David Hingtgen

Why does everyone lump KOTOR I and II together? BIOWARE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH KOTOR II. Didn't write it, didn't program it, didn't publish or develop it. They just allowed Obsidian to use the name and basic engine. Blame Obsidian and Lucasarts for II's failures.

I want Planet Earth to drop to like 20, and players to 50 or 75...

Ok, just now saw that big clear pic of the unpainted one. Those aren't jet engine exhausts. Those are HELICOPTER turbine exhaust baffles. They are for stealth (IR signature reduction) but they cannot be used on a propulsive jet, only a turbo-shaft, like an Abrams tank or helicopter. If they could be used on a jet, they'd be on every F-15/16/18/22 out there, as well as ever passenger airliner to prevent heat-seeking missile attacks. (and why are they clear? Since they're a solid object and not a flame, etc)

To me they just look like a generic afterburner effect, which we all know is wrong for an A-10. And even if it is an IR-signature-reducing exhaust, that's also wrong for an A-10 and looks stupid. Real A-10 engine exhausts would look best in robot mode.

I like that shade of blue, too.

Acoording to Penny-Arcade, load times on both versions are similar, as in "very short". The PS3 IS faster, but nothing to write home about.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Blade failure will delay STOVL F-35B JSF first flight By Graham Warwick Pratt & Whitney's F135 powerplant for the Lockheed Martin F-35 suffered a second turbine blade failure on 4 February, the same day the US Department of Defense tried for a third time to cancel the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine. The third-stage low-pressure turbine blade failed during proof testing of flight test engine (FTE) 6, the F135 scheduled to power the first short take-off and vertical landing F-35B, aircraft BF-1. First flight is expected to be delayed. The first failure, on a STOVL F135 during ground testing in August 2007, was traced to high-cycle fatigue resulting from vibration excited by interaction of the blade with the wakes from vanes upstream of the third LP turbine stage. P&W devised a proof test to deliberately excite the vibration and determine whether any turbine blades were susceptible to failure. Two conventional take-off and landing F135s, FTE 1 and 3, have been proof-tested and cleared for flight. "FTE 6 was next in line. A single LP turbine blade responded to the vibration and broke," says Bill Gostic, F135 programme vice-president. "That was the intent [of the proof test]. We fully expected to find blades that cracked, but believed we could identify them before they broke. That was the surprise." To replace the damaged STOVL engine, P&W planned to begin proof testing FTE 2 on 8 February, but the incident will delay the start of propulsion system testing on BF-1 at Lockheed. "The extent of any delay is still to be decided," says Gostic. P&W is delivering one engine a month. "So the initial thought [on the delay] is nominally 30 days - less if we can expedite FTE 2," he says. BF-1 was planned to fly in late May at the earliest, following hover pit tests of the STOVL propulsion system. The blade failure is not expected to delay flight qualification of the STOVL F135, Gostic says. Ground-test engine FX635 is finishing up a 1,000-cycle accelerated mission test, while FTE 5 is completing altitude testing. "We have completed all powered-lift performance testing," he says. P&W thinks the problem is restricted to STOVL F135s, because the LP turbine works harder when powering the shaft-driven lift fan. Although the F135 is derived from the F119 engine powering the Lockheed F-22, the third LP turbine stage was added to power the lift fan. P&W is redesigning the third-stage LP turbine vane, but plans to proof test all ground- and flight-test F135s. Gostic expects the improved design to be implemented beginning with the second low-rate initial production batch of STOVL engines. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has eliminated development funding for the GE/R-R F136 from its budget request for the third year running. Previously, Congress has restored funding for the alternative Joint Strike Fighter engine. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< I'm thinking the production F-35's never going to be able to hover at this rate.

Viagra helps Israeli pilot's performance

Seagate. Specifically, a ST3160021A. 160gig, 7200rpm. Quick question---are faster(RPM) ones noisier?

Hard drive is from late '03. My main concern is that if it DOES go bad, I am practically forced to get a whole new PC and OS, due to HP's little tattoos embedded in the mobo and HDD. But if I replace it now I can work around it (I think). Might be worth experimenting with. $64 for peace of mind... (of course, HP does sell new ones for $325, but then the tattoo thing is so little-known within the company that it usually won't work anyways because they forgot to set it up for YOUR PC, and then you'll have to pay another hundred bucks to the geek squad at BestBuy (they are about the only place HP allows to tattoo outside the factory) so you've got a $425 HP-compliant HDD)

Personally, I don't like the new Mustang style, and think the new Camaro missed the mark. But the new Challenger I put in a whole different category. It's not "retro" but more like "if they never stopped making it". I think the new Challenger did a 100x better job than the new Charger, looks-wise. And 10x better than the Mustang and Camaro. As for the GTO: It looked exactly like a G6 somehow, despite retaining 90% of its Australian parts. And the G6 itself looks like the last Neon. First time I saw a new GTO, I thought of the Neon. Not good for a muscle car. (of course, I'd love to own one)

