Negative Events & Occurences

[Alien King]

Personal statements are evil b4stard things to write.

[MrBunsy]

Hint: Go for engineering, that way anything which doesn't make you sound like a total dork will get you an offer :p All the people doing Maths had competition for their courses! Hah!

Oh, and I start Southampton on the 28th. Less than two weeks now :D

edit: bugger, wrong thread for last comment. Well, meh.

[Alien King]

All the people doing Maths had competition for their courses! Hah!

This isn't promising.
Oh well, mabye there won't be lots doing Maths & Physics.
Although I'll probably end up doing just Maths.

[Melon]

This isn't promising.
Oh well, mabye there won't be lots doing Maths & Physics.
Although I'll probably end up doing just Maths.
I'm doing a Maths BSC. I'll be entering my final year this October.

It's honestly not that bad. Not very exciting though, and I am totally dreading what my dissertation is going to involve.

But you will get funny looks from just about everyone when you say "I'm doing a maths degree".

[Alien King]

Well it's either Maths&Physics, Maths or MMAths (which is a Maths Msc 4 year course).
And hopefully Cambridge will like my application enough to offer me a place.

[MrBunsy]

This isn't promising.
Oh well, mabye there won't be lots doing Maths & Physics.
Although I'll probably end up doing just Maths.

To be fair, they (everyone I know, at least) did all get in to one uni or another. I only know one person who's doing maths and physics, and that's actually run by the Physics department (Warwick, I think), so it might be easier to get into.

[KRD]

David Foster Wallace hanged himself almost a week ago and nobody I know [save for the friend who introduced me to his work] noticed anything was wrong. Even I only found out a couple days ago, which is frustrating in itself, but not nearly as bad as the actual news being missed.

He was in a way what one would call an idol of mine, and not just as far as writing is concerned. It's worrying, although I suppose not at all surprising after you've read some of the things he's written, that someone as great as he would take his own life. It's confusing to learn he's been taking psychiatric medication for 20 years. It's disappointing that there was next to no coverage of it on the news channels I watch quite regularly.

I've never taken any "stranger's" death this badly before; I should probably stay well clear of microwave ovens for a time. Shouldn't be that hard seeing as we don't have one at home.

[Akuryou13]

I've never heard of him. did he write anything overly famous that I would most likely be aware of?

[KRD]

Infinite Jest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Jest) would be the one you're most likely to have heard of. It's a daunting read, though, so someone attempting to get into DFW would probably be better off starting with The Broom of the System. Better still, with one of the short story collections like Consider the Lobster, Oblivion or Girl with Curious Hair, the first two of which are quite recent.

It's all awesome, I assume even more so if you're American.

:(

[Akuryou13]

nope. never heard of those books.

[Pickleworm]

I loved Infinite Jest : ( if I had even an iota of free time I'd work on reading it again. I probably should anyway. Or read any of his other books which I've heard are equally fantastic.

[FutureWorm]

I loved Infinite Jest : ( if I had even an iota of free time I'd work on reading it again. I probably should anyway. Or read any of his other books which I've heard are equally fantastic.
lmao you think you have no time now??? wait until college, noob. heh.

[Blinx]

I ordered the new Metallica album a while back off the Mission Metallica website.

In light of recently of the amount of complaints about the sound of the album, as in brick wall mastering, I want to cancel my order. I paid £12 with first class delivery, and the bugger still hasn't come.

Annoyingly, there seems to be no way to contact anybody on the Mission Metallica website, and your order's on that website, aren't linked to the actual Metallica website, where you CAN get in contact with someone.

I'm angry.

[bloopy]

That's unfortunate Blinx. I ordered it too, got the download link emailed to me just after midnight, and the CD was sent that day, although I only got it when I picked it up from the couriers on the Monday.

More info about the CD quality here. (http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html) According to that, the brickwalling was done in the mixing stage, not the mastering. The Guitar Hero III version of the album was painstakingly extracted from the game and put up for download by some kind chap. It's a lot nicer on the ears, no clipping. I can give you a download link if you like. It really is pretty terrible that they were allowed to do something like that, but I don't think the album suffers too much because of it. It wouldn't be the first time Metallica has released an album with crappy production.

[AndrewTaylor]

I ordered the new Metallica album a while back off the Mission Metallica website.

In light of recently of the amount of complaints about the sound of the album, as in brick wall mastering, I want to cancel my order. I paid £12 with first class delivery, and the bugger still hasn't come.

Annoyingly, there seems to be no way to contact anybody on the Mission Metallica website, and your order's on that website, aren't linked to the actual Metallica website, where you CAN get in contact with someone.

I'm angry.
You have the right to send something back for a full refund if it turns out to be a pile of ****. Of course, you need to be able to contact someone to do that.

Never buy anything from people you can't talk to.

[Blinx]

That's unfortunate Blinx. I ordered it too, got the download link emailed to me just after midnight, and the CD was sent that day, although I only got it when I picked it up from the couriers on the Monday.

More info about the CD quality here. (http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html) According to that, the brickwalling was done in the mixing stage, not the mastering. The Guitar Hero III version of the album was painstakingly extracted from the game and put up for download by some kind chap. It's a lot nicer on the ears, no clipping. I can give you a download link if you like. It really is pretty terrible that they were allowed to do something like that, but I don't think the album suffers too much because of it. It wouldn't be the first time Metallica has released an album with crappy production.Yeah, I've had a listen to the Guitar Hero III version. Seems alot nicer on the ears.
From Mission Metallica videos, you could tell that it was gonna be badly mastered, playback was being played back at like Max volume. So no wonder it's brickwalled.

It's a decent album, not amazing. I think Lars needs to relearn the drums or go back to playing tennis.

You have the right to send something back for a full refund if it turns out to be a pile of ****. Of course, you need to be able to contact someone to do that.

Never buy anything from people you can't talk to.
Yeah. I agree in hindsight. But still, it's ridiculous. I think I'll go trade the album in my local second hand CD shop. Get some cash and put it towards something that isn't mastered by a three year old.

The winners of the Mercury Prize awards 2008, Elbow, their album, Seldom Seen Kid, it actually says in the booklet that it's been approved by this agency who review albums based on their mastering. It's been mastered quietly so that all the instruments have breathing room and it sounds much more natural.

You might I'm an idiot, but I choose to buy more things on vinyl these days, much better sound in my opinion.

[MtlAngelus]

So it's not just me then, there is a problem with the mastering. Still, I don't mind it much. I wouldn't mind getting the Guitar Hero 3 rips tho. :P

As for the album itself, the only song I really liked was Unforgiven 3, the rest aren't really my cup of tea. :P

[Blinx]

They seem to just go, "Okay, lets do this riff for the next two minutes, then the next riff".

Sure. Led Zeppelin we're simmilar in a sense, they did repeat their riffs alot, but that's because they kicked absolute ass and the riff's mutated and deviated, before returning to what they were.

Sigh.

[bloopy]

I was a bit repulsed by the production of the first single, but after a bunch of listens I've become used to the album now. Though chances are I'll listen to the GHIII version for the most part.

[worMatty]

Could you try ringing Consumer Direct and asking their advice, Blinx?

[Blinx]

Hmm. I found that there is a line that you can ring to get a refund. I'll ring tomorrow, they ain't open today.

[Alien King]

I had a look at some of the past STEP Maths Papers.
Oh I regret doing that...
I also get to do the Advanced Extension Award for Physics... another 3 hour paper.

[MrBunsy]

I also get to do the Advanced Extension Award for Physics... another 3 hour paper.

Yey, I failed that!

[Alien King]

Oh, and another 3 hour paper in November as part of the British Olympiad round thing...

[MrBunsy]

The thing if you do uber-well in the Maths Challenge?

[Alien King]

The thing if you do uber-well in the Maths Challenge?

No, it's for Physics. Basically, I got recommended for it by my lecturer. Oh, and I have to do a 1 hour paper at home to prove my apparant cleverness to the college, but they don't really care.

I'm not sure if these things count as negative, as I am doing them by choice...



No, they definitly are negative.

[Alien King]

Over the last month, my virus scanner has been detecting an unprecidented amount of threats. I've had more warning pop-ups this last month than I've had over the last two years.
Some of these threats have been pointing at really odd things too. The last one was saying my 'runescape.exe' file was a trojan. I'm not going to say no, I did play RS once (about 4 years ago, and only once) and never touched it again. I didn't even know I still had the exe file.

