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User: Geek+In+Training

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  1. Reality Distortion Field finally let me go. on Apple releases iPod · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I am a recovering Apple fanatic. Now that I've escaped the famous Cupertino Reality Distortion Field, let me tell you why I have such a love/hate relationship with "All Things Apple."

    I still enjoy using and playing with their products. It started with my Mac LC in high school, then my killer Mac Quadra 840av in college. When the iMac came out in '98, I was the first one buying to replace the aging Quadra. My family has purchased somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 Macs (I'm one of seven kids), most recently the iMac DV I helped my sister pick out on her way to college.

    What's my point in all this? Apple almost died once by losing touch with reality. Steve bought them back from the brink, but now he's marketing a device that is very nice when you sell it at $199.95; but at twice that price, it looks like as goofy and unmarketable as a Platypus in an Edsel swinging a CueCat around.

    I still love talking about new Apple technologies and products with friends and coworkers. Apple loves to release clean products with gee-whiz features. Sometimes even at reasonable prices.

    But when the realization hit my wife that the 233MHz G3 wasn't cutting it anymore, and we looked at new computers, I could not bring myself to fork over another $1000 to $1500 to get a non-upgradable unit. I'm really sorry Mac enthusiasts, but here is what I built instead:

    A PC in a cute, customized penguin-shaped ATX case with a Celeron 900, 512 megs of RAM, 16x DVD drive, 16x10x40 CD-RW, 30 Gigabyte ATA-100 hard drive, GeForce2 MX video, SoundBlaster Live audio, and 3Com NIC with a 17 inch monitor.

    For under $800.00.

    I sold the iMac to a friend in trade for a 1976 Mercury Cougar with 60,000 original miles. I guarantee I'll get mileage out of my machine than he'll get out of his. Oh, the iMac runs OS 10.1 quite nicely on the 36GB drive I stuck in, on the 288 megs of RAM I installed. But nothing can beat the commodity cost of PC upgrade peripherals. Right now, I could put an ECS motherboard and 1.4GHz Athlon in the new PC for $200, and keep right on using the rest of the components.

    Yes, creative engineering clearly requires Apple charge a premium... but at this point, it's too high to pay. I have a house to buy and kids to father someday soon, and I'd much rather spring for a 4th bedroom than another overpriced tech toy.

    YMMV.

  2. Re:I'm buying one purely for the tiny firewire hd on Apple releases iPod · · Score: 1

    Don't waste your money. You can buy a 20GB VST pocket firewire drive of approximately the same "deck of cards" size for FAR less money and much more space.

    According to pricewatch.com, an outfit named Bason has such a device for $169.

    Then buy a JamMP3 for $32.95 from WalMart for your MP3s, and you've saved yourself $200.

  3. Re:That is the most insulting fake picture I've se on Apple iWalk: Mac OS-X based PDA? · · Score: 1

    I agree.

    My favorite line from Hackers:

    "It's a PowerPC processor... the PCI bus makes it four times as fast as even a Pentium!"

    This fake is almost as insulting as the $399.00 price tag on the iPod. Cripes, you can get a 20-gig model of the same thing for less money!

  4. Re:It is time... on US Starts Attacking Afghanistan · · Score: 1

    It really is hard being right 99.9% of the time. Really it is.

    In fact, we felt so guilty, we threw in that Vietnam thing just so people could say, "Hah, you screwed up!" And we could go, "Whoops, sorry about that."

    Where would you be without the Americans, still trying to conquer large sections of Asia and Africa for "Her Majesty?"

    Go back to your hole, you socialist freak. We're the greatest civilization ever, twice as strong as the Roman Empire and exponentially smarter as a collective. Our politicians may politic and play themselves out a bit, but as a people we stand by our Manifest Destiny. Half a millenium later, we've taken all the roughage from the monarchies, the dictatorships, and all the other failed governments... and blended them together into a functioning streamroller of human progress.

    So in closing, We're Right, You're an idiot, and Eat My Shorts!

  5. Re:No problems here on IBM DeskStar 75GXP Hard Drive Failures? · · Score: 1

    Hey! I run a PC Chips AT mobo that I bought on clearance for $29 with a Celeron 533 proc in a $14.99 ebay case/power supply, and it has been running as my Win2k domain controller for 6 months without a single hiccup!

