Emasher

That looks pretty good. You could probably go down to 8GB of RAM, but if you have the money, 16GB will mean one less upgrade down the road. Keep in mind if your copy of windows is an OEM copy you're either going to need to buy a new copy or lie to Microsoft's tech support. If you don't know much about audio cards, you probably don't need one. As for hard drive brands, if you don't want Western Digital, I hear Samsung drives aren't bad. Although, I haven't used them myself.

Some comments on a few different languages: Java - It's basically designed to be 'fool proof'; it's used a lot in corporate environments for developing internal applications for that reason. Java is also incredibly portable due to it running in a virtual machine, so you can run it on any computer with java. The major problems being that you have a lot less control (no manual manipulation of pointers, no manual memory management, etc.), and that it's a lot harder to interact with non-java libraries. It also sometimes takes a lot more code to do simple things like file IO. Although it's actually a decent language to learn to program with because it holds your hand a lot, you usually only use Java because you have to, either because it's what your employer tells you to use, or it's the only thing available on the platform. C - One of the lowest level high level languages. You have about as much control as most programmers will ever need. There's no object orientation, or anything like that. It's used to develop things like game engines, where speed is a major issue, and things like Embedded Systems. It's a good place to start if you're up for a challenge, and starting with it, you'll probably end up with a better understanding of how things really work a lot easier. C++ - Basically object orientation built on top of C. It has a much more complicated syntax, and you usually only use it when you have to because your employer tells you to. Although some people like it. The best part is all the C stuff is still there. Objective-C - Like C++, it's object orientation built on top of C. The syntax comes from something called Smalltalk, and despite a few issues, it's actually a fairly elegant language. However, it's pretty much only used for developing software for Apple platforms. C# - This came about because Microsoft didn't want to pay for Java. As a result, it's pretty much the same as far as syntax goes. There are so few differences that if you know one, you pretty much already know the other. It's really just used on Microsoft platforms, and mostly in corporate environments. It's also the best language for XNA, so if you want to make Xbox games, it's not bad. Python - A scripting language, usually praised for it's ease of use. Not a bad place to start, and it's extensive libraries are pretty good for creating programs quickly. Keep in mind however that it's going to be more difficult to move to something like C later on. LISP - A very different sort of programming language. It's used quite commonly in AI programming. It's not really the best place to start at all. In general, it's best to focus on learning programming concepts, not on the language itself. Once you learn the concepts, you'll be able to pick up any language fairly easily. If I were you, I'd start with either Java/C# or C if you want more of a challenge.

Ah, if you crouch down your character will stop before walking over an edge. It's quite useful for navigating caves, especially around lava. I just went through my block IDs, and discovered that will all the mods I have installed, I've only got 3 left. Thankfully Red Power only uses a few of them.

No problem. How did you fall in if you weren't digging straight down though?

The first rule of Minecraft is to never dig straight down. Also, if you get back to your items fast enough they'll still be there on the ground. In the PC version there's a mod that puts it all in a chest at the place you died so you have as long as you want to get back to it. In order for the seeds to grow, they have to be within 4 blocks of a water block (either a source block or flowing water). You harvest them like you would break any other block. There's no tool required. You don't harvest them until they turn bright yellow. At that point, they'll drop a wheat item, and usually some seeds. Don't forget to build a fence around them so monsters and animals can't trample on them.

For the last few days, I've been working on making a few new mods, as well as updating and expanding an older one I never released before. I though perhaps it would be a good idea to release them here, and get a little bit of feedback before releasing them properly on one of the big mod sites. All of these mods are for Minecraft 1.2.5 SSP/CSP/HSP. They all require ModLoader. None of them replace base files, so you can just drop the zips into your .minecraft/mods folder (make one if you don't have one) to install them. You may however need to replace one base file zg.class to get the biomes mod to work. Four block IDs are used total (213, 214, 215, and 198) At the moment, these are not configurable. Additionally, if you install the one mod that contains biomes, six biome IDs are also used (254, 253, 252, 251, 250, and 249). Although, I haven't tested them with anything else, they should be compatible with everything that works with ModLoader, as long as there are no ID conflicts and the other mod doesn't overried zg.class. I'd seriously recommend starting a new world to use these mods. New hemp and mine gas will only spawn on new chunks (so you may have to go pretty far in an older world), and if you install the biome mod, the new biomes may screw up the landscapes as you travel to the edges of your world. If you do decide to use an old save, back it up first. I take no responsibility for any damage caused to your worlds/minecraft game files/computers/ect. when you use these mods. The details are in the recipes and screenshots sections for each mod. The first one adds industrial hemp to the game, and like in the real world, it has a number of uses. Keep in mind, this mod isn't meant to be realistic, it's meant to feel minecrafty. Download

