An example of "rawer" would have been files in which the headers were assumed (because all snippets were the same format) - kind of like WAV without the header. 1990-ish Amiga junkies (OK, me) frequently ripped these kind of files out of game executables and then slapped headers on them to make them edible to the general population.
I hope that helps - out.
Re:Technical questions.
on
Ask Sid Meier
·
· Score: 1
You do realise that decoding compressed audio (e.g. MP3) costs processor time?
Sure, if you don't know how to cache. Of course, WAV was an interesting choice in 199x when many other games were still using even rawer sound formats. (Among other things, it made Civ one of the first games anyone could customize!)
Re:Technical questions.
on
Ask Sid Meier
·
· Score: 1
Game developers had to get the most out of the compilers they were using just because not even a single clock cycle could be wasted.
I'm not sure this was true with the original Civ. That was a completely turn-based game and the computer didn't need to do a whole lot of thinking between turns. These guys weren't pushing the hardware limits by any means. (Load it the old CivWin on a current box with other 1990-era games to see what I mean.)
Even the file formats used in the game itself suggested that efficiency wasn't the top priority. My 4-floppy copy of CivWin, for example, uses plain old WAV files.
Spot the one response written by a PR flunky...3...2...1...Time's up!
Q: What would you have done differently?
A:...we learned from those challenges and used that knowledge to improve the game at every opportunity. All of us at Blizzard strive to study the challenges of development and apply those lessons to our next project. It helps us to refine our development process and make each game better.
Call it the iPod effect - Sony's stockholders were not too pleased to see the people who brought you the Walkman get smacked around by the fucking iPod.
Perhaps I should clarify - my copy of Office 97 is from an old purple-and-black MSDN developers CD I picked out the trash at work. The print on the CD says "for 60 days of evaluation" but the code neither asks for a license code nor expires after 60 days, so that CD (and some of its backup copies) remains valuable to me.
I still install Office 97 on every Windows computer I own. There are no license key or registration "phone home" issues to deal with and it's a pretty lean word processor compared to the others out there today. Honestly, I can't tell you what features have been added to Office in the last 8 years that would be of any use to me.
It's working already! I just tried to go to a site called "http://www.getfoxie.com/" and instead of a dangerous web site, I got a harmless "Internal Server Error" instead. Woot! Woot!
"...when a single squadron of stealth figters is able to take out your signal and command structure you need to do anything..."
Yes, it would appear that the Chinese are interested in our stealth technology. For years there have been rumors that our "accidental" bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was really retaliation for either helping Yugoslavia nail one of our stealth fighters or exchanging information with Yugoslavia about how to track our boys with passive radar.
I think we'd both agree this is a good thing. I'll take back "the Pentagon doesn't care" comment and second the Lt. Col.'s comment below.
By 2008, the military could start using a new vehicle that would have:
More protection for troops. Congressional pressure forced the military to add armor to all older Humvees and buy more models with factory-installed armor. But even Humvees with the latest armor are still vulnerable to the powerful bombs insurgents use.
A beefier suspension that can handle the weight of the armor. The extra armor has led to increased maintenance problems for the Humvee, which wasn't designed to handle so much weight. The extra weight also makes the vehicle more prone to rolling over and getting bogged down in sand. That has cost the Humvee much of its legendary off-road capability.
Lower fuel consumption, to reduce the need for supply convoys that have been targets of insurgents.
Improved onboard power generation to handle the expanding array of electronics that troops take into battle today compared with the simple radios of 30 years ago. Hybrid-electric drivetrains, which are gaining popularity in passenger vehicles and are already being tested in current Humvee prototypes, are being considered to save fuel and generate power.
"We wish we had that vehicle out there today," says Lt. Col. Stuart Rogers, transportation division chief of the Army Combined Arms Support Command.
"I generously respond to your original post, and I serve you up the perfect opportunity to trot out your cute little anti-Bush rantlet"
Your response was that of a boy who's spent too much time in his mommy's basement and has never ventured near the man's world of government and war.
I didn't name Bush, but if want to chat about our current C-in-C, can you tell me something he has done to keep the men under his command from becoming sitting ducks?
