Star Wars: The Old Republic

So a few months ago I had played the new game, Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR for short) which is an MMO based in the Star Wars Universe.

It has its basis all the way back from when KOTOR, which was released in 2003, which is set “4, 000 years before A New Hope” in which you play the story of Revan, and his quest against Darth Malak. You can see the similarities between KOTOR and SWTOR in both the graphics (even though they are far more detailed in SWTOR) and in the battle system / crafting system used and even the “Light / Dark” side system is very similar to previous games.

Currently I am no longer playing due to the sense of “I have been here before” due to it’s similoarity to World of Warcraft, but I do admit it is a nice game that is quite polished and somewhat fun to play however there is not enough difference to keep my interest (plus, I prefer Medieval Fantasy games anyway).

kthxbai

Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

Failfox

So it seems that I have decided to try again the almighty again and see how it goes due to a random bug in Chrome with my banking website (NAB), which won’t allow the window to work, unless it is maximized. Needless to say random oddities like this happen with Chrome however with Firefox I haven’t noticed these issues. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot to like about Chrome, but it just doesn’t have the same professionalism that Firefox has.

One thing I like about the new Firefox is the interface in Windows 7, which is amazingly good, and along with the “Tab Groups” feature (while not used terribly often) can be incredibly useful when managing large amounts of tabs which is something that I frequently do. I also like the extensions that Firefox has which allows it to be easily extendable, and while Chrome has extensions also they just don’t feel as professional as the Firefox equivalent.

So as of now Firefox is my primary browser, I am disappointed with the interface in Linux (they don’t use the new interface) but I guess they may work on it at some point.

kthxbai

Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

Company Policy

I was recently looking around Facebook and I found the following joke on how company Policies are made.

“Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done round here. And that, my friends, is how company policies are made”

kthxbai

Timothy Bunston
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

Reference:

http://jokesfunnypictures.info/2012/how-company-policy-is-made.html

AdiIRC

So I am a Geek, and like all Geeks I like to use IRC from time to time, not for anything particularly productive “Just Cause”.

So that set me on the search for a decent Windows client (For Linux there is SMUXI, Konversation, Quarrel etc) as there is a limited amount of decent ones left (Yes I know, mIRC does exist, but I don’t want to use it) and when it comes to software I have a rather “hipster” attitude. So the first logical client for me is Quarrel as they do a Windows version, which is great because I love the program in Linux however being the anal-retentive bastard I am, the fact that you couldn’t “PIN” the window to the Windows 7 taskbar which bugs me to no end.

The next contender that I tried was KVIrc and while it was ok and would pin to the taskbar, it just felt a little bit “Meh” while using it (I can’t quite put my finger on it). Around the same time as KVIrc I read about this application called AdiIRC and thought I would give it a try and I was blown away by how retro and slim it is… It is so easy to use, looks fantastic and also pins to the taskbar which is an absolute must for me while also being slim and lightweight enough not to annoy me, and to run ok on my Netbook.

So yeah, very happy with this IRC Client.

kthxbai

Timothy Bunston
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

The Restructure (again)

So I have decided to restructure my website again as I really miss the way that WordPress (yes it is fantastic) organizes a blog, and provides normal website facility.

I have re-uploaded all of my old content (stuff from my old WordPress installation and also stuff from MyBB) and am now just working on main page features. I will still keep MyBB in it’s current form as it is still terribly useful as a forum (which I still want to keep going). I may at some point in the future move to Wedge, that is, if they ever make a public release.

One of the things I am interested in, and have been uploading some to facebook is Photography, which with the iPhone 4 is actually somewhat fun to do. I think I might start a photography section where I will upload my photograph’s so that people  can see and / or rate and give me constructive feedback. To take the pictures I use the default iPhone Camera, and for the edits I use Camera+ (http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/id329670577?mt=8) which has some amazing filters that are available at a reasonable price (you just need to buy the app, and if you want you can buy some extra filters, but the defaults are ok). I have used other apps but I keep coming back to Camera+, it was very much worth the money that I paid for it.

One of the other side projects I have is adding a wiki to my site (since I have a forum it’s probably not required) and I have implemented it, just need to get it configured up, but it’s mainly for testing and such.

That’s all that is happening with the site, lemme know if you have any thoughts or issues.

kthxbai

Timothy Bunston
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak. 

Leadlight Rose

Since I posted this entry on my Old Blog, the album has been released here: http://leadlightrose.bandcamp.com/
Please support the great band

— Old Entry —

I was recently given a couple of sample tracks from the up coming album from band Leadlight Rose.

Up until now the band hasn’t released an official public album but they do play regularly at local and interstate venues. Well they seem to be coming along on that front as the tracks that I have heard are fantastic.

I make it no secret that I really like this style of music (think Evanesence) and this is no exception so I was very happy to listen to the near complete tracks. Before this set of tracks I did manage to get a hold of some very early recordings of a couple of these songs (for my youtube clips) and I do have to say, while still good, the current versions are of a much higher quality and very nice to listen to.
While I was listening to the tracks I was immersed in a plethora of sound, from the beautiful voice of Ellah Rose to the excellent mix of music which rivals any of today’s major bands.

Hopefully the album is finished soon, and I will be waiting in line to buy it Smile

http://www.leadlightrose.com/

kthxbai

Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

Hyundai Excel

Well after the last part of Last week I have finally brought my new car!

It is a ’96 Hyundai Excel (Hyundai Accent in some places) and it is a Manual. All up I ended up paying around 3.5k but the actual car was 2.4k. It is in good condition and was mechanically checked out before I got it (with a Safety Certificate) and I had to register it for 6 Months. The car initially came with an Amp Wiring Kit installed (yay me) so instead of ripping out the AMP from the Kia, my mate had a spare that I brought off him.

So far it is going well, the only thing that I need to work on is actually being able to drive a Manual properly, because I never fully learned to drive one, and have had Auto’s since I got my licence. The Kenwood Stereo is ok, but I do plan on changing that as soon as I can afford to.

kthxbai

Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

Windows 7 | Netbook

Well it seems that I have the need to change my netbook from Ubuntu back to Windows 7 Starter.

I have been trialling Ubuntu for the last little while and have found it to be excellent on the netbook, and also doesn’t use a huge amount of battery (which was my initial concern). On average with both Windows 7 and Ubuntu I manage at least 6 hours battery, however sometimes I could get some more. So far Windows does have comparable battery life so it doesn’t matter which OS is installed in that regard.

With regards to the features of either Operating system they both have all of the major things covered:

  • Lightweight System
  • Reasonable Battery Life
  • Hibernate / Sleep
  • Office System
  • Media Support (MP3, Movie Formats)
  • Wireless
  • Brightness Controls (must have for a Netbook)
  • User Friendliness

On the Netbook I prefer Ubuntu, however I don’t mind Windows 7.

kthxbai
Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.

This shit is Staaank!

Well a week after getting my work iPhone 4, and having been unable to update it no matter what I do, the phone bricked itself while trying to update… fuck…
So it has been sent for repair and will take 2 weeks (from Tuesday) to be back in my grubby hands. Yesterday would have been excellent (we received our iPhone bumpers) but was instead filled with sorrow and envy as I have nothing to use it on yet.

On a lighter note I have my shoutbox working on my forums which allows a cool irc-style chat function, but it does have some kinks to work out. Currently on my forums I am still getting a lot of spam users and would like to stop them but it isn’t high on the priority list as I can easily delete their accounts. The next thing I will be looking at is redesigning my logo for implementation on my site.

Currently though I am just tired, and hungry…

F…M…L…

Kthxbai

Bunstonious
Eternal Geek, Linux Freak.