Deck16

Wow, and I thought Jesus Camp exposed some bad practices. Looks...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:00:05 +0800

Wow, and I thought Jesus Camp exposed some bad practices. Looks a cardboard George Bush would be the least of these kids’ worries.

I’ll certainly be hunting down this documentary to watch.

(via iheartchaos)

10 Things I Hate About Skyrim: #9 Weapons and Armour

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:00:06 +0800

Let me reiterate: I love Skyrim and all the Elder Scrolls games I’ve played. I think they’re great games. Indeed, it is because they are so great that any perceived problem stands out to me.

What’s #9 on my list? Weapons and armour. Read on to find out why…

Decisions, Decisions…

Have you played STALKER Call of Pripyat? When you’re wandering the modern-day wastelands around Chernobyl weapons are important. You’ll have a rifle, probably a Kalashnikov, for defending yourself against bandits and other human enemies. You’ll probably keep a shotgun handy for when exploring ruined buildings, in case a mutant tries to bite your face off. And it’s always nice to have a pistol when you need a free hand to operate the anomaly detector, or for when your other weapons run dry of ammo.

Then there’s other considerations. Do you attach a powerful scope to your rifle, or will that make close-quarters use of it difficult? Is a machine pistol better for your needs than a large-calibre revolver? Do you need a fully automatic shotgun or can you manage with the much lighter sawn-off? Will you need armour-piercing rounds to fight armoured soldiers, or hollow-points to fend off squishy mutants?

I mention all this because it’s these kind of decisions that Skyrim is totally devoid of.

Skyrim Simplicity

What do you consider when choosing a weapon Skyrim? Firstly, you see if is a “fit” with the skills/perks you have or aim to have. If it’s a match, you see if it has the highest damage or statistic out of all other weapons of that type. If it does, it’s your new weapon!

Simple as that. Armour works much the same way.

There are only two exceptions I can think of. Enchanted weapons have charge and for some characters this may limit their use to tougher opponents only. And some players may go for style over substance, choosing a “bad” item because they like the look of it (if that’s you, more power to you).

How I’d Change Things

I’d like to see some more of the STALKER considerations coming into to Skyrim.

Firstly, I’d make weight matter. In Skyrim, it seems your speed and stamina regeneration are unaffected by what you carry until you cross the encumberance mark. I’d like every bit of carried weight penalise a character slightly in terms of speed and/or stamina regeneration. (It might be necessary to remove or reduce penalties for wearing heavy armour to prevent double penalisation.)

With this change, you want to minimise weight, not just stay below a certain threshold. The weight of equipment now matters in addition to its damage or armour rating. Now, instead of mindlessly loading up to your encumberance limit, you need to consider each item. The difference might not mean much to an already-slow heavy-armour type. But for a character that relies on speed in combat, paring down your gear to the least you think you can get away with can make for quite an interesting challenge.

Secondly, I’d like weapons and armour to be breakable. Let me be clear: I don’t want to go back to the Oblivion system of carrying sacks of repair hammers. I also don’t want items to ever be permanently destroyed. And I’d only want this breakage to be fairly rare. But it seems silly to me that you only ever need one set of weapons. Having to make do with your backup dagger, or something you scrounged from a foe, can add tension and excitement to dungeon crawling.

Finally, I’d like more stats than just raw damage. I’ve mentioned weight, above. How about variable swing speeds, or different stamina use for power attacks? What about the speed and noise of unsheathing the weapon? Perhaps different rates of critical hits, or chance to stagger? Weapons that do better against armoured foes? Weapons that suffer when employed against massive creatures? Weapons that hold a “charge” of poison for longer, or can’t be poisoned at all? Even better if the smithing skill can tweak all these values individually.

An Aside About Arrows

A bit of a separate issue is one of arrows. The current situation is silly. Arrows weigh nothing, so the sensible thing is to hoard them. You’re either a skilled archer with perks to make arrows rather painful, or you’re a bow neophyte who shoots only every now and again — either way you won’t be going through that many arrows. All my characters so far (archers and non-archers) have massive stores of arrows which are increasing over time. It’s totally pointless.

I would like to see arrows weigh something. Carrying hundreds of arrows should be a bad idea, as it would be in reality. Make them more recoverable to balance this out, if need be. The extra depth in conserving ammunition adds challenge. “Do I waste an arrow on this skeever, or just use my sword? Should I risk shooting that distant Falmer or wait until I can get a more certain shot?”

But… if that proves too much for people to stomach, how about we just ditch the whole arrows-as-individual-items thing? Let there be quiver items to put into your quiver slot. The quiver could have a decent weight but have unlimited ammo. (The archery arrow-recovery perk may need reconsidering with this idea.) Quivers could be upgradable (quiver of iron arrows, quiver of steel arrows etc) and enchantable.

You Disagree?

I would argue that my changes are very much in line with a game that is meant to be at least part RPG. But I understand that what I consider a fun challenge to determine optimal gear loadout would be boring drudgery for others.

So why not include a setting for this? Perhaps options to turn each feature on and off. Simulation games have been doing this for ages.

Then again, I suppose this is exactly what a mod is for. Thank the Eight I have the PC version.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:00:05 +0800

It’s been 10 years since the original Xbox came out. One of the launch titles was Halo: Combat Evolved, first game of the Halo series. Love it or hate it, it’s been a very popular franchise.

To celebrate this anniversary along comes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a remake of its namesake.

Metacritic gives it 82.

After the jump, my thoughts on the game.

