Fidcal

Reloaded earlier for another reason so red spots gone - but still like to know what causes them and what action removes them. Anyway, restarted from beginning because tired of missions and wanted to sandbox - but the game forces you to play the storyline so far else you can't leave the first area nor can you sleep-save! Damn. I've had to replay a huge amount. But another potential deal-breaker is the lock picking. It appears to be the hardest I've ever seen in a game. On PS4 you have to turn left and right sticks in sync but it wouldn't turn for me on my first attempts nor do any of the on-line videos look the same - they look simpler even though the lock I'm trying is shown as 'easy'. Plus the lockpicks are relatively expensive near the start and gamesave slow and tedious and costly. Gave up in disgust last night. Try again this morning. Maybe I'll figure it out.

Searched Help and net but can't find out: what are the red splodges on screen? And how get rid? Really annoying in dark areas because they are fixed brightness. Am I injured? Can't see any indication of that.

Found the solution! Set Groups to 'none' in one folder then: Menu View - Options - View tab - Apply to [all] folders [of this type] That got rid of groups for folders in general. I'll probably have to repeat it if I come across say a folder full of music files or photos, etc but there are not so many types and anyway, they might not have been affected in the first place. Thanks for all suggestions anyway.

That's the column selector and sort by properties. If you right click in Explorer on that menu may be 'Group by' but it doesn't always show. On it you can select 'None' but that only affects a single folder.

File Explorer groups files and folders by default, that is, it sorts them into groups. You can group files by their properties; the default group is 'unspecified' but I don't need or want groups so they are an irritating distraction. How can the feature be turned off?

Had to buy a new pc so resigned to Win10. GROUPING - anyone found a way to totally disable/remove this feature from file explorer? I know how to turn it off for each individual folder but I've got a hell of a lot of folders. I mean, this morning I turned it off for each drive in the nav pane. When I opened explorer 5 minutes later, 3 of them were okay but 1 still shows grouping. And now the option was removed from the drives. Why? So I find a tiny space in the right panel where the folders are list but not actually selecting one and disable grouping. But grouping is still there in every folder! Internet search just tells you to turn it off how I already know. Am I missing something?

I missed this thread till now - though I was aware it was about 20 years, and still remember the tv game program where I first saw it and was blown away by the gameplay: sneaking, extinguishing wall torches, and so on. Even more amazed when I bought and played it a few days later. Thief is an 'open world' game where you are free to play it how you like, wander around, sandbox before sandboxing was thought of. That term 'open world' is not often used with Thief but that's what it is - and one of the earliest. ('The' earliest?) Shenmue on the Dreamcast is credited with being the first 'open world' game I think, but that didn't appear until the early 21st century. Now I'm bloody playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4 and wondering 'why the fug am I doing this?' It's the exact opposite of Thiefy games. Like being a movie actor where there is no rehearsal and the dumb director gives you a vague script and one line orders then you die and he calls cut and your are ordered to replay again and again until you accidentally perform exactly how they want you to perform. (Fortunately there is an option to skip the scene after dying 3 times. God bless you for that Rockstar.) You don't play these modern cinematic games such as 'Last Of Us' - they play you! Thief is free play, free thinking, solving the challenges using your own initiative and strategies. I'm not sure the world is ready for it even yet!

It is well known that Big Brother is not only tracking us, but manipulating us. This practice is becoming ever more refined. I used to joke there must be a university course in hypocrisy for the marketing industry because they are so skilled at it. I was right: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/31/advertising-academia-controlling-thoughts-universities Smart software will spot your weaknesses, play on them, trick you, so brace yourself against what you read. Stay alert! Think for yourself!

I always follow the general rule that if there's any kind of problem then blame M$oft and you'll be right 9 times out of 10.

Good article. Nice and clear. Thanks for this.

