12 days after classes started, about 750 students’ financial aid applications are still being processed due to complications from the implementation of PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft replaced JustTheFacts software and now manages students’ personal, academic, bursar and financial aid information.

“The PeopleSoft system is much more labor-intensive than our previous financial system,” stated Davis. “We estimate that it takes three to four times longer to review and process a financial aid application in PeopleSoft than it did in our former financial aid system.”

Well, “This can’t be that bad,” I thought and headed over to the student management system to check it out for myself. Then, I got hit by an ancient-looking ugly, non-functional GUI:

Clicking on any of the links that might interest me (grades, transcripts, etc) led me to the following “nice pages”:

The back/forward buttons don’t work

Whoah, where did this come from?

Another random error

Yep, Peoplesoft definitely sucks. And, I don’t blame Cornell for it–except for making the original bad decision to migrate from a working, if not archaic, system. Nay, I blame Peoplesoft (recently rebranded as Oracle Peoplesoft. Here’s some juicy quotes from other IT professionals:

• “It’s a horribly designed piece of crap. They don’t use referential integrity *and* they duplicate data all over the place in the database. Their UI is like something out of Windows 1.0 days.” – Joel on Software
• “It is the single worst example of web-based software I have ever seen. Ever.” – Jason
• “It’s web browsing in the 19th century. Lots of backing up and clunky navigation menus laden with far too much non-intuitive information.” – Dee-Rob
• “the syntax, which seemed arcane at best and totally unusable at worst” – John

A cute Facebook group, Cornell must be held accountable for Peoplesoft issues, and another Cornell story, New CoursEnroll Software Causes Distress, Difficulties, explains how the initial rollout was also fraught with difficulties:

Yeh said that although the system was marked by a number of problems, nearly 3,200 students out of the approximately 3,700 who needed to enroll were able to do so successfully. Course requests that were not approved before the system went down were entered into the system automatically.

[T]he preparation for the replacement began back in 1995 when Cornell administrators began watching how other schools used PeopleSoft. Cornell and company began to develop the new program together. Yeh did not know how expensive the program was to develop.

The moral of the story? Sometimes rolling your own software is better than buying and adapting. Especially for giant applications.

A free iPod touch. Another reason to get a Mac for school.

Reminder: A free iPod isn’t the only reason a Mac makes sense.

1. Runs Office, Vista, and XP.
2. Has built-in WiFi.
3. Doesn’t get those PC viruses.
4. Comes ready to video chat.
5. Does so much more with photos and movies.
6. Delivers course materials and more via iTunes U.

Let’s put this together. According to Apple, the number one selling point for marketing their Macbook computers to students is that existing Microsoft software–Office, Windows Visa, and Windows XP can all be run on the Macbook. Don’t tell me that somehow magically, when Windows is running on Apple’s hardware, that all the malware, viruses, worms, and spyware written for Windows will suddenly stop working or infecting your PC. Yet their #3 point is that the Macbook “won’t get those PC viruses.”

Sorry Apple, the Macbook will definitely get PC viruses if it’s running Windows–which you suggest it should be.

DotA Allstars v 6.34 AI . w3x

A reader of the blog just sent me a link to a new v6.34 AI version. I haven’t had a chance to try it out, but here it is

DotA Allstars v 6.33 AI . w3x

I just tried out this new version of DoTA with AI, and it seems to work well. It has the new items, and new characters, and the intelligence does things it never did before–like use chickens, retreat sensible, soak up XP, etc. Now with more humanity, this version of DoTA Allstars with AI probably has a lot of bugs, but it seems more fun, too, to practice with.

DotA Allstars v 6.29 AI . w3x

This is the pre-3x stable version of dota, now with AI. There are none of the new heros or experimental items, but it’s a solid AI build. Yet unknown if it solves the pathing and AI issues of the .27b AI.

DotA Allstars v 6.27b AI . w3x

This is the popular 6.27b version of DotA Allstars, but with Artificial Intelligence (AI). It fixes many of the bugs from the 6.25 AI version, and should run fine now. Please report any bugs here in the comments, so we all can know!

