MIDDY'S IsLAND
Ok so this is the first real post to SyNONYM I have had in what is basicly months. For that I apologise. I have just beeen soo busy This past weekend I was up for forty hours straight working on NAVY stuff and I now am somewhat sick ( I think its some type of stomach virus). Apparently thats what you get when you work for two days straight dont have enough time to clean yourself before you eat. Anyway those are stories from another day. The story below comes from a sailing day NROTC had a while back enjoy. And of course Happy Birthday to the best mom (even thought there is a little bias) in the world. Love you Mom See you soon.
The morning sun sparked off the rippled surface of Lake Somerville as a low layer of fog rolled off the water giving way to its human users of the day later, only the phmmm phmmp sound of a foot pump hinted that the Prairie View A&M NROTC had arrived.
A few figure eights later four Lasers dotted the shoreline, sails luffing in the wind, awaited their crews. Dagger board’s scraped soft bottom of sandbars, mainsails flailed wildly trying to catch breezes, and Midshipmen found themselves may times doing more swimming then sailing. However, slowly but surely mainsails caught the tack wind, and tillers found their way to the sweet spot. Salty Seadogs and Scurvy Cur’s alike sailed their ways towards Mate A qualifications. Streaming through the water, Lasers cut through the gentle waves harnessing mother natures wind in the ways sailors have for centuries before them. Before long the land loving sailors of Prairie View found their sea legs, makeshift races began to sprout among crews and boats. The occasional “WHOOOOOOO” echoed through the bays as sails caught, and Midshipmen shifted as much weight as they could to prevent capsizing. Even mans best friend decided to join in on the fun for a while.
But the weather started getting rough and the tiny boats were tossed. The gentle breezes of morning made way to gusting bursts of airstreams, placid ripples rolled into choppy waters. New sailors were quick to find out why the sail had been replaced by the nuclear driven propeller. Tacking in vain against the wind boats seemed to go nowhere, as the weather only worsened. Some boats gave into nature opting for a tow via safety zodiac (aka five horse power motor), while others fought through.
Land Lovers to sea dogs Lake Somerville hosted without bias. Stories were made, knots tied, terms were learned, sails hoisted, boats righted. Lake Somerville gave all it could to break the bonds of Prairie View, but at the end of the day through thick and thin teamwork prevailed
The morning sun sparked off the rippled surface of Lake Somerville as a low layer of fog rolled off the water giving way to its human users of the day later, only the phmmm phmmp sound of a foot pump hinted that the Prairie View A&M NROTC had arrived.
A few figure eights later four Lasers dotted the shoreline, sails luffing in the wind, awaited their crews. Dagger board’s scraped soft bottom of sandbars, mainsails flailed wildly trying to catch breezes, and Midshipmen found themselves may times doing more swimming then sailing. However, slowly but surely mainsails caught the tack wind, and tillers found their way to the sweet spot. Salty Seadogs and Scurvy Cur’s alike sailed their ways towards Mate A qualifications. Streaming through the water, Lasers cut through the gentle waves harnessing mother natures wind in the ways sailors have for centuries before them. Before long the land loving sailors of Prairie View found their sea legs, makeshift races began to sprout among crews and boats. The occasional “WHOOOOOOO” echoed through the bays as sails caught, and Midshipmen shifted as much weight as they could to prevent capsizing. Even mans best friend decided to join in on the fun for a while.
But the weather started getting rough and the tiny boats were tossed. The gentle breezes of morning made way to gusting bursts of airstreams, placid ripples rolled into choppy waters. New sailors were quick to find out why the sail had been replaced by the nuclear driven propeller. Tacking in vain against the wind boats seemed to go nowhere, as the weather only worsened. Some boats gave into nature opting for a tow via safety zodiac (aka five horse power motor), while others fought through.
Land Lovers to sea dogs Lake Somerville hosted without bias. Stories were made, knots tied, terms were learned, sails hoisted, boats righted. Lake Somerville gave all it could to break the bonds of Prairie View, but at the end of the day through thick and thin teamwork prevailed
Cross Post from Blogger Friend Will Wheaton
Earlier today, when my iPod and my upgraded iTunes 7 got together and decided that my purchased music would really be happier living on a farm upstate with other m4p's, I did whatever I could to convince the music to come back.
I tried to reverse the polarity on my iPod, and I tried modify the navigational deflector on my Powerbook, without any success. It also turns out that the isolinear optical chips are only on MacBook Pros, but even if I had them here, Data was too busy laughing at me with his emotion chip to be of any use.
