A British man has been arrested and cautioned for stealing virtual goods, in a case believed to be the first of its kind  within the UK. The man is believed to have used phishing techniques to steal passwords and access user accounts and steal characters from popular online game RuneScape, reports the Times today.

That virtual goods have real value has long been known, have a look at this excellent paper from the University of  Manchester on the phenomenon of gold farming, the practice of slavishly creating goods for sale, for more background. China recently banned the sale of virtual goods for real money and two men were arrested last year, having made around £150,000 gold farming for World of Warcraft. It looks like virtual crime is being taken seriously by the UK with the setting up of the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) in September 2008, a spokesman for which is quoted in today’s Time piece stating:

People who seek to destroy others online gaming experience could be committing criminal offences, leaving themselves liable to prosecution. The PCeU will continue to work with the industry and investigate these allegations where appropriate.

Though one could ask how effective PCeU has been if it’s taken a year for one person to be cautioned for the misuse of  computers, one assumes that if he hadn’t got account access via a phishing attempts that there would have been no grounds for any action to be taken at all. The crux lies in how can you value something which is virtual in nature, many of the items in online games are the product of time spent in-game, either completing missions to win loot or through the acquisition of skills to create objects. What would be the real life equivalent, a piece of art has material value in that it is tangible, though of course a great piece has its price set way above the cost of paint and canvas but that is set by the well established Art market. A great piece of literature is similar, plus if stolen the tools for recreation lie in the original artistes head. Which is true to some extent with virtual goods, though there are the odd limited edition pieces that can never be recreated or won again.

I think one could also assume that if it were possible to put a price on virtual goods, you’d be able to get insurance already to cover them. A quick scoot of the net found a defunct company called You Play or We Pay, that opened in Jan 09 and was shut in April by the company behind World of Warcraft due to intellectual property infringement. It offered compensation for downtime, rather than lose of characters or goods.

So until there can be a financial figure, can there actually be a crime and do online users have any recourse to the law, or is losing a character or goods just to be viewed as a rather large inconvenience?

Also posted on Clicking & Screaming

A British man has been arrested and cautioned for stealing virtual goods, in a case believed to be the first of its kind  within the UK. The man is believed to have used phishing techniques to steal passwords and access user accounts and steal characters from popular online game RuneScape, reports the Times today.

That virtual goods have real value has long been known, have a look at this excellent paper from the University of  Manchester on the phenomenon of gold farming, the practice of slavishly creating goods for sale, for more background. China recently banned the sale of virtual goods for real money and two men were arrested last year, having made around £150,000 gold farming for World of Warcraft. It looks like virtual crime is being taken seriously by the UK with the setting up of the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) in September 2008, a spokesman for which is quoted in today’s Time piece stating:

People who seek to destroy others online gaming experience could be committing criminal offences, leaving themselves liable to prosecution. The PCeU will continue to work with the industry and investigate these allegations where appropriate.

Though one could ask how effective PCeU has been if it’s taken a year for one person to be cautioned for the misuse of  computers, one assumes that if he hadn’t got account access via a phishing attempts that there would have been no grounds for any action to be taken at all. The crux lies in how can you value something which is virtual in nature, many of the items in online games are the product of time spent in-game, either completing missions to win loot or through the acquisition of skills to create objects. What would be the real life equivalent, a piece of art has material value in that it is tangible, though of course a great piece has its price set way above the cost of paint and canvas but that is set by the well established Art market. A great piece of literature is similar, plus if stolen the tools for recreation lie in the original artistes head. Which is true to some extent with virtual goods, though there are the odd limited edition pieces that can never be recreated or won again.

I think one could also assume that if it were possible to put a price on virtual goods, you’d be able to get insurance already to cover them. A quick scoot of the net found a defunct company called You Play or We Pay, that opened in Jan 09 and was shut in April by the company behind World of Warcraft due to intellectual property infringement. It offered compensation for downtime, rather than lose of characters or goods.

So until there can be a financial figure, can there actually be a crime and do online users have any recourse to the law, or is losing a character or goods just to be viewed as a rather large inconvenience?

Uploaded new document from Lueny (sent by email on 25 Nov): World Engineering Education Forum + 5 Events

Currently, a subcommittee of the WEEF planning team is working on finding/suggesting speakers for Tues & Wed common sessions.  Deadline for committee speaker nominations is 15 Dec, when we will start inviting speakers.

Guilt.

I suffer from the guilt of existence. I’d feel guilty if I had a child before some of my friends I know who have desired children for years. Especially since I also know they desire children so much more than me.

