Recent Posts

2001

Living Room / Re: Lifehacker: critique - the decline and fall?

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 09:23 PM »

The decline of Lifehacker may have something to do with it being a Gawker site.

2002

General Software Discussion / Re: should I be using a VPN? why? what about the recent deals?

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 09:20 PM »

Thanks for the response, f0dder. I was still waiting for someone to answer the "why" part of this thread's question(s).

2003

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 07:43 PM »

It assumed you'd seen BvS?  I didn't catch that, and so didn't lose out on anything from that.

-wraith808 (December 21, 2016, 04:00 PM)

I think so. It mentioned a few times things like "what if we're not so lucky next time?" which was a reference to Superman being super powerful, but benevolent. I figured that the general idea of BvS (AFAIK) is that Batman thinks Superman is too powerful and therefore must be stopped because no one should have that much power. And the general idea of Suicide Squad is "we need to stop people/things who are too powerful." So I guess I just assumed it was a reference to BvS because I haven't seen it and don't know what happens in it.

But as I said, these were very minor details of the plot.

As for the characters, the following is all my opinion, so of course very subjective:

Captain Boomerang sounds like one of the silliest supervillains ever. The movie gave no reason or information whatsoever why he was so evil and threatening as to be locked up with the likes of Harley Quinn or Deadshot. It also gave no indication of his "special abilities" that would make him an ideal person for the squad. He's a criminal who can throw a boomerang. Big whoop! That's even more lame than Hawkeye (who I think is pretty lame).
Slipknot maybe had potential, but obviously went completely unused, so we'll never know.
Killer Croc reminded me of some mashup of something from Spiderman and The Thing from Fantastic Four and the movie gave me no reason to care about him.
Harley Quinn was the only one of the group (not counting Joker as part of the group) who I knew of before the movie began and I didn't understand her role or her "abilities" in the film. Just because she's crazy doesn't mean she would survive combat (or "perform" it) any better than anyone else.
Katana was an unknown who was good with, you guessed it, a katana. But Deadshot could have easily shot her dead before she got to him, so what's the point of her?
Diablo was somewhat interesting but his character and backstory wasn't developed/revealed enough until too close to the end of the movie. Ultimately I didn't really care about him or his story outside of the small part it played in the film.
Deadshot was the only one who, by the time the movie ended, I felt I'd like to know more about and see a movie about. That said, I kind of feel the novelty would wear off pretty quickly if they tried a full-length film all about him.
The Joker was a joke.
Enchantress was a super powerful being whose actions largely make no sense.
Incubus was a super powerful being whose actions largely make no sense, and whose name I only know after having looked it up on IMDB.
Flag was OK, I guess, but I couldn't figure out what made him any more special than any of the other military folks.
Waller was OK, I guess, but I couldn't figure out why Deadshot, or anyone else, for that matter, didn't just smash/break/shoot/steal her phone/tablet and then kill her and Flag.

And if there was anyone else I forgot to mention, take that as a testament to how little of an impression they left on me.

So, for me, it was a movie of unknowns trying to ride on the hype of Joker as a good bad guy, but who actually barely made an appearance.

2004

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 03:55 PM »

I saw Suicide Squad.

It was OK. It assumed I had already seen Batman vs. Superman (which I haven't), so some minor details of the plot were lost on me. But my biggest gripe about the movie is that it introduced a bunch of random characters (twice!) that nobody has ever heard of and expected me to care about them without giving me a reason to. That and the plot was generally stupid from beginning to end.

Also, Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is still my favorite. But that's just my opinion.




I also saw Rogue One.

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. It was a decent film. Probably better, in my opinion, than the last 4 Star Wars episodic movies that were released (so 1-3, and 7). It had some really great moments, but also some silly/pointless moments. There were some things that happened that make no sense to me and as far as I can tell were never explained. They used CGI to resurrect or make young again a couple of actors from the original trilogy (episodes 4-6). The CGI was pretty good, but still not good enough to avoid the Uncanny Valley^w. I feel they did a good job of making Darth Vader feel menacing and powerful. But there was a weird moment in there where they had Vader make a CSI-like sunglasses-pun. Then again, maybe it was subtle enough that most people didn't catch it.

