Do we turn left or right after the complete and utter darkness?

Ever wondered what its like to drive into a dust storm in the outback in Australia? Well wonder no more - check the video after the jump for a lovely ride with techno accompaniment into the heart of darkness. Coooool.













Via Gizmodo

Sensing Horseshit : Update

And here's what I was worried about when I posted the other day about this psychic crap on NZ television. The mainstream media has latched onto a statement made by police, jumbled it around to sound interesting and posted it in the "Psychics are right!" style of article. I thought Fairfax media, who run Stuff and a majority of the newspapers in NZ, might have had a shred of journalistic integrity, but it looks like I was wrong. They have an article on Stuff entitled "Psychics stir up murder mysteries" - oooooh! I had hoped it was because the title "Psychics make vague pronouncements about tragic death in vain hope of milking even more money out of gullible idiots" was too long, but after reading the article I don't think so.

What a load of crap. It starts out with the worst sentence possible - "The death of a South Otago teenager, subject of an investigation this month by psychics on the TV2 programme Sensing Murder, is being re-examined by police." Investigation? If that's an investigation I'm a monkeys bum. They wandered around looking dreamy, with bad cuts and re-enactments from actors, and said that someone as a "practical joke" threw something aflame into his car, burning it out with the young man still inside. Not exactly easy to prove, or disprove, and its the latter that is probably more telling. In the standard line of mentalists and so called psychics they pick a story that seems plausible and cannot be proven wrong on the current evidence. The police have already said that they do not know what started the fire, so that meant the clowns could say pretty much anything they like.

But what's even more annoying is the way the article is written to blatantly ignore the facts and twist the words of the police. The police said they had spoken to the Stott family (relatives of the deceased) and were looking further into some aspects of the case. The article slips the words "since the programme went to air" implying that the opinion of the entertainers on Sensing Mo' Money had something to do with it. And in a very oblique way, they did (someone contacted the police after seeing the show with some info they are looking into) but not the way you might think after reading the article.

I think the most important bits are the twisted logic used to tie the programe and the Police investigations together. Phrases like "while the case was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand" just point to the fact that there has been no new information. And technically closed? Its closed because there's no reason to re-open it! You could use that statement to describe every single cold case in world history!

"While the case of who shot JFK was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

"While the case of Hitler's final resting place was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

"While the case of who shot first, Han or Greedo was technically closed, police would re-examine it if new information came to hand"

I can only take solace in the fact the the NZ police are making rational statements, like "But just because someone with a crystal ball says something. . . it's got to be something that is tangible. . . something useful." They might be asking a bit much there. That's the whole point - psychics don't give "useful" information. They use word games and tricks to make you believe you are getting information when most of the time they are merely parroting what you say back to you, telling you things they have secretly found out about you, or just making shit up.

All in all, its not true that the psychics "stirred" anything up at all - the only new information has come as a result of the show re-enacting the details known about the case on TV, perhaps jogging someone's memory. Nothing they have said in 3 seasons of this tripe has ever been proven right. It makes me wonder why people keep watching this, even when you apply the old maxim "people remember the hits and forget the misses", especially when they have had no hits whatsoever.

Amazing Volcano Images

The guys over at Boston dot com have done it again with their new set of high res pictures. They have compiled a selection of images of volcanoes that have erupted or are currently erupting around the world. Several of these are pictures from the international space station and orbiting shuttles. The space images really help with the scale of some of these events, it is truely difficult to know how big they are until seen from high altitude. Great stuff. Check out the samples after the jab.

Go here for the full set.

Robocop legs make Man walk

Here at RD we have mentioned before that science fiction is starting to become science fact, no more is true that the advancement in exoskeleton technology. We reported on the military applications of this here. Well it looks like the development has been taken to the next level, as what often happens with military uses, they find their way into our every day life.

After the jump you will see a video that shows the practical use of an exoskeletal suit on someone that has been bound to a wheelchair for a long time.


Granted, this chap will not be climbing mountains or running marathons just yet, but in time this could be possible. Many people who are unable to walk may be able to use this technology to ensure a better standard of living, that has to be a good thing.

Catholics use Pope as excuse to "get it on!"

In a case of totally misreported figures, many sites on the interwebtube are saying that due to the huge influx of pilgrims to Sydney this month, the sex industry would have a bumper year. This is of course alluding to the fact that some travellers who have come to see the man in a dress have taken the opportunity of being on a road trip with their buddies, to score some cheap hookers and party till dawn. While its a pretty funny story, its total crap unfortunately - yet another case of the media taking a statistical fact and tying it to an event that is only linked to it by being in the same year. But that does not stop us having a bloody good laugh about it.

