rob86

They didn't really ban the selling of toy guns, they just banned the selling of toy guns that look like real guns and require that they have an orange tip on the barrel so people can tell the difference. Apparently this law has been in effect nationwide in the U.S. for almost three decades but wasn't being obeyed by smaller stores in that state. Kids can still play with guns, they just want them to be distinguishable from real guns for a lot of good reasons. It's really not a big deal.

Well hello there nio_kh. I play guitar too. Maybe we can get some kind of a guitar related discussions going on here, I keep trying, but nobody ever seems interested. Anyway, expect the welcoming committee to give you a better welcome with some tips on getting started with your webpage soon, I'm lazy..

I used to prefer PC gaming, but I can see why PC games are a dying breed. It's just too much hassle getting them to work, even if I do get past steam, who knows what else I'll have to deal with. Outdated video drivers? Buggy software? You have to be a tech-guru just to run a PC game. I should have got a Wii + Yoga mat bundle. Exercise may not be my favourite video game genre, but at least I'd be doing something other than staring at progress bars and error pop-ups

I've been getting the "Server too busy" error for two days now when i try to install the game from a DVD. What is wrong now? How can it be busy every time I try it? Am I doing something wrong, surely nothing can be this pathetic -- oh wait, it's Steam, I wouldn't be surprised. Can anybody help me? Can't I just avoid using Steam? I don't want to play online, I just want to play singleplayer. I'm googling and looking for solutions, and I see a lot of equally pissed off people who are not buying any more junk. Guess I'm far from alone on the opinion of Steam.

I can understand the benefits of Steam, but it doesn't work well for people on dial-up which is my main problem with it. I know dial-up is old fashioned, but it's all that is available here. I shouldn't be made to do all this just to play single player. It does take 45-60 minutes to log in, I'm not lying. I don't know why it takes so long, but the first few times I was sure Steam crashed. It also takes that long to do whatever it does when I'm installing the game. The progress bar will show 100% for 30+ minutes. I never know if Steam frozen up or is still downloading. Poorly designed software if you ask me, it's always freezing up and leaving me to figure out what it's doing behind the scenes. When it does finish, it tells me the server was too busy. When I try to install from the DVD in offline mode, it won't let me. Give me a break, Steam!It's much too frustrating to deal with this on dial-up, every step takes an unnecessary amount of time. I can't see any reason why it would take so long to do these things, what is it downloading that takes so long? It seems to be downloading at least 8mb of data just to log in. All I want to do is activate my game and play it. I can't play multiplayer anyway.

I guess I've been living under a rock, because I haven't the slightest idea who Lady Gaga or the other singers you post about are. Whenever I see these mysterious names in a post, I know it's Gisellebebegirl back from the dead. I don't really listen to that kind of music much, but I guess as a musician I should draw influences from ever where.. Anyway, sounds like an interesting concert -- I think. The gay guys in glitter and underwear I'm not overly disappointed about missing out on Since you're so inspired by these singers, have you considered starting your own singing career?

I've never been so frustrated installing something before in my life. I have a real purchased copy of Empire: Total War and I've been trying for days to install it. I'm forced to use the complete garbage that is STEAM to play a game I spent my money on? It takes me 60minutes to log in to steam, I have NO idea why, but it takes that long, every time, and I've done it half a dozen times, and then it keeps saying it's servers are too busy to install my game. So I have to keep logging in. Why do I even have to connect to their damn servers? I spent hours registering the game with their moronic way of doing it, let me play the stupid thing. I thought that's what the flippin' DVDs were for! Why did I pay $49.99 for this? It's taking me hours and hours just to see if this game will even run. It doesn't make any damn sense. Just let me run the executable like back in the day when thing actually worked right. I'm not buying another game that uses that STEAM B.S. Heck, I'm put off from buying games in general now. If I had high-speed internet, I would download these games and any future games by these people without a second thought. I suggest anyone who values their time do the same, don't waste your money on any product that forces that kind of protection down your throat. It's pretty bad when you buy a game and you're more inconvenienced than if you just downloaded the game and installed a crack. Pathetic. I tried to be patient, but this is ridiculous. It shouldn't take days to install a big name game, I wouldn't even accept this much trouble with some obscure OSS. And don't even get me started on the fact that I had to google blogs just to figure out how to install the game without re-downloading two dvd's worth.. I have to use the Windows command line install a game? Screw you, SEGA or whoever publishes the stupid thing. People pirate your stupid games anyway! Why should paying customers be inconvenienced this much? People think Linux is hard? It's a cake walk compared to installing Empire Total War. Am I angry? You bet! I wouldn't go through this crap again if they paid ME. Of course, I need to download faster than 2.5kb/s to download games, argh!

