Hawks

Wut... Necro. I think I count as an old person now. Because I'm lazy and cba to find another forum that people actually are generally nice and don't flame constantly. And of course the bizarre conversations and things OTers do...

We've had 3 Dells: Inspiron laptop that the video card overheated on because it's not designed for laptops (CD/DVD went shortly before), a refurbished dell optiplex gx-something which the BIOS battery died in, but is otherwise fine, and a replacement for the laptop which is a Dell desktop of some sort... So as long as you know what you're buying, I think Dells are okay. We've got a near 15 yo Micron that has blown up a couple of times but we've fixed. Still works, even though they're not in business anymore. Canon cameras are PWN. My mom's got two, an older Canon Powershot (not sure what model, it uses CF cards which is hysterical), and a Canon Powershot A470. I personally love the A470, it's a great point-and-shoot and I'm actually getting one for Christmas. I personally do not like my dad's Nikon point-and-shoot, mainly because the Canons are so much better (imo). It's still good quality and works well. We had an HP laserjet for some time, after about 5 years it'd start getting a 'smiley gunked up in the works' and would randomly spew [print] garbage, but when you fixed that it still worked great. We also had a Brother MFC for like 15 years and the drum finally got to be suckish (so it used up toner really fast) and we bought a refurbished drum, but toner for it got so expensive we bought a different Brother MFC, which works awesome except our wireless network fails at keeping the printer always working. We have the world's most awful laserjet now, an Epson Photo RX600 or summat. We've had to have it exchanged at least three times, and the cartridges are freaking expensive. The $3 BlueDog Ink ones we got seem to be working okay for the time being. The scanner works but their software (besides the TWAIN driver) sucks. I am anti-Apple to begin with. So no Macs for me. For mp3 players: The Sansa Clip can't be beat. I've had mine for 3ish years now and it's only freaked out on me once. My brother's put his through the washer and it still works. Plus the newest version is only $30 when it's on sale. I've got a Nintendo DSi and love it as well.

I've been up to a lot of naught lately. News: Our washing machine is DEAD. So we can't have the new one delivered until Dec. 10 so we've got to go to the laundromat a few times before then... Plus the new one is way better and cost half as much as the original. Never buy a GE appliance. Oh, and I can't take it apart. :( Thanksgiving was suckish. Nothing to report. I decided to make each of my cousins a papercraft thingy for Xmas. Three of them are simple Cubeecrafts (Darth Vader, LongCat, and Yami Yugi) and one is a bear on a cupcake that'll take me a bit. I also found some awesomesauce Magic TG deck box papercrafts, so I'm making one for my brother and one for myself (even though I don't play MTG). Reminds me, I forgot to print out the spine label for his... Will do that later if I can. I've been messing with my sig. I like TS_Stormrage's fictional articles for the times, you should go read them. You should also go check out upcoming TET events. 'Cause TET is full of win. I believe that is all. What do you want me to talk about in my blog? I haven't ever got anything interesting to talk about.

If you're not trying to use it in the rain, I think a ziplock bag or other such thing ought to work fine, especially if it's being kept in a backpack. It might work to use in the rain/damp in the bag too, but I doubt it. There's always duct tape + plastic bag.

Awesome fictional today! It was long though. I thought Rach's article on unbalanced maging in dungeoneering was pretty spot-on, I never use runes because it's not really time/cost effective to do so. Article on not doing fun things because they're not worth it echoes sentiments I've been hearing lately. EDIT: Wewt! First post!

I am mad. The weather guys said it would snow on Thanksgiving and it did not and it has not yet snowed at all significantly. The past day or so it's been flurries sometimes, but no legit snow. I have not been around lately because my cousins were up for Turkey day and they were staying with us and we've got a big fiasco coming up... My great-grandpa passed away on Tuesday, visitation's tomorrow and the funeral's on Monday, but they can't stay for the funeral so they're just going to the visitation, and my grandmother is insane so she'll be mad they didn't come and I'm really thinking of not going [to the funeral] because my mom said I don't have to go, and even though I feel I really should for my grandpa, I don't want to because it's in the middle of the day and there's all this crap that will be done (they're having a luncheon at the VFW and such) and a whole bunch of people I really don't want to deal with will be there. I know they'll be mad at me, but I really don't care about their opinion of me, the only people who I care about [their opinion of me] are the relatives who can't stay for the funeral, so they won't be there either. I don't who decided it should be Monday midday, because that's just whack. I have two AP classes that I will get behind in if I'm not in school for, and I have a test that I won't be able to make up easily if I'm gone. ie: I hate my family. Or at least a lot of it.

