mimi_m

I know this topic may be a sore spot to some people, but don't you think you're taking this just a little TOO out of focus? War? I mean... okay, everyone has heard of hate crimes being commited in America, but that could hardly be classified as a reason for 'tearing the country apart', now could it? It's healthy to not accept what others believe, like you clearly state is your perspective, but I think you're being hypocritical here. If other's must accept that your beliefs wont change, why dont you accept that theirs arent either? The only way a 'war' is going to errupt out of conflicting morals is if people cant find the open-mindedness to just accept others and let them be. Hell, you dont even need to like it, but it doesnt affect YOU whether Billy Joe from down the street is gay or not, does it? and to think that you're 'prey' ...i mean, egotism much? And weomen arent the only prey for heterosexuals. My friends LOVE to stalk hot guys every now and then You also say that open sexuality is 'offensive' to you. This I dont understand... I mean, as much as some people may dislike it, sexuality is a HUGE part of human life. There's a difference between what's considered obscene and what's considered affection, but according to your logic, an elderly couple strolling down the park hand-in-hand should be outcasted, because they are publically displaying a form of 'sexuality'. I don't believe in censorship... it's a form of oppression. And stopping people from displaying their beliefs, sexuality, WHATEVER will cause a war, NOT moral activists. I think your grudge is with liberal activists, by the sound of your post, and I think that's hardly related to open sexuality and preferences. Get a grip, will ya?

When I'm working with PDF, it's usually saving images I make from Photoshop to print. I think someone above had already mentioned this is poitless, to just save it as a jpeg or something... but I disagree.When I was doing graphics, I found that saving my photoshop images as a high-quality PDF file was the best way when getting them professionally printed. Because when you go to a professional printer, they wont have photoshop so they wont be able to open a ps file, and I've had troubles with saving images as large TIFFs and so forth. As for being able to download it without saving it on a server... I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If you want a PDF downloadable from a website, you're going to have to upload it to the site's server for it to be available for download, just like any other file. The reason why alot of formal sites tend to put their info in a PDF file for downloading, rather than just displaying the info, is because most of the time that information is already previously presented in - like - a book or pamphlet or something. And converting the graphics from them into a PDF to download is esier and more efficient than retyping all that info. My guess is that the info and images and all were already put together by quark express or some other program, and they just saved the files as PDF. I've also heard it's possible to use XML to create PDF files, although I havent put that into practise myself.Hope that answers what you wanted to know.

I use both MSN and yahoo, but not trillian... coz I have no reason to. Let me explain... All of my friends and everyone I know use MSN. I dont really know ONE person who uses yahoo as a messenger. Understandably, of course... it's crap. So i got a 'passport' for msn and use that as my messenger. The reason I use yahoo messenger is merely coz msn wont alert me when I get new mail. That's the ONLY reason I use yahoo messenger. I just run the two at the same time. I have no contacts in yahoo messenger, so it'd be pointless to use trillian when I really only use MSN... i LOVE msn it has everything I could ever want. Running yahoo at the same time doesnt really take up alot of space/speed, so I think it's better off this way. Plus I can listen to launch on yahoo if I'm in the mood, without as much ads or the lauch website up. It's a little trick I learnt from someone here at Xisto. Yeah.

Microsoft office works for me. My brother has openoffice, and I hate it. I stick with Microsoft. I dunno... maybe its because I grew up with it, using it at school and all... so I guess I'm just more used to it, it's more familiar. So I find it alot easier to use. Plus, I've found that microsoft has alot of features that openoffice doesnt provide. Just little things here and there... probably barely noticeable at first impression, but after a while it'll start to get to you.And I dont think you can open microsoft documents on openoffice programs... or am I wrong on that one?

DVD decrypter. Works best, every time. I think If you mess with the settings, it can also be done with DVD shrink. They are the two best programs out there. Find them. Get them.

I used to be a huge fan of sim city... that was, of course, before the Sims came out. Now there's no 'sim' substitute and nothing compares. I dont think I've even played sim city ONCE since the sims came out... and that was pretty strange, coz it used to be, like, my favourite game. Ah well.

I've always loved sims, ever since I was around 12/13 when it first came out. YEARS ago. When sims 2 came out, it was great, but I had kinda grown out of playing it religiously... but I still loved it. The improvements were astounding! Especially the flexibility with camera angles and the ability to edit the smallest of facial features, in order to create the precise look you want for a sim. That's always fun.But with the new expansion pack, University, I love it to death but I've found a few things that really annoy me.For one, the fact that you cant turn off aging - because the 'semesters' still run and you still havta do exams and finish the year and all that jazz. Which means you can only stay in the 'university' and the dorms and all that for only 4 sim years... which is NOT long. Its like... 6 sim days for a year 2 pass by. I dont play sims to have them grow old and stuff, I have them just for the fun of playing cool, young lives. What's the point of university if you havta get kicked out after only a few days of game play. That really bugs me. The other thing that bugs me is that the 'young adult' sims cant use the clothing of adult sims, and there is hardly as much downloads for young adult sims out there as there are for normal adults. The expansion pack didnt even convert all of the original 'adult' clothes, so theres not much choice there.Yeah, that's just what I think. Maybe I'm spending too much time playing games

I dont believe it. Majority of game players will go for PS3, because they are more used to the playstation games, without having all the complicated additions of all the new Xbox features. I dunno... maybe it just confuses me But I seriously think playstation has loyal, die-hard fans that will always choose it over xbox. And besides, PC games should stay on PC... thats what makes a PC game. Being able to play it on computer. Just what I think...

