Howdy, Neighbour

What is considered appropriate when a new couple/family move into the neighbourhood? Perhaps across the street from you?

What do you say to said neighbours when, immediately after the introductions are over, they announce, "We aren't looking for new friends"?

My suggestion: "Great! We weren't looking for humans. Glad we've all found what we were looking for."

I'll be working late...see you in six months

Ever wonder how far you would have to be pushed to stand up to "the man"? Ever wonder what you would have done if faced with a choice of following your conscience or following the herd?

Soldiers are put in this situation probably far more often than we know. First, let me preface this by saying I am not a soldier and have never been a soldier. But I can imagine, in my non-soldier mind, different scenarios that a soldier might face. For example, they might be told to shoot first and ask questions later in a "hot" zone. Then they see a child running down the street with what looks like a gun. Do they shoot? Do they give chase? If the child was a teenager, does the response change? What about a woman? Young? Old?

So what if our hypothetical soldier (you) has decided that, "So long as its not a little kid I will have to shoot". He may even be able to rationalize the response by saying that if he doesn't shoot the potential combatant, they may end up shooting you or one of your company. Now the guy next to him may have drawn the line on where to use lethal force, somewhere else. The first soldier uses his definition and kills a young man. This is witnessed by the second soldier and he feels that this is, in his mind, a clear contradiction to "what he signed up for". Superior officers support the first soldier and feel that the "Rules of Engagement" were followed. How is the second soldier supposed to come to terms with what he sees is happening and what he knows is against his conscience?

While all of the above is hypothetical, some U.S. soldiers have been coming to terms with their role as soldiers and their conscience. At first glance, my reaction was to say, "You signed up to be a soldier so now you are at war...what did you expect?" But actually, when some of these soldiers signed up, there wasn't war and the risk of an armed confrontation was pretty minimal. Or when they signed up they were young and un-attached. Now there is a very real risk that they may be killed and that will leave their spouses widowed and their children missing a parent.

I suppose that soldiering is a profession that not everyone is cut out for. Sometimes you have to "walk a mile in their shoes" to appreciate what they do. Those that have decided soldiering isn't their bag, I can understand. One would have hoped they would have been weeded out before they are really needed but facing death can change one's outlook on what one does when they get up in the morning. How many of us have known they needed a career change but haven't been able to muster enough strength/guts to actually change? These deserters/objectors have made the first step. They have decided to break away from their herd.

For those soldiers that are professional at it, I salute them. It can't be easy and they aren't paid all that well (at least not in Canada). If you want to "walk a mile" in a soldiers shoes check out the articles on the CBC site by Russell D. Storring. They are well-written, and at times heart-wrenching, stories of what it is like to be a soldier. Not only the effect on the soldier but also the effect on spouses, parents and their children. As a father, I can particularly relate to his stories on that level. I can't imagine being in a job that required me to be away for six months at a time.

Stanley needs a tan?

The Stanley Cup final starts tonight. I'm torn as to who I want to win. On the one hand, you have to be impressed at what the Flames of Calgary have done in these playoffs and they are the underdogs. They also have Jarome Iginla who is arguably the best in the world right now.

Tampa Bay on the other hand are exciting to watch and have Martin St. Louis the regular season scoring champ. They also have Dave Andreychuk who is from my home town. So if Tampa wins then the cup will be making a trip there. That's just cool.

But forget anyone's attempt to make it a U.S vs. Canada thing. There are more Canadians playing on both rosters than any other nationality. But if you want a humourous look at the cross-border rivalry, check this out. Some of the comparisons are priceless. My favourite:

End their sentences with: USA: "no'm say'n?" Canada: "eh?"

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The Ontario Budget handed down this week was a joke. The Liberals campaigned on a platform of no tax hikes and a balanced budget. They delivered neither. By putting in place tax hikes, the Liberals have broken the Taxpayer Protection and Balanced Budget Act which received Royal assent in 1999. That means it is the law. Simply put, this law says that the government must go to a referendum BEFORE any tax hike is put into place. So the Liberals have not only lied during their campaign, they broke the law. I never have trusted politicians.

While I am on this, the Liberals have stated over and over that the reason they have had to go back on their word is because the previous government left them a deficit and its all their fault, blah, blah, blah. Well, if the problem was that the Liberals didn't know, then why were they making promises? And if there is a problem with disclosure of the books of Ontario, then why aren't they legislating that the books be open, and just like corporations, if the books are cooked then people get a "Go to Jail, Go Directly to Jail" card? I should be able to find out what is happening financially in our province. But you can't believe anything they tell us.

...o my aching head

Mario is one smart plumber.

Life Imitating Gaming

I saw this on Tech TV. What a very cool concept. This could be easily made into a charity event or a team game. I wonder what other games would translate to a real life model like this?

Sasser

The author of a computer virus (Sasser Worm)turns out to be an 18 year old German. He was turned in by informants hoping to cash in on a bounty that Microsoft has put up for information leading to the successful prosecution of virus writers. I hope they catch them all.

