Cinderwick

Fantasy and nautical screensavers for the Kindle 3

2011-06-11T00:00:00-07:00

Libby and I recently purchased two Kindle 3G+Wifi ebook readers. They have not only rekindled our love of literature, but also have given me an opportunity to finally enjoy, as screensavers, the many pieces of classic fantasy and nautical artwork I’ve collected over the years.

Frank Frazetta, Ken Kelly…my thoughts on their work echo those of Jaime Chamber in his recent post on the same subject:

“As many young boys from the 80’s did, I fell in love with Conan the Barbarian. I loved the movies, the books, the comics…all of it. Others may see Arnold in all his post Mr. Olympia glory when thinking of Conan, but for me it’s always been Frazetta’s imagery that stuck with me for decades.”

The works of Frazetta and Kelly remain some of the most haunting fantasy pieces ever produced.

I’ve split the artwork into two categories:

There are 66 screensavers in total; a few of my favourites include:

Enjoy!

Install Jekyll and Pygments under Windows with Cygwin

2011-04-22T00:00:00-07:00

As mentioned in the colophon, cinderwick is powered by Jekyll, a simple, blog aware, static website generator. Essentially a command line tool, Jekyll is easy to install under any flavour of Linux, but occasionally I like to publish content when I’m working in Windows. For this I use Cygwin, the Linux-like environment for Windows.

As this is more of a note to self than a full-fledged tutorial, I’ll assume you have a minimal base installation of Cygwin already; if not, check out their installation doc before proceeding.

Installing Jekyll under Cygwin

Run Cygwin’s setup.exe and install the following packages:

gcc make ruby

Download and extract the latest RubyGems tarball from RubyForge.

In a Cygwin terminal, navigate to the extracted directory and run the following command:

$ ruby setup.rb install

Update RubyGems by running the following:

$ gem update --system

Finally, install Jekyll:

$ gem install jekyll

Installing Pygments under Cygwin (optional)

Pygments is a python-based generic syntax highlighter which integrates seamlessly with Jekyll to provide colourful code blocks; handy for anyone who blogs about programming:

Run Cygwin’s setup.exe and install the python package.

Download and extract the latest Pygments source tarball.

Using a cygwin terminal, navigate to the extracted directory and run the following command:

$ python setup.py install

Add the following to your Jekyll site’s _config.yml:

pygments: true

Mark syntax highlighted areas in your documents with:

{% highlight python %}
snippet of python code to highlight
{% endhighlight %}

In order for the highlighting to appear, you’ll need to generate a style sheet and incorporate it into your HTML templates. Thankfully, Pygments includes several styles. To generate a style sheet using the default style, run the following command in a Cygwin terminal:

$ pygmentize -f html -a .highlight -S default > syntax-default.css

For a list of all built-in colour schemes, run:

$ pygmentize -L styles

Activate screensaver and lock desktop via keyboard shortcut under Windows XP

2011-04-06T00:00:00-07:00

One of the features I’ve always enjoyed under Linux is the ability to lock the desktop and start the screensaver at the same time. This is the default behaviour of both the gnome-screensaver and Xscreensaver. To mimic this feature under Windows XP, we can use a batch file or VBScript and then assign a keyboard shortcut to execute it.

Batch file method

Copy & paste the following into a text editor and save it as a *.bat file, for example sslock.bat:

REM A simple script to activate a screensaver and lock the workstation
@ECHO OFF
%windir%\system32\ssstars.scr /s
rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation
CLS
EXIT

What this does is pretty self-explanatory if you’ve ever dealt with batch files:

Disable command-echoing with ECHO OFF
Execute the screensaver command
When the screensaver is exited, lock the desktop
Clear the screen of any output
Exit the script cleanly

VBScript/WSH Method

Copy & paste the following into a text editor and save it as a *.vbs file, for example sslock.vbs:

' A simple script to activate a screensaver and lock the workstation
'
'    For more information, see:
'    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d5fk67ky(v=VS.85).aspx
'
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 
Return = WshShell.Run("%windir%\system32\ssstars.scr /s",, true)
Return = WshShell.Run("rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation",, false)
Set WshShell = Nothing

Slightly more complicated than the batch file, here’s a breakdown of what we’re doing:

Create a WshShell object, necessary for running a local command
Execute the Starfield screensaver; the true argument instructs the script to halt until the screensaver exits
Execute the lock workstation command
Finally, disassociate the variable for garbage cleanup

Which method is better?

Choosing between the batch and VBS method is largely a matter of preference, but there are some considerations:

The Windows Script Host environment is disabled by some administrators for security reasons; the batch file will be the only option in cases such as this
The batch method spawns a command prompt which is visible for a split second; a shortcut can be configured to minimize it when launched, but it cannot be disabled entirely
Some argue the batch file can be interrupted with CTRL+C before the LockWorkstation command is executed, thus defeating the security; I would love to see this keyboard kung fu demonstrated, because as soon as any key is struck LockWorkstation is executed

Personally, I prefer the simplicity (and security) of the batch file.

Assigning a keyboard shortcut

Regardless of which script method you choose, you’ll probably want to execute it with a keyboard shortcut. In this example, I’m going to assign it to CTRL+ALT+L which is the default screen locker shortcut under most GNU/Linux systems.

Save the new sslock script somewhere permanent, for example C:\sslock.bat
Create a shortcut for it (right-click on the script file and select Create Shortcut)
Move the shortcut to your Desktop or Start menu directory; this is necessary for keyboard shortcuts to work
Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties
Click on the input field for Shortcut key: and then press the desired key sequence, for example CTRL+ALT+L; if the shortcut reverts to None it means the sequence you entered is already in use and you’ll need to choose a different sequence
Click Apply and OK

Now, test your new shortcut by pressing the key sequence. Assuming there were no issues, the script should run and lock the desktop.

Finally, if you chose the batch method you can minimize the command prompt when the batch file is run:

Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties
Select Minimized from the Run drop-down menu
Click Apply and OK

Redmond theme for Launchy

2011-04-03T00:00:00-07:00

In keeping with the recent Windows Classic inspired themes, I’ve made Redmond, a native Windows Classic theme for the Launchy application launcher. Source files for the window frame and spinner are included.

Grab Redmond from my Launchy themes page.

Blackfin and Redmond themes for Google Chrome

2011-04-03T00:00:00-07:00

I love Google Chrome, but the default themes have always been lacking in one respect or another. My biggest beef is that they theme the entire window frame. This is fine for most environments, but if you happen to prefer the Windows Classic theme when using Windows XP, Chrome can really stand out like a sore thumb (yeah, that’s a white whine).

So, a couple weeks ago I set out to remedy the issue. The end result is Blackfin, Redmond and NeXTish, three theme packs for Google Chrome, for a total of 16 themes.

All three packs use the native Windows Classic colour scheme for toolbars and other UI elements. Full and partially framed versions are included, allowing for the appearance of traditional application windows.

For download links and more screenshots, see my Google Chrome themes page.

Windows Classic themes for XP and 7

2011-04-02T00:00:00-07:00

Between work, school and providing tech support to family members I find I’m using Windows XP more than Linux lately. I’m sure it’s a passing phase, but in the meantime I’ve posted some of my Windows Classic themes for anyone else who enjoys the retro Windows look.

Rest assured I haven’t completely defected! I also took the time to (re)post my openbox themes and GTK+ themes.

