Profile for Zeviz

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What's your sex? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 20:43 Profile Homepage #73
Thanks for all the welcomes. :)

As for all the new names, my assumption is that new names mean new people. Since people change both in real life and in the characters they play on these boards, it's better to assume that everybody I meet now is different from what they were over 2 years ago and new names just help remind me of that. I even considered changing my own online alias.

[ Saturday, June 04, 2005 20:45: 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
Insults in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 20:39 Profile Homepage #41
quote:
Originally written by 4.808 x 10^3:

Fat and ugly then, though ugly and fat usually go hand in hand.
Actually, until 19th century, the opposite was considered true. Extra fat was seen as a sign of health and wealth. Skinny people were likely to be sick or starving. If you look at old paintings, there are few very skinny women in them, unless the subjects are supposed to be sick or malnurished.

Extra fat became unfascionable only in 20th century, when heart desease became a bigger problem than malnutrition. With modern lifestile (and modern junk food) producing more and more obese people extra weight is now considered unhealthy.

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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
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 20:18 Profile Homepage #169
Creator, while your advice is probably good in general, there are many occupations that wouldn't even consider an applicant without a certain degree. This is especially true in large companies, where managers can not hire a person just because they like him. And, your advice works only for those with very good social skills. Not everybody can pick up a phone book and start calling random people.

Besides, the university time can be very fun and you never know when you might need something that you've learned there. As for the money, unless you go to an expensive private shool, the money spent on tuition is much less than the money spent on living expenses.

--------------------
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
need a little help in Blades of Avernum
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, June 3 2005 14:48 Profile Homepage #11
Vahnatai are the humanoids that look like aliens from Sci-Fi movies. They are wearing fluorescent green robes. They are hiding in some caves to the east (left) of the library level. If the things attacking you look differently, you are in the wrong place.

If Vahnatai are hostile to you, you have to either use character editor, or leave and wait for the town to refresh. The town refreshes after you've visited 4 or 5 other "towns". (Each level of mage guild counts as a separate town.)

[ Friday, June 03, 2005 14:51: 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
What's your sex? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, June 3 2005 09:24 Profile Homepage #65
quote:
Originally written by Archmage Alex:

Am I crazy, or did Zeviz just queitly return after a very long absence?

EDIT: Speaking of crazy, do I recall that you were in Russia, or was that some one else?
Yes, I am back, although I am not sure for how long. I just don't like grand entrances (and grand exits).

About Russia, I moved from Russia to America about 10.5 years ago.

But you are crazy anyway. :P

[ Friday, June 03, 2005 09:27: 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
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 20:54 Profile Homepage #148
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

I don't think that is or should be the actual goal, but I think it is the failsafe achievement that universities get by on making. It ought to be possible to do better than this, though. I somehow learned some important things in college. Everyone should have this opportunity.
What did yo learn in college? And did you learn it as part of curriculum, or just from being in college?
(I also learned a lot of important things, but they were completely unrelated to classes and related to living independently and closely encountering a lot of completely different people for the first time.)

As for the value of college's name, I haven't seen that. So far all of my jobs after the very first one have been recieved from people who either knew me from a previus job or from their friends who tought a class where I did very well.

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 20:58: 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
What's your sex? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 20:10 Profile Homepage #59
quote:
Originally written by 4.808 x 10^3:

We can talk about a bunch of stuff in person that would be considered inacceptible spam here on the boards. That and we're here talking to scores of people we know so well but have never met.
You could talk about anything on AIM. In fact, Saunders used to run a very insane chatroom. Is that chatroom still running?

--------------------
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
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 14:14 Profile Homepage #140
I guess the question is: what is the goal of undergraduate education?

If the goal is just to train technicians, computer programmers, etc, it would be more efficient to just give people a few classes in the things they'll be directly working on. (Even in a high level programming job I'll never use most of what I've learned in college.)

If the goal is to prepare people for research (work that generally requires graduate degrees), then why are so many people taking these undergrad classes? Most engineering students will not go on to get Phds.

The only practical goal of undergraduate education appears to be making a "well educated person". If that is the goal, current system is fine for providing a lot of random information.

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 14:15: 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
What's your sex? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 13:51 Profile Homepage #52
quote:
Originally written by Ash Lael:

...
Basically, the point is so you get a better understanding of who that person is. Words on the internet can only tell you so much. The tone of your voice, the way you walk, what your immediate reaction to something is as opposed to your considered reaction, etc, are all facets of a person that we aren't really privy to from the boards.[/QB]
The question is: are you sure you want to know? :)

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 13:51: 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
ever felt anyone envys you just because you are intelligent? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 13:46 Profile Homepage #4
Nobody likes being told "I am smart and you are dumb."

Most people don't resent the fact that there might be an area in which you are better than them. (After all, there are some areas in which they are better than you.) What people do resent is being constantly reminded of their weaknesses. Just try not to "help" people when your help isn't wanted and not to sound condescending when you talk to them.

