The Vent and Rant Thread

[Katsunami]

I don't understand that kind of shit. Maybe I'm already too old in my mid-thirties.

If there's a sign that says "Please don't touch that," I don't touch it, because I assume the owner of that item doesn't want it touched for whatever reason.

If I had kids, and noticed a shop-owner stepping in for a reprimand, there would be trouble; for the kid. I've always been taught never to touch (breakable) stuff in stores if you don't absolutely have to, and I'd teach it to my kids as well. I'd expect them to abide by it.

When I was a teacher in high-school (as part of my English study), I sometimes got parents at school. "Why did you give my son/daughter a 3 for this test?!" Well, because the count was 4 mistakes a point, something which is announced 7-10 days before (when the kids get told there will be a test), and your son/daughter made 28 mistakes. That's why.

"I don't accept that!"
- "Very good. Next time, make sure he/she actually studies for the test."
*BOOM* %#^%^%^&^#^^^%$@^ !!

[Katsunami]

Bleh. This morning I talked to someone about SSD's, memory, and such, and this person decided to go all hipster.

"So you think a 238 Gibibyte SSD is large enough?"

Dude. Be normal. *NOBODY* uses kibibyte, mebibyte or gibibyte. That crap has been invented (and pushed) by hard drive manufacturers. I know, kilo, mega or giga means thousand, million and billion, so they don't exactly fit computer counting.

However, in the computerworld, it has been accepted that '1 kilo' is 1024, not 1000, and so on. Hard disk manufacturers who create a 256 gigabyte hard drive, count using thousands, instead of 1024, so it'll be 256 billion bytes (256 000 000 000), instead of 274.877.906.944 bytes. Thus, the true size of the hard disk will be 238.42 GB.

Of course, if you then redefine kilobyte, megabyte and gigabyte to count using thousands instead of 1024, and introduce kibibyte, mebibyte and gibibyte to represent the 1024 versions, you'll suddenly be right when stating your hard disk is 256 GB. It'll be exactly true.

So, yes. If you're talking about a 238 Gibibyte SSD, I know you probably mean a model that is listed as 256 GB. I also know the true size of the disk will (probably) be 238 GB (or 238 *** Gibibyte if you so please).

I also know these terms for counting in 1024 steps has been 'official' since 1998, but in practice, nobody ever uses them. At least not in The Netherlands. So, don't try and go all smartass on me. I've been in IT too long for such idiocy. Just use the terms everybody else in the Netherlands uses and has been using for 40 years or so, and don't make an ass of yourself.

What's next; are you also going to talk about Gebibit Ethernet or something?

Edit: This.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/old...11-00/?p=17933

It seems it's not only true for the Netherlands.

Although the International Electronic Commission established the term kibibyte for 1024 bytes, with the abbreviation KiB, Windows Explorer continues to use the abbreviation KB. Why doesn't Explorer get with the program?

Because nobody else is on the program either.

If you look around you, you'll find that nobody uses [....] You have to go out of your way to find people who use the terms kibibyte/KiB, mebibyte/MiB, gibibyte/GiB, etc [...]

In other words, the entire computing industry has ignored the guidance of the IEC.

edit 2: I said, don't try to go smartass on me I *know* Linux does use KiB, MiB and GiB, and AFAIK, they're the only one. Don't even mention it.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I don't understand that kind of shit. Maybe I'm already too old in my mid-thirties.

If there's a sign that says "Please don't touch that," I don't touch it, because I assume the owner of that item doesn't want it touched for whatever reason.

If I had kids, and noticed a shop-owner stepping in for a reprimand, there would be trouble; for the kid. I've always been taught never to touch (breakable) stuff in stores if you don't absolutely have to, and I'd teach it to my kids as well. I'd expect them to abide by it.

