After setting up Dark Souls: Prepare To Die, which I am enjoying very much and will write about a little later after I die a few more dozen times, lol, and remember to get a screen shot. I am making progress which is very satisfying. Most of the early deaths were due to not being familiar with the gamepad after so many years of not using one, and luckily I already had a 360 gamepad that I bought last year for another game and never used so I didn't have to go out and buy one.
All the later deaths are because the game is brutally unforgiving, which I'm loving, the combat is awesome and I need to practice more.
BUT I'm about to have a raging apopleptic fit over Games For Windows Live.
GFWL...doesn't even deserve it's full title. What a rage inducing piece of crappy software. Many people hate STEAM but I'd have that any day than the debacle I went through with Live. In fact I've never had a problem with STEAM and I've used it since the Half Life days.
OK, so I install the game and have to setup a Live account which I knew the game would have but wholeheartedly wish it didn't. I really wanted the game so I'm not complaining about not knowing about it beforehand.
The login is your email address which is pretty easy you would think, but no, it wouldn't accept that and kept telling me either my email or password was incorrect. I tried more than half a dozen times until I discovered it wouldn't accept my email address which is from the largest ISP in Australia for heaven's sake.
So I had to change it to my Yahoo address which was accepted. I then get an email at said Yahoo address to verify the email so when I try to do that I get a blank page OR a Live page saying there's a problem and "Try again later." Later is two days ago with several attempts until I finally searched Google and found out how to get them to send me another confirmation email, which actually worked.
Stupidly, I ticked the boxes to auto log me into the game so I don't have to enter the details every time and now when I start the game I see another person's user name flash by at the top of the screen and I seem to be logged as that person in the game. I cannot find out how to change the auto login for the game despite extensive searching and the Live help files don't say anything about it. I can login to the Live site with the correct details but can't change that bit, so who bloody knows.
When I get over my rage I MIGHT reinstall the game although I don't want to and see if that fixes it, but I'm not hopeful.
Edit: Sorted this out or at least found out it is my account but not the user name I provided. At least I can play the game so I suppose it's something.
This is THE last game I will ever buy with GFWL no matter how much I want it. I'm going to try and setup an offline account which will probably mess with my saves but I'm not that far in so I can live with it as long as I can actually save offline.
Showing posts with label Soapbox and Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soapbox and Rants. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Big Brother Is Watching Indeed
Well we shouldn't be surprised at this. The Australian Government has passed new Cybercrime laws to enable unprecedented access to our information. 1984 here we come. That's the book by George Orwell for anyone unfamiliar with the term.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
It can be argued that if you're doing nothing wrong you don't have to be worried, but let's see how long before this is misused.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/14642453/amended-cybercrime-bill-passes-senate/
In case the article is changed or the page moved I'm quoting it here.
"New Cybercrime laws have passed the parliament, allowing the government unprecedented access to our information. What do the changes mean for you?
Phone carriers will soon have to store text messages, emails and other data to help police fight cybercrime.
Government legislation that will allow the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and foreign law enforcement agencies to seek communications data under warrants cleared the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill allows for increased co-operation between local and overseas cybercrime investigators, extends the scope of existing Commonwealth computer offences and brings Australia into line with the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon hailed the passage of the bill.
"This will help combat criminal offences relating to forgery, fraud, child pornography and infringement of copyright and intellectual property," she said in a statement.
During the Senate debate on Wednesday, Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam raised concerns about stored data being given to foreign countries for use in criminal cases involving the death penalty.
But cabinet minister Joe Ludwig argued the federal police had strict guidelines about the level of co-operation it provides to foreign agencies.
Senator Ludlam argued there was a need for laws to catch up on technological developments so authorities could net tech savvy cyber criminals, however, privacy protection should not be completely sacrificed.
He pointed to the location data from mobile phones as an area in need of privacy safeguards.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said Senator Ludlam's concerns about privacy were laughable because he was a key supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had published thousands of diplomatic cables.
In doing so Assange had disregarded the privacy of those mentioned in the cables.
The Senate passed government amendments to address 12 out of 13 recommendations from the joint select committee on cyber-safety, covering privacy protections and assistance to foreign agencies.
The amended Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 will go back to the lower house for approval."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
It can be argued that if you're doing nothing wrong you don't have to be worried, but let's see how long before this is misused.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/14642453/amended-cybercrime-bill-passes-senate/
In case the article is changed or the page moved I'm quoting it here.
"New Cybercrime laws have passed the parliament, allowing the government unprecedented access to our information. What do the changes mean for you?
Phone carriers will soon have to store text messages, emails and other data to help police fight cybercrime.
Government legislation that will allow the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and foreign law enforcement agencies to seek communications data under warrants cleared the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill allows for increased co-operation between local and overseas cybercrime investigators, extends the scope of existing Commonwealth computer offences and brings Australia into line with the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon hailed the passage of the bill.
"This will help combat criminal offences relating to forgery, fraud, child pornography and infringement of copyright and intellectual property," she said in a statement.
During the Senate debate on Wednesday, Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam raised concerns about stored data being given to foreign countries for use in criminal cases involving the death penalty.
But cabinet minister Joe Ludwig argued the federal police had strict guidelines about the level of co-operation it provides to foreign agencies.
Senator Ludlam argued there was a need for laws to catch up on technological developments so authorities could net tech savvy cyber criminals, however, privacy protection should not be completely sacrificed.
He pointed to the location data from mobile phones as an area in need of privacy safeguards.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said Senator Ludlam's concerns about privacy were laughable because he was a key supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had published thousands of diplomatic cables.
In doing so Assange had disregarded the privacy of those mentioned in the cables.
The Senate passed government amendments to address 12 out of 13 recommendations from the joint select committee on cyber-safety, covering privacy protections and assistance to foreign agencies.
The amended Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 will go back to the lower house for approval."
Saturday, 21 January 2012
My Oblivion Mods at Mods Reloaded and Other Issues
Today I asked "loder" the Admin and site owner of Mods Reloaded (via PM) to remove or allow me to remove my Oblivion files at Mods Reloaded as I can't see or find any option to do it myself. I will also be removing the links I have here. This is not personal, however it was prompted by a topic that was bought to my attention recently regarding mods hosted there without permission. Whether that's true or not I have no idea except that it was mentioned in a topic at the Nexus in the Modders only area. I also have no desire to discuss it further and am under no obligation to supply an explanation, but I will if necessary.
I dropped in there (Mods Reloaded) today because I haven't been there in awhile and to see if there was anything of interest in the forums. I found a topic made by a user that says he will take all the "best" adult and non adult mods from the Nexus and re-upload them. A post was made by another user who said it was unwise and she wouldn't like it if it were her files. The OP responded by saying if anyone complained they could remove the files...after the fact. Not good enough.
"loder" who is the site Admin as mentioned above responded by saying permission must be sought beforehand and there were no further responses except mine.
Now onto that response of mine. I am most likely getting myself banned from there and if that's the case so be it. I don't have time for drama, but I saw something via links and curiosity that really annoyed me.
I have no wish to offend "loder" as he has always been very nice and helpful as opposed to a couple of his moderators, one of which accused Waalx, and myself by extension since I'm Admin and taking care of his forum, of ripping content from other games for use in Waalx Animals and Creatures. This is utter rubbish and would have been contested years ago, particularly since WAC has been in production since before 2008 when I found out about it.
The thing that really pissed me off is the other person who commented in the above mentioned topic is someone with whom I had a disagreement late last year and has changed all her user and profile names, at least at MR where it's allowed by the user. Change your user name if you like, but you're still the same person underneath. At the time of the (one sided) disagreement and since I'm not good enough to confront except by rapidly removing the forum and blog from view, along with my access and friend adds on other forums, without even having the fortitude to confront me speaks volumes. All within a couple of hours or less.
This is her new forum and the post on the main page which really made me angry.
http://gehenna.yuku.com/topic/19/Moderators#.TwoEJvLZ4mw
And the post in case it's deleted which wouldn't surpise me.
"Moderators
There are two sides to every story and normally I wouldn't do what I'm doing now and bitching about it publicly, however the truth is a little twisted here. The basis of the reason for "telling" her off was because certain things finally came to a head. Telling me how to behave morally in my private life, in the private forum area in particular, which happened more than once. Your post which came after mine about that stupid "Just Google It" message, and that I found it amusing if used in a non offensive way was over the top and the final straw. There was the strong hint and assumption that people would play a cruel joke on someone using it and I have in fact seen it happen. However, the way it was worded like the other moral lessons I've put up with, was very easily interpreted as being directed at me.
I freely admit to responding in an angry manner and wasn't surprised about the resulting defensive action. However I don't regret it as I did not swear or use offending language and spoke the harsh truth even though it broke forum rules. I won't be accused of unnecessary cruelty or causing embarrassment to others for the sake of it, and as anyone who knows me will testify it's something I am dead against. Nor was I willing to put up with the fundamentalist religion based, moral judgements any longer. I agreed with many things that we talked about, but telling me how to live and what to believe just got to be more than I could take. That post was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
The basic problem had absolutely nothing to do with forum issues. It was just unfortunate that that was the catalyst and place it happened. After being a forum member/moderator and so called friend since 2008 this is how I was treated after one so called infraction. I was NOT banned or confronted, but cut off in a cowardly manner.
Trust is earned. Don't mislead others because of your incapacity to assert yourself up front rather than indirectly and with little digs and jabs in private discussion. That's all I have to say.
I dropped in there (Mods Reloaded) today because I haven't been there in awhile and to see if there was anything of interest in the forums. I found a topic made by a user that says he will take all the "best" adult and non adult mods from the Nexus and re-upload them. A post was made by another user who said it was unwise and she wouldn't like it if it were her files. The OP responded by saying if anyone complained they could remove the files...after the fact. Not good enough.
"loder" who is the site Admin as mentioned above responded by saying permission must be sought beforehand and there were no further responses except mine.
Now onto that response of mine. I am most likely getting myself banned from there and if that's the case so be it. I don't have time for drama, but I saw something via links and curiosity that really annoyed me.
I have no wish to offend "loder" as he has always been very nice and helpful as opposed to a couple of his moderators, one of which accused Waalx, and myself by extension since I'm Admin and taking care of his forum, of ripping content from other games for use in Waalx Animals and Creatures. This is utter rubbish and would have been contested years ago, particularly since WAC has been in production since before 2008 when I found out about it.
The thing that really pissed me off is the other person who commented in the above mentioned topic is someone with whom I had a disagreement late last year and has changed all her user and profile names, at least at MR where it's allowed by the user. Change your user name if you like, but you're still the same person underneath. At the time of the (one sided) disagreement and since I'm not good enough to confront except by rapidly removing the forum and blog from view, along with my access and friend adds on other forums, without even having the fortitude to confront me speaks volumes. All within a couple of hours or less.
This is her new forum and the post on the main page which really made me angry.
http://gehenna.yuku.com/topic/19/Moderators#.TwoEJvLZ4mw
And the post in case it's deleted which wouldn't surpise me.
"Moderators
Other than myself, there are no moderators/administrators for
this forum. After my last moderator felt it was okay to tell me off on
my own forum for saying a certain thing should be more carefully
considered before posting, I no longer trust the judgement of others.
Please do not ask to become a moderator here. You will be refused. Thank
you.
I hope I don't need to remind people that yes, I can tell others how to behave in areas that are mine and I can ban them if they refuse to behave themselves. It's no different than showing an unruly guest to the door. Just because you or I may be in the United States, there's no "free speech" on privately owned sites any more than one can cry about free speech in a private residence. If you have something to say you are free to open your own site, forum or blog and say it there."
I hope I don't need to remind people that yes, I can tell others how to behave in areas that are mine and I can ban them if they refuse to behave themselves. It's no different than showing an unruly guest to the door. Just because you or I may be in the United States, there's no "free speech" on privately owned sites any more than one can cry about free speech in a private residence. If you have something to say you are free to open your own site, forum or blog and say it there."
