Since you mentioned it and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Bioshock do "aim assist" on the PC as well? It sure felt like a lot of weapons in that game had a random "cone of effect" sometimes.
Semi-related to this (the power density bit). There was a design for small arms ammunition in the '90s that used an electrical heating element. The propellant was water flashed into superheated steam. I don't know what the momentum impulse energy would be for superheated steam, but the escaping vapor would at least be supersonic, making it an interesting idea for a renewable propellant.
Just find a source for more water (clouds) than you are using and you could stay up indefinitely. Heh, an "atmospheric bussard ramjet". OK probably not.
BTW, the ammo melted and expended its aluminum heating element to get the effect. So you'd need something that heated up to those temperatures without expending itself per pulse,like a ceramic casing around a molten core. I guess.
PS a quick search revealed the inventor to be Rusi Taleyarkhan (of Bubblegate infamy). Lol
But apparently, my sentiments were in the minority. Hell only 25 people have even voted on the entry so I guess it's not really a part of most people's concerns one way or the other.
Though it didn't catch on, I glad there's at least a wikipedia page about it.
There have been a number of nonstandard "ATX" cases that mount the motherboard upside-down on the opposite side of the enclosure mostly intended for multi videocard gaming machines. some of those even isolate component areas like BTX does. Cable lengths can be an issue in these though.
Having done PC support in offices back when smoking in offices was common I can attest to the putridity of a machine that gets smoked around. I would equate it with working on a grimy car engine. It's even worse with pet owners that smoke. You take the machine outside and "hose down" the system with a spray circuit board cleaner and replace the PSU. It's messy work but you bill the customer for your time. If you think the customer may balk at the expense you talk to them, maybe show them what smoking around computers does. It wasn't that big a deal when most of the system's chips didn't need heatsinks. You could get away with cleaning just the CPU's HSF, and maybe replace the PSU if the customer was on a budget.
Of course I only worked on steel cased, pentium-era desktop machines. Modern systems and notebooks in particular would be more involved as they really depend on staying clean and cool to avoid heat related instability. I would expect a cleaning could include a surcharge for abusive and unusual treatment of the hardware. I mean, if someone brought me a machine that they had doused in maple syrup, I would probably refuse them service or just name a price that I figured was a little north of what I thought they would be willing to spend.
As for the health concerns, well I smoke anyways, but I do it outside. I'd still wear gloves, just like I almost always did.
But Apple has other concerns. I doubt a mall store tech could contain the mess with the resources they have available. They might not actually be allowed to use the cleaner I would use. Or it might attack plastic requiring full dissasembly of a notebook. I don't know, I'm out of the loop on that.
I seeing 9.11 support for radeon 9500 through HD2100 desktop cards on WinXP and on Vista/Win7. I'll have to hack them for my mobile9700 notebook but they're there.
Most of my friends and I have instinctively migrated to smallish "720P" LCD HDTVs for our computer monitors. By smallish I mean 27"-32" and by 720P I mean 1360x768 native resolution. You push them to the back of your desk to relieve farsightedness and regain the ability to use your desk. They have an ATSC tuner in them, to boot.
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Well you have to factor in the shipping cost...
Sure i7 kicks ass. But I'm still waiting for a reason to upgrade from an OC Q6600 main system,
Of course, I'm "only" running my games at 1080p and the games are just xb360 ports so i don't expect to need to upgrade.
Luke, I am your father,
Luke: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
That's a good idea... I'll patent the N crank.
I think I'm going to throw up? /Mr Creosote
What is the sound of two douche bags clapping?
Is there conversion rate from pigeon to station wagon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu_bE7g2wqM
Since you mentioned it and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Bioshock do "aim assist" on the PC as well? It sure felt like a lot of weapons in that game had a random "cone of effect" sometimes.
"I also noticed his clock consistently ran two seconds beyond his making of his move."
I saw that too, but I just attributed it to the time it took to physically move his opponents pieces. He's actually granting a handicap this way.
Semi-related to this (the power density bit). There was a design for small arms ammunition in the '90s that used an electrical heating element. The propellant was water flashed into superheated steam. I don't know what the momentum impulse energy would be for superheated steam, but the escaping vapor would at least be supersonic, making it an interesting idea for a renewable propellant.
Just find a source for more water (clouds) than you are using and you could stay up indefinitely. Heh, an "atmospheric bussard ramjet". OK probably not.
BTW, the ammo melted and expended its aluminum heating element to get the effect. So you'd need something that heated up to those temperatures without expending itself per pulse,like a ceramic casing around a molten core. I guess.
PS a quick search revealed the inventor to be Rusi Taleyarkhan (of Bubblegate infamy). Lol
No reason to get dramatic... If you just gouge your eyes out, radio becomes an acceptable alternative.
See you next Tuesday.
Silent rage...
Hey, I did my part to meme-ify 131.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=131
But apparently, my sentiments were in the minority. Hell only 25 people have even voted on the entry so I guess it's not really a part of most people's concerns one way or the other.
Though it didn't catch on, I glad there's at least a wikipedia page about it.
Oh, is that what the kids are calling it today?
THIS IS THE BEST XKCD EVER!!!
Oh wait this isn't that other place.
oh found it.
"make me a sandwich" does just that.
Yeah that was the first thing I tried.
I was hoping for an easter egg, I mean it's easter right?
To add to what Fuzzy said,
There have been a number of nonstandard "ATX" cases that mount the motherboard upside-down on the opposite side of the enclosure mostly intended for multi videocard gaming machines. some of those even isolate component areas like BTX does. Cable lengths can be an issue in these though.
Having done PC support in offices back when smoking in offices was common I can attest to the putridity of a machine that gets smoked around. I would equate it with working on a grimy car engine. It's even worse with pet owners that smoke. You take the machine outside and "hose down" the system with a spray circuit board cleaner and replace the PSU. It's messy work but you bill the customer for your time. If you think the customer may balk at the expense you talk to them, maybe show them what smoking around computers does. It wasn't that big a deal when most of the system's chips didn't need heatsinks. You could get away with cleaning just the CPU's HSF, and maybe replace the PSU if the customer was on a budget.
Of course I only worked on steel cased, pentium-era desktop machines. Modern systems and notebooks in particular would be more involved as they really depend on staying clean and cool to avoid heat related instability. I would expect a cleaning could include a surcharge for abusive and unusual treatment of the hardware. I mean, if someone brought me a machine that they had doused in maple syrup, I would probably refuse them service or just name a price that I figured was a little north of what I thought they would be willing to spend.
As for the health concerns, well I smoke anyways, but I do it outside. I'd still wear gloves, just like I almost always did.
But Apple has other concerns. I doubt a mall store tech could contain the mess with the resources they have available. They might not actually be allowed to use the cleaner I would use. Or it might attack plastic requiring full dissasembly of a notebook. I don't know, I'm out of the loop on that.
I seeing 9.11 support for radeon 9500 through HD2100 desktop cards on WinXP and on Vista/Win7. I'll have to hack them for my mobile9700 notebook but they're there.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Legacy/Pages/radeonaiw_xp.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.24&lang=English
This means I might get windows 7 running on the thing.
Most of my friends and I have instinctively migrated to smallish "720P" LCD HDTVs for our computer monitors. By smallish I mean 27"-32" and by 720P I mean 1360x768 native resolution. You push them to the back of your desk to relieve farsightedness and regain the ability to use your desk. They have an ATSC tuner in them, to boot.
I'm over 40. Please kill me.
If the money is gone, somebody got away with it.