Here are all the materials from joint training week, including the latest version of our questionnaire and sample questionnaires which Prof Alarcon suggested we look at.

Tlacuitapa III Cuestionario 11.20.09

Sample Cuestionario Mexicano 1

Sample Cuestionario Mexicano 2

Sample Cuestionario Mexicano 3

Sample Cuestionario Mexicano 4

Maps Presentation

MEAT BOY (MAP PACK) é um jogo de ação, logo eu não espero que um walkthrough com dicas escritas vá fazer muito sentido. Então, gravei os hard e expert levels sendo feitos por mim, ffao, e juntei com um vídeo do Tasselfoot e dois do ieatSM, o que cobre todos os bandaids do jogo. Para qualquer nível de Meat Boy, primeiro deve-se descobrir o que fazer, e depois como fazê-lo; espero pelo menos tornar a primeira etapa desse processo mais suave, pelo menos para as fases mais difíceis. Lembre-se: um nível de cada vez!

Game Link: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Edmund/meat-boy-map-pack

First Published Monday 23rd November 2009 here at Ace Gamez - Admitting you were wrong takes a lot of guts in this industry. Any developer willing to throw its hands up and come clean about its shortcomings is to be applauded. But rather than champion these studios, the typical reaction is one of scepticism from gamers who feel burned by a lacklustre title or by promises the developer failed to keep.  Just look at Sega which, year after year claims to have listened to the opinions of Sonic the Hedgehog fans desperate to see their favourite platform hero restored to his former glory, only to be disappointed time and time again. Ubisoft Montreal suffered a terrible backlash over the original Assassin’s Creed and, to be frank, the whole thing became an absolute circus for no good reason. Sure the game was repetitive and the stealth mechanic was broken in several places, but as a technical yardstick, it was highly impressive.

Two years on, the launch of Assassin’s Creed II was in some ways a lot more exciting than the release Modern Warfare 2. The gaming majority knew Infinity Ward’s shooter would be good, but how would Ubisoft’s sequel stack up to the original? Would it make good on the developer’s promise to make things right again or would it fall completely flat? With so many questions surrounding the story and how the war between the assassins and the shadowy templars would play out this time around, it was surprising to see Ubisoft scale back on the pre-release media hype. The game was visible, but it was promoted with a muted confidence that seemed to suggest the studio was on to a winner.

So after much waiting and debating, the game has finally been released and thankfully, it is indeed a vast improvement over the original in almost every aspect. But instead of hitting the ground running, the opening 20 minutes are more of an awkward stumble as we see Desmond and Lucy escaping the Abstergo labs and engaging in some clunky stealth sections and clumsy fighting. Don’t let this put you off however as the core of the campaign will have you hooked, delivering a balance of well-paced action and a narrative that is rammed-full of gripping twists and turns. Before the escape sequence, Desmond hops onto the Animus one last time to pin point the birth date of Ezio Auditore, the lead character of Assassin’s Creed II and the potential key to bringing down the templars once and for all. We see him being born in the 15^th century, shortly accompanied by a brief control tutorial that shows baby Ezio learning how to use his hands, feet and head.

It’s a touching scene that is let down slightly by your arrival at the assassin’s hideout. Once there, you meet two awkwardly stereotypical characters; one being a chap that takes an instant disliking to Desmond and the other is a quirky tech girl with a screw loose and an annoying voice. When compared to Ezio himself, this pair is as deep and as colourful as a murky puddle. You quickly learn that the assassins have busted Desmond out of Abstergo to hook him up to the Animus 2.0 and learn years of master assassin training in just a few hours thanks to the machine’s bleeding effect. It’s the same effect that unlocked Desmond’s latent eagle vision power at the end of the first game.

Once you boot up, you are whisked away to sun-drenched Florence and guided through a combat tutorial that sees Ezio and his brother scrapping with members of the Pazzi, a rival family that cause you a great deal of grief throughout the campaign. Many of the vast improvements on the original are apparent from the outset and while the combat system still sees enemies circling you and politely attacking one at a time, the pace has been ramped up here and you now have a greater range of attacks at your disposal. In fact, Ezio is much more adept than Altair was at the start of the first game, with improved speed, fighting skill and free-running ability, making things all the more enjoyable from the outset.

