Madness In My Method

So I just heard for the first time "Generation Alpha".

Given that recent generations are getting named after the alphabet, should the kids being born right now be called The Virus Generation, or V-Gen for short?

And then my geek brain says, "Well, of course, then they'll call themselves V-GERs, and that's when they officially bow down to their AI satellite overlords."

Chrome updated.

The bookmark spacing in Chrome's bookmark bar just got increased on my work computer, causing a few bookmarks I use often and specifically have listed on the right of the screen to fall off into the overflow dropdown. I submitted feedback of my displeasure and have been checking online for a possible fix that doesn't seem to exist at present.

While searching, I happened across this article which has nothing whatsoever to do with the bookmark bar in Chrome, but still put a stupid smile on my face. It's a 5 year old article that has to do with Amazon's instant-response dropdown and creative mouse detection, and as someone mentions in comments was figured out back in the 80s. Still, new to me, and I'm fascinated by it.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

( Along with GRE lessons, I'm also learning Japanese with my eldest nephew. )

As another development, eldest and his friends started playing D&D. They've been playing the World War Z and the Walking Dead games that are based on similar RPG mechanics, but one of the boys has officially bought a couple of the D&D books, and they're branching out into that arena as a group. I'm such a proud geek aunt. I was initially toying with the idea of getting eldest into Pathfinder a couple months ago, so hearing of this new development thrills me.

Eldest is doing the math of the future in his head. He knows I'm trying to teach his younger brother programming, and he would like to learn to draw/animate anime, and he's really digging into the RPGs. He'd like it if the two of them managed to make their own games.

I'm thinking it's time to introduce him to Persona or some of the other visual novel type games. This seems to be the direction he's heading.

You put a Mandelbrot viewer app on your shiny Android and deem it the most fabulous app in all the world.

I am now the proud owner of a PS3.

Sooooo, why is this news, you ask?

Because the last time I owned a console gaming system was....never.

That's right, I'm a gamer who has never owned a gaming system. My parents owned an Atari back in the day that got sold somewhere down the line when I started getting into computers. *coughCommodore64cough* Although at the time I was the primary player of said gaming system, I technically never owned it. Even my grandmother owned a Gameboy, and now both of the boys have Gameboys, an old Sega their father bought them, and a PS2 mini that I got for them as a gift from Santa. Here in the house we have a PS2, a PS3, and an XBox360 (but still no Wii), none of which belong to me. It has just always worked out that way. If there was a game I wanted to play I used to be able to find it in the arcade, and then later I could always find a PC version, which is still my preference - except for Katamari which MUST be played on a console. Now I just buy the game and play on one of the commune systems.

I still only bought the system so that I didn't have to figure out some way of stringing cables from my computer over to my tv so that I can watch videos from my computer. I have a PC program that talks to the PS3 and whalla!

We've (the roomies with whom I work, and I) decided that we have to come up with a proper word for something that just about everyone does.

I was making noises. Specifically, I was touching my tongue to the top of my palette and making "Ta Da Teh Ta" etc. noises while recreating the tune of a song to myself. I wasn't humming with the lips closed and I wasn't actually singing the words, so neither of those are exactly fitting. I wasn't necessarily trilling, and bombilate and bominate are synonyms for humming.

Needless to say, after searching thesaurus.com, we cannot find a word that matches with what I was actually doing.

Guess what I just picked up today.

While walking on the elliptical these past couple of weeks, I've been catching up with Heroes. I just made it through season 3. I'm trying to decide if I want to watch season 4 from my computer or just wait until it comes out and snag a copy for my collection*.

This of course has spawned Heroes dreams, which koed has encouraged me to write up and share. Since it's my (and everyone else's) favorite GM in the whole world making such a request, how can I possibly say no?

Let me preface this with 1)I have not been an RPGer for near as long as some of my compatriots, so character creation is by no means my strong point, 2)yes, I'm sure these are not novel ideas when compared to the litany of RPGs, comics, movies, etc. that exist out there, and 3)yes, if word of my ideas sparked a call that would somehow get me closer to meeting and later acting out a sex (and/or death) scene with Zachary Quinto, you bet I'm going to pimp it.

** Contains minor spoilers from season 3
( In which I dream up a character concept and a few new abilities )

*Note: The snagging of the copy of season 4 will occur no matter what, as anyone who knows my dvd collection can attest. However, I'm talking about for the here-and-now watching enjoyment.

I get a kick out of colors, simply because of the nature of color. Our world is defined by how we perceive it rather than how it actually exists. It's a great philosophical point of discussion based on hard science.

Polar Bears

If you don't already know, polar bears are black. Their skin is black. Their fur is colorless. And yet we perceive white because of how the hollow shaft of the fur disperses light waves much like prisms* (which are also colorless).

Now think about your world around you. All the things you see. All the colors. And yet that's just it - it's colors that you see (read: perceive) rather than the color an object actually IS. Pick an object. Lets start with basic black and white objects. We say an object is black because it absorbs all of the light waves and emits none in return. So our eyes translate that info into "lack of color", which is then translated into the color termed black. Likewise, we say an object is white because it absorbs no light waves and emits all of them in return. Our eyes translate that info into "all colors" = white. However, this says nothing of the object's actual existence (ontology). Now, this is conjecture, but I like to sometimes imagine that the reason an object APPEARS black is because it actually EXISTS as a white object, which is what allows it to absorb all of the light waves. Likewise a perceived white object actually exists as a black object.

Using a color wheel, you can find any color on one side of the wheel and then find it's polar opposite (pun totally intended) just as easily. Imagine then that all the colors you see are actually the complete opposite of the color of the existence of an object. If you see something as white, it actually exists as black. If you see something as green, it actually exists as magenta.

So, it's a fun game I try to play with my eyes. I imagine the world around me as actually existing as the opposite colors than what I'm actually perceiving. Of course, this would mean I'm actually one of the blackest people I know and I hang out with people who cherish white objects and have closets filled with white clothing. Although, it's also a good thing we don't get so horribly philosophical on the whole subject of ontology versus perceived colors of objects. Because then I'd have to admit that the polar bear really is white and is hanging out on a landscape of black snow, and that would just be messing which my head.

*I now want to do a science fair project in which thousands of teeny tiny prisms are lined up facing every which way.