It poured for most of the day today and was 60 degrees F. It's November 22nd. It's supposed to be snowing! Meh. It's supposed to start Thurs/Fri and we're supposed to get a bunch. No homework, and tomorrow's a movie day, so 45 min classes and I get to eat Turkey Day food.... Tomorrow should be awesome. Plus I don't have to go to school on Wednesday! "I got a jar of dirt" <- Bro is watching that movie, scene just came on... :P

Awesome fictional, awesome artwork by Army, not much to say on the editorials.

I live 4 miles from school, so on a good day it's a 5-7 minute drive, on mostly back/dirt roads. Driving a 2003 Blazer, I get like 16-18 mpg but I really don't know what it is because my gas gauge doesn't work... :roll:

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to/allowed to ask about this sort of thing but if I'm not then just lock it. I need/want an extension for Firefox that will download YouTube videos as MP3s. I don't want it to download them as videos, just mp3s. I don't want it to redirect me to that German youtubetomp3 site. Is there such an extension? I searched the extensions and the ones I got for 'Youtube mp3 downloader' all used that site (which didn't seem to work for me anyway). ie. I need an extension that downloads YT videos as mp3s. Nothing else, just that. And it needs to not use any external sites/just link to another site that does the thing.

Today I went to the grocery store with my mom and that took something like two and a half hours. Then I came home and had a sandwich and worked on my AP Bio poster (protein synthesis, from DNA to RNA to protein and a bunch in between) for at least four and a half hours and it is done. Now my brother is eating my bandwidth and I can't listen to music over last.fm and I am sad. I still have to do a Hamlet character web poster which will be [not] fun.

I drive a 2003 Chevrolet Blazer Only blue. Parking brake doesn't work, gas gauge doesn't work, R and N lights on shifter don't work, driver's side sun-shade mirror cover thingy is broken. Is a nice car, not amazing gas mileage, but I don't pay for gas and I didn't have to pay for the car. We've had it at least 6 years now, I don't think the brake ever worked. The stereo system is nice and has good bass, A/C works well, has a sunroof. Backseat is not something you want to sit in, no legroom. We also have a 2004 (? maybe 2006) Buick Rondevouz. IT IS THE CAR FROM HELL. So many things have broken on it, it sucks as a car, has no pickup, the only thing good is the leather interior and the fact that you don't die when you sit in the back. 2006 Pontiac Vibe: Awesome car, I personally have issues with the brights (why do you pull it toward you?) and shifting and crud because I don't normally drive this car. Nice pickup, only two-wheel drive though, and decent gas mileage. If I was going to buy a car I'd likely buy one of these. I really want a VW Jetta though, a manual clean-diesel would be pretty cool.

How do you feel about body modifications? (piercings, tattoos, subdermals and the like, although other procedures such as tongue splitting are included). General piercings (lip, eyebrow, nose, ears) are okay, although I'm not a big fan of tongue piercings or anything beyond just poking holes in yourself. Don't really think nipple piercings are a good idea. Tattoos are fine in moderation, as long as you have a reason. I don't really like nose studs either; I think they look dumb. Do you, yourself, have any/plans to acquire some in the foreseeable future? I've always wanted to get the tops of my ears pierced (can't recall name of piercing). I would also be liable to dye my hair an odd color. My mom has always steered me away from most piercing/tattoos because they're fairly/pretty much permanent, but hair grows out (and can be dyed back) so I don't think she would be really against me dying it. Why? One of my earlobes is whack/deformed so getting those pierced would be odd and potentially annoying. Plus I've always thought those piercings were cool. How do you feel about the growing pervasiveness of tattoos among western youth? As long as you can justify it and pay for it I don't really care. Don't complain if you can't get a job because of it. Do you think men should get ear piercings? I think 'diamond studs' are really stupid looking on guys who try to be tough and just end up looking completely idiotic. I think gauges or other facial piercings (especially if combined, ie stereotypical goth/punk) are okay, if the guy's got hoops or not stupid studs ear piercings are okay.

