Vroom and Boom!
Flatout 2 is a wonderful racing/destruction game, similar to the Burnout series, but with more emphasis on racing than on destructing.
I cheated. I also used an Xbox gamepad on my PC.
I _highly_ reccomend using a gamepad with analog triggers for this game. On a GeForce 8800 GTS, full frame with max pretty is easily achieved.
Unpatched, the audio support sucks, and there are audio glitches by the pound. Patched, this all goes away, and the audio is nearly flawless on 5.1. The soundtrack is surprisingly good, with Rob Zombie and Yellowcard and some other very good stuff, and one or two lame tracks.
I pirated this game. I am, however, going to go buy it.
The racing action is tight, with handling being almost too realistic (with a high-powered rear wheel drive vehicle, you can get in a bad place and just spin tires fairly easily).
The minigames, or 'events', are comical, challenging, and plain WEIRD. Baseball, bowling, soccer, darts, curling.. all with thrown drivers.

reccomended for all racing game fans.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

The book is called
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Sun Kings:
The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
/QUOTE/
In September of 1859, the entire Earth was engulfed in a gigantic cloud of seething gas, and a blood-red aurora erupted across the planet from the poles to the tropics. Around the world, telegraph systems crashed, machines burst into flames, and electric shocks rendered operators unconscious. Compasses and other sensitive instruments reeled as if struck by a massive magnetic fist. For the first time, people began to suspect that the Earth was not isolated from the rest of the universe. However, nobody knew what could have released such strange forces upon the Earth--nobody, that is, except the amateur English astronomer Richard Carrington.
/ENDQUOTE/
I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about this book or if it was worth going through the trouble of trying to find it on inter-library loan.
howard melton
God bless

A Map of Online Communities. Never know when something like this may come in handy.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

Homeworld with bad acting and a funny hat.
The 'genetic mutation' upgrade path is interesting, but it's not interesting enough to hold my interest in the face of the incredibly bad acting and piss-poor script.
The _game_ is actually quite lovely to look at, but combat is an orgy of micromanagement and confusion, and the ability to do twelve things at once seems to be a perquisite.
That, and playing the part of a religious zealot always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I give it an OMGFAIL out of FDSFGS.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

What it says.
Obviously, I'm not qualified to judge the science of this article, but it is from New Scientist and thus can't be dismissed as easily as I would from a less reliable source.
Therefore, this is something that people ought to know about and obviously deserves further research.

FYI, kids.--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

Yup, this is kinda messed up.
This might be the point where I make a sarcastic remark about how we're apparently so used to the idea of the United States holding innocent people for years in an extraterritorial prison repeatedly accused of rampant human rights abuse that there's no outrage to be had in the story that a guy could be there for five years without having done anything they could even bring him to trial about. But y'know, by now the whole Gitmo thing is just a steadily bubbling cauldron of seething rage, and apparently it's hard to really introduce truly fresh outrage at this juncture.
Not that everyone else gets off the hook, it's a goddamn disgrace some country won't man up and at least make the symbolic offer of sanctum for wrongfully detained Gitmo prisoners. I'm sure some would rather fight to get back to their homes from there, but at least there would be a choice.

Relayed from the SFWA Online Update:
*Heinlein Centennial
Dear Space Advocate:
I am contacting you at the request of Tim Kyger, whom many of you know from many space-related activities. In his "spare" time, Tim is Chairman of the Heinlein Centennial, a commemoration of Robert A. Heinlein's life and influence that will be held on July 6-7-8, 2007, in Kansas City Missouri. There will be exhibits, tours, art, sales, and programming in three principal tracks--general science fiction, academic Heinleinia, and space. A birthday celebration, the Gala, is planned for Saturday, July 7, 2007, Heinlein's 100th birthday. Several guests have already committed to attend, including the head of NASA, Dr. Michael Griffin; astronaut and moon-walker Dr. Buzz Aldrin; the first winner of the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities, Dr. Peter Diamandis; and (through video link) Heinlein's most illustrious contemporary, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Details can be found at the Centennial website: www.HeinleinCentennial.com.
It is no exaggeration to say Heinlein was the most influential science fiction author of the mid-20th century, but his influence extends to this day far beyond the literary. Someone recalled him once saying he had several filing cabinet drawers of letters from the three full generations of his readers who had come of age during his writing career. Though himself childless, these "children of Heinlein" had written to him to say they had become scientists, engineers, and the like because they were influenced by his writing to enter such fields. Heinlein obviously thought being the sui generis of this nucleus of future technologists was his greatest contribution to humanity. He was a fierce advocate and believer that our human species would, inevitably, venture into space. At one time or another, his book "Starship Troopers" has been on the required reading list of all three service academies. In recognition of Heinlein's influence on readers who would later become aerospace engineers and scientists, the NASA Medal for Distinguished Public Service was awarded to him posthumously in 1988. There is a Robert A. Heinlein Chair in Aerospace Engineering at the Naval Academy as well.
Tim has asked me to contact a number of space-related websites to request the following of you:
(1) To encourage your attendance and participation at the
Centennial.
(2) Mention the Heinlein Centennial on your website, and link to the Centennial website.
(3) "Virally" mention the Heinlein Centennial to anybody else you might think of or be in contact with.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I hope you can participate, and please contact me for further information or questions. I can be reached at tdresser@bowlesfluidics.com.
Yours truly,
Thomas Dresser
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 12:49 PM

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

I'm not going to cut and paste the story, as I'm not entirely sure what Bob's view on language is, but the URL to the story is bash.org/?758379
Now, this being IRC quotes, I'm fairly sure the story's complete BS...but on the other hand, it did inspire the thought 'You know, I could see Doug pulling this stunt...' ;-)

Since my old computer stopped booting up, I had to transfer my internal dsl modem to my new computer, which generates a lot more heat.
Summer is coming, and we don't have air conditioning.
So, what I'm wondering is... just what are reasonable safe temperatures for my cpu and system to be running at?
I can live with not being able to play CoH or other cpu heavy games over the summer, but if I can't even have the system up to use IRC and look at websites, I'll be highly irritated...
-Morgan."This continuity is now a Princess of Darkness crossover."
"... They're all going to die, aren't they?"
"Yep. Popcorn?"