I felt like this may have been slightly more appropriate in the gamingsteve podcast forum, but would actually like to get some content aggregation going in a place where people might see it more frequently than when they misclick the board they're attempting to reach.

I walk often, and can't live without them.

My listening software of choice is Stitcher, which is both a smartphone app and website (phone <--> pc preferences sync)

Here are some of my very favorites:

• 99% Invisible - (Design, ubiquitous yet unseen mechanisms [psychological, economical, etc], architecture, sexiest NPR voice [Roman Mars<3])
  Radiolab - (Basically a gold mine for esoteric knowledge and personal stories with phenomenal sound production)
  Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - (Weekly lighthearted news quiz paneled by some excellent comedians)
  Planet Money - (Somewhat in-depth, somewhat casual examination of some aspect of economics, finance, etc.)
  The Allusionist - (15 minute factsnax about etymology and language (in general) delivered by a soothing female british voice)
  The Adventure Zone - (Each ep. is a chapter in an arc of DnD [with some artistic liberty] done by 3 brothers and their father who all sound slightly tipsy)

What do you guys listen to?

How was there not a thread for this? I checked three pages back, did a search; nothing.

Anyway, here's Tyrion Lannister and his mom playing Overwatch with Conan O'Brien.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bjvoHOSFs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bjvoHOSFs</a>

I'm going to assume that most of you already know about bitcoins, since they've been known around the interwebs for months, and over the last few weeks have been getting a lot of media attention. The reason I'm starting this thread is because the value of a single bitcoin (BTC) hit $19.00 yesterday (as of when I first wrote this, now two days ago). Two months ago, each was worth about $1.00. They can be cashed out through any number of exchangers (e.g. Mt. Gox) or used to purchase stuff from a handful of sites that accept it as payment.

Bitcoins are generated in 50 BTC blocks, which are created by running "mining" utilities. These utilities serve to verify bitcoin transactions, meaning that the system is completely decentralized; the currency is regulated and managed by software. The generation of bitcoins is not infinite, though, there is a set number that cannot be passed, and as that number is approached by the generation of blocks by mining utilities, the chance of discovering a block decreases, approaching zero.

Early adopters figured out that GPUs are much more efficient at mining than CPUs. ATI cards especially excel at the task. (My card is nvidia, and mines five to ten times slower than a comparable ATI card.) As a result, there are utilities released that are fairly easy to set up and run to generate bitcoins. There are also groups or pools where many different miners contribute to finding blocks, which are split automatically among the participants according to their contribution. I'm in such a pool, and with my crappy nvidia make five to ten bitcents each day by running the utility in the background.

Bitcoins are sent and received to randomized addresses - using your bitcoin client or 'wallet,' you can generate any amount and use separate ones for each transaction. Wallets are localized to a computer. Computer dies, bitcoins gone. You can always keep them in an online account, like those on the trading sites I mentioned before.

Just generated a new receiving address:

1H5Tx8sNt4EwabCvFX3GAQkzAm8AdGdb7w

Boom. If you opened your wallet, clicked send bitcoins, put that in and an amount, I'd receive some moments later. Beside that, I would see the number of verifications slowly creep up, reaching a certain number before I can actually make use of them, to guarantee that no amount of bitcoins is played with to be counted twice.

If you want to mine bitcoins, the best way to do it is in a pool. Otherwise, anything less than a very powerful rig would take months to find a single block.

This is the one that I use: http://mining.bitcoin.cz/

1. Download the bitcoin wallet software. It is one of the files on the right side of the main page.
2. Download GUIMiner. It's the only mining utility that doesn't require you to use command lines to run it, and is fairly intuitive.

Extract and instead of running "poclbm.exe" (which runs the command line version), run "guiminer.exe". If you have OpenCL set up correctly this should launch the GUI. If you get an error about OpenCL, you need to install an OpenCL package from your GPU vendor. For AMD/ATI cards you can get OpenCL here.

3. Sign up on a pool (slush's pool) and make a new 'worker' on your user page once you've registered and given a wallet address.
4. Change your threshold on your user page to something smaller (mine is 0.2), so that you receive more frequent dispensation.
5. Start up GUIminer and set it up like this:



6. Hit "start mining." Eventually, a rate should appear in the bottom right in terms of hash/s, and your number of contributed shares will climb up on the left.
7. Check your page on the pool site to make sure you are gradually accruing bitcoins.
8.
9. PROFIT!!!

EDIT: No it's not some kind of stupid scam or plot or shady scheme. It's a bit of code invented by a nerd that's a super cool digital currency. <_<

You know what? It's been far too long since the last game of forum mafia.

Clearly we need another.

Provided that enough players mark their name, the game will begin on Wednesday, December 1st at 17:00 GMT.

Given the duration of Mafia games, this should end before most people have to worry about final exams for the semester, and be our last little bit of fun.

This game will be using the original set of rules and roles provided by LadyM, without alteration. Disputes and uncertainties will be settled by the GM (Yours truly ♥).

A few minor roles will be incorporated, but no third faction. My philosophy is that a well-seasoned dish beats an extra bland side any day.

So dash dem names down. Registration Closed.

