Men and the Mindless Series of Ones and Zeros That They Love

Posted by BlackWidower on

You know, today I wanted to write a follow up to the iPhone post I made recently, commenting on the remarks Steve Jobs made at a recent press conference. BUT THE FATES WOULD NOT ALLOW IT!

I found something much more interesting. Apparently, some Japanese women, half to be precise, think they can’t compete with virtual girlfriends. Virtual girlfriends would be the dating simulation games that appear to be quite popular in Japan. They simulate a girl who flirts with you, goes out on dates with you in the in-game world, and even let you put it in, which as gameplay features go is pretty awesome. However when I say “put it in” I mean have your own in-game avatar put it in…and by “put it in” I mean “sex”. Just so there’s no confusion. Continue reading →

The Same Old Story, My Thoughts On iPhone 4

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Okay, I just want to start by being clear, I haven’t actually used the iPhone 4 yet. Older models of iPhone I’ve gotten a chance to get hands on with for a short time thanks to friends and in-store demos. But due to the fact the iPhone 4 was just released a matter of weeks ago I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet.

However I doubt a lot has changed, we’re talking Apple here, any changes they make consist primarily of making things slightly prettier or two microns thinner and adding features other products have had for several years, while simultaneously ignoring problems they refuse to acknowledge, which is most of them.

So because of that, this post is probably going to be shorter than normal. Which I’m happy about because I’m sick of spending several days writing thousand-or-two-thousand-word blog posts.

Anyway, the iPhone 4. From what I know it’s the same as the iPhone 3Gs with a few changes in design. New features include a front facing camera, perfect for video conferencing or even vlogging…you know…if you’re into that sort of thing; and a higher resolution display, you know, if you like watching video while the display is resting on your face. I assume the processor’s faster because that’s always the way of things, and you know, the design, I like it, it looks good, I might buy it if they ship it in iTouch form and I got $200 to burn, which I don’t because I’m poor.

Finally, one important feature of the iPhone 4, if you touch the outer edge on the lower left corner, you will lose your connection. Continue reading →

The Weekend Canada Lost All Respect

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A few years ago, an international group was formed to respond to the growing economic crisis. The G20. Twice a year they meet to coordinate their efforts to end this global recession. Makes sense, it’s a shitty situation, and the problems can’t be fixed by one nation alone. All nations need to work together to save the economy, and get us all back to work, making money. Which is why they meet twice a year, and more specifically, a week ago in the nearby city of Toronto.

Twenty-seven government representatives (twenty-one are part of the G20 including two from the EU and the remaining six are from the “invited” nations), mostly heads of state, along with the UN Sec-Gen and the heads of six international economic organizations, gathered in Toronto over the weekend to hopefully put an end to this recession. That’s right, they devoted their weekend to this. That’s commitment! Anyway, economies around the world are still in tatters, others are just beginning their recovery, and still others are almost finished. The G20 is an opportunity for these world leaders to share their recovery strategies, as well as what they have learned from this recession, with the rest of the planet.

Who could possibly have a problem with that?

Burning Cop Car

Oh…right…

Yes, there was no shortage of opposition to the summit, protesters of all kinds, screaming all sorts of things were in full force that weekend, and it made me loose all faith in humanity. Continue reading →

The Bitch is Back

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In case you haven’t noticed, for the past six weeks this blog has been pretty empty. Though it might have been more than six weeks…I don’t have a good update schedule.

So the reason for that is, I was on my work placement for college. This was the second time I went on my work placement, only this time it was successful, primarily because I didn’t sleep-in ’til 11 on two separate occasions. Yeah, I fucked that up. Turns out humans need sleep. Who knew?

So the good news is this time I was successful, and now I’m officially a J-School graduate. YAY!

You know this is the first time I have felt proud about something this much. I graduated College! I remember getting my High School diploma, could not have cared less. But this…this is exciting. For the first time I framed one of these things…certificates. Never did that before. In the past, my mom framed them, not me. In fact, she still has all of them. I guess I never cared in the past because I set my standards higher. Graduating high school is something one just does. You don’t get credit for that, it’s like waking up in the morning, and I have a bunch of ancillary certificates that don’t actually mean anything other than I participated in a summer camp. No one gives a shit, least of all me. Of course they ended up on my Resume because there was too much white space otherwise.

So, anyway, during that six week placement, various things happened and I had an epiphany. I am a jackass. Continue reading →

Apple Won’t Let Itself Get Flashed

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So the latest news out of Apple, they won’t let Flash go on their iPad. Now this is old news. Apple wouldn’t allow Flash on the iPhone and the iPad is just a giant iPhone anyways, so not having Flash available should come as no surprise. However it seems people were shocked because the iPad had more power and could probably handle Flash, plus it works better as a video watching device and most video on the web is Flash-based. So some might think it seems odd that Apple would deny a program on their device that would seem to be perfect for it.

Now everyone knows I’m not Apple’s biggest fan. I will never buy one of their products, primarily because I think it’s badly designed, but also because I hate their business practices. But today, I will defend Apple because I honestly see why they are doing this. Continue reading →

Koi and Cameras

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In my last post I talked about my quest to spend money from my tax return. I got over $300 coming in and my options are few. As it stands I’ll probably be getting a fish, so I looked into it and found it might be more difficult than I thought. Continue reading →

Pets, Playstations and PDAs…and Keyboards and Bitching on Apple

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Ah, tax season. The time where we spend a few hours to fill out a few forms to discover if the government owes us money, or we owe the government money, and how much. I recently filed my 2008 tax return because I’m lazy and should have done it a year ago, and it seems I’ll be getting over $300 which includes retroactive GST payments. So I have three options, I can either put the money in savings for a rainy day, spend it on something useful, like food, or spend it on useless shit. I think you know what I’m planning. Continue reading →

Tea, Earl Grey, Hot

Posted by BlackWidower on

I like Star Trek. Like there’s a surprise there. In the past I never really got into it because it never airs on TV anymore, at least my TV because I don’t have cable. But I love the concept, a future society where humanity is spread out throughout the galaxy, and allied with many other races and societies, with advanced technology to facilitate that. It’s quite interesting, and it seems plausible. The world of Star Trek feels like it takes place in reality, something Star Wars can’t really claim.

Not that I’m saying Star Wars is bad, but when you have things like the Force, an inexplicable energy field that encompasses the galaxy and gives certain people supernatural powers, it gets a little hard to take. I mean it’s cool and all, but…does it make sense? And don’t get me started on the concept of Lightsabers! How exactly can a blade made of light stop another blade made of light when the blade made of light is controlled by the hilt made of not light, and not the other way around? It’s like being physically incapable of pointing a gun at something.

Anyway, I’m not here to bash Star Wars, I’m here to talk about Star Trek. My favourite series would have to be Voyager primarily because of the desperate situation they find themselves in. Cut off and isolated. Kinda like Battlestar Galactica, only, you know, with replicators and not being hunted by evil robots who look human. Actually, wait…there’s the Borg…and Seven of Nine allies herself with the good guys, kinda like Sharon from BSG. Wow, I just realized how uncreative Ronald D. Moore is. Continue reading →