August 16 - 31, 2001

Wednesday 29 August 2001

This damn flu is killing me! Every time I have to do something a little strenuous, I really suffer the next couple of days! So that's why there was no post yesterday. Anyway I will try to catch up a bit on the news today. Now on with the show!

Tim's News has finally put up some pics on his new case mod. You can check out his box here! I still haven't seen it in the flesh, but I think it looks kinda cool! Let him know what you think while you are over there.

Well it looks as if the music industry has taken another beating, this time from the US Universities! When the Napster issues was on everyone's lips the Universities banned or blocked all Napster transmissions. Now with all the other file trading software about, it is virtually impossible for the system administrators to block the ports. So, what are they doing about it? THey are leaving the services available and allowing the users to regulate themselves! So if the service slows to a crawl because of file trading, student body groups can then take action if they wish! So file trading looks like it will remain embedded into the Uni culture! Check out Wired News for the full story.

Our Newshound KiM has been at it again! This little piece comes from the Los Angeles Times:- (thanks KiM for pointing out this mistake!)
A novel way to combat racism... The University of Georgia has been offering bonus points to the credentials of students who are from a nationality other than white... evidently reasoning that it doesn't count as racism if your white. The courts have ruled against it but the university is considering appealing or searching for other ways to adjust the averages of the races represented at their schools. Amusingly enough it did also at one point offer the same sort of bonus to male students until it was hauled to court. Most amazing is the pretense of righteousness by the president of the university who stated "Sometimes you are defined by the battles in which you engage rather than those you win,". Idiot. (LA Times) You can view the full article here.

And in a very peculiar twist of fate, comes this story about a classic film being finally made into a stage play! Just to keep things interesting, Debbie Does Dallas is now a stage production! That's right, someone has gone and made it into a theatre production to be taken to a the Fringe Festival. Check out the story here.

For those of you who loved the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series of games (and I'm one of them) Gamespot have a preview of the latest in the line - Ghost Recon. Go check out the upcoming squad based, strategy, first person shooter, game.

Codemasters have announced that Operation Flashpoint has shipped in the US today and should be widely available by the end of the week! All those US residents who got an early European version of the game will be able to download a patch from Codemasters by the 7th of September. Play, sweat, shake, enjoy! Read a review here.

Now here is a story that I like to see. It is not so much what the story is about but how the story is researched and written! This article from ZDNet deals with the ongoing controversy of violence in computer games. The twist here is that it actually provides both sides of the story in a fairly balanced manner. One particular comment that I like, is the one where one game company states the incredibly obvious, and frequently overlooked, fact that parents let children get games that contain violence. The comment then refers to the violent mods available on the net and says that if parents didn't get them the game in the first place, then the mod would be useless! Strike one for common sense in this issue, finally! Check the article out, it is a rarity!

The new version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (ver 6.0) is now available for download. You can get it from the IE website.

Well that's just about it for today! See you again tomorrow!

Monday 27 August 2001

Good morning all! Just thought I'd drop a quick post up this morning with some things that came in over night.

Yahoo, which is trying to distance itself from adult-oriented merchandise and advertising, has landed in another sex skirmish. Yahoo has attempted to stop a web site called sex.com from funneling users away from Yahoo's site. Users that type in the phrase "yahoo.sex.com" are automatically transferred to the sex site, because of sex.com's use of an technology called wildcard domain-name service. Sex.com has fired back with a lawsuit of its own, requesting that Yahoo clear it of any wrongdoing. Thanks for this one to our resident news hound KiM.

And KiM strikes again today! Here is a snippet shamelessly stolen from the News of the Weird site! Well a couple actually!:-
"Kevin Mackle died at age 21 in 1998 when a Coke machine he was rocking in a dorm at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, fell on him. In July 2001, Mr. Mackle's family filed a lawsuit for about $660,000 (U.S.) for wrongful death against the machine's manufacturer and distributor, and Coca-Cola, and the university. The lawsuit claims that each defendant was negligent in not posting signs on the machine that college students should resist the temptation to rock it. According to the coroner's report, the late Mr. Mackle was well-known by his friends for securing free sodas by rocking the machine and was once again engaged in his craft when the fatal accident occurred. [National Post, 7-11-01]"
Yes KiM, another fine example of parents blaming others for their own, and in this case their son's as well, stupidity! I would have thought they'd bring their children up better than to be a petty thief! The concept leads on to the whole Capitalist thing and I haven't got time to go there today but the next story does!

