For use when his server melts down, or the bandwitch cop pulls his plug.
Note to fellow Slashdotters... why don't you coralize this stuff right away, *before* the site goes down? I've tried many times to coralize a site, only to see that Coral couldn't retireve it.
Back on topic: This sure blows away any of the stuff I did with Lego bricks when I was a kid! I even tried making an "aquarium",once, but it REALLY leaked.;) The speaker box was a little more successful, tho... after the Legos dried-out, of course.
On my WEBsite, I've provided some pics of the PC board inside this thing. Any additional info on the pins I need to connect to add the keyboard, and other "hacking" info would be greatly appreciated.
The gain... come on, this is Slashdot! The gain is the GEEK FACTOR! Get with the program, dude!;)
Think of the possibilities... if the address & data busses are available, you could add-on a flash rom chip, and store your own files into it. Write a ML interface, and menu system, and you can load up anything and everything imaginable! Including all the games others have been lamenting that were not included.
The possibilities are limited only by the following:
One's technical skills Pins/connections accessable to the user, and data to make use of same Your imagination.:)
Do you have the tech info on how to do this? Pin connections, etc? That would be cool. Even better, we need access to the serial port, (if available) so we can load our own programs. Does anyone have this data, or can provide a link thereto?
PS: I just got the confirmation e-mail from QVC that it's on its way. This is one of the few times that I will NOT be waiting for the warranty to expire, before opening the thing up.;)
I just ordered one of these puppies. A C= 64 (emulator, really) that runs on 4 AA cells? This I gotta see!:)
I am very much interested in more technical details on this unit. If anyone knows where such info is available, post it here!
I have several C64's kicking around, (working and not working) so coming up with keyboards, disk drives, etc, won't be a problem! I also built an XE1541 cable, so I can interface this thing to the PC. You can see a few pics on my WEBsite:
Thank you for bringing up the very point I was going to make... the moon's much slower rotation would reduce the centrifugal force too much to make it feasable. Centrifugal force is what will hold an Earth-based unit "aloft".
The article posted at 8:19am. The first post, telling us the server was toast, came in at 8:21am. What are they running over there, DIALUP?
Seriously, now... why can't the editors immediately "Coralize" these stories when they are posted, so that we can at least have a reliable, working mirror?
I guess they were too busy trying out their origami skills on their cables.;)
On more than on occasion, now, I've successfully resurrected "dead" Windows machines by using Knoppix as a (very powerful) diagnostic tool. It not only has allowed me to recover files from a WIN-XP drive that a fresh install of XP wouldn't touch, it also is very helpful at determining if a system failure is hardware or software related.
I give Knoppix an enthusuastic two thumbs-up as an indispensible tool in my PC "repairman's kit".:)
It really adds to the "geek factor" when you can recover someone's valuable data from a machine that someone else said was "beyond hope".
There sure is... download FireFox (www.mozilla.org) and *stop* using IE.
Since myself and my workplace switched browsers, monthly spyware scans have been turning up *empty*. We used to see *dozens* every month while using IE.
eHarmony was never intended as a "dating service". As some others here have stated, they are very selective. (Their system is designed to "filter-out" those who are insincere.) Their main goal is to function as a *Mating* service. If all you're looking for are "dates", eHarmony is not for you.
Being that eHarmony originally started as a service for Christians, it does tend to favor that, but it is no longer only serving that demographic. They have expanded quite a bit in recent years. Again, I must stress that eHarmony is targeted to matching future spouses. If you are looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, then eHarmony is the site for you.
I have two close friends who met their spouses through eHarmony, and they are very happy, so it *does* work.
Oh, yes, I have the Sims Deluxe with the "Vacation" Expansion, and I have been playing it off and on for about a year or so. When I play a new family, my goals are to get all of the inter-family relationship bars to 100, and see the mood bars hover as high in the green as possible. If a character's "plumb bob" indicator is any color other than green, I want to see how to bring it back up to green.:)
So, yes, I am VERY familiar with the game, having created several "families" and houses, etc, in it. It is a lot of fun.
As for the "torture" issue I addressed, one of the first posts in this thread discussed another Forum, where a whole bunch of young people were posting how they were enjoying "torturing" their sims. On that Forum, one user posted pictures of their "Sim torture chamber" and it showed them getting burned up. Sure, there is no bloody imagery, like some games have, but just the fact that everyone was "enjoying" the concept of trapping these simulated people and burning them was just DISTURBING to me. (So is putting them into a pool, and letting them drown. Disturbing & dumb at the same time.)
ANYWAY... the issue is not the "torture" (slapstick ot not) of these little cartoon people, it is the MINDSET of America's teenagers getting big kicks out of it that disturbs me the most.
Does that make a little more sense, now?:)
PS: Thanks for the "Welcome"! I'm definately a NERD, so the subtitle of this site appeals to me... as does the whole SlashDot concept. Kudos to the team that keeps all of this working!
