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A little about BigDog BigDog is a "quadruped robot" which means four legged robot and a very impressive one to say the least. Created by Boston Dynamics with Foster-Miller, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Harvard University Concord Field Station. The constant development of BigDog is funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and I am in love with it. BigDog was created to be a pack mule, a safe and solid way of carrying, transporting goods from one place to another. And with the help of a computer & GPS , it can do this without a handler close by. Suppose a city were to be hit by war or natural disaster.. You could actually send one BigDog with supplies to the location without having to worry about casualties.. They could also carry military supplies. BigDog can so far walk on its own, carry a load up to 150 kgs and maneuver over rocky / unstable / tricky terrains. So you could make this little puppy walk through slush .. What set BigDog apart however was its amazing capability of staying on its feet , even if you tried to kick it down, it would somehow find its balance and not fall.. EVEN ON ICE.. If you watch the video, they show you how it can climb over a wall of bricks, move through snow, climb up a mountain, JUMP and a bit where a guy tries kicking it down (I felt so bad for it XD) BigDog can NOW THROW THINGS, In the video below, you can see the Robot throw a cinder block.. Goody! Other projects that the Boston Dynamics team is working on include a robotic Cheetah (Want the youtube link? Let me know) , A man that can stand on his own legs (the video is of him climbing blocks, can you see his hand hold the wall for support? ).. There is one of him doing exercises, very funny I think they also created a robotic snake, the sand flea and few others.. Well, you can always find a lot of cool videos showcasing these bots on youtube..

Unfortunately, just a keyboard replacement is not an option since you would have already inferred from all the other posts that it isn't just the keyboard that is responsible for the sound. Factors like position, posture and style also influence the way sounds happen. Which reminds me, where is your computer / keyboard located? I think we should also consider the shape / location of your room since sounds do behave differently in different locations.. Any physics enthusiast here who can add a little science to my shriveled scientific theory? Posture is a very controversial topic in the I.T age , it saddens me to admit that our technology requires us to have bad posture so we learn to pose ourselves according to them rather than have the technology build around us. Since you are a medical aficionado, you would know best the natural posture for a human being. Just because you are comfortable does not mean that it is the correct posture... A person I know squats while using his computer, like he literally uses his computer in the frog pose.. He is comfortable but I doubt that it helps his back. People hardly use the correct postures when working, my experience at the Vet clinic is proof of that, we often end up bending over a patient for extended periods especially at home visits since owners hardly have the infrastructure.. I'd rather have stubs for arms than have to hold a cat down for intravenous therapy >_< ... You end up as twisty as the cat itself and if the cat is especially sick, the drip is really slow .. So we end up looking like mangled pieces of steel rather than real people... I have naturally bad knees and a bad back which means that I cannot hold a position for too long, I cannot run or climb stairs or stand too long since it wears me out.... And here is the thing, if I do use the stairs, I adopt such a bad posture to climb up (slouching and stomping) which ends up hurting me even more.. And if I try to focus on the steps, I end up losing track of my breathing... We find sitting straight difficult BECAUSE we hardly do it anymore.. You don't use any mobile device with your back straight, you create a curve just to be able to comfortably see the screen... And if you use your phone / tablet / laptop a lot, your back adapts to the curve making the straight posture insanely difficult.. It is the same as working out / using muscles after a really long time.. It is really cruel to say but my bad knees and back showed me how important it is to maintain good posture whenever you can since sitting incorrectly makes it difficult for me to even get up for work the next day.. Winter is the worst XD Since chairs & tables don't often come in pocket edition versions like me, I don't have the freedom of letting my feet touch the floor AND keep my arms in line with the keyboard rack... To keep my hands at the same level as the keyboard, I raise my chair at its full height (hands at keyboard level & eyes at monitor level).. I even added height to my monitor so that my neck can stay straight. But this leaves my feet dangling below It is always a dilemma for me when it comes to sitting on my chair since the back support is too far, the floor is too far and you should never have to extend your arms, legs, neck while using the computer (you end up straining yourself).. I cannot do the Lotus Pose so I use other versions of it but mostly I sit in a yoga posture called Virasana where you fold your legs backwards, since I can tuck my toes in the cushion of the chair, I can really hold it for long without it hurting But to make sure the blood flow is even, I keep changing the posture to a half lotus pose where I tuck one leg in while letting the other dangle for a few minutes and then change. Another pose I sit in is a posture I cannot remember the name for, it is a modified version of the fish pose I think.. HA HA HA HA HA I just remembered almost being beaten to death by my Uncle.. A year or two ago, I had gone over to stay with them for the weekend and like any dutiful netizen, I worked in the dead of the night.. Night 1, I am typing away to glory, laptop on the kitchen counter and lights switched off.. The house is really spacious and is in the suburbs.. So I am assuming that my typing did not sound normal to the inhabitants.. Well, 30 minutes into my typing, I hear my uncle shout from his room upstairs, my great grand aunt was probably 50 feet away in her room fast asleep... I let out a response loud enough to be heard (or so I think) but I did not want to disturb my Grand Aunt , I guess it sounded like garbled sound to him.. Silence ensues so I continue with my tippity tappity when all of a sudden my Uncle & Aunt come thundering down the stair case with huge sticks in their hand.. They could only see the glare on my glasses from where they were standing, I doubt that helped the situation.. And there I was, going "Oye Oye Oye" (because that is all I could think of) in hoping that someone would recognize my voice.. Long story short, I am not allowed to work in the dead of night unless I have some music playing.. Every night ever since, they would give me a playlist that I would have to play if I was to work that night.. As for the sound variations I was talking about, it is a really simple theory actually, start with one key at a time.. one that you use the most like the enter key.. Every time you press the enter key, observe how you tap it.. which finger you use, how forceful you are and think about how you'd like to tap it.. Keep focused on the enter key until you master it and then move onto the next key.. When you do one key, it becomes easier with the rest... I sometimes believe that the most common typos I make are usually because of the rhythm the word makes, like when you play an instrument, you press certain keys to produce the rhythm, the same applies for when you use your keyboard... So my mind will hold onto the rhythm of certain words and apply it without me having to think for a second.. I would like to one day test my typing efficiency with music on and without the music.. See if the sound really has its part in typos

