You could maybe make an interesting spoof fantasy based on a D&D universe, with characters (over) acting as though controlled by badly socialized geeks, hordes of insensate orcs attacking at every turn, and improbable bad stuff suddenly happening when the characters look like they're succeeding.
An unprotected thief can take the full force of dragon fire face first and leave if the dice roll right.
Warriors can take dozens of full-on full-force sword hits before they finally succumb to a lack of HPs, but he still won't bleed.
etc.
Such 'issues' are easily resolved by clever and thoughtful gamers and DM's alike.
Player's start out as Talented Normals, with a Certain Special Something that marks them for a life of adventure. Clever DM's give or help players create plausible backgrounds for characters, which in turn help to justify their chosen path (magic user, fighter, etc).
When a warrior with a lot of HP takes only a few points from an attacker with a three and a half foot bastard sword, it is clearly due to the fact that the damage was minimized by skillful defensive movement on the part of the one who was attacked.
When a Thief (via a good dice roll) survives a blast-furnace attack of Dragon's Breath, it is due to a clever bit of side-stepping, hiding or distraction.
The game was never designed to accurately reflect Reality. You can get that at the local Mall.
Terminologies, dialects, genders and whatnot would (will) be user-defineable, much like WinAmp skins or QuakeWorld skins. You'll have endless variations of the Star Trek Theme (including the charming and original fembot monotone from the original series), the Gangsta Theme, the Sesame Street Big Bird Theme and, of course, my personal favorite, the Wicked British Nanny Theme.
"You have 3 tasks left incompleted on your to-do list, you Naughty little boy! This calls for a vigorous spanking!"
Those bastards have patented my favorite fish! Of all the nerve!
Really, tho', it could be a Red Herring. Transmeta could be cashing in on the popular assumption that they're going to create a wild new processor that'll be Everything to Everyone in order to disguise the fact that they're really in the process of opening the ULTIMATE multimedia porn sight for cyber-trans-sexuals.
The original release of Traveller, 3 or 4 slim but action/stat-packed volumes and a pair of dice in an elegantly plain small black box, was one of the most intriguing and satisfying role-playing purchases I ever made. Their production consisted of very actual pictures, and lots of tightly packed, highly informative and inspiring text, printed on very high-quality paper. I still have it and I'm never selling it.
When role-playing games really caught on, they became way over-glamourized IMHO, with glitzy professional art. The more they rendered the images for you, the less clearly the images rendered in our heads.
Remember the original editions of AD&D's Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Guide? They really felt like they had magic in them!
The later editions felt and read like grade-school text books.
This guy deserves a major award from the hacker community. His spirit and determination is inspiring and admirable as he 'hacks' his way to a solution to a largely self-imposed problem is DIRECTLY comparable to the spirit of the original hackers twiddling away at that train set at MIT those many years ago.
I see a lot of mean-spirited postings decrying this guy a looney, but those posters, in my view are missing the whole point. The man has a technological vision, and he's using whatever resources he can find to see it through. He has a LOT to show for his efforts, unlike a LOT of the vaporware crap that gets hailed as 'visionary' these days. Hacking is not specific to UNIX, C and shell-scripting. It's a state of mind.
I hear lots of griping about lack of mobility, fatigue, stability, etc., all of which is highly justified, but you're not looking down the road, and you're judging a fledgling device against the staggering 'accomplishments' of science fiction.
He's a lot closer to that ideal than you think, and VERY close indeed to something that could have viable military applications.
Give the suit minimal powered assist and a lone soldier (with some specialized training and conditioning) could 'run' at a good clip for hours at a time, over almost any sort of terrain using minimal resources and leaving very little evidence (compared to a HumVee or whatever). Garage-level devices have been created that already do this sort of thing (no links off-hand, but I'm looking) without the 'armored' exterior.
You could also fit it with a self-contained breathing apparatus for use in harsh environments or underwater (underwater, of course, VASTLY increasing the complexity of engineering if you want to completely seal the enterior, although you could have the occupant wearing an inner enviro/survival type suit and then just build the shell to drain easily and quickly upon exiting the water).
Computer and electronic navigation and whatnot could be fitted, but I'd want to have manual backup (however primitive) for all vital operations (vision, hearing, etc.) I'd also want to be able to throw the suit into 'neutral' if the power plant is disabled, so I can move it under my own power, however inefficiently.
Such a device would not be used in a massive 'powered infantry' style ground conflict, but would instead be used exclusively for recon and 'terrorist' type attacks in the midst of enemy territory.
