Just wanted to make a note of the fact that I’ve got a new comment system set up on the blog. As of now, most of the older comments have vanished…I’m hoping they’ll show up after some time (the Disqus database and blog archive often need time to completely sync up). If not, I’ll try another Export and we’ll see what happens. But if it never comes back, it’s not like I went on some mad binge of expunging all reader commentary. Hell, I can even tolerate some of you people, so I have no real desire to remove your words completely. Anyway, when leaving a comment you can do so with a Disqus account, use OpenID, a Yahoo messenger login or a Twitter account, or just do a guest account (which, along with a Disqus account, you can use on any other site using the system that you come across).

And I’m also cutting some of the chaff from my sidebars. Gone is the window showing everything I’m tweeting…if you wanna know what’s in there, follow me on Twitter. And look at that, a shiny new tab off to the left…hmmm…

I also shrank down to a smaller Raptr widget. With Disqus doing Comment counts after every post, I chopped the comments sidebar thingy, too. I’m a madman…A MADMAN!

And if you feel like re-tweeting something here (more than likely with a “Look at what this jackass is saying.” message attached…and I’m cool with that), I’ve helpfully provided you ingrates with Tweetmeme, so you can just retweet shit with that little button in the top right of every post. I just keep giving.

I might also decide to go completely mad and change themes at some point in the future, if one shows up that I like.

I got thinking about this earlier today, while sitting in a restaurant with my parents and three little kids (nieces and a nephew, not kidnap victims I was looking to sell to slavers), cutting up someone’s sausage for them…

How in the Hell did this happen?

I mean, I know what I’m like. I probably strike those blessed to meet me as the last person who should be allowed around the impressionable (children, parrots who learn words, Shaun Guthrie). I spend most of my time either sarcastically mocking everything I can think of or ragefully expressing my utter hatred for it. I curse like it’s a sport. I frequently make incredibly inappropriate comments that even most adults wish they had never heard. I’m not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of people who would enjoy being around kids.

And yet, at some point it happened.

Now, Uncledom is not something you get to choose…it’s kind of forced upon you when your siblings start having children. I remember driving to the hospital to meet my oldest niece Natalie for the first time and being absolutely petrified. What the fuck do you do? How do you do anything with something that damn small? Does this kid ever wake up? It really just lies there and cries from time to time…seriously? Can you get a refund or something?

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A few brief moments with the kids watching a movie offers me a chance to type this up! And…uhhh…what’s that hammering noise?

Okay, false alarm!

As many of you know (or will know pretty damn quick), I’ve been doing a lot of writing for a DRM News site that I’ve been running with a couple of other people. While the whole consumer rights/electronic media/and such topic is still of interest, I’ve been realizing lately that it’s eating up A LOT of time. I knew it was burning some time, but didn’t really sit down and figure it out until recently. Frankly, it’s kind of appalling. No wonder my pile of books/games/movies to get to has remained virtually stagnant!

On top of spending time writing posts, running admin, and updating the game sales page, there’s also the added time sink of dozens and dozens of extra RSS feeds from gaming, media and tech sites blasting ever more content in to my Google Reader account that need to be waded through for something of interest. And the general material from a lot of these sites either bores the shit out of me, or is so completely and totally biased as to be worthless garbage. But ya gotta look for that good little factoid!

This has been adding up to literally hours and hours of time on a daily basis. Time that I’d like to spend on other things. If we had more people, it might have worked out differently, but we don’t. And the time requirement has absolutely worn me out. Brad’s got a bunch of other crap on his plate, so I’ve been bearing a lot of the already sizable load lately, making it even worse.

So, as of today I’m shouting “No mas!” Technically it’s being put ‘on hiatus’, as we just don’t have the time to put in to it. Honestly, barring some drastic change, I don’t personally see myself going back unless the time requirement drops off. Especially once I’m filling time with other things like ‘a job’. Already, my Reader account breathes a sigh of relief as I cut out a lot of feeds that I really never want to look at again. Goodbye, superfluous bookmarks! Good riddance, excess of information!

Is it selfish? Yep. And I make no apologies for it. Sometimes you have to look out for yourself. And since being tired and bored and more annoyed and surly than usual (I know, I know…tough to imagine) isn’t fun, I’m reclaiming some more of my time.

And now, the REALLY bad news : this means I have more time to write content here, to pick up where I left off here (once the nieces and nephew are gone), and possibly crank up some other ideas as well. Hell, some of the stuff I WAS writing over there will probably appear here, only with just a bit more of a ‘venomous sarcasm and mockery’ angle. Be afraid…be very afraid. I’m going to blast loads of content all over your grillz.

Um…that actually sounded even more awful than was intended. I’ll leave it though, cause that’s how I roll.

Yes indeed, when the robots rise up and start slaughtering their human creators, the blame can probably be thrown down on South Korea.

They’re arming the DMZ between them and the North with mounted robot sentries. They use heat and motion sensors to detect infiltrators, then use audio and video comms to challenge them. If they fail the challenge, it’s time to rain down 5.5 mm. machine gun rounds and 40 mm. grenade projectiles. So if little Fluffy gets off her leash and wanders in to the yard of that survivalist neighbour, these things will reduce her to a little puddle of goo and some crying kids.

“Human soldiers can easily fall asleep or allow for the depreciation of their concentration over time,” Samsung Techwin spokesman Huh Kwang-hak was quoted as saying by Stars and Stripes. “But these robots have automatic surveillance, which doesn’t leave room for anything resembling human laziness. They also won’t have any fear (of) enemy attackers on the front lines.”

Wonderful, machines without fear and fatigue. That’s just awesome. Let me now utter a sincere “Fuck you!” to South Korea as we stare in to a future of these things crushing humanity.

Huh said the robots cannot automatically fire on targets, and require human permission to attack, adding, “The SGR-1 can and will prevent wars.”

Cannot automatically fire…until the moment of sentience arrives. It’s inevitable. Say Hello to the thing that will be killing you and everyone you know. Actually, I do have one serious question…if this has to be given permission to do anything by a human operator, how is it more effective than a human guard if it’s reliant on another human being who can get tired?

Luckily, it IS at least entertaining us with a gloriously awful promo video that simply has to be watched.

“What is that monster?!” Our doom, white guy terrorist committing acts of brutality…our doom.

My only hope is that before the machines attack, the guys who made that promotional vid get a chance to make a feature length movie. Talent like that must be used!