This is of course all conceptual, but nanotechnology is on the horizon and I don’t think there’s any denying that this is a wacky ass time to be alive.

From here on out I’ll probably be using my blog over at n-philes more often when I feel like talking about video games. I’ll link from here when I post something that might be of interest. My first post is up, and is on the subject of video game news and why I care less now than I ever have. If that sounds like something you’d want to read, go for it. It’s right here.

Now usually I avoid political discussion on my blog, mainly because it ages so quickly and political commentary is no doubt not what readers of this page are really looking for. But regardless, I felt compelled to write on this subject.

First off I shoud say that I like Nader. A lot. He’s a great American and has done more for consumers (read: citizens) than any elected official I can think of in recent history. Thanks to him we have proper nutritional labels on our food, seat belts and airbags in our cars, and a population that has started to care about our environment. Even Obama called him “heroic.” I also dismiss the idea that he cost Al Gore Florida in his run against Bush back in 2000. The facts of the matter are that 1) Every single third party candidate had enough votes to fill the gap between Gore and Bush 2) According to exit polls most people that voted for Nader in Florida wouldn’t have voted otherwise and 3) Voters vote (or at least should) based on who they think would do the best things for the country. If the Democrats couldn’t convince the public that they were the best ones for the job, that’s their fault for not running on the right platform.

Additionally in 2004 Nader even gave John Kerry advice as how Kerry could have beaten Bush, as he should have, easily. Kerry ignored the advice to take stronger stands on issues that would have separated himself more from Bush and instead played nice. Bush put Kerry on the defensive, and Kerry never recovered. He spent his entire run defending his past instead of talking about issues, and Bush coasted into a win.

That being said, I wish Nader wouldn’t run this year. His last campaigns have clearly shown that our two party system is broken and disgusting. If you’re not tied to one of those parties, you will be forcibly kept out of debates, ignored by the media unless they’re scorning or demonizing you, and you will be slandared. American “democracy” is, in its current state, a joke. That point has been made, and is there for anyone for anyone who cares enough to see. Why try and make the point again? It’s a losing battle, and there are far to many other, better ways for him to be spending his time.

Writing books, touring his lectures, and once again becoming the figurehead for consumer advocacy would do better for the American people than wasting time running a campaign that simply can not be won because of our current electoral system. He’s smart, connected, aware, and undeniaby determined. Put it to good use, Nader. Don’t keep wasting precious time playing in broken game.

Even with all that talk, if come November the ballot reads Clinton vs. McCain, Nader will get a vote from me.

A while back my desktop started giving me problems. Eventually it just sort of died. I could have repaired it for under $100, but decided to wait until I had some extra money and go for an all out upgrade. That day has finally come, and I know sit typing from my upgraded machine. So far its pretty nice – for those interested I went from an AMD Athon 64X2 3800+ with 2GB of RAM to a Core 2 Duo E6750 with 4GB of RAM. A change of motherboard was of course required, and I kept the rest of the guts of my computer. My video card (7600GT) has help up very well, and there’s no need to switch out my hard drives at the moment. The biggest relief of all is getting back to my 19″ wide screen monitor from my laptop’s 14″. I missed using this thing.

I also started a Twitter account, just to see what all the hubbub was about. I was also able to trick some friends into doing the same. So far it’s actually been kind of cool, but I’m not sure if the novelty will wear off soon or not. Regardless, if you, for some reason, want to know what I’m doing at almost all times, feel free to follow me around via my Twitter. Be warned, updates will rarely make much sense.

By ROBERT BURNS – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) – A missile launched from a Navy ship struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. It was not clear whether the operation succeeded in its main goal of destroying a tank aboard the satellite that carried a toxic fuel that U.S. officials said could pose a hazard to humans if it landed in a populated area.

(plenty more at source)

RAHHH AMERICA POWER

For those that don’t know, I work at a used book store. The store sells lots of things, including magazines. The place where the magazines are housed is coincidentally (or not?) close to the bathrooms. Today I ventured into the bathroom to conduct some official business, and I came upon something that was juvenilely amusing to me. I took a picture of it with my phone.

Wood Magazine is, of course, a magazine that contains vast amounts of knowledge pertaining to the substance of wood and the manipulation of it. Carving, widdling, sawing, painting and so forth. Most likely the person who took the magazine to the bathroom with him (I can only assume it was a him since it was in the men’s restroom) knew this, and was simply getting some wood gluing tips whilst unloading some excrement that had been bothering the kind fellow. However, the little kid inside of me couldn’t help but wonder if the unsuspecting patron had a much different idea of what “Wood Magazine” would entail when he brought it into the bathroom to take a gander at its contents.

On a completely different note Steve Salerno had a great article published in this weeks eSkeptic about the deep flaws of broadcast journalism. It’s a good read for those interested.

It seems like there are things in some games that are there just to piss me off and make me want to stop playing them. Things that should be easy, but are not. I’m not talking about a boss that’s so hard to fight it isn’t fair, or a level that seems nearly impossible due to an overwhelming amount of enemies. I’m not talking about games that require you to have lighting quick reflexes. I’m talking about some stupid stuff here.

