Hannibal Ad Portas

End of the Line

2010-09-17T12:48:00.002-04:00

This will be the last post I make on Hannibal Ad Portas. I am generally unhappy with the direction and theme, so I am making a new start at the lazily-titled Danimal Ad Portas. Since the blog began with a personal post, I figured I should come full circle.

Over the past year, I have overcome a demon in my life: my weight. I really don't want to take the time to weave a long narrative (Hannibal Ad Portas deserve a quick and painless end), so I am just going to give the interesting numbers and complain about things that weight loss didn't resolve.

Late August 2009: I start working-out daily with no goal other than lose weight. Scale reading: ~315 pounds. Waist circumference: ~ 48-50 inches. 30 minute moderate to high intensity elliptical machine sessions with occasional weights and stationary bike to break the monotony.

Today: I've thought about training for a half-marathon, but running for that long seems terribly boring. Instead I pursue less serious goals like beating the trainer in the Wii Fit Plank Challenge (broke through 300 seconds last week) and doing my first pull-up (not even close...). Scale reading: ~190 pounds. Waist circumference: bought new pants yesterday -- 34 inches. I do weight training + 30 mins on a stationary bike 3 days a week then run on 3 of the non-weight training days. 1 bonus day for baseball or stationary bike or a run depending on how I feel. I try to do between 2 and 5 miles whenever I go running.

My mother worries about me not eating. Honestly, the only dietary changes I have made are minimizing fast food (McDonald's/BK/Wendy's meals happen maybe every month or two), portion control (4 slice limit on weekly pizza nights), and avoid non-diet soft drinks like the plague.

At this point, you might be asking "what does he have to complain about, aside from the lack of Angus Burgers and pizza gluttony?" Shopping for new clothes is immensely painful and expensive, especially when it comes to dress shirts and winter clothes. It is virtually impossible to find dress shirts with the right neck width and sleeve length that aren't super baggy around the mid-section. All I want is to not look like a marshmallow and not asphyxiate.

My other pertinent complaint comes from my knees. I really enjoy going for runs and I would do it daily, but lately my knees have started getting sore if I run on consecutive days. No doubt the years spent north of 300 lbs. were not good for my knees.

Now the irrelevant things that weren't magically resolved:

- Jobs are still hard to find

- Ice hockey gear in Kalamazoo, very stinky, very bulky, probably doesn't fit, but I really want to get back into hockey.

- Women: This could turn into a treatise... I figure time, persistence and self-image realignment are the only cures. Self-image realignment is the most interesting part. It is very difficult to change how you picture yourself in your mind. I have trouble wrapping my mind around new pictures or what I see in the mirror. I generally feel more confidence and less self-conscious, but it is still difficult. I suppose the whole endeavor would be much less interesting if it were easy.

^^^ Not a treatise!!! ^^^

Hannibal has left Italy. Please join me at Danimal Ad Portas for less personal yet equally insightful content.

P.S. 8.9 stones, 3.9 slugs, 2.98 * 10^-26 Jupiters

My Rage is Unfathomable!

2010-09-14T07:55:00.004-04:00

I don't truly rage about many things, but this is one of them. At the end of the season opener for the Detroit Lions last Sunday, Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson appeared to make what would be the game-winning (or at least last minute lead restoring) touchdown catch.

So, apparently the rules for making a catch in the endzone are different from anywhere else on the field. If that catch were made anywhere else on the field, it would have been ruled a complete pass. Johnson doesn't bobble the football, gets two feet down, and gets his butt down. A long string of loud obscenities filled the apartment that Sunday afternoon.

They resumed when I found this:

The receiver's possession seems tenuous, at best, yet the two-point conversion is awarded. It's also worth noting that in both cases, the referee in the best position to make the call on the field was overruled. At least in the Super Bowl clip, that referee's ruling on the field was the one under dispute. In the Lions' game, the referee who signalled the touchdown was overruled on-field by some other schmuck before the video review.

I really don't want to buy into the conspiracy theory of the downtrodden Lions getting unfavorable calls from a haughty NFL front office. However, I'll play Glenn Beck (distasteful, I know) and ask the question: would this happen to Peyton Manning in Indianapolis or Tom Brady in New England?

Hiking the Himalayan Trail...

2010-05-27T14:44:00.004-04:00

Before I get on to the interesting stuff, a shameless self-promoting shout-out. Not the most gripping material I've written, but it will probably be the most widely read thing that I have written thus far.

The aforementioned "interesting stuff" is also peripherally related to the shout-out. Today, at work, was a spring cleaning day in preparation for the massive renovations coming this summer for our office space. While going through the stacks of documents, we found this very amusing document. I've personally dubbed it the "Hiking the Himalayan Trail" document, for obvious reasons.

Hopefully, this will serve as an amusing start to everyone's weekend and a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Life of a Colossus

2010-05-14T23:38:00.002-04:00

After nearly a year on my bookshelf and three weeks of public transportation, I finished Adrian Goldsworthy's amazing biography of Julius Caesar. On the most recent Ides of March, I decided that this particular tome had spent far too long on the shelf and I had heard far too many good things about it. Naturally, I decided to dive into Grapes of Wrath first...

I could easily present a blow-by-blow extended review, but instead I want to have a discussion. Fortunately for me, Julius Caesar is one of the few figures from antiquity that still provokes thought and discussion among mainstream historical and political thinkers. If I wanted to discuss the contraction of the Roman Empire under Hadrian, I might have a hard time finding an audience, but Caesar is too much fun to not have an opinion.

As I closed up the book and tucked it into my bag, my brain started wrestling with the influx of new information. First and foremost, what do I think about Caesar, in general? My view has shifted over time. After reading Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (in high school, if you want to judge my level of maturity), I sympathized with Caesar and thought the tyrannicide was unjust. Frankly, I was pretty happy when the conniving Brutus and Cassius wound up on the wrong end of the sword. In college and up to, more-or-less, the present, I gravitated more towards the conspirators' camp. I still love Shakespeare, but it is important to remember that the events that Julius Caesar presents do not exist in a vacuum. A lot of stuff happened before the curtain opens and a lot happened afterwards.

That brings me to my conundrum: in a system as corrupt and decrepit as the Roman Republic was in the 1st century BC, was it such a bad thing that one man overthrew the system in favor of something more effective at peaceful governance? In a system where individual ambition was poorly capped, it was an inevitability that one man would eventually rise to the top (see the Gracchi, Sulla, Marius, Pompey). What made Caesar stand out, at least for me, was his political savvy and tendency towards clemency for political rivals. Essentially, the system was broken, Caesar thought he knew how to fix it.

Compared to other "tyrants" in Roman history, Julius Caesar's rise was bloodless (at least for the Romans, the Gauls and Germans weren't so lucky). Proscriptions were never undertaken under Caesar's regime and political opponents were typically offered clemency the first time Caesar beat them. Many probably pined for the days of Caesar once the Second Triumvirate started their bloodletting. This brings me to my second interesting thought: do nice guys actually come in last place every time?

When attempting to implement massive social changes on a short time table, maybe bloody/destructive means are the only way of achieving your ends. Case one: Caesar plays nice with the Roman aristocracy and winds up dead on the floor of the Senate - more civil war, more civil strife, political changes (good or bad) tabled. Counter-cases: Caesar kills and enslaves hundreds of thousands in pacifying Gaul, Octavian takes part in one of the bloodiest Roman proscriptions and becomes the first emperor, General Sherman's "March to the Sea" scorched earth tactics delivers a crippling blow to the Confederacy, Allied forces indiscriminately bomb (conventional, incendiary, nuclear) German and Japanese cities to end fascism. Was Caesar doing it wrong?

Cleaning House

2010-01-30T14:35:00.002-05:00

In 1972, Richard Nixon was re-elected for a second term as President. Of course, the political exploits of that administration are well-known to those with even a basic knowledge of 20th century American history. The Watergate scandal stole headlines, and rightly so, but a different variety of political subterfuge was also underway in the final months of 1972.

In May of 1972, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. signed an interim agreement with respect to strategic arms limitations which was the culmination of SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks). In November of 1972, the-powers-that-be decided that a change was needed (warning: links to a small pdf file). A quick dramatis personae: Henry = Henry Kissinger (National Security Advisor), Scoop Jackson = Senator Henry Jackson D-WA, Al Haig = Alexander Haig (Kissinger's military assistant and Army Vice Chief of Staff), others mentioned are either those in line for the figurative guillotine or their replacements. It's worth mentioning that the attachment mentioned in the memorandum is indeed not present and thus bait for speculation.

The Administration went ahead with a full-scale purge of the ACDA (Arms Control and Disarmament Agency) and the SALT negotiating team. Naturally, this move was the cause of some concern (warning: another pdf file, a bit bigger this time) among those in the arms control community. Paul Doty was a friend of Kissinger's from Harvard and had politically left-wing views.

Ultimately, SALT II was an ill-fated arms control agreement. One can not help but think that a massive purge of the two government bodies primarily responsible for strategic arms control wasn't a helpful development. Even Kissinger would later express some regret over the realignment of the ACDA and SALT team*.

Raymond Garthoff, a member of the SALT negotiating team and victim of the purge, provided an interesting perspective in his memoir, A Journey Through the Cold War:

"Nixon may have had his own reasons for wanting a "new team" in SALT, as Kissinger too may have had. The impetus for the wholesale SALT purge, however, had come from Senator Scoop Jackson. In a private conversation with Jackson in the Rose Garden, Nixon had agreed to replace the SALT delegation with a new team, as he accepted a version of Jackson's amendment on equal strategic force levels in SALT II, in exchange for Jackson's support not only for the SALT agreements but also for the Trident submarine program, which Jackson had threatened to kill. In the final analysis, Jackson got even more: one of the two Trident submarine bases was moved from the Navy's preference for California to Jackson's state of Washington. But the purge of the SALT team and weakening of ACDA were also part of the deal."

Sadly, hunting for documents related to this intriguing Cold War tale is quite difficult. I've spent a number of days sifting through the Nixon Library documents in College Park, Maryland and my boss at the National Security Archive has no doubt performed similar searches and has a number of FOIA requests pending on this matter. Further complicating matters is the fact that the entire Nixon collection is being shipped out to the Nixon Library in California later in February. Demand for Nixon documents is very high right now and I plan to spend more time trying to dig up some new information.

Two of the other big players in this event have archives that are out of my reach. Sen. Henry Jackson has a library of his documents at Washington State University. One of Nixon's assistants, Fred Malek, was heavily involved with this whole affair and has a collection of documents in the Nixon Library, but all of his materials are already in California.

Perhaps the most sobering realization is that documents pertaining to this purge were likely destroyed...

*I would love to link the document, but I foolishly forgot to pick up a copy and I can't access the National Security Archive's digital database from home. This oversight will be corrected on Monday - stay tuned!

42.195 Kilometers

2010-01-22T18:23:00.012-05:00

In 492 BC, Persian King Darius I was not a happy man. Seven years earlier, a number of Persian satrapies in Ionia (modern-day west coast of Turkey) revolted. With the support of the mainland Greek city-states of Athens and Eretria, the Ionian Greeks set fire to the regional capital of Sardis. Both Athens and Eretria withdrew their forces shortly thereafter, leaving the Ionians to their fate against the might of the Persian Empire.

Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote of Darius' reaction:

"[W]ord reached Darius that Sardis had been burned by the Athenians and Ionians and that the man who led these combined forces and had designed its course of action was Aristagoras of Miletus. It is said that when Darius first heard this report, he disregarded the Ionians, since he knew that they at least would not escape punishment for their revolt; but he inquired who the Athenians were, and after he had been told, he asked for a bow. He took the bow, set an arrow on its string, and shot the arrow toward the heavens. And as it flew high into the air, he said: 'Zeus, let it be granted to me to punish the Athenians.' After saying this, he appointed one of his attendants to repeat to him at least three times whenever his dinner was served: 'My Lord, remember the Athenians.'" (Histories 5.105)

Needless to say, Darius did not forget and in 492 BC, he launched a series of military campaigns against Greece culminating with a showdown against Athens on the fields of Marathon...

The Athenians had plenty of time to prepare for the Persian forces. On the way to Athens, Persian commander Datis had taken the liberty of sacking two other supporters of the Ionian revolt: Naxos and Eretria. Athens needed to gather allies if it was going to survive.

Pheidippides was dispatched to Sparta to request assistance. Herodotus claims that the Spartans were anxious to get into the fight, but were held back because of a religious festival. A similar fate would befall the Spartans in 480 BC when Xerxes threatened to invade Greece. Another theory that might explain the Spartans' reluctance to involve themselves in major land battles is the threat of a helot revolt. The helots were the people from the areas conquered by Sparta in the Peloponnese, typically Messenia (southwest corner of the Peloponnese). They were a poorly-treated slave caste that also constituted a majority of the population under Spartan control. Every so often, discontent or outright rebellion would stir the helots and the Spartan army would be called in to ensure/restore order.

The only other Greek city-state that sent troops to aid Athens was Plataea (a bit under 50 miles northwest of Athens). All together, the Athenians and Plataeans deployed around 10,000 hoplites for the battle while the Persians brought about 19,000 infantry along with 1,000 cavalry. Oddly enough*, Herodotus doesn't spend much time discussing the number of troops involved with this battle, so the numbers are a rough average from a number of estimations delivered by scholars.

The armies spent a couple days on opposite sides of the plain before the ten Athenian polemarchoi (generals) finally agreed to attack. When Miltiades' turn as commander arrived, he gave the order to attack...

In an attempt to match the length of the Persian line, Miltiades stretched the middle ranks to only a couple rows of depth, but concentrated his phalanxes on the flanks.

One of the great questions still unanswered about this battle is why the Persian cavalry did not play a significant role. The plains of Marathon are wide and flat, making it perfect terrain for lightning-fast cavalry maneuvers. Some scholars have speculated that the Persian cavalry had been loaded back onto the ships in preparation to move, or the Persians did not bring more than a token contingent to serve as scouts. Despite the heavy armor and long reach of Greek hoplites, they were no match for a cavalry force that could out-flank them and run them down. The Persian infantry would get their first taste of well-trained, massed hoplite warfare...

Herodotus writes:

"After the troops were in position and the sacrifices had proven favorable, when the Athenians were let loose and allowed to advance, they charged at a run toward the barbarians. The space between the two armies was about a mile." (Histories 6.112)

Herodotus had a penchant for exaggeration. Hoplites, despite what you might have seen in the film 300, were heavily armored. Standard equipment was a large (three feet in diameter), round shield made of wood and bronze (held at chest level and away from the body), a bronze helmet, bronze greaves, a bronze breastplate (solid or scaled lamellar in construction), a nine-foot spear with bronze head and butt, and a small sword. One can easily imagine that hot and cold days made the work of a hoplite very difficult. In his book, The Western Way of War, Victor Davis Hanson also mentions that modern testing of Herodotus' claim shows that an average hoplite could only make it 200 yards or so at a 5-6 mile per hour pace. One of the tactical challenges that hoplite armies faced against one another was timing the charge so that you hit your opponent's line with more momentum without overly exhausting your troops.

When the Greek and Persian lines met, the center of the Greek line was quickly broken. However, on the flanks, the superior equipment and tactics of the Greek heavy infantry routed the Persians.

With the Persian flanks in full retreat, the triumphant Greek flanks stopped pursuing and turned to the Persian center. Suddenly under threat from two sides, the Persian center collapsed and began a hasty retreat to their ships.