The Good

A Faithful Remake
I thought I’d mention this first. Anniversary is a remake of a 10 year old game. And it’s a very faithful remake. That’s good if nostalgia is part of your playing motivation.
New Graphics, New Sound
Fear not, just because it’s a remake doesn’t mean you’re going to play with Xbox original graphics. They’ve given the game a graphic revamp. They’ve also remastered the music (though this is far less pronounced a change than the graphics).
Best of all, you can go back to the originals at any time. The music option is accessible in the menu. Better still, the graphics setting can be changed in-game, on-the-fly, even during co-op. This is a nice feature. It can be interesting to remind yourself how the old game looked, especially when reaching some of the game’s best vistas and viewpoints.

New graphics…

…push the Back button to toggle to old graphics.

Thumbstick Combat
Halo: CE was by no means the first shooter on a console, but it was one of the better efforts at making shooters work with controllers (as opposed to the generally superior mouse and keyboard). In some shooters you stick to cover and plink away at enemies doing the same. In other shooters you zoom about like a wall-jumping acrobat.
Halo does neither. Though you move slowly you’re encouraged to do so quite constantly. Standing still will cause some types of enemies to overwhelm you, and other types to retreat and wait you out. This slow-but-constant movement suits the controller well. In addition, most combat takes place at mid- to close-range. Closer targets require less precision to hit (works both ways!).
At its best, Halo combat is like a chain of micro-combats, where you dash from cover to cover, downing enemies and occasionally swapping your empty guns for their full ones. Like an action movie hero in a hurry. It’s tactical and satisfying. And it’s still great fun, ten years on.
Of course, this requires you to play on as challenging a difficulty as you can handle. Go easy on yourself and the game becomes a bore.
The Setting, The Plot
Halo: CE is one of those graceful game stories — simple, understandable, unobtrusive, and self-contained (with a proper ending). The setting is deep and rich but you aren’t force-fed any of it, instead you notice it in the details.
This makes Halo CE (and hence Anniversary) rather special. Upon graduating from a game to a franchise Halo had to have a “proper” plot — sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but never again so gracefully elegant.
Elites
Every now and again an enemy unit AI truly surprises me. The hit-and-run Half Life marines. The always-flanking soldiers in F.E.A.R. The stalk-you-cross-country men in ArmA.
The Elites in Halo fit into that category. They’re not the most numerous of enemy but they will give you the greatest challenge. They have the same regenerating shield as you and they know how to use it. Bring down their shield and they’ll rush to the nearest cover, regenerate, and be back for more. They often play defensive and can’t be lured away from what they are guarding. They know well enough to dodge incoming fire and grenades. They understand lead-times and know to throw grenades at where you’re going, not where you are.
They’re fun to fight. It’s nice to face enemies that are challenging because they are smart, not because they are artificially powerful.

I don’t know if this elite is from Anniversary or not, but after scouring for full minutes on Google images, I don’t care anymore.

Co-op
The entire campaign is playable co-op, split screen and (now in Anniversary) system link and online. Co-op is pretty common stuff now, but 10 years ago it was quite the thing.
It still is a great, perhaps the greatest, way to play the game.
But… read the Ugly section below before you get too excited.

Extra Content
There are extra tid-bits in the campaign. Secret skulls let you “mod” the game’s default rules. Hidden terminals play new cut-scenes that give some franchise background information. Xbox 360 achievements offer a few special challenges that might extend your playtime.
There’s no multiplayer from the original game (I mean other than co-op). But the game disc does contain the multiplayer engine from Halo Reach with some CE-themed maps. Which is probably for the best — no sense fracturing the multiplayer community with a CE’s old, long-surpassed multiplayer.

The Bad

Repeating Rooms
CE, and so Anniversary, does this thing where you sometimes have to turn back and retrace your footsteps. Now, that in itself isn’t a bad thing — some rooms play very differently “backwards” and those that don’t have a twist like a different enemy on the way out.
What is bad, though, are two particular room types: Covenant corridors and Forerunner chambers. These room types are copied-and-pasted so many times you’ll get sick of them. Worse, they’re often arranged as if by a sadistic architect. For example there’s one level where you’re directed across a canyon-spanning bridge only to turn straight about and return via its parallel neighbour.

The Ugly

Client Controller Clumsiness
“Does this Halo feel strange to you? Like, sluggish?”
“No. It handles fine.”
I’d probably just written myself off if we didn’t (for reasons too boring to relate) change which console was hosting the game in our system link. Then we had the same conversation in reverse.
It turns out that, when playing system-link (and online too, I’d wager), the person who is not hosting has these slightly sluggish controls. It’s hard to explain exactly what’s wrong with the controls. If I had to guess I’d say there’s a latency from your action to it taking effect. Whatever it is, it’s not so annoying as to be unplayable, but no so mild as to be something you grown accustomed to.
There is no technological excuse for this. Other shooters, even other Halos, do not suffer from this problem. So, there’s some hope for a patch.
(As an aside, this is a horrible problem to search for on the internet. The symptoms are vague. It gets mixed up with more common latency-related problems. Multiply this confusion by one hundred because this issue is mostly talked about on gaming forums and the regulars there aren’t exactly known for their patient listening and troubleshooting skills. So, dear reader, I wish you good luck if you’re motivated to see if this problem is patched.)

Conclusion

Rated Amazing on the (on the Amazing, Good, Ordinary, Marginal, Critical scale).
A remake as they should be done. Halo: Combat Evolved Annivesary brings an excellent shooter to modern audiences and throws in plenty of extras to sweeten the deal.

See all Good, Bad, Ugly reviews by clicking here.

I thought this was a fitting follow-up to yesterday’s...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:00:06 +0800

I thought this was a fitting follow-up to yesterday’s post.

We saw yesterday how inviting public comment was a dangerous game. Vitriolic, hateful comments seem to be all too common.

I want to consider the flip-side. Is there ever a good reason to encourage comments (other than the selfish desire to drive traffic)? I would say yes. There’s worth in hearing public opinion. And it’s a good to encourage public debate over important issues.

