It's all cool buzdos. I would have said hardware issues as well. I also would have tried a different card, but Walmart doesn't exactly carry high-end graphics cards. If there was a computer shop in town that I could just walk in and pick one up from I would. I talked to the TS again, and the guy told me (the 3rd level guy that I got to) said they've escalated my case to their "top tier" tech support for investigation. Apparently my case is the epitome of what is being reported as wrong with this game.
And just in case you were wondering, my GPU does heat up to about 10 degrees higher than when idle, but that should be expected.

Heres a few practical benefits:

TV Satellite Dish

NASA developed ways to correct errors in the signals coming from the spacecraft. This technology is used to reduce noise (that is, messed up picture or sound) in TV signals coming from satellites.

Medical Imaging

NASA developed ways to process signals from spacecraft to produce clearer images. (See more on digital information and how spacecraft send images from space.) This technology also makes possible these photo-like images of our insides.

Vision Screening System

Uses techniques developed for processing space pictures to examine eyes of children and find out quickly if they have any vision problems. The child doesn't have to say a word!

Ear Thermometer

Instead of measuring temperature using a column of mercury (which expands as it heats up), this thermometer has a lens like a camera and detects infrared energy, which we feel as heat. The warmer something is (like your body), the more infrared energy it puts out. This technology was originally developed to detect the birth of stars.

Fire Fighter Equipment

Fire fighters wear suits made of fire resistant fabric developed for use in space suits.

Smoke Detector

First used in the Earth orbiting space station called Skylab (launched back in 1973) to help detect any toxic vapors. Now used in most homes and other buildings to warn people of fire.

Sun Tiger Glasses

From research done on materials to protect the eyes of welders working on spacecraft, protective lenses were developed that block almost all the wavelengths of radiation that might harm the eyes, while letting through all the useful wavelengths that let us see.

Automobile Design Tools

A computer program developed by NASA to analyze a spacecraft or airplane design and predict how parts will perform is now used to help design automobiles. This kind of software can save car makers a lot of money by letting them see how well a design will work even before they build a prototype.

Cordless Tools

Portable, self-contained power tools were originally developed to help Apollo astronauts drill for moon samples. This technology has lead to development of such tools as the cordless vacuum cleaner, power drill, shrub trimmers, and grass shears.

Aerodynamic Bicycle Wheel

A special bike wheel uses NASA research in airfoils (wings) and design software developed for the space program. The three spokes on the wheel act like wings, making the bicycle very efficient for racing.

Thermal Gloves and Boots

These gloves and boots have heating elements that run on rechargeable batteries worn on the inside wrist of the gloves or embedded in the sole of the ski boot. This technology was adapted from a spacesuit design for the Apollo astronauts.

Space Pens

The Fisher Space Pen was developed for use in space. Most pens depend on gravity to make the ink flow into the ball point. For this space pen, the ink cartridge contains pressured gas to push the ink toward the ball point. That means, you can lie in bed and write upside down with this pen! Also, it uses a special ink that works in very hot and very cold environments.

Shock Absorbing Helmets

These special football helmets use a padding of Temper Foam, a shock absorbing material first developed for use in aircraft seats. These helmets have three times the shock absorbing ability of previous types.

Ski Boots

These ski boots use accordion-like folds, similar to the design of space suits, to allow the boot to flex without distortion, yet still give support and control for precision skiing.

Failsafe Flashlight

This flashlight uses NASA's concept of system redundancy, which is always having a backup for the parts of the spacecraft with the most important jobs. This flashlight has an extra-bright primary bulb and an independent backup system that has its own separate lithium battery (also a NASA developed technology) and its own bulb.

Invisible Braces

These teeth-straightening braces use brackets that are made of a nearly invisible translucent (almost see-through) ceramic material. This material is a spinoff of NASA's advanced ceramic research to develop new, tough materials for spacecraft and aircraft.

Edible Toothpaste

This is a special foamless toothpaste developed for the astronauts to use in space (where spitting is not a very good idea!) Although this would be a great first toothpaste for small children, it is no longer available.

