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3. One O’ Clock – One Really O’ Clock

October 16th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Possibility | #
   I went to the library at one that afternoon as I had promised Sam.  It wasn’t that I actually took him seriously.  I really didn’t.  More or less, I was just rather curious what he was up to, and I didn’t have anything else to do that day.
   The drive took a few hours longer than I would have liked.  As mentioned before, there were no freeways or highways in the town, due to what appeared to be a never-ending construction project.  Traffic lights in this part of town were incredibly slow.  I remember I used to time it with my watch when I was little, and my parents were taking me somewhere.  From the moment the light went red, to the second it flickered green, my watch had counted a total of eight minutes and thirty three seconds.  The car barely reached the other side before the light flickered yellow.  I don’t quite understand it myself; you often saw cars from all four sides, just sitting there for minutes on end, all on a red light.  It didn’t help that there were about nine traffic lights to drive through, in order to get to the library.
   When I got there, I noticed that the parking lot was rather empty.  There were one or two cars there, and the owners only parked there to have an easy walk to the Wal-Mart right next door.  It didn’t strike me strange right that moment.  I’m not sure why; it just never occurred to me something was odd.
   I only realized my mistake when I reached the entrance, and on the door would not slide open.  A post-it note was stuck on the wall next to it, reading “Closed today! Sunday!”
   Perhaps he meant for me to meet him outside the library, I thought hopefully.  The cost of gas was going up quite a bit, and I did not like to think that I drove all the way here for nothing.
   I stood there for a while, searching the lot for any sign of him.  It didn’t help that the town was under a fairly intense heatwave.  Strange I didn’t recall it being so hot the night before.  If it were anyone else besides Sam Pete, I wouldn’t hesitate calling their cellphone.  However, this was Sam. After a few minutes, I gave up and started my drive home.
   It wasn’t all that unusual for someone to not have a cellphone.  There were plenty of people who had their reasons as to why not to have a cellphone.  One story that goes around is that cellphones can cause cancer due to radio waves transmitted from it.  I don’t think that it is all false, but it isn’t as if you plan to superglue the phone to your face all day.  Another story that went around was quite a few ways weirder.  Recently, there had been a small group of people claiming the phones were capable of implanting small devices into your head as you used it more and more.  With these small devices, some secret organization who made them will at eventually take over the minds of people.  Amazingly enough, this group gained a large number of followers, nearly a quarter of the town.  These are some of the reasons that go around against having a cellphone.
   Then there’s Sam.  His story was as outlandish you could possibly get.  Sam had this thing against all things electronic.  For cameras, he honest-to-god believed the myth about having your soul sucked away when you get your picture taken.  For televisions, he insisted people were being taken from this world and trapped in the screen.  Finally, Sam claimed that cellphones were strange alien devices used to by extraterrestrial beings to spy and study our bad habits.  With enough knowledge, they would be able to start an anti-human philosophy, in order to live an enlightened life and avoid all our mistakes on Earth.  However, Sam argued that watching us live would only pollute and ruin the minds of these great beings.  With that, he insisted on protecting the aliens from our horrifying ways of life, by disposing of our cellphones.  Sam had no followers.
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4. Discovery Zone

