On this subject anybody else remember Meridian 59? I have such fond memories of it. Especially playing it 5 days at a time on the slow "free servers". And waiting for it to load over my 28.8k modem and parallel port zip drive. Is this game at all comparable to Meridian? Also, what don't they just provide the client via bit torrent? Isn't this what it's there for?
I read all three Zahn books in high school (mid '90s) and enjoyed them very much. The only complaint I had at the time was that the stories made it seem more like the war was simply random army against another. Before episodes I - III the movies seemed like a genuine good versus evil, dealing in absolutes, if you will. What with episode III declaring only Sith deal in absolutes I suppose this army v. army sort of scenario is now more fitting for the series.
On the subject of absolutes doesn't the Episode IV "crawl" outright refer to the "evil galactic empire"? Am I wrong in thinking this is an absolute? Does this mean Lucas is calling himself a Sith?
For those who prefer a third-party firewall I've been using this one for 5 or so years (back then it was "Tiny Personal Firewall" and since got renamed). Just install it, make some basic rules and set it to "deny unknown". After that you really don't have to worry about it. If you're a causual user that is. Saved my mom from virii for a year or so now.
Note: the lastest version of Kerio Personal firwall is 4.x, however that version isn't as good and has too many extra unuseful features that can't be turned off, therefore I'm linking to version 2. As far as I know there is no direct link on Kerio's web site.
I was once in phone tech support at a small ISP. I had an elderly woman using a Mac who asked if the ISP could send her a copy of IE 5.5 for Mac on CD because that version was required by her bank's web site. Upon visiting Microsoft's Mac page I learned IE only goes to 5.0 on Mac, making shiping a CD to her with 5.5 literally impossible. No matter what I said I could not convince her I could not give her 5.5. Now how would you all handle this problem?
You could:
Tell her it is 5.5, the 5.0 is a typo
Tell her we're out of CDs, call back in a week
5.0 and 5.5 are actually the same version, makes no difference.
Not that irrate, irrational callers aren't fun. Tech support enjoys them:)
I thought homer said the universe was shaped like a donut, a theory which Stephen Hawking "borrowed"... (that was one of my favorite episodes by the way).
Well I don't know if this would really be what you wanted, but you could use this idea:
VCR Mod.
You could install a system in a series of VCRs and stack them on top of each other. The only trick might be the air circulation.
It is in fact possible to check ANY POP3 account through a web browser. It's as easy as entering your email address and there's your messages. This would be an effective way to check and delete messages safely. This one for instance is very good:
Mail2Web
I found this tip a while back. Actually I learned it from TechTV: If the address is down add a '?' to the end and some how it tricks the server into giving you the page. So use this address:
I whole-heartedly agree. To save this show all they need are WRITERS. Nothing else matters. This isn't a brainless demographic-panderfest of Friends, it's "cerebral" sci-fi. Find some proved writers, PAY THEM A LOT OF MONEY and give them control. Whatever it takes. Money, free computers, ANYTHING. Nothing else matters. Not the acting, not the effects, not the directing, not the sound track.
I'll give you an example. I don't know how popular it ever was but as I call it "Showtime's Outer Limits" had the BEST writing of any show I've ever seen. It seemed low budget, often had refugees from cancelled sit-coms, a hardly noticable sound track. It was all the writing. Compare the early Showtime episodes to the later SciFi channel episodes. The SciFi ones are horrible. Clip shows showing clips of past clip shows. Horrible writing.
And the same could be said of early TNG. Those first couple seasons had this annoying habit of really bad background music but the writing was still good. Anybody else see what I'm trying to say?
Another example is The X-Files. Some how that show survived the first seasons. Very low budget, cheesy music. In later season they had guest writers (I liked the ones from duchoveny (yes I know I misspelled that) disliked the ones from Gillian). The originality of the writing made the show survive the rough patches. The last two seasons saw weak writing and lots of desperation. If that's not the case from the best writers possible I don't know what is. For my money at least 60% of the show's budget should be on good writing.
Nor is the trend likely to stop anytime soon. Next year, DVD recorders -- now mostly $299 and above -- could sell for as little as $149.
It's almost relevant to mention I just purchased a DVD burner for $90. A 4x, +-RW no-name DVD burner. Works good too. It's an Emprex I purchased the day after Christmas from Fry's. The Emprex web site doesn't even list it as a product of theirs.
Re:The "Home Computer Museum"...
on
First Computers
·
· Score: 1
I guess I started later than most. My first computer was a 386 with 4 Megs of RAM and AOL for Internet. AOL 2.0, the version before the web was a included. And the HDD was 30 Megs. The modem? 1400 baud. Windows 3.1 of course. Later I found it my CPU was an AMD. I didn't even know that at the time. I remember upgrading to a 14.4kbps modem (smoking!).
