Again, the Olympic Games is dragged into politics. China is now mentioning the once sacred name in the dirty business of the recent Tibetan revolt. The Olympics isn't what it was supposed to be, the friendly competitions that all countries participate in no matter the situation. It is now a capitalistic remake of the holy event for the US and its allies. It is nothing like what it used to be, not just because it is affected by politics, but also because the participants are not truly amateurs. They are called amateurs only because they have not played in any professional games, but what about all that specialized training for their respective sports before they compete?
If you have trained specially in a certain game for months or even years, in ways that are just like those of a professional, are you really an amateur? They have made a mockery of the definition, of the rules, and of all who believe that the Olympics promotes world peace.
Getting really tired of Naruto's style of dragging all possible scenes. Like that part in special episode 51-52 where they found Sai's assassination (wonder why assassin has double double "s") list. Why did he just stare in shock when he saw Sasuke in the list, while others ask him why he was shocked? That was a really unnecessary one. There was no surprise, and there was no need to drag so many consecutive scenes! The plot is the only thing that makes me want to watch Naruto, and the desire is waning. I don't even feel like watching it if all I have is just one new episode. There is no excitement in watching just one lousy episode of Naruto these days. Bleach now totally owns it. Suck it, Naruto. You make my life miserable, like cocaine addiction but without ever experiencing the highs.
Just to correct what I typed in the past, I don't turn on the freerice bots every single night. My laptop needs rest, and I don't have that many reasons to leave it on all night. If I had typed that, I blame it on McDonalds. Don't ask why. I leave my com on only when I have good reasons to leave it on, and I turn on the bots at night only when I plan to have the com turned on through the night.
Apparently, more and more ladies are playing NS on G4B2S NS server. It first started with only one, but after half a year, there are now 3 that I know of. Or maybe there are more but they don't use mic. But at least one of them is a fat chick. If only she never told us her weight, things would have been much more beautiful. LOL! So bad of me, of all people, to say such bullshit.
I am ruined! The only way to go to a Canadian Uni is through the INSTEP exchange program, and according to one friend, the chances of someone over there willing to exchange with me is not high. But I will still try. RAWR!
From MSN's news page:
US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that China come clean on repression in Tibet.
"The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," said Pelosi...
"What is happening, the world needs to know," she said.
This is bull. The world doesn't need to know. We have enough problems as it is. Let China do all it wants to the Tibetans. I want my chicken rice NOW, and I mean it!
I hope the sarcasm is noticeable.
Saturday, 22 March 2008
Friday, 21 March 2008
Rant 110 / C'est La Vie
Hot nights. Need air-con.
Mentioned to my mum I was going to live in HKU hostel. She took out her map of HK (a book) and started searching. It's not like I care (at the moment) about where it is. She cared, apparently. So she told me it is near some places that I have heard before but don't know where exactly they are. There is not point. I can take the MTR to most places. If any problems arise, I can just ask a local in the hostel. At worst, I can bring the map book.
But I'd still prefer to live in a hotel. At least they have air-conditioning.
Been donating a lot these days. Never changed my laptop's power settings whenever I go away. Instead, I turn on about 15-20 bots before leaving. Usually when I do so for a long period of time, e.g. overnight, half of them will crash and vanish. I don't understand why, nor do I care, because with even 7 of them working overnight, I help donate a heck of a load each night. That is not counting the rice that have been donated by the bots that crashed in the middle of the night, nor those that were donated in the day ( I leave one on all the time).
Sad that no one uses these bots nor know about the website, but I guess I am practically donating more than their share of the rice had they known about this.
Though I cannot prove on my own that these bots really are doing what they're supposed to do, I have not found any websites saying these are frauds. Instead, I have found bloggers analysing some of the bots and making new and better ones. I believe this indirectly shows that these bots aren't trojan horses or viruses.
At a rate of 10 grain/s, I sleep 9 hours a day. That makes 9*3600*10 = 324,000 per bot. 7 of them makes 2,268,000 grains a night. I googled "rice grain weight" and found that a grain of rice weighs 20-30mg. Taking 0.025g, or 0.00025kg as the rice grain weight, I am donating at least 56.7kg of rice a night. And I haven't calculated all the times I went away for meals and etc.
I feel like I am a good man now.
Getting more people joining ntu tmc now. And coincidentally, someone in my French 1 class is joining tmc too.
Apparently, the NOD32 antivirus program I'm using now is supposed to be one of the fastest antivirus program in the world, and one of the best. No fancy awards, probably because it isn't made by some big corporation in the US (it's produced in Slovak). It is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, because it is written mainly in assembly code.
Assembly code is a low-level computer language, compared to high-level languages like C or Java. Low-level languages are more closely related to the basic codes that computers really use, thus making the processes run much faster and the programs smaller. However such languages are not as easy to use relative to stuff like C because they incorporate less syntax and words from human languages, making them more complicated and less intuitive to learn. Also, low-level languages can only be used on specific types of computers.
You can say that these codes are more "primitive", and high-level codes are more "evolved". All games are written in high-level languages because it will take forever to write and take lifetimes to patch up all the bugs. But it is also because of that that makes them so friggin huge.
