Something to keep in mind is that spy satellites looking down have the same problem that astronomical ground-based telescopes have looking up. Specifically, they have to look through the atmosphere, and the distortion that causes puts a pretty firm upper limit on how clear images can be. Yes, there are tricks that can be done to minimize the issue, but those tricks only go so far. I doubt they'll ever be able to read a newspaper from orbit.
That's why Hubble was useful in the first place. As a telescope, it's not that impressive - far bigger and fancier ones exist. What sets it apart is that it is above all that atmospheric interference.
Ok, so the Mobility Radeon HD3400 is slightly better than the GMA 4500, enough that it does technically make the cut for meeting WoW's minimum requirements, but it is still an underperforming, dated chipset. Performance in WoW will still be sub-par. And yes, I have first-hand experience with the HD3400.
Seriously, do your kids a favor and get them a new computer with Windows 7 (or even Windows 8) preinstalled. A $500 desktop machine will do just fine, and won't spoil them in the "beefy" category.
See title. I feel it important to point out that the Lenovo T400 does not meet World of Warcraft's minimum requirements. The Intel GMA 4500 GPU that this laptop has is specifically listed on Blizzard's website as not being supported. What this means is that even if you manage to get it to run, performance will be poor and the game really won't be any fun. In fact, I have to wonder if the problems you've had related to getting it to run in wine are more hardware-related - the computers you are trying to do this on simply aren't beefy enough.
Other specs on the system are borderline bottom for barely meeting the requirements. Don't subject your kids to that. Get them a new computer with Windows 7 preinstalled. For virus protection, Microsoft Security Essentials does fine (free with Windows 7, though it is a separate download).
You may prefer Linux, and it may even work for you, and for you that is fine. But we live in a Windows world - you are doing your kids a serious disservice by not giving them Windows exposure now. They'll need that experience in 10 years when they are trying to get a job - any job - that isn't Linux development.
The linked story is distinctly lacking in details. Yes, it mentions the red or green license plate requirements, but I consider that to be a minor requirement that says nothing about the actual operation. This story has more interesting information and it doesn't even mention the license plate requirement.
Among the highlights:
In the test vehicles (presumably the ones with red plates), there must be 2 people in the vehicle at all times, with one able to immediately take over control.
Companies must register their testing intentions with the state, such as testing in fog or snow/ice. They must also share results with the state.
There must be a "black box" type data recorder that records and stores all sensor data for 30 seconds prior to a collision.
Once a vehicle is certified to operate without a driver, a person can operate it without being physically present in the vehicle.
The operator is liable regardless of whether they are present or not.
There are exceptions for operating an autonomous vehicle while talking on a cell phone (illegal in Nevada without a hands-free device) or texting (also illegal to do while driving), but not for being drunk.
Any software you find is likely just going to be a database entry/maintenance type software tool for storing your genealogical information, but itself will not give you any information; it just provides a place for you to keep track of information you do find from other sources.
If you are stuck on open-source, I'm not sure how to help you, but if all you really care about is that it is free, I can strongly recommend Personal Ancestral File from here. While it has some fields for Mormon ordinances, you don't have to use those features and it will do nicely to maintain your records.
As for doing the actual research, again I recommend looking into the Mormons - they maintain branches of their main family history library at various church buildings around the world. The volunteers who staff those branches are instructed to not proselyte, they simply are there to help you do the research. The only time you'll have to pay for something is for obvious things like using the copy machine, or if you want to have records shipped in from Salt Lake City you'll have to pay postage, but that's it.
Disclaimer: yes, I am a Mormon, so I may be biased on this matter, but as far as I've seen, the Mormons are the premier experts in the world when it comes to family history research.
Display Port? No thank you.
on
Goodbye, VGA
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I work as a student employee at my university. Over the last summer, we replaced about 500 computers across campus (most of our student lab machines). The new machines only have Display Port as their graphics interface, and we have had lots of problems with it. Lots of various software glitches, and even some significant hardware issues as well.
One issue is that the physical connector is not very sturdy. One good whap (which is not uncommon in an academic environment) and the connector gets destroyed, sometimes taking the graphics card with it. We've had to replace several graphics cards because of this. This was not a problem with our previous batch of machines, which used *gasp* VGA. There are other issues as well, such that there was actually some serious discussion at upper levels of management about the possibility of returning the whole lot of computers (remember, about 500) and demanding the replacement use either VGA or DVI. In the end, they decided that this would be more trouble than it was worth, and that we'd just deal with Display Port issues as they arise. Which, they continue to do.
As for myself, I have no intention of ever using Display Port as my primary display interface on my personal machines unless there is literally no other option. In my opinion, DVI is superior in every respect that matters, and even VGA is preferable.
I rarely watch movies in the theater. The last one was Toy Story 3, which I saw with my wife. We were rather annoyed with the fact that we had to go out of our way to find a screen showing it in 2D, as it seemed everyone just wanted to show it in 3D.
Even if it was cheaper, I wouldn't want to watch it in 3D. It's a gimmick, and one that gives me headaches at that. If there were no screens showing it in 2D, we would have skipped it and waited for it to come out on video. This will forever be true for me - if moviemakers decide that every movie should be 3D, then my days of going to the theater are done. Now that I have a nice HDTV at home, the desire to go to the theater is lessened, anyway.
