The Evils of Rampant Fanboyism and Uninformed Opinions: Microsoft vs Sony - The Internet's Arguments

One of the best consequences of the world wide web is that it gives anyone with an internet connection a voice, and more importantly, an (almost) anonymous voice.
This has helped many people; it has helped uprisings against dictatorships, and it has helped people get advice for their problems without having to face the shame of talking about personal problems face to face with another human.

That being said. One of the worst consequences of the world wide web is that it has given a voice to every idiot with an internet connection, which just leads to problems and the spreading of hatred and stupidity.

Being a console gamer, I have seen so much rampant fanboyism and uninformed opinions of youtube and every social network regarding the new consoles and games from both Microsoft and Sony over the past few weeks.

There are basically 3 main sides to the arguments that are occuring; the pc elitists, the xbox fanboys and the playstation fanboys.
Now, it's okay to have a favourite gaming platform, but this is really not an excuse for most of the crap I've seen spouted out there.

It should be noted that I'm a fan of the Xbox 360, and therefore have been following Microsoft more closely than Sony.

The following is an example of the crap I've seen, and then a break down as to why that opinion is stupid.

1. My PC is more powerful than the consoles. PCs are better. Fuck consoles.

It's true that gaming computers are more powerful than the upcoming generation of consoles. However, this doesn't mean that consoles are underpowered or worse when it comes to gaming.
Firstly, consoles and PCs have their own genres of games that they excel at and are not really directly comparable.
Secondly, your games on PC cannot access all your l33t hardware as efficiently as a console game can. Consoles are designed to have very low overhead, whereas PCs have to run bloated operating systems like windows that eat resources and slow communication between software and hardware down. Consoles can compete with PCs fairly well when they launch. As an example, you can run Black Ops II on a twelve year old console that only has 512MB of RAM. Try doing that on a similarly equipped PC.
Consoles are very good at playing games, and many games simply aren't made to be played on a monitor at a desk. Both PCs and consoles have their places in gaming.

2. xbox one suckz, ps4 is better. OR ps4 suckz, xbox is better!

The fact that I saw people saying this type of thing before E3 is just stupid. How would you know? They haven't been released.
Now, it's completely valid to say something like "Microsofts DRM policies suck.", or "I generally prefer Microsoft exclusives." but as far as the console goes, you really don't know. You could say, "Well the PS4 has more power, therefore I'm leaning towards it." but to go so far as to say either one "sucks"? You don't know. So shut up.
There's the argument regarding the PS4 being more powerful, but then again the PS3 was more powerful than the 360 and yet games looked better on the 360 simply because the PS3 had some design problems that made developing for it difficult. Developers weren't able to access all that power efficiently.
This most likely won't be an issue this year based on what Sony said during their reveal earlier this year, but the simple fact is that we simply don't know. Save your opinions for when you have proof to base them on.
Even then, they're two completely different machines with different styles and exclusives. Being a raging fanboy is just stupid and immature.

3. Why doesn't the new xbox/playstation have backwards compatibility?? This is bullshit!

Backwards compatibility with a system with a completely different architecture is not simple. Consoles are different to PCs. Console games are very much tied to the hardware. If you want to play an Xbox 360 game, you either need the physical hardware, or you need to emulate that hardware in software. Both options are neither easy, nor cheap. It would just add to the size and or cost of the console.
Yes, it would be better if they were backwards compatible, but why is it suddenly a huge issue? How many other consoles are fully backwards compatible?


4. Other random hate based on press conferences

Let's be honest. The console reveals and E3 conferences are essentially propaganda. The entire truth will not be known until these consoles get into the hands of the gamers and to some degree, reviewers (although many of them are full of shit too). We don't know what truth they're bending, what they're not telling us or what will change in the months before release.
Why not just wait until we have all the facts available before hurling hatred and insults.


Awkward ending to this post:

I'm not saying don't have an opinion ever. I'm saying be rational and objective. If we don't have all the information, nobody can really make an informed decision. Uninformed decisions have no value at all.

Maybe I'm too much of a stickler for logic, but seeing all this online is really annoying.

