Category: Asides

I would like a new gaming rig, and it will be new because my current motherboard is not going to let me upgrade usefully. I have not looked at specs at all in the past two or three years, so I have no idea what I should be getting, what is a good deal, etc. I would like a system that will run most current games at high graphics settings (say City of Heroes/Villains, the Orange Box, maybe The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ or something similar) and could be expected to run the next generation at medium settings. I don’t think I have anything resource-intensive except for games, and I don’t need to be at the bleeding edge there.

Any recommendations? I would prefer to stick with Windows XP (no install CDs from last purchase, grumble) and not need to put it all together myself. Dual monitors could be neat. Pricing a Dell XPS put me around $1500, which is not an unreasonable amount for me, but I don’t know enough to know where to look for better these days. Systems, specs, sites, deals, friend-of-a-friend who can hook me up, whatever: I welcome your input.

: Zubon

Previously

The #1 search used to reach this site? “draenei hentai” This is my fault, since I keep doing these posts. This is presumably why Recent Searches remains one of our most popular features. “Popular” in the sense that people show up and leave immediately. It’s sad but funny in a way. My apologies to people falsely lured here by the siren of tentacle porn.

Seriously, it beat “kill ten rats” and “killtenrats,” even “cybercat atitd.” “draenei porn” joins it in the top ten. I am a horrible person. “lightsaber-wielding lesbian mermaid slave” was #6.

My lolcattery has also brought us friends with “beach each to each lolcat” and “i can has backpart? i can has peach?” in the top ten. I am proud of our culture. Let’s leave the top ten and hide your dirtier thoughts beneath the fold.

Continue reading Recent Searches

We are at our usual New Year’s LAN party. This is when I am reminded that most of our people drink while playing (instead of healing me), with less drinking out and about. This is your reminder to have a designated driver. Ideally, sleep wherever you party, because many will not be heeding that reminder. There will be extra police on the roads tonight just in case you forget.

On that note, open container laws were a question at last year’s party. Transport booze in your trunk. Anything that has ever been opened counts as an open container, even if it is closed now. A re-corked bottle of champagne in the back seat counts the same as an open beer in the driver’s hand. Not every state has that law, but unless you have checked the law in every city and county you will be driving through, don’t turn a stop for a broken-out taillight into a misdemeanor.

And now back to LAN games. Maybe we can get another round of WarCraft III. Yesterday a CoX guildmate asked me what WarCraft III was. Seriously.

: Zubon

We have a new (fairly dull) method of getting through CoX’s upper levels quickly. Since the experience varies by level, I naturally sampled the data points, set up a spreadsheet, checked some online tables, and made a table showing experience in absolute and percentage terms with expected time to level. It seemed like the obvious thing to do.

Talking with my wife last night, I realized that today is the 10 year, 10 month, 10 day anniversary of when we started dating. Exactly a week ago was the 6 year, 6 month, 6 day anniversary of our marriage. (That gives us four anniversaries to celebrate this month.)

I will move out of quantitative work at some point. It does not seem like a great path up. Until then, I get to wonder if these thoughts are a cause or effect of my work.

: Zubon

The popular monthly feature returns! Previously

Traffic was up in November. You tolerate us, you really really tolerate us! Our most popular post of the month was me! Drinks for everyone at the Kill Ten Rats Tiki Bar! (The post had links from a couple of other sites.) The other big winner of the month is, as always, the 2005 post on the end of Asheron’s Call 2. “Recent Searches” for November was #4, woo!

Okay, let’s hide your dirty thoughts below the fold. Not that I have seen them yet, but you know how you are.

Continue reading Recent Searches

If all this modern technology is getting you down, why not try an old school laptop? Wood, brass, all the things that make your older co-workers comfortable. Also, it looks cool.

: Zubon

Hat tip: Steve Jackson Games

By being a PC gamer, I don’t need to deal with this. Don’t click that link. That is Jason Booth, arguing that development for the PS3 is harder than the Xbox 360, because all its superior features just give developers ways to work around its problems to bring it back to normal. And then several hundred people named “Anonymous” showed up to say things that I cannot bring myself to quote, even for explanatory purposes. There are about 500 comments as I write this, and I am scheduling this to post a week in the future so I can purge my brain before coming back to our own comments thread.

Before anyone comments here, there will be no PS3 vs 360 discussion. None. If you wish to post that fans of [the other system] are deluded fanboys and trolls, there, Mr. Booth already has a ruined comments thread for you, to say nothing of the hundreds of forums so polluted. I’m sure that bribery and fellatio were involved in all your opponents’ projects, yes, thank you.

: Zubon

How good is my new headset? I bought it in the afternoon, and that afternoon we went back to get one for my wife. Excellent sound quality, both input and output, with comfortable ear pads that muffle outside sounds. It uses a USB input, which is great for those of us who have not bought fancy sound cards. Plus, we can use them on any computer, and we are going to test Karaoke Revolution on the PS2.

I recommend the Logitech ClearChat Pro USB. Cheaper than a good sound card, and the guys on Teamspeak are no longer giving me crap about how low my voice is. Mute and volume control are on the earpiece, so you get to feel all sci fi as you control things by tapping your ear.

: Zubon

Previously

It’s that time again. Maybe everything else I write is nonsense that no one reads, but our results show that you love to see how people get here. So do we!

This time, I am skipping questions covered previously. Yes, people are still looking for Istvaan Shogaatsu, sharding purples, and tips about Dungeon Runners and The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢. I will not distract them from the proper threads.

Before we hide potentially naughty bits beneath the break, I will note that someone must be messing with us on the whole “atitd cybercat” issue. We get about 5 hits a day for that, all from returning users. I am beginning to suspect my fellow rathunters, who know how this question torments me.

Continue reading Recent Searches

I was published earlier this month in , the online magazine from Steve Jackson Games. If you are a subscriber, you can find my practical guide to bribing Congress and circumventing campaign finance laws in the October 5 issue.

: Zubon