Regarding Legalities: GameStop, Deus Ex, and OnLive

So unless you've been under a rather large rock for the past few days you'll notice in the gaming world a bit of a kerfuffle right now: SquareEnix released the retail version of Deux Ex: Human Revolution with a $50 coupon for OnLive, and digital games distribution network. GameStop.Was.Pissed. They took the time to open each box and remove the coupon, and are now fully removing the retail version until further notice.

Since I'm stuck daydreaming at work (Tomorrow is the last day :O ) I thought I would chime in on this. I've read enough up on it to form some (not all) solid opinions on what is going on:

17 years, One Square Mile

So, today I finally managed to snag an invite to the New Super Awesome Invite Only Beta Doohicky Google+. It's their answer to Facebook. (Sidenote, email me if you want an invite ~_^).

Casey Anthony Acquittal: Why this isn't OJ Simpson round 2

So, in case you live under a rock or something you've heard of Casey Anthony. She was on trial, until 3 hours ago, for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, last seen a little over 3 years ago. I don't want to go into specifics just yet but suffice to say most of us believe she is guilty of the crime.

The Social Battery

A friend of mine read my last post, The Healer, and was puzzled. He didn't peg me as the quiet shy type. My mouth was agape when he told me this as it meant he just, well, didn't get it. Allow me to explain what I mean by that.

The Price of Education

An interesting set of conversation came up in my computer class last night. Our teacher has several times in the past talked to us about the plight of the community college system here in California, so having her walk in and let us know the latest developments wasn't unusual.

Coastline District, which houses OCC where I attend, is loosing $2.6 billion. We're looking at more class cuts, less faculty, and possibly a $10 increase in per unit tuition. And this is for in-state students. A guy that sits next to me in class, George, move this year from Miami, FL. He paid $800 ($200/unit for out-of-state, 4 until class in C++) and nearly jumped out of my seat when he told me that.

Something else came out of the conversations. Our teacher mentioned "You know we here in state have the cheapest tuition. other states are worse." Me being of a curious sort I decided to check out a local college, Mesa Community, to see what their rates were.

My heart sank a little when I saw the costs:

I'm not going to complain that my classes this semester cost $182. I got 7 units, but at their rate I wouldn't even get 3.

Why I'm Not Married Yet

So I just finished reading/digesting a piece Tracy McMillan (no Trillian jokes, please) over at Huffpo entitled "Why You're Not Married" (thank you Kevin and Bean for having her on the air this morning). It's a truly great read and oddly something I've been thinking about as of late.

Stress

Many things falling

So it's been a bit since I last posted and I apologize. Next to work AND school right now I haven't had a lot of free time to blog. But what I've been doing makes such an interesting post so here it goes:

This is what my life feels like right now

Followup: Yes AT&T is trying to piss me off

Small followup here: When I got my forced data plan removed on Friday they also removed my texting plan and my ability to text. I didn't find this out until this morning when I realized texts from last night didn't go through. I'm going to keep this short but I have a case number now since they don't have my texting plan available anymore. But for now I have the lowest plan at half the price (1000/month is normally $10, but I'm getting it for $5 which was the cost of my old plan) for now, and I am looking at other options. This is bullshit but I'm too tired to have seething text put on the screen like before.

How AT&T pissed me off this morning

So, I do have to say there are certain things I love about working currently in the IT department of my company (for the rest, read my endgame post). One of the benefits is when there's a massive roll out of any new devices the old ones get sent back. But if it's not done in time they become freebies we can take.

So imagine my delight when my coworker Todd yesterday flatly hands me over a free BlackBerry Curve. He and I had talked about smartphones (he's our aircard/phone admin) and features and such. Really and truthfully I just use my phone as a phone and for texting. His suggestion was to forgo a data plan that I would not need and just turn off data services on the BlackBerry itself. So I gleefully took the BB, turned off data, popped in my SIM Chip and went on my way.

That was yesterday afternoon. This morning, this bullshit was in my inbox:

I HATE Nursing Homes

Ok, this is going to be just a rant about the conditions of one nursing home. Namely the one my father was in until 10/29 (best birthday present ever was getting to drive him home that Friday). However in talking with others I’ve found that many of my experiences are in fact shared.
I’m going to go through this more or less as a narrative of the kind of shit I saw during my father’s experience there. So, with that, here’s my story.