I hope more producers take the stance against it that Christopher Nolan has - then maybe we'll see some sanity in the industry about it. Maybe that's a tall order, but I hope not.
I've only ever purchased one Ubisoft title, and that was Beyond Good and Evil for the GameCube. I rather enjoyed this game, and am excited that a sequel is in development, though likely still a few years from being released. However, it seems unlikely that they will release a Wii version of BG&E2, which means that I was going to be dependent on getting the PC version to enjoy the game. However, if it winds up with the limitations of this draconian DRM, then I will pass on it entirely.
People have often complained about Steam doing similar things. However, in the case of Steam, it at least has an offline mode. You get authenticated against the server, and then you can play your games offline. I'm fine with the way Steam does things - my only real complaint is the lack of aftermarket sales, but I've never bought a used game anyway so it doesn't really affect me.
No single-player game should ever require an active Internet connection to play. Sure, it can be supported, allowing for saving progress on the server, but not required.
I've never been on Mt. Evans, but being from Colorado Springs (at the base of Pikes Peak), I have driven up Pikes Peak. Not as a racer, mind you, just as a tourist, in my '02 Saturn SL2.
It's not a simple road. Even going slowly, you definitely have to pay attention. Lots of loose gravel and dirt where a moments inattention can result in a skid where you go driving right off the side of the mountain. And as others have pointed out, the difference in elevation wreaks havoc on engine efficiency - going from about 8000 feet elevation at the toll gate to just over 14000 feet at the summit, my car was noticeably more sluggish near the top than it usually is (Colorado Springs, where I do most of my driving, averages at about 6500 feet). As an indication of the hazards of the road, every once in a while there is a local news report of someone driving off the road to their doom.
Every summer, there is an organized race up the mountain, the Annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb. I assume that this robot will be doing its thing during that race. I look forward to hearing about how well it does.
It's interesting to me that the only incident involving these Somali pirates and an American vessel resulted in the US Navy getting involved, a few dead pirates, and a rescued civilian Captain. I think it's great that our military took such a firm stance against those pirates and actually protected American citizens. Why don't other nations' militaries take a similar hard-line approach?
All it would take is a few more stories about how a military vessel used lethal force against pirates to protect innocent civilians, and the piracy would dramatically decrease. Heck, a single aircraft carrier in the region, launching planes to fly patrols which would respond to distress calls, would go a long way to securing the region. Why isn't this done?
I agree. I used to play Mario Kart online a lot. Several sessions a week, at least.
The cheating started slowly at first. And initially, I wasn't even completely sure if it was, in fact, cheating, or if the people playing were just getting lucky. I wasn't seeing anything that couldn't be legitimately explained through the game's normal mechanics, even if I was seeing suspicious behavior more and more often. The kicker, though, happened the last time I played, which was about a month ago: someone pegged me with a red shell right off the starting line. Well before we reached any items on the course.
I didn't stick around. When that happened, I knew for a fact that there was cheating going on. I immediately powered off the Wii, and I haven't been back into online Mario Kart play since.
I would pay money to get an update to Mario Kart Wii that removes cheating.
The parent poster has a lot of good advice. He has said a lot of the same things I would say, only better.
One thing I'd like to point out is that the books you're looking at might not be as useless as you might think. The specific examples in them might not apply to you, but the general principles probably do. What I mean is that the sports jockey who neglects his wife to follow his favorite sports/teams is not all that different than the gamer who neglects his wife to make it to that raid in WoW (just an example, if you don't play WoW, then apply it to whatever games you do play).
I'll use myself as an example: my wife thinks I play too much WoW. I don't play as much as I would like to, but I've reached a compromise with her: she allows me to raid 2 nights a week. I choose the nights, but I have to let her know in advance (at least 24 hours if possible). I've found a good guild that works with me on that, not the best but far from the worst, and it's allowed me to see most of Ulduar (up until yesterday the final raid instance in the game). If she sincerely asks me to, I would drop WoW in a heartbeat, but I don't think she ever will as long as I keep it in moderation. She knows that WoW is something that I enjoy, so she lets me play.
I have to second what the parent poster said about putting your wife first. The best, most happy and fulfilling marriages are those in which both partners do this. You can't control whether your wife does, but you certainly can control whether you do! And when you do, your wife will most likely reciprocate. Don't try to keep tabs, though - the geek side of you might be tempted to try "keeping score", but that is not healthy. Just serve your wife and let her (but don't force her) serve you.
Definately do things together. My wife and I are similiar in some ways to the relationship described in the article - she likes to read and I am a gamer. So sometimes we read together (we're working through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time together, I've read it before but she hasn't), and I've actually gotten her to play some WoW (she's nowhere near as interested in it as I am, but she enjoys playing it together with me).
Don't listen to those who are telling you not to get married. Marriage to the right person is a wonderful thing, and you will have many years of happiness if you do it right. Yes, some marriages end in bitterness, but the best way to avoid that is to marry the right person in the first place, and then continue to treat her in the marriage the way you did while you were dating. The time to figure out if it's not going to work is before you tie the knot - if there are any significant issues make sure they are dealt with as getting married won't make them magically disappear. But also keep in mind that there will be issues - no two people get along perfectly. There's a saying that you should date with both eyes wide open, but keep one eye closed when you are married. What that means is that once you are married, don't dwell on your wife's faults. She isn't perfect, even if she might seem that way now. You will find faults in her, and her in you (possibly even some that you may not yet be aware of or even think of as "faults"). But don't use those faults against her, especially as leverage when you argue. That is bad. When the stress of daily life is getting you down and all you can think about is what is wrong, take a step back and remember the good things about her that drew you to her in the first place. In truth, part of the joy in marriage is working through disagreements because in the end, having a happy wife is worth all the trouble.
