"The big one is of course the 'Voting Irregularity' in Palm Beach where supposedly thousands of seniors voted for Buchanan due to a badly designed ballot.
I personally feel that these people shouldn't even be voting. If you can't follow the arrow from the candidate's name to the corresponding hole/box/lever/split arrow, then you shouldn't be voting. I think that this anecdote only solidifies the senile stereotype of Floridians. However, Buchanan must be laughing in his chair right now, since he got thousands of votes due to morons who can't read.
This just goes to show that you should never forget the two axioms of voting: read the fine print, and don't assume anything.
...using Quake 3. I pitted Sarge (representing George W. Bush) against Gorre (representing Al Gore). The map was Q3TOURNEY3, fraglimit 10, hardcore skill. Sarge won both; first 10 to 9, then 10 to 6. However, I'm wondering if I should do it again with the fraglimit set to 270.
Picture this: you get assigned to a project where an electron and a positron collide into each other at sub-light speeds. That's sort of a throwback to the days where you used to take Matchbox cars and ram them into each other at 25 mph.
Except this time, the apparatus to accelerate the particles is many miles long. Who says that size doesn't matter here?
Admit it, not seeing a Crusoe in a Compaq Armada just might make Linus Torvalds livid. Watch out now, Transmeta's IPO value might go the way of priceline.com: shoot way up, then plummet down, ending up only 1/4 of its original value.
I might be charging into the lion's den by saying this (Slashdot is predominantly Democratic), but here goes anyway: I knew this was going to happen. The hack of the RNC website came as no surprise; however, I laughed when I learned that other hackers had forced the DNC web server to shut down. Al Gore has denounced the new generation of Republicans as crazed DOOM fanatics (at least get with the times; DOOM is one of the classics, and Counter-Strike uses real-world weapons!).
I fear that my right to bear arms is being infringed upon. When I get my firearms license, I want to be able to fire a shotgun, rifle, or perhaps even a Desert Eagle, and actually feel the recoil from the gun, instead of just playing another FPS and dreaming about holding the gun.
It wasn't printed on paper, and it wasn't signed in ink. Furthermore, there were no witnesses, and there was no challenge period as mandated by the U.S. Patent Offices.
And I suppose that you believe that "hokey-pokey" patent to be legitimate as well.
...I learned from the Quake console. It's true; the first few commands that I tried out in bash were from Quake (clear, quit, ping, status, etc.). Of course, stuff like god, noclip, and give just won't work; those are Quake specific.
In fact, all of you who are reading this, shut up and vote. If you are a U.S. citizen, then that's the only form of your expression that will change this country for the better.
So in short, to all editors, "First p0st!"ers, L337 trolls, and karma whores, if you are a U.S. citizen and have registered to vote, step away from your computer/workstation/server terminal, and head to the voting booth.
...compared to when Counter-Strike Beta 7 was released. On that day, FTP sites all over the world were bogged down by players and serveradmins downloading the huge patch. Even ftp.cdrom.com was bogged down to a measly 17 KB/sec. I'd hate to see it all happen again with the release of CS1.0.
Photoshop 6.0 was being warezed all over the place just one day after its release, and Adobe is taking no action. Yet the IDSA goes after Abandonware sites! Gee, what's wrong with this picture?
Well, almost. Take 256^4. You get 4294967296. Take away the obvious ones that don't count (192.168.x.x; 255.x.x.x; 127.0.0.x; etc.) and you still get a little above 4 billion.
This means that, in the best case scenario, they have traced 93.1322574615478515625% of the IP addresses; and at worst case, 100%. All the more reason for IPv6; so they'll have to toil just to trace them again!
Please, people, remember what history has taught us! Emulation is not the efficient way! Just look at what happened with the Virtual Device Driver, Virtual 3D Acceleration (that pathetic video card known as the S3 ViRGE), Virtual Machine, Virtual Modem Controller, and the Virtual Sound Device (otherwise known as AC97).
I'm sick of the "virtualization" of these hardware pieces; why don't we start seeing some "real" hardware? Better yet, some "really good" hardware that really performs well.
not Alan Greenspan. You're starting to turn into one of the sheeple who believe that Alan Greenspan does everything in the world and is the actual leader of the country and the world.
Sometimes they fall right in line with your demands, but when they become irrational, it's time to get the sheepdog out to nip at their hindquarters. When they start getting out of hand, then it's time to whip out the cattle prod.
Personally, I hate what is happening to software engineers. The quality of code makes me think that it was written by a monkey chained to an emacs terminal. Case in point: Half-Life 1.1.0.4, which will not run the Opposing Force mission pack at all. Pathetic, yes, but it shows that Valve only concentrated on Counter-Strike and TFC. Business as usual for them, but I'm stuck here with a dead mod which I haven't played in a long time.
In Japan I heard that most of the purchases were because people wanted a cheap full featured DVD.
Okay, it looks like they left their minds in the gutter. Doesn't this remotely remind you of the "tsunami drills" that they constantly have in Japan? Or the cubicle-sized hotel suites?
