Her Most Regal Majesty, the Queen of Snark

Dragon Age

2009-11-15T01:55:13Z

(a) I absolutely hate fighting spellcasters
(b) a decent archer might be a good idea

These two ideas may not be unrelated.

More wave news

2009-11-12T18:14:43Z

Wave is Not Done Yet. It definitely has the potential to be phenomenally useful though. markbanang and I are in the early stages of planning a holiday for next year, and as a kind of annotated scratchpad for ideas, it seems pretty amazing.

Still got several invites available if people are interested. See my previous post. Everyone who's posted up to now has been invited.

BTW rysmiel, you definitely live in Montreal, don't you?

It's a good job you don't have to understand something to be able to exploit it

2009-11-07T23:45:40Z

Those of you who are gamers will probably be aware that Bioware have released a game called Dragon Age, which is a hack and slash fest very much in the tradition of Baldur's Gate (which will mean a great deal to some, and nothing to others). I wasn't going to pick it up, but the reviews were so positive, I couldn't not. It is about as fantastic as the reviews make out, although if you're not a fan of tactical RPGs, it should definitely be avoided.

All the non-gamers have probably now TL;DRed, which is a shame, as I'm actually posting to talk about modern economics, and why it's borked. Now this is an example from a computer game, but to be honest I've done similar things with all sorts of stuff from PC speakers to espresso machines, and I don't get it.

Cost of Dragon Age online via Steam: £30
Cost of Dragon Age special online edition, with a bit of extra content including a moderately useful shared stash: £40

Cost of DVD Dragon age from a UK seller on ebay dispatched to arrive on release day: £22
Cost of extra content via online purchase: £4.70ish

So, I have paid 27 quid for something I could have bought for 40 on Steam through a delivery system that's supposedly cheaper than physical media. Pedants among you will be aware that I'm down a couple of extra magic items by doing it this way, but essential I've got the special edition for less than the price of the standard edition, and got to play just as soon as everyone else.

It seems sad to me that modern economics penalises people who don't do basic investigation. I'd also be really gutted if I'd bought the special edition, then found out the content is available for less than the difference in price between editions. But not only is it harsh, it's also incomprehensible to me. How do the economics of this work, exactly?

(I don't understand why I didn't get the ring you're supposed to get for pre-ordering, but them's the breaks - to be fair I only pre-ordered two days before release, but it's still technically a pre-order, right.)

(BTW, Dragon Age players - be sure to download the character creator, roll yourself a quick character then upload it. This will net you a moderately nifty attribute increasing ring that's well worth having.)

Still not on Facebook or Twitter or Dreamwidth

2009-11-04T23:09:16Z

Was beginning to think I was transforming into a Luddite in my old age. (Obviously not a *real* Luddite, although loom smashing sounds like jolly good fun. It's a fine line between pedantry and an anal refusal to accept that words can acquire new meanings with the passage of time.) However, I still appear to be interested in Google Wave, smartphones, and other ShinyTech, so I think we can conclude that I am simply not interested in pointless, frivolous (I'm looking at you, Twitter) or antisocial (yes, Facebook, your policy of friend's locking photo posts by default has alienated me to the extent I wouldn't get an account if everyone else on the planet already had) technology. Innovation is good, but it should never be confused with mere novelty.

Safer Roads for cyclists?

2009-10-26T21:57:08Z

While I believe the following petition fundamentally misunderstands the nature of UK legislation relating to road safety, I believe the sentiment is appropriate. You might agree, in which case I urge you to sign.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/3feet2Pass/?signed=f4b4e40.514490

(As I understand it, most of the Highway Code itself does not have legal force, however, should an accident occur where one of the parties involved is in violation of the Code, this is likely to be taken into account when determining their culpability with respect to a charge of Careless or Dangerous Driving.* I have to admit that I'm not certain on this though. Corrections from those in the know welcome. While I think a law about giving cyclists room when overtaking is unnecessary, I would be very happy to see such a provision incorporated into the highway code.)

* We like to think of it more as guidelines.

How to make me happy

2009-10-15T17:00:37Z

I just had a very joyful thought. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some genealogically gifted personage researched the family trees of all the senior members of the BNP, and when they found the inevitable non-Anglo-Saxon-European-Celtic skeleton in the closet posted their picture to a blog somewhere with a copy of the appropriate genealogy and the caption "Nig-nog" under their photo?

