I think it's much more likely Star Wars VII: The Empire lays the Smack Down being made. I hear there's a super-duper star destroyer in that one, and it finally actually does destroy stars. The Empire seems pissed....
I see a few problems with this (no, I'm no expert at anything in this area, but I did read the article):
How long does it take to charge? Unless this girl is charging it up every time she is in a potentially threatening place (and isn't that everywhere), would she have enough time to charge it if a person comes out of an alley with a menacing look on their face?
How long between discharges? I've been shocked by full current from an outlet before, and it hurts, but unless it is going to be applying that same current to me I could probably get through a second or two of that pain if I really wanted this girl's purse. Not to mention those that aren't sober (I'm not just talking about alcohol).
How easy is this to defeat? Someone already mentioned throwing water on the victim, in which case it would short the jacket or shock her. But what about throwing something metal at her to discharge it, or wearing gloves? If it's cold enough to be wearing a jacket like that, it wouldn't be out of place to have gloves on. Now that I'm getting creative, couldn't an attacker just spray some flamable gas at those sparks? Now she's got to worry about the attacker and burning alive.
Who is going to buy/use this? It would seem the plain leather version of this jacket would be at least $100 USD. Add in the fancy first-generation electric mesh sub-layers and that's got to be quite a bit more, even at volume. So, (maybe I'm a bit short-sighted here) if you're paranoid enough to be spending this amount of money on a jacket, are you also dumb enough to think that this will make you invincible?
How do you safely discharge it? Phew, you've now made it to your car, but you don't want to get burn marks on your seat. (Oh, I thought I'd mention that a lot of car jackings occur after people have opened the door to their own car, but haven't sat down yet) Where does that charge go? Now, it'd be cool if you could recycle that charge to your car battery, but rather impractacle.
I'm guessing this will be the tech-clothes equivalent of vaporware - cool idea and proof of concept, but I can't see it going anywhere.
I've ordered a few things from Buy.com (no, I'm not trying to endorse them) and the boxes they ship most of their small stuff in (Software, CD/DVDs, etc) is perfect for two rows of CD Jewel cases (I'm sure you can get those boxes elsewhere). They'll hold about 50 cases each (more if you use slim packs) and I stack them 3 high. Build/buy yourself some cheap shelving and label the boxes. It might take up more space than you're looking for but it's fast and flexible; and protects the CDs decently.
Now I've only got 500 or so CDs, which is about 8 boxes + a few on my desk (you get more than 50/box when you use slim cases/double stuffing), and it works great. My audio CDs are all ripped to mp3, so I store the orignals out of the way in my closet, and the computer CDs I use are on the floor behind my computer (cardboard's a decent insulator). Then again, there is nothing that I have that would be devastating if I lost, so this isn't for everyone, but I would like to mention that I haven't lost anything yet. Uh, not that I know of....
All of a sudden Little Shop of Horrors seems a lot more scary - it seems a lot more possible now. Just need to hide a wireless speaker in there to really scare people.
Hey, that's why I chose the PS2 for my gaming system. With the typical anti-MS slant, I ain't buying the beast, so it came down to the PS2 and the Gamecube. Since I needed a DVD player (no complaints) anyway and hate top-loading systems... that made it pretty clear.
I'd just like to add to how little power 20kW is. I lived in an apartment with a 15A fuse that would blow if I had my computer (+monitor) on while I microwaved something and the fridge would kick in (because guess how much the temperature drops when you open the door of a 20-year old freezer). Yes, the wiring was ancient, and after greeting the maintainance guy by first name, finally convinced him to put a 30W fuse in, despite his objections that he didn't think the wires could take it.
This is very typical of very bright, but narrow-minded people. What about people who don't touch type (gasp). What about if cut your finger and put a bandage over the end? What about people who don't always type the same way? I'm often eating or doing something else while I'm on the comptuer, and use [Backspace] more than any other key. I might have a burrito in my hand, and thus be typing with my pinkys.
And for those of you reading this comment, it's not just stuff like this, but any time you make something for more than just yourself you can't use your "ultimate" idea because it is only ultimate for you. For example, my mom organizes our pots & pans by when she bought them - she can find anything blindfolded, but none of the rest of us can find anything.
Remember, that if you're designing something for others, you're designing it for those that have trouble driving cars (how many of those people do you see every day?) and need to be told that food will be hot after microwaving.
Yeah, I thought that was weird too (although they are "DAD" racing chairs - never heard of "DAD"), it was the second thing I noticed (after the suspended monitor, which actually seems like a good idea). But, as much as I love bucket seats in cars, they're only there for one purpose: to keep you locked in one position. And it's not necessarily the most ergonomic position, as you really don't race for that long.