And the ability to stay home and live primarily off my husband’s income so I can devote my time and attention to my novel (which I have no idea whether it will be any good or be able to earn any money). I have so many friends and family members who do not have this opportunity. I feel bad. Something tells me I must work full-time like them to make life fair even though I don’t have to.

It’s not fair that people who want to live must die when there’s someone like me who thinks so little of herself that she would trade places with someone who was dying.

I wait every night, you know, to die.

I’ve given up on suicide because I’ve tried numerous times and I can’t succeed. People tell me it’s because God says it’s not my time to go.

So every night, I wait for God. I wait for Him to take me. I anticipate “my time to go.” That final breath, that final gasp of air that God won’t let me recover from. I wait for it nightly.

But then I wake up each morning, somewhat stupefied as to why I’m still alive. What’s God’ s purpose for me? Am I meant to accomplish something monumentally great or simply exist to bring a smile to my husband’s face each day for the next 60 years?

And what’s wrong with that? Why can’t I be content simply to exist only to make other people happy?

“I tend to be of the mindset that in order to be pleasing to God, I have to do something big, something that leaves an evident footprint in the world. I think deep down I know this isn’t a true philosophy, but when I just live everyday life, I feel useless.” –Sizzledowski, “Sometimes I talk to myself… a lot“

No, I’m not content because I’ve been taught that “bigger is better.” (Well, except when it comes to weight.)

Servant leadership.

My father used to work in the maintenance department of a large ad agency and sometimes he’d get whatever leftovers were no longer wanted. One time, the agency developed (or recycled, I’m not sure) a slogan and printed up more T-shirts than they could use so my dad brought a bunch of them home. The slogan has stayed with me to this day:

“Good enough is not enough.”

So I’ll always feel like a failure. Because once I achieve that one “great” thing, I’ll always be looking for the next great thing. It’s a vicious cycle–always looking to outdo myself. This was also part of Michael Jackson’s downfall. As a perfectionist, he was always trying to “top” himself. The “Thriller” album sold 26 million copies worldwide back in the 80s, immediately becoming the best-selling album of all time. In fact, it is STILL the best-selling album of all time with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. (The next album that comes even close is AC/DC’s “Back in Black” with 49 million copies.)

“Good enough is not enough.”

Jackson wanted to continue to break records and continue to top the charts even after “Thriller” but was never able to relieve that kind of success again in his lifetime.

So where does it stop? A person can’t always be number one.

Jesus said the first shall be last and the last shall be first. (Mk. 10:31, Matt. 20:16) As a Christian, what does this mean to me?

It means the only way to truly lead is by serving. That is what Jesus did. And not to minimize my Lord in any way but that is also the example all the great human heroes followed: Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa. Not self-serving but serving others. Who will have had more of an impact 100 years from now: Madonna or Martin Luther King, Jr.? God bless Madonna if history textbooks mention her musical impact from the 1980s but MLK, Jr. has changed the lives of many people in this country. From the White House down to little ol’ me, he continues to have a lasting impact beyond his death. As a result of MLK, Jr.’s tireless work, I can write a blog post with fairly good grammar and spelling that reaches a multicultural audience because I had the opportunity to receive a stellar education from Kindergarten through college. (Let’s just conveniently ignore the fact that the last sentence was atrociously written, though.)

The world says to be number one and never settle for last place. My Lord says the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The world says take the lead; be a leader. Jesus says, “Follow me” (Matt 4:19); be a servant (Jn. 13:12-17).

With things like pride and self-sufficiency (really a subset of pride), being a true, consistent servant is difficult:

• Never seeking glory for yourself.
• Always doing things for the benefit of others.
• Constantly knowing your limitation so you can ask for help for the sake of others.

Not easy.

Psalms 91:1-4
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”

Lao-Tzu

The key elements in education and teaching are knowledge, pedagogy, curriculum, content, and context (Harris, Mishra, and Koehler, 2009). Within our discussions on learning and instruction these elements are continually being connected. Change one and it will affect the rest whether advertently or inadvertently.

            I had never before paused to consider technology as anything other than a form of content to use with my students. Learning about instructional technology has really opened my eyes to see how deeply we must understand our personal elements on technology so we can produce better instruction. We must really consider our understandings of technology, beliefs in it, abilities to use it, and so forth to grow as educators and to enrich our students.

            Below are some links associated with TPACK. I’ve chosen these links to provide a range of information on the topic in the hopes of helping myself and others develop a more full understanding of how it can lead to transformative teaching and learning.

