Summer is in full swing, which means fewer players have been around
because they are supposedly enjoying real life (imagine that!). Meanwhile,
work, upgrades and other silliness have been continuing as always at your
favourite game. Earlier in the summer, TerraFirmA was featured on the UK
television show, cyber.cafe--a
bit of welcome publicity (see more in game news below).
Two new "Tales of Terra" are included in this issue of FreeWheeling,
and anyone who wants to write a story about some aspect of the game is
encouraged to! Send your submissions to bhursta@tidalwave.net
(as well as any FW submissions you have!). The tales should be relatively
short, and will be included in future editions of FW as well as the possibility
of their being added into the new READ command at the Hamelin Library on
the game! It would probably be best to check the story idea with me (BabyGirl)
before writing it, as stories for several quests / areas / personalities
on the game have already been written. The theme for the rest of this issue
is "computers", enjoy.
BabyGirl (Editor)
Earlier this summer, TerraFirmA was one of the topics on the UK television show cyber.cafe! Several people from the game had a get-together before the taping, including Luckyspin, Lucas, Bambi, Portia, Wildthing and StGeorge (a couple of photos are available at the TF web site, http://www.terrafirma.ohl.dk/Meet/pictures.html). The cyber.cafe episode web page where TF is mentioned can be found at http://www.meridian.tv.co.uk/cyber/s2prog25.html .
Lots of work has gone on over the summer on some new areas and features that will soon be brought into the game. This includes a new quest, Wombles (written by Cyn), and an entirely re-written Newbie zone to replace Genesis (written by Lister and BabyGirl). Last but not least, there will be an improved leveling system with more levels, which will be based on credits as well as experience! We hope this new system will seem fairer to all our players.
Regrettably, the news as far as the Terradome is concerned is that plans are being made to shut the old "dome" down. The reasoning behind this is that there simply aren't enough (admin) resources to keep BOTH terra adventures running satisfactorily as independent games. This was a tough decision to make, but we feel it will benefit players more in the long run to concentrate all our efforts and improvements on TerraFirmA, so we can keep making sure it is the very best game out there! However, we want to assure all the current players/runners at TD that their character's stats/level, etc. on TD at the time of shut down WILL be transferred over to TF! So there is no reason to fear that running at TD right now will be useless to you... unless you do already happen to have a character at TF that is of higher standing of course!
Many were in attendance at the MUD wedding of StGeorge and Wildthing at TF on June 12 at the River Bank in Nibelung. The ceremony was performed by BabyGirl, with ScotXray as Best Man, Bliss as Bridesmaid, Kirra as Maid of Honour and Zaphod as Father of the Bride.
There are a slew of new counsels at TF since the last issue! Congrats go out to: Farout, StGeorge, Wildthing, Wileycat, Bliss, and (yes he finally made it!) Zaphod.
The TerraFirmA web site (http://www.terrafirma.ohl.dk/), which recently re-opened (after being moved), will soon have its look updated and re-vamped. The large project will take a little while, but keep an eye out.
It is a wonderful
view that meets the eye when you travel up into the glacier regions. The
fantastic tundra stretches away as far as the eye can see, pure whiteness
broken in just a few places by the growth of rare flowers; such flowers
are found only in such climates, and they are indeed truly beautiful. Of
course, one must watch out for the frozen lakes; they can be found all
over the glacier and in some places the ice can be dangerously thin, but
they are possible to navigate if you proceed with caution. One area I found
to be of particular interest were the ice caverns, their truly beautiful
stalactites and stalagmites making them a place that can only be appreciated
by viewing in person; it would impossible to try and describe their awesome
beauty here. Of course, there are also the fantastic carvings that have
been made in the flint walls by the natives, portraying truly wonderful
imagery regarding life in the Glacier regions; certainly another must see.
The quantity and quality of the tufa found in these caves is enormous and
certainly exciting to any serious geologist.
Although the Glacier regions are beautiful, they are nonetheless dangerous,
the lands full of dangerous creatures. One such creature is the gigantic
mammoth; these animals must be avoided at all costs. Although docile when
alone, the mammoth can rapidly become aggressive if you go near, as it
tends to feel threatened by another's presence. On the whole, I thoroughly
recommend a visit to this region; it's an experience that you could never
forget.
The war was
over. Everywhere, evil creatures were being hunted out and routed from
the lands, their once formidable power having diminished. Their power was
now encapsulated within the powerstones. It was the mages of the Elven
King Dinthiar who discovered how to weaken the demons using the special
stones, shortly before they were defeated themselves when Asmodeus and
the Lich made their mark on the land. Using the powerstones, the mages
were able to absorb any and all of the magical energy expended by the Djinni's
forces when casting spells; by doing this, the demons were eventually weakened
enough to enable the mortals to launch a viscious counterattack. Thousands
died on both sides as the lines of battle shifted back and forth, but eventually
the demons could hold no longer. The Djinni, the leader of the demon army,
was quickly captured and encased in magical irons. Hours later, at the
Elven Council inside the Grand Mallorn, the Djinni was sentenced, and thus
the Djinni was banished to the Wasted Plane--to remain there for evermore.
Even now, the Djinni remains there with his minions, planning his escape
and subsequent return to the world, to seek his revenge.
|
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The war of the sexes takes to cyberspace with these uncannily apt observations....
