Loved Mass Effect 2

Love it, just finished the main story, but here are my comments, suggestions, other gripes.

FYI: No Spoilers!  so it’s safe to read if you hadn’t played it.

For a game that requires TWO game discs, the game seems awfully short. I did all the loyalty missions, and a lot of other side missions. Though i did play for 3 days strait, with 28 hours total under my belt (plus i re-did about 5 loyalty missions, and played the ending twice). I didn’t really go ape-shit with boring mineral mining/scanning at all the planets I found.  Still it seemed rather short when most games of this magnitude take me at least a week to get though. Brutal Legend took me longer.  There must be more missions if I go out and scan every planet (I did buy more star charts at Illium.)

Leveling seems a bit slow.  Seems like I have to play the game twice to reach level 30 (for that achievement). There doesn’t seem to be enough content, or any “grinding” to do to level up (I don’t think mining gives XP does it?). Plus my imported gave save from ME1 only started me off at level 2?  Come on… 2?

I use a sniper rifle a lot, and when taking cover, it keeps zooming when I use a biotic power. Doesn’t matter if I use the power wheel, or a mapped button on my controller, it zooms every time I have my sniper rifle quipped while taking cover. It also zooms when I blind fire my sniper rifle (ie Fire w/o pulling left trigger to zoom) while taking cover.  It should ONLY ZOOM when I’m pulling on left trigger! Annoying!

While on the subject of zooming; the Sniper Rifle almost never zooms in on the direction I’m already looking at.  I know it’s following a target that’s framed in the red brackets, but  that should only apply to biotic powers, and giving orders. Not weapon zooming since most of the time those targets are taking cover behind a wall, so I am off to the side waiting for them to pop their head out for a head shot.  So often when I zoom I end up eyeballing some wall or the side of a crate, not aimed at what I was expecting to see, and I get disoriented.. and then I become an open target.  Not fun.

Can someone PLEASE update Miranda and Jacob’s AI so they don’t run into my fucking line of fire, and then BITCH at me for shooting them? (Shepard cockslaps Miranda)

Why can’t I re-map what the Y button does?  If I can re-map which biotic powers the left and right bumpers do, why not the yellow Y button? I rarely ever used that biotic power (invisibility) be better off using it for something else.

When scanning planets for minerals, it would nice if the scanner marked where I had already scanned, so we can be thorough with scans, and not double scan over the same spots.

The “scars” on my characters face look stupid.  I thought there was some sort of corruption when importing my Mass Effect 1 save game. I know it’s to show how much of a “renegade” I am.  My character is a flaming redhead, and it looks more like facial hair, or fresh scratch that is still bleeding.  A “scar” is wound that has healed up; not looking bloody/fleshy red and torn, like a STD.  Zaeed has some REAL scars. And why waste 50,000 on platinum for something that’s removes this. when it’s stupid to have in the game in the first place?

Speaking of 50,000 platinum, what’s the point of the element “full bars” showing how much you have, when you’re scanning planets?  It seems to top off when you get 25,000, so you get the impression you can’t have 50,000 of platinum in order to get the medical bay upgrade. There is no cargo hold upgrade in the game, as if you need one. However you can keep getting more and more; your cargo holds are apparently infinite.  I had over 100,000 on one of the elements.. so what’s the point of them being “full” at 25,000 when you can keep acquiring more?

That direction indicator you see when pressing down on the thumb sticks is often confusing.  It will point in one direction, then you move barely an inch and it’s pointing in some completely opposite direction.

Why is it that my character changes her weapon to what I wasn’t holding in cutsceens? What’s worse, in some cutsceenes (especially towards the end of the game) she using an assault rifle, that I never quip at the start of the mission. Plus add to the fact MY CLASS DOESN’T ALLOW ASSAULT RIFLES! Nor did I pick assault rifle training when i was able to add another weapon skill (I chose shotgun).  Yet she some how pulls one out of her ass all of a sudden?

