I've been managing to keep up with the current releases of the new Doctor Who, and I have to say that I've been incredibly impressed with the latest series. It's very different from the last ones, and a huge breath of fresh air after the fourth series/four specials which were... underwhelming to say the least. I've been wanting to talk about it, but there are some spoilers here, nothing too big (I hope), but just in case...

( Spoilers )

It's shaping up to be a great series, pity about the overbearing music though...

A little less than three hours, and I defend. To say I'm a bit nervous is an understatement.

My little experiment with Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (which sounds crude, now that I think about it) is nearly at an end, on Season 7 finally, and I figured I'd write some words about it. I kind of started watching the series because I kept hearing how great the show was, and frankly, I really loved Firefly and I really loved Dr. Horrible, and I figured I might be a fan of Joss Whedon created shows. And, up front, I do, overall, enjoy B:tVS. However, watching it has made me glad of one thing: I think Firefly only lasting a season was for the best. It ended on a high note, and aside from one episode (The Message), there's not a one that I don't want to watch.

In comparison, Buffy has been a bit of a rollercoaster in regards to quality. The highs have been glorious (Hush, Once More with Feeling, Normal Again), but the lows have been abysmal (Buffy vs. Dracula, Seeing Red (except the depressing ending to that), really, most episodes with Dawn who won't shut up, and won't stop being a goddamn idiot). But what gets me more is that as the series wore on, I ended up hating just about every character. So many of the episodes revolve around idiot plots, where if characters talked to each other, things would work out (of course, the one time they actually talk, the episodes makes me want to vomit as talking down an insane, grief-stricken, person by saying "I love you" is so stupid) generally well. And the show works very hard to try to cover up the now horrible characters by making things not their fault. Magic addiction (really?), having no soul, being too normal... Now, I could say that maybe the thesis of the show is that communication is something we know is a good thing, and would solve our problems, but everyone's just too scared, too weak to do so, unless we are forced to. It doesn't make me like the characters any more, and it makes me think that Whedon likes his misery a little too much, that he has to make some sweeping statement about the human condition. It just... annoys me, and watching characters be horrible toward each other for forty minutes of a time makes me wish the series was over.

Maybe this last season will change my opinion, but I suspect not. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all ends, and hopefully moving on to watch Angel (I think that show might suit me a little more, since the central thesis of the show is the neverending battle with evil, at least, according to some things I've read, whereas B:tVS's is everyone's somewhat retarded, and all your friends and family will suck and life is generally terrible). I'm glad I watched the show, and as I mentioned earlier, it makes me happy that Firefly only lasted a season. After watching Buffy, it's easy to see where the writers would probably strain the characters' relationships, to create drama, and that, for me, is a show I wouldn't want to watch, especially with a group as great as the Firefly crew.

I had a professor once who had an idea he thought was revolutionary, that would essentially eliminate stoplights, basically when cars neared an intersection, a wireless system would take control of each vehicle timing it perfectly such that there would a constant flow of traffic, without the need for stoplights.

No offense to the professor, but the plan sucked for a variety of reasons, timing and AI on each car would be surmountable but difficult (what sensors would each vehicle have? What happens if a driver is speeding or going too slow? What if the driver is just a crappy driver and is in an opposite lane?), system failures (power outages for example), let alone security.

I bring this up because of a wonderful little story about an errant ex-employee of an auto dealership triggered the failsafe system that allows the company to disable the ignition system on a non-running car. They do get points for disallowing the stoppage of a moving vehicle I suppose. Regardless, the biggest issue with all of these new systems connected through the internet (I'm not even touching the problem with allowing this wirelessly since most wireless encryption blows) is that now there is a constant attack vector. Luckily, this isn't as big a deal, very rarely is someone's life threatened because they can't start their car. This trend however applies to other devices, the iPhone has an app that lets users control lights/thermostats/etc (from a certain company, with a certain link-device installed, or something like that) from their phone, from afar. That, frankly, terrifies me (while, admittedly, being cool) since mucking with the electricity or the thermostat can be dangerous. And it's yet another thing to patch when security vulnerabilities are found (one of the CS jokes around here is that we're going to have start patching our refrigerators).

The bigger deal, however, is how much convenience affects security, which people don't realize. SCADA systems, which are used to control just about any utility (pipelines, electrical grid, etc) are some of the flimsiest pieces of software available, many of them developed in the 80's. Pair this with ways to access said systems remotely on any computer, and you have a bad, terrible situation.

Still, this isn't a "convenience is evil" post. Just think about if you really need something to be online, and debate the pros and cons. Does your toaster really need an online connection? And if so, does it really need be under someone else's control? Ease of use is a great thing and all, but there are other concerns that people should always be aware of.

I usually don't post much about my field as it's a technical field, and frankly, not that interesting (apparently) if you're not really in it, but this is the stupidest exercise I've seen in a while. Worse even about how hyped the damn thing was and how it was connected to the government (it was very loosely connected, some of the guys were ex-government people, other than that it was an outside think tank). It pisses me off even more that people believe this exercise shows anything.

