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User: Cryptnotic

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  1. Re:Mud Recomendation on Bartle to MMOG Players - Newbs! · · Score: 1

    If you are a student, drop all your classes as well. They get in the way of real mudding excellence.

    This is very true. When I was in university, I had a friend who spent 12 hours a day on a MUD (I think it was Arctic). He didn't come back to school the next year.

  2. My project at work got killed... on Programmers Hold Funerals for Old Code · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We had been working about two years on this embedded Linux system. The project had been fraught with difficulties mainly related to a poor platform choice. Anyway, the project was almost completely finished and ready to go into production. Literally a week later management decided to cancel it to sell the customer on buying our next-next-generation product instead.

    We held a bit of a ceremony where we poured out some malt liquor for our killed project.

    I don't work 60 hour weeks anymore. These days I'm more reasonable.

  3. Re:Instancing is n00b-friendly? on Bartle to MMOG Players - Newbs! · · Score: 1

    Your group / raid could decend into a dungeon to a predetermined depth (depth = difficulty), and then proceed to either move up/down one level at a time after you clean off the current level.

    Every time you go down, it would be a different layout, with mobs in new locations, and you'd never know what lies around the next corner.


    Yeah, I played that one. It was called Diablo 2.
  4. Re:That's what everybody is thinking. on Several Publishers Sued for Infringing 3D Patent · · Score: 2, Informative


    My first thought was "why the hell would a LAW FIRM file patent relating to digital image processing"?


    They probably bought a bunch of patents with the intention of filing infringment lawsuits.

    My second thought was "why would they wait over 16 YEARS to defend their patent"?


    They had to wait until someone was making money off of something similar enough to be the target of a lawsuit. You can sue anyone for anything, but lawyers are smart enough to know that there's no point in suing someone who doesn't have enough money to pay to settle or to pay a judgement.

  5. Use linux "network block device" instead. on Experiences w/ Software RAID 5 Under Linux? · · Score: 1

    NFS doesn't serve partitions, it serves files.

  6. Re:Actually, we're already playing the French vers on Mozilla Releases Firefox 1.0 RC1 · · Score: 1

    Then again, I'm just a troll.

    Yeah, you are.

  7. Firefox and Adblock extension... on Nintendo Threatens Suicidegirls Over IP Use · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...all you need. No ads ever again.

  8. Re: uh oh... on What Makes Apple's Power Mac G5 Processor So Hot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What if our universe is only a simulation running on a computer in another universe?

    Maybe it's possible to disprove this based on the idea that the other universe would need to be physically larger?

  9. Re:Sub-$2000 flat-panel TV right here on Intel Cancels LCOS Development · · Score: 1

    For people who really only watch DVD's (standard definition) and don't want to spend twice as much for a 42" HD plasma, they're a bargain.

    Suppose you have $4000 to spend.

    Option 1: Buy 42" HD plasma for $4000 ($3800 plus wall mount, cables, et cetera).

    Option 2:
    1. Buy 42" ED plasma for $2000 ($1800 plus wall mount, cables, etc).
    2. Enjoy lots of standard definition content including DVD's video games, et cetera.
    3. Upgrade to new HD unit available in a few years for half the price (maybe $2000).
    4. Relegate "old" plasma to duty in game room or 2nd den or bedroom.

    I'd seriously consider option 2. Aparrantly so are a lot of people.

  10. Re: swastika... on Online Game Event Sparks Player Riot · · Score: 1

    It also shows up on contemporary Japanese maps wherever there is a temple, though I'm not sure if it is the same orientation (clockwise/counter-clockwise, rotated 45 degrees or not) used by the Nazi Party.

  11. Re:Maybe they need a new slogan on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    I have a feeling that the RIAA and MPAA don't care at all if the 5 people living on Sealand are copying movies and music as long as those copies aren't distributed off of Sealand.

    I agree that there is nothing ethically wrong with illegal copying. Creative works are part of the collective human culture. Spreading that is not wrong. It is, however, in certain circumstances, illegal.

  12. Re:Maybe they need a new slogan on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    Most countries have signed on to the Berne Convention. Those who have are required to have laws against importing material copyrighted in one of the Berne Convention member countries from any country that was not part of the Berne Convention.

    So it's not just U.S. law, but rather the law of dozens of countries that have all gathered together and said, "hey, we should all have these types of laws".

    If some backwater country decides to legalize copying (Sealand, perhaps), it is still illegal to import copied CD's from that country into a Berne Convention country.

  13. Japan... on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    Last I heard you could rent CD's in Japan though for 200 yen or so and they pretty much knew everyone was making a copy (either minidisc or CD-R). Do they still do that or is that over now too?

