London by William Blake

By: jez

31-03-2007

2 comments

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

London, by William Blake

The poem consists of four stanzas, with four lines. The rhyme scheme is a cross rhyme. The poem’s general attitude and mood can be described as a very depressive one. In the first stanza, which can be seen as an introduction, the lyrical I focusing the reader at the city of London in general. Therefore the reader gets a first impression of the city. The repetition of the word “charter d´” in the first two lines shows that many things are owned by capitalists. The parallelism in line four “Marks of weakness, marks of woe.” and the anaphora “In every…” in the first three lines of the second stanza show that there are no happy people and that everything is cruel. Words like “voice” (l.7), “hear” (l.8),”cry” (l.9) and” sigh” (l.11) create a special atmosphere, because the words are connected with sound. The third stanza shows that every member of the society and also every institution are involved in the depressive mood of the city. Blake personifies the church in line ten (“Church appalls ;”) to demonstrate, that the people who work for it are also responsible for the tragedy in London. The word “blacking” in the same line shows that the image of church is damaged. With the sentence in line 11 and 12 “Soldiers sigh runs in blood down Palace walls.” Blake wants to clarify that the government/monarchy is also guilty for the tragic events. The word “blood” and the “soldier” in this context stand for war, hate, dead and other negative associations. Blake wants to show that there exists no hope. Children often stand for hope. Therefore he uses many words, which reminds the reader of children, for example “infants, new born” as well as the metaphor “chimney-sweeper” in line nine, which stands for a child, too. In the last stanza the most serious problem of the society is demonstrated. The metaphor “Marriage hearse” in the last line of the poem, symbolizes that marriage is responsible for harlotry and every problems which are connected with it. The word “Harlot’s curse” in line 14 underlines this.
All in all it becomes clear that Blake wants to criticize the institution of church and government, which were both very powerful in the 19th century. He also criticizes the capitalists as well as the social force of marriage. These facts are after Blake responsible for the disaster in London.

Mauritius, an example for a developing countrys change in the process of globalization

By: jez

31-03-2007

english lk, oberstufe

0 comments

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

Mauritius, an example for a developing country’s change in the process of globalization

Mauritius a good example, but why?

Mauritius is a small island in the ocean of India.

With about 1.2 million inhabitants it can be used in order to show the positive but also negative consequences of globalization. In the last 30 to 40 years Mauritius has experienced an enormous structural change, which can be divided into three parts:

Mass poverty in the 70’s

In 1968 Mauritius became an independent country. Before that time the island had been a British colony. Over 90 % of the agricultural land was used for the fabrication of sugar cane. This mono culture had been the cause for many dependencies. There were several reasons for that. On the one hand it was relying on import products, but on the other hand the first world countries dictated the price of sugar cane. Besides, there was high rate of unemployment, as well as bad infrastructure and all in all an in poverty living population.

Decrease of poverty in the 80’s

Mauritius’ decrease of poverty illustrates the growing ambition of foreign companies to produce yet more cost-efficient. In the 80’s this movement tends more and more towards international division of labour between industrial countries and less developed countries. For some scientists it is exactly this development which represents the start of globalization. Not many developing countries profited from the international division of labour, the winners were rather the industrial countries. Mauritius though is clearly an exception. Especially the textile and clothing industry from Hong Kong used the island for production. The economic boom can be shown by some figures.

• The number of working people tripled itself to 90.000
• The rate of unemployment declined against zero
• The number of households, which live under the poverty line, declined from 70% to 17,8%

The economic boom was reflected by all levels of the population. Especially the broad underclass developed to a society of consume and thus is able to buy high quality products such as TV’s. The broad underclass became a middleclass, which hadn’t existed before.

Crisis in the end of the 90’s

The economic boom’s consequences have faded towards the end of the 90’s. One of the major reasons for that was the liberation of trade. Mauritius wasn’t protected anymore against the competition of the Asian “Low Labour Cost Countries”. Another problem which was related to the growing competition was the increase of labour cost. Foreign companies were able to produce more cost-efficient in other developing countries.

The following figure illustrates this problem:

(china 50 cent/hour, Mauritius 1$/hour)

Many foreign companies left the island to invest in other developing countries.
Between 1991 and 2000 the number of the textile and clothing companies decreased by 25%.
The number of unemployment increased from 2.3% (1991) to 8.6% (2000).
Those who once belonged to the middle class fell back to the broad underclass.
The Globalization’s only winner was the Mauritian upper class who became even richer than before.

