December 2006 Archives

Over Thanksgiving, I purchased Stronghold 2 for $19.99 from Office Max. I was in the mood for a real-time strategy game, something a little different than my usual sci-fi fare. Stronghold 2 certainly seemed to fit that bill. It featured medieval castles, catapults, trebuchets, archers, polemen, etc.

The graphics in the game are 3D and more than adequate to the task. It was very easy to tell units apart on-screen, buildings looked unique and recognizable, etc. Rotating the camera in the game proved to be rather difficult, so I rarely tried. It just wasn't worth the effort.

The sounds are also adequate and not overdone.

The controls are a bit strange. To select a unit, you left-click on it. To move it, you left-click where you want that unit to go. Most of the time, this works fine. Sometimes, however, this makes it difficult to select and move units that are located close together.

There appears to be a "tech tree" of sorts in the game, where you can initially make only spearmen and archers. Supposedly you can also make armored troops, swordsmen, and a variety of others. Unfortunately the manual doesn't explain this well and it's certainly not clear in playing. After playing several levels of the single-player campaign, I still can't make a mounted unit or a sword-swinging unit. I've no idea why or how. Worse, my AI opponents all seem to be able to produce these units in quantity, and their units seem to take 2-3x the damage mine do before dying.

In addition to the "invisible" tech tree, the game also suffers from a "wash, rinse, and repeat" mission design. That is, at the start of each mission, you begin with almost nothing. You have to scramble to gather resources, build defenses, and construct units to defend and/or attack. Meanwhile, the computer throws wolves (which eat archers and spearmen for breakfast), bandits (who can kill several of your units with one of theirs), enemy forces (which can kill several of your soldiers with one of theirs), time limits, and more at you. Once you've managed to beat the level, the cut scene explains that you've decided to move to another castle for the next mission (i.e., rinse away all your progress) where you start all over again (i.e., repeat).

Sometimes, the cut scenes make some very lame excuses for the "rinse" part. For example, after fighting my way through one map, my "character" and another decide that they need to use their enemy's castle because it's better located and will be easier to defend. Below is the castle they think will be easier to defend:

Years ago, I watched an episode of Married with Children in which Al Bundy was excited to purchase a DVD or CD collection of the "Diana Rigg" episodes of the BBC series "The Avengers" from the 1960s. Al was excited about this because he enjoyed the show and felt that Diana Rigg was especially attractive.

I recently noticed that BBC America was playing The Avengers, so I decided to have my TiVo grab them for me as they aired. I've now seen probably a dozen or more episodes of the show. While it's cheesy by today's standards, there is a certain charm to the series. Patrick MacNee's "John Steed" character displays a good sense of humor while maintaining a British sense of propriety at all times. He's kind of a James Bond style secret agent who relies on wits and cunning more than gadgets and firepower.

Steed's companion in the early episodes is Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg. In later episodes, a different actress joins him, playing the character Tara King.

I've got to agree with Al Bundy, Diana Rigg is an attractive woman, a good actress, and far nicer to look at than Linda Thorson, who played Tara King. Thorson's character sports boyish short hair, boyish clothing, and lacks the coy romantic charms of Diana Rigg. Tara's more of a little boy in a woman's body, while Emma Peel is stylish, sophisticated, charming British woman.

I've seen this little "scam" a few times now and I've decided it's time to say something about them so that hopefully a few of you won't fall victim to them. The scam starts with an innocent-looking advertisement that promises to give you access to lots of music, movies, and other downloads cheaply, or even free. I've even seen such advertisements in banner ads and even in Google AdSense blocks like the one on this page.

You're usually directed to a page like the one I'm linking to here. This page tells you that you'll "find and download movies, music, and your favorite TV series" and that you will "get instant access to unlimited DVD quality movies (including new releases". It shows pictures of movies like "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", TV shows like "Desperate Housewives", and more. The implication from the ad is that by purchasing some software they are selling, you'll have access to some great network of "759,989 users" with "over 95,000,000 media files" that you can transfer to your computer or iPod.

What they're not telling you, unless you click on the link marked "Legal Disclaimer" is that they are selling you Peer-to-Peer (P2P) software. They're also not telling you that P2P software is generally available free of charge. The "service" they're selling you is most likely access to a list of links to P2P networks where you can download copyrighted movies, music, software, etc. While such materials ARE freely available on those networks, downloading such items from P2P networks is most definitely ILLEGAL and will open you up to prosecution. This is explained in their legal disclaimer, and is pretty much the opposite of what the rest of the site indicates. They imply that you'll be downloading the latest movies (for example) for free, but in the disclaimer they explain that doing this would be illegal.

So what we have here is someone attempting to rip off those who aren't familiar with P2P networks and the law. They charge the people $39.99 for "unlimited access" to P2P networks which cost nothing to access in the first place. They give people the impression that they can download anything they find on such networks safely and legally. Only in the disclaimer do they tell you that you'd actually be breaking the law if you do what they suggest. And believe me, the way the authorities are watching P2P networks these days, you'll very likely be caught.