As per the joke, the BBC does, at times, seem over-enthusiastic for public opinion. Maybe a little too transparently desperate to not get a trickle of responses. But overall I think they do a good job of it.

World Have Your Say is an excellent example of this. It’s an open forum for people to call it and discuss the particular topic for the day. It attracts just as many crazies as Yahoo7 and YouTube. The difference is the moderation. The crazies are forced to talk normally. If they step out of line — and believe me they do try — the polite-but-strict moderators bring them back on-topic. If that fails they just turn to another guest and never go back to the troublemaker.

This creates a welcoming atmosphere for non-crazies, who in turn become the majority of callers to the show. Perfect!

Now, I know none of this is exactly surprising. I mainly wanted to mention it to show there are two sides to public comments.

I love Media Watch, and I have a love-hate fascination with all...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:00:05 +0800

I love Media Watch, and I have a love-hate fascination with all things vox populi (such as internet comments, letters to the editor). And here they meet!

I could talk about this topic all day but I think the thing that intrigues me is the unholy deal news sites make when they accept unmoderated content from the unwashed masses. On the plus side, it keeps people on the page longer, reading and perhaps replying to the contentious comments. On the negative side, it makes your site look like shit.

I think it’s telling that even Fox News disabled comments on anything mildly contentious a while back. This is Fox News, remember, who thought that Glen Beck made for serious prime-time viewing.

I’m fascinated by things like this, things which give you...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:00:06 +0800

I’m fascinated by things like this, things which give you an insight into the past.

The source claims it was written by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel. I’m inclined to believe it. The video and music might be a bit lame, but the writing is simple and direct. It revolves around a few central themes and makes good use of repetition. Good for getting through the thick skulls of GIs.

Us modern audiences can find a lot to laugh about in old footage like this. But other than an extremely pessimistic outlook on the German people’s future, I think the film’s general premise was sensible. It’s aimed at front-line occupying soldiers. They should be alert and aloof. I love the cartoon soldier at 7:47 who stays cool through all situations — he really drives the message home!

Finally, I think it’s interesting to compare this with the US Army’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistian.

(Source: from here via here.)

Poor, Poor Hope Rinehart

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:00:06 +0800

Rich people. I hate ‘em. But some of the buggers manage to say and do things that make them exceptions to the rule. Take Dick Smith, for example, who said:

We’ve got to get it so it is an obligation if you’re wealthy to become a philanthropist. Otherwise we don’t want you in this country – rack off.

And he puts his money where he mouth is.

But compare and contrast. Hope Rinehart, a daughter of Gina Rinehart (the richest person in Australia), wrote this in an email:

I don’t think you understand what it means now that the whole world thinks you’re going to be wealthier than Bill Gates - it means we all need bodyguards and very safe homes!! I should have enough money to have a bodyguard, housekeeper and cook. Even my friends who have nothing compared to your wealth have more staff.

…

I would buy them myself but I’m down to my last $60,000 and your [sic] only paying my husband $1 a year.

She also wrote:

I can’t live in Australia or Singapore. It’s not fair on me to have to live there and horribly unfair for me to have to expose the kids to that. It’s hard enough being a kid, let alone the peer pressure that comes from being the wealthiest one in the country.

Dick Smith’s “rack off” doesn’t seem strong enough, somehow.

How can you say global warming is false??!? No, wait…...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:02:37 +0800

How can you say global warming is false??!?

No, wait… It’d be wrong to draw any climate conclusions from six days’ weather at the peak of the season. In fact, it would be a very very stupid thing to do.

(Certain American readers may need it explained that these temperatures are measured in degrees Celsius.)

SOPA may be an American problem...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:53:00 +0800

…but that doesn’t mean those of us living in Australia should ignore it.

As serious as SOPA is, I don’t want to talk about it. There are plenty of other sources about that if you’re interested. Instead, I want to talk about similar overzealous laws in Australia. In particular, one such American law that “infected” Australia in 2004, and another law that might be coming in the near future.

Australians — educate yourselves! Click below to read on!

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Like SOPA, the DMCA was originally an American thing. In 2004 it came to our shores as part of a free trade agreement. Apart from increasing copyright terms to a staggering life plus 70 years (more than required by the Berne convention), the DMCA has some funny laws on security.

Basically, it is illegal to circumvent any kind of technical security on content, no matter how badly designed those locks were in the first place. It’s not just bad guys who break locks. Consider the Russian programmer nabbed by the FBI for daring to circumvent Adobe’s security so blind people could make audible copies of e-books. Or how Lexmark tried to use the DMCA to squash competitors providing generic-name ink cartridges at low prices.

Coming Soon… AFACT-Sponsored Legislation?

Thinking of the great response to SOPA, I hope Australians are motivated to do something similar the next time our government considers a law that censors the internet. I would like to think, had the Great Firewall of Australia not died an early death, that we would’ve protested as strongly.

The Firewall may be dead, but let’s not get complacent!

You’re probably aware that AFACT has been tussling with iinet for some time now about piracy. What you may not have been aware of is the extent to which AFACT is acting at the behest of American interests.

Despite the lead role of AFACT and the inclusion of Australian companies Roadshow and Seven, this is an MPAA/American studios production …

Mike Ellis, the Singapore-based president for Asia-Pacific of the MPA, confirmed that AFACT is essentially MPAA’s Australian subcontractor, acting on behalf of the six American studios involved (Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox and Disney).

AFACT and MPAA worked hard to get Village Roadshow and the Seven Network to agree to be the public Australian faces on the case to make it clear there are Australian equities at stake, and this isn’t just Hollywood ‘bullying some poor little Australian ISP’.

— US Embassy Cable

And why iinet? Why not Telstra which, as the biggest internet provider in Australia, is likely to “enable” the most piracy?

