1 in 5 Divorces blamed on Facebook!

Interesting article I caught regarding how facebook is affecting our current, modern social-networking:

From Tom's Hardware site-->
"Attention married people: watch what you do on social networks.

Divorce-Online recently conducted a study and discovered that Facebook was named in one out of five American divorce petitions this year alone. The most common reason is that spouses are conducting inappropriate sexual chats with Facebook friends. The study, consisting of 5,000 divorce papers, also revealed that MySpace, Twitter, and Bebo also contributed to marital deterioration.

"I had heard from my staff that there were a lot of people saying they had found out things about their partners on Facebook so I decided to see how prevalent it was," Mark Kennan told The Sun. "I was really surprised to see 20-percent of all the petitions containing references to Facebook."

Kennan, who headed the study, said that the inappropriate sexual chats were the most common reason for divorce. He also added that, after scanning the Divorce-Online database for the word "Facebook," he discovered 989 instances of the word in 5,000 petitions.

The Sun also reports that divorce lawyers openly admit to searching through Facebook and other social networking sites in order to dig up dirt on the "errant" spouse."

Obviously it is not Facebooks fault, strickly speaking, but just a sign of the times for how we interact and communicate with each other that is the notable story here.  I guess we have made the switch from cheating via phone calls or late night barroom triste's, to cheating via our personal internet portfolios.
 
But then again, being that Facebook originally began with the intention of student/teacher/student connections within america's colleges, it should'nt really be a surprise that the other national passtime of college students bleeds over to the rest of the user database that has signed on. Right?

NORAD Santa Tracker 2009 here-->

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
It's that time of year again, to track Santa using our friendly neighborhood NORAD unit!

---> http://www.noradsanta.org./

This is a fun site that I first discovered last year, there are many options to play with, including viewing santa's journey using google earth.. so, without further ado... -enjoy!

Loteria Navidad 2009 !

It's that time of year again, where those crazy spanish are rubbing there mittens together in hopes of becoming the next yearly millionaire! I believe it was yesterday that the final numbers went down?

Here is the link to the Spanish site: http://www.loterianavidad2009.org/

The Spanish Christmas lottery, El Gordo or 'The Fat One', is the biggest lottery in the world and also one of the oldest, having started in 1812. While the first prize in 2005 was 'only' 3€ million, El Gordo has the biggest prize pool of any lottery in the world, last year totaling over two billion euros!

How the El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery Works

The Spanish Christmas Lottery works differently to most lotteries in the world. Tickets are very expensive, but you don't have to buy the entire ticket. However, if you don't buy the whole thing, you can't get the whole winnings! Read more about how this works:

El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery - How the Winnings Are Divided.

The Draw

El Gordo is drawn every December 22. The process is long (taking in excess of three hours) so you will likely see people sat by their radios for much of the day, waiting for the results.

For details of how the draw takes place, see this page:

How El Gordo is Drawn

Loteria del Niño

A second draw takes place on January 5. You will need to buy new tickets for this draw.

How Can I Play El Gordo?

Unlike with most lotteries, there are a number of ways of playing El Gordo, and some are very sociable. You don't need to be in Spain at Christmas time - tickets go on sale in the summer. Read more about How to Play El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery.

Brittany Murphy - R.I.P.

Yet another young talent cut off before fully realized. My wife and I both, are saddened by this news, as many are. It is a testament to ones character, and memory, that so many people are affected, literally, the entire globe is searching for news as to what was the cause.

There will be countless celeb-tabloid posturing, leaked autopsy reports and supposed 'experts' hypothesizing on there personal opinions of the results of her death. But, no doubt it will be related to her pre-existing heart condition, mixed with prescription drugs. It is sad. This seems to be the state of things in modern life.

I noted last night the ironic humor of one commercial touting one herbal remedy for curing X,Y,Z and making you feel GREAT! -with a small caption 'This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA.'

Then,

The very next commercial was a lawyer speaking in a aggressive purposeful voice, "Have you been diagnosed with Tardive dyskinesia? Call us NOW so we can profit from your ill fate!"
Kind of makes you scratch your head doesn't it...

R.I. P. Brittany

America’s Army 3 -A 10 second review -->

There has been some discussion on the merits of the Army’s free-to-play advertisement/game, America's Army 3. The recent report shows the cost to the Army’s budget was approximately 32.8 million over 8 years. MW2 cost 50 Million to make, Spore (I read) was probably over 80 million(?), Most AAA games have this high of budget it seems, these days.

Though I would rather they spend that money on a better military project, the Army isn't known for 'thriftiness' or 'well thought-out' projects as it is. So you get what your congress approves them to get. Don't like it, don't vote republican! Just sayin'!

The quick and dirty: The game AA3 is the sequel/update of sorts, to the project that began 8 years ago by the U.S. Army's recruitment think-tank. All versions I've played, have been buggy, but playable for the most part after they get ironed out. The first version was notorious for laggy server issues, making other players suddenly skid 10 feet over while trying to line up a bead on them, not to mention, your shots seemed to lag behind a half second from where they are lined up in your sight. AA3, same thing. They haven't changed it.

Most of the gameplay is essentially identical to previous versions, though they've altered the menu and planning screens a bit. Now you can ‘secure’ a downed enemy, so they can’t be revived by teammates [and vice-versa]. The engine seems to have the exact same models and animation but with better textures. Maybe a better sun flare etc...everything else is almost identical. For that, millions of dollars seems a dreadful flush down the toilet!

BUT-for some reason, i've spent an insane amount of time in the first version, and getting back into the 3rd, hoping for another update to fix things. My chief complaint is the same as what PC gamer said-it takes TOO long to switch weapons, bring up your 'nade launcher, toss a grenade or smoke, lay prone/stand up etc etc...by the time the animation gets done, your enemy has already jumped the wall, or shot you silly as you sloooowlly pullll yoouurrr pisstoll out.. It takes a lot of the adrenaline rush of real combat out of those interactions.

I would best describe AA3 series as a sortof capture the flag chess game, with brief and tense firefights.. It's slower pace and tension attract those of us that want a little more planning/strategy than just bunny-hopping aim-bot decimator's.

