tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67867312024-03-13T07:36:39.929-04:00World Peace, Angry Penguins, and MiraclesThe title is my personal philosophy of life. World Peace represents the unattainable, Angry Penguins represent the small guy fighting against the larger, and Miracles are things that happen that surprise us all. **NOTE: Best viewed with Firefox.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-3484329590821503612010-11-26T10:37:00.003-05:002010-11-26T10:46:56.323-05:00Stupidity increasing....So many idiots, too few bullets...<br /><br />Mike Huckabee, who used to be the governor of Arkansas is an evangelical Christian fundamentalist, and a creationist. He supported teaching creationism in schools. He's a possible contender to lead the Republicans in the next Presidential election. As is Sarah Palin, who is also a creationist and who, according to her new book, wants to blur the line between church and state.<br /><br />This is frightening, but not wholly unexpected. Stupidity has become the driving force behind the American economy. Everything that has happened, from the meltdown of the economy to the invasion of Iraq, can be attributed to stupidity. <br /><br />The US government likes to talk of "rogue states" - Iran and North Korea, for instance. However, given the current trend towards becoming a nation of fucking retards, the US frightens me more than they do. I don't fear an attack by Iranian soldiers - but I do fear one from some dumbass 'merican president.<br /><br />George Bush was and is the poster child for dumbassery. Yet he was a 2-term President. Fox News is nothing more than a bunch of douchebags constantly pushing the stupidity button of the nation in order to bump their ratings - nothing more. And the slack-jawed tune in with extraordinary attention - drooling with blank-eyed stares at the appropriately named idiot box - constantly on guard for any hint of terrorism in their suburban neighbourhoods. They sit there and spout creationist garbage with a straight face...absurd. I am not an evolutionist, in that I don't subscribe fervently to the idea we are simply descended from single-cell organisms. But I don't, for a minute, believe the Earth was created in 6 fucking days.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-12675866549416558062010-08-05T07:51:00.002-04:002010-08-05T08:00:04.469-04:00This is a University student?Okay, so some University student with the unfortunate last name of Wiener (Jesus, there are some names that, even if they have some storied history, I would definitely change...for instance, if my last name was Sukcoc, I think I would change the freakin' thing regardless of my ancestors' great accomplishments. Anyways, I digress). So, <a href="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/08/05/14928541.html">Kevin Wiener is pissed at an Auto Reform law</a> that he says discriminates against young people. Whatever. He ignores the fact that most young males between 17-25 are moronic drivers, even when sober. But again...whatever.<br /><br />The real story, in my opinion, is this Queens University graduate who has gone over to the Unversity of Western Ontario's prestigious Ivey School of Business actually said "irregardless" in an interview. You would think after years of high school and post-secondary education, he would have learned that "irregardless" isn't a freakin' word.<br /><br />So, Kevin Wiener...on the off chance that you ever read this - might I suggest a few courses in the English language.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-65798487230302093672010-06-15T10:05:00.003-04:002010-06-15T10:15:40.755-04:00FIFA World Cup 2010 - those stupid horns!I've never been a big fan of soccer (or football to the purists out there). I did play for the better part of a decade back in my school days, but really could never get into watching it on television. It's a tediously slow game, especially when played at the professional level.<br /><br />I thought I would get into this year's World Cup - given that my fiance's son is an avid soccer player and huge Arsenal fan. They lived in England for several years, and he, along with his sister, was born there. They only moved back to Canada about 7 years ago.<br /><br />So the stage was set for me to actually get into this event - especially with England's first game against the US. So we flip the TV onto the big game - and cue the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10317767.stm">fucking horns</a>. The constant droning of these things ensures I won't watch another game.<br /><br />The vuvuzela is a piece of crap plastic horn that produces a high pitched whining sound in the range of 127 decibels. That's right - louder than a pneumatic drill for you people keeping score at home. Some have been measured up to 144 decibels. It's use is being defended as a part of the soccer (football) culture of South Africa. So was apartheid, at one point - things change.<br /><br />Facebook groups against these horns are springing up. People want them banned. Sound companies are coming up with ways to filter the noise. All of that effort for a glorified kazoo.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-57379962555297623772010-05-06T08:49:00.004-04:002010-05-06T09:03:47.409-04:00NHL 2K10 for the Wii - Piece o' crap...My youngest son, who has shown an interest in hockey, recently had his 7th birthday. My oldest son bought him a couple of games for the Wii - including <a href="http://2ksports.com/games/nhl2k10">NHL 2K10</a>. I am not a huge fan of sports games, but this one is so convoluted and poorly designed, it makes me amazed that people seem to like it.<br /><br />I am a software developer/designer for a living and I know a thing or two about the importance of usability, but the menu system is anything but usable. For instance, even though you can play the game without the nunchuck control, you actually need it to traverse the menu correctly - though at no point in the game itself (it knows whether or not you have a nunchuck attached) nor in the manual does it state this - failure #1.<br /><br />Failure #2 takes the form of entirely non-intuitive menus. Frankly, I don't need fancy and flashy menus - I just need a freaking menu. Hell, spend less time with retarded menus and more time on gameplay. That's what people bought the game for, not flashy menus.<br /><br />Failure #3 is the pain in the ass "connecting to server" bug that even people giving this game a relatively high rating complain about - my son just wanted to play a Quick Game and tried to choose the Eastern Conference AllStars as his team. The system then looped while attempting to connect to Take2's servers and I had to reset the freaking Wii. Apparently, this is a known bug - one that should be a show stopper - but for some reason people are willing to accept it.<br /><br />Failure #4 - the gameplay itself. Horrible beyond measure. I could go on, but will focus on something that is out of the player's direct control. When you play the game, you control one player at-at-time. The AI controls your other players (not very well at all - I don't know how many times the other team - also controlled by the AI - got breakaways because the AI controlled defencemen just stood there). At one point, the AI controlling the characters caused penalty after penalty. My son was playing on the penalty kill, 5 on 3, for more than 12 minutes of in-game time. The other team NEVER got a penalty. So, the AI controls every player on the other team, and THEY never get a penalty, but the 4 players on my son's team did constantly.