The Topic of Great Randomness

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by alla:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">What's a region-free DVD player?

... a dvd player that you have will commonly be region coded for the region that you purchased it in. This can be 'hacked' or unlocked so that you can use it for anything, but its often easier (and more legal - hacking it does funny things to your warranty in most cases) to just purchase a dvd-player that is region-free in the first case. </div>[quote]
I should possibly also point out that it's probably easier to get a region-free player outside of the US than it is to get one within it, since most of the companies that use region-encoding to protect foreign distribution rights are in the US.

The big controversy about region encoding is that it means you could buy a legal copy of something on DVD from Japan or the UK, and not be able to play it on a US player. Region encoding was created to discourage piracy, not discourage legal purchasing. So, most tech-heads don't see hacking a player to be region free as a moral/legal issue. Manufacturers, obviously, would disagree. Quite a few players have the ability to be set by the factory to a specific region, and most hacks exploit that type of switching.

In addition, however, the UK/Australia use a different video standard from the US/Japan. In the US/Japan the standard is NTSC, while in UK/Australia it's PAL (there's also SECAM, but we won't get into that). The two standards have different resolutions and framerates, so even if you get past the region code hurdle, PAL<->NTSC conversion is also something you need to consider if you're buying from overseas. Luckily, this can be done digitally pretty easily by interpolating frames and scan lines. Everybody's hoping that (H)DTV will get rid of this hurdle, since that's a new international standard, and has set resolutions and frame rates.

Yes. I watch entirely too much tv.

[Peter Murray]

And the reason for getting a region-free DVD player in the UK is that some anime titles don't look as if they'll ever come out on R2 discs, nor does the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards (the first film I ever saw in a cinema without my family).

They're available on R1 discs, though, and there's a company here in the UK that imports and sells them, so they're not hard to get. So far, the only R1 discs I have are Allegro Non Troppo and the Sci-Fi Channel's Dune. Plus I have a R4 promo disc for Chamber of Secrets.

[Slash]

DON'T you hate when you wake up in the middle of the mornig and you need too pee, and your hands are very dry and even if you put agwa on your hands they are still moldy!!!!!!

[Angel_Star]

I was over at a friend's house for a party. It was funfun. We swam a ton in her pool, and I actually got a slight tan. Slight, mind you, but there is a difference from where my swimsuit strap was. My hair has a slightly greenish tinge to it from all the chlorine. It's icky. I haven't brushed it yet, either, so it's a mess. If I brush it, though, it loses most of the curl. It's rather annoying. Well, we made our own dinner and ate tons of tacos and chips and queso and brownies. We went walking through the neighborhood, (looking for guys...hehe. And drying off, of course.) while I was still in my swimsuit. I wore my skirt over it, and my very transparent cami. It had an odd effect... My swimsuit is orange with black flowery stuffs over it, so the cream sparkly cami looked kinda odd over it. After walking around a lot, we went over to the pond and acted like statues along the road as cars passed by. It was rather amusing.

OH DEAR...my parents and my little brother are skipping around...it's scary.

Well, after we stopped by the pond, we wandered off to the front of her neighborhood where we sat on top of the rather tall wall thing and waved to cars. Somebody honked at my friend while she was leaning over the fence... That was funny. After we all climbed up there, we started shouting things like "honk for Jesus," or "Jesus loves you". We ended up getting honked at like six times, once by these people on a motorcycle who asked us for directions to somewhere.

One of my friends said, "We're gonna become one of those groups of teenagers that everybody's afraid of 'cause they do stupid stuff," and so I replied, "Yes! Let's do it! It'll be sooo much fun!" Of course, I shouted it so loudly I'm sure I woke up half the neighborhood. (It was dark at this time)

Then we wandered back to her house and got in the pool for a few more hours and played Big Booty. We went to bed after talking for hours at around three thirty or four in the morning. We woke up at around nine thirty or so and ate cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast. After most of the people left, C, E, and I got in the pool again. My mum came to pick me up after that, though we were about to eat some more.

Oh! One of my friends was supposed to come, but she didn't show up. We were all so freaked out 'cause she had told us she was coming, and we couldn't get a hold of her on her cell phone or anybody else's phone. So finally, at around eight last night, after we were praying for her 'cause we got so scared, another friend thought of calling Shoe, who happened to be talking to our other friend online at the time. What happened was that somebody on her soccer team had taken her cell phone as a stupid prank, and she didn't show up 'cause she had soccer all day, and she wasn't feeling good. She had us so worried, though.

When we went to the Bible study on Thursday, my friend A left her purse in the bathroom for like ten minutes. When she realized she didn't have it with her, she went to go get it. Well, her purse was still there, and so was her camera and phone, but the $200 she had just gotten from the bank by cashing in her checks for babysitting was stolen. I felt soo bad for her. That money was supposed to pay for camp fees and her father's day present and stuff.

One of my friends is totally crushing on a guy in our group...I think they call the whole going out within the group "inbreeding". I had to point out the errors of using that term...heh, and had a few people glare at me.

I like Natasha Bedingfield. The only song I have of hers is Unwritten, but I've heard one or two others that I like.

