July 31, 2003
Fuck Her Gently
Tenacious D style!
I have been looking for this clip for quite some time now.
Enjoy!
July 30, 2003
Things I've Pushed Through Toast
How do you like your toast?
Well this guy likes his with things pushed through it.
Goddam, I fucking love the internet!
State Of The Union Address
Let's face it folks. I am not cool. In fact, I am a huge geek. I spend my time staring at a small screen, looking for ways to keep you entertained. This has left me fat, and quite frankly, more than just a little bit sweaty. But once, just once in a while, I stumble upon something so great that if I was drinking milk, and not bourbon and ginger ale, it would be coming out my nose. Why does this little thing make me laugh so? I haven't a clue. I think it maybe time for me to abandon the intarweb for a little while and play some video games....
July 29, 2003
July 28, 2003
Fred Durst is at it again!
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a passionate hate for Fred Durst. I feel that Fred himself is a lying, cheating, media whore, thief who has nothing better to do than make others look bad while trying to make himself look good.
By now we all know about the infamous "Guitar Center Scam" in which Fred and his crew ripped off the original material from thousands of kids across the America. It would only be right that I crack a huge smile when I see him throw temper tantrums in front of thousands of on lookers.
A message to Fred ..... You are nothing without Wes Borland. You know it and so does the world. Please do us all a favor and quit while you're ahead.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/rock/cst-ftr-metal28.html
Metallica's righteous 'Anger' tops crumbling Bizkit
July 28, 2003
BY ANDERS SMITH LINDALL
Metallica is nothing if not tough. The metal veterans endured everything from alcohol rehab to litigation and a lineup change before emerging with their new album, "St. Anger." So it's no surprise that even a memorable meltdown by openers Limp Bizkit failed to derail the band's triumphant return to the local stage.
Tens of thousands of fans paid $75 apiece to attend Saturday's daylong event at the defunct Hawthorne horse track in Stickney, and Metallica responded with a performance worth every penny. The quartet's set featured a raft of churning hits, stellar showmanship and masterful use of the super-sized stage, replete with showy lighting, four huge video screens and well-placed pyrotechnics.
The metaphorical fireworks started much earlier, however, when heckling fans induced a profane tantrum from Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and the band quit playing after just 20 minutes.
It was easy to predict a rough reception for the rap-rock has-beens when a significant segment of the crowd booed a mention of the band by previous openers Linkin Park. When Limp Bizkit actually appeared around 7 o'clock, the boos intensified, and some fans pelted the stage with garbage.
The famously brainless Durst only fanned the flames, first encouraging the catcalls and flying trash, then swerving into a bizarre tirade against the crowd and city. Ranting that he'd fight anyone in earshot and spluttering explicit sexual putdowns, uncreative curses and ludicrous homophobic slurs, Durst simply self-destructed. Had the villain in "The Wizard of Oz" been a vile little boob like Durst rather than a snarly old lady in greenface, the movie's "I'm melting!" scene might have looked like this.
The crowd, perhaps stunned, calmed down, and Limp Bizkit played a few more songs (including a sarcastic, gay-bashing cover of George Michael's "Faith" with potty-mouth lyrics that would embarrass a fourth-grader). But then the band left the stage and Durst resumed his vulgar invective from the wings until, mercifully, he was relieved of the microphone.
The aborted set left fans to wait more than 90 minutes for Metallica, but the mood never turned ugly--maybe because a lengthy delay was better than suffering through any more Limp Bizkit.
The pause also provided time to ponder Metallica's recent trials. In just the last three years the band has hired a new bassist (Ozzy alumnus Robert Trujillo), sued Napster and attacked its own file-sharing fans, and made its first all-new studio album since 1996. Maybe most significantly, frontman Jason Hetfield sobered up, and the regrouped band's aggressive "St. Anger"--though met with some complaints about its lack of guitar solos and its lyrics that occasionally lapse into psychobabble ("I want my anger to be healthy")--debuted in June atop the charts.
Any lingering doubts about the band's vitality were blown away by its performance. Hetfield looked trim and sounded hale, roaring through "Master of Puppets" as he roamed the monstrous stage. Dynamo drummer Lars Ulrich infused "Harvester of Sorrow" with eye-popping intensity while guitar star Kirk Hammett launched the first of several showy solos. And the imposing Trujillo proved he's been welcomed with open arms: He leaned into Hetfield during a fiery jam at the end of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," and Hetfield happily cackled.
The old soldiers played their new tunes "Frantic" and "St. Anger" with power and purpose, and Hetfield even joked that "No Remorse" dated to 1918 (actually '83), but it was the vintage hits--like a long, potent jam on "Seek and Destroy"--that made Metallica's convincing claim for best big rock show in Chicago this summer.
Only 7, and he's addicted to porn
KAOHSIUNG - A seven-year-old Taiwanese boy is getting expert help for his porn addiction.
He started watching X-rated VCDs as a toddler because his grandfather, who was looking after him, liked to watch them, according to a newspaper report.
His mother, identified only as Mrs Liu, said her father thought the child would not understand what was going on, the United Daily News said. He was wrong.
When the toddler learnt how to switch TV channels, he would search for those showing pornography instead of cartoons....
When he was about three years old, his mother found him fondling his penis while a porn film was showing on TV.
A shocked Mrs Liu moved out of her father's home, where she lived because her soldier husband was seldom at home.
She began to monitor the boy's behaviour and noticed that he liked to be hugged by busty women and would touch their breasts unabashedly, the report said.
In kindergarten, he would lift his teachers' skirts and draw naked women instead of cartoon characters.
He peeped at a neighbour, a woman who had a habit of sleeping naked without closing the windows.
He also stole her underwear and continued to do so despite scoldings and beatings by his mother.
Mrs Liu finally realised her young son needed expert help after he started touching her while she was asleep, the newspaper said.
Doctors at a psychiatric hospital in Kaohsiung told her that her son's behaviour was the result of prolonged exposure to pornographic films.
They said that adults were mistaken if they think very young children do not get influenced by such material.
The original article can be found by clicking here.
July 27, 2003
My Trip To Mexico
During my daily whorings at Tribalwar I came across this post about a guys trip to Mexico that almost took his life.
I am not sure what it was that intrigued me about it, but I have a feeling it was the eerie detail in which he described everything. I PM'd him to get permission to use this story and I have yet to recieve a response. So I have moved ahead and decided to publish it anyway. If you have a problem with this, e-mail me and we'll work something out.
The story begins with a phone call.
Dylan and I had been hanging out at a coffee shop at around 11 on saturday night when he let slip the fact that he was leaving for Mexico the next morning, and after a couple of quick questions, the phone was ringing at my house. The conversation went something like this:
"Hello?"
"Hey, is mom there?"
"Yeah, let me get her"
". . ."
"Hello?"
"Hey mom, I need two hundred dollars to go to Mexico."
"What?"
"Two hundred dollars. Mexico."
"Oh well, you're in luck. I just happen to have some cash on me. When are you leaving?"
"About fourteen hours."
"How long are you going to be gone?"
"I'm not really sure. A week maybe."
"Ok, well, swing by the house before you go."
"Can do."
"Here, your dad wants to talk to you."
". . ."
"Hello?"
"Hey dad"
"I hear you're going to Mexico."
"Yup."
"Good. I need you to do two things for me."
"Uh, ok."
"Where are you going?"
"San Miguel de Allende."
"Very good. I need you to go to a bookstore and get something for me."
"Uh, ok."
"It's a little complicated, so I'll just write it out for you. Just give the paper to the clerk and they'll get you what I need."
"Ok."
"Also, you must find a building more than fifteen stories tall, and ask if they have a thirteenth floor."
"I can do that."
"Very good. I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Night."
