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Yep. More thoughts to follow. Just had to get this up.
October 1, 2009
Ann Coulter is a Moron
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Ok, I think you know where I am going with this. For starters, Ann Coulter has a lot of haters out there, and I’m probably one of them. The biggest thing I despise about her is that she comes off as if she knows she’s right about everything, and that kind of attitude is disrespectful, and rude, so if people hate her, that’s her own damn fault.
But she appears to be okay with that, because she still acts like a moron, in spite of the fact her attitude, is probably causing most of her problems.
Second, I’m sick of the argument that “the left is just as whacked up as the right is, so it evens out.” That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Not because I think it’s incorrect, but because people ALWAYS choose sides. My dad defends his undying loyalty to the Fox News Network by saying MSNBC is just as bad, only they are in favor of the left. Of course, this doesn’t stop him from watching Fox, nor does it seem to cause him to tune into MSNBC to prove this point, and (heaven forbid) provide a balanced amount of information.
But, bigger then all of this, is the fact that Republicans think they are king shit and that everyone is out to get them. Think about that. They think they are king shit, and everyone is out to get them. How the hell are those two things possible at the same time? The way I see it, if you are a supporter of the Fox News Party (I mean Republican Party), why do you feel threatened by anyone else? Also, why do Fox’ viewers need to be told about all the ratings Fox gets? Are people that insecure that they only want to watch what gets the most ratings? Is THAT what matters to people? That other people watch this shit too?
Anyway, getting back to this video, it’s kind of difficult to see just how insecure Ann Coulter’s is with her political views. I mean, how serious can you be when your argument is “they pulled it from the bill! It must be true! Death panels are real!”
What did Sarah Palin even mean by “death panels” anyway? I mean if a group of people gather to discuss anything, I guess it could be described as a “panel.” And if they are talking about death, then I guess that’s a “death panel.” But something as simple as calling a group of people discussing the topic of death a “death panel” shouldn’t cause any headlines.
So let’s look at what Sarah Palin actually said:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”
Umm, what?
“Bureaucrat: an official who works by fixed routine without exercising intelligent judgment.” (that sounds like Sarah Palin to me!!! 
)
So let’s see if I can translate this well enough: she’s saying that Obama has (or is proposing to have) his own panel that will discuss the topic of death comprised of officials who work by a fixed routine without exercising intelligent judgment to decide if certain individuals have a high enough ‘level of productivity in society,’ and therefore, deserve health care (aka deserve to live).
I think that was a pretty accurate assessment of what she was trying to say, right?
So let’s see if there is any evidence to support this claim (other then the insanely stupid “they pulled it from the bill, it must be true!” argument)
Oh, you mean, there is nothing in the bill that determines ANYTHING regarding when to kill patients? I mean nothing? You can prove nothing exists right? Oh I forgot, it’s kind of hard to prove nothing is there.
Anyway here is what got Palin in such a bad mood. Feel free to read it yourself. But I don’t see anything in there that dictates that anyone has control over when to give up trying to save someone, other the person who the decision is to be made for. Personally I think this is a GREAT thing. I don’t think this is a neutral thing, and certainly not a bad thing, or an ‘evil’ thing.
Considering words like “beneficial” are being thrown around seems to lead me to believe this is a good thing. I mean, making a living will is not a bad thing. If I want them to do everything they can to save me, then BY LAW they are required to do everything they can to save me!
Now, if I make a living will that says they shouldn’t do anything other then X, Y, and Z, then they ought to follow that as well. The real issue as far as I can tell is whether or not the choice is removed from the person whose life is hanging in the balance. And this is not happening.
So, case closed.
Now, as far as Sarah Palin being so popular, well there’s not much I can say about that. But Sarah Palin’s tweet didn’t get all the attention it did because all the democrats are reading her Twitter account, it’s because all the republicans are talking about it.
Just another delusional argument where she thinks “everyone is talking about it! That means they like me!” As if.
Oh yeah, is it just me or does Ann Coulter hackle like a witch?
September 29, 2009
PSP CFW (aka Custom Firmware)
So, the other day I got my hands on a pandora battery. I have owned a PSP for almost two years now, as I got it shortly after I got a job in San Fransisco, in February 2008. I needed something to occupy my time while I was on the trains from Belmont up the peninsula to the city.