Even my skinny self, being an athletic guy with broad shoulders can't fit in those chairs - I can only fit in "sport" or "semi-racing" chairs. I didn't look to see if you could adjust the agressiveness of the hold, but I no longer care (well, past this rant). This really seems like somebody's idea of the ultimate workstation that they're now trying to sell 'cause his friend with the identical build wanted one and knew html. Ah the internet - good thing/. filters out all the crap... oh, wait.
Ok, for those of you who read the article, look in the upper left-hand corner. It says "News.com". Not "News.com.com". That is its address (and btw, the redirect from news.com works just fine). Any other news site on Slashdot is posted by its name (Yahoo, eWeek, etc) not it's address. You don't say "I work at 123 Main St.", it's "I work at ACME corporation". Really people, get over this marketing bullshit and continue with your lives.
Alright, offtopic. Slashdot.org moderators, do your worst.
Any extra goes into my "rain day fund" (aka "unexpected unemployment fund")
I call my rainy day fund my "expected unemployment fund". In this industry, I fully expect to have a month or 2 of down-time per year. I've been lucky the past 2 years, with full employment.
Hey, like I said, I'm just out of school, so I definitely wasn't expecting it to happen to me. Youthful optimism gone, maybe the next step is to expect this more often. Have any openings?
Hmmm... well from reading comments recently, it seems women really lovevibration.
Then again, maybe Apple's on to something, I can't tell you how many girls at the art school I met only because I was a CS guy who uses a Mac. Of course, like a true geek, I never actually did anything with any of them. But I did learn that women really aren't impressed if you have the latest processor or video card, or what (computer) languages you knew, but what you can do with your tool.
No really, to them it's no more interesting than a hammer. Instead, show off something that can be done, such as the venerable program Lisa, and have somebody there to explain that it's a program, not a real person they're "chatting" with. One thing that impressed my mom when we were touring colleges allowed people to rate 10 different types of restauraunts, and it came up with an optimal comprimise that was acceptable to most people. No discussion on the algorithms behind it, just "once you come you'll learn how". Even my Dad, who's technical, never saw the point of CDRs ("who has that much stuff to back up?") until I compressed his entire music collection onto 4 disks and gave it to him with a CD/mp3 player for his birthday. Suddenly mp3s weren't just for music pirates anymore.
My philosophy is pretty much based on cash-flow. I never consider the adjustments to my bank account, just want I am earning compared to what I am burning. Meaning I know how much I make in a month, and I keep my expenses below that. Any extra goes into my "rain day fund" (aka "unexpected unemployment fund") and I start the new month with a zero balance.
I just think of it as:
Income - Expenses = Money Available to Spend (simple, yeah?)
For me, out of each $1000/month I was making, about $250 went to rent & utilities, $300 went to my car payment & insurance for the car. The rest was my variable costs, like entertainment (which I consider anything from CDs to dining out to new computer parts), but my gas was mostly fixed at ~$20/week (~$25+ recently), groceries at $75-$100/week (this part's not relative to my salary, but still a known expense). I also can easily run up $200/week in going out to dinner and bars. If it's a slow week, I head on over to Fry's on Sunday, hit the internet, or (gasp) leave it in the bank.
I put away $10k last year for retirement in a 401k, so that was pre-tax, and as I'm pretty young and single I don't really have to take much else out. My income doesn't change often, and neither does the taxes taken out, so I adapt to what after-tax money I have to spend. Now that I'm on unemployment, I won't go to the Fancy French restauraunt down town, I'll hit the Chinese take-out. It's not really that different. Sorry I can't offer you help on how to magically make money appear, but I don't get into reacurring expenses I can't handle (as you can see, the car expenses are high, but within my budget) - I'm not getting married anytime soon.
Well, if you're worried about keeping dust out of your case, keep it off the floor. Don't put it on your desk, either. I use a small table or 2x4s to keep my cases above ground-level... there's not too much dirt in mid-air. For me, it's cut the dust down to an unnoticeable level.
The article isn't claiming that she feels victimized or 'whining' about the portrayal of the female body.
Oh really? Then why does she proceed to stack her arugment (because she really has no argument outside the small realm of her examples: Tomb Raider, DOA, and one character in a few other games) by only mentioning games that's biggest gameplay innovation was their physics models? That's equivalent to me saying that video games encourage fast and reckless driving by bringing up the examples of Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, and Grand Theft Auto. There are no games that encourage driving the speed limit because that's rather mundane. Mundane doesn't sell.
