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Episode 3 Continued in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, March 19 2007 16:18 Profile Homepage #420
quote:
Originally written by Dikiyoba:

But I don't want to be part of an empire! I want to be free!

Though that doesn't appear to be an option. Or at least, not an option I have time to hunt down
...
Take a look at this list:

http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1286

Whatever option you chose, I highly recommend setting up several mirrors with a single, highly reliable entry point. A place like geocities and freewebs might have terrible service, but you know that they will always be around, so a good solution could be a front page at geocities/freewebs that redirects people to your current host of choise. This would mean that if your free host disappears (happens pretty often with both "friends" and small companies), you would simply have to change the links on your front page and people will not even have to update their bookmarks.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Controvers-A-Poll in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, March 19 2007 16:09 Profile Homepage #21
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

In general, Russians who live in Asia are no more Asian than Americans who live in the United States are Native American.
This is true if you are talking about ethnic Russians (descendants of Eastern Slavic tribes). However, they are only a part of Russian population, a rather small part in many areas. Russia is a multi-ethnic country with many different population groups. Think of it as something half-way between EU (whose parts have very little in common) and USA (where everybody is "American").

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Where You At Now? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, March 19 2007 15:54 Profile Homepage #40
It seems average age here is increasing. I wonder if this reflects a change in the age of Jeff's audience, or simply hostility towards younger members.

About me, I graduated university a little over 3 years ago with BS CS and BA Math. (At some point I realized that I could get a math degree by taking just a couple extra classes, so I went for it, because an extra piece of paper is always good to have.) Currently I am working in a software company (QA automation to be exact). I got a new job recently, which requires a lot more actual work than my old one, so I can no longer waste hours at work browsing forums like this one.

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Jeff Really hates RPGS>?!? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, March 6 2007 11:28 Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Jeff:

Sure, it might be cool to make a game where your character starts out a level 50 badass and then just trashes bozos. But it just wouldn't sell as well.
Actually, such games already exist and outsell most RPGs. They are called First Person Shooters.

Advancement in character stats is the main difference between an RPG and an FPS. (There is no reason FPS games can't involve a complicated storyline, NPC interactions, etc.) How much grinding is involved depends on the RPG, because different people have different tastes. Spidweb games tend to require almost no grinding. On the other extreme, MMORPGs are mostly about grinding, because it's impossible to come up with enough original content to keep players occupied for months without resorting to repetitive activities.

[ Tuesday, March 06, 2007 11:31: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Zimbabwe. in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Tuesday, March 6 2007 11:06 Profile Homepage #21
quote:
Originally written by Calphrexo:

...Also, you probably shouldn't put much weight on what you learn in a world history class. For one, you don't actually learn much about any one area. For another, the information you may be taught might be incorrect or possibly interpreted in a different way. Finally, for more recent history, almost no school is going to have accurate and up-to-date textbooks.
The history teacher vs. a random anonymous guy online ... whom to trust ... such a hard decision ...

I know, let's trust the random anonymous guy, because history classes are always incomplete, biased, and generally evil.

More seriously, while it's good to have a healthy dose of scepticism, you need to apply your scepticism equally well to all sources of information. And there are very few circumstances in which words of an anonymous online poster should carry more weight than words of journalists, teachers, or other people who have to follow at least some professional standards.

[ Tuesday, March 06, 2007 11:07: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Episode 3 Continued in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, February 22 2007 11:30 Profile Homepage #289
quote:
Originally written by Dr. Johann Georg Faust:

... So it's not "everything" that's shutting down, it's just things that are turning this board into a parody of itself.

In Dikiyoba's case, already announcing that there will be no sequel is enough, since the ouroborosis there lies in having the current script be referenced by the current membership, and in turn referencing it. Once the script is finished, and closed, it will become just another piece of Spiderweb art. No more self-reference.
The most fun threads I remember are self-referential threads like this. This might not be a full RP, but it's close enough to give me the same entartainment value. So I don't see any problem with the boards having as many self-referential threads as they've always had. The presence of fun threads doesn't by itself prevent the presence of serious threads.

The thing that does prevent serious threads is when they get derailed by spam or flames, but that is a subject for another time.

EDIT: To Nioca below, you are right, this post was a bit hypocritical. Offtopic material has been removed.

[ Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:39: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The first to figure it out gets a cookie! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, February 22 2007 11:13 Profile Homepage #3
You are celebrating your own postcount. :P

Now I just have to figure out the significance of number 1493.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Round Table on Morality, Theology, and Ethics in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, February 22 2007 10:54 Profile Homepage #45
quote:
Originally written by Cryptozoology:

quote:
Originally written by Ephesos:

Belief isn't a bad thing, and the ability to believe is a blessing. It's merely what people choose to believe in that matters.
This has always struck me as a fairly silly thing to say. How can one choose what one believes? Either one is convinced by the evidence for a particular position or one is not.
...
Let's consider two possible axioms:
Axiom A - Torah is the [highly allegorical] word of god [that requires a lot of interpretation to apply to modern life] that was given to us (Jews) on Mount Sinai.
Axiom B - There is nothing supernatural in this world. Every event can be explained by a combination of random chance and quirks of human psychology.

I can build a pretty solid worldview based on either of the above axioms. They are obviously mutually exclusive, but the [conflicting] explanations they allow to create have approximately equal number of holes in them, and the more I learn about either the more holes I can fill in corresponding worldview.

I obviously have to choose one of the underlying axioms, because they are mutually exclusive. However, which of them I believe to be correct is a question of faith [or, in my case, current mood and outside influences], because either axiom can serve as a basis for equally convincing theory.

The same exercise can probably be performed with Axiom C - Jesus was a son of god and our savior, Axiom D - Krishna is the real deity behind other religious figures, etc. Which starting axiom the person chooses is a question of belief, but once it is chosen it's possible to build a convincing worldview around it.

PS Even once you've chosen the underlying axiom you have a lot of choise in interpreting all the other religious documents to select the precise set of rules and regulations to follow. (At least that is the case in most of liberal branches of Judaism, and presumably other religions as well.)

[ Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:07: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Episode 3 Continued in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 17:25 Profile Homepage #276
The End of Times is coming! The End of Times is coming! Abandon all your earthly posessions! Confess all your grievous sins! Accept our savior and be redeemed in terrible times to come!

Send your donations (and all your abandoned posessions) to The Church of Coming Apocalypse, PO Box 1337, TX, 91276.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Why You Suck in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 16:43 Profile Homepage #56
quote:
Originally posted by a ton of people:
The boards were so much better several years ago.
Thanks to Web Archive, it's possible to see exactly what many web sites looked like at various points in their history. So let's take a look at the golden age of these boards, the famous Misc forum from February 2002, the time when men were real men, discussions were real discussions, and flamewars were real flamewars: http://web.archive.org/web/20020212081118/www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=12

Let's take a look at the threads captured by the archive on a typical day:
- Three threads talking about computer questions and OS preference.
- Nine! topics that Alec decries as meta-posting. (Topics that talk primarily about board members and board events.)
- Several threads that were probably pure spam (considering that they were started by Shotts).
- Several threads that would be locked as spam if they were posted here today: example, another example.
- Several threads about musical preference.

As you can see, "meta-posting" has always been a big part of these boards. Even if we ignore all Shotts related posts, vast majority of posts from the famous golden age of boards consisted of "meta posting" and "spam".

This is the thing with all "golden ages": They happen only in our imaginations. The more years go by, the more does the past look like an idyllic mirage, with all bad memories carefully suppressed. No wonder people always dream about return to past golden ages.

However, thorough analysis of Web Archive of these boards shows that the golden age never happened. The boards were always filled with at least as much self-reflection and outright spam as today. The only difference is that there was more flaming and no reminiscing about "good old days".

PS As for political debates and RPs, we had even fewer of them five years ago. All "debates" deteriorated into flame wars before reaching end of page one. And I can remember only a single notable RP from the first year of these boards.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Epitaph in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 16:28 Profile Homepage #6
It's ironic to see a goodbye thread from a person whose only notable contribution was making fun of the trend of postcount celebrations.

I have a strong suspicion that this "lurker" is actually an alternate account of some bitter oldbie (I've never seen such high ratio of sarcastic posts from real lurkers), but either way, you need to make a meaningful contribution to the community before you can expect people to care about your grand anouncement of departure.

[ Wednesday, February 21, 2007 16:29: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Round Table on Morality, Theology, and Ethics in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 15:57 Profile Homepage #13
quote:
Originally written by Waylander:

Ephesos:
quote:

I mean, I'm an atheist, but I see a lot of worthwhile ideas in most extant religions.
That's funny. I'm an atheist, and I see the exact opposite. Religion is inherently detrimental to both the individual, and the collective.
There will always be bloodthirsty fanatics and there will always be people too nice to kill an insect. It doesn't matter what religion they follow, even though some religions make it harder to justify violence than others. Communism and fascism have caused as many deaths as any similarly common religion, so secular philosophies aren't inherently less violent.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Why You Suck in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 15:29 Profile Homepage #55
Alec, I partially agree with your point and wouldn't have complained if you didn't lapse into your usual pattern of insulting everybody and then being offended by response.

