I love web design. Or, more specifically, I love doing web design. I realized this the other day while attempting to piece together my site redesign despite the fact that a hardware failure ate my PSD mockups. Despite the fact that it's long and frustrating to do so, especially when I've already done the work and am having to do it a second time, I'm enjoying myself. I really am.

I love the challenges. I like zooming in down to pixel level in Photoshop and adjusting things to be perfect. I like trying to figure out how on Earth I'm going to port a graphic mockup over to CSS and still make it functional. I like wrestling with CSS selectors and floats and absolute/relativing positioning. I'm slightly less fond of the fact that Internet Explorer tends to take my carefully sculpted code and turn it into a pile of mashed potatos on crack, but I can deal with that. I can even enjoy it when it comes down to figuring out the right combination of conditional CSS, media types, and Javascript to make Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, and old fashioned Lynx ALL render the page how I want them to.

A lot of this comes down to a combination of creativity and logic. Web design lets me take my analytic, problem solving strengths and make something pretty and functional with them. It lets me be creative with technology and use my intellect to craft things. I'm not an artist, and the artistic side of my brain as far as music and drawing, is firmly on strike. That doesn't stop me from wanting to be creative, though, and web design gives me a visual outlet for that.

The same thing, I think, applies to my creative writing and my obsession for languages. I'm good at language, and language operates by rules. Often these rules are incomplete, obscure, and weird, and half the fun of a language is figuring out how they work and, if possible, why. It takes your intellectual, analytic mind to figure that out, in order to give you the power to use language more effectively and create beautiful things (speeches, poems, stories, etc.) out of them. To unravel the mystery, so to speak.

And, of course, writing ties into that. Writing itself is a craft: the art of finding the right rhythm, flow, and choice of words to create and give life to the images in your head. More importantly, you also have to get them into your readers' head, and preferably into their heart. Sometimes this particular 'flavor' is hard to pin down, hard to describe, but it's there. What is it about selecting this word instead of that word that make it 'right' or not? What is it about the flow of syllables and particular sounds that brings something to life, or leaves it flat?

There's just something about being able to do that -- find the magical chemisty and perfect combination -- that fascinates me and delights me. And that's why I love web design.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/Z3PQv)

"Crumbling Down" Chapter 14 ("Bodhi"), part 1 has been posted.

Cassandra and Imoen venture back into Bodhi's lair, backed by powerful allies. But Bodhi has a score to settle, and she isn't going to willingly relinquish Imoen's soul.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/bzYOJ)

Most people who know about conlanging (that is, making constructed/imaginary/artificial languages), also know about Klingon. Klingon was the first example that I know of of a constructed language which was made as a job. Okrand was hired to make it, and got paid for it. It's every conlanger's dream.

Of course, it's a very rare case. Most languages in various settings, be it fantasy or scifi, are created by the friend of the director, or the author him/herself, or someone else who makes it because it's needed for a particular scene in a book/film. But these people are, most of the time (Suzette Elgin, for an example of an author-slash-linguist), not professional linguists, and they know almost nothing about linguistics or making a language.

This is changing. In addition to Marc Okrand making Klingon, we now have Paul Frommer making Na'vi, the alien language from the upcoming movie "Avatar". Apparently he's been working on it already for four years.

There's also the Language Creation Society, which gathers conlangers of high quality and arranges their services for creative professionals. If you want a professionally designed language for your book/movie/series, they'll arrange it, taking your specifications, passing it through to members with actual *experience* in making languages, and doing the quality control / screening process for you. Apparently it works, as I know they've landed at least one major future project coming out of Hollywood (and who knows what else).

I love conlanging, and I love fiction/fantasy, so it's nice to see the two finally coming together in a way that recognizes how much work both of them are. It's hard to make a believable language that works; it's hard to write and make captivating stories which all so often need a language like that to bring a culture or people to life. Good going, Hollywood, for finally making the good choice and paying people to do it.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/V0R70)

Alas, this Monday there is no update for Crumbling Down. Last week I noticed my SD card (which I use to save all my files on as I switch between computers) was acting funny. However, since the USB reader is a little old, I assumed it was the reader. Unfortunately, it wasn't. One morning as I woke up and started my routine, my computer failed to recognize the SD card.

