If anyone out there knows much about graphics cards, I could use some assistance. I currently have an ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro, but I think it has some serious overheating issues (the fan actually fell off) and just can't handle my new monitor (24" Westinghouse). I don't play games, but I definitely would like something decent for watching movies, etc., and being able to handle HD content in the future would be a plus. I'd rather not spend a whole lot, and I doubt my hardware right now would handle the newest top-of-the-line cards, anyway. If I'm better off waiting until I can update my motherboard, then are there any ideas for a cheaper one to "tide me over?"
Oh, and it would need to be AGP, as well. I can't afford to upgrade my motherboard and all right now.
This is my setup: Athlon 64 3000+ 2.01 GHz, 1 GB RAM 350 watt power supply XP Pro SP2 / Ubuntu (if I ever get it working again)
70% Tom Tancredo 65% Mike Huckabee 64% John McCain 59% Mitt Romney 56% Chris Dodd 55% Hillary Clinton 55% Ron Paul 53% Barack Obama 51% John Edwards 49% Fred Thompson 47% Bill Richardson 46% Rudy Giuliani 44% Joe Biden 37% Mike Gravel 36% Dennis Kucinich
Actually philosophical rather than ideological (e.g. "liberal" is the classical definition and "progressive" is more like modern Democratic Party)
Your Score: Conservative
You scored 28 Equality, 42 Liberty, and 85 Stability!
You think stability is important for a society. You feel that ‘change for the sake of change’ is stupid and that political changes need to be limited to only those things that are demonstrably necessary. The traditional institutions of society have ‘stood the test of time’ and therefore work better than untested proposals. The most important institution is the family which you consider to be the fundamental unit of any society.
Another institutions you value is government and you recognise parliamentary democracy as a useful way of ensuring that only incremental change occurs. You are likely to embrace traditional culture. You tend to prefer a predominantly free-market economy but only to the extent that it can be accommodated by traditional cultural – some of the products of a free-market like advertising and conspicuous consumption are way too crass for your liking.
For information on conservative political parties worldwide see here (but note that this international also includes Establishmentarian and Moderate and Communitarian parties). If this is too bland for you then try the Ultra-Conservative on for size.
I don't know how many people have been following the news about the shootings today at Virginia Tech, but it's pretty much the most absurd thing I've ever heard.
First of all, in defense of the University, the media are attacking them for not e-mailing the students until two hours after the first shooting, while some students have said that they received an e-mail quite a bit earlier than that. Quite simply, sending out more than 30,000 e-mails can be a little taxing on a server. There were numerous times that I received campus-wide e-mails from Notre Dame which were sent at 11 pm but I did not receive until mid-morning the next day.
But it is absolutely absurd that after this first shooting classes were not cancelled. The president of the school admitted that they were sending people door to door to warn students in the places where they might be most in danger, but out of the other side of his mouth was saying that they believed the shooter had left the state (and they had no real reason to believe this). Two people are shot in a dorm, you don't have the gunman in custody, and yet you let classes continue? Unbelievable. Even if the two shootings were completely unrelated and the first shooter did in fact flee, you have no proof of that and should err on the side of caution.
EDIT:
Okay, so apparently they really did wait two hours to send out a warningless "warning" e-mail. I understand that it is difficult to communicate with 30,000 people, but how difficult is it to cancel classes? Sure, a professor here or there might show up for class with a few students who didn't get the message either (this happened on 9/11 to me, actually), but that beats the heck out of a campus of full classrooms.
1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 23. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, along with these instructions. 5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
There are really two books that are equidistant from me at the moment:
"The fullest answer to these two questions can only be found through an adequate understanding of the relationship between nature and its concrete supernatural end. As the title of this dissertation indicates, we will propose Henri de Lubac's 'paradoxical' theology of nature and grace as constituting such an adequate understanding. De Lubac insists that man's relationship with his supernatural last end constitutes a Christian mystery." (Marriage and the Sequela Christi, by my "Marriage and Virginity as States of Life" professor, David Crawford)
"And He is to come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." (a "Redemptorist Mission Book" from 1947 that belonged to my grandma)
"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
ABC will be airing a Diane Sawyer interview with Mel Gibson. I have to admit that I have a great deal of respect for the way Gibson has handled himself following this incident. The fact is that, having a lunatic as a father, growing up had to be somewhat hard for him. He isn't just "his father's son," because he spent a long time in drugs and alcohol before returning to his (quasi-schismatic) faith. Simply put, it would be very easy for him to turn this all around on his upbringing: you're around that kind of talk when you're growing up, and when you get depressed and drunk it is the kind of behavior you revert to. Not because you're anti-Semitic, but because of some psychological yearning for Daddy's approval. You know that's what any liberal star in Gibson's place would do. But because Mel has some convictions, he is taking the blame upon himself, and because of that, has no real answer for the content of his drunken ramblings. Besides, I think he's far too intelligent to actually believe that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
But, then again, maybe I'm wrong and he's just a psychotic bigot. But I really don't think so.
I'm heading out to Notre Dame to feed my soul. Yeah, it was the $300 electric bill we received that pushed me over the edge to decide to ride with Brian and Arina.
