I still play Asheron's Call casually and like it, especially with the new low level experience. AC is the only MMO world that feels like a real world to me, not just a bunch of different theme park zones put together. That said, I'm no fanboy; it has had (and I'm sure still has) a number of flaws. I hope that it sticks around, or that someday another MMO will come close to the experience of the AC world but with a modernized client.

I've played other games like WoW and LoTRO, and enjoyed them for different reasons (mostly the experience of group questing with friends, etc.) But they leave me feeling like I'm on some kind of guided tour. Even the class-based system feels far too rigid to me. I miss skill points. I'm not saying that AC did this perfectly either--far from it--but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done better in another game.

The Vulcan Science Directorate has concluded that time travel is impossible.

"Then again, I've met quite a few other programmers that really just had nothing better to do with their spare time." I agree with most of what you said, but this is the main attitude I find distasteful in many people taking your position. You're making a judgment about what someone else chooses to do in their free time, in effect asserting that your likes and dislikes are more worthwhile than someone else's. Usually it boils down to someone (not trying to put words into your mouth specifically here) implying that if you don't have family, kids, or hobbies that they deem worthy, then you must be some kind of retarded geek. Balance is doing what you enjoy and what makes you happy. That's not always family/kids/hiking/whatever the fuck you like. Sometimes it's programming.

I, of course, meant that the numerator stays small and the denominator grows large. Math bad, MATH BAD!!!

Complete and utter bullshit. I can't even list the number of movies, shows, etc. that I've downloaded from usenet. I haven't needed a torrent or any of those other gimped/slow services in years. What you mean by "elitist" is "I'm too lazy to learn how to use/search it properly." Well, your loss.

I have to assume that you are being modded down by people who use usenet and want to keep it quiet. There's no other rational reason. =]

I don't understand why people balk at paying for usenet. It's cheap as hell, and if you weigh the costs vs. the benefits, it basically approaches free because the numerator becomes so large and the denominator stays small. Being able to actually saturate my bandwidth is a huge plus, vs. waiting on slow torrents and overloaded file sharing sites. But you didn't read any of this. The first rule of usenet is not to talk about usenet.

I agree 100%. I am overweight, and i definitely don't live the healthiest lifestyle (although I have been changing that recently). However, I do not feel that you should have to pay my medical bills. Therefore, I should pay more than you until I get into shape. Anybody who disagrees with this stance is a whiny fatass.

I wouldn't want to pay for others' bad choices, so I don't think anyone should have to pay for mine.

The "Challenger explosion" is one of the most enduring myths of the space program. Challenger didn't explode, it fell apart when aerodynamic forces on the vehicle exceeded the structural limits.

The big white cloud seen in the TV images occured because the attachment holding the Solid Rocket Motor to the External Tank failed, and the motor rotated. The top of the motor impacted the top of the tank, and the pressure caused the bottom of the tank to fail. The propellant and oxidizer were dumped out behind the vehicle stack and caused a "massive, almost explosive, burning of the hydrogen."

The orbiter and the tank continued to fly out of the fireball, but "broke up under severe aerodynamic loads." The Solid Rocket Motors continued to fly until destroyed by the Range Safety Officer.

You can read the report, which includes details of the accident, in the 51-L documents. Don't forget to read the Feynman essay, Appendix F.

I was at work, in a design review. It was the first Shuttle launch I hadn't watched live.