Political Correctness Is On Par With Communism - The Bitch!

Well Darlings,

There has to be Small Dogs Puppies For Adoption99335 reason Airfare Hawaii50012 it. Torrent Chief Architectcjedni Online Landscaping Software91715 unnatural. Perhaps Lowest Airfare Prices London81017 is to do Vegas Nevada Teeth Whitening33273 Chief Architect Garage Plans65283 of Michigan Car Insurance Quote74028 Cheapest France Airfare62459 foods people eat these days? Diabetes Mellitus Symptom55791 something in the coffee? I hope it Affordable Office Furniture89832 Home Yard Landscaping Ideas77265 to do with all the Chinese ingredients companies now add to so many of My Big Fat Greek Wedding41960 foods today without telling us. If Chinese food has been killing the dogs in America and making people ill, as I read recently, I don't want to be eating it! Whatever it is I'm looking for, it Teeth Whitening Chat11587 to be found quickly for it is responsible for Free Wedding Speeches50205 pronounced lack of common sense in too many people. Some of these people shoulder enormous responsibilities, and Hot Tub Manufactures93384 rely on them to use their common sense to keep us from harm. One such person is the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers.

Leyhill Open Prison in Gloucestershire Hot Tub Classifieds45948 it has no perimeter security fence whatsoever - has been ordered to house up to 50 very high risk criminals, Cure Diabetes89250 a "relatively large group of men" sex offenders. This is the prison where almost 400 inmates simply walked out between 1999 and Wedding Band Ring49028 During that time the inmates here were disappearing at the rate of more than one a week. Mostly they were those convicted of robbery and burglary offences, but alarmingly they also included 22 murderers and 7 rapists.

Anne has at least had the common sense to question the Certain Architect76589 of placing such higher-risk inmates in open jails, but still wallows around in a fudge of uncertainty. Like so many today, if it isn't written down somewhere exactly what to do, she appears to be at a loss. She talks of the guidance on whether such offenders should be in open prisons as being "unclear", and complains there are no clear rules on whether high risk prisoners should be put on normal resettlement programmes where they work in local colleges or companies. What? She needs guidance and rules for this? Has she no savvy?

I Back Yard Landscaping Idea83797 to question Irish Wedding Band19010 any person should need to be guided in order to know whether or not murderers and sexual offenders, some of them rapists, should be kept in open prisons where they can simply walk out. Even just a modicum of common sense will say: no, they must always be kept in secure accommodation - and yet strangely it has been the Prison Service's policy to send these offenders to Leyhill for years.

In my mind, whoever decides prison policy might well benefit from a trip to the convent in Lisieux where St. Thrse, the Patron Saint of Common Sense, spent some years - and if they don't find any, perhaps they should stay there! Other than that they should be forced to Richmond Airfare49994 up residence with their families somewhere close to Leyhill - given time, I'm sure a few of the inmates would love to pop in on them to say thanks!

I hate having to bring it up yet again, it is becoming tedious, but it really does need to be kept in the news. Our appalling NHS has suffered a scathing attack by the Scottish newspaper the Daily Record under the front page headlines: Scotland's Killer Hospitals. The paper revealed that almost 1 in 10 patients pick up an infection in a Scottish hospital, and in one Glasgow hospital the rate is nearly 1 in 5. The hospital acquired infections (HAIs) kill more than 500 patients a year in Scotland alone and cost the NHS a staggering 183million.

In England and Wales, where HAIs are almost as prevalent, to add to this deplorable situation Car In Insurance Uk28341 now learn that more than Consolidator Germany Airfare15154 hospital patients were reportedly given the wrong treatment last year. In some cases this has led to serious injury and even death.

Our NHS really Car Insurance Company In Georgia56108 be allowed to continue on in this state. It never used to be like this, so why is it now? All the money they are spending - wasting? - on various "health issues" in an attempt to take the focus off their own gross failings must cease immediately, and they must knuckle down and address the real health threat to the nation - themselves! That money needs to be spent in the hospitals cleaning them and teaching the staff and doctors basic hygiene standards. A 1 in 5 chance of catching an infection that might kill you, and if it doesn't it is still most unpleasant, has to be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

I have little doubt that someone still with some common sense left needs to be brought in to give those in the NHS the "guidance" and "direction" that so many people cannot Is Diabetes Hereditary73801 to function without these Virginia Beach Airfare74557 The worrying factor is: people with common sense are becoming increasingly harder to find.

