Cranky Bullfrog

According to my wife, it has been proven that it takes a more "virile" man to father girls. She says it's a scientific fact. So, we might have to bow to the Fat Man's prowess in fathering girls! Cranky

Well, I'll respectfully disagree ZD. I've done a good bit of research into this as has my brother-in-law who purchased a 939 MB and Proc. The 939 is a big performance improvement if you are talking about an I/O bound machine such as a server. Combined with high speed drives, it's a great combination. I'm not sure about whether or not it would give you a boost as a game playing video machine but I would expect that it would - it probably would depend somewhat upon the video card chosen. However you are correct that more and more of the boards I see at Tiger are now the 939 configuration. I think the earlier one will fade away soon. That's probably why they are offering the good price on this exceptional system. It's a great deal in anyone's book. Just want to combine it with a worthy video card. Hey, with the right choices, it might even run Doom 3!!! Cranky

ZD's correct - you DO have to follow-up on the rebates to get the savings and in a timely manner! - 30 days max from date of sale! However, that said, I live and work right near the TigerDirect Warehouse and I shop there nearly every week. In all the time I've been shopping there, I've probably filed two dozen rebates for products purchased there and I have never had one rebate fail. It is a great place to shop if you know what you want. Like most such volume discount houses, you have to watch what they offer and separate the bargains from the "so-so". This offer looks very good. However, keep in mind it's the 754 format not the 939. For peak AMD64 performance, you will want both the chip and the motherboard that supports the 939 pin configuration. Still for a good gaming system, it ain't half bad. You'll also want to buy a real graphics card for it cause the onboard shared-memory VGA ain't much of a graphics processor. (Sharing motherboard system memory with your VGA chip is a real speed bump in the highway to hot graphics - and CS FPS!) Cranky

Hey Mag, I'm guessing that you are referring to "Inline Auto Complete" You get to it from: Tools Menu->Internet Options->Advanced Tab->Browsing (section)->(check) Use inline AutoComplete-> then click "OK" Hope that helps. Cranky

You could always try this utility too Mag - for a less invasive approach.... http://www.bytegems.com/ihatethiskey.shtml Cranky

Given the context, I just have to tell this. Years ago, I was working night shift in a chemical plant in Louisiana. Late around 11:30 PM, things were slow. The tech's were talking about this, that and everything. Then this one guy, John, started talking about how he and his wife were expecting their third daughter but he would really love to have a boy before they were done. One of the other tech's, a guy named Bill, suddenly took interest... It was a well known fact that Bill had 4 boys!!! Bill: "Hey, John, I can tell you how to have a boy!" John: "Really!... yeah right Bill" Bill: "No seriously, I can tell you how to do it if you really want to - that's why me and my wife had four boys - you don't think that's just an accident do you?" John: "Ok, Bill, hit me - what do you do?" (*John was obviously skeptical*) Bill: "Ok, but I'm only gonna tell you this if you're serious about it!" John: "ok - yes, I would really like to have a son and yes I am VERY serious about it so tell me what to do...." Bill: "Ok, well here's how it works and it has NEVER failed for me. Just make arrangements with your in-laws or your folks to watch the kids one night. Get them out of the house early. Go home before your wife gets home from work and make a special dinner - fix her all of her favorite foods. got that?" John: "Yep - I understand" Bill: "Ok, cause it's very important that she find a way to relax after working all day. Alright, so then you set the table with candles, you drop the lighting in the dining room and you put on some really relaxing and romantic music. Got that?" John: "Yep" Bill: "Ok, so when she comes to the door, you're there waiting on her. You take her coat and anything else she's carrying, and you put it away, you don't let her do a thing - you just wait on her every need. Then you put your arm around her and escort her to the table. Then you wait on her hand and foot all during the dinner - fullfill her every whim and help her to relax" John: "OK" Bill: "After dinner, you prepare a nice warm candle lit bath and you fill it with bubble bath. I recommend more romantic music, dim lights, etc. You wash her back and you help her to relax some more." John: "OK" Bill: "Good. Ok, now comes the important part. After she has relaxed in the tub for a while, you just pat her dry with a soft towel - no rubbing - just patting - and you carry her into the bedroom (don't let her walk - just carry her all the way). Place her gently in the bed....." John: "OK.... then what?" (*by now, John was practically taking notes....*) . . . . . . . . . . Bill: "AND THEN YOU CALL ME!!!!!!!" Oh man - I thought there was gonna be a murder right there in the control room! John flew across the room to get hold of Bill because by now, he was taking the whole thing very seriously but Bill was well on his way out the door!!! It was one funny night!!!! Then I had two friends - one with 3 boys and one with 4. They lived next door to each other...... Need I say anymore....? You made the right decision Fatty!!! Best of luck bud. Hope everything goes well and you are a very lucky and blessed man. Cranky

