Used to play godnet MOO way back in the day. That game utterly kicked ass. Different factions vied for power, complete with intrigues, spying and backstabbing. It was horribly addictive because you knew the world continued to move and change when you weren't playing. Forced to be away from it, I would worry about what was happening there without me, as I had a reasonably influential character (I was Avatar, any old players out there?) and had "things to get done". Not that there was really a lot to do, the world was fairly small. But they'd made a really cool engine to play in, and the world, though small, was fun. They were starting to build some larger areas when they lost their site. It sucked, but it was probably for the better, as I had been so gripped by it that I might have lost my job eventually.. On the other hand, if it had gone on a bit longer I might not have met the woman I wasted 5 years of my life on at one point. So I guess, in hindsight, the lifestyle has its advantages..;)
Most impactful for me would be Ultima 5 and Ultima 9. I switched to the Amiga after 5, and the port of 6 sucked so I didn't play it.. After going peecee much later, I checked out 7 & 8 but they were so primitive by then, so I didn't bother. But then a buddy showed me Ultima 9, and gave me the discs since it wasn't really his kind of game. This game, in spite of various shortcomings (stability, performance, both kinda bad) is my most beloved. I've played it through several times. Anytime I get new and better hardware I have to play it again, to see how much better it is on a smoother system. It's a blast on a PIV, with the options.ini tweaked to max out everything! Still a bit chunky though, mind you, the engine is currently tweaked through the roof.;) Did you know that if you have enough memory, you can set the view distance far enough to actually see from coast to coast as you look around from somewhere up in the air? Playing it, it feels bad to be forced to do anything that might dissapoint Lord British, as one is supposed to be the paragon of Virtue and all that. Real twinges of conscience hit if I'm tempted to steal something, even though some careful examination shows that the game itself doesn't really care in most instances.
Heh cool, I didn't see your 'blonde, brunnette, redhead' post before I clicked on the link, but those words were briefly still in the middle of the screen as the java app intitialized, and that's the first thing I thought of, just before everything went green and matrixy.. Thought it was intentional at first till I came back here.. Things that make you go hmmm...
Here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, if your cable is dishing a mere 800kbps there's something wrong somewhere, and you're entitled to a service call to fix the problem. My own connection at home averages about 5Mbps, and has for a long long time. Yet I always hear about how cable is just barely better than DSL in the states. They better get it together, it's obviously not impossible, so what's the problem?
3) the keeping cable tensioned - this involves capturing a sizable asteroid into an orbit dangerously close to the earth (as in, genocidal proportions if shit goes wrong) - and after you anchor the cable, push it back out so it will keep tension (geosync don't work here).
When the original proposal was posted here last year, I recall it said something about not needing an asteroid, since the climbers that build the cable would be on a one-way trip. Once reaching the top of the cable, the climber latches itself onto the top and stays there. Then the next one comes up laying in its layer of cable-stuff and joins his buddy at the top, and so on, till at the end you've got a few hundred of them up there. I can't remember how they said they'd get the first strand in place, but it's anchored after that for the rest of the building process. Sounds really cool but it still freaks me out.:)
No, I'm certainly not new (12 years online, with a couple years of 'activities' on other world-spanning networks before that), but spelling flames always piss me off, particularly when there's nothing else going on in the message. Why do people have to be so pissy? My spelling is excellent and I suppose I'm proud of it, but I have no compulsion to rip on someone for spelling errors. I guess I just don't understand the mentality. If someone asks a Spelling Flamer how to spell something, do they get a dirty look? I think folks that nitpick on things like that are overcompensating for some kind of inadequacy issue. Every so often you have to step in and make them blush a bit.
It's ridiculous. You're not trying to complain about the rosy colour of the litigation. For god's sake people, if you failed English in high school then at least use a spell checker. We haven't yet devolved to the point where we need Hooked On Phonics for written language. Or have we?
Wel @ the vary leist we have deevolvd too the point were we ned to post for no reesin other then to critasize somewons speling or gramma.
While I might be in a minority, those of us who grew up "in" Middle Earth (our imaginations were there, anyway) surely must all feel betrayal at what was done to what may be the most pervasive epic of our time, in any genre.