Having been given funding, the ok to leave the country, and two bizarre little quests, I went to bed. The next morning I got up, went to my house, collected my paperwork and cash, got my dads request form, and got in a car heading for Mexico.
The original plan had been to drive all day and stay the night in Saltillo, but being the hyperactive youth that we are, we managed to convince them to continue driving through the night.
The trip was going completely uneventfully, and I was rapidly getting to know the other occupants of the car. There was my esteemed associate Dylan, Jackie, and Lilly. Jackie I had hung out with a few times, but didn't really know, and Lilly I had never met before we got in the car.
I don't know how many of you guys have traveled around in Mexico in the middle of the night with out of country plates, but the federales down there seem to find the very concept of this offensive. The minivan we were caravanning with was pulled over not less than eight times over the course of the night, and never ticketed once. The federales would just swagger up, look around inside the van, say something to the effect of "You seem like a nice family, have a good time in Mexico." and drive off. We decided they were bored and had been talking about us on the radio all night. A rousing game of cross-country "spot the gringos".
I wound up nodding off at around six in the morning, right after we switched drivers. At the time Jackie was driving, with Dylan asleep in passenger. I was behind the drivers seat sort of slumped over on Lilly, who was asleep laying on my lap.
I opened my eyes to find myself laying on a beach, looking up into the face of Lilly. Commenting to myself that my dreams aren't usually so vivid, I patiently waited to wake up (as I tend to do once I realize I'm dreaming). After a few seconds, my other senses began to fade in, and I realized that there were several things wrong with the tropical beach scenario. To begin with, Lilly looked fairly upset, and seemed to be paying particular attention to holding my turban on.
[Wait a second. . . when did I get a turban?]
It then dawned on me that the beach was mighty cold for a tropical paradise, and the sand felt more like jagged rock then coarse grains. About this time I realized I had been shivering pretty hard, and it was getting worse.
"Someone get a blanket on him, he's going into shock"
[Silly voice, why would I be going into shock?]
"And where's the damn ambulance?"
[Ambulance?]
About this time, my scenery changed. Up until this point, my field of view had consisted of the face of Lilly set against a backdrop of rolling storm clouds. And while this was unusual for a tropical beach, I hadn't really noted that fact.
Suddenly a few more faces shoved themselves into my vision, and before I had time to explain that I would really rather they get out of my dream and have Lilly come back, I noticed that these were my fellow passengers, and they were showing no small degree of concern.
[Dylan's lips are moving, why isn't he saying anything?]
[Wait, he is. . . why are we underwater?]
[We aren't underwater.]
As soon as I came to that conclusion, everything around me changed. The gentle crash of surf became the rush of passing cars, the cool breeze became a freezing wind. Gone was the beach. I was laying on the side of a highway, and I was very, very cold.
"Dude, are you still ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Ok man, just hang in there. The ambulance is coming."
Then I tried to move my head to look around, and I was again aware of my turban.
[Wait, that's not a turban, that's the sheet you were using when you went to sleep]
[Why is it cold and sticky?]
[Why is it wet?]
"Uhh. . I don't think moving your head is a very good idea dude."
[Why isn't it a good idea?]
[What the hell?]
I had turned my head, and part of it had stayed behind.
"Still with us man?"
"Yeah, what happened?"
"We crashed."
"Oh"
"Yeah, you're pretty fucked up."
"Oh."
"Hang on, the ambulance is coming."
"Ok."
Then I remembered I had been having other dreams. One where we were fishtailing. One where the back windshield exploded and dirt and gravel poured over me like a waterfall. Shreds and fragments with about as much continuity as a dark room with a strobe light.
Eventually the ambulance got there, and I was strapped to a board and hauled off. The whole incident struck me asvery amusing, since everyone I had seen being loaded into ambulances had always seemed to be so very serious about the whole thing. I wanted to stick my tongue out at the camera, but my mouth wouldn't open and there wasn't a camera handy.
We eventually got the the clinic, and it was just as dingy and third world as I imagined it would be. It was a tiny stucco hut. I don't think it had windows. They gave me X-rays and put me on an IV, then proceeded to unwrap my head (which was one of the weirdest experiences of my life) and clean out the wound with what seemed to be a wire brush (one of the more painful experiences of my life).
They gave me a local anesthetic, but it didn't work very well. I remember laying there with detached interest as they fished around inside my head, digging out gravel and bits of automotive glass. I remember when they took something that looked like a fishhook and started sewing my cheek back on
Despite the fact that I must have spent several hours in the clinic, I only have a few distinct memories. I remember taking the X-rays, I remember them pouring bowls of water over my head to try to get some of the mud off. I remember Lilly holding my hand. I remember them trying to put my face back together.
Then Jackie's mom runs in and informs them to stop sewing, we're going to a private hospital.
I couldn't understand what they said exactly, but it was something to the effect of "Oh, ok. That'll be two hundred and fifty pesos then." (about $25)
So we load up into another ambulance (we had to hire this one: $120) and drive about 100km to a private hospital. If the clinic was a shitty third world hut, this place was the polar opposite. It's brand new, state of the art. Everything is spotless, and it seems more like a day spa than a hospital. They hauled me off and had me in a CAT scan before I was even checked in.
There was a lot of wheeling around on a stretcher, and I was moved from bed to table to stretcher again a few times. I don't really remember that much about it. It seems like the next thing I knew, I was talking to my new best friend and soon-to-be surgeon. He explained that while he hadn't had a good look at the wound on account of not wanting to unwrap my head, he was confident that he could do a good repair job.
Eventually, I was wheeled into the operating room, and I met my anesthesiologist. Two things are worth mentioning about this particular experience. The first is that Mexican operating rooms seem a little different than American ones, specifically that everything is off to the sides, the table is sitting in the middle of a HUGE open space. This specifictable was also build like a padded cross. I was strapped down like I was about to be crucified, and spent about five minutes laying there before I struck up a conversation with the anesthesiologist. The second thing worth mentioning was the anesthesiologist himself. He seemed completely out of place in Mexico. He was eastern European, with a strong accent, and he was completely fucking crazy.
"Hello! We stitch you up!"
"Uh. . ok"
"You having GOOD TIME in MEXICO?!"
"I'm about to have surgery because of a car crash, but other than that I'm doing ok"
"VERY GOOD! You like MUSIC?!"
"Uh. . . sure"
(He puts on "The Police - Every breath you take")
"So how you wanna do this?! We can give you GAS, we can give you general, we can do SEDATIVE!"
"Well, I don't really want to go under general, and I used to have asthma, so how about sedative?"
"OK GOODNIGHT!"
"wha~?"
I woke up in the emergency room.
I was kept under observation for one night, and released the next day. My parents called and said something to the effect of "we're going to fly down and come get you", to which I said "Fuck that, I'm still on vacation."
Having set my affairs in order at the hospital, we continued on to San miguel, where we stayed for another two days.
The place we got to stay in was a fucking mansion, three stories tall with roof access on floors two and three. I can't even guess at the square footage, but it was huge. It cost us $500 to rent the place for a week, and that was split between ten people. The first night I wasn't good for anything but laying around in bed, but the next day I got up and we went to the hot springs, and hit a bar that night. Unfortunately we had to return a day early because I needed to get back to the states and get stitches out, but all in all I had a pretty good time (massive facial trauma aside).
I intend to go back next year.
************************************************** *********
Cliff notes: Went to mexico, car crash. got fucked up. See pics.
As far as I know, the crash happened because we were passing a semi, and the girl hit some loose gravel and braked. we started fishtailing and she overcorrected, so we left the road. The median was a ditch, so we went in and flipped over, slid along the ground upside down and backwards for a ways, then hit something else and flipped again. we wound up right side up, facing the wrong way.