DotA Allstars v 6.25 AI . w3x (buggy)

Ever wanted to play DOTA with a computer opponent, an artificial intelligence, an AI? Well this is your chance–the most recent version of the DOTA Allstars with AI, v6.25

DotA Allstars v 6.37 . w3x

6.37 Changelog
=============

* Fixed a big exploit with waveform
* Medusa’s Purge now deals 600 damage to summoned units, instead of instantly killing them
* Rebalanced Alchemist
* Reduced the Kobold Endurance Aura from 17% ms to 15% ms
* Hand of Midas IAS from 35% to 30%
* Cyclone on creeps from 20 to 10 seconds
* Reduced Primal Roar cooldown and Call of the Wild manacost
* Treads from +60 to +65 ms and from +30% ias to +35%
* Land Mines can now be properly seen on minimap
* WTF mode now requires voting
* Added a better cancel icon for Pulse Nova
* Increased Enchantress’s Intelligence per level
* Fixed a bug with -ar and -random that allowed you to get two heroes

DotA Allstars v 6.35 . w3x

6.35 Changelog
=============
* Added two new neutral creep spots
* New mode -vr (-voterandom, like -ar except you get to vote on which hero combinations are used)
* Game no longer immediately ends when you win, you have time to chat if you want to
* Hero Descriptions now have the movement speeds listed
* New icons for Pugna, Lion, God’s Strength and Omnislash (thx snork, alien_rebirth and gotham from forums)
* Lots of tweaks to the gold bonuses, levels, stats and abilities on neutral creeps.
* Changed the Arthas model with Frostmourne to the one without (forum 69498)
* Boots of Travel and Scroll of Town Portal now share cooldown
* Chaos Knight base damage a little less random
* You can now set the player slots to Computer to reduce the starting gold if you are playing in less than 5v5 (so you don’t have to start with 3500 if you don’t want to)
* Bonus gold is given to the allies of the tower killer (even if creeps kill it)
* Reworked Strygwyr’s Thirst
* New Rampage animation (70915)
* Increased the recipe cost on Hand of Midas as well as the Attack Speed.
* Reworked -lm to give a chance for Scourge to begin the pick process instead of always Sent
* Improved the core game recognition of what is and isn’t a spell (for stuff like essence and CotS)
* Fixed some compatibility issues between -ap and -lm
* Added a minor blood effect when hook hits a unit (63335)
* Increased base damage for Weaver
* New command -hidemsg/unhidemsg as a request from some players that don’t want to see the text spam when heroes die
* Fixed a bug where destroying all the trees around rooftrellen did not reveal him
* Wraith Band recipe cheaper
* Improved the AoE on static Field
* Minor improvement to the AoE on Diffusion Aura
* Repick in -ap or normal mode now lets you pick a new hero instead of randoming it. Cost reduced here since you would need to buy a hero. Repick is unchanged in -ar/-tr
* Restored the old armor bonus on Dragon’s Blood
* Buffed the HP and Mana that Scepter gives
* Reduced Desolator recipe cost
* Buffed Tinker’s movement speed
* Nightstalker strength improved
* Minor improvement to the trees behind to the top left scourge tower
* Reduced the lag on casting epicenter, freezing field and blackhole.
* Reduced mana cost on level 2 and 3 of blackhole to make it a little more worth leveling
* Fixed some minor targeting bugs with illuminate
* Wild Axes now move a bit faster
* Changed the color of Plague Wards
* Fixed many old typos
* Improved Troll Warlord base damage a little
* Slightly buffed Zeus’ str and int per level
* Fixed a bug with Freezing Field and Scepter (thx malle)
* Increased the speed on paralyzing casks a bit
* Improved Jakiro’s attack animation
* Fixed Silencer’s night vision range to that of regular heroes
* Slightly buffed higher levels of Sanity’s Eclipse
* Minor armor buff (usually 1) to most melee heroes
* Fixed being able to Berserker’s Call units out of Chronosphere
* Agility on Manta Style increased a bit
* Perseverance can now be broken up into its components by clicking on it
* Purification icon change (72474)
* Reduced Sunder manacost/cooldown at higher levels
* Increased base Intelligence on Tinker
* Fixed Last Will to not damage its allies if it was denied
* Stout Shield percentage typo (Nareg)
* Fixed various neutral creep minimap glitches
* Fixed an old bug with Venomancer’s Poison Sting that did minor attack speed reduction instead of minor movement speed reduction.
* Fixed Soul Keeper’s gamescore icon (78244)
* Fixed hotkey conflict between Spectral Dagger and Desolate
* Fixed being able to teleport to the invisible -ap vision units with Scroll of Town Portal
* Fixed many tooltips
* Fixed some issues with units not being paused in Chronosphere (like Leoric Reincarnate and Bearform)
* Fixed various neutral creep tooltips (MrX)
* Various other minor cosmetic improvements

