User information - Sparkwind

aaaww Fontong - thought you liked my introduction!

there is going to be escalation in the eastern African oceans because of this action by the US.

who really knows what happened, all the world saw was a hostage situation that was ended decisively without negotiation. and three people are dead for it, albiet people that took military action versus the US.

perhaps there was negotiation - it was never mentioned in the press.

all the world saw was a brief, cursory announcement that three enemies of the US were executed.

Delta or some other special unit was sent into Iran in the hostage situation in the 80's under Carter. thirty years later Iran still wants to kill the infidel USA.

in a way, showing that SEALs are capable is a blessing - most people probably felt US military forces were incapable after events like Iran hostage. other actions like Grenada, Panama didn't help US image at all either.

in another way, executing those pirates - well look at Iran. it's been thirty years.

so there will be escalation. and it's not pretty - if pirates come in with the intent to kill US naval forces it will not be pretty.

if only those pirates could have been talked down, perhaps even disarmed. the world deserves to know the truth, rather than this covert war that was started, perhaps a long time ago, in the eastern African seas.

well...the site loaded - right after i posted on my blog.

so much for that.

it's been about twenty minutes now, and my firefox browser is telling me 'network is taking too long to respond' on the official site.

perhaps a big site update underway?

answer to the blog post
(final - there are other answers BUT DONT RAMBLE THE THREAD)


for the terran in that scenario the answer is a 90% probability of a yes.
for the protoss in that scenario the answer is a 10% probability of a yes.

given that both bases are in the early stage of the game.

--> this is a important point made in the comments - and i was a bit dense about evaluating it from that perspective - at what stage in the game, and what transpired earlier in the game, the mindset of both players, it is quite possible the terran may quit if he doesn't not know that the other player only has three zealots and suspects a massive decoy effort, and so on.

regarding the yahoo moderator - believe me he was stubborn about his position about how he viewed troops. and i was stubborn about how i view mine.

there is value in keeping your units alive. if you don't mind losing a game to a pro or whoever you play, just try playing the game that way with the focus on trying to keep as many units alive as possible. you might see what i'm talking about.

great car prices were kept high because of the Big Car makers in Detriot - look where they are.

internet should be provided by the government as a bare minimum. people that want private unmonitored access could consider other alternatives which are free or fee based.

that would create the right kind of competition.

what is it with this government, either we do it all, or the private sector does it all.

it's not socalism btw, the government provides basic services to all residents. that's fair.

private sector provides the rest. just as we have ABC,NBC,CBS from the government initiatives, there are also movie theatres, DVDs, digital media, art exhibits, music, and tons of other private sector entertainment available for free or at a premium based on private demand.

so government provides and plans for some basic internet service just like it does for tv service. the private sector provides the rest.

so far the government is so hands-off and so privacy invading at the same time that this boundary is not clear.

that's where i see it.

government provides basic internet access around the country.

private providers provide access with benefits like privacy from routine govt checking of ordinary citizen emails, additional services (better line stability, higher speeds, more accessability to remote worldwide locations, faster customer support, and so on).

if the government does this for TV broadcast access, and it is a communication medium, it should provide this for internet access as well. the internet has proven that it is vital to the national interest, the global interest, and the future of an educated, knowledgeable society.

the true aim of a government should be to build an enlightened, educated, knowledgeable society that is strong in character and belief that can withstand all enemies foreign and domestic.

if the scenario was not adequately descriptive, and that is causing maddening analysis, let me explain a little background.

there was an argument with a yahoo starcraft moderator, in which my statement that
you don't need to lose units to win a StarCraft game. brought heavy criticism from that moderator. his point was that it was acceptable to him to send in units without any regard for their well being. my refutation, was that generals who care about their units well being win more battles.

would you rather be seeing how many units you have alive after a battle, or counting how many dead.

that was erased from my posts on that thread.

in my first post here, i made reference to things i was ranting about, and people started going ballistic about that comment. i actually wrote something to the effect "the theory that good strategy includes acceptable losses is bad theory".

it got me banned from my own blog (lol), and so i started a strategy blog post for those people who were still debating it. bunch of people jumped on here starting to analyze it for fun, which is cool, however some people didn't see the point of why i posted.

that's about it - if there's anything else let me know.

how does one define the unknown?

that is the question.

so Star Trek premieres in a week or two. I don't plan on watching it for the vision of the future, it's a bit too elaborate and technical which means that its probably more a techies fantasy than anything else, however the characters of the story are spellbinding.

