Stem Cells

I'm not sure what to think.

I read on a site that they think of stem cells as:

"little seeds that can grow into and be accepted by organ tissue. They are like a blank microchip that can ultimately be programmed to perform any number of specialized tasks.

Most of the body's specialized cells cannot be replaced by natural processes if they are seriously damaged or diseased. Stem cells can be used to generate healthy and functioning specialized cells, which can then replace diseased or dysfunctional cells, so instead of replacing an entire organ, you can repair damaged, vital parts of the body with cells.

This aids people who are on a donor waiting list, and considering there is no federal pressure to get people to donate their organs once they die, people often die while waiting for a donor who is a match to become available. It also aids people who have injured organs that cannot be donated and accepted, such as a spinal chord."

Blimey, that was long. OK, so it's a piece of their article on stem cells. (Link)

Anyway, the big problem with stem cells is that they can only be taken from embryos and fetuses, because they are a lot more versatile and easier to work with.

So, when you hear people talking about 'killing babies to get to stem cells' what they actually mean to say is 'removing the stem cells from the embryo of a developing baby (if you will)'.

There's a difference between an embryo and a fetus. First, the embryo are (I am lead to believe) is a bunch of cells. They have potential to grow into a new life form, but they have not yet. And since they are not really a creature yet, the idea that your killing something lacks weight.

But, I have just run into a bit of a dilemma - your eliminating something that has the potential to be a human.

For example, you have no idea if what you just took stem cells out of was going to be a brilliant film maker or the next president. Or, for that matter, a psychotic serial killer or someone who gets drunk and kills a bunch of people and him/herself in a massive car crash.

I guess my problem is that we aren't entirely sure what we're removing from the gene pool.

Don't get me wrong, stem cells are great. They can help repair organs, cure blindness (they can grow into corneas), cure diseases, spinal cord injury, and just so many other things. I guess it's just my thrice-damned conscience playing up.

Call of Duty 4: Multiplayer Guide (Introduction)

I've been playing Call Of Duty 4 Multiplayer a lot (primarily because MW2 multiplayer won't get past 'fetching playlists') and I believe I have become savvy enough to post a guide on how to survive a COD4 Multiplayer match.

These guides will involve:
- General Tips
- Etiquette
- Communication
- Custom Classes (and how to make them properly)
- Perks and Weapons (kind of adds on the end of Custom Classes)
- Maps (and strategies to go with them)
- How to make the most of your class
- Surviving 'Hardcore mode'
- Surviving 'Old School mode'
- Combat Tips
- Sniping 101
- Stealth 101
...And probably a lot more.
(These sections will appear in no particular order.)

I'll spread all these out over a series of Guides, each one specialising in a certain area.

So, stay tuned for the fist one. Shouldn't be far away.

Joss Whedon

I've just found out he's making a movie called Cabin in the Woods. I thought, 'Oh good, Joss is getting back in the game after the stupid pricks at Fox cancelled Dollhouse'.

But I think Joss Whedon sold his soul. Cabin in the Woods looks like one of those pathetic horrors in which a bunch of college students go to a cabin deep into the forest. You can probably guess that there's some serial murderer out here.

Come on, Joss! You made Buffy, Angel and Firefly! You can't just cop-out to a $h!tty 'bunch of college students get massacred' horror movie!

I can already see the plot, and the characters involved.

- Main guy: The person who 'leads' the group. Probably dies.

- Girl with big tits: Self explanatory. Probably dies.

- Nerdy guy: Frail, weak, but smart. Most Likely dies.

- Whiny kid: That little prick who never shuts up. Dies.

- Secondary female character: Like Uncharacterised Character/s, but always female. Dies.

- Uncharacterised character/s: These are the people who you have no connection too. They could be one person or several. Dies.

It'll probably rely on startling the movie-goer instead of scaring him/her. Really scaring someone is keeping them on the edge of their seat and having them as tense as a cat on water skies, waiting for the jump out horror, while never needing to give it to them. Once you have the watchers attention, you can hold them like that for a good portion of the movie while not having a starting thing jump at them from behind.

Music and ambiance helps set the atmosphere, and so does the environment. Even the most 'Oh, I see where this is going' movie-goer wouldn't know what might happen.
Well, maybe he might. But the point I'm trying to get to is that slasher horror films are predictable and shallow, the characters are almost never likable, and the startling things jumping from behind the screen get old after the hundredth time you've seen them.

Let's hope I'm wrong about Cabin in the Woods, although I don't think I am. They're delaying it until Janurary 2011 so, get this, it can be in 3D.
I'm right. Joss has sold his soul. Let's hope he can get it back.

Core Hound Pups

So, I'm as my banker character on Aman'Thul, and I see this other character with a vanity pet called a 'Core Hound Pup'.

First thing that crossed my mind was "I didn't know Core Hounds had puppies".

But then I watched it for a minute. One of it's idle animations was digging into the ground, picking up a bone, fighting it's other head for it (did I mention it has two heads?) then throwing it up into the air, catching it by the tail, and scoffing it down.

After watching it for a bit more, I thought "this is... so cute! I must have one!"

Turns out you gotta have a Blizzard Authenticator to get one. In case you didn't know what it was, It provides your account with a totally random (although I suspect pseudo-random) 6 digit number in addition to your regular password. Click the button, get your generated key, enter that and your password into your login screen, and you get to enjoy increased security.

Plus an adorable Core Hound Pup, if for no other reason. Bonus is that the pet is account bound, so you can send it to all your characters, just like Mr. Chilly and the Onyxian Whelpling (two recent vanity pets mailed to players).

For New Zealand buyers, it's $6.50. American or our currency, I don't know. But I keep thinking that's a small price to pay for this awesome pet.

Blood Bowl

So, I bought Blood Bowl yesterday. My dad and I specifically checked the scores online, and after we decided it was all good we bought it.

So, installation went fine, a bit slow but that's neither here nor there.

After a bit of faffing around I get to the 'input player key here' bit. And, naturally, I guess that the activation key is the same as the player key.

It's not.

So, here I am, trying to put the activation key into the player key box. Now, you may say 'Oh jee, how stupid of you. I would hate to see your children', and that's all very well, but you would make the same mistake if you never actually got the fucking player key.

My game box doesn't have it anywhere, and when I bought it I noticed the lack on manual. It's all very well that the manuals on the disk, but the manual lacks the player key where it usually is (on the back of the manual). In fact, if you look at the on-disk manual, it has the blank section for the key, but not the key itself.

So, I'm going to go back to the store and demand my cd key, politely but firmly. And if they say they never got the manual/player key for the game, then I'll ask for my money back.

I was going to blame the company that made this for having excrement in their heads because they didn't package the cd key (or player key) with the game, but it's most likely the stores fault.

I would write my first impressions of it, but as you can plainly tell I can't.