rob86

Here's a link to a post where someone had the same problem, maybe it will help http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I played Dwarf Fortress a little bit last night without a tutorial (not that I don't need one, it just gets boring reading 10 pages of tutorials). I was starting to forget about the bad graphics and it became a little bit addictive. I didn't do much, my dwarves seemed to take forever to tunnel out their home in the mountain, maybe I was doing something wrong. Anyway, I built them a dining room, a barracks to sleep in, and gave them some booze (that's their water!)...I also cooked up some delicious kitten stew and hot dogs. Yes, they eat their pets. Times are tough. I'm breeding cats and dogs for food and companionship. They're telling me they'd rather have meat than strawberries to go with their strong dwarven ale and the the turtle sandwiches are getting old.In the end, when I when to bed, I was actually wanting to continue building my pitifully unimpressive fortress. I'm starting to see how ASCII mode might actually be preferable to having graphical sprites, because it's kind of hard to tell different units from another even with the graphics. What I found humorous is that on the game wiki, instead of the standard image or screens hot you see in the upper right, they have a picture of the letter that represents them in game. So you'll check out "wiki/dog" and it'll be like [d] < this is a dog! or [w] <- this is a werewolf. You really have to use your imagination..

I stumbled upon a unique and apparently quite popular freeware multi-platform game called Dwarf Fortress. It seems to be an interesting RTS/City building type of game, though I haven't tried it very long. It looks like a lot of work has been put into it, it's been in development for years. There is one catch, it's user interface and graphics are quite atrocious. Look at screenshots. Out of the box, it's completely in ASCII graphics (though with great difficulty, you can install some tilesets with real images though this is a fairly confusing affair). I've played ASCII games before, more than a decade ago mind you, but never one that was so complex. There are so many weird ASCII characters moving around, it's a task just to figure out what it all means. For example, a pet dog is a letter "d". Like I said, this can be changed with optional graphics tilesets, but I'm not sure if that's the best route or not. A lot of people claim plain ASCII is better? There are a few things to do to make it more bearable, such as changing the tile colour schemes and using higher resolution windows. Is the game worth playing despite it's absolutely dreadful graphics? It might be, but it sure takes a lot of effort to learn. It's not for the casual arcade gamer. It's hard enough just installing graphics and tile sets to work together (they're all different resolutions and tile dimensions) I haven't given up on it because it really looks like a rewarding game to play once you get past the learning curve and get used to the horrible appearance and memorize some keystrokes. The general consensus I read on the web is that you forget the ugly graphics, because the game is fun and addictive. It's easy to get a first impression of "What is this garbage?" by seeing screenshots, but the game is really in depth. I haven't even scratched the surface of the basics and I've played it for 4 hours (not continously). It's frequently quoted official motto is "Losing is fun".

What version of Python are you using? What OS are you running on? Windows? Linux? Mac? I've always found getting modules to work (on linux) frustrating as well, but the basic idea is you have to get the pygame module into a directory that Python can read (from it's search path), or add python's module directory to a search path. It sounds simple in theory, but to be honest, it never seems to be for me. Python's module files like pygame seem to be thrown randomly around the file system and it's left up to the user to find them. Some installer! Maybe someone more experienced can help more, but for now try reading some of the stuff on this page, https://docs.python.org/2/install/index.html . It might give some insight on how to add directories to the search path.

Anyone ever use PizzaTorrent? It's shut down now, but it was my favourite. I'm surprised it wasn't more popular. It had the nicest and fastest interface, and found even the most rare things I could think of. Too bad they shut down. I would use btjunkie now if I was going to download something, but I still miss PT.

Anwii probably has the best solution with the bees, as it's proven to be effective. Here's one thing that shouldn't be done, I hope we all learn something from this real-life incident. Then again, I hope none of us would even consider this to be a good idea in the first place.

Welcome to the forum Marina. You'll find there are some interesting discussions going on here so feel free to join in, and of course, you can start your own. See you around!

I can't see any of your photos, here or or in other posts. I tried reloading, clicking, and reloading again.. Is it just me?

Yes, I know about top, and ps, system monitor. I know how to see what processes are running, and how to killl them, but there are a lot that I can't identify just by reading the command name. For example, just randomly picking a random one out of my list, I'll see kgameportd, and wonder, what is it for? Do I need it? Is it telling me I'm running something I don't need unknowingly and it's wasting memory? I went through the list and saw BOINC running all the time, and I remembered what BOINC was, and don't need it, so I uninstalled it. Had I not known, it would still be running in the background, doing nothing useful. I know none of these are harmful, but I don't like running things I don't need either.On Windows, from experience I knew every process that was running and it's purpose, on Linux, I look at the Linux process list and see things like, kacpid,ata_aux,kseriod, and many more. I guess I'm the kind of person that likes to know what exactly all those things are for, whether they are important or not. Maybe that will have to be a programming project for me.. a process identifier!

