The Bridge

badp

12:00

@ArdaXi Again, preferences aren't weighted, just transferred

Yi Jiang

Thanks goodness the CSS is still there, I think I can recover the HTML

The js has to be completely rewritten though

Arda Xi

@badp You seriously think there's going to be enough votes to pass over to a fourth?

badp

@ArdaXi I think that the first and the second mods will be rather unanimously chosen, thus bringing the third mod choice to a simple majority count

because we only have three choices

if we were doing things through we'd have to make 10 choices

Yi Jiang

Bejol noted a corrolation between the up/down ratio of the primary votes and the outcome

Arda Xi

@badp What you're saying means that the person who gets first gets enough votes to clear the quotum twice, then the second has enough votes to clear the quotum as well, and enough passes over.

For the first, maybe, but I doubt the same will go for second

badp

12:03

I think Grance and Juan will be selected right away, yes

without having to eliminate any other choice

by then you'll be using most people's third choices

Arda Xi

Well then, the system works, doesn't it?

We only need 3 candidates, not more.

badp

eh, it just seems overkill if simple majority is what it boils down to -- for us

Arda Xi

If 3 people have enough votes to clear the quotum, our job is done.

badp

*quota

Arda Xi

I mean quotum, but sure.

badp

12:05

quota is originally feminine in Latin, 1st declination

Yi Jiang

I think the stats people will have a lot of fun when their election starts

badp

so it's not quotum/quota, but quota/quotæ

you're welcome

Arda Xi

New Latin :)

badp

New Latin is not really Latin.

Arda Xi

Well, fine, whatever, it's what the document on Meek's that I read used.

badp

12:07

Fair enough.

Arda Xi

I mean, I know how Latin declensions work, I just don't look them up for every word I use.

After we got words like 'museums' I stopped caring.

badp

I herd you like nitpicking, so I put sum nitpickin in ur nitpicking so u can nitpick while u nitpick

Arda Xi

@badp Note the 'I stopped caring' :)

Yi Jiang

11 more approved edits before I can vote in the elections!

badp

@YiJiang Wouldn't asking a question be faster?

Yi Jiang

12:11

@badp Meh, the chances of any question I might ask getting a good answer is... slim

The answers from the two OpenTTD questions I've asked is... even less than I expected

badp

@YiJiang eh, one thing we do need is a more varied coverage of games

You're probably the OpenTTD expert here.

Yi Jiang

@badp I'm not, I haven't created any junctions above 'intermediate' difficulty

badp

@YiJiang Still you've likely played it more than anybody else here has.

Yi Jiang

And I'm still constantly messing up my OpenGfx settings

@badp Which is surprising, really

badp

@YiJiang @Grace laments our lack of coverage in shooters and pals :)

I kind of lament our lack of coverage in the big name FPSes

(Quake, CS)

Arda Xi

12:16

@badp @Macha maybe.

Jan 7 at 22:54, by badp

@GraceNote I'd never displace one of you three. Maybe next year, maybe.

A year goes by fast.

badp

@ArdaXi "Three" being the operative word.

Arda Xi

@badp One of, actually.

badp

@ArdaXi Feel free to use what I wrote, which differs from what I meant as I gave for granted that all three mods would nominate, against me. I'll feel free to pull out another quote of mine.

Arda Xi

@badp I love pulling things out of context.

badp

in The SE Tavern, Dec 18 '10 at 21:31, by badp

If I see people I'd rather not see in the spot then yes. :)

Jan 3 at 23:26, by badp

As I said I'll only enter the elections if I see a candidate I'd rather not see with a diamond.

Jan 7 at 22:59, by badp

Anyway, I've stated already I'll only join the election if somebody I'd rather not see with a diamond does

in The SE Tavern, Dec 18 '10 at 21:31, by badp

And then write in my description, OMFG PLEASE VOTE GRACE JUAN AND OAK INSTEAD

Arda Xi

12:26

@badp Ah. And of course, I was the first, so you nominating was a given.

badp

My nomination was the eigth

so all you know is it wasn't one of Juan, CRoss, Kevin or Ivo.

