Messages

151

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - MarioKart wins Round 3. Poll Upcoming. New, unrelated poll up!

« on: August 03, 2010, 04:31:19 PM »

But, if Yoshi's eggs don't hatch a Yoshi, are we sure they are eggs? I mean, Yoshi has the ability to turn anything he swallows into an egg, so could they perhaps be egg-shaped feces of some sort?

Feces doesn't usually have a shell.  Also, they look identical to the eggs that do hatch yoshis.  Also, I am not sure yoshi is so much "turning" it into an egg, it might be more like eating the enemy then using the nutrients to build an egg (birds do need to eat a lot before laying eggs).  There is also the fact that the input and output size rarely matches up.

152

General Chat / Re: I have computer related questions. Can you help?

« on: August 03, 2010, 12:50:04 AM »

Buy a USB external enclosure.
Anyone think that might work?

Only if the operating system can read the partition format.

If you need a new computer, you can put one together that's decent for pretty cheap.

For someone who doesn't know what a jumper configuration is I think building a computer is a bit much.

153

General Chat / Re: I have computer related questions. Can you help?

« on: August 03, 2010, 12:48:12 AM »

This CD drive does say it can write CDs and DVDs, but I haven't ever used it so I don't know if it works. I'd have to get some blank discs to find out. I might try that, but it sounds a bit complicated. There's nothing on the hard drive I need right away, so I might just wait until I get another computer.

It isn't very complicated, at least not any more complicated than moving files around within windows. 

They're connected with different cables. Is that an issue?

It shouldn't be, as long as windows 98 supports the connection type which I am not sure about.  There are probably 4 or 5 different connection types (although probably only 2 or 3 that you are likely to see in a desktop system).  If the connection is a ~3/4 in by 1/18 in rectangular piece of plastic with a slit in the middle I might be worried, that is SATA which may be too new for windows 98 (although I don't know for certain, this BIOS may take care of that so the OS doesn't have to worry about it).

EDIT: If it matters, it was the primary (C) drive of the computer from which it came. Since it would be a secondary drive in the computer I'm moving it to, do I have to reposition the jumper plugs like what you talked about? Though I don't even know what that means...

There should be a 4x2 grid of pins on the back of the drive.  There may be a small rectangular piece of plastic connecting two of those pins (it would be roughly 1/4 in by 1/8 in with the final dimension being variable).  On the drive's labelling there might also be a diagram showing various 4x2 grids of dots, each with (or without) a rectangle outlining two of the dots.  If there is such a diagram, you want to move (or remove) the rectangular piece of plastic so it is on the same pins as in "slave" diagram.  If there isn't a diagram, try removing the rectangular piece entirely.  If there isn't a rectangular piece or a diagram, or if removing the rectangular piece doesn't help, then you may have to search online for your hard drive model number.

154

General Chat / Re: I have computer related questions. Can you help?

« on: August 03, 2010, 12:42:18 AM »

It isn't very complicated, at least not really any more complicated than moving files around within windows. 

There should be a 4x2 grid of pins.  There may be a small rectangular piece of plastic connecting two of those pins (it would be roughly 1/4 in by 1/8 in with the final dimension being variable).  There might also be a diagram showing various 4x2 grids of dots, each with (or without) a rectangle outlining two of the dots.  If there is such a diagram, you want to move (or remove) the rectangular piece of plastic so it is on the same pins as in "slave" diagram.  If there isn't a diagram, try removing the rectangular piece entirely.  If there isn't a rectangular piece or a diagram, or if removing the rectangular piece online, then you may have to search online for your hard drive model number.

155

General Chat / Re: I have computer related questions. Can you help?

« on: August 02, 2010, 11:55:09 PM »

Does your computer have a CD-ROM and do you have access to a CD burner (either on that computer or a different one)?  If so, you can use a linux live cd to access the file, then copy them to another device.  You just put burn an image to a CD, pop it in the drive, then depending on your boot settings it should start up automatically.  You can then access the hard drive and copy the files wherever you want.  The livecd itself doesn't actually install anything on your hard drive, it a standalone operating system that runs entirely from the CD.  It doesn't leave anything behind when it is done besides the changes you explicitly make.

I recommend Parted Magic.  It is free, very small, light on resource usage, works on most computers, and has a good set of hard disk tools.  It is also compatible with both windows NTFS (what windows nt, 2000, xp, and later use) and fat/fat32 partitions (which windows 98, ME and earlier use).

