Soleq

I once attempted to answer this question, but instead ended up answering another: why do we exist? (don't confuse this with the above stated question, as they are very different).I'll elaborate. I am a dualist, in that I believe that things come in pairs. Black/white, male/female, up/down, etc. Now, before we start venturing into abstract-land, let's get one thing straight: it is not absurd to believe in the concept of "nothingness." Okay, let's begin.Based on the acceptance of the concept of "nothingness," it is not unreasonable for a dualist to assume there is an equal (but opposite) match for this. This match, I call "somethingness." Hence, because "nothing" exists, "something" must exist too. Let's take this and convert it to another concept, death. Since death (the absence of all life) exists, the opposite of death must exist as well. Hence, we now have life. So, long story short, life exists because the absence of life (death) also exists. So, basically we're here to die.Comments, suggestions?

Oh, this is an easy question. Since I use Macs, my ftp client of choice has been Fetch since day one. Even back 10 years ago when I first connected to the internet, Fetch has been there. Sure, I've tried others that claim "true Finder-like interface," but none have been as solid as Fetch.I suppose one day a better client will come about. Until then, I'll be sticking with my brown dog of a client.

The iPod made ground with being the first MP3 player to actually hold a substantial number of songs. Before it, there were flash-based MP3 players that promised a whopping 32 or 64 MBs of storage for MP3s. Translation: those 1st generation MP3 players could basically only hold a CD or two of songs, but cost quite a bit. Big deal. Then Apple enters and with a successful advertising campaign manages to actually show people what MP3 players were meant to be: carry your entire music collection wherever you go. To boot, they could also be used as mini hard disks for complete mobility.While the initial price was high (and still is), the fact is that people associate Apple with quality. A lot of my fiance's student's got MP3 players for Christmas, and not more than a few weeks after, about half of them are either broken or defective. I doubt that would have happened if they bought iPods. Can't say for sure though.With the addition of the iPod Shuffle, Apple will be able to pull in even more market share. I have neglected buying an MP3 player for two reasons: price and size. Now that a 1GB MP3 player exists that can easily fit in my pocket, I'm most likely going to get it.

You left out perhaps the largest blog site for the teenage crowd: LiveJournal.I use/d Blogspot, simply because it was free, gave you multitudes of templates, and had to option for remote hosting. Oh, and you get a subdomain for a direct link (xxx.blogspot.com) instead of a simple directory. However, the interface to add posts to it is somewhat complicated, and I had to switch between two different browsers to fully use all of the features. Still though, it's probably the best.

I've used both Seagate and Maxtor drives. From my experiences, the Seagate drives work very well with minimal problems. My Maxtor drive occasionally has sector errors and whatnot, but so far so good. If I had to choose a single company, I'd go with Seagate any day. Can't complain about an old 300MB drive that was made in 1996 that's still running strong

Invading North Korea wouldn't really solve any "problems" that the US Govt. sees in dire need of fixing. Sure, NK is violating human rights every day, and they pose to be a nuclear threat in the future, but as it stands right now, the US has obligations in Iraq and any military historian can tell you that two battlefronts is a horrible mistake. I'm a firm believer that it was a mistake to enter the Iraq war, and then not fully carry through with the mission, but I would lose all faith in our military leadership if we were to now invade North Korea on a very similar charge of possessing WMD.

I have to admit that the Eagles are weaker now without TO. However, they're still a very powerful team, and it's pretty easy to see a Eagles vs. Steelers/Colts matchup. I predict that they'll easily win against the Rams, probably sealing the deal by the early 3rd quarter. While Atlanta is performing very well, they have a history of blowing it in the playoffs. Sure, they'll get the first round bye, and most likely make it to the NFC championship, but I bet they blow it there.

I most closely align myself with Eastern philosophy, and I'm quite pleased to see how the Bhuddists are reacting to the tsunami. As with anything in this world, there is a balance. Out of the immediate pain and destruction will come a time of unity. Complete nations that were once at war with each other (or itself) are now setting aside those differences to promote survival. Sure, the occasional fight may break out, but in the end, this is a time of rebirth.It's hard for me to even contimplate a divine act such as this. I find many flaws in the majority of western religions, and this would certainly be one of them.

Funny, the last movie I watched on DVD (about 2 hours ago) was Napoleon Dynamite as well. I stopped it half way through because I just couldn't stand it. I simply don't see how this movie got so famous.Now...the other movie I rented, Zatoichi, should be pretty good. I've been dying to see it after I pieced together that it's a modern remake of my favorite Japanese samurai movie Blind Ichi vs. Yojimbo. There's nothing like a blind samurai kickin' gangster bootay.