So, being a computer geek and ex-technician, I try about a hundred different things. I tried it in the laptop (with the USB reader). I tried it in my iMac (with the USB reader). I tried it in a Windows laptop (without the USB reader). Nothing worked. I took another SD card and stuck it in the three various computers. It worked in all three. I tried data recovery tools, rebooting, and various other things. Nothing worked. After about four hours of fiddling and futzing, I gave up. My data is gone.

Fortunately, I had a recent backup. Unfortunately, that was from last month. In the meantime I'm only actually missing about 3 files -- three important files which I'd made big changes to in the last three days. Two are related to the site redesign: I lost the PSD files that I use for my graphic mockups. I do still have the flat JPGs, but of course, that's a lot harder to manipulate. Still, I'm making good progress on that, despite it all.

The other thing I lost was Chapter 14 of Crumbling Down. All of it. I'll have to completely re-write it. Granted, I was only about 6 pages in, but still -- six pages is a fair amount of work.

Apparently between the funeral and the hardware failure, the gods have decided that Crumbling Down Ch 14 was simply not meant to be published this week. Better luck next week!

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/nMJJT)

I've never seen the movie, "Three Weddings and a Funeral." I did realize today, however, that it's appropriate. Now in my time in Belgium, I've been to exactly three weddings, and one funeral. The funeral was this previous Friday, for my girlfriend's grandmother. The weddings, more joyous occasions for understandable reasons, were former in-laws and two friends.

This isn't about the weddings, however. This isn't even about the funeral. It's about the night after the funeral.

See, my girlfriend was unwinding. We relaxed, watched "Over the Hedge", and hung out with her family. This included (on my girlfriend's part) a beer or two. Then we went home. This involved another beer or two and some more TV. Girlfriend had also, by this point, had some 'inhalable relaxation' of a type that will remain for your imagination. Suffice it to say that girlfriend was mellow, open to conversation, and prone to be very honest.

So we started, for some reason, talk about her ex-girlfriends. There was K and K and another K; an H, an E, and an M. We had to count twice, since we forgot one the first time. But, when push came to shove, there was one girl that really came to mind. One of the K's. She was cute, my girlfriend confessed. Oh, she was really cute. Very cute indeed.

Uh-huh. I nod. Ask a few questions. Get answers. Then, after a pause: "Yup, she was cute."

Uh-huh.

Girlfriend glances over at me. "Zo'n knap lief zou ik nooit meer hebben." Translated, roughly: "I'll never have a girlfriend that cute again."

My eyebrows arch up, and there I see it -- the slow dawning of surprise and dismay in my girlfriend's eyes. The look of Oh crap. Did I say that out loud?

And it gets better.

After apologizing and laughing and trying to convince me that she didn't really mean it the way it sounded, I finally admit I'm not really that upset, and I playfully challenge her to explain what, exactly, she meant, if it wasn't how it sounded.

Silence.

A bit more silence.

Wheels turning. An explanation. Oh god, I need an explanation!!!

"....or that's what I thought back then!" she announces proudly, two minutes later.

Nice try, girlfriend. Nice try.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/knbVU)

"Crumbling Down" Chapter 13 ("Friends and Enemies"), part 2 has been posted.

Word has it that Bodhi is back in Athkatla. It's time to go back to where it all began, and face down the vampiress for a third -- and final -- time.

The second section of this chapter is rather shorter than the first, due to it being a somewhat shorter chapter than average.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/35L4u)

This review was written by Kat Bella, a friend of mine who works in game programming and soundtrack composition. She knows more about RPG games than I could ever hope to know. And she gives me tips, which rocks.