Take for example, Harvest Moon – the farming simulator for my favorite game system of all time; the Super Nintendo. I like Harvest Moon. It’s a chilled out game where you harvest some crops, raise some cows, and marry a bitch of your choice. But right now it’s pissing me off.

Now I haven’t played the SNES version of Harvest Moon in ages, and I will admit that I’ve spent much more time with the GameCube version of the game than any other one in the series. So when the SNES game launched on the Virtual Console for the Wii this week, I was intrigued. It’s a game I like and a version that I haven’t played as much as I have the others, so even though it’s older I figured it would still feel somewhat fresh to me. Sounded like a nice pleasant waste of eight dollars if I ever heard one.

At the very beginning of the game this little jerk shows you around. One of the first things he does is take you to the town that neighbors your farm so you can meet the townsfolk. You know, figure out where shops are, get to know who’s who in town, figure out which chick seems the most bonesawable to you, that kind of thing. No problem. I wander around the place for a while talking to the people that look important. I visit all the shops. I read all the notes in the shop that give you farming tips. After a little while I’m ready to get back to my farm and get things started. I go and talk to the little jerk, who is blocking the way back to my farm. “I suggest you listen to the villagers a little more,” he says. Alright. Sounds like this is one of those games where I have to talk to everyone before I can get started, ala Animal Crossing. Actually, this is probably where Animal Crossing stole the idea from. Annoying, but doable. I start at the top left hand corner of the town and systematically go from house to house talking to everyone along the way. I miss no one. Finally, I set off back to the little jerk blocking the way to my farm.

“I suggest you listen to the villagers a little more.” What. The. Hell.

I go through the town again, rummaging through everyone’s personal things, reading everyone’s diary, everything. I talk to everyone for at least the third time. They all say the same tripe they said the first time. I approach the jerk. Let’s try this again.

“I suggest you listen to the villagers a little more.”

Now I’m just pissed. My TV is still on and that little jerk continues to taunt me. “I suggest you listen to all the villagers a little more.” His taunt will forever echo in my nightmares.

I hate him.

I’m sure I’ve just missed someone or something somewhere. Something stupid, no doubt. I almost don’t want to figure out what I missed, because when I do I’ll probably just be even more perturbed at the fact that I had missed whatever it was so many times over, even though whatever it was it has been right in front of my face the entire time. This type of thing, overlooking something stupid but retardedly vital, is something that happens to me more than it should in games.

Oh, look at the time. I’m almost late to my appointment of drowning myself in the bathroom sink.

First off, I finished reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, the famous biologist. The book is essentially a scientific argument against the theory of a creationist God, followed by some not as scientific arguments against religion as a whole. Published in 2006, it’s practically already been adopted as the Atheist Bible, and it’s easy to see why. The book is clearly written and does a pretty good job of debunking arguments that God and science can co-exist and still both make sense. Of course if you’re a devout member of any church, chances are this wont change your mind about anything, although I think it’s worth your time anyways. If you’re like most people, you’ve been raised to believe in some kind of religion your entire life. You’ve read all the arguments for God and religion, it’s really only fair and logical that you at least listen to what the other side of the fence has to say. Anything less would be intellectually dishonest, really. One thing you should be warned about though, if you do decide to read it, is that the beginning of the book, which is largely an argument for evolution, makes Dawkins sound like a pompous jerk. Which, to his credit, he sort of has a right to be, since he is one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists. But it still got on my nerves.

Finished listening to Cosmopolis by Dan DeLillo as well, which if you’re a regular reader (if those exist) you’ll know I’ve spoken fairly highly of already. It ended up being pretty good. Nice and perverted and with plenty of existential themes for those interested. I liked it.

Now I’m about halfway through Failed States by Noam Chomsky, the MIT professor of linguistics (he’s the guy who is credited for coming up with the theory of generative grammar), although he is perhaps more widely known for his writings and lectures in which he usually speaks out against America’s foreign policy. The book covers a lot of ground and gives more than a few examples of how America in its current state is essentially screwing up everything, or at least close to everything. Failed States is a fantastic read if you want to understand why it is that so many countries hold so much contempt for America. If you don’t feel like reading one of his books, you can always listen to one of his lectures or check out one of the many movies featuring him, my favorite two being Manufacturing Consent and The Corporation. The first focuses entirely on Chomsky and is interesting but not very exciting, the second one has its focus elsewhere, although Chomsky regularly chimes in.

On a non book related note, Warren Ellis.com (comic book writer, novelist, screenwriter) sent me to an interesting and fairly depressing blog called “What I Killed Today.” I’ll let the blogger explain in their own words what the page is all about.

I work with a lot of injured wildlife. Also not wild animals that are just in a lot of pain. Sometimes I have to euthanize them. I decided to record each animal I euthanize here.

Pretty wacky stuff.

Also completely unrelated, I can only hope that this is a legitimate document.

(click for the full size)