Realism and Red Baron

The first videogame I ever really played was Red Baron. I had the Windows95 version and it was one of the only real games we had at the time.

Being quite young, I didn't fully understand the concepts, much less the design, but it was fun to fly around and the aerial battles were, for a game of its time, pretty thrilling. I always loved flying tri-planes.

My father taught me just enough about the menu to get me into a game, and I picked up a little bit more on my own over time. The campaigns were great, but there was one part of the game I could never get the hang of.

Oh, the dreaded "Realism" menu.

Mimicry and the Derivative: Read More, And Ignore

It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I really hope that's true, because this week I've wasted at least two hours holding my head in my hands agonizing about originality.

I Just Fixed My First Ever Door

I've never been one to indulge in a lot of manly handiwork.

But I am proud that I have just fixed a door.

It was one of those folding-style ones that probably dates from sometime between 1943 and 1968. It didn't take a lot of effort, but I do feel abundantly practical--almost even useful, if not quite. In amongst a long month of not much, that is definitely something to think about.

I promise this isn't simply filler content. Really. See the post on Chai tea.

Comments on CBC's Omar Khadr Stories Should Be Pre-Moderated

The CBC has almost always allowed open comments on their online news site, cbc.ca.

In most cases, this makes sense. Open comments sometimes bring out depressing elements of society content to hide behind anonymity, but as Canada's leading journalistic institution CBC has a mandate to allow open and free discussion on its comments page.

The site occasionally closes comments, usually in stories about court cases, particularly when young offenders are involved. This decision makes a lot of ethical sense, but it also covers a media institution's liabilities.

It's curious, then, that in the case of Omar Khadr, the CBC has, for the most part, continued to allow open commenting. This is a mistake. The comment circus takes away from CBC's reasonably solid journalism on the story, obscuring the facts and research with vitriol and hate.

Spinning the Middle

I'm writing this post at the end of the middle.

Mostly, I'm waiting for 360-odd pages to print out, which involves a tedious amount of aligning, cartridging, configuring, and patience.

But it will pay off--I'll be able to edit my work over the weekend.

For the past nine months, I've been in the middle. I started in late January at the end of the beginning and here I am at the beginning of the end. The in-between has been a long, weary, trying adventure of getting from one abstract point in a project to another.

(To continue this extended metaphor: I get one measly page into the printing job and the printer chokes on my paper and makes a big gristly mess in the spool. Reset, retry.)