Topics

91

Off Topic / Looking to buy a laptop [need advice]

« on: May 17, 2015, 10:00:44 PM »

Alright so I'm gonna need some help. I barely know crap about computer specs and the knacks that certain options have over others. Well, the majority of you guys are total geeks and yak about your builds a lot so you'd be perfect help!

I'm going to start off by not giving a budget. I don't know exactly what I want to pay for yet although I have reasonable ideas for what I want. Note that I want to buy a laptop; I do NOT want to build and I do NOT want a desktop, so don't try to reason with me.

Preferences:

I want a laptop that can handle any normal situations under normal circumstances. I don't want a piece of crap but I also don't care about bragging rights. I want to be able to run games, watch videos, and Skype as well as normal browsing/uploading for school or recreation.

I've also been having some conflict over operating systems. I definitely want Windows. I like Windows 7 best by far and really hate Windows 8. However, I thought I'd heard that support for Windows 7 is ending soon (if not already). I know Windows 10 will be widely released soon but I imagine that the computers installed with that OS will start off outside of my realm of reasonable spending.

Anyway, I am just looking for some suggestions on what to look for, since its pretty painfully obvious that I don't know what I'm doing.

92

Off Topic / Waco, TX -- Central Texas Marketplace Shootout (9 dead, multiple injuries)

« on: May 17, 2015, 05:10:45 PM »

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/17/waco-gang-shooting/27493915/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/rival-motorcycle-gangs-behind-shooting-texas-restaurant-article-1.2225691

According to this, the scene is still active as more gang members turn up at the scene with weapons. To put this short, multiple (three at least) biker gangs clashed at Twin Peaks Restaurant. Starting as a fistfight escalating progressively to gunfire, a number of people were killed or wounded (9 dead, 18+ injuries). Police were either quick to the scene or already present when the fights broke out and are working on shutting down the area.

Welcome to Modern America.

93

Off Topic / Summer Break

« on: May 13, 2015, 08:10:06 PM »

Well I'm pretty much on summer break now. I had precalculus and English/Comp 1 finals today. Some classes finished a while ago, plus I get exemptions on my two finals tomorrow due to good attendance and grades. So I pretty much just have to go to school tomorrow, get babysat in the cafeteria for four hours, and then leave. Sucks but it's the way my handicapped school works. After that, I never have to attend high school ever again.

Graduation ceremony is this Saturday. Is anyone else on summer yet?

94

Off Topic / This man sinned a lot.

« on: May 08, 2015, 03:35:56 PM »

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X14e9Fwxa8w

I can't just ignore this video. This guy is incredibly lucky to have survived this.

95

Off Topic / Just got accepted to SLU!

« on: April 10, 2015, 06:37:08 PM »

Just got the call today. I'm officially going to Saint Louis University in their meteorology program starting in the fall. My high school grades were also considered great enough that I'll be getting some free scholarship money ($16k per year) as well as a 2/3 discount on tuition since my dad works for the hospital on the campus.

Yeeeees hype, only been waiting since I was what, six years old? Graduating from high school is just over a month.

96

Off Topic / Extreme Midwest Weather (ROUND 2, 1.75" hail + tornadoes)

« on: April 07, 2015, 01:22:32 PM »

You could call this a spin-off of Peavy's thread, and I decided to make this one for my story of today.

Yeah, April tends to be the wettest month of the year in the Midwestern United States. Today was totally unexpected however. I woke up this morning at 6:00am to get ready for school. It was very foggy outside, mainly because it rained last night and I live in an area of rolling hills thus trapping cooler air in the shallow valleys. When I left home a bit before 7:00, much of the fog had cleared but there was still enough to require headlights. I was aware that it was supposed to rain today, but it was only supposed to be very early morning (pre-dawn) and later in the afternoon. A radio update said that the radars were completely clear.

During second hour (about 8:45), I heard some thunder through the ceiling of my study hall auditorium. I opened a radar to find massive thunderstorms descending on St Louis, with a tail of heavy rain and tennis ball sized hail headed towards me. The worst of the storm was still about an hour away, but my phone began to go insane with severe thunderstorm alerts. Throughout my physics class, I kept my tablet next to me with the radar opened as I watched the heavy rain descend upon the town. The sky kept growing darker and darker, almost to the point of literal night. At 10:00, rain began spitting down and I jokingly told my physics teacher that the clocks were 12 hours off (hence the darkness outside).

