The Bish

The motherboards arrived, and I’m even more angry than I was before.

Shitty shipping. I wanted to sell new in box, but it was sent in nothing but the box itself. There’s metal on metal rattling I can hear. I’ll have to open this new mobo, tear out my CPU in my current PC, and test it in this mobo. Fuck.

Also, it was stated multiple times we were to receive core i7 motherboards. Instead we received discontinued core2extreme mobos.

I hope the LAN Admin of FNFF gets cancer.

Fuck that guy.

So we pretty much raped the Friday Night Frag Fest (FNFF) LAN at the National Western Complex in Denver. [CSv], my/our 6v6 TF2 (Team Fortress 2) online league team showed in person -1. We picked up a random 6th, Matt, the UCCS/CTU Lan Admin, he was to be our Medic.

Anyways, our sole purpose upon showing up was to win the supposed $600 prize for the 6v6 TF2 tournament.

So…we showed up around 9pm Friday night, and immediately found out the TF2 tournament had been trashed. Pretty sure it was due to the fact that most of the sponsors backed out.

The FNFF LAN has a webpage > fnff.net. They were advertising and claiming they’d have 350-450 humans. They turned off pre-pay and registration the Saturday before the tournament. At this point in time, there was about 150 registered, and only half had pre-paid.

Now, because registration was turned off a week beforehand (150reg/75paid) these were the only numbers they could have given the sponsors. Sponsors generally give x ammount of prizes if y ammount of players show up, and they need to have confirmed the ammount of players before prizes are shipped.

75 “for sure” attendees is very weak, and would NOT warrant copious ammounts of awesome hardware from intel, mushkin, asus, amd, etc…

I can definitely see that with so few players showing up, they had to trash some of the tournaments, i.e. TF2. Also, due to not having enough sponorship, some prizes that the FNFF was advertising for tournament winners prior to the LAN, may have not been mailed/sent. We’ll get to this shortly.

Without TF2, they were still holding the following tournaments.

(the prizes listed right below, is what was being advertised on their webpage, day 1 of the LAN, friday fnff.net)

Counter Strike: Source – 3v3 – $300 (100 per person)
Counter Strike 1.6 – 3v3 – $300 (100 per person)
F.E.A.R 3v3 – Three Mushkin 550W Power Supplies (priced @ $60-70)
Left 4 Dead – 4v4 – Three Muskin 650W Power Supplies (priced @ $100) and a Mushkin 4GB(2×2) PC8500 Redline Ram Kit (priced at $80)
Unreal Tournament 3 – 2v2 – Mushkin 2GB(2×1) PC8500 DDR2 Ram Kit (priced @ $50)
Command and Conquer 3 – Free ForAll – XiFi Sound Card ($?)
Call of Duty 4 – 4v4 Team Deathmatch – Four core i7 processors, priced @ $1100 a piece.

The players we brought up to the tournament are below.

gcfmathew
jodo
ako
immelmann
viperskwa
pyro

We also happened to meet up with the 1st place winner of the UT3 128 man DM from the Intel LANfest in Loveland CO both in ‘08 and ‘09, “Sambassador”.

So we had 7 players to make teams for the above tournaments.

My team took 1st in the F.E.A.R 3v3 Team DM – gcfmathew, jodo, and viperskwa
My team took 1st in Left 4 Dead 4v4 VSmode – gcfmathew, jodo, immelmann, and pyro
My team took 1st in UT3 2v2 Greed – gcfmathew and viperskwa
My team took 1st in Call of Duty 4 4v4 Team DM – gcfmathew, pyro, viperskwa, and sambassador

Pyro took 1st in the CNC3 Free For All

Prizes were to be handed out Sunday morning around 9-10AM. All the tournaments took place between 2PM Saturday and 2AM Sunday.

So when we all went to bed Saturday night/Sunday morning, these were the prizes we THOUGHT we won.

gcfmathew – 550W PSU, 650W PSU, 2GB Ram Kit, and a Core i7 Processor = $1300
viperskwa – 550W PSU, 2GB Ram Kit, Core i7 Processor = $1200
pyro – 650W PSU, XiFi Soundcard, and a Core i7 Processor =$1200 + xifi soundcard ($=?)
sambassador – Core i7 Processor = $1100
jodo – 550W PSU, 650W PSU = $150
immelmann – 550PSU, 4GB Ram Kit = $120
ako – did not compete

Pretty much raped everyone. The only prizes we didn’t win, was the cash prizes for counterstrike, as we didnt compete, and then a pair of headphones for a UT2004 tourney, in which we also did not compete in.

So, Sunday morning rolls around, and they start to announce the winners of the tournaments while handing out prizes and taking pictures etc.

