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User: Kupek

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  1. Re:Vote? on At Long Last, Election Day · · Score: 1

    You saw that bumpersticker too?

  2. Re:Mozilla works rather well on Netscape 6 Fails To Support Web Standards · · Score: 1
    I run Windows 2000, and Netscape 4.75 is a rock compared to Mozilla. (And that's pretty bad, since I routinely get the same kind of freeze up in Netscape, the same one I've gotten since 3.1). Two minutes into running the latest Mozilla Milestone, it crashed on me. Then it couldn't handle the forms on a message board correctly.

    It spent less than a day installed on my machine.

  3. Re:(OT) While on the math subject... on Pi: It Just Keeps On Going · · Score: 1

    Good one. a - b is zero, so you can't divide that out of the equation.

  4. Re:Oh you good Americans, please allow us ur own p on FRG on W2K: No CoS · · Score: 1

    "This country"? So by virute of living in America, I agree with all of the items listed? Not hardly. American isn't criticizing the German government's actions, individuals are.

  5. Re:bad appearances... on FRG on W2K: No CoS · · Score: 1

    This is not flamebait.

  6. Re:Defrag sidebar on FRG on W2K: No CoS · · Score: 1
    And you believe that? I use Windows 2000 as well, and after defragging both drives, things are running smoother. Each was about 10% fragmented. I don't care what my OS tells me, if my drive is 10% fragmented, it needs to be defragged.

    Since they want the utility to be removed completely, people would never be able to defrag. That would be ugly indeed.

  7. Re:Scooby votes Nader! on The Full Nader Plus a Taste of Bush and Gore · · Score: 1
    What happened to the days when people were elected based on qualifications?
    Sorry buddy, but they never existed.

    I don't really think this whole 'president' thing was thought of as being a chance for the most elite of the elite to get patted on the back (as it has turned into), but was supposed to be a chance to put a common man into control of the country so that the common man could have his views looked after properly.
    Not really. This country was founded by the priveledged, not the under class. That's why the electoral college was set up in the first place: people select a person whom they trust to make the deciscion for them.

    I agree that the public as a whole is getting screwed, but I don't think it's because any one particular party or person is being malicious. It just happens. It happens when you have a large system such as the political process in this country (and any other country), and it's unavoidable. You'll never be able to find a human society where someone doesn't get screwed.

  8. Re:Scooby votes Nader! on The Full Nader Plus a Taste of Bush and Gore · · Score: 1

    Most people don't vote because of apathy, not on principal.

  9. What bothers me is... on Voices From The Hellmouth Revisited: Part 1 · · Score: 2
    What bothers me is that Katz and most of the posts I see on slashdot on the subject act as if they're coming upon an epihphany exclusive to them that high school is full of cliques, and that people who are different aren't accepted.

    That's no secret. Everyone knows that. (One should also keep in mind that sometimes, the rejection is two way; the geeks reject the popular cliques just as much as the opposite.)

    What also bothers me is how Katz and some people on slashdot seem to put geeks on a pedastel, as if geeks are better than other people because they know about this internet thing.

    It just seems like the issue is being narrowed.

  10. Re:that is TOTALLY not what this is about. on Guinness Beer Really Sucks · · Score: 1

    Yes, you CAN use soemeone's trademark or logo without their permission. It's called "fair use." And I'd say this falls under it.

  11. How many times has this question been asked? on Are Virtual Worlds Worth It? · · Score: 2
    Too many.
    Are computer games any more fun now than they were 10 years ago? Surely they have improved considerably in terms of technology, with flashier visuals and generally more immersive gameplay than the experiences of before? Maybe I'm just a cynic, but the games just don't seem to be the same fun these days. One of my own games, Centipede 3D, is a remake or "modernization" of a classic game, the original Centipede as created by Ed Logg in 1980. The new version of the game has a much flashier, involved and graphically lush gameworld, but the game mechanics are largely the same as the original Centipede. Is the game any more fun for having a virtual world? Quite the contrary; I'd say it's less fun. If anything, the 3D world in which the player navigates in Centipede 3D distracts from the core gameplay.
    Well duh. Centipede was designed for a simple, 2D world. It was not designed for a 3D world, hence, it doesn't play as well in a 3D world.

