Beyond Earth: Extended Trade Route Duration

One of the more annoying features in Beyond Earth is that you have to "renew" your trade routes every 25 turns. What sounds reasonable in the first place, becomes very, very tedious when your number of cities and trade routes are growing in the mid- and endgame. To help with this situation you can modify the length of trade routes via the configuration that comes with Beyond Earth:

• Editing .xml file 
• Go to the installation folder of Beyond Earth, e.g. SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth
• Open subfolder assets\Gameplay\XML
• Locate the GlobalDefines.xml with a text editor.
• Find the string TRADE_ROUTE_BASE_TURN_DURATION and replace the value by one that suits your needs, e.g.
•         <!--International Trade-->
          <Row Name="TRADE_ROUTE_BASE_TURN_DURATION">
              <Value>40</Value>
          </Row>
• Save the file and close the text editor.

Afterwards you can start the game, and you'll see any new trade routes will have that extended duration.

Games -- Ten

My ten favourite games, ordered by publication date ..

• 1991+ -- Civilization -- all of the them
• 1997+ -- Fallout -- all of them
• 1998 -- HalfLife -- the original
• 1998 -- StarCraft
• 1999 -- Alpha Centauri
• 1999 -- Homeworld -- original game & "Cataclysm"
• 1999 -- System Shock II
• 2001 -- Operation Flashpoint -- the first two
• 2005 -- Battlefield 2
• 2011 -- Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Many, many more honorable mentions are ...

• 1993 -- Day of the Tentacle
• 1996 -- Warhammer: Dark Omen
• 2000 -- Diablo 2
• 2000+ -- Total War series
• 2000 -- Deus Ex
• 2002 -- Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
• 2004 -- Far Cry
• 2007 -- Crysis
• 2009+ -- Borderlands -- all of them

I dare you!

This is an initiative (not really a new one, but still) to raise awareness what privacy means and that users of social media (and I mean that's not only Facebook) should be ware what they post, and what information they share.

Look at the original website Take This Lollipop for the full experience.

TV Series -- Nine

Ten TV Series that stayed with me ...

• 1984 to 1992 -- Miss Marple -- the one with Joan Hickson
• 1989 to present -- The Simpsons -- really only up to season 7 or 8 or so.
• 1993 to 1998 -- Babylon 5
• 1998 to 2004 -- Sex and the City
• 2000 to 2007 -- Gilmore Girls
• 2001 -- Band of Brothers
• 2002 to 2008 -- The Wire
• 2007 to present -- The Big Bang Theory
•  ..
• 2011 to present -- Game of Thrones

Edge of Tomorrow

Really enjoyed this one .. the enthusiasm might not last, but the first impressions were really good ...

Pirates!

The Original of the Original of the Original

Trying

"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." -- Homer Simpson in "Realty Bites" (1997)

Amazon Prime (Germany) and Original Language

I just started using Amazon Prime, that is for accessing their Amazon Instant Video, in Germany. Unfortunately the service doesn't allow switching between languages, dubbed and original. Or so I thought. Technically you can't really switch between languages of the movies or tv shows, but at least they have some offerings in that direction. What you can do is add "OV" (original version) or "OmU" (original with subtitles) to the search when looking for a particular movie or tv show, e.g. "Breaking Bad OV". (OmU usually means that the language is the original one plus subtitles, but almost all the time you cannot turn off the subtitles (which will be usually in German).

Unfortunately only a rather small portion of the overall content on amazon.de is available in the original language. Better than nothing, but it's now 2014 and I would really expect that in the global environment and economy we're living in, it's a cruel joke that this dual offering (original and dubbed) is not possible. Companies will argue, "oh yeah, but we don't have the proper DRM for this kind of offering, bla bla", while usually they're claiming "we there customer", "we understand the customer", etc. etc.

Then please understand, this dual language offering is what we want! And yes, subtitles would be nice, too, if you turn them off and on!

Afterlife

Books -- Ten

Ten Books that stayed with me ..

