Joshua Bell
2005-04-23 05:43:32 UTC
Okay, let me officially de-lurk. Hello, TML!
Introduction:
My name is Joshua Bell. I just turned 32, and am Canadian by birth, but live
in Kirkland, WA, USA with my wife Susan and our 2-year old son Caspian. By
day I'm Lead Program Manager at Microsoft on the InfoPath product. By night
I'm busy with the aforementioned 2-year old, so there's not much else to
report. :)
Traveller Background:
I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and was lucky enough to attend an
elementary/Jr. High school mere blocks away from The Sentry Box (if you're
not familiar with it, it has grown from a hole-in-the-wall game shop in a
strip-mall next to a tattoo parlor, to a multi-room store to now a
multi-floor warehouse of gaming that is probably unrivaled on the
continent). My friends and I were sucked into D&D when it was corrupting
North America's youth, but by the time I was 12 (1985) we'd moved on to
Traveller. Admittedly, we had short attention spans (and lived all across
the city with no cars and only somewhat pliant parents), so I can only
recall ever actually playing two or three gaming sessions.
But I was more into collecting the book and exploring the OTU. By the time I
stopped I think I had most of the Books, the Library Data Supplements, and
the (IMHO) cool stuff - most of the double-digit JTAS issues, Adventure 12
and the first 7 Alien Modules. Mmmmm, tasty alien secrets. Then pretty much
nothing for 20 years - I more time spent playing computer games, then
university, MUDs and such, then a career, etc.
(Look at the numbers and you'll note I completely missed the post-CT
developments. 2300 was just being announced, then MT looked... well...
trashy. I mean, purple and silver? And then there was GURPS, some funny
sounding thing by this guy who'd ran all those Car Wars ads in Dragon
Magazine.)
Flash Forward:
Wizards of the Coast stores sprung up in the Seattle area like weeds, then
almost overnight the collectable card game craze imploded and they all
vanished - but at least I saw the FFE reprints. Over the holidays this past
December I visited my parents and made my yearly pilgrimage to The Sentry
Box, and picked up the first JTAS reprint. Mmmm, nostalgia!
When I got back home I dug up my box-o-Traveller stuff and fell in love
again. Among my treasures at home was a hand-drawn poster of explored space
derived from the Imperium Map poster and the alien module sector names, and
dot-matrix printouts of sectors from an Apple II (in full 72-DPI glory) -
I've always been a map aficionado. Since then I've ordered a few more FFE
reprints and have started picking up other things on eBay. And, of course,
Googling for fun stuff.
Projects:
I'm always flitting from one project to another. I had an idea for a couple
of Traveller related projects so I thought I'd put something together before
saying "Hi!". I mentioned my "Alien Module 0: Vilani" project before. That's
basically stalled. But I got the other one to a somewhat presentable state.
I popped by http://jtas.net/travelleratlas/ and thought "cool!" at first,
then realized that most of the maps had been generated by hand. Aaaaaaah!
That just makes my teeth hurt with sympathy pain. Also, Google Maps had just
gone beta, and I found a copy of GURPS Traveller at Half Price Books (which
features the Imperium Map in a "console" frame) to I created a conceptual
blend of all of the above:
http://inexorabletash.members.winisp.net/maps/map.htm
I've tested in IE6 and Firefox (so it should work with the latest
Netscape/Mozilla browsers). Click and drag in the map, zoom in, go wild.
You'll need a decent 'net connection. Note that it's generating all of the
tile images on the fly, so I hope it can relieve some of the tedium of
maintaining projects like the one at jtas.net.
(If you're curious, it's a tiny C# ASP.NET app with less than 1400 lines of
code. There's a "readme" on the site with other details. And yes, I've fired
off the requisite mail to Marc.)
If you do just one thing with the map, set the scale to 64 (Subsector) and
select Regina/Spinward Marches.
If you do just two things with the map, visit Regina, but also set the scale
to 16 (Sector) and pan around the Imperium to get a sense of scale. (I also
recommend turning on "all" sector names.)
