ZOMG Puppy!!

Couldn't Resist...

Profiles

During Lunch, I created profiles of my WoW Characters. Sooo

Hunter: Velius
Paladin: Lans
Mage: Cattie
Rogue: Xhandra
Warlock: Tishani

If I hate it, I must be good at it!!

Interesting article here about liking math versus doing well in it. There is a very simple solution to reconcile that article. It's called MODESTY. Most pompous nations like the US lack modesty. When asked if they felt they could do well in math, the people surveyed probably put up a veneer of false confidence just to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are. Whereas the nations mentioned as doing well (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore) where modesty is considered a virtue, the students probably all claimed to be poor at math (no no, I really am not good at math) as a way of showing false modesty.

A simple way to fix the survey would be to hypnotize the students before asking them whether they were confident. If they did that, it eliminates all that falseness. US students would probably state that they aren't very confident in their math skills while the other nations' students probably wouldn't even answer the question (How dare you question my superior math skills, you insignificant worm!!).

On a completely different note, if what the survey says is actually true, then Smern must REALLY REALLY LOVE being a priest!!

Pristine Hide of the Beast

I have never seen the upstairs so clean. The carpet is vacuumed, the windows are washed, the furniture is dusted. I can even see my reflection in the glass display cases we have. It's like I never lived in the house!! The downside is that I can no longer find anything in all the orderliness.

I used to just have everything spread out around the floor/desk, but there was method to my madness and I knew that underneath that old magazine, next to the gum wrappers was my backup mouse. But now, all my landmarks are gone!!!!

Animated

Here is a cool movie showing the Tier 4 armor, but animated. I personally love the ambient lightning effects around the Warlock armor and the blinking light strip for the Priests. In a pinch, I bet you can just use a priest to land airplanes in the dark!

Cleaning

Since I am renting the top floor of the house out, I have been forced into cleaning and moving all of my stuff downstairs. While usually this is a very tedious and tiresome task, it has made me realize how great it is to live a geeky existence. I basically only have to move my "necessities" of life: Computer, Monitor. How great is that!! I think I'll go curl up into a ball and cry now

For Patronus

Why am I linking this article anyways? 1000 different reasons, I am sure.

Ummm, Bad idea....

Taken directly from here.

In a post on the US World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard poster Tyren accounced Major changes to the possibilities for UI Mods.

Tyren:

"Hi there, this notification is meant to inform you of some significant changes regarding the way we're handling UI addons. Over the last few years, we've seen a number of awesome, gameplay-enhancing UI mods along with a fair number of UI mods that run counter to our philosophies regarding what addons should and shouldn't be able to do.

Essentially, we don't want UI mods to make combat-sensitive decisions for players and as such, we've made some changes that block functionality that we feel is counter to the spirit of these philosophies. As such, AddOns and macros can't make decisions on who to target or what spells to cast.

That being said, our programmers have implemented a host of new functionality in order to allow many popular and benign UI mods to continue to function (once those mods are updated to take advantage of the new functionality), and will be providing some follow-up information on these forums as to how to take advantage of the new functionality."

This essentially means Addons like Decursive, Detox or any Autobuff Addons which intelligently pick targets and cast spells will no longer be functional.

Ummmm.... I can see where not being able to use auto/smart buff won't be THAT detrimental since you have the group version buffs, but not being able to use Decursive? Unless they create some sorta group decursing spell for each class, this change is going to make lives of paladins/druids/mages/priests a LOT harder than it is now. Since most of the endgame fights have bosses repeatedly using the same debuffs on some fast timer, this basically means that the classes that can decurse will all develop Carpal Tunnels. It's okay, it's not like I need to be able to use my fingers/hands/arms anyways.

Gooooooooooooeeey goodness

I never realized how hard it was to design a good GUI until a project here at work. I am coding a GUI here for a software package we are trying to upgrade. It's incredible how anal some of the GUI designers are. They want things to be VERY specific. I designed a file browse button that was about 5 pixels too wide. Usually unnoticeable to the untrained eye, but this designer instantly zeroed in on it and told me it needed to be changed to be more square. I fully understand the important of a good GUI though as I know my friends and I have complained greatly over little details in other GUIs we have used.

