How to Fix Blacklight: Retribution if it Does Nothing After Clicking Play

For those of you who installed Blacklight: Retribution from Steam and found that clicking the Play button on the launcher did nothing, there is a quick and easy fix.

You must find the folder on your computer that Steam installed the game to, which in my case (64 bit Windows) is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\blacklightretribution\Redist\directx. If you have 32 bit, it will look something like this:C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\blacklightretribution\Redist\directx.

Copy and pasting that link and entering it at the top of 'My Computer' should work fine to get there.

From there, find the file called DXSETUP. If you open that file and install it, when you go back to Steam you should find the game to now be working.

Good luck and happy gaming!

Getting Your Android Phone Connected to Eclipse

I recently ran into a problem getting my Google Nexus One phone connected to Eclipse. If you are running into a similar problem and are using Windows, then, first off, obviously make sure you have turned on your USB Debugging on the phone itself (Settings>Applications>Development and then tick the USB debugging box). You will probably see that Windows is trying to install the driver, and will likely fail at it. From there, you should right click My Computer and go to properties and then to devices or device manager, and find your phone on it (it will have something like a yellow triangle by it). Right click it and push update driver software. At this point I should have mentioned that you have to download the Google USB Driver from the Android SDK Manager (under extras). After you have done that, point Windows towards the place where you put the driver: \extras\google\usb_driver\. For a better overview of what I just said, follow the directions written here: http://developer.android.com/tools/device.html.


Burger King Canada's Mailing List Hacked?

It appears that Burger King Canada's mailing list was hacked on November 6th, 2011, with a message sent out saying "Hacked Skorsky Turkish Hacker [redacted website]". I'm not sure what information may have been accessed, or to what extent.

A Victory for Egypt

The president of Egypt has finally stepped down. I was just glancing over articles today and read of an amazing event. I can't recall where I read it from or exactly how it happened, so the facts may not be completely correct.

When the president refused to step down, protesters went to the barbed wire fence (which had been erected for protection) of the presidential palace. Sitting behind the fence were tanks. I'd imagine that there was lots of tension in the air and everyone knew this was going to be a historical moment, whether or not a confrontation ensued.

The tanks then proceeded to turn their turrets away from the crowd of Egyptions, and in a show of the solidarity of the people of Egypt, got out of their tanks waving Egyptian flags.

A course of events has since then been set into motion that will decide the fate of Egypt. But whatever happens in the future, I hope people remember the moments like these.

Protests in Egypt

As you may know, there have been a series of events occurring throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East. Many people have been, and still are, rising against what they feel are unfair conditions. The protests have been a source of hope and empowerment for many, and perhaps out of the ashes of chaos, a new beginning will come for many.

I found this video of a man shot in Egypt to be particularly powerful. I could feel the desperation, anger, and fear. It is a tragedy that people around the world must endure situations like these in an effort to create change. 

HP Photosmart Essential 3.5 Freezes as soon as I open it (solution)

In order to resolve the freezing, you must either disconnect your internet before opening the program, or add a blcok of HP Photosmart Essential 3.5 to your firewall (such as Norton). The easy way is to physically disconnect the Ethernet cable from your computer, and then open it.

The freezing was probably caused by trying to send information over the internet. It seems to freeze up on sending some data. If you look at the program, it is not actually frozen, so the hangup from data sending seems to be the likely culprit.