Friday, June 23, 2006

Updatez-vous

So...lots of new developments on the Aidan front, just not any particularly noteworthy (well, sorta...more on that later)

-My 2GB of RAM came, and I popped it into my G5. That. Thing. Fucking. SCREAMS. You oughta see this thing with Final Cut Pro running. Oh, and those HD 720p episodes of Ergo Proxy? Yeah, looks like sex. Absolute sex. Not a single dropped frame or sync error. Much as I loved the G4, it didn't have quite the oomph to handle HD. This thing chews those videos up and spits them out.

-I picked up a smallish (40GB) hard disk and an enclosure from NewEgg. When they arrive and I put them together, I'm going to start passing them (it) around amongst folks I know. This way, if you ever get any sci-fi series, albums, games, British sitcoms (ahem...Lady J I am looking at you), or other random cool stuff, just wait for the drive to come your way and you can put them on it. The nice thing is that you'll also be able to copy off anything anyone else has put on it, and it'll just keep getting passed around. Once everyone who wants a particular file or folder has gotten it, we can delete the file to keep the drive from filling up.

Speaking of drives, how'd my DVD-RW work on your PC, J?

-I bought a Nintendo DS Lite and gave Caidhan my original DS. We faced off in Big Brain Academy. There was LOL.

-In other news, Caidhan is a botting 'tard. That is all. ...BOTTER. BOTTY McBOTS-A-LOT. Bot bot bot.

-I've been ordering shit like a fiend. I currently have on order:
  • 3 Shin Megami Tensei mandala emblem T-shirts from the Atlus store

  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou original soundtrack

  • Persona 2 Innocent Sin OST

  • Persona 2 Eternal Punishment OST

  • Persona 3 OST (will ship once it's released)

  • "See the Sound" by Etro Anime, featuring the track "Danger" from the opening sequence to Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner (god dammit Atlus, long names for the lose)

  • One pre-ordered and pre-paid-in-full copy of the US release of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou (to be renamed Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, in a gracious act of name-shortening by Atlus)

  • One pre-ordered copy of Phantasy Star Universe, possibly to be the phabled Phantasy Star Phive that may phinally phulphil the phrantic phantasies of series phantatics the world over. Seriously, we've wanted PS5 for TWELVE YEARS now.



And there's one other thing. Something very good. It...well, won't mean much to others, but will wind up meaning a lot to me. I don't want to give too many details away, as nothing is certain or set in stone yet and as such I do not wish to hex it. But...those of you privileged with my personal details (you know who you are...all 3 of you) can inquire in private. ...Okay, that means the one out of you three who actually reads this. All I really have to say about it is...geology never sounded so sexy.

QUOTE OF THE MOMENT: "...It's a bot." -Caidhan Novastral

ATTACK OF THE RETURN OF THE SONG OF THE DAY RETURNS TO ATTACK.

OR SOMETHING.

"Danger"
Etro Anime
See the Sound/Digital Devil Saga

I don’t wanna try to fight this love
How dangerous can it be
I know the odds are so unfavorable
And honesty's forsakable
So many run for safety
Run from the

Danger of falling in love like this
Danger of falling apart
In the hands of another
Danger in falling in love like this
Cold sweat craving the dark
So completely
So sweetly
Danger

Things have gone wrong
They do more often than they don’t
I was a child before
A soldier in defense
I'll take the leap
I've gone so far for lesser gold
I wanna know this life
By your side
I don’t wanna try to fight this love
How dangerous can it be
I know the odds are so unfavorable
And honesty's forsakable
So many run for safety
Run from the

Danger of falling in love like this
Danger of falling apart
In the hands of another
Danger in falling in love like this
Cold sweat craving the dark
So completely
So sweetly
Danger

Danger of falling in love like this
Danger of falling apart
In the hands of another
Danger in falling in love like this
Cold sweat craving the dark
So completely
So sweetly
Danger of falling in love like this
Danger of falling in love like this

Sunday, June 18, 2006

The devil's in the terminology

Yes, it's another comment lifted from Slashdot, but it's one that puts quite concisely the problem with some businesses' mentality (including our favourite targets of Aidan's raging, indignant rants, the media companies).



Corporations don't see people as "citizens" anymore. We're not even their customers -- we're consumers. Language always gives one away.

This is very true. It's always a good idea to see what a corporation calls you.

If you are a client, then they think of you as an integral part of the process. You are involved in the development of whatever they are selling to you, and it is built around your needs. Outsourcing companies, good hotels, and lap dancers think like this.

If you are a customer, then they think of you as an individual who makes a take-it-or-leave-it decision about their product. They will attempt to make as many people as possible want to take it, but won't worry too much about missing a few around the edges. Still, they need to keep you happy and won't do something that's bad for you without a really good reason. The good ISPs and expensive high street stores think like this.

If you are a consumer, then they think of you as tied up, prone, on the floor, while they defecate their products onto you and then send you an invoice. It doesn't matter what you think, you don't get to make a choice. The big media companies think like this. So do the telephone carriers, and most other monopolies.



Cultural experiment: refer to yourself in any commercial setting as either a "client" or a "customer," and never as a "consumer." See what reactions you get. Might be worth it to throw in the words "demand service" while you're at it.