Dr. Azrael Tod's shared items in Google Reader

(Bild)

2009-11-20T19:44:13Z

(Bild)

2009-11-20T20:27:06Z

[Von Bartolomeo via zarucki]

Friday Rewind: Home Shopping Fail

2009-11-20T21:00:00Z

Every Friday we’ll be bringing you a classic FAIL Blog video. Enjoy the epicness!

This video is also viewable at: YouTube | MySpaceTV | DailyMotion

(Bild)

2009-11-20T21:22:01Z

[Von manolis via atheism]

Bei ACTA geht es jetzt (Überraschung!!) auch um "Three ...

2009-11-22T18:47:47Z

Bei ACTA geht es jetzt (Überraschung!!) auch um "Three Strikes". Weil Firesharing, müsst ihr wissen, ist gerade unser Problem. Nicht dass wir den Banken gerade so viele Billionen in den Arsch geschoben haben, dass wir die Schulden bis zu unserem Staatsbankrott mit uns rumtragen werden. Oder dass unser Sozialsystem seinen Namen nicht mehr wert ist. Oder dass unsere Rentner ausgetrocknet werden und man ihnen jetzt noch ihre Altersvorsorge besteuern will. Oder dass unser Wirtschaftssystem mit seinen Wachstumsparolen ein feuchter Traum ist. Nein, die bösen Raubkopierer, denen müssen wir das Internet abdrehen. Und wenn einer von denen ein Lexikon braucht, kann er ja den Brockhaus konsultieren. Außer es ist ein Hartz IV Opfer, dann mußte er den Brockhaus mit dem anderen Eigentum verkaufen, um überhaupt Zahlungen zu kriegen.

Creatively Display Your Cables When Hiding's Not an Option

2009-11-21T17:07:27Z

Creatively Display Your Cables When Hiding's Not an Option

[Von ta_lab]

Lacher des Tages: "Smoking Near Apple Computers Creates ...

2009-11-22T18:38:57Z

Lacher des Tages: "Smoking Near Apple Computers Creates Biohazard, Voids Warranty". Damit ist auch die lange pressierende Frage geklärt, was Apple-User eigentlich so rauchen. Gar nichts. Weil sonst ihre Garantie verfällt. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Youtube-Video der Woche: Maybrit Illner spricht Schäuble ...

2009-11-22T18:36:54Z

Youtube-Video der Woche: Maybrit Illner spricht Schäuble auf den Holländischen Journalisten an. Falls sich jemand nicht mehr erinnert: der hier ist gemeint. Und wieder sorgt die Frage für Erheiterung im Publikum und beim Podium, nur Schäuble kann sie irgendwie nicht witzig finden.

Bei Hal Faber gibt es mal wieder einen echten Kracher ...

2009-11-22T18:35:15Z

Bei Hal Faber gibt es mal wieder einen echten Kracher zur Gesundheitskarte:

Das elektronische Rezept, der Heilsbringer des neuen Systems, wird derzeit durch Debatten um zweidimensionale Barcode-Informationen auf dem Papierrezept ersetzt, den der Arzt druckt und der Apotheker bruchlos in seine IT einlesen kann. Das ist ein Vorschlag, den der Chaos Computer Club vor vier Jahren gemacht hatte und der seinerzeit als Billiglösung nur belächelt wurde. So mancher Fortschritt ist ein echter Rückschritt.

Ach nee! Da waren wir wohl mal wieder unserer Zeit voraus :-)

Vampire Weekend

2009-11-22T01:08:50Z

Vampire Weekend

[Von oolong via zarucki]

Das wird euch jetzt sicher genauso überraschen wie ...

2009-11-22T18:34:01Z

Das wird euch jetzt sicher genauso überraschen wie mich: Herr Tauss twittert:

Bei Strafanzeige gegen BKA-Präsidenten wg Verbreitung von Kinderporno ist in Berlin staatsanwaltschaftliche Akte "verloren"gegangen.

Na sowas. Sicher nur ein bedauerliches Mißverständnis. In unserer Justiz geht nie irgendwas verloren. Oder habt ihr schon mal gehört, dass auch nur ein Knöllchen verlorengegangen wäre?

Monster UA string

2009-11-22T00:19:00Z

Since we're a minority browser, many sites don't support us. This is fine when it's our bug, but sometimes a site is wrong to block us. Our rule is that we put some effort into contacting sites to get them to fix the problem, but in emergencies or where they're unwilling/able, we spoof.

