Acts of Courage should not be criminalized (in this case)

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Monday August 05, 2013 · 5:47 AM PDT

2013/08/05 · 05:47

A petition on Watchdog.net is a somewhat disturbing, yet courageous act by 26-year-old Deric Lostutter:

The Steubenville rape case helped spark a national conversation about victim-blaming and rape culture.
But the victim only got justice because Anonymous leaked significant social media evidence implicating the assailants — and for distributing those tweets, photos, and video, 26-year-old Deric Lostutter faces more prison time than the rapists got themselves.

Lostutter faces up to ten years behind bars if he's convicted of hacking-relating crimes. Now he's gearing up for a costly legal battle — and as he calls for donations, we call on you to give him the nationwide support he needs to win his trial.

The Ohio U.S. Attorney's office and the DOJ are sending a dangerous message to men who stand up : Don't get involved, or else. Let them know we still stand with Deric: Sign your support for his actions and oppose sending him to prison, now!

MESSAGE FOR U.S. ATTORNEY AND DOJ: We support Deric's whisleblowing at Steubenville, and urge you to note our nationwide support when deciding whether to charge him for his act of courage.

Firstly, hacks are no where near as bad as rape crime. Also, how is a courageous act of "crime" bad enough to put the hacker in jail for longer than the rapists? This makes no sense whatsoever.

Please America, stop wasting your time with hackers, they are no different to a journalist taking pictures of a scene of crime in this case. Of course, there are exceptions, but even they have yet to be fully justified. American Cyber Crime laws need to adapt in a much better way than this, and I hope Aaron's Law is enough to stop these vicious punishments against cyber criminals.

ADDITIONAL:

The Steubenville rape case lead to the criminals in question being sentenced to two years imprisonment eventually, and the full article relating to the case can be found here. The weird thing is that people who were covering up the criminals in the case had in fact been arrogant all that time.

Rise in Revolution

DeathByRise

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Sunday August 04, 2013 · 5:23 PM PDT

2013/08/04 · 17:23

Unite, and fight, to make a better life!

God I love that song by Skillet:

Do Governments want protest? Do Governments want a Revolution? They are probably trying to veer off in another direction, but are being constantly bombarded with corrupted politicians that are trying to make things worse.

Companies who corrupt is an "Abuse of Power [Act]" (Suggestion); people who accept the attitude of a company in return for money is an "Abuse of Wealth [Act]" (Suggestion); and the fact that The People have little or no influence on political advancement in any way, shape or form is an "Unfair Advantage [Act]" (Suggestion).

Those "Acts" suggest that these things need to be minimised as it is severely affecting the way The People and the Government communicate with each other. Having good communication with your Government enables a healthy community, and in all senses of the phrase, a healthy community invites a healthy economy. Any lack of communication therein causes indecisive movement toward opinionated culture, which is often what the law is made up of: opinions. Law should be based on the facts of a problem, and be able to solve the problem with only members of the subject community.

My idea of a "Community of Contributions" would allow for this. To get all members of all subject fields the ability to propose legislation to solve problems surrounding that subject field, all proposals being brought up by a Minister for the Department of that subject field once the proposal gains public attention, and then submitting the proposal to Parliament.

I also feel that Planning plays a vital part in the role of creating legislation, and at least the UK has gone as far as proposing a reform by the NI Assembly which will affect local governments by 2015.

I honestly believe that bringing the Government and The People closer in terms of communication will bring a much healthier society and economic climate, people will be happier as they play an important role in advancing politics in the right direction, esp. in proposing laws of their respective subject fields. It is absolutely vital for only those within the subject field to have a say in such things, and not have politicians themselves be the only ones to get the say - they only know Politics, they're basically useless.

I never really looked at Politics as a career, but from what I have learned about how politics work, I can see now that it is merely an opinionated role, and not based on the actual facts of the problems themselves. Politicians should not be trusted in that regard, they know how to influence people with their policies and have some general knowledge in Law, but Politics is way too broad of a subject to allow them to a run a country.

A country is an idea, just like business starts up from ideas. Therefore, a country is a business, and must be treated like a business. The people you govern are basically consumers, they retrieve public services from government with payment of taxes and national insurance. The fact to the matter is, government's are not being treated like a business, they are being treated like a legal entity when they are not - Governments offer services and policies to the people, they do not offer abuse of the law, and this is a common misconception in modern day society, particularly American Government.

What do you think should happen? Should Governments be left intact or should they be reconstructed to adopt a more business-oriented society? There are of course the advantages and disadvantages for both, personally I would rather live in a community that has an active influence on politics and be full of business and livelihood.

How to write a "GOOD" Contract

DeathByRise

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Sunday August 04, 2013 · 9:20 AM PDT

2013/08/04 · 09:20

Ahhh.... Contracts... Something I actually enjoy talking about. Why? Because it gets on my nerves just how many contracts are written with poor structure, or bad business language. Having wrote about a hundred of these things, I think I get the general gist of things regarding contract writing.

Before I start, in response to a comment, this advice comes from my knowledge of English law, so if you are outside of this jurisdiction and you doubt any of this advice, then don't use it. I have made some changes regarding particular sections, but most remain intact.

Headings
You'll be surprised how many contracts lack these... I'm going at a guess of 70% of contracts lack headings, which is really bad business practice. I'm going to reject any contract that lacks this, because I am not going to waste my time trying to find a specific term to prove a point in a contract dispute (in case it ever happens). Putting a title per section is not hard work, it takes 5 seconds to write one, and I'm surprised not many contracts do this.

