Music Monday: Veteran’s Day

Okay, I’m not that into country music, but I got me a soft spot for Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

Veteran’s Day was originally Armistice Day, and it was about the end of The Great War — what we would eventually call World War I. Once there was a second great war, we started calling the day Veteran’s Day. Now, few vets of those days remain with us. Even the Boomers who fought in the Vietnam war are getting Social Security checks.

So most Americans will celebrate the day off of work not with remembrances, but with low, low sale prices.

Post-Apocalyptic Vegas Times Two

Within the last few years there have been multiple major video games featuring Las Vegas. Since I actually live in Vegas — albeit one not already partially destroyed by war — I’d like to give you a few quick thoughts on two of them. I will not be dealing with gameplay, nor plot despite some logic and physics shortfalls of one of the games.

Fallout: New Vegas

When I saw the map to this game, it looked a lot like a real road map of Las Vegas. The actual grid of the city and the major loop around town are clearly identifiable. Sure, the video game map has a lot more roads to the South of town around the real-life mountains; not all of the action is in town and some places have been rendered uninhabitable by radiation.

Nor was this a case of “take a real map, erase a few lines, and draw some new squiggles around the mountains.” A player can clearly identify landmarks such as Bonnie Springs or the curving highway behind Lone Mountain.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

By way of contrast, we have Ghosts. Easily one of the most anticipated titles of 2013, this game let many people down. Ok, it’s pretty-looking. As much as I could write, I will confine myself to one particular section of the game — the one centered around post-mass-driver-attack Las Vegas. Miraculously, the Las Vegas Strip was left mostly intact, but completely reorganized. Now that’s one heck of a weapon. There’s clear damage at the Bellagio, yet the fountains still work! Several scenes take place in a building that can only be the Luxor, although they didn’t even get the interior architecture correct. From inside the Luxor, the characters have a clear view of many Las Vegas Landmarks: the Stratosphere, Bellagio, City Center, the Palazzo, Mandalay Bay, and some others. Unfortunately, not all of these should be visible from the Luxor, let alone from one side of the Luxor! Somehow, all have been mysteriously teleported down the Strip, some by several kilometers. What an interesting coincidence that our ugliest casinos seem to have vanished! This mish-mash was somewhat distracting for me. Could nobody from Infinity Ward have looked at a map?

Nor does the silliness end with the single player. The multi-player maps include a slum that signage would seem to indicate is north of what most people would consider the Las Vegas Strip. The landmarks are laughably bad. Don’t get me wrong, there are some cheap, crappy hotels between The Strip and Downtown. However, if this particular neighborhood exists, it’s to the East, perhaps down Fremont a couple klicks.

The reason this is so disappointing is that the CoD franchise has a history of really great maps based on real locations or at least plausible ones.

Summary: If you like paying for the newest, hippest, hottest game, Ghosts is already on your wish-list if not your gaming machine. But if you are using video games as a map, you’d better dig New Vegas off the shelf. Remember, the super mutants are not real.

Triple Play

It used to be that the saying “the elephant in the room” meant “the big thing that’s really important but nobody wants to talk about.” And that’s the sense that Time Magazine meant this week: the Republican Party might be controlled by its far right wing, yet voters would rather elect more centrist pragmatists like Chris Christie.

For a nice double play, the elephant is the mascot of the GOP. Get it? Elephant in the room? And he’s a Republican? Ha.

And ok fine, Chris Christie is overweight. Even Chris Christie knows he’s overweight. The triple play is that he’s [not quite] big as an elephant [and shrinking]. But you know what? I bet the first time he looked at that cover he said to himself “Yes! Made the cover of Time!” rather than “Aw, Time Magazine made a fat joke about me.”

Maybe some people need thicker skins.

In Closing: Here, enjoy the latest crop of NSA, Snowden, privacy, and assorted related issues links (heaven help me, I mostly agree with Richard Stallman); heh, how dare she say pro-life people should care about the living; on health insurance and the ACA website; Too Big To Give a Damn about the Law; neuromuscular junctions; the truth about the economy, with pictures; unwritten rules; on President Obama; Millennials; Deming = Roswell?; poverty; and Japan’s other nuclear reactor.

