Woerner's Wunderworks

I'm Composing an Ad about Killing this Puppy!

2009-07-20T22:22:48Z

Hopefully he'll survive, but who knows!

Tales of Monkey Island

2009-07-10T20:36:04Z

How Monkeys Open a Banana

2009-07-09T20:03:33Z

AWESOME!

I Weep for the Children Who Play This

2009-06-26T20:19:20Z

Holy Lands: The Christian RPG

About Damn Time!

2009-06-17T16:43:18Z

Obama Strips Fed Reserve Board of Regulatory Rights

Inspirational Video of Gin and Juice - Feel the Love

2009-06-16T23:30:29Z

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Craigslist the video

2009-06-16T20:33:18Z

Dreams of Ancient Futures

2009-06-10T21:18:35Z

As Emily can attest I have very vivid and strange dreams. Last night was no exception. I feel asleep early last night, and then woke up around 11:30pm, talked to Emily about the dreams I had had and then went back to sleep. Don't worry Em, it wasn't one of those dreams I'm going to talk about.

This dream seemed to occur right before I woke up. I was dreaming that I was one of my characters I had played years ago. Morgan Kerensky, Blooded of the Wolf Clan. Obviously, he wasn't a Houses of the Blooded character. He was my Wolf Clan character from a Mechwarrior campaign I played in back when I was in High School. My two friends and I played through a campaign set during the opening of the Clan Invasion. We started with our Trial of Position and that is what I dreamed about.

It's still one of the most vivid games I ever played. Trials usually consisted of two cadets fighting three successively harder opponents without a break in between. Both cadets would go at the same time, and if a cadet fired on either the other cadet or one of the other cadet's opponents the entire battle would open up into a free for all. Something most cadets tried to avoid.

I knew that I wanted to be at least a Star Captain, which would require me defeating all three of my opponents. Theoretically, a supreme warrior could defeat seven opponents - his three, the other cadet, and the other cadet's three opponents. This had never happened, the odds were astronomical. The current record stood at defeating four enemies in one battle, a record held by the Legendary Natasha Kerensky, the Black Widow. Not even daring to hope to match her record, I chose a Stormcrow variant B as my mech. This guy was very fast, had good armor although he was only a medium class. He was armed with an Ultra/20 Autocannon - think giant double barreled shotgun, and six medium lasers. He was the perfect close in brawler with the ultimate knockout punch. A tactic I was planning on using to defeat all three of my opponents.

I should have been more devious, but in those days my thoughts ran more along the lines of Paladins not Pirates. I fought my first enemy and defeated him fairly easily. As I faced my second enemy I noticed that my friend, the other cadet was drifting towards me as he continued to fight his first opponent. I turned back to face my opponent, a Timber Wolf (Mad Cat for you freebirths), and received a savage pounding. Fortunately, I was able to close the distance and blow off his leg and a shoulder, defeating my second opponent. It was then that I noticed my friend had defeated his first opponent and was heading towards me! Our next adversaries were still far across the field from us and not even in visual range yet.

I ran for cover, and the cadet fired on my Stormcrow, missing terribly. He also tried to physically attack me, failed his piloting check, and crashed his Nova to the jungle floor. My Ultra/20 made short work of his paper thin rear armor. Since he attacked me, I realized that the once orderly battle of facing one opponent at a time had now become a free for all. It barely registered that I had scored my third kill and gained the coveted rank of Star Captain. I decided to defeat my former comrade's second opponent, another deadly Timber Wolf. I kept to cover as I circled towards my other target, my original third opponent, a Warhawk Prime, while climbing the central hill. Neither enemy knew what I was doing until it was too late. I raced across the ridge line away from the trundling Warhawk and leaped from the cliff down upon the unwary Timber Wolf. Death from Above! I unloaded my Ultra/20 and my lasers as I slammed into my fourth kill, destroying him utterly.

Glancing at my screens I saw only the minor wounds from the original Timber Wolf and some damage to my leg armor from my wild leap. Besides myself there were only two functioning battle mechs on the field - the slow but fearsome Warhawk Prime, bristling with four long range ER PPCs (think lightning cannons), and the most awe inspiring enemies of all, a massive 100 ton Dire Wolf. I felt invincible after my last kill, but I hadn't lost my head. The explosions of the Dire Wolfs long range missiles near miss helped keep me focused.

I glanced at my displays again. I only had five rounds of ammo left for my Ultra/20, and my engine was running a little hot. Unless I got very lucky, I wasn't going to be able to defeat both of my remaining opponents. I made a quick tactical decision and ran from the Dire Wolf. The Warhawk's PPCs could reach across the field, but there was currently a large hill between us, the one I had recently leapt from. The Dire Wolf only had two lasers and one set of missiles that could reach me at range. I knew that if I tried to close with him his own fearsome short range weaponry would chew my medium mech to pieces, but not before the Warhawk would crest the hill and cored my back with his PPCs. Fortunately, his cannons were inaccurate at short ranges.

Speed being my only real advantage I began to run around the hill again towards the Warhawk, but I fully intended to close with him this time. I stuck close to the cliff so that he wouldn't gain a shot on me from range, and he did the same, hoping to close with me quickly, his slow mech quickly closing the gap. He miscalculated. I leapt from the cover of the cliff side and gracefully spun my mech around into his rear. His right arm came up and his PPCs seared off my remaining torso armor. I unleashed my full salvo and missed with both rounds of my Ultra/20! I was down to three shots and had lost almost all of my armor! We spun in place, fortunately I had the initiative and kept myself behind him. We fired again, his blue lightning washing over my mech, damaging my mech's right leg and all but destroying my right arm and my lasers. My Ultra/20 savaged his rear armor and his engine popped and died as the ultrasonic rounds cored through its heart. The Warhawk's canopy opened and ejected the pilot of my fifth kill.

