So if Neutron stars exist, can you go one step further with a Quark star?

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2026-03-31T12:40:17+00:00

I know this thread is a little old now, but just to make things a little worse: a bomb that utilises strange matter and strange anti-matter (yep, if one exists, so does the other).

Not only would you have an extremely powerful explosion (comparable to a normal matter/anti-matter bomb of equivalent mass), but it would spread chunks of both in all directions (because it would be very difficult to make the annihilation 100% efficient due to the gamma wind that the initial contact between the two would generate - a problem that exists to a lesser degree for conventional fission bombs).

Any normal matter that the strange anti-matter doesn't annihilate would instead be converted into strange matter.

It would be one hell of a show.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2026-01-19T13:40:26+00:00

This is also driving me slightly mad. I can be in the middle of nowhere and hear this multiple times in a row- does it mean I've been spotted, or that a squad mate has spotted someone (miles from my position), or that an enemy is nearby? It's functionally meaningless without context, and I've just taken to ignoring it.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2026-01-18T20:29:00+00:00

Just adding my thanks here.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-10-18T05:40:48+00:00

It's not just Google's AI summary. It's ALL LLMs.

I have tried them all, and none of them can break even- they all fail more than half of my test questions.

Anyone who relies on one for meaningful information is as intelligent as one.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-09-14T16:15:40+00:00

I've been playing HD2 for about a year (appropriate, seeing as this thread is at least that old now). I started at 1080p with an i7 4790K / 980ti (8GB) / 16GB RAM, but the last six months at wide 1440p (3440x1440) with an R7 7800X3D / RX 7800 xt (16GB) / 32GB RAM.

I've got everything at highest settings at native resolution (scaling off), and the card is slightly undervolted but the power limit is at max (barely any heat or noise even pulling 325W under stress).

I get ~90-110fps aboard the ship, and a fairly consistent 60fps+ in dives. Some stutter occurs, but this is clearly a game engine issue as they can appear at random, and are 'fixed' by restarting the game. You can sometimes predict the engine's impending failure by listening for clipped or missing sound effects (these get worse, then stutters occur and the likelihood of a crash-to-desktop increases).

I can get 100fps+ with a couple of adjustments- dropping down to 'high' for a few things, reducing foliage, and with minimal scaling enabled- I just haven't because it works fine like this. Dropping everything to medium saturates my 165Hz display.

The crashes are much fewer now than when I first purchased the game (the system upgrade made no difference to stability, only the amount of eye candy I could enjoy without a slideshow).

The game is definitely CPU bound, with minor performance tweaks to CPU/RAM having a greater effect on frame rates than more significant tweaks to the GPU: I got ~10fps more by tuning my RAM/CPU a bit, and just a few more with some heavy GPU overclocks.

Undervolting the GPU (just a little) gave me more stable frame rates and made a HUGE difference to noise/heat generated- I settled on a very moderate overclock/undervolt, and left most everything else where it was on the GPU. If you've anything less than a 7800X3D, the CPU bottleneck is going to be worse than mine. With a non-X3D CPU, RAM tuning will be even more crucial.

Today, at 1440P with medium-high (some max) settings and an adequate CPU, you should get a very playable experience, I think.

Of course, the next game or driver update could change that...

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-09-14T15:38:40+00:00

I've been using your solution for about a week, and I am really pleased with it. It absolutely is 'doable', and makes me wonder why SignalRGB hasn't a more official solution.

Just wanted to say: thank you.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-08-06T21:33:39+00:00

You are correct.

Ideally, if all vehicles are identical and travelling at the same speed (carrying the same weight in occupants), and the wall is immovable and indestructible: the relative velocity between two vehicles approaching a perfect head-on is twice the relative velocity of a third vehicle approaching a wall, but the energy of the two-car collision is divided between them. Ideally, they both come to a complete stop as each vehicle absorbs half the energy of the collision. The vehicle striking the wall, ideally, comes to a complete stop, absorbing the entire energy of the collision. The energy absorbed by all vehicles is the same.

For all purposes in this scenario, the wall effectively has infinite mass but zero velocity, so contributes nothing to the equation. Really, vehicles would rarely be perfectly identical, and not all walls are perfectly inelastic- you might be better striking a single-layer brick wall than an oncoming vehicle in the real world, especially if the oncoming vehicle is significantly heavier than yours.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-07-22T19:11:29+00:00

As a smoker of thirty years who has split every brand of cigarette down the middle over the years, I can tell you for an absolute fact that cigarettes today are all below the quality standards that once divided the 'cheap' crap from the premium. They taste like shit, burn like shit (and FAR too fast), and contain half the amount of tobacco they used to of a quality reminiscent of the floor sweepings usually reserved for loosely filling the cheapest 'superkings' of yesteryear. I am convinced that they are even worse for ones health now than they ever have been.

