I don’t often try to write about philosophy because things that sound great in my mind usually come out wrong when I write them down. I’m going to try to do my best with this entry because I feel that it’s an important thing to say, if it hasn’t already been said or thought before. I’m going to first assume that you’ve read the book 1984. If you haven’t, this won’t make any sense until read it.

I’ve been reading Descartes’ meditations for a class I’m taking and while reading his second meditation, “Of Nature of the Human Mind; and it is more Easily Known than the Body”, I had a short connection to Winston. Descartes’ says that nothing that is determinable by our senses is provable because our sensory systems (touch, smell, taste, hearing, sight) are inaccurate. Therefore, how can you prove that you actually exist if the only things that are tying you to acknowledging your existence are your senses? Descartes’ says that the ability to be doubtful of your existence is proof that you exist. Why? Because as long as you accept that you are being deceived by your senses and are doubtful of their truth, you exist. You’ve all heard the phrase “Cogito ergo sum” (”Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum”). I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.

Winston, when he is being held in Room 101 is told by O’Brien (his interrogator whom he thought was his friend) that he can be written out of existence. With the stroke of a pen, no one will ever know that he existed because of the implementation of doublethink. Winston believes this and he submits to the torture that leads to his assimilation into the acceptable behaviour of Oceanians. This is what is most tragic. Every person who reads 1984 wants Winston to stand up and fight against this totalitarian regime. We want him to succeed and it’s through his tragedy that we are forced to look within rather than be satisfied by a happy ending.

We think about how Winston would have triumphed if he knew that proof of his existence lies in Descartes. He made the mistake of being so reliant on his senses that he was unable to truly realise that there was no way to write someone out of existence. 1984 tells us that if we don’t doubt. if we don’t think, we will end up like Winston. We will be the ones who exercise doublethink, we will be the ones unable to doubt because the solid wall of falsities has clouded our brains. It goes beyond the simple assertion that we shouldn’t be “sheeps” because Winston was never a sheep. He fought, and his greatest tragedy was that he valued his senses over his mind.

So, it’s finally up! We’ve spent a few months working on RuneWire and I’m so happy to see it out. It all started out one evening when Shane and I were talking about ways in which we could expand the RS community. I didn’t want something that would conceivably bring an onslaught of people to our forums, I wanted something that created two communities in one. I used to be an avid user of Twitter and Jaiku, but I lost interest because I felt that what I ate for lunch was not significant content.

I figured that if a group of people had a common interest (Runescape), then it would be possible to bring more people together toward an actual purpose. With RuneWire, people could reach out to each other and relate more easily. My idea of what RuneWire would be was actually really basic compared to what it’s going to be. When all of us put our heads together, we though up so many awesome features that will be arriving soon. Without Shane to do the entire back-end work and Jeff to do the CSS, this never could have happened. So thank you, guys.

I wanted to sort of shed light on what you can expect from RuneWire in future, but I do not want to completely “spill the beans”. You can look forward to a really awesome group system which will allow you to do things that aren’t quite possible on most forums and blogs. That’s all I can say for now.

Now, go sign up for Beta testing and add “extremewench” as a friend

Get it while it’s hot, applications for beta testers are coming soon.

(Yes, I like being mysterious)

Some of you may or may not know this, but Mein Kampf (”My Struggle”, a book of Hitler’s political ravings) is banned in Germany. The only people who are allowed access to it are teachers who are allotted a restricted time for review. When the second World War ended, the rights to the book were maintained by the state of Bavaria who expressed forbade any reprinting of the book in Germany. In 2015, the publishing rights to the book expire, making it eligible for reprinting.

The controversy lies in whether or not such a destructive and hateful book should be allowed back into Germany after the horror of the Holocaust. I don’t normally like to pull my personal faith into matters like this, but as a Jewish person I believe that Mein Kampf should be reprinted and distributed for all to read. Why? Firstly, banning a book does not stop people from finding it on Google, Youtube, or torrent networks. Because this book is a historical writing, it has value to more than just crazed Neo-Nazis. It has value to students, to everyday people so that they can personally read the book which led to the extermination of millions of people.

