Oops, I’m ignorant

I’ve always been an advocate of the benefits of reading. It increases your vocabulary, exposes you to strange syntax and the Methods of Metaphor, fuels your imagination, and banishes bus stop boredom without fail (unless you finish your book and don’t have a spare). I also encourage reading because I like to write, and I ain’t writing to the wall, damnit.

I’m also, now, an advocate of reading the news. Because there are only so many books in the world, but newspapers are constant, and frequently amusing – especially if you read The “Bunch Of Filthy Liberal Tree-Hugging Hippies” Grauniad (Disclaimer: I am a Filthy Liberal Tree-Hugging Hippy. I read The Grauniad.).

 

He played games, that must be it then

My nickname is Lethe, I play games and I’m not a murderer.

I’d like to mention that last bit, in case you read newspapers, and decide to avoid me. 

 

The EULA’s we love to hate

A woman in the US has created a way for her cat to approve EULA’s, so she doesn’t have to. I’m sure that, should she ever be sued for breaking an EULA, the legal battles fought over this will be immensely amusing.

But even more interesting is what this says about our intense dislike of EULA’s. That a person would go to such lengths not to have to click ‘yes’ to something she hasn’t read, and might not agree to.

 

 

If Only He’d Thought Of That First…

I’ve recently been eating my way through every one of Terry Pratchett’s amazing Discworld novels – and by recently, I mean since last June; Discworld books are the sort of thing which you feel guilty for speed-reading. Unsurprisingly, I have not been disappointed with the brilliant wit, irony and sarcasm Pratchett uses – I’m absolutely loving every word.

As such, you can imagine that when I saw this, while sitting in a corridor reading Interesting Times, my first thought was not “printing error”…

 

Adventures in Wii Fit

If you’ve ever watched Chobits, you might remember the character of Sumomo, a computer in the form of a very small, hyperactive girl. Sumomo is equipped with a whistle and the power to make people do morning exercises without questioning. Clip here, for the non-anime experts (my apologies for the horrible dubbed version).

Sumomo comes creepily close to what Wii Fit feels like.

 

 

Public transport and bad moods

There’s a number of really good reasons to take public transport. It’s good for the environment, it adds social experience, in some cases it’s cheaper than cars and it avoids traffic jams, accidents and death.

Yet somehow the majority of people prefer to sit in the tin death traps that are cars and face at least two crawling, snaking queues every day. I think I know why.

 

 

Music to drive to

There’s something almost poetic about driving in the middle of the night.

The little country me and my little car frequent during the day is a busy place, full of big cars cutting in front of you, of teenaged schoolchildren with not enough sense of safety, of traffic jams and red lights.

Not so at night. All of a sudden the blearing, bustling traffic has made room for space. Pedestrians and cyclists are nowhere to be found. The very few cars you meet in the fog are other lone travelers heading home, absorbed in their own little world. The last thing they’re doing is cutting in.

The massive flow of impressions and information you get while driving during the day has been reduced to a trickle, leaving room for music.

 

 

Gun-toting Japanese schoolgirls

 Every once in a while, I try an mmo. Usually, this ends in disaster.

But a combination of utter Asian weirdness and a system that digs its claws straight into the hoarding epicenter of my brain seems to have made something addictive enough for me to brave the morons that populate the internet and try to run around in a virtual world, shooting stuff.

 

A new world with every tube stop

For some reason, a lot of people hate their capital.

Long, thoughtful articles are written about why the Flemish don’t like to go to Brussels, most peripheral French people don’t like Paris, and several of the Brits I know hate London with a vengeance.

Well, sorry to my British friends, but I quite like the place. Mostly cause it’s one of the more… schizophrenic cities I’ve been to.

 

That’s Mah Name, Don’t Wear It Out!

Tolkien is not Ma’Duk

Ma’Duk is the kami deity in a game called Ryzom, for reference. Yes, yes, I know I said I wouldn’t write about Ryzom…

Actually, I’m not writing about Ryzom. I’m writing about almost every other MMORPG in existence.

Darkfall – orks and dwarves.

World of Wankercraft – elves, orcs, dwarves.

EverQuest II – dwarves, halflings and elves.

Lineage II – elves, orcs and dwarves.

Vanguard – dwarves, halflings, elves, orcs and goblins.

You may have noticed a common theme by now – that of a total lack of imagination on the part of game designers everywhere.