I admit, I find the scoring systems on some games (such as Attack From Mars) a little absurdly inflated. In fact, you can see where AFM's software begins to break after a certain number of points because they didn't allow for the game's multi-billion scores - it truncates the highest significant digit in the high score list. Bleh!
Ever rolled a machine over? On some games such as Space Invaders, this is incredibly easy to do! Score enough points, and it rolls over from 9,999,990 (IIRC) to 0,000,000. On a machine that has an auto replay that kicks in at a certain score, you can collect this twice (or more) in a game.
It may not get you into the high score list, but rolling over a machine is one of the coolest awards in pinball (aside from, of course, being Grand Champion).
Also, whenever playing pinball, be sure to watch out for easter eggs! Some of these are just amusing, but others will help you score extra points or enter special game modes. I particularly like the hidden video poker mode on Star Trek: The Next Generation, mainly because it makes all the other people in the arcade stare and say "I didn't know it could do that..."
At my local arcade (Bird Bowl in Miami, FL), the tables have actually been rigged.... to keep the ball in play longer.
You know that pin that's mounted down below the flippers, which allows you to save a ball that's heading SDTM? On most machines, that's not standard equipment.. but they've added it. Yes, I'm spoiled...
I, being a proud owner of a Handspring Visor Neo, have noticed the backlighting is kinda strange... I used to have an old Palm Pilot Pro (1 meg model) which backlit the entire screen background, but the Visor does it differently. It lights the text instead of the background. It's very readable in total darkness, or good lighting, but gets a bit hard to read in between. I wish they included some way of switching it back to the old backlighting method.
Nextel could be percieved as the worst provider with regard to proprietary phones... only Motorola phones, and their phones will not work on anyone else's network.
However, with regard to compatibility, every feature available on the network and phones works.
On some combinations of phone/network with other providers, you wind up with features that don't work or don't work properly, such as wireless web/WAP or text messaging. On some providers you may also be limited to getting only one particular type of phone to be able to use services such as SMS.
Just a side note... have you noticed that the most feature-rich phones (that is, those which have wireless web/text capability, ability to install colored faceplates, etc...) seem to have the WORST antennas? I'm a ham radio operator, so I know the value of having a proper antenna... and that most of the antennas used on newer phones are a complete joke. In most cases, all you get is a small rubber-coated coil about 1/8 wavelength long. On some phones, the antenna doesn't even protrude over the top of the phone, so the signal from it is being absorbed in your hand. That cute little lack of an antenna could easily mean the difference between being able to get through or being stuck when you have to call for a tow after your tire blows on the highway. How I miss the archaic old analog handsets that had an SMA jack on top, allowing the addition of a *real* antenna...
One of the main problems I have run into with using Linux on various computers is figuring out how to get everything set up for the machine's various hardware quirks.
One of the main advantages of doing this in a school is that schools tend to have computers that were all ordered in one massive batch so that every classroom , office, etc, has the same machines.
It should thus be easy for a particular site to customize their own in-house distro to install easily on all their computers.
A great further advantage in using Linux in schools: More people are going to become familiar with it... and be more likely to set it up at home, etc... reducing the dependency on other, less desirable systems *coughWINDOWScough*.
Lots of antennas use inductor traps, capacitors, and switches to allow them to be used on a wide range of frequency bands.
This appears to just be a newer way of doing the switching.
But then again, maybe my brain is suffering high SWR's from it being three in the morning.
'Cause sometimes, you just have to spam, blatantly
on
Web-Based Comics
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· Score: 1
I invite all readers of this nonsense to go read Blue Neon. It's got 200% of your U.S. RDA of pure wierdness.
I used to be, while in middle school, in a situation with a fellow student who could, I suppose, be classified as stalking me. He had originally started out just making jokes about the fact that I'm native American, spend a lot of time using my various computers, stuff like that. But, eventually, it escalated to violence. He began punching and kicking me occasionally, which became daily after a while. The school's teachers and administration completely ignored this, citing it as a case of "boys will be boys". Eventually, the administration decided to start punishing me every time he did something, assuming I had somehow incited his actions. I wound up spending more time in CSI than in class, and he still continued harassing me, even though I was rarely in class for him to do so. I eventually had to leave the school after he tried to push me out a second-floor hallway window.