I completed the palace level and escaped back to the boat but the girl in the boat doesn't accept me but simply speaks generically, and there's no objective marker over her. Looking back I see the marker is to the palace so looks like although I escaped the palace it didn't tick off the objective. I've left it alone for a few days in disgust but now I'm looking to go back into the palace and come out again a different route see if that fixes it. If anyone knows about this bug and a fix then let me know. [EDIT: Ignore the above. The objective says: escape palace and rendevous with meagan foster in the boat which I did. But when I reload an earlier save I now notice there's a smaller box at the side adding 'at the king's dock'. So she moves to a different dock. (but only if you go there, if you go to the old dock then she's still there!)]

Updating is more risky than not updating. If it works, don't fix it.

I'm a touch typist. Most people aren't though. Operators are fractionally faster for a touch typist so long as you know what they are. They vary depending on the input so unless you are using the same input predominantly then there may be that moments hesitation. And what to enter for time date image website and many many more? Nor are operators or simple input excluded from an advanced page. You can enter simple input or you can enter a common operator like OR (some inputs don't accept that) AND you can hit the site field to type in a specific website. An advanced search page is the best of all worlds because it COMBINES advanced, simple, and operators. I often type quotes in the simple box or I just type in the exact phrase box. 'Advanced' INCLUDES 'Simple'. The only advantage of a 'Simple' page is for people who might be confused by too many options. That's fair enough. So have two pages: simple and advanced like Google has done for over 20 years. They have over 80% of the market because they're smart (and unfortunately ruthless.) Having an advanced page is a no-brainer. Which is why Bing don't have one.

Thanks for this, Destined. I've added searx to my speed dial and will give them a tryout. First thoughts is searx.me has a rather limited advanced search compared to startpage. Anyone know of any other instance with a better advanced page? That's also the problem with duckduck for me. Why would anyone prefer typing dos-like operators and arguments when they can use gui selector boxes? It's a mystery to me. Same with Bing where you'd expect M$oft to have a sensible gui. Yahoo is unusable for me now. I used to get errors there but now I can't even get in without being forced to accept their mass-surveillance. [EDIT yes, Google do it without even asking but I don't actively agree whereas yahoo actually force you to AGREE! I never click those. same with webistes forcing you to agree to cookies. I mean, many sites do cookies and my browser deletes them on exit but it's being forced to click that 'I agree' box that I resent with no option to 'No, I don't agree'.] Anyway, I've just deleted Yahoo from my speed dial to squeeze in searx. Another suspicion I have with these meta engines is that Google (and others) detect them and return inferior limited results. I'm not certain of this though. Keep meaning to do some proper tests...

Yes, the signs are there. I'm a great believer in social evolution being unstoppable (asteroids and nuclear wars aside.) Tiny, tiny steps though. Even sharing ideas like this thread can help. Some genius might read this or some of the billions of posts around the net over the next century, and think, 'hey! that gives me an idea!'

