the Paradox Portal

camping... got coffee? Get comfy

2005-05-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

I'm back early from camping.

I was going to stay til the 21st but a number of things made me decide to go home.

Let me start by giving you the subjects in this story

Mom - my mother, she is arrainging this trip
bro - my brother and professional fire bug
Tim - There is no way to describe Tim, its just not possible
Dipstick - a friend, and general wuss
Burnout - just that, a burnout.. too much freon in the diet
Dee - my cousin, and overall good person
Anna - Daughter of Dee, only there for the day
Me - um, yeah

Not all subjects are in this story, but here goes

Day 1 - Arrival at Blood Mountain (I'm not making this up, thats the name)

1st off, there are 8 people total to start with in 3 cars and a truck.
We head out and an hour and a half later we arive at Helen then to the campsite.

We all start unloading the gear and looking for a good place.

This is not an easy task.
What should have been a great campsite for well over 10 fair sized tents, was completely trashed.
Among some of the items we see all over the place on the ground are, broken glass, bullet shells, garbage all over the place, trash in the stream. You cannot look anywhere without the mental image of Beavis and Butthead going camping.
Its apparent that some people just don't care.. not a good start.

So we clean up the site enough to place 5 tents... and find that 2 are worthless (one is rotten and the other had a lot of missing parts, like a roof) so reduced to 3 tents (2 in one, 2 in another and 3 in another... one person that went with us was only staying for the day, lucky her.

During that evening, I attempt to start a fire, and after getting it going well, 2 of our party decide its fun to play with fire and they end up smothering it... so I light it again only to have it demolished again... I threaten bodily harm and they slacken just a bit, but cannot keep from holding a stick or small bug in the fire.

So I say to hell with it and allow them to play.. of course it went out about 10 minutes later.

Well we roast hot dogs, make smores, amd pretty much all the stereotypical camping events that you can think of.

later, its late so we decide to go to bed...but alas in all the hurry to setup camp, I must have raked over an ant hill because my tent is covered.

I grab the ant spray and granuals, spray the tent and spread the granuals around the tent... it works
I didn't realize I had to share my tent (the dipstick only brought the clothes he was wearing, not one other item) so I redo everything so he could sleep (even though the entire trip to the mountain, he said he was fine outside.. I knew better).

We have a smoke, and head to bed... I couldnt sleep a wink.. I could never sleep in the same room with someone whom I didn't know well, and to top that off, the air matress leaked.
I didn't bring anything else to place under me, so the roots were my pillow and the ground was my bed (I did have a sleeping bag, at least it worked) in any case, I get up and walk around (yeah in the dark) and I sit and listen to the stream and the wide array of animal sounds coming from the darkness... flashlight in one hand, 6 foot long sharpened fire poker in the other (we have Razorback and Black bear in these woods, and it only takes being paranoid once to be worth it. While boring, it was an uneventfull night

Day 2 - the plot thickens

Its a day of gathering, exploring and for some of us, fishing.

Everyone goes off in their own direction and I stay to guard the camp from the not so uncommon species called "Campus Thievus" and I'm alone yet again, but hey, at least noone is messing with the fire.

I spoke with dipstick a bit about the upcoming weather and how if it does rain, we are screwed. Its common knowledge to those who camp, that you never touch the walls of a tent when its raining, or it will leak. Dipstick makes up an excuse about having to work that night and takes off (its bull, I know where he works and checked).

As everyone returned, burnout starts playing with the fire again. and of course floods it with wood, and it starts to die. I try to get it going, and he, thinking he is helping, roots around the fire with the poker... after which we all play the lovely game of "who can reach the hot ash before it hits a tent"

Thankfully we all are winners and our prize is the continued existance of our tents.

I threaten bodily harm again, and he laughs thinking I'm being funny... this time, I'm not.

I relent and decide to go to bed early. Everyone decides thats a pretty smart idea and decide to also go to bed.

It was just not meant to be. at about 1 AM, the thunder looms and rains start. we start getting some really nasty storms.

Now, we are all in tents under trees, and these are VERY tall trees, so we all have our own personal lightning rod to fry us should God decide that it is our time.

Thank God s/he didn't, but man some of them were close. All is not well however.

It seems (and remember this if ever you go camping) Bug spray will open the fibers of a tent just enough to turn it into a screen door, water fills my tent yet I sit there, I am holding my bag, so it doesnt get wet.. and yeah, I'm a little scared at this point, if lighting hits a tree close to me, I fry, if its not so close, it could fall on me, either way I buy a nice cozy farm.

