Patrick Chan's recent interview statements have certainly put him in some hot water. I understand that he wants to do both countries, China (where his parents came from), and Canada (where he comes from), proud. But he, and everyone else in sport, should ask themselves the question: "Why do I do what I do?"
This is an important question in sport and in life. And if you answer it honestly, it will provide you much clarity and direction.
If Patrick chose figure skating to become rich and famous, then I would say he's kidding himself. Very few athletes, amateur or even professional, have global recognition and brand power like a top ranked tennis pro, a NHL hockey star, or NBA MVP. Some successful athletes enjoy a few moments in the media spot light at the height of their career, but soon they become ordinary people as their career fade.
Yes, Canada loves hockey, that's not a bad thing. Most of us watched and cheered during the 2010 Games and collectively held our breath in the final moments of that gold medal hockey game. However, if you pick any Canadian off the street, they might know Sidney Crosby's name, but ask them to name some of the other players on that gold medal winning team, and I bet you they can't do it.
Personally, I don't think this is a bad thing. I think many professional athletes are overvalued commodities, often getting far more in financial rewards than they deserve. I mean, can you really tell me that a mediocre NBA player (say, making 5 million dollars a year) is 50 times more important than a doctor saving lives in the ER? Much of this is the result of the commercialization of sport. And while certain global icons like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky have done great things for popularizing their sport throughout the world, a whole lot of others rich athletes have not.
Now, our Canadian sport system is not perfect. But China's system isn't without problems either. I have trained with and talked with many Chinese athletes. They compete on the amateur stage (i.e., Olympics), but really are professionals since sport is their 9-5 job. I think just about everyone of these Chinese athletes told me, if they were in my shoes and had a career outside of sport, they would not be involved in sport.
While some may envy the support the Chinese athletes get from their state sponsored sport system, they in turn, envy us for our freedoms. I am involved in amateur sport because I want to. I live a healthier life because I am involved in sport. I may not have 6 hours to put into training every day, but I have a successful career as an engineer. And when I grow tired of my sport, I can retire, and still live a happy and successful life. Most of the Chinese athletes, including ones who've won numerous medals on the world stage, have no other skills outside of sport. If they aren't lucky enough to become coaches, when they are done with sport, or more accurately, when the sport system is done with them, they are left with nothing. This is why you hear stories of Chinese Olympic gold medalists and former world champions working as bath house attendants or physical labors, selling off their medals to pay for food and shelter. Are they still famous then?
Very few athletes accumulate fame and fanfare, and being a successful athlete doesn't entitle you to that. I don't know who said it first, but Olympians are ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things. Personally I think it is very satisfying to know that there are many Olympians among us, on the TTC, in a movie theatre, strolling down the street walking a dog (okay, maybe running a dog, since they are Olympians!). I think if we can inspire more kids to be active and participate in sport, then we've done a good job. To me, that's worth much more than fame and fanfare.
So Patrick, would you still skate in an empty rink with no one watching, and no spotlight shining? Would you still skate if there was no podium, and no one handed you flowers and draped medals around your neck?
Why do you do what you do?
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Saturday, 26 November 2011
SpeakOut with Android and iPhone
In searching for a cheaper phone plan with data & texting, I decided to try Seven Eleven's SpeakOut plan (SO).
SO runs off the Rogers network, so coverage is good. Petro Canada has a very similar pre-paid plan, but SO seems to be a little cheaper according to some forums.
Anyway, so off to a 711. Since I just recently rooted my Samsung Galaxy S with SuperOneClick (http://shortfuse.org/), I didn't need to purchase a phone that would work with SO. Also, from what I read, apparently any Rogers locked phone will work with SO, since it is running on the same network.
What makes SO different is it is a pre-paid service. So there are no contracts, and since I just came off a 3 year Rogers iPhone contract, I am really interested in the no contract part.
So I get the SIM card, insert it into the Galaxy, it boots up, shows up as on the SpeakOut network. I go to the required SO website, activate the phone by typing in the SIM's activation code and the phone's IMEI, and voila, phone is activated.