I agree with most of what you say, Abusimplea, except possibly 'every non-competitive system non-sustainable.' Sportsmen and women, etc. apart, people are not (directly) eager to compete, in fact, the ultimate goal would be to dominate or destroy the competition and gain a monopoly if allowed. No, people are greedy for wealth itself which is why I wondered if there might be a workable model without competing. A method where individuals can strive for a reasonable return on their efforts in a way more efficient for society as a whole. Competing is inefficient. It works by trial and error. Just like the law of the jungle it gets results and produces stability, but there's a lot of waste and suffering involved in the process: predation, disease, famine, drought, customer misery and frustration. Two ideas I've explored in my head but I don't promote or defend them because I've no idea if they'd work. I simply consider them and wonder if there is any merit way in the future. For instance, just because nationalising industries hasn't worked too well so far doesn't mean it never can. One thought experiment I had was the following: A multi-millionaire invests in a business, employs experts to manage it subject only to a few rules and guidelines he sets up. The experts and workers strive to do well so they get bonuses and pay increases (and get to keep their jobs.) The billionaire does very little to interfere because he's getting a good return. Two other millionaires do likewise, competing in the same market. But 'competing' really means trying to be as efficient as possible which the experts are paid to do anyway, plus wasting resources on excessive, intrusive advertising and other competitive strategies. Each would like to buy out the other two if possible and have more efficiency, less waste on competing, and more profit all round. The only competing would be for a greater share of customer wealth from other markets. Complex legislation keeps all three within certain constraints. The state buys out all three companies and keeps exactly the same rules but without the competitive strategies thus saving money. The experts and workers are paid exactly the same bonuses and pay increases as before. Eventually the companies are merged into one nationalised industry for more efficiency, less waste on competing, and more profit all round. The only competing might be for a greater share of customer wealth from other markets but is that necessary? Why tempt the public into choosing between a new car or a luxury holiday - let them decide for themself. Especially if the state owns both industries. The complex legislation from when they were private is replaced by simpler direct control subject to parliamentary debate. Why can't the above work. And if there are reasons, are they insurmountable forever? The other idea I had I've already mentioned: private companies controlled by a quality incentive tax (QIT.) They all continue to strive for wealth but in a different game. The goalposts have been moved. To increase profits they must improve products and services thereby reducing their taxes. @Sotha, my view is that the purpose of humanity is not to consume; the purpose of humanity is to be happy. Consumption is just one means to that end. Happiness trumps everything: love, justice, truth, wealth - none of them have any point unless they produce happiness. What is the point of happiness? (By 'happiness' I mean every form of contentment, satisfaction, an agreeable state of mind for everyone.) Strangely, it seems to me that happiness is an end in itself. The only one I know of actually. @Judith, yeah, I agree, and efficiency of production will massively increase right off the graph with the coming smart devices and less human labour. Even most executives will not be needed as business owners consult with smart software and robots implement their choices. Wealth would be even more concentrated within the elite. It's simply not sustainable.

Good feedback here so I'll comment on what I can... I got sidelined by Anderson's saying 'the illness of capitalism' which can be read as 'the illness that capitalism is suffering from' (ie, capitalism is sick but not inherently bad in itself) or 'the illness that IS capitalism' in the same way we'd say 'the illness of smallpox.' I took Anderson to mean the former so, since one of my pet hates is the profit-driven system I commenced to post on about that so going slightly off-topic. I suppose I meant by my first post: 'should earnings be proportional to effort or results WITHIN the current system' By that I mean, one can make oneself as comfortable as possible while ill - painkillers, etc. So I was wondering if there might be a system where the most out-of-proportion profits are fed back more fairly into society. I have mused about a quality incentive sales tax where corporate tax is decreased in proportion to quality (usefulness, durability, value, enjoyment, etc.) So companies are still profit-driven but that drive is channelled into serving the customer. And who decides that quality? The people themselves plus some kind of modifying authority. We are only at the beginning of on-line feedback. Imagine in decades to come each of us can apply a secure ID on-line then all kinds of genuine voting opens up. However, this whole concept of a quality incentive tax is hazy and naive so don't ask me to defend it! It might be impossible to implement for all I know. In addition, my original question did not imply exclusivity I hope. In other words, I'm not suggesting reward effort that has no potential merit at all. Genuine R & D is fine. An employee pulling a lever all day should be rewarded even if the product doesn't sell well or at all. Obviously a self-employed person should not be rewarded for pulling a lever if it can be shown he knows his product is worthless. By 'capitalism' I meant the profit-driven aspect of the so-called free market. It's not really a free market any more than we have a free press. We don't. We are in slavery to profit. Businesses, including newspapers, are in slavery to profit. They are not fully free to publish anything that will put them out of business. You might say they have freedom of that choice but probably a news editor in North Korea has the same freedom but his punishment will be more severe. People quite rightly go into business to make a living in the current system. Few go into business to make product for its own sake. So if society needs round pegs for round holes and there's more profit to be made producing square pegs then tough. A square peg manufacturer might compromise and shave off the corners to make a nearly round peg - if he can make money at it. The counter-argument is that if there is a genuine need for round pegs then that MUST be profitable for someone. And yet, much of the stuff we buy is a compromise. Is that anyone's dream for the future? I want a really decent, easy-to-use, long-lasting, non-invasive, non-intrusive, upgradeable, home computer without privacy issues or hassle but with plenty of good software. Isn't that what most people want? Tough. I don't think there is such a device. To quote Sturgeon's Law: '90% of everything is crap.' With some products it's much lower; in others much higher. I've tried most tv recorders available in the UK and they are ALL crap. I bought three together some years back hoping one would be reasonable. The Panasonic was dreadful. The Echostar was even worse. The Technomate was near-unusable. None of them would update over the net - wasting hours of my time. Now I've got a Humax. It crashes regularly. Navigation is slow and clumsy and time-wasting. I'd be happy to pay double for a decent machine but there isn't one. I have less than a dozen possessions that actually do their job well and have lasted; how many have you got? 'Copyright and capitalism are not the same thing.' Agreed. I used copyright only by way of example because generally intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyright, etc.) can potentially provide a much greater out-of-proportion profit.