Yes, tell us what kind of software or recommendations you're looking for. Do you like command line apps? Linux is known for it's powerful CL programs. Or maybe you prefer GUIs. Maybe you just want to know about all the things that are already built in, you'd be surprised how powerful Ubuntu is out of the box.For example, you can download an entire webpage for viewing offline with the built in wget command, no need for extra software. You can convert images, pdfs, or anything simply with the 'convert' command.You can try different desktop environments and window managers. There are a lot of window managers, most of them are more lightweight than the defaults which can be good for a slower computer.

Does anyone have any experience with Mastercraft tools? They seem to be pretty good, affordable tools that are a step up from the b&d type brands. They have a lifetime warranty on a lot of stuff too. If you break something, they do indeed replace it. I doubt they're in the same league as the brand names professionals use, because they are cheaper, but I think they're more than adequate for home use. Some tools are made cheaper than others, but most are pretty good quality I think. I have had a bad experience with B&D products. This might not be as masculine as a tool, but they make this cheap rice cooker that often sells for $9.99 here. The rice cooker works good, better than other cheap rice cookers, the only problem is, it never lasts for very long. I've owned three of them (they're cheap) and every one of them broke in the same way, one day it will finish cooking rice, and then it will never turn on again, the lights go off forever. Something fishy is going on when a product keeps breaking like that. Has anyone ever seen or used a tool that's 40+ years old? I've seen some of the power tools my grandfather used to use and they are H-E-A-V-Y. You'd have to be a strong person to use one of those old fashioned tools. They're well made too, almost always completely metal, you could run over them with a truck and it'd be ok. I used to think modern chainsaws were pretty heavy, they're NOTHING compared to the metal ones they used to use. It's like lifting weights! It's no wonder men were strong in those days, they had to be.

Glad to hear you decided to become a little more active here. It's nice to see some different people with different interests. What kind of stuff do you like to discuss on forums? Just because nobody else is talking about something, doesn't mean nobody wants to. I often don't bother posting anything because I don't think anybody cares about my topics.

I used the nickname Nameless on IRC years ago, but it wasn't my primary nickname, just one I used as a backup. I used SansNom once in a while too, which means Withoutname in English. It's also a brand of bargain food in Canada. If anyone wants SansNom, they can have it, or maybe everyone hates the French.

I realize that no single person should be the source of all instrument learning, I'm learning from more than one place and putting all the knowledge together. I also understand the value of practice and doing things right - putting some effort into it. It's not all fun and games, being a skilled musician takes some dedicated practicing and not just jamming. I play guitar, I'm used to the drudgery that is scale practicing to a metronome. Anyway, I appreciate Bani's teaching, it's good to have some kind of guidance. An interesting thing to add to the discussion, is that it's surprising what can come out of someone developing their own technique and style. One guy comes to mind, Canadian rocker Jeff Healey, who developed his own technique because of his blindness. He's famous for his ballads, but I prefer his more raw blues-rock stuff. Check out a youtube video to see his unique style. He had nobody to teach him, and couldn't see pictures, so he just did what felt right to him. He wasn't just a good guitarist for a blind guy, he was a great guitarist in general. It's amazing how someone can get so good doing something completely different. I didn't know anything about him until he died a few years ago and I looked him up to see why his death was such big news.

I've been practicing the technique you described, with the fingers. I can kind of see how it's done, but it sure feels weird. I've looked at maybe half a dozen lessons and videos and none of them touch on that method at all. They all use the wrist/arm. Is it an advanced technique or something? I've been working on the single roll doing the normal (in the video) method and it's not so bad, but when I use the fingers it falls apart. I can see how it might be a beneficial technique though with its economical movement. I guess I'll keep at it. I hope I'm understanding it right, I think I am, but like I said, it feels weird!

I just want to mention that my recently purchased Yamaha drum kit says * Welcome ! * When I start the module up. It's everywhere!I haven't seen many (any?) products from Aus, do they say "G'day, mate?"

I thought it was pretty good, I think everyone's just busy with Christmas. I don't see anything wrong with it to criticize.

This is a little off topic, but did you know Sabian cymbals are made just hours from where I live? I'm not sure if you know the history of the cymbal makers, but the Zildjian brothers had a fight, split up, and one of them formed Sabian cymbals in my province. Drummers from all over the world travel to this little town just to buy some custom Sabian cymbals. It's almost all farmland in that area, it's a really remote place for an internationally known business. Considering my province, New Brunswick, isn't known for much, I always thought it was pretty cool that Sabian puts us on the map.Anyway, I'll try out what you taught later in the day and let you know how it goes.