The first few hours follow Ezio as he runs errands for his father, defends his sister’s honour by beating up her unfaithful boyfriend and evading guards after being caught in the sack with his love interest. He’s a great character, coming across as a loveable rogue but he also hides a ruthless temperament that explodes into a flourish of violence at several points throughout the campaign. It is only after his family gets caught up in a conspiracy that we see his transcendence from street fighting nobleman to cold blooded assassin out to get revenge. In order to bring those responsible to justice, Ezio must work his way closer to the truth by completing missions for key figures around the cities of Florence, Venice and Rome.

While the original game suffered from a lack of mission variety, Ezio will have to prove his worth by completing a wealth of tasks ranging from simple courier errands to the key assassinations that drive the plot forward. There are also plenty of hidden collectibles to distract you from the core mission strands, but rather than serve as bragging rights, these actually have a purpose in the greater scheme of things. Treasure boxes are hidden in every nook and cranny of each city and these can be ransacked for Florets that can be spend on armour, clothes, maps and other useful items. Ezio can also pickpocket currency from civilians and thankfully, this is much simpler to execute than the erratic system of the first game.

Feathers replace flags in this game and these can be collected to complete pieces of a much bigger story, as well as glyphs that have been coded into the Animus by the mysterious Subject 16, Abstergo’s previous test subject. These well-hidden symbols unlock puzzles that all relate to the Pieces of Eden, a mysterious set of relics hinted at by Altair’s leader Al Mualim. Once you crack each puzzle, you are given a piece of an encoded video called ‘The Truth’ that, when completed, will reveal the truth behind the original of the Pieces of Eden. It’s genuinely intriguing stuff that keeps you pressing on to reveal more snippets of the overarching plot.

Each glyph is hidden on landmarks dotted around the cities and will require a lot of climbing to reach. Thankfully, Ezio is an adept free-runner, leaping and bounding across a vast playground of architecture with little effort. Another welcome addition to this instalment is the ability to swim. While you are restricted to swimming on the surface and unable to dive down, it does remove all of the annoyances of the first game’s instant-death water. Walking the streets has also become less laborious this time around. If you remember back to the first game, Altair had to walk painfully slow to avoid arousing the suspicion of guards and even the slightest increase in pace would send a handful of guards bearing down on your position with extreme prejudice. In short, it was annoying, but now Ezio is free to stroll around without too much hassle thanks to a brilliant notoriety system.

City guards are not permanently suspicious of you and are more or less likely to react to your presence based on your notoriety. For example, as you pickpocket, scrap with the Pazzi and kill targets, the guards will become even more aware of you and will try and stop you for questioning. Unless you evade their line of sight or distract them somehow, they will turn violent and attempt to kill you. Notoriety can be reduced by tearing down wanted posters with your face on them or bribing city officials. It’s a great mechanic that asks you to walk fine line between meeting your goals and keeping your status in check.

Status and wealth also play a significant role in the Auditore home town of Monteriggioni, which is where Ezio meets with his uncle Mario to further his assassin training. This serves as a central hub and by paying local architects you can restore the dilapidated town to its former glory and unlock new mission strands along the way. It is here that you first come across the pages of a mysterious codex that was written by Altair many years ago. Each page contains vital information regarding the methodology of the assassins, as well as blueprints for the tools of the assassin trade. These can be passed back to Leonardo da Vinci, a close friend of the Auditore family, who can then make new equipment such as dual wrist blades, concealed firearms and even a hand glider. The pages can also be taken back to Monteriggioni and re-arranged to reveal a greater truth about the assassins.

Needless to say, Assassin’s Creed II is a game full of intrigue and mystery that will keep you engrossed from the awkward opening to the epic finale. However, this is not a game that relies solely on myth or the creation of more and more questions. Ubisoft Montreal has worked wonders to salvage the series and deliver the game it always intended. While the combat still feels disjointed and at points, turn-based, it is the only slight downside in a game packed full of positives and although the campaign will take you around 20-30 hours to complete, you will be entirely captivated for the duration. Surely a measure of how to improve on an original design and one that other developers might do well to acknowledge.

93%

UC Berkeley Lab oceanographers measure how oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A recent study indicates the rate at which the ocean absorbs CO2 may be decreasing.