DotA Allstars v 6.34 . w3x

6.34 Changelog
============
* Spectre base damage reduced.
* Sanity’s Eclipse mana cost reduced from 300/500/700 to 200/250/300.
* Reduced duration of Spectral Dagger’s hero trail and initial cast trail durations.
* Buffed Macropyre from 75/100/125 to 75/125/175 damage per second.
* Broodmother now has vision directly underneath her webs.
* Fixed a probability error on multicast when using Scepter.
* Reduced the extremely large cast range on Aphotic Shield.
* Reworked Tango a bit.
* Fixed Spin Web from preventing Neutral Creep spawning.
* Added a few seconds to Aphotic Shield cooldown.
* Reworked the targeting system on Reality to a more natural one.
* Fixed a minor camera issue with Replicate.
* New icons for Witchcraft, Naix’s Poison Sting, Rhasta’s Forked Lightning, Razor’s Chain Lightning, Laser, Grow, Overpower, Shukuchi and Static Field (thx to snork, Grujah.Noob, alfredx_sotn, M3Th0dz and switch).
* Improved the detection area and reduced the freeze delay on IcePath.
* Troll Warlord now has increased movement speed while in Berserker Rage form.
* Hoof Stomp AOE improved from 275 to 315.
* Replaced Vengeance with a new ability (thx eva00r)
* Silencer’s movement speed reduced from 300 to 290.
* Waveform manacost increased from 120 to 140/155/160/165
* Primal Roar stun duration buffed a bit.
* Reworked the numbers, angles and some mechanics on the Bristleback ability.
* Chain Frost cast range reduced from 800 to 750. Scepter version increased from 800 to 850.
* Removed Stout Shield from Aegis recipe.
* Nerfed the AOE and damage on Quill Spray.
* Fixed a fatal error when using Fissure on map edges.
* Nether Ward now gives a gold when killed.
* Fixed a bug with Dispersion that caused it to reflect too much damage off Culling Blade.
* Fixed a bug with IcePath that would cause it to sometimes go shorter or longer.
* CK’s Blink Strike now works like the one PA and SA have.
* Fixed Blackhole to properly affect the Spirit Bear.
* Increased the maximum number of Watchers.

DotA Allstars v 6.33b . w3x

6.33b Changelog:
===========

* Reduced some lag with Haunt and Dagger
* Removed Dispersion from images
* Fixed a bug with repicking Morphling, causing the next hero to also morph colors.
* Fixed the bug that allowed VS and Pudge to buy dagger
* Host now gets same gold as rest when picking a hero in -sh
* Fixed some bugs with Glaives/Impetus/Arcane that do extra damage when combined with either Manta Style or -sh
* Fixed Timelapse to properly set the mana to the previous point instead of the previous point – 150
* Buffed Beastrage to reduce to half its level on target change, instead of reseting completely.
* Improved how Weaver’s Watchers interact with spells
* Fixed a bug with Morphling in -sh
* Reduced Euls recipe cost a little from the 6.33 cost
* Fixed an AI issue in 6.30+ where the towers would target Juggernaut’s Healing Ward first
* Fixed a bug with Static Field that would cause a minor static effect even without learning it
* Slight nerf to level 3 Haunt
* Fixed an old bug with Gravekeeper’s cloak that did the damage to a 400 aoe instead of the 600 listed in tooltip.
* Fixed a bug with Dagger and Gem that sometimes caused That Gem to be undroppable for another hero.
* Fixed a -swaphero issue that could allow one player to get 2 heroes and the other none
* Fixed various typos
* Restored the Brewmaster name
* Fixed a bug with the damage type of both Spectral Dagger and Death Coil, causing them to do more damage than the tooltip said