First, this is my first-ever post on Slashdot. i have been reading it for years, now, and enjoy it very much. Finally, a topic came along that inspired me enough to create a user account and join. Here are my thoughts. I hope they make sense.
I went to that link, "nematoddy" something- and read through all of the posts in that forum.
Very sad, indeed. My heart broke as I read comment after comment delighting in their depictions of "torturing" the "Sims".
Sure, they are nothing more than pixels on a screen, I KNOW that... but what bothers me is seeing how many of America's young people are actually ENJOYING those simulations of something so twisted and evil.:(
Do you know how Hitler was able to accomplish what he did? He got children and put them into special "programs" where they were given things (insects, small animals, etc.) to torture. They grew up in an environment where they were taught to take delight in the suffering of another.
Those children grew up, and became his infamous "SS" troops... the ones who would round up dozens of Jewish people into a house, surround it with guns trained on every window or door, then set it on fire with all of those families inside. If anyone tried to escape, they shot them. Woman or child, they didn't care. They did MANY other unmentionably evil things. VERY evil, very cruel, very inhuman. And they laughed.
How do I know? My mother is a survivor of the Russian occupation of (then) East Germany. She and her family were forced to run for their lives. They heard about (and even witnessed) a number of horrific things as they sought (and thank God found) freedom in the West.
Why am I saying this? Well, I really want everyone to THINK about what is being discussed! Just because these "Sims" are nothing more than computer-generated cartoons, doesn't make the THOUGHT PROCESS inside those young people's heads any different than what went through those Nazi SS children, as they tortured small animals, and eventually, grew up to torture fellow human beings with no remorse or mercy.
How did those terrorists deliberately fly those airplanes into buildings? How do these suicide bombers strap explosives to themselves, then explode in the middle of crowds of women and children? Because they undergo training as kids... they are taught that their own life is meaningless, and that they must kill as many others as possible in order to have any meaning in the "next life".
Believe me, if Hitler had technology like "The Sims" in his day, he would have certainly used it with his SS Youth training... only they would have made the graphics and "gameplay" a whole lot more bloody. (Games like "Grand Theft Auto" come to mind, but with much more "reward" for especially cruel methods of torture.)
Simulation or not, it is WRONG to delight in the torture and maiming of innocents.
So, there are my thoughts, and my first-ever post on Slashdot. (Flame suit on!)
Slashdot Mirror
I didn't know that. Thank you for the info. I guess that explains why Coral isn't being used more often.
Learn something new every day!
http://members.cox.net.nyud.net:8090/richw/lego.ht m
;) The speaker box was a little more successful, tho... after the Legos dried-out, of course.
For use when his server melts down, or the bandwitch cop pulls his plug.
Note to fellow Slashdotters... why don't you coralize this stuff right away, *before* the site goes down? I've tried many times to coralize a site, only to see that Coral couldn't retireve it.
Back on topic: This sure blows away any of the stuff I did with Lego bricks when I was a kid! I even tried making an "aquarium",once, but it REALLY leaked.
http://www.mymorninglight.org/ham/J64.htm
The gain... come on, this is Slashdot! The gain is the GEEK FACTOR! Get with the program, dude! ;)
:)
Think of the possibilities... if the address & data busses are available, you could add-on a flash rom chip, and store your own files into it. Write a ML interface, and menu system, and you can load up anything and everything imaginable! Including all the games others have been lamenting that were not included.
The possibilities are limited only by the following:
One's technical skills
Pins/connections accessable to the user, and data to make use of same
Your imagination.
Do you have the tech info on how to do this? Pin connections, etc? That would be cool. Even better, we need access to the serial port, (if available) so we can load our own programs. Does anyone have this data, or can provide a link thereto?
;)
PS: I just got the confirmation e-mail from QVC that it's on its way. This is one of the few times that I will NOT be waiting for the warranty to expire, before opening the thing up.
I am very much interested in more technical details on this unit. If anyone knows where such info is available, post it here!
I have several C64's kicking around, (working and not working) so coming up with keyboards, disk drives, etc, won't be a problem! I also built an XE1541 cable, so I can interface this thing to the PC. You can see a few pics on my WEBsite:
http://www.mymorninglight.org/ham/C64.htm
Thank you for bringing up the very point I was going to make... the moon's much slower rotation would reduce the centrifugal force too much to make it feasable. Centrifugal force is what will hold an Earth-based unit "aloft".
The article posted at 8:19am. The first post, telling us the server was toast, came in at 8:21am. What are they running over there, DIALUP?
;)
Seriously, now... why can't the editors immediately "Coralize" these stories when they are posted, so that we can at least have a reliable, working mirror?
I guess they were too busy trying out their origami skills on their cables.
