The below was written for a 3rd party website that no longer requires it’s use so I have now decided to post it here instead. Enjoy!

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I get it, everyone is writing about the iPad. Good, bad and indifferent the usual old/new media is busily suckling at the teat of the almighty rivalries that the launch of any new Apple product brings. I normally like to go against the flow and do something a little different however after finally wrapping my head around most of what people have had to say on the device I have decided that it is time to weigh in and announce how yet again the despair and disappointment that is running rampant amongst the community  is brought about by nothing but your  unwavering logic that unless Apple shits solid gold bars containing a cell phone, camcorder, dog walker and multi tasking neckbeard trimmer they have somehow wronged you and wronged the world and should file for bankruptcy because obviously if you wanted exactly 16 USB ports and a can opener then so did the rest of the world.

Whenever Apple launches a new product we always end with this mangled seething pit of nerd rage and desperate cries for attention claiming the downfall and subsequent abandonment of Apple from all the different camps. Some PC users, some mac users, some none of the above they just like to join in with the crowd. This is normally played off simply as the users being passionate about Apple or perhaps even “technology” in general. I however have a much better theory and I dare someone to prove it inaccurate.

A lot of people busily slamming their fingers into their greasy bacon covered keyboards spewing forth nothing but heaping piles of toxic waste on the iPad are the so called Apple fans themselves. This rage and incessant need to point out the device’s failures stem from the fact they spend 11 months of the year allowing themselves to be whipped into a frenzy by any number of untold Apple “rumor” sites who in the chase for the mighty add dollar keep these people in a constant state of awe shock and amazement with headlines such as  “OMG NEW TIP JUST IN! iPAD TO SHIT SOLID GOLD AND PERFORM HOUSEHOLD DUTIES!”, “iPAD TO USE NEW SAMSUNG MILLION INCH PANELS *rumour” and my always favourite “iPhone TO REPLACE SEEING EYE DOGS, GROW LEGS AND LEAD THE BLIND”.

Now most of us are able to take the constant stories and rumours and use logic to sort fact from fiction and allow ourselves to remain somewhat reserved in our judgements or ideas in regards to what is likely to be released. The history of Apple teaches us that usually while we are usually heading in the right direction it’s normally far off what we actually wanted and as such you grow accustomed to not whipping yourself into an uncontrolled hype every time some tiny Chinese news rag releases so called “spy images” of a 50 foot iPhone.

It seems that no matter what Apple does for these people it always ends up being wrong “just because”. You cried and whined for a good 12 months about wanting a slim notebook that was not a netbook and Apple delivered and how did you repay them? By crying about USB ports, LAN interfaces and refusing to buy it. That gamble really paid off for them did not it? You asked, they delivered and you then proceeded to bite the hand that fed you because they did not craft it specifically to your wishes. The same thing is now clearly being repeated for the iPad. I do not know how anyone could not of logically seen this coming any other way, its Apple. “Think Different”.

Take for instance the biggest complaint and this comes not just from the fanboys themselves but from many camps including the PC user side of things:

If it was running a full sized operating system and had some USB ports and was open I would buy this in a heartbeat it would sell millions!

I have news for you, this device already exists. Its called a tablet computer and you can buy one now from most vendors and have been able too for many years now and yet it has the market penetration of Star Wards branded tampons. Why? Because that is what you want, not what consumers want. Most people do not want to be messing with a stylus and a start button, fumbling through file managers and messing with handwriting recognition. They just want to get on their machine, shoot off an email, check the news and then get back to whatever far more important task it is they were doing.

Oh but my netbook can do this, and this, and that and all these other things that people who are going to buy the iPad probably do not want to do in the first place!

That’s amazing. What you are saying here is that the netbook suits a purpose for you and it suits that purpose just fine. Well what if my purpose is to read e-books and I wish to buy the device to do that? Why should I then be attacked because “A NETBOOK CAN DO IT TOO”. Yes it can, poorly. It cant be held in one hand comfortably, has terrible ergonomics for most reading positions and has a battery life equal to that of a pocket projector running off watch batteries. You cant attack the iPad because it can perform functions XYZ and but not ABC and when it was never intended or market for those functions in the first place. Chances are that it will serve its intended purpose just fine and most consumers will take that device over the jack of all trades device any day.

