As a long-time Warp/SKAM fan, I couldn't be happier to see something like this both for them and for us. Also, it looks like if you're running IE on Windows (and presumably at least some other browser/OS configuration) you can also stream every one of the audio files, so the whole thing is even "listen before you buy".
As an avid mp3 trader, I can see myself using this a lot. Stuff I could only find before @128k bitrate (not good enough), or wasn't able to find, etc.
I still think about the music for this game from time to time, and I didn't even own the Amiga, I played at a friend's house. It was just sublime, perhaps I'll do a search for the soundtrack here momentarily... The game was pretty fun, too, a clear fore-runner to the top-down RPG-style games I'm playing today such as Neverwinter Nights.
Good advice -- this is how I quit smoking. If having a cigarette makes you feel like the back of your throat is being worked over by a huge guy with a belt sander, you're not as inclined to smoke. It took a full 7 days before I had even remotely started to feel better, and by then I realized that I still had the same pack of cigarettes I bought a week and a half earlier. I took it as a sign to get out while I still could...
Last Christmas, my girlfriend's cousins gave her a basket containg some of their leftover fireworks from the 4th of July, a few bottlerockets, jumping jacks, etc. They're the white trash cousins. Can I say that and not get modded into oblivion? It's true, they know it and they're proud...
But they don't specify which version! I've got experience in Intel 95, 98 and 2000, but I haven't logged onto an Intel XP machine yet. I've heard it really sucks, though.
Now Microsoft doesn't just want to know everything about the hardware on your machine, no...they want to know your most intimate personal thoughts! They will glean the blog entries of their user base and use peoples' deepest fears and desires to further enhance their market stranglehold! Muahahahaaaaaa!! Ahhahahaaaaa!! Haaaah*choke, cough, splutter*
The Sandia National Labs supercomputer (code name: Red Storm), currently being built by Cray, is going to be powered by 10,000 Opteron processors. A 40 Teraflop theoretical peak will put it at the top of the supercomputer list, being approximately 4 Teraflops faster than the NEC Earth Simulator, the current champ.
Informative, eh? Hardly. Your comment is far more ignorant than informative. The United States should be considered beer nirvana for any true beer fan as American craft brewers have the full spectrum of beer styles covered, from the truly experimental and style-defiant to beers that are so traditional and historical that they're rarely still seen today. Let's see if you've had any of the Top 25 American beers, as rated by the friendly beer geeks at RateBeer.com.
As I was reading the article and the responses here, I just couldn't help thinking "what about pen & paper RPGs?" I know, I know, it's not technology, it's not computers...but it could be, in the game. That's the whole point of "actual" RPGs, they can be anything and everything you want them to be. Don't like a rule the people who made the game came up with? Don't use it! Make up your own! Why not? Do whatever is the most fun for you and your friends. I dunno. Maybe I'm just a geek.
The choices were many and very clear-cut in that game, and they had noticeable consequences that definitely affected gameplay.
The first time I played it through, I was good. It was nice to have the high Reputation, and I know from prior RPG experience that playing a good character is generally quite a bit easier than playing a bad one, mostly due to NPC reactions and general relationships within the party itself. However, I noticed one thing...all those evil characters I couldn't hire sure were tough, and they'd make a great ally...
Henceforth, the second time through I was evil. Not chaotic, just neutral evil, and I was a thief sub-class, so that seemed to fit. Guess what? It was actually more fun playing through the game as the evil character. My allies were tougher and more skilled, and, surprisingly, worked very well with each other. The evil party could have taken down the good party, no problem. There were a few quests that I couldn't attempt due to my alignment, and there were a few quests that I received Reputation points for. As you may or may not know, if you have an evil party and your Reputation gets to a certain high point, your party will not stop bitching at you to "get back on track" and the like. If it gets high enough, they leave the party. So, to keep that stat in check, whenever it got too high, I would go slaughter some random town denizen. It was like a sacrifice. "I want the good items and the experience, therefore an innocent must die." But, like previous posters have pointed out, this was not online, this was single player, so they weren't really NPCs, they weren't people, they were just bits and a method of keeping the party happy and together. That was all I had to do to remain in good, er, evil stead.
