Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Battlefield 3 - Sergeant major
https://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/soldier/Renegade%20Viking/stats/175726393/xbox360/
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Cable TV screws us gamers
That evil cable TV is even more evil now. The ISPs see cable TV as a total disaster so they need bandwidth caps on the Internet so you cannot view a lot of streaming video. That means I am stuck with buying $20-$40 Blurays and DVDs that I only watch twice and glorious DirecTV.
^ The only way to get whats on cable 24/7/365 at low price anymore
If you're a gamer, internet service provider data caps are an important topic of conversation. Actually, if you're a fan of broadband-reliant entertainment at all, you need to think about limits on bandwidth. But as the games industry marches forward into digital distribution with no sign of stopping, heightened regulations on internet usage are an increasing problem. The providers have long-stated data caps are a plan to make internet access fair for everyone, but the limits are in direct opposition to the interests of gamers.
Who is Capping and Why?
Unfortunately, ISPs are actually doing very little to distribute those costs fairly. While it's completely reasonable to charge more to users with higher bandwidth usage, such “tiered” plans rarely offer lower-cost plans for those using less data. Instead, ISPs yank up the baseline price for heavier users, increasing their total revenue. And little of the money brought in by ISPs is reinvested into infrastructure to curb bandwidth problems. According to Wired, Time Warner Cable made $1.13 billion in revenue from broadband in the first quarter of 2011, but only reinvested 3-percent on improving its networks.
Gaming Data on the Rise
Downloadable game distribution is more prevalent year-over-year, driving down sales at traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. While bigger triple-A titles still make a significant dent on the market in the form of physical copies, we're also on the cusp of the next generation of home consoles. Will Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo continue to push for digital via their own marketplaces? Absolutely.
Take a look at this chart, showing my own recent internet usage from Time Warner Cable. You've probably noticed a steady increase from October through January, and there's a very simple explanation: I downloaded a bunch of games and watched a lot of streaming movies in those months. The holidays are a time of increased media releases, and so my bandwidth increased. Now imagine how that same chart will look, year-over-year, as videogame downloads bulge. Games, for the most part, are not getting any smaller.
The Call of Duty series is undoubtedly one of the most popular game franchises in the world, and we can learn a lot by looking at the history of each iteration's size. On Xbox Live, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a 6.5GB download. Modern Warfare 2 is an almost 7GB download. Modern Warfare 3 is a 7.5GB download. Are you sensing a pattern? Half-a-gigabyte may not seem like a huge step, but a 15-percent increase in size is substantial when you're facing big charges from your ISP.
The issue is even greater on the PC side of the games market, where file sizes tend to be larger and physical distribution is already all but dead, thanks to Steam. In short, most gamers will see an increased need for bandwidth as we download more – and larger – titles. And that's not even mentioning the bandwidth required from playing online games.
The games industry, for its part, has taken some contention with data caps, but the message has primarily focused on cable companies prohibitively limiting data to compete with console-based streaming video services. While those arguments are important, developers and publishers also need to recognize the very real consequences of a digital-only future for games. After all, if we can't afford those giant downloads, the industry hurts, as well.
Unless we see more internet service providers separated from the television-side of the business, or the government taking a harder stance on data caps, or the games industry acting more vocally, the problem will persist. But as gamers and consumers, you can also make your voices heard. Late last year, U.S. Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden introduced the Data Cap Integrity Act, largely aimed at keeping the FCC focused on monitoring how caps are being applied. You can write or call your Senator to show support for the bill (it currently has zero cosponsors), and get involved in groups like Video Game Voters Network, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Entertainment Consumers Association.
How we use the internet to access our games, and if we can actually continue to afford it, is sure to remain a hot point of contention. Don't get stuck in the middle.
^ The only way to get whats on cable 24/7/365 at low price anymoreIf you're a gamer, internet service provider data caps are an important topic of conversation. Actually, if you're a fan of broadband-reliant entertainment at all, you need to think about limits on bandwidth. But as the games industry marches forward into digital distribution with no sign of stopping, heightened regulations on internet usage are an increasing problem. The providers have long-stated data caps are a plan to make internet access fair for everyone, but the limits are in direct opposition to the interests of gamers.
