General Chatter

A new theme thread for discussing everything about... you guessed it: Books!

What are you reading right now? What are your favorite books? Who are your favorite authors? What kind of books do you like? Non-fiction? Fiction? Adventure? Suspense? Poetry? Mystery? Textbooks on computer game modification...?

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To start things off, I'm almost finished reading Frank Herbert's "Dune" series (started the sixth and final book, Chapterhouse Dune, a couple days ago). If you're not familiar with the series, apparently it's the "Bestselling Science Fiction Adventure of All Time" (according to the self-promotion inside the front cover). I find the books to be quite entertaining, as well as deep enough to be thought-provoking at times. I'm really enjoying the series and wish I read this stuff years ago (the last book was published in 1985). I don't think they're better than my all-time favorites, but are certainly worth a re-read at some time in the future (if I have the time).

RIP to the 32 killed in the Virginia Tech School Shooting. My Godparent's daughter attends there. She is okay, but it doesn't let me breathe any easier. RIP for the victims and for the killer, because clearly something was going wrong for him.

For those who haven't heard this, please look it up, I don't feel like explaining what happened.

RIP

Music lovers celebrate?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2110314,00.asp

This sounds nasty... everyone here always sets up a custom password for their computer equipment don't they?
If you don't, then read this:
Drive-By Pharming: How Clicking on a Link Can Cost You Dearly

Well, if that's the case then it seems that Intel is working on something you might be interested in... How does an 80-Core chip sound!
:woot:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2093952,00.asp

Yeah, I know it's just a research chip (and won't be ready for retail production for a couple years) but just the concept sure does sound sweet.

I'm not planning to install the Vista update just yet..
as Windows XP seems to be doing the job OK, at the moment..

does anybody have any feedback on how our fave game(s)**
behave with the new Windows operating system..??

**(..obviously, including DS1 and LOA!)

Greetings, my dungeon siegeing allies. Upon hearing the news of a Dungeon Siege movie, I was overjoyed. But upon realizing its cruel fate, I was enraged, and, out of... madness, I suppose, authored a bit of something, in a fanciful mindset of thinking that this could be the actual movie. Ah well. Here it is. I'll finish it sooner or later.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

As I deeply inhaled, I was met by the rugged aroma of wet dirt, sharp evening air, and valued above all, utter contentment. I glanced to my left fleetingly to see my few chickens loitering about, pecking at the ground and squawking back and forth to each other pessimistically, and looking up slightly, I saw the tall green trees brushing each other fondly in the wind, and naught but absolute calm undercurred my mind. I was... in a wonderful world, one without care, without doubt, without fear, without strife. I was... submerged in an idyllic time. Paradise. If I could have the choice to have never lived these past few months, just to feel that beautiful emotion of undisturbed, subtle joy, I would. It may be the nostalgia talking, but those final halcyon hours are the one thing I'll never have again.