Re: I have played HL 1, but still I don't understa
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Review: Half-Life 2
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· Score: 1
Actually here is a picture [planethalflife.com]
That is indeed a scene out of the first chapter in Decay. (From another perspective of course)
One of the neat things with Opposing force & Blue Shift is the way that they let the stories converge a little.
I wholehearlty agree.
Re: I have played HL 1, but still I don't understa
on
Review: Half-Life 2
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· Score: 1
Thanks for the information. You got a +1, Informative in my eyes.
in one of them you see the sample on its way up to the test chamber.
That's funny, I happen to also have Halflife for the PS2 and there you can play the cooperative mode called "Decay" in which you play two female scientists. I've never played Decay because I found noone willing to play it with me. In Decay, those who scientists are responsible for delivering the sample to the test chamber.
Re: I have played HL 1, but still I don't understa
on
Review: Half-Life 2
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· Score: 1
There is an interesting article on this kind of thing, unfortunately I didn't link it.
If you would happen to find it again, would you please tell me? I'm very interested in more thoughts on the background of the Halflife Universe.
I love Halflife & Opposing Forces. Didn't play Blue Shift (because I haven't got it) and will most certainly buy Halflife2 when it comes out here in the stores.
Just a question: why did you buy the USB version? No offense, but you knew that it would make problems sooner or later when using alternate systems. I have an "Alcatel Speed Touch Home" (Ethernet version) and it has worked 100% fine since day one. (on OpenBSD)
Yes, the saleman looked at me as if I was an idiot because I wanted the more expensive Ethernet version. Why not buy just USB? I will tell you: because the communication over USB is not standardized for such devices. The only USB devices you can trust are HID and Mass Storage. Anything else and sooner or later you are on yourself: with USB, it might be that your device is not going to be supported in the next version of Windows. (Who still have a parallel-port scanner that refuses to run on Win2000 or WinXP? Similar issues.) Ethernet is pretty much going to be supported everywhere.
Go with the more expensive and compatible hardware, if you know that you are going to run an alternate OS.
Nope, they can't. At least not the optimized version. In XP the OS knows that Hyperthreading is not real SMP and treats it accordingly. In W2k, it seen it as two real CPU's. This could result in a performance hit, but I don't know by how much.
I standardized all my desktops on W2k. Alas, the only one I cannot "downgrade" is my girlfriends PC. It has Hyperthreading, and that's why it runs Windows XP.:-( If someone could confirm me that the performance hit is less than 15%, I will install W2k, but right now I just don't know.
So you have a national database of everyones name, address, fingerprints and probably iris scan and face scan. Plus an unique ID number- Plus whatever else they want to add a later date
Remove fingerprints, iris and face scan (that's the controversional biometric data) and you can be pretty sure that any government has this. I know mine does! Heck, I worked on it in the context of a governmental contract and I worked on highly confidential medical data. I could look up for anyone in my country (and beyond, people working here get an entry too) if they ever had been checked upon having cancer (obviously this was in the national health department). The central database (of which I saw only a small part) contains your name, your current address, your birthday, a link to your parents, a link to your spouses (ex and non-ex), a link to you children, and that's just the basics.
Everyone has an unique ID which is called "social security number" (oh! surprise!). The format is the following yyyymmddabc, where yyyy the year of your birth, mm the month of your birth and dd the day of your birth. The abc is a serial number, in which the middle number (b) indicates your sex. Is the number odd, they you are male, is the number even the you are female. This number identifies you *everywhere* in the government. It was on my tax forms, it is (obviously) on all medical records, your employer knows it (He needs to, for tax reasons).
Strangely enough, this number is *not* on my national ID card. I wouldn't be surprised if they could match the serial# of my ID card with that number and find out everything about me.
Don't act surprised the day you find out that your government also has such a database.