When I was a teacher in high-school (as part of my English study), I sometimes got parents at school. "Why did you give my son/daughter a 3 for this test?!" Well, because the count was 4 mistakes a point, something which is announced 7-10 days before (when the kids get told there will be a test), and your son/daughter made 28 mistakes. That's why.

"I don't accept that!"
- "Very good. Next time, make sure he/she actually studies for the test."
*BOOM* %#^%^%^&^#^^^%$@^ !!

I also grew up knowing that in stores you look with your eyes and not with your hands. I was also taught never to touch anything that's in the shop window or on displays. If I want something that's in the window but I can't find it in the store I'll ask a sales person. And if the one in the shop window or display is the last one it's up to the sales person to decide whether they can sell it or not. My sister worked on the lingerie department in a department store and told stories of seeing people undressing mannequins because an item was their size and they wanted to try it on.

People who take things from the shop window usually claim that they haven't seen the signs (just like they don't see the signs on the window asking them not to park their bicycles in front of it). But then again, I grew up in a store and knows what is unwanted behaviour and I will never behave in that way.

Yesterday wasn't bad. Mostly customers that knew what they wanted and mostly customer that listened. Just two more days until things start to normalize again (hopefully) and luckily the 31st of December is always a quiet day because people are busy with the preparation for the night's festivities.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Dude. Be normal. *NOBODY* uses kibibyte, mebibyte or gibibyte. That crap has been invented (and pushed) by hard drive manufacturers.

Hard drive manufacturers just add a little *GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes to their literature. They don't care about Mebi, etc. either.

Personally, I like them. Especially when you're talking about memory sizes (where they often apply) and transmission rates (where they should never be used).

Gigabit Ethernet really is 1,000,000,000 bits per second.

But I also accept that no-one uses them.

[Katsunami]

So, I actually did it. I had GOG.com remove every single game I'm not going to ever play from my library. It did cost me something like €50 or so, which I spent since GOG.com's founding 8 years ago, but I don't really mind. I like them and their service, so I consider the money a christmas present to them.

The fact that they patch games to the very latest version, package up everything into one installer, I can play without DRM, without swapping CD's, and often, even without having to tinker with the game to get it to run (as GOG integrates community fixes into the installer if possible) is worth a lot to me.

Not to mention that I've been able to get some games for peanuts; literally less than €2.
====
While that was not a rant, gaming takes me out of reading (unless you count reading in an RPG as actual reading as well). I've read only 8 books this year.

I did finish the following games in the last 15 months or so:

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (1993) (2nd time)
Star Trek: Judgement Rites (1994) (2nd time)
Star Trek: A Final Unity (1995) (2nd time)
Shannara (1995) (2nd time)
Phantasmagoria (1995) (1st time)

Those will probably be shelved forever.

Now in progress:

Baldur's Gate 1 / Tales of the Sword Coast (1998/1999) (50%, 3rd time if I finish)
Icewind Dale 1 / Heart of Winter / Trials (2001) (80%, 2nd time)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001) (50%, 2nd time)
Jade Empire, Special Edition (2007) (30%, 2nd time)

I think I'm going to do them like RTCW, JE:SE, IWD1, and BG1, so I can cross them off my list as well.

Then a shorter game such as Sanitarium (1998) or Scratches (2007), before doing Planescape Torment (1999). Then probably Transofrmers: Fall of Cybertron (2012), before I start tackling the really long RPG's. I'm actually afraid of Baldur's Gate II. I tend to be a completionist, and I play slower than most people. BG2 stands at 150 hours or so at HowLongToBeat, so it'll probably take me 200 hours, or possibly an entire year.

Damn, those were the games, back in the day.

I think I'll be gaming for another year instead of reading (apart from reading in public transport, but I tend to listen to music during the last year).

[Rumpelteazer]

I haven't walked into something for a while now, I think my body unconsciously thought it was time to do so again. Last night I hit my foot against the leg of my bed. One of my toe nails broke off a bit too far. Which resulted in a bit of bloodbath and a throbbing toe. This morning I used gauze and tape to hopefully protect it better than with just a band aid. It also means that I'll be wearing my Crocs for the next couple of days, until it has healed enough.

