Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. ~ Warren Buffett

Yesterday I followed a tweet concerning what Philip Rosedale is up to these days and it led me to watch the following:

My first thought was “now I understand why Second Life has, from its very start, had such a terrible position on privacy. If this is the meat of Philip’s mind, it would never have occurred to him to include privacy in his model for virtual utopia.

My second thought was not a thought, but a feeling of what can only be described as revulsion.

I want to be able to step back and slip into a mindset I used to call up regarding business matters — the mindset where I can casually break people down into currency and value and speak about them like the blue and pink pegs that fit into your car in The Game of LIFE. I don’t know if it’s something about getting older, or getting more empowered toward my introverted nature, but I can’t break down humanity like that anymore. Logically I understand that if I want there to be more products and services that cater to introverts, that there is certainly a place for those who cater to extroverts. I do not begrudge Philip that, nor do I think there’s anything inherently wrong in his concept of having people demonstrate value for their share of facilities. It feels icky to me – but that’s an emotional response that has a lot to do with my personal values. In the neutral territory of my objectivity, I understand there’s nothing wrong with this. Although I do see such a potential for abuse that it makes me edgy.

There is certainly an appeal here for the network-hungry young coder who doesn’t mind having their personal information harvested, displayed, and distributed in exchange for a power outlet in a goldfish bowl workspace. But there’s no room in this idea for the introverted code monkey. They have no value in this model. And that feels like a misstep.

I know a lot of coders and the vast majority of them are introverts due to simple survival (granted, I tend to be drawn to other introverts and so my experience may be tainted). Coding is about defining a problem, wresting with complex tiers of information to solve it, breaking that solution into fluid patterns, optimizing those patterns into the most elegant configuration possible, and then following the exact syntax to render it into code. Then you go back and fix all your mistakes and generally rewrite the whole thing (because by the time you get to the end you’ve thought of twenty different ways to do it all better).

Few people have the talent to do this casually. I’ve known some and the ones I’ve known honed this talent largely by learning to shut out the things that would distract them from their tasks. JTL was probably one of the most gifted coders of his generation. He could do the kinds of things instinctively that other coders take weeks to figure out. And he could write code on the fly that was flawless. The exchange for this was the need to be able to focus — which is why working in offices in general was frustrating for him. The simple act of someone coming in to ask a question or share the joke was an interruption of the flow.

Most extroverts simply don’t realize the imposition they put on introverts by forcing themselves upon us. It feels so natural to them — as well it should, for they blossom when engaged.

Coffee & Power plays to me like a perverted wuffie experiment combined with a casino model where the house vig decides who matters and who doesn’t. Like a casino, as long as it’s all above board and stated openly from the start there’s nothing wrong with it. But it horrifies me that the cafe model of the future is nothing more than a boiler room with laptops.

I don’t wish Philip to fail, but I do hope his idea is more a successful novelty than a trend.

Imagine plugging into wifi at your local Starbucks and seeing your name and profile flash up on the big screen. It shows the people you’ve worked with, the companies you’ve worked for. It shows your dating status and how many days it’s been since you changed from “in a relationship” to “single.” It shows what kind of coffee you ordered last time you were there and the fact that you got that brownie and cheated on the diet you’ve been blogging about. It shows that you’re a social liberal and/or where you went to high school. It tracks what you’ve spent at the last few places you’ve been and can figure you’re only going to spend $10 during your stay, so you’re only entitled to 2 hours of power.

Sure, for the moment, Coffee & Power is asking you to volunteer your info in exchange for a place to work for a few hours. Will other places ask, or just pull from your public profile and social networking information?

Wet, soggy, horror.

“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” ~ Ray Bradbury

I resent that there are people making filk I like. I feel dirty.

…in the bad way.

“I’m a free spirit. I don’t like to be tied down. What? You mean literally? Oh no… totally into that.” ~ Goblin Female, WOW

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master” ~ Ernest Hemingway

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to do.”
“I’m trying to print! Control-P-Print!”
“Ah, but there’s something you haven’t done.”
“What? Tell me what it is! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”
“No, I can’t tell you.”
~ Eddie Izzard (having an imaginary conversation with his computer), Glorious

In the very early 90′s when I first started monkeying around with graphics, the programs I learned to use were Corel Draw on Mac and Microsoft Paintbrush. I have zero artistic talent, no eye for perspective, no understanding of framing or light source — but, I am a good mimic and I can develop techniques of craft in place of talent. My method of learning, however, is often hindered by the fact that I learn dramatically better with one-on-one instruction. When left to my own devices of gleaning from source material without the ability to ask questions specific to my process, my learning curve is handicapped to the point where I’m often simply discouraged from trying. This creates a feedback loop, as my desire to not inconvenience friends or associates by asking them to take the time to instruct me often crashes into my desire to learn or try new things. Basically, I need an ever-patient AI to tirelessly hold my hand and walk me through all I want to learn to make me happy. And, if the AI could be programmed with the late, great Majel Barrett’s vocal tracks that would rock my world. Someone get on that, will you?

