A while ago I wrote about “The Gamer Divide” and how I think we are approaching a time when gaming is viewed as normal or even positive, instead of some thing that you might want to avoid mentioning.

Just this week Forbes had an article on How Playing Video Games Can Boost Your Career. It features a guildie of mine (Hi Elliot!), and makes some good points about how game skills, especially multi-player games, can provide real career building skills.

I think my favorite quote was:

“We’re finding that the younger people coming into the teams who have had experience playing online games are the highest-level performers because they are constantly motivated to seek out the next challenge and grab on to performance metrics,” says John Hagel III, co-chairman of a tech-oriented strategy center for Deloitte.

But head on over to Forbes and read the whole thing.

A couple of years ago I and a number of amazing people put on a conference in Colorado called the Thin Air Summit.  At the time what we now call social media or online journalism or citizen journalism was still using the moniker “New Media”.  At this conference we talked about what this new media is, how to use it, how to create it, and what its potential was.  The conference was a great success.  Our goals, in addition to having conference that was of value to the attendees, was three part:

1. Have a tech/social media conference in Colorado
2. Help connect the local social media people so they can build on the local resources (instead of finding locals by going to a conference in LA).
3. Raise the visibility of Colorado in the tech/new media world.

Since then there have been many conferences (and unconferences) in Colorado on social media topics.  Sometimes only a little push is needed to open the floodgates. The people who attended the conference got a lot of meeting other people with like interests in the area.  Networking and connections were made.  Additionally Colorado, which was already a huge (if somewhat hidden) force in tech and social media has become increasingly visible.

Each year I ponder if there will be a Thin Air Summit II, and thus far the pieces haven’t come into place – many of the original people people who made the first one possible have been busy with other projects, and the timing hasn’t seemed right.  However, I was recently encouraged when I read the Wikipedia article on TED, and it mentioned that there was a 6 year hiatus between the first TED and the annual TED  that started in 1990.   In the mean time, I will leave you with my closing remarks from  The Thin Air Summit ‘08.

Going from non-observant to an observant Jew has all sorts of challenges along the way.  One of the challenges is that the comfortable routines often go away as the places you hung out at become “not an option” due to reasons of kashrut.   Back when I lived in Santa Cruz my favorite way to begin the day was a bike ride to Java House – which was this big converted warehouse – where I would have a cup of coffee or chai and a croissant. I would enjoy the food and drink while listening to the classical music and watching the sunlight filter in to the room.   It was wonderfully refreshing way to begin the day before heading on in to work.

Queue the passage of time and the taking on of observance and even replicating that morning ritual was not so simple. For some reason the taste of a croissant was an essential part of the memory.  I suppose it is a bit silly, but sometimes I have food connections with a memory as much as a scent connection with that time and feeling.  Over a number of years I looked to see if there was any place online that sold real, with butter (Cholov Yisroel) croissants that I somehow could get shipped out to my in the middle of the country location.  As it turned out, I had no luck in my searches.

Finally a little more than a year ago I decided to take matters into my own hands and just make some croissants.  I found a recipe online that seemed to be from a likely authentic and good source. Gathered up the ingredients and made some croissants.  I did not remember the butteriness of the pastry.  Wow it was intense.  I don’t know if it was a lack in the old croissants or simply the lack of butter in most of my daily food but the taste was intense.

Amusingly not long after making my own I was planning a trip to Los Angeles to visit my parents and in checking out the kosher establishments available in the area, lo and behold, there was a kosher French patisserie that was Cholov Yisroel, that had opened in the Pico Robertson area.  When I made it to LA the first stop was to Delice Bakery to order some baked goods and a plain croissant and a cappuccino.  As I sat by the window to watch people walk by, and bit into my first piece of croissant I was in heaven.  It tasted very much like the ones I had made, but the pleasure of eating baked goods someone else had made, and enjoying the view and music was just such a pleasure.