Still not saying enough on LJ

2009-09-16T22:07:51Z

So, my potted life

- work, carries on much as usual. Big plans for the beginning of next year brewing in my head now. The fact that work is now "as usual" is something I often forget to be joyful about

- markbanang in Taiwan for two weeks (although they appear to have had considerable trouble getting him there). I am sulking

- My bike was stolen from the bike shed at work. Work insurance weaseled out of paying in that way insurance companies do. Since I've had it for ten years, even with the loss I saved money over having it insured, but still not happy. What I am happy with, however, is the Giant Expression N7-W, which is a gorgeously smooth ride.

- Maelstrom was merely OK. Too exhausted to get into it properly this time, and that seems to be so important.

- Feeling at a bit of a low ebb personally - while on the whole things are going well, I seem to be feeling quite isolated, like a ship passing through everyone else's life at a distance.

However, on the whole, much to be glad of. My entanglement with the benefits system seems to be largely at an end now, and largely resolved in my favour. I am good at at least large parts of my jobs, and on the whole content, although I can still manage to find plenty of things to whinge about. Almost afraid to count my blessings for fear something will come along to spoil it. Still, worry about bad things when they happen, I guess.

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Sluff

2009-09-04T17:29:23Z

It still just isn't good enough.

Did not think this through

2009-08-18T20:03:07Z

Quoth Livejournal regarding their themes contest "The theme with the most votes will also become the default theme for all new users through the rest of 2009. "

If someone were to teach them why too much democracy can sometimes be a bad thing, I would be rather amused. Embedded Rick Astley springs to mind.

Why are salespeople always so crap?

2009-07-07T22:38:36Z

Me: I'm interested in the Giant Expression N7 - do you have one I can test ride?
Them: Afraid not. It's a special order item. However, you can test ride one of our other Expressions.
Me: But that's got different gears and brakes.
Them: It's OK. It rides the same.
Me: That bike has a suspension fork on it - the N7 doesn't.
Them: Well we can set that to disabled, and then it'll be the same.

Ah, the fragrant smell of salesman bullshit. There is no way that test riding that bike will tell me how the brakes and gears on the N7 handle. Since I'm paying extra money for good brakes and gears, I really don't want to buy one without at least trying them out. Should I just give up now, do you think?

In other news, I am currently obsessed with the soundtrack to "Repo: The Genetic Opera", particularly "Zydrate Anatomy". ("Zydrate Anatomy?" "Zydrate Anatomy.") The film itself is a load of old bollocks, but great fun, although whoever was responsible for the transfer on the DVD soundtrack needs bloody shooting.

More bike excitement

2009-07-02T17:21:53Z

Currently I'm liking the Giant Expression N7-W, because brakes and gears that require very little maintenance seem just fab to me. If only it came in purple.

Any thoughts?

It's not done yet

2009-07-02T06:50:02Z

So, I have upgraded to Firefox 3.5.

One of it's nifty new features is native support for open video formats (don't know which ones they might be).

Unfortunately the one on the Firefox homepage hangs when I try to play it. Embarrassing.

But presumably not in a cage

2009-07-01T19:47:27Z

I so hope this was a deliberate act of a Radiohead fan with a sense of irony:

http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employer,intro.htm - apparently this government sanctioned cycle tax dodge produces "fit, happy, productive staff".

On a related note, anyone have recommendations for a ladies' hybrid costing less than £500. (Actually, it doesn't have to be a hybrid, but I want a commuter bike - I'm unlikely to be riding it for more than an hour at a time or off-road.) Giant is good, because then I can buy from Cycloanalysts, who have always provided good customer service - but more important is that I get the best bike for the money.

The very act of voting makes me feel disenfranchised

2009-06-05T09:30:07Z

This year, I took the coward's way out. I didn't really have time to look at manifestos properly, so I just voted the same way I always vote, despite having no real faith in the ability of the party to govern, or that we shared much in the way of common ground. All that can really be said for them is that they're a lot less hateful than the others.

The interesting Political Compass website tells me that in terms of political spectra, I occupy much the same territory as the Green party. Now I have very little time for any political movement that embraces that total arse Peter Tatchell, but I thought I'd check out their website. Sure enough their manefesto is full of the kind of impractical knee-jerk, feelgood socialism that I last observed practised by Plaid Cymru when I was living in Wales. I guess this confirms my intuition that putting my political beliefs on any kind of axis is an exercise pretty much doomed to failure.

