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July 10th, 2009
07:21 am
You Didn’t Plagiarize, Your Unconscious Did
Is cryptomnesia - copying the work of others without being aware of it - to blame for journalism's ultimate sin? Um, maybe not.
...But could some alleged plagiarists—like Maureen Dowd, Chris Anderson, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and even Viswanathan, who all either deny the charge, or blame their copying on unconscious mistakes—be guilty of psychological sloppiness rather than fraud? Could the real offense be disregard for the mind's subliminal kleptomania? And if it is real, is unconscious copying (or "cryptomnesia" to those who study the phenomenon) preventable? Or, seeing as Nietzsche ripped off a passage of Thus Spoke Zarathustra from something he'd read as a child, and former Beatle George Harrison was found guilty, in court, of unconsciously copying the music for his hit song, "My Sweet Lord"—is cryptomnesia both unavoidable, and the perfect excuse?
...Over the last 20 years, Marsh has designed numerous models for studying cryptomnesia in the lab. An early study involved asking subjects to work with an unseen "partner" (actually a computer) to find unique words in a square array of letters, similar to the game Boggle. A short while after completing this task, the researchers asked each participant to recall the words they had personally found, and to generate new words neither the participant nor the participant's partner had previously been able to find. The subjects plagiarized their partners roughly 32 percent of the time when trying to recall their own words, and up to 28 percent of the time when attempting to find previously unidentified words in the puzzle. Not only was plagiarism rampant, many subjects who plagiarized also checked a box indicating they were "positive" their answers had not previously been given by their partners.
...But before we give high-profile cryptomnesiacs a free pass, as if they were suffering from an intractable psychological disorder, there's a bit more to know. Cryptomnesia happens more frequently between those who trust one another, such as people in romantic relationships or close friendships, but less frequently between strangers—particularly when the one whose ideas or words might be plagiarized is present. And due to our innate skepticism, unconsciously copying a person one doesn't know, or a source one doesn't yet trust, is uncommon.
When I encounter plagiarism it's usually a cut-and-paste job from Wikipedia, and I don't know how unconscious that might be unless authors are writing in their sleep. But it's an interesting article nonetheless.
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July 9th, 2009
08:49 pm
Old Speckled Hen from a can is not as good as Old Speckled Hen from a bottle.
...still pretty damn good, though.
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July 8th, 2009
09:31 pm
I'm sorry, media people, but I don't want to watch Michael Jackson's funeral and you can't make me, even if it's on every channel. Not unless you radio it straight into my brain and AHHHH OH MY GOD IT BURNS ONE GLOVE ONE GLOVE.
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July 7th, 2009
11:09 pm - Quest for the thing
Because I have too much free time and not enough commitments in my life, I decided to download the 10-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online last week and give it a burl. And as I approach the end of the trial, I think I can confidently say that LOTRO is in fact World of Warcraft.
Specifically, gameplay is 99.99% the same - wander around, kill stuff for quest rewards and stat increase items, gain levels to gain new powers to plug into your multiple skillbars, drink healing potions and draw threat to stop mobs from stomping the squishies. There are some differences, such as the more complex crafting system and virtues (talents) you have to earn rather than just gain passively, but these are minor curlicues of detail; the core gameplay experience is exactly the same. Except better, because in a lot of ways, LOTRO does WoW better than WoW does - less grinding, clearer interface, easier quest tracking, lower noise level on chat channels, stronger toon customization - none of which change the game, but all of which make it that bit more fun to play (and it's not like WoW isn't fun in the first place). On top of that you have a much stronger, more consistent tone and a more coherent (and popular) setting, which informs the player experience and makes immersion that little bit less impossible.
But you're still farming wolf pelts and ferrying parcels to earn +1 Shoulderpads of Adjective.
I can't help but compare both games to Guild Wars, which I've played sporadically over the last two years. GW is a fantasy MMO with skills, but that's more or less where the similarities end, because it goes in very different directions - focus on player tactics and skill, instanced worlds, minimal grind, low level cap, reduced emphasis on equipment and consumables, Japanese-European fusion art style and so on. It has very little in common with the WoW/LOTRO approach, and is in a lot of ways a more cerebral game - but also a less engaging one that feels flatter and much less socially rewarding. GW took risks, and a lot of them didn't pay off; LOTRO fine-tuned an existing paradigm and succeeds despite a certain lack of ambition.