As a final thought, in case you're wondering, I am happily married for coming up on two years (my second anniversary [don't forget your anniversary date, she won't] is in less than a week). I look forward to many more years of marriage. Good luck in yours, and may you two find happiness together.
There are multiple issues that the therapists will have to overcome before they can be reasonably effective at this. They've already acknowledged 1 of them with the line quoted in the summary: "Of course one problem we're going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft." Related to this, and a challenge that they may not yet be aware of, is the fact that there are over 200 realms in North America alone and they have to be on the same realm as the person they are trying to help. The quoted line indicates that they are planning on actually playing the game with the addicted players, and that means that they will need a level 80 character on each and every realm that one of their patients plays on. That's a lot of time spent leveling.
If the person they are trying to help hasn't already agreed to meet with them, they aren't going to get very far. Unsolicited attempts in-game will be seen about as favorably as gold spammers and will get the/ignore. If the therapists persist and attempt to get around the/ignore (by using other characters or whatever), then they cross the line of what is acceptable under the game's Terms of Use and may find their accounts suspended if their target decides to report them to a GM. Additionally, if they attempt to hire a power-leveling service to get their therapist characters up to 80, they'll quickly find that to be very much against the rules - I've heard of cases of permanent bans with no warning for people caught doing that.
In short, I forsee this endeavor falling flat. I hope they aren't spending any taxpayer money on it.
It's an interesting contrast when compared to WoW. WoW has over 100 realms in North America alone, and they are still adding more. Maybe not on the same pace as when it first launched, but there have been 4 new realms opened just since the beginning of the year. Source
I'm reminded of a comment I saw a few months ago by a Blizzard exec (I don't have the source and don't feel sufficiently motivated to look it up) that basically said that most of the people that had canceled their WoW account indicating that they were moving on to Warhammer have since reactivated their WoW account.
I'm all for seeing the open sourcing of older games that are no longer generating revenue for Blizzard. I just started on a Game Design program in college, and it would be awesome to be able to tinker around with how some of those older games work. I'm especially thinking of Warcraft 2, which is still installed on my primary gaming computer (the computer I am typing this from) to this day. I spent many hours in that game.:-)
I understand holding off on Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft, and especially World of Warcraft, as those games still generate sales. It's one thing I really appreciate about Id software, for example, that they are more than willing to give their old games back to the community. Do what they do and open the code, but keep the art assets closed. Meaning, for someone to be able to take the code and compile a working copy of Warcraft 2, they would need the Warcraft 2 disc with the appropriate data files.
I do also support the idea of releasing a native Linux WoW client. Not open source (I would actually rather not see it open sourced at this point because of the opportunities for hacking that would introduce to the live servers - I am a WoW player and would like to see the game's integrity preserved), but a functional Linux client. The only support you would need to provide is a single forum for Linux-specific issues and patches on patch days. The fact that WoW runs in Wine and Cedega doesn't really count as Linux support - that's just an indication that an interest for that functionality is there. A native client that can be downloaded or installed off the disc would make a lot of people happy.
Cheers! (Clomer, 70 Paladin; Teliah, 70 Mage; both on Sisters of Elune)
This is what I've done with my AT&T service (no, not the iPhone, but a more simple, basic phone). When I was billed $.20 for data usage because I had accidentally pushed the wrong button on my phone (I don't use the internet on my phone), I called up AT&T to find out what could be done about it so that stupid misclicks wouldn't be resulting in me being charged again. The CSR was very helpful and offered to disable data and SMS at the account level. Even incoming SMSs are blocked, so I never have to pay for them.
I recommend this for everyone, especially for SMS. I can see the potential usefulness for SMS, but I refuse to pay the astronomical rates for the service. So I've simply had it disabled. Unless and until it becomes a free service as part of a basic phone plan, I will not be using it.
So I can't speak for the other carriers, but AT&T was very simple and friendly about disabling those services. If you use AT&T, I recommend giving their customer service number a call.
I don't think it would really be practical to open the source of a dead MMO because of all the non-source assets in such a game: the art assets (textures, models, sounds, music, etc.). Plus, any open MMO will have rampant cheating, which will kill any real interest that a larger community may have.
I think the best thing that can happen to a dead MMO, meaning after they have pulled the plug and shut down the servers, is to release the server software to the public. Not the source, mind you, but the software as a closed-source package so that the community can take over and at least run the game in its final state.
Anyone have any idea how much computing horsepower and bandwidth it would take to host a single, fully populated WoW realm? Of course, after the death of WoW (which will probably not happen for a few decades), a lot of the interest in private servers will be for small groups to get together and not a full-blown realm (though the possibility of a few privately owned full-blown realms does exist).
I am not a physicist, but my instinct is that if it proves true that antimatter falls up, then it means that there would be such a thing as antigravity. A large mass of anti-matter (say, a planet, or at least anything big enough to have an appreciable gravity field), will he held together by it's own antigravity, and antimatter objects will fall towards it; while normal matter would be pushed away.