Betrayal, perhaps, but opportunity as well. I grew up in ME too, but I've pretty much gotten over the movies. I'll be at the theatre to catch RotK and I'll buy the subsequent DVD because the eye-candy is just too nice. I saw some pretty cool stuff in my head reading the works, but it's sure great to have it plastered in front of your eyes while your brain is free to do more with it. But the big bonus is this: My girlfriend has never read the books, and has enjoyed the movies immensely. This means I get to rattle on and on about what the real story is, and further back into history. I've told her about the Ainulindale, Beren and Luthien, Numenor, etc.. Rapt audience as far as I can tell, it's awesome.
I'm not talking about one getting revenge, I'm talking about taking care of a problem that is menacing you. This guy who keeps insisting on trying to punch you for example, isn't stopping. And the cops didn't want to do anything. And he still wants to hit you some more. So you are on the alert, ok, fine, he can't 'sucker punch' you again. You see another punch coming, so you defend yourself with as much force as can be mustered but somehow without hitting back? What, do you dodge forcefully? How will you know when it is safe to turn your back on the scene and go back to your life?
No, I don't think you addressed it, you were too busy trying to press charges to pay attention. Oh, and he just punched you again by the way, or maybe his buddy on the other side of you did. You don't have 360 vision do you? Are you ready to fight yet?
I've always thought of an Engineer as being someone who is so thoroughly versed (not just in terms of study, but also in terms of how an Engineer's brain *wants*, *needs* to verse itself) in a field that they are able to add new things to that field, new ways of doing things, improving old ways, designing things that weren't around before. They are excellent at grasping the use of tools but what sets them apart is the ability to make new tools, especially when there are inadequate sub-tools available to build with. Ie: MacGyver has an engineer's brain. I think if you're any less than that you're not an engineer, doesn't matter what field we're talking about. That's why I think MCSE is a silly term, and misleading.
In the scenario you described, instead I would prefer to simply avoid being hit. I might get sucker punched once, but I'd be on my guard after that point and another attempt to hit me would probably not be successful. Oh, that and probably an asault charge laid against the person who hit me.
In the war analogy though, who do you lay assault charges with? Would that be the UN? Crossing that analogy with punching people in the nose, the cops in this case said, "Well, we didn't see him punch you in the nose, so sorry, nothing we can do..." and went back to their rounds.
And by the way, when the cops left the scene the punk just punched you again while you were distracted watching them leave, so now what?
Yeah, I think it's silly for ISP's that charge by-the-machine. Bandwidth is the commodity being used up, as is the water in your house regardless of faucets, electrical regardless of outlets, and phone regardless of outlets. Cable TV outlets are a bit different, as they let different people (possibly boarders not family members) watch different things at the same time, so that's like getting extra service. My cable company charges for additional IP addresses if you need more than 2. But the reason is just that it costs money to have a large enough block of IPs to handle all these extras desired. They don't mind if you're using a router to get more connections, they're more concerned with how much of their pipe you're using. If your bandwidth is way incredible over a 30-day period (something like 60 gigs down, and 20 gigs up) you get a phonecall, but no extra charges. Sounds fine by me.. I've got 2 IPs available to me, and I just use one because my router handles the 3 machines.. But sometimes, every now and then, I have need to unplug one of my machines from the router and move that one to the hub so it can have its own real IP, since configing a DMZ isn't always a good solution. I'm using the same amount of bandwidth either way, so they don't care how I'm connecting. Now, if I was running a Cat-5 line down the hallway to my neighbor, then I'm bad and would deserve some sort of prosecution if it was discovered. Common sense should rule things like this, not more stupid laws.
Secondly: Maybe I am really uninformed. I can't remember anyone that I know every being hurt my a meteor. I can't even remember any friend of a friend type stories. Is it really that serious? Worth spending a significant portion of the GDP (trillions) on?
Well we're reasonably sure that really massive impacts have happened in Earth's history, large enough to have killed everything for miles around. It just hasn't happened lately, and perhaps we're due.
Yes, I've also watched someone play Minesweeper headspinningly-well. I would be hard pressed to come up with an automated way of determining if it was her or some program doing it.
Whether this involves somebody calling the number or not is subject to interpretation. Having seen others' reponses I now see the interpretation that most hold, and I more or less agree. However, the article doesn't actually say that the phone number is called.
How does one check a phone number manually (manual: by hand) if not to dial it and see what happens? Is there any other way to check a phone number 'manually'? I don't think looking in the phone book counts...
I'm assuming that they will call your enemy first and ask a leading question like: "Hi, I saw your sticker-ad in the park, are you the guy selling reconditioned typewriters?" To which your enemy will say, "Uh, no you must have the wrong number." If they're still suspicious, there's another probe or two they can try before deciding that somebody is trying to mess with him and finally they would move on.