Oh, and the main reason I'm bitching about this is that there's an article on slashdot about how the US is unprepared for cyberwarfare (I'd buy that) because of the results of this exercise (hell no).

The basic exercise went like this:
-A malwared March Madness app is downloaded onto a bunch of smart phones, that knock out the cell network. This, then, somehow knocks out the landlines, which seems... stupid really, it's like in TV shows where someone sends a virus through the electrical lines.
-The internet then goes down as well (something could probably jump from a smart phone to the internet, but bringing the entire internet down is a slightly more difficult task, unless you somehow damage the cables)
-There are explosions, and combined with the internet outage, brings down the East Coast's powergrid (the powergrid is remarkably fragile, and will be moreso if they do connect all of 'em together like was discussed. And really, you may as well have just cut out internet outage bullshit and just said that a remarkable number of SCADA systems controlling the electrical grid were hacked in a coordinated attack, and did it that way).
-Oh, and a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, since that's caused by cyberwarfare.

The biggest problem with the exercise is that they're playing with a stacked deck. Of course if an agency can cause all of this then we're screwed, there's literally nothing that can be done, especially if we conveniently forget about the people who are supposed to be doing their jobs (the sys admins, the security specialists who work for the ISPs and the like), and the fact that they had no one of technical expertise speak during the event indicates this was just theatre, to convince people of the "right" point of view (in this case, the government needs expanded powers over private infrastructure).

Now, I haven't seen all the event, I've seen clips, but for me it seemed to be theatre, rather than a good look at what would actually happen. Things kept ramping up until it was pretty much impossible for the government to do anything. Even worse, the entire think stinks of people who were too busy watching crappy tv shows and movies that deal with internet viruses and the like, there were comments about how terrible it was that they weren't able to figure out who was behind the attack. No shit, that's work that typically takes more than a day, especially if you're busy going through the proper, legal channels.

I'm not saying that the US (or any other country really) is prepared, there are very dangerous things going on and huge weaknesses (hello SCADA), and these sorts of exercises can be good. But when you're creating a situation where there's no way to win, then it's just a waste of everyone's time.

It's been a while since I've updated, for a variety of reasons (okay, two, laziness and thesis) so I figured it's as good a time as any to update. And what better thing to talk about that the vast amount of entertainment I've consumed, since I'm a pop culture sponge?

( Reviews )

So I'm a little behind on the whole writing up the classes, but I felt like doing something a little different. I think every DM wants to eventually create their own world, so that's what this post is about. One thing that's kind of difficult is how much of the deity stuff is merely legend and how much is true. One thing that I kind of like about 4th Edition is by default, divine powers don't come from a God/Goddess, but from sacred rites. It's easy enough to change, but at least it allows one to throw a little bit of doubt in there.

I have the first draft of the first DnD ABCs article up. I'm not particularly pleased with it. I think there's some good things there, but I lean a little too much on knowledge of the mechanics. I also don't know exactly what people who have little to no experience with DnD are expecting. I tried to give mostly a brief overview of how they play, more than the fluff attached, since the fluff can easily be changed for most classes. Suggestions and comments are welcome/encouraged, I want to make these actually good.

Every once in a while I get a silly idea to try to improve my writing ability. My last attempt was daily blog posts, but I realize that I don't have a ton of ideas to write about. Then I realized that I'm going to try to convince my friends back home to do the whole total geek thing and play 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, which is a fairly complicated game in a lot of ways, primarily class/power selection. Off the top of my head there are 23 classes, some with archetypal names, and others without. I mean, when one hears "Avenger", what's the first thing that pops into someone's head (personally, for me, it's the Marvel superhero team)? Or even how classes work, why does the sorcerer have a bunch of damage dealing spells, while the wizard doesn't? Even furthering the confusion is the list of races, and why some work better than others at certain classes (although, I say screw that, and pick the race you want).

In response, I'm going to be throwing up class descriptions up on the other blog every so often. This will be both a description of the class mechanically, pros/cons to each class, as well as the fluff associated with each class, and how this can be tweaked in some ways to get the sort of character one wants. I'll throw a link up whenever I finish a batch on lj, so that I can get, hopefully, a decent stream of comments, to help clarify things that I write, both so I get better at editing, and so each of the class descriptions and the like make sense and are clear. So far I'm calling it the DnD ABCs, I'll go through the classes alphabetically, and hopefully by the end of it, I can condense it down into a concise document, that I can use to inflict explain the DnD classes to my hopefully new group in June.

Seems like Alaska's crawling with not only vampires, but now Werewolves. I imagine summer is pretty bitchin' (ha!) for them, with the whole sun up practically 24/7.

"Alaska is a place where people disappear and now you know why," Miller said.

So gloriously stupid, I hope this takes place in like Wasilla or Palmer, just for extra amusement. Mummies next I hope.