Father Xmas

There's a slash command for capping framerate, /maxfps.

Hmm, the one with the most damage enhancement? Just guessing.

Lets go through them. I'm converting them to common IO enhancements.

Exploit Weakness has 4 dual aspect enhancements that have damage as one of the aspects, so 4 x 5/8 or 2.5 enhancements worth of damage.

Calibrated Accuracy has one dual aspect and one triple aspect enhancement with damage so that's 1.125 enhancements (5/8 + 1/2) worth of damage.

Extreme Measures has two dual and two triple so twice that of Calibrated Accuracy so 2.25 enhancements. But you also get 2% set bonus on damage.

Executioner's Contract has 5 dual aspect so 5 x 5/8 or 3.125 enhancements.

Sting of the Manticore has two dual and two triple so just like Extreme Measures, 2.25 enhancements. But it has a 3% set bonus on damage and the 6th IO in the set is a proc with a 20% Chance of Toxic Damage.

For future reference, ParagonWiki: Invention Origin Enhancement Sets

Sort of being discussed already here, but thanks for the earlier background material.

No

Not unusual for NBC. They did the same thing with The Event, having rebroadcasts on SyFy and USA. They even had a catch up evening on SyFy for The Event, something like 4 episodes.

From what I heard Frodo starts reading Bilbo's account (the big red book) to someone, I assume a group of children from the Shire and the movie then shifts to the story. I don't mind this tack as it informs movie goers who aren't in the know that the Hobbit comes before Lord of the Rings, while showing that they are related.

I'm curious about how they will handle the calligraphy transforming aspect of the show. And obviously they won't do Blue's "day job" as an aspiring Kabuki actor.

Oh and for anyone who cares, new Merlin, season 3 for us in the US, is on at 10p on SyFy.

Also a new Clone Wars at 8:30p EST.

Phoenix Jones has his lair through a secret bookcase at his local comic book store. Saw it on a clip posted from his local TV news station.

The advantage of AMD for CPU/Motherboard today is they have a single CPU socket that covers their entire range of product.

Intel currently has three. The older Socket 775 is for their value line, even though you can still get the high end CPUs like the quad Q9650, but you can get a better bang for the buck with Intel's mid range line based on Socket 1156, which is soon to be replaced with Socket 1155 and the new Sandy Bridge CPUs. However if you want $XTREME$ gaming performance with more than two video cards then there is Intel's Socket 1366 with it's cheapest CPU starting just under $300 and going up to $1100. And rumors is that Socket 1366 will be replaced later this year with Socket 2011 with quad channel memory.

And that's why I didn't recommend it. Upon further examination they also offered the HD 5870, but at $290 that's a little much for a recommendation.

We could tell you, but then they will fire you and we would all feel bad.

I always thought Odin's traded his eye for foresight, not wisdom.

I really hate it when they lump BitTorrent with other P2P programs because it's really just a clever download protocall that allows someone to distribute a large file to lots of people using very little personal bandwidth. It doesn't list what's out there, it doesn't provide a search, it's simply a way to transfer a file. But that's a separate issue.

As for what you suggested, no. Just because something has been publicly shown or is no longer available doesn't mean the owners have given up their rights to make money on it.

If you apply your TV example to music then as soon as a song is played on the radio then it should be free to download. Gee a found a copy of that book in my public library, guess that means I can download a copy for free for my Kindle, right?

As for "abandonware", GoG, Good Old Games, has created a business model around the concept of polishing up old DOS games to run on modern hardware. They make money and I'm sure some of that is kicked back to the original game owners or they would have been shut down soon after they started. And a lot of these games haven't been making money for their owners for a while before GoG started.

Also for software in general, you are buying a license, not a copy of it. The disks, DVD, CD, download, memory stick is simply a means to provide you with a copy of the software but permission to use it is a separate issue. E-books are following the same model with Amazon having the ability to revoke access and refunding your money.

