I'm on an Athlon (less than 2000) with a gig of RAM and a Radeon AIW 9500 plugged into a Comcast cable modem that I share with a habitual bittorrent user. I turn down some of the visual settings and I'm fine in instances. There are lag spikes every now and again, but they're not generally any worse than "annoying". I haven't found a game that doesn't get those from time to time.
The real trick is finding a good group. The solo play, while better than it was when you played first, is still a bit light. When you do find five people you can play with, though, it is truly sublime.
Pick up a ten-day trial key and give it a run. Won't cost you anything unless you've got those newfangled metered downloads.
It's the first to add a character class, I guess. Previous mods added new content, new features, new hooks, but this is the first to feature an entirely new class.
I'm sure you recognize the distinction, but I want to get it out there and be clear.
Many companies also allow personal use of the internet (with varying rules regulating that use). Many companies don't. Many government entities do. Many don't. It's not just "personal use" we're talking about here. It's partisan politics. Random Government Agency can have an Acceptable Use Policy defining how much personal business you can do on gov't time. (Usually, it ain't much.) RGA's AUP gets trumped by the Hatch Act, which specifically prohibits using government time and resources to engage in partisan politics. And that's how it ought to be. People who work for the government are generally interested in it. (Causality runs both ways on this one.) Can you imagine how much SLOWER it'd run if we were allowed to work politics on gov't time? My god. You'd never see anything done.
I, too, work for.gov. I know about the Hatch Act. They train us on it every year or two. I know to keep my partisan stuff to myself while at work. I can be flamingly red or blue at home, but at work, a non-offensive shade of gray. You get a slap on the wrist for screwing around (reading/.) at work. You get in much deeper trouble for porn, warez, hate speech, working for somebody other than the People (side jobs) or partisan politics.
He's only suspended, not fired, which makes me think it's not a "looking for an excuse to fire him" thing. Had the headline read "NASA Employee Suspended for Violating the Hatch Act", it'd be a Barbrady story. (Move along, looky-loos. Nothing to see here.)
This guy was suspended for violating policy, just like you could be at your job. Only thing is, for us "policy" is, as often as not, federal law. You, the taxpayer, (assuming you're a USA-er) are paying me for this post (which is why it's public domain if posted during normal business hours Eastern time) and paying him to shill for one candidate or another (didn't read, doesn't matter). If you think either is a waste of your money... well, you're probably right. I'll get back to work on Crystal Reports now if you want, but you probably benefit more from this than that.:)
Allergy: Don't know - haven't seen a doc about it yet. Just happened one day, after I'd worn the watch for more than a year. Now I get a red itchy rash from it if I wear it overnight. It only happens on the part of me that touches the wristband (the antenna) and not on the part that touches the watch itself. Maybe it's an RF burn? Seems unlikely, given that I wore it for a long time before it happened... but that's why I'm a BSE and not an MD.
Antenna: It's coated in rubber, sits underneath the metal band (photos at spotstop.com in the review of the SW2006) and receives data like the new GM car radios do - encoded inaudibly in the transmission. MS contracts (contracted?) with major-market stations to put this signal on their airwaves. If you dig into the watch status screen, it'll tell you which station is sending it out. Don't have it on me (figuratively or literally) or I could give you the Detroit carrier.
Hope I satisfied your curiosity. Let me know if you need more.
Already exists in a few forms. Bluetooth pairs between watch and phone to ring and/or show you caller ID. Slick, if you keep your phone someplace inconvenient (backpack, briefcase, etc.) or pulling your phone out would be rude. The one I saw (google://abacus mobilewear) only paired with a few phones, but the idea's the thing.
I own an Abacus 2006. I like it a lot. The customizable faces were neat, and the sports/weather/traffic/movie stuff came in handy more often than you'd think. Headlines pushed to your wrist were good if you're that guy who has to be the first to know when the pope dies or something. I was -just- looking for a replacement for it (I'd developed an allergy to the FM antenna it receives data on) when I saw this story.
Anybody got a recommendation for something nerdy that I haven't already seen on ThinkGeek?
I, for one, am done with them for as long as the policy is in effect. I know they won't miss me, but it's not about them - it's about me not doing business with those whose policies I find objectionable.
I think if more people thought like me, the world would work better, but I think everybody thinks that.:)
Only as a punchline. "We'll see that when Duke Nukem Forever is released" will now imply a concrete date. Which would be disastrous for the type of person who reads and posts snarky comments on video game news posted to Slashdot.:-/
If you want more Yahoo! Answers points or to be highly rated, yes. You also have the problem of the "winner" being decided by somebody who doesn't know. Imagine a quiz show wherein the host doesn't have the right answers, all three contestants ring in and respond, and then the host picks. That's kinda what Yahoo! Answers is.
If you're looking for factual answers, it's also a nightmare due to the fact that it's populated by a metric butt-ton of twelve year olds, doing the asking, answering, and voting. By and large, they don't know how to configure a Cisco 3825 or who suggested that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The SNR on Yahoo! Answers is so low that it borders on useless as a research tool. When I'm feeling charitable, I'll pop over there and answer a few questions in an area I have expertise in and where the correct answer isn't already written, but if you don't know, cross-check ANYTHING you read there, and whatever you cross-check it with, you probably should have started there.