Yahoo mail has three modes:

It just works. As seen on majority browsers.
It gives you a "your browser doesn't work" page with the option to try anyway. This is what it does for Windows Chrome. From my perspective this is the proper behavior until they feel like supporting Chrome, and I appreciate that many people lack the resources to support all browsers so I'm not too upset if it stays like this.
Or it just decides that it can't work. This is what it does for Linux Chrome.

You might ask, how are Windows and Linux Chrome different? And the answer is "they aren't", except for the UA string. (And that we antialias fonts.) So I "fixed" it with a UA string tweak that I find hilarious.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows Linux x86_64; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.5 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.0.250.0 Safari/532.5

I imagine their regex must match "Windows \S+" or something to allow NT, XP, etc.

Arv notes that we're now claiming that we are all of:

Mozilla
WebKit
HTML
Gecko
Safari
Windows
and Linux

Internet vices

2009-11-21T19:41:00Z

A few more can be found here

via

Three Mile Island leakt auch mal wieder Radioaktivität. ...

2009-11-22T18:19:22Z

Three Mile Island leakt auch mal wieder Radioaktivität. Der hatte in den 70ies mal einen Fast-Meltdown.

DeSantis told abc27 that workers were cutting a large number of pipes. A radiation alarm sounded. According to DeSantis, about 150 employees were inside the reactor building. They were wearing protective suits, but about 100 were still contaminated.

Aber es gibt keinerlei Gefahr für irgendwen, ist ja klar. Wie immer bei Atomunfällen.

#299964

2015-04-28T23:17:20Z

<Xe0n> $|=3,141592;sub _ <Xe0n> {print@_}sub o{_++$O[0 <Xe0n> ];_ 0for 1..$#O}sub O{$;=int <Xe0n> $=/10,'0/^ ^';if($;<9) <Xe0n> {_$_ for @O;;@O=() <Xe0n> ;0}push @O,$;;0 <Xe0n> ,;push@ O,'.'if <Xe0n> $^==1; 0;if($; <Xe0n> ==10){ print ,o,@O=( <Xe0n> )}}$~= 1000000 ;$-=10* <Xe0n> (q/@O= digits of pi =10/,1) <Xe0n> *int($~ /3)+1;$ <Xe0n> _=2for@ ,[0..$-] <Xe0n> ,;for$^ (1..$~){ <Xe0n> $:=$-;$O =0;until <Xe0n> ($:<0){$/= 2*$:+1;$/= <Xe0n> 10if$/==1;$==10*$,[$:]+$O;$, <Xe0n> [$:]=$=%$/;$O=int($=/$/ <Xe0n> )*$:--,10}O}o <Xe0n> run it <Xe0n> see how long it takes for your compy to finish it <Xe0n> it's perl <DerpDerp> No, it's gay <DerpDerp> and it probably makes my CD trap open every 30 seconds <DerpDerp> probably <DerpDerp> tray <phantomcircuit> actually it looks like it calculates pi <Xe0n> ^ <Xe0n> Because it does <phantomcircuit> but being perl it could just as well launch some nuclear missiles

Den Briten ist ein Geheimbericht über ihre Irakkrieg-Patzer ...

2009-11-22T18:14:23Z

Den Briten ist ein Geheimbericht über ihre Irakkrieg-Patzer geleakt, und die Details sind hochnotpeinlich.

Einige Soldaten zogen mit nur fünf Schuss Munition ins Gefecht. Andere wurden mit zivilen Fluggesellschaften ins Kriegsgebiet gebracht und mussten ihre Ausrüstung als Handgepäck mitnehmen. In mehreren Fällen konfiszierten die Sicherheitsbeamten am Flughafen die Waffen.

o_O

Mittags fielen ihnen immer die Funkgeräte aus, weil es denen zu heiß wurde, aber immerhin hatten sie da mitten in der Wüste eine Kiste mit Skiern.

Trabant refresh

2009-11-20T18:40:21Z

The Trabant 601, 1963:

Wikipedia notes of the Trabant:

For advocates of capitalism it is often cited as an example of the disadvantages of centralized planning as even refueling the car required lifting the hood, filling the tank with gasoline (only 24 litres), then adding two-stroke oil and shaking it back and forth to mix.

Pollution, poor construction, and lack of availability were also issues with the East German auto.

Trabant nT concept car, 2009:

Here's the official site; plus more photos. BBC News has an overview of the project:

A German consortium is developing a slick, updated version of the Trabant, communist East Germany's famously unreliable mass-produced car. The new model is electric with solar panels on the roof -- in stark contrast to the fume-belching original.

