I posted a response to another comment giving a certain source for what I said. Now, it's about the french language and it's about typical usage, not all acquired words, but basically 500 words make up 90% of any given text. (source)
That being said, I'm not a linguist, and being bilingual, I typically use way more than 2000 different words in the course of a week.
sure it's not confirmed and it's about the french language, but it gives an idea. I apologize however since I shouldn't have said "at most 1000 words" but "typically 1000 words".
you are quite generous with the amount of word an average person knows and uses. Last I heard, an average person uses at most 1000 words in the course of their life; 2000 for extremely literate individuals.
I have started work on recreating my entire home network using ProxMox (a VM server running on Linux, offering both full virt for Windows and openVZ containers for other Linux distros). On my action plan, I decided to name my servers after cartoon characters that are relevant to me.
Being a huge 80s cartoon fan, the list is near inexhaustible, with short or long names. For instance, an extract of my list is: * Tao, Esteban, Zia (from The Mysterious Cities of Gold) * Flo (from The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island) * Astro (from Astroboy) * Jayce (from Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors) * etc (my list is much, much longer)
Then, I devised a way to create easy password to reconstruct, but hard to guess or remember. So, I take the username I want to create (typically "root"), I tack on at the end @servername.domainname (e.g: root@babar.myfamilyname.lan), then I prepend the string with a salt I have memorized and finally I hash that new string with SHA1 and extract the first 8 chars and add a couple of spaces according to a fixed schema (for instance you get "9 F4A BC3 2". I can't remember that password after 2 days, but I can easily reconstruct it on another machine, or even my phone. This is good for at least one user (root) per VM, the other users are driven by LDAP.
While we're on the topic, I also chose my IPs range to be easy to use. All static services are on 10.10.10.*. For instance, my DNS is 10.10.10.10. Since everything else is obtained from DNS, I don't have to remember too much else. 10.10.20.* is for my wired computers (DHCP), 10.10.30.* is for my IP phones, 10.10.40.* is for my wireless. 10.20.*.* is for remote (openVPN) machines.
33 years-old here. After reading your post, I decided to retry the Mosquito test. In normal conditions, I can't hear it, but there is a trick to hear it if you want. The idea is to increase the pressure in your inner hear (akin to compressing when scuba-diving: you pinch your nose while blowing air through the nostrils). Then, I can hear it clearly.
The opposite is true by the way. If you want to decrease your hearing (like when at a concert or riding a train/subway): under-compress the inner hear. Close your mouth and pinch your nose while taking in some air forcefully. Immediate and temporary noise reduction in the order of 15 to 20 decibels if done right. I even found a way to do it without pinching the nose. To reset, yawn.
I had never heard of an INTP personality type, which led me to a crazy click trail on Wikipedia (oblig: http://xkcd.com/214/). Fascinating stuff. In my case, I'm an INTJ, but since I'm happily married (apparently common to INTJs), I have no reason to try and see if my personality type would be rejected on a dating site.
I saw a documentary yesterday about all types of surgeries done without transfusion (open-heart, liver cancel excision, full-knee prosthetic). Even trauma situation was discussed and how it costs less and it's often safer and healthier to do things bloodlessly. Now, I wonder if this tau protein is transmissible via transfusion and if so whether it passes the blood-brain barrier. If so, it is probably another reason to seek alternatives.
Thing is, aren't you missing out on being paid by the hour to fix it every time?
In theory, yes. But in fact, they are so happy about the low-cost and effectiveness of my work that I got tons of references. I am picking eggs from many baskets now.
The technique I use when I work on clients' machines is to wipe the hard drive and set up about a 10 GB partition where I will put linux on it later on. I then reinstall Windows from the disk they have (or that I have) using the license sticker on the computer to register. I remove all the crap I can find, install decent browsers, firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, also the software they need for their work and I make sure all the drivers are up-to-date and that the machine is screaming fast. When done, I install an almost bare-bones Linux on the small partition. I set up the bootloader to boot into Windows by default after only 1 second. Then I make a copy of the MBR and I dump an image of the Windows partition using the NTFS-3G's ntfsclone utility. I then create a shell script that would restore that image and the MBR and make sure it's easy for the client to run. Next time they call me to say their machine is completely toast (not frequent, but it happens), I remind them of that option to do a full restore to a working and clean system. They have been trained to put their important data on external drives so the only thing they will lose is the crap they added after I was done. There, in less than 10 minutes, without having to drive there, they have a fully working system, and fast too.