I wonder if my so far unbroken record of never having voted for a candidate who then attained office will continue. (Euro elections don't count for the purpose of this statistic, since PR means that my vote always counts for something.)

McGonagall update

2009-04-27T19:23:28Z

122 signatures, stunningly.

I've come up with a sort of mini faq thing, which I've posted to a community of my acquaintance. Since they seem to like locked posts there, I'll repeat it for the mildly curious here.

A stamp for William McGonagall

Hello there,

I'm trying to drum up interest in a petition I've created to see if we can get the Royal Mail to produce a stamp commemorating the life and works of William Topaz McGonagall, possibly the worst poet of all time. If you think this would be a good idea, then please sign up.

The petition can be found at

http://www.petitiononline.com/topaz/

You can find out more about McGonagall and his remarkable life at http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/ or via his wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall.

If you feel so inclined, a link in your journal would also be helpful

Thank you.

I've had a couple of questions about the petition:

Are you serious?

Yes, I am. I have a genuine admiration and affection for McGonagall, which is shared by many other people. While he could not be regarded as talented by conventional standards, his boundless and unquenchable optimism in the light of the ridicule of his peers is inspiring and laudable. As someone who finds it terribly hard to believe in themselves some times, he seems worth commemorating.

Naturally this noble task is being undertaken a lightheated manner, and is not terribly likely to meet with success. However the petition seems very much in line with the spirit in which McGonagall lived his life. I may not be walking to Balmoral, but I'm happy to traipse the dusty roads of the Internet in search of fellow supporters for his cause.

Bad poetry isn't exactly rare - what makes McGonagall special?

It's difficult to say. Parodists such as Private Eye have attempted to ape his style, but there is something genuinely spine-tingling about the sheer awfulness of McGonagall's poetic voice that defies imitation. Part of it stems, I think, from his aura of total conviction that he was doing great work. Had he had a shade more humility, he is unlikely to have produced anything so remarkable.

Why a stamp?

A friend suggested it one day in a list of things she'd rather do than deal with a minor irritation in her life. I created the petition as a way of cheering her up, but also because I would love to see McGonagall remembered and introduced to a new generation of fans.

Will I get spammed by Petition Online?

As I have no connection to the site, I can't offer any guarantee that your details will be safe. What I can tell you is that they've been around for several years, I've signed petitions on the site in the past, and I don't believe I've received spam as a result. Furthermore, an Internet search failed to turn up anything suspect about them.

When will you send in the petition?

When the number of signatures hasn't increased significantly in a month or two.

For the Rocky Horror fans

2009-02-18T23:11:14Z

Rocky Horror / Shock Treatment Lips Box Set.

I saw this in a shop when it was 70 quid, and lusted. At 13 quid, it's a no brainer.

Apropos of the below

2009-02-12T16:43:56Z

Thanks to all of you who've signed the McGonagall petition. I estimate the audience of my journal to be somewhere in the region of 50 people, however, so if you could actually post a link in your journal as well, that would be really appreciated.

http://www.petitiononline.com/topaz/

I have some ideas for how to increase exposure, but without a critical mass of names in the first place, I don't think they'll be very effective, as I'm currently likely to get mistaken for an Internet nutter. (Can't think why, but that's the way it goes.)

Do it for the silly. You know you want to.

A worthy cause

2009-02-11T20:25:10Z

Sign a petition to ask the Royal Mail to put William Topaz McGonagall on a stamp.

http://www.petitiononline.com/topaz/

Please, spread this as widely as you possibly can. The man is a national hero. More so than even Stephen Fry. A link on your blog to the URL above and request for others to do the same would be greatly appreciated.

On being hardcore

2009-02-05T17:39:41Z

Today I spent 90 minutes standing at a bus-stop in Wheatley, because I am more hardcore than buses.

Got home eventually though.

Twitter

2009-02-04T22:01:36Z

This is only coming to a head now because the media noticed Stephen Fry is in love with it, right?

I can sort of understand why some people would want to Twitter, although I have to say the idea bores me. What I can't understand is why they then feel the need to echo their (t)witterings to a far less restrictive medium like LJ.

Just to help those of you that weren't there already, this is not an invitation for you to explain to me why Twitter is awesome. I honestly don't care enough for it to matter.

Is it just me, or has the Internet stopped being exciting and innovative?

