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Stop the DRM

When will companies learn that their draconian efforts to prevent piracy only serves to hurt their paying customers which directly affects their bottom line!!

Companies, you must stop counting pirated copies of your software as “lost revenue” — it’s not! Someone who is willing to pirate software isn’t willing to pay for it.. EVER! So you never had their money in the first place..

You’re trying so hard to capture that imagined lost revenue that it’s blinding you to how badly you’re screwing yourselves and your real customers..

Equating the number of pirated copies of your software directly to dollars is retarded.. More over, implementing these harsh DRM models only serves to prevent the honest players from playing your games, which effectively assures that you’re going to lose real money in the form of people who actually DO buy your games going else where..

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Apple Fanboy

I understand brand loyalty, but Apple fanatics take it to extremes..  Buying something just because it has an Apple logo on the side is ludicrous..  Recently I had (via a forum) a conversation with someone who was in the market for a new monitor and they had their heart set on either the 24″ or 30″ Apple Cinema Display..   I pointed out the 28″ monitor that I use and offered it as a possible alternative simply because the ACD’s are stupidly expensive..

I told him that my monitor was much less than the 30″ ACD he was leaning towards, and in fact you could likely get 6 of mine for one of those.. Plus I pointed out that the majority of the stats for my monitor was actually better than the ACD.  To which he said that the monitor I used was cheap and ugly.   And compared the Apple Cinema Display to a fine bottle of wine, where as my monitor was a cheap sixpack.

What a pretentious douche..  He completely discounts my suggestion not on merit.. not on facts like specs or technical reasons.. No.. but because the Apple product is a fine bottle of wine, where as mine is a single out of a cheap six pack..  Wow..  The level of snobbery amazes me..  Hey buddy, you’re douchebag is showing..

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So there are a lot of people, some famous, trying to get you to buy gold..  While I was in the car dealership the other day in the waiting area they had the TV playing and there was something like 10 different gold resellers trying to convince us that NOW is the time to buy gold .. “Cause the economy sucks”, “Gold is always valuable”, “I’m really famous do what I say.. “  etc..

As of this writing the price of gold is at $1120 an ounce which is an all time high.  That alone should be your first indication that;  Now is not the time to buy gold!

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Razer Mamba

Update (Nov 1, 2009) :: After all is said and done, I have the mouse back from Razer and it is working as I think it should.   It doesn’t do the sleep-death thing it was doing previously which implies to me that the old firmware was horribly buggy and the newer firmware is required for sure..  That was the number one issue previously and it appears to be resolved..   The Razer management team that I dealt with were nothing but professional and courteous though I am still concerned about the “standard” support they are providing as those folks didn’t give anywhere near the level of support that I got directly from the president and his main man (of course)..  My over all opinion on the device itself has gone from “avoid at all costs” to, “okay its not bad so long as you get the most recent version”.  I still find myself occasionally using the G7 which I still find telling but I am not sworn off Razer products as I was previously..  And no they didn’t pay me or make me say these things..

Now on to the original post ::  I was pretty frustrated and angry when I initially wrote this.  The tone is a lot harsher than it should be and for that I apologize, but the message is still basically what I want it to be..

As I have said previously, I’m a pretty hard core Logitech fan.  I use a lot of their hardware, and am always very happy with it..  I have used several Logitech mice in my day (corded and cordless) and up until fairly recently was using a Logitech G7.   The G7 is one of their cordless gaming mice and I have used it for a while.   I really like it, it’s a wonderful mouse and I highly recommend it.  My only complaint being that I wish it had 2 thumb buttons instead of one.. that was it.. my only complaint..  I managed to break the mouse wheel on mine though due to my own stupidity and being a bit rough with it, so it was time to replace it..

A buddy of mine has a Razer mouse and loves it, so when I was at the store and saw the Ferrari of the Razer mouse line; the Mamba wireless gaming mouse — I went ahead and picked it up..

At $129.99 I expected this thing to perform like no other..  In fact, at twice the cost of my Logitech G7, I expected it to perform twice as well..  It came in a really nice box, with a lot of high and mighty claims on the box so I was thinking I had a winner..

Let me be clear here – this mouse is the biggest piece of shit, I have ever.. and I mean.. EVER used..

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Offensive Footwear

So a co-worker of mine showed up wearing what, at the time, I could only describe as “glove shoes”.  They are sort of like water socks, where each toe has its own sleeve to fit in.  They looked quite comfy and interested me..  I talked to him about it a bit and finally decided, what the heck.. I want a pair!

I went to REI Austin and tried on a couple pairs before settling on one..  They are great!  At first my toes rebelled at fitting into their own slot, but once I convinced them that I actually did want them in there all was well..

It’s sort of feels like wearing a silk glove that had the bottom dipped in rubber.. Extremely comfy to be honest..  I hate having something between my toes so I was a tad worried that I wouldn’t like them due to that but these feel completely natural..

The primary issue I have with them is the down right hostile reaction I get from folks when I wear them..

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Whack a Seal!

So, on Saturday the 11th of April, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) held an awareness gathering in World of Warcraft where they killed four quest NPC’s as a form of protest for the unethical killing of seals in real life.  Some how it got into their heads that by focusing on protecting the digital seals in a game and instead performing the far more ethical act of killing the would-be digital seal killers, it would bring awareness to the unethical killing of real world seals.

So.. let me sum up for those who can’t put this together — what they are saying is..   Kill the people who are killing the seals.

Are you fucking kidding me?!  How is that more ethical?  They honestly are saying that it’s more ethical to kill humans than it is to kill seals?  That’s their stance?  Really?

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