Joel’s Scattered Thoughts

I would like to figure out a better way of getting good lunches for my kids.  At the moment, lunches consist of a pizza pop, juice, crackers or a granola bar, and canned fruit or an apple.  I’m not too thrilled about the pizza pop but I got sick of throwing out sandwiches with one bite taken out of them day after day.  I know they’ll eat the pizza pop since it’s a treat. 

I’d like to set things up so that they’re eating less processed stuff but I’m not sure how to do it in such a way that they’ll actually eat what is served.  Throw in random school rules due to allergies, microwave availability, and the phase of the moon and it gets complicated.  One possibility would be to get something like a Laptop Lunchbox and figure out a couple of options for each of the compartments.  My biggest criteria is that I don’t want to spend a lot of prep time on the lunches - maybe 15 minutes prep total for the three lunches.  Anyone have any good sites/recipe books/suggestions?

While shopping for school supplies for the kids I noticed a subnotebook that looked as though it would function well as an ebook reader.  The price is comparable to that of an Amazon Kindle or a PDA and it looks like it would offer a lot more utility.  Download Squad talked about using one of these coupled with zero-footprint applications as a way of preserving privacy, particularly if you have to cross the US border.  It’s definitely worth checking into. 

I love the idea of drawing on external resources in exams.  It seems to me that the way that most exams are currently done is silly.  I find it encouraging that some schools are trying new examination ideas.

Charles Murray has an opinion piece at the Wall Street Journal titled For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time.  My quick summary of his position is that a profession-specific certification exam would be far more useful and equitable than a bachelor degree. 

I agree that a certification exam would be a far more pragmatic approach to becoming or finding someone who is qualified in a particular field.  My work experience and high school algebra have been more useful in my day to day work than any of the classes I took in college or university.  I paid my own way, was careful with my money, and still came out with roughly $15,000 of debt from going to university.  From what I’ve read, this is on the low end for debt when finishing a four year degree. $15k what amounts to a membership card is ridiculous.  However, the statistics I’ve seen consistently show that those with a degree earn considerably more than those without one, so maybe a degree is just a cost you have to pay to play.

For me the value of my degree is that it opens doors.  If I had the slightest bit of entrepreneurial drive, a degree would be a waste.  As an employee a degree gives me a piece of paper that HR can check on their list of qualifications. 

The most valuable classes I took in university were those that had absolutely no relation to my field of study.  I took a social geography class to fill out some degree requirements and it gave me valuable insight into maps.  Now that I’m making maps every day, that basics I learned in that throwaway class are useful.  My class on leisure taught me a lot about how I choose to spend my spare time.  Philosophy classes still give me plenty of knotty problems to work thorough in my everyday life.  I would argue then that the value of a degree is in the classic liberal education and not in how well it prepares you for a particular job.  Still $15k is rather steep for being encouraged to read a little more broadly and to have my essays evaluated.

(via Polymeme)

I spent the day at the Crop Diagnostic School. I actually tend to learn stuff there. Sadly today was not a good day for me to attend - I was grouchy and unsociable. I learned that soybeans can take up 250 lbs n/acre if they don’t have nodules. I learned about using a zero fertilizer strip to divide fields into zones for better crop management. The numbers for organic farming look really good - I want to remember to mention it to Faith to pass on to her brother, Tim.

I just finished reading Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright.   I received this book free in digital form from Tor’s Watch the Skies. 

Quick spoiler-free summary - five orphan teenagers at a special school discover that they’re not who they’ve been told they are.  Their teachers are not who they appear to be.  As the book progresses the teenagers begin to unravel their identities as well as their teachers’. 

This book largely failed to impress me.  This is not due to any particular failing of the story.  The problem is mostly that it’s book one of a trilogy.  By the end of the book, little is resolved.  I had some idea of who’s who, but not really any idea of why it mattered.  I would recommend that you read this when you have the whole trilogy in front of you - if things get wrapped up nicely it’s probably worth reading.  It seems to me that there is little satisfaction to be gained from reading this one book at a time. 

Married IRL has a good post » On Commitment & Responsibility for raiding. We seem to be struggling a little bit with this lately - school’s ended for some members which means finding a new job and all that entails, for others it’s summer vacation time for the kids, and others have other valid real-life issues that are messing with raid attendance. Hopefully it gets worked out soon. I’m not sure what we’ll do if it doesn’t: take a break from raiding? stop raiding? recruit people who have also been left at loose ends?

This:

The University of Phoenix is supposedly preparing a complete middle and high school online curriculum available anywhere in the world.

looks very interesting. I wonder if it’ll be available when my kids hit that stage? Mind you the local school is pretty good so I doubt I’d pull them out, but you never know what will happen.

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . War of the Worlds | PBS

General Tanking School - TheorySpot looks like a good idea. There is at least one tank that I will be training and having this list of things to cover will make a good reference.

WoW Forums -> Casual’s Guide to Winning BGs is Alliance focused for AV, but it’s otherwise pretty good. In AV, letting the other side keep at least one forward graveyard is important (or at least it used to be before 2.3 and massive zergs). For Horde I would suggest letting the Alliance have Snowfall for a maximum of chaos-creating potential - it’s not near anything critical, it’s almost exactly at the halfway point so each rezzer has to decide every time whether they want to go offense or defense, it will take them a long time to get to the battlefront again.

Due to the WoW forums eating posts on a regular basis, I am reproducing the post here.

Because I and many other members of Casual are infuriated and astounded at the staggeringly terrible level of skill and strategy displayed in the battlegrounds, I’m creating this guide as a community service.

