What Comes To Pass

Mighty Mouse follow on

Ok, so after having used it for about a month now, I can deliver my final opinion on the Mighty Mouse.

Using the scrollball is now 2nd nature to me and doesn't annoy me with its sound, there aren't any weird vibrations either. In short - it's perfect.

I wouldn't recommend the Mighty Mouse for FPS's or even WoW. I've been using it for both and the inability to hold Left click down and then hit right click is really quite painful. Particularly as I used to do this in WoW, to trigger forwards motion in PvP when using my left hand to cast a spell which would require me to move my attention away from WASD motion controls. At the moment the side buttons trigger auto walk, however that's a click on/off feature as opposed to 'both mouse buttons held down' which made you run forward as long as you held them down. This makes it considerably harder to control your character in PvP.

At least the mouseball still functions as a middle-button press. This is set to my old default of Flash Heal (trust me, after the amount of time I spent in Molten Core I can't imagine putting the keybind for that spell anywhere other than on the mouse)

However, to replace my previous black marks against it, the Mighty Mouse has now developed a squeak.

I think I've dealt with it by stretching the plastic shell using my fingers a little, just to give it some more room but if the internet is anything to go by this is a fairly common fault which has surfaced around about this time for most users (ie, after about a month's use).

Let's hope it doesn't come back

(Edit: Ooh Brain wave.. Perhaps I can use Middle Click as a 'forward' trigger and bind Flash Heal to the side buttons, after all that only needs a single button press rather than to be held down)

Later

John

The Draft Constitution

Before everyone starts running around like idiots and decrying the lack of protection for women in the new Iraqi draft constitution I suggest they read the following articles:

Article 2
1 Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation:
(a) No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.
(b) No law can be passed that contradicts the principles of democracy.
(c) No law can be passed that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms outlined in this constitution.

...

Article (14): Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination because of sex, ethnicity, nationality, origin, color, religion, sect, belief, opinion or social or economic status.

...

Article (16): Equal opportunity is a right guaranteed to all Iraqis, and the state shall take the necessary steps to achieve this.

There's no means by which the operation of Article 2.1(a) can contradict (b) and (c) which would guarantee a woman's right to vote.

Speaking as someone who got a 1st in Constitutional Law, that's about as watertight on the subject as you could ask a modern-day constitution to be. Albeit a seal which is achieved in a rather roundabout manner. 

Finally, the kicker:



1st — The president of the republic and the Cabinet together, or one- fifth of the members of the Council of Representatives, can suggest amending the constitution.



2nd — The basic principles of the constitution mentioned in Chapter One of this constitution cannot be amended, except after two consecutive parliament cycles and based on the consent of two-thirds of the members of the Council of Representatives, a public referendum and the endorsement of the president of the republic within seven days.




In other words, the only way through this is a coup and to be honest, if that were to happen a Constitution isn't going to do you much good anyhow.

(This post is submitted on the assumption that most people can divine the operation of the law from the above articles and that no exposition is necessary, I apologize if you can't - I'm very bad with this sort of thing, ie: waffling about Tax law when all someone asked was how to fill in their return form. If I ever worked in a citizen's advice bureau I'd probably end up stabbed by the customers.)

Later

John

Are they trying to kill me?

The release dates for upcoming desirable Nintendo DS games:

23rd September: Meteos
30th September: Advance Wars: Dual Strike
7th October: Nintendogs
11th November: Mario Kart DS
25th November: Kirby Power Paintbrush
28th November: Mario & Luigi
November: Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble
5th December: Animal Crossing DS

I get barely a week to play each of the titles and that's without any of the other titles I've no doubt left out!

Damn you Shigeru Miyamoto!

Later

John

The Full Veil

There's an interesting article by Matthew Paris in the Times today concerning the full veil.

My mother has frequently expressed sentiments akin to the ones Paris records in the article. Seeing a woman in the full veil is a sign of oppression, even if the woman accepts and chooses to wear it. The sensibilities of most Brits would be offended by the sight of a caucasian woman wearing manacles, chained to her husband's tether and the full veil is seen by many as fundamentally the same thing. It is for us at least, an icon of subjugation and oppression.