Current Roster (18):
Badger Man 22
Celdur
Clarke
Eagle
eropS
Flamester_
Flisch
Great Distance
Kenotai
Krakow Sam
/lurk
Martyk
munchkin5
Neoadept
Patman33
Person21
Raz
Tesla

Roles (T M B):
Bouncer
Bus Driver
Camper
Celebrity
Cop
Cop
Detective
Forger
Lunatic
Mafia Boss
Politician
Priest
Psychic
Sniper
Superhero
Taxi Driver
Vigilante
Wizard

I don't know why I've neglected to see this movie for so long, but it was absolutely amazing.

I loved it - it numbers among the movies I appreciate as art, not entertainment.

Who else has seen it, and what did you think?

To any other species, the technology of the Kafasi Karismi would seem bizarre, lopsided or puzzling; this is their most unique feature. According to the Galactic Senate’s Civilization Development Index (CGI), the Karismi lack 7 of 10 key technologies considered necessary for the advance from a planetary culture to an interplanetary civilization, yet they have several highly populated colonies, a well developed home system, and a large array of listening posts and cartographic observatories scattered throughout the cluster. The most ubiquitous piece of missing technology is the progression past radio-signal communication technology into the fields of quantum communication or subspace transmission. Instead, the Karismi communicate only with a very narrow band of electromagnetic frequencies that are unable to surpass the speed of light.

Karismi vessels, on the other hand, are capable of moving from one destination to another at speeds greater than that of light. Sustainable fusion technology was discovered relatively early in the home world’s postindustrial era, and as such led to the development of several energy-point driven ballistic weapons, which were accelerated by the concentration of energy at a single point in the creation of a gravity differential. This process inadvertently warped space-time around the projectile, a process later harnessed to direct vessels between fixed-point locations throughout the nearby universe.

This combination of awkward technological advancements is ripe for diplomatic misunderstandings, for the primitive Karismi methods of communication render them completely unaware of alien life right next door. Soon, first contact will inadvertently be made by this curious species, or forced upon them by a more concerned elder. It is then that the people of Kafasi and their descendants will look on the other species of the galaxy and say “My, what strange and backwards technologies these creatures have.”

Probably not gonna update this unless asked to. Mainly an excuse to join in an RP where I would further flesh them out, if I so desired.

The year is 2152 ab urbe condita. The Emperor of the Romans, Manuel Palaiologos, has held that glorious position for eight years, since the death of his father John V Palaiologos in 2144 AUE. His empire, though, is weak. The only lands where the flag of Constantinople flies are Thrace and the lower Peloponnesus, all other lands of the Greeks being under the oppressive Muslim rule of Sultan Bayezid I. His worries are assuaged only by the beautiful masterpieces of Petros Argyros, the greatest artist east of Rome and member of the imperial court. Action must yet be taken to ensure the survival of descendants of the Populusque Romanus.

An opportunity gleams on the horizon, for in the east, the Ottomans now clash with the Timurid Empire of Tamerlane. The opposition is great, and there is no doubt that much of the Turkish armies will be sent east to deal with the impending threat posed by the descendant of the Great Khan. A key moment in the fate of the Empire is at hand, and the great Imperator Manuel must make the decisions necessary to drive our name to the status it once held, captivating the civilized world.



Manuel II has seen the possibility of greatness and wasted no time in moving the empire towards this goal. He has pulled the disparate territories that identify themselves with Constantinople under a more centralized code of laws, reestablishing the standard set by Justinian so long ago. Indeed, he has even formed pacts with the other Orthodox nations of the near east in Europe; Wallachia, Serbia, and Montenegro now vow to sent soldiers charging into the Ottoman Empire should war arise. Manuel has even taken direct control of the armies of Constantinople, leading them with the military skill taught him by his tutors. His last domestic decision, of course, was to revitalize the trade that kept the imperial capital alive for so long, infusing the markets that connected the east and west with merchants to bring wealth to his coffers.


This is his first goal. It is obvious to such a wise emperor that the first step in recreating the Eastern Empire of old is to liberate the homelands of Greco-Roman culture, liberating the parts of Greece controlled by Archea, Venice, and the Ottoman Empire. The decision now falls upon the men of the court; where shall our armies march first in our compaign to retake the homelands? Shall we invade the Ottomans, watching them crunch under the combined weight of Timur, Byzantium, and the Slavs? Rather, shall we invade Archea, uniting the Peloponnesus under Roman rule once again?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This game is generational. As the emperor dies, I will send the savegame to Gunner. He will then continue with the metagame until his emperor dies, in turn sending the savegame to me. This will allow for variation in the perspectives of the empire's leadership, while helping to ensure that neither one of us gets fatigued or is at a lack of changes to instute.

Now vote!

                                                         The War of Southern Secession

“I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.”
-Jefferson Davis

Not too long ago, our boys went after the forts of those greedy damnyankees who refused to get out of our rightful territory.

Now they're goin' after us!

That damned federalist leader of theirs thinks he can keep rulin' over us.

Damn it to hell if he ain't wrong!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Surveying the state of the Confederacy, it will be a difficult journey if we intend to gain freedom from our northern oppressors.

The Democrats under Jeff Davie make up our new government.



The people of the south are willing to give up much to see freedom, and we have a sizable surplus to invest in the war of secession.



In the north, General Lee commands the army of Northern Virginia. Under his leadership we will achieve victory.



Out west, our soldiers are ready to jump into the lands that haven't yet been freed from the damnyankees, and even farther into their own homes.



___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What now, congress of our fair nation, shall I send as instruction to our armies that we may crush our adversaries?