I used that PSP for everything! My favorite thing for me to do was to play Road to the Show mode on MLB 07: The Show. Usually I could play a couple of games before BART would drop me off at The Embarcadero subway station. I would also use this nifty machine to simply listen to music as I watched the scenery go by. The best thing it did for me, though, was to block out the noise. Those trains are LOUD!! It’s hard to hold a conversation, especially inside a tunnel. (And yes, those trains are really, really, long).
For months this little device was used to play games like Patapon, MLB The Show, and Star Wars. The whole time, though, I wished it could do more. I knew it had the ability to play PSone games, but those required downloads, and cost at least $10 each, and that was the only way to do it.
I knew it had things like Skype, and internet radio (and hell even the internet itself with its web browser), but none of these things mattered because I had no wi-fi access on the trains.
Eventually, I got a new job, and didn’t ride the train anymore. The PSP just kind of sat there, unused for a few months. Whenever I went home to see my parents, I would bring the PSP with me on the plane and watch a couple of movies on there. This was great, especially considering the audio jacks on planes suck.
But, ultimately, my PSP just was too difficult to find any means to use it. Usually if I was not in a position to play xbox at home, I wasn’t in a position to play anything, even if I had it on me.
I knew that people had been hacking their PSP’s for some time now, but I never figured it would be worth the effort to try to do this myself. When I saw that people had to cut their batteries all to hell, I decided I wanted no part of that.
Recently I found out that I had updated my PSP just one firmware too many, as TIFF support was needed to allow for a hack that didn’t involve a Pandora battery. Damn it, I thought. Then, I found this little exploit regarding Medal of Honor: Heroes. Unfortunately, here I realized that nothing was to be gained, since this was essentially a proof of concept, and no real installer actually was in place as of yet.
Once I realized that PSP’s were so popular to hack, I started to look into what I could do with a hacked PSP. Once I realized that there was so much I could do, I decided it was worth a small investment to attempt to get my PSP loaded with Custom Firmware.
I saw many ads for Pandora Battery Buys, and decided that their site looked legitimate enough to merit buying a pre-modified battery from them.
Their site said that it would ship within 1-3 days, and that it should arrive within 7. I was worried after the first week, I had heard nothing from them. They didn’t give me a tracking number or anything. Fortunately, after 2 weeks it arrived. I was surprised (yet not surprised) to find that the package had arrived straight from Hong Kong. I didn’t care too much, I just decided to plop the battery right in.
After a couple of tries, I realized that I needed to press the left trigger button as I plopped the battery into it’s slot, and presto, the installer showed up!
After it’s 2 minute installation, I immediately went to the computer and started downloading everything I could. The first thing I did was download all the emulators I could get my hands on.
At the moment I have these emulators on my PSP:
I downloaded Final Fantasy VII too, and have gotten 1 hour into that game as well. So far, everything has worked great! All the emulators are working great, and the Gameboy Advance emulator is the sweetest piece of coding I have seen in quite some time. If any of the other emulators get to that quality, then I think the PSP will rule the world.
I have had no problems getting NFL Quarterback Club up and running, as well as Ice Hockey on the NES emulator (which is ridiculously fun. If you have 15 minutes and your PSP with you, it’s hard to think of a better way to spend your time), and I have had no problems with Final Fantasy.
All in all, I’m extremely happy with my decision to mod my PSP. The emulators are small, as well as the games. The emulators take up all told about 100 megabytes which is VERY modest (including the handful of games I have on there), and Final Fantasy only takes up 1.3 GB, which is great considering that it comes on 3 discs normally for the PSone.
If you are on the fence about whether to mod or not, just decide if it is worth it to yourself. If you are on the fence like me, and hardly ever use your PSP, then I can’t imagine a better way to upgrade your hardware.
I’d love to keep chatting, but it’s time for me to go to bed! Actually, time to play more ice hockey!
September 15, 2009
Greatest Comeback Ever?
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Was this the greatest Patriots comeback of all time? Was this even Tom Brady’s greatest comeback?
We know about all the heroics that went on in the three Super Bowls, but those last-second kicks by Adam Vinatieri prevented overtime. They were not come-from-behind drives.
This, however, was one HELL of a comeback.
After 3 quarters of mediocre play, the Patriots were down a touchdown, 17-10. This was not looking good. Tom Brady had one interception returned for a touchdown early in the game, and the Bills offense seemed to have its way with the Pats defense. The Pats managed to limit the amount of yards the Bills had, though, and they managed to force 4 punts.
