Disneyland, California, and the hatred of Florida

Why is there so much hatred from Californians towards Florida? Walt Disney himself was planning on building Walt Disney World. It didn't turn out how he wanted, but he is still a very strong part of the history of our parks. Speaking of history, we also have a very rich history in the parks and resorts.

I always grew up watching the World of Color episodes and old cartoons. Walt was as much a part of my life as any Californian, and probably more than most. Walt's plane is parked in Hollywood Studios. I grew up listening to the music of Disneyland as well as Disney World. I never knew of the hatred until the internet and until I went there myself. I'll be first to admit that our maintenance is lacking, and they make a lot of decisions that don't make sense. That doesn't mean that we've lost all of the great history, music, and memories from our parks.

When I go to WDW, I don't think "Disneyland sucks, we are better," I just have a good time. I like both. You guys have some things over us, I guess. It only takes a short drive to get there, too bad it's ruined by a horrible parking garage and all the crazy legal stuff there (like the slow trams and extensive safety spiels). You can continue to hate something that has "the blessing of size" rather than your cramped little version of the Magic Kingdom. ;)

BTW, I think our Magic Kingdom parking lot is larger than the entire Disneyland resort.

Perfect audio distribution

Does anyone use CDs anymore? What's the point of continuing to make them? You'll buy a CD, rip it, and put it away. Lossless downloads (FLAC is preferred) are the way of the future. If you want album art, they should include really high resolution images so the consumer can print them out however they want. Include the front album cover (or whatever art they prefer) and embed it into the audio. It'll be cheaper than producing CDs, and you don't have to worry about the 80 minute limit. Make it 3 channels so you can disable the vocals if you like. Make it 6+ channels for surround sound. Make it 24 bit if you like. Both are unavailable on CD.

No more worrying about the "perfect rip," when you get the audio directly from the studio.

Apple will have to get off it's iHighhorse and start supporting the superior audio format. Video game makers will have to get past this stupid mp3 phase, a phase that should have ended long ago. No longer will they have to license codecs just to play back mp3s. No longer will you hear clipping dialog or low quality music since it's losslessly compressed.

It's pointless now a days to separate compilations to fit on a CD, since most people just play back the audio on a player or their computer.

"Audiophiles" can keep their expensive record player and listen to all the pops and humming noise they claim is a "deeper sound," and leave me alone, cause I don't want to hear that baloney.

"Fixing" your dog

Some people call it "fixing" and some people call it "neutering" I call it mutilating. The vet will tell you anything he can to get you to have him mutilate your dog. Unless you let your dog run around the neighborhood, doing anything it wants (which you shouldn't), then it's pointless to do this. Your dog WILL act more subdued, and make him less active. He will also pee like a female dog. The vet doesn't really care for YOUR dog's health, he'll just ramble on and on about how good it is, how it doesn't change his attitude, yadda yadda. Lies. What does he know or care? He'll be making money. He'll also recommend a brand of dog food that he was paid to endorse (that's another story).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering#Disadvantages

Modern cartoon movies are stupid

Modern cartoon movies are stupid, whether it be a remake, or original, they try to put so many stupid cliches in them, and their commercials get on my nerves.

1. Nobody wants to see a classic cartoon character, or any cartoon character, rap. Ever. Nobody.

2. Celebrity voices galore. Woopty doo. Every single character is a celebrity, like it means anything.

3. 3D on a normal screen is stupid.

4. Rapping cartoons look like retards, but in reality, whoever made the decision is the retard.

Grand Theft Auto 4

This game is nothing but trouble. Firstly, it's 16 gigs. I tried to bootleg it, and the game crashed and was hell to get running the first time. After installing the patch, the game still ran like crap. Finally I bought it on sale thinking it was just a bad bootleg version.
Firstly, it took about 8 hours to download from Steam.

I hate games trying to install Microsoft Visual C+++ 2005, every time, whether or not it is already installed. (what the hell is this, and why do I need it? The game runs exactly the same with or without it)
I hate games trying to install DirectX, every time, whether or not it is already installed.
I hate having to install Rockstar Social Club.
I hate being asked to register for Rockstar Social Club, which I deny every time.
I hate having to install Microsoft Games for Windows.
I hate being asked to register for Microsoft Games for Windows.
I hate being asked to register my serial with Microsoft Games for Windows, this was another huge pain because it opened a new window and then asked to install Silverlight, which I declined. Use Flash or something like that, or hell, use MICROSOFT GAMES FOR WINDOWS for your stupid interface, why do you need MORE software installed on the computer? BITE ME!
I hate how it asks me to update Games for Windows WHILE in the game, and then being asked to exit the game and restart Windows.
I hate how you are forced to save your game online, I want the option to save them on my computer.
I hate how they think you use an Xbox controller on your computer. I don't, and I don't know the layout, so quit telling me to press the A button.
I hate how they added a bunch of extra controls. That would be fine if they let you put some of the buttons as the same buttons on the keyboard, or if they let you leave it unmapped, but they are so damn picky about having a button for EVERYTHING.
I don't like how the GPS doesn't zoom in or out, depending on your speed.
After all of that, the game wouldn't even go past the menu, it crashed.
THEN Steam decides to download the patch AFTER installing and starting the game once. Normally, it downloads patches FIRST.
All of this on top of Steam.