HOW TO WIN THE BATTLEGROUNDS
This series of guides is intended to help your average pugger gain an increased understanding of strategy inside the battlegrounds so that the Alliance win rate will actually go up. Follow these instructions, internalize them, and you will start to see positive results.

Warsong Gulch
The key to winning WSG is controlling mid-field. It’s not defense, it’s not rushing the flag room with all 10 people, it’s controlling the middle of the field and sticking together.

The Flag - When the game begins, only one person should actually go after the flag. Ideally, a druid. You should never dedicate more than is absolutely needed to get the flag. Sending your whole team means you have lost control of mid-field. If the other team is dumb and has people defending the flag, you should be happy. This means their mid-field control is weak. Just send 1-2 people with your flag runner (preferably someone with CC) to help him get the flag and then get your ass out of there.

Offense - When the game begins, everyone except your flag runner should run off the graveyard hill and veer left. The goal here is to stop the enemy team from advancing to the flag room. If one or two sneak by, that’s okay. The idea is to break up the main force (preferably not losing anyone in the process.)

Digo’s Gladiator Tip #1: PvP is not about making the other guy die as fast as possible. It’s about controlling the other guy and not letting him use his abilities. If you have CC abilities, use them. If you can heal, do it. (This means you, Mr. LOLRetConsecrate.) If you are a paladin, for the love of christ, don’t consecrate. That breaks CC. Druids, root people and cyclone them. Do whatever you can to break up their DPS.

Defense - DON’T GUARD THE FLAG ROOM. Just keep everyone at mid-field in a big group. Keeping a few people to guard the flag is a waste of manpower and means that you will lose control of mid-field.

Mid-Field - If you lose control of mid-field, the enemy team will be able to slip multiple people past you and get the flag. Groups of 3+ flag carriers are very hard to stop. If only one or two get past and start running the flag, that’s fine, because 1 or 2 are easy to stop. Just call out where they’re headed and intercept them.

TLDR Version of How Casual Wins WSG - We control mid-field. We don’t have anyone on Defense. We have one druid or warrior run the flag.

ARATHI BASIN
The key to winning Arathi Basin is communicating where the enemy is, where they are likely to go, and fighting on the node, not on the road.

The Flag Nodes - Fight on the node, not on the road. If you fight on the road or away from the flag, you are breaking up your forces and not doing anything productive. Fight near the flag so your forces will be concentrated. If you are defending a flag, it will be easier to prevent it from being capped. It only takes one hit on someone trying to cap to interrupt them. Just be a pain in the ass until more of your teammates arrive. You don’t have to kill everyone, just stop them from capping.

Strategy - This is the Casual strat:

3 to Mine
3 to Lumber Mill (usually 4 because Horde really like the Mill for some reason)
7 to Smith
1 to Stables and then whatever needs help

# - After the initial rush, we send people wherever they are needed. Note that we can do this because we communicate. Even if you’re in a pug and aren’t using voice chat, use text. Tell people where the enemy is heading, where they are weak, and where they are strong. Hit them where they are weak. It’s pointless to send a bunch of people to try and cap a point that has a lot of horde guarding it.

- Controlling the smith is very important because you have quick central access to any point that needs reinforcement. If you have to choose between controlling the smith and the mine/mill, choose the smith.

- Assist your teammates, don’t break CC, and COMMUNICATE.

- If you see that only one person is capping one of your flags, don’t send your whole team to re-cap it. Just send the bare minimum.

This all sounds like common sense, but if everyone had it, I wouldn’t be writing this post.

EYE OF THE STORM

The more towers you control, the more points you earn per flag capture.

The Opening Rush-

* - Only 1 person should head to each of the towers closest to your starting base. You only need one on each tower for a cap.

- Everyone else should head toward one of the enemy towers and completely overwhelm it. Once you’ve killed everyone there, cap it, and then push to the last remaining tower.

- If enemies slip past and try to cap the towers on your side of the field, send only enough reinforcements as necessary to hold them, and then get your ass back to the main group.

- Do not go for the flag during the opening rush. It’s not worth it at this point. It’s more important to secure the towers and break up the enemy opening rush.

Capturing the Flag-

* Once you have 2-3 towers, then you should start worrying about taking the flag.

Hunters or druids are usually best for flag running and defense.

Do NOT overcommit to the bridge. If you see 2-3 people already there, leave. Go help cap towers instead. 5-6 people on the bridge is a waste of manpower, and probably means that you are losing the towers.

A Word About Grouping

SMART: When you rez, you wait for other people before attacking. You move in a group. You assist each other. You use CC. You heal.

STUPID: You run headlong off into battle the moment you rez, eager for glorious battle. Unfortunately, you will die, wasting your team’s valuable manpower and sacrificing any chance your team had at victory.

TLDR Version: Do not run around solo. Stick together. Towers are more important than the flag. You only need 1-2 people on the bridge. Fighting over the flag is dumb. Only take it when you have a good opportunity.

Alterac Valley
Since patch 2.3 there are two good ways to win this BG:

1. The Oldschool Rush - This is probably your best bet, as it requires less coordination.
2. Hold and Control the Towers - This is for smart people only who like earning lots of honor, or games with a good number of premades.

The Oldschool Rush-
This strat relies on speed and killing Drek’thar as fast as possible.

1. Skip Galvanger.

2. Capture Iceblood Tower (the tower next to Galvanger)

3. Capture Iceblood Graveyard and leave a couple people to hold it. If you don’t do this, people who die go all the way back to Stormpike.

4. Capture Tower Point and leave one or two people to hold it.

5. Ignore Frostwolf Graveyard.

6. Capture the Frostwolf Towers and have one or two people hold them.

7. Capture the relief hut and hold it.

8. EVERYONE in and kill Drek’thar. DO NOT LEASH HIM BY RUNNING OUT OF THE ROOM. JUST STAY IN THERE IF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

Note: even if you follow this strat and don’t kill Drek’thar before the Horde kills Vandarr, at least the game is over quickly, which means more honor per hour.