I've seen too many people who consider themselves vastly superior to everybody else just because they've read certain books, hold certain views, etc.

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 13:48: 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
Karma and Bush, and also the WTC in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 12:23 Profile Homepage #142
About Farnheit 9/11, or any other propaganda movie for that matter, there is nothing you can't prove with a large pile of footage and a good editing job. That's the whole point of a propaganda movie: to make your side look good and the other side look evil.

However, while the movie was a huge success in terms of getting a lot of money for Michael Moore, it didn't have much effect on election itself: those who already hated Bush didn't need it and those who liked Bush dismissed it as left-wing propaganda.
____________
As for various conspiracy theories, there are theories that: Egyptian Pyramids were built by aliens; US government carried out teleportation experiments in 40s and 50s; there is a crashed flying saucer hidden in a US military base; there are several secret societies each of which is supposedly controlling the world, etc.

The theory that 9/11 was Bush's plot to take over the world is so convenient for many people's political views, that they will want to believe it regardless of it's plausibility. (All other conspiracy theories I've listed have just as much proof as this one.)

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 12:25: 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
trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 09:24 Profile Homepage #8
There are well over a dozen possible endings, if you count each minor variation. This happens because many things you do affect different aspects of the ending. Some actions will change only a single line, while others change entire pages. Here are the actions I remember, listed in order of magnitude of change they cause:

1. Joining one of the sects.

2. Fulfilling all objectives for one of the sects (or killing Barzite and Taker leaders if you are unaligned.)

3. Using canisters. (You are allowed to use 4 or 5 canisters with no problem, but if you get "people now look strangely at you" message when traveling in populated area, you know you've used too many. Being augmented by a sect also counts as using too many canisters.)

4. Killing Zachari.

5. Killing Barzahl.

6. Finding and killing Shanti's (sp?) killer.

7. Killing the leader of awakened.

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 09:42: 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
trying to tweak the ending (spoilers) in Geneforge 2
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 09:24 Profile Homepage #8
There are well over a dozen possible endings, if you count each minor variation. This happens because many things you do affect different aspects of the ending. Some actions will change only a single line, while others change entire pages. Here are the actions I remember, listed in order of magnitude of change they cause:

1. Joining one of the sects.

2. Fulfilling all objectives for one of the sects (or killing Barzite and Taker leaders if you are unaligned.)

3. Using canisters. (You are allowed to use 4 or 5 canisters with no problem, but if you get "people now look strangely at you" message when traveling in populated area, you know you've used too many. Being augmented by a sect also counts as using too many canisters.)

4. Killing Zachari.

5. Killing Barzahl.

6. Finding and killing Shanti's (sp?) killer.

7. Killing the leader of awakened.

[ Thursday, June 02, 2005 09:42: 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
Most Popular/Favorite Moderator in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Thursday, June 2 2005 07:43 Profile Homepage #24
Congrats to Shrodinger about that. :)

As for the poll itself, results are curious because the second question basically asks "who will get the most votes on question 1", or "who do you think others will vote for". With either interpretation it appears that some mods are a lot more popular than everybody assumes.

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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
Key #3 in Nethergate
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 22:41 Profile Homepage #1
I think the answer might be in this walkthrough:
http://www.geocities.com/zeviz1/nethergate/rwalk.html#abandoned_mines

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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
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 22:04 Profile Homepage #122
I have 1 huge piece of advice for the people who are planning to get degrees in computer programming, CS, CS + Math, or any other similar thing:
Don't bother.

I got a degree like this 1.5 years ago and I still don't have a programming job, despite my Berkeley degrees in EECS and Applied Math, with some work experience and decent GPA. (I've given up on programming and got a SQA job instead.) Several of the people I know aren't doing much better.

Don't get me wrong, if you've been programming computers since you've learned to read and have dreamt your entire life of working at Google, go for it. But if you simply "like computers" or want to get in on a hot field, I'd suggest trying something else.

PS Kelandon, which physics classes did you take, the physics 7 series or physics 8 series?

I personally prefer derivations, rather than problem solving in my classes, because any computer (and even some calculators) can solve the problems for you, given the formulas. Deriving these formulas and seeing how they interact is the fun part.

--------------------
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
Geneforge 3 for Windows in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Wednesday, June 1 2005 14:01 Profile Homepage #17
Apparently the game has been released for Windows today. (Check Spidweb main page.)

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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
Who's Lurking? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, March 22 2004 02:35 Profile Homepage #56
Does coming back here once in 2 or 3 months count?

[ Monday, March 22, 2004 02:36: 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
Nethergate? in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 16 2004 13:05 Profile Homepage #10
If you play the games for storyline, Nethergates is one of Spidweb's best games.

In terms of gameplay itself, it's not as polished as Avernum (because it was Avernum's predecessor), but it is still pretty good and has some unique elements that don't exist in either Exile or Avernum series.

