Tattoos for geeks

Mythical animals? Tribal designs? These are not good enough for the hip geeks these days. This amazing site is a showcase of geek-related design tattos ranging from the DNA double-helix to Nintendo's Link from the Legend of Zelda games.

Jenny18 passes Turing test

To pass the Turing test, a computer programme has to fool the person that it is having conversation with into believing that it is a real person. Someone modified the 'Eliza' bot and turned it into 'jenny18', a horny female who loves talking to like-minded guys. Seems like jenny18 is able to pass off as a real person, at least to horny guys. The site has the chat log of jenny18's conversation on the IRC. Funny how when it comes to sex, these folks' just loss their common sense.

All-in-one Nintendo console

This is one for the Nintendo fans--a fan-made mod which can play all the Nintendo consoles released. This include the NES, SNES, N64, and the GBA. The Virtual Boy is not included but that's no biggie.

MS pros love Britney, data admins love indie

An outfit known as the Training Camp has uncovered which type of IT professionals like which type of music. Interesting findings... Linux diehards are electro-nuts? Those boring database admins are actually pretty hip with their taste in indie bands like The Smiths? Hardcore developers are well... hardcore metalheads? And the funniest of them all... that Microsoft folkies love Britney? Well, we don't know how valid these findings are but it sure is interesting.

Propaganda Disney-style anti-Bush cartoon

Titled Brother, Can You Spare A Job?, this 7 minute short cartoon is done in the depression-era black-and-white style and was originally a "Best Animation" finalist in MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest. It tells the story of Melvin McBean and his family's struggle to make ends meet in the Bush-era economy. Imaginative political statement indeed.

Gaming site for parents

For parents who want to know something about gaming, or for parents who are gamers... GamerDad is a wonderful resource that actually doesn't take a hostile view towards gaming and acknowledges that gaming can be good for kids, and their parents too.

Club Football 2005 Leeds edition relegated

Just like the real football club which was relegated to Division One, the Leeds United version of the videogame Club Football 2005 will be dropped from the popular football game series.

When the original Club Football was released in Europe in 2003, the dedicated Leeds United fan base ensured that its version was actually one of the most successful. The team was one of around 20 from Europe due to get its own club-themed version of the 2005 game. However, since it was relegated from the English Premiership to Division 1 of the Football League, releasing the game would've caused Codemasters "development issues."

Well, the beautiful game is after all a business, eh? Betcha that when Leeds gets promoted back to the Premiership, the "development issues" will be resolved.

Foreskin = better sex?

Wired News is reporting that some folks believe that men have better sex with the foreskin present. Never thought that such a debate would even exist! Now, they're claiming that you can put it back if you've been circumcised. This must be one of the hardest (pun intended) extreme makeovers for the rest of us to believe.

Forget therapy. Forget sex toys or role playing. Build thee a foreskin, young -- or old -- man. Men who have been circumcised, who account for about 63 percent of the U.S. male population (one of the highest rates in the world), have been stripped of some significant sensory ability, say some groups that oppose circumcision.
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But all is not lost. Any man with enough patience and persistence, or willingness to endure surgery on his most sensitive of body parts, can acquire a new foreskin and regain some of that sensitivity, foreskin reconstruction advocates say.
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All of the men who have restored their foreskin seem to be pleased with the results. Griffiths said that when he had restored himself about halfway, he noticed a new and pleasurable sensation while taking a shower.

Pop and play PC games

Alienware has released a Digital Home System that is not only a MS Media Center PC, but it also features the DISCover technology that allows you to pop in a PC game CD-ROM and you can play it instantly like you would do on a videogame console. With this, hopefully you'll be able to say goodbyes to the headaches associated with installing and running PC games. The US$2000++ price tag aside, this sure looks like an intriging purchase.

Malaysia likes open source

It's another win for the Open Source movement. Other than my OS, the MS Office suite, I'm increasingly searching for Open Source software to use too!

All Government technology procurement will now have a preference for open source software (OSS), under the Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Masterplan made available to the public this morning.
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it also states, "in situations where advantages and disadvantages of OSS and proprietary software are equal, preference shall be given to OSS."

Shoddy, skewed reporting from BBC

The BBC is reknowned for its unbiased and objective news coverage. But even the grand 'ole Beebs can be guilty of skewed and erroneous reporting. This article titled "Singapore lifts Sex and City ban" is filled with bias remarks and factual mistakes.

Officials at the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts have censored parts of the first programme.

It is actually the Media Development Authority of Singapore that looks at the programmes. This organisation is like OFCOM in the UK.

Scenes featuring Samantha, played by Kim Catrall, exposing her breasts and using sexually charged expletives have been deleted.

What this piece failed to mention is that, yes, these scenes are deleted. But the same scenes are also deleted to all the feed that goes out to the region. Other countries like Malaysia, which has shown the past seasons of this show, also has the same edits!

Caroline Wong, a spokeswoman at HBO Asia said... "If they say nudity and language have to go, then we will edit accordingly."

The truth is that HBO does their own editing which will then go out to the other countries in Asia. The real reason for the edits is simply that the channel wants to show them to the various Asian countries. The BBC report failed to mention that.

Shame on you, BBC! More reason to read treat news you read skeptically.
 
Update: The BBC piece may be culled from an original piece by Reuters. Regardless, it's shame on these international news agencies for not doing their reporting properly. The report didn't even sought the views from MDA!

Classic Ultima - All hail Lord British!