After mum picked me up from the party, we went to play miniature golf...or is it putput? Is there a difference? Whatever, it's a really boring course out in the heat of the sun that we go to all the time, and it's really not that fun, but whatever. My mom won, I got second, and my brother got third. There wasn't much difference in our scores, just a couple points.

I find it so annoying to try and type stuff while there are people either talking to me or right beside me, even if they aren't paying attention to what I'm doing. I want to just yell, "Go away! Lemme 'lone!" But then I'd be in biiig trouble. Hehe.

I, being the graceful, coordinated person that I am, tripped while we were playing putput. I feel like it went up my leg and made my hip go all out of wack. It's obnoxious.

I was talking to K about this bite I have that looks like a spider bite and feels like a mosquito bite, and I was <STRIKE>making up as I went along</STRIKE> explaining how there's this new hybrid of mosquitoes and spiders that are fat things with wings and eight legs. She came up with a name for them...speedos. Hehe. We were so loopy...it was bad. Going through the neighborhood singing songs at the top of our lungs, shouting randomly, scaring whoever saw us...it was great.

I had something else to say, and now I can't remember it. Oh! We were right about to go to bed, and I made up this story about Marcus the dwarf who wanted to find out the answer to a very intriguing question: If dwarves have children, will they be even dwarfier? Well, Marcus met up with...I think it was Melinda the midget...so he could find out the answer. He met her through eHarmony and he was from...Italy or France, I can't remember, and she was from Japan. They went to a KFC in Japan and ate tons of food, but they never figured out the answer, 'cause they split up after searching the earth and going through many dimensions and seeing the beans lots of beans lots of beans lots of beans...Anybody watched Magical Trever? Sorry, random. Anyway, so...everybody made fun of my story. One person said, "Why don't they just get married and find out?" But no, that would be too easy. I tried to start telling a story about an ant who wanted to see the ocean, but nobody really wanted me to. E said she couldn't handle another one of my stories.

Oh, the background on that most amazing question. I was reading this book...I think it was a Dragonlance book...and there was a dwarf on the cover, along with a ton of other random people/creatures/whatever. B made a comment about him, calling him a midget, and so I got all mad or something and said that no, he wasn't a midget, he was a dwarf. And B kept going, asking, "If midgets have children, would they be even midgetier?" It's a stupid question, but she was just trying to get me more flustered. So now it's this big joke between us. Pretty amazing, I know.

Oh dear. I do believe that this post just might beat the length of my other one...meh. I rambled a lot, terribly sorry. My brain is swimming, so I can't stay on topic for more than five seconds, and I'm jumping from different days.

When I was babysitting the other night, the kid asked me if my room was the one with beads on the door. I answered, "Yeah...", wondering what he was getting at. Then he said that it was "magical" and that kings and queens have beads on their doors, or something like that. It was absolutely adorable.

Edit: Yup, it beat it. My old one was originally 1,126 words, and this one was originally 1,336 words. I'm not going to bother counting what's in this edit of it. Wheee! I'll leave you alone now.

[chatrboxz0]

i just had my science final a few hours ago and boy was it loooooooooooong! Over 120 questions! but i still finished 20 minutes early and when i looked up from my test paper for the first time in about 2 hours, i looked at the white walls of the classroom and was blinded for a few seconds. then i thought about what to do with the spare time i had. i mean, if it took me 2 hours to do the test, it should take me at least 30 minutes to check it. so i thought about those cool pencils that change color cause they're heat sensitive. then i spent a few minutes with the one i had with me changing the color back and forth. its red and changes to orange.i wish i had a blue one that changed to green, or a green one that changed to blue. that would be cool. blue is my favorite color, or green sometimes. my friend amelia's favorite color is red, so i think she would like my pencil, especially if she liked the color orange because in case you have forgotten, my pencil changes from red to orange. you want my pencil, i know. anyway, if you are still reading this, congratulations, you have just wasted 2 minutes of your life!

[Buran]

Originally posted by Peter Murray:
Hey, I've got five remotes lined up near me.

You need a Harmony Remote. Are those sold over there? I'm using one for my TiVo (they're great; sadly, you don't get the Series2 to my knowledge), a DVD player, amplified speakers, and a TV.

Info at http://www.logitech.com (I'm not related to them, I swear)

[Peter Murray]

There are certainly "universal remotes" sold here, but the five separate ones work (provided I pick up the right DVD remote...) and it seems like a luxury to get one of those. I'd rather get a new printer instead .

Edit: Oh, it's not the sort that I was thinking of. I haven't heard of the Harmony type before, but the UK site suggests it's available here.
I'm fairly sure it was Logitech who did the hand-held scanner (drag it manually across the image, at a consistent speed...) which I used with my Mac Plus.

[seabiscuit1009]

So...today stunk. The weather was horrible, rainy all day. Work stunk, and it was cold too...never listen to the weatherman, he tells lies! LIES! I'd have to say the only really good thing was when this little girl I work with gave me a hug, since she saw me complaining to my coworkers about how bad my day was. It just made my day.