Actually, it's not too big around where I come from. And those who do have one, are those arrogant people who think everyone wants to read about their lives. The people I know, maybe 1 out of every 15 or 20 has one. And that's people my age... around 18/19/20. So I dunno. I'm not a huge fan either.

I use to have this camera that i LOVED. It took great shots that always came out great. But it was old, and sometimes the batteries would begin to die and the photos it would take were slurred. It was also a huge hassel switching film when the first would run out, and if I was on an outting or traveling with friends, you realize pretty quick you dont want to waste so much time rewinding and switching film. For someone who isnt a full-fledged professional photographer, digital rocks. I decided last year to get a digital camera (where I live they have only been around for a few years), and I couldnt be happier. TONS of pics can be stored on one card, which is probably one of the best features, as well as being able to easily save them on your own comp (or just as easily get them professionally printed), but aside from that, what has to be the one thing that totally converted me is the lcd screen on a digital. It saves so much space and heart-breaking by being able to see how good the pics you take are BEFORE getting them printed, and deciding whether you want to keep it or re-take it. It's an awesome feature, and now I dont know how I could live without it.I was abe to take THE BEST shots when I went on a holiday with friends, because I could tell straight away whether the shot worked or not. PLUS, it's alot easier if I want to do my own graphics for a website or whatever, and I can just take my own photos and transfere them to my computer with total simplicity. You could even go as far to say digital changed my life...well, it DID in some ways... lol.I have an olypus camedia, 8x optical zoom. Pretty good stuff... took me ages to save for it, though.

Haha! I like that. That's a good one

I dont know one person without a computer... and when my comp crashed last year... well, lets just say it wasnt pleasant. ...i almost DIED!lol. Yup. Definately cant live without.

I dont know about america, but in australia and UK the book comes out July 16. Next month... very soon (yay!). It's crazy... sure I'm a fan, but there are all these posters in all the bookstores around that are counting down the sleeps until it comes out... haha, I remember seeing the poster for the first time a while ago... something like "only 123 sleeps to go!" LOL. riiiiiiiigggghhttt.........There was even alot of controversy brought up lately, becuase some guys in the UK had apparently got a copy of the manuscript, and are ransoming it, because JKR is really crazy this time about not releasing ANYTHING until July 16. It was... crazy. Lol.Anyway, I'm a huge fan. I know it's sad... I always told myself I'd never become a fan, it'd be too pathetic. Oops, looks like I was wrong. I even have a lot of friends who became READERS because of harry potter. And that's actually a common tale...And as for the movies... non-harry fans, dont judge HP by the movies. Especially the last one... No. 3 the prisoner of azkaban... that was the worst piece of crap I ever saw, yet, ironically, No. 3 was the BEST book. Go figure.thats all i havta say

Wow... I'm actually quite surprised at some of the responses I've read here. Homosexuality is contagious? Gay marriage is like drugs? Sexual orientation is a preference, because children can’t tell the difference between genders due to being uneducated?Yeh. I don’t think it's the children here who are the 'uneducated' ones. I may be biased, but I’m open minded. I’ll pretty much accept anything as long as it’s not something completely ignorant and hypocritical. And for those people, you just have to shake your head at and walk away. It’s a little trick I learnt from my stupid younger brother when I realized using logic with him totally passed right by him. Idiot. In my own biased opinion, If people are ignorant enough to create societal diversities based on sexuality, those people aren't even worth you're time. There are some people you can't reason with, so just let them be in their little bible-reading worlds full of denial, lies and ignorance. What we need to try and focus on changing is the mass attitude of society, not an ignorant individual opinion. I’m lucky… I come from a culture where everyone is so apathetic that pretty much anything is accepted. (Melbourne, Australia, just for reference). I’m not saying apathy is a good thing, but people down here don’t get too worked up over irrelevant things like sexual preference. There’s barely any hate crimes committed, and I’ve never heard of a hate crime being committed due to homosexuality. Only those who are ‘uneducated’ would disagree that this is a healthy attitude for a society. Personally, I approve of the recent media hype that advocates homosexuality. Media is allegedly the biggest influence of western culture, and shows such as ‘queer eye’, ‘will n grace’, etc. help to communicate to the public the normalcy of being gay. It helps influence opinions, and helps people become more open-minded. And if anyone says that ‘gay’ isn’t ‘normal’, don’t even get me started. This may be a low-blow to die-hard catholics or very obstinate believers of a 'natural' sexuality, but it's about time you wake up and read a book or two about genetic make-up. Its called FACTS, alot more than what you'd find in the holy book.Remember people, anything controversial is GOOD.

Unfortunately, if you're serious about photography, you cant afford to not afford a good program. (lame line i know...)Theres no free substitute for photoshop. It's industry standard, so anyone who's anyone in the photography world has it. Download the trail and see for yourself the wonders of what is probably the best program ever created.