Fine post, I couldn't agree more. Engineer/analyst (defense industry), married, four kids, my wife was an engineer also until our first was born, and is now a stay at home mom. Plan when we got married was to eventually move from AZ to the DC area, so huge CoL increase. Turned down a decent gig in DC in 2004 (pre-kids), since we weren't certain she'd have the choice to stay at home - looked at other areas, not quite in the city, but say, Dahlgren, Charlottesville, etc, lower CoL than DC. Kept plugging along with our plan - 3, then 4 kids, but took advantage of a work-reimbursed masters degree, upsized the house in AZ first, then finally moved outside of DC (Carroll County, MD) about two years ago - still on one income. Would love for her to go back to work eventually, but more for the intellectual stimulation - not a financial necessity. We cook at home a lot, but go out for dinner at least once a month. No CC debt, and paid cash for the last two cars. It's certainly possible, helps that we paid down a lot of debt in the DINK days, didn't go nuts then. It isn't w/o sacrifice, for sure, but for the benefits to the kids having her home, figure we've come out ahead in the game.
Those crazy Amish...what will they think of next?
"Nobody knows electricity like the Amish!" - Homer Simpson, just before his Amish-wired treehouse bursts into flame.
Anyone remember the Atari 400? The budget version of the Atari 800. Had some sort of acrylic keyboard with pads that you really had to apply some pressure to for the press to register. Also had a lovely feature in the cartridge slot cover - spring loaded, and took several tries to make it latch. If the latch isn't engaged, the system wouldn't function.
Yeah, I remember that one in U4. Worked so much better than repeatedly raiding LB's castle treasury (10 chests through a secret door in the wall, ground level) - sure, I was rich, but what a hit on the honesty virtue! Another good one in U4 for later in the game was selling the mystic arms, then searching the ground for them again - you got another set if (I think) you didn't already have eight.
Good point - Ultima IV is still one of my fondest gaming memories. I also like how they went on, at least with Ultima V, showing how the virtues, taken to the extremes, become vices. Simmilar corruption was repeated in U7 part II with the principles, as I recall. The whole concept of virtues in those games was an incredible focus of the story, I don't think I've seen anything close since then. I don't know, maybe Black vs White came close - that game never held my interest.
Last XP install I did was last fall on the home computer. Even before working behind a router, the usual procedure for me, with the pre-SP2 XP install CD is: 1. Keep computer unhooked from the internet during installation from CD 2. "Activate Windows Later" - not even trying this yet: 3. Under local area connection > properties > advanced > Windows Firewall (I think) - enable this sucker. Again, pre SP2 firewall. 4. Go directly to microsoft.com, do not pass go, do not collect $200 - start updating, get the SP2 firewall up. You can also activate windows at this point. 5. Update everything else.
Again, YMMV, but this has worked just fine for me.
They have a system like what you mentioned at Baltimore-Washingtion International. Just like you said - green light over the spot when it's open, red when it's occupied. Also, at the end of every row is a numeric LED display showing how many spaces are open in that row - so you know which row to turn into instead of roaming up and down trying to find a spot - very slick.
Point taken - that's what I get for spapping off with my relatively new interest in cryptography. Guess I'm not ready to take on the 4th message in Kryptos just yet...
Interesting thought -
IF you could use this technology to "listen" to music, but since you're bypassing the eardrums - forget not disturbing others - listen as loud as you want without hearing damage?
I agree with you - got a cheapie moka pot, aluminum I think, from Cost Plus for about 15 bucks. I have a grinder at home - run for a couple seconds past "drip grind" - so it's ground somewhere between drip and espresso-fine, like you implied above. Makes for excellent coffee, and pretty foolproof.
1. Fill lower chamber with water up to pressure relief valve
2. Grind three scoops of coffee beans to the grind mentioned above and spoon loosely into the compartment.
3. Screw top chamber on.
4. Place on the stove, medium heat - I turn down to med-low when the coffee starts coming out
5. When it starts "rumbling/bubbling" towards the end, I turn off the heat, wait for it to finish.
Makes good strong coffee straight up (like parent post said, stronger than american drip, but not quite as strong as true espresso), and mixed 50/50 with hot water, a very good americano. I've got five ways to make coffee at home - this is my current favorite on the weekends.