At this point, I'm the only one awake... until the CRACK of a blast that hit not 100 feet away wakes everyone up.
After the blast, it starts to die down a little, so I scramble out of my tent and make my soggy way to Mom's tent (which also comntains a Dee) and ask for the keys to her truck (at this point I decided I should have brought my Caddy) I move my stuff to her truck and lay back the seat to hopefully catch some sleep.. but, have you ever ridden a long way in a car in which the seats were so uncomfortable your back starts to hurt? Well, imagine an 8 hour trip, no stopping, no food, no drink, and you're hungry and tired... obviously no sleep again.

Day 3 - screw this

well, everyone sleeps longer because they were up at 3 AM, so I'm alone for a bit longer this time. Alone, wet, hungry, tired. Finally Mom wakes up and I head down to the camp (which is at the bottom of a very large hill, in what used to be a river bed) I decided that it would be best if I were to go home, and recruit Tim to drive me there.

If I were to stay another night with no sleep, I'd likely have thrown burnout into the creek.. head first (its 3 inches deep)

Well, here I am.. I watched the weather, and called Mom to tell her of the nasty storms moving in. She will likely pack it all up tonight.

In any case it was not a wasted trip. I did actually enjoy myself. I was able to reflect on things and do a lot of thinking without distractions such as a computer. I got a great workout, something I rarely get anymore.

I used to go camping all the time, but not any more....

maybe next time we'll bring an RV.

the Paradox Portal

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua, and Kenderseeker)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

Pandora's 2 Year Anniversary

2005-05-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

Coming Friday, June 3rd 2005...

The Pandora shard celebrates its 2 year anniversary

(coincidentally, it is also Yeshua's Birthday)

There shall be much merry making and feasting all over the world of Pandora, Events all day long (killathons, duels, riddles) , Quests (like the Kill Bill quest, sorry Bill), Freebies (the forcast is partly cloudy with a fair chance of orcstones), all kinds of goodies. There is even talk of Lord British himself making an appearance.

Be sure to Log On... see ya there

the Paradox Portal

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua, and Kenderseeker)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

CTlinx has been busy

2004-11-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

the Pandora Shard

Which means I have been busy.

I have been adding feature after feature to the site and would like to list a few of them for you.

#1 - We have a new web based RPG game called Phaos

This is still in the early stages but promises to be a really nifty way to waste time.

You can try it out at http://www.CTlinx.org/phaos/index.php

#2 - We have a new dating service.

This is the worlds 1st 100% free online dating service.

Unlike all the others, we allow you to not only view profiles... but you may reply to any number of them... there is no catch and its not a trial.

We do this for free because we are CTlinx, most everything we do is free.

Join the fray and meet someone special - http://www.CTlinx.org/date/index.php

#3 - The Paradox Portal is hosting Script challenges

We are offering prizes for your scripts.

From monsters and NPC's to items and systems, we will have a few challanges for every type of RunUO script.

You can find these on the portal at http://www.CTlinx.com

We have a lot of other new features, but I'm going to let you figure out what those are on your own.

the Paradox Portal

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua, and Kenderseeker)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

No Limit Texas Hold-em ( @ UB )

2004-10-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

Ah the smell of smoke in the air, the sound of chips splashing to the table, the agony of defeat or the heart pounding joy of winning...

Texas Hold-em is likely one of the most thrilling games of poker out there.

I have been playing Hold-em for a little while now, mainly online at

www.UltimateBet.com

If you join, enter the name CTlinx as the referal name to get a 50% bonus on your deposit.

I'd like to share a few words of wisdom I've learned in the time I've spent at the tables...

* Be Patient *

Don't bet every hand. Choose your plays wisely.

Personally, in a game with 10 players, I fold almost 80% of the cards I'm dealt.
You can't be worried or goaded into playing blah cards just cause it might get good.
You have to know how many ways you can win with the cards you have when playing.
Never go all in with your bet before the flop, unless your sure you have the best cards, and your opponent(s) will call you.
Its much better to let them do your betting for you, to feel out what they have and make them think you have nothing.

Unless you have a great deal of ways to win on the turn or river, be careful of the amount you bet on the flop.

* Best Cards to hold *

There are 2 hands that are awsome to hang on to, those are Ace King suited and Pocket Aces.

Other hands are ok, but those are the best.

The best of those 2 are pocket Aces, esp if they are vs Ace King suited.

Pocket Aces can turn into many good hands, its the highest flush in 2 cases, if the board flops 3 of a kind, you have a full house. But the best part is that you already have the best pair possible. If the other guy has Ace King suited, s/he will need either 3 kings, a flush or a straight. Nothing else can beat you.

