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shadowx

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Everything posted by shadowx

  1. shadowx
    Well i want the design to be simple, given my graphic skills i think its really good compared with my usual stuff!!Im coding it up now, i did have issues with the reflection part at the bottom there, but managed to get around that with a background image that is as wide as that reflection but the exact length so that it brings the white reflection down to the right level and ive filled in the gaps to the left, right and bottom of that image with a standard <body bgcolor=> so it looks how it does in the design. I had to remake the gradient reflection so it fades out smoothly. On the more standard screen sizes it looks similar to the image above where the gradient goes off the screen and i think it looks ok. On large screens the gradient is shown (depending on the screen size) to its full extent and it also looks fine.Im hoping to use this to advertise myself as a web developer, so i need something simple, modern and slick, i dont want it crowded up i want it minimalist so im fairly happy with the layout aspect. The logo is very simple and it does need something, some sparkles arent a bad idea! I like the effect on the bottom right of the panel, ive had to turn the opacity down though because if the text goes over that area it became very hard to read as they were the same colour, but with 50% opacity its is a lot better. Im very tempted to put some flares either side (but not on the same horizontal level) of the central panel, have some nice "tentacle" brushes, one of which is the brush to the left of the logo text, i add them in and they look good, but then i take them away and it still looks good! So i dont know what to do about those!Ive designed it so it fits perfectly within an 800x600 screen. In firefox the central panel fits perfectly in the avaliable space and of course on bigger screens it displays perfectly too. I have a widescreen and its perfect!The only problem i have is in IE the tabs seem to have a 3px or so border to the bottom, separating them from the central panel, which is really annoying and i cant seem to kick it. In FF i had that issue but border-collapse killed it, but not so in IE :DI could easily use the white (or brown) space to the left and right to display extra info, maybe an animated gallery of previous work etc... but on smaller screens it will mean horizontal scrolling which is something i cant afford!I want to stay away from using images, the only images i want to use on the site are going to be things like the logo, the background of course, and screenshots of designs/previous work in the portfolio section, going to have to be creative with that page to fit it all in! Perhaps expanding divs, slideshows or a slight re-design for that page.RE: XalorI dont want to use a broken up layout as the information i have to display (i think) wont work with such a design. It will be 2 paragraphs max of text and is specific. For example the home page will be a short intro to the services offered, the contact page will simply be a contact form, the info page will be things like rough estimates of price, how things work (eg communication channels, payment methods/deadlines) etc.... and i dont think this sort of stuff can be broken into boxed segments as in the style of the site you linked. I also want to avoid pre-made things. Im a website developer and the only time i resort to pre-made things are sophisticated galleries (eg flash), e-commerce solutions and forums as virtually everything else i need i can hand code. I also dont want to be like the rest of the web with pre-made solutions, i am after all trying to advertise myself as a website developer!
  2. shadowx
    Ok, the story goes that im trying to improve my design skills to match my development/programming skills, along with that im looking at possibly going on a course, as generally my design work is terrible! But this, this is different.... i really like this and im seriously considering using it as my own website to advertise my skills and business. What do you guys think?Needless to say the design in copyright me from now until infinity, and may not be used in any way (unless you contact me in advanced and ask nicely and are granted my permission) Thanks, see the attachment and be honest with your views! The brighter tab is the active one, EG the view is as if you are on the contact page and the highlighted tab shows which page you are on.
  3. shadowx
    Ive been warning folks i know about this one, to be honest it is a worm that infects the foolish (mostly) a computer in sheffield city in the UK had 10% (800) of its computers infected after managers turned off auto updates because of the force reboot, it rebooted information computers in the operating theatres (non-critical ones, just ones that show info) so they turned off the update... 800 PCs infected because a manager made a foolish decision in the absence of the IT guys...Just keep firewalls up, clean flash drives, dont auto-run and update and your good.And linux isnt safe either, its speculated that the worm could work under WINE if launched (though presumably to do so you would need to launch it yourself.. i dont know)
  4. shadowx
    Taking the battery out is always the first thing to do if anything electrical gets wet. the only damage water can cause is a short circuit and the only time it can do that is if there is a power source, so by removing the power source you take away all danger of any ill affects. of course time is of the essence, those first 5 seconds could mean a short circuit straight from battery to CPU = dead computer! I spilt tea on my laptop, took the battery out and let it dry etc... i never took it apart though, i should have but i let it dry and used it and had a few sticky keys and few dead ones, was a pain as the "=" and "0" key didnt work, being a PHP programmer that hurt.... = became CTRL+V (paste )
  5. shadowx
    As Jlhaslip suggested there is more to this than it seems. These are the sort of scripts i think you will needRegister/LoginCancel/edit accountAdd/view pointsThe point manipulation system (eg where they earn/spend/loose points) Pet creation and management systemThen the admin sections:Account moderation (edit/delete bad user accounts)Points manipulation system (to view the points of all users and make sure nothing bad happens)Profile moderation (if they have profiles) Admin pet management section. To change inappropriate names etc... Remember, that for every script for users there needs to be one for the admins.Even a simple system like a mailing list system needs a set of scripts for the user, and then another set for the admin!
