rayzoredge

In my opinion, I thought that Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code were awesome reads.However, I also thought, after reading The Da Vinci Code first, that Angels and Demons was basically a rehash of its predecessor... which in a way, was kind of disappointing.It wasn't just the same theme, but the same type of characters, the conspiracy, the supposed dangers, the running around, the obstacles, the hero's relationship with the girl in the story... it all seemed like a rehash of the previous book.Not like it wasn't enjoyable to read. If the formula works, it's only smart to keep it, but change it up a little, Mr. Brown!They even end the same way! One thing that I loved about reading these books is that the reader is exposed to a myriad facts of cultural history that we otherwised would have been bored with in a college text. It's far better to be learning about these things by reading a well-written novel than by "death-by-Powerpoint" presentations, college texts, and droning professors.

I hope that this is in the right spot. I'm currently planning on resurrecting an old PC and designing it to be an entertainment center of sorts... to include being a DVR. I am looking to do this with my old 200GB WD Caviar SE, more RAM, Windows MCE 2005, and a Hauppage WinTV-PVR 150 TV card. The family TV is being fed by DirecTV, which is a digital signal. Will building the PC and connecting it to the DirecTV receiver even work at all, since it puts out a digital signal and not an analog? (Do I have this thinking wrong?) If I can't connect it to the receiver, is it possible that I hook up the PC so that the TV's output would go to the TV card and record it that way, much like a VCR would record on VHS? Would this card be more fitting? It supports digital TV...

The Internet is for porn!Grab your *BLEEP* and double-click! Whenever I get online, I usually find myself stuck on MySpace, Facebook, Xisto, my e-mail, and the IMs. Social networking is a big thing for me, and I love being able to chat with friends, post stuff online, and read stuff on forums. I'll use the Internet for researching stuff too... I love using Wikipedia and Google for just about anything. I hit up Mapquest for directions or just to reference distances, and I go to Tom's Hardware to catch up on the new stuff for computers.And I think if the Internet suddenly disappeared, I would be one lonely, bored individual.

... is not the focus of this day. Thanks to the myriad conclusions of what happened on that day and why, America is in a tumult of blind decision-making and supporting of ideas that they don't even understand. Conspirators are collecting fervor from the masses, preaching that 9/11 was an inside job and that our own government allowed what happened to happen. People are supporting the war and people are going against it, their decisions based on what the media feeds the American mindset. Even I'm being inclined to post this very bulletin on this day just to remind you that there is a lot going on and this is not just another Tuesday, September 11th of this year. None of it matters. The World Trade Center was hit, and thousands of lives were lost. We've grieved. We've passed. We've grown more aware, or at least more attentive to world events and "terrorist activity." We're scared. We're worried. We're wondering when we'll be hit again. If we'll be hit again. Is this the focus of today? No. Today's focus is not on feeling hate for what happened today, four years ago. Today's focus isn't on supporting our country in our "war of terror." Today's focus isn't even being patriotic at all. Today's focus, ladies and gentlemen, are on the people that selflessly went into the World Trade Center to try to save lives; on the people who perished when the towers fell; on the servicemen and women that are being told by the government to try to make a difference; and on the policemen, firemen, and human service departments that still struggle to do their jobs daily, despite your annoyance as that cop writes you your speeding ticket. Support your law enforcement. Support your fire-fighting department and its volunteers. Support your health care providers, especially the EMS personnel that are the first to arrive at the scene. Support your soldiers that are fighting not because of what they are, but what they are told to do. Support the people of America. Remember. Not just today. But every day. When they need it most.

Somewhere, Will Wright is going ballistic.

Apparently it's a publicity stunt.And we're all a part of it. With the advent of address books, I don't see why you wouldn't want a domain that long. You'd never get any spam (until spambots start including the abc...xyz domain). It's rather easy to remember.Then again, I can always sign up for more GMail accounts by inviting myself...Go for the underdog or continue to feed the corporate giant?