This is the car where it landed. Pic is looking north, taken from in the median/ditch where we wound up. you can sort of see our path in the background, we made it 50-60 yards down the median after we left the road
Another shot of the car
Car in junkyard
The indentation/wet spot on the seat is where my head wound up, I was sitting on the left, bent over to the right, and my head was crushed under the roof. if you look closely you can see the dark blood smear on the upper interior edge of the roof
another junkyard shot, note collapsed roof where we flipped onto it
front bumper
Me in the clinic
They put these on me because I was down like 2-3 pints of blood and they were worried about blood pressure, they were REALLY tight.
This is the first my surgeon saw of the wound, my head before and after unwrapping, and my best impersonation of a corpse. (mildly graphic)
This is the second set he took, exploring the wound and showing the nerve that was cut. I have no control over my right eyebrow now. (also graphic)
They actually took the slice in the middle OUT, so I'm light a fair bit of flesh on my right side now. This is after I got back to the states, the day before the facial stitches came out.
And this is where misc. debris fucked up the back of my head
July 26, 2003
July 25, 2003
eXtreme Elvis: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
Vancouver was recently blessed with a visit from eXtreme Elvis. What can I say about it? I'm not to sure, it's kind of a blank for me. Maybe i was mentally scarred by it. Nah, probably just drunk. Damn you to hell $9 dollar pitchers!
It was hot, it was sweaty in the bar. This guy is definately insane. We were a little worried about what was going to happen, but we had no idea what was in store for us. I only wish I'd got a picture of him flossing his ass with the american flag.
That's really about all I've got say about the night. Me and Mr. Guy got his autograph, and Jesus peed off the Georgia Street viaduct. W00t!
Oh yeah, and here's one last pic for you. I know you love sweaty, fat and naked Elvis impersonators.
Koreans aren't the only ones eating dogs
German fishermen spent last weekend hunting for a giant catfish that ate a pensioner's dog.
The mammoth fish, weighing up to 40 kilos, grabbed the dachshund puppy as it played in shallow water in a lake in Moenchengladbach, Germany.
Park keeper Juergen Schmidt said: "It was like that scene in Jaws - all frothing water and just a pathetic yelp from the dog."
Irene Sommer, who was taking her two children for a walk by the lake, said: "I couldn't believe my eyes. I heard the old woman screaming, she kept saying, 'My dog, my dog,' and pointing wildly at the water.
"Then she started to run away with the dog lead still in her hand. She was completely beside herself."
Park gardener Detlef Berschens says nobody really knows how the catfish ended up in the lake, but that it has been there for a long time without causing problems.
The head of a German angling society says he has dozens of volunteers willing to fish round the clock to catch the fish.
A local restaurant owner has offered a reward to anyone who catches the beast
July 24, 2003
July 22, 2003
The Micro Wrestling League
We all know that everyone has a special place in their heart for people who are vertically challenged. Midget tossing has now become the national sport of the Hell's Angels. We can't forget about "Wee Man" of "Jackass" fame either.
Now we have the Micro Wrestling League. Fuck the WWE!! I want to see midgets pounding the shit out of one another.
Turkey Fuckers
Need to get your Turkeys in the mood for lovin'?
It looks like Kmart has the answer for you!!
Delta Breeding Tom Turkey Decoy
Item no: 976710
OUR PRICE:
$24.99
Field tested and proven to be effective in attracting turkeys, the Delta Breeding Tom Turkey Decoy simulates a breeding bird and is designed to be used in conjunction with the Hot Hen (sold separately).
July 21, 2003
Elvis Changed The Face Of Rock 'N Roll, Man
My friends and I went to see the insane brillance of eXtreme Elvis this past Friday. To sum it up in four small words, BEST FUCKING SHOW EVER. If he comes to your town, bring a towel and get your ass out to see this guy. You will never be the same again.
Stay tuned for a full review of this show written by our own "Jesus Bonehead"!
July 20, 2003
Star Wars Galaxies: My Personal Crash Log
As a kid I loved the Star Wars movies. Over the course of my relatively short life I have followed this franchise from the movies, toys and all the other useless crap they put out in an attempt to make buckets of money from poor, unsuspecting consumers like myself. At least in those days the products were actually worth their weight in gold. Like many people out there we all couldn't wait to see what Mr. Lucas would bring us with his new movies. I have one word for them ..... "SHIT". I have seen 70's anal porn flicks that have better storylines than these movies. Yet the dedicated Star Wars fans blew it off and subliminally forced themselves to praise these films like the baby Jesus.
Moving onto the gaming franchise lies a whole other beast in itself. I absofuckingloutely loved X-wing, Tie Fighter, and XVT, but as of late the Star Wars fans have had to put up with mediocre titles. Amazingly enough, people still manage to buy this crap by the tens of thousands and thus sealing our fate that we will see more poorly crafted Star Wars titles in the future. So much to the fact that I am convinced I could take a small cardboard box, let a big greasy load drop in it, seal it up, get some Star Wars licensing, slap a label on it, call it "WOOKIE DUNG". HEY!!! You've got a new Star Wars product! Well this is exactly what the highly anticipated game "Star Wars Galaxies" is.
Since the release of this game I have been following the wonderfully crafted tech support section for this game. I can't understand why anyone would want to buy this game after taking a read of those forums. It's kind of like virtual Russian roulette with a video game. Not only do you have to pay 50 bucks for the game, but you have to pay an additional 13 bucks a month to the developers so you can essentially beta test it for them! Sound familiar? Of course it does!!
I really wish people would stop being sheep for Lucasarts, and all the other developers out there that hype their products to no end with flashy visuals and promises of "unique" features". Just do everyone a favor ... STOP BUYING THIS CRAP!! Research it before you get into it. Just because it has "STAR WARS" on the box does not mean that the product is going to be great! By purchasing this crap the only thing you are doing is ensuring that you will see another half-assed games on the market. So please game fans.... Pick your titles wisely. It's one thing to pay 50 bucks for a game and its another to have to pay a developer a monthly fee to deal with the headaches of CTD's, BSOD's, Character Deletion, and annoying bugs .. just to name a few.
Last night I was browsing through the tech forums and came across this post by someone using the online moniker of "Xodec". I personally found it quite comical. If you are thinking of buying this game, be sure to read this article first (and the rest of the tech forums). ENJOY! I know this guy isn't.
July 17th, 2003 - 1830hrs
Fourteen times I've logged into SWG galaxies today.
Of those, I logged out voluntarily and of my own volition because I was done playing exactly twice.
Twice more, I logged out because, having crashed, I'd lost ALL of my toolbar and UI settings, and I wanted to reload them by copying the backed-up files instead of painstakingly having to recreate them.
That leaves TEN crashes today.
In the spirit of being constructive with my concerns, as opposed to venting my growing virtual anger... I thought I'd share with you all my experiences... each and every time the game crashes, I'll make my first stop here, to refresh my little thread, or when one of the zealous mods decides to close it on me, open a new one.
Lest you think me unhelpful, I've already posted my stats and emailed and phones and /bugreported and bug tooled many times. I've been more than helpful, and I've been more than patient. So, instead of SCREAMING into someone's ear at the very top of my lungs EVERY time my computer crashes, and I have to wait five minutes for windows to slowly trawl through disk checking to find the errors caused when SWGCLIENT_R.exe implodes, I'll spend my time here, constructively adding to this thread.
July 17th, 2003 - 2032hrs
Most recently, at 20:32 ET, my virtual self was peacefully resting on Endor, preparing to do a little harvesting while my probot watched over me. Then SWGCLIENT_R.exe locked up hard, for the tenth time today and about the 104th time since the game was released and installed on my system. What joy, once again, rebooting, hoping that this time, SWGCLIENT_R.exe didn't decide to destroy my hard drive, hoping that this time will be the last, that I'll log back in and all will be well, and I'll get to play more, perhaps actually interact with people before everything falls to pieces.