Joker is a fucking riot (Seth Green rules) “Oh shit!”  “Shit. shit, shit!” “What the Shit!” (At EDI) “Yeah, Thanks, Mom.”   Best Level Ever!

Wasn’t Joker a paraplegic in the first game? He’s walking (gimping) in this one. I thought they would have explained something about that…. Maybe I accidentally skipped that cutscene or something… or I’m just remembering ME1 wrong.

Lots of “shit” in Mass Effect 2, but why no F-Bombs in this game? Well better chance at seeing Miranda’s tits; you just know they did a full nude body scan of Yvonne Strahovski for this game. :p  (Update OOPS Jack drops a lot of F-Bombs!  my bad! Hours of playing makes you forget details!)

I collected ALL the ship models for my cabin, but there is no way to get a good closer look at them, and letting me know what they are. I have no idea what most of these ships are!

The choices for dialogue is misleading as to your Paragon and Renegade points. Many times I ask myself “what the hell did I say to get +2 Renegade?” when the responses I chose (and what Shepard says) seemed completely benign to me. I’ll see a pop-up showing +2 Renegade, just to see a +2 for Paragon right after, just seems so contradiction, when the net result of my conversation should have been neutral, but the character will still act slighted from the “renegade” response.  Not all of the Renegade dialogue choices seem all that bad, most of them I don’t come off as a bitch at all.

As for the Dialogue, why does the same old options appear over and over? Like after you finished the main story, you’ll still have conversions about “we will defeat the Reapers” even though you already had!  Any time you click on EDI’s console Shepard becomes retarded and asks, “What’s this room for?” for the umpteenth time. So how can I possibly pursue a relationship with anyone when all the dialog options are the same, even when I finished the main story?

I just can’t get laid.  I couldn’t get my sex on in the 1st Mass Effect, and I wasn’t able to score in ME2 this time.  What the shit?  Is it because I’m using a female commander Shepard, and I have to talk with male characters? I can’t get no hot lesbo action with Kelly or Miranda?

Kelly said she’d feed my fish, but I found then DEAD!  That lying bitch… and she never put out for me!

Docsis 3

I recently upgraded to 22Mbps via Comcast, got the new docsis 3 modem yesterday, however the new speeds weren’t apparent.  First after the new hardware was installed and running, i still had the same performance and IP address.  Usually the smallest hardware change will cause you to get a new IP address, but it didn’t this time. At best I was getting 17Mbps out of 22.

So i tried connecting my PC directly to the cable modem (which you should never do, it’s like having sex with out a condom, with an open wound on your penis, with a whore who hasn’t showered in a month)  Anyway to my supprise I was getting over 35Mbps speeds on a direct connection!  Holey shit! But this time I got a new IP address.

So, I reset my router to “factory defualt” setting, removing all the port forwarding and whatever else I had on it, even it’s MAC address to get a diffrent IP.  And it was getting something around 19Mbps.  I then decited to flash my firmware with Tomato (I had been using DD-WRT but they hadn’t updated anything in over 2 years) and now im getting 27Mbps. Yay!

I still don’t like Tomato firmware.  It’s bland to look at (well it is called tomato), confusing, and i can’t even find where to enable wireless encryption, or even change the SSID.  Oh wait nevermind I just figured that out!

Team Conan

NBC late night is fucked up. We already have enough late night talk shows as it is, and NBC keeps wanting to shove Leno down our throats, but in prime time, and they already have THREE late night talk shows or four if you count Carson Daily but it’s not exactly a talk-show format.

Most networks have maybe two M-F late night talk shows, and that’s all you need. All talk shows are basically the same thing anyway.  Celebs come on (half of them you never heard of), plug/hype whatever they are doing, and go on to the next celeb, and then a musical number at the end of the show.  Leno’s show is a bit different from this format, but not by much. It’s still the same stuff we get from Conan, Jimmy, Letterman, etc.

Because all talk shows are the same, most viewers don’t even bother watching more than the first two segments of a talk show. The same celebs, plugging the same over hyped movies, books, and music.  No one cares about that fluff; it’s not entertaining. Only the first two segments of a talk show are (usually) entertaining.

