Random Thoughts IV: the Abyss Gazes Back

[cardgame]

If anything, captain is unspecific. It could refer to an army captain or a navy captain, for instance. And don't get me started on the captain/commodore distinction.

 

[Takhisis]

One is an active OTer and the other isn't?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I get really amused when I look up the ISBN numbers for old paperback novels and find that its price on Amazon often is in the hundreds of dollars. The price listed on the back cover is usually two or three dollars, at most.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Reading a modern thread.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/my-computer-is-more-powerful-than-yours.2728/

 

[Dachs]

like the related "podna", "cap" has been a primarily male-to-male term of address in New Orleans for decades, so that'll cause some adjustment for me, not that it matters

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I get really amused when I look up the ISBN numbers for old paperback novels and find that its price on Amazon often is in the hundreds of dollars. The price listed on the back cover is usually two or three dollars, at most.

I don't get amused. I get ticked off, because I'm still trying to complete my collection of various series from the 1970s and earlier. There is no way in hell some of those books are worth that much.

But with any buyer/seller situation, it depends on how much you can con out of your buyer. I've seen offerings of a particularly notorious Star Trek fanzine for as much as $500 USD.

I got my copy for about $20 USD (a bit less than $25 CAD). Yes, mine's a reprint, but so are the majority of the ones offered for a higher price.

A long time ago I was in the dealers' room at a convention and a friend ran up and said, "Come quick, I saw a copy of the Darkover Concordance at the Sentry Box table, you're looking for that, aren't you?"

What she'd found was one of the 200 hardcover copies ever published... and I got it for $18. I've seen them advertised online for $250.

I'd bet that some of those insanely-priced Amazon offerings are a lot more reasonable elsewhere, if a person knew where to look.

 

[Ryika]

Reading a modern thread.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/my-computer-is-more-powerful-than-yours.2728/

And half of those can still run World of Warcraft.

 

[brennan]

Actually, no. Most of them wouldn't have enough HDD space to even install it - it's become quite a monster. I bought a new PC to replace my 2001 model in about 2008 because it couldn't handle running around Dalaran or raiding in Naxx v2.

 

[Cutlass]

I get really amused when I look up the ISBN numbers for old paperback novels and find that its price on Amazon often is in the hundreds of dollars. The price listed on the back cover is usually two or three dollars, at most.

I find that trying to replace map books as well. I carelessly let my book of maps get damaged. And since those aren't printed any more, finding any replacement is tough.

 

[Takhisis]

Reading a modern thread.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/my-computer-is-more-powerful-than-yours.2728/

Wow, that's from the time when they still allowed guests to comment.
And they specify when their CD drives were read-write rather than just read!

And some people I haven't seen in a decade.

That was one nostalgic thread.

And half of those can still run World of Warcraft.

Actually, no. Most of them wouldn't have enough HDD space to even install it - it's become quite a monster. I bought a new PC to replace my 2001 model in about 2008 because it couldn't handle running around Dalaran or raiding in Naxx v2.

Does WoW still support Windows XP?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I don't get amused. I get ticked off, because I'm still trying to complete my collection of various series from the 1970s and earlier. There is no way in hell some of those books are worth that much.

But with any buyer/seller situation, it depends on how much you can con out of your buyer. I've seen offerings of a particularly notorious Star Trek fanzine for as much as $500 USD.

I got my copy for about $20 USD (a bit less than $25 CAD). Yes, mine's a reprint, but so are the majority of the ones offered for a higher price.

A long time ago I was in the dealers' room at a convention and a friend ran up and said, "Come quick, I saw a copy of the Darkover Concordance at the Sentry Box table, you're looking for that, aren't you?"

What she'd found was one of the 200 hardcover copies ever published... and I got it for $18. I've seen them advertised online for $250.

I'd bet that some of those insanely-priced Amazon offerings are a lot more reasonable elsewhere, if a person knew where to look.

There are sometimes reasons why the prices get out of control. Sometimes two third-party sellers have algorithms that look at the other seller's price and then sets it to a little higher. When both of them have this in place and no checks in place it can get to really high prices. See Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies which explains it in a little more detail.