The Hold and Control Strat -
This strat is harder, but earns more honor, and can take a bit longer. I only recommend this is you queued up at the same time with a bunch of friends so that your team has some semblance of coordination.

Remember: CAPPING TOWERS MEANS THE OTHER TEAM LOSES 50 TICKETS. You can win by capping all the towers on the map. This earns the most honor.

* 1. On the opening rush, about 10 people should protect Balinda. You only need to do this for a minute or two to break up the Horde’s initial rush. If you can stop them, they’ll give up after a minute or two, and you can then move along. If they don’t kill her during this initial rush, they probably never will.

2. Everyone else should move ahead and start capping the Towers. Only 15 or so are needed to kill Galvanger, but it is worth it.

3. Start taking all the towers on the map and hold them. Again, HOLD THEM.

4. Leave about 10 people on Defense to prevent the horde from taking the towers in your base. If you can hold these towers, you will probably win.

5. Leave the Horde a forward graveyard (stonehearth is best). If they rez back near their base, it will break up your offense. Again, LET THE HORDE HAVE STONEHEARTH GRAVEYARD.

This strat takes about 20 minutes if done properly, but earns over 1k honor.

(via WoWInsider )

Nightshroud of Alleria has an excellent post on Raiding Consumables. Since the WoW forums tend to eat posts, I’m reproducing it here. Big Bear Butt Blogger also discusses Raiding and instance consumables, all classes which is how I found Nightshroud’s post.

Raiding Consumables
by Nightshroud of Alleria

Since launch, the consumables system has changed dramatically in several steps. Yet the importance of smart consumable use has not changed. This guide introduces the current system and provides a reference first by category then by raid role.

Categories and Cooldowns

Mutually exclusive buffs and shared cooldowns keep things relatively simple. This is good for dungeon designers who need to know what to expect from players and good for players who want to feel they’re doing all they can.

A fully prepared player needs:

* A Flask OR
* a Battle Elixir and a Guardian Elixir

* A food (or drink) buff

* Weapon buffs

* Potions

* Two-Minute Linked items

* One-Minute Linked items

* Scrolls

* Bandages

Flasks

Flasks last for two hours and last through death. Using a Flask prevents the use other Elixirs.

Flask of Pure Death - 80 Shadow, Fire, and Frost spell damage.

Flask of Blinding Light - 80 Arcane, Holy, and Nature spell damage.

Flask of Supreme Power - 70 spell damage for all schools.

Flask of Relentless Assault - 120 Attack Power. Works for both melee and ranged.

Flask of Mighty Restoration - 25 MP5 regeneration.

Flask of Distilled Wisdom - 65 Intellect.

Flask of Fortification - 500 Health added to maximum and 10 Defense rating.

Flask of the Titans - 400 Health added to maximum.

Flask of Chromatic Resistance - 25 Magical Resistance to all schools.

Flask of Petrification - Physical and magical immunity for 60 sec. Unable to attack, move or cast spells for the duration. It may not be cancelled early and temporarily clears your threat to all mobs while in effect.

‘Shattrath Flask’ versions are available for Mighty Restoration, Fortification, Relentless Assault, and Supreme Power. These are bind-on-pickup from vendors in the two Shattrath banks for one Mark of the Illidari each. A player must be exalted with The Sha’tar, Cenarion Expedition, and either Aldor or Scryers to interact with the vendors.

Marks of the Illidari drop from trash mobs in Tempest Keep, Serpentshrine Cavern, Mount Hyjal and Black Temple. Shattrath flasks may only be used in these zones.

‘Unstable Flasks’ are available for Gruul’s Lair and Blade’s Edge Mountain zone plateaus only. Bandit, Elder, Physician, and Soldier flasks are sold by the Aether-tech Assistant vendor who appears during a scripted attack just west of Felstorm Point in Blade’s Edge. Attack begins every even-numbered hour going by server time, e.g. 6pm and 8pm. Players must hold off the attack for a series of vendors to spawn. The flask vendor is the first and easiest, requiring very little intervention.

At this same camp, Sorcerer flasks can be purchased any time from the Bash’ir Crystalforge. Beast flasks can be purchased any time from the Fel Crystalforge objects in the western plateau’s demon camps. All Unstable flasks cost 10 Apexis Shards each. Shards drop from plateau mobs and are rewarded in large quantities by the Skyguard and Ogri’la daily quests on the western plateau. Unlike Shattrath flasks, any of these flasks may be found on the Auction House.

Unstable Flask of the…

Bandit - 20 Agility, 40 Attack Power, 30 Stamina.
Beast - 20 Agility, 20 Strength, 30 Stamina.
Soldier - 20 critical strike rating, 20 Strength, 30 Stamina.
Elder - 8 MP5 regeneration, 20 Intellect, 30 Stamina.
Physician - 44 Healing, 20 Intellect, 30 Stamina.
Sorcerer - 23 spell damage and healing, 20 Intellect, 30 Stamina.

Battle Elixirs

When not using a Flask, a player may use one Battle Elixir and one Guardian Elixir. These do not last through death.

Elixir of Mastery - All stats increased by 15 for 60 minutes.

Adept’s Elixir - 24 spell damage and healing and 24 spell crit rating for 60 minutes.
Greater Arcane Elixir - 35 spell damage for all schools for 60 minutes.
Arcane Elixir - 20 spell damage for all schools for 30 minutes.

