Messages

And a nice price as well:
"8 used & new from $6.66 "

Just put a pillow on your chair for a couple days.. it'll heal over time.  

So you're still getting errors dealing with that?  If not, ignore next paragraph:

1) Make sure it's not in the Startup folder.  2) Check your system startup files by checking Accessories/System Tools/System Information, go to startup programs and uncheck any reference to it.  3) run Regedit.exe and run a search for winexec.  There are some legitimate programs named Winexec but 99% of the time there will be no reference to this in a Windows registry that's supposed to be there.

As far as Kazaa-lite goes, it still uses the same registry values.  It has sharing disabled by default but you can edit the options to make sure it's still disabled.  The trojan also sets it to auto-connect.  Whether or not you can check this in the options, run Regedit and search for Kazaa.  This should turn up the applicable entries, such as disablesharing=0 (Should be 1 to disable).  

I don't know if I've thrown a bunch of crap at you that you already know but it's difficult to bug-hunt remotely.  

Okay, I thought Bruised was being a little dumb for awhile there but that last post made me think that (at least subliminally) she knew what she was doing.  Pretty frickin' funny.

[Edit: That anagram technology is amazing!  Did you know that an anagram of my nick is Yak  Spit?]

It looks like you've done some research with it.  If you've already removed it from the system and any references to it in the registry and run a virus-scan.  Theories as to why your IE might be running slow: Are you running Kazaa? The trojan modifies several of the kazaa parameters.  You could double-check your Kazaa settings and make sure you're not set up as a massively-sharing supernode.  It also disables the virus filtering.  If you don't have Kazaa running and/or IE is still slow then you might try restoring default settings in the options menu or (preferably) restoring your OS drive from a backup (either a backup or an XP restore point).  Other than that, all I know is that the trojan uses certain ports for transmission so you might try using the connection wizard to set your connection up again.  This may or may not help.  I'll search the net and if I find anything applicable, I'll add it.

On another note, just browsed SomethingAwful's Weekend Web.  

Some people are under the impression that the so-called Information Age would make people better educated and more intelligent.  Apparently, it merely allows more stupid people to be heard.  I found it amusing and depressing all at once.

80's music gets played on some Classic stations.  There's one that's specifically, "Classic tunes from the 60's, 70's & 80's!"  Either way..  I wasn't big into the 80's but every once in awhile I hear a tune and just have to smile because of the memories it brings back.  As far as stuff I've got in my collection that I still put on now and then:

Depeche Mode
The Cure
Sex Pistols
The Clash (but only moderate tolerance for it  )
The Ramones

There are probably a couple others..  I've heard so much insipid crap on the radio recently that I'm tempted to purchase a bunch of stuff from 80-90.  [edit: Can't help but notice that most 80's lovers that posted were barely alive during that decade, must be some retro-love thing]

One wonders at this point, given the quote from the heading, "Serious and silly threads are fine, stupid threads are not :p" what differentiates silly from stupid?

There are several breeds of American.  One of them is the Patridiot.  The Patridiot supports his government, no matter what (They're the types who'll argue that the Vietnam war was a good thing).  They also will blindly side with whichever opinion is given the most support in the media.  After all, if everyone else thinks so, how can it be wrong?  Sadly, I could think of at least a dozen people I know (here in the US) that would boycott or protest these stamps at the say-so of the imbecilic author.  

On the subject of the "Flag-fad" I posted a message some time ago.  My neighbors across the street have a 6-foot x 4-foot inflatable, internally lit American flag.  

Agreed, the prejudice (especially recently) against Islam is only one step removed from racism.  It is not a hatred based upon something someone is but something they choose to do.  Unfortunately, quite a bit of anti-semitic feelings get bandied about as well (For those that don't know, Anti-semitism doesn't only refer to the Jewish).  Does anyone mind if I quote them? I've found the author's address and wouldn't mind some nice quote to back up my blathering nonsense.  