The actual report that these bogus news items are based on is a report done by IBISWorld for the Aussie sex industry. In it they show a prediction that there will be an increase of earnings from brothels for the 2008-2009 year, due to an increase in tourist numbers. IBIS World senior industry analyst Ed Butler said the report did not suggest the 225,000 international pilgrims or clergy would be heading to brothels or strip clubs.

But I bet a few did - can you seriously convince anyone that of 225,000 people not a single one took the "what goes on tour, stays on tour" excuse to sample a bit of Kings Cross night life? And I'm not necessarily talking about getting it on in some shady den with ladies of the night - no, just visiting a strip club would be probably more likely.

"Ah yes brother, I'm just stepping out for a midnight stroll"

SHOCK HEADLINE : Pope Caught Stuffing Bucks into Strippers G-String!
When asked for a statement the Vatican said it was investigating a miracle claim that one of the dancers could heal with touch. When this reporter asked "touch with what?" there was no answer forthcoming.

Ok ok - its a cheap shot. But I think one of the funniest, and most ironic things is all the security around the pontiff while he's busy waving at his desperate fools followers, and the speed at which he travels past waving - he moves so fast it could be anyone in there! I saw a news report where several of the sheep believers were a tad miffed because he tore around a parade route at about 60kph.

Rrrrowww!
"Was that him mummy or was that batman?"
"I dont know dear - they both wear costumes so it could have been either"

But why the desperate need for all the dudes in sunglasses surrounding the pope in his pedalo popemobile? Who are they afraid of? Yeah I know someone shot the PJP2 (sounds like a rapper handle) but the point I make is that it isn't radical atheist extremists, bent on taking down the church. It isn't pro-evolution Darwinian rebels, taking the fight to the holy city (they're back and they're discussing things rationally). Nor is it internet bloggers, who couldn't get off their fat butts if they were paid to.....hey hang on!

No - the three main attempts (my Wiki-fu is strong on this one!) on the man in the dresses life were a politically funded terrorist named Mehmet Ali Ağca, a right wing extremist preist Juan María Fernández y Krohn who didn't like the reforms in the church, and Al-Qaeda, who funded a Filipino plot to blow up a suicide bomber dressed like a priest. The latter sounds a bit fishy as I think Al Qaeda have been blamed for everything from the 9/11 bombing to the clothes pegs being blown off the line at night (curse you Al Qaeda!). Either way, we have 1 politically motivated attack, 1 from an alternate religion and 1 from within the same church - who is he afraid of? His own worshippers, worshippers of other religions and governments who don't like the things he says. Very typical of a dictatorship style powerbase don't you think? And Saddam Hussein always wore long flowing white robes. And what about Ayatollah Khomeini?

Anyhoo, its all over now - the pontiff has left the Australian continent. Exit stage right. Shows over folks, time to leave the flag waving, praying, and cheap hookers for another 3 or 4 years or so. Goodnight and dogbless.

Sensing Horseshit

Oh FSM, I feel a wave of nausea and disgust coming upon me - what could it possibly be? Did I eat a dodgy vindaloo? Have I been drinking that vile Green Chartreuse again? Did I just catch a glimpse of The Love Guru? No, its worse than that- the new series of Sensing Money Murder is coming back on the telly, and this time I fear, even more people will be sucked into its black hole of bullshit and milking relatives of dead people for money.

Where to start? Well, back in January of 2006 the first episode of Take 'Em for All They've Got Sensing Murder aired on NZ television, and they've managed to milk it out into a second and now third season of half baked ideas, bad acting and unsubstantiated claims. The show features three Asshats Psychics with supposed paranormal skills, who are taken to locations around New Zealand, shown old case files of unsolved murders or deaths, and then proceed to divine the causes behind the deaths. Like Columbo but without the dude in the trench coat. The producers of the show claim to have the full support of the families of each of the victims, but there is evidence that once they have completed the filming and sucked them dry they refuse to speak to them and don't really give a crap whether the case is solved or not. I'd probably beg to differ on the latter point in that if by sheer fluke they managed to get at least one of the predictions correct, their ratings would go through the roof, so I'd say it is pretty important to them.

The three faux psychics (currently) are Deb Webber, Sue Nicholson, and Kelvin Cruickshank. Deb Webber was amusingly "outed" by an Aussie Investigative News show a couple of years ago, and our man Jeremy Wells on Eating Media Lunch showed this on a segment in his show called Sensing Bullshit.



Its all the same crap that we see every time one of these so called psychics gets on our telly. They spout the same wishy washy crap, vague pronouncements of eeeevil, and generally ham it right up to the point that you think only Kevin Costner could do a worse job of acting.