At the end of the day the device may fail or it may exceed beyond even the highest of expectations but it will not rise or fall because Steve Jobs failed to create the device to your exact specifications. Apple does not exist solely to serve your every need and desire and failing to design their product to meet your exact specification does not mean that the product is designed to fail. They make and market devices to serve a market not the individual and if they wish to continue turning a profit they should continue on their current path rather then listening to the rants and raves of cavemen like fanboys.

If it fails it will fail because they were unable to create and market a device that people will want or need in their lives on a day to day basis. Either because it does not meet a users requirements or because it offers nothing new over any existing competition to make it worth a purchase in the long or short term. Not because you stayed awake until midnight clicking refresh on the Apple store hoping for a device to love and treasure you forever that never came.

Where are you, what are you doing, why are you doing it and when. Questions nobody asked but advertisers have you believing you want answered. Millions of prissy prancing users proclaiming the death of old media driven by the upsurge in users of the new. The ability to spread useless unrefined information across the globe in minutes not hours as per the means of the olden days. It is all its cracked up to be though? Is it really the center piece of a revolution pitting old media Vs new, the introduction of a new far more instant form of communication? Or is it just another market for the con men and add revenue “SEO experts” to feed upon?
@thegood

Lets focus on twitter as that appears to be where most of the attention is. For those who are not familiar brush up here:

twitter.com

Think of twitter exactly as it is. A microblogging service/RSS feed for your every whim. You are limited to 140 characters and theoretically you should use them wisely to inform and educate the world. Spread valuable opinion, insight and knowledge to those around and free it to the world. People can choose to follow you and they will then receive your “tweets” (messages) and can then choose even to pass them on to their followers should they feel that your sentiments are worthy of being forwarded on. This system is what allows move to travel so quickly over the network based on the theory that the more informative or entertaining the topic the quicker the spread. This however is rarely how it works in reality and as the site marches ever forward the shit is slowly floating to the surface ruining this once idyllic landscape.
@thebad

Think of every boring, mundane and mind numbingly unintelligent conversation you have ever had. The facts that you have never wanted to hear from people you never wanted to know. Now imagine that these people have an outlet that allows them to reach possibly thousands of other also mind numbingly stupid people to share in the drivel of their unexciting lives 140 characters at a time 30 times day with whatever happens to pop into their frilly little minds!

EmoKid: Just finished making my good charlotte sex doll!

JohnBoyL: Just took this mornings biggest dump, six pound 2 oz!

@theugly

Now to the grunt of my point. The thorn in the side of a true and functional “social media” network if you will. While some of the points above lead to the conclusion that social media can be a platform for the spread of quality information to users at a pace that is almost unheard of even in this age we must first take one crucial factor into account.

The system is controlled and utilized almost exclusively by people that have a vested interest in it succeeding. They need it to push you products you don’t want to buy, spam and bludgeon you with their bullshit all while feeding it to you as if they are you best mate. They hide behind their “fun” facts and “informative blogging” articles but the point is always the same and its to reach you after years of failing to do so through old media. New media is not new at all, its just a shifting of the market to target you in new ways while convincing you that you are in control.

“Social” media is not as large and influential as you would believe it to be, thats just exactly what they want you to think. They need you to believe that this is the next big resolution so they can continue to drive traffic to their useless posts and analytics all in the search of the almighty dollar and an ever increasing revenue from a generation that was fast leaving them behind.

They are building an advertising network which you are freely assisting them to construct because they are able to manipulate you into thinking it was your idea in the first place.
@theconclusion

I am a twitter user. An angry one but a user nonetheless. I can see a future for twitter that is quickly being buried in the obvious commercial takeover by the “bloggers”, “SEO Experts” and “analysts” for the twitter universe. Web 2.0 sprouts that spring endlessly from the ground like the weeds they are. They will clog and connect throughout the system stemming the growth of actually useful contributors and users who feel lost in a world of “Social Media Marketing” feeling that they have no ground or place.
x
Twitter has a chance to do something large here and change the way that we share information online. I firmly believe that with the right decisions they could be the google of the next generation but this will never be if it is to follow its current trends.

