Our 2 year old (almost 2 anyway) is just such a helper...

Each month it seems another significant figure in the scientific community comes forward to express skepticism about human-induced "global warming" (now re-branded as "climate change" since it's tougher to disprove).

I think this year will be the year we look back and say "Hah, remember when there was this huge movement of self-righteous but scientifically clueless lay people running around screaming about human induced global warming despite so little evidence?"

The latest skeptic is David Evans who helped produce models for global warming for Australia for six years.

Check out the full article here.

The beauty of this particular debate is that the people who have argued that human carbon emissions (CO2 in particular) are causing it have been so obnoxious, so smug that it will be a pleasure to say "I told you so."  On almost every other topic, friends and family will come to me for my opinion on some scientific issue but on this particular one, nope, suddenly my opinion is based on "ignorance" or I've been "brainwashed" by "big oil". These are the people who watch An Inconvenient Truth and suddenly think they're climatologists. Oh right, temperature has gone up since 1976, CO2 is a green house gas. It too has gone up. We make a lot of the stuff. Therefore, we must be the cause.  So simple. So convenient. That has to be the answer...

The world's most powerful, easy to use desktop customization program gets a major update: DesktopX 3.5.

DesktopX is a program that lets users extend their Windows desktop to support true objects (as opposed to just icons).  These objects can be cosmetic in nature or using a plugin or some scripting a user can make a desktop object do virtually anything. These objects can then be combined together to make widgets or used to build an entirely new desktop.

DesktopX 3.5 has been in development for over a year. Getting DesktopX 3.5 to work seamlessly on Windows Vista was a significant challenge but worth it.

DesktopX 3.5 isn't just a Vista update, however. It allows users to export their creations as Windows sidebar gadgets! This is significant because by default, Sidebar gadgets tend to be limited in functionality. DesktopX objects, however, have no limitations, a user can make plugins in C++ or virtually any other language allowing Sidebar gadgets to be incredibly powerful.

DesktopX 3.5 also includes a completely revamped website along with a major overhaul of the DesktopX documentation.

If you've ever wanted to see what kinds of cool stuff you can do with your desktop, DesktopX is a great and easy way to do it whether you're a novice or an expert PC user.

DesktopX is available on its own or as part of Object Desktop.

 Download: DesktopX 3.5
 Visit: www.desktopx.net
 New Documentation: DesktopX docs
 Screenshots: Desktops & Objects

The world's most powerful, easy to use desktop customization program gets a major update: DesktopX 3.5.

DesktopX is a program that lets users extend their Windows desktop to support true objects (as opposed to just icons).  These objects can be cosmetic in nature or using a plugin or some scripting a user can make a desktop object do virtually anything. These objects can then be combined together to make widgets or used to build an entirely new desktop.

DesktopX 3.5 has been in development for over a year. Getting DesktopX 3.5 to work seamlessly on Windows Vista was a significant challenge but worth it.

DesktopX 3.5 isn't just a Vista update, however. It allows users to export their creations as Windows sidebar gadgets! This is significant because by default, Sidebar gadgets tend to be limited in functionality. DesktopX objects, however, have no limitations, a user can make plugins in C++ or virtually any other language allowing Sidebar gadgets to be incredibly powerful.

DesktopX 3.5 also includes a completely revamped website along with a major overhaul of the DesktopX documentation.

If you've ever wanted to see what kinds of cool stuff you can do with your desktop, DesktopX is a great and easy way to do it whether you're a novice or an expert PC user.

DesktopX is available on its own or as part of Object Desktop.

 Download: DesktopX 3.5
 Visit: www.desktopx.net
 New Documentation: DesktopX docs
 Screenshots: Desktops & Objects

Greetings!  With the release of Beta 1 starting to get closer (August) to all those who pre-order the game, we're starting to put together a tentative schedule.

Those of you who have been through other Stardock betas know how these things go. Below is what you can expect:

August. Beta 1. This will not be a "fun" beta. It's a stress test of the engine. Those of you who were in the Sins of a Solar Empire beta or the GalCiv betas know we're not kidding. There will be very little balancing in this version. It will also be multiplayer-only at this stage.

