Muratus del Mur

hahaha..i absolutely love this one "Research and Connection is actually a ploy Mur created to get people to remember things he'll probably forget." ..its TRUE in fact i mention this to the people i give certain info that they might eventually need to write them as research articles ;)

viscosity is a gold mine for the gameplay, it makes secret areas that are forgotten and gives a way to create activity centers for groups of people. It might not fit well with just a handfull of people in md now, but i won't change that. Viscosity gives value to places that otherwise would have been ordinary. It makes resource gathering a challenge, and encourages group play. The alternative to viscosity is to close down a large part of md so the remaining part will fit to the existing number of active players,...but viscosity solves that in an other more dynamic way..those areas self-close while still giving any group of players the ability to open them. Its uncomfortable, yes, so what. If i am wrong about all this, i will expect a clearer more aware explenation from either council, chew, or kings.. why? because if there is someone that will convince me to chance my concepts about how i want md to be, then they should be people that reach a certain rank in this invisible hierarchy. That doesn't mean at all that your views are insignificant or useless, they are actually very valuable, but they need to change the mind of other people before they will change my mind in any way... and i am talkinng strictly about viscosity case for now. There is also a research related issue here, viscosity and fenths, separation from reality by forgetting the surroundings, etc... the people i mentioned could talk to me about all this in a way i could explain in more detail the meaning of viscosity, and maybe find a more suitable way to integrate it IF needed.

i am afraid that i did indeed forget about this topic. If anyone with enough access could help me sort this out , it would be very helpful. the data is very valuable, but at this point i am unable to use it myself. As a fast opinion from what i see, i think an exponential drop of volition gain would pe appropriate..that way the low levels will be more freqvent and the grinding will become useless. but i also don't want to limit it, grinding has its good parts...i am unecided i must admit. Everything will be eventually adjusted to fit the most common, normal, values you gained, so thank you for your honesty in reporting the values and the way you obtained them. Maybe with the secondary tags system this could be divided in two, giving certain roles and limiting other roles for people going over a certain limit too fast. hopefully chew reads this, or someone will remind me about it when i will start coding again, who knows when, maybe in 2050 :)

the fear of someone being able to come in and see what you talk, or not being able to chat with people not in the same loction, are things that give md a certain feel. I might be wrong but in every other game i checked, the chat was something common, nothing "location" based...if you could call those "locations" ..and here its simply not like that. If you like to enjoy md for what it is, use it as it is, if you just want to use parts of it, then do whatever you like, but i must warn you it will never be the same for you. Where is the fun in plottting something in a secret location, or going to find someone in a remote place , if you "cheat" by using messengers? Of course anyone can do whatever they please outside md, but the user experience and level of excitement is designed to work with the way it is, ..what you will do otherwise will alter this. Eventually you will miss out part of what md is, its up to you. One note. PM's are not monitored and never will be. It is technically possible to do it for someone with database access, that being me and chew for the moment, but in case this rule will be broken i am willing to store them encrypted too. Chat is designed to leave traces, echoes of what was spoken there, giving unexpected people the occasion to see whats going on and pick on those traces. Keeping a md related discussion outside of md will only enclose you in a private group and will cut your connections with "what might happen"

Akshan, if you are too lazy to try then be also lazy to mention it. I don't think 3 blades would make a difference anyway yes..doing it slowly requires skill, a skill that can be perfected ... but the actual skill is to sharpen beyond what is normally considered "very sharp" my chrome-vanadium blade gave up eventually :))..who thought a cig could become such a hassle to cut clean. I managed to cut a pencil clean but a cig..its harder :)) I picked the winner for now... but i am leaving this topic open till last moment maybe someone does the trick I will help you a bit. a 45deg angle, clean cut till 99% of the cig, then a twist perpendicular on the remaining paper... that does the trick with a razor. Holding the cig vertically also helps, or hold it horizontally but cut from below ..this adds the weight of the cut part to help you cut clean. A rotation move (as i already saw) does the trick if the blade is ultra hollow ground or does not have an angle change. Commercially you will not find any blade sharpened like that, unless very expensive ones that are actually beveled...but its easy to achieve that shape within one day of grinding a blade manually, or a couple of minutes of doing it with an electric tool. For your curiosity, get an old type of razor blade, the big one, is still available to buy at very very cheap prices in malls, or disassamble a 'modern' single use shaving..thing (not sure how its called)... try with that. It will not be valid for this contest, but its for your curiosity to see if you lack the skill or the blade ;) There are two points in this challenge, one or the other are fine for me. Either learn to sharpen a blade, or learn to use it for delicate stuff. I must say i am not satisfied with the results, but i am satisfied with the amount of effort you put in trying it, in making a movie, and in trying over and over again

