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Sep 1, 2004, 2:57pm

Go to http://www.hostingtech.com/?m=show&id=312 for a review of Gmail.

Builderz

[View Quote] > Invites, what kinda invites? LOL ... oh, and I'm from ActiveWorlds :o}

Sep 2, 2004, 4:39pm

If you are worried about legal issues or lawsuits because someone had a
negative experience while in your world, simply put a up a sign with a
small disclaimer near GZ, place it in the welcome message, or have a bot
say it to all who enter.

It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Something like "Lady NightHawk is
not responsible for the content in this world and what others say here.
Proceed at your own risk." Or maybe "While we try to maintain a good
environment in this world, we cannot guarantee that it will be suitable
for young children at all times. Proceed with caution." I'm sure you
could come up with something better. :)

Even if you do get sued (which I highly doubt), there are ways in which
you can mediate/arbitrate without having to go to court. Take a look at
the Active Worlds Content Guidelines at
http://www.activeworlds.com/community/terms.asp and the Active Worlds
Conduct Guidelines at http://www.activeworlds.com/community/conduct.asp
for more information.

Builderz

[View Quote] > I wonder what (if any) legal ramifications there might be to owners of G (me
> included) and PG worlds should a child under 12 be subjected to anything not
> suitable for 12 and under. Why would parents allow their children on at ages
> of 12 or less anyway ... alone??? Are G and PG worlds expected to police
> their worlds 24/7? Even awgate doesn't have coverage 24/7.

Sep 5, 2004, 9:16pm

I haven't tried sending a telegram with a long URL yet, but if you want
to make a URL shorter, try this site:

http://tinyurl.com

Builderz

[View Quote]

Sep 6, 2004, 2:40pm

If AWI added an affiliate program like Second Life, then more and more
people would promote it because they would be getting a "reward" (money,
cit extension, whatever). See my post called "AWI Affiliate Program =
$$$ For You" in wishlist for more info.

Builderz

Sep 6, 2004, 9:33pm

Glad to hear they've been good to you, Zeo. You can see their uptime by
going to http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=ace-host.net in your
Web browser.

Seems they use Cpanel for their control panel (I like Plesk better) and
have at least one server in the GNAX data center (a good DC).

You can find many web hosts (and host reviews) on this forum:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com

Shared hosting, reseller hosting, virtual private servers, dedicated
servers, colocation, etc. -- they are all there on that forum. Just do a
search or look around.

Builderz

Sep 8, 2004, 6:28pm

I believe JerMe or someone else brought up this issue many, many months
ago here in the newsgroups. There are no current plans from AWI to
implement anything besides the standard password protected zip files as
far as I can tell.

Builderz

[View Quote]

Sep 13, 2004, 2:36pm

I know of at least one other AW citizen that is deaf, but I'm not aware
of their stance on the voice chat issue.

One of the things that I find lacking in AW compared to other programs
like There or Second Life is voice chat. Not everyone needs to use it or
will use it, but it would be nice to at least have that option.

Have you contacted There about voice chat? What about all of the other
3D programs that support it? Do you think they should remove the voice
chat feature because a portion of the user base is deaf? I don't think
that makes very much common sense.

If AW doesn't evolve and is able to compete with these other 3D
programs, it will go out of business and no one will be able to use it.

What would be a better option is this: the AWI team would be able to
convert everyone's voice to text for those that need this feature. There
are tons of free or cheap text-to-speech and speech-to-text converters.
I think that would be a fair compromise.

Builderz

[View Quote]

Sep 17, 2004, 3:52am

"For most of the millions of people around the world who regularly use
instant messaging, the communications tool has largely been a text-only
experience in which typed emoticons offer only minimal clues to
someone's state of mind.

The recent launch of two services -- a brand new, fully
three-dimensional chat-room product known as IMVU, and AOL Instant
Messenger's new 3-D SuperBuddy icons -- is putting the spotlight on a
major shift by the leading IM providers toward making graphical avatars
a fundamental personalization feature."

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64969,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Builderz

Sep 18, 2004, 6:01pm

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Here where I live (northeast U.S.) I
just got some minor water damage from all of the rain.

Builderz

[View Quote]

Sep 25, 2004, 7:51pm

If that map is accurate, that's very freaky! However, it could very well
be a fake. You'd have to check the voting data by county and the
hurricane path data to be sure it matched up.

