my writing

The Shaman Melee Healer

2010-03-21

my writing, World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft 2 (BC), World of Warcraft healing, World of Warcraft Shamans, writing

A while back I had a crazy idea about actually using a hybrid character as a hybrid. I’ll post an old essay of mine, just to get it out there.

First some thoughts which are more recent than this piece. Yes it was an oddball idea that I really wanted to try. Hybrids are under-utilized. This was also early WotLK and things may well have changed a lot since then. I also haven’t used a WotLK Shaman at all, so I’m probably wrong on a lot of things.

There are various assumptions about range, positioning and mana usage which are actually quite wrong in practice. Melee-range totems don’t offer too much of an advantage, being very close to a tank isn’t needed, etc.

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New category – World of Warcraft

2010-03-21

entertainment, games, glances, my writing, personal, World of Warcraft, writing

For a while now, I’ve been playing the online game World of Warcraft (“WoW”). Come to think of it, I’ve been extremely unproductive in anything that’s important to me in life because of this game. Hmm.

But my habit of searching and reviewing has stayed with me. One of the things which attracted me to this game in the first place is the possibility to customize the game client (Forum: UI and Macros). Since it is impossible to create one interface which is universally acceptable, it is extremely good to allow developer customization.

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On user-contributed documentation

2010-02-27

documentation, my writing, wmctrl

Documentation >

Hobby software being what it is, there is no centralized place to have documentation. Everyone turns to search engines, which means that user-contributed documentation can go anywhere online.. and it doesn’t matter where.

This means that any project which attempts to centralize user documentation will be forced to reach out onto the net and cache their contributions from outside sources. freedesktop.org is our timely example! (wmctrl > wmctrl user documentation (examples))

If the original user documentation is updated, or new documentation is created, then that central resource goes out of date.

But is there hope? Not at all! =)

An enthusiastic user can only hope to contribute directly to the project. Failing that, they have private notes or hopefully blog.. and that’s one big mess.

Oh well..

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Altruism and volunteering, stepping down but not away

2010-02-27

documentation, my writing, personal, Unity Linux, writing

Some people can plan long-term. Some people can make a daily to do list. I can do this too, but only for everyday things.

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Rotating immersion

2010-02-27

dead, intelligence, my writing, personal, projects, Questions / Wanted, time management, todo, writing

It’s my nature to gain and lose interest in things, like the tides coming and going. I’ve tried all sorts of tricks to schedule and change focus, but they just don’t work for me. So I’m going to declare a new way of doing things. A way which works to my advantage. I’ll call it “rotating immersion“.

2 comments

rss2email, and a rant on usability-apathy

2010-02-16

abandoned, Claws Mail, documentation, email, HOWTO, internet, Linux, my writing, oldschool, reviews, RSS, RSS clients, Thunderbird, todo, Usability

rss2email >

Followup YouTube+RSS-related stuff is in Atheist YouTube channels, now gone

I was intending to do a decent post every day, but I got really burned out. Why? I’ve been struggling with several different programs over the last couple of weeks. I’ve been sick and tired of the clumsiness that my apathy has allowed.

I think everyone has a sort of apathy towards usability issues. We take them as excusable or as some sort of status quo “that’s just the way it is”. I’m sick and fucking tired of that. Seriously.

3 comments

Chewing Glass

2010-02-03

HOWTO, my writing, personal, todo, writing

“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.” — They Live – (1988 movie)

There is a concept which I’ve been introduced to thanks to playing online games (corpse-running after a wipe). I don’t know where it came from, and I’m sure there are parallel phrases which convey the same meaning, but this phrase speaks to me..

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Commodore 64 music lives forever

2010-02-02

archivism, Commodore 64, music, my writing, oldschool, writing

Commodore 64 + Music > Commodore SID >

All information should be free from restriction and immortal, and this applies to music; the one thing which any everyday person is most enthusiastic about. We want to find and share it. But most importantly, we want to keep it alive .

Imagine finding your favourite artist and your favourite song. Then imagine it being lost, unavailable.. forever. The song itself may become a vague memory in time, but there will always be that sadness in you. With regular software or other media there is the occasional archivist who will collect and catalog things.

With music, everyone becomes an archivist .

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Forum vs Mailing List; Why some developers have a strong preference

2010-02-01

internet, my writing, Usability, writing

There are two things I want to talk about. One is the underlying technology and the other is the user.

While there are tools which bridge the gap between the mailing list and the forum, I still haven’t found them in common use. I’m going to set aside that line of discussion in this post and go after the everyday usage of the two tools.

1 comment

SSD – Breathes new life into an old computer

2010-01-30

hardware, my writing, personal, quiet computing, reviews, storage, todo, Usability, writing

OCZ Agility SSD

Hardware > Storage >

An SSD is a spectacular speed improvement.

2013-12 – The drive suddenly locked up and no system will detect it. OCZ is out of business too.
2015-10 – I didn’t mention this, but I believe the problem was due to a half-inserted power cable. The hard drive was sortof dangling around, stuffed into a corner of my case because I was too cheap to buy a bracket for it. My bad. =( Also, it appears that Toshiba has bought OCZ.

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spiralofhope

All posts tagged my writing

The Shaman Melee Healer

New category – World of Warcraft

On user-contributed documentation

Altruism and volunteering, stepping down but not away

Rotating immersion

rss2email, and a rant on usability-apathy

Chewing Glass

Commodore 64 music lives forever

Forum vs Mailing List; Why some developers have a strong preference

SSD – Breathes new life into an old computer

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