I might also point out Embassies are considered sovereign U.S. territory. As found here U.S. Embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania August 7, 1998. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I agree. I also loved PS:T. If fact I've made a dialog quotation my signature for slashdot. Maybe someone reading will actually get it! Oh and in my humble view I think the designers made the start of this game the way they did to scare the people who weren't serious about it. But boy the award for sticking it out! One of those drive-you-crazy endings (remember dumb and dumber? drove you crazy). If the moderators knew my sig I'd get a +3 at least. Oh well. Maybe it was just me who laughed a long time at that?
I can see why the ingnorant types might be offended by this. I was talking to an amatuer computer user friend of mine who had just purchased a new HDD and told him to "mount the new drive as a slave" and he reacted a little wierdly. But as has already been mentioned the terms are accurate and this will be expensive to change. Maybe Arnold will stop it. He already fired that DMV guy.
...price in the "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" episode and Season Finale of FUTURAMA Sunday, August 10 (7:00-7:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (FUT-418) (TV-PG)
Does that not say season finale? What am I missing?
From http://www.fox.com/schedule/showinfo/futurama/fut_ 418.htm
I wrote the following in my blog when I needed to blow off some steam. I work for a small no-name ISP as phone tech support and came up with the following tips to make your ISP tech support experience that much better and easier:
Be sure to be completely unaware of which version of Windows you're using or if you're even using Windows, it will only annoy the tech supporter.
Be sure to be completely clueless as to what you're using for e-mail as this is completely unimportant especially when you're having e-mail problems.
Also be sure not to know how to find your e-mail program so you can spend a half an hour having the tech explain to you how to use the start menu and find outlook express. After all in all likelihood the tech has nothing better to do and all those phones ringing in the background are merely background music and not annoying at all.
Be sure to tell the tech lots of anecdotal stories that have nothing whatsoever to do with your problem as the tech loves to listen to it and has nothing better to do but listen to you all day (and no supervisors or anyone else pressuring him to take as many calls as possible).
Be sure and call and ask unrelated questions like "we just got a new computer and when we went to shut it down it just froze and the power button doesn't work what do we do?" as Internet Service Provider tech support is there to answer just such questions (hold the power button down for 5 seconds). Oh and be sure and call back angry at the tech support for "breaking" your computer when all you had to do was hit the button labeled "power" to turn it back on.
Be sure to call on as crappy a phone and phone line as you can find. And talk as quietly as possible. The techs ya see, they get really annoyed when they can actually hear you and understand what your saying and your problem as opposed to static and your voice coming for a vast far distance.
Now when calling the ISP be sure and use a crappy cell phone because as with the last remark being able to hear and understand a customer is the least important item on a list of things you need to get help from someone over the phone.
When you have a problem with the service and/or an issue with the bill be SURE and call at 11:30 at night and YELL and CURSE and SCREAM at the tech support who is paid $7 an hour to sit in a tiny room at 11:30 at night and knows NOTHING of billing policy or anything else about the company. Because, ya see, company's always put the BEST most qualified people on the 11:30pm shift and pay them $7 an hour. Be sure to have a few drink before hand too. That can only help.
Very important your computer isn't actually on when tech support calls you back of when you call tech support. Also be sure you're in another room and don't leave or anything to be in front of your computer when the tech starts to try and help you.
Now if you're on Macintosh be sure and call up ask the tech to send you a non-existent copy Internet Explorer 5.5 on CD because your bank will not let you access their web site without IE 5.5. Be sure not to be swayed by minor details like not seeing any IE 5.5 listed at microsoft.com/mac, as the ISP after all is completely responsible for the development of IE and the name "Microsoft Internet Explorer" is completely irrelevant. And when the ISP can't give you this mystical IE 5.5 for Mac on CD be sure to threaten to go to another ISP who can actually help you (that will help).
When calling up with the error "bad username or password" be sure not to mention you don't actually know the password or you forgot it. This will only make the tech's job harder.
In fact leave out as many facts as possible. Call from work and using a corporate network? Don't mention it! Still have AOL installed and aren't even dialing the ISP up? Don't mention it! The fewer facts the tech has to work with the better!
I guess I could mention the customers who were absolutely wonderful to work with but what fun would that be?
but I will ask it anyway. If ever had a successfuly website that with enough hits I could justify an amazon.com affiliateship would I have to worry about all this zoning/lawyer/whatever crap? I just mean a humble little blog and/or personal website of which there are millions I am sure as opposed to actually selling something like web design, consulting, shareware or Macintoshes out of the garage like that 12 year old.