October 16th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Possibility | #
Sam Pete
   My name is Sam.  Sam Pete.  Call me Mr. Pete and I’ll strangle you.  People try to act polite around me, but I know deep down in their little minds, I am nothing but rubbish to them.  And I agree!
   People these days are far too busy to care for one another.  A man in a wheelchair, hit by a bus, wouldn’t last long if there were not people paid to save him.  Kids would run right by without noticing.  Men and women would scurry right past like lab rats, hurrying to wherever they were off to.  The logic goes these days that there is simply no reason, to think highly of another, unless they will get you rich or take you to high places in the future.  There’s just no other reason to care.  Many times one may wonder whether these are real, intelligent life forms that are actually capable of thought, for they often show no signs of it.
   Hence why I would make not a difference to anyone.  Just like anyone else in anyone’s eyes, I am nobody.
   That is, I am nobody until now.  I have happened across an incredible discovery recently that will no doubt change the world.  It is this discovery, that will perhaps not only mark one of the greatest events in the history of mankind but also the most vital.  The existence of mankind depends on this discovery.  It is crucial that the people of this town know, that perhaps the entire world knows.
   I must however carry this out carefully.  For one, nobody would believe a nobody about nothing.  I also lack the ability to plan this carefully to begin with, so I really do need somebody to help me with this.  There is only one person I know of who might have half a chance of believing what I need to tell, and that one person doesn’t appear to be coming!
   I gazed through the dark parking lot impatiently.  It seemed incredible how the afternoon could have been so scorching, and now, in the midst of the night, it was so terribly chilling.  A couple of paper bags glided along the road, like tumbleweed in the desert.  There was only one lamp in the entire lot, and I dared not turn away from it to face the pitch-black behind me.
   A town clock rang in the distance.  I checked my watch.  It was 1 AM.  Where was he? I should have known he wouldn’t take me seriously.
   While in deep thought, I failed to notice the low, steady humming filling the lot.  Before long, I felt as if I were trapped in a giant dome with incredibly loud and distorted speakers.  My ears felt inverted and putting my hands over them only made it worse.  By now, the actual lot itself had begun to tremble.
   Something hard smacked the back of my head.  I felt lightheaded for a moment and turned around.  All that lay before me was outstretched darkness.  My eyes widened as I realized my mistake, and I spun quickly back around.  It was still dark.  I turned and turned again in place, but I could not find the lamp.  The world all around me had gone black.
   The humming intensified and became a sharp ringing in my head.  I ran forward, desperate to find some sort of landmark to figure out where I was.  I felt the ground beneath one foot rise.  The earth was breaking apart.
   Then it all stopped.  I couldn’t hear a thing, but I felt immense pressure at the front of my face.  The back of my face felt just fine.  My body was paralyzed however.  I couldn’t even lift a finger.  I felt nothing, heard nothing, and saw nothing.
   But my thoughts were louder than ever.
   Where am I? I heard myself think.
   Right here you moron!
   Where is here?
   On the floor like a pathetic worm!
   Why am I on the floor?
   Because you got knocked down!
   I don’t remember being knocked down…
   Well I do!
   How can you remember something I do not?
   Because I am better than you!
   But I am you!
   Says you!
   “Do you like cake or pie?” said a deep, stolid voice.
   I like pie.
   Cake you moron! Wait who’s that?
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5. The Not-Remembered, Forgotten People

October 16th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Possibility | #
   I didn’t sleep easy that night.  The wind had risen miraculously; it felt as if the town was in the middle of a hurricane.  Every few moments, something thudded against the wall outside.  I think it was probably a branch of the old oak tree next to the house, but I wasn’t sure.  Every time, the wind picked up, the house was filled with a deafening roar.  The shingles on the roof rattled wildly, and the shutters slammed open and shut, although I do believe I had them padlocked.  If I hadn’t turned up the heat and turned on a little bit of music to listen to, I would be scared stiff.
   Suddenly a bright flash filled the room without a sound.  Was it lightning? I glanced outside the window, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  I flipped the lights on and off, but they produced a dim, incandescent light, rather than the glaring white flare I had seen.  I was very tired, and I probably imagined it.
   I decided to go downstairs for a glass of water.  Every step created a low creaking of the floorboards.  As I neared the kitchen, there was a low dripping noise.  I thought I saw a dark shadow sweep over me, but the entire house was dark so I don’t know what I was thinking.  I switched on the lights.  The faucet was dripping water, even though I don’t recall using it today.  I grabbed a cup from the dishwasher and reached over to turn it up all the way.  Something foul and rotten filled my nostrils.  I gazed down, but there was nothing except the drips of water that had fallen.  Maybe another rat found its death at the blade of the food dispenser; that tends to happen every now and then.
   With the cup of water in hand, I sat down at the diner.  Something was different about the water; I couldn’t figure out what.  I must be imagining things again; I always do when it’s so late.  Without further thought, I gulped down the water, and regret it I did.  The water was filled with dirt.
   I ran over to the kitchen sink and started rinsing my mouth straight from the tap.  Somehow I had forgotten where my water had originally come from, and I ended up spitting my mouth dry.
   What was dirt doing in the tap water? My first impression was that whoever managed the water system had screwed up again, but then again it was pretty stormy tonight.  Perhaps something had broken.  Was the repair still open this late?
   I glanced at the clock.  It was one o’ clock.  One o’ clock.  Did Sam mean one in the morning? That’d be crazy, but Sam was indeed crazy.
   The wind was a lot stronger than it seemed from inside the house.  Several times during the drive, the car skidded sideways and sometimes refused to move against the wind at all.  It might have been my imagination, but to me, it felt that the farther I drove, the stronger the winds got.
   I finally got close enough to see the library in the distance at around twenty-five minutes.  It definitely wasn’t empty.  Something shiny flickered from the lot.  As I approached nearer and nearer, it got larger and larger.  It made everything else around it appear miniaturized.  It looked pretty solid and round.  It was silver and unscathed.  It was huge and out of place.  It was Sam Pete’s car.
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6. Out of This World and into Another