My thoughts on the indefinite suspension of Keith Olbermann

If you haven’t heard as of November 5th Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olberman (henceforth referred as Countdown for convenience) was suspended from his show for making campaign contributions to 3 different candidates for the 2010 mid-term elections and not seeking approval from MSNBC producers.

That’s it, that’s all that has happened. It’s not that Keith did it, but it is that he didn’t seek approval for something that would have been (and was) found out by contribution rosters that by law must be published.
Now I’m going to go out on a limb, as an Olbermann and Countdown fan, and say I’m alright with him receiving a punishment for what he did. I’d also like him to return. He’s the only reason I even watch (via podcast, mind you) any MSNBC show. I don’t care for Shuester, Maddow, or O’donnel. I like Keith, I like his format, and most of the time I like his opinions. I don’t think he should be shoved off his show for one simple reason.
He never ‘stumped’ for any of those he sent a contribution to, period. While I may think he might want to screw his head back on a little tighter given that he thought it was in his power to disobey a rule of his employment, I don’t think is firing (which could happen as ‘indefinite suspension’ usually means that) will do much for him or his network. Plain and simple, bring Keith back if you want to keep your ratings and more importantly your viewers.
So why, you might wonder, do I draw the line on it being ok to donate money but not say anything? I think I’ll leave it to Rachel Maddow to explain.



Bluntly, Fox News isn’t news. Keith, while liberal, kept his overall preference for candidates minimal. He also broke a rule. He’s been punished. He can go on air and apologize. So long as he doesn’t fall victim of his own pet peeve of “to those I may have offended” we’ll be able to move on, and Keith can come back to really what he does best: Entertain me and other on a political level and at least some lean towards journalistic integrity.

I hate my head

So, Halloween. It's my birthday (no, really, 10-31-79 :P I'll be 31 this year), and it's a fun day to dress up.

However, finding a costume for me is always a hard thing. I've generally become good at being able to use other resources (non-costume shop ones) to fill out a particular costume. But there's one area that has always bugged me.... Hats.

Firemen Allow Home to Burn Down for Missing $75 Fee

I'm was at a loss of words when I initially heard about this.

Exactly where the hell is Fall?

No, really, I'm quite curious where fall is. When I look outside today, I kind of half heartedly expect to see this:


 
But no, I get this:

Anyone that denies Global Warming is a fucking idiot

What Country Do I Live In? (Ground Zero Mosque Rant)

I'm going to open up my rant here with two videos. But before I do, I will make this clear: I am in favor of this 'mosque' (see Olbermann's video) being built.

Frist, Obama's words a week or so ago:


Second up is Olbermann's special comment on the subject:


With those show, and using the date from both, I have to ask exactly what country did I wake up to today? I'm pretty damn sure that freedom of religion is protected under the Bill of Rights. Yep, it's right there under the first amendment in the free exercise clause. What's better in the wharrlgarble over this is the fact that it's not even a mosque. Yes there is going to be prayer, but so too would you find this at a YMCA. In fact, it just sounds like a YMIA-like building. To be honest, this sounds like a great place.

But no, religious intolerance has to come into play doesn't it? Listen, we're going to go through a rather hard concept to follow, or at least hard for closed minded people to follow. Freedom is a dual-edged blade. While I don't like the Westboro Baptist Church and their protests (though I did like the geek response to their Comic-Con one) my freedom in not likely thing and being able to express this dislike allows them to exist as well. There is no "because I'm right you can't be allowed to be wrong" in freedom. And I don't like having, as a pagan, Christians get in my face trying to save me. But their right to practice and spread their religion is what make our countries great. Want to be a different religion in a Muslim world? Well, you might be a Shiite or a Sunni in Iraq, but try to be a Jew or anything other than a Muslim you're in deep shit. Like dead deep shit. So we live in a 'free' world, but we don't want to tolerate other ideas/religions? Yeah that makes perfect sense.

