So, in case any of you were out there wondering about the Age Of Conan release (or if you had the misfortune of trying it) it's becoming clear now that Funcom has managed to muck things up pretty severely.

A quick review:
* System requirements for the game were laughably wrong
* Large amounts of the promised PvP content never actually made it in
* Massive errors with billing people after they'd cancelled
* Heavy-handed ban-stick use by moderators in the official forums for
questioning any problems.
* Aggressive hiding and denial of bugs by devs (including a seemingly sexist
problem of melee attack speed for females)

The linked article covers this and more, up to and including a look at their stock performance after release (apparently investors thought it might be a good idea to look at the game, and then started selling).

FunCom blows it. Age of Conan in flames

So, I'm just going to lay this out very simply, even though in the linked video, Olbermann appears to consider this too distasteful to do more than just touch upon (and indeed, there are bigger fish to fry first).

An "interview" is supposed to be a question and answer session between a reporter and the interviewee, right? So that the reporting is basically saying, "the reporter asked this question, and the person being interviewed gave this particular answer to that question", right?

So, in what lunatic alternate dimension does this become "an interview is a creative reinterpretation of what we think we'd like this person to have said in response to these questions" and make Katie Couric's interview session with John McCain, as aired not a massive breach of journalistic integrity because basically, what they aired showed McCain giving an entirely different answer to the question asked about the troop surge.

In short, what CBS aired was decidedly fiction and "news" is supposed to be non-fiction.

So, doesn't CBS believe in 'journalistic integrity'?

possibly noteworthy wrote:
Bellovin on Decius's HOPE topic

He seems to be searching for reason and order in an area that is patently unreasonable and hypocritical. In the case of U.S. citizens, the information customs agents are digging through their laptops for would be protected by a warrant requirement if it was transmitted Internationally over the Internet instead. The FISA update signed yesterday by George Bush makes this even more the case than it was before, as now warrants are required to monitor the communications of U.S. persons even if they are overseas. These searches are not part of a comprehensive approach to preventing the smuggling of information. No comprehensive approach is possible because warrant requirements and encryption stand in the way. The fact that neither of these things stand in the way of customs officials at the border is an accident of time, space, and technology, and not a willful result of policy.

These facts completely undermine the arguments made in the senate hearing, particularly by the Heritage Foundation's representative, that these searches are necessary for some sort of policy reason and legalistic objections to them miss the point. There is no policy reason. If there were, then you'd have to allow warrantless law enforcement monitoring of all international communications and you'd have to require cryptographic key escrow. We don't. We're not going to. We don't need to. And so we don't need to do these searches either.

RE: FISA and Border Searches of Laptops

Apparently the man primarily responsible for getting sex toys outlawed in Georgia (not because they might or might not be effective for making people orgasm, but on moral grounds no less) has been caught f**king one of his aides, in his wife's bed, by his wife.

You know, it's just a wonder that with all the evidence we've gotten, both anecdotally and scientifically, about what's really going on in the minds of extreme homophobes and conservatives, that people just don't immediately point a finger and say "YOU SIR, ARE QUEER AS PINK INK" whenever anyone pops up acting like this.

Frankly, I'd like to see the man sentenced under the law he tried to pass to outlaw homosexuality just to make a point.

Georgia Attorney General Troy King Is Apparently A Homosexual After All

When a distinguished American military commander accuses the United States of committing war crimes in its handling of detainees, you know that we need a new way forward.

“There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investigated abuses in Iraq, declares in a powerful new report on American torture from Physicians for Human Rights. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

Op-Ed Columnist - The Truth Commission - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

I've been seeing this distasteful thing being aired for a couple of days now, and I'm aghast they'd even have considered airing it once.

A customer approaches the ticketing counter and says he needs a flight to SFO for his business for a VC pitch, puts his card on the counter. It's a custom card with kittens on it. The attendant looks at it and says "...and you said this is a business flight?".

Almost immediately, there are two TSA employees behind the customer, telling him to come with them. One of them is snapping on a latex glove.

While he's being led away, another customer comes up and buys a ticket to SFO, hands over his AMEX card, and is simply thanked.

So, is it just me or is this commercials veiled threat that if you don't use Amex you're going to get someone facist's hand shoved up your ass particularly beyond the pale?

American Express's New, Especially Insane Commercial

So, what of this claim Bush has made about there are no plans for a permanent occupation of Iraq?

It seems they were (drumroll please) YET MORE LIES!

Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.

I think they'd be right about that.

Bush is a LIAR (part $large_number)

“The Finding was focussed on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.” The Finding provided for a whole new range of activities in southern Iran and in the areas, in the east, where Baluchi political opposition is strong, he said.

The upshot? We've covertly invaded Iran. Oops part deux.

Annals of National Security: Preparing the Battlefield

This is basically some video footage of the guy from the New Yorker talking about his findings with respect to the US performing covert ops on Iran.

Covert ops that have actually affirmed Iran's statement that nuclear weapons weren't doing them any good, so now they're trying to make electricity.

...except that Bush and Cheney are disregarding the evidence at hand and looking to further destabilize the region before leaving office by invading or at least attacking Iran. My guess is that they're aiming to generate an excuse to call off the elections.

This madness must end.

Seymour Hersh exposes US covert operations in Iran

Well, it does appear that even though there was ample complaining being done after 911 about people bungling intelligence reports that certain posts in our government are being filled by people who still haven't learned a less.

Regardless of whether or not all intelligence reports confirm that Iran has actually not been working on any nuclear weapons programs since 2003, Bush and Cheney appear determined to proactively attack Iran before they leave office.

We don't need any more fucking wars.

I say, kick the bums out. Bring on the impeachments before the ever-escalating conflicts driven by our megalomaniac from Texas ruin everything.

Report: Kicking the no-good president out of office