Simulated Death

Obviously, something that has been on the news so much we can't avoid thinking about it (try as we might) is the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and what should be done about it. There are obvious ramifications on all fronts, and I really appreciate how this issue transcends (for the most part) party politics. Unfortunately that taint is still there, but on the street, from what I've heard from people I've talked about, being a Republican or Democrat is pretty much irrelevant to where you stand on the issue. I don't have a legal degree, I am not a policy maker. I'm an United States citizen. So here is what I think.

1) Is Waterboarding torture?
The justification for this not being torture was that it didn't do any lasting harm and would not cause prolonged suffering. You're just simulating drowning. Only then another memo came out that said water MAY be inhaled. In the words of Aandail: At that point, you're not simulating drowning. You're actually drowning. You're simulating death.
Yes, there's a doctor present. You know, the Holocaust had doctors present, too. The logistics are pretty much irrelevant to me.

2) Should those at the top be prosecuted?
I agree with those who say that the people who had to actually perform these 'enhanced interrogation techniques' should not be punished because they were doing what they were told. I remember 'A Few Good Men', we basically program soldiers to not question, and they are already in extreme circumstances. I can't imagine that they send the fluffy bunny guards to Guantanamo and I'm sure the mental toll of being down there, with people who may be responsible for the deaths of Americans is easy on them. And it's comforting like I said that both sides are very supportive of the troops.

Well, except those people who try to blame them. Or who put them in prison for it, and then let them sit there for FIVE YEARS and only now are saying 'Oh, no, we shouldn't get mad at them'. But that's a totally different post.

So then the question is: What do we do with the people at the top? To be honest, though my populist rage rants that they should all be taken to court, 1) We simply do NOT have enough information to make any kind of legitimate judgment and 2)...it's never going to happen. We are never going to prosecute the former President of the United States for something like this, even if we wanted to. So I leave that sort of question to the policy makers.

3) Is it effective?

This then is the crux of my issue. The former Vice President, who had these files in his OFFICE, says that we were able to produce good information from using these techniques. He has provided (admittedly not much) evidence to say so. *Maybe* lives have been saved through this.

The other side says that you can't trust information obtained under extreme duress because the victim will be tempted to say something, ANYTHING to make it stop. Furthermore, if the victim IS a terrorist, they have probably been trained, much like our soldiers have, to withstand interrogation techniques such as these.

Perhaps most problematic is the fact that because WE, the United States, did this...terrorist organizations actually get MORE converts. This is a great recruitment tool because it makes US the badguys and THEM, that is, the terrorists, the victims. Apparently Torture=Door to Topsy Turvy Land.

...

But all of this is absolutely irrelevant. It does not MATTER if torture was effective, I don't know why we are even discussing it. There is never a single justifiable reason to put a human being through processes like this.
I don't CARE what they did, this is NEVER okay.

We forgive soldiers in warfare because war is a terrible terrible thing and people feel forced to do terrible things in war. And to me...this wasn't war. These were prisoners, captives, many of whom were not given a trial, we don't even know if they DID anything wrong.

I've been told by some people, that this attitude of mine makes me Un-American. And do you know why?

Because I am unpatriotic enough to consider ALL human life EQUALLY valuable, whether you are white, Arab, black, female, Muslim, poor or disabled. And I hate to say it, but here in the U.S. if you aren't a rich, White Protestant male, the odds are stacked a bit against you. This is changing, for sure, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But for me, I consider all life important, and if it isn't okay to do to US, it isn't okay for us to do it to THEM.

So it doesn't matter to me if we were scared after 9/11, or how much evidence Dick Cheney, the most aptly named man ever, produces. Torture is morally WRONG. Always, under all circumstances.

I just hope people can get over the petty political squabbling and get this cleared away so we can move on to other issues.

Here, have a video.

http://www.rockcookiebottom.com/post/97815385/109-for-this-song-i-took-language-directly-from

~C

~EDIT: ALSO...I would LOVE to see Sean Hannity actually follow through on his word and get waterboarded for charity. I hope he doesn't disgrace the soldier's families by backing out after he talked so big. Can you think of many people who deserve it more?

Adventures in Azeroth: Chapter 1 (Till I come up with something clever)

~All the usual disclaimers~

The psychological rape of the troll priest Rezzirection was undoubtedly the most deliciously cruel thing Anaemus had ever attempted.
For her part, Zi was in a world of turmoil. She could be certain of the reality of nothing. What truly transpired and what was the result of Anaemus' clever suggestions (and outright dark magic) mixed into an indecipherable account so that Zi no longer trusted her memory for anything. She found herself questioning everything that had ever happened to her. Well, almost everything.
When she had first come to the Lich King's camp and then to the outpost that Anaemus had been assigned, she had been shackled by the neck to a wooden pole while the Death Knight went out to fight or spread her corruption. Zi was left alone, sometimes for days, with no one to speak to. While accustomed to loneliness, the lack of all forms of conversation, joined with being left with only her garbled thoughts and memories were slowly decaying her psyche. Then Anaemus would return and from the way her ice and incarnadine eyes shone, Rezzirection could see a mountain of corpses, bodies mutilated, faces twisted around in agony.
Anaemus kept her constantly off balance by not allowing her any sense of regularity. Sometimes when she returned, Zi would be ignored for a long time. Other times, Anaemus would regale her with bloody accounts of villages sacked, families burned alive, their screams filling the night air. Once, Anaemus had come back wounded and, bringing Zi into her tent, asked if she could help her. It had just been a bone fracture in her shoulder, and when Zi finished (because what else could she do?) Anaemus had stayed lying on her side, faced away and silent. It occurred to Zi to run away but she had no idea where she'd go or what she would do. While she considered, she became aware of a soft sound.
“Are you...are you crying?” she asked, incredulously. Anaemus didn't answer though her lithe body had started to tremble. Rezzirection was torn between opposing forces. Was this another trick? Part of her knew she had been played with before and perhaps this was all part of a larger game. On the other hand, hers was a soft heart, incapable of seeing another suffer without attempting some comfort. And certainly, Anaemus had been considerate to her on their short journey, had never harmed her so far and had even been surprisingly gentle on occasion. Hadn't she?
But then there had been the other times, the times that had made Zi afraid of the dark elf, the times filled with pain and guilt. Had both happened or neither? Unsure of everything, Zi put a hand on Anaemus' shoulder. There was a stiffening but still, no word. Compelled by a mix of compassion and some sense of dependence, Zi laid herself down behind the shivering elf. As she moved her arms around to cradle the much smaller form, Anaemus turned over and buried her face against Zi and cried out a story of forced warfare, a broken spirit and a wish for redemption.
Had that really happened? Zi's head spun as she tried to consider it all.