Elixir of Major Firepower - 55 Fire spell damage for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Greater Firepower - 40 Fire spell damage for 30 minutes.
Elixir of Firepower - 10 Fire spell damage for 30 minutes.

Elixir of Major Frost Power - 55 Frost spell damage for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Frost Power - 15 Frost spell damage for 30 minutes.

Elixir of Major Shadow Power - 55 Shadow spell damage for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Shadow Power - 40 Shadow spell damage for 30 minutes.

Elixir of Healing Power - 50 Healing for 60 minutes.

Fel Strength Elixir - 90 Attack Power but 10 Stamina reduction for 60 minutes.
Onslaught Elixir - 60 Attack Power for 60 minutes.

Elixir of the Mongoose - 25 Agility and 28 critical strike rating for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Major Agility - 35 Agility and 20 critical strike rating for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Greater Agility - 25 Agility for 60 minutes.
Ground Scorpok Assay - 25 Agility for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Agility - 15 Agility for 60 minutes.

Elixir of Major Strength - 35 Strength for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Giants - 25 Strength for 60 minutes.
R.O.I.D.S. - 25 Strength for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Brute Force - 18 Strength and Stamina for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Ogre’s Strength - 8 Strength for 60 minutes.

Elixir of Demonslaying - 265 Attack Power against Demons for 5 minutes.

Guardian Elixirs

When not using a Flask, a player may use one Guardian Elixir and one Battle Elixir. These do not last through death.

Lung Juice Cocktail - 25 Stamina for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Major Fortitude - 250 Health added to maximum and 10 health regenerated every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Fortitude - 120 Health added to maximum for 60 minutes.

Major Troll’s Blood Potion - 20 health regenerated every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.
Mighty Troll’s Blood Potion - 12 health regenerated every 5 seconds for 60 minutes.

Elixir of Major Defense - 550 armor for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Superior Defense - 450 Armor for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Greater Defense - 250 Armor for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Defense - Increases armor by 150 for 60 minutes.

Earthen Elixir - Up to 20 damage reduced when taking physical or magical damage for 60 minutes.

Gift of Arthas - 10 Shadow resistance. Enemies striking you have a 30% chance of being inflicted with a disease that increases their damage taken by 8 for 30 minutes. Lasts 30 minutes.

Elixir of Ironskin - 30 Resilience rating for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Empowerment - 30 Spell Penetration for 60 minutes.

Elixir of Major Mageblood - 16 MP5 regeneration for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Draenic Wisdom - 30 Intellect and Spirit for 60 minutes.
Elixir of Greater Intellect - 25 Intellect for 60 minutes.
Cerebral Cortex Compound - 25 Intellect for 60 minutes.
Elixir of the Sages - 18 Intellect and Spirit for 60 minutes.
Gizzard Gum - 25 Spirit for 60 minutes.

Spirit of Zanza - 25 Spirit and Stamina for 120 minutes.
Swiftness of Zanza - 20% run speed increase for 120 minutes.
Sheen of Zanza - 3% chance to reflect hostile spells for 120 minutes. First spell cast is a guaranteed reflect.

Food Buffs

You may have one food or drink buff at a time. These last for 30 minutes unless otherwise stated and do not last through death.

Fisherman’s Feast or Spicy Crawdad - 30 Stamina and 20 Spirit.
Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimaerok Chops - 25 Stamina for 15 minutes.
Halaani Whiskey - 20 Stamina for 15 minutes.
Feltail Delight - 20 Stamina and 20 Spirit.
Skyguard Rations - 15 Stamina and 15 Spirit for 15 minutes.
Rumsey Rum Black Label - 15 Stamina for 15 minutes, and gets you drunk to boot!

Runn Tum Tuber Surprise - 10 Intellect for 10 minutes.

Kreeg’s Stout Beatdown - 25 Spirit, but decreases Intellect by 5 for 15 minutes.
Mok’Nathal Shortribs, Talbuk Steak, Feltail Delight, Clam Bar, or Buzzard Bites - 20 Spirit and 20 Stamina.

Crunchy Serpent, Poached Bluefish, or Blackened Basilisk - 23 Spell Damage and 20 Spirit.

Golden Fish Sticks - 44 healing and 20 Spirit.

Blackened Sporefish - 8 MP5 regeneration and 20 Stamina.
Nightfin Soup - 8 MP5 regeneration for 10 minutes.

Poached Sunscale Salmon - 6 Health regenerated every 5 seconds for 10 minutes.

Ravager Dog - 40 Attack Power and 20 Spirit.
Warp Burger or Grilled Mudfish - 20 Agility and 20 Spirit.
Roasted Clefthoof - 20 Strength and 20 Spirit.

Weapon Buffs

One weapon buff allowed per wielded melee weapon (so two buffs possible for dual wielders). These last for 30 minutes unless otherwise stated and last through death. Weapon buffs do not stack with Rogue poisons nor do they stack with Shaman weapon buffs (e.g. Rockbiter or Windfury).

Superior Wizard Oil - 42 spell damage and healing.
Brilliant Wizard Oil - 36 spell damage and healing, and 14 spell critical strike rating.
Wizard Oil - 24 spell damage and healing.
Lesser Wizard Oil - 16 spell damage and healing.

Superior Mana Oil - 14 MP5 regeneration.
Brilliant Mana Oil - 12 MP5 regeneration and 25 healing.
Lesser Mana Oil - 8 MP5 regeneration.

Adamantite Sharpening Stone - 12 damage added to a sharp weapon and 14 melee critical strike rating.
Fel Sharpening Stone - 12 damage added to a sharp weapon.
Dense Sharpening Stone - 8 damage added to a sharp weapon.

