The_MoUsY_spell_checker's Advice Column

I'm 19/F, in my first year in college. My program is 4 years, and it's very small (30 or so people) so I thought that it might be a good idea to get a group outing together so that we can all get to know each other outside of school.

Does anybody have any ideas for fun things for a bunch of college students to do that doesn't involve drinking (because most of my classmates are underage)?

Some ideas I've come up with are a dinner out or bowling.

Thank you!

How about watching movies? You decide whether you'd rather go to the cinema (the downside would be that it'll be more expensive, and you might need to pay for a whole theatre to yourself if you want to get the whole group in there) or watch a DVD at home (which will be cheaper and more flexible, and you can talk too, but you won't have anything really new).

If you like video games, may be you can hold a tournament at home.

Karaoke is also good if there's a karaoke place nearby. If not, you can always buy microphones and hold your own karaoke party at home.
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I am going to buy an MP4 player and am sure about all its specs except it says it has a li ion battery. I am used to rechargeable batters you can take out easily like AAA. I read that they don't recharge after so long. I was wondering how would I get the battery replaced? Would I have to go to the same store where I bought the MP4 player or somewhere else? I don't know how long the store will be around for.

There are many types of lithium batteries. You might be able to find them in shops that sell watches, but whether you can actually replace the battery is a different story. If it's actually rechargable, it might not be designed to be easily replaced. If it's made by a more established manufacturer then you might be able to find out more from their website, or at least you'll be able to find it in other stores if the one you'll buy it from might not be around.
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people always say "Ill find out who hacked me" or "i can trach him down" so my account recently got hacked, can i like call the police about it? or can i track them down some other way? like i heard about finding their ip-adress, or somethhing? or someone told me if all i have is an email from that same computer theri using i can tell, so can i?

This depends on how you have been hacked. Is it your account on a website that has been hacked, or is it your computer?

If it's your account on a website, chances are that the other person somehow got your password but didn't "hack" into the server of the site. If that's the case, contact the site administrator and say that someone else might have been accessing your account. Make sure that you can prove that account is yours (for example, by giving the email address that you registered with).

If it's your computer, you might be able to find out who has been connecting to your computer, which you can probably do by contacting your ISP (that is, the company that you get your internet connection from).

If you have an email sent from the computer that was used to hack your account / computer, it might come with information that allows you to find their IP address. To do this, check the header. Make sure you're looking at the complete header. How you do this will depend on whether you're using webmail or an email client and which one you use.
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I have a digital camera, and I would really like to transfer the pictures onto my computer. Sadly I have a SanDisk Image Mate USB Version 1.4 cord that I need to do this, but it says it only does it for Windows 95 or 98!!! I have a Windows XP. What do I do?

Are you sure it's for Windows 95 and 98 only, or is it that only Windows 95 and 98 need a driver for the cable to work? If it's a USB cord, it should work with XP. You might need to download a driver from the manufacturer's site. In fact, you should check the manufacturer's site because it might have instructions on what you should do.

Also, even if the cord says Windows 95 or 98 only, trying it on XP will not damage anything even if it doesn't work, so give it a go.
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I need to gain weight; I can't really eat more because I get full easily. Can you tell me some ways to gain weight? Or foods that are high in calories.

Lift weights so that you build more muscle. That'll make you heavier without making you fat. Make sure you eat food that contains a lot of protein so your muscles can grow.
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For English class I don't get the whole concept when it comes to "Breaking Down a Sentence". Where you underline the verb and the subject and draw arrows to modifiers and circle some words and put parenthesis around phrases. Is there a site that could give me some examples, so I can strengthen myself in this area?

This site covers the basics:
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/grammar.html

If that's not enough, try this one. It's very detailed.
http://grammar.uoregon.edu/toc.html
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Is there a way to convert some of my .wma files and some of my .mp3 files into .wav files?

I want to do so to customise my messenger with my personal sounds.

Use All2Wav recorder (available at http://www.naturpic.com/all2wav/). It comes with instructions.