There we are, standing in front of the prize table, and what do we notice? Well…we noticed that there were only 2 core i7 processors as opposed to the 4. Ok…what the f? We didn’t care, as if they would have given us only 2, we still could sell them both and split $2200 4 ways. Oh well we say, lets just get our shit and leave.

First they called up the F.E.A.R winners, so jodo, viper and I walked up and snagged our 550W PSU.

So far, so good.

Next they called up the Left 4 Dead winners, so jodo, immelmann, pyro and I walk up to snag our prizes.

Someone realized two of the L4D winners were also F.E.A.R winners, jodo and I. Somehow this prompted the admin/announcer to say the following:

“well…since you guys already won the power supplies and the prize for l4d are more power supplies, you don’t need more power supplies, we’re just going to give it to the 2nd place team instead”

We all just kinda looked at each other with a WTF look on our faces. I didn’t really care, as we were going to win the core i7 cpus and these prizes were kinda weak anyways.

So I say, “ok”

But then I realized that two of our team members, immelman and pyro, were not on the winning F.E.A.R team, and saw no reason why 2 people should have their prizes taken away, because 2 other players on their team won something else already.

So I say to the admin, “hey man, you need to give us our prizes because immelman and pyro were not on the winning team…and they kind of want a prize for taking 1st place.

The admin had a quick huddle session with the other admins, and reluctantly said, “i guess that makes sense.”

At this point in time, you can hear the rest of the crowd mummering and whispering shit like, “why do they need two power supplies?” “they dont need more prizes” etc.

I retort with, “fuck you I won.”

Now they called up the winners for UT3 2v2. Once again, more moaning as I walk up to the prize table for the third time in a row with viperswak to claim our 2GB ram kits.

Finally, the CoD4 prizes were going to be announced. After what happened earlier, I was raelly concerned on wether or not they’d give us both the core i7 processors, priced at a grand total of $2200.

So they call up viper, me, pyro, and sambassador. Here’s where the bullshit happened. We were expeting to get either 4 core i7 processors, as advertised prior to the LAN, or at least the ONLY two core i7 processors they had…

No. We didnt get any processors. Fuck them.

Instead they give us each an Intel x58 Motherboard. Four of them. Not too shabby, as they are priced at $250-300 a peice.

Ok, this is satisfactory, im ok with this.

Now I ask, “what are you guys going to do with the core i7 processors?”

Admin responds, “were going to raffle them off to anyone who signed up for the CoD4 tournament”

Fuckin’ aye, im actually alright with this, as we have a chance, slim and random, yet a chance, to win these processors that should have been ours anyways.

Then the admin says, “but the winning Cod 4 team will not be eligible for the raffle”

Then my team is like what the f, and we try to dispute it, but EVERYONE else in the crowd is like,

“yeah man, that sound fair, they dont need more prizes”

what the fucking fuck shit cock fucker what? Seriosuly? Really?

Yeah, that’s how it went down.

Durring the raffle one of my team mates in cod 4 had his named called.

“pyro!” the admin called out. He started to walk up there, and then everyone else was freaking out in the crowd, “OMG HE WAS ON THE WINNIN TEAM, HE DOESNT GET TO WIN IT”

The admin agreed and pulled another name from the hat.

I was able to walk out with about $500 dollars in prizes (550w psu, 650w psu, 2gb ram kit, intel x58 mobo), which is sweet, but I was under the impression I had won $1300…oh well we say.

Also, the motherboards we won in place of the 4 core i7 processors, were not given to us, the admin asked for our emails and names, and he said he will email us the hardware once intel ships them, and we can head to denve to pick them up…I have a feeling we’ll never going to get those emails.

Fucking assholes took our prizes from us. All I know, is that next year, we’ll be there again, and we’re going to take everything…again.

***
I did not proof read, so I hope you had fun with typos and shatty grammar.
***

Bacon.

I just received a phone call from an obscure unknown number. I declined to answer. Shortly after, my phone buzzed and beep. New voicemail.

It was debt collectors … trying to collect … debt.

I’m all like, “what the f mate, I don’t owe shit to no one!” (except grandma)

I call them back, and I’m all, “nigga^** wat up wit dis shit?”

31OCT2007 I went to the Penrose(i think) hospital. I had some tests done. I really have no idea how healthcare works…and I thought my company was going to pay for it. I never received a notice from anyone at any point in time, until today, that I owed money. For what you ask?

Mammography. In the fall of 2007 I discovered life. Behind my right nipple. Something was growing, and it was hungry. I was actually pretty frightened, I thought I may have had breast cancer, as the beast grew to the size of a silver dollar. This evidently lead to a visual effect of a small mound that was clearly visible through my clothing.

Long story short…I thought I had boob cancer, I dont, I just paid 179 dollars to have my boob checked out. Then I realized that I only paid 179 dollars, and my healthcare at Progressive is at 90/10. 10% being my share…1790!!! FKN DOLLARS to feel up my tits? Deal.