Ah well, its a foolish dream, I realize. Perhaps as foolish as spending $50 for the game in the first place. As they say, fools rush in... But whatever the case, don't be worried... I shall return to this thread again, when the game crashes again, which should be within an hour of this post.
July 17th, 2003 - 2135hrs
I am back. Back into windows. Back on this thread.
Yes, I got ten glorious minutes in SWG... and then the ELEVENTH crash of the day.
I spent more time rebooting, waiting for windows to grind through disk checking, than I did PLAYING the game. I spend a lot of time watching the disk checking screen. Its gotten so used to running, it won't even let me cancel it before it runs. And, of course, most of the time it finds NOTHING. So, while my virtual self remains on Endor waiting for some celestial alignment to allow me to do something, I'm enjoying re-reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. More than 900 pages and I'll bet ya I finish it before I get my toon* back to Tatooine. So lets see... if all goes as SOE apparently planned... I'll be posting here again in about 20 to 30 minutes.
* I really hated the use of the word 'toon' to describe characters in the game. But now I've come to see the comical wisdom behind it... after all... isn't this experience some sort of animated joke?
July 17th, 2003 - 2154hrs
Silly me... Can't play because the servers are down.
Perhaps they've taken the game down to fix it... perhaps I'll be able to login and play for hours and days at a time! Perhaps all my /bug reports and emails and posts have helped make some small difference in making the game playable for all and sundry. Perhaps I'll win the lottery and...
Oh... the server is back up now. See you again in twenty minutes after that windows disk checking thing finishes.
July 17th, 2003 - 2204hrs
CRASH!
What a shock.
July 17th, 2003 - 2205hrs
Disk Checking. I wonder how much the guy who wrote the text for that screen got paid. I wonder this because I could have written it just as well. Although I wouldn't put the part about being able to cancel the disk checking when it won't let me cancel it.
11 percent compete...
Oh yeah, time to read more Cryptonomicon.
33 percent complete...
I wonder if disk check will find anything wrong with my hard disk this time.
56 percent complete...
Interesting details about NAIA in the book... you can learn a lot from books. A lot more than from watching disk checking. I wonder if disk checking is considered a feature or a bug in SWG.
98 percent complete...
The clock is approaching 22:13 as disk checking wraps up and I get back into the loving arms of Windows XP Home. Time to login to the forums... the most SWG fun I'm going to have tonight it seems. At least I'm getting some quality reading and disk checking in.
July 17th, 2003 - 2231hrs
Maybe its not just me... maybe its the whole galaxy, which at this point seems to be reloading. Again.
The good thing is that a lot of people are NOT having problems. They're able to play for endless hours, shoot up the skill trees, get dozens of giant flea-like pets and mondo-killer droids, massive mansions filled with oodles of furniture and plants and crafting stations. Then, when they have a moment, they go post that people who have crashes should complain or rant about it. God love 'em. Cause I sure don't.
Hrm... how long DOES it take for a galaxy to reload? And does that count against my harvestor and home maintenance time? Do I pay for server reloads?
Wax on, Wax off
July 17th, 2003 - 2248hrs
My virtual toon turns to my virtual probot and says, "Probot, we gots to get out of this place for sure." We make a mad dash through across the forest moon, reach the smugglers base and...
July 17th, 2003 - 2253hrs
Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have hit thirteen. Thirteen ugly crashes in one single day's attempt at playing SWG. Lucky thirteen.
July 17th, 2003 - 2254hrs
Welcome to Disk Checking. The captain has extinguished the fun sign, which means you can sit here and watch us search for disk errors caused by the crash.
At this point, I blink because I think Disk Checking is mocking me. Normally, I see this:
One of your disks needs to be checked
for consistency. You may cancel
the disk check, but it strongly recommended
that you continue.
What I thought I saw was this:
One of your disks is getting thrashed by
Star Wars Galaxies. You may cancel
your account, but it is strongly recommended
you feed the SOE beast more money.
I blink, and its gone. But I swear it was there.
July 17th, 2003 - 2303hrs
Disk Check is complete. Our tray tables upright and our seatbelts buckled, we re-enter Windows. Will we try to play SWG some more? Will the servers be up? Is there hope? Stay tuned, bat-friends, same bat-forum, in just about half-an-hour
July 17th, 2003 - 2323hrs
CRASH! This time, its one of the new ones, a crash I haven't seen until today. I click on something in the UI, in this case the ticket taking droid on Endor, and BAM. The monitor shuts down. Only its not my monitor, its the videocard. Basically, its just gone dead. Windows is still running. I can tell this because by mobo has a nice status display. SWGCLIENT_R.exe has somehow turned off my videocard. My only option? Reboot!
July 17th, 2003 - 2324hrs
And yes, my videocard is just fine. Now on to Disk Checking! Thank god, hadn't seen it for so long. This time it actually finds an error! Seems my SWG .uis file has had its first allocation unit truncated! Good to know. And fortunately for me, one of the files I keep backed up so I don't have to RESET ALL OF MY OPTIONS/UI/TOOLBARS every single time I crash.
July 17th, 2003 - 2332hrs
23:32 ET. Returning now to windows, I'm left to ponder whether I should really try this AGAIN. I mean, jeez, fourteen nasty, disk churning crashes in one day, am I that much of a sadist that I would put my machine in jeopardy AGAIN to play this game?
And I'm left to ponder why my GeForce 4 4200ti, with the very latest Nvidia drivers, in a system that runs every other piece of software I have, is the source of my crashes. I believe this is the case because my crashes come in two varieties. The one where the videocard is turned off. And another, where I get a windows hardware failure message when I reboot, a message that points to a file that indicates the videocard got stuck in an infinite loop. And yes, I've sent those files dutifully off to SOE so they can tech support my problems away.
I'd really appreciate it if someone in a position to know would tell me that this is a problem that the development team is aware of and will address. I don't expect this to happen, but it would be nice.
July 18th, 2003 - 0048hrs
Returning, finally, from the Hell of Ewoks, I arrive at Bestine, home sweet freakin' home, and guess what... 23 uninterrupted minutes of playtime, culiminated in nearly 14k of quick resource sales, and yes, no CRASH! Did I finally pay off my game-karma debt? Did the devs push some update when radiant was down? Did hell freeze over? I don't know, and I don't care. For I was able to use the /logout command and determine my own game destiny. My toon now happily camps at the Bestine Bank, waiting for tomorrow's dash to the various harvestors and generators. What will tomorrow bring? Will I be able to play for long stretches, or will my friend Disk Checking and I spend long minutes glowering at each other through the glass wall that seperates us? Only time will tell, but I will say this... when I crash tomorrow... I shall return.
July 18th, 2003 - 0855hrs
Again this morning... more than an hour of uninterrupted play. No crash, not even a flicker in the graphics. Also, very light population... is it a server load issue? Does anyone know? I guess not, or they'd fix it for good. Still, its these crash-free sessions that convince me to come back for more. Because it is a wonderful game once I get past watching Disk Checking. Of course, my friends list was gone and the tab-key targetting seemed a bit wonky this morning.
July 18th, 2003 - 1423hrs
Two solid hours of game-play before Disk Checking and I get re-acquainted. As usual in these situations, Disk Checking takes her sweet time going through my files, and finding nothing wrong, lets me get on my way. Sort of like a Government agency... any government agency... which is in essence, if not fact, what Microsoft is these days. Regardless, this is my first crash of the day, and I did get some substantial time in the game. I only hope this crash, another "turn off my videocard" type crash, didn't eat that mining installation deed I was waiting to retrieve from a vendor.
July 18th, 2003 - 1452hrs
SWGCLIENT_R.exe Fatal Exception! Woot! I'm overjoyed because THIS time, I don't actually have to watch Disk Checking! CTD! Yeah!
