Well, first of all, the title. It is not that I hate DVI. In fact, I love it. It is the only mainstream video connector capable of transmitting both digital and analog signals simultaneously, and I really like the flexibility it offers.

But it ends there. Things get ugly when you get past theory. The implementation of most drivers I have seen (at least with my NVidia card) offer me absolutely no choice which standard I want to use. Which would be fine if it sent the output to both – but no. With a DVI-I cable, the system seems to be hardwired to send the analog VGA signal to my screen. If I want to use digital video, which is what I AM USING DVI FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE, I have to BUY a DOWNGRADE! And even then, I do not even know if it is going to work for sure.

And there is one more thing I hate about DVI’s design. This time, it is more of a hardware issue, and an innate flaw of the DVI design instead of an awful implementation. Why did they keep the f’cking screws when they designed the connector? I am sure the screws were the most loved part on the D-Sub connectors. Just kidding. Actually, I am sure that they were not. In fact, if there is one thing I hate about them, it is the effin’ screws. Now I undestand that back in the days of the IBM PS/2, plug designs that could achieve a decent density (and stability, I’m looking at you here, Mini-DIN) without using external fastening mechanisms were not producable economically, but for a connector designed in a time when connectors like the multi-AV ports on VG consoles like those by Nintendo or Sony, that could hold themselves inside their receptacle without help, were already commonplace, there is no such excuse. This is why for single-link digital-only transfer, HDMI certainly is the better choice. The problem with HDMI however is the lack of compatibility between the single- and dual-link connectors. Guess we will have to wait until DisplayPort comes out until we finally get a decent video connector.

I am writing nobody instead of everybody because this is what appears to be my readership – Aside from myself and people who I sent links to an article I have been noticed about… once, as far as I can tell. This blog is more of a public diary, mainly a place I write down things that only reach myself.

The reason why nobody actually bothers to read anything of this is quite evident to me. Because practically nothing interesting happens around here. Neither is my person interesting enough to be followed by anyone, nor does my writing stand out as anything unique or exceptionally interesting. It is mostly my personal opinions about stuff a lot of people have talked about very much already. After all, that is the topic, title and whatever about my blog – my opinions. Pretty much the only thing I even run this blog for, and definitely not something of great public interest.

Another reason might be the slow pace – often enough, that is nearly always, there are multi-month droughts between any two posts I make. And whatever the reason, this is definitely not something that attracts people to follow.

But what exactly are my reasons? I can tell you there are quite a few. First of all, it is not that I do not think a lot. I do, sometimes more than I like to. It is just that this mostly happens while lying down in bed, desperately trying to fall asleep. This post is written from my bed at 3 AM, after just about 1.5 hours of in-bed awakeness. I usually do not want to stay up and write at this time, but I felt the need to get this out of myself right now. Most times, I would have already forgotten the thoughts I had which I wanted to blog about the next morning. So no update despite a lot of planning for one.

Second, I am very reluctant to talk about real-life events. Part paranoid struggle to keep my anonymity at its maximum, part seperation of real and cyberspace lives. I can only have a single real-life identity, and especially when it comes to controversial topics, I would like to prevent association with the one identity I can never drop. Also, I consider myself as a cyberspace resident a somewhat different person than my real-life self, which further drives an online/meatspace seperation.

Third, I am rather passive in nature. I share a lot of interests with acquaintances of mine, but pursue them a lot less actively. Some of the reasons are that I am more lazy and frugal, somewhat conservative when it comes to accepting change and unable or unwilling to dedicate myself to a certain activity. And I am a dreamer. I am often content with thinking about how things could be, and losing myself in these thoughts is often enough for me to replace the plan to realize any of these. While this enables me to enjoy unrealistic situations, it also lets me enjoy it only to a fraction. One last reason for passivity to mention, I lack confidence in myself. While I am bold enough to consider it a law of nature (or something like that) that I am a genius, whenever I plan to do or get something I always fear that I might screw it up or that the consequences of my decision do not meet my expectations and that I might waste time and money.

Well, this is it for now, a boring self-description of a boring person, written on a boring blog. Maybe I might add some more boring things later, but who knows? I do not yet. And yes, all those “boring“s link to the same target, an xkcd comic which might fit some of my writings on here.