  6. shadowx
    Assuming you followed the instructions on the google page (just select cpanel as your host and its real easy, shows you what to click, what to enter and where etc...) then you will just have to wait for google to confirm it all. Remember to confirm you own the domain, I chose to upload the file they specify, real easy that way and instant. Still gotta wait for them to check the MX records and confirm that though.
  7. shadowx
    Seems like you have quite a fondness for various computer based games and pointless social networking sites! Id be careful posting this info about, itd be extremely easy for me to get details on your RS account for example: you might not fool for that, but if i sent it from something@jagex/runescape.com itd be pretty convincing. (i dont actually know if jagex send emails but you get the point. ) Also because you have posted your email address you WILL receive more spam! you should never put your email address on the internet like that! If i were you id remove it ASAP (edit the post) But welcome anyway
  8. shadowx
    I didnt get along with C, but you will also need a compiler. A compiler is a small program that turns the code you write into binary (EG 1001001101101101) for the computer to understand. You should be able to find a free compiler if you search "C compiler" on google
  9. shadowx
    Its a fair point that any government in power will be virtually the same as any other party in power, but anything is better than the labour party at the moment! They are a disgrace!We have no national identity now because of them! Its ridiculous!
  10. shadowx
    Here in the UK the political system works like this: We have the controlling party, in this case Labour (supposed to be for everyone in the country, taking care of the rich and the poor including benefits etc....) and the main opposition, in this case the Conservatives (in previous elections they have been slightly more for the working class and up, not necessarily liking benefits etc... but seem to have change slightly now) Now the labour party make the decisions basically and the PM is labour (PM = Prime Minister, MP = Member of parliament) Anyway, when labour make a decision the conservatives (AKA tories) are there to say "Bah! Thats a rubbish idea" And generally slam the controlling party! They also have some influence when laws etc... are put to vote. Anyway, the labour party, since tony blair left, have been a VERY devious bunch! Gordon brown is petrified of being kicked out! He cancelled an election, cancelled a vote on joining an EU treaty because it was likely the public would say no, just like Ireland did when they were allowed to vote and generally the country is slowly turning into a dictatorship. When tony blair was still in a pensioner was arrested under "Anti terrorism" laws at a Labour rally because he was heckling tony blair, he got arrested! under terrorism laws?!?!?! Basically if they cant think of a reason to arrest you then you get branded a terrorist and off you go.... Anyway, we have the home office which conrols the country basically, they control immigration, customs etc.... Now there is an MP called Damien Green (henceforth "Green") now part of his job is to question the government etc and let the public know about things that the labour party dont want them to know, like the fact the home office employed an illegal immigrant as a cleaner, now how the hell does the organisation responsible for controlling immigration employ an illegal immigrant? Jeez... They also knew that the security industry (bouncers etc...) issued 5,000 licenses to illegal immigrants and various other things... now the home office, and the government, never published ANY of this, because they were scared! So Green decided to let the public know, which is right! But guess what?! The government didnt like that, so yesterday morning NINE police officers, including anti terrorism officers (though they stress it wasnt anti-terrorism legislation for a change) arrested him, and held him for 9 hours in custody while they searched his office and two houses for incriminating documents. So here we have it, the government messes up "Oh cr*p!!!! the public know we let illegal immigrants in, were gonna kicked out, lets cover it up" The tories come across the info "WHAT THE HELL?! They let in illegals? And all this other stuff, and they never told anyone? We'll change THAT...." The info gets "leaked" the government then go "Uh-oh... they know, they KNOW!!! What else do they know? We need to silence this fool! Get him arrested by 9 cops and have everything searched and then bail him!" So off they go and nick him... Now the government deny they were involved, but its clear they were, the home office contacted them to silence the leak and hence he gets arrested... So it seems in the UK if you say something the government doesnt want you to say you get arrested as a terrorist! And its not the first time, as i said the pensioner got nicked for speaking out at a rally and another pensioner was forcibly ejected from another rally by 2 bouncers who basically picked him up and chucked him out... Oh and not to forget the draconian ID card scheme... Its purely OPTIONAL...except if you want to work in an airport, or a job where you need a criminal record check... Oh and if you want a passport after 2012 you need an ID card... oh and possibly even if you have a driving license... So basically, if you never want to leave the country, drive a vehicle, or work in a sensitive industry then you dont need an ID card!!!!! I urge all UK residents, when the next election comes around vote BLUE for the conservatives. More control on immigration, and more honesty! I mean Jaqui Smith... why cant she drown in her own vomit?! Link to article
  11. shadowx
    agreed on the global warming thing, im sure human activity DOES affect the world, but not like what they say...As for the reason for the cold snap i was looking at some graphics of the jet stream. there are two jetstreams, one in the northern and southern hemispheres, they are extremely fast winds, well over 100MPH that travel around the glove as a result of the turn o the earth and such. The one that comes to the UK starts off on the other side of the world and virtually goes full circle and stops jut of the west coast of the UK or sometimes, if its very strong, it stops off the east coast. On the day of snow the jetstream shifted (as it does, its not static) to go north before it reached the UK and swoop down from the Arctic across the UK on the eastern side, and hence bringing the cold weather with it. It went back to its more normal position just after the snow days and hence the temp warmed slightly and is set to warm more by the end of the week.Interesting stuff!