October 16th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Possibility | #
   Sam Pete would never leave his car out unattended in such an insecure place.  The hour was very late, and his car stuck out gleaming like a diamond in a pile of coal.  Our town may be small, but we had our own problems just as all other towns did.
   Wait.  It was the dead of night.  My car was shut off, and there were no lights for miles.  How was Sam’s car gleaming?
   I approached slowly, repeatedly glancing from side to side.  Yet, I could not figure out where the light was coming from.  I don’t recall Sam having turned his car into a giant light bulb, though it did look ridiculously like one.
   When I had come within a few feet of the car, I had to shield my eyes and turn away.  The car was that brightly lit.  I even felt a wave of heat radiating off of it.
   I’m not sure what came over me just then, but I had a strange urge to feel how hot the car actually was.  My right hand shot out and went smack into the slick, cold steel.  Cold steel.
   Nevertheless, I felt heat from pouring down upon me.  If not from the car, then from where? As I pulled my hand away, I noticed something strange.  My hand created a thick, solid shadow about the surface of the car.
   Just as I glanced up, the light and heat disappeared, but I saw it.  I glimpsed it.  A huge, white flame hung above me and the car for just a split second, before silently jetting off into the night sky.
11-26-06
   It all seemed like a dream to me.  There was absolutely no sound, almost a similar feel to a silent movie.  It was just too surreal; I must have been dreaming for sure.
   I reached into my pocket, found something round and rubbery, and threw it at Sam’s car to have it rebound straight back at me.  If this was no dream, I should probably feel something.
   As it flew, I caught a glimpse of what I had thrown, but it was too late.  The cap flew off as the green, egg-like object soared through the air.  It missed the exterior of the car completely and crashed through the side window.  For no apparent reason, I jumped up into the air as high as I could, not sure if out of surprise or an attempt to find cover.
   Yet, nothing happened.  I inched my way toward the car to see if the grenade was still there.  My common sense seemed to have eluded for the moment.  I wasn’t sure what I was thinking.
   An explosion sounded from within, followed by the shattering of the car windows, before the metal exterior of the car itself finally ripped apart and shot off in all directions.  I leapt up into the air again, again for no apparent reason.  A sheet of metal somehow struck me just perfectly at my feet to boost me several feet into the air, where force of the explosion caught and threw me up even higher.  I waved my arms frantically to find hold of something.
   Something hit me in the face.  I swear it was a potato, but it was too dark to be certain.  I reached out my right hand as far as I could to find it.  Instead, my hand collided promptly with a cold hard metal.  The rest of my body followed, crushing my outstretched arm and smashing my nose for the third time.
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AOE3 Racer

October 15th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Just came up with the awesome idea today for a map in Age of Empires III.   One less noted feature of the game is the fact that units slow down when being attacked.   It might be interesting therefore to have a racing game between players.   The strat would be to attack the enemy in order to slow them down, but risk stopping in order to attack, supposing you are using a ranged unit.   There would be walls along the path to allow opponents to catch up as you are attempting to bust through it.   Simultaneously, there would be bonus units you can kill (and waste time on) that would grant you XP.   Reaching certain levels of XP shall upgrade your unit.

        My idea is that you would start at a melee unit, go to a ranged unit, then to an area-damage melee unit, and finally an area-damage ranged unit.

        Of course all units would have the same speed.

        The map sounds fairly simple and I hope I get a chance to work on it later this week! :D

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Grudge 2

October 14th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        I just saw The Grudge 2  today.   It was okay - I didn’t really find it scary.   You could always predict what’s going to happen and the characters all did basically everything people would never do.   Several times they split up (okay they said “Wait here, I’ll check it out!” but same thing :P ) and many times they wandered far off into the middle of nowhere alone.