Extraterrestrial Life: Due to the vastness of the universe, there's a high probability that at least microscopic life exists elsewhere. Intelligent Life: Still possible. We will not meet them in our lifetimes unless they manage to make first contact though, which is unlikely due to the vastness of the universe. Ancient Aliens Built the Pyramids: If this were true, there would probably be evidence of it, and then there's the question, why didn't they come back? Although the idea can be used to explain some things, with no evidence to back it up, it's as relevant as a cult.

There are only two instances where it's a good idea to tip, outside of places that have mandatory tips as part of the bill: 1) Anyone who serves you food or beverages, see ^^^ 2) Anyone who might be able to steal/vandalize your property or spit/jizz/urinate/etc. into your food/beverage/complimentary shampoo after a tip would be expected. Generally, however, if the service is lousy, you don't tip/tip less, and if the person goes out of their way for you, you tip more. Also keep in mind that while many restaurants pay their servers less than minimum wage and expect them to make it up in tips, if they do not receive enough tips to do this, their employer is required to make up the difference. Also, never tip at fast food places unless there's actually a tip jar out. Many fast food places don't allow their employees to receive tips.

There's going to be too much lag to play with them on. Plus you need a huge amount of resources to make any of the cool stuff that comes with the mods, and you can gather them a lot faster without monsters.

Alright, the address is: 205.200.11.169 The rules are basically: - No Stealing. - No Griefing. - No Pixel Art, Large Statues, etc. - Do not partially cut down trees. - Do not build on top of other people's buildings/machines/etc. Keep in mind that this is a tekkit server, so you have to get the technic launcher here, and connect using tekkit: http://www.technicpack.net/ A few more things I should say; This is a home server so be reasonable about how far you travel. Keep in mind certain Industrial Craft blocks, like the Nuclear Reactor, the Mass Fabricator, and obviously the nuke explode, and cause very large explosions, so be careful where you place them, and definitely read up on them before you use them. Monsters are turned off.

Pistons basically allow you to move blocks around without removing them and placing them. They can be used to create quite complex machines, including automating some aspects of farming. Although, to automate things completely, you need the PC version with a few mods installed (mainly buildcraft). Here's the wiki page if you want more info: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Piston

To be honest, I'm really not sure what people were expecting from the 360 version. I mean, maybe it makes sense if your PC isn't capable of playing Minecraft, and you still want to play it. Aside from the multiplayer though (and considering the sort of behind the scenes stuff that will be implemented in 1.3, it's looking like that sort of drop in multiplayer will be included in the PC version eventually), I'm not really sure what the 360 version can do that the PC version can't. There's even a mod that allows you to, albeit hackishly, do split screen now. Edit: Alright, my schedule's changed a bit since my last post, I can start hosting a server any time now. So anyone who wants in should let me know, and I'll add them to the white list.

I don't think there's one going at the moment. I was messing around with a Tekkit server on my computer today, and I'm considering trying to run one. It wouldn't be online 24/7, and I don't know how many people it would be able to support, and I live in Canada, so there might be a little bit of lag for most of you, but it still should work. I ran a vanilla server a while back with a few people, and it worked fine. So if anyone's interested, just let me know. I'd like to see what the interest is before opening it up. Oh, and the earliest I'll be able to get it up is Monday.

