Day: August 17, 2005

Fraps — Screenshots on Steroids

I’ve mentioned Fraps before, but until recently I never really used it that much even after paying to register it.

Originally I purchased Fraps to record in-game video for Unreal Tournament 2004. The problem is that even very fast machines have a lot of difficulty both running a game full screen and recording it at an acceptable frame rate and resolution. I just broke down and bought a Tivo with a DVD burner for video.

But that introduces another problem — any time you scan convert video, you lose a lot of detail. I’m very happy with the game video my Tivo records, except that it loses a lot of detail in the in-game chat (i.e., its unreadable on the video version). That, and there are times when I just want a screenshot rather than digging out the video.

Which is why I as impressed when I went back and looked at Fraps. It has a wonderful option that lets me hit a key and automatically take a screen shot every second. There is definitely a performance hit for doing so, but its more than acceptable. Typically, my machine will run a game like World of Warcraft at 45-50 frames per second, and taking a screen shot every second tends to knock that down by 3-5 fps. I can live with that.

Of course that does result in about 8 gigabytes/hour worth of screen shots, so those 5 hour marathons can really start to eat up hard drive space. I then use Zip Backup to CD to automatically Zip up the screenshots and burn them to DVDs.

Just in case there were some of you who didn’t realize the depths of my obssession for recording and archiving everything.

World of Warcraft

Several months ago, some students who worked for me started raving about the MMORPG World of Warcraft, which they’d been playing apparently since right after it came out. Now it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard of the game, but mostly what I knew was how Blizzard had horrible problems with server stability at launch because it vastly underestimated how popular the game was going to be.

So after a couple months of badgering I bought the game, figuring I’d play out the free month that came with the box and be done with it. Riiight.

Instead I not only became hooked but got my wife hooked, so a typical evening is “lets get the kids to bed so we can go finish that Murloc quest or get the enchanting skill up to 175.” My wife took this to its dorkish obsessiveness by starting a Live Journal (ugh) for other Stormscale players.

And to be honest, I can’t tell you what’s so compelling about the game. It is really more of the same sort of paced reward system that has you staying up to get one more level or increased skill or better equipment. But there’s just something about the whole rat race that makes it impossible to resist.

I know, I’ve tried.

Judge Tosses Cockfighting Charges; Says Kentucky Law Is Too Ambiguous

Montgomery District Judge William Lane recently threw out charges against more than 500 people who were issued citations after a raid of a cockfighting operation in April. Lane said that the state statute cited by prosecutors which bans attendance at cockfights was ambiguous and could not sustain the charges against those cited.

The problem appears to be with a practice that is quite common and usually drives animal rights activists through the roof. The statute cited as banning cockfighting is quite clear that it is illegal for spectators and vendors to appear,

. . . at an event where a four (4) legged animal is caused to fight for pleasure or profit.

As the judge noted in throwing out the charges, chickens have only two legs. Typically, though, state and federal agencies have a habit of classifying animals for the purposes of law enforcement in ways that defy common sense, such as the USDA’s habit of defining non-bird species as poultry and thereby exempt from certain parts of the Animal Welfare Act. It usually has very good reasons for doing so — namely that Congress hasn’t appropriated it enough funds to actually oversee the care of the redefined animals — but it also goes against common sense. In Kentucky, prosecutors and police seem to be treating chickens as four-legged animals for the purpose of this statute.

The law also contains a highly ambiguous section that exempts “sporting activities,” but does not define that term. Lane noted that common definitions of “sporting activities” could easily encompass cockfighting, and that it is unclear what the legislature meant in that instance.

Michael Endicott, a lawyer representing some of those charged with attending the cockfight, told the Lexington Herald-Leader,

It’s not a very well-written statute. The judge is right. If the legislature wants to make cockfighting illegal, they should spit it out.

Police and prosecutors disagree. A police spokeswoman told the Lexington Herald-Leader,

We respectfully disagree that cockfighting is exempt as a sporting activity according to the statute.

The newspaper reported that prosecutors and police were still deciding whether or not to appeal the decision.

John Goodwin of the Human Society of the United States wants prosecutors to appeal. He told the Lexington Herald-Leader,

This ruling could have huge repercussions across the state. We believe it must be reviewed by a higher court.

Of course the risk there is that a higher court could agree with Lane and instead of having one district judge throwing out charges, the entire statute could be invalidated as far as cockfighting is concerned.

Source:

Judge tosses out cruelty charges from cockfight. Peter Mathews, Lexington Herald-Leader, August 16, 2005.

Yet Another Wife Beater for Animal Rights

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seems to have a soft spot for men who beat their wives, as it is featuring yet another wife beater as a spokesman for the group.

Earlier this year, of course, Dennis Rodman appeared in an anti-fur ad. Rodman apparently does not want furry animals hurt, but he had no problem assaulting his then-wife, Carmen Electra, during a 1999 incident.

Now, PETA has announced that Tommy Lee is appearing in one of its anti-fur ads.

According to a press release,

Tommy Lee first learned about PETA through longtime animal advocate Pamela Anderson. Says Lee in an interview with PETA, “I have actually been looking forward to getting involved. I get the PETA magazine, and what the fur trade does to animals is absolutely terrifying. A lot of hip-hop artists wear fur, and they think it’s a status symbol. That doesn’t register; I just see dead animals.

Now when it comes to human beings, all Tommy Lee sees is punching bags.

In 1998, Lee plead no contest to spousal abuse in Malibu Municipal Court and was sentenced to six months in jail. On February 24, 1998, his then-wife Pamela Anderson Lee called 911 saying that Lee assaulted her while she was holding the couple’s seven-week old infant.

Wearing fur or eating meat is apparently just like the Holocaust or slavery, but beating your wife apparently just elicits yawns from PETA.

On its web site, PETA warns that kids who are violent to animals might grow up to be violent to people. It forgets to add that adult who are violent to people are then eligible to become PETA spokesmen.

Source:

Naked Tommy Lee Declares, ‘Ink, Not Mink,’ In New Ad for PETA. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Undated.