Good thing it is fast, because I use it all the time, together with an anti-spyware program. Every time someone emails me something, everytime someone sends me something via Messenger, everytime I download something from an unfamiliar source, I scan all downloaded files with both. I may have them monitoring my computer all the time, but preventing them from activating in my disks is way more important.
This is not the only form of caution I employ. Every single link that someone sends to me, especially those that they suddenly send, I google them. Every single email asking for help/donation/forwarding, I google them. This may be the reason why I found out that ALL emails asking us to forward them so that someone would donate some money for each forward are frauds. This also applies to similar messages in Facebook.
There is no possible way to legally track the number of forwards for any email, thus it is lying when it says that money would be donated for each forward. Even when it says that I'd be heartless not to forward it, I don't care. I'm already donating over FIFTY KILOGRAMS OF RICE (or its monetary equivalent) EVERY NIGHT to the poor. No one can say I am heartless. I'm more helpful than anyone who has donated less than 100 bucks in a year. In fact, when I get such messages in Facebook, they're removed right away.
Anyway, so far the caution has saved me from viruses at least thrice, twice from friends through Messenger, once from my own downloads. My laptop has been clean since the day I turned it on the first time. That's not saying much, but I do my best to keep it this way till the day I get a new laptop.
Plus, I get to laugh at everyone who has gotten a virus for being so gullible in the shithole we know as the Internet.
C'mon, there is no police, no customs officer, no security on the Internet except those you set up for yourself. And don't believe in those bullshit Microsoft provides together with Windows, because Windows is notorious (apparently) in the hacking circles. All those Defender and shit only provides a false sense of security. Only the function of backing up your whole hard disks is useful, but that doesn't come with the Vista's Home Premium edition.
Therefore, everyone has to search for the best tools and fend for him or herself. Even NOD32 is not perfect. The time I found the trojan horse in a downloaded file, I was saved by the anti-spyware scanner, not NOD32. Of course, if you're never going to venture into the "dark side" of the internet, if no one is ever going to play a joke on you, if no one around you ever gets a virus, then go on and save that extra bit of disk space for something more meaningful.
Mentioned to my mum I was going to live in HKU hostel. She took out her map of HK (a book) and started searching. It's not like I care (at the moment) about where it is. She cared, apparently. So she told me it is near some places that I have heard before but don't know where exactly they are. There is not point. I can take the MTR to most places. If any problems arise, I can just ask a local in the hostel. At worst, I can bring the map book.
But I'd still prefer to live in a hotel. At least they have air-conditioning.
Been donating a lot these days. Never changed my laptop's power settings whenever I go away. Instead, I turn on about 15-20 bots before leaving. Usually when I do so for a long period of time, e.g. overnight, half of them will crash and vanish. I don't understand why, nor do I care, because with even 7 of them working overnight, I help donate a heck of a load each night. That is not counting the rice that have been donated by the bots that crashed in the middle of the night, nor those that were donated in the day ( I leave one on all the time).
Sad that no one uses these bots nor know about the website, but I guess I am practically donating more than their share of the rice had they known about this.
Though I cannot prove on my own that these bots really are doing what they're supposed to do, I have not found any websites saying these are frauds. Instead, I have found bloggers analysing some of the bots and making new and better ones. I believe this indirectly shows that these bots aren't trojan horses or viruses.
At a rate of 10 grain/s, I sleep 9 hours a day. That makes 9*3600*10 = 324,000 per bot. 7 of them makes 2,268,000 grains a night. I googled "rice grain weight" and found that a grain of rice weighs 20-30mg. Taking 0.025g, or 0.00025kg as the rice grain weight, I am donating at least 56.7kg of rice a night. And I haven't calculated all the times I went away for meals and etc.
I feel like I am a good man now.
Getting more people joining ntu tmc now. And coincidentally, someone in my French 1 class is joining tmc too.
Apparently, the NOD32 antivirus program I'm using now is supposed to be one of the fastest antivirus program in the world, and one of the best. No fancy awards, probably because it isn't made by some big corporation in the US (it's produced in Slovak). It is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, because it is written mainly in assembly code.
Assembly code is a low-level computer language, compared to high-level languages like C or Java. Low-level languages are more closely related to the basic codes that computers really use, thus making the processes run much faster and the programs smaller. However such languages are not as easy to use relative to stuff like C because they incorporate less syntax and words from human languages, making them more complicated and less intuitive to learn. Also, low-level languages can only be used on specific types of computers.
You can say that these codes are more "primitive", and high-level codes are more "evolved". All games are written in high-level languages because it will take forever to write and take lifetimes to patch up all the bugs. But it is also because of that that makes them so friggin huge.
Good thing it is fast, because I use it all the time, together with an anti-spyware program. Every time someone emails me something, everytime someone sends me something via Messenger, everytime I download something from an unfamiliar source, I scan all downloaded files with both. I may have them monitoring my computer all the time, but preventing them from activating in my disks is way more important.
This is not the only form of caution I employ. Every single link that someone sends to me, especially those that they suddenly send, I google them. Every single email asking for help/donation/forwarding, I google them. This may be the reason why I found out that ALL emails asking us to forward them so that someone would donate some money for each forward are frauds. This also applies to similar messages in Facebook.