There is no need to bump here. I believe it is strongly frowned upon.Anyway, the scientific implications of this event are quite interesting. I've read that the earthquake that caused this tsunami might have actually shifted the plates enough to "push" a certain island chain (can't remember which) a whole 98 feet. Someone confirm this, as I've lost the source. Also, on CNN it was saying that the earthquake might have shifted the Earth's tilt and sped up the Earth's rotation. Large claims, but nonetheless pretty incredible. Again, I invite anyone to post sources confirming or refuting this.I myself have been in two earthquakes, both relatively minor at 5.9 and 6.0. Since the scale is exponential, the 9.0 earthquake is 1000x stronger than what I felt. I really couldn't imagine what the destructive power would have been if it was centered on a populous area. Scary.

I noticed in my root directory here on Xisto a public_ftp folder as opposed to the public_html folder. I believe that an FTP server already exists for members here, and all you need to do is drop files into the folder. There's probably a config control panel in the CPANEL site, but I haven't checked that out. Anyway, if that's the case, it's a very simple thing to do here. Just another reason why Xisto is my godsend, as opposed to so many other pay or do-it-yourself services.

Right, Java 2 is simply the 1.4.x releases. I believe it started with the release of 1.2, and just stuck. I'm not entirely sure, so if I'm wrong, don't point your finger and should "Ah ha!"That said, the J2EE is the enterprise edition. It's for databases and corporate works.

I originally learned on C. However, I didn't master it enough to actually write usable code. Then I attempted to learn C++, which confused me beyond belief as my instructor didn't know the first thing about Objects and OOP. However, in college, we were forced to learn Java, and I'll say that it's a very nice approach to OOP if you have no idea what it is. Granted, Java itself isn't exactly the best language to use (for many different reasons), it is a perfect springboard to other languages. That's why CalPoly taught Java, as they knew that we could eventually practically teach ourselves new languages with the basis of Java.So, learn Java first. The entire Computer Science department at CalPoly does it, so why not?

Hehe, so many computers...so I'll only list the ones I use.#1) LunaApple G4 "Gigabit"Dual 500448 ram20gig+30gig hds#2) PhoenixApple G3 iBook700mhz384 ram40gig hd#3) eMacApple G4 eMac1ghz512 ram60gig hd

I've read that the next gen iPod will support Ogg Vorbis. Not postive, but it seems like a likely approach.I myself am and have been hesitant to buy an MP3 player. I've been pleasantly surprised by the iPod's success, though the latest iPod photo doesn't do a thing for me. Big whoop, a color screen. The Photo capabilities are a joke. Unless Apple includes a CF slot for real image transfer, I'm afraid I'm just sticking to my laptop. Now there's a good portable music player. It helps too having the screen that I can actually control iTunes with when I'm DJing the local middle school dance.

Since I rarely read long posts (including ones before my own post), I have to assume that the following has not been said. If it has, then oh well. The barriers are coping mechanisms. Thus, to deal with coping mechanisms, one has to face what is troubling to that specific person. If one clams up at the mention of holidays, then one must tread down memory lane back to his or her past holidays and face the experiences that make them uncomfortable. Since it's a lot easier to not say anything, the most basic solution is to just start talking. Tell what you feel, at the present. It can be so simple as "I feel sad." Then, talk about what makes you sad. It's a gradual process, and by no means does anyone expect to make a breakthrough during the first 15 minutes. As time goes by, you'll be able to express more accurately what you feel and what's making you feel that way.

Agreed. Most people just can't sit at a screen, even an LCD, and read a book for hours. And then there's the ever-present problem of reading at a stationary location. I prefer to take my book around where ever I go, which, I can't do with my 19" CRT. I tried the PDA fad, twice, and both times ended up giving it up because I just couldn't deal with the small screen. However, I've tried the new tablet PCs, and I'm impressed by what I see. This is the next wave, in my opinion, of what's going to be hot in business. The tablets out now are a little premature, but think about it, in a year or so you'll be able to take around a small tablet about 6x8", probably about an inch thick, and voila, instant PC/PDA/book/magazine/other. I want one now.