Wow! Debian has a new website

2011-02-07T00:00:00-08:00

“After roughly 13 years with nearly the same design, the layout and design of many of the websites run by Debian changed together with today’s release of Debian Squeeze.”

http://www.debian.org/

Good job to all involved. I look forward to seeing how it progresses.

Disable Google Instant and show more than 10 results without saving cookies

2010-11-27T00:00:00-08:00

Regardless of browser, my netbook takes a significant performance hit when Google Instant is enabled; not to mention the havoc it wreaks on keyboard navigation plugins like Keysnail or Vimium.

Unfortunately, disabling Instant via Google’s Search Settings isn’t really an option if you browse anonymously with Private mode (Firefox) or Incognito (Chrome). The opt-out-of-Instant preference is lost at the end of your browsing session when cookies are wiped.

Thankfully, you can disable Instant by customizing your browser’s default search engine parameters. For example, your default search string may look like this:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s

By adding &as_qdr=all to the string, Instant will be disabled regardless of your usual search settings:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&as_qdr=all

Taking this one step further, you can instruct Google to show more than 10 results per page by adding &num=30&start=0 to the string:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&num=30&start=0&as_qdr=all

The start parameter specifies that results should start at zero and num specifies that 30 results be displayed per page.

How you modify your default search string depends on which browser you use…

For Chrome/Chromium:

Go to Preferences > Basics > Default Search > Manage
Edit Google (Default) and add &num=30&start=0&as_qdr=all to the end of the URL

You will end up with something like this:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&hl=en&num=30&start=0&as_qdr=all

For Firefox (this assumes you use the address bar for keyword searches):

Enter about:config in the address bar
Type keyword in the search box
Double-click on Keyword.URL
Insert &num=30&start=0&as_qdr=all before &q= and click OK

The resulting string should look something like this:

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&num=30&start=0&as_qdr=all&q=

Flickr done flickd me off

2010-07-21T00:00:00-07:00

To each their own, but I’m done with Flickr. Over the next few days I’ll be moving my artwork and photos into my Picasa Web Albums. It’s free, images are viewable at their original size and I don’t need a bloody yahoo email account.

Update Sep 2010: Our Flickr account is now closed. Photos and images have been moved to ~~http://picasaweb.google.com/thayerwilliams~~ and I will update thumbnails throughout the site accordingly.

Update Feb 2011: Picasa’s user interface proved even worse than Flickr. Screenshots have been moved here for the time being until our own semi-automated image galleries are ready.

So lost

2010-05-25T00:00:00-07:00

OK so, we didn’t watch iota one of Lost. In fact we have managed to avoid almost all the details, except that people were stranded somewhere, there is (was?) someone named Libby, and hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck was in it. CBC radio recently had guest speakers speculating about (*shudder*) the last episode ever and when the programme host reluctantly announced that he has never seen the show, it was as if the air was sucked out of the broadcast room. There was this awkward silence and I can only imagine the look he received.. However now that the last episode has aired and speculation is over, can we all have our news back? The past few weeks have been dominated by “how will it end?”, “what does it all mean?” and now apparently there is some serious debriefing to do. I get it, I do.

I understand the feeling of latching onto something good, and the whole collective sharing thing but this phenomena often falls within a long string of ‘must watch’ TV. It even happens with commercials! We all know our way around YouTube and can get that warm fuzzy sharing with just a few clicks. But nothing says pariah (or castaway) louder than “sorry, I don’t have cable TV”, oh and ordering a simple “large coffee” from Starbucks.

If you’re looking for your next addiction, check out this British must-see. Run, don’t walk to your nearest library for all the seasons!

Inactivity and a shift in focus

2010-05-05T00:00:00-07:00

By now it’s pretty obvious that we no longer have the free time we once enjoyed and dedicated to cinderwick. Career ambitions, grad ceremonies, continuing education, grandchildren, pets and honey do’s…there’s just not enough time in one day to do it all.

To complicate matters, we recently upgraded our old, grainy and speaker-blown 27” CRT TV to a beautiful 40” Samsung LCD TV, matching blu-ray player and Bose HTIB.

I realize that diehards may scoff at those specs, but for us it’s been like watching our favourite movies for the first time. Rob Roy, Children of Men, Shawshank Redemption, Master & Commander, Jeremiah Johnson, Shaun of the Dead…did I mention there’s just not enough time in one day?

Where am I going with this? Well, this will probably be the largest post here for a long while. From now on I’ll be using the blog more as a progress report for the various projects I’m working on…sort of like twitter, but with less bullshit.

To get the ball rolling, you can now find my dotfiles, vimbrant themes, dwm preferences and more at github.

Over the next couple of days I’ll be making some structural changes to cinderwick and dusting off some unreleased projects.

Half-Life 2 Episode Two Review

2009-12-09T00:00:00-08:00

The long awaited HL2: Episode Two arrived with little fanfare. After waiting for its release this past year, low and behold I stumbled across it–a month after its release! How could this happen? At first I thought that (oh crap) the game must be getting bad reviews…but after devoting a weekend to rediscovering Dr. Freeman and the gang, I found that wasn’t the case at all.

The first most notable difference between Half Life2 and Episode Two (other than the 3-year-long wait) is the huge demand on my PC. In order to give this game a fair and objective review, I have to point out that my graphics card (an nVidia FX5200) sucks and this ultimately affected the gameplay and subsequent enjoyment factor. I had to constantly tweak settings to get better FPS and to lessen the painful slide-show at large outdoor scenes and during heavy battle (which unfortunately is most of the game). So that being said, gameplay kind of sucked overall; not the fault of Valve, just simply due to my now inadequate system. *sigh*

The opening sequence takes us back where we left off, on the train heading away from City 17, except the train had crashed. Never fear, Alyx Vance quickly appears to help and damn it’s good to see her again. Her features are more detailed, more refined and thankfully she has the same voice. Alyx is by far my all-time favourite female model in any game and something other game developers need to take note of. But no time to admire her features, a lot happens quickly and before you know it, you’re running to keep up. I was giddy with anticipation and eager to explore but not long later, I had to reload the map a couple of times to register what had just happened, as the first time around I think I was in shock. I won’t spoil the surprise but it was certainly unexpected. This sets in motion a series of tasks to complete before you can continue on the main goal.

Of course there are the usual missions to complete and more clues and background information is provided at various intervals, which all lead to the final goal; to deliver information to the resistance in the White Forest. The missions this time around seemed a bit predictable in parts, but some required more puzzle-solving than before. All the same resistance characters are present, except my drinking pal Barney.. where are you Barn? Vortigaunts are a plenty this episode but with some added cool treats; instead of staying in the background they are up front and pretty bad-ass actually. I expected more story to be around those clever Combine but they seemed scarce as did some scarier moments (such as those found at Ravenholm when waiting, exposed on a dark roof listening to the fast head crab zombies rattling up the pipes as they come for you, howling…shiver).

There were some instances (again due to a sluggish system), where I felt I just couldn’t survive. The enemies seems impossibly hard to kill and ammo limited. Thankfully I had help, which saved my bacon as Alyx certainly did her part. There are no new weapons in Gordon’s repertoire, which is fine as the gravity gun provides variation in picking up and throwing things. Valve did add in some cool toys though, such as the muscle car, complete with GPS for finding goodies and for actually finding the car when you jump out and run around. I really like the dynamic of jumping in and out of the car at non-obvious places and Alyx would either follow or say she would rather wait in the car. Her method of knowing when you are going to get in the car and sliding over the hood to take a seat in the passenger side is pretty darn cool too.

