September 1 - 15, 2001

Friday 14 September 2001

Come on everybody, get a grip! There is enough hysteria going on in the US for everyone! The witch hunt has begun and the US will leave no stone unturned to pulverize those they feel are responsible. Don't get me wrong here, those responsible should be punished for their actions. But slaughtering innocent people for others actions merely reduces the US, and the countries who support any over the top show of force, to the level of the terrorists themselves! The end result of this attack and the subsequent actions by the "free" world, could very well leave us fighting another bloody conflict. If that happens, remember that it is you, your family, your friends, who will pay the ultimate sacrifice! Not the political masters. They just give the orders for others to go and die. I urge all parties to consider the ramifications of their actions before they act! Take a big deep breath and consider what is going to happen after! Please. How many more innocents have to suffer as a result of this tragedy?

Wednesday 12 September 2001

The question is being asked now, "Why did it happen?" Well, I can offer some suggestions, but before I do, I wish to add that these are my opinions after the event, and I do not condone these sort of terrorist activities.

Firstly, it has been reported that the arrogance of the US brought this action upon them. Well, I would have to agree that that could very well be the case. The US wants to be the World leader in everything, and considers itself to be better than every one else. They steam roll other countries into taking certain courses of action and then when things go wrong they fail to support them. The country holds itself up as the shining example of all that is good, and yet it cannot solve problems without the threat of military action. And to say repeatedly that the US is safe from terrorism, is just asking for it!

Other than the people who actually committed this atrocity, I would lay the blame for this incident squarely on the shoulders of the politicians and power brokers! It is they who create foreign policies and oppress the rest of the world in order to ensure that the US remains on top of the pile! It is they who exploit the countries that cannot afford to be exploited. It is they who keep the third world firmly in its place! Once again, innocent people have paid for the arrogance of a nation's political head!

Now I understand that things are a little more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it! I am worldly enough to understand that no matter what you do, or how you do it, there will always be others who disagree with it. That is the nature of the species. But to flaunt your dominance over all, only encourages the worms to turn. Look at the targets. Symbols of power and influence! Why did they choose them? For that very reason, they represent all that the US is! Greedy, power hungry, and arrogant! Now don't get me wrong here, I am not attacking the normal people of the US here, I am attacking the power structure behind it. For a nation to be that arrogant and claim that they are the world leaders in just about everything, they really need to get everything squared away in their own back yard! They still have a huge poverty problem, they have a huge crime problem, they have a huge pollution problem. But are they doing enough about it? I would say, no! If they can't even look after their own house, how can they expect to look after every one else?

This act of terrorism is a political stunt, by people who are fanatics! But, in every fanatic there is an element of fact and truth. If we ignore them then we may be blinding ourselves to our failures, and be leaving ourselves open to this sort of act. Is the current capitalist ideal really the way to go? Is the current world political environment all it should be? Now is the time to ask these questions, while the sting of tragedy is with us all. It is now that we need to reevaluate our actions and our beliefs. For if we don't do it now, we will be doomed to see more of this sort of attack, all across the world!

Once again my deepest sympathies are extended to all those who are involved in the tragedies that occurred in the US this morning.

Friday 7 September 2001

Just a really quick post today.

It is with much regret that I have to announce that Codemasters have delayed the second Operation Flashpoint patch until next week! They cite stability issues for the delay and promise faithfully that it will be out next week! So much for the LAN server this weekend! Oh well, if it works really well then we will all be really happy!

Well that's all for now. Told you it was just a quick one. Bye now!

Wednesday 5 September 2001

Well, I know this sounds just like an excuse, but I am still really busy. And besides, not that much is happening in the computer world at the moment. I probably won't be able to update the site as regularly as I have been before now, but I will try to keep things flowing with interesting tidbits of information. Today we have a time machine, some weird news stories and a couple of other announcements. So let's get on with it!

KiM, the resident newshound (that reminds me, I must clean his cage!), has been hard at work again! This time he has dredged up some weird news items from around the place! Here they are:-
Women hoping to fend off jokes about women drivers should probably spend less time doing their makeup while driving. Check out more here!
And from News of the Weird:-
The head of a research team from the University of Adelaide (Australia), studying whiplash injuries, reported a preliminary finding in April that some victims' pain is prolonged more by "litigation" than by "damage to (the particular) joint."
And in March, a female researcher at the University of Central Florida found that female speakers with C-cup breasts were regarded as more professional by males than those of larger or smaller cups.
And a University of Cambridge professor announced in April, after lab experiments involving "kinetic energy, centrifugal force and co-efficient of friction," that the cleanest way to eat spaghetti is to roll the strands on a vertical fork against a spoon parallel to the plate and then to eat the pasta off the spoon.
Donald James Eversen was arrested in Sparks, Nev., in March and charged with attempting to rob two women and then to steal a beer truck for his getaway. Police found Eversen (who had been drinking) a few blocks from the scene, and when they brought the two women by to identify him, Eversen immediately blurted out that, yes, those were the two women he had tried to rob.
And Humberto "The Frog" Banuelos, a man alleged to be a big hit man for the Tijuana drug cartel, was arrested in July in spite of the extensive cosmetic surgery he had undergone for disguise. Police said Banuelos had neglected to change the one thing that they regarded as his chief body characteristic: a distinctive bullet-wound scar on his right buttock.

Thanks for all your efforts at digging up interesting news bits KiM!