<br /><br />Horrible, horrible, horrible.<br /><br />Stay away from it if you value your sanity.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-85227190168621024792010-05-05T11:33:00.002-04:002010-05-05T11:49:21.513-04:00Celebrity culture as newsDo you really care that Tiger Woods was unfaithful? How about <a href="http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2010/05/05/13829036-wenn-story.html">David Boreanaz</a> from Bones? I know I don't care, but the entertainment that still masquerades as news fills the airwaves with this crap.<br /><br />The whole Tiger Woods fiasco was just that. At what point did sports channels start covering tabloid fodder? What does his dicking around and the subsequent fallout have to do with his golfing, except to serve as a distraction for him? I don't idolize athletes, or actors, or politicians. In what kind of sad reality must someone live to idolize someone they have never met?<br /><br />I think the word "idolize" should be replaced by "idealize" - because that is what is actually happening. JFK was, for all intents and purposes, a man whore who had affairs in the freaking White House - but for all that he was "idolized" and still is. Why? He could be a jerk in real life had you met him without the press around. So, it wasn't JFK, or Tiger Woods, that people "idolized" it was their image they portrayed in the media.<br /><br />This phenomenon also explains reality TV and the WWF. People allow themselves to believe in a reality that doesn't exist. Whether it is an individual or a concept. Marketing trumps intelligence and perception each and every time. Pathetic, ain't it?Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-10953017228756054742010-04-24T22:25:00.000-04:002010-04-24T22:33:40.825-04:00Thank God it's overThe Ottawa Senators just lost in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have one their playoff series. Basically, this means nothing in the grand scope of things. To me, it means I don't have to watch anymore hockey this year. The weather's nice, there are things to do, and I don't have to get sidetracked by some stupid sport. Sidetracked, frustrated, annoyed...pick one or more.<br /><br />I know the NHL wants, and needs, to have two American teams in the Stanley Cup finals - for the simple reason that the US is the larger market and, from a business perspective, it makes more sense to feature two teams that could potentially interest a greater number of fans. But I doubt this theory, I truly do. Most fans are like me...we watch one, maybe two, teams and that's it. If they aren't playing, we don't watch. Now, given the simple fact that hockey is LIGHT YEARS more popular in Canada than in the US, wouldn't you think it makes more sense to have two Canadian teams? I think that...but it will never happen. Goals being called back, infractions not being called, all ensure that Sid the Kid makes it through so the slack-jawed morons who know little of hockey, but get all excited over seeing a "celebrity", will buy tickets or tune in.<br /><br />Oh well, over the past few years, I have drifted away from giving a rat's ass about sports in general.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-37842948298950668322010-01-26T07:58:00.004-05:002010-01-26T08:20:59.732-05:00Cars, Drugs, and WeaponsI wonder what kind of person can work for a car manufacturer, pharmaceutical corporation, or a company that makes weapons? How can they get up in the mornings and look at themselves in the mirror? Can people be that immoral?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cars</span><br /><br />No way in hell are cars made as good as they can be made. Even if you buy into the argument that they make them so they are affordable, they still could be made better for the same price. No WAY these guys design cars to last more than 5 years. The economy...especially in 'Merica...couldn't survive without the relatively disposable vehicles that spew out of the auto industry. If people kept their cars for 10 years, GM et al would be in more trouble than they currently are.<br /><br />On a related side-note, what numbnuts decided that after I spray my window with windshield washer fluid, I would need to have the wipers come on automatically for 3 cycles, then wait a second or two, and then run once more?? The manual says it's a convenience thing to stop drips. What a load of crap! There are no drips when you driving in cold, sloppy weather doing 110kph (60mph approximately). What ends up happening is the window looks great, then after 2 seconds, that other "swipe" ends up streaking the shit out of the windshield. Nice job, engineers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pharmaceutical Corporations</span><br /><br />Hands up everyone who thinks that a pharmaceutical company (PC) is actively looking for a cure for cancer, AIDs, diabetes, the cold...anything. Okay, everyone who has a hand in the air is an idiot. Leave now. PCs, again, especially in the US, are about treating illnesses. The shareholders will NEVER accept a cure for anything. If they could, they would go back in time and undo the polio vaccine. So, if you are hoping that they can save your young child from leukemia, or that some medical breakthrough will cure your aged parent from alzheimers, don't hold your breath. As sad, and as cruel and cynical, as it may sound, there is no WAY a company with a bottom line as its sole priority will come up with a cure for shit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Weapons Manufacturers</span><br /><br />Really. Do I have to even explain this one? Everyone who works for a company making weapons for general non-military consumption - go home and take lots of pills. You people suck, and the world would be better off without you in it. Even those who make weapons for the military...how many "allies" do you sell your weapons to? How many end up in the hands of the very people you are fighting. Seriously...suicide is an option for you. Please. Before you breed and instill the same sense of abhorrent immorality into your crotchfruit.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-48959145273005606612009-09-16T12:02:00.003-04:002009-09-16T12:06:15.810-04:00Strange Firefox issue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SrEMJkziquI/AAAAAAAAAFA/SdfZr1bLTKs/s1600-h/Firefox_menubar1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 70px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SrEMJkziquI/AAAAAAAAAFA/SdfZr1bLTKs/s400/Firefox_menubar1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382096388322667234" /></a><br />Got this strange issue with Firefox. I was customising it so that I save as much screen real estate as I can. I use the Tiny Menu addon and move everything UP to the menu bar (all the navigation items and the two folders in my bookmarks toolbar). I then turn off (uncheck) the Navigation and Bookmarks toolbars - leaving my with one menubar line and the tabs. <br /><br />Now, odd thing is my two Bookmark folders appear only until I close and reopen FF. Then they disappear (i.e. minimize to a small blue arrow) until I "customise" the interface again - just clicking customise then closing the window that opens does the trick - no moving of buttons, etc.