Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

Valentine’s Day

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Valentine’s Day (aka Saint Valentine’s Day) is an annual commemoration held on the 14th of February each year to celebrate love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine’s Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, men panic and scramble all over making reservations to expensive restaurants and buying obscenely overpriced roses from cutthroat flower merchants. Many men curse the existence of this day and many men does not understand the fuss over Valentine’s Day. Your significant half might also say that she does not understand the fuss either. But here’s the chocolate-covered rose-decorated catch:

She’s allowed to talk about how she dislikes Valentine’s Day and how fake and insincere this day is BUT still expects men to go the extra mile to celebrate it.

Double standard? You betcha. However, if men love their beloved to death,  they have to suck it up on this one and line the pockets of unscrupulous merchants exploiting this ‘festive occasion’. Remember, even the most independent women have that secret part of themselves that loves romance. They don’t need to have it every day, but Valentine’s Day is the one day that allows them the one opportunity to indulge in otherwise cheesy rituals, and brag about it to their friends.

A word of advice to guys out there, NEVER underestimate the importance of Valentine’s Day. If you underestimate the importance of this day and failed to hit the proper heart-shaped mark with Cupid’s arrows, the wrath of your lady due to an obviously last-minute gift or imperfect day or you having forgotten the pesky day altogether  or even any of a slew of other possible misdemeanors will cause you to be sleeping in the doghouse and cursing yourself for failing to properly worship at the altar of fat baby cherubs and overpriced flower bouquets.

While Valentine’s day is a celebration of love, there exists two school of thoughts that criticize the existence of Valentine’s Day (i.e. Antivalentinism), that is:

  1. Commercialism
  2. Forced observation

Commercialism
Many companies and businesses make large profits from selling massive amounts of cards, flowers, chocolates, candies, stuffed animals and any other gifts at inflated prices. The amount of gifts on sale leads those with a partner feeling that they are obligated to purchase such gifts whether they want to or not as everyone else is also doing so. Not conforming to social norms leads to uncomfortable arguments and the wrath of their significant other. Some people believe that this forced purchases takes away from the values, significance and meaning of Valentine’s Day. The same could also be said of other commercialized holidays (i.e. Christmas, Easter etc.)

Forced Observation
The criticism of forced observation of romantic love is based on the idea that if a person is forced by culture to profess or observe their love to another (especially on a universally agreed-upon day), or else suffer within the relationship as a consequence of not doing so, then there is no free will in said expression and thus it is not love. There also exists the objection to Valentine’s Day on the grounds that for romantically unattached people, Valentine’s Day is only a magnifier of the fact that they are unattached, quite possibly against their will and efforts.

Valentine’s day is historically a day to honor the martyrdom of a Christian saint named Valentine. His life has been largely lost in history and it’s no longer clear precisely what he did.

According to one story, Roman emperor Claudius II imposed a ban on marriages because too many young men were dodging the draft by getting married (as only single men had to enter the army). A Christian priest named Valentinus was caught performing secret marriages and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, young lovers visited him with notes about how much better love is than war (i.e. the first “valentines”).  The execution occurred in 269 CE on February 14th.

The other story tells of a priest named Valentinus was jailed for helping Christians. During his stay he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and sent her notes signed “from your Valentine”. Some stories say that he first cured her eyesight (without which she couldn’t have read the notes) and thereby converted the jailer to Christianity. He was eventually beheaded and buried on the Via Flaminia. Pope Julius I reportedly built a basilica over this Valentine’s grave.

Personally, I feel that there is no reason to set up a special day to show the one you love how much you love them (that includes Mother’s Day and Father’s Day). If you are in love, you will show it, and show it often. As Valentine’s Day approaches, we are bombarded daily with advertising that says spend, spend, spend and spend even more to show your love. From my experiences of what true love really means, I see no reason to go on a spending spree one day a year, or any reason to splurge on a particular day.

We should show our love to our significant other whenever we feel it, and as often as we feel like doing so. We do not need to wait for this arbitrary ”special day” in February to show how much we care for our loved ones, when the happiest people on this “special day” are those companies making a fortune off the “special day” that is the same as any other day for two people in love. While I admit that I do not show how much I love and care for my wife everyday, and I am also guilty for forgetting about her from time to time, I believe that we should always endeavor to improve and show them just how much you care.