I'm not going to really mention all the arguments against Microsoft's DRM policies, always online restrictions and focus on things that aren't gaming. There is some really real criticism here. In my opinion Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot by being greedy. Did we really expect anything different from Microsoft? Unless they make some big changes before launch, I'm going to have to go back to spelling it "Micro$oft".
However, what I'm not going to do is start insulting people who want to buy the xbox one like a child. Some people don't care about DRM or any of the other problems the Xbox One has at the moment.

Personally I've always disliked Microsoft's products and policies, but have found the Xbox360 to be somewhat redeeming. It would be sad to see them move backwards.

Sadly, this is just what gamers do. It happens every generation.

Having played online games, I know it might be a bit much asking gamers to act like rational adults, but hey, I can try.

I'm like Jesus

I am a long haired male, and I don't mean to make myself sound like a dog breed, but I am a man who chooses to have long hair. For some reason this really bugs people, so I thought I would say a few words about it.
When I say this bugs people, I'm not exaggerating, I've had somebody shout, "Cut your hair," at me from a moving vehicle before! I really don't understand why it bugs people, though I guess part of it has to do with the very conservative, fundamentalist and commercial climate that South Africa has. Though I'm not too sure about the particular reasons as to why some find it odd.
I am sometimes asked why I have grown my hair, and a response of mine is that I'm a lot like Jesus, and since Russell Peters called me Jesus at a gig of his, this has become my favourite response.
I like to tell people that much like Jesus, I have rather radical thoughts that most people don't agree with, that a lot of people want me dead, and neither of us is the son of God. Although, unlike Jesus, I'm straight.
That last part really, really bugs people. I guess its the built in homophobia that comes with being Christian... They don't like to believe that their saviour could be gay, but let's examine the evidence:
He spent his last free night on Earth having supper and then going on a walk with his close guy friends... That's pretty gay!
Also, he was the first dude on his knees saying, "come on man, let me wash your feet!"
All the evidence is there! Just accept it, Christ buffs!
Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with being gay, I'm just saying that is where me and Jesus differ.
I've almost forgotten the original point of this post...
Oh, yeah! I have long hair, deal with it!

Up Late

 Disclaimer: This post was written at about 2 AM on 21 Jan 2011. It might be explicit/offensive. Try not to take that too personally. My "nice" filter isn't active when suffering from insomnia.


After midnight is really when I start having the weirdest thoughts.

At two AM, in a quiet house (where not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse), I feel completely alone in the world, and in a way that is true.
I have a feeling of detachment from this world, not unlike the feeling I get when I stare up the stars (my favourite thing to look at).

Though I'm no stranger to detachment, it always strikes me as an odd feeling, as I get awfully philosophical about things, and it usually brings about some of my weirdest thoughts. Although, my most useful thoughts and ideas come to me in the shower - running water must be conducive to good ideas.
Tragically my paranoia thrusts me back into the real world - every small sound I hear is over-analysed (particularly annoying since sound travels much further at this time of night, so I'm constantly bombarded with eerie noises which I have no other choice but to try to explain the origin of to myself).

Right now, however, the paranoia seems to be conducive to some rather logical thoughts.
I've been thinking that I should really take a survival/combat course, or at the very least educate myself in that field.
If civil war were to break out, or I became a victim of this awful country's ever-present crime, I wouldn't be very self sufficient. That seriously worries me - such is the nature of my paranoid mind.

Though my thought process isn't completely random, and I've been inspired in a line of thought by Lenny Bruce (whose autobiography I'm in the process of reading).

Here is what I want to know:

How do Christians, particularly Catholics, justify their ridiculously hypocritical behaviour?
Let me clarify.
How many priceless works of art are in the Vatican? How much gold, and how many jewels are in the pope's possession? How much money do these con men make, while preaching a message they are clearly not following.
My only conclusion is that these people have never read the Bible themselves, and have no idea what kind of person Jesus was.
With the majority of Africa living in Poverty and starving, how is it right that the Pope lives like a king?

I guess it's explained by the fact that the Pope couldn't give a shit about Africa (not even a shit in the woods). This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that he came to Africa, the part of the world most ravaged by AIDS and told people not to use condoms.
That's pretty much murder through terrible advice.
Although again, the Pope is used to causing pain, seeing as he likes protecting pedophiles (why isn't he being arrested? Knowingly hiding criminals is illegal, you know).


