Randox

Week 87 - May 24, 2013 [hide] [/hide] Visit the Teaser Discussion Topic!

Started playing some Battle Front 2 again. A combination of moving up to the higher difficulty from the last time I played, and being a bit rusty, and it's a fair challenge for me again. Doing some Galactic Conqest, and after a couple victories I suddenly found myself nearly defeated, with I think only 3 planets left. Then I decided to start using some bonuses, mostly Garrison and armour plating to keep things cheep (with a hero waiting in the wings). Advanced armour seems to be quite good, even fair competition against the more expensive enhanced blasters. I find it useful on maps where my team is prone to being overrun and put into a meat grinder position (Kashyyk is really bad for this I find). Garrison just allows the team to endure. Where on easy I remember my using vehicles as largely wasted on the team, that they were useless unless I did everything on foot, I am finding that some maps pretty much require that I be in a vehicle to mow down the enemies just to allow us to keep pace. Of course, I love vehicles so that works, though the enemy definitely has better AI (they sort of have to, or my team would always win). I'm taking it back with a vengeance though.

A thought. I've noticed that on coffee mugs with logos and what not, the logo always seems to be on the left side, if the handle is pointed towards you. Since I don't see people drink from mugs very often, and I've never thought to note it when I do see it, so most people (that is, do many right handed people) drink from mugs with the left hand? I guess I'll have to watch now, but I thought most people drank in general from the right hand (and on a correctly set table, your glass is always top right), so it just seems odd that the logos are universally positioned so that the logo/best part is forever facing the person who can't see it when using the mug. Why not put the focus on the right, where other people can see it (since if your drinking right handed, the left side is also facing the user when they set it down).

Did a bit more looking at the One. The Kinect always being on is creepy, especially when you realize that there are patents (cant remember if they are accepted or just applied) for things like listening to the environment with a microphone and offering advertising based on what the mic hears. There is a similar one for cameras that I'm pretty sure Microsoft owns (so, you know, prepare for your advertising to get way more personal). At the very least I would definately have it pointed at a wall whenever it wasn't actively needed, though in this case I'd prefer to just not have it in my house. I hadn't realized that neither Sony nor Microsoft were making their systems backwards compatible. That's classy. I assume you can plug your old 360 into the One as well so you can play your games though it that way :lol: I also have to say that the idea of offloading some of the processing to 'the cloud' just seems like a terrible idea to me. I mean, I know I am not the only person in the world who already suffers a bit with many online games because my internet is not able to consistently keep up in real time. Why would I possibly want it to do more of that? Other people have data caps, so I can't see it being a brilliant option for them either. I also don't care to see cloud processing touted as a feature. Yes, it is cool that you can allow developers to go beyond the capability of the One. It would be a lot cooler if that's why they made it an option, rather than trying to hide the most draconian of DRM measures under the guise of doing us a favor. It also doesn't help that my internet would probably not be capable of using that 24 hours a day, because it's not that awesome, and short of using about 3 range extenders, I always going to be too far from a router to get a great signal. I'll be interested to see all the news that comes out of E3, when we find out what both Sony and Microsoft are up to, and I suppose Nintendo as well. I'm anticipating less parity between Microsoft and Sony this generation, unless they both manage to tank like the Wii U, but I cant guess which it will be until we find out more from Sony.

I do not begrudge people their fun just because it's not my thing :P I just don't visit very often because I never post there, nor do I remember all the major posters on a thread I've not looked at in ages. It was shut down for the reasons stated in the lock message. We gave the thread too much leniency, and in return we were met with enduring hostility when we started trying to reign in any of the rule breaking, since it had been decided that none of the rules applied to that thread. Don't think that was the desirable outcome for us to lock that thread. We do the best we can, but we are not always able to bring every situation that comes up here to a happy ending. It has nothing to do with us getting a kick out of raining on peoples parades, and everything to do with our having rules. As to the rules, it's also our job to listen to the community and what they want, and do our best to keep the rules in accordance to what makes our users happy, as well as what is best for the health and future of the site and forums themselves (and it's an absolute joy juggling those two things, trust me). In the interests of the site, we don't allow spam threads for exactly the same reason LOTPW was locked, and essentially the same reason Jagex has removed Rants a few times (and why they should stop giving it back). It is really easy to accidentally 'create' sub-populations that end up feeling that because they are close knit, or largely keeping to one section, that the rules stop applying to them, or that they get to make their own rules. It is much easier to give someone a privilege than it is to take it away. People welcome the former, and they fight you for the latter. In situations where people can post whatever they want, this problem tends to crop up much faster. The guys in rants overtime noticed that they could get away with more and more until it was whatever they wanted, and it gets to the point that an fmod locking a single thread for blatantly breaking the rules ends with a whole bunch of players being muted by the time the dust settles, because enforcing the rules in rants is treated as a breech of their sovereignty. I have yet to see anyone anywhere find a graceful solution, a way to bring people back under the rules, without ultimately resorting to heavy force (in the forms of locks, or axing entire sections). Not that the moderators of the world wont keep trying to find a way, but I don't think anyone has figured it out yet.