I try placing a call, of course it fails, it tells me insufficient credits available to being the call. Which makes sense, since I hadn't bought any air time yet.
Off to register on SO's site with an account, and then to select a plan.
I had already eyed the $30 value plan, it includes 100 minutes any time and unlimited text and unlimited browsing. The unlimited text is quite important since I use that a lot. The unlimited browsing was the curious part, I wasn't sure what this meant. From what I've read, it is sort of a proxied WAP thing. So I expected it to be sucky, like old WAP proxied Internet access on phones before smart phones.
I buy $100 worth of air time, which costs $113 after taxes. In doing so, I get a $25 air time bonus. Now, if I did this in the 7-11 store, I could've gotten a free Nokia craptacular phone. Yeah, not really interested.
After buying the credit, now I can activate the $30 value plan. A few more clicks later, and voila, I can make phone calls, send SMS, access voice mail, all the basics are now working.
But what about this unlimited browsing business?
Turns out, it is sort of a WAP thing, but it is actually pretty decent.
On the Samsung Galaxy S (or any Android running 2.2+), you have to add a APN, which is easy:
1. go to Settings/Wireless & Networks//Mobile Networks/Access Point Names
2. add a APN with the following info:
name: Speakout
APN: goam.com
Proxy: 10.128.1.69
Port: 80
username: wapuser1
password: wap
MMSC: http://mms.gprs.rogers.com
MMS proxy: 10.128.1.69
MMS port: 80
MCC: 302
MNC: 720
authentication type: Not set
APN type: internet + MMS
I tested all the apps I had, maps, email, facebook, twitter, various news apps, weather, it all works!
I downloaded the Speedtest app from the market, and was quite surprised to see the speed was really quite good: ping time approx 140 ms, DL speed 2 MBps, UL: 250 KBps.
Next, I wanted to see if this SO SIM would work with my iPhone 3GS.
Stick in the SIM, plug the iPhone back to iTunes since it is complaining about "Different SIM inserted"... but once connected to iTunes, the msg goes away, and everything is fine.
Right off the bat I try the Weather app, no go. I use SBSettings and check for IP address, nop, no IP address. Humm... Since I had to add a APN with the Android, I read somewhere this can be done with the iPhone Configuration Utility (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1466). So I get that, and add the following:
1. under Configuration Profiles, click New
2. add Speakout wireless with a Unique Identifier of : com.speakout.wireless
3. under Advanced add:
APN: goam.com
Access point user name: wapuser1
Access point password: wap
Proxy server:port: 10.128.1.69:80
4. plugin the iPhone, and go to to the Configuration Profile tab and click Install
4b. If you get a error installing the profile, click Export on the profile first, that will sign and encrypt the configuration, then, after the profile has been saved through the export process, go back to Configuration Profile tab, and click Install on the profile, and like magic, it is now signed!
5. accept the Profile installation on the iPhone, and voila!
Once this was done, I check SBSettings again, and yup, it now has a data IP. I test all the usual apps, and everything works fine.
So the long and the short of it is, 7-11's SpeakOut unlimited browsing plan works fine on Android and iPhone, and the speed isn't bad either. Certainly in using it, I cannot tell it is any slower than my regular Rogers 3G data connection. I think PetroCanada's service probably works much the same way.
Summary: $10 SIM, $100 air time voucher + taxes = $124.30 total out of pocket. This bought just over 4 months of 100 minutes/month + unlimited text + unlimited browsing of service. That 100 min/month is Canada wide long distance. Visual voicemail is the only thing SO doesn't have.
SO runs off the Rogers network, so coverage is good. Petro Canada has a very similar pre-paid plan, but SO seems to be a little cheaper according to some forums.
Anyway, so off to a 711. Since I just recently rooted my Samsung Galaxy S with SuperOneClick (http://shortfuse.org/), I didn't need to purchase a phone that would work with SO. Also, from what I read, apparently any Rogers locked phone will work with SO, since it is running on the same network.
What makes SO different is it is a pre-paid service. So there are no contracts, and since I just came off a 3 year Rogers iPhone contract, I am really interested in the no contract part.
