Something really jumped out at me: 64% rated themselves as Windows experts and 41.3% had to resolve driver issues.  To me any Windows expert would search out, verify and download all drivers for a new operating system before installing it.  That was certainly the case when I installed the Windows 7 release candidate; how else would I know if my hardware was supported?

For any operating system installation, whether new or a re-install, you’re best to download all the drivers you’ll need and have them handy on a USB memory stick.  Don’t know what drivers you’ll need?  If you purchased the PC from a manufacturer check their website for downloads, usually under support, and you’ll find what you need.  If you built the PC or had it built for you check each components manufacturer website: motherboard, video card, sound card, etc.  Don’t forget about the external equipment such as scanners, printers and such.  As well you can download and run the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

We don’t eat out a lot, but when we do with our little children we mostly get something along the lines of fast food; a burger or sandwich.  Now that they’re getting a little older and can sit for an hour or so we’ve been going out to middle of the road sit down restaurants: places in Southern Ontario like Casey’s, Montana’s, Kelsey’s.  Two things struck me when we went back to these types of restaurants: they’re not cheap and the food isn’t that good.  We can do better by dining low end and high end; I’ll stick with chain or franchise eateries since they’re consistent with price and content.

Let me clarify: an entree and non alcoholic beverage averages $20 per person.  For this you’re getting a burger, sandwich or overcooked pasta.  Everything is made from some form of processed food and tastes very generic.  If you want a steak, chop or ribs you’re reaching $30 per person for again a bland dinner.  Kids meals average $8: yikes!

Compare that to fast food: Wendy’s, Subway, McDonald’s.  Here you’re averaging $8 per person and getting a sandwich or hamburger.  No one is serving you at your table, no ambiance to speak of but you’re saving money and the quality of the food is about the same; semi-processed.  Taste is subjective but I find a good sub with fresh toppings a good quick meal.  Kids split something so they’re averaging $4 each.

Now let’s talk high end steak house.  Not “top of the line celebrity chef behind the name” kind of place but a good steak house; we’ll use The Keg and Canyon Creek Chop House as examples.  Meals with non alcoholic beverage average $35 per person.  Kids get a bunch of free stuff and split something for about $5 each; this is where high end pays off for children.  The quality of the meal is quite good, service is usually excellent but you do have to put up with dimmed lighting; am I the only one who wants to see their food and everyone else at the table?

We’re a one income family on a budget so eating out is a weekly event and normally coincides with a shopping trip or visit.  Looking at eating out three times in a month for two adults and two children.   Three middle of the road meals $168, two low end $48 plus one high end $80 for $128 total.  Either way seems a little pricey but you can see what I’m talking about here.  Save money by going low end a few times and then a big finish with high end.

There’s no question you can eat better and save a whack of money by eating at home.  As you can see from my food articles I like to make everything at home from “scratch”: nothing pre-made at all, except condiments which seem better pre-made for some reason I haven’t divined yet but I’m going back on the rails on my crazy train of thought.

I remember the individual issues coming out and not being that interested.  There was buzz around the title because Alan Moore wrote it but I wasn’t taken with the art.  Since it was at a deep discount I decided to give it a read.  Here’s the publisher’s blurb:

This is the tale of Neopolis, a modern metropolis with a citizenry made up exclusively of super beings. In a city where everyone is blessed with powers, it takes a unique and powerful police force to protect and serve. In this Eisner Award-winning book, we are introduced to the extremely diverse officers of Precinct Ten; an armored and talking dog, a genetically engineered “perfect woman,” a high tech cowboy, an indestructible man, and a rookie with a toy box full of “helpers.” Individually they are unique personalities, together they are Neopolis’ finest.

Let me sum it up for you: cop drama with super powers.  This could easily be the next police drama on television as it follows the basics established by Hill Street Blues: show the police as real people and develop the characters.  That’s not a criticism: I like police dramas and I liked Top Ten.  Characters are nicely developed as the story unfolds through the eyes of a rookie cop; you’re immersed in the story and it’s environment.  Since it’s a comic book and people have super powers or abilities there is a nice twist on the heroes and villains.

Art and specifically credits for the book are very odd.  Gene Ha is listed as finishing artist and gets top bill while Zander Cannon is listed as layout artist.  Based on credits in the individual issues collected it looks like Ha did the pencils and inks and Cannon really did just do layouts.