I think to fix the first one up, you just need an opacity mask.  The only big prob with it is that there's the sudden line between the moss & tile.  If there's meant to be a step, then that works... you'd just have to drop/raise one or the other or use a significant displacement map.  Otherwise, you ought to be able to change the material properties to become increasingly transparent towards the edges.  Scotch is probably a good source on this one.

Sorry   But that's kind of my point.  Most people here know better but I'd be amazed if a very high number of Americans didn't go for this shite.  Hell, My ex-in-law (Great phrase) forwarded it to me as a "positive" thing.

I actually have zero problem with spam at most of my e-mail addresses.. I just have to be careful who I give 'em to.  

That Opt-out law was/is supposed to force Spammers & telemarketers to call or e-mail you only if you did business with them in the past or signed up for a certain service.  The law's only been written half-assed by people who know nothing about the problem.   The law was meant to help the average person avoid the vast majority of spam but commercialism has allowed too many businesses to have input into the bill.  

However, if the spam problem gets worse to the point that I can't start an e-mail account without having 20-30 messages in the first week from spammers, I'll just set up a simple filter.  "If Message [Does Not] Contain(s) "myjackass" then send to [trash] and [permanently delete]."  Give my friends/family that phrase to put in the subject and problem solved!  

The following is an e-mail I received (my ex-in-law : was nice enough to chain-letter me with this).  I am not the author and it does not contain my opinion.
"DON'T BUY IT [referring to new US Postage Stamp]
Phil: How ironic is this??!!  They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?  

USPS New Stamp


This one is impossible to believe.  Scroll down for the text.
If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm
Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World
Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine
barracks in Lebanon!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military
barracks in Saudi Arabia!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American
Embassies in Africa!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were
lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the
EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class
holiday postage stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp
when purchasing your stamps at the post office.    
To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those
AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know.  "  

Oh, yeah.  Crap like this makes me really proud to be American.  Thankfully, not all of the populous is this ignorant.  
The following points are me ranting about the stupidity of this mass e-mail:
1) Irony?  No, it's not, sorry.
2) Don't believe in Christ? Nope, wrong again.  Most muslim sects believe in Christ and many even believe he was a great prophet and the forerunner to Muhammad.  
3) Getting their own Christmas stamp? A) It's for the holiday "Eid" you bloody fool, not Christmas B) There have been Christmas stamps for decades, many of which actually have to do with the birth of Christ.  I have received countless letters that have Christian emblems, statements, etc. on them.  It's not like they're honoring a Muslim holiday and not yours.  Hell, there have been Chanukah stamps for some time.
4) Remember what now?  Damning all Muslims for things done by certain sects would be like damning all of Christianity for the Crusades, Witch-Hunts & Inquisition.   Let every person (or at least every group under the same paster/priest) be responsible for their own actions.

Sorry for the long post, just thought some of you might be interested.  For those who might misinterpret my words (usually by not reading the whole damned post) - I am not saying anything anti-Christian or Anti-semitic by the above.  What I am saying is that this person is giving a bad name to Muslims, Christians, Americans & Patriotic Americans and encouraging the spread of idiocy.  If I could trace the e-mail back (which I will try) and find the he lives in the area, I'm going to corner him and bitch at him a bit.  

I have three reasons for posting 1) to correct a bit of ignorance 2) to get your guys' take on this and 3) to see about feedback I can send back to the author.  

Later.. if the thread bores anyone, just let it sink into oblivion.

Simple or complex, I think it's all about cleanliness.  Eric's got experience in making a composition, not just a picture.  He's kept uniformity throughout.  If yours was done keeping the same style throughout, it would be a bit improved.  The sky's nice (in fact, I prefer your sky in theory) but the shades tend to make it look like a bumpy 2-dimensional surface.  It makes me envision the entire scene set against a backdrop of a large planet.  I think, perhaps, if the dark spots were lighter shades instead of darker, it might make more of an atmospheric look.  The general shading of the background (curved with a spherical appearance) lends to the solid-object illusion.  