So I get the SIM card, insert it into the Galaxy, it boots up, shows up as on the SpeakOut network. I go to the required SO website, activate the phone by typing in the SIM's activation code and the phone's IMEI, and voila, phone is activated.
I try placing a call, of course it fails, it tells me insufficient credits available to being the call. Which makes sense, since I hadn't bought any air time yet.
Off to register on SO's site with an account, and then to select a plan.
I had already eyed the $30 value plan, it includes 100 minutes any time and unlimited text and unlimited browsing. The unlimited text is quite important since I use that a lot. The unlimited browsing was the curious part, I wasn't sure what this meant. From what I've read, it is sort of a proxied WAP thing. So I expected it to be sucky, like old WAP proxied Internet access on phones before smart phones.
I buy $100 worth of air time, which costs $113 after taxes. In doing so, I get a $25 air time bonus. Now, if I did this in the 7-11 store, I could've gotten a free Nokia craptacular phone. Yeah, not really interested.
After buying the credit, now I can activate the $30 value plan. A few more clicks later, and voila, I can make phone calls, send SMS, access voice mail, all the basics are now working.
But what about this unlimited browsing business?
Turns out, it is sort of a WAP thing, but it is actually pretty decent.
On the Samsung Galaxy S (or any Android running 2.2+), you have to add a APN, which is easy:
1. go to Settings/Wireless & Networks//Mobile Networks/Access Point Names
2. add a APN with the following info:
name: Speakout
APN: goam.com
Proxy: 10.128.1.69
Port: 80
username: wapuser1
password: wap
MMSC: http://mms.gprs.rogers.com
MMS proxy: 10.128.1.69
MMS port: 80
MCC: 302
MNC: 720
authentication type: Not set
APN type: internet + MMS
I tested all the apps I had, maps, email, facebook, twitter, various news apps, weather, it all works!
I downloaded the Speedtest app from the market, and was quite surprised to see the speed was really quite good: ping time approx 140 ms, DL speed 2 MBps, UL: 250 KBps.
Next, I wanted to see if this SO SIM would work with my iPhone 3GS.
Stick in the SIM, plug the iPhone back to iTunes since it is complaining about "Different SIM inserted"... but once connected to iTunes, the msg goes away, and everything is fine.
Right off the bat I try the Weather app, no go. I use SBSettings and check for IP address, nop, no IP address. Humm... Since I had to add a APN with the Android, I read somewhere this can be done with the iPhone Configuration Utility (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1466). So I get that, and add the following:
1. under Configuration Profiles, click New
2. add Speakout wireless with a Unique Identifier of : com.speakout.wireless
3. under Advanced add:
APN: goam.com
Access point user name: wapuser1
Access point password: wap
Proxy server:port: 10.128.1.69:80
4. plugin the iPhone, and go to to the Configuration Profile tab and click Install
4b. If you get a error installing the profile, click Export on the profile first, that will sign and encrypt the configuration, then, after the profile has been saved through the export process, go back to Configuration Profile tab, and click Install on the profile, and like magic, it is now signed!
5. accept the Profile installation on the iPhone, and voila!
Once this was done, I check SBSettings again, and yup, it now has a data IP. I test all the usual apps, and everything works fine.
So the long and the short of it is, 7-11's SpeakOut unlimited browsing plan works fine on Android and iPhone, and the speed isn't bad either. Certainly in using it, I cannot tell it is any slower than my regular Rogers 3G data connection. I think PetroCanada's service probably works much the same way.
Summary: $10 SIM, $100 air time voucher + taxes = $124.30 total out of pocket. This bought just over 4 months of 100 minutes/month + unlimited text + unlimited browsing of service. That 100 min/month is Canada wide long distance. Visual voicemail is the only thing SO doesn't have.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Chevy Volt vs BMW, fight!
Hybrids are becoming more common now, and the new Chevy Volt actually looks pretty good, especially in the ads of it always going places and never needing to fuel up.
Then, I priced it out a little, wow, it's listed at $41500 at GM.ca (http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/volt/overview)
Now, I thought to myself, but it's so fuel efficient, I wonder how much it would save me compared to what I am driving now, a 2004 BMW 330ci.
