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User: BertieBaggio

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Comments · 235

  1. Re:Good news on Glasgow To Be UK's First 'Smart City' · · Score: 1

    I guess if you take the Glasgow Gael trendy-west-endie-hangs-around-in-the-Lismore dialect of Gaelic where if you don't find a word that suits you just make up a translation that fits your etymological theory, then you can get away with it. This part of the world was never Gaelic-speaking, and Gaelic only came here with the Highland Diaspora.

    Let's not forget the ones in Deoch an Dorus.

  2. Re:Try OpenSuSE! on Fedora 18 Installer: Counterintuitive and Confusing? · · Score: 2

    HOWever, how the heck did the Facebook logo appear beside your post? I don't use FB, so am unfamiliar with its workings, but did you post your comment to Slashdot's FB "wall" and it appeared here?

    I'm not the dude you asked the question of, but check out Slashdot's login page: https://slashdot.org/login.pl (you may need to be logged out or in a private window etc):

    Sign in with:

    • Google
    • Twitter
    • Facebook

    As well as OpenID, which they've had for a while. I smell the 'corporate overlord' decreeing that alternative IDs must be available, but that's just a hunch. Makes sense too, since Slashdotters are so well-known for loving Facebook and Twitter.

    *grin*

  3. Re:Damn 3rd world country... on Meet "Ophelia," Dell's Plan To Reinvent Itself · · Score: 1

    You seem to forget that in the UK the word "unlimited" does not actually mean unlimited when it comes to bandwidth in internet connections. It means "some arbitary amount that we're nto going to tell you about in advance".

    Not so in one case. Three offer unlimited plans that are actually unlimited. When buying I asked specifically about fair use policies, hidden caps, soft caps and all came back negative. Granted, this was a sales rep, but he was quite earnest about their network backbone - they seem to take pride in building a network with the capacity to offer what is advertised.

    I have no affiliation with Three other than being a happy customer - I even used my tethered phone for a couple months before I had a wired internet connection set up.

  4. Re:If a cyclist finds an accident victim on YouTube Drops 2 Billion Fake Music Industry Views · · Score: 1

    Like most analogies, this analogy is not exact. Say I find the woman while riding a bicycle to or from work. I wouldn't even think of assaulting her, but helping her would have a substantial cost to me.

    (emphasis mine) That is what makes it noble. Cost-benefit analysis shouldn't figure too heavily into helping someone.

    For example, how do you recommend that I transport her to the hospital? Likewise, how would someone who depends on public transit afford the bus fare and lost wages to carry a found purse with no ID to the police station?

    Perhaps by phone, arranging transport that way. And if you can't get to a police station, would a police officer accept it insead? (don't know if they'd take it or tell you to get lost instead).

  5. Re:What MBE stands for? on Bletchley Park Codebreaker Honored · · Score: 2

    MBE stands for Member of the British Empire. It's the lowest of 5 ranks in the Order of the British Empire.

    (emphasis mine)

    And also why the leader "England has awarded Raymond Roberts" is a trifle inaccurate. Never mind anthropomorphising a country; like computers, they hate that.

  6. Re:What's off limits for a game? definitn. of "gam on Game On War In Syria Explores Ongoing Conflict · · Score: 1

    "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." (Juliet)

    So what's in a game? The subject has been discussed by folks far more eloquent and persuasive than I; but hey, this is Slashdot so what the hell. In some ways trying to define what 'game' means is akin to defining art; grasping at the wind. I think you're pretty close to the mark with your latter definition, although as sibling posters suggest the win condition is not necessary, and the concept of winning itself has been toyed with as a mechanism (see UnwinnableByDesign). "Fun" is hardly a necessity either, witness RPG grinds, for example. And how 'fun' would Contra be without UUDDLRLRBA?