I think capitalism is the illness. If Elon Musk tries to create a new, self-sufficient and independent society on Mars then he ought to set up organisations there to produce oxygen, water, food, shelter, etc. But he wouldn't. He'd set up organisations not to make product but to make profit - with product as a side effect. He has to because of the illness: the pressure of competition. I didn't realise patent law was restricting the growth of poor countries. I guess I supposed (if I thought of it at all) that licences would be cheaper in those countries. But I guess those countries would then export at cheaper prices. Mmm...

This question has nagged me for a couple of years: should earnings be proportional to effort or result? I'll give two examples of the latter, one for someone I hate and one for someone I admire. Bill Gates. No prizes for guessing whether I admire him or not. I see him as a very average business man (maybe less) who happened to be in the right place at the right time and made a few good choices early on. Earned a million times the average but clearly he is not a million times better businessman. However, (arguably) has provided the world with a [useful] OS, game console, and other stuff. For the sake of argument, let's say most M$oft stuff has benefited the world more than the world has lost (I personally think we'd have been better off without him or anything he's produced, but still.) J K Rowling. Earns a million times the average author but is she a million times a better author? Impossible. (Remember I speak as a great admirer.) Worked for 17 years on Harry Potter and gave hundreds of millions some happiness. It all comes down to copyright which enables individuals to earn far more than they could conceivably earn by the sweat of their brow: JKR works 10 hours a day and earns lets say $500,000 a day while a salt miner earns $50. Or $5. (or 5 cents and a kick up the arse if he/she lives in North Korea.) Ditto for Bill who pushed a button and millions of discs of plastic worth pence earned him $100 (ish) each. But the paradox is, if the market product earns a certain size of pie, who gets the slices? The publishers? Or should the price of software/books be reduced? They wouldn't work in the current era because most software/books don't make much (if any) profit. I don't know the answer. Not in this era. Thoughts? BTW I googled the topic title and got zilch for my efforts. Impossible I'm the first person to pose this kind of question.

OK, thanks all. I'll check for another way round and while I'm doing it, check out the wires and the windmill. I'm right out of those rune bone charm things so only got a little 'see guards through walls feature' left. Still can't see any inventory of special objects nor of some readables. In Artemis mansion I took a note off a door saying Captain Cordero locked it and he'll be in dining room if needed. I killed/strangled everyone there but no key. So I had to reload the game several gamesaves earlier just to check the note again! I did find the key eventually. But the readable went into a black hole somewhere. Maybe it's in the same place as the rewire tools. I did recently discover blink upgrades I didn't know I had! I assumed if you bought an upgrade then it worked automatically. Looks like I won't get the hang of this game before it's all over!