Ah, the monkey brain. I remember reading the rumours that people eat it, and that the monkeys are made drunk by rice wine, then their skull is cracked open and the brain is spooned out while it's still pulsing with blood. I don't think I'd eat monkey brain. I doubt I would eat any animal's brain. I know cow/sheep brain is a bit common in the US and the UK, but it's not my thing. Maybe if it was deep fried and crispy? Probably not, yuck! I'm relatively open minded when it comes to food, but I'm not so open minded my brains would fall-- nevermind, that joke was in poor taste! There's a wikipedia entry on Monkey Brains, which you might have already seen anyway. Here's an interesting bit, I didn't know ToD was banned in India! I am now wondering which food I would prefer to eat, Monkey brains or Prairie Oysters. If I had to choose, I think I'd go with the monkey brains...

Cubase uses a dongle right? Perhaps Windows calls the dongle Drive F: and maybe it's not finding it for some reason. I don't know.

Back in the good 'ol days of Windows, I tried a demo of some software called Anti-Spy.info. There was also a similar program I can't remember the name of. What made these programs unique and useful was that they helped you identify what a strange process was by telling you things like, the name of the software, the company, a little tidbit of information on it, like "Firefox is a web browser' " and whether it was VERY important, like X or just something that can be killed.Of course these programs were really meant for getting rid of spyware and viruses, and Linux rarely (never?) has spyware/viruses running in the background, and even harmless programs seemingly never run on start up by default, but there are still a bunch of things I'd like to identify and determine their importance. Is there nothing out there (other than Google) that can aid in identifying what running processes are? I know I can just look on Google, but that seems so time inefficient and to be honest, I just like trying new software..

Yes, I also think boiling chicken breast in water to make a broth is probably a waste, especially since boneless and skinless is the least flavorful piece of chicken, with little flavour to come out into the water. The flavour is almost entirely in the bone and skin. Boneless is best used (in my opinion) breaded or cut up in something.. I mean, if you've got chicken meat to spare, go ahead and boil it, it will improve the rice, but it seems like a waste of meat to me. And taking it out to eat with the rice, it would be tasteless! I would fry it up being careful not to over cook it, and then cut it up in the rice.. I think it'd be cheaper and better to just cook the rice in a can of broth, or even just boullion cubes and water then throw in the chicken (if you insist on having meat)contactskn's recipe sounds pretty good, and healthy. I think it's an old myth that oil in water keeps noodles from sticking. If you just dump the excess water out, you're most likely just wasting oil. The oil probably just floats on top waiting to be drained. Just have lots of water, and stir in the first few minutes until it starts boiling and moving around instead of sinking to the bottom. I cook pasta all the time without oil, and it doesn't stick.I have a cooking tip. When you're cooking something that's supposed to be yellow, like rice, or noodles, or chicken soup, and you notice yours isn't quite so visually appealing, put in in some Turmeric. It has a mild (but slightly noticeable and pleasant flavour, however it's main use is to make food yellow. It's commonly used in pickles (not dill pickles, the mustardy kind Grandma used to make..). But be careful, as it doesn't take much and if you put too much in your chicken soup (or whatever) could go from an appetizing yellow tint, to a strange bright glowing fluorescent yellow. Paprika is also a good one for making foods a bit more reddish. I often use it in foods like onion rings or fried battered fish, or even in some crunchy coating for a boneless chicken breast. Be careful with the paprika as well, because it only really turns stuff red when it gets wet and you could easily over do it. Usually people want nicely browned onion rings, or fish, not apple-red.. A lot of people don't consider the importance of a foods appearance, and seeing something look colourful makes the mind think the food is more delicious even if in reality the taste difference is minimal. It's well worth it, considering it's so easy to do.Oregano is a good herb, good on pretty much anything. I grow oregano and some other herbs because I like to use them also. I'm not sure if you grow herbs, anwii, but incase you don't know, in my experience Oregano is one of the easiest, fastest growing herbs. It spreads like a weed, you'd have to eat a lot of oregano to keep up with it and it tastes fresh. I think it grows again every year too.