    Rouse seems to be taking this consequence and implying that it even goes for games that are designed for 3D worlds. That is not a logical conclusion. He says himself that the 3D world distracts from the gameplay of Centipede. Well, it's a gameplay designed for a 2D world, not 3D, that's why the "distraction" developes. I don't understand why he can't see that.

    Similarily, if you took a 3D game such as Tomb Raider, Goldeneye, Quake 3, Soul Reaver, or any other game designed for a three dimeisonal world, and tried to force them into a 2D world, it wouldn't work. Different games are designed to be implemented in different ways.

    The reason games seem less fun to him, or anyone else who's been playing them for a long time (and I'd consider him beyond even that, since he is a game programmer), is because he's jaded . They aren't a new experience anymore. They were much more fun when they were new. Now they're not, hence they're not as fun for that partiuclar gamer.

    The funny thing is, he's arguing how cookie-cutter some of the modern 3D games of today are, presumabely using this as an argument as to why they're "less fun." Yeah, and all those Atari games and NES side-scrollers weren't cookie-cutter.

    In ten years, gamers are going to look back at the games now and wonder if the ones they are playing are better than the ones that are here now. And the same in twenty years. Once the concept of playing video games becomes customary, you become jaded, and it takes more to entice you. You're still having the same amount of fun, but it may take more to please you. And once you've been exposed to a game of a certain complexity, you often expect at least that level in subsequent games. I assure you that the people who are being introduced to today's games are having just as much fun with them as everyone else was when they were introduced to gaming.

  12. Re:Oh please on Microsoft vs. "Naked PCs" · · Score: 1
    I like Win2000 as well, but it's crashed plenty of times. I said the same thing a few months after installing, that it hadn't crashed on me yet, but since then, it's done it several times.

    Sometimes it doesn't completely crash (no blue screen of death), but it won't be functioning right, and will require a reboot. Other times the simple act of trying to play an mp3 in Winamp, or any random movie file, will cause the system to freeze.

    If it hasn't crashed on you yet, just wait. Its time will come.

  13. Re:I can't help but see the irony. on When Locusts Attack · · Score: 1
    Bah, completely missed the point. If they all they wanted to do was to restrict the locust's movement to two dimensions they could have done it much quicker and more economically by ripping its wings off.
    Which actually makes the time spent that much ironic, no?

    Anyway, don't worry, I get the point. It's an engineering marvel (or, at the very least, a curiosity), but I was looking at it from a different view point.

  14. I can't help but see the irony. on When Locusts Attack · · Score: 5

    It takes humans intensive effort to produce a vehicle that restricts the movement of a creature to two dimensions when it can normaly travel in three dimensions.

  15. Re:Life choices... on Embryo Chosen For Its Tissue Type · · Score: 1
    That was an almost exact quote from the doctor who was involved in the procedure, per the Washington Post article I read on the same topic.
    "People have kids for all kinds of reasons: to save a failing marriage, to work on the family farm, to perpetuate the family name. In the scheme of things, this is the most wanted child I've ever met. They love the heck out of this kid."
    --Charles Strom, director of medical genetics at Illinois Masonic Medical Center
    The Post article can be found here. Free registration not required.
  16. Re:Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1
    If you impulse-buy a videogame, and you don't like it, tough luck. They're far too expensive for me to buy a game without having known about it first.

    I don't rent games either, but I also don't buy many games (not meaning I pirate them, I just don't play that many). If you have a resource available that can solve your problem, don't bitch about the problem.

    The real question is how many non-3D games you've seen recently. There's not that many out there, hence not many reviews, good or bad. Strider got good reviews, however, if I remember correctly. Reviewers aren't biased, 3D games are the bulk of what gets made. If you're looking for 2D stuff though, try Strider for the PS as I mentioned above, Legend of Mana (RPG) for the PS, Saga Frontier 2 (RPG) for the PS, or Klonoa (side scroller) for the PS.

    I buy mainly RPGs, and I've avoided some due to reviews I've read. One review isn't enough, but six reviews that all say the same thing is often good enough for me.

  17. Re:Change my password? Uh.. Why? on Yup, Somebody Cracked Slashdot · · Score: 1

    If someone knows your password, then they can change your password. Then you don't know "your" password anymore.

  18. Re:Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1
    One word: Blockbuster.

    Okay, I lied, more than one word: Game reviews. There a plethora of site that review games; read a bunch, and you can get a general idea of what you would think of the game.