  12. shadowx
    If you are a serious, online every day, gamer then it could work out for you, either that or you need 2 or 3 good friends who can be assistant GL/GMs with you so if you arent online they are like the deputy GL/GM.Also consider you may need a website (PM me if so, its what i do For a price lol) and you'll need to extensively recruit new members at the start to build up a base of 50 or so, at which point you could start looking for officers and then give the members the ability to recruit and expand that way.Alternatively keep looking for a current guild to join. It all depends on your style of play, i for one couldnt be bothered to make a guild because im a casual gamer really and dont have the dedication to do it! but if you are a "serious" gamer it might work out for you, best thing to do is get a band of online friends who are interested in the same thing and work together, you as the GM/GL and them as officers
  13. shadowx
    Thats crazy to be on the beach in november! you guys have got the warm westerly wind so you keep warm and all the water condenses above us and rains/snows on us! Still im not complaining either, itll raise the water levels in the rivers and sweep all the weed out of them ready for a winter fishing assault :)Its cool to see the difference between east and west though, east is snow/rain and west is warm and dry!And by the way, exeter is a nice a place! Ive been through there twice on holiday now, once we stayed in a house about 5 mins from the beach and 10 or so from exmouth town, and once we stated in the huge caravan holiday park on the coast just east of the exe estuary. I love cornwall and devon for holidays! Its so nice round there! anyway, im rambling and off topic
  14. shadowx
    I live in south east uk, about 15 miles outside central london and in the uk generally in november we see the last of the leaves fall from the trees and the beginnings of winter with some wind and rain and getting fairly chilly... Is that what happened this year? Oh no!!October was a very warm month for us, well above average, and then Halloween came by and guess what... we had SNOW!!! Yes SNOW!!!! Even in parts of outer london there was snow on the ground! Ridiculous! Average temperatures are probably around 10-13 for this time of year! And we had snow! Up north and in the Midlands where its considerably colder they had lots of snow, in excess of an inch (2.5cm) Mental stuff!Then november warmed up considerably, being a fisherman i took advantage of this and went fishing a lot! we easily hit 15 degrees and above which is way above average. Its cooled down the last week or so and today, Sunday the 23rd we had more SNOW! The whole eastern and northern sides of the UK have had snow while the western side has had temperatures of about 10 degrees C, the culprit? Artic winds from the artic circle being forced down the country from the north, hitting warm, wet winds from the west giving the cold winds all the moisture they need to cover scotland and the midlands with over 5cm of snow and close some roads. I know in the states you people can get a foot or more of snow (30cm+) but where i live in the UK we are lucky if we see 2.5cm of snow in a year, and typically that only lasts about 2-3 days so 5cm over night in november is quite something! The bookies have put the odds of a white christmas in some cities down to 6/1 and say they have never seen so much money betting on a white christmas so early in the year! Right now its raining and id guess at between 2-4C outside, so the snow has well melted here but up north it should still be snowing and tonight as temperatures dip theres a chance we might get more snow. I love the snow but it puts the fish off with al the meltwater wont be fishing for a few days at least If anyone is interested it was 120 years since we had snow in october so this year has been quite a roller coaster of temperatures! not to mention the fact we had virtually no summer again (i hate the heat! And it made the fishing more productive!)
  15. shadowx
    truefusion's idea is a good one, if, everytime a user submits data, your submission script checks the DB for that user's name, then count the rows returned. If it is above 4 either reject the user and tell them they cant submit any more data, or delete the last result (presumably the one that is bottom of the result set) and then add your new result to the database....: EVENT: User "user01" clicks "submit" button to sent data to the submission script and eventually to the database...--submission script:connect to database...$rows = return the ID of all rows where username="user01"IF numrows($rows) > 4get the last result ID (order the result set from the query in reverse order, then get the ID of the FIRST key in the array)delete that row from the DBEND IFadd the user's information to the database Obviously that isnt real code, its a skeleton of the processes i would go through to solve the issue.