But who is right? This is largely unknown. Both sides appear to be fighting some kind of holy war, generally denying the other position as propaganda by a lobby supporting the interests of whatever group might profit from fear of the climate change or lack of it. Personally, I consider the climate change a myth: There is some basic truth behind it, but a large part of what we get to know about it is of dubious veracity.

What provoked me to dig out the blog to write about this is a newspaper article I read today, which appeared to be stuck somewhere between opining and informing. It took one of these “holy war” stances for the existence of climate change, dismissing the info as lies and propaganda without it being either verified or denied yet. This suggests that there is some desire in the media to quench any doubt about what is supposed to be passed of as truth. And that is something I fear far more than possible changes in the global climate.

The issue of climate change always comes with the question for a future-proof energy source. Fossil fuel is guaranteed not to last. No matter if the climate change is a real threat to us or not, the scarcity of natural resources  will force us to reconsider soon. Our main alternatives to fossil fuel are the obvious. Renewable energy and nuclear power.

While renewable energy is a desirable power source, it will take time until they are developed to a point when they will be able to replace fossil fuel. For this development, we need nuclear fission as a bridge system. Until solar, wind and tide forces will be efficient enough, we can not give up nuclear fission. And who knows, maybe by then nuclear fusion will already have become usable. And this is something I am looking forward to.

Hi,

I know nobody is actually reading this blog, but still, I want to post something else than my usual political and/or video game rants. And, having just modified my Firefox installations on both my PC (upgrade to the 3.5 series, installation of Tab Mix Plus to compensate) and my Laptop, an Asus Eee PC 1000HE if you ask (update to the 3.5 series, minimizing interface to fit maximum amount of content on the little WSVGA screen, proper installation), what better time is there to talk about my preferred Firefox installations?First, the essentials. Adblock, Greasemonkey, some kind of Youtube video downloader. I currently use Youtubemp (which I cannot find on Mozilla.org) and Better Youtube.

While NoScript is a popular Add-On for security reasons, JavaScript is pretty commonplace these days and I do not believe that protecting yourself against the little chance of possible attacks via Javascript is worth the hassle of maintaining a whitelist of sites allowed to use it, unless you are paranoid of course. The main hazard of Javascript is getting annoyed by pop-up messages and right-click blockers, and for these, a blacklist filter is enough. YesScript is what I use.

Another Add-on I have only recently come to appreciate is Tab Mix Plus. I have never seen a need for major changes in the Tab system in Firefox 3.0 and before, but after delaying my update to 3.5 for so long since I absolutely hated the new system, I had to give this a try. It fixed all my issues with 3.5, and I do like the additional functionality and customizability it provides. Nice job!

As a frequent user of tabbed browsing, I have found multi-link openers like Snap Links (hard to find an FF3.5 version) or Multi Links to be instrumental to my browsing habits. You can open entire lists of links with one drag, and that is pretty handy. For similar reasons, you absolutely need DownThemAll for file and image downloads. And speaking of downloads, Download Statusbar is nice for the times you use the built-in download manager, because a seperate window being opened is just so annoying.

Finally, we have OpenDownload or the newer, FF3.5-compatible and less-annoyingly-described RunDownload for running .exe files downloaded, because I do not always want to save them permanently and the “save->open directory->run->delete” task is way more tedious than the classic “run->clear temp” we know from IE. With less-annoyingly-described, I mean of course the download option not being “Open with default OS application”, but the shorter “Run”.

Personally, I replaced the classic FF2 buttons with the more modern FF3 look (same for the arrows), used angled instead of rounded corners, kept the gradients, removed the toolbar divider and window borders and switched the scrollbar back to OS native. In the menus and tabs section, I decided to merge the menus into one button, which becomes important in the next step, and all the other stuff is taken care of by Tab Mix Plus, anyway.

Another important step was to hide the toolbars I am not using. The status bar got an Auto-hide Status Bar extension, with the trigger zone spanning the entire 16 pixels of status bar height. While this has the side effect of making the down button on the scroll bar unclickable, I usually drag the block or use the scroll wheel function on my TouchPad anyway, and making it larger than normal is necessary to prevent conflicts with the auto-hiding taskbar, which you should configure so to save more screen space. You could probably find a compromise of button and statusbar availability if you want to.. The option to auto-appear while loading sites was removed as the loading bar was moved to the tab bar with Tab Mix Plus.

