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31
Announcements / Re: Tentative Todo
« on: June 07, 2010, 11:04:13 am »you said it would be done by now.
This is Josh we're talking about.
32
Off-Topic / Re: WebM released
« on: May 21, 2010, 10:40:26 am »HTML5 video is just as much a resource hog as Flash. Memory usage is not a reason to switch from Flash.
OK. I didn't know that.
At least the code that could be fixed is in the public domain to be fixed. There was no way to modify the Flash Player's code (and its free alternatives aren't good enough yet) but in theory I could get Firefox's source and start optimising it right now.
Unless you mean HTML5 the standard is slow, meaning it's a problem with the specification and design of HTML5.
33
Off-Topic / Re: WebM released
« on: May 20, 2010, 10:47:26 am »
Best news all year.
It looks to be close enough to h.264 in quality, features and current/future hardware support that there's little reason to prefer h.264 unless you absolutely must have the highest quality. Personally I would have accepted Theora quality in return for the additional freedoms, but more people will believe this is 'good enough'.
The important thing is that Youtube plays it and Firefox supports it. So I can get rid of Flash soon, the resource hog that it is.
I expect the MPEG-LA to claim VP8 infringes their patents as soon as they can.
It looks to be close enough to h.264 in quality, features and current/future hardware support that there's little reason to prefer h.264 unless you absolutely must have the highest quality. Personally I would have accepted Theora quality in return for the additional freedoms, but more people will believe this is 'good enough'.
The important thing is that Youtube plays it and Firefox supports it. So I can get rid of Flash soon, the resource hog that it is.
I expect the MPEG-LA to claim VP8 infringes their patents as soon as they can.
34
Off-Topic / Re: David Cameron is the new UK Prime Minister
« on: May 13, 2010, 04:26:46 pm »
Oh. Well, the BBC does not advertise, so almost all of its funding is from the license fee.
If it did advertise, it would generate more than enough money to produce Doctor Who. Personally I'd rather pay the money and keep the commercial pressures off so we get high quality, neutral content for a range of audiences. The commercial channels ITV and Channel 4/5 are much poorer quality.
If it did advertise, it would generate more than enough money to produce Doctor Who. Personally I'd rather pay the money and keep the commercial pressures off so we get high quality, neutral content for a range of audiences. The commercial channels ITV and Channel 4/5 are much poorer quality.
35
Off-Topic / Re: David Cameron is the new UK Prime Minister
« on: May 12, 2010, 02:31:12 pm »
@Ism
What do you mean by subsidise?
@a2h
The BBC is funded via the TV license fee, not taxes, and they won't be cutting that.
What do you mean by subsidise?
@a2h
The BBC is funded via the TV license fee, not taxes, and they won't be cutting that.
36
Off-Topic / Re: David Cameron is the new UK Prime Minister
« on: May 11, 2010, 04:32:01 pm »By printing more money, no doubt :-p
By cutting spending a lot, mostly. I hope they'll end Labour's plan of printing money.
37
Off-Topic / Re: Music?
« on: May 11, 2010, 04:14:37 pm »Game_boy:
You pretty much ARE me, then. I also hate basically all lyrics. Those first two songs... I love them. Ever listen to any OC Remixes?
A few. Not the ones that are trance/house/electronica or whatever they call that kind of thing this week.
Metroid II Ending theme: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01291/
Castlevania: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01464/
And something that uses the voice as an instrument, but I wouldn't call them lyrics really, from the Civilisation IV Main Theme: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01843/
38
Off-Topic / David Cameron is the new UK Prime Minister
« on: May 11, 2010, 03:58:15 pm »
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8675265.stm
It will likely be a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Don't worry, the Conservatives are to the left of the Democrats on many issues despite their name (like socialised medicine) and the Liberal Democrats would probably be considered loony communists in the US. The outgoing Labour government couldn't really campaign on change given they've had 13 years in power.
I voted for the first time this election, and I'm happy this result is now confirmed. Cameron can start to fix our national debt now.
It will likely be a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Don't worry, the Conservatives are to the left of the Democrats on many issues despite their name (like socialised medicine) and the Liberal Democrats would probably be considered loony communists in the US. The outgoing Labour government couldn't really campaign on change given they've had 13 years in power.
