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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!

Submission + - Microsoft Office 365 Cloud Experiencing Major Outage (office.com)

TorinEdge writes: Microsoft appears to have botched an internal Office365 cloud services rollout today, with outages confirmed up and down the West Coast of North America. Confirmed roll backs were good early omens, but in the end did not appear to be successful. Outage now moving in to its third or fourth hour, 2 hours by confirmation from Microsoft's status page (https://status.office.com/) and official Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status). Symptoms may include: All 365-related services flaking out, borking, alternately approving logins and confirming they definitely do not exist.

Comment Re:I would tend to theorize standing tall (Score 1) 170

This is trainable though. Humans, naturally, have a balance of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. While to some degree this is genetic, sprinters and weight lifters don't have a higher percentage of fast twitch simply from nature, rather they train those energy systems to perform the way they want. And again, within limits of genetics, almost anyone who is a typical fast-twitch person can retrain their bodies to have a higher slow twitch balance. And vice versa. Look at a guy like Ryan Hall, who was a top level marathoner who retired from marathons, and started lifting weights. Suddenly a guy who was able to run under 2:05 for a marathon is now bulked up and picking up big weights.

Comment Re:Humans are good at this... (Score 1) 636

If I rode in a city I wouldn't ride these tires. I don't ride in cities. I ride in the country. The roads are generally clean out there.

Almost every person I have stopped to help with a flat bike tire tells me they didn't check their pressure before they rode, or some such lack of maintenance. It's fine if you don't believe me but it's still the truth. Maintain your stuff and it will work as expected.

And since you insist on throwing a derogatory (if stupid) term at me like "shellhead", instead of keeping this conversation civil, I am done.

Comment Re:Humans are good at this... (Score 1) 636

I think you need to read up a bit on your tire technology.

I ride 25mm Continental GP400SIIs on my road bike. I think I can remember maybe 2 flats in tens of thousands of road miles on them, both times when I went over a thorn or something impossible to see. On my race bike I run 25mm Continental GPTTs which are certainly considered a bit fragile, with latex tubes, I have never had a flat on them in hundreds of race miles. All run 80-90psi

Road bike tires are just fine for the typical road and when well maintained will take quite a bit of effort to flat.

Comment Re:The roads were for bikes first (Score 1) 636

In the US a driver's license only proves you know the meaning of a handful of signs and you showed a guy who doesn't care all that much about his job that you know how to turn a steering wheel, and push a gas and brake pedal. Sometimes they might ask you to prove you can put your car in a parking spot correctly.

It does NOT in any way prove you know how to actually drive a car. Most people do not know how to drive their cars, and it is painfully evident every day I drive around with people breaking the most basic of rules like keeping right except to pass, or properly navigating a double turn lane.

It becomes even more obvious when road conditions become less than ideal. A little bit of rain and everyone is driving even worse than usual. How many people really know how to handle their cars when conditions become slippery? What to do in a slide, or spin and how to recover? They don't teach that stuff and knowing it isn't required for obtaining a license to drive.

Let's also forget about that other strawman that seems to be floating around - that of the cyclist that doesn't own a car at all. Sure in the cities that might be a case but out in areas where you see recreational cyclists, you can guarantee those people also have cars, pay taxes, buy gas, etc.

Comment Re:Humans are good at this... (Score 1) 636

What ARE you talking about? I spend a significant amount of time, like 99.99% of my road riding time, looking where I am supposed to be going and holding my safe line. I am not terribly worried about anything flattening my tires as I maintain my tires just fine and they can handle a bit of debris. And most roads are perfectly clean enough to ride on without me worrying about it.

Most roads don't need bike lanes, at least out in the country where I ride.

I don't know who you are talking about, but that person isn't me.

Comment Re:Gods (Score 1) 636

Don't get me wrong - I've personally cycled quite a bit and have a somewhat decent road bike. The lone cyclist (or even a handful) usually doesn't bother me that much. However when I'm travelling on a 2-lane road and come up on a pack of 30 to 50 of them going 12-15 mph that I have no hope of passing for miles, it's frustrating.

How often does this *really* happen? Does it ever happen? I agree that if this isn't just a strawman, then the groups should know better. I never ride with a group larger than 5 or 6 or so, for this very reason.

While the solution might now be "kick the cyclists off the road", something extra probably does need to be done. IE, on roads with only a single lane per direction cyclists should yield to motorized traffic - at least if there is a group of a certain size.

Most state laws are written in such a way that the optimum solution for all is considered. Most states dictate that cyclists can ride two abreast (which for passing purposes is safer since it shortens the group and the pass takes less time).

Some of this is common sense though. Cyclists should avoid riding on busy roads, or roads with bad sight lines, in large groups, etc. And motorists need to realize the speed limits and such are set where they are for certain roads precisely because slower road users might be present on that road and might be harder to see.

Comment Re:Gods (Score 2) 636

Sure, but you can't claim bicycles are the newcomers here.

Some roads do have legal minimums. Those are called highways (or freeways or whatever). Those have posted signs restricting certain vehicles (bicycles, horses, etc).

Otherwise if a road has no posted vehicular restrictions it should be assumed that all legal road users might be there. Therefore all legal road users, especially those in the most risky to operate vehicles (ie motor vehicles) should be paying attention for the slower road users. It's really a simple concept. Bicycles, horses and buggies, scooters, cars, trucks, etc can all coexist safely on the same roads when everyone is paying attention and following the rules. If you are unable to do this, perhaps you should relinquish your driver's license?

Comment Re:Nope (Score 1) 636

Basically, yea. As a avid cyclist who rides well over 5000 miles a year, I have seen it all. When I hear about a cyclist getting hit, I certainly mourn it, but if I hear it was the cyclists fault, my sympathy fades entirely. Same with people who die in car crashes caused by their own stupidity. There was a recent local story about a guy who was hit and killed while riding his bike. My local cycling community was outraged, until we learned he was going the wrong way on a one way street and went around a blind corner in the dark. The guy driving the bus that hit him had no chance to react. Sorry, no sympathy, guy was being a moron.

One of my closest friends was hit while riding his bike and had to be life-flighted out. He survived but will never be the same. He was riding in a perfectly legal place, and following all the laws. However he was riding on a busy road during rush hour. Not the smartest move. He is lucky to be alive. He now understands he shouldn't have been riding there.

When I ride, I do it on nearly deserted farm/country roads. The vast majority of people passing me do so courteously because I am not holding them up any and moving into the oncoming lane for a few seconds is safe to do out there. All of the strawman stories in this thread about cyclists holding up lines of cars just doesn't apply to the cycling culture where I live/ride.

It isn't hard to coexist with all road users. This applies to both motorists and cyclists. As a cyclist I implore EVERYONE to pay attention, follow the rules, and we will all get where we are going safely

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