:) "soon" is best answer indeed .. its been two years indeed, my past two years where like a marathon, and was NOT work related, in fact, i consider working such a bliss now, like vacation :)) I am trying to keep a presence, i am not ignoring MD if that is how it looks like... when i will "return" i will focus on development, but as a player...idk.. "not soon". You are all lucky there is a wookie arround... seriously... md would have been dead by now without him, so stop asking about me and appreciate those arround that do all that they can to be 'alive', not like me

Thank you all for your kind wishes :) ..this made me very happy :) topic can be closed now, Thank you

Hehe ..thx. i mtoo drunk now.inagoodway :)

that second video is the most unexpected way i saw :)) ...sadly no, its not what i had in mind, but i admire the ingenuity :)) The first video is what i had in mind, but, sadly the last part is not clean cut this is vlid for everybody, don't be shy to post also stranger or more original ways you discovered,...i am looking for a certain thing, but, i might reward somehow also the impressive attempts (ps: Don't try filming slow motion or altering the cig content to better support the slow cut...thats not original but simply rude attempt to cheat, so don;t go that way)

hahha...seriously...where? i wrote it or i made it self-understood somehow? just curious.

or randomness IS part of the logic system of the universe, thats my conclusion so far at least...a conclusion i will keep open for change later, given a better reasoning i must add that with such forum topics i entertain myself occasionaly, i pic some of your replies as much as i can read (i have a serious concentration problem reading long text), and i analyze those replues individually, not compared with the rest. Even if i read or reply a year later, such topics remain the things that keep my mind alive and keep me going, so i must thank you everyone for your replies.

please remind me next time to give a public explenation about the reason i admited anyone into SOTIS...

symbols and counter-symbols are like music, you can't pretend to have musical ear and then confuse noise for melody. One mistake shows there is something "not there", but one perfect answer shows there might be something hidden in there (your mind and abilities/senses). Who won the 4 stage recruitment? I don't see anyone in sotis and i don't remember. I looked over all replies again and i know instantly who i would have selected (with a 50% score, but still more than the rest)..but..he is not. I wonder what happend to him... i avoid to say his name for now, because i don't remember the conclusions of that recruitment series. Looking at it now i would oscilate between canceling it or rewarding one person. help my memory pls

I was asked a question by Yoshi, and I think this part of the answer needs to be public, so here it goes; Recruiting for SOTIS will never be the same,so this is NOT a way to get into SOTIS.. This guild will be a collection of people, each different...thats why anything related to previous recruitments can be public...there are no secrets now. Symbols have counter-symbols, there is a rare...ultra rare...skill..better said "sense" that some have, to understand symbols with their feelings and be able to match their counter symbols. To determine such a skill its very complicated...people get tainted by the use of symbols nowdays and even those that have such a skill will judge with their logic not with their heart. So, i divided the recruiting in steps, because someone that has such a skill will be remarked easier this way, and the test itself was supposed to "open" their heart, or to confuse them totally, filtrating in this way all the participants. Pairs of counter-symbols have a special property ... they can describe a "complex thought" . Lets define a complex thought first... A thought that holds the information seen from all perspectives, balanced, without loose ends, that can not be normally detailed without being broken down in many many sub elements, such as a dream or a book, but in essence, its only ONE thought. Such a thought can be imprinted into objects, transfered between people, hold inside yourself...and so on. You can make a very clear and direct association between complex thoughts and magic. All the spell docs are each one complex thought detailed over multiple steps ;) In person i never met someone with this ability..sadly. Looking through history, i found two people only to hold a similar skill to mine...and I will not insist on their name them because i do not think I am worthy to be placed on same line with them,,.. they are from a different level so to speak. Before giving one name i will first expllain something. Like with any skill/ability, there is no sharp line to determine who has it and who doesn't. Someone could learn a skill. someone could partially understand it, while others can be over the line to master it and those people will expand the "borders". King Solomon had this ability, to enclose complex thoughts into symbol pairs. Sadly most of the info you can find nowdays is transcribed severl times and many many interpretations that lose the real meaning.... but the meanings remain in the symbols. A symbol "pair" can consist of 2,4 or 8 symbols, matched with their counter symbol. They build like a small universe if ideas, that are complete, but in their "core" they define a gap. Its like removing the surplus stone to reveal a beautiful sculpture. This is powerful...so powerful that probably anyone in existance mastering such a skill will make history or there won't ever be two people at the same time able to do this entirely. I have just a part of such a skill, (and i am not making history :)) ) so i can assume there are people out there, like me, that have such a skill partially. I saw traces of other people able to do this, some work in advertising, one was a monk...the advertising people are like shadows, in fact i tend to believe that the brain behind this was not the designer but someone else (like his employer) giving the ideea. The monk died like 100 years ago sadly. so..to stop this before its way too long. Symbols matching skills was a curiosity of mine and i wanted such a person in sotis...even with a partial skill..maybe one day it will matter in MD,,for sure. Sadly I realize that people come and go in MD and eventually sotis will remain just a collection of names...or..maybe not. I hope not :)

AUDIENCE IS ABOUT TO END ..what...nothing has been discussed?...so what? :))))))) you didn't expected that did you