The Apple comes with an actual GUI far superior to Microsoft Windows
I realize this may be a little bit of a tangent but I for one am tired of people complaining about the Windows GUI. If you dislike the GUI of Windows XP then change it. Very few people know this but as easily as you can change from Bash to Korn in *nix you can swap the graphical shell in XP. A couple of the most popular ones are bb4win and Litestep.
bb4win, which mimics the black box look and feel and is even compatible with the many existing black box styles.
While LiteStep (one of the oldest windows shells) mimics the NeXT OS/Window Manager and has thousands of themes (and it's even GPL).
If you use either of these or one of the many other shells (see Shell Extension City) along with WindowBlinds you won't even know you're using Windows (you can even make it look like KDE or OS X if you want).
The point of all this is to say you're not stuck with the Windows interface, the start button, the task bar, the clock, or that annoying grouping feature of the programs menu. And I think MS has even embraced this some-what with an actual entry for "custom user interface" in gpedit.msc (Win2k and XP pro only).... So stop complaining about the Windows interface.
On the other hand if you were talking about the much complained about "fisher price" interface you can turn all that !@#$! off, albeit in no less then 4 different places (or crack open the regedit).
Slashdot Mirror
On this subject anybody else remember Meridian 59? I have such fond memories of it. Especially playing it 5 days at a time on the slow "free servers". And waiting for it to load over my 28.8k modem and parallel port zip drive. Is this game at all comparable to Meridian? Also, what don't they just provide the client via bit torrent? Isn't this what it's there for?
Well I just found this one. Course I don't know if it's poorly translated or not (appears to be Japanese). Just strangely hypnotic. Or just strange.
eh?
On the subject of absolutes doesn't the Episode IV "crawl" outright refer to the "evil galactic empire"? Am I wrong in thinking this is an absolute? Does this mean Lucas is calling himself a Sith?
If nothing else run your whole network on Bart's PE. That thing is great.
www.kerio.com/dwn/kpf2-en-win.exe
Note: the lastest version of Kerio Personal firwall is 4.x, however that version isn't as good and has too many extra unuseful features that can't be turned off, therefore I'm linking to version 2. As far as I know there is no direct link on Kerio's web site.
You could:
Not that irrate, irrational callers aren't fun. Tech support enjoys them :)
I thought homer said the universe was shaped like a donut, a theory which Stephen Hawking "borrowed"... (that was one of my favorite episodes by the way).
Well I don't know if this would really be what you wanted, but you could use this idea: VCR Mod. You could install a system in a series of VCRs and stack them on top of each other. The only trick might be the air circulation.
It is in fact possible to check ANY POP3 account through a web browser. It's as easy as entering your email address and there's your messages. This would be an effective way to check and delete messages safely. This one for instance is very good: Mail2Web
http://www.sysadminco.com/?
I don't have the where-with-all to explain how this works.
That guy's my personal hero (kept me sane during those long 3 hour blocks of no tech support calls).
I'll give you an example. I don't know how popular it ever was but as I call it "Showtime's Outer Limits" had the BEST writing of any show I've ever seen. It seemed low budget, often had refugees from cancelled sit-coms, a hardly noticable sound track. It was all the writing. Compare the early Showtime episodes to the later SciFi channel episodes. The SciFi ones are horrible. Clip shows showing clips of past clip shows. Horrible writing.
And the same could be said of early TNG. Those first couple seasons had this annoying habit of really bad background music but the writing was still good. Anybody else see what I'm trying to say?
Another example is The X-Files. Some how that show survived the first seasons. Very low budget, cheesy music. In later season they had guest writers (I liked the ones from duchoveny (yes I know I misspelled that) disliked the ones from Gillian). The originality of the writing made the show survive the rough patches. The last two seasons saw weak writing and lots of desperation. If that's not the case from the best writers possible I don't know what is. For my money at least 60% of the show's budget should be on good writing.
It's almost relevant to mention I just purchased a DVD burner for $90. A 4x, +-RW no-name DVD burner. Works good too. It's an Emprex I purchased the day after Christmas from Fry's. The Emprex web site doesn't even list it as a product of theirs.
I guess I started later than most. My first computer was a 386 with 4 Megs of RAM and AOL for Internet. AOL 2.0, the version before the web was a included. And the HDD was 30 Megs. The modem? 1400 baud. Windows 3.1 of course. Later I found it my CPU was an AMD. I didn't even know that at the time. I remember upgrading to a 14.4kbps modem (smoking!).
I might also point out Embassies are considered sovereign U.S. territory. As found here U.S. Embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania August 7, 1998. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I agree. I also loved PS:T. If fact I've made a dialog quotation my signature for slashdot. Maybe someone reading will actually get it! Oh and in my humble view I think the designers made the start of this game the way they did to scare the people who weren't serious about it. But boy the award for sticking it out! One of those drive-you-crazy endings (remember dumb and dumber? drove you crazy). If the moderators knew my sig I'd get a +3 at least. Oh well. Maybe it was just me who laughed a long time at that?