Arda Xi

Don't worry, I know it was me.

badp

Feel free to bask in your newfound knowledge

Arda Xi

Also, stop distracting me from my programming. :( Right, just to double-check, the axiom was "if you can't join them, beat them", right?

badp

I think it was the other way round.

Arda Xi

12:28

@badp Oh. But what if you can't join them?

badp

You pretend you do.

Arda Xi

Nah, won't work. I'll go for beating them.

It's not so much as an inability to join it, it's being limited by it.

Arda Xi

13:02

I need more 'mindless' games.

Wait... Ricochet: Source was released a year ago? WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS?

Feeds

0

Q: Songhai embarked unit defense

Embarked units can defend themselves. Special Ability: River Warlord: Triple gold from Barbarian encampments and pillaging Cities. Embarked units can defend themselves. What is the defensive rating given? Does it depend on the unit? Does it effect bombardment, ships 'stepp...

civilization-5

Arda Xi

Another reason why I hate what TF2 has become:

Arda Xi

13:53

Ma perchè c'è la parte di tolk sciò su Forum? Contano solo le leggi, i contratti e i fatti, quindi si deve parlare di sesso degli angeli?

Tweeted by badp on February 9, 2011 at 1:53 PM

He's speaking in tongues! Do we really want that in a moderator?!

Yi Jiang

@ArdaXi Google translate says: 'But because it is part of tolk shoo on Forum? Count only the laws, contracts and deeds, then you should talk about sex of the angels?'

Riiiiight...

C. Ross

14:05

@ArdaXi I agree, but I have no problem ignoring that stuff when playing. It's still easy to hit join server and go bash people

Arda Xi

@CRoss I do.

C. Ross

then no TF2. thankfully games aren't regulated and we can all play what we want

so, has anyone heard anything about Bulletstorm?

it's sounds rather ridiculous

Yi Jiang

@CRoss I won't trust mainstream media's reporting of technology, much less video games

C. Ross

@YiJiang I don't which is why I'm asking y'all

Yi Jiang

Dunno anything about this game in particular, but GameSpot reported Fox News reporting this: asia.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/untitledpeoplecanflyproject/…

badp

14:24

@YiJiang "Why is there even a talk show in Forum? Only law, contracts and facts count, the rest is just pointless chit chat."

Yi Jiang

@badp Where does "sex of the angels" come in?

badp

@YiJiang "pointless chit chat"

a derogatory reference to theology that now has become common in language

"how many angels can dance on the tip of a pin?"

"who the hell cares?"

Arda Xi

Just for the hell of it, I'm gonna try TF2 again. Myself, playing vanilla.

looks at TF2 Beta in his game list Erm, couldn't you have done this with your former horrible updates?

badp

@ArdaXi what? you hated TF2.5 and now want to play TF2.6-pre?

Arda Xi

@badp No, I want them to put TF2.5 in the beta, and let me play TF2

And never ever graduate it from beta.

Yi Jiang

14:33

What is this 'the stone' thingy I see on one of the top homepage questions here?

Looks like some sort of puzzle site, but it asks for a login, which is odd, for a puzzle site

3

Q: thestone D:2 The Haystack nudges

Can anybody provide me nudge / hint to solve D:2 "the haystack" in the stone? ( http://www.scarecrowsfield.com/index.php?task=show&level=puzzle&group=1&left=D&right=2) ? I've looked at it for a long time but I haven't been able to come any closer to finding a solution.

puzzle the-stone

Arda Xi

Oh wow. It's worse than I expected.

badp

in The Tavern (General) on Meta Stack Overflow Chat, 4 mins ago, by balpha

c# chat (needs F5 for fresh CSS)

game-rec status-completed

Arda Xi

game-rec is rather status-declined

badp

14:48

[tag:foo] and [meta-tag:bar] syntax now works on chat too!

3

C. Ross

dwarf-fortress

badp

um

[tag:need-for-speed-most-wanted]

\o/

Feeds

1

Q: Convert an XBox Live account to a child account?