 

[brennan]

Does WoW still support Windows XP?

I've upgraded again - just last year. So I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I do miss XP, most stable version of Windows I ever used. Win 10 looks rubbish imo.

 

[Takhisis]

Regardless of the rubbishness of Windows (I've switched to Linux ever since Microsoft dropped support for XP) and found no reason to complain, no matter what Lemon Merchant might have to say about it), Windows XP cannot handle -IIRC- more than 2 GB RAM, so I wonder what will happen when/if WoW requires more than that.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Regardless of the rubbishness of Windows (I've switched to Linux ever since Microsoft dropped support for XP) and found no reason to complain, no matter what Lemon Merchant might have to say about it), Windows XP cannot handle -IIRC- more than 2 GB RAM, so I wonder what will happen when/if WoW requires more than that.

XP can handle 4 GB of RAM, but only uses ~ 3.3 GB due to addressing concerns/foolishness having to do with 32 bit operating systems. 64 bit is the way to go, whether it's Windows or Linux.

I find reasons to complain about Linux constantly, but I spare you my bleating just because I'm a kind soul.

 

[cardgame]

You know how Windows and MacOS ask for like two things when connecting to wi-fi? Yeah I installed Ubuntu for a client and trying to connect to my wi-fi on his laptop, it was asking for about 9 different information fields. Major pain in the ass is a description of linux in general as far as I'm concerned.

Also I bricked my MBR on my macbook trying to get the legendary triple-boot. Luckily I already had a second MacOS install on the SSD there.

 

[Ryika]

I've upgraded again - just last year. So I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I do miss XP, most stable version of Windows I ever used. Win 10 looks rubbish imo.

You got lucky then, as Support for WinXP ended last year.

Not sure if it still runs on XP though, the mod claims it won't, but there are reports of people who does, so it's probably just that that Blizzard is overstating the issue just to make sure that nobody is surprised once an update actually breaks support for XP.

 

[Takhisis]

XP can handle 4 GB of RAM, but only uses ~ 3.3 GB due to addressing concerns/foolishness having to do with 32 bit operating systems. 64 bit is the way to go, whether it's Windows or Linux.

Ah, 3 instead of 4. How much does WoW require these days?

Out of the kindness of my soul I have decided to overlook the rest of your post.

You know how Windows and MacOS ask for like two things when connecting to wi-fi? Yeah I installed Ubuntu for a client and trying to connect to my wi-fi on his laptop, it was asking for about 9 different information fields. Major pain in the ass is a description of linux in general as far as I'm concerned.

Also I bricked my MBR on my macbook trying to get the legendary triple-boot. Luckily I already had a second MacOS install on the SSD there.

I don't use Mac so I cannot help you on the latter issue, but I wonder what kind of thing happened, because to connect to wifi on this very same computer all I am asked is to type in the password.
What particular distribution of Ubuntu are you using?

You got lucky then, as Support for WinXP ended last year.

Not sure if it still runs on XP though, the mod claims it won't, but there are reports of people who does, so it's probably just that that Blizzard is overstating the issue just to make sure that nobody is surprised once an update actually breaks support for XP.

Blizzard is a bit of a female dog so that's the type of kindness I don't usually expect from them.

 

[cardgame]

That would have been the latest stable build, iirc 17.14 or something like that.

 

[Broken_Erika]

XP can handle 4 GB of RAM, but only uses ~ 3.3 GB due to addressing concerns/foolishness having to do with 32 bit operating systems. 64 bit is the way to go, whether it's Windows or Linux.

I find reasons to complain about Linux constantly, but I spare you my bleating just because I'm a kind soul.

XP x64 can handle a lot more than 4GB. I had it on a dell optiplex once.....

 

[Timsup2nothin]

XP can handle 4 GB of RAM, but only uses ~ 3.3 GB due to addressing concerns/foolishness having to do with 32 bit operating systems. 64 bit is the way to go, whether it's Windows or Linux.

I find reasons to complain about Linux constantly, but I spare you my bleating just because I'm a kind soul.

Go ahead. Everyone enjoys a good bleat. Well, except Clarice Starling. Just put it in the rants thread.