I’ve said it a million times already: having required reading in schools is a huge win. The real issue, though, is the actual selection of books. Here in the States, the quality can be a total disaster; the reading lists feel incredibly dated and uninspiring, which is something I remember all too well from my own school days. I can't quite recall the author, but has anyone here ever been forced to read "The Awakening"? It was such a slog, and even our English teacher admitted it was unbearable, openly questioning why on earth they assigned it to us in the first place. Most of these classics just don't hit the mark for modern students. Personally, if it were up to me, I’d swap out those dusty old novels for something much more engaging, like *The Hunger Games*, for seventh graders. 😁
graniteharbor85 said:Just forget about that guy asking for 125 bucks... tell us exactly how much cash you've actually got on hand, and we can give you a solid recommendation for a used GPU.
While you're at it, let us know what kind of power supply you're running and what resolution you typically play at—basically, what size monitor you have.
My budget for the power supply is up to $200. I'm using a Samsung Sync Master 2243, which is Full HD, so naturally, I’d love to be able to play everything at max resolution. As for checking the power supply, I honestly have no idea how to go about doing that.🙂
So, I just came across a Radeon HD 6750 listed for the exact same price, but this one is brand new rather than used, since the GTX ended up being sold already. 😢 I would really value your thoughts on this; if you want more context to give me better advice, please take a look at my previous post on the page. 😁
A friend of mine found a GPU that’s supposedly better than what I’m running right now, so I was wondering if it's actually worth picking up—basically, how good is it? It's an Nvidia GeForce GTX 280. My current card is an ATI Radeon HD 4350, so I'm curious about the comparison (I'll admit I'm usually pretty lazy when it comes to upgrading my graphics, but I know my current setup is pretty weak). I need something that can handle some newer titles, specifically Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Revelations, and the third one. Of course, there's also Battlefield 3 and a few others. The price they're asking is $125—is that way too much, or just about right? My specs
Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5400 @ 2.70GHz, 2700 MHz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s) Memory - 4GB RAM DDR2, 500GB Hard Drive, 1TB external Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Sophia Wells72 said:I thought you were talking about phlegm, like something coming up when you cough. It’s just a bit confusing since you mentioned it "likes to come out through the nose."😁
Either way, aren't we just talking about coughing something up?
p.s. You were sick, your immune system was down... clearly you're fighting a cold or some kind of infection. All we can do is guess. It just doesn't make sense to me how, at fifteen years old, you can't find a single hour in the day to go see a doctor.🤷
That mucus or phlegm comes out through both my nose and my mouth when I cough. I'm not sneezing—I don't think it's a standard cold, because I would feel much worse than this. Basically, I'm coughing up this thick green stuff, and the same thing happens when I blow my nose; I actually have to "pull" it out, because I can feel it moving from deep down.
As for not having the time, that's a long story involving a pretty demanding prep school schedule. I spend my mornings studying before classes start at noon, then I'm stuck at school until 6 or 7 in the evening. By the time I'm done, I'm completely wiped out and all I want is food and sleep, plus it's hard to find any clinics that are even open that late...
wiredridge152 said:Look, if we're talking about a nosebleed, you're likely just looking at broken capillaries triggered by heavy smoking, but if that blood is actually coming from the lungs, then we're dealing with an entirely different level of seriousness.🙂
I honestly don't know; I suspect it's just coming from my nose, especially since I deal with broken capillaries there quite frequently.
Honestly, I’ve been dealing with this absolute nightmare every single morning lately. It’s particularly brutal because, unfortunately for everyone living in the Middle East, it’s a workday. I wake up, brush my teeth, and then deal with this heavy, grating cough that feels like it’s sandpapering my throat. After that, I end up hacking up phlegm into the toilet bowl several times, and then I spend the next hour just burning through rolls of toilet paper trying to clear everything out of my nose too. A few times now, it’s actually been mixed with blood—that deep, dark red color blended with green. It’s gotten so exhausting that I’ve even started making jokes with my sister about it; I’ll blow my nose into a tissue and tell her, "Look, a butterfly," because a clump of mucus somehow looks like a little butterfly, and we just sit there finding shapes in it...
Back on Saturday (though if you’re reading this on a Thursday or found me via Google), I caught some kind of cold. My throat was killing me, and since I had been traveling in the heat, I ended up running a fever and vomited once. I feel better now, but this lingering issue won't go away. I really don't have the time to be sitting in a doctor's office right now, so I was wondering if there is some simple, straightforward way to get rid of this? Thanks 😁 (And before anyone asks, no, I don't smoke; I'm only 15 and I've never even tried a cigarette)
For a few months now, I’ve been dealing with this intense foot cramp about once a week. It used to happen occasionally, but the frequency has definitely ramped up lately. I've noticed there's a pattern: it always seems to strike right when I'm stretching out in bed at night, and I usually end up grabbing the edge of the mattress just to try and stretch my toes out, haha. 😁 The pain is honestly pretty brutal, and I can feel my foot tightening up, almost like there's a little knot or a "bump" right where the cramp hits—I assume that's just the muscle seizing up. Trying to stretch it out or stand up like you're supposed to do during a typical cramp doesn't help at all; if anything, it actually makes the sensation much worse. Could this be related to my shoes? For the last couple of years, I've been wearing Vans because they're reliable and keep my feet dry even when it's raining or snowing out. That said, this specific pair of Vans I just picked up is incredibly uncomfortable; my feet feel absolutely trashed by the time I finish a walk downtown or run errands.