Courtesy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory @ flickr

Each year thousands of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) are introduced into the atmosphere by natural and man-made processes. It is well documented that oceans are responsible for soaking up huge quantities of this carbon dioxide. Just like plants remove carbon from the atmosphere when they photosynthesize; oceans act as global carbon dioxide sponges.

Recently, new evidence has surfaced that shows the ocean’s natural mechanism to absorb carbon may be slowing. According to VOA News, Samar Khatiwala, of Columbia University, the lead author of a study, “found a growing imbalance between the amount of man-made carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere and what the oceans, called carbon sinks, are able to handle.”

This is troubling for two reasons. First, as the world produces more carbon dioxide each year, as data suggests we do, the ocean may not be able to keep up with human output.

The other concern is when the decline will stop. When the ocean is saturated with CO2 it becomes acidic. According to National Geographic “more acidic waters are less able to dissolve carbon dioxide.” So, the ocean may not be able to absorb even the natural amount of carbon dioxide if it becomes overly acidic. This equates to an even larger carbon dioxide problem than we already face. The world has natural sponges to offset its own carbon dioxide, but it is possible that human output may even damage that capacity.

Current data by the Scrips Institute CO2 Program shows CO2 levels, which are related to ocean acidity, have steadily risen since the 1960’s.

Currently the ocean is one of the major depositories of carbon dioxide. The ocean currently stockpiles about 150 billion tons of CO2. Carbon dioxide that might otherwise be in the atmosphere. For example, in 2008 the oceans sucked up 2.3 billion tons of carbon. That is the equivalent of six years of U.S. gasoline consumption.

The map above depicts the amount of carbon taken out of the atmosphere by plant life. Along with the ocean itself, plant life also plays a major role in removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

Courtesy, NASA

In terms of numbers, last year the ocean absorbed 2.3 billion tons of carbon according to the study, the most ever. But, compared to the amount of man-made carbon dioxide the ocean’s absorption may have declined by as much as 10 percent, according to the study led by Samar Khatiwala, of Columbia University.

In a broad sense the ocean’s absorption of carbons dioxide directly relates to global warming. If less CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, it will remain in the atmosphere. Atmospheric CO2 is attributed to a warming trend in global temperatures. And unfortunately, carbon dioxide can’t dissolve as easily in warmer water. National geographic reports 40 percent of past carbon emissions are absorbed by frigid waters off the coast of Antarctica.

So, if the world’s oceans continue decline in carbon dioxide absorption, a downward spiral involving CO2 and a warming climate could potentially develop.

Objective-C can be quite verbose, especially when handling nested data – there is no simple associative array indexing of the kind found in PHP, Ruby etc.

ObjC : verbose : id value = [map objectForKey:@"key"];

Using atx functions : concise : id value = at(map, @”key”);

This comes in very handy for deeply nested json data trees, where you might want to index a multidimensional array or nested tree – vis :

id pop = at(at(at(stats, @”USA”), @”NewYork”), @”popn”);

Not quite as simple as pop = stats["USA"]["NewYork"]["popn"]; but more readable than several objectForKey’s.  Note, I propagate the nulls up so if an item is not found at any level, it can be checked once at the top level without crashing the app.

The small suite of related functions can be found at google code here, under BSD licence – http://code.google.com/p/xathack/

enjoy.

Have you found yourself running around the same trail over and over, or are stuck on a treadmill? The miles you put on are not that exciting. One way to spice up your running life is to map it. Get a map of some country far far away. For example, a map of New Zealand. Pick a starting point, perhaps Wellington. Then as you add miles to your run, add miles to your map as well. Plot your way around New Zealand or some other foreign land. You need a decent map for this but it can be fun to “run” across a country. This can work with State, Provincial, or even county maps. You can run through the trails of Banff National Park or tour the countryside in Italy. You could even trek across Narinia, Middle Earth or Mars if you want, it just doesn’t have as many checkpoints as something closer.

Another way to spice up your running life is to carry weights. If your new to running, go light or not at all. There are hand weights that you wear like gloves, weighted belts, and weighted vests you can add more weights to. You can strap an extra few pounds on your wrists and/0r ankles with weights made for them. Whatever you choose, start light, only a pound or two. Add to it when you don’t notice the weight. If it bothers your muscles or joints, reduce the weight or eliminate it for awhile. Go back to it later. Carrying  weights helps gain muscle, strength, bone density, and it burns more calories. Studies are being done on the benefits to mood and attention disorders from carrying a weighted belt. So long as you don’t overdo it, weights can add spice to your running life.

