Sophistry and the real conspiracy theory

I know no-one will read this blog because I don't have any idea how to make these things go viral beyond my dog reading it and a few of it's fleas. However I felt the need to just right down my rants in the hope someone will see it and common sense will prevail.

There's a lot of misinformation spread on the internet. Most are harmless and unintentional like someone believing changing their status for an hour on Facebook to honour a 'cause week' which unbeknown to them doesn't actually exist. Some however are quite disturbing and could lead to people being hurt or worse. It's this I'd like to address now.

There's a series of websites which are labelled as alternative media which have grown in popularity over the past few years. They use cleverly constructed stories with vague references to shadowy sources and links to similar stories on the same types of website as the journalistic proof their story has legitimacy. I thought them quite harmless at first, entertaining at best as their stories were so outlandish and one-sided I did not think anyone would give them credence. Besides, once a handful of the claims in these stories never saw the light of day I thought that people would not trust any such future nonsense from them and move on. I am afraid I was wrong.

As they sometimes do seem to get genuine scoops and as they feed off the fear and paranoia of a certain section of the public, their popularity has grown. People who follow them 'religeously' believe they are getting the inside information, the secret knowledge censored from the mainstream media and the public at large.

Since Obama came into power some of these sites have gone rabid. I don't know if it's because he's the first coloured President or if it's the links to Muslims or what, but there's a growing number of people in the US who's convinced Obama is going to enslave and kill the US people. Crazy huh? It became even worse since the Newton Massacre and Obama started talking seriously about tackling the gun problem.

There's some people, and I include some of my American friends who are normally quite logical and sane, who believe the US government wants to take guns away from 'normal, patriotic' families by force if necessary. They believe a civil war is coming and are arming up like never before in preparation for a bloodbath. Some also believe if they do, China will invade because an armed population is the only thing stopping such action. Sounds nuts right? No-one in their right mind would believe this without concrete proof right? I'm afraid not. Using the art of sophistry and misdirecting all it takes is some articles on the internet which plays heavily on people's fears and bingo, people will seemingly believe anything based on just words.

Here's an example. If you do a search in google on "DHS buys 1.6 billion rounds of ammo" you will find loads of 'news' articles on the subject which are very disturbing to read. E.G.

http://www.infowars.com/government-cover-up-of-ammo-buys-implodes/ 

The article is very convincing. It quotes lots of other reports and sources but close scrutiny shows the links are either to articles on it's own website or similar websites reporting the same type of news. Where is the balance here? It seems very one-sided and you can only come to the conclusion that the US government is planning to go to war...on it's own citizens. Yet a ten minute search on google by myself found this:

http://westmoreland.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=642&Itemid=372

The answer is simple. They buy in bulk to the maximum amount they are allowed to buy for a five year period to save the taxpayer money. Now maybe this is a conspiracy or a cover up but what I find very telling is in all the articles I've read on these news websites, none quote this explanation direct or link to it. At most it is mentioned vaguely in a sentence at the end.

Next there's this:

http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/police-departments-beg-and-barter-ammo-while-dhs-buys-16-billion

OMG - The government has bought so much ammo there's none left for local police forces! Again a ten minute search by me found this:

http://www.policeone.com/media-relations/articles/6087399-Police-departments-facing-ammo-shortage-nationwide/

From the police themselves saying the ammo shortage is due to panic buying from citizens convinced by the fear and paranoia spread by the alternate media. Now again, this may be a cover of some sort, after all the suspicious part of me questions if the government has bought so much ammo why are the police running out? However that's not the point as we are not even allowed to discuss this point as it is never even mentioned on these websites.

It seems people faced with a choice would much rather believe the government is out to rip the guns out of their hands by force, bring in martial law and introduce internment camps for 'dissident citizens' rather than even consider they are buying in bulk to save money and it's the public's own panic buying which is causing the problem.

And who's profiting from all this? Well I'd say the gun/ammo companies and organisations like the NRA are probably making more money then they ever have before! It also seems to me these websites spreading this news must be making a mint from advertising revenue and 'patriotic citizens' donating cash to 'the cause!' Look past the misdirection and follow the money trail, that's were the real source of the problem is usually found.

I look at the comments under these articles and get a chill. People seem to be stockpiling guns and ammo like never before. How long is it before people are killed over this? I hope common sense eventually prevails. Here is a link to a great article on a sensible way forward for guns in America.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/18/opinion/frum-obama-plan-b-on-guns/index.html

Again, I never see this linked or suggested in the alternate media so the question I ask is why? Why not report different sides to a story? Is the real conspiracy here not the government but the so called reporters of the truth?