Secondly, banning the book from being published shows a lack of Germany’s ability to confront what happened during World War II. The German government has a responsibility to educate its own citizens about the consequences of racism and xenophobia. It wasn’t until university that I had an actual German history class which did not seek to water down and tip-toe around the issue.

This reprinting controversy somewhat ties into the banning of the public denial of the Holocaust. Meaning: I cannot go publicly deny that the Holocaust happened. I’m not for people saying denying something so evident and obvious as the Holocaust, but I believe in free speech. If someone wants to be stupid and say that, then they should have the right. Just like I have the right to say that the Holocaust-Hoax initiative is completely false.

It all comes down to the German government wanting to censor access to historical writings/films as well as free speech. It needs to come to a stop. How are we supposed to remember our country’s biggest mistake if we’re denied these things? They need to learn that the internet has opened the door to neo-Nazis. Rather than trying to prevent a problem that’s so easily circumvented, they should just release their stranglehold on our rights.

So every now and then, there has to be a gap in posts where the e-drama dies down and the boring MQ shows through. I decided that since some people think that I’m negative toward a lot of fan sites (even though I’ve only expressed criticism of two), I’ll post a few sites that I believe are innovative in thinking up great new ideas relating to Runescape. Feel free to suggest any other ones that you think make the grade in terms of creativity. These are in no particular order, by the way.

1. RuneTUBE: It’s a good idea, but unfortunately it’s a little too niche. There is the ability to make groups, but there is no spark for a community. Unfortunately, there is little to no activity on it and it is now for sale. I guess that all-encompassing gaming video sites like GeeVee or even just plain old YouTube get the traffic. I think it deserves some credit though, since the idea was there. Another like-minded website, RuneRate, rewards top views with GP and it also seems to be dormant. I suppose it’s too narrowly focused of an area.
2. United Freedom Fighters (UFF): A bit of a cheesy site, but it has good intentions. UFF is essentially a free-for-all clan for anyone, regardless of level or clan affiliation. I’m not sure about the success of the clan, but these guys seem out to have a good time instead of worrying about winning. Go them.
3. RuneWise: I actually had never heard of this site until Vaskor first commented on my blog. Though we don’t always see eye-to-eye on things, I always thought that his site took a wonderful and more personal approach to Runescape advice. I actually recommend that you go there and enter your stats and see the suggestions you get for raising skills. If in doubt, there’s always the RuneWise forum to go to. I like the idea, it’s wonderful and it beats the impersonality of some of the larger sites.
4. Lumbridge City: A little hesitant to put this one here, as the site is well..it’s messy and clumsy. They have a bit of a tourist trap of a website running here, but the idea of a Runescape social network isn’t too bad. It allows you to do what sub-forums normally do, but in a more open way. You can create a clan group and message and organise events or you could visit the marketplace. There are many social capabilities offered here, and I give credit where it’s due. I don’t give credit for them trying to monetise on their “Runescape Power Guide!” and their numerous gold-selling ads. The site is a bit of a sham when they could’ve done more with it. Shame, I think.

Yes, I could only find four. I did try, but I felt like all Runescape sites were trying to just offer what’s already on Tip.it, RuneHQ, and the other huge Wal-Mart-ish RS sites. I think that sites who specialise in a certain area or promote a different way of thinking are the most creative. Rather than trying to do everything, why don’t we just be good at something?

I’ve posted 79 posts (including this one) on this blog. 3 of which actually criticise any fan site. That means that 3.8% of what I actually post expresses any disapproval of a fan site. Now, weirdly, this pissed off so many people. It all started when a few ex-Draynor members decided to dig up a four day old topic in the sandbox of our site about Draynor closing. Talk about s— stirring? Well, let me show you what one of them posted:

HAH, THE RS B&BARBIE BITCHES THINK DRAYNOR STOLE THEIR MOTHER FUCKING UGLY ST00F. GO TO HELL NIGGERS, U COPIED OFF OF US.

LOLOWNED MOTHER FUCKING NOOBS.

Y DON’T U SUE DRAYNOR, U COULD LOSE A COUPLE HUNDRED BUCKS AND GET COUNTER-SUED 4 COPYING DRAYNOR.