In a blatant example of just how much the consumer gets shafted by monopolies, it looks like my favourite Telco Tel$tra are staring down the barrel of a lousy $4 billion in profits for the year. Now all together...... Ooooohhhhhhh! Now if there are 18 million people in Australia that works out to about $222.00 per head of population! That includes all those people who don't have a phone because of age or financial circumstance. Now everybody has contributed to the Tel$tra cause. Why you ask? Because even if you use a competitor Tel$tra still get your dollar as they have to pay to use the infrastructure! Tel$tra can't lose on this deal. Why is broadband so slow to take on in Australia? Because of Tel$tra's restrictive trade policies and their ridiculous 3 Gb cap! And then they have the hide to announce that sort of profit, just after they announced that the phone line rental costs are increasing? What pricks! Check out their projected profits here.

On a slightly lighter note, KiM has found a very interesting site that simply collects evidence of our collective stupidity and willingness to blame everyone else for it! The site is called Dumb Warnings and is worth a look! Did you know that things get hot when heated??? Thanks KiM.

And in a final couple of weird news items from News of the Weird sent in by KiM (you've been a busy boy lately!) it is apparent that our legal system is failing us badly! Here are the stories:-
In July, the University of South Florida agreed to pay $25,000 to a former art student to settle her 1999 lawsuit claiming that she felt sexually harassed by a class-discussion photograph of a naked white woman clinching a naked black man, despite the fact that that day's topic was controversial art and that all 250 students in the class had been warned of the nature of the class and advised they would not be penalized for missing it. (Shortly after the class, the woman's father complained, and the graduate assistant who supplied the photograph was transferred, which ignited a public protest by all the rest of the students in the class.) [St. Petersburg Times, 7-4-01]"

And a fun excuse to sue people, a man claims his life was devastated because a cat mauled his dog:
"In May, several months after the Escondido, Calif., library's resident cat attacked Richard R. Espinosa's 50-pound Labrador-mix assistance dog, Espinosa filed a $1.5 million claim against the city, alleging that he was in bad shape because of the dog's injuries. According to the legal papers, Espinosa suffers "significant lasting, extreme and severe mental anguish and emotional distress including, but not limited to, terror, humiliation, shame, embarrassment, mortification, chagrin, depression, panic, anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares, loss of sleep (and) loss of full enjoyment of life as well as other physical and mental afflictions of pain (and) suffering." [San Diego Union-Tribune, 5-5-01]"

Rob the Loon just reminded me that there is a new map pack available for the Half-Life Mod, Day of Defeat. You can get it from FilePlanet.

And finally Tim's News has a link to a really cool case mod! Go here for the full details of how to turn your computer into a model of your favourite motor vehicle! I sit in humble awe at this case mod!

Well that's all for now, I may be back later with more! Enjoy!

Sunday 26 August 2001

Well back again. I have to finish off the news from yesterday, but the really good news is that I have finally posted the World War II ONLine review by Tim PorkChop Sullivan!. (and I've finally found some cool "NEW" images). The Max Payne review will be out in a few days, when Rob the Loon finishes writing it for me! We are starting to get quite a little community going here, and I am considering putting up some forums when I get the time. Please let me know what you think about that. If you, the readers, want them I'll put them up. Anyway let's get on with the show!

Our resident "news hound", KiM, has come up with another interesting story. This one deals with the continuing controversy over the findings of the Japanese study into brains and computer games. This story went world wide earlier this month under the banner "Computer Games Fry Kid's Brains". A glowing example of responsible journalism! This article from ZDNet News shows that the gaming industry is fighting back against this sort of reactionist press! I still stand by my earlier comments. It is ultimately the parents responsibility! No excuses, no cop outs, just accept responsibility for what your children do and take an active part in moderating their lives and activities! I could say much about this concept, but I'll spare you my idle rantings. Too much emphasis is placed upon external factors, and too little responsibility is attached to personal causes. Come on guy's get a grip!