Overall, I'd suggest downloading the demo and trying it. If you get so addicted that you have to register the game, you'll agree that it's good. :)

--------------------
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
Free Will in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 9 2004 14:03 Profile Homepage #17
Radiant gave a good description of the basic source of randomness in the universe. So the question is whether human brain actually uses that randomness, or is fully determentistic. (The fact that randomness exists doesn't mean that it is being used. For example, you'll agree that an eraser doesn't have free will, despite all the quantum randomness in the universe.)

We currently don't know enough about underlying processes in the brain to tell if it has parts that are truly random. Neural nets (which are a computer simulation of what people thought at some point neurons acted like) will always give the same output given the same set of inputs. So I guess the question is whether our brain is more random than simple neural nets.

--------------------
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
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 9 2004 13:53 Profile Homepage #45
Economic Left/Right: -4.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.10

The test is definitely biased towards the lower-left corner. This is probably due to the fact that by "liberal" and "conservative" they include social stereotypes associated with the given sides of the spectrum. For example, what does my opinions about abstract art or astrology have to do with my political beliefs?

The test is also biased, because it should be impossible to get -10/-10. If you are saying that corporations can't be trusted to police themselves, you should be moving left on the economic chart and up on the authoritarian chart. (More government control.) In general, if you want more regulated economy, you are putting more power into hands of government, thus moving yourself up on the authoritarian chart.

--------------------
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
improvements for geneforge 3.... your thoughts in Geneforge Series
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 9 2004 12:24 Profile Homepage #94
If people really want to see some of these thing implemented, you should do the same thing as for BoA: at some point when Jeff is just beginning to work on Geneforge 3, make a huge poll, listing all of these suggestions and asking people what they want. Then take the top 10 suggestions, write them up very well and submit the list to Jeff.

If you decide to do it that way, before making a poll you will have to remove all suggestions that would require significant changes to game engine. (You are not going to be able to use 2 weapons at once, no matter how hard you ask. You are also not going to see things such as transparent walls or expensive modern graphics.)

As for my own addition to the list, I have to repeat the complaint I had when beta-testing GF1: clicking on your character should not skip a turn. I've lost many battles because I accidentally clicked my character when trying to attack an oponent standing in front of me or when trying to take a small step forward.

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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
improvements for geneforge 3.... your thoughts in Geneforge 2
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Friday, January 9 2004 12:24 Profile Homepage #94
If people really want to see some of these thing implemented, you should do the same thing as for BoA: at some point when Jeff is just beginning to work on Geneforge 3, make a huge poll, listing all of these suggestions and asking people what they want. Then take the top 10 suggestions, write them up very well and submit the list to Jeff.

If you decide to do it that way, before making a poll you will have to remove all suggestions that would require significant changes to game engine. (You are not going to be able to use 2 weapons at once, no matter how hard you ask. You are also not going to see things such as transparent walls or expensive modern graphics.)

As for my own addition to the list, I have to repeat the complaint I had when beta-testing GF1: clicking on your character should not skip a turn. I've lost many battles because I accidentally clicked my character when trying to attack an oponent standing in front of me or when trying to take a small step forward.

--------------------
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
Lady J in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, June 23 2003 21:27 Profile Homepage #19
TM, I am really sorry about the name confusion. It's been fixed already. Since both of you change your name often, for some reason I thought that "Expanding Man" was him while I was writing my post. I am sorry.

As for the point of this thread, nobody asked you about J's history. The question was "where is she CURRENTLY." The "information" that you provided in responce is older then many of J's posts on this board.

The answer to original questio is: "she is in Decateur, Georgia. She no longer visits Spidweb and, to the best of my knowledge, is not responding to e-mails about stuff hosted on her server." If you didn't know some parts of above answer, you didn't have to post them. You could simply say: "She hasn't been seen here in half a year." I don't see a reason to drag up her entire hisory in a place where it's totally irrelevant and a simple, one sentence responce would suffice.

PS How would you feel if whenever your name came up, I would start bringing up your entire history, particularly the parts of it you would prefer to forget. (Each of us, including myself, has parts of his history he would prefer to forget.)

[ Monday, June 23, 2003 21:44: 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
Lady J in General
Zeviz
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
 written Monday, June 23 2003 21:06 Profile Homepage #17
Another of my posts that did more harm then good. :( I really should have stayed offline today.

Imban, I am sorry, I didn't realize that Djur, Alec and Thuryl have left, considering that this thread is still on the front page and Djur's last post was just 2 days ago. And I do not imply any vendettas. I added the note about Desp members only after I've added the first disclaimer about me being J's friend.

TM, what is the point of you "listing things J told you" now? What are you trying to achive? The only reason I can see is to ridicule J. There is no other point in repeating these stories.

PS Since the original question has been answered, the sole point of this topic now seems to be redicule of a single person who isn't even here. So I don't see why this topic hasn't been locked yet.

[ Monday, June 23, 2003 21:18: 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

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