taks

fuel is the biggie, actually... well, coupled with oft dispensable fuel containers (even the SRBs the shuttle uses are technically dispensable. the only reason we reuse them is because that was part of the original requirement for the program. it's much cheaper to simply build new ones). getting to orbit is the hard part, but once you're there, it's much easier to expand your reach (from a fuel consumption standpoint). AFAIK, ion drives have been around for quite a while. they just take an eternity to get up to speed. taks

once you get up to the higher levels in BG2, the differences between characters such as minsc or sarevok are almost negligible. not that sarevok isn't "better," which he is, it's just that they are all so over-powering compared to the baddies you match up against that the differences don't really matter anymore. the game becomes a lot more about magic abilities (and equipment) than individual stats/abilities. personally, i always play good-aligned characters, and i'm usually a mage. when i'm not, i prefer edwin as my mage in spite of the fact he's evil, but with the "friendly npcs" add-on to keep him from battling minsc all the time. early on, the fact that he's the only mage with 18 INT, plus his extra spells, makes a bit of a difference, though later on (like after HLAs kick in), it's not that much of a benefit anymore. taks

keep in mind, another game based on the IWD name would not really be a "sequel" anymore (nor would another BG) simply because it has been so long since the previous game. for that matter, IWDII wasn't really a sequel, either, though there was a thin connection to the first. taks

once wireless providers go to the long-term evolution (LTE) plan, i.e., 4G, the internet will be faced with a whole new crop of users that previously only had low-rate systems (such as dial-up, ISDN or even DSL). LTE will be able to deliver near wi-fi access speeds over the otherwise standard cellular infrastructure. it's going to be a biiiiiig boost in 'net traffic. it's also the topic-du jour for comm research right now (i'll be doing some research into detection methods beginning this summer). taks

i recommend xanax for the stress. writing a dissertation and doing my regular 9 to whenever job has been about the same as two jobs. my wife is looking forward to graduation so i'll be able to take on my other job: helping around the house. i'm not a complete bum as far as my house duties go, but i'm not far from it. she's been a trooper through all this... oh, got the hard copies printed and i'll drop them off later today. need to generate a slide-show for the defense now, but that's pretty much cake compared to everything else. taks

xanax works well, though i have a very low dosage prescription and i still weigh over 220 (i.e., it doesn't do that much other than kill the anxiety). just sent my dissertation to the committee. once the defense is over with (may 2), i shouldn't be needing xanax any more. taks

i guess i'll find out if my tactics are working when john is 21 and, hopefully, gainfully employed. john's getting a bike and a kinex roller coaster tonight, btw. no games that i know of will be added to the list (unless one of his little friends or another family member decides to give him one). taks

my son plays up to an hour a day on the PS3. we have one game: lego star wars. he's at home playing it with his grandmother (my mom) right now, as a matter of fact. he's bossy when playing, but so am i (the two of us playing is a trip). i think it is a good thing. he's only 5 (today is his bday, in fact), but this gives us an opportunity to "bond" even if there is a little stress involved. we have to work as a team to complete a lot of it, which is a good thing. the "violence" is cartoonish, and he has already demonstrated that he clearly separates fantasy from reality in this respect. also, these games improve his ability to solve problems (he's gotten through areas that i would have cheated), some of which are quite complex for a pre-schooler. he has to use a fair bit of hand-eye coordination as well, just to get through some of the areas. certainly i won't let him play the M-rated games (like assassin's creed, or even FPS games), as those make a bit more of an attempt at realistic death, but it is not hard for me to prevent him from playing such games. i just don't buy them. should i choose to get the more hard-core games, he won't know we have them and i'll only play when he's already in bed or off doing something else. ultimately the solution to any perceived problems with violence in video games is GOOD PARENTING. it is a parent's job to limit the amount of time the child plays (john gets an hour a day except today which i let grandma decide when he's done). it's also a parent's job to point out the "game" aspect of video games and drive home the the differences between fantasy and reality. it is NOT the government's job to tell us what is right and wrong. it may be the government's (or self-imposed regulation groups) to require information allowing accurate assessment by parents, but that's a far cry from limitation, or even censorship. from my standpoint, john is automatically allowed to play anything E or E10+, with some scrutiny placed on T games (not all are really that bad, and i don't mind language because he gets more of it from me, the wanna be sailor, anyway). oh, and we will be getting the new lego indiana jones when it comes out, too. i'll eventually get some of the games geared towards me as well, though i don't have time for them at the moment. after may 23, that all changes... free time will abound! taks