Now do you guy's out there really hate it when you go to a site and you lose the information you are looking for in a sea of undisciplined pop-up ads? I loathe them! They annoy and distract me, and some sites just make my visit there very short indeed! as soon as I get more than one pop-up, I'm gone! Now I understand that people need to advertise, and that unfortunately, pop-up adds, more due to their annoying nature than anything else, do make more impact on the visitor. The mere act of closing them down forces some form of recognition processes. If you are like me and hate these annoying mongrel ads, then rejoice, as we are not alone and there are things that you can do to stop them before they load. The other annoying thing with the ads is that they consume bandwidth. With Tel$tra's incredibly restrictive 3 Gb broadband limit, they are the fat and definitely need trimming. Modem users are forced to endure slow loading pages for the same reason. They clog up the line! So if you are wondering what to do about it, go check out this article from ZDNet News for some ideas.

For those of us running Windows 2000 or NT platforms, keeping up with all the security fixes and patches can be a real nightmare! I miss numerous patches, and I check every 2 weeks! It is not easy ensuring your system and data remain safe and secure (and run smoothly). Even worse are the cryptic Knowledge Base articles and the virtual impossibility of finding exactly what you want or need. So what is the answer? Well, finally Microsoft have developed a site that scans your system and provides feedback on potential security issues and bug fixes. This site is called Microsoft Personal Security Advisor, and is only for W2K Professional and NT Workstations users and not for servers. So if you run W2K Pro or NT W/station, then click on the link and grab those security fixes. Windows Update does not keep up to date enough and this site might be different.

Tim form Tim's News has finally finished his case mod project and reckons it looks pretty spiffy! He promises faithfully that he will post some pics of it all done up and an article on how it all went. I'll keep you posted. My new case and mods have started. It will be a slow project as I have to first accumulate the funds for the mods and stuff. It will form part of a real upgrade and will eventually turn into a water cooled beast! But that will take a while! I'll start a page for the Mods sometime this week with some pics of all the bits before I start putting it together. I think I'll go for something in a black Lian Li......

I don't know about you, but I really love those old cartoons! Particularly the Looney Tunes ones. My favourite character would have to be Wyle E.Coyote. Now there is a game where you help a starving Ralph Wolf steal sheep from under Sam Sheepdog's nose! I haven't played it yet, but I have downloaded it just on principle. You can get it from 3DFiles.

There are strange things that happen in the world of gaming at times! One of those things happened in in the last few days. It seems that a Thai youth has died of a suspected heart attack after playing Counter-Strike for almost 24 hours straight! Wow, that must have been some game! Now you can read all about it here or here!

Now in another story from Asia, a youth has been jailed for stabbing a fellow computer gamer! Now why would you do that? Well it seems that the victim stabbed the offenders character to death in game, so the offender took revenge in real life! What an idiot! That person should not play games! You can find out more about it here!

I came across a site on tweaking today and one of the articles was called "10 Commandments of Computing, and how to break them!". Quite interesting, but it comes with a warning at the top of the first page -
Disclaimer: Perform modifications to your system at your own risk. Many of these procedures can disable or outright fry your system. Only over-clock it if you can afford to replace it. Computer Source Magazine takes no responsibility. Don't come whining to us, pal. You've been warned.
Now that is the sort of disclaimer I like to read! Go check it out.

Here is another article on the anti-piracy attempts the record companies are making to stop the consumer from copying music. Even the experts who make the protection agree that it will not stop anyone for long! My question is - Why do it then??

The Australian Censorship Board is now looking at banning games containing violence. One would assume that it comes as a result of that bloody idiot reporter who linked Half-Life: Blue Shift to the death of that security guard at an abortion clinic! What crap are the government going to try to shove down our throats now in the name of censorship? You can see a copy of the draft here. I would urge all Australian Gamers to have a look at the document and then send them your considered thoughts. Don't flame them because that will just simply reinforce the stereotypes that the government already hold! If you are a child in your head, don't send them anything! If you have something to say, however, do so!

A Whirlpool user is reporting that Tel$tra are now begging users to return to their broadband connection services. It seems that they may have lost up to 15,000 users since they implemented their incredibly restrictive 3 Gb cap policy. My advice to Tel$tra would be to get rid of the cap and enforce the original Acceptable Use Policy! I think they are losing a lot of business at the moment in all areas. They are definitely not what you would call customer service oriented!

Well I think that just about does it for today! It took a while but I finally got everything up that I had to! So now I can get back to typing my thesis! Enjoy what is left of the weekend and come back tomorrow...pleeeeeeaaaaase!

Saturday 25 August 2001

Well another day has flown by without me doing very much on the site! So here is a quick update before I go to bed and mark some more assignments!

