Messages

176

Living Room / Re: Interesting (albeit minor) squabble about Game Monetization

« on: August 13, 2014, 09:25 AM »

That's a good point, and IMO not a good long term trend for lots of reasons.

177

Living Room / Re: Interesting (albeit minor) squabble about Game Monetization

« on: August 12, 2014, 11:14 PM »

Without going into the depth of detail I can't normally seem to avoid (you're welcome), I can simply say this. It's hard to imagine anything more desireable, either as a creative or business professional, than to attract a base of fans/customers who want to give you their money.

178

Living Room / Re: Does anybody seriously think an e-book is still the better option most times?

« on: August 02, 2014, 08:51 AM »

You mean like when a bank forecloses? Yeah, you don't actually own your home until you have finished paying the bank for it, plus interest. In essence, as long as you still have a mortgage, you are renting the house from the bank, who is the real owner.

-app103 (August 01, 2014, 08:25 PM)

Except one difference is that the bank can't just say, "we don't want to service this loan anymore so we're foreclosing".  You have to actually not pay them for some period of time before they can kick you out.

Of course, there's the government, who will be wanting you to pay property taxes in perpetuity... or else.

-mwb1100 (August 01, 2014, 09:10 PM)

Since when?  I've seen more that a few people lose homes since the bank crisis that were paying in good faith.  Some got them back.

-wraith808 (August 01, 2014, 10:42 PM)

You are correct. Pretty much every mortgage includes language allowing the bank to demand the remaining balance at their own discretion. They don't do this, as a rule, because it would be bad business.

I first heard about it from an acquaintance who happens to own several rental properties. He suggested that smaller banks would start doing this once the credit dried up completely - exactly what happened btw. Not by coincidence, he had also spent about 3 years moving all his investment money away from the US (he's from New Zealand and currently lives in Denmark) because he saw the collapse coming.

179

Living Room / Re: Does anybody seriously think an e-book is still the better option most times?

« on: August 01, 2014, 05:35 PM »

^ True, but not a legitimate reason for me to compromise my morals - no matter how satisfying that might feel.

180

Living Room / Re: Does anybody seriously think an e-book is still the better option most times?

« on: August 01, 2014, 04:54 PM »

eBooks are the better option if they don't have DRM deleting them or making them inaccessible.

-Deozaan (August 01, 2014, 04:19 PM)

Exactly! The problem in that story isn't the ebook. It's the fraudulent use of the word sale when what they were offering was really a license, which in practical terms is more like renting.

After reading the story earlier, though, an evil thought popped into my head - I know, hard to believe. I'm sure all of Scholastic's executives own homes. Since sale can equal rental, whoever sold them their houses should be allowed to change their mind and take them back without any repayment.

I'm not saying it's reasonable, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be fair.

181

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 28, 2014, 06:14 PM »

If you're considering other Windows tablets, don't leave HP business offerings off the table. HP/Compaq's consumer PCs are, and have always been, of inconsistent quality. Some will be nearly identical to a business computer counterpart, and therefore almost universally rock solid and reliable. Others are, well, purely consumer offerings with the potential problems in their bells and whistles you would expect.

Had I been willing to spend $100 more than I did for my Asus, I almost certainly would have gone with a technically similar, but almost certainly higher quality, HP alternative. I'll have to look up the name again.

Keep in mind, the model I was looking at was (IIRC) quad core Atom powered like the Asus I ended up with. It also didn't have the external hard drive in the keyboard dock like the Asus, but did have twice as much RAM (4GB) and certainly a higher quality keyboard and docking mechanism. You seem to have your mind set on a desktop processor, but I can't advise strongly enough that you at least try to identify and try out the newer Atom powered units before dismissing them. They make the mobile and portable experience so much nicer, but only so long as you don't really need more pure computing speed.

Also, I believe HP has at least 2 Win8 tablets with larger displays and desktop processors, but I looked at an awful lot off tablets and did end up with specs for more tablets than my twisted little brain could reliably handle without a cheat sheet.

