Perfection

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

When someone says the word perfection what comes to mind? Without flaw? Without defect? Unsurpassabe degree of excellence? Those are all good dictionary safe ways to define it, but another definition has finally, after many months (some might even say years) come to fruition. The newest definition of the word perfection is The 2007 New England Patriots.

It’s not too often that I take the time to write about a sports team and even more rare that I give accolades to one, but in this case I feel obligated to make an exception. Not because I reside in the middle of “Patriots country”, or because I lost a bet, or anything other than total respect for what that team accomplished this season.

I hear a lot of sports commentators talking about how it really doesn’t matter and that only the Superbowl matters. That’s bullshit. The Superbowl is huge, but it can’t even begin to compare to an undefeated season. The last team to do this was the 1972 Miami Dolphins. For 35 years they held that record. 35 years. That’s a long, long time for a record in competitive sports to stand. And the Patriots just knocked them off the pedestal. A Superbowl happens every year. Big deal. They get a ring and pretty little trophy, but in 5 years no one will remember if they won a Superbowl or not. Believe this though, everyone will remember the 2007 NE Patriots going 16 and 0.

I’ll mark myself out as the enemy in New England. “My team” is and always has been the Dallas Cowboys. And tonight as I tuned in with the Patriots down 16 to 23 (or something like that) and began to watch them dissect the Giants defense I couldn’t help but think back to an old Dallas team sporting the likes of Michael Irvin, Emmit Smith, and Troy Aikman. They used to be methodical and make the other teams defenses look like clowns. And for my money the way the Giants blew a 12 point lead they were made to look like clowns. In all fairness to the Giants they played a great game and thankfully didn’t come out like a bunch of jackasses and throw the game as some speculated they would do. Also to further clarify I’m not mocking the Giants play by calling them clowns, but it’s the best way I can describe how the Patriots performance in making their come back.

Again congratulations to the New England Patriots for their incredible season and to Tom Brady and Randy Moss for the personal records. Moss just overtook Jerry Rice for most touchdowns in the regular season (23) and Brady just beat out Peyton Manning for most touchdown passes in the regular season (50).

The next stop for the Patriots is the post season with an eye on the Superbowl. But at this point none of that matters. Even if a Japanese girls paraplegic choir won the Superbowl it wouldn’t matter. The Patriots went undefeated and that’s all that anyone will remember about this season.

Posted in Potpourri | 4 Comments »

Behind every powerful man…

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

There’s an old saying that goes something like this. Behind every powerful man is a more powerful woman, or something along those lines. The exact phrase isn’t important, but the message is conveys to the listener is.

It seems that our good friend Barack Obama has found out just how true that saying really can be. It seems that Michele, his doting wife and consummate supporter through thick and thin informed the presidential hopeful that he wouldn’t be allowed to run again and it is now or never in his bid for the White House.

Am I the only one disturbed by this? His wife is telling him what he can and can’t do? If we elected this guy president would his wife be running the show in the wings? Would we have a repeat of the Bill Clinton era in which we witnessed the rise of Hillary Clinton? Would we willingly suffer another tragedy like that one?

Posted in News and Politics | 6 Comments »

Benazir Bhutto: Reality Check

Friday, December 28th, 2007

When I checked the news this morning like so many other Americans the first thing I saw was that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had been murdered. My first reaction was to laugh. Yep, to laugh. Not because it’s funny that someone gets killed, but because how stupid does one have to be not to see exactly what was coming from five thousand miles away? Seriously? How stupid? Spend a moment with me reviewing the evidence and tell me that you’re even slightly surprised she was killed.

She and her husband were immersed in corruption

A number of nations had leveled corruption charges again Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari dating back to at least the early 90s.

Poland

Provided over 500 pages of documentation to the Pakistani government in 1999 regarding Bhutto’s receipt of illegal commissions on over 8,000 tractors that were sold. The money was then deposited through Swiss bank accounts in the name of an offshore company. Yes, the Swiss provided proof of this to Polish prosecutors.