        I did get some pretty neat ideas for spoof though :P .     If time permits, I might create a short skit “The Grudge: Santa Claus”.   The idea would be Santa delivering presents one Christmas Eve and happening upon that Haunted House.   He’d enter the chimney, gain the curse, and return to the North Pole with it.   What would happen then??? :O :P   I’m not sure what game engine to use, and indeed I am pretty busy.   I hope I do have time to make it though.   For sure, it’d be hilarious :P

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How Green Was My Valley

October 12th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Recently Read | #
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
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FTP Tutorial

September 28th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

A guide and tutorial to using an FTP for Windows

 Several people who I lend webspace to have had trouble using the FTP connection. Therefore, I've written a hopefully easy-to-understand tutorial and guide to using the FTP. Different hosts/servers may vary, but it is generally about the same. Just change the address to whatever your ftp would be. Using the FTP is simple.


1) First open your windows explorer browser (open a folder such as My Computer or My Documents) and enter your address. 


[More]
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One Equals Zero

September 26th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

Proving 1=0, 2=1, and so on…
  Here is a pretty tricky proof that I’ve come across several times. It basically proves that a+b=a, which would mean that 1+0=0, 1=0, 2=1, and so on.

  I know very well how to prove this wrong, but do you? :P
a = b
ab = b²
ab…[More]

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Aliases

September 26th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Random Stuff | #

        So… what other screennames do I go by?

pftq

        Just pftq.   If you see pftq anywhere, it is probably me.   Although I hear rumors that there is a pftq on Age of Kings, which I don’t have; but otherwise it’s safe to assume it’s me.

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Lost

September 26th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Lost by dj_padman1
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One-Handed . . . Again.

September 21st, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Pfffffffffff…. I’m pissed.   Everything seemed to be going along nicely until just yesterday.   I had gotten so used to my right hand out of the cast, that somehow, when leaning back and getting up, I completely forgot about it being in recovery, and put my hand out, again, to support myself.   Needless to say, my right hand did not support me at all.   The second I put my weight onto my hand, my entire arm went numb and  hurt like hell.   The sharp, numbing pain I felt when I first broke my wrist shot right through my arm, most of it focused where the break in my wrist was.

        At first it was just my wrist feeling all paralyzed, but it later spread to my elbow as well.   Apparently my right arm had gotten so weak from being in a cast for 2-3 months (and no pressuring work after) that I ended up twisting my elbow and spraining it.

        The doctor says it didn’t look like I broke anything, but I’m in a sling yet again, to avoid moving any of the joints… I forget how much it sucks being one-handed.   >_<

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ALT Key Symbols List

September 17th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in 42 | #

Šỳmß☼£ś Łïšţ - Ħǻ ħá łøőķ ẃĥàŧ Ī ƒöůńđ!


Want to know how to type those characters and many more? These are alt key codes and symbols. Some people call them alt symbols. Some call them alt codes. Some people call them special characters. So how do you make them? Here's a short explantion:
Hold the Alt key and hit 3-4 numbers on your number pad (make sure numlock is on). You end up with a weird symbol.

A...[More]

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Yahoo Games Can't Join Tables

September 17th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

         Lately, there have been a number of people, including me, that have had problems joining a table once in a room at  Yahoo Games.    Basically, you join the room just fine.   It says connected and everything.   But the problem comes when you try to join a table or create one.   It displays a message that the table is “attempting to pop up” but never does.   The table simply won’t pop up.

       Have you disabled your pop up blocker? Please try that  first to see if that is the problem.   If it is, set it to allow from games.yahoo.com and you should be able to re-enable your pop up blocker again.

      However, that is what I did the first time as well - and it didn’t work for me.

        The next step is to check your Norton Internet Security if you have one.   Even if you disabled the pop up blocker on that, it’ll block the table in the Ad blocker.   Yep, it thinks the Yahoo Games table is an ad.   Go to Norton Antispam.   Then go into the settings for your Pop Up blocker.   To fix this, go to Advanced and remove urls that have “yahoo” in them.   Hope that helps!

        That seemed to be the problem for alot of people.

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H. Sanctuary Finally Updated

September 17th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        I lend a number of people subdomains on my website.   One of them is owner to a Hoisanese Sanctuary, which claimed to have a dictionary.   It went through quite a while however with nothing but a few broken links.

        At long last he finally updated it earlier today.   The dictionary has but a few entries but is at least functional.   Also notable is that it is using my first fully mySQL-powered script. :P

        Go on ahead and visit his Hoisanese Sanctuary. (No I am not Hoisanese, nor do I have anything to do with the site in any way.   I only provide the space for it.)

