Stilton: Windows has a regular way of turning even the simplest requirement into utter and irredeemable frustration. I was using both Chrome and Firefox as 'regular' browsers and they both suddenly decided to stop downloading anything, or rather, they both decided to be extremely selective in what they would or would not download for me. Things that half an hour before were almost as available as air. I could have got under the hood and started searching, Googling, hitting and hoping, but I'm fucked if I'm going to pander to a dimwitted OS and browsers to try and get them to do what I want them to. This is the latest in a long line of out of the blue cock ups that Windows has so generously bestowed upon me, so I thought, shit on this, I'll give Linux a go. I cannot stand Windows, I'm not wild about Linux, and Mac is about as useful as tin tonsils, so I think its only a case of trying something different until I resign myself to returning to hell and reloading Bill Gates's monster. Which kind of shit smells the worst? Take your pick, you'll end up sniffing all of them at some point or other.

j0ekerr: Slight update on local politics because the TV is showing nothing but the election results and I'm bored.

The bipartisan system is still in effect, only less so.
It looks like we're not yet scheduled to become a socialist olive-rian republic.

So thaAAAAAAAARGH SPIDER, SPIDER ON THE KEYBOARD!!!

GhostwriterDoF: Quite true, I saw some company has already made a printer that you can draw your own pancake patterns and it will be served to you cooked up. Though I agree, the printed version could never replace your culinary masterpieces.

GhostwriterDoF: If we had transporter technology available, I would be very hesitant to trust in such a way of travel, and be more in favor, even adamant, for taking the long road. Being vaporized into a pattern of molecules to be sent through a communication channel or frequency, and then to be replicated on the other end, has too many open variables for mishaps along the way.

GhostwriterDoF: Quite true, I saw some company has already made a printer that you can draw your own pancake patterns and it will be served to you cooked up. Though I agree, the printed version could never replace your culinary masterpieces.

If we had transporter technology available, I would be very hesitant to trust in such a way of travel, and be more in favor, even adamant, for taking the long road. Being vaporized into a pattern of molecules to be sent through a communication channel or frequency, and then to be replicated on the other end, has too many open variables for mishaps along the way.

CarrionCrow: That makes sense. Who doesn't want stability when it comes to finances, especially in light of having gotten burned and ultimately working for nothing more than once.
It sounds like you've got a good plan going. Also, one thing I've noticed from watching just ridiculous amounts of Food Network - when you've got really good stuff, word gets around. So many people are used to eating mediocre crap that when something comes along that's really good without being super expensive (and usually incredibly pretentious as well), you end up with business unless no one has any money at all.

Why not...I keep saying I could use some different scenery, so why not save up money for a ticket to get good pizza.
People spend money travelling to do stupid shit all the time, at least my trip would have a point to it. =)

Also, kiss my ass, spellchecker. Meriam Webster says travelling has two L's, so suck it.

GhostwriterDoF: If we had transporter technology available, I would be very hesitant to trust in such a way of travel, and be more in favor, even adamant, for taking the long road. Being vaporized into a pattern of molecules to be sent through a communication channel or frequency, and then to be replicated on the other end, has too many open variables for mishaps along the way.

adaliabooks: I'm sure I saw one that was either already for sale or soon to be on sale here... but they do tend to be largely for things like pizza or pancakes that are flat and easily printable... I can't really see it being very useful for many things.

I kind of agree about teleportation... I imagine someday it will be possible, but the risks involved seem just a little high for travel. Transporting goods should be fine though, as long as the technology works.

adaliabooks: That's what we hope, things are starting to get moving a bit, people coming and saying others had told them about us and stuff. But we haven't done many regular things before (we did regular afternoon stuff, but we do much better on an evening) so we haven't been able to build up that reputation like this.
We do try to keep things cheap, £5 - 6 for a 10 inch pizza, so hopefully that helps too.

Well once you've cleared your wishlist you'll need something to spend your money on ;)

I hate the Chrome spell checker, it doesn't recognise the most bizarre words...

j0ekerr: The thought of printed food, makes me squirm. Just the idea of the mechanical arm, adding bit by little bit to the concoction inside is enough to chase away my hunger.

Then again, some people actually ENJOY that KFC stuff.