As always please remember I’m just a lone blogger, a nobody. This article is nothing but the uninformed and unintelligent ramblings of a man who likes the sound of his own voice. My opinions are all most likely incorrect and should be taken as nothing but the drivel they are.

From the title of this post you may believe that I have some sort of bone to pick with the iPad but you will find that its rather the opposite. It’s simply a little dig at the unintelligent majority who are unable to express their concerns with the device in a legible and well thought out matter.

I am not going to bother to describe the iPad to you or tout its features because if you are reading this then the chances are you already know what it is and have an opinion of your own on the device.

My issue, nay concern is the rampant attacks as per usual against the device which occur whenever Apple launches a new product. The arguments themselves are normally formed by people who allowed themselves to be conned in the first place by the multitude of Apple “rumor” sites who whip them into a frenzy with their “IT WILL SHIT SOLID GOLD” headlines every second day until the product actually launches and they find that instead it really only shits out sterling silver and thus depression and rage set in.

There are a couple of key points that I would like to make during this article and I shall attempt to keep them as brief as I can.

1. Only noobs will buy this, I can buy a 20 cent netbook that can heaps more!

Now first of all yes I am sure that a netbook could do more then an iPad but if that is what I wanted then I would of bought a netbook in the first place. Secondly this argument also suggests that a netbook can do everything the iPad can do just as well.

I dont want another tiny, cheap ass, plinky plonky piece of plastic that is pretending to be a real notebook while being unable to do any of a notebooks task with any comfort, performance or ease of use. Netbooks are nothing but an uncomfortable fad for the cheap and those that honestly believe that this year will be the year of “Linux on the toilet seat”.

What about all the things that the iPad can do that the netbook cant? A superior, well proven and easy to use interface? Battery life that far exceeds that of any netbook on the market? Ease of physical use for mobile applications? You cant lie down in bed and use a netbook with any ease, whereas I could with a tablet/ereader of the iPads size. I could not roll under my car with a netbook and use it for instructional purposes and I certainly cant walk around my house using a netbook with only one hand like you could with a device of this nature. They are two different devices with what is going to be two very clearly different markets to begin with.

2. Its not open, its too locked down WAH WAH WAH.

I will let you in on a secret with this one. CONSUMERS DONT CARE. They really dont, trust me on this. They dont know what open means and they dont want to know. They want to read the news and check yahoo mail and when they are done they do not even want to know at the end of the day how they achieved that they just want to get in the car and go to work. They dont care because they have better things to worry about. Also need I point out some other closed systems?

Think of it like a car. 90% of the population does not care about what is under the hood or how their car works. They just want it to look nice and get them from A to B without hassle and someone else can take care of the rest. The rest in this case being the mechanic, in our case it would be Apple. As much as you or I would love this to be open to do with what we wished this device will sell to millions of people that do not care and do not want to be bothered with such issues in the first place. Not because they are stupid but because in their mind they have better things to do and they will be buying it for a specific purpose not to meet the requirements of 100 other different devices they could also purchase.

I should finish up I guess, I am on the fail netbook and I am sick of using this keyboard to type.

in order to understand why this is going to sell and sell well you must understand who this is being targeted to and what it is being presented as. On its most basic level it is an e-reader that can do so much more then display text. Think of them as an added bonus. It can display video, email and web all things which can serve to enhance the usage of such devices in the real world. E-readers are amazing products but not many people I know are going to dedicate such a large amount of coin to devices that serve only the one purpose. When you have a device that you can use to read the manual for your car but you can also now use to display the video of the procedure you have a winner on your hands and due to its size and physical properties this will extend to many applications that a netbook just can not touch.

Will I buy one you ask? Time will tell, I like to buy gadgets from all walks of life so only time will tell I guess.

In conclusion, you can all bite me.

I own an iPhone. Most people I know own an iPhone hell the chances are even you own an iPhone. They are a pretty popular little device and I still regard it as one of the better purchases that I have made in a while. I unlike most people do not feel the need to flash my purchase decision in the face of others. I am happy with the phone, it does what I want and and for what it can not do out of the box I have jailbroken it.

There seems to be an issue with some people that Jailbreak their iPhone however that seem to think they are entitled to do whatever they like with it and if Apple dare to attempt to stop Jailbreaking from working on the iPhone they throw a massive fit and generally spout such statements as the following:

“I paid for the phone, its my hardware I can do what I like!’