Now when I come out to Los Angeles I pick up some pastries at Delice Bakery and each time I truly appreciate the baked goods.  Back when it was just grabbing something at the coffee shop, I obviously appreciated the food, but having it be a rare treat certainly has elevated my appreciation of such.  This morning for breakfast I was able to enjoy another croissant and realize how different food can be when it is not quite so every day.  Perhaps it is worth enjoying the more common food that way as well.

Oh, and if you happen to be in LA, not far from Pico and La Cienega, it’s worth dropping by Delice Bakery, whether you keep kosher or not.

On more than a few sites I’ve been seeing posts where the focus of discussion is the “gamer stigma”.  This is the perception that playing of games is some how a sign of wasting time with something meaningless, or a stigma of gamers in the workplace, or a game could be the “cause” of a relationship break down.  All these focus on the “defect” of gamers.   On the other hand I’ve been seeing quite a few posts about the positive effects of gaming such as improved brain function, benefits for the autistic, and helping seniors get more fit.  All this focus and increased discussion makes me think that we are nearing a transition point in the perception of games, not too unlike the transition point with the internet not that many years ago.

I remember when I was busy on the internet, back before it was something everyone used, before google was a verb. For most, the internet was seen as this time suck.  A waste of time at best, a source of addiction at the worst.  My parents found it interesting that I used the internet but really could see no use for it themselves.  Eventually my uncle got my retired grandfather on it and he took to it like a fish to water.  He communicated with people with like interests, looked up genealogy and was happy to use it.  Not too long after my parents started using it and now they keep busy on it much of the time.   Although there are still some who don’t use the internet, societal perception sees using the Internet as normal.  Yes all the bad uses and behaviors that could be associated with the Internet still exist, but those are people related issues, not tool related issues – and they are recognized as such.

Gaming isn’t there yet.  There is, in some ways, a generational divide.  But the above studies show that the perception of what gaming is and who games is changing.  It may well be the retired that get gaming first.  (My dad got a Wii as a retirement gift and he’ll have Epic Mickey once it ships.) But even the casual gaming of Facebook is spreading through the “non-gamer” crowd.  More and more games are being introduced as not just “things kids do when they should be outside” but valid recreation or even tools to use that can change the world. Gaming is something we’ve done throughout the history of civilization – even as adults.  Somehow with the industrial revolution gaming dropped to “child’s play”, perhaps in pursuit of the more uniform worker.  However that is changing, and it will be interesting seeing how that will affect the tools we use and the way we work together.

Way back at SXSW I had the great privilege of getting to meet and talk with a couple of people from my Guild, Joi and Elliot.  We discussed a lot of great topics, but one that sparked some thoughts that I wanted to share here was our discussion on philanthropy, or perhaps more accurately cultures of giving.

For many people the idea of giving or donating, other than the occasional beggar, fits within the context of donations organizations.  NPR runs regular funding drives, Corporations do “match funds”.  Texting donations for relief efforts for Haiti had specific organizations that took the funds and directed the funds to the relief efforts.   Then there are causes or works that we want to support, whether they be political or the arts.   Often things can be justified or given “more nobleness” by donating a percentage of profits to a particular cause.   In this culture there is a strong value given to giving, but within the context of giving to the larger society.

In our discussion at SXSW it came up that in some cultures giving to the “society at large” isn’t something that is viewed as valuable.  This isn’t to say that that they don’t value giving, they are no less generous than other people.  It is just that giving takes place in the context of “family”, whether relatives or a more extended chosen family.

From the perspective of those who see strong value in “society at large giving” this can at first glance seem surprising.   By giving to these organizations we influence and participate in the building of society.  To focus only on giving to family seems on one hand short sighted, and on another not as selfless as giving beyond the family.  Giving is occurring, but only to those that are known, only within a close circle.

I can understand that view, and I do see value to giving to societal causes.  However I would not rate one type of giving as being better than the other. Rather both are necessary.

It is interesting with these big causes that we contribute to, we are often thinking globally and acting globally.  With the ever present Internet and the global economy we are a global society.  However it is very easy to donate globally and keep the connection to those charities at a distance.  We may be doing good things in the world, but neglecting the needs close at home.

