I stopped playing blackjack when vegas casinos stopped paying 3:2 on a blackjack out of a 6 deck shoe. Last trip, the only 3:2 single deck game was $100 a hand. Bleh.
I always tip like I'm paying, but it's still a cheap haze.
I used to prefer the $5 Blackjack tables at the Mirage(RIP), the girls would come around enough to keep a good buzz on, and I could keep up with the cards enough to break even. My last trip out was CES 2007 at the Luxor. I spent my last couple of days at the pokerbar. Good comps and lots of women.
And when I was a kid, we shot our model rockets at the B52s that flew overhead. Correlation may not be causation, but they did stop flying the BUFFs over our cul-de-sac.
There was supposed to be a Sapphire AGP 3870 and when it never materialized I caved and built a new system around a pcie 4850. Now my A64X2/GF6800GS system is a grossly overpowered mythtv box. But boy does it run AlienArena...
I went with the P43 version running a C2D 2.4GHz @3.2GHz and Dual Channel DDR2-800 on a matched 1600MHz Bus. No point in faster memory when you're bottlenecked by the FSB and NOTHING maxes out the CPU. The money I saved went towards an ATi 4850, because without a real videocard you might as well just run a 5 year old computer.
It's a single slot card. It works on a 500W PSU It's quiet. It'll probably run every game well for at least 2 years. I like eating Ribeyes and drinking good Scotch.
That (linked video) is fascinating. I'd love to see even a simple fps based on it and tying head tracking to upper torso movement in HL2 or something would be amazing.
I think the other guy was right. I think it was blockiness from over processed video. I wasn't really thinking about the low quality of web video. I was thinking that the consoles might be treating an SD-DVR or SD Capture Card the way a computer would, which is to drop the resolution and make the game look like crap. Might be both though.
If it was a windows game, you'd just capture in fraps. Off a console something like gefen's hd-pvr would work, it costs a grand or so, but you can save video to a flash card then edit it on a pc. Capturing straight to the pc would be cheaper; those cards are around $300, not sure about linux support tho'...'
If you can get the video to a linux box I'd try cinelerra. I've barely played with it but it looks like it can do it all. I've used virtuadubmod for years but I think that's windows only and
Of course the main problem is paying for the bandwidth, which is the real reason the video is crappy. Still, I've seen plenty of videos of computer games that when resampled to 1/4 resolution look very nice playing in a window. Also, there's nothing keeping them (once the HD capture is made) from showing an unresized 640x360 portion of the screen in the video for detail comparisons.
There's a linked video showing the xbox360 and the ps3 version side by side. Both of those videos have chunky aliasing like they plugged each box into a DVR and recorded at 800x600 or something... Maybe 720P, looks that bad.
Assuming Linux can get the correct info from your system, the average Linux notebook is probably configured to use power management less radically. The default power mgt settings for ubuntu under battery power are quite zippy. The CPU went to full speed at any hint of Flash on a web page and the LCD was at 100% brightness. By comparison the "Acer ePower Management" in XP under battery (same system) defaulted to a throttled CPU and a dimmed screen.
Once I changed the Ubuntu settings to control the system the same way, I found very similar performance and battery drain between it and XP.
As far as whether one or the other OS is more efficient I don't know. I haven't compared battery drain while encoding an mp3, thrashing a hard drive or such, but I don't see a difference when I'm just surfing or typing. I would imagine that power efficiency would depend more on the bloat of the running apps than the OS. If you're bogged down with 9 different kinds of anti-malware, running Aero, or that Compiz desktop in Linux, it's gonna take some kind of a hit I guess. I usually turn all the crap off.
"then the life forms on a similar scale to it probably wouldn't understand it sufficiently to know how to interact with it (i.e, simple questions that don't require a great deal of sentience like 'is it predator or prey?' or 'is it a viable food source?')."
If it's edible to them, they'll "know what to do". If it's poisonous to them, well that's evolution in action.
"Having not been made by natural evolutionary forces..."
A dude in a lab is just as much a force of evolution and nature as a comet fueling a primorial soup or whatever you think triggered life on Earth. You don't GET to go outside the system. There is no unnatural .
When the researcher adds the next improvement to these globs of goo that allows them to survive better they will have evolved inside the system of nature which includes the petri dish they may someday live in.