~~
Anaemus allowed herself to be seen well before she needed to, knowing her unnatural complexion and dark armor would declare her a knight of the scourge. Not her usual modus operandi, but the Lich King had been very clear. She glanced to the side. In her hand, besides the reins of Asmodeus, her hellsteed, she held a leather leash, attached to a magicked felt collar around Rezzirection's neck. The troll priestess hadn't said anything for hours, lost as she seemed to be in her own mind. Anaemus hoped she was overanalyzing her situation, tearing her mind to pieces which would inevitably lower her defense. She was close now, almost ready. Anaemus suppressed a shiver of delight.
A gentle kick and Asmodeus broke into a gallop, Rezzirection's own steed forced to pick upthe pace to keep up. They made an imposing sight, charging into the Eastern Camp. Anaemus ran over what she knew one last time. In the past, she had most frequently been sent to the North, while this former Commander was a strong force in the East. Never one to play well with others, she was most often assigned assassination and “corruption” missions of sabotage and torture. Her jaw clenched at being forced into an alternative role.
When she was certain the whole camp had eyes for her, she spoke in a clear, commanding voice.
“I seek Varog Bonegrendel, commander of the Eastern Forces of the Scourge.”
A burly orc emerged from a dark green tent. He held his head high and carried his monstrous armor well, moving with a steady pace that bespoke both strength and agility. His unnaturally light hair gave him an aura of distinguished disciplined, though he glowered at her, his tusks moving strangely as he talked. Inwardly, Anaemus groaned. Of course he's an orc...
“I am Varog,” he identified himself. Anaemus dismounted, pointedly ignoring Zi, who remained seated on her raptor.
“I am Anaemus, just come from the King's camp. I bear a message for you.”
The orc did a good job of covering his reaction to her previous location, though she noticed his eyes tighten a little at the corners. Something else seemed to surprise him more.
“Arthas sends a Death Knight as a messenger-girl?” He paused, then threw back his head and laughed, deeply, the sound greatly offending her elfin ears.
“You must have done something very wrong.”
Anaemus' eyes narrowed to dark slits, partially out of contempt and partially because he was technically right. Arthas had sent her, one of his warriors, on an errand worthy of a ghoul. “To test her” after her bout with the light. But it was a pretense of a pretense for she was sure that before long he would have an assignment that required her singular talents. Varog's eyes moved past her to Rezzirection.
“A prisoner?” he questioned, his shoulders heaving as he resettled his armor.
“A pet,” Anaemus smiled, tugging the leash just lightly enough to indicate Zi should come down. Varog peered at the troll who glared at him, defiantly, though she was clearly shaken.
“A zombie?” he glanced at Anaemus.
“Oh, no. Well, once, yes. But she retains her free will. She stays with me willingly, don't you, love?” Anaemus stroked Rezzirection's face. For her part, Zi did not believe she was there willingly and she flinched at Anaemus' cold touch.
“Hmph,” the orc grumbled, making it clear what his opinion of free will was. He motioned almost imperceptibly with his hand and the earth starting to rumble benath their feet. A hand shot out, dirt under crooked nails. Then another, both pushing up, until a being that was once a human male but now all but unrecognizable shambled up, limbs held akimbo and eyes lifeless.
“This is the only kind of “pet” I require, elfling. One that conforms to my orders. That's the only kind of soldier I want too.” He looked at her pointedly. She smiled, recognizing the difference in their approach. The sheer poetry of the way she was rewriting Rezzirection's soul was obviously lost on the brutish commander.
“And I'm sure they appreciate having a commander with so many,” she paused to make sure the barb stuck, “MANY years of experience.”
He glowered at her, his braids rustling.
“Age matters less when you're dead,” he pointed out, admittedly accurately.
“And from the looks of you, so does appearance.”
Varog gritted his teeth. He bent so that his face was close to hers, craning his neck because she was so much shorter than him.
“Listen to me, vampire,” he spit the word out like a blasphemy (which, again, was admittedly accurate), “I do not have time for word games played with twigs. Give me the Lich King's message or get out of my way.”
If Anaemus was intimidated, she didn't let it show. Instead, she inclined her head in a slight bow.
“As you say...Commander.” Her voice was a study in layered subtlety as she managed to grant him the victory while at the same time undermining him by ensuring he knew the formality was just that...a formality. He spun on his heels and stalked towards the tent, motioning her to follow. Anaemus smiled impishly at Rezzirection before disappearing into the dark command center.

Adventures in Azeroth: Homecoming

Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of a lot of description, I am basically running under the assumption you know what Arthas looks like. Just imagine a drow, and you know what Anaemus looks like.

~~
The tent was dark despite the size. A large pole in the center lifted it high, but save for when a bitter wind blew across the doorflap, there was almost no light. What light there was inside came from a single torch that burned blue and stopped halfway through the room as if hiding from the figure in the center. Anaemus hardened her eyes and refused to cower, though her ears were ringing from the tension in her head. Taking several determined steps forward, the dark elf dropped to one knee, her head drooped low. A dark throne, trimmed in human bones held a sitting figure which exuded raw power.
“My Lord,” she breathed, as much awe and reverence as she could fill two words with. Her eyes flitted up briefly and she found herself, as always, flinching before the mighty figure of the Lich King. The darkness itself wrapped around him like a cloak fringed in unadulterated malice. His heavy armor made no sound though Anaemus knew she could never lift a piece of it. He held the greatsword, Frostmourne in one hand, the point stuck in the ground as he twirled it with the top of the hilt. He said nothing and she could not make out any expression from his obscured features, though his eyes glowed malevolently within his helmet.
“I've returned, lord. After your, “betrayal, came to mind but she said, “withdrawal from the Knights of Ebon Hold-”
A snarl from the fallen paladin told her she was on thinning ice.
“...I was forced to perform the demeaning task of faux redemption, but now I wish to return to your rule. As always, I am bound to your will.”
She held her breath and had her heart still beat, it surely would have demolished her chest. A gloved finger reached out and touched her face.
“So,” a voice raspy and laced with frigid hate, “you fought through the forces of light to come back to me.”
She lifted her head slightly and smiled. Arthas' glove rested on top of her head and she felt joy swell within her.
“Tell me...,” he continued, his voice almost conversational, “...what possible interest do you think a single Death Knight holds for me?!” This last was roared as his arm came across her, sending her flying backwards across the room, her flight halted by a metal column. She screamed as her head snapped back and she fell to the ground, pain wracking her entire body. Her breath came in gasps and icy-blood poured from the side of her mouth, the blue fringes of her eyes glowing brighter. The Lich King remained seated, having used not a fraction of his power to almost destroy her in a single blow. She remained on her hands and knees, head swimming as she tried to process her next move. The wind picked up again, blowing the door to the tent open. From the corner of her eye, she saw the priest she had been “grooming”, held by manacles attached to a pole. The troll was kneeling and appeared to be praying. Arthas had apparently caught Anaemus' gaze and he too turned to the figure.
“Is that...yours?” he rasped. Anaemus pushed herself back onto her knees, one hand against her abdomen where she was certain she was bleeding internally.
“For the moment, my lord. I “acquired” her on my travels.”
“What is she?”
Anaemus managed a thin, empty smile.
“A pet, lord, among other things.”
Arthas sniffed, and Anaemus stiffened, frightened that her levity had gone too far.
“Priest...”he breathed out.
“One of the Shadow when I found her, lord, but since she has come into my service she has returned to the Light.”
Arthas turned again to Anaemus and seemed to be considering something. Then he chuckled, a sound all the more frightening for its lack of mirth.
“A twilight priest in service of a fallen knight, giving life to the bringers of death.” The notion seemed to amuse him greatly. Anaemus inclined her head.
“In service to the Dark Prince.”
Arthas laughed again.
“Good, Death Knight. Break her. When she is ready, she will be of great use to us in the coming battles.”
Anaemus bowed again.
“Yes, my lord, as you command.”
She stood as gracefully as possibly, though hindered by the pain in her side. She paused when she heard him speak again.
“And Death Knight.