There's probably a life lesson in there somewhere.
All that said, I found LOTRO enough fun that I'm planning to subscribe for a month, and hopefully team up with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) blithespirit for some Hobbits-versus-Evil fun. Here's hoping I get my fill before the WoW-monkey changes colours and finds its way onto my back again.
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July 6th, 2009
07:14 pm - Pain is relative
The hour and a half I just spent in the dentist's chair hurt.
But not as much as the $400 bill I got at the end of it.
(And my dentist's statement "Oh, I don't have a relationship with them" when I mentioned my insurance company stung a bit too.)
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July 5th, 2009
09:38 pm - Death to all kobolds
With character generation behind us, today we jumped into the first session of my short 4th ed D&D campaign. And while it was shallow and mostly involved stabbing kobolds in the face, I think it was a lotta fun.
Details behind the cut.
( Read more... )
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July 4th, 2009
01:44 pm
Going to the country.
Not actually planning on eating any peaches while there, but I wouldn't be so gauche as to refuse one if it were served to me.
Back later.
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July 3rd, 2009
08:53 pm
My first aid certificate arrived in the mail - I am so totally competent to provide basic emergency life support now!
Okay, that makes me sound like an aqualung or a prop from a low-budget SF TV show, but it's what it says on the piece of paper.
I've also been made Assistant First Aid Officer at work, which basically means nothing since the only injuries we tend to suffer are paper cuts. But it does mean that a first aid kit will be put by my desk, which may be interesting - especially if I raid it for painkillers and then go for a liquid lunch down the road.
I live to help people. I really do. Especially if there's a cheap booze high in it.
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July 2nd, 2009
08:50 pm
The human condition summed up beautifully by Marieke Hardy, slamming vapid car-crash TV ugliness on the way:
I don't want to chase the elusive dream of youth and the superficial idea that to be beautiful one must resemble Gwyneth Paltrow immediately after a team of professional frighteners has leapt up behind her and screamed BOO. I want to be happy with my tongue in someone's ear and the thought that I may one day read James Joyce's Ulysses from cover to cover.
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July 1st, 2009
07:12 pm
Today's featured article on Wikipedia is on the Hardy Boys (the fictional teenage detectives, not the wrestlers).It's actually a pretty interesting article that gets into the details of writing rates in the Depression era, racial politics and the bowdlerization of texts, legal wranglings and homoerotic subtext. Whoever put it together did a really good job.
But goddamnit, the Three Investigators were way cooler than the dull-as-ditchwater Hardy Boys, so when are they going to get the full-on analysis and big Wiki exposure? Where's the justice? The love? The 20-foot statue of Jupiter Jones made of solid marble sitting in front yard scaring off Mormons?
...sorry, I was in a 3.5-hour branding meeting today, and my brain and sense of priorities may be broken.
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June 30th, 2009
12:06 pm
Once again, technology provides humanity with exciting new ways to overreact and make twats of ourselves:
Alice Hoffman strikes back - and strikes outOn Sunday, Alice Hoffman tweeted her unhappiness over a review of her latest novel, "The Story Sisters." The Boston Globe ran the review, by author Roberta Silman. Some of Hoffman's complaints seemed valid -- she thought that too much of the plot had been given away. But the vitriol Hoffman used to express her dissatisfaction was extreme. "Roberta Silman in the Boston Globe is a moron," one tweet began. "Now any idiot can be a critic," stated another. ...That's not all: Hoffman tweeted Silman's phone number and e-mail address, encouraging readers to "Tell her what u think of snarky critics." The move from defense to offense served no one, especially not Hoffman, who instead of being wronged by a poor review comes off like an aspiring literary gang leader, dispensing orders 140 characters at a time. Silman hadn't been deluged by phone calls, she explained to Jacket Copy, because Hoffman got her number wrong.