Suspect you're right Tyler :lol: In my defense, the very concept of 'forum games' defies reason and my concept of fun, consequently, I tend not to spend a lot of time there. Today was fun in a way. Helping my Aunt and Uncle unpack at my Grandfathers new place, which while not particularly enjoyable is a nice change of pace none the less, and I very rarely have any extended interaction with them, so nice on that front too. I don't particularly care to swim in 15C water. In general, the lakes here don't rise above 16C, which is still cold enough to feel like ice water to me, so I don't usually spend a whole lot of time in the water anyway, though I do enjoy diving, and I've tried my hand at surfing a few times (for which you do need a wetsuit). Mostly I like the boats though.

I feel like the water would still be very cold in Estonia this time of year. That thread was locked Goonstalf, the final post is the lock message.

My phone does second to second just fine. The only caveat is that if you don't pause first, it will start playing wherever you are if pause for too long trying to be precise (it also helps to have it on it's side). Not that I care, since I normally select a list and put it in my pocket, and half the time I listen to movies. Some of the intersections around here are really annoying. There is a trio of roughly 5 sided intersections that are just a pain (they are a set of 5 odd intersections, but two are 4 sided somehow). I am always amazed that there are not more accidents there, especially during the summer without out of town drivers, though most of the time only one side can go, so I suppose that helps. One of them has lanes painted through the intersection so you know where to go, and don't end up driving the wrong way down a street. But there are parts of town that rather than be laid out in a grid, were done according to the lay of the land itself, which lends itself to very few squares/rectangles. I ended up going down the wrong street today because I got confused by a double intersection, where I thought I was making a left at the second half but ended up going left early. There are others that are good to watch out for around here just because it's not always clear perhaps, which direction is considered strait ahead. A lot of whimsical road design. This makes sense. Notice how there are 4 directions you can go in, none of which are strait. The yellow pickup and white van are going left, and less left respectively. The black car driving away is going right. The right side of the image shows the more right turn.

I prefer the standard, which is, once you own something, you can do what you like with it, including resale. This is why Ebay is a thing. While I certainly can sympathise with anyone in the position where an entire portion of the potential market is buying used (where they can) instead of new, I still think they can take their 'we're special because la de da' attitude and stick back up from whence it came. Of course, technology will ultimately allow them to bypass this, sort of like Steam is doing right now (deep down, I hate steam just as much as I love it). Heck, I remember when there were computer games where two people could play from the same keyboard. My point being, if you want to see the future of consoles, just look at computers. Our DRM, or license only purchases, online multiplayer only. That's the future of consoles too.

I didn't realize you could even open the ipod up. I just assumed they were made so that you had to buy new ones rather than be able to replace the battery.

As chilling as it may be to finally see that on the horizon, it was inevitable that we would see that in our consoles sooner or later. That they are only doing that is a bit of a relief though, since that should buy us another generation where they focus on moving to an all download model, and perhaps even a subscription model (where you never even download, just pay to run the game off their servers forever). With that in place, all games become a grind. Once the payment becomes subscription based, there is no longer a reason to make any game that can't be continually stretched out. My point being that the slower they can move down this path, the better. This is progress. It might be terrible progress to the consumer, but the market has dictated that this is the path where the money lies, and now we get to deal with it. Technology is also partially at fault, for making this path possible.

Makes enough sense to me. I'm not really understanding, right now, what the possible issue could be with a high end gaming console that can do more. Under the assumption that Microsoft is not run by monkeys, they wont have made it more expensive than the PS4, it will instead follow the trend and be about the same. It's not even like they are moving their market focus here, they are just expanding it. I'm more interested in the move to a PC like architecture, rather than whatever they were using before. This was a problem for the PS3 it seems, where their architecture was apparently giving the developers a headache, or even throwing up actual obstacles that the 360 did not have to deal with. All of the developers Microsoft works with, at least in theory (Rockstar not withstanding, though I'm not convinced they are consistently competent on any platform at all), all know how to develop for the PC. Given how much Microsoft likes to share between the two, this works out really well for them, because it probably means it will be a lot cheaper to port between the PC and One than between any computer platform and any other console. This gives them a nice edge in the Microsoft exclusives where publishers can double dip with minimal expense with the One and PC, and possibly even make themselves more desirable for time exclusive arrangements on DLC and the like as they have been in the past. That's where I see this potentially going.