I wasn’t especially excited about the Strider-Hunter combo attack teams, as it seemed a bit repetitious and overdone. Bringing down those long-legged and fast creatures was an exhausting venture when all was said and done. Despite my stripped config settings, the scenery and maps were gorgeous. The detail and gradients were amazing but I would like to run through it again with a better graphics card to get the intended “ooohh and ahhhs”. The sounds and ambiance worked well in the outdoor scenes; birds chirping, wind blowing through trees, as did the general camaraderie between the resistance (you eavesdrop into some funny conversations).

Overall, I thought the story was lacking in some respects mainly due to it not feeling as threatening or dire, but then surprising in others–I did not expect to feel some very emotional moments, such as seeing dog and at witnessing some intimate moments between Alyx and her father. I can’t wait for the next episode and believe me, it will come with a new decked out rig.

Was the wait worth it? Not especially for the meagre seven chapters (6 hours of gameplay), but for the story, consistency and amazing graphics–yes. It’s good to be Gordon Freeman.

On a side note: If you have played HalfLife 2 and have seen the movie Children of Men with Clive Owen, you’ve probably noticed some startling similarities. They both portray the dystopia of society, graffiti, overturned cars, droned brainwashing messages over loud speakers, imprisoned citizens, destruction and oppression. Clive Owen has to fight his way to get through the various controls to help the “movement” and this is also the main theme throughout HL2. In City 17 all of these elements exist, even the resistance graffiti. Ironically, in the second episode of HL2 there is also mention of the ship the Borealis which could be their salvation or their downfall, as it is largely a “ghost ship”. In Children of Men, it is the ship “Tomorrow” which may not exist, but turns out to be salvation. Thayer and I cannot deny the similarities between the two, maybe that’s why we love both the movie and the game. It’s all about breaking free from social control.

Music to Game by: Try the Children of Men Soundtrack–great dubstep and retro British tracks.

50% Probability of sharing?

2009-07-05T00:00:00-07:00

In a million years, I never would have thought that a spousal argument would occur over a calculator. Not just any calculator, but a TI-84 Plus…

Unfortunately we only have one–which cost something akin to buying a large appliance. I’ve been using it for my university statistical Math course; getting quite comfortable calculating t and z distributions of many sample proportions. Now with a month left (read: crunch study time), hubby comes along with his condensed Math 12 summer course and I’m sitting here with my unsolved binomial distributions. How will I ever know the probability of rolling a die 1000 times that it will roll a 6 fewer than 160 times?

Since we are on the same study/school/work schedule, we’ll have no choice but to purchase another, not a very sound investment, seeing as how both courses end Aug 7th and I’ll probably never touch a calculator again–unless I’m trying to figure out a tip (yes, my math is that good!) Now give me back my calculator!!!!

(In case you were wondering, there is a 28% chance of rolling a six fewer than 160 times.)

Acer Aspire One AOD150

2009-03-14T00:00:00-07:00

Just a quick note that I picked up a brand new Acer Aspire One AOD150-1676 here in Canada. This is meant to replace my primary workstation and I must say that so far I’m very impressed.

The 1024×600 screen is brilliantly bright and colourful. The 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor is snappy and the new touchpad/buttons are a welcome change from the first generation of the AA1.

It’s not without it’s annoyances however…the Canadian models ship with an international EN/FR/NL keyboard, which features a half-size Shift key and moves the Enter key vertically under the backspace rather than horizontally above the right Shift. Also, the Acer recovery partition and related software made it a real bitch to add Arch Linux partitions without completely wiping Windows XP. I’ll post my workaround for that soon.

Crisis what crisis?

2009-02-07T00:00:00-08:00

Apparently we grossly overestimate the length of the effect of misfortune in our lives and we eventually learn that one person’s crisis is another person’s walk in the park–or is it that every cloud has a silver lining?

The funny thing is that I almost forget the discomfort of shopping for our car, in fact looking back now I vaguely remember the frustration. But what I do remember were the endearments…the engaging grandpa from Fiji, the amazing snowfall that crippled us and the city within minutes, the shared laughs about salesman’s idiosyncrasies, and playing hangman by the faux fire in the restaurant we warmed up in.

And in the be careful what you wish for category, yes we now have two cars, two sets of gas bills, two sets of washer fluid jugs, extra keys on our key chains, endless shuffling and discussion about ‘who gets to park in the garage’ and have control over the godly door opener. Should the newer (thus perceived ‘nicer’) car get the protection from the elements? or does the older car deserve it because the heater doesn’t work (thus takes longer to warm up when parked outside on those cold mornings)? I think we might have settled that one, and despite the problems we thought having a second car would solve, it has somehow created issues we did not fully perceive.

…so for those eager to know what we finally bought? A 2000 Ford Focus, 4cyl, high kms, well maintained and in good shape, but now in need of a wash.

The joys of car shopping

2009-01-11T00:00:00-08:00

You’d think that spending a few grand would be easy. Not so when car shopping. With fairly flexible expectations, a list of desired characteristics, and a large wad of cash, we set out early with thermoses of coffee, timbits (you have to be Canadian to understand…) and maps to our destinations.

Stop 1: A smoking, hoodied gentleman casually explains that there is no need for us to take the car out for a test drive, but if we “really want to”, we can. Uhh onward.

Stop 2: Two dealerships. No, of course they don’t have cars < $10,000!

Stop 3: This car has to be dug out of snow that fell two weeks ago and also needs a battery boost. The salesman breaks the hood latch doing this but hey, we can deal with that as it means a few bucks off. Out on the road (with the salesman) a cupful of water pours from the visor mount onto the dash. Back we go.

Stop 4: This car is nice. It’s got everything we could ask, albeit a bit larger than we wanted for a 4 cyl, but it’s in great shape. However, it’s boxed in their driveway by another resident who isn’t home, and there’s no insurance on the car which means that even if we could get it out of the driveway, we couldn’t actually drive it–though we did have a really nice chat with Grandpa while standing there.

Stop 5: Reluctantly home. Heavy snowfall sent us home earlier than we planned. But it was mainly due to the fact that the heat in our current car is lukewarm (at best)–the ‘defrost’ mode makes seeing out the windshield worse than if we didn’t turn it on–and it was getting dark at 1630 hrs. Frost-bitten and tired, we stopped halfway home for warm food and to get the feeling back in our toes. Six cups of tea later, and a pee break we make it home unsuccessful, but planning the next outting for Sunday.

Day 2 – Stop 1: Dealerships at the Auto Mall. One-stop shopping! Dressed in multiple, wooly layers and another list off we go. We quickly find that Sunday shopping doesn’t exist in the bible belt of the Valley so we settle for walking the humongous lots on our own. Found some good deals, but no way to get in touch with anyone; frustrating, but their loss I suppose.

Stop 2: Smallish, but friendly car lot. Test drive two cars; one noisy, ugly and overpriced, the other nice, clean, running well but out of our price range. Some bargaining, but in the end, not good enough.

Stop 3: Notice a small used-car lot on the way to our next destination. Two possibles! Take the better one out for a road test and see that the wipers aren’t intermittent; they run rapid or not at all. We wipe the condensation from inside the windshield and note the large crack running down the centre. Bad brakes, no side mirror and rough idling. We don’t bother with our second choice.