As I said I’m not a fan of Gene Ha’s style but after reading Top Ten Book 1 I was comfortable with it and was immersed in the story.  It’s well presented and I highly recommend it.

]]> http://www.ebabble.net/top-ten-book-1/feed 0 http://www.ebabble.net/organizing-your-bulk-goods http://www.ebabble.net/organizing-your-bulk-goods#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:56:46 +0000 Scott http://www.ebabble.net/?p=1102 I buy all my spices whole and in bulk or loose form from a few stores in my area including The Bulk Barn and Fortinos.  I also like to get my dry goods in the same format in manageable quantities.  Whole spices last longer than ground and everything benefits from an airtight a container as possible.

I tried a variety of plastic containers until I settled on glass canning jars.  In my area they come in sizes from 250 ml  to 1.5 l with the classic metal lid; they all come in boxes of a dozen and end up being cheaper than plastic.  You can also get plastic replacement lids which I use for everyday items; see my fine sea salt in the bottom left corner.  They’re clear so you can see what’s there and how much is left, but I needed the extra assurance of labels.

HAROLD FOSTER’S LEGENDARY MEDIEVAL EPIC, FINALLY IN ITS DEFINITIVE EDITION

Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. (Such was its popularity that today, decades after Foster’s death, it continues to run under different hands.)

The giant Sunday-funnies pages (Valiant ran only on Sundays) gave Foster a huge canvas upon which he was able to limn epic swordfights, stunning scenes of pomp and pageantry, and some of the most beautiful human beings — male and female — ever to appear in comics. And he matched his nonpareil visual sense with the narrative instincts of a born storyteller, propelling his daring young hero from one crisis to another with barely a panel to catch one’s breath.

Prince Valiant has previously been widely available only in re-colored, somewhat degraded editions (now out of print and fetching collectors’ prices). Thanks to advances in production technology and newly available original proof sheets, this new series from the industry leader in quality strip classics is the first to feature superb restored artwork that captures every delicate line and chromatic nuance of Foster’s original masterpiece. Comic strip aficionados will be ecstatic, and younger readers who enjoy a classic adventure yarn will be bowled over.

Volume One is rounded out with a rare, in-depth classic Foster interview previously available only in a long out-of-print issue of The Comics Journal, as well as an informative Afterword detailing the production and restoration of this edition

Two things immediately hit you as you start to read: the art is stunningly beautiful and they had a different way of storytelling in those days.  Hal Foster was a superior artist and that comes through in this volume: his style is clean lines with a naturalistic attention to detail.  The basic layout is a series of square panels with text at the top or bottom of each panel: no word balloons.  The first panel has a brief synopsis; these colour strips were run weekly so you needed some catching up.

Plot and character development moved at a slow pace but that’s to be expected from a weekly strip; you couldn’t leap too far afield without isolating your readers.  It’s easy to forget what you’re reading unfolded over the course of two years.  Foster has created a clean world for Prince Valiant to occupy that engages the reader.  We watch the prince move with his family into exile and then become his own man.

Fantagraphics has put together Prince Valiant Volume 1 as a 10.5″ x 14.5″ 120 page hardcover.  The production value is high with excellent paper quality giving the work it’s due.  The  pages were shot from original engravers proofs, giving sharp and clear pages with slightly muted colours.  An all around top-notch product.  The plan is to release a new volume every year.

There is a well written introduction to Harold Foster as a preface and an excellent article on producing and colouring this series, both nice additions to the main attraction.

If you’re a fan of Hal Foster or an art admirer you owe it to yourself to pick this up; check out a preview here.

Sunday February 28th there was a one day show in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre., put on by Hobbystar.  It was in a smaller room that was packed with local dealers and tables with artists.  I was at this event last year in the same room and experienced the same issue: everything is packed too tightly!  They’re keeping the legal aisle way space but dealers have items for sale so a row now has people searching bins on both sides so you can’t get by.  Add in two rows of artist tables with lines and now the place is hot, overcrowded and smelly.  I wanted to get some photos but after an hour I had to get out.

