Ice Cavern Studios

This is why I simultaneously love and hate the internet. The internet really is a cesspool of self-righteous dill-weeds. (And yes, I realize the irony of me posting this) Now seriously, what is it about the internet that makes people think that they can just be morons?

Just look at the situation. A post on a blog was made about how awesome Child’s Play is, and how awesome the people at the recent charity auction are. I mean, really. These guys raised over eighty thousand dollars in a night for children’s hospitals. As the poster said, right now, you really can’t hate on them.

And people still did.

I’m not saying the guys who do it are saints. I’m not even going to give my opinion on their initial reasoning. But for crying out loud, for just one day, people really should be able to just shut up and acknowledge a good thing. And they couldn’t. Reading those comments, I could definitely feel for Eric, the writer. People just wanted to be jerks. And that’s what they were. It’s really a shame.

What’s a shame is that people were able to use the anonymity of the internet as a cover to be jerks. In a face to face conversation, people wouldn’t be so adamant about trying to trash a good thing. Instead, people used the post as a chance to try and put Gabe and Tycho in a negative light.

Once again, the internet just makes me sad.

The Internet

After reading about this I’m beginning to wonder when the internet had suddenly become infallibly reliable. Did I miss the memo? At what point did the assumption that the internet could not be trusted, to it suddenly became the source of all truth? Or maybe, as I have generally figured, people are dumb.

I am really surprised by all of the sudden flipping out over how Wikipedia isn’t perfect. Reading this should really make it clear. Wikipedia is only as good as it’s editors. Which unfortunately, are the masses of the internet, which fall into mob mentality, just like masses of people who are unwired. While individual bloggers may be smart, a group of bloggers on a message board are stupid. Take a look at Slashdot a site that prides itself on being ÒNews for NerdsÓ (the assumption being made that individual nerds are smart) but often devolves into pointless name calling, FUD spreading and Òtrolling.Ó

So where does this leave Wikipedia? Unfortunately, it leaves itself as a false bastion of knowledge. How can you trust a source that could be posted or edited by any person on the net. Plus, there is no way of proving authority. It’s your word versus mine. Any slant can be applied. Totally wrong data can be added, and unless someone with the knowledge actually takes the time to read something, it won’t be caught. Part of the problem is, if you know the truth about the topic, what is the real likelihood of you browsing an article in an encyclopedia on said topic?

So what am I saying? You can’t trust Wikipedia to be 100% true. But you can’t trust the internet to be 100% true. That was a basic fact that was drilled into my head from the time the net began to spring up till now. Sure the information may be correct, but there is not guarantee. People need to believe less of the internet and find more reliable sources. Or, the popular sources on the internet should find a way of becoming more credible. But as it stands now, Wikipedia and sites like it must always be taken with a grain of salt. Or course, that’s really true about most things in life.

The Internet

So I promised an entry about what’s been going on since the last update. And here I am, delivering. Check it out, I said I’d post, and I actually got around to it in a timely manner. But yeah, the last five days have been crazy. Ups and downs.

The first big thing was that, for the last time at Microsoft.com, I signed off on a project. It’s actually quite weird to think about that. I mean, I’ve been at Microsoft.com for my entire career, and now I’m leaving. While I feel ready, I also feel a bit saddened, MS.Com has been a home for me, but it’s definitely time to move on. I’ve had moments when I was just no longer excited about the work I was doing. So now is a good time to be moving, but that’s a rant for another time.

Of course, sign off was on Wednesday, and since then, work has been pretty slow. I forgot how long it can be when there isn’t any work to do. It’s actually painful. As much as I hated having to work my ass off and stay ludicrous hours, it’s definitely better than sitting around doing nothing, which I really hate.

Last week I also attended a whole bunch of parties where I got to inform people that I was leaving. Apparently, I’ve done a really bad job of getting to people. Which is true. I have been neglecting to tell some people, which is bad. I know I need to go tell Meghan and Steve. I’ve just been dumb about it. But yeah, there were a bunch of parties all of which I ran into people and was like: “So yeah, I’m leaving in two weeks.” It was kind of weird. I wanted to meet people, but I really wasn’t up to it, seeing as how I am leaving shortly.