This review covers about the first twenty hours of gameplay: general thoughts on storyline, structure, controls, etc., but not much about the plot and spoilers.

Ratings:

1: It sucked. I thought these people were professionals.
2: I won’t be playing it again but I’m glad I gave it a try.
3: Needs several improvements but still somewhat enjoyable.
4: Well done. A few things I would change if I could.
5: Awesome. Don’t even think about changing it.

Platform: PC

System Specs:

Processor: AMD Dual Core (3.1ghz)
Memory: 4GB
Video Card: Nvidia 1GB 9800 GTX
Monitor: 24 inch LCD (1920x1200 resolution)

In a Nutshell:

Dragon Age: Origins is the latest release by RPG expert Bioware. In many ways, the term “Origins” is appropriate as the game goes back to what made Bioware awesome to begin with: fantasy RPGs.

In the game, you create your character and choose from one of three races (human, elf, and dwarf) and one of six origins, along with one of three classes (warrior, mage, or rogue). In my first playthrough, I played as a female human warrior with a noble background. Note that this a first impressions review and that I am only about twenty hours into the game, so the review will focus mostly on non plot related elements.

Your character is immediately ripped away from this happy luxurious life when your house is suddenly attacked by someone thought to be an ally and you find yourself being recruited into a powerful order called the Grey Wardens in order to help stop evil creatures called orcs…I mean Darkspawn from destroying Ferelden, the setting of Dragon Age.


Gameplay: (5/5)

The developers did an amazing job with this aspect of the game. Bioware seems to have finally fixed the crappy 3D camera I’ve seen in too many games. You can opt to play the game in third person view (similar to games like Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, etc) and control your character with WASD and the mouse, or you can play with a top down Baldur’s Gate style view. I preferred to travel and interact with the third person view but when combat situations came up, I opted for the top down view, as I was used to fighting in Baldur’s Gate with that camera style and I find it easier to employ tactics in that view. This makes the game fun to navigate through for those who like the newer style camera views but still caters to those die hard isometric RPG fans as well.

The UI (user interface) is beautifully done and very easy to navigate through. The Inventory is simple to use as are the Journal, Map, and the Quick slots, where you can assign hotkeys (0-9) to use special moves and take health potions.

Saving the game is easy: there is a quick save option available but the game also autosaves when traveling to a new area as well as right before an important encounter or a difficult battle.

You can also log in to your Bioware account to save your player profile and screenshots, though the game can automatically take screenshots for you throughout the game of scenes it thinks are important, or you can just hit Print Screen and take them yourself.

NPCs: (5/5)

These NPCs are probably the best written NPCs I’ve seen in a game. They are realistic and have depth and they are not bound by alignment restrictions (ie. There are no EVILLLLL NPCs or superheroes). You have the opportunity to romance some of them or just become their friend. You are responsible for their approval rating of you, which can change depending on your dialogue choices and actions, but you can also give them gifts to show your affection for them. My favorites were Logan from Gilmore Girls (Alistair), Lulu from Final Fantasy X (Morrigan) and Imoen from Baldur’s Gate with a French-like accent (Leliana). I took them just about everywhere with me.

Plot: (5/5)

One of the things I can always count on Bioware on is their ability to make an RPG something more than just “You are an unknown mercenary who has no reason to save the world but you are going to anyway because that’s the only way the game can go on.” The plot was extremely well done and is not only epic and interesting, but long! That and there are a ton of sidequests the player can do to increase experience. The dungeons are fairly difficult but the game doesn’t feel like a dungeon crawl/hack n’ slash. I found myself sympathizing with several of the characters in the game over the course of the story – after a while they feel very real, which is great.

Graphics: (4/5)

I remember viewing the teaser site for Dragon Age years and years ago (2004/2005ish?). The engine is a Bioware-made engine that will have a toolset released for it so players can make their own adventures. However, it’s not the Unreal Engine (Mass Effect used this one), so don’t expect Dragon Age to look like Mass Effect: it won’t. I ran the game at the highest settings and had no performance lag, although I did notice that after I had the game running for about three hours, the load times for area transitions would take a ridiculous amount of time. I would then have to save my game and exit and restart again and it would be fine.