Check it out and see if you like it...after all, it IS free! The game has obvious marks of workmanship, detail, and has some fun maps to play in, and I thought the training missions were always fun and fairly realistic [I went to Air Force Basic, but the weapons training was spot on from what I experienced]. I just wish they were a little more diligent in getting out the bugs faster, perhaps even responding to player feedback? In this respect, it seems painfully just like every other gov’t project. Take a number…wait in line. You get what we give you.

My Score- 6.5/10 For bugginess/annoyance factors and unpolished state. Good graphics and environments, easy-to-understand and addictive gameplay.

Macho Skeet Video -It's Funny! -->

BWAA HA HA HA....... Something to lighten the holiday blues!

**For trivia's sake, the tank is an Austrian-built SK-105 Kürassier, a 1971-vintage light tank made by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, equipped with the French AMX-13's oscillating turret.

As it's been used (or still is used) by Austria, Argentina, Bolivia, Botwsana, Brazil, Macedonia, Morocco, Paraguay and Tunisia, I wonder where the ad was shot. Maybe Argentina, as many publicity agencies like to work there because of the low costs. **

Climate-Gate Controversy- Biggest Conspiracy of our Time!?

I have to write about this subject, one of a few I am actually very passionate about. I couldn't help but notice FOX 'news' site stirring more left-wing pot by calling out the 'other' networks' [ABC, NBC, CNN etc] lack of coverage of a controversy regarding manipulated data in official Global Warming reports by British Climate Researchers. The controversy has been referred to as Climate-Gate. Here is an excerpt from the article, found HERE

Their statements point out the alarming absence of any televised news coverage of perhaps one of the biggest, and most important controversies of our time- the internet leak of emails in which scientists dismissed climate change skeptics, expressed concern about the lack of evidence to prove the threat of global warming and even made one reference to a plan to "hide the decline" in temperatures. Their only news reference is to, believe it or not, Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Yeah.. no kidding that article is HERE.

I love the Daily Show, and really respect Jon for telling it like it is, seemingly when every other 'real' news network has an angle, an agenda in their pocket. Even above his own politics, he puts his country first! For that I commend him.

My problem (among many) is this: FOX news, where is YOUR Television coverage on this major event!? Siting remarks from Lieberman of conservative ‘Heritage Foundation’ [think-tank is funny] fame is as telling of your revenue as it has always been. Hilariously enough, as noted in past episodes by Jon Stewart!

Random comment I agree with: "If any charges are brought up, it should be the scientists who deliberately lied so giant companies could make millions on a newly invented commodity; Carbon Credits. Its all free for the companies but they get to charge the public for the use. What a scam..."

My other problem: Why ARE all the consultants on FOX from conservative organizations with funded anti-global warming agendas from big business??? Anyone???

For a good realistic article about the issue --->Deadline LIVE

I will leave you with this, Jon said it best:
“Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented. Oh, oh, the irony!”

Kylie Bisutti is your new Victoria Secret model!

On television tonight, Tuesday, December 1, at 10pm on CBS, you can watch the Biggest Loser; you might be able to find an episode of Law & Order playing somewhere; you can tune in the news to see a replay of the President's speech, or you can watch the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and just tell everyone you watched the President's speech. Heh Heh

For research purposes, I had to inquire on whom ultimately became the newest member of the Victoria Secret models team. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, but for those so inclined, i'll still include a few. :)

Age: 19   Hometown:Simi Valley, CA

Kylie is an adventure-seeking 19-year-old who likes to dive right in, whether she’s playing sports—or actually scuba diving. She took a big chance at age 16 when she traveled to Japan to try modeling. Now, the 5’10” beauty says her goal is to show young women how to be comfortable in their own skin. Her biggest secret? She likes to dance like a crazy person when she’s alone. Will those dance moves help her on the runway?
















































And, ahem, yeah....those other girls as well:

• Candice Swanepoel (South African, plush-lipped)
• Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (British, double-barreled)
• Lily Aldridge (British, sweetly gap-toothed)
• Brooklyn Decker (American blonde)
• Erin Heatherton (another American blonde)

Black Friday Mayhem! Thanksgiving Shopping Havoc!

Well happy turkey week everyone!

It will be a little different this year, as I work both Thanksgiving, and the day after. My deals will have to come on saturday it seems, unless my wife is willing to brave that road herself. My guess is not. Saturday though, we may brave the shopping madness and hopefully score some sweet deals.

I am looking forward to relaxing a bit, drinking some nice wine, having some ham and turkey, and sweet 'tater pie! ....mmmmmmm....pie....

This will be the second year shopping on black Friday/Saturday, so we are going to arm ourselves accordingly. We have a double stroller for baby and toddler, equiped with an ample supply of snacks, diapers, toys, to (hopefully) curtail the inevitable tantrum throughout the business. We have a list of the family members and a rough idea of a budget to work with. I have my best gel-inlaid sneakers and probably will strap on a powerful set of elbow and knee pads. Hey! It's a JUNGLE out there!

I will take no prisoners.

I fear for the worst, and expect that it will be bumper to bumper roads, and near-misses in the parking lots that day. Good thing we have decent insurance!

"i said that was MY spot!"

A funny thing came up when I was thinking of what I wanted to get for my wife for x-mas. Exactly how would I spy something, get it in our cart, pay for it, and get it into our car without her noticing? I can't. So I think we will have to have two separate carts, I may have to force her to run away until I get something hidden amongst all the kiddy toys etc. or maybe I just jot the items down in a little notepad and when WE have gotten everything for everyone else, I have her check out and go through the cashier and to the car, then I run around like a mad chicken and speed shop my wifes gifts??

Will that work do you think?? Does anyone have a better idea?

I will leave it at that for now, did I mention yet that I luv the holidays?

-And just so I didn't completely waste your time reading excerpts from my personal life, here's a few links to get you on your way. I'm sure they will be happy I led you there.

http://www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/ (my personal fav)

http://www.target.com/ (my fav local store)

http://www.frys.com/

http://www.fredmeyer.com/ (for you Oregonian/Washingtonians)

http://www.walmart.com/ (if u really have to..ugh)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.blackfriday.info/

http://www.toysrus.com/

http://www.babiesrus.com/

http://www.sears.com/ (for that angle-grinding,circular sawing,super-sanding, Makita-drilling, Tim Allen-worshiping dude on your list)
http://www.oldnavy.com/

-and last but not least!

http://www.tylenol.com/ (the most important one for this holiday season methinks)

HAVE FUN!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -more controversy

-or "PC Gamer Vs. Console Gamer"

I can't help to comment on the endless flamming battles [heated disccusions] between console gamers and PC gamers. And congrats Activision/InfinityWard, you've ignited yet another one with your latest big money release!

