Game *not* over

About the scripts, there will be a phase 3 I hope, that should mark a turning point towards user friendly but next year. Until then, the help is in HKLoops.mht, and the most recent scripts got a new home too, in this little zip.
[new!] And beta dragons expected here: Warning! Here might be dragons work faster! [v.2]

From the tip of my memory, new additions include scrolling through Twitter Desk and Excel with the wheelmouse (+-Shift), and moving freely in OneNote with WinKey+Arrows.


There is still time to play, and time to get gifts. Continuing my own Play On list , without forgetting the Games one, I thought I'd throw at you two more classic masterpieces of game design.

One is not complete without them nor it seems is one without the other. The Shadow of the Colossus and Ico. Both are esthetically - wonders and their stories are simple and complex in the same time. While waiting for them to be reunited in the Last Guardian, for those fortunate to have a PS3, these PS2 gems work just fine on the emulator presented before.

Ico will give you the thrills of a relationship (quote: boy meets girl) in a pure Japanese style, with its universal ups, downs and misunderstandings, delivered through the gameplay of simply holding hands. While not even speaking properly to each other for hours, the "conversation" is terrific. Of game play. Wonderful, I tell you! :)

The Shadow of the Colossus on the other hand is less puzzle centered, although not entirely missing the element, is more focused on action. But not the action that you'd expect in a fighting game at least because the enemies are ten times or more your size! Using wits and lots of climbing would get you closer to revealing another piece in a terrible secret puzzle.


I felt the urge to leave a note about a game for "real men": Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising. A pleasure rated M. Less intelligent movies and maybe story arc than the bastard competition BUT! It compensates with a strong gameplay doubled by the pleasure of seeking perfection through addictive tunning of stats with the help of myriad of bonus objects and traits, making it one of the most intelligent combinations of role playing and real time strategy.
Violent fast paced strategy where you'll be in charge of both the group and the individual in each step, making it interesting from both the design and the gameplay point of view.
Very equilibrated, I don't recommend the easiest difficulty, although the last mission can be insane :)
Also you may take a further look into the general universe of Warhammer that has by itself a fascinating history over the years.


So for now, I wave goodbye, and I leave you in the company of ICO + holidays:

Tweets 2

via http://www.neatorama.com/2010/12/03/my-favorite-tweets/

Well, a new slate of tweets http://twitter.com/danpepelea .

And some (lots of) changes at the scripts. Anyone care to help with the development or documentation? :)

(Control) + WinKey + Escape
^#Escape::
#Escape::

Instantly enters in either move window or resize window mode. Usefull to quickly arrange 20 windows on sight!



WinKey + Enter (the standard, not the numpad one)
#enter::

Makes the window little, just as a reminder that you have to do something with it.
And sticky so you'd position it quickly where it is relevant.
The selected text would remain visible, so use this too.

Ctrl + Alt + Escape::
lowest priority for all processes but the GUI (HKLoops, hidecursorIDLE, the current application, ...) ones

Phase II

[last update:] 07 dec '10
...continuing Phase 1, from now on I think I'll update only the newer >HKLoops2< (replacing the easier to read HKLoops), and please take > h_default_macros < AND > h_OneNote.ahk < with it.

Also I will introduce you to mister >>_hidecursorIDLE<<, that makes more than it says. Specifically it will give high priority to the process belonging to the active window while lowering the resources to low for the prior window.

Optionally conjuncted with running after logged in windows (for example) >_fast_priority<, that would set all the processes to low consumption. For this you would also need to edit _fast_priority by yourself to include the processes that you know are ok to be lowered, and to extract this zip in a path mapped directory, for example directly into X:\WINDOWS\system32.
[update] if the pv doesn't succeed in lowering the priorities, use the previous (phase 1) mentioned DTaskManager (right click, Set Priority -> Low to all processes) at least until I find a workaround for some systems; well, found it! Your choice now, edit and be safe, or bulk lower them with Dimio's.

