HalcyonSpirit

Wow... this is just too stupid for words. Guess I'm lucky that I was forced to stop playing over the summer due to lack of funds. Otherwise... well, I'd be one very angry Caldari. You still play this game, don't you, Schwaltzvald? Did you get caught unawares by this epic fail?

Every two months. We rotate between three different categories: Short Story, Poetry, and Freeform (aka anything that has words). This one now going into the judging phase is Freeform. If I'm not mistaken, January will bring us to Poetry, and then March will be Short Story. In other news, I always take too damn long to write things (as evidenced by my update frequency for Eternal Legends)... Oh well, maybe next time I can kick my ass into gear and get something done the first week of the competition so I don't have the same problem again.

Confirm [ENTER] Also: Holy crap, it's already down to one day?! ****! I've been so wrapped up with my Thin-Walled Structures project that I completely forgot about it... Damnit. This is the Freeform competition, right? I might be able to whip something short up today, provided I can stay awake (been up all night doing said project)... Maybe I'll submit my project report. (Nah, I wouldn't make you guys suffer through it, even though it's only 5 pages. )

Both in name and in feeling. Agreed wholeheartedly. I'm listening to it now...

... Crud. Rest in peace, Reuben. I didn't know you, but it doesn't make me any less sad. You'll be missed here at OCR.

I saw it. It didn't go over anything I didn't already know, but to see it all outlined in one place was nice. Also nice to see videogames getting some positive attention on TV. Sure, most people that have negative ideas about them wouldn't watch the documentary, but still, definitely a good step. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the documentary; perhaps there will be something in there that I don't know already.

Happy Turkey Day, all you crazy people! I'm an American, and I've been asking the same thing for years. One time I told my parents that I wish the country would make the switch, and they told me that English units had advantages over SI. I then asked them "like what?" and they couldn't answer.

My sister uses a Linksys wireless adapter (g-standard) to connect to the router at home. Most of the time, it works alright. However, when I come home for break (like right now) and connect my laptop to the router (regardless of it being by wireless or Ethernet), my sister's computer can no longer connect to the router reliably. It'll usually connect for a few minutes before losing it again for quite a while. When I leave, things go back to normal. I don't have any connection issues myself, the family computer doesn't have any problems either (it is connected via Ethernet cable), and my other sister's laptop does not have significant problems connecting to the router wirelessly (it only sees "Limited or No Connectivity" for a short time after initially connecting regardless of whether she is upstairs or downstairs; the router is downstairs). It shouldn't be the router itself, since this has been happening with both the current router and the router we had previously. I can't see why this would be a problem with the computer either. In fact, I can't see why this is happening at all. Any ideas would be helpful.

NO ... wait, YES ... err... Damnit, what's the right response here?!

Like I said before, ZoneAlarm has been having issues lately with compatibility and stability, so avoid it. I use Comodo. It has essentially all the functionality of ZoneAlarm's firewall, hardly any of the problems, and is completely free. As far as Windows Firewall goes, it has some bad holes in it. Not a huge amount of them, but enough to want a better firewall if you need a firewall at all. Thing is, I really don't think I'd ever need a firewall except for when I'm connected to a network such as a college campus... like I am now. At home, I'd be fine with just the Windows Firewall, and maybe even without that. But on a college campus, not having a good firewall is like begging for your computer to get exploited, and Windows Firewall is just a little too easy to get around.

Damn... well, good luck!

Oh, I've listened to it. I've listened to it a lot. But I don't think it's enough information. Probably because there's not enough context in it. Yeah, Mother binge during the break, here I come.

All this Mother talk is making my head spin. I've never played any of them... ... I need to do so over Thanksgiving break. If only because I want to actually understand what everyone's talking about.

I use BitDefender for anti-virus/spyware and Comodo Firewall for, obviously, the firewall. They both work for me quite well. Worst problem I had was with Comodo, and that was just it using a lot of CPU every few seconds because my computer was being bombarded with blocked connections. Fixing that was as easy as telling it not to log anything from the Network Monitor and clearing the existing log. (Of course, I probably wouldn't even need a firewall if I was anywhere besides a college campus, but that's another matter entirely.) Just so you know, ZoneAlarm used to be good, but lately it's been going down in quality and has quite a few conflicts with other programs. I used it for a while before that happened, and I had to switch because of it. I'd avoid ZA for now.

Well, you have to understand, it's a hospital. Used items could expose already sick patients with whatever the previous user could've had. Sure, the people bringing those items in could do the same, but at least with new items all you have to clean is the packaging and not the item itself (which, in some cases, can't be completely cleaned). It's similar to why they don't allow stuffed animals; they're a breeding ground for disease.

