I've added 3 new Quotes!

Suggestive directness: "If you didn't beat around the bush, I wouldn't have wanted to know what lies behind it."
Vain spotting: "Is it a small world, or are we getting too popular?"
Suggestive generosity: "Free rides on me!"

Here's a continuation from my previous blog post about my new Geforce 4 and 19" monitor!

I'm getting a better 6962 points (though my system is expected to get 5 digits) in 3D Mark 2001 Second Edition now. Updated my drivers and AGP drivers, but it's still reported as a PCI card! Weird.

I've gotten myself a male-to-male (ooo...) RCA cable to connect my Geforce 4 to my VCR. Coolness! However, there are problems:
- the TV is a 14" while my monitor is 19". :P
- the TV's refresh rate is 30 Hertz while the monitor's is 100 Hertz.
- the TV is mounted high above like a wall fan.
- the TV makes a noisier, high-pitched sound than the monitor.

The good parts:
- images are sharp, though text is not readable.
- the TV encoder in my Geforce 4 supports up to a resolution of 1024x768.
- if the views are cloned, the screen with the lower resolution (in this case the TV) can have a panned screen! That means moving the mouse from one corner of the screen to the other results in the TV's view moving.
- I can record demos... literally! Now to get some blank VHS tapes for my VCR... ;)

Yessiree in less than a month I will turn 19 (hint to those who know my birthday via ICQ), and some other things turned 19 recently, like my monitor! (No, it's not that old. :P) I got myself a Princeton EO950 19" conventional CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor (that's what they call non-flat monitors...)

It is ultimately, SWEEETTT!!! 1600x1200 at 85 Hertz is astonishing. Everything is so small! (In a good way.) I even tire myself moving my cursor from corner to corner!

Now that's not to say that the monitor is perfect. Being a not-so-branded brand (or at least not well-known) there were some issues. For one, I forgot to check the box and the monitor quality. They sold me a display unit! A crappy one, at that - shadows, occasional diagonal stripes, trace lines to the left and right of icons, patterns and ripples, bright edges, etc... not good. I returned it for a new unit, and this one's better, but it still had little trace lines and ripples. Though I think the ripples look nice, plus they only come up at anything higher than 1024x768!

There's another new gadget in my small world - an MSI Geforce 4 Titanium 4200 with 128 Megabytes of DDR RAM!

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Yes, the box touches a chord in me.
No more compatibility problems with Windows XP and 3dfx not making drivers for Voodoo 3 cards! I guess it's excusable when you've been swallowed up by NVidia... now I can try all those weird 3D programs that require true OpenGL support without worrying about a blue screen!

Strangely, the Geforce 4 only gets 5323 3D Marks in 3D Mark 2001 Second Edition. Any idea why? Also, in games, the video card is detected as a Geforce 4 TI 4200/PCI! I'm darned sure it's an AGP one. Is there a BIOS setting that I need to set? Also, what is the PCI Texture Memory setting for? It says something about PCI mode, that is probably why my card's underperforming. It's very sharp, pretty and smooth in Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 2003 but it jerks often!

Techies please help me!

I have the Doom 3 Alpha leak. Yes, the one that was supposed to show at E3. It's sweet as well. Too bad probable legal issues prevent me from showing pictures. Just rest knowing that the hero has pores on an average-looking bloke. The new lighting system is fantastic. The physics of the boxes and how they displace each other is great, too! Email me if you want proof of that, or proof that the system isn't foolproof. There are interesting bugs and badly wrapped parts of skinmeshes. It takes exactly 5 minutes to precache/load everything! Then again, it's an Alpha version, not for the public...

Moving on. I haven't been online for more than 2 days. Give anybody who just bought major game-supporting hardware a break. Don't expect your boyfriend to go out with you for the first few weeks that he bought a Sony Playstation 2, okay?

Edited 0917 hours 20th November 2002: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast single-player is working now! The shadows look great, too! Soldier Of Fortune 2 has foliage! Everything else is prettier in 32-bit color (the Voodoo3 only goes 16-bit in 3D.)

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Isolation has caused desperation
Peer pressure to lure her ever so pure
Action? Hesitation, for rejection
Failure to steer nearer for feared torture
Age is no cage to engage the last stage
To stick the prick or at least get it licked
Is hard, so find a sage or pay a wage
Sick fics and pics but helps onanistic
The tease of birds and bees sleaze makes one seize
The slide's sides won't collide, it's a smooth ride
Released in peace, the greased beast pleased and ceased
One's pride so wide once gratified inside
A moniker like Bachelor Under
Reproductive Pressure, BURP I prefer

Hey you. I've been busy not blogging, having progress tests going on throughout the week. Where's everybody? Why isn't anybody replying any of my posts? Are they not interesting enough? Do they not spark a certain commentative element in you? ;)

Anyway, I've been tinkering around with some fancy code that will let me know when I get a blog comment or Guestbook entry. How? By SMS! I also get an email of the comment. I can then dial in to my mobile phone network and have it read aloud the email! (Yep, it's advanced enough to have a text-to-voice converter!)

Oh, before you leave, have some quotable Quotes!

Honest to goodness lecherousness:
"I'm not into nature, but I like the birds and the bees."

In response to my lazy attitude with my scholarship:
"Why pay attention when you don't pay anything?"

On rock boybands (though I have nothing against them):
"The copy may look better than the original."

Finally, a call to all - indulge! Don't resist!
"Entertain the thought that entertains you."

I love the last quote. It's like a chocolate ad or something, but it was actually inspired by me wasting money on a informational platter that had only its cover working. I did feel guilty for buying it, and I threw it away just yesterday. :)

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Click here to download q3albdm4a! (326 KB)
My frustating q3albdm4 map has been further upgraded to q3albdm4a, with ramps and invisible walls that make it easier for you to run backwards and shoot and not fall into a black void! These models and maps are again downloadable from my Models page.

Hey, um, happy belated Deepavali. Though technically the day's not over in the rest of the world yet. :P

My neighbourhood is small. I wonder why Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, celebrated by Hindus, brings upons lights... and sound? Noisemaking firecrackers down the road. Other kids are screaming and car alarms are ringing from the sudden pops from the rockets, but don't those kids get it?

What's even worse is that they have one for Chinese New Year: The dreaded caterpillar firecracker! A string with rows of red tubes, brightly colored and even brighter-sounding! Played best at night to irritation of tired and sleepy neighbors weary on their traditional money-collecting rounds.

Firecrackers and fireworks alike were supposed to be banned in this country. But then banning is something that only works... for 2 years or less. Arcades were supposed to be banned, but I can still play Daytona anywhere. It all depends, I guess. :P