Links of Interest

Here is a link to the TPACK website that Koehler and Mishra are part of. I found it informative in a much more concise manner than our article. www.tpack.org

This is a link to Koehler’s TPACK newsletter installment. I took the time to read through a few of the newsletters topics. It proved to be some good off-shoots on the topic of developing and understanding TPACK as a professional. http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/topics/tpack-newsletter-3/

Reference

Harris, J., Mishra, P., and Koehler, M.  (2009).  Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Learning Activity Types: Curriculum- based Technology Integration Reframed. Journal of Research on Technology in Education.  International Society for Technology in Education

TPACK. Retrieved on November 29, 2009 from www.tpack.org.

TPACK Newsletter #3.  (2009).  Retrieved on November 29, 2009 from http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/topics/tpack-newsletter-3/

This will hopefully be a mix of authors, content, practical help, and other discussion of teaching topics or hard questions or teachings about worship and the church for worshipers, worship leaders, pastors, and leaders.

• equipment
• content
• discussion
• new songs
• journal
• reflection
• task improvements
• Theology
• worship philosophy

The list of ‘categories / post subjects’ will be be what bucket each post will fall into…. there may be more down the road, lets start with the basics though…

This will hopefully be a mix of content, practical help, and other discussion of teaching topics or open ended hard questions about worship and the church.

• equipment
• content
• discussion
• new songs
• journal
• reflection
• task improvements
• Theology
• worship philosophy

The list of ‘categories / post subjects’ will be be what bucket each post will fall into…. there may be more down the road, lets start with the basics though… don’t think anything is missed here.

This will hopefully be a mix of content, practical help, and other discussion of teaching topics or open ended hard questions about worship and the church.

• equipment
• content
• discussion
• journal
• reflection
• task improvements
• Theology
• worship philosophy

The list of ‘categories / post subjects’ will be be what bucket each post will fall into…. there may be more down the road, lets start with the basics though… don’t think anything is missed here.

All I really want is to be settled down, or be close to there. Have an apartment with a boyfriend, while going to college, something like that. And pass the summer days by cooking fresh home made meals for him, working out and doing yoga, and laying out on the grass in his arms watching the clouds pass by. And just be happy. <3

Not me- random photo- I don't even have a boyfriend ; ;

again not me-obviously

I wish I could find more cute photos.

I guess it is time to summarize and make a balance of the high and low points of the FICOD 09 (International Internet Content Conference held in Madrid, Spain between November 17/19) which had about 8,000 participants converting it in one of the biggest of the world. Sincerely, I couldn’t care less about its size but I do care a lot about the quality and for that reason I will try to put the spot light in the high points and in the low points of it as well.

By far, Bernardo Hernandez (Google Worldwide Marketing Director) and Kevin Spacey were the shinning stars of the constellation. Mr. Spacey showed how there is a combination of great art, comprehension of current this and embracing the challenges rather than fighting them as a “mad dogs” in the way to its final rest (another post already dedicated to him). Bernardo, the “golden boy” of the Internet in Spain gave a brilliant presentation with facts, numbers, perspectives and above all enthusiasm inherent to Google’s Internet dominance. Some of the numbers are really amazing: in the last 25 years, the processor’s capacity have increased 3,500 while the price reduction for RAM memory reduced 45,000 times and the storage price (HD) also has decreased nothing less than 3.6 million times! That said, he made a point to show and prove that the main distinction Internet poses regarding previous technological advances is its blind blowing speed: it took just 50 million users in the Internet and 3 years to reach an global advertising spending of 1 billion dollars while the same number of users such as radio and TV took 37 and 15 years respectively. Ten years ago Google didn’t exist; today it is the power which rivals Microsoft.

Bernardo Hernández

To watch his presentation in English, click here. Also in the bright side, I would like to name the courageous and passionate Rodolfo Carpentier and Carlos Blanco, Spanish internet incubators who did not spare anybody when blaming the “great” Venture Capital for Internet development in Spain of being simply amateurs (in the bad sense of the world) negligent and ignorant of the opportunities the often miss to the rest of Europe and the USA.

Going to the dark side of the Conference and confronting bravely the backwards corporative reps of EGEDA (Spain’s Film Producers Association) and SGAE (authors collection agency for Spain and Latin America) we had Javier Sánchez (founder of the pioneering ADN STREAM).

