Update!

So, I've just finished my first day of classes as a second year; two canceled labs and one small lecture class, not a bad way to start. I take it most of us are at college already, (or will be soon) so how does everyone like it? I, for one, am more optimistic this year, since I’m already more familiar with the whole setting, and I already know some people (and know some of the professors to avoid) from last year.

In other news, I had planned a post about this a while earlier when I found out about it, but didn’t get around to it until now; apparently C&C4 is scheduled to come out sometime next year! I’m a big fan of the series, I know it’ll be pretty much the same as all the other ones but I’m still pretty excited. Of course, I’m looking forward to Starcraft II as well, but Blizzard needs to hurry up, as much as everyone hates EA, at least they manage to get games out within their deadlines, even if they kinda suck. (if you’re reading this, evil EA executives, I don’t really mean it! and please start hiring again and give me a job next summer. k thanks.)
Anyway, about Blizzard: there's plenty of news about Starcraft 2, as far as I can tell, it's mostly done but now they're just adding all kinds of extra stuff in, for example, look at the map editor: (link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNPrnY4K_4
Sure, this is all very exciting and interesting, but does Starcraft 2 really need first person shooter and 2d scrolling support?

And now for the obligatory political topic: (because that’s what you do on blogs!)
As you may be aware, the US is employing private contractors (mercenaries) in Iraq and Afghanistan, in fact, there are more of them than there are actual American soldiers. The most infamous of these is Blackwater, (now called “Xe”) which has recently been accused of dozens of crimes, including corruption, illegal weapons, prostitution, and murder. Worst of all, apparently Blackwater’s leadership, even more so than George W. Bush, thought the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were really a new Christian Crusade against Islam. Despite all of this, even the Obama administration is still paying Xe, and other companies like it, to fight for us overseas. I understand that it’s easier to approve funding for private contractors than to get it passed in the normal military budget, but still, the administration should cut back on private contractors, at least when it comes to actual combat operations, when it’s better and cheaper to have soldiers do the job. As a liberal socialist, I think there are some things that shouldn’t be left up to the private sector, this includes, among other things, the police, fire departments, healthcare(you knew I had to slip that in here somehow), and the military.
Thoughts?

P.S. I’ve started to get on my old AIM account again. I remember, like this blog, there used to be more of us using that than there are now. Anyone still check it?