There is no possible way to legally track the number of forwards for any email, thus it is lying when it says that money would be donated for each forward. Even when it says that I'd be heartless not to forward it, I don't care. I'm already donating over FIFTY KILOGRAMS OF RICE (or its monetary equivalent) EVERY NIGHT to the poor. No one can say I am heartless. I'm more helpful than anyone who has donated less than 100 bucks in a year. In fact, when I get such messages in Facebook, they're removed right away.
Anyway, so far the caution has saved me from viruses at least thrice, twice from friends through Messenger, once from my own downloads. My laptop has been clean since the day I turned it on the first time. That's not saying much, but I do my best to keep it this way till the day I get a new laptop.
Plus, I get to laugh at everyone who has gotten a virus for being so gullible in the shithole we know as the Internet.
C'mon, there is no police, no customs officer, no security on the Internet except those you set up for yourself. And don't believe in those bullshit Microsoft provides together with Windows, because Windows is notorious (apparently) in the hacking circles. All those Defender and shit only provides a false sense of security. Only the function of backing up your whole hard disks is useful, but that doesn't come with the Vista's Home Premium edition.
Therefore, everyone has to search for the best tools and fend for him or herself. Even NOD32 is not perfect. The time I found the trojan horse in a downloaded file, I was saved by the anti-spyware scanner, not NOD32. Of course, if you're never going to venture into the "dark side" of the internet, if no one is ever going to play a joke on you, if no one around you ever gets a virus, then go on and save that extra bit of disk space for something more meaningful.
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Rant 109 / All Slow Drivers Are Women. All Fast Drivers Are Assholes.
After getting killed once by some asshole survivor in the Revive Point, I did not waste any Action Points (AP) doing anything else but stand back up and wait for someone to revive me.
I think I need to explain something here. Everything I do in the game uses 1 Action Point, except zombies when they move, which takes 2 APs per square. APs increase by 1 every 30 mins, or 48 every day. Standing up after dying uses 10 AP though. And Revive Points are areas where zombies go to to wait for someone to revive them. These are unofficial neutral zones and there is an unspoken rule that no killing is allowed there.
After a day of waiting, someone finally revived me! So I stood up, scanned the lone zombie standing next to me to make sure his skills are human ones (which would imply that this zombie is a fallen human, not a true zombie), revived him and ran to the nearest safe building.
And that's it for today.
A rough itinerary for the exchange program to HK was emailed to me today. We will be staying in HKU hostel...
I'd really rather get a hotel room..
If the hostel is within the HKU campus, then it is quite some distance from the nearest MTR station. This would make things hard. At least most of the R&R days are on weekdays, so Disneyland and Ocean Park will be emptier.
Good thing I have a map of HK that I can bring along.
My books aren't here yet! Still another 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead! I'm halfway through Tanequil, the 2nd book of the trilogy. I will need to reread another series again.
Just watched Last Hour. Really bad movie. The director was probably directing his first movie. To make things worse, the story was bad and the story was written by the director. The scenes were a mess. There were no effects or anything to show that certain scenes were flashbacks. Everything moved back and forth too rapidly. Some actions by the characters were hard to understand (like why Casino had to walk to the window when everyone else walked to somewhere else) , while some scenes were not very clearly linked with the previous ones (e.g. when they were searching the rooms).
The actors were pretty bad too. The CID agent might have been the worst actor I have ever seen, acting like a sulky little kid when, I assume, he was supposed to look fierce and bossy.
The end was atrocious. The reason for the whole plot just came out of nowhere. I think the director just pulled something out of his ass and threw it at the end of the script.
I can only compare this movie with Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is slightly worse than this. If you haven't watched Manos, that's because it wasn't produced in our era, but in 1966. It is supposed to be one of the worst movie ever made in the history of film-making. It was so bad, the actors left the theater halfway through its premiere. Quentin Tarantino keeps one of the original 35mm copy of the film because it is one of his favourite "comedy" (Manos: The Hands of Fate was released as a horror flick).
Overall, I wouldn't even recommend downloading it. It'd be a complete waste of bandwidth. But Manos would be an educational film to watch. It teaches its audience how bad films can really be and they should be thankful Hollywood hasn't reached its standards yet...
I think I need to explain something here. Everything I do in the game uses 1 Action Point, except zombies when they move, which takes 2 APs per square. APs increase by 1 every 30 mins, or 48 every day. Standing up after dying uses 10 AP though. And Revive Points are areas where zombies go to to wait for someone to revive them. These are unofficial neutral zones and there is an unspoken rule that no killing is allowed there.
After a day of waiting, someone finally revived me! So I stood up, scanned the lone zombie standing next to me to make sure his skills are human ones (which would imply that this zombie is a fallen human, not a true zombie), revived him and ran to the nearest safe building.
And that's it for today.
A rough itinerary for the exchange program to HK was emailed to me today. We will be staying in HKU hostel...
I'd really rather get a hotel room..
If the hostel is within the HKU campus, then it is quite some distance from the nearest MTR station. This would make things hard. At least most of the R&R days are on weekdays, so Disneyland and Ocean Park will be emptier.