You can also do this with Quintessential Player (available at http://www.quinnware.com/). Add the file to the playlist, then right click on it and choose Convert > Convert Selected to > WAV (and other ACM formats).

If you can't download anything, you'll have to record the sound onto a new .wav file.

First, go to Volume Control > Options > Properties > choose "Recording > Click "OK" > Check the box next to "Select" under "Wave out mix".

After that, open Sound Recorder (it should be somewhere in your start menu, but I'm not sure where because I've rearranged mine), click the record button and play the mp3 file. Click stop when it ends, and save the file.
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What does the hand signal mean when you put up your index finger and middle finger and your pinky, with your thumb and ring finger down?

Look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocker_%28hand_gesture%29
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Okay, read the following and it'll give you ideas how you will answer my question.

Okay, the thing that plugs into the iPod and the computer, I plug those two in where they are suppose to be.
It says DO NOT DISCONNECT


If you do disconnect it while it is charging and unplug it, will it mess up the battery?
What you don't need to charge it but still have some empty battery in the screen where it says if your battery is dead, is it bad for the battery?

Is this like the phone because if you charge it when it's not fully dead, it ruins the battery.

Charging the battery when it's not fully dead will not damage the battery.

If you disconnect the iPod from a computer when it says "DO NOT DISCONNECT", you are more likely to damage the data on the iPod rather than the battery. (In other words, you lose your songs and anything else you have on it.)

When you disconnect the iPod, make sure you disconnect it properly. ("Safely Remove Hardware" if you're using Windows, "Eject" if you're using a Mac, and if you're using something else you'll probably know what to do.)
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OK, you know those ads you see on bulletin boards that have the phone numbers at the bottom that are turned sideways, so, everyone can take one? Well, if anyone has Mocrosoft Word can you please explain to me how to do that? Thanks.

In Microsoft Word, click Insert > Text Box > Vertical, and then type the number in the text box.
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I heard about these new emails thats are ones from google, and I would like to get one, but do you have to be invited for one?
So I have a few questions:
*Is it like name@google.com? (like @yahoo.com)
*Do any of you have it, do you like it?
*And how can you get one?

The email address will be @gmail.com. As far as I know, you need an invitation (which can either be from someone else with an account, or you can get one by entering your mobile phone number) unless you are in Japan, Australia, or New Zealand.

I have one and I like it because of the conversation views. When you reply to an email, it is sorted along with the original, and conversations are kept togther. It also offers a lot of space. You start out with 2GB and then they give you a little bit more space every now and then.

I can send you an invitation if you want one.
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Okay I was just wondering are the Gossip Girl series real or fictious?
They include all these fan emails and sightings and things about the characters , and that seem like they could only be real. Does the author just make those up as she writes the story?

They're fiction. If you look in the book store you'll find the books under "Fiction".
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How can I make myself appear idle on AIM?

[i have AIM for macintosh]

You automatically appear as idle when you stop using the computer for about 30 minutes. You can probably change this under "Options", which is either under "Tools" or AIM (click the name of the program on the bar at the top of your screen).
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I got my first real tatto about a month ago. Now, the artist never gave me a real talking to about it. He just said rub ointment on it for the first 2 days, then, keep putting lotion on it. Well, to make a long story short, it scabbed over & it looked horrible! I know this sounds stupid, but, I didn't think it would look normal, so, I did pick at it a little & now I lost some of the color. What can I do now? Is the only way to make it better is to go back to the artist & have a retouch. If so, will he have to do it all over again? Thanks.

A retouch is probably the only thing that can be done. I doubt that the artist will have to do it all over again unless most of the colour has gone.

If the artist never gave you real talking to about it, I think you should consider getting it retouched elsewhere.
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Has anyone here had any involvement with SETI@home, ie the Search for Extra Terrestrial Inteligence's D.I.Y. package (for want of a better term).
And if not, what are people's opinions on someone who would take such an idea seriously?
Solid science, or kookiness?
Thanks.