The real trouble the Pats had was with their offense. The pick-6 that Tom Brady threw added to the total 17 points the Pats defense gave up. There were two fourth down plays, and both failed to convert the first down. There were 5 stalled drives, two of which resulted in the aforementioned turnover on downs, one punt, and the other two resulted in field goal attempts, one of which was missed.
Combine that with the turnover and the Patriots were quite behind.
With 5:38 left on the clock in the 4th quarter, the Bills scored their last points of the game, to take the lead 24-13. Then “The Comeback” happened.
Tom Brady led the team on a masterful drive down the field, going 9-for-11, finishing the drive with a 18 yard bullet pass to Ben Watson down the middle of the field for their first touchdown of the second half.
With the score 24-19, the Pats wisely went for two points, but failed to convert, leaving them greater then 3 points behind, and forcing the Patriots to score a touchdown to escape defeat.
In a somewhat surprising move, Stephen Gostkowski boomed the ball down 3 yards into the end zone, and the Bills returner, Leodis McKelvin returned the ball out to about the 20 yard line before he was stood up by Brandon Merriweather. At this point the amazing happened: Brandon Merriweather stripped the ball! In a flash, Stephen Gostkowski jumped into the pile of players and emerged with the ball! The Pats were back in business with 1:56 on the clock, and 3 timeouts left, at the Bills 31 yard line.
This was all the time Tom Brady needed, as he connected with Ben Watson yet again with :50 on the clock.
After another missed 2 point conversion attempt, the Bills returned the kickoff to their own 21 yard line. The first play from scrimmage resulted in a 19 yard pass to Terrell Owens, to their own 40 yard line. The Bills then took their 2nd timeout of the half. At this point, the Pats defense stepped up to the plate, and took the game over.
Derrick Burgess tackled Trent Edwards for no gain on 1st down, costing the Bills their last timeout, as they ran 9 seconds off the clock before they made up their mind. On 2nd down, the bills threw and incomplete pass, leaving 24 seconds on the clock.
On third down and 10, the Bills ran their receivers deep, but the Pats pressure was too much, and Trent Edwards was sacked for a loss of ten yards.
The Bills managed to get the snap off just in time to complete a short pass up the middle, but they didn’t advance far after trying to lateral a few times. The Patriots had completed their comeback.
Obviously the play of the game was the kick return that the Bills fumbled, and it was an amazing special teams play, but the ability for Tom Brady and the offense to fight through their ‘funk’ was refreshing to see. They managed to run their two-minute drill to perfection, and managed to do in 5 minutes what had eluded them all game.
All told this was an amazing victory for our local boys, and we look forward to the match up next week against the Jets. Hopefully Jerod Mayo’s knee injury isn’t season-ending, as he did not come back after his injury early in the game. I’m expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.
We shall see. Jets fans, you are going to be sorry.
August 10, 2009
The State of New Hampshire Hates Me
So yeah, the New Hampshire DMV sucks. We all know this, right? Well, not me. I thought I knew this, but in reality I had NO IDEA.
Let me start my story on Thursday, the 6th of August, just 4 days ago. Since I have moved back to New Hampshire full-time, I needed to update my license and get registered in New Hampshire. Thinking I only needed my old license and maybe a birth certificate to prove I am who I say I am, I thought I was prepared.
I went in and filled out the stupid form and waited in line. And waited, and waited, and waited. Finally I get in and tell the two women (one of who was a police officer) that I was here to get a new license from out of state. They then proceeded to ask for 3 things – my old license (check), a 2nd form of identification (like a birth certificate, check), and a proof of residency (not check).
So, upset at myself that I missed this instruction prior to waiting in line, I went out to my truck to frantically search for some form of proof of residency.
The woman I spoke to gave me a sheet of paper and told me to get something “on the list.” This “list” has since become the bain of my existence.
Some examples of items on this list:
- car registration
- passport with my name and a NH address on it
- employment contract
There were others, but it’s the last one in my short list that was important to me.
After running to my truck, I looked frantically for anything that would pin the name “James Van Veen” to my address in New Hampshire.
Since I was planning on heading to work right after, I had my backpack that I bring into the office with me. In it, I happened to have the offer letter that was sent to me when I got hired a couple of months ago. It was within the 60 days they required, so I thought all was good. I had my “employment contract.”
I then ran back in and had to wait in line again, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after another half hour, I went in and talked to the same woman again and showed her my birth certificate and I gave her my offer letter. Within 2 milliseconds she told me “I can’t take this” like I had handed her a bag of frogs or something. She didn’t even want to look at it.
