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Data

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Posts posted by Data

  1. Some fool brought exotic wild boar into Texas in the early 90's and since then they have migrated to western Canada.  They adapt well to the harsh environments in Saskatchewan and bread two litters of 6 per year.  They destroy crops, harass livestock and kill domestic animals.  The population of wild boar has gone from 0 to 100's of thousands in 15 years.

    I've heard stories of these pigs chasing dogs and cats all the way to the house and then smashing the door in and goring the inhabitants.  I enjoy watching pest control in the United States hunt these pigs.  The team is usually just one or two people who hunt at night with night vision glasses with the aid of 5 or 6 dogs.  The dogs are good at sniffing out the pig but even against 5 mean mutts, the pig is an unstoppable force, especially if it has a litter, sometimes fatally wounding a dog or two.  It's up to the bounty hunter to get in there and use lethal force.

  2. I understand completely.  I feel I've spent too much of my time playing videogames not in my childhood but in adulthood.  I probably wont touch another game until;

    1 - I get the urge to play Super Mario World

    2 - My Mamecade is operational

    3 - Diablo 4 is released in 2022

    4 - Forza Horizon improves the world graphics to the level of the cars

     

    Keep you're original controllers.  You can plug them into adapters and it feels like the real thing if you ignore that the console has been replaced by computer software.

  3. I got interested in building myself a computer desk this year and made a blueprint.  I'll show you what it should look like wrapped in arborite with black edging.

    The bottom drawer fits a bankers box which contains all my important papers.  The shelf underneath can hold power bar and router as well as being a place to rest my feet.

    The depth is 31" and width is 5'.  This will take 3 sheets of 1" MDF.  After I put 3/4" angle iron across the edge, the top will support 600 pounds temporarily.

    I may hide a computer in the drawer.

    3LOrSqZ.jpg

  4. It sounds like a lucrative field to get into.  It's like a blend of Carpentry, Computer know how and hooking up you're hi-fi.  I don't have much need for automation although I do use Teamviewer to log in to my Windows computer at home from my cellular data at work.  I sometimes let a song with a lot of bass play with all speakers faded out except the sub.  People look out on the street cause they think it's a car trunk.:)

  5. Youtube was great at first.  Everyone was uploading music, television and movie clips and all kinds of jack ass videos.  Then the music industry and MPAA got tired of giving take down requests for millions of videos going up a week.  Youtube was forced by the Supreme court to prevent a list of copyrighted sound from every being uploaded.  They did this with an algorithm which was later used by music ID apps in 2008. 

    When youtube first came out, the full video would load into the computer's ram so you could disable the internet after it was loaded in you're web browser and still be able to play it back.  This helped at a time when download speed was too slow for even 100 Mb video and the video would have to load every 10 seconds.

    Then after smartphones became popular, I believe youtube changed it so only a minute would download at a time and you would actually have to be watching the video for it to continue downloading.  I believe they said this was to conserve data limits.

    I liked it when you could have more than one tab open on you're web browser, each with a different music video.  Then you can take you're device away from the internet source and play back the stuff while you're away. 

  6. Let's look at you're layout as an enclosure for now.  The top of you're desk is 55 - 1/8" x 25 - 5/8"

    Take a piece of 1/4" MDF and cut it to dimension.  I lay out the computer parts one way.

    The scale is inches.

    5ny8QPC.png

     

    And the profile looking from the back would be something like this.  1/4" MDF and 1/4" glass.

    x7lcvoL.png

    Do you need a graphics card?

    • Like 1
  7. On 2/3/2017 at 6:23 PM, E-Day said:

    I never thought of modifying my current desk. The top it's pretty thick and I would consider that wasted space. I like the idea of having glass on top. Maybe not the entire desktop, but at least part of it so I can see the computron inside.

    The top is 7/8 Inch.  To stay structurally strong the platform must rest on top the sides so all the mass is transferred to the floor.  It's the strongest and simplest method to construct something like this.

    I was thinking you could use the desk you got rather than scrap it. 

    p96BY9p.png

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    Either live with that 7/8 inch top or completely engineer a custom one.  The biggest complaint with the Lian Li DK-02 is the flimsy drawer.