I see the invisible wink at the end of your question; true, there are very strong language laws... in Quebec! Other french-speaking countries are way more relaxed about it. For instance (one amongst thousands), Toy Story is called "Toy Story" in France but "Histoire de jouets" in Quebec.
Translation is a challenge. When and how do you translate proper names? Why is the country whose capital is Berlin called Germany by the English, Allemagne by the French and Deutschland by its natives? And then why isn't Berlin translated three ways too? I recently did some independent translation for a popular '90s computer game (very heavy in dialog), and that was a serious question we asked ourselves. Do we translate names of places and people? We agreed that not all names ought to be translated but it was almost always based on a personal feeling.
When it comes to movies, there is an added impetus: since the movies are dubbed and not voiced-over (like it was the case in Poland for so many years), the name chosen as a translation must be easy to pronounce yet they more or less must match the lip movements. The french can't pronounce "TH" properly, so DarTH is right out. On the other hand, the target audience is sufficiently sophisticated to know the word "Dark" and even have an idea of what it means (paradoxically, they get it wrong since they think "noir", like you pointed out, instead of "sombre"). Since his wardrobe matched the name, it made sense to use Dark in this case. So, there is aggregate of: 1) pronunciation, 2) ability to relate, 3) mental imagery that led to choosing "Dark Vador".
Translation is more an art than a science. You need flair, inventiveness along with technique and rules.
To me, the absolute best translation was that of Lady Jessica Atreides in Dune when examining the servants with Dr Yueh. In English, she says "When you said Harkonnens, I didn't know you had so much reason to hate them." In French, the translators used a verb tense rarely used in speech amongst commoners, but that perfectly embodied an educated and noble person like Lady Jessica: "Quand vous avez dit : 'Harkonnens'.. j'ignorais que vous eussiez tant de raisons de les haïr." You have to know French to be floored by that rendering. Not only the meaning was properly conveyed but as an added touch they established her rank through her language and it also coincide well with the lip movements. Grandiose.
And anyone reading this, also check the youtube video mentioned. It's informative and interesting at the same time. True, it's 1h30 long, but the guy isn't boring.
Oh, you forgot, He loves us SO MUCH that he will torture us forever for behaving as we were designed...
I understand why you feel this way, but you need to know that what you are talking about is a concept that comes from ancient, worldly philosphy, and later adopted by the leading church as a mean to oppress the parish. So, I put the blame on the power-hungry religious leaders for oppressing the masses.
A quick tour of the origin of the belief in a fiery hell: * circa 2000 BCE, Sumerians and Babylonians believed in an underground world called "the land of no return", as illustrated by the Gilgamesh story or even Ishtar's Descent to Hells, described as a house one enters but cannot leave, full of terror (a prince had a vision of what happened and said his legs quivered)
* next we move to Egypt and Eastern areas. Via a belief in immortality of the soul (also a Babylonian teaching), their belief about after-life is ripe with terrible dangers (horrible monsters, lake of fire, doors that can be opened only with magic words, etc). Hindu developped a belief in no less than 21 hells some of them with ferocious beasts and snakes; being roasted, sawed off, tormented by hunger or thirst, dipped in boiling oil, etc. Let's not forget about Jainism, bouddhism and zoroastrism (peculiarly this one has a freezing cold hell filled with as much torment). Interestingly, these various groups had hope of leaving such a condition, closer in definition to the Catholic's purgatory, yet with the pain and torments. Also keep in mind we are talking about a time when Abraham was still living in Ur if he had already been born yet.