Panic buttons:
Ctrl + Alt + B shows the cursor and exits _hidecursorIDLE
Ctrl + WinKey + H toggles the *hide cursor when idle* option, now set default to do *not hide*
Ctrl + WinKey + 1 forces the active window to become Normal priority (if high is too much for the nasty resource eating application)
Ctrl + WinKey + 5 puts _hidecursorIDLE and HKLoops.exe's priority to Normal; HKLoops' name is hardcoded at line 32, please change after "change here" if you're used to HKLoops2 instead

HKLoops obvious changes:
autocompile thanks to gwarble, ScrollLock enhanced and slightly modified
;btw instead of btw would search the previous word in all the notes
;dict instead of dict would search over the net the previous word by the help of Launchy (provided that you've learned Launchy to do the deed

Alt + Backspace launches a helper window helping you to find a window by name (theoretically on any virtual screen)

All operations in HKLoops are now clipboard safe; that is before internally using a copy paste, it will save the clipboard and then restore it


[update:]
If you are not already using the option of rasing/focusing the active window while hovering above it, use XMouse2K for it.
in a physical multimonitor enviroment:
- you may consider WindowPad.ahk and please take >my .ini< for it, which inhibits all the functions minus Winkey+ Enter = move window on the next monitor, and two others that you'll easily spot
- you may want to edit HKLoops2 if you are using VirtualDesktop and you do have different keymappings than Ctrl Shift (aka the new CapsLock) starting from the line containing "~*^+F1::"; there you'll also find that I've just included keys for enable/disable physical monitors

See the sources for more "goodies"!

---


*hiding the cursor solution is from this post http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic6107.html
*for more information about the mysterious zip file that contains a little program "pv" that can change the priority of *ANY* process, you may check this site: http://www.teamcti.com/pview/prcview.htm

Play on

Talking about holidays, especially if you have kids, you may start by buying a nice controller with at least as many buttons(12, 4 are on the side in pictures) and joysticks(2) as this one: DualShock2. Be careful to be PC compatible so you'd not get into additional steps.

Then, if you didn't knew it by now, there are some dedicated people that made a truly wonderful effort in emulating the Playstation2 >on Windows< and Linux. <- download from the link

To configure it I have >made a few screenshots < so it would be easier for beginners, but if you get into trouble I highly recommend you >to start here <
The project is mature, I wouldn't blog about it otherwise, but it is in constant development, so do check their site from time to time.

What does it mean? Well, it means that if you have a sufficiently powerful computer (I'd recommend starting from 3Ghz HyperThreading), you will be able to enjoy some games that never made it on PC until now. A while ago, even I have made the wrong assumption that any worthy game was ported and thus I have played :)


Also, some games from the Nintendo's side made their way to the portable console, the DS. Guess what, another dedicated fella made a huge amount of effort and realized an emulator that you can download from here: http://www.nogba.com/no$gba-download.htm

accompanied by this program that will make your emulated DS to be bigger and work better, but I don't remember where I found it: No$Zoomer

So, talking about that Christmas with the little ones, Kingdom Hearts 2 is a wonderful experience to share, the kids will love to meet and play Disney stories and characters, starting with Donald and not ending with the Pirates of the Caribbeans, but just getting warmer. While as a parent you may find it "Goofy" as a concept, you'll be amazed when your kid will drag you to help them in the quests that are so wonderfully intricate that will also have the kid to drag you away from the gamepad :) Music, style, rhythm and joyful gameplay.

>Final Fantasy IV< is a game that shines in game design. The battles in this one and the dynamics of the story are intelligent indeed, and you may feel the most challenge here from all the series that is now somewhere at number XIII. A good start and if you beat the game, you may dwell further perhaps with Final Fantasy X for Playstation2 and more, but I'll write hopefully something more comprehensive about them at another time. For now I note down another gem for DS, from the classical game design point of view but also for its fun gameplay, Zelda Phantom Hourglass. And back to more serious business for me :)

I will return with further recommendations in this post, for now I stamp it with the dynamic label.