So, I gave my autistic cousin an XBox Live card ... I had made sure to go in and change his user profile so there was no correct information in it, but what I didn't know is that he's had a couple of incidents with telling people online where he lives (and in one case, someone came to 'visit'...

xbox-live

Arda Xi

15:18

Oh wow. I thought they added an item store to the game.

I had no idea they turned it into Farmville with guns...

This is what the tutorial plays like: "This is a gun. It uses bullets. You fire that gun. Not just randomly, you fire it at someone. If you fire a gun at someone, it hurts them. If you fire it enough times, they die."

It's as if they think people buy the game expecting merely a hat simulator.

Feeds

0

Q: What football game is this?

I'm looking for old football (soccer) game from around 1990. It was sort-of-championship type of game where you played around 10 matches in a row against harder and harder opponents - it started with Japan, went through USA, Russia, to Argentina and Brazil. When you entered penalty area, it chang...

pc identify-this-game old-games

Arda Xi

@badp Not loading.

You don't have permission to access /plus/misc/images/fractal-mondrian.jpg on this server.

badp

Arda Xi

badp

→ 1 message moved to Sandbox

Arda Xi

15:25

Zoomable

badp

15:42

@ArdaXi disappointingly unzoombable, as far as fractals go

Arda Xi

@badp True. But incredibly zoomable, as far as artworks go.

badp

@ArdaXi I don't think it was hand crafted...

Arda Xi

@badp Artwork is not necessarily hand-crafted.

Feeds

16:01

0

Q: Looking for an open source, tile-based turn-based wargame/engine

Have had a quick look at Battle of Wesnoth, but not sure if it would be suitable for a light operational/strategic level WW2 wargame I'd like to develop over time as a hobby (think "Panzer General" or "Commander: Europe at War"). Programming language does not matter nor does the platform (I have...

turn-based-strategy open-source

0

Q: TF2 - Cloak and Dagger OR Normal Invis watch?

What do I use for what situation? And general tips for cloaking with the spy.

team-fortress-2 spy valve

Arda Xi

I still hate "X, also Y?" questions.

If it's two completely separate questions only related by the game itself for example.

C. Ross

2

Q: Why are teamkillers not kicked out of the game in BFBC2 Hardcore mode on PS3?

I've experienced that killing people in the own team becomes more and more common. Sometimes it's because they want to have the vehicle you're taking, sometimes I guess just for fun (I've even seen someone named "Teamkiller...") or as a revenge for being (possibly unintentionally) team-killed. T...

ps3 bad-company-2 teams

considering changing the title/question to "How to deal with repeat teamkillers in ..."

Arda Xi

Definitely.

Might also want to change the body then too though...

C. Ross

16:16

done

Arda Xi

I'm going to be bold and assume you meant 'losing' there. :)

Mana

16:32

arda-is-ugly

I'm now subscribed to that questions feed.

badp

@Mana You need to doublecheck that, the tag has 0 followers

unless you mean RSS.

Mana

well I meant on RSS.

ding!

badp

In which case it's unnecessary, because I'll add three feeds for that question.

It's just that important.

Mana

yeeeeeessssssssss

Brant

2

Note: I have never actually seen @ArdaXi, this is speculative.

Mana

16:41

I'm not a betting man, but I'd bet it's right.

badp

It's as close to the interesting-person badge as it can get on SE

tzenes

Ok, I have a story for you guys

Mana

yaaaaaaaaaaaay, story time with @tzenes!!!

tzenes

we have an internal tool at amazon which is a website

and the backend for this website is in ruby

badp

remember, google listens

tzenes

16:42

and as part of generating one of the pages it needs to create a series of ajax calls

these calls are all identical except for on value

now the values exist in an array on the ruby server

so this task is handed to one "brilliant" programmer

Mana

AKA you

tzenes

now if it were me, I'd just print the array inside a script tag and map the array to the call

Mana

oh

tzenes

but I was not the programmer assigned to this

no, instead he decides to loop through the array to print its contents

Brant

c.f. brillant

tzenes

16:44

ok, sure fine, a silly way to do it, but whatever, loop through, create a js array, map the call

but no

he doesn't loop through to create the js array

badp

He loops to write a function call per value?

tzenes

instead, he loops through to recreate the entire ajax call

which is fine when the array is of length 3-5

Mana

pffffffffffffffft

tzenes

except there is a page where it is 1000

...

