Thursday, June 26, 2008

Opinion Column: An Open Confession

Thursday, June 26, 2008

There is no easy way to do this, but it must be done. I have broken my vows, and the first step to amends is to air my transgressions and motivate myself to not allow it to happen again.

I should explain before I go further. When I was in college, I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism. This is the world's largest medieval reenactment organization, and it is highly organized into kingdoms, baronies, and so forth.

As befits medieval reenactors with that kind of organization and scale, the Society has titular kings, lords of various grades... and knights.

I confess, I dearly wished to earn knighthood in the Society when I was still active, but it takes years of participation and dedication, years that I didn't have. Partly I wanted it for the sheer, nerdy glory and fun of it, but it was also partly because my temperament is such that it needs a restraint upon it that I care about, and I felt that the vows of knighthood would be just such a one.

As I said, I never earned the authority and responsibility of a knighthood, but as I knew the time when I would have to move away, too far away to feasibly participate any longer, was drawing near, I took the vows regardless, not bound to any lord or king, because none knighted me, but binding myself to the virtues of knighthood, as a safeguard against the fouler side of my temper.

The vows are many, but at their essence, they are outlined in this, the statement made by a knight before he is invested:

I swore to "ever be a good knight and true, reverent and generous, shield of the weak, obedient to my liege-lord (which I interpret as loyalty to my country and my vows, since I swore to no lord), foremost in battle, courteous and truthful at all times, champion of the right and the good."

I do my best, but I have of late failed and failed miserably at one: Courtesy. After a hard and frustrating day at work, I allowed my temper to gain the better of me and, without provocation, flamed a non-native English speaker for his poor spelling. I was mortified afterward, but pride motivated me to keep my silence for a time.

No more. I have made amends to him and obtained his forgiveness, but I have thought long and hard on it and realized that if I do not make a stand with myself, give a motivator to stop it here and now, I will continue to slide, and eventually what I promised to myself will mean nothing to me. I know of no better way than to write an account of my failure and place it up as a reminder that I expect better of myself, and shall keep a level head.

At the end of a knighting ceremony in the Society, it is traditional for the king to strike the new knight hard upon the chest after he has risen a knight, and to tell him to let the blow remind him that knighthood will bring him pain as well as honor. It has brought me pain these last two weeks, and I hope to return to honor. It may seem silly to people reading this, but this is important to me; I must reestablish shamefastness, the fear of shame, to keep myself from straying like that again. I renew my vow, and go forward with the virtues of chivalry at the forefront of my mind.

Cross-posted to the Nerd Report from my personal weblog because the subject matter may be of interest to the readership.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Interview: That Guy with the Glasses

This is an interview conducted with That Guy with the Glasses, formerly of YouTube, though alleged copyright troubles with some of his satirical works have prompted him to move his videos to his own site. The videos are well worth watching, though several are definitely not safe for work.

The Nerd Report secured this interview via e-mail.

The Nerd Report: What got you started doing videos? What was the inspiration for Five Second Movies, the Nostalgia Critic, and so forth?

That Guy with the Glasses: 5 Second Movies came about when my brother and I were making fun of all the goofy lines from Star Trek 2. We were quoting “Kahn!” “Kirk!” “Spock!” and I just said “Hey, that could be the movie in 5seconds. So I decided to make it and put it on YouTube. Then Star Wars in 5 seconds jumped in my head, and then Lord of the Rings, and so on. I didn’t think it’d be quite as big a hit as it was.

Nostalgia Critic came out of my love for things I grew up with. I noticed a lot of people around me liked talking about old shows and movies they grew up with and how silly they are today. I thought it’d be funny if I created a character who used to love these movies, but then was somehow betrayed by his aging and change of taste. I thought it’d be funny if someone took it really seriously and wondered how he could like so many ridiculous programs and films.

Chester A. Bum of ‘Bum Reviews’ just came out of me trying to find an excuse to use that voice. I used it first in my Cloverfield Review and I just fell in love with it. I don’t know why, it’s just a really fun voice to do. So I just turned it into a weekly character who seems to like any film that’s shown in a warm building.

TNR: When you started, did you believe that your videos would turn out to be as popular as they are?
That Guy: I had a feeling Nostalgia Critic would catch on, but I had no idea about 5 Second Movies.

TNR: Did you anticipate the movie companies' and YouTube's response to your Five Second Movies?
That Guy: Yes and no. I knew there was a lot of controversy with copyright and YouTube videos, but after I read up on copyright law, I thought I was safe. Obviously not though.

TNR: Did you intend to get your own website before the troubles with YouTube, or was it purely a reaction to their deletion of your material?
That Guy: I did it originally just to give them a place where they wouldn’t get deleted, but since then, it’s slowly turning into it’s own strange business, which I very much enjoy doing.

TNR: How is running your own website for your videos, as opposed to using YouTube's service, working out for you?
That Guy: Good, though I don’t really put the videos on, somebody else does that for me. I love having the site, but if you were to ask me ‘How does it work?’ I would have no idea how to answer.

TNR: Out of your videos, do you have any favorites that really stand out to you?
That Guy: My Favorite 5 Second Movie used to be Scarface, but now I think that’s been replaced with Million Dollar Baby. As for Nostalgia Critic, my favorite is probably The Wizard, that Lucas kid just kills me.

TNR: Given your chosen hobby, one can only assume you like movies; do you have any particular favorites?

That Guy: My all time favorite is a film called Brazil. I guess others would include To Kill a Mocking Bird, Amadeus, Batman, Eyes Wide Shut, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Good Night and Good Luck, Sweeney Todd, and a ton of others.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Genetically modified "bugs" eat waste, excrete petroleum

Monday, June 16, 2008

Silicon Valley (TNR) - LS9, a Silicon Valley-based firm, has managed to bioengineer microorganisms that eat organic waste material and excrete crude oil.

By genetically modifying yeast or E. Coli bacteria, the company's engineers have created strains that consume organic waste material, such as wood chips or wheat stalks, and produce crude oil as their waste.

The company claims that the process is carbon-negative, meaning that, plant to the exhaust pipe of your car, the plants and bugs that eat them take more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than the refining process and the exhaust of the vehicle the fuel is ultimately burned in put into it.

The company is still in the testing stages, but the technology shows promise. LS9 hopes to have a demonstration plant open by 2010. Replacing the United States' entire weekly fuel consumption would require a facility covering over 200 square miles, and it remains to be seen how economically viable this is in the long term, though the company estimates that the oil they produce could be manufactured at a cost of around $50USD per barrel.

2nd century A.D. d20 auctioned off at Christie's

Monday, June 16, 2008

The Internet (TNR) - From the old but obscure news department, the Romans apparently invented the d20 system.

From a lot sold at auction through Christie's back in 2003, a 20 sided die using the same perfect icosahedron (twenty-faced polygon) that d20s use today. The die was discovered in Egypt in the 1920s and has been dated to the 2nd century A.D. Other dice with similar symbols have also been discovered. The game they were used for is unknown.