One of the things Bioware seems to be marketing about the game is its gore factor. Yes, there is a lot of blood in the combat of Dragon Age. It even splatters on the player and NPCs and stays on them for quite some time (there are no bath or shower scenes but it does go away eventually). However, I will admit that it’s overdone. The blood splatters are not very real looking, in fact, it just looks like someone got too excited with a red paintbrush and started dancing with it. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that the blood never splatters in the NPCs’ hair. Or that Lulu…I mean Morrigan never gets blood on her, even when she is fighting up close (perhaps it has to be a melee attack only?).

Sound: (5/5)

The sound was very well done. Armor clanking, swords clashing, footsteps on different types of terrain- very nicely done. The voice acting was awesome – too many times have I seen gaming experiences broken because of cheesy voice acting.

Music: (4/5)

The music was done by Inon Zur, the same guy that did the music for BG2: Throne of Bhaal. In some ways, I can tell that his style in ToB returns in Dragon Age (loud horns and lots of cymbal crashing), but it was still pretty good. I will not say that it surpasses Jack Wall’s work on the Mass Effect soundtrack, which made me feel like I was starring in a movie, but it still gave the feeling of immersion and made the game enjoyable. It was also not too loud that I had to turn the volume down all the time, so good job to the sound programmers and designers for that.

The song that plays on the main menu is interesting. It does not sound like the rest of the game music but is quite beautiful and a completely different style, which makes me wonder if it was done by someone else altogether (or if Mr. Zur decided to give the loud horns a break and do something soothing). It has actual vocals and is actually sung by Imoen…I mean Leliana during the game. I am definitely getting the soundtrack on CD.

Overall: 4.6/5 - Awesome game. Best fantasy RPG since Baldur’s Gate. Worth the wait.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/PMkhG)

"Crumbling Down" Chapter 13 ("Friends and Enemies"), part 1 has been posted.

Word has it that Bodhi is back in Athkatla. It's time to go back to where it all began, and face down the vampiress for a third -- and final -- time.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/LQH93)

"Crumbling Down" Chapter 12 ("De'Arnise"), part 2 has been posted.

Cassandra and Imoen return to the De'Arnise Keep. For Cassandra, this means confronting some old sins; for Imoen, confronting new fears.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/TcGd2)

"Crumbling Down" Chapter 12 ("De'Arnise"), part 1 has been posted.

Cassandra and Imoen return to the De'Arnise Keep. For Cassandra, this means confronting some old sins; for Imoen, confronting new fears.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/UWPTK)

BBC recently ran an article about the alarming rate of language death in the world.  In short, 94% of the world speaks only 6% of the languages; 94% of all languages are spoken by only 6% of the population.  There are around, roughly, 7000 languages currently spoken on earth.  By 2100, the estimation is that there will be around 700.

What caught me as interesting about this article was not the dire information:  anyone with basic linguistics training has heard the figures and knows that language loss in today's day and age is a trend that cannot--and will not--be reversed anytime soon.  What caught my attention were the comments.

In the linguistic community, the overwhelming reaction to linguistic loss is "What a shame!  This is horrible; we should prevent it."  In the comments of regular readers, however, there were other strong opinions:

1.  Language Loss is a Blessing in Disguise

Imagine that, in 2100, everyone speaks one of those 700 languages.  Imagine that, further, in 2200, everyone speaks one of 70 languages.  In 2300, everyone speaks one of seven.  Isn't that actually a blessing?  More people can understand more things; literature is available more widely; translation needs and costs drop.  Global communication becomes a heck of a lot simpler, especially considering that most of the world populace is multilingual anyways, so "There are only 7 languages on Earth" would actually mean something like "90% of the world population can communication with anyone on the entire planet."  Diplomatic relations are improved; education is normalized.  So what if we lose some minor South American language that's only spoken by two hundred people and doesn't have a word for "internet"?  The benefits we all gain by having a (set of more or less) common language(s), far outweighs the benefits we all gain by worrying about all the minor, unimportant ones.

