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  1. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    1. I can't imagine being envious of vitriol, but thanks, I think. 2. For the other part, I only wish I could see things that way. honold, I don't know if there's any truth to what you say. I am depressed in a way that requires very very careful choice of words when I talk about my feelings at...
  2. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    Well, I had kind of hoped that posting my weight would help me somehow. I don't think it has. I'm the sort who terminally abhors physical activity of any kind (when I lived in the country, my father used to punish me by driving someplace and making me walk home). I used to lift weights. Haven't...
  3. Mercutio

    Spring Time

    I've decided that I supremely dislike spring. Spring is when my allergies kick in. Spring brings thunderstorms and lightning and the annual "You're going to bill me for flipping the switch on that surge protector" complaints. Spring is when other people open their windows, and when their lives...
  4. Mercutio

    Nero 5.5.x.y and DVD Video

    Tumesence of the male member.
  5. Mercutio

    All-Day Portable Power (to come)

    Vee prefer tha rock. Pop ups, pop downs... vee get zhem mit computermonitors oder mitout.
  6. Mercutio

    Nero 5.5.x.y and DVD Video

    If you freeze frame in just the right place during "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", you'll find that Mrs. Rabbit is not wearing undies. The first video boxes for both "Alladin" and "The Little Mermaid" were pulled because some stupid housefrau decided that the minarets+towers of the castles in the...
  7. Mercutio

    Nero 5.5.x.y and DVD Video

    So no duplicable errors with Nero-made DVDs except playback on Xbox (doesn't Xbox need a playback kit, anyway, or is that the other thing?) I've seen anti-Nero DVD stuff a few other places as well. It's really going to bug me, 'cause sure enough I can't find it any more.
  8. Mercutio

    So, um, where is everyone?

    Pradeep, what is it, exactly, that you do? Months in the states, visits to Tokyo, an Aussie location... Seems like you move around more than any of us.
  9. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    I prefer "circumfrentially challenged".
  10. Mercutio

    Nero 5.5.x.y and DVD Video

    I've read in several different places now that DVD Video discs made with Nero are not highly compatible discs. I've done several now without any problem, using Nero 5.5.10.20 and 5.5.10.28, mostly Disney movies that happened to be below 4.5GB on-disc (e.g. 101 Dalmations). Is there a basis...
  11. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    330, actually. Or thereabouts. Normal bathroom scales don't weigh things so heavy. I used the scale on the loading dock at the building where I work. LunarMist, mubs, the short version of the last year of my life is that my long-time best friend and fiance woke up one morning and realized she's...
  12. Mercutio

    [NEWS] - Internet Explorer's dumbest bug ever revealed

    I know it'll be fixed and everything, but it absolutely stuns me that something like that could make it through QA. MS code is supposed to reviewed and whiteboarded before being committed to the product. Something like that would be basic error checking.
  13. Mercutio

    2003 Server

    ... and tonight I came home and found my 2003 Server happily hard-locked, utterly at idle (TMPEGenc having completed the night before), and without any clues to indicate the source of the problem. Nothing in the event log, even. This same hardware ran 2000 Server stable for weeks at a time.
  14. Mercutio

    LiteOn DVD-ROM communism

    Well, Nero tells me that this thing can't read a pristine DVD-R at anything more than 6.8x. That tears it. I'm sending this POS back. After playing a bit today, I'm pretty sure this drive is a Sony. I've got a gen-u-ine Sony 48x CD-RW sitting here, a DRU500AX, a LiteOn 52x burner and this...
  15. Mercutio

    ID old AthlonXP

    Drat. I was hoping one of the folks here who have actually RMA'd a CPU would be able to help without my having to make that call...
  16. Mercutio

    ID old AthlonXP

    That's the problem. I don't know, either.
  17. Mercutio

    ID old AthlonXP

    I have in my hand an AthlonXP 1700+ that appears to have failed. The problem: No stickers or markings indicating retail or OEM status. This is a very old chip. It's from a time when I was buying retail only (I started buying some OEMs again some few months ago for my personal use)? Markings as...
  18. Mercutio

    LiteOn DVD-ROM communism

    The only time LiteOn drives seem to make noise is if they're reading a data disc, and when you first put a disc in. Mine seem to be fairly quiet if I'm just watching a movie. The other 16x models I have are LTD163s. They're cosmetically identical to the newer model.
  19. Mercutio

    Getting In Shape

    Since Amy left my life, I've gained almost 100lbs, and I wasn't skinny to begin with. Since I don't leave my apartment except for work, it isn't like there's a compelling reason to develop better habits. Eating more junk food and practicing assal horizontology are sure ways to gain weight. The...
  20. Mercutio

    So, um, where is everyone?