Now filled with the excitement of victory, the Greeks mercilessly pursued the Persians to their ships and drove them into the sea. Herodotus states that the Persians lost 6,400 men in the battle while the Greeks suffered only 192 losses. For once, Herodotus' numbers seem reasonable considering the initial dispositions of the armies and the course of the battle.

The legendary Pheidippides was sent to Athens to proclaim the victory. About 40 kilometers later, Pheidippides arrived, announced the victory, and quickly succumbed to exhaustion. For those of us keeping count, he ran 240 kilometers from Athens to Sparta, ran back to Athens, marched with the army to Marathon, fought in the battle, then ran 40 kilometers from Marathon to Athens - all in the span of about a week.

A bare-assed Pheidippides finally gets to deliver some good news.

The Spartan army showed up with 2,000 troops a few days later to see the carnage, give the Athenians a pat on the back, then return home.

The Battle of Marathon wasn't the last chapter of the First Persian War. The fleet sailing from Marathon attempted to round the southern tip of Attica and attack Athens before the Athenian army could return to the city, but were unable to outrun the army. The Persians laid anchor not far from Athens for a few days before abandoning the expedition and returning to Asia Minor.

Though this battle wasn't particularly decisive as far as convincing the Persian Empire to avoid the Greeks, it did demonstrate, for the first time, the superiority of Greek heavy infantry over Persian infantry. It's worth noting that the wealth and resources of the Persian Empire was many times that of the Greek city-states. Though the Persians did deploy some Ionian hoplites in later conflicts, their army was heavily invested in light infantry, cavalry and archers. The Greeks likely realized their fortune of not having to face cavalry at Marathon. In later encounters with Persia, the Greeks became highly adept at choosing their battles in order to deny the Persians the advantages that their diversity provided.

*Later in his Histories, Herodotus spends a very long time giving descriptions of the forces arrayed for battles. To someone who has read Herodotus, it seems downright bizarre that he would give up an opportunity to weave an overwrought tale concerning the state of two opposing forces.

Update: I felt a little guilty not fully citing all the sources I used for this post, so here are the credits. For creating the maps, I used the fantastic illustrations from Robert Morkot's Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece and Simon Anglim's [et al] Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World as starting points. The artwork is an 1869 piece done by Luc-Olivier Merson titled The Soldier of Marathon. I also feel the need to mention that the edition of Herodotus' Histories that I used is quite possibly the best version available. The Landmark Herodotus edited by Robert Strassler is not only an excellent translation, but it comes highly annotated, illustrated and contains a great series of appendices.

A Storm is Coming...

2010-01-19T20:20:00.004-05:00

...figuratively speaking.

My blogging has been sporadically present and relevant, but I am changing my mentality and content. I don't dislike my old content, it just feels very cliche and, to be frank, whiny. I see this blog as an opportunity to express some small sliver of intellectual insight inside a casual and entertaining package, and I feel like I have failed to fully exploit this chance.

To be honest, my life has been lacking academic discipline and I feel the need to reconnect, if only for a few hours every week. I look at all these really cool documents every week at work, but I have few outlets for showing other people this stuff and what it all means. Additionally, I still really enjoy reading and learning about classical Greek and Roman history. Oftentimes, I get strange looks when I tell people at work how many classical history classes I took at college. As I have written before, history, in general, is relevant and vital to modern life and classical Greek and Roman history is remarkably valuable for understanding modern Western institutions and culture.

My new approach to this blog is to create new[-ish] content instead of regurgitating existing stuff with my own thoughts. One might accurately assume that the new content will somehow involve what I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. I hope to get into a groove of one new post every week, starting Friday.

My Escape from Cynicism

2009-12-11T22:58:00.003-05:00

Western society these days seems to run on two things: petroleum and cynicism. Before everyone stops reading and thinks that I have been replaced by a Thomas Friedman clone - I am not going to talk about American foreign or energy policy. The last ten years of American (Canadian, too, I suppose) sports are my concern. More precisely, how the cynicism of today's society, usually reserved for American foreign and energy policy, has infected the greatest bastion of hope, elation and small miracles.

As a fair warning to the readers, I am going to link to a story that, sadly, deals with Tiger Woods' recent public relations problem. Once again, some stupid journalism provides easy fodder for my blog.

I really hope sports fans don't remember the 2000-2009 period for this ridiculous runaway tabloid story. If I want to remember something unfortunate from this sporting era, how about the NHL deciding to unceremoniously fall on its sword, again, or the Detroit Lions receiving their karmic dues for destroying the career of possibly the best running back to ever play the game. Here is a short list of undeniably amazing sports stories from 2000-2009:

- 2004 AL Pennant series
- Michael Phelps @ 2008 Olympic Games
- 2006 Rose Bowl game
- Pat Tillman
- 2006 World Cup Final
- Lance Armstrong
- This:

-This:

Note: I may hate the hockey shootout, but remember, we're talking about cynicism in sports, not hypocrisy.

I will be among the first to say that humanity didn't start the 21st century very well. It comes as no surprise that the news and opinions are laced with cynicism. What a shame that a sports fan has allowed his cynicism to cloud his view of all the truly great experiences we've shared these last ten years.

Besides, every good sports cynic knows that the baseball steroid saga is the best story of the decade.

Muster the Hoplites, Alcibiades!

2009-11-13T14:35:00.007-05:00

I've been pondering some ideas for a new blog post. Back in late September I was going to write about the Roman disaster in the Teutoburg Forest which occurred exactly 2000 years ago (in September) and how that marked the end of Roman expansionism even though the Empire would continue to thrive for centuries. Unfortunately, that post will have to wait for the next anniversary.

Since there were a lot of interesting news stories today, I felt that a blog post of miscellany would be appropriate.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that once again, America would be a nation ruled by laws. Ten of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay will have their day in court. However, I might be giving the AG and the Obama Administration a little too much praise. True, criminal charges and trials are long overdue and I'm glad to see that the Justice system finally found the WD-40 to get the gears turning. The fact remains that Guantanamo Bay remains an open wound in America's credibility and a rallying cry for Muslim extremists.

Furthermore, I still have doubts that the prisoners at Guantanamo will receive fair trials. Are confessions or evidence given under duress really admissable in a court (military or civilian)? Granted, the current Administration is in a tough situation that they themselves didn't create, but the fact remains that no fair, legal structure exists to deal with this situation. Five of the prisoners mentioned by Mr. Holder will be tried in a civilian court while the others will face a military court. Who determines which prisoner is tried where?

I definitely do not envy what the Administration has on its plate. I won't even touch the issues of the executions likely to result from these trials or the irrational fear of just keeping these prisoners on U.S. soil instead of limbo.

About a month ago, NASA smashed a probe into the south pole of the Moon to see if there was anything interesting (water). Apparently, they found a fair bit of water. This is an interesting discovery, but not terribly surprising and does very little to convince me that the Moon is a prime location for colonization. The fact remains that the Moon is a very dead and unexciting place. The Moon would be a great location for the second human colony or a huge observatory. If NASA/America wants to push manned exploration, Mars remains the most promising destination. It has an atmosphere and liquid water and low gravity which make it far more interesting that the Moon. Propellant can be produced on site and the low gravity makes Mars an ideal hub for human exploration (it's easier to get from Mars to the Moon than from the Earth to the Moon).

Unfortunately, the American space program is having an identity crisis, Russia and Europe are content with low orbit and China is looking for a nationalistic statement with their prospective Moon mission. Meanwhile, the weaponized Ebola and Von Neumann machines are desperate to make us regret not having a backup planet.

This week I started reading a book called "Tides of War" by Steven Pressfield. It's a bit of historical fiction about Alcibiades and the fateful Sicilian Expedition. Naturally, whenever I read it, I am reminded of the Sicilian Expeditions undertaken by the latest Bush Administration and continued by the current Administration. I will be the first to admit that the historical parallels between the Peloponnesian War and today are fairly weak, but the lesson is no less relevant.

Athens was on the rebound during the Peace of Nicias which ended the war against Sparta (low level conflicts continued elsewhere, but they were proxy wars at worst). The depleted treasury began to recover and the plague subsided when Atticans returned to their towns and farms. Then some backwater town in Sicily with loose ties to Athens called for help and a demagogic Athenian named Alcibiades decided to use this as an opportunity to expand the Athenian Empire. Three years, thousands of talents, hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of troops later, the Sicilian Expedition was over and, for all practical purposes, annihilated.

Athens went in with no regional allies, a crooked, hubristic leader and emerged poorer, weaker and at war with Sparta once more. Alcibiades was tried, in absentia during the campaign, for holding sacreligious parties and decided to switch sides. Command of the expedition fell into the hands of one of the few Athenians who opposed Alcibiades adventurism, Nicias. Prior to the beginning of the ill-fated campaign, he pleaded with the Athenian assembly to reconsider. Once Athens was committed, no one thought to call the ships back when things went awry.

Athenians learned the truth about national exceptionalism the hard way. Probably a lesson about the limits to imperial expansion in there, too (Teutoburg Forest is another good one). For the folks averse to "irrelevant" ancient history, the Soviet Union learned this lesson not even 30 years ago in an all too familiar setting.

Peace through Fear

2009-10-11T22:53:00.004-04:00

I am usually a fan of Time magazine. Their stories are typically decent and usually display a sliver of wisdom and enlightenment. Then I read one of their stories today about nuclear weapons and the Nobel Peace Prize. As I mentioned in my last blog post, nuclear policy reading can be downright chilling simply because of the necessity of level-headed discourse. This story completely blind-sided me with its callous ignorance of fact, history and humanity.

Mr. Von Drehle does accurately point out that following World War Two, the number of people killed in conflicts across the world declined sharply. Industrialized warfare, most notably in the First and Second World Wars, produced unprecedented body counts even if you take out those killed in Stalin's purges or the Holocaust. The rise of nuclear weaponry and the bipolar world order of the Cold War created stability through fear.

Though I may disagree with those that characterize Cold War nuclear strategy through the over-simplistic notion of M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction), the consequences of even a limited nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and U.S. would have been nothing short of catastrophic. Plus, the assumptions that damage reports would easily distinguish a limited strike from an urban/industrial strike and that cooler heads would prevail in the midst of a nuclear war are specious, at best. Tens of millions would dead in less than a few hours and more would perish in the following months and years due to radiation exposure, starvation, and the violence that would be created by the collapse of society. Fear of a nuclear holocaust kept the safeties on and the silos sealed.

Imagine, for a moment, that U.S. and British efforts to halt Germany's nuclear program during World War Two had been unsuccessful. Would Hitler and Roosevelt have been able to stay their hands under an existing state of total war? Truman was obviously unable.

What message does one send by suggesting that nuclear weapons are a tool of peace? One legitimizes the repugnant attitudes and ideas of men like Douglas MacArthur and Curtis LeMay and gives credence to people like Commander Eugene Tatom who infamously said, "You could stand in the open at one end of the north-south runway at the Washington National Airport, with no more protection than the clothes you now have on, and have an atom bomb explode at the other end of the runway without serious injury to you."

I also find it immensely disrespectful to the 200,000+ people that died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to suggest that nuclear weapons are tools of peace. Are the people who died in the years after 1945 due to cancers caused by atmospheric nuclear tests victims of peace?

In today's mono- trending towards multi-polar world, nuclear weapons are tools of instability. As inheritors of Cold War arsenals, the U.S. and Russia have and must continue to tirelessly strive to disarm and minimize proliferation. Regimes in Iran and North Korea are unsurprisingly interested in nuclear weapons. Iran is sandwiched by heavy concentrations of U.S. ground troops and has an ongoing rivalry with unofficial nuclear state, Israel. North Korea is still technically in a state of war with the U.S. If India and Pakistan were to go to war, what would stop them from using nuclear weapons to preserve their sovereignty.

Many (Mr. Von Drehle included) say that advocates of disarmament are naive to think that a nuclear-free world is possible. Indeed, getting countries like Israel, Pakistan and India to disarm will not come easy. However, I must ask why the U.S. still needs nuclear weapons. Russia is not our enemy anymore nor do they want to be. China's economic ties to the U.S. are too valuable to waste on nuclear rivalry. Were Iran or North Korea to acquire an adequate means of delivering a nuclear strike on the U.S. homeland or military assets, why would they risk the overthrow of their government via the massive conventional retaliation delivered by everyone that hates seeing nuclear weapons used (a.k.a. everyone)? If a terrorist group were to acquire a nuclear device and detonate it in London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, or New York how could those respective nations respond in kind with their "deterrent"?

If, through some cruel twist of fate, a post-nuclear weapons America needed nuclear weapons again, we have all the pieces we need to build a new nuclear arsenal.

I would rather see President Obama undeservedly win the next 50 Nobel Peace Prizes than see Mr. Von Drehle's irresponsible viewpoint vindicated.

You Might Want to Sit Down for this…

2009-09-19T13:32:00.008-04:00

I’ve been pondering a way to break the proverbial ice locking in my little corner of the internet. Sure I could’ve posted about my internship or how the Forcier is with Michigan [sic] at last or my extreme discomfort when the Metro train shrieks like a banshee when going fast through dark tunnels, but that would be the same self-centered drivel I usually shovel onto the pile. It just so happens that a more noble and interesting topic found its way to me this week.

First some background information is required. As some may not yet know, I am now living in Alexandria, VA and I have an interesting job, with fantastic hours, but the financial compensation leaves much to be desired. I work as an intern at the National Security Archive at George Washington University in downtown DC. My boss is a research professor who works for the archive on a number of projects dealing with the history of nuclear weapons. I will admit that the topic of nuclear weapons policy is a morbid one and the more I read about it – it becomes a sordid subject. Nevertheless, I am always intrigued by the policy making process regarding nuclear weapons and its evolution throughout the Cold War.

I get to do all kinds of cool things like submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to government agencies and digging through the National Archives for relevant documents (often for the purpose of sending more FOIA requests). Like any job, there are some downsides. For one, the intern room also serves as a storage room and the intern chairs are uncomfortable. So I lack some creature comforts, the real downside is what I ran across this week: too much information.

One of the things I get to do is sift through excessively redacted government documents and try to find out what was excised. The best way to go about this is going through relevant published academic books and papers and, occasionally, other government documents. Very rarely do you come across something from 1945-1985 that is truly classified. Most weapons systems and diplomatic relationship have changed dramatically since then and full disclosure is hardly a threat to national security. So I was going through a batch of documents this week that were really tough cases. They were heavily redacted and fairly obscure.

One particular document was a 1971 hypothetical timeline of a nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The timeline assumed a Soviet first strike, but it was oddly different from the typical timelines. Most civilian and military policy analysts agree (and plan) that a first strike would be opened with strikes from submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). SLBMs can best take advantage of the element of surprise since detection of launches is usually too late to mitigate damage. Most modern estimates predict that coastal command and control centers (a.k.a. Washington, D.C.) would have less than 15 minutes warning. More significantly, SLBMs also would be responsible for setting off EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) blasts that would disable most of the power grid. Strangely, the 1971 timeline excluded this element.

