Why I am hating Battlefield 3

I have been playing Battlefield 3 for about a week now, and I must say it has the potential to be a great game. But I am hating it more and more for one reason- there are absolutely ZERO hardcore servers. Now, I have been playing nothing but hardcore for several years, starting with CoD2 and through BFBC2. I love hardcore because it requires a totally different style of play than normal mode. Hardcore tends to force one to actually use strategy, since a single shot can, and often does, kill you. Rarely will you see idiots running and gunning in HC mode. Instead, there is the satisfaction of using teamwork and skill to accomplish the objectives. Objectives. There is another thing I like about HC. People who play it are more likely to be interested in actually attempting to capture flags, destroy MCOMs, etc. than normal players. On normal mode the only objective seems to be to kill as many people as possible. Sorry, but if all I wanted to do was run around and kill people, I woulfd just play the campaign mode.

And speaking of killing people, I hate how Godlike normal mode makes a player. Yesterday I emptied an entire 21 round clip into a guy's back from twenty yards away and he then turned around and shot me. The only way to kill someone seems to be to get incredibly good at aiming for the head- something counterintuitive in the extreme, since anyone who knows how to shoot knows that you aim for the largest target- the upper body mass. It is still the part that I automatically aim at, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't make myself aim for the smallest target on a person's body.

But I digress. Where the heck are the Hardcore servers, EA? Or indeed any of the non-normal servers that you show in the filter? What is this Infantry mode that shows up? Don't know, because, you guessed it, no servers for it. I even set it to show full servers in the event everyone might just be playing HC? But no, ZERO servers. In fact there are absolutely no servers for anything but normal mode. What a ripoff. Hey EA (or Origin or whoever you call yourselves now) do you think I am going to go Premium or buy any of the expansions without Hardcore mode? Think again.


Edit to add that I did find out the problem- the Multiplayer update never automatically installed because when it downloaded the Xbox stored the download on the USB stick I had in it, rather than the HDD. So since I never rebooted til after I removed the USB, the update was never applied. I have enjoyed mad Hardcore BF3 action since a few days after this post.

Unplugged

In the twenty-first century, with all the scientific advances we have made, there should be no need for HomePlug Alliance's AV2 specification. According to the fine marketers, er, bloggers over at Engadget, the latest networking standard over home electrical wires offers up to Gigabit speeds without all the interference and performance problems that have plagued previous home-wired internet providers.

But you know what, why, in the twenty-first century, are we still not using Nikola Tesla's wireless energy technology? Then there would be little need for home wiring in the first place. Oh wait, that's right- Tesla developed wireless energy technology with the dream that energy would finally be free for all, ending a huge source of conflict in the world, where competition for resources causes more problems than anything else. Of course Edison called Tesla mad. "How then will we charge them for it?" was the industrialist's reply after hearing Tesla's grand idea for wireless transmission of electricity, collected from the radiation of the very cosmos. So while others are in awe of 'new' technology that keeps us enslaved to the merchant class, you and I should be quite upset that old technology meant to free us from energy dependence is still being suppressed. Read his Wikipedia entry for more info on one of the greatest scientists ever.

Nerds Should Follow Soccer

If you notice, I've added a FIFA world ranking gadget to the blog. Over the past few years, I have been getting more and more interested in soccer, especially since watching my university team games, and having the privilege of seeing them become Lone Star Conference champions this fall. Now, usually nerds are not into sports at all, other than those which require little physical activity, such as chess. But I think soccer is a game nerds should enjoy. Unlike football, which is mainly strength and size dependent, and which was also the sport played by almost everyone who ever beat a nerd up, and unlike hockey which, while much more mentally challenging, is still a quite physical sport, soccer is a sport that requires a good deal of mental discipline and skill, two things which nerds generally appreciate. For another thing, nerds generally have more culture than their peers, and there are few games (again, with the exception of chess) which are loved by so many different people and cultures the world over. Soccer is the world's sport, plain and simple.

So, all you nerds and geeks, techies and dweebs, I encourage you to embrace this awesome sport. To get started, why not read The Science of Soccer by John Wesson, a great book chock full of physics and statistics about the great game. You will surely find a reason to become a sports fan, if not already.

Microsoft Answers (lol nah just kidding)

I swear, there should be a rule that people who work for Microsoft are not allowed to answer questions about Microsoft products. I've never seen such a collection of product support people who are so ignorant of their own products. For instance, I was on MS Answers yesterday looking for people to help, since many of the "answers" are just rude, snippish, unhelpful responses from M$ fanboys or employees who feel hurt that people actually notice all the problems with Microsoft. Anyways, there were several questions about not being able to access the internet from the Guest account. One person who claimed to be an MS employee, said that was because the Guest account was by default not allowed to access the internet. Well, that's BS, because I have enabled the guest account for a friend and he was able to use it just fine, internet and all, with no configuration required on my part. Then she and many other responders went on to say that one should never use the Guest account, since it was a security risk. They recommended that users create a new limited account instead, because the Guest account was not meant to be used and was not for guests.