Some other cards I'll play are pockets, Kings Queens and sometimes Jacks. I also play Ace Queen or Ace Jack suited.

For the other pocket pairs, I'll pay to see the flop if its not too high, just in case I flop 3 of a kind.

This is but one type of play style, some win this way, others win by being more reckless.

I hope to script a Hold-em game for the shard in the next few months. I imagine it will be tough as hell to do, but will be well worth it.

Having tourneys on the Pandora shard in my opinion will provide more of an incentive to log on and play. Plus, what better RP event than a game of poker.

Well, I spose thats it for now, I'll leave you with a screenshot of my last tournament.

I played for about 3 hours and finished 6th.

Granted, it was only play chips, but it was still fun. Most of the other tournaments I generally place 25th to 10th, but these are much harder as the players care more about it... why wouldn't they, it's real money.

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua, and Kenderseeker)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

Paradox Portal

2004-07-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

Just installed a new message board. 1000 times more powerful than the old boards.

Took me about 5 days of non stop work with no sleep to do it but its done... well at least as far as being able to post.

I still plan on making a lot of cosmetic and core changes, such as a reputation mod, the Paradox robot, and about 6 or 7 others.

So far I have been able to install about 15 to 20 mods, including the Inferno RPG, infinite sub catagories, a referral system and a few other good ones.

Check it out

the United Federation of Free Shards (UFFS) now has a new name. the Paradox Portal

I think it's more fitting and less trekish

Well thats it for now (been a long night)

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

Rank 3 in the Top 100

2004-07-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

I like to see this. I know it will be back up to about 40 soon but it's still good to see us at #3 once in a while.

At this rank we should be getting about 20% more people joining than normal.

If we had this rank for longer than 30 minutes, I'd bet we would be flooded with players.

At this time we have the following:

Accounts: 540
Average Players online: 3 to 9
Mobiles: 13,929
Items: 230,313

I have yet to purge old accounts so I expect our accounts to go under 500 soon.

I finally was able to upgrade the web host and now we have a few awsome features.

We have a new Pandora Market (will be up soon) This market is very secure (128 bit SSL) and will allow us to do much more than sell in game items.

It will allow me to sell some of my better scripts to help pay for a new server (I want my laptop back)

We have a new PhPBB message board that is quite powerful and will allow me to add features that will make posting... addicting.

We have an SQL server... finally, MyRunUO will be running when I can find the time to make it work. This means your paper doll will be online (if you want it)

It also means that it will be possible to auto create an account when someone joins the message board, allowing me to keep auto account off... thus all players will be on the message board and there will be no more [Newbie} tags.

Just a crapload of new and powerful things to make the Pandora shard an even more addicting place than it already is.

I would like to personally thank all those who have either Donated or bought items from the market.

Without you, we wouldn't have been able to do any of this.

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

New Puter up and running

2004-07-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

It will take about a week or so to get everything I need back on this computer, but at least its running.

Since I just yanked the hard drive I will still need to format the one with the virus on it, but its now a spare computer, I might run the Web server on it. Not the main CTlinx site mind you, but the simple savant server I have serving the documents folder in RunUO. Things like the Server status and other things.

I wonder how many players from the Pandora shard will find their way here. I am guessing only a few.

I will be working on the UFFS tomorrow. The United Federation of Free Shards is going to grow fast. I've already got 4 shards that want to join. I'm currently waiting on a money transfer so I can upgrade my main web host and get an SQL server, thus enabling me to provide a much better interface for the UFFS, and a much better message board.

Blessed Be the souls that endure the tortures of life...
Merry Meet those souls that traverse the roads of life together...
Merry Part the souls that choose another path.

KillerBeeZ (aka Admin Yeshua)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org

Virii - Rage in the machine

2004-07-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

the Pandora Shard

BAH, Friggin Virii

It seems that this virus was intended to pop up ads and spy on me, it had a trojan and changed the IE home page (it did this when you click the IE icon so you cant change it). It also included a dialer that would no doubt run up my phone bill (if I had a modem). I used norton and Adaware and thought I got it, but while surfing on a few sites (searching for shards) one of them somehow activated this nasty plauge that was hidden in the system. So, I backed up my files to the other drive and ripped the C: drive out... then installed Win2k pro on the new c: drive (which was the d: drive)

#1 why the hell do people create stupid crap like this?
Noone clicks ads in those pop ups, and if they do, its by accident.

Why give yourself a bad name for a few pennies?

#2 why the hell can't microsux make their OS's more secure?
Its not like they don't have the money.

ok I'm done ranting.. off to install drivers and the myriad of crap I use to make this shard a better place (and to keep it running)

Copyright 2003
CTlinx.org