Anyway, this timeline was missing the timeframes (easy to find information, pointlessly redacted), moment-by-moment casualty estimates (pure speculation, but final estimates are also easy to find) and certain weapon systems (most prominent or secret 1971 weapons systems are mainstream or decommissioned today). While I was digging around for some answers I came across a report issued by the Office of Technology Assessment in response to a request from Congress for an assessment of the effects of a nuclear war. The report is aptly titled “The Effects of Nuclear War”. Usually when I read stuff like this, I’m able to stay pretty unemotional, but this one just hit me like a truck. It is a slightly long-ish read, so if you want the stuff that inspired me to write, read pages 15-39 and Appendix C. The whole thing is very well written and downright sobering.

Using Detroit as a case study was a bolt out of the blue and definitely hit close to home. Since most of the readers here have some familiarity with Detroit, I felt the urge to share. The cold discussion of the effects produced by varying the altitude and yield really hurts when dealing with a place that you know. The story in Appendix C is also a great read. It reminded me of The Road, minus the disturbing imagery.

Speaking of The Road, I really enjoyed the book, but I don’t know if I can go see the movie this fall. The imagery in the book was really intense and downright unsettling. I don’t know if I could handle that kind of stuff in a movie. Still, I think The Road is a great book to transfer onto film.

Fortunately, a lot has changed since that 1979 report came out. The chance of an all-out nuclear war is pretty slim for the foreseeable future. The U.S. has an administration that has shown limited interest in pursuing new nuclear weapons and is dedicated to stabilizing diplomatic relations with countries that possess large nuclear arsenals (thanks Kevin!).

Edit: I apologize for the hideous text formatting. My html knowledge is very basic and I guess trying to use a real word processor to write an 840 word blog post is a terrible idea. I doubt I will find the patience to fix this, hopefully the content makes up for the disheveled appearance.

That's No Moon...

2009-08-15T19:39:00.003-04:00

The big rumor circling around the internet is that Lucasarts (the software developer for Star Wars games) is going to announce a reboot of the X-wing/TIE Fighter space sim series. Anyone who has dabbled in the space sim genre knows that TIE Fighter is one of the best, if not THE best space sim ever made.

I was searching for some more info on the rumors this afternoon, when I found this fantastic op-ed piece. As the author notes, there is no shortage of cultural metaphors and analogies referring to the American Empire past and present. However, the similarities between the TIE Fighter world and the post-9/11 world are uncanny. Media, even emergent media like video games, has a stunning ability to alter perspectives in truly brutal fashion. Blasting the good guys in X-wings out of the sky feels like the right thing to do at every turn.

As a just a game, TIE Fighter is immensely fun. As a specimen of how media can drastically affect the way we think and act, it is a powerful, if not slightly disturbing, experience.

State of American Discourse

2009-08-07T18:38:00.004-04:00

America has a lot of problems. Protracted foreign wars, intransigent regimes in Iran, North Korea and beyond, bloated government programs and an unequal and unjust society are but a few of these problems. Fortunately, America has a lot of problem-solvers and wealth. With all these problems and potential solutions, why do so many problems remain unresolved?

Another problem with America is a tendency towards Attention Deficit Disorder in the media and electorate. Fringe issues like abortion, religious affiliation, and a person's upbringing have become litmus tests for candidates and loud distractions for whoever is in power at the time. The screaming of fringe fanatics often prevents discourse on any issue (especially if the issue happens to be their fringe issue). This bizarre social handicap makes the most recent policy discussions unique.

Of late, a lot of time and energy has been directed at reforming the health care system (not a fringe issue). Personally, I think the status quo in health care is broken, wasteful and shameful. However, I'm not going to discuss the reform plans. I'm not a health care expert and the associated phenomenon is much more fun to talk about.

To the dismay of Mr. Obama and many Democrats, Congress has been unable to push health care reform out the door before the August recess. So now we have members of Congress appearing at public events trying to get feedback from constituents. Going into this, many must have been thinking about this great opportunity to add more voices and ideas to the debate. Instead, a number of these "townhall meetings" have degenerated into shouting matches, disgruntled choir practices and opportunities for rookie police officers to practice kicking disruptive people out of public events. It seems like the fringe issue crowd has infiltrated the real issue crowd. What a shame.

This is one of those rare occasions when average citizens get a chance to talk directly to policy makers about an ongoing debate over an important issue. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans have mindlessly destroyed a rare opportunity to advance a national dialogue on health care reform. The culture warriors have put on new hats, but their tactics remain as transparent and tactless as ever.

One of the less than savory characters involved with this new chapter in public discourse is Rick Scott, founder of Conservatives for Patient's Rights (their commercials are frequently on TV and can probably be found on Youtube). Mr. Scott's career history would make you think that Republicans wouldn't want to touch him with a 12-foot pole. Rick Scott founded a hospital chain that was caught by the FBI defrauding Medicare. Three executives were indicted and Mr. Scott was ousted by the board. When all was said and done, the hospital chain plead guilty on 14 counts of felony and was forced to pay $1.7 billion in civil and criminal charges. He was never charged, but his involvement with the whole affair clearly gives him a dubious reputation.

In defense of the plebs, the amount of information available on the 1000+ page health care bill is thin. I don't plan on reading that behemoth (sounds like the job for a Congressman or journalist), but that doesn't mean I'm not interested or concerned about the contents. I know that a couple other people are probably thinking the same thing, but I save my yelling for sports events and video games.

The rumors that the meeting crashers are Republican operatives are probably true in some cases, but I think a lot of these disgruntled people have simply let their fear blind them. Maybe in the future they should run a Public Discourse 101 seminar before these meetings.

Yoda hits the nail on the head.

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. Life has gotten more busy of late and my upcoming move to DC probably won't slow my life down right away.

Things that Go "..." in the Night

2009-07-05T14:34:00.004-04:00

This morning I was visiting the Dragon Age: Origins website for the first time in a few weeks to see if they updated any of their content. Naturally, they have a few new things, yet I find myself woefully unfulfilled. Whenever I visit websites dedicated to Starcraft 2 or Star Wars The Old Republic or even Star Trek Online, I leave the site more excited about the game than when I arrived. Dragon Age, of late, has had the direct opposite effect.

The website itself is downright garish in appearance. I wish the internet archive website had some records of the site from earlier this year, because it wasn't always this way. It used to have a black background and was a more traditional RPG website. Visiting the website 6 months ago, it was unmistakeably a classic RPG game. Today, I would be interested to see a poll of people visiting the website for the first time with no knowledge of the game asking what genre Dragon Age: Origins belongs to. When I look at the site, I see a game pandering to the great unwashed masses that hold up Halo, Gears of War, Killzone and Mortal Kombat as the great masterpieces of gaming*. It's bloody, violent, and features a loading bar consisting of an orc head slowly sliding down the sword upon which it is impaled. Classy.

Even the trailers and teaser videos that have been released lately are of dubious quality. From the beginning of the development, Bioware has said that they are purposefully aiming for a mature-themed game and would not hold back on the blood, sex, and language. Of course, I have no problem with this as long as the game delivers on its other promise: a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Prior to the recent batch of content, all the trailers focused on the qualities I would look for in an RPG. Then, around the time of E3, the new wave of Dragon Age marketing began. Blood and sex were the featured attractions and cool things like believable/lovable/hateable characters, intriguing stories and epic setting turned into a bloody action slasher (a "blasher", if you will). Furthermore, the appropriate and exciting fantasy RPG soundtrack has been replaced with heavy metal rock music.

I realize that I can't put the game devs and game marketers into the same mental equation, but it's hard not to. When I'm excited about an RPG game and the studio releases new information, I want relevant RPG material that will get me excited (supposedly, that's what a marketing team should want too). Instead, I get "blasher" promos serenaded by Marilyn Manson. It feels like a betrayal of the community that will ultimately support and play the game for the months and years after the release date (while the ham-headed marketing target audience throws the game out because they don't know what an ability or dialogue tree is).

In reality, all this garbage marketing will do little to effect my purchasing decision. Several months ago, Bioware released a number of impressive developer walkthrough videos that demoed the gameplay and game editor. I was sold.

At the end of the day, Electronic Arts is to blame for the atrocious change in Bioware's game advertising. When EA bought Bioware over a year ago, I expected that something like this would happen. I continue to fear that development decisions will also be affected. The recent change in the Dragon Age marketing direction stinks of EA's baleful influence. Fortunately, Star Wars The Old Republic has the protection of the Star Wars franchise to block the EA marketing monster. Therefore, the SWTOR website and marketing is excellent.

Video Games | Star Wars: The Old Republic | E3 09: Jedi vs Sith Cinematic

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

On a Star Wars sidenote: Lucasarts will be announcing a "new, old game" on Monday. Granted, it won't necessarily be a Star Wars game, but I can hope for a new X-wing/TIE Fighter game.

My final hope is that the guys who design the box art work a long way from the guys who design the website and trailers. I really don't want to get a stark white box with a blood splatter dragon adorning the cover. I want a subdued and attractive box like the Neverwinter Nights 2 or Witcher Enhanced Edition (in my opinion, the best looking game box on store shelves) boxes.

*I can't deny that I enjoy games like Halo, Gears of War and Killzone. They are the summer movies of the video game industry. They are fun and occasionally thoughtful, but they cannot hold a candle to games like Half-Life, Starcraft, or Knights of the Old Republic.

UPDATE:

Well, looks like all hope is lost...

By the way, the file name for this image is "BloodDragonBox.jpg"...

Ducks and Hawks and Penguins

2009-06-01T00:19:00.004-04:00

Ok, so "Hawks" is technically short for the Blackhawk tribe of Native Americans, but I'm sure the Anglicized tribe name comes from the bird.

Anyway, I write this blog post to inform everyone that my regular blogging will resume sometime next week. Just so this entire post doesn't turn into a non sequitur, I'm waiting for the conclusion of NHL playoffs and the three aforementioned avian species are also the mascots of the three most recent teams the Red Wings have faced in the playoffs.

Topics I hope to hit upon resumption of regular blogging: North Korea, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Electronic Arts marketing division.

Edit:

Ok, maybe I will add something of substance, but it's more hockey, so forgive me.

Again, I hold the management of the NHL in utter contempt for the current state of the game. Hockey is an amazing sport and quite possibly the most dynamic and exciting, but the national respect for the game is at an all-time low.

It's very, very easy to criticize TV networks like NBC, Fox, and Versus for their questionable marketing choices, but the onus is on the league management to make deals that are best for the sport. The NHL front office has done a great disservice to hockey in its business dealings. Here's the situation: in 2005 the NHL is about to emerge from another lockout season and looks for television deals. ESPN and Outdoor Life Network place bids on broadcast rights. ESPN has a history of responsible and reliable NHL coverage/analysis - Outdoor Life Network is a cable channel dedicated to fringe sports like fishing, hunting and bull riding (probably competitive woodcutting, too). OLN submits a higher bid and the NHL bites and the writers at Disney/ABC/ESPN begin drafting subtle jabs at the NHL to fill the airtime usually dedicated to highlight shows.

As the article states, NBC (the Notre Dame Broadcasting Channel one part of the year, Nothing But Crosby channel at another) also holds broadcasting rights for occasional weekend and playoff games (supposedly the rights for EVERY game of the Stanley Cup Finals, article explains why not this time around). However, NBC doesn't pay the NHL for these broadcasting rights! What a deal!

So, games three and four of the Stanley Cup Finals will only be available on a fringe cable channel. You don't need to be a NHL fan to realize that games three and four in a series with one team up 2-0 are truly pivotal contests. It is a shame that another terrible reality series takes precedence over one of the greatest sporting events of the year and every quantum of that shame lies squarely on the NHL front office.

Where the Coyotes Roam

2009-05-07T12:02:00.004-04:00

All I have done over the past few weeks is watch hockey. Therefore, the content of this blog post will be more hockey (sorry to the folks expecting something different).

Anyone who is following the playoffs (the one with ice, not with hoops), knows how the Red Wings got completely hosed on a no-goal call at the end of game 3 which cost them the game. I'm going to avoid that minefield: the referee was following proper procedure, but it was still a god-awful call.

In my opinion, the big NHL news of the week concerns the Phoenix Coyotes franchise. The team owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after multiple seasons of poor teams and shoddy attendance. NHL followers are probably not terribly surprised by this development. Phoenix is one of those new-market franchises pioneered by Commissioner Gary Bettman. My dislike for Gary Bettman has been stated before along with my doubt in the southern expansion. However, the next part of the tale is where it gets interesting.

Commissioner Gary Bettman impressions: the less evil, more incompetent 20th century mustache dictator

Businessman Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Blackberry, quickly threw in a bid for the ailing franchise. Again, those who follow the NHL will recognize this name from a few years ago when he tried to buy the faltering Nashville Predators. Balsillie's $212.5 million bid includes a clause to move the team to Ontario, Canada. This is where Balsillie and Bettman are at odds. I'm neither opposed or supportive of a new team in Ontario. Instead, this serves as another opportunity for Mr. Bettman to embarass himself and the league.

Bettman was quoted, "We don't run out on cities."

Now Mr. Bettman, you may not have run out on Ottawa, Nashville, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, but what about Hartford, Winnipeg, Minneapolis and Quebec City? Didn't the NHL run out of those cities? It might have been the right move to pull the NHL franchises out of those markets, but would this be the wrong move in Phoenix?

Now here's an idea that will rock the world: close the franchise and do a mini-contraction. Give Jim Balsillie a call in five years when the financial situation hopefully improves then give him a franchise.

Red Wings-Ducks game four tonight! Let's hope the Wings and the refs bring their A-game, for a change.

A Shout Out

2009-04-24T17:50:00.003-04:00

I don't typically do "shout outs" to the blogs of friends, but Jackson made a great post on his blog concerning the recent torture "debate" and I could not hold myself back. I usually like to make blog posts with some of my own thoughts, but this time you can find what I think in the comment thread to Jackson's post.

Epic

2009-04-23T03:24:00.003-04:00

Brodeur had a legitimate case based on the murky history of the crease-crashing and goal-front traffic goals (or no goals), but I think it was a good "no call." Marty was way out of the crease and the incidental contact is excusable. If the Carolina player had gone out of his way and deliberately interfered, I would be upset.

This series and the Chicago-Calgary series have turned out to be fantastic match-ups.

On a less epic note, Montreal fans are apparently the type of fans that boo national anthems. I expect this kind of thing from Philadelphia fans, but I always thought that Montreal fans were lacking those Cro-Magnon tendencies. On the other hand, those French-Canadians are not your proto-typical well-behaved Canadians. Unfortunately for Canadiens fans, they also booed their team to a disappointing first round elimination in four straight games at the hand of Original Six rival Boston.

It's that Time Again!

2009-04-13T13:53:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday, the second NHL season begins. In a previous blog post I talked about those magical times of the year when sports' seasons coincide into an entertaining and exhilarating spectacle. This is one of those times. The NHL is wrapping up the regular season, NCAA hockey has the Frozen Four and the baseball season opens.

Starting with the amateurs, the NCAA hockey tournament was somewhat unusual this year. A heavy dose of upsets and over-performing teams made this tournament very unpredictable. Two of the big favorites, Michigan and Notre Dame, lost early in the tournament to Air Force and Bemidji State, respectively. Along the way there were a number of really entertaining games. Fortunately for me, the two games that I got a chance to see were both really exciting. The first game I saw was the New Hampshire-North Dakota game. After watching this game, my belief that hockey is the greatest sport was affirmed once more. Lots of exciting end-to-end action and a couple of hard-working squads made it possible. The other game I watched was the championship game between Miami (Ohio) and Boston U. Miami had never won a national championship in any sport and they had a very good chance to get their first. As long as you were a big Miami fan, this was another amazing game with an epic comeback wrapped up with a heart-breaking conclusion. Congratulations to Boston University's hockey team!