I suspect that after this happens a few times (and it *will*) they may drop the whole thing, way too much hassle for them. 'Jamming' is an old practice, and I'm sure it will be used here.
Well, I don't see what the big deal is. There are plenty of other stories being posted. You can skip the war-related topics if you want. The sheer volume of posts to this and the other war-topic should tell you that the Slashdot community wants to discuss this among themselves, otherwise the stories would have come and gone with minimal response. It's a great place to express one's thoughts, and in theory, the average IQ here is above average so what better place to get down to some good conversation? I respect your opinion, but I don't understand why you can't just read a different story instead of wading through this one and then complaining about it. Isn't that like taking your kids to a strip club (because the burgers are good there) and then getting upset that they keep on stripping with no regard for your family situation? Try the McD's down the street, or in this case, the next story over, it's easy.
The "Just following orders is no excuse" line depends on what you're applying it to. Stuff that happens in a concentration camp and stuff that happens on a battlefield are two very different things.
The device has a valid use in cable systems, or at least it used to in earlier days when the signal amplifiers weren't as clean. It's called a high-pass filter, it lets frequencies above 50MHz pass through, and anything below 50 is blocked. This used to be useful to correct certain reception problems. The return path on digital cable boxes (and cable modems) is down in that sub-band area, so neither unit works properly when there's a high-pass in the line. But technically, the sale of this wouldn't be illegal since its designed purpose is legitimate.
If that's actually true, then how do you explain the very different result list you get when you do "how to * * a cat"
Several of the results that appear include TWO words between 'to' and 'cat. Others have just one for some reason, but you can't deny you get a very different list.
I've found that onboard sound tends to skip during system load, even if you've got a reasonably-powered box. I suppose it's a matter of MoBo design, but in such cases, throwing in a cheap-ass pci sound card was the solution.
Wow, you're really reaching there aren't you? How dare you accuse me of being a moron for pointing out how many morons there are in the world. Fucking moron.
Slashdot Mirror
Used to play godnet MOO way back in the day. That game utterly kicked ass. Different factions vied for power, complete with intrigues, spying and backstabbing. It was horribly addictive because you knew the world continued to move and change when you weren't playing. Forced to be away from it, I would worry about what was happening there without me, as I had a reasonably influential character (I was Avatar, any old players out there?) and had "things to get done". Not that there was really a lot to do, the world was fairly small. But they'd made a really cool engine to play in, and the world, though small, was fun. They were starting to build some larger areas when they lost their site. It sucked, but it was probably for the better, as I had been so gripped by it that I might have lost my job eventually.. On the other hand, if it had gone on a bit longer I might not have met the woman I wasted 5 years of my life on at one point. So I guess, in hindsight, the lifestyle has its advantages.. ;)
Most impactful for me would be Ultima 5 and Ultima 9. I switched to the Amiga after 5, and the port of 6 sucked so I didn't play it.. After going peecee much later, I checked out 7 & 8 but they were so primitive by then, so I didn't bother. But then a buddy showed me Ultima 9, and gave me the discs since it wasn't really his kind of game. This game, in spite of various shortcomings (stability, performance, both kinda bad) is my most beloved. I've played it through several times. Anytime I get new and better hardware I have to play it again, to see how much better it is on a smoother system. It's a blast on a PIV, with the options.ini tweaked to max out everything! Still a bit chunky though, mind you, the engine is currently tweaked through the roof. ;) Did you know that if you have enough memory, you can set the view distance far enough to actually see from coast to coast as you look around from somewhere up in the air?
Playing it, it feels bad to be forced to do anything that might dissapoint Lord British, as one is supposed to be the paragon of Virtue and all that. Real twinges of conscience hit if I'm tempted to steal something, even though some careful examination shows that the game itself doesn't really care in most instances.
Heh cool, I didn't see your 'blonde, brunnette, redhead' post before I clicked on the link, but those words were briefly still in the middle of the screen as the java app intitialized, and that's the first thing I thought of, just before everything went green and matrixy.. Thought it was intentional at first till I came back here.. Things that make you go hmmm...
Here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, if your cable is dishing a mere 800kbps there's something wrong somewhere, and you're entitled to a service call to fix the problem. My own connection at home averages about 5Mbps, and has for a long long time. Yet I always hear about how cable is just barely better than DSL in the states. They better get it together, it's obviously not impossible, so what's the problem?
