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Random Q & A Thread - PART 2

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08:40 / 12.05.04

Paypal seems to work OK, although you should get them to cover the additional 3.4% handling charge PayPal's going to levy on you (this will become 'not allowed' on EBay after June 2004). You can try Western Union, but I'm not sure how safe or convenient that is.

Regarding postage, I heard on the radio this morning/last night that Royal Mail's changing to charging by size, not weight, and that this impending change has not been publicised enough. They got their knuckles rapped for it, apparently, so you should ask about that and find out when it's being implemented, as 12" vinyl will undoubtedly fall in the 'awkward so we charge you mucho' size category.

09:21 / 12.05.04

Aaaahhh, I didn't know that about the size - thanks for the tip-off. I shall have to investigate this Pay Pal thing...

19:15 / 12.05.04

Hypothetical:

I'm an American businessman. I want to go into Iraq to try to drum up some business. I don't have a federal contract and I'm not part of any government agency. Can I just get on a plane and go there? How? What kinds of immigration forms am I likely to have to provide?

12:03 / 18.05.04

What is this Matrix Warrior book? I've seen it referenced twice so far, and googling only produces a raft of over-hyped reviews. Was is it really?

13:37 / 18.05.04

Amazon (UK).

A reader writes:

'After reading this book I was compelled to watch the movie again! Immediately I realised that my my initial viewing had completely missed the point of the film. This book is a brilliant study of the human condition and "the terror of the situation" as we live in a form of hypnotic sleep. By reading Matrix Warrior you have a chance to seize the opportunity to be REALLY free!'

As opposed to all the humatons.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

07:45 / 19.05.04

I have on a minidisc a really bad copy of a Soundgarden (though there's a miniscule chance it's Pearl Jam but I don't think so) song which I think is called Touch Me (not to be confused with Show Me) it has the band singing with a femal group (I'm not sure who they are, I'm hoping it's not someone as obnoxious as Courtney Love, they sound L7ish). Now the thing is I con't find this on WinMX now I can't believe it's to rare as I found Chris Cornel singing Ave Maria, which leads me to believe that either I have the wrong song or it's catagorised under the name of the band they are singing with. Can anyone shine any light on this?

Ex

10:15 / 19.05.04

What is this Matrix Warrior book? I've seen it referenced twice so far, and googling only produces a raft of over-hyped reviews. Was is it really?

It's an extrapolation of some of the theories proposed in the Matrix - relevant philosophy presented in an accessible fashion. I think.
I wish I'd bloody thought of doing it. Although then I'd have had to stay awake for the whole of the second film. (Yeah, and not hypnotic brainwashed you-are-all-milk-cows 'sleep'. Actual sleepy-sleep sleep.)

I like 'humaton' but I'm still more fond of 'sheeple'.

pointless and uncalled for

10:16 / 19.05.04

Here are the four locations where you might expect to find a song called Touch Me by Soundgarden.

It's worth saying here that none of them credit input from other bands and there there is no listing on cddb for a song called Touch Me by Pearl Jam. It's possible that this might be a live boot including a supporting/joint head act. In which case you may need to go to a fan site for further details.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

12:21 / 19.05.04

Thanks Seldom, much appreciated.

10:09 / 20.05.04

3D modelling on the computer

Is there such a thing as a simple, 3D modelling package that I can download free off the interweb? I want to make structures in the computer that I can rotate and put realistic lighting on etc, for actual drawing purposes. The simpler the better.

Something that will run on Win95 AND Win2000 would be ideal.

11:02 / 20.05.04

What is this Matrix Warrior book?

Well, actually it's the TRUTH. The Matrix is REAL and anyone who tells you it's simply a fourth rate Philip K Dick rip off with more guns is simply a humanton. Or a sheeple (Q - Is that the correct singular usage? And do they have "sheeple dogs"?). This book is your guide on how to break out of the system and really stick it to the man, man. In short, it's like the Bible, the gnostic apocrypha, the Koran, the Vedas, the Kama Sutra, the complete works of Robert Anton Wilson and all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer all in one, and in no way is a shoddy, pseudo-psychedelic merchandising rip off banged together because any old toss that encourages teenagers to over identify with Keanu, in the hope of losing their virginity, will shift units.

Now I have a question:

Does anyone know of a good, readable, one volume history of the British colonisation in India? The bare bones of why it took place, and what followed. Cheers.

