So how much stock are we taking in these challenges.
I made the top 8 with burn and I played my first five or so matches of Modern before the challenge. I don't claim to be a very good Magic player, so there's an anecdote for you.
I mulliganed this hand because it has too many lands and no cascade spell.
I kept this hand because it has a nice mix of cascade, cycling, and land. I scried a Monstrous Carabid to the top. The opponent is playing Jeskai Ascendancy combo. I lost because I'm a dope.
I kept this hand but I'm very unsure about it. I kept it because one land or Simian Spirit Guide in two draws gets the ball rolling but it's definitely risky. I managed to hit a swamp after two Street Wraiths and a draw step. I lost because I'm a dope.
What do people think about the mulligans and sideboarding?
"How does it work?" you might be asking. The app first assigns a random number to each card in the deck. Then the app shows you, through a sequence of "deals," "pick-ups," and "bottoms," how to sort the deck based on those randomly-assigned numbers. Voila, the numbers are sorted, thus shuffling the deck. (For the curious, the sorting algorithm that the user performs is Bucket Sort. Hence "Divide & Conquer" :))
The app is mainly intended for obnoxiously-large decks (Battle of Wits, Commander, etc) that defy conventional methods (read: hands). But it works for any size deck, so use it on that 60- (or 40-) card deck if you like. Heck, use it on a cube if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
Give it a try and let loose the questions/comments/requests/bugs/praise.
One of my friends (ironically...a semi-hipster who uses Apple products and frequents coffee shops) mentioned that a Kiva Han had just closed permanently, but didn't mention the address.
Same one?
Looks like it. I walked by today and it was cleared out :\
Especially annoying when combined into a coffee shop full of hipsters using Apple products.
Allow me to **** on your point with my anecdotal experience.
I had the same concern about the hipster-run coffee shop across from Starbucks (Kiva Han at Forbes and Craig). I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are extremely nice and have very good food. Plus I think a little piece of me will die the first time I order a "grande" iced coffee.
Actually now that I think about it... Because I'm set to such a tight schedule, could that actually have "tightened" my perception of time? I remember back in 8th grade, I would be driven to school every morning and just listen to my ipod the entire way, and EVERY SINGLE TIME i looked at the clock I knew exactly what time it was, I just had an intuitive grasp of how many minutes had passed based on the songs playing.
When I was big into Quake 4 I trained myself to internalize time more accurately. In Quake 4 you would have to juggle several countdowns in your head for armor respawns (90 seconds for red, 60 seconds for yellow IIRC). It was never an explicit "90, 89, 88..." but just a general feeling of the correct amount of time passing. The best players could pick up a red armor, hop around the map, then, while still moving quickly, pick up the red armor again exactly as it respawned, denying it from the enemy.
This had a profound impact on my life, including being able to retrieve a Hot Pocket from the microwave exactly when it finished.
Can you provide any more info on the e-cigarettes.
What are the specific parts? It is just 2 (the machine and the refills?) Or is there anything else?
Can you say how much the parts that you actually "smoke" cost? (What are those called, cartridges or refills? I dunno.)
Trying to get an assessment of how much a half a pack a day smoker would spend.
A fair warning first: e-cigarettes are fairly new and still in a sort of wild west phase. There are many, many, many options, which can be good and bad. They are, unfortunately, not as simple as going to the gas station, picking up a pack, and lighting up. But after the initial learning curve it's easy to get into a groove.
There are four components: the battery, atomizer, cartridge, and juice. There are also cartomizers, which are simply a combination atomizer and cartridge. All of these parts are considered disposable because, eventually, you will have to buy replacements for each. Yes, this sucks.
Battery - ~$10, lasts ~100-200 charges. The battery, fairly obviously, powers the device. Usually lithium ion. Naturally, the bigger the battery, the longer it will last.
Atomizer - ~$6, lasts ~weeks-months. Nothing more than a heating element. It vaporizes the juice for your inhaling pleasure.
Cartridge - ~$3 for 5. Simply a plastic tube with foam in it that delivers juice to the atomizer. These can be bought either empty and filled with your own juice or pre-filled with juice. Pre-filled cartridges are simpler to use but you lose out on all of the different juice flavors out there.
Cartomizer - ~$8 for 5, each lasts ~weeks. Used instead of an atomizer and cartridge. Can be bought empty or pre-filled. While they're sold as single-use, they can be refilled many times. They are cheaper than using an atomizer if refilled.
Juice - $0.25 to $1 per ml. Contains a mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin as the base, flavorings, and varying strengths of nicotine. Infinite choices.