182

Living Room / Re: Moore's Law Dead by 2022, Expert Says

« on: July 28, 2014, 04:23 PM »

Ultimately, it seems to me the future is the continued transformation of components and processors which control peripherals to a pure heirarchy of integrated, but discrete "computers," much like modern networking has been transformed into a heirarchy of contextual peers and servers.

The technology for this is already being used to affect fairly dramatic improvements in server performance. I'm referring to the amazing high end, multiport, PCIe server network cards. They achieve near independence from both the OS and underlying CPU control, even going so far as heuristic (I'm guessing) determination of which physical CPU's PCIe interface to send traffic across.

183

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« on: July 27, 2014, 10:10 AM »

Another free alternative is MapTools, which is the only virtual tabletop I've really looked at because of both the price and the fact someone has written a Hero System campaign framework. The author of that framework has mentioned, on the official Hero forums, that he doesn't think the Roll20 macro language is sophisticated enough to consider switching; at least not yet.

184

Living Room / Re: Printer's Ink

« on: July 24, 2014, 05:38 PM »

If you're looking at mass printing, a laserjet is the only way to go IMO. Even for color printing, as long as price is more important than perfect color reproduction, laser is far and away your best bet.

The tricky part with laserjets, in this context anyway, is paying close attention to the lifetime output and duty cycle recommendations for the printer as a whole and individual components. You can usually find rock solid used HP departmental or workgroup printers. still good for tens or even hundreds of thousands of pages, for extremely reasonable prices.

185

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 24, 2014, 05:13 PM »

This probably isn't really what superboyac is looking for, but for an extremely reasonable price on a used 10.1 inch Android tablet, I highly recommend Digicircle. They only give you a 30 day warranty - a no DOA guarantee basically - and you have to pay attention since they also sell as-is units, but I've bought quite a few items from them and never had a complaint. In fact I just recently bought my daughter a low end Westinghouse 32 inch TV for $130 for a graduation present and a 10.1 inch Asus Android tablet (for $120 IIRC) for her birthday.

The tablet was specifically for use with ebooks in college. I didn't buy an ebook reader app for her, but I have to second the suggestions for Montano and Moon+. Both have outstanding interfaces and are well worth the minimal cost. If we're talking just ePub format books, even the free (open source) reader available from numerous devs is still better than anything you'll find for Windows, regardless of which interface you're talking about.

186

Living Room / Re: Moore's Law Dead by 2022, Expert Says

« on: July 24, 2014, 04:38 PM »

Yeah, they said the same thing about 28 nm, and then 20 nm.

Moore's second law: Once every two years an "expert" will predict the demise of Moore's Law.

-eleman (July 24, 2014, 10:57 AM)

I think the first time I saw that claim was all the way back when Intel's 180nm process CPUs hit the market.

p.s.: Moore's law is long dead from average joe's perspective anyway. My six years old core 2 e7200 has comparable single thread performance to today's i3 somethings (which are curiously sold at the same price level my e7200 sold for in the day). Intel and AMD continue to add new cores but I no longer see real-world performance gains doubling once every two years. Well, at least they had a good run from mid-nineties to late-oughties anyway.

Yep. We've long since reached the point where the limits on the useful lifetime of a computer were determined primarily by component durability rather than speed or the selection of technical features. For the typical computer user that happened more than a decade ago. For most power users it was probably 5 years back.

187

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 23, 2014, 04:08 PM »

You don't get notifications when the device is asleep (or sometimes ever, in the case of IMs). The email app expects to have a live connection to the server and cannot reflect actions like flagging or deleting email in a responsive fashion. Your phone makes a note to delete the email when you're in cell range and hides the message immediately. The Metro app just acts like it has ignored your attempt to delete a message while it frantically tries to connect to the server.

This is what I was talking about with the connectivity.

-wraith808 (July 23, 2014, 02:45 PM)

I see, yes that's annoying.  For me, I don't think it will be very important.  I think i'll just be using it as a portable desktop rather than some kind of mobile device.  I'm guessing i'm not going to be using the metro apps much.  I've always been a third party guy anyway.  I rarely use any stock windows programs other than Office.  i'll go third party just for the principle of it, lol.

