Lewis Lampkin, III

Breaking News: NBA Bans Emotion

2010-09-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

In one of the biggest blunders of rule enforcement of recent history, the NBA has decided to ban emotion from its game. Yes, really, you're not reading this on the Onion (http://www.theonion.com/), a popular parody site. Seriously, why would you want to take the emotion from the game? To make it less fun? It is not just about complaining to the referees (which is bad), but it goes so far as to basically make the players robots. Read the article from the Associated Press for yourself (I link to it at the end of this posting, but you can probably read it easier at espn.com, nba.com, or various other news sites.).

Now, what is crazy is this: a lot of what the NBA advertises about the game is about all of the EMOTION. Some of the greatest plays that you may remember from the game, the surrounding emotions to them, are what make them stick in your head. Seriously, just about any gesture that a player can do (even those NOT directed at the referee, or another player) can result in a technical foul, according to this article. I mean, come on, it means that some of our fondest memories of Shawn Kemp wouldn't be valid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ewEt4SHxgc. I especially like the last one, A.K.A. the "Lister Blister". And what about Scottie Pippen's thundering dunk on Ewing? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhd0ZFrb7y0 . Hrm, it appears Pippen did get penalized for that one, if you watch the video, but I sure bet Ewing feels "penalized" after that vicious crotch walk after the dunk. :D

As a bystander, I am suspecting this means that referees have even more power to decide games. It's bad enough with the charging/blocking calls, where it feels like a player's star power determines how the call goes, or people keep going back to the Mavericks/Heat Finals, and saying the league had it in for Mark Cuban http://danonthestreet.com/news/2010/06/03/mark-cuban-and-stan-van-gundy-weigh-in-on-tim-donaghy/, or even how flagrant fouls can be arbitrarily dished out during games. There is too much left up to interpretation, which just screams "exploit".

If the NBA thought it had scandals before involving the referees, this stepped up enforcement seems designed to make sure the game "goes as planned." If you thought the NBA was run by the mafia before, what are you thinking now?

Truth be told, it's probably worse than I am describing it. You can basically say that it is because their sponsors and the rich fans who sit in the luxury boxes do not necessarily like to see the players showing their emotions. You know where I'm going with this. Think of what happened to the composition of the Indiana Pacers, after the "Brawl at the Palace". http://www.drbilllong.com/CurrentEvents/TheBrawl.html http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2009/07/10/pacers-roster-raises-uncomfortable-questions-about-race/tab/comments/

Just read the article for yourself. This article comes from the Associated Press, and I'm using its free link below:

Phonetic Name Pronunciation: How It Can Be Placed Into the Game

2010-09-22T20:25:00.000-05:00

I previously posted this article in a forum posting here:

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/nba-2k/445292-phonetic-name-pronunciation-how-can-placed-into-game.html

The intention was that I put an idea out on how to do a pronunciation engine for a sports simulation, as many of the players complained that their names were not found in the game's dictionary. I reasoned that by using a simple system of sounds and references, one could then create "pronunciations" that could be married to words.

As it might dilute the idea somewhat, I'll just post it as it is below.

Honestly, I do not know how many names are in the game engine.

However, i believe that I have a workaround. (I know that many people have asked for something about a "name generator" or something, but I'm just not sure that people have spelled it out clearly enough, that the developers had something they could easily program.)

If the name we choose is not in the game engine, we should have the option of entering the phonetic pronunciation of the name.

The same way you can "create player", or "create team."

I want to be able to "create name".

Also, we should be able to set a starting lineup, public address, normal broadcast, as well as an excited broadcast version of the name.

This way, we can have context-sensitive pronunciations of the names.

I don't know how much trouble it would be, to do this, to be honest, but this would give them tremendous open-endedness to the pronunciation of the names.

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

That's a basic chart. I admit, it is far from complete, and you might struggle with some more complex names, but please, just humor me, when I give an example, of how this could be programmed.

1. You propose that any word is a group of sounds.
2. The developer records the commentators making each of these sounds.
3. To pronounce the word, you mash the sounds together.
4. You can set how long the sounds are held. (in milliseconds)
5. You can set how much time is between the sounds (in milliseconds)
6. You can then save a certain number of these words, to the game dictionary file.
7. With this, you can then upload "dictionaries" of words with pronunciations, that are generated by the community.
8. Building words in this fashion, you can easily construct a pronunciation.
9. Names might be limited to so many characters, in order to rationalize how much space they take up in your save files, so supercalifragilistic... might not make it.

Notes to developers:

1. This way of constructing the names is cool, in that it is very efficient on the storage. (Instead of storing 500 different name sounds, with these audio files taking up space, you can store at most 50 audio sounds, and then the players construct the names, using references to those sound files. The construction of the reference to the sounds would be much, much smaller, as its just a few lines of text, at most.)
2. The spelling of a word is "independent" of the sound reference, when using a created name. that is, "john" can sound like "rat" if I want it to.