First defeat?

Well, I guess if you can't beat em, Buy em. Could it be that Google is actually admitting that their own video sharing system cannot beat that of YouTube?

Interesting Pictures

Tier 4 and PvP set for Burning Crusades are found here. Something I will never wear, but at least it looks cool.

Thank you! Dr. Mrs. Ayodam

I woke up this morning, feeling kinda down from a nice hacking cough when I discovered that I had won a email lottery!! (Along with just about every combination of my_name@gmail.com also winning!!) Wootz ore! So here is the following correspondence:

JAPAN JUMBO DRAW
FOREIGN SERVICES MANAGER,
PLAZA DE MAR ZHENG HONG KONG

Customer Service
Ref: JP/7146x4/99
Batch: 042/02/xa192
WINNING NOTIFICATION:
We happily announce to you the draw (#1035) of the JAPAN EMAIL PROMOTION LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on today in OSAKA JAPAN. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 45375600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers(14,33,36,39,42,46)and bonus ball(13), which Subsequently won you the match 5 bonus prize in the 2nd category match 5 plus bonus .

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$500,000,00 in cash (five Hundred Thousand, united state dollars) in cash credited to file ktu/9023118308/07.This is from a total cash prize of US$2,650,000.00 shared among the international winners in the Second category.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our CHINA booklet representative office in ASIA as indicated .In view of this, your US$500,000.00 ( five Hundred Thousand, united state dollars) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in ASIA as soon as possible.

Our CHINA agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your winning funds as soon as you fill the claims verification form below and send to him.

FOREIGN SERVICES MANAGER,
TRANSGLOBE FINANCE SECURITIES
PLAZA DE MAR ZHENG CHINA
xainlu@yahoo.com

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information Confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Be warned to file for your claim immediately.

To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with our designated agent or us.
Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.
Thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.

Your Sincerely,
DR MRS AYODAM
VICE PRESIDENT INT.PROMOTIONS

Wow, I mean how lucky can a person get, winning some random lottery that I didn't even participate in!! Apparently, all the cool lottery type people use Yahoo as their main source of email. I also found the name Dr Mrs Ayodam a bit strange. I don't know too much about japanese naming conventions outside of Ryu (Hakouken!!!!!) so I pose an interesting question: Is it normal to not have any vowels in a first name?

Either way, I am obvious well on my way to easy street, all I have to fill out is this totally convincing confirmation form:

CLAIMS VERIFICATION FORM

FULL NAMES OF BENEFICIARY:........................

CONTACT ADDRESS:..................................

EMAIL ADDRESS:............................................

CITY/STATE:.......................................

COUNTRY:..........................................

NATIONALITY:......................................

SEX:.......................AGE:...................

MARITAL STATUS...................................

TEL NO:...........................................

NEXT OF KIN:......................................

ANNUAL INCOME:....................................
AMOUNT WON:.......................................

REFENCE NO:................BATCH NO:..............

LUCKY NO:..................TICKET NO..............

SERIAL NO:.................LOTTERY DATE:..........

The Great Schism

Warning: The following contains content of a dramatic quality, viewer discretion is advised...

Over the weekend, several of us left our old guild in WoW and joined a new one. While there were very nice members in the old guild, the leadership had much to be desired. Organization was poor and the only excuse was that it was a "casual" guild. Unfortunately, disorganized and deaf/blind aren't synonyms for casual. One of the officers made some particularly snide remarks about the people who left stating to the effect of: "Some people are in it for themselves and not the guild"

This to me is extremely hypocritical. This same officer once demanded to get an item because "I already have one ring from the set and it would complete MY set." This is after said person had already gotten a very nice cloak item. Ahh of course, I see this person's logic now: by giving me all the good items, it obviously helps the guild because I am cooler. Robin Hood would be proud.

The new guild is very promising as the leadership seems to be much more organized. One small problem is that it reunites Roza and I with some old "friends" from Diamond Dragons....