loud for the mic, or when your mixing is too loud that it distorts) or thump (when certain syllables like 'p' or 't' create a drumbeat sound through the microphone). Now this is easy to correct, it took me some time to figure it out (I've been messing with this stuff since high school, don't feel bad about it, it took me a lot of time to work it out). First, when you have your mic, have it set so you can keep a consistent position of your mic relative to your mouth. That's why I like my headset, the mic stays put. The mic should be near enough for adequate pickup, but not in your mouth...I find the best position for my mic is a little ahead and a little above my mouth. Anatomically speaking, the upper jaw is fixed, the lower jaw moves. You will have to find the best position for your mic. Also, check your gain controls...gain is how much the mic "hears..." the higher the gain, the more sensitive the mic. Try to keep the gain low enough to keep noise out. If you find the right gain, you will have a clean signal. Clean signals can be boosted later to eliminate distortion. Signals with noise retain noise. There is a promising abridger doing "Disgaea Abridged" that has vocal and scripting talent, but the mic noise is screwing things up. Also, find a place where you can record and emote appropriately.
Ripoffs are bad, but homages are okay. A tip of the hat to other mindmakers here and there can be flattering and even lend a little depth if appropriately employed. Be careful, though. At least, it opens you up to snarky (and sometimes trollish) critics. At worst, if you really screw up, it will be a ripoff. Some homages have even become traditional for the minds series. Do your homework. And if in doubt, make sure you cite your inspiration in the credits.
Time. I found out the hard way that even if your YouTube account allows you to upload more than fifteen minutes, exceeding that limit too far will be aggravating to you in production and to your fans in watching. I made the mistake in one episode. Find that one and you'll find out what happened.
New territory. Even in old games. There are plenty of games out there, if you are clever enough in hacking or editing. I even found a mindmaker who made a minds game out of Halo that was actually fairly good, and I think he could turn it into a good series. If you think you could do better with a game (like I did), using a previously unused game will let you put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.
Have fun with the challenge! This isn't something we do for money. I do it because I have fun with it! I am a big fan of "Whose Line is it Anyway" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and this just works out for me!

I'll see what I can do in the future about other tips and tricks. I'm trying to see whether new mind makers are really up and coming out there. I'd like to encourage good creativity. There are cases, though, where it comes up on "Out Of Our Minds" and yeah, I participate. And I can understand why...the ones that get ripped on in OOOM get ripped up because they really deserve it...that and what got produced can be made funny. (So if you got featured on OOOM, I think you deserve thanks for feeding us some material for our comedy...but you should also take the lesson home and read between the lines...it could be possible for you to improve. Everyone can. I keep trying to improve myself.)

Just don't think what you did the first time is the best. Compare it to the quality of something similar...and know you can do better. It is possible.

When people don't figure it out, or don't take the hint, however...

What about the glass?

2011-07-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Is a glass half-full or half-empty?

Pessimist: The glass is half-empty.
Optimist: The glass is half-full.
Engineer: The glass is twice as large as it needs to be.
Ecologist: The glass would be completely full if not for global warming.
Accountant: Do you really need all that water?
Quantum physicist: Within the glass there is a 50% chance of encountering water.
Capitalist: Supplies are limited, order your water now!
Communist: Water rations are halved this year, comrade.
Surrealist: The cow is half banana.
Nihilist: What glass?
Nuclear physicist: If we knew when the glass was completely full, or we wait for the glass to be a quarter full, we can measure the half-life of water.
Astrophysicist: Within half of the observable glass, there are billions and billions of water molecules affected by a gravitational incline.
Gamer: This is just enough to get me to the well just beyond blue base. I'll refill there and get the flag on the way back.
Analytical chemist: There is a liquid-phase mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in a two-to-one molar ratio, covalently bonded; a gas mixture of 78% diatomic nitrogen, 21% diatomic oxygen, and 1% other gases; confined within an open mouthed container of an amorphous silicate solid.
Mythbuster: Water in the glass, FIRE IN THE HOLE!
Nutritionist: You need sixteen of these a day.
Physician: Only half of this should be given intravenously, and only after adding 5% glucose by mass.
Computer scientist: It has to be either full or empty, unless we're using a quantum computer!
Theoretical physicist: You fool! You altered the quantity of water in the glass by observing it!
Plasma physicist: Whoops, the water just evaporated.
Survivalist: Come near what's left of my water and I'll blow your head off.
Pragmatist: Just let me drink the damn water already!

On another note, I got together with a couple of the Master Minds to do an episode of "Out Of Our Minds:"

Moving back to CA

2011-06-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, by the end of the month, I will be moving back to California, hopefully to start a job before residency. I'm going to be studying my butt off in the meantime. So, hopefully, this video will tide you over between now and when I can get started again with production.

Funny what Portal 2 can inspire...

2011-05-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, Portal and Chell's Mind are CyhAnide's turf. This is why I made this edit video as a tribute/mashup/spoof of Chell's Mind and Dr. Who.

She'll either love it or send me an activated turret in the mail.