Definitions
Another no-brainer, if you are going to write a contract like this for example:

The Company must adhere to the below terms of agreement as written by the Contractor. All Productions must be produced and delivered to in some form to the Contractor. The Company will receive respective royalties until the end of the Product's Lifespan.

Who's the Company? Who's the Contractor? What are the Productions? What is the Product? How is "Lifespan" defined?

These are all very important aspects of a contract, without the definitions your contract is likely to be refused.

ADR - Alternative Dispute Resolution
In the UK, there is a thing called the ADR, which is basically a system that involves out-of-court discussions relating to legal disputes, in this order (from lowest to highest):
1. Negotiation
2. Mediation
3. Conciliation
4. Arbitration
5. Tribunals

Some jurisdictions may have different systems.

It is important in a contract to put in some form of ADR, such as negotiation, which makes the contract look more friendly and pleasing to the recipient. This is commonly referred to in the "Termination of Contract" section, close to the end of the contract.

Introductions do not need titles
It is quite obvious where the introduction is going to be, so don't put a title for it - you look like a fool doing that. Here is an example paragraph of an introduction which is commonly used for most contracts:

The Contractor ("[contractor name]") agrees to bind the Company ("[company name]") for the purposes of producing a Product ("[product name]") that requires the Company to produce select Materials for said Product. The Company, by signing at the end of this Contract, agrees to be bound by the terms of this Contract. By producing the Materials, the Company agrees that the Contractor, for the purposes of this Contract, will use said Materials for use in the Product under terms of this Contract.
The terms of this Contract may change from time to time, and the Contractor in this instance agrees to send the amended draft to any and all first parties related to this Contract for re-approval.

It is important to make clear any drafts of a contract. It is also good practice to write any amendments in an Appendix (after the signatures).

Referring to Amendments
If you have version 1 to version 27, there is going to be a lot of amendments. All copies of all versions of your contract must remain intact, and any amendments be made in a different document.

"Battle of the Forms" as it is known in UK law is based on the battle between standard form contracts (kindly corrected by Valar Morghulis).

By having each copy of different versions of a contract is good legal practice to have.

Number terms
Unless it is a title, sub-heading, the Introduction, metadata or signatures, you should put numbers for each term to make it easy to read, using proper indents and justifying the text.

Structure and Layout
Some standard form contracts have no boldness in Titles or Headings, and hardly any structure, layout or good presentation. This is the reason why hardly anyone reads a legal document, not alone a lawyer, because it's poorly structured most of the time.

Terms need to be to the point and describe exactly what I CAN and CANNOT do, what rights I reserve and what royalties I will get, end of. Any consequences to these terms should be written at the end of the contract, notably in a "Termination of Contract".

It can be often, particularly in American law, where some terms of legislation are so confusing and make no sense whatsoever. Avoid complex paragraphs and make sure you understand it; because if you can't, neither will the reader.

Conclusion
If you want to be a businessman, you need to know how to read and write a contract, and be able to understand business language, and this is why I feel any and all businesses should be run by Corporate citizens that have a diploma or degree in some form of Business subject, otherwise you end up with idiots writing bad policies and contracts that are poorly written.

You can probably say that to a few companies and they won't understand what this means... If you are going to own a business, just don't get yourself into trouble with badly spelt (not the American English definition) Contracts. That's all I'm going to say.

I hope this serves the legal world well, and thank you anyone for participating (if that's the right word to use).

The aftermath of a diary and why I'm an idiot

DeathByRise

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Sunday August 04, 2013 · 4:16 AM PDT

2013/08/04 · 04:16

The diary consisting of sexual characters in multimedia took this off, as well as my comment on a popular article. I went away to think about what I had done, why I had done it.

Have I got too much confidence behind a computer screen? Am I being ignorant without realising I am being ignorant? I try to learn things and I pick up critique from people, but in the process I get the odd itch in the back of my neck.

In some ways I have two personalities, which more often than not contradict each other. One of those personalities consist of being very self-defensive, ignorant and selfish. The other involves anger, confidence (sometimes over-confidence) and very energetic. These mood swings happen a lot, and it is rare I ever get to calm down or even be neutral on that regard.

Hypomania was something someone brought up in one of my early articles regarding depression, and how it severely affects my reputation and communication with people.

I was brought up in the town of Yate, just on the outskirts of Bristol and only have been brought up by my mother. I infrequently see my father, and even more infrequent these days. My father wants to leave the country for India, and I am stuck over in the UK with my mother and the grandparents that are just too generous.

Although my father has said to me time and time again that I have been loved and cared for by my mother and relatives, I still feel lonely even now. Even when I am talking to others in conversation, in person, or in Skype, that hidden feeling of loneliness just keeps on creeping in to make me feel unwanted and careless.

I feel it is because of that deep feeling that whenever something bad happens, I feel the need to lash out and try and protect people from it, even if I cannot do so physically. And more often than not, people criticise my actions.

When talking about sex, I automatically try to defend myself and I try to defend also the fact that "love is needed" in sex, when some comments from people say to me that you don't need to love to have sex - which is rather obvious when I think about it.

I have a lot to learn and I have yet to find someone that will actually care for me, instead of being bombarded with criticisms from the public for my ignorance, or just feeling lonely all the time because I don't have the guts to get involved in such sensitive subjects.

I honestly hardly remember much about my sex education, but now I know who I truly am. After exposing myself in this way I have uncovered the truth about myself, and the reflection is grim to say the least.