In one community I lived in we had a fund that was set up to help out those in the community who had financial needs.  The woman administering the fund would find out who was struggling and then would anonymously pay their power bill, or discreetly provide them groceries in a way that did not embarrass those that needed the funds, and at the same time keeping the donor anonymous as well.  She was really amazing.  In our community there were some real financial experts who made and donated millions.  My husband and I donated a portion of our monthly charity to them, hardly what I would think was a “major” contribution.  It turns out our donation was the majority of the funds for this charity.  This isn’t toot my horn – it is to express my shock.  There were many people in the community, one where everyone gave charity to the extend that they could.   Yet the funds were almost entirely going to those good organizations helping the poor in other countries, or the arts, or research.  These funds were not being given to help those who needed locally, their immediate community, their extended family.

The truth is it is easy to see why that might be.  No great movements or societal structures are being built by feeding hungry families in the community.  It made their lives easier, perhaps gave them the encouragement they needed.  But results, what results could be reported in the here and now.   Also, how much attention to do we pay to the local community.  We have jobs that take us away from home, often far away.  We have news that comes in from all of the world that makes whatever is happening locally seem trite.  We have connections flung far and wide.

In some senses it is easier to give to causes and global charities.  They are vetted, they have relevance in where we spend our focus.  But at the same time a key part of society is the communities in which we live and the people that we care for.  If we don’t care and support our extended family, then what foundation do we have.

So I do encourage giving to causes that benefit society at large.  It is how we build the world.  But at the same time remember that as important as it is to think globally, it is equally important to think and act locally.  Those that give to their extended family are key to society, a foundation that shouldn’t be left behind.

This morning, listening to the news on the radio, I started pondering what the radio shows in Azeroth would be like. In discussing the idea with Shamir, we decided that the gnomes would run the public radio station. You would have announcements like “This episode brought to you by Sisters of Elune”.

Goblin radio on the other hand would be commercial radio. I can hear the ads now, “Get the best deals in Azeroth, but act now. Time is money!”

There would be an Undead, or rather Forsaken, political commentary show with the characteristic sign off of, “Trust no one.” The intro and outro would be Heavy Metal riffs.

We’d probably have a selection of spiritual shows, including “The Light of Elune” “How to Walk With The Earthmother” and “Reaching for the Light” (which perhaps might be an exercise show).

The show listing could go on. It was an amusing muse for the morning. For those of you that know World of Warcraft do you have any shows or special stations you would add?

Sometimes my dogs really amaze me. I give my girldog pills several times a day. I open her mouth put my hand in her mouth to place the pill right at the back of the mouth and then encourage her to swallow. It’s not my favorite activity, but I am amazed at how much how I do it affects the girl’s attitude about the process. Tonight I was in a bubbly mood and in the “oh wow something fun is coming voice” announced we were going to be doing pilling. I showed her my handful of pills (ok not _that_ many) and she bated on it, tail wagging, ears up. Then I told her, still with the “this is fun and exciting energy and voice, “Here’s the first pill” and opened her mouth, put the pill in, closed her mouth and let her swallow. Her tail was wagging, her ears were up and we continued it until we were done.

This is the same task that sometimes is dolefully done. She really is a good girl. But just because I made it seem like it was going to be a fun adventure she had fun while taking the pills. Now if I could figure out how to do the same for me for various tasks I drag my feet through I’d be golden!

This isn’t my typical post here, so as a fair warning – this is about World of Warcraft Gear. I’d posted this over in my guild forums and had wanted to share it with a friend outside of the guild and realized it might be useful to have this somewhere other than in the archives of our guild forums.  So with that intro, here is an introductory overview to WoW Gear, and how to pick your gear and know what you are looking at.

I was having a discussion with someone the other day about gear, and thought I’d write up a bit about gear in case anyone else can benefit from it. I’ve included item links below so you can click through to  the items and see the information being discussed.