You can find a similar 330ci for under $18000 (http://www.autotrader.ca/a/pv/Used/BMW/all/bmw+330ci/?lloc=Toronto%2c+ON&cty=Toronto&prv=Ontario&ctr=Canada)
According to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm, the 2012 Chevy Volt in Electric only mode uses (equivalent I imagine) 2.5 L/100 KM, or cost $1.08 to drive 40 KM. For the 2004 330ci, combined usage is 11.8 L/100 KM, or estimated cost $4.65 for 40 KM.
So that means a savings of $3.57 per 40 KM driven, or about $0.08 per KM of savings.
The price difference between the two cars is around $23000 (let's say you negotiated $500 off the $41.5k sticker price of the Volt).
How far can $23000 get you in the BMW? Let's say premium gas is around $1.45/L. That would buy you over 15000 L of premium gas (yes, at today's price).
How far would 15000 L get you? Let's take worse case scenario of City only driving, again, fueleconomy.gov estimates that to be 13.8 L/100 for the BMW.
15000 L / 13.8(L/100) *100 KM = 108700 KM.
That's over 100000 KMs.
So if a 2012 Volt and a BMW 330ci started travelling into the city today, only after 100000 KM, the Volt driver can finally gloat about how much money they are saving.
Yes, of course I neglected to take into account repair costs on both cars, battery replacement costs, etc. But I was frankly surprised at the result. Because I too was taken in by the idea of not paying more and more for gas each time.
Oh btw, when you do need gas for the Volt, and you will, it takes Premium gas, just like the Bimmer.
Humm... I think I'll keep my baby :-)
Then, I priced it out a little, wow, it's listed at $41500 at GM.ca (http://www.gm.ca/gm/english/vehicles/chevrolet/volt/overview)
Now, I thought to myself, but it's so fuel efficient, I wonder how much it would save me compared to what I am driving now, a 2004 BMW 330ci.
You can find a similar 330ci for under $18000 (http://www.autotrader.ca/a/pv/Used/BMW/all/bmw+330ci/?lloc=Toronto%2c+ON&cty=Toronto&prv=Ontario&ctr=Canada)
According to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm, the 2012 Chevy Volt in Electric only mode uses (equivalent I imagine) 2.5 L/100 KM, or cost $1.08 to drive 40 KM. For the 2004 330ci, combined usage is 11.8 L/100 KM, or estimated cost $4.65 for 40 KM.
So that means a savings of $3.57 per 40 KM driven, or about $0.08 per KM of savings.
The price difference between the two cars is around $23000 (let's say you negotiated $500 off the $41.5k sticker price of the Volt).
How far can $23000 get you in the BMW? Let's say premium gas is around $1.45/L. That would buy you over 15000 L of premium gas (yes, at today's price).
How far would 15000 L get you? Let's take worse case scenario of City only driving, again, fueleconomy.gov estimates that to be 13.8 L/100 for the BMW.
15000 L / 13.8(L/100) *100 KM = 108700 KM.
That's over 100000 KMs.
So if a 2012 Volt and a BMW 330ci started travelling into the city today, only after 100000 KM, the Volt driver can finally gloat about how much money they are saving.
Yes, of course I neglected to take into account repair costs on both cars, battery replacement costs, etc. But I was frankly surprised at the result. Because I too was taken in by the idea of not paying more and more for gas each time.
Oh btw, when you do need gas for the Volt, and you will, it takes Premium gas, just like the Bimmer.
Humm... I think I'll keep my baby :-)
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
My Battlefield 3 PC experience
Last night like thousands of others, I got my hands on BF3. When I got home last night, this little package was waiting for me, this was a nice surprise.
I pre-ordered BF3 from Bestbuy and was expecting to get it later in the week. I was really hoping it would arrive by Friday, so I could have the weekend to play with it, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to arrive on launch day. Well done Bestbuy, this makes pre-ordering games more palatable.
The PC game comes on two DVDs. Insert disc 1, run installer. I'd been warned about needing the Origin Client, but I figured I'd let the installer install the client it came with.