I suppose it would also depend on the computer then. Mine is happy enough to keep working while doing videos on another screen for any of the games or activities I do this for. For something like Skyrim or GTA4, I doubt my GPU would be able to maintain normal settings and performance while rendering movies on another monitor, in which case I would have to use the DVD player. It probably helps that as it stands right now, my DVD player, Xbox, and computer are the only devices that feed the TV at all. There is no network television. It's raining today, though apparently we are only a little over half the normal for this month. May is not a great month here. You can have shorts weather in the day and near freezing at night. You can have plenty of rain, and even snow. It's like the all weather month, where you can get just about anything this part of the world ever throws at you. Oddly, Fall does not have a month like this. By the time it starts to hit freezing in November, it's not getting warm enough to wear shorts and teeshirts anymore.

I get headaches that last 1-3 days <_< That said, if they saw fit to put you on opiates, I'm guessing yours is way worse than mine. Hope they figure out what it is, and you can find a way to keep working out in a way you enjoy without it feeling like someone is tossing grenades around in your head. As for the Xbox One, yeah, I might have gone with a different name, simply because that's really confusing. I have yet to really look at what it is, though I've already been informed a bit about it being an all in one media center. Not my cup of tea really, but then, I was legitimately surprised to find out that anyone would watch TV (like netflix) on a console. Then again, I am probably in the minority where my PC is pretty much as close to the TV as my console of choice is. I think I am getting a car in the next couple weeks. Not as fun as my parents naturally, but for a first car I'm more than happy with it. I know it's been treated well, and it has nice low mileage still. Step one towards getting myself a 370Z :lol:

Difficult to get a solid average (you could perhaps get the limit of the average though, with enough data, though this would probably be several thousand points). If you used T-statistics to get a confidence interval for the average, you wouldn't be doing too badly with even just 20 samples, though up around 250 is getting pretty reasonable for a 95% interval (that is, 19 times out of 20 the true average will be in your given interval). T statistics do assume the distribution is normal though. There are ways to manipulate the data into being more normal, though it helps if it's at least close.

Me too. This is very, very awesome.

Given that it has driven more than a few to commit suicide, I'd say that some number of rape victims seem to agree that they are better off dead. Murder is also unique in that the victim is not aware of anything after the fact. The victim of any other crime presumably has to live with the emotional and physical consequences of being a victim in said crime. I believe that which crimes are the worst is a highly personal choice, depending on what you are afraid of, both in terms of being afraid of a specific scenario, and the perceived likelihood. In terms of Victim impact, I would easily rank rape right at the top of the list (not necessarily the very top item, but right up there), and obviously murder would be on the bottom (since the victim is not around to be impacted, though consideration should be given to the impact of those that survive the victim). If I were to judge the crime as a more complete 'thing' though, I would rank murder at the top because it robs someone of the entire remaining potential of their life. Descending order would then be the crimes that have the most emotional and/or physical impact that changes the remainder of their lives. I would also in this sense consider a crime that leads to the victim committing suicide as a direct result of the impact of the crime essentially tantamount to murder, even though this was likely not the intent (thus, manslaughter). Also, because I saw the age of consent mentioned, this is why many countries have Romeo and Juliet laws. Canada currently allows children as young as 12 (versus the current age of consent of 16) to give consent, provided that the older party is no more than two years older.

Yeah, some computers will throttle the clock way back, so that they can limp through the shut down procedure without frying, others just hit the kill switch. Never use politicians as a yard stick for maturity. At lest, not the ones the media make fun of. We have a delightful city councilor, here who is a rare strait shooter and polite person. It also helps that smearing a senior citizen in the press rarely goes over well with the people (is also a former mayor). It has been a cold weekend. Very cold and dreary. Also, cleaning silver is a royal pain. I look forward to trying again next weekend to see if the job can't be finished.