DotA Allstars v 6.33 . w3x

6.33 Changelog:
===============
* Added two new items
* Reworked/Improved Bristleback, Avernus and Mercurial
* Many code improvements
* New map preview picture by Artgerm
* Improved the game mode entering system. Modes are now entered on one line like “-apidsh” or “-dm -ar -sc”. You do not need to worry about the order you enter the modes in, the game will handle it or warn you (and give you another chance) if the mode is incorrect/incompatible.
* Renamed shortmode to -easymode(-em)
* Added -samehero (-sh) mode
* Reduced Lycan’s wolves’ model size a bit
* Some -dmar hero respawn optimizations
* Reworked Mekansm a bit. It now has a larger aoe and buff duration but the heal only occurs if you have no previous Mekansm buff on you (so you can’t mass spam it on a team).
* Furion’s Teleportation now creates the same casting effect on the target location.
* Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse total cost is the same, but 800 of the 900 recipe cost is now in Eul’s Scepter of Divinity.
* Last Word will only work if Silencer is not silenced
* If blue isn’t playing, the next available color will be allowed to enter the game mode.
* Restored a more functional -du mode
* Improved Viper’s base damage a bit
* Enchant’s duration when converting creeps is now increased
* Buffed Weaver’s Watcher movespeed
* Fixed some neutral creeps and beastmaster’s summons that had collision size pathing issues.
* Fixed a Timelapse casting delay
* Many tooltip fixes from Henri Langenhoven’s reports
* Improved Witch Doctor’s base damage
* Reduced Primal Roar’s manacost and cooldown
* Improved timing on Macropyre
* Reduced Lich’s attack range from 600 to 500
* Updated TDA gaming rules
* Improved the way Beast Rage works
* -csboardon/off is now -cson/off
* Voljin’s movespeed from 295 to 305
* Buffed Enchantress’ strength gain and movespeed
* Stygian Desolator’s recipe reduced from 1500 to 1400
* Fixed some icons to their proper passive versions
* New Doppelwalk icon (from Blazzu/Spankler)
* Fixed megakill bounty bonus error
* Fixed animal courier buy hotkey conflict
* Fixed an -ap -lm bug that caused the last picker to sometimes not be able to pick from the other tavern
* Fixed a bug with -random and -mm at 59sec
* Toss no longer damages wards
* Butterfly damage from 20 to 25
* Fixed a rare Nightstalker -mm bug
* Chicken autodrops the previous undroppable Black King Bar now
* Fixed a bug with radiance and Spirit Bear
* Fixed Presence of the Dark Lord and Witchcraft icons to the proper passive versions.
* New Leviathan and Avernus hero description by Terrorblaze and TheMantis
* Fixed Charge of Darkness to properly stop the charge effect when the target is purged
* -ar/-tr now properly says “randomed” instead of “chosen”
* Fixed a very old bug with Morphling and illusions
* Fixed a minor issue with -ms after -recreate
* Fixed minor casting bugs with Timewalk, Dual Breath and Wild Axes
* Fixed various hero acquisition ranges
* Fixed a bug in -mm with Terrorblade and alternate forms

DotA Allstars v 6.32b . w3x

There’s no changelog yet!

DotA Allstars v 6.32 . w3x

6.32 Changelog:
===============
* Courier Chicken now has an ability to drop all items on it (to allow for undroppable items to be removed without trouble).
* Fixed Adaptive Strike to not push Roshan.
* Fixed Replicate typos.
* Fixed an endless Waveform bug.
* Creep spawn in -mm is now delayed a bit to give more time to buy after getting your hero.
* Fixed a bug with repicking while in Waveform
* Watchers no longer die when Weaver dies. They also have better night vision.
* Slight improvement in Waveform range and reduced mana cost . Its a bit faster now too.
* Morphling movespeed from 275 to 285.
* Fixed the sell cost of Hand of Midas.
* Fixed a bug with Return doing damage to Serpent Wards.
* Fixed Chainfrost bouncing off of Deathward.
* Fixed a bug where Astral Imprisonment lasted a bit longer than 4 seconds. Reduced casting range from 700 to 550.to 550.
* Lina’s movespeed increased from 290 to 300.
* Fixed a vision bug when combining -sp and observer mode (thanks kamonzim)
* Minor damage increase and stun duration decrease to Ravage.
* Restored SA in obs mode after fixing a bug with him.
* Fixed Essence Aura triggering off of 0 manacost Detonate
* Replicate target now maintains the color of the hero it replicated.
* Adaptive Strike improved (the concept will be further improved later on)
* -swaphero time limit extended a bit for -lm
* Scroll of Teleportation replenish interval increased a bit.