Recently Tony Andrews posted a challenge to the Sensing Murder team, saying that if they completed a series of tests they could get themselves $10000. The standard fob off response came back from David Baldock, managing director of Ninox Television saying he's not interested in these tests, this "circus approach". He's already tested them. When the show was developed, he auditioned 75 psychics by giving them an obscure but solved murder case to work on. Yeah - right. It was probably things like "which famous australian criminal wore a tin helmet?" or "how many fingers did the famous Wellingtonian Madman Four Fingered Jack have?".

Oh well -I guess the only thing we can hope for here is that the voice of reason is heard, this show goes down the gurgler, or the psychics take up one of the many challenges around to prove they have the powers they claim. I wont hold my breath - thats not how this works in reality. The con artists are too smart to take up those tests when it would spell the end of that particular gravy train.

Check out the article on Stuff for some more background info, and the Aussie BadPsychics site for info on Australasian Scepticism, and their line on Deb Webber.

Watchmen trailer hits net and geeks swoon

Check out the trailer for the new Watchmen movie being produced at the moment by Zack Snyder (he directed 300). If you've read the graphic novels (ok, comics - whatever) you'll be a bit nervous about how this is going to be translated to the big screen. Well, wonder no more - it looks freaking cool. Rorschach for the god damned win.

Swing on over to IO9 for a squiz at the new trailer.

E3 Game trailerfest.

Most people know that the E3 game\gadget\technology fest is on in the States. Well here is a bunch or previews for some of the games that have featured so far. We have the likes of Resident Evil 5, the new Wolfenstein game, Ghostbusters and Fallout 3 among others. Have a look after the jump for some of these beautiful new games.

No doubt there will have to be some serious hardware updates needed to play some of these titles. Mirror's Edge looks brilliant.
Resident Evil 5


Wolfenstien


I am Alive


Ghost busters


Madworld


Singularity


God of War 3


Fallout3






Mirrors edge demo reel

Australian gamers pretty pissed - and rightly so

I'm a big fan of the original Fallout game series. I think I fell in love with it during the black and white still images being played during the opening credits, with the dulcet tones of Ron Pearlman ringing in my ears...
War. War never changes.
Its an awesome little clip to get you primed for the post apocalyptic world of the Fallout game, where mutations abound, a desert covers the landscape, and you spend hours and hours building the perfect character to accomplish every single mission you possibly can, including finding the splattered Whale, the Tardis, the Godzilla footprint and the Alien crash site. And now, Bethesda are bringing out the 3rd in the series, and it looks just as tasty as the previous ones. But the Aussies may not be able to see it (without legal chicanery) because their dumb ass Australian Classification Board have refused to give it a rating.

"Obscenity is not a quality inherent in a book or picture, but is solely and exclusively a contribution of the reading mind, and hence cannot be defined in terms of the qualities of a book or picture." Theodore Schroeder, author

It is apparently the problem within the game itself, part of the gameplay in fact, that has drawn the ire of the censors. And its not gratuitous violence (GTA, Condemned 2, pretty much any 1st Person Shooter), depiction of sex (GTA again, Soulcalibur, Duke Nukem 3D) or even banned substance use (GTA, Bioshock, Battlefield Bad Company). No, its much more insidious and dangerous (apparently) than that. Yes its the dreaded....morphine. Huh? Yes, apprently the morons at the OLAC are refusing to give the game a rating (thereby making it illegal to distribute and sell) because the character in the game gains an reward for using drugs. Heres the words :

"In regard to the computer game Fallout 3, the board is of the opinion that the use of morphine in the game has the positive effect of enabling the character to ignore limb pain."

"This ability to progress through the game more easily is the incentive to take the drug while the reward is in the character's abilities."

Am I the only person in the world scratching their head and wondering what illegal substances these twerps imbibed before saying that? What they are effectivley saying is that its okay for characters in a game to snort pounds of coke, inject gallons of heroin, drink till they go blind and smack around (and kill) prostitutes, but its not okay to use morphine in a game to kill the pain? Huh? But in nearly every single game I can think of (thats had much lesser ratings than GTA) the main purpose of the game is to shoot people, and heal yourself when you get shot! In Max Payne, he takes painkillers to restore health and return use of his legs - is that not EXACTLY the same thing? And it was given an MA15+ which means its "not suitable for under 15" BUT this does not mean an under 15 year old cannot buy it if accompanied by an adult. So it means in reality "There's some pretty full on shit in this game. Are you sure your kids should be playing this?" The responsibility falls to the parent to watch what their children are playing/watching and use their discretion. As it should always.