(map courtesy of historyofearth.com)

Preparations for the Merthyr Mawr 10k are well on course if today’s run is anything to go by. I ran 5.9 miles and incorporated 4 steep hills (2 long and 2 short) and a few gradual ones and although I took my time I didn’t struggle too much.

I think I’m mentally pretty much ready but physically is a slightly different issue, because much like Friday’s gym session I really found it difficult to get going, my legs felt stiff and my feet hurt but after about 2 miles and 2 short but steep hills I felt the adrenaline rushing and I finally found my stride.

I took 2 quick breaks, the first was at the foot of the first big hill for a minute or so at about 2.5 miles to compose myself and the second was at the top of it for the same reason, I never stopped again and even ran up the second big and even steeper hill without stopping before or after the climb and then ran home from there.

I never timed myself but am confident I was quite slow as I wasn’t rushing, I was more concerned with getting a good distance and getting some nice hills under my belt which I did.

The weather was terrible fluctuating from dry to drizzle to downpours and there was even a hail storm, and the wind was calm most of the but every now and then there would be a strong gush of wind which could come from any direction and would almost knock me down.

I feel tired and I have a sore right foot after the run but overall I feel good, it’s the first time I’ve run anywhere near this distance since the start of July so I’m more than happy with the run.

The run was powered by the albums “Infinity Land” by Biffy Clyro and “Individual Inconsistent” by Midget.

For very short (a quick preview not yet complete):

I’ve got an idea to generate some random maps in 2D and then use them in 3D. For example for RPGs like Ultima / Wizardry. The following screens/videos were done on a C64.

This is a random map generated in 2D.

And this is the 3D map generated from the same 2D data above.

I’ve uploaded a video to show some of the features. There’s a similar map at the same size as above and a bigger one (to the max!):

This shows a little program running written in pure BASIC similar to the two pictures above in action. This is “live” and the real speed of C64 BASIC.
Of course this could be done easily in assembly language, and of course it could be compiled (tested that!), and of course i could and should write more about it…

Not to be confused this is NOT my code! It is a program from a C64 demo disk. My idea is to use it further for such game types. It inspires me for an RPG project i have in mind.

…to be continued…

ART MÛR: 5826 rue St-Hubert (corner Rosemont) Montreal, Québec

This is starting to get ridiculous.

I was in a strange shopping mall, there was a piano recital going on there. The mall had hardly any stores. I was looking at a map of the Quad Cities, and the Mississippi river changed course drastically, and it was split into sectors.  I was in a boat, the river was very dirty. Somebody kept stealing my babies. I was married to a strange man, I would give birth and he would take the babies away. I was in the Rock Island library, but could not get my books in on time.

Insyallah, Mie Masjid will hold Eid al-Adha prayer on 8:30 a.m (Shalat starts at 9:00 a.m) Fraiday, November 27, 2009. Bro. Nawawi and Bro. Fadil will be Khatib and Imam, respectively.

Notice, if you drive car, please park your car at behind Mie Masjid (parking eid al adha 2009)

location clip：地圖加照片，傳送至twitpic或email，免費。

itunes link

範例：像這樣

The best visualizations are information dense while being deceptively simple. This example takes the US interstate system and distills it into its key components.

From the post:

Drawing my cues from the original and best metro diagram, H.C. Beck’s wonderful London Underground diagram, I have rendered the Interstate system in a much simpler form. I have made the “major” highways (those divisible by 5) the framework of the map, with the “minor” highways reduced in importance and rendered as thinner grey lines. Even with these highways, a difference in the greys indicates whether they are even-numbered (west-east) or odd-numbered (north-south). Dots on the highways indicate interchanges: large dots where major highways meet other major highways, smaller dots where major meets minor and tiny dots where minor highways begin or end. A full key at the bottom indicates clearly where each highway begins and ends.