DotA Allstars v 6.31 . w3x

6.31 Changelog:
===============
* Morphling remake.
* Recoded Grow to not refresh cooldowns.
* Improved the top left Scourge terrain to make things a bit more fair for the Scourge side.
* Mac disconnect bug fixed (as far as i can tell from my limited mac testers).
* New Trigger prevents Furion or Ignis from teleporting into the base if no allied creeps are there.
* Leavers’ gold is now properly distributed throughout the game as they gain gold.
* Smokescreen duration decreased from 7 seconds to 6 seconds.
* Paralyzing casks now deals damage to creeps.
* Headshot doesn’t work on allied units.
* Reduced the Dual Breath’s range to match the animation, mana cost increased.
* Witchdoctor’s attack animation improved.
* Bounty Hunter wind walk damage and mana cost improved.
* Mask of Madness recipe cost reduced by 50 gold.
* Tossed unit takes less damage now, but damage improves with Grow when it is an enemy (thanks Mare05).
* Arcane Orb’s damage type is now magical (a nerf).
* Eul’s Cyclone duration from 5 to 4 seconds.
* Last word AOE from 500/600/700/800 to a constant 700.
* Scepter can now be made by anyone, but only improves the ultimates of the ones listed.
* Assassinate level 3 cooldown from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.
* Split Earth casting range increased from 525 to 650.
* Viper’s Poison Attack manacost reduced from 30 to 20.
* Necro’lic’s Level 3 Revenants are now spell immune.
* Leviathan’s Ravage from 250/350/500 to 200/300/400 damage and duration buffed from 1/1/1 to 1.4/1.8/2.2 seconds.
* Slithereen Crush area increased by 50.
* Nightstalker’s Base Attack Cooldown improved to 1.7 like most other heroes. Small armor boost as well.
* Greater Hawk’s Truesight is removed, but it gains Permanent Invisibility.
* Hand of God’s cooldown from 70 to 120 seconds. Manacost from 150/200/250 to 200/300/400.
* Aegis is now undroppable (this is probably temporary while a chargeless version is thought out)
* Fixed a rare bear item drop bug.
* Fixed a minor bug with Wild Axes that causes Rexxar to become slowed if they hit a unit with Frost Armor.
* Fixed a bug that allowed you to get two heroes by repicking during astral imprisonment
* Fixed a -sc pathing issue
* Fixed a minor bug with obs mode.
* Fixed a Spirit Breaker bug with charge of Darkness movespeed in -dm.
* Diabolic Edict no longer causes its caster to take return damage or get slowed from Frost Armor.
* Fixed a Timewalk error when trying to timewalk into Blackhole.
* Fixed various range neutral creep camp abuses.
* Fixed a bug with Lothar’s Edge that did “50!” text after breaking Windwalk.
* Fixed an observer mode bug, the old missle through fog vision.
* Fixed a bug with Astral Imprisonment where the int drain doesn’t get restored if the unit is dead 60 seconds after cast.
* Fixed a minor Haunt target buff bug.
* Fixed a bug with a fast “swaphero and repick” combination that allowed you to have two heroes.
* Fixed the damage area on Sanity’s Eclipse. It was a constant 325, unlike the effect and tooltip aoe.
* Divine Rapier recipe now costs 2 lumber instead of just 1.

