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Comment Re: Possibly the only good thing... (Score 1) 144

by modecx (#66160050) Attached to: Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Gas Globally in April

500 panels per 1000 m^2 is pretty achievable, accounting for whatever roof penetrations and facilities that need to be there. Some of those buildings are outright colossal. Plus, nobody is saying the data centers needs to be completely powered by solar.
Here's the thing: the lions share of power consumption on the grid traditionally comes from cooling. Most cooling needs, outside of the context of data centers, coincides with the sunniest, highest production times for solar panels. There is a great synergy to take advantage of here. It might be that a such a data center / solar farm farm actually produces net power for a portion of the day, covering for residential use or car charging etc. but is a net consumer off peak hours, when it's more efficient to use other means to supply power when most other consumers aren't using as much. Net effect is better grid utilization and reduced costs all around.

Comment Author seems unclear on music technology. (Score 3, Informative) 19

"Despite the limitations of the 1993-era sound card drivers,"

The Gravis Ultrasound ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ), as well as other soundcards which *USED WAVETABLE SYNTHESIS* were available.

Yeah, FM-synthesis sounds like a robot. The SNES SPC-7000 was wavetable. The Sega Genesis used a Z80 for FM synthesis. A GUS card was supperior to the SPC-7000.

If you want to know how good the music is, either run DOOM in DOSBOX with a correct GUS Wavetable patch set (which will let you know how *ACTUALLY GOOD* the music is). Alternatively, the Doom & Doom 2 remaster on Steam has an actual band covering the actual tracks. That also sounds awesome.

Lol; I guess the author wasn't aware of the state of the art in 1993 if that's what they wrote.

Submission + - Bill To Block Publishers From Killing Online Games Advances In California (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A bill focused on maintaining long-term playable access to online games has passed out of the California Assembly’s appropriations committee, setting up a floor vote by the full legislative body. The advancement is a major win for Stop Killing Games‘ grassroots game preservation movement and comes over the objections of industry lobbyists at the Entertainment Software Association. California’s Protect Our Games Act, as currently written, would require digital game publishers who cut off support for an online game to either provide a full refund to players or offer an updated version of the game “that enables its continued use independent of services controlled by the operator.” The act would also require publishers to notify players 60 days before the cessation of “services necessary for the ordinary use of the digital game.”

As currently amended, the act would not apply to completely free games and games offered “solely for the duration of [a] subscription. Any other game offered for sale in California on or after January 1, 2027, would be subject to the law if it passes. [...] In a formal statement of support for the bill sent to the California legislature, SKG wrote that “there is no other medium in which a product can be marketed and sold to a consumer and then ripped away without notice As live service games rise in popularity for game developers and gamers alike, end-of-life procedures are essential tools to ensure prolonged access to the games consumers pay to enjoy.”

The Entertainment Software Association, which helps represent the interests of major game publishers, publicly told the California Assembly last month that the bill misrepresents how modern game distribution actually works. “Consumers receive a license to access and use a game, not an unrestricted ownership interest in the underlying work,” the ESA wrote. The eventual shutdown of outdated or obsolete games is “a natural feature of modern software,” the group added, especially when that software requires online infrastructure maintenance. The ESA also said the bill would impose unreasonable expectations on publishers regarding licensing rights for music or IP rights, which are often negotiated on a time-limited basis. “A legal requirement to keep games playable indefinitely could place publishers in an impossible position—forcing them to renegotiate licenses indefinitely or alter games in ways that may not be legally or technically feasible,” they wrote.

Comment Re: Auto Mechanic doesn't like latest symphony (Score 1) 176

The yields are much higher, and the number of warheads is insane, but there are only so many targets. Should the worst come to pass, there will be a lot of overlap, devastated areas hit multiple times. Also, a lot of these will be aimed at mostly empty space where the silos live, in order to stop the enemy from second / third strikes. I think the idea that everyone will launch everything all at once is just not likely.

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