[Mike Ellis did not want to] begin by tangling with Telstra, the still dominant player in telephony and internet, and a company with the financial resources and demonstrated willingness to fight hard and dirty, in court and out.

— US Embassy Cable

They’re bullies looking for weak targets, in other words.

AFACT may be doing poorly in its court battle against iinet, but that’s not where this is likely to end. The government may consider AFACT’s loss as a reason to enact legislation against piracy. And Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s bias is clear.

Should that legislation come, we need to examine it carefully. If it stinks like SOPA, we need to fight it just like the Americans are fighting SOPA.

George Clooney and the Plasmic Language

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:26:58 +0800

I just awoke from the most bizarre dream and must write it down.

It was presented as a movie. We open on some sort of posh school in the 1950’s. We see a janitor, played by George Clooney. Hay is scattered about the room. He attempts to clean it with a broom, but is overzealous and spreads the hay about just as much.

Unhappy with manual labour, the janitor decides to build a machine to do the cleaning for him. He starts looking around the school, scavenging parts.

(Click below to read on…)

At this point I come into the movie. I am played by Colin Mochrie. (I remembered his face from the dream. But I didn’t know his name until now, after some Googling.)

I wonder what the janitor is doing and this kicks off a massive musical sequence where the janitor sings about the wonders of books and literature. This is because he has been looking at books to guide him with the cleaning machine. The janitor appears to be quite learned at the arts and linguistics and his musical piece revolves around touching on subjects from books in those fields. Doesn’t make sense for a janitor, doesn’t make sense for someone wanting to make a machine, but a dream’s a dream.

During this musical piece we are whisked about the grounds of the school — which is starting to feel more like a university — and encounter various other people learned in arty things. We assemble quite a wacky gang all of whom are played by Hollywood actors. (Mostly, but not exclusively, men. Is my brain sexist or just accurate for the 1950s?)

Near the end of the musical piece, the janitor opens a book about something called “Plasmic Language”. On investigating it, he becomes quite enthusiastic about it. The whole gang is. But then they come across a simple summation equation in the text. None of them understand what it is.

Luckily for them, I do. I am so happy to finally be useful (everything prior has been about arty subjects I am no expert on) that I start a song where I combine English with the programming languages of my day job (this, apparently, is representitive of Plasmic Language). But my song is cut short. Everyone wants to follow this Plasmic Language thing through to the ultimate conclusion, and they want to start now.

Whatever we’re building, it’s big, it’s mechanical and it requires scholars of every field (especially arts for some reason). I never actually see the damned thing, possibly because during the duration of the dream we never leave the planning stage.

Cut to scenes of the gang of scholars working on the project. There’s more musical pieces, usually about the wonders of academia, usually involving dry dusty books. I am not doing any work myself but am wandering around observing and participating in these musical scenes.

At this time I need to use the toilet in real life. This manifests in my dreams. Slowly I am less interested in Project Plasmic Language and more interested in finding a toilet. There are none to be found.

My obsession with finding toilets causes me to miss several outings the group has to learn more about the project. I distinctly remember missing an outing to the beach, complete with 1950’s bathing attire, and janitor Clooney telling me in that upbeat manner of his that it was fun, I should’ve come, but there’s always next time.

Obviously physical needs grew too strong and I was brought out of my dream. The last thing I remember was trying to urinate into a fridge in the middle of the night while Brad Pitt burnt the midnight oil and talked to me about his role in the project.

Certainly an interesting dream. But why all American actors, brain? Why not Simon Baker or Sam Worthington as the janitor? My character could’ve been played by Geoffrey Rush. I think Shaun Micallef would’ve made for a much more hilarous fridge urination scene. How am I supposed to support Australian film and television when my subconscious just wants Hollywood. God forbid my next dream is directed by Michael Bay…

10 Things I Hate About Skyrim: #10 Bad Astronomy

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:11:00 +0800

(With apologies to Phil Plait.)

Before I begin, let me say that I love Skyrim and all the Elder Scrolls games I’ve played. I think they’re great games. Indeed, it is because they are so great that any perceived problem stands out to me.

What’s #10 on my list? The sky in Skyrim. It’s broken. Read on…

I was taken aback by how gorgeous the sky was in Morrowind. I used to love looking at the two moons, massive against the stars, replete with fine details. Of course, back then the lesser moon orbited the larger moon. That changed with Oblivion. I don’t begrudge them that kind of minor ret-con.

But after noticing this astronomical change from Morrowind to Oblivion, I also started to notice other things about the moons. To be fair, I noticed more problems with Oblivion’s moons than Skyrim’s. But we’re not talking about Oblivion.

So, what’s wrong with Skyrim astronomy? Take a look:

Notice how the two moons are illuminated from different angles? This would suggest Tamriel’s sun is much, much closer than our sun is to Earth.

There are other discrepancies too. I’ve noticed that the moons can be full, or near-full, even though the sun is right next to them in the sky. This suggests that, for at least some of the time, the moons are further away than the sun!

It also seems odd that the moons always appear to the east and never directly overhead or to the west. That would suggest that the moons do not orbit around Tamriel’s planet.

Not everything in the sky is flawed, however.

Tamriel also has aurorae like the Earth. Skyrim is a fairly northern region, so it would make sense to see aurorae. (Though I don’t recall seeing such a phenomenon in Morrowind, even though Vvardenfell extends about the same way north.)

And lastly, Skyrim has a milky-way type object in the sky, suggesting that Tamriel’s system is on the edge of a spiral galaxy just like Earth.

You can see all this yourself. Dozens of night skies in a short timeframe are easy with the console commands. “Set timescale to” is what you’re looking for.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the Elder Scroll universe is a fantasy one, why would its astronomy need to be the same as ours? You may have played enough to know some of the lore about the moons, for example it being the remains of the god Lorkhan. Why should a god’s dead body behave in any way like a moon?