I can absolutely see how ruining some other person's gaming experience can make one feel bad, and this is why I don't do it. The only time I go out of my way to make some game a little more hell for someone is if they bring it upon themselves by doing this to others, so it's almost like a "vigilante" point of view. However, I can say that without a doubt, BG2 was more fun to play as an evil character, and I recommend you go through and try it again that way, if you get the urge to play it through again. Single player games afford more freedom in this area, no matter which way you look at it. The only way this would not be true is if there were some kind of unbalance within the game itself, i.e. it being far more difficult to play through as either a good or bad character. That might still be ideal, though, giving players the opportunity to make the game harder or easier on themselves, similar to choices one would have to make in the real world.
I'm still waiting for the Battletech/Mechwarrior movie(s). Talk about easy to adapt, the script is already completely written out in the sourcebooks, games, novels, etc. As you say, the trick would be narrowing/focusing it down to fit into a standard length movie, not a lack of source materials. It's such a truly expansive universe (no pun intended) that they've created for it over the years.
"As it turns out, Pi can be found everywhere, from astronomy to probability to the physics of sound and light. To date it has been calculated to over 51 billion digits, so far with no discernible pattern emerging from its numbers. In fact, the first time that the sequence 123456789 appears, it is over 500 million digits into the ratio. Calculating the digits to millions of decimal places is now used to test computers for bugs in hardware and software (which is how Intel's Pentium found a chip bug a few years ago)."
-- from the web site for the movie Pi.
Not entirely true. Often times the only thing a system needs to become a target is a high-speed 'Net connection. The compromised machine can then be used to scan other random subnets to find other machines to compromise to then use those to scan other random subnets...you get the idea.
I'm ashamed to say I learned this particular point of interest myself, and only when root started getting mail from other admins wanting to know why our server was portscanning them.
Live and learn, they say. I say wisdom is learning from someone else's mistake, such as mine. Hint: when Tripwire stops sending you messages, you may be compromised.
The guy posted his phone number for us??
on
Server In A Fly
·
· Score: 2, Funny
He must be under the assumption we won't (inadvertently, of course!) Slashdot his phone network, too...
Hehe. I'm imagining people calling him and going "First Post!" and then hanging up.
//find / -name "*.mp3" -print returned nothing on my laptop, so it's not a big deal to me, and since it's the University's equipment, they're entitled to set their own rules.//
Now that you mention it, that's a fabulous if not obvious way to "hide" the files. Just remove the extension from all mp3 files, re-add them when the audit is over.
For some reason I can't get the article link to come up. What broadband deployments? I assume since this is Bell they're talking about DSL. Perhaps they're referring to installing "repeaters" on phone lines to get the DSL transmission over greater distances? As it stands, anyone who lives within the requisite distance and doesn't have fiber along the route to/from the CO can get DSL...I'm just not sure what they could be deploying.
The U.S. Army has utilized a belt-fed automatic 40mm grenade launcher (the Mk-19 AGL) for some time now. It's typically mounted on helicopters or, more recently, on the pintle-mount of the Humvee in place of the usual M2.50cal MG.
Look at this very last part of a follow-up article on this particular issue -- ZDNet Australia
"McKimm pointed out that when Sony successfully had Sydney man Eddy Stevens charged with trademark infringement it proceeded through the proper authorities.
He also pointed out that when Australian authorities attempted to prosecute someone in the US the process was generally considered not worth the effort. "It takes so long, we have to get a court order out of Australia, then go to the US and the US has to act on them," said McKimm. "And we do find they tend to drag their feet."
//But can this technology be used to stop me from exercising fair use rights if I decide to get around those blocks in purchased software?//
You can't do that anyway. "Getting around those blocks" is a violation of the DMCA and therefore illegal under US law. We all know what happens to folks who violate the DMCA, now, don't we?
Slashdot Mirror
As a long-time Warp/SKAM fan, I couldn't be happier to see something like this both for them and for us. Also, it looks like if you're running IE on Windows (and presumably at least some other browser/OS configuration) you can also stream every one of the audio files, so the whole thing is even "listen before you buy".