3) the keeping cable tensioned - this involves capturing a sizable asteroid into an orbit dangerously close to the earth (as in, genocidal proportions if shit goes wrong) - and after you anchor the cable, push it back out so it will keep tension (geosync don't work here).
:)
When the original proposal was posted here last year, I recall it said something about not needing an asteroid, since the climbers that build the cable would be on a one-way trip. Once reaching the top of the cable, the climber latches itself onto the top and stays there. Then the next one comes up laying in its layer of cable-stuff and joins his buddy at the top, and so on, till at the end you've got a few hundred of them up there. I can't remember how they said they'd get the first strand in place, but it's anchored after that for the rest of the building process.
Sounds really cool but it still freaks me out.
Idiot. I'm done with this.
Maybe you are jealous because you didn't flame first :-D
Hardly. Picking on intellectual shortcomings is just tacky. That's all there is to it.
No, I'm certainly not new (12 years online, with a couple years of 'activities' on other world-spanning networks before that), but spelling flames always piss me off, particularly when there's nothing else going on in the message. Why do people have to be so pissy? My spelling is excellent and I suppose I'm proud of it, but I have no compulsion to rip on someone for spelling errors. I guess I just don't understand the mentality. If someone asks a Spelling Flamer how to spell something, do they get a dirty look? I think folks that nitpick on things like that are overcompensating for some kind of inadequacy issue. Every so often you have to step in and make them blush a bit.
It's ridiculous. You're not trying to complain about the rosy colour of the litigation. For god's sake people, if you failed English in high school then at least use a spell checker. We haven't yet devolved to the point where we need Hooked On Phonics for written language. Or have we?
Wel @ the vary leist we have deevolvd too the point were we ned to post for no reesin other then to critasize somewons speling or gramma.
While I might be in a minority, those of us who grew up "in" Middle Earth (our imaginations were there, anyway) surely must all feel betrayal at what was done to what may be the most pervasive epic of our time, in any genre.
Betrayal, perhaps, but opportunity as well. I grew up in ME too, but I've pretty much gotten over the movies. I'll be at the theatre to catch RotK and I'll buy the subsequent DVD because the eye-candy is just too nice. I saw some pretty cool stuff in my head reading the works, but it's sure great to have it plastered in front of your eyes while your brain is free to do more with it.
But the big bonus is this: My girlfriend has never read the books, and has enjoyed the movies immensely. This means I get to rattle on and on about what the real story is, and further back into history. I've told her about the Ainulindale, Beren and Luthien, Numenor, etc.. Rapt audience as far as I can tell, it's awesome.
I'm not talking about one getting revenge, I'm talking about taking care of a problem that is menacing you. This guy who keeps insisting on trying to punch you for example, isn't stopping. And the cops didn't want to do anything. And he still wants to hit you some more. So you are on the alert, ok, fine, he can't 'sucker punch' you again. You see another punch coming, so you defend yourself with as much force as can be mustered but somehow without hitting back? What, do you dodge forcefully? How will you know when it is safe to turn your back on the scene and go back to your life?
No, I don't think you addressed it, you were too busy trying to press charges to pay attention. Oh, and he just punched you again by the way, or maybe his buddy on the other side of you did. You don't have 360 vision do you? Are you ready to fight yet?
I've always thought of an Engineer as being someone who is so thoroughly versed (not just in terms of study, but also in terms of how an Engineer's brain *wants*, *needs* to verse itself) in a field that they are able to add new things to that field, new ways of doing things, improving old ways, designing things that weren't around before. They are excellent at grasping the use of tools but what sets them apart is the ability to make new tools, especially when there are inadequate sub-tools available to build with. Ie: MacGyver has an engineer's brain. I think if you're any less than that you're not an engineer, doesn't matter what field we're talking about. That's why I think MCSE is a silly term, and misleading.
In the scenario you described, instead I would prefer to simply avoid being hit. I might get sucker punched once, but I'd be on my guard after that point and another attempt to hit me would probably not be successful.
Oh, that and probably an asault charge laid against the person who hit me.
In the war analogy though, who do you lay assault charges with? Would that be the UN? Crossing that analogy with punching people in the nose, the cops in this case said, "Well, we didn't see him punch you in the nose, so sorry, nothing we can do..." and went back to their rounds.
And by the way, when the cops left the scene the punk just punched you again while you were distracted watching them leave, so now what?