Are you suggesting that the hurricanes were man made? I did read news
articles about China using some type of cannon that they fire into the
sky -- it increases the chance of rain to form. But using weather
modification to make hurricanes just sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

Builderz

[View Quote]

Sep 27, 2004, 3:23pm

Who will host all of your worlds if you don't renew, Ry?

Builderz

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Oct 17, 2004, 3:33pm

What program did the creator of the video use to edit it? I can tell
they most likely used an LCD monitor and a DV camera for the images and
Dr. DivX for the AVI encoding, but what video editing software did they
use? Thanks.

Builderz

[View Quote]

Nov 30, 2004, 6:39pm

I don't normally post things that are off topic, but this is an
exception. I'm sure that many of you have heard about the declining
value of the United States Dollar (USD) versus other currencies such as
the Euro.

According to http://www.goldmoney.com/en/commentary/2004-11-17.html the
"US Dollar Index closed in New York today at the lowest level since
October 1995. It looks like new lows are on the way."

Unless the US starts to lower (pay off) its debt, things may remain like
this or even get worse. Obviously, this it not a good thing for the US
or the global economy.

With major US companies still sending jobs to foreign countries
(outsourcing) and the recent price increases in oil, things are getting
even more shaky. Some are predicting that an economic collapse similar
to the Great Depression may happen.

So what can the average person do about it? Buy some physical silver or
gold while the prices are still relatively low. If you sell some of your
US Dollars to buy/invest in another currency (such as the Euro), you are
just going to be letting the value of the USD dip further.

Silver and gold were used in the past and are considered to be "real
money." They are very stable investments compared to other volatile
currencies)

Go to http://www.kitco.com/charts/ and take a look at the charts for
gold and silver. Then check out http://www.libertydollar.org and decide
for yourself if investing in some silver and/or gold would be a wise
choice. Since Christmas and other holidays will be coming up, silver or
gold coins would make nice gifts, too.

If you have the time and want to do some further research, please check
out the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/buy-silver-bullion-coins.html
http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/buy-gold-bullion-coins.html

-Builderz

Nov 30, 2004, 7:56pm

http://www.xe.com is a good site for currency conversions.

SWE, for every 1 GBP you spend, you can almost buy 2 USDs. So yes,
buying anything priced in USD will be good for *you* and some people in
other countries (depending upon their currency) at this point in time. I
got some more orders for a product I sell from other countries because
it is more affordable for them. However, it is just the opposite for
Americans buying most foreign goods.

On the other hand, unlike all "paper" or "fiat" currencies, silver and
gold have acted as inflation hedges and have real value. I believe gold
has been used for thousands of years. Unless someone invents a
replicator type device from Star Trek of can use nanotechnology to mass
produce more silver and gold, they are both scare metals and are in
limited supply so their value will most likely only go up from this
point forward.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Nov 30, 2004, 8:27pm

http://www.xe.com is a good site for currency conversions.

SWE, for every 1 GBP you spend, you can almost buy 2 USDs. So yes,
buying anything priced in USD will be good for *you* and some people in
other countries (depending upon their currency) at this point in time. I
got some more orders for a product I sell from other countries because
it is more affordable for them. However, it is just the opposite for
Americans buying most foreign goods.

On the other hand, unlike all "paper" or "fiat" currencies, silver and
gold have acted as inflation hedges and have real value. I believe gold
has been used for thousands of years. Unless someone invents a
replicator type device from Star Trek or can use nanotechnology to mass
produce more silver and gold, they are both scarce metals and are in
limited supply so their value will most likely only go up from this
point forward.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Dec 1, 2004, 12:37am

The thing is, is that if a major currency such as the US Dollar
collapses or needs to be re- or devalued, gold and silver prices will
SKYROCKET! Here is some information from a recent
http://www.libertydollar.org newsletter that explains it a bit better:

"As the once noble German mark continued to sink in value, the price of
silver in marks increased, as silver always does because it represents
'real' value. Do you have any idea, what the price of the same ounce of
silver was as the mark reached zero in 1923? Pause for a moment and
pick out a figure, any figure. 100? Maybe a 1,000? Or even a million?
No, none of these will do. What do you think the price was only four
years later, on November 7, the day when a little guy with a mustache
jumped on a table in a beer hall in Munich and yelled that the
revolution had began? Could an ounce of silver cost more than a million
marks? Impossible, would be a reasonable answer. But these were not
reasonable time. This was pre-Nazi Germany.

