Just Musing

This is
something that's bugged me from time to time, whenever I read about
International relations. To put a name to it, the fact that there seems to
be relatively few ways to actually enforce international 'rules.' The
article is talking about how the head of Sudan has been accused of war
crimes, but Sudan doesn't recognize the court that's making the
accusations. I believe it was Locke's view that international relations was
as close as modern man got to "the state of nature," which rather cynically
holds that brute force is the only true rule (might makes right, mostly
because who's going to stand up to you?).

Yeah, I'm a geek.

One beer company buys
another, ho hum, but now I want to make an RPG character named Stella
Artois. It's probably already taken in most MMOs.

In other news, 2nd is the new 1st.

Sony says that PS3 is not
in
competition with Nintendo's Wii, dismissing the Wii as "an expensive
niche game device." Which is a convenient stance to take seeing as Nintendo
sold more than double the number of Wii's this year as Sony has sold PS3s --
2.8 million Wiis to 1.2 million PS3s. The 'race' still looks like a race if
you only count PS3 and the XBox 360, which only sold 1.12 million units this
year. I guess when the other guy is beating you so much it's better to just
pretend he's not your competition.

Now, I will admit there's a little truth in the claim that Sony isn't
competing with the Wii -- they have DRASTICALLY different game sets and
audiences. Nintendo has always had a reputation as a family console with
kids' games, where as Sony's bread and butter are the "more adult" RPGs and
FPSs like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear. The XBox, with flagships like
Halo3, it much more directly competing with Sony than the Wii is. Still,
with Nintendo putting out bits like Super Smash Brothers and Metroid Prime,
maybe they're fighting for the same market more than Sony is willing to
admit.

A/S/L?

Frankly, I find This
to be rather amusing: Google has launched a new 'virtual chat' application
called Lively which they promote as a cross between a chat room and Second
Life. And now they're upset that people are making 'porn rooms.' I mean,
who didn't see that coming? What happens in chat rooms? Cybersex. What
happens in Second Life? Cybersex. So what do you expect in Lively?
Cybersex. In Google's defense it doesn't seem like they're
surprised; they probably did expect it, and the cleaning up was
predicted. Still, it's almost asmusing that this makes news.

Biggest Regret

I thought this was kind of cool.

I feel fantastic.

So earlier tonight some of you got a txt msg from me saying "I feel fantastic," and a number of such recipients asked me the reasonable question, "why."

In short, there isn't really much of a why behind it. In fact, up until the moment just before I felt compelled to send that txt the day had been rather lack-lustre. I didn't sleep well last night so I was dead on my feet all day (not a useful state when one is trying to ween oneself off of caffeine), and I got almost nothing accomplished.

This evening, though, after fiddling with the internals of my computer and straightening my house a bit (not much, mind, but a bit), it suddenly occurred to me that I was happy. I like where I am, I like who I've become, and even if I'm not terribly satisfied with being a single guy, I'm content. I'm doing fine on my own and even if I really want to have someone to share my life with and raise a family, I don't need that to feel worthwhile.

Thinking about it now, I realize that I just read XKCD this morning where it said that "I'm nothing without you" is a really fucked-up sentiment.

So, I think all that plays into my good mood. I think it probably has a lot to do with my mood.

Also, my cousin Kate is getting married in a couple of months and I got the time off work to be able to make it back alive (going or not was never a question, it was just a matter of how much I'd hate myself on Monday morning). So that has me psyched, too, as I expect to see her sisters then as well and I absolutely adore my cousins.

So, yes. I feel fantastic. I'm happy and healthy and successful and a good person.