    And before you mod me Funny, this is the TRUTH! :)

  6. Re:I swear... on Lord of the Rings Theatrical Trailer · · Score: 1

    Are you sure that that's the webserver running Solaris?

    And not one of the hundreds of Akamai multimedia servers that Apple uses to serve/stream QuickTime?

  7. Re:Grammar on MS FrontPage Restricts Free Speech II (It's True!) · · Score: 1

    Those are gerunds, not verbs. I think. :)

    His use of stunning implies the meaning "It is stunning," which would make the verb "is."

  8. Re:they just need cooler TLD's on No One Wants The Not-Coms · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I can see it now...

    HTTP://MYHOMEPAGEISCOOL!!!!!!!!!!.AOL

    http://etc.etc.etc.etc...

    and of course the pedos will immediately start punching in

    http://hot.nekkid.kids

    Ack!

  9. Re:Sign the petition on Stallman: Thousands Dead, Millions Deprived of Liberties · · Score: 1

    Over 41,000 people die in car accidents each year in the US. Why aren't you enraged by that?? Or how about the 140,000 people that died from lung cancer???

    People choose to drive drunk. People choose to drive fast, and without seatbelts. The only thing that we should, and do, feel outraged about are the situations where idiot drivers kill innocent drivers and passengers through negligence. Or when auto parts companies are willing to trade safety for lower costs, and then conceal that.

    People choose to smoke, or choose to live with people who smoke. Yes, the bastard tobacco companies lie to the public to line their pockets, but most people are knowingly killing themselves by using tobacco projects.

    These are outcomes that are largely decided by the behavior of the "victim."

    To kill people who are office workers, janitors, waitresses, subway riders, etc. is an act where the will of 25 malcontents decide the fate of thousands of naive citizens-- they expected some amount of security when going to work in America. I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation. I also don't think it's unreasonable to spend a couple billion (and when you think about it, a couple of billion isn't that much anymore) to carry out operations, in locations both foreign and domestic, to eradicate some truly annoying people who have no regard for human life.

    It IS, however, unreasonable, to turn America into a fascist police state in order to "protect us all" from an unseen enemy, which is what this discussion is about.

  10. 99 Dead Baboons on ClearChannel Plays It Safe · · Score: 1

    Well, they may have censored out 99 Red Balloons, but I've always been more a fan of the filk version (by Tim Cavanaugh-- *NOT* Weird Al... and there are plenty more decent filk artists out there).

    99 Dead Baboons - by Tim Cavanaugh:

    Hello Bobby my old friend.
    It's good to see you once again.
    How's your mother, how's your aunt?
    How's your father's skin diving suit?
    (That's one of the lines I'm not real sure about, but it goes something like
    this.)

    I've got something you should see
    Back at my place; come with me.
    I've got some brand new furnishings,
    Plus 99 dead baboons

    99 dead baboons
    Sitting in my living room.
    Not too functional it seems,
    But quite a conversation piece.
    This one's Jake, that one's Dinah,
    There's big Ned in my recliner.
    No it's not a lazy boy.
    Can't you see it's a dead baboon?

    Dead baboons, dead baboons.
    Dead baboons, dead baboons.

    How they got here I'm not sure;
    Woke up one day, there they were.
    Luckily I've got a lease
    Allowing pets if they're deceased.
    I'm just thankful they're not apes,
    'Cuz apes would clash with the drapes.
    No more napkins at my parties -
    Wipe your hands on a dead baboon.

    Dead baboons, dead baboons.
    Dead baboons, dead baboons.

    Dead baboons are lots of fun;
    Playin' water balloons I've always won.
    You can keep your dead giraffes and swine,
    I'll take dead baboons every time.
    There's just one problem I have found:
    It's finding Purina Dead Baboon Chow.
    But what a happy snorkelling device...
    (That's another line I'm not real sure about, but it's somethin' like that)
    With 99 dead baboons.

    Dead baboons, dead baboons.
    Dead baboons, dead baboons.

  11. Re:Great idea for WTC rebuild! on Living Inside A Giant Wind Turbine · · Score: 1

    Redundant?!? Good grief, while I was carefully crafting a 3-paragraph, spelling and grammar-checked, properly formatted comment, two other people had the same idea.

    And I'm redundant? I guarantee that when I hit "Reply," nobody else had posted this idea. There were only 9 comments at that time.