    That leaves "simulated environment", which I think approaches the heart fo the matter. Games (not just video games here) are a simulacrum, an approximation of a scenario. Some are more complex than others - Snakes and Ladders versus Dwarf Fortress or MilSim-du-jour - but all distill a scenario/environment into a set of rules. Fun and winning are usually part of the arrangement, but not by necessity.

    Sibling post hit the mark too in saying that a significant proportion of gaming is there as a vehicle for storytelling. It's easy to be cynical as there are some bad stories out there. But there is good storytelling too, if that's your thing. Planescape: Torment* has a particular focus on story; and there are times where the line between 'game' and 'interactive story' are pretty heavily blurred. Dear Esther is an example which PA Report recommends quite highly:

    Dear Esther is a $10 PC [note: currently on sale on Steam for £1.74 for the next two hours at time of writing] experience that toys with the concepts that make, or don’t make, a game. You are a man exploring a deserted island, and every so often you’ll trigger a voice over that helps to explain what you’re doing there and describes other characters you never see. It’s a desolate, lonely game that funnels you into one specific ending that’s impossible to escape. It takes around 90 minutes to finish, depending on how much of the island you choose to explore.

    At the end of a day if someone creates something that is a representation of something with at least some semblance of interaction, and calls it a game I'm quite happy to believe them until proven otherwise.

    *Planescape was recently discussed on /. and it was mentioned that GOG had it for ten bucks, which was nifty. Now they've discounted it to five bucks, which is at least twice as nifty by my calculations.

  7. Re:How to lose time and sanity on Whose Bug Is This Anyway? · · Score: 1

    Once entered, my E-mail and/or name is publicly available on the bug report for the next millenium. In plain text in the bug report, and sometimes in the publicly-accessible changelog - naked for the world to see (CPAN is especially fragrant).

    Well, at least it smells nice.

  8. A modicum of context on TVShack Founder Signs Deal Avoiding Extradition · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looks like Jimbo going to bat for him generated a bit of bad press.

    Not being intimately familiar with the story, I wondered who the 'Jimbo' in the summary was. I should have guessed it was he of the 'please give Wikipedia money' banners, Jimmy Wales. In fairness, there have been a couple of stories on /. about it, and it is in one of TFAs; but some context in the summary from the editors or submitter would have been nice. While I'm at it, The Guardian has some coverage too.

    Here ends the obligatory grousing about the article summary.

  9. Re:Microsoft is right on Microsoft Complains That WebKit Breaks Web Standards · · Score: 1

    What I mean was... how is an ordinary developer meant to find out what the current state of play is?

    Start with http://caniuse.com/

  10. Re:More mindless federal regulation on Buckyballs Throws In the Towel · · Score: 1

    Don't run the edge of envelopes against your eyeballs either

    Well, I just winced. Thanks for that.

    So it wasn't just me..?

  11. Re:natural gas doesn't make CO2? on US Carbon Emissions Hit 20-Year Low · · Score: 1

    I say it's far more efficient to convert the coal to uranium, and then there would be zero carbon emissions!

    You know the secret of the Philosopher's Stone!?

    That's a joke, I say, that's a joke, son.

  12. Re:Proof that Curiosity is on Earth! on Mars Curiosity Rover's First Road Trip Planned · · Score: 1
  13. Re:A true American on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Place To Relocate? · · Score: 1

    Sales tax is not included on the Apple US site as it varies state-by-state :) The actual cost of the iPad 2 in Germany from the Apple store is EUR 335,29 (ie EUR 399 after tax).

    Zwischensumme 335,29 €
    Kostenfreie Lieferung 0,00 €
    Mehrwertsteuer 63,71 €
    Gesamtbetrag 399,00 €

    versus

    Cart subtotal $499
    Free Shipping $0
    Estimated Tax $30
    Order Total $529

    For delivery to a Detroit-metropolitan area ZIP code. Oddly, though the iPad 2 is listed for USD 399, I couldn't actually find out how to buy one of those, the basic price being 499 USD instead. Hope this clears up the confusion!