Who is Capping and Why?
Unfortunately, ISPs are actually doing very little to distribute those costs fairly. While it's completely reasonable to charge more to users with higher bandwidth usage, such “tiered” plans rarely offer lower-cost plans for those using less data. Instead, ISPs yank up the baseline price for heavier users, increasing their total revenue. And little of the money brought in by ISPs is reinvested into infrastructure to curb bandwidth problems. According to Wired, Time Warner Cable made $1.13 billion in revenue from broadband in the first quarter of 2011, but only reinvested 3-percent on improving its networks.
Gaming Data on the Rise
Downloadable game distribution is more prevalent year-over-year, driving down sales at traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. While bigger triple-A titles still make a significant dent on the market in the form of physical copies, we're also on the cusp of the next generation of home consoles. Will Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo continue to push for digital via their own marketplaces? Absolutely.
Take a look at this chart, showing my own recent internet usage from Time Warner Cable. You've probably noticed a steady increase from October through January, and there's a very simple explanation: I downloaded a bunch of games and watched a lot of streaming movies in those months. The holidays are a time of increased media releases, and so my bandwidth increased. Now imagine how that same chart will look, year-over-year, as videogame downloads bulge. Games, for the most part, are not getting any smaller.
The Call of Duty series is undoubtedly one of the most popular game franchises in the world, and we can learn a lot by looking at the history of each iteration's size. On Xbox Live, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a 6.5GB download. Modern Warfare 2 is an almost 7GB download. Modern Warfare 3 is a 7.5GB download. Are you sensing a pattern? Half-a-gigabyte may not seem like a huge step, but a 15-percent increase in size is substantial when you're facing big charges from your ISP.
The issue is even greater on the PC side of the games market, where file sizes tend to be larger and physical distribution is already all but dead, thanks to Steam. In short, most gamers will see an increased need for bandwidth as we download more – and larger – titles. And that's not even mentioning the bandwidth required from playing online games.
The games industry, for its part, has taken some contention with data caps, but the message has primarily focused on cable companies prohibitively limiting data to compete with console-based streaming video services. While those arguments are important, developers and publishers also need to recognize the very real consequences of a digital-only future for games. After all, if we can't afford those giant downloads, the industry hurts, as well.
Unless we see more internet service providers separated from the television-side of the business, or the government taking a harder stance on data caps, or the games industry acting more vocally, the problem will persist. But as gamers and consumers, you can also make your voices heard. Late last year, U.S. Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden introduced the Data Cap Integrity Act, largely aimed at keeping the FCC focused on monitoring how caps are being applied. You can write or call your Senator to show support for the bill (it currently has zero cosponsors), and get involved in groups like Video Game Voters Network, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Entertainment Consumers Association.
How we use the internet to access our games, and if we can actually continue to afford it, is sure to remain a hot point of contention. Don't get stuck in the middle.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Linux Mint 16 review
I uploaded Scientific Linux 6.5 on Youtube. There is absolutely nothing that SL 6.5 can do that SL 6.4 cannot. I just had the opportunity and took it. I downloaded Linux Mint 16 and nothing changed. Mint 16 upgraded MATE 1.6.0 to MATE 1.6.2. Linux Mint 16 is less stable then Linux Mint 15 for the shutdown sequence. The log says that INIT completes all but turning it off. 
Thursday, January 2, 2014
2.2 Trillion to repair US Intrastructure
ou can tell a lot about a nation by the condition of the infrastructure. So what does our infrastructure say about us? It says that we are in a very advanced state of decay. At this point, much of America is being held together with spit, duct tape and prayers. Our roads are crumbling and thousands of our bridges look like they could collapse at any moment. Our power grid is ancient and over a trillion gallons of untreated sewage is leaking from our aging sewer systems each year. Our airports and our seaports are clogged with far more traffic than they were ever designed to carry. Approximately a third of all of the dam failures that have taken place in the United States since 1874 have happened during the past decade. Our national parks and recreation areas have been terribly neglected and our railroads are a bad joke. Hurricane Katrina showed how vulnerable our levees are, and drinking water systems all over the country are badly outdated. Sadly, at a time when we could use significant new investment in infrastructure, our spending on infrastructure is actually way down. Back during the 50s and the 60s, the U.S. was spending between 3 and 4 percent of GDP on infrastructure. Today, that figure is down to about 2.4 percent. But of course we don't have any extra money to spend on infrastructure because of our reckless spending and because of the massive amount of debt that we have accumulated. While the Obama administration is spending more than half a million dollars to figure out why chimpanzees throw poop, our national infrastructure is literally falling apart all around us. Once upon a time nobody else on the planet could match our infrastructure, and now we are in the process of becoming a joke to the rest of the world.