So I opened my hailing frequencies, and sent a subspace message to support at Apple.
Okay, I'm done with corny Star Trek metaphors . . . but admit it, wasn't that fun?
Though the company was unresponsive last time I contacted them about an iTunes Music Store purchase issue, they responded very quickly this time. A very kind woman named Kate called me, and told me that she'd read my blog about my problems with my purchased music.
Wait. She read my blog? Okay. That's weird and unexpected, and a stark reminder that, despite my impression that readership has fallen steadily in the last year, people still read my blog.
She said that Apple wants to keep their customers happy, and ensure that they'll be confident purchasing things from the iTunes Music Store, so she was going to push a Big Red Button that would allow me to have a do over, and download all of my purchased music again, free of charge. This seemed excessive to me, and way above what would be reasonably expected, but before I could tell her that, she told me that she'd read on my blog that I didn't expect Apple to treat me any differently than they'd treat any other customer. She assured me that this is Apple's corporate policy, and they'll do this for anyone who has a catastrophic loss of their iTunes Music Store purchases, regardless of the cause. I think that's really cool. Can you imagine walking into a record store and telling them, "Hey, guys, I lost all my CDs over the weekend. I know it's my fault, but . . . can I have some new ones?"
I think that's worth mentioning again, in hey-look-at-me bold text: If you make a purchase from the iTunes Music Store, and something horrible happens and you lose all your music, Apple will give you a one-time only do-over to replace all of your purchased music, free of charge.
E-mail from Apple support was equally helpful. A woman named Sheila apologized for the inconvenience, and repeated the offer to give me a do-over on my downloads. She also included some polite advice on the importance of backing up music, and how iTunes 7 makes that easy with just a few clicks. (It is as easy as they say. I spanned 10 CDs of Lost episodes and purchased music.)
In retrospect, this was so quickly addressed and fixed by Apple, I'm a little embarrassed that this turned into such a huge thing, especially once it hit Digg, and became a "let's attack Apple because we can" thread. I'm a Digger, too, and I believe that when the wisdom of the masses becomes the tyranny of the mob, it reflects rather poorly on all of us. I'd also like to stop and admire all the schoolyard insults that were hurled my way over there. It's reassuring to know that there's still a place on the Intertubes where people can get in touch with their inner 6th grade bully. (Oh, it looks like this post hit Digg, too. Hello again.)
One thing that I want to clarify -- for myself as much as for anyone else who read my blog earlier -- I identified this as a DRM issue because the only files that disappeared were ones that had DRM on them. After a day's worth of reflection, however, it's more accurate to identify it as a backup issue -- which has sort of been addressed by the backup your whole library feature in the new version of iTunes. I'm still not crazy about DRM, and I don't like anything that restricts what I can do with what I purchase. However, I also believe that artists should profit from their works, and stealing stuff is bad, but I'm not sure if restrictive DRM is the best way to handle it. That's an argument that's been run into the ground forever, so on that subject, I'll just say "Abortions for some, tiny American flags for others!
In all seriousness, though, I want to thank Kate and Sheila from Apple for quickly responding to and addressing my problem. The way you treat a customer once they're out of the store is even more important than the way you treat them when they're in the store, and Apple has always taken good care of me, as a customer. Will I continue to buy things that are DRM-laden? If it's something that's hard to find and I absolutelymusthaveitrightnowbecauseineedit probably. But I think I'll be making physical purchases of CDs more frequently than not from now on. Also, don't forget that lots of CDs have incredible design in their packaging. Tool's 10,000 Days immediately comes to mind.
I also know that some people who are very much in touch with their inner 6th grader will say that this is just a publicity move, and I'm a stupid dupe for playing along. Well, it is good publicity to take care of your customers, and since it turns out that a lot more people than I can fit into my back yard read my blog, I'm happy to spread the word a little bit.
Thanks for this post WIll
I tried to reverse the polarity on my iPod, and I tried modify the navigational deflector on my Powerbook, without any success. It also turns out that the isolinear optical chips are only on MacBook Pros, but even if I had them here, Data was too busy laughing at me with his emotion chip to be of any use.
So I opened my hailing frequencies, and sent a subspace message to support at Apple.
Okay, I'm done with corny Star Trek metaphors . . . but admit it, wasn't that fun?