The US government (and to an extent the UK, which is where i live) ARE terrorists. There is no doubt about this. They are just as bad as the people they are fighting. YOU, an American citizen (i think) fall into the statement i have quoted above. You think *you* are the good guys, and they are bad. This is propaganda. This is absolutely true. I had an American friend who very Republican, pro-war, Christian, who started a US Republican chat forum. I used to visit there once in a while, the conversation there was sickening. Ever since 9/11, there has been non-stop insulting of muslims (ALL muslims), boasting of USA's greatness and right to kill 1000 innocent muslims if it saves one american soldier, they talk about killing gays, they throw insulting racist words around like it's nothing, they talk about how wonderful it'd be to deport all non-whites or black people, how "God" would never agree with Islam, but definitely supports what the US is doing and everything you'd imagine some violent radical group would think of. They repeatedly talk of how cowardly and despicable and cowardly a suicide car bomber is, while their brave heroes who drop bombs from the sky and drive in armored tanks receive accolades of praise for their heroism. What do they expect the Jihadists to do? Buy a modern air force to duke it out with them? It's bloody well obvious if you corner a poor fanatical group like this they'll fight back however they can! They also insulted me every time I made an appearance only because I was Canadian, and in their opinion, I wasn't up to their "US" standards. No wonder the world dislikes America! The only difference between these people and the radical muslims you see waving guns in propaganda there is is that these Americans hide their radical beliefs in jokes or political blathering and pretend it's intelligent political debate and not radical racism. I once questioned them about the war, and they honestly believe they are on the side of Good, with God's blessing, while muslims are on the side of Evil, and should be wiped out. They used _these_ words. Sound like a terrorist group to anyone else? This friend of mine used to be a decent, normal person, before they became interested in politics. Now they're a ranting, raving fanatical lunatic I avoid like the plague. I met a whole bunch of muslims in my life, and contrary to popular belief here in N.A., not one of them were violent, or racist towards me, nobody whipped out a bomb, and they all had relatively good humor about the stereotypes. That's more than I can say for that group of the Americans. It makes me sick to my stomach to watch this group of Americans trash talk the entire world, so high up in the clouds they are oblivious to reality. Something is corrupting these people, there is no doubt about it in my mind. I don't know if it's propaganda, or religion or what, but it's highly disturbing. On the outside, people can see that American's (represented by their elected Govt) are just as much of a terrorist group as the 'terrorists'. I don't think what the Jihadists are doing is right, and I don't think what the Americans are doing as right. I think anyone who thinks either side is on some holy mission for the side of Goodness is a bit touched in the head. I have to try to remember that all American's are not ignorant fools like that, I know in reality that there are some great Americans, many on this forum even. So is the word "Terrorist" used too loosely? It's certainly thrown a lot, but the modern definition these days seems to be tightening up to simply mean "Muslim". Can't be too broad of a description, or some naive Americans might clue in to the fact that "Hey, wait a second, don't we fit under this definition?".. Terrorist: (a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities) Remember Robepierre, and his Reign of Terror? He wasn't a radical muslim, organizing with terror cells. He was however a person who used terror as a political weapon. You can see the modern definition is changing...

Ah that's right I remember it now. I knew it looked familiar, thanks.

I've forgotten a lot of math knowledge, so forgive me for my stupidity! I'm trying to understand a bit of physics code relating to simple collision detection of circles in a game/simulation, and I see an important equation here, and I don't know what it's supposed to be doing. Can anyone identify it? It looks very familiar and simple, but I can't remember what it's for! SQRT( (x1-x2)^2 + (y1-y2)^2 ) Here it is in python code.. if math.sqrt( ((Circle.x-Circle2.x)**2) + ((Circle.y-Circle2.y)**2) ) <= (Circle.radius+Circle2.radius):

Hair in soy sauce? Is there something to making soy sauce that I don't know about? I thought it was just fermented beans that allegedly smell like diarrhea. I don't think women can be blamed for this. I doubt many women even consider that their cosmetics contain something like human fat let alone the fat of a murder victim. Plus, it's not like buying cosmetics are illegal. People should be allowed to buy anything they want without having to wonder whether or not someone was murdered for it. People shouldn't have to worry about whether they're eating cheese burgers or cats either. There have been a lot of pet cats going missing in a nearby city lately, and people are starting to suspect the local oriental restaurant owners...

I'm trying out another Linux distro and this came in very handy to burn the cd image. I had to search for this post to refresh my memory on how to do it. The knowledge is as useful today as it was before! It was much easier to find this post than to search google again. Great post, self!

