igotout

Garth - those are not pictures of my monitors. (I wish). I only have two. I showed these to illustrate what I posted above about how you are better off with three instead of two. But yes, I have an Intellimouse like that one but a sleeker model that came out recently. (not as bulky). Yes, the huge plasma screens would be great and you can use them for a monitor. But aside from their high price tag, I have heard that their resolutions are not as good as a high quality computer monitor, nor a high quality flat panel monitor. I am not sure why and I do not claim to be an expert on these plasma TV's and their use in computing. It's just something I read...... basically that it looks bad compared to a regular monitor. Not the TV part but the computing part. Here are a few excerpts from a recent article written by a guy who used his brand new 42" plasma as a computer monitor: _________________________________________ "Plasma screens look a lot like large LCD screens, although they use a different technology. Electrodes between the glass panels change the state of the plasma, controlling how the red, green and blue elements of each pixel emit light. " "As a computer monitor, the screen was mediocre. It was quite fuzzy when I used my laptop's full 1024-by-768 resolution, but it got better at 800 by 600. This monitor is fine for presentations, but while it's possible to use as a PC monitor for regular use, it really isn't optimal." Also see this: Plasma resolutions when used as a monitor _________________________________________ It would be fantastic to do, Garth, but apparently plasma TV's suck as monitors. On the other hand, you should see the awesome TV picture I get on my 21" computer monitor via TV tuner card. Crystal clear at 3200 x 1200 resolution ! [This message was edited by igotout on January 20, 2003 at 22:55.]

It's gotta be something simple. I have the same advice as Hap said. Just try and work with it. Do you mean "Show Desktop" icon is there or something called Desktop? This must be one of the reasons XP gives us a feature that you can turn on or off called "lock the taskbar". I am certain it was invented because the dumb taskbar can go all over the place sometimes, as you may have experienced. But I do not like the feature so I turned mine off. Are you using Windows 98, 2000, or XP? XP seems to give us the best taskbar management of all. Pretty nice and easy to fix. More details needed.

Shannon reminded me yet another funny incident I forgot about. It was when Linda Kluge led all of us in "It took a Miracle". She used a long stick with a red ball attached to the end in the style of follow the bouncing ball. I think many of us didn't quite know what to make of Linda but she always kept us entertained in some way. For that I will always be grateful. I hear Linda is in Idaho today and has a passle of kids and horses and some dogs. I am sure they all love her immensly.

Yeah, I gotta try that. I hope Spammers are doomed. I am sick of hearing about "penis size" and "working from home" and "come see my webcam". We can send a "smart missle" through an open window from miles away. Can't we figure out a way to kill spam? Then again, it took almost 100 years for us to figure out a way to quit losing our gas caps at the gas station. Those simple dangling gas cap attachments we all use. I drove an old car the other day that didn't have one. It was strange.

RB - the 64 MB Gforce 3 cards are pretty good and pretty stable. They were a big breakthrough, I remember. The Ti200's and Ti500's are great, still for most gaming. I have one of the top graphics cards available a 128 MB GForce 4 Ti4800 (not 4600). It is comparable to the Radeon but I do not like ATI's products. You know what.... I don't notice too much difference in the day to day (except for Unreal Tournament 2003). But I'm damn sure ready for anything that comes along, I suppose. The main reason I got it was because it was the first GForce to support dual monitors on one card. I would say that unless you have at least a 32 MB graphics card or above it is time to replace it. Again, a cheap but effective upgrade that is easy to do yourself. Nvidia's drivers are a one size fits all download right from their site. A real breeze to install compared to older times.

Ted, I first went to the Way on a Sunday in about March or April 1974 with some friends. They took us to that Minster theater in the early afternoon. Having just come from a background of drugs and what was known at that time as Acid Rock, I cringed at first at this strange little group with these dumb clothes. Frankly, I was waiting for someone to cut loose with the heavy music after the Jesus show was over. But some of the lyrics caught my attention. Something someone said on stage was impressive. Then VP got up and shared some things and later we went to the BRC where I heard an inspirational teaching. In spite of the music, I thought this "farm" was a cool and obscure place, far removed from the mainstream religions of the time. It was different, and I decided to check it out for a while. Returning for the Rock that summer, I was hooked. Especially when I heard a lovely young lady sing I Love the Lord on stage. I hoped I could meet her one day. It was also cool hearing a guy named David Bailey and his group from England sing. Theme was "Our Hearts knit Together". And the music kept getting better and better.

21 joyous years! I know you like poetry so her is one: Love songs sung softly be voices of gold, thoughts of a poet through his poem gently told Both speak of a love that through years has grown, both tell of two hearts that reap the joy they have sown. Hope paints a picture that grows sweeter with years love sings a song that comforts all fears. Through commitment and trust and tender sweet care, the vintage of your love is God's gift we now share. Love you, John

I am not a geek, just a window cleaner who is a geek wannabe. Maybe if I keep tryin I will arrive at geekdom some day. If I go to Comdex will I qualify? John R.

