Peter Wooley’s Blog

On the night of Christmas, I had what I thought to be an intresting thought about using flash to position web layouts. It took me just a little while to figure out how and execute it and here it is. It essentially does what I want it to: lets you drag an object in Flash and hit a button to set the coordinates, then those coordinates set the relative position of a div that mimicks the look of the Flash document.I thought this was an interesting idea, something to possibly develop for allowing people to position overlay images on their headers or what not without having to code, and with the simplicity of the Flash Player. Although, the reactions I have been getting have been… less than enthusiastic.For those of you that have reacted in any way, I do not mean to offend, but it has made me ponder my role in this. When I originally thought of it, I was quite excited and thought it may just be something I could attain bragging rights for. Now, I am unware of what it is. I still hold onto my idea that it is ‘innovative,’ but when I proposed the idea to my boss, he wasn’t all too thrilled. I am not sure if he is not seeing what it does, or he is actually seeing more than me – knowing it is not a worthwhile venture. I understand that some of my ideas probably don’t have too grand of an effect over anyone besides me, but this seems like a simple use of accept technology to execute a fairly code-filled task.So, now I am in the middle – that grey area. I doubt I’ll be rich and/or famous off of this idea, but I want to believe it will do some good. Perhaps I’ll write another example…

Oh, blessed sleep! Last night, I got 12.5 hours of sleep! Granted, I slept past the time I should have slept, but I drove to school and every thing was fine!I also just finished my last presentation of the week and it went over pretty well. The audience wasn’t as receptive as I wanted at the beginning, but at the end I was entertaining.Unforunately, I have “lost” my PowerBook power cable. I was using it for a presentation yesterday and ended up, for various reasons, leaving it there. Well, my instructor told me he turned it into the “Cage” (our school’s technology rental area). I went there, and they couldn’t find it for some reason. So now, I’ve got to get to the bottom of it.

So, I’ve managed to do it. I am currently running on no sleep and am still going… well, I’m going. Earlier today, my body decided it wanted to throw up, so I ended up missing the last part of my morning class (but I was able to hold myself back from vomiting). It wasn’t a problem, as I did my presenation first. I am just glad it is over. It didn’t go extremely well, but what do I care now? Everyone else went and did fairly well in my opinion.My body has also decided it doesn’t want any food until I sleep. At least, I think it doesn’t. I still feel queasy, so we’ll see. I got my project done for tonight’s class, as well as the weekly homework which Tyler brought to my attention.I can tell this post won’t have the grammatical quality my other posts do (unless I’m the only one that thinks that), but I just wanted to let you all know how this Wednesday was going. Just remember: stay awake!

Well, it’s 4:19am right now and I am in no way going to sleep tonight. I am planning on heading out of here at 5:30am to drive to school, park, head in and finish up one of my projects for History of Material Culture. If I’m lucky, I can curl up into a little ball in a Library chair during my afternoon break. Not likely, though, as I will be engrossing myself in an Art Exhibit at a local Art Gallery – not sure which one yet.If you feel led, pray that I may be able to stay awake for all of these classes and be able to present my projects in a clear and concise manner. I think I may slam down some coffee to artifically wake my self up. I hope you are all enjoying your rest!

I was just looking at the newest set of Google quotes-of-the-day and I ran across one by Ronald Raegan:”Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”Take it as you may, its not meant to prove anything, just be yet another way of looking at this issue. I still say life starts at conception, but then I also think the universe was created by a Supreme, Omnipresent being and didn’t “Magically” Bang into existance from nothing./shrug

There is a time in every game I play that I feel a sense of belonging. Where I am no longer simply a player of the game, but have in some way made it my own, possibly feeling as though I control a piece of it.This happened earlier this year for me in the World of Warcraft. At this time, I’ve created a special bond to something called “cliff walking.” This practice involves walking carefully across a steep cliff to gain access to areas of the game otherwise not accessible. Normally, this feels like cheating – but in a game where I am supposed to explore every where, I want to explore everywhere! This ability has also been allowed by Blizzard (the company that created the game) since it was discovered when the game was in Beta. So, while I do not think it is how the game is intended to be used, it really feels great.When you’re high in the cliffs, above the perfectly landscaped areas and in the nitty gritty – where textures aren’t blended and repeated pixels stretch on and on – that’s where I feel I’m privileged. When I look upon what the developers look on as they are creating this land, I feel as though I have moved one step closer to that coveted position at Blizzard. On the same token, I can get to places that are on the brink of release and get a sneak peak, fulfilling my thirst for knowledge ahead of everyone else. Granted these are selfish reasons, but, like I said, they give me a feeling of belonging.Unfortunately, this feeling will soon fade. In the next content patch (1.9) they will be attempting to remove this ability. My guess is they will be successful, but in the patch notes they say “Players should no longer be able to walk on steep terrain.” I believe this means that it is a part of the game physics that will take more than pushing the “Cliff Walking Off Button” in the game engine. With hope, it will work for a while, but I imagine they will blot it out as soon as possible.With this knowledge, I’ve decided to place several characters in key locations that will no longer be accessible once the patch hits. I am unsure if Blizzard will move these characters after the patch, but I hope they do not.As pictured below, my Gnome Mage Serenny waved goodbye today to the land that she loves (mages are especially lucky as one of their skills allows them to teleport through invisible walls placed by Blizzard). Let’s all wave goodbye with her!/goodbye Cliff Walking. I will miss you.

Friends, it has just come to my attention that four (4) men working as advocates of peace in Iraq for Christian Peacemaker Teams have been captured by a group which call themselves Swords of Righteousness Brigade (or Swords of Justice Brigade, as it was presented to me in two different ways). This group is fairly unknown, but making a large statement.They captured them on November 26th, 2005 and have threatened to kill each of them if the US does not release all Iraqi prisoners by December 8th, 2005.Please, pray for the men being held to be comforted in Christ, pray for those that are holding them to open their hearts to God, these men and to the knowledge that these men are not hindering the Peace Process, but aiding it.You may also sign petitions in several places. The site I was directed to is at: freethecaptivesnow.org. I have also created an 80×15 image to place on your various blogs. I understand it is only a small work and many of us know 80×15 is small and hard to read, but please take action. If you feel led, I am sure it is quite all right to create your own images, buttons, sites, et cetera.Feel free to use my bandwidth with the following HTML:<a href=”http://www.freethecaptivesnow.org”><img src=”http://www.peterwooley.com/b/images/freethecaptives_80×15.png” width=”80″ height=”15″ alt=”Free the Captives Now” /></a>Please remember to pray as you see fit.