I don’t think I need to say much more about the average IQ of Draynor members. Racial expletives, expletives in general, groundless accusations, poor knowledge of the legal system. It goes on. Look, Russel “Escablade” Bowen , I know you have no life..but using racial slurs on a family-friendly website is pretty low.

Also, Mr. Devlin Palmer (whois, is a b—-, isn’t it?), another esteemed member of Draynor was unable to put up decent arguments with me, so he called me a “bitch” and said that I was “very ugly”. Unable to substantiate his argument, he resorted to personal attacks. Pathetic? Extremely.

Disrespecting fan sites is actually against the rules on our forums. Our members are not allowed to flame other websites on the forum itself. As for the accusation that RSBANDB staff members have “spammed” Draynor in the past? Well, I did complain to a moderator there that a picture of a hairy nipple bothered me but I did that privately. Another member simply posted on the forums saying that the image was very disturbing and he was banned.

I regret having to ban some of the Draynor people who visit my blog, but I cannot tolerate losers who have my posts/comments on their RSS feed waiting to anxiously to jump at the sign of my presence. Oh, before I forget, this was posted on one of their blogs:

I also had a pathetic excuse for a interview over at RuneWeb, but the people had great disdain for Draynor, stooping so low as to make many offensive regards to the site. I hope all sites aren’t like them.

The folks over at RuneWeb don’t even like you guys? Wait a minute.. so RSBANDB doesn’t like you, Leetscape doesn’t like you, and RuneWeb? I’m going to venture out and say that maybe they have their reasons and it’s something more than Draynor’s “popularity” (popularity being in quotes since the site is now closed). Maybe no one likes you all because you go on people’s personal blogs and attack them, spam their forums with racial slurs, and tell them that Draynor was the first to make goal/stat sigs when RSBANDB has been doing it for three years. That could be the reason.
So go ahead an try to spam my blog. I appreciate the attention (considering I was only able to write this entry because of your blunders), but your comments will continue to be deleted. Do you see me posting on your blog and/or site? No? That might tell you that I’m not actually bothered enough to do so and it’s sad that you are.

The Zybez podcast (NSFW)! Before you scurry off to listen to it, please keep in mind that you get directed to an upload site that displays porno ads on it! But that’s okay, the voice of the Jay36miles is sooo dreamy that you won’t be able to help yourself. I hope you detected my sarcasm there, because if you’ve already heard the first episode you’ll know that this guy sounds ultra creepy.

Normally, I’d say “Well, it’s just their first podcast..give them a break”, but considering this has been in the works for MONTHS, I can’t spare them the benefit of the doubt. The podcast is terribly edited. Rather than inviting all of the guests for a live Skype episode, it seems like they told a bunch of random people to record themselves reading a pre-written message, then cut their audio file into the main podcast. Awful. Awful sound quality, awful content.

Let me separate this into categories of awfulness in hopes that someone from Zybez will read this and improve from my criticism.

• Content: The content is the defining factor on whether or not a podcast is going to be good. The Zybez podcast talked about a few things, “Should Children be Subjected to a Curfew to Prevent Against Crime?”, clans, a “monster competition”, and the IRC channel of Zybez events. See what I just did? I listed the contents of their podcast, aka Show Notes– something that they didn’t bother writing themselves. Firstly, most people who are active on RSC already know the clan news. RSC is the hub for clan activity and people don’t need to hear the results a week later. Secondly, what’s with this thing about children’s curfews? I like the idea of having a discussion prompt, but all they said was “check out our thread on it!” and they never listed where I could find it. Thirdly, there was almost no talk about clan chat. I’m thinking that this might be because the podcast was recorded weeks before then, possibly months. Zybez, you have a huge clan community, use your brains and host a discussion on the clan chat and spare everyone the boring crap about the IRC channel or monster competition.
• Quality: As I said, this podcast seriously lacks in quality. None of it is geared toward Runescape fans, just Zybez fans. Why would I want to listen to a podcast about the going-ons at their forum? I rather hear interesting discussion on Runescape-related things. The audio quality, again, was awful. I don’t know if native speakers of English had this problem, but I had an extremely hard time understanding them. Their words seemed really rushed and the volume was too low. It was difficult to pay attention to the disjointedness of the whole episode.
• Length: Thee minutes and thirty-five seconds may fly for the “Quick Grammar Tips!” podcast, but people want something that they can be entertained by for at least a half hour. You have to consider that many people play Runescape whilst listening to a Runescape-related podcast. Recording such a short episode is almost completely pointless.

