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25.04.2006
15.04.2006
It belongs in a museum!
Here I sit, taking a break from watching the kids (sort of) and doing my calculus, and...
Well, someone gave me a computer, claiming that all it needed was to have XP installed on it to make it... well, "modern" I guess would be the term.
On boot what you get is a DOS version (5.1) and an error that the keyboard your attempting to use is not compatible. Because your keyboard isn't attached. Because it was bought after 1990. The cable for the keyboard that works is about as big around as your pinky (trust me on this one), and connects directly to the motherboard, so the motherboard is at least that old. The BIOS was updated last in 93, which is encouraging, but I don't see any modems along the back, or jacks for networking.
I DO see that each peripheral has to have a separate board placed on the mother.
I haven't torn open the case yet, but I expect to see my first coal-powered computer.
Well, someone gave me a computer, claiming that all it needed was to have XP installed on it to make it... well, "modern" I guess would be the term.
On boot what you get is a DOS version (5.1) and an error that the keyboard your attempting to use is not compatible. Because your keyboard isn't attached. Because it was bought after 1990. The cable for the keyboard that works is about as big around as your pinky (trust me on this one), and connects directly to the motherboard, so the motherboard is at least that old. The BIOS was updated last in 93, which is encouraging, but I don't see any modems along the back, or jacks for networking.
I DO see that each peripheral has to have a separate board placed on the mother.
I haven't torn open the case yet, but I expect to see my first coal-powered computer.
trendsetting
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1. I have a computer next to me that isn't compatible with modern keyboards. I think they used chisels or something. 2. Sleep is only necessary in the morning. In the middle of the night you can be up as long as you like. 3. It doesn't hurt afterwards... only during. (note: This only applies to physical pain). 4. I like donuts. Homemade. More than I thought. 5. I'm beginning to get desperate about making money. Money-crazy we're talking. The kind where I start talking about selling plasma. Other peoples... 6. Drunk marines do not make good neighbors. 7. The evils of D&D must be ignored in favor of the good it does, such as getting a kid to write and not be bored over a 2.5 hour car trip. 8. My idea of "attractive" is not the norm. My wife could be 80 and I'd still call her "hot". 9. I like Jazz, sometimes. 10. The Sims is less successful with the younger generation (see my Technical Journalism class) than I thought. 11. Freedom is harder to defend than it would look like at first. 12. The sacrifice of personal freedom for the greater good is frickin' admirable, and it's the first step in joining the military. Even people in boot deserve a nod and a thank you. People in ROTC do not. 13. I remember more about gaming than I do about High School. 14. (bonus!) I'll wear a trenchcoat in 90 degree weather, because I know it bothers people. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) |
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Supplies update!
The Ninja(c) now knows 16 languages fluently, including "ancient Eye-talian" (which is different from Latin AND Roman due to not having anything to do with Rome. At All.
But the hardest is Russian, because of trying to pronounce 'K' backward and such.
I swear that the boy needs to be pantsed on national TV. Or have him dancing to the "Ninja Rap" on the internet.
Oh, and he can speak ancient Egyptian, a language that even Egyptians don't know.
He also speaks (for the record, though this list isn't exhaustive):
Chinese (Cantonese, not Mandarin)
Celtic
Spanish
French
Modern Eye-talian
English (and, he says "bad English", but I doubt that the hair band wants anything to do with him).
Japanese, where the chicks dig him.
Inuit (which is not the same as Inyerear - I asked).
Ancient Greek, which suffers many of the problems that Russian does, what with having to speak a different alphabet.
But the hardest is Russian, because of trying to pronounce 'K' backward and such.
I swear that the boy needs to be pantsed on national TV. Or have him dancing to the "Ninja Rap" on the internet.
Oh, and he can speak ancient Egyptian, a language that even Egyptians don't know.
He also speaks (for the record, though this list isn't exhaustive):
Chinese (Cantonese, not Mandarin)
Celtic
Spanish
French
Modern Eye-talian
English (and, he says "bad English", but I doubt that the hair band wants anything to do with him).
Japanese, where the chicks dig him.
Inuit (which is not the same as Inyerear - I asked).
Ancient Greek, which suffers many of the problems that Russian does, what with having to speak a different alphabet.
06.04.2006
As if you didn't know.
Dell is having some sort of sale... so, solely in the interest of providing the consuming public with some data, hard facts regarding the quality of this sale and whether or not to purchase a Dell.
