51

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Homebrew - Any tips?

« on: June 28, 2009, 09:56:39 pm »

Ooh, thanks for the tips.  Some of that is new to me.  My local homebrewer's shop sells non-bleach sanitizers.  Would you still want to rinse it out afterwards though?  Does tap water contaminate the carboy?  I do have relatively hard water, but that's just minerals.

52

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Homebrew - Any tips?

« on: June 28, 2009, 01:25:49 am »

I think the ultra-violet light in sunlight might kill some of the yeast in the brewing process, thus avoiding sunlight with the carboy.  With hard cider, you can pasteurize the cider prior to brewing via exposure to UV, as an alternative to normal pasteurization .  I'm not sure if my local mill does UV or not.  The UV treatment kills the natural yeast in the cider, letting you control the fermentation via added brewer's yeast.

I'm in WA state.  For some reason, the State lets us brew at home, but doesn't let us transport it.  Anyhow, should be a good state to brew cider, if you know what I mean.  I'm about a 3 hour drive to apple country.

53

Flotsam and Jetsam / Homebrew - Any tips?

« on: June 27, 2009, 02:05:13 am »

I'm thinking about finally starting to make my own homebrew.  I'm planning on hard cider (my favorite drink) since I'm only like a 5 minute drive away from a cider mill (they do custom batches by request).  Do any of you out there brew your own beer, cider, or whatever?  If you've got tips, I'll take 'em.

(Yes, it's legal to brew at home where I live, but not legal to transport it for some reason...)

54

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! [RELIGIOUS]

« on: May 09, 2009, 05:01:54 am »

Very nice   

55

General Discussion / Re: Conficker.c

« on: April 11, 2009, 06:27:11 pm »

Cable internet providers like to give you a high "burst" speed, then throttle it WAY down to stop you from downloading huge files all the time.  They want it to work well for simple web browsing, but to be slow for big downloads so people will pay more for "faster" service.  I stick with DSL, but I'm lucky enough to have options where I live, I guess.  With DSL, you normally get consistent speeds, plus the ISPs for DSL tend to be less evil, unless you're in AT&T territory.   

Anyhow, I read that conficker is probably being controlled by some Estonians black hats, based on an analysis of its recent activity...

I too am an update king.  I slipstream 4 different OSes at my workplace.   

56

General Discussion / Re: Conficker.c

« on: April 04, 2009, 02:54:39 am »

Nice link.   

Everyone should keep their Windows systems patched.  Microsoft's QA for patches is pretty decent.  I can't say any more about that, but there really isn't a good reason not to stay patched these days, unless you're on dial-up (250MB .NET 3.5 installer?!?!  Grrrrrr....).   

57

General Discussion / Re: Sponser???????

« on: January 24, 2009, 05:03:28 am »

Thanks.

58

General Discussion / Re: Sponser???????

« on: January 23, 2009, 02:50:30 am »

My sponsor is listed as "1CAC_Major_Max" whom I have never spoken with.  I vividly remember how I joined the Watch (was playing as Nephie at the time, before that data was corrupted on their server...).  Long story short, Connore of LOTRO did all of the work.

59

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Vista...

« on: September 09, 2008, 03:06:12 am »

Better get used to it because XP is going bye bye

They can take my XP out of my cold dead hands. I'll use it till Windows 7 ships some time next year

Hehehehe.  Oh... sometimes I wish I wasn't bound by a non-disclosure agreement.  There is just so much I could say about that, but I'd rather not be fired right now. 

Vista has plenty of problems, but in my opinion and experience, most of them are really just in design, not technical problems.  The only exceptions to that are related to DRM.  Vista is a very viable OS.  Sure, migration can always be tricky since running legacy software can be a crap-shoot, but that's normal.  For a business, its a risk, but one that can be managed.  There are a lot of benefits to switching to a newer OS (or linux  ).  For a gamer, some old games and apps might not work, but you can always run old software on old hardware, right?  Anyhow, I like XP too.    The ONLY reason I run Vista is because I actually want some of the features (RAM usage, DX11, Aero, etc).

We don't really know how MS is going to sell Win7 yet.  I thought they mentioned to the press that we'd have to pay more for any features outside of the default, like some ala carte system. 

60

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Tech Help

« on: August 06, 2008, 04:48:42 pm »

The message that says "entering power saver mode"... thats from the monitor, right?  Does anything else show up on the screen before that?

Assuming that nothing else shows up on the screen before that message, a dead stick of RAM could cause the computer not to POST (Power-On Self Test, the self-diagnostics run before the OS gets loaded).  I'm assuming that you have either 2 or 4 sticks of RAM.  Try removing one of the sticks of RAM then see if the computer works.  If you have 3-4 sticks, try removing all of them then test the machine with 1 stick at a time.  You could also try swapping another video card in there and see if that works.

Try not to build up any static electricity and also be sure touch something metal (like the computer case or a lamp) to discharge any you've built up before you touch the internal computer parts.