    And now you're going to moderate me down for complaining about moderation. Just great, with a mouth like mine, who needs Karma?

  12. Great idea for WTC rebuild! on Living Inside A Giant Wind Turbine · · Score: 1, Redundant

    *WHEN* we rebuild the World Trade Center, it would be a great idea to incorporate this technology.

    Imagine having these turbines up around the 150th floor of the new, curved, 21st century World Trade Center... just the prototype in the article.

    *That* would show our financial resiliancy, and usher in a newer, evolved skyline for Manhattan in the modern era. The towers were impressive before, but the pinnacle of 1969 architecture. This building could be a tribute to the people of New York, the people of America, the people of the world, AND to the Earth itself, being enviro-friendly enough to generate much of its own power!

  13. D-Link DI-804 works well for this on Choosing a Router/Firewall for the Home LAN · · Score: 1

    I have DSL and use a D-Link DI-804 ($89 from netlux.com at last look) that is a firewall, NAT router, 4-port 10/100 switch, static IP or DHCP client, multiple machine DHCP server all in one, and includes a serial port for modem dialback in case your broadband goes down. I have no complaints in 4 months of use; you plug it in, spend 5 minutes setting your numbers, and go.

    I have convinced 3 co-workers, two with Adelpha cable modem and one other with Ameritech DSL, to use this box as well. All are extremely happy with performance.

    It also does offer you the ability to static IP-route traffic to specific boxes, although on a limited basis (only 8 or so machines, I think).

  14. Re:Robot family on Robot Family in Every Home? · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    This is clearly a troll by a DittoHead Republican, trying to cull angry reactions to stupid, socialist liberals.

    You guys feel for it, hook, line and sinker! :)

    Keep your commie "social issues" crap in your own disfunctional home, liberal-activist dorks!

    And keep your corporate interests, repackaged as "common sense and free enterprise," out of my pockets, you conservative pig-dogs!

    -The Moderate

  15. Two options for you on Building a DIY Home Office? · · Score: 1

    I have 6 machines, and my friend has 5. Here's what each of us did.

    He built a a custom "horseshoe" desk that fits around three sides of his small room. He used IKEA parts, which I believe ran him somewhere in the neighborhood of $400, and he went to the IKEA store and picked up the parts to save on shipping. It looks nice, and the parts are re-configurable and replaceable. It's not as sturday as what I did, however.

    What I did was get a couple of pieces of 4x8 foor, 3/4s inch AC-grade plywoord ($60) and probably about 20, 8-foot long pine "wall stud" 2x4s ($2.25 each at Home Depot). When I cut these up and bolted them together, what resulted was a desk 12 feet long with a 32" high desktop, 28" high keyboard/mouse "drop downs," if you will, for four workstations; and sets of shelves at 5.5 feet and 7 feet high.

    What results is a 12 foot long, 7 foot tall, 2 foot deep "Command Center," made of soft wood and deck screws that can be finished in any color or finish you would like, and is able to be assembled and disassembled in a few hours if you're moving.

    I know it's hard to imagine, but I don't have any pictures online at this point. Email me privately and I would be happy to email you a couple .jpgs.

    Good luck!

  16. Re:Not the first on HP Introduces DVD Recorder · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article is wrong. Pioneer's A01 (AKA Apple SuperDrive) does DVD+RW, and has been out for 6 months.

    You can buy them for about $650, IDE internal.

    They also just released a newer A03 model.

  17. Quotes from my Employee Handbook on How Can I Make More Of My Cubicle? · · Score: 1

    "Nothing is to be affixed to the walls of your cubible. The cubicle walls are built with sound-deadening properties that help keep the workplace quiet for everyone; affixing papers, cards, etc. to the walls reduces these properties and damages the cube surfaces. Also, no scotch tape, pushpins, or the like are to be used; only approved SteelCase (tm) hangers may be used for displaying framed certificates, etc."

    "Space heaters, humidifiers, refrigerators, and other appliances are expressly forbidden; this includes uninteruptable power supplies and battery backups (!!). Aquariums and other living things are also not allowed. One small plant may be placed on your desk if desired."

    I wish to [Diety of Choice] that I were making this up; unfortunately I work for a big company. (Read: Dilbert-esque to the core.)