Mana

dear god the inhumanity :(

badp

16:45

meh, it's not that bad

tzenes

it crashed my firefox browser

Brant

eh, I've been reading The Daily WTF for so many years that I'm almost immune to that sort of story.

badp

...okay, at 1k it is a bit too much.

Brant

(It helps me get through my day)

tzenes

and I didn't hit one of the bad pages

there are worse ones

Brant

16:46

Right now I'm thigh-deep in this really messed up asp.net webforms app I need to make changes to

Mana

I read the DailyWTF to fuel my insecurities that I'm going to become one of those programmers

tzenes

oh god it was even worse, because he was reusing global variables in his js, it lead to an infinite loop

Brant

I spent two days doing a partial rewrite in mvc but then realized the change is so minor I can just do it to the original app in 5 minutes

... but I feel bad

tzenes

I would strangle this "brilliant" programmer

except he no longer works at Amazon

Mana

@tzenes Didn't he consult the team before doing this?

tzenes

16:48

@Mana he was not the type to submit code reviews

Brant

oh, and then there was my source control revelation I had last week

Mana

what a great "brilliant" programmer

tzenes

the only saving grace is that he can't write any more bad code

Mana

oh man I just got the best idea for SC2 training. I'll make a document app that treats each word I type as if I'm making a drone, and then I'll have to type OVERLORD one word before getting supply blocked or risk having my speakers blare "SPAWN MORE OVERLORDZZZZZ". I'll never forget about it ever again.

Genius.

tzenes

I once thought up the idea for a starcraft game where I didn't have to fight, I just built units and macro'd and the AI took care of the fighting for me

LessPop_MoreFizz

16:52

@tzenes Well, unless 'no longer works at Amazon' is a euphemism for dead or incapacitated, he can write plenty more bad code.

You just won't know if you're using it.

tzenes

@Less k, no more that I have to deal with

LessPop_MoreFizz

Although, 'no longer works at Amazon' is a pretty good euphemism out of context.

tzenes

we don't kill people for writing bad code

Brant

... yet

Mana

we do something much, much worse.

eyes twitch

LessPop_MoreFizz

16:54

57 secs ago, by tzenes

we don't kill people for writing bad code

tzenes

no, we just fire them

Brant

I'm working on a project that parses the output of Microsoft FxCop and uses it to remotely control a satellite-mounted death laser.

LessPop_MoreFizz

7 mins ago, by tzenes

I would strangle this "brilliant" programmer

tzenes

would

I said would

LessPop_MoreFizz

You didn't have the opportunity!

tzenes

16:55

except we don't kill people

I could track him down

look any good detective will tell you I have motive and opportunity

Brant

err, good to know

tzenes

anyway, I need to get to work

later

Ronan Forman

17:07

what's happened?

sjohnston

@Ronan not much, just Tzenes planning cold blooded murder

6

Ronan Forman

so the usual

Feeds

17:46

0

Q: City states declaring war

I am in the middle of a game where I am the Chinese, so I am obviously going to play aggressively. I have declared war on two city states, and in turn, I have had about 6 more declare war on me. Are city states a threat when they declare war? Do city states even leave their borders? What are t...

civilization-5

3

Q: Why are all these "overlapping" stack-exchange sites popping up?!?

I was just writing an answer to a programming question. It happened to be related to game development, but it was a fairly generic Java-question. Once I've spent 5 minutes or so carefully typing in an answer and clicked "save", I was surprised to see that it had been migrated to "gamedev.stackex...

discussion stackexchange

Powerlord

18:41

@Feeds Figures, a question that is like written directly towards me is posted during a time when I can't answer it.

@tzenes Have you looked into the games: Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Keeper 2, Evil Genius, or Dungeons?