I haven't tried it myself, but I don't think there is anything weird about supporting the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Who's to say that they won't find anything? If you've got the computing power to spare (lucky you!), why not?

I think that the idea of donating computing power to science research is a good one. If SETI@home never discovers any extraterrestrial intelligence, at least it would have helped bring attention to this idea of sharing computing power.
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I found an absolutely disgusting website, www.truechristian.com. Among other things, it says that women are unclean and should be shut away during their period, that if a girl is raped it is her fault for not screaming loud enough but she can be saved if she marries her rapist. It also says the n word several times. I have nothing against christians but this website is horrifying, in fact I'm sure real christians would agree with me. How do I get this website shut down or deleted? I mean, even the kids page is awful: http://truechristian.com/kidzlot1.html I can't find the name of the host anywhere, so I don't know who to contact.

First of all, are you sure it's not satire?

Anyway, if there's a site you think should be shut down, you can type its domain name into http://www.whois.net/ to find out where it's hosted.
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hey in Xanga when you join a blog there is supposed to be a caption under your picture right? well i think you need to go to "account settings" to do it, but there is no box to write about me in! ive checked the FAQ's and nothing there relates to what i am asking. Can someone help?

http://profile.xanga.com/edit/EditProfile.aspx

Click the "Edit" link under "About Me".
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I live in a one storey house. My family sleeps late and wakes up early. That's bad and I don't wanna have that kind of lifestyle. So whenever I try to sleep early, my parents(who arent asleep yet) will be watching tv and talking rather loudly. And when I try to sleep after all of them have slept, I'd be unable to sleep till late morning cos they'd all be up already. The sound of my dad's car driving off and the clanging of the pots and pans in the kitchen by my mum wakes me up in no time.

I feel really very frustrated. I told them to please keep it down. They'd try to be quiet for a few days but then their old habits kick in again after some time. So when I told them to keep it down again, they told me that I'm spoilt and told me to deal with it.

My eye bags are like so darn obvious and I feel so damn frustrated at being unable to sleep.

I've tried to not sleep for a whole day so that I'd be sleepy enough to sleep the whole day but it didnt work out. Its the noise that my family makes that keeps me up almost all night. I get only like 6 hr plus of sleep and tt's definitely not enough!

I used to be a heavy sleeper but I dun know why I've become such a light sleeper and that sucks. So now, I feel so paranoid to the extent that I dont dare to sleep for fear that my family members will wake me up with their noisiness.

THere's no point telling them to keep it down cos they'd just go back to their own habits again.

I'm desperate for a good night's sleep. Someone please help me. Tell me how to shut out their noisiness and be able to sleep like a dead man.

Soundproofing your room would definitely help keep the noise out.

If that's not an option, wear earplugs when you sleep. (If you normally use an alarm clock to wake you up, get a vibrating alarm and put it under your pillow, otherwise you might not be able to hear it through the earplugs.)
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I know Bradley Nowell of Sublime died a LOOONNNG time ago. Well, I heard the other members of the band made a different band with a guy that sounds like him. What is the band called?

There's "Long Beach Dub Allstars" (members: Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh from Sublime, Opie Ortiz, RAS-1, Tim Wu, Marshall Goodman, Jack Maness) that formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2002, and there's "Long Beach Shortbus" (members: Eric Wilson from Sublime, RAS-1, Trey Pangborn, and Damion Ramirez) that formed after Long Beach Dub Allstars disbanded.
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On this game toontown i play, the game takes up the whole screen, like theres no minimize, mazimize, or exit box. How can I make it so toontown has the taskbar and those 3 boxes on it when i play?

First, check the game options to see if it has a windowed mode. If yes, it should be self-explanatory. (I don't have this game so I can't check this for you.)

If the game doesn't come with this option, find the shortcut that you normally use to access the game with. (This should either be on your desktop or in your Start Menu.) Right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, add "-w" without the quotation marks to the end of the box labelled "Target, and click "OK".

When you start the game with this shortcut, it should be in a window instead of fullscreen.
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