Slashdot | MSN Music DRM Servers Going Dark in September

“‘As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers,’ reads the e-mail. This doesn’t just apply to the five different computers that PlaysForSure allows users to authorize, it also applies to operating systems on the same machine (users need to reauthorize a machine after they upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example). Once September rolls around, users are committed to whatever five machines they may have authorized — along with whatever OS they are running.”

If there were any lingering questions about whether DRM is a good idea or not, this ought to get rid of them.

This music that people supposed own is suddenly going to be out of their hands.  If they decide to upgrade their OS, or if their HDD dies, or if anything goes wrong at all…  They won’t be able to get their music back.  And it isn’t like they can just burn it to a CD, at least not legally, that’s the whole point in DRM.

Once again the “protected” product is actually worse than the pirated one.  Once again the only person affected by the protection is the customer who’s actually paying for it.

Slashdot | GPS Used To Find Graves in Eco-Burial Sites

“Relatives and friends will use a satellite navigation device to find graves of loved ones in Australia’s eco-burial site on bushland attached to Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery, in New South Wales. Reflecting a worldwide trend towards environmentally friendly burials, the deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary. ‘It’s an ideal way of utilizing land and helping wildlife and vegetation,’ said Kris Whitney, Lismore Council coordinator of cemeteries. ‘A family can walk around the bushland and pick a site. The body can be oriented in any direction. We promise there will be no internments within five meters. We’ll record accurate GPS co-ordinates.’ Families visiting graves would be lent a satellite navigation device. This will be Australia’s fourth ‘natural burial site’ with existing sites in Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.”

Sounds like a much better way to do things.  Much more sustainable than sealing everyone inside their caskets and taking more and more land every year.

Slashdot | Stephen Hawking Thinks Aliens Likely

“Noted astrophysicist Stephen Hawking thinks that alien life is likely, albeit primitive, according to a lecture delivered at George Washington University in honor of NASA’s 50th anniversary. It begs the question of if we need to consider a Prime Directive before exploring or sending signals too far into the depths of space.”

I’m not sure that this is really news…  Stephen Hawking has said as much on previous occasions, and just about any numbers you plug into the Drake Equation make extra-terrestrial life an almost certainty.  But it caught my eye anyway, since we’ve been watching Invasion: Earth over the last couple days.

Still, even if there are billions and billions of planets out there inhabited by intelligent life, I don’t think we need to worry about a Prime Directive anytime soon.  Faster-Than-Light travel is still, as far as we can tell, flat-out impossible – so we won’t be making contact with anyone else anytime soon.

I’ve finally managed to put the boiling hell that is Temple Station behind me…  At least for now.  I got my marksman through Monument Station last night, hit level 20, went off to save some templars.  And while I’m having an awful lot of fun right now, those boils continue to haunt me.

I’ve got a number of other characters that I’d just love to play around with…  I’d really like to see how an evoker or guardian does at higher levels.  I’ve rolled up the characters, done some questing, gotten them up to around level 4 or 5…  But the prospect of eventually getting to Temple Station really puts a damper on the whole thing.  I mean…  Really puts a damper on it.  I absolutely hate that whole section.  And knowing that I’ll be back there in a few levels makes me not want to actually play other characters.

I find it interesting that I dread that section so much…  I’m perfectly happy mowing down piles of enemies in every other section of the game.  Wading through mobs of zombies and swarms of imps.  I actually enjoy gunning down packs of fellboars and fellborn when they appear.  Sure…there are other creatures that I find annoying…  Those orbille guys are a pain, as are the leapers…  But none of them that I absolutely dread like the boils.

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what the difference is…  When you get right down to it you’re killing things, over and over again, regardless of whether they’re boils or imps.  The gameplay doesn’t change a whole lot from one critter to the next.  Maybe you have to dodge some projectiles, or run away, or get closer, or whatever…but it’s always basically just kill, kill, kill! So what makes killing boils, as opposed to zombies, so much worse?

About the only thing I can come up with is that they’re a passive obstacle, rather than an active threat.  It’s kind of like having to knock down a wall before you can proceed, rather than killing the monsters before they can kill you.  There’s a certain thrill to out-gunning and out-maneuvering the enemy…  Dodging and weaving, avoiding their attacks, blowing them to bits.  It’s fun to feel like you’re overcoming the bad guys and saving the day.  That thrill just isn’t there when dealing with the boils…  You aren’t dodging or weaving or anything…just blowing up stationary boils.

Also of interest is my attitude towards Jons in Monument Station.  He’s got a number of quests where you basically help him prepare for a date with a girl.  Although…  Her idea of a “date” is a little different than mine…  She wants to go out and kill demons.  He doesn’t want to get killed.  So you have to soften up the opposition in one zone…put up some bait…an early warning system…  And I just do not enjoy those quests.  They don’t bother me like the boils do, but after three or four quests from him I just want to tell Jons to shut up and do it himself.