I'm now hoping it will be a quiet day (December 31 usually is) and I'm glad we're closing an hour early at 4pm.

[Rumpelteazer]

"Enjoying" the fireworks. In the Netherlands it's legal for people to set of fireworks on New Year's Eve. It can be sold from 29 December and set off on the 31st from 6pm until 2am on New Year's Day. The last couple of years have seen lots of discussion about stopping people setting off their own fireworks and instead have (bigger) cities organize a fireworks show people can attend.

I'm all for it, in reality most of December it's noisy with fireworks and after Christmas it gets worse. It's noisy (and I don't like noisy), dangerous, not good for the environment (both air pollution and trash left outside).

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

"Enjoying" the fireworks. In the Netherlands it's legal for people to set of fireworks on New Year's Eve. It can be sold from 29 December and set off on the 31st from 6pm until 2am on New Year's Day. The last couple of years have seen lots of discussion about stopping people setting off their own fireworks and instead have (bigger) cities organize a fireworks show people can attend.

I'm all for it, in reality most of December it's noisy with fireworks and after Christmas it gets worse. It's noisy (and I don't like noisy), dangerous, not good for the environment (both air pollution and trash left outside).

An old friend was founder of an engineering company that did a lot of contracting for the Defense Department. They got bought by a larger company. His share of the proceeds didn't make him filthy rich, but did make him financially independent and able to do what he liked doing.

What he likes doing is pyrotechnics, and he puts on shows organized by places like towns. He can give chapter and verse on the hazards and what's needed to do it safely.

New York City, where I live, has been trying to clamp down on private fireworks because of the safety hazards. The big fireworks extravaganza is the annual Fourth of July celebration, commemorating American independence. That's sponsored by Macy's department store, and takes place in the East River, with fireworks launched from barges. There are still private fireworks, but not a lot.
______
Dennis

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

"Enjoying" the fireworks. In the Netherlands it's legal for people to set of fireworks on New Year's Eve. It can be sold from 29 December and set off on the 31st from 6pm until 2am on New Year's Day. The last couple of years have seen lots of discussion about stopping people setting off their own fireworks and instead have (bigger) cities organize a fireworks show people can attend.

I'm all for it, in reality most of December it's noisy with fireworks and after Christmas it gets worse. It's noisy (and I don't like noisy), dangerous, not good for the environment (both air pollution and trash left outside).

I don't know about other parts of the country, but over here in the south, 'fireworks' are becoming idiotic. It's as if I'm in a war zone.

The windows at the back of my house are rattling. That's not normal fireworks.

I'm always afraid walking around outside on January 1 if it's dark. I can see it happpening that *I* have to be the one to step on some sort of non-detonated piece of crap, which will then blow my leg off. That'll be my reward for keeping away from fireworks my entire life.

===

Oh, and with regarding to games... some reviewers complained about War for Cybertron, saying many environments looked the same. Try an older shooter, such as Return to Castle of Wolfenstein. THAT one looks the same everywhere. It's not nearly as good as I remembered it to be, especially indoors.

Damn, 3D games have come a long way since 2001 and before.

I've been running around for some time in the latter part of mission 5, wondering where the exit is. The only part I've not yet explored was the water supply/drainage system, but if you don't find the correct way (i.e., run into a dead end) you'll drown.

I don't have time to try all the different paths, so I've hit up a walkthough to find the correct one.

I've decided to play games without walkthroughs, but when I get stuck in such a way that I either can't proceed, or finding the correct path to proceed (in a maze, for example) will take an inordinate amount of time, I'll look up the solution.

I wish to play the game/story, not spend 5 hours running around in a maze.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I don't know about other parts of the country, but over here in the south, 'fireworks' are becoming idiotic. It's as if I'm in a war zone.