i took a xanax this morning. i'm starting to feel a little bit more level... taks

there's no reason not to assume, particularly in fantasy games, that there isn't a pack-mule or some cart being pulled by a few horses isn't actually brought along for adventuring trips. there literal existence in the game would simply be meta-gaming to a point nobody would want, so we simply suspend our disbelief and put up with it. sure, you don't bring the suckers back down into the dungeon with you, so having access to all the saved goodies is a bit of a violation of such a principle, as well as getting the loot back to the surface, but there's just some things you gotta put up with to prevent running back and forth every time you find a new piece of armor. i think the flip-side to the way things are in most games (i.e., incorporating hard limits on carry capacity and forcing the meta aspect) would be much worse than simply ignoring the inconsistencies. taks

i'm pretty happy with my 8800 GTS with 320 MB of mammaries and OC'd by the manufacturer. can't recall if it is an eVGA or some other, however. i don't play games like crysis or anything so i don't ever experience frame issues with this. taks

btw, my advisor approved the draft copy with some minor changes. i'm ready to defend in two weeks (may 2, actually). taks

oooh, chili spaghetti is da bomb! steak and shake has a great one, btw. i prefer my chili with lots of chipotle peppers (particularly, smoked jalapenos in adobo bbq sauce). mmmm... of course, i prefer habaneros to jalapenos for taste reasons, but habaneros require some serious stamina if you use a lot. taks

i submitted an initial draft of my complete dissertation just after midnight this morning. my adviser is reviewing it now. should be done by monday of next week, with a defense scheduled tentatively for may 2 (a friday, at 11:30 a.m. MDT). my gut is full of butterflies awaiting his response (he's already seen most of it and had only a few recommendations for imrovement). taks

i use tunebite for capturing DRM content, and it appears they also have a version that will capture video streams targeted for media players. it's not free, but it is relatively cheap and works quite well (at least, for copying CDs it works well). http://tunebite.com/en/remove_drm/index.html the one thing about such programs: DO NOT do anything else with your computer while ripping something. make sure this is the only major program running and simply walk away. even moving the mouse can have detrimental effects since tunebite actually performs a significant amount of signal processing in software to implement the copy operation. this is the only way to rip DRM content without violating copyright laws (it's essentially the same as tape-recording a radio station). taks

of course not. i just happen to have one of those jobs that allows a very high level of daily geekness. actually, i'm all but out of the board design biz. this is the first actual design i've done in about 4 years. i'm mostly an algorithm developer now (which implies lots of software). we just had a need and i've got the right experience. i've done several dozen board designs, actually, though this one ranks on the low-end of the complexity scale of the boards i previously designed. i'm kicking myself for not using an alternate part with actual leads on it, btw. i wasn't thinking in terms of what it would take to assemble this board myself before i built it (i can also do assembly/soldering, but my quality sucks compared to a good tech). right now, i'm testing a phase-lock loop (PLL) eval-board (the LO from above) that mounts on top of the board i designed. it's performance is not nearly as good as the danged site claims (national semiconductor). i think my reference oscillator is the source of the issue, however. it's an old HP8648A, but i am using the reference output (10 MHz). hopefully the double-oven crystal oscillator i have on my board provides better performance. taks

