Totally. This is so much my experience. When I was younger I used to diligently catalog my video tapes, LPs, books etc. I had all sorts of card file systems for recording all sorts of, well, crap but at the time it seemed vitally important. Then when I got into computers, I started to keep multiple backups of everything, later on CDRs got duplicated, emails got archived etc. etc. Then suddenly I found myself married, with family and suddenly found 99% of that stuff mattered not a jot.
Best of all, apart from massively less stress and time spent keeping on top of it all, actually letting it go has been cathartic. Going through hundreds of VHS tapes I kept 'just in case this was the last copy anywhere' turned into 'can I be arsed to stick this on a DVDR? No'. All those HDs on the shelf and CD/DVD backups that I never look at from one year to the next have been heaved out.
I remember reading once an interview with someone who'd lost everything in a fire. They said it was a disaster, they thought they'd never cope with the loss and then suddenly they felt the weight of years of worrying about losing all their crap, lifting off their shoulders. From then on they lived life lean and much happier.
Didn't the Amstrad use a 3inch disk? I remember seeing a machine that did data conversion across disks/tapes and when I asked about anyone ever wanting data from Amstrads he said "Oh, the 3inch drive? It's cheaper than a blanking plate so we just stick one in but not bother wiring it up."
>Say what? What arcade games were on cartridges that could be plugged into an atari 800?
No. There was a Japanese system that was used in arcades that had great big carts allowing you to use the same cabinet/hardware but changing the game every so often. They brought out a home version that took the same carts and they were veeery expensive.
>Temple of Apshai
Oh hell yes. I couldn't believe how much game was packed into a single 88k floppy disk back then. I used to play this to death. When they later released a version (pretty sure it was Atari 800) with uprated graphics, I bought it all over again and it was awesome.
Thing was, back then, most of these games were like little movies in your head. The game couldn't really show what was happening in any real way so you had to imagine the various monsters, the creeping round corners and it often got genuinely scary.
It's a bit like when text adventures gave way to graphic adventures. Sure, they were technically far superior but something of the experience got lost along the way.
Off on a total tangent, my son asked me last night if there were Xboxes when I was a kid and when I stopped to explain how things were, I realised I've been playing computer games of some sort or another since 1977/78, 33 years, Jeeze...
If you wanted War in Russia by SSI, it was GBP80 in 1981/2. To put this in perspective, I worked in a bank then and my take home pay was about GBP140 so we're talking 2-3 weeks pay.
The real killer though were the carts for that console which took the same game carts as its equivelent in the arcades and they were GBP250 each.
I see a few comments here about the price of text messages. Are they particularly expensive in the US compared to elsewhere? Most people I know in the UK have unlimited texts or something like 500 per month in their phone bundle so cost is minimal.
For info, 46 years old, about 50-75 texts per month.
Even assuming this nth hand story is true, UFO aliens. It could just as easily be one of Hitler's various secret experiments or any number of less exciting things.
All the Unix systems I used back in the 90s had this great multiplayer shooter with graphics like asteroids. Spent huge amounts of time on that baby. One guy at work did awsomely well until we realised he'd compiled a custom binary with hotkeys for powerups.
>However, I feel like we are damned if we do and damned if we don't
This is a fair point but I suspect the problem many people have is that the US tends to get involved when there's oil/minerals/self interests to protect (not entirely unreasonable) but keeps clear if it's just protecting people in some other country. This wouldn't be so bad if the US didn't keep claiming it only does category A because of category B when it is plainly not true in most cases.
>I've never understood this sentiment.
That's because it makes no sense. It's just one of those lines governments/organisations use to get everyone on side but falls flat on its face if you stop to analyse it.
Slashdot Mirror
Or more accurately, One foreign company adopts a compiler.
>A taxi driver should know traffic laws or loose his license.
And someone on Slashdot should know the difference between loose and lose.
>boyish little elves that you could blindfold with a piece of dental floss.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Can we have another season or two of Firefly please?
Yep, Big Bang, sorry ;-)
Is that you, Sheldon?