I've been trying to determine EXACTLY what HP's BIOS tattoo knows---I'm wondering if I could buy a new MISB hard drive of the exact type it came with, and "fool" the system that nothing's changed. Though the only reference I can find to something like that said it didn't work--but 99% of the time people are also trying to change or replace the motherboard at that time, and it won't accept a new board, even if IDENTICAL. I'm keeping the board. My hard drive shows no signs of problems, and every test/scan I run says it's fine--but this is the longest I've ever used a hard drive, and I fear it just randomly dying for no reason in the next 12 months. (isn't that how it usually happens?) Since my PC got new memory, graphics card, and PSU a year ago, it should be pretty "bullet-proof" parts-wise to last a while longer. But I do fear "random hard drive death". (I stupidly got rid of my fully-functioning-but-old PC's tower a few months ago, so I have no backup now)

All of which is why I'm considering buying a full copy of XP now, before it goes away again (remember when Vista first came out, retail copies of XP disappeared almost immediately for months until people demanded it back). (Since I currently only have an OEM-installed version without a true install disc, and it will NOT like being installed in another PC or hard drive--HP has several little things buried in their version to prevent that, or even "major" upgrades to this PC itself). Then, maybe when Vista SP2 comes out, I can/will upgrade. Last I saw, XP is supposed to be supported until 2014.

I have an INSANELY critical eye when it comes to "shades of grey matching". 99.9% of the world may say two colors match, and I'll say "no, the wings are a slightly warmer shade of grey than the belly". It comes up in aircraft modeling forums I go to.

And you won't see it for a while, as 08's don't come in white. Or red, green, blue, yellow, etc.

Testors still lists light Aircraft Grey, order it direct if you have to: http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=1367 Though most any online shop that sells Testors should have it, it's not from one of their hard-to-find lines like Marine Acrylics... Personally, I've never heard of Testors discontinuing a color. Renaming, once or twice. That particular color's been a staple of theirs for years.

I'll post a pic when I hit 3000.

I believe it was the inspiration for that Hasegawa custom VF-1. WAY too similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BAE_Nimrod.jpg

Thanks much for the info. Processor question (as I know nothing about multi-core)---if I was going to spend even more on the CPU, like 250 or so. I could either get a "faster" dual core, or move into "slower" quad cores. And various front bus speeds. This may be an impossible question, but what's "better"?

Everyone says that, but mine doesn't seem to. The motherboard is a standard ASUS (with a HP logo in the BIOS and some configuration options blocked) and I've already changed the PSU. Maybe some or even most HP's use their own parts and are like Dells, but mine seems to be "pretty normal parts in a HP case". (this discussion occured over a year ago in this thread, when I first upgraded this PC to try to get another year or two out of it)

Not mine, but so cool I had to post it:

Hereos action figures: http://2008reviews.figures.com/showgallery.php?cat=642 No Nathan? Claire gets both regular and bloody versions, but no Nathan at all?

I've been looking around, and I can't find a case at all like I want/have. Here's my current case, which is IMHO perfect (and part of the reason I bought this HP years ago): http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-Desktop-2-8...g/dp/B0000DK3KP The two optical drives are behind individual doors, that are spring-loaded with just enough pressure to keep them closed, but open by themselves when the tray pushes them out. External buttons for the tray. I do not want "bare" drives that are exposed to dust and dirt. I also do not want them behind a single big door that covers half the tower that I have to open every time I change discs. My case has "automatic" doors for each drive, which is a really nice feature. The middle of the tower's front has a door that slides up/down, for "stuff only used occasionally". Behind it are the 3.5 floppy, front USB/firewire, audio jacks, and the card reader. A small pic of it lowered is here: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Images/c00760222.jpg Again, it's just a sliding door inside the case front itself, you don't have to swing open the entire front half of the case, etc. I want at least ONE of these features (optical drive doors, door for card readers) and really would like both. Or possibly--since I like my current case so much, how high-end of a system can it support if I completely gut it and rebuild? The limiting factor is really cooling I think. No front fans, side vents are so small and oddly placed that I think they're mainly just decoration, and a single 92mm fan at the rear. A far cry from the current "standard" of a 120mm fan at rear, 80mm fans scattered around as needed, and a large side vent/duct for the CPU. It does suck in a lot of air through the lower front of the case, the front grill holes collect lots of lint, but I don't think I could add a fan/filter to the front to cool the hard drive etc---no room with the arrangement it has. I found a "92mm to 120mm" fan adapter. I never overclock anything even slightly (CPU nor graphics) as I want as utterly reliable and long-lived a PC as possible, so it never gets very hot. (and I like them quiet, so that means keeping things cool to minimize required # of fans and fan speed) Buying a second graphics card in the future may happen, but I'm thinking it'd may be better to just get a single new one. Scenario: Buy a $150-$250 card in the next year. Buy another of that same type of card 2-3 years later when it's really cheap (under a hundred) and link them together. But would that even be worth it, or would it be better to just buy a single, brand-new card then? If so, I'll never have more than 1 card in the case.

I think that scheme makes train mode look a lot better.