Music Monday: Let’s Dance

 

In Closing: It looks like ENDA will pass the Senate — thanks to of all people, Nevada’s own Dean Heller, who knows Nevadans will sooner elect a crook than a nutcase — but it doesn’t matter because Speaker Boehner might not let it reach the House floor; not that being Gay should matter; ok, can somebody explain to me why a campus health center should be expected to deal anything more complicated than strep throat? Do these same students get upset that they need a real hospital to deal with broken bones?; I wonder how the customer will get screwed on this deal; Uh oh, made Google mad; the irony is how badly child care workers are paid; won’t touch this; pro-drone propaganda; and prosthetic hand on a budget.

Shhh, Ancient American Secret!

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On one hand, enough it known about “America’s Secret Agencies” to devote a special issue of Time to the topic.

On the other hand, enough Americans want to know what the heck is going on that this can be at the checkout stand right next to cover stories about the Kardashians and Prince George. These issues aren’t going away.

In Closing: oh, you know I wouldn’t skip an opportunity to share some really choice NSA, Snowden, and privacy links!; TSA and LAX; Megabus; by the corporations, for the corporations; yeah, maybe an armed Neighborhood Watch isn’t such a good idea; well, he’s a Democrat so obviously the system works [/sarcasm]; prison reform; completely unprepared; food stamps; and the filibuster.

A Scary Halloween Story

You thought it was your imagination, but no. It’s true.

They

Are

Watching

You!

Look out!

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

In Closing: enjoying the view; don’t forget that Yellowstone is essentially a giant, flat volcano; organized crime; family tree; I’m willing to take it as a police failure that Target feels it needs it’s own crime lab; reforestation; how does one get electricity into an underground drug tunnel??; Google Glass; deficit; Obamacare; GOP has a problem; sardines; ingenuity; television; and Happy Halloween.

Clarity

Ok. There are some people — millions of them to be honest — who are unhappy that their insurance policies are being cancelled. The policies were reasonably priced, the consumers argue. What these consumers fail to understand is that they were crap policies that were inexpensive because they didn’t actually cover much of anything! If any of these people ever actually had a claim, they would have discovered just how bad those policies were, and would probably be far less satisfied. Obama’s claim that if you liked your insurance you could keep it? That assumed you had coverage rather than an insurance fig-leaf.

So getting mad at the government for forcing predatory insurance companies to stop issuing “insurance” that didn’t actually cover much of anything is like getting mad about a crib recall notice because after all, your kid didn’t die.

And for the record, the real way forward is still Medicare For All.

In Closing: cars; problem; recession; some choice NSA, spying, and privacy links; statins; Republicans; Geometry; poor babies; Iran; Too Many Secrets; debt; trash; and an awesome art collection.

Crosswalk to Nowhere

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Yes, apparently you have to push the button to legally walk down the sidewalk here. It’s been driving me nuts all semester.

In Closing: oh come now, we can all use more NSA and privacy links, particularly when it’s starting to garner international outrage; speaking of international laws, looks like America doesn’t care about them too much; well, I guess a good ad campaign can’t hurt; how much of the stock market is made up by computers?; outrage; a little too true; the crooks in Washington are still trying to figure out how to steal your mom’s money; the USPS; spitting in the wind; the only demographic group that doesn’t favor legalizing pot by a majority is people over 65, of whom 45% still think it’s a good idea; this exists; it turns out “the 13 year old tricked me into having sex with him for drugs” is a lousy defense; bad idea, Sheldon; The Grinch is in Washington; and Mike Tyson.

A Very Successful Failure

While the Government was having it’s temper tantrum and existential crisis, the very bill the Republicans claimed to have been fighting quietly started working. Of course, we’ve all heard about how the official Federal website hasn’t been running as well as we expect well-established online services like Google to run. Because it’s totally reasonable to expect rock solid performance from what is in many respects a Beta Test. Stick with that story.

In the meantime, a system that was supposed to deal with a half million people over the course of this month racked up 476,000 users in the first 19 days of the month. They could conceivably hit the half-million mark by the time the weekend is over, and more like 750,000 by Halloween. So two little things here. First, this system is racking up 50% more traffic than anybody thought it would. Second, so much for the idea that nobody wants affordable health insurance. Not bad for a failure!

I am still not a fan of the mandatory insurance aspect of Obamacare, particularly since there is no public option. However, I don’t think it’s fair to call it a failure.

In Closing: Modern bridge replacement; PSA; I’m not sure where the Obama Administration gets off telling the Supreme Court what they can and cannot hear (right of Americans to receive redress of grievances, baybee, it’s in the FIRST Amendment); there but for the grace of god; CEO pay; middle path; maybe schools make kids fat?; and I think Drew is on to something here. I wonder what he would have thought about that Wonder Woman outfit from a few weeks ago.