I will eventually go to Anger Management therapy later this month, I am unsure if this is the right direction for me to sort out my often mood swings, which either makes me sad or angry. I am very rarely happy, and when I am it is often because I stay away from the truth, I seal myself behind bedroom doors and never leave to witness the happenings in this world.

My father may think I was a lucky person for getting generosity from my mother and my grandparents, but it more often than not reflects back to me what kind of childhood I had. This generosity has reflected to me as being stupid, having low self-esteem and always paranoid of the big things. On the other hand, when I am talking on the subject of computers, technology and business I always feel confident, proud and have an admiration in life, which is to establish a video games business.

My father has not really been the father I wanted, and it is as a consequence of his absence in my life that has made me feel emotionally sensitive to almost everything I touch. Not only that but my diet changed a lot... 10 years of caffeine consumption and still at it. I have no control over my addiction and I just can't get off it :'(

I honestly do not know what to do with my life... I studied hard, I'm an ambitious business enthusiast, yet have ignorance and arrogance that makes me despise myself for who I am, I am emotionally sensitive and have a fear of being left out, which I often get from being lonely and having the frequent feeling of "this is a waste of time" when working on projects I hold close to me. I attempt to escape my anger but it only makes it worse.

What should I be? Angry? Happy? Sad? Lonely? No matter the case it always ends up in misery. One person said to me: "The more you think about the negatives the worse it will get for you and is why depression gets worse. To solve depression, think of the positives."

I tried, and failed, as usual. Of course, there's no reason not to keep trying, right?

The moral of the story? I have yet so much to learn, and I am still young at the age of 20. I think I need to rest more, drink less caffeine and be a bit more optimistic. Don't talk about subjects I don't have knowledge in, stop being ignorant, try to be more appropriate and act in a neutral fashion. That I hope will lead me right.

Nevermind the original

DeathByRise

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Saturday August 03, 2013 · 11:50 PM PDT

2013/08/03 · 23:50

This diary was originally about sex objects and the likes, but one comment after another and I found out about a thing called "object relations". Oh how much of an idiot I am.

If I did offend anyone, I am truly sorry for disturbing you. I did not mean in any way, shape or form for the original diary to mean anything too serious about the sexual depiction on sexual characters in multimedia.

Again, as one of the commenters suggested, this is merely me being ignorant and making a fool of myself by trying to suggest things that are not even reality. I think I will study Object Relations Theory more and probably cry more in the process.

Once again, I'm sorry to anyone I offend.

Dealing with Issues (or what I like to call Decision Theory)

DeathByRise

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Wednesday July 31, 2013 · 9:53 PM PDT

2013/07/31 · 21:53

Dealing with issues can be a pain in the arse, especially when it involves politics. However, there are ways in which some issues can be avoided, and how to essentially destroy them completely (although most of the time people can't help but get involved in other people's business).

So I have come up with a theory which is somewhat similar to Cognitive Behavioural Theory, and I present this theory as the Decision Theory - it may be obvious at first glance and will continue to do so, but I think a lot of people ignore it since it is not really applied in every day life.

Okay, let's start from the beginning and work our way through it.

1. Everyone makes an action, everything you do will always lead to something else.
2. If the action influences other people, people may react to it, or they can choose to ignore it (the red cross)
3. If a reaction is made, sometimes it can be positive - nothing happens. Other times, which is most of the time, people choose to argue the action and it causes debate.
4. Debates are fairly dull verbal battles; sometimes they can be interesting. Sometimes debates can lead to nothing or disagreement and the debate continues, or it can lead to agreement.
5. Agreements; well, we all know what happens here. It leads to another action.

Based on this theory, which may or may not work, if the people decided not to react to the governments actions by ignoring them, then the government will have nothing to do to solve any issues, because in theory the government assumes the people are happy with what's going on.

The problem with the general population and just humans in general is that we are very reaction-sensitive, as in people will react to something negative leading into debate or otherwise. Some debates can be good, others are not. I believe that human corruption is different to actual corruption.

cor·rup·tion
kəˈrəpSHən
Noun
Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
The action of making someone or something morally depraved or the state of being so.

While human corruption specifically may be a counterpart of corruption, this kind of corruption I believe to be somewhat different. In government, specifically the Republican Tea Party, they will be paid by corporate sponsors to do bad things. But the immorality isn't just the bad thing about this. The fact that these people are corrupt is not just because they want the money, it's the fact that they continue to do so and is thus why Human Corruption is the:

Continuation of pursuing objectives involving bribed person(s) in believing that their sub-objectives will bring them greater rewards.

Basically, people who are corrupt and continue to achieve the goals of those who bribed them they believe will be given greater rewards and is the reason why they continue to do so. More corruption equals more cash in the eyes of the corrupted, and that is a very big problem.

The source of any corruption involves actions made by others, so if just few people ignore the source of the corruption, we might actually get somewhere. The fact that people are living through this is corruption in itself, as the corporations feed off the fear of those they govern.

Corruption is essentially fear itself, since you could define people who are corrupted to fear the consequences that they would otherwise have to face if they did not do what "they were told". This decision to be ignorant and foolish is in itself immoral, inhumane and illegal, it is in itself an abuse of power and an abuse of wealth.

Corruption invites war, the only way to prevent such a war is to ignore the source of the corruption completely. Let's say BP is the source of the corruption (never know they might be) and they are the one's sponsoring the corrupted so that they can get their way - i.e. get the oil from the Middle East through no diplomatic act whatsoever. If people stopped purchasing petrol or diesel from BP stations, BP will eventually start losing money. They will no longer be able to sponsor the corrupted and thus the corruption will slowly die.