I was originally going to call this post "10 reasons we should not decide who can watch stuff by elected committee", but that sounded a bit naff. But I will still use the original title's idea to explain my point. The problem the Aussie gaming fraternity, and indeed the film appreciation and media consumers in many countries have is that the ones hired to serve on the boards of censorship committees are people with specific moral values that differ to the majority of the intended audience of the game. And this is the biggest problem with Censorship - what may disgust one may titillate another.

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” Henry Steele Commager American Historian

When we allow a bunch of people (and I don't mean anyone specific - it could be any bunch of people) to decide what we can and cannot watch\play\listen to in our own homes, we have lost one of our freedoms. And I'm not saying "old sad bastards on Censorship committees have their finger far from the pulse, jammed firmly up their ass". No - if I was on this comitttee I'd ban any and all forms of RnB music - its crap and no-one should have to put up with it. And Kenny G - don't get me started on the big KJ and his abominable wind instruments of torture. Thats my point - what some people (with no taste) like, I despise. But I dont care - because I dont have to put up with it. If I dont like it, I turn it off. If Britney is on the radio, I change the channel. If the god botherers are on the telly, I mute it or turn it off. If the mormons are at the door, I throw the cat at them. No-one is forcing me to tune into something I dont like.

Except in elevators in department stores - whats wrong with those people? Are they inhuman as well as rip-off merchants?

"Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime." Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

We should be able to make choices as adults to view whatever the hell it is that interests us, or listen to whatever music we feel like. I agree with an idea that there is a committee to rate things to give us an idea of what this media contains, and that children should not be able to view things that they may be ill equipped to deal with, but the responsibility for deciding what is best for the children lies solely with parents and care givers. Surely the people who are raising these children have a better idea of their maturity levels, and can gauge what is and what isn't appropriate for them? Never let the government dictate to you what their opinion of good and bad is - I've never seen a government get it right yet.

Case in point, the Australian Government - you cant play a video game where you use morphine to make yourself better, but you can help others invade Iraq and kill people in reality. Are they really the best people to be judging what morally right and wrong?

Aussies - if you want to make a difference, head on over to Gameplayer.com.au and sign their petition to the board to get the decision reviewed.

Did you ever hear anyone say, "That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very damaging to me?" Joseph Henry Jackson, author

Knock Knock, who’s there? Doctor Who.

Am I the only one that thinks that the new Doctor Who show is trying too hard? I have caught a few bit of the newest series and it feels like the writers are trying to hard to make a successful British science fiction show. I am probably biased because I feel that the only good sci-fi show to come out of the UK was Red Dwarf. Oh, and who the hell is David Tennant……

I have to admit that I watched Doctor Who as a kid, back when Tom Baker and Peter Davidson played the Doctor and it was cool then. That was until Colin Baker took over, what a goose. It was crap for a bit, then Sylvester McCoy did his stint and it was good again. I think that my problem might stem from the fact that when I watched Dr Who I was six years old and in order to watch Dr Who it meant I could stay up late. The other thing is that when you are at that age the bad guys seem incredibly scary. I mean the Daleks were terrifying back then, now though they are cool. The Cybermen looked like they had come of the set of Battlestar Galactica or Star Wars and The Master was mysterious and dangerous. What about the TARDIS. I still don’t know how they get all that space into that little telephone box, amazing.

After McCoy played the Doctor the show had a bit of a hiatus until Paul McGann took over for the film. Both McCoys and McGanns portrayal were very much in the vain of the Doctors that went before. They were quirky, old fashioned, old and a little bit self absorbed. When they reinvented the character they modernised the Doctor with leather jackets and short buzz cut hairdo and also gave him an attitude. That’s just not who the Doctor is, then finally they chose to have the Doctor as an over acting egocentric nobody.
had never heard of David Tennant until he popped up as the Doctor. The other thing is the Doctor is too young now. All the others had been wise old men or father like figures, and since Paul McGann played a fairly young Doctor they seem to have been getting younger. The Doctor should be played by someone like Ian McKellan or Ian McDiarmid thus giving the character an air of wisdom and time.

I would like the new Dr Who incantation to be more like the old version, but then it wouldn’t be new or different. Maybe Dr Who is not for me anymore and I should stick to watching Top Gear. I am getting old and cynical.

F.E.A.R. Sequel - Game Trailer

The original FEAR game came out when the likes of DOOM, FarCry and Half-life 2 were splashed across our computer screens and filled the gap left by the uselessness of Doom which was garbage. FEAR was all about being a scary game with some good gun play which exactly what it delivered. Close Quarter combat with a ghostly story as a backdrop, creepy. FEAR then expanded with a 'Expansion pack' which basically delivered more levels and the same gun play and the same scary stuff, which by now was not so scary.