-superboyac (July 23, 2014, 03:17 PM)

Are you going to be using it as a tablet?  I foresee much pain.  Which will lead to Anger.  Which will lead to Hate.  Which will lead to suffering.  Which will lead to the Dark Side.

... after all, Yoda said so.

-wraith808 (July 23, 2014, 03:49 PM)

I have to agree with this. I do use mine for reading technical PDFs, but it's primarily a laptop and I never had any doubt that would be its primary purpose. The touchscreen adds a lot in desktop mode but for actual desktop programs - the kind that call for lots of mouse and keyboard interaction - it's honestly a piece of crap. For occasionally using as a tablet - even for desktop programs - it's brilliant. As a dedicated tablet I'd rate it as the worst one I've ever used, not counting the couple of off brand, garbage hardware Android models I've briefly had my hands on.

188

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 23, 2014, 02:02 AM »

However, I would also consider anything bigger than around 10 inches poorly suited for reading anything unless you intend to lay it down most of the time. I also wouldn't even consider a tablet with a desktop processor.

-Vurbal (July 22, 2014, 09:41 PM)

That might have been my problem.  I've been burned by MS several times in relation to them dropping platforms, so I got one that would still be useful even if they dropped the platform.  And when you try to do two things (desktop and tablet) I suppose it's inevitable that you'll fail.

-wraith808 (July 22, 2014, 10:06 PM)

That may have been part of your problem but, as I said in my initial response to this thread, every Win8 tablet really is a significant compromise on one level or another. I was fortunate to have waited (fortunate meaning not by choice) until Intel got their shit together on Atom processors and released a surprisingly high performing quad core model.

However, it's been pretty well documented that even the Unix-like modularization and streamlining since Vista haven't done anything to prevent Windows from becoming more power hungry when the computer is idle. Someone I went to school with liked to point out to people who asked if they should buy a new computer that all computers wait at the same speed. Unfortunately some waste a lot more CPU cycles while they're waiting, and Windows is the primary reason for the difference.

That's just on the power management side. I've talked about the performance issues on the desktop side before, and will try to remember to add links to that info in the morning. Despite having a tablet, I use very few TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) apps so I can't positively say it applies there, but realistically it would have to. The short version is that the compositing window manager seems to be the primary culprit, and in fact I find that when a desktop program stops responding I can fix it instantly by switching to the home screen and then immediately back to the desktop UI.

189

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 22, 2014, 09:41 PM »

I don't miss anything in my workflow by not using a tablet, except recently for one thing...reading.  So I want the SP3 basically to use as a reader.  Lol, i know it's overkill (aren't you guys used to me by now?). 

Anyway...I'm getting it this week. 

-superboyac (July 22, 2014, 03:05 PM)

I wouldn't call that overkill, I'd call it misapprehension.

I use my Android tablets mostly for reading and one reason I do is that the reading apps available on Android tablets are far better than anything equivalent on Windows.

There are a lot of very good reasons to get a Windows 8.1 tablet. Reading is NOT one of them.

-xtabber (July 22, 2014, 09:13 PM)

That depends on your criteria. While I agree that the apps themselves for Android are far superior on the whole, if you're reading something that isn't well suited to a 7-8 inch screen, most Windows tablets are superior to most Android tablets. That was one of the reasons I ultimately decided to get my Transformer Book. An Android tablet with the same display size would still have been better for reading, but still a waste (for me) considering I can use it as a reasonably full featured laptop.

However, I would also consider anything bigger than around 10 inches poorly suited for reading anything unless you intend to lay it down most of the time. I also wouldn't even consider a tablet with a desktop processor.

190

Living Room / Re: Homebrewing

« on: July 21, 2014, 01:10 PM »

As much as I love Guinness, if I were to start brewing, the first target on my wishlist would be a German pils like Wernesgruner. I can already get the real thing (at Aldi) for barely more than Budweiser would cost. As a result I've never been particularly motivated.

191

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Pro System Image Backup.