I vote for Roselena ("Rose-a-la-nah")!!! Cranky

Wow cool news Mav! First Step, now Mav - wow. Glad to see ya become an "honest man"...... (or is that addict? I can't seem to keep them straight). Welcome to the conclave! Cranky

GJ IB - now if you could just learn to direct that aggression at the OTHER team! Cranky

Well, I'd congratulate you too Igloo if I wasn't so tired of you killing me all the time....... (* Cranky stares down at ground..... kicks up puff of dust..... makes long wandering mark in the sand with his foot.....*) ...... (* Cranky grudgingly holds out hand to shake Igloo's hand....*)..... Just kidding. Welcome aboard dude! Great to have a good player join the ranks. Look forward to pwn..... I mean, "seeing" you in the game!>>>> Also, big welcome to Way.. and Step-who? Cranky

Ok Duke - so now I'm not sure if you're kidding or serious.... is that really Bean? Cranky

Oops Ice - forgot to answer your question.... a "cash card" is just a bank card or ATM card issued against a bank account (doesn't carry interest charges, doesn't provide credit - it's just basically an ATM card but sometimes they work as credit or debit when making purchases. Still, they aren't an extended line of credit but rather just a card for getting money out of your own account. I'm not sure which institutions use that name for them and which ones just call them ATM cards but that's something I ran into some time ago. Cranky

One other thing I'll mention. I was also told there are some things that adversely affect your credit rating about which you may not be aware. For example, everytime some institution requests a credit report on you (such as for consideration of a loan), they bump the ole counter up one. If too many credit reports are being pulled, it starts to look bad on your score even though it might be for legitimate and very benign purposes. That is to say, it might look like you are running around trying to get loans and having trouble. This might seem innocuous and you might think "well, nobody pulls my reports that often" but frequently when a bank wants to offer you some great new loan rate, they may pull a report (ding goes the counter). The other thing that can trigger a warning flag - is increases in your credit limit (believe it or not - that's an odd one). That includes solicited increases and unsolicited increases. So watch out for that one too. I tell my credit card company not to bump it up without my authorization even though they will (as Ice mentioned) gladly bump it up for you if your scores are very good. Anyway, even some forms of what would appear to be benign inquiries or increases in your credit account balances can trigger flags for people who supply loans. Just thought I would mention that. Cranky

That's a cool feature IB (the temporary account feature) and one that other card companies need to imitate. Sorry about the confusion on our earlier topic.... With regard to carrying a balance and creating a credit reference, I was referring to normal, interest bearing charge cards - not bank (checking acct) cards or "cash cards". I was told by a credit reporting agency that if you have a regular interest bearing card and you pay it off completely each month - it won't count as a credit reference; or at least not much of one. If you carry a balance on it (say $50) month-to-month and you pay the minimum each month, then it _will_ count as a credit reference. Basically in a nut shell, you have to do two things to create a credit reference; 1) pay some interest on the account by carrying the balance over some period of time and 2) pay on time... pay on time... pay on time... The cash cards or bank cards - I'm not sure about. I doubt they count as a credit reference since most of the time they don't carry interest charges (since you are just retrieving money out of your own account) but perhaps someone else knows better about that. Anyway, that's all I know about them and I yield to more informed people but I thought I would share that information because that's what I was told and it seemed like a pretty credible source (since they report credit status and scores). Hope that helps in some way. Cranky

good job - lots of creeps on lately - people who you tell politely and they just keep on keeping on... banning is all they understand sometimes (sadly).... and Bean - I really wish you would change your icon. It just kills me to see that little kid hitting the concrete like that! Ouchie..... Cranky

Great funny stuff Shep You wonder how the program could even pull that one off! Thanks for the pic! Cranky

Hi there! I thought it might be fun to start a thread where people could share funny things they have seen in CounterStrike (source or not). Pictures of funny death positions, funny locations where some imaginative player managed to get (that you can't figure out how they got there), weird explosions, etc; you get the idea. Tell us where you were playing and what happened. Let's keep them small (like 640x480 or maybe 800x600) max. Also, maybe at the end of our submissions, we could have a vote to see who came up with the best one! Please don't post up clever edits with Photoshop (yes we know you have it.... and yes we know you are clever with it) but rather just post odd/funny things that actually happened in the game. So, I'll include one from Parenesi. I was playing on CTs and the guy ahead of me got naded by a nasty T as we approached from T spawn - near the middle courtyard (between the DD's to A and the path to B site). Take a look.... it's pretty funny. Never seen a dead guy end up in this position before! Cranky