Then came a full stand alone game, 'great', I said 'new stuff...' Not so. If it wasn't for that fact that I liked the original I probably would not have played the stand alone addition. I enjoyed it because I really have nothing else to play at the time, but essentially it was not any different from the original game or the expansion. No new guns, no new bad guys, no new graphics, it was literally new maps to run around in, a little disappointing to say the least. In fact all three episodes should now be bundled into one game.

But now we have a proper sequel coming and it looks great. Below is the new trailer for FEAR2, I have to admit that the story does not look to have progressed to far but the update to the gameplay and graphics is long overdue. Some nice combat visuals, new badguys and new weapons might just revitalise this game franchise. Have a looksie.

Unbelievable animation and scientific wonder

Check out the vid after the jump for probably one of the more amazing insights into the workings of the human body, down to a cellular level and smaller. Utterly amazing what science has done for us in understanding the processes in the human body, and also given us the ability to make these amzing animations. Check it out!






Thanks to Hybrid Medical Animation via Gizmodo

iPhone - biggest ripoff of all time?

I'm not a big Apple fan. I thought I'd better say that from the outset just to be honest, and the reasons are not behind any overarching loyalty to the Uber corp Microsoft - I just plain don't like any of their merch. I think Apple spend far too much time on design and pricing strategies, than on creating a device that works well with everything else. And nothing has changed with the jesus phone.

My main bugbear is (as with a majority of Apple gear) the pricing. Every time we see an Apple product, its pricing boggles the mind for what you actually get. The iPod is just an MP3 player, and there a plenty of better and cheaper devices on the market. The iPhone is just a cell phone with a flashy interface, but its prices are $6000 over two years for one plan and $2000 over 18 months for another (plus calls and txts for both). The Mac is an average laptop / desktop and you can get better bang for your buck just about anywhere with other manufacturers.

Why do they do this? Who could possibly be to blame for the ludicrous pricing and unbelievable costs of even owning one of these devices? Steve Jobs? Bill Gates? Satan? No - the consumer. Yes, every shmuck who has ever fawned over the latest apple product (I love Steve Jobs - he's looking out for us!), every toadying lacky whos slobbered all over the new Mac Book air (It fits in an envelope!), and every drip who's had the indecency to own an iPod......crap that's right. I've got one. But it was given to me! I didn't have a choice! Honest!

Yes folks, its our fault for the high prices, the massive charges and the never ending line of designer electronic equipment spewing forth from Apple central. The marketing men at Apple realised early on that they had a captive audience in the Mac Fans, who saw themselves a rebels against the Evil Microsoft. And they also realised they could alter that image a bit, to be less alternative and more left of centre, and capture a serious chunk of the market. Its the difference between living in the burbs, wanting to commune with nature, and living in a caravan in a commune, out in the bush. Less hippy, more hip. They were smart enough to see new avenues of advertising in media that appealed to younger generations - viral videos, the hip but not too hip stars, product placement in the right shows, and overall a pretty looking device. I must take my hats off to the evil marketing geniuses at Apple. They've done a brilliant job.

But screw them as well - thanks to their zealous marketing and Mac-hype we have to put up with this crap - a cell phone that costs SIX GRAND (!!!!!) plus calls and txts. What. The. Fuck. Its insane that anyone would want to pay that much, and I know of a few people who were keen on getting one until the pricing from Vodaphone was released. I believe the exact words were "Holy shit, I'm not paying that much for a fucking phone!". Sanity prevailed in a few heads at least. But this will not stop those driven few - those retarded enough to not realise when they are being shucked like an oyster for their money. They will queue for days to get their grubby mitts on a new iPhone, drool all over the touch interface, short it out, and spend weeks trying to get Apple to fix it. Unless they say their name is John Mayer - in which case things will happen pretty quickly.

So what's my point? Well, we've only got ourselves to blame for this rash of overpriced consumer electronics - if we stopped buying all this crap, or at least were a little bit more savvy with our purchases, then Apple might spend more time on creating a device that performs well rather than looks good. Dreams are free I suppose. But I can't talk right now - I've got to play on my Xbox, after I've rebooted my Vista PC, and synced to my Windows Home Server.

Picture That!

A newish website has has been brought to my attention. It comes from the team at Boston.com. Its a blog that they run with high res photo's from around the world and beyond. I noticed this site primarily because of the images that it posted of Mars and the Apollo missions, but there are a host more. There are some stunning images of the current fires in California and more topical events such as the Presidential battle between Obama and McCain. I saw the link for this first from Phil over at Bad Astronomy There are a couple of samples after the jump but go to BOSTON for the full size images.