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-1959912911786067432009-06-19T07:48:00.003-04:002009-06-19T09:04:59.778-04:00Adventures with Jeff - BUGS!Part 3 of my hopefully ongoing series on my friendship with Jeff brings us to his incredible phobia with regards to insects. He hated bugs...and eggs and tequila, but those are other stories.<br /><br />Once, we had to go under our friend's raised cottage...literally raised on jacks. We had to jack up the cottage about six more inches. There was easily two dozen to do. I think Jeff lasted 5 minutes until a daddy long legs dropped onto his face. He watched from inside his car, armed with a can of raid.<br /><br />On a particular nice June evening, Jeff, <a href="http://ccrashh.blogspot.com/2009/06/adventures-with-jeff-to-gym.html">the Hottie</a>, and I went to our local pub and decided to sit out on their second floor deck. <br /><br />Beautiful evening, moon brightly shining, beer flowing, june bugs hovering around the patio lights, sounds of someone puking in the alley below...wonderful summer evening in Ottawa. Ah. <br /><br />Anyhoo, I decided, for whatever strange reason, to order the fruit, cheese, and veggie platter instead of something recently killed, gutted, and grilled. <br /><br />As the waitress handed me my platter, a red grape rolled off and landed onto the patio deck near my chair. About an hour later, after a few more beers, Jeff gave a start and swatted at a june bug that had flown in front of his face. He clipped it towards me and it landed on the deck. He asked if he killed the little bastard. I reached down and picked up the grape. Holding it 'twixt my thumb and forefingers I showed it to him and said "Nope, but I'll get it. Here!". With that, I squished the grape and let it's "guts" goop down over my fingers and onto the table. Then I licked my fingers. <br /><br />Fortunately, we were overlooking the alleyway, because he never would have made it to the bathroom.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-40540755986314273132009-06-16T07:41:00.002-04:002009-06-16T08:08:12.123-04:00Adventures with Jeff - To the Gym!My buddy Jeff and I joined a gym once and actually went regularly. Now, Jeff always biked a lot, and he has one of those sick metabolisms that allow him to eat a double order of fajitas and still be hungry...and yet not gain a freaking pound. Needless to say, he was the "in shape" one. <br /><br />Now, we joined that particular gym because a friend (hot) of ours worked there. She was tall, long legged, and incredibly pretty (hot). Jeff had a thing for her...well, okay..so did I. But he saw her first, so the bro' code was in effect.<br /><br />One evening, she (the Hottie) joined us in our workout. This was around the same time that both of us realized that the place was actually less a gym than it was a "meet market" (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/topic/seattle-is-it-meet-market-or-meat-market">or is that a "meat market"...not sure</a>). This became really obvious when the Macho Man, in a cut-off sweat shirt (no sleeves, bottom portion cut off up to the ribs), lycra shorts, and cheesie, neon-coloured running shoes, followed the Hottie around. Everytime she was on a machine, he was on the one next to her.<br /><br />Jeff and I thought the look on her face was hysterical: rolling her eyes while scrunching her face up. What we didn't realize was that she was not only reacting to his constant attention, she was also reacting to his odour. We finally caught a whiff of it when she climbed into a leg lift machine next to us and he, of course, followed close behind, still attempting to engage her in conversation. The Macho Man had terrible BO mixed with some sort of cheap cologne. Like that sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit.<br /><br />Out of the corner of her mouth, she whispered to us "Get this guy away from me!". I had just finished my final rep on a bench press and Jeff had just started, so I stood there talking to her in a flirty sort of way, hoping to make it clear to the Macho Man that she was interested in someone else. It seemed to work, as he shut up for a bit, while working on the leg press machine. There he was grunting away while doing less than half of the weights.<br /><br />He finished his reps, and stood up to stretch, use the Hottie's machine to put his leg up. Once again, he began to flirt with her. I asked if he was finished with the leg press, and he studiously ignored me. I jumped onto it and started my reps...about the same time Jeff finished up and walked over to me.<br />Now, as I mentioned earlier, Jeff was the "in shape" one, but I always surprised him when it came to my leg strength. As an ex-competitive swimmer/lifeguard, I always had strong legs...but he was amazed that I could do full reps with all the weights on a leg press machine. <br /><br />So I start my reps and make a big show, complete with a loud exclamation "Whoa! Man, this is too light. Just about overextended myself. Jeff, can you move the bar down to the bottom." Jeff and the Hottie laughed, and the Macho Man's face went a little pink as I started my reps.<br /><br />He huffed over to the bench press machine, and when he struggled to lift the weight setting that Jeff and just done, Jeff walked over and asked him if he wanted it put on a lower setting. I laughed so hard, while pushing on the weights, that I farted.<br /><br />Macho Man got up and stormed away. <br /><br />His odour lingered for a good twenty minutes.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-59533563900929863262009-05-06T10:11:00.002-04:002009-05-06T10:15:16.378-04:00Adventures with JeffA few years ago, a buddy of mine, Jeff, and I went to <a href="http://www.visit1000islands.com/visitorinfo/?page_id=20">Alexandria Bay</a> for the July 4th celebration. After checking into our motel, we headed out to the docks to eat at this great restaurant we knew about and where we could catch a boat to take us out into the bay for the fireworks that evening. On the way there, we saw a souped up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Gremlin">AMC Gremlin</a>: racing car green, tinted windows, mag tires, wicked sounding engine...all on a Gremlin. I started to laugh as the car passed us going in the opposite direction, and it stopped. The driver got out, as well as three passengers. They were huge. The driver approached me. I could hear my friend whisper “You idiot…”, then the driver looked at me and asked, “What’s so funny?”. I thought for a second and figured, in for a penny, in for a pound. So, I swallowed that little voice inside of me that was saying be careful, and replied, “Um, dude. You souped up a Gremlin.” Then waited. Incredibly, his friends started to laugh and one said to him, “Told you, man. It’s a Gremlin!”<br /><br />The driver looked pleadingly towards me and pointing to his car, said “Yeah, but look man, it’s in great condition! I mean, I redid the interior, brand new engine. I just couldn’t afford a better car! C’mon man, look at it!” I can remember hearing Jeff whisper “You lucky bastard!” Turned out that his friends had been busting his chops over his choice of wheels, like guys do. We ended up hanging around them the whole weekend. Great bunch of guys.