There are two sides to every story and normally I wouldn't do what I'm doing now and bitching about it publicly, however the truth is a little twisted here. The basis of the reason for "telling" her off was because certain things finally came to a head. Telling me how to behave morally in my private life, in the private forum area in particular, which happened more than once. Your post which came after mine about that stupid "Just Google It" message, and that I found it amusing if used in a non offensive way was over the top and the final straw. There was the strong hint and assumption that people would play a cruel joke on someone using it and I have in fact seen it happen. However, the way it was worded like the other moral lessons I've put up with, was very easily interpreted as being directed at me.
I freely admit to responding in an angry manner and wasn't surprised about the resulting defensive action. However I don't regret it as I did not swear or use offending language and spoke the harsh truth even though it broke forum rules. I won't be accused of unnecessary cruelty or causing embarrassment to others for the sake of it, and as anyone who knows me will testify it's something I am dead against. Nor was I willing to put up with the fundamentalist religion based, moral judgements any longer. I agreed with many things that we talked about, but telling me how to live and what to believe just got to be more than I could take. That post was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
The basic problem had absolutely nothing to do with forum issues. It was just unfortunate that that was the catalyst and place it happened. After being a forum member/moderator and so called friend since 2008 this is how I was treated after one so called infraction. I was NOT banned or confronted, but cut off in a cowardly manner.
Trust is earned. Don't mislead others because of your incapacity to assert yourself up front rather than indirectly and with little digs and jabs in private discussion. That's all I have to say.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Happy Birthday To Me
Well world, today is my birthday and there goes another year. Since I'm the only one who is going to say it...Happy Birthday to me and everyone else having a birthday today.
I stayed in bed for most of the day as it wasn't worth getting up so I'm typing this at 4PM. I was going to write a "feel sorry for myself" heap of crap about friends and family, but it's not really worth the effort. Plus, I'm not into bagging specific people out or naming them for sport, and no-one would know or care who they are anyway, except for maybe a few who could see their own reflections here, so I'll just write in general terms.
All I'm going to say is this year I've decided to never again put up with family and so called friends who are self serving, only happy when they make other people miserable and like to play the victim when they have done something wrong....and know it. There are always two sides to a story, or conflict and I'm sick to death of being the one who bears the brunt of other people's insecurities and selfish attitudes. I have enough of my own problems without taking the blame for stupid things others do because they can't look at themselves and see they cause most of their own problems. I'm not immune to that either by the way.
I'm not saying I'm perfect or above anyone by any means, but I will at least admit my faults and try to work through them. It's bloody hard to do that when certain people, family and friends, cut off all communication and avoid issues so they don't have to look too hard in the mirror.
Despite coming to this conclusion, (or revelation) and deciding to look out for myself for a change and stop trying to please others all the time, I can feel my depression sinking down on me like a heavy weight. The latter part of every year (partly due to past events) is always a hard time for me and I have to battle with myself to keep from doing anything drastic. I've been down the route of medication which hasn't worked and just masks it all behind a zombified fog, talked to psychologists and all the other suggested solutions and except for an extreme low time around 10 years ago, I manage to keep it together enough to survive. I exist, that's about all I can say.
And then I still feel guilty for dwelling on my problems when there are so many others with worse things to contend with every day of their lives. I just want someone to care about me for a change and not what I can do for them and their issues. I don't think it's too much to ask.
Anyway, enough of that. Christmas is going to be the same so it will be whatever I make it. Much like today.
By the way I'm not looking for sympathy. It's just how things are.
I also decided to put off my birthday until next week when Skyrim is released so that will be my present to myself. I'm going to try and write an ongoing diary of my characters travels through the game for my own amusement and I'll post it on this blog for anyone who may be interested.
Have a good day fellow Scorpios.
I stayed in bed for most of the day as it wasn't worth getting up so I'm typing this at 4PM. I was going to write a "feel sorry for myself" heap of crap about friends and family, but it's not really worth the effort. Plus, I'm not into bagging specific people out or naming them for sport, and no-one would know or care who they are anyway, except for maybe a few who could see their own reflections here, so I'll just write in general terms.
All I'm going to say is this year I've decided to never again put up with family and so called friends who are self serving, only happy when they make other people miserable and like to play the victim when they have done something wrong....and know it. There are always two sides to a story, or conflict and I'm sick to death of being the one who bears the brunt of other people's insecurities and selfish attitudes. I have enough of my own problems without taking the blame for stupid things others do because they can't look at themselves and see they cause most of their own problems. I'm not immune to that either by the way.
I'm not saying I'm perfect or above anyone by any means, but I will at least admit my faults and try to work through them. It's bloody hard to do that when certain people, family and friends, cut off all communication and avoid issues so they don't have to look too hard in the mirror.
Despite coming to this conclusion, (or revelation) and deciding to look out for myself for a change and stop trying to please others all the time, I can feel my depression sinking down on me like a heavy weight. The latter part of every year (partly due to past events) is always a hard time for me and I have to battle with myself to keep from doing anything drastic. I've been down the route of medication which hasn't worked and just masks it all behind a zombified fog, talked to psychologists and all the other suggested solutions and except for an extreme low time around 10 years ago, I manage to keep it together enough to survive. I exist, that's about all I can say.
And then I still feel guilty for dwelling on my problems when there are so many others with worse things to contend with every day of their lives. I just want someone to care about me for a change and not what I can do for them and their issues. I don't think it's too much to ask.
Anyway, enough of that. Christmas is going to be the same so it will be whatever I make it. Much like today.
By the way I'm not looking for sympathy. It's just how things are.
I also decided to put off my birthday until next week when Skyrim is released so that will be my present to myself. I'm going to try and write an ongoing diary of my characters travels through the game for my own amusement and I'll post it on this blog for anyone who may be interested.
Have a good day fellow Scorpios.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
They Say Bad Things Come In Threes
As the title says. I just got over my hard dive issue and now my DVD drive has died, or so it seems.
The error messages in the Event Viewer say paging file errors and registry corruption because of other newly installed programs or drivers according to Microsoft's help pages which are next to useless. And I haven't done anything like that anyway since last week. I've spent all afternoon into the evening researching and tried every fix I can find including checking the cables, registry edits, uninstalling it and reinstalling and yet Windows doesn't see it and neither does the BIOS.
I was going through all my backup discs looking for a particular old file with no problems, until I plugged in my USB zip drive which has been fine itself. Then the next DVD I tried in the drive spun up but failed to be read and I had to stick a pin in the hole to get the drawer to open because nothing was working. All of the discs are fine as I went through them the other day getting ready to reinstall Oblivion which is now in limbo until I either get this one sorted or buy a new drive. At least they are cheap.
What ticks me off is I have two perfectly good Pioneer drives in a cupboard because they are IDE and my motherboard only has one IDE slot, therefore the current optical drive is SATA. My boot drive is using the IDE. The new HDD is SATA though, but I prefer to keep the older drive as the separate boot drive in case of another mishap where I might be without a PC altogether. That doesn't bear thinking about even for a week.
I never liked the SATA DVD drive anyway as it's slower than IDE takes ages to read a DVD and open and close. A minor thing but annoying. I might look into buying an IDE adaptor so I can use the other drives which were very expensive at the time I bought them and are just doing nothing.
Thankfully, even though I can't install anything else now I do have one game installed that I can play, and the only one that's got me enthralled at the moment which is Age of Conan if you hadn't guessed, but I'll have to do something about it ASAP as Skyrim is coming and I've also decided to get Deus Ex:Human Revolution.
Hopefully I don't have to reinstall windows again soon because I'll be up the proverbial creek without a paddle and funds are tight at the moment. I only did it last week after I got the new hard drive.
Whatever the third "mini" disaster is I hope it's not PC related. In all the years I've been using PC's I've never, ever had hardware failure so I guess I've been pretty lucky. I don't mind if my mouse gives up the ghost as I've got a new spare anyway and I got a new keyboard recently because half the letters were worn off from playing games. And the all important sprint key (Shift) was broken. XD.
The error messages in the Event Viewer say paging file errors and registry corruption because of other newly installed programs or drivers according to Microsoft's help pages which are next to useless. And I haven't done anything like that anyway since last week. I've spent all afternoon into the evening researching and tried every fix I can find including checking the cables, registry edits, uninstalling it and reinstalling and yet Windows doesn't see it and neither does the BIOS.
I was going through all my backup discs looking for a particular old file with no problems, until I plugged in my USB zip drive which has been fine itself. Then the next DVD I tried in the drive spun up but failed to be read and I had to stick a pin in the hole to get the drawer to open because nothing was working. All of the discs are fine as I went through them the other day getting ready to reinstall Oblivion which is now in limbo until I either get this one sorted or buy a new drive. At least they are cheap.
What ticks me off is I have two perfectly good Pioneer drives in a cupboard because they are IDE and my motherboard only has one IDE slot, therefore the current optical drive is SATA. My boot drive is using the IDE. The new HDD is SATA though, but I prefer to keep the older drive as the separate boot drive in case of another mishap where I might be without a PC altogether. That doesn't bear thinking about even for a week.
I never liked the SATA DVD drive anyway as it's slower than IDE takes ages to read a DVD and open and close. A minor thing but annoying. I might look into buying an IDE adaptor so I can use the other drives which were very expensive at the time I bought them and are just doing nothing.
Thankfully, even though I can't install anything else now I do have one game installed that I can play, and the only one that's got me enthralled at the moment which is Age of Conan if you hadn't guessed, but I'll have to do something about it ASAP as Skyrim is coming and I've also decided to get Deus Ex:Human Revolution.
Hopefully I don't have to reinstall windows again soon because I'll be up the proverbial creek without a paddle and funds are tight at the moment. I only did it last week after I got the new hard drive.
Whatever the third "mini" disaster is I hope it's not PC related. In all the years I've been using PC's I've never, ever had hardware failure so I guess I've been pretty lucky. I don't mind if my mouse gives up the ghost as I've got a new spare anyway and I got a new keyboard recently because half the letters were worn off from playing games. And the all important sprint key (Shift) was broken. XD.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Door to Door Sales People.....Pains In The Ass
OK....I've got a temper and a sarcastic streak and usually it's slow to boil, but when it does....watch out.
I do not suffer fools and I DO NOT suffer door to door sales people who compete with each other to get one to change their utilities companies...electricity, gas, phone etc.. I don't get these type of phone calls because I'm unlisted and it's against company policies....or I bloody well hope it is because anyone ringing me about the type of thing I'm about to describe won't know what hit them. And it won't just be the sound of the phone being slammed down in their ear.
A few months ago one of these sales people caught me at a bad time when I wasn't feeling so well and talked me into changing electricity companies for a pathetic extra discount that came to less than $50 spread over a year. I don't know why, but I must have agreed just to get rid of him because he wasn't going otherwise and I didn't feel up to my usual "Not interested. Go away," before he could launch into his speech.
We are billed on utilities quarterly by default, but other arrangements can be made like monthly, depending on the company. I elect to have my phone and internet billed on a monthly basis....it's not so much of a shock. Actually, I have a card that I use to pay it at the Post Office before the bill even comes which is handy.
Anyway, back to the electricity company.......luckily there was a 10 day cooling off period and I let them know I was staying with the supplier I'd been with for years and years and from whom I already get a discount. OK...that one was reasonably easily fixed and not too traumatic and annoying.
Last week another one turns up from a different company offering a measly, so called competitive discount and I don't know what else because I cut him off at the pass and told him to go away. I'm not interested. He was still talking as I shut my front door and trying to get me to open it again. He was one step away from having the police called to remove him when he gave up. Just because everyone else in my street is taking up the offer, which is utter rubbish by the way, doesn't mean I want it.
