Quinctia,  I remember that incident clearly.  I was following it at the time.  That was unbelievable.  And that stuff was naaaaasty.  Almost impossible to remove without making your system unstable.  It was a nasty piece of business.  Then after the uproar, they finally, reluctantly agreed to provide a means to remove it.   But you had to send them a request and they would email you back some kind of key that was only good for that one computer.  And to make use of the key you had to install an activex component that introduced another security vulnerability.  What a shambles that was.

Read about XCP here.  It's enough to make your hair stand on your head, to know that this was somehow done by a big corporation.  Although they probably had no idea just what it was they bought.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCP

tut tut.  My argument did not PHAILS.  Since I said that if they don't show restraint they will be the target of lawsuits and they were.  And that Sony fiasco was far from showing restraint.  That was a train wreck of gigantic proportions. They deserve all the lawsuits they are getting.

However, unless there is another incident that I am not aware of, at that point they were installing a rootkit on people's computer.  That all of itself was pretty damn rotten to begin with.  But to make matter worse, their rootkit worked by hiding any process, file or registry key that started with $sys$, IIRC.  Holy security vulnerability Batman.  I would think, hope, expect, that after being sued, lambasted, publicly humiliated, drawn and quartered (maybe not that yet), they have learned SOME lesson.  Maybe not quite enough, but anyway.  They didn't get sued for Securom but for something called XCP.  Unless they got sued again and I don't know about it.

And no, I don't work for Sony, Ea, Securom or anyone remotely related to them.  It's just that, when everyone is forwarding to "all the people they know" dire warnings about aid infected needles in cinema seats, I'm the person who is on the net, checking the story out.

I don't panic easily.  I don't like hearsay.  As JM calls it "lies and propaganda". I want explanations and information that make sense, before I am convinced of anything.   And so far, I am not convinced.  I've googled it.  I've seen many people complain that their antivirus, especially AVG, and and securom don't like each other (which isn't really surprising).  I've seen lots of people wonder if it's a rootkit.  I've seen many other say no, it's not.  ( I don't think so either....that XCP WAS a rootkit, no doubts about it).  No mention of firewalls. 

I think there is no doubt that it's a really crappy piece of software and a really bad idea on EA's part to implement it.  They should have kept on using whatever the heck they used before.  I hope's someone ass on the line for this stupid decision.

Yes Ritcher I agree.  The list of the evils of SecuRom is getting a little too long to be believable.  I would imagine that maybe just maybe, some antivirus wouldn't deal with the software well when it attempts to scan some protected data.  It's like running two Antivirus programs on the same machine.  It's usually a bad idea, because they conflict with each other.

Turning off firewalls? I seriously doubt it. I just think that because SecuRom is so very close to being malware, that it's considered to be  one and the same and gets blamed for typical malware activities, like turning off your antivirus and firewall and establishing multiple connections to unknown ip addresses.  It is malware, but the difference between Securom and the stuff in the wild is that it's malware used by legitimate companies.  So they have to show some restraint, unless they want to be the target of multiple lawsuits.

I think we are just seeing a reaction where people are blaming everything weird that happens on their computer to Securom.  There is a logic to what this program does. It's main objective is to prevent the running of illegal copies.  So it messes with DVD drivers.  It attempts to detect the running of software that circumvents copy protection.  It does a bad job and produces false positives.  It attempts to hide itself and so triggers programs that are designed to detect behavior like that (Antivirus). It's annoying and undesirable but it makes sense. within the scope of what it is trying to do.   

I had a user the other day call me because she thought she had a virus on her computer because she opened a JPG and mysteriously her background was changed.   It was a perfectly innocent little JPG attached to a perfectly innocent little email.  I can always tell a viruse email just by looking,  but I scanned it to be sure). When she opened the JPG she must have clicked on the option to make it a desktop background.  But since viruses are mysterious evil programs that do mysterious things, and something mysterious occured, ergo, it must be a virus.  (To be fair, I know that some malware do change backgrounds, however, not usually to a bunch of pumpkins).

So I think this is the phenomenon that is at work here.

I wonder if the references to rootkits and security concerns are related to the Sony fiasco some time back.  They had decided on a DRM scheme that installed a rootkit on your computer, without your knowledge or consent.  And this was music, not even a program. 

Rootkits, for those who don't know,  are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic.  It's like the cloaking devices in Star Trek.  It makes you invisible and almost undetectable.

The Sony rootkit was designed to hide any files, registry keys and processes starting with the string $sys$,, IIRC.  You can see right away the potential for any hacker to exploit this to run a virus or malware and stay hidden from detection.  A fact that escaped no one.  In fact it was quickly taken up by some enterprising fellows in an online game who used it to hide cheating software from the scanners installed by the game to detect this type of thing.

To make matter worse, after Sony was called on it, and the controversy grew, this what happened :


So from bad to worse.  You can read the story on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal and from Russinovich's blog : http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/search.aspx?q=rootkit&p=1 You shoud read the blog.   It was like a watching a train wreck.  It was funny at the time, but only because I wasn't actually on that train.