If the Pentagon gets whatever it wants, why can't it get proper plating for ground troops? It has be either because
1) their resources are finite or
2) they (like the fucker who modded my original post a "TROLL") just don't give a shit.
"High energy lasers have very promising defensive purposes, such as being able to shoot down/burn up mortar and artilery fire as well as RPGs. You know, many of the things that the underdogs like to use in asymetric warfare? Being able to mount these things onto a fighter is a good step towards getting these things on the ground and in the field. "
While you're at it, Mr. Peabody, would you please invent something to detect IEDs on the road. What? You're a little busy dicking with lasers? Sorry if I bothered you...
"The military is a massive institution, that takes decades to complete any major change in its thinking and acting (this is as it should be, I think)."
If you're not a troll, you're an idiot and the U.S. military is doomed whenever someone bigger than Iraq decides to tangle with us.
We had to adapt to win the Revolutionary War. (Hmmm...maybe we shouldn't go toe-to-toe with Redcoats.) We had to adapt to win the Civil War. (Hmmm...maybe we should get serious about attacking supply lines.) We had to adapt to win World War II. (Hmmm...maybe planes aren't just toys.)
If we had someone in charge smart enough in charge to admit they fucked up once in while and adapt to the enemy, like all great commanders in the past have done, maybe we wouldn't be losing our latest war.
I'm trying to figure out if you're kidding or not, but I'll assume your are not.
You just said that ACME needs prior approval to send you email. Then you said that ACME has no way of getting prior approval. I think your solution may be to swear off email; under those conditions, there is no way for anyone to send anyone else email...
I have yet to see a "system for collecting and confirming email" that isn't ripe for abuse, unless you introduce something like PGP or S/MIME where part of submitting your request is submitting your key/cert.
However, even people I know who are fanatic about including their PGP key or public S/MIME cert in every outbound email are still leary about turning off the ability to accept non-signed emails on their clients. In other words, this isn't a perfect solution given today's tech either.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's WAV: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/422/projects/Wav eFormat/
See this for some other formats: http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/fileformatlist.html
An example of "rawer" would have been files in which the headers were assumed (because all snippets were the same format) - kind of like WAV without the header. 1990-ish Amiga junkies (OK, me) frequently ripped these kind of files out of game executables and then slapped headers on them to make them edible to the general population.
I hope that helps - out.
Sure, if you don't know how to cache. Of course, WAV was an interesting choice in 199x when many other games were still using even rawer sound formats. (Among other things, it made Civ one of the first games anyone could customize!)
I'm not sure this was true with the original Civ. That was a completely turn-based game and the computer didn't need to do a whole lot of thinking between turns. These guys weren't pushing the hardware limits by any means. (Load it the old CivWin on a current box with other 1990-era games to see what I mean.)
Even the file formats used in the game itself suggested that efficiency wasn't the top priority. My 4-floppy copy of CivWin, for example, uses plain old WAV files.
Spot the one response written by a PR flunky...3...2...1...Time's up!
Q: What would you have done differently?
A: ...we learned from those challenges and used that knowledge to improve the game at every opportunity. All of us at Blizzard strive to study the challenges of development and apply those lessons to our next project. It helps us to refine our development process and make each game better.
So...the answer is NOTHING?
Call it the iPod effect - Sony's stockholders were not too pleased to see the people who brought you the Walkman get smacked around by the fucking iPod.
Perhaps I should clarify - my copy of Office 97 is from an old purple-and-black MSDN developers CD I picked out the trash at work. The print on the CD says "for 60 days of evaluation" but the code neither asks for a license code nor expires after 60 days, so that CD (and some of its backup copies) remains valuable to me.
I still install Office 97 on every Windows computer I own. There are no license key or registration "phone home" issues to deal with and it's a pretty lean word processor compared to the others out there today. Honestly, I can't tell you what features have been added to Office in the last 8 years that would be of any use to me.
Mod parent WAY up. This is one of the most ignorant Slashdots threads I've seen since...well, at least today.
Another old fashioned way to get passwords w audio: Just tap the "help desk" phone line.
Like New Orleans?