I already have my realistically-ideal phone, minus some improvements that I would have in a dream phone: the Motorola i580.My dream phone would probably feature:- a power antenna that would utilize any radio signal (utilizing a wider band, like from 800MHz - 1200MHz) to retain optimal dB strength- a "smart" feature to use that particular band that provides the best signal that minimizes band/frequency hopping- a better quality camera with more camera controls (like light exposure, digital zoom)- a faster processor and built-in RAM to be able to load up applications and process data quicker- a Micro-SD memory card slot- an operating system with much more functionality over phone settings (like brightness, power-saving features, etc.)- lots of PRACTICAL and useful applications (calculator, organizer, MP3 player)- Bluetooth 2.0 support- built-in laser-emitting keyboard- outer LCD- inner color LCD- rugged clamshell design that exceeds military specifications- waterproofingMy i580 fits some of those characteristics but there is always more to be desired. Keep in mind that I'm looking for practicality and durability... like an MP3 player isn't necessary, a camera isn't essential, and I'm starting to love my organizer, but they're nice to have for a multi-purpose device. I don't care how fugly the phone looks because I could give less of a crap about how I look with it. A cell phone has turned into a piece of fashion... one of the most ridiculous ideas that has graced the mind of people looking to get rich from selling shiny stuff. The sad part is that most of us are buying it.I actually remember a thread on Xisto about a guy who was trying to determine whether to get some Ericsson or a Motorola Razr... and the only reason why it was still on his consideration list was because "it looked good," even though they are infamous for being crappy phones.

Pushups, situps, and running are all part of the military regimen to stay in shape. That sort of thing will, at best, tone your body, as you're using your own weight as your resistance. If you want to actually build muscle after having lost weight and being a bit more lean, you'll need to actually lift weights and have more resistance for your body to work against. You can improve leg muscles by simply changing your running to be in sand or snow, which is a real bear to run through for any extended period of time. Wear weights on your ankles. Arm muscles will have to be via machine or with dumbbells. Dumbbells are not too expensive... you don't need a full set right off the back. Pick out a pair and work with those for a while... then when those become easy, buy another pair. I don't know of a cheap way to work out your back so much... you might have to rely on machines for that. For your chest, you can wear a weighted backpack or something to that effect while you do pushups. For abs, just use a weight over your chest when you do situps or crunches. It's best to do it against a slope and after the initial getting-up to never go all the way back down, keeping stress on your abdominal muscles the whole time.

What really constitutes being able to cook?I can cook a mean bowl of cereal. Basically, I've made so many Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken Helpers that I just do it from memory. Although I don't really count it as cooking.Pasta is too easy... so I'm not really sure that it counts either. I can throw together a nice seafood pasta dish... just by throwing mussels, baby clams, shrimp, a good red sauce, and whatever pasta fits my fancy all together.Baking is pretty easy too if you have recipes or go by the box...You can't really mess up chicken, either. Really, I think that actual cooking is being able to whip something up on your own from scratch.Which doesn't make me much of a cook.

I figured that "AutoCocker" would imply that this is a high-end mechanical marker. It is definitely not a cheap gun... considering that it IS one of the AC's made before Orr sold out to whomever bought out WORR Games. When I bought it, it was going for $400, I believe.The paint is decent... RPS Premium is a good balance between budget and tournament-quality paint, I believe. It is medium-bore, so it should fit most barrels and any chamber.

What really helps out when debugging is putting borders on your DIVs just to help visualize what's going on.What I'm seeing is that your "background" DIVs are being pushed to the right because your text flow isn't above where you really want it. With that particular DIV, you need to set your width so that it doesn't overflow the DIV, and then use a background for that DIV to match the rest of the image.Or you could just use that image and position your text using absolute/relative positioning over the image itself.

I believe it's dependent on the insurance carrier. You would have to check on each carrier to see if you do get a discount.Here in New Hampshire, you can legally be a licensed driver at the age of 16 as long as you attended and passed driver's ed. So that would be an incentive for us.

Mwahaha. WindowBlinds is awesome.