If you feel that your question can be adequately answered by going over to your local middle school or junior high at recess or lunchtime, getting up on something tall and shouting your question, and you just don't feel like going to the trouble, Yahoo! Answers is a fine resource. Questions in this category tend to include, "whats an awesome sk8board?" and "who here likes fergie?". For more complicated questions, you might get a knowledgeable human passing on the sidewalk to answer, but don't bet on it.
The Slashdot Polls are a more scientific resource, and their warning could be applied to Y!A with a few minor modifications: This whole thing is wildly unreliable. Respondent bias, ignorance, people messing with you, you name it. If you're using these answers to do anything important, you're insane.
Standardizing IT in VA would be fantastically helpful (150-something hospitals all running different software is a nightmare), and they thought that this would be an easy way to do it. Easier, certainly, than managing a 150-site rollout and 150 different migrations all with more than a couple nines of uptime.
The folks in charge of making this decision work at the pleasure of the President, which means they're looking for work in January of '09. They need something on their resume. That's all this is.
You realize that we've been the Department of Veterans Affairs since 1989, right?
Though, despite the change, "the VA" (the Veterans Affairs?) has managed to stick around, even in official literature. It makes the grammar nazi in me die a little every day, so I choose to take my pent-up frustrations out on you. Sorry.
Hey, at least I don't work for the Postal Service, right?:)
The fact that a thing cannot be done well in a reasonable amount of time within a predetermined budget has never gotten in the way of our government trying to do it anyway.
This is exactly why I'm buying GH3 for Wii - put the sales numbers up there and we'll get a Wii version sooner than later.
And I am ABSOLUTELY with you on the DLC from previous games. I missed a lot of good songs by trying not to give Sony any money for that whole rootkit thing.
Slashdot Mirror
So a class of kids who built things all year beat a class of kids who studied theory all year, in a competition of building things.
How'd each class do on the AP Physics exam?
Also, who's the more skeptical group?
I'm on an Athlon (less than 2000) with a gig of RAM and a Radeon AIW 9500 plugged into a Comcast cable modem that I share with a habitual bittorrent user. I turn down some of the visual settings and I'm fine in instances. There are lag spikes every now and again, but they're not generally any worse than "annoying". I haven't found a game that doesn't get those from time to time.
The real trick is finding a good group. The solo play, while better than it was when you played first, is still a bit light. When you do find five people you can play with, though, it is truly sublime.
Pick up a ten-day trial key and give it a run. Won't cost you anything unless you've got those newfangled metered downloads.
It's the first to add a character class, I guess. Previous mods added new content, new features, new hooks, but this is the first to feature an entirely new class.
Thank you, you win.
.gov. I know about the Hatch Act. They train us on it every year or two. I know to keep my partisan stuff to myself while at work. I can be flamingly red or blue at home, but at work, a non-offensive shade of gray. You get a slap on the wrist for screwing around (reading /.) at work. You get in much deeper trouble for porn, warez, hate speech, working for somebody other than the People (side jobs) or partisan politics.
:)
I, too, work for
He's only suspended, not fired, which makes me think it's not a "looking for an excuse to fire him" thing. Had the headline read "NASA Employee Suspended for Violating the Hatch Act", it'd be a Barbrady story. (Move along, looky-loos. Nothing to see here.)
This guy was suspended for violating policy, just like you could be at your job. Only thing is, for us "policy" is, as often as not, federal law. You, the taxpayer, (assuming you're a USA-er) are paying me for this post (which is why it's public domain if posted during normal business hours Eastern time) and paying him to shill for one candidate or another (didn't read, doesn't matter). If you think either is a waste of your money... well, you're probably right. I'll get back to work on Crystal Reports now if you want, but you probably benefit more from this than that.
My kingdom for a [+1, Rush] moderation!
Now, where's my Shasta...
The allergy or the antenna? :)
Allergy: Don't know - haven't seen a doc about it yet. Just happened one day, after I'd worn the watch for more than a year. Now I get a red itchy rash from it if I wear it overnight. It only happens on the part of me that touches the wristband (the antenna) and not on the part that touches the watch itself. Maybe it's an RF burn? Seems unlikely, given that I wore it for a long time before it happened... but that's why I'm a BSE and not an MD.
Antenna: It's coated in rubber, sits underneath the metal band (photos at spotstop.com in the review of the SW2006) and receives data like the new GM car radios do - encoded inaudibly in the transmission. MS contracts (contracted?) with major-market stations to put this signal on their airwaves. If you dig into the watch status screen, it'll tell you which station is sending it out. Don't have it on me (figuratively or literally) or I could give you the Detroit carrier.
Hope I satisfied your curiosity. Let me know if you need more.