DotA Allstars v 6.30b . w3x

Now there’s a shoddily released 6.30b! Get it while it’s hot:

6.30b Changelog:
============
Fixed a major lag problem with Jakiro (primarily on mac computers)
Fixed a dm bug that resulted in you going to level 1 when picking Morphling
Changed Eye of Skadi to 200hp/150mana from 150hp/200mana like the point booster gives
Fixed an issue with repicking right after mm
Blackhole and Eclipse icons changed to their active icon versions, easier to see now
Fixed a corrosive skin bug
Fixed Beast Roar doing damage to allied creeps

6.30 Changelog:
============
* Two new Sentinel heroes.
* One new Scourge hero.
* -mirrormode (-mm) returns due to popular demand, with all abilities multi-instance capable.
* Added Observer Mode support (Now league games can be broadcasted using Waaagh!TV).
* Last Word no longer effects Blink Dagger or Black King Bar.
* -swaphero can be used to exchange heroes with your ally.
* Moved the Attributes Bonus learn icon to prevent learning it by accident when lagging.
* -dm and -lm now compatible with -ap
* Some improvements to loading time
* Conjure Image no longer requires clicking on the hero.
* Neutral Host capability through an extra slot (useful for important tournaments where host neutrality matters)
* Fixed some lag issue with Mercurial’s Ultimate
* Fixed a minor buff issue with Assassinate and Direct Vengeance.

Notes:
======
Thanks to eva00r, ska_goblin, LoreKeeper and Pinball for their forum hero suggestions.

Special thanks to SetzerGabbiani and Trystero for their work on the creep AI as well as the few beta testers who were actually active this cycle and worked overtime to beta test this.

Expect a few buffs and a couple of nerfs next version.

DotA Allstars v 6.30 . w3x

There’s no changelog yet for this hot new version of DOTA, but it apparently includes three new heros and a number of bug fixes. Here’s the Beta 2’s changelog:

6.30 Beta Changelog:
===============
* Two new Sent hereos
* A new Scourge hero
* The person picking the game mode is now the host, regardless of player color.
* -ap -lm is now allowed.
* “-swaphero” allows you to send a request to a player to swap heroes with him.
* -mm,-du fixed and restored due to popular demand.
* Fixed DK lvl 1 ultimate, it didn’t do the corrosive dmg before.
* Fixed some lag issue with Mercurial Ultimate
* Extra slots available when observer mode is selected to allow for waaaghtv and alternate hosts support.
* Fixed a minor buff issue with assassinate and direct vengeance.
* Moved the Attributes Bonus learn icon to prevent double clicking learn by accident when lagging.

DotA Allstars v 6.29b . w3x

6.29b Changelog:
================

* Fixed a bug with killing roshan where only 1 player on scourge would get the gold
* Fixed a minor bug that allowed you to get multiple heroes if there was a “computer” in a player slot
* Clinkz WW movespeed from 10%/20%/30%/40% to 7%/14%/21%/28%
* Reduced mana cost on Shockwave
* Fixed a bug with Aphotic Shield + Death Pulse not healing.
* Fixed a rare -sp gold issue
* Some minor stat issues in true form fixed (thx dotabrasil)
* Some typo fixes
* Fixed a bug with bane being able to brainsap allies
* Bane movespeed from 297 to 305
* Fixed an issue with Vengeance aura triggering off some caster units dying

Thanks for everyone that reports detailed bugs, you really help the map.

DotA Allstars v 6.29 . w3x

6.29 Changelog:
===============

* Added -shuffleplayers(-sp, rearranges the players)
* Added -csboardon/-csboardoff to toggle a board that displays -cs stats
* Some improvements to the way Abaddon’s abilities work.
* Fixed various voodoo restoration bugs
* Fixed a few phase bugs
* More Netherswap abuse fixes, can no longer swap from an unpathable area.
* Improved all randoming code (was very inefficient in -dm -ar and caused some lag)
* Fixed a bug with Freezing Field and caster units.
* Fixed some issues with sprout sometimes pushing the hero out.
* Chaos Bolt does some random damage now.
* Fixed Tormented Soul’s Lighting Storm lvl 4 mana cost.
* Fixed a typo on lvl 3 scepter death ward
* Restored original V hotkey for mana void.
* Fixed a bug with Crippling Fear that did not cause the target to miss.
* Fixed some counter helix bugs against song of the siren.
* Fixed a bug with neutral wolves requiring food (thx m-hehl)
* Fixed a few bugs with berserker call including moving cycloned units
* Brain Sap no longer has a short channel requirement/bug.
* Fixed a minor bug with VS base hp, adjusted str to make it same as usual.
* Lone Druid, Nevermore, Morphling and Mercurial Attribute Bonus now show up as a +bonus
* Searing arrows mana cost increased by 3.
* Slight improvement to the Void’s model movement animation on timewalk
* Fixed Berserker’s Call exploit on roshan.
* Added buff icons to direct vengeance as well as Haunt.
* Changed how Death Ward works a bit. (This may not be a permanent change, it’s still under debate)
* Redid a lot of nightstalker code to fix some old perm night effect bugs.
* Fixed PA to properly autorefresh (hopefully!)