Welcome home.”

Adventures in Azeroth: Cast of Characters

So you know that consistency I suck at? Like, how I haven't put up 'Wisdom of Kerbochaurd' in two weeks? Well we're going to ADD to that! YAY!

I used to have pages of storyline written regarding my WoW chars and those I played with but alas, most of them were lost in the Great BoB Purge of the Last Hardrive. So we're more or less starting from scratch, which has the benefit of thinking things through in a fresh way and the downside that if I were to just launch into what I have so far...you would be thoroughly confused.

Hence I provide here a small cast of characters that will surely grow as I bring in more or altogether different storylines, as the mood takes me.

Characters and the Story So Far:

In Alphabetical Order:

Anaemus: Blood Elf Death Knight, Frostpire (in case that's hard to figure out: frost-vampire). Assassin and "Corrupter" for the Lich King.
Appearance: Silver-white hair worn in a high ponytail; red eyes fringed in ice-blue, delicate features, obviously always fully armored.
How Anaemus came to be in service to the Scourge is still a mystery, perhaps even to herself. When she was Raised, she found the dark forces had twisted her soul and required her to consume the blood of the living in order to be at full strength. As a Corrupter, her duty is to turn others, frequently through torture, which makes her a brilliant manipulator, and violator of the mind and spirit.

Rezzirection: Troll Priestess (Holy, though previously Shadow). Former companion to the Penanced Born and currently captive of the Death Knight Anaemus.
Appearance: Straw-colored hair in two braids down the front, one in the back and an excess that falls to her waist. Green eyes, dark blue skin, a youthful face, extremely tall. Usually wears the robes of her office.
Rezzirection, of the Eight Arrows Tribe was raised to be the Priestess of her village, arguably the single most important position. When a strange Blood Elf with a marked face came through, however, Zi left it all behind to follow her. They were together for a long, though indeterminate amount of time, with a strong if someone difficult to define relationship. Rezzirection was pulled from her lover by a summons from her mother to return to her native village. Somewhere along the way she was lost and her brother Gaesekki, along with a huntress of the tribe, Cerastes were sent out to find her.

This is as far as Zi remembers. At some point along the way, she died. In exchange for a second chance at life, she allowed her soul to be poisoned and became a Shadow priest, one who called upon the sacred powers to destroy and agonize instead of healing and comforting them, as was her nature. She is unaware that she was also a zombie for a time and that Penanced found her in that state.

She was found/captured/enslaved by Anaemus, which is where our story picks up.

A Note on Extremism

This is going to be one of those "But we all knew that, why did you have to write about it?" type posts and the answer is: Because it's my blog and I felt like writing what I was thinking about.

Recently someone on Facebook posted something someone wrote about how he was considered an extremist because he is a Christian and goes to Church and fellowships with other Christians. For some reason I was reacting to something about it but for a while I could not figure out what.
As I considered, this is the way the thought process was worked out.

I absolutely agree that it is unfair to pigeon-hole people based on the actions of a few. Going to church, praying, even being an active member in the congregation does not make you an extremist. It does not mean you abandon all rational thought and are at the beck and call of your religious leaders. Having faith in a supernatural force does not make you a sheep or a freak. This is true of all religions: yes, there will be people who go too far (though I am of the inclination to believe they were predisposed to be like this to begin with either through societal or biological functions and that the religious aspect is just a vehicle to manifest these tendencies)and unfortunately, those people will mar the message or spirit of their own viewpoint. In the same way, because one or two students cheat on a test one time...for the rest of forever, rules have to be put into place to make sure such opportunities are not made, even though the majority of students would never want to utilize them in such a way.

The few make it suck for everyone.

So, as mentioned, having a faith is not the same as being a fanatical nutjob who stands on his tower with a sniper rifle waiting for the servants of the devil to come and taint his children with the evils of evolution and liberalism. That's dumb, and the people who portray individuals like that unjustly do a great disservice, not only to those they are making fun of, but to themselves as well.

I remember starting college and getting the impression that "We tolerate all faiths and lifestyles...well, except yours", it seemed to me at the time that Christianity was singled out as the kind of illegitimate stepchild that was allowed in but barely tolerated. This was probably mostly due to having been very sheltered my whole life and not accustomed to any other way of being, which made me overly sensitive because that impression faded fairly quickly.

But what was bothering me?

The same thing that I find myself ranting about all the time here: hypocrisy. The kind of people who say "Well, WE never overgeneralize like all THOSE people", which is full of all kinds of irony as it is. Now, that wasn't what the guy who wrote this article was saying and it certainly wasn't what the person who posted it was saying and I absolutely knew this. However, I remember growing up with people who DID think like this. Oh, conservatives (not big C) don't have those prejudices, we don't stick people in boxes. But they did, and they do. I think it is a byproduct of the human mind needing to categorize what it sees, but unfortunately most people don't have enough little boxes and so put very different people in the same big box.

I've already shown the unfairness of one-dimensionalizing (no, that's not a word) a religious person. Now let's look at it from the other side.

To many (not all, but a few significant figures) of the people, especially adults, I grew up with, I would be a far-flung liberal, fallen off the Path. Does this have anything to do with how much I pray, or how much I try to let my faith guide me?
No.
It has to everything to do with the fact that I don't regularly attend church. We'll ignore all the (I believe) valid reasons I don't, simply because to them, since I don't, I categorically must be a fallen daughter.
It has to do with the fact that I live with a homosexual and do not feel the need to go up to him and tell him that he is an abomination that is going to burn in hell.
Because I am willing to listen to other people's perspectives and actually BELIEVE that their opinion, thoughts and beliefs are just as valid as my own, clearly...there's something wrong with me.
More proof?
Here's why I am obviously a mind-wiped automoton of the sinful world:
I wear pants. Oh dear!
I dye my hair regularly as a form of expressing myself. Even worse, my hair is SHORT. "Long hair is a woman's glory, why are you trying to look like a boy, blahblahblah"
I have not just one, but TWO tattoos and will probably get more. Ignore that none of these are offensive or even that obvious, even the one on my wrist, or that they have special, if not spiritual significance. They show my twisted lifestyle, clearly.
I do not see the end goal of my life to be becoming a BabyFactory in the confines of a kitchen to someone ten years or more my senior who will never show any emotion to me because he's too busy being smart. He is, after all, the male, and therefore, superior.

I really really really wish I was kidding about this. But these are the attitudes I was surrounded by, sometimes subtly, sometimes maybe not even intentionally, but still there. It was feelings like these that I had to decide what I accepted and what I rejected. And it bothers me that the total inability to take on someone else's perspective, to go outside their own little box...apparently made them BETTER people.

Which brings us to what all of this is about really: Intolerance.

Again, not all people are intolerant. There is no "All people are X". I think the majority of people just try to walk the line between being true to their beliefs and living peacefully with everyone else, even people who believe differently. I think this is part of growing up, learning how to walk this balance. But, like I said before, it's the few that makes it all suck. We have to deal with those people too, it only bothers me when someone, probably someone that IS tolerant says 'Our group doesn't do that' because it shows, if not a purposeful blindness, at least a foolish ignorance.

