Diary of a Madman

Piracy is *ALWAYS* naughty unless game developers can use it for their benefit!

The situation revolves around that oddest of characters, Direct2Drive (D2D) - an online games store, owned by IGN, selling games over the Internet as protected downloads. Game code is modified to prevent the standard retail DRM from inhibiting game play (as there is no actual disc to check for) with Trymedia activation utilized instead. More importantly, since the code around the DRM has been modified and changed to a different system, regular patches from the game developers can’t be used. Instead, patches must be reworked by D2D to accommodate these changes. These changes are not always quick, a point D2D does try and defuse in its FAQ.

Thus we come to Rainbow Six: Vegas2 (R6V2) which, since its release in March, has had three patches released for it. The third, 1.03 provides a lot of changes, including new play modes, so legitimate purchasers of the game were eager to try it. The problem is, those that bought it via D2D can’t use it. This is the problem inherent in DRM. Those that buy the product are the ones affected, not those the DRM is designed to defeat.

After lots of complaining and attempts to fix things themselves, one Ubisoft employee found a solution. A zip file was uploaded to the help/support site, named “R6Vegas2_fix.zip”.

If D2D users patched to 1.02, then replaced the EXE with this one, they could then update to the new patch. However, someone ran a hex edit and it appears the fix was not Ubisoft code but actually a ‘no-cd’ crack released by the Scene group RELOADED, as shown here.

Google Calc helped me solve the the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

If this doesn’t make sense to you, read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Or, if you are lazy, illiterate, or a boring reader that doesn’t enjoy good literature, simply read this Wikipedia article.

Like any good liberal, I stand for racial equality, but unfortunately, I think this is going a little too far.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections “has become a black hole” because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud “Excuse me!” He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a “white hole.”

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term. A black hole, according to Webster’s, is perhaps “the invisible remains of a collapsed star, with an intense gravitational field from which neither light nor matter can escape.”

It can’t be “Red Hole” since it would discriminate against Native Americans, it can’t be “Yellow Hole” since that would discriminate against oriental people, it can’t be “Brown Hole” since that discriminates against gays, and it can’t be “Pink Hole” since that would be sexist. We’d better redefine it as the “Texas Hole” since Texas is the only place retarded enough to come up with something like this. No wait. That might discriminate too. I give up.

For some time I have been a major connoisseur of instant messaging. Unfortunately, many of my friends use different chat protocols. Thanks to Pidgin, I could chat with friends that used GTalk, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Live, etc all from one program. When Facebook recently released their new chat protocol, I was disappointed to discover that there was no Facebook chat plugin for Pidgin. After much waiting, there is finally a plugin for Pidgin.

And for all of you people out there with 5 different instant messenger programs sitting in your system tray, I urge you to give Pidgin a try.

YOU can help set a new world record.

Yahoo needs to go ahead and commit suicide and get done with it.

Mark after thoughtfully reading his RSS feeds.

Just before midnight my DIY project was cut short. I was cutting the plastic shielding off of an extension cord. Unfortunately I also managed to cut the epithelial shield covering my hand. I slowed the bleeding, rummaged through the medicine cabinet for some butterfly band-aids, then finally awakened mom to ask her where she kept them. After looking at it briefly she made it clear that I NEEDED stitches. When I arrived at the emergency room, I needed to explain to various people how I cut my hand and why any semi-sane person would want to cut shielding off of extension cords. After the interrogation, I received a tetanus shot, a long wait, a numbing, and finally some stitches. Since my hand was the only thing numbed, I got to watch the doctor sew me up. After it was all said and done, the doctor let me take the tools he used to sew me up home.

All in all, I decided that the next time I find it mandatory to cut my epithelial shield, I will use my toenails. (See previous post)

Semi NMS (not mind safe) pics here and here.

Hey guys, I have a warning. Cut your toemails. Yesterday I cut my finger. See there.

Last Monday I started a job at Miller’s Vinyl Fencing. It is semi-interesting, but very strenuous. Because I am not safe not yet 18, I may not use all the fun power tools like saws. This means that while other people are cutting fingers off or digging postholes through their feet with automatic posthole diggers attached to tractors, I have to carry 60 lb bags of cement, dig holes manually, without the assistance of a tractor, or do other types of extra hard, extra physical labor. All in all, it makes me more money than going to school so who am I to complain?

The school year has ended. Mrs. I being my teacher has ended. Mrs. I has chosen to take a one year sabbatical leave. While I believe that it is wise for her to take a break, she will be greatly missed. What I will miss most about Mrs. I is not her excellent teaching skills, but rather the daily effect that she had as my friend throughout my three years at the high school. Although it was not often the best use of my time, I enjoyed many discussions of various topics with Mrs. I. Particularly during my Freshman year, Jared and I often plotted to go in to Mrs. I’s desk and begin a discussion about global warming, history, or an article in the paper. Mrs. I had an excellent sense of humor and had a knack for making every day circumstances become funny.

Mrs. I, thanks so much for your excellent teaching, your insightful discussions, and most of all your friendship. My best wishes to you and your future.