  16. shadowx
    as a precaution i would check your FTP account settings to ensure that no secondary accounts have been set up (in the event of a breech) and then change all your passwords, FTP and hosting passwords just to be sure. Have you checked the contents of the file to make sure its not malicious? And i too would get rid of that file or at the very least ZIP it so its safe and no-one can access it. That way you have a safe copy to investigate if you need to.
  17. shadowx
    Some good points Anwii, wicca as a religion is fairly old i think, it goes back to the druids and celts and their nature based religions and probably derives directly from those, but as you said, today it is grouped as "new age" and has probably differed greatly from its beginnings. the reason i think Wicca has been around for so long are mainly the beliefs that are held, nature based religions tend to be the oldest kind and the fact we have monuments in stonehenge and other stone circles which strongly suggest a nature based religion similar to wicca was taking place at the time (given the location of apparent altars and their alignment with the solstice which is a rather important day to wiccans and many pagan religions) I think the problem with calling wicca a religion today is that there are, like you said, so many variations which is really what wicca is all about, but it does "dilute" it somewhat with the various sects, some of which you quite rightly said are cult-like and dont really follow the wiccan beliefs too closely. So protection in that sense is important. Some groups can be very sexual in what they do, some people, like i said before, just like being "natural" others... well they have other motivesAlso protection in a more magickal way, i would strongly advise against using anything like a ouija board (SP?). As fun as they see imagine going out into the street, blindfolding yourself and shouting out your address and walking home. Its really not a smart idea without adequate preparation! but thats another discussion! As long as you use common sense you should be fine, just treat meeting a coven like meeting any other group of people, arrange it, if possible, in a busy, public place (a lot of covens like old country pubs etc... and most are quite intelligent and will happily go to events like poetry/book events etc... And just because they say they are a coven doesnt mean they are, it could be just be a deranged individual looking for a victim. So be sensible and you cant go far wrong!
  18. shadowx
    the Vet idea is probably the best. Does the dog seem to get aggressive when you go near your friend? It could be, like the topic suggests, protectiveness, which is a cognitive thing rather than something that can be treated with drugs, it would have to be treated with training. One thing you could try is to let the dog see you and your friend sitting next to each other etc... As far as the dog is concerned its "pack" consists of your friend and her family. You are an outsider, a threat to his pack and to its members. To solve that the dog needs to stop seeing you as a threat to either itself or to your friend. One way would be to get your friend to hold the dog on her lap tightly so the dog cant go mad and hurt someone, and sit near your friend talking to her and totally ignoring the dog. The idea is to tell the dog "its not your job to decide who gets close to your owner, and its not your job to protect her!" so if the dog is ignored it will probably assume that your friend is making the decisions and hence is the alpha member of the group and then slowly the dog will see you as being either part of the pack, or not a threat to the pack. Its a similar reason that dogs bark when someone knocks at the door. The dog assumes it must protect its family from the intruder, and the worst thing you can do is shout at the dog, all the dog hears is a high pitched, possible aggravated or scared call, and to the dog that just means "that person at the door is scaring or threatening me" and so the dog barks like mad! the best thing to do is just to hold the dogs collar, ignore it completely and be at ease with the person the dog doesnt like!disclaimer: Im not an expert, this is just stuff ive learned from TV and a 2 year course of psychology, so it might be wrong, but it might not! Follow my advice at your own risk (not that there is much but ya know!) Or read up more on the issue on the internet
  19. shadowx

    Meditation?