These are boobs (.)(.) These are what my boobs looked liked ( o )(.) … I’m better now.

So unless something crazy happens, like death, I should be in LA at my hotel in exactly 36 hrs. I have also decided to trade my soul for a twitter accout. EDIT*** looks like im a liar; I made this twitter account 4 months ago…I be crazy.

http://twitter.com/gcfmathew

Follow me maybe? I’ll keep you humans up on my impulsive silly LA weekend trip. I’m going to miss a TF2 match on Sunday….BRAWRRR!!!

Suppose I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you’d want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!

“Show me,” you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle–but no dragon.

“Where’s the dragon?” you ask.

“Oh, she’s right here,” I reply, waving vaguely. “I neglected to mention that she’s an invisible dragon.”

You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon’s footprints.

“Good idea,” I say, “but this dragon floates in the air.”

Then you’ll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.

“Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.”

You’ll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.

“Good idea, but she’s an incorporeal dragon and the paint won’t stick.”

And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won’t work.

Now, what’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there’s no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I’m asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.

The only thing you’ve really learned from my insistence that there’s a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You’d wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I’ve seriously underestimated human fallibility.

Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don’t outright reject the notion that there’s a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you’re prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it’s unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative– merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of “not proved.”

Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons–to say nothing about invisible ones–you must now acknowledge that there’s something here, and that in a preliminary way it’s consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.

Now another scenario: Suppose it’s not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you’re pretty sure don’t know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages–but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we’re disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I’d rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren’t myths at all.

Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they’re never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon’s fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such “evidence”–no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it–is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion.

Brought to you by: Carl Sagan

I tried for the first time to get some demos on youtube. I didn’t realize how much of a pain it was to xmute a demo into a .avi.

Here are 2 small clips I recorded. It’s action from my team’s 7v7 TWL match on Sunday vs J.Crew on CTF_Chaos –> pre-season.

Taste it.



Different flavor now.

Seriously, let just roll everything back 2000 years, im sure it will make things better.

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations forum on Thursday passed a resolution condemning “defamation of religion” as a human rights violation, despite wide concerns that it could be used to justify curbs on free speech in Muslim countries.

The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted the non-binding text, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, with a vote of 23 states in favor and 11 against, with 13 abstentions.

Western governments and a broad alliance of activist groups have voiced dismay about the religious defamation text, which adds to recent efforts to broaden the concept of human rights to protect communities of believers rather than individuals.

Pakistan, speaking for the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said a “delicate balance” had to be struck between freedom of expression and respect for religions.

The resolution said Muslim minorities had faced intolerance, discrimination and acts of violence since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, including laws and administrative procedures that stigmatize religious followers.

“Defamation of religious is a serious affront to human dignity leading to a restriction on the freedom of their adherents and incitement to religious violence,” the adopted text read, adding that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.”

It called on states to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are protected, to reinforce laws “to deny impunity” for those exhibiting intolerance of ethnic and religious minorities, and “to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and beliefs.”

ISLAMOPHOBIA, CHRISTIANOPHOBIA, ANTI-SEMITISM

The 47-member Human Rights Council has drawn criticism for reflecting mainly the interests of Islamic and African countries, which when voting together can control its agenda.

Addressing the body, Germany said on behalf of the European Union that while instances of Islamophobia, Christianophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of religious discrimination should be taken seriously, it was “problematic to reconcile the notion of defamation (of religion) with the concept of discrimination.”

“The European Union does not see the concept of defamation of religion as a valid one in a human rights discourse,” it said. “The European Union believes that a broader, more balanced and thoroughly rights-based text would be best suited to address the issues underlying this draft resolution.”

India and Canada also took to the floor of the Geneva-based Council to raise objections to the OIC text. Both said the text looked too narrowly at the discrimination issue.

“It is individuals who have rights, not religions,” Ottawa’s representative told the body. “Canada believes that to extend (the notion of) defamation beyond its proper scope would jeopardize the fundamental right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom of expression on religious subjects.”

A separate, EU-sponsored resolution about religious discrimination is due to be discussed by the Council on Friday.

Earlier this week, 180 secular, religious and media groups from around the world urged diplomats to reject the resolution which they said “may be used in certain countries to silence and intimidate human rights activists, religious dissenters and other independent voices” and ultimately restrict freedoms.

Condemnation of defamation of religion had been included in a draft declaration being prepared for an April U.N. conference on racism, known as “Durban II,” but was removed earlier this month after Western countries said it was unacceptable.

Full article here.

Mr. Pope says, ““So many of them are living in fear of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they even end up condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers.”

…

Satan? Demons? Exorcisms? Talking snake? The 10 plagues? How are these things not considered spirits or malign and threatening powers? … Oh yeah, the Pope is batshit crazy.