Wednesday 18 July 2007

Games games games

OK folks here is my new 'puter gamin' list!

First up is a little number I downloaded today and YES even finished - the demo version - today as well (OK so you can only get to level 7 and that took all of an hour or so... but still!)

Puzzle Quest is the must have for all the old retro style gamers - Gem puzzle game mixed in with a bit of old style RPG action = Awesomeness in my book. Go here for the home page and here to download... have fun! Warning VERY addictive...

Second up is an upcoming release I know I am excited about and a few friends of mine are looking to buy a Wii JUST for this game...

To Quote from Gamedaily...

Gamers don't buy this game for Wii. They buy a Wii for this game.

What game is it I hear you ask... Resident Evil 4. Go here for more info!

Looks like the next few games head our way are going to be fun and so what scary...

Have fun!

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Old Tech

Oh boy... This article is a MUST read for all tech heads... Mind you, you'll probably know about these but it is fun to remember them - or at least remember a time when things like
  • The Lisa
  • the Psion
  • Commadore 64
  • Atari - before they where just a publisher
  • and many more

I loved the Nintendo Game and Watch - I had some driving game, but my friend had the TWO screened Donkey Kong and I used to play that as much as I could... of course he loved playing outside so we never really got to play it as much as I liked (he also had all the big Transformers - but I had Optimus Prime, so that was OK)

To think we are now in an age where our hand helds are joining up with our consoles and we can play against each other, or in co-op with hand helds... I love how technology makes all these things possible and there is still so much more to be achieved.

What ever will be THE next things... will iPhone really be the way ahead or will Nokia come out with something more spectacular...

Sunday 15 July 2007

AVG Broke my WoW

I thought all hell had broken loose the other night... my worst fear, a Trojan on my PC.

"Oh noes" I cried to the Gods of PC protection, "Please, please make it go away" The error message from AVG told me that in my WoW files there was a Trojan pretending to be a WoW sound file - the hide of it all.

So off I went like a good boy and ran just about every anti-stuff program I had... I even did a Windows Update, just to be sure (not sure why but I was lost in the heady clouds of fear and terror brought about by the threat of VIRUS)

After all the anti-stuff programs had finished, purged my poor machine of the malicious nastiest I went to run WoW...

Nothing

I clicked it again, up pops the loader, hit play...

Nothing

WTF?!?!?!

So after much contemplation and thought (a day later) Frank suggested I run the repair.exe in the WoW directory (before I uninstall and re-install WoW) - Thank the Gods that one worked!! I can play WoW again... but what of the Trojan... did I kill it? Did it wreck my WoW loader? Was it to blame for all this?

It would seem not.

AVG did it! Yes that is right Grisoft's anti-virus software program killed my much loved WoW. A False Positive they call it... a False Positive... They thought that WoW was bad, evil and nasty... How can AVG sleep at night? How can it heartlessly murder my WoW and sit back and say... "ops False Positive... Gotta watch those ones... hehehe"

Of course WoW is so terrific that it rebuilt itself, pulled the broken limbs back together and reformed into bigger and better WoW... but it was the guardian, the safe guard of all things (at least on my C, D and E drives) that was the culprit, not some evil Trojan thought up in the mind of a drug abused 13 year old - who was told he couldn't play WoW because it was a school night (it could happen - right?).

Joystiq told me the news today... I will now have to sit in judgement on what I shall do to AVG in response to this most horriffic of crimes...

I weep for the millions that have had similar problems and for the few that probably did a full re-install... you will never get those gaming hours back... I trully weep for you.

Weekend Assignment #174: Humiliate Your Pet!

Weekend Assignment #174: Humiliate your pet! Show a picture or tell a story that features your pet doing something that's goofy or silly, even for dumb animal. If you don't currently have a pet, you can tell a pet story from a previous furry pal of yours, or pass along a pet humiliation story someone once shared with you.

Extra credit: Do you think your pet is actually humiliated?

Well really why should I bother when Anjel has already gotten our darling dog so humiliated with that darn life saving cap! ... well I guess I missed out on this weeks challenge...

Oh well there is always next week...

Well Someone has to... Right?

Well little Miss Connie is having a small break I suppose it falls down to me to mention this article I found on our local State Newspaper site...

The fear and the misunderstanding is abundant due to Mr Potter and his magical friends. I don't have the knowledge of Miss Connie but it would seem to me that this article is fueling more fear about the "evil" occult books series and the influence that it has on our children.

At least this article asks for the other side, getting an interview with a Pagan who rejects the idea that Children would be welcomed into a coven and taught all they needed to know. But in my opinion the article seems to push the idea that Harry Potter will influence more interest into the Occult and that that is a bad thing... Well I guess they are right in one sense, if more books are written like the ones reviewed at Spooked, then yes it is a bad thing. But if people are interested in looking at the history and the beliefs behind a religion like this then I support it. People need to have the ability to look at things like belief and theology in an objective manner and asked to argue against it, push the boundaries and see if they like it, believe it, understand it and even want to be what it represents.