This fear eventually leads to, of course, the bribed doing bad things for their master - or they get killed. The strange thing is, fear can only govern those that lack courage. If we elected people who had more courage than fear, we would be living in a much safer world. Heroism is greater than the sum of all fear. Just one heroic person could change everything - this has happened time and time again: Mohandas Gandhi, Marie Antoinette, Jeanne d'Arc, Winston Churchill, among so many others.

Of course, this doesn't happen all the time. And in the times when it doesn't, those who are being governed live in doubt and under the delusion of their corrupted leaders.

There is no point fighting a war against the corrupted politicians that are governing you; if you want to win a fight, take it to the bribery itself and not the bribed.

Setting up Business

DeathByRise

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Wednesday July 24, 2013 · 1:18 PM PDT

2013/07/24 · 13:18

Firstly, before I get started with this diary, I have been a business enthusiast ever since I was 15 years old (5 years ago) and have also been developing software since I was 13 (7 years); I am currently learning the ins and outs of the XNA Framework and how to use it for game development in the hope to make a video game that people will actually enjoy playing. These series of diaries will be my descriptions and up-to-date topics on what I am doing, my current project(s) progress and future development. I will be applying information regarding Business practice, management and planning in the hope that people may use it as advice.

Disclaimer
Information in this diary can be used as advice, but reader discretion is advised and I cannot guarantee my plans will work the same way for you. If you want to use any advice I put into this diary, you should use it at your own risk.
Copyright Notice
I may use names of my products, my business and some information regarding my project progress. Anything that is not in italics (tips, hints or otherwise) is wholly or partially descriptive to copyrighted works I hold. You may link to this diary, copy text from this diary and attributing to the author, but you may not take away any text for any of your own purposes. Copyright infringement is not acceptable. All copyrights regarding any of my projects or business belong me © Colour Multimedia Enterprises, all rights reserved.

Last year I decided to expand my project Colour Matching, originally an open source work currently available on Codeplex, and so ever since then I have been designing and planning a revamp for this project. It will become commercial and have some open source value to it, in the sense that if you pay enough into the Pay-What-You-Want business model, then you will be given access to Behind-the-Scene development, production and planning content of the video game. The video game will be produced in Visual Studio 2010 on the XNA Framework (it will only be available to play on Windows XP, Vista and 7), using the Visual Basic programming language (yes, I love VB.NET).

To help produce this project, I have signed a contract with small music studio Versilian Studios - they have an active presence on Newgrounds but as each individual member. Samulis, the owner of the company, spoke with me some week ago to start work with me, and after several contract amendments, we are now working together.

A lot of standard form contracts are either poorly structured or very exhaustive to read; I would advise that, if you know how to write a contract, to write one yourself, as it will make it easier to read for both you and the client (in my case, Versilian Studios). If you are in doubt, however, you can use a standard form contract. There are thousands of these things, so the best thing to do is search in Google '[subject] standard form contract' and hit enter. As there are so many of them, you may need to take some time in finding one that best suits your needs. Of course, if it makes it easier, you can always write one yourself. Here is a snapshot of a portion of the contract I have with Versilian Studios to give you an idea of a contract written without a standard form contract. I may write a diary on how to write an effective Contract that is readable, well structured and is presented in a well-written manner.

For the graphics of the game, I have one of my friends that is able to produce the art for the game, which is great news on my behalf - no contract work, no fuss, he loves drawing! He even said he would do it for free, although I will happily give him 5% of the sales of the video game each month after its Release anyway!

Of course, I didn't just go asking around for music producer's or graphic designer's without a project plan. This was hugely important, and the portfolio of the work on the open source version of Colour Matching helped greatly in getting the enthusiasm of music producer's over at Newgrounds.

Colour Matching is a video game about matching colours; the original idea was to make something that you don't often see in the video game world, by melding together several genres into one. When the revamped version of the Arcade game mode in Colour Matching is complete, I would consider it an Action Strategy Role-Playing Game. How does that work? Let me tell you.

The action, as you may notice when playing the original Colour Matching, is in the actual matching of colours. The strategy will involve a bit more than just matching colours. Above each colour will include an action bar, which is filled for every successful colour match corresponding to that action bar - when the bar is filled, the ability will be ready to use when the corresponding colour is available to be matched. If adjacent bars are also filled, they will be activated as well as the initial activation, combining the two abilities together to abolish the Timer (essentially the enemy). Abilities also depend on combo, which is accumulated by successful colour matches; unsuccessful matches will reset the combo, but will not reset the ability bar(s). Combo's have chunks, when each chunk in the combo bar is filled, it adds extra power to your abilities. If all three abilities are ready, and your combo bar is fully filled, you will deal maximum effect against the Timer, doing all sorts of nasty things to it.

In addition, abilities empower Burst - Burst is a special that can only be used when the combo bar is fully filled, and acts as if all abilities are activated - this is an alternative ability to filling each and every ability bar to ready spells, but both Burst and readying abilities I believe will take just as long to ready for maximum effects. Burst, when activated, will reset not only combo but also any abilities that were in the process of readying up.

Designing video games are not easy, especially original concepts. I trust this community not to steal this concept for their own business purposes, but I am ready to take anyone to court over any copyright infringement. You may iterate on this concept, but I appreciate it if the exact concept was not copied.