Getting to her final comments I think she has some well formed points
Too bad they have nothing to do with the rest of her article. Many people have complained about video games been repetive, simplistic, and unimaginative. Most don't pre-text it with a rant about how women are portrayed in video games. That's why a lot of the reactions are "knee-jerk, anti-PC, mysogony". C'mon, it's like the scene in "Billy Madison" where Adam Sandler flubs a speech, but then yells "<our> football team rocks!" and brings the crowd to it's feet. Perhaps the/. crowd is more intellectual than you think.
Wow, I never realized videogames are made to appeal to men.
Big guns, big boobs, and big explosions... gee, that sounds a lot like a hollywood blockbuster. Except you're not limited by what actors you can find to play your roles, just by your imagination. What, is she insecure that every woman is like a 40DD-20-30? Has she ever noticed every guy is like 60-40-50? I don't know any guys that this seems so much of an issue to, and I certainly don't know any that look like that. Ok, there's the "mysterios wanderer" characters, but they are as often guys as girls - and hey, why do the old men always have canes and walk hunched over? Shouldn't she be getting her panties in a bunch over that too?
And I'd just like point out a quote from her article, "the laughably phallic joystick". Yeah, because most gamers I know love fiddling with phallic objects for hours on end. If she'd think about it from any other angle than how the gaming industry is out to get her, she'd realize that a making a control phallic would turn away more gamers than it encourages. Maybe she's referring to a different type of joy-stick than I'm thinking of.
Oh, and I'd like to point out that video games are played for pleasure. And beautiful characters (male, female, alien (crystaline, robotic, whatever) ) are more pleasing to look at. Take the Final Fantasy series. Why is a 5' man swinging a 10' long, 1' wide sword? It looks cooler! I don't know about you, but eye candy is a big part of my graphics score; and better graphics means the game is more pleasing to me. So am I going to have to deal with some unrealistically proportioned women in the name of artistic license? Sure, but I'll make that sacrifice.
One of those was even a rebate I didn't know I qualified for, the girl just brought it to me. It was very nice, it had a separate receipt for the rebate, a photocopied page specific to that rebate, and the rebate coupon all stapled together. Of course, I had to undo the staple to read the instructions, but at least it all got home in one bundle.
Seems like a new policy (I visit the one in San Diego by the 8 & 15), though, the other rebates I've had through them weren't this easy. Still got my money, though. Even back when they had 10 packs of CDRs for $20 (waaay back), but with a $20 rebate. I think that was Maxell.
I like rebates because it becomes a question of how valuable your time is. Being just out of college, it's worth my time for just about any amount. I do appreciate those who don't send in the rebates, though - it makes retailers more willing to offer them for the likes of me. I'd consider it akin to a student discount - nothing wrong with that.
I'm a code geek, but have paid attention to finance a bit (hey, gotta be able to manage my millions that I'm going to have... someday).
Put money away pre-tax. This means 401k's and IRAs. This lowers your income, meaning you'll pay less tax to the government. =)
"Pay yourself first" Probably the cheesiest, but best line of advice I've heard. That means put money either by direct deposit or manually into a separate checking account just for your everyday things like rent, food, utilites, etc. Then figure out how much you have left for beer & porn. You don't really have to have a separate account, but if you have monetary discipline problems, this will allow you to eat at the end of the month.
Make sure you pay off your credit cards. Pay them off in the order of their interest rates. If you can pay off your credit cards every month, you essentially have a free 30-day loan. That's twice as long as a pay-day loan!
Don't bounce checks. It amazes me how many people I know will write a check knowing that they don't have the money in their account. Would you burn a $20 bill for fun? Why?
If you can, buy a residence. If not, put money away so you can make a down payment in a few years. Now, instead of paying your landlord every month, you're investing in yourself. And, mortgage payments can be tax-deductible. Best long-term thing to do.
I guess the biggest thing is that investing is really slow. Putting $1000 away for a year at 2% will give you a whopping $20. But put it away for 10 and you get $219. 5% will get you $628, and double your money in 13.6 years. $100 a month for 10 years at 5% gives you $15,528. Change that to 40 years (work from age 20 to 60) and you get $152,602 (40*12*$100 = $48,000), or about triple your investment. Try it yourself: http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/compound_js.html.
Oh, I'm 23 and renting (as I plan to move a lot over the next few years), but I know what I can afford (I just bought a new car, and put 1/4 of my salary away pre-tax) and what I want to do with my finances. With my new car, my computer budget is almost nil, but that's a choice I made.