It may surprise you then to learn that it cost 543,750,000,000 (543
BILLION, 750 MILLION) marks to buy the same ounce of silver! In four
short years, the price in German marks of silver became all but
impossible. The people simply could not outrun the runaway inflation.
Nor can we! Do you 'think' silver is expensive now? You know nothing
about survival. Unfortunately, we may all find out, all too soon."

So, to summarize: if you buy just an ounce of silver today for about $8
USD and the US Dollar becomes totally worthless in 2005 or 2006, your
once of silver could be worth 10, 20, 100 or even 1000+ times what you
paid for it!

Buy a few silver or gold coins off of eBay or another auction site and
put them away in a safe place just in case something happens to your
country's currency.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Dec 1, 2004, 4:35pm

Let me try to explain it another way because I think you are missing
part of my point. If the crap would hit the fan and the USD was
practically worthless, the last thing on my mind would be to use my gold
or silver to buy or exchange it for more USD. You were right when you
said that would do "no good" because no one would have the 543 billion
(or whatever) to buy the silver or gold from me.

The real power comes when you use your silver or gold to barter for
things. Just think of what would happen if the USD really did go belly
up. People would be in the streets rioting like crazy! Do a search for
"Argentina banking crisis" for an idea of what might be in store for
Americans if there were ever to be a collapse of the USD. People lost
their retirement/pensions, bombs were set off at banks, and people
weren't able to withdrawal all of their money out of their own bank
accounts for months at a time.

If you had some silver or gold coins on you, you could barter for
things. Depending on how bad things got, you could at the very least be
able to buy enough food and water for your family -- or maybe even an
entire farm or barn full of animals. Or if there were riots, maybe you
could buy some protection or hire a body guard to have around. Having
physical silver or gold with you is a safe bet that you could at least
buy or barter for the things you need (such as gas, food, water, etc.)
until the economy improved.

Now, even if the USD stays okay, buying some silver or gold is still a
wise investment. Diversifying your investments is the key. Have some of
your money in the stock market, some in a bank earning interest, some in
silver and/or gold, etc. Yes, precious metals go up slowly, but they
hardly ever lose value because there is a limited supply available.

Did you know that most electronics have a small amount of silver in
them? Did you know that China is going to be needing a heck of a lot
more silver in the next few years because they manufacture so much
electronics? IMO, the trend for silver and gold is only going to go way
up. It makes common sense to buy a small amount now. Gold is at a 16
year high! I know that the stock brokers say that you should buy low,
but gold is only going to go up and not down. If you wait, you'll just
have to pay more for it in the future.

Since Gold is around $450 USD an ounce, it is fairly expensive for the
average person to buy. On the other hand, an ounce of silver is under $9
USD per ounce so it makes more sense to buy than gold. Silver is the
"poor man's gold" and will go up just like gold will, but at a lower
pace. The stock market goes up and down all the time and has crashed in
the past. Silver and gold are here to stay and are very safe
investments. You don't have to worry about a "silver Enron" or a "gold
dot com bust" when it comes to precious metals.

So in summary, if there was a financial emergency and you needed food,
shelter, water, gas, etc. that small piece of silver or gold could
really save you. And even if things stay okay, they are expected to only
go up in value. So in 5 or 10 years from now you could sell it for
possibly 4 or more times the price you bought it at. Not a bad deal.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Dec 2, 2004, 4:12pm

Take a look at http://spf.pobox.com/ -- it might help a bit with your
e-mail problem.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Dec 2, 2004, 6:00pm

Of course it is complicated, Lady. What in life isn't? ;P

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 20, 2005, 6:05am

From my own personal experience, I've sold a digital product to over
100 people on the Internet that contains information in it that anyone
could find with enough free time searching the Web. I make much more
money and have more free time than I used to when I was running my small
hosting business.

On the flip side, I use two free online services that are actually
better than services I used to pay for. :) There are many reasons why
someone buys something vs. finding a free alternative to it -- impulsive
urges, time constraints, for convenience, good marketing, better
support/customer service, etc.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 22, 2005, 3:40am

No, no, no! You've got it all wrong! Here is the correct picture of AW
(their HQ) from space... ;)

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addressimage.aspx?t=1&s=10&Lon=-70.88944740&Lat=42.79580017&Alon=-70.88944740&Alat=42.79580017&w=1&opt=0&addr=95+Parker+St%2c+Newburyport%2c+MA+01950&qs=95+Parker+Street%7cNewburyport%7cMA%7c

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 24, 2005, 6:23pm

One company bidding on a competitor's keyword is a fairly common
marketing tactic. :)

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 28, 2005, 3:24am

If you thought the recent tsunami was bad, things much worse seem to be
brewing...