Stop 4: Decent salesman, new car just came in from a trade-in. Bingo! The back seats are a bit roughed up, but not a problem. This is it…our new car. Just needs to pass the test drive. Topped up with gas and away we go. Less than two blocks from the lot, the heating gauge jumps to H. Okay maybe it’s a glitch; we drive a bit further but then notice the smell. We turn around and while stopped at the red light, the car shakes and just about dies. Back on the lot, we open the hood to smoke billowing and the salesman mumbling, “well that’s no good…”

Stops 5,6,7,8,..n: various dealerships, backlots, salesmen, u-turns, illegal and dangerous driving, phone calls, bad directions, train-crossings, drive-bys and non-stop rain.

Home: The goal was to purchase –and drive home a car before the end of this weekend. We weren’t fussy, we had cash, we thought we were as prepared as we could be. It would be easy and fun! Instead we found the weather, our current car and our timeframe were all against us. Who would have thought that spending thousands of dollars would prove to be so damn difficult?

Large fonts are OK

2008-11-10T00:00:00-08:00

Or so I keep telling myself. I have always been a fan of small fonts. Maybe it was just the old school web designer in me, or maybe it was because for years I have tried to cram as much real estate onto my desktop as possible. I remember looking (and sometimes laughing) at screenshots of other desktops with their seemingly HUGE 16 pixel typeface and thinking, “Jeesh, they can barely fit one application into a space where I have four!”

Well…that all changed for me recently. For the past two months I have spent a great deal of time in front of my 15” laptop screen–juggling four on-line courses, paid design work, and my usual duties as an Arch Linux developer. A few weeks ago I noticed I was getting headaches much more frequently than I’m used to. I also became aware that their intensity was directly proportional to the amount of time spent ‘at the keys’.

For a bit of background, my desktop consists of a 15” widescreen LCD at 1680×1050. It is normally set to 100 dpi, with Arial 8pt for GUI stuff and Dina 13px for terminal applications.

I began experimenting with my desktop config last week, trying darker and low contrasting colour schemes in a vain attempt to ease the strain on my eyes. After each significant change, I’d go back to my routine for a couple of days to get acclimated. Despite this, nothing seemed to help and before long another headache would set in.

At some point I realized it wasn’t so much the contrast level that was bothering me, but rather my ability to focus on large blocks of text for extended periods of time. That’s when I decided to tweak my fonts.

The result? It’s been about a week now and I haven’t suffered a single headache. Not only that, but I can now sit comfortably in my chair without unconsciously leaning over my keys! And In case anyone is wondering the obvious, yes I already wear glasses, but a very light and up-to-date prescription.

For anyone interested, here’s what has changed:

I bumped the dpi/ppi from 100dpi to it’s natural setting of 124x125dpi (determined by X’s DisplaySize settings and the physical measurements of the screen (13” x 8.3”)). This made an enormous difference for most GUI applications, with the exception of Firefox.

For Firefox, I have forced the minimum font size to 13, though I may bump it to 14 in the near future. It is not an ideal solution as there are several instances where small fonts are appropriate (sidebar text, etc.) however there’s no easy way to discern the body of a page from peripheral elements.

Lastly, for the terminal I’m still using Dina, but now at it’s maximum size of 16 pixels. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a decent console font any larger than that without jumping up to a 20px Terminus.

Squeeks in the night

2008-09-21T00:00:00-07:00

Talk about life changing; in the last 24 hours our world has been turned upside down by the arrival of a twelve pound, moustached baby we finally agreed to call “Guinness”.

We’ve been wanting a dog for a while but when we heard about a 17-week old, Miniature Schnauzer who was a purebred, registered, chipped and already house-trained puppy, we just had to see him. We spent most of the day with the pup and the breeder getting instructions on bathing, clipping and basic commands. After an overwhelming amount of information about his parentage and breed, the owner sent us on our way to go outfit our home with everything our new pup would need.

(It should be noted that the last time we seriously bought anything from a pet store was at least ten years ago and so it came as quite a shock to see bejewelled leashes, dishes, bedding and every funky treat and toy imaginable. We had to dig through mountains of neoned coloured brushes and leashes to find something plain…no foo-foo stuff for our guy!)

So with a trunk full of must-haves, back we go to pick up Higgins, MacDubh, Saxon, Barley, Murdoc, Duncan, Dougal, Lochy, Madagen or Guinness. At one point we took a break from all the shopping to sit down over a beer and discuss the serious ramifications and stigmas of picking a name. We originally liked Saxon a lot, but thought calling his short name might be construed as yelling for SEX, which might be fitting for some, but after looking at his little face and noticing his stoutness of character and stance, we agreed on Guinness.

Well Guinness puked in the car on the long journey home (poor little guy) and I in turn just about joined him (poor little guy). The last 24 hours have consisted of us doing nothing else but getting him set up: a poop area in the yard (yes we even brought home a baggie of his poop from the breeder, so that he could recognize his scent on our lawn) with multiple trips in and out just to make sure. The biggest trick is to get him used to his new name and his surroundings, so we have basically alternated sitting with him in one area of the house. The first night he cried a bit but seemed to sleep through, even if we didn’t sleep as well. We had to go out to the pet store again the next day to get a better cuddly and of course it was a well-debated decision – should we get the giraffe or the ducky? He’s very interested in chewing plants, walking between our legs, getting behind furniture and exercising those baby teeth on our fingers.

I had somehow assumed we could bring him home and quickly settle back into regular life, like homework, reading, computing, cooking and the usual day-to-day stuff, but it is not happening. In fact we have neglected just about everything else to talk about how cute he is, how temperate and smart he is and to marvel at his poops in the yard. Ah crazy pet owners. I hate those people who talk about their pets like they are their children, and we don’t want to be those people either but it’s hard not to want to show him off! By the way, we bought the ducky…

What doth make a newbie?

2008-08-27T00:00:00-07:00

The term “newbie” is now in the dictionary, but we all know what it means. Not surprisingly, it is used blatantly throughout the internet, but yet surprisingly it is the subject of constant and heated debate in community forums. Since the term has become so mainstream, I have been pondering what doth make a newbie?

According to dictionary.com, newbie is “an inexperienced user of the Internet or of computers in general.” However this term now applies to anyone who is new to anything in, and outside of computers. In fact, noob is so widely used nowadays that the meaning is completely lost in redundancy.

On forums where text, avatar, and alias are the only defining characteristics, what then defines a newbie? One of the most common ways of judging a newbie from the pack is by simple post-count (or lack thereof.) Many forums use this database which shows joining date and number of posts. It does not matter how much time is spent lurking, studying, or how much prior knowledge one has; the fact is, that until post-count (contribution worthiness) reaches an acceptable level and/or date of joining exceeds some milestone, newbie status reigns. The general consensus seems to be that time-in and “enough” posts of relevant material determine the shedding of the newbie title. Another popular determination is found within the quality of posts. Seasoned users scrutinize topic headings, relevance, and levels of complaint as gauges in making their newbie assessments. It is almost certain death when a new user complains or spews destructive criticism. However, it is interesting to note that it is extremely acceptable for seasoned users to complain, go off topic and hijack posts.

The question then is, ‘how much experience is enough to lose the status of newbie?’ Lately it seems that newbie status has become less about self-deprecation (“Help! I have a newbie question”) and more about being negatively viewed by those who have long lost their own newbie label. The assumption is that newbies are less educated about the topic and/or do not understand the rules of an on-line community, and/or are only causing trouble. This view is strikingly similar to debates surrounding new immigrants and their socialization.