As I see it, there are only two options for resolving this.

One is that the astronomy in the Elder Scrolls works differently to the real world. Maybe the moons are mostly like our Earth’s moon, but just obey strange orbital mechanics. Or maybe the only common thread is their appearance — despite looking like planetoids they actually are bits of a dead god and therefore need not follow any laws of physics.

That option doesn’t sit well with me. Why mimic Earth’s night sky so well — complete with aurorae and the milky way — only to say it’s only similar by appearance. Like some sort of outrageous coincidence or sick deception. No — if you’re going to claim the night sky is all gods parts and holes leaking raw magic then it’d be more sensible if Tamriel’s sky was full of lava-lamp-like swirling energies, or massive gods and other entities going about their business, or something equally unique.

The other option is that Elder Scrolls astronomy is meant to work like the real world, and the discrepancies are just mistakes or time-saving omissions on the part of the developers. (I can’t be very critical of this. After all, how few gamers are going to notice astronomical problems, let alone think about them in detail? Better to concentrate on other things.)

I hope it’s this second option. Because I personally find the idea of massive orbiting moons more interesting than pieces of a god. If they’re planetoids, you can wonder what it might be like on the surface, whether any fantastic creatures live there, how it might be possible to reach the moon with spells rather than spacecraft. If they’re pieces of a god, they’re just so much decoration in the sky.

Why Are You Afraid to Believe?

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:00:06 +0800

why do you think that the subject of ‘religion’ stirs up so much drama in America?

- What is it about “religion” that gets people going?

- Why do you think that people are afraid to “believe” in a religion?

- Why do you think that Atheists usually get away with talking about their beliefs (or the absence of beliefs), but if Christians try to state what they know, they get criticized for breaking the “Freedom of Religion” given in the First Amendment?

disclaimer: I am simply using my first amendment rights to have a discussion. Please respond with the utmost respect. I am mostly interested in the first two questions.

— starsinthesky18

I simply can’t let this go unanswered…

Before I begin, let me make it clear that I’m talking about the United States, as per the questioner’s clarification “in America.” What’s the only relevant religion demographically and politically in the US? It’s Christianity. So I’m going to talk about Christianity.

What is it about “religion” that gets people going?

Let’s see…

Could it be Christians trying to force their religions ideas and morals on others through law, such as laws that damage science education, throw roadblocks against women seeking abortion, deny same-sex equalities, try to rewrite history and permit the bullying of gay teens?

Or maybe it has something to do with fundamentalist Christian ideas leading to horrific things — like parents letting children die, or the murder of medical doctors, or creating an environment so hostile for children that they commit suicide?

It could be that people are just sick of being told they’re going to Hell.

Why do you think that people are afraid to “believe” in a religion?

[I’m not really sure why “believe” is in scare quotes. I don’t imagine the question is about a fake kind of belief (why would anyone be afraid, let alone afraid, of that?). I am going to assume that the quotes were included in error.]

Let me turn that around. Why are you afraid to believe in bigfoot? Why are you afraid to believe in UFOs? Why are you afraid to believe in an orbiting teapot?

It’s a stupid question, isn’t it?

In the United States, people generally aren’t afraid of being Christian. Being Christian is great! You’re part of the majority! You’d be a fool not to be a Christian…

Except there’s that little thing called intellectual honesty. No matter how great it would be to be part of the majority, you can’t lie to yourself about your own beliefs. Sadly, in America, there are many closeted atheists — people who have figured out there’s no compelling evidence for the Christian God, but due to circumstances can’t come “out of the closet”. If you need some examples of why it can be difficult out of the closet: here, here, here, here, here and here.

Why do you think that Atheists usually get away with talking about their beliefs (or the absence of beliefs), but if Christians try to state what they know, they get criticized for breaking the “Freedom of Religion” given in the First Amendment?

In the words of Ricky Gervais, “DON’T. TALK. SHIT!”

Maybe I’m not offering you the “respect” you desired, but this Christian privilege really pisses me off. Not all Christians do it, by the way, so consider yourself special.

In the civilised world we like to keep affairs of religion separate from the affairs of state. This is nothing new. Even your founding fathers knew this. It’s in your constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

The problem is that Christians are so used to their privilege that, when they get called out for breaking this fairly simple rule, they play the victim card as if they’re the ones being oppressed!

There are so many examples. Nativity scenes, religious symbols and scripture on government property. References to God on your currency and in your pledge. In public schools, prayer and ceremonies in religious locations. Disproportionately Christian chaplains in your military.

If you can’t figure out why all that is an outrage, consider how you’d feel if another religion was doing it. Would you sit by idly while a public school organised Islamic prayers? Would you be happy to see a motif of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on your $1 bill?

Do what every other religion has been happy to do all this time. Pray, evangelise, talk theology as much as you like. Until you’re blue in the face. Just don’t do it with the taxpayer’s money or while acting on the government’s behalf.

This is good. Found it on Friendly Athiest and had to share. ...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:00:06 +0800

This is good. Found it on Friendly Athiest and had to share. Watch it before you read on, if you can help it…

It is not real. It is a Poe. I think one clue is how the boy, near the end of the clip, kisses his crucifix and makes the sign of the cross. Both are very Catholic actions. But stupid pop-culture-with-Christ videos are more of a Protestant thing. (I feel like I know too much…)

The Controversy that has surrounded the reality show All...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:00:06 +0800

The Controversy that has surrounded the reality show All American Muslim is something that angers me. I’m not Muslim and have only watched a few clips of the show, but to try and coerce companies to pull their advertisement during the show’s time slot based on stereo typical beliefs is beyond ignorance at its finest.

— digi-jo

Digi-jo’s post got me thinking.

