Jim

I have Comcast middle-tier cable and Comcast internet. No problems with either. My system used to be Viacom until Comcast bought them out. Much better now. The middle-tier cable is about $45/mo and the internet is something like $30/mo for the first year. They commited to the $30/mo because I already had a broadband connection and would switch to them. If you don't mind a little deception, ask them if they can give you a better price if you switch from DSL to them. If so, make them guarantee the new price for a year. The internet has been pretty much flawless. Even though it's supposed to be a dynamic IP address, mine hasn't changed in the 4 months I've had the service, which is very cool for me because I run a Virtual Private Network between work and home. There's something like a 2gig per month quota on the newsgroup server, which shouldn't be an problem unless you have some serious porn issues

Funny I never thought of that... Definitely could go either way. I was just speculating based on my family experience...

This would be good even if the only thing it did was enhance google ranking for GS and the participants. Please include the acceptablity of "help wanted" ads in the charter.

As a Cold War veteran, I can testify that the primary function of the military is to fight or *deter* wars. We Pershing missilemen did it by keeping live, accurate missiles pointed at the Soviet Union. We never fired one in anger, but just like Galen on his sub, we never blinked either. I'm glad that particular era of history is over, but I'm also convinced we did the right thing. Pretty much sucked the humor out of this thread... Sorry.

I found this over on the Pershing missile vets Yahoo group. It's obviously skewed towards Marines, but it's still kinda funny. We'll have to see if Galen catches the part about the Navy. US Marine Corps Rules: 1. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one. 2. Decide to be aggressive enough, quickly enough. 3. Have a plan. 4. Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won't work. 5. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. 6. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a "4." 7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive. 8. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (lateral & diagonal preferred.) 9. Use cover or concealment as much as possible. 10. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours. 11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose. 12. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics.They will only remember who lived. 13. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating your intention to shoot. Navy SEAL's Rules: 1. Look very cool in sunglasses. 2. Kill every living thing within view. 3. Adjust speedo. 4. Check hair in mirror. US Army Rangers Rules: 1. Walk in 50 miles wearing 75 pound rucksack while starving. 2. Locate individuals requiring killing. 3. Request permission via radio from "Higher" to perform killing. 4. Curse bitterly when mission is aborted. 5. Walk out 50 miles wearing a 75 pound rucksack while starving. US Army Rules: 1. Select a new beret to wear. 2. Sew patch's on right shoulder. 3. Change the color of beret you decide to wear. US Air Force Rules: 1. Have a cocktail. 2. Adjust temperature on air-conditioner. 3. See what's on HBO. 4. Ask "what is a gunfight?" 5. Request more funding from Congress with a "killer" Powerpoint presentation. 6. Wine & dine 'key' Congressmen, invite DOD & defense industry executives. 7. Receive funding, set up new command and assemble assets. 8. Declare the assets "strategic" and never deploy them operationally. 9. Hurry to make 1345 tee-time. US Navy Rules: 1. Go to Sea. 2. Drink Coffee. 3. Watch porn. 4. Deploy the Marines

A little more amplification on this. Tesla invented and implemented *polyphase* AC power distribution. If you look up at a power pole, at the very top you'll usually see three fat wires. Tesla did that. There are 3 wires for 3 phases of AC. Although house wiring is usually single-phase in the US, virtually all commercial and industrial wiring and long distance power transmission is 3 phase AC. I can't really explain the greatness of 3-phase power distribution except to say that the concept is both brilliant and elegant. It allows the maximum AC power to flow through the minimum amount of cabling and it allows the design of very efficient motors and alternators.

A cop pulls over Heisenberg and says "do you know how fast you're going?". Heisenberg replies "No, but I know exactly where I am".

I will certainly defer to your knowledge of history and geography here. I was quoting from memory and a quick web reference. Looking at my Tesla books, I see that he was born in Austro-Hungary of the Serbian race. He later moved to Croatia for his secondary school education. This might be why he was referred to as "Serbo-Croatian" and I mistakenly cited it as his homeland. In any case, since Tesla had immigrated and become a naturalized US citizen by 1891, and as you inferred, Yugoslavia didn't exist until 1918, I don't think it would be correct to say that he was from Yugoslavia.

Um, no. I'll take this one. Tesla was from Serbo-Croatia, was not the inventor of radios, (try Hertz, Fessenden and Marconi). Tesla did *nothing* with computers. He did do some radio control stuff with boats and such that might have been interpreted as robots in it's day. Tesla was an absolutely brilliant engineer and researcher. He didn't invent AC current, but he almost singlehandedly designed the infrastructure of motors, alternators and transformers to use it effectively. The same infrastructure that we use today. Edison violently opposed AC because it allowed powerplants to be hundreds of miles from power customers. Edison's business plan called for an Edison generating plant no further than a mile or so from any one customer. Tesla understood loyalty. He released George Westinghouse from a royalty agreement on AC equipment that saved Westinghouse his company and costed Tesla millions. He did this as a personal favor to Westinghouse because they were old friends. Tesla died broke. As to his idiosyncracies, I doubt that he was any worse than VPW or LCM. I've read much of Tesla's published writings. They are most definitely the work of a sane, analytical and brilliant individual. Oh, and keep up the great work WordWolf.