Looks very cool.

Tags: cars Trabant

#120253

2029-07-22T23:17:20Z

<sloth> i had to wear a USB cable for a belt today because my last pair of shorts broke Comment: #down efnet

Zitat #5501

2009-11-20T15:48:16Z

<Lehrer> Ich habe heute zwei Einsen bekommen! H1N1!

Mass Effect: First Impression

2009-11-20T15:37:19Z

Mass Effect Cover

At a first glance Mass Effect looks like a KotOR game, stripped down of all Star Wars branding. It’s a skill based RPG with loot, upgradable loot, dialog trees, planet based locations, spaceship used as a travel / companion exchange hub and etc. So it’s almost the same awesome game, only with a new setting and new storyline and updated graphics. And if it’s like that I should totally love it, just like I loved the KotOR games.

Ok, so my KotOR 2 review sounded like I hated the game. But I really didn’t. I was criticizing it out of love. It’s funny how we always reserve our harshest criticism for the things we love. Yeah, we may mercilessly bash the stuff we hate but when you criticize something you love – oh you will meticulously and systematically take it apart. That’s just how it is.

It seems that when BioWare shook down the KotOR formula to clean it up for a new game more than just the Star Wars branding fell out. Id say the game lost it’s heart and soul but that would be a bit harsh and for it’s flaws (multitude of them) Mass Effect is still fairly decent.

So I wanted to complain a bit at first before talking about the stuff I liked because complaining is usually funnier.

Companions

As many other games of this type, Mass Effect allows you to pick up companions that will assist you in your quest. Just like in KotOR you can only have two of them following you at a time, while the rest must wait in the ship somewhere. I have never really understood this restriction. It doesn’t really make much sense story wise. You have assembled a crack team of heroes, all of whom have a score to settle with the big bad final boss of the game. And yet, when the final battle is to be fought only two chosen ones get to accompany you, even if it would make much more sense to take everyone. But it’s an old game mechanic which I’m already used to, so I won’t complain about it.

Ooops, I guess I already did. Oh well. The fact that it’s silly doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. It does. That’s not why I bring it up. I’m talking about it here because Mass Effect manages to ruin it by allowing you to assemble the whole team in the first hour of game play.

It’s like this: on your company switch screen there are 6 silhouettes that depict the available and non-available characters. These 6 slots are all you ever get. You start with two of them pre-filled. You pick up your next three companions before you actually leave the Citadel (which is really an extended tutorial area) and the game proper begins. Your final companion joins you on your first or second story driven mission out of the citadel (depending on which path you choose first). After that you are done. No more new companions ever.

For comparison, KotOR games you would be picking up new team members unexpectedly at different points in the game. Some of them would show up early, while others wouldn’t join you until the third act or so. It was fun, and exciting to seek these folks out, and you could always look forward to fining new cool companions ever past the middle point of the game.

Mass Effect gives you all the companions up front, making it painfully obvious you will never meet any other allies out there. So it sort of takes the excitement and wonder out of that part of the game. At least for me.

Inventory

One word: train wreck. Ok, that was two words, but you get the idea. Whoever designed this system needs to be sent to a mandatory US design camp for a week. I seriously don’t know what happened here because KotOR games had decent inventory screens that just worked. Mass Effect tries to be stylish and modern like, but fails at usability.

The Inventory Screen

For example, why can’t a character not carry an assault rifle? In my team I have several individuals who are not trained in rifles. They are great with pistols and/or shotguns but not rifles. And yet, the game insists that each of these characters have each of their weapon slots filled with an appropriate item. None of these slots can EVER be left blank. It’s just not possible. What is worse, there is just no reason for it.

This flaw means that to swap two weapons between characters you have to have a third weapon of the same type at hand. If you want character A to give his pistol to character B and you just sold/scrapped all the pistols in your inventory you are out of luck. You’ll have to wait till you find a pistol, or go to a store and buy one.

Which is an interesting experience in itself. You see, Mass Effect trading screen sucks even more than the inventory screen. Why? Because there is no way to identify items at a glance. Instead of showing you a picture of the actual item, armor or upgrade you are buying, the game will display a large, detailed image of the suitcase in which the item is sold. It’s not just one suitcase of course – the designers took great care do design different cases for each item – the all have intricate color patterns and look very pretty. There is only one problem: there is no way to distinguish which suitcase contains a weapon, armor or an upgrade item. Item descriptions usually look like this:

In huge font: Stiletto IV (ie. the brand name)
In smaller font: Foobar Technologies (the manufacturer)
In tiny, barely readable font: Pistol (ie. what this is)

Each time you shop, you have to literally squint at the screen to find out what you are looking at.

