Don't refuse when your parents want you to take piano lessons. Do something musical. Join a band.
I started playing guitar at 20 years old, and if I would have started at, say, 15-16, my whole high school experience would have been different. Playing guitar would have been easier if I had done what my parents said and taken piano lessons.
I have a job, money, and comfort right now, but the only thing that makes me truly happy is playing music (guitar). And it could have gotten me laid more...
When I was in middle school, I was a complete outcast. I was just starting to get into computers, and I was slightly athletic (baseball, basketball) but I was pretty socially inept. The other kids made me an outcast.
So, when it came to high school, I made the decision to take a fresh start. I abandoned the few friends/aquaintences I had from middle school, and set out to meet a new set of friends. I joined the Science Club, and eventually various student government leadership organizations.
The school I was as was large enough that I could have a significant social group of like-minded individuals who became pretty close friends. Some of these people are still my best friends to this day - over five years later.
My point is this - Life is what you make of it. There will always be "sportos, jocks, motorheads, bloods, geeks, and dweebs" based on other's social perceptions. But if you let those stereotypes hold you down, you have no one to blame but youself for not having friends. (Unless you are Ferris Bueller...)
Get out and meet people: Comb your hair, take a shower, get some decent clothes and go to new social venue. If you are even a modestly interesting/fun/unique person, you will be suprised by the people you will meet and the things you can do.
<div class="unrelated.offtopic" style="funny"> Grace: Sportos, jocks, motorheads, bloods, geeks, dweebs,etc. They all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude." Ed Rooney: "He interferes with my ability to effectively govern this student body." "Makes you look like an ass is what he does, Ed." "Thank you, Grace. I think you're wrong." </div>
1. Slashdot's immortal cookie: Slashdot was the first discussion site to use a cookie that expires in one year. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among discussion sites; Slashdot set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you log in on Slashdot, you get a cookie! CmdrTaco can read and record your unique ID number!
2. Slashdot records everything they can: For all discussion submissions, they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your actual words, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Slashdot can even BLOCK you from viewing their site!
3. Slashdot retains all data indefinitely: Slashdot has no data retention policies. There is even evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save, using obscure SQL SELECT statements with WHERE modifiers!
4. Slashdot won't say why they need this data: Inquiries to Slashdot about their privacy policies lead to severe beatings.
5. Google hires spooks: CowboyNeal... nuf' said!
6. Google's polls are spyware: Slashdot's free poll questions phone home with every choice you enter. Yes, it reads your cookie too, and records the vote so you can't even vote twice on the same poll!!! Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because all fair polls do this. Worse yet, Slashdot's Slashcode updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. Most web sites ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Slashdot.
7. Slashdot comments are illegal: Posters to Slashdot often say bad things about the laws that protect us, for instance, the DMCA, the Patriot Act, and the Homeland Security act. Slashdot is nothing but a bed of terroristic rehtoric, and it needs to be stopped!
8. Slashdot is not your friend: Young, stupid script kiddies and many bloggers still think Slashdot is "way kool," so by now Slashdot enjoys a 98 percent monopoly for all tech related discussion sites. No webmaster can avoid seeking CmdrTaco's approval these days, assuming he wants to "Slashdot" his site. If he tries to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Slashdot's semi-secret algorithms, he may find himself penalized by Slashdot, and his traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Slashdot, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Slashdot is completely unaccountable. Most of the time they don't even answer email from webmasters.
9. Slashdot is a privacy time bomb: With 50 million visits per day, Slashdot amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Slashdot has already achieved. Slashdot deserves your nomination for corporate Big Brother of the Year.
Do a Google search for http.
Yahoo is # 1. This is a good indication of the most popular sites on the web (at least according to Google's PageRank technology). I know dozens of computers at my office and at my college that have Yahoo! set as the home page. I also see that many newbies still hit Yahoo! first for a web search (even thought it is really Google). Yahoo! has just been around so long that it is set in people's minds as the place to go for search - but Google is changing that...
"The long-decomissioned cable is still regarded as the longest single run of cable in the world."
I thought my noc had the longest cable run in the world... at least it seemed like it when I was crawling through the ceiling.
Slashdot Mirror
Q: What does American beer and sex in a canoe have in common?
A: They're both fucking close to water.
... and a large banner that says "Is this good for the company?"
Dear 12yr old me,
Don't refuse when your parents want you to take piano lessons. Do something musical. Join a band.
