Updating the Site – Gaming Escapades
As I’ve looked over the site through the past few months, working on different projects and updating things here and there, I realize that the site could do with a full overhaul. It’s probably not going to be crazy, but I want to make a site dedicated more to displaying the projects that I’ve worked on, as well as allowing me to update things a little easier.
Hopefully, I won’t completely just break the site, (backups just in case!), but I’ve decided to take that on as my goal over the summer. The first start will be the use of this cool throwing star logo that I’ve put together. It’s not too flashy, but works so well as a symbol. It’s just… me. So it’ll be sticking around.
And luckily, I’m interning at a place where most of what I do is web-related kind of stuff anyhow, so that’ll at least be helpful in getting my stuff put together correctly.
On the gaming front, I’ve been really getting into League of Legends over the past couple of months, along with a number of guys from my MGS Cohort. With the summer leaving us with just a little more spare time than usual, we decided to play through a few 5v5 rounds last night, and we were on a three-game hot streak right off the bat. I realize that I tend to prefer ranged attack damage (AD) champions like Caitlyn, Graves, and the like, so for the past couple of weeks I’ve started moving towards melee characters. I started with Pantheon, and then Olaf and Gangplank, who I think best matches my skillset.
Gangplank is a bit more of a “leader” type character than Olaf or Pantheon, simply because he can affect a wider area, can influence the attack speed (and thus, effectiveness) of his teammates, and his ultimate ability allows him to be affect the battlefield even when he’s quite a ways away.
(It’s been really helpful to be able to slow down chasing pursuers when a teammate is getting ganked. Drives opponents nuts sometimes.)
Anyhow, just doing my best to wrap my head around this game. Been playing for a good amount of time now (just hit level 22), but LoL is one of those games that is just a continual work in progress. But with Dota2 out and rumors of a Blizzard competitor rumbling about, this seems like a good game type to understand well.
Keep calm and rock on!
The Strange World of Blogging
When I first started blogging, I kind of did it just for the fun of it. I’ve always been a journal writer, and I like to write in general, and I sort of needed somewhere where I could start putting my thoughts up. (I’m on my computer usually six-plus hours a day, so this seemed like the best solution to my “need-to-get-my-thoughts-out” cravings.)
Anyways, over the past couple of months, I’ve learned all kinds of things about this weird wild world. And, for those of you who are starting up, or are thinking about starting a blog, here’s a couple of tips to keep in mind:
1) Don’t Expect Heavy Traffic
Most blogs don’t get a lot of traffic. But I will tell you that the more that you post, the more people will come. Write about something interesting, write about varying topics, and you’ll see more and more people coming to your blog to check it out. It just takes time.
2) Write What’s Interesting To You
Don’t just write to get traffic. Write what you want, not what’s “popular.”
3) Write Well
The maxim that I’ve always tried to live by is “quality before quanity.” A single great post is worth ten mediocre ones.
4) Pictures
Use pictures to spice up your site, but make sure that you don’t go overboard. A couple pictures here and there really helps to add variety to the blog, but too many and it just becomes distracting. And on a related note, make sure that your pictures “fit” together. Ask an art-minded friend what she thinks, and if she doesn’t like it, then figure out how to fix it.
5) No Music!!
Don’t put music on your blog. Whenever I come to a site that automatically blasts music through my stereo without asking me first, I leave. You’ll never see a professional site with automatic music. Well, at least not one that gets frequented often.
6) A Note About Animated GIFs
Avoid the overuse of Animated GIFs. Animation is like a spice. A little adds flavor, but too much causes avoidance behavior.
7) Careful About Personal Information
Even if you’re doing a personal blog that only you and your friends are going to be looking at, be very careful about what you post online. Your name should be fine, but don’t put up a personal address, or any real specifics. That way, if you put up something that makes someone angry, they won’t hunt you down. Just a friendly precaution.
8) Above All, Have Fun With It
Just have a good time, and do your best. The rest doesn’t really matter all that much. Happy blogging.