The Kalphite King Coinshare - Saturday, May 18th Time and Date Date: Saturday, May 18th Time: GMT: 8:00 PM US Eastern: 4:00 PM US Central: 3:00 PM US Mountain: 2:00 PM US Pacific: 1:00 PM World: The world will be specified right before we start Host: Friends chat: Sylvette Co-hosts: TBD [pending]tur_1368907200[/pending] Server and Location We will meet outside the entrance to the Kalphite King. We recommend clearing the blocked passage prior to the event, so that unnecessary health is not lost. Depending on attendance, we may need to split into multiple parties, so be sure to listen to the hosts. Their instructions are important and should not be ignored. GETTING THERE There are three main routes to the exiled kalphite hive, noted below and colour coded on the map: Bandit camp lodestone (green) - completion of the Desert treasure quest required. Camulet teleport (purple) - completion of the Enakhra's lament quest required. Jaldraocht teleport (blue) - requires a charged Pharoah's sceptre or Sceptre of the Gods. Once inside the exiled kalphite hive proceed south along the tunnel and then north to reach the entrance to the kalphite king lair. The obstruction to the west of the entrance can be cleared to create a shortcut. This requires 23 agility to pass. SETTING UP TANK The tank takes the majority of the damage from the kalphite king. The tank wears high melee and ranged defence armour - this role should be taken by the highest level or most experienced player in the group. The tank draws aggression by using the provoke ability, however the incite ability is not recommended. A shield is not required, however less experienced players can use it as a safety net in conjunction with shield abilities to reduce damage. Below is a sample action bar for a tank using dual drygore weapons. TANK SETUP Helm: Torva full helm* > Tetsu helm > Bandos helmet > Barrows helmet Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of Glory Body: Torva platebody* > Tetsu body > Bandos chestplate > Barrows top Legs: Torva platelegs* > Tetsu legs > Bandos tassets > Barrows legs Gloves: Torva gloves* > Culinaromancer's gloves 10 Boots: Torva boots* > Steadfast boots > Ragefire boots > Glaiven boots > Ganodermic boots > Dragon boots Cape: Completionist cape > Tokhaar-kal > Max cape > Ardougne cloak 4 Ring: Warrior ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > Sixth-age circuit Aura: Vampyrism > Penance Scrimshaw: Scrimshaw of vampyrism > Scrimshaw of strength Mainhand weapon: Drygore mace > Drygore rapier > Drygore longsword > Chaotics Off-hand weapon: Off-hand drygore rapier > Off-hand drygore mace = Off-hand drygore longsword > Chaotics Inventory shown: Overload flasks, prayer renewal flasks, super restore flasks, rocktails Additional information: A pack yak or war tortoise familiar should be pre-summoned and filled with sharks or rocktails. If not using the torva set, the helm, gloves, and boots slots should be used to improve your ranged defence. *All 5 torva items (helmet, body, legs, gloves, and boots) should ideally be worn to gain the torva set damage bonus. PROVOKER The provoker is essentially a warrior with a shield. At least one is REQUIRED to kill the kalphite king. This class is used to save the tank from the instant-death attack, meaning it is a highly risky job. The shield should be worn during the melee and ranged phases and an off-hand weapon switch used during the magic phase. Experienced provokers may use an off-hand weapon for the majority of the kill and only switch to their shield when needed. Seen below is a sample action bar for a provoker. PROVOKER SETUP Helm: Void melee helm* > Torva full helm** > Death lotus hood > Pernix cowl > Armadyl helmet > Barrows helmet Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of Glory Body: Elite void knight top* > Torva platebody** > Tetsu body > Bandos chestplate > Barrows top Legs: Elite void knight robe* > Torva platelegs* > Tetsu legs > Bandos tassets > Barrows legs Gloves: Void knight gloves* > Torva gloves** > Culinaromancer's gloves 10 Boots: Torva boots** > Glaiven boots > Ragefire boots > Steadfast boots > Ganodermic boots > Dragon boots Cape: Completionist cape > Tokhaar-kal > Max cape > Ardougne cloak 4 Ring: Warrior ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > Sixth-age circuit (Ring of vigour when using ultimate abilities) Aura: Vampyrism > Penance Scrimshaw: Scrimshaw of vampyrism = Scrimshaw of strength Mainhand weapon: Drygore mace > Drygore rapier > Drygore longsword > Chaotics Shield: Chaotic kiteshield > Divine spirit shield > Blessed spirit shield > Bandos warshield Inventory shown: Overload flasks, prayer renewal flasks, super restore flasks, adrenaline flasks, rocktails, healing aura scrolls, off-hand weapon switch. Additional information: A unicorn stallion familiar should be pre-summoned and use of its healing prioritised. If not using the torva or void sets, the helm, gloves, and boots slots should be used to emphasise magic defence. *All four void items (helmet, body, legs and gloves) must be worn to gain the void melee set effect **All 5 torva items (helmet, body, legs, gloves, and boots) should ideally be worn to gain the torva set damage bonus. WARRIOR The easiest role is that of the warrior. The kalphite king should never target a warrior, meaning that the void armour set and dual drygore weapons can be used to increase damage. Seen below is a sample action bar for a warrior using dual drygore weapons. A warrior's action bar should include the freedom and anticipation abilities to escape from stuns, with the rest of the action bar dedicated to dealing maximum damage. WARRIOR SETUP Helm: Void melee helm* > Torva full helm** > Armadyl helmet = Bandos helmet = Ganodermic visor > Barrows helmet Amulet: Saradomin's whisper > Amulet of fury > Amulet of Glory Body: Elite void knight top* > Torva platebody** > Tetsu body > Bandos chestplate > Barrows top Legs: Elite void knight robe* > Torva platelegs* > Tetsu legs > Bandos tassets > Barrows legs Gloves: Void knight gloves* > Torva gloves** > Culinaromancer's gloves 10 Boots: Torva boots** > Glaiven boots > Ragefire boots > Steadfast boots > Ganodermic boots > Dragon boots Cape: Completionist cape > Tokhaar-kal > Max cape > Ardougne cloak 4 Ring: Warrior ring (i) > Onyx ring (i) > Sixth-age circuit Aura: Vampyrism > Penance Scrimshaw: Scrimshaw of vampyrism = Scrimshaw of strength Mainhand weapon: Drygore mace > Drygore rapier > Drygore longsword > Chaotics Off-hand weapon: Off-hand drygore rapier > Off-hand drygore mace = Off-hand drygore longsword > Chaotics Inventory shown: Overload flasks, prayer renewal flasks, super restore flasks, adrenaline flasks, rocktails, healing aura scrolls. Additional information: A unicorn stallion familiar should be pre-summoned and use of it's healing prioritised. If not using the torva or void sets, the helm, gloves, and boots slots should be used to improve your weakest defence rating. *All four void items (helmet, body, legs and gloves) must be worn to gain the void melee set effect **All 5 torva items (helmet, body, legs, gloves, and boots) should ideally be worn to gain the full torva set damage bonus. Requirements There are no requirements, but we highly recommend having good equipment and armor. Level 70 equipment is likely the minimum, for Barrows, but lower levels may have some success. As always, we expect everyone to pull their weight. There is a high chance of death, so attend at your own risk. Friends Chat Ranks The Main host will be the Chat owner, or will have a Gold Star in the chat. Silver stars are CO HOSTS. Bronze Stars are other TMHT members. Please note all three of these ranks will have the ability to kick members from chats, should we need to. Players who wish to join the hunt can post on this thread, PM the host ingame, or join the chat before the event :) everyone will be added for coinshare so don't worry! If you need assistance, feel free to Private message a Host/Co-host, or ask in the chat. All leaders are happy to help you with gear choices and inventory setups, should you be unsure of what to bring. Hope to see you there!

