Unless you’ve been living inside a cardboard box (are you in Arts? just kidding) you have probably heard all about Halo 2. The highly anticipated game for XBOX drops tomorrow, so I figured I’d round up some reviews for you. Enjoy!

• GameAxis – Score: 10.0
• Canoe’s WHAM! Gaming – Score: 9.5
• GameSpot – Score: 9.4 (plus Editor’s Choice)
• XBOX@ign.com – Score: 9.8
• teamxbox – Score: 9.9 (plus Editor’s Choice)
• GameSpy.com – Score: 10.0
• DailyGame.net – Score: 9.8
• G4techTV – Score: 10.0

Looks like people like this game 🙂 Oh and for all you hardcore fans, there IS a story between Halo and Halo 2 – it’s described in the new book First Strike.

Does anyone else think that the cost of parking at the University is insane? Seriously, $1.25 for a half hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is ridiculous. Needless to say, I am parked at an obscure meter without paying, right now.

In other news, the UofA has a new President! Congratulations Dr. Indira Samarasekera, I will now spend the duration of your term as President learning to pronounce your name. If you’re in Arts, her appointment probably does not mean good things will come for you. Samarasekera is an Engineering lady, so look for more funding and support for that area. As if Engineering needed another cheerleader.

It was on this day in 2003 that I started my blog. Things have definitely changed since then, here’s some of the major changes:

• People actually read my blog now.
• Other people I know now blog as well.

That pretty much sums it up don’t you think? LOL! Actually, there are some big changes. I have a photo gallery now, 373 more posts now than I did then, 1667 more comments, and I now have over 200,000 visitors every month. Some other interesting stats – traffic is busiest from 2 PM until 3 PM, and Tuesday is the most trafficked day.

Here’s to another great year, and thanks for reading!

If your memory is better than mine, you’ll recall about a week ago I posted about a lot of comment spam appearing on my blog. Since then I have diligently been running my SQL script which removes the spam comments. Tonight, I came across CommentSPAM.org, and as a result, across the Clearscreen HIP Control 1.0 for .Text. Basically it adds one of those “enter the letters you see here” boxes to my comments form, so that posting a comment requires human interaction. Works great! If you have a .Text blog, I highly recommend it, easy to setup, very useful!

Up yours comment spammers!

Just finished watching One Tree Hill on Global. And I rather enjoyed it. What the hell is wrong with me? It has to be one of the most poorly written shows ever! Such sappy lines…I think I need a drink 😛

Lots of posts out there describing Canada 2.0 in the wake of the US Election. Everyone thinks the map is so great because we absorb the Democratic states. I think the map is great because the Americans actually got our provinces abbreviated and placed correctly.

Somewhat related and similarly funny is A reader’s guide to expatriating on November 3rd.

Here is a very interesting article from The Economist, that says while “Hillary [Clinton] may not be the best person to put her party together again…she is better than the rabid left.” I have long said Hillary Clinton should run for President. She’s a woman, for one thing, and I think the United States could use a healthy shot of estrogen. She has experience, both as a First Lady and as a Senator.

Her major competition within the Democratic party appers to be, at least for now, Rudolph Guiliani. As for Republican competition, George Bush himself is being touted (now that they control the Whitehouse, Senate, and House, there is speculation that the Republicans will get rid of the law limiting a President to two terms) and his brother Jeb Bush. There are already a ton of articles and stories on the topic.

Here’s my favorite part from the Economist article:

Hillary Clinton is the big Democratic winner from Tuesday night’s debacle. Mrs Clinton is very much the front-runner for the presidential nomination in 2008. By then the country may be desperate for respite from Republican rule and the Iraq war may at last be over. She has plenty of credibility with the left because of her record (particularly on health-care reform) and her sex (remember that the majority of voters in the Democratic primaries are women). But she has moved to the centre since becoming a senator for New York: she has been careful to support the Iraq war and has found herself a seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Clintonistas control most of the party machinery, from think-tanks such as the Centre for American Progress to get-out-the-vote organisations such as The Media Fund. And her husband is one of the best political operators on the Democratic side.

The choice is clear now that Kerry has lost. The Democrats have lost two in a row. They need to rebuild. They need a change. A woman who tends to be more center than left and has her former President husband behind her – what could be more perfect? Vote Hillary Clinton in 2008!

You be the judge…from CBC:

The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved judgment in the case of a B.C. man caught masturbating in his own apartment living room. Canada’s top court has to decide whether Daryl Clark of Nanaimo should have been convicted of committing an indecent act in public. Clark was sentenced to four months in jail because he could be seen from the outside through his windows.

He was in his own house. He didn’t mean for anyone to see – when caught, “Clark then jumped back from the window.” He was doing something in what he thought was the privacy of his own home. Granted he could have closed the curtains, but still.

If anyone should be prosecuted it should be the woman that immediately called the police when she saw him. My first reaction would be to laugh. My second reaction would be to remember that porn sites make a lot of money. No where in my thought process would “call the cops” register.

Read: CBC News

Just checking the news during the last part of my economics class. Three hours is just too much! Looks like the day after George Bush won the election, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s health has gotten worse:

Yasser Arafat’s health has suffered a setback at a French military hospital where he is being treated but his life is not in any immediate danger, Palestinian officials said. Leila Shahid, permanent Palestinian envoy to Paris, gave no further details on Wednesday on the condition of the 75-year-old Palestinian president — for decades a symbol of the Palestinian struggle with Israel for a state.

“There is a setback in Abu Ammar’s health. The doctors are carrying out tests to try to explain why this happened,” said Shahid, using Arafat’s nom de guerre.

Coincidence? Probably – but interesting nonetheless!

Read: Reuters

Posted on CNN at 11:13 AM EST (like two minutes ago):

Sen. John Kerry calls President Bush to concede presidential election, CNN has learned.

Story should appear later today, and Bush should speak very soon.