MarkB

You know, I wouldn't be surprised is he's already been down that alley and found that it's not profitable enough, so he moved onto mobile phones. Now that I've calmed down a little about it, I'm just thankful she wasn't hurt in any way, but you're most definitely correct about this slimeball being lucky I wasn't there. I'd be up on, at the very least, a serious assault & battery charge, and spending the start of the new year in jail isn't my idea of fun. I'm hoping to go up to see her at some point this week, but I'll be around on YIM for the next few days, so shoot me a message if you get a chance. 4 hours and 25 minutes into Christmas here in Scotland - and it's exactly as I expected it to be - quiet. No gifts, no crap music, just peace. Thank God. I'll be happy when it's all done with.

Has anything changed in the system? Any new hardware or software installs or configuration changes? You can get your video card information by running dxdiag from Start-Run and clicking on Display. Run the tests as well, that'll highlight any DirectX errors. Finally, make sure hardware graphics acceleration is enabled in your graphics card properties by going to Start-Control Panel-Display and checking the settings.

Random rant on a Thursday night; Why are there so many complete and utter assholes in the world today? I don't mean the type of people who are just rude, or what the everyday Joe would call a "jerk", I mean the real, sewer-dwelling scumbags that roam our streets. I mean the type of loser who would rob 3 women out alone, one of them being my girlfriend, for their mobile phones, with no men present, then run away. Yes, run. Whatever happened to honour? Whatever happened to being civilised? I'm not exactly what most would consider a perfect example of law and order in society, I'm done my share of screwed up things in my life, but not once have I ever done something like rob a woman. I'm lucky enough to remember the old days where people who did dirt did it on others who actually deserved it, or who could match them if something started. Watch the old black and white movies, read any books on crime, and most of the time, it would be one guy robbing another in equal standing with him. Now, somewhere along the line, that's become twisted. It's suddenly expected, if not acceptable, for men to go out and steal from anyone - man, woman or child. Old cowboy films, what do you see there? Shoot-outs at dawn, both guys with an equal chance at winning the battle, with only themselves to blame if they don't. Old Al Capone films, the "gangster" films, what's in those? If someone was hurt in the old days, you know they did something to deserve it. Now, it seems to be "kill at will" and do whatever you want as long as the end justifies the means - and most of the time, even that isn't true. And you know what? there are 2 things that make it even worse. One is that it's supposed to be the "festive" season. Now, I don't **** with the whole Christmas thing, personally, but I'd put money on the fact that whoever did this has said, or will say "happy Christmas" at some point this year. How can you say that knowing what you've done? The second is that my girlfriend is pregnant - and noticeably so. It's bad enough that you're going out to rob someone. It's even worse on top of that that you're going to rob a woman - or 3. But robbing a pregnant woman? You have got to be ******* kidding me. I'm only 21, but in the "old days", this clown would have his head jammed so far up his culo that he'd be looking at the world through his nostrils. Even his "friends" would look at him bug-eyed. And if he was questioned about it, I'd put money on the fact that he'd be singing names quicker than Sammy The Bull with a gun in his face. Honour. It even feels wrong typing it these days. Say what you want about the criminal element in society today, but know one thing - not everyone sees the world with the same skewed vision of what's "right" and "wrong". There are still some of us left. Merry Christmas, MVPMods. Ho, ho, ******* ho.