Inside there you'll see that the button under your mouse is just a metal spring that brings two contacts together. Tape over, or break off one of the tabs so they don't connect any more and you're done. No more middle clicking for you. I've looked at three scrolling wheel mice (one was optical) and they all worked the same.
A lot of the posts I read where all about what the poster liked, and how they liked things; or how their current setup was and what they'd change. And they were all different. Some like dark, some light. Some liked quiet, some like background noise. Some think open plan is great, some like tall walls. So it would really depend on who's going to actually be in those cubes.
Btw, just for the record, I like bright lights, background noise, and gopher-able walls, but a low wall between me and one neighbors cube.
I'll definitely second the Trinitrons, and Mitsubishi.
I only notice the guide wires (I always wondered what made them) when I'm browsing very white pages (such as slashdot comments), and I actually think I've adjusted my "focus" on the monitor to fit between the two wires. I think it actually helps, too, because everything above them tends to be banner ads, the title of the site, and misc crap.
Another thing, if you're getting a 19", don't be tempted to get the cheapest 21" because it's the same price as a mid-range 19". As many others have said, you pay for quality, and quality matters. A good monitor will last for quite a while, longer than anything else in your comp (well, maybe the PSU), and will affect how well you can see in 20 years. (Nobody says "Yeah, just give me the bargain pacemaker.")
I've never bought a monitor in a store, they've all been over the internet and I've stuck to this: Make sure the monitor can do one setting higher than what you want to run. Personally, I can see the screen flicker at 60 and 66Hz, so I need at least 70Hz, preferably 75Hz. And I like 1600x1200, so my monitor needs to have at least one resolution mode above that (such as 1600x1200x32 @ 85Hz).
Make sure it actually says that all together, because sneaky manufacturers will say: "It does 1600x1200, it does 32-bit color, it does 85Hz!", but then you find it only does 1600x1200 at 60Hz and 16-bit color, and you have to drop down to 1024x768 to get to 85Hz. I've had some friends who got burned like that (yes, they returned them).
One last thing: Those flat-screen CRTs are great, once you get one you'll never go back.
We are always told every few months the earth is overdue a major earthquake, eruption, ice collapse, comet or other worldwide catastrophy. If it happens it will happen, but for now I'm happy where I am away from any of them.
And you exactly are... where?
In his mother's basement. Of course, to be safe from a nuclear blast, he'd still have to clasp his hands behind his head.
(apologies to those who didn't grow up in the US during cold-war hysteria and don't get it)
A CD drive is ~5.75 inches wide... 2 * 5.75 inches = 11.5 inches
Why would anyone build a case almost wide enough for two CD drives but not quite?
I hate to say it, but have you thought "outside the box"? Why not just use a regular case and build a wooden frame to occupy the unused space? As this sounds like it might not have a lot of clear area behind it, what about using the extra space for air return from the back of the case? (Did you think that far ahead) You could build the frame to make it look like the surrouding area was larger, or the case was bigger, either way will work. Seriously folks, I know we're mostly Engineers here, but we can think about the Real World factors a bit.
While you may design a house to last for 200+ years, would you currently want to live in one that had been designed 200+ years ago? Back then, there was no electricity, running water... those things were inconceivable back then and if they are in your 200+ year old house, they have been "hacked" in.
Even your garage... 200 years from now, do you think cars will be nearly as prevalent as they are now? What were they using 200+ years ago? Horse & buggy if I recall correctly. Who knows, maybe 50 years from now air-cars will be the new big thing (such as pre-wiring homes with CAT-5 is now) and your garage will open upwards! How many friends do you know that have a room over their garage that would suddenly make it obsolete? But do you count that against them? No, you can't because as many experts know, you can't predict the future (otherwise those that could would make a killing in the stock market).
Like computers and cars (and well, just about everything else) homes have a designed-in obselescence. Why else do you think the majority of houses are made out of wood framing? A 5-year old knows wood rots eventually. Even the design castles, while seemingly everlasting, where only state of the art for a short period (gunpowder anyone?). Their withstanding of time is purely a side-effect of their design. And honestly, would you want to live in a castle? No insulation, no air conditioning, few windows....
Alright, I think I've made my point... build a house like you would a PC: knowing that 8x AGP slot will only be state-of-the-art for a year or so longer than a 4x, and it might now be worth paying 2x as much for a motherboard just to get that. If you do want to pass this house down to your kids, just plan for expansion rooms and make it so it's not too expensive to knock down if they decide they don't like your 21st century design. It's going to happpen sooner or later, not even diamonds truly last forever....
I like the ruler idea, but I have something a bit more subtle in mind.