Although Valentine’s Day is an opportunity for lovers to rekindle their spirit of love for each other (not to say that their spirit ever faltered), I think that this holiday is clearly cheapened when it becomes “expected” for example to get a dozen roses, the most gourmet of chocolate candies, the fanciest greeting card (if you are female). I have seen (and been in) the biggest arguments, and have seen ladies with broken hearts because their lover isn’t capable of mind reading and thus presented disappointing tokens of their love.

With that being said, Valentine’s Day holds different meaning to different people. If your significant other places great emphasis and importance on this day, as their significant other, we must do all we can to make them happy for if we dearly love them, we will do everything in our power to make them happy despite our believes. After all, we would want the same thing to happen to us isn’t it In closing, regardless of your believes and how much importance you put on this day, I wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day.

Tags: , , , , | Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Crinkum-Crankum

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Crinkum-Crankum (kriŋ′kəm kraŋ′kəm)
noun
ARCHAIC anything full of twists and turns

~ Webster’s New World College Dictionary

Crinkum-Crankum
A woman’s commodity

~ 1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue

While reading ‘The Mauritius Command’ by Patrick O’Brian, one of the character, one Mr Farquhar, a gentleman ”bred to the law”, who is en route to his position as Governor of Mauritius, asserts the superiority of English law over Bonaparte’s ”new French code”. Mr Farquhar has been led by Stephen Maturin to reflect upon the difference between English and French law by “considerations on the inheritance of landed property”. For him, the law’s wisdom lies in the way in which it protects property from illicit dissemination; or, put another way, the law’s effects are most precisely realized in its capacity to distribute man’s property, including women’s bodies and their products, in an orderly and predictable fashion.

See below for a brief extract from the book illustrating the above:

‘The French system, their new French code, is very well on paper,’ observed Farquhar, ‘very well for a parcel of logical automata; but it quite overlooks the illogical, I might say almost supra-logical and poetic side of human nature. Our law, in its wisdom, has preserved much of this, and it is particularly remarkable in the customary tenure of land, and in petty serjeanty. Allow me to give you an example: in the manors of East and West Enbourne, in Berkshire, a widow shall have her free-bench – her sedes libera, or in barbarous law-Latin her francus bancus – in all her late husband’s copyhold lands dum sola et casta fuerit; but if she be detected in amorous conversation with a person of the opposite sex – if she grant the last favors – she loses all, unless she appears in the next manor-court, riding backward on a black ram, and reciting the following words:

Here I am
Riding on a black ram
Like a whore as I am;
And for my crinkum-crankum
Have lost my binkum-bankum;
And for my tail’s game
Am brought to this worldly shame.
Therefore good Mr Steward let me have my lands again.

‘My uncle owns one of these manors, and I have attended the court. I cannot adequately describe the merriment, the amiable confusion of the personable young widow, the flood of rustic wit, and – which is my real point – the universal, contented acceptance of her reinstatement, which I attribute largely to the power of poetry.’

This is a very peculiar piece of ancient law, very gender biased but still peculiar. Curious on whether this law is actually real, I did some digging around and to my surprise this law actually exists and it is known as ‘Free Bench’.

Free Bench, or francus bancus in Latin, is the widow’s right to a copyhold. It is not a dower or gift, but a free right independent of the will of the husband. Called bench because, upon acceding to the estate, she becomes a tenant of the manor, and one of the benchers, i.e. persons who sit on the bench occupied by the pares curiæ (Peers of Court)”.

The widow of a tenant was usually allowed her free bench, so long as she preserved her chastity. But if any evidence appeared against her, or she declared an intention of remarrying, she had to forfeit her lands. The rights to free bench varied from manor to manor and were subject to local custom. Some did not have the custom at all. In some Parts of England, by the Customs and Tenures of Manors, a Widow that has a Bastard, forfeits her Estate, unless she comes into the Court of the Manor, in the Presence of the Steward and all the Tenants, riding upon a black ram holding its tail in her hand and pronounces the above Lines.

Tags: , , , , | Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Lest we forget

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009


Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day – is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.) The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war; this was possibly done upon the suggestion of Edward George Honey to Wellesley Tudor Pole, who established two ceremonial periods of remembrance based on events in 1917.

Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day – is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)

The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war; this was possibly done upon the suggestion of Edward George Honey to Wellesley Tudor Pole, who established two ceremonial periods of remembrance based on events in 1917.

******

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget …

| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Happiness

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Happiness is just outside my window
Would it crash blowing 80-miles an hour?
Or is happiness a little more like knocking
On your door, and you just let it in?

