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User: Jasonv

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  1. Didn't IDsoftware use this technique? on "War Rooms" Double Software Productivity · · Score: 1

    I seem to recall (Tho can't find info now) that idsoftware did this during when they were making Quake....

    Aparently they were all mostly in their own offices, enjoying life after the success of Doom II and not really communicating during the devel of Quake. Things kept slowly rolling along until someone (Was it Carmack? or maybe one of the other owners) had all the office walls ripped down and then finnally they managed to work together and get the game finished...

    I'm sure I remember seeing articles on this (Wierd?). Anyone else?

    Jason

  2. Quake and ramdisks on Other Uses For The Linux RAM Disk? · · Score: 1

    Back in the day of Quake 1, when every little bit of an edged helped out on your net games, we used to load up all the map files into a RAM disk. That way you'ld be instantly in the level instead of having to wait for the map to load. You'd enter into the game a few seconds faster - which meant a lot when getting the jump on that rocket launcher or red armour :)

  3. Re:I find this amusing... on New TLDs On The Way From ICANN · · Score: 1

    slash slash slash dot dot slash dot slash slash ? That's M N A W in morse code! :)

  4. Battery Charger. on CD-R In A Digital Camera: The Ueber-Mavica? · · Score: 1

    I bought the FD73 model for travelling around Europe. Allowed me to easily upload the pictures to a webpage at cyber-cafe's. (You every try convincing a cybercafe that you want to install some software and mess with the cables on the computer? Try explaining it to them when they hardly speak english :) )

    I went and lost the battery charger for the camera. Thankfully it was near the end of my trip. *BUT* now they want £80 (About $150 USD) for a new battery charger.. Bastards.. And of course any website I try to order it through for a more resonable price won't ship outside of the good 'ol US of A.

    Thankfully I'll be going to Canada in a few weeks.. I should be able to pick one up there a lot less...

  5. I've always wondered... on Appeals Court Will Take Microsoft Case · · Score: 1

    Imagine one day Bill and Ballmer get just right upset and 'give up'.

    They declare they're tired of dealing with all the hassles. They buy some small tropical island (maybe, Hawaii or Australia) and let their lawyers know they want use that part of the lisence agreement that says they can make any changes at anytime.

    They change it so that no one can use Windows xs or Office.. ever. Every copy of Windows everyone has a liscensed copy of suddenly becomes illegal to use....

    Bill and Ballmer are relaxing on a beach, sipping their margaritas. The phone rings. It's the President. He wants to know what he would have to pay to be able to license windows again for the country...

    Bill says, stroking Balmers bald head and raising his pinkie finger to the corner of his mouth, "One TRILLION dollars.... "

  6. Re:An open question on How Bump Mapping Works · · Score: 1

    I'm an 'old school' Quake player - Used to play in a bunch of the big tournaments/clans and such up until about the time Q2 came out.. then I 'retired'.

    It was standard practice to get the level of detail down as far as possible. There were about a dozen commands you would use in your config file to blur the textures, take out the 'realistic' movment (head bobbing, tilt when turning), and anything else that was even remotely extranious to the game (environmental sounds, etc.). I'm sure it still happens today with the first person shooters (Unreal, Q3, HL, etc).

    Graphic quality, to the 'professional' gamer, meant nothing - it doesn't add to the game and usually distracts you.

    Of course, the thing is, only about 5-10% of people out there are hard core gamers. You'ld show up at tournaments get put on some monster of a machine with every high-tech card in it that ran 100fps in 640x480 and people would start to cry when you executed your config file that turned the game into a mess off blurry green/brown squares.