Random thoughts; The cold is really starting to set in now. I don't mind that as much as the driving rain and gale-force winds, but it's not good for the fuel bills. 2 tracks for you hip-hop fans to check out - "Watch How It Go Down" by Termanology and "It's All Real" by Pitch Black - both produced by DJ Premiere. Something about the way Primo cuts tracks up is just too good. For the first time in quite a while, I'm weighing in at 11 stones exactly - that's 154lbs for you zany North Americans. In the last 2 months, I've lost 12lbs in weight (that's an average of 1.5lbs per week) and gained a good amount of muscle in the arms and abdomen. Feeling fitter and stronger than ever these days. With my body type, I'm guessing my weight could go down to around 10-10.5 stones (140-147lbs) if I really wanted to get totally thinned out, but the extra weight is good for some things, so I'll hover around the 11 mark. If anyone is interested in radio communications, pick up a hand-held scanner. You can find some really interesting and unusual things. Not all are particularly legal to listen to, however, but there really is no excuse for using phone systems that broadcasts your conversations over the airwaves to be heard by anyone with some basic equipment. Anyone else find themselves laughing at the new exploits discovered in various Office products last week, as well as Microsoft doing their best to avoid discussing it (until they release a "security fix" and proclaim that it was never a problem in the first place) and explain why they haven't actually fixed it yet? Oh, and the operating system to power the future, ( ) Microosft Vista, dies when the user attempts to wake it from hibernation. Same ****, different day in the Microsoft world. On the topic of corporate stupidity, telephone company Verizon aparently can't tell the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars. These are the people in charge of your telephone bills, folks! Doesn't that make you feel great? Article of the week goes to The Things Code Doesn't Do In Real Life. R.I.P. to James Kim, who died whilst attempting to save his family after they were stranded on a weekend outing last week. He was a reporter for CNET.com, who have an article on him here. I still haven't heard the new 2Pac album - and I'm still not sure if I want to. Piece of advice for any of you creative minds out there - if you have a girlfriend, write her a poem every once in a while. Just make sure they're good and that they're your words - no stealing from Google! My girlfriend loves them. Have a good week, everyone. :)

Updated the download link for LocLook.

It's actually quite common for teachers to do this on a student-by-student basis. If your teacher already knew you could do this sort of thing without to much trouble, but thought that the other student had make an exemplary effort in a new field, or had done even a reasonable job at something she wasn't naturally skilled at, he/she might have wanted to make special note of the job that the other student did in order to boost her confidence or to show that her good work was noticed, and appreciated. As long as your grades are fine, don't worry about what other students are doing. There's an old saying that goes "Every time you point at someone else, you have 3 fingers pointing back at yourself". Use it. :)

Not really? Why, is something wrong with that? :whistle: I've got too many random thoughts right now, so I won't even start. Suffice it to say, my post would be the longest in the history of MVPMods, as well as possibly the rest of the internet. And that's if I could get it all organised. :tired:

Not done this for a while. I can't wait to start at Dell. I mean, I have moral issues with working for Dell in the first place, which had me really contemplating if I wanted the job or not, but at the end of the day, it's a no-brainer. 6 weeks training (much of which I hope I won't need, as I scored 83% on the competency test), then onto the floor, probably dealing with the people who get new Dell systems for Christmas and don't know how to use them/have fucked them up already/just want someone to ***** at. Speaking of Christmas, they're starting the whole festive season crap again now. That and Halloween. Jesus, spare me. First, we have a pathetic excuse for getting free candy (Hey, why don't you kids go across the bridge and give the candy to the people who are sleeping in a doorway and haven't eaten in days rather than stuffing your faces and throwing up the next day?), then we have the annual ****-fest knows as Christmas. It's so pathetic that it's not even funny. If you're Christian and are celebrating the supposed birth of a certain J. Christ, excellent. Go for it. But the cold, hard fact is that 90% of the people celebrating it haven't been to church since infancy, and just use it as an excuse to get free **** while devouring an animal and being "merry". Do what you want, just don't expect me to sing along with the ******* carols that stores start playing half way through November, and don't expect me not to attempt to decapitate/punch/kick/generally harass the mannequins you assholes put in your damn shop windows. (Oh, and by the way, next year will be just as shitty as this year has been, so celebrate it while you can. And yes, this time next year, you'l still be a virgin. Deal with it.) Now, on another rant-free subject, if anyone is looking for a cheap laugh, pick up the latest copy of The Source. It has an advertisement for Jeep inside, which plays a sample from the KRS-One track "Steady Bounce" when you open the covers. The sample is actually from Nine's track "Whatchu Want", which hardly anyone has heard of. Being 21 really isn't much different from being 20. Thus why I wasn't particulaly excited about celebrating it. Hey, I can see the future. You may call me "Prophet Mark B". No? Fine, die. "Scarface" should be required viewing for children at the age of 14. Yes, screw the age ratings. It's an exceptiuonally good film. I watched plenty of films rated 18 when I was below 10, and I'm a perfectly normal human being. What, having a Glock 9mm in your pocket at all times isn't normal now? Pffft. I'm looking forward to the DVD relase of 2 movies - Click and Crank. Yes, ironic illiteration in the titles. Click just looks like one of the films I would like, and Crank looks like a kill-fest with a slight tinge of revenge. Bring it on! There's a huge debate in the U.K. right now about Muslim women who choose to wear veils. I have no idea why I'm even mentioning it, because if I start to express my opinion on it, I'll be typing for the next hour. I'll keep it short and say that, in my (humble or not-so-humble, take it as you please) opinion, Jack Straw is a ******* clown, and anyone who thinks making veils illegal should be extradited to Antarctica naked, and chained to the polar ice caps with a magnifying glass over their genitals. Anyone else pissed off by the whole Madonna adoption thing? Sure, the father couldn't take care of him - he's broke, works all day, every day to earn the little money he has and can't read or write. Does that mean he should be placed in that situation? Pathetic. Lil' Wayne has been banned from performing at a university for throwing money at a crowd at a concert he was performing in. People on stage while he was performing tossed £20, $10, $5 and $1 bills into the crowd. Excuse me, but how does this warrant banning him from the university? Reports also state he might face criminal charges! 2 women suffered leg injuries and one fainted as they were rushing to grab the cash. How can this be construed as his fault? I don't particularly like Wayne as a rapper, or as a person, but come on! Criminal charges? Get the hell out of here. Firefox 2.0 is scheduled for release this Tuesday, according to Slashdot. I've not tried I.E. 7, and I don't intend to. Finally, England is starting a new system of fingerprinting users of bars in order to cut alcohol-fuelled crime. Yep, this is another one for the "Get the **** out here" department. Jesus, why not just install biometric scanners and rename the continents Eurasia and Oceania while you're at it? Catch you guys next Sunday...maybe. ;)

