Sucker Free Sunday - Issue 19

Welcome to the 19th issue of Sucker Free Sunday, where I talk about recruitment policies.Please refer to issue 1 for the rules on recruitment, but for the lazy, I have recopied the rules below:Here are the rules:1) If selected, you are committed to write on the day you are assigned or chosen.

2) If you happen to miss your day, and Versatile1 covers for you, thats ok but you are given a strike. Three (3) strikes and you are off the team. One (1) strike will be removed every month you did not get a strike. No exceptions to the rule.

3) Topics you desire to write on can be anything, but please keep it clean. We have children, young adults, fathers, mothers, and the elderly visiting this blog.

4) You can of course post on any other day too if you so feel inclined, but make sure you post on your required day, or that is a strike. Make sure your post coincides with your calendar date. If it posts and shows up as the previous day, you posted too early and must delete it and re-post it on the next day.

To apply, post your request and desire in the Sucker Free Sunday issue, any issue. Thank you.

List so far as of 5/18/08:

Sunday: (Open)

Monday: (Open)

Tuesday: Versatile1

Wednesday: (Open)

Thursday: GN

Friday: TVDenimChap

Saturday:(Open)

The Underground: Updates [Issue 1]

Hey everyone,

This is going to be a short memo from me, Voltaire, on all of the updates going on around the blog. For those of you reading this, you may know everything here, or maybe not. Well, the past few months have been trying on all of us, especially AP and SAT test takers (including me). So I’m starting to come back and get into the flow of things… well, for writing. I’ve been doing some background stuff and all.

Couple of updates:

-We lost the hosting to our forums as it expired. We are currently trying to move the forums, but the database backups don’t seem to be 100% working as of now.

-V1 has created a table of contents of the PS2 Tutorials. Click Here!

-Demonoid is back, so V1 will be able to invite some people. However, invites are limited, so if you get invited, try to return the favor and invite someone else.

-Currently, I am working on a toolbar for all readers to use. Once installed, it will allow you to RSS automatically to each new post and comment. There will be a search function through google.com, The Underground, and a few other places like Wikipedia. There will also be an e-mail notifier.

-We are trying to get new contributors all the time. STD Posts are starting to roll out, and we need real life stories to make them more interesting. If you don’t want your real name revealed, just give us an online psuedo, and tell us what your story!

-New writers are welcome all the time. If you think you can do a good job and help us out, please, email us or post somewhere!

-Spam filters are being modified all the time to stop bots. However, we request that you post that you are not a bot (at least on the posts which require it, or your comment may be removed).

So, spread the word! We want your support!

Voltaire

How to sleep better. In 16 Steps.

Well, I was browsing the internet, when I came across this article about getting better sleep. And I thought to my self, well, I do need better sleep. I’m so busy, what can I do? Then I found 16 tips from the Huffington Post:

–

“

Good habits for good sleep:

1. Exercise most days, even if it’s just to take a walk.

2. No caffeine after 7:00 p.m.

3. An hour before bedtime, avoid doing any kind of work that takes alert thinking. Addressing envelopes–okay. Analyzing an article–nope.

4. Adjust your bedroom temperature to be slightly chilly.

5. Keep your bedroom dark. Studies show that even the tiny light from a digital alarm clock can disrupt a sleep cycle. We have about six devices in our room that glow bright green; it’s like sleeping in a mad scientist’s lab. The Big Man has a new pet, a Roomba (yes, he loves his robot vacuum) that gives out so much light that I have to cover it with a pillow before bed.

6. Keep the bedroom as tidy as possible. It’s not restful to fight through chaos into bed.

If sleep won’t come:

7. Breathe deeply and slowly until you can’t stand it anymore.

8. If your mind is racing (you’re planning a trip, a move; you’re worried about a medical diagnosis), write down what’s on your mind. This technique really works for me.

9. Slather yourself with body lotion. This feels good and also, if you’re having trouble sleeping because you’re hot, it cools you down.

10. If your feet are cold, put on socks.

11. Stretch your whole body.

12. Have a warm drink. Supposedly warm milk contains melatonin and trytophan and so helps induce sleep, but in fact, a glass of milk doesn’t contain enough to have any effect. But it’s still a soothing drink. My nighttime favorite: 1/3 mug of milk, add boiling water, one packet of Equal, and a dash of vanilla. A real nursery treat.

13. Yawn.

14. Stretch your toes up and down several times.

15. Tell yourself, “I have to get up now.” Imagine that you just hit the snooze alarm and in a minute, you’re going to be marching through the morning routine. Often this is an exhausting enough prospect to make me fall asleep.