<br /><br />I think Jeff spent a lot of his time with me shaking his head and looking for the quickest route to the exit. There was this one time we had gone to see <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090859/">Cobra with Sylvester Stallone</a>. Before the previews, we could hear a woman directly behind us nattering away incessantly. This continued throughout the previews, and when the movie started she laughed and said, dismissively “Oh, is this the guy that saved us from the communists in Rambo?”. At that, I had had enough, turned around and said “If you don’t want to watch the movie, you can always leave. At least shut up so we can hear it.” I have learned it pays to scout out the “enemy” before engaging. The guy she was with looked like a football player. I think his biceps were bigger than my legs. He didn’t say anything, and I turned back around and watched the whole movie thinking he was going to punch the back of my head. Jeff leaned over and whispered, “You’re on your own, dude.” I guess he had had enough of me putting him into possible situations in which we get our asses kicked. <br /><br />So, with the movie over and the house lights up, I stood, turned, and looked at the guy as he was getting out of his seat. His date was already up and walking away in a huff. The guy gave me a small smile and a thumb’s up and he said, in a quiet voice “God, I thought she would never shut up. Thanks, man. Worst blind date ever.”<br /><br />Jeff always thought I was going to say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get us into trouble.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-2996732660103732282009-04-30T18:06:00.006-04:002009-04-30T18:12:58.680-04:00Random thoughts about Bananas and hair curlers, et al.I had always wondered about the bananas and the trench coats of opportunity foisted upon humankind without the benefit of clothespins or tater tots. Notwithstanding the confusion that arises when benevolent hair curlers are lost in the miasma of idyllic hip hop, or festooned with the colourful branches that swooned from the trunks of compact cars, the great unwashed occasionally rise above the panderings of chimpanzees and find themselves the sole occupants of deflated dirigibles.<br /><br />Outside, the plaid is covered in homesick pancakes, and only the trumpet sees the truth in trampolines.<br /><br />That's all I have to say about that.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-59298891060262171252009-04-14T09:40:00.007-04:002009-04-14T09:55:24.093-04:00IE8 Beta 2 - GUI issuesOnce again, MS, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the browser market, has been hammering out the new iteration of Internet Explorer: Version 8. Here's a screenshot of what it currently looks like:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SeSU2iJA6NI/AAAAAAAAADQ/XM0zbxz0fgo/s1600-h/CurrentIE8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 36px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SeSU2iJA6NI/AAAAAAAAADQ/XM0zbxz0fgo/s400/CurrentIE8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324544324057229522" /></a><br /><br />You will note some pain in the ass features. First, take a look at the address bar - only <b>google.com</b> is highlighted. Actually, the rest of the address is "de-highlighted" in that it is set to a dull, pale gray. This is called "domain highlighting" and it's supposed to give users the ability to more readily identify spoofed addresses. Whatever. Next, note the "Favorites" button on the tab line. This gets put there when you choose to not display the "Favorites bar" (when you right-click somewhere in the bar area, a menu appears with checks beside the menus you have chosen to display. In this example, I have turned OFF the favorites bar). Why is the button on the same line as the tabs? I have no idea, but there is NO WAY to move it. Look where the menu bar is (the one with File/Edit/View, etc.) and the Home and Print buttons. Like IE7, there is no way short of installing an addon called IE7Pro can you move these.<br /><br />Here is what I want the IE8 interface to look like:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SeSVgc5ITRI/AAAAAAAAADY/ahz4Z8qyLzw/s1600-h/BetterIE8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 38px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SeSVgc5ITRI/AAAAAAAAADY/ahz4Z8qyLzw/s400/BetterIE8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324545044202933522" /></a><br /><br />Note how clean this looks. How very little real estate is taken up by crap. If you want, you can even hide the Menu bar at top, if you so desire.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-38881005583367689112009-03-17T11:36:00.001-04:002009-03-17T13:16:40.404-04:00The MonkBack in 1979, near the end of the 11th Grade, something occurred that made me a bit of a legend at my high school. <br /><br />First, some background: St. Pius X was a catholic high school in suburban Ottawa, and grades 11 to 13 were not funded by the Ontario government, though grades 9 and 10 were. That meant tuition. Nothing major…something like $500 a year. Since the senior grades were considered private, the school was not as accountable to the province with regards to the quality of their teaching staff. That brings us to Sister Ethel Snetsinger. Now, this woman was destined to be a nun upon being burdened with such an unfortunate name. She looked like her name and if you could picture an “Ethel Snetsinger” you would picture her.<br /><br />I didn’t dislike her, nor had she a personality that would make anyone dislike her. She was sweet-tempered, but daft. For instance, she would mis-pronounce “gigantic” by making the second-g a soft one (ji-jan-tic). <br /><br />She reminded me a lot of the rich woman who was cluelessly the butt of the Marx brothers’ jokes. Once, during a discussion of guilds and apprenticeships, someone acted confused and posed this scenario: “If you are…oh, I don’t, a baiter of hooks, and you join the guild, you start off as an apprentice baiter, and then what?” She responded, walking right into the joke with “After several months you become a journeyman baiter, and then, after several years of study and work, you would become a Master baiter.” Seriously, she said that and had a quizzical look on her face when the class erupted in laughter.<br /><br />In grade 11, I had her for my home room and Ancient History, the first class of the day. Throughout the school year, she would call me Brian, and my friend Brian, she would call Steve. Typically, the half-hour after home room/first class was to be spent in either a daily mass in the school’s chapel, or in study, which meant you stayed in the classroom and did homework, read, etc. In early March of 1979 we were on the topic of monasteries, and how they became the foundations of universities.<br /><br />On the way home one afternoon, my friends and I had to walk around a pile of garbage bags left out for the next day’s pickup. I noticed a doll sticking out the pile and pulled it out. It was a monk, complete with the Friar Tuck hairdo and cloth robes. I noticed that the head moved, and when I pushed down on it, this huge penis pivoted up through the robes. We all had a great laugh and I put it in my backpack. The next morning, we actually found the box: <span style="font-style:italic;">The Monk with “rising” action</span>.