More photos.

Here are some new photos I have taken recently. As always, click for bigger. Flicker also has some new photos as well. These are from my backyard.

Evil mosquitoes attacked me when I went outside for a bit.
I have got my PC set up to play my old PSX and PS2 games though.

Fuck Sony

PS3 Firmware 3.21 disables "otherOS" feature.

Yet another reason to stick with a PC. Who creates a consoles then removes functionality? Sony apparently.

Sure, you don't have to install the update, but then you can use PSN, play any games online, or even play newer PS3 games. Oh, blu-ray is out for anything new too.

Random pictures, all taken this month.

These birds where not shy, I have a photo of one of these birds an inch from a stepping shoe.

This one below is out of focus, but I thought it had an artistic look so I included it anyways.For some reason, paint shop pro doesn't include EXIF data when I resize the images. As allways click for bigger images. Don't forget that some of my images are on my flicker account only, or only on blogger.

Old drawings from my DS

WTF?

I went to the zoo today. When we got out I saw this.

So my sister got out her phone and looked phone to the local police station and called their number. She then told them that someone's car had been broken into, etc. They tell us we have to call 911. So we do, we give them the info again, and they tell us that because it isn't our car they won't send anyone out. So apparently, they think it is better to leave the car there for the crime scene to be fucked up and for someone else to do something else with it than come and check it out, find the owner, etc. So the moral of this story is that you should break into cars in Atlanta because the police don't give a shit.

Penny Arcade recently had a comic about piracy.

Alright. So, Ubisoft's new DRM. Supports unlimited installs and Cloud-based save data. Requires absolutely unbroken access to their master servers, or the product ceases to function. I can boil it right down for you:

Nobody wins.

Well, except pirates. Pirates always win, on a long enough timeline. Honestly, the timeline doesn't even need to be that long. [...]

Today they continued the discussion.

[...] For my part, I'm aware that people copy games - I was twelve once, after all - but the extent to which piracy is accepted as a valid ethos is absurd. It's considered the appropriate response to so many scenarios that the notion of it as an outgrowth of any coherent ethical framework is hilarious. It's so, so rad when people tart up their nihilism. [...]

So, I figured I would put out my thoughts on when piracy is appropriate.
- You own the game, but need a cracked copy because the DRM prevents you from installing it.
- The game is no longer sold. Some older games can be bought, but others can't. I don't see how anyone loses money if you can't buy the game anyways. Some sites like GOG.com sell older games DRM free, and steam* also has some older games. Still there are a lot that you just can't get, they aren't worth the marketing cost.

In any case, if someone puts on so much DRM that it interupts my gaming, then their product isn't worth my time.

*Steam uses DRM, but it doesn't do fuck anything up, and games with 3rd party DRM are clearly labeled so you can avoid them.

Snow!?!?!?!

It snowed in georgia! (georgia doesn't get capitalized because it is a sucky state.)
You can see some pictures on my flicker account.