Pope

Final season of Lost in less than a month! I hope it delivers.

virumor, out of curiosity, at what level did you end the game? I'm thinking it might've been useless to put points in Wisdom.

Problem with archery is finding a good bow. There's only one in Broken Valley that's worth it (quest reward). Just wait til you're level 15 and pick up Explosive Arrows. After that, you'll really kick ass. 'Ranger Stealth' is a pretty good skill to pull enemies from mobs one-by-one without aggroing the entire mob. I just found a much better bow in a crate somewhere near Lovis' tower, and I also have a creature now, which together make the archery experience a lot better. I thought the game started off good, then hit a deep pocket (because of my character being so useless, and those hit and run tactics were becoming a big drag), and now I'm enjoying it again.

So I got this game. Why is it so goddamn hard? I've just met that clich

And that would have been a bad thing?

I thought about this some more. Replication requires energy, no? So even with an abundancy of resources, if the mutant has evolved in a way which disables it to consume the energy required for reproduction, it will not be able to pass along this evolutionary path. It would seem to me that this is just another form of selection. Then again, I'm talking about evolution in the biological sense again. I am genuinely curious what the results would be of a program in which fast-mutating entities (meaning the offspring would differ largely from its parent, as opposed to biological mutation) do not require resources/energy to replicate (e.g. by multiplying on regular intervals).

Chemical Brothers are still on my Must See list. They've been here plenty of times, but something has always prevented me from going. It's like a curse.

I'd go if I could, but it's a bad time of the year for me, since I'll probably be having my (very very last) exam around then.

Count me in for this one. We'd all be eating mushrooms today, and there'd be one mad party on December 20th, 2012. That's the Mayans, not the Aztecs. Not the mushroom part though.

Count me in for this one. We'd all be eating mushrooms today, and there'd be one mad party on December 20th, 2012.

Kind of obvious isn't it? Under the premise of course that the resources required to replicate are too scarce to support an entire generation. Only then can you get a selection, be it natural or not. That's not entirely correct though is it? (Which is actually detailed in the article). It's a common misunderstanding that evolution requires natural selection - it doesn't. If mutation is occurring, and even if there are no resource pressures, then if the mutant can survive and reproduce, it WILL (because, well, there's no pressure against it), forming sub-species. Yes I was pondering upon that after posting. If selection by resource pressure is present, however, the species as a whole will become more adapted to its environment much faster. The only remaining question is whether the species needs to be adapted to its environment. If it can survive perfectly in any form, then it will evolve in all sorts of crazy directions. Then again, if there's no pressure, the population will also grow exponentially, leaving the question whether small individual mutations can still effectively cause an entire species to evolve. Kind of like the human race really. There's just too many of us, with too little selection (even the weak can reproduce quite easily). On top of that, our environment is evolving much faster than we ever can biologically. Evolution (at least in the biological sense) requires a relatively stable environment, since it only goes very slow. This is definitely one of my favorite subjects ever since I took an Anthropology course last year. I learned so many things about evolution, it's really changed the way I view life. It's pretty crazy to realise that we're all just a side-effect of a completely coincidental combination of conditions in this tiny part of the universe, which just happened to be so that some molecule managed to replicate and hasn't stopped since. There's so many different ways it could have evolved, but we're now stuck in our current bodies (and behaviors) because those are the ones that proved useful in reproducing in an environment that could only support so much.

Aight, so apparently converting isn't the same as transcoding (which is what TVersity does). So no high-quality mp3's for me then. No biggie. I've been listening to the Remastered Beatles albums a lot the past few weeks. I love Rubber Soul, and I'm completely addicted to the guitar in I Want You (She's So Heavy) lately.

Kind of obvious isn't it? Under the premise of course that the resources required to replicate are too scarce to support an entire generation. Only then can you get a selection, be it natural or not.

Ok, I've been trying to convert FLAC files to mp3 with as little quality loss as possible. I've read that TVersity has this option, but I can't find it anywhere. Anyone know?

I only played NWN2 OC + MotB + SoZ, and those aren't 2009 games. I've played all the origins of Dragon Age, but no further than that. It'll have to wait until after my exams in January. And even then I'll have plenty of work, so it might not be until July.

