Archive for the 'DeadJournal' Category
The DeadJournal service is a companion (but unaffiliated) site to LiveJournal and was one of the first blogging services that I used. Mostly written during my tenure at university and its aftermath, the entries are replete with vitriol and baseless anger which adequately sums up my turbulent teenage years.
They are archived here mainly for posterity and to remind me that the past isn’t something to be forgotten.
Diamond Resonance
Being on an established domain name for a business certainly is interesting. We currently have a 2meg line (so ~220Kb either way) and recently I’ve had my server be opened up to the outside world on port 22 (for great SSH’ing). There is of course the random internet noise you get, so a bunch of different IP addresses trying test/guest/admin/root 3 times before moving on. I would be lying if I said that I was okay with this to begin with; having put security in place but never actually given it a proper run (rather than good ol’ nmap), I was dubious to just how my box would stand up to this.
The most worrying attempt happened last night when someone tried for a good 20 minutes to get access to root. Nice try buddy, but even if you did brute my password, you’re not allowed to login as root through SSH on my box. In fact, you’re only allowed to login on one account, and I’m not about to divulge that little secret now am I?
Ideally of course I would completely disable password based logins though OpenSSH seems to stalwartly ignore all of my attempts to do this, no matter how many times I put “no” next to “Password” in sshd.conf.
It's Not Me
Amelia - female, 5,8”, cropped dark-brown hair, glasses, slender un-athletic frame. After graduating from Cambridge with a Social and Political Sciences degree she became disenamoured with life as the transition from up-and-coming bright teenager turned into yet another mediocre adult embroiled in the quagmire of the 9-5. Originally mistaking it for wanderlust, she travelled to America, beginning first in Florida then making her way up the east coast until swinging inland and finding her Embrace in Chicago. The circumstances surrounding her embrace still remain a mystery, clouded in half truths and subterfuge. Taken in by Trey “Loki” Fischer, her sharp analytical mind seems at odds with the Crone though something in their teachings calls to her.
Jayce - male, 5,11”, dirty blonde hair, milky white eyes and an unassuming build. Jayce was born completely blind after development of his optic nerve was stunted during his growth and mirrored some of the signs of glaucoma. After his mother died when he was 4, Jayce was taken into a middle-class orphanage where he learned to fend for himself. Fiercely independent, he carved a living out of freelance writing before he was turned. Jayce was embraced out of pity by a former lover, unbeknowst even to her that his eyesight would not return even in unlife. Unable to cope with the needs of a blind vampire, Jayce found himself alone and once again fending for himself. His overt charisma, forward nature and outright lack of tact has earned him an equal share of enemies and allies as he continues to play the political game with the Inviticus. Many learned Kindred have hypothesized on his continued blindness, some quoting mythical references, others biological; the common rumour is that Jayce willed himself to blindness and prefers the darkness to sight.
Story - A high-profile senator’s daughter is kidnapped unbeknowst to the rest of the world. Rumblings of political motivations abound, clues begin to point to Jayce in an attempt to blackmail the Prince in a daring move. The quiet and studious Amelia is picked, much to the chagrin of many in power, to investigate this matter.
As she questions Jayce and digs deeper into the execution and motivation behind the kidnapping, it becomes more and more obvious that this stretches far beyond political motivations and may involve a great many more Kindred. When the story hits the national media, furore breaks out amongst the Kindred leaders as the secrecy of their existence is threatened. Amelia’s loyalties are questioned as she begins to feel the pressure mounting.
—
For Amelia Callison life was a set of railway tracks, stretching out into the distance replete with tedium and apathy. Then in a rush of blood that was all replaced with a twisting, pulsing darkness conjoined with incestuous politicking and a knife between the shoulder-blades. Thrust into the chaotic and fine-lined world of the Chicago Kindred, she has little time to recuperate as her peers in the unlife begin to conspire against her.
A high-profile kidnapping reeks of political motives and all the evidence points to the charismatic, sightless vampire, Jayce Sandford. Under the guidance of Trey “Loki” Fischer, her surrogate mentor, Amelia begins to investigate the kidnapping; but when the story makes national news and connections point to numerous local Kindred, evidence begins to get buried. Fast. Ruthless powerplays reverberate around her as Amelia begins to learn how deep the conspiracy stretches, eventually coming full circle, back to her mentor.
After an aging property-broker sees his empire crumbling around him, he makes a final deal with the influential Prince of Chicago. In exchange for some of the most sought after land, his daughter is to be given a fresh start beyond the life he had created for her. The interpretation of his last wishes left little to the imagination. Now at ground-zero of this orchestrated transaction, Amelia must find out why she can’t remember her past and where her loyalties lie.