Conclusion

“The rich become richer and the poor become even poorer.”
I think this sentence perfectly shows the consequences of globalization for developing countries.

The Daffodils by William Wordsworth

By: jez

31-03-2007

english lk, oberstufe

0 comments

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

The poem consists of four stanzas, which have got six lines. The rhyme scheme in the first four lines is a cross rhyme, the last two lines end with a pair rhyme. Wordsworth uses many metaphors and similes in his poem to clarify the speaker’s happy experiences in nature. The manifold choice of words creates a peaceful, harmful atmosphere. There are detailed descriptions and a kind of a birds eye view in the whole four stanzas. The reader can very detailed imagine what the speaker describes. The simile in the first line, shows that the speaker is free, but also lonesome.
In the third and fourth line the poet uses the metaphor “a crowd, a host of golden daffodils” to compare the daffodils with people, because when thinking of “a crowd” you think of human beings. The personification in the last line of the first stanza (fluttering and dancing) underlines the association to a human behavior. The second stanza is also full of simile, but here Wordsworth compares the daffodils with stars. The verbs “shine” and “twinkle” and also the noun “milky way” leads to the association of stars and the universe. The expression “never-ending line” in the third line supports the image of the universe in this case. The sentence “Ten thousand….” clarify the “never ending line”. The personification in the last line “tossing their heads in sprightly dance”, is also a comparison to human behavior.
In the third stanza Wordsworth wants to amplify the peacefully mood, when he says “The waves besides them danced”. That means that not only the daffodils “danced” but also its environment.
The contrast between the lonesome feeling of the speaker on the one hand, but also the happy memories or experiences with nature one the other hand show that looking at the daffodils made the speaker feel better than he did before. This idea is supported by the last line of poem, where he says his heart “with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils” whenever he thinks of them.

The definition of terrorism by Brian Whitaker

By: jez

31-03-2007

english lk, oberstufe

0 comments

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

In his article “The definition of terrorism” Brian Whitaker points out the American state department’s definition of terrorism and the problems which are connected with it.

The Headline of the article seems to be a matter of fact. The reader expects a precise definition of terrorism. In the subtitle it becomes clear that Whitaker doesn’t want to give simply a definition of terrorism but rather wants to illustrate that many definitions are influenced by self-interests.
The article can be divided into four parts. The first part deals with international terrorism figures, which give the reader a first overview about the terrorism definition problem. It is striking that there exists almost twice more terrorism cases in Europe than in the Middle East. To underline the contradiction between the reality and the announced figures the author uses the imperative “Decide for yourself whether to believe this,” to show that the reader has to be skeptical by reading the figures. By using the word “meaningless” and the quotation of the report “no one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance” the author emphasizes that there does not exist one general definition of terrorism. It becomes clear that the figures he meant before seems to wrong because of the definition problem.
In the second part Whitaker refers to the state department’s definition of terrorism. He uses a quotation to reproduce the definition. By using the word “key point” Whitaker wants to illustrate that terrorism is very often politically motivated. The political aspect differs terrorism from murder. Whitaker doesn’t mention the religious aspect of terrorism which becomes especially after 9/11 very important. Due to the definition that terrorism must be politically motivated in Saudi Arabia there wasn’t a criminal act published as terrorism act. Another problem is that after the definition of the state department a criminal attack can only called terrorism if it is an attack against people and not against property. In the third part Whitaker uses an example of the attack against the pipeline in Colombia which wasn’t called a terror act to convince the reader that a new definition of terrorism is required. He underlines his statement by giving another example for the definition problem.

The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin

By: jez

31-03-2007

english lk, oberstufe

0 comments

The following article was written by Lena as a part of her revision for the a-levels on English Language in 2005. I hope this will be handy for anyone having to revise for “English GK”

Modern machines replace mass labour more and more. In future modern machines will do the work of many factory workers. Without people developing these machines there won’t be any production. That’s the reason why the global economy depends on high skilled educated workers. Exactly these skilled workers invent modern technologies which are needed for future.

If more and more people become unemployed the social peace is in danger. Social peace is very important for a society, because it contributes to an increase in general prosperity. Another social problem is that increased unemployment leads to increased financial problems and thus to crime. Political effects could be that the retirement pension and the social security such as health insurances are not ensured anymore.