Don't.
I'll qualify that a little. The configuration process wasn't any easier or harder than the other two I bothered to check out, and they did offer a broader supply of software for immediate purchase. But...
ABS had better prices. I'm not talking huge, but these weren't sale prices, and I shot for pretty good quality, starting with the top-of-the-line gaming notebook on each occassion. For some reason. Or it was totally arbitrary.
ABS offered more product quality options, higher processing speeds, more memories, more drives. Oh, and I pressed the button for "I won't ever have to fix this thing. If it brakes, I ship it back and get a new one within a week." In each case, and ABS's customer support (from personal experience) is awesome. Compared to HP and Dell (as well as Compaq, which is now a division of HP, unless it isn't anymore), I'd rather go hang on the phone with people who genuinely seem to want my business.
But I digress.
ABS even offers a free mousepad and t-shirt, and another mousepad (something like a UFO, except without the flying part. Mostly the cool glowing effect, so you can be the only person on your block that has to plug in their mouse pad).
I'm still a pretty staunch supporter of ABS, primarily because they have American tech support that actually sounds like it cares when you call.
Dell's tech support is in India, and is simply difficult to understand sometimes. (I will not knock people that simply want a job and do know how to go about it... but talking to them can be a challenge - both ways, I'm sure.)
I've never used Alienware's tech support, but I can probably transfer you to someone who has. Please hold...
Don't.
I'll qualify that a little. The configuration process wasn't any easier or harder than the other two I bothered to check out, and they did offer a broader supply of software for immediate purchase. But...
ABS had better prices. I'm not talking huge, but these weren't sale prices, and I shot for pretty good quality, starting with the top-of-the-line gaming notebook on each occassion. For some reason. Or it was totally arbitrary.
ABS offered more product quality options, higher processing speeds, more memories, more drives. Oh, and I pressed the button for "I won't ever have to fix this thing. If it brakes, I ship it back and get a new one within a week." In each case, and ABS's customer support (from personal experience) is awesome. Compared to HP and Dell (as well as Compaq, which is now a division of HP, unless it isn't anymore), I'd rather go hang on the phone with people who genuinely seem to want my business.
But I digress.
ABS even offers a free mousepad and t-shirt, and another mousepad (something like a UFO, except without the flying part. Mostly the cool glowing effect, so you can be the only person on your block that has to plug in their mouse pad).
I'm still a pretty staunch supporter of ABS, primarily because they have American tech support that actually sounds like it cares when you call.
Dell's tech support is in India, and is simply difficult to understand sometimes. (I will not knock people that simply want a job and do know how to go about it... but talking to them can be a challenge - both ways, I'm sure.)
I've never used Alienware's tech support, but I can probably transfer you to someone who has. Please hold...
05.04.2006
Following the trend
Some bloggers have made an effort to get known, to let their audience know them more closely, and one of those ways is with the "Thursday 13". This would be a list of 13 things about them. Since I'm not really in that camp, but I like the idea, you're getting:
THIRTEEN (GAMING) THINGS:
1) I personally used an ancient sword and a soul gem to capture the purple dragon. It was awesome.
2) I've sought revenge for my parents mysterious murder no less than 7 times. And succeeded each time.
3) "You can wait in the car or come with us?"
(ten minutes later) "Charlie? Where'd he go?"
4) I've slid down the roof of the Empire State Building firing semi-automatic weapons with both hands before sliding off the roof, catching the lip, and lobbing a pack of C-12 into a nearby zeppelin with terrorists in it. I believe they planned on assassinating the president.
5) I was an entire intelligence gathering unit, and sewer inspector.
6) Crazy people made me do it. Whatever "it" is, rest assured it is the fault of at least one crazy person.
7) I was raised to kill vampires, against my knowledge.
8) I'm two people, at least. At a time. Especially when I'm psychic.
9) I think I have something like 3 artifact weapons, including a giant mechanical lobster.
10) I can hack the world.
11) People who wear masks really CAN'T be trusted.
12) Except when they're lying, and they know that you know that they're lying and they do it anyway.
13) Girls sometimes blow me up.
THIRTEEN (GAMING) THINGS:
1) I personally used an ancient sword and a soul gem to capture the purple dragon. It was awesome.
2) I've sought revenge for my parents mysterious murder no less than 7 times. And succeeded each time.