Already exists in a few forms. Bluetooth pairs between watch and phone to ring and/or show you caller ID. Slick, if you keep your phone someplace inconvenient (backpack, briefcase, etc.) or pulling your phone out would be rude. The one I saw (google://abacus mobilewear) only paired with a few phones, but the idea's the thing.
I own an Abacus 2006. I like it a lot. The customizable faces were neat, and the sports/weather/traffic/movie stuff came in handy more often than you'd think. Headlines pushed to your wrist were good if you're that guy who has to be the first to know when the pope dies or something. I was -just- looking for a replacement for it (I'd developed an allergy to the FM antenna it receives data on) when I saw this story.
Anybody got a recommendation for something nerdy that I haven't already seen on ThinkGeek?
"Major General" is a shortening of "Sergeant Major General". Sergeant Major is lower than Lieutenant, so MG is lower than LTG.
So sayeth the Wiki. The trash heap has spoken.
As much as I hate the narration, I'm doin' a Delera's run tonite in his honor.
I, for one, am done with them for as long as the policy is in effect. I know they won't miss me, but it's not about them - it's about me not doing business with those whose policies I find objectionable.
:)
I think if more people thought like me, the world would work better, but I think everybody thinks that.
Like Cooking Mama maybe, but instead of medals, you play for the people's ovation and fame forever.
Only as a punchline. "We'll see that when Duke Nukem Forever is released" will now imply a concrete date. Which would be disastrous for the type of person who reads and posts snarky comments on video game news posted to Slashdot. :-/
If you want more Yahoo! Answers points or to be highly rated, yes. You also have the problem of the "winner" being decided by somebody who doesn't know. Imagine a quiz show wherein the host doesn't have the right answers, all three contestants ring in and respond, and then the host picks. That's kinda what Yahoo! Answers is.
If you're looking for factual answers, it's also a nightmare due to the fact that it's populated by a metric butt-ton of twelve year olds, doing the asking, answering, and voting. By and large, they don't know how to configure a Cisco 3825 or who suggested that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The SNR on Yahoo! Answers is so low that it borders on useless as a research tool. When I'm feeling charitable, I'll pop over there and answer a few questions in an area I have expertise in and where the correct answer isn't already written, but if you don't know, cross-check ANYTHING you read there, and whatever you cross-check it with, you probably should have started there.
If you feel that your question can be adequately answered by going over to your local middle school or junior high at recess or lunchtime, getting up on something tall and shouting your question, and you just don't feel like going to the trouble, Yahoo! Answers is a fine resource. Questions in this category tend to include, "whats an awesome sk8board?" and "who here likes fergie?". For more complicated questions, you might get a knowledgeable human passing on the sidewalk to answer, but don't bet on it.
The Slashdot Polls are a more scientific resource, and their warning could be applied to Y!A with a few minor modifications: This whole thing is wildly unreliable. Respondent bias, ignorance, people messing with you, you name it. If you're using these answers to do anything important, you're insane.
The domain name thing doesn't bother me - a lot of departments don't have the distinction in their domain name.
treasury.gov
state.gov
ed.gov
interior.gov
hhs.gov
hud.gov
Thank god they didn't register and promote www.theva.gov (*shudder*)
MOD PARENT UP
This person knows what's going on and is telling you.
Regarding point the first: Windows Vista != Veterans Healthcare Information Services and Technology Architecture (VistA).
Regarding point the second: Yup. 100% right.
Regarding point the third: You are more right than you know.
Regarding point the last: They weren't middle managers.
You're absolutely right. But.
Standardizing IT in VA would be fantastically helpful (150-something hospitals all running different software is a nightmare), and they thought that this would be an easy way to do it. Easier, certainly, than managing a 150-site rollout and 150 different migrations all with more than a couple nines of uptime.
The folks in charge of making this decision work at the pleasure of the President, which means they're looking for work in January of '09. They need something on their resume. That's all this is.
I pedanted this earlier, and at the risk of burning some karma, it really doesn't.
You realize that we've been the Department of Veterans Affairs since 1989, right?
:)
Though, despite the change, "the VA" (the Veterans Affairs?) has managed to stick around, even in official literature. It makes the grammar nazi in me die a little every day, so I choose to take my pent-up frustrations out on you. Sorry.
Hey, at least I don't work for the Postal Service, right?
The fact that a thing cannot be done well in a reasonable amount of time within a predetermined budget has never gotten in the way of our government trying to do it anyway.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
...just gotta get the kinks worked out on the virus scanning...
Frag that, chummer. I want my datajack NOW.
This is exactly why I'm buying GH3 for Wii - put the sales numbers up there and we'll get a Wii version sooner than later.
And I am ABSOLUTELY with you on the DLC from previous games. I missed a lot of good songs by trying not to give Sony any money for that whole rootkit thing.
I barely hear my Samsung Spinpoint.
You can buy a lot of quiet computing hardware, including hard drives. It can get pricey if you get really fanatical about it, but I wouldn't buy another PC again that wasn't designed to be quiet. A quiet office is just too nice.
When I read this, I saw Malcolm Reynolds kicking people into spinning turbines.
It was glorious.