The more and you croud your time slots with yet MORE of the same thing, you just fester low quality television. NO show in prime time is a daily M-F show; that concept still seems insane to me, because people will get sick of it too quickly.. and guess what? People ARE sick of Leno.

I don’t want to rehash the events going on at NBC but obviously CoCo is getting fucked by this, as well as Jimmy who’s probably the most innocent of them all, and probably has the best show out of all three IMHO. (HEAD SWAP!)

Here’s my idea that NBC is welcome to steal. Don’t change the time slots for any shows, but turn Leno’s show into a WEEKLY show (say Friday), instead of being a thinly written, under produced, rushed-to-the-door daily show.

This will open up the 10pm slot for REAL programming (dramas) which is what a lot of TV actors are ticked off over because Leno took the enitre 10pm slot usually allocated for mature dramas, and also why you’re not seeing quality actors on Leno, instead we get talentless, fake celebs like Kim Cardashian, which just lowers Leno’s quality.  It’s a vicious cycle that NBC has put him in.

Since the show came back last September, the show is showing signs of being sells-outs from the get-go.  Sponsorships on every damn thing you see on the show.  Ford must be regretting having any doings with this show. And Leno him self, you can see the pain in his eyes and voice when he has to plug some stupid product in the middle of his already WEAK monologues.

I love Leno, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t need an overload of Leno on a daily basis.  Leno is spread too thin, a weekly show would give him and his writers to produce some GOOD material, instead of this flimsy half-baked jokes that any 10 year old can think up.

Hot Blooded

Ya know I was going to post another Douche Bags of the Year, I even wrote up a buncha words on the subject about the people who bother me on SL, but you know what? fuck it.

For the past three days I’ve had this fever, hovering around 99-101 degrees.  I also get the shakes too, as if I’m cold trying to warm up.  Taking advil to break the fever works every time, but then I get all sweaty.. icky sticky.

Now I’m coughing up some really disgusting tasting/melling ….something.  I don’t think it’s bile, but it smells like the cat litter if I neglect it for too long. It does smell like shit with stomach acids mixed in.  I don’t get that every time I burp or cough.  though i have noticed my stomach is really churning like I’m gonna have diarrhea.. though I haven’t had a BM in days, but I barely ate much in the last few days.

I’m wondering if I got some kina stomach worm, and that awful taste is the shit from that worm.  I dunno.. I do have a Dr. appointment next week but hopefully by then I’ll be over whatever this is.

Update about my eyes

I was able to see another doctor to check out my eyes this morning to make sure that the problem was since my last PRP on Friday. Turns out that my cornea was scratched during my surgery. Often PRP involes using an eyepeice stuck right onto your eye. Which I’ve had that done before but it never caused this.  Though he is a new doctor who probably wasn’t too familiar with my case. There is an alternative way of doing PRP by being reclined back while the doctor hovers over you doing the lasers by what seems to be freehand.  When i had the procedure last Friday the doctor was just about to lay be back, but I made a comment about using the table/head rack.  He said, yeah we can use that, and so we did.  My guess there was a reason why to do it this way because of the possible damage?

which explains why my vision is completely blurry, and should heal over time. A scratch or abrasion on your cornia will feel like as if there’s something in your eye when you close your eye lids. Which is what I’ve been feeling for days, and it’s been driving me crazy.

My eye is also very tender and it’s causing headaches. That is likely from the laser treatment it self. While the pain seems mild, I feel mopey and slow and I keep wanting to keep my eyes shut. Not that looking is painful it just seems stressful, and not looking at anything is much more comfortable. After taking some advil I’m back to my normal mood, but I still can’t see very well. The doctor also told me to that once my cornea heals it won’t change my new eye glass prescription I just got last week. So i should have 20/20 vision eventually once I get my new glasses, and when my cornea heals.