imagine the universe in its vastness with empires, and unknown civilizations, and through it all a small band of unlikely talented individuals brought together by a simple oath of duty to nation, or creed, fulfill the defense and expansion of their nation's dreams.
some have individual dreams, others dream for others.

it is unlikely that an spontaneous ingenious rebellious outcast leader would ever be great friends with a calm, intellectual, logical thinking outcast son of a noble house from a world so far that they would only visit each other's planets a few times in their lifetime,
would ever be friends.

they argue, they conflict on every god-damn issue. the leaders decisions are met with disagreement by the logical thinker at every turn.

and yet in the end they value each other more than nation or creed.

i find a story about the depth of our connection to the universe quite attractive, if not mesmerizing. some stories take a lifetime, some stories unfold in the blink of an eye.

and it all starts and ends with the relationships in your life.

where will it take you, how will it affect you, what does it mean to you.

-so i will probably see this movie, not for the star trek timeline technical specifications, but for the story of an unlikely friendship that became legendary in their lifetime.

topics often explored in space entertainment as i call it:

humanity, exploration, ownership, technology, emotional depth, love, fear, enlightment, potential, and the great unknown.

if you focus ten siege tanks on one zealot at a time, it is game.

every here is assuming they are siege mode.

why use them in any other mode. siege tank = siege mode.

if all i've got are three zealots, that probably means i've underproduced units, screwed up my economy, or been heavily attacked and taken heavy casualties by that point.

sure i can do the theorizing with the best of them.

ten siege tanks - if it were an ally game perhaps they are all hallucinations.
ten siege tanks - where's my arbiter? stasis them, cloak my zealots.
ten siege tanks - shuttle my zealots in
ten siege tanks - except i have ten stargates and ten carriers in queue 90%!
ten siege tanks - corsairs baby
three zealots - and my army of dark templar!
three zealots - run one in if they are all sieged then send in my SEAL TEAM
three zealots - i got speed - i run and kill all their workers first because i'm closer to their base!

not everything is tactical based on the situation. some situations you just got to assess correctly and save yourself time.

lingering over a loss is traumatic to yourself, and everyone around you.

that's being worked on.

Neo TV by Panasonic this year will include instant simple web functions.

turn it on - there's a weather page and some other home page like functions with it.

what i find unreasonable is paying minimum of $100/month for cellphone service if i want a iphone or similiar browser phone. and it doesn't even have video capture on it.

honestly - who wants to pay $100/month for a cellphone. there's a computer with internet access just about everywhere i go, there's wireless everywhere i go, and i have internet unlimited Us for $3/month. add $7, totalling $10, i have unlimited international calling for $10/month.

cell phone companies know this, and instead of lowering their costs for universal internet, they DOUBLE their costs. W> T> H>.

$60 for internet access on my cell phone with a browser window the size of magnifying glass? $30 from the competitor for simliar?

seriously - internet is supposed to free people, and the way these telecom companies are going about it, they won't implement internet for another thirty years. because they are making money. why bother moving forward.

i'm telling you right now if this doesn't get fixed soon some startup is coming along that going's to fix it for them. and force them to fire 10,000 employees as well. then people will care - but nobody wants to start the startup that's going to do that to 10,000 people.

that's the dilemma i bet for some of these startups.





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not really easy even if you are paying.

i don't want to hack my PSP - why? hacking it disables certain functions that come standard on PSP. so let's say i go to the store and buy psp stuff.

where - do you see PSP stuff in the store? i don't see PSP stuff at my local Target, Walmart, and so on. Do i really want to pay shipping fees for something that costs like $9.99-$19.99?

not everyone with a PSP is a playstation fanboy - some people actually, like myself, buy a PSP for other functions.

The PSP

Play Station Portable

OR

Play Station Pirates

so i've been tinkering with this device, found that it has some potential as a computing device. it can do internet telephone, it has a remote play feature (you can play your mp3s or videos from your playstation anywhere in the world in a streaming format on your psp).

there are tons of mods that let you add a windows operating system, run calculator, calendar, browse the web, and so on on it.

then i check around and find that there's barely any games or software for it coming out.

the reason?

well, as it turns out, PSP developers spend their time making hacks that allow players to play for free. this is good and bad.

good - people with PSP can play games for free, and there are plenty of mods for it.

bad - all the PSP developers are spending their time hacking it, rather than making games or software that people would PAY THEM to make.

effect: PSP is dying.

at a certain point, there must be a balance between modifying something and supporting it's existence. if you spend all your time modifying something, well it won't exist anymore in it's original state.

why would Sony keep making PSPs if nobody's paying them AND people are modifying it to the point where it's not even a PSP anymore?

most players send those zealots in.

