I've just started playing Go recently with my flatmates and a friend. It's all because of this amazing anime series "Hikaru no Go" about a boy who meets the spirit of a thousand year old Go master from the Heian period, who teaches and encourages him to start learning the game. From there his own love of the game develops, and he heads towards being a pro.
HNG was sponsored by the Japanese Go society as a way of making Go more popular, and Japanese Go schools are currently being swamped by new players. It's up to episode 38 already, so you'll have some catching up, but the fansubs are great. This link http://www.toriyamaworld.com/hikago/ has some of the original manga if you're interested.
To be honest, speaking German or Japanese would be really good. We'd be able to understand anime without the need for subtitles (or hideous dubs), and German industrial metal band Rammstein would sound even better when we knew what they were singing about. Not that we don't enjoy those things already.
Okay, while I accept that giving everyone access to the Internet is a good thing, we all recall days when the Internet just seemed unfairly slow, and pages just wouldn't load even on cable modems.
My question is just how able are we to keep up with this increase in usage? The more large video clips are downloaded, and sites with tons of pretty graphics, and the latest quake 3 patch are put up, the more the rest of us feel the strain.
Oh my God, I just went to the cinema today, and saw the Lord of the Rings trailer. It was amazing! It's given me a new reason to look both ways before I cross the road.
Unfortunately I live in the UK, and we aren't getting the film until December (not sure when you lucky Americans are getting it, but it's bound to be before us:)
And yes, I have read the books. There's still time for everyone else before it starts if you're not too slow.
Sorry, i forgot about Macs. Yes, I'll agree, on a Mac you need one because of the 31 character limit. But On a PC I always remove the ID3 tags because they're a pain to maintain, and difficult to keep consistent, especially when you have some ordinary albums and some compilation albums.
All my files are ripped to 256 kbps Ogg. I have about 9 Gb of music, and admittedly I could have far more music if I encoded them with a lower bitrate, but I like the quality.
I hate listening to 128 kbps mp3, because the loss of sound quality is just sooo bad, and the mp3s in my collection just stand out. To be honest, even a 256 kbps mp3 has a slight but noticeable loss in sound quality. I switched to Ogg when I realised just how superior the sound quality was.
My recommendation for encoding is using Ogg at 160 kbps or above, and if you must use mp3s then please use a decent encoder at 192 kbps or above (VBR or CBR doesn't make too much difference) and force simple stereo because joint stereo has a really weird effect on stereo channels at high enough bitrates.
P.S. one last thing, don't use ID3 tags. You should have a decent directory structure and naming scheme e.g. artist and album directories then "artist - track - title" it makes sharing them so much easier.
I have a M$ Wheel Mouse Optical, and I have found it to be very comfortable to use and accurate. For some dumb reason (maybe my hands sweat too much or something) I can't use ball mice without them gumming up after a very short time.
I have to agree that they aren't perfect though. The tracking screws up at fast speeds, which means that you suddenly end up pointing the wrong way right in the middle of that flick shot.
I've heard that Logitech are bringing out a new optical mouse that has two sensors, and should remain accurate at much higher speeds, and I'm interested in seeing how that turns out. For the moment though, optical mice are far superior for standard OS work like graphics, cos they don't skip.
All right, I'll be honest, there are one or two little annoyances I have with Mozilla, but I'm still really impressed by the whole project and I'm going to keep using it.
Alright - I'll admit that I'm hopelessly addicted to caffeine. I take it in all forms, normal coffee (three heaped spoonfuls), espresso (the same), tea (brewed for at least 3 minutes) and last but not least Irn-Bru.
I don't think Irn-Bru is available in America, but in Scotland, it's our unofficial national beverage. Plus, it's also got more caffeine in it than any other fizzy drink. I drink this stuff by the bottle load, normally accompanied by my friends when we're watching a DVD, playing Quake, or just cos I'm desperate for another glass.
It's freakin' typical that my favourite drinks all turn out to be lethal.
to be perfectly honest, i think it's sad that Intel have to rely on big numbers to get sales, and equally as sad that so many people out there remain uninformed about the hardware that they are buying.
then again it's the same situation with the mac - the G4 is a nippy wee chip, but just doesn't cut it where it counts - that all important clock speed:(
Personally, I wish them good luck. I think that the chance to play around with an alternative OS and not confine their use to Windows is a great start in life - particularly as the kids involved will probably end up learning more about technology in the process. Just like the Mac has enjoys a good place in schools, if this works, maybe others will take the leap and go over to Linux.
I don't believe that it will be an easy task though: it will be more effort than the article appears to make out. I know sysadmins who will only buy technology that requires an absolute minimum of maintenance and attention. It's definately a brave decision, and if they manage to pull it off, then well done.
All right, I watched the demos, especially all the ones at the end with Lakerman, Fatal1ty, Socrates, STX Reverend etc.
ZeRo4 was utterly amazing, and he controlled the levels with such skill. He was a totally deserving winner. QuakeCon was a demostration of how Quake can really be played.
I would advise anyone who hasn't done so already to go and download the demos here, and see for yourself.
Has anyone actually read the latest story arc in College Roomies from Hell? It was soooo long it nearly got boring.
I currently read 12 online comics daily (or however often the unpaid artists can manage, and would like to think that the majority of them are really good. Apart from anything else, they are often very original and interesting.
I think that Sluggy Freelance could do with some fresh ideas, but at least Pete's trying right now, and the current story line no longer sucks the way it did at the start.
my flatmate's a fat bastard!
he's ginger and from kirkcauldy. also his accent can change depending on who he's speaking to and how excited (or drunk) he gets.