In my experience, dead power supplies tend to just die and stay dead, or lose power after a few minutes whenever you try to use them.  There are power supply testers for as little as $10, but they only test for under and over-voltage.

A dead or dying system board tends to have different symptoms than what you've described, but could still be the problem.  If you know your model of system board, you could find a manual for it online.  You might have diagnostic LEDs on the board itself that can tell you where the problem is (video, RAM, etc).  That has worked for me before.

61

Ceredwin's Cauldron / Re: Cancel your credit card before you die..........(hilarious!)

« on: July 23, 2008, 07:34:37 pm »

Thank you. 

62

General Discussion / Re: Will DVD be inheriting HD DVD's web features?

« on: July 07, 2008, 05:33:20 pm »

Those feature are already incorporated into the latest Bluray standard, although the PS3 is the only capable player for that updated standard at this point, unless the newest devices can already perform.

63

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 12, 2008, 04:33:50 pm »

8800GT 512

Seems like its the most recommended card at this point.  It's suppose to have performance on par with the $500 cards, yet its only about $150.  I'm sure Nvidia would rather sell you on a 9800 though. 

64

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 11, 2008, 04:50:25 am »

there are tons of settings you can tweak to get more FPS.  I use the medium preset with all shadows off, view distance 1,000, and textures on high (looks too muddy on medium).

65

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 10, 2008, 07:51:57 pm »

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=76226&highlight=nvidia

This link and another link within seem to imply that the "8800GT" (512) is the best deal, despite its age, performing on par with the 9800-series, which is supposed to be the best on the market.  Its making me consider swapping out my 8800GTS (320) for one of those.

This one is $150 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143118

66

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 10, 2008, 02:20:48 pm »

8800GTS 512, maybe?  Would that be an upgrade for you?  That's about $250 and should run the game on medium with decent performance.  I've just got the 8800GTS 320.  Supposedly, the $500 9800s are the best, but I think I'm going to wait for a substantial price drop.

67

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 09, 2008, 06:58:43 pm »

I think its worth a try.  I'm assuming your card is good for the medium settings (I run medium with my 8800GTS 320), but I was worried about the RAM.  2gig for XP sounds about right.  The game is supposed to take advantage of dual and quad-core procs, so you might miss a little performance over having a single, but that might be minor.  If you get it downloaded, one of us in H Company will make sure you get a buddy key.  I think we get them online via our account page...

Keep in mind that EVERYONE who plays this game gets a sudden shock along the lines of "WTF?  I thought my system was good!?!?"  Don't worry, its normal.  Take a look at the textures and architecture for a bit, and you'll see why its such a power-hog.   

Feel free to use H Company's forums too.

68

General Discussion / Re: AOC and computer spec?

« on: June 09, 2008, 03:30:58 pm »

As long as you aren't running Vista, you might be able to run it on the low or medium graphic presets.  AoC is seriously power-hungry though.

69

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Theme Tune

« on: May 14, 2008, 05:51:28 pm »

Joural, I trashed my console, but I kept the cartridge, and the music is the reason why. 

70

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Vista...

« on: April 17, 2008, 08:31:17 pm »

Running Vista without all of the bells and whistles is actually pretty smooth.  For example, I've done a fair amount of work in Server 2008 (which is nothing more than another SKU of Vista).  MS could make a really great OS if there was less a bit less focus-group driven design and... a lot of stuff I can't talk about.   

I'd use Linux for everything at home, if it was viable.  I wish it was.

71

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Vista...

« on: April 01, 2008, 04:21:04 pm »

Video drivers are definately a prime suspect there, but there's more that could be going on.  Has the game been updated to be explicitly compatible with Vista? The game is a lot older than the OS you're trying to run it on.  If not, have you tried running the game in XP compatability mode?

Anyhow, changing to a different OS normally leads to incompatabilit ies.  You shouldn't be surprised when that happens.  It WILL happen again.  It's happened to me many many times.   

There are good and bad things about Vista.  I've seen it do things that no other MS OS could ever handle.  For example, explorer in Vista can actually browse directories containing several million subdirectories .  Try that in any other OS from MS and it will just error out.  (Yes, I have actually had to do this before.)

Remember, Windows is for play, Linux is for work.  You have to pay to play, and there will always be issues of obsolecence.

72

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Movie download

« on: March 30, 2008, 05:32:38 pm »

It could also be that the DVD burner only works with one type of writeable DVD media, but you've given it the wrong type of blank.  It could also be a driver problem.  I've run into similar problems with .ISO burning.

73

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Movie download

« on: March 28, 2008, 10:07:25 pm »

The DVD box set is pretty cheap.  It has some nice bonus features too.

74

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Hi everybody!

« on: March 25, 2008, 11:02:04 pm »

Yes, its a frighteningly realistic likeness!

75

Flotsam and Jetsam / Re: Hi everybody!

« on: March 25, 2008, 02:09:20 am »

Okay, I made my avatar.  Kind of hard to see, but that's almost a katana there.  I studied Japanese fencing (kendo) for years, so it's appropriate.