But why?  The whole game is a series of quests, one after another.  I don’t mind doing dozens of quests…  And if I wasn’t killing random critters for Jons I’d be doing it for one of the many other NPCs who hands out quests.  His quests really aren’t any different from any of the other quests in the game – kill 10 of these, collect 4 of those, locate 8 of these, fully explore that place…  It’s the same stuff you’d do for anyone else in the game.  So why do I dislike his quests so much?

I suspect it’s a combination of things…

There’s a feeling of progress when you finish up the last quest for a specific NPC.  They’ve got a list of things for you to do and you’ve done them all.  It’s time to move on…  Maybe not to the next station, but to a new NPC at least.  And since Jons just keeps coming up with new things for you to do, even after you thought you were done with him, there isn’t that feeling of progress.  It feels like you’re just kind of bogged down in one place.

The other problem is that his goal, ultimately, is to get laid.  And while there’s nothing wrong with that it does seem a little trivial in the grand scheme of things.  The entire planet has been over-run by demons…  London is in ruin…  People are struggling, fighting, dying to hold back the unstoppable tide of destruction.  You’ve got quests to destroy giant monsters, guide people to safety, rescue captured troops…  And then Jons wants you to help him get laid.  It just seems like there’s probably more important things you could be doing – like saving the world or something.

I find it interesting how such simple differences can make such a huge impact on how I feel about a game, or a specific character, or a certain level.

I mentioned before that we’ve been playing Hellgate: London for the last month or so…  Played the single-player on a pirated copy for a while and we liked it enough to buy two CDs so that we could play the multi-player.  Now my son is playing it and it’s starting to look like we’ll be buying a third disc.

I’m really enjoying the game…  It’s like some kind of bizarre cross between Quake and Diablo.  The gameplay is about what you’d expect from a modern action RPG.  You get some quests in town, go slaughter tons of monsters, get levels and gear that lets you kill bigger monster, and do it all over again.  But, unlike most action RPGs, the setting isn’t your typical dark fantasy – it’s post-apocalyptic London.  Some of the levels, set on the ruined streets of London with lots of zombies roaming around, feel like I’m playing through a Romero movie.

It probably isn’t the deepest thing I’ve every played…  But the gameplay is a lot of fun, and the story is engaging enough to keep me coming back for more.

The only part I genuinely dislike is the section around Temple Station.  There’s a nasty monster around Temple Station that’s creating these disgusting boils all over the place.  They create clouds of toxic gas when you get too close, and produce annoying little monsters when you destroy them.  Every instance around Temple Station is filled with these boils and you are constantly destroying them and then killing the creatures created.  Over, and over, and over again.  The enjoyably fast-paced gameplay just slows to a crawl.  I find myself dreading the Temple Station section every time I approach it with a new character.

I sincerely hope there aren’t any more boil-full sections of the game…

Slashdot | JFK, LAX To Test Millimeter-Wave Scanners

“The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it’s beginning pilot tests of millimeter wave scanning technology at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) that allow TSA personnel to see concealed weapons and other items that may be hidden beneath clothes. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says that that the potentially revealing body scans (YouTube) would not be stored and that 90% of passengers subject to secondary screening opt for a millimeter wave scan over a pat-down. The agency added that security officers viewing the scans would do so remotely, where they will not be able to recognize passengers but will be able to trigger an alarm if needed. The agency also said that a blurring algorithm is applied to passengers’ faces in scanned images as an additional privacy protection.”

Sounds good… Until some Aleut with poor impulse control and glass knives decides to nuke America…

The other day, while waiting at the hospital, I read through Richard Matheson‘s I Am Legend.

I already watched both The Omega Man and I Am Legend, and I’m glad I got them out of the way before reading the story. It’s not so much that the story is better than the movies (which it is)… I’m used to that. Hollywood almost never manages to properly translate a book to film. There’s always something missing along the way, and it always turns out vaguely wrong. But now that I’ve read the story I’m absolutely amazed by how very different both movies are from the basic plot that Matheson wrote.

The basic plotline of Matheson’s story is one of role-reversal. We follow the adventures of Robert Neville as he fights against the unending hordes of vampires. Fighting the good fight. The last beacon of light in the gathering darkness. But as the story continues we discover that things aren’t quite as they seem… The vampires that Neville has been killing aren’t thoughtless monsters, they’re people. Humankind has been replaced by a new species of people, people who drink blood and can’t stand the sun’s light…but people none the less. And we discover that Neville, now, is the monster.

Basically we’ve got from our modern humans… Who tell their children scary stories about vampires killing people at night – to our post-modern humans… Who tell their children scary stories about Neville killing people during the day.

That’s what the whole meaning behind the title is – Neville has become the legend.

And neither of these movies manage to capture that basic idea. Both of the movies show Neville fighting against the encroaching darkness… And Omega Man, at least, portrays the nocturnals as more-or-less intelligent… But both movies end with Neville coming up with a cure for the disease – something that he never does in the story. Neither movie manages to portray the idea that humanity has been replaced or that the nocturnals are real people.

So, I’m glad I saw the movies first. I think I would have had a much harder time enjoying them if I hadn’t…