i call that a strategic error. the right play in this situation is surrender - it is an option.

three zealots.
ten siege tanks.

any way to win?

there are no other units in queue, there are no other units not mentioned.

i really don't care about post counts.

neither should you.

as far as reputation -

i've been with starcraft since it's concept stage perhaps in the 1990's. i've known Blizzard since it published Lost Vikings. i held worldwide ranking in several games, including Diablo II during the first season. i've beta tested games you've never heard of, i've lived in Korea for two years and seen the big boys play StarCraft albiet on tv while in Korea. i led a warcraft iii:tft clan in korea.

i wouldn't rank my StarCraft playing ability as stellar, however during my active period prior and up to 2001 my win percentage in 3v3 was 85% or higher.

my solo ranking was considerably less, considering finding 1v1 opponents became difficult after 2003.

i was with you guys in Sept 2000 [edit Sept 2001] hearing what most of us heard that day from some newbie logging into battle.net.

"OMG, planes hit the world trade center".

it was utter chaos that day, and through it all there we were online, chatting away, some of us watching the news, others bring in reports, and there were the few that we all calmed down.

i spent the next five years playing counterstrike, warcraft iii, and living overseas (not military).

i logged into starcraft sometime in 2006 and it was a whole another world. all the channels filled with unreadable text from some other language, and players that didn't chat, didn't even really play any more - just running some latest tactic they must have seen on a replay.

my starcraft CD cracked. my warcraft iii CD cracked.

starcraft 2 is way overdue. it's so overdue even the diehard fans are somewhat unexcited until they actually see it. was it that way for the original starcraft? we played starcraft for hours on end, and it never got old.

it's a joke - i search for starcraft 2 sites and i find about a half dozen sites for what is probably one of the biggest games of the decade.

well - there you have it Lemonwalrus - the short story of Sparkwind.



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so let's talk about this situation.

in real time these decisions would be made in seconds.

let's turn those seconds into hours for a minute.

ten siege tanks.
three zealots.

any way to win?

Chef just wants to ban me from my own blog.

yeah, that's reasonable.

video games are a hotly contested in the area of social benefit.

if you pull that off, if you can make the benefits clear on a universal stage, forget Miss Oregon you should be a national or international spokesmodel.

i have read your voluntary service, and have a few comments, not necessarily positive or negative (skip this if not interested).

i wouldn't lump rock band and starcraft in the same boat. speaking on behalf of all games is pretty complex, i would speak on the results that you have achieved with your works. and speaking of which, helping younger children is in fact just as valuable or more so than helping teenagers or troubled young adults. i applaud that effort, it's an area that most people never pay attention to.

other than that, i was vague on what the future of your voluntary program includes, however i'm sure that is something you are saving for the big questions on the public stage.

thanks for posting about your experience, it is really a big lift knowing that starcraft players have champions among them.

garbage is edible - can you eat my blog post right there from the screen? i didn't think so.

easy win. so the strategy for that player is built around making that templar drop?

then that strategy is an intentional sacrifice. if i know that templar drop is coming - guess what it's pretty easy to figure out what to do. sure they might be good at it, but how many times are you going to want to play a player who does the same tactic again and again. sure it might give that player a 90% win ratio - however in the long run, if you are playing right, that player is going to be the templar drop guy. and that's all.

sending units is not the only way to intentionally sacrifice your team. repeating tactics too often, being predictable even if it's a highly advantageous position, are all ways of intentionally sacrificing.

third

why is everyone only talking starcraft strategy with me? my strategy is probably not updated after so many years, however that was not the point of my blog post.

why don't i start a strategy post for those of you that want to talk strategy.

look for that in a blog post coming soon.

my question, in retrospect, is probably too early given starcraft 2's delay. it's on the table, answer it anytime if you have the inclination.



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second

after complicated and tortured analysis i would say that the comment earlier about high risk missions, expendables, decoys, and so on. have their merits.

intentional sacrifice is a LAST resort. this is key, i believe, in improving as a strategist.

sure, plenty of players have great hand eye coordination - but they aren't all Boxers. the first step in improving your game is checking your strategy. if your game went from 85% win ratio to 51% win ratio - it's your strategy that needs evaluation, not your mouse skills, your replay tactic database, or any of that other stuff that just sloooows you down.

the strategy that i've seen the most that results in losses is the intentional sacrifice.
it is a strategy, however let's examine it's usefulness.

1. buys time - which if you are doing is probably a 80% loss probability. if your a pro, perhaps 60% loss probability.