Designing video games with the idea of melding together different genres is even more difficult. Again, I would appreciate it if people did not directly steal my idea; use information as advice or for implementing into your own original ideas, but not to directly copy. I have spent countless hours not only planning this game, but designing just the interfaces.

Colour Matching so far
Well, how far have I developed Colour Matching at the moment? Not much, I have made some foundations for the game, but actual foundations are not complete - I need some starting graphics first before I can go into creating components in XNA, as well as learn more parts of XNA like using OGG files as background audio, possibly via DirectSound. I know quite a bit of XNA, and I will use what I currently know to set the foundations.

I have written a "manual" which I will be using as reference for designing my interfaces for the game - I am using Paint.NET to design some interfaces. Here is the snapshot for the character screen in the Arcade game mode. You may get some ideas on designing interfaces not only for games, but for software as well.

The numbers in the design correspond with each graphical interface that is to be drawn by my graphic designer along with the resolutions for each. The entire video game will be based on a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 (4K), and is thus why the design of the interfaces are in that same size. These numbers and plans will be used to aid the graphic designer in making the graphics for the interfaces.

The aim here is to not only increase the demands for 4K resolution, but to also adopt the resolution in a way that is efficient for demanding such a resolution, since it is fairly new technology. I believe this move to be good for advancing technology in this direction, and will hopefully add competition in this space.

There is not much I can really talk about Colour Matching in terms of development as of yet because it is still in early/mid planning.

History of the Business
Colour Multimedia Enterprises was not always called this, in fact it's had two name changes since the time of the original Colour Matching. It was originally Colour Obsessed, which was a Facebook page designed to promote Colour Matching, the open source version. I decided to change the name to Colour Entertainment, and use the 'Colour Obsessed' name as an achievement name in Colour Matching, but that eventually never happened. Colour Entertainment, while it is easier to use and say than Colour Multimedia Enterprises, I could not use from a legal standpoint. A Netherlands-based International company known as Living Colour Entertainment would be trademark conflict and I would not like to invite myself into court in that regard, and is the reason for the second name change.

The logo of Colour Entertainment - sorry, "Enterprises" - has stayed the same since the initials are mostly the same; that and I think the logo looks cool!

This business also started a website over on Webs; it is currently have a "migration" over to a new space: www.colour-id.co.uk - This website is not complete yet and is currently my top priority.

To prevent confusion and for naming your business, when you think of a name you should always type that name into Google to ensure that the name has not already been used by someone else, otherwise you may end up in legal battles with these companies.

Progress
I actually have a checklist of things to do, and I am considering making a program that in fact allows people to check the progress of things me and the rest of the team is up to, in terms of Colour Matching, the business, etc.

When working on multiple topics, like me with a website, a video game and software, a checklist is always really helpful. You don't want to get lost in your business management, as without a checklist actual management can turn into a hole full of trouble. To avoid this, always make a checklist - what you need to do in the business on a daily basis in order to achieve your goals, and put the most important at the top.

My current checklist is as follows:

1. Complete new Website
2. Create Database (For Checklist program)
3. Design, Make and Test the Checklist Program
4. Publish program and Update website
5. Use Checklist program to make new Checklists

Setting up the Final Product
Colour Matching is obviously not a final product, but setting this up as if it were a final product is both good and bad.

Designing any product based on your goal to make it into a final product, i.e. what your last version of a game will be like, then the thing to consider when doing this is time, feedback and customer approval. I make a checklist of things I want to do in Colour Matching in order to make it into a final product, but customer feedback and the actual development time will influence what Colour Matching will eventually turn into.

What I don't want to do is design too much of the final product when an Alpha version of the game is not even complete yet. It is okay to be enthusiastic, but a lot of businesses can die just from over-enthusiasm, because projects are not being developed within the time period initially set.

I want to make sure I have a final "plan" for Colour Matching to build up to while the game is still being played - these checklists are absolutely vital for business management and development, it aids in providing tasks to other members of the team, and it also helps to prioritise certain tasks over others. Timelines can be important, but are not necessarily needed for small teams, like my own.

Conclusion
For now, its just the case of finishing the website and making a checklist program, and as described in the previous section, this is important. I would like to get back to designing and eventually getting into actual development for Colour Matching, but for now getting the website done and the program is more important for business management purposes.

Thanks for taking your time reading this - this is quite a mouthful, and I appreciate your time in reading this. Please let me know what you think of this format. I will be using tips in between sections as ways of helping enthusiasts and beginners in the business world easier for the rest of us!

The Class-Action Lawsuit that may kill digital sales for Game Devs/Publishers

DeathByRise

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Tuesday July 23, 2013 · 7:40 AM PDT

2013/07/23 · 07:40

The Class Action lawsuit against Valve may lead to some question as to how exactly you can resell your game's licence. While it is possible, such a process is very difficult, especially if the video game in question is single player where the game's licence could be resold but still installed on the user's computer and still playable on that computer because guess what? Cracks, keygens and the likes can bypass the licencing system, this is how piracy works, and the lawsuit made by this company is essentially encouraging piracy in the form of reselling; whether they realise this or not is an entirely different question.

There's a few problems with this.

Firstly, reselling digital games on a computer regardless of its DRM measures is piracy in and of itself, because the resell of a digital good would not be authorised by the Publisher/Developer, so if Valve is forced to change its policies after this lawsuit, it will mean goodbye to the entire Steam platform, because not a single publisher or developer will allow resell of their digital goods - they need money just as much as Steam, they made the game and Steam is an authorised reseller. Keyword: authorised.