    I personally hate how the keyboard sits.

    JjPeq63.png

    It could be possible to use dowels and glue to strap together the sides and drawers but you're going to need to build up a brace to support the drawer on top.

     

  8. On 2/3/2017 at 11:49 AM, Areala said:

    "The Shield" on the other hand is everything "The Wire" wishes it could have been: a strong police drama set in a real-world location with three-dimensional main characters, some of whom are assholes, some of whom are good people, and all of them trying to do an impossible and thankless job.

    The biggest contrast, for me, is in the main character. "The Wire" gives us Jimmy McNulty, a womanizing Alpha-male jerk of a detective who doesn't give a shit about his family. It tells the audience, "He's an asshole. You're going to hate him." And so we do. "The Shield" on the other hand gives us Vic Mackey, a womanizing Alpha-male jerk of a detective who would give up everything and do anything to protect his family. It tells the audience, "He's an asshole. You're going to love him." And so we do. When McNulty is an asshole (which happens frequently), we groan. That's ordinary writing. When Mackey is an asshole (which happens frequently), we cheer. That's extraordinary writing. That's "The Shield" in a nutshell: seven seasons of extraordinary writing culminating in one of the best final seasons and show-ending finales of all time. I'd give anything to be able to experience it all over again. :)

    *huggles*
    Areala

    I never thought to compare the two shows because they are so completely different.  The Shield is about a police force that covers a new case every week with some recurring roles.  The star of the Shield Michael Chiklis has all the charisma of a wet towel.  It was like the writers of The Shield watched CSI Las Vegas and then decided to re-write their own series using different actors but instead of leaving in the good parts like realism, forensics, a fantastic cast and even better stories, they cut all that out.  It really looks like The Shield was written from the perspective of an imbecilic 20 year old Hollywood school liberal arts major cinematography who shot the entire series on his dad's handycam. 

    You got bored with The Wire but I am truly surprised that FX didn't cancel this show after it's second failed season.

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    • Like 1
  9. In 1987 Director Paul Verhoeven finished the movie Robocop which received an X Rating by MPAA

    He had to cut the scene with Ed 209 somewhat

    The scene where Murphy gets wrecked by Clarence's gang has some gore cut

    2 other smaller scenes were edited to receive an R rating

     

    By 1990, and after Paul Verhoeven went through hell on Robocop, he made sure to use a lot of angles to shoot the violent aspects of Total Recall and when the MPAA would object to something, he would change the angle used rather than cut and for the most part, it worked.

    The goriest version with an official release was the NC-17 version but there was rumors of an X rated screener version which had Benny, Helm and Richter's death scenes extended.

    There was also more of Quaid trampling bodies and using them as a shield in the airport as well as the scientists getting brutalized more after the failed attempt at an implant.

  10. Today, IMDB decided it would be ending it's message boards on February 20th 2017.

    This is part of the message on their site right now.

    IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

    rO3Mdqy.png

    Point 1  How does removing the best feature enhance the customer experience?

    Point 2 I agree that much of what you find on IMDB message boards in the last few years are not "positive" but there was also a wealth of useful criticism.  

    Point 3 Not sure what they mean by basing the decision on data and traffic.  This is the best feature of IMDB.  It is unlike any forum.  Every Television show, Movie and performer has a listing on IMDB and for each listing, there was a message board.  This is a bad excuse for removing the most useful form of opinions sharing about media on the internet.

  11. There are some television shows and movies I enjoyed in a way that I could only wish I never seen it before.  That way I could watch it again for the fist time. 

    One such television shows was The Wire witch aired on HBO between 2002 - 2008.  The entire series has about 62 hours shared between 5 seasons.  The series is loosely based on a true story about the heroin problem in Baltimore Maryland, the City Police, the schools and families who live in the middle of it and the politics that are interwoven throughout everything.

    Each season has something unique to offer as the characters develop and the story unfolds.

    Season 1  The story focuses on corner drug dealers in an overwhelmingly African American community and the daily grind routine of trying to stay one step ahead of the police.

    Season 2 The focus changes from the African American gang to the downfall of the Maryland Blue Collar worker and the everyday working man in America along with their own demons.  This season is the most under appreciated when compared to the rest of the series but it holds better than anything else on television.