On more than on occasion, now, I've successfully resurrected "dead" Windows machines by using Knoppix as a (very powerful) diagnostic tool. It not only has allowed me to recover files from a WIN-XP drive that a fresh install of XP wouldn't touch, it also is very helpful at determining if a system failure is hardware or software related.
:)
I give Knoppix an enthusuastic two thumbs-up as an indispensible tool in my PC "repairman's kit".
It really adds to the "geek factor" when you can recover someone's valuable data from a machine that someone else said was "beyond hope".
There sure is... download FireFox (www.mozilla.org) and *stop* using IE.
Since myself and my workplace switched browsers, monthly spyware scans have been turning up *empty*. We used to see *dozens* every month while using IE.
eHarmony was never intended as a "dating service". As some others here have stated, they are very selective. (Their system is designed to "filter-out" those who are insincere.) Their main goal is to function as a *Mating* service. If all you're looking for are "dates", eHarmony is not for you.
Being that eHarmony originally started as a service for Christians, it does tend to favor that, but it is no longer only serving that demographic. They have expanded quite a bit in recent years. Again, I must stress that eHarmony is targeted to matching future spouses. If you are looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, then eHarmony is the site for you.
I have two close friends who met their spouses through eHarmony, and they are very happy, so it *does* work.
Oh, yes, I have the Sims Deluxe with the "Vacation" Expansion, and I have been playing it off and on for about a year or so. When I play a new family, my goals are to get all of the inter-family relationship bars to 100, and see the mood bars hover as high in the green as possible. If a character's "plumb bob" indicator is any color other than green, I want to see how to bring it back up to green. :)
:)
So, yes, I am VERY familiar with the game, having created several "families" and houses, etc, in it. It is a lot of fun.
As for the "torture" issue I addressed, one of the first posts in this thread discussed another Forum, where a whole bunch of young people were posting how they were enjoying "torturing" their sims. On that Forum, one user posted pictures of their "Sim torture chamber" and it showed them getting burned up. Sure, there is no bloody imagery, like some games have, but just the fact that everyone was "enjoying" the concept of trapping these simulated people and burning them was just DISTURBING to me. (So is putting them into a pool, and letting them drown. Disturbing & dumb at the same time.)
ANYWAY... the issue is not the "torture" (slapstick ot not) of these little cartoon people, it is the MINDSET of America's teenagers getting big kicks out of it that disturbs me the most.
Does that make a little more sense, now?
PS: Thanks for the "Welcome"! I'm definately a NERD, so the subtitle of this site appeals to me... as does the whole SlashDot concept. Kudos to the team that keeps all of this working!
First, this is my first-ever post on Slashdot. i have been reading it for years, now, and enjoy it very much. Finally, a topic came along that inspired me enough to create a user account and join. Here are my thoughts. I hope they make sense.
:(
I went to that link, "nematoddy" something- and read through all of the posts in that forum.
Very sad, indeed. My heart broke as I read comment after comment delighting in their depictions of "torturing" the "Sims".
Sure, they are nothing more than pixels on a screen, I KNOW that... but what bothers me is seeing how many of America's young people are actually ENJOYING those simulations of something so twisted and evil.
Do you know how Hitler was able to accomplish what he did? He got children and put them into special "programs" where they were given things (insects, small animals, etc.) to torture. They grew up in an environment where they were taught to take delight in the suffering of another.
Those children grew up, and became his infamous "SS" troops... the ones who would round up dozens of Jewish people into a house, surround it with guns trained on every window or door, then set it on fire with all of those families inside. If anyone tried to escape, they shot them. Woman or child, they didn't care. They did MANY other unmentionably evil things. VERY evil, very cruel, very inhuman. And they laughed.
How do I know? My mother is a survivor of the Russian occupation of (then) East Germany. She and her family were forced to run for their lives. They heard about (and even witnessed) a number of horrific things as they sought (and thank God found) freedom in the West.
Why am I saying this? Well, I really want everyone to THINK about what is being discussed! Just because these "Sims" are nothing more than computer-generated cartoons, doesn't make the THOUGHT PROCESS inside those young people's heads any different than what went through those Nazi SS children, as they tortured small animals, and eventually, grew up to torture fellow human beings with no remorse or mercy.
How did those terrorists deliberately fly those airplanes into buildings? How do these suicide bombers strap explosives to themselves, then explode in the middle of crowds of women and children? Because they undergo training as kids... they are taught that their own life is meaningless, and that they must kill as many others as possible in order to have any meaning in the "next life".
Believe me, if Hitler had technology like "The Sims" in his day, he would have certainly used it with his SS Youth training... only they would have made the graphics and "gameplay" a whole lot more bloody. (Games like "Grand Theft Auto" come to mind, but with much more "reward" for especially cruel methods of torture.)
Simulation or not, it is WRONG to delight in the torture and maiming of innocents.
So, there are my thoughts, and my first-ever post on Slashdot. (Flame suit on!)