Though the company was unresponsive last time I contacted them about an iTunes Music Store purchase issue, they responded very quickly this time. A very kind woman named Kate called me, and told me that she'd read my blog about my problems with my purchased music.
Wait. She read my blog? Okay. That's weird and unexpected, and a stark reminder that, despite my impression that readership has fallen steadily in the last year, people still read my blog.
She said that Apple wants to keep their customers happy, and ensure that they'll be confident purchasing things from the iTunes Music Store, so she was going to push a Big Red Button that would allow me to have a do over, and download all of my purchased music again, free of charge. This seemed excessive to me, and way above what would be reasonably expected, but before I could tell her that, she told me that she'd read on my blog that I didn't expect Apple to treat me any differently than they'd treat any other customer. She assured me that this is Apple's corporate policy, and they'll do this for anyone who has a catastrophic loss of their iTunes Music Store purchases, regardless of the cause. I think that's really cool. Can you imagine walking into a record store and telling them, "Hey, guys, I lost all my CDs over the weekend. I know it's my fault, but . . . can I have some new ones?"
I think that's worth mentioning again, in hey-look-at-me bold text: If you make a purchase from the iTunes Music Store, and something horrible happens and you lose all your music, Apple will give you a one-time only do-over to replace all of your purchased music, free of charge.
E-mail from Apple support was equally helpful. A woman named Sheila apologized for the inconvenience, and repeated the offer to give me a do-over on my downloads. She also included some polite advice on the importance of backing up music, and how iTunes 7 makes that easy with just a few clicks. (It is as easy as they say. I spanned 10 CDs of Lost episodes and purchased music.)
In retrospect, this was so quickly addressed and fixed by Apple, I'm a little embarrassed that this turned into such a huge thing, especially once it hit Digg, and became a "let's attack Apple because we can" thread. I'm a Digger, too, and I believe that when the wisdom of the masses becomes the tyranny of the mob, it reflects rather poorly on all of us. I'd also like to stop and admire all the schoolyard insults that were hurled my way over there. It's reassuring to know that there's still a place on the Intertubes where people can get in touch with their inner 6th grade bully. (Oh, it looks like this post hit Digg, too. Hello again.)
One thing that I want to clarify -- for myself as much as for anyone else who read my blog earlier -- I identified this as a DRM issue because the only files that disappeared were ones that had DRM on them. After a day's worth of reflection, however, it's more accurate to identify it as a backup issue -- which has sort of been addressed by the backup your whole library feature in the new version of iTunes. I'm still not crazy about DRM, and I don't like anything that restricts what I can do with what I purchase. However, I also believe that artists should profit from their works, and stealing stuff is bad, but I'm not sure if restrictive DRM is the best way to handle it. That's an argument that's been run into the ground forever, so on that subject, I'll just say "Abortions for some, tiny American flags for others!
In all seriousness, though, I want to thank Kate and Sheila from Apple for quickly responding to and addressing my problem. The way you treat a customer once they're out of the store is even more important than the way you treat them when they're in the store, and Apple has always taken good care of me, as a customer. Will I continue to buy things that are DRM-laden? If it's something that's hard to find and I absolutelymusthaveitrightnowbecauseineedit probably. But I think I'll be making physical purchases of CDs more frequently than not from now on. Also, don't forget that lots of CDs have incredible design in their packaging. Tool's 10,000 Days immediately comes to mind.
I also know that some people who are very much in touch with their inner 6th grader will say that this is just a publicity move, and I'm a stupid dupe for playing along. Well, it is good publicity to take care of your customers, and since it turns out that a lot more people than I can fit into my back yard read my blog, I'm happy to spread the word a little bit.
Thanks for this post WIll
Ode to the Gamer
4 !337 94m3r%5 4 d00d wh0 7h1nk5 7h3y%r3 "73h h07"
8u7 73h r357 0ph u5 94m3r5 kn0w 7h3y 4r3 n07.
"1 7074!!y pwn3d j00 u n00b" 7h3y m19h7 54y
45 7h31r 1d107 5p33(h 15 p!4(3d 0n d15p!4y.
D0n%7 7yp3 1n 4!! (4p5, u51n9 num83rz 4nd 519n5
0r 0ur 0p1n10n 0ph u w1!! b3c0m3 m154!19n3d.
50 u h17 73h m4x !3v3!? 1 r34!!y d0n%7 (4r3,
51n(3 ur h19h-!3v3! phr13nd p0w3r!3v3!3d j00 7h3r3.