“Apple cant stop me from modifing the software, if microsoft did something like this people would be up in arms!”

“I dont see any other vendor acting like this, there is no way they could get away with!”

You people need to wake up, smell the flowers and welcome yourselves to the harsh reality of life. Dont get me wrong I love my Jailbroken phone I do but I am not deluded enough to think that I have a right to modify the firmware/software in such a manner without reprecussion or attempts to block such actions. A lot of these users like to pretend that Apple are the only provider on the planet that places such restrictions and takes such actions with its hardware and software.

How have you people so quickly forgotten the other large company that likes to pull this move and who has been doing so for at least the last four years? Sony has been attempting to crush the homebrew scene now with every update yet somehow you always failure to mention this in your little “social news” website comments. Better still how about you try and modify your Xbox or PS3 and then complain when you cant or complain when your console gets banned from the live service microsoft offers.

You all act as if Apple was the first and last to control their software/hardware intergration and all state that what they do is illegal and unjust compared to others in the market when it is clear they are just one of many in the pond. You should at least be thanking Apple for doing a pretty poor job of preventing such usage as Sony quite often managed lengthy wins against the Homebrew community in it’s time.

I believe more then most that hardware and software should be free to do with as you wish which is why I support both Open Software and the pandora project however its time that people realised that when you buy into a closed system you get what you pay for. Turning around after the fact and crying like a child and refuting all reputable eveidence just makes you look like a child.

If you are going to call one out at least call them all out because last I looked I could not legally modify half of everything in my house yet I dont feel the need to bring it up in every second twitter or digg post.

The subject of todays article is one which is becoming increasingly frightening to myself and so it should to you as well. I am talking of course about freedom, privacy and equality when it comes to using the internet to request and send information.

Be it the content that we choose to view, the viewpoints we wish to present or even the skillsets and subjects which we choose to study it has always been my belief that it should be up to us as individuals what we choose to view or not view and put in place our own rules and “filters” should we not wish to view or access certain selections of content

We are all well aware of the many countries which attempt to censor the freedom of speech of its people be it speech expressed person to person, in the media or now over the internet and as such it is generally accepted that such countries filter and monitor the content going in and out in order to maintain a control over its people.

I am sure that we are all aware of the Great “Firewall” of china and the and the conditions that the people of China are subjected to whenever they connect out to the WWW. I have always found it barbaric and controlling and I was always thankful to live in a country where I was sure that such things could not occur.

If however like me you read any sort of international news you will now realise that this sort of thing is now coming into our own backyards under the guise of “protection” and “saving the children”. Allow me to point out just a few resources that you may find alarming should you live in the country who will next be affected by such nonsense.

Australia: http://nocleanfeed.com/

The Government is refusing to release concrete details on the plan. However, we know that ISP-level filtering has been ALP policy for some time and is being zealously pursued by the Minister. What we do know is this:

• The feed will be mandatory in all homes and schools across the country.¹
• The filter will censor material that is “harmful and inappropriate” for children.²
• The filter will require a massive expansion of the ACMA’s blacklist of prohibited content.³
• The filter will target legal as well as illegal material.⁴

What we don’t know is just as important.

• Will there be any way to opt out from the scheme?
• What age level is the country’s Internet to be made appropriate for? 15? 10? 5 years old?
• Who decides what material is “appropriate” for Australians to see?
• Who will maintain the blacklist of prohibited sites?
• How can sites mistakenly added to the list be removed?

There are a number of other articles floating around including a recent article that states Australians will NOT be able to opt out of this filtering which means that once it comes into effect the Government of the Australian people will be deciding what the nation can and can not view on the internet.

I have a number of friends who in the past have been most paranoid about the activities that they undertake online and go to great lengths to ensure that their identity was always kept private and I simply responded the same way everytime when asked why I did not and it was because I saw no real reason to doing so. More and more however when I see articles like this arising from around the world I come to the conclusion that the time is now to do something about my privacy and my right right to both freedom of expression and speech without allowing our Governments to dictate what we can and cannot say and what we can and cannot view.

Quite a large group of people would ask me what I have to hide to despise such monitoring and filtering. Their argument states that if I am doing nothing wrong then what do I have to hide? Going off that argument then I am sure you would have no issues at all with me filming you through your front windows while you shower or spend time with your family. I mean you have nothing to hide right?