There must have been something suspect about this particular guy as my dog growled at him and she usually welcomes people, anyone in fact, with a big doggy grin, as long as I'm present and all is calm. Not that these people get inside my front door....Oh no....I'd never get rid of them. Much like certain youths who peddle their bicycles around and wear black and white. Come to think about it I haven't seen any of them for some time, but they are easy enough to discourage.....usually.
So, today tops the cake. I'm on my way out to an appointment, car and house keys in hand, closing and locking the front door to my house, and I see a guy with a clipboard heading up my driveway AND wearing the logo of a well known ELECTRICITY company on his jumper. He starts to talk and shows his ID, I say I'm on my way out, he ignores me and tries to go into his spiel, I say STOP I'm not interested I'm busy so go away, he continues and ignores me. By this time I'm fuming.
I don't swear (most times) or need to threaten to get my point across, but this guy really made my blood come to steaming point. He goes on with the "everyone in the street is changing over for an initial discount and you'll see the benefit if you'll listen." He totally ignored me and that I was going out, not interested and getting angrier and angrier. I wanted him off the property before I left which is why I didn't just jump in my car and storm off down the road. Not that he had a reason to come back and I did check his ID, but it's the principle.
Another thing that's really irritating is these people are all outsourced and don't speak English well enough to get their point across and don't know when to take no for an answer. I'm not having a go at people's ethnicity or language or anything else, but I can't often understand what they are saying, let alone agree in good faith to change my utility companies or anything else. I hate having to ask several times what a person said in a conversation I DON'T want to have, and I don't like being rude unless there's no other option.
To be fair I imagine they are told by their employers to push and push, or at least that's the impression I get because they just will not give up until the point of verbal violence or in some case I'd bet, physical violence is threatened. At least when they come to the door there's more chance of understanding them, but over the phone....that's frigging hopeless.
Next one who comes my way selling anything, trying to get me to switch companies, or anything else will feel the results of the frustration the last three caused me. It's still got me agitated and that happened a couple of hours ago. But then I did stay up until the early hours in Hyboria so I have self inflicted weariness and "got out of bed on the wrong side" syndrome.
Then again, I'm finding as I get older I have less tolerance and patience than I used to have for bullshit. Actually, it's a good thing most times as more and more I'm finding being a nice and civilized person gets you nowhere in this world. I just wish it hadn't taken so long...XD.
I do not suffer fools and I DO NOT suffer door to door sales people who compete with each other to get one to change their utilities companies...electricity, gas, phone etc.. I don't get these type of phone calls because I'm unlisted and it's against company policies....or I bloody well hope it is because anyone ringing me about the type of thing I'm about to describe won't know what hit them. And it won't just be the sound of the phone being slammed down in their ear.
A few months ago one of these sales people caught me at a bad time when I wasn't feeling so well and talked me into changing electricity companies for a pathetic extra discount that came to less than $50 spread over a year. I don't know why, but I must have agreed just to get rid of him because he wasn't going otherwise and I didn't feel up to my usual "Not interested. Go away," before he could launch into his speech.
We are billed on utilities quarterly by default, but other arrangements can be made like monthly, depending on the company. I elect to have my phone and internet billed on a monthly basis....it's not so much of a shock. Actually, I have a card that I use to pay it at the Post Office before the bill even comes which is handy.
Anyway, back to the electricity company.......luckily there was a 10 day cooling off period and I let them know I was staying with the supplier I'd been with for years and years and from whom I already get a discount. OK...that one was reasonably easily fixed and not too traumatic and annoying.
Last week another one turns up from a different company offering a measly, so called competitive discount and I don't know what else because I cut him off at the pass and told him to go away. I'm not interested. He was still talking as I shut my front door and trying to get me to open it again. He was one step away from having the police called to remove him when he gave up. Just because everyone else in my street is taking up the offer, which is utter rubbish by the way, doesn't mean I want it.
There must have been something suspect about this particular guy as my dog growled at him and she usually welcomes people, anyone in fact, with a big doggy grin, as long as I'm present and all is calm. Not that these people get inside my front door....Oh no....I'd never get rid of them. Much like certain youths who peddle their bicycles around and wear black and white. Come to think about it I haven't seen any of them for some time, but they are easy enough to discourage.....usually.
So, today tops the cake. I'm on my way out to an appointment, car and house keys in hand, closing and locking the front door to my house, and I see a guy with a clipboard heading up my driveway AND wearing the logo of a well known ELECTRICITY company on his jumper. He starts to talk and shows his ID, I say I'm on my way out, he ignores me and tries to go into his spiel, I say STOP I'm not interested I'm busy so go away, he continues and ignores me. By this time I'm fuming.
I don't swear (most times) or need to threaten to get my point across, but this guy really made my blood come to steaming point. He goes on with the "everyone in the street is changing over for an initial discount and you'll see the benefit if you'll listen." He totally ignored me and that I was going out, not interested and getting angrier and angrier. I wanted him off the property before I left which is why I didn't just jump in my car and storm off down the road. Not that he had a reason to come back and I did check his ID, but it's the principle.
Another thing that's really irritating is these people are all outsourced and don't speak English well enough to get their point across and don't know when to take no for an answer. I'm not having a go at people's ethnicity or language or anything else, but I can't often understand what they are saying, let alone agree in good faith to change my utility companies or anything else. I hate having to ask several times what a person said in a conversation I DON'T want to have, and I don't like being rude unless there's no other option.
To be fair I imagine they are told by their employers to push and push, or at least that's the impression I get because they just will not give up until the point of verbal violence or in some case I'd bet, physical violence is threatened. At least when they come to the door there's more chance of understanding them, but over the phone....that's frigging hopeless.
Next one who comes my way selling anything, trying to get me to switch companies, or anything else will feel the results of the frustration the last three caused me. It's still got me agitated and that happened a couple of hours ago. But then I did stay up until the early hours in Hyboria so I have self inflicted weariness and "got out of bed on the wrong side" syndrome.
Then again, I'm finding as I get older I have less tolerance and patience than I used to have for bullshit. Actually, it's a good thing most times as more and more I'm finding being a nice and civilized person gets you nowhere in this world. I just wish it hadn't taken so long...XD.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Live Exports - Sheep This Time
Sometimes I wish I lived in a bubble, isolated and away from other people where I didn't have to hear about the depravity and cruelty that seems to be increasing every day and in more depressing ways. I realize that in reality it's not increasing so much as being revealed and the secrecy behind it is being exposed. It just seems like there's more because as the population increases so the trash and dregs of society proliferates and grows.
This is about the recent expose of how live sheep from Australia are being treated at abattoirs in Turkey and here is an article outlining the basics is from a few hours previous to the time of this post.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/live-animal-export-outrage-horrendous-slaughter-of-cattle-20110818-1iz2i.html
I'm not going to write another long post about how I feel about this as I've already expressed my opinion here of the inhumanity and cruelty of certain cultures and their mistreatment of animals....and in fact their own people. I'm not going to add a video link either as I saw some of it on the news and it made me angry, sickened and depressed again that these people call themselves f*cking human. I couldn't watch all of it.
There's also a stranded transport ship sitting at Port Adelaide, South Australia (the state I live in) which has 67,000 sheep aboard and they've been there since last week in cramped, dark and unsatisfactory conditions. The ship is bound for Qatar and on the way many sheep are expected to die as have many already.
Interestingly, the RSPCA have been refused access to the ship to check the welfare of the animals, but people living in nearby suburbs have commented on the smell of excreta and death...since many have already died.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/stranded-live-sheep-to-be-offloaded-from-broken-down-export-ship/story-fn59niix-1226116876831
As it says in the article...even if the ship were to leave today it's hard to imagine a month or more of stifling heat in those conditions inside a floating steel coffin, and if the animal survives that, all it has to look forward to is a brutal slaughter by cruel methods.
You know what's as bad if not worse than this? The politicians from both major parties who voted NOT to stop Live Trade to these countries today in Parliament. Blood sucking, money grabbing poor excuses for human beings. I also have little to no sympathy for the farmers who are crying about loss of livelihood and know these practices exist. It's all tied up in politics and money.
Next election I would rather pay the fine than vote for any of these bastards or I'll vote for an Independent with no preferences to the major parties as I've done in past years. They are all lacking in conscience and democracy is a joke. Voting is compulsory here in case people were unaware.
Years ago the Govt closed down many abattoirs in this country and many people lost jobs, which of course flowed on to other industry. It's a job I wouldn't do under any circumstances, but if humans want to eat meat, someone has to and at least, one would hope, controls can be set in place and monitored here. By the way, I do eat meat when I can afford it, but I prefer mine to come from animals that have been humanely treated at least...even to their death.
It's been said that if Live Exports are banned here some other country will take up the slack. Good on them, and shame on them if they do knowing this shit happens...at least we can have a clear conscience...or we could hope.
I've seen people commenting in various places "but they are only sheep, who cares" and other less choice and despicable things, but there are always lowlifes and sickos that get off on this kind of thing. They are beneath contempt and don't even deserve acknowledgment or a reaction, and should be ignored and pitied....as hard as that is since there is so much scum floating in the human pond.
There's so much I could say on this subject, but it's given me another headache. Suffice to say at the moment I am supporting a protest group and as has been said before...the more I know about people the more I like animals. Except for a select few people I call friends, people can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.
I know the song is old but the lyrics are appropriate and I couldn't think of a newer song off the top of my head. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Neither is it humane.
Just remember it's not a great step up from animal cruelty to abuse of children which we already know is rife and a flourishing industry. Closing ones eyes doesn't make it go away.
This is about the recent expose of how live sheep from Australia are being treated at abattoirs in Turkey and here is an article outlining the basics is from a few hours previous to the time of this post.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/live-animal-export-outrage-horrendous-slaughter-of-cattle-20110818-1iz2i.html
I'm not going to write another long post about how I feel about this as I've already expressed my opinion here of the inhumanity and cruelty of certain cultures and their mistreatment of animals....and in fact their own people. I'm not going to add a video link either as I saw some of it on the news and it made me angry, sickened and depressed again that these people call themselves f*cking human. I couldn't watch all of it.
There's also a stranded transport ship sitting at Port Adelaide, South Australia (the state I live in) which has 67,000 sheep aboard and they've been there since last week in cramped, dark and unsatisfactory conditions. The ship is bound for Qatar and on the way many sheep are expected to die as have many already.
Interestingly, the RSPCA have been refused access to the ship to check the welfare of the animals, but people living in nearby suburbs have commented on the smell of excreta and death...since many have already died.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/stranded-live-sheep-to-be-offloaded-from-broken-down-export-ship/story-fn59niix-1226116876831
As it says in the article...even if the ship were to leave today it's hard to imagine a month or more of stifling heat in those conditions inside a floating steel coffin, and if the animal survives that, all it has to look forward to is a brutal slaughter by cruel methods.
You know what's as bad if not worse than this? The politicians from both major parties who voted NOT to stop Live Trade to these countries today in Parliament. Blood sucking, money grabbing poor excuses for human beings. I also have little to no sympathy for the farmers who are crying about loss of livelihood and know these practices exist. It's all tied up in politics and money.
Next election I would rather pay the fine than vote for any of these bastards or I'll vote for an Independent with no preferences to the major parties as I've done in past years. They are all lacking in conscience and democracy is a joke. Voting is compulsory here in case people were unaware.
Years ago the Govt closed down many abattoirs in this country and many people lost jobs, which of course flowed on to other industry. It's a job I wouldn't do under any circumstances, but if humans want to eat meat, someone has to and at least, one would hope, controls can be set in place and monitored here. By the way, I do eat meat when I can afford it, but I prefer mine to come from animals that have been humanely treated at least...even to their death.
It's been said that if Live Exports are banned here some other country will take up the slack. Good on them, and shame on them if they do knowing this shit happens...at least we can have a clear conscience...or we could hope.