You should totally try it... The beauty of it is that the rhythm is controlled by your mood, your knowledge of the key placement and of course your hand gestures.. Nuances that you really did not think existed. For instance, you might punch in one key "hammer style" (straight) while another would be punched in a parabolic motion irregardless of whether the key requires such physics or not. I hardly get to use the number pad so on occasions that I do, my fingers trot over the numbers because I am happy So in a way, listening and observing how you type helps you reduce unnecessary force on keys.. Keys like the enter key or the space bar are routinely savaged by people, I know I savge them. Keeping your fingers stuck to the keyboard lets your fingers instinctively find a silent groove.. I know it sounds weird but if you associate each correct / silent punch as good, you can convince your brain into typing that way all the time. Perhaps pass it along to your descendants too Win / Win for all I guess, you get endorphins, people get their silence AT NO EXTRA COST!!! .. I wish I could add the "But WAIT!, There's more" line somewhere into my post

Wow, if I could give you a medal or a trophy, I really would. Firstly, I love the sound of the keys.. I know it sounds cooky but it is really pleasant to hear especially when I work alone. I like to pay attention to the rhythm the keys produce based on the words I am typing... What I would like to emphasize is "posture" , you should in no way compromise the posture of your wrists, back and legs in the journey to noise reduction so placing the keyboard on your legs is a big no no. I think the idea of wearing gloves is funny rather than offensive I think I would do this just to annoy my mother, and gloves too could hamper the user experience since your fingers would sweat quicker or chances of increased typos... Chiclet Keyboards Man, I also tried one of those rubber keyboards... So disappointing, it was as good as taking the hard cover off a Microsoft keyboard and using the rubber layer underneath.. They look so cool but are not as practical as they seem.. My cousin still vouches for them but I think it is because he paid a lot for it But yes, very often people get tired of the typing sound.. I can silence an entire room once I start typing, My dad instantly regrets asking me to type out his emails. I can hear it now, the rhythmic ** shick shick shlick ** sound of the bag.. I can't stop laughing at the thought of a person doing this... Can you try typing with your fingers sticking to the keyboard? Sometimes, I type keeping my fingers stuck to the keyboard so that I am gently pressing a key instead of punching it in. And quite honestly, you don't lose as much speed as you'd think and with practice, you reach your old speeds quickly.