* the ancient Greeks adopted many of the beliefs from their ancestors, including immortality of the soul and hell. Needing to cross the Styx with Charon, to the gates of Hell where the fate of the deceased is given to 3 judges. From there also orginated the belief in Limbos (for really young children), Purgatory, and Tartarus (for eternal torment)
* the Etruscan (the civilisation that preceded the Romans) had a post-death regimen of torment too, clearly depicted in their tombs, which coincidentally served as inspiration later on for the christian painters when showing what Hell looked like.
* the Romans adopted that belief, calling it Orcus or Infernus. Greek myths about Hades were added on top, changing the name of Hades into Orcus or Pluto.
* by the 5th century BCE, Jews who were in contact with both Persians and Greeks started to adopt some of their beliefs, although no such ideas was taught in their scriptures.
* ditto for the Catholic Church who drew that concept, not from their scriptures (which says something diametrically opposed to the idea of eternal torments in a fiery hell by immortal souls) but from whatever others had taught them through traditions.
Now, it's a very convenient tool to oppress others: unless you pay me, or obey whatever command I have, your death will be an unending roasting party. It's all about control. It's disgusting. It's human and has nothing to do with what the Bible has to say on the matter.
Since it's a long post, I'll finish it with some references to know what the Bible says about Hell (as one must learn to make the difference between what churches say and what the Bible say): Eccl 3:19: same end for man and beast. Like one dies, so the other. Eccl 9:5: the dead are conscious of nothing at all Eccl 9:10: complete inactivity of the dead, no memory, no plan, no action Ps 146:4: the thoughts of the dead ones vanish John 11:11-14: death is like a sleep. Rev 20:13, 14: Hell (or Hades to use the greek word) is a stocking place for the dead (think a massive warehouse or a very large hard drive) that will be emptied out at the right time. In the meantime, the dead are like sleeping. Ps 9:17,18: bad people go there Job 14:13: so do good people Act 2:25-27: even Christ! But like Rev 20:13, 14 shows, those in it can (and will) come out at the right time. Another con
I tell maybe offer a reason since I'm guilty of doing the same thing. See, I've been a very long time reader of Slashdot, posted many comments, even submitted a story once, but one day I decided that I had finally found the perfect nick for my slashdot activities, namely JigJag, and so I created an account (boy, was I happy JigJag was available). I have a pretty good grasp of the slashdot crowd and I know it's important to make a name for oneself, so that next time someone sees a post by JigJag, they'll say "oh yeah, I remember that dude". For that to happen, at first you need to gave your name out there more visibly (also pick a rather unique sig. I recognize posters by their sig most of the time without looking their nick). It's like advertisement. Get the name out several times in a short span and people will remember it. Once it's been out there long enough, I'll probably stop.
JigJag
ps: is it me or there is something odd with the moderation points? I've been registered for what, 3 months? and I've been given moderation points 3 times already.
To cut my bills I did the following: * Internet: Teksavvy over Cable. Long ago I had Rogers Cable ($70/month, 5 Mbps Up / 256 Kbps Down), then Teksavvy DSL and now Teksavvy Cable (Extreme: up to 24/1 Mpbs, 300 Gb cap, $43/month) * Telephone: Unlimitel (VoIP) with my dedicated Asterisk computer at home. $3.50/DID (I have 3), plus usage, which comes to about $7, so around $10/month for 3 lines * Television: cut Rogers Cable in Feb 2011. Now I have Netflix (US & Canada), and antenna. I don't watch sports on tv (or in real life if I can help it) and the news are acquired on the net or on the antenna. $8 for Netflix Canada, $8 for Netflix US, $5 for US proxy to get Netflix US. I could cut Netflix Canada but they have shows not available on Netflix US. For the price, I'm ok with paying both.
Now if only I could find a way to reduce the Electricity bill (Toronto Hydro hiked their rate many times over the last 2 years), I would be golden. Unfortunately, solar is out of reach for me. Last quote I got was $50,000 to equip my roof and that equipment cannot even store the electricity I produce, it's gone to the grid immediately.
