I've been to Australia. Yes, I love my white Christmas and majestic mountains - but as you've said having "never been to Germany, never been to Australia" perhaps you're just a bit too attached to home? In other words, don't know what the other guy has to say until you've seen it. Certainly I still have daydreams of Australia every time I have to shovel 3 inches of snow off my damn car.
Trust me, if I actually were an Australian I'd definately at times lament what I left behind. Not all the time - but enough that perhaps an indoor beach might be a nice idea for awhile (though it would likely lack the beautiful avian wildlife that Aus has).
I wish more companies would work like this. Make the code available on dual-license terms. You could then legally use it to create your game, and at the time of release decide if you wanted it to be freely available or not.
So basically, it's try-before-you-buy in the sense that you can develop and then market. But to market (and make money) requires that you pay the piper first.
I do detect sarcasm in this, but think of the other appliations:
If it's easier/faster/cheaper than a real paintjob, having ghost-cars would be much easier. In fact, if needed for some situation, a patrol car without the top lights could be easily disguised and then restored for normal operations afterwards.
So yes, they might actually like this. On the other side, it could also be used in getaway cars, etc etc... but for criminals it's probably easier just to steal a vehicle and swap the plates.
It's about faith. Odd enough to thing that a warez community would work on such a thing, but that's about it
My hopes would be that if they don't get sued or decide that there's not enough $$$ to mount a defence they would pass the money on to some other body (or a fund for such) in need of legal assistance. It's what I would do anyhow...
One of the fun parts of my job is discarding old dead hardware. Got a monitor that's blinked out. No problem, replace the monitor, take the old one to the back and beat the everloving sh*t out o fit.
In fact, we're supposed to take out certain types of hardware. I guess that at one time we threw out some dead PC's/monitors etc that looked good and were accused of wastefulness (I think there was a news article). By smashing the equipment to bits, we ensure that it looks broken enough... and it helps keep away the garbage pickers that jump in trash bins looking for salvagable material.
On a side-note (and not to contradict that linux gaming has a ways to go), older games sometimes work in linux better than in windows. Especially when you consider older games for DOS... in which many work great with either "DOSbox or DOSemu as well as other projects specific to running old SCUMM or Sierra games
I've setup a linux box on an Epia-M10000 with Xine, Mplayer, Realplayer (although Mplayer suffices for this), appropriate codecs etc etc.
Then I picked up a little app called "autorun" which you can use to poll your CD-ROM and run scripts when a disk is inserted/removed. Built a script that checks for the content on disk and loads as appropriate:
Apps load with fullscreen set and play through. The only major issue is DVD's with menus in Xine. They don't like my touchscreen, but I'll probably either make it play through to the first play track or figure out how to make it like my touch.
Oh, and the M10000 has linux drivers and TV out, as well as DVD and basic 3d accel.
What if the lvl20 attacks and misses? Should it be determined by who attacked within a certain range? What if the lvl30 was following the lvl20 until he attacked first?
And indeed, quite often the issue is that the webpage is designed in a flawed manner. Sometimes the HTML/DHTML is non to-standard an IE compensates where FF does not. Other times it might be that it's coming from an IIS server which cheats in sending the page to IE.
Over time, I hope people will realize that the flaw is often in webpage design, not in the browser.
Actually, my guitar plugs in nicely to the LiveDrive on my SBLive! Having some software to retune it would be very useful - plug a string (with the guitar plugged into PC) and have it play the intended note at the same time. Once you get them to match, you're tuned.
Of course, if you have one string in tune you could just tune them all the old fashioned way - which is similar. But software would be helpful in tuning the main string to a particular note if the instrument is way off for some reason.
There is nobody available. I've actually checked, and nobody gives lessons. Sure, there are some people that play that can pass along pointers, but teaching is an art that requires proficiency and patience beyond just the skill to play (hell, my old man is/was guitarist in a band, and he has no patience for teaching).
