(no subject)

I'm probably a little bit behind as far as noting this, but...
Well, I hate seeing good people suffer for doing good things, and I think This qualifies.

Long story short, a couple in Connecticut have been setting up a Convention for the last couple years, and doing a nice job of it. Unfortunately, they had to move this year from the college campus they had been using to a new Convention Center. Through a series of miscommunications and what seem to be 'hidden charges,' the cost of the Con was significantly more than was planned for, and the nice couple is now over $34,000 in debt. As the site Ctrl-Alt-Del set up says, it's beyond endangering the Convention; now it's endangering the life of the couple.

They've gathered about $19,000 in donations, but that means they need about $15,000 more. So, I'm trying to help spread the word. If you can, please donate, but if not, at least pass the hat around, won't you?

I have to admit feeling a little bad about doing this and not the random 'save the children,' or 'feed the hungry,' charities out there. I've never been to ConnectiCon, or met the couple, or even pay much attention to the circles that first put this call out -- I haven't read Ctrl-Alt-Del in forever. But something about this just feels more personal, I guess. A face and a name. I suppose if other charities were able to catch that quality and distill it off, I'd go broke trying to keep up with it all.

The "Hot Coffee" so-called mod

And while I'm playing catch-up, I'm following up a bit on some stuff my brother (and several webcomics) mentioned about the "Hot Coffee" 'mod' in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In particular, Tycho's defense of it led me to a Gamespot article with more details on the issue.

First off, I don't like GTA. I'll admit to sometimes throwing on GTA2, cruising around for a while in stolen cars, but that's about it -- I'd actually be more satisfied with a Racer. GTA:SA seems to be more of everything that I don't like about the rest of the series, which is gang wars and violence on passers-by.

At the same time, I think the ESRB people, and the parents and politicians rallying against video games in general because of Hot Coffee, are full of more than a little shit. ESRB wants to up he rating of GTA:SA to Adult Only, which generally I could care less about. What gets me, though, is like what Tycho said -- the Mature rating says the game can be violent, crass, sexual, and everything else that would get a movie an 'R' rating (it's been pointed out that the ESRB is failing by not using the already-recognized movie-rating system). An 'Adult Only' rating is the same thing, but says the scenes are 'longer.' If that's the only difference, then the claim that an AO rating is only meant to stimatize a game at retail doesn't seem far of -- and if that's the case, I'm against it (because I'm against a rating meant only to stimatize without basis).

So, yeah, ESRB's rating are skewed, and should probably be revised or adjusted to the movie-rating system, preferably with more-objective and definable criteria than currently.

But more than the ESRB and gaming companies (who do have some responsibility, even if it's just to be upfront about what it is they're selling), I'm angry with the politicians and (more to the point) the parents involved. Politicians suck, simply. The only reason most of them take a second look at an issue like this is because parents care, and parents vote. Parents, though, really get to me on this because, frankly, I think most of the blame and responsibility in these cases. Barring unconcientious gift-giving, parents are the ones actually buying these games for the children and, frankly, if you're going to complain about the game Billy's playing, you shouldn't have given it to him. If parents took a little more care and maybe actually researched the game before getting it (and come on, the damned thing is named after a felony), maybe we wouldn't have these sorts of problems.

Of course, I don't think that game companies are wholly without responsibility, though I think most of that is a responsibility to be open about what they're selling. Now, I'll allow for a company to keep a few secrets from the public, for the sake of easter eggs, but I would expect that easter eggs would be accounted for in a game-rating. My brother argues that for years, 'extra' content and unfinished code was left inside games, but inaccessible, because it's "easier to write around than remove" code, especially near deadlines. And he says coder friends of his verify this. Now, I may not have written any video games, but I am a coder myself, and while it is easier to write around code, and it's beyond difficult to completely remove features and code blocks, I don't think that's an excuse. If Rockstar had removed a couple modles and such, then perhapse the Hot Coffee would have still be accessible, but it would have been obviously broken. Personally, I think this is inconsequential, because I believe Rockstar intentionally left this bit as an easter egg, but that's a different issue.

My brother says that if gaming companies were held accountable for all the random unaccessible content shipped in their game, then they could be ruined by a lone, untraceable, disgruntled programmer. And I'll grant him that; I don't think we need be draconian about this. As long as they aren't trying to circumvent regulations and get an R-rated movie into a PG-13 category through deception, fine. But there it gets to be a bit sticky, regardless.

And, uhm, I think I've run out of steam...

You don't need a cubicle to have Office Space

My God. I'm going to quit. I swear it.

I don't even know where to begin. Mohammed just called me and said, "Hey, can you come in early?" To which I should have responded, "Fuck no." Instead, I asked when he wanted me, and he said as soon as possible.

Here's the thing, though -- I'm already scheduled to work tonight from 5 until close. We close at midnight, but we don't just lock up and leave, we have to clean things and put away the food. I've worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week already, and we closed at 11 but didn't get out until 11:30, 12:00, and 12:00 respectively. Which means I anticipate working from 5 until 1am for an 8 hour day. I already told Mohammed I don't want to work more than 8 hours a day. Unfortunately, I said that 4:00-12:00 is 8 hours, and when he asked if I could come in at 4, I didn't fight. So I'm working a 9 hour day today. And yeah, his other workers look like they're all working 11 hour days, and that's fine -- I don't want this many hours, and I said as much. Hire more employees, I don't care. Or schedule the ones you have -- neither Gene nor Tyrinda work more than 4 or 5 days a week, if that much. And here I am, scheduled upwards of 6 or 7 hours a day for a week straight!

(As a side note to my friend Sarah and others similarly afflicted -- I've told you that I think 13-day weeks are insane, and this is in no small part because I find 5-day weeks to be taxing. Did you know that at one time France as a nation went to a 6-day work week, and it failed miserably?)

And that's another thing. I told him after the first week that I wanted more than 40 hours a week -- because that's full-time and, frankly, I didn't want a full-time job this summer. Can anyone tell me what six hours a day for seven days is? How about if we up that to seven hours a day, to account for closing time. We're looking at 42 or 49 hours this week. I don't want that. You could schedule me for 36 or, hells, 25 hours and I'd be happy. i'm not fucking trying to live off this; it's play money until I get my *real* job this fall. And my brother, who is trying to get college tuition money, languishes below the 30hrs/week mark.

I think he schedules me so much because I'm a good worker -- I have something of a forceful and charismatic personality, I can deal with people (I'm more patient in practice than I sound in this space), I get work done, and I'm dependable. Fine, that's great, I'm flattered -- I don't want these hours. Hire more people, but I'm not going to work 60-hour weeks for you, and certainly not at $6 an hour.

I'm gonna... burn the building down.

(Nine days...)