No scan has turned up anything that couldn't be removed or looked threatening, so I don't actually no what (if anything) is wrong.
I'll just blame SecuROM, as I did get Spore just before these pop-ups started appearing.

[bonz]

The far right parties have won massively in today's (early) elections for the National Assembly here in Austria.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7639805.stm

Bääh! :p

[worMatty]

Over the last month, my virus scanner has been detecting an unprecidented amount of threats. I've had more warning pop-ups this last month than I've had over the last two years.

...

AK, what AV software are you using?

[Alien King]

AK, what AV software are you using?

AVG - Free edition

[Paul.Power]

I had a look at some of the past STEP Maths Papers.Yeah, STEP is pretty mad. But hey, at least it's only taking the stuff you did at A Level and running with it. Actual Cambridge Uni maths papers are more like "Here's questions that are like STEP questions, only with concepts that are also really difficult".

[worMatty]

AVG - Free edition

Try a trial version of Kaspersky. It's meant to have the highest rate of detection for 2008, so if there is something nasty dropping malware on your PC, it may find it. It also finds software program vulnerabilities.

[Zero72]

Now, thanks to a new rut in the middle of the road which was clearly placed there deliberately for some completely unknown reason, there's a break in my car exhaust somewhere. I haven't had a chance to look yet. Hopefully it's an easy fix. In the meantime, my car is most likely belching totally illegal levels of pollutants while running about 3 to 5 times louder.

[Paul.Power]

Now, thanks to a new rut in the middle of the road which was clearly placed there deliberately for some completely unknown reason, there's a break in my car exhaust somewhere. I haven't had a chance to look yet. Hopefully it's an easy fix. In the meantime, my car is most likely belching totally illegal levels of pollutants while running about 3 to 5 times louder.
Owch :(.

I had an awkward moment the other day - stalled twice attempting a hill start at some traffic lights, because the car was still in third gear and I'd forgotten to put it into first. The car made a funny smell because of all the gas I was feeding in to try and get it to go, which worried me for a while.

Also, yesterday I paid for petrol for the first time - which I guess counts as a NEAO :p.

[thomasp]

I had an awkward moment the other day - stalled twice attempting a hill start at some traffic lights, because the car was still in third gear and I'd forgotten to put it into first. The car made a funny smell because of all the gas I was feeding in to try and get it to go, which worried me for a while.


That was most likely the smell of your clutch, especially if you were attempting to do a hillstart in third, which generally involves holding the car on the clutch, thus putting Buttloads™ of energy through said clutch plates.

I have on a number of occasions managed to do hillstarts in 2nd without the use of a handbrake, when I've pulled up behind a parked car to let another car through and have inadvertently ground to a halt but not put the car back in first - and that was in my mum's old Ford Ka which has the world's most evil clutch and will stall at every given opportunity :p Even if you're left foot is as far into the floor as it'll go!

[Paul.Power]

Snap, I'm driving my Mum's old Ka too. Although it's pretty well behaved, aside from an odd rhythmic squeaking noise when I break to a halt.

Anyway, a genuine NEAO from me: we don't have a back door. A literal back door, that is.

It's been something of an absurd saga. A while back, we decided to get our back door - a sliding patio door - replaced. First of all it takes weeks for the company we contacted to actually do anything - even send a surveyor around (and it took weeks for anything else to happen after he came). When they finally installed a new door, it was the wrong way round: the left half slid open instead of the right half, which was no good because our dining table blocked it.

Today we were expecting them to install the correct door. Clearly that wasn't what they were expecting, as apparently all they were going to do was install a sash or something. So they've taken the door out and left a big piece of plastic covering the hole. It'll keep the rain out, but not the burgulars. And naturally, we were planning to go off on a weekend minibreak to celebrate my Mum's 60th birthday.

Saying that about the burglars though, they've had plenty of opportunities: the lock on the new door is very stiff, and it took us weeks to realise that we weren't locking it properly. And at the same time, we've had a similar saga with the hall-and-stairs carpet, although at least that's been resolved now.

But yeah. Total mess. Dad has a good mind to sue them for the cost of the cancelled holiday if they can't make it secure by tonight.

[Star Worms]

I still think my car overheating in the tiger enclosure tops the list :p

There were two lanes going through, but people in both lanes were stopping to take photos. As we were going so slow for so long, it ended up overheating. Obviously we couldn't just get out of the car and do anything what with there being a tiger in front of us. On the plus side, as I was directed off the road onto the start of a little track, we were closer to the tiger than anyone else. Or maybe that was a bad thing. After the car cooled off a bit, we were told we could either carry on along the track as a shortcut, or reverse back onto the road and continue around - but to keep going at speed. Apparently though the tiger "doesn't like people going along his track", so to avoid scratch marks on the car, I reversed out. Once we got to the end of the enclosure, we topped up with water - and then proceeded to race through the two lion enclosures and the wolf enclosure. Then had to drive 60 miles back home wondering if the car would actually make it. After a service, it's had to have 2 new tyres, a new cambelt, new wipers, new water pump (probably explains the above), and still needs a new anti-roll bar and something doing to the exhaust (it seems to have been fitted with a non-Fiat part before we got the car). Since the service, the car is now making a squeaking noise - can't be good.

On the bright side, my car insurance cost has halved this year.

[Blinx]

I think I'm in love.

[SupSuper]

There used to be simpler times. Times when I thought programming was fun. Times when I thought it was simple and logical. Times when I thought such things as randomly-occuring bugs couldn't happen. Times before... university.

Now, even coding an unix shell is a chore. Nothing big. It can take a pre-set list of commands, as well as anything from /usr/bin/. And it keeps a history so you can call up any recent commands with !. Sure, it seems to work all fine. But it's just fooling you. If you input a tab as a command, it crashes. But only if it's the first command, then it works fine. And sometimes it decides to look up the wrong command from the history. Or just randomly decide a command isn't valid. Even though the same command worked before. It'll just randomly decide to not work for no reason. And don't even dare to move a piece of code into its own function, because then it'll not work at all and completely dump the memory all over with a SIG_ABRT. And don't believe anyone, debuggers are bloody useless.

[Zero72]

At times like this, it's a good thing my dad is on such good terms with a professional mechanic. My exhaust isn't in the greatest of shape to begin with -- I think it was going for a while, and it just needed that bump to get it over with and break. We were getting ready to haul off and basically replace everything from the catalytic converter all the way back -- a good $500-$600 -- but aforementioned mechanic friend says he can weld it, and I'm prepared to take his word for it. We'll have it patched up by the end of the weekend, probably for free unless we decide we do need a new converter. Either way, pretty decent news on that front.

[Paul.Power]

But yeah. Total mess. Dad has a good mind to sue them for the cost of the cancelled holiday if they can't make it secure by tonight.Good news is that the new door did arrive and it has been made secure, so we can still go. I know that's not a NEAO but given it's referencing one (and, in a way, all it's doing is cancelling out a NEAO so it's not really positive), I thought I'd put it here.

[Zero72]

Similarly, my exhaust has been welded to servicability. I'm still liable to look at replacing it next Spring, though.

[Paul.Power]

I appear to be on a roll: the hotel wasn't very good at all (various reasons, but most importantly one set of bedroom lights wasn't working properly, plus a wedding reception we hadn't been told about was monopolising the bar), and given how expensive it was, we decided not to stay and to ask for our money back.

[Blinx]

So, I didn't get much of a chance to speak to her today, only fleetingly. I've had enough of being let down and feeling crap because of my messups in my love life. Yes, I'm only 17, but blah, I've had enough crap and rejection past year to p!ss me right off for a very long time. Hopefully, this time it'll be different. I highly doubt it. But meh, if it doesn't, I never left the drawing board.

She has a boyfriend.

Feck.

[worMatty]

So not in love, then?

[Blinx]

Uh. Yeah. Still am.

[AndrewTaylor]

Trust me, it's perfectly possible to be in love with someone who has a boyfriend (other than you, I mean). It almost never ends well.

[Zero72]

Hell with possible, it's downright likely.

[Blinx]

Trust me, it's perfectly possible to be in love with someone who has a boyfriend (other than you, I mean). It almost never ends well.I figured. Any advise? :/

[worMatty]

I take it she can't give you those feelings back? Not much you can do but forget it, is there? Otherwise it's her choice, so confront her with it. OR you could do a Ben.

[AndrewTaylor]

I figured. Any advise? :/

Get over her?

[Squirminator2k]

Trust me, it's perfectly possible to be in love with someone who has a boyfriend (other than you, I mean). It almost never ends well.