At this point I was confused and a little upset at her attitude, but whatever. I asked her the simple question, “Why not?” Her response: “Why not?” in a manner as if it was the stupidest question she had ever heard, “because it’s not on the list.”
Considering I felt like I knew more about what was going on then she did, I politely pointed out that in fact, “employment contract is on the list.” She then looked at the list that she felt she had memorized and came to the stunning realization that she forgot that one.
At this point she started to analyze the document and confirmed that the address listed on the form matched my name, and the address I was attempting to register for. She looked down and states plainly, “this isn’t an employment contract.” I asked her, “why not?” She had some response about signatures not being on the thing or whatever, but I was too pissed, either at that moment, or later to remember why she disqualified it.
So I left that day without a license not knowing I had just let go of my chance too easily.
The next day, armed with the knowledge from the day prior, since it was the day before my birthday, and since my mom had the day off, she decided to come with me. On the drive I was instructed to suck up to them, not to get upset about the absurdity of the day before, and there would be no problem.
Since one of the items on “the list” was to have a parent confirm I was living at that residence (which had no qualifiers by the way), and with all the other items I had (like lots of mail addressed to me, student loans and the like) I thought I was going to get it easy.
Once I get in, however, things went downhill fast. This day provided me with a new woman to talk to. One I hadn’t seen the day before. As soon as I show her my letters they tell me they are no good, not on the list.
Instantly mom arrives, and she plays the “parent” card. They play the card up their sleeves, saying since I am over 18 the parent part doesn’t matter. Yes, I know, they totally made that part up on their own on the fly.
So within 30 seconds they told me to get out and get something better. At this point they said I need to get my truck registered and that would work.
Of course getting my truck registered requires no proof of residency, just a title to the vehicle and money. So with that I can get a license, all the while never proving I lived in NH nearly as well as I had when I went to the DMV first.
I know this kind of story is not unique, and I can only imagine how much worse people have been treated, but I find it infuriating that the New Hampshire DMV basically won’t take mail addressed to me, opened or unopened, for purposes of establishing residency. By denying my letters and employment offer sheets they are accusing me of mail fraud, and this should be dealt with one way or another. Either I live there, or I am committing fraud by both pretending to be this “other” person, and by stealing his/her mail.
These kinds of actions are reprehensible and are not tolerable from a government agency.
I know the New Hampshire DMV acted within their rights, but that doesn’t make them any less stupid. I am embarrassed on behalf of all New Hampshire residents that these police officers are still on the job. They may be the bravest people I have ever met, I have no idea, but nonetheless they “acted stupidly” (to quote Mr. Obama) by refusing to issue me a New Hampshire license.
It’s a crummy world at the moment. People are suffering. Jobs are as scarce as they have been in 70 years, and burning gas going to and from a DMV 40 minutes away from you is not helping matters. People are coming home to their parents for shelter, and rental agreements, utility bills and the like are not being put in their children’s name.
If the DMV had any brain cells they would know this. But alas, I shall get my truck registered, and get my license another day.
I hope…
June 23, 2009
GAR, GameSpot!!!
JimmayVV – 0 inbox | 0 updates
“Your account has been suspended. You will be unable to post unless an administrator reviews your account. Check your private messages and/or moderation history for further details.”
Um, I have no private messages. I have no updates. I have no notices whatsoever as to why my account has been suspended, and no time frame as to when it will be back!
I have been unable to go to various pages that have awesome titles with basic “Error” messages, basically telling me I’m not allowed in (with no reason given). After having spent my $20 I was pissed, but whatever.
Now that I have found out my account has been suspended (without notice even!!), this is beyond infuriating. I check my e-mail for the account I signed up under and received no such message. Why did I even bother putting out such information as this?
ANYWAY…
Here is what I sent GameSpot:
What the heck is going on?”
I have no idea what the heck is going on with my account. I thought I paid for the account a little while ago, and never saw a single benefit from it. I never got a magazine for signing up (and paying btw) and have always been banned from any page that involves a forum (with me being greeted by an ugly ‘Error’ message).
This has been this way forever and am so upset I want to scream. But it was only $20 so whatever. But I know that it says my account has been suspended. I don’t know why. I have ZERO messages, and I have no PM in my inbox explaining the cause of my suspension. Please unfreeze my account and credit the account as a paid subscriber (the lesser of the premium accounts).
Thank you.