If there is honest debate about these kinds of things we would all grow and learn something, the knee jerk reaction is not only going to push children's excursions into the Occult underground, but make it harder for them to find out the truth, and we all know what lies tells us.

Nothing.

Friday 13 July 2007

Dr May....

Find. Me. Somebody with a PhD. Find. Me. Somebody with a PhD...



Brain has finally done it... After years (30 odd) and quite a few angst posts on his soap box Brian May has handed in his PhD paper... The icture here is him getting gowned and sitting next to him where Ade Edmundson and Jennifer Saunders... what a great crowd to be in... at least Ade didn't look like last time I saw him in Uni garb...

Rock on Brian and I wish you all the best... as a Doctor...


Calling Dr May, Dr May, we need you in the studio...

Thursday 12 July 2007

Listing The Day Away

OK so I did get a few jobs done over my two days off... yes you heard that right TWO DAYS OFF in a row no less...

So the list thing worked - I did all the jobs yesterday and I put up one side of the fence - ran out of materials for the other side but my Dad dropped around and made some suggestions on that side as to how to do it properly. So next week I have another assignment... darn I should get a picture of the great fence... it is almost like the great wall only smaller and more insignificant!

I'll grab a shot in the daylight and post it real soon!

Just got back from taking the terror (aka our puppy- Cookie) for a walk - thought I would go to the park where I can let her off the leash and try to persuade her to not only chase the ball but bring it back to me. Alas it is soccer training night and I didn't want her to be off leash will all these kids and balls and stuff flying around. We did find a quite spot and do a bit of training and she is a good girl - just too much else going on around her. She is now crashed out in her computer room bed between Anjel's and my computer, such a sweetie...

Well must off be I have rehearsal for another play I am in at 6:30 and then I think we are meeting friends from the Big City for dinner - prop some kind of takeaway - and then work starts again tomorrow, oh the joy of it all! (bitching about work here not all the fun things)

Wednesday 11 July 2007

Listing away those jobs...

I got this one via John Scalzi at By The Way a great little article on

How to Actually Execute Your To-Do List: or, Why Writing It Down Doesn’t Actually Get It Done

I am sure that we have all been there and experienced this, you have a list of things to do and no motivation to get any of them done, then at the end of the day you are stressed and annoyed with yourself because you have done nothing and still have the list in front of you.

I find that without a list I forget what needs to be done - so I use the list as a guide to make sure that I at least remember what needs to be done... somethings don't need to be completed urgently other things might need to be done to a time frame - either way I have that satisfying moment when I can cross of items and move on... If there are more items crossed off then left on - I have had a good day.

Funny thing to note here is that I even put "fun" things on my list, for example today's list is:-

*Vacuum floors
* Mop floor
* Do 1 load of washing
* Empty Bins
* Clean out microwave
* Play WoW

And tomorrows list has the all important

* Do anything you missed from yesterday

hehehe Hope I can get through today with nothing passing over to tomorrow so I can have a day off household stuff and build that puppy fence I promised to do...

Have a good one

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Geometry

Monday Photo Shoot: Picture something that shows off something geometrical. Squares, cubes, vectors, right angles, tangents and so on; basically, any picture that shows geometrical forms and shapes in an interesting and obvious way.




This one a friend of mine took in New York


I thought he captured a great shot... I could find anything of my own so I'll use his and hope you all enjoy it

*Update*

I found something of my own that is a little geometric... a cute sculpture from the studio my band records in... well it is kinda geometric... note to self get geometric pictures for future postings...

Dalim's Current Affairs

It has been a while since I did I how heap of news links so here they back with a vengeance

First cab off the ranks is our old friend the Judge who likes to sue over some missing (and returned) pants, here he tries to get the verdict over turned and the Immigrants lawyer has a few words to say about it.

The shop owners' defence lawyer, Chris Manning, said the lawsuit already had created enough distress for his clients, Soo Chung, Jin Nam Chung and Ki Chung. He is pleading with Pearson to drop the case and move on.
"He does not appear to be giving up anytime soon," Manning said.
"This is very unfortunate for the Chungs, the DC taxpayers and for Mr Pearson himself."
Meanwhile, Manning has filed a motion in DC Superior Court asking it to require Pearson to pay for the Chungs' tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer's fees.


When will people learn that something stuff happens and hey they are only pants after all, when the law is treated like an ass it is an ass... just like this judge... who should be disbarred and made to run naked through the streets... don't ask!

Number 2: Misdirected Judge, well this judgement left a sour in this mans life. When told by the Catholic Church that his son couldn't attend school because of his last name. What the hell is wrong with the world?