Macha

Hi everyone.

Powerlord

@Macha .hacks!

Macha

Finally someone got the reference :P

Powerlord

@Macha I commented upon it the other day, too.

Macha

@Powerlord When?

Powerlord

18:54

@Macha I don't remember... I do remember commenting on how I got tired of the first .hack game, but I watched both anime series (well... not the OVAs)

Macha

Oh, my memory sucks then.

Feeds

0

Q: Most powerful beam spell variant?

Was wondering what the most powerful beam spell combo is in Magicka. I know of a few strong beam combos but it's hard to tell which is the most powerful in terms of raw damage. My personal favourite is Arcane+Steam+Steam+Lightning+Lightning. It seems to be pretty effective. Has anyone done some...

magicka damage spells

badp

webapps.stackexchange.com/election/1 heh

My dream came true, on WebApps.

I blame @RebeccaChernoff

sjohnston

it would be interesting if a site got fewer nominations than open slots

Powerlord

19:11

"Vote for Governor Marley. When there's only one candidate, there's only one choice!" -- Secret of Monkey Island

Feeds

0

Q: Something Bad Happened on the moderator tools privilege page.

Trying to go to the moderator tool privilege page: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/privileges/moderator-tools Causes an error: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/error?aspxerrorpath=/privileges/moderator-tools Also, while you're fixing it, notice that that page is bugged anyway.

bug privileges

LessPop_MoreFizz

...

Do we really need door ?

Or power-node for that matter?

badp

19:28

goes add door to a bunch of random nethack and minecraft questions

SO THAT WE CAN BECOME THE #1 REFERENCE FOR EVERYTHING door RELATED

6

Powerlord

Blah, I just noticed that you can't see the Accounts tab on a Meta site. Either that or you only can when logged in.

badp

@Powerlord You just can't

LessPop_MoreFizz

@badp door.se

badp

@LessPop_MoreFizz diy.se

Powerlord

@Feeds I saw @Oak and @GraceNote posting about the SO mod tools not being affected by this bug, so my first thought was "Do either of them actually have 10k+ rep on SO?"

and I can't check it because I'm not logged in on Meta.Gaming

Having said that, I can check SO myself, because I do have over 10k there.

Oh wait, that's the privileges page, not the actual mod tools. Derp.

Feeds

19:32

0

Q: How to play Starcraft II campaigns without logging in?

I have read that when "Play as Guest" mode is selected, Starcraft II campaigns can be played without achievements being recorded to your profile. Every time I click to the "Play as Guest" button, it tells me to authorize my game client. Then I login. Because game does not allow me to switch to g...

starcraft-2 client

Powerlord

On a side note, it's working correctly on Board & Card Games (still in Beta): boardgames.stackexchange.com/privileges/moderator-tools

badp

19:52

Powerlord

They're all dead! Lets go shopping!

badp

exciting head to head between FAE and CRoss!

they've been dead even for a while now

Powerlord

@badp You need more downvotes. I wonder if I can change my vote...

badp

@Powerlord You can

LessPop_MoreFizz

Arda Ivo and Fabian are all hovering in their vicinity as well.

badp

19:53

Ivo yes, Fabian is a bit behind

Powerlord

I'm surprised Juan has that many votes... he hasn't really been active recently.

LessPop_MoreFizz

@Powerlord Yeah, same.

badp

FAE and CRoss at +18, Ivo at +17, Fabian at +14, Arda at +9

also yay, first upvote for Ullallulloo

(how do you pronounce that?)

LessPop_MoreFizz

ull-all-ull-oo

not that hard to pronounce.

I mean, at least it's not ulillillia

badp

Also, while Grace Note couldn't remain at a score of +42, Juan does have 42 upvotes right now

Powerlord

19:58

We all need to go to Duke Nukem's Titty City: static.arstechnica.com/Gaming/tittyecity.jpg

badp

Isn't that game XBox only?

Powerlord

I still can't believe they actually rebranded a strip club with Duke Nukem Forever stuff.

@badp No. Well, maybe for consoles, but there's going to be a PC version.