Maybe it's just because we just had a rough night with #1 (20 months) and #2 (3.5 weeks), but...
Wonder if say, 30 min with a blue led headset while breast- or bottle-feeding could give a new mom a little lift.
Casino Royale...I agree - not the most glamourous place,but decent bloody marys and low table limits. I did ok there at the craps table - doubled my initial $100 with say, $30 left over. Once I lost that extra $30, I walked. Dealers complimented me on that, most people hit the hot streak, lose their winnings, gamble big to get it back, lose their original steak, then lose more trying to get back to even. The dealers were on the aggressive side going after tokes, but other than that, I had fun there, and would go back - if nothing else, for those table limits. $2 min means you can make $100 last a good while.
Here's something that occurred to me.
Let's say (and I don't see this as terribly far-fetched) Clinton pulls off something with the superdelegates where she scores the nomination, despite Obama receiving the popular vote. I wonder, could Obama have a chance running as either an independent or create a 3rd party?
Make an update to the game such that friendlies always appear each player as blue, hostiles as red. I don't play the game, so don't know if there's more to team appearance than different colors. America's Army, the player ALWAYS sees their skin and same team members' skins as US Army (or allied indigenous forces), and the enemy as the hostile skin. There's still offense and defense for a given map, but the scenario is written, depending on which team you spaawn as, that you're always US Army, and the other team is a hostile-to-US force. Should be a feasible fix to the visibility disparity.
What's interesting is how they handle weapons. AS I recall, if I'm playing as a basic rifleman, I have a M-16 or M4 rifle. An opponent sees me as a hostile (different skin) with an AK-47. Same in reverse. Now, if my oppponent kills me, he can take my weapon, which he now carries as an AK-47 - may be more damage, but less accurate in his hands. To him, he's US Army handling an AK-47.
Got my copy of CoD4 yesterday. Gorgeous game, but knew that from the demo. Gameplay is pretty typical I think - actually comes pretty natural. Comparing multiplayer to BF2 or BF2142...just different. CoD4 seems a bit quicker paced. Understandable, since there are no vehicles in CoD4, therefore, the maps were made smaller. Vehicles - FPS players seem to either love them or hate them. I think in the BF series, esp. 2142, they did a good job of varying strengths and weakness in the vehicles. Allowed for wide variety of tactics. And the maps in 2142, esp. Titan mode lent themselves to interesting strategies. The round or two of multiplayer CoD4 last night - first impressions...very good. Quicker action, but still (at least the map type we were in, Sabotage I think) playing as a squad makes a difference.
All in all - a very good purchase for a FPS fan - not a replacement for 2142, but a good change of pace.
Bah, I'd mod that irrelevant if I could...basketball...meh
DISCLAIMER...Since U of A typically has a better basketball program then ASU, I usually blatantly ignore basketball...;-)
Hopefully, it'll bring their football predictions more in line with reality...as an ASU fan living in Tucson, I had to put up with months of "It isn't a matter of IF we go to a bowl game this year, but WHICH bowl game we'll go to!" I've been laughing all season, as bad as the wildcats are doing and how well ASU is doing...
DISCLAIMER...I realize ASU has the roug part of their schedule ahead...
To be eligible for schwag, you need to schedule your party by Oct 8 and sign up to attend a party by Oct 13- this will give us time to figure out where to send the shirts, and time to send them before you all start partying naked during the official party window of Oct 19-28. Please, for the love of God, do not use the term "naked" when referring to a Slashdot party. Ever.
One of my favorites, and coincidentally on tonight in syndication:
"Won't You Pimai Neighbor"
Buddhist monks think Bobby is a reincarnated Lama.
Best line is when Hank barges in to see Bobby meditating (after reading Buddhism for Dummies)
Hank:"NO! NO! DANG NO!
Bobby: "Aww, Dad...I was THIS close to achieving enlightenment!!!"