The Polish Government has given Pakistan 500 pages of documentation relating to corruption allegations against Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari.

The couple were convicted by a Pakistani court on corruption charges last month and received five-year jail sentences and a fine of $8.5m.

But they face further trials, including one which concerns the purchase of 8,000 tractors from Poland. According to Pakistani officials, the Polish papers contain details of illegal commissions paid by the tractor company in return for agreeing to their contract.

Source and rest of the article.

Of course if Poland isn’t good enough for you there’s more…

Switzerland

Once again our gracious heroine found herself (and her stalwart hubby) running askew of another nations law. And in 2003 to bear this fact out the Swiss judge Daniel Devaud found them guilt and ordered they pay $50k EACH in fines and an additional two MILLION dollars to the Pakistani government. She of course claimed political motivation, but thankfully the Swiss judge (and Pakistani government) aren’t that stupid.

Investigation Judge Daniel Devaud in Geneva sentenced them to a six-month suspended jail term, fined them $50,000 each and ordered they pay more than $2m to the Pakistani Government.

He said they had illegally deposited millions of dollars in accounts in Switzerland, and ordered the money be returned to Pakistan.

Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari deny misappropriating the money, and are considering an appeal.

The BBC’s Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the ruling will come as a blow to the former prime minister, who has always said that corruption cases against her in Pakistan were politically motivated.

Source and rest of the article.

France

In 1998 French officials claim that her husband offered exclusive rights to Dassault Aviation (French military contractor) to replace the air force’s fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari. For those who are wonder what the big deal is, it amounts to a non-compete agreement in exchange for a five percent kickback. That’s the big deal. Or at least part of the big deal.

In interest of full disclosure and being honest with my readers I must say that at the time this was going on France apparently didn’t have any laws against it. They have since been changed, but regardless this just points once again to her and her husbands corrpution.

Gold trade

In 1993 Abdul Razzak Yaqub a Dubai based Pakistani gold bullion dealer got the Prime Minister Bhutto to give him an import license. Not a big deal right? Not until you consider the fact that shortly after the license was granted he deposited at LEAST $10 million dollars into husband’s Citibank account. Of course the Citibank account was opened under a front name and not a legitimate corporation or business. His excuse? Somebody in the bank has cooperated with my enemies to make false documents” (Go ahead do a Google or Yahoo search for that exact phrase and see what you turn up).

It’s also interesting to note that gold was actually up while the rest of the market took a nose dive. I think the windbags on Wall Street call it “a correction”. Either way gold didn’t correct. I don’t know if it’s tied into this corruption issue, but it’s worth noting.

If you’d like an in-depth rundown of this womans corruption I suggest you take a look at the New York Times piece about the Bhutto’s trail of corruption

Al Qaeda in the mix

I know, I just know that sooner than later someone will tell me she’s a hero for standing up to Al Qaeda. She was not a hero, she was an idiot. Not because she stood up to Al Qaeda but because she was willing to put other lives in danger in order to get herself back into power and her greedy little hands on money that didn’t belong to her.

But let’s get to the point. Al Qaeda is, for lack of a better term, an organization deeply rooted in tradition extremist Islam. Islam that keeps women in the homes covered head to toe. Bhutto being the first ever woman leader in the Middle East didn’t sit too well with Al Qaeda’s view of the world. Since 1992 they have been gunning for this woman. In October they claimed to have carried out the assassination attempt against Bhutto that cost nearly 150 Pakistanis their lives.