So in this case you can connect the drive, put the disc into the computer you want to move the files to, then run the livecd.  It will give you some options when booting up, just go with the defaults (just hit "enter" when you see a prompt).  Once it boots, you will be in a graphical desktop not fundamentally dissimilar from windows.  there will be icons on the desktop for the various partitions it can see.  Double-click the drive you want to move the files from and the drive you want to move the file to, then just drag and drop.  I've done it even from drives windows cannot access.

If that doesn't work, then the hard drive likely is corrupted.  There are tools on the disc to recover damaged partitions, but lets not get into that unless you absolutely need it.

Depending on how much of the hard drive is used, you can even copy the files over to a new partition without deleting them.  This involves resizing the partition, creating a new one in the empty space, moving the files over, deleting the old partition, then resizing the new partition to fill the space.  This is not guaranteed to be 100% safe but I have done it dozens of times and never had it fail on me before.  It is better to just get the files off, though.

156

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - MarioKart wins Round 3. Poll Upcoming. New, unrelated poll up!

« on: August 02, 2010, 11:44:31 PM »

If he was a dragon, he would have leathery wings, but he has feathered wings, hence he is a dinosaur (since only dinosaurs have feathers).  He also lays eggs shaped like bird eggs, which also indicates he is a dinosaur.  Plus his two-legged stance with legs directly under his body and smaller forelimbs useful only for grasping (at most) is characteristic of therapod dinosaurs, while most dragons you see walk on all fours (although they might be able to use their front limbs for grasping on occasion, there front and rear legs are much closer in size).

Also, if Yoshi lays eggs, doesn't that mean he's actually a she?  All yoshis seem to lay eggs, so they must either be asexual (which means yoshi is a she) or hermaphrodites (which means yoshi is really both).  We can't tell which because we never actually see Yoshi lay an egg with another yoshi in it as far as I am aware.

157

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Dive: The Medes Island Secret impressions

« on: July 31, 2010, 12:33:55 PM »

In Tortuga, did anybody else encounter a treasure they could not get to because what looked like an open space was blocked?

158

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Dive: The Medes Island Secret impressions

« on: July 29, 2010, 12:23:53 AM »

I got it.  I am currently on the fourth map.  It is good, except for the crashes.  Some of the music definitely seem reminiscent of Metroid (especially the "danger" music in the first few levels is similar to some of the Norfair music from Super Metroid).  And seriously, if you are going to call it a "tranquilizer spear gun", don't have the creatures roll over and evaporate when shot with it.  "Yeah, it is a tranquilizer, but the dose is set to tranquilize a sperm whale".

When you do a review, I thought of a good title for the review:

"Endless Ocean: The Game"

159

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - Poll 3 VOTING GOES ON NOW VOTEVOTEVOTE

« on: July 28, 2010, 07:15:17 PM »

Toads parents must have been lacking in the creativity department when he was born.

They weren't the only ones.  "Mario Mario"?

160

General Chat / Re: Oh Em Gee iPhone 4 yay!11

« on: July 28, 2010, 12:48:49 AM »

But didn't they get shot down on that some time ago? I remember reading Apple's plea didn't work.

I don't think so.  The plea was fought by the EFF, but I think this was the first official word on the matter.

161

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - Poll 3 VOTING GOES ON NOW VOTEVOTEVOTE

« on: July 28, 2010, 12:44:43 AM »

Yoshi isn't even a dinosaur. He's a dragon. Or, even more technically, he's a Yoshi.

From the Super Mario World instruction manual:

Suddenly the egg hatched, and out popped a young dinosaur named YOSHI, who
proceeded to tell Mario and Luigi a sad tale of how his dinosaur pals who
were sealed in similar eggs by a group of monstrous turtles.

What game says Yoshi is the name of his species? Yoshi is the character's name.

The Yoshi's Island instruction manual refers to "Yoshies" as plural, saying there are "lots of different Yoshies".

162

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Dive: The Medes Island Secret impressions

« on: July 28, 2010, 12:41:54 AM »

That is good to hear.  One of the reasons I am hesitant is because of how short nyxquest way.

163

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Dive: The Medes Island Secret impressions

« on: July 27, 2010, 11:10:37 PM »

Please keep posting impressions, I am on the fence but leaning towards the download.