Good thing I have a map of HK that I can bring along.
My books aren't here yet! Still another 2-3 weeks of waiting ahead! I'm halfway through Tanequil, the 2nd book of the trilogy. I will need to reread another series again.
Just watched Last Hour. Really bad movie. The director was probably directing his first movie. To make things worse, the story was bad and the story was written by the director. The scenes were a mess. There were no effects or anything to show that certain scenes were flashbacks. Everything moved back and forth too rapidly. Some actions by the characters were hard to understand (like why Casino had to walk to the window when everyone else walked to somewhere else) , while some scenes were not very clearly linked with the previous ones (e.g. when they were searching the rooms).
The actors were pretty bad too. The CID agent might have been the worst actor I have ever seen, acting like a sulky little kid when, I assume, he was supposed to look fierce and bossy.
The end was atrocious. The reason for the whole plot just came out of nowhere. I think the director just pulled something out of his ass and threw it at the end of the script.
I can only compare this movie with Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is slightly worse than this. If you haven't watched Manos, that's because it wasn't produced in our era, but in 1966. It is supposed to be one of the worst movie ever made in the history of film-making. It was so bad, the actors left the theater halfway through its premiere. Quentin Tarantino keeps one of the original 35mm copy of the film because it is one of his favourite "comedy" (Manos: The Hands of Fate was released as a horror flick).
Overall, I wouldn't even recommend downloading it. It'd be a complete waste of bandwidth. But Manos would be an educational film to watch. It teaches its audience how bad films can really be and they should be thankful Hollywood hasn't reached its standards yet...
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Rant 108 / Reading Tanequil Again
The night before, I couldn't sleep well. Before I woke up at 6am, I woke up somewhere in the middle of the night.
I had a dream, though I cannot remember what it was about. In it I somehow had the idea that it was important to wake myself up immediately. I did not question it. Perhaps I could remember the dream still at that point.
I tried to wake up by thinking about it, but couldn't reach the point where I could open my eyes. I was semi-conscious, knowing I was asleep and not dreaming. I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't. Fear crept in, but previous experiences in this allowed me to stay calm.
My body did not respond, so I attempted to think of something that would get my heart pumping. Any thoughts that would make me worry or excited was fine. But no, it did not work. Then came the idea of pushing my head with my hand. It took some time and a lot of mental force but in the end, I could move my right arm.
With my right hand, I pushed my face to the left.
I was awake... only to wonder why that was necessary.
Everyone around me wants to change the world. Everyone around me thinks that they can change the world. Perhaps by changing them, I can change the world.
What is the world to me, but a place to live in?
I do not ask for much, just a comfortable corner to rest in. Why does the world make it so difficult for me to find it?
It is not the fault of the world. There is no fault. There is no problem.
I will find it, but will it be what I think it will be?
Finished the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. Can't help but say that the first was the best. The second was very good, but not impressive. The last was pretty good, but the frequent switching between the past and the present of the two guys makes the film rather confusing at certain points. Plus I couldn't understand the end, where he was in the wheelchair and she shoots him from behind. What was the significance of that?
Played a little more of Loki. Rather hard for a Diablo ripoff. My laptop was only barely able to support it during combat when all video settings were set at low. At low settings, my nearly naked heroine looks like a marble statue that moves. The skin texture was all smooth and glossy. The gaming days of this com is approaching its end. Someday I may need to upgrade it. But before that, I better delete all those stuff... in the Recycle Bin. :P
Recently in the Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com) there has been a major coordinated attack by hundreds of zombies throughout the map. It all began when I was playing the nice medic in the suburb of Yagaton. A series of radio broadcasts informed us that zombies were everywhere and some suburbs were down. Nothing unusual; some survivors would go in, revive the dead and rebuild the area.
Then one day, Yagaton radio frequencies were filled with reports of zombie attacks on various hospitals and other resource buildings. I was hiding comfortably in the largest resource building in Yagaton - the Mall, and I was doing what I could to revive the zombies against their will while they attack out barricades.
The next day, I was a zombie.
I was shocked. There were over 80 people in each of the four sections of the mall, who would log in at various times to check on the barricades. And we were wiped out. The next thing I could do was either play as a zombie or find a Revive Point.
My skills as a medic would be of no use as a zombie, so I went to find a safe suburb. I clicked on the Urban Dead wiki, and looked at the map of the city. Thus came my second shock. Lo and behold! The whole northern region of the city was RED! Red here means zombie-infested region, and Yagaton was probably the last suburb in the north of the city to fall.
So I went south as a zombie. Zombie takes twice as much time to move as a survivor, but I had no choice. All the green suburbs were south.
At last, I was in Buttonville, a green suburb at the southern border of the map, with more green suburbs buffering it from the red at every direction. I was safe. The revive was quick once I reached the southernmost Revive Point, and I ran for the only Mall there.
3 days later, I was killed by zombies again.
The plague of coordinated zombie attacks had spread throughout the southwest of the city, and only a small cluster of suburbs in the southeast were still green. Meanwhile, the northwest corner was turning grey, signifying the near-complete silence when all zombies and survivors left the area. Perhaps there were no survivors left, and the zombies had left the region for the more active zones.