That’s not all though. You actually don’t get to see the stats of the weapon you are buying unless you press a “compare” button on the UI. It then shows you the stats of the item, compared with the items you have currently equipped. There is of course no easy way to compare the sold items with each other.

Then again, you hardly ever have to make such comparisons anyway as Mass Effect items come in distinct tiers. Regardless of brand, manufacturer and designation each item is marked with a roman numeral which is a bit like a level. All items in the same trier have comparable stats. So you know that if you are carrying bunch of VI items, you can safely scrap or sell most of your V. IV, III, II and I crap.

Besides, you don’t really have to trade in this game at all. I mostly use stores to unload my gear when I’m nearing the carrying capacity. I can count items I actually bought on the fingers of one hadn. Looted item are usually better than anything you can buy in the stores and they are dispensed quite generously throughout the game.

Looting

Did I mention that you can’t loot the bodies in this game? Yeah, it is not allowed. Dropped items just auto-magically appear in your inventory. What’s worse, you never know that you picked up loot until you open the inventory screen.

To me, this is deeply, deeply unsatisfying. I think most of crpg players enjoy looting corpses. Yes, it is not a very heroic thing to do, but damn it, its a fucking tradition. I just expect enemies to behave like gold and weapon filled pinatas that will dispense awesome rewards upon death.

I think in the past I ranted about how silly this system is. I think I even used a rat dropping a plate armor as an example. Still, even ridiculous loot system like that is better than what Mass Effect is doing. Enemies just drop dead, and nothing happens. WTF?

Oh, wait no – I’m sorry. There is a little message popping up in the corner of the screen that says “+INVENTORY”. Gee, thanks! It totally only took me half the game to notice that it was there.

Oh, and guess what happens if you accidentally auto-loot or open a container when you already have the maximum 150 items in the inventory? Will the game let you scrap some old items to make room? No, of course not. Will it allow you to cancel out of the pick-up screen so that you can come back and loot the container later? Hell no! It will force you to manually destroy every single item you just picked up by hand. Yup – if you forget to clean out your inventory, you will be punished. This is the worst looting mechanic I have seen as of yet. And the best part is that there is absolutely no reason why it has to be this way, other than poor UI design.

Dialog Trees

Guess what else got irreversibly broken in Mass Effect? Dialog trees! You know, the age old mechanic that dates all the way back to the point and click adventure games. You know what I’m talking about, right? Someone says something and you see bunch of responses you can make on the bottom of the screen.

Yeah, Mass Effect removed that and replaced it with a little wheel that lists “topics” for the conversation. Why? I have no fucking clue. Maybe because they were releasing it on Xbox and they assumed that most of users of that console are illiterate? I don’t know!

The end effect is that you don’t actually know what your character is going to say until you pick one of the options. And what the wheel says does not always sync up with what comes out of your mouth. Let me give you an example. At one point in the game some guards wanted to disarm me. I clicked on the option that I assumed was polite refusal, at which point my character whipped out his gun and started spewing insults and taunting the guards. Ugh!

Eventually I learned that upper right option is always the “nice guy” response, whiled the lower right is the “total jerk” one. The responses on the right are merely for asking questions, unless they are colored in which case they are either “charm” or “intimidate” options. I mean, they might have just labeled them as such. You know “click here to be nice” and “click here to be a dick”. It would work exactly the same, and it would avoid the initial confusion.

Summary

To summarize: Mass Effect is like KotOR that was repeatedly punched in the face until it suffered enough brain damage to forget most of the things that made it such a success. Inventory is absolutely atrocious, trading is a harrowing experience that I seek to avoid as much as possible, and the fun of looting is mostly removed from the game via lack of corpse drops. The dialog mechanic is needlessly altered from the old working standard, making it shallower and less fun than it should be. In other words BioWare took all the parts that us RPG types usually enjoy, and replaced them with some weird, experimental, dumbed down crap. The only thing that is left is the level ding which somehow is still somehow enjoyable.

So what’s left? Well, there is the setting and the story. Former is actually quite interesting, while the latter seems passable at this point. I can’t really comment on it as I haven’t finished the game yet but it keeps me interested. I say this: despite all the flaws I listed above I’m still playing the game. So you can expect few more Mass Effect related posts in the next few weeks.

Oh, I haven’t forgotten about the mini games. Have no fear, that’s a topic for a whole separate rant.