To start with the basics, gear has “what material is it” (cloth, leather, mail, plate) which determines if you can wear the piece at all and stats. For example: [Web Winder Gloves] has Stam, Int, Haste and Spell power. At the same time this is a piece of plate. This would be a fine piece for a Holy Paladin (since no other healer could wear it) but it would look kind of funny on a Death Knight as they have no use for int or spell power.

Depending on your class and spec different stats are more important. Depending on your current gear, different stats are more valuable to you. For example hit isn’t a primary stat for Protection Warriors, but if the Prot Warrior is below hit cap (how much additional hit is needed to not miss a mob) the hit rating of a piece of gear may make the item more valuable.

Next up is the “color” of the gear. For the most part we are looking at “greens” like [Ancestral Chestplates], blues like [Patina-Coated Breastplate] and purples like [Breastplate of the Afterlife]. If you mouse over click the links those items you will see that the name of the item has a particular color. Greens are known as “uncommon”, blues “rare, purples “epic”. As you might guess greens < blues < purples. So when you hear someone say “oh he’s in all greens” that’s what they are talking about. A very simple gear check (which may or may not be useful) that people will do is to just check the color of the items in a person’s gear.

Now the greens < blues < purples is a general rule but that isn’t always the case. With each expansion the old purples became worth less than the greens of the next expansion. So for example [Blinkstrike], a nice purple sword from Outland, might get replaced by a green [Blade of Diligence] from Northrend. You might guess this simply from the stats, but another way to see the difference is from the item level (ilevel).

[Blinkstrike] has an Item Level of 100.
[Blade of Diligence] has an item level of 158.

As a general rule the higher item level is likely to be the better gear – but again, the stats, and how they relate to your class and spec are what are going to be primary. However, when someone says “Oh their gear score is X”, what that is based on is the item levels of the gear they are wearing (and whatever formula their addon does to come up with the number.) Again, it can be used as a quick glance evaluation of someone’s gear, but again with variable usefulness.

Next up is Tier gear. Tier gear is gear that makes up a “set” and when you wear enough pieces of a set you get a “set bonus”. For example

[Wrynn's Pauldrons of Conquest] has 2 set bonus that affects taunt and devastate, and a 4 set bonus that decreases the cooldown of shield block. If a toon was wearing 2 or more pieces of the Wrynn Plate set they would get the 2 set bonus, if they were wearing 4 they would get the 4 set bonus (in addition to the 2 set.) Tier gear usually is associated with a particular raid instance. Tier 8 gear came from Ulduar, Tier 9 is associated with Trial of the Crusader (ToC). Tier gear is acquired by getting a token for the piece of gear and/or by using emblems. For example

[Breastplate of the Wayward Protector] a token can be used to buy one of six different ( tier 8 ) chestpieces. These tokens were acquired either by them being dropped in the raid instance or by buying them with emblems ([Emblem of Conquest] in this case.) The vendors for the tier gear are either in Dalaran, or in the case of Tier 9 at the Tournament Grounds. You can find how many emblems you have in your character tab under currency. Also note, not all gear bought with emblems is tier gear. (Look for the set bonus information if you aren’t sure.)

As you might guess, the higher tiers are designed as upgrades from the lower tiers. So is tier gear better? Not necessarily. Often it comes down to evaluating stats versus set bonuses. If you look at the Best in Slot (BiS) lists a lot of the gear is not tier. Again, it depends on stats and what type of a gear set you are looking for.

Gear sets? Yes, in addition to general for your class stat priorities there may be different functions you want your gear to perform. This usually isn’t relevant until you are working on refining your game for specific fights. (And I don’t know if it is relevant for all classes. I’ve only seen details on tanks and paladin healers.) When gearing up your first priority is to just get a good set of gear that meets the needs of your class and spec. You can ignore this next section if you want but I thought I should include this since it is something discussed in the forums and something that took me a while to get my head around.

The specific purpose gear sets are sort of an elaboration of the “what stats are important”. For example, a protection tank may have 3 (or 4) different priorities, Effective Health – how much damage they can take from a boss before they go splat, Avoidance – How much they can avoid being hit by the boss, or Threat – How much they can make the boss pay attention to them over the rest of the raid team. Different sets would be used for different fights depending on the boss mechanics. Because of the limits of the stats you can’t have maximum health, maximum avoidance and maximum threat, you have to pick one. While it is something you can do to some extent just playing with the gear you have, I usually look around on the forums and look at examples that other people who actually find all the gear and do the math come up with.