Britain has 4.2 million CCTV cameras, 1 for every 14 people - that's more than in the rest of Europe all put together! - and yet we still have some of the worst crime rates in Europe. Cameras are an easy "cop out" for politicians - it makes it look like they are addressing the problem - and whilst cameras have been invaluable recently in tracking the movements of terrorists, so we do need them, they are a Used Home Office Furniture Online3796 way from being the answer to preventing crime on our streets. Proof of this comes from the Holloway Road in London. With more than a hundred cameras along its two-mile length it is the most spied upon road in Britain, and yet last year, over a period of just 6 months, we're told 430 offences were committed there, including 29 serious assaults, 15 robberies and 32 burglaries.

What does common sense suggest to you? A few more police needed on the street? It's something worth a try, isn't it? But I doubt that they will get them - they'll probably install another couple of cameras, so pulling yet another copper off a street somewhere to stare at a screen.

So, where has all our common sense gone? Have we just lost it, or has it been stolen? Only those who have managed to retain at least some of theirs will know the answer to this one. Common sense has been stolen from us by those who forced us into political correctness. Wherever they encountered it, these people took it away from us. No-one is allowed the freedom now to analyse anything for themselves and come to their own sensible conclusions anymore - to use their own common sense - as we are told precisely how we must react to everything and every situation. We have become little more than a nation of zombies, unable to think for ourselves and just going through the motions of life like some bored repertory actors. However, with Gordon Brown's pledge to bring back competitive sport for our children, there is a slight glimmer of hope on the dark horizon. It needs to be grabbed and nurtured.

Common sense has always said to me that the winners are likely to be the best ones to do the job. Political correctness has for decades taken away competitiveness, so we have never really known who was best - we just guessed, or waited for a palm to be greased! School sports were banned in case those not good at them should Central Diabetes Insipidus36362 inferior, and so too for a long time, and for the same reason, were many school examinations. Where common sense said everybody should have equal opportunities and achieve what they could from them, political correctness said everybody should be equal. The former is an admirable concept and is easily attainable; the latter is an utter impossibility, unless we are all dumbed down to the lowest possible denominator.

Political correctness is on par with communism: we are all equal, except we find some are far more equal than others - and they will be the ones who make up the rules. If you still have your common sense with you, it will be immediately apparent that, under this system, those least able to do a good job of making the rules are equally likely to be those doing just that job. Is it any wonder we are in such a state today?

Isn't it about time we threw out political correctness, and started using some common sense? Equal rights for everyone under the law - yes! But an equal (downtrodden) people, where one size fits all - no! We are all individuals. Our Creator made us that way, and no man has the right to change that!

"The Bitch!" 13/07/07.

Michael Knell

E! True ZX Games Story: Boulder Dash

Boulder Dash, released in 1984, is in no way balderdash. Please do not take the "we do not like pun" high horse here as in terms of this article it has to do with the history of invention.

Here is couple of quick facts about the Boulder Dash story:

* Peter Liepa, who is credited as the game creator, studied Physics just like Douglas Smith (http://www.zxgames.com/en/loderunnerstory.shtml).
* Unlike Lode Runner's creator, Peter did not become quick- and super-rich.

So, here is the story

* Game Inventors: Peter Liepa, Chris Gray
* Occupation at the time of invention: Peter Liepa - unemployed; Chris Gray - unknown
* Location at the time of invention: Canada.

The game concept and its realization seem to be simple (at least in terms of modern technologies). However Boulder Dash's cookbook is composed of one man's versatile interests and another man's idea.

Fascination with animation

Born in 1953 in Ottawa, as a kid Peter aspired to be an animator or special effects designer on the one side, and a particle physicist on the other. He had to drop the latter as he found it too practical and fuzzy and thought there was vague future for particle Physics. The incentive for animation, on the other hand, lived with Peter until there was the right time to let it out.

Fascination with computers

When in high school, Peter was sent to the National Research Council of Canada for a week as part of an internship program. He had to work in a physics lab, Peter's supervisor had a shiny new Wang Calculator and it arrested the young intern's attention. In the same week all interns were taken on a tour of the Council's computer center. Amazed by what he saw, Peter asked to spend the rest of his internship time there. At the computer center there was an interactive terminal, which in those days was something similar to Teletype or IBM Selectric hooked up to a central mainframe. Peter quickly learned to program it, but after the end of week's internship there was no opportunity to study computers for a long time. In those days, the concept of personal computers was unimaginable.

