The Vine: January 7, 2004
Glark,
I recently tried to install “Halo” on my PC, and was told the video card was not up to “minimum specs.” The minimum requirement is 32MB/3D T&L, I’m at 4MB currently. I have no working knowledge to refer to — can you give me a quick overview, so I know what to look for? Any recommendations or favorite sites where I can buy one?
Thanks,
I just want to kill aliens, again
Dear Alien Killing Machine,
This is easy as pie. “32MB” refers to the amount of memory on the card, and “3D T&L” is “3D Transform and Lighting,” which basically means it has hardware to take some pressure off what your CPU used to do…mostly complex lighting operations.
You’ll want either something based on nVidia or ATI technology with at least 64MB of memory, preferably 128MB or more. They are the two big, serious videocard makers out there. I prefer ATI’s Radeon line. I’d make a more detailed recommendation, but you have consider the rest of the system as well. The best card wouldn’t help if the system as a whole is old and cranky.
If your system is less than a year old, I’d pick up the Radeon 9600 Pro for about $175 from Amazon. If you have an old system, you have potential bottlenecks that would make the benefits of a new card moot. In that case try posting a call for recommendations to http://www.videocard-forum.com/.
Sarah,
“There are a lot of penguins in my pool” or “There is a lot of penguins in
my pool”? Does “a lot” not count as a noun/subject, leaving the subject of
the sentence to be whatever there is “a lot” of? I know the first one sounds
more correct, but I’m trying to figure out why.
Has No Penguins Really
Dear Lemieux,
Gather round, children. It’s time to learn about synesis.
Hey, where’re you going?
Heh. “Synesis” is the smarty-pants term for instances when the meaning of the phrase supersedes “the strict requirements of grammar or syntax.” In other words, yes, “a lot” is the subject, strictly speaking, so you’d think it would take a singular verb — but because “a lot” is a so-called “noun of multitude,” it’s actually preferred usage to treat it as a plural. Garner refers to it specifically: “Perhaps the best-known example is a lot, which no one today thinks of as having a singular force. …”
You can find a more thorough explanation on pages 637-8 of the DMAU, but the short answer is that 1) the first example you cite is correct, and 2) you can apply the relevant principle to other nouns like “variety,” “handful,” “bunch,” “majority,” and so on.
Sars,
I’m a college graduate with two degrees in computer- and business-related fields of study. I was hired right out of school by a Fortune 500 IT consulting company that shall remain unnamed. On the surface, it’s my dream job — located in the perfect city and a higher salary than most 40-year-olds pull down.
The problem? I am so bored.
I know, I know, cry me a river. I recognize how incredibly fortunate I am to even have a job when so many people line up at the unemployment agency each month. I’m grateful for it, I honestly am. I understand that it’s just a first job and that I’m not going to be here forever. I can’t quit anyway, because I have very little money saved and the monthly bills aren’t small.
Given the current state of the economy, I feel horribly guilty even asking this question, but the lack of intellectual activity is honestly starting to affect my sanity. I spend a lot of time talking (out loud) to myself, because there’s never anybody else around. I’ve been getting massive afternoon headaches which I believe are associated with the inactivity. I’m bone tired every afternoon at five — I never realized that utter boredom was so draining. I do lots of social things on the weekends and I never lack for stimulation while I’m not at work, but being here, doing sod-all, is driving me batty.
I’ve discussed this with my boss, and his reply is always “the work will come.” The work hasn’t come yet, and I’m just sitting in my cube staring at the wall for eight hours a day. I feel like a drain on the company, because they’re paying me and I’m not contributing to the bottom line.
How do I deal with the mind-numbing boredom?
Signed,
Bored to Tears
Dear Bored,
Forgive me for suggesting the obvious, but…bring a book to work? Some knitting? Work on the novel? Listen to language tapes? Your boss knows you want to work, but if there isn’t work to do, use the down time to power through some Tolstoy or make a pair of mittens. Or maybe you could ask your boss if you can generate a project on your own.
Without knowing exactly what you do, it’s hard for me to come up with ideas for you to pass the time, but you’d better come up with something, because in my experience, maybe a quarter of the time you spend physically at work is spent actually working. The rest of it is surfing the Web, planning for and/or eating lunch, trying not to fall asleep after lunch, sitting on hold with IT, blah blah blzzzz.
Work-related or not, find a project to keep you busy and start in on it. Work-related is probably better, but if that’s not an option, get a library card and go nuts.
Hello Sarah,
Since I admire your views on strong women, I was wondering what you think
about this. After being raised in a fairly conservative household, I’ve
become a bit of a feminist over the past few years. The main catalyst in
this transformation is my outrage over the portrayal of women in the mass
media. As I am recovering from an eating disorder that ruined my high
school experience and derailed my college years altogether, I’m quite
sensitive to the messages that the media sends about body image. Because of
this personal sensitivity, however, sometimes I’m not sure whether I’m
overreacting to certain things.