    Of course, I have almost every square inch of my cube walls covered with pushpinned documents and specs, and a UPS under my desk... plus my desk fan runs on medium at me all day, next to the dual-P3, 10,000RPM RAID-drived beast I call my work machine; and nobody's complained SO FAR! :)

  18. *Yawn* on Mac Rants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There will always be rants by disgruntled former Mac users, about "What's wrong with Apple."

    There will always be rants by the Apple-Ignorant, who don't understand why anyone would NOT want to use Windows. Or why you can only have one mouse button.

    There will always be Mac Zealots who think, "If you aren't for us, you're against us." And then rave like lunatics against anyone who dares question them using logic and reason.

    In the middle, there's Apple; a company that really seems to be holding a niche market by making good products that are pretty, get the basic jobs done, and are generally easy to use.

    Who's right? Everyone. No one. I don't know, I just wish I could read about Apple without any sense of fanatacism coming into play.

  19. Don't ask me, I use my belt. on Is This How to Carry Your Gadgets? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Every day, my rather ample 42-inch waistline has belted onto it:

    1) Sprint PCS cellphone in leather black belt-clip case
    2) Handspring Visor Deluxe in black Neoprene belt-clip pouch
    3) Magnetic Corporate Employee ID badge on retractable belt-clip tether (to get me where I need to go)
    4) Two-way text/email pager unit with built-in mini keyboard... in black belt-clip of course

    ...and the most useful tool ever invented...

    5) The Leatherman SuperTool ($49.95 at your local WalMart) in black leather pouch.

    I have looked at many other options, but nothing else seems as practical and cost-effective. I may be ridiculed by the suits... and yes, I *DO* look like a certain episode of Dilbert... but I'm always ready to go. I do a quick "feeling" checklist on my way out the door every morning, to make sure I have everything.

    I could probably make it through any given day without all of the "toys," EXCEPT the Leatherman. I have used it at least once every day since I purchased it 18 months ago.

  20. Re:The problem with politicians on Roasting Sacred Cows · · Score: 1

    "My wife is in a coma."

  21. Re:But how... on DirecTV to Pursue Pirates · · Score: 1
    The real question is... just how did they get those lists of names? If they were part of a separate case, under what jurisdiction were those names released to DirecTeeVee?

    Probably very easily through public court documents (The busted companies' customer lists published in court exhibits as evidence); or in a more dire scenario, the ubiquitous Freedom Of Information Act?

  22. Re:Seriously though... Questions: on Interested In A US Linux For PS2? · · Score: 1

    In this case, your $300 for a display would be better spent for a 25" Sony (black) TV set with S-Video in. :)

    I thought only the GPU pushed 6.2 gigaflops; what good will that do for your RC5 client? ;)

  23. Re:Seriously though... Questions: on Interested In A US Linux For PS2? · · Score: 1

    I'm more thinking about storage and networking (such as the aforementioned Ethernet/HD module in Japan)... how much does that add-on cost, just to get you network and semi-permanent storage?

    And how much can you thinker with the kit on the PS2, without the ability to burn new CDs for booting, etc? You'll need a PC devkit as well.

  24. Seriously though... Questions: on Interested In A US Linux For PS2? · · Score: 5

    How many peripherals will PS/2 be able to use under Linux, so as to make it "usable for something other than a hobby."

    How strong is interest for the "Linux for Dreamcast" tinkering going on?

    Will people pay $300 for a gaming console, $(x*100) for peripherals, and then $Y for a Linux kit, when they can get all that and more for $200 from a NIC (see www.thinknic.com )?

    I'm not bashing the idea; certainly some of us here like to do things "because it's there," but what practical uses for end users and sales opportunities for Sony can come from this?

  25. Re:Politics, Religion, and using God for man's hat on Afghanistan Bans Internet · · Score: 1

    I really shouldn't feed trolls, but...

    Look buddy, it may be amateur philosophising, and it may be over simplification, but I'm far from an idealistic teenager.

    I am a Follower of Kant; I fancy myself an intellectual with a strong affinity for Logic.
    And my opinions come from deep contemplation and searching for common denominators across world cultures and societies.

    Just because you have some deep understanding on how "the world," or better yet, Middle Eastern politics work, doesn't make my truths any less interesting for some people to contemplate. You don't have to agree with what I say to find it interesting, insightful, or thought-provoking.

    We are here for public discourse, and I was trying to participate. I never said I was right, I only made my own observations.