P.S. I've just stumbled upon this >Yale course in Game Theory<, so nicely presented it gets a shout here;
and a link to download section, as from the main it gets very difficult to download.

Gray, the procedural man

[update]: see the bottom line
(WIP)

As the big holidays are fast approaching, this Halloween I've had a nightmare where tovarish Marx was Santa with a huge white bear. Having a list with us all, knowing good from wrong and constantly SEEING who's behaved badly.

Although usually quiet or asking questions meant to scary (read: impose respect) little children, this time having first consumed huge amounts of alcohol, he even insisted on a speech:
Communism distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Communism is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of communism as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.
(obscure paste from wiki)

I was content with the truism and haven't felt any distress that in his own (distress and tirade) he switched religion with communism.

Both are born from chaos though hypocritically claiming the ultimate order and lawfulness giving you pylons of air to sustain their theory. Both the fanatic religious and the extremist socialist when faced with times of crisis, are praying that there is a God or social entity larger than man, that is bound with a "contract" to help them as they have previously paid their dues. Mephisto anyone? :)

This payment of the dues represents the ritualistic archetype hereby bound UAXT:A under the name of The Procedural Archetype.

And following the post that included Rand and her objectivism, a post about the irrational and over confident, Procedural Man.

Let's make another shortcut: UAXT
- We'll say U is the union sign, representing vaguely what every ideology is after, but never achieve, for U was there before they opened their mouth, and will be there unchanged, after their rants would be desert dust.
- the A stands for intersection, from the rational set theory, but also extends to the rationalist Occam's razor and the commie belief that everyone should be as one by cutting rather than enlightenment (mneme: A = abstract)
- X for difference, usually between two entities; being in itself an entity that begs to differ.
- and T for transcendence, mind you, not the meditation transcendental kind, simply the object that you acknowledge is more than what you comprehend for the time being. (somewhat in the middle of Kant's transcendental and transcendent, therefore that which lies in the objective world, it is comprehensible but not yet fully comprehended, treating both sides in the same time)

See, I told you we need a shortcut, therefore: UAXT with its operators (UAXT:U; UAXT:A; UAXT:X and UAXT:T)


The so much sought and nowadays more popular than ever - concept of consciousness, is bound to the notion of memory, one of our most recognizable function of the brain. The memory however comes in various types, and we have in our little head, at least four big categories. From these, the procedural memory is in fact largely unconscious, therefore the generic names given and associated with its skills should be considered highly volatile when applied to individuals.

But the archetype of the procedural human (as all the other four when taken independently) is in fact the one that is stubborn to maintain one function above all others, disregarding differences in contexts and aspects. The propensity of its generic names are "catchy". <- funny pic here

This "catch them all" attractor factor is what makes it dangerous, in terms of herds of ignorants and the obvious impossibility to repay its clients when it comes to it, because it ignores the individual's customized needs.

The archetype of the procedural human is bound to traditional achievements. In fact is bound to anything that has a generic promise of power.

The Dungeons and Dragons lore pose an interesting axis for determining one's temporary moral alignment.

Combined with the procedural archetype (that is still to be defined) we can derive the
- Corporatist Vampire (lawful, evil),
satisfied apparently with anything that the company offers, especially with the reason that most corporations were born from (distributing responsibility, sometimes that is "diluting"), never complaining, using the generics whenever he can cast away the reality, in order to slowly but surely climb the ladder. When on top, the power leeched is his blood, and will do anything to "survive".
Fortunately for the humans, by that time the Vampire is easily recognizable by its lack of humanity and overt disdain for it.

- the Replicant (chaotic, evil)
is never enough organized to get on top of a corporation, but she is a savagely consumer, and has to have the best of everything. Not being very self educated, she's easily seduced by "labels". The Replicant represents the statistics, and she is proud of it. From her point of view, those who don't follow the rat race, are foul ignorants.