50 u 907 4 h19h phr49 (0un7? Wh1(h 5p4wn d1d u (4mp?
8y 73h w4y, k1!!1n9 b075 d035n%7 m4k3 u 4 (h4mp.
J00 (4n (4!! m3 4 h8r, u (4n 54y 1 !4(k 5k1!!z,
8u7 7h15 p!4y3r d035n%7 n33d 4 (h34p PK 4 7hr1!!z.
7hu5 1 155u3 4 (h4!!3n93; 4((3p7 1ph u (4n.
4r3n%7 u 4 !337 94m3r? 4r3n%7 u 50-(4!!3d "73h m4n"?
73h u!71m473 745k 7h47 5h0u!d u 5u((33d
4!! 94m3r5 5h4!! b0w d0wn 4nd ph0!!0w y0ur !34d.
4nd h3r3%5 73h pr0p054!-- 1 h0p3 j00 h4v3 phun:
50 0u7 4nd b347 737r15. [My w0rk h3r3 15 d0n3.]
Translation--
A leet gamer's a dude who thinks they're "the hot"
But the rest of us gamers know they are not.
"I totally owned you, you noob!" they might say
As their idiot speech is placed on display.
Don't type in all caps using numbers and signs
Or our opinion of you will become misaligned.
So you hit the max level? I really don't care,
Since your high-level friend powerleveled you there.
So you got a high frag count? Which spawn did you camp?
By the way, killing bots doesn't make you a champ.
You can call me a hater, you can say I lack skills,
But this player doesn't need a cheap PK for thrills.
Thus I issue a challenge; accept if you can.
Aren't you a leet gamer? Aren't you so-called "the man"?
The ultimate task that should you succeed
All gamers shall bow down and follow your lead.
And here's the proposal-- I hope you have fun:
Go out and beat Tetris. [My work here is done.]
8u7 73h r357 0ph u5 94m3r5 kn0w 7h3y 4r3 n07.
"1 7074!!y pwn3d j00 u n00b" 7h3y m19h7 54y
45 7h31r 1d107 5p33(h 15 p!4(3d 0n d15p!4y.
D0n%7 7yp3 1n 4!! (4p5, u51n9 num83rz 4nd 519n5
0r 0ur 0p1n10n 0ph u w1!! b3c0m3 m154!19n3d.
50 u h17 73h m4x !3v3!? 1 r34!!y d0n%7 (4r3,
51n(3 ur h19h-!3v3! phr13nd p0w3r!3v3!3d j00 7h3r3.
50 u 907 4 h19h phr49 (0un7? Wh1(h 5p4wn d1d u (4mp?
8y 73h w4y, k1!!1n9 b075 d035n%7 m4k3 u 4 (h4mp.
J00 (4n (4!! m3 4 h8r, u (4n 54y 1 !4(k 5k1!!z,
8u7 7h15 p!4y3r d035n%7 n33d 4 (h34p PK 4 7hr1!!z.
7hu5 1 155u3 4 (h4!!3n93; 4((3p7 1ph u (4n.
4r3n%7 u 4 !337 94m3r? 4r3n%7 u 50-(4!!3d "73h m4n"?
73h u!71m473 745k 7h47 5h0u!d u 5u((33d
4!! 94m3r5 5h4!! b0w d0wn 4nd ph0!!0w y0ur !34d.
4nd h3r3%5 73h pr0p054!-- 1 h0p3 j00 h4v3 phun:
50 0u7 4nd b347 737r15. [My w0rk h3r3 15 d0n3.]
Translation--
A leet gamer's a dude who thinks they're "the hot"
But the rest of us gamers know they are not.
"I totally owned you, you noob!" they might say
As their idiot speech is placed on display.
Don't type in all caps using numbers and signs
Or our opinion of you will become misaligned.
So you hit the max level? I really don't care,
Since your high-level friend powerleveled you there.
So you got a high frag count? Which spawn did you camp?
By the way, killing bots doesn't make you a champ.
You can call me a hater, you can say I lack skills,
But this player doesn't need a cheap PK for thrills.
Thus I issue a challenge; accept if you can.
Aren't you a leet gamer? Aren't you so-called "the man"?
The ultimate task that should you succeed
All gamers shall bow down and follow your lead.
And here's the proposal-- I hope you have fun:
Go out and beat Tetris. [My work here is done.]
Room Pics are in
After about two weeks I have the room ready for its unveiling take a look at the pics in the flicker thread.
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