XBOX 360 - rawk or rank?

Recently the wonderful people at Bill's Corporation decided to drop the price of the XBOX 360 by 100 bucks or so on the three main console packs, and this was enough for me to take the plunge and invest in a 360. Well, maybe not "invest". My main focus was as a media extender to the lounge so I didn't have to keep plugging the laptop into the TV to watch digital media stored on my PC, but I also felt like playing some console games like Forza Motorsport and Fifa 08. Did it live up to the potential?

Yes. And no. Let me set the scene - I'm a PC gamer from way back. I remember spending hours downloading the first demo from ID software to play Quake on my 28k modem, which took fricken ages and multiple retries to get it to work (but was ulitmately so worth it). Wolfenstien 3D, Doom and Duke Nukem - these were my computer friends back in the days before the internet and P2P networking were the norm. I also concentrated mainly on First Person Shooters because there was more fun to be had, in my opinion, in the endless slime covered frag fests in Quake than any other genre of PC gaming. That's not to say I didn't play anything else - Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft and to a lesser extent Command and Conquer also took my fancy. And all in all, my PC was my gaming entertainment unit, which could also dial into work (if required) and run MS Office (badly) to work from home in some small capacity.

So when consoles like the Sega Mega drive, Super Nintendo, and PS1 were big, I just didn't get it - they were severely limited, you couldn't upgrade, the games were hellishly expensive, and the console was useless for anything else. What was the point? A PC could be comparable in cost, you could upgrade it with better hardware to get better performance or graphics, you could "share" media with your friends, and networking and dial-up internet meant you could play against each other as well.

Fast forward a few years - ok quite a few years, and whats changed? A pc is still ultimately more configurable and upgradeable than a console, but the console can now serve several other functions when not gaming. And this is why I bought one - I needed something not too expensive that could serve as a media extender, but also could do other things, and although the Xbox is a bit limited in its extensibility, it performs many tasks flawlessly.

PROS

Media Centre Extender
I no longer need to plug and unplug the laptop from the telly, and I don't compete with the wife if she wants to do work, and I want to watch the latest Top Gear. Its a permanent media player that plays a majority of my media files, and a pretty good extender for my mp3 library as well.

Gaming
I have always loved playing racing games on a console - I reckon its a far better experience with a controller than a keyboard. And sports are also much better on console than PC - Fifa 08 rocks on the Xbox, while I found Fifa 07 exceedingly difficult on the PC until I bought an Xbox controller to plug into the computer.

Social\Xbox Live
Its nice to know when your mates are online, if you feel like challenging them to a frag fest on COD 4, or just having a chat. I know you can do this on a PC, but the whole Xbox live experience is something new for me that makes the console seem a bit more social than it used to - makes it feel like you are logging onto a network of mates, rather than sitting in the lounge switching off from the world. The gamer card is also a great idea as the lure of competing with everyone to get the most game points becomes attractive to even the most lukewarm game addict. Getting all the achievements in a game takes priority just to give you those few extra points over your mates on Xbox live.

CONS

Media Centre Extender
While its great to have a fixed media player in the lounge, its annoying that it doesnt play every single media file I throw at it. It was the laptop I had beforehand, I could install codec's and alternative players and Bob would indeed be a blood relative. Now, I am restricted to WMA's and Divx content, which frankly sucks balls. Converting files is annoying, time consuming and not really an exact science, so I am loathe to convert things. It is one limitation I can live with I suppose as a majority of the content I watch is in the right format.

FPS Gaming
While great for sports and cars, the consoles have always sucked serious ass at First Person Shooters. The controller is just not designed for quick looks, fast reactions and agile aiming. It plain blows. I thought I'd give it a crack with Call of Duty 4, and I was severely disappointed. The aiming is slow and unwieldy for someone like me who cut his teeth on a PC mouse\keyboard, and its just frustrating playing FPS on a console. There are devices that you can use to plug a keyboard and mouse into a console, but from the reviews they are problematic, expensive and sometimes just plain don't work with some games (and hardware!). And further more, why waste time plugging keyboards and mice into consoles, when you've got a perfectly good gaming PC?

Components
Everything costs more. You get a standard pack when you buy the Pro edition (20GB hd, one controller, small remote) but a Universal remote costs more, the plug and play kit costs more, the headset costs more, and so on and so on. The Xbox does not cost what they advertise because you need the add-ons to make it work efficiently. Sure, it works out of the box, but who's going to pay for new batteries every few days for the controller? Who wants the shitty little remote when you can have a universal one that also does the telly? And to play multiplayer games and interact with others you need the headset - who wants to play games and not be able to yell at people?