The newbie label has become a derogatory term more than ever before; it’s as if newbies have become parasites of the internet asking stupid (ill-researched) questions, posting the wrong kind of topic heading (“help me I’m stuck!!!”) or generally being disruptive to the community. If post-count or joining date were not displayed for all to see and to judge by, would it be as easy to pick out the newbies simply by what they type and how they type it? Would seasoned users then also be criticized for going off topic and being disruptive?

Equally, by post count and joining date we could also easily ask – what doth make an expert? Perhaps another assumption is that those with high post-counts must be more knowledgeable and serious than those with lesser counts. Sure it may be true for some, but anyone can post to the “fluff” discussion and throw in their two cents on any number of topics from “how long is your hair”, to “what do you eat for breakfast”, without gleaning any more knowledge than the truly inexperienced members. The logical assumption is that if people have been active in a community for a long time, they must be serious about the forum topic, successful in assimilation and therefore a “non-noob” user.

One popular and over-debated topic on a forum in which I lurk is, “is Arch for newbies?”. It begs the question: How new is the newbie? Have they ever turned on a computer? Or have they tinkered and consider themselves savvy, but are just new to the concept of Arch? There is a huge difference here, but for some reason this fact is overlooked as new and seasoned users alike heatedly debate the question ad nauseum. Everyone has an opinion, but it is so obvious that there is no straight-up yes/no answer to that question. The answer (without knowing if the person in question has ever turned on a computer) should be hell yes! If people are willing to learn then that’s all that should matter. Is Arch for everyone? As with taking up anything new, people have to research it, experience it and then decide for themselves. No other variables matter. Experienced users cannot decide what works best for a non-user. It is like explaining to women that it hurts to get kicked in the gonads…we know it hurts, but we don’t understand how exactly.

As in any community forum, and much like many societies, there is a definite hierarchy in place. The difference being that one’s status within the community is not based on real life success or monetary wealth–it is based on knowledge, who holds it and…oh, post count. Joining a forum is to become part of a community where rules are established and enforced to maintain order, and where protocol must be followed for the collective good of the group. Despite those that test these limits, many join a community for common reasons, mainly to share ideas and to learn.

The term newbie is no longer a valid assessment of one’s worth or experience on-line. In labelling someone a newbie, is to identify them as being at the bottom of the hierarchy–plain and simple. The social construct of the rite of passage from joining (newbie) to becoming a respected member restrains everyone from the goal of sharing knowledge. New users may restrain themselves from posting for fear of repercussion, while seasoned users expend useless energy pointing out the flaws within the posts. With it’s overuse and blatantly ambiguous nature, “newbie” can no longer describe the varying degrees of experience people have. Despite the reasons for people joining, showing up, posting or not, the basis of any good community is diversity. Differing opinions, controversy, and open discourse is what makes a community great, and this should be acknowledged. In grouping all new forum registrants with the burdensome label of newbie with a big fat 1 post count, is to perpetuate the negative connotation and stagnate growth. So what doth make a newbie? Remove the post-count and joining date and find out.

Screenshot conundrum

2008-08-07T00:00:00-07:00

It started off as a lark, a bit of a jolt to the mainstream just to see a reaction, if any. As it turns out the non-reaction said more than any comment could.

The Arch Forums screenshot thread is the most popular, most viewed thread each and every month. It is a place to show and tell and for others to see how to best maximize space, usability and creativity. After being a faithful follower for months, I noticed (and not surprisingly) that a number of wallpapers displayed bikini-clad models. If there was a person displayed at all, they were more often females (fantasy characters, actors) than males. Rarely are males depicted in wallpapers, unless they are game characters or Anime.

I also know there are quite a few women users of Arch who also regularly post their screenshots and wondered what would happen if I threw in a partially nude male model in my screenshot with a strategically placed Openbox menu? Would users ask where to find the photo as is very common with many partially nude female photos? or would anyone comment in general?

Well maybe it was just waiting in anticipation, but hours went by without a word. I posted at 1600 hrs on June 8 and the next post was a long 12 hours (and the next day) later. Certainly odd and to my knowledge there was never any remark about my screenshot. I waited for something, anything, especially because my post also had the disclaimer, “This might be NSFW for some…” I thought that at least one person would express their opinion about it, good or bad.

I also wondered if the lack of response was because no one wanted to admit to actually looking at it (after all, more than 450 users did view it) or if people just didn’t know what say. I can understand why most males wouldn’t want to say anything remotely in favour, as it might be construed the wrong way but I thought at least some of the women would comment.

It is always interesting to challenge double-standards and the status quo; to gauge reaction and see what it all might mean. On the surface, my wallpaper had no meaning at all–or maybe it provoked something deeper. No reaction at all could be just that–nothing, but I am hopeful that it challenged the norms somehow or made some impact on the other half. I also recognize that my own biased assumptions are at play here and maybe I expected too much but the bottom line is, I will never know.

Idiot's Guide to Dummies

2008-08-04T00:00:00-07:00

I recently made a pit stop into our rather large Canadian bookstore and was discouraged to find that books for “Dummies” and “Idiot Guides” and have spread over the bookshelves like our resident pine beetle attacking our pine forests. The infestation was more than I could have imagined however as almost every aisle, from cookbooks to computers, were littered with those bright yellow shiny covers breaking down subject matter into tidy snippets of residual information.

This influx must be due to the ‘want it now’ generation where people can’t stand to spend more than a few minutes on one thing before losing attention. Want to learn about Italy? You can now find out everything you need to know, not by reading a travel guide written by an experienced traveller, but by quick facts summarized by a computer, with cute little diagrams to keep your attention. These invading, generic and shoddy attempts at information could be called the Walmartizing of books.

A while ago, I noticed this invasion of Dummy books at our small,local book store where the computer section is nothing but “Windows for Dummies”. There was not one independently written book on anything other than mainstream technology.*blah*

It is discouraging to realize how popular and how invasive these books have become, while independent writers are pushed aside by these seemingly informative and digested knock-offs. It is sad too as I realized that over time, our wonderfully diverse bookstores will become one big yellow store for dummies.

The allure of distraction

2008-03-16T00:00:00-07:00

So you wanna take a step away from the media…a total ban on TV-watching and internet-surfing right? Not! How can anyone give up the very connection to the world, news, information, or worse miss out on the next American Idol? If I can’t talk to co-workers the next day about who was canned, then what can I talk about? Our connection to media has taken the form of passive watcher, to interactive contributory exhibitionism, which in itself is addictive.

Around 1999 the group Adbusters proposed “Turn Off TV Week”–a social experiment of sorts to get as many people to shut off their television sets for one whole week and see what creative craziness could arise. Adbusters’ mandate is to “topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century”. Each year the number of people tuning out has grown to a world-wide phenomena. After all it’s only a week, how hard can it be.

Pre-internet gaming addiction, when television was the bigger drug, we took a deep breath and unplugged it for one week. Not only did we unplug it, we rigged some rudimentary booby trap so that it couldn’t easily be plugged back in during moments of weakness. Oh, and there were many moments. Sadly the contraption was more for our sake, rather than the kids.

Day one–Ouch. A lot of pacing happened, walking into the living room, leaving and walking back again a few minutes later just from sheer habit. We didn’t know what to do exactly. What could possibly fill the void of TV? It’s like when the power goes out, you think ‘oh well, I’ll just turn on the kettle and make tea while I wait’.

Day two–Okay we realize we have to talk to each other. Time is excruciatingly slow and barren. The kids start whining about what they are supposed to do with all this extra time and how we are torturing them. Once they realized we weren’t going to cave–they relented. Well hey, let’s do something together.