2. redirects opposing force - this has merit - however, redirection doesn't not equal the loss of your recon team. in fact, if you keep that recon team alive, you will be able to gain significant psychological, tactical, and strategic advantages.

this skill takes SKILL. just sending in a dropship with marines vs an experienced player will not result in instant redirection. perhaps an measured response would result. 6 marines = 12 zerglings (and don't start analyzing the math of 6 vs 12 that is not the point). as we've all seen in countless replays, gettting an opponent to redirect is not as simple as delivering forces.

haven't we all seen the all my units in their base and all their units in my base scenario before?

does that clarify what i'm talking about. intentional sacrifice of your units is a LAST resort, it has it's purpose however the intent is NOT TO SACRIFICE. it is to gain an advantage, and part of that is in keeping your units alive ESPecially in a situation where your units are at a disadvantage.

everyone in the world can win in a 5 vs 1 situation. is an 1vs5 an automatic intentional sacrifice? the players who convert 1v5 most often, you know what are probably winning more often as well.

first - this is my blog, please show respect towards that.

how does one troll their own blog? you tell me.

journal entry one:

i didn't get hit by a car yesterday.

i won't be hit by a car today.

i'm working on my starcraft site, still renaming and moving things around, and noticed that google doesn't update my site on their search results. it shows the site with three titles, from updates over the year, which is not exactly what i want to show people searching or browsing for my site.

i've got this idea that my site would have a retail location. still kicking that around, computer cafes, as they call them in korea, aren't mainstream and it would be a big risk. i've seen all the big ones around here stick around for a few years and them close up shop. this is odd considering that i'm located in Silicon Valley - HQ of Google, HP, Yahoo, Apple, Sun, Oracle, Cisco, netgear, OCZ, ASUS, and dozens and dozens of other companies.

well, as i said still kicking it around. been posting on teamliquid.net. i have something to say here, and i'm being heard.

rant starts here, skip it if you aren't interested in hearing rants:

being here beats having interviews omitted.

beats having other forums coming down hard on you for being able to lone wolf.

my personal favorite is having the moderator (of another starcraft group - on yahoo i might add) arguing strategy and them removing all my posts after proving my point.

the point that i made that the moderator on yahoo really had an issue with:

a. you don't need to lose units to win at StarCraft.
b. the theory that good strategy includes acceptable losses is bad theory.

rant finished

poisonous rant aside, back to the point of this journal entry. i'm still tossing around the idea of a retail location. would that even work in the US model?

your thoughts would be greatly insightful and appreciated.

goDaddy is partnered with Google, so if you register a site with google website registration, Google creates a goDaddy account for you.

other than that, what was the question, oh - going to your frequent sites gets redirected to this 'goDaddy site'.

if you get a lot of redirects, it could be a virus, or it could be antivirus settings.
if you have a banner blocker or ad blocker in your antivirus, sometimes that redirects your site loads. so check that.

other than that, don't know.

this isn't really related to my original question about beta keys. kinda getting into another topic (my site). so for those of you reading about beta keys, please skip this section.
---

well let's look at the options.

replay sites - plenty of those, community has good sources of replays.
strategy sites - real lack of these, could definitely use some with starcraft 2.
clan sites - teamliquid, dozens of smaller clans, plenty of these
scene news - teamliquid, several others
tournament sites - WCG, ICCUP, probably few more

community sites - sites that support the community in general. where can i find replay sites, where can i find strategy guides, how do i get involved in tournaments, and other community functions.

that's generally what my site is aiming for at this point.

main issue - getting it coded and content added.

what is beta key registration?

btw - this next part is a big comment on my fansite. skip it if you aren't interested.

well, i'm trying to get my fansite up but it's taking forever.

any suggestions on what the community needs that isn't already there?

as far as i know,
teamliquid - scene news, community, replays
sclegacy - the grandfather of sc sites
sc2armory - pretty decent starcraft 2 site focused on technical details of units

are there other sites that are prominent in the community? i don't want to repeat their services, i want my site, as everyone does, to have a focus that is unique to it that also contributes to the community.

learning php and figuring out how to get the php customized so it can have a front page and article pages, etc is really time consuming. i guess if i were a high schooler and into web programming this would be fast.

have a moment TL readers?

past several weeks i've been thinking about some ideas for the community.

i'm thinking about awarding or trading a Starcraft 2 Beta Key if i luck out and win, earn, buy, trade, and receive any beta keys.

what would sites do for a beta key?

what kind of contest would merit a beta key award?

btw - i am not with blizzard.

correction: it's about the time he came back.

i realized after reading the prior posts that it might have been taken out of context.

i read the long, long article, and posted a quick comment.