<br /><br />When I got to class, she wasn’t there yet, and I put the doll on a table beside her desk. Other than my two friends, I didn’t think anyone saw me put it there. Mike was in my home room, but Gary reluctantly had to go to his own class, one floor down. The classroom filled up and first period began. Sister Snetsinger walked in with some sheets and began handing them out, not noticing the monk. About half way through class, as we were all busy with individual work, she finally saw the Monk and picked it up. I began to laugh, which hurt because I was trying to hold it in. She looked at it and asked if anyone knew where this came from, and she commented on how appropriate it was given our current topic.<br /><br />For the rest of Ancient History, she would periodically pick it up and examine it, but nothing more. When Mass/Study came, most of the class stayed, which is rare. I knew then that something was up and that word of the Monk must have spread. I could see Gary out in the hallway sticking his head around the door to the classroom, until he was caught lingering by a passing teacher. Again and again, throughout study she would pick it up. By this point I was in tears, trying hard not to laugh out loud. Then the bell for the next class rang and we were off.<br /><br />My second last class of the day was just down the hall, and, as usual, I sat at the back near the open door. Right in the middle of class, there was a loud shriek from down Sister Snetsinger’s classroom, and the sound of students laughing. Something had happened, and I had missed it. <br /><br />Coincidentally, my last class was in Sister Snetsinger’s room, and I asked the teacher, Ms. Kennedy, if she knew what the scream was all about. She looked up at me through her strange glasses with a knowing half-smile and said she didn’t know.<br /><br />That was it. Never heard anything more about it. Then, that summer, when I was working up at camp, my mother phoned and told me that during the break in the summer (mid-July) when I was back home, we would have to go to the school to meet the guidance counsellor and vice-principal. Apparently, all my tuition cheques had been returned and I would have to go to the school to discuss the situation. I, honestly, did not even think about the Monk incident.<br /><br />My parents and I went to the school and were told that it was because I had supposedly asked a provincial school inspector how Sister Snetsinger had done during a surprise audit of her class. THAT was the reason they gave. Something I was not guilty of, which I proclaimed loudly. Nevertheless, Sister Snetsinger had heard me do this, had felt insulted, and for that they were expelling me. Just then, she herself came into the office, looked at me and asked “Brian, what are you doing here.” She had been expecting “Steve” who was Brian. The counsellor and vice principal apologised and took the cheques back. I remember my father remarking that she had me in her class for a full school year, and she still didn’t know who I was.<br /><br />On the way home, my parents could not figure out how that was an expellable offense. That’s when it hit me. They knew, without proof, about the monk but couldn’t pin it on me. I told my parents…my dad laughed and my mom did that mom-head-shaking thing.<br /><br />Two years later, in grade 13, I went into the teacher’s lounge to get something and the monk was there on the desk. 3 years after that, I went back to the school to perform in different scenes from plays throughout the school’s 25 year history. Some of the performers were current students, and when they heard my name, asked me if I was the one who put the Monk in Sister Snetsinger’s classroom. In May 2008, on the school’s reunion website, someone posted the story about the Monk.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-51205125139719429182009-02-03T11:11:00.003-05:002009-02-03T11:51:15.360-05:00The Stupidity of a unionIn March of 2008, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU local 279, specifically) which represents city of Ottawa bus drivers (OCTranspo) was in a legal strike position. They waited until December 10th to walk off the job. December. In the winter. Just before Christmas. In the middle of a recession. Roads were clogged, businesses lost millions, and everyone across the city was affected.<br /><br />Over 1000 buses that shuffled some 400,000 people daily around the city sat parked at various bus depot centres for 51 days until the threat of being ordered back to work by the federal government prompted the union to agree to binding arbitration. The union's head, André Cornellier, left the announcement press conference in a stretch limo. In the middle of a recession.<br /><br />Some blame the mayor and city staff, others the unions. I don't care about the strike, per se. What I do care about is the timing. They could have walked off the job in March of 2008, or waited until the summertime. But that wouldn't have had the desired effect: it wouldn't inconvenience enough people. People who NEED public transportation don't have cars and are usually living on a small income. These people were the ones most affected by this strike. They can't afford taxis (if you could even get one in a reasonable amount of time). There are stories of people walking for hours to and from work, people unable to go to cancer treatments, people losing money because they couldn't GET to work, and people who lost their jobs altogether.<br /><br />Due to maintenance concerns, it will take almost 2 months before all the buses are running on their usual schedules. More delays, more traffic headaches. In the winter. What do the drivers expect in the way of behaviour from the passengers who return to taking the buses? Everyone, including the mayor, is hoping people are nice and sweet-tempered. But already there are rumblings of reprisals: not paying to get on and telling the driver to "Fuck off" being the main one.<br /><br />Bernie Gauthier, the chief executive of the Ottawa PR firm Delta Media thinks that many drivers could face irate passengers when bus service resumes.<br /><br /><blockquote>“I think they will have a hard time coming back. Right now there doesn’t seem to be a lot of sympathy for the drivers and for their union.” <br /></blockquote> <br /><br />Not "..a lot of sympathy"? Maybe it had to do with going on strike. In the winter. Just before Christmas. In a recession. The drivers pretty much deserve whatever they get.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-76460710700122099932008-12-15T12:10:00.007-05:002008-12-15T13:03:35.779-05:00Wow...I haven't posted in a while. It's not that there hasn't been anything to rant about, it's just that there has been TOO much to rant about.<br /><br />So, let's recap:<br /><br />1. A bunch of people who were obviously unqualified have been making financial decisions for years. In fact, these idiots were also the ones other people went to for financial advice. As you know, they were more than idiots...they were criminally stupid. The end result is the current recession. Here's my feeling on it:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUaZogVyduI/AAAAAAAAACU/T6T6wweGbPc/s1600-h/Wallstreet.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUaZogVyduI/AAAAAAAAACU/T6T6wweGbPc/s400/Wallstreet.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280076534293624546" /></a><br /><br />Then the US government has the flat-out balls to bail out these fuckers, with NO conditions attached to the money.