Second Life trains terrorists.

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I was hugely interested in reading this article right from the start. However, my interest soon turned into amusement, and very soon, this article is pretty much like a joke in my eyes.

Let's see...

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

I'm sure the SWORD OF A THOUSAND TRUTHS will cause MASSIVE DAMAGE. I'm sure it would.

Firstly, this article places an insanely bad light on the word "Jihad". Jihad is a holy war taken by muslims, which can almost be used in the same context as "crusade". However, due to recent events, the word Jihad has been so distorted, the first thought that comes into your mind when you say "Jihad" is "violence" and "terrorism".

As seen in this article:

On the darker side, there are also weapons armouries in SL where people can get access to guns, including automatic weapons and AK47s. Searches of the SL website show there are three jihadi terrorists registered and two elite jihadist terrorist groups.

Er. You can't wage a holy war online.

That aside, the fact that you could actually TRAIN terrorists online, and in SL, is a notion so laughable, it isn't even funny. I'm sure GTA teaches you how to use a rocket launcher. I mean, put it on your shoulder, press the button, and BOOM it goes! However, anyone who has used a rocket launcher (for military purposes, duh), will say that it isn't that easy. It's like driving a car or a tank. Your arrow/wasd keys make it look so easy, but if you try driving one, you are in for a very rude shock.

Zuccato told an Australian Security Industry Association conference in Sydney that people intent on evil no longer had to travel to the target they wanted to attack to carry out reconnaissance. He said they could use virtual worlds to create an exact replica and rehearse an entire attack online, including monitoring the response and ramifications.

Welcome to the world of internet! Heard of Google Earth? The times of olden spying and taking photos of the place is long long gone. The technology age allows anyone to access anything at any time. So, are they going to shut youtube down because youtube shows pictures of a building?

Seriously...

However, what is seriously the most laughable is that companies actually treat the bombs as a real serious threat.

However, the American Apparel store is closing and moving out. The ABC has discovered that its bomb was a computer server error that it was able to fix within a couple of hours. Nonetheless, it is taking the likelihood of a terrorist attack seriously.

Fine, so it is a business. However, to take a "terrorist" attack on the virtual world seriously? C'mon. Someone needs to start downloading AVG and Norton. It is a virtual world, not a real world. Shouldn't better resources be placed into actually finding terrorist cells, actually discovering terrorist plots on the real world? Because, it's not good if you can find an online bomb, but fail to find the actual one sitting right in your toilet.

Point is, Second life, is, a second life. You simply cannot treat it like a real life. If you dislike it, get the creators to write it out of the code. It's not that hard. If that code was written in, or is allowed to be written in, it should be gotten rid of immediately because it is in a terribily poor taste.

Now, to see them saying Pac-Man constitutes to violence to children once again.

"That, is Mr Stinky."

While working one Saturday morning, my department senior got called to the manager's office. Naturally, random speculations on why he was summoned to the manager's office appeared on the lips on quite a number of us fellow peons. When a few more I/Cs and seniors from different departments were summoned, we all knew something big was about to happen.

Maybe the CEO was coming, someone guessed.

However, while everyone was making random crude jokes about what the actual situation was, no one really stopped working. And within moments, everyone was back to doing what they have been taught to do.

Because, if it was something big, we would know.

Within minutes, our senior called us into the backdock/staff-only area.

"See that guy in the blue sweater?"

"That, is Mr Stinky."

As my crew and I, as with quite a number of us on that shift, were new, we pretty much asked the same question:

"Who?"

It turns out that Mr Stinky is the code name for a moron who comes into the stall, goes out of his way to look for products which are expiring, and will ask us to reduce them. While we do reduce products which are going out of date soon, his is a special case because of him simply going out of his way to look for the stuff that is about to expire.

Orders given were to refuse any kind of mark down if asked, and, if he continues to insist, get the manager (who will say "NO".).

XD

Fun stuff.

So, off to work we went. Out of the corner of my eye, I continued looking at the said subject as he digs into the chicken freezer looking for some out of date products. Alas, he is not so lucky that day, and he moves on to the juice area, hoping to strike a kill.

Unfortunately, I was on shift that day. With these pair of Falcon eyes, I had already removed anything which was 2 days before the expiry date 2 hours ago (bwahahahah).

However, while I worked and watched in amusement, I could sense something different.

A few of the more senior staff seem to be a little more active than usual.

Not saying that they are a bunch of lazy morons, but you usually don't see so many senior people working together. The seniors are the ones who have to take care of the orders, the time table, and the random blah. This is why restocking the shelves is usually left to us peons.

So see so many senior people on the trading area (the actual supermarket itself, for you and me), was rather surprising.

And, surprise surprise, they were all working in areas where they can keep an eye on Mr Stinky. Of course, they are not noticable if you don't bother looking much, but, seemingly, every aisle seem to be attended by a staff or two. Anywhere the said subject is, will always have at least 2 staff members working close by.

In all, the whole experience was both interesting and amusing. Although no fuss was kicked up, it was still VERY interesting to see what happens when you are blackmarked by a stall. So, the next time you think you are being watched, but simply waved it off as "stress" or something...

Think again. XD

Work, one week later.

And so, it has been 1 (actually, 2, but time is meaningless these days) since I begun work.

The results so far, are satisfying. I am really enjoying my work.

However, underneath the layers of joy, lies a hidden, darker, intent.

While everyone is pretty much happy and helping each other (Drinking while at work ftw!), there is this politics here and there which I find VERY interesting.

The Deli dudes told me that they dislike my manager. It's not hard to figure out why, given that his choice of language is poor at the best of times.

Now, that action, to me, is very interesting. For one, I have always taken a liking to analysing people by their actions and their speech. By telling me that my manager sucks, it can only be one thing.

The guys in the Deli is testing me.

If I spill on them, I will become the most hated employee in that supermarket soon. However, if I agree with them, those words will come back to haunt me some day.

So, the trick was to simply agree slightly, but at the same time, throwing some praise onto the manager, saying how good he was.

And that's not all. While I was cleaning up, I could hear the guys in the Deli (It is a fairly big department), talking about who is about to fill the vacant I/C spot, and who will be pissed if A or B gets the job.

Ahh. Work place politics.

Admittedly, I don't enjoy playing it, but it is great to watch from the sidelines.

However, what was truly disturbing, was the attitude the people had to their work. Seemingly anyone who has worked more than a month can't be bothered to work hard, or work with a smile. I've heard rather damaging reports that my employer doesn't give a rats ass about its employees, and so on. Of course, some of these came from Cashiers (People here shop with TWO trolleys. And they fill them up. Imaging packing THEM. XD), but when I hear the same things being said by the people in Deli, Seafood and Perishables, it becomes a very interesting issue.

Like they said, I'm still a freshie, so maybe in 6 weeks time, you'll see a very different post from me.

But for now, it brings one question to mind.

Are the employees just simply pampered? Most of them work as a way to obtain extra cash (I know 2 who work to pay off their degree), and most of them are surprised to find that I spend 1 hour to travel to the work place. Some of them are saying that half an hour is too much, when I had to wake up at 4 quite a few times in order to make the train and get to work on time.

Hmm...

Well, until they feel the pain of needing money, I guess they won't care. XD

Check back in 6 weeks time. I might have a different post.

Results.

6665.

>_>

THAT HIGH DISTINCTION CONTINUES TO ELUDE ME. WHY?

ASJDHA