Adamantite Weightstone - 12 damage added to a blunt weapon and 14 critical hit rating.
Fel Weightstone - 12 damage added to a blunt weapon.
Dense Weightstone - 8 damage added to a blunt weapon.

Elemental Sharpening Stone - 28 critical strike rating on a melee weapon.

Greater Rune of Shielding - Applied to a Shield. First 4000 points of damage taken absorbed instead.
Lesser Rune of Shielding - Applied to a Shield. First 1000 points of damage taken absorbed isntead.

Potions

All potions share a two minute cooldown.

Major Dreamless Sleep Potion - 3600 mana and health restored, but put to sleep for 12 seconds. Sleep (and the benefit) can be dispelled by friendlies.
Super Rejuvenation Potion - 1650-2750 mana and health restored.
Major Rejuvenation Potion - 1440-1760 mana and health restored.

Fel Mana Potion - 3200 mana restored over 24 seconds, but reduces spell damage by 25 and healing done by 50 for 15 minutes. Debuff stacks up to 10 times.
Super Mana Potion - 1800-3000 mana restored.
Auchenai Mana Potion - 1800-3000 mana restored.
Cenarion Mana Salve - 1800-3000 mana restored. Only usable in Coilfang instances.
Blue Ogre Brew - 1800-3000 mana restored. Gruul’s Lair and Blade’s Edge plateaus only.
Bottled Nethergon Energy - 1800-3000 mana restored. Drops and limited to use in Tempest Keep instances.
Unstable Mana Potion - 1350-2250 mana restored.
Major Mana Potion - 1350-2250 mana restored.
Major Combat Mana Potion - 1350-2250 mana restored.

Fel Regeneration Potion - 3200 health restored over 24 seconds, but reduces all stats by 15 for 15 minutes.
Super Healing Potion - 1500-2500 health restored.
Auchenai Healing Potion - 1500-2500 health restored.
Cenarion Healing Salve - 1500-2500 health restored. Only usable in Coilfang instances.
Bottled Nethergon Vapor - 1500-2500 health restored. Drops and limited to use in Tempest Keep instances.
Volatile Healing Potion - 1050-1750 health restored.
Red Ogre Brew - 1050-1750 heath restored. Gruul’s Lair and Blade’s Edge plateaus only.
Major Healing Potion - 1050-1750 health restored.
Major Combat Healing Potion - 1050-1750 health restored.

Major Protection Potion - Absorbs 2800-4000 Shadow, Nature, Holy, Frost, Fire, or Arcane damage. Lasts two minutes.
Greater Protection Potion - Absorbs 1950-3250 Shadow, Nature, Frost, Fire, or Arcane damage. Lasts two minutes.

Ironshield Potion - 2500 armor for 2 minutes.
Greater Stoneshield Potion - 2000 armor for 2 minutes.

Heroic Potion - 70 Strength and 700 extra maximum Health for 15 seconds.
Destruction Potion - 120 spell damage and 2% spell crit for 15 seconds.
Insane Strength Potion - 120 Strength but decreases defense rating by 75 for 15 seconds.
Haste Potion - 400 haste rating for 15 seconds.

Living Action Potion - Immunity to stuns and movement impairing effects for the next 5 seconds. Removes existing stuns and movement impairing effects.
Free Action Potion - Same as Living Action Potion but does not remove existing effects.

Restorative Potion - Removes 1 magic, curse, poison or disease effect every 5 seconds for 30 seconds.
Purification Potion - Removes one curse, one disease, and one poison effect.

Limited Invulnerability Potion - Reduces physical damage taken by 120 for 8 seconds.
Magic Resistance Potion - 50 Resistance to all schools of magic for 3 minutes. Does not stack with class buffs/auras.

Invisibility Potion - Invisibility for 18 seconds.
Sneaking Potion - Adds six effective Stealth levels for 60 seconds.

Shrouding Potion - 800 Threat reduction to all enemies within 30 yards for 15 minutes.

Mighty Rage Potion - Increases Rage by 45-75 and increases Strength by 60 for 20 seconds.
Great Rage Potion - Increases Rage by 30-60.

Two Minute Linked Items

Master Healthstone - 2080, 2288, or 2496 health restored.

Charged Crystal Focus - 2000 health restored.

Fel Blossom - Absorbs 750-1250 damage. Lasts 15 seconds. Herbalists only.

Nightmare Seed - Increase your health by 2000 for 30 seconds. When the effect ends the extra health will be lost.

Whipper Root Tuber - 700-900 health restored.
Night Dragon’s Breath - 394-456 mana and health restored.

Demonic Rune or Dark Rune - 900-1500 mana restored at the cost of 600-1000 health.

Mana Emerald, Mana Ruby, etc. - Mages conjure mana-restoring gems for their own use.

Flame Cap - 80 Fire spell damage and a chance for ranged or melee attacks to cause 40 fire damage. Cannot be used again for three minutes.

One Minute Linked Items

This category is mostly profession-based PvP items. Nets, bombs, Engineering dohickies. Leatherworker drums share this cooldown but actually require a two minute wait before using any other drums.

Drums of Battle - 80 melee, ranged, and spell haste rating on nearby party members for 30 seconds.
Drums of War - 60 Attack Power and 30 spell damage on nearby party members for 30 seconds.
Drums of Speed - 15% movement speed increase on nearby party members for 30 seconds.
Drums of Restoration - 600 health and mana restored to nearby party members over 15 seconds.
Drums of Panic - 5 enemies within 5 yards are forced to flee for 2 seconds.

Scrolls

Scrolls stack with the other buffs listed here but do not stack with class buffs such as Prayer of Fortitude and Gift of the Wild. They are useful when a usual buffing class is absent or for stats not raised by class buffs. Scrolls do not last through death.

