Dwell On It » Rant

What’s the difference?

Tateru Nino — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:26:35 +0000

What is the difference between an e-book and a regular book anyway? Well, there are five notable ones that come immediately to my mind.


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Like choosing to be hung or shot

Tateru Nino — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:21:35 +0000

I grew up under a 14 year gerrymander, where less than 30% of the vote kept the ruling party in power. Where bulldozers moved out at 3AM to demolish National Heritage sites, so that the land could be sold “for the sum of one dollar” to political cronies. Where police would direct traffic around cranes that were hoisting gaming tables into illegal casinos in the middle of the city centre for all to see.

And yet, I have not been more ashamed of our political process than this current election campaign.


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Postliteracy

Tateru Nino — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:53:31 +0000

Functional illiteracy is a growing problem. You’re probably aware of that. Are you aware of just how widespread it is?


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Conroy and the thunderstick

Tateru Nino — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:04:48 +0000

Senator Stephen Conroy, speaking at the launch of National Cyber Security Awareness Day, made a truly woeful slip.

I must hasten to remind you that Conroy is the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Why? Because his fumbling prose about the Web is essentially the equivalent of calling a modern military assault rifle “a thunderstick”.

Journalists who write about virtual worlds are a major let-down

Tateru Nino — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:46:53 +0000

Got your attention, have I?

Okay, so not all of you are a major let-down. Some of you, I’ll grant, are not. Mistakes do happen – we all make them. Nobody’s at their best when they have to write an article about something that they know nothing about, surely.

But for pity’s sake, make an effort! The fact is that if what you know about virtual worlds is based on what you read in the media, you probably know less than nothing about them.


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Games For Windows Live is a blight

Tateru Nino — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:39:21 +0000

So, a little while ago I had my first experience with a Games For Windows Live game, that being Red Faction: Guerrilla which I’d gotten as a part of a bundle.

About three hours into that process, I realized that Games For Windows Live (GFWL) is a blight on the face of PC gaming.

Quality and excellence

Tateru Nino — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:18:51 +0000

If I cannot judge the quality and excellence of your company by your corporate communications, what can I judge it by?

There’s nothing to do in Second Life

Tateru Nino — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:47:40 +0000

That might not take the prize for the most bizarre and ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard, but it’s right up there.

Dark Fantasy

Tateru Nino — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:19:38 +0000

“Dark Fantasy” is often used to indicate an alternative to fantasy genres and settings that are Tolkien-esque.


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The gate-gate scandal

Tateru Nino — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:46:31 +0000

In Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C. is the Watergate complex. A site covering ten acres with a hotel-office building, three apartment blocks and an office block. It was completed in 1971, and is one of the most popular residential spots in the city, having a particular popularity with executive appointees and Congressional members.

Due to events that took place in the Watergate’s hotel-office building in the HQ of the Democratic National Committee, we have the scandal that was named, the Watergate scandal.

Enough to make you cry

Tateru Nino — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:49:30 +0000

Almost all Australians now acknowledge that domestic violence is a crime, but a quarter of the nation believe women make false claims about being raped, and one in five think violence is OK if the perpetrator later regrets their actions. – The Age

Let’s try phrasing that a little differently.


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Do not call

Tateru Nino — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:28:05 +0000

In Australia, the Do Not Call Register (and the associated Do Not Call Register Act – 2006) are there for the purpose of “upholding the public reputation of the telemarketing industry.”

If you’re an Australian, you’ve probably just spit your drink across your monitor. You might want to clean that up.


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Dear gold-farmers, gold-sellers and power-levelers

Tateru Nino — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:09:34 +0000

Dear gold-farmers, gold-sellers and power-levelers,

You spam my chat, hawking your wares, so that I cannot talk to my friends in the game. Why should I listen to you?

You crowd around spawns making it hard for me to obtain gold of my own. Why should I pay you for it?

Because they’re not space-aliens

Tateru Nino — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:43:07 +0000

One multiply-convicted 19-year-old felon accidentally shoots another multiply convicted 20-year-old felon in the head with an illegal firearm that neither of them should possess.

Police say video games may be involved. The headline goes further and suggests that video games may have “prompted” the shooting.


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Why not tell the truth?

Tateru Nino — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:54:42 +0000

I’m told that I’m something of an idealist. If I ask a question, I expect to get the truth as an answer. How hard is that? Actually, contrary to the-world-according-to-sitcoms, getting honest answers isn’t all that uncommon. Unless you’re dealing with a company, rather than a person.

What I’m particularly tired of is when a company makes a decision about a product or a service that I won’t like, and then lies to me about why or how the decision is good for me.

Victorian Health Services – an exercise in sheer frustration

Tateru Nino — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:14:28 +0000

Among other things, I’m the full-time carer for two disabled people. And let me tell you, that really doesn’t give you a high opinion of the medical profession, or at least of that part of it that we experience in Melbourne, Victoria.

One patient has at least some effective support from a specialist. That only took most of a decade to achieve. These days, I go with this patient to see everyone. Specialists, general practitioners, the whole lot. Because, on a purely statistical basis, the odds that they’re going to be rubbish are very high – and I’m the one who has to put her back together over the course of the next week.

Be specific

Tateru Nino — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:02:45 +0000

Generally, I’m kept pretty busy. That’s nothing particularly special. We’re all pretty busy, right?

What does seem to remain endlessly frustrating is incomprehensible communications. Someone’s trying to tell you or ask you something, but they’re so vague about it that you have to ask for clarification, over and over and over.

The end-of-year release schedule, and how it messes up the games industry

Tateru Nino — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:12:00 +0000

The games-release calendar generally stinks. Most of the year’s game releases are crammed up from September through November. Games will get pushed out the door, ready or not, just to get them on the shelves by Black Friday or Cyber Monday, with a short-tail of releases winding down through December for those titles that just weren’t ready enough or couldn’t get fabrication time.

The idea, of course, is to make huge quantities of revenue. In practice, though, what’s happening is that the games industry is shorting its own revenues, killing game franchises, and often putting studios out of business.

Booth-babes

Tateru Nino — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:40:18 +0000

Nothing a games-publisher does says “We have no respect whatsoever for our customers” than booth-babes – except perhaps the EA Sports division.

I know, some of you EA marketing folks are among the regular readers here, and I’m not tarring you all with the same brush, but you might want to hide under your desks for a few minutes, because I’m going to speak very plainly.

Free as in freelancing

Tateru Nino — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:17:43 +0000

The single most common business enquiry I get is some (express or implied) version of “Will you work for me for free?”

Usually it is implied, because paying for the work didn’t ever actually cross their minds.


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