It's working out okay for me so far.

OR you could do a Ben.

Yes. This.

[bonz]

If you do a Ben, you could end up in L.A. and work for a large media company.
That would disrupt your career as a musician.

[Akuryou13]

just don't count on pulling a ben. he knows some sort of ancient japanese secret love kata or something.

[AndrewTaylor]

If you do a Ben, you could end up in L.A. and work for a large media company.
That would disrupt your career as a musician.

I thought that was the aim of many musicians?


Edit: I did say 'almost'.

[Squirminator2k]

It has slightly distrupted my writing career, but no more than writing a SciFi Original Film has.

[AndrewTaylor]

It has slightly distrupted my writing career, but no more than writing a SciFi Original Film has.

I thought that was the aim of a writing career?

Seriously, have I got the world backwards somehow?

[Squirminator2k]

Do you watch SciFi's original movies at all? Ever caught "Mansquito" while channel-hopping? These are not great films.

[bloopy]

Mother of a friend I've known all through primary and high school has died: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/26195/dunedin-woman-swept-her-death

He's working in Japan at the moment, but I assume he knows. He's probably concentrating on being devastated rather than updating his Facebook status. :-/

[FutureWorm]

battlestar galactica is the only worthwhile thing to ever come out of scifi channel
Do you watch SciFi's original movies at all? Ever caught "Mansquito" while channel-hopping? These are not great films.
how could he? he's not in america

[bonz]

Mother of a friend I've known all through primary and high school has died: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/26195/dunedin-woman-swept-her-death

He's working in Japan at the moment, but I assume he knows. He's probably concentrating on being devastated rather than updating his Facebook status. :-/
Aww, crap! :(

[Blinx]

My band broke up.

[worMatty]

Eh? But you were going well, weren't you? What happened?

[bonz]

Eh? But you were going well, weren't you? What happened?
Have you been Yoko Ono'ed? :D

[Squirminator2k]

Have you considered doing some solo... stuff?

[thomasp]

Apple have updated their laptops with what I consider not-that-good-looking laptops and dropped the price in the USA while upping them in the UK :mad:

[FutureWorm]

Apple have updated their laptops with what I consider not-that-good-looking laptops and dropped the price in the USA while upping them in the UK :mad:
sucks to be you, bro

and yeah i'm neutral on the new design; i mean a change was pretty much necessary but i'm bummed at the dropping of firewire 400, the matte screen and the superior keyboard. i also prefer the front-loading cd drive on the old mbps. the fact that the whole trackpad is a button is crazy; i'm curious to see if that's intuitive or awkward in real life

[Squirminator2k]

apple lol

[thomasp]

*Bans Ben for making a comment towards Apple which could imply negativity*

[AndrewTaylor]

Do you watch SciFi's original movies at all? Ever caught "Mansquito" while channel-hopping? These are not great films.

Well no, I've not seen them, but presumably much of the crapness is the fault of the writers?

[bonz]

*Bans Ben for making a comment towards Apple which could imply negativity*
Instead of banning, you should move his post to the NEAO thread.

[thomasp]

Instead of banning, you should move his post to the NEAO thread.
This is NEAO :p

[bonz]

This is NEAO :p
Well, then move it there!
Shouldn't it have appeared after my previous post? :p

[MtlAngelus]

Well, then move it there!
Shouldn't it have appeared after my previous post? :p
Your logic confuses me, bonz. :-/
:p

[Akuryou13]

Your logic confuses me, bonz. :-/
:pnot his fault you can't understand linear time

[Paul.Power]

Aw man, the SA forums have closed access to guests again.

Still, I guess this means either a) I'll finally get a flippin' account or b) I'll stop obsessively watching Let's Play threads. Either one has positives associated with it.

EDIT: And now it's back. Odd.

[Squirminator2k]

Saw a small dog - the kind you usually see frolicking about and being generally mischievous in the Cesar ads - get hit by a truck this morning.

That's an image that will stay with me for a while.

[FutureWorm]

Saw a small dog - the kind you usually see frolicking about and being generally mischievous in the Cesar ads - get hit by a truck this morning.

That's an image that will stay with me for a while.

:(

my family just got a dog like that, it is v. cute

[Star Worms]

Turns out some PhD application deadlines are pretty soon (November and December). I still haven't yet decided if I want to do a PhD or not, nor have I decided what I would prefer to do it on.

[FutureWorm]

Turns out some PhD application deadlines are pretty soon (November and December). I still haven't yet decided if I want to do a PhD or not, nor have I decided what I would prefer to do it on.
where would you be studying?

[Pickleworm]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/730636.html
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/14/another-mccain-palin-supporter-yells-kill-him-about-obama/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3174101/Barack-Obama-called-terrorist-at-Republican-rallies-as-US-election-campaign-turns-nasty.html

This country is scary lol... :p

[worMatty]

Silly, really, isn't it?

[Muzer]

This country is scary lol... http://forum.team17.co.uk/images/newsmilies/tongue.gif
Well, it voted for Bush, what can you expect?

[AndrewTaylor]

Well, it voted for Bush, what can you expect?

You can't conclude that just because he's President. It's perfectly possible to be elected on less than 30% of the vote, and that's not considering the possibility that a third party candidate might get a vote.

Or that it might be rigged.

[thomasp]

You can't conclude that just because he's President. It's perfectly possible to be elected on less than 30% of the vote, and that's not considering the possibility that a third party candidate might get a vote.

Or that it might be rigged.
I've posted it before and I'll post it again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtwZSF7uQLw - 'nuff said.

[Zero72]

It's perfectly possible to be elected on less than 30% of the vote...I might toss in that 30%, according to what I can find, is higher than the man's actual approval rating (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-10-06-bush-approval_N.htm).

Let's face it, we were boned either way in that last election. The only reason either shmuck got any votes is because they weren't each other.

[Akuryou13]

I might toss in that 30%, according to what I can find, is higher than the man's actual approval rating (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-10-06-bush-approval_N.htm).

Let's face it, we were boned either way in that last election. The only reason either shmuck got any votes is because they weren't each other.ain't that the damn truth. even if I could've voted on that one I wouldn't have bothered.

[FutureWorm]

protip: you're ****ing clueless if you think john kerry wasn't worth voting for

[Zero72]

Yes, let's revert to a 4-year-old, utterly moot argument. :p

[AndrewTaylor]

Yes, let's revert to a 4-year-old, utterly moot argument. :p

It's not utterly moot. Okay, so Kerry is unlikely to run for President again for a fair while but the principal differences between Democrats and Republicans aren't likely to change for a while.

Also: it'd have been better to elect a glass of water than Bush.

[Star Worms]

where would you be studying?
I have no idea. I was thinking of staying in York, but there aren't really enough projects available that I would want to do. I guess I'm just going to have to apply to various places and go whereever things take me.

[SupSuper]

I got glasses now.

+1 nerd :(

[FutureWorm]

I got glasses now.

+1 nerd :(
glasses own

[Star Worms]

Well technically, glasses get owned.

[bonz]

I got glasses now.
Well, now you always have a way to start a fire should you get lost somewhere without matches or a lighter. Provided there is enough sun.

Also, upgrade D17 staff info photo!
Or I'll photoshop in such nerd glasses:
http://gamernode.com/upload/Other%20images/gordon1191709903.jpg

And you won't get to wear an HEV suit or a crowbar!

[Muzer]

http://gamernode.com/upload/Other%20...1191709903.jpg (http://gamernode.com/upload/Other%20images/gordon1191709903.jpg)
Lol! Awesome.

[Paul.Power]

Well, now you always have a way to start a fire should you get lost somewhere without matches or a lighter. Provided there is enough sun.Only if he's long-sighted.

[Akuryou13]

Only if he's long-sighted.long sighted? is that actually what you guys call it over on your side of the pond? or just a personal thing?

[Paul.Power]

Well, long-sighted's the one where your short-range vision isn't so good (because your minimum focal point is too long) and you need converging lenses in your glasses (which are the only type of lens you're going to be starting a fire with). Such glasses are generally known as reading glasses. I mean, AFAIK the only other names there are for "long-sighted" are far-sighted and hyperopia.

Short-sightedness (or near-sightedness, or myopia), in contrast, is when your long-range vision isn't so good (because your maximum focal point is too short) and you need diverging lense in your glasses (which actually spread light out more and aren't going to be starting fires any time soon).