i don't know whether BoxER is a nice guy, i don't expect the top of any field is really that nice at all times, however he does raise the bar for the idea of starcraft as a lifestyle, and his skills of entertaining on the battlefield are bar none legendary.

i don't feel that BoXER is going to take starcraft into mainstream in the US. His limited english is a big obstacle and I don't see that as a priority for him. He wants to play starcraft - not represent any community. that is his one of the drawbacks that I see about his persona.

the US is going to need a player with BoXER level talent and the quality of character that can be accepted as world class in the US. there are obstacles for foreigners in the US, and combine that with a foreign type of entertainment, that person must be socially acceptable by the media press ESPECIALLY.

it's a difficult issue - in the US there have been many so-called game champions, only to have them either fade into specialty audiences or simply ignored by the mainstream media.

it's not just a matter of having talent and being entertaining. the media, and the general public, have an expectation of a spokesperson, and it is not a comfortable role. BoxER doesn't particularly hide that fact, which in the US may or may not be accepted.

if the US likes him, he's humble and he's perhaps even charming. if the US doesn't like him, which seemed to be the case the last ten years, he's a foreigner with an uncomfortable silence and on top of that he looks a little unfriendly and dislikable in photos and live events.

A huge resurgence in dreams of space exploration would help with this opportunity as well. if people are thinking about space, games about space become huge.

computer sales indicate a slowdown in most major markets this year. this indicates, to me, that the market is saturated with computers, that there are computers in just about every home and office.

so this indicates the major cost of playing starcraft is already paid for.

step one: just install and play.

step two: get us a US champion.

step three: worldwide acceptance.

so in summary:

BoXER is back. BoXER needs opponents. US needs a champion.

it's about time he came back.

It's about time.

or as it says in the StarCraft trailer:

"Hell, It's about time"

I see. 2 posts don't count in your book and you don't know me. i happened to find your blog while searching for productivity tips. being that i am a starcraft player and familiar with your particular situation, having BEEN there, i decided i would help by posting on your blog.

sounds like this is as far as you would like to go with this conversation Phyre. good luck to you.

focus on what you have accomplished and give yourself some room for failure.

so wrote a mod, increased unix knowledge, wrote a tutorial in the past few days.

write down your accomplishments and thoughts somewhere and evaluate it periodically it will help.

give yourself small goals each day. yours being one item from the list. if your accomplishing that give yourself credit. if you fail your goal, come up with a plan that you can live with that meets your requirements for achieving your dreams. so if getting up late is a big deal to you, set a goal like get up by 8:00am four days a week. then once that works set it to five days a week. if you can't hit four days a week. set it to three days a week. then make sure you achieve it. give yourself credit for that. woke up three days a week at 8:00am.

identify what's causing the problem and try to fix that. and make sure your small goals are actually heading towards a larger goal. like becoming the best UNIX programmer on earth. don't wander aimlessly in the area of knowledge. there's too much of it and knowledge without direction doesn't mean much in your life or in the life of others.

keep up the good work, your making good progress.

to the guy driving from work to home, getting gas is an inconvenience. to the guy driving from california to new york, driving gas is a necessity and a welcome one.

remember, making your dreams a reality is up to you. and don't think if you fail its because of you. without you there wouldn't be a dream to make real. it's your dream, show people what it is and remember that it means something.

i recently saw a tech visionary at a meeting and there were shareholders present. people had criticisms, some of which he couldn't address. even with that said people appreciated what he had done with the company and his vision of the future, regardless of his various successes and failures.

so regardless of the successes or failures, a vision can drive a world in a whole new direction. that's how powerful it is, and having your own is the first step in being productive. artists are productive, but it's not the volume of their work or even the quality of it that makes them valuable. it's their vision.

don't have regrets on day 5. honestly in five days i think you've accomplished a great deal, and that's nothing to regret.

just fix what needs fixing and give yourself credit for fixing it.

overcoming "laziness" starts with a plan.

a simple plan with small measurable steps. kinda like winning a starcraft game. first build scvs - be productive. then take your earnings and build something that makes you even more productive. then go find a fight worth fighting. ^^

i've BEEN there. start with a small goal each day. something measurable and achievable. like send out three resumes a day. then plan your strategy. assess your interview strategy and see what's working and actively find out what you want in your job from each interview. if you have a vision of a career spend some time being productive developing that dream. keep a journal of your thought process and review it. it will show your reflections on the topic and give you insight into your own wants and desires.

making your dreams a reality is the toughest most rewarding job you will ever have. first step is identifying what that dream is from the haze of thoughts, ideas, visions, and other vagueness that floats around in one's own mind.

you can do it Phyre.


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