2.  Preventing Language Loss is Unnatural

Things die; languages included.  If a community of speakers is no longer using their ancestral language and has moved on (say, the Welsh now speaking English, or various Asian minorities speaking Mandarin Chinese), let them move on!  It's obviously happened for a reason.  Whether through economic reasons, cultural ones, or whatnot, the shift has happened.  Trying to convince or force a language to maintain a language that it doesn't want to, is more for the benefit of the linguists than the speakers.  Let it go, man.

Interestingly, there's also a (only half serious?) initiative among the conlangers (constructed language makers) to increase linguistic diversity not by sustaining existing language, but by creating new ones.  One motto is:  "Fight linguistic extinction!  Invent a language!"  Of course, given that a language exists doesn't mean anyone uses it (the whole point of language vitality), so inventing a language doesn't necessarily fight linguistic extinction.

(Originally posted at http://www.g2n.be/tcdale/blog/the-death-of-a-language-blessing-or-curse.html)

I'm going to make myself very unpopular with some people with this post.  Advanced warning.

In recent years, it seems the number and the death toll of disasters, whether manmade or natural, have gone up.  There's always an earthquake here, a famine there, a war, an epidemic, or something.

It's not the case, though, that disasters are actually worse now than they were, say, 200 years ago.  The difference, IMO, is that there are more people affected by them simply because there ARE more people.  Two hundred years ago, City X likely had half the population it does today, so when it got struck by a hurricane, of course the death and damage toll was significantly less.  If there's a war involving 100,000 people instead of 500,000 people, the 100,000-people-war is going to (most probably) demand less casualities.  We imagine them to be worse, because we're affected more.

In a way, I think such disasters are good.  This is not to say "human suffering is unimportant" or "I think we should have more disasters."  I do think, however, that disasters function as a certain level of population control on the human species -- a population control that we desperately need.  Lacking any natural predators and having mastered 90% of our environment, disasters such as war, plague, earthquakes, and famines are the only things that keep us from totally overpopulating the planet (which, despite these things, we've come very close to doing).

Consider how many people live in Europe in the present day.  In most countries the population density is amazing.  Now consider that this is WITH the Black Plague having wiped out 2/3rds of the population back in the Middle Ages.  What if the Black Plague hadn't occured?  How many people would there be now?  What would living conditions be like?  Food conditions?  Housing?  The Black Plague wiped out a good portion of the population, but if it had not, Europe would likely be teeming with so many humans that it would be nearly impossible to imagine.

The same is true of natural disasters that claim a hundred or a thousand lives; or famines that take entire villages; wars that kill 10,000 men, women, and children.  That these people die, prevents them from breeding (more than they already have).  It diminishes the existing population, slows down the replacement rate, and frees up resources.  When these things happen with other animals that are overrunning their environment, we consider it a magic or a miracle of Mother Nature:  a self-regulating system making sure that no one organism breeds so wildly that it destroys the ecosystem.  Why don't we see it that way when the organism in question is us?

Before you ask:  no, I've never been in a war or a famine or similar.  I have had family members affected by hurricanes, drought, and war, though.  It hasn't changed my opinion.  And I am not claiming that disasters are "morally good"; simply that they are a valuable part of the natural cycle of things.  People should learn to recognize them as such and see it less as a tragedy and more as a fact of life.

(Originally posted at http://www.g2n.be/tcdale/blog/disasters-as-population-control.html)

For my birthday I requested books.  I'm a bibliophile, and since I'm unemployed, I figured there are two major goals to work on:  finish my writing, and expand my job skills.

The job skills are going well, and I received three books about job-related things:  A CSS Pocket Reference, JQuery in Action, and Head First Ajax.  I am happy.

