Realmz: GR v.1.1
Rick Decker
GR is now completable! Thanks, Sean. Go get v.1.1 from Fantasoft. I
hereby upgrade my recommendation from Not Acceptable to Mega-Booty at
the End. If you have a small party, make sure they have plenty
of room in their packs to carry stuff. My two had to leave some
goodies behind.
BTW, the land speed record is now 18 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, AFAIK.
Regards,
t.V.M. "since MMotY is out of reach, I thought I'd try for Most Helpful"
-----------------------------------------------------
Rick Decker rde...@hamilton.edu
Department of Comp. Sci. 315-859-4785
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY 13323 = != == (!)
-----------------------------------------------------
Dominic Matthews
>
>BTW, the land speed record is now 18 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, AFAIK.
>
>
Very impressive - I'm no where near this - somewhere around the 23/24 day
mark - what level are your characters since I have to stop fairly regularly
to recharge/ rescroll ?? (mine are all levels 23-28). Did you use the home
cheat to get back to turnstil?
I have just completed 1.1. Most bugs seem to be fixed - in particular
the broken brazier
the invisible giants
& the spiral dungeon
Good toys at the end.
Still a few querks around :-
Drakken castle teleport into a wall bug (that one odd ranthog (??) room)
No reward for helping the disgaced family (makes no difference if you help
them or not)
Losing lots of money from selling the tapestry (still no idea what it is for)
Jolak's armour show's up as permanent not scen spec, while the staff of
seeking is not scen spec
(correct but pointless).
Thyrr's shield can be used by non magical people - (my ranger now has 50
spell points and I was asked which priest spells he wanted at his last
level up although he was not given any points to buy spells with!)
Still no idea about :-
the tapestry
Sword of the same place as the icon (Alcrahn (??))
Sword of dust
The relevance/point of the boat near turnstil
The mayor of turnstil (never met the bloke as he is always out)
The (Herring Bone?!?) inn right of mission impossible centre in Brunar
(always empty)
The millions of empty towns (eg walled square town near cheltan lands,
random viilages in
unregistered areas) & empty secret areas (eg large room in the big
dungeon under turnstil/ graveyard near Brunar)
Quite why Griloch is such a wimp - you don't actually need the spear to
kill him (only to get the chance to do so), and he dies without any
comment/fireworks etc. Most of his flunkies are worse....
How on earth to manage to keep the two Special characters alive through
Griloch's castle
(The elf and and the supposedly-giant dwarf (Hoth??))!!
Overall a very good scenario especially now that you can actually finish it!
Dom
Rick Decker
Dominic Matthews wrote:
>
> In article <339B04...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
>
> >
> >BTW, the land speed record is now 18 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, AFAIK.
> >
> >
>
> Very impressive - I'm no where near this - somewhere around the 23/24 day
> mark - what level are your characters since I have to stop fairly regularly
> to recharge/ rescroll ?? (mine are all levels 23-28).
Ranger-50, Enchanter-53. I had to rest three times, but didn't
need to rescroll, since the only times I used scrolls were at the very
end.
> Did you use the home
> cheat to get back to turnstil?
>
Nope, thanks to 1.1 I didn't have to this time.
> I have just completed 1.1. Most bugs seem to be fixed - in particular
> the broken brazier
> the invisible giants
> & the spiral dungeon
>
> Good toys at the end.
>
Agreed. I kinda liked the invisible giants, tho.
> Still a few querks around :-
> Drakken castle teleport into a wall bug (that one odd ranthog (??) room)
Certainly a bug. There's the other wall bug, too, though I haven't
checked whether it's still in 1.1.
> No reward for helping the disgaced family (makes no difference if you help
> them or not)
Have you tried going to them with the icon and ignoring all their
entreaties to come back to Achrahn with them?
> Losing lots of money from selling the tapestry (still no idea what it is for)
Yeah. I'm beginning to think this is a bug, since there's at least
one other item (ring of spell reflection, if I recall correctly)
that has the same money-eating property. On the other hand, the game
still won't allow you *not* to take the tapestry, which might be read as
a tacit admission that it's worthwhile somewhere. I've tried to
use it almost everywhere, though, with no luck at all.
> Jolak's armour show's up as permanent not scen spec, while the staff of
> seeking is not scen spec
> (correct but pointless).
Well, I can imagine other scenarios where the staff might come in handy.
Perhaps it's a general-purpose artifact finder. Who knows? Maybe
it would point to the Necronomicon.
> Thyrr's shield can be used by non magical people - (my ranger now has 50
> spell points and I was asked which priest spells he wanted at his last
> level up although he was not given any points to buy spells with!)
>
Yeah, wierd. Let's not forget some continuity problems, too, like
the fact that after you've toasted the Cheltin king, the guards at the
gate still act as if he's alive. Of course, there could have been
an heir waiting in the wings to take over, but you'd think there'd
be some mention of that in the Cheltin Daily News. Ditto for Alstin
after he gets--ahem--"deposed." My guys got quite fond of his
successor, but he seems to acquire a case of dementia after you dish
Griloch and return to tell him all about it. Yes, I know Sean did
mention that things might get a little odd if you wander around after
finishing, but still....
> Still no idea about :-
> the tapestry
> Sword of the same place as the icon (Alcrahn (??))
That's in what I call Cave 1--the first big cave. It's quite a nice
piece of work: base damage 8+4, and +20 vs. evil, undead, and demonic.
I'm waiting to see what happens if my party finds an undead demon.
> Sword of dust
Not there, perhaps? I haven't found it either. I could use the
real world equivalent at home, to slay the Bunnies of Dust that
live under my furniture.
> The relevance/point of the boat near turnstil
Oh! That's interesting. I've never tried that particular encounter
*without* the boat. Didn't ever occur to me you could. That should
cut a few minutes off the LSR.
> The mayor of turnstil (never met the bloke as he is always out)
Right. As you noted, it's the longest fishing trip in the history
of the Realmz. After all, he's supposed to be only a day's ride
away, over at Lake Miwson.
> The (Herring Bone?!?) inn right of mission impossible centre in Brunar
> (always empty)
Aha! Maybe the mayor's staying there. A secret assignation, perhaps?
You know how we Yanks are so obsessively interested in the moral fibre
of our elected officials. My party wouldn't vote for him,
even if they were Turnstil citizens. Perhaps this is the (Red) Herring
Bone Inn, the kind of place we call the "No-Tell Motel" over here:
"Fishing trip." [wink, leer, wink, nudge, leer] "Right, m'lud, fishing
trip it is. Say n'more."
> The millions of empty towns (eg walled square town near cheltan lands,
> random viilages in
> unregistered areas) & empty secret areas (eg large room in the big
> dungeon under turnstil/ graveyard near Brunar)
Guess we have to wait for 2.0 to come out. If I were designing things
for Griloch, I'd have connected the big dungeon to Thyrr's house. I
take the big room to be a barracks for the 400+ minions that are
supposed to show up eventually.
Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
darkening and so on. Might the game have a clock in it that causes all
hell to break loose if you waste a year or so without doing anything
useful? That's actually not a bad idea, if I must say so meself.
On the same subject, has anyone discovered the meaning of the "strong
magic aura" at the portal in the north of the big dungeon? Due east
of that there's an empty room at the end of a long hall that seems
like a natural candidate for something hidden, but if there's anything
there I haven't found it yet.
> Quite why Griloch is such a wimp - you don't actually need the spear to
> kill him (only to get the chance to do so), and he dies without any
> comment/fireworks etc.
> Most of his flunkies are worse....
Quite so. I usually kill him first, thereby effectively shutting him
up, though if you leave him to the end, he casts a few spells
along the way. His flunkies are indeed quite challenging at
veretan level. If we could invent spells, a Tie Bootlaces Together
spell would keep him in place quite as well as the SoL.
> How on earth to manage to keep the two Special characters alive through
> Griloch's castle
> (The elf and and the supposedly-giant dwarf (Hoth??))!!
>
I don't even bother keeping them any more. I do like the touch of
using a giant portrait for the putative dwarf, though.
You left out the companion tomb to Jolak's. Also, in the bug list,
add the very-difficult-to-leave-the-dwarf's-house bug.
> Overall a very good scenario especially now that you can actually finish it!
>
In my opinion, it's fun but could do with some fleshing out. There
are lots of empty places that are just crying for some action, as
you've noted.
Satedly,
Rick
p.s. Dom, aren't you supposed to be studying?
Thomas Metcalf
> Dominic Matthews wrote:
> >
> > In article <339B04...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >BTW, the land speed record is now 18 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes, AFAIK.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Very impressive - I'm no where near this - somewhere around the 23/24 day
> > mark - what level are your characters since I have to stop fairly regularly
> > to recharge/ rescroll ?? (mine are all levels 23-28).
>
> Ranger-50, Enchanter-53. I had to rest three times, but didn't
> need to rescroll, since the only times I used scrolls were at the very
> end.
Rest three times eh??? ;) That could cost you the match... I know a little
trick to get past resting :)
> > Did you use the home
> > cheat to get back to turnstil?
> >
> Nope, thanks to 1.1 I didn't have to this time.
Thank god! I won't have to carry that spare brazier alnog with me anymore! :)
> > I have just completed 1.1. Most bugs seem to be fixed - in particular
> > the broken brazier
> > the invisible giants
> > & the spiral dungeon
> >
> > Good toys at the end.
> >
> Agreed. I kinda liked the invisible giants, tho.
Yeah... But the only problem was you could still see where they were when
you pressed "Reveal Friends".
> > Still a few querks around :-
> > Drakken castle teleport into a wall bug (that one odd ranthog (??) room)
>
> Certainly a bug. There's the other wall bug, too, though I haven't
> checked whether it's still in 1.1.
>
> > No reward for helping the disgaced family (makes no difference if you help
> > them or not)
>
> Have you tried going to them with the icon and ignoring all their
> entreaties to come back to Achrahn with them?
>
> > Losing lots of money from selling the tapestry (still no idea what it
is for)
>
> Yeah. I'm beginning to think this is a bug, since there's at least
> one other item (ring of spell reflection, if I recall correctly)
> that has the same money-eating property. On the other hand, the game
> still won't allow you *not* to take the tapestry, which might be read as
> a tacit admission that it's worthwhile somewhere. I've tried to
> use it almost everywhere, though, with no luck at all.
That also happens with those new items in AoGM. The prize comes up as
-32726 when selling.
> > Jolak's armour show's up as permanent not scen spec, while the staff of
> > seeking is not scen spec
> > (correct but pointless).
>
> Well, I can imagine other scenarios where the staff might come in handy.
> Perhaps it's a general-purpose artifact finder. Who knows? Maybe
> it would point to the Necronomicon.
>
> > Thyrr's shield can be used by non magical people - (my ranger now has 50
> > spell points and I was asked which priest spells he wanted at his last
> > level up although he was not given any points to buy spells with!)
> >
>
> Yeah, wierd. Let's not forget some continuity problems, too, like
> the fact that after you've toasted the Cheltin king, the guards at the
> gate still act as if he's alive. Of course, there could have been
> an heir waiting in the wings to take over, but you'd think there'd
> be some mention of that in the Cheltin Daily News. Ditto for Alstin
> after he gets--ahem--"deposed." My guys got quite fond of his
> successor, but he seems to acquire a case of dementia after you dish
> Griloch and return to tell him all about it. Yes, I know Sean did
> mention that things might get a little odd if you wander around after
> finishing, but still....
That brings up an old subject... Why can't rangers cast mage or enchanter
spells at higher levels??? (here we go again...)
<snip>
> > The millions of empty towns (eg walled square town near cheltan lands,
> > random viilages in
> > unregistered areas) & empty secret areas (eg large room in the big
> > dungeon under turnstil/ graveyard near Brunar)
>
> Guess we have to wait for 2.0 to come out. If I were designing things
> for Griloch, I'd have connected the big dungeon to Thyrr's house. I
> take the big room to be a barracks for the 400+ minions that are
> supposed to show up eventually.
I'd sorta like to stay around to see if they do turn up!! :)
> Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
> Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
> darkening and so on. Might the game have a clock in it that causes all
> hell to break loose if you waste a year or so without doing anything
> useful? That's actually not a bad idea, if I must say so meself.
>
> On the same subject, has anyone discovered the meaning of the "strong
> magic aura" at the portal in the north of the big dungeon? Due east
> of that there's an empty room at the end of a long hall that seems
> like a natural candidate for something hidden, but if there's anything
> there I haven't found it yet.
Neither have I... And I searched every square of the place... And what's
with that illusionary wall?
> > Quite why Griloch is such a wimp - you don't actually need the spear to
> > kill him (only to get the chance to do so), and he dies without any
> > comment/fireworks etc.
> > Most of his flunkies are worse....
>
> Quite so. I usually kill him first, thereby effectively shutting him
> up, though if you leave him to the end, he casts a few spells
> along the way. His flunkies are indeed quite challenging at
> veretan level. If we could invent spells, a Tie Bootlaces Together
> spell would keep him in place quite as well as the SoL.
How many stamina points has he got? Hopefully more than 5000 otherwise my
monk could kill him in the first round... <bragbragbragbragbrag...>
> > How on earth to manage to keep the two Special characters alive through
> > Griloch's castle
> > (The elf and and the supposedly-giant dwarf (Hoth??))!!
> >
> I don't even bother keeping them any more. I do like the touch of
> using a giant portrait for the putative dwarf, though.
Don't you need to keep them alive to do something?
> You left out the companion tomb to Jolak's. Also, in the bug list,
> add the very-difficult-to-leave-the-dwarf's-house bug.
>
> > Overall a very good scenario especially now that you can actually finish it!
> >
> In my opinion, it's fun but could do with some fleshing out. There
> are lots of empty places that are just crying for some action, as
> you've noted.
Like the villages... .... ...
> Satedly,
>
> Rick
>
> p.s. Dom, aren't you supposed to be studying?
What does satedly mean???
Getting very confused (again),
Thomas
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- tho...@metcalf.demon.co.uk (Thomas Metcalf) -
- -
- "Like all beekeepers, Death wore a veil. It wasn't that he had anything -
- to sting, but sometimes a bee would get inside his skull and give him -
- a headache." - Terry Pratchett -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Decker
>
> > Satedly,
> >
> > Rick
> >
> > p.s. Dom, aren't you supposed to be studying?
>
> What does satedly mean???
>
Excise the "ly" and look it up. Geez! Along with being Mr. GR Answer
Man, do I have to do *all* the work around here?
Self-pityingly,
Rick
Thomas Metcalf
In article <339C66...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
> Thomas Metcalf wrote:
> >
> > In article <339B87...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
> >
> [...]
> >
> > > Satedly,
> > >
> > > Rick
> > >
> > > p.s. Dom, aren't you supposed to be studying?
> >
> > What does satedly mean???
> >
>
> Excise the "ly" and look it up. Geez! Along with being Mr. GR Answer
> Man, do I have to do *all* the work around here?
Umm.... Yep! :) :D
Willing to WoB,
Dominic Matthews
>Ranger-50, Enchanter-53. I had to rest three times, but didn't
>need to rescroll, since the only times I used scrolls were at the very
>end.
>
No wonder
>> No reward for helping the disgaced family (makes no difference if you help
>> them or not)
>
>Have you tried going to them with the icon and ignoring all their
>entreaties to come back to Achrahn with them?
Not yet, will try it.
>
>Yeah. I'm beginning to think this is a bug, since there's at least
>one other item (ring of spell reflection, if I recall correctly)
>that has the same money-eating property. On the other hand, the game
>still won't allow you *not* to take the tapestry, which might be read as
>a tacit admission that it's worthwhile somewhere. I've tried to
>use it almost everywhere, though, with no luck at all.
>
Maybe an idea that has not been finalised yet/ was forgotten about.
>That's in what I call Cave 1--the first big cave. It's quite a nice
>piece of work: base damage 8+4, and +20 vs. evil, undead, and demonic.
>I'm waiting to see what happens if my party finds an undead demon.
>
I never seem to meet anybody except the dragons at the end, but then I have
always gone through with sentry on....
>> The relevance/point of the boat near turnstil
>
>Oh! That's interesting. I've never tried that particular encounter
>*without* the boat. Didn't ever occur to me you could. That should
>cut a few minutes off the LSR.
I don't usually need to leave the mainland for that encounter - it usually
happens anywhere within about three or four squares or it's official
location.
>
>> The mayor of turnstil (never met the bloke as he is always out)
>
>Right. As you noted, it's the longest fishing trip in the history
>of the Realmz. After all, he's supposed to be only a day's ride
>away, over at Lake Miwson.
Have you tried not helping Jurol - maybe he turns up then.....??
>
>> The (Herring Bone?!?) inn right of mission impossible centre in Brunar
>> (always empty)
>
>Aha! Maybe the mayor's staying there. A secret assignation, perhaps?
>You know how we Yanks are so obsessively interested in the moral fibre
>of our elected officials. My party wouldn't vote for him,
>even if they were Turnstil citizens.
Personally I would set the jugde on him for misuse of civic funds, after
all he was quite keen on doing me just for shouting at the gate. Maybe it
should be a mission from the court - go arrest the mayor, confiscate the
fish etc
>Guess we have to wait for 2.0 to come out. If I were designing things
>for Griloch, I'd have connected the big dungeon to Thyrr's house. I
>take the big room to be a barracks for the 400+ minions that are
>supposed to show up eventually.
Could have piles of useless kit in ready for them - as is the DtN last
pyramid before going undergroud
>
>Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
>Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
>darkening and so on. Might the game have a clock in it that causes all
>hell to break loose if you waste a year or so without doing anything
>useful? That's actually not a bad idea, if I must say so meself.
>
I got something like that in a tiny bunch of houses near the purple worms -
went in, had dinner, made some friends, Griloch appears and spoils the
party with some feeble weather stunt. Not too exciting.
>> Quite why Griloch is such a wimp - you don't actually need the spear to
>> kill him (only to get the chance to do so), and he dies without any
>> comment/fireworks etc.
>> Most of his flunkies are worse....
>
>Quite so. I usually kill him first, thereby effectively shutting him
>up, though if you leave him to the end, he casts a few spells
>along the way. His flunkies are indeed quite challenging at
>veretan level. If we could invent spells, a Tie Bootlaces Together
>spell would keep him in place quite as well as the SoL.
I did unexpectedly well last time as several of them commited suicide by
bouncing annihilates off my characters (Realmz Roulette?!?)
>
>> How on earth to manage to keep the two Special characters alive through
>> Griloch's castle
>> (The elf and and the supposedly-giant dwarf (Hoth??))!!
>>
>I don't even bother keeping them any more. I do like the touch of
>using a giant portrait for the putative dwarf, though.
I though I might get one of the missing swords of the elf king at the end
(why else does he get a special mention??) if they survived but they never
do.
>
>You left out the companion tomb to Jolak's. Also, in the bug list,
>add the very-difficult-to-leave-the-dwarf's-house bug.
Haven't found these
>p.s. Dom, aren't you supposed to be studying?
Yes.
Dom
(Half way through two & a half weeks of exams - they are great fun
really....Not.)
Dominic Matthews
Went round again (revision break)
Found the two missing swords - dust & alcrahn. (Thanks for the hints Rick)
Also rescued Retyu, Zulea & Denvar (I think this must be new in 1.1)
Managed to keep them, the dwarf and the elf alive till the end. No one
cared whether they survived or not.
I am inclined to agree with you that the aforementioned herring must be
one of the red variety - and could well be the one that the mayor is trying
to catch on his fishing trip.
Also tried starting one of the other scenarios, but it nicks all the new
toys off you (illegal items or some such rubbish) so quickly gave up that
idea in favour of waiting for 4.2.3.
Dom
Chris Turner
In article <flargh-1206...@p27.gw1.mashp.ma.tiac.net>,
fla...@tikkabik.com (Peter Cohen) wrote:
> Does anyone have a rundown of the differences between 1.0 and 1.1?
Off hand, I'd say....Less Bugs!
-----Chris
--
/-----------------------------=-------------------------------\
| It is sometimes a mistake | |
| to have tried and failed, | Chris Turner, 2D Animator |
| but it is always a mistake | Lucas Learning Ltd. |
| never to have made | ne...@dnai.com |
| the attempt. | |
|-----------------------------=-------------------------------|
| Remove NOSPAM from my email address to reply |
\-------------------------------------------------------------/
Thomas Metcalf
In article <NOSPAMneko-ya024080...@news.dnai.com>,
NOSPA...@dnai.com (Chris Turner) wrote:
> In article <flargh-1206...@p27.gw1.mashp.ma.tiac.net>,
> fla...@tikkabik.com (Peter Cohen) wrote:
>
> > Does anyone have a rundown of the differences between 1.0 and 1.1?
>
> Off hand, I'd say....Less Bugs!
In 1.1 you can also finish the scenario, giving you loaaaddsss of stuff.
Rick Decker
Glen White wrote:
>
Actually, I wrote this part.
> >> Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
> >> darkening and so on.
>
> Nope, all of it's used.
>
I'll buy that. I guess I just misremembered the text from the
Gratuitious Destruction of the Village of Nice People plotlette
(which I found very moving, BTW).
No. Thinking about it, I still think I haven't seen it, since it
involves looking off to the distant east and the village always
got trashed while I was there.
> Except one I couldn't find involving a trapdoor in the ocean or something...
>
Its there. I forget whether it's the Turnstil dungeon entrance or
the passage to the boat, but it's there.
[...]
> Do you have to start a new game for the broken brazier to work?
Yes.
Regards,
Rick
Ace Donnovan
:-----------------------------------------------------
:Rick Decker rde...@hamilton.edu
:Department of Comp. Sci. 315-859-4785
^^^^^^^^^^^^
*BRRRRRRRRRRRRINNGGGG**BRRRRRRRRRRRIIIINGGG*
Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
better go catch it!
Some of us have sick fantasies.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE: To reply to me via email, remove YOUAREANEVILSPAMMER from my address
"All great wisdom is found in Email Signatures."
--Adrian Turkington
--Master of the Orange Dust, Envious of the Purple Dust.
e-mail: uatu...@mcs.drexel.edu
Glen White
>> Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
>> Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
>> darkening and so on. Might the game have a clock in it that causes all
>> hell to break loose if you waste a year or so without doing anything
>> useful? That's actually not a bad idea, if I must say so meself.
Nope, all of it's used.
Except one I couldn't find involving a trapdoor in the ocean or something...
That [darkening skies] occurs in a small farm village to the NE of
Brunar. There is a woman with a weathered face and twisted fingers or
something like that.
They invite you in for tea.
If you go and do some other stuff, then come back here later, the
darkening skies and a couple of other things occur.
IF that's what you mean.
Do you have to start a new game for the broken brazier to work? I used a
saved game just before griloch, and it still don't work! And using any of
the three magic seal things still crashes the game! (neckalce of door
sealing or something, necklace of parting water and there's a third of
some sort.
AND there were some bits someone said about new items in AoGM? Where?
Glen
PLEASE Re: via mail, as these bits I'd really like to know soon. AND I'd
like to know about this Divinity thing..
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Glen White, Launceston Macintosh Users Group
f...@tassie.net.au Web Site Design and Admin.
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/1177 http://www.lamug.org.au
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ShadowFox Software
http://www.tassie.net.au/~gwhite/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Decker
Ace Donnovan [aka Adrian Turkington] wrote:
>
[...]
>
> Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
> better go catch it!
>
> Some of us have sick fantasies.
>
for you again? Looking to capture the 1997 Motormouth award?
Better get cracking--less than seven months left.
Regards,
Rick
-----------------------------------------------------
Rick Decker rde...@hamilton.edu
Department of Comp. Sci. 315-859-4785
Ivans Chou
Ace Donnovan wrote:
[snip]
> --Adrian Turkington
Awww boogers!! Come on Adrian! Do you realize how much work it is to
keep track of everyone's aliases? I hope your e-mail addresses didn't
change.
New motion. For people who want MMotY, maybe they should have to keep
track of all their own aliases and post them in a entry form at the end
of the year. What do I look like?
I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
Ivans
--
---------------------------------\||/-----------------------------------
| Ivans Chou -- PaperChase - =||= "Wholly devoted to live and to |
| Beth Israel-Deaconess /||\ die, For the sake of the call." |
| Medical Center, Boston, MA || -- Steven Curtis Chapman |
| ic...@bidmc.harvard.edu http://enterprise.bidmc.harvard.edu/~ichou/ |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katie Foreman
Thomas Metcalf wrote:
>
> In article <33A77B...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
>
> > Ace Donnovan [aka Adrian Turkington] wrote:
> > >
> > [...]
> > >
> > > Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
> > > better go catch it!
> > >
> > > Some of us have sick fantasies.
> > >
> > Welcome back! Where ya been, old sod? NG get interesting enough
> > for you again? Looking to capture the 1997 Motormouth award?
> > Better get cracking--less than seven months left.
>
Yeah......I'll bet. Exactly how many totally useless posts did you make
today? Maybe I should just leave quietly.......I can't compete with
talent like this. (But I'm trying......and the hell of it is, I don't
know why. :)
/\/\
\ / , Katie Foreman
\/ kfor...@uci.edu
ale...@geocities.com
"...they see themselves in telescopes/
Do you see yourself in me?"
--Counting Crows, "Recovering the Satellites
Thomas Metcalf
In article <fox-180697...@spc.dial-in2.stpatricks.tas.edu.au>,
f...@tassie.net.au (Glen White) wrote:
> >> Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
> >> Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
> >> darkening and so on. Might the game have a clock in it that causes all
> >> hell to break loose if you waste a year or so without doing anything
> >> useful? That's actually not a bad idea, if I must say so meself.
>
> Nope, all of it's used.
>
> Except one I couldn't find involving a trapdoor in the ocean or something...
>
> That [darkening skies] occurs in a small farm village to the NE of
> Brunar. There is a woman with a weathered face and twisted fingers or
> something like that.
>
> They invite you in for tea.
A cuppa tea.
> If you go and do some other stuff, then come back here later, the
> darkening skies and a couple of other things occur.
A couple of other things? After all, he just blows up the village...
Nothing important... :)
> IF that's what you mean.
>
> Do you have to start a new game for the broken brazier to work? I used a
> saved game just before griloch, and it still don't work! And using any of
> the three magic seal things still crashes the game! (neckalce of door
> sealing or something, necklace of parting water and there's a third of
> some sort.
What do those things do anyway?
> AND there were some bits someone said about new items in AoGM? Where?
They're in the Ice Giant Citadel. They're really cool.
Willing to WoB,
Thomas Metcalf
> Glen White wrote:
> >
> Actually, I wrote this part.
> > >> Hmm. Has anyone spent a lot of time in the scenario *without* killing
> > >> Griloch? There are some text snippets I've never seen, about the skies
> > >> darkening and so on.
> [...]
> >
> > Nope, all of it's used.
> >
> I'll buy that. I guess I just misremembered the text from the
> Gratuitious Destruction of the Village of Nice People plotlette
> (which I found very moving, BTW).
> No. Thinking about it, I still think I haven't seen it, since it
> involves looking off to the distant east and the village always
> got trashed while I was there.
A bit of a shame... It was such a *nice* cuppa tea... :<
> > Except one I couldn't find involving a trapdoor in the ocean or something...
> >
> Its there. I forget whether it's the Turnstil dungeon entrance or
> the passage to the boat, but it's there.
> [...]
> > Do you have to start a new game for the broken brazier to work?
>
> Yes.
The truth comes out! (again)
Willing to WoB,
Thomas Metcalf
In article <LOOK-17069...@10.0.2.15>, LO...@THE.BOTTOM.OF.MY.SIG
(Ace Donnovan) wrote:
> In article <339B04...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
>
> :-----------------------------------------------------
> :Rick Decker rde...@hamilton.edu
> :Department of Comp. Sci. 315-859-4785
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> *BRRRRRRRRRRRRINNGGGG**BRRRRRRRRRRRIIIINGGG*
>
> Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
> better go catch it!
>
> Some of us have sick fantasies.
Umm... I'm sure some people do... Umm... ??????
Willing to question,
Thomas Metcalf
> Ace Donnovan [aka Adrian Turkington] wrote:
> >
> [...]
> >
> > Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
> > better go catch it!
> >
> > Some of us have sick fantasies.
> >
> Welcome back! Where ya been, old sod? NG get interesting enough
> for you again? Looking to capture the 1997 Motormouth award?
> Better get cracking--less than seven months left.
He is not getting the 1997 award!! Its mine! Mine! Mine! :)
Willing to WoB,
Thomas Metcalf
In article <33A7F0FC...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>, Ivans Chou
<ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
<snip>
> I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!
You're a doctor, he's a patient, that's an order!
Thomas Metcalf
In article <33AB5...@earthlink.net>, kfor...@uci.edu wrote:
> Thomas Metcalf wrote:
> >
> > In article <33A77B...@hamilton.edu>, rde...@hamilton.edu wrote:
> >
> > > Ace Donnovan [aka Adrian Turkington] wrote:
> > > >
> > > [...]
> > > >
> > > > Hello is this Rick Decker? Is your copy of Realmz running? Then you
> > > > better go catch it!
> > > >
> > > > Some of us have sick fantasies.
> > > >
> > > Welcome back! Where ya been, old sod? NG get interesting enough
> > > for you again? Looking to capture the 1997 Motormouth award?
> > > Better get cracking--less than seven months left.
> >
> > He is not getting the 1997 award!! Its mine! Mine! Mine! :)
>
> Yeah......I'll bet. Exactly how many totally useless posts did you make
> today? Maybe I should just leave quietly.......I can't compete with
> talent like this. (But I'm trying......and the hell of it is, I don't
> know why. :)
I posted 69... :) I replyed to every single Realmz post in the group...
:D Took me an hour, but hey! I was bored... (sort of...)
Thomas Weigle
In article <thomas-2106...@metcalf.demon.co.uk>,
tho...@metcalf.Spams.demon.co.uk (Thomas Metcalf) wrote:
> I posted 69... :) I replyed to every single Realmz post in the group...
> :D Took me an hour, but hey! I was bored... (sort of...)
Definitely a new record. Will take me an hour just to get through the lot
(and I've only been away for two days...).
/thomas
-----------------------------t h o m a s w e i g l e---
job: web designer & producer | technical project manager
--------------------------------------------------------
home: www.iconmedialab.se | mail: wei...@iconmedialab.se
--------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Metcalf
In article <weigle-ya0231800...@news.algonet.se>,
wei...@snip-to-mail.algonet.se (Thomas Weigle) wrote:
> In article <thomas-2106...@metcalf.demon.co.uk>,
> tho...@metcalf.Spams.demon.co.uk (Thomas Metcalf) wrote:
>
> > I posted 69... :) I replyed to every single Realmz post in the group...
> > :D Took me an hour, but hey! I was bored... (sort of...)
>
> Definitely a new record. Will take me an hour just to get through the lot
> (and I've only been away for two days...).
An hour!?! Thats how long it took me to write them all (it was late)...
Kennith Simpson
Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
: I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
S/K
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sean Simpson Internet: sim...@umr.edu
Web: http://www.umr.edu/~simpson/
****Warning! Concerning my internet access****
Because I have mainly infrequent access to my school account
during the summer instead of my usual direct access, any follow-ups
made to my usenet posts may not get read for some time or possibly not at
all. To those who would respond to a post of mine, would you be so kind
as to forward a copy to my email address, to help me make sure I get it?
Also, my email may go for several days before being checked. I
appreciate your patience and cooperation...it'would appear it is time to
look for a groovy modem...:)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ivans Chou
Kennith Simpson wrote:
> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
programmer
Steven Michael Garcia
In article <33AFFE4D...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>Kennith Simpson wrote:
>> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
>> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
>
>Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
>programmer
Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
Or whatever else?
I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
have a hard time directing their urine.
*grin*
Steve
Ivans Chou
Steven Michael Garcia wrote:
> In article <33AFFE4D...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >Kennith Simpson wrote:
> >> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
> >> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
> >
> >Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
> >programmer
>
> Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
> bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
> Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
> Or whatever else?
Image processing/NMR imaging of stroke patients. My primary emphasis
was using methods to "map" stroke areas, but I was interested in and did
a little stuff with functional MRI where we could attempt to quantify
the extent of deficit in stroke patients. I guess that all qualifies
as signal processing.
> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
> have a hard time directing their urine.
Steve, you sound like you possess a mind that could only have been
warped by a graduate carreer in BME. In fact, not only is your mind
twisted, I believe that it may actually be sprained.
Glen White
>> >> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
>> >> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
>> >
>> >Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
>> >programmer
>>
>> Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
>> bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
>> Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
>> Or whatever else?
>
>Image processing/NMR imaging of stroke patients. My primary emphasis
>was using methods to "map" stroke areas, but I was interested in and did
>a little stuff with functional MRI where we could attempt to quantify
>the extent of deficit in stroke patients. I guess that all qualifies
>as signal processing.
>
>> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
>> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
>> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
>> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
>> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
>> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
>> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
>> have a hard time directing their urine.
>
Yours disgustedly,
Glen
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Glen White, Launceston Macintosh Users Group
f...@tassie.net.au Web Site Design and Admin.
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/1177 http://www.lamug.org.au
---------------------------------------------------------------------
ShadowFox (SFx) Software
http://www.tassie.net.au/~gwhite/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Michael Garcia
In article <spam_fox-270...@spc.dial-in2.stpatricks.tas.edu.au>,
Glen White <spam...@tassie.net.au> wrote:
[Actually Ivans wrote the ">>" script]
>>Image processing/NMR imaging of stroke patients. My primary emphasis
>>was using methods to "map" stroke areas, but I was interested in and did
>>a little stuff with functional MRI where we could attempt to quantify
>>the extent of deficit in stroke patients. I guess that all qualifies
>>as signal processing.
Hey that is not much different that what I'm doing. Our lab is concentrating
on how the brain re-routes itself when it experiences pain. I work with
animals (rats) and I use autoradiography to explore the areas of the brain
where synaptic activity is greater than normal. Actually we don't look
directly at synaptic activity, we look at blood flow, the idea being that
blood flow to a region is proportional to synaptic activity. (I think it is
but many people of the old school don't think so). So in essence, we inflict
pain on rats (by sticking their hindlinb in very hot or ice cold water),
pop out the brain and look at it. We also use functional PET on humans for
studies on pain mechanisms in humans. But you are probably on the computer
programming side of this, while I prefer being on the physiological side of
this.
>>> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
>>> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
>>> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
>>> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
>>> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
>>> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
>>> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
>>> have a hard time directing their urine.
>>
>We'll soon fix that with a lump of poly-vinyl tubing +4!
Aggghhhh! Nasty thought. Thinking about gender, I'm surprised that there
are no gender specific items in Realmz. Just a thought, I suppose.
Steve
Thomas Metcalf
In article <5op2g2$e...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ste...@engin.umich.edu
(Steven Michael Garcia) wrote:
> In article <33AFFE4D...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >Kennith Simpson wrote:
> >> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
> >> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
> >
> >Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
> >programmer
>
> Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
> bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
> Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
> Or whatever else?
Why is rehabilitation part of a bioengineer course??? :)
> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
> have a hard time directing their urine.
Imagine Morbuis' face when you use that on him!! <evil cackle> That would
really get him angry! :)
> *grin*
<bigger grin>
Willing to WoB,
Thomas
----------------------------------------------
- tho...@metcalf.demon.co.uk -
----------------------------------------------
- If an inventor ever invents something -
- foolproof, someone will find a better fool -
----------------------------------------------
Thomas Metcalf
In article <spam_fox-270...@spc.dial-in2.stpatricks.tas.edu.au>,
spam...@tassie.net.au (Glen White) wrote:
<snip>
> >> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
> >> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
> >> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
> >> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
> >> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
> >> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
> >> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
> >> have a hard time directing their urine.
> >
> We'll soon fix that with a lump of poly-vinyl tubing +4!
Poly what'll???? <<< question for the VM :)
He'll have a hard time answering that one at least... :)
Thomas Metcalf
In article <33B12207...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>, Ivans Chou
<ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> Steven Michael Garcia wrote:
> > In article <33AFFE4D...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
> > Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> > >Kennith Simpson wrote:
> > >> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> > >> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
> > >> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
> > >
> > >Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
> > >programmer
> >
> > Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
> > bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
> > Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
> > Or whatever else?
>
> Image processing/NMR imaging of stroke patients. My primary emphasis
> was using methods to "map" stroke areas, but I was interested in and did
> a little stuff with functional MRI where we could attempt to quantify
> the extent of deficit in stroke patients. I guess that all qualifies
> as signal processing.
Okkk..... Now, can you repeat that, in English? :)
> > I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
> > potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
> > surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
> > filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
> > you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
> > 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
> > and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
> > have a hard time directing their urine.
>
> Steve, you sound like you possess a mind that could only have been
> warped by a graduate carreer in BME. In fact, not only is your mind
> twisted, I believe that it may actually be sprained.
I would throughly like to know how someone could sprain their mind...Too
much university perhaps??? Or something else? :?
Rick Decker
Steven Michael Garcia wrote:
>
> In article <spam_fox-270...@spc.dial-in2.stpatricks.tas.edu.au>,
> Glen White <spam...@tassie.net.au> wrote:
>
> [Actually Ivans wrote the ">>" script]
>
> So in essence, we inflict
> pain on rats (by sticking their hindlinb in very hot or ice cold water),
> pop out the brain and look at it. We also use functional PET on humans for
> studies on pain mechanisms in humans.
I hope "functional" in this context means "omit the 'pop out the brain'
step."
>
> Thinking about gender, I'm surprised that there
> are no gender specific items in Realmz. Just a thought, I suppose.
>
Yeah, I've wondered about that, too. It seems that the engine
can indeed check the gender of a character, since female characters
are stuck with that wimpy "hee-yah" sound for hand-to-hand combat.
I wonder if Divinity will let us determine the testicularity of
the characters? Could be useful in a society with clearly
different gender roles. "Stupid outlander--don't you know that
males are incapable of filling political positions?"
Jock-ularly,
Rick
-----------------------------------------------------
Rick Decker rde...@hamilton.edu
Department of Comp. Sci. 315-859-4785
Ivans Chou
Thomas Metcalf wrote:
> In article <33B12207...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>, Ivans Chou
> <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
> > Image processing/NMR imaging of stroke patients. My primary emphasis
> > was using methods to "map" stroke areas, but I was interested in and did
> > a little stuff with functional MRI where we could attempt to quantify
> > the extent of deficit in stroke patients. I guess that all qualifies
> > as signal processing.
>
> Okkk..... Now, can you repeat that, in English? :)
First we find lots of people who have had strokes (some blood vessel in
their brain gets plugged, and causes a small piece of their brain to
die) and are willing to participate in our studies. Then we stick them
head first into a machine that looks like a giant doughnut, which is
actually a big magnet. The magnet, with the help of computers can make
a picture of the patient's brain. Sometimes we can show them pictures
while they sit inside the magnet or ask them to move their fingers
around. When they do this, more blood flows to the parts of the brain
that's doing the thinking for the stuff they're doing. What happens
then is that those parts of the brain get brighter in the picture, and
we can then tell try to guess which part of the brain does what.
Willing to explain,
Ivans Chou
Rick Decker wrote:
> I hope "functional" in this context means "omit the 'pop out the brain'
> step."
Nope, "functional" is used in conjunction with "imaging", and in SMG's
case he is using PET (Positron Emission Tomography) to image the brain,
while simultaneously stimulating the brain in some way (in SMG's
research the stimuli appears to be pain). The resulting images show
brain activity/activation through increased blood flow. With some sort
of imaging dye that is injected into the blood stream, increased brain
activity will "light up" on parts of the the resulting image. With
such computer enhanced methods like PET and MRI, you can even
reconstruct a sort of 3-D view of the brain and actually localize what
part of the brain appears to be all stimulated by what kind(s) of
stimuli. Fun stuff actually.
As for the "let's not bother popping out the brain", the term that
refers to that step is "noninvasive". Which is always something you
should look for when participating in said studies. =P Although, in my
opinion, I'd rather be shoved into a loud MRI than be injected with some
radioactive contrast agent that is needed for PET studies. MRI can
actually just measure the blood flow without need for any "invasive"
contrast agents. (Nothing personal, Steven.)
> Yeah, I've wondered about that, too. It seems that the engine
> can indeed check the gender of a character, since female characters
> are stuck with that wimpy "hee-yah" sound for hand-to-hand combat.
> I wonder if Divinity will let us determine the testicularity of
> the characters? Could be useful in a society with clearly
> different gender roles. "Stupid outlander--don't you know that
> males are incapable of filling political positions?"
I really do hope so, because for real "role playing" and deep plots to
be written for Realmz, better character development and interaction
must be used. That "Speak" button, gender, castes must be used in a way
that is more integral to the plot.
As you noted in your one-liner -- for there to be real plot, the
Realmz engine needs to be aware of almost every aspect of your party's
composition. I am hoping in the next release(s) of Realmz Tim will
consider making the engine able (if it doesn't already) to recognize
the names of your party members.
I think it would make the stories much better if, encounters didn't all
read with pronouns, "'Greetings!' the troll says to you." but rather,
"'Hail Dupre! We're glad you've returned with your stalwart group.
Come. Recline here at our table and tell us of your adventures.'"
Steven Michael Garcia
In article <33B7AD50...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>Nope, "functional" is used in conjunction with "imaging", and in SMG's
>case he is using PET (Positron Emission Tomography) to image the brain,
>while simultaneously stimulating the brain in some way (in SMG's
>research the stimuli appears to be pain). The resulting images show
>brain activity/activation through increased blood flow. With some sort
>of imaging dye that is injected into the blood stream, increased brain
>activity will "light up" on parts of the the resulting image. With
>such computer enhanced methods like PET and MRI, you can even
>reconstruct a sort of 3-D view of the brain and actually localize what
>part of the brain appears to be all stimulated by what kind(s) of
>stimuli. Fun stuff actually.
Actually the human part of the grant deals with PET, where we image
patients who have an acute painful stimulis applied to them, or already
suffer from chronic intractible pain. In most cases we stick people's
hands in ice cold water (which is, for your information, extraordinarly
painful, it is excrutiatingly painful but if it only lasts 90 seconds or
so there is no permanent damage) or hot 50 C water.
What I actually work on is imaging rat brain for the same properities, but
we can't use PET because the resolution is low. For instance we can only
say with accuracy that the left lateral thalamus, or possibly the posterior
lateral thalamus was the region where there was an increased blood flow,
instead of saying the ventral posteriorlateral thalamus (VPL) was the
site of increased bloodflow, which is the main integration center for all
somatosensory information coming from below the head and neck.
With rats, we specifically use HMPAO [99m-Tc] d,l-hexamethylpropyleneamine
oxime, which is a lipophilic protein that has the radiotracer 99m-Tc
imbedded somewhere within the protein. Because it is lipophilic, it can easily
enter any cell in the body, but once it is in the cell, there is a rapid
conversion to the lipophobic state, so it can't leave the cell. Thus, by
measuring bloodflow to a certain region of the brain, the higher the bloodflow
the more uptake of HMPAO into the cell, thus more retention of the radiotracer.
Then we immediately kill the rat (using chloral hydrate, a painless maneuver)
take the brain out and freeze it in dry ice, section it using our Bright
cryostat, then place the slides of rat brain into a cassette that is loaded
with film that is sensitive to low-energy gammas. Basically the more HMPAO
in a certain region, the more gammas will be absorbed by the film - thus
having it turn out darker. Then we measure optical density on the film, which
is a good way of measuring bloodflow.
>As for the "let's not bother popping out the brain", the term that
>refers to that step is "noninvasive". Which is always something you
>should look for when participating in said studies. =P Although, in my
>opinion, I'd rather be shoved into a loud MRI than be injected with some
>radioactive contrast agent that is needed for PET studies. MRI can
>actually just measure the blood flow without need for any "invasive"
>contrast agents. (Nothing personal, Steven.)
None taken. MRI is a great way of detecting changes within the body, and it is
extremely safe. There are no side-effects of aligning protons from molecules
in a low magnetic field. What kind of resolution does MRI have? I know PET
(which requires some sore of positron emmiting source, usually H20 (15-O)
has a resolutioni of a couple millimeters.
Steve
Steven Michael Garcia
In article <thomas-2706...@metcalf.demon.co.uk>,
Thomas Metcalf <tho...@metcalf.Nospams.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <5op2g2$e...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ste...@engin.umich.edu
>(Steven Michael Garcia) wrote:
>
>> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>> >Kennith Simpson wrote:
>> >> Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>> >> : I'm an engineer, not an accountant!
>> >> Of what kind might you be? Engineer, I mean?? :)
>> >
>> >Of the BioMedical variety... only currently I'm just a plain ol' C++
>> >programmer
>>
>> Yea, I'm of that species too. Well, not the C++ species, but of the
>> bioengineer species. Can't admit being THAT happy with it - though.
>> Did you do biomechanics, signal processing, rehabilitation, or bioEE?
>> Or whatever else?
>
I can't believe I'm contributing to Metcalf's obnixous posts! :-) But
rehabilitation deals with developing machinery for injured people, like
wheelchairs and crutches, that kind of thing. And most ergonomics probably
comes from bioengineers, like designing ergonomic keyboards, chairs, desks,
screwdrivers, drills, hammers, tools, that kind of thing.
>> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
>> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
>> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
>> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
>> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
>> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
>> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
>> have a hard time directing their urine.
>
>Imagine Morbuis' face when you use that on him!! <evil cackle> That would
>really get him angry! :)
Yea he will be wiping off my archer's urine while my sorcerer goes up to him
with his piddily Dagger +1 and kills him. Actually my sorcerer uses the
Strombringer +5 which is nice.
Steve
Glen White
><snip>
>
>> >> I'm going to make a Realmz scenario that has a Bionic Kidney +5 as a
>> >> potential weapon, but it requires the services of a Temple to
>> >> surgically implant this horrific weapon. This will allow you to
>> >> filter poison and disease 10 times faster than usual. Also allow
>> >> you to fire a Urine Bath Spell 6 times, which will be X6 power level,
>> >> 20-30 damage/level, and the range will be surrounding enemies. Oh,
>> >> and only male characters will be able to use it, because females will
>> >> have a hard time directing their urine.
>> >
>
>Poly what'll???? <<< question for the VM :)
>
>He'll have a hard time answering that one at least... :)
>
ability of the bionic kidney previously only available to the male can be
used by the female of the species.. ..is more deadlier than the male...
*damn crap song flashbacks..*
Ivans Chou
Steven Michael Garcia wrote:
[snip human PET studies]
I see. My former research focused primarily using computers to enhance
and reconstruct those 3-D images you were talking about. It was someone
else's business to do that fMRI stuff.
[rat HMPAO studies]
Yeah, I've seen the PET studies. Usually, the final results are
superimposed on an MRI image, right? The PET images are really grainy
in my opinion, but it's a good compromise between spatial and temporal
resolution. That's the real problem with fMRI.
> None taken. MRI is a great way of detecting changes within the body, and it is
> extremely safe. There are no side-effects of aligning protons from molecules
> in a low magnetic field. What kind of resolution does MRI have? I know PET
> (which requires some sore of positron emmiting source, usually H20 (15-O)
> has a resolutioni of a couple millimeters.
About 1.5 currently with your run-of-the-mill 1.5 MR units. There are
people out there trying to increase the strength of the magnets to 9 or
12 Tesla, but then they have to conduct research to see if exposing
people to such high magnetic fields would be harful. But spatial
resolution can go into the order micrometers. But the problem is still
that the time it takes to acquire and process each image is long, so
some fast brain responses finish before they even show up on the image.
There is some talk about using some complex EEG system and a computer
to localize the area within the brain and using it in conjunction with
fMRI to get the best of both worlds -- good spatial resolution from the
MRI and good temporal resolution from the EEG. Except, last I heard,
there was only one guy working on the computer reconstructed EEG thing.
Steven Michael Garcia
In article <33B90642...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>,
Ivans Chou <ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
>Steven Michael Garcia wrote:
>[snip human PET studies]
>
>I see. My former research focused primarily using computers to enhance
>and reconstruct those 3-D images you were talking about. It was someone
>else's business to do that fMRI stuff.
Yea, I'm not too excited about doing all of this warping and other such data
manipulations. I think the actual results are extremely interesting, but I
don't know if I have the patience to perform tons of programming.
>Yeah, I've seen the PET studies. Usually, the final results are
>superimposed on an MRI image, right? The PET images are really grainy
>in my opinion, but it's a good compromise between spatial and temporal
>resolution. That's the real problem with fMRI.
I'm not sure. I have not really dived into the guts of PET. I really
question whether those nice PET images you are viewing are bloodflow maps
of the brain and not Z-score analyses of that data.
>About 1.5 currently with your run-of-the-mill 1.5 MR units. There are
>people out there trying to increase the strength of the magnets to 9 or
>12 Tesla, but then they have to conduct research to see if exposing
>people to such high magnetic fields would be harful. But spatial
>resolution can go into the order micrometers. But the problem is still
>that the time it takes to acquire and process each image is long, so
>some fast brain responses finish before they even show up on the image.
>There is some talk about using some complex EEG system and a computer
>to localize the area within the brain and using it in conjunction with
>fMRI to get the best of both worlds -- good spatial resolution from the
>MRI and good temporal resolution from the EEG. Except, last I heard,
>there was only one guy working on the computer reconstructed EEG thing.
Well there is certainly a lot of promise in that field. I don't know if I will
be around to see it all develop though, at least from an engineering standpoint.I REALLY want to go to med school, and I'm going to try as hard as I can.
*grin*
I'm listening to the Shamen now, they are pretty good. I will soon pop in
DJ Shadow, he is also awesome.
tVM (the Virile Master)
Steve
P.S. Ivans I think I take it that you don't like my new self appointed
position? Remember while my initials do conjure up thoughs of Mr. Decker,
I am nowhere near some of the convoluted and long-winded definitions he
sometimes gives - a unique WoBing quality. I'm just the Virile Master.
Although I must ask for some praise for my unique appointment. *smile*
Thomas Weigle
In article <5pgsru$q...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ste...@engin.umich.edu
(Steven Michael Garcia) wrote:
> I'm listening to the Shamen now, they are pretty good. I will soon pop in
> DJ Shadow, he is also awesome.
I only have five words to say to you: Prodigy. "Fat of the Land".
/t
+-------------------t h o m a s w e i g l e--+
| home: http://www.iconmedialab.se |
| mail: wei...@iconmedialab.se |
| phone: +46 (0)70-621 13 65 |
| quake: http://iconofpain.org |
+--------------------------------r u i n e r--+
Thomas Metcalf
In article <33B7AE5A...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu>, Ivans Chou
<ic...@locust.bidmc.harvard.edu> wrote:
<snipped original question (to <gasp> save bandwidth)>
> First we find lots of people who have had strokes (some blood vessel in
> their brain gets plugged, and causes a small piece of their brain to
> die) and are willing to participate in our studies. Then we stick them
> head first into a machine that looks like a giant doughnut, which is
> actually a big magnet. The magnet, with the help of computers can make
> a picture of the patient's brain. Sometimes we can show them pictures
> while they sit inside the magnet or ask them to move their fingers
> around. When they do this, more blood flows to the parts of the brain
> that's doing the thinking for the stuff they're doing. What happens
> then is that those parts of the brain get brighter in the picture, and
> we can then tell try to guess which part of the brain does what.
I have seen many sci-fi programs with this technique on it, but I never
believe it could actually be done. Can you make them think specific things
by using the magnets? <grin> i.e. I will give all my money to THOMAS
METCALF, I will give my house to THOMAS METCALF... Now that would be
good... 過>
> Willing to explain,
> Ivans
Well, isn't he nice... :}
Willing to explain repane,
Glen White
>> I'm listening to the Shamen now, they are pretty good. I will soon pop in
>> DJ Shadow, he is also awesome.
>
>I only have five words to say to you: Prodigy. "Fat of the Land".
>
Yes, it's in my CD player too, [fat of the land] and I'm VERY disappointed.
well, except Climbatize.
So I say: No Doubt : Tragic Kingdom.
OR
Prodigy: "Music For The Jilted Generation".
Glen
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f...@tassie.net.au Web Site Design and Admin.
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Steven Michael Garcia
In article <weigle-ya0231800...@news.algonet.se>,
Thomas Weigle <wei...@snip-to-mail.algonet.se> wrote:
>In article <5pgsru$q...@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>, ste...@engin.umich.edu
>(Steven Michael Garcia) wrote:
>
>> DJ Shadow, he is also awesome.
>
>I only have five words to say to you: Prodigy. "Fat of the Land".
Prodigy is fly, but I don't have their music, I have only heard it. I guess
my five words would be Iron Maiden, Somewhere in Time.
I'm being serious. I LOVE that band. Simply fantastic. o
tVM
Steve