Blog Pantsu

Please either write in English or encode your characters

Lately, there has been comments that are quite problematic. WordPress, for some reason, won’t encode non-Latin characters - meaning, if you are writing in, for example, Japanese, then WordPress won’t process that text and simply return a bunch of question marks. This is because there is something called “character encoding.” Simply, this encoding allows computers to display text other than numbers. WordPress will only handle Latin characters (it’s best to assume that it will handle anything in English language). I won’t explain too much of it, but if you are typing in something other than English, then I suggest you either translate your post into English (Google Translator is a good one) or you can encode your post.

Encoding your post will allow you to post in your native language, but it requires more work (I prefer that you just translate your post into English). But, if you must, here’s how to encode: Simply click this link and enter your text into the small text box (the top one, not the bottom one). Click the “Convert to Unicode” and you will see a bunch of numbers with ampersands (&) and the number sign (#). Copy and paste whatever is in that box into your comment. For example, if I wanted to write the vowels a, i, u, e, o in Japanese Hiragana, I would do this:

Yes, “post” is the wrong word. Forgive my incompetence. Another point is that I had to encode the title 「求聞持の能力」でＭａｂｉｎｏｇｉついている弾く or else the title would be a bunch of question marks (Even the “Mabinogi” bit as well, since those are the Japanese version of the English letters).

Back to the PS2

Yes. I have a PS3, which I must say is a very good console, but I’m back to playing the PS2 all the time. This also explains why I haven’t been playing Mabinogi a lot.

You see, the problem with the PS3 is simply the prices. A single game costs up to $60, at the minimum. While the games are definitely worth that $60, I don’t have that kind of budget (I’m not even old enough to drive, so go figure). So far, the only games that I have are (in chronological order): Call of Duty 4, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Home Edition… or year, I forget), Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Rainbow Six Vegas. All very good games.

What would I be playing now, then, on my PS2 (well, it’s not mine exactly… it’s my brother’s, but he’s an Xbox360 person)? Well, it’s Warship Gunner 2. Yes, a game by the infamous Koei. Those guys that created and developed the Dynasty Warriors series, along with Dynasty Warrior Gundam, which the latter looked like utter, complete crap. Yes, but Warship Gunner 2 is an exception to their list of poor games. While the combat isn’t the real reason why I play this game a lot (I’ve got 42 hours, pumped 12 or so in the past few or so days), the massive button-mashing is enjoyable when you get to completely customize one’s ship. While you can’t make your own parts (you’re limited to the hulls that can be researched, for example) or command a fleet (go to Naval Ops: Commander for fleet command, which is another game by Koei), you can decide and plan everything. You can either choose a pre-planned (pre-built) ships or you can make from scratch.

My favorites hulls would be the German SS 2, U.S. Carrier 6 (the design is super bad-ass - gotta love American carriers) and the most powerful Battleship (doesn’t matter what the nationality is, they all look the same). The best gun is the 50.8cm, 750 caliber, 4 barrel cannon. Nothing can beat that (except for big lasers or the ridiculous 100cm cannon).

As for the PS3, the only thing I really use it for anymore is demos (that latest Naruto demo is actually fun and playable) and watching movies. You see, I’d rather watch a movie with my LCD 21″ television than with my LCD 19″ screen (The television is Element while the screen is ViewSonic; I recommend both manufacturers). The latest movies I’ve been watching a lot are Master and Commander: The Far side of the World, The Hunt for the Red October, Gladiator, and various anime.

「求聞持の能力」でＭａｂｉｎｏｇｉついている弾く

One of my favorite IOSYS songs played by the Lute instrument in Mabinogi. Excellent! Here’s the original song:

Some Japanese:

で de - something along the functions of the word “with” in English.

ついている tsuite iru - be on

弾く hiku - play (instrument)

with Maginogi be on play, or This song is being played on Mabinogi.

One thing you should NOT do with PHP

I know how dangerous it is, but it’s out of habit. What am I talking about? Well, it’s probably one of the most common mistakes a PHP developer/programmer/user will find: an array in a loop. It happens to me all the time, no matter what I’m working with, let it PHP, Python or JavaScript. This is just a reminder to me and anyone who faces this problem: never build an array in a loop! The array will just overwrite itself, and it can be a very well hidden problem. This includes loops and nested loops (loops in loops)… unless you want the array to overwritten. There are instances where the array needs to be overwritten (the mysql_fetch_assoc function is a good example).

This whole post may sound silly, but I suggest you be careful with array building in loops! it won’t cause any major problems (with exceptions), but you will never get the result you want (unless you want to the array to be overwritten, like I said before).

Drieick

I forgot to introduce myself

You know, I am so stupid. I forgot to introduce myself. The last three posts weren’t written by Bested (the owner and creator of the site), but by a completely different person. As a matter of fact, I even forgot to post a “Moving again” message on my other blog!

Well, anyway, here it goes: my name is Drieick, otherwise known as “Oliton” on Mabinogi. I have known Bested for quite a while, and we started a few projects together… which all ended in failure, I apologize. As of today, Bested offered that I become a writer (a couple days, he proposed I be a writter; not today). I said something along the lines of, “As long as we share the site. I’m not paying for anything.” By the way, that’s not why the projects we did together failed… it was lack of communication and a goal for the site.

Speaking of which, this would be the third blog that I’ve been a writer on. The two previous ones are blogs that I started (I just wrote stuff on it. I was never really committed to getting a site known on the internet).

As for me, I am fifteen years old and am currently a Sophomore at the Hogwart’s School for Magical Girls and Their Fanboys (HSMATF). The magical girl I study under is Rin Tohsaka-sensei, the hottest magical girl of all. She’s no transforming princess like Sailor Moon, but she can rip the nerves out of your body and wear a pretty short skirt.

This actually a doujin (and a excellent one, I might add!); if you guessed that, then cookie for you~ This is the most non-sexual image I have of her, trust me. I don’t want to have to go on Google when I can just give you a sexual image and be done with the day.

Drieick

One reason why Internet Slang is required

Have you ever read the comments on websites such as YouTube or any type of site that allows users to post a comment? There is someone that will always like Internet Slang (lol, ya, np, etc.), and, likewise, there is always someone, or some people, to flame him/her. I agree, it is annoying. However, I’ve just had a lesson pounded into me while playing Mabinogi.

You may remember Mabinogi from my previous post. My character can handle all wolves, excluding wolves more powerful than a white wolf. Well, I was killing wolves and… got killed trying to finish one off. A good-hearted chap wanted to revive me, but… the problem was, I’ve never typed a message while I was dead - in fact, I didn’t know how to! So, he asked if I needed help, I couldn’t respond (trust me, I tried to answer with a “Yes!”) and he left. I then revived at the city and immediately went back to where I died to apologize for not replying (from his perspective, I was ignoring him) and what do you know: he was almost dead. So, I save him. He gives his thanks and this is where I learn a lesson: I tried to reply, but given my fanatical anti-1337speak attitude, he left before I could even finish what I was typing. Probably thought I was ignoring him again. So, I said “Screw it,” logged off and then came on here.

I’m not sure if it was a girl or a boy, so I just use “him” (and other forms) as a gender-neutral pronoun. His character was a boy, though.

Drieick