Nope, not Belgian either...:-) Ah, DNA... That is something else. I don't really understand what you mean with parent-matching? Finding out who is parent of whom? Sounds not like that much of a bad idea. Diseases can only be diagnosed by a lab, so your local cop on the street isn't going to know that you're at 99% risk of getting a heart attack in the next ten years. (or whatever) Private entities should not have access to such databases at all, government is not a problem. I'm talking about regular ID cards with a country-wide number. That's all... No DNA. Those work fine. Besides DNA matching on the spot is not possible for a cop anyway, so it doesn't enhance your identifciation.
Right now, we have a government that is a bit sinister and controlling, but they aren't like some regimes of the past. So what happens to the databases if some extremist government takes over or invades?
The same thing as with bridges when an enemy invades: you destroy them. That will be the day the admin finds out how fun those backup tapes look in a microwave, and the joys of smashing harddisks to bits and pieces.
They want ID, they can do good old routine questioning.
Why not make it easy? Unique number on card with your picture and signature + make it hard to fake it, will do just fine in order to avoid annoying questioning. When you're suspected of something, they'll have to do the questioning anyway... Guilty or not.
Why do you think I'm French? Oh, the "Auchan" reference? They exist in other countries too, sometimes with different names (for example "Alcampo" in Spain if I recall correctly)
Biometric stuff is a double-edged sword. It would make identification better: get stopped by the cops, they swipe your ID though a reader while you press on a thumbpad. Instant ID check: a picture plus a fingerprint makes a better primary key. Advantage: no connection needed to the mainframe having your data. Disadvantage: forgery possible if the chip on the card is easily crackable.
(Naturally are pro/con not complete, just came up with two things)
Well, I understand your point, but how is this different from the following situation: imagine I borrowed you some of my books, you leave them in the car. Same thing happens: car broken into, books gone away.
I damn sure would expect you to reimburse my books. Perhaps 80$ for three books sounds a lot to you, but who says that said books are still in print and can be re-bought?
It's not as easy as you think.
Finally: in countries where you have a national ID (mine for example) you shouldn't show your ID to just anyone. Actually, the only people that can ask your ID are policemen. Anyone else does not have the right to ask your ID, not even the librarian.
I don't get it either. I have said the same thing before in another discussion about national ID cards, but got no satisfactory reply. Best case you are told that the government will abuse it to track your every movement (imagine the amount of data to analyse), or you get some wackos/funnies that cite that "mark of the beast" thing.
I have had an ID card for about my whole life and I practically never had to show it. If I recall correctly they made a photocopy when I opened a bank account, but that would be over 15 years ago;-)
As for supermarket cards: I have two, both registred on my real name. One of them is nice and does make savings on the occasion. The other one (Auchan) is a bitch. I buy stuff there on a regular basis and I have never ever gotten discounts. Apparently the only way to get points on that card was to buy their store-branded stuff. Doesn't help me when I only usually buy DVD's or PS2 games there.
May be... I disable clicks on digital cameras. They annoy me. Most digital cameras allow to disable the click.
Perhaps there is a volume setting somewhere for your camera? I have a good old analog camera, where most people don't get the fact that they have taken a pic either. You with your digital camera can just delete: I have to pay for development for those duplicate pics (after all, can't refuse them: they're not bad.. just duplicate)
My mother tongue is dutch... Modern dutch of course. I never heard that "Unochs" means "tree-based" in Old Dutch. A tree in dutch (modern that is) is called "boom" (ponunication "b-ohm").
Well, yes, or no. It depends on how you see it. If I have to work on a XP machine (at work for example) with a small screen, I will switch it to classic as soon as possible.
At home I simply continue to run Windows 2000. Why run XP if you have Windows 2000? It is basically the same system (things I miss out on are fast user switching and remote desktop, both for which I have no use)
What was the big selling point of XP do you recall? IT LOOKS COOL!
