Perhaps, like me, you have the ambition to read every Calvin & Hobbes strip in Calvin & Hobbes history. There’s a lot of archive sites around, but what you really need is a good tempo at which you can read, because you can’t read every single one in rapid succession (and not die).
So I made a script, actually two. They’re PHP scripts that generate Atom feeds. The first one accepts a few arguments, for example: “dailyc&h.php?pgs=6&first=101&date=2008-07-23”. The other one has its preferences in the source. Just replace the .txt extension with .php and upload it to a server that can run PHP scripts, link your RSS reader to it and you’re done.
I have them uploaded in their .php version, too, so you can run them from my website if you don’t have your own hosting. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be up 24/7, though.
Anyway, that is all. Maybe 1 page per day is a bit too much, so I might make one with a better dosage. Suggestions for other C&H archive sites are welcome. Perhaps I’ll make a script that alarms me of Girls with Slingshots updates. That damn comic has no feed.
I don’t know if anyone else had the same problems, but I managed to get BioShock on my MacBook Pro, despite those problems. Here’s the story. Skip to the steps if you had the same issues and don’t want to bother reading the story.
I don’t game that much, so I limit myself to playing a kick-ass game from time to time. BioShock happens to be one of those kick-ass games, so I finally got it. I chose not to use Steam because we’ve got a ridiculous bandwidth limit in Belgium (grossly overcharged, too), and I feared DRM issues. Suppose you can’t connect to Steam? About the DRM: Apparently, BioShock is notorious for its activation issues. They don’t limit it anymore since June, though. SecuROM is a bitch, too, so I guess Steam is a good way to get it. Anyway, DRM penalizes the legitimate user, making getting it illegally that much more attractive, so it’s pretty stupid, and they’ll figure out eventually, I guess.
Enough about that, though. I had played the demo, and I had a dual-boot setup with Windows XP, so I assumed that it would do just fine. However, the issue I had on my MBP was: Every time I tried to insert the DVD, it made a few noises, which apparently mean: “I can’t read this bloody thing”. I started hoping it was the DVD, so I checked if it worked on our desktop PC. No problem there. Of course, I couldn’t play the game, because that PC’s hardware is just not made for games. It’s got one of them crippled cards.
I started to fear for my drive, so I tried other CDs and DVDs. They all worked. I don’t know if it was because of dual-layer, or SecuROM, or whatever. It just didn’t work. Then I started thinking: Can I share drives? I knew they do it with HDs all the time, but what about DVDs? I asked my father, and he said: “sure”. Anyway, I got it to share, and I got my MacBook Pro to connect. After the installation, however, SecuROM checked if it was a genuine disk, and told me it wasn’t. Why don’t they do that before the installation?
Then, I started googling around to see how it was done. There appears to be something called a ‘mini-image’, which is only a few megabytes of size, but manages to spoof SecuROM. So, I downloaded that, mounted it with Daemon Tools, did it all over, and: It worked.
About the performance: It was pretty good. If I cranked it up, it was jerky, but if I put the graphics settings a little lower, it ran fine. It looked pretty damn good in the end, especially the water. About the game: It was kick-ass, but you don’t need me to tell you that.
Now, all steps combined, here’s how to install BioShock on your MBP using a remote drive on another Windows PC. I’m not going into much detail, though.
Not inserting the DVD does not influence the gameplay in any way. Everything you need is on the HD. The DVD is only required for SecuROM.
So, there’s how I did it. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but if I’m not alone, here’s a way to do it.
I’ve been an Audio Lunchbox subscriber for a while now, and have downloaded many, many albums and songs from there. However, I’m quitting them now and decided to give eMusic a try.
What made me go for eMusic is mainly the issues I’ve had with ALB. The website often didn’t perform too well and downloads were rather slow. This month I’m waiting for what seems forever to get access to my account! No matter what I type in the field, I can’t get logged in. The “password forgotten” form doesn’t work, either. I wouldn’t make a big issue of this if I didn’t have any left monthly credits, but I do, and I demand to use them! Anyway, first thing I’ll do once I get access to my account is consume my last credits and cancel my account.
So, now I’m with eMusic and I’m fairly positive about them. Other than Audio Lunchbox, they’ve really got their shit straight. Setting up a new account went remarkably swift and the website and downloads are quick. They run a Last.fm-style recommendation system, which I will check out once I downloaded a little more. Anyway, having had a taste of both services, I’ll list some pros and cons with these two services:
eMusic > ALB
ALB > eMusic
So surely, ALB is cheaper, but cheaper is not always better — unless you’re a Dutchman. I’m glad that I’m in a safe haven with eMusic. The redownloads are a godsend. I lost quite a few ALB songs once, so I could download them from torrents or buy them again. Oh no, I’m not going back no more!
UPDATE: I just got an e-mail, finally managed to log in and cancelled my account. I’ll keep you updated on my experience with eMusic.
Yeah, we reached the limit alright. Now we have to pay 0.26 eurocents per megabyte we go over that limit — if we want to stay at full speed. Oh well, that’ll be a few days without films. An Apple update was supposed to come soon. If it comes before the 27th, I’ll have to wait to install it.
I guess that less Internet means more study, so maybe it’ll be a good thing. Now I can focus much better on my algebra exam…
I’ll just make it official that — unlike other people of my age — I’m not taking any exams — except for one, algebra. I won’t become a civil engineer, because engineering is dull and programming is what I’m born to do. Now, while it’s cold outside and everyone else is out to work or school — or bashing books into their heads, the only thing I can do is hang around some series of tubes.
Now, while I was rather enjoying Zero Punctuation — whose voice I don’t have in my head while writing this post, I suddenly got a Telenet page instead of a video. That page told me that I was at 95% of my limit. Now, a limit might strike you as a little odd if you’re not a Belgie. The thing is, my ISP — like every other Belgian ISP — puts a limit on the amount of stuff I can download.
Now, this wouldn’t be too disturbing if there was an account with a higher limit than my (dad’s) current account and if I — my dad — didn’t have to pay more than 60 euros already, just to find that these days 35 gigabytes isn’t all that much. For example, if you (legally) buy The Orange Box from Steam, you already lost a few gigs. If you watch a few streaming videos a day, you’ll head steadily for that limit.
What especially bothers me is that in these days of global communication, our Internet Service Providers are somehow incapable to conversate with our neighbouring countries to see how they get along without limits. Maybe the others aren’t such greedy rich liberal (as in laissez faire1) bastards the Flemish — whom I belong to — are. They assure that you’ll have to pay a lot of money in order to enjoy yourself, which isn’t really joyful. So, joy and payment cancel each other out and render life dull, unless you’re the same rich puppeteer as them.
Maybe I’m just ranting because I live a little too close the Dutch border. Accuse me of wanting everything for cheap, if you want. It’s probably better than the dumb Flandrians who just don’t want to take an example out of anyone. It’s funny — in a dark way — how politicians on the far right keep on rambling about our Flemish heritage when there is none, except for a stupid song about some bloody lion, they might as well sing the Power Puff Girls theme song. They talk about Flanders as if we were war heroes, while we were just lucky to have the English on our side. And then there’s this other 1302 battle we won against the French because we were too stupid to realise that we would lose the war. In reality, Flanders was weak and always dominated, and shaped by multiple cultures. I see it as our duty to copy others when that is indeed the right way to go.
Anyway, stereotypes aside, to make a long story short. I’m sick and tired of these limits and I won’t take no for an answer. It’s about time our ISPs scrap the limits, so we can move on and watch videos or download service packs.
1 in other words: exploitation and extortion
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