I’m almost typing nearly blind here since my right eye has many blind spots that my left eye would normally compensate for. Though it seems watching TV from 8 feet away on a 37″ LCD screen isn’t a problem (been watching reruns of House all weekend). But looking at my computer LCD from about one foot away is difficult. words/letters look warped and pinched, as well as numerous blind and fuzzy spots (likely due from past PRPs). I believe once my new glasses are here I’ll be able to see better on my right eye, since I was checked for both near and far sightedness. But i think my astigmatism had changed from my old prescription so near sightedness should improve.

The Doc gave me some eye drops to help prevent infection and I should be good to go. Once again I want to thank everyone who’s helped me out on SL giving me generous donations and moral support for all of this. For now I just gotta rest up, heal up (from both the scratch, and the laser treatment it self), and probably won’t be online SL all that often.

Don’t click the Envoy boobs!

Envoy advert with BOOBS!

Seen banner ads showing closeups of busty cleavage for a game called Evony? Don’t bother clicking the ad. You’ll never see these boobs out side of the banner ads. They are just there to lure male gamers into playing a so-called free MMORPG. If you want to see tits, just search for it on Google Image search.. duh!

The company that runs this game is linked to known asian gold farmers, and accusations that the game it self is a complete ripoff  of the game “Civilization” by Sid Meier. As well as being sued my Microsoft for Click fraud! Read about it here.

In case you’re wondering…

I’ve been absent from Second Life for a few days now.  I had another PRP laser surgery on Friday and it was a rather bad one.  While the surgery it self was rather routine compared too the dozen or so I’ve had in the past, but the recovery is taking much longer.

My left eye is very sore, scratched. and the vision in that eye is very blurry. Laser surgery like this usually involves placing an eyepiece right on your eyeball so that you can’t close your eye while the laser zapps away. According to another eye doctor I spoke with, it’s common and normal for some damage to occur, especially with diabetic patients who are prone to have more delicate eyes.  The initial problem I had with my left eye was the feeling that there was something in my eye, like an eye lash or some foreign material was in my eye causing my eye to tear up constantly, specially when I closed my eye I could feel a physical object against my eye lid. What it likely was is my cornea was scratched from the eye piece, and my eye lid could feel a ridge or bump from the scratch.  It’s now been two days later and I no longer feel this anymore, but my eye is STILL very sore, and my vision hasn’t cleared up yet.  Even now im having a hard time reading my own text on this blog, since my right eye isn’t so great anyway.  So please bare with my typos…

I’m also very sleepy and lethargic, and it’s causing referred pain from my eyes into headaches.  I’m also prone to want to keep my left eye closed, and not look up.  It’s like my body knows im injured and just wants to sleep to heal up.  So i have been sleeping a LOT but when i wake up i don’t feel like I’ve overslept.  Plus the fact my left eye feels more comfortable now is indication I’m healing rather than feeling like I’ve overslept.

It’s only because of three cups of coffee and popping advil that i have the energy to get on my PC, post and login. I can BARELY read anything on my screen, since my left eye is completely blurry, and my right “good” eye already has poor vision. Fortunately my far sightedness isn’t too bad, I can watch TV just fine, if I’m not feeling too sleepy.  I’ve been watching episodes of House, which is my favorite “procedural” drama series ever.  I just finished off the first season.  This is all I do while  I am awake.

I’m hoping that the soreness and the blurred vision clears up by the time I get my new glasses that I ordered this past week.  My biggest fear now is that the new prescription I got last week would be wrong now that my left eye is completely fucked up. Even if my left eye’s vision does clear up, it may have changed the persecution.

I’d also like to take this opportunity (since I have some energy) thank some of the people (1 peron so far) who has donated L$ for my new glasses. I did order them last week thought i’ve not paid for them yet (still waiting for LL to pay into my paypal account) and since im still in healing mode I won’t be online much.

Anyway coffee is wearing off and im getting that feeling i should goto sleep even though i just woke up.

I need new glasses

I’ve been procrastinating for over 4 years. The cheap-ass glasses I bought back in 2004 are now kaput.  If course my persciption changed like after 6 months after I got them, the left lense started to crack in the corner, and now it’s covering at least 1/3 of the surface.  Now these cheap-ass frames that i got from an online eye glasses place finally broke apart and I just need new QUALITY glasses.