As an avid mp3 trader, I can see myself using this a lot. Stuff I could only find before @128k bitrate (not good enough), or wasn't able to find, etc.
Now all that Top-40 pap-bullshit that I can't fucking stand and don't even consider music will come in crystal clear!
Radio is for chumps. (exception: college radio)
I still think about the music for this game from time to time, and I didn't even own the Amiga, I played at a friend's house. It was just sublime, perhaps I'll do a search for the soundtrack here momentarily... The game was pretty fun, too, a clear fore-runner to the top-down RPG-style games I'm playing today such as Neverwinter Nights.
Good advice -- this is how I quit smoking. If having a cigarette makes you feel like the back of your throat is being worked over by a huge guy with a belt sander, you're not as inclined to smoke. It took a full 7 days before I had even remotely started to feel better, and by then I realized that I still had the same pack of cigarettes I bought a week and a half earlier. I took it as a sign to get out while I still could...
Last Christmas, my girlfriend's cousins gave her a basket containg some of their leftover fireworks from the 4th of July, a few bottlerockets, jumping jacks, etc. They're the white trash cousins. Can I say that and not get modded into oblivion? It's true, they know it and they're proud...
But they don't specify which version! I've got experience in Intel 95, 98 and 2000, but I haven't logged onto an Intel XP machine yet. I've heard it really sucks, though.
Now Microsoft doesn't just want to know everything about the hardware on your machine, no...they want to know your most intimate personal thoughts! They will glean the blog entries of their user base and use peoples' deepest fears and desires to further enhance their market stranglehold! Muahahahaaaaaa!! Ahhahahaaaaa!! Haaaah*choke, cough, splutter*
The Sandia National Labs supercomputer (code name: Red Storm), currently being built by Cray, is going to be powered by 10,000 Opteron processors. A 40 Teraflop theoretical peak will put it at the top of the supercomputer list, being approximately 4 Teraflops faster than the NEC Earth Simulator, the current champ.
Informative, eh? Hardly. Your comment is far more ignorant than informative. The United States should be considered beer nirvana for any true beer fan as American craft brewers have the full spectrum of beer styles covered, from the truly experimental and style-defiant to beers that are so traditional and historical that they're rarely still seen today. Let's see if you've had any of the Top 25 American beers, as rated by the friendly beer geeks at RateBeer.com.
As I was reading the article and the responses here, I just couldn't help thinking "what about pen & paper RPGs?" I know, I know, it's not technology, it's not computers...but it could be, in the game. That's the whole point of "actual" RPGs, they can be anything and everything you want them to be. Don't like a rule the people who made the game came up with? Don't use it! Make up your own! Why not? Do whatever is the most fun for you and your friends. I dunno. Maybe I'm just a geek.
The choices were many and very clear-cut in that game, and they had noticeable consequences that definitely affected gameplay.
The first time I played it through, I was good. It was nice to have the high Reputation, and I know from prior RPG experience that playing a good character is generally quite a bit easier than playing a bad one, mostly due to NPC reactions and general relationships within the party itself. However, I noticed one thing...all those evil characters I couldn't hire sure were tough, and they'd make a great ally...
Henceforth, the second time through I was evil. Not chaotic, just neutral evil, and I was a thief sub-class, so that seemed to fit. Guess what? It was actually more fun playing through the game as the evil character. My allies were tougher and more skilled, and, surprisingly, worked very well with each other. The evil party could have taken down the good party, no problem. There were a few quests that I couldn't attempt due to my alignment, and there were a few quests that I received Reputation points for. As you may or may not know, if you have an evil party and your Reputation gets to a certain high point, your party will not stop bitching at you to "get back on track" and the like. If it gets high enough, they leave the party. So, to keep that stat in check, whenever it got too high, I would go slaughter some random town denizen. It was like a sacrifice. "I want the good items and the experience, therefore an innocent must die." But, like previous posters have pointed out, this was not online, this was single player, so they weren't really NPCs, they weren't people, they were just bits and a method of keeping the party happy and together. That was all I had to do to remain in good, er, evil stead.