Most people who know me are well aware of the fact that I detest religions. I'm a lover of logic and rational thought, so naturally I have a problem with people believing what are clearly lies (Catholicism is clearly made up - we know enough of the history of that church to know all it's traditions were made up to make it more appealing to pagans).
Though I find it stupid to believe in this nonsense in the first place, I find it even more stupid to not even follow it correctly.

If you're going to be deluded, at least RTFM!

As an example, most Christians - particularly in the USA - are against homosexuality, as the Bible says it's a big no-no. The strange thing is, the same people aren't actively stoning adulteress women - even though it says you should do so in the same book of the Bible that says homosexuality is a sin.
It doesn't make sense to me that these people pick and choose what parts of the bible to believe.
Most of the ten commandments aren't even followed! The Catholic church doesn't seem to get what idolatry is, seeing as they do it so much even though they shouldn't by their own rules. Yes, they do justify it, but with a completely ridiculous argument.

The majority of Christians haven't even read the Bible - which is absolutely retarded. How can you say you believe something, but you have no idea what it is, other than the tiny bits that have been carefully selected for you to hear in church? How do Christians think they're so morally superior, when they hold arguably the most barbaric book ever written as sacred.

I can't remember Sunday school telling us about how Lot gave his daughters to a mob to be raped, in order to save two angels from being raped (you'd think angels could protect themselves...), but that's in the bible. Details like that are curiously left out of sermons.
The most ridiculous part is that when you inform a believer of those barbaric parts (that's just one example from a selection of hundreds of awful passages), they justify it with nonsense and STILL think their religion is morally superior.

It's not surprising then that their is an inverse correlation between IQ and religiosity. That is, the more religious a person is, the lower their IQ tends to be. You really have to be stupid to believe some of this nonsense.

You have to be an even bigger idiot, however, to use this nonsense as a basis for legislation.
Would you believe that there are parts of the world where saying "There is no god," could get you arrested? It's true. It's ridiculous that the majority of the human population holds bronze age fiction so high in regard.

Yes, it's clearly fiction. There was no global flood, there was no exodus of Jews from Egypt.

The religious clearly live in their own little world. Even when presented with hard facts, they will stick to their lies, and use faith as their reason.
Sadly, society holds faith in such high regard. Faith is seen to be a good thing for a person to have. If you think so, I'm sorry, but you're retarded.

Blind belief in something is stupid. It's not something you should brag about. It astonishes me that so many people take pride in being stupid.

We will never advance as a species so long as these ridiculous lies, and bronze age fairy tales keep being put into childrens' heads and told that they're true. You know, there is as much proof behind the existence of Santa, as their is behind the existence of God. Yet if I told you that I'm 20 years old, and believe in Santa, you'd laugh at me.
Well guess what, I laugh at people who believe in God, simply because it's a childish, easily disproved delusion, which causes so many problems for our world, and they believe it with such an unquestioningly, naive fervor, that they kill and die for it.

Actually, as I laugh at individuals for being so stupid, I weep for humanity as a species.
It's incredibly sad that this is what millions of years of evolution has produced.
My hope is that religions will fade away. This would leave our planet a better, more peaceful place. It's sad that fundamentalism is on the rise, but I'm glad to see that so is atheism. Perhaps there is hope for this species yet? Though I will not believe it until I've seen it.


Well...this post really took a sudden left hand turn into Rantville. I really did not expect to be typing for half an hour.

I shall now attempt to get some sleep, though I expect this to be futile for perhaps another hour or so.

Insomnia sucks.

God Is Not Great

As many people will know, on the 15th of December 2011, the great Christopher Hitchens passed away after a long battle with cancer.
I had always been aware of Hitchens, through seeing videos of him on YouTube, but until rather recently I had never read any of his books (University can really interfere with that sort of thing). I had actually meant to pick up his book God Is Not Great a few weeks before his death, but I didn't have enough cash on me, so I was saddened by his passing as I just wanted to get into getting to him.

