While socialised medicine is considered with great mistrust in the US, here in the UK, no political party would dare to suggest that the dear old NHS should be replaced. Unless, of course, they didn’t think anyone from Britain would notice.
In this clip, UK Conservative, MEP Daniel Hannan, holds court with the crown prince of right-wing crazy, Glenn Beck.
You would not think it to listen to Hannan and his FOX friends, but we do actually also have private medicine here. It’s much cheaper than the US, of course, because they have to compete with the NHS, but if you have the money, you can still buy whatever healthcare you desire. You can also buy painkillers pretty much anywhere. Hannan’s “friend” that claims that NHS staff got aggressive with him for trying to buy painkillers is either fictional, or not telling the whole story. Also, those prostate cancer survival rate claims have been debunked so many times (they’re measured totally differently in the different countries so have no relation to eachother), nobody with any respect for their audience ought to be trotting them out. Ah right, I forgot, it’s Glenn Beck.
Daniel Hannan is of course the man who famously insisted that the BNP is a party of the far-left. He has clearly learned from Beck, who is equally happy to claim that the Nazi party was left wing, as part of the “liberal fascism” smear.
Why is Daniel Hannan still a member of the Conservative party? This man is getting a platform because of his membership of a mainstream party, and is using it to be paid to tell the most grievous lies about the UK, and Europe. Lies that would not be tolerated here.
Yesterday he found a new friend, Mr Hannity. Apparently he is spending a great deal of time in the US campaigning against healthcare reform. Do the people who elected him to the European parliament realise this is how he is spending his time? How much money is he making from his disloyal behaviour?
Dear US readers. Daniel Hannan is a liar being paid to lie, and you should not place any stock in his words. The leader of his party, David Cameron, has said in response “I support the NHS 100% and the Conservative Party supports the NHS 100%. We are the party that gives the biggest amount of support to the NHS. It is incredibly important to my family. It is incredibly important to this country.”.
That’s all very well, Mr Cameron, but Mr Hannan is not doing his job, and making the UK look bad in the eyes of America. Kick him out.
I should thank him, I suppose, for making me sufficiently angry to end a month-long lack of posting!
Massive changes to how AOE is treated in Warhammer Online hit the test server today. Across the board it is being reduced in range and damage, with great consequence for many classes. As an Engineer, I’m a bit concerned, but on the other hand I’ll probably stay alive a fair bit better, so until I can see these changes in action, it’ll be hard to reach too many conclusions. I hope Napalm is hasn’t been made completely useless.
Also, really? Strafing run, and Bugman’s Best were overpowered?
It would seem, that for all classes, the single target spec just got a whole lot more attractive
Warhammer Online’s 1.3.0b test patch notes continue after the leap.
As I mentioned in the post declaring my glorious return to the Warhammer battlefield, players coming back under the returning players scheme have access to some extra quests.
So far as I can tell, on the Order side we have three such quests, and I assume Destruction has analogues.
Welcome Back: Secrets of Battle
This quest starts with Gunther Kaltermeier in the palace in Altdorf. He will send you to speak to an NPC is a warcamp specific to your level range. Osgard was sent to Praag, which unfortunately for him is currently contested. The NPC, in this case a Griffon Warscout will send you to scout out the four battle objectives in the RvR zone. He will also offer you the Welcome Back: On the Battlefield quest.
The reward is a choice of talismans, and the War Crystal trophy
Welcome Back: On the Battlefield
Granted by an generic NPC in the Empire Warcamp suitable for your level, this fellow has managed to lose his sister somewhere in the RvR zone, and needs you to go find her. Gah.
Upon finding here, and returning to the quest giver, your reward is a choice of talismans, and the War Medal trophy.
Welcome Back: Pacification
Duncaen Olwyn is standing near the Flight Master in Altdorf. He will send you to scout a Public Quest area, once again appropriate to your level. Osgard got sent to check out the Reik River Bandits. No fighting is needed, as you only need to visit the area to advance the quest.
Head back to Altdorf, and your reward is the choice of yet another talisman, and the War Mug trophy.
So, what do all these fancy trophies look like?
From the left, that’s the War Crystal, War Medal, and finally the War Mug. I like the mug, and think I’ll make it part of my usual costume.
The welcome back quests are a good idea. Each had some gentle reminders about how to play, and mentioned any changes that might have occurred in the game systems while we were away.
I received a jolly email from Warhammer Online today!
Ooh, I love free stuff, so this sort of stunt always works on me. I dug out my installation disks, and set to work!