I wish I had a moral to all this, but there's really too many angles to look at. As much as I'm sure most of us wish we could just take people on an individual basis and not let these preconceptions come into our minds, we do seem to be wired to make some automatic assessments, probably necessary for our own survival. I just wanted to say that people are too complicated to shove them into tiny crates and in the end, doing so just makes the world a more dangerous place.

Back to the world of the Mundane

Top Ten Moments of The NorthWest Science Fiction Convention

10. Dancing with Wren and Jenboy.
~So this was the first CON I went to where I felt like an adult. Apparently that was picked up on by the nice strangers and the downright creepers. I had a lot of people come up to me in a much more forward manner than I'm usually accustomed to, and 87% of the time, that was no problem. For example, Jenboy, a very nice individual who I THINK is a trangender (like...she's a girl who's a boy? I'm not sure, I did not presume to attribute it to her since she easily could go either way. She was definitely female, but I think she self-identifies as...both?) who had already introduced herself to me. She came over and danced to "Barbie Girl" with Jen and I, which was really fun because she was very nice and respectful of space, while still obviously having a good time. She hugged us and thanked us for the dance. I bring this up because that was one of the NICE times. We were also invited to be Fairies by a very drunk pirate. There was also someone who invited us to back to a hotel room to go to a different party and invited Wren to play a "game" with them. I pretty much blame Wren being so pretty for us being so popular. That was creepy. But dancing with two pretty girls is still fun.

9. The Masquerade
~ Oh the Masquerade. If not for you, this con would be without stress for the most part. It would be basically smooth sailing. But no. We get...to be Aztecs which involves being painted with bronzer for a few hours, putting our male friends in not a lot (or in Cortez's case, making him very pretty) and then try not to run over reach other's dresses. But the best part?
The "altar" which was a folding table was not set up right so when we literally threw Cortez on top of it, the table broke and now I think he tweaked his back.








8. Panels
My panels this year included:
Deconstructing Life Lessons in Fairy Tales: I didn't particularly like this one because no one really agreed on what we were talking about, and there were a lot of other panelists, so I don't think I ever said anything but my name.
Sci/Fi Fantasy and Gender Roles: This one had a lot of people on it as well, including one guy, but I actually said one or two sentences and people seemed to really enjoy it. That was where I first met Jenboy.
Dr.Horrible and the Triumph of the Online Geeks: I LOVED this panel. the people I was with on it were so nice and the crowd was really enthusiastic. The other three panelists all worked in "the Biz", they made indie films, fanfilms and so on. I represented the Consumer, the NetGen who resonated with Dr.Horrible as a sociological phenomena. I'm sure you can all imagine how that went, but it was definitely a lot of fun. I especially liked that unlike some other panels, there was a lot of respect between all of us panelists, they asked me specific questions and we filled in each other's gaps quite well I thought.
Bad Science in Science Fiction: There were only two of us on this panel so it was kept pretty light hearted, lots of groans as we remember the worst of films (*coughTheCorecough*) and books. The only downside of this panel was a certain gentleman who talked very very quietly and was not really a group player.
Comparative Study of Elves: So...three people who all have differing ideas on what this panel is about. One guy is a Lorist, one is a Tolkein Essayist...and me, who I counted as a Generalized Nerd. Surprisingly, the panel went well, it mostly ended up discussing morality and how it is assigned.
Growing up in Convention Fandom: so many cute babies or Level 1 Humans as we referred to them. I talked about how being in the SciFi community made you more open-minded and tolerant, you made less assumptions about people, gender roles and so on, and how it made you feel more able to express yourself which helped you find who you were and made you a more confident individual. A younger crowd generally, but still had some fun stories.

7."Hey, nice outfit"
~I heard this a lot, or people who had seen me before commented on how I always had something interesting on. This was especially fun considering I just pulled stuff out of my closet. Special props to Wren for the Holy Chain Mail though.

6. Wandering around with friends
~ There's always stuff and people to see at the CON. Cosplayers, lolitas...fat people in corsets....the fun never stops. I especially enjoyed wandering around with Mexidrew at like 2 in the morning. We had a lot of fun seeing who was still up even if we did have to swim through pot smoke to get out.

5. "Hey, I bought some more Magic Cards"
I heart the Dealer's room. There's just so much cool stuff there. I got my brother a pair of leather bracers that he chose himself and looked awesome on him. I got myself a t-shirt with a modified version of the Bene Gesserit Mantra (if you don't know what that is, it's okay, though I suggest you go read "Dune") about caffeine. Decaf is the mindkiller!
I also bought some new Magic Cards which is filling out decks nicely and has been a lot of fun messing with. Finally, I got another copy of "At the Mountains of Madness" by HP Lovecraft because I could not find my other copy (I think my sister has it) and just can't live without it. There were so many awesome weapons though, some fun nerd patches and of course, lovely jewelry that I could never hope to afford but were pleasant to drool over. Wren tried a corset on (they wouldn't do anything for me, so I didn't bother) and looked fantastic, which surprised no one.

4. Eating all da foodz. Denny's, Jack in the Box and IHOP. Mexidrew putting butter on sausage, wrapping it in bacon, putting butter on that, wrapping it in ham and dipping that in syrup...and then EATING IT. /shudder

3. Interviewing RA Salvatore
~ For those who don't know, Salvatore is responsible for much of the development of the Forgotten Realms, and his character Drizzt Do'urden is one of the best known in the fantasy community. The interview was suppose to go an hour and ended up going for over two. We talked about everything from his books, to selling out to "If you ever messed with one of my kids there wouldn't be enough left of you to identify", and so on and so forth. He was very funny and the crowd reaction was amazing. If you have any specific questions about what we talked about, let me know, trying to put all of it on here would take half of forever, but man, I have stories now.
At the end of the interview I told him that he was called "God" by some of my friends, to which he responded "You need more friends". I'm looking at you, Kupo.

For a sample, check out this Youtube video, which blessedly doesn't show my face :P



2. Hugging Bob.
I'm not kidding, he told us to call him Bob. See, now, there's Mr.Salvatore, the author, and there's Bob. And the cool thing is, he really is all one person, he wasn't arrogant or rude or anything like that, he struck me as someone very sure of who he is. After the Interview with him and his son, we went outside and I kid you not, he talked to Swissdrew for over an hour. I had to go because I had a panel, but before I went, I said "Mr.Salvatore, can I hug you?" and he said "Absolutely, but only if you call me Bob". So I freaking hugged R.A. Salvatore. ^.^ He also signed my sketchbook and liked the Spider Queen Dress my dad put me in.



Me and Bob. ^.^

But the number one top moment...

1. Mrs.Salvatore THANKING ME for chastising her son in front of almost twenty people on stage.
~So, I was voluntold to interview Geno Salvatore, who recently wrote a FR book of his own. We were given a copy so I will get to read it, but at the time, I had zippo information on him. His dad actually liked talking about Geno than about himself, and there was so much pride in his voice. This guy is 24, and has written a novel which has gotten nothing but good reviews so far. But at least three times during the interview he put himself down, and the only thing I'd found online was an interview on youtube, where he was also very self-deprecating. So I kid you not, I leaned over to him and said, on stage: "You know this self-deprepecating thing you're doing? You should stop. {Crickets chirp, he looks at me blankly, obviously surprised} You're doing a disservice to your fans--and you WILL have fans, because they are going to be thinking "Wow, this guy is great" and then hear you say you think you're crap and they will think "Oh, I guess I don't know anything about anything".
This was a TERRIBLE breach in professionalism, and if I hadn't been so...just frustrated at his lack of self-confidence, I would have kept my big mouth shut. Then I see his mom come up to me and I'm freaking out, I'm CERTAIN she is going to lay into me. Instead she takes my hand and she says "THANK you for what you said to Geno. I'm always telling him not to put himself down, but having someone else do it was just so great, I really appreciate it." This was such a huge relief and it really warmed my heart because she was an awesome woman, she actually was a history teacher!