It does, then, it wants to auto-update. Sigh, okay, I let it auto-update.
Then I create my Origin account directly from the client, not too bad so far.
The client's title catches me off guard "Origin Beta". Beta!? Is the game still in Beta? If not, why is the client which is required to run the game, beta? Anyway, I fill in my CDKEY, it verifies it, and voila, says I have activated BF3.
But, how is the install going? I don't hear my DVD drive spinning... I look at the Origin client, it says "Preparing..." I sit there... waiting... waiting...
5 minutes later it still says preparing, and I see no network activity, and no DVD spinning.
I look all around the client, trying to see if there was a button I have to click to install the game. Nop. No such luck. I click on help. It says make sure I have at least Origin client v3.x. I do, it forced me to auto-update to 8.x.
I click on Live Chat. It says the queue is at least 35 min long. I am getting annoyed. It is 11 pm at night, I started this half an hour ago, and was hoping to play the game a little before going to bed.
I eject the disc and insert it again, click on English, then install. It pops up the Origin client already installed and running, and still saying "Preparing..."
I think it's gotten stuck. So before doing the 35min wait, I decide to do what all PC users are told to do first, reboot!
Upon restart, I login to the Origin client, get my password wrong, type it again, get it right. Ah, now the BF3 icon is allowing me to install, but when I click on it, it says expected download size about 11 GB. 11 GB?! What the f*ck! I have the bloody discs right in my hand!
I google around and apparently some people have been given wrong CDKEYs, apparently some CDKEYs are online download keys, and other ones are retail keys. So those unfortunate people with the wrong keys had to wait for tech support to give them a new key.
As a last resort, I insert the disc anyway, and much to my surprise, it shows a bit of intelligence and lets me install from the disc!
As I wait for the install to churn away, I long for the days in the past where I could install a game in 10 minutes, and be already playing it. Instead, now I am 40 minutes into the install, and about 30% done.
Thankfully the install finishes without any further drama. Aside from the slew of user agreements I had to agree to.
After the disc install finishes, the game auto-updates itself. I read about that... so that takes a little bit as it downloads and installs any patches. The finally, I am given the check mark prompt to "Play now?"
Damn right, I've been waiting for an hour! Make go go now!
But wait, not so fast. Normally I expect the EA logo to come up, some opening sequence, instead, I am greeted by my Firefox popping up and loading some EA site. WTF?
It appears I have to select which mode I want the game to launch in, Multi-player, Single player campaign, or Quick game. I click on Single player, and oh lord, more things to install. Since I am clicking this in a browser, the browser needs a plugin to launch the game. So it asks me to save this plugin to disk, then install it.
I do so. At least I didn't have to restart the browser.
Do I really get to play now?
Maybe. It seems to be doing something...
It occurs to me again, what happens when EA's server is down? Can I even play this game? Despite the fact that the Origin client is running, without this website to launch the game in the appropriate mode, how does one do that without it?
Blink blink, alert pop up.
Oh lord, what now? Apparently my nVidia driver version is too old, it says I should upgrade before running the game... but before I could do anything, the game launches!
I get the EA and Dice intro, and finally I am in the game! Looks good!
I'd been warned about the game's demands on the PC, so before anything, I check my Options, and see that it set my video to 1920x1080, not bad, I expected it to try to run at 1024x768 or something terrible like that.
Alright, campaign, start! Subway mission, graphics look good, whoa, guns have significant recoil (like real guns!)
Btw, it is now just about midnight, about 90 minutes after I started installing the game.
A few minutes later, I am finally in Iraq, or Iran, or some middle eastern combat zone. Whoa, graphics do look astonishingly good. Some mission briefing, run following my team... fire fight!
What the, bleep, white screen, awhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Graphics error, my video card ran out of memory, it recommends at least 512 mbs. It's been so long ago I bought my video card, but I check the specs, yeah, it has 512 mbs. It's a 8800gt, nothing great, perhaps the last of the quiet single slot PCIe cards.
Okay, I guess it did warn me about the graphics driver version before launch. Go to nVidia's site, oh god, when did graphics drivers before full blown apps? Another 130 MB download later, another install, and relaunch the game through the Origin client, select the single player campaign in single player, and I am back in the game...