Make it a biometric identifcation device that functions by gauging the size of her ring finger. That way you can tell if someone is trying to impersonate your wife, as while you could use cosmetic surgery to make someone look like your wife, I doubt they'd think about changing her finger size. Sort of like Cinderella's slipper, it will only fit her. After all, she is your princess now, isn't she?
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, I read the story title as: ROTFL The Musical!
Well, maybe it was a bit of me picturing energetic hobbits singing and leaping around the stage. Or perhaps Gandalf doing the Riverdance?
I think it's much more likely Star Wars VII: The Empire lays the Smack Down being made. I hear there's a super-duper star destroyer in that one, and it finally actually does destroy stars. The Empire seems pissed....
- How long does it take to charge? Unless this girl is charging it up every time she is in a potentially threatening place (and isn't that everywhere), would she have enough time to charge it if a person comes out of an alley with a menacing look on their face?
- How long between discharges? I've been shocked by full current from an outlet before, and it hurts, but unless it is going to be applying that same current to me I could probably get through a second or two of that pain if I really wanted this girl's purse. Not to mention those that aren't sober (I'm not just talking about alcohol).
- How easy is this to defeat? Someone already mentioned throwing water on the victim, in which case it would short the jacket or shock her. But what about throwing something metal at her to discharge it, or wearing gloves? If it's cold enough to be wearing a jacket like that, it wouldn't be out of place to have gloves on. Now that I'm getting creative, couldn't an attacker just spray some flamable gas at those sparks? Now she's got to worry about the attacker and burning alive.
- Who is going to buy/use this? It would seem the plain leather version of this jacket would be at least $100 USD. Add in the fancy first-generation electric mesh sub-layers and that's got to be quite a bit more, even at volume. So, (maybe I'm a bit short-sighted here) if you're paranoid enough to be spending this amount of money on a jacket, are you also dumb enough to think that this will make you invincible?
- How do you safely discharge it? Phew, you've now made it to your car, but you don't want to get burn marks on your seat. (Oh, I thought I'd mention that a lot of car jackings occur after people have opened the door to their own car, but haven't sat down yet) Where does that charge go? Now, it'd be cool if you could recycle that charge to your car battery, but rather impractacle.
I'm guessing this will be the tech-clothes equivalent of vaporware - cool idea and proof of concept, but I can't see it going anywhere.I've ordered a few things from Buy.com (no, I'm not trying to endorse them) and the boxes they ship most of their small stuff in (Software, CD/DVDs, etc) is perfect for two rows of CD Jewel cases (I'm sure you can get those boxes elsewhere). They'll hold about 50 cases each (more if you use slim packs) and I stack them 3 high. Build/buy yourself some cheap shelving and label the boxes. It might take up more space than you're looking for but it's fast and flexible; and protects the CDs decently.
Now I've only got 500 or so CDs, which is about 8 boxes + a few on my desk (you get more than 50/box when you use slim cases/double stuffing), and it works great. My audio CDs are all ripped to mp3, so I store the orignals out of the way in my closet, and the computer CDs I use are on the floor behind my computer (cardboard's a decent insulator). Then again, there is nothing that I have that would be devastating if I lost, so this isn't for everyone, but I would like to mention that I haven't lost anything yet. Uh, not that I know of....
All of a sudden Little Shop of Horrors seems a lot more scary - it seems a lot more possible now. Just need to hide a wireless speaker in there to really scare people.
Hey, that's why I chose the PS2 for my gaming system. With the typical anti-MS slant, I ain't buying the beast, so it came down to the PS2 and the Gamecube. Since I needed a DVD player (no complaints) anyway and hate top-loading systems... that made it pretty clear.
Oh yeah, and Gran Turismo 3....
I'd just like to add to how little power 20kW is. I lived in an apartment with a 15A fuse that would blow if I had my computer (+monitor) on while I microwaved something and the fridge would kick in (because guess how much the temperature drops when you open the door of a 20-year old freezer). Yes, the wiring was ancient, and after greeting the maintainance guy by first name, finally convinced him to put a 30W fuse in, despite his objections that he didn't think the wires could take it.
This is very typical of very bright, but narrow-minded people. What about people who don't touch type (gasp). What about if cut your finger and put a bandage over the end? What about people who don't always type the same way? I'm often eating or doing something else while I'm on the comptuer, and use [Backspace] more than any other key. I might have a burrito in my hand, and thus be typing with my pinkys.
And for those of you reading this comment, it's not just stuff like this, but any time you make something for more than just yourself you can't use your "ultimate" idea because it is only ultimate for you. For example, my mom organizes our pots & pans by when she bought them - she can find anything blindfolded, but none of the rest of us can find anything.