After that it was surprisingly easy to find things to do. The kids became incredibly creative doing art projects; we laughed, talked and got a loads of old ‘to dos’ done. After a week of having time to cook full meals, read and relax, we turned the TV back on and it was like being assaulted with images. The bright lights and hyper-masculine-voiced commercials hurt the precious quiet. Wow.

Turn Off TV Week (now Mental Detox Week) is coming around again, but since August 2006, we cut off our cable anyway so it’s no big deal. We have one snow-filled channel, but it’s a good one, the CBC. We mainly get the news and some great documentaries–oh and Hockey Night in Canada; we can’t see the puck but we get the general gist from the location of the players.

Since our frightful withdrawal from TV, a new temptress has drawn our attention and those smart people at Adbusters recognize this new distraction and now want people to turn off not only TV’s but laptops, XBOX, PSP’s and yes, even iPods. gulp I’m not sure how music contributes to their overall ideology of banning corporate media messages, but hey it’s about unplugging, taking back simplicity and all its silence.

Adbusters want to shake things up by showing people that in turning off mainstream media, we are “challenging the heavily distorted reflection of the world that we see on the screen, a reflection that is keeping us ill-informed and unaware of the very real political and environmental crises that we all currently face”.

Can we do it? I don’t think I can. For many, including myself I have school to contend with, some work from home projects and various dalliances to fulfill ahem. If there wasn’t school or work from home, what is the big deal? It’s a tough and painful descent into one’s psyche. Well I want to stay in touch, connected, know what’s going on….uhm check the weather, horoscope…is Tuesday a good day for me? Anyone using their computer every day can come up with dozens of reasons why they can’t give it up for one day, let alone seven. It’s too scary to think about, let alone do.

I’ll think about it some more and see if I can figure out what it is about the little screen or that clickety-click sound that so dominates me. I can only compare it with what it would be like to shave my head bare. I have to ask myself what’s the big deal about hair? It grows back, it doesn’t define me, it’s not important to my well-being, I don’t need it. But it DOES define me, it IS important…but why? I don’t really know why, except that society has convinced me it is.

Symbolic eh?

2008-02-18T00:00:00-08:00

Recent events brought up thoughts and questions on what it means to be a “citizen” of a country. Is it about a sense of belonging? Is it to escape unknown horrors? A few of us Canooks sat around over coffee and debated this.

First of all, we recommend everyone of any country, attend a citizenship ceremony; not only to see how government works, but more importantly to see the faces of the immigrants as they complete the last and final step in what is a very tedious process. In a room of a hundred would-be citizens, 13% of the world’s population was represented–that’s 25 countries! Staggering. As we looked at their faces, we wondered what kind of lives they left behind. Did they come to escape or to explore? Did they sacrifice everything?

Dressed up in formal pomp and display, a citizenship ceremony is a symbolic event to mark the transition from one life to another. A necessary rite of passage for some, an unthinkable proposition for others. For those who are citizens by default and who take it for granted everyday, we have to ask ourselves what would it mean coming from Sudan, Iraq, or even the USA? Perhaps they want certain freedoms, choice, democracy, or something less egalitarian such as being with someone they met online?

Certainly we can thump our chests and tout our rights and freedoms, but it means nothing until you can see it in the eyes of those who have made the journey; those who pursued the unknown–their smile says it all.

Too busy to be a minimalist

2008-01-14T00:00:00-08:00

Just a quick post before I head off to the lab…I’ve pulled the old logo drafts for the Arch Linux logo contest. The now official Archer logo is available at http://www.archlinux.org/art/

The Arch Minimalist logo, for anyone who is interested, has been released under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) and may be downloaded below:

Arch Minimalist SVG logos (requires AXswar & AUdimat fonts for proper viewing)
Arch Minimalist Slim login theme
Arch Minimalist Splashy theme

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the logo contest!

All finished your Christmas shopping?

2007-12-08T00:00:00-08:00

I take offence to the greeting, “finished your Christmas shopping?” It’s not because of my religious beliefs, my ethnicity or any aversion to Christmas itself…it is because the words are empty.

No one really cares if I have finished my Christmas shopping–why should they? Do they really expect to stand around and listen to my woes of not being able to find some obsolete perfume my mom has worn for the last thirty years? Or to hear about the scads of money I have spent on everyone? I doubt it. The fact is, at this time of year that greeting replaces the hi-how-are-you-variety. To which ‘fine’ or ‘good’ are the stock answers because no one wants to hear how I really am. It is just filler to get through those awkward moments in passing.

Ellen Degeneres talks about this on her Here and Now (2003) dvd:

Even when we say, “How are you?” we don’t mean, “How are you?”–we don’t care. Just give us a “fine” or a “good”–a one syllable answer and move along. And don’t even say “pretty good”. That’s a follow-up question: “pretty good” “something happen?… I don’t…have…time to…”

Funny stuff because it is so true. In the past few weeks, I have been asked repeatedly if I finished my Christmas shopping and even though I haven’t, I just say “yup, how about you?” Frankly I hope they don’t have some long, convoluted response either. I just don’t care and that’s why I never ask anyone to start with. I did make the mistake once of responding with, “actually I’m not buying Christmas gifts this year”, which prompted a clipped explanation of my reasons why–then somehow foolishly claiming that we actually don’t have cable TV. I’ll bet he was glad he asked! It all sounds so radically different that people just don’t know what to say in response, and at that point I wished I never said anything, but “yup, how about you?”. It is a meaningless, empty greeting and discouraging to think that finishing one’s Christmas shopping is something to be touted to anyone who asks.

Let’s face it. Christmas has become one long commercialized holiday where the expectation is to shop til you drop and outdo last year. There is nothing more repulsive than listening to someone talk about their shopping excursions; how long the line-ups were, how aisles were clogged with pushy people, all to buy another wallet for dad because that’s what he wants every year and that is what’s expected. When in contrast, donations for food banks are down, the homeless are freezing on the cold streets, and single mothers cannot give gifts to their children.

VolWheel: Volume control for the minimalist desktop

2007-11-14T00:00:00-08:00

I just wanted to spread the word about a handy new tray application for Arch Linux users seeking hassle-free volume control. VolWheel, written by Olivier “oliwer” Duclos is now available in the Arch User Repository (AUR) and I can tell you I’ve already added it to my essential software list.

Once VolWheel has been launched, the volume can be adjusted up or down by placing your cursor over the tray icon and using the scroll wheel of your mouse or touchpad. To mute, simply middle-click on the icon.

From the preferences window, accessible by a right-click menu, you can select the default audio channel, such as Master or PCM, as well as the default mixer command which is executed when you left-click on the tray icon.

By default, VolWheel uses the standard GNOME volume control icon (pictured above), however this can be customized to whatever you want by simply altering the icon’s file path in the source script.

VolWheel is written in Perl and currently depends on the following packages:

gtk2-perl
perl-gtk2-trayicon
alsa-utils
gnome-icon-theme

To report any bugs or to request new features, visit the VolWheel discussion thread.