Phex: Dorset Doom

12:33 / 20.05.04

Random question: What is 'Power of attorney'?

pointless and uncalled for

12:42 / 20.05.04

Power of Attorney is when a party signs authority to a second party to engage in courses of action or make decisions on their behalf to a pre-determined level.

For the most part this is a limited financial declaration but can extend to other matters of a life/lifestyle affecting nature.

Ultimately any actions taken under a PoA are subject to judicial review. A PoA can be set to come into effect under certain criteria/conditions where it is known as an Enduring Power of Attorney.

It's roots come from the concept of an attorney being someone that you instruct to act on your behalf (lawyer, accountant, etc) and the provision of a fixed power to be granted to them.

14:19 / 20.05.04

When is Barbelith's newest member, Sonny Jim, going to post something, so I can smartly reply: "Don't come the cowboy with me"?

14:24 / 20.05.04

Grant: Not sure about your travelling to Iraq question, but found this website which seems to be aimed at helping companies work in Iraq.

17:38 / 20.05.04

I have on a minidisc a really bad copy of a Soundgarden (though there's a miniscule chance it's Pearl Jam but I don't think so) song which I think is called Touch Me (not to be confused with Show Me) it has the band singing with a femal group

I know Sonic Youth did a split 7" with Mudhoney -- they each did each other's songs. I believe Kim Gordon's the one who sang "Touch Me I'm Sick."

Think that'd be it?

pointless and uncalled for

08:14 / 21.05.04

I love this quote from the Iraqi Prospect site.

Recent events have clearly demonstrated that any venture in Iraq can run into unforeseen difficulties if decisions are not based on local inside knowledge.

So nice to see decapitation refered to as an unforseen difficulty.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

19:22 / 21.05.04

I've put on a bit of weight recently and also I upped my excercise regimen a couple of months back. Since I build muscle really fast, my thighs bulked up and this has left me with fresh stretch marks. I've had stretchies since my teens, but they'd gone down to the silver streak stage and didn't look so bad. These are really horrible red marks which I just hate. How can I make them fade faster? I'm rubbing them with olive oil and Vitamin E cream, and taking extra vits and zinc.

Once they fade, I'd like to have some tattoos done over the affected areas. I want something subtle that will sort of follow the line of the marks, rather than a lot of drastic cover-up work. Can anyone suggest a nice design? I'm thinking water rivulets, plant fronds, something like that.

Whisky Priestess

21:34 / 21.05.04

how about stylised electronic circuitry, cyborg-fashion?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

23:22 / 21.05.04

I did think of some kind of biomechanoid thing, yes. Maybe half-plant, half-cyborg...

23:39 / 21.05.04

CopyRight:

I've been forced to study copyright in the fields of art and music due to my interest/dabbling in both and as far as I can tell:

If they can tell/prove it's theirs, then they can charge you for it.

50% +or- 50% of said ppl will be happy to come to an agreement, the other 50% +or- 50% are w*****s(sry, it's not my fault)

00:54 / 24.05.04

Sav: Take a look at Creative Arts next time you're in WHSmiths. It always has trial versions of art packages on it. I've got a disc floating around here somewhere with something you might find useful on it - I'll try and dig it out. I'm sure that it must be dowloadable from the company's website.

Anyway, I've got another question. My PC became infected with all manner of nasties a few hours ago. I've cleaned them all up, apart from one piece of shit that's fiddling with Internet Explorer. It's changing random words into hyperlinks, but not just normal hyperlinks. I'm also getting a drop-down menu of 'Related Categories' when I hover over one of these links. Here, for example, the 'Books' forum header is highlighted in yellow and brings up a drop-down suggesting "Books, DirecTV, eBooks..." I know a lot of people had a similar problem when XP first dropped, and I know that there used to be a thread in P&H about it, but I can't find that thread or any info anywhere else. Partly, I suspect, because I've got the name wrong - I thought they were called 'smart links', but Google doesn't return anything useful.

So yeah. I've run Ad-aware and Spybot S&D, and even downloaded a trial version of one of those Internet Cleaner doobries to try and get shot of it, but nothing's worked. I've downloaded Firefox and am now using that as my default browser, so it's not a major issue, but I still don't particularly want whatever it is sitting on my PC. Any advice on how to kill it would be appreciated.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

08:46 / 24.05.04

Cheers for the reply Grant but no I know the song you mean (that song was actually partially responsible for a friend of mine being sent hoome from an ill thought out sociology field trip to Liverpool but that's another story), the song is indeed as Seldom pointed out by Soundgarden and called Touch Me but for some reason is not very popular on Win MX, still if you're not going to pay for your music what do you expect.