I've seen people commenting in various places "but they are only sheep, who cares" and other less choice and despicable things, but there are always lowlifes and sickos that get off on this kind of thing. They are beneath contempt and don't even deserve acknowledgment or a reaction, and should be ignored and pitied....as hard as that is since there is so much scum floating in the human pond.
There's so much I could say on this subject, but it's given me another headache. Suffice to say at the moment I am supporting a protest group and as has been said before...the more I know about people the more I like animals. Except for a select few people I call friends, people can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.
I know the song is old but the lyrics are appropriate and I couldn't think of a newer song off the top of my head. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Neither is it humane.
Just remember it's not a great step up from animal cruelty to abuse of children which we already know is rife and a flourishing industry. Closing ones eyes doesn't make it go away.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
The Sickness of the Human Condition
My faith in mankind as a species, if I really ever had real faith or hope, is being eroded bit by bit, day by day every time I see or hear the News from around the world or just locally in my area. If it's not cruelty to animals, children and other adults, it's atrocities committed in the name of religion, or just because one race doesn't share the others belief in it's right to exist. Then there's the incessant greed and destructiveness of mankind, overuse of resources that can never be replaced and many other things that will ensure human race never becomes truly evolved as a whole.
The thing that prompted me to write this was something I saw on the News today about sadistic cruelty to a dog and the other day another article about a pony being driven into a river and beaten to death by teenagers.
“The world is beautiful, but has a disease called man”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I've had it said to me many years ago that I seem to care about animals before humans and back then it wasn't actually the case, but over the past ten or more years and probably longer it is an accurate description. It's not that I care MORE about animals, but that I care about all helpless and vulnerable beings, human or otherwise. This is a concept many people find hard to fathom or understand. On a personal level I most often find giving is better than receiving, whether it's my time or material things where possible of course.
I do have to say though that I don't have time or effort for people who refuse to try and help themselves, or for fools, but for people in genuine need I have a lot of empathy. Unfortunately, that can also lead to being taken advantage of as there's always someone who will exploit a situation and I'm not immune to this.
What I ask is how can mankind ever care about and nurture itself in a mature and positive way if it's underlying sickness continues to spread unchecked like an insidious cancer, exploiting and abusing wherever it can and destroying anything it touches without fear of consequence. Every human, no matter how kind or benevolent has a darkness inside whether one admits it or not. It's my belief that the "good" for want of a better word, have either better mechanisms for controlling desires, fear of guilt and discovery, or their brains are just correctly wired.
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” Albert Einstein
Sometimes I wish I'd never discovered or had access to the Internet as my own curiosity and willingness to communicate with people is often my worst enemy. It's too late now though as the Net is my main means of communication and information gathering, by my own choice of course and I would be lost without it. I don't read newspapers, or watch much TV and rarely listen to the radio except if I'm laying awake at night and can't sleep.
In my earlier years I was naive about a lot of things. I've come to believe in later years that it's not so much naivety as a safety mechanism. Due to past circumstances going back to childhood I tend to blot out of my memory anything that I don't want to think about and I focus on things I do and ignore the rest as if it doesn't exist. Not that it always works so well as memories have a way of surfacing and it has caused me problems with depression and extreme stress over the years, so I know it's faulty solution.
As far as I'm concerned mankind is heading for disaster at as rapid rate and the brakes are definitely off on a slippery slope. I've said elsewhere on this blog I'm an Atheist and it's my opinion many of the world's problems stem from religious "blindness," but if I believed in hell this would be it. It starts with lack of basic morality and more willingness to overstep the bounds of human and humane decency. I'm not stupid. I realize many of today's underlying problems in society have always existed in one form or another I don't think anyone can deny things are worsening in all spheres of society.
The following paragraphs are about a computer game that I play and enjoy called Oblivion and is only meant as an example to illustrate what I'm talking about. It has added content in the way of many, many mods that enhance the game in lots of varied ways including sex simulation mods that are I believe are very realistically animated. I personally have no use or necessity for SIM sex in a computer game. I don't role play to that extent as my game style is more adventure and quest orientated. Each to his or her own though. Nudity is natural (see the history of art etc) and so is sex if tastefully portrayed. I don't have anything against erotica.
This is where the problems start though. A couple of days ago I removed from this blog and elsewhere an Oblivion screen shot of mine that I had posted of my character wearing a particular outfit and I have also removed the mod from my game. The reason I mention this is because I have issues with the author and others like him who create other mods that humiliate women in the most disturbing ways possible. Having seen screen shots and references to these mods I imagine it doesn't stop at women being the subject of degradation. I've also seen dubious references on forums about children, but that would be well hidden by the sick individuals concerned.
What disturbs me and is related to the top portion of this post is the rapidly growing trend towards sickening mods specifically featuring bestiality using dogs and horses and in many other cases monsters from the game like ogres and zombies etc. Then there are the various rape mods, including pregnant women, extreme torture and other bizarre things like the Japanese Hentai mods.
Edit: I'm not going to name or link the site concerned as in my opinion this gives it attention it doesn't deserve and it's not the only one.
However, those inclined towards bestiality, rape, and other sick fantasy mods can find them using key words. I only came across it when I was looking for hair styles and found a 4Shared folder and then the site, where if one can stomach a lot of the content, many other hard to find mods, including game rips are linked.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...I don't give a crap if it's only pixels on a screen. When people use these mods and think it's fun for women to be shown being raped by monsters and tentacle creatures or sadistically tortured there's really something wrong. It's a sad indictment on their humanity or lack of it. Fantasies can spill over to the real world as we all know and many of the real world equivalents of these mods already exist and have since the dawn of man or not long after. And I don't mean the religious symbolism of Adam and Eve.
The point about a computer game and morality is considering the wider world this is a small gaming community and reflects the views of what I would say is not a small real world minority. The line between fantasy and doing is a fine one and these mods and practices are wrong on so many levels. It's not just this one game, but Oblivion can be made to look very realistic so is a perfect medium.
DISCLAIMER: This is not, and should not be used as a stepping stone or platform for soapboxes against video games in general which annoys me no end especially when the legislators or protestors have never even played one let alone know what they are talking about. Just to be clear...The game Oblivion (and it's developers) is not at fault here either. It is about morality in the general sense and I used this as an example. After all movies, books music and other media are also mediums of entertainment.
I don't believe in censorship, but when it comes to what I've described above sometimes I have to wonder. What should happen is self censorship and realizing within oneself what's right and what's just very wrong in peoples minds and with certain parts of society and being able to recognize when the lines are crossed. Censorship should never be imposed by governing bodies. Years ago I used to say people should be free to do as they want do as long as it doesn't hurt other people, children or animals by coercion or force and is not inflicted on an unwilling audience. I still believe in that freedom, but the statement needs more definition as to who is being hurt and who isn't.
“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Albert Einstein
The thing that prompted me to write this was something I saw on the News today about sadistic cruelty to a dog and the other day another article about a pony being driven into a river and beaten to death by teenagers.
“The world is beautiful, but has a disease called man”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I've had it said to me many years ago that I seem to care about animals before humans and back then it wasn't actually the case, but over the past ten or more years and probably longer it is an accurate description. It's not that I care MORE about animals, but that I care about all helpless and vulnerable beings, human or otherwise. This is a concept many people find hard to fathom or understand. On a personal level I most often find giving is better than receiving, whether it's my time or material things where possible of course.
I do have to say though that I don't have time or effort for people who refuse to try and help themselves, or for fools, but for people in genuine need I have a lot of empathy. Unfortunately, that can also lead to being taken advantage of as there's always someone who will exploit a situation and I'm not immune to this.
What I ask is how can mankind ever care about and nurture itself in a mature and positive way if it's underlying sickness continues to spread unchecked like an insidious cancer, exploiting and abusing wherever it can and destroying anything it touches without fear of consequence. Every human, no matter how kind or benevolent has a darkness inside whether one admits it or not. It's my belief that the "good" for want of a better word, have either better mechanisms for controlling desires, fear of guilt and discovery, or their brains are just correctly wired.
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” Albert Einstein
Sometimes I wish I'd never discovered or had access to the Internet as my own curiosity and willingness to communicate with people is often my worst enemy. It's too late now though as the Net is my main means of communication and information gathering, by my own choice of course and I would be lost without it. I don't read newspapers, or watch much TV and rarely listen to the radio except if I'm laying awake at night and can't sleep.
In my earlier years I was naive about a lot of things. I've come to believe in later years that it's not so much naivety as a safety mechanism. Due to past circumstances going back to childhood I tend to blot out of my memory anything that I don't want to think about and I focus on things I do and ignore the rest as if it doesn't exist. Not that it always works so well as memories have a way of surfacing and it has caused me problems with depression and extreme stress over the years, so I know it's faulty solution.
As far as I'm concerned mankind is heading for disaster at as rapid rate and the brakes are definitely off on a slippery slope. I've said elsewhere on this blog I'm an Atheist and it's my opinion many of the world's problems stem from religious "blindness," but if I believed in hell this would be it. It starts with lack of basic morality and more willingness to overstep the bounds of human and humane decency. I'm not stupid. I realize many of today's underlying problems in society have always existed in one form or another I don't think anyone can deny things are worsening in all spheres of society.
The following paragraphs are about a computer game that I play and enjoy called Oblivion and is only meant as an example to illustrate what I'm talking about. It has added content in the way of many, many mods that enhance the game in lots of varied ways including sex simulation mods that are I believe are very realistically animated. I personally have no use or necessity for SIM sex in a computer game. I don't role play to that extent as my game style is more adventure and quest orientated. Each to his or her own though. Nudity is natural (see the history of art etc) and so is sex if tastefully portrayed. I don't have anything against erotica.
This is where the problems start though. A couple of days ago I removed from this blog and elsewhere an Oblivion screen shot of mine that I had posted of my character wearing a particular outfit and I have also removed the mod from my game. The reason I mention this is because I have issues with the author and others like him who create other mods that humiliate women in the most disturbing ways possible. Having seen screen shots and references to these mods I imagine it doesn't stop at women being the subject of degradation. I've also seen dubious references on forums about children, but that would be well hidden by the sick individuals concerned.
What disturbs me and is related to the top portion of this post is the rapidly growing trend towards sickening mods specifically featuring bestiality using dogs and horses and in many other cases monsters from the game like ogres and zombies etc. Then there are the various rape mods, including pregnant women, extreme torture and other bizarre things like the Japanese Hentai mods.
Edit: I'm not going to name or link the site concerned as in my opinion this gives it attention it doesn't deserve and it's not the only one.
However, those inclined towards bestiality, rape, and other sick fantasy mods can find them using key words. I only came across it when I was looking for hair styles and found a 4Shared folder and then the site, where if one can stomach a lot of the content, many other hard to find mods, including game rips are linked.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...I don't give a crap if it's only pixels on a screen. When people use these mods and think it's fun for women to be shown being raped by monsters and tentacle creatures or sadistically tortured there's really something wrong. It's a sad indictment on their humanity or lack of it. Fantasies can spill over to the real world as we all know and many of the real world equivalents of these mods already exist and have since the dawn of man or not long after. And I don't mean the religious symbolism of Adam and Eve.
The point about a computer game and morality is considering the wider world this is a small gaming community and reflects the views of what I would say is not a small real world minority. The line between fantasy and doing is a fine one and these mods and practices are wrong on so many levels. It's not just this one game, but Oblivion can be made to look very realistic so is a perfect medium.
DISCLAIMER: This is not, and should not be used as a stepping stone or platform for soapboxes against video games in general which annoys me no end especially when the legislators or protestors have never even played one let alone know what they are talking about. Just to be clear...The game Oblivion (and it's developers) is not at fault here either. It is about morality in the general sense and I used this as an example. After all movies, books music and other media are also mediums of entertainment.