You sir, got the taste. Crumblenaut ftw

I have an exam Monday, so getting drunk wasn't really an option. Just spent the night with the girl, and it was fun enough. Now back to the books... Happy newyear.

Yeah I think I have most of the trade routes upgraded to the max. I spent most of the money earned this way on leveling the cohorts so they would produce lots of xp after letting One of Many devour them. I believe Ribsmasher is still alive, so I'll go get him. Also, somehow I can't get Septimund to join me again. He always leaves Port Llast, no matter what I say.

I've finally (nearly) finished SoZ. I had it lying around for months, but never really got the urge to start it until recently. I thought it was fun, aside from the things that most people have already mentioned, such as the simple plot and lack of bigger dungeons. The trade system was pretty awesome, although I felt I only fully reaped the rewards a bit too late in the game. I say I've nearly finished it, since I'm getting completely hammered at the end fight. Seriously, my party is dead in less than 20 seconds, no matter how much I buff. I get this feeling that this battle was meant for a 6-character party. Mine only consists of my own 4 characters, as I never needed any help from the companions. I have an aasimar favored soul6/stormlord10, an earth genasi fighter6/frenzied berserker10, an air genasi ranger8/rogue8, and a fire genasi bard16. All of them have kicked considerable ass up until now. I also wasn't able to defeat the vampire lords at the top of the tower in Chult. So is going back and getting some companions the only way to finish this? I had most of them devoured by One of Many already... Anyway, I'm sort of sad it's (almost) over. I'm probably one of the few people who actually likes the NWN2 engine. If you take some time to configure the right camera settings and character behavior, all the issues I hear people complaining about can be easily overcome.

Could it be the CMOS battery?

My pc is behaving strangely. Pushing the on/off button doesn't start it up decently anymore. The little "busy" light starts blinking, and I can feel the machine buzzing a bit (although less than it should), so there's definitely something going on, but nothing appears on the screen, and the pc doesn't make the "bleep" it normally does upon startup. To start it up, I first need to start it the normal way (which doesn't do what it's supposed to), then hold the on/off button a few seconds to turn it off, then turn it on again. And then it launches like it should. Also, what's strange is that after having turned the pc off, immediately pushing the on/off button does start the pc. So I'm guessing it has something to do with an internal battery or something. Because (I suppose) there's still some power in the pc after turning it off, it would make sense that I can start it up then. But if I wait too long, this power disappears and I must use the aforementioned method, which to be honest is quite a drag. Anyone have an idea what I can do to fix this? Edit: I might add that I always used to be able to start it up simply by clicking my mouse. Even after turning it off from Windows. Does this mean it's always been in some sort of standby? This could explain the hypothetical battery being empty. Edit2: Besides the regular on/off button on the front, there's also a power button on the back, which has been standing on 99% of the time.

Is playing the first installment required for fully appreciating this one? I never played AC1 because of the many reports on how repetitve it was.

So far I've played the Dalish Elf (fighter), Human Noble (rogue) and Magi origin. I'm not sure which one to continue with... Am finding it annoying that I can't change the camera angle whilst in strategy mode. I actually preferred NWN2's camera.

I can't believe Are You Shpongled is already older than a decade. It still sounds so fresh. DMT is a bloody awesome track, but my personal favorite of that album has to be Behind Closed Eyelids. But Dorset Perception is still their all-time best track ever imo. So in the meanwhile I've listened to the new album a lot. At first I thought it was a bit disappointing (compared to their previous work that is; on its own merit it's still friggin' awesome), but it's definitely getting better and better the more I get to know it. It takes a lot longer to sink in than Tales of the Inexpressible (which was insta-love for me), but that didn't turn me off at all, since Nothing Lasts also took forever to grow on me, and eventually turned out to be my favorite album of theirs. PS: do not judge the new album (nor any other Shpongle album for that matter) by a downloaded mp3 version. The quality just does not compare. This is music you must hear in all its ultra-detailed glory. Now it's waiting for the new Younger Brother album, coming in 2010. Bless Simon Posford, anything that guy touches turns to musical gold.