Happiness feels a lot like sorrow
Let it be, you can’t make it come or go
But you are gone- not for good but for now
Gone for now feels a lot like gone for good

Happiness is a firecracker sitting on my headboard
Happiness was never mine to hold
Careful child, light the fuse and get away
Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks

Happiness damn near destroys you
Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor
So you tell yourself, that’s probably enough for now
Happiness has a violent roar

Happiness is like the old man told me
Look for it, but you’ll never find it all
But let it go, live your life and leave it
Then one day, wake up and she’ll be home
Home, home, home

- Happiness, The Fray

Someone once told me:

Happiness is based on circumstances, contentment is eternal. Happiness is unpredictable. Chase after it and it destroys you as you will be chasing after things that will only be temporarily filling the emptiness inside you. You aren’t chasing eternal joy. You’re chasing something that will forever change as it will never satisfy you long enough.

In this song, it says that “Happiness feels a lot like sorrow. Let it be, you can’t make it come or go“. Sorrow comes without warning. No one goes looking for it and yet it comes. It is a very sad thing to experience but nevertheless it still comes unbidden.

Happiness works like this to a certain extent. Try and try as you may, it is insanely hard to find true happiness. It comes when it comes, not when you’re actively searching for it. Think for a moment. When one is sad and depress, that person would be more likely to search frantically for a way to get out of it. Happiness that is found in this way is just cheap thrills and only lasts temporarily.

True happiness is like falling in love, or being with someone you truly love or an unexpected good news. It is because that we aren’t actively searching for it, it comes to you. We should just live life to the fullest and not worry about whether we can find happiness for it is random. It will come to you when you least expect it.

| Posted in Articles, Journal Entries | No Comments »

Guitar Hero Pak Lah

Monday, August 25th, 2008

Last night I was watching a fairly draggy and boring closing ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The ceremony lack the energy and “oompph” I would expect from China. What I wanted to see is heart pounding drums, throngs of martial artists performing as one, Lion Dancers jumping from pole to pole, Dragon Dancers weaving through the other performers, terra-cotta warriors marching in… okay, the last one was a bit too much but that would be an EXCITING ceremony.

But you certainly could not blame them for the lack of effort. The sheer amount of man power, practice and technical wizardry certainly deserves some respect. Towards the end of the ceremony, there was a short presentation for the 2012 London Olympics. The short segment marking the handover to London features Pop and R&B sensation Leona Lewis together with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy page on top of a red Double-Decker bus rocking to the sexually-explicit song Whole Lotta Love which apparently had to be amended to satisfy Chinese censors.

It was during Jimmy Page’s excellent jamming session when I realised that the person rocking up there was actually Malaysia’s Prime Minister! Check out this comparison picture.

Look at the resemblance! If you’ve ever wondered what the PM does in his office, well, you know now.

| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Origins: QWERTY

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Day in day out we go about our daily business without the slightest thought on the origins, the hows and the whys of something that we use everyday. In today’s episode of “Origins“, we examine the humble origins of the keyboard or more specifically why are there so many keys on that damned thing when we never use them at all?!

Ah the keyboard. Such a simple and yet wondrous invention. How would any of us in this day and age ever survive without the keyboard. A keyboard put simply, is an input device most commonly used with computer systems. The keyboard that we used today, or more specifically the keyboard with the standard QWERTY layout, originated from a type writer invented in the early 1870s by Christopher Sholes. The keys were laid out in alphabetical order at this time.

However, this early type writer has a defect. There is a tendency for the type bars to clash and jam if struck in rapid succession. This I’ve seen and observed first hand when I was fooling around with my uncle’s old type writer almost 20 years ago. At that time, I was simply amused it jammed when i repeatedly mash the typewriter as fast as my little grubby mitts can (tee hee hee v^.^v), but now I have learned to appreciate how this defect became the dawn of the keyboard layout that we’re so used to.

Trivia: You can type out “TYPE WRITER” on the upper row. The letter ‘R’ was actually shifted to the place that was originally alloted to the period mark. This adjustment by the manufacturers was done to enable salesman to impress on customers the brand by typing out “TYPE WRITER” from only one row.

In an effort to curb this technical limitation, Sholes made many arrangements to the key layout by trial and error in an effort to slow down typist. Yes, to slow down typist so that they would not able to jam the keys because they were typing at lightning fast speeds! Eventually he arrived at a four-row, upper case keyboard approaching the modern QWERTY standard.

However, it was actually IBM’s layout, based on the original QWERTY layout devised by Sholes that was made the de facto standard for our keyboards today. The first PC keyboard had just 83 keys and some improvements to the original layout. Most notably. there were ten function keys, F1 – F10 on the left side of the keyboard.