My first shock was that Burlok has completely gone. It ‘s not even hidden, to be revealed by hitting the “more” button. It just ain’t there any more. Luckily, my characters still exist in some sort of netherworld, so I was able to transfer them to Karak-Norn, where I have been led to believe most Burlokians headed. Looked like the server needs a few more Order anyway, so off I went!
Colwyn’s name was taken on Karak-Norn, but I was allowed to rename him to Colwynn, so in I went! Colwyn was my cultivator, the fellow mostly responsible for my cultivating guide, so the very first thing that I noticed was that the names of the seeds have changed. That’s going to complicate things, and I guess I’ll have to redo it. I’ll have a rummage through the last few month’s patch notes to see what they have wrought. The other thing that I noticed was that his bank is still full to bursting with seeds, watering cans, and soil. I had hoped there would have been a bit more space in there by now! Aha, but we do now have extra inventory slots for crafting ingredients. 40 of them for Osgard, which will come in quite useful.
Mind you, I feel a bit lost as a level 34 Engineer. I’ve forgotten what half the buttons do, and am having trouble walking around. In any case, Osgard missed a lot of the low level changes that came in after launch, such as the addition of RvR influence, so I’m going to start a new engineer to relearn the ropes, and get the full WAR experience from level 1.
Over the next 10 days, and perhaps beyond, if I am sufficiently impressed, I’ll post about what has changed in the Old World, and whether WAR has improved enough to be worth a second look.
In other news: In a spooky display of timing, Funcom sent me an email a couple of hours after GOA did, asking me to come back to Age of Conan, and offering me 2 free weeks of play.
Did you know that once you reach level 50 with any character on your account, you automatically get access to a new level 50 character with a class of your choice? Perfect for trying out a new class! That is just one more reason to log into Age of Conan today and continue leveling Alfric. Once you reach level 50, you can activate your new instant level 50 character through the character creation system. This is a one time per account offer.
Like me, you’re probably sick of the omnipresence of Evony advertising, on Google’s ad network the last few months. Chances are there’s one staring at you on this page right now, as no matter how many of their advertising URLS I block from showing here, they always seem to have more. Until recently it was called Civony, and they used pictures of real girls stolen from a lingerie catalogue, until someone noticed, and the complaints started pouring in. So they decided it was best to rebrand, and they’re now using drawings of women in lingerie instead.
None of that advertising has the slightest thing to do with the game, where there are no Queens, no love interests, and no willing hand-maidens wanting you to “play me now, oh Lord”. Oh well, I guess it gets the clickthroughs (or it did before everyone became completely inured to them).
At its heart, Evony is much like other browser games in the nation-building genre, where you construct buildings, research technologies, and train troops to go bother other players. Unlike most though, rather than existing on a theoretical world, where you’re an equal distance away from everybody, Evony places you on an actual map. A massive one, with multiple separate regions. That is the one interesting new (to me at least) advancement Evony makes.
One distinct flaw in comparison to other browser based games, in my opinion, is the inability to queue actions, such as building and research. This means that you cannot just leave Evony and go do something else. Not if you want to survive, at least. This may be due to the desire for people to spend money on in game currency to buy items to reduce build time, but it also means that Evony is far from a casual game that you can pop into once per day. As Evony does not appear to use advertising, its only visible means of support is for folks to spend money on buying in game currency, so it is not surprising that the gameplay pushes you to do so.
As I mentioned, Evony was originally called Civony, and it is not hard to see who their inspiration was. If by “inspiration”, you mean the place where they blatantly stole stuff from. Like Civilization 4, each technology description begins with a quote. In fact, like Civ 4, each technology description begins with the quote from Civ 4. I’m almost surprised Leonard Nimoy isn’t doing a voice-over, though I hear him in my head when I read them anyway. Lifting all the quotes straight from Civ is exceptionally lazy. Oh, and most of the descriptions are lifted straight from Civ 3 or 4 as well.
Other descriptions elsewhere are lifted straight from wikipedia, or civ mods. They have written some of the descriptions themselves though. These can usually be easily recognised by the head pain that occurs when you try to read them :
The building and terrain graphics until recently were lifted straight from the Age of Empires series. They have recently changed, but whether they’ve just stolen them from something less well known, or actually made them themselves, I know not. My guess would be on the former.
Evony is a mildly entertaining nationbuilding game, of the sort you’ve probably played a dozen of. It is fun to play (I’m still pottering about with it myself), but it is not worth spending money on. That everything that is of decent quality seems to have been stolen from somewhere is my main concern with Evony, and that makes me feel that I probably do not ever want to give them my credit card details. I suggest you do the same. We should not reward companies that hide behind China’s lack of respect for copyright law, or indeed their tolerance for credit card fraud.