- the Codder (*, good)
has the skills of programming but he's so much into it that is satisfied with the constant tap of dopamine that is given by small chunks of code. A code junky you might say, the reward is unequivocally and the legitimacy is "God style", when the code is right, the codder is right, halleluiah! In everything he said or done in the meanwhile! Oh, puhlease! :)

What is interesting, as I was saying, is that we are not in fact segregated by nature, and the fact that one is many, depending on one's context and goals. We sometimes switch to a mode where we are "narrowed" into one slice, but we do have the power to recover. Any concept may be elicited first in any of the realms, but it has a translation, a projection, in all the others. While in procedural mode, we may do the mistake of considering everyone else as objects.


If you somehow missed it, see the Temple Grandin, as an example of one who fought hard for her rights even when the nature apparently "narrowed" her options. Yes it is my favorite depiction of autism from a reality bound perspective. On the same place perhaps with the notorious Rain Man, btw the documentary regarding the real Kim Peek is here and it's sensational ;)

_____________________

Of course I wouldn't forget to mention Dan Ariely's contribution in popularizing the cognitive biases that makes people to act irrational and not knowing it. And to recommend you reading his The Upside of Irrationality if you haven't already read Predictably Irrational.
For an introduction, you may check this video: ...on our buggy moral code

Also you may find Jonah Lehrer's book How we decide a nice weekend reading, and his blog is very interesting too... well, it was in the days before wired.com . Well now, I'm just very perfectionist :)
And if you are into the hardcore of the problem, especially the neuroscience of emotions and why emotions ARE intelligence, do lookout for mister Antonio Damasio

P.S. Index #1

Please do take Ayn with a grain of salt, her sometimes harsh approach especially regarding the "selfish" concept, is merely a "marketing" device, albeit in her case an overused one. She is to be understood from the point of view where she believed in altruism, merely the dissemination of her works and the time invested is proof, but she said altruism is to be elicited by one's own free will, not a concept to be imposed. That, in all regards, remains true, and so many times imposed "good deeds" are in fact the devices of diabolical minds. Arbeit macht frei!
Personally I can tell you that altruism is an innate ability, and perhaps there will be a time to share scientific sources, for now if you are interested, you may dwell here and there. Usually a truly evil person is either on the range of psychopath, ignorant searching for easy "credit" or just "have had it rough" so many times that little demons are bound to manifest.
Nevertheless, Ayn has her place well in a post entitled "Black and White", and her objectivism should be taken seriously, even if complementary to the view that as individuals with limited lives, we are bound to mistakes by the veils of truth.

Let's recap:
We've had some documentaries, about how we see the world, including about the brain, history and natural habitat,
I've shared the joy and challenge of the never ceases to amaze me games, the independent ones
we've listened and had a glimpse at some veins of both true and imaginary stories, always having some good books and movies to complement the journey.

Also, don't forget to check from time to time Phase 1, I've just uploaded the latest versions. That way you'll have plenty of time to enjoy other stories and sources. If you have a request regarding the sources, don't hesitate, but be advised it may take a week to receive the reply.

Black and White

By now I think you've already drilled further into the previous post, and found Alain de Botton's whole collection of books. If not, but you've maybe enjoyed Status Anxiety, know that another show, > the Perfect Home < is not to be missed. Although I find it difficult to agree he's not biased in the last part of the show, I loved it. The second part made me think about the possibility of one to get a doctorate thesis into applying true neuroscience in classifying the notions of beauty in architecture, thus cutting the Gordian knot once and for all. (philosophers tried, and much is to be reused from them, but definitely not yet quite cut it)


In an attempt to mingle the pleasure of writing on this blog with the more practical advance of my game design, if you are interested in the new post probably entitled the Procedural Man, while waiting for it... have you seen Fritz Lang's masterpieces? I started with > Metropolis < and was amazed, continued with The Testament of Dr. Mabuse and again I have been mesmerized. For Metropolis, this version should be the further restored, available only from Nov 16 2010. In regards to other works of mister Lang, I haven't mentioned them because I haven't yet had the pleasure, but the next weekend is bound to the original "M".