    shadowx replied to Crowe's topic in Health & Fitness

    Hello again! Im going to share my little experience and what i learned to do for a basic meditation.Basically just lie down or sit comfortably in a warm but quiet room or area. Close your eyes and dont think of anything in particular. Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. Now breath in from your chest, so that the hand on your chest rises and the one on your stomach stays still. Breath in slowly counting to four. Ten exhale slowly counting to four. You can also hold your breath for a count of four if you wish. Its personal preference. Repeat the chest breathing four times, then switch to stomach breathing, so your hand on your stomach rises and your chest hand stays where it is. Again inhale to a count of four (hold your breath for four if you want) and then exhale for a count of four. Repeat this four times. Then switch back to chest breathing four times, then stomach etc.....Youll find the act of thinking about your breathing clears your mind of everything else which is a good start. If you find your mind is still racing simply let a thought into your mind from the front, look at it and then file it at the back for later. Its hard to explain but tell yourself you;ll think about that later and resolve it later and for now it can sit at the back of your mind and wait until you are ready.Once you get used to the breathing techniques you can stop counting and let your mind be silent for a while. It will take some time before you can truly be silent in your mind but you'll get there. you can add some chanting if you want, pick a phrase you like and repeat it either aloud while exhaling or in your mind. Again personal preference really. Once you get into the silent state you can then use this state to examine yourself mentally, and begin using your mind for other things, perhaps trying remote viewing, empathy, psychic ability etc...Because your mind is silent you will be able to feel responses, but if your mind isnt calm enough you wont feel them or you will second guess the feelings or even imagine or change them without realizing it.anyway, thats just a pretty basic technique and the first and only one i learnt in my short time. It worked for me though and it something you can even use in stressful situations out and about. Just dont close your eyes but control your breathing and you will feel a lot calmer
  20. shadowx
    First off let me tell you something that helped me through some dark times. All of nature is beautiful, and you are part of nature. It sounds like some sort of hippy saying but think about it... its true, would you look at a bird dropping a twig while making a nest as a failure? Or an idiot? Of course not! you might laugh and make a little joke about him having to find a stick! But he will, and he will build his nest and live in it. you dont need to worry about getting something wrong! Its probably not wrong, just different! A lot of stuff in Wicca and the craft comes down to personal preference and feelings, some people might have a book of shadows that is white, while most have a black cover, but that doesnt make the white cover wrong, just different I think you're right about the year and a day thing, i cant remember the reason why but i think there is one. And also you're completely right about always learning, its the same as life though really, you never stop learning. As for the book of shadows (BOS from now on, because im lazy) i started one fairly early on, just to write down things like the traditional attributes of certain fruits, vegetables, trees, crystals etc... You'd be surprised at some of the attributes given to such simple things. for example an onion is generally accepted in Wicca to be a purifying vegetable, and having my own BOS gave me somewhere to write these things down. I just chose an ordinary note pad from the supermarket with a hard black cardboard cover, and with a silver pen i drew a pentacle on the front and a simple protective poem/prayer/spell (whatever you want to call it) on the inside cover, the basic jist of which is that the content inside can only be used for good, and the book should be protected from all "evil" influences etc... more for my own benefit of thinking "i wrote that!" than any practical purposes. And then i just noted things i learned about different crystals etc... you can fairly easily find lots of information on the internet about starting a BOS etc... and as yule (or the winter solstice) is coming up you can learn more about what it means and even have a small ritual yourself to welcome the longer days. I simply found a log, took some candles and sat under a tree and thought about the ways in which the year was going to change now the days were getting longer etc...
  21. shadowx
    I have PM'd you a link to the site i am a member of, im not active anymore but my username resides there still i think. I havent included it here as the stereotyping of the religion can lead to some abuse, even though its nothing major i still feel better about PMing the link. If the public demand is such then i will post it on the forums too.I found the online world less intimidating, like you i was fairly young when i first discovered wicca, perhaps 16/17, maybe only 15 (im only 19 now!) i was interested in joining a coven but i was a fairly shy individual and preferred the mask of the internet and the site i PMed you helped me understand a lot and meet new people and open my mind more. At 18 most covens would probably consider you, however i expect many covens would expect at least a few years of studying the religion etc... before considering you. also you need to consider that some covens are slightly "different"... some will conduct all their rituals in the nude etc... not out of sexual perversion but because they consider it more natural, which is true in a way! but it might not be what you are after!My advice is to go to a few wiccan or magick shops and events, get a good insight into the community and build up a network of sites and resources and improve your knowledge and then if you still want to join a coven you shouldnt have any problems. With regards to magick dedication is the key for sure. No-one can wake up one morning and say "ya know what, i fancy a bit of remote viewing" and go look inside area 51 (much to the US governments glee as they were experimenting with remote viewing and psychic security during the cold war or earlier) but with dedication, particularly towards meditation as it is the starting point of almost all magick you can easily get there. I myself was born into a fairly mundane family (mundane being the usual word to describe non-wiccan/non-witchy people) my mum however was fairly sensitive to spirits and such and used to sit on a circle, at one point they had an occurrence where they all had their hands on a table and it was going all around the room apparently, and even my dad saw shadows in the house and he didnt even believe in spirits etc..! But i wasnt really exposed to magick etc... until i discovered it myself. there were conversations of spirits and spiritualism, tarot cards etc... and my mum still likes to have her cards read and that probably lead me onto the wiccan path. I started with some meditation which i found extremely relaxing at a time when i was quite depressed, it really helped. From there i lead myself