Ya, which is why I've got some random external for kicks and giggles. [spoiler=New List of Components] Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan $54.99 Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $199.99 CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950 $294.99 GPU: SAPPHIRE 100292DDR3L Radeon HD 5450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card $59.99 PSU: RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply $59.99 RAM: OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3F1600LV6GK $115.99 Sound Card: ASUS XONAR_DG 5.1 Channels PCI Interface Xonar DG Sound Card $29.99 HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $69.99 CD-ROM: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM $16.99 Card Reader: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate $15.99 Total: $929 External Floppy: Sabrent SBT-UFDB USB External 3.5-Inch 1.44 MB 2x Floppy Disk Drive (Black) $19.99 (Amazon) Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop EX100 $28.80 (Amazon) Monitor: Acer X203HCbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DC 50000:1(1000:1) $119.99 Speakers: Logitech S120 2.0 Multimedia Speakers $9.99 (Amazon) OS: Windows 7 PRO 64 Bit System Builder 1pk $139.99 (Amazon) Total: ~$1239 Decided to still get a ($30) sound card because of potential issues with the mobo and gpu. GPU is actually the same one I've got in the machine I'm working on. Innards of the computer are $919. I want to put Win7 Pro on it but at $200 retail/140 OEM it doesn't really seem worth it. Of course I think I can do $140 for OEM and the potential mobo fail issue would be okay. Slightly cheaper and faster 1TB HD instead of 1.5TB. 730W PSU.

But does triple/dual channel RAM just mean that that's how many slots for RAM it has? Wouldn't dual channel still work in a triple channel machine, or am I just dumb? The reason I picked the RAM I did was because I wanted 8GB and nothing triple channel came in 8GB (just 6 and 24, I couldn't find 12 either, although I'll look for it.) EDIT: I'm just an idiot, and the mobo has 6 slots. Will be getting one of the 12GB 6x2GB kits. Alright so no sound card, cheaper mobo, cheaper graphics, but probably get retail version of 7. Oh about the floppy: All the internal ones I could find were IDE, and my mobo only has SATA ports.

Wondering if you all have any suggestions for better/cheaper things for this build. I was originally aiming for under $1k USD but that didn't really work out. So now I'm just going for highest performance [general purpose use, some gaming/graphics editing] at lowest price. I've got to get peripherals and an OS, which adds like $300-400 unfortunately. I'm using http://www.newegg.com and http://www.amazon.com (only if it's cheaper than Newegg/Newegg doesn't carry it) Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan $54.99 Mobo: ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $279.99 CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950 $294.99 Heatsink/Fan: CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan CPU Cooler $47.99 GPU: ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $169.99 PSU: Rosewill BRONZE series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous@40°C, 80Plus Bronze Certified,Modular Cable Design,ATX12V v2.3/ EPS12V,SLI Ready,CrossFire Ready,Active PFC"Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply $134.99 RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $159.99 Sound Card: ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card $79.99 HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $79.99 CD-ROM: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM $16.99 External Floppy: Sabrent SBT-UFDB USB External 3.5-Inch 1.44 MB 2x Floppy Disk Drive (Black) $19.99 (Amazon) Card Reader: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate $15.99 Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 - Loch Ness Gray $17.49 (Amazon) Keyboard: Logitech K120 Black USB Wired Standard Keyboard $14.99 Monitor: Acer X203HCbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DC 50000:1(1000:1) $119.99 Speakers: Logitech S-220 17 Watts 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM $22.99 OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM $139.99 Total: ~$1622 Questions: Do I need a 1000W PSU? (No. 750W is sufficient.) Can I get a cheaper motherboard or case that still fits my needs? (Yes, ASUS Sabertooth) For general use, could I get a cheaper graphics card? (Yes, Raedon 5450) Would my onboard sound card be fine for general use as well? (Yes, generally some issues) What's the difference between Win7 Pro OEM and Retail, besides the price? (windows is dumb) Is there anywhere I can get cheaper peripherals? What [paid] AV should I stick on here, Kaspersky or Norton? Or neither?

Posted mine: http://forum.tip.it/topic/280492-hawks-top-games/ I PM someone a week after mine's posted?