So anyway, after being a fan of his brilliant speaking and debates, and being saddened by his death, I decided to finally start reading his books.
I picked up God Is Not Great, and after that I could hardly put it down.

I've been an atheist for years; actually, I describe myself rather as an anti-theist, so I was well aware of the many issues and ridiculous argugements relating to religion, but I must say that this book was an eye opener.
I had always known of the terrible acts caused by religion, but Hitchens went through example after example, showing clearly the terrible nature of religion. I suggest that any theist who thinks their religion is all about peace, that they should read this book, and see the truth!

Hitchens held no punches when it came to exposing the truth. He wouldn't just ignore certain facts for the sake of "respect", and everyone from Mother Teresa to Gandhi had their short comings exposed by this brilliant author, in the most eloquent manner I've ever seen.

The world has lost an incredibly talented author, a master of the English language. His beautiful prose and never ending vocabulary were masterfully employed in order to show how morality was independent from religion, and the majority of the time better off without it.

I realise that this post is not all that great, it was written sometime in the middle of the night and has been in my drafts ever since then. I've decided to publish without editing too much, as although it might not be all that great, the feeling behind it is genuine.

Sleepless Nights

To my mind there is probably nothing worse than insomnia...

Well, that's not true, I guess. I can't speak with much authority, but I'm pretty sure that raep, for instance, is far worse than insomnia. However, seeing as it's not in my nature to downplay negative situations, for now I will act as if insomnia is pretty much the worst thing on Earth.

For me it is, in a way. Being awake the whole night long is just so decidedly lonely. It's not like I often crave company in any way, but the stillness, the quiet, and the feeling that I'm completely and utterly alone just makes me very uncomfortable. It also doesn't help that I'm both paranoid, and obsessive, so that if any noise does happen to pierce the silence, I start to imagine what could have made it, and since I'm a pessimist (I prefer realist), the cause I think up is never very pleasant.

That was an incredibly long sentence. You'll have to bear with me on that, I do it very often. As far as I see it, a sentence can never have enough clauses! I tend to be verbose and repetitive, although I'll admit to having a very poor vocabulary. Some might disagree with that as I use a more formal tone than most, but that's geneerally because thos people haven't read any respectable books, and don't quite know what English is.

A side note on the degradation of the English language: I've noticed a propensity for people these days to use "then" rather than "than", and it really, really annoys me. They're two completely different words! (Don't even get me started on aspostrophe usage or "to", "too" and "two")

I honestly cannot fathom how the majority of people passed high school English. Furthermore, if you are older than twenty and still seriously use "u" instead of "you", you should probably be shot, reapeatedly. It's not that difficult to use proper English. Stop raping the langauge, please!

Now where was I? Ah yes, insomnia. That subject is a little boring though, much like staying awake all through the night is. Although, it is nice seeing the sun rise (kind of, it's too cloudy today... That's better than swelteringly hot, I guess).

Not being able to sleep does give me time to read though. I'm almost finished with iWoz, written by Apple co-founder Stephen Wozniak. I use the term written a bit lightly, as he didn't do it alone, so it's difficult to tell how much is actually him writing.

Wozniak is a legend, and the only Apple co-founder that I like, and this book is incredibly interesting and entertaining (especially as I'm a computer engineering student), I might even go so far as to say that it is mildly inspirational. However, I do have a few issues with it. Wozniak states how he holds logic to be very dear to him, but there is little logic in the structure of the book and it tends to jump around in time quite frequently.

It's writing style is very conversational, which I actually like (it's not too different from how I write) although I think whoever called it a "gee-whiz" style was spot on with that description. Wozniak comes off as a shy, polite, oddly funny guy. The tone seems to portray him as humble, as do most of his anecdotes, however there seems to be a large amount of bragging going on. Every few pages we are explicitly reminded how clever he is, which is't too bad as I agree with him, but it tends to get a bit annoying. I can't say I blame him though.

Steve Jobs was/is always in the spotlight, and got most of the public recognition regarding Apple. Heck, his death got far more coverage that the death of the co-creator of the C programming language, Dennis Ritchie (a man infinitely more important than Jobs). So I can't really fault Woz for wanting the general public to know that he is the genius behind computers as we know them today.