into remote viewing and trying with some psychic-ness (for lack of a better term!) the remote viewing seemed to work to some extent. I was able to tell the colour of my friends bedroom and kitchen curtains and bedroom curtains even though i dont think id seen her house (either way i hadnt been inside her house) and this was while i was in gran canaria and i live in the UK! I also "saw" the pattern on her curtains, i saw it as round flowers but for fear of being wrong and everyone thinking i was mad i said it had a circular pattern, but it turned out they were the flowers like i originally felt! I also started watching most haunted which was quite interesting! It seems some sensitivity or ability is in the family as my mum is fairly sensitive to spirits and i would go so far as to say that if there was someone in the room and she was adequately relaxed she could sense them, perhaps not in detail but sense a presence. From there i went into tarot cards and bought originally a starter "teen" set, which used images that were easier to decipher, depicting younger characters obviously designed to give interest and understanding to the teenager. I then bought a standard...Ryder Thwaite (i think) set which is the standard set. i did have some success with those and i did feel a slight connection with them and sometimes they were fairly accurate, sometimes they werent so accurate. I dont attribute that to the cards but to my understanding of the cards as they are very difficult to read correctly and i relied on the booklet which isnt the best way to do things! I also started getting a feel for nature and the solstice, equinox etc... rather than the standard, christmas, easter etc... Anyway im rambling! The moral of the story is that anyone can develop their abilities, as children i believe we all have the ability to sense spirits etc.... but we are constantly told "your invisible friend doesnt exist" "ghosts arent real" etc... and so we block it, as an adult you can unblock it through meditation etc... and listening to whats around you more. so theres nothing stopping you going into divination with tarot cards, tea leaves or other methods
  22. shadowx
    Firstly, welcome to Xisto! I wouldnt worry about offending anyone, you didnt write anything offensive at all!I myself used to be very interested in Wicca and paganism and witchcraft. I read a few books, joined an online community and chatted over IM to people with similar ideas. I delved into meditation, simple "prayers" (i use the word prayers for lack of a better term, but you get the idea) and looking into simple magick (not a typo, the "K" differentiates the practice from stage magic) and the various attributes of different objects. I found it to be a very enjoyable time in my life and the beliefs gave me an awareness of the world around me, particularly the natural world and the changes that occur constantly. Unfortunately this coincided with several things that changed my view on the world and made the Rede extremely difficult to follow. Since then i havent seen fit to re-ignite my interests as i feel i could not be the calm, relaxed and balanced person i feel i should be to consider myself part of the wiccan community, that being said i do have a great interest in the outdoors, perhaps due to my love of fishing, and i do consider myself to have potential when it comes to the Craft. Im also a beleiver in many supernatural things such as spirits, witchcraft, energies etc... So its not all bad.People have a dim view of Wicca and paganism and in particular witchcraft. Given the stereotyping from the media, and other religious and non-religious groups witches, the craft, pagans and wiccans are all sometimes seen as evil, worshipping the devil etc... when in fact they couldnt be further from the truth, many people dont understand the basic rule of Wicca and Wiccan witchcraft, that of the threefold law (i think its threefold....its been a while) basically very similar to the system of Karma in many other religions. So if i were to conduct some sort of healing (or in a true example i helped free a cygnet, AKA a baby swan, from fishing line) i would receive three times the healing (or other good effects) back. So in my example of freeing the swan i was given a free days fishing at the lake for me and my grandad which would have cost ?14 or about $30. Now you may say that has nothing to do with magick, and you'd be right, but it shows the principal. Equally and conversely, if i were to curse or otherwise cause harm to someone i would receive 3 times the harm back according to the law of threefold. So you can see that the mere act of being a Wiccan would make me want to be very nice to everyone and everything! Even the act of cutting a branch from a tree requires a dedicated Wiccan to ask permission from the tree (sounds silly, but it isnt about the words, it is about the act. The tree cannot understand words, but if you believe in energies we do not yet understand you could assume that the mere act of asking permission changes the energy around the person, and hence affects the field of energy around the tree, so it doesnt sound so silly!) and in addition to asking permission you would be expected to leave an offering to the tree or nature, perhaps a cake, or some bread/seeds for the birds that live in/around the tree, or some water if in a dry place etc.... so that you effectively replace what you have taken. Now if any of that sounds evil i would absolutely accept that Wicca and Wiccan witchcraft is evil. However i expect that no-one in a sane and free mind could believe any of that is harmful or evil!And with reference to to the generally accepted symbol of Wicca and the Craft, the pentacle (sometimes the pentagram, but generally the pentacle) it does not represent evil, or the devil etc... It represents the complete opposite. Many religions accept that the devil would place physical above the spiritual, so as an extreme example, having sex with a prostitute is more rewarding than being in love with a true individual and devoting your life. So the physical is above the spiritual. Wicca is about the complete opposite! The pentacle represents the 5 elements of life, fire, water, earth and air and of course, spirit (or the soul) In the pentacle the top point represents the spiritual, showing that spiritual gratification is much more important than anything physical. Hence the complete opposite of many "evil" ideas. There is also the link between the pentacle and inverted pentacle. The inverted pentacle is the symbol for a religion known as "satanism" now this isnt as evil as it sounds (nor is it really that "good") They do not worship the devil, instead they believe in general that physical things come above spiritual things. So their generally accepted symbol is the inverted pentacle, showing spiritual things at the bottom, below physical things. So in my extreme example a satanist could reasonably be expected to prefer a one night stand over a long relationship and would think nothing of cheating on their partners, perhaps stealing, greed etc.... Its interesting to note that the name "satanism" was chosen by the founder to create an uproar in the media, as he loved the attention it brought. There is however NO link between satanism and Wicca, as is suggested by the inverted pentacle Vs the ordinary pentacle Satanism is the complete opposite of wicca.