Online lessons would serve me just as well. For one thing, I could do them on my own time. For another, I can reference back and repeat as needed. They have to be good online lessons, but I'm sure some exist.
One thing to remember is if you have an in-house always-on camera is to try and keep it secure. Make sure the webpage (if it has one) isn't too easily web-accessible to unwanted visitors. Make sure that if it's connected to a PC then you don't have one of those amusing viruses that captures your camera pictures...
Why? Because if you forget that the camera is one, and happen to walk past after recently emerging from the shower, then you might just end up on somebody's webpage. Personally, I keep my cam unplugged when not in use... I'd rather not have my ass uploaded to ugly.com or something similar by somebody who doesn't like me.
How about an option to be available for jury duty? If you're online, a popup will herald your ability to take a case and you'll be TP'ed to the courthouse. A review of an incident could be replayed and the participants judged guilty or not and penalties applied. The jurors could get a minor payment, or perhaps part of the penalties.
Once you're done, step back into the teleporter and resume play. Just hope you don't get deadlocked into the "virtual OJ trial."
So what happens when the Lvl20 guy takes on the lvl30 and loses? By that estimation the lvl30 would lose exp because he toasted the lvl20. You do get players of lower levels that are idiots and think they can take out somebody too high for them... and it's sometimes hard to tell who initiated the combat.
Now, just making experience based on a comparison of levels would make sense. You gain more for the bigger kill (think of Warcraft III where your hero levels better for more experienced opponents). It also encourages group tactics. Maybe Mr. lvl15 can't take out that annoying lvl20 mage, but a bunch of lvl15's could and split the profit:-)
That helps the problem of those picking on lesser opponents for exp, but not the ones who are just being assholes. Perhaps something wherein you cannot kill a person for X time after he/she respawns (until that person attacks or is attacked by an NPC perhaps), or a penalty for killing a recent-respawn who hasn't attacked would apply in that case. A penalty system based entirely on levels is a bit broad, but there are others ways to do it that might.
I've played quite a few games with PB installed. It seems to me that it's actually a product sold to the game producers to make their games more playable (reduces cheaters). That being so, they (makers of PB) are making a profit and it's unlikely they would install spyware for fear that it would taint their market.
The only arguement I have against PB is that it sometimes will cause moments of lag as it tests your local machine against random hashes from the PB server.
I'm still a regular player of Warcraft III, amongst other games. I've regularly encountered players that tend to run off at the mouth way too much, usually after their own poor playing brings their team down.
What's really disconcerting is such remarks are often directed at team members. It's much easier to blame another as being a "stupid f***ing lamer noob" than accept their own lack of ability. I can take the crap from my opponents, but the game becomes moot when Mr. Lvl5 starts insulting my gameplay (as somebody more than 3x his experience level) constantly. You end up squelching your ally, which means you might as well just quit because then you can't coordinate a proper effort.
It's the sad day we've all expected, when gaming became mainstream enough that all the average jerks have wandered in (as opposed to just the geeky jerks, of which there were less in gameplay). I for one would commend a moderation system. Perhaps after each game of war3 you could moderate the players quickly. Enemy moderations rated at 1/3 the power of team-moderations, and perhaps it could ignore those who constantly undermoderate other players (particularly the enemy). I think that there are still enough respectable players who enjoy a good game - win or lose - that such a system would work. Modding the trolls into oblivion would ensure that they could be blocked from games of those who really are there to play, and since accounts can be tied to CD-keys well....
While I was going through the tutorials, I actually created a little.txt file that detailed within the various modes the key shortcuts and what they do, as well as some common functions. I'll probably HTML it later, but for now that little textfile is a dandy reference for all things blender that tend to elude me from time-to-time.
You do realize that FPS is generally part of the standard on your TV/etc (NTSC/PAL) as well as your media player. Trying to exceed that will make the DVD uncopyable sure, but also unwatchable on many TV's.