Unfortunately, there's no good answer to "I smoke X packs a day - how much would that cost?" The upfront costs are going to be high as you try different hardware and juices and get used to things. However, if you can find a sweet spot and not get too carried away with the myriad choices out there, it seems that many people (specifically, on the ECF forum) are spending less than their smoking habits. A starter kit (2 batteries, 2 atomizers, 5 pre-filled cartridges, and a charger) goes for around $35. As a very rough guestimate, if you buy 200 ml of juice, a pack of cartomizers, and two batteries per month, you could get away with spending less than $90 per month. Compare to a pack per day at $6 per pack is $180 per month.
Again, I need to emphasize that there are so many variables that there's no good formula for calculating how much you'll spend. If you end up spending a little bit more than you did smoking, then it's still probably worth it to your body
Im about six weeks in from no paper cigarettes. Was on Chantix for two months. Used an e cigarette near the end.
Gave up the e cig and stopped the Chantix 11 days ago.
My thoughts are moody. Im sad a lot. Impulsive. Been playing tons of Magic. Cranky. Trying not to overreat. I've quit other things before. Got about 2.5 years off booze and drugs. I bought a bike. Been riding it a lot.
I know this is normal. I've heard it takes six months to feel normal. How was your experience quitting? When did you start feeling normal again?
Why did you give up the e-cigarette? For me, the day I got my e-cigarette is the day I quit. I've been smoke free for more than a month and I have none of the symptoms you unfortunately describe. In fact, I had a test cigarette about two weeks in and it tasted awful, like burning leaves.
Did you get one from a mall kiosk? They are almost universally considered low quality and overpriced. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com is a good place for e-cig information and help.
In fact microsoft used to be honest and call it VRAM instead of the page file.
I'm not sure how this is dishonest. If by VRAM and virtual ram you mean virtual memory, then nothing here is incongruous. Virtual memory is the system that hides the details of the varying levels of memory that your computer has, i.e. RAM and hard disk. One of the tasks of the virtual memory system is to decide when memory should be moved from RAM to the page file and back again. The page file is simply a part of virtual memory.
I have personally seen it take a leaky program from using 800k memory to the normal start-up of 300k. But then, I don't know much about PCs I'm just offering advice that has WORKED for me.
I'm not denying that this tool will reduce the amount of an application's leaked memory currently in RAM. It does this by allocating a huge chunk of memory, which causes Windows, as it normally would when RAM usage is strained, to swap less-frequently used pages of memory out of RAM to disk (the page file). And, by definition, leaked memory is memory that is no longer being used (but is still held by the application). So the leaked memory gets swapped out and you see RAM usage drop from 800 KB to 300 KB. Note that the leaked memory is never freed, it's just moved out of the way, i.e. FreeRam XP Pro may "shrink" an application's RAM usage from 800 KB to 300 KB, but the missing 500 KB is in the page file.
The main point is that the presence of leaked memory in RAM doesn't do any harm. 800 KB is the same as 300 KB if you still have gigabytes of unused RAM. The only time performance is lost is when the leaked memory is swapped out to disk. Windows, by itself, will do the costly swaps only when another application needs that memory. A "RAM cleaning" tool will force Windows to make the costly swaps happen sooner.
There is no magic to a "RAM cleaner." It simply invokes the Windows memory manager prematurely.
How does it work? FreeRAM XP clears junk out of RAM and flushes less-often used items to the swap file. There they do not take up any RAM, and are reloaded from the swap file on a need-to-use basis.
This is exactly what the operating system's memory management system does. However, it does so with much more information about the system's resources than a user application has access to. Also, it avoids unnecessary swaps by only swapping memory out to disk when needed, i.e. you launch an application, there's not enough memory left to load it, so the OS swaps out "crusty*" memory to disk to make room. Swapping is what causes performance to decrease, so being at "almost full" is fine.
... Global Memory Compression FreeRAM XP Pro asks each of your programs how much memory they are currently taking up but don't really need. Then, this "unneeded" memory is released...
If MTGO knew how much memory it had allocated but wasn't using anymore, then there wouldn't be a memory leak! That memory would have already been released to the OS.
How long ago did you try? If you tried during the early days of OSx86 and Hackintosh projects, then yes - it was very difficult. But as OS X has been changed to accept a significantly wider range of hardware, OSx86 and Hackintosh projects are at almost a 100% success rate on Intel-based PCs on the first try.