Perhaps it isn't a question of what motivates kids to become violent, but who's ignoring it when it happens....
Hmm, I wonder where I can get some of that interesting rubber compound stuff. The reprogrammed guts of a Billy Bass could be potentially interesting reincarnated as, say, a singing rubber cowpie. (Imagine being able to drive off unwanted relatives with one of those...)
I've often wondered exactly what AOL and Time Warner hope to gain from merging. Their early press releases on the issue stated that they wanted to do it so Time Warner could use AOL's 'net infrastructure to distribute media via the Internet... but now it raises interesting questions over cable Internet access. Doesn't Time Warner own a few cable companies here and there? I live in an area where cable Internet access is unavailable because the local cable monopoly, AT&T Cable, hasn't decided to roll out Internet service yet. Could Time Warner cable (whatever their cable divixion is) users be forced to get cable service only through America Online?
... Remember the semi-recent Disney move, "Flubber"? Heh.. I want a Lego set that can build a little hovering creature like Weebo. That little flying mushroom just absolutely rocks. I wonder if anyone has managed to add flight capabilities to a Lego Mindstorms set? I suppose the little RCX brick could be used to control the servos for a model airplane, but I haven't heard of it being done....yet:)
I seem to remember once managing to get my dad's Nokia 2160 to lock up, requiring the battery to be removed and reinstalled.... it used to be used on AT&T Wireless service, and they had this MessageFlash software that would allow text messages to be sent to the phone from your PC.. if I remember right, MessageFlash liked to crash the PC too... anyway, I sent a MessageFlash message saying "test" or something to that regard, and it went kaput. Not that it ever worked right, either... nor did it ever work right as a phone... can anyone say "paperweight"? Of course, we were paying serious extra for digital service... (sigh)
And just HOW does Nextel work so damn well? I think it's somehow magically enchanted.
Heh.. I've heard sufficient horror stories about Packard Bell machines... yet I have an old Packard Bell (I think it's a Legend..something) that I absolutely love. Config is as follows; 20 megs RAM (4 onboard + 16 in the one 72 pin simm socket), 4.2 gig IDE HD, AMD 5x86 133 Mhz processor installed in "OverDrive" socket. There's an old 486 sx-33 chip collecting spiderwebs in the middle of the oddly shaped motherboard. The machine is running Redhat 6.0 beautifully. Only real limitations I can think of are that the vga doesn't go above 800x600, and the bios doesn't support drives over 1024 cyl's, so it has to boot off a floppy. I wouldn't want to see this box trying to run winbloze...
I think we'll all sleep a little better tonight knowing that Christina Aguilera is on guard to protect the universe. Hey, Steve, where did you put those plans for world domination via hypnotic suggestions planted in Napster songs? I think my copy got destroyed by a meaty asteroid from space. No wait, I accidentally ran it through my TCP/IP enabled washing machine. Nevermind. I just wish I knew how to achieve moderation nirvana using only an old issue of Time Magazine and a blue hamster! YEAH! That would rock. Except I don't like those crackers with the fake cheese on top. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Jumping Joe has left and gone away? Did he accidentally swallow an AOL disk? There ought to be a warning label. I think there's a portal back to everyday reality here somewhere, but I don't care to find it. NARF!
I figured out how to turn off the tripod popup ad windows for my site, it's buried way down in "My Account Preferences" or something like that... it's now set for embedded ads, which show a boring lil' ad banner at the top of each page, but it's a hell of a lot better than spamming my visitors with a popup. If only all tripod members would take a moment to play with their settings...