Being a leftie in a right-handed world

2007-09-01T00:00:00-07:00

Recent studies have reported that left-handed people die younger than righties, women have a 50% higher chance of getting breast cancer if they are left-handed and most recently, left-handed people have a higher chance of developing schizophrenia–grrreat. Although most of these studies claim that scientists have no idea why. I have a theory…

I think it has something to do with the sheer mind twisting that goes on trying to live left-handed in a right-handed world. Think about it, doors, phones, knives, scissors, musical instruments, cars, bounded note-pads…they all require some sort of mental readjustment. I have one knife I use faithfully, because it’s the only one that cuts properly for me. In notepads, I start on the ‘backward’ side of the last page and work my way forward. Using a can opener? Forget it, I can’t. Throughout my whole life, I’ve had to adapt, modify and go against nature, whether it was from playing baseball in grade five using a right-handed mitt (which involved catching the ball in my left hand, whipping off the glove, throwing the ball with my left, and shoving the glove back on before the next hit); or learning to play the guitar in grade eight…upside down and backwards–it’s all a brain fuck.

Everyday there is some roadblock that requires alteration, whether subliminal or not it’s draining for us lefties to get by in a right-handed world. No wonder some days my head is pounding from using a right-handed mouse. Oftentimes I switch it, but some mice aren’t ambidextrous. In fact when I started university, the left side of the keyboard had no room for a mouse, so I was forced to learn it right-handed. Eventually I gave in and used the right-handed mouse for everything, even gaming–it just became too much of a hassle and actually I became quite good at maneuvering. It wasn’t until a few months ago I decided to switch. Talk about immediate relief–it was pure bliss. Despite the occasional instinct to reach with my right, I now use mice exclusively with my left. The only thing I haven’t been able to master yet is gaming. (I just can’t walk forward, turn and shoot, it requires too much undoing of already learned behaviour.)

I had a psychology intern in my office recently to train her on a computer program and she saw me struggle with the dilemma of which hand to use to guide the mouse. She thought it was interesting how the two sides of my brain were fighting for control. It was interesting to note the subliminal, internal struggle going on each time I reached for the mouse. I wasn’t aware of the massive, internal battle going on, but I found it frustrating that my hands and brain weren’t talking at all!

Sure, we may be the clichéd creative, artistic and all the other good things but are we prone to disease, mental illness and early death simply because we use our left-hand more? All I can say is try living in a backwards world, where your brain is forced to do unnatural things, while every attempt at writing neatly becomes a smudged, inky mess. It’s no wonder we are destined to become cancerous, schizophrenics who only live until 40.

Archlinux logo concept

2007-07-06T00:00:00-07:00

Update (June 2008): Archlinux has a new logo as of December 2007, but you might also want to see archminimalist.

I’ve been working on an alternative logo for Archlinux. It’s not that the existing logo is terrible…but it reminds me far too much of Star Trek, and, in my opinion, it doesn’t render well when converted to one colour. Released under a Creative Commons license, you are free to use and modify the logo to your liking, so long as you credit me (Thayer Williams) as the original artist.

The SVG source files are available here: arch-boomerang-logo.tar.gz

Archlinux printer tutorial and more

2007-05-25T00:00:00-07:00

I spent the May long weekend (Victoria Day here in Canada) checking out the Archlinux distribution. For the uninitiated, Arch is a no-frills i686-optimized Linux distro that, according to their website, aims “to be as nearly a perfect base as is humanly possible. A base doesn’t include fancy tools and auto configuration mechanisms, but rather contains manual configuration tools and few functions, for the users to further develop and/or learn on their own.”

So far, I’m extremely happy with the results. A more detailed review of Arch, as well as a step-by-step guide on installing the latest version along with KDE on a Dell Inspiron 6400 is forthcoming. In the meantime, I have written a tutorial on installing a Brother HL-2040 laserjet printer for Arch at the official Arch wiki. Stay tuned…

Get your girlfriend to play

2007-04-27T00:00:00-07:00

Tried and true tips from a female gamer

Since I’ve been a girl gamer for a long time (well most certainly a girl longer than a gamer!), I often get asked,”how do I get my girlfriend to play?”, or”geez I wish I could get my girlfriend to play but she only likes puzzle games” or the most popular,”she’s tried but gets dizzy”. Most guys think it’s cool to have a girlfriend who plays first person shooter-type games and even more guys just wish their girlfriends would take an interest in their online gaming life–or at least not bitch about it when they do fire up a game! But how? There isn’t any one answer to this male dilemma, or female bane.

I have collected some tried and true tips and thrown in some observations from a woman’s perspective and come up with the following:

Tip #1: Share, share, share (this is the ‘key’ guys!)

I’m not saying you need to constantly blab to her about all your online friends, your amazingly high score, or rant about some cheater you played against the other night. Believe me, before long she’ll have that glazed look (you know the one) and her eyes will glance toward the ceiling whenever you feel compelled to”share”.

I’m saying you need to invite her to see some of the maps, check out the weapons and hell yeah, even let her run around on an empty server for a while–encouraging her all the way. I know for a lot of people, it’s hard to share but if you do not want to give her equal time on the box, then it’s time to consider purchasing another.

Tip #2: Show

Instead of droning on about adjusting the gamma, show her how the config works in determining different views, graphics, etc. and how ping and packet loss affect the game.

The coolest aspect for me was to see the female models and learn how they move. Let her get a feel for the movement of the player and the different sounds the models make. Show her the different style of maps, weapons and ammo. Now if she’s the dizzy-type, then I suggest shorter spurts.

One knowledgeable fellow wrote an article about getting girls to play and even went so far as to suggest that guys should “get her to make up her own cute chat binds”, (because we all know how much women love to chat), that way she’ll feel more comfortable using her girlish chat binds to get to know other players! C’mon!!! I wanted to strangle that guy! Cute chat binds do not make a gamer. When I started playing online, all I wanted to do was play and get better. I rarely had time to”chat” as it was difficult enough to keep track of weapons and opponents. At that time my name was so nondescript so that no one even knew I was female. When I got a hang of the maps and became comfortable with my game, I changed my name to something a bit more feminine (and suiting for me) and took the time to acknowledge conversations, if I felt like it. I had absolutely no desire to go to a server to be social and to show off my cute girlie binds. So instead of encouraging her to pick a model that boasts the largest breasts, show her what’s available and why good gamers use certain models.

Tip #3: Let go

Once you have done the above two tips, let go and by that I mean just let her load up a game and experiment–alone. You don’t need to be there telling her which direction to go, or which weapon works best in a certain situation. Let her learn for herself what works and what doesn’t. It’s a simple concept really. I learned Quake inside and out by trial and error and if my spouse was hovering around tsk-tsking then I would get frustrated and quit. If she has questions or problems, then by all means help out but then walk away.

If at this stage, she’s decided that she is just not interested in playing further (for whatever reason) then you can go back to Tips #1 & #2 and ask her to take part in your game. You can ask her for advice on what weapon to use for certain situations or strategies, and let her be that extra set of eyes on a server. This way, she can share in your gaming victories and you won’t see that”look” whenever you discuss the game with her.

Tip #4: Encourage and be patient

Congratulate her for trying and sticking with it. Show her some of the tricks you’ve acquired and let her know she’s good enough to try some of the more complicated moves. I remember jumping on an empty RA server with my boyfriend and we’d run around together and try out different moves and show each other cool places to shoot from. We each found our own style of play and made a great team. So let her brag about her high score and be proud that she’s mastered the basics. Even if she’s not that great or if she does something you wouldn’t do, it’s her own style and she’ll figure it out. If you criticize she’ll resent it (and probably you too) and if you encourage her, she’ll be more likely to have patience when you play for hours on end.

Acknowledge differences in play style. I have madness to my method where I jump head first into the foray and blast away, while my spouse likes to silently stalk his prey. He gets annoyed by my ‘in your face’ tactics, but it works for me.