Hmm... that short? Oh well. So, can't rewire the fence so that means there's another way? OK, so long as I know, I don't mind searching around this area more for another way through. thks

I reached the Dust District about 2 years ago but then got into Fallout 4 so this game got shelved. Now I'm replaying from where I reached but rather rusty. I got into Aramis Stilton's place and completed that mission but had to do a lot of ko's and kills as stealth seemed too tough switching with that time machine thing. Anyway, nNow I'm near the start of the next mission, Grand Palace, which is numbered 8 on the display. So... If this is the 8th mission, how far have I got in the game? Half way? Is there a progress list anywhere in the menus? I've been stuck near the start of this mission for hours. I finally managed to disable that watch tower searchlight thing. But I can't see how to get past the electric gate thing (whose name I forget.) I vaguely recall about a rewire tool. Or is there another way round? How can I tell if I've even got a rewire tool? Where in the menus does one look? Add to that, I recall finding loads of 'special' one-off objects which felt like 'loot' rather than tools but I can't find any list of them anywhere. Are they just converted to cash automatically? If I've got a rewire tool (and if I haven't where can I get one or is there another way round) but if I've got one, I can't see where to use it. I got fairly close to the gate and used the scope but in the tutorial there's something like a control panel to the side in the picture but I can't see that in the game so maybe that's on the other side for coming back out? I'm playing this on 'easy' and trying as ever for stealth. Frankly I think it's an insult to call this easy! It's an endless series of alert - quick load - alert - quick load (but the quick load is really slow and doesn't even work if you actually die! I mean, who thought that one up! You have to access the load menu and select the quick save and then confirm then the long wait... I reckon in 6 or 8 hours gaming on this I've spent 15 to 20 minutes waiting! (sometimes play a desktop game on my side monitor while waiting!<groan> I need more practice but even so... Great game but complex so frustrating until you develop skills. Flashy menus but not that clear where or what everything is!

Another piece of info which, if I understand correctly, suggests the warming effect may be delayed because heat from a hotter body cools faster than a cooler one. I seem to recall this as the thermal gradient effect - the steeper the gradient, the faster things roll downhill. So as the heat gradient gets steeper... https://phys.org/news/2018-09-earth-space.html

Win 10 copying your email text? https://techxplore.com/news/2018-09-forensic-finder-exploring-windows-attention.html

I'm about 3/4th way through Uncharted 4 on PS4. The action scene special effects are outstanding. It's highly addictive and enjoyable, spoilt somewhat by a poor hint feature which frustrates and often leaves you with zero help. Time and again I got stuck and resigned myself to blundering about until something happened. Didn't even know which direction to go or what the next 'objective' was. Shame. If I ever play through a second time I guess that will be drastically reduced. Worth noting though, that I've not had to search the net for help and I'm still going, so just keep blundering when you get stuck. There is moderate stealth (taking cover behind obstacles and in long grass. I'm playing on 'light' (which is almost the easiest but I think that only affects combat. I reckon the puzzles and climbing will be the same on every level. The outstanding part is the climbing which is extraordinary - though it's still not so 'free climbing' as Thief and Dark Mod, there are thousands of handholds and a grappling hook etc. The grapnel only works like Thief 4 on specific posts though. It's a 'corridor' game but with wide spaces which somewhat offsets the feeling of limits. 'Open World' it definitely ain't but there are incredible open views which helps you forget that. 'Walk' reminds me a bit of GTA5 where, in combat, it speeds up and is hard to control fine adjustment. Line up on that window to jump through? Tough. You jerk about too quickly. Oh yeah, 3rd person. Drama, emotion, performance, story - all great. What a movie this would make! It just occurred to me to search this off-topic forum to see if anyone else was/had been playing it. I was surprised to find an Uncharted 2 thread and STAGGERED to see that I started it! I never made the connection with this v4 and that v2 from years ago! I just never absorbed the name I guess. Like that game, this is also cinematic and would make a good movie just by using game footage. 'Last of Us' is like that too. What a pity someone doesn't just do that. I did it years before with Shenmue on Dreamcast. Anyway, bottom line: good value, hours of entertainment, addictive.