I'm rather new to this whole field too, but I can safely tell you that a 256-bit card will outperform a 128-bit card. I'm not sure how, but after looking up RAMDAC, it looks like it improves the variety of refresh rates you can have, which, the higher you go, the more frequent the video card will refresh what you see on the screen. (Of course, your monitor has to be able to support the frequency.) Most monitors nowadays display 65-75 Hz. I believe this would be 65-75 screen refreshes a second... correct me if I'm horribly off track. I'm also guessing that the higher the number of bits (which would come in powers of 2, like most things do in the computer hardware field), the more sophisticated (and more powerful, possibly) the GPU. More pipelines are better than fewer. Pipelines are the part of the GPU that actually process the video data to display it into what you see. I'll go into more detail if you wish... since there are several stages of processing. You should try to snag a card with as many pipelines activated as possible... and as much as your budget will allow. More RAM is not necessarily better... it will provide more memory for the GPU to work with, but if the GPU doesn't take advantage of the memory? 'Nuff said. I can elaborate more on specifics if you want me to later, but that would mean that I would have to look up some stuff myself to refresh my memory on the subject. [hr=noshade] [/hr] Basically, when shopping for a video card, look for these specifications: 1.) Pipelines. The more there are, the more the GPU can do at one given time when it comes to processing data. (ex. soft shadows, more objects onscreen, lighting effects, on-the-fly FSAA and AA filtering) 2.) Bit count. This refers to the memory bus on the video card... the higher this is, the more efficient processes can be completed. (?) (ex. frame rate) 3.) RAM. The more there is, the more the GPU can work with. (ex. keeping frequently-used, higher-resolution textures in-memory) 4.) Shader models (which I forgot to mention in my previous post). The better the model, the... better. It will support more levels of DirectX and OpenGL, and to future-proof yourself, look for a video card that supports DirectX 10. Notice from truefusion: Merged. Use edit button, it does work.

I guess that doesn't surprise me, since I've gotten spam in my Inbox from time to time. Nothing's perfect, but I can say that GMail is pretty damn awesome compared to other feeble attempts made by other e-mail services. Good looking out.

I own an '04 Prostock Autococker, and it's quite fun.However, I have a couple of questions:1.) The Prostock features a Delrin bolt, which supposedly does not need any lubricants of any kind. Kind of makes me iffy on that little factoid, as all moving parts should be lubed up. The catch to this is that supposedly if you do lube it up, the bolt swells and the marker will consequently have a hard time cycling. Anyone know what to do here?2.) I just played with this gun recently, and in one game the marker completely locked up on me. Trying to fire it would result in a failed hiss, the gun wouldn't cycle, and the bolt stayed put. I could NOT physically pull the bolt out on my attempt to field-strip. As a last resort, I tried to cycle it manually by pulling the bolt back, and after a COUPLE of times of doing this it started to fire normally. Did I just mess something up? Does this happen normally?3.) I was using field paint and the AC was chopping like mad. This is paint straight out of the box... RP Scherer Premium, which I believe is a medium bore. I thought I was short-stroking occasionally (which would be one common reason of double-feeding and chopping paint), which I was. However, on the chrono range, I dropped a round into the feed neck, fired my "ghost shot" and let the ball fall into the chamber, but on the end of the cycle, the front bolt tried to go forward and "pinched" the ball. What I mean is that the front bolt would not go forward all the way and stayed 1/8" behind of where it should have been, exposing the ball a bit. On firing again, the AC would chop the ball. Could this be a bad case of paint that obviously swelled up a bit? Or could it be that the bolt itself couldn't cycle forward all the way and not push the ball into the chamber area?4.) Do the regulators on ACs need a break-in period? I ask because I'm shooting nitrogen on a marker that has only been through two games, and the chronograph readings fluctuate with differences of 0-30 fps.Thanks for the help guys!

I hope that most Xisto members are computer-savvy enough to notice that the URL doesn't come from the Google domain. Plus, it should filter to your Spam folder anyway.

There is no way that I would let that kid live. Figuratively-speaking, of course. I like Saint Michael's way of dealing with it legally, and then I like Dre's way of literally smacking the crap out of him to physically tell him that you're not some friggin' pushover that exists to cater to what he likes to see. (You can't do that now though... since the moment's gone. Or maybe you can... ) Your mum needs to get control over your childish excuse of a brother too. That is just inexcusable behavior, especially at 27! Dubya tee eff, Batman? Sorry, but reading that and seeing how seemingly helpless of a situation you're in pisses me off. Your brother needs to be taught how to be HUMANE and MATURE.

On another note, you should check everything you plan to buy on CNET Reviews. NewEgg provides customer reviews, but sometimes it takes a professional review to give you a little bit of insight on a product that a normal consumer won't be able to provide.

The best thing to do is to shop around, but NewEgg usually does offer the best deals on computer parts and accessories, as well as electronics and other products. You can also utilize PriceWatch, which is basically a computer product search engine for the lowest prices.