Secondly, almost every video game, unless it has NO DRM, is treated as a licence, and product keys can only be used once, particularly on Steam. To be able to resell that serial key to someone else is basically piracy, unless Valve gives its user base the ability to do so - this will severely hurt first sales of digital goods, and it would be like the days of physical piracy all over again - no, I do not want to hard disk boot sale.

Thirdly, even though these parties are out of the question, a precedent that sets enforcement that all developers and publishers must give their users the ability to resell digital games may ultimately force developers and publishers to put "ALWAYS-ON DRM" onto their games so that they know when a serial key or licence is being resold and when to deactivate the game on the installed system. This will require effort, and developers and publishers are not looking forward to this, neither is consumers if we have to face an inevitable "always-on drm" for every game we play - not everyone has Internet connection, and even those that do have bandwidth limits.

Eva Hoffschulte in the article says:

"Unfortunately a date of the trial is not fixed - we hope it will take place this year. Until then, it is not realistic that Valve will change their policy. But our chance to win the process is very good and that will be really an improvement for consumers: then they can sell their games to others.

Obviously these people over at the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (FGCO) have no clue how the digital medium works, or even how software in general works at that. The real issue we face is that if Valve is forced to accept this, game developer's and publisher's may seek Steam alternatives in hope to keep their game licences being sold, it will also mean mass protest against the federation for this ridiculous nonsense.

Talking ridiculous, another article on the same website that the same group had planned to take on Valve for the same issue 3 years ago, but failed. The fact that this group is trying it again and think their chances are higher this time round clearly means they have their heads up their butt. They have as little common sense as the typical teenager.

As for PC users, are we complaining that we can't sell our digital games? And if there are, they are in the minority since it has not made news yet. If we don't complain about something, stop trying to fix it - this organisation has no common sense.

Don't fix something that is not broken, it's common sense people - learn from your mistakes, the FGCO has not.

Political Advancement - Part 1

DeathByRise

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Wednesday July 17, 2013 · 1:12 PM PDT

2013/07/17 · 13:12

All men and women that are born into this world envision that they may one day be a person who may express their inner-most desires to the best of their ability for the purposes of the interest by those surrounding them, and be able to deliver such content desires in a fair and reasonable manner that is beneficial to others. This is what Humans are, this is what we are for.

Co-operation leads to advancement, which leads to culture, which leads to diversity, which leads to religion, which leads to politics, which leads to war, which leads to treaties, which leads to co-operation - and the circle continues.

While so many say they do not want war, the reason why it has not happened yet is because there are too many people that oppose their own natural habits - that is in fact natural to fight, whether it is for freedom, for your rights, for resources, for survival, for your loved ones, your family, your friends, even for your own purposes.

But in the end, no matter how much we care or prosper, no matter how much hate or despair; you can only really do so much to "break free from the will of the damned", as they say. What is this story? This story is about a man who once stood tall and proud, but consequences came for a lot of people since him.

And so it begins, the journey to peace and harmony - a way to protest peacefully in a way that prevents all casualties from the atrocities of war and famine. Despite the close allegiance with the People, this man could only tolerate so much. He decided it was time to fight, but in a manner so approved by the many that in fact successfully holds back the enemy forces from ever touching the light of day again.

I am talking about the people who stand up day-by-day seeking gratefulness and to have freedom and rights to the things that are publicly available to them. I shall first talk about the politics of this world and the minor influences it brings.

Politics
Not much has to be said about what this world offers in terms of politics. The ability to control, order and manage a civilisation through a set of rules and regulations. While this may seem so simple in this form, the actual process of making law is, for the most part, difficult to say the least. It is, however, a political violation of the law itself, including the human right to free speech, to enforce your opinion on others, and since 99% of law is made up of opinion, it is by no means a lawful way to suggest that your rules are any better than any other.

Let's put it plain and simple: Politics is wrong, the Law is a mess, and Human rights are non-existent. There is no place in the world that standardizes on any level politics, law or even Human rights at that, and it is as thus why there are a lot of politicians who will believe otherwise, for their own sake.

Legal Schematics - Designing and planning legislation - if it is just like any other project, all legislation should be backed up with a design and plan to ensure that if it does not work, the design or plan can easily help those involved in the legislation to navigate it at a much faster pace.
Equity - A term that has been in English law ever since the Court of Chancery introduced it in 1557, to ensure that all justices are fair and reasonable in the eyes of the Court. England and Australia are among the earliest adopters of this term, but has not yet been standardized on an international level. It is because of this that countries, like America, still have judges and politicians that use their free will to make harsh decisions without first thinking about the fairness and possible consequences it could entail. Equity needs to be standardized and regulated by an International entity that will bring forth fairness in all natural laws of the world to the best of its ability, and ensure that Courts are not regulated by government, but regulated by Natural Law in a neutral and fair manner.
Politics is business, not law - Politicians too often think that they have the power to control the Law. They do not, they are separate entities for a reason, even in America and that's just me being generous. Politics is the ability to interpret the current law and apply it in a manner that is fair among the services the current political power governs. If this is not what Politics is doing, then there is something seriously wrong with the way the legal system is being developed. America has notably one of the worst political systems in the world, considering that both Corporations and Politics can influence the way each entity works, including Law. Law is to be separate for the purposes of protecting those it is supposed to regulate, not to be abused by so-called power-mongers. Politics is just like Business, once a shareholder (Political Party) gains enough votes to make it in, they are then the Chief Executive Officer (Government), which provides their own policies and adopts them in a fair manner in conjunction with current Company core policies (Law). Is the American Government like this? You can figure that one out for yourself.