I've seen the films only to witness for myself the hysteria and hype that always surrounds them. I was mildly impressed by the first film, the second was better, but the third was horrid. Never before have I sat through a movie, and then all of a sudden watch the ending credits roll up and think "that's it?" Horrid I tell you. I wanted my money back.However, I haven't given any thought to reading the books. True, I've heard that they're much better than the films, but alas, I just find so many other books more interesting to read. If I was stuck in some random time warp where time stood still, maybe then I'd read them. As it stands, the HP series has a lot to make up for the last film. Did I mention it was horrid?

You have to be at least 18 to open an account and make finacial decisions. If you're under, then you need someone to do it for you.Taking economics courses teaches you the theory of economics, which in turn helps you make informed decisions when making trades. For example, if you know how to analyze the data companies are required to give out in quarterly statements, you can make your own informed decisions that most people either don't give out or charge an arm and a leg for. Thus, the theory is very important. Dull, yes, but important nonetheless.I run through Sharebuilder.com, which is a nice service. I really need to buy some more stocks, but hey, money's tight and I'd rather not get evicted, right?

I've been using DSL for the last 5 years or so. From what I've found, in my area DSL provides superior speeds and general connections. At my old house, I used to get top notch speeds (well, for me at least) of around 152K/sec downstream and 43k/sec upstream. Not too shabby. However, in my new apartment they capped the bandwidth to a piddly 12K/sec downstream/upstream combined. Horrible!Of course, my neighbor has a wireless network without encryption, so...And work always provides the T1.

I learned HTML from a book while waiting for a flight in some random city. Read the entire "HTML for Idiots" book. Yes, it was that long of a wait.Except that since I didn't have anything to practice on, I forgot most of it by the time I got to a computer. I then managed to scribble out my first webpage, which was "snazzy" for the day with blinking text and whatnot. Sure, it was hip for being 1996.Since then I stopped coding in HTML and stuck with programs that do it for me. However, for this one project I'm working on I'm sticking with pure code, which is seeming to work quite well. Sure, everything is different, but hey, <img src=""></img> is still the same. That's all I care about.

I completely agree with you. It's like those who believe that driving a clutch is hard. It's not hard, it's just different. Except that the analogy should really be inversed, which I don't really want to bother typing out right now.

For general information sake, you never need to pay money to own a copyright. Technically, everything you create is copyrighted, sans very generic items such as a piece of paper with "Hi!" on it. Well, technically even that is copyrighted.The important thing to do is always add a copyright notice to works you want copyrighted. That simply lets people know "hey, don't steal my stuff." If you really need stuff documented, then the US government does offer a copyrighting service that costs $25.00 per item. Kind of expensive, but there's a trick people in the business use.Okay, so it's $25 per item, right? Well, what about a CD, DVD, or tape? Yeah, you can hold a ton of photos, literary works, movies, whatnot on those types of media, but if there's one CD, that's one item to copyright. Pretty simple, eh?Most everyone I know doesn't use CDs or DVDs. Instead, they use standard VHS tapes. The reason is simply because CD/DVDs aren't proven to be good archiving mediums, whereas tape uses traditional film (and therefore is). So, just grab a camcorder, and start making a tape of all of your works. You just need to get a general sense of the work (like a photograph or painting), enough to be recognizable. There's no need to spend 20 minutes filming one thing, just a quick shot will do.For websites, you can submit the code in the same manner, but really, you're changing the code so much that it wouldn't do much good. Maybe you could copyright the CSS, but again, that should change. Just post a little ©Copyright 2004 "Your name" and you'll be fine.

It's really a crapshoot. I sold my stocks in July for $35/share. Now they're worth close to $65/share. Stupid me, but when it comes to the eat now or maybe lose money later, I choose the eat now option. Oh, and I bought at $15/share four years ago, so I had already doubled my money, and I didn't want to press my luck any farther. You play the game, and more often than not, the game plays you. Now, as for general tips, the number one thing is luck. Seriously. Like I said above, I bought the stocks four years ago, and during that time I saw my profits go high, then sink like a rock, then go back up. I sold on the up, but they just kept going up. Oh well.There are two types of investors (no, not smart ones and dumb ones): short term and long term. The best option is long term, as you'll always minimize your losses if you plan for a gain in the distant future. I have no idea how to short term trade. I guess just anticipate what you think will be hot, do your research, and stay near a phone. Long term is pretty easy, as you can invest in mutual funds that practically do all the hard work for you, or you can simply choose some good looking stocks and hold onto them for several years.I hope this helps you out. Sorry if it just makes you more confused.