Problem is, I can’t afford it.  I do have medical coverage but it doesn’t cover dental nor vision (well partly.. not glasses).  It is covering my laser eye surgeries but it’s not for corrective, it’s for preventive measures.  Has nothing to do with getting new glasses, which is ironic since it’s probably cheaper than the dozen or so PRP laser treatments and eye injections I’ve had already.

So I’m asking for help. If anyone out there is willing to donate to me via paypal (link below), whatever amount you’d like to help cover the costs of the eye exam and a new set of glasses.  I’ll be doing this regardless if anyone donates are not, the problem is that the only income i make is the whoring I do in SL, which is nice chunk of change, but nearly all of it goes towards groceries (food!)  but not just food for me.  It’s not really a lot of money.  I’m well below poverty level income-wise, but I don’t live alone (house, utilities, and most of the bills are covered by someone else).

I’ll try to see if i can work out some sort of payment plan for my new glasses.  though I’ll have to pay for the eye exam up front (about $100) or perhaps work out some package deal I can pay off over time for both the glasses and the exam.  We shall see.  Speaking of my eyes I’m due for yet more PRP laser surgery this Friday.  I just had the most painful laser surgery last Monday (7th) but the pain didn’t last (cept it turned into headaches).

So anyway, in a nutshell, I need some money to pay for new glasses (I’m near sighted) I’m guessing it will cost about $300+ for the eye exam and a new pair.  I have been using cheap-ass $60 pair for the past 5 years from an online place I got the made which I won’t make the same mistake again.

Please click the donate button below!

I also accept L$ donations in Second Life! Just find HUGSaLOT Valkyrie!

It’s hopeless

Obama Hopeless

Did we get change? I’m still waiting for something to be changed. You know a least one thing different since Bush left office.  Say increase in unemployment numbers, pulling troops out the middle east. Corporations not failing left and right. My bank not changing it’s name every 6 months. Maybe free health care that doesn’t end up costing more money in the long run.  You know something. Obama DID have a lot of great ideas.. and very common ideas that EVERYONE has. For example he was in favor of ending the war, just like 90% of the WORLD does, yet he gets a fucking nobel peace prize for it? So where’s mine?  I support ending the war in the middle east, and I haven’t done anything about that.  Oh wait, I didn’t announce that we will be sending in more troops into Afghanistan. Maybe that’s why i didn’t get my own nobel peace prize?

Some may say it’s gotten worse since Bush left office, but while I did vote for Obama, it seems to me he’s only maintaining the status quo.  The few things he did do to supposedly help the economy hasn’t done anything but get rich executives more money, as they continue to lay off more employees, and close down regional areas of their company, to maintain profits.  And yet more money we don’t have is flying out the white house, and capitol hill to 3rd world countries for no apparent reason, erecting statues in his honor.

The thing about all politicians isn’t that they lie during their election campaigns, as if they are full of shit; it’s just they don’t KNOW shit.  Once Obama came into office and was debriefed about all our country’s top secrets, conspiracies, the budget, and all the corruption that actually exists, had HAD to keep the status quo that Bush left him, or end up like JFK. That corruption has probably been brewing probably since World War II. After all a lot of the same people who are involved in politics back 50-60 years ago are STILL AROUND still pulling the strings on figure heads like public policy makers (president, congress, senate, etc.)

The president doesn’t really run the country, it’s his cabinet that advises him on what to do. Those people are then controlled by their own greed and competition wanting more control over the white house and the presidents ear; rather than working as a team.  In order for them to gain ground, they need more money.  More money than they earn as being a member of the president’s cabinet. So they make deals with congressmen and senators, who are back by the lobbyists (or they deal with Lobbyists directly) to work out deals to make more money, or work out deals for these lobbyists’ interest.

