Abbie Smith is a graduate student studying the molecular and biochemical evolution of HIV within patients and within populations. She also studies epigenetic control of ERVs.
I had a terrible nightmare last night.
Starcraft II came out, and I was playing it opening day with lots of other people... and like, I totally forgot how to play Starcraft. All my soldiers were dying. My rocket launchers were getting blown up. And for some reason I had a ton of money and no structures... and the ones I did build were placed all wrong...
It was awful.
Needless to say Im excited about Starcraft II, and I didnt really mind their 'Real ID' registering thingie that was causing all sorts of trouble. The guys at Penny Arcade pretty much nailed it: "Of course it doesnt bother you. Everyone on the Internet already knows your name. It hasnt stopped you from being a fucking asshole."
LOL!
Technology
Comments
If you don't have enough to blog about already, this looks cool: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/07/the-vaccine-that-came-in-from-th.html
Posted by: Charl | July 13, 2010 10:31 AM
If you want to hone your skills, I have a beta account that I'm barely using. It's super fun though :-)
Posted by: Kevin | July 13, 2010 10:40 AM
Starcraft II grad battle? Hell yeah!
Posted by: SVN | July 13, 2010 10:42 AM
I just canceled my battle.net account, but there's always Diablo 3 looming.
Posted by: Mu | July 13, 2010 10:50 AM
I think the more salient point is in the next to last word bubble, whereupon one of the creepers who play WoW as srs bznz crawl into through your window and stab you to death.
That threat is tiny for Seth, White Straight Male, but for people who lack even one of those qualifiers it's much larger, probably even an order of magniture larger. Blizzard's stupid idea was a blatant threat to non-dude-bros - stay off the internet, or we'll let your stalkers find where you live. Stop playing our game, or our creepers will hunt you down in meatspace and kill you.
Posted by: stogoe | July 13, 2010 11:11 AM
WoW was released 1 week before my prelims. How torturous was that?
Posted by: JohnV | July 13, 2010 11:15 AM
Lol I had the same nightmare when I was playing Red Alert back in the days.. It will scar you for life.
Posted by: Tobias | July 13, 2010 11:33 AM
My understanding is that the RealID is not required to play any of the games, just to post on their own forums...no? If so, I have no beef with this, except to note that I still think it's a terrible idea. I think they're still operating under the belief that they have to (and can) maintain a forum environment that doesn't freak out parents. I wish them luck with that...
The rumor about them keeping their employee IDs secret did bug me though...
Posted by: jaranath | July 13, 2010 11:45 AM
That comic may be the first sensible argument against blizzard's actions.
I know that when I play DDO, i'm the character. Bynkii, a Monk. With a weak bladder, an addiction to coffee, and a love of high places.
That ain't rain.
Even in the forums, that separation between me (john) and my character (bynkii) is important. It's why my wife and I don't tend to do a lot of groups. We take the role-playing aspect seriously, and we play the dungeon as if we were the characters as much as possible. (hence our love for killing everything we see. if they're all dead, they can't cause us problems later. It's more efficient in the end.)
Posted by: John C. Welch | July 13, 2010 12:29 PM
There ya go, shilling products again. Don't you see the difference between a fucking game developed by an fucking academic (like the fucking original Moria, written at fucking OU) and a fucking game written by a fucking corporation?!?!?!?!??
Posted by: carlsonjok | July 13, 2010 12:52 PM
Blizzard's RealID is not going to be implemented on the Forums, New or Old. They are still looking for ways to improve and stop trolls on the Forums. As for the RealID, only if you give your permission and or give your email to a friend can they see your real name. You still have to Accept any and all RealID friends.
Posted by: Lenny | July 13, 2010 1:23 PM
Such a hottie
Posted by: opcn | July 13, 2010 2:37 PM
I remember the day the original Doom was released and brought the entire internet to its knees. I'm really glad that school is going to be out when SC2 is released.
Posted by: Joseph Hewitt | July 13, 2010 10:06 PM
I used to be quite addicted to Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. Fortunately, Blizzard seems to not need my money (they still don't have a Linux version), so I don't feel a particular need to give it to them. So my productivity stays intact, even after they're released. ;)
Posted by: Joseph | July 14, 2010 8:12 AM
Ugh... Starcraft 2 will be the end of my PhD. I can only hold out so long!
Posted by: theshortearedowl | July 14, 2010 9:54 AM
Bah. Starcraft II is just a distraction.
The real game will be World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Posted by: Chance Gearheart, NREMT-P/EMD | July 14, 2010 6:59 PM
I dont like World of Warcraft cause I dont want to interact with people (guilds).
In Starcraft, I can take over the universe, by myself, just like God intended.
LOL!
Posted by: ERV | July 14, 2010 7:14 PM
Yeah interacting with people is my least favorite part about WoW considering the fact that so many people on there are such social rejects that they make me look normal by comparison.
Posted by: JohnV | July 15, 2010 9:05 AM