Dintiradan, complaining about lack of RPs will not get you a good RP thread; complaining about lack of political discussions will not start a thoughtful political discussion, etc. Everybody here has work, college, and other things to do besides this board. Don't expect somebody to start a thread just because you complain about lack of them.

Nioca, Salmon was trying to say that the reasons you say "most people" come to these boards apply only to you. I know a lot of people who come here for occasional serious and thought-provoking discussion in addition to just "talking about games" that you seem to prefer. So don't use phrases like "everybody" or "most people" unless you've personally talked to everybody and they've told you their opinions.

Ephesos, these boards are currently far milder than most other online forums. If you think discussions here are too rough, you'd really hate to see what 95% of the rest of the internet looks like. I am not saying that flames are ok, but there really is only so much civility you can expect in a semi-anonymous online setting.

PS I'll reply to Aran's dissertation later, because this post is already getting too long.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
It's a Wonderful Life in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 13:02 Profile Homepage #2
These graphs are very informative. Where do they get their data?

It's interesting to see the movement even on the default life expectancy v. income graph. You can see steady growth in most European and some Asian countries, the turmoil in former USSR, etc.

On that note, what happened to Botswana and South Africa? They fell from being some of the most prosperous countries on the continent to having smallest life expectancy, but maintaining high income.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Episode 3 Continued in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 12:53 Profile Homepage #267
quote:
Originally written by Death Twisted:

Sigh. Nalyd wasn't in it. Neither were the other new people. Nalyd won't be, either. Nalyd won't be in Episode 4, either. Nalyd will now go and sulk.
Be careful. I still have that extra script in which you get killed twice in a painful and embarrassing way that also prevents any possibility of future resurrection. :P

[ Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12:54: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Episode 3 Continued in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 10:25 Profile Homepage #263
Very nice. :)

Is this The End?

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Recommend a new (to me) game in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 10:09 Profile Homepage #27
quote:
Originally written by philnotfil:


...
Anyway, my all-time favorite games have been X-Com, Civ II, and the Exile games.
...
Any suggestions?

If you liked Civ II, I'd highly recommend Civ IV, if your computer can handle it. The game is as fun as previous installments in that series and includes more strategic depth and better AI. You can turn off most of the extra graphics and turn on additional information displays to get a more utilitarian look you seem to prefer.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Why You Suck in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 09:55 Profile Homepage #37
There seem to be 3 types of opinions expressed in this thread:

1. "You suck." - This implies that the poster doesn't consider himself a part of these forums and has low opinion about them. In that case, what are you [the poster] doing here anyway? Go hang out with somebody who doesn't "suck".

2. "We suck." - This implies that the poster thinks there is a problem and he is part of it. In that case, stop wasting your time here and become part of the solution. Go and make those great, fun, engaging, and informative threads you've been longing for.

3. "We are fine." - The poster thinks there is no problem. In this case, why are you wasting your time reading this thread?

Conclusion: Everybody posting here is wasting time that could be more productively spent elsewhere.

quote:
Originally written by Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

...
'Anyone who offers an opinion gets sniped pretty damn quickly' is an unusually non-self-righteous way of putting how you're treating me.
...
What would happen if I came to Desperance and posted a thread "Why You Suck" which said "This place is just a cesspit of obscene images and old in-jokes"?

You've dealt out more insults in your first post alone than you've received in this entire thread, so your "oh, the poor, victimized me" attitude is completely unwarranted.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Soda in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 09:31 Profile Homepage #9
Countries where people eat junk food and drink a lot of Soda have far more overweight people than countries where people eat real food. :P

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The Demon of IRL, Part II in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 09:29 Profile Homepage #9
I voted for SF Bay Area, because that's where I live. I wouldn't go anywhere else just for a Spidweb convention, but if I have another reason to go to an area, I might stop by, depending on who is there.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Cheater! in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, February 21 2007 09:22 Profile Homepage #17
The poll is missing an option: "Make an editor for other people to use." :P

Talking about which, did those people looking for items editor for Gf2 ever found one, or does one still need to be made?