In summing up your honour...
All in all am I happy with the purchase? Yes - its doing exactly what I wanted which was fill the hole of media player with other functions quite well, and I can see myself playing some serious Forza 2 in the coming weeks. There are a few niggles, especially around the media codec's and FPS gaming, but the latter can be fixed by not playing FPS games on the console, and the former by using streaming workarounds. The next big challenge is teaching the missus how to use the damn thing, and now that I've rewired the DVD\TV\Xbox, a new course in "remote control" management is due.

I might leave that one for a while.

Neo Makes the Earth Stand Still

One of science fictions greatest movies is in the process of a remake. The Robert Wise masterpiece ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ is being updated by Scott Derrickson, known for such epics as Hellraiser: Inferno???, Urban Legends: Final Cut??!!!!??!?!? And the more well known Exorcism of Emily Rose. Robert Wise directed the original and went on to direct Run Silent Run Deep, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Andromeda Strain so maybe this will do for Derrickson what it did for Wise. Who knows.

I am quietly excited by this remake, I was very dubious before I saw the trailer which was released today but now I feel like it could be pretty interesting. Keanu Reeves plays the part of Klaatu previously played by Michael Rennie, an interesting choice. I think that Reeves has reached the age now that he can play these sorts of roles. Plus with the Matrix trilogy firmly under his belt I we can accept him in semi dramatic science fiction flix and not the dumb surfer cant act for shit FBI type guy.

Needless to say the new trailer for TDTEST looks dark and apocalyptic. There is a sense that the Earth is going to get totally trashed in a Roland Emmerich kind of way. That’s cool because I like that sort of stuff and when it’s done with a sci-fi background its even better. I hope that the message within the story is nice and clear. One of the great things about the original was its lack of ambiguity; unlike other B-grade sci-fi picture from the 50’s which needed more work to see the symbolism. Even when I watched the film as a kid I was able to walk away and say, ‘Great film, and it was all about how bad war is’. In saying that I understand that the remake is more about save the planet rather than don’t fight amongst yourselves.

Anyway it is scheduled for a December release which gives us plenty of time to speculate on what it will be like. Check out the trailer for the original film. Great stuff.

Mike Moreau - Tooned in

Mike over at his Stuff blog says it all really.

Cectic Skeptic

Stuff poll stuffed with....well stuff

The lovely people over at Fairfax media ran an article over the weekend regarding creationist material being sent to schools in New Zealand, as Mr Fett alluded to in a previous post. They also ran a poll for 12 or so hours along with it and Should schools be allowed to teach 'intelligent design? was the question posed. Now, we saw some pretty feverish posting from both sides for the duration of the poll, but the final results were Yes 15479 (46.5%) and No 17814 (53.5%). I didn't realise that many people read stuff let alone cared enough to vote - WTF?

I can only suppose that after it was posted on the Pharyngula and a bunch of creationist sites that both sides of the debate went nuts with poll scripts trying to outdo each other, because over 30,000 people voting on an internet poll is pretty bizarre even for a contentious topic such as this. To give you something to compare and contrast against, here's a run down of some of the totals for other super important questions posed by Stuff "

What's your favourite season?
11264 votes and summer was the winner. Crazy I know - who'd have guessed.

Pick your worst ever cover
11103 votes. When I first read this I thought it was talking about insurance - turns out its Music Covers. Winner was Celine Dion - You Shook me all night long. I didn't even know she did a cover of that, but she would have got my vote just for the simple fact she's couldn't sing her way out of a wet paper bag.

How financially literate are you?
8048 respondents, and I must admit I have no idea what the question means. Does it mean "Can you read a bank statement?", or is it talking about the stock exchange? No idea really - winner was "somewhat" which sounds more like a question itself - Some what?

And the pièce de résistance
Will warnings about long-term use of jandals make you rethink wearing them?
Of the 8853 people who bothered answering this one, over 5000 said "No way, I love my jandals." Wow. What illuminating information. I don't know about you, but I feel changed.

These internet polls we see on so many new sites these days are much like the ones I post on this site - a load of bollocks. A majority of them either ask questions so inane it would send your caffeine and cocaine hammered druglord neighbour to sleep within seconds (How interested are you in politics? 85% say Sod off!), or are so badly worded they are not even really worth answering.