Issue: PC gamers are upset that another AAA title has been ported to the PC with the same pricetag as the usually 10 dollars-more-expensive console version, but with functions that we have come to feel the norm strikingly ommited. Notably a buggy, un-efficient peer-to-peer style server match-making system instead of the PC proven and flexible dedicated server option. Another complaint is the locking of the game down from modding or customizing in any way-effectively cutting the shelf life of this game by years!

Here is my point-of-view:

To all those that complain that all of us PC gamer 'whiners' have a sense of  "Entitlement" to expecting all of the stripped out/PC friendly features in AAA FPS (First Person Shooters for you noobs) titles, and that the price for these dumbed down quick-and-dirty console-ports shouldn't be even MORE expensive than a typical 'made-for-PC first' game is.

They are missing the point. It's not entitlement, that we pc gamers feel like this. It’s a sense of what is possible/capable, what we’re USED to and what has been for many many years now in most AAA titles. Is it entitlement for you to feel you want your left arm back, after it was taken from you??

The ability to mod, as well as run player-owned servers etc, choose the type of game, the map, the amount of players, and the lowest ping by OUR choice is as necessary to playing online shooters as a bag of Doritos is to a console gamer.

To use the analogy from a similar discussion at WIRED here, It's not entitlement, when historically certain Mercedes models HAVE come with these features, at Corrola prices, but now to be sold a Corrola, at a Mercede’s Price. I’m sorry, but no matter how pretty and engaging, I’m not spending 59.99 on this game, when I can play Battlefield 2142 or 2/Left4Dead/Counter-Strike/ArmaII/TeamFortress2 etc. for a THIRD of the cost -by highly RESPECTED developers.

It's not that Infinity Ward itself is necessarily the ones to blame, as i've said before, it's often the bean-counting publishers that force a product out the door unfinished, or in a handicapped and buggy state. Its just that developers that survey, read feedback [and sometimes, <gasp> solicit feedback] like Valve or Creative Assembly have a fiecely strong, loyal, as well as vocal fanbase. There are always exceptions...(Ahem...Left4dead 2).

It boils down to catering to the fans, the gamers. This is a clear case of an unfortunately growing trend of publishers/developers mixing and matching their products intended platforms, not deciding for which they are programming for, or worse, making a one-size pisses-off-all product. As far as I’ve seen, it’s because of the inane console gamers’ acceptance of spending 60 dollars on a dumbed down game, that us PC gamers get the shoveled over P.O.S. that’s left over...sometimes months later! They (PS3/XBOX owners) are so much more PROFITABLE to them!!

...Just sayin'

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 released <-a 10 second review->

So it seems, according to an internal Activision estimate, Modern Warfare 2 raked in an astonishing $310 million within the first 24 hours in North America and the UK alone, effectively making it the most successful launch in history! Wow.

Pros: -Graphics are awesome

-New perks/rewards

-New weapons

-Single Player seems really good

-Special Ops missions

Cons: NO LEANING?!?!?! Man I really miss leaning....what a disappointment.
Also, the matchmaking is Xcrap-tastic. I prefer to pick a server I get a good ping on myself. Most games I have been placed into so far by IWNET I've had to leave cuz of ping problems. Being at the mercy of the Peer-to-Peer server programming takes away a lot of the control over low ping games. If they stick with IWNET matchmaking, they need to make sure you don't get put in a server you lag out on.
Other Thoughts: I really hope they can add lean back in a patch. If I could just lean it would make multiplayer more tolerable. I dont know how many times getting a shot off boils down to an extra few inches to the left or right for LoS on the enemy. Who moves their body in a perfectly vertical position at all times anyway? Who does this in combat? 

Playing the heck out of the previous Modern Warfare, I can tell you that the combat and visual intensity will leave you breathless. The only game i've ever played where a mission closes, and I literally have to push my keyboard away, heave a sigh of relief, take a swig of replenishing Ale, and do a Hail Mary before clicking the dreaded "Continue".   Enjoy.

Avatar HD Trailer -one word: Awesome

This movie is going to be unbelievable.



Trailer here for different sizes.

Eve Online: The Butterfly Effect

If this video doesn't get you to sign up, I don't know what will!

Silent Hunter III Supermod - GWX 3.0 Gets a Final Update

I've posted before about my love of Silent Hunter III , but I probably wouldn't be endlessly working on my campaign in Europe if it weren't for the epic, and infinitely detailed/realistic super Mod created by an incredible amount of dedicated modders collectively known as the 'Grey Wolves'.

A few weeks ago, I discovered that they had released yet another major update to this mod, known as "The Grey Wolves Supermod, or GWX 3.0 -moving from v2.1 to 3.0. Well, I went back to the old subsim forums, looking to see what all the hubbub was about, and got sucked right back in.

The big thing that sold me right off the bat, was the including of a newer mod making the water look prettier, more realistic, and smoother, a little closer to the sequel SH4. But the updates are comprehensive, so I suggest if you have ANY interest in submarines, WWII, and simulators...check it out. This is THE game for you. Reading through the downloadable manual, prepare to be awed by the level of work and inclusiveness this mod brings to the game. By most accounts, it is the definitive choice even over its own sequel, for sub sims...

The mod has changed a once pretty 'basic' exercise in pc simulators, into a colossal educational and entertaining historical tool, an immersive account of submarine warfare, as seen through the German perspective. And if that somehow bothers you, I highly suggest parting with any emotional baggage regarding that, as you will find that this game transcends such trivialities. In fact, it is a homage to all whom served in those gritty, dark nights under the Atlantic seas...

I highly suggest you check it out Here at the forums, for some background.

And you can find their website here: http://www.thegreywolves.com/


Good luck!

DCS: Black Shark OWNS me! My Preview-->

Are you good/patient enough?

So it is obvious that I am a pc gamer nerd. I have more games than I can literally, physically play at the moment. I have the best of almost all genre's, and pride my taste in only the best rated of games to fill my time...there is just too much! With finally starting the campaign in the awesome 'Empire: Total War' and late night Left4dead sessions eating away my sleep-time, it is a miracle my wife still remembers that she married some guy..a few years ago...