With each subsequent launch of new PC versions by IBM, the layout was slightly tweaked. In 1984, introduced the 101 key layout which we’re familiar with today. This layout became the standard layout.

But these 101 key layouts are actually hard to find nowadays as it is now being replaced by the 104 key layout. The extra keys introduced were the ‘Menu’ key in between the right ‘Alt’ and right ‘Ctrl’, and the annoying as hell ‘Windows’ keys (Gamers hate this key with a passion. How many times have we pressed this accursed key instead of the ‘Alt’  key at crucial moments and the whole application minimized back to desktop and consequently find ourselves dead when we re-maximized the application!), courtesy of Micro$oft.

I’m sure you are currently admiring your keyboard, appreciating how the keyboard you use every single day has evolved since the days of yore. I’m pretty sure by now that you will also realized the many many keys that we rarely or never use at all on your keyboard.

On modern keyboards, the break key is usually labeled Pause/Break. Pause pauses either output or processing. In combination with Control, it produces a different keycode, for Break. Ctrl-Break traditionally stopped programs in DOS. Ctrl-Break is also used to halt execution of the debugger in some programming environments such as Microsoft Visual Studio. In combination with the Windows key, it brings up the System Properties window in Microsoft Windows environments.

System request (often abbreviated Sys Rq or Sys Req) used to be on its own on the 83 key layout but now shares the same key with Print Screen. The key was originally used for the IBM 3270-type console keyboards of the IBM System/370 mainframe computer. It was used to invoke low-level operating system functions bypassing higher level programs which is actually being used today by the Linux kernel.

Print screen often takes a screenshot of your desktop in most operating systems. Back in the day, hitting this key will send a snapshot of the text console to a printer and hence the name Print Screen instead of Screenshot.

The Enter key may be one you are familiar with but there is a little more that goes under the hood of this little critter. The Enter key wraps to the next line or activates the default or selected option. ASCII keyboards were labeled CR or Return. Originally, typewriters used a lever that would return the cylinder with the paper to the start of the line. However, electric typewriters were introduced by Smith Corona in 1960, the key to return the carriage to the original position was usually labelled “carriage return” or “return”. To improve the keyboard for non-English-speakers, the symbol ↵ was introduced to mark this key, since this graphic could communicate the action of the key without using words.

Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, will perform a special operation (for example, Control-Alt-Delete); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. Originally it was used to produce non-printable control key sequences that would be picked up by a program to perform tasks like ejecting a page from a printer and clearing the screen.

Alt shifts the letters and numbers into the range above hex 0×80 where the international characters and special characters exist in the PC’s standard character set. Alt plus a number typed on the numeric pad produces special characters. Its origins hearkens back to the days of the 83 key layout and was used to set the high bit (first binary digit) of key sequence for use as a key modifier. Its function was retained as a modifier key today.

Shift selects the upper character, or select upper case of letters. The Shift key in typewriters was attached to a lever that moved the character types so that the uppercase characters could be printed in the paper.

Caps Lock selects upper case, or if shift is pressed, lower case of letters. In mechanical typewriters, it worked like the Shift key, but also used a lock to keep the Shift key depressed. The lock was released by pressing the Shift key.

Num Lock toggles between states for the numeric keypad. When off, it acts as arrow and navigational keys. When on, it is a 10-key pad similar to a standard calculator. During the 83 key layout days, the Num Lock was used to toggle the number pad to act as cursor keys for navigation as the cursor keys didn’t arrived until the 102 key layout era.

The Scroll Lock key was designed for terminals where it would act as a modifier for the cursor keys. When toggled, the keys would scroll the contents of the screen and when it wasn’t toggled, the cursor keys would move the cursor on the screen. Like the Sys Req key, the Scroll Lock is no longer used today and could be removed. But tradition persists.

The Function keys (F1 – F12) are the only keys without a pre-defined role. It is designed to be used for whatever an application wills them to. They were only ten function keys on the 83 key layout and they were arranged in a two by five row layout. This caused problems as programs usually lists the use of the function keys horizontally, generally at the bottom of the screen. Hence they were later moved to the top of the keyboard horizontally and added two more function keys.

The Escape key is used to generate the ASCII Escape character that was traditionally used to initiate an escape sequence. As most computer users no longer are concerned with the details of controlling their computer’s peripherals, the task for which the escape sequences were originally designed, the escape key was appropriated by application programmers, most often to mean Stop. This use continues today in Microsoft Windows’s use of escape as a shortcut in dialog boxes for No, Quit, Exit, Cancel, or Abort.