IMHO, Using a PS2 to play a DVD is like using an M249 heavy machinegun with a 500-bullet chain to mow down three targets. In one word: Overkill.
By purchasing a PS2, you're supporting an evil empire and a demonic leech (Sony and Rambus). At least when you buy a DVD-ROM drive for your computer, you can play it with whichever program you wish to use.
Also, here's a DVD advertisement circumvention procedure: Play, Stop, Play, 01 [enter]. I guarantee that this procedure does not fall under the DMCA, even though it does circumvent the stupid ad screens.
Just today, I saw an American Express rep trying to give people credit card accounts on campus. "Be launched into uncontrollable debt with no money down! Forget bankruptcy; we only seek lobotomy!"
This has got to be the first competently written piece from Katz that we've seen in months (mostly because it's based on a real event and not some trite book or idea). And finally, something that hits home. JonKatz, I congratulate you; however, I don't think that your next story will be as good. Just stay away from the speculative "fodder-for-thought" style that you've been using lately.
"...what makes you think that your ISP is shortchanging you on bandwidth?"
The fact that the T1 gets a data rate of a 56K modem. Seriously, they should've gone with OC3 or something better. Perhaps a tweaking of the contract is needed.
I remembered this one after using my mom's Win95 machine and having media player crash on me: In Win2K, a program which uses MMSYSTEM that ends up crashing will not kill the sound. Instead, MMSYSTEM is restarted instantly. Also, you can run MULTIPLE INSTANCES of MMSYSTEM (i.e.: run Winamp, RealPlayer, Media Player, and Cool Edit all at once!). DirectSound is still first come, first served, but that's how it was meant to be.
DOS box log! You're not trapped in 80x25 anymore; there's now a buffer in each DOS box, and you can scroll up to previous lines (excellent for doing that >200 line tracert!)
The most stable Direct3D support. Great for 3DSMAX, Unreal Tournament, The Sims, and other D3D programs.
All calls to OPENGL32.DLL are redirected to the hardware accelerator (unless the software RGB emulator is specified). This includes the OpenGL screensavers, which run MUCH faster due to this.
Integrating IE into the operating system isn't all that bad. You can just type a URL into the path, and that Windows Explorer window turns into an IE window. This is one great timesaver.
File system advances: FAT32 support (though you can't format a volume larger than 32GB as FAT32, since NTFS is more efficient at that point), disk quotas, and per-file encryption.
By default, upon a STOP error (blue screen of death), only the first 640K of RAM is dumped, and the system is automatically restarted (not like NT4, where all RAM was dumped and the system would stay at the BSOD until the user restarted). This can be changed to your liking, but 2000 usually only goes to the BSOD when running corrupt programs.
Still, you can't deny one thing: PC's shouldn't need a driver specifically for the CPU. The CPU should be the only hardware piece which doesn't need driver software (that's what the BIOS firmware is for).
If you still don't see my point, I'll put it another way: AMD didn't bother to get the Athlon right the first time, and they're paying for it by having to release "enhancement driver upgrades" for all Athlon owners.
Personally, I'm sticking with my P3 on a 440BX until Intel gets out of its venture funk. VIA and AMD are too notorious for not getting it right the first time, but then, isn't that also the Linux reputation? Wow, I'm starting to see the parallel...
Personally, I didn't even attend my high school's prom. My friend, who is also an avid Quaker, also abstained. Not surprisingly, if there was a Superlative in the yearbook that said "Most Likely to become an artillery expert/go Columbine", then we'd both win it.
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I personally feel that these people shouldn't even be voting. If you can't follow the arrow from the candidate's name to the corresponding hole/box/lever/split arrow, then you shouldn't be voting. I think that this anecdote only solidifies the senile stereotype of Floridians. However, Buchanan must be laughing in his chair right now, since he got thousands of votes due to morons who can't read.
This just goes to show that you should never forget the two axioms of voting: read the fine print, and don't assume anything.
...using Quake 3. I pitted Sarge (representing George W. Bush) against Gorre (representing Al Gore). The map was Q3TOURNEY3, fraglimit 10, hardcore skill. Sarge won both; first 10 to 9, then 10 to 6. However, I'm wondering if I should do it again with the fraglimit set to 270.
Okay, this is an obvious troll, but someone tell me, is this misspelling meant as a pun?
Except this time, the apparatus to accelerate the particles is many miles long. Who says that size doesn't matter here?
Remember:
megalomaniacal software developer + hardware manufacturer = DISASTER!!!
Just as:
Bill Gates + Pocket PC = debt, it might turn out that:
Linus Torvalds + Transmeta = bust.
I fear that my right to bear arms is being infringed upon. When I get my firearms license, I want to be able to fire a shotgun, rifle, or perhaps even a Desert Eagle, and actually feel the recoil from the gun, instead of just playing another FPS and dreaming about holding the gun.
And I suppose that you believe that "hokey-pokey" patent to be legitimate as well.