Weapons could easily be devised to thwart such a device (magnetic or sticky 'clingers' that stick to a hard to reach area of the suit and then drill or laser their way in to deposit a charge, armor-piercing missles and whatnot), but that would not negate its utility in specialized circumstances.
Exhuberant Slashdot postings imply validity of pie-in-the sky new-age nonsense? I don't think so.
The 'volunteers' however enthusiastic they may be, are offensive to me, throwing time and money into someone else's half-rendered daydream.
Why knock it? -because it's a waste of time and mental bandwidth (and potentially the savings) of anyone who gives it the time of day
What's (my?) motive? -Encourage Critical (if not at times downright Cynical) thinking
What Will I gain? -Satisfaction, in the hope that maybe just ONE person, as a result of my potentially offensive ramblings, will look at this 'Amazing Techno-color Gift Horse On The Moon Place Your Orders Now' a little more closely and a little more rationally, and NOT send in their hard-earned money and NOT waste their valuable time cranking out "serveral thousand web pages, data tables and images" for your organization. I'm a big fan of Heinlein and a big supporter of Space/Lunar research and exploration. Your 'project' as described on your site will foster neither of these.
This is just another spoof page hoping to gut a few sheep for the $35/year 'Membership Dues', or godknowshowmuch for the 'Lifetime' membership. Ooh! Count me in boys! I'm sure that the same people who run this site have dozens of others full of pop-up porn ads.
Heat could (and may well) be generated by the tidal flexing of the planet. It seems like there definately WAS water. I just hope there still IS. I think there is. The larger impact craters that are still visible have faded/filled in to a tremendous degree. What would be cool is if we could hurl a big artificial meteorite at its surface and then watch to see if the damage 'heals' itself by filling in from underneath and icing over. That wouldn't be very nice, of course, if there really *is* life in there!
Re:It's too darn old now.
on
Linux Turns 8
·
· Score: 1
but otherwise have been left behind by the Linux movement and its creator
No one's leaving you behind. You're staying there of your own free will.
I naively hope the focus will return to technical things and all the non-techs will forget about Linux
Naive, no. A tad pretentious and self-centered? Perhaps.
Your word's echo many a Punker's lament "I remember those guys...their first record was Excellent. After that, they got popular and they sucked. I used to listen to 'em when...blah blah blah"
I've been guilty of it myself, and come to the realization that when I do that, I'm looking for Status and Approval from my audience, whomever they may be. Trust me, it's a waste of time and earns you nothing but closed ears. Self-professed 'old-timers' are some of the Greatest Bores around.
I like running scaled-down systems on slower computers too. I have a lean and mean SuSE system running on a 486 Compaq laptop which is a total blast.
Try grabbing a low-end Celeron system (you should be able to find one fully loaded for around $300) and check out some of the new 'bloat ware' that everyone's gabbing about. It's fun and extremely interesting! There's lot'sa junk and quite a few gems as well. That's ALWAYS been the case with Linux. It's just on a larger scale now.
Sit there and gather dust if you must, but remember: In the dusty, musty annals of history, NO ONE can hear you sneeze...
Nobody asked about the upcoming A2K/Xmen/Cerebus cross-over mini-series with limited-edition embossed 3d glow-in-the-dark covers (5266 of which will be printed with 'unintentional' glitches, INCREASING THEIR VALUE BY A FACTOR OF TEN!).
Slashdot Mirror
You could maybe make an interesting spoof fantasy based on a D&D universe, with characters (over) acting as though controlled by badly socialized geeks, hordes of insensate orcs attacking at every turn, and improbable bad stuff suddenly happening when the characters look like they're succeeding.
AWESOME idea!
And a Fantasy Game at that.
Gotta use yer Imagination.
Our heroes will have no skills.
An unprotected thief can take the full force of dragon fire face first and leave if the dice roll right.
Warriors can take dozens of full-on full-force sword hits before they finally succumb to a lack of HPs, but he still won't bleed.
etc.
Such 'issues' are easily resolved by clever and thoughtful gamers and DM's alike.
Player's start out as Talented Normals, with a Certain Special Something that marks them for a life of adventure. Clever DM's give or help players create plausible backgrounds for characters, which in turn help to justify their chosen path (magic user, fighter, etc).
When a warrior with a lot of HP takes only a few points from an attacker with a three and a half foot bastard sword, it is clearly due to the fact that the damage was minimized by skillful defensive movement on the part of the one who was attacked.