By no means should anyone blame Al Qaeda’s actions on Bhutto (or anyone else), but if that isn’t gross negligence I don’t know what is. I mean get a clue, having a huge “home coming” parade with tens of thousands of people in attendance and knowing that odds are that Al Qaeda will be there to wreck the party is stupid. It’s as stupid as you can possibly get. I can hear it now - “Oh but she just wanted to show the people how much she loved them and how much she cared by being out there with them.” That’s the kind of “love” the world doesn’t need. Once again it was nothing short of gross negligence on her part. It’s kind of like letting a “friend” get behind the wheel and drive drunk because you’re too much of an idiot to stop them. Yeah, it’s their responsibility for getting behind the wheel, but how dare you not slap them silly.

But the people loved her

So what? Some people love George W. Bush and look what kind of a mess were in. Some people love Fidel Castro, but he’s nothing to write home about. Hell, I’m willing to bet there were even people who loved Adolph Hitler, and I don’t mean his family. Point is that “people loving her” is totally besides the point. It doesn’t change what she was or how dangerous her presence in the Pakistani political landscape made it for both her and her supporters.

She was a good leader

If being a liar and a fraud makes you a good leader then she was one of the best ever.

She revolutionized politics in the Middle East

Did she really? Seems to me she set them back another 100 years. Why don’t people understand that the vast majority of Middle Eastern nations are NOT READY FOR WOMEN TO LEAD. Period. The only thing that a woman leader will accomplish is getting themselves and many others killed. Don’t like it? Blame the culture because that’s a fact. Even former US ambassardor to the UN Michael Bolton said that Pakistan needs martial law right now.

He said he thinks “this tragedy should guide us now as to what we do next, which I think ought to be declaring a time-out on internal politics; let’s re-stabilize, it probably will require a period of martial law.” “But let’s keep our eyes on the prize. For the United States, that’s the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.”

Source and rest of the article.

I hate to be the asshole, but Bhutto was NOT the leader Pakistan needed. It’s so very sad that the Pakistani people forgot so quickly her lying and corruption. That’s sad, but for the rest of the world to act as if a patron saint had been killed is just disgusting. It’s criminal.

Posted in News and Politics | 15 Comments »

Keep your computer Quick and Nimble

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

I could go on and on for hours about all kinds of things to do to clean up your computer from viruses, spyware, trojans, and whatever other “nasty” habit is creeping around the internet. I could, but I won’t. Instead I’ll tell you what to do once you’ve got your computer up and running the way it should be to help prevent future occurrences.

The game plan

It is always best to start doing these things immediately following a complete operating system reinstall, but that doesn’t mean they are useless doing it later. The goal is simple. To prevent an unwanted piece of software from infecting your computer and causing damage to your system. The game plan is to catch them before they can cause damage OR stop them from causing more damage.

The tools

The tools are all free to download. You need to take the time to figure out how to use them properly or they won’t do you any good at all. Of course you should be able to use all of them after about 15-20 minutes of “practice”. In otherwords you really don’t have much of an excuse for not using them.

Web Browser

Download Firefox and use it whenever possible. Internet Explorer has improved greatly compared to what it was and if this were 5 years ago it would be just fine. But it’s not 5 years ago, and “compared to what it was” isn’t really a compliment, because it was absolute shit and now it’s just a bad smelling fart. Bad is bad. Firefox is good. Get firefox.

Anti-virus

I recommend sticking with the tried and true. Personally I use Avast Home, but AVG, and ClamWin are great tools as well. Here’s a quick hint (because I see just the opposite happen every day) not only do you need to install an anti-virus solution, but you also from time to time need to:

• (A) Use it
• (B) Update it
• (C) Upgrade it

If you don’t do all three of those things get rid of it because it’s not doing you any good and is stealing valuable resources from the viruses on your computer that could make good use of them.

Anti-spyware

Go with the tried and true standards. Spybot S&D and Adaware SE. Once again just like the anti-virus software you need to keep this updated and use it. The pretty little icon on your desktop doesn’t do anything if you don’t double click on it. Try running both of these at least once per week.