Indeed. But, by the way, if it weren't for Hitler, Volkswagen wouldn't exist, modern medicine would be much different and the German landscape would be much different, as he built several much-need pieces of architecture, such as dams and railroads. Just because a man does some good doesn't mean we should forget (or, in some cases, totally ignore) the bad things he did. And no, I'm not comparing Hitler to Christopher Columbus.

To be quite frank, **** Columbus and his "journey". "Columbus' actions launched an era of modern colonialism, rape, pillage, genocide, cultural destruction, slavery, economic & environmental devastation." http://prestwidge.com/river/columbus.html

I don't understand why Columbus Day even exists.

How much RAM do you have in your PC? ;)

Download links for all programs updated. :)

Holy crap, Joey, you're not even in High School yet? How old are you, man? Sad part is that this guy's worst post is more readable and sensible than the average post from around 70% of other users here.

Not done this for a while, despite more thoughts than ever before. Only problem is I can never remember them by the time Sunday rolls around! Influenza sucks. Like, really, really sucks. It's not bad enough that it makes you feel like crap, it does it in stages. The first is the "wake-up-with-a-sore-throat" stage. Fine. Sucks, but I can deal with it. Next is the full blown "I've got you now!" stage. Makes you feel like utter hell in a human recepticle. After that, it's the blocked and runny nose and cough stage. Then comes the blocked nose and tickly cough stage. That's what I'm on now. My coughs sound like a nuclear warhead being launched right about now. The Thunder have been doing well this year, but they've lost their last 3 games - swept a double-header and lost last night's game 9-1 - to a team they beat 18-0 just a few days ago. Only 4 games left at Waterfront Park this season, excluding the playoffs. And on that note, apologies to everyone waiting on a Waterfront Park 2006 release. I'm still working on it, but I seriously doubt I'll get anything near the amount I wanted to done. The basics are done, but I'm trying to add in a few more things and am having trouble not only finding the time to do it, but also working around the stupidity of EA. For all I'm grateful to have a job right now, it surely isn't good to be getting up at 4:30am, starting work at 6am, finishing work at 6pm and getting home at around 7:30pm at night 5 days a week. I'm off on Friday's and Sunday's, working the other 5. All for a very slim amount of money at the end of it all. Anyone know of any vacancies for an I.T. technician in the Glasgow area? Winamp: Surely the best piece of audio software ever. I've been using this program since 2001, when I first got my own home PC, and have never stopped. I've been upgrading as new releases come out, but a few months back, I took stock of the latest version, complete with flashy looks and smooth transitions. "It looks nice", I thought, "but how much memory can this be using?". After checking it out, It used anywhere between 7-10MB of RAM when only one track was in the playlist. Out of curiosity, I installed an old version, version 2.95 - released in June 2003. As I type, the memory usage is 3MB, and that's with 20 tracks in the playlist, as well as the equalizer active and open. Oh, and the equalizer. I hadn't used this since random experiments in 2002, but recently started toying with it to attempt a better sound from a couple of malnourished tracks. In short, it did the job perfectly. Output the audio to my stereo and it couldn't sound better. Jeff Karstens is starting again for the Yankees today. Hope he does well. Now if only Matt DeSalvo could turn it around before the playoffs come for Trenton. He's been horrible this year, and has never really recovered from the stint he had up in Columbus. His control is nonexistant. Yeah, I had a few other things to mention, but as I've forgotten them, that'll be it. Anyone got a spare brain implant I could use? Have a good week, people. :)