I get very angry when people blame their pets for x reason or whatever. Pets become unmanageable ONLY if you have not bothered to train / discipline them. If I got money every time someone ignored my advice on training, I would be so freaking rich... They avoid training the animal when they are puppies / kittens and then moan about how troublesome they have become. I have to keep reminding them that a pet is as intelligent as a 3 year old, if you have the time and patience to teach your 3 year old, you should be able to do the same to your pets. Till this date, my parents are very happy knowing that our cats and dogs were around when me and my brother were born. My mum says that the family dogs would sleep near our cribs in the night and she has hardly seen them leave our sides... Our old Spitz who was terrified of water would sit by my mum during our bath times monitoring my mother I guess. And quite honestly, well mannered pets hardly demand anything from you except for food and a walk. To make things worse, if you were to take your baby to one of those over zealous paranoid doctors, they will immediately try to connect baby's cold to a house pet Like, that is the only thing they can think of when you say "dog" Either "Your dog will give you rabies or You will get asthma" I remember one useless friend of mine and his idiotic mother who would not think twice before saying "Dogs will kill you, ours gave our daughter cancer..." i almost slapped both of them.. They are actually convinced that the dog's hair gave her a tumor... AND THEIR DOCTOR AGREES!!! I could have slapped him too! She was unaware that I grew up in a very furry household and kept going on about how I should dispose of my animals before they make me sick.. I told her that I was eating dog / cat fur since I was born and her daughter's condition was probably the fault of bad genetics and not her dog. I never bothered seeing him and his mother ever.. Sheesh! Again, it comes down to good parenting, if you teach your pets to be gentle around you and other people, they are bound to be even gentler with children. I never had problems with my dogs growing up.. Not even my cats.. Even when I was baby, you know how babies will pinch and pull cats' tails and all, none of them ever clawed me even once! Of course, my parents would not encourage my bad behavior XD My mom says that I would hold onto the tail of my Irish Setter and he would walk really slowly ahead of me He died of ear cancer when I was 5-6 years old My grandad had told me that I had once accidentally pulled his ears while playing, the poor guy was in incredible agony but he did not bite me or even growl.. He just waited for my Grandad to take me away... So, no.. People disposing their pets because they are an inconvenience to them should get no mercy or sympathy. if you neglect an animal who has done nothing wrong.. You are not fit to be a parent at all. Shows how selfish and horrible a person you are.. People who cannot treat animals fairly will have no issues throwing you under a bus.

I have got to hand it to Google this time, anyone wanting to stay informed on this phenomenon is sure to be surprised. Because if you type zerg rush in the google search bar, you will notice that your search results are under attack by a group of zergish O's You are expected to save your search results by clicking as fast you can on the little O's BUT as soon as you clear one lot, you will notice another batch attacking... They'll attack from the left, right or the bottom so you'd better click as fast as you can.. I found this easter egg while searching for "zerg" images since they look very similar to Venomancer of Dota, and in the search results, I kept seeing "Zerg Rush" a lot so I decided to google it... And while picking a link, I noticed that one of my search results from the top had disappeared and there were little cheerios chomping away! I successfully tricked my brother into thinking that his computer was infected. So, how did you guys find Zerg Rush and what did you think of it? http://forums.xisto.com/topic/56876-privacyprotect-is-it-spam/