    Season 3 Back on the street of Baltimore.  This season has a lot of politics between territorial gangs, police, the mayor and the state.

    Season 4 Mostly revolving around one school in Baltimore which focuses on the social problems in the community and at home.  The kids struggle to survive in school and at home with drug dealers on the corner parents with substance abuse problems.

    Season 5 This season was the downfall of an empire and the rise of a new generation of drug gangs.  By this point the viewer feels emotional attachment to the characters despite the fact that we should know this entire situation is such an obvious problem in their community.  The worst part of this season is saying goodbye to many characters.

    Here are some characters which contributed a great deal to this epic story.

    Snoop

    Brother Mouzone

    Omar Little

     

    What are you're "special" shows?

    • Like 1
  12. You have to decide on whether you want a glass top.  I wouldn't use a glasstop or those cheap laminate desks you buy at Ikea, Walmart, Staples Office Depot and any where else not made in Canada.  My arms sticks to cheap desks and I get a rash and glass is even worse.  You could always put a microban deskpad over top like I do but it defeats the point of having glass I think.

    If you want to re-purpose that desk then leave it together.  Build three walls along the edge of it and screw in some Knape and Vogt drawer slides.  Get the longest ones available.  18 - 24 Inches.   Cut a sheet of MDF that lays on the draw slides and suspends over the top of the old desk.

    I would try a professionally made counter top to be the table top.  For what it is worth, a counter store is unbeatable in price and the edges are nicely beveled and will not peel like a box store special.  You get the table ready and the drawer sliding and then take the dimensions to the store.  They are very good at this and it is easy to just screw the top on. 

    You need to draw on paper how high these wall need to be, so it clears all the computer parts as well as the canopy.

    Buy some MDF shelving and cut the pieces you need for the walls and other pieces.

     

    These Knape and Vogt drawer slides support 100 pounds and have long life bearing.  About 50 bucks but nothing is better.

    9OhrMNM.png

    Prebuilt Home depot counter that could work but get it professionaly made, that way you can select the patern and bevels and keep a perfect fit

    mtkxytg.png

    Eday's desk

    4SQWdVR.png

    Microban Deskpad

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  13. As you may know Star Wars Episode 8 The Last Jedi will be in theaters on December 15 2017.

    I'm going to speculate on what is to come in this next installment of the franchise.  There will be spoilers and this is an open discussion using what I know so far.

    The title "The Last Jedi" kind of suggests that Jedi are endangered.  It doesn't tell me if Jedi is plural or singular.

    When Rey battled Rylo in episode 7, Rylo was still in training to become a dark Jedi.  We find out that Rylo is Han and Leia's son but we arn't told much about Rey.  It seems pretty obvious that Rey is Luke's daughter because of her natural strength with the force and also because of some traits I noticed.
    I think Luke trained Rylo but for some reason Rylo turned heal and did some evil stuff.  Luke then goes into hiding like Yoda once did.

     

    I think Luke is going to train his daughter Rey in episode 8 and then Rey will have another encounter with Rylo or possibly someone darker.  Like all Jedi, one must lose a hand or a limb at some point in battle and just because our protagonist is a girl doesn't mean she should get away with being a Mary Sue.

     

    Luke will die in episode 9 like Kenobi did and then his Force Ghost will Join Han, Leia and the rest of the cast in the final act.





    Anakin lost a hand to a Sith and then later he lost both legs and an arm to Kenobi.



    TGgifuv.png

    The emporer saves Anakin's mangled and burned wreck and is reborn as the half machine Darth Vader.
    Vader seeks revenge on Kenobi and amputates his torso from his stumps.
    Later, Luke gets his hand cut off from Vader but manages to survive.



    t3oxrOO.png

    In Jedi Returns, Luke retaliates by amputating Vader's hand.  In Episode 7 Rey manages to survive her encounter with Rylo but I think she is going to face real injury in episode 8.  The question is, what is she going to have amputated?