JMS Off Bab 5 Novels?
From Mongoose Publishing
December 19, 2006

The saga of J. Michael Straczynski and the Babylon 5 novels from Mongoose Publishing took another turn recently. After agreeing to "give Mongoose a second chance" by reviewing the upcoming series of Mongoose Babylon 5 novels for accuracy and "level of writing" (see "JMS To Oversee Babylon 5 Novels"), the Babylon 5 creator has washed his hands of the books, according to a post on his blog.

Complaining that the novels he was shown were "unprofessionally put together and edited," JMS concluded "my feeling is that as well-intentioned as they might be, they don't really have the chops when it comes to fiction... so I've stepped back and said I really can't be a part of this process because I can't endorse something if I don't think the quality is going to be there. So it's between them and WB (Warner Brothers) at this point."

Asked for comment, Matthew Sprange of Mongoose Publishing said that "the situation is not resolved," and that more news would be available later this week.

You've probably heard of the Care Bears, the sickeningly sweet, pastel-colored little bears who spouted lovely sweet things to children.  They became something of the symbol for things which are just "too sweet".  Well, this little fellow is most definitely NOT a Care Bear.  In fact, he's quite the opposite.

Instead of saying sweet little things like "Let's share!" or "I love you!", the Swear Bear says things like:

• "Eat sh*t and die, mother f*cker"
• "Nobody loves you, everybody hates you, go f*ck yourself"
• "Hey D*ckhead, what're you, some kind of pervert, gotta touch teddy bears?"
  

He's about 6 1/2 inches tall and says all the above as well as several more.

If you feel like you need one of these for your home or office, you can find them at Entertainment Earth ($17.99).

I was having lunch with some friends the other day.  One of the people sitting around the table was the girlfriend of a friend.  She is working at our company as a temp and, since I've been there the longest, she asked me what she could do to ensure that she was hired.  I had to think about that question a bit, and since I figured there might be others out there who have the same question (but for a different company), here are my thoughts on the subject:

• Get to Know Everyone You Can:  Even if you have a very narrow skill set and figure there is only one area in the entire company that will ever hire you, and even if that's true, networking is still critical for a number of reasons. 
  
  First, employees mix and mingle all the time.  People in one department are friends with people in others.  Managers in one division discuss things with managers in other divisions.  The more people you know and are friendly with, the more likely your name will come up in a positive way when people are talking about job openings and candidates.  This can only help you get hired.
  
  The more people you know, the more warning you may get about job openings within the company.
  
  Networking can also help you in terms of making you more effective at your job.  For example, if your boss asks for 15 copies of a document and the copier runs out of paper, knowing "Fred in Facilities" who re-stocks the paper can be the difference between coming through in a pinch and having to apologize for failure.
  
• Demonstrate a Strong Work Ethic:  This is something that, in my experience, seems to be getting rarer and rarer.  Young people, especially, seem to treat a job as an entitlement, acting as though the company should be happy they even bother to show up.  This is not a good way to get hired.  A good way to get hired is to consistently arrive at work on time, ready to dig into your tasks, and being ready and willing to help others.  If you've run out of things to do, don't sit there.  Ask a co-worker if you can help them with something.  Ask a manager for more work.  Nothing will turn a potential employer off more than finding you sitting at your desk surfing the web, reading a magazine, or otherwise looking like you've goofing off. 
  
• Become Indispensable:  If there is a particular task in your work area that people have trouble doing, don't like doing, never have time to do, or simply "can't" do, this is an opportunity for you.  If you can, volunteer to take on the task.  Learn how to do it, and do it well.  Your manager will appreciate that the job is getting done, and your co-workers will be glad they didn't have to do it.  They won't want to let you get away from them, and they'll all probably try to help get you hired.  The more of a difference you make (for the better), the more likely you will be hired if an opportunity arises.
  
• Be Flexible:  One thing that turns off employers and potential employers is someone who flies out the door when quitting time arrives.  If your situation allows it, check with your boss or co-workers on your way out the door to see if they can use a hand with something.  Staying late (especially if there's no overtime or pay involved), even just a few minutes, to help a co-worker will go a long way toward building your reputation as a team player and hard worker.  If you absolutely have to leave right when quitting time arrives, make sure (in a subtle way) that people know you have a good reason (e.g., have to pick up your child from day care, have a second job, a sick parent, etc.).
  
• Be Conscious of the Image You Project:  At all times, you should be thinking about the image you are giving others, the impressions you're making, and the way others are reacting to you.  Ideally, people should see you as professional, respectful, courteous, friendly, hard-working, willing to help, and someone who takes pride in their work.  While a collection of sci-fi action figures may be appropriate on the desk of a veteran employee, on the desk of a temporary employee it might be seen as "toys" or evidence that you're goofing off during work hours.  You're better off in this situation with the bare minimum of desktop decorations - photos of family and friends, a spouse or significant other, etc.  Since you also don't know what political, religious, or ethnic backgrounds your co-workers are, it's best to keep those kinds of decorations and discussions out of the office as much as you can. 

If you can follow the above recommendations, there is a good chance you will eventually find yourself hired - if there is any chance to be hired at the company.  If not, you should at least receive a glowing review at your temporary agency, which will help you get placed at another company where the right opportunity may come along.