Tag: money and power

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Hamilton Level [Completed]

I literally ignored the Broadway play, Hamilton, when it hit London 19 months ago.

I had a clue about what this Hip Hop Opera would be like and the blend of US History into a Rap musical with its reputation of selling out at £100 a ticket every night was very intriguing.

Could it really be that good? 

Best Birthday present EVER

From the opening curtain, I was captivated by the songs, the set, the laughs, the costumes, the romantic bits and the tragedy.  By the 46th song, my hands were swollen from clapping so hard.  Sheer musical genius and a brilliant London Theatre night out.  The USA history sent me back to my times living in Washington DC, I honestly didn’t see myself being back in Europe but it just wasn’t meant to be.  If you can’t make it in DC during the Obama Years then it’s time just to be a tourist.

Completing Hamilton in Co-op mode was a high-end pleasure so now I treat myself by re-living the night with the soundtrack.  At the same time, I solo killed my final Hunter for The Division Phoenix Shield.  Took multiple 1-hour attempts and then I finally cornered the bastard thanks to the Global Event modifier and a crafted Custom M44 rifle with a 12x scope.

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SONY is scamming gamers on refunds!

From a customer point of view, downloadable content that is unusable for ANY reason should be refunded.  Sony USA customer support [+1 800  345 7999] declined my request to use The Division’s Survival DLC ($14.99) on my US account because I have a UK disk.

Fuck you Sony…..Regional lock is a total scam for global gamers.

So here is the consideration….do I go for the download version of Division 2 or a UK Disk?

Also, it shows that the motherfuckers track everything gamers are doing.  I made the same mistake a few months ago and actually got a refund.

My bad.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – Sony fucks you if you made a purchase mistake

On the plus side, I did actually get to speak to a human being and being a frugal gamer it didn’t break the budget just annoyed the hell out of me on principle.

So I accepted the loss and promptly purchased the DLC from my UK PSN account with the goal of actually using it on my US account…

How did that work out for ya?

2.758GB, 25 minutes and £11.99 later….it worked

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Ethical justice

Aiding and abetting is a standard crime in the physical world.  The message is being pushed out strongly to Malware authors that if your tools are used in a crime you will be prosecuted.  Security researchers face the same challenge but abide to ethical standards.

No more hiding behind the keyboard

Taylor Huddleston was selling this tools for a bargain at 25 USD, it worked and naturally was a hit with all types of hackers.  Read on

Why can’t this same approach tackle the rampant gun crimes in the US?

Ethically inappropriate?

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Pre-order Baits

The wonderful temptation of pre-ordering games online is an excellent venus fly tray I’ve avoided for years.  Gamers are baited with extra goodies for parting with their cash as an early adopter of the title.

As a rule, I never do this but for FarCry 5 I’ll make an exception rather than a habit of it.

Money or your life

Streamers, however, are pulled into this to boost their viewing and subscriber numbers and people naturally want to see the actual gameplay before diving in.  I didn’t catch a Beta for FarCry 5 but already had some hands-on gameplay at a Gaming conference late last year; the look and feel is awesome.

Of course, the pre-order options are more attractive for the digital version so you are literally playing on Hour One of the new release.  Predictably, the very same title will be available for 30-40% lower a few months later.

On sale already?
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Week 4 – PS4 zero hours gameplay

These extra 10-20 hours I’ve gained from no gameplay have been used for creative thinking and strategizing as well as considering the look and feel of my new infrastructure.  Tactically, I feel ready for the grind I’ve set-up for myself and settled on aiming pretty high this year.

I’ll be investing in 2-3 streamers this year on Twitch and a couple of them have already caught my eye since actually listening to their background story.

Streamers have plenty of real-world challenges, the issue for me is to identify the fakers and actually talent hunt the folk who have a good balance of high-quality gameplay, personality and authenticity.

Considering Pro-AM game streaming?  Think about

Promoting the stream - schedule 
Staffing the stream - moderators, tech support
Career dev – what are the channel goals
Real world Events
Money management – game budgets, giveaways, sponsors.

I watched enough broadcasters and streams to see clearly why some fail dismally and some gain massive viewers and sponsors.  I’ve recently taken to hosting channels with tiny viewer levels just to boast their confidence and getting abit more involved with chat although I typically lurk (stay in chat without interacting).

Coming up to 2 year anniversary – no one streams this anymore

 

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Burying the survivors

A flight leaves Heathrow at 13:00 on route to Paris, on the way it experiences fatal engine failure and crashes in the Channel. The flight carries 120 passengers 20 in first class.

How many survivors will be buried on the French side and how many in the English side?

 Question the question

It’s interesting to observe how people communicate differently on personal matters depending on the device and method.  There are so many factors that impact the sender’s mental state and tone of the message (personal or work device, signed or unsigned, the speed of transport (instant or slow), public or perceived private.

Formal and personal – hard copy letter.  Shows the sender put in some thought and invested some resources (print, paper, envelope, postage and time costs) before sending and serves as hardcore historical evidence.

Formal and less personal –

email unsigned from a personal mobile device

email unsigned from work or business device

Email digitally signed on mobile device

Email from workstation

Email from laptop

Email from browsers

Many end-users actually see this as cold and heartless as “no one” emails about personal stuff anymore.

Informal and very personal

Instant messaging

WhatsApp

iMessage

VOIP phone calls

The method of choice for a vast amount of people. The user tends to speak from the heart whether angry, sad or happy.  Data is sent with no regard of security levels and assumptive privacy.

Consequences can be catastrophic or a euphoric high.

  • I Love you by email = Low euphoria
  • I Love you by Instant messaging = High euphoria
  • I Love you by letter = High euphoria

Choose your method wisely