Scroll of Stamina V - 20 Stamina for 30 minutes.
Scroll of Spirit V - 30 Spirit for 30 minutes.
Scroll of Intellect V - 20 Intellect for 30 minutes.
Scroll of Strength V - 20 Strength for 30 minutes.
Scroll of Agility V - 20 Agility for 30 minutes.
Scroll of Protection V - 300 Armor for 30 minutes.

—————————————-

Tanking Example

Flask - Flask of Fortification

OR

Battle Elixir - Elixir of Mastery, Elixir of the Mongoose, Elixir of Major Agility, or Greater Arcane Elixir (Paladins)
Guardian Elixir - Elixir of Major Fortitude

Food - Fisherman’s Feast, Spicy Crawdad, Halaani Whiskey, or Feltail Delight

Weapon Buff - Sharpening/Weight Stone or Superior Wizard Oil (Paladins) and Greater/Lesser Rune of Shielding (Paladins and Warriors)

Potions - Super Healing Potion, Major Protection Potion, Ironshield Potion, Heroic Potion, Destruction Potion (Paladins), or Rage Potion (Warriors)

Physical DPS Example

Flask - Flask of Relentless Assault

OR

Battle Elixir - Elixir of Mastery, Fel Strength Elixir, Elixir of Major Strength, Elixir of the Mongoose, or Elixir of Major Agility
Guardian Elixir - Elixir of Major Fortitude, Earthen Elixir, Elixir of Major Mageblood (Hunters)

Food - Ravager Dog, Warp Burger, Grilled Mudfish, or Roasted Clefthoof

Weapon Buff - Sharpening/Weight Stone or Superior Mana Oil (Hunters)

Potions - Super Healing Potion, Major Protection Potion, Insane Strength Potion, Fel Mana Potion (Hunters), or Rage Potion (Warrior)

Magical DPS Example

Flask - Flask of Supreme Power, Flask of Pure Death, or Flask of Blinding Light

OR

Battle Elixir - Adept’s Elixir, Greater Arcane Elixir, Elixir of Major Fire/Frost/Shadow Power
Guardian Elixir - Elixir of Major Fortitude, Elixir of Major Mageblood, Elixir of Draenic Wisdom

Food - Crunchy Serpent, Poached Bluefish, or Blackened Basilisk

Weapon Buff - Superior Wizard Oil, Brilliant Wizard Oil

Potions - Super Mana Potion, Major Dreamless Sleep Potion, Major Protection Potion, Destruction Potion

Healing Example

Flask - Flask of Mighty Restoration

OR

Battle Elixir - Elixir of Healing Power, or Adept’s Elixir, or Elixir of Mastery
Guardian Elixir - Elixir of Major Fortitude, Elixir of Major Mageblood, Elixir of Draenic Wisdom, or Spirit of Zanza

Food - Golden Fish Sticks, Blackened Sporefish, Fisherman’s Feast, Spicy Crawdad, or Kreeg’s Stout Beatdown

Weapon Buff - Superior Mana Oil, Brilliant Mana Oil, Superior Wizard Oil, or Brilliant Wizard Oil

Potions - Dreamless Sleep/Mana/Rejuv Potions, Major Protection Potions

While you’re in the Outlands….
While you’re in the Outlands….think about who you’re neglecting!

{You have entered 60 Bosses Chat}
{BaronRivendare has come online}
{Gandling}: what’s up.
{BaronRivendare}: hey.
{Gandling} : what you doin
{BaronRivendare} : nothin just ridin my horse. Are you lagging?
{Gandling} : dont think so
{Gandling} : y
{BaronRivendare} : havent seen any mobs in three days. think i’m dc’d but just dont know it.
{Gandling} : oic
{Gandling} : same
{BaronRivendare} : bored. u wanna do a me run?
{Gandling} : lol
{Gandling} : at least you get more time with the baroness lol
{BaronRivendare} : lol yeah
{BaronRivendare} : she can definitely take more than 45 minutes if she wants to
{Gandling} : o_O
{Drakkisath has come online}
{BaronRivendare} : ‘Sup Drak
{Gandling} : wb
{Gandling} : dc’d?
{Drakkisath} nah thought I heard someone coming in downstairs.
{Drakkisath} was nef and rend fighting again.
{Drakkisath} they usually stop if people come over. nef thinks its funny when rend gets pwned and goes back to sitting on his throne.
{Drakkisath} brb snack
{Drakkisath has gone offline}
{Gandling} SCHOOL IS IN SESSION
{BaronRivendare} wtf
{Gandling} Sorry, just trying to keep up the routine.
{Ysida Harmon} DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME. JUST SLAY THIS ABOMINATION AND RID THE WORLD OF HIS FILTH FOREVER
{BaronRivendare} stfu there isnt even anyone here
{Gandling} damn, caps, jeez
{BaronRivendare} sry
{Gandling} think im gonna go to my alchemy lab
{Gandling} brew up some ‘refreshments’ to pass the time
{BaronRivendare} lol kk
{Gandling has gone offline}
{BaronRivendare} /sigh
{BaronRivendare} /silly
{BaronRivendare} /silly
{BaronRivendare} /silly
{BaronRivendare} /flirt
{Ysida Harmon} can i go?
{BaronRivendare} stfu
{Nefarian has come online}
{Nefarian} WTF
{Nefarian} where’s drak
{BaronRivendare} gettin a snack
{Nefarian} Is it Tuesday?
{BaronRivendare} naw man its Saturday
{Nefarian} you laggin
{BaronRivendare} nope same problem tho
{Nefarian} damn
{Majordomo Executus has come online}
{EliteGuard has come online}
{EliteGuard has come online}
{EliteGuard has come online}
{EliteGuard has come online}
{Healer has come online}
{Healer has come online}
{Healer has come online}
{Healer has come online}
{Majordomo Executus} : hey
{EliteGuard} hey
{EliteGuard} hey
{EliteGuard} hey
{EliteGuard} hey
{Healer} hey
{Healer} hey
{Healer} hey
{Healer} hey
{MajordomoExecutus} jesus christ shut up you’re driving me crazy with that
{Majordomo Executus} all damn day
{EliteGuard} sry
{EliteGuard} sry
{EliteGuard} sry
{EliteGuard} sry
{Healer} sry
{Healer} sry
{Healer} sry
{Healer} sry
{EliteGuard is now being ignored}
{Healer is now being ignored}
{MajordomoExecutus} rag told me to ask you guys if you’re all laggin’
{Nefarian} nah
{Drakkisath has come online}
{BaronRivendare} no i’m goin real fast
{Drakkisath} that’s what the baroness says
{Nefarian} PWNED
{MajordomoExecutus} haha ss’d.
{BaronRivendare} ass
{Drakkisath} dammit i’m bored. where are all the mobs?
{Ragnaros has come online}
{Nefarian} hey rag.
{Ragnaros} TASTE THE FLAMES OF SULFURON
{MajordomoExecutus} wtf caps
{BaronRivendare} o_O
{Nefarian} you dont have to put on your show, there arent any mobs around
{Ragnaros} where the hell is everyone
{Level 64 human warrior has come online}
{Nefarian} niiiiiice
{Nefarian} Im not even gonna use my skellies
{BaronRivendare} same
{Level 64 human warrior has killed Drakkisath}
{Nefarian} ….
{BaronRivendare} wt…
{Level 64 human warrior has killed BaronRivendare}
{Nefarian} jesus
{MajordomoExecutus} /inspect
{MajordomoExecutus} wtf he’s wearing greens!
{Level 64 human warrior has killed Majordomo Executus}
{Ragnaros} BY FIRE BE PUR}
{Level 64 human warrior has killed Ragnaros}
{Nefarian} omg
{Nefarian has gone offline}
{Level 64 human warrior} lol noobz
{Level 66 night elf hunter has come online}
{Level 64 human warrior} 2 minutes 34 seconds, beat it
{Level 66 night elf hunter} oh i will
{Level 66 night elf hunter} what are all these healers and elites doing here?