So because your post isn't political, I can't make a political comment about it? All I can do is bash and/or slam America and it's President? Wow, that's a newsflash. I could swear I've done plenty of other things during my time on this site, stadium modding, roster making, stuff like that...damn. It must have been a dream. I agree with you as far as being grateful for what we have - it's a hell of a lot more than some have, as you pointed out. However, that doesn't mean that we can't express our opinions on other matters simply because all we can discuss is how bad some people have it. Shallow...yeah, right. Look at the wide range of topics I've discussed both here and at TPG and you'll see exactly how shallow I am.

Glad to hear you had a good time...outside of the cities, at least. I take it Glasgow wasn't particularly nice to you? I'm not surprised, but I hope it didn't ruin part of your vacation. Which areas did you visit in this "fine" city? ;)

I have a hard time believing that a country which has it's President's approval to perform illegal surveillance on any citizen it pleases - and already has performed such surveillance can still be called "free". Freer than others, sure. But free? Not by a long shot. Oh, and is the same country which had slavery still listed as a legal ownership contract not too long ago in relative terms? Bah, too early for a political rant.

Indeed, it does. It's hard as well, because you keep thinking "What can I do?" and never come up with a solid answer. I guess the best you can do is try to make them as comfortable as possible so that they can try to get over it in their own time. :(

Damn, that's terrible, DJ. Best regards to yourself and your wife. A female friend of mine miscarried a few weeks ago and she's still not over it. That must be incredibly traumatising. My random thoughts on this Monday morning (although it's still Sunday in the U.S., and they're really minor compared to DJ's); Got my first radio scanner last Saturday. Still working around the bands, checking out what's happening. So far, I've caught various sections of amateur radio broadcasts (I refuse to call it "ham radio"), quite a few local taxi broadcasts (mostly simplex, just 2 duplex), a broadcast from a fire service controller (I'm surprised it hadn't been switched to the TETRA system yet, which is digitally encrypted, but I haven't heard it since Tuesday night. Other various things are what I suspect to be a limousine or chauffeur service, a roadworks frequency and a few public broadcasts, such as BBC Radio 2 (48.4750) and a audio broadcast straight from Scottish Television, which is 2 seconds ahead of the TV broadcast. The broadcast office is just a mile or so away from my house, so I have a pretty decent audio reception of it. I need to do some experimenting during the day, as I've only scanned during the night so far. I've been playing Dream Match Tennis for the last few weeks, and it's the best tennis simulation I've ever played, and that's going back to the early nineties on the SNES and Sega Master System. As I'm in a sporting mood these days with the warm weather, I've been trying my hand at a little time-waster at work. Basically, buy a small sponge basketball from a local 99p store, set up a box of crisps (the ones with the circular hole at the top) across the room, and follow the general theme of basketball - put the ball in the hole. Made me want to try my hand at some real basketball again. Damn, I wish my knee wasn't all but blown out. I'll maybe get one of those portable baskeyball hoops and stick it up somewhere, see if I can still hit my jumpers and 3's. Screwing up your knee really messes with your balance and your agility, even if it's not that bad. I tried a crossover last week, and failed miserably - that was my vintage move in school and when I was playing reguarly. Hit your marker with the fake crossover, run the cross over, then take the jumper. 3 easy points. Bah. I think God must have given me the wrong body. As I mentioned the hot weather, it's crazy. It's almost 3 in the morning now and it's actually getting warmer - it's 26.7°c right now (that's 80.06° in fahrenheit). It's not unusual to see 32°c (89.6°F) during the day. Looking at the world temperatures, it doesn't seem that hot, but considering that for at least 8 months of the year Scotland is lucky to reach 15°c (59°F), it's rare to find a Scot that's acclimitised to the recent heatwave. I've been listening to STV on the scanner as I'm typing thi, and the recent influx of "Call this number, get a stupid question correct and win lots of money" shows that come on at around 2am have really started to bug me. The presenters are almost incapable of actually presenting anything, the contests are obviously rigged and the telephone rates are an absolute ripoff. I'm surprised this crap is legal. Well, better than crazy Christian nut-jobs preaching hell to everyone who doesn't donate their life savings to a "Christian" organisation which just happens to have enough money to broadcast on TV for 5 hours per night. A letter I sent a while back was printed in an international publication this week, as the new issue came out. It was pretty strange to see my name in print, knowing that I'd typed the letter out. Cool, in a way, as well. It was an informative piece as opposed to a general letter, so it's good to know that the information contained was obtained by lots of people. (Now, good luck finding which magazine it was. ) 1 minute before 3am, and I think that'll do. I need to go anyway - this QuizMania guy is driving me nuts. He sounds as if his vocal chords have been molested by a rabid sheep. Ah well. Have a good, fruitful and happy week - if possible, people. Peace.