    Is this thing on?
  21. Mercutio

    LiteOn DVD-ROM communism

    Just thought I'd let everyone know that new Lite On XJ-HD166S 16x DVD-ROM drives appear to be locked at 2x for DVD ripping, just like Toshiba drives. The last drive I have that does fullspeed rips was made in January. The two I got today were both made in early March, and both hover around 2x...
  22. Mercutio

    Need new speakers...advice?

    Just goes to show how subjective speakers are. I can't stand Klipsch speakers, particularly not when I think about how much they're charging for them. IMO, the sub that comes with Klipsch speakers tends to overpowering even at low volumes.
  23. Mercutio

    2003 Server

    I've been beating on my 2003 server just about as hard as I can for the last two days. I popped in a pair of GigE NICs and added it to my backbone, I've added a couple of USB2 drives to it and I've been bulk-copying data from those to my fileservers, running an InstantCopy transcoding job and a...
  24. Mercutio

    Quill Mouse

    I tend to think of my left-handedness as an advantage in computing. I type a larger portion of the keyboard with fingers of my left hand than my right, so I don't "miss" my right hand on a trackball as much as a right-handed person probably would. The Quill people are still spouting crap. Just...
  25. Mercutio

    [NEWS] MSI and Gigabyte In Merger Talks

    Thanks mubs. I don't particularly have an outlet for writing other than here. re: MSI. I don't see them very often. In fact, I've seen five MSI boards, ever, outside retail packaging. The one I own, A K7T Pro ARU, is basically the template for the above rant. If nothing else is accurate about...
  26. Mercutio

    An open letter to Hewlett-Packard

    S'OK. He wasn't using it anyway. The lab machines I maintain ALL have an attached printer. Mostly color inkjet, more HP 932s or 945s, with some dreadful 620s, 670s and various $30 Apollo Inkjets as well. There's one fairly high-end Epson and a couple of LJ 6Ls. The Ls seem to give more more...
  27. Mercutio

    An open letter to Hewlett-Packard

    My rule of thumb is that if it looks like a photocopier and doesn't say Lexmark on it, it's probably fine. Just about every office I go in seems to have a 4500N, and I don't know of anyone who has a problem with a 4500N. Those big printers are probably the last thing HP makes that's any good...
  28. Mercutio

    [NEWS] MSI and Gigabyte In Merger Talks

    I don't know. They both feature UFO-like objects on their retail packaging... Gigabyte experience: Smartly packaged, solidly packed motherboard, along with a detailed user guide, a large poster with step-by-step installation instructions, and case sticker detailing DIP switch and front panel...
  29. Mercutio

    Quill Mouse

    And it's only $100! Frankly, the thing looks CHEAP. Circa 1994 $5 mouse cheap. Certainly not $100. This page really sets off my bullshit detector. Frankly, I'm not seeing anything on that site, say medical or scientific study, to back up claims of benefit.
  30. Mercutio

    WD 200GB JB, retail, does it have an ATA card in it?

    It's the 600ABs that inspired my rant. Not that I haven't RMA'd 1200ABs, but at least with those I haven't exceeded 100% replacement yet. WDDIAG reported an error on one of my 600ABs just a moment ago, in fact. Lucky me.
  31. Mercutio

    An open letter to Hewlett-Packard

    While we're talking about HP... HP's Deskjet 930/940-series has been substanially better than most of their other products. Does anyone know if that product line has been continued with the current models (the swoopy-looking silver UFO-type printers), or if it was dumped during the changeover?
  32. Mercutio

    Need new speakers...advice?

    In december I posted something about a set of Z340s (2.1s) in the Sale forum, saying they were a fantastic buy at $25. They are. Several others followed that recommendation and responded postively. Logitech makes a very nice sub/sat setup that just can't be beaten - some reviewers say the...
  33. Mercutio

    WD 200GB JB, retail, does it have an ATA card in it?

    That's been posted here for 10 minutes. I saw it 10 minutes ago. Omnipresent, remember? ;) I've got a (1) WD2000JB. They're hot. Or mine is, at least. I'm talkin' SCSI-type hot. Barracuda III hot. Mine has an 80mm case fan in front of it and still makes a warm spot on the case in question.
  34. Mercutio

    WD 200GB JB, retail, does it have an ATA card in it?