Speaking of the tab bar, that was made to auto-hide using an extension aptly named Hide Tab Bar (or Hide Tabbar in the FF3 update), for which I enabled auto-hide with a greatly elongated delay of 5000ms.  I would have preferred something triggerable by tool bar button, but the closest thing to that was a pinning button on an unstable update for Hide Tab Bar, which never made it past FF2.

What I had wished for the tab bar was however possible for the bookmark toolbar using Toolbar Buttons extension. Finally, move the entire navigation bar into the menu bar, add Hide Caption Titlebar Plus set to Smart All (which triggers on maximization) to remove the Windows frame and pull the window manager buttons into the menubar as well and you are finished with an ultra-slim Firefox. I might attach a screenshot from my Eee later.

I have now uploaded two images, one with the auto-hiding bars shown and one with them retracted (I left the bookmark toolbar out, it does not auto-hide), which show how compact my Firefox has become. Chrome is bulky against that thing.

Wii MotionPlus was the first MotionUpgrade announced, back at last year’s E3. It adds a small box to the back of the Wii Remote improving its built-in motion sensing. This is done through a set of gyroscopic sensors, one dual-axis sensor and a single-axis one, which, when combined, can read all the rotational axes of pitch, yaw and roll. Combined with the accelerometer, which can only read translational motion (up/down, forward/back and left/right), it allows for full 6 degrees of freedom to be tracked, however the accumulation of reading errors, especially with the Wii Remote accelerometer, requires regular re-calibration, which can be done using the sensor bar or by holding the remote in place in a pre-determined position.

People expect a lot of the Wii MotionPlus, which is the only enhanced motion controller out already. For example, they wonder whether it will improve old games, or whether Nunchuk motion recognition is improved, as well. To both I can say this much: no.

The Wii MotionPlus is a device providing additional sensors, whose data is sent via Wii Remote to the game. How the game uses this data, however, is up to the game itself. If the game is not programmed to take into account this data, it will not. The only effect a connected Wii MotionPlus might have on a non-supported game is the fact that the additional plastic in the back affects size, mass and balance of the Wii Remote. Also, as the addition from the Wii MotionPlus is sensors, not logic, it can not affect the Nunchuk. The Wii MotionPlus only works because it is moved in the same direction, rotated in the same way as the Wii Remote. This fixed orientation is not present with the Nunchuk, which is connected by cable. Ergo, no Nunchuk improvement.

Next up, the PlayStation 3 Motion Controller. Probably the more direct attack on the Wii Remote of the two. You hold a rod-shaped controller with motion sensors, which detect your movement to be rendered in the game. The key difference is that instead of an infrared camera in the controller watching a set of reference points on the TV (the Sensor Bar), we have the opposite approach: A camera on the TV (the PlayStation Eye) watches a light orb in the controller. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it can even read the position (and recalibrate the data read by the motion sensors) when the controller is not pointing at the screen. The disadvantage is that only the position of the tip of the controller is recognized, not the orientation of the device. Also, the resolution of the PlayStation Eye is lower than  that of the Wii infrared camera, demasking the “sub-millimeter accuracy” said to be provided with this controller as pure marketing bullshit.

The internal motion sensors are similar to that of the Wii Remote. Whether this is with or without Motionplus remains to be seen. The better absolute positioning system via PlayStation Eye can be seen as an advantage, but there also is a disadvantage. What makes Wii controls as good as they are is not just the motion sensor / infrared camera in the Wii Remote, another major part is the Nunchuk. Having a minor controller for the other hand, offering both traditional left-hand controls and rudimentary motion sensing, is not to be underestimated. This is why the PS3 Motion Controller will not be the “Wii Killer” it is hyped to be.

Last point on our list, Project Natal for the XBox 360. The odd one of the bunch, with no controller at all, but a camera and some depth-sensing equipment. This is more of an attack on the EyeToy than on Wii, and I believe Miyamoto when he says that people need a controller. Sure, he is trying to defend “his” system, but I say that this defense is justified. I think Natal is everything people dislike about the Wii Motion Controls to the second power times the gimmicky-peripheralness of the EyeToy.