[Akuryou13]

I've just not heard the terms short or long sighted. around here I normally only hear them referred to as near and far sightedness. that may be just a local thing, but I was just rather curious.

I'm reasonably interested in all the different terms we use in american v british english.

[SomePerson]

We definitely say "far sighted" here in California too.

I know I do.

Short sighted sounds OK I guess, but long sighted just sounds really awkward to my ear. Bias toward the far makes sense. Saying ones vision is "long" sounds weird to me, because your vision doesn't really have any particular length. But I'm sure the English think the same way about "far sighted."

[FutureWorm]

usa is near/farsighted, yeah

[AndrewTaylor]

We definitely say "far sighted" here in California too.

I know I do.

Short sighted sounds OK I guess, but long sighted just sounds really awkward to my ear. Bias toward the far makes sense. Saying ones vision is "long" sounds weird to me, because your vision doesn't really have any particular length. But I'm sure the English think the same way about "far sighted."

To me, "far sighted" sounds like a compliment.

[SupSuper]

It's just some slight myopia (or short-sighted or near-sighted), nothing serious.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/Fotos/th_Img029.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/Fotos/Img029.jpg)
Have a pic, on the house.

[Akuryou13]

lol. you look all formal and stiff :p

[Muzer]

I'm reasonably interested in all the different terms we use in american v british english.
Prepare to be thoroughly bored, I used to think the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_words_not_widely_used_in_the_Unit ed_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_Unite d_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British _and_American_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_pronunciation_differe nces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_with_different_titles_in_the_UK_and_ US


You bored yet?

[thomasp]

You bored yet?
Nope, please continue.

[FutureWorm]

the one thing i've never gotten is why the british keyboard has the backslash key in such a wonky place

on another topic, the pound and euro are falling, and other world currencies are plummeting. put your savings in dollars until this financial crisis stabilizes.

[Muzer]

the one thing i've never gotten is why the british keyboard has the backslash key in such a wonky place
Because the backslash sucks and is only needed in stupid OSes or when you want to use escape characters.

[Star Worms]

I just plan on buying shares so that when the stock market does increase I can make a nice profit.

Or at least that's the idea anyway...

[worMatty]

Don't knock our backslash. At least we have a dedicated button for it.

[thomasp]

I've always hated the UK Windows placement of @ and " - the Mac/Windows US placement seems much more logical, putting " as shift+".

Guess it's just what you're used to though.

[Muzer]

I've always hated the UK Windows placement of @ and " - the Mac/Windows US placement seems much more logical, putting " as shift+".
That's harder to press though.

[thomasp]

I don't think so. But then I have been using Mac keyboards for god knows how long.

[Akuryou13]

Prepare to be thoroughly bored, I used to think the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_words_not_widely_used_in_the_Unit ed_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_Unite d_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British _and_American_English
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_pronunciation_differe nces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_with_different_titles_in_the_UK_and_ US


You bored yet?I said reasonably. not enough to research the subject :p (IE I'm not reading any of those :p)

[AndrewTaylor]

I've always hated the UK Windows placement of @ and " - the Mac/Windows US placement seems much more logical, putting " as shift+".

Guess it's just what you're used to though.

I use Dvorak, which always has " as shift+' (on the key where Qwerty has 'Q'). I find it much more convenient. I made my own Dvorak layout to get £ back, although it's much less useful than you'd think.

I really like Dvorak. I learned to touch-type in a couple of days, and I could never manage it on Qwerty.

[worMatty]

I've read up on it using this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard) and I would really like to try it. Did you buy a Dvorak keyboard, Andrew, or move the keys around on an existing one or something like that?

[AndrewTaylor]

At work I used a tool called DVAssist, which places a Dvorak switcher icon in the system tray and offers an always-on-top layout window. My laptop I took the keys off and moved them around, except for X and B because the B key is different to all the others for some reason and only fits in one place. So B is X and vice versa.

Also Windows only accepts the change when I've logged on, so I've changed my password so that it's right on Dvorak, although that means it's different when I've hibernated it. But mostly it's been fine.

[FutureWorm]

Don't knock our backslash. At least we have a dedicated button for it.
so do we??? :confused:

[Paul.Power]

I wonder if Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste get reassigned to Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-J, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-X.

[bonz]

Oh my! Now I realize.
On a QWERTY layout the Undo, cut, copy and paste keys are all lined up on the bottom row!

Why the heck did they never ever change this to Ctrl+Y in the history of computers for German QWERTZ layouts?
:eek:

[AndrewTaylor]

I wonder if Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste get reassigned to Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-J, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-X.

No, but you can do that with AutoHotKey easily enough.

To be honest, I've not missed that, although sometimes hitting ctrl-w is a pain: it does stuff in most programmes, but not the same thing.

[Muzer]

I think the main problwm would be playing WASD games...

[AndrewTaylor]

Any game that uses WASD and doesn't let you change it was coded by morons and you're better off not playing it. For one thing, it wouldn't work on a standard AZERTY board and therefore is unplayable in France.

[Akuryou13]

change the controls?

[Melon]

change the controls?

Any game that uses WASD and doesn't let you change it was coded by morons and you're better off not playing it. For one thing, it wouldn't work on a standard AZERTY board and therefore is unplayable in France.

doesn't let you change it

doesn't

d
Emphasis mine.

[Akuryou13]

Emphasis mine.oh, lol. must've skipped over that part without thinking about it :p

yes. games without control scheme editors suck balls....for more reasons than just strange keyboards. everyone should shun them.

[bonz]

Any game that uses WASD and doesn't let you change it was coded by morons and you're better off not playing it. For one thing, it wouldn't work on a standard AZERTY board and therefore is unplayable in France.
Exactly this is case with Spore.
No control mapping options. People from France and Belgium have complained. Not patched yet, AFAIK. :p

I guess the EA Games behemoth has "moronzied" Maxis...

[Paul.Power]

IIRC Worms 3D had that trouble, too.

[bonz]

IIRC Worms 3D had that trouble, too.
Although, Electronic Arts is multi-billion Dollar company with 7900 employees and existing since 1982.
One could expect that they have realized that in some countries different keyboard layouts are used.
More so when they have localized Spore to 17 languages other than English, including French.

[AndrewTaylor]

Although, Electronic Arts is multi-billion Dollar company with 7900 employees and existing since 1982.
One could expect that they have realized that in some countries different keyboard layouts are used.
More so when they have localized Spore to 17 languages other than English, including French.

Yes, but those are relatively small markets and since EA doesn't care if its customers live or die as long as the money keeps coming in, they genuinely don't care about anyone except the ~98% who use the standard Windows PC with a Qwerty keyboard, default setup, Internet Explorer, normal font size and a 4:3 monitor. If their software runs on anything else, consider it an unsupported bonus that they forgot to disable.

[Star Worms]

I'm cooking the crappest pizza I have seen. Cheese on one side, ham on the other, with a mound of pineapple in the middle. I don't think supermarkets understand food presentation.

[Akuryou13]

PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?

:rolleyes::cool:

[bonz]

PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?

:rolleyes::cool:
Nothing.
That's called Pizza Hawaii and tastes good.

Haven't we had a dedicated thread for pizza discussion?

[thomasp]

Yes, and I seem to remember it was created after a similar argument as to whether pineapple should be allowed on pizza :p


In fact - http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35804&highlight=pizza

[bonz]

Yes, and I seem to remember it was created after a similar argument as to whether pineapple should be allowed on pizza :p


In fact - http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35804&highlight=pizza
And pineapples have won by 13:12 votes.

[AndrewTaylor]

And let's not have it again. It's one of those foods that people either love or hate but for some reason the world has decided that this one is a matter of objective fact. I blame Terry Pratchett, since he voiced the first opinion I saw on the subject and this gives me a way out of automatically hating him if I decide to impose a blanket rule of hatred on anyone else who declares their opinion of pineapple on pizza to be anything more than a personal preference.

[MtlAngelus]

I tried a while ago, and it was as horrible as I expected.
So that counts as another vote.

[Akuryou13]

lol. I was being ironic by starting that argument AGAIN....I thought that was obvious enough :p

[SomePerson]

lol. I was being ironic by starting that argument AGAIN....I thought that was obvious enough :p
I thought it was pretty obvious.

[Akuryou13]

I thought it was pretty obvious.ok. at least I'm not crazy here

[SupSuper]

This forum is not sarcasm-compatible

[Xinos]

This forum is not sarcasm-compatible

Plain text tends to have that problem.