Again if she gets dizzy, then I suggest shorter spurts of play with lots of breaks but again encourage her to keep going back.

Tip #5: Be a gracious loser (aka don’t be a jerk!)

Don’t kid yourselves–women have the same skills necessary to be great gamers and top players. So if a female opponent wins consistently or just once in a while, then be honourable about it. By that I mean, say ‘good game’ and mean it! Give her credit even when she loses.

I don’t know what it is about the male species that think women can’t possibly be good gamers, but it’s rampant on the servers. It amazes me how threatened men can become when a woman kicks their ass. Now, I’m not saying all men feel this way, but there are still many out there that do. I’ve heard the most outrageous, offensive and frightening comments when I have played well and won. It’s funny because as soon as my identity is revealed, I am either assumed to be a lesbian, fat and/or ugly, not a really a woman at all, or all of the above. As if I can’t possibly be a nice-looking woman who plays the game well. Wake up guys.

Tip #6: She has become more popular than I am!

I know from personal experience that most guys like their girlfriends to play, but don’t like them to get wrapped up in the online gaming ‘community’. If she is involved with other clan mates or clan groupies (if she’s in an all-woman clan, the groupies are out there!) or gets a lot of attention from males on the servers, then this could be a potential problem for any relationship. It’s inevitable that if she’s a regular gamer, men will notice and want to get in touch with her to chat and/or play. How much or how little you two participate in the community is up to you but if you do hang out, know that guys will want to talk to her. Even when I told guys that I was happily married, they still persisted. Some claimed they just wanted to help me improve my rail skills–now that’s a true gamers’ pick-up line! It’s really up to her to curb any direct flirtations, but most of the time it is innocent chatting and there is nothing to worry about. I also think the guy has to be secure in the knowledge that he’s got what all other gamer guys would love to have, and he shouldn’t let the extra attention bother him.

Tip #7: Don’t make it your life

It’s all about balance folks. Take time to game together as a team, against each other, or take turns playing separately, but either way make sure it’s not consuming your whole relationship. She’ll appreciate the time you spend together gaming, and be even more appreciative when you can walk away to do something else. This leads to the next category…

Benefits

Happy gaming couples, have great sex! It’s true. I don’t know if it’s the competitiveness of the game, the feeling of accomplishment, or the fact that you just shared some laughs, but it’s all foreplay for good sex! (Even those in-game commentaries can make for some teasing fun!)

Most girl gamers are eager to try new games too. If they are accomplished or comfortable with one type of game then they are more likely to take up a new game. My boyfriend and I always tried out new games together. We have found that we both experience the”coolness factor” at the same time as opposed to him learning the game inside and out and telling me about it later. We often eagerly await new releases and even though I’m more of a FPS gal, and my boyfriend is more of a RPG guy, we each find our happing hunting ground.

It gives you (the guy) the excuse to sit down and play for hours without having to justify your time or listening to her complain about it.

Isn’t that what we all really want?

Gamers and socializing

2007-04-27T00:00:00-07:00

I watched a very simple, but thought provoking mini-documentary a while ago about online gamers made by a British art student in which he shows us a brief view into the life of gamers. I thought about the dynamics he chose to portray and based on what I have experienced about LAN parties, gaming friends, and the gaming culture in general–the people in the clip embody us all.

It is safe to say that gamers make up a very large (and steadily growing) subculture but yet very little is known about them. It is also true that gamers are one of the most misunderstood groups in society today and as such it is conceivable that those who don’t game would dismiss the gamer’s (“gamer” isn’t even in the dictionary!) perspective or what drives them. Why do gamers choose to immerse themselves in what seems to be a one-dimensional and media-deemed antisocial environment? To know this answer is to be one–albeit an even scarcer, female one. But we are a homogeneous bunch and I have a few theories.

Your Whole World Travels with You

LAN parties–take your persona on the road. Everything you need is on your computer, your connection to people, to the outside word and into a world that’s imaginary–where you control all. It’s funny watching people set up their own “little space” at warehouse-sized LAN parties or even in someone’s cramped house–everyone finds their spot, painstakingly sets up the cables, boots up and eagerly tweak settings. Some bring artifacts to enhance their space, including stuffed animals, good luck charms and anything else that makes them feel more “at home”. This new space becomes their shrine and it is a do not touch zone–you can check out the gear, but no touchy touchy. Everyone has his or her own way of doing things and their own way of setting up shop. It is true poetry to experience the feverish concentration of tweaking, clicking, and adjusting.

You can go everywhere and anywhere with your computer.

It is a Social Activity

Socializing has taken on completely new meaning in this techno-age. We can be social, talk, get to know people and have fun playing a game without being in the same room (and without hearing or seeing anyone). It is amazing really; who would have thought that one day you would be playing cards with someone in another country? It is hard enough going to a coffee shop and striking up a conversation with someone at another table–let alone asking them for a game of cribbage! Because of the ambiguity, people are more willing to chat, share stories, laughter, resources and opinions. There is a certain freedom in getting to know someone by communicating in text only–without all the baggage associated with body language, looks and social acceptabilities. The initial awkwardness at getting to know someone does not exist here.

As for LAN parties, people come together from all over the country to participate in a group tournaments that are exhaustive, intensive and very satisfying. It is rewarding to finally put a face to a name and already have a connection with that person that defies “normal” encounters. It is like an immediate kinship and bond between people that is unlike no other. I remember at a large warehouse LAN party playing against one fellow who I consistently challenged. He finally jumps up out of his seat and aggravatingly asks “WHO is Gemstone?!” I stood up, smiled and waved and we had this immediate and shared respect for one another.

Text communication can be rewarding and provide friendship connections around the world. Gamers are a community–a subculture–a diverse group of individuals who share a common ground. We understand the concepts of the games and experience socialization unlike any other. Roles and rules change and social stigmas are non-existent here. Young and old alike can get together and come away feeling like they’ve been through something unique where stereotyping does not occur.

Misconceptions

We are not all junk-eating, neo-geeks, with prehistoric social skills. Well okay some are, but that is true for a lot of non-gamers too. Many gamers have successful careers and families outside of online activities and we are quite capable of gasp talking in public. It is about balance. To become immersed in a project is to be passionate. However, if it detracts from other aspects, that passion can become compulsion and wreak havoc on family relations.

Another misconception is that women don’t (or shouldn’t) game. Let’s face it, we do and we should. Many websites devote their attention to gaming “girlz” and their presence in the gaming community. What is most bothersome is that many males believe women are either playing to hook up with some guy, or they are needy, hideous-looking women who have no choice but to find solace in online relationships. The truth is, the majority of women who game, are there for the same reasons men are–to play.

Problems

Text communication has obvious weaknesses, whether it is with gaming acquaintances, group interactions, or that special someone. Most online relationships carry certain elements of assumption and skepticism. The same assumption made by non-gamers is that only the lonely and socially inept are online and this holds true for those online too. Many general conversations lead to a question and answer trials more nerve-wracking than most interviews. It can be important to “prove” to someone that you are not a man masquerading as a woman or that you are simply…normal. Then there are those that always remain elusive and do not disclose anything remotely personal about their lives. It is up to the individual to determine their own boundaries and choose what they wish to disclose or not. If the extent of the relationship is to game with someone, then personal details do not matter. It is easy enough to game alongside someone who shares your passion and is enjoyable to play with.

It’s all about balance.