About four years ago my dad decided he needed a cellular phone for business purposes... He got an AT&T 6650, which was supposedly, according to AT&T Wireless, the hottest digital phone on the market at the time. Now, what I can say for the 6650 isn't very good... battery life was about 2 days MAX on standby, audio quality was about what you'd get from Realplayer on a 14.4 connection, with copious dropouts, echoes, and belches (don't ask). Sometimes, even with the phone in digital mode, another nearby caller could be heard! Once, while I was using it, I actually found myself temporarily dumped completely into someone else's conversation, in analog mode. I believe the VCO RF oscillator drifted wildly on the phone. As for the Nokia 2160... I believe it was exactly the same as the AT&T 6650, except for the AT&T brand name. The software was a little different, and the nice 7 step signal meter was replaced by a little thing on the side that went from 5 bars (at which the phone would show symptoms of RF front end overload and wouldn't do ANYTHING) to 1 (it'd ring and connect, but no audio would pass). Both the AT&T and Nokia phones were heavy enough, with the extended NiCD battery (NiCD, geez), that they would pull down my pants if I carried one in my pocket. The 2160i, which we got after my dad accidentally sent the 2160 for a swim in the porcelain god, was functionally (dysfunctionally) the same in performance and interface. I eventually cleaned up the 2160's internals and used it as a desktop charger, for the 2160i seemed to have an even greater appetite for power! Well...I can say one thing, those old monsters were rugged. They took a couple drops and stuff without any damage. When my dad got tired of not being able to call home from about 50% of the county, and not being able to use the phone at home at all (due to overloading from the delightful 70 foot cellular "tree" AT&T wireless erected about 1000 feet from here, next to a school (egads)), he switched to Sprint PCS and got the Qualcomm QCP-1920. My first impression with the phone was, "RETURN THE !@(#&% THING!!!". I could pick the phone up in my hand and squeeze it gently to produce a sickening "crunch" sound. Recently, the antenna broke, we've had no luck finding a replacement. even with the antenna broken, sound quality is good, although on rare occasion, a connection will be made that allows it to sucessfully transmit but not recieve. Coverage with Sprint PCS is about 75% or so of countywide, although there are some REALLY dead spots. When the phone is powered on in a dead area, it will say "Looking for service..." on the display, and continue searching (probably transmitting at full power) until the phone becomes hot to the touch!! On Tuesday my dad got two Motorola I500+ phones and service from Nextel, which have been working beautifully so far. My little brother threw one of the i500's 30 feet across the floor during a temper tantrum and it survived, so I can certainly say it's rugged... (and I can certainly say he's not going to touch that phone again, geez!). Cellular coverage is *almost* countywide on it, and Direct Connect gets through when it's out of range on cellular. My conclusions, after this longwinded post, are as follows: Nokia 2160: Don't bother. Qualcomm QCP-1900: Okay, but be careful to leave the antenna down when not in use. Motorola i500+: Totally awesome, although the menus are a little clunky. It reminds me of something from Star Trek, though I'm not really sure what. Just my five cents' worth...:)
I couldn't get the tripod link to work... it decided to give me that colorful "Welcome - This file is hosted by Tripod" page (which used to say, in recent memory, "tripod-error 404... click here to load this page". Damn fascists don't really like offsite linking of files...hehe... oh well.
Ok, I have been noticing some strange stuff going on this weekend... first of all, people are driving worse than ever in the suburbs of Miami (I witnessed a guy on a bike nearly get mown down today.. yeesh!). Second of all, none of my three computers, two running Win 95 and one running 98 se, have crashed all weekend. Third, I heard on Friday that North and South Carolina could be heard on 2 meters... (unfortunately, I have only a 5 watt handheld, not exactly the greatest implement for messing with tropo ducts; and little time to play with it.) Next time we have a huge solar flare, might Netscape's annoying little Quality Assurance Agent die? hah... we'll just have to see... Tom, KG4CYX, in Kendall, Florida, pathetic driving capital of the world
Funny how they like dumping on all OS'es other than Winbloze.. First Mickeysoft blamed the lack of virus protection on Hotmail on FreeBSD, now they want to blame the DDoS attacks on Linux.... signed: a rebellious non-Winbloze user:)
Hey, my old Commodore 128 and Apple II data remains readable to this day on double sided low density floppies (the kind where you flip the disk..) to this day. I guess most of them are about 14 years old now. Incidentally, there are some 8 inch disks at my school that are older than I am...
yeah I guess staring right at a HUGE LCD panel could be a little harsh... but at least it'd be better than my dad's bright idea. after installing windows 98 on the computer in our "home office", he got a couple of dual S3 virge/dx video cards, spent about three late nights trying to make it all work, and plugged in three monitors... unfortunately these aren't nice BIG monitors, they're old clunker 640x480 60hz VGA's... eeeeww.