I just like to complain

2009-02-02T21:31:21Z

So much so that I have a job as a professional complainer.

However, I rarely use my skills in that field to my own benefit. Today, I thought I'd treat Bethesda Software to a piece of hand-crafted artisan unamusedness. I'm very curious to see what results if any it produces.

Hello,

I felt that I ought to write to you to say what a disappointing experience I've had in regards to the downloadable content for Fallout 3. I've enjoyed the game greatly, although I haven't had that much time to play it I've generally been glued to the screen for hours at a time when the opportunity arose, and when I saw a review of the Operation: Anchorage package on Ars Technica, I thought I'd pick it up to add something to the fun.

Unfortunately I couldn't find Games for Windows Live on my system. First I tried navigating around the Live interface in game. For some reason my mouse cursor is always about 50 pixels below where it thinks it is while in GfW within Fallout, so this does not make for easy navigation in the first place. I persevered, but I couldn't find how to get at the downloadable content from within the game, despite having to go to all the trouble of registering my Live ID - I'm not much of an online gamer - I've seen no other reason to go on to Live.

So, I then tried from outside Fallout, but couldn't find a way to access Games for Windows. I attempted to download the Live app from Microsoft to see if this would fix things. It installed fine, but still no icon. Eventually, I found it using the Search bar. I still have no idea where it's actually installed on my system - certainly not in the Games folder where I might expect it to be.

Anyway, I fired up the application to see if I could order the downloadable content. It took me a couple of goes to find the right page, as before I bought it, I wanted to be sure that if I installed Fallout on my other PC, I'd be able to play the content on that - information that wasn't readily available on any of the webpages I looked at. To make matters worse, Games for Windows Live insisted in starting up web pages in Internet Explorer, which I found intensely irritating, as I use Firefox exclusively and have no desire to learn how to use IE.

Eventually I managed to get it to the point where it told me that I needed to buy 800 points to get the Fallout expansion. I admit to being a little flummoxed by this, since I had no clear idea what 800 points are or how much they're worth to me.

I then went to enter in my credit card details so I could buy some points. Despite being an international site, Games for Windows gave no option for me to use my Maestro card to pay for these points. I have a Visa card, so it's not a huge problem, but I prefer not to use it unless I have to, as the delay in paying makes budgeting difficult. Oh well, I thought. If it has to be Visa, then so be it.

Once I have laboriously entered all my details by hand (which Firefox will happily fill in for me, but I don't have that feature set up in Internet Explorer, because I don't normally use IE), I am then told that I can buy GfW points in multiples of 500. I'm afraid that for me this was the final straw. I have no desire to loan Microsoft my money on an indefinite basis, even as small an amount as a pound or two. I'm afraid I just want to pay the asking price for something and that be the end of the transaction.

In summary, your chosen downloadable content deliverer is confusing, poorly implemented, inconvenient, and tries to charge me more than the cost of your game, the balance to be refunded at some future date, should I choose to shop in their store again, which I'd have to say at this stage looks vanishingly unlikely.

I'm afraid that under the circumstances, there's absolutely no way I'm willing to purchase from them, so I'm afraid it looks as though you won't be getting my custom this time. This is a shame, as you make a good product, which I'm happy to pay for and use should you make it convenient for me to do so.

Lest you think I'm some sort of techno-luddite, completely incapable of dealing with the complexities of the modern Internet, I should probably point out that I've spent several years working professionally as a systems administrator, and thus if I experience problems with an interface, you can probably put money on the problem being with the interface rather than me. Also, I've bought about 10 games off Steam without issue, and have been very happy with the ease and convenience of Valve's service.

I'd be grateful if you would pass details of my experience on to your customer relations manager, so that she or he is aware of the frustrating nature of my experience, and so that you may be able to work on improving your customer experience in future. An apology would also be welcome, but really it's more important to me that things get fixed in future.

Thanks for your time,

Sesquipedality

Just a band

2009-02-02T18:17:54Z

Angles by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip for £3 - worth it for the delightful "Thou Shalt Always Kill" alone, although I recommend you pop over to Youtube and have a listen first, as it may not be to everyone's taste.

It's at times like these

2009-02-02T18:11:47Z

that I remember I'm from the Midlands.

Bunch of effete Southern Jessies.

This must've been done, right?

2009-01-31T16:23:44Z

Don't ask, don't tell

2009-01-30T18:57:03Z

I have no idea.

Have a play yourself if you like.