July 18th, 2003 - 1536hrs
Crash. Videocard go boom. Me go Rebootsie. Me see Disk Checking again. Me sorta gettin' bored with the repitition. Maybe this is what they really mean when they talk about grinding?
Vaugh, the files and info are in your mailbox. I've already sent them to someone named Jason Neuhauser, and posted them here in previous crash-related threads. I appreciate the attention and hope that I, and the others affected by these problems, will at least hear something positive about a resolution shortly.
July 18th, 2003 - 1820hrs
Crash. Screen freezes, system locks up, and we're off to rebooting and disk checking. I realize full well that SOE is aware of this problem: They have my files and I will help them troubleshoot this problem. But this is still getting so very... old.
July 18th, 2003 - 1828hrs
And a new form of crash. SWGCLIENT_R.exe crashes at the login screen, and we go back to the desktop. Must be some form of karma. There are those of you who will absolutely not believe this, but I can run all my other games and programs without difficulty. While I've devoted most of my time recently to SWG and Neverwinter Nights, I run Unreal Tournament, Battlefield 1942, Army Ops, Blackhawk Down and GTA: Vice City without problem. Bah.
July 18th, 2003 - 1834hrs
Twice in a row. Perhaps it is karma. A sign from the gods: YOU WILL NOT PLAY SWG! GO FORTH AND BE GONE, FOR THINE ARE TO PLAY THE GAME NEVERMORE.
Hey aulus-blacksun! If I EVER get to Bestine, I really do want to buy those harvestors from you.
July 18th, 2003 - 2051hrs
Firing up SWGCLIENT_R.exe... my absolute favorite program now according to the Windows Start Menu... I discover that all my toons have gone bald and low... I cannot connect to Xodec of the Radiant Server... the connecting to galaxies saga you've all heard of so much. Bah. This disturbing trend does not disturb me... I pick an alt-toon... Xodec of Scylla. And so we begin our adventure on Talus. Gloriously sound, by the way, only one tab in the dxdiag.
July 18th, 2003 - 2056hrs
FREEZE! CRASH! Been there, done that, reboot, skip disk checking, why bother?
Moral of the story so far? It doesn't appear to the sound.
Two guesses from the bleacher seats... networking or graphics. Take your pick. I've got 15,000 credits I bought off a guy on ebay for $19.55* on graphics code. I know some of my crashes have been tagged by windows as display device stuck in an infinite loop. Of course, I've got a pretty standard GeForce4 4200Ti with the latest Nvidia drivers. Wonder if those latest drivers are the cause. If you've got the same card and are having, or better yet, not having crashes, what driver are you using.
* Note for the humor impaired: Ebay. Not.
July 18th, 2003 - 2356hrs
Time to end another glorious day of SWG. Not that I've actually played that much in the last 12 hours. I wanted to. This was the last day of my weekend. I had hoped to set up my new medium harvestors. I'd just placed one half-way out into the wilderness from Bestine when I crashed the last time. Because its so far out, I'd set it up with four days maintenance and power. Now I hear the resources on Radiant have shifted. Fabulous. As for my other harvestors and generators... I think they'll last into tomorrow... when I'm at work.
I enjoy sitting at the select a character screen, staring at my now sad little toons, with their generic clothes, their bald heads and bland, featureless faces. It's like looking in a mirror... only I paid $50 not to stare at myself but to get a personal glimpe into the fantasy world I... and most of you... have cherished since 1977. I guess, like most fantasies and dreams, its not going to come true. At least not right now. Perhaps thats really the lesson... that we're not going to wake up tomorrow in a galaxy far, far away... with our force-sensitive slots and bowcasters and Corellian freighters. Perhaps the SWG we have now is really a lesson in reality, the reality of lost friend lists and lost corpses and server crashes and bizarre waits at the bazaars and... oh nevermind... you know the drill.
So, for now, I leave you with last indelible message... the one I've been seeing the better part of the last few hours.
Loading...
Now connecting to the Galaxy
July 19th, 2003 - 0044hrs
Fool that I am, I check ONE more time, and sure enough, I can get into Radiant. Never mind that my toon at the login screen is bald and bland, I'm back baby! And what a fabulous time to be back! Resource shift! Gotta rush rush rush all over Tatooine, dig up and reset my harvestors... move move move before all the powergamers beat me to it and get all the best spots. I run to my medium harvestor out in the desert... switch it over to one of the new forms of copper. Don't even need to uproot the damned thing.
Then its rush rush rush back to Bestine, surveying all the way... look at all those amazing new resources. Find a sweet spot for low grade ore... 80+. But too close to Bestine... so I rush over the hill and there I see the powergamers, throwing up their mega-harvestors everywhere. Gotta hurry. I got two slots and two personal miners in my inventory. Throw one up... bingo. A sweet spot... not just for gemstones but also for steel! I fire up the miner and then rush to Jester's... my favorite little store... not very far away at all. Aulus-blacksun is gonna sell me another medium harvestor. Just the thing I need for the nearby sweetspot.. before the parking lot is paved over and full of mega-miners. I run in the door and down the hall... there he is... I say hello...
FREEZE! CRASH! FORCED TO REBOOT!
Jeebus in the stars, I have really had it with this stoopid crashing crap.
And to top it all off, when I get back to Windows and try to launch the game again... I can't even get past the login server.... CRASH! Four times in a row, right to the desktop. So now, all the powergamers and l33t doodles are gonna get all the sweet spots and me and my poor little bald headed, generic clothed freak-a-toon are gonna get left out in the cold, living on the streets, begging for credits like some of the low-life scum already do. Oh yeah, its over baby. Gonna sell that probot for medical experiments and start living on jawa-kebabs and whomp-there-it-is-rat stew.
Don't hate the playa... hate the game that hate the playa
July 19th, 2003 - 0826hrs
After an hour of watching SWGCLIENT_R.exe crash after the splash screens... I'm now loading objects. The vagaries of this game's decision to let me play confound me.
July 19th, 2003 - 0832hrs
Connnection to SWG Lost
At least I got one of my harvestors planted in a good spot before my link died. Still have to make runs to my other groups... and dang if I don't have to go to work, too! Shoulda called in sick, I mean, I have to have priorities in my life, right? Wait... if I call in sick, I might get in trouble, might lose my job and then where would I get $15 to pay SOE next week.
Well.. back to loading objects. Clearly... its better than disk checking.
July 19th, 2003 - 0906hrs
Connection to SWG Lost. This must be due to bringing the server down for its daily bath and hair tonic. In my glee at being able to play, I'd forgotten about this fact. Nonetheless, and they've been asked this a million times, why can't SOE broadcast a warning that the servers are coming down? A simple "Heya morons, we're gonna dump you off in 35 seconds. RTFWebsite."
Still... I have managed to accomplish some things. I got my solar harvester replanted on the only sweet spot near Bestine. Still haven't gotten back to my home and the three harvesters there. Guess I'll have to wait until I get home from work tonight. And hope there's something good already underfoot.
I also wish I'd had time to rush back to the Bazaar and remove all my auctions for resources. All of those resources, no longer available in the ground, become much more valuable, especially to crafters of all stripes who used those specific materials in schematics.
And as I prepare to march out the door to another day grinding RL XP, someone explain to me HOW the game can seem to work perfectly fine one session and then come up with three or four ways to crash the next? My style of play doesn't alter between sessions... the things I do don't change... my machine isn't different... and the only changes to the software environment are within SWG itself. Isn't it logical to assume that the crash problems I, and so many others, have been having lies with SWGCLIENT_R.exe?
July 19th, 2003 - 1800hrs
The title of this essay is my 0.02
Friends.... Romans.... Countrymen....
Lend me your ears.