I will not do a detailed review as with the previous one, but one thing is certain. Cammie has improved a lot. Her appearance reminds me a lot of a teacher, but she sure learned to talk Nintendo without taking that “coolest mom in the world” position. And she did not look as ugly, either. Still, I preferred to see Reggie, Iwata and Trinen, and I would have preferred to see Miyamoto announce one of the shitloads of awesome games.

NSMB Wii. The idea is awesome, there can never be enough 2D Mario games, and the combination of classic 2D version of a big franchise with graphical update + 4-player coop with money-hoarding competition reminds me a lot of the Zelda 4 Swords games, which rule. However, slightly irritating for me is the use of toads as P3 and P4. Toads belong into castles occupied by Bowser, they are not heroes. P3 might have been Wario, and P4 would be a good idea to finally get Waluigi into the main series. Cammie fortunately gets pwned.

Next, Wii Fit Plus. Nice effort, but the system giving the routine is not what Wii Fit needs, the disadvantage lies solely in the player’s unwillingness to follow one.

Next up, Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort. We have seen it already, but this presentation helped again highlight the awesomosity of WM+. However, kayaking is just stupid. Basketball… not something I really like, but why not? But archery is awesome. Skydiving is a nice tech-demo and intro, although the immersion feeling is not really there if your character is held in your hand. Bill nearly kicked Reggie’s you know what, but it flipped to the usual vice-versa at last second.

The obligatory third party praise follows, introducing pwnzariffic games such as RS2, as well as the stupid girl/kid stuff, AKA token Imagine!. Following that, some nice Square R.P.G.s, with graphics far below even the predecessor’s capabilities. Square made better graphics with FF9 on the PS1. Women’s Murder Club. Probably the most awesome name ever given to a crappy game. What does Mahjongg have to do with crime solving?

DSi. Lacking a Slot-2, it cannot replace the DS Lite, and it is too expensive to have both. Yet, great for newcomers, and they surely praise its features, including customization. Another big title of awesomeness with Mario vs. Donkey Kong 3. Too bad it is DSiWare. Finally, DSi camera talk. Come on kids, use social networking and upload pictures of you and your friends. How I hate people who link meatspace and cyberspace.

Iwata on stage, demonstrates the Wii principle (for the fourth time in a row at E3, if not more). Bill Trinen explained it better with a short mention during his WSR demonstration. The Wii Vitality sensor sounds somewhat intriguing. Since the N64, recently reawakened after all the “what to do after Wii” talk, people have been joking about Nintendo implementing brain control. And this appears to be the first step to that.

Yet another Mario game! This surely is the E3 of awesomeness. SMG 2, with Yoshi. And the implementation appears a lot better than Yoshi’s last Mario appearance in Sunshine. Where is Miyamoto? Man, too bad he does not show up at this press conference.

Some more hardcore 3rd party Wii titles. Yay for gaming, although not really that much of awesomeness. I watch the Nintendo press conference for Nintendo stuff. And this is what we get at the end. A whole new approach to Metroid, reminds me of Star Trek 11. And so the E3 ends. I know Zelda Spirit Tracks was somewhere in there, but it is not like they revealed anything, so pardon me for not commenting on that. A good E3 this has been, spoiled only by the non-appearance of Miyamoto and the still teacher-like Cammie.

Opinions is now available in printed form… one could say. Actually, that does not mean I have set up any mass distribution. No, it just means what you see on top of this post: Kopimi. I am releasing the contents of my blog under the Kopimi free copyright alternative – copying and sharing encouraged. So if you ask where to find a distributor, I say: Be the distributor. If you want to use my posts for anything, use them. You can even charge for them if you wish – although I doubt anyone in his/her/its right mind would pay to read my ranting. Anyway, have fun reading my posts, and be sure to share them.One thing I would like to add, I had to cut this logo out of POwr, Broccoli and Kopimi, because the official Kopimi site has been vandalized, showing a naked kid dancing around. Clearly some people have some weird ideas about free sharing, trying to stop it like this. Unlike TPB, Kopimi is about sharing content according to the author’s wishes!