System Monitoring

Grab yourself the latest and greatet copy of Win Patrol from BillP studios. It slices, it dices, it scrubs the cat clean. Actually it doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. Monitoring your computer. Until it sees something out of the ordinary at which time it pops up a little confirmation window. The window says something like “Blah new startup program. Do you wish to allow?” (Click no unless you know what it is and is there because of something you purposefully did. hint, hint)

Sex and violence

Rein in the pervs and the psychos on your computer using a free web filtering service called K9 Web Protection. And if you like pervs and psychos on your monitor you can always temporarily disable it.

Hidden in plain sight

Last but not least is our firewall. A lot of people say that a NAT’d firewall is enough (routers USUALLY have NAT’d firewalls built into them), but for as cheap (free) as a great firewall (Comodo) is and as little resources as they take up on todays computers there’s really no excuse not to have one. So get one. And use it. All the time

Executing the plan

I hope you’ve eaten your Wheaties today kids, because we’re about to get our briches muddy. Are you ready? Good, here we go…

1. Download the software
2. Install the software
3. Run the anti-spyware programs (both of them, but one at a time) immediately.
4. Run a full system virus scan. By full system I mean everything. Now might be a good time to grab dinner…
5. Continue to run both the anti-virus and the anti-spyware solutions at least once per week
6. Make sure whenever you connect to the internet you are using Firefox unless absolutely necessary to use Internet Explorer. That by itself is probably the biggest defense you have against malicious software. So use it.

Spread the news

Yes keeping your computer running well really is that simple. It doesn’t take rocket science it simply takes using the tools that are easily and freely available. So tell your family, tell your friends. Hell call Al Gore maybe you’ll get to hear about the one time at band camp when he invented to internet. Either way tell people how easy it is. Or don’t. And don’t use the tools (or similar ones) I’ve shown you. Instead just keep the Geek Squads number handy and give them a ring anytime there’s a problem. After all how much easier is it to write them a check for $300.00 instead of spending 15 minutes taking care of business?

Is there other software I should check out?

Of course there is. In fact a while back I wrote an article about software you should have. A few were included in this article some were not.

One thing not included in that article, ok two things, is a program called Belarc Advisor which you should run when everything is up and working fine. It gives a complete list of everything your computer has both hardware and software. Always nice to have “just in case”. The other is Driveimage XML which will allow you to clone your hard drive (like Norton Ghost) for recovery purposes.

There you have it my quick and easy way to keep the Geeks at bay and your wallet fat(ter). Try it, after a few times of saving your own ass you’ll actually feel a sense of accomplishment. And then you’ll think back to the days when you had to call up your kid and have them come over to turn on the computer and you’ll wonder how you ever managed. But don’t worry, you’re not alone, a whole lot of us have been wondering for a long time how you ever managed.

Posted in Technology and Computers | 8 Comments »

Go play in the MUD!

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Do you like to play games?

Don’t look at me like that it’s a serious question. Do you like to play games?

Good, I thought you might. After all who doesn’t enjoy a good game every now and again! But what about a game that is won over time, sometimes months sometimes years and is perpetually changing and growing? Would a game like that interest you? If so I’ve got the scratch for your itch. It’s called a Multiple User Domain/Dungeon (MUD) and when it comes to online gaming there is truly nothing quite like it.

MUD?! What the hell is a “MUD”?

A mud is a multi-player text based virtual world where you solve puzzles, go on quests, go adventuring, fight other players, team with other players, fight non-player characters (NPCs), operate farms, craft weapons, train pets, and MUCH, MUCH more.

If you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons I’ve probably caught your attention by now. If you’re a Everquestcrack or WoW addict I’ve probably caught your attention as well. For you Everquest and WoW folks I apologize, but stick with me for a few minutes, please. I can personally guarantee they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon so you can always go back to them after you read what I have to say.

Wait! Before you roll your eyes and go trundling off because “Dungeons and Dragon’s is for geeks!”, or “I’m too old to play Dungeons and Dragon’s, or any other game for that matter.” you should at least read some more about “mudding”.