Joystick Controllers

Joystick controllers are used for lots of things now, including computer games and vehicles for people with disabilities. These devices evolved from research to develop a controller for the Apollo Lunar Rover, and from other NASA research into how humans actually operate (called "human factors").

Advanced Plastics

Spacecraft and other electronics need very special, low-cost materials as the base for printed circuits (like those inside your computer). Some of these "liquid crystal polymers" have turned out to be very good, low-cost materials for making containers for foods and beverages.

Mycroft, precooked turkey could be okay... depending upon how she reheats it. Problem is, if the meat's already cooked, reheating will dry it out (as you've guessed) HOWEVER one can reheat meat without (too much) drying by a nice slow steam. Cover it with foil, toss some stock in bottom of roasting pan and bring heat up to 250. Be sure to put turkey into cold oven and have stock slightly warm to start with. Still don't want to heat too long as even steam will over cook the meat and it will be grainy. The best thing to do is to pour some fat over the turkey while its reheating.

LOL that is sooo true. I can't tell you how many bags exploded from people pouring water and the cocoa into the bag and then putting books or even sitting on the bag opening. It was hard not to laugh. The best was when people complained their chocolate was bad after it had sat in the steaming bag with the meal and mostly everything else that came in the bag. I personally thought the new MREs are 10 times better then the old crap. They did a decent job this time and if prepared PROPERLY they are damn good meals. I even took a few back to my dorm for those late nights hitting the books.

In reply to this comment by MarineGunrock:
ROFL @ MRE no0bs. We would feed them to the Iraqis that would work on our base - it was hilarious to watch them try to figure it out. They would pour water into the heater and then mix in their cocoa powder. They, however, don't know English, so there's no excuse for the morons you saw.

In reply to this comment by thesnipe:
I've worked many a shelters in my life with the Red Cross and ambulance corps. Working for hurricane shelters was the first I got my hands on the new style MREs, I was hooked. The pasta was actually decent but of course we all traded and bartered for the snacks (since we had our first pick of meals).

The funny/sad thing (depending on the type of person) was watching them try to work it. I can't tell you the countless numbers of people who took out the main meal and poured water on it, or ended up heating up their snacks...not to mention the fun with the MRE bombs...those are the days being an EMT gets quite interesting.

ROFL @ MRE no0bs. We would feed them to the Iraqis that would work on our base - it was hilarious to watch them try to figure it out. They would pour water into the heater and then mix in their cocoa powder. They, however, don't know English, so there's no excuse for the morons you saw.

In reply to this comment by thesnipe:
I've worked many a shelters in my life with the Red Cross and ambulance corps. Working for hurricane shelters was the first I got my hands on the new style MREs, I was hooked. The pasta was actually decent but of course we all traded and bartered for the snacks (since we had our first pick of meals).

The funny/sad thing (depending on the type of person) was watching them try to work it. I can't tell you the countless numbers of people who took out the main meal and poured water on it, or ended up heating up their snacks...not to mention the fun with the MRE bombs...those are the days being an EMT gets quite interesting.

I've worked many a shelters in my life with the Red Cross and ambulance corps. Working for hurricane shelters was the first I got my hands on the new style MREs, I was hooked. The pasta was actually decent but of course we all traded and bartered for the snacks (since we had our first pick of meals).

The funny/sad thing (depending on the type of person) was watching them try to work it. I can't tell you the countless numbers of people who took out the main meal and poured water on it, or ended up heating up their snacks...not to mention the fun with the MRE bombs...those are the days being an EMT gets quite interesting.

""It astounds me that people believe things without doing an ounce of research. Do you know the correlation between CO2 emissions and global average temperature? It happens to be 0.000%"

What "research" is it that led you to believe this? Your extremely simplistic conclusions drawn from your graphs betray the fact that you have no idea how the planet's temperature regulation works. You really need not be a climatologist to see where you go wrong; you just need to understand the very basic physical properties of carbon dioxide.

Here is a simple abstract of how the wonders of the carbon cycle work to keep our planet habitable...

