What Is Taffer?

On certain occasions, some bloggers that I've met asked me one question of the word 'taffer'. I guess it is now time for me to give an explanation of the usage of the word.

First and foremost, the word was originated from Thief Trilogy - a series of stealth games.

Origins of the Word

The word taffer was coined up for the making of the 1998 game called Thief: The Dark Project. The game was developed by the now-defunct Looking Glass Studios which comprises of certain core members like Doug Church (Ultima Underworld II) and Ken Levine (who went on as Creative Director of Bioshock). The studio was also responsible for its sequel, Thief II: Metal Age and System Shock II.

The first thief game has successfully coined up a new sub-genre in gaming called as FP-Stealth, meaning that it has more emphasis on being stealthy, no killing, staying in shadows. According to the developer journals, the word was coined up when the developers wanted to have a unique name that can be used to describe criminals that the City Watch characters can call. Of course, calling them criminal is kind of boring, if spoken repetitively.

Why do I put the name Taffer?

The way the word was conceived was unintentional as there was a word called 'taffing', a Welsh slang / Saxon Dictionary for the term low-life common criminal that exists. The name got struck and hence the writers felt that it brings new way of calling a criminal. So, whether if you are a thief, vagabond, cutthroats and etc..you called as a taffer, or a common breed of criminal. Later, the slang word evolved into anything that is low-life. So you can say that 'What the taff' (it can be 'heck, damn' or whatever that is low-life!)

The way the word was used in saying things low-life had a very amusing reaction. For those who played those three games, you would notice in certain in-game conversations the word is always mentioned at least once. In fact the summary is formed as Taffer = "Person or thing which taffs" in which Taffs means (shows low-life)

Various real life interpretations of 'taffer':

1. A taffer is of a person that tricks, deceives or fools.
2. A Mother Goose (welsh) nursery rhyme with the line 'Taffy was a Welshman'. Taffy is a slang name for a Welshman.
3. In Suffolk, England, the word refers to spitting. To taff means to spit.

I'll Play Taffer at You!

So, it seems that Abdullah Badawi is somewhat gone up to fever pitch with a wavering threat against those who would be coming down for tomorrow's rally at Merdeka Square.

They say that the police is mounting roadblocks monitoring cars coming from Rawang, Seremban, and even the Karak Highway. They are threatening to stop and question any car coming to Kuala Lumpur. But I was in town, and I don't see any police trying to stop me and my car while on the way. I wonder if that's actually and empty threat and intimidation by the police?

The way the police acts has clearly violated Article 10 of the Consitituition which every citizen in Malaysia is entitled to. But then, don't they know that the king, the Agong is involved in this situation being at the end of the march? Have they all forgotten the second principle of Rukunegara? Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara?

The reason why the rally will be conducted is not because they want to, but they had to, forced to. It is like being put into the last resort. Clearly they have said that they had appealed to the government to do so but they were ignored, turned away by Abdullah Badawi and his cronies. If everything has been denied, while you are a worker, what else can you do except to hold a rally and report to the king that the government has failed to do what they should do to the people? I've already said many times that the police has long in brutality but short on foresight. The actions today indicate that they are cannon fodders for UMNO and they are not independent as what we perceive of them.

At the assembly today, Abdullah went fever pitch and gone CAPITAL LETTERS on some occasions, according to the Sun. The immortal phrase line in the article? "I will not be challenged!" The English saying, "Be careful what you wish for" seems appropriate for him as he might think himself being on the omnipotent position means there is no fall. Someday, he will. Picture this: will he for an unknown occasion he ended up like the fall of Tsar Nicholas II?

The reply, based on quotes in the Malaysiakini article and the Sun clearly gives the clear impression and implies that:

• 1. Abdullah Badawi has failed to fulfill his promise despite having many chances in his duty as PM as dictated in the 2004 General Election Manifesto. Corruption and crime rate still remains high and racial tensions still remain at high.
• 2. Abdullah Badawi is afraid to come out and face the truth of the current state of social affairs in Malaysia and prepared to correct his mistakes. Instead he cowers behind and gets the cannon fodder to do his work of suppressing the people. I wonder whether if this contradicts with one of the statements, the rally is against the law and the people.
  
• 3. Abdullah Badawi is not what it seems of people looking at him as Mr. Clean.
• 4. Abdullah Badawi is unwilling to face the problems that a leader expects in his power base.
• 5. Abdullah Badawi is running out of leadership ideas after all have been expended on expensive lavish projects. The ECER is one of the last bullets in his arsenal.

..and many mistakes that I can't seem to recall.

Simply put that Abdullah Badawi has made too many mistakes that cannot be tolerated anymore by country-loving citizens, those real patriots, not the ultra-nationalists. Mistakes that should have been corrected at first sign of danger but instead was ignored totally. Instead of admitting your mistake, he blamed the opposition as part of the tactic to overthrow or sway people confidence towards them. It is the one step backwards mentality of certain leaders in the country that the people had no confidence of. Someday, arrogance can be punished.

The real problem in the country's progress lies in certain policies deemed as third-world mentality rules by those who have achieved high level of awareness and those well educated to understand the rules in the current context. Many leaders have failed to see this in long term. So, if they can remove some things that are meant to fix those in the old days, the better it will be in long term.

No matter what is the outcome of the rally tomorrow, Abdullah Badawi will still end up in the losing situation. If everyone is aware of how brutal the police and you all in the government act at the end of tomorrow, expect to see many condemnations by international observers, thousands of court cases and perhaps the government will have to spend a lot of money to compensate the victims of potential brutality. He will end up like another Than Shwe, by attempting to suppress what people are entitled to.