—
When Amelia Callison was Embraced, her apathetic and melancholy life was turned into politicking and brutality. Still coming to terms with her unlife, Amelia is coerced into the enigmatic Circle of the Crone by her mentor, Trey “Loki” Fischer. When a political kidnapping is revealed to have strong ties to the sightless vampire, Jayce Sandford, Amelia is encouraged by Trey to investigate.
As her investigations deepen, more and more Kindred begin to be implicated; when the story makes national news however, events begin to conspire against Amelia. A crash course in vampire politics, parties and problem-solving ensues as the mystery comes full circle back to Amelia herself.
An aging property-broker sees his empire being to wane, falling to organised crime and increasingly ferocious competition; he makes a final deal with the esteemed Prince of Chicago. In exchange for some of the most sought after land, his daughter is to be free from the legacy he has bequeathed her. Left to creative interpretation, his final wish leaves Amelia at ground-zero of a rapidly accelerating conspiracy.
The Prince may have trouble honouring his part of the deal as the First Estate’s and the Sanctified’s prejudice against a neonate follower of the Crone escalates from harassment to violence. Amelia must make hard decisions if she wishes to survive, even betraying her confidant and mentor. In the end, she may be left with an unerring image of what being a vampire means: solitude and a communion with her inner demons.
—
An aging property-broker sees his empire begin to wane, falling to organised crime and increasingly ferocious competition. In exchange for some of the most sought after land, he makes a final deal with the esteemed Prince of Chicago: his daughter is to be free from the dark legacy he has bequeathed her.
Abducted and Embraced, Amelia Callison is left with only hazy memories of her previous life. Her apathy and despondence now replaced with politicking and brutality. Taking solace in her mentor, Trey “Loki” Fischer, she is coerced into the enigmatic Circle of the Crone. When rumours of a kidnapping spread throughout the Kindred grapevine, Amelia is encouraged by Trey to investigate.
The investigation leads her first to the charismatic, sightless vampire Jayce Sandford. As her investigations deepen, more and more Kindred begin to be implicated. However, when the kidnapping hits the national media, events begin to transpire against Amelia. A crash-course in vampire politics, parties and problem-solving ensues as the mystery comes full-circle and Amelia is left with the grim revelation.
The First Estate’s and Sanctified’s prejudice against a neonate follower of the Crone escalates from harassment to violence, threatening the agreement the Prince and Amelia’s father made. She must make hard decisions if she wishes to survive, possibly even betraying her confidant and mentor. In the end, she may be left with the harsh reality of what being a vampire means: solitude and a communion with her inner demons.
Right Where I Belong
I think we should introduce a license for using computers. I am of the persuasion that 95% of people who use a computer do not understand the complexity and the power of the machine they are using, and the vast possibility of using it for harm (“With great power..”). I also wholeheartedly believe that people who own a computer should be strictly liable for all mishaps which happen because of their computer.
I’m not a legal expert, but the way I understand liability is that you have ordinary, common-or-garden variety liability which is when you know about something a do nothing, you are then liable for actions taken. There is then strict liability whereby even if you don’t know about something, you’re still held accountable. This I think would ideally be applied to computers.
Lets say a malicious person uses your computer in a zombie attack against some other website. I think the person should then have a letter drop through their doing saying, “You and the other computer users involved in this attack now owe us money for loss of business.” If something existed that could stop this attack and the person did-not take it upon themselves to get that item, I think they should pay up. This isn’t shifting blame. Obviously the perpatrator(s) of the attack would be hunted down, but if you start putting the risk there, that if you don’t do something you’re liable, then people start taking notice; rather than some slack-jawed yokel drooling on his keyboard while he downloads faked nude pictures of “Brittany Speers” while his desktop machine churns out hundred of spam messages a day.
You own a computer, you have to take a test. Like “What do you do when you get an e-mail attachment?” “Click on it furiously until it does something?” or “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T FUCKING OPEN IT.” You know, little questions like that, things which can be applied in every day life.
Torn Sky
I watched the first series of 24 quite a while ago, maybe coming on close to a couple of years now. It was a good time though, as not only was I still at university but I still had no sleep pattern to compete with, so I managed to watch all ~17 hours of it in about two sittings. At the time it was a stellar piece of TV, it managed to present a simple premise, well executed and with an interesting storyline.
I’ve been waiting patiently for Series 2 and 3 to come down in price so I can buy them, well Play.com did that a while ago, and I finished up series 3 last night. I have to say that it is without a doubt one of the best TV series I have seen, not without flaws, but it doesn’t pull any punches.
Series 2 (or “Day 2” as I’ve heard salivating fans call it) is (and I hate to say this Steve, but Matt is right) probably the best of the trilogy. It builds on the premise of the first but manages to magnify the good parts by a factor of 10. Jack Bauer is still a badass, President Palmer is still a good president and everything feels as it should. Series 3 is still a good series, but unfortunately, the weight of the characters began to drag it down. It’s probably a good thing then that most all of the major character were killed off or bunked off their roles, so with Season 4 steamrollering at the moment, we should have a fresh outlook on the series.