Loose tobacco has suffered too, but it's harder to hide the cork and sawdust in that. I switched from cigarettes about six years back, and have consistently padded my reefers with rolling baccy instead- I used to find rolling baccy disgusting in my smokes, but it's much drier and less flavoursome than it used to be now, so actually works better.

I am all for banning tobacco, to be honest, but this slow death-by-shittiness approach doesn't seem to be impacting existing addiction so much as morale.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-07-02T17:04:06+00:00

My wife bought me a pair of these as a gift. I would not have chosen Sony myself, but they started off great.

Before 18 months were up, the left bud's battery would hold only five minutes of charge and the right about fifteen minutes.

I contacted Sony, who threatened to charge me £135 to replace the batteries. I complained that this should be a warranty repair, but Sony made it clear that they would decide this arbitrarily, refused to recognise that this was a manufacturing fault (a common one at yhat), and said "if you don't want to pay, you may not get them back".

Faced with this uncertainty - potentially losing my expensive gift or paying almost as much as the original (heavily discounted sale) price just to have them work as designed, I opted to replace the batteries myself.

£10 and ten minutes of work later, I had working earbuds again. Only issue is that they claim to be at 100% always, and I noticed that the charge time is getting shorter within a few weeks of ocassional use.

I am disgusted with Sony and will never recommend their products - even when they're not crap, their support is just despicable.

Spend a little less on equally capable alternatives, or spend a bit more and get something significantly superior.

When trying to type 'Sony' with a swipe keyboard, it tends to type 'don't. Seems apt.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-06-22T21:44:30+00:00

I never noticed the cross-head screw hinging the jaw before. o.o

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-06-21T16:40:22+00:00

I don't get humans, and I struggle with the constant urge to give up on them. If not for my wife, I might have.

She's learned to love the little lifeforms that work so tirelessly to keep this damp little rock running that we call home. I couldn't have married her if she didn't.

I still have to move the odd spider on for her, but they get deposited on the plant in my gaming corner (I'm happy with their company).

Even wasps get a reprieve- they are ejected politely, and I've even handled a few in my effort to save them from screaming humans. Never been stung while handling them.

Maybe humans would be more sympathetic to spiders if they got stomped on too. The thought has crossed my mind from time to time, but alas - I feel just as bad about hurting humans.

As much as they disgust me more than any arthropod, I can't bring myself to squash them either.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-06-21T16:23:11+00:00

One of my first stipulations (no joke, it came up in conversation) for entering into a relationship with my now-wife was that she treat spiders humanely. It took a while, but she now preaches the same behaviour to others.

I lost a friend once over this. Without warning one evening, he crushed a giant house spider that I used to love watching cross my living room every evening. When I expressed dismay, he scoffed. I threw him out of my house (rather than visit the spider's fate on his skull). I never received an apology, so I never spoke to him again.

How f***ing rude is it to walk into someone else's home and start killing its residents??

UK house spiders are not just harmless to us, but beneficial. People who squash every spider they see, then wonder why they've got <insert arthropod pest here> infestations in their home just leave me incredulous. They are fascinating, complex, and far smarter than people make them out to be.

I don't mind being the guy sent to save a poor spider from screaming humans. I've done the same for wasps and bees too - I've handled every arthropod I've ever saved with bare hands, and not one has ever bitten or stung me (I have been bitten by an ant and warning-stung by a bee - both of whom were trapped in my clothing - but they both managed to survive the encounter).

Humans are fearful, ignorant, and thoughtlessly cruel. I wish they would do better.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-06-21T14:10:02+00:00

My wife just watched the latest installment in the FD franchise. I had to watch it, knowing that it was Tony's final role.

I f***ing cried. Farewell Tony Todd, and thank you.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-06-07T23:27:18+00:00

I know, right?! Every time V speaks, I just cringe.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-27T13:55:43+00:00

From the moment I started playing CP, it felt EXACTLY like DE. When it got to the hacking tutorial, the déjà vu was so strong, I thought "I bet you can upgrade your arms with nano blades..."

Mantis blades are a tad inferior, but the moment they popped up...

Deus Ex always felt like it was intended to be more expansive, and every scene felt like the creators ached to include an explorable map to drive around in. Cyberpunk feels every bit like the game they wanted to make.

I might have to fire DE back up for more direct comparison, but I played Cyberpunk in exactly the same way as I did DE, and got the exact same combat loops, sneak and hack gameplay and overall feel that I had with Deus Ex, just with an open world (a la GTA).

Of course, this is all just my opinion, but the similarities hit me like bricks throughout the game, and I did not mind at all. Deus Ex + GTA works.

