Road Retards

I've had my share of drivers who are, well, retards. Jeepney and tricycle drivers mostly fall under this category. The former block the road and cut you like mad, and the latter still think they don't have a sidecar attached and try to get into the little gaps they have no business of being in.

Let me give you a situation. You're driving an airconditioned FX, minding your own business, driving down the SLEX. (It's a highway. South Luzon Expressway.) It's a good day, your passengers are asleep.

In the corner of your eye you see this PNCC jeepney thing. They're police, sort of. It's better if you've actually seen them so you can have a better picture of this situation. As most people who drive down the SLEX know, there's the innermost fast lane where you are, the second slow lane, and the shoulder.

The PNCC vehicle was at the shoulder. He suddenly changed lanes to the middle, moving alongside your own vehicle. Okay. Since he isn't signaling or slowing down, or going even the slightest bit towards your direction, it's safe to assume that he's not going into your lane.

You underestimate human stupidity.

He suddenly, and I mean out of freaking nowhere, changes to your lane. Sharply.

Considering you were going at around 100 km/h, and how suddenly he changed direction, you're surprised and try to hit on the brakes. The right front side oof your vehicle collides heavily with his.

And you thank God you didn't skid, flip over, or, heaven forbid, had another fast-moving vehicle behind you, avoiding a really really messy metal sandwiching.

And the policeman tries to downplay your brush with death, that he was merely changing lanes.

This all actually happened today. My father was one of the passengers, and being at front with the driver, he was at high risk for an injury, or possibly death, when the vehicles collided.

Being on the road is a great risk, but we all still do it anyway. It's up to humans to reduce that risk.

That cop needs to be a better driver. Seriously. I don't think I'll be safe on that highway until they drag him back to driving school. Or teach him more common sense. Which is as rare as gold nowadays.

He better, or next time his victims may not be so lucky.

New hope for pRO?

For those familiar with Ragnarok Online, our version here in the Philippines will open a new server on September 20. Called 'Thor', it boasts the presence of RagDefender, a well-known bot killer program embedded into the RO client.

RagDefender is good at what it does. It is updated weekly every maintenance. No bot program can permanently win against it. It takes a customized bot and a few days worth of fast programming to be able to get through, and since it is updated often, they can only enjoy it for a few days. It's been on for quite a while in Japan and it is still proving its effectiveness.

The developers of Openkore, the most common bot program used by pRO players, won't even try to touch it. (According to them.)


Personally, I think LU will go through with this server. They've lost a lot of players who dislike bots, and this is a perfect solution. Gain profit from the other servers through bots, gain profit from the non-botters as well. It's a win-win thing for them.

I hope to see a return to the old days; when you could actually talk to people leveling alongside you, when you would scramble for an Elunium the monster dropped in Glast Heim, when you felt like a million bucks upon gaining a card, when you were perfectly happy with +4 gear, when you would make a lot of friends, when getting to 99 actually felt like a great achievement, to you and to others, when you actually see people still vending flys/reds/gems.

When a monk/champ would not be so EF-happy because he knows how much SP recovery items he still has. (A similar thing can be said for AB Biochemists.) When you would actually use unorthodox tactics in WoE, not relying on numbers to swarm your target. When you give your life savings to get that VVS Wind Katana, or that Sakkat.

Let us hope.