Well, it's official.   Starcraft 2 will have no LAN support.

Before I start, go sign the petition asking Blizzard to add it in:

http://www.petitiononline.com/LANSC2/petition.html

There are a number of problems with their decision - first and foremost being that they're literally killing off their huge LAN-party-going fanbase.

Think about it.  Your average American does not have an internet connection that can handle eight simultaneous Battle.net connections.  And even if the host does have a connection good enough, Blizzard is now forcing all eight people to send their game round-trip to Blizzard's servers just so they can play with the people in the same room.  That increases latency and reduces the "fun" value of the game.  If Battle.net dies mid-game, then the "LAN" party comes to an end.

Do any of you remember the original StarCraft, or Diablo I and II?  Blizzard provided a multiplayer-only spawn installer on their CDs.  They wanted people to play with their friends, even if their friends didn't own the game.

Starcraft is still one of the ten best-selling games, more than a decade after its release.  Do they really think LAN capability hurt their sales?  Do they really think piracy hurt their sales?

But now, they're claiming LAN capability will reduce sales of Starcraft 2.  Based on past experience, that's only true if their game sucks - people buy good games.  Just look at Blizzard's previous releases for the proof.

Someone said earlier today, "I wouldn't vote for a Republican in a million years."  He later clarified that he wouldn't vote for a member of any party, be they Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian.

My response-question was this: "So you wouldn't vote for someone that represents your views almost perfectly, simply because they associate themselves with a party?"

harryandthehenderson's answer? "Yep, because those political parties are just lackeys of special interests that I have none of my interests at heart."

harryandthehenderson appears to have a very different understanding of the phrase "represents your views" than I do. You see, when I say John represents some particular set of views, I mean he actively works to put those views into action. harryandthehenderson appears to mean that John might hold those views himself but ignores them in favor of some special interest or other. If harryandthehenderson is correct, John can hardly be said to represent those views, can he?

My use of the phrase mirrors closely the meaning of the words, while harryandthehenderson's apparent understanding of the phrase removes its meaning and replaces it with useless drivel.

This is why our political system is so messed up.  There are citizens out there who actively refuse to vote for people who represent their views, simply because those politicians have chosen to associate themselves with a party.  That refusal essentially ensures that those citizens' views will never be represented in our government.

Vote based on your views, people!  If you refuse to vote for people who believe as you do, then you're ensuring that people who don't will get elected, and your complaints about politicians ignoring your views will be your own fault.

So I've been looking into the requirements for registering my car in Washington.  If you're unaware, I own a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid, which gets an EPA estimated 40 mpg (city) / 45 mpg (highway).

According to Washington's Department of Licensing website, only the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight can be registered as a hybrid.  Curious, I called the DoL to find out why.  Know what she told me?  "To qualify as a hybrid, a vehicle must get at least fifty miles per gallon in the city."  That is, as perfectly as I can remember, exactly what she said.  There's just one small problem with her statement.  Neither of the cars they accept as hybrids get that mileage rating.

The Toyota Prius gets 48 mpg (city) / 51 mpg (highway), according to Toyota's website.  The Honda Insight gets 40 mpg (city) / 43 mpg (highway), according to Honda's website.  Some of you have noticed something odd about the Insight mileage ratings.  They're not as good as the Civic Hybrid!

Something is seriously wrong with Washington State's Department of Licensing.

I've posted updated SoundBoard to fix a glaring bug regarding page titles not saving when the page is changed.  Anyone who has already purchased SoundBoard can upgrade to 2.2 by logging in to their Xnapid.com account and clicking the "My Software" link; SoundBoard 2.2 will show up in the list as a free upgrade.

I also wanted to thank those users who have reported bugs or offered suggestions to improve SoundBoard.  I'll try to think of a way to reward you

Apparently, I can't use my network-shared HP Deskjet 5650 in Vista.  You see, Vista only supports this printer using a generic driver when connecting via USB or parallel cable.

In other words, if I want to print in Vista using my HP Deskjet 5650, I have to be directly connected to it.  I can't set it up on a server - either Linux or Windows - and share it with the Vista machine.

That is extremely lame.