Silencing the Opinion
by Larz on Jan.27, 2010, under My Word
I’m going to go off on a small tangeant than my normal context for this site for just a moment. I’ve been noticing another hideous trend in the social fabric of the United States and, frankly, it’s getting a little tiresome. Well, actually, there are a few trends, but they seem to intersect on some level so I’ll bring up each one seperately.
First, there is this notion that people have the right not to be offended. I know this isn’t anything new, but this is just getting out of hand lately. Someone please tell me where in the Constitution does it say you have the right to not be offended. I looked. I couldn’t find anything. People have this crazy sense that somehow it’s legally wrong for someone else to make them feel bad. It isnt! Is it rude? Sure. But no one has any legal protection from having their feelings hurt. For example, if I said something like, “All Mexican people are stupid” I have the right to say that anywhere, anytime I want without regard to anyone’s feelings. Is it insanely ignorant and a gross generalization? Of course it is, but the last time I checked, being ignorant or rude is not illegal.
This leads to people having this false sense of entitlement. Whether through their upbringing or too used to having their hand held their whole life, self-important people seem to think that the only view point, opinion, or need that matters is their own. They are free to think that of course, but don’t be offended when I laugh in your face.
There’s also this perception that anyone who isn’t a democrat is a stupid redneck hick racist bigot. Of course, this perception largely comes from people on the left conveniently. Yet, these are the same people who will be the first to tell you that it’s wrong to generalize or use a stereotype for a group of people. What they really mean to say is that they don’t like it when you make fun of them, but it’s perfectly alright for them to make fun of you simply because, well, you’re not from the left and therefore stupid.
This double-standard has persisted for decades and in just the last five years has become a real problem. There is an arrogance about the left that I think even they can’t see anymore. They have a false sense of superiority over those who disagree with their views.
I’m not trying to stick up for the right here. It’s just that over the last five years the left has become much more vocal and have drawn far more attention to themselves and thus making themselves look like pompous asses. I don’t take kindly to anyone telling me what I should think, what I should do, or how I should do it, no matter which side of the fence they sit. If you try and talk down to me and wave your college diploma in my face as a trump card to the argument, I’ll wave a document much older, far more credible, and written by men far smarter of which no arguement you can ever make will win.
Video Games Are Boring
by Larz on Jan.13, 2010, under Vlog
Sorry about the nuclear winter behind me.
Gamers’ Rights
by Larz on Jan.12, 2010, under My Word
Recently, Activision Blizzard has taken a new stance on their character restoration policy in their number one game in the world; World of Warcraft. As with most MMO’s, account theft is a byproduct of carelessness on the part of the customer. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have had their accounts hacked or hijacked and were in need of a character restoration to recover whatever was lost from their accounts.
These restorations were completely avoidable, however, if the customer had only taken the time to follow some basic internet caveats: Don’t give your password out to anyone, don’t download strange programs, don’t click on suspicious links, etc. Of course, people follow instructions, even if for their own safety, as if they were somehow immune to any of the dangers that plague the internet. Of course, it’s not the consumer’s fault these dangers exist. But it’s common knowledge that you take responsibility for your actions.
Despite the frequent warnings, even from Blizzard themselves, people still found themselves with stripped characters. For these unfortunate people, Blizzard did character restorations which usually took one to three days to complete.
However, now Blizzard is telling it’s customer service representatives to dissuade people from getting character restorations and instead to take a care package to help them re-gear their characters. Of course, the customers are now outraged by Blizzards reluctance to restore their characters
A note from the author:
Here’s where I get a little pissed off. Blizzard does not have to do anything to help, not even to acknowledge you lost your gear in the first place. In fact, they could easily tell you to piss off and to not get hacked next time. The fact that they listen at all, not to mention do full restores for your stupidity, is a miracle. This over-entitled mentality running through most people has put a major strain on most companies. You pay a monthly fee to play the game, not for a personal ass licking from Blizzard (or any company for that matter) whenever you feel like you need a little rectal tickle. If you were to pay for a magazine subscription, the only thing that guarantees you is that a magazine will show up on the 15th of every month. It does not mean you can call up the editor and tell him what to print next month, how they should hold off on delivery until you get home from vacation, or to send you another because someone stole it out of your mailbox. Take some personal responsibility for a change and stop your fucking complaining.