In order to mingle the black and white with the architectural theme, have a shot at > The Fountainhead < . If you are not lost, then scoop further into >For The New Intellectual< as an apriori or aposteriori view of Ayn Rand's views, so ahead of those times, unfortunately even of these as we can learn from the current crisis' causes and effects.

Docs

Up to my late 20s I was really not touched by learning history. I could perhaps find an excuse in the fact that being born in a "wanna be" communist country, with strong traditionalism regarding schooling, I was fed up mostly with sterile garbage. Carefully selected and stripped so it would not let room for any "dangerous" imagination, the simplistic point of view narrowed my options to rote learning the order of events up to the "details" of only bare dates. You knew the day and month, you got a good mark, you missed - your chances were almost null because the other information regarding the event was largely generic or nonexistent. After the Revolution, the history teachers remained mostly the same, though I do remember some young temporary students coming to teach for their grades, and injecting some love for the complexity of this... let's call it science and art.

Another welcomed distraction, worth mentioning, was Sid Meier's Civilization, that inspired me to do some research of my own regarding history, as well as to put some effort in programming with a good friend, our first windows object system in dos (what times!) and an editor for a game that sadly was never finished (ZBog, we could've made history!). BTW, the last installment of Civilization is truly a worthy successor.

As history fast forwards, I came across Mr Schama's A History of Britain, a delightful immersion in the history of the island that had so much to tell before somewhat sinking in its own shadow, as all the traditional colossi tend to. I am praising the storytelling style, imagery and cinematic style. If it grows on you too, I think you'll find the audiobooks a wonderful addition latter on, to remind you of the experience.
To amazon buy it, or just check the reviews: > A History of Britain <
Also the BBC's Shakespearian plays are a nice way to augment the experience and to notice the differences. I write down only one more movie that touched me deeply, A man for all seasons, and I make a mental knot to remind me to add others when I'll have the time.

Oh! [update:] The Civilisation series of Kenneth Clark is simply amazing and more broadly than only Britain's story. As for something new, I've got my eyes on an interesting piece, where you can see "first hand": Attenborough, Freud, Jung, Russell and others that made interviews with BBC. Great Thinkers: In Their Own Words , you see.

Power of Art, again by Simon Schama, goes even further with the cinematic ambition, imagining and portraying the very artists depicted in various stances. The artists and their works are described with some critical analysis that is bound to make you wonder and research even further. Or, just to enjoy that you've added some gray matter in art matters.


Now that I've covered some history and praised the storytelling technique of making it digestible, it's hard not to mention Joseph Campbell. His Mythos documentary is both interesting and entertaining, delivering some of the archetypes used to construct the stories from the more popular and mythological point of view.

Strangely still about history somehow, the Nobel's Laureate neuroscientist Eric Kandel's In Search of Memory, delivers besides the thrilling quest for discovering some very interesting facts about our brains, a nice perfume about his own life crossing some major historical events. If you have had the opportunity to see the documentary, please drop me a line where I could find it and how it is in regards to the book herein presented.

If you are interested in a more popular but still very well done documentaries about the brain, I posted some > info here <, where you'll also find a shortcut to amazon for Campbell.


Well now, as the times are still pressuring us with the obnoxious status anxiety, allow yourself a little time for self-deprecating humor eventually watching (if you can find it :) the excellent >Status Anxiety<.

Only then would I allow you to immerse into your wall mounted plasma display, to watch at your discretion the exquisitely Planet Earth documentaries, presented if possible with the warm and enthralling voice of mister... well, Sir David Attenborough

I've heard of the recent Life series, but sadly I had to settle for the time being with the joy of listening to nevertheless wonderful David Attenborough's Life Stories.