Having the population of the country buy new TV's is a little harder than the "player-of-the-month." Some people get really attached to their old idiot boxes.
Which brings me to question, is there anywhere one can actually look up the rated/average/expected power consumption of various PC components?
I've an EPIA that runs at under 40W, under 30W I believe (total including the drive)... the board/CPU itself is extremely low power consumption. With the teeny DC PSU's I've attached though, I wonder if I'm destroying my drive by underpowering or if it's still got enough to get by ok.
Actually, proper backups are a restorable copy in a location that minimizes chance of loss. They don't need to be a cold copy.
Our backups rsync and offload to an offsite server with RAID'ed drives. Yes, that server could theoretically be hosed at the same time the master goes down in flames but the chances of that are low. In fact, not much greater than if you have a tape, etc. If somebody hacks the backup server, well they could have wiped the tape too.
The main advantage of tapes, etc are staggered backups, but then you run into the issues with tapes media not being rotated properly, or unknowingly succumbing to "rot."
I think by far the criterium that the backup be within a reasonable distance *away* from the original is the most important...
Are there different departments on this? Perhaps different countries (I'd imagine Canada might have something similar).
While I'm guessing the majority of victims to be female (and thus the majority of impersonations), what happens if you get two agents trying to tag each other. That is, one is playing the "male part" and the other the "female part" and both suspect the other of being a criminal - has that ever happened?
This has been a long-running cliche on the net, and definately has some grains of truth. I wonder how many people actually have this job though (posing to catch the pervs)... it would really suck up to the point where you bust the bastards. Perhaps in the future this would be done better by an advanced bot. Recording the logs would still allow for evidence, and you wouldn't need a real person to pretend he/she likes the backstreet boys *brrrr*
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I've been to Australia. Yes, I love my white Christmas and majestic mountains - but as you've said having "never been to Germany, never been to Australia" perhaps you're just a bit too attached to home? In other words, don't know what the other guy has to say until you've seen it. Certainly I still have daydreams of Australia every time I have to shovel 3 inches of snow off my damn car.
Trust me, if I actually were an Australian I'd definately at times lament what I left behind. Not all the time - but enough that perhaps an indoor beach might be a nice idea for awhile (though it would likely lack the beautiful avian wildlife that Aus has).
I wish more companies would work like this. Make the code available on dual-license terms. You could then legally use it to create your game, and at the time of release decide if you wanted it to be freely available or not.
So basically, it's try-before-you-buy in the sense that you can develop and then market. But to market (and make money) requires that you pay the piper first.
I do detect sarcasm in this, but think of the other appliations:
If it's easier/faster/cheaper than a real paintjob, having ghost-cars would be much easier. In fact, if needed for some situation, a patrol car without the top lights could be easily disguised and then restored for normal operations afterwards.
So yes, they might actually like this. On the other side, it could also be used in getaway cars, etc etc... but for criminals it's probably easier just to steal a vehicle and swap the plates.
It's about faith. Odd enough to thing that a warez community would work on such a thing, but that's about it
My hopes would be that if they don't get sued or decide that there's not enough $$$ to mount a defence they would pass the money on to some other body (or a fund for such) in need of legal assistance. It's what I would do anyhow...
One of the fun parts of my job is discarding old dead hardware. Got a monitor that's blinked out. No problem, replace the monitor, take the old one to the back and beat the everloving sh*t out o fit.
In fact, we're supposed to take out certain types of hardware. I guess that at one time we threw out some dead PC's/monitors etc that looked good and were accused of wastefulness (I think there was a news article). By smashing the equipment to bits, we ensure that it looks broken enough... and it helps keep away the garbage pickers that jump in trash bins looking for salvagable material.
On a side-note (and not to contradict that linux gaming has a ways to go), older games sometimes work in linux better than in windows. Especially when you consider older games for DOS... in which many work great with either "DOSbox or DOSemu as well as other projects specific to running old SCUMM or Sierra games
Autorun details on freshmeat. You could email me if you wanted more info or the detection script.