I can absolutely see how ruining some other person's gaming experience can make one feel bad, and this is why I don't do it. The only time I go out of my way to make some game a little more hell for someone is if they bring it upon themselves by doing this to others, so it's almost like a "vigilante" point of view. However, I can say that without a doubt, BG2 was more fun to play as an evil character, and I recommend you go through and try it again that way, if you get the urge to play it through again. Single player games afford more freedom in this area, no matter which way you look at it. The only way this would not be true is if there were some kind of unbalance within the game itself, i.e. it being far more difficult to play through as either a good or bad character. That might still be ideal, though, giving players the opportunity to make the game harder or easier on themselves, similar to choices one would have to make in the real world.
Decided that the knife works so well in-game and looks so cool that you just *have* to have one? Better be prepared to cough up about $450US.
I'm still waiting for the Battletech/Mechwarrior movie(s). Talk about easy to adapt, the script is already completely written out in the sourcebooks, games, novels, etc. As you say, the trick would be narrowing/focusing it down to fit into a standard length movie, not a lack of source materials. It's such a truly expansive universe (no pun intended) that they've created for it over the years.
And don't even say the words "Robot Jox" to me.
This is true to the point where I actually have begun referring to Gran Turismo as a "driving simulator."
"As it turns out, Pi can be found everywhere, from astronomy to probability to the physics of sound and light. To date it has been calculated to over 51 billion digits, so far with no discernible pattern emerging from its numbers. In fact, the first time that the sequence 123456789 appears, it is over 500 million digits into the ratio. Calculating the digits to millions of decimal places is now used to test computers for bugs in hardware and software (which is how Intel's Pentium found a chip bug a few years ago)." -- from the web site for the movie Pi.
Not entirely true. Often times the only thing a system needs to become a target is a high-speed 'Net connection. The compromised machine can then be used to scan other random subnets to find other machines to compromise to then use those to scan other random subnets...you get the idea.
I'm ashamed to say I learned this particular point of interest myself, and only when root started getting mail from other admins wanting to know why our server was portscanning them.
Live and learn, they say. I say wisdom is learning from someone else's mistake, such as mine. Hint: when Tripwire stops sending you messages, you may be compromised.
He must be under the assumption we won't (inadvertently, of course!) Slashdot his phone network, too...
Hehe. I'm imagining people calling him and going "First Post!" and then hanging up.
An article about whether to buy a new-technology-enabled TV on a TV station's web site.
//find / -name "*.mp3" -print returned nothing on my laptop, so it's not a big deal to me, and since it's the University's equipment, they're entitled to set their own rules.//
Now that you mention it, that's a fabulous if not obvious way to "hide" the files. Just remove the extension from all mp3 files, re-add them when the audit is over.
For some reason I can't get the article link to come up. What broadband deployments? I assume since this is Bell they're talking about DSL. Perhaps they're referring to installing "repeaters" on phone lines to get the DSL transmission over greater distances? As it stands, anyone who lives within the requisite distance and doesn't have fiber along the route to/from the CO can get DSL...I'm just not sure what they could be deploying.
That they'd had enough Slashdotting of the screenshots page!
You are not authorized to view this page
You might not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials you supplied.
HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden
The U.S. Army has utilized a belt-fed automatic 40mm grenade launcher (the Mk-19 AGL) for some time now. It's typically mounted on helicopters or, more recently, on the pintle-mount of the Humvee in place of the usual M2 .50cal MG.
Look at this very last part of a follow-up article on this particular issue -- ZDNet Australia
"McKimm pointed out that when Sony successfully had Sydney man Eddy Stevens charged with trademark infringement it proceeded through the proper authorities.
He also pointed out that when Australian authorities attempted to prosecute someone in the US the process was generally considered not worth the effort. "It takes so long, we have to get a court order out of Australia, then go to the US and the US has to act on them," said McKimm. "And we do find they tend to drag their feet."
Heh.
In Soviet Russia, CS goes into you!!
//But can this technology be used to stop me from exercising fair use rights if I decide to get around those blocks in purchased software? //
You can't do that anyway. "Getting around those blocks" is a violation of the DMCA and therefore illegal under US law. We all know what happens to folks who violate the DMCA, now, don't we?