If things go worst, they will end up paying tax payer's money back to the people in long term as damages and compensation because they start first beating people. They had guns and all those batons, gas grenades, while those who come for the rally had nothing at all. So if the government tries do the violent thing, people will have to disobey, using the Civil Disobedience principle. If this thing reaches international media from Al-Jazeera, CNN, and BBC via someone unknown, then we are likely to see our faces in the whole wide world and Malaysia will become a laughing stock because of the government.

There is little time left for Abdullah Badawi to correct his mistakes, and he has to do it now, starting with election reforms and the judicial crisis. If he decides to call election while this has not been solved, you might seeing a repeat of the 1999 elections, thankfully it's not going to be in this year, but somewhere in March. But the results is likely to follow the 1999 results.

If the police think that they are somewhat having a distinct advantage because of their equipment, you better be prepared to be sued in court and prepared to have all the money out to compensate the people if you are found responsible for the brutality. You can call me a taffer for such believes, but I am not partisan of any side. This is a two-sided view story.


For me? Well, I'll be having an appointment somewhere else, but in spirit, I'll bring a blackjack and some moss arrows. I'll hit them and the City Watch behind to set the truth free for everyone!

A Loot That I Cannot Resist

I had to go out today. I'm getting a little out of shape since I didn't have time to exercise this week because of numerous premier free-ticket screenings.

Today there was a IT exhibition / cum sale at Mid Valley, where various electronic gadgets including notebooks were on sale today. I really had been looking forward into getting a notebook for myself so that I can carry it anywhere to do work and even pass my time without wandering around. I know I must have one but there are many choices to pick from. So that's where I browsed through each brand's specs, prices and payment methods.

So far, after searching through, I finally came down to two brands, three models and licensing models. They virtually have the similar hardware configuration OS.

The final three models under my scrutiny were:

1. Acer Aspire 5684 WXMI
2. HP Pavillion DV2201TX
3. Compaq Presario V3205TU

Each of these models have strengths and weaknesses. The Presario model has a HD monitor which allows viewing of high-definition trailer at 1080i. But then, it lacks the video graphics processor that others have. The first two models are priced at $ 5000 Whereas Presario was priced at $4000. But then they have one missing thing in common:

OS - Most of those systems offer either Vista Basic (= XP Home Edition) or Home Premium ( = MCE edition). Since I work mostly on client-server programs, I would definitely need Vista Business or XP Professional. The earlier Vista editions are buggy and it does not have the remote desktop connecting feature included in Vista Business. However, I am aware that the licensing cost of Vista Business is 50% more than the Home Premium edition. Sadly, vendors could not do special request such as upgrading the OS to a different level - which is a bad thing since a trick of business success, according to Ron Kaufman is do to something unbelievable.

But still it is a loot that many amateur thieves would be out to get their hands on it. The poor people could not afford to have one of this since the price derives from the production costs of hardware and OS licensing.

You must remember for sure that such piece of equipment don't cost $50, but from $2500 to $15000 with the most expensive being Sony Vaio's Blu-Ray notebook.

Thieving for this isn't as easy as Garrett did before. He until today remains the only person in the world to have Keeper glyph powers to help keep him in the shadows. Not only that, you had to deal with security cameras that more sophisticated than the so called 'Karras' Eyes - big, bulky security cameras that might help trigger turrets if you are spotted.

Thief 2 - The Metal Age is by far the most difficult of the trilogy. The defunct Looking Glass Studios had raised the ante / challenge of stealth, making things go more difficult than Thief: The Dark Project. I believe that following feedback and comments by expert players of the first game lacks the challenge. In some levels of the game, such as raiding Shoalsgate Police Station to frame an officer - think as the medieval Bukit Aman Police HQ in Kuala Lumpur, you are not allowed into confronting people - which is an addition to the expert mode - which forbids killing people - a mark of an amateur as Garrett would comment. And there are levels that make you conserve your inventory as your loot and the stuff you might carry in a mission would be carried over to the next half of a mission.

It took me a month to play through all the 15 levels of the game with the climax being the most difficult of all - shutting down a mad patriarch's factory full of non-living beings.
Now back to the main point:

The picture above is the notebook that I really wanted: HP NX6330. It has the features that fits me most. But then I was angered that retailers do not have this model in the inventory. It seems that I may have to order one directly from the manufacturer. Which brings us to another problem here - the dilemma that I'm facing right now.

I remembered that my technical director of my company said that there are four categories of knowledge usage - that forms a 4-cell square.

1. The first one (upper left) is: Don't know and you couldn't.
2. The second one (upper right) is: Don't know but can do.
3. The third one (lower left) is: Know but couldn't do.
4. The fourth one is: Know and can do.

Using this square clearly benefits much as this can apply to any problems that we're facing.
For this scenario, I'm facing the problem: I can pay but I don't know whether I can pay in the way I want to pay - which is the upper right square that I've mentioned. If translated, it means, I can pay 1/3 of the cost in advance but in cash, but the remaining in card. House of Notebooks is a dealer that does that...thank god! But I'm planning this for April. Another good news is that the price has dropped by $500, which means I can afford it already!

I had to go amateur in the last three months to save as much of advance money that I can pay as to minimize the credit spending. But I treat this as paying monthly rentals.

When I came back for dinner, sometime came across my mind about bootlegging. It made me trying to put into the perspective of the opposition. But that would be another topic to be discussed some other day. I'm trying to keep a habit of 1 post per day.

Nay, simpleton. Knowst thou not that to speak that name is to mock our defeated adversary?
- A warning not to speak the word 'taffer'