That was a FUBAR of monumental proportion and let to several lawsuits. It also set a bad precedent for the software industry.

So, not that I want defend EA, but this is nowhere near as bad as the Sony case.  The changes are not hidden, for one.  But the Sony case might be why people are mumbling about security issues.  It's just a guess on my part.

There is no doubt that SecuRom, or indeed any DRM are from the devil, but I seriously doubt it would do anything to the DVD firmware.  It's a nice story but highly unlikely.  Every model has different firmware.

However, I have often heard of DRM messing up  CD/DVD players.  But it messes with Windows.  Wiping Windows should get rid of the problem.  Are you formating (and better, deleting your partiton) before installing? 

And it might also be that your drive malfunctioned all on it's own.

And people, before you go all gun ho and re-format, remember the handy system restore function.  It's especially useful to save your butt when something you have just installed messes up your system, or you get some malware or virus infection.

This won't win any prize, no doubt, but it seems to fit JM's definition of a WTF item



Cue in reporter : Can you tells us why you created the gravity statue
"Because I could"

edit <smacks head> I used the wrong url

What I thought was funny is that sims sitting alone in a sauna gain social points  talking to themselves.

she started it !!<points to Lorelei>

Actually I prefer to talk about stupidass stories over dicussing bugs.  Submit another story, maybe that will kick things off again.

Locust Stir Fry

by Tom Parker Bowles
from Market Kitchen

    * Servings: 2
    * Level of difficulty: Easy
    * Preparation Time: 5 minutes
    * Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

    * 1 tbsp vegetable oil
    * 2 Shallots
    * 85g bean sprouts
    * 3 jalapeño chillies
    * 50g pak choi
    * 20g locusts
    * splash Fish Sauce
    * 2 garlic cloves, sliced

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the chopped shallots and fry until soft.
2. Add the rest of the vegetables and the locusts to the wok and fry until cooked, stirring continuously.
3. Add the fish sauce and sliced garlic. Stir fry for a moment longer and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately

yeech!!  Dead moth carcasses.  They must have tasted nice, if you kept eating them. Not that I'm volunteering to try <gag>

Many aborigines eat insects.  Heck we eat shrimps, and it's just a sea bug.  The revulsion is just a cultural thing.  But even though my head knows, there is no convincing the rest of me... berk.

WTF??

Doesn't this person have enough brainpower to know you need a picture with a NEUTRAL expression.  Who is stupid enough to base themselve on a picture of  someone with a goofy frog-smile pasted on their face.

It's like the old warning we all received as a child, "if you're not careful your face is going to freeze that way".  Guess this is what happened to Simon

Does that mean that the slobs, dirty bastards, and the cockroaches, will inherit the earth?  Oh boy.

Well it depends really.  If you are a social outcast that lives in a bunker, it's not entirely expected, although sure appreciated by the nice young men in their clean white coat when they come to take you away.

However for the rest of the more or less normal population, it's required.  Failure to do maintain decent standards might result in the visit of Kim and Aggie and a camera crew.  Shock and horror might ensue when it's revealed on national TV that there are slugs living under your couch and that your kitchen is dirtier and more contaminated than a former frat's house that's now condemned and inhabited by the homeless.

I suppose it's a failure of imagination on my part, but I simply cannot get my head around this. Why do some people think spelling is optional.  I suppose it's like the people who believe housework is totally optional.  (Have you ever watched How Clean is my House?).  The common excuse -- I'm too creative and high minded to lower myself at such menial tasks as cleaning.  That's probably similar for spelling -- having to spell correctly hinders my creativity.  But the real truth is it's just plain laziness.  In both cases.

On a different note, are we going to continue this exercise ? Because it's simply too funny to stop

Some of UDon'tknow more forgettable efforts (Or should I say less forgettable, as in it will haunt my dreams)

The advertising


In game (just as scary)


Stripped of content (skin and eyes) with an Enayla skin and more normal looking eyes


I know that this loose points, but how often do you get a sim that's actually better looking than the person.  this is too good to pass up.

Do I get extra points for EA approved new archetypes?

Take two normal looking guys



And turn them into

I'm amazed you managed to plough through all these stories.  You have the patience of a saint.

I think points should have granted all all the kiddies who prefaced their stories with "soory for the speelling mistak.  WTF? They act like putting on that disclaimer gives them complete license to dispense with any type of grammatical rule or spelling convention.  Do they preface their school work with that disclaimer as well?  I can just imagine them taking offense at their failing grade"  WTF!!!111 I sed I was soory for the speeling mistak.  stoopid retard teacher.

Necromancy blah blah ...

Jumping here kinda late with a pretty funny name.  Totally real.  His last name was Vanderputte. What makes it funny is that pute (spelled differently) meant bitch or ho, in French slang.  He did pronounce it Vanderpoot.  I can imagine the teasing at school....oye vey.

On a different note, I tried to download that program that lets you use a word processing to import names and the link was dead.  Does anyone have it?

I wonder how much Ford paid EA Games for that bit of publicity.  Will it start a trend?  Inquiring minds want to know.