The Israeli's have given "birth" to a new computer system, called Hal. THis system is being raised in a manner similar to that of a human child. The grand goal is for the computer to learn like a child and then be able to pass the Turing Test. The Turing Test is a very difficult test of sentience. Grand plans indeed! You can catch the full story here.

Here is another amazing article from the islands of Malaysia! It seems that even though they are connected to the rest of the world, they're not! This report deals with an interesting take on keeping women locked up in the house. They use the threat of incest to fuel the fires of hysteria! Read it here! Thanks for this one KiM.

And again from Malaysia...... What is it with these people??? This article is about a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to get a girl to marry her! Police raided the house and arrested the woman and seized a strap on penis as evidence! Check it out here. Once again, thanks KiM.

Oops! It is now very late, tomorrow even, so I'll finish this when I wake up! Night!

Friday 24 August 2001

Yeah I know, I promised things and didn't deliver! Unfortunately when I got home from work yesterday the computer was having a mild attack of the I don't know what's! So as a result I was having a cow because all my thesis data is on it and I couldn't get it started and the drives looked like they were failing! After a tense couple of hours, I finally got it fixed up and now everything seems to be back to normal again! So here's hoping! Now on with the show!

A fair bit has happened over the last few days so I will try to fit it all in.

I got another of those e-mail warnings today. You know those ones about viruses that will kill your cat and ruin your sex drive? So I trotted over to my favourite and most trusted virus site to check it out. Sure enough, it was a hoax! Just another piece of hysteria driven rubbish I had to read! Now I know my friends who sent it to me meant well and I certainly appreciate the thought, but..... If you are ever curious about these hoaxes or any real virus, check out vMyths. It has everything. It is not sponsored by any anti-virus software and the author has more credentials in computer security that you can swing a bottle of pills at! That's where I go to keep informed, you should too!

Timmy form Tim's News has finally posted a short review of the weekends LAN and you can see it under Tuesday's news items. See, I promised to let you know when it was posted!

It looks like Pools Of Radiance 2: The Ruins of Myth Drannor has gone gold and should be in stores by September 21! Cool! You can catch all the info over at the site that is dedicated to bringing you information about new releases, Gone Gold.

I just came across an article that has me thinking quite a lot about IDE cables and the new, fancy coloured round ones! Like Tim from Tim's News, I too am in the process of building a stunning and different box of goodies for my computer as I gradually upgrade it to a real beast! And, like Tim, I too am considering using those fancy new coloured and rounded IDE cables! Now I come across this review of them over at Dan's Data and I am starting to reconsider the decision. If you are using them, or if you WANT to use them, then check out the review!

Dan has also done up an enjoyable article on "How to be an Annoying Bastard in Tribes 2". Check it out here for some fun, then I'll see you online practicing these tricks! You can find the article here.

For those of you who are mad mouse clickers, (read as Diablo II fans!) there is a new patch available for download, bringing it up to ver 1.09. You can get it from here.

Now why didn't they try to teach Shakespeare like this when I was at school? Innovative teachers at a US University are teaching the English bard by using modern adaptions of the scripts. Now that doesn't sound too bad, but these adaptations also include porn scripts! Can I enroll? Check out the full story here! Unfortunately I couldn't find a link to enroll!

Here is an article on the current debate about games causing brain damage to children. This one defends games and says that they are beneficial and useful. Now why do they keep going on with this stuff? Everything in moderation should be OK! Parents who let their children sit for hours and hours and play games should be keel-hauled! Get them to also play sport and engage in social interactions outside the home and school environments. That way you get kick ass gamers who can also handle real world commitments and relationships. This is just common sense. You could probably use the same arguments for reading and any other academic study! While you sit doing one thing other things do not get used. So should we ban study?? I know my social skills are falling down with everything I'm doing academically! My brain is also probably being fried by my monitor from the hours I sit in front of it doing this website and typing assignments! So check out this article and find out what all the fuss is about!

Operation Flashpoint News - The next patch, the one that brings it in line with the planned US version, will be released on September 7, one week after the US release date.

The other things I was planing will have to take a back seat for a couple of days while I get a backlog of Uni assignments marked and some work done on my thesis. But by the end of the weekend I should have a review of Max Payne and one of World War 2 Online by the Loon and PorkChop respectively. (I have them, I just have to post them!). Also a couple of other things will appear next week to add to the well being of the site and to keep you all interested and coming back for more! So enjoy and have a good day!