If you do just three things with the map, visit Regina, then pan across the
Imperium, but finally set the scale to 64 (Subsector) and select
Capital/Core. Then retrace the steps of the Sylean Federation Scout Service,
and try to make your way to Vland or Terra. It's a humbling trek.
..
I'd also like to share my thoughts on a research paper that recently crossed
my desk, titled succinctly enough "Applications of the 4 color printing
process in the Rule of Man". After finishing Stanislaw Lem's "A Perfect
Vacuum", a masterful work that I should have experienced much earlier in my
life and I heartily recommend to others, this pseudo-scientific treatise
seemed a relevant read to tackle next. Alas, especially when viewed in the
light of the prior text, this research paper left me disillusioned.
While the author should be commended for tackling such a difficult task, it
is clear that nearly any reader of "Applications." is likely to be
disappointed. Those readers who are unfamiliar with the debate - that subtle
differences between Solomani and Vilani color vision was a prominent factor
in both the rise and subsequent fall of the Ramshackle Empire - will be
bewildered by cursory detail that the author provides as background to his
hypothesis. More educated readers who are already aware of the controversy
will undoubtedly find that the detail of the investigation - such as the
psychological impact of subtle gamut shifts - are, while undoubtedly
groundbreaking in their insights and thoroughness, are too disconnected from
the larger psycho- and socio-historical analysis to support the conclusions
drawn.
As background for readers who fall into the former camp, perhaps it is worth
grounding the discussion. Researchers of the Traveller Canon established
many years ago that the fictional Vilani branch of Humaniti who populated
what they called the Ziru Sirka, or Grand Empire of Stars, and that within
the contemporary context is called the First or Vilani Imperium, differed
only slightly from the Solomani, or Terran branch. Among the subtle
differences documented were slight changes in proteins such as blood
clotting factors; this invariably led to the conclusion that many other
subtle physiological changes were implied. Chief among these was that color
vision would be slightly affected. Simply put, when compared to the Solomani
baseline, the Vilani would experience colors in a more vibrant fashion.
This is akin to the "taster/non-taster" genotypes, where one human genotype
("tasters") has a markedly higher density of taste receptors when compared
to the other ("non-taster"). The practical experience is that from a
"taster" perspective, "non-tasters" crave spicy food. From a "non-taster"
perspective, "tasters" prefer bland food. In each case, the preferred food
produces the required stimulation; too much or too little stimulation (by
spicy or bland food) is literally distasteful.
The impact of this on Vilani and Solomani vision and thus visual style
preferences is well documented in the TML Archives. From a Vilani
perspective, the Solomani prefer garish and busy schemes. From a Solomani
perspective, the Vilani prefer bland or muted colors. Interestingly, this
same facet is documented in reference works on the Vargr, who have even
further muted color experience than the Solomani, and thus prefer even more
use of vibrant and contrasting colors, to the point of being extremely
offensive to the Vilani.
Against that background (which should be familiar to all but the most
closeted of readers), the author of "Applications." attempts to show that
the CMYK, or four-color printing process, which is adapted to "real" human
(or Terran/Solomani) vision, would be ill suited for producing content that
would appease Vilani viewers. The core of the author's hypothesis is that
when faced with the garish four-color scheme as imposed by the Solomani, the
Vilani would be forced into a state of mild cognitive dissonance with any
printed material. Starting from this reasonably solid premise, the author
then leaps to unjustified conclusions.
During the Rule of Man, ". this would have applied to all aspects of printed
life," writes the author, ". from propaganda posters to the very paper
currency the Ramshackle Empire relied upon to stave off the inevitable Fall
of Night." While the scientific grounding of much of the paper, referencing
studies on color vision conducted with real humans and computer-simulated
gamut shifts measured against reading retention and task completion speed,
sets new standards for scientific research into fictional peoples,
inflammatory and obviously culturally biased claims positing the Solomani as
desperate conquerors detract from the impact of the work.
At the end of the day, "Applications." is fascinating, and for anyone
interested in scientific speculation within the Traveller Universe it sets a
high standard. I don't think I have seen such attention to detail in the
grounding research before. Unfortunately, the conclusions which are drawn
from the work are so tenuous that they should not appear in a scholarly
work, no matter how imaginary the subjects.
