Smidge204

ori·ga·mi (noun) Pronunciation: \ˌȯr-ə-ˈgä-mē\ : the Japanese art or process of folding squares of paper into representational shapes This model is not made from folding squares of paper, therefore it is not "origami" but "papercraft." =Smidge=

Ye olde phpBB template set. Enjoy. Also, I may be purchasing a new vB license in the near future and updating things. Dunno if the newer vB has a drastically different skinning system, just be aware. =Smidge=

D3 beats the living shit out of nearly anything they make today. Unless, of course, you don't like hard games... which makes you a pussy. Six D.O.F. too much for you? =Smidge=

Just fucking play it already! =Smidge=

Scatta knows not of xkcd? That's a criminal offense in some places. =Smidge=

And that makes it a synonym of "modify" ... how, exactly? Oh wait, it doesn't. Back on topic: Buy/eat known name brands and you'll likely be okay. I'm pretty sure no products from Hersey, Nestle, or any of their subsidiaries (those being the two largest candy manufacturers I can think of...) come from China. The more offbeat and seasonal the brand is, the more likely it will be from China and therefore risky. =Smidge=

And toys. And toothpaste. And pet food. And car tires. And a variety of dairy products (eggs, milk, and things containing them). And baby cribs, baby formula, baby pacifiers. Even "chocolate flavored" body paint (kinky!). You just don't buy, use or even touch anything made in China. This goes double for, but by no means limited to, food products. (Also, "tainted" does not mean "modified." Get a dictionary...) =Smidge=

Just one: Why is "tainted" the only word in all caps? I thought we all learned already not to eat anything with a "Made in China" sticker on it. =Smidge=

Short answer: It inconveniences honest customers while doing absolutely nothing to prevent piracy. Long answer: With DRM you buy but never actually own the data. Depending on the mechanism you are either locked into certain hardware (iPod/iTunes) or are slaved to the company in some manner. A nice recent example is Wal*Mart's DRM music. Last month they decided to stop offering DRM music downloads and to shut down their DRM severs. One problem though: shutting down the servers would mean that everyone who bought the music with DRM would be unable to play it. Let's say you bought Spore. If anything ever happens to Electronic Arts that causes their DRM servers to go offline, or you lose internet connectivity for some reason, you will be unable to play it. The same thing goes for any game purchased over or run through Steam. And that's if everything is working properly... If something goes wrong with the software itself the game/music/etc will refuse to work, or worse actually damage other parts of the operating system in the process. All for a technology that has proven time and time again to do absolutely nothing against the people who actually want to pirate. =Smidge=

Descent 3 + Expansion: 789MB for $5.99 Price is on par with store copies. But 789MB? Bullshit. The retail game with expansion is 3 CDs. Something screwy there... =Smidge=

That's functionally the same thing... Not really. You'd need really small chain, since chains don't work too good on sprockets with small numbers of teeth. Chains are subject to "chordal action" because the effective radius of contact changes, causing speed fluctuations and vibration. All chains do this, but it's not a problem if the sprockets are large enough... but how big is a skate wheel? 3 inches, tops? Find a high speed motor with a gear box on it. At 15 MPH a 3" wheel will only be doing 850 RPM so that's easily doable with plenty of torque if you have a 10K RPM motor or something. I still think power tools are your best bet for motors. {Edit:} A cheap cordless drill ($20-40) would be perfect, actually. High torque motor with a pistol-grip throttle control and standardized, rechargeable battery packs. =Smidge=

You wouldn't lose torque. What you would lose is the bearing on the wheel - which means you need to make a new one. I think I understand why you wanted an outrunner motor... using the motor's external rotor as the wheel itself? I can tell you flat out that is doomed to failure. What you want to do (drive the existing wheels directly) is certainly possible but there's a reason nobody's tried that before - it's a bitch and requires modifying the the entire skate. You're almost better off starting from scratch. Here's one idea, though. Widen the bracket the wheels fit into to allow you to attach a spur gear to the face of the wheel while letting the shaft pass through without contract. You might then be able to drive the wheel using a mating spur gear. If you want to drive all the wheels you can insert idler gears between them. =Smidge=

