Sarah81

Excellent advice. I'm going to have to scream "Yeah! What you said!" on skipping Flash intros. I *hate* Flash intros. If they're so great, and so vital to the site, why do 99.999 percent of them have the "skip intro" option? Not that I don't appreciate Flash programming. People who can do that are awesome. One other suggestion that I have is page load speed. Granted, most of us are on high-speed connections, and most of us have pretty fast computers, but there are still plenty of people on dial-up and slower systems. Every time I go home from college, I'm on dialup. So I don't visit most of the sites that I frequent when I'm here at school on my own computer.

Same with my site. If a hacker really wants to mess up my little tangents and other writing, then he or she can go for it. It's not like I don't have offline copies of my files *grins*

I think it's great that this kid is tackling something that most people would think is impossible for him (i.e. actually beating opponents).But this reminds me of a story my father told me. Years ago, my father taught wood shop at a comm. college. He had a blind student who refused to believe that anything was out of his realm of possibilities.That's great - in itself, I mean.But this blind man thought that he could cut firewood with a chainsaw.While he didn't injure himself or anything like that ... he still freaked out everyone who saw him doing it, including my father. Who made the guy promise to not try that sort of thing again.

That's a *very* open-ended request. Even if you're very specific on exactly what you want to put into this system, prices on each component vary depending on where you are, where you buy them, *when* you buy them, etc. One of the best things that you can do before you start trying to build your own system is to understand the basics of how these things work. There's a good reason that people who build computers make pretty good money doing it if they do the job right (it's more complicated than just plugging in a bunch of wires and hitting the power button). Trust me on this one: when I was a teenager, I wrecked a few computers ... and I was only trying to upgrade! I didn't understand enough to do it competently and ended up losing what was at the time a decent computer. As for what materials you'll need: even that varies. It depends on where you start, what you start with, what you plan to do, etc. I'd suggest spending some time with Google. You should find a lot of information there. If I were you, I would look at system upgrades - i.e. find information on how to do them. That's a good way to get a basic understanding of how your computer works, but it also gives you hands-on experience if you decide that you want to try, say, installing a larger hard drive. Or, check your local bookstore. I used to have several pretty good books on upgrading systems. I also had one that went into building systems, which was pretty sweet even though I didn't do anything with it. (Don't ask me for the names of these books: it was years ago and I honestly can't remember.)

I just found this link to an experiment that Forbes is doing with Yahoo! and another company. For the next few weeks, we can write e-mails to ourselves that will be delivered to the e-mail addresses we specify ... up to 20 years from now. It's actually pretty interesting, because Forbes has explained that there is a "redundancy" system to keep things from going wrong between now and the time that the e-mails are actually delivered. Basically, they're setting it up so that three different services (Forbes, Yahoo and Codefix Consulting in New York) are responsible for delivering these e-mails. But they've arranged so that we won't receive three copies of the e-mails. Forbes doesn't guarantee that this will work, but they've put a lot of thought and effort into this. So, if you want to write a letter to yourself that you'll get later (you can select 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years), get to it before November 30 - the date that Forbes is ending this project according to their Web site.

It doesn't surprise me. When I was fifteen, I knew a kid who was ... twelve? Eleven, maybe ... who programmed his own apps and really, really made a lot of the adults around him look like amateurs. It was pretty sweet, because he came up with his own version of WordPad because he didn't like Microsoft's very much. It's too bad I'm not still in touch with him - if only for the free progs *grins*

One thing that helped me pick up some of the things that I learned about HTML was to look at source code for sites with programming/design that I liked.I AM NOT saying that it's okay to steal someone else's programming/codes/ideas.But I AM saying, for example:When I was totally, thoroughly brand-new to HTML, I learned how to make text bold by looking at source codes. But I came up with my own text to bold.And any time I saw something cool (such as, "Wow - how'd they flush the picture to the right side of the screen?") I looked at the source code to see how in the world they did it. Which was helpful because I saw the effect and knew that it was basically what I wanted to try, instead of having to try a bunch of different things that seemed like they were what I wanted.

MODS: please merge my double post. Thanks. Whoops - didn't see your avatar there, new guy. Err ... if you think it's "yuck" then why in the world would you make that your pic file? Doesn't really make much sense to me. And I agree with ruben. Homophobia = yuck.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy hanging out with us. If you need anything, the moderators are glad to help. (Just don't ask me - I have no clue - which is why I'm not a moderator, hehe.)

That could be interesting. I don't know how feasible it is (like you said, there are a few problems - like figuring out how to update the iPod).It's crazy to see all the technology that's come (and even gone, in some cases - remember how big cell phones were just a few years ago?) in just the last decade. Which reminds me ... last night before class I told a couple of my classmates that it would be extremely convenient if a cell phone company would make a model with a refillable cig. lighter in it ... except for the part about singeing my hair off (including my eyebrows) when I went to answer it. Heh. Not every idea is perfect, I guess.

I'm a big fan of iTunes, but it sounds like you're looking for a Web site, not a program. But sometimes I get free codes for amplified.com - they're pretty good, I guess. The prices aren't bad (about the same as iTunes). And the selection's not shabby.