There is actually a new hack A LA crammyboy that will apply a body overlay over existing sims.  The hack was made by Morague at MTS2
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239851.

She also has another similar hack over at MTS2 Adult sister site.

The hack does not some with body hair, but it can easily be adapted for it.  Her tutorial is here http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239882.  You could use AllenABQ's overlays for the textures

Have fun!

Actually once you get over the use of the term rape (which obviously means something quite different to this girl) this scene is actually really cute, in a sort of awkward budding adolescent way.  It's obviously details a 13 year old sexual fantasy.  The details are kinda sketchy as she  is not quite sure what goes between the making out before and the kissing after.  Lol, were we ever this young ?

The bit about the guy who knocked up 3 generations of women is kinda weird though.  Where did that come from.

I agree the awful story thread needs to continue.  I haven't laughed this hard in ages.  And I didn't even click on most of the links!.

Although I think we should also have an Awesome Story thread.  As someone pointed out, good stories are so drowned out by the crud they get lost.  It's hard to find them.  Beside, we need good stories to wash the bad taste out of mouth, after reading this.

The job descriptions were actually taken from a UK show called "Worst Jobs in History".  But I did rework some of them to adapt them  and wrote some additional material to link them together as a career path. 

It rates up there with the dangers of the infamous omg.doc.doc file and the scary Imsquished.zip.zip 

Certainly.  I assume you mean a type of job ? 

Here is one.  I've preceded every job description with a short blurb that touches on why you changed job.  This gives the career path some continuity instead of being just a string of unrelated jobs :

Job: Whipping Boy (previous job spitboy)

That accident with the spit was really unfortunate but it's not your fault that other spitboy was so clumsy.  Certainly didn't justify that fat cook throwing you out of the kitchen.
But it's for the best, because in your new job you will get to serve the Royal Children! What a great opportunity for advancement!
As we all know, the monarch rules by divine right. For those of you without education, let me inform: the king or queen is chosen by God to rule, and therefore any heir to the throne who will later become a king or queen must also be divine. Of course, this means that it would be highly illegal, not to say most undesirable, to chastise, clip, whack or slipper a young prince or princess for any infraction of the rules.
As royal whipping boy, you will be fed, housed and clothed by the royal court - all you have to do is make yourself available to touch your toes whenever the sweet prince or princess does anything bad. By taking the punishment of a royal caning on behalf of the heir, you can console yourself by knowing that you are protecting the royal backside. The secreting of a wad of parchment down the trousers whenever you hear the order 'Get me the whipping boy!' is not permitted.

Dizzy, that was pretty much the pay scheme I was thinking but I guess it will have to be play tested to see if it's doable. 

Ingeli:  While being a little more period than the unrealistic peasant-to-noble career, it's still pretty tongue-in-cheek.  But that fits the Maxis style.  I was planning to do a more realistic peasant career first, but this one caught my interest because it's really funny.


Marhis, I sort of had the teen/elder pay scheme in mind as well.  I figure that if the pay isn't enough, then you can always pop out children and get them jobs when they reaches their teens.  That sounds realistic to me.  And the kids can garden.  There is a non awesome school's out forever hack I plan to use to keep the kids home doing useful work, where they should be anyway.

Hey guys,

I've started work on a new Sims career.  I've tentatively named it the Cottar Career.  A cottar is the lowest of the peasantry and as such does the dirtiest and nastiest jobs there is.  And believe me the jobs are nasty as can be.  Nasty, brutal, boring, or dangerous, and sometimes all of the above. I plan to put a disclaimer asking people who have a good imagination but who are easily grossed out to abstain.  I've got the descriptions all written out and I am pretty pleased with them.

Obviously this career is meant for a medieval type of neighborhood.  This career don't follow a typical career path but is rather a succession of different jobs.  I tried to arrange them in an order that makes a sort of sense.  For example my level one starts at the farm, and then progresses to a city job and then to a job in a castle.  Obviously all of these would have been either incredibly low paid or not paid at all, with very long hours.  Anyway, here is the input I'm asking for.  Considering the low status of these jobs, what kind of pay scheme should I devise.  I'm aiming for dirt poor.  I don't want the game to be impossible either, but I don't want these peasants to have it easy.  They should be struggling to pay their rent, have money for nothing but the absolute bare necessities, and have to try to find time, in their 12 hours a day job, to grow food, cause that's the only way they can afford to eat.  I'm counting on the starting out bonus to provide a new family with a house (hovel) and the necessities.  So this won't be like the poverty challenge where you start out dirt poor and finish rich.  It's more like you start out dirt poor and you finish dirt poor.

What kind of pay rate would accomplish this goal, without making it impossible.

Secondly.  In medieval times women and men didn't do the same jobs, for the most part.  So to reflect this I made the jobs for women and men completely different. (double the work for me).  The game allows me to enter different description for male and female.  However the requirements for advancement are shared.  If I leave things the way the are, my requirements won't unnecessarily make sense for the jobs.  Should I make two different careers, one for female and one for males?  Or should I leave it one career even though the requirements make no sense?  If you were to use this career, which option would you prefer?

And last but not least.  Does this sound at all interesting to anybody?