    Of course in that sense computer games are like movies. 90% of the people want the razzle dazzle. That's how you sell the product. You could probably make a good comparison between Lucas and Carmack who try to push the technology because they're interested in it and aren't quite so focused on just the story. The hype surrounding them based on the 'effects' they're using is massive.. but the actual end product isn't what the 'hard core' people are interested in. (Hard core movie people being your artsy 'movie critic'... not your hard core Star Wars fan :) )

    With Quake 2&3 I was always kind of shocked at the amount of work that they put into the models. It's utterly impossible (IMO) to notice the work put into them at all in a game. There was barely any noticable 'in game' difference between the models in Q1 to Q2 - and no gameplay difference at all. Fiend? Big tank guy? You want to know the one model that I was most ever impressed by? The DOOM II Arch Vile. Now that created a gaming experience :) You would wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking you'd just heard one :)

    Having said all that, I still like to have good effects in other types of games. First person role-playng games.. I'd love to see a re-make of Ultima IV-VI using a 3D engine. Maybe one day, in my little fantasy world, Carmack and Garriot will form their own company. :)

    Jason

  7. The Canadian Test on iCraveTV To Relaunch · · Score: 1

    "Hello, ICrave"

    "Hi. I'd like to sign up..."

    "Unfortunately the world is going to end today at 8:00.... 8:30 in Newfoundland"

    If they 'get it' they're Canadian. :)

  8. Re:Privitizing Oppression on The Leased Life? · · Score: 1

    I don't know about everyone else, but I love the way things work now.

    I grew up in rural Canada - and we can get pretty rural out here. I lived in the house my grandfather built ontop of the house my great-grandfather built. My Dad worked the same job my grand-father did I'd be there too if it wasn't for computers and our new 'temporary' life.

    Since getting out on my own I'm been through 3-4 different 'carrers', live in 3 different major cities. One day I lived in Vancouver and thought: "I like my job but I want to do something different and be somewhere different". 2 months later I was in Europe travelling around and 5 months I'd settled in London and working in a investment bank instead of an Internet company.
    (I wanted to see how 'big business' worked rather than small start up - I'm still doing the same sort of thing, but in a totally different environment).

    And now, I've been here 6 months. Know what? I don't really care for London much nor do I really care for the Investment bank scene - Although I'm glad I came here; I've really enjoyed the experience and would never wish it never happened. So, because I 'rent' my home, my car, my life I'm going to get up and leave. I'm going to travel some more. Then I think I might try living in Europe (Berlin sounds exciting.. I'd like to live in a non-english place.. or maybe New York - I haven't decided yet). I also am thinking of getting a job that isn't IT related. (Diving instructor on the Greek islands? I'd even like to maybe work on a farm in France for 3-4 months... I won't make much money.. But I don't need the money. I don't have to pay for a house, or a car.. etc. Remember? )

    I'll be going back to the town I grew up in and seeing my old friends I've left there. I still talk with them via e-mail.. They've got houses, kids, jobs... I keep telling them they should come over to Europe for a few weeks and I could show them around. "I'd love to.. but I can't [get time off work; the kids wouldn't enjoy it; afford it]"

    I wouldn't throw away my 'throw away' life for anything. I don't make 'lots of money'. Heck, I don't even make good money. (I work helpdesks.. ) But I live comfortable and happily. I live how I want, where I want when I want because everything I need is never 'mine'. I don't have to pay full price for it... and I never have to miss my freinds because of the Internet.

    One day I'm sure I'll want to 'settle down'. Then I can buy a car, buy a house - if I want. But currerntly, I'm living the life that in times past only the upper class could.

    I've done nothing but gain freedom from today's society.

    Put children through college? Don't people work their way through college these days? Everyone I know does? Not that as a parent I wouldn't try to help them out... Worried about getting sick? I've got medical insurance.. and I guess being Canadian helps in that the goverment helps with that (generally). Sure I could get some horrible disease tommorrow and be in dire financial problems. But I could accidently hit someone with my car and be sued to death as well. Life is just full of excitment, isn't it?

    Maybe I'm doing it all wrong but I'm glad I've got the option to live how I want - unlike my father who always wanted to travel for months and months in Europe but couldn't because of his 'carrer' and making payments on his car that he had to worry about..

