The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Poor Boozer, he comes over here where cricket is an insect, and to add insult to injury he gets hit by Sam's electricity tax. Lol

 

I'm a red-blooded American who likes freedom fries with my apple pie. But I also know that England has changed a lot in the last two centuries, so, eh. Forgive and forget. America has its fair share of bad history.

 

You know what? I'm surprised I'm not banned yet.

And Freedom Fries. I want some of those right about now.

 

The USA has got to be one of the most patriotic nations on the planet, maybe second only to China and perhaps Russia, yet half its population aren't even indigenous! A real sense of pride there, I admire that.

 

Well, I'm not going to get into politics here. But yes, we're very patriotic. There are very few nations in the world where you can enjoy freedoms like we do. We're a nation of immigrants who fought tooth and nail for our freedom against overwhelming odds. Our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence knowing that, if they failed, they would die.

So I guess national pride is important, whether or not other countries agree with our actions. We have our own motivations and that's just the way it is.

 

Just to throw a bit of confusion into the whole business - my manager sent out something over the 4th of July - "our founders would have been tried as traitors and hung had we not won the war." That is certainly true. "We would not today enjoy the freedoms we have." Now wait a second. That's what we're taught. But is that really true?

I sent back my email, "Well, Dave, I have been reading a little bit of revisionist history, and let's think about it. There are a few former British colonies that didn't have a revolution. Let's take Canada. Most people would consider Canada a freedom-loving democracy. I don't recall that Canada ever had a revolution against British rule. Then there is Australia. Most people would consider Australia a freedom-loving democracy. Did they have a revolution? I don't recall one."

So what is my nefarious point?

First I like boozer's picture. I think that is the same look as the first time he unloaded the 9 at the firing range, and there was dead silence, and some redneck said "what was ALL that noise." And somebody else said "why is that guy's target completely shredded?" And boozer said "What, me, no I just took a couple of shots!"

Ok back to July 4th bashing - not really - I'm just kidding. What I have heard recently is that we really didn't have to throw the tea overboard, and have that big ol' revolution - we would have ended up a freedom-loving democracy like Canada, and Australia, and as a matter of fact, like the UK itself. Right?

I saw a great movie, Amazing Grace, about a year ago, about the British anti-slavery pioneer William Wilberforce in the late 1700s. The British Parliamentary process and democracy was well-established by then. Policially, the crown was more than the figurehead it is now, but Parliament definitely had most of the political power. There was considerable debate about revolution versus evolution. Thomas Jefferson was in touch with Wilberforce, but some members of Parliament considered that relationship suspicious - they weren't too happy about the radical things the colonists were saying, and there was talk that there would probably be an expensive war "over there."

"Expensive war over there." Does that sound familiar to anybody?

Wilberforce gathered together a great petition - the first time that petitioning had ever been done. This movie is well worth watching to observe the political process in play in England just prior to the American Revolution.

We owe our entire parliamentary system to the British, which of course is why the two countries are so close. Those limies can't figure out simple things like which side the steering wheel goes on, but they gave us our entire political system. In my opinion, we would pretty much be the same country we are today, if evolution rather than revolution had been pursued by our forefathers.

As to pride - we are certainly taught all through school that America is the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave. I like to use the word gratitude more than pride. We have a pretty good system, we fought on the right side in two world wars, and then since then things have gotten a bit more complicated.

One low note: under Eisenhower we ousted a democratically-elected leader in Chile in favor of a right-wing military dictatorship that murdered 10,000 members of the political opposition. We were afraid his socialist tendencies would ally him with the Communists, and we were going through our McCarthy red-bashing fear-mongering phase. That Chilean president had visited schools here in the US speaking about his admiration for the American system, before the CIA engineered his overthrow. That did not endear us to Latin America.

Was that a basic part of the thread of our doctrine of fairness, and love for democracy, or something else. Was it a mistake of our leaders during a period of fear, similar to the internment and seizing of property of thousands of Asian-Americans on the West Coast at the start of World War II?

Is it time for us to put all the Muslims in jail? (Well, maybe not all of them, just the ones in Sanford.) And let's not even start to talk about our shabby treatment of American Indians.

We've made our share of mistakes. Anyway, it's a pretty good system. I wouldn't try to argue that it's the very best system in the entire world. Maybe, maybe not. As with any political system there is plenty of room for improvement. It's a pretty good system, with an interesting dynamic of the ebb and flow of political power across the economic spectrum - as in most other democracies. To keep improving it we have to be careful of what we're sold on TV, and of whom we're told to fear. - my 2 cents

 

The words 'off topic' and 'political thread' come to mind Rich...
I appreciate your post, but I think that may be hot water...

 

Off topic? Well I didn't start it. Or ... well, actually I did - that first crack about the tea 200 years ago. Sorrrrry!

 

England is more socialist than anything else these days lol.

Oh and I'm not going to get into the whole revolutionary war thing, but the thing I always thought was funny is this. The revolution really got going at first because the Colonists thought the British were taxing them way too much, the funny thing is the British taxed them the least. They taxed their other colonies, and the people living in Britain even more.

 

Words of wisdom coming from Sammy... What is this world coming too? lol.
btw this is the best the "graphics card thread" has been in weeks... ROFL..

....gm

 

lol

It's always hrvdguy taking us off topic!

BTW, did you go to Harvard? lol Just curious.

 

Well, at least greensman's enjoying the discussion

But seriously I better listen to "Sammy" and keep a low profile, or I'll have to ask shaff how to un-ban myself. That's the end of politics for me (- not trying to push an agenda - just trying to provoke thought.)

Yeah, I picked up my MBA over there.

By the way, I hope this is on-topic - all about PCs and video games. (But maybe also about passion and why we fought two world wars.) This scary kid is going nuts trying to get his computer started - I wonder who filmed this - and was it all staged??:
#1 German kid goes ballistic trying to start video game

See you guys. I've got to head out to show property to my favorite client. -Rich

 

lol Look there is a John McCain ad on the page!

 

Haha no Rich, your posts are usually very well thought out and you're clearly a clever chap, up until recently you posted so rarely it was practically a special occasion! No need to keep a low profile, just keep political thoughts to a reasonable level, that's all.

On the matter of graphics cards, I managed to clear some space at the bottom of my case so I now have a PCI slot! I was going to try my 2 port PCI card in there, but it added loads to the POST time scanning for drives, so I didn't bother in the end, partly because I managed to get my two HDDs into the bottom S-ATA ports, meaning I can now use four connectors again.. See, cable tidying has a functional purpose! Still not tidied the upper areas by the fan controller yet, but give it time and it will happen.

As of now, she looks like this:
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2240/s5000552nm7.jpg
tried the 4870X2 in the top slot again, but it definitely doesn't go in properly, and it gets a bit upset about that if you power it on like it...

 

I didn't know you could just put it in the bottom slot like that.

P.S. Yeah you need cable management work. Of course it was easy for me because I had a CM690, and they are very well thought out as far as cable management goes.

 

Yeah the one downside to NZXT cases is cable management is a complete afterthought. Being able to pull this off was a major step forward though, and with a little more time spent on it I reckon I can have it looking neat and tidy.

 

Mine looked better than this goes when all was said and done.

 

PSU's a little on the wonky side isn't it?

 

dont woory boozer, i am there for sam, i hate untidy cases, it makes me shudder, but then you see my room and you will think why i dont bother taking care of that lol. i live in a pigsty but my computer is a temple. LOL

sam's case is my project

my case is as clean as a whistle, and let me show it of

 

A grey, nondescript temple...