In part two of this article I outline some simple steps that you can employ to get around such attempts to pervert your right to privacy and freedom of choice and I outline and give my impressions on a communitity which is attempting forge ahead in this area and offer you a space to do as you see fit without the fear of being censored or monitored.

I would ask that if you have an opinion on this article regardless of if you agree with it that you leave a comment below.

Alternatively you can discuss this on the forums:

http://snatchforums.net/index.php?topic=17.0

One of the most often criticised habits of so called Apple “fanboys” is that they are so easily led around by the collar by Steve Jobs that they might as well be simple pawns in his chess game. A mere squeak from the mighty Steve on any product good or bad is enough to drive thousands of the Apple faithful to spend, spend and spend some more.

Well there are another group of people displaying some similar behaviour of late however this time it seems to be the technical media who are driving this fad. On any given day of the week at any of the major technical blogs/news site you will see stories and adds promoting the “Ultra portable notebook” that every man and his major Chinese assembler seem to be pumping out of the factory these days.

What am I referring to? None other then the fad created by the ASUS EeePC of course. While there has always been a sub notebook market if one scratched under the surface of the notebook industry none were ever really affordable to the common man, they instead remained the plaything of those with enough dosh not to care about such silly things as overpriced hardware in comparison to a full size unit as the portability was it’s selling point not its high price.

ASUS saw a gap in that market and decided to strike and I gladly will give them a standing ovation for what they have been able to cram in such a small unit and for such a small price. It’s practical, sturdy, well priced and able to complete most tasks that full sized notebooks are often used for.

The EeePC has quickly become the darling of the tinkerer and the businessman due to its size, relative ease of use and the flexibility for those that look a little further under the hood. I don’t deny that the unit has a place in the market for those who do need such a small unit. Perhaps they like to travel and don’t want to carry a full size 13 inch or larger at all times, who really knows.

The problem however is that due to the success of the unit and the amount of media coverage it has generated it is now reaching a new audience, one which perhaps would do well not to jump on the bandwagon so quickly.

I’m referring to the “OH YA I NEED ONE OF THOSE THINGIES I WOULD USE THEM ALL THE TIME!” and then realise that they wont ever actually use the thing after taking it out of the box.

I have done some research into this however I will present to you how I came to this conclusion. I myself was convinced by someone who himself did not have one of these units but used the large ball of rolling hype and reviews to have me jumping up and down to get my hands on one. I was actually convinced that I had a genuine use for a notebook of such size and all of this portrayed to me by someone else who had never actually touched a unit.

Armed with no facts at all and only the unfounded claims of a friend I went right out and picked up a unit, went home and ripped it out of the box and prepared to be blown away.

Blown away? I was blown away all right. By its almost unusable keyboard, the abysmal battery life however most of all I was blown away by the realisation that it only took ten minutes of usage to realise that I had made a mistake. I convinced myself that after a couple of weeks of usage I would come to see it’s strengths, its usefulness that I could adapt to the keyboard. Well here we are a month later and I no longer have an EeePC.

Once I had realised that I had no real use for the unit I then attempted to sell it via a few forums that I am member on only to run into about 20 more auctions under very similar circumstances as mine. The story was always the same:

“Oh yeah I bought the unit for a laugh and then realised that I did not actually have a use for it, unit is only 1 week old, barely touched and comes with all these add ons, must sell ASAP!”.

If you do a bit of research you will find this almost everywhere you go. The purchase of a new unit quickly followed by a sale of that same unit within weeks usually with a vastly reduced price and various extras in order to entice you into a quick sale.

The same methods under which I bought my own unit are then used in order to try and sell it quickly to you however I often wonder why people don’t simply turn around and ask the seller the following question:

“If the unit is as good and as awesome as you say it is then why are you selling it for 300 less then you paid a week later?”.

The reality is that while it is a great little device it is not meant for everyone which I am sure a lot of people will point out that I should of known from the get go. That however is not my point, my point is that the sales of these units is being pushed by people and purchasers that have no such use for any of these products.

If you do fall for the hype or you genuinely feel that you could use one of these units I recommend that you actual spend a decent amount of time with the unit getting a feel for its keyboard and its usage before slapping down your hard earned cash.