A variety of jobs can never be replaced. In many areas of labour human intuition and intelligence cannot be automated or replaced by machines. Kindergarten teachers, nurses, school teachers, doctors, therapists, social workers and priests rely on emotions and intuitions everyday they work. Machines aren’t able to feel emotions and have intuitions yet like human being. Those people who invent new technologies and new medicine are required for the future.

Teufel Concept E Magnum review

By: jez

27-02-2007

reviews

0 comments

I bought a Teufel speaker set last week and was now finally able to set it up.

The parcel I received weighted 23kg (46 pounds) and was delivered by DHL. I paid 139 Euros for the set (Teufel Concept E Magnum),
and some 12,50 Euros for the shipping. After all a fair price I must admit. I was moaning about the high postage cost, but considering it weighted 23kg I think I have nothing to moan about…

So the Concept E Magnum 5.1-speakerset was created by Teufel , Germany. This set promises very good performance for a relatively low price. Since one of my friend has this at home and it totally convinced me, I decided to give it a shot (and sell it on ebay afterwards if I am not satisfied).

Teufel is mainly known for her mid- and high-class home cinema speakers, however for a while the German company has been making speakersets for PCs. The small satellites come with magnetic screens and a powerful subwoofer. There are all kinds of screws and connectors on the back of the subwoofer, here is what it looks like:

The Concept E Magnum is a 5.1-speakerset and therefore consists of five small satellite speakers and one large subwoofer which also contains the amplifiers for all channels. The satellites are connected to the subwoofer with clamp connectors and the volume can be adjusted seperately for each channel. The subwoofer also contains a switch that allows turning the phase 180 degrees, which should be ideal when the subwoofer can’t be positioned in line with the front speakers. Teufel supplies 30 meters speakercable with the set, offering users the possibility to lengthen the satellite cables themselves. Also added are three stereo cinch-cinch and 3,5 mm-jackplug adaptor cables, allowing the Concept E Magnum to be connected to other equipment.

The subwoofer contains a 25-cm bass speaker and a bass reflex port. The frequencies on which the satellites take over can be set manually, however Teufel claims 120 Hz to be the best value. The satellite speakers tend to feel quite massive and contain one 8-cm broadband unit and a small tweeter. The center speaker is taller and contains two broadband units.
(Source:Google/The net)

Another picture showing the five speakers and the remote:

And if you like to mount the speakers on special ‘feet’, you can get them at their site for 18,50 Euro a pair each.

How to move a waterbed (1600 pounds)

By: jez

07-02-2007

essays

3 comments

In case you own a waterbed (actually they aren’t that expensive any more, I got mine for a bargain of 600$), and you are thinking of rearranging your furniture but are hesitating because of the waterbed that seems impossible to move, don’t become desperate, because there is an easy way. I am going to show how to move your waterbed under 2 hours and with just little struggling; no real monster strengths required:

So here is the waterbed, sized 2x2m, that’s what Americans call Queen size I think:

Take a closer look:

Here is what you need: A simple tube/hose (length depends on your situation)

You stick one end of the tube into the opening of your waterbed, make sure it does not spill!

Put the other end of the tube outside, don’t bother with ups and downs:

Now here is where it might get tricky, you need to suck (yes I mean literally suck) on the tube to get the water flowing. Using this simple trick the water will flow through the pipe even though it goes up (pitches). The effect behind that is called (if I am not wrong) capillary effect which was discovered by Mr. German Einstein himself
You need to suck real hard, so that you create some kind of maelstrom, undertow, pull etc

After approximately two hours the waterbed was empty enough to be movable (around 800 liters sucked out)

You can then move it around freely and refill it using another pipe. Make sure you don’t spill any water, else you get all kinds of crap growing under your waterbed…

You have successfully moved 1600 pounds / 800 kg (liters) from point A to B :)

How to preserve bandwidth and speed up your site

By: jez

30-01-2007

code, Design

1 comment

There are several ways of preserving bandwidth when you are running near your bandwidth quota:
For those of you who have not bandwidth limit per month, read this article as well, because I am going to tell you how to speed up your pages big style

Different approaches can be used to increase the time your website is displayed on your users computers.
You can measure the time it takes for your page to load with Firebug, an extension for Firefox. Once downloaded, installed, Firefox restarted (use the brain hack to keep open Tabs), you will find a small icon in the lower right area of your browser. Click enable, if it asks, then you can start viewing your page using the “Net” -tab (all) of Firebug. It will tell you how long the page took for loading. You will be surprised by the wide spectrum of details you will get to know about your website. E.g. using fat script libraries such as (full) scriptaculous or prototype take quite some time to load. Often whole libraries are included for effects that only need a handful of functions (lightbox!). More under a.4 later on.