16. If you still can’t sleep, re-frame: re-frame your sleeplessness as a welcome opportunity to snatch some extra time out of your day. I get up and tackle mundane chores, like paying bills, organizing books, or tidying up. Then I start the day with a wonderful feeling of having accomplished something even before 6:45 am.” ~ Gretchen Rbuin

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Many of these tips really change the layout of your sleep. However, it is advisable to gradually slip into change. Don’t take it cold turkey and suddenly decide to stop with caffeine. Lower it down bit by bit. Of course, some things are easier to do than others, so do what works for you. If you don’t want to address envelopes, try reading a story or a boring textbook. I find that these techniques work as well. Also, if you can’t fall asleep within 5 minutes, get up and do something until you can’t pay attention anymore. And don’t EVEN think about using the television.

Greetz!

~Voltaire

P.S. I know the past few months have been inactive on my part, I really could only manage all the background work, however, summertime means coming back into full role, and full steam.  Inactivity stems from testing, and of course, some of you still have test taking to complete, even if APs are over. (including me) So good luck to all of you out there! Finally, we will be releasing something special for our viewers to use in the upcoming month or so (hopefully!). ~V

[How To] Get Started with PS2 and Backups (Novice Guide)

This is just a guide to let users know what they can do with the PS2.  The Underground Staff does not advocate piracy, and this is just an informational guide.  We cannot be held liable for what you do with this information.  I am just repeating information that I have across the net and am just going to re-iterate for Underground needs. :p

It is my understanding that some people know about the whole scene related to PS2 modding, and some don’t.  Perhaps some are just getting onto the bandwagon, and perhaps some have moved onto other consoles for modding and left their PS2 in the dust.

Whatever the case may be, I am going to explain what PS2 modding is, why you may be interested, and how you can do it.  Please note that modding the PS2 is not illegal, it is the intention of what you may do with it is illegal.  The DMCA thing is not very clear, nor has it been, but I assume it is all right to make back up copies of games you own.  It is illegal to get backed up copies of games that you don’t own.  It is just stealing.  I will leave it to that.  What you do is your own business. :p

All right, so you want to learn more about PS2 modding?  What is modding?  In essence, it is unlocking the power of your PS2 to run homebrew programs (user created programs), or to make it do things that it wasn’t meant to do like playing backed up games.  Now the Underground has tutorials on PS2 modding.  To find more about these tutorials, go to the categories section and search for PS2 modding tutorials, or just go to the “Search” bar and search for PS2 table of contents.  This has everything you want to know related to modding so far.

Remember that there are two versions of the PS2 - the fat PS2 and the slimmer PS2.  I have dealt with both consoles, and I have used Swap Magic on both so I know what needs to be done to make this work.

What is a modchip?  It used to be a chip that you bought online and had to open up your PS2 console and solder it to the circuit board (or you can get a non-solder version). Those days are long gone.  Now there are new utilities that allow you to run PS2 games off a hard drive connected to the PS2, or there is my favorite - Swap Magic.  Swap Magic is a boot disc that allows you to load your backed up PS2 games easily without additional effort.

How does it work?  Please see this article for more information: http://versatile1.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/how-to-find-swap-magic-for-ps2/

Ok, so for the fat PS2 with Swap Magic, you need to make a slide card.  A slide card is a little card that you use to pull out your DVD tray once Swap Magic is loaded.  For a slim PS2, you can’t use a slide card because the system has a flip-top.  Instead, you need to block 3 cover sensors in conjunction with Swap Magic to make this work.  Search youtube for slim ps2 and swap magic to find all sorts of videos detailing how this works.

PS2 modding is easy, and it may be worth it.  Although I am not appraising this scenario, I know there are people who have tons of PS2 games either they downloaded or ripped and they don’t own the original retail disc.  The PS2 is on the last of its legs, so it may not be long before the PS2 officially dies.  However, as of this writing, new PS2 games are coming, but nothing groundbreaking.  Gran Turismo, God of War, GTA, and Devil May Cry already paved the road for greatness already. :0

To find more PS2 tutorials, go to this link:  I hope this helps!

http://versatile1.wordpress.com/?s=ps2+table+of+contents

Rockin’ Friday - Metallica Shmetallica?

Welcome again to Rockin Friday! Today a discussion on one of the most famous metal bands in history. Above is a picture of their frontman James Hetfield (before he grew his crazy beard O.o)
Anywho, Metallica are one of the best selling metal acts of all time, second only to bands such as Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. They are definitely the best selling and most widely known bands of the later generations of metal, which would include such acts as Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera etc etc.

