The World of the News

So after 140 years of Journalism, and 28 years of tabloid muck-raking, the News of the World rolled off the presses today for the last time.

/target grave
/dance

But the thing that bother me most about the phone hacking scandal is that phone hacking itself doesn't have to be a bad thing.

I mean, if some journalist hacked David Cameron's voicemail and found out he was selling arms to both sides in the Libyan Conflict it'd be lauded as the best feat of journalism of the 21st century. Woodward and Bernstein ride again.

The issue isn't that they broke into places and stole secret information; that is what journalists are supposed to do. The problem is that they picked totally innocent people to do it to. Private citizens and the victims of heinous crimes - the people that the 4th estate should be trying to protect, not expose - as well as celebrities, so they could feed the gossip and rumour mill that the press has become.

To live and die in Vermillion

By Carol Cooper, Multiverse Correspondent.

If you walk down the wrong street in the wrong city, and take a turn down the right alley, you will find a bar. The place has no sign above the door; no blinking neon light to advertise it or announce its location to the world. You have to know that it's there to even find it, and whatever name it once had is long forgotten. These days, it's just called "Reds".

Inside the smoky main room, the customers sit in sullen silence, glaring at newcomers before returning to nursing their drinks. Only Darnell, the bartender, holds eye-contact with new arrivals. He's been here longer than anyone, and I can see a look in his eyes that says he has seen it all.

I tell him I'm a journalist looking for stories, and his attitude changes. "You've come to the right place," he says with a smile.

Fighting the good fight.

You can find part 1 here, and part 2 here.

I regret that I wasn't able to meet my self-imposed deadline for part 3. I am afraid that a few days off turned into a personal vacation, which morphed into a sit-around-the-flat-watching-TV-a-thon whose iron clutches I barely managed to escape with my life.

But better late than never, I bring you the latest installment in the adventures of SciFi, handsome and charming Technomage-about-town.

Before I continue, please be aware that these are not intended to be comprehensive reviews. This is simply my first opinion of each of the three games, in the time I had availavble.

Origin Stories

So in part 1, I introduced SciFi. A riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a tech-suit and holographic cape.

Over the last week, I patched up my Champions Online installation, re-installed City of Heroes and (with no help from NCSoft whatsoever) re-activated my account and added the Going Rogue expansion.

All I needed to do now was actually play the games.

So, you want to be a superhero?

Well, who doesn't? The problem I have found, though, is physics. Sure, you can arrange to be struck by lightning and exposed to a chemical bath, you can subject yourself to unheard-of levels of gamma radiation, and even orchestrate the horrific murder of your parents in front of your eight year-old eyes. But all of this usually just results in death, disfigurement and/or severe psychological trauma.

But thanks to a recent invention called The Computer Game, you now have the ability to clean up the streets of any number of Crime-Plagued Americas wearing the tights, cape and/or adamantium claws of your choice, and all it will cost you is $12.99 a month.

For the Benefit of All

Some time tomorrow, NASA are holding a press conference to announce... something.

Nobody's quite sure what it's about, but dollars to donuts (or even doughnuts) the announcement will be groundbreaking news about a new scientific discovery which will have repercussions in acadamic fields for decades, but because it's not "Look! Here are pictures of aliens! And they're wearing hats!" it will be ignored by the mainstream media and the public at large.

Trust me. It's happened before.

But until that inevitable moment of crushing despair about the state of the media and of the world at large arrives, let's have some fun speculating on what the announcement might be...

The Debt Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ireland is currently in the midst of a financial crisis that may have no way out. The IMF black helicopters are circling Dublin, while Angela Merkel is having the Irish Central Bank measured for new carpets.

In times like these, it may seem pointless to look for one man who can get us out of these dire straits. Surely, no single person who has the financial and leadership skills to navigate the way to economic stability would be willing to take over, once the current government inevitably leaves office in disgrace.

But fear not! There is one man who would be more than qualified to run the show, and he is one who I am sure would welcome the challenge.

The following are the reasons why Lex Luthor should be the next Taoiseach of Ireland.