From what I understand, saving a JPEG over and over again will degrade it, even if you set it to its highest quality setting. So yes, it would make a difference in making it worse. Just not as much though. This doesn't happen with TIFF or RAW. Crystal clear on the whole deal with saving JPEGs, using them just for displaying purposes, and storing my pictures in a lossless format (RAW and TIFF). It does seem like an eternity though when you're sitting there waiting for your camera to process and then store the TIFF file. I like being able to take pictures at JPEG speed, which is why I'm wondering if there are cameras that can take TIFFs/RAWs in a more efficient manner. Or even have some sort of a buffer so that the camera will process a picture in the background and still enable you to take up to like four more pictures in that period of time before the buffer becomes full. Like I said, I'm looking at the Rebel XT. Anyone have experience with taking RAW pictures? Does it take a wicked long time, or is it a little more or less of a second for each picture to process? Notice from BuffaloHELP: Merging double posts.

I have no idea what to decide on here.After reading extensive articles on comparing TIFFs, RAWs, and JPEGs, I'm sold in trying to keep taking photos in either TIFF or RAW format.However, JPEG has many levels of quality. The problem is knowing how lossy the data will be when a camera processes the picture into JPEG format.How would you know what level of compression a camera saves JPEGs at?Even if it saves at the highest quality possible, JPEG is a lossy format, so TIFF and RAW files win with lossless data storage.However, at least with my camera, TIFFs take 15-21 seconds to process AFTER taking a shot, which is an unforgivable delay, especially when you want to be able to take sequential shots, one after another with minimal delay. I'm sure RAW may be the same.Does anyone know if RAW is better than TIFF? (I can't tell because RAW supposedly keeps ALL of the data for the image - including the hardware used to take the picture, etc. - but somehow TIFF has a larger file size.)Also, does anyone know of a camera that actually takes RAWs and/or TIFFs with minimal delay? One of the few compelling reasons why I want to snag a newer, better camera is because of the stinkin' delay on my Olympus C-765. I'm looking at the Canon Rebel XT but jumping into the dSLR category already makes my wallet whimper a bit.

I almost feel excited for you.How sad. Looks like you've got it down, man. How much is this beast going to run you now?

Got it. As I've said, consider your options. But of course, you were one step ahead of me. Good to know. That is actually quite a deal if you can get better performance out of the 2600XT as opposed to the 7800GT. I didn't actually look at any benchmark info, but like I said before, I don't think you'll be able to see a difference when it comes to similar cards of different brands. Looking at comparisons now... but I think you'll be correct to say that you'll be paying more for an NVIDIA equivalent than for the ATI that you have now. Just off of NewEgg... There really couldn't be any comparison for an NVIDIA equivalent as the card you provided uses GDDR4-type VRAM, and there are no NVIDIA cards that match most other specifications of that card that use GDDR4. (I settled for GDDR3 in this case, although I'm not sure if there is that much of a difference.) All those cards are similar to your ATI card with the exception of GDDR4-type memory. Of course, their prices fluctuate between $100-$210. Notice from jlhaslip: Merged Topic

You might also want to consider what fffanatics said about NVIDIA possibly (or factually, I can't say for myself) again.Realistically-speaking, I'm not sure if you would notice a difference or not unless you benchmark the two brands against each other. (Who really sees a difference between 160 fps as opposed to 180? Or those minute differences on how vectors are drawn and pixels handled? And even if you could... would it matter that much to warrant the change?) You COULD go back to your mobo with NVIDIA chipset and throw in a SLI configuration instead of a Crossfire one, but I suppose you could give ATI a try.It IS an expensive trial though...Good to see that the 2600XT is a nice choice... DX10 support AND PCIe.I can't recommend from experience what sound cards or speakers (or anything else, really) you should buy, since I'm still running and will remain running my HP Pavilion zd8000, which is great for most things that I want to do anyway. But I'm buying the hype from Creative with their XFi line. There are also a handful of non-Creative sound cards that I hear from time to time that may be worth looking at. Speakers are the same... I trust Creative, Logitech, and now Altec Lansing. Then again, unless you were an audiophile, you may not even notice the difference between sound cards (unless you were comparing a SoundBlaster Live! to its Audigy 2 counterpart, or something like that).