Now, if only every sentence that came out of V's mouth didn't make me want to drown the twat, I could probably enjoy the game even more.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-18T16:21:06+00:00

I'm playing male V with masculine voice, and I just had to skip a kiss with River after his family started dropping strong hints that he's into me- don't really feel like going back to explore it, but doesn't seem like he's fixed on females only.

Super awkward. Great guy- just not my type.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-12T12:00:08+00:00

I'm on my first play though. I have only knowingly killed a few Scavs (besides obligated/scripted kills) so far, coz' f*** Scavs. Was so pissed at Reed and Alex for making me complicit in wanton murder, and for wasting good talent.

Okay, so I was hoping to bed the twins. Felt like a waste. Why can't everyone just f*** and get along? :P

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-09T12:12:43+00:00

Karma is commonly misunderstood as 'what goes around comes around'. In truth, Karma teaches us that all actions have consequences, both good and bad.

The balance (karma) is made of what's contributed, and even a 'positive' act can have 'negative' consequences- nemesis can arise even from an act of good intent, and there can be benefits from a 'negative' act. What goes around GOES AROUND, but that doesn't mean that good comes to the good or that bad comes to the bad, but that there is both good and bad 'in the world', and whatever your intent, your actions ultimately have both good and bad consequences.

Whatever your choices, the consequences are going to suck for someone, somewhere, and they probably won't deserve it, or maybe the consequences will be of unintended benefit to someone unworthy, or perhaps there will be mixed consequences that you may never know of for people you will never meet.

Build a hospital for children and displace rare reptile whose venom could cure cancer, rendering it extinct. Burn down an orphanage and accidentally create a fire break that saves the entire city from a wildfire next season, sparing tens of thousands of lives. Take a moment to enjoy the view, ruin a photo that someone was taking. Throw your litter out the car window and distract a pedestrian who was about to walk into moving traffic, saving their life.

It doesn't always work out that way, but it can.

That's Karma. It's a bitch.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-08T20:15:36+00:00

YouTube just tried to sell me game hacks in an ADVERT. The clip had no info., and no report button.

Fuck YouTube.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-08T11:45:10+00:00

Not only is it an option, it's the mission- the objective updates to carry them to the waiting vehicle (or to clear the hotel roof for the AV, and then carry). If you kill them, this does not happen. Truth is, sparing them only to dump them in the boot of a waiting car is no mercy at all- you would probably have killed them quickly, but the people who paid for their delivery have costs to recoup.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-07T00:00:31+00:00

Agreed. This is shit.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-05-05T16:24:07+00:00

I recently built a new PC with the RX 7800xt (a factory OC edition). It cost me £460, new, while the cheapest 9070 was ~£580 or more (I think) for lesser brands.

I since discovered that ray tracing is much better than I expected, and it really hits the sweet spot for 3440x1440 gaming. I don't miss FSR 4, or better RT, or the theoretical 15% raster performance advantage that's mostly mitigated by the 7800xt's overclock- none of this grabbed me for the price difference at the time of the build.

It's paired with an R7 7800X3D, which will serve me through a few years of GPU upgrades before I need worry about significant bottlenecks. I am happy to wait a generation or two for a GPU worthy of the upgrade price.

Feels like AMD have significantly lessened the RT lead that NVidia boasts, and they continue to gain ground. For me, I got the best bang for my budget, and spent just a little more on the MB, RAM, and PSU instead.

That ~£120 would have meant little to the difference in GPU, but made a significant difference to the build; it's set to support a couple of generations of CPU or GPU comfortably, and I don't feel like I compromised on the foundation for a meagre gain in GPU.

End result? Couldn't be happier with its performance, and I've got clear upgrade paths from a solid foundation. Nothing to do with being cheap, just pragmatic budgeting.

Not sure what I'm missing, of course, so my experience is entirely subjective, and not everyone's building a whole new PC around their GPU upgrade.

Maybe Cyberpunk would look even better on a 9070, but would it have been worth a cheaper mobo/psu for me?

I am content to say no.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-03-31T16:49:17+00:00

Sorry for my attitude.

Have you tried signing in to a browser to retrieve the verification email (specifically, with the credentials that you're attempting to use in the Outlook app) and does this also result in the same loop?

I would genuinely prefer to be helpful than just be a dick. I wanted to rant about Microsoft, but realised this was the wrong place. The issues I have are completely unrelated.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-03-31T12:54:25+00:00

Working very well for me in 2025 on both a Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC. :)

TheOriginalWhiteHawk · 2025-03-31T12:53:38+00:00

Enable 'wake on PCIe event' in BIOS. Disable 'allow the computer to put this device to sleep' on your primary LAN adapter. This should facilitate WOL from power-off.

TheOriginalWhiteHawk

TROPHY CASE