Well, at least this time I know why I'm frusterated/angry. I guess it's about cars, and driving, of course. And my mom. She went with Dad today, and they picked out a nice silver Mazda for her, since she really wanted a new car. With this news, I thought that my parents might allow me to drive the Passat to school and around town and stuff next year, since Dad already has an awesome car (he's got a Porshe.) How wrong I was...apparently, I get to drive the car that I can't really drive that well. You know what car it is? The minivan. Grrr...everything bad I've ever done while driving has happened while I've been driving that minivan...the time I almost hit a BMW, the time I didn't turn the wheel enough and went way up on someone's lawn, the time I got road raged at...and some other stuff too. Oh, and did I mention I can't drive with anyone either? What, may I ask you, is the point of allowing a 16 year old to drive a minivan if she can't drive people around in it? Seriously, people with minivans are in high demand at school, so even though it's a total wreck of a car and is just a piece of junk, it'd be cool if I could drive people around in it, but no...grrrr...

Also, wouldn't it make sense for one of my parents to keep the minivan? I mean, one of them has to drive both my siblings to the same middle school next year, and both of them play the violin, and 2 violins won't fit in the Passat or in the Mazda; therefore, I should get the Passat, Mom should get the Mazda, and Dad should get the minivan, because he also has the Porshe. IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

Actually, not really. I'd even be somewhat ok with driving the minivan and not being allowed to drive people around, if I could just drive my 2 best friends around and no one else.

I'm ranting here...adlkj. Guess I'd better post this, we've got a thunderstorm here, and I've got a feeling the lights are going to go out soon...great, a perfect end to an annoying day. (even so, the car thing is the least of my worries for today, since other bad stuff happened too. Oh well.)

[Bookwyrm Poet]

so, here is my latest sob story
as some of you guys know, I caught poison ivy last sunday, and what you didn't know is this: I'm allergic to it, and to the antibiotic that is usually used to treat it, my doctor thought I might have had a skin infection so I'm on a steroid for that, and on top of it all, tuesday morning 11:26, my brother walks into the dining room (where I am, playing on the computer) and points a mini fog horn at me and from roughly 15 feet away blasts it in my face. That scared the crap out of me, and then I was most POed, so I got up and ran after him(my brother is 17 going on 18 next month, but a total wimp, I'm 6-8 inches taller, and stronger.). He ran down the steps into our basement and ran out the basement door into our back yard
I ran to that door, locked it, and turned to run to the other 2 doors, hoping to lock my brother outside (he was only wearing boxers when he went out.), and I ran into the exercise bike, smashing the 3 outside toes on my right foot, 2 of which have poison ivy. So I still am limping and it hurts just to put any kind of weight on my foot, which means even more medicine(namely ibuprofen.)

I made a kind of map of my basement:
http://tinyurl.com/ecree

[Cress]

Hola peeps. Good god, I never post in here anymore. I feel so terrible. Hey bookwyrm, sorry bout the poison ivy. Itchiness is the spawn of satan cause you can't do anything about it.
I've been reading a bunch of cheesy british teen girly books lately and have found that they are my guilty pleasure.
AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDD...(drumroll please) I GOT AN IPOD!!!!!!!!! *bounces insanely and starts to funfun then looks horribly guilty and hides in a corner* It makes me happy every time I see it. Well actually she...her name is Sam.

[Angel_Star]

VACATION! WHOO HOO! Yesh! I'm going to the beach! So, while I'm out there <STRIKE>roasting</STRIKE>, I won't be here. (In case you couldn't figure that one out on your own...) If I do get the chance to grab a computer, I will, but I doubt that.

My friend will be over here in a little more than an hour. I'm insanely excited...hehe. I need help.

It's official. We took the saxophone back. I e-mailed my band teacher. He's prolly gonna think I'm a wimp who doesn't want to try anything new...meh. Oh well, if he doesn't believe me, that's his problem.

On the bright side, I _am_ getting voice lessons. We're looking at one place right now, and I've a lesson scheduled the Monday after I get back from the beach.

Well, I better go finish up all my junk...we're leaving at like six in the morning, so I have to have everything done tonight.

[chatrboxz0]

And camp is in only 2 days! I am so so so so so so so happy!!!

[ALittleUnbroken]

I would appear to be the only person in the Young Wizards community who would be silly enough to be up at six in the morning.
That's right. It is six in the morning and I have not slept yet. That sun is up, if I weren't waiting for my cousin to pick me up so I can babysit for him later this day I would go to bed. Alas, I am babysitting later today. My cousin called me a life saver. Which is funny because yesterday morning my father called me his savior for making his coffee for him before he got up. Silly men.

[EWizard11]

Hello everybody--

The group participating in the Group Reading of YW is having a chat today (Monday June 26th) at 5 pm EST in the spoiler chatroom to discuss the first book in our beloved series. Even if you didn't know about the group read or weren't planning to participate, everybody's welcome to come to the chat and discuss SYWTBAW. Hope to see you all there!

[Wizardling]

I'm sad cause the encryption on Nintendo DS cartridges has been broken. Now the second-hand market on Ebay and TradeMe is going to be flooded by shoddy pirate copies, just like has happened with GBA games So much for buying NDS games on auction sites anymore