If you are still with me and you don't find my long discourse as being Japanese to you, I stop here for the time being. But I just have to mention Japanorama, as a documentary to be seen with your notes pad open, as you'll have plenty opportunities to grab some references that you'll have to search afterwards, it is very compressed and a joy to see.

Phase I

next up on blinkmiss: after the dreamland's movies and games presented before, some of the excellent documentaries that are out there. oh, and to make Phase 1 to work for you like seen in Minority Report

Well, it might be well out of 14 phases, so let's kick start:
1. your browser
2. your OS
3. shortcuts and gestures
4. your CPU

1. Browser [update, plugins here]
I am really not going to impose what browser you like. I use 3:
- Firefox mainly, because it has a huge base of plugins from where I made it look, feel and behave like a virtual glove
- Chrome, because it has some plugins and it's fast on its scripts; besides it gives me 2 distinct contexts, when in normal vs incognito mode (you can select what extension runs where)
- Safari is virtually pluginless, allowing me to see how anyone would, the webpages unmodified by addons
- Well, and I do Opera Mini too - for mobile - because it has the best interface for this purpose


2. Operating System basic tuning [update, see the two _example_... files] <- latest: Oct 23 2010
Contextual stopping/starting services and applications, and use only the bucket that you need at one time. Huge improvement.
For this we'll use some scripts, and we'll start by installing >AutoHotKey<
If you feel brave (and have some experience under your belt), GeoShell wonderfully replaces the clunky standard explorer within lower system resources; virtually no more crashing, and all the UI is elegantly hidden when you don't need it (almost all the time, that is). Everything will stay in its own "bar" that collapses when not needed. Truly a designer's dream. It's been around for years now, but apparently so good it didn't need further development, therefore is good only for XP 32bits afaik. Vista 32bits too, but there might be a problem with the "search bar".

3. Shortcuts and gestures [update, shortcuts] <- latest: Nov 24 2010
Making all the clicks and long chains of "habits" possibly within only a click or so, to better link with the feeling and execute before your brain's working memory gets clunky.
>AutoHotKey< is again the perfect choice, along with >gMote< for mouse gestures.
And >Launchy< does the best job of starting an application or custom command, via a small string.
If you're worried that Launchy tends to steal resources, don't. Besides we'll set it on shortcuts stopping and starting it when we need to.
[update] Oh, I almost forgot to mention the wonderful space organizer and screen estate mogul:>Virtual Dimension<
For the hardcore owning a gamepad I found Xpadder 5.3 the best free option, highly configurable and very responsive.


4. CPU load
After the junk of the OS is filtered at 2., this 4th step reserved usually for the tech-savvy, it is now for everyone in need to squeeze some more power, especially when multitasking/multi-threading a lot.
With these little tools:
>DTaskManager< to replace the default task manager, giving us many additional powers among which reclaiming our precious memory (right mouse on Processes' tab, and there you have Trim memory)

>CPU-Control< to easily make profiles of forked processes. That is, you'd want your antivirus and other "unimportant" processes not be able to steal your resources when you want its focus on your current editor for example. This little one achieves this by enabling you to tell what process on what processor should optimally run.


Would you be so curious to give them a spin? None of them bites, but from the evil Overload, minus Geoshell that I would highly advise to know what you're doing before doing it.
I'll add the details at every point, how to make the best use of, but better to have them already installed at that point.
Basically I'll add a list of essential scholar's plugins for Firefox, some code, and learning tips for AutoHotKey.



P.S. There will not be 14 phases, too scary for me and definitely for you :)
Look for the dynamic label: I'll make modifications to this post and I will fork it via links to ease the load on your eyes. Usually on Saturdays :)

Games

Hey! Wanna play?

If you are inclined for the more direct >brain related games<, <- here I keep a track of them.


The Independent Game Festival this year was truly inspirational, and I'm not talking about the stunning redhead, but more of the quantity of quality games that made it. If you are a little nerdy inclined, I urge you to see it all here:
>IGF Awards<

Also from here forth there are some genial (and free) games that you may delve into right now:

>Dreamside Maroon<, in an attempt to to make Susan Greenfield green with envy and brighten up her unfortunate, uninspired nor researched speeches about games.