Politics is not a subject to be easily abused, and it is the decisions made my Government that can really devastate things. America has probably, from what I can tell, the most direct abuse to its own citizens and I cannot bare to fathom how much I disgrace it. American Government is not even a Government, it is more of a power-holder seeking to destroy anything that is not like them by being as racist, as sexist, as fascist and as imperialist as humanely possible - I am one to tolerate it to the best of my ability, but if they continue their vicious plans to take over the world in the worst way possible, Law is inevitably destroyed.

Reforming Politics
Politics still needs to do some catching up with the rest of the world, and America needs to catch up with Human Rights, where men, women, children and even the elderly face the inevitability of another world war, simply because some people can't catch up and will not adopt new reforms that will help to aid the future. Technology improves, but with Oil companies and the likes viciously attacking the Governments at every corner for the sake of their own survival without any desire to advance themselves into a service that not only provides oil, but hydrogen or electricity to car companies who are inevitably seeking to use this technology for economic purposes, then we will continue this useless war against our government for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

The cost of digging up oil from the ground will eventually cost a billion lives instead of a million, where if we move over to 100% electric-based or magnetic-based vehicles the cost of lives lost will be significantly reduced, maybe even to 0.

How many more lives will it cost to repay our governments' debts, since that's the biggest question of all. Political inheritance invites severance of its own governing powers.

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Tips on Social Media

DeathByRise

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Monday July 15, 2013 · 10:56 AM PDT

2013/07/15 · 10:56

A recent article that was posted by Sky News not long ago explains the tragic story of how a 16-year old teenage girl was murdered by someone she had "befriended" on Facebook.

Young people, particularly those under the age of 18 that are most vulnerable to such threats of violence, need to be a lot more careful when using social media networks, and in particular, understanding the consequences of "befriending" strangers.

The below tips are designed particularly to help people who are particularly vulnerable on social networks. If you feel offended by any of these points you should stop reading. The tips are not designed to offend victims of the contrary, so if you are a victim of the contrary, I strongly suggest that you do not read the rest of this diary. I am not writing this diary with the intention of arguing with people who are offended by this material, so if you have anything offensive to say, I would recommend that you don't say it at all.

Here is a list of tips on social media, what you should look out for and how to talk with people you know nothing about effectively without putting yourself to physical harm.

1. If you are signing up to a social media website for the first time, you should ALWAYS read their Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, no matter how boring to know that they have adequate facilities that will aid you in reporting members of the community.
2. When you do eventually sign up - don't just start entering your personal information. Make sure your privacy settings are setup so that people who visit your profile cannot gain access to information such as your mobile phone number, or email address.
3. Although most adverts on Facebook are genuine, not all of them are. If a social media network is primarily earning money from adverts, you should be aware that not all of these adverts are scam. If the advert takes you to a website that wants to use your Facebook profile information, make sure that website is made and regulated by a genuine company, and not just any individual that can use your information for fraudulent purposes, or worse still, to stalk you.
4. Facebook in particular will promote certain pages, sometimes they are genuine, other times they are not. Don't just access it thinking that the terms of a supposed competition or similar is going to lead to nice things, always assume Pages are vicious until proven wrong.
5. When talking to someone you don't know, don't answer all their questions - in fact don't EVER answer a question that is personal to you. There is no harm in saying "No".
6. If you're being threatened verbally on any social network, simply delete the contact and block, simple. Alternatively, just hide the comment if a comment on a status.
7. Reporting people is easy, getting the social media network on the suspicious account is not. If you want a person who is using verbal threats against you to have their account deleted, don't just report that person. Share the link of this person's profile to others for other's to report.
8. If someone is offering a job on a social media network, don't just accept it. Just like in the linked article, don't trust anyone unless you are absolutely sure. This is why jobs are offered AFTER a FORMAL interview! So, if you are desperate for a job, make sure you know the person, this person is offering a formal interview, and will ask for your CV. If a person asks you to do a job for them without asking for your CV, you should straight away that this offer is a SCAM.
9. If you are being asked to share personal details, this should be done via a secure website (most preferably a job directory/archive), and not via a social media network.
10. Never give out your physical permanent location to anyone, even if it is a job offer - no company will ask for this information until you are EMPLOYED.
11. Never click on links in emails sent to you by someone you do not know, always copy and paste.
12. People regularly ask about a companies' recruitment policy - ALL COMPANIES MUST HAVE THIS POLICY BY LAW (at least in the UK), if an employer is asking you for a job and has no recruitment policy, don't accept the offer. Some people may offer "summer jobs" where they require a second-hand, make sure you know this person in real life.

Although a lot of these points may be obvious, it is surprising that not many actually use it for their own protection. If you have children at around 12 or more looking for a job on social media networks, tell them to be exceptionally careful. Remember that companies don't recruit anyone under the age of 16 (in the UK) unless it is a part-time risk-free job offer.

Threats are not Crimes

DeathByRise

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Thursday July 04, 2013 · 8:26 AM PDT

2013/07/04 · 08:26

It is not a criminal offense to make a threat unless you conduct such a thing in the same manner you made the verbal threat. However, according to a particular article, it is apparently illegal to make threats in a video game about killing people, even if you don't have the confidence, willingness or guts to even do such a thing. These young adults are simply making a natural reaction to someone else who may or may not have made a similar threat, it's decisions in conversation made by players who are able to conduct such verbal threats, even to the extreme. These people have no understanding of the actual implications caused by such threats, even if they are able to conduct such a thing.