But, what the, the movement is all jerky now... umm... okay, just indoors, outdoors combat seems to work fine... f*ck it, I'm not going to try to fix it now, I just want to shoot somethings!!
About half an hour of game play, I wind down and get ready for bed.
You know, the game play is good so far, very realistic, graphics are awesome, so they delivered a great product, but the whole installation experience is really really bad.
What was wrong with the old school Installsheild install? They were so simple, autorun, click Next a few times, and voila, game is installed. On start up, it runs some CD authenticity checks, and you are in the game. And from inside the game, you select which mode you want, single or multiplayer. Now this is in a browser? Connected to some website which may go down at any moment??
So much forward progress, and so much lost as well.
I surely hope Mass Effect 3 isn't going to be wrapped in this debacle.
I pre-ordered BF3 from Bestbuy and was expecting to get it later in the week. I was really hoping it would arrive by Friday, so I could have the weekend to play with it, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to arrive on launch day. Well done Bestbuy, this makes pre-ordering games more palatable.
The PC game comes on two DVDs. Insert disc 1, run installer. I'd been warned about needing the Origin Client, but I figured I'd let the installer install the client it came with.
It does, then, it wants to auto-update. Sigh, okay, I let it auto-update.
Then I create my Origin account directly from the client, not too bad so far.
The client's title catches me off guard "Origin Beta". Beta!? Is the game still in Beta? If not, why is the client which is required to run the game, beta? Anyway, I fill in my CDKEY, it verifies it, and voila, says I have activated BF3.
But, how is the install going? I don't hear my DVD drive spinning... I look at the Origin client, it says "Preparing..." I sit there... waiting... waiting...
5 minutes later it still says preparing, and I see no network activity, and no DVD spinning.
I look all around the client, trying to see if there was a button I have to click to install the game. Nop. No such luck. I click on help. It says make sure I have at least Origin client v3.x. I do, it forced me to auto-update to 8.x.
I click on Live Chat. It says the queue is at least 35 min long. I am getting annoyed. It is 11 pm at night, I started this half an hour ago, and was hoping to play the game a little before going to bed.
I eject the disc and insert it again, click on English, then install. It pops up the Origin client already installed and running, and still saying "Preparing..."
I think it's gotten stuck. So before doing the 35min wait, I decide to do what all PC users are told to do first, reboot!
Upon restart, I login to the Origin client, get my password wrong, type it again, get it right. Ah, now the BF3 icon is allowing me to install, but when I click on it, it says expected download size about 11 GB. 11 GB?! What the f*ck! I have the bloody discs right in my hand!
I google around and apparently some people have been given wrong CDKEYs, apparently some CDKEYs are online download keys, and other ones are retail keys. So those unfortunate people with the wrong keys had to wait for tech support to give them a new key.
As a last resort, I insert the disc anyway, and much to my surprise, it shows a bit of intelligence and lets me install from the disc!
As I wait for the install to churn away, I long for the days in the past where I could install a game in 10 minutes, and be already playing it. Instead, now I am 40 minutes into the install, and about 30% done.
Thankfully the install finishes without any further drama. Aside from the slew of user agreements I had to agree to.
After the disc install finishes, the game auto-updates itself. I read about that... so that takes a little bit as it downloads and installs any patches. The finally, I am given the check mark prompt to "Play now?"
Damn right, I've been waiting for an hour! Make go go now!
But wait, not so fast. Normally I expect the EA logo to come up, some opening sequence, instead, I am greeted by my Firefox popping up and loading some EA site. WTF?
It appears I have to select which mode I want the game to launch in, Multi-player, Single player campaign, or Quick game. I click on Single player, and oh lord, more things to install. Since I am clicking this in a browser, the browser needs a plugin to launch the game. So it asks me to save this plugin to disk, then install it.
I do so. At least I didn't have to restart the browser.
Do I really get to play now?
Maybe. It seems to be doing something...
It occurs to me again, what happens when EA's server is down? Can I even play this game? Despite the fact that the Origin client is running, without this website to launch the game in the appropriate mode, how does one do that without it?