At any rate, an amusing artifact of my learning process is the fact that I have an almost creepy loyalty to the tools I learn on. Even once I’ve developed new skills and adapted to superior tools, I have a tendency to fall back on the archaic out-of-date programs because they fill me with nostalgic happy and make me feel comfortable while pimping my creative energies in new directions.

I was an Apple girl until the late 80s because even though I played with PCs, they felt foreign and overly complicated to me; why drive a stick when you’ve learned on an automatic? It wasn’t until a friend sat down with me for a two hour session and taught me some basics of DOS and Windows when I hopped over to PC. To this day, however, I have fond memories of my Apple IIe clone and my first Mac and when I get back to a place where I can be frivolous with money, I fully intend to create a nook in my house that has an Apple IIe and Atari 2600 sitting side by side to feed my retrogaming lust. Why? Because Taipan! and Adventure just aren’t the same on emulators. That’s why.

Anyway. Where were we? Oh, yes, my creepy loyalty to obsolesce.

In the early 2000′s, when I first began making textures for The Sims and website graphics, Sabrina held me at gunpoint and forced me to learn Paint Shop Pro because when she discovered what I was using at the time, her geek sensibilities were revolted. The program she taught me on was Paint Shop Pro 6.0. I *still* use it to this day from time to time when I just need a quick and dirty edit on a small, simple file. However in late 2002, another beloved soul in my life (who happens to be a professional artist) insisted on giving me Adobe Photoshop 101. The version at the time was Photoshop 7.0, and even though I have CS versions on my computer with their bells and whistles, I still open up Photoshop 7.0 90% of the time when I start a new project.

Shut up. It’s a sickness. Something about my brain and comfortable territory.

The good news is that, most of the time, when someone takes their time to instruct me, I have a one-trial learning process — which is to say once I “get it” no one ever has to show me again and I never forget (barring the occasional need for refreshers after long periods between employing knowledge). Further, I can be a quick study unless there is a lot of higher level math involved or I’m wading completely out of my depth. Unfortunately, however, these boons only apply to human-instructed knowledge. Knowledge I’ve had to research on my own or eke out for myself does not enjoy such preeminence in my gray matter. I have no idea why. The majority of my developmental learning happened by myself out of books and resource materials with occasional input from human units — you’d think it would be the other way around.

So when I gutted up and convinced myself that I needed to start experimenting with AV tools, I knew it was going to be bumpy. Once again, I have zero artistic talent outside of the ability to spin the occasional phrase and make it purdy-like. I also am no smooth hand with mouse controls or hot keys, and there’s the fact that the most professional programs I have are a wee bit out of date. Still, if every 14 year old can make a You Tube video, surely I can.

The jury is still out on this. I am not impressed with any of my early attempts and would be utterly discouraged if I felt anyone outside of a small sector of kind eyes and ears were paying attention. There is a benefit to having a personal blogspace and throwing bones into the wind to see how they fall. The augury can take its time and be more patient before casting the final say.

What I have learned this week, is that sometimes you have to accept that you’re an amateur and use amateur tools and ignore all the tutorials that *insist* you have to have the newest, shiniest version of X. After 20 days of weeping, screaming, begging and making lewd gestures at Adobe Premiere to try and woo it to do what I needed, I gave up and Googled foolproof digital home videos. This led me to discover that Windows Movie Maker was already on my computer and was already intended for AV dimwits like me to start on. It comes with training wheels.

What this means for my October Project, is that the process has gone from two hour uploads and hair-pulling guesses about compression and formats to “click, click, done” with the final product being superior in quality and a fraction of the file size.

To my credit I didn’t cry. Although I really, really wanted to. Realizing I’ve been wasting insane amounts of time to produce something of inferior quality *seriously* shakes the pennies from my mental piggie bank. Ah well, we live, we learn, we scream obscenities to the walls, and we move on. Ugly processes can lead to the best results. Or so I keep telling myself.

I am certain that if I continue down this masochistic path and develop my craftiness to shoot and edit AV files, I will look back and wonder how I could ever have been so clueless. I’m also betting Windows Movie Maker will still be something I keep around, in all its lame idiot-proof glory.

And yes, I would like some cheese with my whine. So there.