Add number 146 to the list...DCS: Black shark. An apologetically as-close-to-the-real-thing-as-it-gets actual simulator of the KA-50 Russian attack helicopter that us mere mortals well ever get our hands on.

To tackle such a 'game', is to have a plan of attack, else it will infuriate and scare away those with little patience. You have to do the training missions, you need to either hunt down the manual online, or print it out in it's entirety (as I did, from the disk); you HAVE to have some better than cheap flight control hardware, and now what I am learning, you HAVE to check out the incredible TrackIR 5 device. There is just no going back to normal after you spring for this 150 dollar simulator aid. It sits on your monitor, and moves the in-game POV by your every little head movement and gesture. Completely and naturally, as if sitting in the real thing. Check it out here to see some product videos.
naturalpoint.com

And that manual, what a piece of work that is! All 534 pages of glory. History, operational instructions..color pictures and diagrams of instruments, its is a virtual bible to behold. I printed the thing out [It's B&W Hardcover equivalent expensive and hard to find online] and it is about 2 inches tall of 8x11 paper! And that was double sided!! yeah...
So as I begin my epic quest to master this beast, I'll let you know how it goes. For you sim guys and gals out there, this is truly study-sim nirvana.
wish me luck!

Check the game out here: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/

From the sites description:
"DCS: Black Shark" is a PC game of the Russian Ka-50 attack helicopter and is the first title in a new Eagle Dynamics and The Fighter Collection simulation series: "Digital Combat Simulator" (DCS). Following Eagle Dynamics' tradition of excellence, "DCS: Black Shark" will bring an even more realistic simulation experience than its predecessor "Flaming Cliffs". "DCS: Black Shark" will offer an unprecedented level of realism in regards to flight dynamics, instruments modeling, avionics systems, and weapon systems. The artificial Intelligence of ground vehicles and helicopters has been improved dramatically as well as weapon modeling. A new Mission Editor includes a powerful electronic mapping system that allows user to easily create missions and campaigns. A new campaign system allows the front line of the battlefield to move back and fourth according to your mission success or failure. Due to the increased flexibility of the DCS system, additional fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter add-ons will follow shortly."

EMPIRE: Total War Patch 1.4 Released -New Missions!

All I can say is FINALLY, i've been checking the status of this games update literally every single time my steam games list pops up...for what seems like months now.. Finally, patch 1.4 has been released which claims that it has finally resolved some of the biggest issues, namely, the disembarking of ships troops onto shore at any location, and vice-versa, among many other fixes..

Also worth noting-the patch added two new historical missions, which are always a plus.

I've held off continuing the intro campaign, until this patch. I will now resume argueably the prettiest and most ambitious PC game i've seen of recent years. Naval battles here we come!


List of fixes--->>
[-]September 22, 2009 - Empire: Total War Update Released

Updates to Empire: Total War have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

New Content

Two (2) new historical battles: Battle of Rossbach and Battle of Fontenoy. Both available in single player and multi player

Missile cavalry can now fire and reload whilst on the move

Balance Changes

Overhaul of naval balancing

Dragoons are available from higher building levels and now have fire by rank

Light Dragoons have gained longer range guns to allow them to skirmish better

Reworked cavalry costs to better reflect their value on the battlefield

Increase in cost to Windbusche Jaegers and Ferguson Rifles

Some improvements to projectile balancing

Balance improvements made to Road to Independence Episode 3

Fixes

Fix for auto unlimbering causing the attack order to terminate prematurely resulting in an inability to stop the unit from firing

Fix for troops on fort walls not using fort gun range when judging when to fire on enemy troops

Fix for fort guns using wrong targeting formula

Fixes to fort pathfinding and use of ropes

Multiplayer soft lock fixes

Fix crash in quotes table

Improved AI diplomacy

Cumulative updates to improve AI invasion behaviour

Added tooltips for alliance button in diplomacy

Bug fixes and improvements to AI counter offers

Improvements to AI diplomatic valuation of military access and alliances

Fix for wind sounds not working in naval battles

Fixed ship wakes not always working

Fixed disembarking subsets of armies and agents from navies

Fixed potential crash disembarking agents from navies

Fixed armies not being booted out of regions when losing military access gained by joining an ally in war

Improved AI diplomacy valuation of technologies

Fix for bug where general's unit for an upper class rebellion was coming from the region owning faction rather than the faction rebelling

Fixed reinforcements from unreachable positions

Fixed bug preventing disembarking

Balance of power fix for attack of opportunity

Fixed bug that was causing issues with embarking an army containing multiple characters

Minor tweak to stop some ship sails endlessly play furling sound

Fixed path blocked bug

Diplomacy counter-offer improvements

Fix for fast forward not working as intended on some PCs. Will always speed up if camera is still, if camera moves fast forward will be as fast as possible on each PC.

Final Fantasy XIII - Check out the Trailer !

There are other trailers, but this one shows some of the eagerly anticipated game's in-game visuals. Prepare your drool containers. Looks amazing... We probably will not be seeing this until Q4 2010. So don't hold your breath.

2010 Miltary Pay Chart - for my fellow military peoples!

* For my 2011 pay story- click HERE.

Here it is, fresh off the press...the proposed 3.4% annual raise!..not too shabby, considering we're broke! See the charts and info in the below links:

Military.com

About.com

Now you all can afford to buy me a pint!

Pearl Jam - Backspacer Short Video by Pearl Jam -

I love Pearl Jam. check out this short video of a bit of the magic behind the new album.

Pearl Jam - Backspacer Short

Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack!

If there is anyone that reads my blog, [Paraguay?? anyone....?] they would certainly know my recent love affair with all things ZOMBIE, from hi-jacked construction worker signs, to upcoming films, to Left4Dead pc game.

So when I caught this article at my favorite online WIRED [i swear they should pay me advertising royalties], of course I had to sit back and smile, at the sheer awesomeness. -Mathematicians writing a portion of their thesis, on the dangerous statistics of a theoretical Zombie outbreak. HA!It's an interesting, if incomplete, attempt at a formula for how fast a outbreak of zombies could begin out-numbering the human population in a town of 500,000 people. The results may scare you. (Because you know, Zombies could happen someday...you just wait and see!)