  14. I got one after hearing about them on Slashdot! on Budget 27" IPS Displays From Korea Are For Real · · Score: 1

    Back in April I read a recommendation on a thread on here about these monitors. I wish I could find the thread to give proper credit, but I didn't do such crazy tricks as emailing myself or bookmarking it. Firefox history search needs to work more like Gmail. Whoever it was, thanks, it's a really nice monitor! Good brightness, excellent colour reproduction, decent resolution. Reasonable size too :P The only complaint I have is a slight buzzing when displaying mostly-white content (eg this thread). It's practically inaudible though.

    If anyone is interested, I bought through bigclothcraft on eBay. No affiliation, just a good price and very helpful in their communications!

  15. Re:slash slash slash dot dot dot on Startup Applies For 307 GTLDs · · Score: 1

    I think the holy grail would be to get /. resolve to the website. I'd say modify the hosts file, but I don't think it likes the forward slash. Then there is the browser interpretation of /., such as "http:///." without the quotes.

    Opera does this, or at least did whenever I last used it.

  16. Re:Freemium at its best on Facebook Tests the Waters With Paid Perks · · Score: 1

    Choke the chicken too hard

    i have that dvd

  17. Re:Armageddon on Russian Superjet 100 Crashes During Demo Flight, Killing All Aboard · · Score: 1

    Little known fact: Lev Andropov's brother Picov Andropov is working as the staff chauffeur for Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe in Cambridge, MA.

    That's class, thanks

  18. Re:Raspberry Pi on HP Shows Off Power Over Ethernet Thin Client · · Score: 3, Funny

    I didn't read your question, but bananas.

  19. Re:Year of the Linux Deadtop on Slackware: I'm Not Dead Yet! · · Score: 1

    [professorial tone] You know that girl, the one in the movie with the dinosaurs?

    That's you, that is. [/]

    Red Dwarf and David Baddiel references in the one topic? I must be dreaming!

  20. Re:Great timing on Linux 3.3 Released · · Score: 2

    I have at least this many tabs open in Firefox across my tab groups, the "Don't load tabs until selected" option in the general tab is really quite awesome.

    Thanks for this!

  21. Re:Gee, why not just send the police then on UK Plan Would Use CCTV To Stop Uninsured Drivers From Refueling · · Score: 1

    The UK is on some islands and it only has one land border, it's very hard to get any meaningful amount of fuel in.

    Sorry, what land border does the UK have?

    The Republic of Ireland (Éire)

  22. Re:Can't believe no one has mentioned ... on Classic Nintendo Games Are NP-Hard · · Score: 1

    ... Nethack without spoilers. Without spoilers, not sure how you'd beat this.

    That being said, I regret having the spoilers and forever depriving myself of the chance to do it. Is there any other nethack like game that would provide the same level of challenge?

    Read up-thread: ADOM. There are many rougelikes that qualify. Angband is more slash-y. Dungeons of Dredmor is more modern. Take your pick!

  23. Re:Hitachi (IBM) Deathstars on Western Digital's Hitachi Storage Takeover Approved With Restrictions · · Score: 1

    Many thanks for the details. I've been playing around with the idea but I've not had the time to sit down and plan what exactly I want to achieve. This will give me a decent jumping-off point when I do get around to figuring out how to go about it. Cheers!

  24. Re:Hitachi (IBM) Deathstars on Western Digital's Hitachi Storage Takeover Approved With Restrictions · · Score: 1

    The family history project that your doing sounds interesting (well, and massive!). Do you have any (generic) info on what you're actually doing? Cheers!

  25. Re:Latency rears its head again on A Rant Against Splash Screens · · Score: 1

    I recently downloaded your rather interesting looking calculator, and so given your comment I tried it and must say it loads up pretty snappily! I was going to attribute this to it being read off an SSD, but it's actually on a rather old fragmented drive. So don't sweat it too much :)

    PS After a little play, it seems like the calculator is in fact very nifty. Kudos!