The SA Public's Silly Priorities

I'm constantly finding myself dumbstruck by the South African public. I find it fascinating (in the same way as an exploding volcano) to watch what we as a country get incensed about, what we find worthy of our attention as a group of people.

We've recently had two large upwellings of public protest about two very different issues: The whole Zuma Spear controversy and the toll roads in Jo'Burg. I've already put in my two cents about both those issues so I won't go into them again. What I interested in is that the people of South Africa obviously feel that these are the most important matters facing our country at the moment.

Seriously? Paying tolls (which happens EVERYWHERE else in the world) and a picture that is in (arguably) bad taste? That is what you think is important? Regardless of what you think of either of those issues, surely we have bigger fish to fry? Don't we have a couple blue whales sitting in the background?

Apart from nebulous concepts like crime, corruption and education there are some very serious, very specific problems that I would think take precedence over anything as trivial as what we get worked up about. For instance:

The DA recently had a match to COSATU’s head office that ended in violence when COSATU supporters clashed with the DA. We should be screaming our heads off about this! The right to protest is one of the basic freedoms that the ANC (and COSATU) fought for and it must work both ways… it’s not just the ANC and its partners that can protest.

Bheki Cele is still a member of our government. After every complaint, report and investigation, this man is still collecting a paycheck out of our pockets. The fact that he still has any form of authority is due a failure of us as a people to call for his head. You think he would still be there if we cried about that as much as we do about tolls?

The death toll on our roads is sitting at about 14000 people a year. 14000 people! We had 900 people killed in December last year. It beggars belief. Sure this is due to number of factors, but it could be significantly reduced by enforcing drinking laws and holding Taxi associations accountable for the maintenance of their vehicles.

All of these problems have solutions; they’re not nebulous policy decisions that are open to debate. All that is needed is the political will to make it happen, but that will never materialize until the South African public hold their elected officials accountable for what they do. We need to make a noise about what really matters to us… not about a stupid little painting.

-Odd

P.S. I really do love this country... I think it's the best place to be in the world, and I'll have something more positive next time :)

“Too many leaders act as if the sheep... their people… are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep.” –Ken Blanchard

Zuma’s Public Privates

In case you missed it, last week a South African artist by the name of Brett Murray exhibited a painting of Jacob Zuma with his scholng hanging out. This has caused a massive outcry in certain circles and there’s now a controversy as to whether or not the artist had a right to use Zuma’s likeness.

On principal I’m inclined to support Brett’s right to use art as a means of political protest, even if I think the painting is in poor taste, but a lot of people are up in arms about the invasion of Zuma’s privacy… I have a couple issues with that.

First off, Zuma is a public person. As president of our country he is in the public domain and must submit himself to criticism, commentary and satire: that’s just the way that a free media operates. Now, you could argue that his wedding tackle is not part of his public profile but if you look at everything he’s been up to while in the presidency (and before) then it’s not a big stretch (ah-ha) to see where the artist is coming from.

Additionally, if Zuma is really personally mortified by this painting and wants to have it removed then it is his right as a private citizen to request that. Note that I said “his right as a PRIVATE CITIZEN” – this is an important distinction, because he chose to lodge his complaint through his position as president of the ANC. In my opinion, the position of President of the ANC is a public position and so open to satire of this nature. You can’t have it both ways, JC: Either you’re a public personality that is backed by the ANC and open to satire or you’re a private citizen without political powers and a right to privacy.

This sort of situation is precisely why politicians in the first world resign at the first hint of controversy. They do that to avoid further embarrassment to themselves and their political party. With all the shenanigans that Zuma has been through in his political career, can anyone really say that they didn’t see this coming? Really?

-Odd

“The first 20 stories written about a public figure set the tone for the next 2000 and it’s almost impossible to reverse it.” –Charles W. Colson

Blizzard Blackout

Like most of the internet, I've been playing Diablo 3. Like most of the internet, I’ve been having trouble playing Diablo 3. Maybe I should give some background information for anyone who isn’t keeping up-to-date with gaming news.

Diablo 3 is a mostly single player game published by Blizzard, but as with all other Blizzard games you must be constantly connected to their servers play it. This is a DRM initiative that Blizzard has put into all of its games and it mystifies me for a number of reasons.