Introduction:
My name is Joshua Bell. I just turned 32, and am Canadian by birth, but live
in Kirkland, WA, USA with my wife Susan and our 2-year old son Caspian. By
day I'm Lead Program Manager at Microsoft on the InfoPath product. By night
I'm busy with the aforementioned 2-year old, so there's not much else to
report. :)
Traveller Background:
I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and was lucky enough to attend an
elementary/Jr. High school mere blocks away from The Sentry Box (if you're
not familiar with it, it has grown from a hole-in-the-wall game shop in a
strip-mall next to a tattoo parlor, to a multi-room store to now a
multi-floor warehouse of gaming that is probably unrivaled on the
continent). My friends and I were sucked into D&D when it was corrupting
North America's youth, but by the time I was 12 (1985) we'd moved on to
Traveller. Admittedly, we had short attention spans (and lived all across
the city with no cars and only somewhat pliant parents), so I can only
recall ever actually playing two or three gaming sessions.
But I was more into collecting the book and exploring the OTU. By the time I
stopped I think I had most of the Books, the Library Data Supplements, and
the (IMHO) cool stuff - most of the double-digit JTAS issues, Adventure 12
and the first 7 Alien Modules. Mmmmm, tasty alien secrets. Then pretty much
nothing for 20 years - I more time spent playing computer games, then
university, MUDs and such, then a career, etc.
(Look at the numbers and you'll note I completely missed the post-CT
developments. 2300 was just being announced, then MT looked... well...
trashy. I mean, purple and silver? And then there was GURPS, some funny
sounding thing by this guy who'd ran all those Car Wars ads in Dragon
Magazine.)
Flash Forward:
Wizards of the Coast stores sprung up in the Seattle area like weeds, then
almost overnight the collectable card game craze imploded and they all
vanished - but at least I saw the FFE reprints. Over the holidays this past
December I visited my parents and made my yearly pilgrimage to The Sentry
Box, and picked up the first JTAS reprint. Mmmm, nostalgia!
When I got back home I dug up my box-o-Traveller stuff and fell in love
again. Among my treasures at home was a hand-drawn poster of explored space
derived from the Imperium Map poster and the alien module sector names, and
dot-matrix printouts of sectors from an Apple II (in full 72-DPI glory) -
I've always been a map aficionado. Since then I've ordered a few more FFE
reprints and have started picking up other things on eBay. And, of course,
Googling for fun stuff.
Projects:
I'm always flitting from one project to another. I had an idea for a couple
of Traveller related projects so I thought I'd put something together before
saying "Hi!". I mentioned my "Alien Module 0: Vilani" project before. That's
basically stalled. But I got the other one to a somewhat presentable state.
I popped by http://jtas.net/travelleratlas/ and thought "cool!" at first,
then realized that most of the maps had been generated by hand. Aaaaaaah!
That just makes my teeth hurt with sympathy pain. Also, Google Maps had just
gone beta, and I found a copy of GURPS Traveller at Half Price Books (which
features the Imperium Map in a "console" frame) to I created a conceptual
blend of all of the above:
http://inexorabletash.members.winisp.net/maps/map.htm
I've tested in IE6 and Firefox (so it should work with the latest
Netscape/Mozilla browsers). Click and drag in the map, zoom in, go wild.
You'll need a decent 'net connection. Note that it's generating all of the
tile images on the fly, so I hope it can relieve some of the tedium of
maintaining projects like the one at jtas.net.
(If you're curious, it's a tiny C# ASP.NET app with less than 1400 lines of
code. There's a "readme" on the site with other details. And yes, I've fired
off the requisite mail to Marc.)
If you do just one thing with the map, set the scale to 64 (Subsector) and
select Regina/Spinward Marches.
If you do just two things with the map, visit Regina, but also set the scale
to 16 (Sector) and pan around the Imperium to get a sense of scale. (I also
recommend turning on "all" sector names.)
If you do just three things with the map, visit Regina, then pan across the
Imperium, but finally set the scale to 64 (Subsector) and select
Capital/Core. Then retrace the steps of the Sylean Federation Scout Service,
and try to make your way to Vland or Terra. It's a humbling trek.