As a zombie a second time, I moved towards the east. After surviving the human headhunters and mad zombies, I finally reached the still green haven of Penny Heights. That was when the northeastern corner of the city was turning green again as the zombie hordes concentrated on the South.
Again I was quickly revived and behind the barricades of the easternmost Mall. This time, the Mall was different. Most malls occupied four to six squares on the map, but this mall took up only 2 squares. This means a smaller area to protect and fewer barricades to watch. With over 90 people cowering in each square of the mall, rumours of the invincibility of the mall were being spread over the various radio frequencies.
But things didn't look good. After just 2 days, it was a sea of red against the dark orange of Penny Heights. I stayed for one more day, logging in every four hours to check on things. Nothing happened where I was hiding, but news from the other mall in Penny Heights were disturbing.
Over 50 zombies were attacking the mall, the hospitals were down and there was no safe route to the nearest NecroTech office, the only buildings that provides Revification Syringes. I took one more look at the map the next day, and found the whole southern half of the map was pure red. All hope was lost. How could we, a mere 200 people, fight against over the unending waves of zombies? The 50 zombies were merely the vanguards, and with the survivors falling to join their ranks, who were we to say that we could stand against them?
S0 I went north. I ran till I was close to exhaustion and turned to finding a safe building to hide in before I collapse. But every single building I went to were Extremely Heavily Barricaded, which was the heaviest barricade status in the game but, unfortunately, survivor-proof. So desperately I searched, though my general direction was still north. In the end, I had to rest out in the open and I knew I was as good as a zombie then.
The next day, I logged in as a zombie. Even as a zombie, I was able to listen to the radios I carried, and the reports were not good. The mall I used to be in, was still good, but the other had fallen, with over 70 zombies rampaging in the southeastern corner of the building. It was over for the last 20 survivors still inside.
Once again, as a zombie, I searched for a new haven where my skills were needed. The northwestern corner's grey patch was growing as zombies and survivors alike abandon the dead suburbs. On the other hand, the northeastern green patch was gradually growing. What was once one green suburb had grown into a cluster of 8. North I went.
At last I reached Dunningwood, a green zone on the map's eastern edge buffered by a green suburb to the south and another to the west. So here I am, waiting for a revive in their northernmost Revive Point together with 4 other zombies. As of the last radio broadcast from Penny Heights, the southern half of the last mall there was breached, with a horde of 50 zombies doing what they could to wipe out the survivors. One zombie was in the northern half, facing 117 survivors who were probably going to be zombie feed soon.
And during all those times I spent away from my home suburb of Yagaton, what was happening there? According to the wiki, almost a week after I died, the survivors had coordinated an massive attack together with the last survivors from other nearby suburbs on the only mall in Yagaton, and had succeeded in retaking parts of the mall from the zombie hordes.
Within two days, the zombies were back again and heavy fighting ensued within the mall.
Another 2 days were gone before they finally managed to retake the whole mall, barricade it, power it and establish a new Revive Point.
Since 13th March, they have repeatedly lost and retook the mall. The situation is in an extremely precarious state and they have turned to setting up several Revive Points away from the mall to raise their dead. As of this moment, Yagaton is deep orange.
Will the whole city of Malton succumb to this massive zombie attack?
I had a dream, though I cannot remember what it was about. In it I somehow had the idea that it was important to wake myself up immediately. I did not question it. Perhaps I could remember the dream still at that point.
I tried to wake up by thinking about it, but couldn't reach the point where I could open my eyes. I was semi-conscious, knowing I was asleep and not dreaming. I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't. Fear crept in, but previous experiences in this allowed me to stay calm.
My body did not respond, so I attempted to think of something that would get my heart pumping. Any thoughts that would make me worry or excited was fine. But no, it did not work. Then came the idea of pushing my head with my hand. It took some time and a lot of mental force but in the end, I could move my right arm.
With my right hand, I pushed my face to the left.
I was awake... only to wonder why that was necessary.
Everyone around me wants to change the world. Everyone around me thinks that they can change the world. Perhaps by changing them, I can change the world.
What is the world to me, but a place to live in?
I do not ask for much, just a comfortable corner to rest in. Why does the world make it so difficult for me to find it?
It is not the fault of the world. There is no fault. There is no problem.
I will find it, but will it be what I think it will be?
Finished the Infernal Affairs Trilogy. Can't help but say that the first was the best. The second was very good, but not impressive. The last was pretty good, but the frequent switching between the past and the present of the two guys makes the film rather confusing at certain points. Plus I couldn't understand the end, where he was in the wheelchair and she shoots him from behind. What was the significance of that?
Played a little more of Loki. Rather hard for a Diablo ripoff. My laptop was only barely able to support it during combat when all video settings were set at low. At low settings, my nearly naked heroine looks like a marble statue that moves. The skin texture was all smooth and glossy. The gaming days of this com is approaching its end. Someday I may need to upgrade it. But before that, I better delete all those stuff... in the Recycle Bin. :P
Recently in the Urban Dead (www.urbandead.com) there has been a major coordinated attack by hundreds of zombies throughout the map. It all began when I was playing the nice medic in the suburb of Yagaton. A series of radio broadcasts informed us that zombies were everywhere and some suburbs were down. Nothing unusual; some survivors would go in, revive the dead and rebuild the area.