Slashdot Mirror
I admit, I find the scoring systems on some games (such as Attack From Mars) a little absurdly inflated. In fact, you can see where AFM's software begins to break after a certain number of points because they didn't allow for the game's multi-billion scores - it truncates the highest significant digit in the high score list. Bleh!
Ever rolled a machine over? On some games such as Space Invaders, this is incredibly easy to do! Score enough points, and it rolls over from 9,999,990 (IIRC) to 0,000,000. On a machine that has an auto replay that kicks in at a certain score, you can collect this twice (or more) in a game.
It may not get you into the high score list, but rolling over a machine is one of the coolest awards in pinball (aside from, of course, being Grand Champion).
Also, whenever playing pinball, be sure to watch out for easter eggs! Some of these are just amusing, but others will help you score extra points or enter special game modes. I particularly like the hidden video poker mode on Star Trek: The Next Generation, mainly because it makes all the other people in the arcade stare and say "I didn't know it could do that..."
May pinball live on forever!
At my local arcade (Bird Bowl in Miami, FL), the tables have actually been rigged.... to keep the ball in play longer.
You know that pin that's mounted down below the flippers, which allows you to save a ball that's heading SDTM? On most machines, that's not standard equipment.. but they've added it. Yes, I'm spoiled...
I, being a proud owner of a Handspring Visor Neo, have noticed the backlighting is kinda strange... I used to have an old Palm Pilot Pro (1 meg model) which backlit the entire screen background, but the Visor does it differently. It lights the text instead of the background. It's very readable in total darkness, or good lighting, but gets a bit hard to read in between. I wish they included some way of switching it back to the old backlighting method.
Nextel could be percieved as the worst provider with regard to proprietary phones... only Motorola phones, and their phones will not work on anyone else's network.
... have you noticed that the most feature-rich phones (that is, those which have wireless web/text capability, ability to install colored faceplates, etc...) seem to have the WORST antennas? I'm a ham radio operator, so I know the value of having a proper antenna... and that most of the antennas used on newer phones are a complete joke. In most cases, all you get is a small rubber-coated coil about 1/8 wavelength long. On some phones, the antenna doesn't even protrude over the top of the phone, so the signal from it is being absorbed in your hand. That cute little lack of an antenna could easily mean the difference between being able to get through or being stuck when you have to call for a tow after your tire blows on the highway. How I miss the archaic old analog handsets that had an SMA jack on top, allowing the addition of a *real* antenna...
However, with regard to compatibility, every feature available on the network and phones works.
On some combinations of phone/network with other providers, you wind up with features that don't work or don't work properly, such as wireless web/WAP or text messaging. On some providers you may also be limited to getting only one particular type of phone to be able to use services such as SMS.
Just a side note
One of the main problems I have run into with using Linux on various computers is figuring out how to get everything set up for the machine's various hardware quirks.
One of the main advantages of doing this in a school is that schools tend to have computers that were all ordered in one massive batch so that every classroom , office, etc, has the same machines.
It should thus be easy for a particular site to customize their own in-house distro to install easily on all their computers.
A great further advantage in using Linux in schools: More people are going to become familiar with it... and be more likely to set it up at home, etc... reducing the dependency on other, less desirable systems *coughWINDOWScough*.
.... Disinformation.
The Privacy Song explains it quite well.
I find it rather amusing when I get junk mail addressed to one of my comic characters... *eg*
Check out Color Kinetics, http://www.colorkinetics.com
Lots of antennas use inductor traps, capacitors, and switches to allow them to be used on a wide range of frequency bands. This appears to just be a newer way of doing the switching. But then again, maybe my brain is suffering high SWR's from it being three in the morning.