Now, onto the professional ranks. Here are your playoff matchups for the first round:

Eastern Conference

(1) Boston vs. (8) Montreal
(2) Washington vs. (7) New York
(3) New Jersey vs. (6) Carolina
(4) Pittsburgh vs. (5) Philadelphia

Western Conference

(1) San Jose vs. (8) Anaheim
(2) Detroit vs. (7) Columbus
(3) Vancouver vs. (6) St. Louis
(4) Chicago vs. (5) Calgary

I'm not going to go into a massive breakdown of each series since both SI.com and ESPN.com have done a great job. Instead, I'm going to just toss out some random thoughts, predictions and recommendations.

In both the East and West, the #3 and #6 teams are silent threats to every other team in the bracket. All four squads enter the playoffs on hot streaks and with great goaltending. If you want to see the best of gritty, passionate playoff hockey, keep an eye on the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia and San Jose-Anaheim matchups. These teams are regional rivals and have a general dislike for each other. Furthermore, Philadelphia and Anaheim are the reigning thug teams of the NHL, so we can expect some tight checking. If you want to see the archetypal sporting matchup of tremendous offense vs. crushing defense, tune into the Washington-New York series. Washington's Alex Ovechkin is reason enough to watch this series, as this highlight will confirm:

Now that I've paid my lip service to the rest of the league, it's time to talk about my Red Wings. St. Louis did the Wings a huge favor by winning their last game which pushed Anaheim out of 7th place. Columbus is a team that a second seeded Detroit team should be able to easily handle. However, Detroit needs to tread with caution. The Wings closed their season very weakly, winning only 3 of their last 10 games. Everyone knows that you can't just flip a switch and start playing like a contender, but the Wings are probably the team closest to having that capability. A lot of commentators say that goaltending is the biggest concern for Detroit and after this season, it's hard to argue with that. However, I will. Goaltending has been weak this year, but starting goalie Chris Osgood has shown marked improvement in the last few weeks and has back-stopped two Stanley Cup championship teams (including a dominating performance in last years championship run). The biggest concern for the Wings is overall defense competency. They have consistently shot themselves in the feet this season by making poor defensive-zone plays and leaving their goaltenders in impossible situations.

I expect the Wings will win the series in five or six games, but I will not be surprised if Columbus gets a win or two early in the series.

Getting a pulse on who is going to do well this year is tough. There are a ton of x-factors on every team this year and I don't think anyone has an early advantage. Will Boston be able to keep a lid on their emotions? Can the Rangers score goals? Is Martin Brodeur ready for the playoffs after a long injury recovery? Can San Jose finally transfer their regular season success into playoff success? How many games will it take for the Red Wings to get back into form? Can Roberto Luongo play up to the high level of Hart Trophy dark horse Chris Mason?

Serious Business

2009-04-01T12:52:00.003-04:00

I found an interesting video clip this morning.

From what I can tell, it's a video of President Obama interacting with some of the G20 protesters during his travels around London.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4
Note for archive browsers: Sony, in its infinite wisdom and reach, has decided to remove the soundtrack of this video. Strangely enough, the audio portion of the video can still be found here, but it completely ruins the intention of this blog post. Needless to say, I am inconsolable.

To be honest, I feel bad for the G20 protesters. Though I may disagree with some of their political viewpoints, a vast majority of them are there to peacefully express discontent at the way things are going. The vociferous, violent and occasionally drunk minority give a legitimate protest a bad reputation.

The Long Lost Ally

2009-03-18T14:56:00.008-04:00

After 40 years, France has rejoined NATO military command. This closes one of the more interesting chapters of French history and opens a new one. I'm not going to go into much of a discussion of this because I think this BBC article does a fantastic job of outlining the background of France-NATO split.

After reading that article, I had a few quick thoughts.

First, I think President Sarkozy is doing a great job. He has taken steps towards making France more involved and productive, domestically and internationally. Since I'm not a French citizen, I can't pass judgement on Sarkozy either way, but I definitely think he is a step up from previous French heads of state/government.

Reading the news and looking at history, I understand the relationship between France and the U.S., but I can't help but feel baffled by the whole thing. France and the U.S. are so closely linked by history, culture and conviction that any kind of ideological divergence seems impossible. However, I believe America would react similarly if it were in France's position post World War Two. On a more abstract level, I think the same case could be made for the Iraq-U.S. relationship. Few ties exist between the U.S. and Iraq, but, if you will excuse the cheesy colloquialism, Americans and Iraqis are kindred spirits. Americans, the French and Iraqis are more similar than they want to admit.

The Economist had an interesting infographic on their website today which is somewhat related to the NATO-France relationship.

Economist.com

If that graph does not illustrate the point well enough, the U.S. Navy currently has 11 aircraft carriers in service, the rest of the world's navies have 10 (average U.S. carrier tonnage > 100,000 tons, everyone else average carrier tonnage <<< 100,000 tons); plus, the only active 5th generation fighter aircraft and long-range stealth bombers are flown by the U.S. Air Force. Supremacy seems like an understatement. On a less serious, and completely unrelated, note, I found this cool demographic map on wikipedia.

Words fail me...

Update:

On the military spending graph, the U.S. Department of Defense released a report today on China's military. You can see a summary and link to the report on BBC.com. The DoD presents different spending estimates than the Economist (see page 44 of the report), who appear to be using official estimates from the Chinese government. If you are trying to decide who's numbers are correct, good luck. Both governments clearly have some agendas at work, but whether China spends $120 billion or $60 billion, that U.S. column in the graph from the Economist still towers above the others. Still, the DoD report is a good read for those of you interested in these sorts of things; I imagine a Chinese government report on the U.S. military would be equally fascinating.

A Gratuitous Epic

2009-03-07T20:14:00.004-05:00

So, I went to go see the film Watchmen the other night and I can't decide if I like it. I faced a similar predicament after seeing 300 which was another graphic novel film directed by Zach Snyder. However, my reasons for disliking 300 were far different than my reasons for disliking Watchmen.

As the title of this post would have you believe, this film is gratuitous. The blood, broken bones, severed limbs and disintegrations are unapologetically served in graphic heaps. Most of the time, I don't mind some excessive violence, nudity and tasteful scenes of intimacy. Unfortunately, I feel like the violence, nudity and sex are the only thin supports of this 2+ hour behemoth.

The plot and acting in the film are by no means terrible, but the characters and story are presented haphazardly. Flashbacks and exposition dominate a huge portion of the movie leaving little time left for a story. Watchmen is thoroughly bogged down with detailing the setting and characters well before the one hour mark and never really gets around to extricating itself from... well, itself.

Comic book and superhero movies are rarely philosophical or intellectual exercises nor do they typically try to be. Watchmen desperately tries to change the status quo. Some might like the message delivered, but the degree of cynicism demonstrated is thoroughly unpleasant and unfulfilling. Frankly, there is plenty of cynicism and bitterness in the news today and the last thing I want when I go see a movie is more cynicism and bitterness.

If 4th term President Nixon is your Lawful Good character, you have either a bad D&D game or a very dark story.

Before I scare everyone away from the theatres, I should say that Watchmen did a lot of great/cool/enjoyable things. Visually, the movie is very impressive. Watchmen manages to pull off the graphic novel look without relying on the film noir look of Sin City or the highly stylized visuals of 300. Mr. Manhattan looks like a blue Michelangelo's David (minus the hair), but never sticks out like a sore thumb among human actors as full CG characters often do. As I mentioned before, there is a lot of gratuitous violence, but the action scenes are all exciting and fun. The camera work is also good and it has a distinct lack of "shaky-cam" which ruined the action scenes of Quantum of Solace.

Watchmen is a great sounding movie, too. The effects are all superb, but the soundtrack is a different story. The music is really hit-or-miss. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries is dialed up for a thoroughly enjoyable re-imagining of a classic scene from Apocalypse Now. Then Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is used for a love scene and the result is one of the cheesiest and overall worst movie scenes in recent memory.

The superheroes are diverse as are their numerous human flaws (sociopath - check, infidelity - check, ambition - check, pride - check, erectile dysfunction - check). Oddly enough, the only character I liked was the sociopathic Rorschach, but they were all great characters and I enjoyed disliking them.

I wouldn't suggest rushing to see Watchmen immediately. Instead, if you want to see it in the theatres, then wait until the crowds diminish (fewer people giggling at penises) and get a good seat (the new Star Trek and Terminator trailers are awesome). Otherwise, wait for a DVD/Blu-ray rental.

A few weeks after seeing 300, I decided that I liked it. The presentation of historical events, people and societies was atrocious and slanderous. I could spill pages of complaints about the true nature of hoplite warfare, Persian society and ancient Greek mysticism. However, Herodotus was hardly a first-hand, unbiased source. 300 preserved the heart of the events at Thermopylae and injected myth, exaggeration and color into the story. 300 was a bloody movie, but it was heavily stylized and lacked the excessive gore showcased in Watchmen. More importantly, 300 lacked the bitter cynicism that really dulled my experience with Watchmen.

King Leonidas leaves his armor and pants in the phalanx. As the internet memes say, "fail hoplite is fail."

I will probably come around and learn to appreciate Watchmen. When I first saw Fight Club, I hated the gratuitous violence and cynical message, but now I enjoy it. The problem is: I don't know why I like Fight Club.

Through the Looking Glass

2009-03-05T16:07:00.003-05:00

Since my attempt at delivering a semi-accurate prediction of the NHL trade deadline turned out not-so-good, I'm going to move onto something else. Though, the moves made by Pittsburgh and Calgary are hardly unprecedented and are fairly typical for teams in their position. Calgary added some good talent at center and defense where they needed help. Calgary is now in a much stronger position to compete for the Western Conference title. Pittsburgh added the classic NHL rental player, Bill Guerin. Don't get me wrong, he is a great player with good playoff experience, but don't waste $150 on a Guerin sweater if you are a Pittsburgh fan, he'll be gone in 3 years or less.

Now, on to business.

On Friday (tomorrow!), NASA will be launching the Kepler Space Telescope! Its mission is to spend the next three or so years surveying a portion of the cosmos for exoplanets. Kepler will do so by detecting the minute changes in the brightness of stars as planets travel between the star and the observatory. This is some really cool stuff, but I wonder about the effectiveness of this detection method. If I interpret Kepler's functionality correctly, it will only be able to detect exoplanets when they cross directly between the star and the telescope. I can only assume (there are billions of stars out there - statistically, I doubt they are all oriented the same way) that a majority of other solar systems do not have orbital planes that make this kind of observation possible. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing what Kepler is capable of.

Another cool factoid about Kepler: it will be one of the few spacecraft that do not orbit the Earth. Kepler will be placed in a heliocentric orbit (it orbits the Sun). This orbit allows it to make better observation for some technical reasons that I lack the training and education to fully explain, let alone understand. There's a good explanation of Kepler's orbit here.

Supposedly, NASA will be broadcasting the launch live on the NASA TV network and probably somewhere on their website, too. Keep your fingers crossed!

Trade Deadline Primer

2009-03-03T22:19:00.003-05:00

I can't say that the NHL trade deadline is the most exciting moment of the season. However, there is always a glimmer of intrigue to be found between the hedge-betting and last-ditch reinforcing.

The two top teams in the West, San Jose and Detroit, are not expected to make any major moves tomorrow. Both clubs are loaded and ready for long playoff runs. Many hockey analysts have suggested that Detroit is in desperate need of a "star" goaltender. I tend to think that the goalie situation in Detroit has been blown out of proportion. Even if Detroit needed some shoring up between the pipes, they lack the cap space to deal without sacrificing at least a decent 2nd or 3rd line forward.

Looking down the Western Conference standings, I expect that Anaheim will be active tomorrow. As I write this, they are barely out of the playoffs in the massive logjam for the 4-8 seeds. However, they were recently involved in a big deal with Pittsburgh. Anaheim gained a solid defenseman for a winger, which Pittsburgh needed to complement Crosby's line. Now Anaheim has Niedermayer, Pronger and Whitney on their blue-line. Anaheim will probably ship out Pronger to either St. Louis or Boston.

Speaking of Boston, they will have a scary defensive pair if they acquire Pronger. Pronger at 6'6" 213lbs and Zdeno Chara at 6'9" 250lbs, and they both know how to throw around those massive frames.

In the East, things will probably be a bit quieter. Toronto will, once again, probably be a seller. It's sad to see a great franchise like Toronto wallow in mediocrity for so long. Hopefully, they can turn it around next season.

My favorite story in hockey last week was the return of Martin Brodeur. In his first three games back from an extended injury absence, Marty has three wins and two shutouts. I had my doubts, but I think he stands a good chance at breaking some of those amazing Patrick Roy records. Crazy French-Canadian goalies...

Load up on guns...

2009-02-17T11:46:00.003-05:00

Human civilization is at a curious stage of evolution and development where we hold an unprecedented ability to solve immense problems and the threats to our survival. We can build structures that survive earthquakes, develop medicines and treatments to the deadliest diseases and even detect and possibly deflect incoming asteroids or comets. However, the unfortunate side-effect of all these wonderful abilities is our unprecedented ability to completely annihilate ourselves in a mind-boggling number of ways.

So, I'm not going to talk about the amusing spike in gun sales following the election of President Obama. Instead, a report funded by the U.S. Navy has finally said what everyone has been thinking since the military first put a missile on an unmanned aircraft.

First off, I'm relieved that someone at the top is actually thinking about these things. I often feel subjects like this (asteroid defense, epidemic behavior altering diseases/pathogens i.e. zombies, rampant A.I., etc.) get tossed into the government "LOL pile" because of the sheer volume of myth and popular culture involved.

Back to the article, the one most surprising factoid was the Congressional mandate to have one-third of a ground combat vehicles to be unmanned by 2015. Now I assume they mean that the vehicles will be controlled remotely and not that the U.S. will fight wars with lots of empty tanks. Two benefits come out of the American alliance with automated warriors: fewer humans in harm's way and fewer humans needed to fight wars. Up to now, every robotic participant in American wars has had a human at the helm. At this rate, this policy will have to shift in favor of more self-sufficiency for the robots.

BAE Systems Semi-autonomous Black Knight Armored Combat Vehicle (DailyTech)

The U.S. military and government need to take a few precautions in order to prevent something catastrophic. Note: "catastrophic" doesn't necessarily mean the apocryphal events of Terminator - a friendly-fire incident against an ally that still fields human armies or an unwarranted attack on a rival currently at peace would qualify as catastrophic missteps. Firstly, it might soon be time to get the President a second briefcase which holds the self-destruct codes for this army of automatons. Lastly, and most importantly, the government needs to take its time in implementing these mandates. The U.S. already holds huge advantages in military technology and the rush to run up the score is foolhardy (after all, militaries are not rated by the BCS). The cost of mistakes at this developmental stage are immense and grow larger with every corner cut and every overworked and underpaid programmer.

After all, the Europeans have already deployed Skynet military communication satellites. Clearly, we already tread upon thin ice.

Super Bowl Highlights!

2009-02-02T01:10:00.004-05:00

Hmm...