- James Van Veen
Let’s see how long it takes for them to tell me to shove off 
I’m not expecting miracles. I just want a fully-functioning account
May 1, 2009
Gay Marriage
Ok, so based on the title of this post, and these four cartoons, I’m sure you know I am going to tackle this completely hot-button topic of gay marriage. I’m willing to do this because I don’t think anyone reads my blog .
Seriously, though, I feel like I need to write this crap down, so at least I can sleep at night knowing my voice is out there, even if the noise is tremendous. I can’t make people listen to me, and I can’t make them even hear me, but I can type, so I will do that.
To get the obvious out of the way, I don’t think for one second, or one fraction of a second, that gay people should not be allowed to be married. Or, actually more to the point, I don’t think they should be treated any differently then straight people.
Here’s the issue I have from a philosophical perspective: why are we so tolerant as a society with people having different religious beliefs then ourselves (so long as our ‘different’ beliefs are not about flying planes into buildings at least), yet we are unable to allow people to behave in their own ways when it does not affect any person’s fundamental right to life, liberty, and property?
Last I checked, those are the ‘Big 3′ things that matter when it comes to laws. Mainly if you infringe on someone else’s life, liberty, or property, then that action is illegal.
That’s all fine and good, but since when did two gay people getting married infringe on that? Ever? I don’t think so. The way I see it, every single person who is against gay marriage has some personal reason why they think it is ‘wrong.’ I have not seen a single valid reason as to why it’s wrong otherwise.
The most convincing argument I have heard has been about the kids and what they learn in school. Parents don’t want their kids learning about people being allowed to marry someone that is the same sex as them. These parents are ‘outraged’ that their innocent 2nd-grade kids learn this stuff.
Here’s the problem I have: why the hell are the parents not outraged that the topic of marriage comes up at that age in the first place? Are these parents really in the mood to get their kids thinking about marriage that young, so long as it follows their own moral standards?
I don’t know why schools talk about this stuff at all, ever. There is enough time in the day for the most important teachers in the world (the, um, PARENTS) to teach this stuff to their kids. No school should tackle the subject at all, gay or straight.
So if anyone should be outraged about something, it should be about marriage being talked openly to kids at that age in general, let alone the specifics.
That makes me secure in feeling that anyone who uses the veil of the kids learning crap the parents don’t want them to learn, is a shoddy excuse at BEST.
Basically I keep coming back to the same thing: gay marriage hurts no one. Everyone loves the idea of separation of church and state, as do I, yet people have one hell of a time understanding what that means.
The separation basically means societies’ ideals are secondary to what is fair. Some religions may not want men and women to ever speak to one another, but no way will a law exist that will allow that to happen, because that is not fair. The fairness wins out, always (or at least is supposed to) over what some people want.
No one is campaigning for a law to exist that disallows women and men from speaking to each other because it is absurd. No one thinks it is right, because it’s not.
So whether you think gay people should be allowed to get married or not is irrelevant. The real issue is that some people can get married, and some people can’t.
This isn’t about taking some test, like a driving exam, and it isn’t like getting a fishing license. This about immediately being disqualified from a civil contract simply because of who you are in relation to the other party.
The bottom line for me is people should not be treated differently. I have no issue with people thinking gay marriage is wrong. I don’t have a problem with that line of thinking. I have a problem, though, with that fundamental majority opinion being expressed as law.
No matter how you slice it, this is discrimination. You can argue about it until you are blue in the face, but it is discrimination. No getting around it.
There are two things you can do about it. First, if you feel so strongly about it, ban marriage as a whole. For the purposes of law, ban marriage. Keep it in your own church. No one will care, because you get married based on you loving this other person to death, right? Not for the tax benefits, right?
So under the law you shouldn’t care too much if NO ONE could get married. Yet, if you DO care about the tax benefits, and benefits of the sharing of money, and power of attorney and all that other fine stuff, well then legalize it for everyone, and call it something else!
Second, call all traditional marriages ‘civil unions’ and all gay ‘marriages’ as ‘civil unions’ too. That way everyone is on equal ground legally, and everyone who thinks the word ‘marriage’ is too special to share can sleep at night too.
It’s sad that it might require that to legalize same-sex marriage, but whatever. If that’s what it would take to make everything equal, then I’m for it.
These are just my philosophical beliefs. But I feel that laws have already been written that make banning same-sex marriage illegal.
Essentially I think all those civil-rights movements just might have been enough to apply to this kind of discrimination too. I know that there were civil rights movements to allow women to vote, and to allow black people to vote, and basically to allow black people to do anything white people could, and in the process, I think they left things open-ended enough to make banning same-sex marriage illegal.