I started playing guitar at 20 years old, and if I would have started at, say, 15-16, my whole high school experience would have been different. Playing guitar would have been easier if I had done what my parents said and taken piano lessons.
I have a job, money, and comfort right now, but the only thing that makes me truly happy is playing music (guitar). And it could have gotten me laid more...
When I was in middle school, I was a complete outcast. I was just starting to get into computers, and I was slightly athletic (baseball, basketball) but I was pretty socially inept. The other kids made me an outcast.
So, when it came to high school, I made the decision to take a fresh start. I abandoned the few friends/aquaintences I had from middle school, and set out to meet a new set of friends. I joined the Science Club, and eventually various student government leadership organizations.
The school I was as was large enough that I could have a significant social group of like-minded individuals who became pretty close friends. Some of these people are still my best friends to this day - over five years later.
My point is this - Life is what you make of it. There will always be "sportos, jocks, motorheads, bloods, geeks, and dweebs" based on other's social perceptions. But if you let those stereotypes hold you down, you have no one to blame but youself for not having friends. (Unless you are Ferris Bueller...)
Get out and meet people: Comb your hair, take a shower, get some decent clothes and go to new social venue. If you are even a modestly interesting/fun/unique person, you will be suprised by the people you will meet and the things you can do.
<div class="unrelated.offtopic" style="funny">
Grace: Sportos, jocks, motorheads, bloods, geeks, dweebs,etc. They all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude."
Ed Rooney: "He interferes with my ability to effectively govern this student body."
"Makes you look like an ass is what he does, Ed."
"Thank you, Grace. I think you're wrong."
</div>
Should you fear Slashdot?
1. Slashdot's immortal cookie:
Slashdot was the first discussion site to use a cookie that expires in one year. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among discussion sites; Slashdot set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you log in on Slashdot, you get a cookie! CmdrTaco can read and record your unique ID number!
2. Slashdot records everything they can:
For all discussion submissions, they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your actual words, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Slashdot can even BLOCK you from viewing their site!
3. Slashdot retains all data indefinitely:
Slashdot has no data retention policies. There is even evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save, using obscure SQL SELECT statements with WHERE modifiers!
4. Slashdot won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Slashdot about their privacy policies lead to severe beatings.
5. Google hires spooks:
CowboyNeal... nuf' said!
6. Google's polls are spyware:
Slashdot's free poll questions phone home with every choice you enter. Yes, it reads your cookie too, and records the vote so you can't even vote twice on the same poll!!! Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because all fair polls do this. Worse yet, Slashdot's Slashcode updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. Most web sites ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Slashdot.
7. Slashdot comments are illegal:
Posters to Slashdot often say bad things about the laws that protect us, for instance, the DMCA, the Patriot Act, and the Homeland Security act. Slashdot is nothing but a bed of terroristic rehtoric, and it needs to be stopped!
8. Slashdot is not your friend:
Young, stupid script kiddies and many bloggers still think Slashdot is "way kool," so by now Slashdot enjoys a 98 percent monopoly for all tech related discussion sites. No webmaster can avoid seeking CmdrTaco's approval these days, assuming he wants to "Slashdot" his site. If he tries to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Slashdot's semi-secret algorithms, he may find himself penalized by Slashdot, and his traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Slashdot, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Slashdot is completely unaccountable. Most of the time they don't even answer email from webmasters.
9. Slashdot is a privacy time bomb:
With 50 million visits per day, Slashdot amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Slashdot has already achieved. Slashdot deserves your nomination for corporate Big Brother of the Year.
...I prefer CPIP rather than cumbersome TCP/IP applications like HTTP or FTP. If it was good enough for Noah, then it's good enough for me.
Do a Google search for http. Yahoo is # 1. This is a good indication of the most popular sites on the web (at least according to Google's PageRank technology). I know dozens of computers at my office and at my college that have Yahoo! set as the home page. I also see that many newbies still hit Yahoo! first for a web search (even thought it is really Google). Yahoo! has just been around so long that it is set in people's minds as the place to go for search - but Google is changing that...
Pwefewences: You can search the web in Ewmew Fudd or Pig Latin.
"The long-decomissioned cable is still regarded as the longest single run of cable in the world."
I thought my noc had the longest cable run in the world... at least it seemed like it when I was crawling through the ceiling.
Google Cache: (for what it's worth)
Denon and Pioneer have great digital turntables - the Denon DN-D9000 and the Pioneer CDJ-1000. They are quite impressive.