I know that this covered a lot of details on gear. To recap start with the basics. Know what stats are relevant to your class, and what your various “caps” are. Then work on getting better gear moving from greens to blues to purples. Often looking at what drops from various bosses on WoWWiki can give you an idea of places to go for upgrades. You can also look at sites like Wow-Loot, and many more. As usual if you have questions or corrections, fire away.

Happy gearing up!

Thanksgiving is on the horizon, and I’m putting together the shopping list for the annual feast.  It is funny how some meals become so tied to tradition.  Certain holidays, like Thanksgiving just have so much tradition and memory.  Perhaps there is a desire to keep the connection with the past or perhaps it is rather a desire to have a familiar moment in the year as we face so many challenges.  I understand that many have memories of Rosh Hashanah, “Of course there is a brisket”, or other holiday meals.  In our house it was Thanksgiving.

Since we ate at home so rarely common meals at home were fancy with Spanish foods or perhaps Middle Eastern fare.  However, for Thanksgiving it was pure (US) American tradition.   Our meals usually were:

• Turkey (of course)
• Stuffing
• Whipped mashed potatoes
• Sweet potato/yams with marshmallows
• Green beans with slivered almonds
• Cranberry Walnut Relish
• Pearled onions in cream sauce (no we didn’t keep Kosher, and no I never ate this.)
• Pecan Pie
• Pumpkin Pie

The Thanksgiving meal I make is usually similar to the above, without the onions and usually only pumpkin pie.  The cranberry relish became a family tradition and probably was clipped from some recipe section in some newspaper.  My grandmother liked it so much she asked for the recipe and made a very interesting variation on it, but that’s a family story I’ll skip for this year.  I mentioned the cranberry relish on Twitter and some folks thought it sounded good, so I thought I’d post the recipe here.  It’s super easy to make and really quite yummy.  Usually I have it on toast for quite some time after Thanksgiving, and somehow it is only made for Thanksgiving.   Without much more ado, here is the recipe:

Baked Cranberry-Walnut Relish

1lb cranberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup coarsely broken walnuts
1 cup tart orange marmalade
Juice of 1 lemon or lime

Wash & drain the cranberries.
Put in a shallow baking pan & stir in sugar.
Cover tightly with lid or foil and bake in a moderate ove (350º F) 1 hr.
Put walnuts on a tray and in the same oven to toast during the last 10 minutes of baking
Add walnuts & remaining ingredients to cranberries.
Mix well & chill.

Enjoy!

A friend of mine tweeted about signing up for Ad.ly.  I went over to see what it was. Basically, for a twitterer, you sign up, select what types of ads you approve and once a day it will tweet an ad in your stream and pay you for that tweet. (The example they gave on the about page was a tweet about an episode of a show.)   My first thought was..umm….yeah I don’t think so.  But as I paused to think about it I wondered a bit.

Many people have talked about how they blog less because they tweet.  Tweets aren’t just “I’m having a cup of PG tips right now” (which I am), but are often advice, philosophical thoughts, commentary on something someone found interesting.  In short it is “microblogging” for many.  I don’t have an issue with people having ads on their blog, so why would I have an issue with people having an ad a day on their twitter stream?

I think perhaps there may be two parts.  One is, an ad on blog is separated from the content, and I know it is an ad.  In a twitter stream, given our conventions, it seems like the person is speaking the ad themselves.  The second is a blog seems like it has a potential to be more polished more a “work”, while tweets of 140 seem more casual, and so I run against the “wait you can’t make money for that” bias that is common in our populist movements of the web.

Ultimately, something like ad.ly makes me think.  I haven’t signed up myself, but I think my resistance may be based on old patterns.  When is ok to make money for something?  Is an ad in a tweetstream changing the nature of the medium?  What do you think?