Slashdot Mirror
Fine post, I couldn't agree more. Engineer/analyst (defense industry), married, four kids, my wife was an engineer also until our first was born, and is now a stay at home mom. Plan when we got married was to eventually move from AZ to the DC area, so huge CoL increase. Turned down a decent gig in DC in 2004 (pre-kids), since we weren't certain she'd have the choice to stay at home - looked at other areas, not quite in the city, but say, Dahlgren, Charlottesville, etc, lower CoL than DC. Kept plugging along with our plan - 3, then 4 kids, but took advantage of a work-reimbursed masters degree, upsized the house in AZ first, then finally moved outside of DC (Carroll County, MD) about two years ago - still on one income. Would love for her to go back to work eventually, but more for the intellectual stimulation - not a financial necessity. We cook at home a lot, but go out for dinner at least once a month. No CC debt, and paid cash for the last two cars. It's certainly possible, helps that we paid down a lot of debt in the DINK days, didn't go nuts then. It isn't w/o sacrifice, for sure, but for the benefits to the kids having her home, figure we've come out ahead in the game.
I watched that very episode this morning while eating breakfast!
Those crazy Amish...what will they think of next? "Nobody knows electricity like the Amish!" - Homer Simpson, just before his Amish-wired treehouse bursts into flame.
Anyone remember the Atari 400? The budget version of the Atari 800. Had some sort of acrylic keyboard with pads that you really had to apply some pressure to for the press to register. Also had a lovely feature in the cartridge slot cover - spring loaded, and took several tries to make it latch. If the latch isn't engaged, the system wouldn't function.
Yeah, I remember that one in U4. Worked so much better than repeatedly raiding LB's castle treasury (10 chests through a secret door in the wall, ground level) - sure, I was rich, but what a hit on the honesty virtue! Another good one in U4 for later in the game was selling the mystic arms, then searching the ground for them again - you got another set if (I think) you didn't already have eight.
Good point - Ultima IV is still one of my fondest gaming memories. I also like how they went on, at least with Ultima V, showing how the virtues, taken to the extremes, become vices. Simmilar corruption was repeated in U7 part II with the principles, as I recall. The whole concept of virtues in those games was an incredible focus of the story, I don't think I've seen anything close since then. I don't know, maybe Black vs White came close - that game never held my interest.
It runs xeye! OMFG, what else do you possibly need!
Last XP install I did was last fall on the home computer. Even before working behind a router, the usual procedure for me, with the pre-SP2 XP install CD is:
1. Keep computer unhooked from the internet during installation from CD
2. "Activate Windows Later" - not even trying this yet:
3. Under local area connection > properties > advanced > Windows Firewall (I think) - enable this sucker. Again, pre SP2 firewall.
4. Go directly to microsoft.com, do not pass go, do not collect $200 - start updating, get the SP2 firewall up. You can also activate windows at this point.
5. Update everything else.
Again, YMMV, but this has worked just fine for me.
They have a system like what you mentioned at Baltimore-Washingtion International. Just like you said - green light over the spot when it's open, red when it's occupied. Also, at the end of every row is a numeric LED display showing how many spaces are open in that row - so you know which row to turn into instead of roaming up and down trying to find a spot - very slick.
Point taken - that's what I get for spapping off with my relatively new interest in cryptography. Guess I'm not ready to take on the 4th message in Kryptos just yet...
Not a replacement cipher - Caesar cipher with a shift of 13.
Interesting thought - IF you could use this technology to "listen" to music, but since you're bypassing the eardrums - forget not disturbing others - listen as loud as you want without hearing damage?
I agree with you - got a cheapie moka pot, aluminum I think, from Cost Plus for about 15 bucks. I have a grinder at home - run for a couple seconds past "drip grind" - so it's ground somewhere between drip and espresso-fine, like you implied above. Makes for excellent coffee, and pretty foolproof. 1. Fill lower chamber with water up to pressure relief valve 2. Grind three scoops of coffee beans to the grind mentioned above and spoon loosely into the compartment. 3. Screw top chamber on. 4. Place on the stove, medium heat - I turn down to med-low when the coffee starts coming out 5. When it starts "rumbling/bubbling" towards the end, I turn off the heat, wait for it to finish. Makes good strong coffee straight up (like parent post said, stronger than american drip, but not quite as strong as true espresso), and mixed 50/50 with hot water, a very good americano. I've got five ways to make coffee at home - this is my current favorite on the weekends.