Then one day, Yagaton radio frequencies were filled with reports of zombie attacks on various hospitals and other resource buildings. I was hiding comfortably in the largest resource building in Yagaton - the Mall, and I was doing what I could to revive the zombies against their will while they attack out barricades.
The next day, I was a zombie.
I was shocked. There were over 80 people in each of the four sections of the mall, who would log in at various times to check on the barricades. And we were wiped out. The next thing I could do was either play as a zombie or find a Revive Point.
My skills as a medic would be of no use as a zombie, so I went to find a safe suburb. I clicked on the Urban Dead wiki, and looked at the map of the city. Thus came my second shock. Lo and behold! The whole northern region of the city was RED! Red here means zombie-infested region, and Yagaton was probably the last suburb in the north of the city to fall.
So I went south as a zombie. Zombie takes twice as much time to move as a survivor, but I had no choice. All the green suburbs were south.
At last, I was in Buttonville, a green suburb at the southern border of the map, with more green suburbs buffering it from the red at every direction. I was safe. The revive was quick once I reached the southernmost Revive Point, and I ran for the only Mall there.
3 days later, I was killed by zombies again.
The plague of coordinated zombie attacks had spread throughout the southwest of the city, and only a small cluster of suburbs in the southeast were still green. Meanwhile, the northwest corner was turning grey, signifying the near-complete silence when all zombies and survivors left the area. Perhaps there were no survivors left, and the zombies had left the region for the more active zones.
As a zombie a second time, I moved towards the east. After surviving the human headhunters and mad zombies, I finally reached the still green haven of Penny Heights. That was when the northeastern corner of the city was turning green again as the zombie hordes concentrated on the South.
Again I was quickly revived and behind the barricades of the easternmost Mall. This time, the Mall was different. Most malls occupied four to six squares on the map, but this mall took up only 2 squares. This means a smaller area to protect and fewer barricades to watch. With over 90 people cowering in each square of the mall, rumours of the invincibility of the mall were being spread over the various radio frequencies.
But things didn't look good. After just 2 days, it was a sea of red against the dark orange of Penny Heights. I stayed for one more day, logging in every four hours to check on things. Nothing happened where I was hiding, but news from the other mall in Penny Heights were disturbing.
Over 50 zombies were attacking the mall, the hospitals were down and there was no safe route to the nearest NecroTech office, the only buildings that provides Revification Syringes. I took one more look at the map the next day, and found the whole southern half of the map was pure red. All hope was lost. How could we, a mere 200 people, fight against over the unending waves of zombies? The 50 zombies were merely the vanguards, and with the survivors falling to join their ranks, who were we to say that we could stand against them?
S0 I went north. I ran till I was close to exhaustion and turned to finding a safe building to hide in before I collapse. But every single building I went to were Extremely Heavily Barricaded, which was the heaviest barricade status in the game but, unfortunately, survivor-proof. So desperately I searched, though my general direction was still north. In the end, I had to rest out in the open and I knew I was as good as a zombie then.
The next day, I logged in as a zombie. Even as a zombie, I was able to listen to the radios I carried, and the reports were not good. The mall I used to be in, was still good, but the other had fallen, with over 70 zombies rampaging in the southeastern corner of the building. It was over for the last 20 survivors still inside.
Once again, as a zombie, I searched for a new haven where my skills were needed. The northwestern corner's grey patch was growing as zombies and survivors alike abandon the dead suburbs. On the other hand, the northeastern green patch was gradually growing. What was once one green suburb had grown into a cluster of 8. North I went.
At last I reached Dunningwood, a green zone on the map's eastern edge buffered by a green suburb to the south and another to the west. So here I am, waiting for a revive in their northernmost Revive Point together with 4 other zombies. As of the last radio broadcast from Penny Heights, the southern half of the last mall there was breached, with a horde of 50 zombies doing what they could to wipe out the survivors. One zombie was in the northern half, facing 117 survivors who were probably going to be zombie feed soon.
And during all those times I spent away from my home suburb of Yagaton, what was happening there? According to the wiki, almost a week after I died, the survivors had coordinated an massive attack together with the last survivors from other nearby suburbs on the only mall in Yagaton, and had succeeded in retaking parts of the mall from the zombie hordes.
Within two days, the zombies were back again and heavy fighting ensued within the mall.
Another 2 days were gone before they finally managed to retake the whole mall, barricade it, power it and establish a new Revive Point.
Since 13th March, they have repeatedly lost and retook the mall. The situation is in an extremely precarious state and they have turned to setting up several Revive Points away from the mall to raise their dead. As of this moment, Yagaton is deep orange.
Will the whole city of Malton succumb to this massive zombie attack?
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Rant 107 / First Time In So Long That I Am Done Sleeping At 6AM!
I hate the bed in my hall. This is the only mattress I have ever encountered that makes me wake up at night. Every night when I sleep here, I wake up 2-3 times a night. Tonight may be the worst. I slept early because I was tired. I estimate that I fell asleep by 11pm. I woke at 6.20am just now. It is 7.23am now. I can't sleep anymore. Decided to go for the 9.30 lecture which I habitually skip.