All the authors collection’s agencies reps, the defeated music industry representatives portrayed everywhere as the example of what not to do (poor things!); the unfortunate invitation of the MPA (Motion Picture Association of America) who told the audience in a pathetic way that his past was the Agriculture but if it was to defend America’s (money interests) he would do fine the same in this conference. Really embarrassing! the Minister of (in) Culture who read a discourse clearly studied by many assessors this time in order to not commit her usual gaffes but yet could not refrain herself to transmit an aggressive and “read to fight the copyright’s war” expression out of every word spoken thru her angry mouth. Specially if we see in context: she was preceded by Ana Gómez, USA representative and special guest who has spoken not a word about repression or law enforcement but on the contrary listed all the efforts the U.S. is putting in improving infrastructure to the maximum extent. And the Minister of (in) Culture was followed by the Minister of Industry and Commerce of Spain (host and main sponsor of the event) who was more moderate in attitudes and postures but missed a great opportunity to make government policy announcements that would make a real difference in the general offset of the meeting. The Prime Minister Zapatero should also have found a space to come to the opening in his agenda and show Spain and the world that the deep recession is really embraced as an opportunity to change the archaic economic models which undermine the future of the country for generations to go.

As always, Spain has its charm, is warm in the heart and classicist and stoic towards the new. I love the country, I feel at home in the streets of Madrid, Barcelona or Seville. It’s my home! Accents and body languages change but the essence, for good and for bad remains. The self-condescendence, the inferiority complex towards the neighbours (in Europe of course) and towards the American counterparts but also the aristocratic, feudal mentality (now translated to digital times) of refusal to change attitudes, to democratize the work relationships and spaces and to embrace the “foreigner and different” as the US do in difficult or in expansion times: doesn’t matter where you come from, the Americans analyze what you have to offer. No matter what you have to offer, Spaniards (and Europeans in general) look who you are and “what are your real intention$”. That is a mentally that will keep Europe always behind if not changed. It is time to understand the all digital business is global and all “nationalisms” are the borders of the fearful minds of renewal. They won’t defend you from a hypothetic “invasion” but instead, it will crush you in isolation.

The purpose of this blog page is to provide truth and facts about the Carpenter’s Union organizing tactics which are clearly false, unethical, in some cases illegal, abusive, and they don’t pass the simplest of tests…including the “smell test”.

They’ve used as the basis of their assault on Lone Sun Builders, Inc. (LSB) that they don’t have a benefits program, they pay cash, and they pay below average wages.  When in actuality LSB has one of the best benefits programs in the business including a health plan, dental plan, 401K and life insurance.  Currently over 98% of eligible employees participate in the health plan.  LSB pays 96% of its employees’ health premium; and that’s for the Lovelace Plan with $20 primary care doctor co-pays and $10 prescription co-pays.  Not to mention that we pay 100% of the life insurance policies for our employees.  LSB employees are well paid, they are treated well, receive free safety and apprenticeship training, they include many long-term employees, they are treated like family and they are happy with their employment.  No one is ever paid cash – that is illegal.

We are active in our community, in Albuquerque Public Schools, the University of New Mexico (UNM), the UNM Children’s Hospital, multiple trade and professional organizations, and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and the Hispano Chamber of Commerce.  We support each organization we belong to with financial contributions, mentoring, participation on their boards, or in the form of “sweat equity” and ambassadorship.

Our Mission Statement speaks for itself and we unequivocally live by it:

Our mission is to provide quality with integrity. We take pride in our financial responsibility, work history, business ethics and safety training. We believe that our loyalty to employees, vendors and clients will build our reputation for the future. We subscribe to the pillars of character counts: Respect, Responsibility, Trustworthy, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

And in all due respect to unions, “We are not anti-union” as I, Chet Karnas, am a former member of two labor unions in my life.  We are merely, “mission accomplished” when it comes to treating our employees with dignity and fairness; and we are against the “organizing tactics” of this union.

Besides the Carpenter’s Unions’ behavior being abhorrent, please consider the following facts:

1. The union states we don’t have benefits and we do; but they utilize day laborers without health benefits to protest us and others.
2. The union organizers are from out-of-state and don’t even own New Mexico driver’s licenses but yet they can trump the union CEO’s who own local companies.  They turn the business climate ugly without allowing for freedom of speech from local owners of union shops.  Does anybody get that?
3. They besiege local hospitals, schools, banks, hotels, restaurants and a museum with day laborers that have no restroom facilities and park themselves on public sidewalks behind unsightly banners.  It’s ugly, it’s disturbing, it’s anti-business, it’s splitting our community, it’s not a tourist attraction to visitors, and it has no basis in our community.

The CONTENT of this blog will include background articles, letters and information; a video archive detailing facts about the above statements, links for different topics which are still a work in process but will include our biographical information, and comments and contributions from readers and authors of this forum.

