Recent Posts

1326

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 05, 2014, 08:54 PM »

Major Star Wars Plot Holes You Probably Never Noticed[/url]

-Arizona Hot (March 27, 2014, 06:05 PM)

The reverse question is, what are some movies with the tightest integrated plot you've seen?

1327

Living Room / Re: National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC)

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 05, 2014, 08:32 PM »

Heh what often annoys me about the SuperCourt is how often they either decline cases or purposely avoid ruling sticky parts of the case.

(Imagined pseudo conversation)
"Dear Supremes. Rule on this case, the whole thing."
"No."
"Sudo Rule on the whole case NOW!"

Then you return to Vurbal's aforementioned mountain of stupid. (But look, it's the *next mountain over* now! Cue "Climb every mountain!" )

1328

Living Room / Re: Will you miss newspapers when they're gone?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 05, 2014, 08:20 PM »

I'm sure we'll soon see the day when books and music will have limits on them, such as, "You have 180 days to read this [e]book; after that, it is digitally erased from your collection via DRM."

-zridling (March 15, 2010, 09:18 PM)

And I swear I've seen some of the rumbling early attempts at that already, I just don't have references handy. One of you net researcher types can poke around if you want.

1329

General Software Discussion / Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 04, 2014, 12:12 AM »

Here's a 625 man win.



This is rated Phoenix Easy-Plus or Easy/LowMedium

1330

General Software Discussion / Re: Happy 50th Birthday, BASIC!!

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 03, 2014, 11:52 PM »

Or something. I made about eight programs on a C128 and never programmed again. ; )

These days I am an accountant jack of all trades UI specialist, or something.

1331

General Software Discussion / Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 03, 2014, 11:07 PM »

Okay, my first favorite today so far is this one:

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=5172
The Gathering - oatsbarley - 48 Hour Compo Entry

This is a pretty clean mini version of Civilization.

Plus it's relaxingly easy - this is the kind of game I'm glad isn't that hard.

I beat it twice this afternoon.

-TaoPhoenix (May 01, 2014, 03:27 PM)

Okay, trying for a "new game in the game", I've gotten a couple of results and equilibriums around 500-600 people. I think with a little work someone can top 700 but that's prob close to the logistical game limit. (I am impressed though for a Ludum Dare it still does the math sorta right with 600 targets.) (I ran into a strategic mistake if your guys are too far away they get stuck in cycles.)

1332

General Software Discussion / Re: 4 (Maybe more) Absolute top go-to programs

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 03, 2014, 08:22 AM »

Great lists gang!

1333

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 03, 2014, 08:20 AM »

Quit clouding the issue with facts. We people of the internet do not take kindly to people who cloud. 

-Innuendo (May 02, 2014, 09:59 PM)

Heh that's just *made* for the Simpson's Homer voice!

1334

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 07:53 PM »

@Tao - is that your interview voice

-tomos (May 02, 2014, 02:09 PM)

Heh you just made me watch five episodes of Win Ben Stein's Money! : )

1335

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 12:17 PM »

Great, thanks for that! It narrowed Chrome's advantage down to about 1 pixel, which I can live with

-dr_andus (May 02, 2014, 12:14 PM)

You bet! Hehe "All the goodness of Firefox for one pixel!" (End used car salesman voice)

1336

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 12:15 PM »

<Ben Stein> Deozaan? Tomos? </Ben Stein>

1337

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 12:08 PM »

I put my XP update through this morning. On to see what next crisis MS will support after ending support! At this rate we could be getting into "Bob Hope Retiring" territory!

1338

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 12:05 PM »

Incidentally, using the Classic Theme Restorer, I managed to bludgeon back all the junk and my FF is actually usable again. With a bit of work, the important "top left" is back to old school style complete with menubar. But the funny thing is "if I get nostalgic" I have both the "Firefox button" and the new "Hamburger button", both of which have *different* subsets of the complete features laid out in the old school menus!

Sounds like a play question for you logic types, if you take 7 menus with 11+8+6+5+8+8+9=55 visible features/menus and try either of two attempts to smush it into 18 or 12, then stuff you used to know where to find gets harder! But I guess peoples "usability studies" decides that all those menus were "too hard" or something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in modern UI a "menu" (by any other name) can't be avoided. It's just whether it says "File", or "Firefox" or ("Hamburger Icon") or ("Sprocket").

1339

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 11:43 AM »

I don't think the global Windows theme is at work here, I think it's the "Title Bar" that's making you grumpy.

I tried out the  Hide Caption Titlebar Plus 2.8.2 plugin here:
https://addons.mozil...n-titlebar-plus-sma/

Then you go into its options and try the following settings (different from how they start).



Though the orange button reappears, it's pretty close vertical space wise. I get:

1340

General Software Discussion / Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 05:34 AM »

This one is a cute little text based mine simulator. It's a 10 round turn each time so you can blast through your games really quick. It's also in my range of "relaxingly easy" because I beat it in ten minutes. : )

(When you're testing Ludum games it's nice to have a few you can zip through!) : )

http://hybridmind.com/game/in-the-black/

Tip: If you worry too much about "improving efficiency" reports, the numbers come back counter-intuitive/buggy. Other things get in there besides the "base" efficiency.