You can find those babies on eBay for $150. Full Tablet PC running Windows XP with a battery-free stylus (pressure sensitive). Battery life is terrible (about 2 hours) but they are warm-swappable, so carry a few in your bag. Otherwise, the note taking is fantastic, with pretty decent handwriting recognition. They were built in 2003 but you can still find them around. I bought one to play adventure games in the subway while commuting (thx to GOG.com for simplifying the process).
I agree with you. Fingernails on chalkboard never bothered me and they still don't. I have excellent audio reception btw so it's not a question of being tone-deaf. I hear the sounds but my skin doesn't crawl up.
On a related note, I moved from a place with no skunks to a place teeming with them. To the locals, the odour is unbearable and they have like a flight-response to it. Personally, I don't abhor the smell; It's akin to "burning rubber". When my mother visited, it reminded her of the smell of "roasting coffee". We weren't raised to despise that smell, and we don't when confronted to it. That being said, I never have been sprayed or anything like that. I am talking about the far-off whiff you get in you're downwind from a skunk.
I've always wondered whether neutrinos collision was at the source of such reports. Since our body is constantly showered with them and since they barely ever affect matter being so small, neutral, etc, then maybe the one time that it hits something, the energy released completely consumes the recipient.
And just for those curious as to how come the Roku (which is Linux-based) can play Netflix while your own Linux computer cannot, it's because the Roku has a dedicated hardware chip supporting the encryption used by.Net. Without that hardware chip, there would be no Netflix on the Roku.
Slashdot Mirror
Then I happily stand corrected.
JigJag
I posted a response to another comment giving a certain source for what I said. Now, it's about the french language and it's about typical usage, not all acquired words, but basically 500 words make up 90% of any given text. (source)
That being said, I'm not a linguist, and being bilingual, I typically use way more than 2000 different words in the course of a week.
JigJag
"les 500 mots les plus fréquents représenteraient 90% (pourcentages non garantis !) de n'importe quel texte"
which roughly translates to:
"the 500 most frequently used words make up 90% (unconfirmed) of the content of any text"
source
sure it's not confirmed and it's about the french language, but it gives an idea. I apologize however since I shouldn't have said "at most 1000 words" but "typically 1000 words".
JigJag
you are quite generous with the amount of word an average person knows and uses. Last I heard, an average person uses at most 1000 words in the course of their life; 2000 for extremely literate individuals.
JigJag
I have started work on recreating my entire home network using ProxMox (a VM server running on Linux, offering both full virt for Windows and openVZ containers for other Linux distros). On my action plan, I decided to name my servers after cartoon characters that are relevant to me.
Being a huge 80s cartoon fan, the list is near inexhaustible, with short or long names. For instance, an extract of my list is:
* Tao, Esteban, Zia (from The Mysterious Cities of Gold)
* Flo (from The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island)
* Astro (from Astroboy)
* Jayce (from Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors)
* etc (my list is much, much longer)
Then, I devised a way to create easy password to reconstruct, but hard to guess or remember. So, I take the username I want to create (typically "root"), I tack on at the end @servername.domainname (e.g: root@babar.myfamilyname.lan), then I prepend the string with a salt I have memorized and finally I hash that new string with SHA1 and extract the first 8 chars and add a couple of spaces according to a fixed schema (for instance you get "9 F4A BC3 2". I can't remember that password after 2 days, but I can easily reconstruct it on another machine, or even my phone. This is good for at least one user (root) per VM, the other users are driven by LDAP.
While we're on the topic, I also chose my IPs range to be easy to use. All static services are on 10.10.10.*. For instance, my DNS is 10.10.10.10. Since everything else is obtained from DNS, I don't have to remember too much else. 10.10.20.* is for my wired computers (DHCP), 10.10.30.* is for my IP phones, 10.10.40.* is for my wireless. 10.20.*.* is for remote (openVPN) machines.
JigJag
33 years-old here. After reading your post, I decided to retry the Mosquito test.
In normal conditions, I can't hear it, but there is a trick to hear it if you want. The idea is to increase the pressure in your inner hear (akin to compressing when scuba-diving: you pinch your nose while blowing air through the nostrils). Then, I can hear it clearly.