    Promise Ultra TX2. ATA100 with 48bit addressing. Nothing special.
  35. Mercutio

    WD 200GB JB, retail, does it have an ATA card in it?

    The retail one does..
  36. Mercutio

    Need new speakers...advice?

    No there aren't but er, what were you doing with it anyway? Main benefit is to move your sound hardware out of the EMI-hellstorm that is your case. Secondary benefits are providing more receiver-like functions (extra inputs and outputs and digital decoding and such) and ease of placement for...
  37. Mercutio

    Need new speakers...advice?

    I mentioned them in passing; my audio needs are a little bit different from your average gamer, too. Yamaha and Creative both make decent-ish external receiver-like products that handle audio extremely well, but at the cost of USB-bus bandwidth. The Creative Extigy goes for $125 or so, and I...
  38. Mercutio

    Sony DRU-500AX

    I've got a couple at work, too, remember? The ripping/DVD reader limitations of the Sony represent a real deficiency, particularly since all my DVD burners are installed in USB2 enclosures and may not be paired with machines that have fast DVD drives (or other DVD drives at all, for that...
  39. Mercutio

    [NEWS] - SiS to spin off graphics chip division soon

    Tu Chiang is of course correctly translated as "generic graphics chipset whipping boy for satisfying unsatisfying requirement performance " Those Chinese really have an economy of words. :)
  40. Mercutio

    Sony DRU-500AX

    Er... why? OK. Backups, maybe. Why else? If it's a choice between a $300 drive and a $350 one, well, I've only made one DVD+RW anyway. I was actually hoping that someone would pipe up and say "oh yeah, it doesn't have the stupid 2x ripping limit" about the LiteOn. Hope it's not a complete...
  41. Mercutio

    Need new speakers...advice?

    Justdeals.com has a refurbed set of Logitech Z640s for $35. Those things are a bargain at $100, let alone under $50. Logitech makes great, inexpensive computer speakers. I swear they're good stuff. Honest. At the $300 price point, I'd start looking for something that's, no offense, more in...
  42. Mercutio

    Sony DRU-500AX

    LDW-400D. Anyone heard of it? LiteOn multi-mode DVD burner? Identical to the Sony? Is it? I noticed it on pricewatch today but haven't heard/read anything about it.
  43. Mercutio

    Building Permit

    The sonata is a really nice case. I worked on one last week. I really appreciated the way the 3.5" drive bays are laid out in them, so that the jumpers n' stuff are visible. I might also mention that Newegg sells a Compucase full tower that is identical in every way to the Antec Performance...
  44. Mercutio

    [SEMI-NEWS] - Proteins Produce Nano-Magnetic Storage

    That can't be SR. There was no mention of RAID0.
  45. Mercutio

    Building Permit

    Also, notice the poll on newegg's front page. "Best Motherboard". At the moment, Asus and Abit are tied at about 35% of the vote each, which a bunch of other brands (Soltek, Epox, Gigabyte, Intel) in the 1 - 2% range. That's the kind of thing makes me fear for the future of humanity.
  46. Mercutio

    Building Permit

    NewEgg's 1700s are rev B, and trust me, you want to wait for the WhisperRock. The FalconRock is a fairly average cooler that makes fairly average amounts of noise.
  47. Mercutio

    2003 Server

    Well, finally got around to installing 2003 Server EE. All I can say is, they finally did something right. Everything is off by default. EVERYTHING. IE's security setting, for the first time ever, is "high", Graphics acceleration, sound (gotta reboot for that one). Other big pluses: Recognized...
  48. Mercutio

    Terminator 2 in Hi Def, upgrade your CPU

    Superbit = all pictures and sounds. No commentary, no second languages, no boring commercials (I was *shocked* the first time I saw a commercial on a DVD), no features you won't watch. Dolby Digital and DTS sound, and all the rest is high-bit-rate picture data. I bought Crouching Tiger...
  49. Mercutio

    [SEMI-NEWS] - Proteins Produce Nano-Magnetic Storage

    [Mercutio is suddenly shifted to SLASHDOT MODE] MMmmmm... 100 times more pr0n. [Amazingly, Mercutio has "Excellent" karma on slashdot. Kind of scary, isn't it?] Gazing into my crystal ball I see 25TB hard drives for $300. Meanwhile, 4GB models continue to sell for $40 on ebay.
  50. Mercutio

    effective NB cooling for nForce2 chipset

    Alright, could someone with an Nforce2 please check the doohickey you didn't hook up to see if you have any kind of digital sound connectors?
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