Remember, that if you're designing something for others, you're designing it for those that have trouble driving cars (how many of those people do you see every day?) and need to be told that food will be hot after microwaving.
Yeah, I thought that was weird too (although they are "DAD" racing chairs - never heard of "DAD"), it was the second thing I noticed (after the suspended monitor, which actually seems like a good idea). But, as much as I love bucket seats in cars, they're only there for one purpose: to keep you locked in one position. And it's not necessarily the most ergonomic position, as you really don't race for that long.
/. filters out all the crap... oh, wait.
Even my skinny self, being an athletic guy with broad shoulders can't fit in those chairs - I can only fit in "sport" or "semi-racing" chairs. I didn't look to see if you could adjust the agressiveness of the hold, but I no longer care (well, past this rant). This really seems like somebody's idea of the ultimate workstation that they're now trying to sell 'cause his friend with the identical build wanted one and knew html. Ah the internet - good thing
Ok, for those of you who read the article, look in the upper left-hand corner. It says "News.com". Not "News.com.com". That is its address (and btw, the redirect from news.com works just fine). Any other news site on Slashdot is posted by its name (Yahoo, eWeek, etc) not it's address. You don't say "I work at 123 Main St.", it's "I work at ACME corporation". Really people, get over this marketing bullshit and continue with your lives.
Alright, offtopic. Slashdot.org moderators, do your worst.
Hmmm... well from reading comments recently, it seems women really love vibration.
Then again, maybe Apple's on to something, I can't tell you how many girls at the art school I met only because I was a CS guy who uses a Mac. Of course, like a true geek, I never actually did anything with any of them. But I did learn that women really aren't impressed if you have the latest processor or video card, or what (computer) languages you knew, but what you can do with your tool.
No really, to them it's no more interesting than a hammer. Instead, show off something that can be done, such as the venerable program Lisa, and have somebody there to explain that it's a program, not a real person they're "chatting" with. One thing that impressed my mom when we were touring colleges allowed people to rate 10 different types of restauraunts, and it came up with an optimal comprimise that was acceptable to most people. No discussion on the algorithms behind it, just "once you come you'll learn how". Even my Dad, who's technical, never saw the point of CDRs ("who has that much stuff to back up?") until I compressed his entire music collection onto 4 disks and gave it to him with a CD/mp3 player for his birthday. Suddenly mp3s weren't just for music pirates anymore.
My philosophy is pretty much based on cash-flow. I never consider the adjustments to my bank account, just want I am earning compared to what I am burning. Meaning I know how much I make in a month, and I keep my expenses below that. Any extra goes into my "rain day fund" (aka "unexpected unemployment fund") and I start the new month with a zero balance.
I just think of it as:
Income - Expenses = Money Available to Spend (simple, yeah?)
For me, out of each $1000/month I was making, about $250 went to rent & utilities, $300 went to my car payment & insurance for the car. The rest was my variable costs, like entertainment (which I consider anything from CDs to dining out to new computer parts), but my gas was mostly fixed at ~$20/week (~$25+ recently), groceries at $75-$100/week (this part's not relative to my salary, but still a known expense). I also can easily run up $200/week in going out to dinner and bars. If it's a slow week, I head on over to Fry's on Sunday, hit the internet, or (gasp) leave it in the bank.
I put away $10k last year for retirement in a 401k, so that was pre-tax, and as I'm pretty young and single I don't really have to take much else out. My income doesn't change often, and neither does the taxes taken out, so I adapt to what after-tax money I have to spend. Now that I'm on unemployment, I won't go to the Fancy French restauraunt down town, I'll hit the Chinese take-out. It's not really that different. Sorry I can't offer you help on how to magically make money appear, but I don't get into reacurring expenses I can't handle (as you can see, the car expenses are high, but within my budget) - I'm not getting married anytime soon.
Well, if you're worried about keeping dust out of your case, keep it off the floor. Don't put it on your desk, either. I use a small table or 2x4s to keep my cases above ground-level... there's not too much dirt in mid-air. For me, it's cut the dust down to an unnoticeable level.