All in all it is a very entertaining book though.

I think this post has gone on long enough for now, and I've completely forgotten what I wanted to say in the first place. Sleep depravation will do that to a person I guess...

It's been a while...

I realized recently that I haven't touched this blog at all in ages, and it seems like a shame to me.
The beauty of a blog: I can express myself, and "speak" as if speaking to an audience even if there isn't one. It's not often that one has an audience completely dedicated to listening to his every word, waiting patiently at every pause, and paying absolute attention. Only a few types of people have this kind of audience; people comedians and presidents.
Seeing as I'll never be a president, and I'm not talented enough to be a comedian, I find great pleasure in having this completely hypothetical audience at my disposal.
At this point I realize that there might not be anyone reading this at all, and that's okay, what really matters is that the content is getting out there. If I write enough, eventually something genius will come out of it (remember the monkeys + typewriters = Shakespeare conjecture?). Although, that being said, if you are reading this, yes - you, then please, feel free to comment at the bottom of this page.

Anyway, let me get to some actual content.
Firstly, the reason why this blog has been stagnent for so long is probably due to a number of things, such as lack of inspiration and the fact that University takes up so much time, and makes me forget pretty much everything else I had planned.

So, this past year (or rather the past six months) have been pretty tough for me, both physically, emotionally and mentally. This is due to a number of things that I'd rather not go into. Suffice to say, that a number of things have happened that have left me feeling even less cheery than my usual self.
However, it's not all bad news. As Nietzsche said, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.", and my still being alive despite all that happened that gives me some hope. I see it as an opportunity for some personal transformation.

Well, the topic of improving myself has suddenly reminded me that I should be studying for an exam. Ah, Electrical Principles, the only subject I've ever had where I understand everything, get the beginning of the questions right, but screw up in the calculations. It's ridiculous how many stupid mistakes I make...that little negative sign is so easily forgotten.

So, let me end off with this. If you've read this, comment - say anything really. Anything that could give me some inspiration for a discussion or blog post would be great. I really do have a large amount of general knowledge and common sense, and I enjoy participating in discussions and learning new things.

The Vuvuzela

The Vuvuzela

Let's face it. The Vuvuzela is just trying to be this:

 A Trumpet

It fails horribly.

The sound that emanates from this horrible, plastic, pseudo-instrument, is akin to that of the sound one hears if one crawled inside a trash compactor filled with the bloated bodies of beached whales.
It's ghastly. It's annoying. It's a Vuvuzela. It's proudly South African.

Yes. Proudly South African. The Vuvuzela is an apt metaphor for South Africa.

It's plastic: it's 'fake', and badly made, and not at all good for the environment, much like South Africa.
They're made in ghastly colours: trying to display our rainbow nation, but it's just a fake painted exterior (just like South Africa's 'rainbow nation' lie.
It's trying to be something it's not, much how South Africa tries to be a first world country.
It's loud, just like the majority of South Africans.
It's annoying, just like the majority of South Africans.
It makes my ears bleed, just like Julius Malema...and the majority of South Africans.
It's an annoyance to the world... Just like the majority of South Africans, specifically South African politicians.

This is the sound of Africa? Wow...It's news to me. I've lived in Africa my entire life, and I've never had to be tortured by this sound before.
Why does South Africa choose to label itself so badly? I'm so ashamed to be South African.
What about the GOOD sounds from Africa, what about the truly African instruments? When I think of the sound of Africa, I think driving tribal drum beats, or the great South African Jazz artists, I certainly do not think of the Vuvuzela.

This is the sound I hear when I think of the sound of South Africa.



Come on South Africa, why don't you promote a more positive image to the world. Stop being a joke. I'll even help.

1. Change the government. The ANC is rubbish and does nothing for the people, they're a corrupt party.
2. Stop Malema from talking and singing. He's just inciting a race war.
3. Stop robbing and raping the tourists.
4. Promote the actual good parts of South Africa, not this plastic trumpet joke crap.
5. And finally, get this little difference into your head

Musician:

 Jimmy Dludlu: An awesome South African Jazz Musician

 Not Musician:

Please, put the instruments in the hands of musicians, because I'm sick of your substance-less noise.