« on: July 18, 2014, 05:40 AM »

I haven't tried it on Win8 yet, but for Win7 I swear by EasUS Todo Backup. You can (and definitely should) create a boot disk, using Linux, but it can also put the files on your hard drive and add an additional boot loader. That way you can boot to it without separate media.

It's also the fastest system backup program I've ever used. It's even lightning fast at the highest compression setting. That's more of an added bonus than anything since there's probably no real gain past standard compression.

I've also tried out Macrium when I was looking for a replacement for Acronis True Image. It wasn't as quick as Todo Backup, but configuration was quite a bit more straight forward and simple. I would have no problem recommending either program honestly.

I would definitely stay away from Acronis though. True Image 9 was one of the best pieces of software I've ever owned. For $40 it was certainly the best value. Since then they've added a bunch of bells and whistles which would be great except for the fact they've broken the crap out of the whole program in the process.

192

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« on: July 09, 2014, 10:44 PM »

One convenient thing about being autistic is that crap has never worked on me. Even as a teenager, Ronald "The Great Communicator" Reagan just seemed like a doddering old half wit because all I paid attention to was the actual words. Now that speeches, press conferences, debates, and the like are available in transcript form almost in real time it's not even an issue.

Even the average moron on the street is harder to fool that way. Too bad the average idiot is also to lazy to read what they can watch on TV. It didn't get the nickname Idiot Box for nothing.

193

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« on: July 09, 2014, 07:15 PM »

That would scare the b'jeez out of me given the mindset of the freaks in power that do everything for our "safety".

-Renegade (July 09, 2014, 06:46 PM)

Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean the government needs to rewrite it. I'm referring to the next time we get enough of the mentally numb masses to pull their thumbs out of their asses and do something democratic. That's always the end of the cycles we're talking about. OTOH the quicker the government runs things into the ground, the better our odds people will stand up and do something meaningful.

I'm not really even saying I think it's going to be the end result this time around. We have further to fall before I see it as viable. I just figure those of us who are already 10 steps ahead should focus on the long game. Everything else is just dwelling on the problem.

194

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« on: July 09, 2014, 06:39 PM »

I've been using an Asus Transformer Book for just over a month now and, while it's not exactly what I was looking for, it's the closest thing to a perfect portable for me, it's still a compromise. Of course a portable PC is always a compromise, and it's definitely closer to ideal (for my purposes) than anything ever made for Win7.

That sort of sums up most of my advice for buying a Win8 tablet. You have a lot of flexibility to pick a device that's the best compromise for you. The cost may be significantly more time spent comparison shopping. I spent several hours comparison shopping, several more hours deciding what was or wasn't a deal breaker, and then back to the shopping until I ended up with something I actually dismissed out of hand initially.

Here's one thing that's certain. By getting a Win8 tablet you are settling for a portable, rather than mobile, device. Despite all the gains from re-engineering Windows to be more modular a la *nix, Windows 8 is still not capable of the energy efficiency you expect from a mobile device.

My 10 inch, Atom powered, tablet has great battery life for a relatively capable laptop. Definitely not acceptable if I were planning to leave it running for hours (even with the display off) between uses. Higher resolution displays and desktop processors are likely to bring that down to Earth. I suspect the combination would drag it down to good, but not great, for a mid-tier (performance-wise) laptop.

The keyboard dock is, frankly, lower quality than any standard laptop I've ever used. The touchpad buttons are crap because of being integrated into the pad. OTOH the additional Asus software provides interesting and useful gestures support. It also adds 500GB of storage and a USB 3 port.

I almost bought a HP, mostly because the quality of the dock - especially the dock connector - is higher quality, but also because I could have doubled the 2GB of RAM I ended up with. I'm sure I'll miss the RAM from time to time, but it hasn't happened yet. In the end, HP's price (I would have paid $100 - $200 more) and lack of a supplemental hard drive were the deciding factors. Keep in mind, though, that's comparing an Asus refurb to a new HP. Otherwise there wouldn't be much difference.