However, such approaches are limited to the field of art. My concern, however, is mainly the software industry, which produces knowledge, not art. Ironically, while this means it is most dependant on intellectual property, it is also hurt worst by it. The reason: patent abuse. The problem with patents is that even the most trivial ideas can be claimed as property. Just look at Apple patenting the heck out of multi-touch interfacing, rendering an awesome technology all but useless for free implementation. For those of you for whom this is too technical, in Australia someone patented a “circular transportation facilitation device”. Yes, that means wheel.

To be continued…

Now, this can hardly be connected to a post about our political and personal freedoms, but, as I said, it is all about the word “liberty” with no relation in topic. You guessed it. Well, maybe you did not, but I will just claim you did. It is about Grand Theft Auto, which often takes place in a fictional adaption of New York City known as “Liberty City”. Especially the latest part of the main series, GTA IV. Now, while GTA is a game I love as it is an excellent way to kill time, aggression and pixel people, this somewhat recent entry has been pissing me off when I tried to play it. The reason: its HD-ness.

Now, my general anti-HD position might be seen by some as an attitude against technological progress. I am not asking for that. What I am asking for is merely not to demand cutting-edge technology for something as simple as a video game or a movie. Granted, HDTV is becoming affordable now, but I still do not see a reason behind making a major purchase of a new TV set, my old one is still working perfectly fine, for some increase in detail I do not actually notice. I do not know about you guys, but I am still one of those old-fashioned people who focus on the action, not on whether faces have full detail in a crowd scene, blood spray has full detail in a violence seen or… You catch my drift, I hope, I do not want to go into stuff like porn right now.

The same happens with video games. As you might know if you have read my older posts, I am a somewhat proud owner of both a DS (whose recent GTA rendition, Chinatown Wars, by the way surprised me positively) and a Wii as my current-gen video game hardware. Both use relatively dated technology and instead focus on affordability and advancements in other areas, such as opening up new ways of accessibility and immersion through the use of innovative touchscreen and motion controls, respectively. The same can be said about my main PC, from which I am writing this post. I have deliberately decided against cutting-edge technology back then, opting for an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2×2.5 GHz) and a GeForce 8500 GT, because “it was enough”. Not for modern games, apparently.

What for? The visuals of San Andreas are, at least to me, as appealing (or, thanks to me not being able to use full detail, even more) than those in GTA IV (<3 motion blur). No, the game was designed from the ground up for HD consoles XBox 360 and PlayStation 3, the latter famous for its hepta-core (actually octa-core, but only 7 of the 8 processors are available IIRC) Cell über-processor. As such, they did not worry about compatibility – the PC version is, after all, just a port. So they could afford including detail players notice, if sensitized for it, in the first few minutes of playing, when they discover everything, and that is it.

This leaves us in a position where we need the newest, most powerful rig because of features that we do not even notice once we have really gotten into the game. A mid-range PC struggles to run the game at minimum detail level, while the predecessor looks prettier and runs better. Rockstar has managed not to acknowledge those who do not want to spend lots of money on gaming hardware. I say “managed not to” instead of “failed to” because that is the problem in entertainment nowadays: they can afford that. There are too many of you who gladly swallow the HD development. Have you thought about the consequences? I am not talking about misers like me not being able to enjoy the same games as you, I am talking about the larger-scale consequences: By supporting this development, you are encouraging an increase in it.

How long will you be able to keep up in the HD race? It will last until you barely can. You have all seen the hubris the video game industry is capable of. I can just say “Sony E3 2006″. Do you remember? “PS3 is “for consumers to think to themselves ‘I will work more hours to buy one’. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.”” (Source) – and the famous “It’s probably too cheap.” line. Go ahead and upgrade without question when a game requires that – the power demand will continue growing.

But this affects not only the hardware, but the software as well. More aesthetical design requires more design work. Some games are already close to operating with a movie-like budget. Game development becomes more expensive. This will hurt in two ways. First, it inflates the price of the actual game. But there is another, hidden consequence. If those high-budget games are to set the standards, what will become of indie developers? I am glad that the greatest indie games use innovation combined with the simplicity of Macromedia Flash (I know it is owned by Adobe now, but I prefer to think of developers), for this will save them from this disturbing development and simultaneously slow it down – for a while. But it is evident that they will not be able to compete in the “regular games” market.