Types of MUDs

There are three ways to look at the types of muds out there. We’ll take a brief look at each one.

Roleplay centric

In roleplay MUDs you take on the persona of your character. The entire time you are logged in you are “in character”. Everything you do is based on how the character would act and react. Everything. Every word said, every action taken. Some MUDs are more strict than others when it comes to roleplaying. If you enjoy writing and being creative this might just be the type of place for you.

Hack-n-Slash (HnS)

In HnS MUDs you run around adventuring, spending a lot of time questing, hording coins (gold, silver, platinum, etc), exploring, and hacking and slashing (hence the reason they are called HnS) “baddies” to gain experience points, and whatever else the coders decide to give you for your efforts. In this kind of MUD roleplay is often optional, and depending on the situation you may or may not use it.

Educational

There’s a subset of MUDs which are supposedly educational. I’ve heard of them, but never logged into one and messed around. I’ve heard mixed information about them, but they are out there for your enjoyment should you be curious. Don’t worry, later in this article I’ll be showing you where to go to find MUDs on your own.

Each type of MUD isn’t usually exclusive unto itself. There are elements of roleplay in HnS and HnS in roleplay based MUDs.

Finding a MUD

There are several good resources online for finding a MUD that caters to your wants and “needs”. One of the best is The Mud Connector (TMC). Another resource is Top Mud Sites (TMS). Either one is good but, personally I prefer TMS due to the, what I consider to be, friendlier interface.

I found one, now what?

The next step is actually getting connected to the MUD. The vast majority of MUDs are accessed using a telnet client. You can either rely on a bare bones client (which I do not recommend) or you can download a more robust client that has been built especially for mudding. The most popular example is Zuggsoft’s zMud client. My personal favorite is Game Axle’s Portal client but zMUD for me is a close second. A Google search for “mud clients” will turn up plenty for you to choose from.

Once you’ve found a client you’ll need to get some basic information from the MUD itself. The information is usually found on the website associated with the MUD. For example if you go to The Dragon’s Den website in the header you’ll see it says “dden.discordia.org 2222″ that is the information you’d need to connect to that MUD. The first part is the resolved DNS name (hostname) and the second part (the 2222) is the port number the MUD accepts connections on. The name and the port number is unique to the MUD. Other MUDs you’ll need to spend a little time looking around their sites in order to get the correct information.

If you’re going to use the Windows built-in telnet client you would do the following.

1. Click on start and then click run
2. In the blank “run” box type “cmd” (no quotes) and press enter
3. In the command prompt window that pops up type telnet and press enter
4. On the new prompt (it should say Microsoft Telnet>) type open [hostname] [port number] - For the Dragon’s Den example it would look like open dden.discordia.org 2222

I’m connected now what?

In this section I’ve included some commands. The commands look like [blah]. When you type them out you don’t need the brackets ([]) just the type the word and press enter to execute the command.

As soon as you connect most MUDs will prompt you for a username and a password. Assuming you’re new the screen will print out something like “This looks like the first time you’ve visited us [Bob] (or whatever your name is). Would you like to continue [y][n]? At this point you’ll then go through a character creation process. If it says “Enter Password” or something similar after you enter the username it means someone else with that same player name already exists. Choose a new one.

After you’ve created a character you’ll likely be placed in a “newbie” area where you’ll spend some time learning how the commands work in game, and other bits of necessary information. If you’re real lucky you might even get to [wield sword], [wear armor], and [kill monstername] to get a few pieces of copper and an experience point or two. It all depends on the MUD.