...But the issue here has turned from the original criticism to the way that critique was leveled. Those Who Love Snark can't resist a bit of mud-slinging. But does our attention put too bright a glare on an author who is angry? Can writers vent their anger online? Is that a good idea? Looks like Alain de Botton has decided it is; he's popped up, angrily, in the comments thread on Caleb Crain's site. Crain linked to his New York Times review of De Botton's "Pleasures and Sorrows of Work" -- a review so negative that one litblogger described it as "basically murdalizing" the book. Anne Rice is taking notes, I'm sure.
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June 29th, 2009
08:07 pm - How fleeting and small our epic acts may appear to others
Over the last two years, Celadon Thane has reached the dizzy heights of level 20 again and again, thrown back the Charr invaders of ruined Ascalon, driven the Mursaat from Kryta, foiled the Lich's plans to destroy all of Tyria, trod the foreign shores of Shing Jea Island and Istan (for a short time), ventured into terrible and deep dungeons (although not the really hard ones full of wyrms), become beloved by the dwarves of the Far Shiverpeaks and cut the Great Destroyer, harbinger of the Apocalypse, to ribbons with her razor sharp sword.
In the process she's won accolades and titles, been killed over and over only to rise again moments later, made fast friends with a cadre of heroes including a dwarf, a hot necromancer, a gnome with really bad teeth and a giant robot, and now she carries the weapons and accoutrements of a legend - a sword made of marble, a shield that looks like it came off the side of an armoured car, a purple metal corset and a giant steel bird's head for a helmet.
...and yet I can't shake this feeling that somehow I'm wasting my life.
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June 28th, 2009
01:54 pm
This morning fluffworld told me that I would have made a great Nazi because I sneeze so loudly.
...that may be the worst compliment I've ever heard.
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June 27th, 2009
08:30 am
A Transformers 2 mini-review:
Maybe my soul is dead, because I didn't find two-and-a-half hours of giant robots punching each other against a backdrop of racist comedy and a hot girl in sexually submissive poses entertaining.
Or maybe Michael Bay's film is completely shit.
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June 26th, 2009
11:03 am - Done
I was meant to go to the last Short Story 2 class of the semester last night to hand in an assignment and be part of a joint presentation, but I didn't go for two reasons:
1 - I have the flu.
2 - The class can get stuffed.
I have the application forms for RPL, and as soon as I print off some sample stories to include I can send it in and arrange for a test. So I'm done with that class now and forever, and can devote my Thursday nights to more worthwhile endeavours like writing my novel or drinking beer in my underwear. And hell, I might even write the occasional short story for shits & giggles (and hopefully publication).
That's a load off my mind. The level of frustrated vitriol in this journal may drop as a consequence.
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June 25th, 2009
11:21 am - There is a muthafuckin' god after all
Connex has been stripped of its contract to operate Melbourne's train system, with Hong Kong company Metro Trains Melbourne to take its place. The city's trams will also have a new operator with Keolis Downer EDI ousting the incumbent Yarra Trams as the government's preferred tenderer. EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!
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June 24th, 2009
08:42 am
In my more paranoid days as a self-employed political commentator, I'd have considered the possibility that Godwin Grech was created as a trap by Rudd and Labor to provide Turnbull and the Liberals with insider Treasury data and build up a solid profile as a mole before feeding him the fake OzCar story so that they'd suicide over it.
The alternative is that Grech is a complete idiot who either made a fake email to impress his new mates or fell for a fake email without checking it out first.
Treachery or stupidity; such a hard coin toss to pick when monitoring politics. But it's probably safer to bet on Teh Dumbz.
The ironic part is that I doubt the voting public would have given a shit if K-Rudd had been giving a mate preferential treatment; they're too busy worrying about their jobs and superannuation. But Turnbull made a twat of himself over this whole thing, and that's gonna stick in the public consciousness come the 2010 voting season. And since the only other alternatives for leader are Joe Hockey (who everyone hates) and Tony Abbott (who made a fool of himself and Turnbull on Lateline this week, and who everyone hates as well), it's looking like another cat-turd sandwich for the Libs next year.
Yummy.
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June 23rd, 2009
03:41 pm
I don't mind donating platelets. I don't mind the pain of having a needle in my arm pressing against a nerve cluster for two hours. I don't mind the weariness and dull ache afterwards. I don't mind the nausea and numbness caused by the anticoagulant they pump into me along with my de-plateletified blood. I can face all that without a second thought.