    I can't speak for everyone else, obviously, but the whole consumer/demand thing has worked well for me. I'd be living at on the family farm if my only option was to buy a house and a car everytime I wanted to move... If I could just lease a stereo and actaully be able to lease CDs and eventually give them back when I was done with them I'd be much happier.. Hmmm.. MP3.com anyone?

    We live in the society that we (or at least I?) demanded and the economy provided.

    -- Jason
    "I spent my youth obtaining wealth and then I spent my wealth obtaining youth"

  9. Interesting... on U.S. Wants Large Cyberpolicing Powers · · Score: 1
    I find it kind of interesting that with all the crime/murder/hatred/etc in the world that they are spending so much time and are so scared of the Internet..

    I'm personally not one of the people who're obsessivly worried about 'The Man' coming to get us, but.. Geeze, it is /IMPOSSIBLE/ to physically hurt anyone over the Internet - the only thing you can possibly do is spread information... and yet the most powerful people in the world are holding meetings to find ways to police it.

    You'd think they'd be trying to figure out how to police something that can actually affect people...

    If there are citizens who are having problems with the Internet.. Tell them to turn off the computer. Sheesh... Problem solved.

  10. Re:Dumb question? on Qwest Achieves 100-Mile IP Round-Trip At 40Gb/sec · · Score: 1
    Just how does one generate 40 gigabits - 5 gigabytes - of data per second?

    Post to usenet using your real email address. The resulting spam ought to do it.... Jason.

  11. Slashdotted? on Microsoft Asks Slashdot To Remove Readers' Posts · · Score: 1

    I can't open the link to the old story. Is it just me, or did Slashdot just Slashdot itself?

  12. Email.. on Microsoft Asks Slashdot To Remove Readers' Posts · · Score: 2

    You forgot to put at the end of the message:

    "This letter is copyright by AndOver.net. Reproduction of this email by, but no limited to, email servers, email clients, or other electronic or non-electronic means is a violation of the owners copyright. License to copy this email is given at a rate of $100,000 per copy. By reading this email message you agree to the above terms."

    Then email it to everyone you can find at Microsoft, and use a hotmail account. By the time you're done they'll owe you enough money to cover the costs of lawyers you'ld need to keep the whole thing in court for a few years until no one cares anymore :)

  13. .... on FTC Settles With Big CD Makers-Cheaper CDs Coming? · · Score: 1

    As a Canadian who is going to be paying tax on recorable CDRs to offset the cost of people burning music CDs, I'd like to see the record companies give *US* money back to offset the $480 million they stole from us...

  14. Re:Wow on Another Hole in Hotmail · · Score: 2

    I've had a hotmail account for about 3 years and I still use it.

    Everytime I sign up for anything on the internet, anytime a webpage asks me for email, any time I have to put in an email address to 'register' a program, or any convention I sign up for, I put in my hotmail address... They then usually ask me a bunch of personal questions. I'm always 25-35 male, I make $100,000+/year and am single. And when you see all those little boxes where you check off your interests? Well, I check them all. Then I check (or uncheck) those boxes that ask me if I want their monthly, weekly, daily email magazine. Oh, and I want all the updates whenever they update their software/web page, etc...

    I currently get 7-8 emails a day at that address.. about twice a week I get one from Hotmail Staff telling me my mailbox is full.. :)

  15. Re:ID's turnover on John Cash Leaves id Software for Blizzard · · Score: 2

    Most of the major people who've left have been programmers. The art people (Paul Jaquays, Tim Willits, Paul Steed, etc) seem to be pretty steady.

    I would guess that some pretty talented programmers come on to Id looking to get a chance to work in a 'bleeing edge' environment. What they get is and obsesive-compulsive work-a-holic controlling Carmack working 99% of the R&D/interesting coding and getting them to fill in the gaps/bugs. Heck - this guy takes 'vacations' by locking himself in a hotel in some remote place and developing new 3d engines for a few weeks.