The opposite is true by the way. If you want to decrease your hearing (like when at a concert or riding a train/subway): under-compress the inner hear. Close your mouth and pinch your nose while taking in some air forcefully. Immediate and temporary noise reduction in the order of 15 to 20 decibels if done right. I even found a way to do it without pinching the nose. To reset, yawn.
JigJag
I had never heard of an INTP personality type, which led me to a crazy click trail on Wikipedia (oblig: http://xkcd.com/214/). Fascinating stuff. In my case, I'm an INTJ, but since I'm happily married (apparently common to INTJs), I have no reason to try and see if my personality type would be rejected on a dating site.
JigJag
I saw a documentary yesterday about all types of surgeries done without transfusion (open-heart, liver cancel excision, full-knee prosthetic). Even trauma situation was discussed and how it costs less and it's often safer and healthier to do things bloodlessly.
Now, I wonder if this tau protein is transmissible via transfusion and if so whether it passes the blood-brain barrier. If so, it is probably another reason to seek alternatives.
JigJag
Do they also ban possession? Because no-one here is talking about public display (no offense meant).
JigJag
The mere idea that there is such a thing as an illegal shape is offensive.
JigJag
Thing is, aren't you missing out on being paid by the hour to fix it every time?
In theory, yes. But in fact, they are so happy about the low-cost and effectiveness of my work that I got tons of references. I am picking eggs from many baskets now.
JigJag
The technique I use when I work on clients' machines is to wipe the hard drive and set up about a 10 GB partition where I will put linux on it later on. I then reinstall Windows from the disk they have (or that I have) using the license sticker on the computer to register. I remove all the crap I can find, install decent browsers, firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, also the software they need for their work and I make sure all the drivers are up-to-date and that the machine is screaming fast. When done, I install an almost bare-bones Linux on the small partition. I set up the bootloader to boot into Windows by default after only 1 second. Then I make a copy of the MBR and I dump an image of the Windows partition using the NTFS-3G's ntfsclone utility. I then create a shell script that would restore that image and the MBR and make sure it's easy for the client to run.
Next time they call me to say their machine is completely toast (not frequent, but it happens), I remind them of that option to do a full restore to a working and clean system. They have been trained to put their important data on external drives so the only thing they will lose is the crap they added after I was done.
There, in less than 10 minutes, without having to drive there, they have a fully working system, and fast too.
JigJag
I see the invisible wink at the end of your question; true, there are very strong language laws... in Quebec! Other french-speaking countries are way more relaxed about it. For instance (one amongst thousands), Toy Story is called "Toy Story" in France but "Histoire de jouets" in Quebec.
Translation is a challenge. When and how do you translate proper names? Why is the country whose capital is Berlin called Germany by the English, Allemagne by the French and Deutschland by its natives? And then why isn't Berlin translated three ways too?
I recently did some independent translation for a popular '90s computer game (very heavy in dialog), and that was a serious question we asked ourselves. Do we translate names of places and people? We agreed that not all names ought to be translated but it was almost always based on a personal feeling.
When it comes to movies, there is an added impetus: since the movies are dubbed and not voiced-over (like it was the case in Poland for so many years), the name chosen as a translation must be easy to pronounce yet they more or less must match the lip movements. The french can't pronounce "TH" properly, so DarTH is right out. On the other hand, the target audience is sufficiently sophisticated to know the word "Dark" and even have an idea of what it means (paradoxically, they get it wrong since they think "noir", like you pointed out, instead of "sombre"). Since his wardrobe matched the name, it made sense to use Dark in this case. So, there is aggregate of: 1) pronunciation, 2) ability to relate, 3) mental imagery that led to choosing "Dark Vador".
Translation is more an art than a science. You need flair, inventiveness along with technique and rules.
To me, the absolute best translation was that of Lady Jessica Atreides in Dune when examining the servants with Dr Yueh. In English, she says "When you said Harkonnens, I didn't know you had so much reason to hate them." In French, the translators used a verb tense rarely used in speech amongst commoners, but that perfectly embodied an educated and noble person like Lady Jessica: "Quand vous avez dit : 'Harkonnens'.. j'ignorais que vous eussiez tant de raisons de les haïr."
