Spacehamster’s Blog

Everybody’s heard by know of the footage of a real live giant squid in its natural habitat. I’ve been fascinated by giant squid since I was a child - the awareness of this vast beast lumbering through the ocean has absolutely enthralled me. Most younger readers will be aware of the giant squid via the Harry Potter books (ie. the squid in the lake). I remember them as the monsters from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

It turns out that the last time a live giant squid was sighted, it was also the Japanese. That picture in the article awes me - especially the eyes. It looks exactly like I always imagined it would be.

And here’s a fact sheet on giant and colossal squid. Note the images of the rotating hooks. Yikes.

I admit to being an initial supporter of Mark Latham when he was first elected as Labor party leader more than a year ago. As I’m not a politician, I’m not afraid to admit that I was wrong about him. Even though he can dish it out, the man has proven to be extremely sensitive to criticism and quite venomous when given half the chance.

This is unfortunate, as he probably has made a few good points about the corrosive nature of politics in this country - on both sides of Parliament. Unfortunately, this adversarial atmosphere has leaked onto the blogosphere and resulted into a virtual war between people on both sides of the idealogical divide. As for me - I’m more than happy to respect other people’s beliefs (providing those beliefs aren’t bigoted or prejudiced in any way), and carry out a civilised debate on issues. I just wish people on both sides weren’t so blinded by such narrow-minded political idealism. Faith is good - but faith can also sometimes be blind.

That being said, here is a speech from Mark Latham, made at Melbourne University. I think it encapsulates everything in his book, and makes for a fascinating insight into the enormouse ego and combative nature of national politics. Definitely recommended reading.

It’s just occurred to me that I’ve been so busy with other really important matters (like doing my IT-related work), that I’ve neglected to finish off any of the games that I bought when I was working in Melbourne. To be honest, my interest in games has waned as I’ve gotten older, and been replaced by other interests that I’ve neglected over the past decade - like catching up on good books (still working on that), and catching up with popular music (Missy Higgins, Aimee Mann, Snow Patrol and Frou Frou).

So it was much to my surprise that I completed Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege 2 over an unintentional and sparodic weekend gaming marathon. I purchased Diablo 2 four years ago, so it was nice to finally complete the game. Dungeon Siege 2 was definitely worth playing through - my only criticism being the penultimate and final levels of the game, which were way too long and tedious. Long and winding stairway levels do not make for fun and interesting gaming.

But in terms of sheer gameplay and hack-and-slash fun, Diablo 2 has yet to be beat. The end levels were extremely fun, suspenseful and exciting. The Diablo 2 level designers seem to have an intuitive understanding of what a gamer wants to see. The end levels are quite short but packed full of monsters - and the victory animations are very, very satisfying. It’s amazing that a game that’s four years old with outmoded graphics can have more appeal than a game that was only released just last month.

In fact, Diablo 2 is so appealing that I’m replaying it again. The first time, I played through as a sorceress (yup, a female character). The second time through, I’m playing as a Druid, which is the male equivalent of a sorceress. His spells aren’t as powerful, but he has a very wide range of magic to choose from. A druid can cast mildly devastating area affect spells, summon animals, or become a werewolf to deal melee attacks - often all at the same time. Worse yet, most RPG’s allow you to summon only one animal at a time - a Druid can summon 4 or 5. Add to that area affect spells like volcano or firestorm, and you have a very powerful army at your disposal. It’s amazing the difference it makes - when going up against big bosses as the sorceress, I would often have to retreat to heal myself. As a druid, all I have to do is sit there and cast spells, while my summoned animals do all the melee work. Fun!

Blizzard did a fantastic job on Diablo 2, and should be justifiably proud of the work they did. No other hack-and-slash RPG since then has ever been able to surpass the unique alchemy of fun and excitement that Diablo 2 had.

I was walking into work this morning, and I walked past two drunks outside the local pub, who were hollering and yelling at cars on the road. One of them said “Why don’t you go back to the country you came from?!!?”.

My reply: “Born here”

On a scale of 1 to 10, that racial abuse was definitely a 1. But I’ve always wanted to say that to somebody that was hurling racial epithets, just to see what their reaction would be. It’s funny to see their faces fall off when they realise the person they were insulting was actually born in this country, but looks different from a typical Anglo-Saxon Aussie.

This link is strongly recommended reading. It’s a true-to-life survivors account of the aftermath of Katrina, and it encapsulates everything that was wrong about this horrible situation.

The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the day, made contact with New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban search and rescue team. We were dropped off near the airport and managed to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were assigned.

We arrived at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were caught in a press of humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a coast guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses did not have air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were forced to share two filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) we were subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.

Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be “medically screened” to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist.

There was more suffering than need be.

Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.

The behaviour of so-called “rescue services” - especially the local police and national guard in this case, were absolutely appalling. Threatening evacuees, refusing to provide food and water when they were in plain site. Not for the first time, I’m genuinely grateful for the lightning-fast communication of the internet. Otherwise stories like these would never have been told.

But of course, stories like these should never happen in the first place.