Firstly I’ve already bought this game. I paid money for the original box, I didn’t pirate it or get a copy. I bought a SINGLE PLAYER GAME, but to play it by myself I need to connect to Blizzard servers. I’ve been lucky that (touch wood) my internet connection has been stable for a couple days, but what if it wasn’t? If I had no internet connection then I would be forced to buy a pirated game (when I would rather buy original). I’ve ranted about that before so I won’t belabor the point… much.

How does it make business sense to do this? On one hand you can make a single player game that has only an upfront cost – once it’s being sold, then the only additional overheads you have are marketing, maintenance and patch development. Blizzard then adds these DRM servers into the mix: They now have to pay for all those servers, the bandwidth they use and people to manage and maintain them. That must cost a terrible amount of money. Somehow I don’t think they’ve looked at the cost evaluation of how much their DRM is saving them piracy wise vs how much it costs them to implement.

The thing that irritates me most about this DRM system is that it is failing. You can go now and check the social media site of your choice and find hundreds of people complaining that they cannot play their game. Why? Because Blizzard do not have enough servers to handle the load. Amazing. I bought an original copy of a SINGLE PLAYER game… and I can’t play it because of an initiative that is supposed to encourage me to do that. DRM is supposed to make it better to buy original than pirate…. Something is very wrong.

Blizzard have been very apologetic and have said that they are provisioning additional servers, so we must just hang on a bit and everything will be fine. I don’t think they can use that excuse. If anyone should know how to handle server load, it’s Blizzard. These are the same people who run World of Warcraft (which currently has 10.2 Million users) for Newton’s sake. Add to that the fact that Blizzard has to know the preorder numbers for their game and you arrive at the conclusion that they willfully screwed the pooch.

They KNEW that implementing this DRM would require them to have servers. They KNEW the number of people buying this game at launch. How could they NOT know that they wouldn’t have enough?

Blizzard: You screwed up. Fix it.

-Odd

“All that's left of proud Tristram, are ghosts and ashes.”

P.S. The game is awesome. Really super awesome. I just wish I could play it consistently.

Third World Internet Lament

My illustrious brother recently visited us from down under, full of amazing stories of technology from the first world. It was awesome to see him again (it's been 4 years since he was last out here), but it was sometimes difficult not to strangle his bragging self.

Hearing what sort of infrastructure and services they have in the first world (even one that is on the other side of the world from EVERYTHING) really put our own situation into perspective for me. My boet has a 4mb line at home... for home use... privately. Our businesses are seen as super-advanced if they have that kind of speed!

Australia is also improving their network speeds by rolling a full fiber-optic network. Back at home, I'm pleasantly surprised if my exchange stays online for more than two days running.

We also have a dearth of gadgets in South Africa. I've been meaning to start a podcast for a while now, and in the interests of such I'm trying to get my hands on a midlevel microphone. Something like the Samson Meteor... think I can find in SA? Think I can find something comparable? Think I can find a shop that sells ANY sort of microphone? If you answered no to all of those questions... you're both extremely cynical and absolutely right.

I love this country, I think we have the best weather, people and scenery in the world... but I do sometimes wish we could catch up to the first world just a bit. Maybe just make the attempt? I'll take false hope, really... anything?

-Odd

"The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow" -Bill Gates

Avengers Assembled

It’s been a couple weeks now since The Avengers came out… so I think I've given you all enough time to go and see it, but in case you haven’t: SPOILER WARNING!!! If you do not want details on what happens in The Avengers, stop reading now and come back after you have seen it.

First off let me say that this is not a movie review. I’m not going to deconstruct it or make a recommendation, I’m going to tell you which bits I liked the most… and it’s difficult to do that because it is all full of awesome.

This movie was spectacular. Absolutely brilliant. It gave me everything I wanted and expected out of a The Avengers movie and if you stop to think about it, that is a massive achievement. I have been looking forward to this for a long time and hyping it up in my head to an absolute fever pitch. The fact that it delivered is almost miraculous.

