Umbral Echoes Blog

Last night I went to a concert, and my camera ended up falling out of my pocket (one of the disadvantages of a point-and-shoot camera).  No luck with lost and found, so looks like I’m going to need to get a new one.  Which sort of sucks, because I hadn’t really had the previous all that long.

When I went to buy the last one, the main thing I looked at was low-light performance.  I tend to take a lot of pictures indoors and in low lighting conditions, so this was pretty key for me.  The king at that time was the Fujifilm Finepix F31fd (link shows some samples taken at high-ISO settings, compared to some other cameras).  No other compact digital camera even came close.  But they had stopped making those, so I settled for an F40, which ironically didn’t do as well in low light.

So I go researching again, and discover that these days, the king in this arena is… still the F31.  There have been a couple more models released in that line, but none of them has the performance that the F31 does.  What gives?  Aren’t later versions of a product supposed to improve on the original?

I’ve just put in an inquiry with Fuji to see what crack they’re smoking (though of course I put it in much nicer terms), and asking if they ever plan to make a camera as good as the one that they stopped production on 4 years ago.  These things go for close to $300 on eBay — this for a camera that has been out of production for that long, when you can get a new digital camera for about $100 these days.  It performs that damn good — and this isn’t just some cult following.  Looking at the actual results taken at 400 and 800 ISO settings versus other cameras, the F31fd actually looks better than some dSLRs.

I’m actually considering buying one.  I just didn’t want to spend that much, and it also uses an older card format (xD card), whereas I was hoping for a camera that can use an SDHC card (high capacity SD).

I wish someone would just put a dSLR-sized sensor in a point and shoot camera.  It would make it more expensive than other point and shoot models, but the quality would blow the rest out of the water, and would still be much less than a dSLR.

In celebration of The Age of the Geek, I give you I Will Derive.  Not nearly as awesome as Stuck in the Windshield With You, but it will probably invade your brain just as thoroughly.

I’m not sure if I really agree with the article as a whole.  Geek culture is definitely leading the Internet at large, with sensations such as lolcats, Chocolate Rain, Numa Numa, and all the others that were made fun of in that episode of South Park (starts at 11:45).  But that’s like saying that America rules at Basketball.  Of course we do — we created it, and we’re the people ones that put the most time into it on a large scale.  To say that, “[Geeks have] created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated,” though, I think is a bit much.  What’s happened is that geekdom has become a more recognized and accepted subculture — and a pretty large one, at that.

One excellent point the article made is that, “Nerds began making large amounts of money [in the 1980s] and acquired economic credibility, the seedbed of social prestige.”  Geek culture has worked its way into the mainstream, and continues to do so more and more.  I think one important thing that pushes this is gaming culture.  We of the NES generation are inherently enthralled with video games; we seem to have it in our blood.  An avid gamer is just as (or more) likely to be a former jock who is crazy about Madden or Grand Theft Auto, as they are to be the stereotypical geek.  Things like World of Warcraft are gaining much more widespread acceptance.  It does seem to me that in society at large, being a geek is no longer any more of a stigma than being a jock (though admittedly, I tend to hang out in crowds where “geek” is worn as a badge of pride, so my opinion is probably biased by that).

And I suppose that’s what it’s really about.  Society is learning that geeks are useful, and not the awkward, antisocial stereotype that they’re often played to be.  To quote Tyler Durden, “We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. We program the software that controls your money and guides your missiles. Do not… fuck with us.”  Okay, so I added a bit to that.

I have realized that for the past few years I’ve been developing a semi-conscious feeling that at some point within my lifetime, society as I know it will cease to be.  I think this is brought on by a few factors, and is probably more related to American society than human civilization at large.  Nothing lasts forever, after all, and all empires go through a cycle of power.  It feels to me like America hit its peak in the 80s and 90s, and is now on a downward trend.  So in the back of my head, I’m always thinking to myself, “How can I save up, and what skills should I be honing, for that inevitable day (or more likely, decade) when it all crumbles?”

I think people in general are paid too much money for what they do, and it also seems like the majority of jobs don’t really provide anything concrete to society.  The entertainment industry seems unbalanced in regards to other industries, for example — farmers feed us, construction workers house us, but the entertainment industry isn’t something that’s necessary for us to live, yet so many of our resources are tied up in it.  I just met someone the other night who works in marketing, and her salary is close to $200,000.  On the one hand, good for her!  On the other… I think there are too many jobs like this, and economically speaking, sooner or later something’s gotta give.  And it seems to be in the process of giving way.