(Copyright, Buzzfreedom)

Safe…and sorry from Macleans highlights the importance of “risky” play for children. This kind of play is exactly why we moved out to the country.

It is also why I oppose any shortening of children’s vacation time - they learn as much by going out and playing as they do in school. It’s a different kind of learning but it is still very important for their development. I want my children to learn about risks, actions, and consequences when they’re still children, not when they’re 25.

(via Mirabilis)

An article I was reading linked to a book I enjoyed as a canonical example of bad science fiction. The book is March Upcountry by John Ringo and David Weber. I started wondering what it was about the book that made the article’s author think of it as bad science fiction. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

This isn’t a novel full of deep ideas and shattering concepts. It’s a yarn about a spoiled prince who is stranded on a backwater planet and how he becomes a leader. Mostly it’s an adventure with a bit of a coming-of-age story thrown in. Essentially the same book could have been written a century ago about a prince getting stranded in Africa, or South America, or some other isolated locale. The science fiction bits are largely window dressing rather than essential plot elements. This book is for entertainment. There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. -G.K. Chesterton

The main protagonist is extremely competent once he gets over being a spoiled rich boy. The story isn’t about the angst he suffers or his various failures, The emotions evoked are primarily about triumph - winning out against the odds by doing your best and surpassing your limitations. Unlike the most of the so-called great literature I was exposed in high school, this isn’t a story about failure, about things going wrong, about despair and hopelessness. Why I like heroic, cinematic, high-magic campaigns: “I already have a place where I can get little recognition for my accomplishments, advance at a very slow pace, and have to work hard to eke out minimum rewards for my efforts. It’s called work.” — toberane.

In sum, if you’re looking for deep thoughts or angst this book will disappoint you. Otherwise it’s a fun, if not particularly deep story.

I am very slowly going through a list authors I’ve enjoyed and commenting on them.

The first of Harry Harrison’s books that I enjoyed was the Stainless Steel Rat series. I think I may have read the Deathworld series before that, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with them. Stainless Steel Rat appealed to me for the over the top heroics of Jimmy Digriz. Alternate history has always appealed to me and the Hammer and the Cross series is one of the reasons for that. That series can be rather gruesome, but it’s a very plausible alternate history where the Dark Ages were interrupted by the work and luck of one man. For some reason, the third book in that series keeps going astray, so I’ll have to buy yet another copy sometime. In the Worldwar series, aliens invade in the midst of World War II. I liked this series for its portrayal of humanity as unique, though not quite as “humans uber alles” as some early SF. I don’t particularly like his retellings of the American Civil War. In summary, Harrison is one of those authors where some series are terrific and other just fall flat for me.

I enjoyed the first few Chicks in Chainmail books as edited by Esther Friesner. The last one just fell flat for me for some reason. The books she’s written just haven’t appealed to me for some reason.

I really liked the Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur series by Stephen R. Lawhead in high school. The last few times I’ve tried to read some of his work, it has struck me as to heavy on details, to the point where the story is lost.

L. Sprague de Camp’s books are fun to read. I found the Ancient Engineers fascinating. Lest Darkness Fall is another fine example of alternate history. I found his non-fiction to be very readable and his fiction tends to have interesting ideas in it.

What can I say about Tolkein? I really enjoy The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Farmer Giles of Ham was a fun read. I still haven’t been able to get into The Silmarillion or the Unfinished Tales.