The LD page:
http://www.ludumdare...=preview&uid=234

1341

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 04:44 AM »

Wouldn't be surprised is MS knew about this before April 8 and waited to release the info to add even more marketting pressure to dump XP.

Beginning to want to wipe Windows 8 off this laptop and put XP back just to say screw MS

-Carol Haynes (April 29, 2014, 03:06 PM)

Yeah right.

I installed Win7 over Xp in my old machine, when Xp support was ceased.

But now planning to overwrite back to Xp, anyway Win7 runs toooo slow in the old machine and I use FF.

Regards,

Anand

-anandcoral (April 30, 2014, 08:00 AM)

Yeah I'll have to think about that too Anand, if the cost was just the raw OS and the time to rebuild a hundred programs, it's one thing, but having to sacrifice the entire hardware is another!

1342

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 02, 2014, 04:41 AM »

I don't know about the hype, but when it's bad enough to make the government Microsoft change their default browser decision not to provide support for XP almost overnight, it's bad enough.

-Edvard (April 30, 2014, 09:07 PM)

Heh with modifications we were hollering about over at Slashdot. : )

1343

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 08:55 PM »

I didn't realize it was that difficult. I've only seen one person besides myself play the game, and she also had troubles controlling the worm. But I just chalked that up to the fact that she's not much of a gamer.

Hmm... 

-Deozaan (May 01, 2014, 08:08 PM)

Cant speak for Tao, but I'm not much of a gamer either.
And I found the difficulties entertaining (as well as challenging, as said).

-tomos (May 01, 2014, 08:13 PM)

Heh Tomos see my big post I just did!

1344

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 08:54 PM »

I didn't realize it was that difficult. I've only seen one person besides myself play the game, and she also had troubles controlling the worm. But I just chalked that up to the fact that she's not much of a gamer.

Hmm...  

-Deozaan (May 01, 2014, 08:08 PM)

Maybe not! I beat the game! (Unless it's a bug!) It stopped spawning red guys.

And I do think I figured out the tricks.

1. The lack of distance markers is confusing so you have only temporal/time passing to guess where they are.
2. Do long slow strafing runs. Use the whole play bounds.
3. If you miss your run, abort mission and regroup. It's trying to overcorrect that's the problem.
4. Momentum matters. If you get stuck under the brown ground line, you can't still continue above it - it makes you "slide" uselessly under it. Abort mission.
5. No quick movements! We are pressing too hard on the control keys and then once it starts a loop abort mission!
6. You have to judge momentum very well, so that you can break the surface. Start a long slow approach, and then get ready to *tap* the key, not press it!

There are still some bugs. (Or just my comp!) My colors shifted to dark maroon for a while once!
I was about to take a screenshot.

Can anyone else clear enough people so they stop spawning?

1345

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 08:19 PM »

Apologies for veering slightly off-topic ;-)

-tomos (May 01, 2014, 08:08 PM)

Heh I'd argue that it's not - "FF-Chrome" is sending lots of people here to PaleMoon!

1346

General Software Discussion / Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 03:27 PM »

Okay, my first favorite today so far is this one:

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=5172
The Gathering - oatsbarley - 48 Hour Compo Entry

This is a pretty clean mini version of Civilization.

Plus it's relaxingly easy - this is the kind of game I'm glad isn't that hard.

I beat it twice this afternoon.

1347

General Software Discussion / Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 01:20 PM »

An Ode to Violence - Benn - 48 Hour Compo Entry

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=1865

This one is quite similar to Deozaan's game. With airplanes! 

1348

General Software Discussion / Ludum Dare topic for other games

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 12:35 PM »

A thread for other games.

Here's a great take on the typing game:

http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=18627

Tenkosei ROBO - radmars - Jam Entry

Really uses the "use other artwork" to the advantage!

I'm slow so I could only get past the student. If I wanted to with work I might be able to beat the teacher once, but that's about it.

1349

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 12:19 PM »

Heh I don't have the magic touch. But I bet someone out there has the "magic touch" to control the worm gracefully!

1350

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 29: April 25-28 Weekend

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on May 01, 2014, 12:08 PM »

I'm not sure if this is the problem you're encountering, but the link under the top banner image pretty much always says "Login" even if you're already logged in. The way to know for sure if you're logged in is if you see the WordPress toolbar on the top of the page.

Here's an image to illustrate what I mean (it's kind of wide, so be sure to scroll to the right to see the whole thing):
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Deozaan (May 01, 2014, 01:35 AM)

That's most of it! So I'm logged in now! I'm not sure if that was there all five times I tried, say maybe four. I did see the note on the bottom of the page talking about Control-F5 to refresh the cache so I did that. But mostly I kept waiting for that "sign in" to change like most other sites do.

Heh now the good/bad news ... I'm a commenting addict! Sing along time!
"2500 Ludum Dare games on the wall, 2497 Ludum Dare games... take one down, play it around, 2496 Ludum Dare games on the wall!"

Heh there goes two hours!
 

Though I do think the LD site design is a little strange and unintuitive in places. What's a Potato?