CO2 gets dissolved in the oceans, forming carbonic acid (H2CO3), which reacts with wollastonite (CaSiO3) contained in the sediments, forming carbonates and oxides (CaCO3 and SiO2). This binding of CO2 is what keeps nitrogen the primary gas in our atmosphere and stops a runaway greenhouse effect from happening on Earth:

2CO2 + H2O + CaSiO3 -> Ca + 2HCO3 + SiO2
CO2 + H2O + CaCO3 -> Ca + 2HCO3
2HCO3 + Ca -> CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O
CO2 + CaSiO3 -> CaCO3 + SiO2

Without this we would prompty end up like Venus.

(of course, what makes it a cycle is that vulcanic activity returns the CO2 into the atmosphere)

Now, if the correlation of CO2 in the atmosphere and Earth's temperature "happened to be 0.000%" I regret to inforn you that there would be no life on Earth, because the place would be frozen over. The very ability of CO2 to heat up the atmosphere is what saved us from the major ice ages in the planet's history (you can present me with an alternative theory if you like). When the ground and the oceans freeze over, the albedo (ie the reflective power) of the planet increases, and up to 90% of sun's radiation gets reflected right back so it doesn't heat the Earth. The -only- way to get out of a situation like that is via the CO2 pumped out by volcanic activity. No CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans in this situation, them having a layer of ice of half a mile or so, but vulcanic activity does not stop, which unbalances the CO2 cycle. The atmosphere starts warming up slowly, the first band of thawed ground appears on the equator, this adds vater vapor into the atmosphere which speeds up the heating, and also lowers the albedo, which increases it even more. This goes on until the CO2 cycle kicks in again and the atmosphere stabilizes.

The greenhouse effect is crucial to our existence, but it's a fine balance, and while no one really knows what happens when you disturb the balance like we have, I'm afraid at this point we're just going to have to find out. I doubt our kids will thank us for it.

I invite you to show me a graph disproving that, nibiyabi."

I am talking about emissions created by people, which accounts for roughly, what, 2-5% of the total CO2 in the atmosphere? Negligible. And as we (hopefully) make the slow transition to nuclear power, this will go down anyway.

"It astounds me that people believe things without doing an ounce of research. Do you know the correlation between CO2 emissions and global average temperature? It happens to be 0.000%"

What "research" is it that led you to believe this? Your extremely simplistic conclusions drawn from your graphs betray the fact that you have no idea how the planet's temperature regulation works. You really need not be a climatologist to see where you go wrong; you just need to understand the very basic physical properties of carbon dioxide.

Here is a simple abstract of how the wonders of the carbon cycle work to keep our planet habitable...

CO2 gets dissolved in the oceans, forming carbonic acid (H2CO3), which reacts with wollastonite (CaSiO3) contained in the sediments, forming carbonates and oxides (CaCO3 and SiO2). This binding of CO2 is what keeps nitrogen the primary gas in our atmosphere and stops a runaway greenhouse effect from happening on Earth:

2CO2 + H2O + CaSiO3 -> Ca + 2HCO3 + SiO2
CO2 + H2O + CaCO3 -> Ca + 2HCO3
2HCO3 + Ca -> CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O
CO2 + CaSiO3 -> CaCO3 + SiO2

Without this we would prompty end up like Venus.

(of course, what makes it a cycle is that vulcanic activity returns the CO2 into the atmosphere)

Now, if the correlation of CO2 in the atmosphere and Earth's temperature "happened to be 0.000%" I regret to inforn you that there would be no life on Earth, because the place would be frozen over. The very ability of CO2 to heat up the atmosphere is what saved us from the major ice ages in the planet's history (you can present me with an alternative theory if you like). When the ground and the oceans freeze over, the albedo (ie the reflective power) of the planet increases, and up to 90% of sun's radiation gets reflected right back so it doesn't heat the Earth. The -only- way to get out of a situation like that is via the CO2 pumped out by volcanic activity. No CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans in this situation, them having a layer of ice of half a mile or so, but vulcanic activity does not stop, which unbalances the CO2 cycle. The atmosphere starts warming up slowly, the first band of thawed ground appears on the equator, this adds vater vapor into the atmosphere which speeds up the heating, and also lowers the albedo, which increases it even more. This goes on until the CO2 cycle kicks in again and the atmosphere stabilizes.