3) "You can wait in the car or come with us?"
(ten minutes later) "Charlie? Where'd he go?"
4) I've slid down the roof of the Empire State Building firing semi-automatic weapons with both hands before sliding off the roof, catching the lip, and lobbing a pack of C-12 into a nearby zeppelin with terrorists in it. I believe they planned on assassinating the president.
5) I was an entire intelligence gathering unit, and sewer inspector.
6) Crazy people made me do it. Whatever "it" is, rest assured it is the fault of at least one crazy person.
7) I was raised to kill vampires, against my knowledge.
8) I'm two people, at least. At a time. Especially when I'm psychic.
9) I think I have something like 3 artifact weapons, including a giant mechanical lobster.
10) I can hack the world.
11) People who wear masks really CAN'T be trusted.
12) Except when they're lying, and they know that you know that they're lying and they do it anyway.
13) Girls sometimes blow me up.
A moment...
The thrust of my newest homework is that I fetch info from a file and put sentence's from that file into an array (an array is, essentially, a list). After doing that, I must ask the user for input (a "topic"), and fetch a sentence relevant to that (containing the topic in question). I get bonus point's for making it fetch different sentence's each time it fetche's one, regardles's of topic.
But, during recitation, I get to tinker around with my game. They won't let me do all of the thing's I want to do (I had to through away the goblin ninja (throwing bear's!) and some of the room's I've suggested haven't come to pass (mon'ster's need "private time" too!). Regardless, it is a true joy to muck about with a MUD.
But, during recitation, I get to tinker around with my game. They won't let me do all of the thing's I want to do (I had to through away the goblin ninja (throwing bear's!) and some of the room's I've suggested haven't come to pass (mon'ster's need "private time" too!). Regardless, it is a true joy to muck about with a MUD.
03.04.2006
Verb. That's what's happening...
I need to preface this with an important bulletin: THIS IS A REAL GUY. In my calculus class. The first time I talked to him I hardly paid attention to him aside from his size, but he's been breaking me down with some of the most outrageous lies I think he can come up with. Oh, and I updated this to include some b.s. about his co-workers.
There he is. 6'10", and about as big around. What's he going to say this time?
Ah. Weather station in the arctic... over the weekend. In shorts, because that's what you do in sub-zero weather when you're used to it. Never mind that he's lived in Colorado for at least 14 years of his life... by his own word, mind, so it's suspect.
Want to hear what he did over Spring break? Thought you might, so I'll tell: he flew an F-17 over to the U.S.S. Enterprise, where he tried to land it only to have the officer riding shotgun(!) mess things up. Needless to say he fell 120 meters into the ocean without injury, but the plane was totalled. He was trying to get to Japan, from which he'd gotten a booty-call.
All of this was already on top of the vague possibility that he was a notorious computer hacker and was currently working on attaining 5 engineering degrees simultaneously from a school that only offers 4 (sans environmental and civic, which he ruled out). His co-workers are all ex-Navy SEALs with deadly skills in killing anyone he doesn't like.
He's also a ninja (from the latin "ninjae,"meaning: to ninj. So all of this extracurricular work seriously cuts in on his ability to carry out secret assassinations or infiltrations.
But not to fear, for he has a rare medical disorder, if one could call it that, which allows him to go for days without sleep and suffer no ill effects. He's ambidextrous, so he can use to medium class weapons at the same time without penalty.
I think he's, like, a 40th level wizard.
There he is. 6'10", and about as big around. What's he going to say this time?
Ah. Weather station in the arctic... over the weekend. In shorts, because that's what you do in sub-zero weather when you're used to it. Never mind that he's lived in Colorado for at least 14 years of his life... by his own word, mind, so it's suspect.
Want to hear what he did over Spring break? Thought you might, so I'll tell: he flew an F-17 over to the U.S.S. Enterprise, where he tried to land it only to have the officer riding shotgun(!) mess things up. Needless to say he fell 120 meters into the ocean without injury, but the plane was totalled. He was trying to get to Japan, from which he'd gotten a booty-call.
All of this was already on top of the vague possibility that he was a notorious computer hacker and was currently working on attaining 5 engineering degrees simultaneously from a school that only offers 4 (sans environmental and civic, which he ruled out). His co-workers are all ex-Navy SEALs with deadly skills in killing anyone he doesn't like.