Wednesday 22 August 2001

Well things have got a little bit hectic at the moment so I haven't been able to update the site other than this today! Sorry, but I do promise that everything will appear tomorrow. Cheers!

Tuesday 21 August 2001

Guess I stuffed up the date again yesterday. I really shouldn't rush these things you know! Not much to report today other than that Tim is definitely going to be doing some writing for the site and in fact has completed a review of the massively online game World War II Online, by Cornered Rat Software. So tomorrow I will post the first two items by our new writer. Other than that it has been a slow day.

Cheers!

Monday 20 August 2001

This will be a really quick update today! It looks like Tim from the US will be doing some writing for me shortly! Which should prove to be quite interesting given his particular world view! So in a week or so you will probably see an article or two coming in from him. Watch out for it! Oh, by the way, I have decided to use his WWII Online nickname in order to differentiate him from the local Tim, from Tim's News! So (providing Tim has no objections) He will henceforth be called PorkChop! Now I was thinking of creating a separate section for him after he gets started writing and was after a snappy title! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know via the e-mail link above! Thanks, and Welcome Tim "PorkChop" Sullivan!

John Carmack has posted an article about the future of Open-GL on Slashdot. It compares Direct 3D with Open-GL and explores why programmers want one or the other! Check it out, it is very interesting and not too geeky!

Young Tim, from Tim's News (geez he's getting enough free plugs:)) will be very happy to see the new renders of his beloved Peugeot 206 rally car for the Half-Life Rally mod. This car is very fast and powerful for it's size, and as I am finding out in GT3 at the moment, it is quite difficult to drive well! If you like the French cars, or rally cars in general go check out their site and marvel at the quality of the images!

Now in a controversial study released recently, researchers have "discovered" that computer games are bad for you! Now being a student of psychology and all things "brainy", I would very much like to see the full paper and make up my own mind. It seems that the journalists who have reported on the research have glossed over the fact that gaming "seems to induce a state of mind seen only in elite athletes". Now how can that be "damaging? Something is amiss here! Either the journalist doesn't have a clue, or they are deliberately obscuring and distorting the report in order to sensationalize the topic. They wouldn't do that, would they? Check it out here.

Well that's it for today! Cheers!

Sunday 19 August 2001

This will be just a quick post today. Just checked the stats and the site keeps growing in terms of unique visitors. I would really like to thank you all for keeping me interested and motivated. It is a really good feeling to watch the site attract more and more visitors each week. I received an e-mail the other day from a gentleman named Tim, well actually it was two. Tim had some very nice things to say about the site and in fact he wrote them so well that I invited him to join the team and do some writing for me on occasion. I haven't heard back from him yet (I only asked him today!) but I hope he will join me in bringing you the stuff you all seem to keep coming back for! If any one else out there in the real world would like to assist me with the development of the site, just let me know, 'cause I could use the help. Thanks Tim for the nice words! (and no, it wasn't my mate from Tim's News either!)

I have a link to a site that features some information of the next Star Trek movie. On the site they discuss some of the story line and who is going to produce it. Be warned though, there is some spoiler information in the article! Just read those bits with your eyes shut! You can find it here.

In a move that seems set to anger the western industrial world, China are intending to break into the low-level satellite industry. They claim that it is only for weather and communications, but the US aren't that sure about it! Find out more here.

We may be a step closer to the digital human signatures if a Washington D.C. plan to photograph and fingerprint all it's school children takes place! As you can imagine the privacy people are livid about it! You can find out more here.

WIth music file trading programs like Napster and Morpheus being so popular, the music industry is being urged to give the consumer a bit more for their dollar. It has been suggested that in order to keep people buying CD's that they should include things like video clips and other digital stuff with the CD. Now I don't want to sound like a wowser but, get real! If they give this stuff away with the CD then what is there to stop trading that stuff over the net?? Now I am not a fan of the recording industry (take that as being the major labels) but piracy is a problem. I doubt that it is as big a problem as they would have us believe. I mean, how many people, in the days before MP3's and CD-R's, taped their friends record collection and listened to it without buying a single disc?? There would have been MILLIONS of them! Now the record companies are crying foul because of Napster and it's clones. It seems to me that they are pushing an agenda and using these programs merely as an excuse. The people that they should go after are not the consumer, but those big companies that make huge profits from piracy! But you never hear of them being prosecuted do you? The consumer is an easy target, that wont fight back! Anyway, you can find the article that has prompted this little rant, right here.