Don't even think about less than 128. (It's so cheap these days) In my opinion, 512 is a good starting amount to have, expecially for XP and 2000. Lots of new computers come with that much these days. If they don't, you should spend just a few more dollars to add more. It's one of the easiest things to install yourself.

Sounds great, Zixar. I have heard of another popular one called "I Hate Spam" that is getting good reviews. Cost is about $20. I Hate Spam Link I did it the hard way. I have painstakenly created email rules containing lots and lots of words such as ADV in the subject line, all kinds of words (I can't repeat them here :D-->)in the body of the email and as well as some blocked senders lists. When I get a spam message I try to make it a challenge to find something that will block all such future emails. Spammers are getting tricky by making almost the entire email a hyperlink with no real text in the email. However, I have managed to block about 90%-95% of all spam. But what I don't like is that I still get them. Even though they are sent to the deleted items folder which is emptied automatically upon each exit of OL Express, I still get them and that offends me. Something has to be done sooner or later. I wish our wonderful federal government had taken all the billions they spent suing Microsoft and used it for a spam fighting solution instead. Now that would be a real benefit for conusmers. John R.

Shannon! Yeah, I got your email. But it's kinda like when we had to write to all our sponsors and procrastination set in. No, really, I have so much to say to you after all these years, it will be a long email with some pictures too. It's hard to summarize 20 years but you did very well in yours to me. Be patient with me. Now that you mention it, I remember that hilarious incident too. That was some huge jacket! John was a sports genuis. He had an encyclopedic (is that a word?) mind when it came to sports.

A lifetime of christian service? No. That is not what we were told when we joined up as "Way Corps Volunteers." It was to be a few years of christian leadership training. Then on with your life as God worked in you to will and do of His good pleasure. Little by little, more was demanded..... Mandatory statewide Corps meetings each month at our Region coordinator, Rev. Gerald W.s house in 1979 should have given me my first clue that we were being subjected to more and more control. Little by little ..... more legalsim 1984 - VPW and LCM ranted to the entire Corps audience "If you can't come to both Corps week AND the Rock, then you shouldn't come at all." 1994 - You could not marry outside the Way Corps or you are kicked out of the Corps. This invalidated the commitments of some of the greatest people in the Way Corps such as Hal and hundreds of others with tremendous ability and heart. To remain in the fold you both had to uproot and go through the entire training again. The legalism began to grow teeth......... 1995 - You must quit your job and be out of all debt and become employed full time by TWI or you are out of the Way Corps and subject to scrutiny. 1996 / 1997 - Going down to the twig level, the purges began. You were subject to Mark & Avoid or at best probation if you did not live up to the standards of The Way. It was during this period that many of us noticed that being a twig member began to resemble being in The Way Corps. 1998 - 2000 - No debt is tolerated! What actions were you going to take to remove all debt? Progress reports and classes were mandatory if you expected to last long. Way Corps were more anal retentive than ever with their fax machines rolling day & night reporting every move that was made..... checking back.... reporting back ... waiting for the nod from top leadership at HQ. Confronting, purging the ranks, being mean as hell, the abused Way Corps became adept at abusing. It was a long strange trip and I am still suffering from the morning-after side effects. --> John Richeson [This message was edited by igotout on January 13, 2003 at 21:31.]

The more the better..... to a degree I suppose. Comments welcome.

Tom looks like it may have been one of those damnable 12 minutes tests. Reminds me of a big mistake I made. Having come from a rigorous Fellow Laborers program on the field, I was already used to running. Three to five miles was cake. So what did some of us do the first 12 minute test we had? Zealouts that we were, we put our all into the competition.....which put us in the highest category from day one! Which meant we had to run our asses off to meet our requirements each week. (Unfortunately there was no way to downsize outside an injury.) I should have taken a cue for some of the smarter ones in our group and jogged followed by brisk walking.

Hey, don't burst our groups' bubble. We really believed we were spiritually perfect there for a few years. Especially when we hit our "stride", whatever the hell that was. As one who married someone from your group I can say that ya'll are indeed "sickth". I heard all the stories. But besides her beautiful smile I think that was what attracted me to one of you 21 years ago. I needed to be in the compnay of a "sickth" type person. Now we have two wonderful "sickth" children.

