Thursday, March 10, 2005

Star Wars Ep III Trailer Tonight -- 7:04 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Don't forget that the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith trailer will be shown during The O.C. on Fox tonight. We're taping it since I couldn't bear to actually sit through that show.

Cedega 4.3 Released -- 6:30 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Transgaming has released Cedega 4.3, the latest version of their gaming fork of WINE. You can check out the full release notes as well. Supposedly there are quite a few shader improvements. It also enables you to play Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life. I resubscribed to check it out. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting.

Wisconsin Taxing Downloads? -- 12:44 pm CST, Update by The Master

Check this BS out: WI governor proposes state sales tax on downloads (arstechnica). There's also an article on this over at Milwaukee Journal Sentinal online.

That's right. Doyle wants to apply a 5% sales tax on internet downloads. On the honor system. Good grief. Let's just see that one work out. Okay kids, let's try some fiscal responsibility to balance the budget, instead of trying to apply a tax to everything. I'm sure the next one will be a breathing tax.

A.T. Hun comments: Doyle seems committed to driving the state into the ground. He is a classic tax-and-spend Democrat. We need to throw him out and get a real, bona fide fiscal conservative in there. And no, Tommy Thompson wasn't a fiscal conservative either.

The Master comments: Actually, historically, I don't believe Wisconsin has ever had a fiscal conservative. I believe budget issues and overspending are part of the Wisconsin political fabric. I believe it might be time for a good wash and rinse.

A.T. Hun comments: Or a good, old-fashioned swirlie.

J.t.Qbe comments: The Master knows his history. And A.T. sure knows the solution.

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Bleh: Windows Rebuild -- 11:52 am CST, Update by The Master

I spent yesterday evening rebuilding Eeyore's Windows XP installation from scratch, since it had gotten the infamous crud-up-slow-to-death disease. Learned that a PC run in a kitchen can collect a TON (literally) of cruft inside the case. The dust brontosauruses were very impressive. I also learned that you should back up your DRM license database BEFORE you reformat the drive. Thankfully the vendor was good enough to unlock her collection so I could re-aquire the licenses for her mp3's. Apple's DRM method is so much easier--just hit play on a tune, then iTunes asks for your iTunes account info, and bingo you're good to go on up to 5 PCs or Macs.

Tonight's entertainment is going to consist of dishes, hardware cleanup, Mythbusters, and a Quakeworld install. That's right, TM is going to reinstall the original Quakeworld server someplace around here. I feel the need to play some Ziggurat Vertigo :-) Then it will be time to re-exercise my UT2004 skillz.

A.T. Hun comments: Example #245 why DRM is evil.

The Master comments: I agree, but if that's what it takes to be able to get legal copies of single tracks of music for our mp3 players, at a reasonable price, then I guess we get to suck it up. I'm extremely sick of paying $15+ for a disc that I want one track off of. Thankfully, Apple's method is only mildly intrusive. Unlike Microsoft's demonic possession version.

No Old News

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