What is TDF?

This is the part where I speak of the origins of "TDF". I suppose it would be appropriate if I were to describe it in my first post, but my life is spontaneous and I do not observe time lines when I have an idea. TDF originated in High School when I was a freshman, dubbed "The Daily Fucked" as a parody to the local newspaper called The Daily Press which many people considerably called it The Daily Stress or The Daily Depressed anyways. TDF was quite simply a compilation of jokes and satire found across the Internet, spanning from Blonde and Redneck jokes, to more personally the social and political events in school, ie, teachers, classes and rumors. I never really gave it much thought into why I designed this at first, in 20/20 hindsight I suppose it was a ploy to gain some level of popularity given that I was new to the school and do the local area. It more or less started as a Word document that I would fumble with while I was at home and then print out roughly 10 copies to take with me to school. I was fortunate that the teachers never found it on me, and to cover my own ass in case of accidental disclosure I never put my real name on these articles. Starting out as a daily print out, I became a little lazy and then became a weekly print out, then monthly. After my freshman year I had forgotten about this little hobby until my senior year when I stumbled upon one of my old documents on the computer. I decided to create one more copy and showed it to a few old friends from my first year. So basically that's the history in a nutshell, not very intelligent but certainly a fun activity at the time. I've titled this blog "TDF" mainly due to the randomness of the original creation and my random outbreaks which I like to share on here.

GoodBye Simplicity (The Evolution of the Internet)

I have established this place as my personal venting grounds. Originally the idea of this blog was to create a gateway into my mind and express thoughts whether supportive or negative. I suppose my thoughts now days are mostly negative, almost everything seems stupid to me. While some find certain things pleasing, I try to point out the contrary to it. Take the Internet and it's evolution for example. Alot of people don't even know how it works. Without going into detailed history, the brief explanation is that the Internet exists when 2 or more computers are directly connected to each other. Back in the days of Dial Up, utilizing a modem and a phone lone with dial tone you can connect to one of these computers, which in turn is connected to a number of others. It started out as BBS, a computer you dialed into and then displayed a message board where you can read news, various information and even receive files. It then expanded as more computers connected, into the WWW(World Wide Web), where thousands and up to millions of computers are inter-connected thus presenting a visual representation for each computer called a Website. Now that's as simple as it can be explained. My gripe is that simplicity has gone out the window.

In mid 90's, you would access the Internet and find exactly what you were looking for via search engine. As I recall, there was 1 main search engine and that was Yahoo. Now we have countless search engines which all seem intent on showing advertisements rather than producing viable results. The number of websites have grown dramatically, which isn't exactly a negative thing, more information is good. But the content these sites offer confuse search engines and lead you down different path than what you intended. There's are many misleading websites out there. Sites that are specifically designed to but pinged on a search engine and then mislead you into a website completely opposite of the information you are looking for, just to make some sort of sale or scam.

Websites used to be simple in itself. A standard HTML(Code of a website) and maybe Javascript(more versatile) representation which did not clutter the screen. The content provided the necessary information that you were looking for without too much hassle in navigation of the site. Now you can usually find some sort of flashy new technology smeared all over the entirety of todays average website. Information is often more difficult to locate, links are sometimes misleading, advertisements, graphics, videos, and music slow the performance of your computer just so the laymen user can be wowed and feel as if they're in some alternate-futuristic reality. We have to actually download applications just to view certain things on these sites now. Flash players, Active X controls, and various other media players. Why do they need this shit? If I want to see a video or listen to music, make a link to it and maybe I will be interested in viewing it. Don't force me to load all this bullshit just to find that the particular site is absent of any information I would find of value.

Meeting people used to be easier, that's for certain. Since every bit of commercial scum has found the internet, meeting people is almost a thing of the past on the internet. You would be able to go into a chat room and start finding interesting people to strike a conversation with. Now, you go into a chat room and find that it's filled with bots(automatic action scripts) which spam the rooms with porn ads. You occasionally find these on Instant Messengers, a random message from an anonymous person(usually a bot) sends you a message, you reply as if it were a real person, and then comes the link to some ridiculous porn site. These things are so rampant now, you can't trust anything you see online, you eventually get sick of the nonsense and set your privacy settings to ignore unknown communications. So your chances of meeting actual people have just decreased by about 95%.

MySpace, it had to be brought up. It was a unique way of staying in touch and possibly meeting new people when it first came about. It has also be infested with lifeless peons who have no purpose in life other than to send out chain emails and create fake accounts to advertise their worthless merchandise. Of course that's not the only problem, about 90% of the population on MySpace seem to develop two-bit website design skills and eventually clutter their entire page with videos, music, and pictures which are forced upon the viewer. Of course being creative is encouraged, but don't go overboard. I'm sure anyone can express themselves with less clutter. I'm sure a few people will say "Just don't visit their pages if you don't want to see all of the objects". Well, truth is, I don't visit their pages once I find it difficult and annoying to view. Most will be lucky if they aren't taken off my friends list, especially for those that contribute to the chain email nonsense. People often make a big deal about MySpace as well. Their lives are too socially bankrupt so they need to make MySpace a part of their life, all day every day. you find that these individuals get upset if they are not in your top whatever or leave them comments of some kind. A word to these social rejects: MySpace is not a way of life! It's merely a way of staying in touch with each other. If I am curious about any updates to your life without physically talking to you, then I'll look at the site, I couldn't give a rats ass what other junk you've posted on it. I don't leave comments under obligation, and I don't rank my friends. My top selection is purely based on who I frequently talk to.