Blink blink, alert pop up.
Oh lord, what now? Apparently my nVidia driver version is too old, it says I should upgrade before running the game... but before I could do anything, the game launches!
I get the EA and Dice intro, and finally I am in the game! Looks good!
I'd been warned about the game's demands on the PC, so before anything, I check my Options, and see that it set my video to 1920x1080, not bad, I expected it to try to run at 1024x768 or something terrible like that.
Alright, campaign, start! Subway mission, graphics look good, whoa, guns have significant recoil (like real guns!)
Btw, it is now just about midnight, about 90 minutes after I started installing the game.
A few minutes later, I am finally in Iraq, or Iran, or some middle eastern combat zone. Whoa, graphics do look astonishingly good. Some mission briefing, run following my team... fire fight!
What the, bleep, white screen, awhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Graphics error, my video card ran out of memory, it recommends at least 512 mbs. It's been so long ago I bought my video card, but I check the specs, yeah, it has 512 mbs. It's a 8800gt, nothing great, perhaps the last of the quiet single slot PCIe cards.
Okay, I guess it did warn me about the graphics driver version before launch. Go to nVidia's site, oh god, when did graphics drivers before full blown apps? Another 130 MB download later, another install, and relaunch the game through the Origin client, select the single player campaign in single player, and I am back in the game...
But, what the, the movement is all jerky now... umm... okay, just indoors, outdoors combat seems to work fine... f*ck it, I'm not going to try to fix it now, I just want to shoot somethings!!
About half an hour of game play, I wind down and get ready for bed.
You know, the game play is good so far, very realistic, graphics are awesome, so they delivered a great product, but the whole installation experience is really really bad.
What was wrong with the old school Installsheild install? They were so simple, autorun, click Next a few times, and voila, game is installed. On start up, it runs some CD authenticity checks, and you are in the game. And from inside the game, you select which mode you want, single or multiplayer. Now this is in a browser? Connected to some website which may go down at any moment??
So much forward progress, and so much lost as well.
I surely hope Mass Effect 3 isn't going to be wrapped in this debacle.
Friday, 16 September 2011
what if we did...
I was (still) ranting about the TTC (and other big government organizations) to some of my coworkers, and one guy had an interesting take on the whole situation. The TTC (for example) he says, is indeed very inefficient, and a lot of people who work there who for whatever reason, have not kept up with the times (ie, maybe all they know is standing at a corner logging the times of when streetcars drives past?) and are most likely, not employable anywhere else, or at least, not employable at a the same wage they were earning at the TTC. Because of these inefficiencies, they have to constantly raise transit fares. However, try looking at the TTC not as a company that's suppose to perform well, but as a social welfare program, to basically employ all those people who would otherwise be left behind in this world of computers and high tech.
The same alternative view point can be used on any large government organization or even the government itself.
Something else to think about, I think we can all agree that in any organization, especially large ones, there are a lot of people who day in and day out, pretend to do work, but don't actually do work (or have extremely low productivity) What if all these non-productive people just stayed home? They will still get paid some nominal amount, maybe they will get bored with all the free time and want to rejoin the productive segment of society, but until then, they stay home. This way, they don't clog the roads, highways and public transports. And since they productive anyway, not much is lost, but imagine how much less traffic congestion our highways would have!
I mean, haven't you thought on your daily transit to work, how many people around you, whether on the highway or on public transit, or even walking down the street, are actually productive? or making something that has some intrinsic value? or helping someone? or doing some real good for society? How many people just go to work as part of a routine, and don't really give a damn whether they accomplish anything? or do anything having value to society?
It may not even be a permanent or even long term thing, maybe some people were productive, but then worked too hard and got burnt out, what they really do need is a lot of time off to recharge, but they can't because they need to have a job to pay the bills. So they drag their ass through all the traffic and transit to work, only to be unhappy and bored and non-productive. At the end of the day, their time has been wasted, fuel spent on getting to and from work, and not much has been accomplished, and they are exhausted from the whole experience. This eventually forms a downward spiral, where the hole just gets deeper and deeper, and they just can't dig themselves out of the rut of non-productivity. Their unhappiness touches to their family, friends, and any people they encounter in their miserable lifestyle. All this for what? a paycheck to pay off the debt? A debt from a house/car and then useless consumer goods for temporary happiness?