After their first four albums, which includes what is seen as the best metal album of all time by many: ‘Master of Puppets’, they broke into the mainstream with ‘Metallica’, otherwise known as ‘The Black Album’, fronted by the single ‘Enter Sandman’, which is absolutely brilliant song. Since then, they have changed more and more into a hard rock group, becoming even bigger, but, as some see it, even more mainstream (and, therefore, shit. Depends how you look at it )

This spiral culminated in the ‘03 ‘St. Anger’, which personally I think is a pile of crap (the single that is. Haven’t heard the album.) Basically, I believe they were going for the sound of a band jamming in a garage to try and bring their music back to the basics. While you can definitely feel the raw energy of the band, the downside is that it sounds like band jamming in their garage. I’d much rather listen to the polished music of a properly produced album. If I want raw, I’ll listen to the far rawer and polished sound of a band like Machine Head.

Back to the point, this led to great uproar among the people who’d consider themselves old school fans, as it saw a departure from their old thrash style into completely hard rock/nu metal. Which, for most metalheads, is considered rubbish.

Because of this, their new album is being widely anticipated, and hoped to be, a return to their old style and form. Recently, underground videos of their album in production have surfaced (considering what happened with Napster, I doubt Metallica would be too happy with this ) Anyway, this means you can judge for yourself. Are Metallica returning to what made them great in the first place?

There are a bunch more floating around as well.

Anyways, that’s all for this week. Enjoy!

Rock on \m/

7 Great Life Lessons Learnt From GTA IV

[Because GN is gone today, I have copied and pasted a badass article.  I take no credit for this. ]

Buried deep within GTA IV’s high-speed police chases, vehicular homicides, cold-blooded killings and large-scale armed robberies, there lie hidden gems of wisdom that you can apply to improve your own life in the real world.

1) If you wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. GTA IV teaches you that when you want to accomplish something, you should go for it without worrying too much about stepping on other people’s toes. When you carjack an old lady and only have 30 seconds to make it from the gun store to the respray shop, some people are gonna get run over in the process. If you want your boss’s job, you might have to get him fired before you get the position. When you get what you want, people may get hurt. It comes with the territory.

2) Trust no one. Everyone you meet has an agenda. Let me repeat that. Everyone you meet has an agenda. Of course, some may have a more malicious agenda than others. Regardless, everyone around you is almost always looking out for #1: themselves. Look at Ghandi — that guy was practically begging to get 15 minutes of fame with some sort of “MTV True Life: I’m a Revolutionary Peacemaker” documentary. Think about it. GTA IV lets you experience “friends” lying, cheating, stealing and stabbing you in the back to get what they want. Only trust yourself.

3) Plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. Pretend you’re in GTA, you just got assigned a new mission, and you envision yourself kicking ass: running, ducking, diving, all while taking out gangbangers with expertly timed shotgun blasts and never getting a scratch on you. So do you walk in to the gun fight with one-third of your health, no body armor and low ammo? Hell no. You stock up. You prepare for the worst. Shit, buy some rocket launchers while you’re at it. Why not. In life, you never know what could go wrong. It always pays to be prepared.

4) The more nice shit you have, the more people respect you. We live in a shallow society folks, and GTA IV understands this by letting your character get all types of shit that doesn’t have anything to do with the actual game. You can buy nice suits & expensive shoes, move into penthouse bachelor pads, and of course, drive baller whips. If you pick up a chick on a date (yes, the game lets you do this), she’ll verbally tell you how impressed she is when you pull up in a luxury car similar to the one 2Pac got shot in. Art is modeled after real life guys. People notice these things. Respect yourself by getting some nice digs.

5) Get revenge when it counts. Don’t let people walk all over you. Donald Trump has touted this for years, and its actually good advice. If people know they can screw you and you won’t do anything about it, prepare for it to happen with greater and greater frequency. If someone wrongs you, get them back, and make absolute sure everyone sees it so they know you’re not one to be messed with. In GTA IV when someone disrespects your crew, you don’t sneak around and poison their morning tea — you roll up right on the basketball court and blow his brains out in front of all of his homies plus a few random bystanders. See how everyone else runs away? This is called leading by example.

6) If you want something, you have to work for it. America is the land of opportunity, not the land of uh-here-take-this. Don’t expect things to be given to you on a silver platter, or for the world to be fair. Sometimes when you want something, you have to be prepared to take it. When Niko arrives in Liberty City, he has nothing. By the middle of the game he’s got a highrise apartment and a pile of money, not to mention tons of guns and bitches. Get out there and fight.