I also got quite a few writing-related books.  I think I'm a pretty good writing, but of course I can always improve.  I received "Plot and Structure", "Description and Setting", and "Revision and Self-Editing."  All are part of the "Write Great Fiction" series.  I wasn't sure how good they'd be, and I haven't finished (or even started) all of them.  So far I've started "Plot and Structure" and "Revision and Self-Editing" -- both are very interesting and have given me a lot of ideas and inspiration already.  I've been told by readers that I'm strong on characterization and dialog, and less strong on description and setting, so I'm tackling that one last.

Either way, it's great inspiration to get me writing again, now that my time is back free.  Goals for the rest of October now that my family is back on the way to America:  finish at least one chapter of both Crumbling Down and of the T/C novel.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/cW2ca)

Well, today two members of my family have officially arrived in Europe for vacation.  As loyal and helpful family member, I will be acting as tour-guide / translator / hotel / taxi service for the two weeks as I show them around.  Unfortunately, due to time and cost, we can't actually do a "tour of Europe", but we are going to spend a lot of time in the Benelux (Belgium, Nederlands, Luxemburg) area, including some time in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Ardennes.

I'm rather looking forward to it, as I've already been here for a few years and I'm sure some of the "WTF" about Europe has worn off as I've gotten "integrated."  With my family members here (one of which, possibly both of which, have never been outside the US before), there will be all-new WTF goodness.  Especially in Amsterdam.  (evil grin)

So, I plan on still updating on my regularly schedule Monday/Thursday time slots, but if I miss a day, you know why.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/g2FDL)

I had a plot bunny this weekend that I really hope I can eventually turn into a longer work.  The initial scene is posted below; just enough to try out the point of view and tone.

I had a plot bunny this weekend that I really hope I can eventually turn into a longer work. The initial scene is posted below; just enough to try out the point of view and tone.

"Golden"

I looked in the mirror. It was a familiar face; one which I had spent hours studying and contemplating. Gold eyes. Cat-eyes. Goat-eyes. Wolf-eyes. Eyes that humans didn’t have.

Not all beasts shared my coloring. The eyes of cows and horses were a deep, muddy brown; the small round beads of the songbirds were black. Mistress’s eyes were cow-like: brown, dull, and stupid. Why, then, was I a beast and she was not?

I dared to ask Master once, while working in the study. I didn’t mention Mistress.

He smiled; that patient, patronizing smile that said I knew you’d ask. He smiled like that when I asked obvious questions that any real person would know. From the stack of papers on his desk, he pulled one over that was already fouled by the squiggles, slashes, and dots in which he made his notes. He turned it over, dipped the tip of the feathered quill into the inkwell, and slowly began to draw as he explained.

“A rectangle,” said he, “is a shape with four sides.” The lines of blue ink stretched out slowly out across the paper, suddenly stopping and angling sharply in another direction, then again, then again. When the pen withdrew, a box had appeared on the parchment: long, thin, and narrow, like one of the creaky boards of the front porch stairs. “Is this a rectangle?”

I counted the sides; twice, just to be sure. There were four. “Yes.”

The pen returned, the thick, bushy plume obscuring my view. “A square is a shape with four sides, where the sides are all the same length.” I nodded. When he removed his hand, he pointed to the figure he had drawn. “Is this a rectangle or a square?”

The drawing this time was compact and even: no longer a stair but one of the large blocks of salt that Eytherfel delivered to the cows of the field. Whether the sides were exactly the same length, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like it. “A square.”

Master leaned back in his chair. That usually meant I was wrong. “Why?”

“Because all the sides are the same length.”

"But how many sides does it have?”

I counted. Twice, just to be sure. “Four.”

“Then isn’t it a rectangle?”

My brows knitted together in confusion. Master was right; it was a rectangle. But wasn’t it also a square? How could it be two things at once?

“All squares are rectangles,” he was saying. “But not all rectangles are squares. Not all beasts are golden, but all golden are beasts.”