[Alien King]

I'm one of about 12 people who have to go into college tomorrow. Everybody else gets the day off.
And to make it worse, I have to do an insanely hard 3 hour physics test which I'm going to fail.

[Star Worms]

I'm one of about 12 people who have to go into college tomorrow. Everybody else gets the day off.
And to make it worse, I have to do an insanely hard 3 hour physics test which I'm going to fail.Does it count? If not, who cares?

I hate how I've never had a bank holiday off at university as I've always had lectures on. The only term that I finally have no lectures on Monday is one where there aren't any bank holidays.

I also think it's disgraceful how Scotland gets a bank holiday for St Andrew's day, Northern Ireland gets a bank holiday for St Patrick's day, yet England and Wales don't get bank holidays to celebrate St George's day or St David's day respectively. Apparently discriminating against the majority is allowed, but discriminating against a minority is not. What equality we have in this world!

[Alien King]

Does it count? If not, who cares?

No it doesn't count for anything, but it's a bit of an ego crusher. And it does mean I have to get up tomorrow morning.
Still, I can say I competed in the British Physics Olympiad... thing.

[Paul.Power]

I also think it's disgraceful how Scotland gets a bank holiday for St Andrew's day, Northern Ireland gets a bank holiday for St Patrick's day, yet England and Wales don't get bank holidays to celebrate St George's day or St David's day respectively. Apparently discriminating against the majority is allowed, but discriminating against a minority is not. What equality we have in this world!Pretty sure Wales is a minority too :p. Fewer people live in Wales than Scotland, at least.

Still, I can say I competed in the British Physics Olympiad... thing. Oh hey, I got a silver in that (and gold in chemistry).

[Alien King]

Oh hey, I got a silver in that (and gold in chemistry).

You're a far better scientist than me. :D

[thomasp]

I hate how I've never had a bank holiday off at university as I've always had lectures on. The only term that I finally have no lectures on Monday is one where there aren't any bank holidays.


We get bank holidays off at my uni. I think our lecturers would strike if they were made to work on public holidays...

[Star Worms]

I didn't realise there were other ones. I got a gold in the maths one.

[Paul.Power]

I never did the maths one. I think I'd decided I'd had enough on my plate there with STEP.

[SupSuper]

Calculus I test tomorrow (they always end up on Saturdays :mad:). This is the third time I'm doing this subject, so that should tell you how well I do on these. :(

[Alien King]

I think I'd decided I'd had enough on my plate there with STEP.

Oh god I have that to come as well.
And the physics extension award.


Calculus I test tomorrow (they always end up on Saturdays :mad:). This is the third time I'm doing this subject, so that should tell you how well I do on these. :(

Well er... best of luck.

[Paul.Power]

That reminds me, the other day I showed that the derivative of arctan x was (x^2 + 1)^-1. Good times.

[thomasp]

That sounds really useful and relevant to everyday life, Paul :p

[Paul.Power]

It's useful to everyday life if you're trying to teach A-Level maths :p.

And incredibly useful if you need to integrate something of the form (1 + (x/a)^2)^-1 (and come on, who doesn't need to know that from time to time?).

[thomasp]

If I want to integrate something like that I'm sure Matlab would be more than capable :p Either that or I'd get a book of derivatives and integrals of trigonometric identities and look it up :p

[Paul.Power]

Bloody engineers ;)

[SupSuper]

If I want to integrate something like that I'm sure Matlab would be more than capable :p Either that or I'd get a book of derivatives and integrals of trigonometric identities and look it up :pIf only we could do that in tests. :p

[MtlAngelus]

I'm trading fable 2 for something else by the end of this week. I mean, I really liked the game, but it has a lot of problems to go with it, and I'm not willing to have a brand new xbox die after less than a month of owning it. :P

[worMatty]

Are you saying that some bugs in Fable 2 will cause your Xbox 360 to stop working?

[MtlAngelus]

Are you saying that some bugs in Fable 2 will cause your Xbox 360 to stop working?
Not exactly bugs, but the game disk seems to put some strain on the Xbox. When playing it makes a loud rattling noise. At first I thought this to be normal for the Xbox, but this is the first game I tried, but some research indicates that it's not normal. There's also a lot of people claiming that their xbox stopped working after playing this game for a while... and people experiencing issues that only show up when playing this game in particular, while they can still play other games like Gears, Halo3 or GTAIV without any problems... (pixelating, graphical issues, disk reader stops working, rrod, etc)

The loud noises could be a faulty disk, or it could be that the disk reader needs to constantly jump from one part to the other to retrieve data... anyway, I'm not risking it. :p

Alternatively, I could wait for the NXE and install the game...
I'm still unsure. As always.

[worMatty]

Have you moved the Xbox 360 whilst the disc is spinning? Particularly from the vertical to the horizontal position and in reverse. This is a common cause of grindy discy issues.

[Zero72]

photos.cx, one of the best places to host an image on the internet for the sheer simplicity and lack of intrusive advertisement and unnecessary code and whateverthegod else, just permanently blew up, which is likely to have pretty bad repurcussions on just about everything I've ever used it for, such as the PZaD games and Dwarf Fortress updates. Shazbot.

[thomasp]

I have been forced towards the dark side of computing :(

I had to buy a Windows computer yesterday in order to complete my final year project, since the Mac version of the software is lacking one crucial component which only works in Windows.

Managed to pick up a 4 year old Packard Bell iMedia 2.6GHz with DVD drive, 224Mb RAM (not sure how it's got that weird figure, considering it's supposed to have a dedicated graphics card...), 40Gb HD and 17" monitor for £130.


I still prefer my Mac though!

[Akuryou13]

I had to buy a Windows computer yesterdayyes. come to the dark side. we have big cookies :cool:

[FutureWorm]

photos.cx, one of the best places to host an image on the internet for the sheer simplicity and lack of intrusive advertisement and unnecessary code and whateverthegod else, just permanently blew up, which is likely to have pretty bad repurcussions on just about everything I've ever used it for, such as the PZaD games and Dwarf Fortress updates. Shazbot.
bummer, i was a big fan of that site :(

[MtlAngelus]

Have you moved the Xbox 360 whilst the disc is spinning? Particularly from the vertical to the horizontal position and in reverse. This is a common cause of grindy discy issues.

Nop. Haven't moved it at all.

[worMatty]

Packard Bell? Bad move.

[thomasp]

yes. come to the dark side. we have big cookies :cool:
Yes, but those cookies are loaded with spyware which then broadcast the contents of your intestines to the world :p
Packard Bell? Bad move.

Any particular reason why? As far as I can see, it was the cheapest on offer at the moment that met my requirements, and I needed something very quickly. I didn't have the budget to buy brand new, and that would have come with Vista which would have meant software incompatibility issues. This computer is by no means a permanent fixture - it has to see my through to June and that's it. After that, it'll either be going into a skip or onto eBay.

Ideally I would have accelerated my plans to replace my PowerBook with a new MacBook Pro, but I really didn't have the cash for that!

[Akuryou13]

Yes, but those cookies are loaded with spyware which then broadcast the contents of your intestines to the world :pyes, but it's YUMMY spyware :rolleyes:

[worMatty]

Any particular reason why?

Yer. Slow, poorly-designed and limiting when you want to upgrade. I know what you want is fine for what you need. Just I don't want you thinking all PCs are bad.

[thomasp]

Yer. Slow, poorly-designed and limiting when you want to upgrade.

Tell me about it... getting to the RAM slots is a nightmare on this one - some muppet decided to hide them underneath the power supply wires for the cpu fan and the DVD drive :p

Makes our old PowerMac G4 tower back home seem a dream to upgrade - didn't need a socket set or screwdriver to get the case off for starters!

I don't want you thinking all PCs are bad.

It's ok, I've been thinking that for a long time beforehand :p I work as IT tech support at university for the halls of residence, so I get a lot of dealings with windows machines, usually when they're virus-infested ("Why have you got 35,000 viruses on your computer?" "I have no idea. I only download a gigabyte a day from limewire and I've never put antivirus on this computer" - note that was a true story, thirty five THOUSAND viruses on an XP machine)

[bonz]

I'm trading fable 2 for something else by the end of this week. I mean, I really liked the game, but it has a lot of problems to go with it, and I'm not willing to have a brand new xbox die after less than a month of owning it. :P
Get Fallout 3!
Although, it's probably way better on a current, fast PC.
Also, the game seems to have some glitches and bugs, which perhaps can't be patched on the XBox version.