You have to know French to be floored by that rendering. Not only the meaning was properly conveyed but as an added touch they established her rank through her language and it also coincide well with the lip movements. Grandiose.
JigJag
Fun tidbit: in French, Darth Vader is named "Dark Vador", R2D2 is "D2R2", C3PO is "Z6PO"
JigJag
attention mods: MOD PARENT UP
And anyone reading this, also check the youtube video mentioned. It's informative and interesting at the same time. True, it's 1h30 long, but the guy isn't boring.
JigJag
Oh, you forgot, He loves us SO MUCH that he will torture us forever for behaving as we were designed...
I understand why you feel this way, but you need to know that what you are talking about is a concept that comes from ancient, worldly philosphy, and later adopted by the leading church as a mean to oppress the parish. So, I put the blame on the power-hungry religious leaders for oppressing the masses.
A quick tour of the origin of the belief in a fiery hell:
* circa 2000 BCE, Sumerians and Babylonians believed in an underground world called "the land of no return", as illustrated by the Gilgamesh story or even Ishtar's Descent to Hells, described as a house one enters but cannot leave, full of terror (a prince had a vision of what happened and said his legs quivered)
* next we move to Egypt and Eastern areas. Via a belief in immortality of the soul (also a Babylonian teaching), their belief about after-life is ripe with terrible dangers (horrible monsters, lake of fire, doors that can be opened only with magic words, etc). Hindu developped a belief in no less than 21 hells some of them with ferocious beasts and snakes; being roasted, sawed off, tormented by hunger or thirst, dipped in boiling oil, etc. Let's not forget about Jainism, bouddhism and zoroastrism (peculiarly this one has a freezing cold hell filled with as much torment).
Interestingly, these various groups had hope of leaving such a condition, closer in definition to the Catholic's purgatory, yet with the pain and torments. Also keep in mind we are talking about a time when Abraham was still living in Ur if he had already been born yet.
* the ancient Greeks adopted many of the beliefs from their ancestors, including immortality of the soul and hell. Needing to cross the Styx with Charon, to the gates of Hell where the fate of the deceased is given to 3 judges. From there also orginated the belief in Limbos (for really young children), Purgatory, and Tartarus (for eternal torment)
* the Etruscan (the civilisation that preceded the Romans) had a post-death regimen of torment too, clearly depicted in their tombs, which coincidentally served as inspiration later on for the christian painters when showing what Hell looked like.
* the Romans adopted that belief, calling it Orcus or Infernus. Greek myths about Hades were added on top, changing the name of Hades into Orcus or Pluto.
* by the 5th century BCE, Jews who were in contact with both Persians and Greeks started to adopt some of their beliefs, although no such ideas was taught in their scriptures.
* ditto for the Catholic Church who drew that concept, not from their scriptures (which says something diametrically opposed to the idea of eternal torments in a fiery hell by immortal souls) but from whatever others had taught them through traditions.
Now, it's a very convenient tool to oppress others: unless you pay me, or obey whatever command I have, your death will be an unending roasting party. It's all about control. It's disgusting. It's human and has nothing to do with what the Bible has to say on the matter.
Since it's a long post, I'll finish it with some references to know what the Bible says about Hell (as one must learn to make the difference between what churches say and what the Bible say):
Eccl 3:19: same end for man and beast. Like one dies, so the other.
Eccl 9:5: the dead are conscious of nothing at all
Eccl 9:10: complete inactivity of the dead, no memory, no plan, no action
Ps 146:4: the thoughts of the dead ones vanish
John 11:11-14: death is like a sleep.
Rev 20:13, 14: Hell (or Hades to use the greek word) is a stocking place for the dead (think a massive warehouse or a very large hard drive) that will be emptied out at the right time. In the meantime, the dead are like sleeping.
Ps 9:17,18: bad people go there
Job 14:13: so do good people
Act 2:25-27: even Christ!
But like Rev 20:13, 14 shows, those in it can (and will) come out at the right time.