I hate hard beds.
Finished Avencast last night. While it really is a decent game, it is nothing more than just that. It merely entertained. Its ending was unsatisfying and there was no bonus for completing the game, except for my character being displayed in the Hall of Fame. Bleh. I hope Loki turns out better. Will try it soon.
I realized I have a whole month of idleness for the whole of May. While waiting for the guys in SIM to finish their finals, I won't be able to organize much so as not to make it feel like we are ostracizing them. Therefore I have to plan for it. I won't be able to do much anyway, since my appointment with the specialist is on 2nd May. My surgery will come in a week after that, at most. Then 3 weeks of sling for my left arm.
This means 3 weeks of NO GAMING!! It will be worse than converting to a vegetarian diet for me. I won't be able to type while using the mouse. Therefore, good thing I have got my hands on all 25 episodes of Code Geass and all 50 episodes of Eureka Seven, both of which I haven't watched in a year. This should help stave off the boredom for a few days.
Also, I will try not to read the books I ordered so that I can make full use of them then. The one problem may be how I will flip the pages when I need to hold the book up...
Shit.
Serious considerations for an overseas trip during the long break as begun. We have almost confirmed that it will be somewhere in Malaysia. Chose Malaysia again since it is affordable by everyone in the gang and easier to organize compared to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. And it's cheaper than Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. This time it won't be Genting. We've been there twice, so it's time to go somewhere else. Fishing, snorkelling, rolling in the beach sand, whatever.
I hate hard beds.
Finished Avencast last night. While it really is a decent game, it is nothing more than just that. It merely entertained. Its ending was unsatisfying and there was no bonus for completing the game, except for my character being displayed in the Hall of Fame. Bleh. I hope Loki turns out better. Will try it soon.
I realized I have a whole month of idleness for the whole of May. While waiting for the guys in SIM to finish their finals, I won't be able to organize much so as not to make it feel like we are ostracizing them. Therefore I have to plan for it. I won't be able to do much anyway, since my appointment with the specialist is on 2nd May. My surgery will come in a week after that, at most. Then 3 weeks of sling for my left arm.
This means 3 weeks of NO GAMING!! It will be worse than converting to a vegetarian diet for me. I won't be able to type while using the mouse. Therefore, good thing I have got my hands on all 25 episodes of Code Geass and all 50 episodes of Eureka Seven, both of which I haven't watched in a year. This should help stave off the boredom for a few days.
Also, I will try not to read the books I ordered so that I can make full use of them then. The one problem may be how I will flip the pages when I need to hold the book up...
Shit.
Serious considerations for an overseas trip during the long break as begun. We have almost confirmed that it will be somewhere in Malaysia. Chose Malaysia again since it is affordable by everyone in the gang and easier to organize compared to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. And it's cheaper than Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. This time it won't be Genting. We've been there twice, so it's time to go somewhere else. Fishing, snorkelling, rolling in the beach sand, whatever.
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Rant 106 / Since You're Talking About Cruelty, At Least The Pig Can Run For Its Life. The Zucchini Can't Do Shit!
Diamonds may not be for ever, but at least they last longer than an erection.
Just watched the 3rd episode of Pro At Cooking at www.proatcooking.com and it was quite hilarious. This time, though, Dave didn't sack his cute assistant. And this time she has an attitude just like his.
But the best part was when he announced that he was going to make a vegetarian pizza before the meat version. Then he added that "from a meat lover's point of view, this is fucking ridiculous."
So his assistant asked him," Don't you think it is cruel to kill a pig for his bacon?"
And he replied," Since you're talking about cruelty, at least the pig can run for its life. The zucchini can't do shit!" ROFL!
"Just because the zucchini doesn't scream in pain doesn't mean it don't got no feelings!"
The girl got pwned. LOL!
The math test tomorrow is on tut6. Did tut6, and it seemed pretty easy. He probably wanted to help us get better grades coz the final exam is known to be quite difficult. Nice guy.
Maybe I should organize something during the 3 month break for the TMC. Who knows how many are staying in Sg? Maybe they'll be bored enuf to go for FOOD!!
Thought about cycling again. Finally my motivation to cycle is back! Need to train up before going to HK or Malaysia. I predict I will be doing some walking in any of the trips.
Too nervous about the test to sleep now. Still feeling very energetic. But I need to read Jarka Ruus before I sleep! Better get back and finish the last part of my revision.
Bon nuit!
Just watched the 3rd episode of Pro At Cooking at www.proatcooking.com and it was quite hilarious. This time, though, Dave didn't sack his cute assistant. And this time she has an attitude just like his.
But the best part was when he announced that he was going to make a vegetarian pizza before the meat version. Then he added that "from a meat lover's point of view, this is fucking ridiculous."
So his assistant asked him," Don't you think it is cruel to kill a pig for his bacon?"
And he replied," Since you're talking about cruelty, at least the pig can run for its life. The zucchini can't do shit!" ROFL!
"Just because the zucchini doesn't scream in pain doesn't mean it don't got no feelings!"