Boycotts are a double-edged sword. They can be put to good, such as when used to silence Glen Beck, or they can be put to evil, as shown in the image above. (If you don’t know about this All-American Muslim thing, look here.)

Capitalism is blind to our human bigotries. The most profitable stance is tolerance — welcoming all consumers! Glen Beck’s advertisers left him not for noble moral reasons, but because it was a PR risk being anywhere near the man. What about the Lowes decision, was it commercially savvy? I guess it would depend on how much of its customer base is the intolerant fundie Christian kind.

All I know for sure is that I would love Gruen Planet to talk about this topic.

(Source) This image really needs to be on Tumblr. It is mocking...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:00:05 +0800

(Source)

This image really needs to be on Tumblr. It is mocking stuff like this and this and this and this. Crap I see on Tumblr a lot.

(Incidentally, the Einstein story is false, just in case anyone out there was gullible enough to believe it.)

Margaret Court Defies God to Speak Against Gay Marriage

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:00:05 +0800

WA tennis legend Margaret Court has slammed the push to legalise gay marriage, saying she wants to “protect families”.

The Rev. Court urged Australians to make a stand against gay marriage, saying no human law could ever change God’s divine laws.

— thewest.com.au

I think Rev. Court really needs to get her own affairs in order before preaching to others. She’s defying some of “God’s divine laws” herself.

Read on to see what laws she’s breaking, and to read some letters from the public in response to her homophobic speech.

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

— 1 Timothy 2:11-12

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

— 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

That’s pretty clear to me. Court shouldn’t be a pastor for many reasons. The bible clearly says she cannot speak in church (quite the impediment for a pastor), she cannot teach (sermons are out) and she cannot have authority over men (she cannot be any sort of church leader).

Why does Court choose to ignore scripture about women teaching, but considers the scripture on homosexuality to be “God’s divine law”? What right does she have to pick and choose?

Letters to the Editor

Despite the harm it must be doing to my brain, I like to read the comments in the local newspaper. The letters speaking against Court — and for gay marriage — were heartening.

But then there were the letters from Christians.

(All letters are from The West Australian, 8 December 2011.)

Good one S. Sinclair! I’ve never heard that one before! Rhyming is such a persuasive argument.

Get your facts straight.

I know The West is hardly a shining beacon of an amazing newspaper. But someone choosing letters must be trollface to include something like this. (Good for them! It certainly entertains me.)

I just love this letter. It highlights Christian prejudice in thinking that the overwhelming majority consider Satan a real thing. I’m sure the letter writer would think people would see this letter and nod solemnly, saying “oh yes, Satan would like this. Therefore I must oppose it!”

Of course most people are fairly sane and don’t believe in this Satan thing. To us, the letter is a non-sequitur. It may as well wonder what stance Darth Vader or Voldemort have.

Who is Dr. Suess? Is he related to Juses? But seriously...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:25:00 +0800

Who is Dr. Suess? Is he related to Juses?

But seriously now…

What’s the moral of this comic? Don’t be a dickish pedant regarding the fantasies of little kids? That’s a message I can get behind.

Of course that’s not what Dan Lietha was trying to say. Jesus ain’t no fantasy to Dan! Let’s turn it around. I fancy in this version I made the man would be the hero:

(If you think I’m overreacting, or you don’t really understand what I’m getting at, take a look here.)

Parents Seek Contagions for their Children

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:05:06 +0800

That’s a pretty outrageous title, right? Am I just trying to score a read by having an inflammatory heading?

No. That’s exactly what’s going on.

…some parents have been apparently posting saliva-soaked tissues and licked lollipops to each other in an attempt to spread chickenpox among their children…

BBC News

If the serious laws against mailing diseases are making you think twice you can always cut out the middleman and go straight to the source by sending your child to an organised “pox party”.

So why would any parent do that? Read on…

It’s because they’re stupid. There’s no gentle way to put it. It’s a perfect storm of stupidity. Firstly, you have to mistrust vaccinations. This probably (but not always) is because you’re an anti-vaxxer, which on its own is an incredibly stupid stance.

Secondly, you have to think chicken pox and even measles are fairly harmless diseases and forget about the complications. That means you’re too dense to remember a time before chicken pox vaccination (way, way back in 1995) when hundreds of kids would die each year.

And finally, you have to have that special kind of stupidity which might otherwise be known as selfishness. As evil and stupid as it was, you chose to infect your child. Anyone who comes into contact with that child is not being offered a choice. They’re at risk of getting the disease themselves.

Don’t think it’s only fringe nut-jobs that believe this stuff. The anti-science mentality is doing quite well. Need proof? Take a look at the comments I took from this news piece about the chickenpox-lollipops:

Does anyone ever think about just how powerful our immune system could be if it was’ fed’ properly and didn’t have to work so hard at trying to deal with all the rubbish (from processed foods to chemicals - to flouride and metals) that we stuff our bodies with daily! There is some thinking in science that if the immune system was in full working order - just what would it be capable of, perhaps even regrowing limbs etc! Such virus as chickenpox wouldn’t stand a chance - but then the drug companies wouldn’t be able to make millions from the ‘vaccines’!

— steve94

You need to do a little research. Vaccine are pointless, useless and dangerous. Most of these childhood diseases were well in decline before the introduction of vaccines. In fact many outbreaks of these diseases occure in the vaccinated. Drug companies have one goal, to make as much money as possible they certainly do not care about our health.

— Christine

No! Not child abuse!!! Speaking as an RN, I’m telling you that being naturally infected with chicken pox is world’s away better than that vaccine! Natural infection gives GENUINE life-long immunity. The vaccine eventually poops-out and leaves you vulnerable at an age when contracting chicken pox is MUCH more difficult to endure, not to mention much more dangerous. Skip that vaccine, let your children play with other children who are infected, and let nature do what, in its wisdom, needs to be done.