"WHO warns bird flu could be worse than SARS"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6608053/

"The Next Big Killer"
http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0207/016.html

"Flu feared more than terror attack"
http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/lead-story13.htm

"Act before the crisis"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/209485_avianed.html

"Russian Expert Says Flu Epidemic May Kill Over One Billion This Year"
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/10/28/pandemic.shtml

"Surviving the Influenza Pandemic: How to Protect Yourself From the
Coming Bird Flu Pandemic"
http://www.truthpublishing.com/survivinginfluenza.html

-Builderz

Jan 29, 2005, 3:27pm

LOL. I found the article ironic since it came from the same man that
brought us Jurassic Park (Ahh, dinosaurs are going to eat me), the novel
Prey (Ahh, small nano robots are going to engulf everything) and ER
(Ahh, my blood is squirting everywhere until the next commerical break).

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 30, 2005, 3:34pm

Plain and simple, the reason he wrote the article is because he wanted
to promote/advertise his "State of Fear" novel and/or he is under
contract to Parade to write X amount of articles in X amount of time.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I thought the article was decent, but some
new studies have come out to debunk some of what he said in the article.
If you want me to go point by point and debunk him, well, that wasn't
the point of my original post.

The point of my post wasn't to scare anyone, it was to make people
think. It seems that a lot of people have a tendency to take things for
granted in our modern times.

Look, the H5N1 strain is a real threat since it has already killed
eleven people in Vietnam and there are reports that it has spread from
animals (such as chickens and cats) to humans. There are other articles
that mention that human to human transmission is now happening.

In this day and age, all it theoretically takes to spread a disease such
as the H5N1 strain is to have someone that is already infected with it
to just hop onto an airplane and fly to another location. Do some
research on the Spanish flu (which is not fictional) that occurred back
in 1918.

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." -George
Santayana

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Jan 31, 2005, 6:38pm

I think you are confusing the Spanish flu, which happened back in 1918,
with what a Russian scientist predicted may happen with the current H5N1
strain in another article. That is just one scientist's claim and it
doesn't mean it will come true. It is just a prediction. You need to
read all of the articles and take all of the information into
consideration. Of course some people will hype things up, but you need
to sift through everything and look at the facts, make an educated guess
and decide for yourself what to do or what not to do.

However, what if the prediction came true? What if someone told you that
the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were going to take place before they
happened? What if you knew four tropical storms/hurricanes were going to
damage the state of Florida all within three months? Would you believe
that person and heed the warning or say they "hype" things too much and
go on your merry way? It has come out recently that certain people tried
to warn the countries that were affected by the tsunami before it
happened, but that they didn't get the warning to the proper people in time.

I don't want people running out in the streets saying "Oh my gosh, we
are all going to die!" Panic isn't the answer, but sometimes people need
to be direct to get things done and to motivate people. I want people to
use common sense. I think it is wise to go to sleep a bit earlier and
get more rest, research herbs to boost your immune system and don't stay
out in the cold for hours at a time to help deter you from catching the
flu after having read the articles about it, don't you?

As for why the author wrote the article, let's just drop that since
neither of us can prove why he wrote the article or not unless we
interview him.

Now, about those elections in Iraq... Did you hear that they went "fine"
from the mainstream media "talking heads" on TV or a "shock jock" on the
radio? Parts of it may have went okay, but there are some discrepancies
and a lot more work needs to be done before anything over in Iraq, let
alone the elections, can ever be called fine again. Here are a few
examples for you:

"AMS critical of Iraq elections"
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F1149ACC-43EE-4BA6-AD8A-AC9D62290514.htm

"Fear Shrouds Iraq's Elections in Secrecy, Confusion"
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7408615

"Don't be fooled by occupation in democracy's clothing"
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=149203

"Iraq Vote Praised But Many Details Unclear"
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/48a25475-4483-4cc1-ac02-37e6e425a362.html

"The Iraqi Ballot, Translated"
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/karama.php?articleid=4651

I'm sure more articles like the above will come out over the next few
days/weeks. Oh, and wasn't the original reason the US went to Iraq in
the first place is because they had WMD? Talk about hype! No WMD was
ever found last I checked.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Feb 1, 2005, 2:32pm

I made a post a long time ago in another thread saying that almost
everything has a bias or spin to it, so yes, I agree with that. However,
you shouldn't just blindly believe what you hear on the mainstream
media. Remember that Iraqi Information Minister when he kept saying
"Yes, we are beating the Americans. We have destroyed their tanks, bla,
bla" when all the while the American troops were like right behind him
about to capture the city? For example of mainstream media press reports
that aren't true or half truths in the US, well, there are many
documentaries out there detailing them if you know where to look. Look
up Noam Chomsky for just one example. Look at Dan Rather at CBS for another.