The theme of the day seemed to be 40-50% off trades and hardcovers, or at least is was at the busy tables.  I heard one dealer loudly saying he had the biggest selection at the show but wasn’t getting the sales.  This same dealer sets up at every show and charges cover price for trades and hardcovers, which boggles the mind.  Everyone can go online and order a trade paperback or hardcover for about 37% off the cover price.  People come to comic shows for two reasons: to get out of print items or to get deals.  If you’re selling in print trades then you need to entice the buyer with a discount better than what they’ll find online.  I picked up five trades and three hardcovers from three different vendors selling at 50% off Canadian cover.

Artist alley was pretty small but this was a one day show.  The big names were Guy Davis, Francis Manapul and Cameron Stewart.  I made it to Guy Davis and Francis Manapul who were both doing free sketches, a big perk for attending a one day show.  Come August at the main Fan Expo show “free” will be an unknown commodity.  My $5 admission was well worth it.

It’s a low end ATX server board supporting one P4 CPU, four DDR2 DIMMs, two 10/100/1000 NICs  and one PCI-X slot.  The CPU is a socket 775 supporting 90 nm CPUs with 800 MHz and 533 MHz bus speeds: mine came with a P4 3.2 GHz.  Maximum memory is 4 GB but in can be ECC or non ECC.  Only one PCI-X 64 bit 133 MHz slot but five PCI 32 bit 33 MHz slots.  A single PATA and floppy connector.  Also has support for an optional IPMI 2.0 adapter in the white SO-DIMM looking slot.

There are some standout features.  The layout is well organized; very sensible.  It has a ton of headers for LED indicators: one each for the two Gigabit ports and the four SATA ports.  The four SATA ports are parallel to the motherboard so the cables won’t get in the way.  The PCI-X slot is unobstructed and will take a full length card.  The area around the CPU socket is clear and will take any cooler you want to use; I’m using the Intel retail heatsink and it’s loud.  Motherboard power connections, 24 pin and four pin, run along the top of the board out of the way.

The last BIOS is from 2006 but it supports USB drives in floppy or hard drive emulation and allows an auto detect feature that chooses based on format: my FAT16 USB drive was emulated as a floppy while my FAT32 USB drive as a hard drive.  Nice!

Let’s look at the not so standout features.  There are five three pin fan headers: two at the top and three on the right side.  No four pin fan header for the CPU and none on the left side of the board for rear fans.  Maximum of 4 GB DDR2 memory support with 1 GB per slot.  I couldn’t get the two pin ATA LED header working; ended up using the first SATA LED header.

Finally let’s get into the bizarre; links are to Super Micro FAQs.  While the P8SCT has the Intel E7221 chipset with ICH6R south bridge the onboard RAID is not Intel but P8SCT uses an LSI ICH6R firmware that support Raid 0, 1, 10.  Intel Storage Matrix Manager can’t be used.  The SATA ports support AHCI in the BIOS but I couldn’t get Windows 2003 to install with either the included LSI drivers or Intel ICH6R drivers; I was forced to leave them in IDE mode.  Throughout the FAQs you’re let to driver packages with different names but they all end up to be the same: LSI MegaIDE RAID drivers that end with a blue screen of death when you add them as additional storage drivers via F6 during a Windows installation.

It’s a solid design and a good performer.

The Book Depository ships the items from their warehouse in Gloucester, United Kingdom within 48 hours free worldwide.  Their prices are comparable to Amazon and with free shipping it’s hard to go wrong if you don’t meet Amazon’s $39 minimum for free shipping.  They also have over 11000 free eBooks.

Abe Books deals in used and rare books: items you’re not going to find at Amazon or The Book Depository.  A huge selection makes them a great choice for out of print material.

I’ve signed up as an affiliate so please support eBabble by clicking on our link here or on our home page under Sponsors.  I’ll be using these two vendors in my review links as well.

Luckily steam has a backup feature: right click on your game in the Steam Games menu and select “backup games files”.

You’ll be prompted for a location: I’m saving my backups to a network share.  Next you’ll be prompted how to save the backups: in CD size, DVD size or custom.

Since I’m saving to a network share I’m not concerned about file size and writing to an optical media so I select custom and chose 10 GB so there would be only one compressed file.

That’s about it: if you want to install it somewhere else or are reinstalling after a hard drive format or upgrade just double click on the steambackup.exe file and it will install and add itself to Steam.  I’ve found games always require an update on an install from backup but that could just be me.

After unwrapping them and breading in flour, egg and panko bread crumbs they cooked in the oven for an hour.  This shaping technique worked perfectly.