He's also a ninja (from the latin "ninjae,"meaning: to ninj. So all of this extracurricular work seriously cuts in on his ability to carry out secret assassinations or infiltrations.
But not to fear, for he has a rare medical disorder, if one could call it that, which allows him to go for days without sleep and suffer no ill effects. He's ambidextrous, so he can use to medium class weapons at the same time without penalty.
I think he's, like, a 40th level wizard.
Sadeness pt. 3
Outside those doors the American public waits, aching to claim the identity that should be theirs. Superman and Mickey Mouse, "Happy Birthday" and The Andrew Sisters. In the beginning the copyright laws only lasted 14 years, with a possible 14 year extension. Twenty-eight years ago. To know and own your personal history, with the nation. The Bee-Gees could be yours. Chuck Berry could be yours. The Beatles could be yours. Free and clear. The people have paid for them with time and support. Set them free.
02.04.2006
To extremes...
Having made donuts in the recent passed, I'm hungry for more to do with my deep-fryer in the way of breads. It makes a mess of the oil, though, so it can be pretty expensive. Oh, well.
Scones. From this moment forth I shall refer to the scones one finds in Utah (and various neighboring states) as either "American Scones" (to distinguish them from "U.K." or "Scottish" scones) or just "scones", because I'm in America. Should I step out of the bounds of this country, I'll understand that scones are a different beast altogether.
Anyway, I'm trying to find a good recipe that serves fewer than 60. I used an internet search engine to inquire, but after reading 13 pages that didn't deliver, I thought I'd ask the general public if they had any good American scone recipes.
I can't decide if "Indian Fry Bread" is actually the same substance or no.
3 pts to me for not making a "waffle" joke.
Scones. From this moment forth I shall refer to the scones one finds in Utah (and various neighboring states) as either "American Scones" (to distinguish them from "U.K." or "Scottish" scones) or just "scones", because I'm in America. Should I step out of the bounds of this country, I'll understand that scones are a different beast altogether.
Anyway, I'm trying to find a good recipe that serves fewer than 60. I used an internet search engine to inquire, but after reading 13 pages that didn't deliver, I thought I'd ask the general public if they had any good American scone recipes.
I can't decide if "Indian Fry Bread" is actually the same substance or no.
3 pts to me for not making a "waffle" joke.
01.04.2006
Now that's what I call...
Here's the thing:
If you want to sell something, people that might buy it need to know about it. Which automatically wipes out a good chunk of the population: them to poor to purchase it.
Granted, I've seen people starve themselves for things they felt they "couldn't live without," but that decreases the likelihood that your customer will stick around, and I feel pretty certain that, within the confines of this argument, I won't advocate starvation.
What to do with this significant portion of the populace, one that has a section of it that isn't always poor (see also: college students, temporarily unemployed... etc). You want to market to them, obviously. Keep them hooked if they already are, get them if they aren't.
But you don't want to waste alot of resources doing so... what do you do?
Well, college students are pretty easy. They've got special vectors you can address (do a show at the student center, giveaways for signing, departmental deals (such as HP supplying the computer labs), etc)
The remaining poor, well, there's pamphlets and such, but that kinda sucks. How about giving serious discounts to goverment agencies to distribute your goods to the poor? Maybe even a loss?
Tried that, hunh?
Well, what about dealers on the corner, and give the first one away? I've heard that works.
If you want to sell something, people that might buy it need to know about it. Which automatically wipes out a good chunk of the population: them to poor to purchase it.
Granted, I've seen people starve themselves for things they felt they "couldn't live without," but that decreases the likelihood that your customer will stick around, and I feel pretty certain that, within the confines of this argument, I won't advocate starvation.
What to do with this significant portion of the populace, one that has a section of it that isn't always poor (see also: college students, temporarily unemployed... etc). You want to market to them, obviously. Keep them hooked if they already are, get them if they aren't.
But you don't want to waste alot of resources doing so... what do you do?
Well, college students are pretty easy. They've got special vectors you can address (do a show at the student center, giveaways for signing, departmental deals (such as HP supplying the computer labs), etc)
The remaining poor, well, there's pamphlets and such, but that kinda sucks. How about giving serious discounts to goverment agencies to distribute your goods to the poor? Maybe even a loss?
Tried that, hunh?
Well, what about dealers on the corner, and give the first one away? I've heard that works.
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