The bottom line is we have experienced harmonious labor relations for and divisive tactics by out-of-state operators acting like thugs, decades in New Mexico, and our community cannot accept unethical, slanderous.

One thing that annoyed me about Karmic was that the notification tray has these lovely new grey icons for things like volume and Network Manager, but as soon as you start running custom apps in the notification tray it all goes haywire with a tonne of ugly icons destroying the beautiful monochrome look! Thankfully, gnome-Look.org user Nate Wiebe has created a tonne of lovely humanity style icons for your favourite applications:

You can grab them here.

J’ai une idée ! Ou ben, Génial !

Mininova, the bountiful treasure chest of semi-legal media has gone perfectly legit recently. Bowing down to the pressure of copyright groups(and a court order). Mininova now only distributes and tracks “content distribution” torrents. Which I guess, to the everyman, translates too “none of the good stuff”.

http://mnstat.com/images/blog/index.html

I guess this is another move in the copyright industry’s game of Whack-a-Torrent. Starting up a website incurs relatively negligibile costs, so taking down torrent trackers will be a length hobby. That said, not all of them are popular. So really, the copyright industry really only has to take out the significantly popular ones, which only diverts traffic to lesser known ones. Seems like a pointless game really. Maybe someone needs to work out a way to have a rapidly propagating P2P torrent file sharing and tracking service.

It’s a sad day for all ye’ prospective pirates out there.

Activision et Infinity Ward peuvent se frotter les mains. Les poches ne sont pas prêtes de se désemplir. Et pour cause, après avoir enregistré 500 millions de $ de recettes après 5 jours, Ben Schachter, analyste chez Broadpoint Amtech, estime que le DLC rapporterait au moins entre 100/140 millions de $ en 2010 ($59mil-$85mil pour le résultat d’exploitation, bénéfice par action $0.03-$0.05). Cette estimation est calculée selon les données du premier épisode Call of Duty : World at War, où le ratio est de 0,625 DLC vendu par exemplaire du jeu.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/modern-warfare-2-dlc-to-make-USD140m-analyst

Thanksgiving / Giving Thanks
                           Are you quenching the Holy Spirit?

             Every Christen can be thankful in all circumstances?

               1 Thessalonians 5:18-19

 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Quench not the Spirit.”

When were not thankful and giving God praise, that word quench means extinguish like putting out a fire, which is the Holy Spirit, so

when we don’t praise God we put him out.
 1.How to have a thankful heart.

A. By choosing to praise God in everything.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

When we chose to praise God in ever thing this develops a thankful heart.
B. Being content with what we have and where were at.

 Php 4:12
 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

When we always want more we never appreciate the things the Lord has blessed us with because were so focused on what’s next.
Some of that comes from the culture we live in, ever thing is now, what can I get that’s better we really live in a spoiled satiety. But when we turn to God and turn it over to him we can become content.
2. Seeing things the way they truly are.

A. You are no better then anyone else.

Acts 10:34
 “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.”

God loves us all the same. There is no better.

B. You are ware you are because God allowed it.

Psalms 139:16
  “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

We are right ware God wants us to be, we need to ask what he wants us to do with ware we are at in life. Be open to him because he will answer.

God puts all of us in different places during are life and we need to choose to be thankful in everything.

C. Choose to bless others with what you have or can do.

When we choose to be thankful by sharing what God has blessed us with others that is truly a thankful heart.

Your saying God what you give me gifts, or talents I will give to further your kingdom. That is truly (selflessness)

Matt 25:41-45
 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They will also answer’ ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did unto me.’

By choosing to help people with what we can is the character of Christ.
We can show Christ buy doing these things, lend a hand if they need it if you see a senior all buy her self in the parking lot help her load her groceries if she needs help.
Buy some one some food if they don’t have it. Or just buy loving them then we don’t have to tell people were Christ followers they will know by are actions.
3. Choosing to bless others.

A. We need to not just bless people during the Holiday season.

We need to bless people all year long God wants us to love all year long not just during the holiday season when we feel lovey, dovey.
(ReMember loves a choice not a feeling)

Luke 10:27
 “He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; love your neighbor as yourself.
He didn’t say love your neighbor as yourself just during the Holiday season. We need to make a concise effort ever day to love and bless people.
B. We need to Share Christ with others.

When we share Christ with others it is showing how thankful we are for what Christ has done.
Mark 16:15
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Living a life of thanksgiving means we praise God for all that he is and has done and will do. Living a life of giving thanks is sharing with others about are Christ so they can experience what we experience threw him.

There fore in ever circumstance we should be thankful.