Now, if you call dissenting, protesting or disagreeing with whatever the
Bush administration says anti-American, I'm sorry to say that you've
been brainwashed by their rhetoric. If you think any war, let alone the
Iraq war is "fine," you are sorely mistaken. How would you like to have
your house bombed by mistake? The US "accidentally" bombed a hospital in
Iraq and an article in The Lancet estimated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians
have died.

Why didn't Bush give the troops proper armor? Why did he ban the media
from showing troop caskets? Did you hear that Germany wanted to try
Rumsfeld on war crimes lately? If you were serving in Iraq right now and
your life was on the line, I'm sure your mood would change. If you want
to support the troops, I say bring them home.

This is the last thing I'm going to say about predictions -- they are a
slippery slope. If they are correct, people are going to complain that
they didn't hear about them or heard about them too late or make up some
excuse. If they aren't *exactly correct* (say, off by just a few minutes
even), you'll have a bunch of people jumping up and down and saying
"See, see, that guy lies and is full of BS!" So you are darned if you
do, darned if you don't. Take everything with a grain of salt and use
common sense with a dose of history and make up your own mind. Just
don't come back to me and say I didn't tell or warn you if/when it is
too late. :P

Finally, about the elections... Did you read what I said about there
will be more articles coming out about it? Well, here you go:

"Iraqi Elections: Media Disinformation on Voter Turnout?"
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO501F.html

"Some Just Voted for Food"
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/hard_news/000192.php

While the two sources above may be bias, at least consider the
information they put forward. Read left, right, center and independent
media sources to get all sides of the issue and then make up your mind
if you want.

As for the original Parade article, here are some things that may debunk
or at least make you think about the things the author was talking about:

Y2K Issue
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/05/0216220&from=rss

Global Warming/Dimming
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Global+Warming&btnG=Search+News
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=Global+Dimming&btnG=Search+News

Cell Phone Dangers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2-1436543%2C00.html

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Feb 2, 2005, 2:51pm

Okay, I think we've both gotten a bit off track. Let me try to sum up my
final thoughts and then we can take this to e-mail if you want so this
doesn't turn into a bad flame war.

The mainstream media obviously can't cover everything and most of the
major American media are owned by half a dozen major corporations (look
this up if you don't believe me). They generally don't report news that
contradicts with their own corporate interests unless they are forced to.

However, excluding adult sites, alternative news sites on the Internet
are among the most popular and more and more people have been turning to
them to get their news. Yes, some have a major bias or an agenda, but
why would so many people be going to these sites for their news unless
they felt that the mainstream media was lacking something?

Some of these alternative news sites are very small while some aren't.
Antiwar.com has articles written by both people on the left and right
spectrum that do not like the idea of war and has an Alexa traffic
rating of 4,338. Compare that to MSNBC.com which has a traffic ranking
of 772. AW's site is 109,534. The lower the number, the better. So
Antiwar.com isn't some guy in his basement that loves Kerry and likes to
rant all day.

For the record, I'm a registered independent and voted for third parties
this past election. I lean more to the right than to the left and agree
with some of what Bush says, but not very much. Bush was right when we
should unite as a country, but I think we should unite around the
Constitution and limited government.

If the government was honest and put the interest of the American people
first, I probably wouldn't be here complaining today. But it is obvious
that you can buy out or create special interests to pass almost any law
you want in this day and age. Hardly any members of Congress even read
the USA PATRIOT Act before they passed it. That says a lot about how
much our Congress cares about us.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Feb 9, 2005, 7:12pm

It works for me, Ry.

-Builderz

[View Quote]

Feb 11, 2005, 6:51pm

I get these all the time from people imitating banks I don't even have
accounts with. The said fact is that some people do give out their
information and fall for these scams.

There was an interesting presentation about ID theft and the Internet on
C-SPAN2 today, BTW. :)

-Builderz

[View Quote]

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