I wouldn't dream of walking around a predominately black neighborhood in America with a large whip in my hand because it represents something that people gave their lives to fight against. Women died for the suffragette movement and I find myself agreeing with Matthew Paris that perhaps some sensitivity to the indigenous cultural perceptions of UK society ought to be exercised if it is to reciprocate.

My Nonno represented Italian and American diplomatic interests in Damascus whilst he was ambassador there and in order to be allowed to build a small Christian church for the ambassadorial staff to pray in, Italy was forced to build an entire hospital for Syria. It seems an outrageous trade (thankfully the hospital would at least improve the lives of Syrians living in Damascus) but it demonstrated that he was willing to accept the norms and unspoken rules of society in Syria (such as the extreme reluctance to accommodate Christian worship on Syrian soil).

It may be a particularly contentious subject but a little bit of the same consideration for the people who live in this country would seem appropriate.

Later

John

Oh Boy!

Homosexual sex is at last, legal in Hong Kong for those under the age of 21 . The High Court has ruled that the old rule, under which 16 was considered the age of consent for heterosexual intercourse, contravened Article 25 (Equality before the law etc).

Admittedly this isn't ordinarily that special - apart from it having been a long time coming. However there's comedy to be found on the books yet!

Previously, sexual intimacy between two men below the age of 21 was a criminal offence even though sexual intimacy between heterosexuals and lesbians is allowed after the age of 16.

Yup! Lesbian age of consent - 16, Gay age of consent - 21.

I'm trying to be outraged but I just find it too damn hilarious. The legislators clearly weren't big on the whole man-on-man action but gave a big thumbs up to two chicks getting it on. Misogynistic? Legco? Never! Please send all home videos of your 'personal exploration' in a stamped, addressed enveloped to James Tien.

More comedy is provided by Choi Chi-sum of the "Alliance for Family".

Choi warned that amending the law to make gay sex legal for those between the ages of 16 and 21 would encourage the activity.

Gosh Darn'it! Now it's legal I sure feel powerful encouraged to get me some of that new fangled man-lovin'! Hey Jimmy! You're looking mighty cute in them jeans!

I must however, note that the CFA is technically the highest court for constitutional matters. I say 'technically' because under a certain provision the Chief Executive may pass the decision up to the National People's Congress in China for their enlightened, expert opinions.

We'll see how the CFA rules. It should be a shoo-in. Andrew Li is a smart man.

Later

John

Hilarious!

Read this. You only need a passing knowledge of RTS games to find it hilarious:

"The Ultimate War Sim"

Later

John

Nick Cohen on form

Like myself, Nick's apparently found himself on the wrong side of the line in the sand the demarcates safe territory for the left of centre liberal.

Perhaps it will break soon. There always was far more disquiet on the left at this 'rightwards lurch' than the Guardian or Radio 4 admitted. If my emails are a guide, the London bombs have added a practical reason for breaking with the consensus: now they're trying to kill us. Even if people think that the Iraq war has made Britain a bigger target, they are still confronted with a fascistic cult of murder and self-murder which allows no compromise.

The thing to watch for with fellow travellers is what shocks them into pulling the emergency cord and jumping off the train. I know some will stay on to the terminus, and when the man with the rucksack explodes his bomb their dying words will be: 'It's not your fault. I blame Tony Blair.'

My advice to my former comrades is to struggle out of your straitjackets and get off at the next station. It would be good to see you on this side of the barrier.

Good to know I'm not alone out here.

Later

John

That's a lot of Haar Kau!

Char Siu Bao - 2 is enough for me thanks.

A few years ago I came across the Japanese sport of 'speed eating' - taking western-style pie eating contests to new levels. The competitors are frequently scrawny and train heavily for the events.