My top games I've played, not in any particular order. I'd say Tetris is the best, closely followed by Pictobits and A Link to the Past. Enjoy and ridicule my Nintendo/Lego fangirlishness if you wish. A Link to the Past (SNES) released 1992 for SNES, re-released as A Link to the Past/Four Swords for GBA in 2002, and for WiiWare in 2007 The third installment in one of the coolest franchises of all time, this game follows the general 'Save the Princess, save the Kingdom' storyline. It uses'3/4' overhead view, which I love, and the graphics are just iconic. To be honest, this game is more on here for the nostalgia and graphics than the gameplay, although it's great too. Super Mario Bros. (NES) released 1985 for NES, re-released for GBA in 2004 & 2005, for WiiWare in 2007 Okay, if you've ever played this and it didn't leave a mark on you, you need to go play it again. THE iconic 'Save the Princess, Save the Kingdom' game, with weird turtle things that drop spiky things on you and weird bowling ball type shell things with legs, etc. The wacky enemies that have become icons are one of the great things about the game. Watching the characters develop through the series from their 8-bit forms to today's full-color 3D-type characters is as fun as it is interesting. Warcraft III (PC) released 2002 for PC, expansion pack The Frozen Throne released 2003 Real-time strategy game, I guess you'd call it. It sets the stage for World of Warcraft, so if you like WoW you might want to pick up this one. There are campaign modes for each of the races (Human, Orc, Night Elf, and Undead) and a bonus campaign as well. There are a fair number of clever little easter eggs, including exploding sheep. It also comes with a Level Editor so you can create your own campaigns and maps (or just make your heroes overpowered with tons of stuff). LEGO LOCO (PC) released 1999-2001 for PC Think SimCity for kiddies meets Lego. You build a city for minifigs to live in, including rail and roads. There are a selection of fun things to add, from a skate shop to a pizza place. The 'figs can ride the train, drive cars, and interact with each other. There are a number of easter eggs including seasonal scenery and small animals. This is probably my favorite game on this list after Tetris. New Super Mario Bros.(DS) released 2006 for DS More 'Save the Princess, save the Kingdom' but it's all in good fun. In my opinion it shows off the graphical capabilities of the DS with the 2.5D visuals. Mario has the same abilities he's always had, with Super Mushrooms and Fire Flowers, but also Blue Shells and Giant Mushrooms. He finds new and old enemies including the great Latiku (I have stories about him/her/it from the NES version) and better-looking Koopas. It has endless replay value, as you collect coins as you play which allow you to unlock Mushroom Houses and backgrounds. The soundtrack is full of updated and fun classics. Tetris (NES) released 1989 for NES, rereleased in so many ways... THE Soviet Mind Game. Probably THE Best Game Ever. There's something mesmerizing about the falling Tetrominoes and the Russian music that make this game a winner for anyone.(Unless you suck at it... Then you'll hate it.) I have the original NES version on my list, as I played it the most, but I have also played it on Windows and my graphing calculator. :P It's been refreshed by the Tetris Company and released as WiiWare, two DS versions, and a new Wii version, tons of mobile versions, and with too many clones to count. Lego Island II (PC) released 2001 for PC, PS, GBC/GBA I love this game. You become a pizza-wielding, skateboarding dude and deliver pizzas to the citizens of the island to earn bricks to build your house. The last pizza you deliver is to the Brickster, Lego Island's resident ne'er-do-well. He, of course, breaks out and begins destroying the island's buildings by ripping apart the Construct-o-Pedia... You journey as Pepper to Castle Isand, Dino/Adventurer Island, and lastly to Ogel Island, where you confront the Brickster for the last time. It's full of Lego goodness, corny puns, and general fun stuff. It's got great replay value and it's always fun to ride the train, drive vehicles, and the helicopters! Lego Racers (PC) released 1998-2001 for N64, PS, PC, GBC Once again, classic Lego awesomeness. You can build a car, build a driver, and race through different worlds based on Lego themes from the 90's. The characters are the quirky and clever Lego 'figs I've grown to know and love. The final boss, Rocket Racer, is quite cool, and the game ties into LEGOLAND (another Lego PC game) with time trial races versus Veronica Voltage, the Professor's daughter. Super Mario World (SNES) released for SNES 1991, GBA 2002, on Virtual Console 2007 I've never had the fortune to play this game on an actual SNES, but this is probably my favorite Mario title of all time. It is in this game that we meet Yoshi, the green dinosaur creature. While just Yoshi would be awesome, we get to rescue his friends (purple, orange, and yellow Yoshis!) and rescue the princess (again.). I believe this game also has the best soundtrack of all the games; when I think of Mario, I think of the music from this game. Guitar Hero 5 (Wii/etc) released 2009 for PS2/PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 Why did I pick this edition of the Guitar Hero series? By this point, they've worked out most of the bugs in previous versions and added party play, allowing me to jump in and out of songs as I wish. There's a detailed character customizer that includes Chuck Taylors. Matt Bellamy is a playable character. We can finally sing Under Pressure. In other words, they finally got everything right. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (DS/etc) released 2007 for various consoles, 2009 PC At this point, you will ask, why another Lego game? But this time we've combined two favorites of geeks: Lego and Star Wars. And when they're combined, good things happen. The game features the improvements of the second while including the gameplay of the first, in one convenient package. Yep, it's also got the epic Lego characters and that wacky sense of humor, plus tons of gameplay with the many collectables including minikits that built ships and landmarks from the Star Wars universe. Scribblenauts (DS) released 2009 for DS Where else can you summon Chuthulu and use helicopters and trampolines to rescue stranded cats? This game offers much fun in summoning completely random objects, even when you don't use them to solve the problem. The premise of the game is simple; summon objects that will enable Maxwell to get the Starite. Use certain objects, or use less than par, and you'll get Ollars, usable to buy new levels, music for the level editor, and more avatars. Atari Anniversary Edition (PC) released 2001 for DC, PS, and PC, 2002 for GBA If you love Atari arcade games, this anthology is for you. Really all I've got to say about that. The PC version includes Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout, Tempest, and Warlords. Axis & Allies (PC) released 1998 for PC, RTS version released in 2004 for PC This game captures the play of the board game set in WWII in a less complicated manner: no dice or miniatures to keep track of. My brother has an obsession with this series of games, and as such, I've played it a few times as well. There is also a RTS version that includes a reworked version of the virtual board game, released in 2004; you play missions including actual missions from the war. SimCity, SimCity 3000 (PC) released in 1989 for most platforms... updated for most as well The original SimCity is full of epicness. Who can forget scrambling to find the 'High Scores List' so the game didn't start throwing disasters at you? You could also unleash them on purpose though... Godzilla, tornadoes, earthquakes! It was originally distributed on floppy disks, but the source code is now available under a GNU license. We updated our SimCity experience with SimCity 3000 which is just like the old one, with better graphics and GUI though. Animal Crossing (GC) : City Folk (Wii) 2002 for GC, 2005 for DS, 2008 for Wii This is one of the most pointless games ever. You become a human, stranded in a town full of strange animals. Luckily, the shop owner, Tom Nook, just so happens to have houses for sale, and he'll sell one to you if you promise to work in his shop to pay it off. Of course, once you buy your tiny house, he'll offer to upgrade it, and you have to let him. So you are constantly scrambling to make money by selling junk to Nook, or running errands for the animals. It was updated for the DS as Wild World, and for the Wii as City Folk. All have some sort of Nintendo goodness within, be it NES games (the original) or Mario items obtainable from balloon presents. You can also find random Nintendo items at Redd's shop and occasionally from Nook; these include the Triforce and Master Sword. There are tons of seasonal events, and the Wii version has monthly gifts that you can get if your Wii is connected to WiiConnect24. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GC) 2004 for GC Recently, I popped this game into the Wii, started a new game, and played it for two and a half hours straight. This game is full of awesome and totally random stuff, including opportunities to play as Princess Peach and Bowser. This time, Peach has been taken by X-Nauts, and you have to battle your way past monsters and befriend creatures to get to her. Mario has a map to the Crystal Stars, and he has to find them before Bowser does; each star gives him a special power. The combat system is simple but effective, and offers you extra chances to score damage if you time it right. All in all, a great and effective platformer RPG for Mario geeks. Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC) 2002 for GC Again, I feel they got it right here. The GameCube's controller is well suited to rolling the tiny monkeys around the worlds, and the lack of any battles, just a ton of puzzles, made this fun without having to worry about dying (unless you fall off the stage of course!) I enjoy almost as much the number of minigames included. Monkey Bowling and the shoot out games are my favorite. The background music is also great, abeit potentially annoying 8-bit style and catchy tunes. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) 2001 for GC I have not yet had the opportunity to play Brawl, so I'll include Melee instead. The series is by the the best (the only?) fighting game series for Nintendo, and offers up all your favorite characters as well. A number of cool 'easter eggs' are included, with the trophies and items you can use in battle. Being able to whack Mewto with Peach's frying pan? Priceless. The sound effects and random Pokemon, and numerous other equally strange and random things make this game a must have or play. PictoBits (DSi, PiCOPiCT in UK, AU) 2009 for DSi This is the best game ever (after Tetris). It combines falling-block gameplay of Tetris with your favorite Nintendo characters and games. The iconic Excitebike and Mario characters make a number of appearances. The music is updated and more-awesomized 8-bit from the original games, and the music is unlockable so you can listen to it in Music mode. At only 500 points ($5) there's no reason not to get this if you have a DSi. Tetris Party (WiiWare) 2008 for Wii This game includes the iconic Tetris as well as versus humans and computer modes. There's a Wii Balance Board mode and a beginner mode. There are also a number of Tetriominoe-related games, such as Shadow, where you race to fill a shadow with pieces to make a picture, and Field Climber, where you drop blocks to help your guy get to the top (the goal). The music isn't as good as the original, but the antics of your Mii as your blocks get closer to the top are worth it. You can also play online. Considering it's a bit cheaper than the disc version of Tetris Party, 1200 points, and includes a lot of gameplay, it's more than worth it to be able to play Tetris on your Wii.