My top 3 favorite things about The Avengers (in no particular order):

Avenger vs. Avenger fight scenes

I hadn’t thought about it going into the movie, but this is exactly what I wanted to see. Who would come out on top in a fight between Thor and Ironman? Or Captain America? There were a lot of these little team ups that gave me enough of a fight to excite while not definitively answering the question. That’s better because if it had then what would I discuss with my fellow geeks after the movie?

The Hulk

OMG! What a monster! This has to be the best that The Hulk has ever been portrayed in the movies. It must be quite hard for the screenplay to hit the right balance between the tragic nature of Bruce Banner and the awesomeness that is The Hulk smashing things. This movie pulls it off: I felt sorry for Banner while still thinking “man, it would be fun to be Hulk”. Mark Ruffalo is a new name to me… and he’s brilliant.

Joss Whedon: Nerd God

This movie is a great example of what can happen when you have a movie For Geeks, By Geeks. Joss is well known for his facility with an ensemble cast and this is no exception. Everything just works so well together, with the characters and the story constantly playing off one another. If I had to pick one highlight of this movie it is that Joss must now be the golden boy of the movie industry and if there was anyone who ever deserved to be handed a giant pile of money to make whatever he wanted it is Joss. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

 

So those are a few of my favorite bits of the movie… too many awesome moves and one-liners to relate… but you’ve seen the movie… so you know those too ^^.

-Odd

“I love fantasy. I love horror. I love musicals. Whatever doesn't really happen in life is what I'm interested in, as a way of commenting on everything that does happen in life, because ultimately the only thing I'm really interested in is people.” –Joss Whedon

Halo4 vs Democracy

The internet has been buzzing for the last few weeks with the news of the release date of Halo 4. Most of the time this would be of absolutely no interest for me: I’m not a huge FPS fan anymore (not since the original Unreal Tournament) but this release actually has an impact on the real world.

The date announced is November 6 - which doesn’t mean anything to us here in SA, but in the US it’s Election Day. This is a big issue because the incumbent (President Obama) made it in to the presidency largely due to an overwhelming majority of support from the young demographic, and that is the exact target audience of the new Halo game.

There are numerous conspiracy theories floating around that Microsoft (the publishers of Halo) have done this specifically to boost the chances of their preferred candidate (Mitt Romney). It’s debatable whether or not Romney is actually their candidate or even if they would be evil enough to try fudge the election… so I’m not going to go into that.

What I’m taking out of this whole episode is the massive (even harmful) effect that mass media is having on society. This release could have a definite impact on the election of the leader of the world’s current largest superpower. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?

Since when does a leisure activity override choosing who’s going to lead your country? It’s insane! It’s a mass parallel to Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burnt, which is allegorical to the fall of civilization.

Signs abound that the society we live in is pushing us in the wrong direction. We’re leading completely unsustainable lives fueled by rampant commercialism and mass media on an unprecedented scale. Sure, no one could have foreseen the problems that we’re facing when all these systems were developed but we can see the dangers now… shouldn’t that cause us to reevaluate? Shouldn’t that make us change what we’re doing?

I don’t see any changes happening… I don’t see any political or social will to cause change… basically I see little hope that we can salvage much of the current society before it implodes.

So that’s my gloom and doom for the month… next time will be something more uplifting (I hope).

-Odd

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity” – Albert Einstein

 

The Avengers build up

So The Avengers movie is coming out this week here in SA, and I am looking forward to this movie more than I have for any movie since Tron 2. It is not just the collection of awesome superheroes present and not the fact that it's written and directed by the nerd-god that is Joss Whedon. The main reason that I'm so psyched for this movie is that it is the culmination of Marvel's attempt to bring comic book continuity to the silver screen with all it's twisted geekyness and ramifications.

This past weekend a few mates and I did an Avengers movie marathon to prepare ourselves for the new movie... so I thought that in the post this week, I'd give my favorite points of each movie:

Iron Man: Robert Downy Jr's portrail of Tony Stark is absolutely perfect. Smart, smooth, successful and totally embraces the coolness factor of being a super hero. Also: the suit... I couldn't think of a better look for it, but my favorite moment has to be right at the end when Black Sabbath's Ironman starts playing... gives me goosebumps.