7) Go off the beaten path. Don’t blindly follow the guidelines that society lays out for you. If you followed every traffic law in GTA IV you would get so bored playing that you’d eventually turn off the game, which in real life would be the equivalent of killing yourself. Make life interesting. Think outside the box. There’s no one right way to do something. Steve Jobs took the mobile phone market and turned it upside down with the iPhone, a device no one had ever seen before. In one GTA IV mission, Niko dresses up as a gay guy to take another gay man out on a date for the sole purpose of killing him. This type of unorthodox thinking is what you need to succeed in the work place as well as in life. Make it happen.

[Source]

Sense of Humor - Funny Picture

Source

You got to enjoy girls with a sense of humor.

[TiT] That’s It Tuesday - Issue 32

Hi underground visitors! Welcome to the 32ndissue of TIT, or That’s It Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I, Versatile1, will give you a rant of whats going on in the blog, whats intended for the future, hope, dreams, etc.
Last week I unveiled STD story #2.  I have been told that future stories need to be like a story, and if you don’t know the technical details, then so be it. :0

In other news, the forums for the blog is currently down.  Our forum was hosted on a friend’s server, and the host contract expired, but we have a backup.

The funny part is the only people that care are the ones that use the XXX IRC tutorial, go figure! :)  Within the next few days, I’ll see if I can re-create the tutorial.  Due note that you don’t have to do this, there are websites that have streaming video, if you know what I mean.

Sound interested?  I got a thread going, but not enough people requesting, so that means either you know where to find it, or people don’t want it.  Hey, that’s fine with me.

Check it out here:

http://versatile1.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/how-to-find-free-streaming-erotic-videos/

Can You Identify the Avatar? - Issue 2

(Image source: http://peter.stillhq.com)

Welcome readers. I’m going to try a new short lived form of interactivity on this blog. Did you notice that as an author, I always have a knack for subtle, or interesting WordPress avatars? Well, I do. Thus, I came up with a fun game called “Can You Identify the Avatar?”

The purpose of the game is each week to have the viewers (that’s you) to identify WTF is Versatile1’s avatar. Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes its hard to tell because the avatar is so small. Players participate by posting in the comments a description of what they think Versatile1’s avatar picture is.

Contest is open for 7 days from date of posting, and then all submissions are closed (however, the contest could end much earlier than that depending on entries). From there, the person with the best description wins, and you get recognition through the front page of the blog on the right hand side.

The twist: Most of the time the avatar may have a theme associated with it, sometimes not. When you make your comment, you have two choices:

• 1) Either write a description of the avatar and hope for the best or
• 2) Write what the theme of the avatar is and how it correlates. Themes are usually something that is happening on the website, and the nature of the avatar hooks into this theme for that particular time frame.

The problem is if you choose the wrong path, that you won’t win. Example: I wrote a post on the ethics of clowns visiting schools as a possible career path. Later that week I hold the contest, and Tony writes the theme comment: “There is clearly a theme for V1’s avatar. Seeing that it is a picture of Bozo the clown, and with the recent attention of clowns in the news, then the theme must be clowns.”

I come back saying it is correct, and Tony wins. However, Mike writes a description like this: “Obviously, V1 picture is a clown - Bozo the clown.”.

Both entries are correct, but the poster with the correct theme takes precedence over the description comment. Makes sense? Let’s play!

**********************************************

Last time around, TvDenimChap was the closest winner.  The avatar was a big plush spider going at it with the a hot lady on the couch.  This really was a theme, and the theme was STD.  I did a google search, and this spider image came up. :0

Aight, with that said, I have come up with a new avatar.  Let your imagination fly.  If enough people try, a new avatar will come up next week.  Good luck!

Participants:

TvDenimChap: +1 point

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today is Mother’s Day. The Underground Staff would like to congratulate the mother’s of our children and the father’s that visit the blog. We understand that some mother’s do not like our blog, as it borders on the line between what is right and wrong.

However, I want to assure the mothers that this blog is legit, and we do not focus on the ill-nature of human kind. Modding consoles, and teaching people where to find games and what not is not wrong. In fact, it is probably saving you money because you don’t have to buy software or games or whatever for your husbands or your children.

Sure, you may say that what we talk about from time to time is morally wrong. One such example is making a tutorial teaching people how to find passwords to adult entertainment sites. Well, am I the bad guy, or is your husband or your children the bad guys? As a mother, it is your duty to teach them about this kind of stuff, not me.

But enough of us, this day is for you. Enjoy it, and ask your family to help you out today. You deserve it, and I thank you because without mothers, I would have no audience. Thanks!