    I've noticed from this side of the pond, that there are quite a few people who buy Japanese imports of American and British CD's because they will include the extra track or two that the domestic release doesn't have.

  14. Re:That's how things are over there on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    I don't know. Bribery, cheating, and lying are pretty tricky to do right. I still think you need some skill, luck, and perseverence maybe to go along with the bribery, cheating and lying.

  15. Re:Well duh! on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    They come up with new tax ideas and back date them. This way you can make anyone owe any amount of taxes, wouldn't you say?

    They do this in the U.S. too. Clinton did it one year... I forget which one. It pissed off a lot of people because it was like in August, but affected all the taxes for income earned between January and August of that year. And it was on personal earned income, not just corporate income.

    Anyway, the famous character in U.S. history is Al Capone, the gangster. He wasn't prosecuted for murder or boolegging or violating prohibition, but for tax evasion.

    In case you were doubting what's important and what makes the world go 'round, I'll remind you: Money.

  16. Re:Well duh! on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    Much as you'd like to, you can't blame Bush for everything. What kind of leverage do you expect him to have against a country that controls a rather sizeable nuclear arsenal (mobile launchers, submarines, ICBM's)? I don't think you'd want a confrontation. Bush's advisors probably told him that it was a good idea not to get involved.

  17. Re:Unethical on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1

    You do know that before printing presses they used to have monks up in monesteries copying bibles by hand, word for word. Those bibles were then sold for a profit. Did God get angry? Once the printing press was developed, the price of the hand-copied bibles dropped quite a lot. Did the monks cry foul (well, some did, but for different reasons)?

    Copyright in the U.S. is 75 years after the creator's death. Did early Christians have to wait 75 years after Jesus's death before evangelizing and repeating his messages?

  18. but... b-but... on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not illegal because I don't WANT it to be illegal!

  19. Re:Maybe they need a new slogan on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The U.S. does adhere to the Geneva Conventions standards. Those standards only apply to ordinary uniformed soldiers. Non-uniformed soldiers (assassins, spies) are not subject to any such protections.

  20. Re:Maybe they need a new slogan on Bootlegged Music in Russia · · Score: 1, Interesting

    With space shuttle tragedies and experimental satellites crashing into both Mars and Earth, I don't think we would want a rocket scientist in charge of the most powerful country in the world. Personally, I don't think that Bush cares about what other people think. I'm also sure that he trusts his researchers and advisors, the people to whom he delegates the task of finding out what's good for the U.S. So if for example his advisors decide that it is a bad deal for the U.S. to sign the Kyoto treaty, then he won't do it, even if all the other nations of the world are doing it. And yes, I'm sure they weigh the negative effects of not signing on to the treaty along with their calculations too. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's a good idea.

    By the way, the U.S. does adhere to the Geneva convention. Non-uniformed soldiers are not subject to the convention and are not required to be treated in accordance with it.

    The real answer is that the music industry realizes their market is "mature" (i.e., not growing at a fast rate). They know that they will sell about N +/- 5% CD's per year, growing at a slow rate of maybe 1-2% per year. Now they want to maximize profits on those N sales per year. The way they do that is keep to keep prices high. Since competition from illegal copiers is unfair competition according to the law, they can use the justice system to shut down those copiers. Despite what you may think they've thought about their business more than you have.

  21. This isn't insightful... on Sharp Plans To Pull Zaurus From U.S. Market · · Score: 1

    Everyone manufactures in China. It's so cheap there, it's silly not to.

  22. Re:Here's the actual site for this device on Olympus Preps MP3 Player With Cam & Color Display · · Score: 1

    My Japanese is pretty good. You kind of need it to be to be a hardcore technogeek these days.

  23. Re:Good for you! on Linus Pooh-Pooh's Real-Time Patch · · Score: 1


    It's not a cookie -- it's fruit and cake!


    Don't believe the hype, it's a cookie.

  24. Good for you! on Linus Pooh-Pooh's Real-Time Patch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here, have a cookie.

  25. Who solicits takedown infringement notices? on MPAA Blames Linux Australia Notice on Human Error · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Grossman further denied the MPAA was sending out unsolicited e-mails.

    An infringement notice is an unsolicited e-mail, last time I checked. Can you imagine someone asking to be sent an infringement notice? Though, I don't think that you could say, "Hey, you're saying I'm infringing and you're going to sue me? Well, I'm going to sue you for sending me an unsolicited email! Ha!" I'm sure some lawyer would take your money to file a lawsuit against them, but I don't think you'd get very far in your case.