Thanks again to the beta testers who are active.

**This was released before the new sent heroes could be finished because of the wide spread axe-roshan abuse. They will be included next version.

DotA Allstars v 6.28 . w3x

6.28 Changelog:
===============

* Two new scourge heroes (Vol’Jin can use scepter)
* New loading screen art
* -creepstats(-cs) added for those who wish to track their creep killing/denying stats
* In regular pick, you get back 175 from the 250 hero gold cost (not -lm)
* Chaos Bolt reworked a bit
* Static Field reworked
* Fixed a range hero abuse against ancient creeps
* Tweaked Chakra a bit. It gives you the same as target now (was weaker). The mana regen values and cooldowns are nerfed a bit. Manacost tweaked.
* Chaos Damage now does same as hero damage to structures, 50% instead of 100%
* -moderandom(-mr) randomly picks a mode from ar/ap/tr/regular
* The Circle of Power now has one inventory slot to use as a temp slot when creating items (for those who have the unfortunate luck of dealing with item stealers)
* Headshot lvl4 from .25 to .2 and restored old sniper starting agi
* Assassinate and Rupture now have status buff icons
* Necronomicon: Decreased mana burn casting range from 500 to 250, and removed spell immunity from lvl 3. Spell reduction from 33/33/100% to 40/40/40%. Necronomicon cooldown from 70 to 90 seconds.
* Change attribute bonus hotkey from B to U to help fix some hotkey conflicts
* Hellcaller tweaked a bit
* Necronomicon summons are no longer able to attack ancients
* Fixed a major abuseable DM bug (Thx to Drak and others that reported it discretely)
* If you cast necro and already own them on the field, the old ones get removed. (i.e. no necro refresher, adapt, grow, etc)
* Necronomicon summons now give 100 gold on death (instead of 60)
* Necro aura from 4/8/12 to 3/6/9
* -allagi(-aa)/-allint(-ai)/-allstr(-as)
* Spirit Breaker starting str from 25 to 23. Netherstrike cooldown from 40 to 75 and casting range from 700/800/900 to 400/550/700 (he may need another nerf, but i want to take it one step at a time with him as he is easily made useless)
* Mana cost increase for level 2 and 3 of Guardian Angel (125/150/200 to 125/175/250)
* Sange and Yasha recipe from 900 to 1000
* Aphotic Shield range improved
* Aegis removed from -dm
* Fixed the LM mode to spawn the neutral creeps at the same time offset as the other modes
* Abaddon starting agility from 13 to 17
* Fixed wrong player number display on circle of power
* Neutral Ancients can no longer attack towers (abuse precaution)
* Cleaner game end dialog and somewhat smoother exit
* Fixed a bug with DMAR that allowed repicking and screwing up the hero count.
* Dagon upgrades give an extra 2 int per level
* Pugna’s Scepter Life Drain improved
* Weaver starting str from 14 to 15
* Lina movespeed from 280 to 290
* Lycan Wolf Form has proper melee attack, not missle based
* Scythe changes unit to a sheep instead of a chicken, like it says. All stats still same
* TB base hp accidentally 50 lower due to a typo, so his base hp was increased by 50 but str reduced by 2 to keep it similar
* Many typos fixed
* Test of Faith mana cost from 140 to 175
* The game now says random or repicked instead of just “chosen” when a hero enters.
* Fixed a bug with Bloodlust multicast where it wouldn’t pick Ogre Magi as a potential target
* Smokescreen typo
* PA/SA blink stike bug where you could target yourself is fixed
* Dragon Slave AOE increased slightly
* Chen’s movement speed from 300 to 295
* Fixed Naix’s Poison Sting and Viper’s Poison Attack buff icons
* Watchers are now spell immune
* Diffusion aura from 300->350
* Radiance AOE from 400 to 550
* Desolator recipe from 1580 to 1500
* Timewalk slow reduced a bit
* Fixed a bunch of learn hotkey conflicts
* TDA specific game rules updated
* Fixed a typo on the spirit bear’s entangle