All together, it was a really great experience, though certainly had it's negatives. This is just the slimmest glimpse into my weekend, but hopefully, it conveys the w00tness.

"I weep for the species..."

WARNING: RANT HELMETS NEEDED BEFORE ENTERING THIS POST. Ye have been warned.

I've had this idea knocking around in my head for a while but I didn't write it down and figured I'd just let it go, the moment had been lost. Luckily (or not) the people in question are just TERRIFIC at coming up with new ways of pissing me off, so it looks like we're back on!

I know a lot of people don't like pundits from any network. Really, they have issues with punditry in general, and I understand their point. It seems rather ridiculous to listen to someone who is paid to tell you their opinion. I mean, look at this, I am telling you my opinion for FREE! Yet people take up television time with their thoughts and a lot of people get rubbed the wrong way by this because it seems useless and vain (and yet Rush Limbaugh makes HOW much money?!). I am alright with punditry, though, and especially appreciate what I take as the social benefit of the Daily Show.
People talking about people talking about people talking about the news.

This allows me as the viewer to have to think about the issues on at least three different levels and forces me to take a stand on it. Sure, it is also possible to say "Well, this is a really complex issue, and I'm just not going either way", which I've done several times, but I think that this is a mistake to do all the time. Philosophically (or morally), I could be opposed to something that I'm not practically trying to change, simply because I recognize that change would not help or would have its own inherent problems.
My point is that I like watching pundits from both sides because it allows meta-analysis and most of the time, it's just dang entertaining.
I've also realized there are implied issues with the perception of pundits. That is, there is the assumptions that they 1) Totally ignore some parts of the news and only talk about others and 2) are attempting to tell you what to think. These are both wrong for the most part, though there's certainly a few salt speckles of truth to it.

First of all, as far as I can tell, both Fox and MSNBC (who have apparently taken it upon themselves to be the FIGHTERS FOR JUSTICE of their particular side) talk about the same stories. They may even report the same facts most of the time. The difference is the INTERPRETATION. And this isn't really a bad thing per se. Most news worthy issues can be interpreted more than one way, and it is good that there is a multiplicity of voices out there to give light to them. I will come back to this point later.
The other part is that I do not feel that by watching MSNBC more than FOX, I must by definition be a dirty, hippie liberal. Just because I like Keith Olbermann more than Bill O'Reilly does not mean I swallow everything Keith says without questioning it or deciding that I think differently. I only bring this up because I am going to choose for the rest of this article, as I have done in my day to day conversations with people that EVERYONE is like that. It doesn't matter to me if someone watches Fox or even if Fox or Huffington or WHATEVER influences his/her way of thinking as long as I can tell she/he is thinking for him/herself. This will also come up later.

So first, on a light hearted note.

I happen to find it tons of fun to analyze the Soap Opera that is PRIMETIME PUNDITRY!
Now, admittadly, this is because I am most influenced and informed by the Daily Show which has built much of its following on pointing out the ironies, inconsistencies and all around goofiness that is the news. If you want to jump down to the rant, feel free to skip this part, because it is mostly just me being silly.
First, there is our cast of characters.
On the baby-killing, America-hating liberal left:
Keith "Sh*t gets real when I wear the pinstriped suit" Olbermann
Chris "I bend over for Obama" Matthews
Rachel "You just wish I was straight" Maddow
On the gun-toting, witch-burning, intolerant conservative right:
Bill "I'm a journalist. Wait, what's a journalist do?" O'Reilly
Glen "Paranoid that the government will try to take away the voices in my head" Beck
Rush "Crush the little guy...with my weight" Limbaugh
Sean "The Walking Blow-Job" Hannity

From here on, it is pure speculation.
As mentioned, I tend to watch Countdown (with Keith) way more often than say The O'Reilly Factor, though I have seen both to get a feel for the way it usually goes. I think that Keith was raised somewhat religiously conservative. I say this because I think the way he responds to Fox news is very similar to the way I do and I think it is for the same reason. I think he was raised to believe (and possibly still believes) in what the good people at Fox claim to believe but they make it looks SO bad that he is offended to even claim he thinks the same. That is...Conservatives made him ashamed of being Conservative and so he went to the other side. I think Stephen Colbert is a lot like this too. The entire purpose of his show is to parody Fox news, and I think some of that stems from him being angry that they've raped his ideals.
I also think that Bill O'Reilly should take it as a compliment that Keith hates him the way he does. I think it shows a level of respect. I believe (and think that Keith does too) that Bill O'Reilly was a good man with good intentions who is smarter than watching his show would lead you to believe. He is over inflammatory for the ratings and I think that angers Keith more than anything else. This would be in contrast to listening to Keith talk about Glen or Sean who he just holds in contempt and disdain. They are not even worthy of hatred, most of the time he is just laughing at them.
I should say that I am not against Fox news in general. It's good to have a conservative voice, I appreciate that they represent a portion of the population not always spoken for. To be honest, I like MSNBC more for the same reason I prefer Horde to Alliance. There are more people/races I like on one hand than the other. (To translate: One of the MANY reasons I don't play Alliance is because I would only be willing to play a Night Elf or Drenai because I hate all the other races and think they are ugly. But I would be willing to play any Horde race even though I don't care much for Orcs). I like Rachel Maddow a lot, I really appreciate how she doesn't often pick on PEOPLE so much as a generalized Other, even if you know exactly who she is referring to. I think part of the reason that Republicans like talking to her more than to other MSNBC'ers is because she is a bit more moderate, more centrist as it was and she is just all around nice to everyone.
...at most I can say I don't HATE O'Reilly. I somewhat respect him for reasons you probably read in my previous post.
Glen Beck and Sean Hannity? I want to kick those guys in the balls. Like, seriously...WHY are they allowed to talk on television? I will come back to this in the rant section. However, what I wanted to say now was how much it seemed to me (and this is just my perceptions, feel free to disagree) Sean Hannity was taking it up the butt from the Bush Administration before. Apparently he has moved the "orificial" opening to accommodate Rush Limbaugh, since the job of Presidential Fellatio-giver seems to have fallen on Chris Matthews who I can't stand either.

Moving on.