Tim's news sent me over a link to e-bay where some idiot is trying to sell a used Time Machine! This by itself I could handle, but the really disturbing part is that other people (and I use the term loosely) are actually bidding for it! The first bid was for $15 but now there have been 45 bids and the latest bid is up to $4950! Unbelievable! If you don't believe me, check out the site for yourself. It even comes with some pictures of the intrepid owners in various time periods (Puke!)! Now the cynic in me immediately thrusts the thought into my head that it looks awfully like an ice box/refrigerator, with some things poking out of it and a smoke machine strapped to the back! But I am not an expert in such things, so I will let you make up your own mind!

Rob the Loon has sent word that there are a heap of new Max Payne mods coming to a computer near you soon! You can check out the info here.

In a fairly stunning piece of computer related news, Hewlett Packard have just bought out Compaq! Look out IBM! Check out the full details here.

Black and White developers, Lionhead Studios, have just announced the existence of the sequel to the great game! They have also released details of the upcoming addon pack for the original. It is called Creature Isles. You can check out a preview of the expansion at GameSpy.

Well I thought I'd heard it all, but I was wrong! Some idiot died recently in France when he was shot dead by Police after challenging them to a duel with a rocket launcher. This was the conclusion of an all night gunfight/siege! What a way to go! Check out the details here.

Well that brings me up to date now! Back to marking and thesis stuff! Enjoy! Oh, the Max Payne Review will be posted sometime shortly! Honest, I promise, it's done!

Sunday 2 September 2001

Well I've been a very busy, bad boy this last week. Thesis stuff and other crap have been taking my time away from updating. Sorry guy's, but it can't be helped. Other pressures intrude, but I will try to get it all up to date today so I can get back to the rest of what I have to be doing.

Well in the news from the week, it seems that the US legal system has once again failed to adhere to the constitutional rights of the individual, and has lost any semblance of common sense in it's underwhelming bid to support the moneyed few! What, you may ask was that all about? Well the Russian programmer who cracked the encryption of Adobe's file software has been indicted on 5 counts of copyright law breaches. Now why this is a criminal case, as it only protects the ones with money, is beyond me! But I am no US Attorney General! And this all happened after the complainant, Adobe, pulled out of the prosecution after Sklyarov was arrested in July? Now how many votes and how much campaign funding will be made available if this prosecution is successful?? As usual the political animals get away with screwing with others lives, scot free! If you want some more information on this case, check out the Wired News Article here.

Well it seems that the Open Source programmers are getting a boost from some Governments worldwide. Some are pushing their departments and agencies to use Open Source software unless proprietary software is the only option! Good on them! Now what do you think Microsoft and all the other major software companies are doing about it? Well, they are trying like hell to stop the trend! Check out the story here.

In a follow up to the story on the University of Georgia, Tim "PorkChop"Sullivan has sent in this info and comment:-
Be advised that among the criteria for that Georgia university is also sex. If you are other than male you also get an extra half point. ( Now I don't know if this includes the 5 different "genders" that were defined in that goofy UN Convention on the "Woman" they had in Beijing about 4 or 5 years back, but it's not far away) This in the name of diversity. Well the politically correct crowd continues to gain strength here in the States. My bet is in the near future you will see extra points awarded for "sexual orientation". So if you're an African-American, lesbian, and totally fail the SAT, they will make you dean of the university!

For all those people who are having trouble with Operation Flashpoint, and need to save the game more often, there is a new utility which allows you to do just that! You can get Flash Tool 1.5a from FilePlanet. The utility allows multiple saves and restores, for those difficult missions! Grab it now!

For all of you who are waiting for Duke Nukem Forever to be released, wait a bit longer! Take Two Interactive have just announced that the evergreen vapour ware title is to be delayed further and won't have any hope of reaching the shelves this year. They also stated that it would be released on multiple platforms.

It seems that apathy may be the great obstacle to the ideals (and profits) for interactive TV. A recent survey/study has shown that consumers are just simply too damn lazy to use interactive TV! You have to love humanity! Now I can think of a whole lot of excuses and justifications for the results, but then I look at the rest of our daily lives and think, hell they are just damn lazy! In everything we do, if it gets hard then we don't do it! Even if it is the better way of doing things! Why is that so? Anyway you can check the article out here.

Well it looks like Medal of Honour: Allied Assault has also been delayed until next year. You can check out the official update here. This is sad news indeed for the FPS gaming community. But if it makes for a better game with fewer bugs on release, then we should be grateful that the programmers have won over the marketers and bean counters!

For a rather "tongue in cheek" look at violence and video games, the Reality Syndicate has released an article showing that violence causes video games. Rush over and have a look at the site. It is good!

Now here is a penalty that I can live with. Some dork who enjoys tormenting all and sundry with his particular musical treats has been convicted of "disorderly conduct" and given a choice of penalties. He can choose between $100 fine or 4 hours of Polka tunes! Personally I wouldn't have given him the choice, but then again I am cruel and unusual! Check out the story here!

Here is a story for you. This goose tried to steal a train! Not only are you limited to where you can go, but this clown couldn't get one of the brakes to release, so he radioed the control tower to help him! What an idiot! Check the full story out here!

Well that is just about it. Just received an e-mail from the pirates at Tel$tra. This time they are stating that they are delaying the implementation of the proposed 3Gb cap options until they complete a review! They claim they are going to enforce the limit from now with their new clauses to the AUP. Basically Tel$tra now have the option to cancel your account if you go over 3Gb in a month! The "freedom" plan is becoming less and less free! If they keep going like this I will cancel my subscription and go back to the modem!

Well that just about get's me up to date with the news. Next week I will try to be more forthcoming with updates and such, but I won't promise anything. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend, and Cheers!