DotA Allstars v 6.27b . w3x

6.27b Changelog:
========
+ Vast improvements to CustomKeys.txt compatability (see link when forums return)
+ Fixed a Deathmatch Allrandom issue with getting more heroes than opponents
+ Mana Burn on necronomicon moved to the other unit
+ Fixed chaos bolt and crit using same learn hotkey
+ Fixed losing the items on spirit bear in DM
+ Fixed some issues with crushing wave causing a unit to be stuck in trees
+ Fixed mekansm tooltip issues
+ If a target is swapped into trees, those trees are destroyed (to help against some swap abuses)
+ Fixed berserker call affecting a shackled unit
+ Fixed a bug with -movespeed on tiny when he uses grow and morphling with adapt
+ Fixed some old issues with charge of darkness and netherstrike
+ Many typos fixed (Thanks to Ronan for his many reports)
+ Fixed some sleep issues with lightning bolt and chainfrost on a chronosphered unit
+ Spirit bear pathing issues fixed

Update:

Wordpress’ uploading system stripped the spaces from the filenames–I’ve put them back in.

You’ve heard that private file sharing networks exist, but you’ve probably never had a chance to explore one from the inside. These networks of software, music, television, and movie pirates often are run on the internal network infrastructure of private educational institutions. Because a university network has a fixed set of IP addresses, college pirates can run DC++ and write simple scripts to only allow users from the internal IP pool, or even the residential dormitory pool. This prevents unwanted interference (RIAA, MPAA, Police) with the network by simply making it invisible to the outside world. Also, most university networks are lightly-satured high-speed ethernet, giving student pirates the bandwidth to share large files.

While I attended Cornell University, students there ran a large DC++ hub to share files. There were anywhere between 1000 and 2000 users of the DC++ hub, which provided access to terabytes of shared files. Before I left the University to work, I transfered a complete set of users’ file lists to my home computer for later analysis. With 1215 XML file lists from DC++, I wrote a few perl scripts to calculate metrics on the 600mb data set.

Interestingly, the DC++ hub appears to still be around at its old redirect address thchub.no-ip.com:3307. Apparently a student r253141224 is hosting the service on his dorm computer 128.253.141.224.

Data From 20,000 Feet

From the file lists I have, there were 2,456,462 unique files, 5,424,446 total files, 19.07 unique terabytes, and 75.55 total terabytes. Here’s a histogram and data listing of the most popular file types:

mp3	1857432
jpg	828815
m4a	312173
png	264820
gif	224034
avi	203304
dll	133889
wma	116851
htm	82130
zip	79114

The file types follow a classic long-tail distribution, and let us query the data in more interesting ways. For example, for avi movie files, what were the most popular file names? Here’s the top 20:

crash.avi	90
pulp fiction.avi	76
garden state.avi	74
office space.avi	74
good will hunting.avi	72
wedding crashers.avi	67
sin city.avi	66
lost - 2x05 - ...and found.avi	65
super troopers.avi	63
zoolander.avi	60
robin hood - men in tights.avi	59
lost - 2x09 - what kate did.avi	58
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.avi	57
lost - 2x04 - everybody hates hugo.avi	57
memento.avi	57
american beauty.avi	55
batman begins.avi	55
mean girls.avi	55
lost - 2x07 - the other 48 days.avi	54
old school.avi	54

We can take advantage of common patterns in the data to try and find other patterns, but I’ll save that for another day, and another post in what will undoubtably become a series.

I am not sure why the local papers would include this information…