 

 

 

 

The Increadible Hulk: Mainly, I was just glad that this was better than Hulk /shudder. Edward Norton does a great job of showing Banner's pacifist torment, but my favorite moment must have been Lou Ferrigno showing up as a security guard... lol

 

 

 

 

Thor: "...the mighty, Thor the brave! Crush the infidels in your way!" It must be difficult to play a Viking-God-Alien... but Chris Hemsworth hits the perfect balance of naivete and nobility. Favourite moment: "Then give me one big enough to ride."

 

 

 

 

Captain America: This is in my opinion the most difficult super hero movie to make. It could so easily become an American propaganda exercise. So my favourite part of the movie is that it didn't. It maintained integrity and avoided being overly patriotic while giving us what could be the most well crafted story of the series so far.

 

 

 

 

So now we wait for The Avengers. I've managed to stay mostly spoiler free so far - not an easy feat, I'll tell you.



Welcome to the Era of the Geek, everybody... you're welcome.

-Odd

"I'm a frustrated actor. My ... goal is to beat Alfred Hitchcock in the number of cameos. I'm going to try to break his record" -Stan Lee

Corporate Decision-Making

During my work as an IT professional over the course of the last couple years, I have noticed a disturbing culture in all the large corporations I have worked at. It might just be a purely South African phenomenon… but somehow I don’t think so.

The problem is decision-making, or rather the lack of decision-making. It seems that everyone in any sort of management position at any given corporation is deathly afraid of making decisions. Perhaps it is career suicide if you are seen to make a bad decision? Maybe everyone is following the Wally Method^TM of productivity?

Whatever the basic motivation is, it is a tragedy of modern business. Every project I have ever been on could have happened faster, cheaper and finished with a better product if decisions could be made in a timely manner.

If you work in the corporate world and know the reason why every little thing needs to get passed up through five levels of management on both sides of the consulting tree before it can be settled, please tell me. If not then I have a challenge for you: Next time someone asks you for a decision, gather all the relevant information, weigh up the pros and cons, and CHOOSE!

Any leadership that makes employees deathly afraid of getting something wrong is not leadership at all. It makes every little process that the company must do a complete nightmare and ensures that you will not be able to react quickly (or at all) to changes in the market and we all know that such an attitude means a rapid downfall.

Ok… rant over.

-Odd

“When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.” -William James

Podcast Review: Nerdist Writers Panel

If any of you have been sleeping through the internet age, I’m going to introduce you to a cool new thing: Podcasts.

A podcast is an episodic series of files (either video or audio) that are essentially private radio shows broadcast (and downloadable) online. The word itself comes from an amalgamation of Broadcast and Pod (after the iPod that made digital media so easy to consume). I listen almost exclusively to podcasts when I’m driving and in this series of posts I’m going to introduce you to some of my favourites.

Today’s podcast: The Nerdist Writers Panel

The Nerdist Channel was started by Chris Hardwick and currently has a legion of different podcasts by a variety of hosts, but The Nerdist Writers Panel is easily my favourite. Hosted by Ben Blacker, the Writers Panel is just what it says it is: A Panel of writers (wow… no shit), specifically American TV writers. The guests talk about how they got into the business, what inspires them and what it’s like working on the various TV shows, genres and networks.

I find it fascinating to get this behind the scenes look at what goes into making the TV shows that I admire so much. It turns out that TV is largely a writer’s medium - by which I mean that the writers have the most artistic control over the process, some shows even sending the writer on set to make sure everything goes according to plan – as opposed to feature films where most of the control rests in the hands of the director.

These guys work far to freaking hard (makes me feel completely inadequate), but the collaborative process that happens on most shows (the writers room) sounds thrilling and I always like to hear passionate, creative people talk about their work.

So if you’re looking for something other than crappy pop music listen to on your way to work or while you’re in the gym trying to convince yourself that running on the spot is actually accomplishing something, then why not download a few of the Nerdist Writers Panel’s episodes and give them a listen. I enjoy it, and I’m fairly sure you will too.

-Odd

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway

Modern DRM

As I mentioned in my last post, I've just gotten back into computer gaming after many years absence. This means that I've had my first proper experience with modern DRM... and that was not positive.