Saturday was actually pretty sweet. I got to see Kanye West live in concert. I may right more about it in my rants section, but in short the concert was AWESOME. Like totally frickin sweet. I know I managed to entertain some of the people I was with due to my level of excitement.

Finally, I’ve been getting more and more stuff done in terms of moving. I got my storage unit straightened up. I met with the movers to survey stuff. God I’m glad MS is moving me. I hate packing up stuff and moving, and all I have to do is just be there to watch. I’ve also been picking up some supplies. I have to get some stuff so that my move is made easier. I’m mainly making sure I have all my cold weather gear handy and ready. I’m also going to pick up a portable hard drive so that I can back everything up and have it with me.

So yeah, that’s what’s been up with the Stan. It’s felt longer than I’ve described it here, but it probably wasn’t as bad as I thought. It just seemed that way. *shrugs* Oh well.

Life and Times

The time since I last wrote has been long. There have been some good points, but it’s definitely been a long 5 days. I’ll write more tomorrow when I’m feeling more up to it.

Life and Times

So, now that the site is up, it’s time to start writing some more regular rants. That being said, I think it’s time I added my two cents on the XBox 360. And yes, I know I work for Microsoft, so you can take my bias any way you want to.

That being said, I think the XBox 360 is super sweet. It is by far the best overall video game package I have ever encountered. I’m not just saying that it’s a great video game system, which it clearly is. But as an overall entertainment package, it is just incredibly well done. In fact, it’s almost mind blowing.

So what is it that makes the Xbox 360 such a sweet package? Well it boils down to three basic things: XBox Live, Windows Media Integration and the Controller. Yes that’s right, the controller, but I will get to that in a few paragraphs.

Before that, I want to talk about XBox Live. XBox Live is by far the most awesome way to play online. I mean, I’ve done a lot of online gaming in my life. I’ve used all kinds of matching systems. Hell, I remember Kali95. But nothing is quite as awesome as XBox Live. I mean, sure, the original XBox had it, but it wasn’t quite like this. That was just a matchmaking service; this version is a full featured online gaming community. Beyond match making, you are given ranks, a reputation, and a scoring/achievement system which Justin described as the new crack. What’s best, they give you this:

What is this? It’s a Gamercard. It’s a simple, easy to use way of knowing anything about a gamer. The icons at the bottom, those are the games I have most recently played. Oh yeah, did I mention that, it updates in real time. And I can already vouch for how addictive this makes the whole experience. My friends and I are already competitive about it. It’s insane.

The next major thing I love about it is how well it integrates with Windows Media. Scratch that, all media. Everywhere. It connects to my iPod. To my computer sharing all of my music. I can connect it to a Media Center PC. I can connect it to my camera. And it does it all without any real involvement. Follow some simple onscreen instructions, and you’re good to go. I did have to do a bit of hacking to get Windows Media Connect to work on Windows Server (no, I won’t tell you how), but otherwise, it’s all automatic. And it’s awesome. I can play my music through my home stereo/TV. I can change the background music in my games to whatever I want while still getting all of the sound effects and dialogue. It’s awesome. (Plus it works with the provided remote)

Finally, the controller. That’s right, the controller. The wireless controller. The out of the box, super comfortable, mega-integrated controller. The controller for the XBox 360 is the love child of the Wavebird, PS2, and XBox Controller-S. It’s wireless, super comfortable, yet it’s also the right size for hands of many sizes. It’s fantastic because it does the little things right. You can fully control the XBox 360 from it. Turn it on, turn it off; access the dashboard; play music in the media center. Everything. And the controller is aware of what number it is, and it tells you. No more guessing, because the controller’s �ring of light� actually tells you. It’s awesome.

So yeah, I’ve just gone on about how awesome the system is and I haven’t mentioned the games. Yes, it plays them. Yes, I enjoy them. They are fun, and I’ll probably talk about them later. But for now, I’m still trying to get over just how slick everything else really is. So yeah, when you can afford/find one, I suggest getting it. And then look me up on Live, I’m InsetFrostbyte.

Video Games, XBox 360