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Anarchy / I'm Honestly Amazed Teh Geekery still exists« on: January 02, 2023, 03:33:05 AM »
As the subject says, I'm just shocked - I literally joined ya'll in '04 when I was like... 17ish, and I'm 35 now. I doubt anyone would remember me, but I do sometimes think of you folks here - it brings me back to a simpler time, with much nostalgia. Happy to see some familiar faces as well
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New Geeks on the Block / The Prodigal Son Returns« on: January 17, 2010, 07:22:20 AM »
And lo, there was much rejoicing!
Hello everyone, I've missed you
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Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / Adapter Lava Hot« on: October 05, 2007, 12:13:49 AM »
For some reason my laptop adapter to charge the battery is running extremely hot, and I'm a little afraid that it's going to catch on fire or melt or something. I tried looking it up on Google, but no such luck. Any help would be appreciated. ("In other news, a house burnt to the ground today from unknown causes. Fire crews suspect Gateway was involved.")
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Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / Windows XP Install Trouble« on: August 25, 2007, 06:53:53 AM »
This isn't a quest for help, but a mission of mercy. I recently discovered a few solutions that I think people should know about when they encounter problems installing Windows XP. (I prefer 2k to Xp, but prefer Xp to Vista...)
1) Setup freezes at "Starting Windows Setup" (Something like that, anyway) Press F5, and use the up and down arrows to select the type of computer. (Basically, do you want ACPI supported or not. Standard is without it, and the others are self explanatory.) 2) Setup freezes or crashes after formatting the hard drive and says that it cannot install because the disk is damaged, or it gives some weird STOP error. Try making the partition smaller than the size displayed by the MOBO. If you HD is 160 gigs (like the one I just installed was) but your mobo only shows 130, either update the mobo (not an option for me) or set the partition size down to at or under that. (I set it to about 60, because I wanted something around 100 for the other.) 6
Anarchy / Stupid Sexy Flanders Leaked!« on: July 17, 2007, 10:50:24 PM »
By at least two sources as well!
One was a pair of employees that decided to announce they quit with a bang but handing in their two week notice then spoiling the book on the internet. (They warn before they do it...) The other was a person who took pictures of individual pages of the book and leaked it onto bittorent. This is suspected to be a publicity stunt. Either way, I'm still getting the book. 7
Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / AHH!!« on: June 10, 2007, 12:51:52 AM »
Can you guys help me, this is pretty frustrating and I'm not sure how to fix it.
Alright, I'm trying to install Windows XP SP2 on my friends computer. (It's actually a Cyberpower restore CD with XP SP2 on it... but it goes to the Windows XP Setup and everything...) It keeps giving me various errors (STOP: 0x8E, etc...) that, when I look them up, indicate hardware/device driver problems. But I'm not sure which driver, and how to fix it! Any suggestions? 8
Entertainment / A D20 Campaign Invitation« on: May 30, 2007, 12:58:44 AM »
I've decided that the time has come for this forum to have a D20 campaign. I'd like to see who would be interested, otherwise it's not worth it for me to spend time on it.
This is going be using D20 Call of Cthulhu, obviously in a Cthulhu themed setting. Given the nature of everyone meeting and such, I think P-B-P would be better for everyone in terms of times available and busy schedules. For those who do not know anything about the rules for D20 CoC, that's fine. It's like most D20 games, with some differences in class creation and game play. Most of the emphasis is on story/investigation/mystery, and not on combat like DnD. (I know DnD isn't entirely hack-and-slash, but it easily becomes that.) For those interested in playing, please leave a post here saying you'd like to play and what profession you are considering. (Similar to a class, but far less restrictive. It influences what skills you possess, as saves and melee/ranged bonuses are determined separately.) If you want to keep the profession a secret, or are unsure, just send me a PM with it, but still contribute to the thread/poll! A profession can be any job, but I am unsure at this point which would be more fun: a more modern setting, or 1920's. (So please, say which you think would be better.) 9
Political Opinions / Life« on: May 26, 2007, 02:27:59 AM »
My friend recently pointed this out to me and I thought it was interesting.
According to Wikipedia, the definition of life is: Life is a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally. A diverse array of living organisms can be found in the biosphere on Earth. Properties common to these organisms – plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria – are a carbon and water-based cellular form with complex organization and genetic information. They undergo metabolism, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. An entity with the above properties is considered to be a living organism, that is an organism that is alive hence can be called a life form. However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. For example, the capacity for descent with modification is often taken as the only essential property of life. This definition notably includes viruses, which do not qualify under narrower definitions as they are acellular and do not metabolize. Broader definitions of life may also include theoretical non-carbon-based life and other alternative biology. Some forms of artificial life, especially wet alife, might alternatively be classified as real life. Given a minimalist definition, such as being able to reproduce, could a computer virus be considered alive? There are several viruses that can mutate and spawn a new virus when introduced to other viruses, and that seems to be "reproduction" at it's finest. If a virus could be considered life, what are the possible consequences. Sorry, but classes have ended and I love a philosophical discussion. 10
Political Opinions / Crime (And Punishment)« on: May 26, 2007, 02:21:09 AM »
This is taken from the discussion on murder, but I felt that this should also apply to all crime as well. I've edited it somewhat.