As for my own games, the only cheating I do is exessive reloading, particularly to explore all mutually exclusive conversation options, or to win a difficult combat without losses.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Oldbiehood in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, February 16 2007 11:49 Profile Homepage #62
quote:
Originally written by Now With Responsibility:

I'm wondering why Zeviz decided to use the hardcore ascension tattoo from KoL in the first one.. I mean, is his keyboard not capable of doing that one?
+1 coolness point for recognizing the picture
-1 oldbieness point for missing the Iconboard reference
:P

TM's black marks were posted in massively oversized font. Since UBB doesn't allow non-standard fonts, I had to either make a picture (which I am too lazy to do) or find something that looked similar.

quote:
Originally written by The Sorcerer:

Three fourths for the last definition. I don't get that guy with the white mustache at all.
Drakey's avatar from Iconboard.
quote:
... I wouldn't know about Patsi and Fumurr at all if I hadn't read the archives... somewhere. Desp, maybe? I'm sure they're no longer there...
TM has the posts archived somewhere, but I forgot where exactly. (It's either his site or an old ezboard subforum.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Oldbiehood -- Analysis in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, February 16 2007 11:35 Profile Homepage #10
Slarty's analysis can be summarized quite simply: You are an oldbie if and only if you can casually drop obscure iconboard references. :P

Or, more precisely, to be considered an oldbie a member has to have been active around the time the boards started. To be recognized as an oldbie a member has to be at least moderately active or frequently talked about. (All members in Slarty's "oldbie" category have been active here in late 2001 - early 2002.)

Aran is the most clear example of this cutoff: he is a moderator of General, an admin of 2 out of 3 currently active satellite boards, owner of an archive/rankings site, a frequent poster, and is generally a well-respected member who has been active longer than most of currently active members. So by all objective measures his oldbie rating should be similar to Alorael's and only slightly lower than Drakeys. The only thing keeping him in the low 60s rather than high 80s is that his member number is 2984, instead of 298.

[ Friday, February 16, 2007 11:39: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
G4 Running Slowly (Windows) in Tech Support
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, February 15 2007 19:21 Profile Homepage #24
Summary for people not interested in university-level computer design discussion: Nioca is wrong. Under normal conditions, it's better to have a single large swap file than to let a small one grow.

quote:
False. Virtual Memory is used well before you run out of RAM. In fact, most programs will use Virtual Memory alongside RAM so the actual RAM doesn't get burned through with a single application.
You are right that I was oversimplifying. My point is that I haven't heard of any OS that sends more memory pages to disk just because a larger swap file is there.

quote:
A) The computer has to sift through a larger pagefile to locate the data it's trying to find.
It seems you have no idea about how Virtual Memory is implemented. When application tries to access a page of data, the computer checks the page table to see where (in main memory, or on disk) the page is currently located. The page table itself is stored in main memory, so the lookup time is negligible. (Accessing main memory is about 1000 times faster than accessing hard drive.) If the requested page is on disk, the corresponding block will be read into main memory. This is the time consuming part and it takes the same amount of time regardless of the size of your page file, because only the required chunk of data is read.

quote:
B) The computer has to rewrite the pagefile when it deposits new data or gets rid of old or unneeded data.
This is also completely wrong. Read the above paragraph for an explanation of the page table. When new data needs to be written, only required blocks are overwritten. When the data is no longer needed, no disk writes are performed at all. The space is simply marked as free in the page table (stored in main memory), so new data can be written into it if necessary.

quote:
Fortunately, you can usually set the pagefile so that it starts out small, but will expand as needed. Sort of like a sponge.
This is a very bad idea, because it will cause fragmentation of swap file. (Fragmentation means that parts of the file are stored on different parts of the disk.) Fragmentation is bad because the time it takes for reading heads to find the right track (seek time) and time it takes for disk to rotate to the right position on the track (rotational delay) is much longer than the time required to retrieve the data itself. If your file is a continuous chunk of disk space, you will waste a lot less time positioning the heads than if you have to go to a different part of disk for every block.

[ Thursday, February 15, 2007 19:25: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Brain Teaser(s) in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, February 15 2007 14:46 Profile Homepage #20
quote:
Originally written by Sarasaphilia:

quote:
Originally written by Dintiradan:

And I've decided that post #2000 will require people to solve the Travelling Salesman problem before congratulating me. IMAGE(http://www.forzaitaliaforum.it/images/smiles/evil.gif)

In terms of getting rid of them, in terms of getting rid of them politely, or in terms of torturing them verbally? I could write a book on How To Get Rid Of Telemarketers.

And I like your little Graemlin.
Try googling "Traveling Salesman Problem". It's a problem in algorithm design, asking to figure out the fastest way to visit all cities, returning to the starting location, given a "graph" of cities connected by roads of various length. The trick is that there is no "fast" solution to this kind of problems: all known algorithms take exponentially longer as the number of cities increases. Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is an example of NP-complete problems, which means that a fast way to solve this would also provide a fast way to solve many other unsolvable problems.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00

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