Oh really? Then why does she proceed to stack her arugment (because she really has no argument outside the small realm of her examples: Tomb Raider, DOA, and one character in a few other games) by only mentioning games that's biggest gameplay innovation was their physics models? That's equivalent to me saying that video games encourage fast and reckless driving by bringing up the examples of Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal, and Grand Theft Auto. There are no games that encourage driving the speed limit because that's rather mundane. Mundane doesn't sell. Too bad they have nothing to do with the rest of her article. Many people have complained about video games been repetive, simplistic, and unimaginative. Most don't pre-text it with a rant about how women are portrayed in video games. That's why a lot of the reactions are "knee-jerk, anti-PC, mysogony". C'mon, it's like the scene in "Billy Madison" where Adam Sandler flubs a speech, but then yells "<our> football team rocks!" and brings the crowd to it's feet. Perhaps the
Wow, I never realized videogames are made to appeal to men.
Big guns, big boobs, and big explosions... gee, that sounds a lot like a hollywood blockbuster. Except you're not limited by what actors you can find to play your roles, just by your imagination. What, is she insecure that every woman is like a 40DD-20-30? Has she ever noticed every guy is like 60-40-50? I don't know any guys that this seems so much of an issue to, and I certainly don't know any that look like that. Ok, there's the "mysterios wanderer" characters, but they are as often guys as girls - and hey, why do the old men always have canes and walk hunched over? Shouldn't she be getting her panties in a bunch over that too?
And I'd just like point out a quote from her article, "the laughably phallic joystick". Yeah, because most gamers I know love fiddling with phallic objects for hours on end. If she'd think about it from any other angle than how the gaming industry is out to get her, she'd realize that a making a control phallic would turn away more gamers than it encourages. Maybe she's referring to a different type of joy-stick than I'm thinking of.
Oh, and I'd like to point out that video games are played for pleasure. And beautiful characters (male, female, alien (crystaline, robotic, whatever) ) are more pleasing to look at. Take the Final Fantasy series. Why is a 5' man swinging a 10' long, 1' wide sword? It looks cooler! I don't know about you, but eye candy is a big part of my graphics score; and better graphics means the game is more pleasing to me. So am I going to have to deal with some unrealistically proportioned women in the name of artistic license? Sure, but I'll make that sacrifice.
Actually, I've been 5 and 0 with Fry's
One of those was even a rebate I didn't know I qualified for, the girl just brought it to me. It was very nice, it had a separate receipt for the rebate, a photocopied page specific to that rebate, and the rebate coupon all stapled together. Of course, I had to undo the staple to read the instructions, but at least it all got home in one bundle.
Seems like a new policy (I visit the one in San Diego by the 8 & 15), though, the other rebates I've had through them weren't this easy. Still got my money, though. Even back when they had 10 packs of CDRs for $20 (waaay back), but with a $20 rebate. I think that was Maxell.
I like rebates because it becomes a question of how valuable your time is. Being just out of college, it's worth my time for just about any amount. I do appreciate those who don't send in the rebates, though - it makes retailers more willing to offer them for the likes of me. I'd consider it akin to a student discount - nothing wrong with that.
- Put money away pre-tax. This means 401k's and IRAs. This lowers your income, meaning you'll pay less tax to the government. =)
- "Pay yourself first" Probably the cheesiest, but best line of advice I've heard. That means put money either by direct deposit or manually into a separate checking account just for your everyday things like rent, food, utilites, etc. Then figure out how much you have left for beer & porn. You don't really have to have a separate account, but if you have monetary discipline problems, this will allow you to eat at the end of the month.
- Make sure you pay off your credit cards. Pay them off in the order of their interest rates. If you can pay off your credit cards every month, you essentially have a free 30-day loan. That's twice as long as a pay-day loan!
- Don't bounce checks. It amazes me how many people I know will write a check knowing that they don't have the money in their account. Would you burn a $20 bill for fun? Why?
- If you can, buy a residence. If not, put money away so you can make a down payment in a few years. Now, instead of paying your landlord every month, you're investing in yourself. And, mortgage payments can be tax-deductible. Best long-term thing to do.
I guess the biggest thing is that investing is really slow. Putting $1000 away for a year at 2% will give you a whopping $20. But put it away for 10 and you get $219. 5% will get you $628, and double your money in 13.6 years. $100 a month for 10 years at 5% gives you $15,528. Change that to 40 years (work from age 20 to 60) and you get $152,602 (40*12*$100 = $48,000), or about triple your investment. Try it yourself: http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/compound_js.htmOh, I'm 23 and renting (as I plan to move a lot over the next few years), but I know what I can afford (I just bought a new car, and put 1/4 of my salary away pre-tax) and what I want to do with my finances. With my new car, my computer budget is almost nil, but that's a choice I made.
Open up your mouse (the physical one)
Inside there you'll see that the button under your mouse is just a metal spring that brings two contacts together. Tape over, or break off one of the tabs so they don't connect any more and you're done. No more middle clicking for you. I've looked at three scrolling wheel mice (one was optical) and they all worked the same.