There is a new version of DVD Genie out now. That brings this popular modification program up to version 4.05. You can download the file from here.

Well, I went and saw Planet of the Apes tonight, and I must say I was a bit disappointed. The imagery was good but the story line could have been soo much better. It was a typical Hollywood style, moneymaking venture. And the ending was really flaky! But apart from that it was a movie I could watch without thinking at all!

Well that's all for today. Young Timmy from Tim's News, has been a bit slack and hasn't put the LAN report up yet! I'll get on to him and let you know where to find it! Goodnight.

Saturday 18 August 2001

Well another weekend is here and almost gone (it is night here in the land of Oz!). So much to do that I just have to avoid doing it and update this site! We have nude soldiers and pole dancing for you today, so I suppose you could call this the SEX Issue! Read, and as always, please enjoy this small piece of lunacy in the swamp of internet life!

I came across a link yesterday at Tim's News relating to the flight sim, Falcon 4.0. I followed it and was absolutely amazed at the work that has been done on this sim since it's release almost 2 years ago. All the work has been done by the community for free! This has an exceptional sim, even better! If you are into flight sims, particularly Falcon 4, check out this site and catch up, you will probably be as amazed as Tim and I were! Check out The F4 Community. I will have to get back into this game when I have time!

For those poor Macintosh users, there is some gaming hope in sight! Despite the fact that PC gamers have been playing this game for a long time now (6 - 8 months I think?) the game has now officially gone GOLD for the Mac version! What is the game you might ask? Well it is none other than that great RPG from Bioware, Baldur's Gate II. You can find the full press release at Inside Mac Games. This would have to be a very quick release for the Mac community!

In a strange story of bizarre religious practices, FOXNews are reporting that the little cut that some men get, has got the chop due to economic reasons! Yep in Turkey circumcisions at the Circumcision Palace have been stopped due to lack of financial resources! Click the link above to find out more! (and no, I will not apologize for the bad jokes!)

For the few girls that read this site, here is an article that I stumbled across the other day. It is about finding, dating and keeping a Geek! It was written back in 1994, so some of it may be a bit out of date, but it has lost none of its relevance! Check it out here. The guy's can read it to, cause it is a bit of a laugh!

Late bloomers going through that second child hood have been warned about flower stealing! A couple of grannies have been caught by the police for stealing flowers from an historic garden in Wales! Although not charged with the theft, police sternly warned them to nip their behaviour in the bud! (ooowww! The bad jokes keep coming!) Check the full story out here!

A solar system similar to ours has been discovered somewhere out there in space. The similarities are that there is more than one planet revolving around a single star, and that they orbit in a circular pattern. Check the short piece out here.

In Scotland, the Norweigian Army has promoted a King Penguin to "Honourable Regimental Sergeant Major"! Bringing new interest to the term Arctic Warfare, the penguin was promoted at a shot ceremony in Edinburgh. If you don't belive me, and I wouldn't, check the story out here!

Well, it is official! And before you reach for the keyboard and send me lots of nasty e-mails, it is not my story! It seems that many people don't get a job because they are just plain stupid! Now that may seem like a sensible thing, but you really have to read this article to understand the monumental levels of idiocy we are talking about! Go check it out and laugh out loud like I did! Then shake your head in disbelief that there really people that dumb out there!

In a sad but strange story, it is reported that a New Zealand male drowned last week in his cat's water dish! Now don't laugh, but it is true, it doesn't take much water to drown in, but a cat's dish??? Check it out here!

Now for the stories you have been waiting for! The NUDIE bits! I have to thank KiM for sending these to me. Thanks mate, you truly do have a warped and twisted sense of humor! I love it!

Naked female, gun toting soldiers? Where? Let me at them! In a fantastic example of journalistic licence, a Palestinian daily newspaper has reported that the Israeli Army is now using naked female soldiers to trap young militia and then kill them! What? They go even further to suggest that the young men were so disturbed by the site that they actually ran to the soldier in order to throw rocks at her! It was then that the woman took out a gun (from where?) and fired at their heads, killing two and injuring 9! Well, I think you know what I think of this story! Read it here, and make up your own mind!