• Lord of the Rings -- J.R.R. Tolkien
• Starship Trooper -- Robert Heinlein
• Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow-- Orson Scott Card
• The Legacy of Heorot -- Larry Niven
• Earth Abides -- George R. Stewart
• The Guns of August -- Barbara Tuchman
• The Golden Compass -- Philip Pullman
• The Name of the Rose -- Umberto Eco
• Game of Thrones -- George R.R. Stewart
• Old Man's War -- John Scalzi

Honorable Mention (or #11): Curse of Chalion -- Lois McMaster Bujold

Windows 7: Disable Homegroups From Windows Explorer

Disable Homegroups from the Windows explorer (Windows 7) works as follows:

• Disable Homegroups
• Open Windows explorer.
• Right click on Libraries.
• Select "Change HomeGroup" settings.
• Click on "Leave the Homegroup", then confirm the selection.
• Click on "Finish".


• In the Windows Services, seach the "Homegroup Listener Service" and "Homegroup Provider Service".
• Stop both services.
• Disable both services.

A reboot of Windows might be necessary.

XCOM: Removing the Intro Videos

To remove the annoying intro videos for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you need to edit the configuration file "XcomEngine.ini", which is located in the directory "My Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\Config".

1. Stop XCOM 
2. Open the file XcomEngine.ini with any text editor,
3. Search for the four lines starting with "StartupMovies", and remove them from the file
StartupMovies=Logo_2KFiraxis
StartupMovies=UE3TechLogo
StartupMovies=LogoLegal_PCConsole
StartupMovies=1280x720_Black
4. Save the file

Any subsequent start ofXCOM should now immediately go to the start screen.

ESR To The Rescue

As it seems, yesterday's post seems to be only part of the truth .. another "great" feature was to remove the original download browser config option (and the old download browser entirely with Firefox 26 or so .. wtf .. again!

But what I learned is that something Firefox ESR, where ESR stand for Extended Service Release. Which offers security fixes etc., without this constant, nagging, freaking pushing towards upgrading and pointless, unnecessary, unwanted new "features".

So now it's downgrading to Firefox 24.5 ESR with the hope that next (more less) forced upgrade is in the future in a galaxy far, far away ...

Please Mozilla Foundation, do not force upon the users these changes to the user interface without some sort of reasonable fallback option. Even better, why do new UIs need to be mandatory. Why do it as theme/add-on/extension or whatever you wanna call it?!?! Currently all I am doing after upgrades is spending more and more time on restoring the old usability of Firefox.

The day is not far ahead ..

The day is not far ahead .. that I am going to quit using Firefox. Again with Firefox 29 and their new and "improved" Australis user interface. I just want to use the goddamn browser, not cope and learn a new interface every 6 months. Now after updating I always have to check if there's a proper way to order title bar, menu bar, bookmark bar, the way it used it be .. this is annoying as hell.

It's like when your bringing your car to an inspection and they'll tell you, OK we can do this, but we have to switch the gas and break pedals, the rear view mirror is now on the hood, and you have to keep pressing the button for the high beam seven times to make it work. Sure it'll work, and you'll find some guys liking it that way, but you're sure as hell annoying a lot of users as well ..

There two options, either stop adjusting the user interface in such radical ways or give the users at least option to stick (easily) with other/older default configurations. Oh wait, there's a third option .. I just quit using this quicksand of a browser and switch a to viable alternative like Sea Monkey.

P.S.: My thanks goes this time to the guys who programmed the "Classic Theme Restorer".

Also see Microsoft and their Windows 8 user interface fiasco.

Music -- Ten

Ten Music Albums that stayed with me ..

• 1974 -- Mike Oldfield -- Hergest Ridge
• 1983 -- Yes -- 90125
• 1983 -- The Police -- Synchronicity
• 1984 -- Sade -- Smooth Operator
• 1985 -- Latin Quarter -- Modern Times
• 1987 -- Queen -- The Works
• 1989 -- Tom Petty -- Full Moon Fever
• 1990 -- Indigo Girls -- Nomads Indians Saints
• 1991 -- Baby Animals -- Baby Animals
• 1993 -- Marc Cohn -- The Rainy Season

Best Served Cold

In the past months I have been reading or (to be more precise) listening to the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. For the most part I rather enjoyed the books, not so much because of the story itself, but the characters are very interesting (I wouldn't call them heroes), and the writing which is fresh and entertaining.