[Paul.Power]

thirty five THOUSAND viruses on an XP machine)But think how resilient it must be that it takes 35,000 viruses for it to stop working!

[Akuryou13]

But think how resilient it must be that it takes 35,000 viruses for it to stop working!that's like countering an argument for the use of bullet proof vests by pointing out how much abuse the human body can take, you realize? :p

[MtlAngelus]

that's like countering an argument for the use of bullet proof vests by pointing out how much abuse the human body can take, you realize? :p
Well, if it it could handle 35,000 bullets then there's a point in that. :p

[Akuryou13]

Well, if it it could handle 35,000 bullets then there's a point in that. :p*facepalm*

alright. point. let's call a bullet as being worth 10k viruses, then :p

edit: grazing shot.

[AndrewTaylor]

*facepalm*

alright. point. let's call a bullet as being worth 10k viruses, then :p

edit: grazing shot.

The human body can take more viruses than an XP laptop.

It's a nonsense comparison anyway. You should all shut up.

Also, I should go to bed and sober up.

[bonz]

Also, I should go to bed and sober up.
Hard to keep up with one's signature slogans, huh? :)

[AndrewTaylor]

hard to keep up with one's signature slogans, huh? :)

maybe i'll infract you right now.

[Muzer]

System Menu 3.4 :( (http://wiibrew.org/wiki/System_Menu_3.4)

[Akuryou13]

USB keyboard support in Mii Channel
Enhanced parental controls
Twilight Hack version 0.1beta1 cannot be copied to the console.

Two other changes have been noted:
Improved SD card read/write speed
Improved disc readingthese are BAD things?

[MtlAngelus]

these are BAD things?
It's probably because it forbids you from using the twilight hack.
AFAIR, muzer is into wii homebrewing, which is mostly done using the twilight hack.

[Muzer]

Well, it's mainly the Homebrew Channel, but you need the Twilight Hack to install that. Therefore, there will be a flood of angry noobs coming into #wiihelp and demanding that Team Twiizers (most of whom aren't actually on #wiihelp) release a new TP hack that gets around the update. It doesn't affect me, I can just not update and stay at 3.2 like all the 1337 people :p.

[Akuryou13]

what do the twilight hack and homebrew do?

[SupSuper]

Let you install your own software on the Wii. and pirated games

[Muzer]

Let you install your own software on the Wii. and pirated games
Pirated games are bad, they are what is ruining homebrew :(

People like me who genuinely do things like creating apps and Linux Distros get all their fun ruined by the pirates that draw attention and give a reason to block it :(


Although, the chipless backup loader was mainly Nintendo's fault: bushing, one of the Team Twiizers team (the people who do everything big in Wii homebrew, eg the TP Hack, the HBC and BootMii) found an exploit that could potentionally given enough time allow loading Wii games from burnt CDs on an unchipped Wii. Bushing therefore tried to get into contact with Nintendo. After several e-mails failed to get their attention other than generic automated responses, he posted a message on his blog that Nintendo if they had any sense would read for their own good. Weeks passed and he still didn't publically announced he recieved a response, however, he let slip in a channel that he was actually harrassed by Nintendo and would tell the full story one day. Therefore, after a couple of months, they released DVDx, a library for loading files from DVD, and sure enough, another month or so later, a backup loader video appeared on youtube. A couple of days afterwards, it was leaked, and now everyone is creating bigger and better backup loaders, to the extent that now they require almost no other requirements and can load 1:1 copies of DVDs flawlessly and quickly, and with cSM can even be integrated with the disc channel.

In conclusion, fail Nintendo, uber fail.

[Akuryou13]

so...should've known, but that concert didn't work......

instead, my car broke down 10 miles from where the concert was being held. so I spent the concert in a mcdonald's waiting to be picked up by my dad.....

meh....

[Paul.Power]

So a few weeks ago the people next door bought a dog, a Border Collie I think. And they haven't been exercising it enough or giving it enough attention. And it basically seems to have gone mad with boredom, and barks its head off day and night.

Bunch of morons.

[AndrewTaylor]

So a few weeks ago the people next door bought a dog, a Border Collie I think. And they haven't been exercising it enough or giving it enough attention. And it basically seems to have gone mad with boredom, and barks its head off day and night.
I hate dogs like that. Some nights I'd quite happily take them out if I had a sniper rifle and a clear shot.

Edit: er, that's conditional 'would' rather than the past tense of 'will'.

[Paul.Power]

It's not really the dog's fault, though: the family have been neglecting it (only to be expected really, given the state they've let their garden get into).

Maybe I should snipe the family :p.

[SupSuper]

I've always been pretty happy that our dog is pretty quiet, even though he goes completely nuts when someone's over, he's pretty quiet about it. We've raised him well.

One of our neighbour's has a bunch of really noisy dogs though. Whenever anyone goes near the door, they bark and howl and bash at the door for half an hour, it's nerve-wrecking. The smaller they are, the noisier they are. :mad:

[SomePerson]

Back home our neighbours have a dog that howls all day long when its owners are at work... We ponder if they know, because it's only during the day.

[KRD]

Maybe I should snipe the family :p.

I vote this. :(

[thomasp]

Long-term Mac users should never switch to Windows...

The computer of the devil that I purchased recently (see earlier in thread) is approximately the same age - certainly hardware-wise - as my beloved PowerBook. But, I can really see why my PowerBook cost more than twice what this Packard Bell iCrash cost...

For example, today it took TEN minutes from pressing the power button to XP starting and me opening Matlab, launching Simulink and waiting for it to stop hanging so as I could actually do something. Three minutes on my PowerBook. Although Mathworks never did a good job of porting Simulink to Mac, so its virtually unusable :p

Then I try and launch firefox (first thing I did was download FF due to my hatred of IE :D) and it says "Firefox is currently updating and will launch in a few minutes". Five minutes later, while it's still loading I suddenly remember that I never actually asked Firefox to update. It must have been one of those fourteen updates that Windows downloaded without my permission and then installed without asking me upon shutdown, thus taking half an hour to shut down.


God I hate Windows now I actually have to use it.


And as a bit of comparison, here are the specs for the two machines - both were launched around the same time, so hardware is pretty much the same age.

Processor: 1.5GHz G4 in the PowerBook, 2.7GHz Centrino (P4ish I assume) in the iCrash
RAM: 2Gb (maxed out) in the PB, 768Mb (max 1Gb) in the iCrash - things didn't improve all that dramatically when I added half a gig to the iCrash though. Not like when I added half a gig to the PowerBook ages ago.
Graphics (I think this is what's killing the iCrash): 64Mb dedicated card on the PB, 32Mb integrated on the iCrash
HD: 80Gb vs 40Gb
Cost when new: ~£1300 vs ~£550.

And the iCrash has a totally fresh install of XP Pro whereas the PB is on its original 3.5 year old install of Tiger.


That concludes today's rant about Windows. Please join us next time. :)

[Melon]

Windows is awesome.

[/hilarious trolling]

[worMatty]

Windows is great. But if you install it on a ****ing **** PC like a Packof****e Bellend then you obviously want someone to punch you in the face. With so many manufacturers around it gives you a lot of choice but gives them excuses to make **** PCs because families buying first time don't know any different. That's why old PC World adverts are useless, because they just go on about Pentium this and ATi that, when really what the end user wants to know is will it run my software and what kind of warranty does it come with? Apple have a reputation to maintain, as do Alienware, Mesh, Medion, Acer, etc.

Windows is flexible - go to the security app in the Control panel and you can tell it that you wish to be prompted to download updates as opposed to being forced in to downloading them. And use Opera or Google Chrome, crazy fool.

[thomasp]

No matter what I'd have bought for £130 it would have been a heap of steaming dog excrement. I simply didn't have the budget to spend any more. Ideally I would have bought a brand new MacBook Pro and put XP on that via Bootcamp.

And you seem to hate Packard Bell more than I hate Windows, Matty, and that's quite impressive!

[MrBunsy]

I must admit I'm surprised, I've used XP on far lower spec'ed machines and managed to get far more usability out of them (I used to run a UT2004 server on an 800mhz PIII).

But considering it is going so slowly, wouldn't it be quicker to use whatever mac equivalent of virtual PC to just emulate a PC with windows?

edit: Oh, you've just answered that :p

[thomasp]

But considering it is going so slowly, wouldn't it be quicker to use whatever mac equivalent of virtual PC to just emulate a PC with windows?