I've setup a linux box on an Epia-M10000 with Xine, Mplayer, Realplayer (although Mplayer suffices for this), appropriate codecs etc etc.
Then I picked up a little app called "autorun" which you can use to poll your CD-ROM and run scripts when a disk is inserted/removed. Built a script that checks for the content on disk and loads as appropriate:
VCD: Xine
DVD: Xine
Mp3/Ogg: XMMS
RealMedia: Realplayer
Quicktime/AVI/etc: MPlayer
Apps load with fullscreen set and play through. The only major issue is DVD's with menus in Xine. They don't like my touchscreen, but I'll probably either make it play through to the first play track or figure out how to make it like my touch.
Oh, and the M10000 has linux drivers and TV out, as well as DVD and basic 3d accel.
We'll just cast force-bolt on that meteorite when it gets too near and knock its tragectory away from earth...
What if the lvl20 attacks and misses? Should it be determined by who attacked within a certain range? What if the lvl30 was following the lvl20 until he attacked first?
And indeed, quite often the issue is that the webpage is designed in a flawed manner. Sometimes the HTML/DHTML is non to-standard an IE compensates where FF does not. Other times it might be that it's coming from an IIS server which cheats in sending the page to IE.
Over time, I hope people will realize that the flaw is often in webpage design, not in the browser.
Actually, my guitar plugs in nicely to the LiveDrive on my SBLive! Having some software to retune it would be very useful - plug a string (with the guitar plugged into PC) and have it play the intended note at the same time. Once you get them to match, you're tuned.
Of course, if you have one string in tune you could just tune them all the old fashioned way - which is similar. But software would be helpful in tuning the main string to a particular note if the instrument is way off for some reason.
There is nobody available. I've actually checked, and nobody gives lessons. Sure, there are some people that play that can pass along pointers, but teaching is an art that requires proficiency and patience beyond just the skill to play (hell, my old man is/was guitarist in a band, and he has no patience for teaching).
Online lessons would serve me just as well. For one thing, I could do them on my own time. For another, I can reference back and repeat as needed. They have to be good online lessons, but I'm sure some exist.
One thing to remember is if you have an in-house always-on camera is to try and keep it secure. Make sure the webpage (if it has one) isn't too easily web-accessible to unwanted visitors. Make sure that if it's connected to a PC then you don't have one of those amusing viruses that captures your camera pictures...
Why? Because if you forget that the camera is one, and happen to walk past after recently emerging from the shower, then you might just end up on somebody's webpage. Personally, I keep my cam unplugged when not in use... I'd rather not have my ass uploaded to ugly.com or something similar by somebody who doesn't like me.
How about an option to be available for jury duty? If you're online, a popup will herald your ability to take a case and you'll be TP'ed to the courthouse. A review of an incident could be replayed and the participants judged guilty or not and penalties applied. The jurors could get a minor payment, or perhaps part of the penalties.
Once you're done, step back into the teleporter and resume play. Just hope you don't get deadlocked into the "virtual OJ trial."
So what happens when the Lvl20 guy takes on the lvl30 and loses? By that estimation the lvl30 would lose exp because he toasted the lvl20. You do get players of lower levels that are idiots and think they can take out somebody too high for them... and it's sometimes hard to tell who initiated the combat.
:-)
Now, just making experience based on a comparison of levels would make sense. You gain more for the bigger kill (think of Warcraft III where your hero levels better for more experienced opponents). It also encourages group tactics. Maybe Mr. lvl15 can't take out that annoying lvl20 mage, but a bunch of lvl15's could and split the profit
That helps the problem of those picking on lesser opponents for exp, but not the ones who are just being assholes. Perhaps something wherein you cannot kill a person for X time after he/she respawns (until that person attacks or is attacked by an NPC perhaps), or a penalty for killing a recent-respawn who hasn't attacked would apply in that case. A penalty system based entirely on levels is a bit broad, but there are others ways to do it that might.