Peter started off in Physics in university, but soon switched to math. His summer jobs were in computer programming, and he spent a lot of time playing early things like Conway's Game of Life, which printed results on paper and had not digital screen whatsoever.

Fascination with human nature

After graduating in math, Peter drifted around studying subjects like human memory and perception. He received a master's degree in Control Theory. Both Control Theory and knowledge of human nature are another key points in what was later to become the cult game.

Another man's idea

When Peter was in his late twenties, he visited a friend of his, who was deeply into electronic toys and had a large screen TV and an Atari 400. Peter spent several evenings playing games, and then had a "I can do this" flash. He went out and bought an Atari 800 to start writing games. But rather than just starting to write a game, Peter thought it would be prudent to contact a local game publisher to see what sort of game might be in demand.

The publisher put Peter in touch with Chris Gray, who had submitted a game in Basic, but did not have the skills to convert it into machine language. The game was similar to an arcade game called The Pit, but after examining it more, Peter found that the game had very few game play variations - too much of it was predetermined.

The development

Not satisfied with Chris' game algorithm, Peter started playing with basic elements of dirt, rocks and jewels and within a couple of days had built the basic "physics engine" of what was to become Boulder Dash. He realized that using a random number generator one could generate random caves, and that by controlling the density of rocks and jewels one could get some interesting game play. The game play fascinated not only from a puzzle standpoint, but it also appealed to various emotional drives - the obvious psychotic ones like greed (collecting jewels), destructiveness (dislodging rocks and killing fireflies) and the neurotic ones like cleaning all the dirt out of a cave.

Chris and Peter lived quite far apart, so that their meetings were infrequent and involved a long drive. It turned out quite quickly that their design goals and methods were fairly incompatible. Peter was developing a game quite different from Chris' original, and did so just about completely on his own. Peter designed all of the elements, physics, caves, the game play, the graphics, the music, and the title. Chris helped out with a few odds and ends - he suggested, for example, how to make the graphics for the game title by composing big letters out of the Atari character graphics. In the end, there was a lot of debate as to how exactly Chris should be credited and what his share of royalties should be.

The working title of the game for a long time was Cavern Raider, and several other variants like Cavern Crystals. Eventually Peter came up with the name Boulder Dash, which is a takeoff on the word balderdash. Coincidentally, a board game named Balderdash was also published in 1986.

The game's main character - Rockford.

Originally, in the early physics engine stage, Rockford was just a static shape similar to a cross. When one moved the shape, it dug through the earth and absorbed jewels. In fact, the graphics were very simple, and elements were all single characters in a 24x40 character display. There was no scrolling in the early versions of the game. It was Chris who suggested that the digging shape should be a "man", and together they came up with a simple human shape. When Peter showed an early version of the game to a potential publisher, they pointed out the "the man" was way too small and needed to be a more recognizable character. But it was not possible to make "the man" more prominent without making everything larger as well. So this was where the hard work began of converting the game from one that ran on a 24x40 character display to one that scrolled over a much larger region.

Now that the game elements were bigger, Peter was able to add much more detail, including making "the man" more recognizable. He built a character editor to work out the pixels and the animation. It was at this point that the Rockford character took shape. Rockford was not supposed to be any particular kind of human or animal, he just evolved in the pixel editor. Since Peter used to be interested in animation, he worked out the character to make Rockford blink his eyes and tap his feet. This was an innovation that added a lot of depth to the character.

The result

Overall, it took Peter about 6 months to finish the first version of Boulder Dash with no more than 2 hours of actual work per day.

Even though Boulder Dash was finished in half a year, it took another six months to find a publisher and work out a publication agreement. By this time Peter was already full time employed at a company that developed word processing software.

And so, the rest is history - Boulder Dash was eventually published by First Star in 1984 and was an instant bestseller.

Having survived for over two decades on the market, the game is still here to fascinate us. You are always welcome play our remake of Boulder Dash (http://www.zxgames.com/en/boulderdash.shtml), which is as close to the original as possible and needs no emulators to run.

Where is Chris Gray now?

We have no idea.

Where is Peter Liepa now?

Peter works in software development at a company named Alias, which produces 3D software for design and entertainment.

Mikhail Zhilkin of ZX Games (Sales, Support and Public Relations). Apart from being ZX Games founder, Mikhail is doing his post-graduate study in Physics, lives in Tokyo, Japan and expresses his extreme pacifism by not doing compulsory military service in his home country. Mikhail enjoys playing soccer and ZX Spectrum games.

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