Zixar

The Westell DSL modem actually contains a small router to act as a firewall. It also has its own DHCP server, which is usually activated when you get it. All you need to do is get a small 4-port 10/100Mb Ethernet hub and connect its Uplink port to the DSL modem, then plug your other 2 computers into the hub. Turn the computers on, and you're done. The modem will assign each an IP address so the two computers can see each other, then the modem takes care of sending and receiving the traffic to each computer via network-address translation, or NAT. That's an easy network to set up. Mine, on the other hand, has four different routers for two broadband connections, although only two are acting as routers at the moment. If I activated the other two, I'd have three complete subnetworks that I'd have to set up static routes for, and that's a bit much to maintain for five computers, a PS2, and an Xbox. So, I use my old wireless router as an access point and a 4-port switch, and my old wired router as a bridging hub to connect to the wireless Ethernet bridge. It does let me get every single computer onto the 192.168.0.x network without having to subnet. It was a bit of a brainteaser to set up, but it works just fine. I still have 5 open wired ports for future expansion, and as many as I can jam down the wireless.

John: Yes, you can use 2 DSL connections or two cable connections, it doesn't matter, although you'd be competing for bandwidth with yourself if you had two modems connected to the same cable/phone. (Not an issue if your neighborhood is sparsely broadbanded.) However, it does mean that if one provider goes out, BOTH lines would go out. If you get different providers, you get the added security of multiple routes, since traffic automatically failsover to the other port if one drops. (The router emails you, too, when one drops out. I tried yanking the plug on both modems one at a time, and sure enough it sent an email to the OTHER account.) Here's a link to the router I got. Xincom 402 $99 at TigerDirect.com Basically, it's just like any other router except it has 2 WAN ports. You can configure it to have bound connections (i.e., whichever line you grab for your 1st traffic, all your traffic stays on that line) or load-balancing (where any packet will go out on the least-used line at the moment.) If your broadbands are of two different speeds (mine are--cable is 3.0 Mbps, DSL is 1.5 Mbps) you can set up the percentage of traffic you wish each line to handle (I set it 65/35 cable/DSL, which is optimal). You can also tell it to force certain apps to always use one port exclusively. This is good for outgoing email, since while most ISPs will let another connect to read mail, you can only send if you're connected to their network. With two load-balanced lines, you could never be sure which one it would go to. Turn on SMTP forced forwarding to one provider, and all your outgoing email will use that line. (Neat!) There's all sorts of stuff it can do that I haven't delved into yet, but it was amazing how little setup it took before I was off and running. I now have 4.5 Mbps of aggregate downstream bandwidth and 640 Kbps upstream, which is fine for what we do. Of course, any single connection can only have the max of one of the providers, but if you have a download accelerator which uses multiple file requests, you can actually download at the full 4.5. Since a T1 line is only 1.544 Mbps (both ways), I have 3x the DL speed and 1/2 the upload speed of T1. Much coolness! I'll run that test tonight.

Oh. My. God. Just got the whole load-balancing dual-WAN router set up. GSC just blasts onto the screen now, since one connection loads the text and the other loads all the icons and whatnot simultaneously. Seamlessly. SWEET! :D--> :D--> :D-->

Professional help for what, exactly? That was an excellent performance, and a decent engineering job on the recording. What's not to like? :)-->

I think the real ones to be p-o'd are whoever lost to Eminem by being 94-100. Oy.

Not surprisingly, I got a kick out of this:

The "needs and wants parallel" clause was Wierwille's "out" for when his "Law" of believing failed to produce. The terms are never defined adequately, especially "parallel". If you're going to draw a mathematical analogy, that's probably the worst possible term. Two parallel lines never intersect at any point. He should have said "equal", or perhaps even "congruent" if he wanted to keep up the pseudo-scientific jargon, but "parallel" is meaningless in the context. So, whenever your prayers weren't exactly answered according to Wierwille's "Law", why, your needs and wants must not have been "parallel"! Of course, there's no concrete instruction on HOW to parallelize those needs and wants, it's just required by fiat. Cute! While I do believe God answers prayer, I do not believe He is the cold, impersonal genie-in-a-bottle that Wierwille's "Law" compels Him to be to "saint and sinner alike". I think there are certain higher truths to which we are not privy that determine the efficacy of any given prayer. And, no, I can't prove it any more than Wierwille could, but it's no dumber than Wierwille's "Law".

socks: Go to SourceForge and look up GAIM. ;)-->

socks: Have you forgotten the first rule of all geekdom? Thou shalt not freak the mundanes... :)-->

Oh, and the Hawking FR24 is about half the price of the Xincom even... but I like the Xincom's features better. The Hawking is basically a failover share instead of a full-time both-pipe share.