The war keeps going on because there’s money to be made doing so, regardless of the sacrifices our young men and women must endure. In an age were corporate penalties take precedent; always trying to improve the value of your company, regardless of what that may costs, so that your shareholders don’t sue you into oblivan if you don’t make a profit every quarter, is a serious problem in America.

Sure the concept of corporations is fine and dandy, but corporations can reach a critical mass of growth and profits. I don’t know if it’s because of greed, but when a company gets so big, it becomes it’s own liability when they end up cannibalizing themselves to maintain a constant, always improving profit margin, or be sued into oblivion by their share holders.  There’s little to no room for failure.  This is why Obama paid them out so that the shareholders won’t sue them and take the entire company down.  All of that money these corporations got didn’t save peoples jobs, it didn’t improve the products nor services that produce, and these companies are STILL FAILING.

What we need is a true overhaul to the way we do business.  Remove the threat in corporate law so when a business just loses profit, they aren’t jeopardizing so many people’s lives.  If a corporation does poorly, let them fail since the alternative is going to be much much harsher as we are already seeing today.  You’re better off closing down shop, rather than laying off half your work force, forcing your remaining employees to take up the slack, while also trying to improve your product and/or services.  It just doesn’t work, and it stresses the fuck out of everyone.  At the same time you’re being a HUGE drain on government resources when the government hands you a bucket of billions of dollars… which is money THEY DON’T HAVE.  Especially when they aren’t expecting that money to be paid back, even with out intrest.

Are we still in the worst economic depression since before WWII? Many of us are in debt our meager incomes barely cover the cost of living, while we max out our credit cards just to buy groceries for the family.  Ironically it was WWII that got us out of the depression back then. Because jobs were created to support the war effort, and American lives were rationed which in-effect lowered cost of living. But we have been this war for the past eight years (among others) and it’s not helped us, except fat-cat executives and bureaucrats.   But then again WWII was an actual DECLARED war by an act of congress; the last time they declared war was (I think) the Korean war.  We never declared war in Vietnam, and we had the energy crisis of the 70s.  The reason why they don’t want to officially declare war on Iraq/Afghanistan is because they don’t want their actions and spending to be kept in check. With a war that isn’t declared, the money and responses spent on it can be completely done with no supervision.  If they consider it as an action, it’s assumed temporary and with a specific goal; but this is hardly a temporary, and we have no fucking idea what that action is really supposed to be.

Then there’s health care. Wow it’s amazing what people believe in this world.  Idiots running around shouting “I don’t want government interfering with my Medicare!” makes me cringe. The reason why this is fucked up is because it’s too expensive.  Again we go back to the corporate mentality as to why. Perfect example is what’s referred to as “big pharma” or the big pharmaceutical corporations.  They create drugs that don’t really cure or fix anything, but just postpone the inevitable so they can keep selling more drugs. Creating made-up diseases that are common aliments, and creating drugs that simply COVER the symptoms so you must take a pill EVERY DAY for the rest of your life now, so that you won’t suffer “acid reflux” anymore.  Which is just fucking heartburn for fucks sake, it’s NOT A DISEASE!  Also while lobbying to pass laws that declare that only “drugs” can cure disease. Because of that they ended up making up new diseases.  Home remedies suddenly no longer cure anything, and they almost passed a law that declared vitamins as drugs (vitamin C actually), so they would be under their control, taxed and profited from.

So now we get some so-called “health care reform” that is just what the insurance companies wanted.  Not Doctors, not patients.  Much like California’s law that states all drivers MUST have car insurance, soon everyone in American is REQUIRED to have health insurance, or pay a fine.  The ironic thing is that it seems to be CHEAPER to pay for the penalties than to actually pay for insurance.  After all when you do get sick you will get medical attention and also long term support if you have a condition.  Once again it’s all about money, not health care.

The only good thing that Obama and our government SEEMS to have a good idea on is legalizing marijuana, but that’s mostly just something they can tax the hell out of to help pay off the debt.  Problem is that buying pot illegally will probably be cheaper.  But it may be the “new tobacco” for tobacco companies to switch too and start making money again.  Come to think of it, why didn’t the tobacco industry ask for a bailout?

