"What's That Newfangled Mine-Raft Doohicky?"

"All the kids keep talking about it but I don't get it. Why would you need a raft in a mine? Is it flooded?"

"No grandpa, it's called Minecraft."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I don't get it."

So, if you are an internet junky like me (and I know you guys are at least a little) then you have at least heard about Minecraft. It's amazing. It is the newest most refined and addictive form of computer drug ever. It will suck your life away... In a good way... Sort of.

Well, it's an amazing game anyway. If you've heard of it but still don't get it, watch this interview. It explains everything.

Ok, I lied. That interview explains nothing. You should probably just check out the game for yourself. It's fantastic. Download it here then you can play for free. At the login screen just type nothing and hit "login" then "play offline." You can also buy a full account for $9 to have access to multiplayer, customizable player skins, and some other features too which I am not entirely sure of. Check it out first though. It will ruin you life bring you endless joy.

The Greatest Web App or the Very Greatest Web App?

The Bayifier. You want it. You know you do. *SPLOOM!*

Go here to get awesome again.

MY REAL NAME! BUT WHY!?

NAME RAGE!!!

So I've joined a group working on an artistic/academic project. It seems like it should be exciting and all but they are using blogger and, as a result, I am changing my name (hopefully temporarily) just so I don't show up as the only person with a weird name in the project. I am curious, does anyone know a way in which I could have S!R DOOM for Last Blog and then my real name for this other blog? I have been searching around and I can't find anything like that. Damnit universe, conform to me I say. Conform to me!

So I've been thinking...

Late last night I was playing TF2. As any gentleman gamer knows, the choice of head wear one sports while destroying his enemies is of dire importance. Well, I had been putting my long hours of gametime and item drops into the hopes of finally snatching up a desired hat for my favorite class, the Pyro. Well last night, I finally collected all 70-some items needed to craft a class-specific piece of head gear, but, when I crafted everything together I received one of the Pyro hats I had absolutely no interest in.

This left me a little fed up with the crafting/drop system. It took me my entire TF2 career to gather all of those items and I imagine it will take another extremely long time to get the same number again. This drove me to do the one thing which I have always hated the concept of: achievement boxing. As I have played TF2 I have never purposely set foot in an achievement server and it has been a point of personal pride that every single achievement I have managed to pick up has been done entirely within the scope of regular gameplay. And while I still stand by my rule of never getting an achievement in TF2 through achievement boxing, I have taken to sitting on the idling servers to quickly mass up on items so as to be able to get more chances at crafting the hats I want.

And this makes me wonder: is this a failure of some sort? Is it a failure on the devs part that the effort and time put in is not rewarded? Is it a failure on the community's part for standardizing what is essentially cheating the system? Is it a failure on my part for not understanding what hats represent and accepting their role in the system?

This makes me think back to a distant conversation Cello and I had about achievements and cheat codes in games. In general, what should the roles of the achievement and the cheat code be? If a cheat or an achievement only affects me, what is the connection between pride/morality and each on its own? And what about when one cheats to get achievements? What about that?

I don't know good sirs. I only have questions today. Anybody have any thoughts or any questions which might further shape or re-direct my own?

And So They Dubbed Him: King of Wheelchair Basketball

Was Durkheim Predicting the Superman Dilemna?

"Imagine a being liberated from all external restraint, a despot still more absolute than those of which history tells us, a despot that no external power can restrain or influence. By definition, the desires of such a being are irresistible. Shall we say, then, that he is all-powerful? Certainly not, since he himself cannot resist his desires. They are masters of him, as of everything else... One cannot be master of himself when he has within him forces that, by definition cannot be mastered"

-Emile Durkheim from Spirit of Discipline

Dear Internet, Thank You