Anyone ever make a game with PyGame? (inverse_bloom?)I've been playing with it the last few days, and it's kind of fun. I've been experimenting with using physics to move my sprites around. I've never done any game programming before so this is new to me. My goal is to make a simple strategy game, turn based or real time. I'm not sure what pygame is capable of in real time animation of a full game , so I'll have to see. It seems perfectly capable of running a nice little turn based game though. I also have an interest in just making little sprites move around intelligently and realistically in a simulation type of thing so maybe I'll make a virtual petri dish of little things and call them my pets.

Real fire inside a house? Wow! Must be some new fad, what will they think of next?Anyway, in all seriousness, wood is all my parents use for heat. They have electric heat, but my dads cheap and refuses to waste money on it and turns it off. My father cuts down trees and chops wood every year to get wood to burn. It's nice on a cold ~(-20C) day, but my mother has a fire raging even on spring or fall days and it would be at least 26C inside the house, much too warm and uncomfortable for someone like me.My father told me about how when he was a kid, sometimes the metal pipes would get clogged up (clean them often!!), would turn bright red from overheating and everyone would be scared of a fire starting. This never happened in my lifetime though.Chopping wood isn't for me though, I guess I'm the last line of the good 'ol country boys in my family, because I'm the the "countriest" of any of my relatives and I'm a geek, not a farmer!How cold does it get where you live webishqiptar? Do you need a lot of heat in the winter?

I've used 3.1, 95, ME, and XP. XP was probably the most stable. I used 3.1 but I don't remember what it was like. I can't remember 95 too well either. ME was the worst, it is a nightmare I try to forget), I do remember it had BSOD's frequently, escalating to every few minutes after aging a few years. I remember it well,<open msn> *BSOD*<open msn again> *BSOD*<open msn even more> *BSOD*<open msn> ........... no BSOD this time? I made it on! Woohooo! <msn receives instant message> *BSOD* "#%$%@# WINDOWS! Work you piece of crap computer! I have an important message to send!!"<open IE to use web messenger> *BSOD*<open IE again> *BSOD*"^%$^@#$#$!@$"...10 min later...*BSOD* <enter> <enter> <ENTER!!x10> "Argh, it fricken froze up again!!!" I think I experienced so many BSOD's I'm going to have shell shock for the rest of my life. I see something blue flash out of the corner of my eye, and the stomach pains and headaches come back. I don't know if it was completely ME's fault or that my computer was overheating (or failing in some way). I've never had any problems with XP, no BSOD's at all in my years of using it. I didn't even know XP still could BSOD...

PirateBay bit the dust? A quick search on it reveals there are 8000 people leeching and 6000 people seeding Microsoft Windows 7. If they bit the dust, they're doing pretty well! I think I used to use mininova.org to download some T.V. episodes I missed. Arrggh! Who will be the next scurvy torrent website to walk the plank?

I wonder what the shipping cost would be to send a dog across the world on a plane. I don't think it'd be a very fun journey for them to go that far though. Regardless of the cost, this is obviously spam. The fact that these dogs aged two weeks in one day doesn't bother anybody? They aren't interested in selling dogs. They're interested in receiving an e-mail to add to their spam-list or even worse, steal your money. Be careful, fellow Trappers! http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Interesting and informative reply Baburaj (if you are still around). I learned a lot about ICM from your post, not to mention a lot of new words! I would love to visit India and experience the music season, maybe some time in the future.TheSimpleton: I will listen to the music you suggested. I also watched some Veena video clips, I was impressed by it, it is a fine instrument. Nice appearance and sound. It's too bad you have stopped practicing. I am just now browsing a catalog of instruments, dreaming of things I'd like to have. Let's see.. Sitar, $3500CAD , Veena , $850, Sarod, $600, Tabla set $375, oh check this out! Tumbi, $35! Something I can afford! Hoorah!

contactskn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalebi, Jalebi is an interesting food. Never saw or heard of it before. I prefer the spicy foods of India however, they are more for my tastes. I love spicy foods! FouGilang: You mean Aspartame? The healthy sugar-type-stuff? I think it has a brand name here called NutriSweet. I find it doesn't taste really like sugar. Sometimes I do use a little sugar in certain coffees or teas, and Aspartame has a strange taste when I try it. I would never use it in baking or anything. Chocolate and candy can be very addictive. I don't have much of a craving for candy anymore, but sometimes I do eat it during a holiday or something, and once I start to eat it, I can't keep myself away from the box.