Episode 21...and some beta testing

2011-05-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Episode 21 is the first episode with two new changes:

1) This ep is built with new software.
2) This ep is built without the limit on time imposed by YouTube in the past.

Now, as far as ep lengths go, I'm going to try to keep episode lengths to close to 15 minutes apiece. The de-limit gives me some margin of error.

Now on this post, once I put the movie up here, I wish for some info in the comments. I need every shred of advice on pro-grade sound recording and editing so I can do what I can with the new software (Sony SoundForge). My situation is largely: how do I record clear signals and amplify them appropriately (without mass distortion) and then mix them in? Any user with experience in pro-grade software, please send me advice! Now that I actually have legit purchased software, if there are bugs in the software, I can yell at the publisher...but the bugs I think are largely in my technique (the sound files from my previous sound editor were easier to work with, I'm trying to figure out how to get the same quality here).

Without further ado, the next ep of Kane's Mind!

And if you have to MST3K my work...at least let me in on it. I do have a sense of humor! If I can't laugh a myself, what business do I have making comedy? (I just get ticked at BAD jokes.)

You know you've been playing too much minecraft when...

2011-05-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

You look up at the clouds to find north.
You've fractured your knuckles trying to get wood.
You read #2 above and completely missed the double entendre.
You're distressed that everything can't be fit into neat 1-meter cubes.
You keep throwing bones at the neighbor's husky to get it to follow you.
You've almost been killed trying to ride a minecart on the train tracks.
You've been under investigation by BATF for repeated purchases of black powder and sand.
The hardware store has thrown you out because you repeatedly tried to demonstrate how to make a workbench with only four wooden planks.
You've stopped going to the supermarket, instead going out to hunt random pigs.
You built a coal-fired furnace and ruined pork chops in it.
Contractors keep quitting on you after they see your plans for renovation...which include building a mob grinder in the backyard.
You've been arrested by the rangers at Saguaro National Park for sniping cacti at long range, and they don't believe you when you claim "self-defense."
You've been arrested by the rangers at Saguaro National Park for stealing cacti, and they don't think "chickens keep clogging up the works" is an extenuating circumstance.
The homeowner's association has lodged complaints against you for booby-trapping your front yard, and they refuse to accept that it's to "keep the griefers out."
You've tried to carry 64 cubic meters of sand at one time in a backpack.
You've responded to Jehovah's Witnesses with: "Sure, I believe in a higher power, I just want to know if he'll include rideable dragons in the next patch."
You've tried to ride a pig to work.
You have a restraining order from the state of Hawaii from the time you depleted the state supply of buckets trying to get lava.
You have a restraining order against you from the United States Geological Survey.
You've tried to fill your bank account using INVEdit.
You won't go out with your friends at night unless they can assure you they set preferences to "peaceful."
You're confused when the goths won't burst into flames during daylight hours.
You've tried to ask the CO at Fort Knox, Kentuky; and the DeBeers diamond mining firm what their seeds were.
You've been cited by the zoning board for digging tunnels under neighboring properties.
It wasn't the bow that got you tossed in jail, it was the 128 arrows in the trunk of your car.

--By the Master Minds, from last night's conversation.

That's all for now...except for one thing.

Freeman's Mind episode 32 is now on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1EPEK2k-0

Did I mention how much I hate the USMLE?

2011-05-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

They call it the United States Medical Licensing Examination, Step 2, Clinical Knowledge and Clinical Skills.

They should have called it the Unbelievably Sadistic Monstrously Ludicrous Examination, Career Killer and Career Stopper.

Let me lay it out for you...I've been praised for my performance in clinical rotations, core and elective. I have been up to my eyeballs in studies and finished multiple shelf examinations. I have aced all but one of my core rotations. AND I AM STILL HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE PRACTICE TESTS!!!

So I slug it out endlessly with the exams.

This is, in a nutshell, what would keep me from otherwise producing episodes on a regular basis.

But...I will not be the first doctor to have residency and a movie project. So it is possible that I can see this all to completion.

I will keep working. And when I meet this test, I will rain down hell upon it and it shall be laid to burnination.

In other news...

It's official. I have been accepted into the ranks of the Master Minds. To be truthful, I'm honored and humbled. These guys have been at the top of the Minds game for years longer than I have. And then there's Ross Scott, who, IMHO, isn't so much a Master Mind as he is an Uber Mind, having spawned this whole genre with Freeman's Mind. So that's now the high point of my day.

I've also ordered Sony Vegas 10 Platinum Suite, which should accomplish two things:
1) It will render unnecessary three or four programs on my hard drive, which I can now uninstall.
2) It's far more lag-free and not prone to frame drops like Windows Live Movie Maker (which I had been using because it was free and already installed...and now I can use something that works better). So with that being easier, I can do the same work in less time...which is also what I have on hand...less time. However I'm going to see what I can do about filming for the next episode...

More good news. YouTube has de-limited my time. I'm no longer bound to a 15 minute limit. However, I'm going to try to keep the eps to about 15 minutes apiece...having the limit gone means I have a margin for those extra few minutes on the tail end, and don't have to split episodes up so much.

So, we'll see what happens.