Been reading posts when it hit me:
Have you asked your developers?
A lot of the posts I read where all about what the poster liked, and how they liked things; or how their current setup was and what they'd change. And they were all different. Some like dark, some light. Some liked quiet, some like background noise. Some think open plan is great, some like tall walls. So it would really depend on who's going to actually be in those cubes.
Btw, just for the record, I like bright lights, background noise, and gopher-able walls, but a low wall between me and one neighbors cube.
I'll definitely second the Trinitrons, and Mitsubishi.
I only notice the guide wires (I always wondered what made them) when I'm browsing very white pages (such as slashdot comments), and I actually think I've adjusted my "focus" on the monitor to fit between the two wires. I think it actually helps, too, because everything above them tends to be banner ads, the title of the site, and misc crap.
Another thing, if you're getting a 19", don't be tempted to get the cheapest 21" because it's the same price as a mid-range 19". As many others have said, you pay for quality, and quality matters. A good monitor will last for quite a while, longer than anything else in your comp (well, maybe the PSU), and will affect how well you can see in 20 years. (Nobody says "Yeah, just give me the bargain pacemaker.")
I've never bought a monitor in a store, they've all been over the internet and I've stuck to this: Make sure the monitor can do one setting higher than what you want to run. Personally, I can see the screen flicker at 60 and 66Hz, so I need at least 70Hz, preferably 75Hz. And I like 1600x1200, so my monitor needs to have at least one resolution mode above that (such as 1600x1200x32 @ 85Hz).
Make sure it actually says that all together, because sneaky manufacturers will say: "It does 1600x1200, it does 32-bit color, it does 85Hz!", but then you find it only does 1600x1200 at 60Hz and 16-bit color, and you have to drop down to 1024x768 to get to 85Hz. I've had some friends who got burned like that (yes, they returned them).
One last thing: Those flat-screen CRTs are great, once you get one you'll never go back.
(apologies to those who didn't grow up in the US during cold-war hysteria and don't get it)
Alright, at the risk of sounding like an ass:
A CD drive is ~5.75 inches wide... 2 * 5.75 inches = 11.5 inches
Why would anyone build a case almost wide enough for two CD drives but not quite?
I hate to say it, but have you thought "outside the box"? Why not just use a regular case and build a wooden frame to occupy the unused space? As this sounds like it might not have a lot of clear area behind it, what about using the extra space for air return from the back of the case? (Did you think that far ahead) You could build the frame to make it look like the surrouding area was larger, or the case was bigger, either way will work. Seriously folks, I know we're mostly Engineers here, but we can think about the Real World factors a bit.
While you may design a house to last for 200+ years, would you currently want to live in one that had been designed 200+ years ago? Back then, there was no electricity, running water... those things were inconceivable back then and if they are in your 200+ year old house, they have been "hacked" in.
Even your garage... 200 years from now, do you think cars will be nearly as prevalent as they are now? What were they using 200+ years ago? Horse & buggy if I recall correctly. Who knows, maybe 50 years from now air-cars will be the new big thing (such as pre-wiring homes with CAT-5 is now) and your garage will open upwards! How many friends do you know that have a room over their garage that would suddenly make it obsolete? But do you count that against them? No, you can't because as many experts know, you can't predict the future (otherwise those that could would make a killing in the stock market).
Like computers and cars (and well, just about everything else) homes have a designed-in obselescence. Why else do you think the majority of houses are made out of wood framing? A 5-year old knows wood rots eventually. Even the design castles, while seemingly everlasting, where only state of the art for a short period (gunpowder anyone?). Their withstanding of time is purely a side-effect of their design. And honestly, would you want to live in a castle? No insulation, no air conditioning, few windows....
Alright, I think I've made my point... build a house like you would a PC: knowing that 8x AGP slot will only be state-of-the-art for a year or so longer than a 4x, and it might now be worth paying 2x as much for a motherboard just to get that. If you do want to pass this house down to your kids, just plan for expansion rooms and make it so it's not too expensive to knock down if they decide they don't like your 21st century design. It's going to happpen sooner or later, not even diamonds truly last forever....
I like the ruler idea, but I have something a bit more subtle in mind.
Make it a biometric identifcation device that functions by gauging the size of her ring finger. That way you can tell if someone is trying to impersonate your wife, as while you could use cosmetic surgery to make someone look like your wife, I doubt they'd think about changing her finger size. Sort of like Cinderella's slipper, it will only fit her. After all, she is your princess now, isn't she?