I want to say right off the bat that I do NOT hate America. I am not ashamed of being American. The very FACT that I HAVE to say this as a disclaimer makes me angry. When did disagreeing with someone suddenly make you a hater? When did we stop being able to have reasoned discussions based on beliefs and ideas for the betterment of both parties and were instead giving pissing contests of who's daddy sucked more?
I bring this up because the other day on Facebook I posted a Huffington Post article about how the women on the View didn't question Bill O'Reilly about the controversy surrounding his involvement in a rape victim assistance foundation. The point of the post, and the reason I was putting it up was because I think the hostess' SHOULD have said something, if ONLY to give him a chance to defend himself. But it was never even mentioned. This was also linked to two Fox news reporters tracking down a woman while she was on vacation and calling her names, accusing of her things because she said in a blog (much like this one) that O'Reilly shouldn't be at this conference. Someone on Facebook took this as a good opportunity to start flaming anyone who had ever questioned O'Reilly's legitimacy in talking about rape victims when he'd made some pretty strong comments about them before.
Here's what I got out of the mini-debate that followed:
1) Huffington Post is biased. Well, I already knew that. Or at least, the writers on Huffington are biased. Well, duh, EVERYONE is biased. Huffington is just a forum for people to put their thoughts, just like this blog is. Totally dismissing anything any of those people say however is unjust because the same could be said of any news organization, any magazine, any ANYTHING.
2) There are apparently people who DON'T think for themselves at the level I thought they did. The detractors were accused of taking O'Reilly out of context. Do you know who told the public the O'Reilly was taken out of context? O'REILLY. Hmmm....
I said that I'd seen what O'Reilly had said in context and that I agreed with those who had issues with him talking at the "It Happened to Alexa" foundation. No, he did not come right out and say "She had it coming" but everything he DID say led to that conclusion. It was a very small jump, because he implied it pretty strongly. But here we have an interpretation issue. Two people read/saw the same thing and took it to mean two different things. Fine, I can accept that.
What I canNOT accept is that if someone disagrees with you, they must automatically be "nuts", which is what the woman who was harassed was being called. They said that she was "hurting the rape victim [Alexa Bianchi, whom the foundation is named after]" by saying O'Reilly should not be there.
First of all, Terkel (the woman in question) wrote this on a blog. Remember how we live in America? That means we get the freedom of speech. It means we get to say what we want, even if other people disagree with us. This is a GOOD thing! Yes, it means that stupid people get to say stuff too. It does NOT mean you should shove a mike in their face.
This is just a huge example of unprofessionalism. If O'Reilly wanted to honestly have a discussion about this, he should have invited Terkel on his show and they could have talked about it like reasonable individuals. But he didn't. He sent goons to harass her when she was on vacation. Journalistically, that is never acceptable. When I mentioned this, it was just reiterated that Terkel was "nuts".
I guess I must be nuts too.

Other stations have done similar unprofessional things and I would certainly not single Fox out for this. But I remember O'Reilly blasting another station for not being respectful to a celebrity or political head when he has done the same thing!
Which brings us to my biggest issue: The sheer hypocrisy of Fox News, the Republican Party and a significant portion of Conservatives in general.

I was raised Conservative Republican, I even believe most of their core values. Limited government, conservative values, etc. But that ISN'T what they are arguing for these days. Half the time I can't even tell what they ARE arguing for because they are so contradictory and unintelligible that I get completely lost.

I think Jon says it best.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

This is what I'm talking about!
Republicans have no right saying that they are going to be guardians of morality when for the last eight years they have allowed so much crap to not only get by them but be PRAISED FOR IT! If they want to be the party that "sticks it to the man", they should have "stuck it" to their own man. Now, I'm not saying they are alone in this. Democrats are just as bad, but recently the Republicans have decided that it is better to be LOUD than to be fair. These are the same people who were like "If you don't like what Bush is doing, move to Canada, we don't want you here."
This is America. YOU (not you, readers, but the people who say crap like that) do NOT get to decide who we do and do not want!! That's why we're a fscking democracy. the MAJORITY decides what we do, that's how it works. Now, there are problems with this system, one of the reasons I think maybe parliaments are a bit more effective than we are, though as Canada shows us, that doesn't always work either. But the point of a democracy is that it recognized that there are differences, there are numerous desires and goals, not all of which can be met, so take what the most people want.
And the most people wanted Obama. By...quite a significant margin compared to previous elections. So seriously guys, stop saying he's a tyrant because we bloody well put him on the throne. THAT'S DEMOCRACY. You don't have to like it, but you do have to run with it.
Now I'm certainly not saying we should not question, should not disagree, not even saying we should not sometimes attack choices, decisions and words of our leaders. We absolutely should and I would praise Fox and those like it for doing so IF THEY HAD DONE IT ANY OF THE APPROPRIATE TIMES BEFORE. But they didn't, and if they are going to pick and choose when they stand up for what they say they believe in and when they just take it lying down...then they are douchebags who have lost credibility in my eyes.
I know it seems like I'm generalizing and I don't mean to. There are very good Conservatives and very good Liberals and...I mean, there's always exceptions. Like I've said, I'm generally disposed to being a Republican. But the loudest of these voices...well, they are not the people I want representing my ideals.

Take Rush. The man makes millions of dollars a year. And he bashes Obama and the liberals for being too nice, too to soft with this or that group, for making life harder for Americans...and he gets angry because Obama taxes the wealthy?
I don't know, it could be my poverty pride, the chip on my shoulder from having lived in the vast majority of poor in this country but someone like Limbaugh can STFU about having to pay taxes because he sure as hell can afford it better than I can. It makes me so angry that schools are so underfunded when a bloated walking, talking welding torch can be paid so much money for spouting off his nonsense on the radio. Democracy is suppose to encourage fairness. Fairness means that the rich pay taxes just like the poor do, and yes they have to pay more because they can.
And for a station that prides itself on being Fair and Balanced, Fox news seems to think that balance means "whatever is good for rich, white republicans who don't want to pay taxes". Kind of like how "democracy" means "choose the guy we want you to". You know, like how we knock off a dictator and give nations democratic elections and then when they elect say...the Taliban, well obviously they are doing democracy wrong and we have to step in. I'm not saying that they SHOULD have elected the Taliban, especially because of the scare tactics used to make them. But there have been cases where leaders have been elected whom we didn't like, and we felt the need to step in, knock them off and have new elections.

Again, Democrats have done many of the things I have problems with too. Both sides are human, both have problems. MSNBC has surely skewed facts to go towards their conclusion, as well. But I have found that while MSNBC can have somewhat singleminded intrepretation, at least they get more of the facts right. So often I've watched Fox, and done the most basic of checks to find that what isn't outright fabrication is a gross distortion.
Sean Hannity said that Obama was ashamed of America and practically apologized for our unjust arrogance. This is so not true, Obama said that at times America had been arrogant (which we have) but that Europe is often Anti-American when it shouldn't be (which they are). This is the same station that rails whenever any of their correspondents are so called taken out of context, yet Sean is clearly doing just that.

Let's review:
Conservatives in the guise of Fox News talk about:
Integrity and Professionalism...when they have taken others out of context, when they harass those that don't agree with them, when they find the current administrations horrifying, yet equally (if not worse) crimes perpetrated by the last administration were worthy of applause and when they get their facts wrong way more often than many other stations and skew things to an even further degree.
Morality and fairness...when they apparently want tax breaks for the rich, when they became incensed that anyone would question President Bush, when they are the ones who claim that someone is Un-American for standing up for their beliefs in opposition to the government, who talk about the total bulls**t that is the notion of "Real America".

