Monday 10 December 2012

Computer Games Sales Dip

The BBC is reporting that sales in console games has not met its November targets as reported here: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20638318 

Its hardly surprising when you consider just how bad the game releases have been.

  •  Call of Duty Modern Black Warfare IV. Same old shit. 
  • Assassins Creed III. Storyline getting pretty tedious by now.
  •  Halo 4. Reprocessed Halo Reach with excessively ridiculous storyline.
  •  Medal of Honor Warfighter. Somehow managed to compress all the bad parts about BF3 and COD into one horribly frustrating shooter that also is shockingly poor even when compared to the last Medal of Honor. 

Until game developers actually start producing some originality again they aren't going to secure record profits. The gravy-train of simply copying whatever made the most amount of money last time doesn't work in the long-term. Save your money kids!

Falling Guy

Sometimes you get those news stories which seem so random that they just can't possibly be true.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20644402 

 An Angolan guy who it seems was trying to enter the UK as an illegal immigrant fell to his death from a passenger plane near London's main airport at Heathrow. No sympathy here. 

 Strangely, its not the first time this has happened, and it seems its a bit of a well-known gutsy trick which involves holding onto the undercarriage at take-off and remaining there in the freezing, unpressurized conditions until touch down.

 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/10/mans-body-found-in-undercarriage-of-nigerian-plane/ 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/romanian-stowaway-vienna-heathrow 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19562101

 Rather them than me... The only people I feel sorry for are the poor bastards who woke up like every other day, went out their doors and found a body splattered on the ground. I just hope no kids saw it. Sheer randomness.

Marsian Announcement?

So in the past few weeks there has been a number of announcements (and an apparent hoax) coming from the investigation of Mars from the new rover that arrived there earlier this year. In any case, it would seem that NASA is excited to tell us some important findings which will 'be something for this history books' but understandably is also reservedly waiting to confirm their findings before releasing these findings to the public. Its an exciting time!


At this point we have absolutely no idea what exactly that finding may be, but being human its difficult not to speculate. My suspicion (and hope) is that they have found a fossilized remnant of extinct life on mars. Why do I suspect this?

Well, two reasons. The first is that NASA has recently given the first evidence for liquid water having existed on the planets surface in Mars' ancient history. These pebbles would have been worn down by the same sort of weathering that we have here on Earth and could well have harbored life long ago. 

The second reason for suspecting this lies with one of the older rovers which has been on Mars since 2004. They suspect that the area that Opportunity has been driving over the past few weeks is actually made of old clay. Clay of course requires vast amounts of water to change the chemical composition of various rocks and minerals, but what is more important is that this water has to be of a neutral Ph level. This of course is also the same 'Goldilocks' requirement for life as we know it to live comfortably.

If I am correct then this could have far reaching consequences for us as a species. Our religions, philosophical and scientific understanding will all have to change completely, but of course for every question answered, the law of entropy dictates that there will simply be more questions to ask.It would not be completely unfeasible that a discovery of life outside our own planet could spell big social problems for us back home. For instance, will life on Earth be thought of with less respect, will it be seen simply as some inevitable outcome of minerals in rocks that crop up all over the cosmos? Will it lead to a greater acceptance of projects to do with cybernetics, will humanity treat itself differently knowing we are simply just an expression of something ultimately common and mundane? 

Of course this could also inspire humanity to reach out and leave its mark on the universe we find ourselves in. To spread life throughout space and to rekindle our recently lost love for adventure and exploration. There are of course already some thought provoking ideas to do with getting mankind out exploring. 

Speaking of ethical and philosophical conundrums.

The Mars One project is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to put a base on Mars within the next few decades, but there is a tiny issue to do with a one-way-flight that makes the proposition a bit of an issue. Personally, I don't see a problem with having a crew of people go to their deaths having had the experience of a life-time, especially if you could source a crew with medical issues which would prove fatal within a decade anyway. There would in my opinion have to be extremely vigorous psychological testing of individuals to make sure that they could deal with the knowledge that they would die never stepping foot on their home planet again. I personally couldn't do that.
 I also have reservations that once the honeymoon period of landing on another planet is over it could get incredibly boring. There is only so much one can stare at barren rock and take soil samples!

Tuesday 4 December 2012

UN Internet Treaty

It seems the UN is getting busier and busier these days, if they aren't trying to scaremonger the public into paying worldwide taxes directly to themselves or supporting the formation of world financial institution they are trying to tinker with democracy, liberty and national sovereignty.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20575844

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20594779

It seems the internet is getting a tough-ride lately what with SOPA and other similar proposals which would make it illegal to post links to anything, anywhere on the internet and the rather unnerving sway towards the dystopian nightmare where all of our opinions and messages are stored to be viewed by any political agency and misconstrued or taken out of context in order to secure tedious convictions.

Then of course despite the Copyright Acts not going through, ISP's are to begin storing peoples access to copyrighted material and making threats against anyone who does.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2165004/Illegal-downloading-Families-illegally-download-music-movies-online-face-court-action-copyright-theft.html

Apparently under the new guidelines the entertainment companies will be able to accuse anyone of copyright infringement without any evidence at all - and individuals will be required to pay to prove that they are innocent. This shit goes against everything anyone has ever stood for in a free and democratic society. Just another example of our age-old common law that is being trod on more and more each year all in the interests of mass-corporation and corrupt Government.

Returning to the original point with the UN for a moment however, it is clear that the UN has some vested interest in using the internet as a platform to springboard their own schemes. The ITU (the telecommunications agency which works on behalf of the UN) said the following...



"The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world's privilege, " said Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union, ahead of the meeting.

"ITU wants to change that."

Ok. So why is the UN worrying about supplying the internet to people who still despite billions of spending still do not have access to clean drinking water and food? What good is a PC if you have no electricity outlet? Something doesn't make sense. Thus, read behind the lines, this has apsolutely nothing to do with helping the worlds poorest (yet again , UN) but about controlling the information that they have access to.

Be aware. Read up on all you can now while you still can. Support the free internet, without it we are dangerously close to a irreversible world dictatorship (and this is not some conspiracy theory - the facts are there for you all to see if you choose to read up and take notice of the signs.)




Another Royal Takeover

Srsly???
 
If I remember anything about 2012 outside of the shockingly tiresome coverage of the Olympshits, it will surely be that it was the year that the Royal Family officially succeeded in spamming us on a daily basis about their personal lives.

I do not care that it is the Queens birthday, or the Queens Jubillee, or that Prince William has been allocated a wife hand picked by advisors, or that Prince Harry naively invites wenches back to his hotel room in Vegas, or that the Kate Middleton has been forced to breed with the inbred Windsor line.

Seriously, give me a fucking break!

Then again, I guess we should at least be thankful that they changed the archaic laws of Succession so its equal for first born girls. Still, its not going to make the blindest bit of difference for the avergage person who works to support these cunts on account that the Royals do nothing except rinse our taxes dry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20600543

So anyway, with the news that Kate Middleton is pregnant and is apparently suffering with 'Acute Morning Sickness', (aww, bless) one thing is certain: this is meerly the begginning. The public must brace themselves for the unleashing of at least half a decades worth of news about some half-retarded sprog who is born with a silver spoon up their arse.

I think Im just going to crawl under a rock now for ten years and save myself the mindless royalist hysteria.



Month Out

Right, well November was a blog no-show due to unforeseen circumstances.

The unforseen circumstances includes the quitting of shit dead-end job and the re-evaluation of ones life.

I'm happy to say that now this blog can continue on into 2013. Much to the disdain of civilization.

Troll on.