Hamma Time

Religion impeding on anything that effects the non religious infuriates me such as opposition to Gay Marriage, Stem Cell Research.. etc. However I find that I often agree with many things on the other side as well, the side that has things that I despise.

I will give a couple examples of what I mean first being Gun Rights. I believe that the constitution clearly states that Americans have the right to own firearms. The fact that it gets so diluted when the verbiage is obvious is ridiculous. States such as my home state, Massachusetts restrict guns like crazy. If you want to own a firearm in Massachusetts it must meet specific requirements and be on a list of approved weapons.

Similarly if you want to conceal carry your weapon in MA you need to get permission from the local police chief to do so. In most cases the Police Chief isn’t the friendliest and most rational of individuals.

Another example is our current administration and state of affairs in the USA. Now I hated George W due to some of the BS he pulled. I could not bring myself to vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin’s views. It angers me that this whole Health Care thing is happening and I do not believe that giving people free hand outs is what this country is about.

When Obama was running we had people saying “I wont have to worry about putting gas in my car anymore” What kind of garbage is that? The Government should not be in the business of supporting people in ways that we are about to see happen. Because with all due respect, the Government has not a clue what it is doing.

So therein lies my conundrum. Unfortunately, I doubt I will ever see a candidate I will be able to vote for without things changing significantly. If I want gun rights and in most cases (not all) smaller government I have to vote Republican. If I want gay rights and medical advancement I have to vote for a democrat.

It sucks really, and I know I am not alone in this country.

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Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days you know that Infinity Ward recently announced there would be no dedicated servers and no modding for Modern Warfare 2. Today Fourzerotwo the community manager for MW2 came out from under a rock and climbed right back in again saying in part:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It’s also the most feature-rich PC version we’ve ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own.

This is only the first slap in the face. Wow, nice work wasting money Infinity Ward on a feature PC gamers had no idea about and do not want. As every PC gamer out there knows there is no need for every player to setup a dedicated server as mentioned above. Entry level players simply click multiplayer and select a server from the list. There are more than enough dedicated servers run by more than capable players to choose from. What a ridiculous concept created by a team that is obviously unaware of how the PC community works.

Read more…

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Since my post just yesterday there have been over 30,000 signatures to the MW2 dedicated server petition online. Whether or not that will make a difference it’s hard to say. One thing is for sure and that is that it is hard for Infinity Ward to ignore a number on that scale. There have been tons of threads posted, and deleted on the IW official forums. They cannot quell the PC community by simply deleting threads.

During my reading today I came across a great comment on Kotaku:

PC gamers have already done their “matchmaking” days back during DooM, Warcraft and Quake. And you know what, once Quake came along it sucked to be the other 7 people in the match. We’ve upgraded, don’t bring us back to the dark ages and tell us it’s the second coming.

That is totally true, consoles do matchmaking out of necessity there is no other option.

The ball is in their court now, will they have the balls to man up and say they made a mistake? Or are they willing to lose millions from PC players who will not buy this game.

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Today is a sad day for PC gaming as we know it. It was announced in this interview (at about 1hr 41m) that Modern Warfare 2 will no longer have dedicated PC servers. This means that PC is going the way of dumbing down the game like Consoles with a matchmaking service where you click to play online and are matched up with specific users who will be hosted on a listen server (ie: You are the server). Consoles do it this way because well, it’s really the only way they can operate. PC’s do not have to abide by this ridiculous (and to be frank, very old..) technology.

The implications of this are so wide ranging that I can’t even begin to go into everything here. But I will go into a few.

First off lets talk about dedicated server companies like BranZone and GameServers.com. These companies thrive and feed their families from dedicated server rentals. These are legitimate businesses that make PC Gaming better for everyone involved. You are connected to a server who’s only job is to serve up a connection. You aren’t dealing with somebody else’s computer that is full of spyware on a 56k modem.

Second Competitive Gaming. Ladders like Team Warfare are based on Dedicated Servers. They provide a neutral ground where everyone playing can count on a solid connection for competitive gaming match. This is how I got my start in gaming, playing competitive  matches on Tribes 2 Dedicated servers. If not for dedicated servers it would not have worked and it will not work now.

Third and most important. PC Gaming is not Console Gaming. What works for Console does not work for PC and vice versa. They are totally different animals when you are talking about multiplayer online. Infinity Ward may think that 3 million 4 year olds running around cussing and calling everyone newbs on XBL is cool but I do not, along with many others.

Finally it’s important to note that Dedicated Servers are how the PC community gets to know each other and interacts. I found CDL, the team I have been on for 8 years via their very own dedicated server back in Tribes 2 had I not logged into that server I would not be the same person I am today. You can always find certain friends and teams playing on specific servers. This matchmaking service removes that VERY important social aspect from playing online.

I will not be buying this game unless Infinity Ward addresses this issue and makes a dedicated server available. Otherwise it’s been nice knowing you IF.

Be sure to sign the online petition here and let Infinity Ward know you are pissed off here.

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There’s this great show that showed up this season on the Military Channel called Special Ops Mission. Unfortunately last night marked the last episode of the first season. I am really hoping they bring it back for a second run! If you haven’t seen the show it centers around one Operator named Wil Willis who has the tough task of competing several objectives against a larger force of enemies. The show utilizes real weapons with what are called Simunitions so the encounters are as close to real as you can get.

