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Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!
Google

Google Responds On Skewed Holocaust Search Results (bbc.com) 332

Google says it is "thinking deeply" about ways to improve search, after criticism over how some results -- including ones discussing the Holocaust -- were ranked. From a report on BBC: Searching for "did the Holocaust happen?" returned a top result that claimed it did not, as Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr reported. Now, the ranking has changed for US users. The page -- from white supremacist site Stormfront -- remains top in the UK. "This is a really challenging problem, and something we're thinking deeply about in terms of how we can do a better job," said a Google spokesman. "Search is a reflection of the content that exists on the web. The fact that hate sites may appear in search results in no way means that Google endorses these views."

Comment Check out Vivaldi (Score 1) 141

Hi,

Check out Vivaldi: https://vivaldi.com/

I've been VERY pleased with it so far, under Windows, OS X and Linux..

It has the one thing that I missed most from the old Opera: Sane/useful tab stacking/grouping built in, with the ability to save and restore such.

Sure, many of you don't care about that, but I do.

At work with the old Opera, I'd create sets of tabs, stacked as I saw fit, for each client and would then save them as profiles named for my clients.

When I got a support call all I had to do was open the saved tab profile for them, and then I'd have EVERYTHING related to them available to me immediately, organized in the way I found most useful to me.

Yes, it took time to set that all up. Yes, it took time to maintain it, but all that time paid for itself, every time I fielded a service call for my customers.

It was an amazingly powerful tool for me, and when Opera dropped it I stayed with the old version until it didn't work anymore.

I looked for similar functionality under Chrome, et al, Firefox and IE but nothing came close.

Vivaldi gave that back to me, and I've switched and will never go back.

It's still very "young", and they are working hard on it. But, they appear to be very motivated and committed.

The current stable release is great, does everything I need, and even better? Since it's multi-platform I get the same basic experience and usability regardless of OS.

While I still use mostly Windows at home, I support Windows, OS X and Linux at work now, and having a web browser that works under all three with the functionality that I want/need allows me to support our users, regardless of OS, without having to switch back and forth between computers

And to bring this back on-topic? Vivaldi is built upon Chromium and still supports the backspace key for going back a page.

The only thing I wish they'd add? Native proxy support, such as Firefox does. I've used Privoxy: http://www.privoxy.org/ under Windows for years, and, while the old Opera had its own proxy support, just as Firefox does? Vivaldi doesn't yet, so I have to resort to an add-on for that, since some of the games that I play at home don't support proxies.

Take all of the above for whatever it's worth to you, but I think that Vivaldi is at least worth checking out.

Regards,

dj

Comment Re:Horrible Music (Score 4, Insightful) 196

You can say many things about Prince, but "talentless hack" isn't among them.

I think that his fame came more from singing and songwriting, but Prince was greatly underappreciated as a guitarist.

Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y

His solo starts at about 3:26. I recommend watching it from the beginning, because it's a wonderful tribute.

His solo is exquisite, in my opinion, at times at the forefront, extending, expanding upon the lyrics and melody while never overwhelming either, and at times also complementing them, moving back and forth until the end.

No showboating, I think, but verve, gusto, pure enjoyment and musicianship. He was asked there to play, and to solo, and he did both masterfully.

Watch/listen it in its entirety, once. Then just listen to it.

As you watch it, note that Prince is not only soloing GREAT, playing well, he's also engaged with the other musicians. He knows the song, knows that he's playing with some of the best musicians in the rock world and is aware of all of that as he plays.

And you can TELL that he's having a blast being there. He's playing his best, and I think that the others in the band recognize it.

As you just listen, note how well what he plays fits, both solo and together with the rest of the band. Clean, complex, precise, not a missed note, nor a note played that doesn't fit the song overall in some way.

At one point he just vanishes, merges back into the song with the band and then emerges again.

Wonderful!

All that being said, I was never a huge Prince fan over the years, but that video gave me a new appreciation of him, when I first watched it, years ago.

As to whether or not his death deserves to be of note on Slashdot? The most relevant justification would be Prince's stance on digital copyright, and I don't care to discuss that.

I made the mistake of doing that in general here, years ago, and I shan't revisit that here ever again.

All that being said: Say what you will of Prince, but don't ever say he was a "talentless hack".

Regards,

dj

Comment Re:Not to be the different guy, but... (Score 1) 93

No, I'm in agreement with you here. As much as I don't buy from ThinkGeek anymore (unless they have a really, really wantable T-shirt on sale*...because I'm cheap as hell), having something akin to an Amazon Locker is a boon and a win for them.

It's a heck of a smart business strategy and it's going to be interesting (to me at least) to see how successful it is.

*I have a "Fhloston Paradise" t-shirt, and alas, no one ever recognizes the reference. That causes me to be bummed in almost unreasonable amounts.

Supergreen.

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