Eisenhower Interstate System

Acrylic on Canvas

Acrylic on Canvas

Acrylic on Canvas

Acrylic on Canvas

Mixed Media

Mixed Media

Mixed Media

]]> http://college2cali.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/an-interactive-map/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:07:13 +0000 laglamour07 http://college2cali.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/an-interactive-map/

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Many TV and film graduates from the East Coast save up money and road trip to California after graduation in hopes of finding production jobs. Rowan University in Southern New Jersey is a prime example of a college with many TV and Film grads pursuing this dream. Therefore, the trip I will present will start in Glassboro, NJ although anyone from anywhere in the world can take advantage of this map. After exploring this cross country map, I hope everyone learns something they didn’t know before, whether if it is about a travel destination or a route from NJ to CA. Keep in mind however, that this map I made consists of just two ways you can go to/from New Jersey to California. There are many possible routes someone may take. Enjoy!

(If the map is currently displayed on one location, zoom out or click on larger image.)
Brought to you by Google maps.

A caricature map of Europe, 1914 by Keith Thompson. The explanation is as follows:

The Clanker Powers:

Germany is a massive military machine with weapons aimed outwards to all surrounding countries. It points threateningly at Britain, not so much as a sign of direct aggression, but more as an indicator that it was now Germany’s turn to start a grand global Empire to challenge the world’s current one.

Austria Hungary is an aggressive armoured giant, teetering on shoddy foundations. It is also the primary aggressor in a land grab against Serbia, with two bayonets piercing the border.

The Ottoman empire is a teetering automaton, collapsing under the weight of a paranoid and ungainly spying network that gazes at Europe through many lenses and spy glasses. Istanbul is labeled Constantinople following the period’s English naming conventions.

The Swiss watch ticks away the time, comfortable to wait it all out.

The Darwinist Powers:

Britain is an militaristic lion with a Roman Imperial italic-type helmet. It sits upon a mound of riches gathered from its Empire.

France’s elephant beast (wearing the French kepi they started the war with before adapting their firefighter helmets) is influenced by the Elephantine Collossus built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris (later it ended up going to the Moulin Rouge.)

Russia is a huge imperialist bear, rotting and filled with maggots.

Serbia’s imagery is an indicator of the huge amounts of civilian deaths and suffering they’ll find themselves subject to.

Norway and Sweden are both Scandinavian trolls in the style of John Bauer, an inspirational illustrator from the era who produced a lot of phenomenal work during the war.

Portugal is a parrot for the Entente trying to goad a slumbering Spain into the war.

Ireland looks askance to Britain and brandishes a shillelagh. An indicator of their very rough relationship at the time, and of their upcoming involvement with the Central powers.

Italy is a clutch of snakes with intents on the Central powers despite existing agreements. A foreshadowing of their arrangements at the secret 1915 Treaty of London where they were promised land in exchange for involvement. It was heavily influenced by Italian Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra’s open policy of serving Italy’s “divine self-interest.”

A bigger version is here.

This is the end result of all of the experiments I’ve been conducting on the topic of chance; a 140 page documentation book called Fifteen Random Walks: Explorations of Chance in Trajectory. It chronicles the process I used (various stages can be seen in past posts on this site) starting with defining chance; developing a system of generating locations randomly; mapping them out; taking/finding pictures of the places; and finally analyzing the results.

Above: The Cover.  Below: Select spreads

So this project has come to an end—But I’m only getting started.

In case you didn’t know, the things I am doing on this site are a part of my graphic design thesis project at the School of Visual Arts in The Senior Project Class—taught by Paul Sahre and Lindsay Ballant. Up to now, this has been a guided process the whole class has been led through—where we have been doing an exploration of our topic (chance, for me) that we chose after analyzing the first assignment we did, and the reasons behind our solutions. Everything we do informs the next step, culminating in a result that we could have not chosen in the beginning.

So what’s next for me?

Well, I’m working on developing my project idea right now, and expecting some exciting results. All that I am revealing currently is that it will involve chance (obviously), and it will be 11-43% more involved than this project was.

So please, bookmark this page and come back often to see what I’m up to, and let me know what you think.

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map supplied by Google maps.

Can you find Sunset Blvd. on the map? Have you seen the classic “Sunset Blvd.” movie?

Map courtesy of Whereis.com

We thought it’d be nice to give you a sense of where we are in the world.

Can you see all the national parks around us? No wonder our air and water are so clean! Let us know if you find this map hard to read and we’ll try for a better result.

We’ll put this map in a global context shortly. Just figuring out the best way to do it.

We’ll also provide directions from various locations, so you can visit us and our lovely Morgan horses in double-quick time.