I am not going to pay $15.00 a month to play DISK CHECKING.
Arrive home. Decide to play SWG before dinner. Want to get to my still stranded harvestors before the hard-earned maintenance runs out. Fire up my dear friend, SWGCLIENT_R.exe. Watch it sit on the Connecting to the Galaxy screen for a couple of minutes. Then paydirt. I'm back on Tatooine. Don't know WHERE on Tatooine I am, since this isn't the scenary I remember when I got dumped out this morning. But, here I am, time to move on...
July 19th, 2003 - 1805hrs
Freeze! Crash!
I stare at the screen, numb, overcome by the ennui that only the perpetually crash-ridden must feel, and that the blessed in SWG land have never experienced. I am not surprised, I am not angry, I am not unhappy... simply bored. Bored that this game, for which I've paid good hard-earned real world money, simply won't play. Bored with the implied accusation that my computer system itself is somehow at fault. Bored with DISK CHECKING, which is really a very bad game. Its not very interactive... just that ESC key press sometimes before it starts that can get you out of it. These days I don't even get that.... its as if DISK CHECKING is also afflicted the the SWG crash ennui. "Oh, my, crashed again," it thinks in a neutral, bored, medium blue accent. DISK CRASHING is also not surprised, or angry, or unhappy about running again. DISK CHECKING and I see eye-to-eye these days. I have put aside by dislike for its monopolistic domination of the boot process, and see to the core of what I now know to be a caring, thoughtfully written piece of software. DISK CHECKING looks at me as if to say, "my friend, I do not crash your machine. I am here for you." And I am reassured by this knowledge: that even if they never fix SWGCLIENT_R.exe so that it works on my machine, and the machines of so many others, DISK CHECKING will always work, quietly, efficiently, patiently. Fixing the errors caused by SWGCLIENT_R.exe munges up files on my hard disk. Hour by hour, day by day. Microsoft does not charge me to use DISK CHECKING. This is a good thing, because then I would be broke. Of course, not having any money might be a good thing... I might not have to even consider whether to give SOE $15.00 next week to spend another month watching DISK CHECKING.
Is anyone at SOE doing anything about these crashes? Do you have a clue whats causing them? Have you so many other problems that this one is simply in a queue somewhere, waiting to be uncovered? Do you not think it might be appropriate to inform your paying customers what steps are being taken to solve their problems?
SOE... I'd like some answers. I think I'm entitled to some answers. That alone will go a long way for me, and I believe you'll find, so many other of your customers, to determining whether you get my $15.00 a month, which just so happens to work out to about 0.02 an hour.
And that's my 0.02.
July 19th, 2003 - 1959hrs
Freeze. Crash. Forced to reboot.
Time in-game, pre-crash, 12 minutes, running across Bestine. Fun game, running across Bestine. Ooo... lets do something besides running across Bestine. Nope. Crash. Sadly, no disk checking this time. What a shame. SOE, why does the game continue to crash for me and for the others? When are you going to address these issues, if only to say: "Hello... we know you are crashing and we have a crack team working on it." You can even LIE TO US if you want to. Who would know the difference anyway? Hello?
July 19th, 2003 - 2032hrs
Hello, its me. If its 8:32pm, what time is it?
Freeze. Crash. Let's give the reboot button a little workout. No, Disk Crashing, I'm bypassing you this time.
Well, that completes my experiment... I think I've tried all variations of graphic options... all with the same result. I've played with sound off and sound on.... same result. I've tried out the options under the advanced tab... crashes still come along. I've tried playing with the lights on and with the lights off... same result. I even tried playing without looking at the monitor, thinking that maybe I could fool my nemisis... SWGCLIENT_R.exe into believe I wasn't ACTUALLY playing. Didn't work.
SWGCLIENT_R.exe is evil. He taunts me, knowing my only option is to uninstall him. Knowing I will have wasted $50, and by default, countless hours playing and trying to play this game. About the only good that will have come of this experience is the book I'm writing, called "I Bought Star Wars Galaxies and Now I Wonder Why."
don't hate the playa. Hate the company that inflicted SWGCLIENT_R.exe on the playa.
July 19th, 2003 - 2054hrs
The Trial
by Xodec Kafka
a play in three acts
Act I
A Courtroom. Daytime.
A.D.A. Jack McCoy paces in front of the witness, the accused, who has been called to testify in his own behalf. The jury watches in rapt attention.
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: So did you or did you not, on the night of July 19, 2003, at approximately 8:54, cause Xodec's computer to crash?
SWGCLIENT_R.exe: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right of protection from self-incrimination in the 5th amendment.
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Have you crashed Xodec's computer at any time?
SWGCLIENT_R.exe: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right of protection from self-incrimination in the 5th amendment.
McCoy turns to the jury, smiling, arms spread wide
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: So, you won't answer my questions. You won't help us learn what happened. Do you expect these people to believe for a moment that you aren't responsible for thousands... hell... hundreds of thousands of computer crashes worldwide?
Defense Laywer: You don't have to answer that!
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: It's a simple question.
Defense Lawyer: Your honor! I object!
Judge: Overruled. The witness will answer the question.
SWGCLIENT_R.exe: I don't know anything about any crashes. If you're crashing, it must be your fault.
Defense Lawyer: Stop. Be Quiet.
SWGCLIENT_R.exe: Yeah, your fault. Because you were sucked enough to buy this program. You were sucked enough to give SOE you credit card number. If I don't work, if I quote crash unquote, too damned bad! What are you gonna do about it? (Laughs hysterically)
Defense Lawyer: Your honor! Chambers!
Judge: Mister McCoy?
McCoy shrugs, bemused.
Act II
Judge's Chambers. McCoy and Defense Lawyer stand before the Judge, who is seated behind her large, messy desk.
Defense Lawyer: He's asking too many questions, your honor. In Jurasik versus Katsulas, the supreme court ruled that software shouldn't be taken to task if it doesn't work. And this is clearly a case of being taken to task.
Judge: I'm aware of that ruling. Mister McCoy?
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Your honor, we all know SWGCLIENT_R.exe is at fault. You know it, I know it.
Defense Lawyer: Knowing it and proving it are too different things.
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Perhaps in a legal court. But this is the Court of Public Opinion. And the opinions have been mounting up. Posts about a variety of crashes mount on this board faster than they can be read. And not just crashes! Bugs galore.
Judge: I would like to know where my friend's list has gone.
A.D.A. Jack McCoy: Exactly! So, I think its not so much a case of proving anything. We already know where the problem lies. We can't explain why it only affects some, but not all the people. But maybe we should....
The screen goes fuzzy for a moment, and the image is replaced by video of three thin, neatly coiffed elves in black uniforms. One of the screeches, in a tiny high-pitched voice: "Nazis!" The screen then fuzzes out and returns to the Judge's Chambers. McCoy and the Defense Lawyer exchange startled glances.
Judge: Well, you heard them. Discussion's over. Godwins Law.
Act III
Interior, a software store. The lights are bright, and reflect off of rows of glossy game boxes. Loud electronic music and sound effects from a PS2 demo console fill the air. Dozens of shoppers walk through the aisles. A young boy spies a row of dark boxes.
Boy: Mommy! Look! Star Wars Galaxies! Can I have it?
Mom: Yes, Timmy. Let's buy it right now!
The camera pulls back to reveal, standing in the foreground, Captain Merrill Stubing on everyone's favorite Cruise Ship. He is dressed is his best starched white uniform shirt and shorts. A wide, happy smile is on his face, and his eyes twinkle as he says...
Captain Stubing: Thanks for playing the Gong Show. Like all good contestants, you've one a nice, thick, spiral bound manual and a really cool, round silverly piece of plastic. Not guaranteed to do anything at all.
-= The End =-
For those who may have missed it in all the extraneous text.