I am constantly hearing of this new and emerging market and the competition that is heating up within in it and every time that I hear this I always think to myself what market? Now forgive me for I will admit with ease that I am not the head of a large notebook/hardware company and may not be able to predict the market or even see the current shape that it is in now with the clarity of which they do however as a consumer I just don’t see that such a market exists at this time and if it does then certainly not to the size which we are being led to believe. I just don’t buy that we all want to be carrying a notebook around that has the power of a 6 year old desktop, twice the size of my wallet that has a keyboard your average sized professional will be unable to use.

I’m just not ready yet to trade away the advancements and the work which have allowed me to have all the power and use of my desktop at my fingertips no matter where I go. I enjoy my larger screen and the ability to perform powerful complex calculations should I need to do so.

What is wrong with the current size of notebooks now anyway? When did we all become so lazy that it has become a pain in the arse to carry more then a few hundred grams of weight? Its called a bag, you can get them pretty much anywhere to fit any device that you would like. I was on a MacBook before I got my Pro and I never had any issues with getting it around the place. I simply threw it in the backpack and off I went, did not really weigh me down at all. In fact I cannot even really say that I find the MacBook Pro that heavy either, then again I could be considered a bit larger then your average person in this line of work.

Even for those that do have issues with the current size of notebooks there are still options on the market which are smaller and lighter then those which I have listed above but are still actually usable over something like the EeePC and by useable I mean that you fingers will still actually resemble fingers when you are done attempting to type on the unit for any length of time greater then entering your system login.

The sales of the EeePC have also convinced ASUS that it is a good idea to release a desktop based on the same theory of the EeePC. That is light, small and cheap and with just enough power to sneeze or perhaps power a text editor. Oh it can run Linux and blah blah and and its so cheap!

You want to know what else is cheap?! Older computers, it’s called recycling. Take that old box that has almost identical specs to the EeePC or hell even buy one for 50 dollars and use that instead of paying 400+ for the warm warranty fuzzies and funky fashion statement that you will get to make to all of your geeky friends. You know, just like apple users do.

I encourage you to discuss this as always in our forums:

http://snatchforums.net/index.php?topic=18.0

I used to like the Internet, I really did. However over the years a number of things have happened which have caused my love to slowly fade like the withered and faded stockings of the long tired cocaine riddled street walker. Where I once turned to you for vast wealth of information and insight I find now only misinformation and the rambled discussion of preteen pack animals.

Im sure I am making a point here so stick with me.

1. MySpace

While I am sure that at the time it seemed like a great idea to make your self a profile, list all of your favorite hobbies, likes and dislikes I am here to tell you otherwise. Using giant tiled .jpg images, bright green text and blaring the worlds worst music this side of 7 tracks to poop to does not all convince me that you are a wonderful and fun loving person who I should contact without delay so I can just be OH SO cool. Oh and on another note I dont care how big you managed to blow your breasts up in photoshop, tYp!iNg L!k3 Thi$ DoEs NOt Mak Y0U c()OL. It simply reinforces my opinion that in your case “Hooker” may actually be a good choice of career even if it is your only one.

Oh and taking a picture of you and all your mates dressed like women (im referring to the “men” with this one) with more makeup then ronald macdonald on a big night out DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BAND! It also does not make you the following:

• Edgy
• Hip
• Out there
• Different

Hell the only word running through my head is GGGGGAY. A backwards baseball cap and an IQ in line with that of a goldfish does not make you a gangster, it makes you a redneck, also commonly known as “white trash” or “under achiever”. Im sure that there are plenty of others ways you can convince people that your penis is bigger then it actually is without trying to convince people the “man is getting you down” or “they holding a brother back” when the only brotherhood your a part of is the welfare line. Now do me a favor and fuck off your “myspace” and crawl back to “your space”.

Yes I of course know that it has been quite some time since my last post. I find it quite difficult to raise the energy to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard as it would be in this case in order to actually create a post. That being the case I will try to keep this as simple as possible.

