Outta Sight

Sorry.

What do these Folks have in Common?

• John Edwards
• E. D. Hill, the moron "journalist" who posited on national television (Fox, naturally) that Barack Obama "terrorist fist jab"bed his wife when they did that fist bump thing.
• The couple who named their children Aryan Nation and Adolf Hitler.

They are terrible human beings? Well, yes, but they are also on the Guardian's list of the 20 worst American in 2008.

(I think Sarah Palin should be ranked lower in light of her amusing interviews and the good work she did for the Obama campaign. (I actually kind of miss her.))

Little Adolf Hitler (Center), Terribly Unlucky Boy

More on Stupid, Stupid DRM

I got the PC version of Mass Effect for Christmas. When I slapped it into the computer, seconds after unwrapping it (yes, I know its sad that I had my laptop running Christmas morning), a dialog came up telling me that I wasn't connected to the internet and I couldn't t play until I was. Mind you the game is not a a mmromprop, instead it wanted to be online to register, and will need to re-register every 10 days, forever.

The game is presently available on pirate bay at no charge, DRM free; by spending $50 on a legal copy, I'm getting a more-limited game. I feel like a chump for not pirating the thing. People don't generally choose to feel like chumps.

"Barack the Magic Negro," wtf?

If the republican party were a robot, springs would be erupting from it's spinning head, with smoke shooting from the ears, as it randomly lurches around the room, banging into furniture.

I just listened to this on youtube, where it is being furiously posted and furiously taken down. The song seems to be a white guy pretending to be a black guy singing about black people not thinking Obama is really black. To the to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon. Wow.

While the song is offensive, my first reaction is how utterly out of touch anyone must be be to not think this is racist. Like minstrel-show, black-face, I-don't-know-nothing-'bout-birthin'-no-baby racist. It's just completely rotten.

The GOP seems to be going through a Chernobyl phase. More power to them.

Happy New Year, Almost

I noticed I haven't posted since the fourth so here goes: there was snow in Seattle so everything stopped for a week. Santa got me Fallout 3, so my days and nights are booked. I've been reading a good book, The Dragon Seekers, which sounds like it involves wizards and vorpal swords (decapitate on a natural 20),


but is, instead, about the early history of paleontology in the UK.

Geneforge 5: Stupidist DRM Scheme Ever

I just bought a copy of geneforge 5 from Spiderweb games, a little company that makes fun, retro role playing games. I went to the website, entered my credit card number, hit send, and almost instantly got a confirmation email, but no key.

Forty minutes later I get an email asking me to reply with a four digit number that's displayed on the game's title screen. Huh? This is done to lock the game to my system, the same way adobe and microsoft do, except by email. The message said I could request a new key if I change machines.

This is really, really dumb on several levels. First, their scheme is even more restrictive than Spore's DRM because it locks to a single machine (do they sell on amazon?). When this company goes out of business, there will be no way to move the license. And by email? Based on the delay, I think there's a good chance a real person is on the other end. Good God, someone over there should read a book on web services. Also they should have mentioed the DRM, in 36 point type, before I paid.

I've replied with the number and a bit of cometary, but no key yet. I hope they aren't fedexing it.

Update

Total Delay: two hours and 58 minutes. That is an eternity when you've got rogue Vlish to dispatch.