Is this the development you want?

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” – a famous quotation from America’s struggle for independence, spoken by Patrick Henry in 1775. In that age, Benjamin Franklin formulated the principle that “those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”, which, in the modern day, unfortunately does not hold true anymore.

Fast-forward to 20th century Germany. Berlin, February 28, 1933 to be exact. Forgive me the Godwin I am pulling here, but for topics like the abolition of our freedom, Nazi comparisons seem appropriate to me. Anyway, on that day, president Hindenburg signed into law a decree elaborated by national socialists following a fire in the parliamentary building known as the Reichstag, which abolished the basic human and civil rights, thereby founding the basics of then-chancellor Hitler’s rise to dictatorship.

Now, after the subsequent events, including, but not limited to World War II, impressively demonstrated the evil that profits from such measures, one would think people had learned from this. Surprise: They have not. People are still willing to give up their freedom for what they believe is going to make their lives safer. Some might argue it is not the people that do so, but the government, but there must be something to permit the government to do so: they are, after all, elected by the people. And there are two points at which it becomes painfully obvious: First, at the concern for our children. Second, in the face of terrorism.

Our exaggerated concern for children, which society somehow believes to be innocent and vulnerable, again has two sides to it: One is the ubiquitious fear of corruption by the media. Especially after a school shooting, people are looking for someone or something to blame for it. Other than the natural character of the perpetrator or bad parenting of course, because you cannot cause decent panic against it, which you need for interesting news and populistic laws. No, instead we take something every kid in the modern world uses, but only a minority of the population understands. New forms of entertainment are the ideal target for that. It was rock music in the 50s, now we have video games.

When you, at least here in Germany, hear, watch or read news about a school shooting, the first thing to notice is that the perpetrator has a copy of a first-person shooter, most commonly Counter-Strike, installed on his computer. Immediately people draw connections: Violent games lead to violent crime. Few people know that by doing this, they are actually generalizing the potential for being a spree killer to nearly an entire age group. True, every school shootist has played first-person shooters. But that is because nearly every school kid that age has.

So politicians do something about it. They increase restrictions on sales of titles with certain age ratings, or even try to ban violent video games entirely. Well, it makes this country safe I guess. What do I have to complain about? Well, there used to be a time when keeping kids away from inappropriate stuff was the responsibility of the parents. And what does banning the sales to minors do? They will just get it from a friend, talk their uneducated parents into buying that stuff, purchase it via download or find ways to acquire it illegaly. There are dozens of ways to circumvent any system. The only real help lies in educating parents and having them take up their responsibility again instead of trying to offload it. It is not up to the state do decide who gets to see what. We had that once. It was called censorship.

The popular view of nudity and sexuality in western societies is also ridden by fears of child corruption. It starts with putting these two topics together. There are people who fear that the sight of reproductive organs causes a misdevelopment of a child’s sexuality. As a matter of fact, studies have shown the opposite to be the case. Except if you consider teenage pregnancies, extreme ideals of beauty (non-anorexic girls considered ugly etc.) and massive consumption of pornography a healthy sexual development. Because those have been found to be lower in children of naturist (and that means nudist, not naturalist) families, for whom, naturally, a naked body is not as special or exciting as for repressed puritan kids and who know what normal humans look like instead just models selected for their features.

This fear of nudity and sexuality also leads to a problem similar to the one described with violence above. Scenes with even the most innocuous nudity have been known to cause great uproar in some environments, which leads to that stuff being gladfully censored. Those “tastefully censored” pictures can appear ridiculously unfitting, the most prominent example of course being the dotted underpants on Michelangelo’s David. Also, sex scenes cause similar uproar, including blatant misinformation of the public. Anyone want a nice cup of… hot coffee?

This brings us to the second part of our fears for the children. Those stupid annoying brats cute little innocent beings in this society appear to some, if not many, to be in constant danger of being abducted, murdered, abused or raped, or all of these, by the most dangerous and hostile creature in our environment, known to people as “man”. Apparently, everybody who voluntarily goes near children is a potential pedophile. Well, I agree that people who are willing to spend time with children are sick, but in an entirely different way.