And, quite a bit of a spoiler here, so really don't click unless you've seen it or don't mind spoiling the ending:

Spoiler

Having watched both of these moves in the same day, I felt that Rogue One is the one of the two that should have been called Suicide Squad. Everybody dies! But it does give additional meaning and gravity to that otherwise throwaway line from Episode 4 when they say something to the effect of "Many lives were lost to get this information."

2005

Living Room / Re: British companies to face big fines if data breaches occur

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 03:18 PM »

Despite being inclined to have firms collect endless amounts of data on their customers, the British government does at least want them to protect it. Accepting a new EU law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), means that when introduced in 2018, British firms will be mandated to disclose any breaches that occur, and could be fined if enough protections are not in place.
Over the past few years we’ve seen a number of high profile companies hit with big data breaches as hackers steal away user information by the truckload. In some cases these companies let their users know straight away, but in others it can take weeks, months or even years before the public is made aware. To combat that in future, it is now a legal mandate that firms must disclose the information in a timely manner.

Read More: http://www.kitguru.n...data-breaches-occur/

-Stephen66515 (December 21, 2016, 12:50 PM)

But Britain is leaving the EU, right? So they won't need to obey that EU law.

2006

Living Room / Re: EU court rules against UK data retention laws

« Last post by Deozaan on December 21, 2016, 03:16 PM »

By SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that governments must not indiscriminately collect and retain people's emails and electronic communications, dealing a blow to Britain's contentious new cyber-surveillance law.

Europe's highest court said "general and indiscriminate retention of data" by governments is unlawful and cannot be justified within a democratic society. Only targeted retention aimed at fighting serious crimes could justify such state interference, it said.

"The fact that the data is retained without the users of electronic communications services being informed of the fact is likely to cause the persons concerned to feel that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance," the court said.

Last month, Britain's Parliament passed legislation that expanded the reach of state surveillance. Dubbed the "snoopers' charter" by opponents, the law requires telecommunications companies to keep records of all customers' emails and web activity for a year, and gives officials unprecedented access to such information. A range of government departments, from police to customs officials, can access the data without a warrant.

Read More: http://www.usnews.co...-data-retention-laws

-Stephen66515 (December 21, 2016, 12:51 PM)

But UK is leaving the EU, so the UK can still do that, right?

2007

DC Gamer Club / Re: Factorio - Automate All the Things!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 20, 2016, 11:48 PM »

Any chance to watch the video of your game play?
I am saving to buy Big Pharma. Has anyone play it?

-erikts (December 19, 2016, 11:43 PM)

I suppose I could record a gameplay session, but I'm not great at making commentary as I play. I wouldn't be entertaining like a Let's Play YouTuber can be. Speaking of which, you can find plenty of Let's Plays of Factorio on YouTube.

I haven't played Big Pharma. I've heard it is similar to Factorio. Looking at the video for it, it seems simpler and more cartoony. Those aren't necessarily bad things. But it also looks more limited. Factorio has maps that are unlimited, so you can expand as far and as wide and go as big as you want.

2008

Living Room / Re: My board game recommendations for family holidays

« Last post by Deozaan on December 19, 2016, 02:55 PM »

Ack! ~2.5 year old typo!

Thanks for reminding me of this game ("Telestrations"). Maybe I'll try to get a group to play it in the coming days.

2009

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Deozaan on December 14, 2016, 07:02 PM »

The good news is that Microsoft is working on an update mechanism that will just update directly to the latest version instead of having to download an outdated update before being able to download the most recent one.

2010

Living Room / Re: This post may, or may not serve a purpose.

« Last post by Deozaan on December 14, 2016, 03:55 PM »

Looks like he just tapped the next suggested word on his mobile device.