Some of my earliest memories of Computer RPGs are from the classic Ultima series of games. This series practically defined how CRPGs should be. The fond memories of moving my avatar around the world that Lord British created, while not as graphically impressive as the Baldur's Gate series of games, is really something you won't forget.

Due to improvement in hardware, most, if not all, of the Ultima games won't run on your modern box. It is also rather hard to buy a copy of the games unless you can find the Ultima Collection.

A search on the web, however, will reveal some interesting sites and help files to enable you to run these old games on your PC. There are also numerous projects of people trying to update some of these old games. The link featured here is a FAQ of sort to help you to find and get them up and running. Recently, I've also found some ROMs of the Ultima series on the NES system. Since there's an emulator that will run NES games on the GBA, I'll soon be playing these classics port on my portable console.

To round off, I quote the Nelson's Weblog where I got the link and inspiration of this piece from...

A lot of the first 20 years of movies are lost forever because no one preserved them. I fear the same thing is going to happen with games.

Let's hope these grassroots efforts will help preserve the Ultima games.

Review: Ninja Five-O (GBA)

What is it? Ninja Five-O has you play the role of Joe Osugi, a ninja cop (which is what the title is called in Europe). As a nimble and deadly ninja, you need to kill the bad guys and save hostages and eventually defeat bosses to bring peace to the city.

The Highs: As expected, a well-trained ninja would have many nifty moves and this one is no exception. You can climb walls and swing around with your grappling hook. You can throw shurikens, and when you gain power, fireballs and laser bolts. You can slide around, crawl and use your trusty sword to jump and slash your enemies. Being a ninja is just cool!

The Lows: The game can be pretty tough at times as you only have one life. The final stage is really a killer as you have to past various obstacles in a limited time. Gameplay can also get a little repetitive as you simply go around killing enemies, save the hostages, and collect keys which open doors to new areas and proceed to the next stage.

The Bottom Line: Nija Five-O is a throwback to classic games such as Bionic Commando and the many platformers that are available. But what makes this stands out is that it packs all the excitment of those games into a nifty and tight package. The tension and excitement generated plus the many moves that you can perform makes this a fun and enjoyable GBA title.

Rip open your GBA SP

This site has pictures showing how to open up your GBA SP. Now why would you want to do that? Well, if you've seen some of those colourful shell replacements that are on sale or if you want to paint the shell yourself, this is what you would do. Recommended for the technically skilled and adventurous only. Another link that's similar can be found here.

Violent-game ban deemed unconstitutional

It seems like at least the courts in the US are sensible enough at deciding where to draw the line when it comes to the call for the ban on violent games.

US District Court of Seattle rules that a state law forbidding the sale of games showing violence against law enforcement officers violates the First Ammendent.
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Rejecting the state's argument that violence in games should fall under the state's obscenity law, Judge Lasnik noted that similar portrayals of violence can be seen in literature, art, and the media and that "there is no indication that such expressions have ever been excluded from the protections of the First Amendment."
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Addressing the state's concern that violence against police officers in games translates to violence in real life, Judge Lasnik determined that "the...belief that video games cause violence, particularly violence against law enforcement officers, is not based on reasonable inferences drawn from substantial evidence." He also pointed out that the definition of violence against law enforcement officers was impossibly vague, citing such examples as the possessed cops in Freedom Force, enemy officers in Splinter Cell, or games built around Looney Toons, The Simpsons, or The Dukes of Hazzard.

The Incredible Hulk has a blog!

This is really funny. Just to think that the green block of muscle typing his blog just cracks me up. Here's a sample entry...

Some people ask Hulk why Hulk not run for president.

Hulk have simple answer.

Hulk not smart enough to be president and Hulk knows it, unlike stupid puny human Bush in office now. Only saving grace of puny human Bush is his face looks like MONKEY.

HELLO MONKEY!!!!

Transformers... robots in 3D

Ah... many of us growing up in the 80s have fond memories of the battle between the robots in disguise. The Transformers 3D site has excellent 3D renders and movies of the Autobots and the Decepticons beautifully done in 3D. Simply amazing!

Notes & Sources for Fahrenheit 9-11

For those who would like to find out where Michael Moore got his facts for the film Fahrenheit 9-11, here's a link to the notes and sources for the film. One has to agree that some real research has gone into the making of this docu.

Breakbeat Nintendo tunes

Someone called SASKROTCH has done a breakbeat remix of soundtracks from Nintendo games titled Nintendo Breakz Volume One, including Legend of Zelda, River City Ransom, Metroid and even Bubble Bobble! When you add the thumping and irregular beats of a drum machine over the electronic midi tunes of these games, the juxataposition is simply mindboggling. This is the first in what will be a series of three.

SMS a security threat in China

Is this the classic case of "Big Brother is watching you"? Given that text messaging did have an impact on mobilising political support in the Philippines, and the way SMSes help to facilitate the gathering of flash mobs, it's no wonder the Chinese government is worried. But imagine the amount of national resources wasted having to monitor all the messaging activities that're going on!

Government officials in China this week began making daily inspections of short message service providers, including Web sites and the leading mobile phone companies, and had already fined 10 and forced 20 others to shut down for failing to properly police messages passing through their communication systems, the state-run news agency said.
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The move is the latest sign that while China has embraced Internet and mobile phone technology, the government has also substantially increased its surveillance of digital communications and adopted new methods of prohibiting people from getting unauthorized information about sensitive subjects.