Why do single men make themselves suspicious if they are going anywhere near a school? Why is a video game with a social element blamed as a potential platform for pedophiles, just because people of different age groups participate in it? Why are people so scared about local wireless communication systems? It is evident: We are paranoid.

One offender I see here is the sex offender registry that some countries have established. But why specifically trace sexual crimes? Sure, people want to feel safe from being raped. But what about being mugged? Being assaulted? Being killed? Are robbery, battery and murder less of a threat than “that guy in the trench coat”? Would not registering people violent crimes be a far more useful approach? That is, if such a punishment can even be considered justified in a free society, after the main sentence is served.

Another issue I want to mention at this point is a disturbing application of laws made for the safety of the children that is made more and more often these days: Teenage girls being accused of creating child pornography by taking nude pictures of themselves. … … … … … … What do you have to say to that? First of all, I do not think you can consider it pedophilia if it happens within an age group. And the recipients of these pictures are usually in that group. Second, I think for a crime to be a crime there needs to be a victim? Who is the victim in this case? Did the girls sexually abuse themselves? Do not make me laugh… They wanted it, else they would not have made it. They could not only say no and have this refusal be effective, no, there would not even have been any attemt if they had been unwilling.

This directly leads to another question: What the he** is all the fuss about pedophilia about? People say pedophilia is the greatest conceivable evil. I say, pedophilia is not the evil itself. However, evil can arise from pedophilia. It is just the same as the seven deadly sins, although named sins, not being sins themselves, but simply traits that can lead to sin. Although the catholic church did a good job of re-interpreting this. Pedophilia is a disorder, no more, no less. Not every pedophile is a predator, or even a potential one, just like not every video gamer is a potential murderer. OK, given the hysteria in the media, that might have been a bad example.

That is why I say that the acquisition and ownership of erotic images of children should not be a crime. As for the production, I think one has to differentiate. It should be illegal only in the case of actual child abuse taking place. Those hentai drawings of little anime girls getting tentacle-raped, although extraordinarily sick, hurt nobody (except maybe the viewer’s eyes), as long as no real kid has modeled for that.

Now forgive me if I try to wrap this up quickly, but I am a little in a hurry to get this finished before the TPB verdict to add some copyright-related ranting. Before we get to this, I want to write about the rest I had in mind. I have mentioned a certain willingness to give up freedom in the face of terrorism before. Making things quick, people support a government that tries to install monitoring systems and facilitate phone tapping, because terrorist attacks can be prevented that way. But believe me, terrorists will find a way, and we are stuck with ineffective surveillance. Supporters often ask critics whether they have something to hide. Yes, I do. My private affairs.

For a final issue, let us look into a concern closely related to security – safety. Most needless regulations to our industry are made in the name of safety. Take the new cheapass car from India – the Tata Nano. A $2000 street vehicle. Upgrading it to European safety requirements would triple the price. Yes, the damage from accidents is sinking. While the number of them is on the rise. Maybe people get too confident in their safety measures. If safety regulations were not as paranoid, people would be more careful.

And do not forget the endless amount of bureaucracy involved in safety certification. You need official tests here, there and everywhere else. The result: Oligopolization. Smaller designers and developers, think of homebrewers, unable to afford the bureaucratic testing requirements, cannot release their products to a mass market, leaving the field to the established companies, handing them free rule over the market. Also, new technologies are delayed by long testing cycles and the lobbies of the older technologies. Who suffers from this? The consumer of course.

Even big companies get in trouble for that, with stupid people blaming damage from devices not on their poor judgement and behavior, but on “faulty” products or the lack of “necessary” safety precautions. Just think of the “cat in microwave” story. Or, as a more recent example, the Wii Remote TV Smash. The reason was not a strap that was too weak, it was that the people are too stupid to hold a Wii remote properly. Now we get ugly silicone sleeves cushioned in the front. And if the information from the last GDC is true, the new MotionPlus addon will not be removable from that sleeve. User-friendlyness is thrown over board to make something safe for the stupid. And we suffer.

A paranoid fear of every potential danger costs us freedom, money and comfort. Leave it to people to decide how much safety, how much comfort, what price they want, let them the freedom to balance these how they prefer. And do not use danger as an excuse to turn this nation into a surveillance state. And be more libertarian in copyright law. Then I might be more happy.