I invite all readers of this nonsense to go read Blue Neon. It's got 200% of your U.S. RDA of pure wierdness.
Perhaps it isn't a question of what motivates kids to become violent, but who's ignoring it when it happens....
Blue Neon - yet another messed up online comic.
Hmm, I wonder where I can get some of that interesting rubber compound stuff. The reprogrammed guts of a Billy Bass could be potentially interesting reincarnated as, say, a singing rubber cowpie. (Imagine being able to drive off unwanted relatives with one of those...)
I've often wondered exactly what AOL and Time Warner hope to gain from merging. Their early press releases on the issue stated that they wanted to do it so Time Warner could use AOL's 'net infrastructure to distribute media via the Internet... but now it raises interesting questions over cable Internet access. Doesn't Time Warner own a few cable companies here and there? I live in an area where cable Internet access is unavailable because the local cable monopoly, AT&T Cable, hasn't decided to roll out Internet service yet. Could Time Warner cable (whatever their cable divixion is) users be forced to get cable service only through America Online?
Blue Neon - a wonderfully insane online comic
Blue Neon - A delightfully insane online comic
And just HOW does Nextel work so damn well? I think it's somehow magically enchanted.
Blue Neon - quite possibly the perfect semi-caffiene-inspired online comic.
Heh.. I've heard sufficient horror stories about Packard Bell machines... yet I have an old Packard Bell (I think it's a Legend ..something) that I absolutely love. Config is as follows; 20 megs RAM (4 onboard + 16 in the one 72 pin simm socket), 4.2 gig IDE HD, AMD 5x86 133 Mhz processor installed in "OverDrive" socket. There's an old 486 sx-33 chip collecting spiderwebs in the middle of the oddly shaped motherboard. The machine is running Redhat 6.0 beautifully. Only real limitations I can think of are that the vga doesn't go above 800x600, and the bios doesn't support drives over 1024 cyl's, so it has to boot off a floppy. I wouldn't want to see this box trying to run winbloze...
I think we'll all sleep a little better tonight knowing that Christina Aguilera is on guard to protect the universe. Hey, Steve, where did you put those plans for world domination via hypnotic suggestions planted in Napster songs? I think my copy got destroyed by a meaty asteroid from space. No wait, I accidentally ran it through my TCP/IP enabled washing machine. Nevermind. I just wish I knew how to achieve moderation nirvana using only an old issue of Time Magazine and a blue hamster! YEAH! That would rock. Except I don't like those crackers with the fake cheese on top. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Jumping Joe has left and gone away? Did he accidentally swallow an AOL disk? There ought to be a warning label. I think there's a portal back to everyday reality here somewhere, but I don't care to find it. NARF!
I figured out how to turn off the tripod popup ad windows for my site, it's buried way down in "My Account Preferences" or something like that... it's now set for embedded ads, which show a boring lil' ad banner at the top of each page, but it's a hell of a lot better than spamming my visitors with a popup. If only all tripod members would take a moment to play with their settings...