Anyhow it turns out there's been a contest in Hong Kong and in the semi-finals a japanese contestant scoffed 83(!) dumplings in 8 minutes. From the look of the picture, they're Haar Kau (shrimp dumpling), a personal favourite Dim Sum dish of mine. I could probably manage a dozen, and don't get me wrong, my family's Dim Sum order is frequently massive, but this takes eating to a new level.

Rather more disturbingly the final is going to involve speed eating 'pork buns'.

That sounds to me, ominously like Char Siu Bao.

Anyone who can speed eat Char Siu Bao is inhumanly talented. I use 'talent' rather liberally here - gorging yourself at such speed is rarely considered to be particularly edifying as far as dinner table activities go.

Best of luck to him. I don't know whether to drool at the thought of Dim Sum or vomit spectacularly at the thought of consuming so much of it, so quickly.

Later

John

What is this man on?

Gerhard Schroeder has called on the US to back off from its threat of force against Iran as a last resort.

Oh good god, Mr Schroeder apparently takes the short bus to international diplomacy camp.

First off, President Bush didn't threaten military action, he simply said that all the options were still on the table. That is to say it hasn't been ruled out.

Ruling the possibility of military action out at this stage would be utterly idiotic. Years of diplomacy has fallen flat on its face and the parties involved have more or less acknowledged that. All we have left are a few emergency sittings of the IAEA and some last minute sanctions from the UN. There is literally no other deterrent left other than force. I hope to god that there's a diplomatic solution to be found but I think we all know where this is going because it's been heading there for years now.

There's a difference between being reluctant to use force and being generally incapable of it. Countries which attempt to follow the latter path get nowhere when dealing with fascist or theocratic dictatorships. They never have and they never will.

I'm off to go listen to some Guardianistas laud Schroeder for his 'bold statement'. Funny how standing up to fascists gets you nothing but ire whilst apparently doing the same to a democratic free state earns you glory in the eyes of many.

Later

John

Mighty Mouse

I bought a Mighty Mouse yesterday and having finally got it home, I've been using it for a few hours.

So far the clicking is flawless, there's no 'button' - the whole mouse is a button and by sensing where your fingers are when you apply click pressure it either right or mouse clicks for you.

The squeeze is a nice feature, one which has a grounding in thumb buttons on other mice. However the squeeze pressure is a little high for my liking and in order to use it without changing your grip, you have to have your hand far forward on the mouse. That's not the way you should be using a mouse (although it is the way that most people use it) with the Hockey-Puck mouse Apple demonstrated that you're not supposed to move the mouse with your wrist and rest your hand on it but instead to plant your wrist on the desk and move it with your fingers - this eliminates RSI and increases mouse accuracy massively. A lot of people simply didn't understand this and demanded that they be allowed to use their mice in the wrist-crippling manner they had grown accustomed to. This is why, when Apple moved to its optical mouse, it used a design which accommodated both the masochists and the rest of us.

Yet with Mighty Mouse, I can only apply casual pressure to get the squeeze to work when my hand is far forward on the mouse, eliminating the benefits of the 'crab' grip that so many of us have grown accustomed to. I feel kind of annoyed that the squeeze pressure isn't alterable or better yet, set up so that crab grip users can make use of it properly. At the moment it's pretty effort-intensive for what should be a little squeeze.

Finally, there's the big feature - the Scrollball.

The Scrollball is lovely on nearly all accounts. Being able to scroll anywhere and in any direction makes a big difference, especially with people who have to manipulate large graphical images and for being able to scroll through film footage and timelines (score!) Its click is very nice indeed and brings up Dashboard by default and functions as a middle click in games (at least World of Warcraft intelligently recognized it as such).

However there's one problem with it. Each millimeter of movement is measured with a little click. When you have lots of them together, it's a buzz and at a certain scroll speed you reach a resonant frequency which feels uncomfortable on your finger, rather like one of those buzzers that you deploy by shaking hands. I think it has a lot to do with how small the actual Scrollball is but at the moment it's kind of annoying.

Overall, this could be a really solid input device, but for the buzz. I'd recommend you try one out in an Applestore before you buy, it might put you in a different mind.