<br /><br />2. A bunch of people who were obviously unqualified tried to form a coalition with the separatist Bloc Quebecois to usurp power from the duly elected, albeit minority, Conservative government.<br /><br />3. A bunch of people who were obviously unqualified have been running the crappy car industry giants Ford, Chrysler, and GM which are failing miserably and are screaming for government handouts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUaatyah54I/AAAAAAAAACc/ZH4WSALEcFs/s1600-h/CarIndustry.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUaatyah54I/AAAAAAAAACc/ZH4WSALEcFs/s400/CarIndustry.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280077724556322690" /></a><br /><br />I could rant about the three above, but really, I have lost the energy. Besides, it will all even out when the Zombies take over...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUabLoqsZyI/AAAAAAAAACk/4w2eSCGJnMo/s1600-h/Zombies.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 360px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SUabLoqsZyI/AAAAAAAAACk/4w2eSCGJnMo/s400/Zombies.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280078237335840546" /></a><br /><br />(From: http://shop.cafepress.com/design/13764376)Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-22812094031830829882008-10-23T09:48:00.002-04:002008-10-23T09:56:24.412-04:00OvechkinOver the past few years, I have tired of sports in general. From hockey, to baseball, to football, to the Olympics...I just don't care anymore. The superstars of these sports turned me off of them. Prancing boors with more money than brains and terrible work ethics: how many times have you seen a player sign a huge contract, and then slack off?<br /><br />But, even if you aren't a fan of hockey, there is one player that should make you stand up and take notice. Alexander Ovechkin, who plays for the Washington Capitals, is not the typical sort of superstar. Here's man who signed the richest contract in NHL history - something around $100 Million dollars - and who lives with his parents. This is a guy who, on his birthday, in the preseason, skated hard during an optional practice, when he could have been home relaxing. This guy ENJOYS his sport. Last season, he became the first player to win all of the following trophies in the same year: The Hart (league MVP), the Lester B. Pearson (MVP voted by other players), the Maurice Richard (most goals), and the Art Ross (most points).<br /><br />In January, during a game against Montreal, he broke his nose, split open his lips, and simply score 4 goals, including the overtime winner. Every goal he scores, he celebrates with an exuberance you have to see to believe. Youtube him. Trust me.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-70293692684248754052008-09-16T14:17:00.002-04:002008-09-19T08:29:28.498-04:00Spore and iPhone/iPod/iCrapI can't help but see similarities between the latest PC Game fiasco <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spore-Mac/dp/B000FKBCX4">Spore</a> and any flavour of "i"Anything from Apple. <br /><br />Spore has come packaged with a terrible <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management">DRM</a> application called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM">SecuROM</a>. In a draconian measure, <a href="http://www.ea.com/">EA (Electronic Arts)</a>, the publishers of the game, forced this app on unsuspecting users - that is, nowhere on the box does it say this crap will be installed along with the game. Among other things SecuROM enforces a 3-install limit...which means if you rebuild your machine, you have used up an "install". If you rebuild your machine (or add a harddrive), you have used up an install. After the third time, you will be forced to call EA to plead with them to get another install key. Fun, eh? The idea was this was supposed to end/limit piracy. Laughably, the game was available, DRM free, almost a week before the game hit the shelves.<br /><br />People have reacted to the DRM and have given Spore a terrible rating on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spore-Mac/dp/B000FKBCX4">Amazon</a>.<br /><br />I won't ever install a game onto my PC with this kind of crapware on it. Ever. I will pirate a game first. I hate doing that, since it doesn't support the developers, but I will not cripple my PC with that shit.<br /><br /><br />How does all that relate to iCrap from Apple? Well, what would you say if I told you that I created an MP3 player that needs propietary software to load music onto it. That this software, while residing on your PC, will take up resources even if you are not using the device and there is nothing you can do about it short of uninstalling the whole application? Would you buy that? Well, if you own any piece of iCrap, you have. I bought my son an LG MP3 player. You plug it into a USB port and it pops up like a removable drive. That's it. Copy the files over and voila. Done.<br /><br />iCrap is like DRM. Anything that makes your PC more difficult to use is something you should avoid. Anything that requires some convoluted method to get to work, is something that should never have been created.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-40247218953906206652008-08-18T08:04:00.002-04:002008-08-18T08:38:51.572-04:00American Date formatAs a developer, one of the things that piss me right off is the ridiculous default date format used by Microsoft's OSs. When you choose to use the English (US) format for dates and numbers, you get, as the default the following date format: mm/dd/yy (or perhaps you get mm/dd/yyyy which is only marginally better). The international date format is yyyy/mm/dd, and there is an excellent rationale for always using this.<br /><br />Take today's date: 2008-08-18. In the default setting it would read 08/18/2008. Let's pretend that we are developing a report and need to extract information from a database. If we have the following dates, in the mm/dd/yyyy format and we decide to put it into a character field (for instance, we shove it into a Word document table and the column is set as Text), how would you expect it to sort?<br /><br /><blockquote>08/18/2008<br />08/17/2008<br />08/18/2009<br />08/19/2008<br />08/17/2009<br />08/19/2009<br /></blockquote><br /><br />You would think it would sort in proper date order, but you would be wrong. It ends up like this:<br /><br /><blockquote>08/17/2008<br />08/17/2009<br />08/18/2009<br />08/18/2009<br />08/19/2008<br />08/19/2009<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Now, you could set it as a Date column, but there are many times you have this in a CSV format and you import into an app that just dumps it into a Text or Char field. Then you end up with this issue. If the dates had been formated correctly: yyyy-mm-dd then it doesn't matter if the data is stored as Text/Char or Date. It would sort correctly no matter what:<br /><br /><blockquote>2008-08-17<br />2008-08-18<br />2008-08-19<br />2009-08-17<br />2009-08-18<br />2009-08-19<br /></blockquote><br /><br />There is a much greater problem when the date is stored in the format mm/dd/yy (that is, with only a two digit year). If you get a date that looks like this 04/05/07 how do you know what it is without first knowing the exact format that was used? That could be yy/mm/dd...hell, it could even be dd/mm/yy. An application may not convert the date to its date format correctly at all. If I were to import that into my database, it would become 2004/05/07 and NOT 2007/04/05 as was the intention (mm/dd/yy).