Our monetary system is so complex that it is an industry unto itself.  One of the larger ones, in fact.  Doesn’t something seem logically wrong with that — like something akin to a circular argument?  And America is spending its dwindling riches feeding money into China to keep its lifestyle, which is essentially propelling the destruction of the environment.  Not to get all treehuggin’, but I’ve heard that China has now surpassed America in carbon emissions (or if not already, then they will very soon).  And with how their government is, I think that trend will only grow.

I looked out across the waters of Chicago, over to the mass of abandoned buildings in Gary, Indiana… and I wondered, “How long until most of America is like that?  How long until people have taken so much from the land that it can no longer support all of us?”  I imagine a world of people starving, crippled by the comforts of modern life and unable to survive without them.  And the crazy part is, a big part of me looks forward to it.  I think it’s best summed up by Chuck Palahniuk, so I will leave you with this quote:

“In the world I see, you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.”

I just thought about this again, and it’s a slightly disturbing thought to me for some reason: I’ve been on the design team, and am listed in the Concept and Design section, for three White Wolf core books (Mage: the Awakening, Changeling: the Lost, and Scion: Hero), yet I’ve only ever played one of them (Scion), and I only played that once.  I’ve never even completely read through the others to see what they turned out like.

If I were to find that one of the designers of a game never played the final product, I would be pretty surprised.  And a little let down, if I were a fan of that game.  But honestly, I’ve had little time to roleplay recently, and recently I haven’t really been inspired to do so.  I’d love to get a regular Scion game going, but most of my friends here are enamored with D&D, and my second group is on Exalted (which is one of my favorite games).

When I do something, I do it.  When I used to play Magic, I had the rules for every card memorized that was in the tournament type in which I competed.  When I played Mage: the Ascension, I knew the rules forward and backward (I think Ian is the only person I’ve met who knew the rules at least as well as I — hi, Ian!).  I’ve had a problem playing Exalted lately, because I don’t know it nearly as well as I used to.  I can’t really stand to do something halfway.  So I end up just not doing a lot of things, because I know I don’t have enough time to devote to doing them well (or at least, what I consider “well”).

But I digress.  I suppose my overall point is that I feel somewhat like a hypocrite for having helped design games that I’ve never played, and in all likelihood won’t (though Changeling does seem really frackin’ cool, so I’d at least like to try it some time).  I feel… almost a sense of obligation there.  Or rather, as if I’m shirking an obligation.  Is that weird?

So I’m on my way home from grabbing some dog food, and on comes a commercial for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Mmm, tasty tasty meat.  And then, right after that (or perhaps as part of it), there is a Visa ad.  The gist of this ad was basically, “Bring your Visa to restaurants so you don’t have to worry about whether or not you can eat as much as you want to.”

I could feel my grip tightening on the steering wheel, and I soon realized I was doing 70 in a 35, on a curvy street.  (Thank the dark lord Godzilla for Z-rated tires.)  This commercial, in no uncertain terms, was saying, “Hey America, you fat fucks!  Be even more American by going further into debt to feed your fat fucking faces even more!”  Every Visa commercial I see or hear makes me a little more angry than the last.  I’m seriously starting to think Tyler Durden had a good idea going.

“What you think about comes about.”  Trite little nugget of faux-wisdom, stating the obvious.  But like all such trite nuggets, it’s there to remind us of the obvious when we for some reason overlook it.

Standard disclaimer: This post is not aimed at you in particular, dear reader.

Everyone knows at least one negative person — someone who is always complaining, nothing seems to goes right, and their life always seems to suck.  I think that this sort of person brings it on themselves.  Everyone’s life sucks; everyone’s life is hard, and has difficult and sometimes seemingly-insurmountable obstacles.  If you focus on the negative, then you magnify it in your own head.

That’s not to say that it’s bad to vent when something’s going wrong.  I think venting is quite healthy.  But there’s a difference between venting and dwelling — when you vent, you get it out and it’s gone.  But if talking about it only puts it on your mind more and makes it worse… then don’t talk about it.  I know I’ve fallen into that trap before, and sometimes it’s hard to realize that you’re in it.

