All Things Considered, October 5, 2005 · A recent outbreak of a "plague" in a popular online game has scientists considering how the virtual world may provide clues to what people would do in real-world pandemics. In the role-playing game World of Warcraft, a "corrupted blood" spell killed characters and affected players in unexpected ways.

5-minute segment on NPR about the phenomenon of MMORPGs -- specifically about Worlds of Warcraft.

'Virtual' Virus Sheds Light on Real-World Behavior

It seems that the Chinese are the most fanatic MMORPG players. World of Warcraft reached 4 million users after the game was launched on the Chinese market, but Blizzard must have turned green with envy when finding out that the Korean game Yulgang, launched in China in July, has 9 million users!

Of course, it's a bit easier to get lots of users when a game is free, but 9 million is still hefty!

MMORPG Subscriber Numbers Climbing

Interesting. My first reaction was, "What the hell? He's picked a personal friend with no judicial experience?" But, upon doing more research, I'm warming up to her. She seems to have proponents on both sides of the aisle. And there are even conservatives who *don't* like her, which gives her a bit more credibility in my book. ;)

As for whether or not she's ever been a judge, I don't see that as a problem. Many Supreme Court justices did not have any prior judicial experience. For example, Rehnquist!

One other aspect to the choice: Before I heard about Miers, I'd been reading about how Bush was hinting that he wanted a Hispanic. So I figured he was going to nominate Gonzales. When I heard he'd chosen someone else, I was actually relieved!

Having said all that, I *don't* know a whole lot about Miers yet, and I'm looking forward to learning more. But from the information I've collected thus far, she's looking like a good choice.

Elonka

Bush attempts to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court

Cute little sex-ed segment, with humor and attitude.

Caution: Not Safe For Work

How Pregnancy Happens - Flash Animation

For the 2:30 panel, I again had to choose between the Phelps twins and the "Women in Gaming" panel; I went with the latter, and had a good time. It was a rather philosophical discussion with the panelists Clair Hoffman, Julianne Keoo, Elonka Dunin, and Mur Lafferty, as well as the audience, ruminating on how the number of female gamers has grown, but you still don't see many of them in the gaming hall. Among the common complaints: male gamers "talk down" to us, and assume we must be "taught" to play (and even when we do, it seems like they are more condescending to us than they would be to newbie male players); male gamers frequently seem to be hitting on us; we're seen as either hangers-on or an unwelcome interruption, rather than possible participants; and there are still gamers who live up to the "hygiene-challenged" stereotype. Some girls even complained that the boys wouldn't let them fight enough, thinking that they weren't into that aspect of the game. Otherwise, there was discussion on how many of us seem to prefer character-and-plot-driven games, which is why many of us turn away from having to deal with dice and prefer storytelling-style games, like what White Wolf offers. One fellow asked how they can get more girls to join in the games in the gaming hall, but frankly, I'm not sure there is a quick answer. Things are getting better, slowly, but there are a lot of preconceptions that have to still be overcome, on both sides, and I think it's going to take time for that to happen

This is sort of a blog site, but it also got picked up by Google News.

Dragon*Con 2005 - 'Women in Gaming' Panel Review

Sometimes I'm an INTJ. Today (at least with the short test on this site) I'm an INTP:

Introverted (I) 54.05% Extroverted (E) 45.95%
Intuitive (N) 68.42% Sensing (S) 31.58%
Thinking (T) 58.82% Feeling (F) 41.18%
Perceiving (P) 53.85% Judging (J) 46.15%

Elonka :)

Myers-Briggs / Jung Personality Test

Fun little time-waster . . .

Chess Knight Action Puzzle

TOKYO Sep 28, 2005 — The giant squid can be found in books and in myths, but for the first time, a team of Japanese scientists has captured on film one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep sea in its natural habitat.

Giant Squid Photographed for First Time

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.
 . . .
The spy gadgets [of the show], which aped those of the Bond movies, were a popular feature, especially the pre-cell-phone telephone in a shoe.
 . . .
Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately.

"Get Smart" debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season's most-watched series and No. 22 in its second season.

"Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.
 . . .
In a 1959 interview Adams said he never cared about being funny as a kid: "Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star impressions as a kid in high school. Somehow they just got out of hand."
 . . .
Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, "Inspector Gadget," as well as cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo. In 1980, he appeared as Maxwell Smart in a feature movie, "The Nude Bomb," about a madman whose bomb destroyed people's clothing.

As a kid, I remember watching endless reruns of the "Get Smart" show. For me, one of the best parts was the very beginning sequence, as he walked through all the different doors and into the phone booth. I remember being utterly fascinated by how each door opened in a different way, including the (implied) trap door in the booth!

Strange, the little things that stick in a child's mind . . .

Don Adams of 'Get Smart' dead - Sep 26, 2005

. . . as images of devastation along the Gulf Coast and despair in New Orleans flickered across television screens, the head of one of the nation's largest bus associations repeatedly called federal disaster officials to offer help.

Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association said he spent much of the day on Wednesday, August 31, trying to find someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort.

"We never talked directly to FEMA or got a call back from them," Pantuso said.
 . . .
Pantuso, whose members include some of the nation's largest motor coach companies, including Greyhound and Coach USA, eventually learned that the job of extracting tens of thousands of residents from flooded New Orleans wasn't being handled by FEMA at all.

Instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, Landstar Express America, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company.

More evacuation foul-ups. :/

Offer of buses fell between the cracks