JonCole

I'll miss EU, this Washington Post "eulogy" hits exactly what I'll miss most about it including X-Wing/Corran Horn, Mara Jade, and Jaina. I'll be the first to admit that some of the most recent offerings in the main SWEU timeline are weak, but man will I miss those memorable characters - http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/04/30/disneys-biggest-star-wars-mistake/ Now my mission will be to raid my local used books store and fill in the gaps of my EU collection. I'd guess I'm 70% of the way there, might as well finish the job as long as the storyline is "complete".

I'm going to copy and paste an email I wrote to Wheeler that I also copied onto my Tumblr, sorry for the wall of text: Dear Chairman Wheeler, I’m writing you regarding the new Internet rules that you and your fellow Commissioners have proposed regarding privileges granted to ISPs that would allow preferential traffic treatment. One of the greatest rewards that the Internet has bestowed upon the citizens of the United States is potential energy. Due to its availability to the common man, the Internet is truly an equalizing force that can allow one person’s voice to be amplified despite his/her position or income and allows a fledgling company with a brilliant idea to grow to the likes of peers among the Fortune 500. By explicitly granting ISPs the privilege to charge sites/services for preferential traffic treatment, the FCC is essentially removing the equalizing core from the inherent nature of the Internet. Big companies can simply pay to elevate their product and leave upstart competitors in the mud. ISPs with interests in industries disrupted by the internet will have inherent power to keep competition down. If a cable ISP selling video content was able to disproportionately charge an upstart company like Netflix or YouTube in their early stages of creation, I submit that they wouldn’t exist to challenge those ISPs in the free market as they can today. Those companies will undoubtedly be able to pay up to ISPs if these rules are passed; they already succeeded and have the ability to cement their place on the internet. What of the next Netflix or YouTube? What if there’s a new form of media that had a chance to exist on the internet, but the ISPs saw them as a threat to their business and charged them to the point that they’d have to give up? I’m not convinced that the FCC’s promise that these charges will be “commercially reasonable’ has any teeth. Regardless of that, any discrimination is destabilizing to the nature of the internet, whether or not the discriminatory charge is financially reasonable. The FCC is supposed to defend the rights and interests of the people of the United States by means of regulation of the communication industry. If every “regulation” you pass is simply an approval of the abuse of power that ISPs wield, then I propose that the FCC stop trying to regulate anything. As it is, the FCC doesn’t speak for my interests, only the interests of companies that try to wring every possible dollar from every possible source, regardless of what damage they do to the very communications that the FCC should be trying to protect. Chairman Wheeler, please recognize the error of these rules. There should be a balance between the rights of American companies and American people and that balance is being disrupted by these new rules. Net neutrality helps the people far more than it hurts these companies and plays a big part in keeping that overall balance intact. These rules are an attack on the principle of net neutrality and the FCC’s proposal of them truly shake my faith in the government’s regulatory role in this industry. Regards, Jonathan Cole Context: FCC planning new Internet rules that will gut Net Neutrality. Get ready to pay more for the stuff you love online. [boingBoing] And if you want to contact the FCC, here’s their information: The FCC Commissioners’ email addresses, to which concerned citizens might send concerned email: Tom.Wheeler@fcc.gov Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov Mike.O’Rielly@fcc.gov. The FCC’s main telephone line is 1-888-225-5322.

I basically have no more compunction over buying digital games or accepting PS Plus games because I literally have so many games that if I have an inkling to play a game a second time, it's no big loss. For instance, if I get Shadow of the Colossus free on PS Plus, I'm not going to feel any anxiety over "renting" it for free because I'm almost certainly not going to play it again. My desire to have a tangible collection is almost completely irrational, so the growing utility of simply owning (or "owning") games digitally is quickly overcoming that anxiety. It's also worth noting that PS Plus not only gives out the "free" "rental" games, but also some hefty discounts on games that you will actually "own" after buying them at the lowered price. I've gotten plenty of sweet games for 50-75% of their retail value digitally, which beats the heck out of the occasional similar valued used games I get on Amazon Warehouse. I've even gotten some slick flipping out of it, like when The Last of Us was $20 for PS+ members and the trade-in value at Gamestop and the like was still hovering around $30.

I use Pocket Casts because it has the slickest interface of any Android podcatcher I'm aware of, has multiple device (like between Android phones/tablets and iOS devices, not iTunes) syncing, built-in and relatively stable variable speed controls (BeyondPod's was a plug-in style thing that crashed all the time, so I stopped using it), and the most specific settings out of any app I've used for how/when to auto-download, auto-delete old episodes, and filters for sorting through whatever podcasts you have on your device.