Now this article came from the Mystique Magazine web site, and I don't have any address for the article, so I'll reprint it here in it's entirety. Unfortunately I have no permission to do this but what the heck! If anyone has any complaints about it I apologize in advance and if you feel really strongly about it, let me know and I'll take the article off. I actually believe that the site is a subscription only site! But here it is -

Pole Dancers Try For World Record

Breast cancer claims the lives of over 13,000 women in Britain a year and any extra funds are welcome, said Nicola Hawe of the Cancer Research Campaign. "They are professional athletes as far as I am concerned," she said of the dancers. "Cancer won't discriminate and neither will we."

The FIGJAM Clan is having another LAN Party tonight, but unfortunately I won't be there. I have to go to an engagement party with the wife and will miss it. They will be playing Q3A Rocket Arena, Day of Defeat, Operation Flashpoint, and probably a couple of driving games like Insane or Motorcross Madness 2. Tim's News should have a quick take up sometime tomorrow afternoon. He has to get out of bed first!

Well that's all for today. I'll probably be back in the afternoon after I check to see how many hit's I have got for the week! Ciao baby!

Thursday 16 August 2001

Well another day, another couple of cents after tax! Spent the evening working at my part time job. Yeah, you know the ones that fund particular projects like Uni! Fortunately things were a bit slow and I could spend some time playing Gran Tourismo 3 for the PS2! This is a great game and makes me almost want to buy the console just to play this game! Most of the others are crap (IMHO), but this one has actually managed to really entertain me! Just my two bobs worth for the evening! Don't really know what will be in here tonight cause I'll just make it up as I find it! Hope you enjoy reading it!

I must say young Tim from over at Tim's News has been a bit slack lately with his updates, but every now and then he manages to dredge up some really good links! This one is a review of the great Operation Flashpoint! It focuses on the Co-operative Multiplayer game elements and is quite humorous, particularly the bit about the seagull! I laughed the whole way through as I have had the same experiences. Go read it, and enjoy! You can catch the article here!

Young Timmy has also posted a link to an alternate version of Google, the renowned search engine! So if you feel that you are an l337 h4XxOr then check out this link! For the normal people, don't bother it is gibberish anyway! I read an article in atomic MPC, an Australian computer magazine (excellent!), bout an interview with the legendary Australian hacker, Necron! One answer that he gave sticks in my mind and is quite appropriate for the above link! When asked if he had any last words for the atomic community, Necron answered, "A message to today's hackers: it's actually spelt 'Elite'."

Another strange article about old institutions. This time the Miss America beauty pageant is intending to combine the elements of all those "reality" TV shows in order to increase ratings for the show. My question is, Why? Why bother? Anyway you can check out the story here!

It really is amazing what people complain about these days! This article over at Salon.com shows just how strange some people can really be! It seems that an advertising company bowed to pressure to pull an add from the TV because of complaints. Now this ad simply shows a mother helping her daughter look more in fashion. Obviously the ad is for some clothing company but it is a natural thing in today's world! Most of the people who complained about it would do the same thing for their families anyway! How hypocritical! Anyway, check it out and make up your own mind.

Another strange story, this time from CNN.com, involves a group of scientists who are seeking to publish the paper on the controversial encryption crack for digital music. I say go ahead guys, do it, but the courts may have a different opinion! It seems strange that a country that holds "free speech" on such a high pedestal, allows this sort of muzzling of scientific research! I think that the US constitution should be changed to reflect the reality approach to free speech! It should read something like this:- "You have the right to say what you like until someone with more money than you objects to it in a court of law, cause then we, the Government, are going to say you can't say it anymore!" What do you think?

Now every gamer dreads the release of a much publicised new game. Not because of the hard earned dollars that they have to fork over the counter at their local favourite game shop, but because they may be the one gamer who can't play it for weeks until a patch or a work around is released! New games are great, but buggy new games are a nightmare! On this topic, the people (I'm told, guy's, is sexist) over at the FiringSquad have released an article from a developers perspective. It is a very interesting read, and it can be translated into any computer program release! Remember all the problems Microsoft had when they first released Windows 95? Go check it out, it'll be well worth your while!

Oh, and before I go.... I would just like to remind all the space cadets out there that Elvis is DEAD! In fact he died on this day in 1977! So you couldn't have seen him at the corner store. Lay off the drugs and reality will return (not Elvis!)! Goodnight!