— Betsy Singh-Anand

Yet Another "PC Repair" Scam Call

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:40:00 +0800

They’re coming in thick and fast today. I had particular success with a call I took earlier.

But I was in no mood to go through that whole thing again. Not so soon after the last one. Read on to see how it went:

The events:

The caller was an Indian-accented woman on a really bad phone line.
This time the spiel was that viruses got into my computer and multiplied many many times creating many small files and that caused corruption. Again, my machine was sending out messages, though this time it seemed these were not cries to help to Microsoft but rather malicious spam.
She said she was going to show my CLSID on my PC, presumably to “prove” she wasn’t a scammer. She said CLSID was an acronym for something… it started with “computer” and sounded all very official. Whereas really it’s just short for Class ID and has to do with COM objects. (Though COM objects harbour evil in their hearts they are not merciless replicating spam-bots. They’re into much more sophisticated evil.)
I said, voice dripping with sarcasm, that I was very thankful for her personally ringing to call me about this. She didn’t understand the tone of voice. They never do. :(
I politely asked if I might ask a question. Was she going to use Assoc at the command line to determine my “CLSID”? She answered plainly… “Yes”.
I politely asked if she was going to show me errors in the Event Viewer as proof of my machine’s problems? She answered plainly again… “Yes”.
I told her that I must be psychic to have known these things. She hung up.

If I’m feeling impatient, next time I’m going to wait until they ask me if my computer is on. I’ll say, “which one, Mac or Linux?”

Or, if anyone is actually out there, what do you suggest I do next time they call?

Another Encounter with a "PC Repair" Scammer

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:56:29 +0800

I just got off another phone call with another “PC Repair” scammer. So much fun! This is why I don’t put myself on the do-not-call register. (Though mind you, would that even work against these kinds of scammers?)

Yes sir, I am calling from Microsoft. That is not a cow you hear in the background.

I’ve had this kind of call a few times before. Mostly, the conversation ends within a minute because their line is so dodgy. I also get a long of suspicious hang-ups that bear the hall-marks of long-distance, so I wonder if these aren’t also scammers recoiling at a non-elderly male voice?

But when I can talk to the scammers, I’ve previously tried stringing them out, frustrating them, as per this previous encounter. But these usually end with them hanging up out of frustration, or the bad quality line dying spontaneously.

Today, I wanted to see their tactics, so I followed the instructions fairly efficiently. This time I got to the end-game. I took notes the whole way. Read on to see what methods they employ, and how I delivered the bad news I wasn’t going to actually pay up.

The Caller

It was a woman this time. Again, a very strong accent from India or thereabouts. Poor English (though I can’t criticize, she speaks better English that I do Hindi). Terrible quality phone line — it actually dropped completely due to “battery” problems (read about that further below).

Now, the line quality was so bad I’m not sure about this following part. I thought I could hear kids. I thought I could hear her talking to her kids, kind-of saying “shush I’m on a phone call”. When I asked her what was going on she was adamant that she had been listening all the time (despite requiring me to repeat myself).

My guess: she’s a stay-at-home mother trying to make a few bucks by scamming with her mobile phone. The picture we have of call centres full of scammers is not accurate, I think. A more accurate comparison would be the “work from home” scams we see here in the West. That’s just my hunch. Interested readers can go research that for themselves.

Does she know she’s scamming? I would say she would know. She might not know much about the technical stuff she had me do, and how it’s all crap. But she claimed to be from “Windows Service and Maintenance Support”, implying an affiliation with Microsoft. And to believe she’s actually working on the part of Microsoft would require a lot of gullibility.

The Game Plan — Non-Technical Summary

They call you, they hope you have a Windows PC. Most people do. They then show you benign things on your PC to “prove” things. They “prove” your PC is full of problems. They “prove” they are a legit company. They “prove” your warranty has expired.

That’s all lies of course. To anyone non-technical, they are doing the equivalent of this:

Hello sir. Do you have a sofa? Sir, your sofa is in the living room correct? Ah, that shows we have legitimate knowledge of your sofa — how else would we know that? Sir, look under the cushions. See all those crumbs? That’s very very bad. Now sir, look underneath your sofa. Is there a one-hundred dollar bill stapled to the underside? No? That means your warranty has expired. Let me guide you to our credit card payment page on the Internet…

Do they actually offer support if you do pay? Maybe. If so, it’d probably be rather sub-standard. But it matters not. The pretense on which they get you to buy — that your PC is riddled with errors and lacking warranty — is total fabrication. That’s scam enough.

The Game Plan — The Technical Version

This is a complete run-down of what happened.

She calls. She addresses me by name. Do I have a Windows computer? Yes? Well it’s sending error reports to them (presumably, they mean Microsoft).
I ask her to wait while I get my laptop. I’m worried because previous callers have hung up after waiting even modest amounts of time. She’s still there when I get back.
She has me run Computer Management via the Computer entry on the Start Menu (right click, Manage).
(Yes, I pulled the “your left or my left” gag again when asked to look at the left of my keyboard for my Windows key. I know I was trying to not string them along this time, but it’s too good a gag not to do. Like the last guy, she assured me it was my left.)
I am guided to the Application Errors section of Event Viewer. My goodness, look at all those errors! She lies, telling me they are caused when I go to dodgy sites (though she certainly doesn’t use such breezy vernacular). She asks me what sites I go to. “Microsoft, and my kids use Disney.” I lie. She wonders why I am going to Microsoft, am I affiliated? No, I assure her, I go there “because you can get updates there, did you know?” Not wanting to spook her, I acquiesce and admit that other people use this PC. We conclude that they, or those damned kids of mine, must’ve gone to a bad website.
I try to be ironic and claim that it’s awful that people would breach my trust and scam me, but the meaning is lost in translation and she thinks I’m talking about her (guilty conscience?). Not wanting to spook her, I back off.