To make matters worse, these threats are treated as criminal offenses, and these young people are spending lengthy unconstitutional periods of time in jail for making a threat. 8 years for making a verbal threat? Seriously? America, the reason people hate you is because you're hating on people. Hate increases hate, it's a simple concept that needs to be learned by basic Humanity simply because we're too stupid to understand it. The same goes with education, if you can't be bothered to place adequate educational facilities that teach children the rights and wrongs of social behaviour, then of course these crimes exist.

Crime exists because of a lack of education, any sane person knows that. And putting young adults in jail is not going to teach them any better what is right or wrong about the goings on in this world.

Also, making verbal threats against other people is wrong, even if it is natural. We need to balance security with individual natural defenses. We naturally defend ourselves in a situation where people commit the same crime as you, whether that is verbal threat, physical threat, torture, murder, you name it. Law exists to protect the best interests of human beings within a given jurisdiction, and to ensure that all humans within such a region treat each other humanely. Law does not exist to be abused and written in such a way as to defend your own interests for the cost of innocent lives - it is unconstitutional, wrong, against human nature, against international peace treaties, and against your own written laws.

No wonder so many people hate America these days.

"In-game threats over the Internet present an interesting scope for what would be reasonable. If someone detailed "I know where you live" and made it all very real in-the-flesh, maybe described somewhere in-town that they run into the person regularly, I could see it [as a crime]." ~philipmerrill

Is Depression Corruption?

DeathByRise

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Wednesday July 03, 2013 · 1:14 AM PDT

2013/07/03 · 01:14

I have self-diagnosed myself with Depression, which I believe I have had for 3 years now. Quite recently I have only just started getting counseling and while I have yet some more time to really get into what is happening to me and how to overcome my anger and repetitive lack of sleep (or more), my counselor told me to test for Low Blood Sugar because of the daily intake of caffeine I have.

I am very bad with caffeine, I will drink at least one energy drink per day, and generally when such resources (money) are unavailable I will revert to drinking cups of tea during the day or almost nothing at all. I fear that my addiction to caffeinated drinks is what keeps me up at night, being angry every time I read the news about the next oncoming storm from the American Government.

I asked myself yesterday whether Depression is actually the Corruption, and not the people themselves. Depression is caused by thinking patterns, pessimism is the main source of Depression which can really start it off. Starting to be pessimistic can get to people, and while some may argue that being pessimistic can sometimes help in certain situations, paranoia will come next.

Paranoia is a constant fear of something, you think something might happen and this can do a whole lot more things if not careful. I used to be very pessimistic, then I fought back. It was because of being pessimistic earlier in life that led me to be vulnerable to depression, coupled by the fact that I have been drinking caffeinated drinks from the age of 10 almost every day since. That is almost 10 years of constant caffeine intake and I am still alive, weird that.

The reason I think depression is the corruption and not people themselves is because Depression, like other mental illnesses, severely affects human behaviour on a day-by-day basis. It's hardly anyone's fault for making a Human feel the way they do, as we are all aware it is completely natural to be angry, or to be sad, or hopeless etc. But the one thing that you should never do is use that as an excuse to say you have a right to control, because that's what causes corruption.

I'd like to think that the big corporations and governments are not led by idiots, even though some of them can actually be if they are not necessarily mentally deranged, but let by depression and the stress of the infrastructures that make up these governments and corporations.

I hate that I have depression because it does prevent me from doing things I actually enjoy, like planning and developing video games in the hope to start my own business. The main issue for me is being distracted by first and third world issues, such as the global economy. Getting a job should be a priority for me, but I have a lack of incentive to go out and find one because I am too pessimistic I will never get the vacancy. I have received emails from a variety of companies regarding jobs and I have come into contact with them, but none of them hardly seemed interested in my CV, which included 8 years of software development, 3 years of interest in Copyright and Intellectual Property law, and so many more years of wanting to own a business in the video games industry.

There is even lack of incentive to go out often, and I suppose the main reason for that is because I don't have any friends that live nearby. There are relatives, but the majority of them are either busy too often or I just have the lack of communicating with them. Either way, I still need to improve my social life.

I lack in almost every respect but being able to plan and make video games, and generally just play video games, watching films etc. In fact, yesterday, I watched Final Fantasy The Spirits Within and Advent Children - such good films, I just want to watch them over and over again, though I am a BIG Final Fantasy fan :D

However, if this pessimism and the lack of being optimistic continues I fear for my life, that I will eventually turn into that person going on a mentally deranged journey toward hell. Human behaviour can be affected by such small things, and I think that most criminals have some form of mental illness, otherwise why would they commit the crime, unless of course they are starving to death.

I am trying to be a good, lawful person but when you're own government is breaking their own laws just to take control, that's when everyone else joins in. The legal system automatically breaks and all of a sudden you're at the brink of collapse. I think that if there is any pattern, everyone should have at least some care in what they do, every action has a price to pay, but bad actions outweigh the good ones.

It is useless trying to take control just because you opinion is different to others, in fact 99% of law is opinion and not based on fact, which makes it a violation of itself considering the Freedom of Speech exists (if it does exist). Eventually, we will all die in the end, but we should use our time alive to make the best of Humanity, instead of taking control of each other. We can do more in life simply by fighting our own corruption.

There are things worth fighting for, but it is useless fighting against someone else's corruption, because that's what makes them worse. You've seen it for yourself, so don't get violent. It is natural to be angry, but it is not natural to kill because your opinion is different.

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