  23. shadowx
    Thanks for the positive comments, i thought it was good but not *that* good! :lol:And as for john being the bad guy... he never killed anyone! They killed themselves, the moment they decided to rape that person, or self harm, or kill his baby. At that moment they killed themselves (except the ones that won of course)! Admittedly his methods arent exactly nice but out of all the characters i wouldnt say he is the worst, Amanda is the worst, she designs games that are unwinnable, she designs the games purely to torture and kill, not to be escapable!But thats another story! And another film! I agree with god-of-earth that the text isnt great, but i cant be bothered to change it right now, maybe in the future!
  24. shadowx
    Yay i got it early My mate pre-ordered it online and we got it a day or two early! My opinion is this: Generally i dont like WWI/II games, preferring the more recent wars like in COD4 with technology and the iraq/afghan war, i prefer the more modern weapons. However after playing cod5 for two days im turning around, it does play very well, the graphics are good however its very difficult to see enemies sometimes as the backdrop is often rough rock/sand/vegetation as opposed to brick walls and fences in COD4. Im glad to see the level up system still in place and the kill streaks are AMAZING! Have you had the dogs yet?! HAHA! Instead of a chopper at 7 kill streak you get about 10-15 german shephard dogs that run around the whole map, upstairs, inside etc... and just muller the enemy! So scary to just hear "woof woof" and know that you and your team need to huddle up in a corner and fend them off! The artillery is cool too Best thing with the dogs is to call them in, then die or kill yourself and 50% of the time the dogs will get you artillery at which point you call it in and get more dogs The enemy really hate that...!
  25. shadowx
    Im an on and off player of WOW, i used to play runescape a few years ago and enjoyed the mmorpg aspects of levelling, questing and crafting, but alas RS is full of 13 year old kids who are obsessed with saying "noob" every time you kill them. i mean if I'M the noob then why the **** are YOU the dead one? I never worked that out, so i left. I tried MU online but it was rubbish... Then along came WOW. I agree that the patching process is dumb, however bear in mind you maybe only have to patch every 2-4 weeks and most patches are less than 20mb its not that bad. Admittedly the first download of the game is hell.... 5 hours after beginning the download: "YES!!! I can play now... hey.... DOH!" as the patches arrive.... But if your GF already has it you can just copy the game folder from her computer (assuming its local to you and not over the internet) sorted... So then you login and choose a server, most of the time you will get in instantly, i think ive been queued due to heavy load only 2 or 3 times in about 2 years of play, so not bad IMHO! (it gets busy on certain special days like WOTLK release and such...) So im in and im in the starting area after choose my character, you cant customize the clothing of your character so for the first 1-10 people look mostly the same. The starting areas are great for learning your class and the story of it. If you read the quest text you will learn that the night elves used to be all powerful magical beings but after a few went bad and summoned a dark god from the twisted nether to kill everyone the night elves vowed never to use magic and hence no night elf mage... Then you have the blood elfs (in the crusade expansion) which are essentially the evil night elves who almost always use magic, indeed their city is pretty "magical". Also in the starting areas you get simple quests "While i was collecting flowers a spider stole my cookie, go kill 10 spiders and come back to me" and so you learn the fighting mechanics of the game, eventually get told to see a trainer and are taught how to use skills, talk to people etc.... So by level 10 you know almost everything about the game that you need to know. The only parts you will need to learn on your own are how to trade/private chat, how to use the in game auction house and how to effectively PK to defend yourself. Thats another GREAT thing about WOW, the PKing system. you may know there are two factions, the alliance which are essentially the goodies, and the horde which are essentially baddies. Alliance are night elves, humans etc... and the horde are orcs, undead etc... The basics of it are that PK is OFF by default, and you cannot attack anyone of your faction (so no alliance V alliance and no killing Alliance NPCs) and you can also NOT kill the enemy faction. Not at first. Lets say im a human mage (which i am ) and i see a hordie come into my alliance city and attack an Alliance NPC, as soon as they take the first hit against the NPC they are flagged for PVP and i can whoop *bottom* and defend my city (how cool is that, you can get raided by the horde and have to defend your city and NPCs and noobs within, excellent system! google Ironforge Raid ) you can also turn PVP on by typing it in the chat bar and then any enemy faction can attack you. You can also duel outside cities with anyone (except PVP enemies) which is a good way of settling disputes and showing off since the duel ends just before you die. There are also battlegrounds, each