Skeptical

I ran 2 hours of passing and bumping lines in volleyball, then went back to getting internet access when using Ubuntu and working on a new paradigm for employing Drake's equation to measure it's relative correctness.

My Dad, who has had three dell laptops in the price range of 50-800 bucks in the past 5 years, would say avoid Dell AT ALL COSTS. The hinges went, the batteries developed problems, and they all failed as soon as the warranty ran out. Literally, all 3. Alienware is cool, but way overpowered for normal use, and if you're a speed freak, either learn how to assemble your own computer, or find someone else's custom build that they'd be willing to sell. AW is overpriced, but good quality: think of Whole Foods. I'm fairly happy with my HP laptop, and I've had good experiences with Toshiba in the past, so I'm fairly neutral about those brands. HP has a build your own system on their website that I used (wasn't as interested in computers when I purchased.) EDIT: also, if you wanted to consider upgrading your laptop it likely wouldn't be too hard: for a few hundred bucks, you can get an external hardrive for movies and such, more memory, clean it out, and overclock the crap out of it if it's a mid/low range processor. Graphics cards are cheap too. Remember to (preferably) donate, or even sell your old computer as well.

I really don't like the first one: for some reasons, it reminds me of Twilight. And I agree with Mrmegakirby: don't use "aint" unless you're truly trying to capture street dialogue, or surprise someone with the sudden departure from standard literary technique.

You don't need to worry about describing each and every detail. Your world will progress over time, in other stories (if you plan on making others.) Just guide the reader through the world narrowly. Only introduce aspects of technology and society which are relevant to the story. This way, you'll have more freedom if you want to continue writing stories in this particular setting. Yea, I find that it's important for me to remember that as well: I go into significant detail, but if I don't rein myself in, it turns from a voyage of discovery, fascination and careful design into a chore and painful mental exercise.

Me too haha! Third that.

I've got to say that this blog is impressively massive. Fun to read through, too.

The movie was an embarrassment. Paolini does borrow a lot from LOTR, and I mean a lot, but all fantasy writers owe him a massive debt, and he pays his in a respectful and well-crafted manner.

I've never met anyone who was above-median intelligence and didn't read books.

I would assume that they would be vastly overpriced: 50-100k minimum, maybe more, just because skills like construction are so slow, expensive and difficult to train at low levels.

Television is essentially useless. For the most part, it is just a form of hollow entertainment, especially reality T.V. shows. I will watch "educational" shows (ex, Man vs. Wild, Mythbusters, almost anything on the History Channel) and The Big Bang Theory. Everything else I just am bored by, except for the occasional episode of cartoon-comedy with friends (ex, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park.) Really it just comes down to keeping everything in moderation.

Nothing is better than Sony Vegas. As has been said, if you're starting off, try out Windows Movie Maker for a bit.

Get these programs for protection and detection: malwarebytes (run weekly) avast anti-virus (run a deep scan once a month or so) Spybot search & destroy (run at least once a week) Run serious scans before moving any files from an old computer, and be VERY careful with USB's: the Recycler virus moves around that way, and it's a B****. Use firefox, and get Zonealarm. If you REALLY want to to be safe switch to using Ubuntu, or some other Linux OS. Windows updates are not harmful, they just aren't particularly useful.

I would really try the Ubuntu forums... I've got the same setup as you, and it's been invaluable while muddling through setting up Ubuntu. The real killer for it though, is setting up wireless internet. Microsoft did one thing correctly, I guess.

I prefer the Drag Plate slightly for it's stats, but moreso for it's look.

From your stats, it looks as though the only resource gathering skill you've trained is mining, which can be easily turned into a moderate source of profit. Perhaps if you raised your RC level, you could make runes? Herb farming is also a great way to make cash, and I see you've already trained slayer. IMO, inflation is essentially unavoidable: unless alchemy is removed, or players stop becoming higher level and demanding more and more every year, it's just inevitable.

Uhh, hate to say it but consuming "6L of cola a day" might be considered an environmental factor. He's referring to the fact that when his blood sugar was really high prior to diagnosis, he was extremely thirsty; not that he normally drank 6L of cola a day. Doesn't sound like that. Care to clarify?

....which happen to be some of the most boring/pointless tasks in the game, but tasks which F2P are quite happy to have as they provide a source of income to F2P worlds.

I've worn a dragons skirt before (I always called it a kilt though :thumbsup:) Players set prices, Jagex has nothing to do with it, although I do think that they should increase the drop rate of platelegs to even out the price, because of the abundance of male characters in the game.

No, then the real world is brought into the game: ex, wealthy kids being able to buy their way into high levels.

Often less, although I find it becomes boring after doing it for a few days.

Clay harpoons seem like a waste to me, but that's just IMO.

Lol, funny pics.

Cool idea, but I think you need to flesh it out. - Maybe the size of the loan you can get is related to how much xp/how many QP you have? - What about down payments? Most importantly, what will happen if you don't pay back your loans?

Yea, I've thought that would be a good idea for a while, just to make that at the very least, you could get a more enjoyable slayer task.

Both great ideas, although I doubt either will be implemented.