I just want to install a game and play it! Don't make me register for 2 more services just to play a game! Having Steam is enough! Steam is perfectly capable of saving the games online.

I hate how slow the mouse cursor moves on the menu screen. It moves like a damn slug. WHEN YOU CHANGE THE THE MOUSE SENSITIVITY IN THE OPTIONS, CHANGE IT FOR THE MENU AS WELL!

Finally, after all my pain and torment (that is normally associated with making a bootleg game work), the game runs like crap. I lower everything to the lowest setting, and it still runs like crap. I can play Source engine games and Bioshock perfectly, so why not GTA4? Even Duke Nukem Forever runs and looks better! It still has a ton of issues, but not as bad as GTA4! God!

Let's take a look at recommended system setup:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
(I have Intel Core 2 Quad 2.66)
Memory: 2GB (Windows XP) 2.5GB (Windows Vista)
(I have 4GB DDR3)
Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870
(I have 1 GIG ATI 6820)

Why do PC games use anything besides FLAC?

I don't understand this. PC games use either uncompressed WAV (usually in a lower quality 22050 Hz or if we are lucky 44100 Hz) or low bitrate mp3s for the sounds or game dialog. Why not use 44100 hz FLAC files instead? It's an open format, and unlike mp3, you don't have to license a codec to decode the audio. DUH! Not only that, but it's CD quality audio at half of the filesize. You could encode the sounds, dialog, and music all to FLAC, and not worry about decoding mp3s, or have low quality audio. Why do anything else?

Portal 2 (and Source Engine games) stutter fix

So recently I got Portal 2, and a new video card. I figured the game would run perfectly on my quad core, 4gb ram, and new 1gb video card machine. Well, it does, for the most part. BUT sometimes it'll stutter. I thought it might be the autosave feature, which on older machines, might have caused some of the stuttering, but it wasn't the case this time. It seems to be the pre-loading of sounds. I don't know why, but these options aren't enabled by default. Taking a look at this site, which I've seen before, I found some console variables that seem to fix the stuttering.

cl_forcepreload [0,1] - If set to 1 forces all information to preload, reducing loading pauses and stuttering by not loading information on the fly.

sv_forcepreload [0,1] - If set to 1, forces server-side preloading, once again reducing loading pauses.


snd_mix_async [0,1] - If set to 1, this command will allow multi-core CPUs to run most of the sound engine in parallel with the renderer, which can improve performance and reduce stuttering.

Basically, find the file "config.cfg", and create a new file in the same exact directory called "autoexec.cfg", open it in notepad, and paste this:

cl_forcepreload 1
sv_forcepreload 1
snd_mix_async 1

Hopefully, when you restart Steam and the game, it'll enable those options right away. This also helps with Half Life 2 and other Source Engine games. Alright, I noticed there is still an occasional stutter, but not nearly as often.

More Android issues

Custom Phone Number Description - this has been included in newer Android!
Group ringtones

Show / hide contacts according to what groups are selected

I hate HP.

I really hate HP. Every printer that I have had from them requires huge drivers that take forever to install and install god knows what on your computer. This newest one can scan wirelessly with just a web interface, but to print requires a 57 meg download. It's ridiculous. I hate HP. And to celebrate my hatred, here is a link for other people who hate them as well.

There is a work around. If you download their stupid driver package, and it's a exe file, try to use WinRAR to extract the contents to a folder. Then plug in your printer (or turn on wireless) and Add Printer from within Windows. Once it can't find the driver, find it, and click Update Driver, click browse folder, and point to the folder you unzipped it to.

New Android market

The new Android market looks nice, but it's more annoying to actually install and read updates. It was nice having the install buttons at the bottom for easy access with your thumb. It was also easier to read what is new, now you have to scroll down and then tap "more" and then scroll down even more just to see the changes. It was easier to review the app, thanks to a separate screen just for reviews. Why are they cramming everything onto one screen?