I enjoyed The Once and Future King by T.H. White, though it’s been quite a while since I read it. I’m especially fond of this quote

The best thing for being sad, replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then– to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn…
– T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Larry Niven’s short stories and his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle are good reads. His writing seems to airy when he writes novels alone. For some reason everything in the stories seems just a bit insubstantial - as though it’s not quite there. I really enjoy his essays. When Lois and Clark was on, I was fond of reading “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.”

I want to to some thinking in text about my relationship with the church.

I haven’t been attending church for the last year or two. When we first moved to St. Pierre, we attended St. Pierre Bible Fellowship regularly. Then the kids and I went whenever I was helping out in Sunday School - I’m actually pretty good with the little kids and getting Jaimie out of bed in the morning is just too much work. This fall, St. Pierre Bible Fellowship required that people who help out in Sunday School sign off on a statement of faith.

I haven’t been comfortable with the Christian Faith since sometime after grade 6. There would be times when I’d believe as hard as I could, but they didn’t last. I went to Bible College for four years (including a year of missions work in Ghana) hoping to resolve things one way or the other. One of my friends picked up a quote, “I came to Bible College wondering if I wanted to be missionary. I left wondering if I wanted to be a Christian.” Thinking about theology for four years didn’t help. I learned a lot at Bible College, but still didn’t know what I believed.

Back to St. Pierre Bible Fellowship and the statement of faith. I figured that lying and saying that I agreed to the statement of faith probably wasn’t the way to go. I passed the word to the administrator that I was not prepared to sign the statement, but would be happy to help out. I didn’t hear anything and since I wasn’t scheduled to be there, I didn’t go.

The sad thing is that St. Pierre Bible Fellowship is a good church. As a student, I’ve been to a lot of churches and there are few churches out there that are so full of people that practice what they preach, are not sanctimonious, and are so genuinely friendly. Church members are fully aware that they’re only human and yet they live loving God and man. St. Pierre Bible Fellowship and its members are not perfect, but they’re awfully close to an ideal church.

Going to church has become one of those exercises that I feel I should probably do, but don’t. Who knows, I might have a Damascus experience and suddenly have all my doubts and questions answered. It definitely stretches my comfort zone, since making conversation makes me rather nervous. I don’t find the church’s teaching odious - there are some parts I don’t accept at this time, but there’s nothing there that I find morally repugnant. If nothing else, going to church expands my social circle. There are good spiritual and non-spiritual reasons for going to church.

So why don’t I go? It’s a heck of a lot easier not to drag the kids out the door on Sunday mornings. When 10 AM on Sunday rolls around Jaimie’s usually still in bed, so if my family is going to be in church on Sunday, it’s up to me. I don’t like verbal learning, so the sermon bores and annoys me. I want more discussion in my learning, i.e. I’d like to be able to ask questions during the sermon. As I’ve mentioned, I hate making conversation, especially when there’s no “script”. I’m still not clear on my beliefs and I don’t like feeling that I should pretend to agree with what’s being said or sung. Things may change some day, but for now these are the reasons I stay home on Sunday mornings.

I have a list of authors that I try to keep somewhere near me. The idea is that if I end up at a library or bookstore and nothing catches my eye, I’ll have somewhere to start looking. It’s been a while since I updated the list.

• Piers Anthony: I enjoyed the beginnings of the Xanth series when I was in high school. Unfortunately, as I got older, his books got duller. He wouldn’t be on the list today.
• Raymond Smullyan: When I took logic classes in university, I ran across a lot of his puzzles. Unfortunately, my current logic exercise are along the lines of “IF the kids stinks, THEN change him.” I’d need to do a lot of refresher work before looking at his stuff again.
• Gordon R. Dickson: He’s one of those writers whose work I either really enjoy or can’t get into at all. I was really enjoying the Dragon Knight series, but as he’s dead, I’ll never find out what happens. I like a lot of his short stories and humorous work.
• David Webber: I started reading David Webber’s books when someone who was headed overseas sold me a bunch of them for a quarter a piece. Talk about a demonstration of how the Right of First Sale helps publishers. I have since bought most of his books (including those I already had) in hardcover and in e-book format.
• Robert A. Heinlein: I read a bunch of his juveniles sometime around grade 7. I think I’ve pretty much read all his published books. Some of his books struck me as more than a bit strange, but they were still a good read.
• Lois McMaster Bujold: I found her books when I was in Ottawa. I am very fond of the Miles Vorkosigan series - they make me laugh and and bring tears to my eyes at least once per book.
• Alan Dean Foster: I enjoy most of his writing, but it doesn’t stick with me in that same way that other series do. Oddly enough, his short stories have more of that “sticky” quality.
• Andrew M. Greely: These were some of the first romance books that I read. I enjoy his writing, though the romances tend to be fairly predictable. There’s always at least one passage in his books that is very inspiring. I also enjoy his mystery stories.

That brings me partway down the first page of my authors list. To be continued in another post.

Does your spouse/significant other game with you?

My wife has known gamers since high school at least. For some reason, they didn’t let her play in their games. I finally started up a game this summer with a couple who are friends of ours. Their eldest (9 years old) intermittently joins us but sometimes gets distracted by the other kids’ activities. I’m looking forward to the kids getting older so that hopefully the players can get into character. It’s hard to get into charcter when you keep having to break up fights, boot the kids back outside, take care of bumps and scrapes, and so on.

Here’s a site for preschoolers that might appeal to my kids, if ever I can convince them that a mouse is not a yo-yo or a tug-of-war rope. Mostly their computer sits about waiting for me to repair it until I feel bad enough about it to put it all back together, then two days later they’ve trashed it again.