a. reduce the over-all size of files/data that will be transfered when accessing your site


   a.1 images (jpg/png/gif)
   a.2 markup (php/html/css)
   a.3 stylecheets (css)
   a.4 javascript (js)
   a.4.1 overview of different lightweight javascript libraries/frameworks
   a.5 general (plugins, temporarily removing 'fat files')

gif)

Many websites use a high amounts of images, and there is nothing bad about it,
as long as a suitable compression is used. There is a difference between images compressed with jpg (jpeg), png and gif.
While jpg is great for images that feature loads of different colours, gradients and generally speaking pictures (photos), png and gif make more sense if an image does only consist of few different colours (max. 256 for good results). Gif images have to be used if you are going for transparent or semi transparent images. PNG can be transparent as well, but there are issues with the Internet Explorer, so I’d not recommend using png for transparent images. A jpg compression of 60 is often far enough, no need to go by even higher, because most of your users will most likely not see any difference. The difference file size concerned is massive.
You can easily safe some kilobytes there. REMEMBER: less kb to download = faster display of site. Safing photos in gif or png file format makes them ugly and big, so stick to jpg.

a.2 Save bandwidth and optimize speed using valid markup (php/html/css)

While this seems to be hard for many designers and programmers, one should try to produce valid markup.
Valid markup displays faster on many computers. Don’t over comment your source on websites.
It might be a good idea to keep local commented copies of your files, but in the web that’s only resource and thus speed hogging.

I’d recommend this online HTML tidy program for checking your markup, as well as the official w3c markup validation service [For CSS]
A great online tool to strip comments from your code (html/js) is memtronic’s packer
as well as dean edward’s packer.

a.3 Save bandwidth and optimize speed using compressed CSS

Compressed CSS is loaded like ordinary CSS, but simply faster. REMEMBER: less filesize = less load time of page
If your pages’ CSS is loaded faster, the site is earlier displayed on your visitors’ PC. He/she is then more likely to not leave your page in the first 10 seconds if he/she sees the content. It is essential to aim for the below 10 seconds (check the time your users remain on your website with Google analytics). There are some CSS compressors that work and others that proclaim they work, but don’t. Here are three, that definately work more or less depending on the complexity of coding.

CSS compressors
Flump cake css optimiser
icey’s css compressor
css formatter and optimser

a.4 Save bandwidth and optimize speed using compressed js

Many WordPress scripts want you to include big and fat javascript on your blog. Usually those can be compressed, downsized and optimized. I mentioned two compressors before: memtronic’s packer
and dean edward’s packer.
A by far even better compressor is dojo shrinksafe.
You can use these compressors to remove descriptive lines, comments and examples from the source. Usually compressed files will still work. If they don’t, use another option or different compressor. Be sure to compress valid js markup only.

a.4.1 Overview of javascript libraries and compress JS

So basically we all know scriptaculous and prototype. Some also know mootools (and moo.fx), but my personal #1 is byte.fx with an overall size of 3kb.
Prototype and scriptaculous can be compressed to some extent, Steve Kallestad did that and offers these compressed files on his site:

The downloads are available at:

Prototype.js 1.50rc1(25K as is, 13K with gzip compression, 64K uncompressed)
scriptaculous 1.65 (41K as is, 20K with gzip compression, 105K uncompressed)
combined prototype and scriptaculous (62K as is, 29K with gzip compression, 169K uncompressed)

Be sure to check them locally before you take these versions for an online test-walk!

a.5 Save bandwidth and optimize speed deactivating or tweaking plugins

Many wordpress plugins are filled with explanations, comments and examples.
These can be removed to save additional space and thus increase the download speed of your website.
Use the mentioned above compressors to compress plugins like Lightbox or Flash-embedding plugins.
If you ever run low on bandwidth, deactivate unneeded plugins (and later on re-activate them!) for the needed time.
You will be surprised by the amount of traffic the lightbox.js does generate.
Also check your site for deadlinks, sometimes a deadlink generates a 404-error page. If you got custom error-pages that render a nice “not found”-page, this is a massive traffic and bandwidth generator. Locating these files and fixing their deadlinks is essential to maintaining a slick site.