I've played quite a few games with PB installed. It seems to me that it's actually a product sold to the game producers to make their games more playable (reduces cheaters). That being so, they (makers of PB) are making a profit and it's unlikely they would install spyware for fear that it would taint their market.
The only arguement I have against PB is that it sometimes will cause moments of lag as it tests your local machine against random hashes from the PB server.
I'm still a regular player of Warcraft III, amongst other games. I've regularly encountered players that tend to run off at the mouth way too much, usually after their own poor playing brings their team down.
What's really disconcerting is such remarks are often directed at team members. It's much easier to blame another as being a "stupid f***ing lamer noob" than accept their own lack of ability. I can take the crap from my opponents, but the game becomes moot when Mr. Lvl5 starts insulting my gameplay (as somebody more than 3x his experience level) constantly. You end up squelching your ally, which means you might as well just quit because then you can't coordinate a proper effort.
It's the sad day we've all expected, when gaming became mainstream enough that all the average jerks have wandered in (as opposed to just the geeky jerks, of which there were less in gameplay). I for one would commend a moderation system. Perhaps after each game of war3 you could moderate the players quickly. Enemy moderations rated at 1/3 the power of team-moderations, and perhaps it could ignore those who constantly undermoderate other players (particularly the enemy). I think that there are still enough respectable players who enjoy a good game - win or lose - that such a system would work. Modding the trolls into oblivion would ensure that they could be blocked from games of those who really are there to play, and since accounts can be tied to CD-keys well....
One hand on the mouse and another on the screen. They could but somehow I feel they wouldn't enjoy it as much...
While I was going through the tutorials, I actually created a little .txt file that detailed within the various modes the key shortcuts and what they do, as well as some common functions. I'll probably HTML it later, but for now that little textfile is a dandy reference for all things blender that tend to elude me from time-to-time.
You do realize that FPS is generally part of the standard on your TV/etc (NTSC/PAL) as well as your media player. Trying to exceed that will make the DVD uncopyable sure, but also unwatchable on many TV's.
Having the population of the country buy new TV's is a little harder than the "player-of-the-month." Some people get really attached to their old idiot boxes.
Which brings me to question, is there anywhere one can actually look up the rated/average/expected power consumption of various PC components?
I've an EPIA that runs at under 40W, under 30W I believe (total including the drive)... the board/CPU itself is extremely low power consumption. With the teeny DC PSU's I've attached though, I wonder if I'm destroying my drive by underpowering or if it's still got enough to get by ok.
Actually, proper backups are a restorable copy in a location that minimizes chance of loss. They don't need to be a cold copy.
Our backups rsync and offload to an offsite server with RAID'ed drives. Yes, that server could theoretically be hosed at the same time the master goes down in flames but the chances of that are low. In fact, not much greater than if you have a tape, etc. If somebody hacks the backup server, well they could have wiped the tape too.
The main advantage of tapes, etc are staggered backups, but then you run into the issues with tapes media not being rotated properly, or unknowingly succumbing to "rot."
I think by far the criterium that the backup be within a reasonable distance *away* from the original is the most important...
Are there different departments on this? Perhaps different countries (I'd imagine Canada might have something similar).
While I'm guessing the majority of victims to be female (and thus the majority of impersonations), what happens if you get two agents trying to tag each other. That is, one is playing the "male part" and the other the "female part" and both suspect the other of being a criminal - has that ever happened?
This has been a long-running cliche on the net, and definately has some grains of truth. I wonder how many people actually have this job though (posing to catch the pervs)... it would really suck up to the point where you bust the bastards. Perhaps in the future this would be done better by an advanced bot. Recording the logs would still allow for evidence, and you wouldn't need a real person to pretend he/she likes the backstreet boys *brrrr*