...I learned from the Quake console. It's true; the first few commands that I tried out in bash were from Quake (clear, quit, ping, status, etc.). Of course, stuff like god, noclip, and give just won't work; those are Quake specific.
So in short, to all editors, "First p0st!"ers, L337 trolls, and karma whores, if you are a U.S. citizen and have registered to vote, step away from your computer/workstation/server terminal, and head to the voting booth.
...compared to when Counter-Strike Beta 7 was released. On that day, FTP sites all over the world were bogged down by players and serveradmins downloading the huge patch. Even ftp.cdrom.com was bogged down to a measly 17 KB/sec. I'd hate to see it all happen again with the release of CS1.0.
Photoshop 6.0 was being warezed all over the place just one day after its release, and Adobe is taking no action. Yet the IDSA goes after Abandonware sites! Gee, what's wrong with this picture?
This means that, in the best case scenario, they have traced 93.1322574615478515625% of the IP addresses; and at worst case, 100%. All the more reason for IPv6; so they'll have to toil just to trace them again!
Right, but still, you can set up the tripod and have one of your buddies link belts together to effectively give you 500 rounds.
I'm sick of the "virtualization" of these hardware pieces; why don't we start seeing some "real" hardware? Better yet, some "really good" hardware that really performs well.
not Alan Greenspan. You're starting to turn into one of the sheeple who believe that Alan Greenspan does everything in the world and is the actual leader of the country and the world.
Personally, I hate what is happening to software engineers. The quality of code makes me think that it was written by a monkey chained to an emacs terminal. Case in point: Half-Life 1.1.0.4, which will not run the Opposing Force mission pack at all. Pathetic, yes, but it shows that Valve only concentrated on Counter-Strike and TFC. Business as usual for them, but I'm stuck here with a dead mod which I haven't played in a long time.
Okay, it looks like they left their minds in the gutter. Doesn't this remotely remind you of the "tsunami drills" that they constantly have in Japan? Or the cubicle-sized hotel suites?
IMHO, Using a PS2 to play a DVD is like using an M249 heavy machinegun with a 500-bullet chain to mow down three targets. In one word: Overkill.
Of course, the new Amiga can't be any worse than the old ones; those geezers ran on a 68040!
Also, here's a DVD advertisement circumvention procedure: Play, Stop, Play, 01 [enter]. I guarantee that this procedure does not fall under the DMCA, even though it does circumvent the stupid ad screens.
Just today, I saw an American Express rep trying to give people credit card accounts on campus. "Be launched into uncontrollable debt with no money down! Forget bankruptcy; we only seek lobotomy!"
This has got to be the first competently written piece from Katz that we've seen in months (mostly because it's based on a real event and not some trite book or idea). And finally, something that hits home. JonKatz, I congratulate you; however, I don't think that your next story will be as good. Just stay away from the speculative "fodder-for-thought" style that you've been using lately.
The fact that the T1 gets a data rate of a 56K modem. Seriously, they should've gone with OC3 or something better. Perhaps a tweaking of the contract is needed.
I remembered this one after using my mom's Win95 machine and having media player crash on me: In Win2K, a program which uses MMSYSTEM that ends up crashing will not kill the sound. Instead, MMSYSTEM is restarted instantly. Also, you can run MULTIPLE INSTANCES of MMSYSTEM (i.e.: run Winamp, RealPlayer, Media Player, and Cool Edit all at once!). DirectSound is still first come, first served, but that's how it was meant to be.
DOS box log! You're not trapped in 80x25 anymore; there's now a buffer in each DOS box, and you can scroll up to previous lines (excellent for doing that >200 line tracert!)
The most stable Direct3D support. Great for 3DSMAX, Unreal Tournament, The Sims, and other D3D programs.
All calls to OPENGL32.DLL are redirected to the hardware accelerator (unless the software RGB emulator is specified). This includes the OpenGL screensavers, which run MUCH faster due to this.
Integrating IE into the operating system isn't all that bad. You can just type a URL into the path, and that Windows Explorer window turns into an IE window. This is one great timesaver.
File system advances: FAT32 support (though you can't format a volume larger than 32GB as FAT32, since NTFS is more efficient at that point), disk quotas, and per-file encryption.
By default, upon a STOP error (blue screen of death), only the first 640K of RAM is dumped, and the system is automatically restarted (not like NT4, where all RAM was dumped and the system would stay at the BSOD until the user restarted). This can be changed to your liking, but 2000 usually only goes to the BSOD when running corrupt programs.
If you still don't see my point, I'll put it another way: AMD didn't bother to get the Athlon right the first time, and they're paying for it by having to release "enhancement driver upgrades" for all Athlon owners.
Personally, I'm sticking with my P3 on a 440BX until Intel gets out of its venture funk. VIA and AMD are too notorious for not getting it right the first time, but then, isn't that also the Linux reputation? Wow, I'm starting to see the parallel...
Personally, I didn't even attend my high school's prom. My friend, who is also an avid Quaker, also abstained. Not surprisingly, if there was a Superlative in the yearbook that said "Most Likely to become an artillery expert/go Columbine", then we'd both win it.