About four years ago my dad decided he needed a cellular phone for business purposes... He got an AT&T 6650, which was supposedly, according to AT&T Wireless, the hottest digital phone on the market at the time. Now, what I can say for the 6650 isn't very good... battery life was about 2 days MAX on standby, audio quality was about what you'd get from Realplayer on a 14.4 connection, with copious dropouts, echoes, and belches (don't ask). Sometimes, even with the phone in digital mode, another nearby caller could be heard! Once, while I was using it, I actually found myself temporarily dumped completely into someone else's conversation, in analog mode. I believe the VCO RF oscillator drifted wildly on the phone. As for the Nokia 2160... I believe it was exactly the same as the AT&T 6650, except for the AT&T brand name. The software was a little different, and the nice 7 step signal meter was replaced by a little thing on the side that went from 5 bars (at which the phone would show symptoms of RF front end overload and wouldn't do ANYTHING) to 1 (it'd ring and connect, but no audio would pass). Both the AT&T and Nokia phones were heavy enough, with the extended NiCD battery (NiCD, geez), that they would pull down my pants if I carried one in my pocket. The 2160i, which we got after my dad accidentally sent the 2160 for a swim in the porcelain god, was functionally (dysfunctionally) the same in performance and interface. I eventually cleaned up the 2160's internals and used it as a desktop charger, for the 2160i seemed to have an even greater appetite for power! Well...I can say one thing, those old monsters were rugged. They took a couple drops and stuff without any damage. When my dad got tired of not being able to call home from about 50% of the county, and not being able to use the phone at home at all (due to overloading from the delightful 70 foot cellular "tree" AT&T wireless erected about 1000 feet from here, next to a school (egads)), he switched to Sprint PCS and got the Qualcomm QCP-1920. My first impression with the phone was, "RETURN THE !@(#&% THING!!!". I could pick the phone up in my hand and squeeze it gently to produce a sickening "crunch" sound. Recently, the antenna broke, we've had no luck finding a replacement. even with the antenna broken, sound quality is good, although on rare occasion, a connection will be made that allows it to sucessfully transmit but not recieve. Coverage with Sprint PCS is about 75% or so of countywide, although there are some REALLY dead spots. When the phone is powered on in a dead area, it will say "Looking for service..." on the display, and continue searching (probably transmitting at full power) until the phone becomes hot to the touch!! On Tuesday my dad got two Motorola I500+ phones and service from Nextel, which have been working beautifully so far. My little brother threw one of the i500's 30 feet across the floor during a temper tantrum and it survived, so I can certainly say it's rugged... (and I can certainly say he's not going to touch that phone again, geez!). Cellular coverage is *almost* countywide on it, and Direct Connect gets through when it's out of range on cellular. My conclusions, after this longwinded post, are as follows: Nokia 2160: Don't bother. Qualcomm QCP-1900: Okay, but be careful to leave the antenna down when not in use. Motorola i500+: Totally awesome, although the menus are a little clunky. It reminds me of something from Star Trek, though I'm not really sure what. Just my five cents' worth... :)
I couldn't get the tripod link to work... it decided to give me that colorful "Welcome - This file is hosted by Tripod" page (which used to say, in recent memory, "tripod-error 404 ... click here to load this page". Damn fascists don't really like offsite linking of files...hehe... oh well.
Ok, I have been noticing some strange stuff going on this weekend... first of all, people are driving worse than ever in the suburbs of Miami (I witnessed a guy on a bike nearly get mown down today.. yeesh!). Second of all, none of my three computers, two running Win 95 and one running 98 se, have crashed all weekend. Third, I heard on Friday that North and South Carolina could be heard on 2 meters... (unfortunately, I have only a 5 watt handheld, not exactly the greatest implement for messing with tropo ducts; and little time to play with it.) Next time we have a huge solar flare, might Netscape's annoying little Quality Assurance Agent die? hah... we'll just have to see... Tom, KG4CYX, in Kendall, Florida, pathetic driving capital of the world
Funny how they like dumping on all OS'es other than Winbloze.. First Mickeysoft blamed the lack of virus protection on Hotmail on FreeBSD, now they want to blame the DDoS attacks on Linux.... signed: a rebellious non-Winbloze user :)
Hey, my old Commodore 128 and Apple II data remains readable to this day on double sided low density floppies (the kind where you flip the disk..) to this day. I guess most of them are about 14 years old now. Incidentally, there are some 8 inch disks at my school that are older than I am...
IMHO, now, linux distributions should be packaged with a nice sheet of instructions on removing Windows.
yeah I guess staring right at a HUGE LCD panel could be a little harsh... but at least it'd be better than my dad's bright idea. after installing windows 98 on the computer in our "home office", he got a couple of dual S3 virge/dx video cards, spent about three late nights trying to make it all work, and plugged in three monitors... unfortunately these aren't nice BIG monitors, they're old clunker 640x480 60hz VGA's... eeeeww.
Hmm, scary. "Big Brother" is out there, and it's a commercial entity. Lovely.