So how do I get someone out of this if I see it?  Well, the short answer is: I don’t.  It’s something that they have to work through.  In my opinion, the best that you can do is to help them realize they’re in a funk, and then maybe give them some inspiration and hope.  But in the end, it’s up to them.

It’s rare that I get into that sort of a mindset, but the times in the past when I have, what works for me is to just get up and do something positive.  I find that even if I don’t feel like going out, or hanging out with friends, if I make myself do it, then I have fun.  Something to break up the norm, shake things out of the rut.

What about you — when you notice that you’re in a rut, what do you do to get out of it?  This is sort of related to the question on music and mood, I suppose, but on a broader scale.

ABC News reports that libraries in southeast Michigan are drawing teens in by offering games for checkout, and having tournaments of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero to draw a crowd.

On the one hand, maybe they just want to get the kids in the habit of going to the library, even if it’s not for reading.  But seriously, people… is putting teens in the physical presence of books going to make them want to read?  That’s like saying that putting a stripper on stage at the opera will encourage people to explore the theater (yes, that’s “theater” — I spell it “-er,” not, “-re.”  You wanna fight about it?), leading a horse to water will make it drink, or whatever analogy you care to throw at it.

The scientist in me would be interested to see statistics, though — if more teenagers have been checking out books (as well as video games) since this program started.  Maybe the mindset is, “Well I’m here anyway… might as well check out the latest Hirsute Prestidigitator novel.”  I’m skeptical, but it’s possible.

So I was signing up for a site today that had a Captcha (the “type the text you see below”).  These things seem to be getting harder and harder to read by humans, it seems like.  Well, this one is over the line.  The instructions were to, “Enter both words below, separated by a space.“  Well, can you tell what the word on the left says?  Because I sure as hell can’t.

I’ve had a few discussions with people over the past few weeks concerning friendship. If a friend disagrees with you on something, does a “real friend” tell you, or do they keep their mouth shut? Or do they bite it down, and agree with whatever you’re saying?

Personally, I’ve always told friends when I disagree with something they say, or do. I don’t (or at least, try not to) do it in an in-your-face manner, but strongly enough to let them know that there might be another way of looking at things. Then again, I’ve always played the devil’s advocate — and not just after I played the part of Satan in a church play when I was 16.  I hate the “yes-man” type of friend, who always agrees with you, and never challenges anything you do or say.

On the other hand, friends should always be supportive of one another, even if they don’t agree with each other.  I guess it’s the same sort of mentality as, “I don’t support the war, but I support our troops.”  That isn’t to say that if your friend is getting hooked on heroin, you should support that.  Which I guess is another dimension — if you think a friend is doing something detrimental, how far do you go to try to stop them?  At what point do you say, “It’s their life, and they’ve made their decision?”

Fox is airing a new show called Moment of Truth.  The premise of the show is that contestants are hooked up to a lie detector, and asked personal questions like: Do you really care about starving children in Africa?  Do you like your mother-in-law?  Have you ever cheated on your spouse?

This show makes me want to vomit.  There is no such thing as a lie detector.  Such a device does not exist.  A polygraph detects someone’s level of physiological arousal — heart rate, breathing rate, the amount of sweat coming out of your pores, blood pressure, et cetera.  The machine does not detect lies.  Police use polygraphs (as I understand it) in a crafty way.  They don’t just ask, “Did you kill this person?”  Because that question will make anyone nervous.  Instead, they mention some words, people, and so forth.  Random stuff.  Except in that random stuff, there are bits relevant to the case that only the guilty person would know.

As a very basic example, let’s say that someone was beaten to death with a tire iron.  The only details that were released to the public were that the person was found dead in a ditch.  So during the polygraph test, they might say to the suspect, “Lawn mower… scissors… wrench… tire iron… screwdriver… chainsaw….”  And so forth.  If the suspect’s vitals spike just when they say “tire iron” (when only the killer would know the victim was killed with that), then it’s likely the person knows something about the murder.

But even that isn’t admissible in court.

Yet talk shows like Maury Povich, and countless others, put people through these “lie detector” tests.  People’s lives are ruined over this — spouses innocent of cheating are shown as “lying” because they’re nervous when the question is asked, and their marriage dissolved.  It is pure idiocy, and it makes me sick.

And now, Fox is making an entire show based around this.  Thank you, Fox.  Thank you for lowering the bar.