I can see why the ingnorant types might be offended by this. I was talking to an amatuer computer user friend of mine who had just purchased a new HDD and told him to "mount the new drive as a slave" and he reacted a little wierdly. But as has already been mentioned the terms are accurate and this will be expensive to change. Maybe Arnold will stop it. He already fired that DMV guy.
Does that not say season finale? What am I missing? From http://www.fox.com/schedule/showinfo/futurama/fut_ 418.htm
- Be sure to be completely unaware of which version of Windows you're using or if you're even using Windows, it will only annoy the tech supporter.
- Be sure to be completely clueless as to what you're using for e-mail as this is completely unimportant especially when you're having e-mail problems.
- Also be sure not to know how to find your e-mail program so you can spend a half an hour having the tech explain to you how to use the start menu and find outlook express. After all in all likelihood the tech has nothing better to do and all those phones ringing in the background are merely background music and not annoying at all.
- Be sure to tell the tech lots of anecdotal stories that have nothing whatsoever to do with your problem as the tech loves to listen to it and has nothing better to do but listen to you all day (and no supervisors or anyone else pressuring him to take as many calls as possible).
- Be sure and call and ask unrelated questions like "we just got a new computer and when we went to shut it down it just froze and the power button doesn't work what do we do?" as Internet Service Provider tech support is there to answer just such questions (hold the power button down for 5 seconds). Oh and be sure and call back angry at the tech support for "breaking" your computer when all you had to do was hit the button labeled "power" to turn it back on.
- Be sure to call on as crappy a phone and phone line as you can find. And talk as quietly as possible. The techs ya see, they get really annoyed when they can actually hear you and understand what your saying and your problem as opposed to static and your voice coming for a vast far distance.
- Now when calling the ISP be sure and use a crappy cell phone because as with the last remark being able to hear and understand a customer is the least important item on a list of things you need to get help from someone over the phone.
- When you have a problem with the service and/or an issue with the bill be SURE and call at 11:30 at night and YELL and CURSE and SCREAM at the tech support who is paid $7 an hour to sit in a tiny room at 11:30 at night and knows NOTHING of billing policy or anything else about the company. Because, ya see, company's always put the BEST most qualified people on the 11:30pm shift and pay them $7 an hour. Be sure to have a few drink before hand too. That can only help.
- Very important your computer isn't actually on when tech support calls you back of when you call tech support. Also be sure you're in another room and don't leave or anything to be in front of your computer when the tech starts to try and help you.
- Now if you're on Macintosh be sure and call up ask the tech to send you a non-existent copy Internet Explorer 5.5 on CD because your bank will not let you access their web site without IE 5.5. Be sure not to be swayed by minor details like not seeing any IE 5.5 listed at microsoft.com/mac, as the ISP after all is completely responsible for the development of IE and the name "Microsoft Internet Explorer" is completely irrelevant. And when the ISP can't give you this mystical IE 5.5 for Mac on CD be sure to threaten to go to another ISP who can actually help you (that will help).
- When calling up with the error "bad username or password" be sure not to mention you don't actually know the password or you forgot it. This will only make the tech's job harder.
- In fact leave out as many facts as possible. Call from work and using a corporate network? Don't mention it! Still have AOL installed and aren't even dialing the ISP up? Don't mention it! The fewer facts the tech has to work with the better!
I guess I could mention the customers who were absolutely wonderful to work with but what fun would that be?Everybody knows all the cool people use the Library of Congress to catlog...
but I will ask it anyway. If ever had a successfuly website that with enough hits I could justify an amazon.com affiliateship would I have to worry about all this zoning/lawyer/whatever crap? I just mean a humble little blog and/or personal website of which there are millions I am sure as opposed to actually selling something like web design, consulting, shareware or Macintoshes out of the garage like that 12 year old.
bb4win, which mimics the black box look and feel and is even compatible with the many existing black box styles.
While LiteStep (one of the oldest windows shells) mimics the NeXT OS/Window Manager and has thousands of themes (and it's even GPL).
If you use either of these or one of the many other shells (see Shell Extension City) along with WindowBlinds you won't even know you're using Windows (you can even make it look like KDE or OS X if you want).
The point of all this is to say you're not stuck with the Windows interface, the start button, the task bar, the clock, or that annoying grouping feature of the programs menu. And I think MS has even embraced this some-what with an actual entry for "custom user interface" in gpedit.msc (Win2k and XP pro only). ... So stop complaining about the Windows interface.
On the other hand if you were talking about the much complained about "fisher price" interface you can turn all that !@#$! off, albeit in no less then 4 different places (or crack open the regedit).
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The \ next to the Z? Are you out of your vulcan mind...
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