| Fundamentalist to Atheist Continuum |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|12:44 pm] |
The Fundamentalist to Atheist Continuum
What separates how a fundamentalist thinks from how an atheist thinks? What are the stages in between and how does one transfer between these stages? These are questions I'm going to attempt to answer in this article.
The Continuum:
Fundamentalist -----> Apologist -----> Moderate -----> Spiritual -----> Atheist
People can move back and forth across this continuum during their lives, but movement from the left to the right is far more common than movement from the right to the left.
( Read more... ) |
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| A Farewell to Castle Reshka |
[Jan. 23rd, 2009|01:19 pm] |
A Farewell to Castle Reshka
I was 18 when I first opened the RPGCE Message Forums. At the time I was an IT intern at Cypress Semiconductors. Now I am half-way through 26. It has been almost 9 years since I first set out to create an online community in the growing message board crave of the early 21st century. Since then, many changes have taken place in the internet world. MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other social networks have replaced the simple message boards and chat rooms that dominated the internet almost a decade ago. On a more personal scale, those who I first formed Castle Reshka with have moved on in their lives.
I think my original goal was to create a community of amateur game designers. Sadly, with nothing else but a message board, that ideal soon dissolved. Instead to take its place was a thriving community of diverse people, many of whom were still interested in games and gaming. As time moved on, games became less of a focus, but the community still thrived.
We enjoyed the company of not only RPGCE members, but To Far Away Times members for many years. Later, friends of members began to join more and more. But, as often happens online, people began to disappear as their real lives began to take more and more priority. Without a word, Castle Reshka slowly became empty. Looking back, this message board has been gone for years already.
I want to thank everyone who was a member for contributing to a major part of my life, and the lives of other members as well. Castle Reshka had a larger impact on its members than I ever imagined.
An era has come to pass now as I shut Castle Reshka down. A new age has already well begun to take its place, and though it will never truly replace Castle Reshka, it will bring in new joy and new drama into our lives. All things come to an end, after all, and we must become accustomed to enjoying things while they last as we get older. Castle Reshka will always be a fond memory for me. Let us remember it in its glory as it was in its prime and not dwell on its decline and eventual demise. All things, even life itself, share the same fate and we must be thankful for the brief moments in which the brilliance of life and community bring us joy and happiness.
I wish everyone the best in their future endeavors, and I ask all of you to remember your days at Castle Reshka happily and stay in touch with each other.
- Shaede Reshka (Kevin Stearns) |
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| An Atheist Perspective |
[Dec. 12th, 2008|08:19 pm] |
This article was originally written on Facebook, and details how I have come to define what it means to be an atheist and what atheism really means. It also clarifies some misconceptions about atheism. This writing is much less severe than the previous one and is something that I think would be a valuable read to anyone who is unsure of what atheists stand for.
( Read more... ) |
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| An Ancient Evil |
[Dec. 5th, 2008|09:58 am] |
The following exert is taken from a note I made on Facebook.
Warning; Not safe for everyone. I am not responsible for anyone who decides to be offended, but feel free to comment.
( Read more... ) |
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| Street Dates |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|09:21 pm] |
7-11 broke the street date for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Didn't they learn after the lawsuit they are currently in for breaking the street date for Gears of War 2?
Either way, I got my copy early. Hurray me! |
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| Election |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|10:47 am] |
Record numbers turned out to vote this election year.
This is rather frightening, honestly, as most of the people I've met throughout life have no clue about how government works or even what the president does. Most people are not aware of the current issues and have no idea how they would like to see them addressed. A record number of these people just voted and we're celebrating. Great.
As for me, I left the presidential vote blank. I didn't like any of the candidates. The only one other than Obama and McCain who would have stood any sort of chance seemed to be Bob Barr, but I detest him is much as the other two. I felt frustrated that, once again, I was removed of the ability to choose between different candidates. There was an illusion of choice at the ballots, but no honest choice. So I suppose it doesn't really matter how educated or ignorant the masses are. Our system is set up with enough fail safes to where we really only get to decide what skin color or age our candidate is, rather than the issues they represent. |
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| Hawaii - Part 2 |
[Jun. 14th, 2008|11:27 am] |
Filling in one of the missing sections. I now have almost all the pictures from this day. Still a few more need to be made, including the snorkeling. This is the scuba diving adventure!