I voted for the first time this election, and I'm happy this result is now confirmed. Cameron can start to fix our national debt now.
39
General ENIGMA / Re: ENIGMA on iPhone - Now legally impossible
« on: April 22, 2010, 04:06:20 pm »
If you have any realistic society at all, i.e. one maintained without massive external military force to keep things the same, then I believe one group's interests (whether that be anarchic private security company, church, nobility, intellectuals, etc.) would rise to the top naturally; a leadership would form with or without the input of the people. Then human nature would ensure those people create a formal power structure more or less like a dictatorship. After a few hundred years, societal pressure and the need for reliable governance would create either a Western-style democracy. The only societies that would evolve otherwise are those using some freak resource imbalance to keep it as a authoritarian state indefinitely (Saudi Arabia's oil, China's people and industrial capacity, many African countries' extreme poverty).
The state closest to true anarchy (which I believe would degenerate anyway) is Somalia, and even that is controlled by tribal warlords if you look closer. If Somalia had a bare minimum of infrastructure for trade, or they found oil/diamonds there, I'd bet that within 6 months it would be a unified authoritarian state.
And every other state in the world is either a i) democracy, ii) entrenched authoritarian state with that resource imbalance or iii) slowly modernising authoritarian state. Or the Vatican, lol.
--
@Rusky
Point taken, we don't know for certain how things would proceed. But I can't imagine the initial conditions ever happening so we can find out, unless you can see a path from one current state (you choose) to an anarchic one that doesn't leave a group in overall power.
For example, if I led a national movement for anarchy and formed a government in normal ways in order to abolish it to create anarchy, whatever remnants of the prior state (important people in my campaign etc.) would be left in a slight position of power over everything. And it would take a single self-interested person to use that as a stepping stone to traditional authoritarianism.
The state closest to true anarchy (which I believe would degenerate anyway) is Somalia, and even that is controlled by tribal warlords if you look closer. If Somalia had a bare minimum of infrastructure for trade, or they found oil/diamonds there, I'd bet that within 6 months it would be a unified authoritarian state.
And every other state in the world is either a i) democracy, ii) entrenched authoritarian state with that resource imbalance or iii) slowly modernising authoritarian state. Or the Vatican, lol.
--
@Rusky
Point taken, we don't know for certain how things would proceed. But I can't imagine the initial conditions ever happening so we can find out, unless you can see a path from one current state (you choose) to an anarchic one that doesn't leave a group in overall power.
For example, if I led a national movement for anarchy and formed a government in normal ways in order to abolish it to create anarchy, whatever remnants of the prior state (important people in my campaign etc.) would be left in a slight position of power over everything. And it would take a single self-interested person to use that as a stepping stone to traditional authoritarianism.
41
General ENIGMA / Re: ENIGMA on iPhone - Now legally impossible
« on: April 11, 2010, 06:05:14 am »What happens if I compile a game on it anyway? No one is going to know.
But you need to put it on the App Store or no one will be able to use it without jailbreaking. And then they'll notice and remove it.
42
General ENIGMA / Re: ENIGMA on iPhone - Now legally impossible
« on: April 09, 2010, 04:35:08 pm »
Moral: Don't buy into a closed platform and expect it to work.
43
Issues Help Desk / Re: Map loading
« on: April 07, 2010, 04:16:58 pm »
Well, the other thread wouldn't be affecting variables or data the player would be interacting with, and I'm happy to have the game freeze if you get there faster than it loads.
So I should avoid most of the problems with threads and memory issues.
Also I can use both of my CPU cores, that's got to help.
So I should avoid most of the problems with threads and memory issues.
Also I can use both of my CPU cores, that's got to help.
45
Issues Help Desk / Re: Map loading
« on: April 07, 2010, 08:09:37 am »
Is that even possible in GM?
Unless you mean as a DLL, in which case I don't know C++.
I have kind of simulated that already by loading a few lines each step, but the limiting factor seems to be reading speed.
Unless you mean as a DLL, in which case I don't know C++.
I have kind of simulated that already by loading a few lines each step, but the limiting factor seems to be reading speed.