If your speakers have a headphone jack in them you're set. If your computer has a front audio jack (and you're using the back for speakers) you'll probably have to tweak the settings a bit (go to control panel>sound) but I know in Win7 it usually switches automatically to the front jack when you plug something in.

Actually ran a little program called Autoruns and turns out the only ones I could turn off that were of absolutely no use were Windows Messenger and some Adobe auto start up. I'll run msconfig though and see what it tells me.

It's a keeper. You can tell who doesn't play because they call them goalies. That's hockey. Lots of running, some strength conditioning will do you good. You have 10 players to run whatever way you want, usually 3-4-3 or 2-4-4 is typical. Forwards can go anywhere, if they don't have the ball and are past the other team's last line of defense [besides keeper], they are offsides. This gives defending team a free kick or goal shot, depending on the severity. This is why defenders typically play as far up as they can. Midfielders can go wherever, generally stay behind forwards, can also be called offsides for same deal as forwards. They run a lot. So do forwards. Defense can come up to midfield, generally it's a bad idea to go past, I don't think you can. Keeper can go anywhere [often they come up to take a kick] but they can't use their hands out of the box. Keeper has to wear a jersey to distinguish themselves. Depending on where you play, your refs may be very uptight and may require jerseys to be tucked in. If you wear glasses and play with them, you'll probably need a strap for them. You might have to wear headgear, and your coach will probably expect you to head the ball when possible. Generally, if one team is 8 up, it's mercy. Yellow cards are warnings, red cards chuck you out. Coaches can be carded too. Generally elbowing is a big one. Free throws: You must blatantly drag your feet; both must be on the ground when you throw it in. Your hands must go all the way behind your head when you throw it in as well. Corner kicks; you can put the ball anywhere in the semi-circle you want and kick it. When you slide tackle, you've got to hit the ball or completely miss the kid and the ball or you'll be carded.

I don't feel like trying a new browser when I already have one I like; I don't really have the option [normally] to use any other one than FF or IE; and for some reason I feel anti-Google 'web browser' even though I'm pro-Google Docs, Mail, Blogger, Translator, and Search (plus YouTube). So it's not any particular reason, more like I don't want to venture into those waters.

I figure you all have had to memorize something for school or whatever at some point. So what's the best way you've figured out how to do it? I have two weeks to finish memorizing 'To be or not to be' and I've got the first six-seven lines or so. :P So instead of just memorizing I'm posting on TIF. :roll: Anyway any random advice/suggestions you'd have would be useful. To be or not to be, that is the question Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing, end them. To sleep: to die; No more. And by a [something I don't remember; sleep?] to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To sleep; to die [?] something something tsometihieng. I have the soliloquy written in five line stanzas on notecards in my planner. I stare at them randomly during class and whatnot. There is probably a way better/more effective way.

I just read the past four pages and they made me happy. :P I shall now attempt to write a paper about 1984. And then fail at online German with Blackboard.

If you've got some time, please watch this video. It's for World Diabetes Day, November 14th. For every view before the 14th, Roche Diagnostics will donate money to provide insulin to kids with diabetes in poor countries. Of course, if you have diabetes, you should participate in the BiG Blue Test on the 14th too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkLHgK94Z0E