Ars Technica's preview of the game is... a bit of a let down, actually. I guess I'm not surprised that they're saying the game doesn't look that good, considering how many years it spent in production.

Oh right, they complained about sluggish frame rates, but apparently they were playing the Xbox 360 version.

Not to knock the consoles, but both the 360 and PS3 are slow compared to a modern PC. I guess MS and Sony forgot the reason why they release new consoles every 5-6 years in their lame attempt to lengthen the console lifecycle with motion control toys.

Brant

never mind the whole global recession thing that would discourage people from dropping another 400 bucks on a console

besides, gamers are getting less impressed by pretty graphics, and it's about time

badp

@Powerlord otoh as a responsible spender I wouldn't pay for an obsolescent console

Powerlord

My posts and brants made me think of two Nerf Now strips:

nerfnow.com/comic/457

and nerfnow.com/comic/464

badp

20:11

@Powerlord "Quake 3"

(it wasn't released to consoles right? it then becomes an appropriate response. CS works too.)

Powerlord

I forget if Quake 3 was released to consoles or not.

I do find it strange that iD software didn't make a big deal about Quake 4 coming out. I didn't even find out that Quake 4 came out until last year, and it came out in 2005!

Brant

There was a Dreamcast port. They played alongside PC users on the same servers. It wasn't pretty.

Powerlord

@Brant Consoles versus PCs in FPS games never will be... not unless the Console players plug in a USB mouse and keyboard.

Mouse being the important one of the two, but you need some sort of movement controls, too.

Feeds

0

Q: What can the Pyro return to sender using the compression blast?

What exactly can the Pyro's compression blast effect? I've reflected rockets back at soldiers, but I've had very sketchy luck trying to bounce other things back at enemy players.

pc steam team-fortress-2

Powerlord

@Feeds Oh come ON! Stop giving me questions I can answer when I can't actually reply to answer them!

badp

20:15

@Powerlord Write an answer here and we'll post it for ya!

(or switch for a minute to tethering from your mobile)

Powerlord

Here, free answer for whomever wants to post it: Soldier Rockets, Pyro Flares, Demoman Grenades, Demoman Sticky Bombs (both types), Medic Arrows, and Sniper arrows.

badp

0

A: What can the Pyro return to sender using the compression blast?

Soldier Rockets, Pyro Flares, Demoman Grenades, Demoman Stickies, Medic Arrows, and Sniper arrows. Powerlord

It's CW ;)

Powerlord

I could go more into detail about the various speeds, but eh.

badp

You can edit it when you're home

If you edit it enough you'll displace my name in the signature

Powerlord

Then again, there's just two firing speeds for the stuff above: Soldier normal rockets (slow), and everything else (fast). ;)

Feeds

20:20

0

Q: How to port iPhone games to Mac OS ?

There are some great iPhone games that people who don't have an iPhone can't play but could play if there was a relatively easy way to port them to Mac OS. Is there ?

iphone games port

Powerlord

Hmm, because I own Borderlands on Steam, I'm supposed to have "early access" to the Duke Nukem forever demo. I wonder when that will actually be released.

I'll find out then whether the game is good or not.

Powerlord

20:34

@badp Hmm, I just realized that question said "return to sender," which isn't strictly true for Sticky Bombs.

Oh well, I'll likely edit it later if no one else does.

Feeds

0

Q: Call of Duty Black Ops: Taking Down Helicopters

Hello, With the M72 Law, when I look through the scope and lock onto an attack helicopter and fire, the helicopter makes an invasive maneuver and I never hit it. It seems like the best way to take down a helicopter is just to line it up without the scope and fire. Any other tips to taking a ch...

wii call-of-duty-black-ops call-of-duty

0

Q: Problems running certain queries

I'm trying to run the following two sql queries on data.stackexchange.com/gaming : http://data.stackexchange.com/gaming/s/86/most-and-least-dangerous-tags-to-answer-among-the-tags-with-1000-questions http://data.stackexchange.com/gaming/s/85/posts-with-many-thank-you-answers And in both cases ...