Obviously, this has been tough to prove, as it has been damn near impossible to legalize it. But here are a few points I think support my position.
More specifically: the Equal Protection Clause. I don’t understand how banning same-sex marriage does not violate this fundamental part of the Fourteenth Amendment. Granted, it doesn’t say “gay marriage is legal”, but how is banning two same-sex people from entering a simple contract ‘equal protection’? This is not equal protection! It is no more equal then banning inter-racial marriage!
Come on, America, wake up! This is sheer stupidity, and just wrong. Like I said, I don’t blame people for not liking gay marriage, and I don’t blame people for wanting to avoid it. I’d prefer complete tolerance, but some people are just inherently intolerant. It’s sad to see, but whatever.
We can do better then this. We can be fair about this. Banning gay marriage is wrong on so many levels, it’s just stupefying. I still can’t see how legalizing gay marriage negatively impacts kids or anyone for that matter in any way that can’t be corrected by other means.
As for the kids in school example: like I said, don’t talk about marriage at all and you’re all set, no worries. There are far scarier things out there then gay people, and it’s time we let gay people have their peace.
If you are truly a good and noble person, as I think all religions demand of their followers, allow gay people peace of mind and soul. Let God deal with them when they get in heaven. We humans are in no position to prohibit certain people from marrying people. Let God deal with them.
I, for one, won’t do this, for reasons that I could write a whole article about separately, but it’s the right thing to do.
We are America. We are better then this. Let’s show it.
April 30, 2009
Galcon – [PC]
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Galcon is a rather simple game that can be played on your own, or online with up to 12 players on any number of teams.
I first got introduced to Galcon by Robin and the fact that it was so easy to pick up and understand was great. It was a rather simple game, with simple objectives, and simple rules. It is the type of game that is fun just like Minesweeper or Solitaire is.
Basically in multi-player mode, the host chooses various options, like how many planets a player starts with, and what size the planet is, and various other options. In single player mode these options are predefined based on the mode you choose.
Simply put, Galcon starts everyone with the same identical type of planets for the most part. Usually your planet will generate 100 ships per minute. You can use these ships to capture other planets. Each planet on the screen has a value. The bigger the planet, the more ships it produces when it is captured.
At the start of the game usually there are many, many planets that have no affiliations. These are most likely your primary targets. These planets have big numbers on them which indicates the amount of ships you need to capture it. When you send ships, they basically sacrifice themselves until the planet is captured. Once the planet is captured, all the ships that you send to your own planet will simply be put in reserve on the planet. This adds up quickly when you factor in the amount of ships the planet itself produces.
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Enemy planets do not indicate how many ships are located on them as the neutral planets do, so when you feel your army is strong enough to attack a planet, you must choose wisely.
If you strike early on, you can tell if a planet is strong or not, based on the amount of ships the enemy needed to sacrifice to capture the planet, and based on how many ships he sent.
Strategy is key when it concerns this game. For the most part, the person with the most planets at any given time has the lead and should win. But replenishing ships is not instantaneous, and if one player has 4 planets with next to no ships on them, and the other player has 3 planets with 30 on them, the second player can just pick off the enemy one at a time.
Defending planets is the same thing as capturing. Basically you need to have more ships there then the enemy. If he sends more than you have there when he arrives, then the enemy will capture the planet.
It is a fast paced game that can usually end a round in about 5 minutes or less. As you have seen on these videos, my rounds are around 1 minute 
.
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Online can be a bit more tactical. Ultimately you need to befriend someone in order to win, or you must be very lucky. Skill can only take you so far, as ultimately it is a numbers game. Simple math. Player X produces 400 ships per minute in total, you produce 200 ships per minute; well you would need to capture more planets before he captures your or you will be toast.
Galcon has basic chat in the game so you can talk to players online as you fight them, and you can even designate yourself to watch mode, so you can view a match in progress without participating. You are not excluded from the chat, however.
Ultimately my opinion of this game is tied directly to its cost. This is a fun little game, with a large price tag, and is ultimately why it is not everywhere.
This game costs $20, [EDIT: This game is now only $7.95] which is what 1-2 year old PC games cost nowadays, and there is MUCH better bangs for your buck. Considering this developer used an open-source game engine, gives it yet another thumbs-down.
Being able to use the game in trial mode is nice and all, and all things considered, you aren’t missing much by refusing to buy it, as the trial allows you to play online. The single player features are simply different scenarios. There is no campaign, no story. Just various starting scenarios and that’s it. The game play does not change.
