I don't doubt that your next door neighbour is quite the craftsman, but I have to wonder that for the hobbyist doing everything by hand is not only untennable it's downright soul-destroying! Obviously he's a pro - which is quite a difference. You screw-up by hand and it's a significant amount of time down the drain. Cutting a perfect rabbet by hand is simply a watse of time these days as is cutting tennons by hand. I can understand that using your hands gets you "closer" to the medium so to speak (my father is a sculptor so I do understand this thought process) and I am always in awe of those who can make perfect cuts like this by hand. But for the hobbyist ... I think that's another ball game. I's like to use some of my hand tools more often, but I just don't have the time.

Woodworking is my hobby also. I've made many pieces including dressers, bookcases, and an entertainment center. If you have the space and can afford it (they are pretty cheap at the lower/smaller end), I would highly suggest you buy a table saw. It doesn't have to be a large one - say a 10-inch blade. See if you can get one with an expandable table. Not only does this tool save you an enormous amount of time for cutting and ripping, it will provide repeatable cuts. I initially just had a frame saw and a straight-edge that I made. While this proved effective, the constant measuring and clamping of the straight-edge and then ripping with the frame saw took ages. The table saw is a versatile tool too. You can buy dado blades for cutting dados and rabbets, can cut mitre angles, tennons etc. After this you'll be hooked and will then start looking at compound mitre saws, routers (a router is a brilliant and invaluable tool too), scroll saws .... Also, if you plan on doing much re-finishing, save yourself hours and hours and pain by buying a sander. Again, it doesn't have to be a huge belt sander, but it will save you endless hours of tendious sanding by hand. In fact, buy one anyway - you'll need it regardless of whether you are re-finishing or just building from scratch. Welcome to the best hobby anyone can have!

pcto wrote: You know Millar has recognized he's taken EPO, don't you? Given that I mentioned this specifically, I'd say yes I do ... learn to read. pcto wrote: Do you know who's his doctor? Yes I do know who the Italian Doctor in question is. And while that may lead to suspicion, that is all it is. You said you knew "for sure". So please, enlighten us or STFU. pcto wrote: Do you know what Greg Lemond has said about him? Oh well, must be true then. I mean it's not like Greg has ever said anything bad about Lance before. So, again ... please tell me EXACTLY how you "know for sure" that Lance is taking EPO or any other banned substance.

Great! Since you know this for sure, you must have the evidence. Post it here. You *do* have the evidence right, because otherwise you'd just be full of crap and that can't possibly be true. Can it? I bet you were the one that told the police to search Millar's home too, seeing as you know this for sure.

The VFR 750 was one of the best bikes ever built. Brilliant motorcycle.

Had to give up the ZX-9 when my first child came along :(

I'm presuming that when you perform the ^ on the two byte data types (which are Integers, btw), the compiler performs an implicit conversion to Integer. You are then trying to assign the resultant integer value to the newly declared byte array. You probably need to cast the result back to byte. Or I could be totally full of it :-O

If it drives me to work too that'll be great because that costs way more than my car :-D Why no HDTV? That's a deal breaker right there!

I believe the Bill To and Ship To addresses have to be the same :)

:omg:

Thanks Heath. It's funny you should say that about the Dell install. Whatever I get I pretty much plan on formatting the drive and doing "my" install anyway. I have had good experiences with Dell in the past, but just wanted to see what else was out there - mainly because I have been reading horror stories about the Hitachi LCDs that were being shipped with the Dells if you chose the WSXGA+ screen, which I plan on doing. If Dell can assure me that I'll get the Samsung screen, then I'll probably get one! Cheers, Andrew

OK, I know many of you here use laptops and a good variety of them. Given that I cannot make up my mind, I'm going to ask you good people to do it for me! I have been looking at the Compaq AMD64-based R3000Z and the Dell Inspiron 9100 (the XPS only ships with a 1900x1200 screen and that is too tiny for me and I don't want to up the DPI setting). So, given these requirements, please spend my money and tell me why! Intel: 3.0 Ghz w/ HT and above AMD: (don't know too much about these CPUs ... would want speed similar to the Intel above) RAM: 1 GB Screen: WSXGA+ (1600x1200) Graphics 64MB+, dedicated if possible Sound: Don't really care HD: 60+ GB. The Compaq only has 4200 rpm, the Dell I can get a 7200 rpm. This will be used mainly for development. But, it absolutely HAS to play Doom 3. Assuming iD ever finish it. I know this is an oft-repeated and boring thread, but I just cannot make up my mind. Budget is up to $2500 USD. Alienware is not an option! Thanks. P.S. So far the Compaq is about $2,050 and the Dell $2,450 with configured options.

More importantly, what kind of 64 did you get? 754, 939, or FX? Like I said, check out www.motherboards.org.

With due deference to the peeps here, I strongly suggest you pose this question in the "recommendations" section of the forums at www.motherboards.org/forums.

I'd suggest taking a look here.

Well, that all seems somewhat disappointing somehow. The mystique of these bodies lies largely in the belief that they do all those cloak-and-dagger things. All this openness seems, well rather soppy. They'll all be wearing pink carnations in their Saville Row suits next and helping old ladies across the street instead of pushing them under a bus. I refuse to believe! Bodie and Doyle are turning in their video vault graves ...

Mine had 0.5 k RAM. And I had to build the kit myself. ZX80 ... now, those were the days!

Brain: What he means is he doesn't know what class of degree he'll get. It's like saying, I know I'm getting a CS degree but I don't know what my GPA will be until after the exams. In the UK (at least when I did mine), your degree class isn't really known until your final exams are graded. You get a First (like a 4.0 GPA), a 2:1, a 2:2, 3rd, pass. Unlike the US, you don't usually accumulate a grade as you go along. So you can do nothing for 4 years and kick ass on the finals and still get a 4.0 (I know this from experience!).

Go Aerobic! Who knows the accuracy, but this is interesting: Calorie Calculator I did a 110-mile bike ride yesterday. Took 6 hours in the saddle. According to the calculator, I burnt over 4600 calories. A combination of aerobic activity and your Bowflex would be ideal I'd have thought. Best thing you are doing is managing it sensibly. Weight loss should be gradual and managed - not sudden. Your body needs time to adjust.

Its only good when they goose-step in line though, eh? Damn French and their notions of Free Will and Sovereignty.