For anyone who doesn't know: DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and in the context of gaming it means various software that is installed along with a game to ensure that it is not copied or pirated. Sounds good, right? Sounds fair? ... Well... not so much.

I'll be one of the first people to say that developers have a right to protect their products from being stolen (which is what piracy is) and I always buy legitimate products when and where I can, but the way companies are handling DRM is broken. It's horrible, and here's why:

Every game you buy these days has to authenticate itself online through whatever portal the developer is associated with (Steam, Orgin, Windows Live, etc.) and by itself that would be fine... but all these portal programs need to be updated and then the game itself needs to be patched (often on the day it releases). The net effect of all this is that (in South Africa at least) it takes hours (literally hours) before you can play a game that you bought.

As a case in point, a while ago a few friends and I bought copies of Kingdoms of Amalur and we all got together to play it. Here's the catch... three of us bought legal copies and one went down to the flea market and got a pirated copy at half price.

For those of us who bought it legit, it took 5 hours (5 Fraking hours!) to get the client and game to install, update and play. The guy who pirated it was playing it in half and hour.

So this is what I don't get: Why are games developers making it more difficult (and expensive) to buy legal copies of their games than it is to get pirated ones? I could understand if all this DRM had stopped people pirating games... but it hasn't. You can find them all over PirateBay or at any flea market you care to explore.

Now there are reports that Sony will block used games in their next console. What madness is this? It's like they're going out of their way to push people into piracy.

The world is mad, getting madder and we're all doomed... Doomed it tell you! Doomed!

-Odd

"Humans make illogical decisions" -Spock

Recent Activities

Hey all, I know there’s been radio silence on my side for the last few… well… for a seriously long time. I wish I could say that I had finished an arcade machine with such a high score that the alien race that invented it came down to earth to take me off to fight in their war and save their people. In reality I have to admit that I haven’t played anything in an arcade for years… so you will just have to write it off as laziness.

But that is now a thing of the past! Yes, that is correct ladies, gentlemen and sentient shades of the colour blue: This blog will once again be ticking over on a regular schedule! I will post something (no comment as to what) at least once a week.

On to other things: I’ve recently bought a monster of a gaming machine. This is the first machine I’ve had in AGES that even approximates the contemporary standard, so I’ve been playing lots of games and I thought I’d give you my thoughts on them:

Batman: Arkham City

Whoo-wee what a cool game! I never did manage to play through Arkham Asylum, can’t even find a copy of it, but I had tons of fun with the sequel. The whole thing feels very batman-y… I loved the combat (both straight-up fights and stealthy sections) and the cross city movement was a complete joy after I got the hang of the controls. I would love to see a Gotham Racer game, using the exact same controls… all I’d want is a little more speed.  Favourite moment in the game:  The Mr. Freeze boss fight… I know it’s not as climactic as the others, but it gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment.

 

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I don’t know why no one thought of this idea before. It’s essentially a standard RPG format adventure game, you get XP, you level up, create weapons and potions… all very standard fare to gamers by now. Even the story (written by R.A. Salvatore – whom I respect greatly) is nothing ground breaking to anyone familiar with the Heroic Fantasy genre, but what sets it apart is the combat. Combat in this game is spectacular, more on the lines of God of War and the like and it is more than refreshing to enjoy the combat sequences of an RPG as much as the story (in fact, it caused me problems with another game… keep reading). The only criticism I can make about this game is that the last third was FAR too easy… seriously… I snored through it, which unfortunately took all the drama out of the final fights… I knew I wouldn’t have any problem beating anything the game could throw at me, and I was right.

Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim

Ah, Skyrim… I actually bought this one before both Arkham City and KOA and I played a fair amount (lots of any other game… not a lot for an Elder Scrolls title), took over the magic college and all that. My problem came in after taking a break to play KOA. After enjoying the combat so much in KOA, I simply cannot force myself to get back into Skyrim. The story is cool, and the graphics are not bad, but the combat is just horrible… seriously, it’s shit. Also: gravity defying horses… really? WTF?

 And that’s what I’ve been up to… tune in next week for more awesomeness… or randomness… depends on your point of view I guess.

-Odd

“Now with 100% more words”

Electronic contact

So my gorgeous girlfriend has been in Germany for two weeks, and has another there before she comes back to SA.

