Posted by ゼンガー・ゾンボルト

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Opinion on hang gliders?

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I'm afraid of flying in airplanes, that sounds even worse!

Posted by Robbie Rage

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Why do you want to go to Australia?

Do you like crocodiles?

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It's more the principle of the matter, really...

Posted by Danika

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Ever had a joke die with all the numbers the same?

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Nope!

Posted by Thieppy

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cat or catgirl?

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Catgirl, assuming you mean which I'd rather be.

Posted by Thieppy

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furry cat or furry catgirl?

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Hm, given that I use "furry cat" to refer to Dexter, are you saying would I rather have Dexter be himself or a catgirl? Well, I want to respect his gender, so I'll say furry cat.

Posted by Thieppy

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kitten or kitty Epele?

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Kitten, Epele is a meanie Dunno how she gets to stay a paladin.

Posted by Thieppy

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cuddliest cat that loves you, or tiny catgirl that can fit in the palm of your hand?

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Cuddliest cat! I would be afraid of losing tiny catgirl :< though if i could be tiny catgirl... that'd be nice

Posted by Danika

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Anyone ever successfully swim from Boston or Cape Cod to Europe?

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I doubt it!

Posted by ゼンガー・ゾンボルト

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Like...Terahertz?

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Posted by Epele

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144hz?

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I'd be happy with you all just getting ten more! And make it retroactive.

Posted by Danika

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Is 60Hz necessarily better? Then again, 60 is more divisible than 50 isn't it?

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My understanding is that 60Hz is a little more efficient over longer distances, and a little bit less likely to have visible flicker, and that's about it.

Look they can even keep PAL, it's a superior format anyway-- but PAL @ 60Hz would be only a color encoding change, not nearly that big of a deal as PAL @ 50Hz vs NTSC @ 60Hz

Posted by Danika

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Didn't Brazil actually use PAL60?

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I forgot about that!

The Brazilian electronics market is pretty interesting...

Posted by Robbie Rage

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Who is the best Street Fighter character?

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Acmlm.

Posted by Danika

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Were there any Brazilian clones of the Apple II, Commodore 64, etc.?

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There were definitely of the Apple ][, not sure about the C64-- the C64 had a lot of custom chips, whereas the Apple ][ was all off-the-shelf chips with a very clever design and a custom ROM. Much easier to copy, especially if you were in a country where the government was more interested in nurturing a home-grown industry than enforcing the rights of foreign companies. (Though Brazil did eventually crack down on the cloners in the mid-to-late 80's)

Posted by Epele

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Would you keep a pet catgirl?

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There's a famously awful essay by Eliezer Yudkowsky where he argues that he doesn't want a volcano fortress with a massive catgirl harem because he's concerned that catgirls aren't sentient and therefore can't consent to having sex. This, of course, is ridiculous.

But since I do believe catgirls are sentient, it also feels wrong to have one as a pet. Also, at that point that's just being the dominant partner, which I'm not very good at.

Posted by Jamie

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why don't the americans get 576 lines, a proper number of fps (not a decimal) and better colour system?

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I would hope PAL is a better color system, given that it came out nearly ten years after NTSC!

At least we didn't get stuck with CBS's bizarre 120Hz spinning mechanical disk system that was initially approved... (actually, that system + later electronics replacing the disk would provide way better color than PAL or NTSC, since it was basically separate RGB channels... damnit)

That being said I didn't realize until researching for this reply that the 576 lines derived from the power frequency; I thought it had to do with the quality of the electronics.

Posted by Danika

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Was 60 chosen because it was the next natural step after 60 seconds and 60 minutes? (that and the fact 60 is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30)

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I think it had to do with the quality of the generators of the day; initially lower frequencies were used with large generators but that caused visible flickering in lights (Germany tried a 40Hz system and had this problem) but going too high with the frequency caused issues for people using AC motors. So 50-60 Hz is a nice compromise.

And the higher number is better, technically... just a little... look this is the only advantage of the US system, NTSC is garbage (though it made the Apple II possible), 120V leads to higher currents than 240V, our power plugs are hilariously dangerous in comparison to those used in Europe... but at least we have more Hz

Posted by Halian

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Posted by Nicolyn

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But since I do believe catgirls are sentient

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Sapient.

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Take it up with Eliezer Yudkowsky, not me. That's the term he used in his ridiculous essay.

Posted by Halian

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Posted by Nicolyn

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NTSC is garbage (though it made the Apple II possible)

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How is that?

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So, I'd have photos if I was at home, but I'm at work, so I'll have to explain in words. The Apple II generates colors by generating the signals that tell the TV to expect a color signal, but it doesn't actually send a color signal. Instead, it uses alternating dot patterns that cause NTSC decoders to create color artifacts of the correct color. Typical Woz cleverness that didn't work with the Apple II went over to Europe, and thus the initial ][europlus was black and white without a special card. (Eventually they included that circuitry onto European boards)

This has the interesting side effect that if you plug a Commodore 64, or an Atari 8-bit, or anything else into a black-and-white monitor, you'll see shades of grey (or maybe green, or amber... you the point) where color should be. But if you plug an Apple ][ into one, you'll see the dot patterns, no shades of grey at all. In reality, the ][ can only display a pixel or not display one.

Posted by Danika

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Wasn't SECAM awful for editing too? Also SECAM Atari 2600 only could do 8 colors, while others could do around 128

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SECAM is technically superior (or that's my understanding) but that does make other things harder, since you have to demodulate the signals properly rather than simpler hacks you can do with NTSC or PAL.

Though I imagine the SECAM Atari 2600 being crappy had more to do with the specifics of the TIA than anything else