I don't believe in censorship, but when it comes to what I've described above sometimes I have to wonder. What should happen is self censorship and realizing within oneself what's right and what's just very wrong in peoples minds and with certain parts of society and being able to recognize when the lines are crossed. Censorship should never be imposed by governing bodies. Years ago I used to say people should be free to do as they want do as long as it doesn't hurt other people, children or animals by coercion or force and is not inflicted on an unwilling audience. I still believe in that freedom, but the statement needs more definition as to who is being hurt and who isn't.
“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Albert Einstein
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
GetUp! Sign the petition to ban live exports.
If you care about the welfare of the animals you eat before and as they are being slaughtered please sign the petition at GetUp - Action for Australia. I have and I will continue to add my support.
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/live-export/ban-live-export
At the time of this post 237,752 people have signed at GetUp which is pretty damn good for a population the size of ours.
EDIT...the numbers have skyrocketed since I signed. Perhaps because it's just been on the News again. Australia does care about human, animal and environmental rights despite the bullshit spouted by some areas of the media and people with vested interests in money and power.
The video of the investigation is also there for anyone with a strong stomach and wishes to view just what has caused this controversy in case the links I added before have expired. I've seen it once and tried to watch again so I don't forget about this abomination because it has to stop, but it makes my stomach churn when I see the first animal being jabbed knowing what's coming next. I can voice my opinions, sign petitions and donate a small amount of money to the RSPCA and Animals Australia to help, but I cannot watch that video again.
Just because these animals are raised for human consumption doesn't mean they should be tortured and subjected to the disgusting treatment as they have been in Indonesian abattoirs. To tell you the truth, I'm not surprised about this kind of behaviour in this and other similar countries, and I'll say again, it has to stop. If the Australian Government don't ban live exports permanently to all countries, the people who exposed this shocking, inhuman treatment will expose more cruelty, particularly regarding sheep sent to the Middle East. I'm sure certain there are people who don't want that to happen.
I've already had my say in a previous post here. My opinions haven't changed despite that the Indonesians say they are shocked by this as well, which I find hard to believe. How is it no-one in a country known to have little to no human(e) rights, let alone animal rights, know this was happening and not move to stop it or at least expose it. Then again, corruption is a thriving business in many countries. Money talks and when it does people listen. And let's not forget threats of reprisal and fear of their own authorities, and I dare say, each other.
The Australian Government and Cattleman's Association are as much to blame as it seems they knew this has been happening for up to 10 years and haven't done anything to stop it, so the Indonesians aren't totally to blame for their ignorance and cruelty. Many abattoirs were closed here in Australia over past years, and jobs lost so our livestock can be sent overseas to be maimed and tortured. Another wonderful example of money talks and gutless action.
Animals feel fear and in the above case stark terror, with good reason, and anyone who condones this is undeserving of being called human. Perhaps other countries who export livestock should look into what happens to their animals and whether they care.
I will be following this situation and adding my support. Voices can be heard, not only about this, but any injustice, at least here in Australia where we have freedom to speak out.
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/live-export/ban-live-export
At the time of this post 237,752 people have signed at GetUp which is pretty damn good for a population the size of ours.
The video of the investigation is also there for anyone with a strong stomach and wishes to view just what has caused this controversy in case the links I added before have expired. I've seen it once and tried to watch again so I don't forget about this abomination because it has to stop, but it makes my stomach churn when I see the first animal being jabbed knowing what's coming next. I can voice my opinions, sign petitions and donate a small amount of money to the RSPCA and Animals Australia to help, but I cannot watch that video again.
Just because these animals are raised for human consumption doesn't mean they should be tortured and subjected to the disgusting treatment as they have been in Indonesian abattoirs. To tell you the truth, I'm not surprised about this kind of behaviour in this and other similar countries, and I'll say again, it has to stop. If the Australian Government don't ban live exports permanently to all countries, the people who exposed this shocking, inhuman treatment will expose more cruelty, particularly regarding sheep sent to the Middle East. I'm sure certain there are people who don't want that to happen.
I've already had my say in a previous post here. My opinions haven't changed despite that the Indonesians say they are shocked by this as well, which I find hard to believe. How is it no-one in a country known to have little to no human(e) rights, let alone animal rights, know this was happening and not move to stop it or at least expose it. Then again, corruption is a thriving business in many countries. Money talks and when it does people listen. And let's not forget threats of reprisal and fear of their own authorities, and I dare say, each other.
The Australian Government and Cattleman's Association are as much to blame as it seems they knew this has been happening for up to 10 years and haven't done anything to stop it, so the Indonesians aren't totally to blame for their ignorance and cruelty. Many abattoirs were closed here in Australia over past years, and jobs lost so our livestock can be sent overseas to be maimed and tortured. Another wonderful example of money talks and gutless action.
Animals feel fear and in the above case stark terror, with good reason, and anyone who condones this is undeserving of being called human. Perhaps other countries who export livestock should look into what happens to their animals and whether they care.
I will be following this situation and adding my support. Voices can be heard, not only about this, but any injustice, at least here in Australia where we have freedom to speak out.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Humans or Subhumans - Re Live Cattle Exports to Indonesia
As the title says....and I know what my opinion is. This just makes me so angry, disgusted and disappointed in humanity.....all over again. I also make absolutely no apology for my opinions expressed here.
After just seeing a graphic video on the news an hour ago about what's happening to live cattle exported from Australia to Indonesia, I can't help feeling a lot less respect for the human race than I have had in recent times. Which isn't much, I can tell you.
I'm by no means saying this sort of thing doesn't happen in my own country because it does, by individuals mainly, not abattoir workers, and not on this kind of scale unless we just don't hear about it. That wouldn't surprise me as some of the cattle farmers interviewed are more worried about their livelihood than the cattle they send to be tortured. The Govt covers up things the public don't need to hear until it's too late, like importing beef from Argentina that has been exposed to Mad Cow's Disease. Why do we even need to import beef when we have our own industry? I know, I know, because the best goes out of the country to bring money in. Duh!
Then there's the battery chicken industry, and the way pigs and other livestock are farmed. Genetically altered crops and irradiated food, things that will eventually come back to bite the human race. Human greed just never stops. How about more humans in overpopulated areas practice birth control? The trouble is people in poor overpopulated countries aren't being fed and are starving while the rest of the world wastes, wastes and wastes yet wants more and more. It just goes on and on, but that's another story than what I started with.
There are hunters who do the same to kangaroos and other animals as is happening to these cattle, and others (teenagers) who do things like cut off a two month old puppies' ears, front paws and tail leaving it to die, setting kittens alight in a public mall, restraining a cat in the boot of a car connected to a battery so it gets severe electric shocks (adult perpetrator,) and other terrible things. And these are just recent, over the past year or so and were discovered. Both the puppy and cat were rescued and fortunately have been re-homed.
I just can't find a word to describe how low and base this kind of thing is. People who do these things are just a step away from doing it to children and other people if they don't already.. The saddest thing is it's often teenagers or younger kids who are the cruelest, but not always.
This is a news article dated May 30th related to the cattle exports.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/slaughter-suspended-over-indonesian-cattle-cruelty-20110527-1f8ci.html
Frankly I don't know how the people involved working in those abattoirs, and others I very much expect, call them selves anything but disgusting, subhumans and deserving of the same treatment they gave those animals. But that would never happen would it because some of us are civilized humans and try to behave like it.
This is not ignorance. It's deliberate, sadistic cruelty.
I fully realize these cattle were sent for slaughter to feed humans, but this blatant cruelty should be seen as horrific to any sane thinking person. However, knowing a bit about human nature and being exposed to the opinions of this kind of scum on the Internet leads me to think otherwise in a LOT of cases.
Poking live cattle in the eyes with blades, kicking them in the head multiple times, sawing their throats with blades over long periods instead of using the proper methods, dismembering them while alive....and more... all while the beasts are alive and conscious. Is this acceptable?
If there are people who don't find this unacceptable there is something very, very wrong. This isn't just over reaction. This is wrong on so many levels. There was huge controversy a number of years ago and is probably still happening regarding live sheep exports from here to Saudi Arabia where sheep were practically boiled to death in the holds of transport ships during the hottest months without any care at all. No feed, no water. Then they were often rejected by the recipient because of the poor quality on arrival and sent back or just died. What is it with people that they behave this way?
These are links to the actual video footage and I believe it needs to be seen by all right thinking people so these types of things can be stopped. This is the main reason I'm linking them.
I won't embed them from Youtube, if they are there, or other sources. They show torture and targeted cruelty and are just too horrific. This is the Four Corners expose with video links. Click "iview" or the ABC link at the bottom and the videos are there. I warned you so be prepared, and I would make sure children DO NOT see these images.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3228880.htm
Or here. The video link at the top left of the page which may expire as stories change.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/
I said elsewhere on this blog that I wouldn't disrespect anyone's religion and I'm not starting now with any specific one....
BUT, I just bet this human scum and others like them all over the world perpetrating acts like this on animals, children and other adults every day, go to their churches every week or however they practice, and pray to their benevolent God believing they are good and humane, well behaved citizens. Such hypocrisy makes me sick, and there's no explanation that could possibly justify it to me.
The human race is devolving morally at a smart pace and the good will never inherit the earth while the balance is so tipped in the opposite direction. We might be getting smarter, but at the other end of the scale we are a very flawed and damaged race, generally speaking. I'm glad I won't be around to see the future, if there is a liveable one, unless there's some monumentally drastic change.
There's so much I would like to discuss and talk about on all these subjects but I'll leave it for now. Besides, I only have myself and my dog to talk to so .........this is why the blog exists.
After just seeing a graphic video on the news an hour ago about what's happening to live cattle exported from Australia to Indonesia, I can't help feeling a lot less respect for the human race than I have had in recent times. Which isn't much, I can tell you.
I'm by no means saying this sort of thing doesn't happen in my own country because it does, by individuals mainly, not abattoir workers, and not on this kind of scale unless we just don't hear about it. That wouldn't surprise me as some of the cattle farmers interviewed are more worried about their livelihood than the cattle they send to be tortured. The Govt covers up things the public don't need to hear until it's too late, like importing beef from Argentina that has been exposed to Mad Cow's Disease. Why do we even need to import beef when we have our own industry? I know, I know, because the best goes out of the country to bring money in. Duh!
Then there's the battery chicken industry, and the way pigs and other livestock are farmed. Genetically altered crops and irradiated food, things that will eventually come back to bite the human race. Human greed just never stops. How about more humans in overpopulated areas practice birth control? The trouble is people in poor overpopulated countries aren't being fed and are starving while the rest of the world wastes, wastes and wastes yet wants more and more. It just goes on and on, but that's another story than what I started with.
There are hunters who do the same to kangaroos and other animals as is happening to these cattle, and others (teenagers) who do things like cut off a two month old puppies' ears, front paws and tail leaving it to die, setting kittens alight in a public mall, restraining a cat in the boot of a car connected to a battery so it gets severe electric shocks (adult perpetrator,) and other terrible things. And these are just recent, over the past year or so and were discovered. Both the puppy and cat were rescued and fortunately have been re-homed.
I just can't find a word to describe how low and base this kind of thing is. People who do these things are just a step away from doing it to children and other people if they don't already.. The saddest thing is it's often teenagers or younger kids who are the cruelest, but not always.
This is a news article dated May 30th related to the cattle exports.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/slaughter-suspended-over-indonesian-cattle-cruelty-20110527-1f8ci.html
Frankly I don't know how the people involved working in those abattoirs, and others I very much expect, call them selves anything but disgusting, subhumans and deserving of the same treatment they gave those animals. But that would never happen would it because some of us are civilized humans and try to behave like it.
This is not ignorance. It's deliberate, sadistic cruelty.
I fully realize these cattle were sent for slaughter to feed humans, but this blatant cruelty should be seen as horrific to any sane thinking person. However, knowing a bit about human nature and being exposed to the opinions of this kind of scum on the Internet leads me to think otherwise in a LOT of cases.