She left me behind to run off to Europe to expand her education through a studio for her new Urban Design course. If that sounded bitter, I appolgise, it wasn't supposed to. I'm fully behind her studying and it's Uber-cool that she could do some of the work overseas. It's really awesome :D ... but it does make my life harder.

All I can say is "Thank Tim Berners Lee for the internet!!!"... not solely the internet actually. I find myself very appreciative of the whole plethora modern communications technology. Without SMSs, GChat, Skype and Facebook, I think I'd be a gibbering wreck by now. As it is: I'm not wrecked (any more than before anyway) and there has been scaresly a gibber at all.

Electronic communication is no substitute for physical presence, but it certainly takes the edge off. I feel privileged to be able to make such mundane use of abilities that would have been the greatest of magical powers a century ago.

So the next time you're chatting to someone on the other side of the world, take a moment to appreciate what a truely massive accomlishment that is for the human race.

I miss you, gorgeous... and can't wait for your return: but you must have oodles of fun in Germany and tell me all about it when you get back.

-Odd

"Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone." - Paul Tillich

Thoughts on democracy

So we've got our local government elections coming up tomorrow. Which is great because there's a possibility that together we can make a change for the better... and the fact that we get a public holiday doesn't hurt either.

I was chilling out with some friends yesterday and I made a comment about voting and one of the guys said that he isn't going to vote because he's protesting 'the system'. I had to restrain myself from strangling him on the spot...

I almost wasn't successful...

Give me a second to calm down...

...

...

...

Ok, I'm fine... Homicidal impulse controlled... nothing to see here... move along.

Sure, democracy isn't the perfect form of government... but it's the best we've got, and it only works if everyone participates. I think it was Alexis de Toqueville who said that we get the government we deserve and that really strikes a cord with me.

In a democratic system (even one like ours that is heavily weighted towards one party) the public are responsible for the people governing them and only though continuous pressure and engagement can we ever hope to improve the woeful governance we experience.

Personally, I'm hoping that the DA can take Joburg... or at least some the municipalities in Gauteng, but if they don't I'll go back next time and cast my vote again... in hope... and in the knowledge that if I don't, nothing will ever change.

And if you don't vote, you can't complain - about anything - period. If I hear you complaining and you didn't vote... I probably won't try to control my reaction.

-Odd

"A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation" -James Freeman Clarke

Book Review: The Malazan Book of the Fallen

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series of heroic fantasy novels written by Steven Erikson, it is a 10 book series starting with Gardens of the Moon and culminating with The Crippled God.

This is without a doubt the best series of heroic fantasy I have ever read. Period.

The chartacters are unique and engaging and the writing style is lyric and stylish. The world (or worlds, I guess) in which it is set has to be one of the most complete visualisations of a fantasy setting that has ever been attempted.

I'm also really, really, really (seriously - I can't overstate this), really, impressed with the magic system in this series. It's unique (which is very difficult to do with the sheer amount of novels in the genre) and plays a large role both in the overall plot and in keeping the reader guessing as to exactly how everything fits together.

So what's the catch? Well... besides being a beefy 10 books long (and the books themselves might be better described as tomes), this is not a series that is intended for novices of the genre. I would suggest that anyone interested in picking up these books be quite comfortable the standard elements of the genre (mages, multiple worlds, various races and such) because the story itself is so intricate and emotionally fraught that it could be easily overwhelming if you're trying to absorb the basics too.

This isn't a series that can be easily paired down into a brief plot review, so I'm not even going to try. I will tell you that the characters are alarming powerful (these guys will really mess you up) while at the same time maintaining and communicating heart-wrenching human emotion... it's just incredible.

Also, keep an eye out for my two favorite characters Quick Ben and Andromander Rake... I almost wish the series had continued longer so that I could keep reading about them, but on the other hand I'm glad it didn't drag out ala Wheel Of Time.

From start to finish this is a masterpiece of literature. Do yourself a favor. Read it.

-Odd

"Name none of the fallen, for they stand in our place, and stand there still in each moment of our lives. Let my death hold no glory, and let me die forgotten and unknown. Let it not be said that I was one among the dead to accuse the living." -Duiker

Procrastination

As most of you probably realised, I didn't post last week... oops.

