Let’s just say there was mixed success. The PHP and AJAX performed beautifully… but as the number of people increased, the story became more and more disjointed. But would you really expect otherwise? Things went great in the vocabulary department, as the diversity of players broadened the range of words used, though this came at the cost of very grammatically and semantically distorted sentences. It seemed after we hit the 3 player mark (topped at 6 during the test!), the problems really began.

I found this test run fascinating. Today’s observations highlight interesting challenges that will have to be addressed to keep the game fun and make it work. Interestingly, people seemed to wait the same duration to post words, so there would be collisions in which two or more would be added at the same time. It was fascinating to note how little control I had over the general mood of the piece — every time I tried to turn things around, the feeling was shaped by the other players words. It seems the feature that is most requested is to have a live chat adjacent to the story… at least that way there would be some sort of organization going on. I have lots of schemes and ideas to make things less chaotic (though hopefully not more orderly!), though the complexity of implementing many of them in the database simply keeps me from getting them off the ground.

It will be most interesting to see my friends tomorrow and hear their experiences.

Warning: mysql_query(): Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘please_see_the_faq’ (2) in [...]/story.php on line 35

Warning: mysql_query(): A link to the server could not be established in [...]/story.php on line 35

MySQL Query ( SELECT word FROM `words` ORDER BY id LIMIT 2000 ) Failed. Error: Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘please_see_the_faq’ (2)

Cute.

In the process, I’ve been learning a lot of useful php and css tricks. It’s so fulfilling to see things falling into place as I find out more of what needs to change to achieve what I’m looking for. Or to find out what I’m looking for. In a few days, time willing, I figure I should have the blog themed to my satisfaction. I’ve been holding off major announcements until I have something compelling here – so that the blog here doesn’t look like a downgrade rather than the huge upgrade I hope it is.

It’s so great to be able to hack my own way with the wordpress source and plugins; while Blogsome was wonderful in the aspect that it allowed me to change the theme, and learn CSS in the process, truly nothing beats the freedom to dive in and tear things out if I feel like it. It also gives me a lot of respect for the caliber of work they were doing over there, managing a patched administration panel and service for hundreds of users.

In real life, I’ve had a bit of a cold today, which prevented me from being able to take part in Aikido practice today. It feels very light, and should probably be gone in a few days – but it’s a shame to have to drop a class I so much enjoy for a little sore throat. In any case, it hasn’t kept me from hacking things together here into the late night hours… and I should probably call it a day here. Considering how far things have come, I would say I’m satisfied with today’s efforts.

Until then,
–Chromakode

In the next few days I’ll be tweaking things to my liking and setting up the sections on the front page. Oh, and I’ll get rid of Kubrick. Promise.

Anyway, I’ve gotta run now. I will be working continuously on this new site, and seeing where the new possibilities take me. I’m excited.

日本語を勉強します。OMG! 名前は片仮名で書きました！

(I am studying Japanese. OMG! The name was written in Katakana!)

Yeah, I know it’s been a lot of fluff posts lately… I’m sorry, but I haven’t found the time to do (or write about) anything particularly interesting on the technical side. However, there are (and always will be) lots of interesting ramblings to share… so here’s some more.

Today I got to see the first video in my Japanese Culture class. It’s a neat little course, and so every other Friday I will be able to enjoy a bit more of this fascinating culture. The movie we watched today was pretty awesome… a samurai story exploring gender and social power and the ethics around them (in historic Japan). So anyway, it’s a real drawn out story about a Samurai’s son who is ordered to marry the lord’s mistress (who bore the lord a child), and they fall in love only to find that due to circumstances the lord wishes that he have her back. So of course, the father and son can’t let that happen. But long story short, we sit through 1:30 of pretty cerebral (and completely fight-free) tension, only to run out of time right before the real samurai style ass-kicking begins. You can look at the IMDB page… and yes, that movie poster seems to be showing the fight scene that will surely be bugging me all week.

This Firefox video seems fast on its way to becoming viral (omg! I used a buzz word!). But honestly, childish and poorly produced as it may be, I laughed. Hysterically. It’s kind of sad to see the anti-quicktime anti-firefox response these first contenders seem to have attracted… though it was also quite disappointing to see that the web designers had opted to use an open source unfriendly and hard to use quicktime embed instead of better distribution methods. But regardless, it’s quite silly to see some of the early adopters reacting in such a way that defaces the pages of some bravely uninvolved contest entrants. Surely there is a more mature way to express codec-induced anger than this.

Finally, if you like optical illusions, you’re in luck, because out of complete whim and amusement, here’s a feed for a more-than-daily updated blog dedicated solely to this purpose. There’s a lot of nice unique stuff there, and looking through them will certainly eat up at least 15 minutes of your time.

Yum.  Mighty Optical Illusions

Good night.

Did some quick design work this evening for a friend over at HackersEntity… it was fun to just throw some ideas together quickly for a change. HackersEntity is an (ethical) source for hacking information and knowledge. We were shooting for a bit of an unconventional layout, with the navigational content at the bottom right, and nothing (for now) but a symbol at the usual top left. My idea behind this was to use the “newline symbol” as a logo/motif for the layout, as the newline could be considered as the classic character utilized by computer hackers. So, the newline up at the top left is supposed to uphold this design and point the reader down to where the real information lies. There’s not a lot of content up yet, though I’m sure there will be in the next couple of days. It’s a fun little unique layout, and I certainly had fun working on it.

School’s started up nice and busy-like, and I’m once again finding myself caught up with a good deal of homework and on-campus time. But hey, the days are getting brighter, the weather’s getting warmer – the end is within sight.

I decided to take a course on Existential Philosophy this term, and so far the readings have been suitably thought-provoking. Over the week I read “Waiting For Godot” and have been thinking about it – but the sad thing is that after the other assigned 2 pages or so of Camus, I must say that I found that Camus put forth similar ideas in a much more accessible and short manner (which is ironic considering Waiting For Godot is a play). The ideas are very interesting, and really fit with some of the things I’ve been thinking about (here and elsewhere).

However, the thing about this philosophy is, I guess I feel that any discussion I make of the ideas will come out missing the punchline of the material, and not making a lot of sense. It’s kind of strange for me to find myself thinking this, because at the same time I can see the silliness in my fear of not being able to discuss the concepts with the right level of “authority.” In light of this, I am tempted to post something about the topic now, but once again I find myself concerned about not getting it right in my currently sleepy state. Boy, what happened to that blind self-assurance I once knew and loved! I’ll let myself off the hook for now…

… One part of the course is to be writing weekly reflections/notes on the reading presented – and so I hope to post selections from those that I find most apropos. It is truly fascinating stuff, and I enjoy thinking about it… and I hope you might enjoy reading some rambling about it in the future, too.

It’s also made me very tired, so this will be it for now. Good night!