For instance, a few weeks ago my completely fabulous boyfriend wanted me to
watch Stripes, an old Bill Murray movie. He thought it was completely
hilarious. I thought it was completely stupid at best and incredibly
offensive to women at worst.
Then there’s The Man Show on Comedy Central. I adore Comedy Central
generally, but that show really bugs me. It makes me feel like shit. I
mean, they call women “Juggies,” for Christ’s sake. They reduce women to a
singular body part. I also saw one of the new hosts, Doug Stanhope, on
Colin Quinn’s show and kind of found him appalling. They were
talking about the apparent epidemic of teenaged prostitution in the U.S.
This Doug fucker remarked (with straight face and dry tone of voice) that at
least THESE girls will know how to give a decent blowjob by the age of 18.
I mean, that’s a joke, I suppose, but I wanted to punch him in the face.
How do you feel about The Man Show and similar programming?
I guess my general question is this: Where is the line between being a
feminist and being a hyper-sensitive killjoy? Am I too sensitive because of
my own fragile body image? When should you shake things off as a joke and
when should you get pissed?
Signed,
Over-Sensitive or Rightfully Angry?
Dear A Little From Column A, A Little From Column B,
I…don’t feel anything about The Man Show. It’s not really on my radar.
On the other hand, I used to rage and fume in the direction of the Dawson’s Creek writers week after week for demonizing female sexuality and promoting gender stereotypes, and it wasn’t shtick, either; I felt very strongly that the fucked-up relationships on that show sent a poisonous message to young women. I ought to have given the young women in question more credit, but anyway, I think how a feminist reacts to some of the more antediluvian aspects of the culture is mostly a matter of individual taste and priorities. If Doug Stanhope pisses you off, he pisses you off. My take on that comment is that it’s not even funny, which pretty much saps it of any power, but…that’s me.
As for where the line between feminist and killjoy lies…it is beyond annoying that our society has sort of installed that line, because it means that every time sexist bullshit pisses us off, we have to worry about coming off as humorless buzzkills if we actually, you know, get pissed off. But strongly stated beliefs of any kind tend to make people uncomfortable, socially speaking, so…I don’t know.
But feeling the way you do about The Man Show et al. doesn’t automatically make you a killjoy.
Dear Sars —
I wonder if you could weigh in on a debate I’m having with my best
friend. Backstory: Best Friend has been in consecutive long-term
relationships since college (so for the past 10-12 years), and is now
single for the first time in quite a while. I, on the other hand,
have had exclusively short-term relationships, primarily because I
chose Very Bad People to have relationships with. I’m quite
pessimistic when it comes to dating, while BF is a chuck-faced
optimist.
Since beginning grad school four years ago, I have had exactly zero
relationships, because I haven’t met any people I’d really want to
date. And it’s not that I haven’t tried — I did my obligatory
Graduate Student Association happy hours and barbecues, went out to
bars, coffeeshops, Home Depots et cetera, and even resorted to internet
dating (I’d tell you about Renaissance Faire Guy, and My Parents Are
In A Cult Guy, and Hydroponic Tomato Guy, but those, thank god, are
stories for another time). I’m of the opinion that I shouldn’t waste
time getting involved with someone if if I know I’d just fall into a
crappy pattern again, or am bored or creeped out by the guy, or am
not attracted to him.
Meanwhile, I get regular calls from BF, who
lives in a different state, informing me that I haven’t met anyone
because I’m too picky, I’m not trying hard enough, I don’t give
people chances, and so forth. He, on the other hand, will go out
with the dog’s dinner if it smiles at him, and frequently ends up
with, granted, a lot of the lovin’, but from girls he ends up
disliking, or with whom he has little in common with, or for whom he
falls too hard and ends up hurt by. To which I say, slow down, take
your time, don’t date for the sake of dating, be more selective.
The bottom line: Neither of us has a working relationship. Which
approach do you think is more likely to result in one? Also, do you
know any cute (tall) guys in Austin?
Yours,
Who Knew It Was Easier to Get a PhD than a Boyfriend?
Dear That Depends on the PhD,
Second question first: Nope. Sorry!
I don’t think either one of these approaches is more or less likely to yield results than the other one, in general. It’s whatever works for you and BF, respectively — whatever suits your personalities. If you don’t want to do the Spree O’ Dating thing, it won’t work for you; you’ll feel all weird and fake about it, and it won’t do any good, and the same goes for BF and getting more selective. It won’t feel natural.
There is no one “approach.” If there were, and I knew it, I’d be Dr. Phil…and I ain’t. You just have to live your life, I think.
Tags: boys (and girls) grammar popcult workplace