I had one round remaining in my Ultra/20 and one medium laser survived. My armor was mostly gone, and the worst was that my right leg was heavily damaged. My mech had lost its one advantage over these Assault mechs - its speed. I checked my radar and saw that if I waited much longer the fearsome Dire Wolf would decide my outcome for me - she had just cleared the side of the hill and could draw me in her sights. I pulled down on my ejection handles and heard the explosive canopy bolts pop as I flew into the air like the pilot of the Warhawk had seconds before me. My feet touched the ground, and I stood up, the first ever cadet to attain the rank of Star Colonel from his Trial of Position.

Tonight's Entertainment in the Forward Lounge will be Barry White

2009-06-05T20:15:14Z

Damien Walters Playing Around

2009-06-03T03:53:36Z

Hitler reacts to new Star Trek movie

2009-05-28T18:13:39Z

Weren't we just talking about James T. Kirk as an example of the proto-Ubermensch?

We have bought them for our daughters...but we must Re-Assert Our Rights as Man!

2009-05-13T21:21:55Z

District-9 Racism in our Modern World

2009-05-13T09:39:23Z

In Response to Wickedthought's Post: DARPA Thinks We're All Just Meat Machines

2009-05-11T08:17:15Z

Wired Article: Darpa: Heat+Energy = Intelligence Reposted Here:

By Katie Drummond
May 8, 2009 |
12:21 pm |

The U.S. military’s premiere research agency is already trying to use math to predict human behavior and neuroscience to replicate a primate’s brain. The next step: Lean on the study of energy and heat to create an entirely new theory for how intelligence actually works.

The idea behind Darpa’s latest venture, called “Physical Intelligence” (PI) is to prove, mathematically, that the human mind is nothing more than parts and energy. In other words, all brain activities — reasoning, emoting, processing sights and smells — derive from physical mechanisms at work, acting according to the principles of “thermodynamics in open systems.” Thermodynamics is founded on the conversion of energy into work and heat within a system (which could be anything from a test-tube solution to a planet). The processes can be summed up in formalized equations and laws, which are then used to describe how systems react to changes in their surroundings.

Now, the military wants a new equation: one that explains the human mind as a thermodynamic system. Once that’s done, they’re asking for “abiotic, self-organizing electronic and chemical systems” that display the PI principles. More than just computers that think, Darpa wants to re-envision how thought works — and then design computers whose thought processes are governed by the same laws as our own.

Sounds spooky, but what Darpa suggests has been kicking around as branch of philosophy, called physicalism, since the early 20th century. And researchers have already designed computers that can solve problems of complex physics. What is a little freaky is what DARPA’s new paradigm would mean for the distinction, or lack thereof, between humans and machines.

“If successful, the program would launch a revolution of understanding across many fields of human endeavor, demonstrate the first intelligence engineered from first principles, create new classes of electronic, computational, and chemical systems, and create tools to engineer intelligent systems that match the problem/environment in which they will exist.”

Even for Darpa, this is a wildly ambitious goal — one that may never be reached. But if the human mind is nothing more than the sum of its parts, Darpa’s new paradigm just might create computational intelligence that outdoes our own thermodynamic capabilities… making your brain the equivalent of last year’s model.

************************************

So do I disagree with wickedthought ? I don't, I just consider this argument fascinating.

Game Play Glossary

2009-05-07T21:50:28Z

I've always been fairly skeptical of the threefold model and all those Story Games deconstructionist bullshit, so this glossary of game and play ideas is a refreshing change that offers a glimpse into a better path.

What do you think of them, do you agree, disagree? Where can they be improved or trimmed?

Here's the link: http://www.amagi-games.org/?p=6

WTF!? Why Haven't I heard of This Before Now!?

2009-05-07T17:17:35Z

http://www.7skies.net/

Dagon Knows Surf

2009-05-06T23:29:46Z

REGULATION VACATION CELEBRATION!

2009-05-06T21:54:27Z

For my 'Libertarian' friends. Libertarians are nice people who have only read Heinlein and Rand and never read Candide, or former members of the Nationalist GeorgeWBush Party doing their equivalent of recent move to Argentina. Was that Godwin'y enough for you, or do I need to invoke Rule 34 on Libertarian/Nazi sex?

Nathan "Flutebox" Lee and Beardyman @ Google, London

2009-05-06T19:03:46Z

I imagine these two guys as far future zen ronin throwing this back and forth while waiting for the pushpole ferry to take them across the radioactive river that crosses their pilgrimage.

Idiocy Knows no Bounds

2009-04-17T20:41:07Z

Oh, and yeah, they did cut taxes and increase defense.

thanks mcpreacher

Richard Dawkins Rap - Beware the Believers

2009-04-15T18:12:29Z

Shooting yourself in the foot never goes out of style - I like Dawkins even more now!

"Modern samurai" - Isao Machii

2009-04-06T21:16:16Z

Even if most of this was set-up multiple times it's still mind blowing.

Storm by Tim Minchin

2009-03-31T17:21:25Z

thanks to wickedthought and gobi

Capsule x Daft Punk x Beastie Boys - Starry Sky YEAH! Remix

2009-03-28T00:43:30Z

Sweet Remix

You're Welcome!

2009-03-26T20:53:12Z