I really don't know if anyone remembers Zerg Rush by Google .. Gamers would understand the reference but here is a quick definition for others :- I have got to hand it to Google this time, anyone wanting to stay informed on this phenomenon is sure to be surprised. Because if you type zerg rush in the google search bar, you will notice that your search results are under attack by a group of zergish O's You are expected to save your search results by clicking as fast you can on the little O's BUT as soon as you clear one lot, you will notice another batch attacking... They'll attack from the left, right or the bottom so you'd better click as fast as you can.. I found this easter egg while searching for "zerg" images since they look very similar to Venomancer of Dota, and in the search results, I kept seeing "Zerg Rush" a lot so I decided to google it... And while picking a link, I noticed that one of my search results from the top had disappeared and there were little cheerios chomping away! I successfully tricked my brother into thinking that his computer was infected. So, how did you guys find Zerg Rush and what did you think of it?

WELCOME BACK!!!!I am actually happy you remembered me "Xisto - Web Hosting Lady".. Ha ha ha Still cracks me up!Name a few of your buddies, I am pretty sure we can get back onto the forum one way or another **pulls our bamboo stick**I don't know if you remember master baccarra but he had popped by a month or two ago, we talked for quite a while on the shoutbox Since you are on Xisto too, you should say hi over there also, mastercomputers has come back to the forum (Xisto) after a pretty long hiatus..it feels really nice to see the old members come by... As for the mycent update, it is run as often as possible but sometimes it can take as long as a day depending on the day & forum activity. See you around

WELL PUT SHEEPDOG!! I definitely agree with you wholeheartedly on this. Banana Joe was definitely the show's sweetheart but what most people don't understand or care to understand is the fact that all those dogs have heavy duty training.. Dogs go through the same training a boxer or like any other athlete... If only dogs shows not only showed off the dog but also educated the masses about them. Teach people how working dogs require constant exercise and "work" , how not to treat lap dogs (pugs are not "running" mates) and generate awareness about other breeds. Working at the vet's is really difficult during certain seasons especially during dog show seasons.. Valentine's day is the worst, people gift their valentines with animals commonly puppies without understanding how much work goes into raising an animal... The valentine gets tired of the animal and dumps them or worse, asks us to euthanize it.. Of course, we do not euthanize any healthy animal... And with demand comes the illegal breeding tactics, a breeder here has his own puppy mill, Labradors with severe hip dysplasia, inbred puppies that carry some sort of abnormality (one of them was a St Bernard with severely stunted growth.. He was hardly 7 months old when we had to put him down, spent his entire life in agony because his legs and back were bent in angles..). Few of them were blind, almost all of them were dirty (no bath, no grooming.. nothing) You should write an article about choosing a pet, for me the criteria while choosing a pet include :- Lifestyle of Pet parents Budget of Pet Parents Current &Future size of Family Health of Family I babysit a labrador for my dad every 2 weeks, the dog's owner is friends with my father and cannot seem to handle a Labrador, they wanted a Labrador because they are 'CUTE & FRIENDLY"... It is unfortunate that we live in a world where the majority of the people are on two sides, on one side.. people really mistreat the animals they know nothing about and on the other side are idiots like PETA who want to cry wolf for every single thing.

Yes, SSH is still available as an addon albeit a paid one.. 11.88 USD per year or 0.99 per month As for the commands, I find VI icky... Sorry but somehow my brain could never comprehend vim ever..I actually prefer nano over them all, simple and straightforward. I too prefer the command line over FTP but that is mainly because I am lazy Personally, perks of command line for me include things like mass permissions change / ownership correction.. Debugging & executing files without the need of a browser .. And the LOGS!!! All those pretty lines of garbled text waiting just for you to read through, always makes me happy I think all linux administrators would unanimously agree about grep.. One of the most useful search tools... Essential for logs and searching through files @mastercomputers I think along with those tutorials, you should also cover aspects like creating an error log and reading / understand them.. Personally, I have been dying to write a topic about creating a Virtual Private Server from scratch BUT it requires time that I don't have enough to spare :

Hello People,I am opening this topic on behalf of a member Sutirtha who asked "How do you get free email alerts via sms" . Anyone have any ideas?I am aware of this being possible through way2sms but has anyone actually used it?