Poking live cattle in the eyes with blades, kicking them in the head multiple times, sawing their throats with blades over long periods instead of using the proper methods, dismembering them while alive....and more... all while the beasts are alive and conscious. Is this acceptable?
If there are people who don't find this unacceptable there is something very, very wrong. This isn't just over reaction. This is wrong on so many levels. There was huge controversy a number of years ago and is probably still happening regarding live sheep exports from here to Saudi Arabia where sheep were practically boiled to death in the holds of transport ships during the hottest months without any care at all. No feed, no water. Then they were often rejected by the recipient because of the poor quality on arrival and sent back or just died. What is it with people that they behave this way?
These are links to the actual video footage and I believe it needs to be seen by all right thinking people so these types of things can be stopped. This is the main reason I'm linking them.
I won't embed them from Youtube, if they are there, or other sources. They show torture and targeted cruelty and are just too horrific. This is the Four Corners expose with video links. Click "iview" or the ABC link at the bottom and the videos are there. I warned you so be prepared, and I would make sure children DO NOT see these images.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3228880.htm
Or here. The video link at the top left of the page which may expire as stories change.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/
I said elsewhere on this blog that I wouldn't disrespect anyone's religion and I'm not starting now with any specific one....
BUT, I just bet this human scum and others like them all over the world perpetrating acts like this on animals, children and other adults every day, go to their churches every week or however they practice, and pray to their benevolent God believing they are good and humane, well behaved citizens. Such hypocrisy makes me sick, and there's no explanation that could possibly justify it to me.
The human race is devolving morally at a smart pace and the good will never inherit the earth while the balance is so tipped in the opposite direction. We might be getting smarter, but at the other end of the scale we are a very flawed and damaged race, generally speaking. I'm glad I won't be around to see the future, if there is a liveable one, unless there's some monumentally drastic change.
There's so much I would like to discuss and talk about on all these subjects but I'll leave it for now. Besides, I only have myself and my dog to talk to so .........this is why the blog exists.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Cars and Other Things
Sometimes I wonder if it's worth having a car. With the high yearly Registration Fees, Insurance, fuel, maintenance and many other costs, it's a money pit. Never owned a house and I don't have kids, but a car has to come high on the list of high cost items especially when the warranty runs out.
My current car belonged to my mother and when she passed several years ago, it was left to me. I have to say though it has been very good and the only real costs have been a couple of new batteries, exhaust system replacement and the usual things. Nothing major until recently.
The problem with this car is it has an anti theft system (not an alarm) which has a remote engine immobiliser and was fitted to the car by a previous owner, before my mother purchased it. The only info on it comes in the form of a card saying how to arm and disarm it and how to start the car if the keys are lost with an Emergency Override Button. (Note this bit in bold.)
This hasn't given me too many problems until the last eight months or so when it started not allowing me start the car as though the remote (I also have a spare) isn't turning off the system. Sometimes it will start and others it won't. I even bought a new battery a few months back because I thought it was part of the problem and in fact if I keep trying to start the damn thing it does run the risk of flattening the battery. I had the ignition checked and the starter motor and there's nothing wrong with them.
The Auto Electrician I took it to says he's sure it's the immobiliser, but I should be able to start it with the Override Button which is supposedly hidden under the dash somewhere so one can hold the switch in and start the car at the same time. I've been all over it with a fine tooth comb and cannot find a button, switch or any other kind of device that didn't come with the original wiring according to the car manual.
There isn't one, and on the little card it says it's optional. Who in their right mind would have an "optional" override in case you can't get your own car started in an emergency or just for normal use.
Since the company who made it seems to have gone out of business and I can't find a shred of info on the type of anti theft system I have, AND that the electrician said it would be expensive to remove, I'm up the creek without a paddle. So, now I'm unable to get out of the house except by taxi, which costs a fortune, so that will only be on grocery shopping day once a fortnight. There's no bus service anywhere near me and I have no family (except in name only, but that's another story), my neighbours are a frail old man and a violent, scary guy and neither of them have a vehicle anyway.
This post started about my car, but it's just one more step in the downward depressive spiral that's always been my life. Just now, and primarily for other reasons obviously than just the car, I'm finding it hard to care about anything.
I know there are worse things happening in the world besides my problems and knowing that doesn't help, but it's dark in here just now.
I found this quote, (among others), on a website that fits me exactly.
"A strong girl keeps her stuff in line and with tears running she still manages to spit the simple words, "I'm Fine."
That's me. Outside always the strong one, inside fading away a bit more each day. I've been down further than I am now and clawed my way out of the hole to some kind of fake normality, but then I had reason to. Now, I don't know what each day has in store or how I'll feel when I wake up. I do know I'm sick of being the one who does all the giving and getting nothing back. I just wish someone would care about me for a change. I've tried not being so accommodating and "nice' but it's just not me, and so the circle continues.
If you've ever been depressed you'll understand and I empathize with you.
If you haven't experienced true clinical depression and think it's all in the mind as I know a lot of people do, well you're right, it is, clinically not imaginary, but it's not something that's just cured by a couple of aspirin and a cup of tea. Until people have experienced it and know how crippling it can be, no-one can say it's imaginary.
I'm only saying that because I know of people who think that way. They should hope they never have to go through it because it can happen to anyone at any time.
My current car belonged to my mother and when she passed several years ago, it was left to me. I have to say though it has been very good and the only real costs have been a couple of new batteries, exhaust system replacement and the usual things. Nothing major until recently.
The problem with this car is it has an anti theft system (not an alarm) which has a remote engine immobiliser and was fitted to the car by a previous owner, before my mother purchased it. The only info on it comes in the form of a card saying how to arm and disarm it and how to start the car if the keys are lost with an Emergency Override Button. (Note this bit in bold.)
This hasn't given me too many problems until the last eight months or so when it started not allowing me start the car as though the remote (I also have a spare) isn't turning off the system. Sometimes it will start and others it won't. I even bought a new battery a few months back because I thought it was part of the problem and in fact if I keep trying to start the damn thing it does run the risk of flattening the battery. I had the ignition checked and the starter motor and there's nothing wrong with them.
The Auto Electrician I took it to says he's sure it's the immobiliser, but I should be able to start it with the Override Button which is supposedly hidden under the dash somewhere so one can hold the switch in and start the car at the same time. I've been all over it with a fine tooth comb and cannot find a button, switch or any other kind of device that didn't come with the original wiring according to the car manual.
There isn't one, and on the little card it says it's optional. Who in their right mind would have an "optional" override in case you can't get your own car started in an emergency or just for normal use.
Since the company who made it seems to have gone out of business and I can't find a shred of info on the type of anti theft system I have, AND that the electrician said it would be expensive to remove, I'm up the creek without a paddle. So, now I'm unable to get out of the house except by taxi, which costs a fortune, so that will only be on grocery shopping day once a fortnight. There's no bus service anywhere near me and I have no family (except in name only, but that's another story), my neighbours are a frail old man and a violent, scary guy and neither of them have a vehicle anyway.
This post started about my car, but it's just one more step in the downward depressive spiral that's always been my life. Just now, and primarily for other reasons obviously than just the car, I'm finding it hard to care about anything.
I know there are worse things happening in the world besides my problems and knowing that doesn't help, but it's dark in here just now.
I found this quote, (among others), on a website that fits me exactly.
"A strong girl keeps her stuff in line and with tears running she still manages to spit the simple words, "I'm Fine."
That's me. Outside always the strong one, inside fading away a bit more each day. I've been down further than I am now and clawed my way out of the hole to some kind of fake normality, but then I had reason to. Now, I don't know what each day has in store or how I'll feel when I wake up. I do know I'm sick of being the one who does all the giving and getting nothing back. I just wish someone would care about me for a change. I've tried not being so accommodating and "nice' but it's just not me, and so the circle continues.
If you've ever been depressed you'll understand and I empathize with you.
If you haven't experienced true clinical depression and think it's all in the mind as I know a lot of people do, well you're right, it is, clinically not imaginary, but it's not something that's just cured by a couple of aspirin and a cup of tea. Until people have experienced it and know how crippling it can be, no-one can say it's imaginary.
I'm only saying that because I know of people who think that way. They should hope they never have to go through it because it can happen to anyone at any time.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
My Favourite Smiley Site is (was) Gone
Best Smileys, my favourite site for emoticons and smileys has gone. Hopefully not permanently as the domain is up for renewal, but it has been since the 8th of this month. I\'ll leave the link in the sidebar for the time being in hopes it will return.
For all I know this has happened before as I don't frequent the site that often, but it's always been there until now. Everything costs these days so maybe its a consequence of economics.
I love smileys and emoticons..."sob" and they were some of the best with a large variety. Oh, well I guess I search for another site.
UPDATE: WooHoo! They're back. I never did learn patience and wait until something happens.
I still can't add them as a link but I can save them an upload as an image. To be clear it says on the site this is OK.
For all I know this has happened before as I don't frequent the site that often, but it's always been there until now. Everything costs these days so maybe its a consequence of economics.
I love smileys and emoticons..."sob" and they were some of the best with a large variety. Oh, well I guess I search for another site.
UPDATE: WooHoo! They're back. I never did learn patience and wait until something happens.
I still can't add them as a link but I can save them an upload as an image. To be clear it says on the site this is OK.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Eyestrain
This is the fifth day without my LCD monitor. "groan"
I'm getting eyestrain from the glare on the old CRT monitor screen as well as the low resolution and awful colours. The worst thing is today is quite hot for April and the old monitor overheats and I have to turn it off periodically so it doesn't die as well. Tomorrow and the next week it's supposed to be cool and raining so hopefully I can nurse it along until I get the LCD back.
I've been playing a few old games as anything like Oblivion, Fallout or any other newer game looks like crap at such low resolution and I'm constantly concerned this monitor will take a big sigh and go into permanent retirement.
I'm getting eyestrain from the glare on the old CRT monitor screen as well as the low resolution and awful colours. The worst thing is today is quite hot for April and the old monitor overheats and I have to turn it off periodically so it doesn't die as well. Tomorrow and the next week it's supposed to be cool and raining so hopefully I can nurse it along until I get the LCD back.
I've been playing a few old games as anything like Oblivion, Fallout or any other newer game looks like crap at such low resolution and I'm constantly concerned this monitor will take a big sigh and go into permanent retirement.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Monitor R.I.P. Update
This isn't exactly a rant but it's an update to the previous dead monitor post.
This morning I was at the computer store at opening time, give or take 15 minutes with my beloved monitor in it's original box...sans receipt because I still can't find it.
Anyway, as I said before sometimes being something of a pessimist can bring nice surprises and there was no debate about proving my purchase etc and I should either have a replacement or a repairs done soon. Not as soon as I'd like, but at least it's happening.
Since I live in the country the monitor has to be sent to the city, (not sure which State though since I didn't ask) and I'll possibly have it or a new one in something like 2 to 6 weeks. It may not be that long, but the sales person had to give me some kind of estimate because I asked. I think she just pulled that time frame out of her non existent hat, but is probably about right.
She also said that because monitors are considered low cost items it would be more likely I'll get a replacement rather than a repair job which will be nice.
So, I just hope old faithful, my old Mitsubishi Diamond View CRT monitor continues to function until then. The colours are awful, the display is slightly grainy and when it has to display a lot of dark colours it flickers briefly, but at least it works. I think the colours and graininess are normal, but just more noticeable now after being used to a digital LCD monitor for several years.
This morning I was at the computer store at opening time, give or take 15 minutes with my beloved monitor in it's original box...sans receipt because I still can't find it.
Anyway, as I said before sometimes being something of a pessimist can bring nice surprises and there was no debate about proving my purchase etc and I should either have a replacement or a repairs done soon. Not as soon as I'd like, but at least it's happening.