I'm starting to agree with you on Vista, RAM. The more I hear about it, the more I dislike the sound of it. It looks like there is going to be a massive amount of bloatware in it. Bah, XP suits me fine. Immortal Technique's "Revolutionary Volume 2" album has enourmous replay value. Every time it hits my CD changer, it doesn't come out until I have a serious need to hear a specific track, which is usually a few weeks later. Great album. It's hot and humid again. If the heat doesn't get you, the humidity will. If it's not hot and humid, it rains. Lots. I hate this country! After a 0-10 start, the Trenton Thunder are now 47-41. I don't think they played very well last night, but the fact that they've played so well to even get to this point is amazing. 6.35pm start today. Talking of the Thunder, ex-Thunder pitcher Kris Wilson is starting tonight for the Yankees. I wish MLB would make their mind up with what they want to do with the All Star Game. If it's an exhibition, make it an exhibition and remove the whole "Now it counts" crap. If not, get real and stop starting big names over guys who've had better seasons. Utterly crazy. From a headline I read on MLB.com earlier in the week, Bud Selig is to hold a live chat. "Live". Yeah, right. The translation of this will be that 10,000 people go to the Flash-filled, bloated site that is MLB.com, 3,000 or 4,000 will send him questions, he'll answer what's been deemed acceptable, which will be...what? Maybe 10? 20? Of those, he'll give decent answers to maybe 5. Oh, and expect multiple steroid questions. (Bear in mind I didn't read the article and it might already have happened.) Thank God the World Cup final is tomorrow. I'm sick of it. Yeah, yeah, once every 4 years, blah, blah, blah. I don't care. Stop force-feeding the masses with your soccer-infested mindset simply because it suits you to have everyone like one damn sport. And, you know, it's funny. When England were in the World Cup, it was the biggest thing since the news that Earth wasn't the only planet in the solar system. Now that they're out of it, the World Cup has been relegated to a page or two back in the sports pages and the latest chapter of some English "star" has taken over the front page again. Gary McKinnon, the hacker accused of hacking into U.S. security networks is to be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. Sure, the guy's a nerd, and maybe a little naive for thinking he'd get a fair trial after trying to expose the shortcomings in the U.S. military networks, but cases like this one show just how the legal systems definition of "justice" and "law" are so far apart. It's nothing short of pathetic. The guy is quickly becoming a scapegoat, or a "message" to other future hackers who might want to tery the same thing. As Phiber Optik said before being jailed in the mid-'90s, "I wish I could send a message to jail for me." (Paraphrased, but the general idea is there. Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan has apparently admitted going to some sort of twisted sex club, which has been dominating the mid-news this week. Here's a newsflash: Nobody cares. The guy's a politician, not a priest. Give him a break. I've met the guy and he's really decent. Compared to a lot of other politicians in this damn country, this guy is a saint. It's funny, people's sex lives are a taboo topic until it suits the media in general, or a few people in high places want someone exposed. After that, it's fair game. Pathetic. That's all for today. Turned into a bit of a rant, didn't it? Oh well. :D

You need a dictionary for Christmas, NYM. ;)

Well, the program can produce boxscores from in progress games, so yep.