Freeze. Crash. Forced to reboot. Forced to disk checking. And yes, I did spent almost a full hour typing this up. What exactly else was I going to do? Play SWG? Ha!
July 19th, 2003 - 2247hrs
Freeze. Crash. Reboot. Disk Checking.
Maybe this time its because SWGCLIENT_R.exe knows I'm now running monitoring software. That I now know it ISN'T a heat issue. Or a power issue. Oh yes, I am clever, but SWGCLIENT_R.exe is force sensitive in a way I guess I'll never get to be. It knows. It might also be the fact that I was trying to name a harvestor "GameCrash2Much" that caused the Freeze. Crash. Reboot. I'm giving up for now. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and try it again. Or maybe I'll dig through the closet until I find that DAoC disk I have somewhere. I already pulled out the AO disk. I even spotted the WWIIOnline box on the shelf. Bah. I don't want to play those games. I want to play SWG. SOE, please help us. Please?
July 20th, 2003 - 0812hrs
Freeze. Crash. Reboot. Disk Checking.
Setting the AGP aperature to 128 meg doesn't change the inevitable. Probably because I only have a 64 meg videocard, but such is the hope of a solution.
July 20th, 2003 - 0851hrs
Freeze... yadda, yadda, yadda.
Server should be down now for the daily voodoo rites. But at least I finally got the bazaar before I crashed, finally put some resources up for sale.... I know how much the Bestine/Radiant artisan crowd has missed my auctions. Hopefully, I can make enough money to shut down and retrieve all my harvestors and generators and go into hibernation until SOE finds the cause of the Freeze/Crash.
July 20th, 2003 - 1235hrs
Things it isn't:
1) Heat. Open case, multiple fans, monitored temperature. It isn't heat.
2) Memory. Tested. Swapped. Rearranged. Still crash.
3) Soundcard. Disabled, turned off, removed. Still crash.
4) Drivers. Already had the latest. Still crash.
5) The graphics options. Tried them, in various combinations. Still crash.
6) The hardware mouse cursor. Tried that. Still crash.
7) Power supply. Enlight 430watt. Monitored voltage. Not seeing the crash.
and yes... it might be considered arrogant for me to insist it isn't my computer. but I have spent lots of time and money insuring that my computer isn't a problem for the games I want to play.
Things it could be:
1) Graphics. The Freeze/Crash problem seems to affect a variety of people with a variety of cards, including top of the line chips. I do not always get a post-crash message, but on the occasions I have gotten something from Windows, it indicates the graphics card has been stuck in an infinite loop. I wonder if some combination of driver and DirectX is causing the problem.
2) Internet connection. DSL, and never had problems with other online games. I get good ping and no lag problems in other games. But tech support... in the days just after the game was released... wanted lots of detailed tracert information. I wasn't able to get an answer back on why, and I never heard back from tech support about the issue. In the reports here, I've not seen details about what ISP, what connection and what location... and I wonder if there are combinations of those that lead to a problem.
3) A bug in SWGCLIENT_R.exe. Beating a dead horse is boring. But many lines of code combined with endless combinations of hardware and supporting software... makes this an obvious, if cliched possibility.
4) Corrupted game/patch files. I've run full scans. I've un-installed and re-installed. I've read reports here of file corruption, but haven't seen any official direction on it. Urban myth?
5) Karma. Nuff said.
July 20th, 2003 - 1842hrs
Crash. Sis. Boom. Bah.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. So DISABLE HARDWARE MOUSE CURSOR selected, alone, did not solve the problem. If anything, this time I had lots of odd audio glitches before the crash. So.... lets try again. This time with audio disabled.
July 20th, 2003 - 1945hrs
Crash. Freeze. Reboot.
The time there is approximate... I logged into the game at 19:00 and went to dinner. So I wasn't doing anything in the game. When I came back, the computer was frozen. And lucky me... it was showing Connection to SWG Lost. So I guess I was a two time loser.
The testing front continues. After reading lots of RAM related threads in this forum, I pulled one of my identical two 512meg chips. I have not had any trouble with these in any other application, but who knows what SWGCLIENT_R.exe is doing RAMwise.
July 20th, 2003 - 2029hrs
Game loaded...
July 20th, 2003 - 2037hrs
No crash. I just realized/discovered how stupid it is trying to play this game with ONLY 512megs. Mondo-Lag and disk access. Can hardly move in town. So if the problem is two sticks of memory, stick it SWG.
I'm sure there will be more .... I guess we'll have to wait and see.
July 17, 2003
Be careful what u wish for
The anti-globilisation movement has just got what they wanted as the WTO is about to crumble but what they didn't realize is that the Republican US government is going to directly deal with developing countries and are now free to enforce whatever mass looting of these countries the US sees fit without any sort of international body negotiating the terms.
The WTO started to introduce systems of self-sustainment for 3rd world countries and on the eve that some of these countries are starting to get their say the US is dismantling the WTO by pulling out of all the treaties and signing exclusive mass market shares over the entire world completely bypassing the WTO and anybody else.
HOW MUCH LOBBYING DID WRIGLEY CORP. HAVE TO DO TO GET THIS SORT OF EXCLUSIVE DEAL?
Why can't human rights groups lobby for Singapore to loosen some of it's inhumane laws and be this effective? Why can't environmental groups in the US get their government to include pesticide and greenhouse emission controls into free trade deals instead of a FUCKING CHEWING GUM COMPANY being given exclusive market share to 4 million people?
Oh wait, money. GDP. Utilitarian managerial economist utopia.
The WTO for all of it's faults is basically the only worldwide organization that had some sort of negotiating and veto power against countries run by CEOs who are trying to pass laws onto developing nations that diminish local control of their own industries amoung other gross misuse of dominance.
Imagine the US as a giant pharmaceutical company that must go by regulations
(which still favour the pharmaceutical company) to protect the people but still trying to maximize profit as much as possible. With all those regulations gone the company can exclusively deal with the people solely on their terms. "We'll sell you this tuberculosis medication for your kids but you have to let our company poster your schools with ads and dump toxic waste in your backyard
or we will cut you off"
Since day 1 that George Dubya took over the USA has pulled out of every treaty and organization possible in a big cowboy fuck you to the entire world. I bet they've been dealing directly with countries around the WTO for awhile. I mean, if they told the UN to go suck a camel's ass why would they listen to the WTO? or the IMF? or anyone?
All those anti-globilisation protesters should have been hurling rocks at the pentagon and defacing the white house instead of shutting down the World Trade Organization meetings.
Feel free to cut and paste this to impress girls on http://www.bangme.net you motherbitches
July 11, 2003
I LOVES ME THE LIVE MUSIC
I'm going out to see Cradle of Filth tonight. Somehow I have a feeling it won't be anywhere near as rockin' as these guys.
July 08, 2003
July 06, 2003
How Tribalwar Goatse'd (In Real Life)
This post has been removed ..
Don't worry though. I'm 100% sure it's going to showup elsewhere judging by all the fanmail that Jeremy is getting here. When it does .. It will be posted here.
Comments will stay up.
WHY THE FUCK AM I UP SO GOD DAMN EARLY?
Is it too much to ask my body to let me sleep in just a little bit? Why can't I sleep through the Jesus freaks and their comtemporary christian music on the radio? There's nothing worse than hearing the Jesus junkies when you're half asleep, you may actually start to believe them.
So I figure I may as well get up, it's a lot cooler in the living room anyways. And my computer doesn't subject me to Jesus. While surfing around this morning I found this little gem. Sheer minutes of fun for everyone!
My work is done here, I think I deserve some breakie...Anyone want to come to the Tomahawk with me? Mmmm. Yummy mixed grill......