Just like rotary engines...they're not as efficient or powerful and require special mechanics, but they are COOL! Zoom, zoom my ass.
It's working already! I just tried to go to a site called "http://www.getfoxie.com/" and instead of a dangerous web site, I got a harmless "Internal Server Error" instead. Woot! Woot!
Sorry, I didn't know Venik from Adam. Here's some other links about the passive radar angle.
http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/flying/f117a_nightha wks.htm
http://www.flymig.com/forum/posts/1108102615.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_technology
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/t-47020_Passi ve_Radar_System.html
Yes, it would appear that the Chinese are interested in our stealth technology. For years there have been rumors that our "accidental" bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was really retaliation for either helping Yugoslavia nail one of our stealth fighters or exchanging information with Yugoslavia about how to track our boys with passive radar.
See...(http://www.aeronautics.ru/f117down.htm)
I think we'd both agree this is a good thing. I'll take back "the Pentagon doesn't care" comment and second the Lt. Col.'s comment below.
By 2008, the military could start using a new vehicle that would have:
More protection for troops. Congressional pressure forced the military to add armor to all older Humvees and buy more models with factory-installed armor. But even Humvees with the latest armor are still vulnerable to the powerful bombs insurgents use.
A beefier suspension that can handle the weight of the armor. The extra armor has led to increased maintenance problems for the Humvee, which wasn't designed to handle so much weight. The extra weight also makes the vehicle more prone to rolling over and getting bogged down in sand. That has cost the Humvee much of its legendary off-road capability.
Lower fuel consumption, to reduce the need for supply convoys that have been targets of insurgents.
Improved onboard power generation to handle the expanding array of electronics that troops take into battle today compared with the simple radios of 30 years ago. Hybrid-electric drivetrains, which are gaining popularity in passenger vehicles and are already being tested in current Humvee prototypes, are being considered to save fuel and generate power.
"We wish we had that vehicle out there today," says Lt. Col. Stuart Rogers, transportation division chief of the Army Combined Arms Support Command.
Your response was that of a boy who's spent too much time in his mommy's basement and has never ventured near the man's world of government and war.
I didn't name Bush, but if want to chat about our current C-in-C, can you tell me something he has done to keep the men under his command from becoming sitting ducks?
Hmmm...how many minutes until this comment gets marked as a troll? Mine did... http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=159996 &cid=13393029
If the Pentagon gets whatever it wants, why can't it get proper plating for ground troops? It has be either because 1) their resources are finite or 2) they (like the fucker who modded my original post a "TROLL") just don't give a shit.
While you're at it, Mr. Peabody, would you please invent something to detect IEDs on the road. What? You're a little busy dicking with lasers? Sorry if I bothered you...
If you're not a troll, you're an idiot and the U.S. military is doomed whenever someone bigger than Iraq decides to tangle with us.
We had to adapt to win the Revolutionary War. (Hmmm...maybe we shouldn't go toe-to-toe with Redcoats.) We had to adapt to win the Civil War. (Hmmm...maybe we should get serious about attacking supply lines.) We had to adapt to win World War II. (Hmmm...maybe planes aren't just toys.)
If we had someone in charge smart enough in charge to admit they fucked up once in while and adapt to the enemy, like all great commanders in the past have done, maybe we wouldn't be losing our latest war.
4 out of 5 swinging dicks recommend more steel plates for their humvees, not another toy for the flyboys.
I'm trying to figure out if you're kidding or not, but I'll assume your are not. You just said that ACME needs prior approval to send you email. Then you said that ACME has no way of getting prior approval. I think your solution may be to swear off email; under those conditions, there is no way for anyone to send anyone else email...
I have yet to see a "system for collecting and confirming email" that isn't ripe for abuse, unless you introduce something like PGP or S/MIME where part of submitting your request is submitting your key/cert. However, even people I know who are fanatic about including their PGP key or public S/MIME cert in every outbound email are still leary about turning off the ability to accept non-signed emails on their clients. In other words, this isn't a perfect solution given today's tech either.
OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT...EJECT! EJECT!
Ah yes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" strikes again.
How, pray tell, do you suggest someone grant "prior approval"?