The End of PC Gaming?
by Larz on Jan.08, 2010, under My Word
It seems with the growing power and popularity of gaming consoles, PC gaming has taken a backseat to development for games. By backseat I mean in the trunk, tied up and gagged. A vast majority of games released for the PC are usually console games modified to work on a computer. The problem with this is that these ported games usually don’t utilize the full potential of the medium on which they are being played.
Historically, PC games are more advanced than their console counterparts. Consoles like the NES and SNES were popular and had many fun titles to play. But if you wanted to play something more advanced than Super Mario World, you needed a computer. Computer games would include complex flight simulators, heavily detailed first person shooters, and addicting online real-time-strategy games.
Game developers seem to be moving away from the computer as a viable medium lately to placate the ‘safe’ market of Xbox, Playstation, and Wii consoles. They make quickly rushed titles with little or no quality assurance and mass produce these games just to offset the cost of production for the profit from sales. Granted, companies are obviously in business to make money, but computer games have always been a place to experiment with new technologies. Without computer gaming conventions, Xbox and Playstation would never have had online play, or at least not in the incarnation they do now.
PC gaming is expensive, sure. You need the hardware to play these games and it can be quite costly if you want some super gaming rig. Companies need to stop ignoring this medium, however, and start experimenting again. Stop trying to design games for safe overly-saturated markets (do we really need another first person shooter or ‘Gears of War’ knockoff?) and start trying to think up something new, inventive, and fun to play.
Salesmen
by Larz on Jan.06, 2010, under Vlog
Nothing worse than a slimy, lying business man in a cheap suit. Right ‘Buddy’?
Love Is For The Weak
by Larz on Dec.01, 2009, under My Word
People talk about love commonly in every day speech. Many young couples will throw the word around about as commonly as the word “is” without ever really giving it another thought. However, sometimes one of them truly means what they say when they use the word. This is unfortunate for them because the liklihood that their partner feels anything close to it is slimmer than being struck by lightning while holding a winning lottery ticket.
Why Windows is Better Than Mac
by Larz on Oct.07, 2009, under My Word
Windows is an enormously vast and dangerous beast existing in many incarnations and clones of itself each with their own flavor, behavior, and quirks. In fact, just about any two computers running any version of Windows are vastly different in hardware, software, and performance. In one office building, you could have two identical machines running the same version of Windows and one will always seem to run better than the other.
Now, some people would use this as a mark against Windows, but I disagree. Mac’s are known by the slogan “it just works”. But, that in and of itself, is the one major flaw of Macs. That sort of mindset spawns laziness. Always expecting it to “just work” when you press a button prepares you for nothing when the day comes that the button does nothing at all when pressed.
Windows users, on the other hand, those who have been on this little journey since MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 will tell you that there is a certain amount of pride in knowing what they know. They have seen it all from BSoD on bootup to entire boot sectors getting rewritten. They’ve tackled head first the onslaught of viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, malware, or any other little nuisance that was developed to make their Windows machine turn against them.
Windows users are battle-scarred, leathery, cynical, and bitter. They’ve been through the shit and saw hell, and they’re stronger because of it. They’ve become smarter, more aware, and can debug their way out of just about any problem a computer can throw at them. Mac users, on the other hand… well, their view of the computing world is so limited and narrow that they don’t see any difference between Macs and Windows thinking foolishly that they are identical except one works and the other doesn’t. This is, of course, nonsense.
Windows machines are a labrinth of possibilities and customizable options. When you turn on a Windows machine, you never know what you’re going to see.