    The programmers eventually get over the 'awe' of working with Carmack and then get a chance to work in some other cool environment where they will possibly get more of a hands-on role and can apply some of the knowledge they've picked up while watching Carmack work...

    That's my guess, at least...

  16. Re:Plenty of other filtering software on Mozilla Junkbuster-like Feature Removed · · Score: 1

    Doubleclick was always the one that annoyed me. They seem to be on 90% of the web sites anyhow and I wouldn't trust that 'opt out' option anymore than Microsoft documentation....

    I just got rid of them by adding a line in the hosts file so that doubleclick.net points to 127.0.0.1 and then you just get a pretty broken link on all your pages. Far better, IMO than wating for some silly add to load and keep marketing data on you...

  17. Re:Reverse Engineering humand on Company Claims To Have Workable Draft of Human Genome · · Score: 1

    I just don't see the dilema here:

    1)When we create a life form that is missing a few chromosomes - and someone will, to experiment - is that a new species or is that still human?

    This is a question for the bioligists. Same thing would happen when they find a new species in some remote part of the ocean. Everything is classified by a set of rules they have and I'm sure they'll apply them the same as they always have..

    2)How many new species will be created? At what point will sentient synthetic life be called "human"?

    How many new species in what time frame? The next year? The next 100 years? The next 10,000,000 years? Can't answer that one. When is a a 'new life' to be called human? Same answer above. Bioligists will be able to answer that one..

    3) If John Q's DNA is taken without his consent and used to create a child, then whose child is it? Who must pay child support? Does the adult child have a right to locate her biological father?

    Generally questions for the courts of each country. Same questions apply to abandoned children, test-tube babies, etc. When you create a child - naturally or otherwise - you would probably of determined who will support the child before hand.. If not, then - the same as now - a court would probably be involved.

    4) When scientists have created new human-like life, who owns the "soul" or "destiny" of that lifeform? The scientist who created it? The lifeform itself? Is it assumed to be subhuman? Will it be regarded as a working animal, regardless of cognitive ability?

    We got rid of the idea of ownership of 'souls' or 'destinies' ages ago. I'm pretty sure everyone owns their own 'destiny' down to the smallest omeba. Heck, there are societies all over the world making sure that you don't hurt your cat.. Why would any of that change?

    And for the religious people out there: How do you think God will respond when Wolfgang Alexander Williams IV, PHD (an old fashioned, "birth" human) is summoned to the pearly gates, and brags that he has patented seven new species under the genus Homo, all of which are his own creation and his own design. Will we hear a deep belly-laugh from the clouds, or something more fierce?

    The same as what happened to the Wright brothers when the religious people said attempting to fly was to defy God. The same as what happened to Galileo when he insisted the sun wasn't the center of th earth and that was blastphemy. The same as what happened to the Africans who were not made in the image of God and therefore were not real humans. We got over it, accepted the 'new evil-thing' which entered our society and realized that it wasn't really such a bad thing after all.

  18. Words.. Words.. Words... Words... on On Usage of "Hacker vs. Cracker" · · Score: 1
    How words evolved and fall into and out of usage can actually be pretty interesting. Pointing out where a word came from originally is generally a bad way to back up an argument for/against it's use.

    For example, saying something is 'gay', meaning stupid, a lot of people will say is utterly wrong because it comes from homophobic people using it. It's not wrong because it was used by homophobic people and has since come into common slang for 'stupid' or 'silly' and is completly unrelated to homosexuals.. Of course, you still shouldn't use it simply because it offends some people.

    A more interesting example is the word 'black' vs. 'negro'. Black was originally an offensive term used for Africans. In order to be polite people started using 'negro' and 'nigger'. Of course, ironically, the term negro became impolite (well, downright offensive, really) and so 'black' came back into style. (And of course 'African-American' for those PC types).