<br /><br />Short dates should be stored as yyyy-mm-dd (I don't care if you use a "-" or a "/", but with a backslash, if you were to use the date in a filename it would give you an error since filenames can't include "/". It means you would have to strip out the "/"s before creating a file. Small thing I know, but still, an extra step is an extra step). This format should be used internationally.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-45152491201752573092008-08-13T11:44:00.005-04:002008-08-15T11:44:41.721-04:00The R-Word and the OlympicsFirst...<br /><br />Are you kidding me? <a href="http://r-word.org/">Some people</a> are upset at the use of the words "retard" and "retarded" in the new comedy <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/">Tropic Thunder</a> by Ben Stiller. <br /><br />Any word can be hurtful, depending on its context. How many more perfectly legitimate words are we going to lose to political correctness? What about "bastard"? Will organizations populated by people who were born to out-of-wedlock mothers rise up in ire? If I call someone a "moron" will I be chastized by groups representing the stupid? This is freaking retarded.<br /><br />Second...<br /><br />What the fuck gets everyone excited about the Olympics? Men's Synchronized Diving...are you for fucking real? Canada, as of this post, has won NO MEDALS...and some are saying that the lack of support for Canada's swimmers, divers, and pool dancers (oh, sorry...synchronized swimmers) is the problem. That in non-Olympic years, no one gives a shit. Well...newsflash...why should we? Seriously.<br /><br />Michael Phelps could win 8 gold medals...wow...he's a hero. With that and several years at Harvard Medical, and more sweat and toil he could ever encounter in the pool, he might do something important...like find a cure for cancer.<br /><br />Now people, re: morons (see above...hope I didn't offend the stupid) want to increase PUBLIC funding of amateur athletes...see...this is the problem with morons:<br />a government's first responsibilities are to things like Health, Education, and Security...not funding athletes and the arts...not at the expense of those more important responsibilities.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-40840214390609646522008-07-21T10:00:00.002-04:002008-07-21T10:23:10.454-04:00GM Struggling to survive...its own stupidityI know I use the words STUPID or STUPIDITY quite often in my blog titles, but this is an apt description of GM....<br /><br />From an article by the Associated Press entitled "<a href="http://www.autonet.ca/donut/content/news/2008/07/16/6172711-ap.html">GM in struggle to survive</a>"<br /><blockquote><br />General Motors Corp., struggling to survive, will slash jobs, cut production, sell assets and suspend its dividend for the first time in 86 years as it tries to ride out an unprecedented collapse of its core U.S. market.</blockquote><br /><br />This is entirely self-inflicted. In the documentary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F">Who Killed The Electric Car</a>, the filmmakers outlined the issues surrounding the EV1 and how it got "killed" by combined stupidity. GM published comments disputing the findings of the film and stated that there was a limited market for EV1s...and then pursued the manufacture of gas guzzling SUVs and trucks in increasingly greater numbers. This action was, of course, incredibly short-sighted, given the state of the oil industry today.<br /><br />Short-sightedness is a common factor in the fall of many companies, and GM should not be immune to it...that is, NO government bailouts should ensue. What GM meant to state, in their critique of the findings of the film, is that there was no huge short-term demand for the electric car, and most companies only care about short-term gain...to their detriment.<br /><br />Successful companies need to look further into the future than the next fiscal shareholders' meeting. It needs to look beyond the current economy and focus on what will most likely happen in the next 10 years. It didn't take a genius to figure out that, with the invasion of Iraq in early 2002, oil would start a new rollercoaster ride...and from that event, GM should have begun planning. They didn't.<br /><br />Toyota did. So did Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Kia, and on and on...just not the big 3 in the States. Stupidity.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-68634168888680626872008-06-27T11:05:00.002-04:002008-06-27T11:16:18.166-04:00Zombies!I have come to the conclusion that any movie would be made better by the inclusion of zombies! Any movie!<br /><br />Take the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/">Titanic</a>, for instance. What if the reason the crew was distracted and ran the ship into the iceberg was because they were busy fighting off the zombie hordes? That would rock.<br /><br />A movie like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299930/">Gigli</a>, arguably one of the biggest flops in recent years, would probably have been a great hit had the plot changed from:<br /><br /><blockquote>The mob tells hitman Gigli to kidnap the mentally handicapped brother of a California DA from a mental hospital. While holding the mental patient in his apartment, Gigli starts to fall for Ricki, a "lesbian assassin", who is sent to assist him.</blockquote><br /><br />To:<br /><br /><blockquote>The mob tells hitman Gigli to kidnap the mentally handicapped brother of a California DA from a mental hospital. While holding the mental patient in his apartment, a zombie outbreak ensues, first engulfing the city then the country. Ricki, a lesbian assassin sent by the mob to assist Gigli, makes it to the apartment in time. The three of them attempt to fight off hungry zombies and try to find a way to survive.</blockquote><br /><br />Come on, you telling me you wouldn't PAY to see that?<br /><br />I guarantee that I can make any movie...ANY movie (Disney cartoons included) into a better film idea by adding zombies! Test me!Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-23480292359906997122008-06-25T14:10:00.005-04:002008-06-25T14:22:35.574-04:00Ribbon Bar - Office 2007 and up - Total Crap!Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of helping someone with a Word document. Unfortunate, because the person had <a href="officeupdate.microsoft.com">Office 2007</a> on their machine. All she wanted to do was PRINT. That's right...here's what the screen sort of looked like:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SGKLHfOshaI/AAAAAAAAABs/vDdxGfJb4g8/s1600-h/Word_1.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SGKLHfOshaI/AAAAAAAAABs/vDdxGfJb4g8/s400/Word_1.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215884279206938018" /></a><br /><br />So...how do you print? If you were a first time user and you opened a document and this is what the interface looked like, what would you do?<br /><br />Thrash around for a few minutes getting more and more frustrated until you want to grab Bill Gates by the ears and smash his head through your monitor? No? Maybe that's just me.