If you are going for one of the mega tablets, definitely give the Surface 3 a hard look. We need a better word for that. It's hard for me to even call them a tablet at all. Maybe slabtop would be a more accurate designation...

At any rate, I haven't used any generation of Surface Pro (or RT - but who really cares?), but my brother used one for a couple months when they first came out. He does ultra high level support for a multinational financial company; tech support for the admins really. His department uses it for on-call remote access sessions and he had nothing but good things to say about it. He likes the iPad and Logitech keyboard/stand even better on the whole, but he is basically using it as a dumb terminal.

Now that I've probably made things less clear than when you started (what can I say? It's a gift), feel free to pick my brain for whatever turd shaped nuggets of wisdom I may have lying around.

195

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« on: July 09, 2014, 08:08 AM »

WRT the original premise of the thread, if changing a punctuation mark in that document changes your interpretation, it really just means you aren't familiar with the relevant history.

-Vurbal (July 08, 2014, 11:42 PM)

True enough, but history and science are often much like broad, sprawling markets -- people shop around for what they want. Evidence is like dirt -- trodden on and ignored. I certainly wouldn't put it past people, like, oh perhaps a constitutional law professor, to conveniently reinterpret for broader government power despite knowing the history.

-Renegade (July 09, 2014, 04:40 AM)

Exactly why I've concluded the Constitution is inevitably in need of a rewrite. In the context of the times, the Constitution was a brilliant first try. Fundamentally, though, we are running into the same problems the colonists faced from the British government at the time. John Adams made the same argument prior to the US Revolution that we are making now. The specifics differed, and there was no formal document whatsoever to argue from. Still, his position was essentially that the colonies didn't answer to Parliament based on the long established historical tradition that colonies answered directly to the king.

It was an admirable first try (I'm not counting the Articles of Confederation) but ultimately built on the same shaky foundation of assumptions which had already failed so spectacularly. There are only 2 assumptions you can truly rely on WRT government. The first is that people, in government or otherwise, can be relied on to consistently interpret the rules in any manner, and to any degree necessary to do whatever they already wanted to.

The second, and perhaps even more important for maintaining actual democracy, is the real world Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. If the economy isn't democratic, meaning actual capitalism with real competition and choice, the government isn't either. So long as we don't have meaningful property ownership/disposition and privacy protections (just off the top of my head - there are others of course), capitalism exists only in theory.

It's nothing specific to the British then or Americans today. It's just people. They could be from any place at any time and the results would ultimately be the same.

196

Living Room / Re: The Declaration of Independance- some scholars say we've been reading it wrong.

« on: July 08, 2014, 11:42 PM »

The thing that cracks me up is many people...

-MilesAhead (July 08, 2014, 05:04 PM)

I don't understand why we celebrate Independence Day as the birth of the USA. All this holiday marks is when we started trying to break away from England. But we weren't successful with becoming independent for several more years, and the form that our country now takes wasn't solidified until the ratification of the Constitution in 1789.

In a sense, the Constitution was written to guarantee individual rights. The reason that stuff is relegated to the BoR is that the individual rights was so fundamental a foundation, that it was simply assumed. The Constitution documents a limited set of powers that the people cede to the government; obviously it therefore guarantees anything not mentioned therein to the people - they never gave away those rights!

There was a fair amount of controversy over the BoR, not because anyone disagreed with its intent, but because there was a fear that (even with the 9th Amendment trying to explain the situation) the list would be taken to be inclusive, and the government would just start doing things that the list doesn't explicitly forbid. And this is exactly what has happened.

-CWuestefeld (July 08, 2014, 05:25 PM)

My brother and I were discussing exactly this the other day. Here's the problem with that line of reasoning. It assumes that people would continue to appreciate the significance of what happened prior to the revolution which all of human history tells me is absolutely impossible. The suggestion that the same people who work so hard to bypass the amendments which are there wouldn't do worse if they were absent doesn't pass the giggle test.