    It just goes to show. A word only means what the majority of people think it means...

  19. Re:MP3s of bootlegs? on Ask Metallica About Napster · · Score: 1

    This was covered in the online chat. They said they turned a blind eye from bootlegs being passed around. It was only the 'studio recordings' they were concerned with.

  20. Alternatives to Napster... on Ask Metallica About Napster · · Score: 1
    You say you want to go after Napster because:

    "Napster is a big machine funded by big money. They are trying to smokescreen everyone into thinking this is a free thing for the fans. It's a cheap ploy, in trying to associate free and Napster together." - James from artistdirect.com chat

    and

    "This is not a service that they're offering for the good of man kind, to spread love and music. They're doing it for potential IPO's for alignment with a big company where there will be a major cash transfer to the investors. This is about money. " - Lars from artistdirect.com chat.

    So, once Napster is 'gone' and all the hundreds of thousands of people using Napster switch to using another program that is not owned by any company but was created by a collective of people on the Internet... Then what? It's no longer about money. It's no longer about IPOs. It's now about the love of music (Or at least it's against having to pay $19.95 for a CD for one song..) Then what?

    It will be back to the days in the 80s of 'mixed tapes'. Where every stereo had two tape decks because consumers demanded it. (And they weren't copying their own tapes.. Let's face it. Everyone was copying the 'one good song' off of their friends tapes. And, even today, I can't tell the difference between an original and a 1st generation copy of a tape).

    What then? Are you going to go after the 100,000s of people still 'illegally' trading your music around?

  21. Re:Xerox getting mauled ... on I Love You "Virus" Hates Everyone · · Score: 1

    There is something way too ironic about Xerox getting attacked by something that makes copies of itself..... :)

  22. Re:An Poc ar Buile on Handmade Encryption Challenge · · Score: 1
    I hope the 'lyrics' don't have any meaning to break the code. The song is originally in Irish and it has been translated differently by different people. Infact, there are even multiple version of the song in original Irish lyrics online:

    Ar mo ghabháil dom siar chun Droichead Uí Mhórdha, and
    Ag gabháil dom sior chun Droichead Uí Mhóradha.
    are the first lines of the song according to Here and here.

    It seems odd that the song name would be put in there as the rest of the text of the message seems to be words chosen randomly (Probably for their letters, not their meaning).

    Currently I'm guessing that the image is something you have to cut out and then after aligning the text properly and running the cut-out over the page and putting the yellow square over a certain letter then the arrows will point to 4 letters of the message. Something just needs to determine the alignment of the text.

    Or something to that effect....

  23. Metallica guilty for killing teenagers? on Shut Down Metallica, Not Napster · · Score: 1
    Since, as Metallica seems to be saying, people who break the law because of access they had to something someone created (Napster) that therefor the author is then responsible for the illegal actions...

    Does that not mean that:

    Laws that are broken by people because they had access to something someone created (Metallica songs) that Metallica is therefore guilty of those crimes?

    I'm sure I heard somewhere that back in the 80s that some kid somewhere went on a shooting spree because 'Metalica's lyrics told him to do it'.....

  24. Eggs bacon spam beans spam spam spam and spam on Quickies Rock! · · Score: 1
    For the last few years I've had a hotmail email address I use for spam. Anytime I need to put in an e-mail address to sign up for something (NY Times, etc) I always use that one. Then I make sure I check all the boxes that say "I want all your newsletters and updates and notifications of new products" etc. Make sure I put down that I'm a 23-30 year old male making $125,000+/year..

    Currently I get 6-7 emails a day at that account. All of it spam. About twice a week one from hotmail asking me to please delete some messages :)

  25. What about the Telco's? on Metallica's "Justice" And Napster · · Score: 1
    I think Napster should sue the Telco's for allowing people to use their program to transfer copyright material.....

    Jason