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Cheaper and Cheaper...

September 13th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Back when I was in 6th grade, the lunch was free at my school and it wasn’t bad at all.   There was lasagna, raviolies, chocolate cupcakes, and other good stuff.   And it was free.

        Now,  this high school I’m in actually charges for lunch, and it isn’t half as good.   The best you get is probably a chicken sandwich or enchilada (rarely).   Yet, even that is not bad compared to what it is now.   First they took away plastic straws and replaced it with this strange powdery one, which seems more like left over housing material cut up to form straws.   Then they started replacing the “teriyaki chiken bowl,” which already had no sauce or anything, with left over popcorn chicken instead of real chicken.   Just recently, they stopped using real napkins and instead had these very stiff and thin ones that seemed more like cheap toilet paper material.

        I once joked that they might even replace chicken sandwiches with popcorn chicken or something.   Well guess what? Now they just grab a couple left over chicken strips (nasty ones too) and put them in a burger bun.   Here’s your chicken sandwich.

        I imagine a few years from now, they might even start offering water instead of milk. -_-

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Something is Better than Nothing

September 12th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

      Ok so it goes that one of my friends thought the assignment due today wasn’t due until like next week.   Neither of us did it the night before.   Later today, one class before it was due, he was told by a friend that it was due.   Well we were both empty handed.

        I decided just to jot a few things down - it’s better than nothing.   My friend thought it wouldn’t be accepted.   One of my other classmates, who stayed up till 2AM  working on it,  had close to two pages done.   I had a mere 5 lines done, jotted down 5 minutes before class started.   Teacher started checking the homework. My friend got a zero for not having anything.   The classmate who had two pages got full credit.   Then came my crappy little paper - that wasn’t even half a page.

        Well guess what? I got full credit! :p rofl my friend and the classmate who spent all night on the 2 pages sure got pissed… lol Guess that goes to show that even a lil bit done helps.

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So Angry, You Break Some Fingers...

September 11th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Cyclist Breaks Finger Punching Bus

        According to the article, there’s this guy who got so angry from not winning the cyclist competition called Tour of Spain, he punched his team bus and broke a bone in his right hand…

        Eh… ok… yeah I know people hit things and cause unbelievable amounts of destruction when they’re angry… but break your own fingers? Just what - how can you not - ah I don’t know what to call it.

        My sympathies for the guy and hope he learns to err… not kill himself with his anger. :p  

287 unique view(s)

Google Image Labeler

September 8th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

      Just browsing around today and I found a few sites pointing to a Google Image Labeler.   Basically it helps Google decide what keywords find what kind of images, by having you tell it what each image it throws at you would be called.

      Here’s the fun part: Whoever else is online at the same time becomes your partner and you work as a team to try and call the image the same name! :O Each image the two of you pass, you will earn points.   There’s even a highscore table! :P lol

        Weird things all over the place these days…

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New Earphones - ER4

September 8th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Ah finally got myself a new pair of earphones after my old ones… broke….. cause of an …accident …. involving a family member dipping them in a cup of juice… Well I decided to might as well go for the later model in the same brand while I’m at it.   The later version, Etymotic ER4P,was currently “80% off” according to the seller - sounded like a good deal.

        Very surprised I managed to find them so cheap :D These were way better than what I had (and I thought those were as good as it gets!).   I see a few screenshots with some rather weird blue and red colors - but  mine fortunately came  in  black (wouldn’t want to be caught wearing blue and red earphones lol).   Comes in a fancy box with about 10 replacement flanges (part of the earphone that goes in your ear), 4 replacement filters (for if the earphones become… clogged),  rotatable clip for the wire, free case, and converter from the mini-jack to a regular.   Sound is great - although bass is a little low (but then you don’t want something in your ears/head to be booming anyways :P ), but the noise-blocking is awesome.   You seriously cannot hear much besides what’s coming from the earphones.   I couldn’t hear the guy talking right in front of me, right to me, while I had them on.   The build is also pretty strong - wire is thicker and stronger than what I usually see - looks more like a powercord :P - but it’s not heavy at all, light as usual (how can you wear earphones that drag you down anyways?).   Very impressed - can’t believe I got them so cheap.   I imagine they must be usually around $100 when not onsale.

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