The commercials were occasionally amusing. The allegedly 3-D commercials were sadly lacking 3-D quality (yes, I was wearing 3-D glasses and I accept the consequences), but the new Star Trek trailer was nice. Speaking of which, this year's Super Bowl had an extraordinarily high proportion of movie trailers. Unfortunately, one of those was for The Fast and the Furious.

Well, at least the game was good. I'm glad that Roethlisberger didn't get the MVP (Kurt Warner was incredible in the second half). I was stunned by one statistic: all three of Arizona's wide receivers (Fitzgerald, Boldin and Breaston) had over 1,000 receiving yards this season.

Hot and Cold

2009-01-27T11:54:00.004-05:00

This past weekend (plus Monday), I experienced the highs and lows that our modern entertainment industry could deliver.

I'm going to start with the particular event that really got my blood boiling: the 2009 NHL "All-Star" Game. For the first time ever, I did not watch any NHL "All-Star" coverage or even bother watch the highlights (perhaps lowlights would be the better word to use). This game has turned into a commercial farce which is surpassed only by the almighty BCS bowl games. Fans, players, and franchises really don't care about it anymore.

The first signs that trouble was around the corner began appearing at around the New Year when the starting lineups were announced. Remember that starting lineups are determined by votes cast by fans. I'll list the 12 players and their respective teams.

Eastern Conference

Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh
Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh
Alexei Kovalev - Montreal
Andrei Markov - Montreal
Mike Komisarek - Montreal
Carey Price - Montreal

Western Conference

Patrick Kane - Chicago
Jonathan Toews - Chicago
Ryan Getzlaf - Anaheim
Brian Campbell - Chicago
Scott Niedermayer - Anaheim
Jean-Sebastian Giguere - Anaheim

You don't need to be a hockey fan to see the problem here. For the hockey fans that are out there, you have to shake your head. Where is league goal scoring leader Alex Ovechkin of Washington? Where are the players from the league leading franchises: San Jose, Boston, or Detroit? If the playoffs were to start today, Anaheim would barely qualify in their 8th place spot and Pittsburgh would miss the playoffs with their pitiful 11-11-2 home record.

I love democracy as much as the next person, but if the Bush years or the BCS did not reveal the shortcomings of democracy, then this certainly must. Thankfully, the remainder of the roster is filled by the NHL with the intention of making sure that every franchise is represented.

Detroit was very poorly represented in the game as a result of Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk (the only two Redwings to make the roster) removed themselves from the festivities in order to recover from injuries. The NHL made an 11th hour appeal to other Redwings stars like Marian Hossa and Brian Rafalski who did not make the roster. Unsurprisingly, these guys made the selfish choice of spending time with family and friends during the only extended break in the long and grueling NHL schedule. So, for the first time that I can remember, the reigning league champion was not represented in the "All-star" weekend.

In order to add salt to the wound, the NHL and Gary Bettman, in all their infinite and just wisdom, decided to suspend Lidstrom and Datsyuk for one game. If the game of hockey is in the sad shape that it is then how does suspending two star players from the model NHL franchise help? Clinging to a dead tradition that serves no purpose other than delivering stale 12-11 shootout games to the hosting city's fans and corporate sponsors is truly baffling.

In other hockey news, Michigan and Michigan State played over the weekend and then this happened...

Any respect that I hold for Michigan State athletics is quickly slipping away. Sure Michigan State is bad this year and they've been victimized by Michigan all season long, but that does not justify this ugly and shameful incident. Both Michigan State players, Conboy and Tropp have been suspended for the remainder of the season. In my opinion, those suspensions are not enough. The rest of Michigan State's season is meaningless, they aren't going to win the CCHA or go to the NCAA tournament (on a side note: hmm, another college championship determined on the ice/field and not by voters). These players should miss next season and perhaps they should be simply banned from playing in the NCAA.

The good news is that the Michigan player is going to be OK and back on the ice next weekend.

Moving away from hockey, I went to go see Defiance last weekend. I thought it was a fantastic movie and I would recommend that everyone go see it or put it at the top of your Netflix queue when the DVD is released. Most importantly, it made me forget about the disappointing Valkyrie. Apart from the story, to which I had never been exposed, my favorite aspect of the film was the sound. So often these days movies are heavily doctored and butchered in post-production, but Defiance had a very real and organic quality to the sound design. For me, the guns sounded rich and authentic and I doubt anyone will disagree if you see the film in a theatre.

On Sunday, I finally got around to watching a recording of last week's The Office. For the first time since I started watching that show, I felt depressed and empty. Apart from a few amusing moments, the overall episode was a huge disappointment. The Micheal/Dwight adventure was really depressing and the intra-office Hilary Swank hotness panel was uninspired and boring. If I want to be depressed, I'll watch Battlestar Galactica. I watch The Office to see an entertaining story and have a good laugh. At least Battlestar Galactica made me want to watch again next week.

Update:

Conboy and Tropp have left the MSU hockey team.

Overlooked

2009-01-21T15:40:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a busy news day. Between the fainting senior senators, forgetful Supreme Court Justices and marching bands playing some abominable song made popular by some abominable school in some abominable state south of Michigan, one news story did not get much attention.

Chrysler and Italian car maker, Fiat, announced that they had formed a new partnership. Fiat gets a 35% share of Chrysler and access to a number of Chrysler plants in the U.S. Chrysler gets someone to help them keep their heads above the water and a partner with expertise in cars that Americans love and need (i.e. fast ones and efficient ones).

Fiat also owns Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari, but as much as Americans love fast cars like...

the Maserati GranTurismo,

and the Alfa Romeo 8c, Fiat also brings cars like...

the Fiat 500 to the table.

My hope is that this partnership bears more fruit than the ill-fated DaimlerChrysler adventure. Chrysler already makes some of the best-looking cars in the U.S. and had gleaned some useful engineering ideas from the Germans. Fiat will add some Italian expertise and inspiration to the mix. At the very least, this will hopefully get the ball rolling on Chrysler's recovery and give the executives something to talk about at the next congressional testimony.

Khaaaaan!!!

2009-01-14T19:56:00.002-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7829807.stm

Rest in peace, Ricardo.

Update on NASA drama!

2009-01-07T12:40:00.004-05:00

I've got two things to briefly (I promise) discuss today and they are follow-ups on a post from back in December.

First of all, the supposed tension between the upcoming Obama administration and the current NASA administrator Michael Griffin has slipped out of the control of the many PR people involved. Mr. Griffin's wife has begun actively lobbying for her husband with the hope of avoiding his imminent ousting. I have mixed opinions about Mr. Griffin. I have to give him credit for overseeing NASA's crawl from the stagnation of the post-Nixon space program. At the same time, all of Mr. Griffin critics can't be wrong, right?

For the record on the big NASA issues of the day, I think extending the space shuttles' service is a bad idea. It's an old, unreliable and expensive spaceflight system. I also think that scrapping the Ares program would be a terrible decision and would likely doom, or at least drastically delay, the future of manned spaceflight. Merging some parts (manned spaceflight, earthbound satellite programs, orbital and exo-atmospheric object tracking, etc.) of the DoD space budget and NASA budget is probably a good idea as long as funding for "science for science's sake" programs (deep space probes, planetary probes, orbital science platforms) is not slashed.

On the subject of money, projections for next year's budget deficit are in! Ouch...

Politically, Mr. Obama will be able to avoid most of the "tax-n-spend liberal" charges with his proposed tax cuts and breaks. However, I fear something worse - a continuation of Pres. Bush's "cut taxes and spend obscenely" policy which garnered rave reviews during the election season. With all of this proposed spending, remind me why everyone is so concerned about NASA's relatively small budget?

Lists

2009-01-05T16:06:00.006-05:00

I'm not one of those people who likes to concern himself with making, keeping, or peddling lists. However, I can't come up with a good idea for a blog post and it has been a while since I made a post. During the many hours that I spent perusing the internet over the holidays, I came across The Nielsen Company's top 10 lists for the U.S. Needless to say, I had some thoughts...

Americans, like Romans, are sustained, uplifted and defined by their bread and games (circuses for you historical purists).
I had not previously realized the degree of box office dominance delivered by The Dark Knight. It's like watching the last three Rose Bowls...
I'm going to avoid commenting on the music categories so I don't end up insulting someone. Honestly, if the Starcraft Terran theme can't crack the top 10 music ringtones, why even bother.
Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope ranked higher in audio format than book format. I'm not sure what to make of that.
Best-liked TV commercials is a great category, kudos to the Nielsen Company. The Bridgestone one is my favorite on the list, but it can't hope to surpass Terry Tate: Office Linebacker.

Trivia: The actor who plays "Terrible" Terry Tate, Lester Speight, also provides the voice for Augustus "Cole Train" Cole in the Gears of War video games. Clearly not much diversity in his roles, but he definitely does good work in his niche.

The video games section contains lots of juicy stuff, too:

World of Warcraft dominates the PC game market, which should not come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing knowledge of PC gaming. What is surprising is the popularity of the first Halo game. I spent countless hours playing the original Halo in high school and I've been consistently tempted by the bargain bin PC version with free online matchmaking (unfortunately, this kind of matchmaking does not get me a hot date).
Finally, Sony cannot be pleased with the console usage stats. They are in bad shape if the original Xbox gets more play time than their vaunted Playstation 3. Fanboys (a.k.a. fanbois) will contest the reliability of these numbers, but I don't have any reason to believe that the results are inaccurate short of gross incompetence or vast conspiracy. The other lists seem fairly reasonable and I have no legitimate reason to doubt those results (the contact numbers listed on the final page would be the place to go if I did).

Change I Can Believe In?

2008-12-22T17:38:00.005-05:00

Now, I have been, and continue to be, supportive of President-elect Obama, but the latest bit of news that I have come across has created some doubt for me.

According to Daily Tech, the Obama transition team is looking to scrap the next-generation manned spaceflight booster program. The Ares was being designed to replace the Space Shuttle and has been in development since 2005 (though initial concepts were thrown around as far back as 1995).

Note: Ares IV development has been discontinued.

Now I realize that the economic crisis and need to cut the federal budget means that money is at a premium, but I must iterate the importance of the space program. Mr. Obama, among others, has talked about investing in the future of America and it's hard to find a better symbol for that future than the manned spaceflight program. I cite the 1960s NASA programs that inspired a generation of young Americans to become scientists, engineers and advocates.

Critics legitimately point-out that the costs of the Ares program are ballooning and that using old heavy-lift rockets such as the Delta or Atlas series would be cheaper. Cost estimates of the Ares program have usually hovered around $3 billion, which is a lot, but nowhere close to other major government aerospace programs of the 21st century. In 2000, four years before the first delivery, a Congressional committee report indicated that the cost of developing the F-22 fighter aircraft would be $14 billion (up nearly a billion from six months earlier). In 2005, the Washington Post reported on the $44.8 billion cost to development of the F-35 strike aircraft (cost was partially mitigated by contributions from other governments). 2006 Department of Defense budget: $527 billion (not counting expensive things like foreign wars); 2006 NASA budget: $15 billion.

The safety of the Delta and Atlas rockets is also a major concern. Right now, these boosters are used to get satellites and probes into space. The benefit of the Ares is the top-to-bottom focus on delivering people into space. Furthermore, Delta and Atlas boosters are not true heavy-lift rockets and would not be able to send astronauts to the moon. If we want to send astronauts to the Moon and beyond, which we should want for a plethora of reasons, we need to rediscover and reinvent the heavy-lift capability of the 1960s. In order to illustrate the heavy-lift question:

Delta IV Heavy: 23,000 kg to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)
Atlas IIIB: 10,000 kg to LEO
Ares I (shuttle replacement): 25,000 kg to LEO
Space Shuttle: 24,000 kg to LEO
Ares V (heavy-lift): 188,000 kg to LEO/71,000 kg to TLI (Trans-Lunar Injection)
Saturn V: 118,000 kg to LEO/47,000 kg to TLI

As I blather about the manned spaceflight program, the other important things that NASA does, like planet-side research and development, should not be neglected either. As the Daily Tech article noted, during the campaign, Mr. Obama was inconsistent in his plans for NASA. Fortunately, Mr. Obama has nominated some very smart people for science and educational roles. Hopefully, they can keep the next administration from neglecting science, research, technology, and the future.

Twice in one week?!

2008-12-19T00:46:00.005-05:00

That's what she said...

Anyway, of late I have rarely taken the time to post on my blog twice in one week, but I came across something on the interwebs that I had to mention.

For about six months now I have been visiting Tom's Games, the gaming and movie portion of the Tom's Hardware site. On Wednesday, they announced that they will stop doing video game and movie commentary. In its place, they will have a "cutting edge site designed to deliver the latest in online games." What a shame.

Now, I occasionally play online flash games like almost everyone, but this is a shameful step. Tom's Games offered interesting and insightful commentary, opinions and reviews. However, their greatest asset was the distinct lack of fanboy-ism that permeates that particular sector of the internet. They had an deep appreciation for the PC game platform, but did not let that cloud their judgement of console games. Lastly, the discussion forums are usually civil, another rare thing for this neighborhood of the internet.

Now Tom's Games is going concern itself with the lowest common denominator of the gaming world. These are cheap, simple, mindless games that are trumped by only the great World of Warcraft in amount of lost productivity.

The two editors-in-chief of Tom's Games, Rob Wright and Travis Meacham, wrote a letter to their readers which can be read here. If you are so inclined, take a look at their weekly video series, Second Take; it was one of my favorite internet video series.

A dark day for quality gaming journalism, indeed.

On a brighter note, the Red Wings completely annihilated the San Jose Sharks tonight! For those that haven't been following hockey as closely as I, San Jose has a very good team this year. A little over 30 games into the season, San Jose had lost only 3 games in regulation and were among the top 10 teams in nearly all the major statistical categories. They are on pace to break league records for number of wins and points in a single season. The Wings are hardly having a bad season, but the sheer brilliance of the San Jose squad makes the great Wings team look a bit tarnished. This was definitely a big statement game for the Wings.

That Time of Year

2008-12-16T20:44:00.004-05:00

Anyone who appreciates sports (at least the way I do) recognizes the magical times of the year when certain schedules converge:

March-April: NCAA Basketball Tournament, MLB Season Openers
October: NCAA Football mid-season, NHL season begins, no NBA until end of the month
Late December-Early January: compelling NFL games, NCAA Football bowl games (hopefully future playoff games), more NHL games including the Winter Classic

Since I don't want to talk about football anymore, the NHL is the topic for the day.

Ice Hockey is the most under-rated sport in America. It's fast, physical, entertaining and the athletes are, for the most part, not overpaid children like those littering the other major sports. Unfortunately, the NHL is a sick business. League revenues have been declining for years, labor disputes have ended multiple season over the past 20 years and the only place to watch a hockey game on TV is the Versus channel or local sports channels if you live in the right place. Fortunately, the source of these problems is easy to point out.

Gary Bettman is the current commissioner of the NHL. He has presided over the decline of one of North America's great professional sports leagues. I won't even go into the heretical rule changes that he has allowed to pass (most meant to compensate for his biggest blunders). His first big blunder was failing to completely resolve the labor dispute during the 1995 lockout half-season. Nine years later, the NHL lost an entire season because management and the NHLPA could not agree upon a salary cap. The two parties were within $10 million of each other, but they decided to lose a season instead. The NHLPA ended up being the biggest losers in the deal since the post-lockout deal was the worst deal offered.

After the 2004-05 lockout season, the sport lost sponsors, TV coverage (yes, ESPN used to cover the NHL and even had a dedicated analysis show), and fans.