I don't even have a valid excuse... besides the fact that I was on leave (my first leave in a loooong time) and that I'm lazy. ^^

It wasn't totally unproductive... I did manage to get most of the Necromunda terrain done, and you should be able to check it out in all it's glory in a full turorial that I'll post next week.

Took time out to see both SuckerPunch and Thor this past week... both of which I enjoyed immensely:

 I know SuckerPunch has been getting shocking reviews, but I think people are taking it the wrong way... it's not a standard action thriller and it's not an in depth, thought provoking sci-fi... what it looks like to me is an original idea that showcases some seriously spectacular visuals and fight scenes while challenging the status-quo for action movie scripts (this is not the romance/action/comedy that you're used to) and I always love a movie where I can't predict the ending and I leave the cinema with a couple questions as to what exactly was going on.



Thor was... THOR!!! I really like this Super hero movie... Thor wasn't a annoying little tit like spider-man... he was THOR! I think Chris Hemsworth did a great job... as it can't be easy to bring the right amount of naivete , arrogance and honor to the role.

.

.

Oh, and I kick serious ass in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.... seriously... I'll damage you.



I'd also like to say thanks to Ian for keeping the site ticking over last week, and introduce a new poster, Simon, who'll also be joining us... Ian, Simon and myself have been good friends for years now... ever since a crazy DnD game where the three of us where all playing and DMing ourselves... it was a weird setup, great fun and probably wouldn't work with any other people I know... Good to have you guys on the site!

Thanks for reading, and come back next week for the a return to normal.

-Odd

"Thor, the mighty! Thor, the brave! Crush the infidels in your way!" -Manowar

50 Years of human space flight

This week celebrates the 50th aniversary of human travel in space. 50 Years ago Yuri Gagarin became the first man to leave earth's atmosphere. That was a huge accivement then, and even in today's scope it is truly epic. We are no longer bound exclusively to the planet on which we grew. It's probably the biggest step in the evolution of humanity since we discovered how to use tools.

But in the years since then, we seem to have lost our will to explore space in person. Sure, we're sending out a lot of robots into the universe... but we're retiring the Space Shuttle and NASA is seeing massive budget cuts. It's expensive to send people into space, keep them alive and them bring them back safely... but does it really count as exploration if we're not the ones doing it?

I think we're missing an opportunity here: Space exploration has the potential to act as a unifying force for humanity, to bring us all together for a common goal. The International Space Station is a good example of this, but in an environment of shrinking budgets and little political will, I'm worried that programs like this will become a thing of the past.

Thankfully the Chinese (it's always the Chinese) are still spending a lot of money on space exploration, and they may be the new leaders in humanities efforts to touch the stars.

On another note: There's a poll over on the right hand side of the page... I think it would be interesting to get your feedback on some stuff, so please check it out ^^. Thanks for reading, and please share this with your friends/family/imaginary friends.

-Odd

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams

Robot Wars

As some of you might have read in the news last week, China is scheduled to overtake the US in science in two years. This is a major shift and will certainly speed China's assumption of the top spot on the international stage.

Scientific advancement is possibly the single greatest factor for a countries prosperity, with relatively tiny countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan punching far above their weight because they have such a strong technical nature. So how could we emulate that drive in this country?

I think the biggest challenge is to get children interested in science, technology and engineering... and this shouldn't be too hard: science is cool!

My suggestion would be to have a South African series of Robot Wars. Probably drawing the competitors mostly from our universities. With RC being such a mainstream hobby, most of the materials and circutry required and readibly (and mostly cost effecitvely) available. Having something like this as a field trip would certainly encourage students to concentrate on their maths and science marks, which can only benefit our economy.

My favorite Robot Wars competior has to be Razor:



This guy is incredible... once, it even took out one of the house robots!!! Sugoi!

So, someone, please ... steal this idea... ^^

Another cool thing about the far east becoming the world's technology leader? Chances are that we'll end up with giant robots... I love giant robots!

-Odd

Living here in Jersey, fighting villains from afar/ You've gotta find first gear in your giant robot car / *You* dig giant robots / *I* dig giant robots / *We* dig giant robots / *Chicks* dig giant robots / Nice.