From what I've seen, which doesn't qualify me as an expert in any way other than for the purposes of this discussion, people seem to commit crimes for three broad reasons, which you may recognize from our discussion of the death penalty (and murder): 1) They've completely lost themselves to rage, and the consequences/logic of their actions is no so easily seen. (By them or by us, which was mentioned in the other thread.) It's often said that emotions can distort our judgment, in many different directions. 2) They have some innate desire or compulsion to do some action. (We call these people psychopaths when they have an innate desire or impulse to kill others, and I believe TehJudgie briefly touched on this in the murder thread.) 3) They commit crimes for "profit". (They believe, for whatever reason, that the pros outweigh the cons. For instance, not believing you will be caught.) The question then, is why do we have prisons? If they are meant to separate the "criminals" from the rest of the population, does it matter whether prison is a terrible place or not? I think that having prison as a terrible place is the SAME reason we have a death penalty, and should be changed for almost EXACTLY the same reasons. 11
Political Opinions / A Libertarian Defense Of Social Programs« on: April 13, 2007, 03:36:08 PM »
I often hear it said that Libertarians hate/dislike social programs (like Welfare, etc...) and think that the ideal government wouldn't have them. I had a flash of inspiration in class today, though, while we were going over some Locke stuff. (We're reading his 2nd Treatise, good stuff.) If I have somehow misinterpreted something, please let me know. I'm breaking everything up as much as I logically can to let you folks argue it over. (Given some of the recent posts...)
Underlying Assumption: The ideal government is as small as possible but still able to ensure the protection of our rights. (Locke: Life, Liberty, Property; More Modern: Bill of Rights) The main point of contention is that social programs are unnecessary, and just make the government bigger without reason. The government is only there to PROTECT our rights, not to enable us to achieve them. (Make sure nobody steals from us, but not to give us an iPod if we want one...) Under this view: NASA would not be a necessary program under this government, because it does nothing by way of protecting our rights. (Not true, I'll explain why later) The Health Department would not be necessary, because the government's role is to protect you from people who would kill you, not from mishaps and bad luck. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc... would all be gone. At least, these would all SEEM to be gone, but this is only true when taken in the context of a single government. What about a multi-government environment. Let's pretend there are only two countries, which we'll call US and THEM. US is the ideal libertarian government, THEM is something else, let's say a monarchy. US, if the above arguments are true, has no reason to develop space technology, or so it seems. But one day, THEM decide that it's better to try and go to the moon. If US is weaker than THEM, it will have a harder time protecting our rights from THEM, so it should logically try and either a) prevent THEM from reaching space or b) reach space first and keep improving (to keep us ahead of them) But in order to compete with them, we need a strong economy, because a weak economy generally is a sign or cause of a weak country. Fine, but in order to achieve that it might make sense to help those that have fallen on bad times, because the more productive everyone is the better off the economy is, at least in general, so let's help them somewhat to get back on their feet. (In the interest of increasing the economy to stay stronger or become stronger than THEM in order to protect the rights of US citizens.) But people begin to see that if they work, they may later down the line have problems when they stop working, because they've been so busy they haven't been able to set aside much, or various other reasons. As an incentive, we tell people that if they work hard they'll be able to get some money down the line to help them after they stop working. (Social Security, still in the interests of keeping the economy strong, providing an incentive, but also to make sure that our experienced workers have an incentive to stay here.) Public education for a more educated workforce, public libraries for the same reason, perhaps both also help to prevent THEM from using propaganda and other materials. Department of Health to prevent THEM from using chemical weapons, to help keep people working and productive, etc... etc... Thoughts? 13
Anarchy / Microsoft Haiku« on: January 23, 2007, 08:08:23 PM »
Taken From http://www.califmall.com/CoolFunniesarc06.html#haikuerrors
Apparently in Japan they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Here are 16 actual error messages from Japan: submitted 06/22/01 Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone. The web site you seek Cannot be located, but Countless more! Exist. Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return. Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much. Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams. Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that. First snow, then silence. This thousand-dollar screen dies So beautifully. With searching comes loss And the presence of absence: "My Novel" not found. The Tao that is seen Is not the true Tao - until You bring fresh toner. Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down. A crash reduces Your expensive computer To a simple stone. Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred. You step in the stream, But the water has moved on. This page is not here. Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, But we never will. Having been erased, The document you're seeking Must now be retyped. Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared. Screen. Mind. Both are blanks. 16
Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / HD Slow Down« on: August 01, 2006, 02:20:45 PM »
Yeah, my harddrive seems to be slowing down, and it's taking longer to transfer files to different drives as well as access or delete files.