My guess is that this experiment will prove false, meaning that antimatter will fall just like normal matter, but it is an interesting hypothesis. I'll be interested in seeing the results.
I am an orchestral musician myself (not at the professional level, but I do play the cello semi-regularly with a local community orchestra). I can tell you that by the time the group is ready for performance, the conductor's job is 99% complete. The main thing a human conductor does is run the rehearsals. He brings the Orchestra together so that they are ready to play together, with a unified vision of the music, on performance day. If he did his job right, then depending on the music he might not even have to be there for the performance.
I guarantee that this robot did not run the rehearsals. A human conductor did. And that human conductor is the true conductor of the performance, regardless of whatever is standing on the conductor's podium when the orchestra actually performs in front of an audience.
For someone to say something like "Integrated Graphics just don't work" indicates that they don't understand how PC's are used in the general world. The vast majority of PC's sold will never see a 3D game of any kind. They will be used for simple business/office uses. For such a PC, anything more than a very basic integrated chipset is overkill. Intel understands this, and they cater well to that market. Apparently, Epic does not.
I purchased a new computer about a year and a half ago. It is an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26 Ghz with a GeForce 7900 GS. My main gaming use on it is World of Warcraft, and I get a smooth 60 FPS at maximum settings. I had downloaded the UT3 demo (as I had gotten a lot of enjoyment out of UT2004), but while the game ran fine and had great graphics, I found it to be not as fun as its predecessor (the lack of Onslaught mode was a deal-breaker to me).
I may at some point upgrade the graphics card, but probably never to the latest and greatest. The fact is that as long as it runs WoW and Starcraft 2 (when it comes out), I'll be happy. I'm more likely to simply replace the entire machine 5 to 10 years down the line than make major upgrades to it. In short, I wanted a machine with some gaming capability, but I have no need or desire for the "latest and greatest" in gaming hardware.
As a side note, I recently upgraded my wife's computer by installing a Geforce 5500 and adding a GB of ram (up from the aforementioned Intel integrated graphics and 256 MB of RAM). The purpose of that upgrade was to make it so it would run WoW. It is playable at about 20 FPS with settings on low, which is fine with me. I don't forsee ever upgrading that machine again.
This is actually how World of Warcraft distributes its patches. When you fire up the WoW launcher, if there is a new version out then it downloads a small (less than a MB).exe file that is a limited use bittorrent client that downloads the patch. This client is UPnP enabled, so as long as UPnP is enabled on the router (which is enabled by default on most routers, including mine), it will be able to take full advantage of the bittorrent system.
I'm no stranger to forwarding ports. I've done it for various reasons for years. But I have had to do absolutely no special configuring to get Blizzard's downloader working. Just run it, and it does its thing. This is how bittorrent can be used by the masses. My only real complaint about it is that it maxes out the upstream bandwidth, so I do wish that Blizzard would provide a link to the.torrent file directly so that those of us who have the technical know-how to use our own client could do so. But that's a minor annoyance.
I've been having an issue with my Dell A920 printer recently where it refuses to print yellow at all. Blues and Reds print fine, but yellows don't get printed. No error message or anything, it just doesn't print. So my printer may well be trying to print the yellow dots, but is failing without knowing it.
I am now wondering if this is a result of the yellow print head getting worn out by all the excess yellow printing in the past. Oh well. I mostly only print in black and white anyway. The printer prints much faster that way.
I bought my current main computer from Dell a few months before Vista was released. As part of some promotion they were running, I received a copy of Vista in the mail a few days after it was released. It's not just an "upgrade" copy, either, it's a full-blown install with a license that I could use to install on any computer that I want to.
That box remains unopened. I've seen the problems that others have had with it, and don't want to mess with it myself. My school has switched over to Vista, so I've had some experience with it there, but I don't like it.
My main computer still runs XP. I don't think I'll ever switch it to Vista. I certainly won't as long as XP can do everything I want it to. Maybe down the road, when I purchase another new computer a few years from now, I'll get it without an OS preinstalled and use my copy of Vista then. Or, I'll get a Mac, and use Boot Camp to make it dual-boot. The only reason I have a copy of Vista is because I essentially got it for free. I don't think I'll ever spend money on it.
PS: Ironically, when I was previewing this comment before posting it, there was a Vista ad on the page...
I used to work for a check printing company, and I can tell you that the most common type of check fraud is where someone orders checks with someone else's routing and account information. If you have a person's income tax statement complete with name, address, and bank account information, then you have all you need to order fraudulent checks. Heck, you could even have your name printed on them, but have the fraudulent account number info on the checks. You'd be surprised how easy it would be to cash such a check.
Not that I would recommend it: we, at the check company, were taught certain red flags, things to watch for that may indicate a fraudulent order (and a good CSR won't let it on that they suspect you), and I won't go into those details here. And the penalties are pretty stiff if you are caught.
I managed to get my hands on a Wii back in July. It took some effort: about once or twice a week for 4 or 5 months I would hit up 7 or 8 stores until I found one at a GameStop. It was a great purchase, and I'm really glad I have it. Whenever we have any kind of get-together, the Wii invariably becomes part of the fun. Whether it's tennis or bowling, shooting ducks on Wii Play, or even playing Mario Kart: Double Dash with the GameCube backwards compatibility, the Wii is enjoyed by all sorts of people.