Since I live in the country the monitor has to be sent to the city, (not sure which State though since I didn't ask) and I'll possibly have it or a new one in something like 2 to 6 weeks. It may not be that long, but the sales person had to give me some kind of estimate because I asked. I think she just pulled that time frame out of her non existent hat, but is probably about right.
She also said that because monitors are considered low cost items it would be more likely I'll get a replacement rather than a repair job which will be nice.
So, I just hope old faithful, my old Mitsubishi Diamond View CRT monitor continues to function until then. The colours are awful, the display is slightly grainy and when it has to display a lot of dark colours it flickers briefly, but at least it works. I think the colours and graininess are normal, but just more noticeable now after being used to a digital LCD monitor for several years.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Dead Monitor R.I.P.
Well, today my beautiful LG 22" Flatron LCD monitor died. For the past fortnight or so Ive been having to leave it (and the computer) turned on, not just in standby, but on and working, because if I turned it off or even re-booted the computer there was a 99% chance it wouldn't come on again.
During that time I had to re-boot a few times, obviously due to installing something or updates, and with luck only had two incidents where the monitor wouldn't come on...no power light, no standby mode with the computer off...nothing. The last time it did start up was the last time I turned it off...nearly 3 weeks ago.
Until today! I had to re-boot after a program update and the monitor never came on again. All cables are OK etc, etc, etc. I "think" I heard a sound from the monitor as the computer re-booted, but I might have imagined it. Anyway, if there was one, it was the death rattle...
Thankfully, it's still under warranty, but I can't find the receipt. I have the receipts for everything else I've ever purchased and is still under warranty, except for the monitor. No idea where it is and I've searched in places it couldn't possibly be in as well as where it should be.
However, I do have the original packaging and docs etc and the people at the only computer store we have know me, so, hopefully, I can either get a replacement (don't like my chances) or have it repaired. They should have my purchase in their database if they keep records from 2 and 1/2years ago.
The question is...are they worth repairing?
I did some research when the first incident happened and it looks like there's probably a blown power capacitor(s) or a dead circuit board or whatever it's called in a monitor. This unit is completely sealed (no screws or any way to get inside it) so I don't know how it can be opened to repair it. Anyway, that's not my problem as long as something gets done...preferably ASAP.
At the moment I'm using my old 17" CRT monitor which surprised me when it worked straight away after 3 years sitting in my spare room. The old thing gave me 10 good years of perfect service and is now pulled out of retirement to work again. Just as well I kept it because I was going to take it to the electrician to be disposed of 3 years ago as it was playing up a bit in the summer heat, especially when it was humid. It's probably full of ten years of dust and the moisture from the humid weather stopped it from working properly until it warmed up...which is ironic since it was summer. In winter or when the weather is cooler the poor old thing works perfectly.
It's pretty hard on the eyes though getting used to a much smaller screen and resolution. Not to mention now having to scroll web pages horizontally as well as vertically, but at least it's better than nothing.
Anyway, tomorrow, being Monday, I guess I'll find out. I'll be at the shop at opening time with my monitor and warranty card and hoping that the old CRT keeps on going for awhile yet. A long while. I'm not in a position to buy a new monitor outright and that's unlikely to change for at least six months unless I have some stroke of luck.
If worst comes to worst I can at least keep in contact with people via the public library computers and Yahoo email, but my computer is my only source of entertainment for music, movies, games, and Internet so I'll go nuts without it.
During that time I had to re-boot a few times, obviously due to installing something or updates, and with luck only had two incidents where the monitor wouldn't come on...no power light, no standby mode with the computer off...nothing. The last time it did start up was the last time I turned it off...nearly 3 weeks ago.
Until today! I had to re-boot after a program update and the monitor never came on again. All cables are OK etc, etc, etc. I "think" I heard a sound from the monitor as the computer re-booted, but I might have imagined it. Anyway, if there was one, it was the death rattle...
Thankfully, it's still under warranty, but I can't find the receipt. I have the receipts for everything else I've ever purchased and is still under warranty, except for the monitor. No idea where it is and I've searched in places it couldn't possibly be in as well as where it should be.
However, I do have the original packaging and docs etc and the people at the only computer store we have know me, so, hopefully, I can either get a replacement (don't like my chances) or have it repaired. They should have my purchase in their database if they keep records from 2 and 1/2years ago.
The question is...are they worth repairing?
I did some research when the first incident happened and it looks like there's probably a blown power capacitor(s) or a dead circuit board or whatever it's called in a monitor. This unit is completely sealed (no screws or any way to get inside it) so I don't know how it can be opened to repair it. Anyway, that's not my problem as long as something gets done...preferably ASAP.
At the moment I'm using my old 17" CRT monitor which surprised me when it worked straight away after 3 years sitting in my spare room. The old thing gave me 10 good years of perfect service and is now pulled out of retirement to work again. Just as well I kept it because I was going to take it to the electrician to be disposed of 3 years ago as it was playing up a bit in the summer heat, especially when it was humid. It's probably full of ten years of dust and the moisture from the humid weather stopped it from working properly until it warmed up...which is ironic since it was summer. In winter or when the weather is cooler the poor old thing works perfectly.
It's pretty hard on the eyes though getting used to a much smaller screen and resolution. Not to mention now having to scroll web pages horizontally as well as vertically, but at least it's better than nothing.
Anyway, tomorrow, being Monday, I guess I'll find out. I'll be at the shop at opening time with my monitor and warranty card and hoping that the old CRT keeps on going for awhile yet. A long while. I'm not in a position to buy a new monitor outright and that's unlikely to change for at least six months unless I have some stroke of luck.
If worst comes to worst I can at least keep in contact with people via the public library computers and Yahoo email, but my computer is my only source of entertainment for music, movies, games, and Internet so I'll go nuts without it.
Monday, 28 March 2011
My Bloody Neighbours
I'm sitting here in front of my monitor trying not to have a fit of screaming. I live in a semi-detached house and my bloody neighbour is once again playing music so loud I can't hear myself think. I retaliate by turning my music up to try and drown his out or what I normally do when playing games or playing music,( because I try to be considerate), use headphones or ignore it which is getting very hard to do.
Thankfully for him it's presently mid afternoon, but this goes on in the early hours of the morning as well. Also, which is just as well for him, he seems to have a short attention span as this usually goes on for around an hour and then stops. Until next time of course. I suppose I should be grateful it's often music I like and not crap like rap or country.
Oh damn! I spoke too soon. He's playing Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Cyrus...cringe...
I have spoken to him, but he's very abusive, very big (more than 6 foot tall) and prone to hitting things, like walls, and he scares me. He's even threatened my dog and myself when he thought I couldn't hear. I've heard him hurl disgusting abuse at his mother when she visits him, so I'm not feeling particularly brave about confronting him.
I'm tempted to call the police next time I hear the screaming matches and door slamming, but I'm worried about retaliation which I'm sure would happen. I imagine his mother is used to it, but for the life of me I don't get why she puts up with it. Actually I do, as I have a family member very similar who drinks to excess and blames his problems on everything and everyone else, but he's not violent.
The neighbour on the other side who moved in a few months ago after the 93 year old lady who used to live there went to a nursing home, revs his wreck of a car at top volume and plays AC/DC which must be the only CD he has because its always the same songs. I'm often up playing a game or browsing the Net in the early hours when it should be quiet, but I've seen (and heard) him sitting in his car on the front lawn also playing this one tape or CD, yelling and cursing at who knows what.
He's a skinny little guy in his 70's or looks it anyway. I've only spoken to him once, not about the car and music though, and he told me all about his time in prison, how he gets violent and punches people out when he drinks and other stuff I didn't want to hear about. I'm not worried about him though as he looks like a strong puff of wind would blow him over as well as the fact he needs a walking frame to get around.
What's the price of a quiet life?
Thankfully for him it's presently mid afternoon, but this goes on in the early hours of the morning as well. Also, which is just as well for him, he seems to have a short attention span as this usually goes on for around an hour and then stops. Until next time of course. I suppose I should be grateful it's often music I like and not crap like rap or country.
Oh damn! I spoke too soon. He's playing Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Cyrus...cringe...
I have spoken to him, but he's very abusive, very big (more than 6 foot tall) and prone to hitting things, like walls, and he scares me. He's even threatened my dog and myself when he thought I couldn't hear. I've heard him hurl disgusting abuse at his mother when she visits him, so I'm not feeling particularly brave about confronting him.
I'm tempted to call the police next time I hear the screaming matches and door slamming, but I'm worried about retaliation which I'm sure would happen. I imagine his mother is used to it, but for the life of me I don't get why she puts up with it. Actually I do, as I have a family member very similar who drinks to excess and blames his problems on everything and everyone else, but he's not violent.
The neighbour on the other side who moved in a few months ago after the 93 year old lady who used to live there went to a nursing home, revs his wreck of a car at top volume and plays AC/DC which must be the only CD he has because its always the same songs. I'm often up playing a game or browsing the Net in the early hours when it should be quiet, but I've seen (and heard) him sitting in his car on the front lawn also playing this one tape or CD, yelling and cursing at who knows what.
He's a skinny little guy in his 70's or looks it anyway. I've only spoken to him once, not about the car and music though, and he told me all about his time in prison, how he gets violent and punches people out when he drinks and other stuff I didn't want to hear about. I'm not worried about him though as he looks like a strong puff of wind would blow him over as well as the fact he needs a walking frame to get around.
What's the price of a quiet life?
Gremlins in the Machine
I don't know what the heck is going on with my Oblivion game.
Earlier this year I removed the large overhaul mods I was using, ie FCOM being the main one, because I felt like a change and I also wanted to focus my game around Waalx Animals and Creatures which is not compatible with other overhauls. Plus, I was finding playing the game a chore more than a pleasure and got sick of the micro management, so I virtually put the game aside for nearly six months last year except for modding.
At that time, with FCOM, my game ran perfectly with no stutters, no black screens when loading textures or any other problems. I also had Qarl's Texture Pack Redimized as well as a couple of hundred other mods and texture replacers running on the highest settings including shadows etc. All of those together had the potential to cause problems with frame rates, stuttering and/or crashes, but I had none of those. Thank you Wrye for Bash!
Now, for some unknown reason I've had to resort to using an even lower version of Qarl's textures even though you can't really see much difference, turn down some settings and even try Game Booster which is a small program that turns off background processes while you play.
Otherwise, I get a black screen while the game loads a new area for sometimes almost 30 seconds if I fast travel, enter a building or go through any load door. It doesn't always happen which is more perplexing. The only mod I've recently added is Weather - All Natural, which I think is amazing, but these issues were happening before that and hasn't gotten any worse because of it.
I've done all the usual things like defragging my drives as well as game directories, stopped unnecessary programs loading with Windows ie Adobe Acrobat which is a huge memory hog and some others, made sure my graphics card is free of dust, etc, etc. I haven't upgraded video drivers because every other game, including Fallout 3:New Vegas runs perfectly fine and that is heavily modded as well. Playing with the Game Booster makes a big difference but shouldn't be necessary as my Oblivion game doesn't currently have anywhere near the script intensive and heavily overhauled mods anymore.
I'm getting to the severely pissed off stage with Oblivion again because I can't work out what's causing it and some of the little irritations I find with the game annoy me even more than usual. I did work out that one cause was using some clothing and armour mods with very high (unnecessarily so IMHO) textures, but they are rips which explains that little issue. Even having them in my inventory caused the game to slow down to 1 fps let alone equipping them which could take up to 30 seconds or more and then I was unable to move at all. So, I don't use them anymore.
The thought of re-installing the game and configuring it to my liking again gives me the shivers. I'm between a rock and a hard place because I cannot play vanilla under any circumstances and at the moment it's a pain the neck.
Personally, I don't see how it would make any difference to re-install. I know what I'm doing with mods and how to troubleshoot, remove and add them so if it came to having to re-install, other than if I have to re-install Windows for any reason, I don't know that I could be bothered with it. Mostly all I do these days is try new mods, take some screen shots and that's about it. Thankfully there are some awesome mods like WAC and Elsweyr the Deserts of Anequina which has some great quests.
