masteff

Yes, like Twilight, this began as a "young adult" fiction series. Only reason I'd heard of it before the first tv commercial was that a month earlier, Amazon had "suggested" the book to me. From all I've heard and read, it's supposed to be a solid movie and doesn't require having read the book to understand it all. The web has some discussion on how similar or different it is from previous works like The Running Man and Battle Royale. Most people who aren't just being jerks seem to agree that it's a fresh interpretation. But then you also have to consider the next two books in the trilogy which, from what little I understand of it, takes the story well beyond Running Man or Battle Royale.

I will admit that my Hilton hotel points credit card is a double edged sword. We've managed roughly two weeks worth of free stays BUT we're very tied to that specific hotel chain. And it only works because my friend is a flight attendant and we really like to travel.

I'm with Knuckles on both of these items. I quit worrying about payment deadlines by going as automatic as I possibly could. I now take 6 to 12 months to use a book of 20 checks. And I pay a huge majority of things by credit card, but, and this is the big thing, I treat it mostly like a debit card, meaning I pay it off in full on the due date (via an autopayment feature at my card company, of course). Two reasons I like activity on my credit card account: 1) Points!! On my hotel reward credit card, over the past few years, I have earned over two weeks in free stays. On my other point card, which is strictly my backup card and gets very little activity, I get a choice of prizes and very soon I will be choosing a new digital camera. I will admit I haven't closely compared my 2nd points card against a "cash rewards" card to see which would be better for me. 2) A history of responsible useage is good for your credit rating. Last time I checked, my credit score was 806 (out of a possible 850). According to various articles about credit scores, one key is not going over 50% of your credit line too often; I'll typically be around 10-20%. Note: I am perhaps more disciplined about money than most... I have a spreadsheet that is 1/2 checkbook register and 1/2 budget. I can tell you what I expect my bank balance to be on any day of the year, now thru New Years Eve.

I got mad a few weeks ago at the ATM inside the convenience store. A woman was rudely standing where she could see the screen and when I got an error screen she then tried to tell me what I was doing wrong. I often want to tell people to not "shoulder surf" and very often use my body or hand to block the key pad. Heck, Gogo, it should have been you giving the other person a nasty glare, like "quit trying to steal my info", not the other way around!!

I check the prices every year in the pre-Christmas sales and am always amazed because it seems each year I can get double the size for the same price as the year before.

Wow, I've been gone from FarmClone too long it seems if they now have dragons ("New, improved! More dragons in every bite!") From one of my favorite spam-fest threads at SIF... http://forum.sacred2.com/showthread.php?p=426756#post426756 Although I'm disappointed by my memory because I'd have sworn that was a Cider_Steve post... oh well. Still a classic.

I've been using them for years. Couldn't go a week w/out it! I use Microsoft Synctoy 2.1 to keep the files current between my thumb and my pc. I keep one designated folder inside of "my documents" to manage the files I want on my thumbdrive. When I run Synctoy, it does just what you'd think, copies changes from each place to the other; you can make choices of which version to keep if you inadvertantly have changes in both. The best thing about this setup is that my thumbdrive can die and it won't damage me too badly (at most I lose a few days since my last sync). My current drive of preference is the Lexar "Twist Turn". I like its built in cover which protects it from the various jumble in my pocket (coins, car keys, swiss army knife, etc).

And yet people like us make fun of people who insist on buying "new" houses. (Of course I totally don't understand buying new if you didn't design it yourself! Why buy a spec house? Not to mention that after watching "Holmes on Homes", I realize what idiots too many builders are.) And I always have to count my blessings when I read what Chattius writes about his house in Germany. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, 100 years is an old house. But compared to Chattius', 100 years is new!

Possible good news: a guy I know does commercial refrigeration, he says it may be the relay, which is a $25 part. The 4" elevation is my worst pain. How do you pick up a 200 or more pound appliance and slide it in/out of a closely built box without damage? I may build a small platform to roll the fridge onto. Only about $30 in lumber (plywood and 2x4s). You can see in this pic what the elevation looks like. And I put a red box to show where previous owner damaged it, which is why I'm so worried on how to get it out. Other good news is that after looking at nearly every manufacturer's website, I found Frigidaire brand has an 18.2 cubic foot fridge that will fit my space. And best yet, it's not very expensive. So if the $25 relay doesn't work, then I can get buy that one from Sears. http://www.frigidaire.com/products/kitchen/refrigerators/fftr1817lw Robb - yes, I looked at options with the cabinets. Previous owner was an interior decorator and added the box to existing kitchen layout. So wouldn't be too hard to undo it. I can actually see the same backsplash tile behind the fridge so they just built over it. But I see my kitchen as a dangerous money pit... counter tops, ugly pink backsplash tile, drawers, a new stove... where do you stop once you start? Chattius - Refrigerator really means cooling, but we often use the word to mean a combination cooling/freezing unit. - My grandparents had a root cellar under their house. Great for storing extra food supplies. I remember being sent to the cellar for vegetables. And I remember helping feed the earth worms! Several years, my grandfather raised earthworms in the cellar to sell as fishing bait!