No, because that is actually slower than running it on the iCrash, since I've got a PPC Mac. The equivalent emulation would be around about a P2/P3 processor - it'd only just run XP.

[worMatty]

Packard Bell suck serious ****. EVERY PC of theirs that I have come across has been limited in design and unbelievably slow. My next door neighbour's was provided with a USB mouse with a cable length of less than a meter! They had to plug it in to the front bloody USB ports, so it trailed across the top of the keyboard!

Two I worked on when I was in Maplin Chester would not allow a graphics card to be used in the ONBOARD AGP SLOT. No amount of BIOS tweaking or jumper switching would fix it. Next door neighbours was so slow, I put it down to malware and viruses so we did a factory restore, but it still took ages to log in to the damn user account. At work, I went through MSCONFIG Startup tab, disabled everything and restarted on one customer's PB, but was scratching my head when I turned it back on and still found it to be ball-achingly slow. All I could come up with was more viruses or disinfected files that were corrupt and slowing the PC down.

My Apricot MS540, gone now, with its P120, 84MB of RAM, 4GB hard drive and ATi Rage 128 with 2MB of VRAM could run Windows 98 better than the heap of junk next door could run XP. Hell, my Sony Vaio, with its 1.1GHz Mobile Centrino runs XP Pro better.

[thomasp]

I've worked on 4 year old Windows computers that aren't Packard Bell's, and I can say that the speed is definitely comparable.

My next door neighbour's was provided with a USB mouse with a cable length of less than a meter! They had to plug it in to the front bloody USB ports, so it trailed across the top of the keyboard!

Guess how long the USB lead is on Apple's mice? 45cm. And now the new laptops have all their ports on one side you have to trail the lead across the keyboard and trackpad - so you then have to disable the trackpad to prevent it from picking up the movements of the mouse wire.


Once this iCrash gets up to speed it seems to go OK, it just takes a lifetime to start up, but that seems to be the case with most old Windows computers. And if I forget to let it settle, it takes even longer :p

[Akuryou13]

you can disable all the start-up programs and auto-updates that have been your problems so far fairly easily.

granted, like matt I have a deep-rooted hatred towards packard bell on a similar level with my hatred towards Dell and I also believe that even when "fixed" the computer may not actually run any smoother.

[FutureWorm]

packard bell is the emachines of the uk

[thomasp]

That would probably explain why the monitor has "emachines" stamped on it then :p

One other issue is Windows' blatant refusal to run at the monitor's native resolution: 1280x720. If I set it to that it squishes the vertical plane such that it only takes up half the screen. And 1024x768 looks horrible on a 16:9 screen.

[Paul.Power]

NEAO is longer than PEAO again.

I guess this is a negative event and/or occurence in itself.

[Muzer]

<Slagging off Windows />

And that's why you should always use Linux...

The only times when that annoys me is when it does an fsck on boot sometimes, but that's an ext3 requirement I think. Also, it's good to know that my hard drive is non-error'd.

[thomasp]

And that's why you should always use Linux...


Yes but that throws me into a worse boat than the one I was in before I bough the iCrash in that the software I had to buy a PC for doesn't even work on Linux :p

[bonz]

Well, the Evil Buffalo Of Lies gets you if you buy cheap electronic equipment!

Go buy proper, but also a bit more expensive hardware and assemble a computer yourself.
You should get away significantly cheaper than by buying a pre-assembled machine.

[thomasp]

Yes but when you need the computer three weeks ago, cheap second hand is the quickest route :p

[Alien King]

You should get away significantly cheaper than by buying a pre-assembled machine.

Yes, but you also get away later. It can take ages to get the damn thing working properly.

[SupSuper]

A few hours at most, you'd probably spend longer shopping for all the damn parts.

[Alien King]

A few hours at most, you'd probably spend longer shopping for all the damn parts.

Well my computer had some working functionality after a day.
Took a while to get a replacement HDD after we accidently destroyed that along with the PSU.

[SomePerson]

A few hours at most, you'd probably spend longer shopping for all the damn parts.

For me, things NEVER work as planned like that. There will always be some connector that doesn't fit right, or the PSU's molex connectors will be too short, etc. There's always SOMETHING that complicates things. I've come to realize just how true Murphy's law is - every freaking time I try to put anything together it doesn't work right.

[bonz]

For me, things NEVER work as planned like that. There will always be some connector that doesn't fit right, or the PSU's molex connectors will be too short, etc. There's always SOMETHING that complicates things. I've come to realize just how true Murphy's law is - every freaking time I try to put anything together it doesn't work right.
I think it's statistical. You just make to much things.
AFAIR, all your vehicles and musical instruments came together fine, so something has to fail for you.

[Xinos]

Avalanche changed their minds about accepting interns.. which means I have nothing. I'll be moving back home next week, but I have to get an internship somewhere. It'll be a hassle if I can't find anything in Stockholm but I might have no other option than to move again somewhere else. And time is running out..
Blegh :(

[Zero72]

Good news is, this is totally my first post from my new laptop, which I've named Max. Bad news is, the reason I'm hitching on some other network to post this is because my desktop machine has been positively raped by the hugest, most aggressive, most evil influx of malware I have ever seen. Includes such beloved stars as Vundo! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vundo)

I seriously don't have a clue how on Gord's earth I could have caught all this, but it is BAD. BAD bad. I'm just doing what I can and desperately hoping it doesn't end in a reformat. VundoFix doesn't seem to see the problem, though.

[SupSuper]

Try all the typical (http://www.lavasoft.com/) measures (http://www.safer-networking.org/) against malware.

[FutureWorm]

I seriously don't have a clue how on Gord's earth I could have caught all this, but it is BAD. BAD bad. I'm just doing what I can and desperately hoping it doesn't end in a reformat. VundoFix doesn't seem to see the problem, though.

what's so bad about a reformat?

[Zero72]

I've gotten rid of most of the problems -- I think -- with a certain tag-team of Spybot and AVG, but Vundo is an absolute monster of a thing which will slash whatever throats it needs to to avoid removal. I've found a highly reccomended program called Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, which is supposedly very effective against it, so I'm hoping it's my man. Getting rid of that should be the crest of the problem. I think it permeates the other problems as well as itself.

I almost gotta hand it to whoever came up with Vundo. The twisted son of a ***** sure knows how to write a twisted son of a ***** of a program. It's a real piece of evil, man. I'd like to mail him a congratulatory bomb.

[FutureWorm]

I've gotten rid of most of the problems -- I think -- with a certain tag-team of Spybot and AVG, but Vundo is an absolute monster of a thing which will slash whatever throats it needs to to avoid removal. I've found a highly reccomended program called Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, which is supposedly very effective against it, so I'm hoping it's my man. Getting rid of that should be the crest of the problem. I think it permeates the other problems as well as itself.

I almost gotta hand it to whoever came up with Vundo. The twisted son of a ***** sure knows how to write a twisted son of a ***** of a program. It's a real piece of evil, man. I'd like to mail him a congratulatory bomb.
why didn't you answer my question :(

seriously, though, if your computer is that badly infected, a reformat would probably be the best option (and would likely speed you up quite a bit as well!)

[Zero72]

why didn't you answer my question :(Sorry, didn't notice it. I'd just plain rather not bother with the hassle of it, and, you know, with wiping everything, where I never seem to get quite everything backed up. I'd rather avoid it if possible, but it's always a choice if there's nothing else to be done. Even in the worst case scenario, I do have a fairly recent backup already.

The situation seems under control right now. I'm not completely convinced that I'm utterly rid of every last bit of it, but I don't have any more self-generating popups, unexplained system lag, spontaneous restarts or any of the rest of the usual gamut of malware crap, sooooo it's looking like the battle is won, though it's running another scan right now to make sure. I'm on my laptop again right now, which is now a Positive Event or Occurance, because I'm now on my own wireless network. :cool:

I love this thing.

[Star Worms]

Mother of god this Cambridge application form is huge. I wish I'd looked at it earlier - now I only have a month to fill out this b!tch. I will have to print it out again as my printer has now run out of ink. I was going to try and apply online, but 1. It's down for maintenance 2. The deadline is 2 weeks earlier when applying online 3. It costs £25

I also have to give them a breakdown of how I'm going to fund my PhD, which also depends on things like which College they put me in (I have no idea and don't have time to decide). University Fee - I have no idea how much that is. Shouldn't they be able to tell me? To top it all off, I have exams at the start of January and also really need to start writing up my project.