Three: These following people also had a question to authority's, "Is that bad smell a dead body... or worse?"

Four: If that smelled bad this one will leave a bad taste in your mouth. This one intrigues my marketing mind... offer something really cheap... have a time limit so you can only get that deal in a two hour period... have it via the Internet... then make sure your ISP cannot handle the flow... sit back and watch it all happen... oh and as for the bad press, well NOW more people know that you offer great deals, Oh the Internet breaking down ops sorry we'll look into fixing that for next time - and make sure you join our club so you too can have the opportunity to get these great offers... let fly!

Five: Some are flying fast and benefiting from cutting costs it seems, also, that the kings of Consoles are cutting there prices, is this in time for the Christmas period? E3? Or just to gain more market share. As they loose ground across the board to the tiny and capable Wii, Sony and Microsoft are heading to battle each other with bigger Hard Drives and more features. The console wars continue.

Six: Speaking of battling it out, it seems that the divide between the fortunate few on Broadband and those on dial-up are getting greater by the minute.

That is all we have time for tonight... I wish you all the best and if you have story that we should hear about contact us here at Dalim's Current Affairs and we'll look into it for you.

Goodnight

Saturday 7 July 2007

Microsoft Woes

It seems that the Xbox 360 is not doing all it can for Microsoft, here it seems that repair bills for the "red ring of death" might push the 360 off the map by way of charges etc. Of course this article does not say that like most consoles the money made is not through the console itself but through the games they sell.360 seems to be selling a few games with quite a few good titles to choose from, of course it is not sell as much as the Wii or even the PS3 in Japan. Whilst I enjoyed playing the 360 the other day with Dazza I do still quite enjoy the Wii for its simple fun and ease to play... On that note I must be off to work...

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Criminal Resturants

This was one of the top stories in the local news bulletins tonight

The Chili's restaurant at Wollongong is being investigated by the NSW Government and the Workplace Ombudsman, Nick Wilson, after it was accused of asking staff to pay the bills of customers who left without paying.

Not only have ex-staff mentioned things like the above but they have said that they have been told to start there shift at say 5pm but not sign on until customers come - management making them stand/sit around for up to 45 mins, not being paid and not being able to leave.
Such things can not be allowed to happen - I know that I will not be going back to a place like Chilis.

Here in Australia we have recently had a major change in our industrial Relations Laws, which now make it possible for employers to have employees sign individual workplace agreements, curtailing the Unions and the agreements that they have traditionally made with workplaces. The Unions in Australia have been one of the best methods of protecting the rights and conditions of our workforce - if we loose them then we risk losing all our rights as employees and becoming nothing less then slaves to employers and big business.

If places like Chilis can pull the wool over the eyes of young employees and make them do things like not clock on (even though there roster says they start at X time) and pay for such things as 'walk-outs' (which is surely the managers responsibility) we will end up in a society that allows more and more corruption and a degrading of the rights of the workers.

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Wii Wii Wii all the way home

I got a message from a friend of mine - the subject read "Darth Dalius" I opened it to find this link here.


Star Wars - Lightsaber - Wii.


All I need to say... I am so looking forward to that. I like to play the Wii because it is both fun to do, moving the remote and get involved with the game. As well as being a very social console - whereby I can get my friends and family to be part of the game easily and without much training or skill required.


I played the Xbox 360 the other day with Dazza, that was good fun - we played some demo games - Shadowrun looks to be a really good game, and Colin McRae DIRT was also pretty and a decent fun driving game. The real game we got into was Gears of War a real guts to glory war game. Just like a movie only you play in it. We had fun doing the first chapter on co-op. I still have a little trouble using the controllers - probably too much time in PC FPS, I still reach for the mouse! But by the end I had it all under control and really enjoy our afternoon off... Little too boys let loose with there parents away... except it was our partners that let us loose and we knew we still had things to do once we got home. Fun though I must say.

Also went to see Transformers with Dazza on Sunday night. OK I love the Cartoon back in the day (80's). I was also lucky enough to have gotten an Optimus Prime for a birthday and I love to transformer him and fight the baddies or drive his big rig around my bedroom. Happy days. Of course friends of mine had bigger and better transformer toys... but they really did make for some fun play time especially when I link it all up with my large collection of Lego and build cities for them to play in.

The movie was good - although I really hate the CG fight scenes where you cannot work out who is fight who and what is happening. I think they need to use real people to model the fights and make them more realistic and not so jumbled that you can't work out who is fighting who and what is happening (just my rant - I found it the same in Alien vs Predator). Aside from that I liked the storyline - I didn't like Optimus Primes new colours, and what happened to Bumblebee being a VW...? Money - GM sponsored the movie... I did like the Decepticon being a Ford against the GM Autobots... :) All in all a good enough movie 3/5 from me.

For those who want a trip down memory lane go here and enjoy.

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