>Devil's Tuning Fork<, if you have some time, you have to try it.

From the genial inspirational vein of Braid, the free version in the >company of myself.<

If you are a fan of the original Crayon Physics, you might enjoy this spin-off(?) right now:
>Magic Pen<

While the bloom in this one will remind you of the genial Okami, the way you solve the puzzles is bound to bring back the memory of the excellent although completely different Omikron:
>Puzzle Bloom<

Also if you like puzzles, this one is more classical than the former and asks little of your gaming capabilities but more of your cog...nitive ones:
>the Cogs demo<


Oh, I have music for you too, you will enjoy making it while playing this one:
>Auditorium<

For closure, at least until I will update this post, (see the "dynamic" label for updates), another twisted adventure that is bound to challenge your nerves or your brain:
Yes: >Closure<

Tell me a story!

One from Mr Lopate, about dreaming. The whole program is wonderful for explaining in mundane terms things that are coming to the attention of general public rather unexplained.

A nice movie to follow suit, surprisingly not Inception but Gilliam's Parnassus. If you haven't yet, see it as a rather richer experience in psychological terms than Inception though if more subtle at that. BTW, the latter is based more on the psychological "stuff" linked directly to Jung rather than on neuro as it was overadvertised in some brain blogs.
Or, if you've seen them all, and if you have the stomach for something darker, you may still enjoy the psychological thriller with strong aesthetics named The Cell.


Want more free shorter smart stories? While for the hardcore scientists may be just a delightful way to relax their neurons (wasting time is a part of good consolidation for the brain... quick: think brick thick!), for the wannabes and general interest there is potent content in the genial podcasted series of Radiolab. You may start here: Stochasticity as the only link I recall even remotely related to the previous economics posts of blinkmiss. Or here: Time , as it is funny well balanced and you can relate to it from anywhere you came from, constrained only that's from this Universe.
Or anywhere, really.

From a very serious reality where "values" interfere absolutely wonderful, there you have another story about the veils of truth in Chinatown, uncovered in a funny tone.

And two more, from the same vein of storytelling, this time just because they are funny and slightly twisted romantic.

> What Dreams May Come

> Paprika ( and Akira, but only for the hardcore ones who would like to taste the diclonius spirit one more time)

> Ghost in the Shell - if you want more anime and have a knack at philosophy and what will happen after we'll merge with the machine; you may also try for that matter: WWW from the writer of FlashForward (the book was really nice compared to the movie series)
- Ghost in the Shell SE - hey, it has a music clip incorporated in the middle of the action that takes you by surprise, artistically speaking!
- Ghost in the Shell 2 - as an even more twisted Japanese psychological pov, you have to see it twice, I know I did and that's really an event :)
- The series, Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig - as an entry point for newbies to the "hard" problem; the series are lighter and more digestible with a humorous approach
- Ghost In The Shell - Solid State Society, supposedly a movie that follows the series if you want to learn Japanese at first sight, it's plain as that

The cherry on top

See [the Hood and under] too!








See [the Hood and under] too!

Hood

So... Pirate Radio? :)

Robin

hmpf! :)

[not Exactly rocket scientist but he's brilliant]

Intermezzo

Chris Chatham is back with his original food for neurons in some of the best and advanced posts.
Here is the music to soothe the research :)

Inattentional blindness

blinkmiss is also about attentional blink :)

1 Giant Leap

Lonely Sunday delight

Saved! by Religulous

say chees(e/y)!

The true rationale behind the pseudocrisis' salary cuts + new taxes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=player_embedded

P.S.
Yes, [Boc] [of Sept 6'66], it was posted on 1st of April

cue

http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

pre cue

[Click for More]

{game, independent (sorta), nice, smarty, dreamy}

http://sites.google.com/site/dreamsidemaroongame/Home/download