Yeah, I think it's silly for ISP's that charge by-the-machine. Bandwidth is the commodity being used up, as is the water in your house regardless of faucets, electrical regardless of outlets, and phone regardless of outlets. Cable TV outlets are a bit different, as they let different people (possibly boarders not family members) watch different things at the same time, so that's like getting extra service. My cable company charges for additional IP addresses if you need more than 2. But the reason is just that it costs money to have a large enough block of IPs to handle all these extras desired. They don't mind if you're using a router to get more connections, they're more concerned with how much of their pipe you're using. If your bandwidth is way incredible over a 30-day period (something like 60 gigs down, and 20 gigs up) you get a phonecall, but no extra charges. Sounds fine by me.. I've got 2 IPs available to me, and I just use one because my router handles the 3 machines.. But sometimes, every now and then, I have need to unplug one of my machines from the router and move that one to the hub so it can have its own real IP, since configing a DMZ isn't always a good solution. I'm using the same amount of bandwidth either way, so they don't care how I'm connecting. Now, if I was running a Cat-5 line down the hallway to my neighbor, then I'm bad and would deserve some sort of prosecution if it was discovered. Common sense should rule things like this, not more stupid laws.
Secondly: Maybe I am really uninformed. I can't remember anyone that I know every being hurt my a meteor. I can't even remember any friend of a friend type stories. Is it really that serious? Worth spending a significant portion of the GDP (trillions) on?
Well we're reasonably sure that really massive impacts have happened in Earth's history, large enough to have killed everything for miles around. It just hasn't happened lately, and perhaps we're due.
Yes, I've also watched someone play Minesweeper headspinningly-well. I would be hard pressed to come up with an automated way of determining if it was her or some program doing it.
The numbers are also checked manually...
Whether this involves somebody calling the number or not is subject to interpretation. Having seen others' reponses I now see the interpretation that most hold, and I more or less agree. However, the article doesn't actually say that the phone number is called.
How does one check a phone number manually (manual: by hand) if not to dial it and see what happens? Is there any other way to check a phone number 'manually'? I don't think looking in the phone book counts...
I'm assuming that they will call your enemy first and ask a leading question like: "Hi, I saw your sticker-ad in the park, are you the guy selling reconditioned typewriters?" To which your enemy will say, "Uh, no you must have the wrong number." If they're still suspicious, there's another probe or two they can try before deciding that somebody is trying to mess with him and finally they would move on.
I suspect that after this happens a few times (and it *will*) they may drop the whole thing, way too much hassle for them. 'Jamming' is an old practice, and I'm sure it will be used here.
Well, I don't see what the big deal is. There are plenty of other stories being posted. You can skip the war-related topics if you want. The sheer volume of posts to this and the other war-topic should tell you that the Slashdot community wants to discuss this among themselves, otherwise the stories would have come and gone with minimal response. It's a great place to express one's thoughts, and in theory, the average IQ here is above average so what better place to get down to some good conversation? I respect your opinion, but I don't understand why you can't just read a different story instead of wading through this one and then complaining about it. Isn't that like taking your kids to a strip club (because the burgers are good there) and then getting upset that they keep on stripping with no regard for your family situation? Try the McD's down the street, or in this case, the next story over, it's easy.
The "Just following orders is no excuse" line depends on what you're applying it to. Stuff that happens in a concentration camp and stuff that happens on a battlefield are two very different things.
It's the difference between thugs and warriors.
Our guys are warriors, support them.
The device has a valid use in cable systems, or at least it used to in earlier days when the signal amplifiers weren't as clean. It's called a high-pass filter, it lets frequencies above 50MHz pass through, and anything below 50 is blocked. This used to be useful to correct certain reception problems. The return path on digital cable boxes (and cable modems) is down in that sub-band area, so neither unit works properly when there's a high-pass in the line.
But technically, the sale of this wouldn't be illegal since its designed purpose is legitimate.
If that's actually true, then how do you explain the very different result list you get when you do
"how to * * a cat"
Several of the results that appear include TWO words between 'to' and 'cat. Others have just one for some reason, but you can't deny you get a very different list.
I've found that onboard sound tends to skip during system load, even if you've got a reasonably-powered box. I suppose it's a matter of MoBo design, but in such cases, throwing in a cheap-ass pci sound card was the solution.
Wow, you're really reaching there aren't you? How dare you accuse me of being a moron for pointing out how many morons there are in the world. Fucking moron.