..
I'd also like to share my thoughts on a research paper that recently crossed
my desk, titled succinctly enough "Applications of the 4 color printing
process in the Rule of Man". After finishing Stanislaw Lem's "A Perfect
Vacuum", a masterful work that I should have experienced much earlier in my
life and I heartily recommend to others, this pseudo-scientific treatise
seemed a relevant read to tackle next. Alas, especially when viewed in the
light of the prior text, this research paper left me disillusioned.
While the author should be commended for tackling such a difficult task, it
is clear that nearly any reader of "Applications." is likely to be
disappointed. Those readers who are unfamiliar with the debate - that subtle
differences between Solomani and Vilani color vision was a prominent factor
in both the rise and subsequent fall of the Ramshackle Empire - will be
bewildered by cursory detail that the author provides as background to his
hypothesis. More educated readers who are already aware of the controversy
will undoubtedly find that the detail of the investigation - such as the
psychological impact of subtle gamut shifts - are, while undoubtedly
groundbreaking in their insights and thoroughness, are too disconnected from
the larger psycho- and socio-historical analysis to support the conclusions
drawn.
As background for readers who fall into the former camp, perhaps it is worth
grounding the discussion. Researchers of the Traveller Canon established
many years ago that the fictional Vilani branch of Humaniti who populated
what they called the Ziru Sirka, or Grand Empire of Stars, and that within
the contemporary context is called the First or Vilani Imperium, differed
only slightly from the Solomani, or Terran branch. Among the subtle
differences documented were slight changes in proteins such as blood
clotting factors; this invariably led to the conclusion that many other
subtle physiological changes were implied. Chief among these was that color
vision would be slightly affected. Simply put, when compared to the Solomani
baseline, the Vilani would experience colors in a more vibrant fashion.
This is akin to the "taster/non-taster" genotypes, where one human genotype
("tasters") has a markedly higher density of taste receptors when compared
to the other ("non-taster"). The practical experience is that from a
"taster" perspective, "non-tasters" crave spicy food. From a "non-taster"
perspective, "tasters" prefer bland food. In each case, the preferred food
produces the required stimulation; too much or too little stimulation (by
spicy or bland food) is literally distasteful.
The impact of this on Vilani and Solomani vision and thus visual style
preferences is well documented in the TML Archives. From a Vilani
perspective, the Solomani prefer garish and busy schemes. From a Solomani
perspective, the Vilani prefer bland or muted colors. Interestingly, this
same facet is documented in reference works on the Vargr, who have even
further muted color experience than the Solomani, and thus prefer even more
use of vibrant and contrasting colors, to the point of being extremely
offensive to the Vilani.
Against that background (which should be familiar to all but the most
closeted of readers), the author of "Applications." attempts to show that
the CMYK, or four-color printing process, which is adapted to "real" human
(or Terran/Solomani) vision, would be ill suited for producing content that
would appease Vilani viewers. The core of the author's hypothesis is that
when faced with the garish four-color scheme as imposed by the Solomani, the
Vilani would be forced into a state of mild cognitive dissonance with any
printed material. Starting from this reasonably solid premise, the author
then leaps to unjustified conclusions.
During the Rule of Man, ". this would have applied to all aspects of printed
life," writes the author, ". from propaganda posters to the very paper
currency the Ramshackle Empire relied upon to stave off the inevitable Fall
of Night." While the scientific grounding of much of the paper, referencing
studies on color vision conducted with real humans and computer-simulated
gamut shifts measured against reading retention and task completion speed,
sets new standards for scientific research into fictional peoples,
inflammatory and obviously culturally biased claims positing the Solomani as
desperate conquerors detract from the impact of the work.
At the end of the day, "Applications." is fascinating, and for anyone
interested in scientific speculation within the Traveller Universe it sets a
high standard. I don't think I have seen such attention to detail in the
grounding research before. Unfortunately, the conclusions which are drawn
from the work are so tenuous that they should not appear in a scholarly
work, no matter how imaginary the subjects.