Does anyone know what might be causing this? Are there specific massages or techniques that actually work, since I know it isn't just about the footwear—it's happened before too. Or should I just head to a doctor and see if a nurse can give my legs a proper massage? 🙂 😛 :no lifer:
Roger Rodriguez said:It’s certainly possible, though it isn't a given. How could any of us know for sure? It might not even be allergies; it could just be something else entirely, like a passing sinus issue or a common cold. 🤷
I feel pretty awesome overall, except for this constant sneezing. As soon as I step inside a house or go indoors, everything settles down and feels fine. But once I'm out in the fresh air, the sneezing just hits me relentlessly.
And by the way, sorry for starting this as a new thread; I didn't realize there was already a general discussion going on.
I haven't really dealt with pollen issues before, but since 2011, and especially now that the weather has warmed up, it’s been hitting me hard. My main struggle is the sneezing. It used to be barely noticeable—maybe a sneeze or two and I was fine—but lately, I’ve been struggling like crazy. I stepped out of the house today and while I was just walking down the street, I felt like a total maniac because I couldn't stop sneezing. Every four steps, it's just "achoo," and I ended up burning through two whole packs of tissues 😢. My eyes are watering constantly from all the sneezing, too. If I'm outside, I can't even go for a decent stroll or catch up with a friend without worrying about making a scene. It’s honestly pretty gross. The sun is out today and everything is starting to thaw 😢
Before I head to the doctor, I wanted to check here and see if this sounds like typical pollen allergies or something else? Thanks 🙂
Kyle Johnson2 said:Give it a shot and see if that works. The Normal.dotm template is essentially the DNA of every document you create in Microsoft Office. It serves as the foundational blueprint, storing all those default settings—like your preferred fonts, paragraph spacing, and margins—that dictate how a blank page looks the moment you open it up. If you’ve ever found yourself constantly fighting against weird indentation or an annoying font choice every time you start a new project, the culprit is almost certainly sitting right there in your Normal.dotm file. I remember back when I was first getting into heavy technical writing, I spent an entire afternoon wondering why my formatting kept reverting to something outdated; it turned out my template had been corrupted by a buggy macro. Once I learned how to reset that specific file, everything smoothed out immediately. It’s one of those quiet, behind-the-scenes components that you don't think about until it stops working exactly the way you need it to. Try restarting your computer, then launch Word and see if that does the trick.
I can't seem to find it anywhere. It isn't showing up in my Program Files folder, so I'm at a bit of a loss on how to actually delete it. I'm running Windows 7. 😁
I have an English dictionary installed to help me out with my grammar, but whenever I’m drafting something in English, Microsoft Office keeps driving me crazy by constantly changing my wording. I really don't have the bandwidth right now to go hunting for specific examples, but every single time I try to type "of the," the AutoCorrect feature jumps in and changes it to "oft he" the moment I hit the spacebar. It's becoming quite a nuisance because I find myself constantly having to undo what I just wrote. 😠
placidcobra49 said:Back when I used it a long time ago, I ran into those exact same issues, and I ended up just moving over to Windows Media Maker to get around them. 😁
It’s the same story here 🙂
Adobe Premiere Pro is fantastic, and honestly, so is Adobe Premiere Elements I haven't personally messed around with Adobe Premiere Elements yet, so I can't say for sure, but I think I'll download it sometime in the next few days. 😁
There are various software options out there, but they all seem to pull an UNKNOWN amount of data from the web. Personally, I just bought a TV tuner card—I'm using an ASUS model myself—and I couldn't be happier with the results. It handles everything from digital broadcasts to radio and analog signals quite smoothly.
I don't have anything more recent than this, but honestly, I just can't stop playing Dusk, Fasten your seatbelts, and Girl in The Fire on repeat. They absolutely tear everything apart!
I’m running into a bit of a headache here. I’ve been trying to play Battlefield 2 on my Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit system, but since the game originally came out back in 2005, it was really only ever tested to run on XP 32 bit. Everything works fine when I'm playing solo, but as soon as I try to jump onto a local server to play with some friends, the whole thing just crashes. I thought I could probably fix this by using the Troubleshoot compatibility mode to run it as if I were on XP SP2, but that didn't go well at all. My entire computer just froze up, leaving me with no choice but to do a hard restart. That happened a few times in a row, which was pretty frustrating. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? It’s strange because the game itself runs perfectly smoothly otherwise; it just refuses to cooperate whenever we try to play on a local connection.
I'd suggest downloading VLC Media Player. It comes pre-packaged with all the necessary video codecs you'll need to get everything running smoothly right out of the box. http://www.gomlab.com/eng/