Now before you say anything I am not saying there's no government conspiracy theories, governments do not have secrets, corporations do not meet and come up with plans to dominate the market more etc. I'm saying that conspiracy theories are just that, a theory. A conspiracy is harder to put together than you might think as people, by their very nature, cannot keep secrets. The bigger the group of people involved, the more complex the conspiracy, the more exponentially difficult it is to keep a secret, yet every major event in modern history and beyond is now labelled as being brought about by a conspiracy theory.

If you look at what's happening in America right now you'll see Obama and Congress are struggling to even get a discussion on suggesting a re-introducing a ban on assault rifle. That's light years away from a home invasion, but since when did a little commen sense get in the way of sensationalism?

Religion scores

It amazes me that throughout the centuries people have said their religion, or what they believe, in is right and everyone else is wrong. When you think about it religion is like football, it's all roughly the same we just choose which side to support, or not. Carlsberg don't do philosophy but if they did, it would probably be the best philosophy in the world.

Secrets of life

Have you ever been on the brink of understandable some undeniable, hidden truth about our universe or a felt you are about to glimpse behind the mysterious fabric of reality which will reveal the secrets of life, then realise it’s just trapped wind?

Alcatraz gets profoundly spiritual

There was a great quote on this TV program the other night (well I thought so anyway, the program was Alcatraz btw) where the Warden asks an inmate if he's religious, he says no I'm spiritual. The warden says, "What's the difference son?" to which the prisoner replies "If you are spiritual you are seeking answers, if you are religious you are seeking rewards." Top quote! :)

The death of PC based First Person Shooters?

I’ve been a fan of PC based First Person Shooter games since before either was invented. I used to sit for endless hours with my right hand holding a twitching half-dead rat while my left was busy pressing an assortment of Yale Keys stolen from my Dad’s dungeon. I’d stare at my bedroom window shouting things like, “WTF? LTP Noob!” One time my Mum got a priest in who declared I was speaking Sumerian.

When I was released I quickly became enthralled with the PC revolution. FPS games became my forte. Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, FAACS (Fictional Anthropomorphic Animal Character Slayer) – I played them all! Online play added a whole new element. I could pwn real players; the only enemy being the evil lag caused by the demonic inspired modem.

I did briefly switch to the Dark Side and tried the original Red Faction and Halo on consoles. I laughed so hard I split a hair follicle. Aiming on console based FPS games involved juggling with two thumb sticks in a virtual world which refused to keep still. I had more chance of catching Mr. Miyagi with chopsticks than hitting my target. The AI’s had to be programmed with Storm Trooper levels of accuracy to give players a chance of winning. At the time I imagined if they tried to develop multiplay FPS all players would have to wear a blindfold and detect each other using the oral “Marco – Polo” method to make it fair and balanced.

I laughed and went back to my superior PC with superior graphics, smooth mouse/keyboard action and skill! I didn’t stop laughing until the neighbours beat me senseless with a cricket bat. Then of course the dreaded Haxor emerged to ruin it all.

Hacks made CounterStrike a nightmare to play. VAC is blatantly insufficient but then again it does stand for Virtually Any Cheat Is Allowed. The ‘IA’ is missed off the end because VACIA sounds like a sex enhancing tablet.

Servers run by Admins who didn’t become power obsessed evil despots saved the day and made the game playable. I soon learned only to go to those blessed of servers and for a couple of years had great fun. However, now we have a fish based FPS series called Cod and when Modern Warfare 2 came out, it had been designed in Infinityward’s wisdom not to have server-side support. This, they pronounced emphatically, was to stop hackers dead in their pants, plus had an unforeseen and unplanned side-effect of making it possible for them to charge for DLC…which is nice. /sarcasm.

I fell for this nefarious claim and purchased said product for my preferred platform from a Game shop assistant with chronic urticaria.

I played and enjoyed the Single-Player Campaign even though it was remarkable easy and quick. According to the stats, when I completed the game I’d been playing for minus 5 minutes. Nonplussed I dived straight into the multiplayer arena!

It soon became blatantly obvious some players had the ability to see through walls. Others could shoot one player with one shot, spin around 790 degrees and shoot another in the nads while teabagging a third. Odd Perks indeed I thought. With these abilities I expected to unlock a Killstreak called, “Delete All Enemy’s Accounts.”

At rank 68 I struggled to gather enthusiasm to play. I hada negative ratio which was so large it makes the San Andreas Fault look like a builder’s butt crack. It was rare for me to go through one gaming session without encountering at least one obvious hacker and Bod knows how many who are more discrete in their cheatering shenanigans. I had taken to playing obscure game modes which hardly anyone plays like ‘Third Person Capture the Hag’ as the haxors tend to stay in normal modes but it’s hardly ideal. The old woman hates being picked up and dragged around the map. She threatens to tell her son-in-law or regale me with tales about her bunions.