Now about the environment. When did carbon dioxide become so evil? People are treating it as if it’s toxic waste; it’s not. This compound is ESSENTIAL part of life. In grade school we learned that plants absorb it and produce oxygen for us to breath. with out it life wouldn’t exist.  Now all of a sudden collage professors are telling (not teaching) students it’s poison to the environment.  It’s just insane to think that something so basic and common is suddenly a huge threat to the planet.  Not to downplay the issue of pollution, but this bullshit has been building up over the past 30 years.  Back then it was “Give a hoot, don’t pollute.” and slowly it turned a GLOBAL environmental phenomena largely due to, I think, the largely the population ignored it.  If you go back in time and move forward you see this snowball effect, from cute PSAs on Saturday morning cartoons, too “holes in the ozone” which came and went. Then we had “El Nino” which was more like a FAD to talk about. Then “Green House Effect” came into being, which then mutated into global warming, and now we have “Climate Change” with ex-Vice President Al Gore leading the way, trying to pass a law that supposedly controls the emissions of CO² by using a trade/barter system.  This is were you buy or trade “credits” for your pouliting bussines so you only limimted to what you buy. With the money made from those credits, for some reason, that money will be given to 3rd world countires who barely have any industry that polutes the planet. But guess who is going to run the business that sells and trades these carbon credits?  Al Gore, and he’s poised to make billions of dollars from being the middle man for what amounts letting companies pollute for money.

As if money is karma, and all those polluting companies in the world will feel better about the pollution they cause by fund money into developing countries, just so they can be polluters too?   IS THAT good for the planet? So how did we get from a guy in an OWL costume singing and dancing with children on PSA ads saying “Give a Hoot…” to an ex-Vice president making billions of dollars from polluting business while at the same time giving us guilt-trips for farting CO² and driving to work every day in CO² spewing cars?

So don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a clean and healthy enviroment, but this is complete bullshit.  Global warming isn’t caused by cow farts, and too many gas guzzling cars. And you shouldn’t feel guilty for how you live your lifestyle; be thankful you have a life.  The real problem is that we will run out of coal and oil reserves and we need to switch to something easily renewable.  That’s rather obvious, but that has little to do with how polluting those fuel sources are.  But won’t that fix the so-called global warming problem by it self when we run out?  If we are head-fast into running out of coal and oil in less than 50 years, won’t it fix it self when we run out?

FireFox All better

A few weeks a go, I tweaked FireFox using tips from MaximumPC, that bascially involed changing settings in about:config.  I’ve done these things in the past with much success with older version of firefox (2.0 and 3.0) but I’m using 3.5.5 right now and those settings just made things WORSE.  Maybe it’s because I’m running Windows 7 now, or it’s a 64bit OS, and FF is still a 32bit app. (shrug)

Half the time clicking links would stall, and not load at all. Even when a page did start to load up, the rendering of a page was SLOW and tedious. You’ll see the ads and banners appear long before the content, which was just text anyway.  This would mostly be the case for any new pages/sites I’ve not visited before, that weren’t already in my cache.  These hacks/tweaks for FF were supposed to allow the browser to make more connections to website servers, so pages would load faster as well as ignore if the website sends an “ack” so that it will just go ahead and send requests for data, so it can render the page regardless.  These changes did the exact opposite. If I clicked on more than two links after initially loading a page, they didn’t work.  Even clicking on bookmarks would just sit and stall.

So I went back into the about:config to manually undo the changes, but it didn’t change fix it.  So weeks later I finally got fed up and just uninstalled Firefox.  I first downloaded 3.5.5, and backed up my bookmarks before I did so. Ran CCleaner  to remove any remits, though I didn’t clear out plugins, but I did lose all my extensions; no big deal.  But after installing a fresh copy of FF 3.5.5 loaded my bookmarks in, customized  to how I like it, everything went back to smooth surfing, no more stuttering, lag, page load stalling!  YAY!