And so about one hundred and forty years later, we’re still stuck with this layout that is meant to slow us down! There were many alternate keyboard layouts that were proposed to speed up typing as we’re no longer limited by the technical limitations of the 1800s. One such layout is the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak. Dvorak studied letter frequencies and the physiology of people’s hands and created a layout to address the problems of inefficiency and fatigue which characterized the QWERTY keyboard layout.

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout

Apparently, a typist can type around 400 of the most common words in the English language without leaving the home row (The row in which your hands rests, aka the ASDF row in the standard QWERTY layout) whereas you can only type 100 in the QWERTY layout.

So why isn’t this layout adopted? Simple. Tradition and habit. Try typing on this keyboard and you’ll be immediately frustrated. Not many people are willing to relearn their typing habits. I myself have been typing every since I was five. Like many of us today, we can type with our eyes closed and still not make a mistake.

With each evolution of the keyboard, new keys were introduced and old relics remain as a reminder of the humble origins of the keyboard. There is one key I would like to see introduced though.

source:
1. Clio and the Economics of QWERTY
2. Good old wikipedia

Tags: , | Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Best Ideas come from…

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

… the shower. Have you ever wondered why the best ideas comes when you are showering? Maybe it is because you really have no where else to go or nothing else to distract you thats why you think, or is it because of some magical properties in inherent when you combine water, steam and soap together that causes that lightbulb to spark to life?

There are many theories to explain this intriguing phenomena. The other day, while driving home from work, I overheard them discussing this on radio. It was said that when it rains, something involving static and cleaning and what not happens, which makes the air around the head clean. Breathing in the air (and clean oxygen) helps improve thinking capabilities and this can be applied to showers as well. Apparently.

According to one blogger, there is a simple explanation for this phenomena. He says that when you’re relaxed, your mind’s free association and creative thinking processes are enhanced. Although you won’t be thinking any deeper, you’re instead able to generate new ideas much more easily. It seems that putting any sort of stress narrows your field of focus and while it helps build details, it doesn’t bring new ideas.

A few explanations can be found in Alison Stein Wellner’s article. In her article, she states that Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist explains that creativity requires an attitude that is a paradoxical blend of attention and relaxation. As it happens, the shower is a near-perfect place to cultivate such an attitude. This lack of anxiety is what helps kick out good ideas in the shower. It’s similar to what psychologists have discovered in treating sexual dysfunction.

Steven M. Smith, a cognitive psychologist at Texas A&M added that as we scrub, our minds revert to a sort of neutral state in which we are receptive to issues or themes that bother us or that are unresolved. In other words, the mind begins to wander aimlessly, which makes it easier to entertain less-than-serious thoughts.

In an article by Michael Fitzgerald, a quantum physicist has developed a model to explain why. It goes something like this:

1) There is an unconscious part of the mind that processes things without our knowing it, and in fact while our conscious mind is doing its thing.

2) Ideas are either algorithmic, like working through a differential equation, or non-algorithmic, which means they get worked out more or less randomly.

So in summary, i believe that because we’re showering alone (generally =x), you’re in a personal space, a place of privacy free from distractions. It is probably the only place where we’re are totally alone with our own thoughts. I guess it is also the soothing sound of running water creating a type of white noise that drowns out distracting background noises.

| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Flagship Sunk

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

All Ping0 and Flagship Studios staff have been made redundant. Employees were notified at a company meeting and subsequently informed that the offices will be officially closed on Saturday. Three of the studio’s top brass dug into their own pockets to provide 30 days of pay to all employees.

Korean distributor HanbitSoft will receive the IP rights to Mythos and Comerica owns the right to Hellgate: London. Whether Hellgate: London‘s server will remain online remains to me seen. I’m a little worried by this as I’ve yet to finish Hellgate: London.

(Either JavaScript is not active or you are using an old version of Adobe Flash Player. Please install the newest Flash Player.)

I know there is always the single player campaign to allow me to complete the game but nothing beats playing with friends. If they do close down the servers, hopefully we’ll be given the option to host the game over TCP/IP or LAN.

source

| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Grave Robbers

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

The other day, while reading newspaper at work, an article caught my eyes and I immediately felt revulsion and disgust. What is the world coming to? Bestiality is ranked quite highly in my list of Things-that-disgust-me-most, necrophilia however tops it. Necrophilia is the sexual attraction to corpse.

