Sarah81

This is fun. *grins* Just signed up after reading your original post. Interesting stuff. BTW: I'm an evil dictator in the game, but in reality I'm a libertarian. Mwahaha.Maybe I should recommend this game to one of my brothers. He entertains a fantasy of taking over a small island and turning it into a dictatorship. No. Really. If he ever does that for real, I'll give you all fair warning so you can run far, far away. *grins*

In the future - maybe 20 years, maybe 50 - technology will be straight out of our craziest sci-fi novels. Computers will rock so hard we'll wonder how we ever managed without two-terrahertz processors. MP3 players will hold our entire library of music. We might not have that many CDs then, but we'll have thousands of albums on a player small enough to fit into our watch pockets.And ... here's my big hope ... I'll be able to get cell phone reception at my Mom's house *grins*

I think that most of us cut Google a lot of slack because we, the users, don't pay them for the things that we use (e-mail, Web space, et cetera). Typically, at least for me, I can just say, "Well, it's free, so I can't complain" when something goes wrong. Besides: Google fixed the coding problem very quickly, which leads me to believe that they're not trying to screw us over even if we *aren't* paying customers.

Yes, there are add ons for MS Word that will make script formatting easier. You can find a list of them at this Web site. I know that standalone scriptwriting programs are generally expensive - a friend of mine paid over $150 for Final Draft Pro (and that was with a very good student discount). The add ons for Word should be more reasonable.

I've read all the books so far. Have only watched one of the movies - Sorcerer's Stone. That was pretty good. I can see why fans of the books are so eager to see the films, as at least the one I've seen is very well done.My biggest praise for the Harry Potter series, though, is that so many kids suddenly started wanting to read instead of only doing it when teachers or parents made them. My teenaged sister knew how to read, but wouldn't do it. Then she heard about this series and has read all of the books several times. And she's getting into other books now because she's seen for herself (instead of adults just telling her) that you just have to find the right sort of thing to read in order to enjoy it.

That sounds like a game I'll have to pick up for my sibs. They're more into the shooting games than I am. *Grins* One of my brothers is pretty much a Splinter Cell addict.I like that the storyline is actually thought out instead of merely thrown together as an afterthought. That's my biggest complaint about newer-generation systems: so much effort goes into making the graphics rock that a lot of creators sort of forget that there's supposed to be some sort of story/point behind the game. *grins*

Who's really and truly surprised that a teenager found this? I'm not. Teens are always into something. Fortunately, a lot of them - the ones we don't hear about in the news or talk about - are into something that's actually productive ... or at least not destructive. Like this kid's interesting discovery.As for Google: I don't suppose we should expect perfection from them, but it would be nice to know that the e-mail accounts are at least reasonably secure.

I would say that this is a good computer, yeah.However: if you can find another brand with similar specs, but cheaper, you should look into that as well. I'm not saying that you should go with some super-super cheap, off-brand PC that you've never heard of before, of course. For some things - including computers - quality is always worth a higher price.Comparison shopping's good, though. *grins*

Sounds like that would be fun ... I'm one of those chicks who like trucks (not guys who have trucks, but my own truck) so you can see why this would be a game I'd like to play. Or at least watch other people play. If you have any intentions of actually making this game, I hereby volunteer to test the early versions. *grins*

Yeah ... I'd say that Intel's really getting scared of AMD. Just because AMD's processors work better. *snickers* Maybe Intel should work on making their chips more efficient so that people will want to buy them instead of AMD.Instead of just pulling whiny monopolistic stuff like this. But oh well - this is a capitalist country, after all. Maybe if enough consumers write complaints to Skype, Intel, etc. something will change ... or at the least, Intel will think long and hard before trying this b.s. with the next product that consumers want to use.

Woohoo - mine's ordered. If I don't get to the P.O. Box before my Mom does, she'll probably take it from me. *grins* I'd better be fast, huh?

Yes, but Norton slows down quite a few computers, costs money (whereas AVG is free and has yet to let any infection get into my system), and is a real pain in the butt to uninstall. Any program that insists on wrapping itself around half of your computer's system architecture, thereby making it virtually impossible to remove completely without serious effort, has a problem in my book. Oh, and Norton also takes up far too much space. AVG takes up a fraction of what Norton wasted on my hard drive. Not to mention the RAM hogging that Norton enjoys so much.

There aren't two Christian Gods. There are quite a few references to war and doom, blood and gore, in the Old Testament. However, I should probably point out that there are plenty of these things in the NT as well. In the book of Acts, Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead (literally) for lying to God. This is the same God Who, in the Old Testament, wiped out the Egyptians who tried to chase the Jews across the desert (the Exodus). Among other things.So, you can see that God doesn't *really* change from the OT to the NT. He still punishes sins. People still die for disobedience. He's the same God even though He was utterly silent for 400-something years between the OT and NT.It's just that the NT is less filled with accounts of these less-than-wonderful things that God has done. So it seems like God suddenly decided to be all sweet and nice to everyone, which is definitely not the case. He still sees sin as sin, even though thousands and thousands of years have passed since the OT was written.Oh, and what about all the merciful and loving things that God did in the OT? You didn't bring that up. Example: not destroying the entire planet, but sparing Noah and family so that mankind could live on. Not abandoning His chosen people (the Jews) even though they continually turned away from Him. God is God. He's the same in both Old and New Testaments. We might see more of the wrath in the OT than in the NT, but we still see it in both sections. The same goes for God's love and mercy: we see that in both sections too.