July 03, 2003
Don't Do The Dew
This is by far the greatest con man that has ever existed. I wish that I could come up with something as great as this. But all good things come (teehehehe) to end and well, he ends up in jail. All in all, still worth a good laugh.
Don't Do the Dew
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A case involving a pornographer and two teenage girls highlights a legal gray area.
By Dave Maass
Tucson porn-proprietor Tyrone Henry wants you to know that blowing your load on the faces of blindfolded, underage girls who think they're participating in a facial cream marketing study is not fraud or any other crime, no matter what the Arizona Court of Appeals said last month. He also wants you to know he was framed.
Whether he did it or not, he's serving a seven-year sentence because of the creative legal work of a Pima County prosecutor, Brad Roach
In the summer of 2000, Roach was assigned to prosecute Tyrone Henry after two teenage girls said he lured them to his home to try out a product called "White Dew" facial cream he was developing. Instead of exfoliation, they said they got ejaculation.
The girls, 15 and 16 years old at the time, said Henry showed them examples of women with "clumpy" white cream on their faces and then blindfolded them. The girls said they heard heavy breathing and Henry say, "It's coming," and then felt a thick, warm substance applied to their faces. They said he took photos, paid them $10 a piece and convinced them to make follow-up appointments. Thinking about it later, they realized they'd been hoodwinked and called the police.
Roach admits the hardest part of the case was figuring out what charge he could hang on Henry. It wasn't sexual assault because he didn't touch the girls sexually, and they didn't touch him. And it wasn't indecent exposure because the girls were blindfolded.
"It was fascinating," Roach said. "I don't want to say it was a once-in-a-lifetime case, but it's only once in awhile do you get something this bizarre."
In the end, the only charge Roach could get to stick was "fraudulent scheme and artifice." The Division II of the Arizona Court of Appeals concluded that Roach had made the right decision, knocking down Henry's appeal.
"It was a huge loophole," Roach said. "No one in the Legislature had ever thought of it. It's not the sort of crime that had come up before."
A 30-YEAR-OLD WITH A degree in political science and one of the first black columnists for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, Henry defended himself in court, arguing that it couldn't be fraud since he didn't cheat them out of money or property. The court disagreed, finding that he duped them in order to obtain "sexual gratification," which could be considered a fraudulent "benefit" under state law.
"I was incredulous, absolutely incredulous," Henry said recently in a phone interview from the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. "We've all been in night clubs. You know how guys lay it on thick to lure girls back to their rooms. Under this ruling, that would be illegal because they achieve some sort of sexual gratification based on lies."
Henry said he will appeal next to the Arizona Supreme Court.
According to Roach, Henry will probably keep the state appeals attorneys' hands full. Henry and his mother, Raye Stiles, he said, are bulldog litigators.
"The thing to understand about Tyrone and his mother is that they're very active in weeding out people they perceive to be treating them unfairly," Roach said. "How that's played out is that they've filed complaints against nearly everyone in the Pima County Attorney's Office, the trial court, the appeals court, the clerk of the court and the court reporters. I didn't even know you could file a complaint against court reporters."
In person, Stiles doesn't have much hard edge. She's a lady in all senses of the word, and it makes discussing pornography with her difficult.
A year before, Tyrone was brought up on charges of child porn possession. Shortly after, Stiles, who didn't even know it was called "lobbying" at the time, successfully convinced the Arizona Legislature to loosen the state's illegal Internet porn statutes. At the time, she claimed Pima County was prosecuting innocent folk for possessing illegal material that had been sent to their e-mail accounts as spam. Although she was dismayed when she learned her son was running a porn site, she believes in his innocence.
Henry claims there was no scam. True, he was operating the "WhiteDewOriginal Facials.com" Web site, but that was just his perfectly legal shot at the American Dream.
ADULT WEB SITES cater to a wide variety of specific fetishes. The culmination of oral sex--the cumshot--is where Henry said he found his niche.
He went online in January 2000. In the first month, he only took in $800, but by June, he was pulling in $1,200 a month. If he was still in operation, he believes he'd be making between $15,000 and $20,000 a month.
Henry advertised for models in the Wildcat and hung fliers in campus laundry rooms. When potential models called, he said he would explain what his Web site was about, show them examples, and they'd sign two contracts: one for terms of compensation and the other a photo release.
He had previously dealt with about 10 models, each of whom earned between $100 and $200 an hour. Henry says the two teenagers knew exactly what they were getting into and they wanted the money.
"Once they got to my home, I figured out in the course of speaking with them that they were not adults and seized everything," Henry said. "They created a ruse to get that money for very little work. I think they got mad at me because I busted them."
The girls also testified that while blindfolded, they saw a camera flash several times. Henry's side of the story is that the girls gave him a "sob story" about how they needed the money, so he snapped a headshot of one of the girls and paid them $20.
Henry's story is corroborated by the prosecution's evidence. When the police searched his home, they found between 300 and 500 photos of women in various stages of getting cum on their faces. However, the only photo of the girls upturned was a single, nonsexual frame on an undeveloped roll of film.
In order to compensate for this weakness in the state's argument, Roach supplied the jury other "facial" images from Henry's Web site gallery. Henry protested this in his appeal. (In a separate, unpublished ruling, the Appeals Court denied hearing the complaint on procedural grounds.)
In all, the sole material evidence in the case was a globule of his sperm found on one girl's sweater. Henry claims the girls were playing with everything in his apartment, including his laundry basket.
"I'm a red-blooded American man and I operate an adult site; if you look through my clothes, you're going to find semen," Henry says.
It's more or less a game of "he-said they-said"--except what "they said" fit with Henry's MO. The girls' testimony matched that of several UA students who told the police a year before they'd been conned by Henry.
Stiles points to foul play. She said it's no coincidence that police arrested her son in the White Dew case the day after she threatened to file a complaint against the prosecuting attorney in the child porn offense. Raye also says the prosecution may have had racist motives.
"Frankly, I didn't even know he was black until months into the case," Roach said.
Roach says there are people--in his own office--who find it hard to believe that these girls could possibly be so stupid.
"I've got to come out on (the girls') defense," he said. "We as a society don't teach girls to be as assertive as they should. Teenage girls especially are in a position of low self-esteem....
"Tyrone's a good con man. He's good at what he did, and he's very smart. It's easy for us not being in their place to say they're stupid. I don't really believe they deserve blame."
July 02, 2003
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Televised Starcraft Tournaments
As video games and video game tournaments become exceeding popular it would only be natural for the media to follow through and begin televising matches. In fact, Gamer TV, a new cable network that caters to things like this has finally reared its ugly head in showing online matches, reviewing games, tips and tricks. All that shit we had in the late 80's and early 90's, but now in a 24/7 package.
A place where this has been popular for several years now is Korea. People literally flock by the thousands to watch Starcraft matches live on the big screen. I can't think of anything better than going to an arena, ordering up a beer, a side of dogmeat, then settling into my seat for a 5 minute rush match of starcraft. This video captures the pure essence of what I am talking about. I have no idea what the commentators are saying, but you can still get the "I got so excited that I blew a load in my pants" speech patterns that sound all too familiar in North American televised sports. So is this our future? Cyberathletes? Will this become the olympics of the new millenium? I sure hope not.... I don't think anyone truly knows if this will take off in Western society, but there is one thing we do know is that those Korean boys are getting more poontang than any of the super cyberathetes in North America and Europe.
Packed for a holiday?
Body Parts Found In Suitcase On Lower East Side
NEW YORK -- A suitcase packed with pieces of a headless body was found in a Lower East Side parking lot and authorities were trying to identify the man.
Police said the suitcase contained a torso, arms and hands, and was found by a homeless man near the corner of East Broadway and Forsythe Street in Chinatown. The victim's head and legs were not found.
The medical examiner was trying to determine how the man died, as well as his race, age and identity.
The discovery was made early Monday.