However, before the Lost Season, Mr. Bettman decided to expand the league into untested southern markets through awarding franchises and relocating franchises out of traditional hockey markets. Minnesota, Quebec City and Winnipeg all lost franchises. New franchises were given or moved to Dallas, Phoenix, Raleigh, Tampa Bay, Anaheim (stupid Disney), Ft. Lauderdale, Nashville, and Atlanta.

Currently, most of these southern teams are in financial trouble. 30 teams seems like a good number for a professional sports league, but, in the current state of affairs, all of these teams are hurting league revenues and diluting the talent on the ice. The best solution for this problem is a league contraction and franchise relocation. It just so happens that I have a plan.

Franchises to fold or move:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Nashville Predators
Carolina Hurricanes
Atlanta Thrashers
Phoenix Coyotes
Columbus Blue Jackets

New Franchises:

To be honest, I'm not sure where to put new franchises. They should be in Canada at the very least. For the sake of argument, we'll put a franchise in Winnipeg and another in Quebec City.

I'm not terribly pleased with the extra team in the Eastern Conference, but New Jersey could be on the cutting block. I also feel sad about leaving an Original Six team, Chicago, alone in the West, but it's their own fault for being on central time.

Still Alive

2008-12-01T23:27:00.003-05:00

As the title of this post would have you believe, I am still alive. I had a bunch of family over for the holiday weekend and between the food and Rock Band (one of my guitars partially broke) I had little time to blog. For those who are concerned, I think one of my brothers-in-law was a bit over-zealous with his strumming and the down-strum detector died. However, this brought upon a fascinating new discovery! I was playing the bass part of a song with up-strumming only on Hard (yeah, I am a badass) and when the song was over, I received the "Authentic Strummer" tag under my completion percentage. One of my brothers-in-law, who is actually a guitarist in a band, informed me that the game wasn't lying, then I recalled watching jazz bassists and rock bass players plucking the strings when they played. Rock Band: Fun and Educational as long as you don't play alone or "sing" a Beastie Boys song.

I don't have anything in particular to talk about, so I'll just point out some great stuff on the internet that everyone should look at this week.

The first is for fans of Valve's Half-life games. The official trailer for Black Mesa was released over the weekend! Black Mesa is a top-to-bottom remake of the first Half-life game using the Source engine that powered Half-life 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead. What makes this all the more interesting is that Valve has nothing to do with this game (except for the inspiration and developer tools). You can visit the developers here and view the trailer below!

Once again, the BCS is at the center of a season tainting controversy. Oddly enough, I can't actually blame the BCS for the mess, but the mess definitely exposes the weaknesses of the BCS system. Anyone who follows college football on the internet (save Okla-homers, haha) has undoubtedly read a number of articles condemning the Big 12 tiebreaker methodology. Long story short, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were tied for first place in the Big 12 South with a spot in the Big 12 Championship game on the line. The Big 12 rulebook dictates that BCS ranking breaks the tie in the current circumstances. Going into Thursday, Texas was #2 and Oklahoma was #3. On Monday, Oklahoma was #2 and Texas was #3 with both teams winning big. This is where things get bad. Earlier this season, Texas beat Oklahoma, on a neutral site, 45-35.

The claim made by BCS defenders that the regular season serves as a playoff is truly foolish now. The winner of the Big 12 South is a virtual shoe-in for the BCS Championship game. Missouri, the Big 12 North champ, is a mediocre team with little chance of success against Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Texas beat Oklahoma head-to-head at a neutral site, end of story. If there is any justice in college football, then the regular season playoff victory of Texas over Oklahoma is all that should matter here. However the current state of college football is a greed-driven, farcical fraud perpetrated by the BCS and its delusional advocates in collusion with ruling bodies of the Big 12 and other BCS conferences. If you want to read more, I suggest checking this and this out.

Only one thing will make this more amusing, a Missouri victory on Saturday. Here's a list of potential opponents for the Alabama-Florida victor should this happen:

Texas: failed to win it conference or division, but the most deserving*

USC: lost to Oregon State and plays in the relatively weak Pac 10

Utah: highly questionable strength of schedule

Texas Tech: see Texas, maybe more deserving* than everyone except Oklahoma

Penn State: lost to Iowa and plays in the relatively weak Big 10

Boise State: see Utah

Teams ranked 10-119: unprecedented, dream on

*Texas Tech beat Texas 39-33 at Texas Tech with that tragic dropped interception with 11 seconds to go.

Dear Santa,

I will sacrifice all of my Christmas gifts for the next five years if you will get FBS college football a playoff system this year. I really want an epic 16-team tournament, but I will settle for an 8-team playoff. If you give FBS college football a "plus one" system, a.k.a. bandaid over the chainsaw laceration, then you only get one year of sacrifice.

However, I know that bargaining with you is like bargaining with God, it doesn't work like it does in the movies. I expect to see Prince of Persia for my Xbox under the tree this year. Failure to comply will result in more meaningless letters in the future.

Yours truly,

Dan

Miracle on Turf

2008-11-21T21:19:00.007-05:00

With such a busy news day and an even busier weekend upon us, I thought that another blog post would be appropriate. The veritable flood of news on Friday gives me a fair bit of material to talk about, but there is really only one story that dominated my day: The Game.

The annual grudge-match between Michigan and Ohio State has taken a backseat to other more "important" games this Saturday. Oklahoma-Texas Tech and Penn State-Michigan State might be more fashionable or more loaded with BCS implications, but The Game is always the most interesting game when people least expect it to be.

Michigan has a historically abysmal team at 3-8. Ohio State has a good team that has come up short of expectations at 9-2. In any fair and logical universe, Ohio State wins this game by 20.5 points. Unfortunately, the fair and logical universe is but a distant parallel to the one which we occupy. The best and most memorable games of the series have been won by the underdog. However, the underdog in tomorrow's game has never been so poor. Quite frankly, there are virtually no ways for me to reasonably plot a Michigan victory tomorrow. Michigan can keep the game close, but it would take an epic collapse from Ohio State to push Michigan over the edge.

I dare not make a final score prediction, but I will be surprised if Ohio State covers the spread.

Every year, I am amazed by the emotion that this game brings out. I hate Notre Dame/the Yankees/the Cowboys as much as any other American and Michigan State is always an amusing distraction. Ohio State, though, is in a different league. I maintain a certain degree of respect for Ohio State that Notre Dame could never earn, but at the same time I feel a deep vitriolic loathing of the Buckeyes. I always forget what it feels like a week after and that feeling doesn't return until the Wednesday before the next meeting. I want Michigan to win badly, but this year will require a miracle of 1980 US Olympic Hockey team proportions. I believe in two things: Ohio State sucks and miracles.

Recommended viewing this weekend:

- Michigan-Ohio State game
- NOT the new film Twilight. Honestly, a little bit of me dies every time I see media coverage of squealing high schoolers at theatres across the country, not to mention flashbacks of boy bands in the 90s. Here's a great idea. Instead of going out to see an underage, vampiric, love-drama fest, go to your local library and borrow Bram Stoker's Dracula.
- Detroit-Tampa Bay football game. Feel free to ignore the game and look for me in the crowd, or, rather, amongst the empty seats.

Recommended reading this weekend:

- Aforementioned Bram Stoker's Dracula with conditions
- The National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World

The NIC's latest Global Trends assessment is a fascinating projection of international relations, trade and conflict in 2025. Weighing in at 120 pages, it is by no means "light reading," but it is not overloaded with techno-babble or difficult concepts. You can obtain your own personal pdf here.

GO BLUE!

Under My Skin

2008-11-17T21:25:00.010-05:00

This past weekend I went to the movie theatre to see Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond movie. The movie was exciting and an overall enjoyable experience. It wasn't as good as Casino Royale, but it was definitely better than the last few Pierce Brosnan films. On a quick aside, I find it an interesting coincidence that the director of Casino Royale was the same guy who directed Goldeneye. In my opinion, those two movies are the best Bond films since at least 1980.

Anyway, this post comes to you today in the name of the two worst things about the action sequences in contemporary films: shaky cam and absurdly over-powered punch effects.

The first case is prominently featured in Quantum of Solace. In fact, the opening action sequence makes heavy use of the shaky cam, to its own detriment. The up-close and unstable camera shots fail to provide an adequate view of the setting, which I have actually visited and is quite amazing, and doesn't provide the most exciting and comprehensive view of the action. Furthermore, these shaky cam shots can be nauseating after not too long. Unfortunately, Youtube does not have any clips from the opening chase sequence from Quantum of Solace, so here are some notable chase sequences from Casino Royale and Goldeneye (for those who have seen Quantum of Solace, note the lack of shaky cam).

Some might like the shaky cam action of Quantum of Solace, and I'll admit that it can be effective when used with discretion, but I feel like something is lost when the shaky cam becomes the staple camera shot for action scenes.

"Absurdly over-powered punch effects" is the other element of action sequences that annoys me. I first noticed this particular effect when I saw The Dark Knight this past summer. Again, The Dark Knight was a great movie, and, unlike Quantum of Solace, it surpassed the excellence of its predecessor. Back to the punching, the sound mixing folks for this movie went completely overboard. Since I want to have some diversity in my audio-visual aids, I will use pictures and language to illustrate the problem.

If you were to take an M1 Abrams tank...

Fill the M1 Abrams tank with uncooked meat...

Then take that meaty machine up in an airplane, drop it from 10,000 feet, and record the sound made on impact...

You would get a close approximation of the sound made by a single punch in The Dark Knight!

Perhaps the effect was exacerbated by watching the film in an IMAX theatre, but I know that other movies have mixed their sound effects in a similar fashion.

On a final and somewhat related note, I was really disappointed with the villain in Quantum of Solace. Dominic Greene was a bit of a wimp and his plan was remarkably low key. If writers want to go for the evil businessman as a villain, then they need to write and cast better. I thought that media tycoon Elliot Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies was an interesting character and Jonathan Pryce did a great job playing the part.

For those that do not go see Quantum of Solace, make sure you check out the new trailer for the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie! A download mirror is linked at the bottom of the first page of comments if you want to save a copy to your computer.

Treading Water

2008-11-13T20:23:00.005-05:00

The big news this week is the potential government bail-out of the "Big Three" Detroit car manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, Chrysler). In complete opposition to my blog mantra, I don't think I take a very moderate viewpoint towards this entire debacle. I disagreed with the $700 billion bail-out dealt out for the sinking financial markets, but I will also admit that my understanding of the situation doesn't warrant me adding my voice to the din. When it comes to the Detroit automakers, I can understand the situation from living in Michigan for a long time and from the fact that understanding the financial mumbo-jumbo with AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc. is impossible for the layman.

At the most basic level, the "Big Three" do not deserve a bail-out of any form. These companies having been hemorrhaging money for years and have clearly lost their ability to innovate at a competitive pace. For the past decade, these automakers have fattened themselves on truck sales while barely paying lip service to the market for fuel-efficient vehicles. For every published success of a Detroit car company, they gloated. Whenever Toyota or Honda was mentioned in a positive story, they patted themselves on the back and tried to figure out how to do it better.

I honestly doubt that a bail-out of the "Big Three" will ignite innovation or even save them from bankruptcy. In fact, if the government decides to prop-up these industrial dinosaurs, they will be stifling innovation from competitors like Toyota, Honda or even Tesla Motors. Today, many of the airlines that declared bankruptcy in the post-9/11 airline bloodletting are in better shape than they were before. Perhaps the same will happen for the "Big Three," if not, I won't shed a tear for the companies.

However, the real danger from letting these companies hit rock bottom is the effect on the massive supply infrastructure. If the "Big Three" bottom-out, then auto parts suppliers, machining shops, dealerships, mechanics, employees and pensioners will suffer. This chain of companies and people that rely on the success of the "Big Three" are not the ones responsible for a sagging industry. A government bail-out should protect the chain while the car manufacturers stumble, not the other way around.

Amidst all the noise generated over the Detroit automakers, we can easily lose sight of the fact that this economic downturn does not merely damage U.S. companies, but foreign brands as well. Toyota employs over 36,000 people in 13 facilities in the U.S. and Honda employs more than 25,000 people across 25 facilities. The recession within the automotive industry is not limited to the "Big Three," they are just being hit harder because the management has lost the ability to run a business. If Toyota or Honda fell on hard times, I somehow doubt they would get the attention that GM, Ford and Chrysler are getting.

What upsets me the most about this situation is that these stagnant car companies are going to get their money. A truly epic political lobby is fighting for the bail-out and anyone with a sane perspective can't get a word in. Governor Granholm, the United Auto Workers union and nearly every major representative of Michigan in Washington, D.C. lobbies heavily in favor of "Big Three" bailouts and limp fuel mileage restrictions. I really like Senator Carl Levin when it comes to foreign affairs and matters of state, but I wish he would shut-up when it comes to dealing with the "Big Three." Former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney came into Michigan during the nomination campaign and spouted lofty rhetoric pandering to the auto companies and workers. John McCain came to Michigan and offered some of his "straight-talk" (back when he was still "straight-talking") and lost the Michigan primary by a mile. I think President-elect Obama made a mistake in inviting Governor Granholm to his provisional economic committee and he would make a huge mistake in giving her a cabinet position. In my eyes, she has done very little to improve the economy in Michigan and holds no credibility whatsoever in economic matters.

The Detroit car manufacturers and their lobby are well overdue for a rude awakening.

A few months ago, I visited the Ford Rouge plant in Detroit. The facility is really amazing. Ford has gone to great lengths to create an eco-friendly building, and, hopefully, it becomes a model for all future industrial sites. Then the great ironic tragedy of Ford appears. The Rouge plant is used to make the popular, gas-guzzling F-150 pick-up truck. Even worse, the facility was shutdown (it was not the weekend) and the tour guides said that the shutdown was on indefinite terms.

If the bail-out is inevitable, then what can be done to strong-arm the "Big Three" to innovate? Three things: strict gas mileage restrictions, purge the management and protect the aforementioned chain. Again, I want to reiterate that American-flavored innovation has rarely been done through governmental strong-arm tactics. Great American innovators like Henry Ford, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Thomas Edison created new ideas and things without governmental interference. What would Henry Ford say if he were still around today? Hopefully, he would tell his descendant to sell the Lions to an owner that actually cared about the franchise.

For those of you seeking another, parallel perspective: Thomas Friedman to the rescue!!!

With all this silly talk of bailing out sinking motor vehicle companies, I felt the need for a more uplifting message to close this out.

In the face of all this doom and gloom, remember that happiness is just one Yakety Sax video away.

Aftermath

2008-11-05T21:40:00.011-05:00

"The true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals - democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

200,000 people + 1 Obama in Grant Park, Chicago

So, a lot of Americans were joyful, inspired, and amazed on Election Night. You can count me among them. However, I cannot help but feel bittersweet about the results of the election.

Watching Senator McCain's concession speech was one of the saddest moments of the election for me, and I mean that in the most sober and serious way that I can. That speech embodied the exact reason for John McCain's loss in the election. I found the behavior of the Republican core represented in that crowd to be repulsive. They booed when McCain acknowledged Obama's historic victory and urged reconciliation of petty party divisions. The Republican Party is a dinosaur and the hardest of the hardcore supporters are members of shrinking demographics that are ignorant of the country that America has become. John McCain represented the potential for Obama-esque change within Republican Party, but instead he was forced to bow to the party base. The true John McCain did not run on the Republican ticket this year. John McCain was turned into a puppet of the party and ultimately sacrificed in an election cycle that Republicans lacked the perspective to compete. He deserves much better. The media often talks about the muzzling of Sarah Palin, but the disfigurement and mutation of John McCain was the greatest sin of the Republican party. He does have a share of the blame, but I have a hard time placing true culpability on his shoulders.