UPDATE: i managed to open yoshis videos too from what i see now, you all used the fast method...the cleanest cut i saw so far is from Azull, Intrigue and Yoshi achieved similar results..with the very important mention that Yoshi put considerable effort in sharpening the blade (at least from i can tell in the video, Intrigue used already sharpened knives, correct me if not so) I want to see a slow clear cut... but if nobody does it i will select a winner from current entries. I've managed to do it with a shaving blade and a razor, just to test if its possible. There is a little catch to it...especially at the end where there is nothing to hold against the cut cig part that will not cut off completely....unless... (i let you discover unless what) I admit i failed to do it till now with a knife in a slow clean cut. I managed to cut it 95% perfectly, but the last part is so damn tricky. You can practice on fine paper tubes, much cheaper than cigs. If someone does it, wins, if it will pass too long time and nobody does it I will select winner(s) from the existing entries Thanks for participating in this contest :)

Intrigue and Azull to consider for the first place for now... I incline to consider Azull's cut much cleaner than the ones i saw in Intrigue's video..in fact..Intrigue's cigs look more like broken than cut with one of the knifes (but one does it acceptable) Yoshi ..I CAN'T OPEN YOUR VIDEOS.. please fix that somehow, upload on youtube or something Still nobody to show me a slow cut ...i guess that will be the final round (@yoshi i will continue o try to open the videos and get back with a reply about them) I guess who thought this is a trivial or too simple contest realizes now its not quite so :D

public council sounds like "democracy" ..and that simply does not work in MD or in any realm that is fully based on your own skills and achievements. I must say I hoped this would work out but I stated my opinion that it won't. You need authority for a council. That is obtained in two ways, wither under the immunity of anonymity or by obtaining it through your role over the years. I believe a public council could work if its made from all the powerful people in md, in rotation.. but .. this smells like corruption over the time, i give it a 50% chance to work, but i am not willing to "try" it myself. The risk would be that all influential people in MD will be "disbanded" as well if this fails, or corrupted, and i do not want to risk that. It is however something to think about in concept, maybe someone finds the missing link that could replace anonimity...then a public council will work (and remain stable over time) Just a note, i am currently avoiding to make any crucial decisions about MD social/organizational structure... I am too "away" from MD at this moment, and that makes me vulnerable to false information, so do not count on me to do such experiments in the near future. But there are people able to do it and i trust them. I only give advice now, not "directives". "One day i'll be back" :P

and i was wondering WHO is taking care of fb page...lol...so..who is it? I want all RL related contests advertised there, with pics and all, but posted by the participants, and a special rewards stock given as extra for those that do that, regardless if they win or not (something constant and not too valuable but still attractive). I was thinking to make an item called Reality Drops, given for anything that brings md contests outside the md realm...fb is still not reality but will present onlly contests rl related...makes sense what i say and why so?

this could be done with some adjustments.. i don't allow credit codes by default, but having a way to convert existing credits to codes, with certain requirements such as an active subscription, could be a useful thing. I need to talk with chew about this first. Generating codes is not hard, but could become a problem when codes get reset and people will start complaining they lost codes, for example. It also needs adjustments to admin so the auto generted credit codes will not clutter the current list, that is clear and tracked. a solution in this direction, with many limits however, is needed. finding a way to prevent one day subscriptions is however a higher priority due to abuse that is easy to do and is abnormaly punished ..while it should be limited by the interface somehow...but that an other story

i think it is sasha lilias 148016 743 5 1 means you have 5 tickets pending and one used

now we have an ice breaker :D do you think it will do the same if cut slower? "ordinary kitchen knife" could be a vg10 steel , depends on budget, any clue how "ordinary" it is? just asking i must admit i nevr thought about cutting it with a fast cut, i only tried with slow motion, i do not yet realize if its harder or easier yet, but i will try. Till i see the next vid to compare, all i can say is IMPRESSIVE! How long did it take from start to success, with the time spend on trying, sharpening, etc, and how many cigarettes you destroyed in the process? :D waiting for more!! ps, i want to see a pic of the used knife to see something about the blade, thanks

Thank you chew. Please put the sql in the coder manual :) Its likely i got something wrong, it came out suspiciously fast :)) ..but gladly there is you arround (even if undercover)

Exactly. Hold with one cut with the other

I reformulated the initial task text to fit with everything i detailed later in this topic. Task: Sharpen a knife blade in such a way that you will be able to cut in one swift (slow or fast) , one direction move, a cigarette, somewhere at the middle of it, while holding it by the filter. Cut angle must be between 90 (perpendicular) and 45 deg. The cigarette can be any normal brand but not "cigar" or slims. The blade can be any material you wish. The cut must be clean and not leave the cut part hanging or tear the paper. I also posted this on MD facebook page... and i welcome anyone organizing a RL related contest to do so ("by submitting the contest details to the authorities" ) :))