The greenhouse effect is crucial to our existence, but it's a fine balance, and while no one really knows what happens when you disturb the balance like we have, I'm afraid at this point we're just going to have to find out. I doubt our kids will thank us for it.

I invite you to show me a graph disproving that, nibiyabi.

Lucky looked at this thread shortly after I posted, that should do I'd guess, they know. Right now I don't care to pursue it further. With things heating up on the campaigns and the anniversary of 9-11 things seem about as tense here as they've been in a while with way too much name calling and assumptions about educations, backgrounds, and other aspects of the sort in place of arguments. That's the type of thing I came here to avoid.

I'm trying to quit a 30 year smoking habit at the moment and just don't need additional challenges. I'm on vacation for a while.

I can see this thread heating up real fast.

this is probably a very good way to ruin your laser pointer. removing its power regulation like that is going to cause the non-heat-sunk IR laser diode inside to heat up very rapidly and burn out.

how do the heat of the oil to frying temp (280-400 °F) without heating up the water as well?!?!

*confuzzled*

Chaucer i'd like to try and answer your posts. The best i can.

#2 i don't know right now but I'll try to find an answer.

#3 Just because something heats up doesn't mean it expands just means there's more energy in the system that's all.

#4 The fact that the earth was covered in salt water isn't guess work, and the blue-green algae is still around today. Oxygen is one of its natural byproducts. More Oxygen is put into the atmosphere by these same algae today than all of the forests in the world combine. It also has a cousin usually referred to as the red tide. It kills all of the fish in the area because it consumes all of the oxygen and gets rid of it into the air and not back into the water.

#5 If mass is gained then gravity must all so increase. They are bound together by the law's of physics. F=mg (force=mass*gravity) That fact alone destroys this idea so completely. We know what the mass of the earth and the moon are and can build models to show there effects on each other. And every year the moon drifts 30cm away from us. That's not much but in 5 million years we will no longer have a moon. If this idea was correct the moon should be getting closer each year because of the expansion and the increase in gravity over time. So for this to be true no mass is gained but the moon should still be getting closer to us because of the expansion but its not. The Apollo missions put mirrors on the moon and ground based lasers get shot at them then the time to return is calculated and every year its drifts 30cm away from us. So wave good bye while you still can.

Another point i just thought of is the fact that the core of the earth is active and produces and electromagnetic field around the earth that blocks the suns radiation as best it can. if the core or the earth were increasing in size wouldn't that field also increase at a constant rate as apposed to the one we have now that fluctuates and has switched direction at least 3 times now. We can tell it has changed poles because of molten iron deposits from volcano's millions of years ago have there own magnetic fields backwards and some with very little fields at all.

Its an interesting idea but nothing more. It was fun to think about counter arguments to it.

I think this makes a little more sense than the plate drifting notion. If all the land mass was connected together the earth would wobble wildly and we wouldnt be here today. I read an article about building huge structures (like super sized buildings) a while back that talked about putting that much mass (weight) on one area of the earth and how it might cause the earth to wobble more. I'll see if I cant find that article again. It would have been in a Popular Science/Mechanics.

Tracon, here are some possible answers to your statements:

2) Scientist have found that the earth would have been covered by x amount of water in the atmosphere. It was like the ozone but far thicker. i dont remember the exact amount since it has been a while since I have read this. But this water isnt there now and they dont know (at the time) where it went to. This could explain it.

3) I dont think he meant expansion due to dust but probably more along the lines of the core expanding as it heated up.

4) The whole evolution thing is just guesswork. It could have been fresh water as much as it could have been salt water.

5) I fail to see how gravity fits into this picture.

In my head I heard Jeff Probst say:

Next time on SURVIVOR.... The Chickita Tribe plots to overthrow one of their own, while at Mogomogo, tensions heat up over Carmens new Bananna hat.

LOL

(I've got to stop watching Survivor...) :-P ~