2011

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10: C: (SSD) usage is 100%

« Last post by Deozaan on December 13, 2016, 01:56 AM »

Just in case the link goes down...

-wraith808 (December 12, 2016, 11:13 PM)

Whenever I think that, I do this:

https://archive.is/iS8KZ

2012

Living Room / Re: Guide to Living with Introverts

« Last post by Deozaan on December 13, 2016, 01:40 AM »

2013

Living Room / Re: Thank you Donationcoder!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 12, 2016, 07:26 PM »

[ Invalid Attachment ]

In recovery mode!

-Josh (December 11, 2016, 07:10 PM)

Not to kick you while you're down, but... You should ask your barber for a refund.

I'm glad it went well and that you're recovering!

2014

Living Room / Re: Thank you Donationcoder!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 10, 2016, 04:30 PM »

Hooray for a successful surgery. Soon we'll see Josh up and wreaking havoc once again!

2015

Living Room / Re: grab urls

« Last post by Deozaan on December 09, 2016, 02:51 PM »

Did you try JDownloader or GetRight?

2016

N.A.N.Y. 2017 / Re: NANY 2017: Affirmator

« Last post by Deozaan on December 09, 2016, 03:50 AM »

18 out of 18 virus scanners on Jotti say the file is clean:

https://virusscan.jo...lescanjob/oexmxe8965

2017

Community Giveaways / Re: TIS-100, a programming game

« Last post by Deozaan on December 09, 2016, 03:46 AM »

What is TIS-100?

2018

DC Gamer Club / Re: Factorio - Automate All the Things!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 08, 2016, 09:14 PM »

Not exactly. I can't really think of any way to make a similar game without it being a Factorio "clone." Factorio seems fairly unique. I've never played anything quite like it.

It's almost like an inverted RTS. Instead of occasionally plopping down some buildings for the sole purpose of getting more units you can command (micromanage) to win battles, you occasionally fight battles so that you can continue to gather the resources needed to micromanage your buildings. And eventually, once you've got your factory set up nicely, even a lot of the micromanaging is automated.

2019

N.A.N.Y. 2017 / Re: DIA5

« Last post by Deozaan on December 08, 2016, 06:01 PM »

Hi chesterw, and welcome to the site.

Thanks for contributing to NANY. Would you mind adding some screenshots of DIA5 in action?



For what it's worth, I downloaded the attached zip file and ran it through Jotti's Malware scanner. Here's the result:

https://virusscan.jo...lescanjob/0urzzl99hg

1/18 scanners reported the "PUA.Win.Packer.Upx-49" malware. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a false positive.

2020

DC Gamer Club / Re: Factorio - Automate All the Things!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 08, 2016, 04:01 PM »

Reading a little about Factorio and watching some videos -- it's fascinating.  It's probably not a game i would enjoy playing -- for me it seems to fall into that civilization-style simulation category that looks to much like "work" to be fun for me, but wow is it impressive.

-mouser (December 08, 2016, 03:51 PM)

I already responded to that:

Try the demo, and if you like it, I definitely recommend buying the game.

-Deozaan (December 08, 2016, 03:28 PM)

2021

DC Gamer Club / Re: Factorio - Automate All the Things!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 08, 2016, 03:58 PM »

Some screenshots! These are nearly full-screen resolution (2560x1440) so they may appear quite large. Hence the thumbnails.

This is my base I built in my first "real game" and I thought I was doing pretty well even though I had basically no idea what was coming, and therefore no way to plan for it.



But I soon realized that I was trying to cram too much into too little space, especially when dealing with oil or other liquids/gases. So I started a new map and decided to give myself plenty of room to grow. Now it's feeling a bit cramped, too.

This is a part of my new map/base I built when I had a better idea of what I was doing and would need (the one I've spent nearly 40 hours building). This is the science production and research labs section.



And here's a small part of my iron ore input and smelting.