Five minutes later, incredible torrential rains began falling. It was so thick and so fast that I couldn't see the student parking lots outside the window. It continued like that through my entire last class. At 11:00, I walked to the doors to leave the building. Rain was falling, but it wasn't as crazy as it originally was, so I got in my van to drive away. The rain began to pick up again but I was inside the van now. On the way home, I quickly realized the severity of my situation. Water was covering roads as deep as 8 inches on poorly drained roads and valleys. I probably should've taken the main highway home because I had to keep driving through washed out areas covered in sand, gravel, rocks, debris, wood, branches, etc. Once I got back to the highway, the rain was so bad that the max settings for the windshield wipers were barely helping visibility. I drove 45mph in areas where I normally drive 60. Good thing I did too, because I came around a corner to find that a tree had fallen across the highway. A guy was next to it frantically trying to break it apart and move it; I passed the tree using the oncoming lane since no cars were coming. Once I got to my street, the freshly repaired drainage ditches were overflowing with raging water. I felt the van start to fishtail a bit when I drove over some wet rocks at only 25mph.

Eventually, I got home. I conveniently live on top of a hill so floods are never a dangerous concern to my property, but right at the bottom of my hill where the road curves to the right, all I saw was millions of gallons of raging water. The road was simply not there. I parked in the garage and stood there for a minute. All I heard was "WWWSSSSSSSSHHHHH" from raging water at the bottom of that hill as well as from my creek. My creek is normally six inches deep and only in stagnant pools while the rest remains bone dry. Today, it is beyond three feet deep throughout its entirety and raging at impressive speed.

Anyone else dealing with abnormal weather?

97

Off Topic / Involved in my first car accident as the driver

« on: April 03, 2015, 09:53:48 AM »

Well, not really a car accident in normal terms between two or more cars, but first time where I was the driver and damage was inflicted to my vehicle.

Scenario: I was driving on Interstate 270 (St Louis) going home. It was night (about 8:30pm), cloudy, and there was some distant lightning. I was driving my family's van home from a small group in Creve Coeur, MO and I was the only one in the vehicle. There weren't very many cars around and I was going perhaps 60 to 65 mph. Interstate is five lanes wide and I was one lane away from the far left lane.

Incident: I looked up and saw a dark object swirling through the air towards the left front roof pillar of the van. I didn't have any time to react and just barely managed to pull right a little bit, but the object smashed into the front left side of the van. My blood pressure jolted a bit and I think I uttered something under my breath in reaction and I hit the brakes slowing to about 50 as I looked into the side mirror. The UFO (logical definition) hit the ground and rolled (yes, it was circular in shape) towards the lefthand shoulder. It looked like a hubcap.

Reaction/aftermath: At first I didn't really know what I should do. There was still about six miles left until my exit, but I wasn't about to pull over on the interstate. I continued driving, took my exit, and parked in a commuter parking lot and got out to assess the situation. I was worried that the object could've hit the tire and would prevent me from safely getting home (still 20+ miles away). When I got out, there were fairly substantial dents to the left front fender and the left wraparound portion of the bumper. I uttered something else and decided to call my dad. I just paced up and down talking to him describing the incident and the damage. After I hung up, I drove home.

Damage:


What I Think Happened: A driver in the oncoming highway lanes lost a hubcap while in motion. The hubcap hit the banked side of the wall, jumped over, and wound up flying through the air towards oncoming traffic. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could've been much worse. Had that thing hit the windshield or the driver side window, I might not be posting this.

98

Off Topic / Russia shared another bad idea (20,000km HIGHWAY London to New York)

« on: March 31, 2015, 08:50:23 AM »

Russia what are you doing

I don't know about you guys, but this proposed trillions (yes, that's plural) of dollars of development seems a little unnecessary. It's interesting to watch them come up with ideas, but nearly 13,000 miles of road over multiple countries seems farfetched.

99

Off Topic / Large tornado through Tulsa, 1 dead (CNN news in OP)

« on: March 25, 2015, 06:06:24 PM »

TORNADO WARNING
OKC113-131-143-145-252315-
/O.NEW.KTSA.TO.W.0006.150325T2245Z-150325T2315Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
545 PM CDT WED MAR 25 2015

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN OSAGE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...
  SOUTHWESTERN ROGERS COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...
  CENTRAL TULSA COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...
  NORTHWESTERN WAGONER COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* AT 543 PM CDT...A CONFIRMED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO WAS LOCATED
  NEAR TULSA...AND MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

  THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

  HAZARD...DAMAGING TORNADO.

  SOURCE...WEATHER SPOTTERS CONFIRMED TORNADO.

  IMPACT...YOU ARE IN A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. FLYING DEBRIS
           WILL BE DEADLY TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT SHELTER. MOBILE
           HOMES WILL BE DESTROYED. CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO HOMES...
           BUSINESSES AND VEHICLES IS LIKELY AND COMPLETE DESTRUCTION
           POSSIBLE.

* LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH INCLUDE...JENKS RIVERSIDE AIRPORT...
  TULSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...TULSA...BROKEN ARROW...CATOOSA AND
  ONETA.

THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 44 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 217 AND 240.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES. TAKE COVER IN A
BASEMENT OR STORM SHELTER NOW!

&&

LAT...LON 3626 9611 3620 9552 3595 9559 3604 9603
      3608 9604 3608 9615
TIME...MOT...LOC 2245Z 278DEG 34KT 3614 9602

TORNADO...OBSERVED
TORNADO DAMAGE THREAT...CONSIDERABLE
HAIL...1.50IN

$$

I betcha that Tulsa is going to be making the news tonight. These storms will be tracking up I-44 straight for my location. I'm torn between whether I want the storms to weaken or continue onward.

Best of luck to those in Tulsa, you're going to need it.

Post-storm: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/weather/oklahoma-tornado/

1 dead

100

Off Topic / Been dealing with broken sleep

« on: March 23, 2015, 09:04:13 AM »

I'm sure this is an issue for just about everybody at one time or another, but I've been having issues with sleeping. For the past several weeks, I have not once slept through an entire night. Last night, I woke up at least once every hour (went to bed around 10:30pm, got up at 6:25am), sometimes more, which is the worst night I've had so far.

I've seriously packed up and moved out of my bedroom into the guest bed (bigger bed, darker room, and more comfortable) in my house, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Over the weekend, my parents and sisters were gone so I spent a couple hours during the day trying to catch up, which more or less worked. I don't feel tired right now but I know I will later.

Just thought I'd say something since I'm assuming this is a common issue.

101

Games / Garry's Mod add-on suggestions?

« on: March 14, 2015, 07:42:45 PM »

Simple. I've recently started using Garry's Mod and am trying to acquire some recommended or popular add-ons.

Note: I do not have CS: Source or HL2. I would like to get them in the future but can't because I don't have a PayPal/gift cards and can't download games on home internet.

Thanks.

102

AoT Clan Discussion / Rival Clan: The Stop Signs (BadSTOP kills ABlockOfCheese)

« on: March 11, 2015, 09:32:57 AM »

We are in grave danger!

Now clearly, all of us AoT veterans are familiar with the original stop sign.

Appearing maliciously across the AoT boards, the stop sign clan has been wreaking havoc in the EB games clan.

But now they have taken it too far.

I have received several threatening PMs from the leader of the clan:

This woman being mauled by a wayward stop sign is particularly unnerving. It reveals the clan's true intent: violence.

And what about this one?

This stop sign is signifying that we can never escape their watch. We will always be surrounded.

And get this, the stop signs have managed to recruit the police departments of every jurisdiction in the world. Whenever someone tries to escape stop signs, the clan deploys police officers to hunt down those that attempt to escape. They steal your money and use it to fund themselves.

We need to make our move now before it's too late. We must stop the stop signs to a bring a stop to their stopping.

Let's kill stop signs and take back our board!




Recruiting open! Join now!

Confirmed stop signs:

Electrk
The GI of MA
Frequency

103

Off Topic / GLAD MY DAD DIDN'T HAVE WORK YESTERDAY (heli accident, 1 dead)

« on: March 08, 2015, 05:26:22 PM »

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/2015/03/07/one-dead-after-medical-helicopter-crash/24552157/

My dad works at Saint Louis University Hospital as an MRI technologist for the company, Tenet. Well yesterday, on the way to a call, the hospital's helicopter was arriving at the hospital and somehow had an accident. The helicopter fell off the top of the building with the driver still inside and crashed into the TenetCare parking lot where my dad parks when he goes to work. The burning crumpled metal landed on an unoccupied pickup truck. It exploded in an inferno, according to a witness on the news last night, and then continued to repeatedly explode until the fire was put out.

The helicopter operator was killed. The wall of the hospital that the helicopter crashed into contains one of the $100k+ MRI machines that my dad works with. Because the helicopter did not directly impact the wall and rather slid down the side of the building, the concrete was not broken and nothing inside was damaged.

104

Off Topic / Post awesome/cool things (gifs, videos, pics, etc)

« on: March 04, 2015, 12:42:24 PM »

Been searching around for a thread like this but the relevant ones that I'm finding are too old and I found a video that's totally awesome.

I'll start off: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEH4Tj-eQa0

Everyone has seen 9/11 footage, so look it up on your own instead of posting it here.

105

Games / Longest gone Steam friends

« on: February 24, 2015, 05:37:30 PM »

Not hard to figure out the point of this thread. Post your friends who have been gone for the longest amount of time.