When a Thief (via a good dice roll) survives a blast-furnace attack of Dragon's Breath, it is due to a clever bit of side-stepping, hiding or distraction.
The game was never designed to accurately reflect Reality. You can get that at the local Mall.
Is anyone else offended by his last comment about power?
No.
Terminologies, dialects, genders and whatnot would (will) be user-defineable, much like WinAmp skins or QuakeWorld skins. You'll have endless variations of the Star Trek Theme (including the charming and original fembot monotone from the original series), the Gangsta Theme, the Sesame Street Big Bird Theme and, of course, my personal favorite, the Wicked British Nanny Theme.
"You have 3 tasks left incompleted on your to-do list, you Naughty little boy! This calls for a vigorous spanking!"
(whipcrack) GrrrrrrOWl!
Those bastards have patented my favorite fish! Of all the nerve!
Really, tho', it could be a Red Herring. Transmeta could be cashing in on the popular assumption that they're going to create a wild new processor that'll be Everything to Everyone in order to disguise the fact that they're really in the process of opening the ULTIMATE multimedia porn sight for cyber-trans-sexuals.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
It Looks like a hoax...
It Smells like a hoax...
Hell, it even TASTES like a hoax!
Just don't step in it, okay?
Bullshit. You were complaining. 'interesting...sociological phenomenon' my ass!
;)
Let's just kill everybody, everywhere, and then kill ourselves. That way, nothing bad can ever happen again from then on.
Have you tried (one of you) un/re-subscribing and/or requesting to be put on a different VLAN?
Playing quake with friends near and far is about the only reason I can see for having high bwidth access in the first place!
but what do I know
That's what we're all trying to figure out! Apparently not much guaging from your many tiresome and repetitve posts.
You feel ripped off. Understood. Now go have a snack or something, eh?
The original release of Traveller, 3 or 4 slim but action/stat-packed volumes and a pair of dice in an elegantly plain small black box, was one of the most intriguing and satisfying role-playing purchases I ever made. Their production consisted of very actual pictures, and lots of tightly packed, highly informative and inspiring text, printed on very high-quality paper. I still have it and I'm never selling it.
When role-playing games really caught on, they became way over-glamourized IMHO, with glitzy professional art. The more they rendered the images for you, the less clearly the images rendered in our heads.
Remember the original editions of AD&D's Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Guide? They really felt like they had magic in them!
The later editions felt and read like grade-school text books.
Like dropping your car counter from a height of 2-3 inches. Really sucks in the summertime with fan blowing all around ; )
Great game.
I even drove a 'Killer Kart' (unarmed, of course) of my own quite a few years back. Renault 5 ('Le Car')
This guy deserves a major award from the hacker community. His spirit and determination is inspiring and admirable as he 'hacks' his way to a solution to a largely self-imposed problem is DIRECTLY comparable to the spirit of the original hackers twiddling away at that train set at MIT those many years ago.
I see a lot of mean-spirited postings decrying this guy a looney, but those posters, in my view are missing the whole point. The man has a technological vision, and he's using whatever resources he can find to see it through. He has a LOT to show for his efforts, unlike a LOT of the vaporware crap that gets hailed as 'visionary' these days.
Hacking is not specific to UNIX, C and shell-scripting. It's a state of mind.
This guy's got it.
I hear lots of griping about lack of mobility, fatigue, stability, etc., all of which is highly justified, but you're not looking down the road, and you're judging a fledgling device against the staggering 'accomplishments' of science fiction.
He's a lot closer to that ideal than you think, and VERY close indeed to something that could have viable military applications.
Give the suit minimal powered assist and a lone soldier (with some specialized training and conditioning) could 'run' at a good clip for hours at a time, over almost any sort of terrain using minimal resources and leaving very little evidence (compared to a HumVee or whatever). Garage-level devices have been created that already do this sort of thing (no links off-hand, but I'm looking) without the 'armored' exterior.
You could also fit it with a self-contained breathing apparatus for use in harsh environments or underwater (underwater, of course, VASTLY increasing the complexity of engineering if you want to completely seal the enterior, although you could have the occupant wearing an inner enviro/survival type suit and then just build the shell to drain easily and quickly upon exiting the water).
Computer and electronic navigation and whatnot could be fitted, but I'd want to have manual backup (however primitive) for all vital operations (vision, hearing, etc.) I'd also want to be able to throw the suit into 'neutral' if the power plant is disabled, so I can move it under my own power, however inefficiently.