The girl got pwned. LOL!
The math test tomorrow is on tut6. Did tut6, and it seemed pretty easy. He probably wanted to help us get better grades coz the final exam is known to be quite difficult. Nice guy.
Maybe I should organize something during the 3 month break for the TMC. Who knows how many are staying in Sg? Maybe they'll be bored enuf to go for FOOD!!
Thought about cycling again. Finally my motivation to cycle is back! Need to train up before going to HK or Malaysia. I predict I will be doing some walking in any of the trips.
Too nervous about the test to sleep now. Still feeling very energetic. But I need to read Jarka Ruus before I sleep! Better get back and finish the last part of my revision.
Bon nuit!
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Rant 105 / MANGINA!!!
Heard this said last night on NS," You're a MANGINA!" (Pronounce by adding "man" and the last 2 syllables of "vagina" together)
Couldn't stop laughing. That is one crazy insult.
Noticed those US players tend to use "Your mom..." and "That's what she said last night" as insults.
For example,
(real example)
A: This sucks.
B: Your mum sucks.
C: In bed.
Extremely immature but still entertaining.
Got sick of Avencast. Once I got all the Soul Magic spells, it got quite monotonous. By this time, I was at the final dungeon and there was no story whatsoever. What's worse is that they started using the same model in different colours in the final dungeon.
Stopped playing it since 2 days ago. May finish it later. Installed Loki yesterday. Tried the Aztec lady. It felt quite similar to other Diablo ripoffs. So I stopped and played NS.
Now I have nothing interesting to play but NS. I think I will buy the Half Life Orange Box in the 3-month break. Team Fortress 2 looks good. And there are a few zombie mods for HL2.
Just ordered about 8 books from acmabooks.com. Got the 23% discount, but still it cost me $121. All the books but Nineteen Eighty Four cost about $12 each. 1984 alone costs $25. It's a very good book after all.
Think I have typed this before in a previous rant, but Fantasy and Sci-fi books have the longest shelf-life. These books can be popular in any year, as long as the book is in a language that people can understand. I guess those would be the best genre for young writers to go for, because despite their long shelf-life, they rarely become as popular as other genres. It's like a long and steady momentum, while thrillers and mysteries usually start damn well but lose their momentum after many years.
Just look at The Lord of the Rings. It was very popular back when it was first published. It got popular again in the past decade. It will probably rise back into the bestseller lists before I die.
Seriously tired of sleeping on the friggin hard bed. After they changed the mattress in my hall, it felt like I was sleeping on the floor, except cleaner. Can't sleep until about 4am every time even if I feel tired at 2. Now I am drastically reducing the number of nights I spend there. My roomie's happy because he get to bring his gf over whenever I'm gone. I am happy because I sleep much better at home.
Somehow I cannot stand hard mattresses. Soft and lump ones are fine, but I don't have back pain yet to need hard ones. Probably got used to soft mattresses in the army. Especially those that they used for guard duties in Tekong.
Need to think about where to go in the 3-mth break.
Couldn't stop laughing. That is one crazy insult.
Noticed those US players tend to use "Your mom..." and "That's what she said last night" as insults.
For example,
(real example)
A: This sucks.
B: Your mum sucks.
C: In bed.
Extremely immature but still entertaining.
Got sick of Avencast. Once I got all the Soul Magic spells, it got quite monotonous. By this time, I was at the final dungeon and there was no story whatsoever. What's worse is that they started using the same model in different colours in the final dungeon.
Stopped playing it since 2 days ago. May finish it later. Installed Loki yesterday. Tried the Aztec lady. It felt quite similar to other Diablo ripoffs. So I stopped and played NS.
Now I have nothing interesting to play but NS. I think I will buy the Half Life Orange Box in the 3-month break. Team Fortress 2 looks good. And there are a few zombie mods for HL2.
Just ordered about 8 books from acmabooks.com. Got the 23% discount, but still it cost me $121. All the books but Nineteen Eighty Four cost about $12 each. 1984 alone costs $25. It's a very good book after all.
Think I have typed this before in a previous rant, but Fantasy and Sci-fi books have the longest shelf-life. These books can be popular in any year, as long as the book is in a language that people can understand. I guess those would be the best genre for young writers to go for, because despite their long shelf-life, they rarely become as popular as other genres. It's like a long and steady momentum, while thrillers and mysteries usually start damn well but lose their momentum after many years.
Just look at The Lord of the Rings. It was very popular back when it was first published. It got popular again in the past decade. It will probably rise back into the bestseller lists before I die.
Seriously tired of sleeping on the friggin hard bed. After they changed the mattress in my hall, it felt like I was sleeping on the floor, except cleaner. Can't sleep until about 4am every time even if I feel tired at 2. Now I am drastically reducing the number of nights I spend there. My roomie's happy because he get to bring his gf over whenever I'm gone. I am happy because I sleep much better at home.
Somehow I cannot stand hard mattresses. Soft and lump ones are fine, but I don't have back pain yet to need hard ones. Probably got used to soft mattresses in the army. Especially those that they used for guard duties in Tekong.
Need to think about where to go in the 3-mth break.
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