I'm a practicing Christian as well. (I promise I won't try to convert anybody - that's just annoying.)My afterlife has already been taken care of. God's dealt with whatever it is that happens, exactly, but I don't get to find out what it is until I'm physically dead. Because I don't believe in reincarnation, I live my life as if this is the only shot that I get on this planet. It's a lot more productive than either dwelling on the past or spending a bunch of time trying to figure out what the afterlife will be like.I think that, even though I know this and try to practice this, I still end up wasting lots of time that could be better spent living in the present, or maybe the near future. We're curious by design, so it's difficult to avoid wondering how things would be different if we'd done something else in the past ... or what things will be like in the future.So ... maybe you should find a 365-day Bible (you know - the kind that lays out passages so that you can read the entire Bible in a year, or two years, or even three years if you prefer) and read. Find out what Jesus said about life on earth while He was living it - He had a lot to say about how we treat God and each other, among other things. I've found that when I want answers the best way to find them is to look for myself.

The best field for you would be one that you have an interest in doing not for the paycheck, but because the work is enjoyable. What's hot right now might not be very big at all by the time you finish any training that's required to make decent money in that field. A good way to learn basic things, and get to know a little about various computer-related professions, is to make friend with people who are already in the field. They'll be able to tell you what they like and don't like about their jobs and what they do at work all day.

I hated the banner ads so much that I uninstalled Opera (this was a few years ago or more, I should mention) and just stuck with Netscape Navigator. Back then, NN wasn't a bad browser. Now the stupid thing (in version 8 the last time I used the program) is so bulky, slow and packed with dumb extra features that I can't stand having it around. So ... I agree with you on using FireFox. Other than a few random crashes that I can't seem to figure out how to prevent, I'm happy with this browser. And if I understand correctly, there's an extension for this browser that will save the open tabs for you in the event of a crash so that you can re-start the browser and go right back to what you were doing.

You aren't the only one in the world who's playing old video games. Do a Google search for "ROMs" and you'll find thousands and thousands of sites dedicated to emulators and copies of NES/SNES/Neo-Geo/etc. games that you can play on your computer. It's very handy, seeing as none of my original Nintendo systems work anymore (and of course Nintendo doesn't stock any parts or do any service on those anymore, hehe.) I like the older games because the graphics are almost beside the point. The game creators were obviously very limited in what they could do with graphical content, so they paid more attention to storylines. I hate the new games that are created by people who are so obsessed with celebrity voice-overs and cut scenes (that I can't just skip no matter how many times I've seen them - grr!) that they forget to work on a halfway decent storyline. And, like you said, the games are really hard to beat without cheating. And, of course, console creators recognize the newfound popularity of old games. They've re-released everything from Mega Man to Zelda to Pac-Man.

Sheesh - when I was a kid my pals and I thought that my Game Gear was the best portable system ever because I had a color screen. *snickers* Oh, how things have changed. Portable game systems aren't really kids' toys anymore. Sure, kids still play them, but now they're becoming so advanced and expensive that I don't think quite so many parents will gladly buy them for the 8-year-olds.

I've never played any fighting games very well, so I'm not a competition-type person at least where these video games are concerned. (Put me in a fiction-writing contest, though, and I'll gladly shred the other writers, hehe.)I do play Smash Bros. sometimes, when I'm home and the GameCube actually works (needs a new laser assembly at the moment, sadly). My brothers, sister and I usually just play against each other for fun. Now that we're all adults and don't have horrible, teenaged tempers fueled by sibling rivalry, it's a lot more fun to go head-to-head on these types of games.But when we were kids ... wow. Mom bought us Mortal Kombat 3 and Street Fighter II Turbo for SNES so that we could kick, punch, and destroy each other without causing actual harm. I used to rip my brothers' spines out all the time *snickers*

South Dakota recently passed a bill in their Senate that would make abortions in that state illegal unless they are performed to save the mother's life. This isn't a new law yet - it still has to pass the state's House. The story reported by CNN.com. My opinion is that state's rights should supercede. Each state should figure this out for themselves. Citizens of each state can approach Senators and House members through petitions, letters and other campaigns to make our opinions known, so it isn't like a small group of guys are the only ones who have any say in the matter. However: CNN and other news sources report that South Dakota is doing this to challenge Roe v. Wade on the national level (i.e. at the Supreme Court). I wonder how that would turn out if this bill passes into law and our Supreme Court is given the case. So, what do you all think?

Wow, that's pretty sweet. I'm there now at the page creator ... wondering if there's any way that I can code my own pages (raw HTML) instead of having to use their page editor screens.Hmm ... even if I'm stuck using their editors, I can't complain about that much ad-free space.What will Google come up with next?

Yeah. One billion songs at a buck each ... before taxes, licensing/royalties, operating expenses etc. of course. I'd say that they made tons of cash, yeah. Even though a lot of people (like me) just use the free codes that we find in various places, there were (and are) still quite a few more people who will gladly pay a buck per song. I would too, if I had a few extra bucks *grins*

Linux users don't really remind me of cult members. They're just trying to get more people on their side because there are so few Linux users out there. It's gotta be lonely. *grins*

To me it seems that console makers are competing with home computer systems. Our PCs and Macs can handle any video games that creators can create, so Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have to convince buyers that they need to buy not a fifty-dollar CD-ROM set for their computers, but a separate gaming system AND the fifty-dollar game.Personally, the console makers haven't convinced me that I need to buy a gaming system. I'm not the world's biggest video-game fan, but I *do* play - and the titles that I really enjoy (GTA for example) are available for PCs.

Hehehe - I love the toilet image.Which reminds me ... I keep intending to see if the wireless signal is any good in the bathroom in this apartment ... maybe I should take my laptop in there and find out now that I'm thinking about it.Yes, I'm weird.