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 6.2 |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|01:23 am] |
Our drive would take us down to the Southern tip of Hawaii, the Southernmost part of the US. We were racing against the fumes coming from Kilauea, hoping to see the petroglyphs left by native Hawaiians before we lost our chance to the venting of from the volcano.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 6.1 |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|12:02 am] |
We arrived in Volcano National Park. Our hiking would finally begin here. Sadly, Jenn and I were so burnt out from the vacation so far, our first day in the park was mostly spent sleeping. After an expensive dinner and about 16 hours of sleep we felt good enough to tackle the park's harsh trails.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 4.2 |
[Jun. 9th, 2008|02:53 pm] |
Out tour through the lush gardens north of Hilo takes us eventually to the southern coast of the big island, where we find the genesis of new land in the making.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 5 |
[Jun. 9th, 2008|02:34 pm] |
Our 5th day in Hawaii would take us to the top of the tallest mountain in the world. Mauna Kea, a holy place for the Hawaiians and for all of mankind.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 4.1 |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|03:42 pm] |
We arrived at the big island of Hawaii on our fourth day. The first half of it was spent in a tropical rain forest. The second half along the magma flows of the Southern coast.
As we first arrived, I realized immediately how glad I was to get off of Oahu. We had left the tourists behind and were now in the real part of Hawaii. No more fake beaches and Mormon-brand Pacific culture. This was a place of nature at its grandest.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 3.1 |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|03:30 pm] |
On our third day in Hawaii, we began our day by going out to Diamond Head. Still sore and tired from scuba diving the day before, we hesitantly drove out to hike up the over 200 steps to find the cool view of Waikiki.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii - Part 1 |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|03:15 pm] |
Jenn and I arrived in Honolulu at 8:00pm, where her family picked us up and drove us to our hotel in Waikiki. We went to bed immediately.
The next morning we awoke around 5:30am and headed to the beach. Our Hawaii adventure was about to begin.
( Read more... ) |
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| Hawaii |
[May. 31st, 2008|03:34 pm] |
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Next Tuesday I'll be headed to Hawaii for 10 days. I'll have pictures up of what I'm doing. I plan to be snorkeling, scuba diving, and hiking around the volcanoes. If I'm lucky I'll get some good shots of magma. Will update again once I'm there. During some of the trip I'll be staying in a cabin on the main island, so I'll be detached from civilization for a few days. I'll have a lot of pictures after I come back from that. It'll be nice to get away from other humans for a while. ^_~ |
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| The Gaming Continues |
[Mar. 30th, 2008|09:00 pm] |
I've been playing tons of new games, and for an opinionated person like myself, this is great justification to give my senseless opinions on yet another topic:
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
A great game overall, but flawed. There's more content than you can shake a wombat at, and the world is massive and detailed. The main story is decent enough, but the side quests are really where the innovation is. Sadly, the combat and leveling system is clumsy. Oblivion, unlike most games, can get away with mediocre gameplay due to the quality of the world, characters, and the diversity in activities. I'd give it a 9/10.
Mass Effect
Like Oblivion, Mass Effect has a great cast of characters and an involved setting. It's main story is truly a masterpiece of game hooks, while the sidequests are mostly lackluster. The combat and out of combat systems are fun and addictive. The leveling system is also superb. There is hardly anything wrong with this game other than the not so great optional content. Everyone should play this game eventually. It gets a 10/10.
Lost Odyssey
This game has one of the most amazing stories I've seen in a long time, even when put up against games like Mass Effect. It's characterization is also way above the margin. Sadly, it's not an innovative or new game at all. It's a Japanese RPG from beginning to... well, I'm almost done with it, but I'm assuming it will remain a typical RPG to the end. I find the random enemies and puzzle elements more frustrating than enjoyable and many of the bosses are amazingly difficult. Because I've played this genre to death, and despite it's truly remarkable story, I'm giving this game a 7.5/10 so far. I really want to give it more, but I just can't.
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
I know this is an older game, but I recently got into it. Unlike all the games above, this game is all gameplay and no story. Well, it technically has a story, but it's best to pretend that it doesn't. Dark Crusade is your standard squad based RTS with more of a focus on scoring strategic points and moving your armies around on a Risk-like map on the overwold. It's highly addicting and well worth an 8/10.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
It's hard not to love this game, despite the fact that it's just profiting from every established gaming franchise on the market. It's a solid game, nonetheless. If you've played Melee or the original, you've pretty much played Brawl, even though this one has tighter controls and more options and extras than previous installments. It's probably the best game out on the Wii right now. I give it a 10/10.
