on-lne adjustments

I play poker. I'm not sure what kind of poker player I am. I think I'm incredibly safe and predictable. I only bet when I have something. I have a hierarchy to that something. The higher up on the hierarchy the hand is, the more I allow myself to stay in. I think sometimes about what other players might have in their hands to beat me. But I never bluff, or lead out. I also talk to myself quite a bit, and I have a cheat sheet in front of me so I can look up what hands beat what. I find it really difficult to see straits. So its a game. There is chatting going on usually, but I don't really pay attention to it or join in. It feels separate to the game at hand. Sometimes I play at more than one table at once. Because I'm such a safe player, sometimes I'll fold for several hands before I allow myself to play. In that way, I can play at several tables at once. Now I've been thinking, am I really playing poker? Do famous poker stars get pissed off at players that come from online poker backgrounds? I've never in my life, played a physical hand of poker. Yet my online poker account regularly has somewhere around $40,000 in play money. It's the same game essentially, just without the physicality. Does online poker have characteristics that physical poker doesn't? well sure, you can play more than one table at a time, it's easier to pick a table because you can see all the players, how much money they have at the time and how fast the table is going. Statistics are easier to see and calculate. There is always a game going on, and you can be watching tv or whatever while you are playing. You don't have to be yourself, you can make yourself up. But I guess you could do this in the physical realm also. I would never want to go and play somewhere physically, yet I love to play on-line. I play poker. Can I say that?

dead again

Re-Loaded, Re-Birth

I was reborn today. I'm still me, but I decided to start over. I'm not exactly happy with how I look, or my skills. So why not? Maybe I'll do things differently as I progress. Now I know where things are, special hidden items and such. I still don't know the ending. Maybe I started over just before it was to end? So I begin again. Same introduction to tools and interface. I am hopeful that moments that seemed tedious before, will be easy this time around. I wonder if I'll make the same connections? meet the same people? Maybe I will work to NOT be the same. Find a new path. Since I can always go back to the path I've already been down, I should forge a new path. Maybe I should try to NOT shoot any weapon? Is it possible? It's worth a try. It will be my quest to find humanity, beginning today....

Here is my thesis - freshly written.

Robots are taking over the world

http://www.copperrobot.com
http://wiredforwar.pwsinger.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/magazine/08fluno-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=technology

http://www.watchtheguild.com/

Tonight I am attending a seminar The Copper Robot by Mitch Wagner. Its a book that Mitch Wagner wrote. I got the IM in Second Life and so I rezzed into SL. I teleported to the conference center, which is located next to the ocean. He explained just how much we use robots. From the romba vacuum cleaner, to military uses. He also is interested in how we feel empathy now. Do robots need rights? What I learned here, was more from the attendees. They were constantly chatting. It was really distracting. The writer and the interviewers were using voice - so I could listen to them talk, and read the thoughts and conversations of the other attendees. I wonder if only American's are childish in their views and attitudes? There was fighting and total silliness. Someone had voice chat on, and was eating potato chips. But, here I am, very sick today, but was still able to attend this event from the comfort of my chair.

Interesting how we think of war, soldiers and death.

Virtual events - real audiences
www.world2worlds.com

bottle cap mines

I left the powerstation and headed north towards another vault. This vault is 106. I'm not sure if anyone is alive in here, but I need to find a bed to take some rest. I haven't found much, mostly debris. There are a few survivors, but they are extremely hostile. I've killed four people so far. I've been experimenting with bottlecap mines - its one of the last weapons I have. My health is failing - and I still can't rest. I've made my way to the living quarters section, there is one crazy survivor that won't let me pass. He has a pool cue and is intent on taking me out. I need to get past him. I've died 8 times so far. I'm stuck here. The vault here looks exactly like the vault I grew up in. I keep having flashbacks of my own vault. Everything goes grey scale, and I see the vault overlaid with memories of my own vault.

bodies

What's left of this old farmhouse, stands alone on top of a ridge. From a distance, I knew something was wrong with it. A broken down, white picket fence still surrounds it, and adds to the desolation and loneliness. I make my way on an overgrown path littered with broken bottles and debris. I see something glittering in the afternoon sun. Its flash blinds me for a moment and I walk closer, its about 100 feet away. Then I see it, the body. Its been mangled and chopped into meat, putrefying in the heat of the day. Gnaw marks from animals, probably wild dogs. The glittering buckle from a gun holster is still attached to the body of this female wanderer. Must have been some sort of animal that killed her, no human would leave a weapon. Suddenly alarmed I scan the area around the farmhouse. And I see the rest of them. Hanging from the bare beams of the farmhouse, the remains of five bodies hooked onto chains. All of the heads have been removed, dried blood everywhere. Weapons and strips of clothing hang from the chunks of flesh. Some of them are swinging lightly in the breeze, the chains tinkle like a wind chime. I'll have to collect their weapons and anything else I find, but its difficult to get close to them. Sometimes I wish I'd lose my eyeglasses so I could see the world through a nice blur of color. What would have done this?

aimlessly

As I regenerate, I realize that its been a long time since I have been to this place. I wasn't sure what I'd do, or where I had left off. It is a hazy morning, mist is swirling over the rotting landscape. I start walking in the direction of the sun. There is a baseball bat on the ground and I pick it up. I turn the radio on, some old military song is playing. I pause to check my log book and take inventory of my possessions. I'm searching for a mother and daughter that have been kidnapped by some strange and violent family of criminals. I see an old power station on the map and decide to check it out. The suns light grows more intense, and large insects start to swarm around me. I swat a couple of them dead with the baseball bat. There are remains of burned out cars and in the distance I see some houses and a playground. The power station comes into view over the horizon. It looks abandoned, but looks can be deceiving. There seems to be a bbq grill on the roof, could someone be inside? I walk the perimeter of the building, the only window is high above the ground and boarded up. No signs of life and I scan the horizon, not a movement except for the light breeze causing the knarly bushes to sway. I approach the door, and open it.