Such a device would not be used in a massive 'powered infantry' style ground conflict, but would instead be used exclusively for recon and 'terrorist' type attacks in the midst of enemy territory.
Weapons could easily be devised to thwart such a device (magnetic or sticky 'clingers' that stick to a hard to reach area of the suit and then drill or laser their way in to deposit a charge, armor-piercing missles and whatnot), but that would not negate its utility in specialized circumstances.
F*ck Harvard
If you can actually come up with a good reason why it won't work - and do try to pick one that isn't answered in the FAQ - let us know.
Aw shucks. You got me there. I can't think of ANY...
My check is in the mail!
Here's a bunch of Z80/CPM emulators for all major platforms, kindly grouped together in one elegantly uncluttered site.
Eat 'em up!
Does Mister Bigelow any bear any relation to Bob Stupak?
How long 'til we have a Tower of Death on The Moon(TM)?
Can't wait!
Exhuberant Slashdot postings imply validity of pie-in-the sky new-age nonsense? I don't think so.
The 'volunteers' however enthusiastic they may be, are offensive to me, throwing time and money into someone else's half-rendered daydream.
Why knock it?
-because it's a waste of time and mental bandwidth (and potentially the savings) of anyone who gives it the time of day
What's (my?) motive?
-Encourage Critical (if not at times downright Cynical) thinking
What Will I gain?
-Satisfaction, in the hope that maybe just ONE person, as a result of my potentially offensive ramblings, will look at this 'Amazing Techno-color Gift Horse On The Moon Place Your Orders Now' a little more closely and a little more rationally, and NOT send in their hard-earned money and NOT waste their valuable time cranking out "serveral thousand web pages, data tables and images" for your organization. I'm a big fan of Heinlein and a big supporter of Space/Lunar research and exploration. Your 'project' as described on your site will foster neither of these.
(belch)
Excuse me.
Check out the Artemis Society Sponsors...
'Hail Eris' and all that crap.
This is just another spoof page hoping to gut a few sheep for the $35/year 'Membership Dues', or godknowshowmuch for the 'Lifetime' membership. Ooh! Count me in boys! I'm sure that the same people who run this site have dozens of others full of pop-up porn ads.
Heat could (and may well) be generated by the tidal flexing of the planet. It seems like there definately WAS water. I just hope there still IS. I think there is. The larger impact craters that are still visible have faded/filled in to a tremendous degree. What would be cool is if we could hurl a big artificial meteorite at its surface and then watch to see if the damage 'heals' itself by filling in from underneath and icing over. That wouldn't be very nice, of course, if there really *is* life in there!
but otherwise have been left behind by the Linux movement and its creator
No one's leaving you behind. You're staying there of your own free will.
I naively hope the focus will return to technical things and all the non-techs will forget about Linux
Naive, no. A tad pretentious and self-centered? Perhaps.
Your word's echo many a Punker's lament "I remember those guys...their first record was Excellent. After that, they got popular and they sucked. I used to listen to 'em when...blah blah blah"
I've been guilty of it myself, and come to the realization that when I do that, I'm looking for Status and Approval from my audience, whomever they may be. Trust me, it's a waste of time and earns you nothing but closed ears. Self-professed 'old-timers' are some of the Greatest Bores around.
I like running scaled-down systems on slower computers too. I have a lean and mean SuSE system running on a 486 Compaq laptop which is a total blast.
Try grabbing a low-end Celeron system (you should be able to find one fully loaded for around $300) and check out some of the new 'bloat ware' that everyone's gabbing about. It's fun and extremely interesting! There's lot'sa junk and quite a few gems as well. That's ALWAYS been the case with Linux. It's just on a larger scale now.
Sit there and gather dust if you must, but remember: In the dusty, musty annals of history,
NO ONE can hear you sneeze...
Nobody even thought to ask about the upcoming A2K/Xmen/TMNT/Cerebus cross-over mini-series with limited-edition embossed 3d glow-in-the-dark covers.
Fine lot you all are.
(BELCH) It's Friday!!!!!
Nobody asked about the upcoming A2K/Xmen/Cerebus cross-over mini-series with limited-edition embossed 3d glow-in-the-dark covers (5266 of which will be printed with 'unintentional' glitches, INCREASING THEIR VALUE BY A FACTOR OF TEN!).
I mean really.
Are you people DAFT?
Looks a LOT like Laura Croft, doesn't she?
(cue ominous music)
Be afraid. Be VERY afraid...