In parting, I'll leave you with the words of Henry Rollins (from 2004 but still relevant):

Hall H is a problem

You'll have to forgive the lateness of this post. I've been a bit ill the past few weeks so I had to put this post on hold. Who cares though, here it is:

I arrived at roughly 8:10 am on Thursday to attend SDCC. For the uninitiated the San Diego Convention Center is a 615,701 sq. ft. facility in downtown San Diego. To but it bluntly, the place is huge. Ginormous would even be a good word to describe it. So after getting my convention pass I make my way, I thought, to Hall H. I was initially stuck by Room 6A (far southeast) and was told, by a helpful staff member, to go towards the center of the convention to the exhibit level via the stairs there.

I go to said area only to be told by what ended up to be a not-so-helpful staff member that what I really wanted to do was go all the way around the center to get to the exhibit level. This would be fine for any part of the exhibit floor EXCEPT HALL H.

The reasoning of the second staff member sending us around the complex was that the escalator from there only lead outside. This happened to be exactly where we needed to go. So rather than have a minute chance of getting a decent place in line an excruciating 20 minutes was spend in a nerd herd (seen in the pictures below, taken by me) only to find out there was a shorter route.

So after wasting my time there doing this I come to the horrifying realization: I have no ability to actually get into line to see the panel I wanted to go see, Tron Legacy, because everyone is lining up long before I even reached the convention center. And that line was for Megamind, the panel before Tron.

I’m not alone is my anguish here: I had read up on several Comic-con “Survival Guides” prior to attending this year that Hall H is notorious for its line. No other place, from what I understand, has such a long line. Here is a a picture from last year. The most notable difference from then to this year was the addition of tents over the line to block out the sun. Here are some pictures I took from the ground myself this year:

That's the hotel, the tents, and a metric ton of people as I left at 7pm on that Thursday

Given this is the worst of the worst is it any wonder why there haven’t be any serious injuries in this line? Oh, wait, that’s right. The whole point of my thoughts here was because that is exactly what happened the Saturday of Comic-con.

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Well, let me reference a later article here for a moment. While it is easy to believe the former, where the assailants didn’t know each other, the latter still tells of the tensions that come up at Hall H. If the men involved were friends, or even just a casual acquaintance, as the latter article presents we can still gleam that in the end there is just too little space for far too many people all in one place.

We need to ask ourselves what predicated this violence. It is an addition of several factors together. First Hall H holds 6500 people and has a line at least equal to but most likely higher than that number. Moreover no one is forced out after any panel discussion (this is true for any panel discussion). This leads to both camping in the line and camping out inside, watching several of the panels before you see the one you were actually waiting for. Like my example in my experience above, those that wanted into Tron Legacy were in line long before Megamind started.,

Because of the is the line starts early in the morning, long before the first panel of the day. This has the effect of placing too many people into one cramped space. And I speak of both line and convention hall here as they become inseparable at that point.

Thirdly, though mild this year generally the hot, dry July air drains even the most hardened con-goer. Imagine being baked in a low degree oven for several hours a day and you will start getting the picture. This admittedly was mitigated both by mild weather but also the strategic placement of tents to keel line-waiters in the shade.
Lastly is what I consider the weakest link of all : Comic-con ‘security’ is a volunteer force. I don’t mean to insult those that work SDCC for little or no pay, but you are not professionals whom would be trained to take care of scuffles. Or at the very minimum you are not police officers. You know, like the ones that had to be called in after everything went to hell and someone had a pen stuck in them?

Wrapping this all up into one neat package: It is a wonder why Hall H hasn’t destroyed the SDCC as of yet. Hall H is a nightmare situation. You mix in frustration of a long line in the hot sun, exhaustion of waiting several panel discussions, and general anger of not being able to sit and enjoy what you really came to see. Mix in more frustration as previous attendees are not cleared to make space for those in line. And you dare not leave as losing your spot will force you to wait in another long line. It comes to a point where even giving a friend some breathing room is asking too much.