I think I tried it about a year ago. I went through all of the popular "distributions," but I still think my hardware was the main problem. The laptop (Dell) is more than four years old, and I pieced together my Shuttle PC. Moreover, the motherboard is custom-built for Shuttle as far as I can tell. As a last resort, I also tried to get OS X to work on VMWare and VirtualBox, to no avail.
But this brings up a good point for OS X vs. Windows 7. They essentially do the same thing, and they do it well, with minor aesthetic differences. The only sticking point is what software you use. For example, the reason I tried the whole Hackintosh thing, besides my love for tinkering, was I wanted to try out iPhone development (lols: I didn't even have an iPhone*). If iPhone development didn't require OS X, I wouldn't have bothered.
There were 102 players.
I made the top 8 with burn and I played my first five or so matches of Modern before the challenge. I don't claim to be a very good Magic player, so there's an anecdote for you.
Disclaimer: It's my app.
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
1 Copperline Gorge
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
Creature (27)
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Deadshot Minotaur
2 Faerie Macabre
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Jungle Weaver
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Pale Recluse
4 Street Wraith
3 Beast Within
4 Violent Outburst
1 Kolaghan's Command
Sorcery (6)
3 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
3 Ricochet Trap
1 Jund Charm
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Shriekmaw
1 Slaughter Games
1 Boil
2 Gnaw to the Bone
Game 1 on the play:
I mulliganed this hand because it has too many lands and no cascade spell.
I kept this hand because it has a nice mix of cascade, cycling, and land. I scried a Monstrous Carabid to the top. The opponent is playing Jeskai Ascendancy combo. I lost because I'm a dope.
-1 Kolaghan's Command -1 Demonic Dread +1 Slaughter Games +1 Jund Charm
I should have brought in a Fairie Macabre but I had a 14-card sideboard because I'm a dope.
Game 2 on the play:
I kept this hand but I'm very unsure about it. I kept it because one land or Simian Spirit Guide in two draws gets the ball rolling but it's definitely risky. I managed to hit a swamp after two Street Wraiths and a draw step. I lost because I'm a dope.
What do people think about the mulligans and sideboarding?
"How does it work?" you might be asking. The app first assigns a random number to each card in the deck. Then the app shows you, through a sequence of "deals," "pick-ups," and "bottoms," how to sort the deck based on those randomly-assigned numbers. Voila, the numbers are sorted, thus shuffling the deck. (For the curious, the sorting algorithm that the user performs is Bucket Sort. Hence "Divide & Conquer" :))
The app is mainly intended for obnoxiously-large decks (Battle of Wits, Commander, etc) that defy conventional methods (read: hands). But it works for any size deck, so use it on that 60- (or 40-) card deck if you like. Heck, use it on a cube if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
Give it a try and let loose the questions/comments/requests/bugs/praise.
Looks like it. I walked by today and it was cleared out :\
Allow me to **** on your point with my anecdotal experience.
I had the same concern about the hipster-run coffee shop across from Starbucks (Kiva Han at Forbes and Craig). I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are extremely nice and have very good food. Plus I think a little piece of me will die the first time I order a "grande" iced coffee.
Snap bracelets were great and you're just being a hipster about it. I wish I had one right now.
Now gel pens. Those were the work of the devil.
When I was big into Quake 4 I trained myself to internalize time more accurately. In Quake 4 you would have to juggle several countdowns in your head for armor respawns (90 seconds for red, 60 seconds for yellow IIRC). It was never an explicit "90, 89, 88..." but just a general feeling of the correct amount of time passing. The best players could pick up a red armor, hop around the map, then, while still moving quickly, pick up the red armor again exactly as it respawned, denying it from the enemy.
This had a profound impact on my life, including being able to retrieve a Hot Pocket from the microwave exactly when it finished.
A fair warning first: e-cigarettes are fairly new and still in a sort of wild west phase. There are many, many, many options, which can be good and bad. They are, unfortunately, not as simple as going to the gas station, picking up a pack, and lighting up. But after the initial learning curve it's easy to get into a groove.
I would suggest the Beginners' E-Cigarette Tutorial and The Wonderful World of Vaping, but here are the basics:
There are four components: the battery, atomizer, cartridge, and juice. There are also cartomizers, which are simply a combination atomizer and cartridge. All of these parts are considered disposable because, eventually, you will have to buy replacements for each. Yes, this sucks.
Battery - ~$10, lasts ~100-200 charges. The battery, fairly obviously, powers the device. Usually lithium ion. Naturally, the bigger the battery, the longer it will last.
Atomizer - ~$6, lasts ~weeks-months. Nothing more than a heating element. It vaporizes the juice for your inhaling pleasure.