Now obviously this isn’t an exact simulation of what a Military Operation would be like but it is pretty close. Wil manages to outsmart his opponents on numerous episodes and is pretty funny to boot. I have enjoyed every minute of the program and I have written the Discovery Channel to let them know.

If you have seen and like the show be sure to go here and fill out the form to let them know you enjoyed the show and want to see it continue!

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So unless you have been living under a rock for the past few days you know about Rep. Joe Wilson and his shouting “You Lie” at Obama’s speech Congress last week. It turns out that today congress passsed a resolution criticizing Wilson for shouting.

Now obviously this moron really shouldn’t have shouted out in the middle of a joint session of Congress. That’s a dumb moronic idea that he really should have thought about. He went ahead and apologized to the President as he should have and that shold have been it. But sadly in today’s age that wasn’t it, Congress decided today to totally blow our Tax Dollars and waste time by voting on a resolution telling Wilson that he is dumb. Sadly, I totally agree with Wilson on this one when he said that today they didn’t do anything for Americans.

Wake up Congress, American’s dont want you wasting your time on this bullshit. We want you to work for us and get some issues settled. Sitting around circle jerking and slapping eachother on the wrists is such a blatent waste of time and money that it makes me sick. It makes me sad to be an American. How about you guys get off your asses and do something useful for a change and quit accusing eachother of being racists (Which happened in this instance) and bickering useless garbage.

Congress works for Americans, not the other way around. America is extremely divided right now and that’s why you are seeing such anger on both sides. Republicans are afraid of Socialism and Democrats are afraid of Extreme Conservatism. In reality most Americans (Like myself) are somewhere in the middle (Even though obviously Senators voting purely on a religious basis scares the shit out of me.. They shouldn’t be allowed to hold seats). So quit being dicks and get some work done before people start to get REALLY pissed.

Term limits anyone? How bout we clean house and start over.

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Every now and then a news story comes along that angers me and it isn’t about religion. I always find it amusing that I am an Atheist yet on the side of gun rights, from my limited experience most Atheists are very liberal. I could be wrong so feel free to correct me!

This Gem came along on CNN today:

Outside President Obama’s town hall today, a man showed up with a semiautomatic rifle hanging off his shoulder. He defended his legal right to carry a firearm in public in Arizona by saying, “I’m exercising my right as an American in Arizona. Well, I come from another state where open carry is legal, but no one does it, so the police don’t really know about it and they harass people, arrest people falsely, and I think that people need to get out and do it for so they get kind of condition to it.” He was not alone. About a dozen others were also in the crowd armed. Are they merely invoke their right or part of what could be a dangerous trend here? (There is also a video in the original article here.)

In the video I found it interestingly amusing that Campbell Brown said something along the lines of “I am from Louisiana and I know allot of people with guns, I don’t see them carrying around semi automatic weapons” what Mrs. Brown fails to realize is that most handguns carried by folks are indeed semi automatic weapons. Fully Automatic weapons are not permitted without a full cavity search. Actually you can obtain them in some states but it is extremely difficult.

On to the ignorant comments in the article:

People who carry guns to any large assembly, especially political, may have 2nd amendment rights We the law abiding citizens without arms also have a fundamental rights to feel safe in public places. Since overwhelming majority do not carry semis therefore those lunatic fringe should be lawfully removed from such public events.

The 2nd amendment is clear on this we are allowed the right to keep and bear arms this right was upheld by the Supreme Court in ‘08. This obviously varies state by state but let’s get to the point here. If the gentleman carrying a gun should be removed from the event than so should everyone else who is there. He is no less american than those who are “afraid” or “offended” by the display of a firearm. Like it or not, people who carry firearms concealed or open often times prevent crimes from happening in the first place. In fact I myself feel safe in public because I know there are likely people around me (Including myself soon enough) that are carrying firearms.

Law abiding citizens with licenses to carry firearms are on our side.. criminals who obtain weapons illegally and kill people with them are bad guys. The amount of law abiding citizens that committed crimes when licensed to carry is so minute its not even worth mentioning.

Bottom line, this country allows us various basic rights. It allows us to keep and bear arms. The forefathers knew how important that was to the start of this country and it is critical we maintain this today.  As Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Japanese Navy once said:

“You cannot invade the mainland United States.  There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

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So I am almost 30 and ever since I was a kid myself I haven’t wanted to have children. Plenty of friends around me have either had, or have children on the way. I have no desire whatsoever to have a child or carry on the “family line” which is usually the reason folks have kids. Yet, often times this is taboo. You don’t want kids? Why?

I am happily married to a beautiful woman who is perfect for me. We enjoy the same interests and have fun together all the time. I don’t feel like I need a child to justify my love or my life. I am happy to enjoy life without children and experience things that many married couples with children cannot. Although she isn’t thrilled that I don’t want children she still loves me and life goes on.

Yet time and time again folks ask us when we are having little Hamma’s and time and time again I tell them we aren’t. Marriage does not equal kids despite what many think. It is a union of people who love each other and want to express that love by marrying each other and with luck, spend the rest of their lives together.

So get off my back!

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