first i got up, then i had a piece of toast...* i installed a leadless chip-scale package (CSP) on a printed circuit board (PCB) this morning. it's a board i designed (with another engineer) that produces a clock for an analog to digital converter (ADC) circut as well as a local oscillator (LO) for an RF circuit. the part is only 4 mm on a side, with 6 "pins" on the underside along with a "paddle" designed as a heat-sink for the part (which is a low-dropout voltage regulator). since the "pins" are on the underside of the board, it is impossible to solder it down using a soldering iron. i had to heat the board with a heat gun until the solder i had put on each pad melted, then i had to drop the part in place taking care not to move it too much (else solder bridges between pins may connect - which happened on my first attempt). this has to be done under a bench microscope (designed for PCB work). i have one more part to do, but it has 16 pins in about the same package size. these pins are space only 6 mils apart (6 thousandths of an inch, or 0.1524 mm), so alignment is critical. i've been working under a 'scope for nearly 13 years so that's not a problem. the problem is that i'm getting old and my hands shake enough that it is difficult to hold the heat gun in one hand and the part in the other (with tweezers) while maintaining proper alignment . there's a reason i'm not a surgeon. taks *futurama joke.

grrr... dragon's eye in IWD. you cannot rest anywhere on the last 2 levels except after you free the captured prisoners (and clear all the critters) on the 2nd to last level that "watch over you" while you sleep. on the last level, it is nearly impossible to get through without rest due to all the critters with bows and +1 arrows (i.e. prot. from normal missiles does not help), so you have to go back up a level several times to get to yxounumei (sic). the stupid part is that the watchers go to the opposite side of the level rather than waiting by the entrance. it's like fedex without delivering a package. adding insult to injury, every time you sleep it shuts all the doors so you cannot simply click on the entrance to the next level hoping your characters will get there. then, oddly again, most of the doors are re-shut on the last level as well, so you can't just click where you were to get back and finish. total pain and pointless busy work. taks

icewind dale. i need to DL an ease of use pack, however. IWD is a loot-fest and not being able to stack more than 40 arrows creates problems when trying to get out of certain areas without going back and forth between the 4th level of a dungeon and town. taks

ooh, good question. maybe a belt that provides +6 dodge vs. vehicular assault? taks

that's not an argument for vista being faster, it's an argument for vista allowing faster (well, more) hardware. apples-oranges comparison. vista isn't faster by this statement alone, it is simply enabling better hardware and hence, a faster overall system. build two identical hardware platforms (that XP can take advantage of), then compare vista and XP. as samm noted, its a mixed bag, so the people that are griping are probably running the programs that do run slower on vista. IMO, vista is bloated because of the extra layer of abstraction they've added to automate a lot of things that XP and win2K left up to the user (and i'm sure there are other "features" they added that i haven't run across yet). it's certainly bigger on my HDD, and it boots slower on my laptop, but that's also partly due to the malware that HP installed to make their product work the way they want it to work (some of which i need, some of which i have permanently deleted, some of which i haven't identified as good or bad yet). once i'm done with school, one of my priorities is to get all my pooter issues worked out (that and i need to clean my office). by june i'll have a better idea of the trades involved. taks

no maiming or gimping around even? i personally do not have any issues with vista other than a few quirks that make things more difficult to do. i'm not running games on my laptop (where vista is installed), however, so i have not seen the real impact of a slower OS, either. of course, word 2007 takes some serious getting used to. i have mostly gotten used to it, and i'm beginning to like it after writing over 100 pages on it. taks

well... if you unplug the supply and let it sit for a day or two, and short the input pins on the plug, there's probably no hazard. the problem with opening any supply is that they have large capacitors and inductors. these are storage elements. capacitors store charge and inductors store current. the capacitors are actually more dangerous because they hold charge for quite a while, particularly if they are large (inductors are DC shorts so they dissipate much quicker). same problem with a tube tv, worse actually, as they have very large capacitors designed to hold very large charges for the electron gun. either way, it always pays to be careful. poke around with a non-metallic stick of some sort, and never touch anything with your fingers, particularly something you are unsure of. taks

that's true. for the same reason, government pooters are not typically updated with the "latest" OS until it is proven reliable, often near the end of its support life-cycle. now they're trying to switch many systems over to linux (particularly embedded apps, not so much desktops), which will be an interesting nightmare... the kernel changes what, every 6 weeks or so? and there's no set framework for changes/additions. sometimes the danged things simply aren't compatible from one release to the next. taks

864 MHz, that's a fairly standard phone frequency (e.g. 900 MHz phones)... about 100 m in distance, so maybe it's not so much the frequency, but the power (they don't mention what the transmit power is). taks