Now, call me crazy, but it seems to me that it is the stupidest thing in the world to create an OS account called "Guest", add it to the User Accounts menu and give users the option of turning it on, then telling them that they should never use it, because it is a security risk. From reading the account's properties in User Accounts, how on earth would anyone ever realize that this account is anything other than that which it claims to be?? I quote Microsoft's own description of their own Guest account in User Accounts:

"If you turn on the guest account, people who do not have an account can use the guest account to log on to the computer. Password-protected files, folders, or settings are not accessible to guest users."

And again on the MS website:

"A guest account is an account for users who don't have a permanent account on your computer or domain. It allows people to use your computer without having access to your personal files. People using the guest account can't install software or hardware, change settings, or create a password."

Wow, sounds like an account that is safe for me to allow guest visitors to use without putting any of my personal files, etc. at risk. But no, according to the brilliant MS employees the world over, that account is not meant to be used- all the stupid retards using it are idiots who don't realize what the account is for, or rather, not for.

Tools. Just another example of how Microsoft fails, no matter which way you turn.

Notepad++ blows MS out of the water

Man, I wish I had known about this C++ coded Notepad alternative a long time ago. This text editor is just awesome, I haven't used a text editor this awesome since Emacs. Besides being just a notepad-style text editor, it is also a powerful developing tool. It supports color coding and auto-complete for a wide variety of programming languages, and it also supports a wide variety of human languages. I love the tabbed document layout, and I especially love the fact that you can close it and when you reopen it, all your documents that you were working on are right there just as you left it (assuming you saved them of course.) Besides that, Notepad++ has a powerful search feature, the ability to record and run macros, the ability to launch your code in a variety of browsers, and to add plugins to increase your productivity.

Best of all, Notepad++ is open source software published under the GPL- it's free as in "speech" and free as in "beer". So if you are looking for a great free Notepad alternative, or an Emacs alternative for Windows, go grab Notepad++ today. Consider making a donation if you like it, the author(s) put a lot of work into this.

Facebook Stole My Friends!

I deleted my Facebook account a few months ago. I won't go into the ten hours of hassle that entailed, but I didn't just 'deactivate' the account, I deleted it. Went through and hand deleted every post, picture, comment, page, note, and "like" that I had ever made, as is required by those pigdog assholes before they will actually delete your account. I gave everyone plenty of warning. Told everyone that if they wanted to keep in contact, to please give me their email address. Told them that I would be committing Facebook suicide and that they would never see me on that marketer's wet dream again. Nobody gave me their emails, and nobody even seemed to care. Guess they thought it was a big joke. I mean, after all, who would actually do such a crazy thing as delete their Facebook roflmaomglol??

Well, I did. And now I have no friends. I realize that most of the "friends" I had on FB were not friends at all, but I even lost my actual, real friends. One friend that I have had for years, emailed me a couple of times. Said that she hadn't forgotten about me and would keep in touch. That was months ago. People act like I am dead now. My sister won't talk to me. She has a Twitter, so I Tweeted her and asked for her email and those of my other siblings so I could send them Christmas cards. Haven't heard back from her, and I know from her Tweets that she has been online and must have seen my request. But it's as though she is angry at me and refuses to speak to me. Seriously? Just because I left Facebook? Yeah.

I don't know if it's that people think it's too much of a pain in the ass to send an email, which is sooo '90s, or whether they feel as though I'm no longer "one of them. One of them," or what, but wow. Just wow. But I can guarantee that every one of them are logged into Facebook even as we speak. Telling the world that they just had a nice chicken salad sandwich or some shit. But I'm not on there to "like" that fact, so fuck me. It is absolutely amazing how brainwashed that site has everyone. Oh well, whether I have friends and family anymore or not, I really don't care. I'm free of the Facebook trap, and I have so much more time to study, read a book, or just think now.

Let's Have a War on Stupidity

I was reading a Reuters article about Pakistan standing up to NATO, when I noticed the phrase "war on militancy", which I guess is what we are calling our militant actions in Pakistan. Of course I immediately gave kudos to whichever Newspeak underling had the balls to coin that particular gem. Sad thing is, most Americans are too stupid to read something like that without wanting to rip their hair out at how fucking worthless humanity is. That is all.

EDIT: Well, since I read it yesterday, the article has actually been changed. A LOT. The phrase is no longer there, and the paragraph in which it appeared is on page 4 now instead of page 1. The paragraph now reads:

Relations between the United States and Pakistan were strained by the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in May, which Pakistan called a flagrant violation of sovereignty.

I did Zotero it yesterday, when it read:

Relations between the United States and Pakistan, its ally in the war on militancy, have been strained following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May, which Pakistan called a flagrant violation of sovereignty.

You know, I've been noticing that news articles on the internet are often edited after they are posted, and not just for accuracy. There is a serious problem when news is so easily and silently changed. Remember how the Soviets used to just airbrush executed officials out of pictures? Who? Never heard of the guy. See? Damn I hate the MSM. So from now on I'm gonna screenshotty every damned article in which I notice anything.