Wait, I forgot one of the most worrying things about Evony, that just occured yesterday. As part of a slightly odd marketing scheme involving invitation codes and in-game rewards, they have released a piece of software called iEvony that you are supposed to download and install. I’ll let them explain:
What is iEvony Client and how does it work?
iEvony Client is software that easily, quickly and safely delivers a private game invitation to your friends. With just a simple click, iEvony Client will automatically import your entire buddy list from MSN, Yahoo or Skype IM. iEvony Client allows users to choose their selected friends and send them a short invitation. The software will record all the invitations and translate them to credits for you!
Is iEvony Client Safe to use?
iEvony Client is absolutely secure! iEvony Client WILL NOT collect any private information or addresses from users. iEvony Client WILL NOT install any other programs your computer. iEvony Client is completely safe!
So don’t worry, kids! iEvony just wants all your instant messenger login details so it can send messages to people on your behalf. Because, you know, you couldn’t possibly have sent your friends a message about Evony without installing a mysterious application on your PC.
My pro tip would be, if you must play Evony, do not allow iEvony anywhere near your computer. If you have already used iEvony then you should change your instant messenger passwords right away.
For the past thirteen weeks I’ve been spending my weekdays with an organisation known as A4e (Action for Employment). They’re a for-profit company that has a contract from the UK government to help people who’ve been unemployed for eighteen months or more find work, or work placements with an eye to gaining enough experience to be employable.
I was somewhat unusual amongst the clients there in that I have worked a fair bit in my life thus far (though admittedly not much very recently), and am eager to do so again. As it turns out, they decided to take me on for a work placement actually at A4e, as they had need of someone with my modest word-processing skills, so I have spent the last ten week writing the CVs for all the new intake, and helping them find work, with varying degrees of success. During this time I have also, of course, been expected to constantly look for work myself. While you might expect me to be unhappy by this state of affairs, I’ve actually enjoyed it. It was good to be back in the workplace, proving that I can do whatever tasks are put before me. It also did me the world of good to have to get out of bed at 7:30 am every morning, and my confidence and concentration have been greatly improved by the experience.
Today, my thirteen weeks have come to an end, and as things stand, I am still out of work. While I, and (at least some of) my co-workers at A4e, would have very much liked me to have been able to carry on there, at this time there is not a suitable opening.
What I have discovered, and indeed been told to my face (well, over the phone) by recruitment companies, is that no-one is interested in hiring somebody with my exciting collection of health issues. It’s illegal to discriminate, but everybody does anyway. It is rather depressing, but my cold fury has brought me to the realisation that if I can’t persuade somebody to give me a job to which I am suited, I shall have to create such a job for myself. In any case, if my legs keep getting worse I’m not going to much feel like leaving the house anyway, and most employers don’t appreciate you raising your feet above your head.
For now, my time is my own again, and you can expect to see more regular posting here and elsewhere, while I try to navigate the art of making a living wage from home.
Looks like these Free Realms Summer themed quests are only going to be available for a while, so catch ’em while you can!
Quests, Collections & New Content:
Sizzlebottom has drawn quite a crowd near the inn at Seaside. To celebrate his booming business, this Robgoblin has decided to kick-off a special holiday called Seaside Summer Splash! Join in the fun and find these celebrants and take on their challenges:
* Tarisa Teaspoon is trying to host a cooking competition…
* Heddy Heathcliff needs help making more fireworks…
* Shelly Sandishoes lost her stuff to a bunch of kids playing “Treasure Hunter”…
* Grekel is open to a friendly game of cards…
* …and Sizzlebottom is trading pinwheel fireworks. Check it out!
General
* Several Guild fixes
* A new camera controller has been added. You can turn it on and off from your game options menu.
Marketplace
There are new items added for the Seaside Summer Splash Holiday celebration!
* Uncle Sam Outfit
* Sand Castle
* Hula Outfit
* Ducky Floaty
* Palm Tree Island Shirt
Visit Seaside for the Summer Splash Events!
Seaside is the place for Free Realms summer fun! Complete quests and earn Seaside Stickers that you can redeem for special fireworks, fun wearables and other cool items!
Card Duelists have a chance to challenge Grekel to a special scenario. Winners receive the exclusive Star Shot Candle firework!
These activities are only available for a limited time, so log in and visit Seaside today.
Special Bonus for Members Only
Members receive the exclusive Summer Sparkler Bundle!* Light up the night with a special blur and green sparkler set.
*Members must log in and claim this bundle by 11:59 PM PDT on 7/12/2009