Anti-"'Insensitive' Gamer" Ad Poster: Too Far-Too Sensitive-Anti-Constitutional!

I'm just adding my two-sense on this little sensitive subject of late. It combines an interesting mash of multiple hot-points: The PC Gamer Vs. Homosexual Gamer Vs. Free Speech.

There is a poster by the Ad Council targeting what they apparently assume all gamers to be- 'Closet, Anti-social, insensitive, homophobic nerds", attempting to dissuade online chatter from using the phrase "That's so Gay!" and other related so-called 'slurs'...The Ad is entitled “Think B4 You Speak”. [how ironic]

The poster is linked here on WIRED onlines site, where other much commenting is going on. Some interesting points of view there, to be sure.

The following is my response to that article, as well as some of the more narrow-minded of comments left on that page.

Caution- the following may contain free speech! Read at your own RISK! ;)
______________________________________________________
Arguing about personal opinions is like..well, asking a gay person to stop being 'gay'!
I've noticed the language trends while playing Left4Dead, as it is a necessarily mic heavy game. I've been in matches where 1 of your 4 buddies are running around like they are on speed/crack/whatever, spouting non-stop obscenity's at me and everyone else, then before we KICK them, they usually attempt a nice TK before they go. Point is, it is going to be everywhere, there is no ad-campaign that is going to fix that dude... If it pisses you off, like mentioned here, KICK them, MUTE them, or ..gasp, don't play in that MATCH/GAME/WHATEVER. There are thousands of other matches to reload; the "I can't enjoy my game experience" whine is ridiculous. That is literally the warning on a multi-player game, if you overly-sensitive ppl read, "Game Experience May Change During Online Play!" I’ve been offended before, I give it back to them, call them on it, if they get worse, I ask the admin to kick them, if it ruins my game, I leave! Vice-versa:I got kicked for saying ‘Bullshit’ in Battlefield 2142 while on a ‘pseudo-Christian server’ HAHA, before they kicked me, I questioned their values and merit in not allowing swear words in a game where people are sniping other guys heads, blowing each other up with grenades, and knifing each other in the back?? I was LoL’ing as they kicked me. That was pretty gay.

You will never please everyone. Just try to make your teammates/co-workers happy is my motto! If you can’t, at least you have tried!

As far as I’m concerned, that poster threatens my right to free speech! It may not be ‘nice’ for everyone, but it is still my right.
________________________________________________
I have a feeling that I am not alone in my point of view on this subject. For the record, I have NUMEROUS gay/lesbian friends, more than just a passing acquaintance, mind you, and I know for a fact that they wouldn't agree with Ad Campaigns such as that...
-word

R.I.P. John Hughes- another great film director ...

...gone, but not forgotten.

As it were, I was also born the year John's future film-maker son was born...1976, in the same area that John filmed his best work, the northern suburbs of Chicago. That put me in prime-time viewing of the main cannon of his greatest films. I can't describe how vivid and impactful those movies were...how fond I was of Weird Science, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and later...The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

My brother and I must have watched Weird Science a hundred times on it's run on basic cable, when my mom foolishly left us home alone. To this day, it is hard for me to take Bill Paxton serious in any movie, after his turn at the militant dickhead older bother, standing in his boxers with a shotgun in one hand and a cigar clenched in his idiotic grinning teeth...."Shaddup...buttheads!"

It still brings a smile to my face as I write this.

Hilarious:
-Practically every line in Christmas Vacation... seriously, look it up in IMDB!

The characters were so memorable, the situations, no matter how outlandish and surreal...nevertheless seemed eerily close to home. When Cameron (Alan Ruck) drove his fathers Porsche off the back of the garage...I think we all collectively cringed in horror, and empathy...knowing full well what kind of punishment he would be facing, relating it to our own lives.

There never seemed to be a lack of true emotion that crept into the dialog. Comedy mixed with the uncomfortableness of memories and feelings from our own lives.

Hell, even the movies I didn't know he had a hand in, left the same mark. Admittedly, I had no idea he wrote Career Opportunities [My first young crush at gazing upon a young Jennifer Connelly].

I will spare writing more, as countless newspapers will no doubt do their best. But let us all thank John Hughes, for leaving a creative impact on most of my generations young lives...

R.I.P. John

Tesla Roadster -gaining steadily, finally profits!

The reports are in, the Tesla Motors company has finally turned a profit, the first time since it's creation in 2002.

This is great news for those eager to switch from gas-guzzling vehicles to something cleaner and self-sustaining. I like the Prius, but honestly, that car is not sexy in any way other than it's efficiency. I've always liked big, flat wide cars...and the day they put a hydro-electric powertrain into a BMW M3...well...sign ME up!

With that Obama money helping this fledgling company along, they better have survived; they have a lot riding on their success. Especially if Obama’s 10 year plan to pull out of Middle East Oil is to be realized. Now, if they could bring this tech to the 30-45k vehicle market, I might be able to contribute to this endeavor! Outside of George Clooney, what average Joe can afford these?

Obviously, not everyone is so happy at this company's becoming successful. Those Right-Winging cretins are fighting tooth and nail because their old money was paved with OIL and they are neither smart, young[i.e. willing], or idealist enough to reinvest their coffers into Hydro-electric vehicles!

Violent PC games again attacked by German government

I see a lot of serious video game news while surfing around the net.

The ruling government in Germany is once again, threatening to ban any and all violent video/PC games from being created and sold in their country. This after a new incident of violent youth killings. As long as the suicidal youth leaves a phrase relating to a PC game, or has any affiliation with a video game, types in a gaming websites' forum etc...its all over for the rest of us. The German politicians, very similar to our own, hone in on the correlation like, ahem..Zombies to brains!

Despite all factual evidence, despite numerous professional psychiatrists, doctors, theologists and intellectualist's debunking the common assumption that violent video games are at the foundation of these troubled youth's, money still pours into the coffers of the special interest groups agenda to rid the world of these allegedly dangerous 'Murder Simulators'.

Politicians of the world-violent acts have occurred in all facets of life, in all age groups [some more than others obviously], since the first man had to throw rocks and spears at the neighbors attempting to steal their women and food. A hobby isn't anymore to blame for the turn of a young minds complex behavior and decision making than reading a book is to Hannibal Lecter.