CarrionCrow: As you continue to work out a stable routine, the word of mouth should continue to grow, and since your quality level is high, the reputation will expand positively.

Once my list is clear and I have a few other things covered that I've been putting off, I can start saving money for a trip.
A really good thing about the stance I'm taking regarding games, it draws clear boundaries.
My first thought was that I'd buy everything, have everything. One big problem, though - that's not even a feasible goal anymore. There's too much stuff to ever cover it all.
So I'll take my ridiculously large GOG stockpile and a handheld instead.

Spellcheckers are always odd. GOG's in particular I'm noticing, since it screws up on even common words.

CarrionCrow: Yeah, I just love when programs suddenly, for no frigging reason whatsoever, decide to completely die on you.
Given your thoughts on the myriad joys of trying to do Google tech support, I can totally see why you've gone the Linux route.

Hell, give me an OS where it has proper backwards compatibility for games and I'd be all over it. People keep talking about Windows X or 10 or whatever, and there's no frigging way I'm "upgrading" since compatibility always gets kicked in the teeth.
I already have XP-only games that I'll need an entirely different computer just to run, I'm not going to make it all even more complicated.

adaliabooks: That makes sense. It's impossible to own everything (nevermind the fact that even if you could, you couldn't play them all) so why try. Thankfully although I do enjoy a wide range of games the list of things I'd actually go out of my way to acquire is relatively small (largely RPGs and RTS / 4x stuff) so it should be possible to own it all at some point, and maybe even play them too.

Stilton: Its amazing the amount of frustration and wasted time these lousy things create. But we love them when they work right, so we're stuffed. Its like we don't care about the fact we're testing this crap for free while we're giving MicroBrain or whoever it is the money to keep churning even more sophisticated examples of just how inept they can be, just as long as we get the occasional brief window of usability that we crave so much. In that respect I'm my own worst enemy, so I've got nothing to complain about. But oh, just imagine if a PC worked faultlessly and did what it was supposed to. People around the world would be crapping themselves with the shock ;-)

CarrionCrow: I have a question for you. With Dark Souls, do the classes only serve to provide different starting stats, with the ability to customize so you're eventually good at everything if you so choose, or are there restrictions for the entire game based around them?

CarrionCrow: We're all ultimately screwed because the companies will never want a flawless machine or system to occur.
If that happens, OS upgrades, hardware upgrades, buying new computers in general, all that money would be gone from their pockets.
We're also screwed because we're stuck, like you said. Once you've got a computer and you're connected to everything all the time, it's pretty frigging hard to go back. But with that comes the dependency on companies like Microsoft or Apple, since they own most of the playing field.

j0ekerr: Your first assumption is correct.

There are no restriction based upon classes, You can start as a warrior and become an awesome wizard as you level up and vice versa.

However you are discouraged from becoming a jack of all trades type by the game's mechanics themselves, since that will spread out your points too thin and you will end up being able to do everything but sucking AND blowing at it. And, some weapons and spells have requirements that can only be met via committing yourself to upgrading that one stat only.

It is theoretically possible to max all your stats up to 99, however considering that every experience level grants you one stat point... You do the math. The other way is by hex editing your savefile. I've seen it even on the xbox version. Wtih a character with level 1 and every stat maxed out at 99.

Stilton: Its amazing the amount of frustration and wasted time these lousy things create. But we love them when they work right, so we're stuffed. Its like we don't care about the fact we're testing this crap for free while we're giving MicroBrain or whoever it is the money to keep churning even more sophisticated examples of just how inept they can be, just as long as we get the occasional brief window of usability that we crave so much. In that respect I'm my own worst enemy, so I've got nothing to complain about. But oh, just imagine if a PC worked faultlessly and did what it was supposed to. People around the world would be crapping themselves with the shock ;-)

Stilton: Fortunately I'm old enough to remember a time when everyone didn't have a PC - I remember when LED watches were the coolest thing available and pocket calculators could actually fit in a reasonably sized pocket. I get an urge now and then to go back to that simplicity, but along with the lack of technological frustration there would be the annoyance of no internet, and that means life would have a whole new bunch of frustrations. But I still like the idea of having nothing more sophisticated than a TV and a phone that can't be used outside the house. I mean, that would really put a smile on my chops.