I have a modest collection of computer games. I sold most of them before I left Melbourne, but there are still a few that I haven’t played through yet. The oldest game in my collection is Diablo 2, which I bought in 2001. I recently bought Dungeon Siege 2, which is (to my surprise) a very addictive action-fantasy game. It doesn’t have the complexity, breadth or depth of Neverwinter Nights or Baldur’s Gate 2, but it provides you with enough action and storyline at a fast pace to keep you wanting more.

Having enjoyed Dungeon Siege 2, I resolved to give Diablo 2 another go. I’d gotten as far as the beginning of Act 3 the last time I played it (about 4 years ago), before I’d thrown my hands up in disgust and put the game back on the shelf. At the time, I just didn’t understand why the game was so addictive to so many people. My life was so fast-paced back then, anything that didn’t grab my attention in five minutes was rapidly throw away.

After having played Diablo 2 for a solid two weeks (after work, of course), I can now see why the game is so addictive to so many people. Like DS2, it provides you with just enough story and action to keep you going. What’s worse, because the game uses geographical waypoints instead of save slots, you absolutely have to keep going until you find that much-prized waypoint. Otherwise you’ll have to trudge all the way back to the same point when you play the game again.

The cutscenes still pack quite a punch. I vividly remember playing the first Diablo, so seeing the fate of my old hero was quite a bittersweet thrill for me. Considering the ending of the Expansion pack (Lord of Destruction), I doubt that there will ever be a Diablo 3. Still, I wish Blizzard would get busy with a Starcraft 2. World of Warcraft should, IMHO, be considered an official sequel to Warcraft 3, even though it uses a different playing style. But with the delayed release of Starcraft: Ghost, the universe of Starcraft is begging for a new game. Here’s hoping.

I was going to post this on a forum that I frequent regularly. But out of sensitivity to the people that are directly affected by this disaster, I decided to post it here instead. I don’t believe it’s appropriate to indulge in political debate when real people in real life are being so badly hurt by such a catastrophic disaster. Nevertheless, I find the comments by Barnes and co. on FoxNews absolutely appalling.

My deepest commiserations to everyone who’s been touched by this. I’m reading some of the reports over the past few hours, and I’m absolutely shocked at everything that’s happened thus far.

There was an article at The Washington Monthly chronicling FEMA over the past few years. And here’s an unrelated rebuttal to some of the points raised in the previous article. And then there’s this appalling diatribe on Fox News.

Barnes, speaking on “Special Report with Brit Hume” on Monday (August 29), said people who move into such areas should assume the risk themselves rather than expect help from Congress. He noted that earlier in the day he talked to a Republican offical who also noted that as the storm raged, “every half or hour or so, you know, there’s another billion dollars, another billion dollars the federal government’s gong to have to spend.”

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, we have to declare in advance certain areas off- limits to federal aid. Now, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. But unless we do,we are asking for — I mean, as we build hugely on the coast — these disasters to hit us again, and again, and we never learn a lesson.

KONDRACKE: Yes, well, the question is, where do you draw the line? And that’s the problem. Do you draw it at the Barrier Islands? Do you draw it at Vero Beach, you know, where Fred has a beach house?

HUME: How did your house, by the way, do over the weekend?

BARNES: Well, it did fine, because we were on the Atlantic coast and the hurricane went to the Gulf Coast. So it missed it entirely.

HUME: It got rained on, right?

BARNES: But last year, when there were two hurricanes, and I got a new roof, I paid my part. My private insurance company paid the other part. The federal government and taxpayers paid no part.

HUME: What about the cover on your swimming pool? Did the government…

BARNES: I paid all of that.

(LAUGHTER)

They all make for interesting reading - although it’d be completely understandable if nobody gave a damn right about now.

This is the kind of report that’ll give me nightmares for the next few days. Here in Tassie we’ve experienced storms in the north of the state. But I wonder, if we did experience a storm as horrifying as what occurred in New Orleans, would society in Tasmania breakdown as irretrievably as what happened there? I’ve heard from posters on a forum I regularly frequent, that looters from New Orleans have crossed over into Baton Rouge. As a result, streetjackings and other general crime have tripled over the last few days.

Another issue that’s just cropped up is this remark that was made by a UN representative -

Katrina was far worse than last December’s tsunami in South-East Asia, the United Nations’ emergency relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, proclaimed. “This is one of the most destructive natural disasters ever measured in the amount of homes destroyed, people affected, people displaced,” he said.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the fallout from the Tsunami disaster. According to the Wikipedia entry, 170000 - 250000 people were killed during that disaster. And God only knows just how many people were forced from their homes. Before going ballistic over this quote, it’s important to remember that the news report doesn’t contain the full quote from the Official in question. Neither does it entirely mention the exact situation or context in which the quote was made. And let’s face it, if you were living in the US and this disaster were happening on your front doorstep, you would quite readily believe that it was the worst disaster ever. I know I certainly would.

I know many people across the world see London as a wonderful city to live in.

That’s great. Good for you. Pity it costs so much money to live there.

Take this very narrow (2.52m) wide house that used to be a hat shop. It’s now on sale for the mind-bogglingly high price of $1.30 millionAUS.

Based on my own experiences in the Melbourne housing market, I’m betting the only people who can afford to buy houses in London are the filthy rich. It’s not the kind of city I would want to live in.