Note to online players:

1. I doubt you can take these online, just like any other customizations you make, as people could potentially construct "profane" pronounceable names.
2. These are fine and dandy in the comfort of your home, or even in your online dynasty with other consenting people, but having a profane name for an edited name or a "my player" online would be tragic.
3. People might want these online, but it would not be likely, due to the censor bypass people who ruin it for everyone. But, hey, at least in your offline myplayer, and associations (online or offline) it should be okay.

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

Referencing that site above, I'll do an example word:

john (i know, this one is probably in the game already)

j (like sound in just, large) 50 ms
pause = 10 ms
o (like sound in arm, father) 75 ms (saying a sound longer, gives it more "stress" in a word)
pause = 5 ms
n (like sound in ten) 45 ms

Then, you can just play this back, and adjust it, over and over, until it sounds the way you want it to. (like, some might want to use a different "O" or "N" sound, or you want to adjust the pause between letters, make it disappear, or whatever, for example.)

It won't be perfect, but it will give you (the gamer) the flexibility to build your name close to how you want it, and it will give the developers less time to worry about shorting someone on whether or not their name is included in the game. I think this is preferred to trying to pronounce whatever Schtzrbrg names are out there, or someone's getting their ranked 10,000 name into the game.

I think many people have asked for a pronunciation engine, and they probably had some idea similar to this.

I've just hopefully provided a decent demonstration of how this could be developed, and the coding behind it doesn't seem particularly thick. I'm pretty sure the game supports sound playback. We don't even have to worry about the gamer putting in the sounds, we can use the broadcaster voices. It won't be perfect, but with community effort, it will make things sound nice.

There may be some authenticity people, who try to give stuff dictionary pronunciations, and others who just want to pronounce things the way they sound to them. This would work, and it would be a great boon to players.

Imagine, being able to "create a name." You've already given us "My Player" now you can give us "My Name" in the game!

This could work. I like being called "the great" but I wouldn't mind being called "Flipenstein" when you mention me as Player of the game. (that is not my real name, but it would be cool : "Flipenstein ...has really flipped the script, with his performance here in the second half. To the inside ... the bump, the drive, Ohhhh! Watch out below, run for cover young fella!!!"

I've showed you how to do it.

If you want to acknowledge my contribution, please send a PM. (I should reply sooner or later.)

Thanks.

As I like to do on my postings, I must remind you that if you desire to add me as a contact, I can be reached on linked in here: www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin

6418 - Deploying Windows Server 2008, Day 2

2010-05-12T11:54:00.001-05:00

On Day 2 of the class, we covered the following topics:
Windows Deployment Services
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
Upgrading and Migrating Active Directory.

With regards to Windows Deployment Services, we covered how the deployment of windows systems has changed, and we have a new methodology, whereby it is more suited to imaging systems that may have underlying different hardware. Now, there are methods for updating drivers and patches on an image, while the image file is offline.

While covering the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, we dug in and looked at some of the excellent utilities that Microsoft provides for modifying a .wim file (the new base file format for a system), such as imagex, which can be used to modify an image without first mounting it.

Also covered on day 2 was the GUI, as well as command line, methods for Upgrading and Migrating Active Directory.

The training so far has been top notch at New Horizons, of which I attribute a good portion of that credit to Mr. Kirk McArdle.

As is my tradition, I must remind you that if you would like to reach out to me, Lewis Lampkin, III, I can be reached on linked in, at the following address:
www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Real Time Publishers ... Great Resource for IT Information

2010-05-12T10:25:00.002-05:00

I have to hand it to Kirk McArdle, of New Horizons www.newhorizons.com) again, he's dishing out more good information. He showed us this web site during class wrap-up yesterday: Real Time Publishers, www.realtimepublishers.com, is a great site for downloading white papers about various IT topics. I am most interested in the ones about service management right now, but they appear to have tons of information there. For the price of giving up your work mailing address, you get access to download lots of nice content.

If you're anyting like me, you probably shred tons of vendor mail throughout the week.

If you'd like to reach me, Lewis Lampkin, III on linked in, I am available at the following address:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin

Chris Riling, CCIE#25581

2010-05-11T05:02:00.001-05:00

Chris Riling is one of my contacts on www.linkedin.com. His linkedin page is available here: www.linkedin.com/in/criling.

I first met Chris during a 2006 training course at American Interactive, www.americaninteractive.com. The course at the time was the CCNA/CCNP bootcamp, all-inclusive deal. If you ever need Microsoft or Cisco training, I'd always suggest American Interactive first. Toby (Cisco) and Jay (Microsoft) were excellent! OK, that's enough free advertising for American Interactive.

During the bootcamp, Chris was obviously the youngest person in the class. However, another thing readily apparent was that he was one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the class.

Here's an anecdotal story ..there was one person in the CCNP course, made the remark that he wouldn't trust Chris to touch his equpment, since he was too young. Of course, this miffed me, as you can judge a person on experience, and skills, but dismissing someone based upon age alone is a form of discrimination that I frown upon. Also, this person did not know what he was talking about, which made his opinion even weaker. This same individual once even remarked about "disabling spanning tree protocol" on his network. To those of you without networking experience, this is not something you would often do, as the spanning tree protocol prevents switching loops on your network--especially not this person, who later confessed to "not understanding spanning tree". Anyway, karma came back on that guy, and he later failed an exam.