My wife has taken a liking to it, and she isn't much of a gamer at all. She can actually beat me in Wii Play fishing, sometimes laser hockey and billiards, and I have been gaming for over 20 years. I still win with the target shooting and the bubbles, but the difference is narrowing... and we have a blast playing Tennis together as a team.
It blows me away that the Wii is still in short supply. I don't think you can claim that Nintendo is artificially shorting supply, not with 1.8 million being produced monthly. It really makes me wish I had acted on my thought back when the Wii was announced to buy Nintendo stock.
Slashdot Mirror
Something to keep in mind is that spy satellites looking down have the same problem that astronomical ground-based telescopes have looking up. Specifically, they have to look through the atmosphere, and the distortion that causes puts a pretty firm upper limit on how clear images can be. Yes, there are tricks that can be done to minimize the issue, but those tricks only go so far. I doubt they'll ever be able to read a newspaper from orbit.
That's why Hubble was useful in the first place. As a telescope, it's not that impressive - far bigger and fancier ones exist. What sets it apart is that it is above all that atmospheric interference.
Ok, so the Mobility Radeon HD3400 is slightly better than the GMA 4500, enough that it does technically make the cut for meeting WoW's minimum requirements, but it is still an underperforming, dated chipset. Performance in WoW will still be sub-par. And yes, I have first-hand experience with the HD3400.
Seriously, do your kids a favor and get them a new computer with Windows 7 (or even Windows 8) preinstalled. A $500 desktop machine will do just fine, and won't spoil them in the "beefy" category.
See title. I feel it important to point out that the Lenovo T400 does not meet World of Warcraft's minimum requirements. The Intel GMA 4500 GPU that this laptop has is specifically listed on Blizzard's website as not being supported. What this means is that even if you manage to get it to run, performance will be poor and the game really won't be any fun. In fact, I have to wonder if the problems you've had related to getting it to run in wine are more hardware-related - the computers you are trying to do this on simply aren't beefy enough.
Other specs on the system are borderline bottom for barely meeting the requirements. Don't subject your kids to that. Get them a new computer with Windows 7 preinstalled. For virus protection, Microsoft Security Essentials does fine (free with Windows 7, though it is a separate download).
You may prefer Linux, and it may even work for you, and for you that is fine. But we live in a Windows world - you are doing your kids a serious disservice by not giving them Windows exposure now. They'll need that experience in 10 years when they are trying to get a job - any job - that isn't Linux development.
Among the highlights:
Seems like reasonable rules to me.
Any software you find is likely just going to be a database entry/maintenance type software tool for storing your genealogical information, but itself will not give you any information; it just provides a place for you to keep track of information you do find from other sources.
If you are stuck on open-source, I'm not sure how to help you, but if all you really care about is that it is free, I can strongly recommend Personal Ancestral File from here. While it has some fields for Mormon ordinances, you don't have to use those features and it will do nicely to maintain your records.
As for doing the actual research, again I recommend looking into the Mormons - they maintain branches of their main family history library at various church buildings around the world. The volunteers who staff those branches are instructed to not proselyte, they simply are there to help you do the research. The only time you'll have to pay for something is for obvious things like using the copy machine, or if you want to have records shipped in from Salt Lake City you'll have to pay postage, but that's it.
Disclaimer: yes, I am a Mormon, so I may be biased on this matter, but as far as I've seen, the Mormons are the premier experts in the world when it comes to family history research.
I work as a student employee at my university. Over the last summer, we replaced about 500 computers across campus (most of our student lab machines). The new machines only have Display Port as their graphics interface, and we have had lots of problems with it. Lots of various software glitches, and even some significant hardware issues as well.
One issue is that the physical connector is not very sturdy. One good whap (which is not uncommon in an academic environment) and the connector gets destroyed, sometimes taking the graphics card with it. We've had to replace several graphics cards because of this. This was not a problem with our previous batch of machines, which used *gasp* VGA. There are other issues as well, such that there was actually some serious discussion at upper levels of management about the possibility of returning the whole lot of computers (remember, about 500) and demanding the replacement use either VGA or DVI. In the end, they decided that this would be more trouble than it was worth, and that we'd just deal with Display Port issues as they arise. Which, they continue to do.
As for myself, I have no intention of ever using Display Port as my primary display interface on my personal machines unless there is literally no other option. In my opinion, DVI is superior in every respect that matters, and even VGA is preferable.
I rarely watch movies in the theater. The last one was Toy Story 3, which I saw with my wife. We were rather annoyed with the fact that we had to go out of our way to find a screen showing it in 2D, as it seemed everyone just wanted to show it in 3D.
Even if it was cheaper, I wouldn't want to watch it in 3D. It's a gimmick, and one that gives me headaches at that. If there were no screens showing it in 2D, we would have skipped it and waited for it to come out on video. This will forever be true for me - if moviemakers decide that every movie should be 3D, then my days of going to the theater are done. Now that I have a nice HDTV at home, the desire to go to the theater is lessened, anyway.
I hope more producers take the stance against it that Christopher Nolan has - then maybe we'll see some sanity in the industry about it. Maybe that's a tall order, but I hope not.
I've only ever purchased one Ubisoft title, and that was Beyond Good and Evil for the GameCube. I rather enjoyed this game, and am excited that a sequel is in development, though likely still a few years from being released. However, it seems unlikely that they will release a Wii version of BG&E2, which means that I was going to be dependent on getting the PC version to enjoy the game. However, if it winds up with the limitations of this draconian DRM, then I will pass on it entirely.