Series 3 suffered because it tried to focus far too much on the characters. They are good characters, don’t get me wrong, but the storyline didn’t have the sense of impending doom and apocalyptic overtones that Series 2 had. I feel it was a pod-person scenario as suddenly, everyone had fringes. But suddenly Jack Bauer had a drug addiction, he had a sidekick, President Palmer is all waffy and ill and it all just feels as if these afflictions are there to make us identify with characters who were previously fairly invincible. Unfortunately that takes away some of the shinyness of the show, Bauer suddenly isn’t so bad ass and Palmer is taking more and more bad decisions. What I will commend Series 3 for is getting rid of the pointless Kim Bauer thread where she manages to have the worst day in existence. I would have topped myself after a day like that, but then I got to thinking, what if every day is like that for her? It’s a grim prospect.
One thing that I won’t commend 24 for (trying saying that out loud) is the painfully obvious plot devices. “How do we build suspense? Why not kill off our main source of information?!” Saunders got shot in Series 3, and Sayed Ali got snipered in Series 2. “What about a mole from inside CTU? We haven’t done that before!” It all just becomes a bit cliché after a while.
Collapsing Beauty
I wanted to write something really poignant here as of late. Something hard hitting and vitriolic like I used to be able to conjure up out of the ether; but nothing like that comes anymore. When you’re told that you’re going to have an operation, surgery or other synonyms, you can’t describe the magnitude of it to anyone. It’s quintessentially your own thoughts and feelings but you feel the need to tell someone. So I could say that it knocked the wind out of me, it made me put my life in perspective, and that I knew in the long run I would be better off for it.
That’s what gets me though. That these events in my life that have such depth and breadth, that focus my thoughts and emotions, eventually end up as a bullet point on my obituary, or as a brief topic of conversation at a dinner party. “Oh you had open heart surgery? Yeah I had part of my skull removed.” Then you move on to talking about how your dog at a sock with a cat in it and the trials and tribulations the vet had. I feel the same way about past girlfriends, it’s like i dedicate a part of my life, one that I can never get back to these people, and for one reason or another, they just slip to the back of my memories, only to be dredged up when someone asks me.
I find that more and more, I care less about what people say to me. My life seems to have descended into a fabric of small talk and business talk. Never do I seem to be able to project onto people or emote, it’s all matter of fact and cynicism. More and more I can’t help but feel that other people feel this as well, though just not as overtly. That people get so wrapped up in their own little lives, and everyone else is just along for the ride. So why should people care what I have to say? Why should people give a shit whether I’m getting an operation or my head removed? In the end, selfishness is going to win out, and whatever happens to me is going to be just another footnote on somebody else’s conversation. “I’m here now, so I’ll be with you always.” How true, but what a lonely existence it is.
DOAU Tips
Here are some tips and tricks for playing online in Dead or Alive Ultimate:
At the start of the round, you get two kinds of people, slappers and blockers. Slappers will go right into you and start hitting as soon as the game will let them. Blockers will stand stoically and block any oncoming hits. Two slappers can make for some amusing viewing, while two blockers will be a signal of things to come.
Whenever anyone is on the ground unless they are A -> SS class players, they will do a rising kick. Dumb people will do a low kick, then if you counter that, a mid kick. Slightly smarter people will do a low kick, then a low kick again, then either rise with no hit, or try a mid kick. If you counter all three blows, depending on character, you’ll get around 1/2 -> 2/3 of their life off without doing squat.
Always, always always turn the volume down on the Live headset when playing a round. People have a habit of getting a little frustrated if you’re winning and can shout (and I quote): “You fucking hacker, cheater hacker fucking cunt.” Not pleasant, amusing, but ultimately off-putting. Be sure to turn the sound up immediately after the round to gloat or commiserate.
People pick Jann Lee because he reminds them of Bruce Lee. They will inevitablly spam his flying Dragon Kick until you either a) kill them or b) die. Jann Lee is remarkably easy to counter as most all of his hits or canned strings hit high at some point. Most all of his powerful moves will leave him standing about unable to do anything if blocked or dodged, most often with his back turned.
People pick Hayabusa because he’s a) a ninja and b) in Ninja Gaiden. Hayabusa is powerful in the right hands, most people lack these hands. Constant handstanding and jumping off walls are easilly countered by a) kicking him or b) not letting him near a wall.
Most of Gen-Fu’s hits hit mid, the difficulty being in getting the timing correct.
Most of Helena’s hits hit low, again, timing is a difficulty.
Lei-Fang players are the spawn of Satan.