Anyway, I will persevere for the time being and hope to find out what the cause of my problems are.
UPDATE: May 3rd 2011
Well I worked out most of my problems. Too many mods, specifically inactive ones which is a pain because I have different profiles for each character. They have different mod sets according to their history, so if I'm playing a particular character a lot of other mods will be inactive and the limit is around 300-400 including BSA's in the data folder.
Every character also has their own bashed Patch as well so that adds to the numbers. There's no way I'm going to remove all the inactive esps and replace them, as well as sorting my load order every time I change characters.
The other main contributor is\was high resolution clothing and armour that sometimes brought my system to it's knees so I plan to do something about that when I get to it, thanks to a little Gimp tutorial SavageArtistry wrote for me. Who knows I might even get the drive to learn a bit about textures, but I wouldn't bet on it these days. I have a list a mile long of things I want to do for my game, but don't seem to get to to it.
Earlier this year I removed the large overhaul mods I was using, ie FCOM being the main one, because I felt like a change and I also wanted to focus my game around Waalx Animals and Creatures which is not compatible with other overhauls. Plus, I was finding playing the game a chore more than a pleasure and got sick of the micro management, so I virtually put the game aside for nearly six months last year except for modding.
At that time, with FCOM, my game ran perfectly with no stutters, no black screens when loading textures or any other problems. I also had Qarl's Texture Pack Redimized as well as a couple of hundred other mods and texture replacers running on the highest settings including shadows etc. All of those together had the potential to cause problems with frame rates, stuttering and/or crashes, but I had none of those. Thank you Wrye for Bash!
Now, for some unknown reason I've had to resort to using an even lower version of Qarl's textures even though you can't really see much difference, turn down some settings and even try Game Booster which is a small program that turns off background processes while you play.
Otherwise, I get a black screen while the game loads a new area for sometimes almost 30 seconds if I fast travel, enter a building or go through any load door. It doesn't always happen which is more perplexing. The only mod I've recently added is Weather - All Natural, which I think is amazing, but these issues were happening before that and hasn't gotten any worse because of it.
I've done all the usual things like defragging my drives as well as game directories, stopped unnecessary programs loading with Windows ie Adobe Acrobat which is a huge memory hog and some others, made sure my graphics card is free of dust, etc, etc. I haven't upgraded video drivers because every other game, including Fallout 3:New Vegas runs perfectly fine and that is heavily modded as well. Playing with the Game Booster makes a big difference but shouldn't be necessary as my Oblivion game doesn't currently have anywhere near the script intensive and heavily overhauled mods anymore.
I'm getting to the severely pissed off stage with Oblivion again because I can't work out what's causing it and some of the little irritations I find with the game annoy me even more than usual. I did work out that one cause was using some clothing and armour mods with very high (unnecessarily so IMHO) textures, but they are rips which explains that little issue. Even having them in my inventory caused the game to slow down to 1 fps let alone equipping them which could take up to 30 seconds or more and then I was unable to move at all. So, I don't use them anymore.
The thought of re-installing the game and configuring it to my liking again gives me the shivers. I'm between a rock and a hard place because I cannot play vanilla under any circumstances and at the moment it's a pain the neck.
Personally, I don't see how it would make any difference to re-install. I know what I'm doing with mods and how to troubleshoot, remove and add them so if it came to having to re-install, other than if I have to re-install Windows for any reason, I don't know that I could be bothered with it. Mostly all I do these days is try new mods, take some screen shots and that's about it. Thankfully there are some awesome mods like WAC and Elsweyr the Deserts of Anequina which has some great quests.
Anyway, I will persevere for the time being and hope to find out what the cause of my problems are.
UPDATE: May 3rd 2011
Well I worked out most of my problems. Too many mods, specifically inactive ones which is a pain because I have different profiles for each character. They have different mod sets according to their history, so if I'm playing a particular character a lot of other mods will be inactive and the limit is around 300-400 including BSA's in the data folder.
Every character also has their own bashed Patch as well so that adds to the numbers. There's no way I'm going to remove all the inactive esps and replace them, as well as sorting my load order every time I change characters.
The other main contributor is\was high resolution clothing and armour that sometimes brought my system to it's knees so I plan to do something about that when I get to it, thanks to a little Gimp tutorial SavageArtistry wrote for me. Who knows I might even get the drive to learn a bit about textures, but I wouldn't bet on it these days. I have a list a mile long of things I want to do for my game, but don't seem to get to to it.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Pre-ordering Games Woes
I am not impressed to say the least.
Last October I pre-ordered Two Worlds 2 at our local EB Games store which has turned out to be a mini disaster to this day when it was finally supposed to be released yesterday here in Australia after numerous delays.
A little background info:
Despite that Two Worlds 1 had very mixed reviews I bought it and found it to be a very good game, but only after the multiple patches, fixes and graphic enhancements. I enjoyed it and was looking forward to the second game.
It had a lot of elements that were missing from other open world games like Oblivion, one of which is horse combat and a more populated world among other things. The horse combat was underdeveloped, but it worked. The main gripe was the difficulty in managing horse movement, also like in Oblivion, but more awkward because first you had to learn the skills of horse riding to be able to control the beast in the first place.
I found the game to have a good if stereotype story, but that's the case with many modern rpg;s anyway.
So, after said delays for TW2 and the fact that I'd paid for it last year, I read on the games own forums that we won't be getting it here because the distributor has gone into receivership. Mind you its been released in Europe since last October or November.
Back in November after several delays and a new release date of January, then February, I cancelled my order and used the money to buy Arcania - Gothic 4.
I am so embarrassed to even say I bought that game that I haven't mentioned it except in passing on a couple of forums and not even the one I practically live on. That game is more than a disaster, it's a travesty, but that's for another rant.
So, when I found that TW2 was supposedly definitely down for a February 24th release I once again put some money down, but only a deposit this time. I checked the TW2 forums the day before and discovered that it won't be coming here at all because of the previously mentioned company demise. I went to the store to see if they had any info on pre-orders at least and they said they were hoping that they could at least be filled, but had no info from their distributors on when that might be.
I was so fed up with it I canceled it altogether and as far as I'm concerned Topware deserved what they got for their bad handling of the situation. More info can be found on the TW2 forums about that. In Europe the game is distributed by another company which seems to know what they are doing. I suppose I could import the game from a European retailer, but I've had enough of that fiasco and I can't afford to do that anyway. Plus, if it's a digital version only I don't want it. I want a DVD I can actually look at and see what I paid for.
That was the first time I'd ever, in my gaming career, pre-ordered a game as I usually wait until release and research them first. Another thing I'm sad to say I didn't do with Arcania - Gothic 4 because I was expecting a GOTHIC game not a poor facsimile that relies more on gorgeous graphics no-one without the very latest systems can really enjoy. Pity they didn't focus just a tiny bit on the gameplay. I did do some reading on it's official forum well before release and after the demo was released. The reviews were scathing, but I had HOPE which was cruelly dashed when I installed the game and played for a couple of hours. I still have it installed but never gone back to play so I must be delusional. Another dust collector that would be more use as a frisbee. Suffice to say they should never have remotely called it a Gothic game, but a very basic action adventure that might engage players as just that. No need to think and the combat is click, click, click and hope to hit something when all enemies constantly block and stun. I know some people liked it as a basic action game, but the fact that JoWood lied from the start and in press releases about what the game actually was supposed to be is false advertising at it's worst. And they continue to do so. Also they are in a financial mire so what goes around comes around and has come back to bite them.
Anyway, I'm getting off track as this was mainly supposed to be about Two Worlds 2. A proper description of my impressions of Arcania - Gothic 4 would require more than this post.
I am very happy to say though that a couple of other games I pre-ordered since, ie Fallout:New Vegas and Divinity 2:The Dragon Knight Saga made the disappointment more than bearable. Both are epic games in my opinion and deserve the greatest success. Even though FO:NV was buggy for some pre patching, I never had any issues or crashes, and even STEAM which many whine about has been problem free. Divinity2 DKS is one of the most memorable games I've had the pleasure to play since Half Life 2 and the Gothic series. And Oblivion, but that's another story too long for this rant.
Last October I pre-ordered Two Worlds 2 at our local EB Games store which has turned out to be a mini disaster to this day when it was finally supposed to be released yesterday here in Australia after numerous delays.
A little background info:
Despite that Two Worlds 1 had very mixed reviews I bought it and found it to be a very good game, but only after the multiple patches, fixes and graphic enhancements. I enjoyed it and was looking forward to the second game.
It had a lot of elements that were missing from other open world games like Oblivion, one of which is horse combat and a more populated world among other things. The horse combat was underdeveloped, but it worked. The main gripe was the difficulty in managing horse movement, also like in Oblivion, but more awkward because first you had to learn the skills of horse riding to be able to control the beast in the first place.
I found the game to have a good if stereotype story, but that's the case with many modern rpg;s anyway.
So, after said delays for TW2 and the fact that I'd paid for it last year, I read on the games own forums that we won't be getting it here because the distributor has gone into receivership. Mind you its been released in Europe since last October or November.
Back in November after several delays and a new release date of January, then February, I cancelled my order and used the money to buy Arcania - Gothic 4.
I am so embarrassed to even say I bought that game that I haven't mentioned it except in passing on a couple of forums and not even the one I practically live on. That game is more than a disaster, it's a travesty, but that's for another rant.
So, when I found that TW2 was supposedly definitely down for a February 24th release I once again put some money down, but only a deposit this time. I checked the TW2 forums the day before and discovered that it won't be coming here at all because of the previously mentioned company demise. I went to the store to see if they had any info on pre-orders at least and they said they were hoping that they could at least be filled, but had no info from their distributors on when that might be.
I was so fed up with it I canceled it altogether and as far as I'm concerned Topware deserved what they got for their bad handling of the situation. More info can be found on the TW2 forums about that. In Europe the game is distributed by another company which seems to know what they are doing. I suppose I could import the game from a European retailer, but I've had enough of that fiasco and I can't afford to do that anyway. Plus, if it's a digital version only I don't want it. I want a DVD I can actually look at and see what I paid for.
That was the first time I'd ever, in my gaming career, pre-ordered a game as I usually wait until release and research them first. Another thing I'm sad to say I didn't do with Arcania - Gothic 4 because I was expecting a GOTHIC game not a poor facsimile that relies more on gorgeous graphics no-one without the very latest systems can really enjoy. Pity they didn't focus just a tiny bit on the gameplay. I did do some reading on it's official forum well before release and after the demo was released. The reviews were scathing, but I had HOPE which was cruelly dashed when I installed the game and played for a couple of hours. I still have it installed but never gone back to play so I must be delusional. Another dust collector that would be more use as a frisbee. Suffice to say they should never have remotely called it a Gothic game, but a very basic action adventure that might engage players as just that. No need to think and the combat is click, click, click and hope to hit something when all enemies constantly block and stun. I know some people liked it as a basic action game, but the fact that JoWood lied from the start and in press releases about what the game actually was supposed to be is false advertising at it's worst. And they continue to do so. Also they are in a financial mire so what goes around comes around and has come back to bite them.
Anyway, I'm getting off track as this was mainly supposed to be about Two Worlds 2. A proper description of my impressions of Arcania - Gothic 4 would require more than this post.
I am very happy to say though that a couple of other games I pre-ordered since, ie Fallout:New Vegas and Divinity 2:The Dragon Knight Saga made the disappointment more than bearable. Both are epic games in my opinion and deserve the greatest success. Even though FO:NV was buggy for some pre patching, I never had any issues or crashes, and even STEAM which many whine about has been problem free. Divinity2 DKS is one of the most memorable games I've had the pleasure to play since Half Life 2 and the Gothic series. And Oblivion, but that's another story too long for this rant.
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