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It comes down to, most of all, crowd control. Like thousands of fans vying to see their favorite rock band. Don’t think this analogy is appropriate? It might be as the whole of concert attendance fixed itself after 11 were trampled to death in a 1979 The Who concert. Festival, or general, seating was listed as a cause in the lawsuits that followed. Cincinnati, host city of the dreaded concert, was the first to ban general (unreserved) seating, and other soon followed. Now it is almost unheard of to NOT have an assigned seat. In summary the issue is a lack of true crowd control, poor security, limited room for attendees, and the lack of a system to flush out campers from the system so other may enjoy the panels. This gives way to rabidness of fans,
especially of the geek type. It ends up being a match tossed into a pile of greasy rags.

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If I am going to complain this much about something I feel I should at least try to offer some constructive criticism or more to the point some ideas on how to alleviate this problem.

The hardest thing would to do would be to abandon Hall H alltogether. No more big name, big studio presentations or panels. As great as this sounds for the trouble it would remove it would also remove much of the fun from Comic-con. In other words, bad idea that no one will take me up on. It would be a waste of space as the hall cannot be split up into smaller and more manageable viewing areas.

With that idea in the trash, an idea that would have saved 11 people 31 years ago would be assigned tickets. You would be stuck with whatever you were given, but also you wouldn’t need to wait in line forever and not be able to get in. This would either be purchasable or handed out in a fair lottery. This would also have to go hand in hand with clearing out the hall after every event. Would you stay after the credits in a movie theater to see the next film? No, you don’t have that right. Nor would you have the right, because you were more psychotic and got in line during the wee hours of the morning, to be seated for the next hall presentation. This, in my mind, would only apply to Hall H as the other rooms as of yet do not have the issue of overcrowding.
I use the word yet there because for all the good a ticket system would be it would also create problems. Have you ever seen scalpers for concerts? Imagine the cash a front row seat selected by a lottery would go for, or for that matter the fights over such a coveted ticket. But let us say neither of these ended up being a problem. Where do all those people whom would normally be cooped up in Hall H go? Everywhere else to be frank about it. As it stands you can line up before a panel and be relatively assured a place to sit. If we double or triple the lines, using those displaced in this scenario, we only spread the problem around. The problem of space pushed many major showings (mostly of full length movies/anime) to the adjoining hotels this year. The convention center has run out of space.

Therefore we can come to only one conclusion: The San Diego Convention Center has outlived its usefulness. Just as a child needs new clothes one they grow up so too does Comic-Con need bigger clothes. If we fix one are, Hall H or other, we only push the problem out to outlying areas. As it stands the security detail can’t handle a simple scuffle let along a full fledged assault. Even at over 600k sq. ft. we geeks are bursting out of the place at the seams. Or we get cramped back down into place like a pressure cooker, amplifying frustration until we steam over and have one taken by paramedics, the other by police.

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Now you have to wonder where to put all of us if not in San Diego. I think I might have a solution. The Anaheim Convention Center over boasts 800k sq. ft., with several halls that hold capacities double what is in San Diego. And that’s just the main floor, with two higher ones available. That’s an extra level over San Diego. I don’t think Anaheim would even mind me mentioning them, seeing as they have been rumored to be bidding for the move. And this was long before the stabbing that occurred this year.
So if is is true it can’t happen soon enough.

Am I the only one that doesn't give a shit?

I'm going to go out on a limb here (and some much catch a small pun there ^_^) and speak my mind on something: I don't care that the Lakers won. Actually, when it comes to sports I, to quote, "frankly don't give a damn" about professional sports.

I just don't know why. I have actually tried to sit down and want to watch a game of any sport and... I just get bored. There's nothing there that holds my attention. Unless things go bad. A good example would be the last World Cup. You know, the one where this asshole decided to disrespect his game and headbutt a player over some harsh words? I was housesitting for my sister at the time and decided to watch the game. Worst.Mistake.Ever.

But I see my disgust for pro-sports everwhere. Do they honestly deserve the millions they get paid? In my opinoin, no. But I'm a minority. I can sit in front of a comptuer for hours on one game and get just as much enjoyment. I just wish I didn't have to hear my neighbors while last nights game was going on. Hearing shouts of 'Oh come on you motherfucker' loud enough for my whole apartment complext to hear is NOT my idea of an enjoyable evening. Sorry, no.