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations go to the Arm & Hammer Home for Wayward Vegetables, striving since 1893 to prove that not all vegetables must go bad. When will people realize that not every tomato is rotten to the core?!? But seriously... the problem is that my refrigerator's in a custom built space made for its dimensions. But those dimensions are not entirely standard. I can't find the exact combination of height, width and depth (and the maker of the current one no longer does fridges). So I'll have to settle for a replacement that is narrower than the cabinet opening. I'll just ignore the inch gap on each side. </complaining>

As a certified accountant, I'm probably more compulsive about saving paper bills than some others might be but my strategy mostly depends on what future value I see in them. I went electronic on ones I won't want in the future. Phone, credit card, auto insurance, cable tv, etc. I won't care in some random number of years to look back and see what a particular one of those bills covered. I do keep paper bills for any I want to keep history on. My girlfriend makes fun of me but when I eventually sell my house, I'll be able to show my energy use history and have the proof. Kept tidy, it's only about a 2 inch stack of paper. I'll throw them all out when I no longer own this house. I also keep bills for a while if they have an income tax purpose. Like I keep my mortgage statements until I get my annual tax statement, since they prove my mortgage interest and real estate taxes for deduction purposes. My bank recently went paperless and at first I thought I'd hate it but I've found I really don't mind. Of course it did finally force me to start using their website but now I can check my account at my convenience and not theirs.

D'oh!! "We appreciate and are overwhelmed by your interest at the moment. Please come back later for more details."

Are Canadian coins like US coins, where you can tell the silver ones by the color of the edge? On US dimes and higher, nonsilver ones have a copperish streak on the edge. This makes it easy to scan a stack of coins by their edges for the silver ones. But I have no idea about Canadian coins. (A quick Google shows Canada stopped using silver after 1968. http://www.silvercoinstoday.com/silver-coin-price-guides/canadian-silver-coin-values/ ) I've found more silver coins in circulation in recent years than seems normal... my theory is older people saved the coins and failed to explain the value so younger people who don't know about silver coins simply spent them after finding them in a parent or grandparent's house. I saw on the TV show recently that people who are scared about an economic apocalypse are buying old silver coins by the bag full. They think the silver content will make them valuable in an apocalypse for buying and selling food, etc. I donate all my small coins to my lodge since their bank has a free-to-customers coin counter (and my bank doesn't).

Conceptually, it's a "use tax". Remember that the BBC is government owned, so this is a way for the UK to fund it. It's sort of like car tags... only people who have cars have to buy car licenses (we'll leave the politics of whether car license fees actually go to fix roads to a different discussion since that varies so from place to place). http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/licencefee/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ntDYjS0Y3w

In S1 - the first time I ventured into online play. I'd never played a game online before. I'd done bulletin boards and chatrooms, but not games. I naturally started in SP and found some fun people... we had a large party and were fighting hoardes many levels above us... as long as one player survived at the battle site, we'd all keep teleporting back after dieing... probably died twenty times in as many minutes. But it was such a different experience from solo play.

This November press release in France mentions S3, so it's not dead yet! http://www.pockett.net/n11668_Divers_Nominations_au_sein_de_Koch_Media_France And here: http://www.kochmedia.com/games/brands.html Koch calls Sacred a "core brand" which to me says they plan to put the proper amount of work and money into it that it needs to sustain the brand.

This is available on Amazon for about $17... http://www.ansellpro.com/product-catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?productId=168 http://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=polar%20bear%20pawgard%20gloves

I've been happy w/ Asus monitors. I bought one for my girlfriend last year and just bought one myself. I did have to calibrate the colors (switched color pallete from "vivid" to "standard" and lowered the bright & contrast). As to the adapter, you're either looking at a) a dongle or b) a cable. Your video card should work fine with one. And as far as I know, most any modern monitor with HDMI will be fine too. Main thing on the monitor to look for is if it's HDCP.

First off, cats require meat proteins in their diet as they are unable to synthesize certain amino acids on their own. Thus cats aren't able to eat a vegan diet and that kitty kibble does contain meat proteins. Second, since you work in the food industry, I trust you use the safest food handling practices, even for kitty. The main risk is from germs. Without looking too hard, here's a link you might glance over: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding#Bacteria.2C_viruses_and_parasites Oh...! You might try what my girlfriend and her mother do... baby food! A half-teaspoon on a saucer every couple of days as a treat. The cat just loves it! http://www.gerber.com/sitter/products/puree_baby_food/2nd_foods_meats_chicken.aspx

Totally spontaneous suggestion based on 30 seconds of web searching: Ascension Stones http://www.healing-crystals-for-you.com/ascension-stones.html Only duplication w/ another game is that apparently Ultima 9 was called Ascension and had a soundtrack called Stones. My other train of though went to finding other words for "tower"... battlement, rampart, etc, and try to find crystal related words that work. Agate Ramparts, Beryllium Battlements, etc. Hmm... Beryllium Barage

IMHO, the Samsung. One question: does your PC have HDMI output? Because this Samsung does not have DVI so otherwise you'd need an HDMI to DVI adapter (only costs $5 to $10 US, so not a big deal). I like to check out the feedback on sites like Newegg: The LG appears to be a couple years older and several people complain about the LG needing color calibration. On the Samsung, you might need to check your graphics "overscan" settings to make sure it uses the full available screen. The Samsung: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001482 The LG: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005134

IIRC, they're OGG files. During beta testing, I downloaded the proper codecs / tools to work with them. I remember spending an hour or three figuring out that the Shadow Warrior's hardhit wasn't playing the right sound when using some certain weapon type (like small axes or such). Oh, or was it a crash caused by a certain sound being played like a critical hardhit w/ a certain weapon... I don't remember now. I'd bet OGG is common enough now that plenty of freeware exists to convert the files to mp3 or media center format. Then you'd just have to figure embedding audio in a wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg As to where to find them... all I remember is it's a convoluted folder structure, mainly due to the multiple language options. Too bad we don't have the beta test console any more because one feature let you see the sound files being played and on which channel.

My Mom gave me this LP setof The Hobbit when I was little and my favorite scene on it was always... "Awake! The goblins are upon us!"