And if it comes to pass that one day they evolve into a symbiotic arm for amputees or a blob that eats chicago, that will be natural as well.
I've bought lots of stuff from every company I've seen mentioned here. I tend to go to Newegg first Mwave second and Zipzoomfly third. I try to order everything from the same place, so I'm not going for rock bottom price, just who has what I need. I've had little problems with all of them. Opened boxes, incorrect models, intransigent customer service people. But since I always pay with a credit card I've never had a problem with RMAs.
I had some annoying experiences with Tiger years ago that really made me forget they could still be in business. I guess they are.
Your local mom 'n pop store probably buys from newegg (or another distributor) too. If they buy in advance of sales, then not only do they compete with their "wholesaler", but they have old stock to boot. The only way for mom 'n pop to do business is to provide a knowledgeable personal relationship with their customers. We call this "business service" (or BS for short). You and I are not their target market, but they do have one. If you have a solid knowledge in almost anything, chances are you'll notice the middleman selling that thing will add a layer of "BS" to get you to buy it for his markup. Indeed since the entire US economy is based on shipping and "BS" (since nothing is manufactured here anymore) you shouldn't knock it. It's unpatriotic.
Yeah, when I saw that you weren't allowed to disassemble the drive, I knew they weren't challenging anything more than script kiddies and their corporate equivalents.
This "what do I need to do before I chuck a hdd" conversation has come up before. I'll ask, "How many dollars do you want somebody to spend to get the data?" They, almost invariably respond "I don't want them to be able to get any data." My response usually involves renting a shotgun/smg and some rangetime.
It'll probably be less of a ship and more of a stabilized floating platform, like an oil rig, if they plan to use "wave power". But cooling would be more efficient off the coast of California, Northern Europe, and Japan than places with bathwater seas like India.
Slashdot Mirror
I stopped playing blackjack when vegas casinos stopped paying 3:2 on a blackjack out of a 6 deck shoe. Last trip, the only 3:2 single deck game was $100 a hand. Bleh.
I always tip like I'm paying, but it's still a cheap haze.
I used to prefer the $5 Blackjack tables at the Mirage(RIP), the girls would come around enough to keep a good buzz on, and I could keep up with the cards enough to break even. My last trip out was CES 2007 at the Luxor. I spent my last couple of days at the pokerbar. Good comps and lots of women.
And when I was a kid, we shot our model rockets at the B52s that flew overhead. Correlation may not be causation, but they did stop flying the BUFFs over our cul-de-sac.
There was supposed to be a Sapphire AGP 3870 and when it never materialized I caved and built a new system around a pcie 4850. Now my A64X2/GF6800GS system is a grossly overpowered mythtv box. But boy does it run AlienArena...
I went with the P43 version running a C2D 2.4GHz @3.2GHz and Dual Channel DDR2-800 on a matched 1600MHz Bus. No point in faster memory when you're bottlenecked by the FSB and NOTHING maxes out the CPU. The money I saved went towards an ATi 4850, because without a real videocard you might as well just run a 5 year old computer.
LOL, I hear ya.
I recently picked up an Ati4850 because...
It's a single slot card.
It works on a 500W PSU
It's quiet.
It'll probably run every game well for at least 2 years.
I like eating Ribeyes and drinking good Scotch.
There should be an additional option to limit POST error messages in BIOS setup.
That (linked video) is fascinating. I'd love to see even a simple fps based on it and tying head tracking to upper torso movement in HL2 or something would be amazing.
Sorry, I like my old Alvarez Yairi. Stick your outrage UYA.
I think the other guy was right. I think it was blockiness from over processed video. I wasn't really thinking about the low quality of web video. I was thinking that the consoles might be treating an SD-DVR or SD Capture Card the way a computer would, which is to drop the resolution and make the game look like crap. Might be both though.
If it was a windows game, you'd just capture in fraps. Off a console something like gefen's hd-pvr would work, it costs a grand or so, but you can save video to a flash card then edit it on a pc. Capturing straight to the pc would be cheaper; those cards are around $300, not sure about linux support tho'...'
If you can get the video to a linux box I'd try cinelerra. I've barely played with it but it looks like it can do it all. I've used virtuadubmod for years but I think that's windows only and
Of course the main problem is paying for the bandwidth, which is the real reason the video is crappy. Still, I've seen plenty of videos of computer games that when resampled to 1/4 resolution look very nice playing in a window. Also, there's nothing keeping them (once the HD capture is made) from showing an unresized 640x360 portion of the screen in the video for detail comparisons.