Guys, you both have valid points. Can we avoid a big argument here? (Hate to ruin FreshAir's thread) QQ, that is an awesome link. I saved it to send to a few people I know who can really benefit from it. Oldies, I hope we can meet in person someday or talk on the phone. It is not easy to summarize on a thread 25+ years in TWI, Way Corps, etc. There are no simple answers here. It was a gradual erosion. There were benefits and there were good people who were hurt badly and so unnecessarily. I don't know if I will ever understand what happened. But I am striving to do as Buds suggests and not hold bitterness. Part of what helps me do that is to share my experiences both good an bad. I am not bitter but I feel compelled to speak the truth about certain situations so that others may avoid similar pitfalls. TWI itself is obviously trying to change due to this openess. But in my opinion they have waited too long to fix it. Irreparable damage has been done. As I have shared before, I honestly think the best thing they could do for themselves and others at this point it to close up shop and start with a fresh approach under a completely new name with a completely new direction with new leadership and trustees in a less secluded area. A spinoff! Problem is, it appears that there is no one with enough vision or inspiration in their ranks to do this. My few cents after a long Monday. John R.

The debate continues. I read this: "If you use your computer more than a few hours per day, we suggest you not to turn off your computer at the end of the day. Instead turn off only the monitor to save electricity. Daily power up and down makes the components exposed to high and low temperature cycles that are not good for the life-time of the components, particularly the critical ones such as hard drives, CPU, and memory. The temperature cycle would result in expansion-shrinking cycle for the components. The life-time of electronic components would be increased if they are run at constant temperature through adequate ventilation."

Righteous - but I like the pretty lights in my fans: Fans with lights I think I will try this instead (so I can have even more lights to be mesmerized by) and try turning the fans down or off when not needed: Rheobus with lights

Buck posted a few lines of John Shreve's famous lyrics on another thread. I laughed so hard remembering those songs. "At the Rock doo doo doo dooo dooo doo! We'll be drinkin lots of coffee and be servin up Agape at the Rock doo doo doo doo doo doo"... or the other one: "Circumsize, beady eyes, Jewish legal regal beagles"... Someone needs to post all the lyrics of these songs. Ha! They were great. John, you were way ahead of your time.

Hal Smith! The best wallpaper hanger in the world. How are you? I'm still here, man. Lakeland hasn't changed much but Tampa has. If you come to these parts again sometime, please visit. Those are some good points. I, too, missed out on some history with my family because of putting the ministry first for 25 years. We were never really encouraged to become close with our family members unless they were in TWI or grads, etc. For example. most of my Thanksgivings were spent in TWI settings, not with my wonderful family. They must have thought I did not care. But they were loving anyway. What was that dumbass phrase that was thrown around ... "Spirit is thicker than blood." FreshAir, good to see you again too! Having served in top leadership positions in TWI as long you did, I respect your inside point of view. This news article written by someone who has never been in TWI provides a similar conclusion. Notice this mans choice of words "secretive and reclusive group". Why did he use those words? "The leadership at The Way has been wracked with turmoil and scandal in recent years. Following the retirement and death of its founder, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, the group was headed by Craig Martindale, who was forced to resign amid a barrage of lawsuits and allegations of sexual improprieties. Martindale was replaced at the helm of the secretive and reclusive group by Rosalie Rivenbark, who issued the order that McMullan be arrested." See you later. John Richeson Tampa, FL [This message was edited by igotout on January 12, 2003 at 19:55.]

I just leave them on all the time. Now if I can just get my 6 fans to be quiet. That's another thing that bugs me. We can build a TV that is noiseless. Why not a computer without having to run water through the dang thing? Zixar - I would love to host a UT Server but in my tests I have not been able to connect to it. Probably because I am behimd a router (firewall). I have opened all the appropriate ports. ????? Tell you what. I'll set up a dedicated UT server this evening and leave it on overnight until mid morning tomorrow. I'll call It RichesonTampa or something like that. See if you can find that server and whether or not you can connect. I am on the latest patched version. Thanks, John R.

But I can't use Word and Excel on an XBox. Concerning gaming, Santa got me a copy of Unreal Tournament 2003. Wow! It's great. Internet and LAN play is smooth. Now if they would only come out with Quake 4.

Thanks, Steve for starting that poll. Here is an article relating to XP hangin on shutdown. It may contain that registry tweak you mentioned Zixar: Microsoft Article This link contains troubleshooting tips for XP Shutdown and restart problems: Troubleshooting Shutdown and Boot problems in XP My XP machine reboots in about 90 seconds, 30 seconds of which is the time it is taking to shutdown and begin the restarting process. (When I first bought it I was at a total of 60 seconds.) The new XP one is faster booting than other older machines I have. Why can't this be like a TV - instant on? For God's sake they can put a man on the moon. Maybe someday. [This message was edited by igotout on January 08, 2003 at 23:12.]

How long does it take for your computer to boot up from the time you click on restart to the time you are able to be back up at your desktop with no hourglass. 60 seconds 90 seconds 2 minutes 2.5 minutes 3 minutes More than 3 minutes or None of the above...."my computer hangs on shutdown indefinitely so I have to turn it off and on manually to get it to restart". I did not know how to create one of those polls so I just posted the questions. Answer if you have time. This is interesting. There have been lots of reported problems surrounding this subject in Windows 95 & 98. It got better with Windows 2000. It is supposed to be even better with Windows XP (or so they say). What is your experience?