What really turned me off to the Republican party during the election was that it seemed to me that they cared more about talking character than issues. Obviously this is a staple of any election and certainly the Dems did the same but at least during the Presidential Candidate debates, it seemed like Obama spent more time arguing issues and policy and McCain was just going 'Nuh-UH!' or 'Yeah but you did this!'. Now I'm not saying character is not important, it absolutely is but there's a time and a place. And that verse that says you can't take the splinter out of your neighbor's eye without taking the plank from you own really seems to apply to the Rep's these days because all of the things they accuse others of doing, they themselves are guilty of. Their tactics these days seem to be to incite paranoia and divisiveness.
And that leads to my last point, about Consequences.

I remember someone saying that the Democrats weren't letting anything get done in Congress when the Republicans were in power. Yet the Republicans now hold the record for most Filibusters in a certain amount of time, ever. We're talking THREE TIMES more often. So now, when our country is basically fscked and we need to do SOMETHING...they are not letting anything get done. We're stuck, stalled and going no-where fast. Yes, people should say no to things they don't believe in, but there has to be SOME kind of compromise. This is a problem from both sides, and the real issues lies in the just ridiculous level of partisanship we've got going on. There are non-life threatening issues that one side or another could give on so we could at least get SOMETHING done, but noooo, if we did that, the Enemy would be winning.
...When did our fellow Americans become our enemies?
Just...get over yourselves.

When it comes to interpretation, the basic philosophy is a good example. Conservatives are known for not compromising, and holding their positions. This can be good, shows strength of character, a willingness to stand up for beliefs. Unless it makes you completely unreasonable and close-minded. Liberals tend to be thought of as more tolerant, more interested in including more groups, but this can also be seen as being wishy-washy, as having no real position. Obviously, there are merits and downsides to both but it makes me angry that the loudest Republicans are these racist intolerant jerks. You don't have to think Islam is the correct religion to be respectful of Muslims. Islam is not our enemy, individuals are our enemies. Gay people are not going to destroy our country and not all abortion doctors are the spawn of Satan himself. Treating these people with respect and taking their views seriously is not the same as agreeing with them, which is a notion apparently lost on some people.

Fox has a lot of followers, as one might imagine, especially among the older crowd. As mentioned, as long as people are following up, are checking facts and thinking for themselves, I have no problem with this. But so often I've seen people ONLY getting their news from Fox and just believing everything they say and it makes me so sad because...it is so one-sided and so extreme. The language used gives off the impression that if you question what Sean, Bill or Glen say you must be a hater, which, though this may be subconscious, still makes people disinclined to critically analyze what's being said. The same could be said for any other station but most other stations aren't trying to say that Obama is the anti-Christ/Hitler/Muslim/Alien/Tyrant/Any-thing-else-we-can-think-of-to-incite-fear-into-the-general-public.
With all the other crap going on, fear of our democratically elected leader isn't really one of them. Wariness, sure, true of anyone, but...at least give us a REAL reason to be worried, not this satanic panic.

Glen Beck said that Obama was going to take our guns away so when some Policemen approached a guy, he killed three of them. Should Glen be held responsible? No, it is fully on that man who killed the police, but people should make sure that they are careful what they say to a scared and desperate public. Talking about us being on the road to tyranny...for doing what the last president did and lied about for years...is not being responsible.