Super good PSN sale starting tomorrow to celebrate Golden Week in Japan (source: PS Blog) - Title - PS Plus Sale Price, Sale Price, Original Price Armored Core: Verdict Day (PS3) - $5.00, $9.99, $19.99 Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk (PS3) - $24.49, $34.99, $49.99 Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland (PS Vita) - $19.59, $27.99, $39.99 Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland (PS Vita) - $19.59, $27.99, $39.99 Chrono Cross (PS3/PSP/PS Vita) - $3.49, $4.99, $9.99 Chrono Trigger (PS3/PSP/PS Vita) - $3.49, $4.99, $9.99 Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PS Vita) - $32.39, $35.99, $39.99 Devil May Cry HD Collection (PS3) - $8.99, $14.99, $29.99 Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z (PS3) - $15.00, $29.99, $59.99 Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z (PS Vita) - $10.00, $19.99, $39.99 Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (PS3) - $5.00, $9.99, $19.99 Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (PS3) - $14.69, $20.99, $29.99 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3) - $14.99, $24.99, $49.99 Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (PS3) - $11.99, $19.99, $39.99 Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection (PS Vita) - $8.99, $14.99, $29.99 Muramasa Rebirth (PS Vita) - $7.49, $12.49, $24.99 Persona 4 Golden (PS Vita) - $14.62, $19.49, $29.99 rain (PS3) - $3.75, $7.49, $14.99 Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (PS3) - $15.00, $29.99, $59.99 SoulCalibur V (PS3) - $5.00, $9.99, $19.99 Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (PS3) - $10.00, $19.99, $39.99 Time and Eternity (PS3) - $9.79, $13.99, $19.99 Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita) - $19.59, $27.99, $39.99 Zone of the Enders HD Collection (PS3) - $10.49, $17.49, $34.99 I'm considering Armored Core, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Muramasa Rebirth, and Soul Calibur V. I, of course, highly recommend the sub-$15 Persona 4 Golden (for Plus members at least, which you should be). Edit: Hopefully improved formatting.

Hmm, if i ever get a Fire TV it'd probably work with that, actually makes it more interesting. Hmm!

Looks pretty cool, but man $50 for a phone controller is super rough.

Undead Sanctum? What's that? I spent like... forever farming the Depths trying to get Large Titanite Shards, ended up with like 10 Green Titanite Shards and 3 Large ones. =/ Since I used some humanity to improve my drop rate, so I decided to also farm the Depths once every three slime runs just for variety. Ended up making much more than the 3 humanity I used farming humanity from rats down there, very sweet. Not to mention something like 40k souls just doing it again and again. I then went back to Andre, upgraded my Longsword to +7, and farming Darkroot with my humanity to get tons of moss. Used the humanity to reverse hollow, kindled the Darkroot Gardens bonfire and the Undead Parish bonfire, then faced off with Moonlight Butterfly with the nearby witch. I feel like I'm kinda trucking through the game right now, maybe because I over-cautiously farmed and leveled or maybe it's because I'm getting better, hard to know. I opened the door to Artorias's thing, killed all the dudes in the woods, all the ents, saw that horrifying Hydra thing below, and joined the Cat covenant. What exactly is that Covenant about? It's hard to figure out what the hell any of these NPCs are talking about. I also went a little farther that way, almost got killed by huge mushroom things but managed to cheese them on some trees, and then saw a huge glowing door with about 100 messages in front of it that said "Imminent tears" so I turned around and bonfired. Are tears imminent behind that huge door?

I somehow completely missed that chest containing the large ember, but I did eventually find it. That said, I beat the Gaping Dragon! Felt so good, it took me two more tries. The first time, I used a humanity I had to reverse hollow and try summoning Solaire for the fight. Got invaded, but I guess the guy gave up because I just hid in a corner until I saw the fog door disappear. I figured that summoning Solaire would give me some wiggle room, so I tried to kill the Dragon while still kind of a newb with the Zweihander. Solaire got worked in three or four hits and I only got the Dragon's HP to about half. I tried again with my +5 Longsword and actually managed to read his patterns and take him out. I wonder if I should try the Zweihander again, or if the faster/stamina conservative Longsword is just more complementary to my playstyle. I did like the one-hit kill strong Zweihander, but it seems I can handle harder enemies with much more ease with the Longsword. I proceeded to Blighttown, which I was completely intimidated by but actually had a decent time dealing with the enemies. I had to stop because the framerate was total shit and I was getting ganked by toxic dudes and I ran out of the proper moss. So, I haven't really been playing much attention, how exactly do I avoid this kinda shitty place? Also, does the PC version's framerate suffer so much in Blighttown?

Gaping dragon has indeed proved intimidating, so I've decided to go around to farm and clean up some loose ends. Got my Pyromancy Flame, bought Fireball only to find out that I didn't have any attunements slots because I'm a scrub, upgraded my Zweihander to +5, put two points into STR so I could wield it, and now I'm trying it out while farming Darkroot Gardens. Greatsword is definitely different from a Longsword, totally have to recalibrate my combat style to accommodate the huge stamina usage and slowness of the attacks. That said, I can kill Stone Golems in three strong hits and those plant things that spring out of the ground in one strong hit which is pretty great. Hoping to farm enough souls to buy enough attunement to use my Fireball, and then I'll go to the Depths and farm over there before giving the Gaping Dragon another shot.