That's true, and not unexpected, given that it started with people who play video games. Perhaps one of us could send an e-mail to them asking if they could make it clearer that it isn't just video games that get donated? Because that would probably be a good idea. Glancing at some of the wish lists on Amazon, most seem to be things other than video games, though. Well, it says on the site that the hospitals can't accept used items. Some policy the hospitals have. However, selling them on Ebay and listing it with Child's Play can have the money donated to Child's Play.

Just so that it's clear to everyone, they don't just donate video games, they donate toys in general. I'm still thinking of an appropriate response beyond that.

Well, the first post says you have a modem, which I'm assuming is for a DSL or Cable connection. Most modems are also routers to some degree, especially those that the DSL/Cable companies give you when you sign up for the service. So if you haven't already, do what Katsurugi has said if it applies. If those don't work, you might want to try releasing and renewing the IP address on your computer. Given the amount of time between when it started and now, it's unlikely that'll work, but it's worth a shot anyway. (To do it, go to Start -> Run -> Enter "cmd", then "ipconfig /release", then "ipconfig /renew", all individually and without the quotes.) If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what to tell you. The sudden powering down of the computer right before this started tells me that something might've been damaged either by the object hitting the computer or the powering down itself. The network card, perhaps, was damaged by a power surge from it suddenly being turned off (unlikely, especially with newer computers, but I've seen it happen with other computer components because of a low-quality power supply). Have you tried hooking up another computer to this connection? If that computer connects fine using that connection, and then yours still won't work after switching back, it's definitely a problem with your computer. If the other computer doesn't, it means the problem lies somewhere else. You might want to try replacing the cables connecting the computer to the modem/router and the modem/router to the main line (one at a time, though, so you can see where the problem was if it was one of those). The fact that you can be on AIM and get album data but not webpages tells me that perhaps the connection is damaged to the point where only connections that don't require a constant connection can get through. That's all I can think of at the moment.

No objections here. At least as far as what competition it should be. Whether I can participate is another matter entirely. As long as I don't get too much work over Thanksgiving break, I should have a chance to do something. However, the more likely outcome is me getting swamped with homework and being unable to do anything besides that (as is the case right now). Only time will tell.

Yes. For the love of humanity, YES. Thank you. Also, I'm glad to hear that there's a good chance of getting a conclusion to Samurai Jack. It isn't a continuation of TV episodes, but it's better than nothing. I would love to have the TV episodes continued for a little while longer and THEN hit the movie.

... On that note... From my own perspective, it seems like a lot of cartoons these days don't have a good direction from the beginning. They seem to be thrown out there haphazardly and hope that it catches on, and if they do, then they try to really take it somewhere. Not all are like this, though. Avatar is a good example of a good cartoon built on a good premise with a good writing staff. It isn't the greatest thing since swiss cheese, but it works for what it tries to do. I do lament, however, the loss of a great many good shows that had great potential. I still can't figure out why those shows like Samurai Jack and Invader Zim were pulled off the air. Probably because their audience wasn't extensive enough. I'm not sure if I can call this generation's cartoons "bad", but they do seem to go for either the lowest common denominator or least amount of effort for the most gain. Generally speaking, of course. EDIT: I'm not saying that "lowest common denominator" is a bad thing, but often, the LCD (haha) is a very generic premise or set of characters, which doesn't really deliver as well as something a little better written.

Winamp. It does what I need it to do (play music) and not hoard computer resources (most of the time, anyway; every couple weeks it'll have a hiccup and hog the CPU, but exiting the program fixes that easily enough). Making multiple playlists and saving them is easy enough (provided you've organized your music decently), as is loading said playlists. And the skins customization... Let me just say that I would use Winamp just for the skins. Particularly the one I'm using right now, MMD3. Fits right where I want it (at the top of the screen, in the title bar of windows) so that I can have the "Always on Top" option on without it getting in the way. Honestly, I would use Winamp just for that.

*prances onto the thread and votes* Finally got enough time away from my damned Aerospace work to read the entries... Now it's back to work for me.

Right. However... there are people, like myself, that don't have a Wii or TP and have to rely on others to play it (re: borrow their system and game). Which is a bit of a problem if you both have a life... And then there's the people that are like me and got trapped in the cannon room because they are playing on a bugged disk and weren't aware of the problem. So yeah, you've got a point, but some of us haven't beaten it completely because of legitimate reasons and thus would be grateful for spoiler warnings...

Completed. Done. Finished. Wrapped up. Concluded. FINI!