- Kyle
Copyright, Greed, and Forwarding Idiocy
Check out Linda Amstutz’ devilish tone on this website:
http://www.braceguard.com/ifmybodywereacar.htm
Do you forward things by email? If so, I’d be more careful, because here’s a writer who’s dedicated her pathetic existence to “cashing in” on people’s mistakes.
As a graphic and web designer, I fully understand how copyright laws have to be taken seriously. You can’t go out taking credit for someone else’s work, and legally, you do own the copyright to anything that you create. (By example, by writing this blog, I immediately own the copyright on every essay and post in it. That’s the way that it works.)
However, I’m pretty liberal with my own writings. I really don’t mind the trackbacks and pings, and I’d consider someone who posted something of mine on their site as helpful advertising, as long as they posted my name.
However, mistakes are made sometimes. I myself have accidentally posted things on forums that I didn’t check for sources, and I was called on it. Since then, I’ve worked to identify sources before I put the posts up. (And I also strive to contact the owners of the material before I post it up. You may notice certain identifiers on the pages on the right for just those reasons.)
What really bugs me about this lady, though, is that she’s siccing her lawyer out to gain $750 for every time anyone uses her little junk essay, “If My Body Were A Car”, with or without credit, unless she gains a profit from its use. I’m aware of at least one incident where she’s come down on a non-profit website for mistakenly using the essay.
Now, I do understand that they were wrong it posting that up. But I also realize that it was a mistake, and was taken down as soon as it was identified as such. But for Amstutz to pursue this course, demanding $750, (a completely unreasonable fee, let me tell you), and threatening with the legal maximum of $30,000 plus court costs, is simply ludicrous.
What a sad writer to have to resort to extortion instead of actually writing. So here’s a tip – Don’t ever post anything on your website, or even forward an email, unless you know that it is free-use or has an open copyright. All you have to do is ask.
- Kyle
Online Petitions and Boycotts
Every so often I get little invites on Facebook or in my email inbox to join this or that petition. “Boycott buying gas on this day!” or “Stop this Presidential Nominee” or “Join the fight against Rabies!”
To me, this kind of stuff is just plain nonsense. What possible use could some random online petition have? There’s so many ways to manipulate online information that it would be extremely and unreasonably difficult, if not impossible to verify every name on an online petition. And in all honesty, what would then be done?
It’s my personal belief that these types of groups are nothing but a waste of time, and are only sent on by those who want to do something but aren’t strong enough to stand up and do it in real life, so they waste time and brainpower on these useless pursuits.
If you really want to go save the whales, join a registered and legitimate organization to do so. There are plenty to choose from. If you think that a candidate shouldn’t get the office, then vote against them, and encourage others to do so. If you think that gas prices are too high, then get up, and write to the offices, not to your buddies in an online chat room.
The things that I say online are a direct reflection of my personal feelings on an issue, and I’ve stated them as such. You’re free to hold me to them, because that’s what they’re there for. Here, I try not to have a personal crusade against anything except for boredom and possibly silliness, but otherwise I try to just post up my opinions.
But I’ll never join any online political or agenda-based groups, simply because I know they don’t work.
But then again, maybe I’ll sign a “Down with Online Petitions” petition. At least that’s something that I believe in.
- Kyle
Pandora Radio
For those of you who haven’t heard of this yet, it’s pretty awesome. An extension of the Music Genome Project©, Pandora Radio lives by the idea that every piece of music has a identifiable “type”, or a unique “style”. It would be best to describe it as a “Musical DNA.” Pandora radio takes songs and artists, and identifies their unique DNA, and then matches them with other music of a similar “strain.”
So what do you get? Say you want to listen to music like Mandy Moore’s, but you don’t know where to go. Hit Pandora, and create a Mandy Moore station, and bada-bing, you’ve got other songs lined up. Don’t think it matches? Vote it down, and the radio will skip it to the next one, and won’t play it again.
A friend of mine introduced me to it recently, and though I know it’s been around for some time, now, (almost 8 years), I just knew I had to pass it on. So get listening, and hit some of the best online radio on the web.
- Kyle