Another con
oops. "I tell maybe" is supposed to be "I can maybe". Fingers were on autopilot when typing the first part of the sentence I suppose.
JigJag (for good measure)
I tell maybe offer a reason since I'm guilty of doing the same thing. See, I've been a very long time reader of Slashdot, posted many comments, even submitted a story once, but one day I decided that I had finally found the perfect nick for my slashdot activities, namely JigJag, and so I created an account (boy, was I happy JigJag was available).
I have a pretty good grasp of the slashdot crowd and I know it's important to make a name for oneself, so that next time someone sees a post by JigJag, they'll say "oh yeah, I remember that dude". For that to happen, at first you need to gave your name out there more visibly (also pick a rather unique sig. I recognize posters by their sig most of the time without looking their nick).
It's like advertisement. Get the name out several times in a short span and people will remember it. Once it's been out there long enough, I'll probably stop.
JigJag
ps: is it me or there is something odd with the moderation points? I've been registered for what, 3 months? and I've been given moderation points 3 times already.
you could replace "--binary-files=without-match " with "-I" (that's uppercase i) so you get: ."
alias search "grep -rsI \!^
JigJag
was entitled "The Man From Earth". As Sci-Fi as it gets, but 0% percent CGI. Fabulous reviews and plenty of awards. It's all in the script.
JigJag
To cut my bills I did the following:
* Internet: Teksavvy over Cable. Long ago I had Rogers Cable ($70/month, 5 Mbps Up / 256 Kbps Down), then Teksavvy DSL and now Teksavvy Cable (Extreme: up to 24/1 Mpbs, 300 Gb cap, $43/month)
* Telephone: Unlimitel (VoIP) with my dedicated Asterisk computer at home. $3.50/DID (I have 3), plus usage, which comes to about $7, so around $10/month for 3 lines
* Television: cut Rogers Cable in Feb 2011. Now I have Netflix (US & Canada), and antenna. I don't watch sports on tv (or in real life if I can help it) and the news are acquired on the net or on the antenna. $8 for Netflix Canada, $8 for Netflix US, $5 for US proxy to get Netflix US. I could cut Netflix Canada but they have shows not available on Netflix US. For the price, I'm ok with paying both.
Now if only I could find a way to reduce the Electricity bill (Toronto Hydro hiked their rate many times over the last 2 years), I would be golden. Unfortunately, solar is out of reach for me. Last quote I got was $50,000 to equip my roof and that equipment cannot even store the electricity I produce, it's gone to the grid immediately.
JigJag
You can find those babies on eBay for $150. Full Tablet PC running Windows XP with a battery-free stylus (pressure sensitive). Battery life is terrible (about 2 hours) but they are warm-swappable, so carry a few in your bag. Otherwise, the note taking is fantastic, with pretty decent handwriting recognition. They were built in 2003 but you can still find them around. I bought one to play adventure games in the subway while commuting (thx to GOG.com for simplifying the process).
JigJag
I agree with you. Fingernails on chalkboard never bothered me and they still don't. I have excellent audio reception btw so it's not a question of being tone-deaf. I hear the sounds but my skin doesn't crawl up.
On a related note, I moved from a place with no skunks to a place teeming with them. To the locals, the odour is unbearable and they have like a flight-response to it. Personally, I don't abhor the smell; It's akin to "burning rubber". When my mother visited, it reminded her of the smell of "roasting coffee". We weren't raised to despise that smell, and we don't when confronted to it. That being said, I never have been sprayed or anything like that. I am talking about the far-off whiff you get in you're downwind from a skunk.
JigJag
I've always wondered whether neutrinos collision was at the source of such reports. Since our body is constantly showered with them and since they barely ever affect matter being so small, neutral, etc, then maybe the one time that it hits something, the energy released completely consumes the recipient.
JigJag
And just for those curious as to how come the Roku (which is Linux-based) can play Netflix while your own Linux computer cannot, it's because the Roku has a dedicated hardware chip supporting the encryption used by .Net. Without that hardware chip, there would be no Netflix on the Roku.
JigJag