Totally. This is so much my experience. When I was younger I used to diligently catalog my video tapes, LPs, books etc. I had all sorts of card file systems for recording all sorts of, well, crap but at the time it seemed vitally important. Then when I got into computers, I started to keep multiple backups of everything, later on CDRs got duplicated, emails got archived etc. etc. Then suddenly I found myself married, with family and suddenly found 99% of that stuff mattered not a jot.
Best of all, apart from massively less stress and time spent keeping on top of it all, actually letting it go has been cathartic. Going through hundreds of VHS tapes I kept 'just in case this was the last copy anywhere' turned into 'can I be arsed to stick this on a DVDR? No'. All those HDs on the shelf and CD/DVD backups that I never look at from one year to the next have been heaved out.
I remember reading once an interview with someone who'd lost everything in a fire. They said it was a disaster, they thought they'd never cope with the loss and then suddenly they felt the weight of years of worrying about losing all their crap, lifting off their shoulders. From then on they lived life lean and much happier.
Didn't the Amstrad use a 3inch disk? I remember seeing a machine that did data conversion across disks/tapes and when I asked about anyone ever wanting data from Amstrads he said "Oh, the 3inch drive? It's cheaper than a blanking plate so we just stick one in but not bother wiring it up."
Just checked again, it was Neo Geo.
>Say what? What arcade games were on cartridges that could be plugged into an atari 800?
No. There was a Japanese system that was used in arcades that had great big carts allowing you to use the same cabinet/hardware but changing the game every so often. They brought out a home version that took the same carts and they were veeery expensive.
>Temple of Apshai
Oh hell yes. I couldn't believe how much game was packed into a single 88k floppy disk back then. I used to play this to death. When they later released a version (pretty sure it was Atari 800) with uprated graphics, I bought it all over again and it was awesome.
Thing was, back then, most of these games were like little movies in your head. The game couldn't really show what was happening in any real way so you had to imagine the various monsters, the creeping round corners and it often got genuinely scary.
It's a bit like when text adventures gave way to graphic adventures. Sure, they were technically far superior but something of the experience got lost along the way.
Off on a total tangent, my son asked me last night if there were Xboxes when I was a kid and when I stopped to explain how things were, I realised I've been playing computer games of some sort or another since 1977/78, 33 years, Jeeze...
ISTR seeing footage of nuke tests where the flash is so bright pretty much everything in front becomes see through. Well, until it becomes vapour.
If you wanted War in Russia by SSI, it was GBP80 in 1981/2. To put this in perspective, I worked in a bank then and my take home pay was about GBP140 so we're talking 2-3 weeks pay.
The real killer though were the carts for that console which took the same game carts as its equivelent in the arcades and they were GBP250 each.
Artificial hearts of one sort or another have been around since the 70's. All that's really new here is his age.
I see a few comments here about the price of text messages. Are they particularly expensive in the US compared to elsewhere? Most people I know in the UK have unlimited texts or something like 500 per month in their phone bundle so cost is minimal.
For info, 46 years old, about 50-75 texts per month.
But Ballblazer was available on a whole bunch of systems. It started on the 400/800.
Who cares? Does it matter?
>Your wife? Of course not. You might want to hide your smoke detectors though.
Demon Seed, anybody?
That should of read UFO not equal to aliens, slashdot ate the angle brackets.
Even assuming this nth hand story is true, UFO aliens. It could just as easily be one of Hitler's various secret experiments or any number of less exciting things.
All the Unix systems I used back in the 90s had this great multiplayer shooter with graphics like asteroids. Spent huge amounts of time on that baby. One guy at work did awsomely well until we realised he'd compiled a custom binary with hotkeys for powerups.
Just saying, it's the kind of crap our goverment pulls (well, the last one, mainly)
>whoa! Lizard shape shifters? I missed that one.
Google on David Icke.
>However, I feel like we are damned if we do and damned if we don't
This is a fair point but I suspect the problem many people have is that the US tends to get involved when there's oil/minerals/self interests to protect (not entirely unreasonable) but keeps clear if it's just protecting people in some other country. This wouldn't be so bad if the US didn't keep claiming it only does category A because of category B when it is plainly not true in most cases.
>I've never understood this sentiment.
That's because it makes no sense. It's just one of those lines governments/organisations use to get everyone on side but falls flat on its face if you stop to analyse it.