has its own story, warsong gulch for example is a fight between horde and alliance in a contested lumber area where both factions want wood. The game itself is a capture the flag, each time has a base and 10 people per team. 3 flag caps and its all over! Arathi basin is a domination style with 5 different resource points, controlling them gets your faction points up to the limit of 2000 when you win. All BGs (battlegrounds) are horde V alliance. The auction house is also excellent, a few MMORPGS have AH (auction house) but the WOW one is the best IMHO. You can sell an item by going to the AH, talking to an NPC and placing it in the slot and typing a price and selecting a time limit on it. You can also buy items here from other players by searching for it. If you win an item or sell an item the item itself or the gold from selling is mailed to you using the in game mail system, in each city is a mailbox or a few of them and there you can send/receive letters containing text and/or items and cash. All very useful! The chat system is however annoying... horde and alliance cannot talk to each other in any way. The text is scrambled to them, so i type "hello" and they get "akkrg" or something. The idea of course is to maintain the fact that alliance and horde are suppose to hate each other, we dont really but if i see a hordie killing newbs or alliance NPC's ill take him out, or try! But other times we have a laugh using the emotes like "XXX aplauds you loudly" etc... and dancing and dueling, its good fun!The amount of "space" within the game is amazing too, theres just so much to explore. each race has its own starting areas a short distance from its main city. Humans have elwyn forest with the starting area and stormwind city (one of the best IMHO). All alliance players are welcome in alliance cities but if we try to enter a horde city the guard NPC's will take us out and as soon as we retaliate we are flagged PVP and the hordies come in and whoop us! So there are, i think, 10 distinct areas, all which take about 10 minutes on foot to cross, so theyre big! But in addition to that there are probably about another 15-10 areas of equal size... So its damn big! the WOTLK expands that even more adding a few more areas. They are split into two continents and to cross the large sea you have to take a boat if you are alliance or use an airship type thing if hordie. There are two other areas now too, one introduced with the burning crusade and one with WOTLK. It would take you days, maybe weeks to completely explore every part of the WOW world without stopping. But of course you couldnt do that unless you were level 80 because the mobs would just put you down. the mount system is also great, at level 30 you can get a mount, depending on your race, humans get horses, night elves get giant tigers, orcs get giant wolves etc... which give you a 40% speed increase. at level 50 (or is it still 60?) you can upgrade to 100% speed increase. at 70 you can also get a flying mount for use in the extra "outlands" introduced with the burning crusade. These mounts let you fly all over the place at 240% movement speed ^_^As said there are also dungeons, they are instanced so only you and your party are in there. So if i had a group (AKA party) and went into a dungeon, and then you and a different group went in after me we would both have our OWN dungeon, a complete copy just for us to play in. These places have "elite" mobs which are harder to kill but give excellent XP and drops, so its worth it!! There are also world bosses which are immensely powerful. Back in the day of the BC (burning crusade) there were bosses that would take 10 level 70s (the highest in the game) to take down, and that would require maybe 3 healers to keep the damage dealers alive! The last feature im going to mention is the "go anywhere" approach. unlike point and click games where you cant enter water etc.. you can run around the place with the arrow keys, so you can swim in the water, go under water, jump around, jump up things run up hills, jump of buildings, hills etc.... brilliant. They have an innovative way of stopping you swimming off the map too, with "fatigue" so you eventually die if you swim too far which is cool! As for lag i dont really get that much, xmas and valentines day are lag fests in the cities, stormwind is by far the worst city for lag, because it looks the best you get more people there than other cities and it does lag there, especially if you log in while in SW its a nightmare. Ironforge tends to be better unless you go near the bank. In general out in the field ive found lag to be very low. I have 8mb/s internet and shared with my bro so not particularly fast, i get throughput of about 5.5mb/s so if you can get 3/mbs throughput you shouldnt get much lag. Turn down the graphics settings too, that helps!Overall its a really good game, currently im not playing because at level 60 it was taking AGES to level up! So i got bored and stopped paying. The payment is the most annoying thing about the game, if it was maybe ?5 (instead of ?9) a month i would still be playing it. But my advice is try the 10 day trial period. If you like it then pay one month and see how it goes! (if your in the EU remember to download the EU version not the american one!!!)
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