Moral Science

With the rapid pace of scientific advancement that we're seeing in the world today, I've been wondering if it's all a good idea.

The field of memetics says that these sorts of ideas will spread themselves regardless of whether they're good for humanity or not. I can think of quite a few examples of technological advances that don't seem to benefit us at all (chemical and biological weapons come to mind) and that got me wondering about the moral obligation of scientists.

Should scientists make moral choices about whether or not to continue the research they are doing? How would such a choice work? It's quite a complicated question. Take Einstein's nuclear research, for instance, if you were to ask the population of Hiroshima if that was morally acceptable research, they'd say no. On the other hand it has lead to clean(er) energy for the world and even the atomic bomb has had the consequence of making large scale wars impossible. The answer to the moral question of whether or not a given scientific breakthrough will be good or bad for humanity must lie in the sum total of it's consequences on our society... but how can anyone be expected to know all (or even most) of those? It's impossible.

Scientists are also largely removed from the practical execution of their research. That rests with the large corporations that fund them... and that makes sense to me. I don't want scientists to spend large amounts of their times dealing with business pressures, marketing and all the other capitalists bullshit... they're scientists, they must concentrate on the science. So it's the corporations that should be making moral choices about what scientific avenues to pursue? Now that is scary!

I suppose that any big new idea will be a catalyst for change in society and it is that change that has the most dangerous potential, change is always dangerous (just ask the dinosaurs).

I don't see us throttling our technological advancement any time soon and I'm not sure that we should... We'll just have to hope that our greatest evolutionary power - our adaptability - will see us through the dangers and changes that we bring upon ourselves.

-Odd

"As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying." - Arthur C Clark

Internet killed the LAN (Star)

I should preface this by saying that I don't play a lot of computer (or console) games anymore. I'm not even on the WOW bandwagon, but I used to be a regular gamer and I still try to keep an eye on the industry.

I've noticed a trend in the gaming industry that has worried me for some time. It happened quite a while ago... there was no outcry, no one checked if I was ok with it... it just happened. They took all the LAN support out of games.

LAN stands for Large Area Network... and it used to be the social space for gaming geeks. We would all descend on someone's house, link up all our computers and spend the weekend in a sleep deprived Valhalla of death matches, co-op strategy and camaraderie. Some of my most precious memories stem from this period of my life. Battling through the Dust mission in the original Counter Strike, frantically building up an army in WarCraft 3 or sniping from Faces in Unreal Tournament is so much more meaningful when that headshot you just pulled off causes the guy on the other side of the room to scream in anguish.

This style of play is not possible now. Modern games have dispensed with the LAN in favor of internet based multi-player. The internet is quite a cool place, I suppose, it allows you to play people from all over the world, people who you wouldn't have the opportunity to meet otherwise, but it doesn't have the same feel as getting a bunch of your mates into the same room and slaughtering them in your favorite FPS.

I always used to laugh at people who said that computer games were anti-social. I used to regularly get together with 12 or 15 of my friends (in person) and connect through the medium of gaming. Now I think those same people have a point (even if it is accidentally). Even with voice chat, it's just not the same thing.

I miss LAN parties... I wonder if I can get a group of people together who want to play the ancient games that enabled this pinacle of geek culture.... Counter Strike anyone?

-Odd

"Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them." -Pacifist Badge, 1978

What do these words even mean?

I've been thinking about this one for a while now.

If you're reading this blog, then you probably use these words all the time without even thinking about them. Like me, though, I doubt you have any idea what they mean. What words am I talking about? I'll use one of them as an example for the purposes of this post. What I'm talking about is "LOL".

"LOL" supposedly stands for Laughed Out Loud, but that's not what it means anymore. There are times when I'm reading something that I will actually laugh out loud (and yes, my co-workers look at me funny when I do), but how would I communicate that fact to anyone? The word "LOL" has been used so often that it has lost all meaning. For instance:



What part of this makes you laugh at all? never mind out loud? Then why are they called Lolcats? shouldn't they be Awwwcats?

So here's a challenge for my readers: come up with a term I can use when I actually laugh out loud?

-Odd

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."      -Jean Houston