Then a mate (who strangely enough only I can see?) bought me a pre-owned copy for the PS3 and said, “Just try it mate!“ whilst smiling like a bible basher. Going against all my instincts and beliefs I did and the difference was simply incredible!

The first few matches were like a ‘Carry on’ film. I’d go to aim down the scope but threw a flashbang and blinded myself instead. I’d try to knife someone but ran faster into their oncoming bullets. Saying ‘Stop’ and holing up my hand doesn’t work like it did for Neo. On my third match I fell backwards out of a window in Highrise. I don’t even want to say how and why I got stuck upside down on a ladder in Quarry.

This was all down to the barbaric controller which is JUST WRONG! I missed my smooth mouse and keyboard action. A player would appear in front of me and I’d panic! I’d press both triggers while rotating the thumb sticks in the hopes I’d unlock a special move and shoot a fireball while screaming ‘Hadouken!’ but it didn’t work.

But then something happened and suddenly I got used to everything. It was like the controller needed to bond with me like a Trill or Goa'uld. I started winning matches. Within a few games I was really enjoying myself; within a few ranks I hit a positive ratio. At rank 42 I had a ratio of 1.27 and found FFA quite easy. I have to seek team based matches for a decent challenge. On the PC version I got killed in the lobby.

There’s good players of course but what’s so refreshing is you don’t see biblical miracles of skill on a regular basis, nor does a Dark Lord of the Sith join the match under the pseudonym /\L33TR@:P0rZ*^|. It appears the PC is the preferred platform of the Empire.

I continued playing both versions for a while, however I found myself spending more and more time on the PS3. It’s hard to login to a game where you don’t know if you are on a level playing field and the evidence from the HackCam proves the mutant genome is ripe amongst the PC community.

Maybe it’s my experience on the PC which makes the PS3 version more playable; maybe the general skill level of the PC’er is greater. Maybe the ‘not talked about much in public’ aim-assist in console FPS games makes all the difference. I don’t know. All I know is it is blatantly obvious a major factor is because the cheaters are more prevalent than ever before. Valve’s stony silence since the 2500 account bannage after MW2 was first launched on the PC speaks volumes. The lack of visible bans in-game encourages more to cheat just to keep up. I actually think it’s reached the point where it’s not the player with the hacks who wins but the one with the best hacks; it’s like the Olympics if drugs and bioengineering were allowed!

Is this the beginning of the end of FPS Multiplay on the PC? Such claims have been made before of course and it’s still here. All I know is I've not looked back since. Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 were all PS3 purchases. Maybe the hacking problem has got better on the PC? I do not know but it's too late for me.

Sorry for the ‘MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT’ If you’ve actually read all of the above then congratulations! You’ve unlocked a special Title/Emblem and Ranked up! (heh heh, I said ranked).

*WHAM* – ‘TEXTIES TEXTIES..1…2…3’ CHALLENGE COMPLETED
*WHAM* - CUTE INVERTED LOBSTER EMBLEM AWARDED
*WHAM* - YOU HAVE BEEN PROMOTED TO RANK ELEVENTY1!!11

A popular Vulcan childhood nursery rhyme

Row your boat utilising minimal exertion heading on course 220.5 down the stream,

Content in the knowledge that life is the property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.  

Second Verse

Whilst still rowing your boat utilising minimal exertion heading on course 220.5 down the stream, If you see a crocodile, do not forget to set your phaser to stun and shoot it using a low density beam.

Diablo III launch fiasco

So Diablo III launches bug ridden and without adequate capacity to support demand. I was so shocked I immediately removed all the skin from my knees with match sticks. It took a while but I felt like I’d achieved something so was disappointed when an achievement did not pop up.

Diablo III is a benchmark in the next phase of gaming developer company greed. They have an auction house where you can buy items, I think even characters, for real cash and ‘Cut-Me-Own-Throat-Dibbler-Blizzard’ gets a cut of each transaction. This would not work if players did not go online so they’ve forced everyone to log in to battle.net to play even single player mode. Now servers cannot keep up with demand and we have stupid bugs like if you give an NPC a shield you get kicked out of the game and cannot log back in. Plus it hides all your underpants in real life.

Modern Warfare, Skyrim, World of Warcraft, Diablo III. All launched full of bugs and/or have performance issues. The companies do not care as long as they meet the deadline because history shows players will still fork out loads of cash and pre-order or spend hours queuing up on launch day. When problems occur the forums fill up with /cry and the rants of adolescents. They do not care as long as you have spent your cash.

Lying down, turning over and exposing your privates to the world is not adequate protest to force change. Hold off for a week or two to see what issues arise like I do. If companies do not get millions in revenue on launch day from a product which is not up to standards then they may take note and actually do something about it.  It’s an idea so crazy, it just might work!