The following are 21 facts about America's failing infrastructure that will blow your mind....
#1 The American Society of Civil Engineers has given America's crumbling infrastructure an overall grade of D.
#2 There are simply not enough roads in the United States today. Each year, traffic jams cost the commuters of America 4.2 billion hours and about 2.8 million gallons of gasoline.
#3 It is being projected that Americans will spend an average of 160 hours stuck in traffic annually by the year 2035.
#4 Approximately one-third of all roads in the United States are in substandard condition.
#5 Close to a third of all highway fatalities are due "to substandard road conditions, obsolete road designs, or roadside hazards."
#6 One out of every four bridges in America either carries more traffic than originally intended or is in need of repair.
#7 Repairing all of the bridges in the United States that need repair would take approximately 140 billion dollars.
#8 According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our decaying transportation system costs the U.S. economy about 78 billion dollars annually in lost time and fuel.
#9 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel roads because they are cheaper to maintain. The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt roads into gravel roads, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.
#10 There are 4,095 dams in the United States that are at risk of failure. That number has risen by more than 100 percent since 1999.
#11 Of all the dam failures that have happened in the United States since 1874, a third of them have happened during the past decade.
#12 Close to half of all U.S. households do not have access to bus or rail transit.
#13 Our aging sewer systems spill more than a trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year. The cost of cleaning up that sewage each year is estimated to be greater than 50 billion dollars.
#14 It is estimated that rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost the U.S. economy approximately 80 billion dollars a year.
#15 It is being projected that by the year 2020 every single major container port in the United States will be handling at least double the volume that it was originally designed to handle.
#16 All across the United States, conditions at many of our state parks, recreation areas and historic sites are deplorable at best. Some states have backlogs of repair projects that are now over a billion dollars long....
More than a dozen states estimate that their backlogs are at least $100 million. Massachusetts and New York's are at least $1 billion. Hawaii officials called park conditions "deplorable" in a December report asking for $50 million per year for five years to tackle a $240 million backlog that covers parks, trails and harbors.
#17 Today, the U.S. spends about 2.4 percent of GDP on infrastructure. Meanwhile, China spends about 9 percent of GDP on infrastructure.
#18 In the United States today, approximately 16 percent of our construction workers are unemployed.
#19 China has plans to build 55,000 miles of highways by the year 2020. If all of those roads were put end to end, it would be longer than the total length of the entire U.S. interstate system.
#20 The World Economic Forum ranks U.S. infrastructure 23rd in the world, and we fall a little bit farther behind the rest of the developed world every single day.
#21 It has been projected that it would take 2.2 trillion dollars over the next 5 years just to repair our existing infrastructure. That does not even include a single penny for badly needed new infrastructure.
So where did we go wrong?
Well, one of the big problems is that we have become a very materialistic society that is obsessed with short-term thinking. Investing in infrastructure is something that has long-term benefits, but these days Americans tend to only be focused on what is happening right now and most politicians are only focused on the next election cycle.
The following are 21 facts about America's failing infrastructure that will blow your mind....
#1 The American Society of Civil Engineers has given America's crumbling infrastructure an overall grade of D.
#2 There are simply not enough roads in the United States today. Each year, traffic jams cost the commuters of America 4.2 billion hours and about 2.8 million gallons of gasoline.
#3 It is being projected that Americans will spend an average of 160 hours stuck in traffic annually by the year 2035.
#4 Approximately one-third of all roads in the United States are in substandard condition.