I do however have another question. Sometime ago I seem to remeber reading in Barbelith about a some murders or suicides among the American special forces community I suspect in Fort Bragg. Can anyone point me in the right direction for info on this?

11:00 / 24.05.04

I meant smart tags in my previous post, not smart links.

.

11:17 / 24.05.04

One for the London record shoppers:
Q) Does the Music and Video Exchange empire have a branch in Fulham?

I know it used to, and it was opposite the Fulham Broadway tube if I remember right. That was about seven years ago. Now the MVE website (last updated sometime between 2000 and '03) makes no mention of it, but I noticed that they still had that branch listed on a bag I got from the Camden branch a few weeks ago. So anyone been there recently? Anyone live in the area spot it?

15:51 / 24.05.04

Sometime ago I seem to remeber reading in Barbelith about a some murders or suicides among the American special forces community I suspect in Fort Bragg. Can anyone point me in the right direction for info on this?

Here:
Fort Bragg's problem with violence and murder.

Take your pick from those.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

07:32 / 25.05.04

Cheers Grant.

16:06 / 25.05.04

E. Randy>

Good tip, I shall keep an eye out for that, thanks.

Answers sought which would help in this thread:

- how much does the British mainland weigh?
- what is the total area of land occupied by buildings on the British mainland?

16:38 / 25.05.04

Sav> This is the package that I got a trial version of on one of the issues I bought. I'm guessing that the free download there is the same thing - it's basically a cut-down version of the full software. I don't think it was a time-limited version. I've never even attempted to use 3D modelling stuff like that before and managed to knock something simple up after a bit of trial and error. If that download doesn't work, I can always mail you the CD I got it on.

Oh, and the mag's called Computer Arts, not Creative Arts. My bad.

17:53 / 25.05.04

- how much does the British mainland weigh?
- what is the total area of land occupied by buildings on the British mainland?

I wonder -- how deep is the mainland? I mean, are you cutting it off at sea level, or at some point around the average depth of the continental shelf? Or, given the questions in the link, are you talking simply deep enough that if the limestone & whatnot was all replaced with pumice then the mainland would float? (By the way, pumice has a variable weight, so its buoyancy is going to depend on how frothy the lava was when it solidified).

11:40 / 26.05.04

E. Randy Dupre >

Excellent! Sounds like just the ticket, thank you. Ooh, can't wait to have a muck about with that.

grant:

"I wonder -- how deep is the mainland? I mean, are you cutting it off at sea level, or at some point around the average depth of the continental shelf?"

Ah, good question. I suppose I was thinking originally of cutting it off at the continental shelf... yes, let's stick with that, to get the maximum weight, then - if we keep it simple and pretend the coast drops down vertically to the shelf, rather than sloping - we can figure out what a thinner slice would weigh, should we need to.

I suppose one way to get a rough estimate would be to find out the percentage split between all the different rock types that make up the mainland, find out their individual weights per cubic metre and take it from there...

"Or, given the questions in the link, are you talking simply deep enough that if the limestone & whatnot was all replaced with pumice then the mainland would float?"

Ah, the pumice questions were related to a different scheme - TeN's 'Floating Island made of Pumice with a City on it'. The Brit mainland thing is all about tipping it up at an angle - see House Racing, 2nd post down. The weight is needed to figure out how much power would be required to lift it, and the area of land taken up by buildings is required to find out how much of Scotland needs to be set aside above the starting line.

12:01 / 26.05.04

How would someone in the UK go about getting proof of address (for starting a bank account etc) - Amanda is trying but it's not as simple as you would imagine - I think I remember reading something about paying a charge and getting an official letter sent out? Any ideas?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

12:58 / 26.05.04

Woudn't a gas bill do?

pointless and uncalled for

13:01 / 26.05.04

Add her as a name on a bill is the usual quick and easy. Utilities usually don't have a problem with that as long as she isn't the sole bill holder.

I advise speaking Barclays as I think they specialise in accounts for visitors. A bank should be able to give specific advice about what is acceptable and should be willing to do so, particularly if they want your business.

14:31 / 26.05.04

Yeah I guess I'll have to do the adding thing - would have done the bill thing Mordant but you need a bank account before you can pay the bill and you need a bill (or 2) to get a bank account

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