The enemy's gate is down...and so is the referenced site...
Maybe it's just because we just had a rough night with #1 (20 months) and #2 (3.5 weeks), but... Wonder if say, 30 min with a blue led headset while breast- or bottle-feeding could give a new mom a little lift.
Casino Royale...I agree - not the most glamourous place,but decent bloody marys and low table limits. I did ok there at the craps table - doubled my initial $100 with say, $30 left over. Once I lost that extra $30, I walked. Dealers complimented me on that, most people hit the hot streak, lose their winnings, gamble big to get it back, lose their original steak, then lose more trying to get back to even. The dealers were on the aggressive side going after tokes, but other than that, I had fun there, and would go back - if nothing else, for those table limits. $2 min means you can make $100 last a good while.
Here's something that occurred to me. Let's say (and I don't see this as terribly far-fetched) Clinton pulls off something with the superdelegates where she scores the nomination, despite Obama receiving the popular vote. I wonder, could Obama have a chance running as either an independent or create a 3rd party?
Crossbows and Catapults FTW! I loved that game! Here are some presents for you:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/images/game/30328/
http://www.boardgames.com/bacrca.html/
http://www.mooseworld.com.au/battleground/
Make an update to the game such that friendlies always appear each player as blue, hostiles as red. I don't play the game, so don't know if there's more to team appearance than different colors. America's Army, the player ALWAYS sees their skin and same team members' skins as US Army (or allied indigenous forces), and the enemy as the hostile skin. There's still offense and defense for a given map, but the scenario is written, depending on which team you spaawn as, that you're always US Army, and the other team is a hostile-to-US force. Should be a feasible fix to the visibility disparity. What's interesting is how they handle weapons. AS I recall, if I'm playing as a basic rifleman, I have a M-16 or M4 rifle. An opponent sees me as a hostile (different skin) with an AK-47. Same in reverse. Now, if my oppponent kills me, he can take my weapon, which he now carries as an AK-47 - may be more damage, but less accurate in his hands. To him, he's US Army handling an AK-47.
Ninjagin, There are rumors about co-op as downloadable post-release, patch or something, but nothing like that right now.
Got my copy of CoD4 yesterday. Gorgeous game, but knew that from the demo. Gameplay is pretty typical I think - actually comes pretty natural. Comparing multiplayer to BF2 or BF2142...just different. CoD4 seems a bit quicker paced. Understandable, since there are no vehicles in CoD4, therefore, the maps were made smaller. Vehicles - FPS players seem to either love them or hate them. I think in the BF series, esp. 2142, they did a good job of varying strengths and weakness in the vehicles. Allowed for wide variety of tactics. And the maps in 2142, esp. Titan mode lent themselves to interesting strategies. The round or two of multiplayer CoD4 last night - first impressions...very good. Quicker action, but still (at least the map type we were in, Sabotage I think) playing as a squad makes a difference. All in all - a very good purchase for a FPS fan - not a replacement for 2142, but a good change of pace.
Bah, I'd mod that irrelevant if I could...basketball...meh DISCLAIMER...Since U of A typically has a better basketball program then ASU, I usually blatantly ignore basketball... ;-)
Hopefully, it'll bring their football predictions more in line with reality...as an ASU fan living in Tucson, I had to put up with months of "It isn't a matter of IF we go to a bowl game this year, but WHICH bowl game we'll go to!" I've been laughing all season, as bad as the wildcats are doing and how well ASU is doing... DISCLAIMER...I realize ASU has the roug part of their schedule ahead...
One of my favorites, and coincidentally on tonight in syndication: "Won't You Pimai Neighbor" Buddhist monks think Bobby is a reincarnated Lama. Best line is when Hank barges in to see Bobby meditating (after reading Buddhism for Dummies) Hank:"NO! NO! DANG NO! Bobby: "Aww, Dad...I was THIS close to achieving enlightenment!!!"