So I am usually skeptical about book series (I am looking at you Wheel of Time), but upon a recommendation by a friend I started listening to the sequels, starting with Best Served Cold. I am about 1/4 into the book now, and I must say it's again another good read. And I appreciate the fact, that the author didn't continue the story from the original trilogy, but started a fresh one.

The Next Great Thing?

Winamp: Gracenote Services Terminated

Unfortunately the autodetection of (music) CDs in Winamp is no longer working, which means, that the automatic tagging is no longer .. automatic. DrO, member of the Winamp team, posted the following explanation in the Winamp forum on May 15th, 2014:

it looks like the access Winamp had to Gracenote's services has been terminated and is the reason why things have stopped working. this was going to happen anyway as a result of the sale of Winamp and SHOUTcast in January where the deal with them was not going to be renewed (and if Winamp and SHOUTcast hadn't been bought, what you're now seeing would have happened anyway), but we weren't at all sure when things were going to stop working (as all that was known is it might be sometime between the start of 2014 and early 2015). as such until a new Winamp client is released with a Musicbrainz based solution (as we're not aiming to have a new client out until the end of the year due to the mass of work required to remove / replace the AOL / Gracenote specific parts), there's not much i can really suggest at the time on what can be done as an alternative for the Gracenote powered features.

Femme Fatale

Content of the "Dangerous Woman" anthology (as per Wikipedia):

1. “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law) -- In the wild west, a desperate woman is chased by bounty hunters into a derelict town and still manages to come out on top of the situation.
2. “My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott -- A husband suspects his eccentric wife of their daughter's murder, but the truth turns out to be worse.
3. “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland -- A story about princess Eleanor and her observation on the royal household of Henry II of England and (future) Richard I.
4. “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass -- A lieutenant in a dystopian future hears about a conspiracy theory about an alien race capable of genetically altering humans.
5. “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files) -- A young wizard's apprentice finds herself caught between warring factions and must race against time to save a vampire.
6. “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn -- World war II Russian fighter pilot with an ambition to become an ace. The tale of the Russian resistance and her plight are interwoven with her own struggle for recognition.
7. “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale -- Two wrestlers become spellbound by a woman and continue to wrestle each other even after retirement on the unspoken condition that the winner gets to keep the woman.
8. “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm -- In a scenic suburb of Seattle, alzheimer's disease changes the way of life for elderly women. A bit of magic and time travel are thrown in for good measure.
9. “I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block, a contemporary crime thriller Femme fatale crime story with a twist.
10. “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson (The Cosmere) -- In a forest inhabited by supernatural evil beings called shades, an elderly inn-keeper turns bounty hunter at night.
11. “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman, chronicling a little-known episode of late 12th-century Sicilian history -- Constance of Sicily, goes to great lengths to secure the support of the people for her son, (future) Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.
12. “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman (Magicians)
13. “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
14. “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland
15. “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander), an 18th-century Scots mercenary adventure
16. “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherrilyn Kenyon, a present-day Native American ghost story
17. “Pronouncing Doom” by S. M. Stirling (Emberverse), a "hanging judge" tale set "in a postapocalyptic America devastated by plague and machine failure"
18. “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes
19. “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan
20. “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector (Wild Cards)
21. “The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens” by George R.R. Martin, a tale of "continent-burning warfare" that explodes between Targaryen Princess Rhaenyra and her stepmother Queen Alicent, set in the Westeros of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, 200 years before the events of A Game of Thrones

A deniable way of agreeing with people

"You might very well say that, I couldn't possibly comment." -- Francis Urquhart

First

Asturias

Doing Better

"Doing better next time. That's what life is." -- Logen Ninefingers (Before They Are Hanged)