Here are my suggestions, Zybez. Listen to an RSBANDB podcast. Notice the good sound quality, the lack of porno ads (or even ads for that matter) on our download page, the seamless flow of the episode (as it’s done in Skype), and the content. You guys have a lot to learn and, frankly, this episode was worthless.

Edit: Apparently, the second link is actually full-length (45 mins). I’ll leave it to Brad to pick up my slack and talk about it.

Sometimes I do like talking about my real life on here. Just not too much (since I don’t think anyone really cares…XD) lately since I’ve been on summer holiday. Well, soon I’m going to be entering my *gasp* third year of uni. I’m halfway through. I guess I can say that the biggest letdown of entering university is wanting to do what makes you happy, but realising that you can’t make any sort of sustainable life from it. It’s a disappointment that a lot of people feel, but there are a few people who are passionate about a job that will inevitably make them successful. I guess what I mean when I say this is that I’ve always wanted an art/design career. I know that I’m not the best artist, the most creative, or the most disciplined but it’s always something that I find enjoyable. In college (”high school” if you will), I told myself that if I chose to do art as a career..well..I’d end up burning out later on in life and I’d no longer be passionate about it.

There is a lot of great things that I learned from being in university for two years though. I learned to not be a smart ass and that I don’t know everything..in fact, I learned that I know very little compared to the people I’ve met. I also learned that nothing is more satisfying than attending class when you actually want to be there.

Uni is one of the best and worst experiences ever. You get to learn all sorts of things that you’d never learn anywhere else, but you make the first major decision about your future. It’s a bit bittersweet.

Anyway, our most wubbed moderator, Creepy, wrote a blog entry (in his brand new blog) that I felt everyone should read fully. Please take a look at it.

It was four days ago, technically. But I wanted to write a post about it. What a long time to have a site up and running, don’t you think? In three years, I doubt this blog will be running. Even if it is, it’ll probably be full of half-gibberish posts about nothing in general. Either way, Mike and Shane are the reason that RSBANDB is here. We (the community) help the site along by..being there and being supportive. It’s easy to just be here, but being supportive (whether you’re donating, modding, contributing, or just being helpful) is what makes it worthwhile to come here every day. That’s what makes it worthwhile to get to know everyone here.
Sobby-mushy stuff aside, we’re working (Shane, Jeff, and I) on something that will expand the community in a new way. Providing that things run smoothly, you’ll be seeing it relatively soon. Those of you who know what it is, don’t you dare tell or I’ll put my mean hat on.

Oh, by the by, I made a new piece of art. Check it out.

So, yay, clan support is finally here! I think that I may actually find it more enjoyable to be on RS doing mundane things if I can talk to random people. I wonder how long that will last. I didn’t get very long to test out the new features (other than the “kick” function, thanks to AMV…heheh, never ask me to kick you because I will do it!), but I’ll do a few more things tomorrow with it. Anyway, I’m pleased. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Jagex must have been working on it for a very long while before releasing it. But, I somehow doubt it. It’s been asked after for a long time.

Along with the new chat system was a whole new user interface design! I like it. It looks a little more.. hrm, can’t put my finger on it. It just doesn’t seem like the good old RS look. But, nobody likes new interfaces at first. We get used to them after a while. Anywho, in case you don’t already know, our chat channel is “RSBANDB” and you can join by typing in “Mike12088″ into the clan field.

On another note, I finally finished the last Harry Potter book. I’d meant to do so sooner, but I hadn’t been in the reading mood as of late. I loved it! In the past, I was never really “for” Harry Potter because I essentially disliked that it was so popular. Then I gave it a good try and I’ve loved it ever since. And, yes, you’re hearing this from a twenty year old. I think my favourite part of the book was when Harry gains Kreacher’s loyalty or when Luna and Xenophillius show up at the wedding. Gotta love Luna and her radishes dangling from her ears.