That isn't to say I think it's an adequate approach. It was always a kludge to compensate for the fact the US Constitution should have started from the Anti Federalist position in the first place, focusing most of the document on a general, and extremely broad, description of inherent individual rights. The government's authority would then be described in very specific terms with the ability for the people, but not the government without explicit and direct authorization by the people, to authorize additional powers through the amendment process.

WRT the original premise of the thread, if changing a punctuation mark in that document changes your interpretation, it really just means you aren't familiar with the relevant history. That's understandable if your background comes primarily from our public school system. I went to a pretty good public school and they never mentioned George Mason or The Virginia Declaration Of Rights.

197

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: free galileo board from MS

« on: July 06, 2014, 11:07 PM »

This is actually the board that has me the most excited due to Intel's inclusion of PCIe. Not worth the price to buy, but too good to pass up for free.

198

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: June 17, 2014, 11:53 AM »

Keeping to high-brow music with refined tastes...

-Renegade (June 15, 2014, 07:31 AM)

If we're going for high brow, I give you Mojo Nixon:

And extremely NSFW (possibly not even safe for human consumption) Mojo Nixon:

Don't say I didn't warn you...

199

Living Room / Re: What modern music (today) is considered to be both pop AND intellectual?

« on: June 06, 2014, 12:05 PM »

Three more additions for intelligent pop: Cat Stevens, Nillson, and Harry Chapin.

And add in some intelligent pop ladies: Loreena McKinnet, Kate Bush, Chrissy Hynde, and Margie Adam. (@SB -check Margie out here.)

-40hz (June 05, 2014, 09:57 PM)

Nilsson!!  I've always considered him a "fifth Beatle".  Incredible vocal range and brilliant songwriter. 

-Edvard (June 05, 2014, 11:43 PM)

All I can say is listen to the song Coconut (as in Put the lime in the...) and it's hard not to call Nilsson a genius. In lesser (even very capable) hands that song would be a steaming pile of excrement. In his hands it's a thing of beauty.

200

Living Room / Re: What modern music (today) is considered to be both pop AND intellectual?

« on: June 06, 2014, 12:00 PM »

That's why we turned them into rules - sort of a crutch for the creativity impaired.

-Vurbal (June 05, 2014, 11:37 AM)

FWIW I think some "rules" are actually liberating. And creativity by itself is vastly over-hyped in my opinion. A musical idea is cheap. Most of us can crank out a dozen or more on demand. Finding one that's worth doing something with, and knowing how to do something with it, is an altogether different thing. Therein lies (to me) the difference between creativity and art. Creativity is just the raw material - not the finished piece. Or the process leading to it. You need both. But music isn't just about being creative.

-40hz (June 05, 2014, 02:05 PM)

I suspect you and I are using different definitions for "creativity" and "rules."  

Perhaps it's simpler if I explain in terms of writing rather than music; simpler because music really has one set of rules for the masses and another for musicians. At any rate, when it comes to writing I can't really keep up with language rules because I do everything based on my internal "ear." My oldest daughter is the same way, as are my other kids to one degree or another.

I've always told them not to sweat proper grammar except when the rules say they have to. Otherwise, I say, "the rules are for people who can't hear the music." For the most part things like not ending a sentence with a preposition or beginning a paragraph with a main sentence are just what makes the most sense.

However language, much like music, is infinitely malleable. It has rhythm, melodies, harmonies, and almost everything music does except (when written) you can only hear it in your head. When I write it's almost a stream of consciousness based on how I "hear" things in my head. As it turns out, prepositions at the end of a sentence are often the best way to make a point clearly and concisely. Also supporting sentences leading up to a main point typically makes your argument more cogent and convincing.

In terms of music, there are the rules for the masses of children in classrooms around the world, but also rules musicians adopt for themselves based on their musical training and experience. I think of those less as rules and more like an imperfect, but hopefully expansive and ever expanding, understanding of the common experience of music the same way people create their own rules for basic interpersonal communication. In the musician's case, that understanding is heavily tempered by the people he plays with. While I do tend to view my own experiences as rules of a sort, it's the same way I view my writing style. They aren't the rules, just my rules for myself... in particular situations... except when they aren't.

I was referring to the more basic and general rules though.