This poll about ID for instance - the question, as pointed out by Bjorn over at Pharyngula was nothing to do with the article it linked to. The article spoke about creationist material being sent to schools in an effort to get their brand of nonsense into the science class. The poll asked a different question - should it be taught? In all fairness, who am I to say what the jebus nutters teach in their churches? Its their right to teach religion in religious classes or creationism in Sunday school. I may wish they wouldn't, as its total crap, but that's their right as a religion to teach the tenets of their faith. The same goes for a science class inasmuch as only science should be discussed therein, and since ID\Creationism is not science, it has no place there.
Bjorn did point out that if he ran a class he would mention it as a "this is not science" and while I agree with his philosophy behind the argument, I probably would agree with Alison and restrict that kind of thing to the higher years of school science and university. Our standard schooling should be teaching the science framework, creating skeptical and enquiring minds, and not bombarding them with every example of bad thinking in the world.

So if I were to answer the question on its own merits, I would agree with my Bjorn Free commenter and say Yes - people should be allowed to teach it. But in the context of the article, I would say No - not in the state schools.

And my point? Internet polls are bullshit. The question can be obtuse, you can use scripts to load them (much as this one obviously did) or you can be so confused you don't answer and the results are skewed beyond all recognition. Even Stuff say "Stuff polls are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those internet users who have chosen to participate" and that's the best description ever - they are not scientific. They are meaningless.

The problem is that this information is used by lazy ass journo's to write articles. You see them frequently now on the major news sites "according to a poll on our site last week, 42% of people want to be flogged with licorice twice a week". Or they drop the "on our site" and it becomes "according to a poll taken recently, 85% of respondents have eaten a VW Beetle".

I guess all I'm saying here is that these polls cannot be taken seriously, and we should read closely what articles say when referring to polls.

“Opinion polls measure the public's satisfaction with it's ignorance”
Unknown

"I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex."
Erma Bombeck

Las Vegas plagued by ghosts; or just the wind

Recently the James Randi foundation held the latest TAM (The Amazing Meeting) in Las Vegas, number 6 in a continuing line of excellent get togethers for those of a skeptical bent. People like Phil Plait, James Randi, Penn Gillete, Adam Savage, Richard Wiseman, the Skepchicks, PZ Myers, Michael Shermer and more attend and speak about skeptical thinking, science and other such interesting topics. And while I would have loved to have gone, I am among the many who missed out. But apparently apart from the 700 or so people who turned up, there was also 1 million ghosts. Yes, you read that right - 1 milllllllioooon. (thanks Dr Evil)

Yes, some whack job called Doc Paranormal organised a march of the paranormal - 1 million ghosts marching down Las Vegas strip. He has his own blog dedicated to all things kooky and weird - namely himself. Heres a quote :

"Who am I? Let's just say I'm a national journalist and former adjunct professor at the late, lamented Edgar Allen Poe Community College. I've been exploring the strange since Mulder was in kneepants. You can call me Doc Paranormal."

Riiiight. Lets just say you're a weirdo who can make up any shit he wants, a former professor of a made up college, a Chris Carter aficionado with a short pants fetish and doctor of bugger all.

Apparently while the conference was going on in Vegas he had called on all his mates (they were both away unfortunately) to call up as many denizens of the underworld to plague Las Vegas, doing a march down the strip to protest the meeting. And apparently if his site is to be believed, there was plenty of media coverage of the march, and no coverage of the TAM. This is despite the fact that he does not supply any links to any media coverage, I cant find any on the internet, and none of the major news sources have anything on it whatsoever.

The funniest bit is that it looks like he posts questions to himself and then answers them on his blog in a kind of Agony Aunt style. Heres a wee sample :

Hi Doc:
I live in North Las Vegas where it was 110 degrees yesterday. Yet when I got out of my car to go to my job at the Flamingo, I felt a sudden chill pass across me. And then another. Since "cold spots" are often associated with the presence of spirits, could I have encountered a ghost or two involved in the Million Ghost March?
Custodian

Dear Custodian:
Could be. I have received several reports like yours. The march appears to have already begun. It should continue throughout the day as our friends from the Other Side come and go.

He\she stepped outside, and felt a cold spot? Could this apparent "cold spot" possibly be the wind? Wow - what an amazing pile of crap.

Apparently there were several stickers on show at the TAM meeting, and this weirdo has claimed that they were there specifically to deter the marching spirits, and that Jeff Wagg wore a talisman during the meeting to ward off the supernatural. Ha! What a joke.

Pity you cant leave comments on his blog - I can imagine the ones that most people would leave if they ever visited his site.

As for the 1 million ghosts, I somehow doubt that they were the spirits flowing on the Strip in Vegas that night - probably more of the alcoholic nature were involved.

Check out the latest Swift on Randi.Org for more info.