2022

DC Gamer Club / Factorio - Automate All the Things!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 08, 2016, 03:28 PM »

Factorio is a game that has been in development for a few years now and as far as I can tell came to Early Access earlier this year. I feel that the trailer video doesn't give a good sense as to what gameplay is like:

So, based on that video, I've looked at the game from time to time, but I've never been intrigued enough to actually give it a try... until recently, when I saw this gameplay video:

Finally I got a better idea of what the game was about, and what it was like. My interest was piqued enough to look deeper into it instead of just dismissing it after viewing the video and remembering that it was an Early Access title. I normally avoid or ignore Early Access games, but when I saw that Factorio had a demo, I decided to give it a try.

I spent a few hours with the demo, playing through the relatively short campaign/tutorial twice. It left me wanting to explore more fully what it had to offer, so I got the full version. That was about 2 weeks ago, and I've become addicted! I've spent nearly all my free time binge-playing Factorio. I have logged almost 40 hours on one save file, trying to perfect my factory and automate all the things. And the crazy thing is that there are still large aspects of the game that I haven't yet (or have barely) touched.

The pattern I've found when playing the game goes something like this:

• See I only have about 2 hours before I should go to bed. Start up Factorio.
• Re-assess where my factory is and what I need to do next, and start working on it.
• Check clock. Cool. Still have 1:45 left until bedtime.
• Add a new production line of a new product to my factory.
• Check clock. Cool. Still have 1:30 left.
• Realize that my new production line has caused a shortage of some other basic material. Figure out what the holdup is and try to restore throughput of source materials.
• Check clock. Cool. Still have 1:00 left.
• While adding more furnaces to increase my iron/copper/steel production, realize I could make better use of the space if I arranged things differently.
• Tear down my smelting area and start rebuilding it to fit my new design.
• Get halfway done with my new design.
• Check clock. Darn. Only have 0:30 left.
• Continue working on my new design.
• Realize I did something wrong or it needs to be tweaked just slightly (OCD-esque tendencies) for "maximum efficiency" in my factory.
• Tear some down and rebuild to fit my new new design.
• Meanwhile, some research has finished and new technologies/products are available.
• Continue working on my new new design.
• Finish my new new design.
• Take a look at new technologies/products and see what products are necessary to create them.
• Create a new production line for the new products.
• Realize this new production line causes a major shortage of other products/materials.
• Figure out what's needed to fix the shortage. This often requires simply producing more of the short material, or increasing iron/copper/steel production so that both (or 3, or 4, or more) products can be produced simultaneously at the maximum frequency.
• Check the clock. Crap! It's 2 hours past bedtime. "I better wrap up this last thing I'm working on and get to bed."
• etc.
• etc.
• etc. and so forth.
• Sun comes up and I realize I've been repeatedly "wrapping up" about 50 different things that will all "only take a couple more minutes and then I am done for the night for sure."

I never would have thought that I'd enjoy dealing with the logistics so much. Dealing with inputs and outputs and coordinating the flow of one thing to another place at a certain rate. And on top of that, having to occasionally set up and maintain defenses to protect your hard work from being destroyed by the aliens (I guess technically you are the alien who crashed on their planet). And then the sweet feeling when you finally get something automated that you used to have to do manually, and that took forever to do. . .

So, again, normally I avoid/ignore Early Access titles because they're a gamble. But I've definitely gotten my money's worth already and expect to get much more out of the game in the future. Try the demo, and if you like it, I definitely recommend buying the game.

Factorio's website.
Factorio on GOG.com.
Factorio on Steam.

2023

General Software Discussion / Re: should I be using a VPN? why? what about the recent deals?

« Last post by Deozaan on December 07, 2016, 08:07 PM »

I just signed up with Windscribe with that offer and it seems to have worked.

2024

Living Room / Re: Thank you Donationcoder!

« Last post by Deozaan on December 07, 2016, 07:59 PM »

Good luck, recovery well, and soon!

2025

DC Gamer Club / Re: GOG Connect - DRM-free access to your Steam library

« Last post by Deozaan on December 05, 2016, 03:26 PM »

There are currently 20+ games available on GOG Connect for the Monstrous Winter Sale.