It is just disheartening, how short-sighted and self-serving some people become, taking advantage of a human behavior issue, turning it into a scapegoat to personal fame and fortune.

Now, Germany's own Crytek, master developers of Crysis and Far Cry series, may consider relocating to their Budapest offices, being chased out of their own Country.

Please do your part to oppose any of this nonsense anti-gaming legislation, when it falls on our voting ballets. Even if you don't necessarily like, or agree with violent games, you should take the high road and vote with your conscious. PC games, Video games are no more the problem than the multitude of already available [some for a century now] similar mediums- DVD's, movies, books, magazines and of course...the latest addition on the block: The internetz!

Sarah Palin's Farewell Speech, as read by William Shatner - Video hilarity here:

I don't care who you are, that's funny...

Terminator Salvation ROCKS

I was hesitant at what to expect, after the embarrassing Terminator 3 got knocked off the integrity list of this once-significant Sci-Fi series. I hadn't really heard anyone at work talking about it, no one I knew seemed to care about watching it, but the commercials seemed pretty good for visuals, and I had loved T2, as a teenager, when it stormed it's way through summer blockbusterland almost 18 years ago...[whoa] -and so I got my wife to watch this new one with me.

"Sweeeeettt..." This is the word I kept saying throughout the whole movie. Every scene was so absorbing. I couldn't wait to see how the story was going to progress, how the almost-confusing time travel plot pulled itself together etc. I liked the acting, the two relatively newbies [to me at least] that they chose to fill the female pilot (Moon Bloodgood), in particular, as well as Sam Worthington as Kyle Reese, playing a tad more than two-dimensions in his role opposite of Christian Bale's John Connor. He actually inflected a delicate balance between inner-turmoil, bravado, and the cold, robotic non-feeling appropriate in a half human/half-cyborg. My wife would later tell me, "Yeah, he was hot!" So, there it is. Good Job Sam!...

For my eye-candy, there was of course Moon Bloodgood, somewhat of a newcomer to film. But she did OK. Speaking from working with Air Force pilots on base, I would love to see the flight suit that they chose for her, in-acted into current regulations for female pilots..but then again, most of our female pilots don't look like Moon Bloodgood...and so...yeah, nevermind..

The vehicles were awesome [I still love the 'Hunter Killers'], the cinematography was dark, detailed and full of style and moodiness. There were a few "Aww, that was awesome" parts too, not to mention a nice little crowd-pleasing homage to T1 in the last scenes... all in all a very satisfying edition to the Terminator series. And definitely one that brings back a little of the lost cred to the franchise. Let's hope they let this McG character direct the next one as well!

Go see it!

Montana Trip - The Return - Pictures!

We have been back for a few weeks now, but it's taken this long for me to get back into the swing of things, get used to going to work, driving in traffic etc. It doesn't take long to be away from all that to not miss it, I can tell you!

3 words: Montana is BEAUTIFUL. Pictures really cannot do it justice, you have to go there.

Never have I seen 180 degree's of an entire horizon all at once, and everything just picturesque, like a post card. We took TONS of pictures, just trying to get a few sweet ones. And we did.

So without further adieu, here are just some of the beautiful scenes we observed...

(click on pictures for Larger View!)

See what I mean??!!

A lot of those were from going through Yellowstone, where we saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Old Faithful Geyser and Mammoth Hot Springs and more... The rest were from the area surrounding the cabin near the city of Bozeman.

After seeing the beauty, and the the near-untouched nature that is still hiding out there, It has motivated my wife and I to work our butts off to someday be able to have a summer home of our own in Montana. It seems like one of the last of a dying commodity these days, a rare, untouched jem.

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did taking them!

My Montana Trip - 2 Weeks away!

 Update- to see the pictures from the trip, check out the followup post HERE.
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That is right folks, an honest-to-god vacation is now only 2 weeks away.

- Not just going back home to family in Minnesota, which I ALWAYS do [because I still love back home], but an actual different place, that I've never visited before. And yes, I am meeting some of my family there. My brother and his family, perhaps my sister will also make it, and some friends.

It will be in a town called Bozeman, where my brothers father-in-law has a summer Home/cabin/retreat. I look forward to peaceful, traffic-less silence...and tearing it up on some quads with my brother in the mud!
Lot's of worries come with vacations these days. For instance, (besides the long ride to get there with young kids) we still have not found a suitable vehicle for our growing family. My wife still totes the munchkins around in a ford focus.. yeaah. Not big enough. So we've been keeping our eye out on some decent Honda Odyssey's and Toyota Sienna's etc...but now my wife is having second thoughts about driving such 'unglamourous, frumpy rides' as she calls them. So we have expanded our search to he Pilot and any other decent SUV that has a third rear seat. We have literally a week to decide if we can buy one, or else we will be stuck wasting money on a rental...which could be used toward a down payment on one.
The other worry, is having some help in the baby-sitting department once we get there. My brother re-assured me that his parents-in-law would probably hang back a bit, and be ok with watching the kiddo's here and there....but I personally have a hard time worrying about that. After all, it's their vacation too... and i'm sure baby-sitting wasn't part of what they were looking forward too right? I just don't want to be stuck back at the cabin when everyone else is having fun, because either me or my wife would have to stay back... ugh...
But I am a worry wart sometimes, and i'm sure it will turn out just fine. I am really looking forward to it! How can you top 4th of July weekend in Montana!


Here's to Blue Sky, rugged mountains, clear water, peaceful silence....and COLD BEER.

'Star Trek' Rocks...no kidding!

I have to say that i was looking forward to this flick, as everyone I overheard talking about it was raving about how much they liked it. I finally got a break from mommy and daddy land and took my wife on a much needed date to the local theater. Since she actually wanted to see this as well [instead of T4, dangit].

We both had a great time, as there were many things about this movie to like. Not only were the special effects, space battles and ship consoles as good or better than 'Star Wars' caliber, but the talent that they found to represent the early characters of that infamous crew were very well chosen.

I found very little to nit-pic, and I assure you, that is a rare thing indeed for something I really want to like.

I was astonished at how well the actor that played a young 'Bones' -chief medical officer McCoy, nailed the old actors quirks, sayings and temperament... my wife and I laughed out loud, as we realized that Mr. Shaun of the Dead himself (Simon Peg), had hilariously been introduced to the crew as a young, eccentric 'Scotty'.