People have often complained about Steam doing similar things. However, in the case of Steam, it at least has an offline mode. You get authenticated against the server, and then you can play your games offline. I'm fine with the way Steam does things - my only real complaint is the lack of aftermarket sales, but I've never bought a used game anyway so it doesn't really affect me.
No single-player game should ever require an active Internet connection to play. Sure, it can be supported, allowing for saving progress on the server, but not required.
I've never been on Mt. Evans, but being from Colorado Springs (at the base of Pikes Peak), I have driven up Pikes Peak. Not as a racer, mind you, just as a tourist, in my '02 Saturn SL2.
It's not a simple road. Even going slowly, you definitely have to pay attention. Lots of loose gravel and dirt where a moments inattention can result in a skid where you go driving right off the side of the mountain. And as others have pointed out, the difference in elevation wreaks havoc on engine efficiency - going from about 8000 feet elevation at the toll gate to just over 14000 feet at the summit, my car was noticeably more sluggish near the top than it usually is (Colorado Springs, where I do most of my driving, averages at about 6500 feet). As an indication of the hazards of the road, every once in a while there is a local news report of someone driving off the road to their doom.
Every summer, there is an organized race up the mountain, the Annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb. I assume that this robot will be doing its thing during that race. I look forward to hearing about how well it does.
It's interesting to me that the only incident involving these Somali pirates and an American vessel resulted in the US Navy getting involved, a few dead pirates, and a rescued civilian Captain. I think it's great that our military took such a firm stance against those pirates and actually protected American citizens. Why don't other nations' militaries take a similar hard-line approach?
All it would take is a few more stories about how a military vessel used lethal force against pirates to protect innocent civilians, and the piracy would dramatically decrease. Heck, a single aircraft carrier in the region, launching planes to fly patrols which would respond to distress calls, would go a long way to securing the region. Why isn't this done?
I agree. I used to play Mario Kart online a lot. Several sessions a week, at least.
The cheating started slowly at first. And initially, I wasn't even completely sure if it was, in fact, cheating, or if the people playing were just getting lucky. I wasn't seeing anything that couldn't be legitimately explained through the game's normal mechanics, even if I was seeing suspicious behavior more and more often. The kicker, though, happened the last time I played, which was about a month ago: someone pegged me with a red shell right off the starting line. Well before we reached any items on the course.
I didn't stick around. When that happened, I knew for a fact that there was cheating going on. I immediately powered off the Wii, and I haven't been back into online Mario Kart play since.
I would pay money to get an update to Mario Kart Wii that removes cheating.
The parent poster has a lot of good advice. He has said a lot of the same things I would say, only better.
One thing I'd like to point out is that the books you're looking at might not be as useless as you might think. The specific examples in them might not apply to you, but the general principles probably do. What I mean is that the sports jockey who neglects his wife to follow his favorite sports/teams is not all that different than the gamer who neglects his wife to make it to that raid in WoW (just an example, if you don't play WoW, then apply it to whatever games you do play).
I'll use myself as an example: my wife thinks I play too much WoW. I don't play as much as I would like to, but I've reached a compromise with her: she allows me to raid 2 nights a week. I choose the nights, but I have to let her know in advance (at least 24 hours if possible). I've found a good guild that works with me on that, not the best but far from the worst, and it's allowed me to see most of Ulduar (up until yesterday the final raid instance in the game). If she sincerely asks me to, I would drop WoW in a heartbeat, but I don't think she ever will as long as I keep it in moderation. She knows that WoW is something that I enjoy, so she lets me play.
I have to second what the parent poster said about putting your wife first. The best, most happy and fulfilling marriages are those in which both partners do this. You can't control whether your wife does, but you certainly can control whether you do! And when you do, your wife will most likely reciprocate. Don't try to keep tabs, though - the geek side of you might be tempted to try "keeping score", but that is not healthy. Just serve your wife and let her (but don't force her) serve you.
Definately do things together. My wife and I are similiar in some ways to the relationship described in the article - she likes to read and I am a gamer. So sometimes we read together (we're working through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time together, I've read it before but she hasn't), and I've actually gotten her to play some WoW (she's nowhere near as interested in it as I am, but she enjoys playing it together with me).
Don't listen to those who are telling you not to get married. Marriage to the right person is a wonderful thing, and you will have many years of happiness if you do it right. Yes, some marriages end in bitterness, but the best way to avoid that is to marry the right person in the first place, and then continue to treat her in the marriage the way you did while you were dating. The time to figure out if it's not going to work is before you tie the knot - if there are any significant issues make sure they are dealt with as getting married won't make them magically disappear. But also keep in mind that there will be issues - no two people get along perfectly. There's a saying that you should date with both eyes wide open, but keep one eye closed when you are married. What that means is that once you are married, don't dwell on your wife's faults. She isn't perfect, even if she might seem that way now. You will find faults in her, and her in you (possibly even some that you may not yet be aware of or even think of as "faults"). But don't use those faults against her, especially as leverage when you argue. That is bad. When the stress of daily life is getting you down and all you can think about is what is wrong, take a step back and remember the good things about her that drew you to her in the first place. In truth, part of the joy in marriage is working through disagreements because in the end, having a happy wife is worth all the trouble.
As a final thought, in case you're wondering, I am happily married for coming up on two years (my second anniversary [don't forget your anniversary date, she won't] is in less than a week). I look forward to many more years of marriage. Good luck in yours, and may you two find happiness together.