But the one thing I can't face is watching them put the needle in my vein. I have to look away every time in case I flinch and bollocks the whole thing up.
It's a weakness. One day I will flense it away.
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June 22nd, 2009
03:20 pm - Move along, damnit, nothing to see there
There was a siege across the road from my office at lunchtime today - about a dozen cops in flak jackets and body armour blocking off the street, while one of them negotiated with a bloke apparently armed with a knife in the low-income flats on the other side of the street.
Mildly surreal but not all that personally scary, to be honest, since it's not like he would be a threat to me or anyone in the office/local area, just to whoever's in the flat with him. I walked out to get a sandwich at midday, headed past the scene and came back five minutes later, and no-one in uniform said boo to me.
And possibly that's because they were so distracted by the dozens of people standing around on nearby street corners and sidewalks rubbernecking that a marching band could have gone by undisturbed as long as they didn't stop for a gawk and a drum solo.
Fuck, I hate rubbernecking; I hate the whole audience mentality behind it, of wanting to play spectator to an event in an attempt to make yourself part of the event. It's not like the siege was personally affecting any of them; all the involved parties were in the flats. These were just experiential parasites, hoping that something would go impressively pear-shaped so they could tell the story to their friends later - a story which is about them witnessing the event, not about the event itself. Not about the lives of the cops and the poor, half-mad old bloke who eventually gave up without a struggle, leaving the onlookers to wander off disappointed. No blood, no news choppers, no exciting narrative to inject themselves into; just the sad bits of someone else's life that stopped being private for an hour.
(As usual, I interpret everything in terms of narrative.)
I know I'm being sanctimonious and up myself. But there you go. I'd rather tell my own stories than co-opt someone else's, and I'd rather respect the privacy of even a knife-wielding derro with dementia than pick it apart for my own fleeting amusement.
...admittedly most of my stories aren't that exciting, so if I ever get into a siege I'll probably milk it for everything it's worth - a sentence that summons up a mental image of being locked in a dairy with a gun-toting cow, which is probably a sign that I need to take a coffee break.
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June 21st, 2009
06:08 pm - Battle of the bands
After intensive testing in laboratory conditions over the better part of this afternoon, I am ready to announce that Rock Band is exactly 753% more awesome than Guitar Hero World Tour.
The key factors against GHWT:
- The characters are deep into the uncanny valley and look weird, while the framework around the characters and gigs is too cartoonish.
- The gigs are too garish and don't focus enough on individual band members.
- Too much 70s and 00s rock music, not enough 90s pop. Seriously, why is 'Hotel California' on here? Is that what the young people are into these days?
- You can't play a single song in career/band mode ; no, you have to play a predetermined set and then a giant flaming demon skull explodes through the floor and you have to do an encore and then Billy Corgan comes out to jam with you and the game tell you hey man, Billy Corgan has deigned to lend his uncannily digitalized face and big pants to this game because you're so cool, and I feel like pointing out that I'm 38 and don't need Billy's approval anymore, I'm my own man and I'm going to my room so leave me alone!
- There's no really strong sense of achievement, and this is probably the main thing. Rock Band multiplayer always has you looking to push yourself because of its reward structure; do well and you get a van, a jet, bodyguards, roadies, new places to tour and new challenges. The way GHWT portions out its gigs doesn't have enough of that reward mechanism; sure, you get cash and can buy clothes/instruments, but you can do that alone without bonding with your bandmates. Rock Band rewards the band, not just the individual musican, and that's cool.
- The vocals interface sucks.
Now, to be fair, GHWT does a lot of other stuff right. Character customization is high, there are some very cool songs on there, the drums are far less bastardly and difficult, and you don't have to create three different characters to play three different instruments; characters can take any role. These are good things. But Rock Band will have more longevity for me and bandmate K. - especially once we get a PR firm and can finally crack the notoriously discerning and demanding Sydney market.
Don't get me wrong, though - I'm glad I have GHWT as a side project. It'll let me take on the drums and I can totally dress as a ninja in the process. And if a drumming ninja in a gorilla mask is wrong, then maybe the whole damn world is wrong. Billy Corgan would agree with me.
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