Slashdot Mirror
I've just started playing Go recently with my flatmates and a friend. It's all because of this amazing anime series "Hikaru no Go" about a boy who meets the spirit of a thousand year old Go master from the Heian period, who teaches and encourages him to start learning the game. From there his own love of the game develops, and he heads towards being a pro.
HNG was sponsored by the Japanese Go society as a way of making Go more popular, and Japanese Go schools are currently being swamped by new players. It's up to episode 38 already, so you'll have some catching up, but the fansubs are great. This link http://www.toriyamaworld.com/hikago/ has some of the original manga if you're interested.
Go and find out more about Go!!!
To be honest, speaking German or Japanese would be really good. We'd be able to understand anime without the need for subtitles (or hideous dubs), and German industrial metal band Rammstein would sound even better when we knew what they were singing about. Not that we don't enjoy those things already.
Okay, while I accept that giving everyone access to the Internet is a good thing, we all recall days when the Internet just seemed unfairly slow, and pages just wouldn't load even on cable modems.
My question is just how able are we to keep up with this increase in usage? The more large video clips are downloaded, and sites with tons of pretty graphics, and the latest quake 3 patch are put up, the more the rest of us feel the strain.
Oh my God, I just went to the cinema today, and saw the Lord of the Rings trailer. It was amazing! It's given me a new reason to look both ways before I cross the road.
:)
Unfortunately I live in the UK, and we aren't getting the film until December (not sure when you lucky Americans are getting it, but it's bound to be before us
And yes, I have read the books. There's still time for everyone else before it starts if you're not too slow.
Sorry, i forgot about Macs. Yes, I'll agree, on a Mac you need one because of the 31 character limit. But On a PC I always remove the ID3 tags because they're a pain to maintain, and difficult to keep consistent, especially when you have some ordinary albums and some compilation albums.
All my files are ripped to 256 kbps Ogg. I have about 9 Gb of music, and admittedly I could have far more music if I encoded them with a lower bitrate, but I like the quality.
I hate listening to 128 kbps mp3, because the loss of sound quality is just sooo bad, and the mp3s in my collection just stand out. To be honest, even a 256 kbps mp3 has a slight but noticeable loss in sound quality. I switched to Ogg when I realised just how superior the sound quality was.
My recommendation for encoding is using Ogg at 160 kbps or above, and if you must use mp3s then please use a decent encoder at 192 kbps or above (VBR or CBR doesn't make too much difference) and force simple stereo because joint stereo has a really weird effect on stereo channels at high enough bitrates.
P.S. one last thing, don't use ID3 tags. You should have a decent directory structure and naming scheme e.g. artist and album directories then "artist - track - title" it makes sharing them so much easier.
I have a M$ Wheel Mouse Optical, and I have found it to be very comfortable to use and accurate. For some dumb reason (maybe my hands sweat too much or something) I can't use ball mice without them gumming up after a very short time.
I have to agree that they aren't perfect though. The tracking screws up at fast speeds, which means that you suddenly end up pointing the wrong way right in the middle of that flick shot.
I've heard that Logitech are bringing out a new optical mouse that has two sensors, and should remain accurate at much higher speeds, and I'm interested in seeing how that turns out. For the moment though, optical mice are far superior for standard OS work like graphics, cos they don't skip.
All right, I'll be honest, there are one or two little annoyances I have with Mozilla, but I'm still really impressed by the whole project and I'm going to keep using it.
Really? Where? I haven't noticed them!
Alright - I'll admit that I'm hopelessly addicted to caffeine. I take it in all forms, normal coffee (three heaped spoonfuls), espresso (the same), tea (brewed for at least 3 minutes) and last but not least Irn-Bru.
I don't think Irn-Bru is available in America, but in Scotland, it's our unofficial national beverage. Plus, it's also got more caffeine in it than any other fizzy drink. I drink this stuff by the bottle load, normally accompanied by my friends when we're watching a DVD, playing Quake, or just cos I'm desperate for another glass.
It's freakin' typical that my favourite drinks all turn out to be lethal.
to be perfectly honest, i think it's sad that Intel have to rely on big numbers to get sales, and equally as sad that so many people out there remain uninformed about the hardware that they are buying.
:(
then again it's the same situation with the mac - the G4 is a nippy wee chip, but just doesn't cut it where it counts - that all important clock speed
Personally, I wish them good luck. I think that the chance to play around with an alternative OS and not confine their use to Windows is a great start in life - particularly as the kids involved will probably end up learning more about technology in the process. Just like the Mac has enjoys a good place in schools, if this works, maybe others will take the leap and go over to Linux.
I don't believe that it will be an easy task though: it will be more effort than the article appears to make out. I know sysadmins who will only buy technology that requires an absolute minimum of maintenance and attention. It's definately a brave decision, and if they manage to pull it off, then well done.
um, no. i don't think so. Zock didn't even use the mouse, and he was thrashed by the dust puppy.
ZeRo4 was utterly amazing, and he controlled the levels with such skill. He was a totally deserving winner. QuakeCon was a demostration of how Quake can really be played.
I would advise anyone who hasn't done so already to go and download the demos here, and see for yourself.
darn it if i don't understand all these references to american cars. and what is wrong with not being circumcised?
damn that's l33t
I currently read 12 online comics daily (or however often the unpaid artists can manage, and would like to think that the majority of them are really good. Apart from anything else, they are often very original and interesting.
I think that Sluggy Freelance could do with some fresh ideas, but at least Pete's trying right now, and the current story line no longer sucks the way it did at the start.
um, what's wrong with being uncircumcised?
May i just point out that it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sorry to say this, but why do Americans manage to get this so wrong?
my flatmate's a fat bastard!
he's ginger and from kirkcauldy. also his accent can change depending on who he's speaking to and how excited (or drunk) he gets.
I love scotland. and Irn Bru.