Scammers are apparently not familiar with irony.

She then guides me to the Prefetch folder via the Run menu. I wasn’t familiar with this folder, so I had to stall her while I looked it up, telling her my computer was slow (which she used as “evidence” of how screwed-up my computer was). Apparently prefetch is something of a cache to improve boot times. Read more here.
In the Prefetch folder there are five RUNDLL entries. She lies, telling me that there should only be one. This is more “evidence” my computer is stuffed.
I am then guided to run the Command Line via the Run Dialog. She mis-informs me that “cmd” stands for “Computer Management Diagnosis”. (Really, it’s just short for “command”.)
She has me run Assoc at the command line. Assoc is a tool that allows you to show and modify file associations. But in her universe, it is… well I don’t remember exactly. But right near the end it shows the line:
.zfsendtotarget=CLSID\{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}
Which is simply information telling the operating system how to deal with compressed files. Read more here.
(Lucky I was using my laptop, not my actual PC, otherwise this entry would not be near the bottom thanks to dozens of Visual Studio entries starting with an underscore.)
She (correctly!) identifies the long number as a GUID. Now, this number is not different across different machines. But she pretends it is, and reads it back to me as proof that she is legitimate.
I get her to expand on this. You (the reader) are probably familiar with the crash dialog where it asks if you want to send information to Microsoft? She’s pretending she’s been getting heaps of these from me, and that this number is part of what’s being sent.
She’s clever, though — I suggest that she could read other things out to me, but she says that she only gets “some” information.
She then says she’s going to transfer me to a technical support person, but phone connection is lost! Disappointed, I unpause what I was watching on the telly over lunch.
Ah, but not all is lost! Apparently smelling blood, she deems me important enough to call back. She says she lost connection because of a battery. I ask why she’s using a mobile phone. She says she isn’t. I ask what kind of land-line phone uses a battery. She avoids the question.
I had turned my laptop off. Back on it comes. While we’re waiting, she engages me in clumsy friendly conversation. What do I do for a living? I know it’s risky, but I tell her the truth — I am a software engineer. She says that I must know about these kinds of problems, then. I say I do, and that I’ve found the steps so far very interesting. My voice is dripping with sarcasm. I guess it doesn’t translate because we continue on.
It’s at this time I ask what company she is with. In a round-about sort of way, she says that she’s with the “Windows Service and Maintenence Department” and implies (but doesn’t say) that it’s an official part of Microsoft.
She has me return to Computer Management. This time I am going to the Services section and looking at the Routing and Remote service. She wants to know what state it’s in. I tell her the truth — it’s “Disabled”. This service is for advanced networking things, you can read the details here. Very few home PCs would have this turned on (and if you did you’d probably not be the type to fall for this scam in the first place). She lies, telling me that “disabled” means my warranty has expired! Hence all my problems.
(Which, if you think about it, is not a nice scenario. A warranty isn’t about stopping bad things from happening, it’s about reimbursing you in some way if they do. Let’s take the analogy to cars. Imagine the outrage if your car warranty ran out and it suddenly became more dangerous to drive. Well, the same is true of PCs. If they started letting viruses and other malicious code in just because the warranty ran out people wouldn’t be happy. Why not call it something other that “warranty” since they’re making the whole thing up?)
Here we get to the pointy cash end. How many years warranty do I want to buy? I ask for five. But on further conversation I decide on a lifetime warranty. We go to the site — I won’t link it (not because it seems dangerous, but because I don’t want it gaining any prestige with Google and the like by linking to it).
www (dot) adamspcsupport (dot) org
Hmm… strange place for a Microsoft representative to send me to. Sadly I didn’t think to argue this at the time.
It’s a bland site of stock imagery and Flash animation.
I click on the lifetime warranty and get redirected to a third-party site that is capable of facilitating credit card transactions. (That’s not dodgy in itself — PayPal is a legit example of such a thing — but this is just a generic-name equivalent who doesn’t care if it gets a reputation for dealing with shysters.)
The caller tells me she is happy to answer my questions if I am uncertain. I ask her how does this warranty get tied to my PC? Think about it — how is my computer supposed to know to turn on its magical warranty protection? She assures me that Assoc GUID will do that. Not that I was told to enter that GUID anywhere on the credit card page.
Then, I’m done. I tell her she’s a scammer, that all those things she showed my on my PC have absolutely nothing to do with problems, and that I should know. I’m a software engineer, remember? She assures me that this is not a scam. I tell her to drop the company line and just talk to me like a human. Why does she do work to purposely scam people out of money? Is she trying to make an extra bit of cash? Talk to me like a human.
I was hoping that she’d tell me why. I don’t exactly think people like her are greedy. Desperate may be a better word. There are some very poor people in India. Alas, she just hangs up. For once it wasn’t because of the bad connection.

Convergent Evolution of Scams

The dolphin and the shark are both aquatic animals. They have a very different heritage — one mammalian the other piscean — but thanks to convergent evolution they have ended sharing very similar physical forms.

I believe the same is happening with PC repair scams. The repair scams are quite young. They started out blunt, guiding users straight to remote-control or other malicious software. Now they are more advanced, spending valuable minutes convincing a slightly-more-scam-aware public that this “isn’t a scam” because of all these “errors”.

What are they converging with? The much older scam “animals” — the ones that don’t rely on computers — psychic cold-reading, Scientology personality tests, homeopathic placebo effects, religious plate-passing, and many more. These scams have long known that you get the best results if you offer some “evidence” that they are needed.

PC repair scams will die out as people get computer literate, or even just more scam-aware. That’s good. The sad thing is that the very same people who learn not to buy warranties over the phone from a stranger will still be visiting psychics are putting money in the collection plate.