<br /><br />How about searching vainly, avoiding Help because, frankly, it should be FUCKING OBVIOUS!<br /><br />Do you think it's in the View bar? Page Layout? Nope, and nope.<br /><br />See that colourful little ball in the top left of the screen. Yup. You click THAT and this opens:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SGKMBd7PzTI/AAAAAAAAAB0/xPosnD18_eo/s1600-h/Word_2.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xtXZge7xJeI/SGKMBd7PzTI/AAAAAAAAAB0/xPosnD18_eo/s400/Word_2.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215885275289341234" /></a><br /><br />Then you select Print, then click one of the Print options. Wow...how intuitive.<br /><br />For fun, go to google and search for "how do you print in word 2007" (try it without the quotes, otherwise you are looking for an exact string). Now, when people have to ask how to PRINT in a Word Processing application, time to go back to the drawing board.<br /><br />Oh, the wanks and apologists will tell us that we just need to "leeearrrnnnn" it and all will be well. Take a course to learn how to PRINT. Brilliant.<br /><br />You voluntarily bought this piece of shit...you're an idiot.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-62159310260490690182008-06-16T09:53:00.001-04:002008-06-16T14:28:45.986-04:00Starforce and the stupidity of copy protectionMany games use a copy protection scheme called <a href="http://www.star-force.com">Starforce</a>. Essentially, this program installs drivers onto your machine that will not allow you to run an application, in this case a game, without the proper disk. It is incredibly intrusive, though apologists will claim that it helps stop piracy. I doubt it. Very few of <a href="http://wiki.boycottstarforce.net/index.php/Game_list">these games</a> stay protected for any significant length of time.<br /><br />Now, for fun, especially if you are a gamer of sorts, take a look at that list of games. Notice anything? Most are nameless crap that no one really ever bought. Was that because of the copy protection. I think it could be...here's my argument:<br /><br />Many times I have bought a game and when I started playing it, found it sucked. Like <a href="www.prey.com">Prey</a>, for instance. Graphically beautiful, Prey gets dull really, really quickly. Of course, I haven't played it since I first picked it up, which means I am out $60. What I usually do is get a "cracked" copy of a game I am interested in, try it out, and if I like it, I buy it. <a href="http://whatisfear.com/fear.html">F.E.A.R</a> was one, I liked it enough to buy a copy (though it was on sale :) ), and, more significantly, <a href="http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/morrowind_overview.htm">Morrowind</a>. Played it for an hour or two, then raced to the store to get a copy. Brilliant game. Could I have gotten the same thing with a demo version, probably. But, I had a copy, tried it, and liked it.<br /><br />I have since bought all the expansions and the newest in the Elder Scrolls series, <a href="http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm">Oblivion</a>. Would you consider that a net gain, or loss for Bethesda (publishers of the games)? Net gain, I would say, and a considerable one at that. The only thing I do download, still, is a No CD crack (for every game I buy). This is so I don't have to constantly put the disc in the drive each time I want to play. I hate that.<br /><br />I recently purchased a game I found in the bargain bin of a Giant Tiger: <a href="http://www.rushforberlin.com/englisch/index.html">Rush for Berlin</a>. I only paid $3, so no big deal. I was going to give it to my Dad, who has been looking for a good WWII strategy game. I got it home, and read through the EULA. One section caught my eye:<br /><blockquote><br />...might install software alleged to interfere with your installed software or hardware...uninstalling the game will not remove Starforce...</blockquote><br /><br />I couldn't believe it, but really shouldn't have been surprised. I thought, however, that given the sale price, and the fact that the game was 3 years old, that they would have released a patch that does away with Starforce...many games do that (once everyone who really wanted a copy has one). Nope.<br /><br />I will not EVER install something with this kind of copy protection. This only penalizes the legitimate buyer, not the pirate. Starforce has been known to screw up optical disk drives to the point that they can no longer function. Fun, eh?<br /><br />The frightening part is that <a href="http://digg.com/tech_news/Canada_Proposes_Draconian_Anti_Piracy_Law">bill C61</a> was recently tabled in Canada, which makes the US DMCA look like a wimp. One part talks about making it illegal to circumvent copy protection, even if for personal use (such as the No CD crack)! Excuse me? This is insane. <br /><br />This will drive me to pirate shit, just to piss them off. <br /><br />Yes, stuff will get pirated, and that sucks. However, not every pirated game, or any kind of software for that matter, is a lost sale to the publisher. You cannot make a one-to-one correlation. Too many times games are pirated that the person has no intention of buying, not because they are cheap, but because they either can't afford it (Microsoft Office, anyone) and/or because they wouldn't have bought it in the first place (Prey comes to mind...if I had pirated it first, I wouldn't have bought it) :)Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786731.post-22410273566732049202008-06-10T14:41:00.003-04:002008-06-10T14:46:12.009-04:00I just want a phone!Wow...Apple has announced details on their new <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/060908-jobs-announces-iphone-3g-to.html?t51hb">iPhone 3G</a> which, among other things is cheaper than the original iPhone (which makes the early adopters look like morons...but I digress). According to Steve Jobs...<br /><br /><blockquote>The new iPhone, sporting a thinner and sleeker look, will support faster 3G (third-generation) broadband wireless networks and come with built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) capabilities, Jobs said. Support for 3G networks will enable the new iPhone to download data up to 2.8 times faster than the earlier model, Jobs said. Built-in GPS will make it easier for users to navigate roads.<br />Don't Miss!Read the latest WhitePaper - Troubleshooting Remote Site Networks - Best Practices<br /><br />The iPhone 3G will come with a 3.5-inch screen and have better battery life, with talk time of five hours, stand-by time of 300 hours, six hours of high-speed browsing time, 20 hours of audio and seven hours of video, Jobs said. Some who had previously bought iPhones complained about its battery life and that was a problem that Apple needed to solve with the new iPhone, Jobs said.</blockquote> <br /><br />It will probably cure cancer, except the brain cancer you will get from using the damn thing all the time, do your laundry, and balance your checkbook.<br /><br />Here's my problem: I just want a phone. A simple, freaking phone. The only "option" I want is Text Messaging. That's it. Just a phone. Only someone who is extremely busy needs something like this. I never want to be that busy, or that fucking dorky.<br /><br />Please, does anyone just make a cellphone anymore?Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11659696729706771552noreply@blogger.com2