     

    8Cnxg9i.png

  14. Seriously though, I don't think he was being aggressive or anything like that. And it is a fair question. Most sites use PDF files and you can get freeware tools to create a PDF (even from a CBR/CBZ/zip file etc using ComicRack for example) so this question has popped up here in the past.

     

    The worse part about this thread isn't the debate on what format is best but rather that we wasted so much time on a troll.

     

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  15. I do not understand teh fascination with the .cbr format if you could use .pdf instead. It is the better choice in all regards and used by almost all other people aiming to preserve old magazines.

     

    I think what everyone who works hard to preserve these magazines think you are ungrateful and entitled.  Nobody likes this by the way in case you didn't know but I stand behind my previous evaluation of the formats.

  16. I only began going to the Arcade around 1989-1990 and I remember playing Wrestlefest by Technos Japan with some gents.  We formed an alliance to become champions of the World Wrestling Federation.  I chose Hulk Hogan and he chose Ultimate Warrior and we almost succeeded in our goal.  On the last match, Warrior was taking a beating from Animal of Legion of Doom and I knew he was in trouble.  He had the opportunity to make the tag to me but his ego got in the way of the match.  I absolved all association with the Ultimate Warrior and I don't care what the fans think.  Wrestling is no place for an ego. <_<

     

    Anyway, I have no footage of me playing and I remember Technos did a good job making this game fun to play so I'll link a youtube in case anyone is curious.

     

  17. Agreed, that's exactly what I was saying.  I was just pointing out how much the PS2's initial success had very little to do with gaming.  The Dreamcast had perhaps the best launch game lineup in history, while the PS2, arriving over a year later, had very little worth playing at launch.  But the PS2 could play DVDs, and the Dreamcast (and later Gamecube) could not.  Check and mate.

     

    This is so true.  Don't forget that O.G. Xbox also succeeded gen 5 consoles but the Xbox was capable of HD native rendering  720 and 1080.  So from that perspective, Xbox is the clear winner. 

  18. Bought 1 from GameStop, got the multicolored controllers. I love Nintendo and everything, but wow what a weak lineup. If 1-2 Switch is not on par with Wii Sports, I am not sure we can make it until December for the new Mario game.

     

    Just to update on Nintendo's virtual console.  Reggie Fils-Aime of Nintendo of America has announced that starting with the Switch, games bought on your Nintendo account will have the capability of being tied to the account.

     

    This means nothing of course besides Nintendo has figured out what Sony and MS were doing 10 years ago and I would wager that Nintendo Japan is going to ruin the idea of reusing what customers already paid for but the fact that they are talking about improving Nintendo accounts may be welcome news.

     

    The launch is terrible but depending on what you like there will be a few games in between.

    1,2 Switch for $50 doesn't look like something that will last more than 15 minutes.

    Arms for $60 looks like a gimmick that shows off motion controls like wii sports did.

    RPG people may try Disgaea 5 complete for $90 in April - May

    Splatoon 2 for $70 is what the cool kids will play this summer.

     

    I found a list on IGN which outlines some of the year.  http://ca.ign.com/wikis/nintendo-switch/Nintendo_Switch_Games

     

    Winter Holiday 2017 is important for the Switch.  Mario Odyssey for Christmas will be a spendy but fun gift for a Nintendo fan.

  19. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Really no new tracks? Common.......throw us a bone! At this point I would rather have Mario Kart Wii Deluxe with upgraded graphics and throw in Double Dash as a downloadable option to use with the motion controls!

     

    I believe Nintendo is allowing you to download all the virtual games again for a fee of course.  Nintendo is gouging more than usual right now.

     

    Over the holidays many stores sold out of 3DS XL and it costs as much as the Switch.

    Nintendo doesn't like lowering hardware costs as history shows.

     

    luJtGh8.png

     

    The 3DS has many great time consuming games available as well as a mature home brew community.  It will be a long time before I hand this kind of coin for the Switch.

  20. Nintendo should think of a way to use smartphones to generate revenue by interacting with their toy and card line.  They could also sell skins for smartphones to decorate them with Toadstool and what not.

     

    Smartphones have gotten mature enough that people I think will soon realize that a smartphone is used for phone calls and other stuff you're used to.  If you want a good experience with videogames, then you will need to carry the extra device.

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