FIVE REASONS COMPUTERS MUST BE FEMALE
TEN WAYS MEN ARE LIKE COMPUTERS
Courtesy of http://www.theonion.com/:
WASHINGTON, D.C.--In what White House officials are calling "a regrettable and admittedly very frustrating turn of events," President Clinton forgot to hit the "save" key to store the 10 million-word, 175,000-page federal budget on his computer Monday. The simple user error will cost American taxpayers an estimated $300 trillion.
The error, which occurred late at night when no one was around to offer the President much-needed technical assistance, will force the Republican-controlled Congress to re-draft the document from scratch, as well as re-vote on all previously passed budget amendments.
"I feel really bad about this," President Clinton said at a White House briefing yesterday. "I guess I was just really tired."
According to the President's White House advisor, Lynne McMurtry, the President was making minor changes to the only existing draft of the budget at 3:30 a.m. Monday. He had yet to make a floppy disk back-up, and when the screen suddenly opened a window that asked if he wanted to save changes to the document, a confused Clinton made the critical error of accidentally hitting "no." Then, in an unexpected turn of events, his file server showed an error (Type -1), causing his screen to freeze.
"I was moving the mouse to highlight a proposed welfare cut, when all of a sudden, it just stopped moving," Clinton said. "The computer crashed. I really should have hit save a long time ago."
Added McMurtry: "People make these kinds of mistakes all the time.
It is unfortunate that it had to happen to the federal budget. In the future, we will be sure to make a backup copy and keep it on Vice President Gore's computer."
Compounding matters was that retrieval of the lost document became impossible when, out of frustration, Clinton slid his chair back rapidly, pulling the computer's plug out of the wall and shutting off the entire system.
"When I re-booted, there was nothing there," Clinton said. "Nothing. Not even my little yellow 'stickie' reminding me to sign that health care bill next week."
With no one else to turn to, Clinton called Jeff, a long-time friend who is, according to White House reports, "very good with computers." Clinton sent Air Force One to Jeff's Little Rock-area home and had him picked up and airdropped onto the White House roof. The President then led him to the machine and asked him to "fix it."
Since Clinton had already restarted the computer, the unsaved budget was lost forever, despite Jeff's best retrieval efforts. Jeff, who has a subscription to Ultimate ROM magazine, could not be reached for comment, as he is, according to Clinton, "very shy."
Although the President had been expected to veto the proposed budget, the decision-making process will now be delayed indefinitely until a new budget is written. Republicans did not respond warmly to that prospect.
"Someone has to type the whole thing over," said an angry Newt Gingrich from his weekend retreat at the Institute for Advanced Cybernetics at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. "I can assure you of one thing--the Republican Party will not get stuck retyping it."
Clinton, meanwhile, is doing his part to make up for his mistake by agreeing to appear in a series of public service announcements, along with Jennifer Aniston of the smash-hit NBC sitcom Friends, to boldly speak out against forgetting to hit save, and other computer-related mishaps.
"I hope these spots will go a long way toward raising Americans' awareness of the user error issue," Clinton said. "I certainly learned a valuable lesson."
Added Aniston: "It's totally 'cool' to hit save. I'm going to tell all my friends about it."
An actual "letter to the editor" from the CNET NEWS.COM Dispatch....
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Please address your letters to letters@dispatch.cnet.com.
> PLEASE SEND ME BILL GATES'S EMAIL > I read your daily newsletter, and now I need the following information. > Please send me: > Bill Gates's email; > Hackers BBS; > About Black Box Device. > Of course, if you have the information. Thank you.
[Ed.: Get the feeling we haven't heard the last from this guy?]
Bill Gates recently had 100 of his closest friends over to dinner. Service was impeccable and highly personalized. To wit, here is a list of the dinners served to the high-tech CEOs present:
So you think you're computer-illiterate? Check out the following excerpts from a Wall Street Journal article by Jim Carlton --
Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.
AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.
Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn't read word processing files from his old diskettes. After troubleshooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was found that the customer labeled the diskettes then rolled them into the typewriter to type the labels.
Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with Xeroxed copies of the floppies.
Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.
Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told Egghead was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."
Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.
A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.
An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.
Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"
True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:
Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
Tech Rep: "Yes, it is. How may I help
you?"
Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is
broken and I am within my warranty period.
How do I go about getting that fixed?"
Tech Rep: "I'm sorry, but did you
say a cup holder?"
Caller: "Yes, it's attached to the
front of my computer."
Tech Rep: "Please excuse me if I seem
a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you
receive this as part of a promotional, at
a trade show? How did you get this cup
holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
Caller: "It came with my computer,
I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has '4X' on it."
At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn't
stop laughing. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM
drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!
| http://www.mydesktop.com/ | "The Ultimate Site For YOUR Desktop" |
| http://www.cnet.com/ | CNET: The Computer Network |
| http://www.excite.com/channel/computers/?a-chc-t | Excite Channel: Computers & Internet |
| http://www.happypuppy.com/ | HappyPuppy.Com - Games |
| http://www.hotfiles.com/ | ZDNet Software Library |
| http://www.tucows.com/ | TUCOWS - Software |
Thus ends the 11th issue of FreeWheeling. Thanks to everyone who subscribes--the list is
over 90 people and growing!! We look forward to seeing old and new faces
on the game soon, after the summer break is over! Look for the next issue of
FreeWheeling to be the super-scary Halloween edition.
A FRIENDLY REMINDER. . . . DON'T BYTE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW!