little worlds

i wonder, if you look at the history of the universe, how many little worlds like earth existed. planets where some species lived, evolved, built things for millions of years, all of it eventually having an end and the planet dissolving into the particles of space, only to be repeated again and again and again, each time the little beings not aware of other worlds before them or after them.

Mysql 5.5 upgrade SLOW queries [SOLVED]

Have you upgraded to MYSQL 5.5 and experienced slow queries?

I have the answer for you. Turns out the upgrade completely erases all your settings in the MY.CNF file, which is in the /etc directory.

You have to manually edit that file and add all your old settings, hopefully from a previously backed up file.

You are welcome.

How to crack games / create trainers

Note: I didn't write this, it's a post from reddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sejpy/eli5_how_do_pirates_crack_games_without_access_to/

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Ex software cracker/hacker here. There are two types of video game cracking.

1) Trainers - hacking the game to enable cheats, god-mode, multi-player cheats, etc

2) Cracks - hacking the source code to enable you to play the game off of your computer without the original source disk, license key, online authentication, etc.

Trainers

1 is fairly simple to understand. You load the game and scan your RAM (memory) using specialized software. Then you change a value in the game. Like picking up an ammo pack. So your character goes from 0 ammo to 100 ammo. Now you rescan memory and compare with your original scan. Next you manually test changing the individual memory locations that had changed since the first scan. You see what effect the changes you make manually have on the game. Lots of times, it can be easy to locate the right memory location. Once you find that location, you create a program to update that location - a trainer.

Cracks There is legitimate debugging software that allows you to see the code and instructions that are processed by your computer's CPU. The CPU's process simple instructions only in Assembly language - like increments, comparisons, and jumps. Programming languages uses the basic elements to build complex functions, but in the end they are made of these simple pieces. Sort how complex life and substances are only made of electrons, protons, and neutrons (maybe not the best analogy - but I'm rushing to dinner).

You run the program and set a break point. Let say I want to break a game so that it doesn't check for CD disk. I can listen for when the game accesses my CD drive and place a break there. I know the comparison is done before then. Then I place a break a few hundred lines before then and monitor the code, walking through it one step at a time. After years of doing this, you become very skilled at reading the code. Find the comparison and change the jump requirement. So something like: If "CD Disk exists" Jump to "start game"

Becomes If "CD Disk does not exist" Jump to "start game"

Of course the code doesn't say that. Instead it will say: cmp ecx, edx (compare two registers, basically variable storage) jz ###### ("jump if zero" or equal to a given address in the code)

You would change jz to jnz or "jump if not zero".

The final step would be to create a program - patch, to update the game's executable to modify the values that control the jump instruction.

Hopefully that is simple enough. Of course there are many new technologies to work around this and make it more complicated. Just like in the lock industry - lock makers build better locks, thieves come up with better ways to defeat them. It's a cycle. Software publishers and crackers play the same game.

Source: F(Ph)ormer Phrozen Crew member and multiplayer game trainer peddler.

PS: When I was a teen, I was long on time and short on cash. Now that has flipped and it's actually cheeper for me to buy my software rather than spending hours or days trying to crack it or find a working crack. I've also learned the value of supporting artists and businesses that you believe in.

Box office figures are always not true/exaggerated!

box office figures for films are not true

example: box office for films. these are literally always untrue/exaggerated, because it helps sell the film if ppl think it made a lot of money. if you look on wikipedia, it very often quotes a site called "box office mojo". what kind of a source is that? i can create a site for ten bux, call it "box office stats" and have it referenced by wikipedia as a source??

in reality, many films don't make much. many famous actors don't make a lot of money. they just pretend they do. i read an article about deadmaus saying that he's not even a millionaire and about robin williams making 75k to voice aladdin. because there is just as much benefit to robin williams' career in voicing aladdin than to disney having him voice it. he probably would've done it for free.

whoever is not smart enuf thinks that ppl in movie industry make a lot of money, trust me, they don't, and the industry, just like everywhere, constantly exaggerates things.

Time is relative to the observer and not absolute

i think that the past is a relative, not an absolute concept. what is past  is assessed relative to someone or something. let's say we take a person from year 2000, create a very realistic dome of 1950's and put them in it. Would this person ever be able to tell whether it's actually 1950 or fake 1950? Answer is no, they wouldn't. Therefore, past/future is not absolute, it's relative to the reference point, or to an observer.

Serge Bronstein
11/3/2013
11:23PM

Was the Universe created by someone or did it create itself?

i've been reading carl sagan and i pretty much agree on everything he says. Specifically God.

Many people picture God as an old man with a beard governing things. Obviously, that can't be right. But, there seems to be some kind of order to things, it's as if it was someone who built and organized everything. It would be the most fascinating question to be answered, how/why everything/anything exists.

One more argument against an old man. Humans are the product of Universe, not the other way around. Humans did not create universe, the universe created humans. Therefore, a human could not create the universe. And we could also theorize that since universe created us, things in universe make sense BECAUSE we are within this universe, we are actually part of it and part of its design. Can be compared to a cog in a machine and that cog thinking, ok this machine makes sense.

If there is some kind of central entity that organized it all, then who created this entity?

I don't think humans will ever be able to understand, just as a microb on our body cannot understand what's beyond its immediate vicinity.

Serge Bronstein
November 3, 2013

What makes Starbucks/Chipotle successful?

i have been thinking about this sitting in front of starbucks: why do so many people go to places like starbucks, chipotle .. especially young people ...

if someone was opening a similar business, what would make it successful?

several reasons:

1) there is NOTHING to do and it's boring. what is the most common young people's problem? finding something to do. these places give you something to do. they not only sell food, they are a destination for young people looking to "hang out". you get your food and "chill" around it there.
2) they give you an experience. at chipotle, you watch them make the food for you. it's like entertainment. same thing with starbucks. everything is out in the open, it's like a mini-ride at disneyland.
3) they strive to be "upscale". although aimed at the working class, they give the working class a small taste of the good life, that's especially true for starbucks.
4) prime real estate - they always occupy prime, expensive real estate. in the end, it does pay off for starbucks. you rarely find coffee bean, peet's at prime real estate places, but starbucks is always there.

i think if anyone follows those two mini-principles, they can run a successful consumer/retail business.