October. Beta 2.  This beta won't be that fun either but it'll be better than Beta 1. THIS is the key beta in which players give us their ideas and suggestions.  The beta process isn't just to find bugs but to let players suggestion changes to the game.  There will be a series of Betas 2 (2A, 2B, 2C, etc.) that will be released in which we begin incorporating player suggestions. These will happen quite rapidly thanks to Impulse.

December. Beta 3. This may or may not be a public beta depending on how things go.  What we have done in the past is give players who have been particularly helpful access to late betas so that we can keep tweaking and enhancing with their feedback.

January. Gammas (release candidates).

February. Tentative release date at worldwide retail in multiple languages.

We do plan for the game to be available at stores roughly the same time in North America, Europe, Russia, and Australia/NZ at the very least.

Users who are part of the beta will be getting something special but I am not at liberty to talk about it yet.

The concept of Demigod is quite simple: A god has fallen and several heroes have stepped up to battle for the right to take his place.

The gods, accepting this challenge, have created a number of godly arenas where these heroes can call upon their former allies from the mortal world to help them achieve victory.

In a large sense, Demigod is a strategy game. But it's not like Supreme Commander or Company of Heroes. Instead, it is something quite different as it is very tactical in nature.

As someone who likes big strategy games, I wasn't sure what to make of the first Demigod alpha I played. But Demigod quickly got me hooked. As a Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander player, I really like the idea of a "commander" (your hero) leveling up and leveling up. 

The gods look on as the battle ensues and wages are made on every fight big or small in the arena with the player collecting his portion when things go his way. This money can be used to improve your forces, buy spells, buy artifacts and items, recruit units, construct special buildings, etc. 

I have played as both a "general" and as an assassin.  The general plays mores similarly to an RTS where I am recruiting a lot of my units who fight on my behalf and I have some control over them.  The assassin is much more about the hero being a bad ass. You put your money and efforts into making him increasingly tough and sending him into the mix to do some real carnage.  I don't know which I like better, each build of the game gets dramatically better than last so it's hard to say. I will say I've been surprised at how much I've been enjoying the Assassin given how tactical it is compared to the general.

I've been a Corel Draw user since version 2 back on Windows 3.0.  Corel Draw was the first "expensive" program I bought which was in college when money was very tight.

Every thing I've ever made whether it be Galactic Civilizations for OS/2 to WindowBlinds skins has been done using one of Corel's programs.  I use Corel Draw for virtually any sort of vector based drawing and I have used Corel Photopaint for all my bitmap needs.

If you've never heard of DISC, it is one of the standard personality profile tests used in the enterprise. It is, by far, the most effective, accurate, and useful personality profiling system I've encountered. It is, however, not cheap.  We tend to stock up on DISC tests (which are like $10 apiece) to give to key people.

Below is the text for my profile:

Individual tends to be a strong willed individual who continually seeks out new horizons. Tending to be extremely self-reliant and independent in both thought and action, he may prefer to find his own solutions to any difficulties he may encounter. Although he may ask others for information, he seldom asks for opinions or solutions, preferring to make his own decisions. Due to his independence and self-sufficiency, Individual may feel relatively free of peer pressure or constraints of the group. Therefore, he may be able to bypass conventional ideas and current practices to come up with imaginative and innovative solutions.

Individual tends to look for a new challenge or a new opportunity. He may be anxious to test his skills and knowledge against the demands of a new situation. Tending to be somewhat reluctant to acknowledge his shortcomings or errors directly, he may tend to keep trying new solutions and new approaches until he obtains the results he desires. Or, he may simply move on to a new challenge. He tends to focus on solving the problem rather than identifying the person responsible for the problem. As a result, he may avoid wasting time in blaming and "buck-passing" behavior.

Tending to be easily bored, Individual may search for new activities and opportunities for achievement. He may prefer activities that require considerable mental or physical effort. However, he tends to want to have complete control of the results of any activity for which he is held responsible or which is important to him. In fact, Individual may like to be in control of most situations.

