dannysatch -

What a bizarre place I live…

In what would be considered a well-educated  (questionable) community, the day to day references in regards to all types of ethnic minorities in the form of jokes, stereotypical banter,  but most importantly, outright racist comments puts me in so many uncomfortable situations that I find myself biting my tongue or even bringing myself to laugh uncomfortably  in order to keep a peace.

How is it that I can live in an area with a 99% Caucasian population that harbours  in reality no true malice but a disgusting casual racist attitude.  In no means would I suspect that any of the individuals I base this rant on would commit even a verbal attack on someone due to their race, however I believe that to be down to only 3 possible reasons.

They are cowards that would never dare air their feelings in front of the people they are persecuting

They never truly believed any of this stupid rhetoric in the first place but felt compelled to “go along with the norm”

Were raised in a time that racism was in a broader sense  ‘acceptable and haven’t  quite managed to shake it off yet’  despite their better judgement.

I think we could all take a little bit of advice from one the greatest song writers of all time.

“ I ain’t lookin’ to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, classify you
Deny, defy or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you. “

BOB DYLAN,

And so we should. If Bob Dylan is this aware in 1964……….

The Sun

The Daily Mail

The People

Kay Burley and the Sky News machine.

Blame?

Maybe not, but not helpful

The HP Touchpad tablet, released not more than 1 or 2 months ago has been discontinued. HP are also binning the development of its webOS which runs on the Touchpad. So why did HP’s attempt at taking a share of the iPad pie crash and burn so quickly? Some of the common complaints were a lack of applications and a ‘clunky’ user interface.

A crappy user interface and no apps, the operating system is being discontinued so there will be virtually no further updates…..so why buy one? Well, none of the common complaints point to problems with the hardware. The tablet reads very well in terms of specifications. The tablet retails at around 430 notes for the 32Gb version and 350 for the 16Gb, but as of 6pm yesterday big retailers such as Dixons and Currys are slashing the prices of these tablets to 89 and 115 pounds respectively!

So it’s a bargain…but it’s still an unsupported, dead product right? Well not necessarily. A team have started work on TouchDroid. A project to port Android onto the HP Touchpad. Assuming they suceed, (which if they don’t, someone else will.) you will have yourself a highly specced android tablet for about a hundred quid.

Demand will be insane at these prices, so move quick if you want to get your hands on one.

Thought I’d share my current jogging playlist. Works a treat for keeping me motivated all the way through. Would love some new suggestions as well.

• Eminem – Lose Yourself    
  (Great tune to start a run with, gets you pumped up for it )

So first thing is first….get on google+

Finally managed to finish of my Gods title on Guild Wars. Still 47/50 on my HoM track but just need to earn and few k and then that will be all done aswell. Really looking forward to Guild Wars 2. I’ll post a comprehensive preview on guild Wars 2 for all of you that aren’t sure whether they are going to play it or not.

Bit late getting this one out I’m afraid but here it is. A basic demo of cracking WPA encrypted wifi networks.

Having a problem with the JSvideo player at the moment so make sure you hit fullscreen. Should get it fixed pronto. I’ve also put a link to download the video directly.

    
    

      
      
    
    
Download Video:
      MP4
      
      
      

      
      HTML5 Video Player by VideoJS
    
  
  

NOTES:

The wireless adapter I use for all my backtrack requirements is the Alfa AWUS036H. Its a pretty powerful card and uses the RTL8187L chipset. I highly recommend it.

Here’s a link to the card on amazon, you may find it cheaper elsewhere…I haven’t looked. http://amzn.to/iKreag

Here is a direct link to the video if you want to download it: http://dannysatch.com/wp-content/videos/htpwpa.mp4

Blocked from facebook at work?

Some game releases to keep an eye on in early 2011:

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The original came out  back in 2000 and it was an absolute fucking PEACH! It was one of the first games to successfully blend RPG elements into an FPS. Good old JC Denton. There was a sequel in 2003 called Invisible War but I didn’t bother playing it. Far too many poor reviews.

JC Denton - What a hero!

So this revival of the IP is being developed by Eidos and will be set 25 years before the original. There will still be body augmentations, but mechanical rather than nanotech. Really looking forward to this one.

Check out the official gameplay trailer here.

• Crysis 2

Is it a game? Is it a benchmarking application?  The harbinger of pain and death for graphics cards the world over is back. This will see the debut of the new CryEngine 3. So come March 2011 those Christmas upgrades might not be cutting it anymore.

Crysis 2

It takes place in an evacuated New York city 3 years after the first game.  I’m sure it will look absolutely stunning with the right hardware but personally I’m not to fussed by this one. I’ll probably ‘download’ it.

Here’s a link to the teaser trailer.

• Portal 2

The cake is a lie!

Shouldn’t have to say much about this one.  Portal, bundled with the ‘Orange Box’ was an absolute hit. If you haven’t played it….stop reading, open up steam and download it.  Portal 2 has recently been pushed back to an April release. It will be very interesting to see if they can produce another hit. One of the exciting features is a co-op mode.  A definite purchase for me.

Here’s  a link to the teaser trailer.

• Dragon Age 2

The original was a very polished RPG, and was a welcome boost to the genre. Plenty of new spells, combos and content guaranteed . They’ve scrapped race selection, but that doesn’t bother me too much. You can import your saved data from Origins which apparently will affect the story lines in the sequel. Worth keeping an eye out for.

Dragon Age II

Link to the trailer here.

Pick of the lot for me has to be Deus Ex. Great memories of the original…just hope this prequel can live up to it.

A while ago I recommended Ninite.com on facebook. I know it’s kind of a boring thing to be posting here but I just like to show some support to the site and who knows, the link might just help their google ranking. Thought I’d give it another mention for any who missed it. Ninite.com is a service for conveniently downloading and installing multiple applications with as little user interaction as possible.

Simples...

The main page displays dozens of programs broken down into categories. You simply tick the programs you want to install and then download a single small installer executable. Ninite then does the rest, completely unattended. No clicking ‘Next’ a dozen times and no accidentally installing Yahoo Toolbar or some other bloatware piece of crap.

So if you find yourself performing fresh installs of windows often, or a fan of virtualbox or VMware, I think you will find this site extremely useful.

Link to the Ninite Website

Did I mention its free too! No catches. All in all a wicked website. I’m always on the look out for hidden gems so if you have any recommendations let me know.

As of 9.30am this morning i’m still snowed in at home.  What better time to write a quick entry.  Although I could do with being at work to earn some dollar for a very merry Christmas, there is something undeniably likeable about being snowed in. The house seems warmer, the drinks seem hotter and everything is slightly more cozy. I have this picture in my head of the whole community descending on the local pub to sit in-front of a roaring log fire, eat steaming hot stew and exchange tales of winters past and battles with the snow. Of course it never really turns out like that, but I do notice a community camaraderie that isn’t there when the snow melts.

So this winter I will be making a special effort to greet the passing stranger, dig out the neighbours cars, make sure our golden oldies are warm and fed, and spread the Christmas cheer. I hope you will all endeavour to do the same.

Merry Christmas………everyone

snow wins