b. enable server-side options to tweak the way stuff gets transfered

  b.1 gzip compression
  b.2 *Sql tweaks / WordPress 2.1

b.1 Save bandwidth and optimize speed using server-side options

If you can get your hoster or admin to enable mod_deflate (former mod_gzip), you are most likely to save tons of bandwidth, because of serving compressed content. Note: not all browsers support this. Read all full tutorial on that here.

b.2 Save bandwidth and optimize speed using sql-tweaks (WP 2.1)

In January this year, WordPress 2.1 was released:
They state:
[...] Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions. Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our queries with a fine-toothed comb [...]
But if you want some real fast WordPress a-like CMS, go for Flatpress, a SQL-less CMS (currently under development). Static files, such as html, load faster than any dynamic ones. just as a golden rule.

c. move the server to a location where most of your visitors come from

  c.1 mirrors and foreign hosting

c.1 Relocating your website

Sometimes it makes more sense relocating your website to the country of #1 traffic origin or offering a mirror server then merely tweaking your site. If you’d for example have a Fansite dealing with an American (US) actress or model, but run your website from Europe, then most of your targeted audience (Americans) will have a slower site experience than if you’d place a server on the American mainland. Even ‘mainland’ is not equal mainland, due to the huge geographic distance of the east and westcoast. Thus offering mirror might be a wise idea. So based on the origin of site request either www1 or www2 is accessed.

I will be moving to DREAMHOST (LAX, USA), but not merely because of the later stated issue of traffic origin. In the next few days this site will be moved (early February), so if you experience any trouble, please be patient, feel free to comment or drop me a mail at jez at this domain (h4x3d.com). I hope you enjoyed this article and also checkout my five tips for your daily work life.

Five tips for your everyday work life

By: jez

26-01-2007

essays

3 comments

You probably think that all these tips you read on fancy pages like digg or blogs like
this are nothing new, but I am sure that you haven’t read the ones I have for you before:

1. Make Firefox remember open tabs after reboot/shutdown the QUICK way
2. Use Torpark to surf ‘really’ anonymous
3. Chill-out with soothing music
4. Work in blocks of 30 minutes
5. Sketch, map and scribble

Click those links above to get directly to the tip you are interested in.

1. Save open Firefox tabs the easy way (brain hack)

Sometimes it is just too much hassle saving (and later on deleting*) all the Tabs (sites) you have currently open
if you are either in a hurry (got to go due to phone call) or are just shit-house tired. So why not leave on the PC and use it when you are back? While nothing speaks against doing it for a short break (an hour or so), it might turn you nuts if you sleep in the same room. After all you are tired and don’t want any humming noise… so in rage you just rip out the power cable to silence your pc.
Of course this is not the best treatment for your hard drive, but the effect you will experience the next morning after booting your PC and clicking Firefox will be the same as I will describe you can achive without wasting your PC:

Of course you will want to restore your tabs, because this way you get them all back, don’t have to waste time deleting them from bookmarks and can continue your work where you left the evening before.
Now here is where the ‘what I call’

Brain hack

comes into play:

just be nice to your PC and hard drive, shut it down,
but make Firefox think your "system crashed"
by "killing the process firefox.exe".

Press CTRL + ALT + DEL at the same time,
you will then get an Windows Screen with various options,
press Task Manager (or T)
then press F till you arrive at "firefox.exe",
press "End Process". Voila!

Firefox is simply superior to Internet Explorer when it comes to tabs.
The new Internet Explorer 7.0 does also feature tabs, but in order to install it you have to run through loads of hassle such as Windows validation (got genuine?), downloading through ‘web-downloader’ etc.

So do me a favor and get Firefox, don’t surf with Internet Explorer, it’s evil and smells, also I get 1$ from Google for each installed Firefox from the below link (redirects to Google owned Firefox site).

*because then later on you will have to delete the ones you don’t need and this again will cost some time again =7

2. Use Torpark to surf ‘really’ anonymous

Torpark is a free program for windows which allows you to surf the internet anonymously. It requires no installation, leaves no track, is small, portable and does even fit on an USB-Stick.
It is partly based on Firefox and somewhat idiot safe to use. Nothing (unless you want) required to configure, just out of the box ready to surf with a different IP-address. It blocks cookies, javascript and other stuff that could eventually identify your PC and thus you. Torpark got build in routines that connect your browser to other PCs, proxies or whatever these ‘circuits’ are.
Some additional information from the Torpark website itself:

To run Torpark, just double click on the Torpark program. First you will see a notice about how Torpark should be used. It is important for your security that you understand the scope and limitations. Then you see a splash screen which shows you the version information and credits. It will display for a few seconds then disappear. Then Torpark will display a throbber in the form of a progress bar as Torpark begins to establish some tor circuits.