Even though, as a consumer, I would hope that Microsoft would put out a bullet-proof OS, I know as a programmer that this is never likely to happen. Most of the exploits that are used by virus writers are in the OS for good reasons. They may have had a very good reason for including them or they provided some benefit in the early development of the OS. But sometimes these good intentioned things can be misused and that's how a virus writer gets their thrill. Even if the security flaws were outright errors, it still doesn't give a virus writer the right to exploit it in a way that causes others a hardship.

Even if I leave my front door unlocked, it is still a crime to enter and take my belongings or vandalize my possessions. In a sense that is what virus writers are doing. They walk through an unlocked door and vandalize someone else's property. I hope this kid gets punished to the full extent of the law. Giving the maximum sentence (5 years) sends a message that others doing this can't ignore.

Raising the stakes....

Almost everyday we see in the media the reporting of the death of innocents in Palestine, Israel and Iraq. It's almost a given that we will read about another child, businessman or innocent bystander is killed by acts of cowardice and in the name of revenge.

The sickening pictures of the U.S. Army personnel mistreating their prisoners was unnerving but not surprising. I still remember Somalia where weak leadership and one or two soldiers of poor moral fiber were responsible for atrocities on another human being. A sixteen year old suspected thief was their victim.

So I was not at all surprised at the possibility of the U.S. having its own black eye situation. But you can add to the victims an American civilian. Al-Qaeda used the news of the poor treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison to some how justify his execution. It seems that these people are bent on keeping score and raising the stakes. "Torture and humiliate ours and we will kill yours", is what they seem to be saying.

Notice his executioners are all hiding behind masks. Cowardice in the name of revenge.

Poor Game Design

As I have mentioned a couple of times, Far Cry is a great game. I always play a new game on the most difficult setting until

• It kicks my butt so bad I surrender and drop the difficulty
• I get bored and just want to finish.

The first reason is a good one so long as the second isn't creeping into the real reason for dropping the difficulty. So far I am still playing Far Cry on the highest difficulty level.

But most games don't let you drop the difficulty setting on the fly. You are stuck with the difficulty setting you selected at the start of the game. One notable exception is Blizzard's Warcraft 3. If the game defeats you on a mission it actually asks you if you want to set the difficulty lower. There have been times in Far Cry where I have felt the odds have been so stacked against the player that it would be impossible to get through the level. One level I actually just ran as fast as my player would take me to avoid a horde of nasty enemies until I got to a spot where I could hide and wait for the enemy to loose interest.

Another design issue I have is the ability to save your progression in a game. Many games allow you to save at anytime in the game. This allows the player to micro-manage his progress so that you never need loose much ground when the game beats you. Many first person shooters use this method. Another method is to allow the player to save whenever they are not in a mission. This method is used in games like Grand Theft Auto. The only drawback of these methods, that I see, is the frustration that may be caused when a player forgets to save. I have often been well into a game and suddenly my virtual life ends. Then I realize I have to start at the very beginning of the mission or from the last time I saved (as in Grand Theft). Totally frustrating. I want a game that makes me feel immersed in the action so I don't want to have to remember I need to save.

Far Cry uses an automatic game saving scheme or "checkpoint" system. The game automatically saves your progress at predetermined checkpoints on each level. A little message is displayed telling me my progress has been saved. If I die, I get to start from the last checkpoint. But now the gamer is at the mercy of the level designers. You must start from where the designers want you to. That, on its own, isn't too bad so long as the designers are generous in their save points. For the most part the designers of Far Cry picked natural checkpoints and you were able to restart just before you got into the next fire fight.

But there have been a couple of spots where the checkpoint was at a stupid spot. The most infuriating so far has been a level where the start of the checkpoint has you turn a valve to flood the area you are in so that you can swim up to a vent which leads the player to the next action area. My frustration came in having to restart and swim and then crawl through a vent (which is slow) over and over and over, before I get to the next enemy. Couldn't the designer have put the checkpoint at the end of the vent? There was no other exit point. It would have saved nearly two minutes on every restart. I really didn't need all that extra swimming and crawling.

The other spot that was infuriating was a spot where you had two choices. Either grab a hang glider or grab a boat and travel to the next area. The checkpoint occurred as soon as I launched the glider. Wouldn't it have made more sense to have the checkpoint either before I launch my transportation choice (but then I would have the useless voyage every time) or better still, have the checkpoint once I arrive at the next area? This level was particularly difficult the further into the area you got and it was absolutely maddening to get to about the half way point to the next checkpoint only to be overwhelmed and have to start again gliding to my destination.

I guess my preferred game save option would be one where the player is allowed to save progress between automatically saved checkpoints. I know there are games like that out there. I just can't think of them off the top of my head. I don't mind a game frustrating me due to its game play but I don't like a game frustrating me because of something I should be able to control but some designer decided to take away.

Leaving no rock unturned...

Somebody found this site by googling (is this a legit word now?) "How to break a habit". I am obviously not what they were looking for but even though I was way down the page, they must have clicked anyway. I think it is hilarious to imagine this person scanning my site to find my April 12 entry about "Simple comforts and solitude".

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to jump to this conclusion, however. Perhaps the person had the rare, yet debilitating, Crap-a-lot Syndrome. Perhaps my head's up to breaking habits by breaking the routine may come in very handy for the habitual pooper. Ah, yes. My work here is done. Another satisfied customer.