I haven't practiced the single roll yet, but I watched the videos and am trying to understand what you said. I get that you hold the sticks between your index and thumb, and it pivots on that balance point, but I don't understand using the three fingers to move the stick. I can drum on the pads, but my extra fingers don't seem very involved with what's going on, so I don't think I'm doing it the way you said to.@inverse_bloomI don't have enough experience on acoustic drums to really compare, but the pads seem pretty bouncy. Electronic kits are designed to feel like acoustic drums, whether they succeed or not probably depends on the kit.

I recently purchased a Yamaha DTXplorer Electronic Drum Kit. I went with an electronic kit for a few reasons, namely quiet practicing, compactness, and I happen to like electronic gadgets. It comes with a ride cymbal, crash cymbal, three toms, one snare, hi hat, hi-hat controller, and bass pedal. I'm impressed with it, it seems to be pretty good. It's a bit strange why they didnt make the hi-hat a cymbal pad instead of a round drum pad, but I guess it is the most affordable model, so I can't expect it to compare to the higher end Yamaha's or Rolands. Some day, I'd love to have a high-end electronic kit, but the DTXplorer seems to be a great value for a beginner. I haven't tried out the sound quality much, I just have it hooked up to computer speakers (yuck, I know, give me a chance to buy some adapters to amp it up!) but I imagine it will sound pretty good loud with some reverb. I really have no idea how to play it though. Can anyone tell me some beginner tips? Like, the correct way to hold the flippin' sticks? I'm not sure if I should hold them like I'm going to throw them across the room, or hold them like I'm in some marching band. I thought I could get away without a drum throne - Hey, I'm a n00b I thought, why do I need a fancy chair? - so I used a wooden stool that was about an inch too high for me (I could barely control the bass and high hat). Now my neck and back are so sore I can hardly move my head, and my foot goes numb whenever I play for more than 15 minutes. The moral of the story is simple, buy a damn throne.

I got a C maj Hohner Blues Harp for Christmas, and I haven't the slightest idea how to play it. I've been reading a few lessons, and my harp playing still sounds pitiful. I was listening to some of Sonny Terry's music - wow, I wasn't even aware a harmonica could be played that good. I recommend anyone who likes raw blues/country music to check him out, I had no idea who he was until now. If he doesn't inspire you to play the harp (or depress you into throwing it in the trash) I don't know who else will. I was thinking it was just a cheap, simple instrument, but people forge entire careers and legacy's on the humble little harmonica. So much for quickly adding a new instrument to my repertoire of tricks, they say it could take months to master certain techniques. I'm a long way from advanced techniques, I can barely hold the thing right! What I really need is some alone time with it, preferably in the middle of a dense forest where nobody can hear me. I'm impressed with the little Harp, it's my first one, and I love the portability of the thing. I don't have to lug around guitars and amps to play some music. I use the word music loosely, in my case.Anyone else play a Harmonica/Harp/Mouth Organ (different names, for different locales I guess)

Right now it's only letting me edit once, and then the second time I get the error. I tried it again to make sure and the same thing happened. Can you edit multiple times? I used to be able to, so something must have changed.

Well I made one edit above, and I now see the edit button in that post, but not in my first post. I also got an error message trying to edit it a second time. Edit testing again.... looks like it will work.

Well I certainly can't edit things, unless I'm losing my mind. I used to edit my posts all the time, so I know how to do it, and now there isn't even a button. I think OpaQue is doing something, because that comma in the title is gone too. It's weird that you can edit though.Edit Testing...testing...

Wow! I just noticed that annoying comma is gone. That bothered me for a long time, but I didn't feel picky enough to complain about it. I also assumed someone must have noticed before that it looked strange there, but it wasn't easily fixable. I'm quite pleased it's gone though. I'm surprised that after all this time, all it took was your complaint, so good job! I'm also impressed that Opaque (or whoever did it) is taking the time to listen to and implement these suggestions.

Well, that's me. The latter, obviously! Here's a song they sometimes play at Christmas here in Canada by Bob and Doug. It's stupid, but kind of funny, so check it out. "It's a beauty!" It's a silly parody of Canadian culture, don't take it too seriously. And we don't really all talk like that in Canada! I encoded it with an EXTREMELY low bitrate, so I don't think anyone's going to sue me for attaching it. twelvedaysofxmas.mp3

I used to be able to edit posts, but now I can't. Is anyone else experiencing this? When I post something, there is an EDIT button there, where it always used to be. Clicking on it allows me to edit it, but when I try to save the changes, nothing happens. When I refresh the page, the edit button is no longer there. Something fishy is going on around here!