This is also a good place to start learning a little bit about the MUD in general since you won’t be having to fight off looters. Your best friend in mudding is the “help” command. Try it, [help]. Read through that information. You’ll also find you should be able to do the same with a particular subject. Try [help newbie] and see what happens. On most MUDs, assuming they have a well maintained help file system you could literally spend months reading the files themselves. But don’t waste your time until you need it. Then just type [help blah]. Of course if nothing comes up you’d be stuck unless you knew how to type [chat How do I blah?]. Better yet type [help chat]

Beyond the help files

Help files are great and all, but there’s a whole world beyond them. This is where you start playing. The culture of the MUD you choose will quickly become evident to you. If you intend to be successful you’ll always want your verbose mode on (at least to begin with) and a pad and pen handy while you get started mapping things out. The verbose mode will allow you to read everything that is written which is very important when it comes to finding doors, money, traps, monsters, and whatever else. Keep in mind that nearly everything you read was written by one of the builders and/or coders (often called wizards and gods on MUDs). In many instances they also did all of the programming using an object oriented language such as C, or more likely LPC.

What does a room look like?

Again it all depends on the MUD. Some are very long and you’ll literally be interacting with an entire story as you explore the area while others might be as eloquent as:

The gravel on the road is red. A tree stands off to the side.

An example of a more colorful room would be something like this:

This old weathered dock extends out into a wide river. The dock is wobbling and unstable, and its boards are shot through with large areas of decay. Brackish water roils and seethes below, dark shapes drifting through the currents and noxious fumes rising through the dock’s numerous gaps. There is a large cast-iron bell affixed to the dock on a mount made of wood and leather lashings. A heavy mist covers the river, muffling sound and dimming the light of the sun to a wan, gray illumination. In the distance, a dark shape looms, its outlines made indistinct by the mist, but the jutting shape suggests an island.

Don’t worry I’m the one who wrote both of those descriptions. The first one I just made up for this article and the second I wrote a few years ago. Just pointing that out so no one thinks I’ve violated their copyright or anything silly like that.

In the second description you’d probably want to do something like [exa boards], or [ring bell]. You get the idea.

How much does it cost?

The vast majority of MUDs are free. In fact if you’re going to spend money spend it on a graphical game such as Guild Wars, or WoW. If you’re low on money and your computer isn’t all that hot you’d probably enjoy playing on MUDs.

The MUD type

The type of person who you will often find playing MUDs is:

• Inquisitive. He’ll enjoy spending hours solving puzzles sometimes even days, weeks, or months
• Patient. She’ll realize that they can’t “beat the game” due to the nature of it. How it is always growing and in development
• Able to read well. In order to play a MUD succesfully a person must be able to read and pick out key components. For example you’d want to know when your partner took a lightning bolt to the fact and needed healing when you’re playing a Cleric. In the middle of a battle that would be easy to miss if you can’t read quickly.
• A quick typer. Playing a MUD can’t help but improve your typing speed.
• Imaginative. He’ll be able to use his mind to create the world described instead of relying on someone else to show him graphics. It’s much like reading a book. If all you saw in your mind was words the book would suck.
• Social. MUDs are highly social by nature. You’ll be playing with people from all over the world, talking to them, interacting, making friends, making war, and whatever else.

That is by no stretch of the imagination a complete list of they kind of person you’ll come across playing MUDs, but it is a basic example of that person.

I’m interested how do I get to a MUD?

Personally I recommend Dragon’s Den both because I’ve played and coded there, but also because when it comes to indepth story telling I’ve never come across another one quite like it. So to get there telnet dden.discordia.org:2222 and start making a character. Please note if you are using Windows Vista telnet is not active by default. In order to activate it you’ll need to put the following in the command prompt (copy/paste).

start /w pkgmgr /iu:”TelnetClient”

If you really want to be brave you can try the java based applet that many muds offer. Here is the one for Dragon’s Den. Of course you could always download a real MUD client and not have to worry about it. And it bears repeating you’ll want NEED a MUD client if you expect to do anything except get frustrated.

And there you have it. A brief introduction to mudding. Addiction with a twist. You’ll use your brain. So like I said, Go play in the MUD!

Posted in Potpourri | 5 Comments »