Although he generally may tend to be direct and forceful, Individual may be capable of careful planning and strategic manipulation of people and situations to ensure that his goals are met. He tends to be very persistent in pursuing the results he desires, doing whatever he can to overcome or reshape any obstacles that may appear. This may make others uncomfortable unless a climate of mutual trust has been established.

Individual may have high expectations of others and may be critical when his standards are not met. In particular, he may want others to be like him: self-starters who think for themselves. Tending to be so strongly focused on results, he may seem to lack empathy and often seem uncaring. Since he may put his own interests first, he may appear self-centered. Opportunities for personal achievement and challenge may be very important to him.

If Individual is required to participate with others in situations which limit his individualism, he may become defiant and aggressive. Similar behavior might occur when he does not get his way on something important to him. He may generally enjoy being with people. However, Individual may become a loner when something needs to be done. He may normally prefer to give the details of an activity to someone else to do. Yet, under pressure his need for control and high expectations for performance may cause him to complete his activity alone or to interfere with the efforts of others to whom he has delegated the details.

Individual tends to approach a new problem or decision in a quick and direct manner. He may size up all the data available - taking time to get additional facts only if there is a glaring lack of information - and then very quickly come to a tentative solution. He may monitor the results of that decision and make changes as needed. He may be willing to try new ideas and to take risks equal to the expected results.

You can learn more about DISC tests here.

For the first time since I became old enough to vote, I'm seriously considering sitting out a Presidential election.

Obama, on the one hand, brings nothing to the Presidency other than a radical agenda that seems to have little understanding of how the real world works.  There's no circumstance that I would vote for him.

But to me, McCain's actually worse.  Unlike Obama, McCain actually took away our rights.  His "Campaign Finance Reform" stripped a lot of my fundamental freedoms. For instance, if there's a candidate I feel passionately for, I couldn't take out an ad for them in a newpaper right before the election. My ability to support a candidate has been greatly curtailed.  For that reason alone, I wouldn't vote for him.

But McCain has so many other reasons not to vote for him. His position on immigration,while not different from Obama's, has been presented far more arrogantly than anything Obama has done.  I was against any kind of "path to citizenship" nonsense. I don't want "comprehensive immigration reform". I want the current laws enforced. It has nothing to do with "racism" as McCain and his minions suggested.  How about this: Our company spends tens of thousands of dollars each year paying for legitimate visas and other red tape to legally employ foreign workers.  For McCain to even suggest that those who break the law should get a slap on the wrist or be ignored isn't incredibly offensive.  Does McCain plan to pay us back the $100k or so we've had to pay to do things by the book?

McCain's positions also often strike me as just pandering to the media. He's against drilling in ANWR? Why? He wants to push various "green positions"? Why? I'm not saying he shouldn't, I just think it's obvious he supports those positions to pander to his left-wing buddies in the media. I doubt he's very familiar on the issue.

The only argument for McCain I can really see is supreme court justice picking. But realistically, the next two court justices likely to go are on the left anyway and McCain is not likely to pick particularly conservative jurors, particularly with the Senate so far left.

Obama's position on taxes and such are largely harmless to the people he's targeting because Obama is too clueless to understand how the tax system really works.  My favorite proposal was Obama's suggestion that people who make over $250k a year would continue to pay FICA. That's the kind of proposal that only someone cluessless about the tax system would come up with.  All he'd do is create an incentive for people to get paid in dividends or disbursements instead of going through payroll which, in turn, would start to cut into Medicare payments (which are already uncapped).

So I say down with both of them. There's no lesser of two evils this time around.

Stardock has released Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor v1.96.  This is a pretty major update despite the version numbering.  Our goal with this update was to address as much of the player feedback we could in the time available.

Our next stop is to work on Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. v2.0 will be an update for both Twilight and Dark Avatar players which signicantaly enhances espionage, updates the computer AI based on player feedback, and incorporates a lot of new content that we've been working on for awhile.

v2.0 will also include the updated user manual that fleshes out the Twilight of the Arnor universe and talk about the Legacy of the Telenanth.  There will be some updates for Dread Lords users as well. v2.0 will be a free update of course.

It's available for download on either Impulse or Stardock Central.

Check out the link below to get an idea of what was changed.