This brings me into speculation about the future of the Republican Party. In the coming months, Republicans are going to have to pick up the pieces and figure out how to go forward. There are two schools of thought within the Republican Party in these seemingly post-apocalyptic days for the conservative brand: The Palinites (noted for a distinct lack of thought and attachment to ancient political methods) and the moderate wing of the party. My fear is that Republicans will latch onto their criticism of John McCain that he wasn't conservative enough. If the Republican Party swings more to the right under the leadership of Governor Palin, then they are doomed to irrelevance and a third party will emerge to replace it.

My case against such a move is the dearly departed Republican hero, Ronald Reagan, and the Republicans' adopted son, John F. Kennedy. Look how these two guys swept their way into the White House: they appealed to centrist ideals and created entire demographics carved out of the opposition to vote for them. These men enjoyed immense success in their elections, governance and legacies. They are counted among the greatest presidents in the history of America. Now look at George W. Bush. He paved his way into office by supercharging his ideological base and governed through strong-arm tactics. He exploited the divisions in our nation to push his vision of America. No one in America, except that party base that still supports him, can deny the immensely negative legacy that he leaves.

I will admit that I am encouraged by the closing months of the Bush Administration. He has demonstrated a distinct willingness to be helpful and has graciously and humbly acknowledged the impact of Barack Obama's victory. Mr. Bush is probably trying to end his tenure on as high a note as possible and I think that is admirable.

David Brooks of the New York Times said, "Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices" (CNN) The Republicans need more people like McCain, circa 2000, not fewer. I hope that they are not so blinded by their righteous rage that they fail to notice how they were beat and how they have been successful in the past. Republicans need to survive because they do have ideas that are good for America.

As expected, Republicans across Washington were mauled in the election. This phenomenon is not surprising, but it was, in some cases, unfortunate. John McCain will return to the Senate where I hope he will return to he old ways. He will not be joined by two of his moderate Republican compatriots: Gordon Smith of Oregon and John Sununu of New Hampshire. These victims of the D.C. purge will be missed greatly. The next Senate needs Republicans that offer constructive resistance to Democratic legislation. We cannot afford to lug the weight of bitter right-wingers that seek to block every attempt at progress. What really makes me angry is how good guys like Smith and Sununu get voted out of the Senate, but convicted felons like Ted Stevens of Alaska are given another chance. These Alaskan conservative mavericks are definitely not the right thing for America. Hopefully, the not corrupt members of our Senate will swiftly "/gkick" this idiot and get an honorable person to fill his seat. Maybe Smith and Sununu will play a role in the reshaping of the Republican Party from outside the spotlight; after all, President-elect Obama said I could hope.

CNN was reporting on Wednesday night that Obama would be receiving his first Top Secret briefing on Thursday morning. I wouldn't be surprised if this contained a great deal of information concerning the Russia's latest reaction to the plans to build a anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe. On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised to deploy short-range missiles in the territory of Kaliningrad. It is certainly difficult agree with such a move, but it is not terribly difficult to understand why Russia is doing it.

The harsh realities of the world shaped by George W. Bush are going to hit Obama from day 1. I know that Mr. Obama has the ability to tackle the big problems facing America and he has my support. I hope he finds a good group of people to support and advise him, but he would have to try really hard to make poorer selections than the current President. Again, to Mr. Bush's credit, he has demonstrated some willingness to pick a few competent cabinet members, even if it took him more than one try.

P.S. I couldn't find a copy of the Wednesday New York Times or Chicago Tribune anywhere in Kalamazoo today. If anyone knows where I can get one, as long as it is not a $100 copy from eBay, let me know!

Update:

I just dug up an interesting article about the future of the Republican Party on BBC.com. The article is spot on with most of the analysis; however, I do take exception to the final point. The Republicans need more than a compelling leader to turn around their fortunes. Regaining the trust of the electorate, as Obama and the Democrats did, requires a compelling leader delivering a compelling message which speaks to people at that point in time.

What is so impressive about Mr. Obama's campaign was its inclusive nature. Not too long ago (3-4 election cycles), many of the things said about the Republicans now were being said about the Democrats. In particular, the claim that the diversity of the party would cause an internal battle. The post-Clinton Democrats were internally divided like the Republicans of today. The difference is that this battle was inevitable after years of Karl Rove's strategy of supressing moderate voices and supercharging the conservative base (created a confusing message this time around). Now that the Democrats have kicked the Republicans out of the places of power, the moderate voices want to restore the Republican party to relevance. However, the old guard of the G.O.P. don't want to sacrifice a sliver of their ideology for the sake of inclusiveness and progress.

So, I expect to see some fireworks over the coming months. Republicans may not see the White House until 2016 or even 2022, but they'll have to find a voice and a message first.

Democracy

2008-11-03T22:33:00.005-05:00

I'm not going to endorse a candidate. I believe in the power and sanctity of the secret ballot, not to mention my Constitutional right to a secret ballot. My earlier posts have indicated my preferences and I don't see much reason to publicly acclaim my vote.

What I do want to acclaim is the importance of participation in government. I personally believe that America is in the midst of a historically pivotal moment. Politicians tell us about how dire and important every election is, but they are wrong. Granted, saying that requires perspective and a certain degree of historical hypothesizing, but it is hard to ignore the gravity of the decisions that need to be made over the next 4-8 years.

Essentially, all Americans are stockholders in this nation. In a nation so populous, wealthy and powerful, it is difficult to realize the power of an individual. By voting, one declares one's willingness to choose a representative most able to make the nation thrive and, thus, one's choice to improve the nation, community and self.

Millions have sacrificed themselves over millenia to preserve freedom and democracy. Most notably, people of non-democratic societies have even sacrificed in order to preserve democracy. One always thinks of the Athenians at Marathon, Cicero in Rome, Parliamentarians in England, American Revolutionaries at Saratoga and the Allied armada at Normandy. What about oligarchic Spartans at Thermopylae, or the Communist Russians in Stalingrad? They aren't the shining defenders of democracy, but their contributions were significant nonetheless. Voters don't need to participate to such a degree, they need only cast a vote.

Unsung heroes of democracy?

If you don't know who you want to vote for in the presidential race, go vote anyway. State and local elections are also important and they have a more direct impact on your day-to-day life. I suggest looking up a local chapter of the League of Women Voters in your state and district and read over the voter's guide (here's the one for Michigan). If that fails you, then local newspapers often print a voter's guide (hopefully with an online version).

If all these arguments fail to convince you recalcitrant voters, then maybe Aristotle will...

"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost."

The Coming Storm

2008-11-03T20:19:00.010-05:00

Great storm clouds billow and broil on the horizon. From the swamps of Florida to the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the oil fields of Texas a great tempest is upon us all. The great national nightmare has returned to haunt the dreams of Americans once more. PLUS, there is an election tomorrow which could prove to be of some interest!

The great disaster which will soon strike our nation has terrorized us for years with visions of dreams unrealized and truths unrevealed. Indeed, the horror of which I write is none other than the Bowl Championship Series of college football. Football is passionately followed by untold millions in America and across the globe (Canada, too). In my opinion, college football fans are the most passionate because of the close ties people develop with the schools they attend. Furthermore, the regional nature of conferences and rivalries brings out a spirit of competition that hearkens back to the days of pre-federal government. That silliness aside, these fans, schools, conferences, leagues and entertainment networks have instituted the most nonsensical and unjust system to determine the best team in the land.

Outside of the FBS (formerly known as Division I) denomination of NCAA football teams, champions are decided through a playoff or tournament system. Furthermore, all of the other major college sports (basketball, ice hockey, etc.) also determine national championships through tournaments or playoffs. All of the major professional sports leagues also decide their champions through playoff systems. The BCS system was put into place to assert some form of legitimacy to the random national championship awarded to the winner of one of the major bowl games at the end of the season. Some computers and supposed experts vote on the best 25 teams in the FBS subdivision of NCAA football and the top two teams at the end of the season play each other for the national championship. As a result, the bowl games maintained an air of tradition (which I admit is of some value), the regular season games maintain their importance (also a good thing), the student-athletes get to maintain their focus on studies (*rolls eyes*), and the entertainment networks and corporate sponsors get to fatten their cash cow bowl games through sponsorship and intense controversy. Unfortunately, the victims of this ridiculous system are the legitimacy of any national champion and the fans.

So, back to this impending doom thing. I guess I am over-hyping this whole situation, but I feel the need to fight fire with fire and I don't want to have to do another BCS rant post. This happens every year and it is going to happen once again. More than one team is likely going to be eligible for the national championship game based on a number of factors. These factors, of various legitimacy, include: number of losses, late season losses, quality of schedule, relative conference strength, recent team/conference bowl records, most recent victory (teams that play weeks after others have complete equally lengthy seasons hold significant advantages). In the current situation, rumors are swirling that an undefeated Penn State team could get snubbed by a one loss SEC team, Big 12 team, or, God forbid, USC. Granted, there is still a lot of football left to be played, but the fact that this situation is even remotely possible is unacceptable.

I'll admit that I have my own opinion on the Penn State snub hypothetical. I believe that any undefeated team from one of the BCS conferences is deserving of national championship consideration over ANY one-loss team, regardless of the circumstance. If the BCS is supposed to turn every regular season game into a playoff game equivalent, then one loss is damning evidence of inferiority. This situation is irrefutable simply because it is the nature of this BCS god that we worship before the altar of commercialized football.

The only way to restore common sense and legitimacy to college football is to implement a playoff or tournament. I care little for how it's done, aside from the fact that we would need, at least, an 8-team playoff to preserve the current bowl system.

Here's one potential solution that include all of the FBS conferences.

I would make only one request: create a major bowl game that is held at a northern site. I want to see how SEC, Big 12 and Pac 10 schools deal with a "neutral site" game away from their home stadiums in the balmy south and west. Let's see how the Floridas, USCs and Texases deal with a game at Soldier Field in January.

Yeah, they'll probably have to take down that ski jump for the game.

Update:

Barack Obama just endorsed a college football playoff system on the Monday Night Football halftime show! If that doesn't put some momentum behind the Revolution to Overthrow the BCS, then I doubt anything will. John McCain wants to stop the use of performance-enhancing drugs. A good answer, indeed, but a better one would be to address the third great sin of American sports: the goal line trapezoid in NHL hockey!

"WTF" indeed...

A Confession

2008-11-02T14:20:00.007-05:00

I bought Fallout 3 on launch day. You may ask, "Big deal..." Here’s why…

First of all, I absolutely hated Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played its predecessor, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, to death. Morrowind was a wonderful open-world, fantasy RPG from Bethesda Softworks. The story was engaging and epic, and the world was brilliantly crafted with unique regions that had distinctive plant, animal and humanoid life (along with different styles of architecture). I will admit that the visuals have not aged well (plus the game was poorly optimized at launch) and the combat system was a bit wonky.

In the lead-up to Oblivion, I was really excited. I even pre-ordered the collector’s edition for PC and bought a DVD drive for my computer (undoubtedly the best thing to come out of that debacle). Then, I played it. It was terrible. Everything that I loved in Morrowind was not present in Oblivion; furthermore, Bethesda managed to carpet bomb this game so bad that collateral damage was inflicted across the game. The world was expansive, but bland. Every area was essentially the same view with the same creatures. Even though the world was big, Morrowind felt bigger (the benefits of reduced render distance, no mounts and no fast travel). The graphics were pretty (save character models, especially the faces), but it was a system hog. The combat and magic system was improved, but the scope was reduced. The most damning indictment of Oblivion was a gross “dumbing down” of the RPG elements. NPCs were lifeless, dialogue trees were sparse, and every enemy in the game leveled with you. This produced the ridiculous phenomenon of bandits and highwaymen clad in ebony armor and brandishing glass weaponry. I’m sorry, but why do they need to prey on travelers when they can afford to acquire and maintain some of the most expensive equipment in the world?

Guess which map comes with the quality game...

In defense of Oblivion, the complaints raised against it are similar to the ones raised against Morrowind by devotees of its predecessor, Daggerfall. I never played Daggerfall, so I clearly lack some perspective. However, if Daggerfall fans disliked Morrowind, then they probably felt the same about Oblivion.

So now Bethesda has got its greedy little fingers on the Fallout franchise. Needless to say, I have been a bit worried. Fallout 1 & 2 were deep, post-apocalyptic, isometric-view, turn-based RPGs. Fallout 3 is a first/third-person shooter with RPG elements (“Oblivion with guns” is the flame-bait). This worry was exacerbated by the last two years when I lived with a roommate who vehemently criticized Fallout 3 (if you are reading this, Hi Jackson). I sympathized with his views entirely, and, after the Oblivion disaster, my reservations were inflamed into true concerns. Yeah, it looked damned cool, but it clearly isn’t even close to the Fallout RPG standard.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bought a copy of Fallout 2 so I could decide for myself if Fallout 3 was truly an Oblivion treatment for the Fallout franchise. Unfortunately, Fallout 2 came up short of my high expectations. Fallout 2 did have some impressive open-world RPG elements and the dated graphics weren’t terrible. However, Fallout 2’s game design has aged terribly and I do not doubt that if Fallout 2 were released today, ignoring the visuals, it would probably not be reviewed very well. This game is hard as hell. I frequently died in the early areas and the combat system seemed cumbersome and unreasonable. The game manual suggests to save often (after and before battles) and in as many save slots as possible. Not only is this immensely frustrating, but it is bad game design. In an RPG, I want to focus on managing my character and immersing myself in the game world. Having to save every few minutes prohibits the suspension of disbelief and indicates that the combat system has not been properly balanced. Fighting a level 1 ant should not be a battle of attrition that, 50% of the time, leaves me unable to kill a second one without using a very finite supply of healing abilities. Adding auto-save functionality would not fix this game, but it would solve some of the tedium of saving.

Ok, so I didn’t enjoy the five hours I spent in Fallout 2. This assuaged many of my doubts about Fallout 3. The arguments of the Fallout purists began to convince me less. I think that Bethesda’s re-imagining of the Fallout world is a welcome one, but they should strike the “3” from the title because I don’t think that it is a true sequel. I would suggest: Fallout: Road to the White House, Fallout: Washington, etc.

Sweet, sweet irradiated brains.

Delay induced update: Fallout 3 is great. I'm only a few hours in since I have to split time with Fable 2 and taking care of dogs (*sigh*). So far, I am impressed. Running and gunning, like in a shooter, is a surefire way to get killed. Using the RPG-esque V.A.T.S. system is the way to go and the slo-mo kills are cool. The most impressive feature so far: beard selection for male character. The number of facial hair styles available is mind-boggling and truly unprecedented (no "five-o'clock shadow" option, but the "Honest Abe" makes up for it). Unfortunately, you can definitely tell that Fallout 3 runs on a modified Oblivion engine. The animations are, at times, very poor, especially if you play from the third-person perspective.