I took a quick look at the alleged Max Payne 3 code. In this case, it doesn't appear to be a case of the teams sharing actual code (but there's a very good chance that that does happen, even between teams in different countries belonging to the same company, after all, if you already have a bunch of code that does something, if you need to do it in multiple games, you're not going to want to code it again if you don't have to). It looks more like existing models, probably from some GTA game, but not necessarily 5 were used in Max Payne 3. This is assuming the code is actually real of course. It's also possible they were used as place holders during development, as many of them are commented out, and listed as depreciated. TL;DR, this means nothing.

You don't have to use the quarries. And there are a few tools included with IndustrialCraft that really improve mining. Like A drill that works as both a pickaxe and a shovel, and is better than the diamond versions of those, and never breaks, just has to be recharged.

I'd be game. IndustrialCraft and BuildCraft are easily some of the best mods in the game. Combined with some of that other stuff like Computer Craft (amazing if you know how to program), this could be interesting.

Yeah, I've been with them for years. No problems.

Alternatively, try Host Excellence. The basic plan has the same features (as listed in the previous post, although 50 MySQL DBs instead of 100), except its only $3.95/Month (USD). http://www.hostexcellence.com/

I guess you're probably right. I was lucky enough to have a really good computer science teacher in high school. Its obviously not the same everywhere. Java is probably the way to go for something like that. Especially if you want the students to be able to go home and program, regardless of what OS they use at home. I don't think you necessarily need to put them in an environment where they're forced to program though. Most kids play video games these days, and learning to program simple games isn't a bad way to learn to program. That's why I suggested something like greenfoot, as its Java, and its really easy to make simple games with it.

There's really no difference in learning to program in Windows or any other OS. I mean, it's certainly a much better experience doing it in a UNIX like environment, but for learning actual programming concepts, it doesn't matter.

Sorry, I think we're misunderstanding each other. I'm not suggesting running Windows on a Raspberry Pi, that would be ridiculous. I thought you meant kids should be learning to program in an OS that doesn't have the bloat that many modern operating systems have. Of course the OSs that you listed are modern, and for many things are much better than Windows. The only reason I'm bringing up Windows at all is because that's what most schools already have running. Even with Raspberry Pi, the schools do need to make a bit of an investment, as you need monitors keyboards and mice to use the devices. Unfortunately schools don't like students (or teachers for that matter) messing with the hardware to the extent that they wouldn't be able to just unplug those things temporarily in existing computer labs. There are a lot of uses for the Raspberry Pi though. For instance, for students to use at home who might not be able to use their family computer for whatever reason. It's just, in schools, it would be a lot easier to use existing infrastructure. If you want to teach them to program in a UNIX like environment, something like Cygwin could be utilized. I mean, in an ideal world, all schools would have multiple computer labs with various OSs installed on each machine and all sorts of stuff like that, but this isn't an ideal world.

I thought this was mostly about genital mutilation. None of the articles I read even mentioned colonialism. Genital mutilation in general is a very serious issue, and certainly has room for discussion, although, admittedly, there probably is very little that can be done about it in Africa.

You only really need a few teachers per school (the actual number dependent on the number of students) that are qualified to teach programming. Just like most schools only have a few physical education or music teachers. I mean, you're going to need a special room dedicated to this anyway (due to the monitors, keyboards and mice required), so its not like different classes will be able to do it at the same time anyway. High schools (or whatever they're called in whatever country whoever reads this is from) already tend to employ one or two teachers capable of teaching programming for computer science classes, so I don't see why elementary/primary schools can't do the same. I don't really see any reason why you can't learn to program within a modern operating system though (if you can call Windows that). There are tons of tools out there like Greenfoot, for instance, that would be great for teaching children how to program. And use a real language as well, unlike Alice or the MIT equivalent that they've been talking about. If you really want a UNIX like environment you can always use Cygwin.

Its a little sad that people are spending so much time talking about whether or not the artist is racist, instead of talking about the issue that the artist meant to highlight in the first place.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with introducing your kids to video game, its no different from introducing them to movies, television, music, or any other media. There's nothing wrong with showing them your favorite games, just like you might show them your favorite movie. However, trying to force children to enjoy anything, especially forcing them into an entire subculture is where you need to draw the line. Forcing a child to be a geek when they don't want to is nearly as bad as forcing them to take part in a particular religion. As much as a parent might want their child to take after them, it's their life, and their decision what to make of it.