There are multiple issues that the therapists will have to overcome before they can be reasonably effective at this. They've already acknowledged 1 of them with the line quoted in the summary: "Of course one problem we're going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they're probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft." Related to this, and a challenge that they may not yet be aware of, is the fact that there are over 200 realms in North America alone and they have to be on the same realm as the person they are trying to help. The quoted line indicates that they are planning on actually playing the game with the addicted players, and that means that they will need a level 80 character on each and every realm that one of their patients plays on. That's a lot of time spent leveling.
/ignore. If the therapists persist and attempt to get around the /ignore (by using other characters or whatever), then they cross the line of what is acceptable under the game's Terms of Use and may find their accounts suspended if their target decides to report them to a GM. Additionally, if they attempt to hire a power-leveling service to get their therapist characters up to 80, they'll quickly find that to be very much against the rules - I've heard of cases of permanent bans with no warning for people caught doing that.
If the person they are trying to help hasn't already agreed to meet with them, they aren't going to get very far. Unsolicited attempts in-game will be seen about as favorably as gold spammers and will get the
In short, I forsee this endeavor falling flat. I hope they aren't spending any taxpayer money on it.
It's an interesting contrast when compared to WoW. WoW has over 100 realms in North America alone, and they are still adding more. Maybe not on the same pace as when it first launched, but there have been 4 new realms opened just since the beginning of the year. Source
I'm reminded of a comment I saw a few months ago by a Blizzard exec (I don't have the source and don't feel sufficiently motivated to look it up) that basically said that most of the people that had canceled their WoW account indicating that they were moving on to Warhammer have since reactivated their WoW account.
I think that's pretty telling.
I'm all for seeing the open sourcing of older games that are no longer generating revenue for Blizzard. I just started on a Game Design program in college, and it would be awesome to be able to tinker around with how some of those older games work. I'm especially thinking of Warcraft 2, which is still installed on my primary gaming computer (the computer I am typing this from) to this day. I spent many hours in that game. :-)
I understand holding off on Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft, and especially World of Warcraft, as those games still generate sales. It's one thing I really appreciate about Id software, for example, that they are more than willing to give their old games back to the community. Do what they do and open the code, but keep the art assets closed. Meaning, for someone to be able to take the code and compile a working copy of Warcraft 2, they would need the Warcraft 2 disc with the appropriate data files.
I do also support the idea of releasing a native Linux WoW client. Not open source (I would actually rather not see it open sourced at this point because of the opportunities for hacking that would introduce to the live servers - I am a WoW player and would like to see the game's integrity preserved), but a functional Linux client. The only support you would need to provide is a single forum for Linux-specific issues and patches on patch days. The fact that WoW runs in Wine and Cedega doesn't really count as Linux support - that's just an indication that an interest for that functionality is there. A native client that can be downloaded or installed off the disc would make a lot of people happy.
Cheers! (Clomer, 70 Paladin; Teliah, 70 Mage; both on Sisters of Elune)
This is what I've done with my AT&T service (no, not the iPhone, but a more simple, basic phone). When I was billed $.20 for data usage because I had accidentally pushed the wrong button on my phone (I don't use the internet on my phone), I called up AT&T to find out what could be done about it so that stupid misclicks wouldn't be resulting in me being charged again. The CSR was very helpful and offered to disable data and SMS at the account level. Even incoming SMSs are blocked, so I never have to pay for them.
I recommend this for everyone, especially for SMS. I can see the potential usefulness for SMS, but I refuse to pay the astronomical rates for the service. So I've simply had it disabled. Unless and until it becomes a free service as part of a basic phone plan, I will not be using it.
So I can't speak for the other carriers, but AT&T was very simple and friendly about disabling those services. If you use AT&T, I recommend giving their customer service number a call.
I don't think it would really be practical to open the source of a dead MMO because of all the non-source assets in such a game: the art assets (textures, models, sounds, music, etc.). Plus, any open MMO will have rampant cheating, which will kill any real interest that a larger community may have.
I think the best thing that can happen to a dead MMO, meaning after they have pulled the plug and shut down the servers, is to release the server software to the public. Not the source, mind you, but the software as a closed-source package so that the community can take over and at least run the game in its final state.
Anyone have any idea how much computing horsepower and bandwidth it would take to host a single, fully populated WoW realm? Of course, after the death of WoW (which will probably not happen for a few decades), a lot of the interest in private servers will be for small groups to get together and not a full-blown realm (though the possibility of a few privately owned full-blown realms does exist).
I am not a physicist, but my instinct is that if it proves true that antimatter falls up, then it means that there would be such a thing as antigravity. A large mass of anti-matter (say, a planet, or at least anything big enough to have an appreciable gravity field), will he held together by it's own antigravity, and antimatter objects will fall towards it; while normal matter would be pushed away.
My guess is that this experiment will prove false, meaning that antimatter will fall just like normal matter, but it is an interesting hypothesis. I'll be interested in seeing the results.
I am an orchestral musician myself (not at the professional level, but I do play the cello semi-regularly with a local community orchestra). I can tell you that by the time the group is ready for performance, the conductor's job is 99% complete. The main thing a human conductor does is run the rehearsals. He brings the Orchestra together so that they are ready to play together, with a unified vision of the music, on performance day. If he did his job right, then depending on the music he might not even have to be there for the performance.
I guarantee that this robot did not run the rehearsals. A human conductor did. And that human conductor is the true conductor of the performance, regardless of whatever is standing on the conductor's podium when the orchestra actually performs in front of an audience.
For someone to say something like "Integrated Graphics just don't work" indicates that they don't understand how PC's are used in the general world. The vast majority of PC's sold will never see a 3D game of any kind. They will be used for simple business/office uses. For such a PC, anything more than a very basic integrated chipset is overkill. Intel understands this, and they cater well to that market. Apparently, Epic does not.
I purchased a new computer about a year and a half ago. It is an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26 Ghz with a GeForce 7900 GS. My main gaming use on it is World of Warcraft, and I get a smooth 60 FPS at maximum settings. I had downloaded the UT3 demo (as I had gotten a lot of enjoyment out of UT2004), but while the game ran fine and had great graphics, I found it to be not as fun as its predecessor (the lack of Onslaught mode was a deal-breaker to me).
I may at some point upgrade the graphics card, but probably never to the latest and greatest. The fact is that as long as it runs WoW and Starcraft 2 (when it comes out), I'll be happy. I'm more likely to simply replace the entire machine 5 to 10 years down the line than make major upgrades to it. In short, I wanted a machine with some gaming capability, but I have no need or desire for the "latest and greatest" in gaming hardware.
As a side note, I recently upgraded my wife's computer by installing a Geforce 5500 and adding a GB of ram (up from the aforementioned Intel integrated graphics and 256 MB of RAM). The purpose of that upgrade was to make it so it would run WoW. It is playable at about 20 FPS with settings on low, which is fine with me. I don't forsee ever upgrading that machine again.
This is actually how World of Warcraft distributes its patches. When you fire up the WoW launcher, if there is a new version out then it downloads a small (less than a MB) .exe file that is a limited use bittorrent client that downloads the patch. This client is UPnP enabled, so as long as UPnP is enabled on the router (which is enabled by default on most routers, including mine), it will be able to take full advantage of the bittorrent system.
.torrent file directly so that those of us who have the technical know-how to use our own client could do so. But that's a minor annoyance.
I'm no stranger to forwarding ports. I've done it for various reasons for years. But I have had to do absolutely no special configuring to get Blizzard's downloader working. Just run it, and it does its thing. This is how bittorrent can be used by the masses. My only real complaint about it is that it maxes out the upstream bandwidth, so I do wish that Blizzard would provide a link to the
I've been having an issue with my Dell A920 printer recently where it refuses to print yellow at all. Blues and Reds print fine, but yellows don't get printed. No error message or anything, it just doesn't print. So my printer may well be trying to print the yellow dots, but is failing without knowing it.
I am now wondering if this is a result of the yellow print head getting worn out by all the excess yellow printing in the past. Oh well. I mostly only print in black and white anyway. The printer prints much faster that way.
I bought my current main computer from Dell a few months before Vista was released. As part of some promotion they were running, I received a copy of Vista in the mail a few days after it was released. It's not just an "upgrade" copy, either, it's a full-blown install with a license that I could use to install on any computer that I want to.
That box remains unopened. I've seen the problems that others have had with it, and don't want to mess with it myself. My school has switched over to Vista, so I've had some experience with it there, but I don't like it.
My main computer still runs XP. I don't think I'll ever switch it to Vista. I certainly won't as long as XP can do everything I want it to. Maybe down the road, when I purchase another new computer a few years from now, I'll get it without an OS preinstalled and use my copy of Vista then. Or, I'll get a Mac, and use Boot Camp to make it dual-boot. The only reason I have a copy of Vista is because I essentially got it for free. I don't think I'll ever spend money on it.
PS: Ironically, when I was previewing this comment before posting it, there was a Vista ad on the page...
I used to work for a check printing company, and I can tell you that the most common type of check fraud is where someone orders checks with someone else's routing and account information. If you have a person's income tax statement complete with name, address, and bank account information, then you have all you need to order fraudulent checks. Heck, you could even have your name printed on them, but have the fraudulent account number info on the checks. You'd be surprised how easy it would be to cash such a check.
Not that I would recommend it: we, at the check company, were taught certain red flags, things to watch for that may indicate a fraudulent order (and a good CSR won't let it on that they suspect you), and I won't go into those details here. And the penalties are pretty stiff if you are caught.
I managed to get my hands on a Wii back in July. It took some effort: about once or twice a week for 4 or 5 months I would hit up 7 or 8 stores until I found one at a GameStop. It was a great purchase, and I'm really glad I have it. Whenever we have any kind of get-together, the Wii invariably becomes part of the fun. Whether it's tennis or bowling, shooting ducks on Wii Play, or even playing Mario Kart: Double Dash with the GameCube backwards compatibility, the Wii is enjoyed by all sorts of people.
My wife has taken a liking to it, and she isn't much of a gamer at all. She can actually beat me in Wii Play fishing, sometimes laser hockey and billiards, and I have been gaming for over 20 years. I still win with the target shooting and the bubbles, but the difference is narrowing... and we have a blast playing Tennis together as a team.
It blows me away that the Wii is still in short supply. I don't think you can claim that Nintendo is artificially shorting supply, not with 1.8 million being produced monthly. It really makes me wish I had acted on my thought back when the Wii was announced to buy Nintendo stock.