In other news…

Fable 2 is also awesome. I have been slashing, sniping, blasting, price controlling and farting my way into the hearts and minds of the people of Albion. I am on an open-world game overload with GTA IV and Fable 2. Fallout 3 is really piling on the gaming hours (plus Gears of War 2 coming next week). Once again, this is the most wonderful time of the year for lovers of the video game.

Bioware and Lucasarts made the rumors official and announced the continuation of the Knights of the Old Republic series with Star Wars: The Old Republic. They are hoping to craft a truly story-driven MMORPG. The interviews that have been given so far have gotten me excited, but I still have reservations. First and foremost, I really wanted KotOR III and not an MMO sell-out game. It’s no use getting all worked up now though. “SWTOR” is 2-4 years from release and probably closer to 4.

Update coming soon[ish]!

2008-10-29T20:31:00.003-04:00

I intended to make a post last Friday, but I ran into some unforeseen delays.

I had the actual post written up with pictures and proofreading, but I decided to do it in MS Word 2007. I thought I could simply copy + paste the text into the composition field, import the pictures and publish the post. Unfortunately, doing so created all kinds of ugly HTML error messages. So then I tried to copy + paste the word document into a Wordpad document (where I have successfully composed blog posts before), save it in Wordpad, close Wordpad, open the Wordpad document and copy + paste it into the blog. No luck. I tried to use the special blog post wizard thingy that Word 2007 has, but then I can't upload my pictures. I guess I am going to have to rewrite the whole bloody thing in the composition field when I am feeling especially patient and/or bored.

Woe is me...

My Emperor... I've failed you!

2008-10-15T14:13:00.006-04:00

One of my favorite video game quotes. I felt it was appropriate for the following...

Interesting article out this week concerning the state of the election. I admit I find myself in a similar position. Most of my family (notably: my father) is conservative and I have inherited some of these tendencies. I also really liked John McCain before this election. My mind is made up on who I am going to vote for this year and I am truly thankful for the secret ballot.

Following up my praise for CNN's David Gergen last week, I found this article from the same site as the previous one. I look forward to his commentary for the forseeable future (probably until Nov 5).

Speaking of which, the final presidential debate is tonight. I am a sucker for the build-up to a debate. The same thing can be said this afternoon, even after the disappointing precedents. Oddly, enough when I watch a debate, I don't really watch much. I am usually glued to my laptop reading about Fable 2, football or the Electronic Arts DRM debacle. I find that if I focus on what the candidates say and not what they look like, I get more out of the debate.

The ongoing phenomenon of the Nixon/Kennedy TV vs. Radio debate outcome has gotten out of hand. Candidates are so focused on avoiding looking bad (and today, avoiding gaffes at all costs) that debates have become sterile facsimiles of campaign stump speeches in bite-sized chunks. Where is the passion? Where is the unveiled, un-manufactured, un-spun (i.e. genuine) concern? Am I actually witnessing a debate? My hope in avoiding directly watching the debate is to filter out something of value; at the very least, I'll read something that will get me more excited about Fable 2. Wish me luck...

UPDATE: I guess that the third time is the charm. This debate was everything I expected and more. Furthermore, I actually closed up the laptop and watched. I approved of every talking point save two. The discussions over negative campaigning and Supreme Court Justice appointments were inappropriate. Talking about negative campaigning is a waste of time because neither candidate will denounce their own campaign (or contributors) nor will they accept excuses from their opponent.

The Supreme Court appointments are an important topic, but the way in which it was asked was wrong. Injecting Roe v. Wade into the discussion turns an important debate over Constitutional interpretation and bench ideology into a divisive and destructive battle in the culture wars. The latter is a continuation of the partisan Bush-Clinton dynasty. The former is a key debate that is not always divided between existing political ideologies.

The culture wars prevent progress in America and will continue to do so as long as politicians cling to it as a way to squeeze more votes out of the party base. While Americans scream about abortion, gay rights and sex-ed, the real problems (economy, healthcare, social security, deficit spending, Iraq, Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, etc. ad nauseum) quietly make Americans poorer, less safe and less free. Both Obama and McCain have demonstrated a hesitancy to put on the war paint of a culture warrior. Unfortunately, since McCain has been doing poorly in the latest polls, he has undoubtedly been advised to put on the war paint. I credit John McCain for historically side-stepping the culture wars in order to push the important issues. However, Mrs. Palin represents the worst in the Republican party. She is the poster child for a 21st century conservative culture warrior.

I hope and pray that the closing weeks of this election are not tainted by the culture wars. Instead, why don't we talk about how we can solve the real problems facing all Americans from Joe the Plumber to Joseph the CEO?

Wednesday Smorgasbord

2008-10-08T22:33:00.003-04:00

A few quick items since I don't feel like writing a lot about a little. I'll do a little about a lot this time...

I made the fateful choice to purchase Warhammer Online today. As I have said before, I used to play World of Warcraft (level 70 Dwarf Paladin, Burning Blade server). I always used to think the forum kiddies who said that Warhammer would smash WoW were a bit crazy. I was right, but hold the presses. WoW at release was amazingly well polished, it remains a very well polished product today, and Wrath of the Lich King will undoubtedly be more of the same. Warhammer lacks the spit-shine of WoW, but it has some fun content and has other good things going for it.

Thomas Friedman is the man. I also enjoy the commentary of David Gergen on CNN.

Things aren't looking good for John McCain, and Barack Obama looks to be in good shape (reminder: still a month or so to go). Sarah Palin is gearing up for her 2012 run for president (God forbid America should be subjected to such a fate). Nope, I don't like Sarah Palin. Friedman covers the basics, but I have a few reasons of my own. She might even qualify for a more thorough post in the coming weeks.

At long last, the great dark time of the year has ended and hockey once more emerges from the golf clubhouse to fight mediocrity. I love hockey. The most perfect combination of conditions come together to make hockey amazing: speed, physicality, passion (not to mention steel blades, carbon fiber sticks, armor, and a playing surface composed of ice). The Red Wings have a solid team this year and they stand a good chance of repeating a Stanley Cup Championship. There are a lot of good hockey posts to be had. Also, you better believe that the college football BCS will get a post by December. Michigan football is in the crapper this year (unless they can pick off Ohio State), so I need to get excited about something. Granted, I get excited (read: incensed) about the BCS every year.

This weekend: half-sister's wedding (avoiding political discussions with legion right-wing family members), going to Michigan-Toledo game, Red Wings home opener (banner goes up, Toronto's pants go down), and the new Russell Crowe movie.

A Comedy of Tragic Proportions

2008-09-29T22:13:00.002-04:00

So, I watched President Bush's primetime address a few nights ago. For the first time in my life, I witnessed a U.S. President present his solution to a national crisis in a manner of complete futility. Undoubtedly, the economic crisis facing the U.S. is a serious subject, but the fact that the President lacks any form of credibility or power to connect with Americans is a sad reflection of the past eight years. I don't want to talk about the financial situation, I'll just get angry and rant about some half-baked plan to deport corporate executives and seize their assets in the name of Truth, Justice and Apple Pie. The tragedy of the Bush Presidency is the topic du jour.

Hmm, no flagpin on the left, COMMUNO-FASCIST!!! Ok, official White House portrait photoshoppers are good, but he looks worse in reality after 8 years...

Defining moment of the Bush Presidency: 9/11/2001 (duh)

Nothing significant was supposed to come out of the Bush Presidency. All signs pointed towards him joining the legions of Presidents that enjoyed relatively quiet terms. Furthermore, his 2000 campaign was constructed around applying "compassionate conservativism" to the economic and diplomatic accomplishments of the previous three White House occupants.

"If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road. And I'm going to prevent that."

Hard to believe that George Bush actually said that. I call that prophetic rhetoric. So, Bush got a curveball tossed at him; past Presidents have dealt with worse under more dire conditions. In my opinion, President Bush's biggest failure was the appointment of his cabinet (with the exception of Colin Powell). Numerous members of the cabinet took advantage of the aftermath of 9/11 to implement some personal pet projects ranging from surveillance programs to vast military restructuring to a resolution of the Iraq Liberation Act.

The terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 drastically altered the direction of his Presidency. The following seven years would be defined by war, the Patriot Act, Neanderthal diplomacy (a great cultural term, but it turns anthropologists' hair gray) and a tax cut n' spend budgetary policy. By the halfway point of Bush's second term, his credibility was shot as well as any chance of establishing a legacy apart from aforementioned accomplishments (immigration, healthcare, social security, and the latest crisis all lost causes).

I personally hate it when I hear about the pre-ordained judgement of George W. Bush's historical legacy. It is, in my opinion, a misuse of the power of historical judgement. Decades of perspective are required to properly judge a leader's historical impact. We can, however, gleans two things from the Bush Presidency. First, he is very unlikely to be counted among the greatest U.S. Presidents (Lincoln, FDR, JFK, etc.). He will probably end up in that strange historical Limbo of Nixon, Wilson, and Truman. The second and perhaps the most unfortunate result of the past seven years has been the destruction of the conservative party platform (it's all cyclical anyway, Repubs are on the downswing).

Update:

I know I promised to avoid the issue, but today's nonsense in the Congress is simply unbelievable. The details of the deal were in place and, as of Sunday, agreed upon in a bipartisan fashion. America is completely handicapped by partisan squabbles. Democrats and Republicans are equally culpable and repugnant. A crisis of this magnitude could not have occurred at a worse time in American history. I fear that our leaders are incapable of solving the problems in America. In my opinion, the best vote that could be cast this Fall is a vote to remove incumbents.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned

The Force Unhinged

2008-09-21T20:13:00.000-04:00

The Force Unleashed is the latest Star Wars video game released by Lucasarts. The intention of the developers was to create a Star Wars action game which revolved around the concept of "kicking ass with the Force." Without a doubt, the game delivers on this promise, and more. However, this game suffers from a number of shortcomings that prevent it from being the next Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, or TIE Fighter. I played the Xbox 360 version on the intermediate "Sith Warrior" difficulty level.

This friendly-looking fellow is the protagonist of the game. The only name provided for him is "Starkiller." Joining Starkiller is a cast of interesting characters from the movies and some new ones. Starkiller's droid partner PROXY, pilot Juno Eclipse, and evil master Darth Vader are the major characters. All the characters are strong, and, most importantly, compelling. Sadly, the characters lack some development and I got the feeling that a lot of interaction between the characters was left unexplored. Perhaps this is a reaction to the infamous half-hour cinematics of the Metal Gear Solid series. If so, then the cinematics of The Force Unleashed are a woeful over-reaction. These minor shortcomings aside, the story of the game is its strongest asset. Those familiar with the story of Star Wars can easily predict the ending for the game, but that doesn't make the experience any less enjoyable. Perhaps the greatest praise I could give this game is that it reminded me of the original trilogy, not the prequel trilogy.

Action games live and die with gameplay. Unfortunately, the gameplay in this title could be equated to the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.

As I said before, the game does deliver on the promise of "kicking ass with the Force." The Force powers are indeed over-the-top and made me feel like a genuine bad-ass. The leveling system is unremarkable. A similar system was used for Dark Forces: Jedi Knight II and that worked well enough. There are a number of unlockable items that encourage exploration and experimentation (costumes, lightsaber crystals and accomplishments). The combo system is surprisingly deep and lacks a steep learning curve (note: the aerial combos are awesome).

This is where the 20th century Ottoman Empire reference comes in. From what I wrote just now, you would think that this game is the great, but this game is the sick man of Star Wars games. The targeting system in this game is maddening. One can never be sure who or what they are targeting without stopping and delicately rotating Starkiller into position. This is anathema to action games. Aside from the targeting system, the toughest bosses and enemy encounter feel like they are tough because they are cheap. More than once, I found myself skulking like a thief behind barriers, popping out occasionally to attack before retreating once more. Many reviews of this game revile the inclusion of Quick-time Events (timed pressing of buttons as instructed on the screen), but I have no problem with them whatsoever (label me as "out of touch" or "old-fashioned" if you want). However, one encounter involving a Quick-time Event was egregiously bad. I don't want to spoil too much, but this should have been one of the most awesome parts of the game. Instead, this encounter qualifies as one of the most frustrating gaming moments of my life; which is saying a lot, I played (and raided) World of Warcraft.

The presentation of this game is, mercifully, a strong point. The art is stunningly beautiful, haunting, gritty, etc. The graphics are also very nice with some minor framerate slowdowns. I did encounter a few bugs where I got stuck in some terrain, but I was lucky enough to avoid some of the more serious bugs reported by others. The sound and music are top-notch as with nearly every Star Wars game, good or bad. Some of the voices are poorly casted (Darth Vader and Palpatine), but there are no weak performances. The voice acting of Starkiller and Juno Eclipse is particularly strong.

Overall, this game doesn't deserve some of the dismal reviews it has received. On the other hand, this game was heavily hyped and failed to live up to expectations. I had a lot of fun playing The Force Unleashed, but I would not recommend purchasing it right now unless you really liked the demo and you are a Star Wars fan. Wait for a price cut, borrow it from a friend or rent it.

Shameless plug: If you want to experience the story, but don't want to buy/rent the game, I would recommend going to your local purveyor of books and purchasing the graphic novel. The illustrations are fantastic and you'll pay less than half of what you would for the game.

Image sources:
http://s3.gadgetreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Stars_Wars_Force_Unleashed_3.jpg
http://www.xboxfocus.com/uploads/image/Crash_ForceUnleashed.jpg

Video source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpuIsSdcFs

The Manifesto

2008-09-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

This is my blog, or "blag" for you xkcd.com readers, for random thoughts and rants about various topics. My goal is to produce quality, yet entertaining commentary without being preachy or excessively partisan.

I'm not going to explain the title of my blog, instead I'll let my intrepid readers do the research. I will reveal that it is related to both my philosophy towards internet culture and the gentleman named in the blog url (m-t-cicero = Marcus Tullius Cicero). Cicero is one of my favorite historical figures and a kindred spirit.

In this blog I will talk about the things I find interesting. Things of interest include: politics, sports (primarily football and hockey), and video games. I reserve the right to talk about other stuff, but my praise, ire and time will be primarily spent among the listed topics. Hopefully someone else on the Internet will find something worth reading.

Since this is a manifesto post, I should summarize my personal views on the topics I intend to discuss.

Politically, I am chronic fence-sitting moderate. I don't dislike Republicans or Democrats, but I hate the vast right-wing conspiracy as much as the vast left-wing conspiracy. Both parties have some great ideas about how to run the government and they usually do good things if they work together. A psychologist might say that my politics are derived from a latent desire to be labeled as a "coveted member of the electorate" by the media during every election cycle.

When it comes to sports, I am a big hockey and football fan. As a Michigan alum, my undying loyalties lie with the Wolverines. Detroit sports teams are my favorite professional teams, especially the Red Wings and Lions. This will be the first and last time I will talk about NASCAR, because it is a terrible excuse for a motorsport. European Formula One is much more exciting with the diverse teams, left AND right turns, a global tour, and shorter races.

My political stance definitely affects my opinions on video games. First, I like lots of different video games. First-person shooters (FPS), role-playing games (RPG), real-time strategy (RTS), turn-based strategy and adventure games are my favorite genres. Second, PC gaming is not dead. Tell Stardock or Blizzard that PC gaming is dead. Lastly, console fanboy-ism is stupid. I own an Xbox 360 and a decent gaming computer. I enjoy playing games on both platforms and I can appreciate the gaming experience on a Nintendo Wii and a Playstation 3.

That about covers the basics for the Hannibal Ad Portas blog. Enjoy!