If you can, put a Linux box between the computer you're downloading from and the modem, and use iptraf to see if you have any undesired traffic.

Prodigy is great... at least “The Fat of the Land” is a great album with no weak spots whatsoever (and many flippin' great tracks), the rest I only listened to very little, and liked not so much.

But since you insist on "proving you wrong", I'd like point you to The Alpha Conspiracy, a one man band I came across because the guy was a hero in the "demo scene" before committing to professional music making. This track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qRWyolyJrk is what I'd call "melodic techno", it's very carefully crafted and -to me- enjoyable. It's not my favorite song among the Alpha Conspiracy's, just one of the two I could find on YouTube. My favorite are “Cross Product”, ”Morphic”, “Defend Yourself”, and there's also some pretty strange stuff in the discography, like “Spiral Effect” or “Waterfall”, which is great nonetheless.

Just my $ 0.0254 ('cause I'm European)

I like to think that I love, intransitive verb.

My body doesn't tell anything, my words tell the truth.

If you try to read my body, you're missing the most of me.

Cute and... somehow fitting.

But still, isn't that moment just awesome?

I second that. Actually, the forums are so great I almost forgot this is a dating site. Or is it?

I watched it and enjoyed it, but I guess it had too slow a pace to appeal to wide audiences. The story arc was interesting though, and I loved those 2-3 episodes with unrelated story lines or unusual narrative techniques. The episode with the librarian was awesome! (plus Summer Glau is *so* sexy in her psychopath kind of way )

Dexter = sheer brilliance.

Season 2 was one of the best things I've *ever* seen on TV (the other being Firefly).

As a man, I like to remind myself I have a decency I'm supposed to cherish because no one else is going to do it in my place. Whining and blaming others for our own states of mind clearly goes the opposite way, so... simply put, it's all about being decent and expecting others to be as decent, for their own good and ours.

In my opinion this one of the first milestones of being a man, but I guess it works whatever the testosterone level in one's body.

My story is that Slackware was my first distro, back in 1998. It wasn't hard at all to use but the lack of a proper package manager forced me to compile all the software that wasn't included on the original CD, and while it wasn't hard, it sure was time consuming. But I learnt a lot, then I switched to Debian which I found much harder to understand, but after the added complexity began to make sense, I never used another distro... until Ubuntu - which is as powerful as Debian, but can keep the complexity hidden if you want it to.

Just like OSX by the way.

I didn't mean to be harsh either, though sometimes being overly sincere makes me look that way. I was just pointing out that “removing the filters” is not a universal solution - at least not for us introverts.

If I sometimes zealously “defend our cause” (which actually isn't a cause at all), it's because I now finally understand “what” I am, and I care about those who still don't. So if you tell an introvert to “remove his filters” without him truly understanding who he is (and why “removing the filters” just wouldn't work), chances are he'll try to behave like the extroverts he's surrounded with, he wouldn't be able to fake it for long, people would instantly tell he's being “fake”, and he'd end up with much more self-loathing than he started with. Guess how I know that...

Do you know what happens when I remove my filters? I stay silent and I keep thinking.

That's what being an introvert is like: laughing, cheering, partying and the like *cost* me energy, and I'd rather avoid when I can. It's not that I hate other people by principle, it's just that I think most people aren't worth my attention - though introverts usually are.

After more than a decade of using Linux (and occasionally some other *xes), wanting “the world” to share the fun in doing so, and often getting caught in religion wars, something pretty obvious dawned on me:

it's not a war, you don't have to pick a side.

Sure, each major platform has pros and cons, but given enough cash you can use them all for the best they can do. *Not* given enough cash, on the other hand, automatically solves the problem of ruling out one or maybe two of them. That leaves you with Linux and the BSDs, which are *excellent* operating systems for the price you pay for them, useful for lots of things, and even better than the pricey operating systems at some things (clearly, not all).

Freedom of choice is a good thing, why limit oneself to just one point of view?

(Of course I think Microsoft broadly sucks, but that's just my opinion and I'm fine with those who think otherwise as long as they don't try to impose their choices to me - trying to convince me that Linux is not great can get very frustrating, very quickly.)

Just wanted to say I hate being extroverted.

These days my “social balance” is shifting, which is making me have expectations on people, which is BAD.

I'd rather go back to my usual lonely self than to reach out (again) only to be greeted by “duh, whatever”. I don't want to need other people, I don't want to rely on them for anything. So I hope this emotional storm will pass soon enough.

Or maybe he just doesn't care - not about you, but about continuously telling you (or anyone else) “he's there”.

Often happens with us introverts, who are good guys most times.

The way I see it... you already are in a submissive position and by contacting him first you'd only make it clear just in case he hadn't already noticed.

The way I see it, you broke it off because he was a jerk, right? In such cases, there is no such thing as closure - only repeating the same mistakes. DON'T DO IT.

Or do it, if you're one of those “that makes me feel alive” folks - who am I to judge after all?

8 zerglings on the front line as a distraction, 12 hydralisks as the main attack force and 6 mutalisks for hit and run air support should cover most situations adequately.

I wrote this a long time ago, but my thoughts haven't changed a bit since, so it's worth sharing...


I remember one day, in the time when I knew nothing
I met a merchant on my way, he asked me if I needed something.
I remember I replied: “can you sell me some security?”
He said: “for me, it's all right”, took my innocence and gave me...

The Seeds of Hate will grow strong in these fields of delusion,
watered by my tears of anger, with all my love they grow.
Someday I'll be given the prize for what I've done,
someday I will pluck those fruits, but what will I do with their seeds?

The sun shone warm upon me and the rain poured down so softly;
my heart was such a fertile ground for that gift from far beyond.
Oh my son, will you forgive me for the hurt that I gave to you?
Will it ever be the same when our roads will meet again?

The Seeds of Hate have grown strong in these fields of delusion,
watered by my tears of anger, with all my love they've grown.
Today I've been given the prize for what I've done;
wealth and fame and the lust of power, but innocence is gone.

Being attractive enough has to do with someone cheating on you if your attractiveness is all you have to offer. If you attract women who want instant gratification, you must cope with the fact that it's, well, instant. Today it's you, tomorrow it's some other, as the wheel of life turns.

And what if the lady is faint of heart and is scared to ask?

Anyway, I'm not as shy as I might look like: I'm just (overly) sensitive and caring. I tried the "stick your tongue" technique twice in my life, and it worked both times... but it felt *so* bad for me.

Even when I'm irresistibly attracted to a woman, for me it just sucks to push on her: I want her to always have a choice, and I want to feel I'm being chosen. I don't want to ever force things. The two times I broke the rule, I had to *think* about it, *decide* to do it, and then act. It wasn't spontaneous, so I hope they enjoyed, because I sure didn't.

For me, attraction is about not having a choice, but in a different way: by looking in each other's eyes and realizing there's nothing more to say, and that it's time to let the kissing do the talking.

Few women understand my way, though, and that's why I know the dreaded "friend zone" better than any other.