The windows at the back of my house are rattling. That's not normal fireworks.

I'm always afraid walking around outside on January 1 if it's dark. I can see it happpening that *I* have to be the one to step on some sort of non-detonated piece of crap, which will then blow my leg off. That'll be my reward for keeping away from fireworks my entire life.

In the middle of the country it isn't as bad as it used to be. When it was allowed to set off fireworks from 10am you heard bangs all day long, which was set off mostly by kids. I can vaguely remember that the Chinese restaurant always imported their own fireworks, which was and almost endless string which they strung backwards and forwards over the canal and set off at midnight and lasted a long while. The plus side was that very little other people in the neighbourhood set off fireworks back then, because their consumer fireworks couldn't compete with the probably illegally Chinese fireworks.

Today we "only" had a handful of really loud bangs, it seems that in the last couple of years the pretty fireworks are more popular. Though, at midnight our windows will rattle, too.

We're lucky living in the city center; the city workers start cleaning up during the night. I assume they know what to do with fireworks that hasn't gone off, so there is little danger of people getting hurts by unexploded fireworks.

[Cinisajoy]

It is supposed to be illegal here to shoot off fireworks inside the city limits.

[Rumpelteazer]

For my new laptop I want a new backpack. I have one, but it's very big. Which was very practical when at university and doing teacher placement, but now I hardly ever will need such a big backpack.

After looking around I found the Fjallraven Foldsack No. 1. I already have one of their regular backpacks, which I love. The only problem is that the laptop compartment is sized for a 15" laptop. However, I know that a lot of bags list 15", whilst that often means 15.6". I first tried to Google, I found reports of people saying that their 17" laptop fits easily, whilst owner of 13" laptops claim it's a tight fit.

I emailed Fjallraven, and they tell me my 15.6" probably won't fit. None of the local stores that sell Fjallraven products have one in stock so I can take my laptop and try. I've now emailed the store where I had planned to order it (only their online store stocks the backpack).

As a last resort I can contact the official brand store in Amsterdam, they should have it in stock. But if I ask them I feel obliged to get it from them and they don't have an online store, which means I have to take a trip to Amsterdam. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, however I need to save some money for my vacation in two weeks time and when I go to Amsterdam I know it'll be nearly impossible for me not to visit my favourite stores and stock up on some things.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

... backpack...

Note that there can be a big difference between one 15.6 inch laptop and another.

On the one hand, there are 15.6 inch laptops that are hardly larger than the screen itself; they have almost no bezels, possibly no numpad, and they're very thin and light. They're the larger Ultrabooks.

On the other hand you've got the 15.6 inch gaming and workstation laptops, weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 inch thick, and a half inch bezel around the screen.

It's best if you measure your particular laptop's width, height, and thickness.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Note that there can be a big difference between one 15.6 inch laptop and another.

On the one hand, there are 15.6 inch laptops that are hardly larger than the screen itself; they have almost no bezels, possibly no numpad, and they're very thin and light. They're the larger Ultrabooks.

On the other hand you've got the 15.6 inch gaming and workstation laptops, weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 inch thick, and a half inch bezel around the screen.

It's best if you measure your particular laptop's width, height, and thickness.

I gave both Fjallraven and the webshop the measurements of my laptop. However, it seems unlikely to me that even a big 13 inch laptop will be a tight squeeze when a small 17 inch will fit easily.

I might end up going to Amsterdam with my laptop to try it, hopefully that won't be necessary.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I gave both Fjallraven and the webshop the measurements of my laptop. However, it seems unlikely to me that even a big 13 inch laptop will be a tight squeeze when a small 17 inch will fit easily.

Unlikely indeed. If a 13 inch laptop doesn't fit, it would be a 13 inch screen in a body as large as that of a 17 inch laptop. It's possible, if the 13 inch laptop is 25 years old.

The other way around, fitting a 17 inch screen in the body of a 13 inch laptop isn't even possible.