Perhaps so Ice but I was just repeating something I was told by a legitimate source - a credit reporting agency. They said that "cash cards" like American Express where you pay off the balance every month (in total) do not establish a "credit reference" and the same thing was said to be true if you use a regular interest bearing credit card but you pay it off each month in total. Perhaps the rules have changed because this was a number of years ago but I thought I would pass it along. You may be correct today. Wouldn't hurt to ask a reporting agency though to be sure. Cranky

For what it's worth, I was told by a credit reporting agency that if you don't carry a balance for at least a little while, then you actually don't have a credit reference for that source. That is to say, if you take out a Mastercard and you pay it off in full every month - the full balance, then it won't count as a credit reference. You actually have to carry the balance for a month or two (accrue some interest - yuck) and then if you want (and I'd recommend) pay it off. That way you don't get in trouble and you actually develop a credit reference for that card. One way to do this might be to take out a card, tell yourself you won't allow yourself to use it above $50, $100 whatever fits your budget and then pay off all but $10 on it every month. Let the $10 carry over each month so you do create a credit reference. As has been said - the most important aspect of this is pay the bill on time! Best advice already has been given - keep the balance really low. Don't fall into the trap of thinking "hey, this $6,000 plasma TV HiDef is only costing me $30 a month!". You'll end up paying about $20k for that TV. (ugh) Also, despite the desire to start your credit history early in life..... if you are in college and don't have a fairly good paying job too - I'd wait til I graduated. You will no doubt have a good credit rating if you pay all your college loans off on schedule and never late anyway. They will carry a lot more weight toward consideration of a home or auto loan in the future - than a credit card. We told our kids, leave em alone (credit cards) - and I think that's still good advice. There are other ways to establish credit beyond credit cards. Major appliance loans aren't hard to get and they help. Just some thoughts.... Best of luck in this! Cranky

Years ago, the railroad did not want their freight train attendants to be seen, shall we say "watering the countryside" so they came up with a gadget called "the coachman's friend". It was a small bottle or collapsible bladder that strapped to the ankle/calf (under the pants leg), had a tube that ran up, up, up, and a small cup on the end - well you can guess the rest. There were never any coachmen or engineers with crossed eyes or doing the "I gotta go" dance on long trips..... and nobody knew the difference....! If you think that's bad - ever found out how a fighter pilot deals with such things? Years ago, when "fly by wire" was invented, there were actually some serious epsiodes (F15 ones I believe) in which a pilot who had to unharness, unzip and slide forward in his seat to take care of business.. accidentally bumped the little tiny electronics controlling joy stick mounted on the seat arm such that he sent his aircraft into a serious dive. Not the best thing to be doing when you just disconnected yourself from the safety harness! A redesign was called for obviously. So, at least Fatty's not without precedent.... Cranky

Ok Thanks Fatty! Cranky

I went to our server page, clicked on the stats link, looked up my name and there were the hitboxes along with all my other stats. However, they are all green. Path: GC Main Page ->Homebutton->underRecrudence"Player Stats"->Search:"Cranky"->Gobutton-> my stats Then the ak47 hitbox and the combined weapon hitbox are all green. Am I looking in the wrong place? Cranky

On second thought - maybe that's a bad idea cause she would probably pwn poor Fatty all the time! Cranky

Really glad to hear she's doing better (and you by proxy) Duke!!! Now teach her how to play C.S.! Will keep praying for Danielle, you and your family. Cranky

Because of the age demographic of our constituency, I am going to guess that "Rock" is going to easily win out. However, I'd like to put in a vote for new-age class music (not the religion - just the music). Actually, my correct choice might be closer to "world music" since my favorite groups include David Arkenstone, Llewellyn, and Secret Garden. Having a strong Irish family descent, I gravitate towards cultural expressions from Ireland and Scotland in most any form. Still, I greatly enjoyed the David Bowie concert here in Chicago last year (Reality Tour); it really rocked. For his age, he can really turn up the juice! How about that? A 51 year old attending a David Bowie concert - think that's odd? (Well, let me clue you - I wasn't the only one there over 50 - not at all!) ;o) Cranky