Galcon Review Scores:
| Categories: | Ranks: |
|---|---|
| Graphics: | 6 |
| Sound: | 5 |
| Multiplayer: | 8 |
| Single Player: | 6 |
| Features: | 2 |
| Average: | 5.4 |
April 22, 2009
This Week: Boston 6, World 0
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Well continuing the theme from Monday, Boston has another 3 win day on our hands.
Granted, this day only had 2 teams involved, but still a good day all around for our hometown boys.
The Red Sox got things started with a rout of the Twins in Game 1 of a doubleheader; a game which Tim Wakefield was sharp. He surrendered only one run over 7 innings. Rookie catcher George Kottaras had a good game, too, as he didn’t have any passed balls. A wild pitch on a Wakefield curveball was the only thing that made it to the backstop.
The Sox offense was more than enough as they pounded two-run home runs in each of the first three innings.
The bottom of the 7th saw 4 more men reach home before the tarp was called on the field with one out and men on 2nd and 3rd. This proved to be the way the game ended.
10-1, final.
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The second game I didn’t see much of, other than Papelbon getting a good outing in at the end of the game.
David Ortiz had a good day between the two games. He went 2-for-4 with a double in the first game, and went 1-for-4 with a double in the second game. His batting average is now .220.
Brad Penny went 6 innings surrendering 3 runs, while the bullpen has continued to be a real strength giving up 0 runs the rest of the way.
The Red Sox continue to roll; they have an off day tomorrow before they take on the Yankees this weekend.
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As for the day’s only playoff game, the Bruins, and American’s as a whole, were delighted to hear the crowd relatively quiet during the national anthems as they finally realized what ‘respect’ is all about.
Montreal scored quickly on the first shift of the game to grab the momentum quickly. Montreal fed off the energy of the crowd for the next couple of shifts before the Bruins managed to even out the momentum a little halfway through the period.
With under 3 minutes left a charging David Krecji stormed the net and forced Montreal to make a bad turnover right in front of Carey Price, and former Canadien Michael Ryder buried the shot over Price’s right shoulder to tie the game at 1.
With under a minute left in the period, the Krecji line again dazzled Montreal as Krecji won inside position on his defender against the wall just inside the offensive blue-line, to form an instant 2-on-1. He slid the puck over to Ryder, who hesitated, drew Price to his side, and fed the puck to a now wide-open Krecji who put the biscuit into the empty net to take a late 2-1 lead.
A mad scramble in the final seconds almost resulted in a Montreal goal as the Bruins were caught running around but Big-Z blocked a shot from the left point that was destined for a wide-open net as the horn sounded.
The 2nd period saw the Canadiens and their fans tense up a little. Phil Kessel took a penalty for slashing, which was subsequently expertly killed by the Bruins. Patrice Bergeron grabbed the puck just as Kessel stepped out of the box, and fed a beautiful pass off the boards to send in Kessel on a breakaway and he proceeded to pound the puck low to the right of Price to bring the Bruins up to a 3-1 lead.
With the momentum clearly in Boston’s favor, the next shift for the Krecji line saw yet another beautiful play that saw Ryder score off a beautiful pass by Krecji off the left circle only 45 seconds after the previous goal. This 4-1 lead was all they needed.
The third period saw the Bruins slow the game down at times, and handle Montreal’s pressure. Things got chippy as Mike Komisarek decided he was manly and went after Milan Lucic high with his stick, and was told to take a shower, as he was assessed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct.
The Bruins failed to score, but they managed to keep Montreal at bay as the nastiness wore out, resulting in the all-too-pretty handshake procession in the middle of the ice.
The Canadiens raised their sticks at the end of the game in thanks to their fans, but they were perhaps on the verge of getting run out of the building.
A good day. A very good day yet again.
Oh, and the Rangers won too. One more win for them and we will face the #7 team in the next round, and at the same time not have to worry about the Capitals. This night keeps getting better.
April 21, 2009
Patriots Day Massacre: Boston 3, World 0
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First things first I had to put up Game 2 of the Bruins-Canadiens series up since I missed it last time. Once again I poached this video off of ESPN.com.
I hope they don’t mind, since they make it more than possible to link to their videos and I am not passing these off as my own and I am not utilizing any of their bandwidth or storage space.