During this course, Chris did present a wealth of practical, hands-on knowledge, that made the camp a much more enjoyable experience for me. I had the pleasure of being seated next to him, soaking up as much of the good Cisco (and Juniper) knowledge as I could from him.

I stayed in contact with Chris off and on over the following years, and he continued pursuing the CCIE certification. I would get updates from him, that he was currently in RTP (Research Triangle Park, where Cisco gives CCIE labs). This showed me that he was really serious about this, as the labs are a substantial investment, at over $1,000 per attempt. Chris did gain the CCIE certification, and I can say that he earned it with his intelligence and experience, and I applaud him.

I recently saw this article about Chris from his linkedin page, and decided to show it here.
The link to the article (a PDF file) is here:
Cisco Academy Featured Success: Chris Riling www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/success_stories/studentImpact/docs/ohio.pdf.

I hope that you enjoy reading the PDF.

If you would like to join my professional network, I'm on linked in:
www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin.

6418 - Deploying Windows Server 2008, Day 1

2010-05-11T03:02:00.002-05:00

Well, I had a nice first day of class. The instructor was very knowledgeable. His name was Kirk McArdle. I believe that he said he was from Jersey. By the accent, I would have guessed he was from the New York/Boston region, so that much did fit.

I figure some of you might be wondering how the class itself went, and the class went fairly well. There was the initial "case of the Moooondays" (If you've seen Office Space, you get this reference.).

The class was in the online live learning format (OLL). This means that the class is held across the internet, and you use your mic and headset to communicate during the class. I can understand if this does not work for some. To me, it makes sense to the training company, as they can offer training classes more often than if they had to have the trainers on-site. Also, it helps the students, as they can have more scheduling options for the classes. By the way, this also cuts down on transportation costs, for people needing to take the courses.

Of course in my case, there was no way I was going to try to take a class from the comfort of my home or at my office, as the chance of disruption was too high. Taking the class at the New Horizons Learning Center was the perfect option, in this case. No worry of disruptions, and able to concentrate on the learning? .... Perfect! This probably also provides more value to your company, considering the investment they put into training you. Even if it is just training vouchers, as it is in my case, your company paid a lot for those, too, when they purchased either the vouchers, and/or the Software Assurance contract that the vouchers came with.

But, after that, everything was smooth. Interesting is that some graphical features of IIS aren't available in Server Core (but, considering the overall lack of a GUI, it seems perfectly understandable).

I'm really excited about Server Core, and I prefer command line administration. There are some commands that can get rather lengthy, but part of administration is building scripts to make administration easier, and when you consider the resource gain to not supporting a GUI, it is well worth the slight inconvenience to build a few reusable scripts for supporting your environment.

Being able to add the domain controller role (not only that, but a read-only domain controller role is possible) to a server via a simple script is a thing of beauty.

The class also went over the licensing setup, explaining the usage case scenarios of the License Management Server, versus the Multiple Activation Key, and how they could be used in concert.

You quickly get an idea of an instructor's worth, based on whether they're only teaching the syllabus, or they actually know what they're doing, and are able to troubleshoot issues that may appear during the course, and/or bring more information to the table than is in the course by default.

Kirk was able to troubleshoot issues with the course, no problem. I'm not referring to the standard "my mic isn't working" type of troubleshooting. I'm saying he was able to understand why a command would not work, when the issue was bigger than syntax. If something didn't go exactly as planned, Kirk was able to quickly recover, as if he'd seen the system do this before, and also showed a sense of maturity with the system. You do not get that type of knowledge from just teaching classes, is what I'm trying to say. Kirk could leverage the experience he had to provide a richer training experience to his students.

Kirk also supplied extra information. So far, I have over 20 megs of additional information from him. He says that the class is "just the beginning" of the learning process, and I like his mindset. He even makes himself available across the break periods and evenings during the class. Kirk gave his email address to the students, making himself reachable.

I guess this started as a review of a class, and morphed into a review of Mr. McArdle.

I appear to have found his profile online:
www.google.com/profiles/MacksPlace.

I hope you enjoyed this update, and hope to share more in the future.

Feel free to view my linked in page, which is here: www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin.

6418 - Deploying Windows Server 2008

2010-05-09T10:58:00.003-05:00

I'm registered to take the course 6418, Deploying Windows Server 2008, through New Horizons of San Antonio, www.nhcomputerlearning.com. I've not taken a course through them before, but they did give a wonderful peek at Windows Server 2008 a few weeks ago, and that two-and-a-half hour freebie was enough to sway me to want to use our Microsoft training vouchers on a class from them. My organization currently runs Windows Server 2003, and we're looking to go to Windows Server 2008. This deployment course should provide the knowledge needed to do that successfully.

I'll be taking this course May 10-12, so I'll hopefully provide an update on my experience in the near future.

If you're interested in being a professional contact, reach me on linked in, at
www.linkedin.com/in/lewislampkin