You and me have a very different opinion on cool. Aqua is cool, WindowMaker is Cool, hey, even Windows 2000 is cool. Luna (or what the fuck that ugly green/blue monster is called) is not cool. It is atrocious, and don't let me begin about the screen estate it wastes. Fuck I'm on a 15" LCD, XP is unusable on 1024x768....I paid over 1000$ for that screen back in 2000, I won't replace it.
Would you do me a favour and download some porn for me? Just try it... Your browser is secure, nothing to fear.
Honestly, my girlfriend (yes, I need to hand in my nerd badge) downloaded a friggin dialler by searching drawing templates (she's a kindergarden teacher). I forced her to use Firefox, and one luck that I did: after 3 times clicking on the link and having no new templates on screen she asked me for help. What did firefox do? Simple: it displayed the makeshift download screen, and downloaed the.exe file. Apart from that it didn't do squat. Would it have been Internet Explorer, a dialler would have been installed.
Before she lived with me such a thing would have mattered, because she was on dial-up.
Slashdot Mirror
That is indeed a scene out of the first chapter in Decay. (From another perspective of course)
One of the neat things with Opposing force & Blue Shift is the way that they let the stories converge a little.
I wholehearlty agree.
in one of them you see the sample on its way up to the test chamber.
That's funny, I happen to also have Halflife for the PS2 and there you can play the cooperative mode called "Decay" in which you play two female scientists. I've never played Decay because I found noone willing to play it with me. In Decay, those who scientists are responsible for delivering the sample to the test chamber.
If you would happen to find it again, would you please tell me? I'm very interested in more thoughts on the background of the Halflife Universe.
I love Halflife & Opposing Forces. Didn't play Blue Shift (because I haven't got it) and will most certainly buy Halflife2 when it comes out here in the stores.
Yes, the saleman looked at me as if I was an idiot because I wanted the more expensive Ethernet version. Why not buy just USB? I will tell you: because the communication over USB is not standardized for such devices. The only USB devices you can trust are HID and Mass Storage. Anything else and sooner or later you are on yourself: with USB, it might be that your device is not going to be supported in the next version of Windows. (Who still have a parallel-port scanner that refuses to run on Win2000 or WinXP? Similar issues.) Ethernet is pretty much going to be supported everywhere.
Go with the more expensive and compatible hardware, if you know that you are going to run an alternate OS.
I standardized all my desktops on W2k. Alas, the only one I cannot "downgrade" is my girlfriends PC. It has Hyperthreading, and that's why it runs Windows XP. :-( If someone could confirm me that the performance hit is less than 15%, I will install W2k, but right now I just don't know.
That is exactly what I call "installing". *grin*
Well, probably not with slashdot teenagers... ;-)
Not that I regret it, it is a fine monitor and does its job very well. I recently saw a Fujitus-Siemens LCD 15" for 200€. :-(
I could be weeping...
Remove fingerprints, iris and face scan (that's the controversional biometric data) and you can be pretty sure that any government has this. I know mine does! Heck, I worked on it in the context of a governmental contract and I worked on highly confidential medical data. I could look up for anyone in my country (and beyond, people working here get an entry too) if they ever had been checked upon having cancer (obviously this was in the national health department). The central database (of which I saw only a small part) contains your name, your current address, your birthday, a link to your parents, a link to your spouses (ex and non-ex), a link to you children, and that's just the basics.
Everyone has an unique ID which is called "social security number" (oh! surprise!). The format is the following yyyymmddabc, where yyyy the year of your birth, mm the month of your birth and dd the day of your birth. The abc is a serial number, in which the middle number (b) indicates your sex. Is the number odd, they you are male, is the number even the you are female. This number identifies you *everywhere* in the government. It was on my tax forms, it is (obviously) on all medical records, your employer knows it (He needs to, for tax reasons).
Strangely enough, this number is *not* on my national ID card. I wouldn't be surprised if they could match the serial# of my ID card with that number and find out everything about me.
Don't act surprised the day you find out that your government also has such a database.
The other side? What other side? If everyone gets a number, there is no other side.