More appropriate to the OSRS section, so moved :)

In the eyes of the law, someone who is intoxicated is not legally capable of giving consent. This is because alchohol impairs your judgement, leading to decisions you would not normally make. The law expects people to recognize that someone may not be capable of giving legal consent. It's no different than her telling you she is 16 when she is 13. Doesn't matter what she says, she can't legally give consent, and it's on you to realize that she is lying. As far as morality goes...I am down with not feeling too sorry for people who put themselves in situations and obvious things happen. That comes back to responsibility. But one bad decision does not absolve other people of their actions. But at the end of day, I think how any of us feels about the issue means jack, because the law is on her side, and if you take consent where you know she's had a drink, they you understand that she can call rape if she likes. There is plenty of room for being terrible on both sides of the gender divide, and this is why I know any university in Canada (I assume the law is pretty similar on this in the States) tries to hammer this into everyone's brains, because many many people are going to put themselves in a position where a girl has the legal ability to absolutely destroy their lives if she wants to.

Also, having (easily visible) tattoos will close more doors than it opens, in terms of jobs. Or perhaps it's different in Australia.

Death Race is on someones Netflix, presumably American. Quite frankly, it's criminal that we are missing that up here, but since I own them both, I guess I don't really mind. Actually, by some miracle most of the movies he's in that we have are the ones I don't, so that actually works out rather well for me.

Week 86 - May 16, 2013 [hide] [/hide] Visit the Teaser Discussion Topic!

So a couple days ago I walked a nice way across the city and back again in a nicer pair of shoes, instead of my regular sneakers. A painful reminder of why I love sneakers so much. Should not be walking that far without arch support (so my normal, or orthotics which I'm sure I have knocking around someplace). 48 hours later and my feet still hurt if I walk for a bit, or pretty much instantly if I so much as stand in bare feet. Perhaps not the brightest thing I have ever done, given that this is not the first time it has taken days to recover. The joys of living. And high arches.