It may take a little longer if you are running Torpark from a USB flash drive or using a slow internet connection because Torpark has to download directory information from the Tor network. After it has established at least one circuit, it will start the browser.

Source: http://www.torrify.com

3. Chill-out with soothing music

While working silence can be nice, but I found out that some chill-out soothing music really helps concentrating.
Opinions are controversial concerning this issue, but why not listen to the short excerpt below. It’s 1 minute long and encoded at 160kbps (certainly good quality).

[audio:http://mp3.trancin.com/chill-out.mp3]

4. Work in blocks of 30 minutes

After the results this semester I had quite some free time. Too much free time can eat you up,
so basically I tried working in 30 minutes blocks, concretely this means 30 minutes of work, 30 minutes of either reading on the web, chilling with music, watching The Simpsons, spinning a record or whatever just came handy.
It works similar to the rewarding method mentions on other sites. By rewarding yourself with something of your own choice you subliminally train yourself to work consequently and straight to the point. Of course again this is subject to contrary discussion.

5. Sketch, map and scribble

Often the easiest things are made too complicated: googling for mind mapping tools, downloading them, eventually applying a crack here and there (so I was told), then reading the manual and still after 30 minutes you don’t have a solution, a sketch to your problem.

So why not just draw a map yourself and scribble?!

It doesn’t take an artist to do a mind map or a sketch, just do it, you will be surprised by the effectiveness of this method.
Keep it simple, simplify your daily life.

I hope you enjoyed reading these tips and comment plenty

Why 'Second Life' is crap

By: jez

15-01-2007

reviews

60 comments

Second Life logo (wikipedia)

Second Life

Second Life has been around since 2003, but just recently a wave of heavily polished articles written by Public Relations companies working for LindenLab has hit Germany. It seems like their Marketing department is now trying to reach out to new grounds. I find the concept of Second Life highly interesting, but it simply is not ‘ready’ yet. Read why below, checkout the In-Game images and the review. The closing paragraph offers some ideas of what to do instead of playing ‘Second Life’.

‘Second Life’ reviewed

This review is divided into three parts, feel free to ‘fast-forward’:
PC specs and account used for testing
‘Second Life’ In-Game images
Review of ‘Second Life’
Why play ‘Second Life’ when you can <enter action> in reality?!

PC specs and account used for testing

So I signed up at the Second Life website for a FREE account and entered my Paypal-Information to
a) verify I am over 18
b) receive $250 Linden bucks (handy if you want to ‘buy’ something in ‘Second Life’).

Next I had to download the Windows Installer for Second Life, it’s titled Windows 2000/XP: 1.13.1.6 (30MB). There are also version available for Mac OS-X (61MB) and Linux (39MB). I have only tested the Windows / PC version.

After the downloaded finished (quite fast – good servers), I run the Installer on my system:

Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2)
Intel Core Duo 2.667 GHz
1500 MB G.E.I.L DDR2 Ram
GeForce 6200 256 MB Ram

Connection:
3456 kBit/s Downstream (1&1 fastpathed)
448 KBit/S Upsteam (1&1 fastpathed)

Notes: Not the best system, but a stable mule that keeps running smoothly and silent (21 db measured), with a stable and speedy 3 Meg-line connection. This should be well above ‘Second Life’s’ min. requirements to run the game!

So after some minutes of installing, the game was launched. I had to re-enter the account information and was then connected to ‘the world of Second Life’.

‘Second Life’ In-Game images

Here are some images, let them do the talking before I begin to with my starfall of criticism. These are just some images I found on google images (I was too lazy to screenshot them myself, because it simply is not worth it..)

miserable quality
a gathering
a smurf, a freak and a zebra - now this is real..

Review of ‘Second Life’

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 2,617,859 people from around the globe. Source: secondlife.com.

PR crafted articles speak highly positive of ‘Second Life’, for the reason of offering ‘a new and unique chance of commencing a new life’. A life in which you can even earn real money. The currency used in Second Life is called Linden Dollar, a self-creation by Linden Labs.