Cartridge - ~$3 for 5. Simply a plastic tube with foam in it that delivers juice to the atomizer. These can be bought either empty and filled with your own juice or pre-filled with juice. Pre-filled cartridges are simpler to use but you lose out on all of the different juice flavors out there.
Cartomizer - ~$8 for 5, each lasts ~weeks. Used instead of an atomizer and cartridge. Can be bought empty or pre-filled. While they're sold as single-use, they can be refilled many times. They are cheaper than using an atomizer if refilled.
Juice - $0.25 to $1 per ml. Contains a mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin as the base, flavorings, and varying strengths of nicotine. Infinite choices.
Unfortunately, there's no good answer to "I smoke X packs a day - how much would that cost?" The upfront costs are going to be high as you try different hardware and juices and get used to things. However, if you can find a sweet spot and not get too carried away with the myriad choices out there, it seems that many people (specifically, on the ECF forum) are spending less than their smoking habits. A starter kit (2 batteries, 2 atomizers, 5 pre-filled cartridges, and a charger) goes for around $35. As a very rough guestimate, if you buy 200 ml of juice, a pack of cartomizers, and two batteries per month, you could get away with spending less than $90 per month. Compare to a pack per day at $6 per pack is $180 per month.
Again, I need to emphasize that there are so many variables that there's no good formula for calculating how much you'll spend. If you end up spending a little bit more than you did smoking, then it's still probably worth it to your body
Why did you give up the e-cigarette? For me, the day I got my e-cigarette is the day I quit. I've been smoke free for more than a month and I have none of the symptoms you unfortunately describe. In fact, I had a test cigarette about two weeks in and it tasted awful, like burning leaves.
Did you get one from a mall kiosk? They are almost universally considered low quality and overpriced. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com is a good place for e-cig information and help.
I'm not sure how this is dishonest. If by VRAM and virtual ram you mean virtual memory, then nothing here is incongruous. Virtual memory is the system that hides the details of the varying levels of memory that your computer has, i.e. RAM and hard disk. One of the tasks of the virtual memory system is to decide when memory should be moved from RAM to the page file and back again. The page file is simply a part of virtual memory.
I'm not denying that this tool will reduce the amount of an application's leaked memory currently in RAM. It does this by allocating a huge chunk of memory, which causes Windows, as it normally would when RAM usage is strained, to swap less-frequently used pages of memory out of RAM to disk (the page file). And, by definition, leaked memory is memory that is no longer being used (but is still held by the application). So the leaked memory gets swapped out and you see RAM usage drop from 800 KB to 300 KB. Note that the leaked memory is never freed, it's just moved out of the way, i.e. FreeRam XP Pro may "shrink" an application's RAM usage from 800 KB to 300 KB, but the missing 500 KB is in the page file.
The main point is that the presence of leaked memory in RAM doesn't do any harm. 800 KB is the same as 300 KB if you still have gigabytes of unused RAM. The only time performance is lost is when the leaked memory is swapped out to disk. Windows, by itself, will do the costly swaps only when another application needs that memory. A "RAM cleaning" tool will force Windows to make the costly swaps happen sooner.
There is no magic to a "RAM cleaner." It simply invokes the Windows memory manager prematurely.
Frankly, this sounds like snake oil. From the FreeRam XP Pro FAQ:
This is exactly what the operating system's memory management system does. However, it does so with much more information about the system's resources than a user application has access to. Also, it avoids unnecessary swaps by only swapping memory out to disk when needed, i.e. you launch an application, there's not enough memory left to load it, so the OS swaps out "crusty*" memory to disk to make room. Swapping is what causes performance to decrease, so being at "almost full" is fine.
* There are many ways to decide what "crusty" means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_replacement_algorithm
If MTGO knew how much memory it had allocated but wasn't using anymore, then there wouldn't be a memory leak! That memory would have already been released to the OS.
I think I tried it about a year ago. I went through all of the popular "distributions," but I still think my hardware was the main problem. The laptop (Dell) is more than four years old, and I pieced together my Shuttle PC. Moreover, the motherboard is custom-built for Shuttle as far as I can tell. As a last resort, I also tried to get OS X to work on VMWare and VirtualBox, to no avail.
But this brings up a good point for OS X vs. Windows 7. They essentially do the same thing, and they do it well, with minor aesthetic differences. The only sticking point is what software you use. For example, the reason I tried the whole Hackintosh thing, besides my love for tinkering, was I wanted to try out iPhone development (lols: I didn't even have an iPhone*). If iPhone development didn't require OS X, I wouldn't have bothered.
*Now I have an Android phone