ksjazzguitar

Hi,

I want to get Civ V for my laptop, but I will soon be working on a cruise ship so I will rarely have an internet connection. I understand that the DRM is being run with Steam. Does this mean that I need and internet connection to play it? Does it matter if I get the DVD version or just download it?

OK, I was a bit of a programmer long ago. I was an engineering student and worked in high tech. I did some programming at work (no big projects) mostly in C, but also some Pascal, Fortran and assembly. I was pretty good at it, but that was 18 years ago.

I switched majors and became a professional musician. I'm going to be working on a cruise ship again so I will have lots of free time. Is there a language that I can teach myself that is in demand? Something that would not require a lot of certifications? Something that I could do as part-time freelance work?

I do some HTML, but that isn't useful enough. I've done some PHP and a tiny bit of Javascript. I've dabbled in C++.

Any ideas? I'll probably be moving to Italy if that matters. It would be nice if it was work I could do over the internet.

Regards,

Kevin Smith

I have an M-Audio 88es Keystation and a Windows 7 computer. I would like to be able to practice piano on the computer.

I can turn on Band in a Box and play the keyboard and it works, but there are latency issues making it difficult to play.

I am hooking it up USB to USB. Would MIDI to MIDI be faster, less latency?

Is the software the issue? Is there some simple, small and fast program that can do this? This is the only thing for which I would need this program.

Do I need to just buy a standalone sequencer?

I recently bought a new computer, running Windows 7 (64-bit) and using Firefox. It doesn't remember any of the web sites that I visit (you know, auto-logging me in, etc.) I've looked around in the settings but can't find what to change.

I'm putting together a new computer. I've got everything hooked up and I find that it either won't turn on or only does for a few seconds. One thing I noticed is that if I press lightly on the bottom right corner of the mobo, it will turn on and will stay on - until I stop pressing. I assume that this is flexing the mobo ever so slightly and either breaking a short or completing a circuit.

Shall I assume this is a short and return the mobo. It's a long drive. =(

The mobo is an Asus P8H67-M-LE with and i5-2400 and a 420W psu.

My DSL wireless router keeps rebooting itself. It seems to happen mostly when our new Sony Viao is trying to see video on the web (assuming that it is the high bandwidth.) The only other computer that the router is linked to is our desktop, through a LAN cable. Our desktop is been acting strange (needs a new MB I think) but I don't think that that is the problem.

Am I right to assume that we need a new wireless DSL router? It doesn't seem right to blame the laptop - shouldn't there be nothing it can do to crash the router? We've changed the orientation of the router (thinking it might be radio waves) and it still happens if the laptop is in another room.

How much would it cost to ship a pallet of personal effects from San Francisco, USA to Madrid, Spain. Say, about 300 pounds/140 kilos. I don't care how long it takes - I just want to get some stuff there. What is the cheapest way to get stuff there?

Is there any way to do this? I have to types of pages, one with a side bar and one without. They are identical except for the presence of the side bar.

Right now I'm just using two different css files. Is there any way to use the same one? Is there anyway to send some variable to the css file and have some kind of conditional statement?

The SEO offered with my web hoster wants me to put an SEO badge on my site.

What does this do for me? Does it benefit me or them?

Is it a visible badge or is it invisible to the visitors?

Hey,

I have a web site (Blue Hose) where I want to sell PDF files. What free shopping cart would be a good choice? I don't need anything too complicated, just take credit cards and Paypal, downloading the PDF.

I get along fairly well with computers but I don't have any experience with php, sql, etc.

Any suggestions?

OK, my laptop won't connect to the wireless network. It says it's connected but won't transfer any data. It was working fine for over a year, but has stopped. I even tried turning off the firewall for a second to see if that was the problem, but nothing. I also tried plugging the network cable from my router in it (the same cable I normally use for my desktop), but I still had the same problem - it said it was connected, but it still wouldn't work (couldn't get anything to come up in a browser.) Later, when I plugged the cable in again, it said that wasn't even connected (and the LED by the network connection was orange.)

Any ideas what could be wrong, what I should check?

It is a Dell Inspiron 700m, running Windows XP, with Norton 360. The "Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility" to manage the wireless connection. "Work Offline" is not checked and the correct wireless network is selected.

Everything looks "right", but no juice.

There are some rust spots on my doors of my 5 year old Toyota. They are just small spots at the edge of the door where the paint got knocked off I guess.

I feel like if I sanded it that I would do more damage. Can I just dab it with touch up paint?

OK,

In our apartment, the caulking/grout that between the tub and the tile is decaying and coming loose and there is a bit of mold in there. I was thinking that there could be two approaches:

1. Rip it all out and replace it.

2. Just clean up the problem areas well, bleach it out to kill the mold, dry it out, then just patch the holes.

What would be best?

I now that I can upload them to sites and sell from there, but ideally I would want something that doesn't take people away from my site. Is there such a thing? Ideally, they would select the files they want that go to their shopping cart, then they pay (maybe with paypal). Is there anything that does this for free, or really cheap?

We all know the "joke" of "they all look the same to me" - applied to whatever racial group. But this was at once time a very real theory that inferior races had less variation in appearance, for the same reason that we have difficulty telling the differences between animals, like turtles. (Of course, this has been shown to be entirely subjective.)

Is there a name for this racist assumption/theory?

I'm having a problem with my guitar amp (a Polytone Mini-Brute, 13 years-old.) I was on a gig, taking a break, with the amp left on. I was out of the room, but I am told that there was a loud hum for a second and then it was dead. I checked and the fuse was burned out. When I got it home, I replaced the fuse, and a loud hum came out, even though nothing was plugged in. The loud hum lasted for about 2-3 seconds but seemed to be unaffected by the volume nobs. The fuse burned out again.

Any ideas?

One source said that I should check the filter caps. I assume that they are the big electrolytic caps down by the power supply. They seem to be intact (there is a slight bump on the top, but not much) and the solder joints seem OK.

What do you think?

You know, when a story has a character whose name tells you something about them. In extreme cases, names like Dudley Doright or Polly Purebread.

I am a grad student writing a paper on the repression of music under the Taliban. I am looking for resources to document this. I would like:

Any suggestions of sources for news stories.

Any sources of actual Taliban writings on the subject (unfortunately, I could not find a search function on their web page) or any other fundamentalist Islamic group defending the prohibition of music.

I would looooove to hear from actual Afghanis, especially musicians, and talk to them about their experiences.

Was there any protest music under the Taliban?

What music has blossomed now that the Taliban are gone?

Thanks for your help.

My wife has foot problems. He has had inserts made, but still he is most comfortable with shoes with stiff soles. Even so, often the ball/toe area softens with time.

What are some brands/models with firm and durable soles?

While in Manhattan (very south, near Pearl and Whitehall) my wife and I grabbed some food from a street vendor. It was a chicken and rice thing. The chicken was cut into small pieces and was red/orange and was served over yellow rice. Then they squirted a creamy white sauce and a spice red sauce over the top. It (along with the food servers) seemed middle or near eastern.

My wife looooved the food. Any idea what it would be called any where I might find a recipe?