• The cibby entered the mechanics and has cost me 1381 dollars
• I am dating a beautiful woman that has completely stolen my heart
• I bought, attempted to sell and have ended up stuck with an EeePC
• I dont like the EeePC
• I bought a new XBOX360, GTA4 may possibly be the first good game I have played in a long time
• I did NOT get a loan for 13 000 dollars
• I dont like my grandfather practically living with me
• Working 21 days straight IS worth the money

I have actually started work on my new CMS and I hope to god to have it running soon. It takes me so long because I can never lock down a design that I like which makes it hard for me to build all the code around it. I am deeply shocked and offended at my continued use of wordpress.

The things that I continue to see people whine about constantly amaze me. I was innocently reading through a Digg.com story today regarding a score given to the new Mario Kart title for the wii.

I scrolled through the comments looking for anything of note when I came across a comment that really irked me, well part of a comment really. At any rate take a look at the 3rd comment down:

http://digg.com/nintendo/IGN_Mario_Kart_Wii_Review

For those to lazy to actually click on the link I have quoted the relevant part of the comment below:

“I got MKDS with the thought that I would enjoy playing games of Kart against random real people and I would have the ability to play against friends online. The reality was non-fun random matches due to snaking/players leaving/assholes”

Now snaking for those not familiar is a technique involving the “hop/drift” in the Mario Kart series that became popular originally with the nintendo64 Mario Kart title and of course has since also been used in more recent Mario Kart titles such as Double Dash and Mario Kart DS. A better description of the above is available using wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kart_DS#Snaking

Anyway the point of my rant is that people such as the one who posted the comment shit me to no end. As they are unable to master a particular skill or move that other players may have the time or ability to master they then decide that they must turn to the degradation/non acceptance/rubbishing of said tactic or skill in question as they are unable to compete or even with participate with players on such a level even though what is being performed is 100% legit.

Stop crying fattie and man up a little, learn to step up and compete on the same playing field or dont play at all, oh wait thats right, you dont play now do you? BOOHOO!

/rant

As I had stated in a previous post I have decided to update you all on the progress of my latest quit smoking attempt, I feel that the words below describe roughly how I feel and how it is going.

Three weeks as of today, three weeks without needing to put one of those things in my mouth at least once an hour to get through the day. Also bare in mind that this coming monday is my exact one month anniversary since I had my last smoke.

Four weeks since I have had to stick one of those things in my mouth to get up in the morning, four weeks since I have needed one to deal with others, four weeks to break a self torture ritual that has had me trapped and feeling unable to face the world for all of these many years.

Its a wonderful feeling to finally feel free, to feel as though I have finally beaten this after all of my many attempts. Please dont feel as if I am taking this all in my stride and acting cocky, I realise that there is still a chance that if I do not take this seriously there is a real risk that I could reoffend. Should that be the case however then it would be my choice to do so and a poor choice at that as I see no other reason that I could restart such an awful habit other then sheer stupidity.

I find myself now attempting to justify or even understand the time, money and effort that I had spent on my former hobby. During a visit to a friend who is a smoker I noticed a ciggerate that he had placed on the ground. I picked up and held this ciggerate as he worked and sniffed the smoke deep into my nostrils in an effort to find out why this item should appeal to me, I twirled it in my fingers to see if its shape still held a familiar feeling for me, alas I was unable to feel anything from either action to explain all the wasted years spend consuming the toxins contained within the small yet powerful object that I currently held within my hands.

It is still hard to believe that it has been almost a month since I made the decision to throw away the habit, it is even harder to believe that I am here after four weeks and my world has not come to an end. The nicotine had somehow always convinced me that I would be unable to live without it.

I was convinced that I would be unable to enjoy meals, social situations or even the company of good friends again. Nothing however could be further from the truth and would at this point also like to point out the fact that I have met a girl who is very special to me and means much more to me then smoking ever could or should of in the first place.

I would even suggest that it is with her support I was able to fight off those first few days of darkness when the urges were at their worst and for this I thank her.

To any smoker who questions their ability to quit this controlling substance, to any smoker that listens to that dark voice at the back of the head who constantly taunts you with failure and fear free yourself from the control of it and take a chance to fight back and free yourself from its horrible restraints. It is not helping your confidence, its not helping you concentrate, its not giving you strength or stress relief and is in fact causing you to simply become more stressed and less confident overtime ensuring that you remain addicted so that you can continue to “destress” with its assistance.

Meh

/rant