“But cows have brown eyes,” I argued, as I tried to understand how these flat, inked figures somehow defined me. I hadn't yet learned to control my frustration; that would come later, after Mistress whipped my back to blood.  Now it pushed the words out before I could stop to think.   “Mistress has brown eyes. Is she a cow?"

It was the wrong thing to say. Master’s amused, belittling smile fled from his lips, replaced by a deep frown.

I was saved, ironically, by Mistress herself. The bell above the study door suddenly jangled for attention as her voice called out from the hall above. “Ordren! Visitors!”

He rose out of his chair; the wooden seat creaked in relief. “I don’t know why I bother reasoning with you,” he grumbled. The dark glower remained frozen on his features as he passed me by. “You don’t understand; you never will. That is what makes you a beast.”

He walked out without looking back at me, knowing that I would follow. I wasn’t allowed to be in the study alone. I lingered for a few precious seconds, my fingers tracing the rough fibers of the parchment, the two simples shapes emblazoned there. The blue ink, only half dry, stained my skin.

Those shapes would haunt me for months afterwards. Buildings, windows, loaves of bread, the shape of a doorway or of a book or a painting. They invaded my dreams, transforming the one into the other, rectangles into squares into rectangles again. I grew to hate those four uncaring sides; the sharp, brutal angles. Distort it how you would, make it longer or broader or with walls a yardstick thick, and it was still what it was: a rectangle, no more and no less. Soon I dreamt of myself, caught inside as the shape twisted and fought to be not-what-it-was. When I awoke, though, I remained a golden. A beast: no more and no less.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/gVu1i)

Good morning one and all,

As I mentioned before, I'd like to redesign this site (again).  My primary aims are to get further away from the 'stock wordpress' layout (which I don't like), less clutter, more sexy, and easier/more visible navigation.  To this end, I have two 'example' pages created.  Clicking on the thumbnail takes you to the larger image.

Things that aren't present on the designs which I'd like to add in:

1)  Twitter (if I can find a nice way of doing it)

2)  A search function (forgot about it when I was doing the design)

3)  RSS/newsletter link

Speak now or forever hold your peace.  What do you think?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Example Story Page"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Example Listing Page"][/caption]

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/Hh2Iq)

I've noticed something in fantasy that I'm not sure whether it's just coincidence, or if there's a larger pattern going on. When I think of warrior, miltaristic, harsh, cruel cultures, they're almost always based in a non-fertile area: a desert, or the mountain steppes or something. Rain forests or temperate woodland, not so much. And when I think of peaceful, hippie, loving cultures, they're usually based in stuff like rain forests and temperate woodlands. Swamps tend to have low-civilization, brutal cultures.

I'm suspecting that this is an extension of the "Good = Beautiful, Evil = Ugly" stereotype, only with land instead. So, fertile, farmer-friendly land is good (and leads to good cultures, which will be beautiful), and land which is infertile or farmer-unfriendly is bad (and leads to evil cultures, which will be ugly).

While I can think of several exception cultures in the real world (Aztecs = jungle = very brutal, for instance), I can't readily think of any examples in fantasy. Are there any? Peaceful cultures living in the desert? Warlike, draconian empires based in a lush paradise?

(I do want to note, however, that an excellent turn-around on the "Good = Beautiful" stereotype are the Irda, or "High Ogres", of Dragonlance, which were originally amazingly beautiful and highly civilized -- yet incredibly cruel. But, perhaps a bit predictably, the gods became upset at their cruelty and twisted their intelligence and their appearance to better fit their evil interior, transforming them into the stupid, ugly ogres of fantasy standard. So Evil = Ugly afterall.)

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/XfN5O)

My girlfriend has developed a very convincing "I am a zombie and I will eat your brains" walk, which is exceedingly creepy.  It did, however, get me thinking again about zombies.  Namely, in all the horror movies and such, people do one of two things:  they go on foot (and get surrounded, and get eaten) or they go by car/bike/tank (and run out of gas, get surrounded, and get eaten).