Okay, you probably DON'T want outrunner motors. Not sure what your budget is, but I'd suggest something along the lines of cheap cordless power tools. Optionally carry an inverter as well and use (much cheaper) AC motors but less bulk is always good. Garage sales and swap meets are almost always a good place to find cheap, used power tools. You can also hit up eBay. I would recommend adding a fifth traction wheel, rather than trying to modify the existing wheels in any way. That will save you from trying to re-engineer all the bearings. Also, a fifth wheel could be retracted/removed in case your batteries go dead - then you'd at least have normal skates again. First thought was using an angle grinder. The motor is mounted perpendicular to the output shaft, meaning you could mount the thing to the side of the skate and a traction wheel directly to the shaft. Cordless grinders start around $60 and go up as much as $500 though. Anyway, electric skates have been done before too My $.02. =Smidge=

I guess the obvious question is... what's it for? Can't really select a motor unless you know it's application. "Propelling 45 pounds" - at what speed? Does it have to be a brushless DC outrunner type? etc etc =Smidge=

Done. =Smidge=

"Godwin's Law" is from the old Usenet days. It states: "As the length of any discussion increases, the likelyhood of a comparison to Hitler or Nazi Germany approaches 1" It has since been perverted to mean that a discussion is effectively over whenever someone even mentions Hitler/Nazis. Doesn't work that way. (Notable exception to the 'law' is discussions specifically about Hitler/Nazis to begin with...) =Smidge=

No, I don't think it's ever possible for a bacteria to become any type of virus, let alone a super virus. Now stop bumping old topics! =Smidge=

They didn't delay anything. The big experiment isn't scheduled until Sep. 10th. Before they can crank it up full blast they need to cool the 17 miles of superconducting dipole magnets to -271 degrees Centigrade. That takes awhile. =Smidge=

Particle Physics give me a Hadron. =Smidge=

The Geforce 8600 GT, specifically, recommends 18 amps from a 350W PSU. I'm a little light there but honestly the difference isn't going to kill anything. We are not building a super gaming rig here. For what it's worth, I run a 400W PSU that only gives 18A per rail and haven't had any problems with my card. It's worth mentioning that it's been a year and I never turn my PC off except for hardware tweaking. It will be fine. =Smidge=

Yeah: don't shop at TigerDirect. Except for some rare occasions, Newegg has better prices. Of course, Newegg has "secret sales" all the time so their prices fluctuate every few days... if a price seems really good it probably won't be that way for long. Now... Hard drive ($79.99 + $0 S&H) Video Card ($64.99 + $8.25 S&H - $15 MIR*) Power Supply ($54.99 + $0 S&H [This is a limited time sales offer, $35 instant rebate!]) RAM ($38.99 + $0 S&H) Case: I recommend the cheapest shit case you can find that will hold everything together... because that's all it needs to do. If budget is a concern spending more than $50 on a case is retarded. Hell, I've bought $30 cases WITH POWER SUPPLIES and they work just fine. Subtotal: $238.96 S&H: $8.25 Total: $247.21 After mail-in rebates: $232.21 (Never bank on actually getting the rebate. Great if you do, but it's a gamble.) Now that you've saved like $150 you can consider getting a new mainboard and processor for a proper upgrade. =Smidge=

Yeah like Intel and a bunch of other major corporations. And before you comment, it's not about rollout logistics - it's about stability and compatibility. And that's POST-SP1 Vista. Regarding the original topic: You will almost definitely need to install the software twice since both operating systems will require files and settings to be referenced properly. You can't run most software across partitions for the same reason you can't just copy the program's install folder and run it on another machine. (Of course, for the vanishingly small number of programs you CAN do that with, you won't have a problem.) Now, you can possibly install the program using the same folder - Install in Vista, then re-install in XP using the folder on Vista's partition. This should eliminate the bulk of duplicate files but setup should still reference the files properly. I recommend against it, though, because if something happens to one partition you're SOL all around. =Smidge=

http://www.nitrome.com =Smidge=

Blazefire is like a herpes infection. There's really no way to get rid of him and you never know when the next flare-up is going to hit. The best you can hope for is not to spread it around. =Smidge=

I don't even know what game that is... =Smidge=