Police say the three men, carrying shovels, a crowbar and a box of condoms, went to a cemetery in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to dig up the body of Laura Tennessen, 20, who had been killed the week before in a motorcycle crash.

Nicholas Grunke had seen an obituary photo of her and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors say.

Authorities say the men used shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry open the vault. They fled when a car drove into the cemetery and were eventually arrested.

The men were charged with attempted third-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor attempted theft charges. The case has been on hold as prosecutors appealed the dismissal of the assault charges.

- The Associated Press, 9 July 2008

Apparently this case went to the Supreme Court after the lower courts ruled nothing in the state law states that sex with a corpse is illegal. Naturally, this caused public outrage and a push for a law banning necrophilia. In a 5-2 decision in the Supreme court, state law bans sexual intercourse with anyone who does not give consent “whether a victim is dead or alive at the time.”

The ruling reinstates the attempted sexual assault charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 22. The charges carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. For a more detailed report on this, please read it here.


| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

Banditry in Hyboria

Monday, July 7th, 2008

To put the tale I’m going to pass on in context, some explanations are in order.

The Hyborian Age was devised by author Robert E. Howard as the post-Atlantean setting of his Conan the Cimmerian stories. It is set during a mythical time before any civilization known to anthropologists. More information can be found on an essay by Robert E. Howard, The Hyborian Age.

Recently, I’ve been playing my free copy of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Age of Conan is an MMORPG set in the world of Hyboria. The game is rated M by the ESRB as the developers are trying to stay true to the books of Robert E. Howard. The game is brutal, violent and mature in theme. There is blood and gore as well as some sexuality, partial nudity and mature themes. There are also fatality moves, which can be pretty graphic, such as decapitation.

Did I say partial nudity? You got that right. Characters are topless. While free porn can easily be obtained anywhere on the internet, there will always be jackasses and kids that abuses it and think that it is funny. True enough, after leaving the first 15 minutes of the tutorial section, I see the following outside the gates of Tortage.

Though it did cause heads to turn, it quickly became old. I also play on a PVP server. PVP is short for Player-VS-Player. In Age of Conan, PVP is free for all, that is any player can kill any player if they so choose. As you can imagine, it is a pretty tense affair when you see another player comes within sight of you. In any PVP environment, ganking is a norm.

Ganking may involve attacking another player without warning , attacking while the targeted player is already engaged in combat with a non-player character, usually meaning they’re distracted and/or their health has been compromised, or attacking where the targeted player is at a high level disadvantage. Ganking is considered a dishonourable practice in MMORPGs, since the ganker is engaging in a battle where he will certainly win, where they might have lost in circumstances where those participating in the PvP combat had equal conditions.

So I was just browsing though the community forums today and chance upon a topic entitled, Sexual Assault on PVP.

I was questing in Poitain with my fem Alt the other night (22 Barb)and clicked out of dialogue with an NPC to find 3 Level 60+ guys standing there. I figured I was dead and didnt want to provide them any sport to I resisted the temptation to run, fight or otherwise perform for them. When Im not attacked right away though Im sort of stunned and think..”Hey, what do you know, some good guys.” Then the Tell comes through….

“Hey bitch, take off all your armor or we gank you.”

I responded “Youve got to be kidding, your threatening to gang **** a toon?”

“Take it easy or take it hard, either way” is his response.

So Im setting there thinking Im a long way from my rez and hate the idea of having to run all that way again but to just give in to this? It was rediculous but at the same time kind of pissed me off. Im a 43 y/o guy and Im feeling really awkward here.

“Hey guys, Im a guy ok? This is a chick Im playing, give me a break.”

“I dont care who you are,” he says “Take off your clothes or we will do it to your corpse.”

So I attacked them, got slaughtered of course and went straight to another zone when I rezzed.

What an incredible and sort of troubling experience. Anyone else run into any **** gangs on AoC?

- rgrove0172, US Age of Conan Forums

I laughed so hard, I’m still laughing as I type this. This is instant classic. There are some concerns that this type of behaviour is sickening and alarming but this took place on a PVP Roleplaying server. So in a sense the gankers are just roleplaying a typical bandit encounter.

I could almost imagine the girl engaging in a conversation with the NPC and accepting a quest to kill some monster somewhere. She then realized that there was three figures behind her as she looked back over her shoulder. The NPC runs and one of the bandit said “Hey bitch, take off all your armor or we gank you.”

I was telling this to Raymond and he drew this.

| Posted in Articles | No Comments »

« Older Entries