Goey: It's the Xincom 402 model. Tiger Direct has it for $99. I managed to get both modems and both of my current routers all up on the same network tonight. Zixette's computer goes thru DSL, mine and the server still go thru cable. That'll change Thursday when I get to take it back down and put it back together again under the load balancer... Some peoples' idea of fun, eh? :D-->

The DSL modem arrived today, the router arrives on Thursday. Mmmmmm...complicated toys... :)-->

Tom: Actually, in Turkey, where apricots are very popular, there have been several deaths recorded due to cyanide poisoning from apricot seeds.

Almonds also contain cyanogenic glycosides such as amygdalin. (As do apple, cherry, apricot, and peach seeds/pits.) Upon digestion, these glycosides release hydrogen cyanide gas... Dont'cha just hate chemistry sometimes? ;)-->

Well, hey! Pork fat is just as "natural" as a soybean, dont'cha know? :D-->

Since I'm now eligible for free DSL service via my employer, and since Zixette's company will pay for our cable modem access, I'm about to have TWO broadband pipes in our house! (For free!) While you can't bond the two directly together, you can use a gizmo called a load-balancing router to attach your network to both cable/DSL modems simultaneously. With this setup, not only can two users get full-speed access without interfering with each other, if one of the lines fails, all traffic is simply switched over to the good one, resuming when the other line comes back up. Granted, most folks won't have both DSL and cable, but for those who work from home, or have large home networks where bandwidth is becoming a problem, or both, the added speed and security of having two different broadband connections can be worth the service and equipment costs. John, you might want to look into it... ;)--> The load-balancing router/firewall I'm getting is only $99.

WG: What do you think? ;)--> The colon is a remarkably resilient organ that is highly resistant to injury in normal use. While cleaning it out chemically might make sense if it was going to be operated upon, interfering with its operation with any substance is not something you do lightly. Most "toxins" are eliminated in one of two ways, your kidneys or your liver. Keep both of them healthy, and your colon will be healthy, too. Cleaning the colon won't help if you have liver problems. Check with a good gastroenterologist. He'll tell you what the best way to care for your colon is. (Eat lots of fiber, drink lots of water.)

WG: Mmmmmm.....salmon! Love it, myself. CoQ-10 is a little on the expensive side, but I take it every day. I dunno if it works or not, but my doc said my homocysteine levels were just fine, so maybe it does. Cholesterol 176, BP 118/72. Guess the meds are doing their job, too. ;)-->

Rule of thumb: If any product uses the words "toxins" or "detoxify" in any of its advertisements, odds are high it's pure snake oil. Lots of things are "natural". That doesn't mean they're good for you. (cf. mercury, cyanide, cobra venom) If an alternate-medicine practitioner treats his methods as though they were more of a religion or a political response to a conspiracy theory, run far, far away. Extremism is never the answer to anything. Eat sensibly instead of fanatically, take only the barest minimum of supplements, be they herbal or pharmaceutical, learn to relax wherever possible, and you can keep the doctors (of all kinds) out of your life as much as possible.

Wonder how much the hardbound Aramaic interlinear volumes would go for...

Wireless can go about 100 feet outdoors. I can sit in my back yard and connect to my wireless router through the wall with no problems. The service? There isn't any extra charge for service, because it's a hardware thing. You need DSL or Cable modem to make it worthwhile, but you could just as easily use it to access a phone modem on an inside computer. It goes: Internet==>cable/DSL modem==>wireless router==>your computers. You can get a wireless router for about $59 nowadays. You need a wireless network connector for each PC or laptop, typically a little USB device or a PCMCIA card. Those go for $43-$79 each. That's really all you need.

suz: Well, he is a teenage boy, after all... ;)-->

Oak: One can but hope.... -->

The muscle pain is the red-flag side effect for Lipitor. If you're sensitive to Lipitor, don't let them move you to Crestor either--it's less safe than Lipitor. Zocor might be an alternative for you, but if you're sensitive to one statin you may be sensitive to them all. Check with your doctor to be sure. I've been on Lipitor for a year and fortunately haven't had any side effects.

Actually, he's getting more Mondaled than Gored... ;)-->