Also, no-one's bothered with Christmas (least of all me as I'll be revising). So now it turns out we're all just exchanging money seeing as I only have the 23rd and 24th to buy presents on.

[Paul.Power]

which also depends on things like which College they put me in (I have no idea and don't have time to decide)Clearly you should go to Churchill :p.

[worMatty]

Oh, yes.


___________________

[GrimOswald]

I hear being accepted there is as easy as calling 0800-200-300.

[Star Worms]

I'm leaning towards doing a MRes or MSc at York (1 year course) - it should give me time to think about what I want to do and should give me an edge next year.

[thomasp]

I haven't been that active on the forum recently due to having 10% of my entire degree due in last week... what postgrad subject are you looking to study, Star Worms?

[Zero72]

Okayyy, so now my desktop machine doesn't like MSN. It MIGHT run about 5 minutes after I ask it to, and if it does, it'll most likely crash a few minutes later. Tried full reinstall, nada. Sigh.

[Xinos]

Okayyy, so now my desktop machine doesn't like MSN. It MIGHT run about 5 minutes after I ask it to, and if it does, it'll most likely crash a few minutes later. Tried full reinstall, nada. Sigh.

Try using a different network card?

[MrBunsy]

Or Pidgin?

[Squirminator2k]

My girlfriend's having a bit of a wobbly time with her other boyfriend. He's stuck in a bit of a rut, it seems, but he's not ready to admit it. Shame I'm in the UK at the moment... I'd really like to be there for the pair of them right now.

[Star Worms]

I haven't been that active on the forum recently due to having 10% of my entire degree due in last week... what postgrad subject are you looking to study, Star Worms?The MSc is in Bioscience Technology and the MRes is in Functional Genomics. They're just basically about doing more practical work and learning new techniques and using the technology available nowadays. It does seem quite intensive though (12 month course, with a placement within a company).

[Alien King]

I decided that touching the dusty heap of plastic in the corner of my bedroom that is my Keyboard would be a good idea. After failing to play the Tetris theme with any degree of fluency and realising my fingers had the dexterity of something equivilant to a goldfish's fins, I gave up.
It also now hurts to twist my right arm so my palm faces up - or any rotation in fact that isn't a state between down and sidewards (if that makes any sense at all).

[Xinos]

Kinda old news by now, but we've reached the 100'th page of whining!

I know I'm proud!

[Paul.Power]

Kinda old news by now, but we've reached the 100'th page of whining!

I know I'm proud!
Or 75th page with 40 posts per page. But that in itself is no mean feat.

[Star Worms]

I decided that touching the dusty heap of plastic in the corner of my bedroom that is my Keyboard would be a good idea. After failing to play the Tetris theme with any degree of fluency and realising my fingers had the dexterity of something equivilant to a goldfish's fins, I gave up.
It also now hurts to twist my right arm so my palm faces up - or any rotation in fact that isn't a state between down and sidewards (if that makes any sense at all).On a similar note, my right knee is giving me gip. My knees have been a problem since I started growing in my teens, but I thought it had gone away. Every now and then while walking I get a really sharp pain, enough to make me limp for a while. Also, I've had blackouts/fits since about 10 and they appear to be getting more frequent. I'm used to them, but they're irritating. Once I woke up on the kitchen floor with glass all around me as I had been holding a glass jug at the time. I don't like being 21 :(

[Glenn]

Finally beat Xenosaga Episode II. 12 minute regular battles my ass, took me a freaking hour to break through Crescens.

[Xinos]

Finally beat Xenosaga Episode II. 12 minute regular battles my ass, took me a freaking hour to break through Crescens.

I'm sorry to hear that Glenn.

[Paul.Power]

Well, this was a negative occurence, although fortunately it's now been resolved:

I've been keeping my USB memory stick on my keyring. At school, this has worked well, as I can't drive away without it. However, yesterday at university I left it in a machine at the uni library, got on the bus back to Park and Ride, and only realised that I didn't have my keyring when I was walking up to my car. It was too late to go back to uni, get the keys and return to P&R. So, some frantic phone calls, a very angry Dad, a rescue mission with car keys (performed twice because it was the wrong keys first time round) later, I got home.

However, if someone stole my keyring, then not only would they have my car key and the front door key, but my stick as well - from which they could find out my name and, well, there's only one Varley in the Swansea phone book. So we wouldn't be able to leave the house unoccupied for a long period of time. Aaand it's my parents' anniversary today and we were going to go out for a meal.

So this morning Mum and I drove up to the university, hoping that either a) security had it or b) they'd let us into the (locked for the weekend) library. The guy said that he couldn't, but then we explained about the anniversary thing and he said "oh all right". Fortunately, the stick was still in the machine where I'd left it, so it was over quickly.

I've separated my stick from the keyring now. Having it like that was useful, but as has been proved the risk is too great really.

[GrimOswald]

I think you learned a valuable lesson here Paul.

It is clear to me that you were very...attached to this stick. You said it yourself, you could not go anywhere without it. But you made the mistake of leaving it in someone ELSE'S port. And hey, it happens, you know? A lot of people have made that same mistake. It probably seemed like a great idea at the time, after all. But clearly, you understood the gravity of the situation afterwords. If someone else had found YOUR stick, who knows what they would have done with it. I am sure a lot of people would jump at the chance to get a hold of it. And they could have put ANYTHING they wanted on it (Or indeed, taken anything OFF. Not a pleasant thought I am sure you agree). I am not surprised your dad was angry; frankly, had the situation not been resolved as quickly as it was, I would not bat an eyelid hearing they booted you out for what you had done. And let's not even get STARTED on the KEYS! (And finding the wrong ones first time round...talk about awkward). You were lucky the security guard was so understanding, and indeed that it was exactly where you left it.

I definitely agree with you. I know people like to experiment, but as convenient or useful as it may have been, the risks are just too great. But you handled the situation well, and I like to think you have grown as a person because of it. :)

[bonz]

http://www.truecrypt.org

[AndrewTaylor]

I have one on my keyring, but I don't keep any personal information on it. I occasionally move files on it, deleting immediately afterwards, but mostly it's just portable applications so I can convert any PC to Dvorak quickly, keep my Firefox cookies and bookmarks, and so on. It probably does contain enough information to cause problems, but not easily and nothing I couldn't fix by changing a couple of passwords when I realised it was missing.

Edit: at present this keyring is hanging out of my PC at work where I foolishly left it, but I don't really care and might even pop in and pick it up over the weekend. Only my office keys are attached to it, though (and there's a combination lock on the office door as well) so I might not bother.

[bonz]

deleting immediately afterwards
http://www.fileshredder.org ?

[Akuryou13]

I think you learned a valuable lesson here Paul.

It is clear to me that you were very...attached to this stick. You said it yourself, you could not go anywhere without it. But you made the mistake of leaving it in someone ELSE'S port. And hey, it happens, you know? A lot of people have made that same mistake. It probably seemed like a great idea at the time, after all. But clearly, you understood the gravity of the situation afterwords. If someone else had found YOUR stick, who knows what they would have done with it. I am sure a lot of people would jump at the chance to get a hold of it. And they could have put ANYTHING they wanted on it (Or indeed, taken anything OFF. Not a pleasant thought I am sure you agree). I am not surprised your dad was angry; frankly, had the situation not been resolved as quickly as it was, I would not bat an eyelid hearing they booted you out for what you had done. And let's not even get STARTED on the KEYS! (And finding the wrong ones first time round...talk about awkward). You were lucky the security guard was so understanding, and indeed that it was exactly where you left it.if the inuendo was intended, I applaud you my good sir.

if it wasn't, I applaud you doubly for being so subconsciously perverse :p

[AndrewTaylor]

http://www.fileshredder.org ?

I think you're massively overestimating the sensitivity of the files I'm talking about here.

[Star Worms]

I have my USB stick on my keyring. My biggest fear is that the weight of all the keys snaps it while in the drive. The computer room I use at uni is also only accessible to biology students so people tend to hand them into the office if they see a usb stick lying around.

[Alien King]

I have many keyrings attached to each other. On them are only a few keys and my wallet.
However my USB stick is not on them - it's generally in my pocket along with my pen and headphones.
I have no fear. Other people have fear (particularly of the pen), but I do not.

[MtlAngelus]

I have many keyrings attached to each other. On them are only a few keys and my wallet.
However my USB stick is not on them - it's generally in my pocket along with my pen and headphones.
I have no fear. Other people have fear (particularly of the pen), but I do not.

You trust the pen.