You know, that ties lots of stuff together. His violent abusive verbal attacks on people might have been triggered by a lack of a "strong drink". Likewise, his loving, forgiving demeaner enhanced with a stiff drink.

Growing up, my dad worked on the railroad. Our state voted to go on daylight savings time, but the railroad stayed on standard time. My dad had a couple of neat watches that had 2 hour hands, a black one for standard or railroad time and a red one for daylight savings time. It's a little known fact that the railroads were responsible for establishing time zones and standardized time across the US.

So here I was, trying to take it all seriously and satori gives me a coffee spew. What in the world is a peupsetta Google doesn't have a clue....

As long as we're picking nits.. earthquakes aren't Category, they are Richter Magnitude. Live in California for 25 years and you can estimate an earthquake to about .5 units. http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/cl.../magnitude.html Here are some of my predictions for the next 10 years. Disclaimer - I am not a prophet and these predictions are not God-inspired. 1. Fusion power will still not be practical on an industrial scale. 2. Gas will cost $8/gallon. 3. Ground will be broken on construction of the first new nuclear powerplants in 30 years. 4. Japan will have sex androids. 5. Computers will start to show signs of intellegence and personallity. 6. GS Cafe will still be around. 7. TWI will still be around. 8. Loy will still be working for UPS. 9. Real estate prices will fall and then rise again. Twice. 10. A new cold war will start with China.

"I see a lot of naivety and hero worship in Craig. Especially in the beginning. Things like, oh wow, a rolodex, golly gee, Dr. is mowing the lawn! That truly is pathetic. Everything VP did was somehow so "spiritual." I don't understand why this inspired such awe in young men. Its got to be the father thing somehow." Exactly my feelings. Craig gushing over how VPW used a stack of index cards to keep track of students. Wow, somebody's easily impressed. Reading this stuff again, I can't know whether Craig was writing it to fill space or he was truly impressed with the obvious....

Not nearly bad enough for dork of the year... My next-door neighbors are a quick-tempered bunch. One night I was sitting next to the open window reading a book. First I hear a car tire "burnout" and almost immediately a crash. Next I hear car doors slamming and a plethora of swearing. I can't resist going outside to see what happend. They had set their 2 garbage cans in the driveway for morning pickup then proceeded to run over them at high speed when they pulled out of the garage without looking. Garbage was wedged all under the vehicle and they were swearing at and blaming each other for the mess.

I guess it's a good time to stop picking my nose.

I know the feeling Ex. I'm active on a couple other forums and I know the pain of just writing out a couple thoughts and having people jump down my throat. Stick around. Lurk in in the background if you must, but don't leave.

Belle, If you'll send me your mailing address to owlmeat@hotmail.com, I'll send you my book "Border Terriers Today" by Anne Roslin-Williams. We don't need it anymore and I'd like to see it go to another Border owner.

"dumb dog!!!" Not at all. Border Terriers are bred for exactly that kind of behavior. Well, not getting their head stuck, but going through tight holes in the ground. The traditional role for a Border is as a working farm dog killing rats and other rodents. The Border would also accompany the hounds on a fox hunt. After the hounds have chased the fox down it's hole, it was the Border's job to "go to ground" and bring the fox out, in pieces if necessary. Borders have tremendous heart, courage and stubbornness. I'm glad that you got Vixen out ok. Keep an eye on her for a few days as Borders often won't show pain or injury until it becomes disabling. -Jim, proud owner of Royal Oaks Rusty, a 15 year old Border Terrier.

"Look...in the real world, if you send an e-mail, once its gone, its gone. Once you say something in person...its said. Once you drop the letter in the mail, its gone. Why should this be different?" Because it can be. Honestly Mike, I can't believe that's the best arguement you can come up with. The whole point of the internet is that it's better and different than traditional forms of communications. Exploring new ways of handling the information in pleasant and accurate forms is part of progress.

It was perfect the way it was with the old forums. Of course, so was the font size

Aways helpful.... Why don't you stare at this for a few minutes and get back to me... http://www.zombo.com/

Thanks for looking at it. I have the same problem with the browser sometimes if I make the font bigger. Please keep in touch. I'm looking at converting a tech support forum from Ikonboard to Invision and I'll want to be able to make it's text bigger too.

This reminds me of a study that concluded that "Lack of Pirates cause Global Warming" There's way more to a country's social behavior than it's predominate religion.

Paw, I currently host a tech support forum that uses Ikonboard. I'm looking at doing some server changes and since Ikonboard no longer exists, it might be a good time to switch to new forum software. I'm going to ask some specific questions and if you don't want to answer them for security or other reasons, I understand. Are you hosting your own server now? If so, what platform and what SQL are you using? How did the conversion go? Did you do it yourself or did the Invision people do it? Are you pleased with Invision at this point? Did you look at php board and if so, why did you choose Invision instead? Thanks.