Synaptic Sugar

Another year is gone; the last six months ran by especially fast. New year resolutions: to try and do all those things we never have time for, and generally make the best of the time we have. A happy new year to everyone, in the hope that it will be even better than the one that’s leaving us.

I made a reference to Canadian laws requiring contests to be open to participants without a purchase and/or through a skill test in a previous post, when I hadn’t heard of such laws yet and was wondering whether they indeed existed (see "Making it harder for Canada"). It turned out they do, and I’ve recently heard of another example: the entry fee for Blizzard’s World of Warcraft North American Arena Tournament. The tournament allows players of World or Warcraft to compete in regional player-versus-player battles for a chance to fight in the world championships and win real prizes and quite fair amounts of cash. In North America, like in Europe, the tournament requires participants to pay an entry fee of $20 (€15 in Europe - real money, not an in-game equivalent); however, because of said Canadian laws, the fee is waived in Canada, and that’s where Blizzard shows its creativity. Here’s an excerpt from the Official Rules:

The Entry Fee for the Tournament is $20.00 USD for the First Qualification Round of the Tournament, and $20.00 USD for the Second Qualification Round of the Tournament. Canadian residents are not required to pay an Entry Fee in order to enter. Instead, Canadian residents may enter by submitting a 250 word typewritten essay comparing the video gaming culture in Canada to the video gaming culture in the United States on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper and mailing their essay to Essay Entry for The North American Blizzard Entertainment Arena Tournament, P.O Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623. Essay entries must be received no later than March 31, 2008 in order to be eligible. Essay entrants represent and warrant that the essay is their original work and does not infringe the rights of any third party. By entering, essay entrants hereby grant, without further consideration, all right, title and interest in and to their essay to Sponsor.

No conditions are imposed on the essays, so they constitute a sort of free-of-charge entry form (as per the aforementioned laws), and they’re asked to be kept short, but perhaps at the same time they can offer a little insight on how to strengthen Blizzard’s presence in Canada (the “Sponsor” in the above wording is Blizzard Entertainment) — and this way they can still get something out of it. I think it’s clever.

Happy new 2008 to everyone!

It has finally been decided that the multi-million Web portal on Italian tourism, italia.it, about which I posted previously ("Brightest Italian ideas"), is going to be closed. Italian Minister Francesco Rutelli stated yesterday that the current government has not spent a dime on the portal and has tried instead to discover where the responsibilities for the incomplete and non-functional work lay. It is still unknown whether the Italian taxpayers will be able to be refunded some money out of the many millions that somebody spent on this horribly developed project; I’m ready to bet the answer is “no”. Another hope is the government will finally answer the many questions that have been asked all these years, about how exactly the money was spent; but once again, the negative answer is almost a certainty.

Some people have been asking me what’s going on with the wildfires that have been plaguing Southern California for days now, so here’s a short recap for those who aren’t really up to speed; a lot of details aren’t known or final yet, but I may try to keep this post updated as the story develops, although there’s way too much information to report in a short post like this. Follow the links for more in-depth coverage.

Every year there are wildfires in California, whether caused by arson or accidents or very dry weather conditions, particularly in the summer; the same dry conditions make it quite hard to contain those fires quickly and easier for them to spread over wide areas of land. But only a combination of the above causes could have given birth to what have now become the biggest and most destructive wildfires in the history of the State, which are still burning and destroying acre after acre of land, cities and fields included. While the worst seem to be past (for now), the threat is far from being gone. It seems the first fires appeared on October 20 in San Diego County, but more were started elsewhere and they all quickly spread to larger and larger areas between Santa Barbara County and the border with Mexico (see a Google map for geographic details — link contributed by Bruscolini), thanks to the driest weather in years and winds that blew at up to 101 miles per hour.

According to various sources, some fires might have been started by the winds taking down power lines, one is said to have been started by an overturned semi-truck, but some are currently being investigated by the FBI as they definitely are or appear to be the result of arson. So far, almost one million people have been evacuated (with around 500,000 from San Diego County alone and 11,000 of them taking shelter in the San Diego Qualcomm Stadium), over 1500 houses have been burnt down, and around 500,000 acres of land have been scorched by the wildfires (try to count up to one million to get an idea of how many people that is). At least 16 fires are still active and up to now have caused the death of six people, injuring 70 more. Even if the State is not new to this kind of emergencies, it’s the magnitude of this situation that is unprecedented, and there aren’t enough resources to properly deal with it in a timely manner. Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in at least seven counties, and President Bush also declared it a federal emergency, paving the way for more funding and resources to hopefully arrive in California soon; firefighting airplanes are flying in from as far as North Carolina. The damage is currently estimated at 1 billion dollars, and even when all the fires are doused it’s going to take quite a long time to recover from this huge disaster.

Personal note to whom may be concerned: we’re fine; my sympathy goes instead to all those families who lost everything from one day to the next.

Edited on October 25 at 1:23 PM to add: A second Google map is available, documenting all the fire locations including the ones near Santa Barbara.

Edited on October 25 at 4:33 PM to add: At least five people have been held in custody on charges of arson, as it seems to have been proven that several fires were purposely started in different places; bails range from $75,000 to $750,000. Governor Schwarzenegger has declared that those convicted of arson will be dealt with harshly; meanwhile, the reward for information leading to to an arrest has been increased to a total of $150,000. A toll-free arson tip line has been established at 800-540-7085. The death toll has sadly advanced to ten, with 78 injured, among which were 36 firefighters, and almost 1600 houses destroyed.

Edited on October 26 at 9:01 AM to add: The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection states 14 out of 23 wildfires are now 100% contained, as weather conditions improve. Meanwhile, the reward for supplying meaningful information has risen to $250,000, and there’s a new hotline at 800-540-8282.

Edited on October 27 at 9:32 AM to add: As the number of homes destroyed reaches about 1700, officials announce they’re looking for a white Ford F150 pick-up truck that may be connected to one of the arsons, although not necessarily to a suspect. Fires are still burning and creating breathing problems in extended areas due to smoky and sooty air.

Edited on October 29 at 10:11 PM to add: Luckily it seems by now most fires are under control. More information when available.