If I were in charge, I'd give everyone 3 months off ever year. So everyone would have time for a hobby, time and energy to learn a new skill, time to exercise, walk their dog, be with their kids, go camping, look up at the stars at night...
I really don't think overall productivity would drop too much, but people would be a heck of a lot happier.
The same alternative view point can be used on any large government organization or even the government itself.
Something else to think about, I think we can all agree that in any organization, especially large ones, there are a lot of people who day in and day out, pretend to do work, but don't actually do work (or have extremely low productivity) What if all these non-productive people just stayed home? They will still get paid some nominal amount, maybe they will get bored with all the free time and want to rejoin the productive segment of society, but until then, they stay home. This way, they don't clog the roads, highways and public transports. And since they productive anyway, not much is lost, but imagine how much less traffic congestion our highways would have!
I mean, haven't you thought on your daily transit to work, how many people around you, whether on the highway or on public transit, or even walking down the street, are actually productive? or making something that has some intrinsic value? or helping someone? or doing some real good for society? How many people just go to work as part of a routine, and don't really give a damn whether they accomplish anything? or do anything having value to society?
It may not even be a permanent or even long term thing, maybe some people were productive, but then worked too hard and got burnt out, what they really do need is a lot of time off to recharge, but they can't because they need to have a job to pay the bills. So they drag their ass through all the traffic and transit to work, only to be unhappy and bored and non-productive. At the end of the day, their time has been wasted, fuel spent on getting to and from work, and not much has been accomplished, and they are exhausted from the whole experience. This eventually forms a downward spiral, where the hole just gets deeper and deeper, and they just can't dig themselves out of the rut of non-productivity. Their unhappiness touches to their family, friends, and any people they encounter in their miserable lifestyle. All this for what? a paycheck to pay off the debt? A debt from a house/car and then useless consumer goods for temporary happiness?
If I were in charge, I'd give everyone 3 months off ever year. So everyone would have time for a hobby, time and energy to learn a new skill, time to exercise, walk their dog, be with their kids, go camping, look up at the stars at night...
I really don't think overall productivity would drop too much, but people would be a heck of a lot happier.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
first rant, the TTC
Why does the TTC take so long to fix anything?
I remember the staircase at St Andrew station was out of commission for a good 8 months or so. Entire sky scrapers have been built in less time. And in that time, I think the work was done pretty quickly, but the entire area was fenced off anyway. Why? The only reason I can come up with is, they don't give a sh*t.
I also recall someone telling me that every job at the TTC has a expected time duration, and if you finished too quickly, well, you just go back and take some more time at it. Remember how long it took them to finally get those overhead TVs to work in the subway stations?
Also, why do they need multiple TTC personnel (supervisors??) standing at street car stops? They've got their binders of papers, and small what appear to be log books. Why are they there? Are they logging the times the street cars go by? Don't they know the street cars all have GPS tracking now? And then why are there two of them per stop? They need one to monitor the other? Or so they don't get lonely?
You want to the TTC to stop having fare hikes, start looking at how they operate.
I remember the staircase at St Andrew station was out of commission for a good 8 months or so. Entire sky scrapers have been built in less time. And in that time, I think the work was done pretty quickly, but the entire area was fenced off anyway. Why? The only reason I can come up with is, they don't give a sh*t.
I also recall someone telling me that every job at the TTC has a expected time duration, and if you finished too quickly, well, you just go back and take some more time at it. Remember how long it took them to finally get those overhead TVs to work in the subway stations?
Also, why do they need multiple TTC personnel (supervisors??) standing at street car stops? They've got their binders of papers, and small what appear to be log books. Why are they there? Are they logging the times the street cars go by? Don't they know the street cars all have GPS tracking now? And then why are there two of them per stop? They need one to monitor the other? Or so they don't get lonely?
You want to the TTC to stop having fare hikes, start looking at how they operate.
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