I'm running hardy 8.10A4-amd64 right now and flash is working. I just watched that bioshock on ps3 video.
There's a linked video showing the xbox360 and the ps3 version side by side. Both of those videos have chunky aliasing like they plugged each box into a DVR and recorded at 800x600 or something... Maybe 720P, looks that bad.
Assuming Linux can get the correct info from your system, the average Linux notebook is probably configured to use power management less radically. The default power mgt settings for ubuntu under battery power are quite zippy. The CPU went to full speed at any hint of Flash on a web page and the LCD was at 100% brightness. By comparison the "Acer ePower Management" in XP under battery (same system) defaulted to a throttled CPU and a dimmed screen.
Once I changed the Ubuntu settings to control the system the same way, I found very similar performance and battery drain between it and XP.
As far as whether one or the other OS is more efficient I don't know. I haven't compared battery drain while encoding an mp3, thrashing a hard drive or such, but I don't see a difference when I'm just surfing or typing. I would imagine that power efficiency would depend more on the bloat of the running apps than the OS. If you're bogged down with 9 different kinds of anti-malware, running Aero, or that Compiz desktop in Linux, it's gonna take some kind of a hit I guess. I usually turn all the crap off.
Also, prefacing each prayer with the holy word "SUDO" helps.
"then the life forms on a similar scale to it probably wouldn't understand it sufficiently to know how to interact with it (i.e, simple questions that don't require a great deal of sentience like 'is it predator or prey?' or 'is it a viable food source?')."
If it's edible to them, they'll "know what to do". If it's poisonous to them, well that's evolution in action.
"Having not been made by natural evolutionary forces..."
A dude in a lab is just as much a force of evolution and nature as a comet fueling a primorial soup or whatever you think triggered life on Earth. You don't GET to go outside the system. There is no unnatural .
When the researcher adds the next improvement to these globs of goo that allows them to survive better they will have evolved inside the system of nature which includes the petri dish they may someday live in.
And if it comes to pass that one day they evolve into a symbiotic arm for amputees or a blob that eats chicago, that will be natural as well.
Eh, their bark was worse than their bite.
I've bought lots of stuff from every company I've seen mentioned here. I tend to go to Newegg first Mwave second and Zipzoomfly third. I try to order everything from the same place, so I'm not going for rock bottom price, just who has what I need. I've had little problems with all of them. Opened boxes, incorrect models, intransigent customer service people. But since I always pay with a credit card I've never had a problem with RMAs.
I had some annoying experiences with Tiger years ago that really made me forget they could still be in business. I guess they are.
Your local mom 'n pop store probably buys from newegg (or another distributor) too. If they buy in advance of sales, then not only do they compete with their "wholesaler", but they have old stock to boot. The only way for mom 'n pop to do business is to provide a knowledgeable personal relationship with their customers. We call this "business service" (or BS for short). You and I are not their target market, but they do have one. If you have a solid knowledge in almost anything, chances are you'll notice the middleman selling that thing will add a layer of "BS" to get you to buy it for his markup. Indeed since the entire US economy is based on shipping and "BS" (since nothing is manufactured here anymore) you shouldn't knock it. It's unpatriotic.
They went out of buisness a few years ago. Did someone buy the name?
His boss (I think he was the owner) was worse. That was the most unhappy place I've ever walked into. Made Microcenter feel like Disneyland.
Yeah, when I saw that you weren't allowed to disassemble the drive, I knew they weren't challenging anything more than script kiddies and their corporate equivalents.
This "what do I need to do before I chuck a hdd" conversation has come up before. I'll ask, "How many dollars do you want somebody to spend to get the data?" They, almost invariably respond "I don't want them to be able to get any data." My response usually involves renting a shotgun/smg and some rangetime.
I think goatse has been depreciated to "damn you". BME Pain Olympics or 2Girls 1Cup is the current "fuck you".
It'll probably be less of a ship and more of a stabilized floating platform, like an oil rig, if they plan to use "wave power". But cooling would be more efficient off the coast of California, Northern Europe, and Japan than places with bathwater seas like India.
That's unpossible. More pirates would cause a corresponding drop in global climate temperature.
Ramen.