The obvious solution to this is to use human-powered transportation.  That is:  get a bike.  Seriously.  Zombies are, 90% of the time, slow moving shufflers whom you can outrun just by walking quickly.  With a bicycle, you'll blow past those critters with ease.  Bikes are less loud than a motorized automobile (meaning:  the zombies won't be able to hear you coming/going), don't leave as many tracks (not as easy to find you), are smaller and easier to transport (say, pick it up and carry it over that 'too narrow for a Hummer' bridge).  You'll NEVER run out of gas.

There are downsides, of course.  If you run into the fast-moving zombies, you'll likely run out of endurance before the zombies do (unless you're a professional, a la Tour De France).  You can get a flat tire or your chain might slip at an inappropriate moment (namely, while surrounded by zombies).  Neither of these are as hard to fix as, say, your motorcycle losing a wheel or your car's fuelline breaking.  Just carry a good bike repair kit with you, some spare parts in your hidey-hole, and make sure your bike is in good repair BEFORE you venture out into zombie territory.

Or, Hell, invest in a good pair of roller skates.  In a zombie infestation, human-powered transport is definitely the way to go.

(Originally posted at http://www.g2n.be/tcdale/blog/zombies-and-bicycles.html)

Well, boys and girls, we're taking a short hiatus on major writing.  A combination of work and family is demanding a lot of my time.  You'll still get little blog posts now and then, but Cassandra and Imoen will be taking a long-deserved vacation.  Things will be back to normal hopefully around the first or second week of October.

In the meantime, here's a preview of what's still to come in 2009:

September:

- My birthday!  Yes, I get a year older.  Give me cake.

October:

- Halloween!  Yes, I celebrate it.  Give me candy.

- Crumbling Down, Chapter 12.

- Crumbling Down gets its own website!

November:

- Thanksgiving!  It's my favorite family holiday.  Give me turkey.

- Crumbling Down, Chapters 13 and 14

- A complete site re-design for TC Dale, assuming I don't get it finished in October (which is honestly not very likely, thus I'm putting it here).

December:

- Christmas!  It's not a religious holiday for me, but still:  Give me presents.

- Crumbling Down, Chapters 15 and beyond.  I'm fairly certain it will end around Chapter 16, but sometimes my writing has a mind of its own.

That's about all at the moment as far as 'major' things.  Next year (2010) will be a big one as well, with the completion of my first original novel.  However, since Crumbling Down is both older and bigger, I'm giving it priority at the moment.

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/3QBVT)

Got a truly amusing email from my mother the other day.  Apparently while she was typing, the computer decided to slowly die.  I've clipped some info which really isn't any of the Internet's business, to guard my privacy a bit:

I called the bank today to see what they needed to make a transfer....this is what they told me:

[info clipped]

They also told me that the info has to be correct...once it leaves the USA, they have no way to trace it...if it doesn't get to your bank there, it is just gone.

We both use the s me b nk (I didn't misspell - the " " won't work  nymore). You h ve m de tr nsfers before  nd  pprently it went thru OK.  I guess we do the s me thing  gi n

This computer h s been  good workhorse, but it is on it's l st legs.  It's been  cting up  lot in the l st few weeks.  To the point I did  full b ckup this weekend.  We will st rt shopping for  new one this weekend.  I've be been told th t BEST BUY would be the best pl ce to choose.  Do you know of  ny other comp nies th t c  n provide good  u lity ( the " " isn't recognied either)?

Do you re li e (there went the " ") how difficult it is to write without  " ", & " "?

It's not just the keybo rd...it doesn't recogni    ll of things..like the mouse,     nd it grinds  lot.   I h te to repl ce it bec use you buillt it, but I think i's time h s come.

Do you re li  e (there went the  " ") how h rd it is to write without the " ". " "  nd " "? I'll turn the computer off now  nd let it it rest for tonight.

Love Mom

(Originally posted at http://ping.fm/ory6Z)