-Spock did a great job, Uhura,Chekov, Mr. Sulu all, I am pleased to say, were competent actors and really did a great job at their characterizations of the older cast.

The story was great, the pace was fast and action packed..and there were even some nice twists and 'gee, that was interesting' parts to keep any die-hard, and newcomer fans alike, pleased.

I won't give anything else away, go and see it asap!

High Quality Vista Desktop Wallpapers -wow!

I have to put a link to this site because I can't believe some of these photo's. Which, of course, are set to be used for your desktop backgrounds.

Just keep going down the list of pages by link, to see them all. Tedious, but worth it to see them all!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-High-Quality-XP-Vista-Desktop-Wallpaper-Collections

Example A...

-see what i mean?

The Sims 3 - next PC blockbuster of 2009 is almost here!

The following is from the Sims site, and not my writing:
Sims3 Home page
That's right, see my counter at the bottom Rt of the page....June 2.....sooooo close!!
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The freedom of The Sims™ 3 will inspire you with endless creative possibilities and amuse you with unexpected moments of surprise and mischief!

Create over a million unique Sims and control their lives. Customize everything from their appearances, to their personalities and even the home of their dreams. Then, send your Sims out to explore new locations around town and to meet other Sims in the neighborhood. The Sims 3 includes exclusive extra game content and robust online features, available only after you register online with an authentic copy of the game. Download a complete second town filled with intriguing Sims and secrets to discover. Get $10 Worth of SimPoints to customize your game with additional in-game items from The Sims 3 Store. Choose from hundreds of game items to enrich your Sims lives.
Pre-Order Now!
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 Collector's Edition
Pre-Order

Expand your game with exclusive content & share creations with other players at TheSims3.com!
• At launch on June 2, register your official The Sims 3 game to get an exclusive second town. • Receive $10 in FREE SimPoints to shop for exclusive in-game items from The Sims 3 Store. • Create and Share Sims, houses, movies and more on The Sims 3 player exchange. Learn more...

Control your Sims’ Destinies!
• Face short- and long-term challenges and reap the rewards. • Your Sims can pursue random opportunities to get fast cash, get ahead, get even, and more. • Choose whether or not to fulfill your Sims’ destinies by making their wishes come true. Will your Sims be thieves, rock stars, world leaders? You decide! Learn more...


Customize Everything!
• Design and build your dream house and decorate it to fit your Sims’ personalities. • Customize all your Sims’ possessions from clothing to furnishings or even their car. Learn more...

Explore New Locations!
• Explore the ever-changing neighborhood—and take your Sims to meet friends in the park, go on a date at the bistro, visit neighbors’ homes, converse with less-than-savory characters in the graveyard, and more! Who knows what might happen? • Admire the natural beauty of the beach, the mountains, and more. Learn more...

Create any Sim you can imagine and give them unique personalities!
Create millions of different personalities with traits such as evil, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, insane, romantic, and more. • Influence the behaviors of your Sims with the traits you’ve chosen. Will you create a neurotic romantic with a heart of gold, or a geeky super-genius with an evil streak? • Create any Sim with easy-to-use design tools that allow for unlimited customization of facial features, hair color, eye color, and more. • Fine-tune your Sims’ body shape from thin to curvy to muscular.
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I know my wife can't wait, but it looks pretty neat I have to admit!

Military Training for Crash Recovery - Arizona Style

Davis-Monthan AFB, just outside of Tucson, AZ:
[Location: Lovingly known as the 'Bone-Yard' by the old-timers]

So I haven't written in a while, been silly with busyness. I am on a short little military TDY to the Arizona desert to practice what we call Crash Recovery, learning the various methods and exercises to be able to lift anything from a small fighter, to a Boeing 707. And we did by-god, with 100 degrees and coolers of ice water. Being stationed in Portland Oregon, which is currently in torrential downpour mode, I may as well have landed on planet Mars. It is hot, and yes, it is a dry hot. But the sun is like a heat lamp that is pointing at your head three feet away.

There are plenty of little varmints out here to be aware of as well, we were briefed. From Tarantulas that can [supposedly] jump up to 5 feet, but are relatively harmless (suuurrree), to black widow spiders and killer bee's. The worst, and probably most lethal, are the Diamondback Rattlesnakes that cruise about, depending on the time of day. Mostly they stay away, but are known to hide in the shady areas in the morning, therefore, we are highly advised to kick, rattle, and make as much as a ruckus as possible with anything lying on the ground, in the dead airplanes etc.

An instructor told us once he peaked inside the main landing gear, under the forward doors, and was met face to face...6 inches..with a Bull Snake, hanging down from above in the shade. Luckily, this type of snake is calmer and didn't strike him in the face, he slowly backed away to safety, as his adrenaline shot through the roof. (As yours and mine would as well!) whew!

Speaking of airplanes, there are ACRES of them out here. I can say this, because it is declassified, and any quick search on google earth will show you exactly what I mean. From giant cargo C-5 Galaxy's, to the tiny shells of cobra helicopters, if you can think of it, they got it, and tons more you never even remembered existing. I will try to get some pics up here when I get back to Oregon, in a couple days.

Just wanted to write a note. And oh yeah, when you are in the desert for 9 hours, and put sunscreen all over your arms and neck, don't then roll your T-shirt sleeves up to attempt getting rid of that farmers tan you've been sporting for years....nope...you have to remember to apply lotion to that area too....yeah... Looking in the mirror, I look like I'm wearing cherry colored shoulder pads... like some kinda roman legionary or something....quite......rediculous.

My wife would be proud.

Company of Thieves - First Video Here -

I'm sorry, I caught the trailing end of this song, 'Oscar Wilde', on my local [94.7 KNRK] and couldn't get it out of my head... What languages IS she speaking in this song?? Sounds awesome whatever it is. And due to the thriftiness of my local station, they are providing tickets for 10 dollars each as a pre-sale for members. Those guys rock.

They're from my home town chicago, the girl is hot and they seem witty and deep. AND the music is not disposable. That's all I care about!

In the mean-time, spread the word on this band, they have a brite future methinks.

Portland Traffic Sucks!