I just wish people would think things through better.

~~~

Final Word: Part of the reason I'm doing this is that it honestly does make me angry and I don't get angry often. So this is therapeutic for me. Part of it is that I want to generate discussion. I have this blog so that I can throw out ideas and we can discuss them but there hasn't been a lot of discussion lately and I thought if I brought up some controversial stuff, even if we disagreed, at least we'd be talking about it. This was a long post I know and I appreciate you going through all of it. I probably forgot some points and was probably not as clear as I could have been so feel free to ask for any clarification.

Thanks again.

A Word from our Sponsors...and by that, I mean, our Educational Overlords...

Greetings, fellow philosophers.
I am posting an assignment I have just completed for Human Geography. The assignment was to construct a personal geography based on what we've learned in our first few lectures. I decided to be all anti-establishment and stuff and write about WoW. Please note that I don't 100% agree with everything I am arguing here. I take a somewhat extreme stance to illustrate my point, but don't assume this is totally my heart of hearts.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Personal Geography: Digital Borders
The Internet is credited and accused of many things, almost all of which are true. The flow of information has become almost instantaneous among the more developed nations allowing soldiers in Iraq to talk to loved ones at home, businessmen to converse between Turkey and Hawaii and news to be spread and accessed by millions of people before it can even be verified. For the generation that came after the Baby Boomers and who grew up with computers being fairly commonplace by the time most of them were old enough to care, the Internet has arguably done more to shape the world as they understand it than any other singular entity.
Two important introductory concepts in Human Geography are “interdependency” and “globalization”. There are some who believe that with the rapid pace of globalization, linking people in manners beyond physical connections, political boundaries will become less important to the point of making the very concept of a “nation-state” obsolete. Nothing will be analyzed on the scale of community or national level; everything will be global.
Perhaps one of the strongest examples of this phenomena is the online gaming community. Community, by definition, is simply a collection of individuals with common interests or attributes, which can refer to something as small as a neighborhood or as far reaching as a region (or a collection of nation-states, such Western Europe or South-East Asia) Here, it can be illustrated how individuals are capable of relating and self-identifying more strongly with other individuals whom they have never interacted with outside of a digital environment than with their physical neighbors; furthermore, they may place the interests and attributes that define their virtual community higher than a political allegiance. An example of such a community revolves around the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft (frequently shortened to WoW). Like any other MMO, players pay a monthly fee for the right to log and interact not only with the game itself but with other plays from all over the world. At this point, WoW boasts 11.5 Million monthly subscribers from over 30 countries speaking dozens of languages. This has numerous sociological and geographical implications.
For instance, although someone in the United States would not be able to access a server intended for someone in Japan (and so could not converse with him/her), both could hear a reference (in their respective languages) to the same game item (an enemy, an item, a quest, etc) and have an identical concept of it. Likewise, countless people from Europe discuss in-game news with those from the United States, knowing they will never meet them off-line. The ramifications of this is that it is less important to the individuals where someone is from as opposed to how well they play the game. The politics of the real world rarely penetrate this digital fortress because of tacit agreement between the players that it is simply unimportant. Some argue that is due to the demographic of players (implying that these are children to young adults with no stake in politics), but because people of all ages and levels of activism play, this is an extremely flimsy argument.
Similarly, though this virtual world is separate from the “Real World”, it is not wholly isolated, and what happens in the Real World affects the game, much the same way that global politics affect community life and the actions of individuals can change the global community. For example, though there are many kinds of creatures and animals a player may fight, one he/she will never come across is referred to as a Panderian within the Lore (the backstory of the game). Subscribers who have played Warcraft I-III, which WoW is based on are familiar with the animal, but because it strongly resembles a Panda (giving it its name), it cannot be coded into the MMO. This is due to the fact that in China, it is illegal to have any game demonstrating, encouraging and/or requiring the death or harm of a Panda. The company that owns World of Warcraft would lose a large percentage of subscribers because of a national-scale consideration they have to take into account. On a slightly more positive note, many references are coded into the game that go back to Real World topics and cultural icons.
The World of Warcraft can affect the World of Reality as well, giving them a dynamic relationship. Certain countries in Asia have a significant portion of their economy based on WoW and games like it, the loss of which would provide some serious financial problems. Yet most players do not think about forces like this. What they are interested in is the true core of this online community, that is, the attributes they share with each other and the interactions they face on a day-to-day basis. There is almost definitely more people (especially more Americans) who could point to and name every region in Azeroth (the world that WoW takes place in) than could find Wisconsin, Sweden or Yugoslavia. Such people can recite the history of the Dwarves, the Night Elves, the Forsaken and the Trolls, but could not name the 12th President of the United States or answer when the Cold War ended. They are well-versed in all the latest abilities and make certain they are aware of even the slightest shift in gameplay, story or tactics, but have no interest in the workings of the United Nations, the European Union or NATO. Becoming indignant when someone says that a Paladin is far superior to a Warrior, these individuals could probably care little less about the workings of the Taliban. It is not that they are irresponsible, apathetic or are merely trying to escape. Instead, it is a matter of priorities and identification. They see themselves more as Krognar, Blood Elf Rogue of Silvermoon City than as a student, a worker or a citizen of the United States.
Though at initial glance, there appears few positive consequences of this, it is important to remember that this is merely the manifestation of a changing global community and a reflection of a world based less on borders, race and economic status, and more on a spirit of cooperation, competition and self-identification within the confines of a digital world defined by shared interests and common attributes.

Collection of Poems

The other day, before starting to make 400 thousand things of cheesybread, I was struck by ideas for several poems. None of them are 100% finished but I thought I'd put up what I had and see what ideas you have.
They don't rhyme, and I'm sure someone is going to comment about "modern poetry", but that is allowed, because art belongs to the people. By putting them here, I relinquish control over them, and give them to you, to do with as you wish.

The first is dedicated to my muse, Lily. Everytime I am around her, I want to write or draw or paint. She is so full of light and love and I hope someday to be half the artist she is.

Calliope

Free spirited muse
Of Zephyran
Song echoes 'tween
Columns in my mind
Moonlit forest sprite eyes
Lights my soul with story
Inspire, lend strength to try,
Bravery to elucidate
Flash of face, I offer pittance
Next to the shine of your smile
Accept this token for it is thanks
to your guidance.

These next two are a bit harder to explain. They are basically stream of consciousness type stuff. Free-writes, if you will. So...don't overthink them?

Dreamares

I nightmare of a dead body
Discovered as I turn a corner
Open a door, switch on a light
Eyes wide and glassy
No air to move chest, no sound
to drown my mind's long scream
The putrid smell of decay never
quite
leaving my nostrils
I dream of sitting on the bus
Walking down the sidewalk
Reading a book, headphones
Contributing to my oblivion
When someone I've never met
Never spoken to
Never offended or aggravated
Never bothered
Thinks to himself
"I wonder who that girl is?"
Perhaps intrigued by my
Apparent disdain for all things
Trendy and the amalgamation of
instead my own style
Maybe it's my eyes
Obscured by--are those blue?
Glass, nevertheless displaying
My disconnection from the
So called
Real World
He wonders what someone like me
Thinks about
Maybe he thrills in the mystery

This last one is fairly self-explanatory. It's meant to be a kind of painting, each line a brush stroke, but take it as you will.

Empty street
Bench
Not even under a streetlight
Wind, quiet but chilling
Cigarette butts
People killing people killing themselves
Blonde hair
Ponytail
Sweatshirt only good for
Pretending it's california
Oh, and the hood
Clammy fingers, numb
Cell phone
No messages
Contact list
Highlight choice
No. End.
Materialized alone
Lighter barely works
Shiver
Forget. Another drag
the lingering scent of someone else's high
Stomach turns
Jealousy?
First week. Another drag
Books, handouts
People killing trees to kill people
Smile
Knock off burnt end
Really need to quit
Can't afford it
----in this economy
Debt. Another...long drag
Plans.
Progress, failure
Disappointment, disillusionment
DIS.
Plans=despaire?
Ohwellsomuchforthattryingagainrightofcourseyouarethesethingshappenallthetimeyes
Condescending bitch. Mom.
Headlights
Squint in sudden brightness
Gone. Alone
Drizzling rain
Even the sky thinks Why Bother
Glance at windows
Roomates
Smiles and cookies
and no real idea
Okay, mostly
Could be worse
Different language
Too cold to be out here
No more nicotine
REALLY need to quit
Sigh
Stand
Creaky knees
Too young to feel so old
Falling apart at the seams
Rag doll
No stuffing
Sell in Hot Topic, make a killing
People selling to people killing themselves
Hahahahahahaha

...

Today, I sat on a bench and realized how much I hate everything I've ever been involved with and then thought how the only thing it all had in common was me. FML.

Okay, so I was walking down the street to go to work and I saw this girl sitting alone on the bench and for some reason felt the need to try to get in her head, even though I'd never seen her before. This is pretty much where it all went. Please let me know thoughts, constructiveness is always cooler than flaming, but whatever, it's still a free country.

~CS

The Wisdom of Kerbochaurd-Second Installation

I apologize for missing last week, I was away from a computer over the weekend. It is now Saturday again, and we turn our eyes to the inspired work of Mr.L'amour.
Today's topic: WISDOM!

What kind of scholar was I? Or was I a scholar at all? My ignorance was enormous. Beside it my knowledge was nothing. My hunger for learning, not so much to improve my lot as to understand my world, had led me to study and to thought. Reading without thinking is as nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.
"A good question...but I am merely a seeker after knowledge, taking the world for my province, for it seems all knowledge is interrelated, and each science is dependent to some extent on the others. We study the stars that we may know more about our earth, andherbs that we may know medicine better."
"You are a physician?"
"A little of one. So far I have had more experience in the giving of wounds than the healing of them."

I put the last bit in just because Mathurin is funny and he is certainly not exxagerating. The man loves to fight. I really like this passage because there are so many great ideas in it. First of all, there is some truth in the idea that admitting ignorance is the beginning of wisdom. Those people who think they are wise are usually not the ones you want to be listening to. There is a humility in recognizing the gaps of knowledge and a strength in pursuing the filling of them. "A seeker after knowledge"...I wish we were all such.
Then there is the idea that all forms of knowledge are related, which is becoming more and more apparent to me. I was recently thinking that if someone were to ask me what my specialty in history was, I would want to say "world history", which isn't really an answer, but no country has developed...no story has come to be that was not in some way connected to another story. We say that this is the age of Globalization, but Globalization is simply the recognition of what has always been the case. The degree of connection has changed, but not the state.

For example, when the colonists from Western Europe arrived in the Pacific Northwest, they traded nails with the Native Americans who only knew of iron because Japanese ships had been blown far off course and wrecked on the Natives' soil. And the Japanese ships wrecked because they would designed not to go too far from Japanese shores and therefore had no rudder. This happened because Japan was locked down at the time because they saw Europe as a threat and wanted nothing to do with them...except for the Dutch, who were allowed to come into a few select ports.
So it is all connected and has been for centuries. Likewise, philosophically speaking, things are linked in various forms and ways. Political theory is tied up in moral and ethical issues, which at times are connected to scientific quesions (human life, cruel and unusual treatment, etc) and of course, all of those are filtered through cultural lenses which leads to socio-anthropology and questions of social structures...this could go in circles and of course this line isn't linear. A great tangled mess really, and college students everywhere tear their hair out trying to grasp the elusive "big picture".
But even just *attempting* to make these connections, to see the lines that are there and try to see how things all fit together is a worthy endeavor, and I think makes us better students and better people.

Thoughts from you?