Ditto

164

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - Poll 3 VOTING GOES ON NOW VOTEVOTEVOTE

« on: July 27, 2010, 11:08:47 PM »

Would it help if I said "reasonably accurate dinosaurs?" That would knock Turok out of the poll. LOL

Which games would be left?  Besides Yoshi, of course, he is completely accurate.

165

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Tyrian!

« on: July 27, 2010, 11:06:56 PM »

Its an old-school top-down space shooter with ship many upgrades.

166

General Chat / Re: Oh Em Gee iPhone 4 yay!11

« on: July 27, 2010, 07:05:59 PM »

Well, technically so has Jailbreaking. It just violated your contract. The ruling basically says that if I jailbreak my phone, Apple can't shun or sue me for it.

Apple argued that jailbreaking violates the DMCA and thus is a criminal offense in addition to being a civil violation of Apple's copyrights.

167

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Tyrian!

« on: July 27, 2010, 02:17:07 PM »

Its available for my Linux distribution as well (openSUSE).  Maxed-out hot dog guns are awesome.

168

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - Poll 3 Discussion

« on: July 26, 2010, 10:06:17 PM »

Games Involving Dinosaurs

Great idea!  That way we can have a poll that lasts 20 years.

169

NWR Forums Discord / Re: How to skin a cat?

« on: July 26, 2010, 12:17:04 AM »

This is the scariest thread ever.

That sounds like a challenge to me.

170

General Gaming / Re: Series Series - Poll 3 Discussion

« on: July 25, 2010, 12:29:23 PM »

A few other possibilities:

RPG Mario (including Paper Mario and the portable games like Bowser's Inside Story)
Non-Mario Mario games (Yoshi games, Super Princess Peach, Lugi's Mansion, Mario is Missing, etc)
Pinball (mario pinball, kirby pinball, metroid pinball, etc)
Art Style
Kirby (traditional games, not puzzle or racing games)

171

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Amazing illusions thread (lots of pics)

« on: July 24, 2010, 11:31:53 PM »

Here are a few more auditory illusions.  This is a classic one:

Shephard Tone

Listen to how the tone continuously gets higher in pitch.  But it isn't, actually, it is just going looping through a small change.  If you start it over again immediately after it stops it still seems to be going up.

And here is a spectrogram showing a simpler version of the same illusion, so you can see what is really being played.  The horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is frequency (which is sort of the same as pitch, but not really).  Purple area show when there is a sound of a given frequency at that point in time:

Shephard Tone with Spectrogram

This one is really weird.  READ THIS BEFORE YOU LISTEN: First, close your eyes and listen.  Then, open your eyes and watch the guy, and listen again:

Mcgurk Effect

For most people, with their eyes closed it sounds like baba but with their eyes open it sounds like dada or gaga (gaga for me).

This one requires headphones again:

Bells Illusion

Hear the pitch getting lower as the bells move around?  It isn't, the pitch is actually getting higher!

This is overlapping speech played randomly.  After a while, you should start to hear phrases.  But they aren't real, you brain is constructing them:

Phantom Speech

What did you hear?  I heard either "No bread" or "No way".  My microwave is calling, but I do have bread.

172

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Amazing illusions thread (lots of pics)

« on: July 24, 2010, 10:34:49 PM »

This isn't an optical illusion, it's an auditory illusion.  You must wear headphones for it to work properly.  It is really creepy.
Virtual Barbershop

173

NWR Forums Discord / How to skin a cat?

« on: July 22, 2010, 11:37:02 PM »

In honor of Mop it up's furry friend, I think we should take a stab at answering the age-old question: exactly how many ways are there to skin a cat?  Let's see who can come up with the most original method. 

No Rube Goldberg machines though, all that matters is the actual act of skinning.  Using some random contraption to make a knife cut in the normal manner, for instance, is not a new method.

I've been doing a bit of research on the subject, and besides the obvious method some other proposed solutions:
belt sander
can opener
squeeze it
centrifugal force
vacuum cleaner

174

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: July 22, 2010, 11:10:22 PM »

I wanna give Inception a 10/10, but I just gotta ask one thing: Why does Leonardo DiCaprio's wife have to be dead in all his movies? Well, she was dead in the last one, and I don't remember the one before, but still!

In the movie before that she doesn't start out that way, but she ends up that way.

175

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Amazing optical illusions thread (lots of pics)

« on: July 12, 2010, 12:44:53 AM »

I usually look at the reflection in order to make it switch personally.