You don't get Mycents for referring people to Xisto. If you want Mycent, you need to sign up for xisto affiliate program where you get a referral link of your own. Every time someone signs up for hosting using the referral link, you get money Login to your Xisto - Support.com account and find the affiliates option or you can simply send in a ticket to sales @ Xisto - Web Hosting (dot) com and they will do it for you. Quite honestly, I would love to see tutorials authored by you, grooming, feeding , recipes, training and all those good things since people are always looking for help on how to take care of their pets. Common ailments and how to cure them at home (Naturally)...

I'd be more than happy to loan you MyCents Manuleka I don't need them in any case. The only reason there is no option to loan / borrow mycent is because of Murphy's law . It is very easy for trouble to brew between members when money (real or not) is involved... The easiest way to earn Mycents is to write on topics you know plenty on, your strongest points... If you can churn out tutorials or debates which other members can reply to, you should not be in a Mycent crisis. You are always welcome to register at Xisto.com (Asta's sister) and earn mycents from there too Xisto was never the party college, people didn't come here to win credit and contests. This forum in its glorious days was a hub for intellectuals. Anyone wanting to relax and party would participate at Xisto.. if you read the posts made by the senior members, you would realize that this place gave priority to a disciplined debate, good posts and activity happened because they wanted to create & sustain a good debate. The credit they earned was through genuine opinions and not posting for the sake of posting, it seems fairly obvious that you have not had a chance to read old topics. But please do not make statements about the senior members you know nothing about. Instead take out a few hours to read the crazy stuff they would write about... They gave their heart to this forum, they were the community itself continuously posting articles to enlighten their fellow members.

Ah yes, that link was for the old server, funny, you should have received an email ages ago telling you that your account was transferred. Life can be funny and leave you unable to post here but we are always happy to see you here whenever you can I hope you and your little girl are doing great. I am closing this topic since the issue is resolved but you can always let us know about your life through a new topic

Welcome back to KS darling! I hope you have been well. How about this? Why don't you tell me what url you are using OR try to login with the username & password you have at the following url options :- http://www.madwire.com/ OR yoursite.net:2082 If you are told even once that the login username & password is wrong, stop right there and let me know. I will have a tech send you a new password OR You can login to your client area at Xisto - Support and change the password yourself. You need to find your service and view it to see the option to edit your password. Let me know. And great to see you here

HA HA Ha, that quiz was really easy or I read too much as a kid."Congratulations, You Pass!You obviously know a thing or two about Halloween.Either that, or you know how to use Google."I am incredibly happy that the quiz is still around.. I wanted to take it a long time ago and then forgot about it. My score was 70 (Wish I had the time to add the screenshot)

xisto actually gives you quite a few options but the default subdomain for Xisto users is .astahost.net . Just send in a support ticket requesting for a domain change. You can have it changed to **anything**.astahost.netThis brings back memories since before the Mycent program, .astahost.com & .trap17.com(Xisto) were the default options for a member when applying for free web hosting, we hardly ever saw TLDS in the applications.. Now it is .astahost.net