In regards to my post, though, today was a terrific day. The Red Sox had perhaps their best game of the season while they demolished the Orioles 12-1, the Celtics had a tough matchup with the Bulls once again, but held on for a dramatic 118-115 victory in Game 2 of their series, and the Bruins have grabbed the Canadiens by the throat in Game 3 and are well on their way to their first series win in 10 years.
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The Red Sox started VERY early, 11 am EST which is just ridiculously early in pacific time. I don’t think I even woke up until the game was over. But it seems as though, judging from that highlight that Justin Masterson was brilliant, and even Big Papi got in the mix and had a good game for the first time this season.
Big Papi has not looked good at all this season, and based on what I have read, it seems like it’s a mechanical issue. What do I think? I don’t know. I have never hit a home run in baseball so I haven’t the knowledge to see what is wrong. But if the team and David Ortiz are happy, I’m happy.
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The Celtics I didn’t get the chance to see either, but I guess it was amazing . My dad tells me it was an amazing shot, and it does in fact look to be quite amazing. I wish I had seen it, but I was just finishing up watching the Bruins and didn’t have the chance.
I hate to say it, but not having KG has really bummed me out. I didn’t think they stood much of a chance to win even with KG (Cleveland just looks SO good), but now without them, I’d be surprised if they win more than this series.
There is no guarantee they even win this series. It’s just a lot to hope for.
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As for the game of the night, in my opinion, Boston has all but clinched this series, and have looked dominant in the process.
While watching this game, I was disturbed to see (well, actually, hear) all those Canadians booing our national anthem. It’s honestly a disgrace to hear such a thing. I don’t know why they boo, I don’t know if they are trying to send a political statement, but the only thing it tells me is I should dislike Canadians.
So that got me started hating their fans from the very start.
Going forward, at the start of the game, though, those same fans got LOUD. I know the arena holds about 4,000 more people then the TD BankNorth Garden, but JEESH, they are loud.
But after Montreal scored forst, all 21,000 fans instantly shut up as Phil Kessel redirected a beauty of a shot to tie the game at 1 after a bad turnover by Montreal at their own blue line.
Turnovers seemed prevalent for the Bruins, as it seemed Boston turned the puck over at a staggering rate.
The Bruins survived the onslaught of the first period tied at 1, and proceeded to take a 2-1 lead on a terrific effort by the newly-inserted Byron Bitz (in for the suspended Milan Lucic, who had no right to be suspended in my opinion), as Bitz turned the puck around the back boards and found an open Shawn Thornton which proceeded to get buried in the top-left corner of the net.
In the second half of the period, the Bruins got caught running around a bit and took two bad icing calls, the second of which resulted in Montreal’s 2nd goal off the ensuing faceoff.
Rebounding from that disappointment, however, the Bruins had great side-to-side action as the Bruins had two shots from the point rebound to the opposite side of the net, the 2nd rebound leading to Ryder’s wide-open net to shoot at.
At this point I have never heard 21,000 fans so quiet. It was amazing to me just how loud they got when they thought a penalty should be called (namely, whenever a Montreal guy flopped on the ice, which was all the time), yet at the same time they shut right up after that Ryder goal.
They had a couple of “Let’s go Habs” chants, and a couple spells of boos for Zdeno Chara, but overall they seemed silent. I don’t remember the Bruins fans being that quiet during any of their games, and I can only assume Montreal fans were crying themselves to sleep. No other explanation.
In the end, the Bruins hung on and Chuck Kobasew iced the game with a well-deserved empty-net goal for a guy who brought his ‘A’ game. Chuck was a presence all night with high energy, physical play.
Overall I thought the Bruins did well as they performed a LOT better then I expected under the circumstances. I can remember many games where the atmosphere would crush the Bruins.
Perhaps the Bruins were just that good. Maybe we would have shut them out and the crowd earned them those two goals. Who knows? But either way, it’ll require a miracle for Montreal to force a Game 6. I don’t expect the Bruins to win Game 4, but there is no way the Bruins will lose at home after that.
It was a good day for a celebration. Celebrating the commencement of our Declaration of Independence, and doing it in style!
Twitter: JimmayVV
- http://bit.ly/drrSfb Holy. Crap. This is huge
- http://bit.ly/bLq4JF This is why I don't watch the Oscars
- Whatever you do, don't watch a YouTube of turtles eating rats. Just gross
- here's what should happen to Carl: $100k fine & 50-100 pt penalty but no suspension. I expect a 50 point penalty, a modest fine & thats it
- @paladino4 yep. I saw that. I mean, c'mon. I wonder if NASCAR has the balls to suspend him ;)