I'm not a science-minded person. I understand the basic idea behind the Big Bang, but I definitely can't explain it.I'm a Christian, so I believe that God created the universe. One of my theories (just like the Big Bang, it can't be proven one way or another - but it's nice to think about) is that when God started speaking the universe into existence, the results were so phenomenally huge and fast that something did indeed go "BANG!" - and I imagine it was pretty loud.

I forgot to mention that this notebook has the security slot that the products on the page you gave me seem to require. It seems like the basic concept of these things should work well ... it's sort of like locking my bike to the rack when I'm not using it, or so it seems to me. Too bad I'm not allowed to have firearms in my apartment. Then I'd just rig my laptop with a shotgun so that anyone who tried to mess with it got a face full of rubber pellets (like the cops around here use as anti-riot ammo). Which would be cool until I got sued.

That's a really sweet-looking case. I don't know if I'd spend 90 bucks on it ... then again, I wouldn't pay current prices for a Nano to begin with, so it's sort of a moot question. What can I say? I'm cheap. Actually, I'm broke. *smirks* But it's still a really great looking case.

I really can't help you with the question about docking with other computers, but about this one: What's keeping your friend from downloading and installing QuickTime?

I like what you have there so far. I would think about toning down the brightness of the "stars" just a tiny bit - at least when they get close to the text (your username). Great job.Photoshop's fun, isn't it? I'm not very good with it, but I still enjoy playing around sometimes - especially when someone annoys me and I happen to have a digital pic of him or her that needs, err, altering. Hehe.

Hmm ... I've always had pretty good luck with Western Digital hard drives. There are plenty of other good ones out there too, but I can't really recommend stuff that I haven't tried much.But one thing I *can* say that has nothing to do with brand: Get the most space that you can reasonably afford. You might not think that you'll need all of it, but it doesn't hurt to have it around just in case.Which reminds me ... it's been a while since I've re-formatted my Mom's hard drive. I should probably do that when I go home this weekend.

Wow - sweet. I've been really good friends with a guy from India for years and didn't know anything about this celebration until I read your post. Thanks for the great info.By the way ... we Americans only get fireworks two times a year (New Year's Day and the 4th of July). Do you get fireworks anytime you want them? Or are they seriously restricted like they are here? We can't even buy them unless it's right before these two holidays.Unless of course you're into pyrotechnics and do the big fireworks shows (say, at sports events) professionally. But they get the really good stuff anyway. It's almost enough to make me wish that I hadn't given up on playing with matches when I was a little one. *smirks*

Thanks, everybody. I really appreciate you all helping me out like this.*gives cookies and sodas to everyone*

Hey, everyone. I'm posting this one here because it doesn't merit hosting credits - but it's still important, to me at least. I need some votes for an online column that I'm trying to win. I'm one of ten writers competing: the judges eliminate five of us at the end of this month, so get your votes in before the last week of November so they'll count! You do have to read everyone's pieces, but we weren't allowed to write over 500 words, so that's not a whole lot of reading. You also have to vote for five peoples' pieces when you submit your vote or it won't count. But this should be fun. The other writers have come up with some really good pieces (some are funny, some are serious, but all are well written). I appreciate it, everyone. The contest main page I'm number 6, by the way.

Hmm ... killing Google? Good luck. I don't think that even Microsoft could pull that one off. Maybe if Microsoft focused on creating better services (i.e. the Web mail and instant messenging programs) they wouldn't have to worry about Google's versions of those apps being ten billion times five zillion times better.

If the robots come together to create a graphing/scientific calculator that fixes *my* mistakes, I'll be the happiest college student ever. Seriously though ... interesting. I don't see how robots would get the idea to take over the world - seeing as they don't have thought processes, so to speak - but wow, what if we had a real RoboCop going around and taking out known terrorists? That would be cool.

Well, I'm a student here in the States. I'm a junior right now (English major, creative writing minor). Computer-related things are important to me, but I know that I'm not interested enough (or skilled/talented enough) to do anything with them as a profession. I guess you could just call me an advanced hobby user or something like that: someone who can do basic stuff, but will back away slowly when it comes to the more advanced things.I should graduate with my bachelor's in English in a couple of years or less. After that, I'm probably going to grad school for an MFA in creative writing, as that's what I actually want to do with my life. I'd like to teach creative writing at a community college or a small university while I write my own fiction. Oh, and I procrastinate - which is why I'm around here so much. Hehe. Well, back to studying for my Latin mid-term. (I think it's incredibly stupid that English majors are required to learn a foreign language. It makes no sense. But requirements are requirements, I guess.)

Wow, that's pretty sweet, man. I'd try it if I had decent editing software installed on my machine. But I'll just "ooh" and "aah" over yours. Good job.

Hehehe - love Microsoft's guide to leetspeak. It was so totally relevant ... years ago. *grins* And I can't help but picture some teen's father sitting down with him or her and a laptop and going, "Okay, so what are you saying when you type ..."? Hehe. Communication in the 21st century.