#5 Close to a third of all highway fatalities are due "to substandard road conditions, obsolete road designs, or roadside hazards."
#6 One out of every four bridges in America either carries more traffic than originally intended or is in need of repair.
#7 Repairing all of the bridges in the United States that need repair would take approximately 140 billion dollars.
#8 According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our decaying transportation system costs the U.S. economy about 78 billion dollars annually in lost time and fuel.
#9 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel roads because they are cheaper to maintain. The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt roads into gravel roads, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.
#10 There are 4,095 dams in the United States that are at risk of failure. That number has risen by more than 100 percent since 1999.
#11 Of all the dam failures that have happened in the United States since 1874, a third of them have happened during the past decade.
#12 Close to half of all U.S. households do not have access to bus or rail transit.
#13 Our aging sewer systems spill more than a trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year. The cost of cleaning up that sewage each year is estimated to be greater than 50 billion dollars.
#14 It is estimated that rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost the U.S. economy approximately 80 billion dollars a year.
#15 It is being projected that by the year 2020 every single major container port in the United States will be handling at least double the volume that it was originally designed to handle.
#16 All across the United States, conditions at many of our state parks, recreation areas and historic sites are deplorable at best. Some states have backlogs of repair projects that are now over a billion dollars long....
More than a dozen states estimate that their backlogs are at least $100 million. Massachusetts and New York's are at least $1 billion. Hawaii officials called park conditions "deplorable" in a December report asking for $50 million per year for five years to tackle a $240 million backlog that covers parks, trails and harbors.
#17 Today, the U.S. spends about 2.4 percent of GDP on infrastructure. Meanwhile, China spends about 9 percent of GDP on infrastructure.
#18 In the United States today, approximately 16 percent of our construction workers are unemployed.
#19 China has plans to build 55,000 miles of highways by the year 2020. If all of those roads were put end to end, it would be longer than the total length of the entire U.S. interstate system.
#20 The World Economic Forum ranks U.S. infrastructure 23rd in the world, and we fall a little bit farther behind the rest of the developed world every single day.
#21 It has been projected that it would take 2.2 trillion dollars over the next 5 years just to repair our existing infrastructure. That does not even include a single penny for badly needed new infrastructure.
So where did we go wrong?
Well, one of the big problems is that we have become a very materialistic society that is obsessed with short-term thinking. Investing in infrastructure is something that has long-term benefits, but these days Americans tend to only be focused on what is happening right now and most politicians are only focused on the next election cycle.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Impeachment process started!
Ahhh… Raising money through paranoia. The DNC is a master at it. But is it really paranoia when they are truly after you? Impeachment is a real and growing possibility for the Marxist-in-Chief and many of us relish the coming clarifying event of historic proportions. I would pay everything I have for a front row seat and popcorn. I will record the proceedings and pass them on to my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I will play them at family gatherings and events. This Presidency and all his followers are THE most corrupt in history. When their bottomless nefarious deeds are dragged, screaming and bleeding into the light of day, you won’t need sitcoms or reality TV – it will be a blockbuster to remember, trust me. Last night, the DNC sent out a panicky, beseeching email blegging for money because the big, bad Republicans are going to impeach Dear Leader. Let me clarify that… the ones with a spine are coming after him and there are very few of them. But what they lack in numbers, they make up for in courage and ethics. The Daily Caller made my evening – literally: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out a paranoid email Saturday evening urging supporters to vote for Democrats so that Republicans can’t impeach President Obama. The email, subject line “Impeachment,” was sent to Obama for America supporters, imploring them to contribute to the DNC’s 2014 efforts. “What do these people all have in common?,” the email asked, featuring quotes from Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Rep. Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan, and Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas discussing the possibility of impeaching Obama for one of his numerous instances of presidential misconduct. The DNC email discussed the “I-Word” and said that “Republicans are actually excited about the idea.” “Show these Republicans that they are way, way off-base, and give President Obama a Congress that has his back,” according to the DNC email, noting that Democrats need to win 17 GOP House seats to reclaim a majority. The beasts under our beds are here folks and they wear Armani suits and Prada heels. They covet power and wealth and tell us that only they know what is best for the American riffraff, who only cling to their Bibles and guns. They are Communists and they despise you and America. I say impeach Obama with prejudice and prosecute the lot of them. Long jail terms all around and we should no longer fear the term “treason.” Oran’s Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as “…[a]…citizen’s actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation].” The US Constitution defines treason in Article 3, section 3 thusly: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.” Witnesses are lining up as we speak. Obama has done this over and over… enabling Islamic countries such as Iran against us, handing the keys to the kingdom to Russia and China and breaking America financially and militarily to serve us up to other countries on a treasonous platter. The devil has been celebrating the demise of the last hope for the free world – but the devil can go down to Hades and stuff it. Justin Amash got it right when he said that Obama’s expansion of executive branch authority is “setting the stage for something very dangerous in the future.” Obama has basically made the executive branch the controlling body, making the judicial and legislative branches merely parrots of his policies. They have been compromised and neutered. Obama does not bother with Constitutional practices, but instead uses diktats to further his agenda. Treating the American people as the Proletariat, Obama has seriously underestimated us. We do not bargain for security, hiding behind diplomacy and forked tongues. Slaves are made in such ways. Any other president in history would have been brought down and impeached for any one of these scandals: The NSA Debacle IRS Persecution of Conservatives and Tea Party Groups Obamacare Amnesty Fast and Furious Benghazi The Silencing of Journalists and Bloggers and the Use of the Lapdog Media as a Propaganda Tool Worthy of Goebbels Printing Money and The National Debt Consorting with Known Terrorists and Enabling Terrorist Activities Bringing Foreign Entities into Our Intelligence and Scientific Agencies Union Collaboration Enabling and Promoting Marxist/Communist Entities Election Fraud Inciting Racial Unrest Presidential Excess – Vacations, Parties, etc. Violating Every Aspect of the US Constitution Responsibility to Protect The Gutting and Marginalizing of Our Military The Mistreatment of Allies, Especially Israel The Redistribution of Wealth The Gutting and Marginalizing of Our Intelligence Agencies Religious Persecution of Christians Unconstitutional Laws Against the 2nd Amendment Unconstitutional Search and Seizures Taxation Without Representation Committing Unauthorized Acts of War Manipulation of the Financial Markets And that is only a very partial list. The greatest hits list goes on and on and on. It’s a disgrace we have let this go on this long and it is due to Progressives on both sides of the aisle putting money and power ahead of their constituents. A silent coup is taking place with enemies within and without in our government and Obama is leading the charge. Impeachment… hell, yeah! In fact, both the DNC and the RNC should be very, very afraid. The RNC is coming after the Tea Party and we’re coming after all of you: Even though Karl Rove’s American Crossroads brand has been damaged after the group declared war against conservative candidates, the group will reportedly try to influence the 2014 midterm elections by bullying campaigns and creating groups that, on the surface, do not seem to be affiliated with them. We will not let our Republic fall and Karl Rove and the rest of the Progressive RINOs can go know themselves and pound sand: The battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party has begun. On one side is the Tea Party. On the other side stand Karl Rove and his establishment team, posing as tacticians while quietly undermining conservatism. Progressives see impeachment for Obama on the Marxist horizon and Americans see the reinstatement of the Republic. The halls of power need a good scrubbing and cleaning out and the Tea Party is up to the task. Aim small, miss small, boys.
Start Menu for Windows 8 / Windows 8.1
I read the new Windows 8.1 reviews as well as the old Windows 8 reviews, and download Classic Shell (5.4 Megabytes).
There are morons who downgrade to Windows 7 service pack 1. This isn't safe. Windows 7 has kernel 6.1 while Windows 8.1 has kernel 6.3. Classic shell fixes the problem.
The Windows 8 & 8.1 reviews are all stupid on this subject matter.
There are morons who downgrade to Windows 7 service pack 1. This isn't safe. Windows 7 has kernel 6.1 while Windows 8.1 has kernel 6.3. Classic shell fixes the problem.
The Windows 8 & 8.1 reviews are all stupid on this subject matter.
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