  19. Re:Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1
    Are you looking, perhaps, for a purer form of corruption? ;)
    Actually, yeah. I'm asking that people don't lie to themselves. I'm dishonest to the corporations that made the games, but not to myself.

    The problem is that when people start rationalizing why they steal games, they start convincing themselves they deserve them, which they do not.

  20. Re:Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1
    So piracy will help the industry? That's the most original rationalization of pirating games I've seen yet. Say it with me: I want free games.

    Most are tired of being taken advantage of by software publishers, and game makers.
    No, they just don't want to pay anything. You got it right that people don't care, but they're not making some profound statement about the industry, they just want free stuff.
  21. Re:Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1

    Pay attention to what I say. I never said that the boot disk should be illegal. I just want everyone to acknowledge that the vast majority of the people don't use it for backups, they use it for free games.

  22. Backups? Yeah right. on Emugaming Responds To Sega's Threats · · Score: 1
    From the site:
    Specifically, the site gives news about how to back up your existing dreamcast games so that when you scratch, mutilate, burn, or generally wear out your favourite game you wont have to rush out and pay an exorbitant price again just to replace it.
    Oh come-freaking-on. Backups my ass. You can argue with the laywers it's about backups, you can argue with the courts it's about backups, and you can maybe keep it legit by saying it's about backups, but it's not about backups. It's about free games. I know this, he knows this (or at least he did at one point, maybe he's been able to convince himself otherwise), Sega knows this, we all know this. The boot disk is a device that enables stealing of games.

    The thing is, stealing the games really doesn't bother me all that much. The boot disk itself is really a marvel to behold, I'm amazed that someone was able to hack the Dreamcast to get it to work.

    What does bother me is when people try to justify the theft. Hey, when I play pirated games on my friend's Dreamcast, I know I'm profiting from theft. I really just can't bring myself to care. It just irks me when people try to argue it's not theft, when they won't admit what they're doing. If you're going to get free games, don't whine about it. Everyone here knows the boot disk was not designed for, nor is it used for making backups.

    From Sega:

    Most gamers would not walk into a store and steal a Dreamcast title off the shelf. These same gamers, however, emboldened by sites like yours and the appearance of anonymity provided by the Internet, do precisely that by copying and downloading the same software titles.
    People in this thread have nit-picked on the word usage of this statement, which I have to admit was poorly thought out. The statement, as it reads, makes it sound like all DC owners are thieves. All they should have added was a "Some of these gamers" and it would have read what is the truth: Most people would not walk into a store and steal a game. I know I wouldn't. On the other hand, most people wouldn't feel as guilty if they pirated the game. I know I don't.

    Everyone here knows the spirit of the statement was that people who otherwise wouldn't steal games may steal games off the internet. Why? It's easier.

  23. IM and ICQ compatability on AOL May Be Forced To Open AIM · · Score: 1

    AOL bought Mirabilis a while ago, and as far as I can tell, haven't had any impact on ICQ (which I see as good). But someone I know posed a question I couldn't answer: Why doesn't AOL allow ICQ and IM users to communicate through their respective programs? If Microsoft can find a way to get their program to work with AOL's IM network, surely AOL could do it. After a while, I hit on the reason: AOL doesn't want people to use ICQ. They don't want to deal with the flack from killing it, either, so they just let it run along as it may. Allowing compatibility would be akin to encouraging use of ICQ.

  24. Seems like they're reaching. on Microsoft Word Documents That "Phone Home" · · Score: 1
    Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't like it, but this is what happens when you access information on the internet. I don't get the impresson that Microsoft even halfway intended this to be the case. This isn't something Microsoft did on purpose, it's a byproduct of a Word document's ability to retreive an image on a remote host.

    What Microsoft should do is allow users to disable a document from retreiving any information from a remote host, not just images. They already do this with macros, since everyone knows how dangerous they can be.

    This just doesn't seem like it was intentional on Microsoft's part. They fucked up by not allowing users to not retrieve images, but it seems like the Privacy Foundation is reaching a bit. It's definitely a privacy concern (tracking "confidential" documents especialy), but keep in mind that the entire thing is all hypothetical. This just makes a Word document about as safe as your average web page you run across.

  25. Here I am, peacefuly eating my lunch at work... on Oil Slick Threatens African Penguins · · Score: 1

    ...and I damn near choke when I read about "Jackass penguins."