The Orange Box
Are you still there? This set of games is amazing, especially the groundbreaking Portal. Sure, Portal is short, but it is so so sweet. It's taken me some time to come around to it, but once I did I was hooked. Now, if I can get that credits theme out of my head. Oh, and 10/10 for this baby. |
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| On My Mind |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|02:10 pm] |
I was driving through the college parking lot when someone behind me starting honking. Looking in my rear view mirror I could see them flailing their arms in frustration. They looked like they were in a hurry. I wasn't. When they finally got in position to get in around me, the school's massive speed bumps had something else in mind. I wonder if I took too much delight in that.
There is a guy in my art history class who always talks and interrupts the professor as though he knows anything. The funny part is that he's always wrong. He must feel miserable after every class, as he's always corrected. The teacher just looks at me and smiles. I think the teacher knows that I already know a lot about the subject. Not only have I seen much of the art in person, but I stay quiet in class. This makes me look a lot smarter than I am. I wonder when the other guy will learn this trick.
The people in my level design class remind me why I don't like most gamers. Instead of getting anything of any quality done, they sit around and talk about games the whole time. They even continue their conversations during lecture. If the instructor gets angry, they quietly surf the World of Warcraft website instead. This is probably the largest reason why I've kept out of the gaming industry and why many of my friends aren't gamers, themselves. Games are great, but they aren't as interesting or as meaningful as the things in real life.
I'm showing up to philosophy class even though my professor told me not to attend. Apparently he believes that I know everything he's lecturing on and I should do something else during that time. I have nothing else to do in between classes, though. Since he's fun to listen to anyway I just show up like normal. I bet all the other students think I'm a teacher's pet.
Judo is difficult when you weight 120 lbs. Everyone is a lot heavier than me, so I have to try extra hard to toss anyone around. My sensei seems to have confidence in me, though. At least I think that's what it was. We were each demonstrating a particular move to him. When my turn came up, he just said, "If you're smart enough to vote for Ron Paul then you're smart enough to do this." So I didn't end up doing it. I couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. I thought I saw him sneering, but he's a very angry and sarcastic person at all times, so he may have been serious. Some people (especially Cuban Judo masters) are difficult to read.
I'm still worried about the economy and one friend in particular who has a lot of money at stake. I feel bad for him because I think a lot of people he knows are really nice to him because he has money. I can't stand people like that. They're like leeches who're only interested in themselves. It would be horrible if the economy crippled my friend's lifestyle, but a part of me wouldn't be too upset. Without the class barrier... we might hang out more. Perhaps I'm just as selfish as the leeches after all.
That's it for now. |
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| New Gold Age of Gaming |
[Mar. 17th, 2008|11:52 am] |
For years I've always referred to the age of the SNES as the golden age of gaming, but this has suddenly and surprisingly changed. We have entered a new age of gaming that surpasses even the age of the Super Nintendo. Perhaps this is the platinum age.
I've been catching up with a lot of games lately. I have them stacked so high that thinking about them almost feels like a chore or a job. But then I immerse myself on one and it all melts away and has become one of the best gaming eras (if not the best) that I can remember.
In quick succession, several games began to emerge that brought me back into frequent gaming. God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and Okami started getting the old passions turning once again. But now with the release of the Wii, I experienced Twilight Princess, the best Zelda game yet, and Super Mario Galaxy, the king of Mario games. Even Super Smash Brothers Brawl has surpassed its predecessors.
It didn't end there, though, because our tax return brought about the Xbox 360. It's games have diverted me from the Wii and forced me to nearly abandon my PC. First was Oblivion, which is a king sized game for certain, but this was followed by Mass Effect and The Orange Box. Now I'm getting into Lost Odyssey, a severely underrated game by Mistwalker.
I have so much more on my plate, still. Bioshock still awaits, as does Call of Duty 4. The stack grows faster than I can knock it down. I play and play and play, but the gaming goodness doesn't dwindle down. I have a lot of hope for the future, especially with other great games just over the horizon such as Spore and (dare I say) Mass Effect 2.
This is a new golden age. I have so many real life dreams and goals and the responsibilities now of an adult, but that doesn't mean that I can't sometimes return to those days in my childhood where the only thing that mattered was beating the next boss and getting that high score. |
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shaede's journal
