Yuletime Giftlist

[elfs]

So, here's what I'm interested in finding this Yuletime in no particular order:

• A reliable usenet server.
• A reliable web service that supports Python scripts.
• Half-Life 2, Special Edition (the one that has Half-Life 1 recompiled for the HL2 engine)
• A men's grooming kit, Zhir or similar brand.
• A good kitchen thermometer.
• An audio connector for my car, to replace the one that bastard stole.
• A membership at a health club
• A bigger laptop. 6GB drive and 128MB of RAM just don't cut it.
• Ghost in the Shell: Innocence on DVD.
• Pajamas.

I was thinking about other completely absurd things, like a midlife crisis, complete with motorcycle. Knowing me, though, it would have to be some terribly pratical motorbike, like a Vespa or that ugly Honda two-person city bike they put out a couple of years back.

Comments

Health Clubs, News Feeds

[happy-hacker.livejournal.com]

I have to recommend 24 Hour Fitness for a health club. They have the usual expensive-up-front fees, but once you get past your original comittment of a couple years, you get less than 100 bucks a year for life. They have plans good at any 24 Hour Fitness club anywhere, too.

As for usenet feeds, have you considered looking at the phone company? I use mine (qwest) and their newsfeed, at least, is solid and reasonably reliable. Of course they still haven't managed to get DSL into my neighborhood, but I'm assuming Pac Bell is a little more up with the times.

-HH

[hastings1066.livejournal.com]

I have used easynews for a while now for NNTP. Their completion rate is very good, and you can install a united Devices client, join their group, and get free Gigs of download. I cracked my 1000 ep mark of anime divx last year thanks to that company ^_^

And HL2 is cool! I am beginning to play with the SDK to make a dodge ball map with the gravity gun *)

[fallenpegasus]

You are supposed to post your list right after Thanksgiving.

And for a webserver, Linode looks good, they provide your very own Linux virtualized machine. I'm just about to migrate my own webservices over to them, and save about 90 bux a month.

[(Anonymous)]

The update of Half-Life 1 using the Half-Life 2 engine isn't worth it, unfortunately. I was looking forward to seeing what changes had been made, but the answer is, "not many." It looks and plays exactly like the original, only slower and buggy. The only noticeable changes are the new physics engine (which is underused, of course) and the fact that certain surfaces are now reflective.

They didn't even apply the updated model and texture pack that came with the Blue Shift expansion a few years ago. I have no idea why.

I say, save your money and get the regular version. Or, if you have the bandwidth, download the Silver package through Steam. That has the updated Half-Life, plus a handful of other mods, and it's only $10 more than the regular retail package.