Many members might remember OpaQue's decision to change the forum's name in this topic. Over the years, members have been constantly requesting for a more systematized version of the forum... So, OpaQue has been busy planning for quite a while, the transformation of our current forums into something bigger and better for both old members & new. Now, before you suggest that we truncate / merge forums to solve the issue, there will be some merging done but that is not the solution because Xisto genuinely has a huge number of topics / posts. The purpose of this revamping is to make the forums friendlier for everyone while remaining informative & interactive. This is what OpaQue has planned for the revamping :- 1. Renaming the Forums 2. Reorganizing the current main forums & sub forums 3. Redesign & Recreating the single Lo Fi version into multiple mini versions. The domain name : Xisto.com will become the mini-site for spirituality-and-consciousness knowledge-consciousness/ Now, here is the fun thing, OpaQue wants to involve each and every member in this transformation because you, the members are the life of the forums. And it is only right that have a proactive part in this new process. We are listening to each and everything you have to offer / say RENAMING THE FORUMS You can see in the poll that there are three options for you to choose from, tell us which domain name would be best suitable for this new version of Xisto.com . If you have a funkier suggestion, don't hesitate in tossing it in. REORGANIZING THE CURRENT MAIN FORUMS & ITS SUB FORUMS This is a task mainly for me and OpaQue BUT we want to know what you want to add or remove from the forums. What you think should be merged. Keep in mind that we want to reduce the cluttered feeling so don't suggest a new sub forum unless there are plenty of topics to populate it with. SEGREGATION OF THE FORUMS INTO MINI VERSIONS You all by know about the alternative layout of the forums, this is the Lo Fi version unregistered members are shown by default. You also know that if you type trappedinsh!t.com (!=i) you get automatically redirected to the vent. Similarly livebusinesstalk.com redirects you to the Business Forum. These two will be merged to create miniature versions of the forums that will show ONLY certain categories. For example :- In the new version, If a person goes to livebusinesstalk.com he won't see the blue IPB forum BUT instead he will see a completely different layout with lots of features and topics ONLY from the Business forum. Similarly, the same will be done for other sections. Of course there will be one version similar to the current one so members can find a topic from any part of Xisto.com So go ahead and check out the Lo Fiversion and give us your ideas on what you'd like to see there, it could be polls, ratings, feeds or anything else.. Let us know. -- Your Questions Answered -- Why is this being done? -- The goal is to give readers a more focused / concentrated selection of topics from sections they like through the mini sites. People wanting information on Google services would not want to read about cooking. The website would be more intuitive, interactive and organized making it easier and more fun for reading. Will it affect members? -- No, members who are registered and earning Mycent will not have to worry about the change. There will be no change in the way you post or earn Mycents However, we want to make the new Lo Fi versions useful to members also. Keep it simpler and easier for members to find topics of their taste. We'd like you members to use this page when searching for a topic or staying in touch with a section you like. So now that you know what is going on, don't fret and post all your questions, suggestions and critique.. Questions that repeat or considered important will be updated in this post We need your Suggestions for 2 Domain Names. (The Poll Allows Multiple Choice ) 1. For the main Forum. (i personally like talksense) 2. For the Free Web Hosting site (mini Site / category) where all Free Web Hosting related stuff will be put into.

And that is where the weirdness begins and ends.. Somehow Microsoft will let you pin to EXPLORER but not to the taskbar itself **rolls eyes**.. So you cannot have it pinned like you can with other softwares.. Sad right? And congrats on being able to finally pin it to your taskbar

Yordan, are you referring to "Pin to Explorer" where it creates a shortcut in the windows explorer icon? The icon is in the spoiler tag for reference.. The visual editor only does a faux resize, it does not actually resize an image.. Manumonkey, you have two ways of doing this a. Pin to Windows Explorer where you can pin the folder in the Windows Explorer (Folder icon) in your taskbar b. Create a new toolbar and add the folder as a shortcut there. Steps for A "Pin to Windows Explorer " 1. Visit the folder you want to pin 2. Right Click on the Windows Explorer icon 3. You should see your folder in the list of "recent" 4. Hover over the folder and you will see the pin icon (It will be grey and pointing towards the left) 5. Left click to PIN, click once more to UNPIN DONE! Steps for B "Create a toolbar shortcut for your folder" 1. Right Click on your taskbar. 2. Hover Over Toolbars -> Click New Toolbar 3. Find your Folder 4. Click "Select Folder" DONE! I like to pin all my folders using the toolbar mode since it lists all the stuff in it without loading it (yeah, I am that lazy). It is more efficient since it is like the textier version of the start menu without the bonus advantage of searchable items

Any time monkey :)Next time, just make sure to see if a topic for the problem exists before jumping the gun.. ok? Topic closed