Is this a sign my drive is dying? ((I'm backing it up as I type this...) 17
Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / MySQL Server (Slackware Linux)« on: July 22, 2006, 09:02:49 AM »
Both to serve as a reference to myself should I forget, and for those interested, here is how you set up a MySQL server using Slackware Linux.
For Reference: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/installing-binary.html 1. First, log on to root and make sure you didn't accidentally install mysql when you were initially setting up the server. >pkgtool Select remove, and scroll down the list to see if mysql is on it. If it is, press space bar to select it and then press enter. 2. Make sure that mysql isn't already a user by typing userdel mysql. (Or any other way you want, you could use 'id' to check too) 3a. Create the mysql group >groupadd mysql 3b. Create the mysql account >adduser Follow the instructions, with the name being mysql and the initial group being users and additional group being mysql. 4. If you don't have it already, download the latest MySQL binary from their website. (It's pretty easy to find) 5. Log off of root and log onto the mysql account. 5. Extract the files and then unpack them >gunzip [file] >tar xvf [file] 6. Check to see the ownership of the files and make sure that mysql is the user and mysql is the group >ls -l //l as in Long If it doesn't say mysql mysql >chown -R mysql . >chgrp -R mysql . 7. Use the script to install the database > scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql 8. Test > bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql & Note: If it gives you an error about permissions (errcode 13 is about permission) make sure that the target file is read/write/execute. There, I hope that helps some. 18
Political Opinions / Immigration« on: June 05, 2006, 02:09:22 PM »
One topic up for discussion is whether we should/could bring Mexico into the union. I add that we should also bring in Canada.
I'm going to try to just offer up some points for debate, then I'll throw in my two cents, but keep in mind this is about "Illegal" immigration, not just about adding Mexico into the union. I don't necessarily support the ideas presented, until I throw in my chunk of change. Points Against "Illegal" Immigration: -Illegals are a drain on the economy -Jobs should go to Americans -They should come here legally like everyone else -It's ILLEGAL!!! Points For "Illegal" Immigration -The system is broken, they can't come here legally -Companies are hiring them, but not being punished -Blame the companies, not the people -They are just trying to make a living -They aren't a drain, they actually contribute more and get out less 19
Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / Internet Madness« on: May 24, 2006, 01:40:23 AM »
This is a problem I am having with one, just one, computer that I am always on.
Internet is chugging along fine, then randomly it won't let me view any websites. ("Firefox can't find the server at www.google.com.") I know I am on the internet. How do I know? I am on teamspeak and can still talk to my friend. I can also surf on every other computer on the network, and I can surf other computers on the network including a computer attached to the same hub/switch/whatever this is that the computer is on. (Writing this on my wireless laptop atm.) After restarting, it works fine again. It's very annoying, and I was hoping you folks might know of a reason why this is happening. 20
Anarchy / Trying to find this one book...« on: April 27, 2006, 11:54:11 AM »
Would anyone be willing to help me?
When I was a lot younger, I read this one story that I can remember some of the points but it was interesting, at least then. I want to at least have it on my shelf, if not read it again, but I cannot think of a title, so I was hoping someone might recognize it. This was something of a science fiction story I believe, where the main character (I think was female) had a skill at telling the pitch of crystal. The people on the planet she got sent to made their money by harvesting crystal veins, and as a result of conditions on the planet people lived a long time. (Though they had to return to the planet every so often if they left) Some lifeform would merge with the miners I think, though not sure. This might be just pure crap, but I can't remember enough about the book to say, and I really would like to find it. Hope someone might have a clue. Edit: I don't believe this is an "age appropriate book" for when I read it, so don't think it will just be under some little kid section. 23
Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap / Site Advisor« on: March 05, 2006, 01:45:20 AM »
http://blog.siteadvisor.com/
You can download a firefox extention, or just browse their website, that will tell you about the danger presented by malware/spyware/etc... on a given website. Sample: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/geekforum.org?safe Looks interesting, not sure how good it is though. 24
Political Opinions / Gun Control« on: February 06, 2006, 09:04:28 PM »
I was wondering how you folks feel about the issues about gun control. (Should be ban them, is it effective, don't we have a right to bear arms, etc...)
Just thought I would start up a new conversation, though I am going to finish what I was saying in the other thread. 25
Political Opinions / Pornography« on: January 30, 2006, 08:00:07 PM »
In another of my classes (I take a lot of philosophy classes) we're going over Pornography. The class is on Speech Acts, for those who don't know I'll explain what that is in a moment, and we're reading MacKinnon's book "Only Words" which is very much against pornography (as defined by MacKinnon - "graphic sexually explicit materials that subordinate women through pictures or words.")
She's in favour for banning it, and given that definition I can see why, but I suppose the question then is what counts as porn. To throw a wrench into the works, it's interesting that if the situation were, let's say, a black man and a white man, I'm not sure it would be viewed in the same way. And what about fetish videos, I mean the one's where men and women are willing participants, not forced. |