However, if you make the drawing entirely in your own style then I couldn't really say which is better.  It's all a matter of preference and taste.  I can't exactly say that Van Gogh is superior to Monet - just which style I prefer.

I vote berzerkertails, I like the palette & style.  I'm really into Kaaz's entry but it strikes me as more of a sunset-forest than a gloomy one.  Either way, great work everyone!

Actually, my dad had an interesting suggestion.  He suggested that our ISPs charge us 1 cent for every e-mail sent.  It would only work if we used the ISP mail-account, of course.  Hotmail and other webmail hosts could do something similar.  It would suck to have to pay anything for what's supposed to be free but it would have a couple benefits.
1) No spammer would want to spend as much $$ as it would cost to send 20,000 (or many more) e-mails a month.  
2) When applied to web-based e-mail, it would make hotmail/yahoo/etc. compete to provide decent e-mail service.  After all, how many sign-ups would hotmail get if it were a pay-service (even if a small amount)

Major drawbacks? If you e-mail like a mofo it would cost you a little bit extra each month.  Also, those without credit-card access would have difficulty gaining access to web-mail.  In my opinion, the gains would far outweigh the drawbacks.  The largest difficulty with this is getting everyone to comply.  I mean, what good would it do if everyone had to pay except spammers using Juno?  

On another note, at least e-mail spam is mainly just irritating.  In my area (I don't know about the rest of the US or overseas) cellphone spam is becoming increasingly common.  Wait a minute? They're going to call me, use up my minutes, to leave a message or pitch some product at me when I never asked for them to in the first place?  And they're allowed to?  Jeez..  

I migrate e-mail addys to avoid spam.  I usually don't get any until some well-meaning friend/relative signs me up for some free crap.  Among the boxes I still check, I delete about 75 spam messages a day.  Another 230-ish are filtered out.  Anyway, the amazing part of your post is that nobody in the audience removed their footwear in order to pummel the bitch with it.  

I think this is another example of the world vs. technology.  It's not pretty.  Everyone in this forum is an exception.  Most of the rest of the populous jumps on the latest hardware/gadget/software/on-line fad bandwagon and considers themselves hi-tech when they're actually just treading water, knowledge-wise.

I think it's going great!  It's got nice form, features & coloring.  After awhile, I'm sure you'll refine your technique so that something like this is done in 15 minutes instead of a couple hours.  It seems obvious from the picture that you're adjusting it as you go along and treating it quite a bit like a real painting.  I'd say just keep going the way you have been and you'll get this thing looking sweet.  

As for advice/critiques: 1) If you aren't, try and paint using a drawing or photo for reference.  While you're getting used to the technique, it can help keep things properly proportioned.  This brings me to 2) From the features visible, it looks like a head-on picture.  If it is, then it'll be difficult to keep proportion and depth and still have it not turn out flat-looking.  I don't know exactly what you have in mind but it looks like the face's right ear will be a little too visible if the head is, in fact, at an angle.  I hope you update as you go, I'd love to see how this turns out.

A very happy birthday to you.  I'd attempt saying it in Russian except that I don't remember how to say "Happy" or "Birthday" anymore.  

Damn straight!  I've probably played SQ3 through a dozen times.  It's nice to see someone re-working the graphics but keeping the same style.  

BTW, Evil..  when did you get good?    Your edit was insightful and subtle.  I do like the look of it better.. the nose is still a problem.   Other than that, I think the pic overall looks nice.  As for the EKG, it could be a pseudo-fisheye type view so it would be in keeping with a lens distortion.  Or, assuming it's got an overall trapezoidal shape then it's not too far off.  A quick-fix suggestion.. you could mirror the heart-monitor onto the same surface.  That way you don't have to do re-drawing and I think it might fix the slightly quirky perspective.