Right now, we have a government that is a bit sinister and controlling, but they aren't like some regimes of the past. So what happens to the databases if some extremist government takes over or invades?
The same thing as with bridges when an enemy invades: you destroy them. That will be the day the admin finds out how fun those backup tapes look in a microwave, and the joys of smashing harddisks to bits and pieces.
They want ID, they can do good old routine questioning.
Why not make it easy? Unique number on card with your picture and signature + make it hard to fake it, will do just fine in order to avoid annoying questioning. When you're suspected of something, they'll have to do the questioning anyway... Guilty or not.
Biometric stuff is a double-edged sword. It would make identification better: get stopped by the cops, they swipe your ID though a reader while you press on a thumbpad. Instant ID check: a picture plus a fingerprint makes a better primary key. Advantage: no connection needed to the mainframe having your data. Disadvantage: forgery possible if the chip on the card is easily crackable.
(Naturally are pro/con not complete, just came up with two things)
I damn sure would expect you to reimburse my books. Perhaps 80$ for three books sounds a lot to you, but who says that said books are still in print and can be re-bought?
It's not as easy as you think.
Finally: in countries where you have a national ID (mine for example) you shouldn't show your ID to just anyone. Actually, the only people that can ask your ID are policemen. Anyone else does not have the right to ask your ID, not even the librarian.
I have had an ID card for about my whole life and I practically never had to show it. If I recall correctly they made a photocopy when I opened a bank account, but that would be over 15 years ago ;-)
As for supermarket cards: I have two, both registred on my real name. One of them is nice and does make savings on the occasion. The other one (Auchan) is a bitch. I buy stuff there on a regular basis and I have never ever gotten discounts. Apparently the only way to get points on that card was to buy their store-branded stuff. Doesn't help me when I only usually buy DVD's or PS2 games there.
Perhaps there is a volume setting somewhere for your camera? I have a good old analog camera, where most people don't get the fact that they have taken a pic either. You with your digital camera can just delete: I have to pay for development for those duplicate pics (after all, can't refuse them: they're not bad.. just duplicate)
Why, oh why, does that fat-bellied-white-bearded guy get all the sexy chicks? *sniff*
Of course my Old Dutch doesn't go further than "Hebban olla vogalan nestas higonan". ;-)
Oh, games? Yes, I heard that too. All games I have work perfectly fine on Win2000. I rarely play games, I have a playstation2 for that ;-)
Now its gnome with the Aero theme, but I feel like a pansy for waisting more resources painting the screen then my first computer had (a vic-20) :)
You probably waste more resources, just by booting up your machine and look at the BIOS settings ;-)
At home I simply continue to run Windows 2000. Why run XP if you have Windows 2000? It is basically the same system (things I miss out on are fast user switching and remote desktop, both for which I have no use)
Then why run XP at all? I still run 2000. I vastly prefer it.
You and me have a very different opinion on cool. Aqua is cool, WindowMaker is Cool, hey, even Windows 2000 is cool. Luna (or what the fuck that ugly green/blue monster is called) is not cool. It is atrocious, and don't let me begin about the screen estate it wastes. Fuck I'm on a 15" LCD, XP is unusable on 1024x768....I paid over 1000$ for that screen back in 2000, I won't replace it.
Honestly, my girlfriend (yes, I need to hand in my nerd badge) downloaded a friggin dialler by searching drawing templates (she's a kindergarden teacher). I forced her to use Firefox, and one luck that I did: after 3 times clicking on the link and having no new templates on screen she asked me for help. What did firefox do? Simple: it displayed the makeshift download screen, and downloaed the .exe file. Apart from that it didn't do squat. Would it have been Internet Explorer, a dialler would have been installed.
Before she lived with me such a thing would have mattered, because she was on dial-up.
Don't believe me: try downloading anything from this . (Probably not the site she found but very similar)
That's a cool one. Thanks!
I always write "echo -n > myfile". Don't know if it works on a apache error log that is out of hand, though.