Worst:

I can't wait to see the third use of that typewriter art, which will confirm that Campo Santo is developing Half-Life 3.

Are you talking about the one where it seems to like vomit acid or something? Is the only way to subvert that running away as fast as possible?

Yeah, the Gaping Dragon can hit me with an attack that reduces 90% of my health. Maybe I'm not well prepared, but I think I'll give it a couple tries before giving up.

Kept dicking around in the Depths and decided to go out on a limb to fight the boss. Got totally annihilated by the Gaping Dragon, but at least I know what I'm up against and I know how to get here relatively easy from the Depths bonfire. Still don't know how to get out of that place, though. I feel like I'm missing a critical shortcut to Firelink/other place.

There is a way to spend money in the app, you can buy time-limited XP boosters that actually are fairly expensive. That said, the data collection thing you said could certainly be true. But I personally have no reason to trust QuizUp less than any other number of websites/services that could similarly develop a ridiculously specific profile for me. Can see why you might not like that possibility, though.

Ingress is great, though I did lose steam (god, I just capitalized Steam and had to go back to fix that, so weird) when I hit L8 and there was drama in my local community. Still occupied much of my time and my thoughts for a good 3-4 months off and on, nonetheless. Threes also gets my recommendation as much of the gaming community's. I like QuizUp for a pop culture trivia type game thing. Ridiculous Fishing is also on Android and I play that now and then, though I do feel like I missed the zeitgeist on that one. I spend 99% of my gaming time on Android playing Puzzle and Dragons. There's a reason some hideous number like 80% of Japan's population plays it. It's Bejeweled/Puzzle Quest-ish game with Pokemon-ish RPG/collectathon elements and a nice social component that I basically can't stop playing. The game tells you every day how many days you've played it consecutively and I'm nearing my 300th day of continuous daily play.

I just got back from my honeymoon (and thus a decent break from Dark Souls) and have decided to put aside Darkwood Gardens for now. I tried out the Elite Knight Set, but my endurance isn't high enough for me to feel comfortable using it since it slows me down a lot. I poked my head around the Depths and got myself into some trouble, fought a bunch of things I wasn't familiar with, found a fog door that I promptly headed the opposite direction from, and eventually found myself at a bonfire so I could level up a couple times. I had no idea what direction is right, but I guess that's what this game is all about. Looking forward to exploring the area from this point, worst case scenario is I can farm souls a bit while slowly moving outwards in all possible directions.

My gaming space:

Like I said I got past the Capra Demon and now I've committed to putting aside the Drake Sword. I did some farming post-Capra and got my Longsword to +5, along with my Zweihander to +2 though I'm still 4 Str away from being able to use it 1-handed. I decided to take a shot at the Titanite Demon near Andre, took me six tries but I managed to take it down. I moved into the Darkwood Gardens and got to the Bonfire, then cleared out the area with all the Golems and scary plants. I got to the boss door and decided to head back, because I had 6k souls that I didn't want to waste on getting smoked by an unfamiliar boss. I kinda want to farm souls from that area, it would only take a handful of runs to get my needed Str to switch to the Zweihander. I got the Elite Knight Set from there, I still don't have a good enough feel for how it compares to my partial Leather/Balder Set.

For me, whenever I roll into a boss fight my body and mind crank up to a 10, taking in every bit of detail and making split-second critical decisions that keep me alive. When I'm just going through the environment, a triumph against a seemingly difficult mob of enemies might swing my attitude to careless superiority and I can get rushed and stunlocked by a bunch of idiot hollows.

It's been a while, but I quit super hard on You Are Not A Gadget - http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Gadget-Manifesto/dp/0307389979 It's a book that seems pretty widely adored by technology writers, so I figured it'd be completely in my wheelhouse. It struck me almost completely as the perspective of a luddite - he posits that the ubiquity of technology and the internet dehumanizes us and enables mob culture, things that I'd agree with on a surface level but the root causes that the author attributes these symptoms to are major tenets to modern culture that more often empowers us than strips us of humanity. I hate to say this about a book because it seems like a lazy comment, but the book read to me as someone trying to come off as superior and high-minded, almost religious in its declarative prose. I could barely get through a few chapters before I had to put it down.

That's actually a very interesting point. I've lived in right-to-work states all my life, so it didn't quite click that being fired in a non-rtw state could mean something different.

I BEAT THE CAPRA DEMON after 7 pitiful tries YEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

I got the Zweihander! Damn that was hard, facing mobs of any number of enemies greater than 2 is super intense and ridiculously stressful. (Ultra?) Greatswords can be handled in one-hand? Seems fairly ridiculous, how do I figure out what kind of Strength (and Dexterity?) I need to wield it properly? Also, it turns out I got the Gargoyle Helm from the gargoyle bosses, which seems pretty cool. I also got a Baldur Armor chestpiece, so I look fairly odd but I think I'm doing fairly well in the armor department. I've upgraded my heater shield to +5 and my Vit is now 16, so I'm definitely more formidable in battle.