It costs money to produce books, movies, music and software. Their creators have the right to make as much money off of their works as the public is willing to give them. If the public doesn't want to pay them, by getting there works for free or through an overactive used marketplace (GameStop) then guess what happens. It takes the incentive out of making new books, movies, music and software.

Now I have no problems with subscription services. Pay $X for access rights to this large library of stuff. Or a digital store that will allow me to purchase a copy of something and allow me to access it anywhere at anytime. The online streaming NetFlix service for example. Why should I have a wall of my living room devoted to DVDs when I can access the same material over my TV anytime I want for $8 a month? And it is obviously working too well because the major studios have forced NetFlix to give DVDs 30 days worth of sale time before they become available to the service.

I've think we've reached the Napster generation, people who always thought music was always free online from one source or another.

Well a friend sent me this Doctor Who cartoon.

Since nobody linked to it, ParagonWiki: Mail System.

Check your posting in the tech board for additional recommendations.

Also base salvage can be converted to invention salvage through an intermediate conversion that is stored on your character called brainstorms. Since they don't take storage space in the base, and the storage racks are one of the few things that cost rent plus they now hold so few salvage items, I would either not convert base salvage unless you need to or convert them to brainstorms and hold onto them until needed.

Also there are some collectors of original base salvage out there (gotta get em all) so you should also check the going rate for base salvage on the market.

Here was his link from his posting over in the PQ section.

Well the obvious two things is memory and graphics.

Should be easy to upgrade to 4GB, even if you won't be able to access it all with 32-bit Vista, you should end up with more than 2GB. Now on one hand the documentation lists that your motherboard has 4 memory slots but the picture on the support page only shows 2 slots with the other two not installed (not memory not installed in slots, the slots the memory go in not installed, click on motherboard link to see picture). 2x2GB of DDR2-800 CAS 5 is around $60-70. If you really have 4 slots, then adding 2x1GB sticks, and you should use a utility like CPU-Z to discover the specs on the sticks you have so you can match them, is likely $35-40 (all prices here are from NewEgg).

As for graphics well here's the problem. The power supply in your system is very weak, too weak to handle a mid range video card. So you can either do nothing with your PSU and be content with a very low end video card like the nVidia G 210 or an ATI HD 5450, either are more powerful than the integrated 6150SE graphics you have but are still much too weak for any of the UltraMode options, for around $40-50.

Or you can also upgrade the power supply as well and take advantage of more powerful video cards. The power supply in the 430-500 watt range, a good quality one, should cost around $60-90 but are usually on sale or with a hefty rebate. This one lists for $90 but is on sale for $70. That power supply will let you get something like the HD 5770, which lists for $130-140 and can easily handle moderate UltraMode settings. Heck that power supply should be able to handle anything but the most power hungry, high performance video cards on the market today.

Okay, what made you choose that particular computer?

It's still 32 bit XP. (64-bit Windows 7 currently rules the day)

The graphics is a professional version (drivers aren't tuned for gaming) of a cutdown 9600GT (64 streaming processors, 192-bit memory). A modern $100 gaming video card could crush this one.

The CPU is essentially a seriously underclocked, low power i7-920 (2.26GHz Vs 2.67GHz) using only two of it's 3 memory channels (reduced performance).

It's a terrible gaming machine all things considered. Even Dell offer better ones for less money and they aren't known for the best bang for the buck.

This would crush that Lenovo in gaming. Heck, you could almost buy two of them for the cost of that Lenovo.

If you want an interesting world, no idea if it's available on a Kindle, is John Varley's Gaea trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon). I found it mind blowing when I first read it.

Also early novels by James P. Hogan, before he turned into Walter from Fringe. The first three books from the Giants series (Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, Giant's Star), The Genesis Machine, Thrice Upon a Time, The Two Faces of Tomorrow, The Proteus Operation and Code of the Lifemaker. His later works, after the early 1990s, tend to start getting away from plausible extension of today's technologies to real fringe stuff.