-WARNING-ranting follows-

I understand people wanting to LIVE when its sunny out, but does that really mean sitting in traffic, during rush hour, in their cars?? Is that living? They need to get on the bikes or walk around the block or go jogging [apparently, you just run...?sic] and stay the hell off the roads.

Today, HWY 26 looked like a gigantic coughing metal snake, inching along for miles...its ridiculous. This town is so screwed with traffic because all the hippie-cum-politicians think they can somehow stave off the tide of millions of expansive PEOPLE moving here by purposely failing to created wide highways, with the sunny dream that people that HAVE to use public transportation WILL. They just didn't think ahead.

We have thousands of people a day driving down 2 lane highways, for miles on end... and there is literally no beltway around the city, to alleviate this.

There should be a law passed that restricts auto traffic to, to-and-from work only, for certain key hours of the day. But NOOooo that would take a bit of our free will away wouldn't it!?

6-8am and 5-7pm: Work traffic only!
All sunday drivers may resume before and after!!

yeah right...

I know it doesn't make sense. How would they enforce THAT!? Also, What if I wanted to stop at the store ON the way home from work?? heh

On second thought, I kinda like Free-will.... dangit

Kal Penn is ALIVE people! -It's just a publicity stunt!

That's right TV sitcom-ers...Kal Penn is an Actor, and surmising if he is actually dead in real life (no pun intended) KILLS me. Do you really think they would have an actor lying down on the floor, in a pool of blood, pretending to be the real-life actor who's just killed himself in real-life, hours after he had done it!?? That is some FAST shooting schedule they got there! And all before friends and family notified, proper grieving period, legal rights signed over, oh yeah, and the REAL news coverage of hypo-hollywood 'journalists' media frenzy?

I just had to say that, to all the confused people out there that are so ridiculously confounded by a simple plot twist that has been a part of Serial T.V. drama since Luke and Laura...WOW.
Need a good laugh? check out the BLOGS FOR HOUSE MD blog and see a fine sample of America's intellect and self-absorbed drama for yourself!

All these comments, and not one even remotely seems to care about the fact that the website posting a faux 'obituary' and talking about his death as if it were real, is EXTREMELY tacky, let alone childish and offensive to real sufferers of depression, and families of those that have committed suicide.

I guess it takes a non-fan to see through this self-absorbed drama discussion blog (over a TV show no less) whose posters seem alarmingly disconnected to reality! Wow people...and I STILL can't get over Darth Vader, being Luke's FATHER!!!!

Total War: Empire -Sound fix here!

For some, here is a fix for a chronic and widespread sound issue . This was the only solution that saved me..during the initial buggy release of a game I've been waiting for, for a year now.

That's right folks, finish up that last quest in ROME, throw down those last few barbarians in MEDIEVAL II.... you have a new game for the next 3 years... Total War: EMPIRE!

The game is BEAUTIFUL, and immensely engrossing. The puff of smoke that sporadically pops out of muskets and cannon are amazingly realistic, the cannon ball realistically blasts through doomed troops, bounces on the ground, then crashes into a nearby house, taking out half the wall and caving in the roof! Awesome..

Let me tell you, you better have a decent system too, I can play CRYSIS on my pc relatively well, but, this one kills my frame rate on any Ship Skirmish involving more than 2 boats.....sigh..it sure looks like a pretty slide show of Naval Combat though!

BTW-oh yeah, here the sweet fix for any sound issues that you may be having. Not sure if it solves all of them, but this one seems to fix numerous people's issues online.. until the next patch hopefully clears it up. As of this date, the newest patch is only MARCH 30.

Good luck., and stay tuned for my little review once I get a tolerable frame rate and working game!

This FIX is for people who are having problems with The Sound cutting in and out of: - Intro Video - Road To Independence videos - SEGA Intro...

Okay so I tried all the suggested fixes that people have given on the forums. None worked. I even tried to edit my bios to fix the problem. I found the solution by my own experiences. TO FIX THE SOUND BUG DO THE FOLLOWING: * MUST HAVE Left 4 Dead Game OR Get The FREE Left 4 Dead Demo

1. Go To Program Files

2. Go To STEAM Folder

3. Go To STEAM Apps

4. Go To Common

5. Go To Empire Total War

6. COPY the file Binkw32.dl and store it in a backup folder on your desktop

7. GO BACK one Folder (Before Step 5)

8. Go To Left 4 Dead (Demo)

9. Go To bin

10. COPY the file binkw32.dll

11. Go Back To Empire Total War folder

12. DELETE or OVERRIDE the file binkw32.dll

13. NOW PASTE the file binkw32.dll

14. THAT'S IT! GO back to the game... it should work. I hope it works for you. Let me know. Cause of BUG: Problem with the latest version of BINK Video Codecs

UPDATE 9/2011: An update patch has been released for this game. Before you try any of the fixes mentioned in this article, update your game to the latest build and check if the problems are fixed. If you are using the pirated version, a cracked patch has been released by RazorDox – read all about it here.
Note that you may encounter none, some or all of the problems mentioned below – user experience seem to vary from each installation. Also, not that some of these problems may exist in the legitimate version of the game as well. We cannot guarantee that the fixes mentioned in the article will solve all your problems – sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t.
Sound issues, missing sounds and other audio related problems
Problem: Missing sound effects. You may encounter missing or no sound effects with Empire : Total War. For example, when you give the command for a unit to march, you may not hear the corresponding sound effect. Some have reported missing sounds from horses, swords, cannons, etc as well.
UPDATE 8/03 (Working Solution): Search TPB for "etw_sounds_sfx.pack", download it and replace the sounds_sfx.pack file in the game's installation folder.
Solution 1 (Untested): Note that I have not tested this solution myself. Backup all replaced files before testing his method.

1. Download the Empire : Total War Demo and install it (It’s a free Steam download).
2. In the Demo installation directory, locate the file demo3.pack. Rename the file to sounds_sfx.pack
3. Browse to the installation directory of the full game (not the demo). Replace the sounds_sfx.pack file located in the full install dir using the renamed filed created at step 2.
4. Run the game

Solution 2 (New/Updated) : Download the “Empire: Total War sound fix for all releases” which can be found on public BitTorrent trackers.
Problem: Missing voice acting and missing/skipping advisor messages
Solution: See solution 2 for Missing sound effects problem (above)