Mind: Hacked

Well THAT was an interesting book.

I refer to a recent purchase (re: Mind Hacks) which has proven to be a more than illuminating text. I say text because while the book itself is very entertaining, it is by and large an educational one. As the title implies, the book is a collection of 'hacks' designed to shed some light on how the brain works by (more often than not) fooling our perceptions, actions and memories. Every hack is a self contained little snippet of information describing the nature of the hack and how it works based on present neurological understanding. This information is neatly bookended by opening statements and references that will allow the inquisitive reader to travel further along the rabbit hole, as it were, and perform their own research. At the end of it all, the human brain is still a thing of wonder and mystery but at least with books like these ordinary people can catch a glimpse of its inner workings. For example, I didn't know that simply visualing something like exercise can improve a person's coordination and even strength!

Now I do.

I've also picked up a game called Kingsburg yesterday which has proven to be another good purchase. I'm not going to go into the details but the game contains a few interesting mechanisms that allows players lagging behind to catch up while simultaneously rewarding leading players. In my experience, this is a hard balance to achieve for most board games and indeed some of them fall flat exactly because players are made to feel punished for bad rolls, luck, chi, karma, feng shui or what have you. From playing 2 games, I feel that the game itself is inherently balanced enough such that the only reason a person would lose (as I did) was to play with no real strategy. Of course this will require a few playthroughs to see if such trends will average out over time but from where i'm standing things look pretty well managed. The fact that it can be played with a minimum of 2 players is also a big plus. 2 additional 'ghost' players are simulated in order to give the illusion that you're up against bigger odds.

As an aside, i've also added a few picture of me getting my hair amputated (as if you didn't notice!) for charity on Friday the 13th. How auspicious! My hair has grown since then. It is now 0.5 centimeters long.

I am so proud!

A Clash Of Kings

Its been a good month so far.

I've spent my days working and my nights with Naomi whenever it was possible. Come Wednesday I will be finished with a minor project in the office and the process of editing my work will begin. For the past fortnight i've been adapting a knowledgebase for a new machine, cobbling together bits and pieces of information from previous releases along with solutions i've authored to launch the support base when the model hits the market. While i'm sure there will be a lot of changes to be made before the knowledgebase is fit for release, i'm certain that the groundwork is there, and that i'm adaptable enough to modify whatever needs to be changed. Its good work, and i'm proud of my progress.

Having seen the Watchmen twice now, I can safely say that it is a recommended viewing for any who care for the genre, and some who don't. While the movie adaptation loses the complexity and the multi-layered tale that is the graphic novel, director Zach Snyder did for it what Peter Jackson did for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The result is an enjoyable, albeit truncated take on a society living in the shadow of nuclear war. What heroes that exist are broken, scared, apathetic and paranoid yet still they labor to fight for an imperfect system. After all, if they don't then who will?

I attended a WoW minis tournament today, hoping to win a Spectral Tiger or a Battle Bear mount in order to sell over eBay but unfortunately my team was ripped to shreds in 3 out of the 4 matches of the day. Still, the games were good and each defeat was down to a very fine margin. In hindsight perhaps I should have made a different figure choice, but I stuck with the decision I made in the beginning and went with it all the way. There wasn't much I could do but make my foes pay dearly for their victories.

Over this weekend i've also managed to finish Resident Evil 5, a game that set my pulse racing more out of pounding action than fear. Gone are the scares of the previous games, replaced instead with gunning down mobs of infected men and monsters with the business end of sniper rifles, automatic shotguns, and even an orbital laser. They deserved it, and I most certainly enjoyed the ride. A part of me still yearns for a good scare though, and while the game is a blast (pun intended) to play, it was missing the survival horror feeling that Capcom had so deftly served a decade ago.

For all the progress i've made gaming i've unfornately been unable to finish reading through A Clash Of Kings this weekend. Theres about a hundred pages left but if i'm to sleep at a decent hour for work, it looks like I might have to leave it be for now and come back to it tomorrow. Few fantasy novels I have read moved me to care about the characters within, and I still rage at the treachery of the so called nobility. When a crown is involved I suppose all notions of honor and fair play go out the window.

In a game of thrones, you win or you die. Truer words have not yet been written in the series so far.

I close with some troubling thoughts i've been having. About half an hour ago I was roused from my reading by the distressed cries of a woman nearby. Judging by the sound, it was probably from the lobby of the apartment building. By the time I went to investigate everything was back to normal, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. If I went down earlier I could probably have helped against whatever was happening, but I didn't.

Maybe i'm a coward, or maybe its worse.

Maybe I don't care.

Watching the Watchmen

I am tired.

The reason? Gaze ye upon the title arrayed above this post.

Its been quite an interesting week. This past Saturday Naomi brought over her crop of....special stuff. Yep, truly special. We had some and enjoyed a few magical hours listening to music and walking around town.

On Tuesday I got through my first month's performance review and things were pretty rosy.

Also, last night I went to see Watchmen with my sister at midnight. And now, i'm tired.

So bluargh!