I can rant on for an eternity, but I am going to save a bit of energy for the next blog...To be continued

XBOX 360 Game Saves

The idea of using game saves, cheats, and/or hacks to unlock the full content of a video game is normally a mixed opinion for most gamers. When we legally purchase a game for our console or pc, we are under the assumption that we are entitled to the full content of the disc, but Microsoft has made it very clear that we are not free to experience this data unless a gamer has earned it. Now many people don't use cheats or hacks to achieve this goal. They find it unsportsmanlike, unfair and even wrong. To each their own, as I always say. Not everyone in the free world has the magical fingers to cruise through a particular game without assistance. There are many novice gamers, and though they make the best effort, some content is just beyond their skill. This inflicts a level of stress towards the casual gamer and grants them no progress, and a pissed off attitude. For the extra boost in assistance towards reaching their goal, they look to specific cheats whether it be an additional life, more rounds for their virtual weapon, or in dire circumstances the need for god mode. Arguably there are good cheats and bad cheats out there. Most of us are aware of the DOA Volleyball situation some time back, where as the use of a modified file enabled the female characters to be nude. Although interesting, kinda cool, and yummy to look at in a perverted 3D sense, it was illegal in nature due to the fact that it violated copyright laws by modifying and replacing it's original file. A lot of game hacks(trainers) do not permanently modify the games files, they just freeze hex values allowing an item such as the life bar to not drain. This can be used as a good cheat if not in a competitive environment. You eventually unlock the content you've already bought and suddenly there's more to enjoy from the game. Microsoft's version of fairness suggests that if you did not earn it, you do not receive it. They've combated hundreds of users for sharing their own saved accomplishments with others and have even blacklisted their systems from logging into XBOX Live as well as sharing another saved game. Of course XBOX 360 has a unique feature, the gamerscore, which through unlocked content you gain a certain amount of points. These points only add up and are by no means a ranking system among players, just a visual representation of what they have accomplished. Some users wish to gather saved games for a higher gamerscore, which is pointless but harmless. Those wishing to boost their own ego through another gateway. But there are those other gamers out there, which struggle to gain the chance of using their newest virtual weapon or ingame level. They wish to use another gamesave to spare the trouble of accomplishing near impossible feats at their skill. Microsoft shuts these individuals down, and the content which was bought, may never be experienced. So why does Microsoft do this? I haven't seen any developer attack websites which dish out saves and trainers for PC games. Datel and Gameshark appear to still be leaders in code manipulation. Why haven't they been shut down if it's so wrong? It only makes sense to me that if you are going to cheat, you are allowed, as long as it's not in a competitive environment(online games) or for profit.

Random Military

If there is one thing to learn from being in the military, no matter the duration, you can always count on the predictability of stupidity. Of course there are many ways stupidity presents itself in the modern military. It's brought out from leadership, fellow enlisted, politics, and even host-nation allies while serving overseas. From time to time you can expect a small setback to occur, things cannot always be pristine and certain. When it affects the entire organization due to circumstances that no person except the individual(s) liable for it, it has become something entirely different, lunacy. Imagine you are serving the U.S. Military in a foreign country, then someone decides they need a little vacation, spend some time back at home in the states. They go through the proper channels, take the leave they have been authorized and have a great leisure time. An incident occurs with this individual, a DUI or something to that likeness while thousands of miles away from his/her installation. The base issues a recall, that's an accountability of all personnel assigned, and then preaches on how this was a failure of everyone that either knows or does not know this individual. This lecture lasts about 30minutes to an hour and then everyone is assigned a specific duty, dorm clean up, base clean up, remedial physical training. This is the exact political nonsense that infests the armed forces. Understanding that what this individual has done is one thing, but blaming others that legally could not be held responsible for this persons action is another. We are all born with a certain set of morales, we know the difference between right and wrong, good or bad. Of course there are certain substances and mental conditions that interfere with this logic, but at the end of the day you are always liable for yourself, you cannot control another without physical restraint. The military tends to pound the difference between right and wrong into each head that passes the tests, to the point of redundancy. The problem is not in supplying the knowledge of a good idea versus a bad idea, it's the fact that others have to suffer for an action that is out of their hands. A more smooth and effective form of action would be that in due time everyone be made aware of the incident, and the move on. Not butcher the few freedoms you possess and essential piss off the entire organization.