There is a reason why Windows has so many problems. It’s because it can do a whole lot more. The more complex the machine, the more abundant the problems. I’ll even use an example to explain this.
Of all simple machines, we’ll use the lever. Push down on one side, the other side goes up. Simple right? You can’t really mess that up; action and result. Simple, effective, but limited. Sure, it’s hard to break it, but it can only really do so much. Now, compare a simple lever to a forklift. Same principle; it lifts things. But it can also move, has lights, beeps when backing up, and turns. Far more things can go wrong here.
For first time computer users, I suggest Macs to them. The less they have to break, the less likely it is to break. Leave Windows to the people who know what they’re doing.
Windows, with all of its flaws and bugs, its security holes and hassles, is a far superior operating system to Mac for the very reasons why people hate it.
Stop Asking Why!
by Larz on Sep.24, 2009, under My Word
I am getting really sick and tired of people trying to impose their elitist mindset on people who simply ask a question.
That being said, these forums are littered with moronic mouth-breathers who cannot just answer the damn question. Instead, answer someone’s question with a question of their own. They ask, “Why”. Who care’s Why? They don’t even bother to answer it and then ask why that person needs to know. They just ask why as if they have some profound insight into the situation and know that the person asking the original question is wasting everyone’s time.
If you don’t know the answer, or don’t want to help, shut up and get off the forums you simple-minded plebeian. It is not your place to ask why, only to give the answer the person is looking for or keep your mouth shut.
Innocent Poster: “How do you move a file from one folder to another?”
Elitist Prick: “Why would you want to do that?”
Me: “It doesn’t matter why you fucking idiot. Just answer the man or go die in a hole. By the way, just drag and drop it.”
Innocent Poster: “Thanks.”
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
by Larz on Aug.20, 2009, under My Word
I am going to attempt to put a new spin on this interpreted story.
First, we must look at the names and affects of each horsemen. Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death all seem as though they perform a specific purpose… but there is one problem. Pestilence, War, and Famine are all cancelled out by Death. They are not needed. They’re end result would be Death, but since Death would handle all of that anyway, they are obsolete in bringing about the end of the world. So, perhaps there is more to them or something wholly different.
Again, we must remember that these Four Horsemen were brought about to end the world. So, let’s take a look at the scripture.
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
Often called Pestilence, this Horsemen is actually referred to as Conquest more often. However, notice the symbolism of the crown and bow. This horsemen represents the corruption of the kings and the downfall of empires. One could refer to this as war, but not necessarily. The chaos that would ensue from a completely dismantled civilization from within would surely be catastrophic.
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come! Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a huge sword.
The order of these Horsemen plays a big part, I feel, in the end of the world according to Revelations. After the governments of the world are toppled by Conquest, War comes and finishes the work set in motion by Conquest.
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
Once War has finished his work, the Horsemen people refer to as Famine marches in. but I do not think I agree with the assumption that this horsemen represents famine. While he does mention food in this interpretation, it’s the wording that puzzles me. “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages” could mean food is scarce, but I think more so it represents Control. After War, a demoralized and scattered people would be easy to control. The scales in his hand represent the law of such control, the high prices for food it’s punishment, but saving the oil and wine (used in Christian mass) for people’s redemption.
When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Finally Death would ride out. Many believe that the sentence “They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” refers to each horsemen being given one quarter of the earth to affect. But what seems more apparent here is that Death itself would be the cause of Death by sword, famine, and plague over one quarter of the population. Since it makes no mention of Death, but only war, famine, and plague, it seems as though this horsemen takes to making the final blow on all outlying lands.
In this way, it would seem that the end of the world as people claim Revelations predicts would actually be a destabilization of civilization, a culling of the population, with certain mainstays of our political and religious ideals being destroyed and reformed. As a whole, the Four Horsemen represent chaos and anarchy, and they are the vessels to make this happen.
On a simpler note, they could each represent one of the four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter in that order.