So after some time installing and setting up the game I found ‘myself (my character – 3rd person view)’ on an island, a so called ‘spawning point’ for new players. It seems like I am not alone as there are many characters ‘standing’ around and not having a clue what to do. A father like voice explains the phenomena of lag, followed by a female voice introducing the world and the game.
You can change your character’s outer appearance, the cloths he/she wears, the body attributes such as height, width, size etc, the color of the hair, the eyes, the length of the nose – well nearly everything. As seen on the images above, people highly customize their characters, put custom textures (skins) on them, so that you can even look like papa smurf or a zebra.

The aspect of customization is really interesting, as it allows people to become creative easily.
There is a variety of programming languages that can be applied/used in the Second Life, so for example it is possible to combine 3D designing skills with programming skills to create -let’s say- an arcade/amusement park. I have been to areas where you’d play blackjack: enter the amount of Linden $ you wanted to set, click pay, and voil?: either you win or either you loose.
The possibility of buying your own land and building on there, say a house/villa/pool whatsoever is great, but nearly every place is empty:
how does this match with Linden Labs’ statement that thousands of people around the world play Second Life simultaneously?
What is the high level of customization good for if others can only experience it in a limited way? (e.g. you create yourself nice multi-colored shinny hair, but other players only see a brown blob…)
Second Life offers the option of getting yourself a job within the new world and earn money. This earned money can be exchanged into real US $ using Linden Labs exchange ‘Lindex’. Linden Labs claims that the first Linden dollar millionaire was spotted a week ago. A millionaire, but still playing?

So far so good, but now here is where the criticism comes into play:

Lag

Even though my PC suits the minimum system requirements for Second Life, it lags insanely.
Other characters are ‘warping’ bye, the atmosphere (trees, buildings, sea, plants, textures) takes ages to load.
This is clearly a server-side issue as my connection is fine and system does usually not lag at all.
I remember the slow male voice telling about lag and check the ‘upper right boxes’. They are green or even black, which -according to Linden Labs and this speaker- means I am lagfree.

Low world detail

As to be seen on the images above, the world detail is very low. I have checked my settings and it didn’t change at all. I waited several minutes in a people-free spot and let everything load, but yet no increase of quality. So clearly all images shown in magazines, articles and even on the Second Life website are forged or at least some kind of manipulated, because ‘Second Life’ does look like crap in reality.

Logic

‘Second Life’ is praised as one of the ‘new chances to life your live’ like you want it to, but this seems unreal for the following reasons:
1. I don’t like a world with Smurfs
2. I don’t want to live in a world with goddamn zebras talking to me
3. Second Life is already commercialized, at two different spots a person was offering ‘free ipods’ if you’d click on his shinny backpack.
4. Second Life features a world which is empty, or at least not really populated.
5. Second Life features cheap adult material, sleazy hookers and strippers. If one wants porn, simply fire up google and look for it.
6. Second Life makes it rather impossible to earn money big style, exceptions are rare. Why would you earn more in an E-True cybergame then at McDonalds around the corner?
7. Why can these people fly?
8. Weapons welcome in Second Life, so at least, was my impression. They can either be bought in arms shops or created using the ‘no limitations create it yourself kit’.
9. What about dying? You can’t really die in Second Life.
10. Membership fees. 10 bucks a month just for a graphically shitty game which is crowded by nerds that need to escape their miserable or uncool life and boast with their e-cool character in Second Life?

Why play ‘Second Life’ when you can <enter action> in reality?!

With 10 bucks a month that you are ought to pay for Second Life a month (premium account that is needed for buying land etc) you can:
- rent 10 porn DVDs a month
- subscribe to WWF and save some cute little Pandas
- get a hustler membership account
- buy at least 10 cheeseburgers
- get a rapidshare account for downloading
- subscribe to di.fm and enjoy loads of music!
- invest your money into decent stock and get rich
- run a website like this and entertain other people

but for christsake DON’T waste it on Second Life, because this reality is fancy enough. If you need to escape your reality, buy some weed, some liquor or some smokes. It’s better then watching your e-cool character dance in a virtual club whilst you could be out there wasting your money on something cool…

If you somehow can’t get enough of Second Life, you can get even more pictures at flickr

I have no idea why, but according to this article at the businessweek, Second Life is marching on strong. Is our western society so whacky? I mean this is totally f%ï¿½$cked up. Get a job, get a life, get some porn, but don’t waste your time online on Second Life

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Why play ‘Second Life’ when you can <enter action> in reality?!

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