Later

John

UPDATE: Holy Crap... The scrollwheel's annoying sounds and buzz are produced by a tiny speaker and small electronic sensors. Basically they're intentionally included. See for yourself, unplug your Mighty Mouse (if you have one) and screw around with the Scrollball. Not annoying, not in the slightest bit unpleasant. Let's hope there's a way to stop this with Firmware.

It's coming straight for us!

Once the bizarre preserve of Hong Kong women, skin whitening appears to have arrived in the UK under the guise of Olay's "Complete Multi-Radiance" cream.

If you've seen the advertisement for this product and it's "light reflecting ingredients" on television you can be in no doubt that the trend of looking like a pallid corpse is apparently spreading beyond Hong Kong's shores.

How long before Skin Whitening boutiques open in Chelsea? Are there really men out there who prefer their women lich-like, animated by sorcerous powers so that they might walk beyond their shackling dirt-graves? I demand answers!

Later

John

Perhaps the most pathetic defence...

I've ever seen:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/gta_not_guilty/

'I'm not liable for the deaths of those people I shot in the head because I played a lot of Grand Theft Auto.

What a joke.

Later

John

Astonishing

Today, I was confronted with no fewer than 5 news stories concerning Islamist Imams being either reported, deported or vilified. My how times change.

Change for the better no less. How long has it been said by many pundits, that extremist imams preaching hate, violence and seclusion to the population is a despicable affliction on society? How many people were shouted down as being 'islamophobes' for asking important questions about these imams and their teachings?

We had many welcome these people into our country with open arms. 'Londonistan' was the city I entered when I started my degree.

Now we're almost at a point where Oriana Fallaci wouldn't be hunted down in the streets. Not that I particularly agree with her later work.

We have newspapers publishing their disgust at 'Hate Preachers' (the new buzz words) getting NHS heart transplants. I'm not bothered that the islamist imam got a heart transplant (although some readers of the Gazette might be) but like most I'm more annoyed that the heart might have gone to a needier person. Perhaps someone who contributed more to our society - like a mugger or a minor sex-offender.

All this is being done with no backlash against the moderate muslim community.

We have the targeted philosophical and legal savaging of extremist islamists within our society, leaving moderates safe from violence or vilification. Nothing more or less than what so many have been calling for, for so long.

It's a shame that it took the murder of dozens to bring it about.

Later

John

Brilliant

This article is quite simply perfect. Concise, packed with information and compellingly to-the-point. Islamism is Fascism, Acceptance is Defeat and our apologizing for it is nothing short of despicable, being on a par with the actions of those who whispered admiration for Hitler in the 30's, Stalin in the 40's and the greater Soviet Union for the better part of the 20th century.

Why is it that so many on the far-left seem open to embracing fascism? I'm fairly certain things used to be different. I'd have thought that by now the left-right divide on issues would have been eradicated when it came to the 'f' word.

So many people seem happy to take things on face value: The Chinese Communist Party really is looking out for its people, Fidel Castro leads a democratic and well-supported government, Al Qaeda's attacks are 'revenge' for western military intervention. It's an utter travesty.

I stand with Nick Cohen, David Aaronovitch and the other left of centre writers who look on to 'our' camp in utter dismay. How idiotic is it that we can have so successfully made the jump into accepting free markets as a decent distributor and creator of wealth, into accepting a working environment with stricter labour laws and yet can't seem to bring ourselves to call fascism by its name or to confront it. Attacking fascism is what the left does, or at least what it used to do. New Labour is more or less our saving grace and we spend half our time gnawing at the only thing which stands a chance of furthering left wing ideals.

Some writers, such as Roger L Simon have shifted their allegiances to the right and some would say I have. I take a different view, I'm standing exactly where I've always stood, the ground has simply shifted beneath me. It's the job of writers like Cohen to try and push the left back towards its core values, because if fighting fascism makes me a right wing nutjob then the left has truly lost sight of what it stands for.

Later

John