Oh, come on - surely you've got better things to do than read this stuff. Right? Right?

I am largely passive, therefore I rarely initiate conversations.

Don't expect me to take you seriously if you speak like you're high most of the time.

Also, don't expect me to accept your invite if I can't even see your profile. Exceptions to this may exist, but are fairly uncommon.

Do expect me to be a bitter sod at any given opportunity, however.
________

A mediocre all-rounder fails on all fronts.
If you're not here, and you're not there, you're ultimately nowhere.
________

Never, under any circumstances, put anyone on a pedestal as doing so spoils them permanently and deludes them into believing that they deserve more than they are rightfully entitled to. I would know - I myself have fallen victim to exactly this before. On both sides.

Remember, folks - change for the sake of change is unquestionably a good thing. Oh yes. And if you dare to think otherwise, you clearly haven't been taking your daily dose of Kool-Aid, so get to it and mindlessly follow the hivemind. Don't ever question the hivemind, just follow it blindly. Always bear in mind that the hivemind does the thinking for you, so you don't have to.
*barfs into a bucket*

Be smart. Realize that every individual differs, and treat all with caution by default. Don't be like that foolish deer which trusted all humans just because one of them treated it nicely, because that will surely be your downfall.

Learning is much like climbing a mountain - as you progress, it eventually dawns upon you just how tall the mountain you're on truly is and, more importantly, how many other similarly tall mountains there are out there. Some perhaps even taller than the one you're climbing.
But as you look down to give up, demotivated, you also come to realize how far you've managed to climb from the start, and how much of a waste it would be to forfeit all of that.
Experience, however, has you realizing all of this right from the very beginning, before you have even made your first step. It also makes you realize that reaching all mountain peaks is very much an exercise in futility for those cursed with limited lifetimes.
Well damn, after writing all this, it sure seems like I'm already an old fart, huh? *shakes cane*
________

More of a reference section for myself since I'm too lazy to dig around for my systems' specifications whenever I need them

Main System (Configured for stability, thermals, and longevity as opposed to raw performance):
Intel "Nehalem (Bloomfield)" Core i7-920 C0/C1 @ stock, 0.880 - 1.120V ( post- offset by -0.16250V)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (rev 1.0)
Asus nVIDIA "Fermi" GeForce GTX 560 (GF114) DirectCU II OC 1 GB GDDR5 @ factory OC
6 GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair XMS3 C9) + 8 GB DDR3L-1600 (Kingston KVR16LN11/8) @ 533 MHz, 1.5V, 8-8-8-20-2T in Flex Memory triple channel configuration: 2 + 8 + (2 + 2)
Intel SSD 520 Series (SSDSC2CW120A3) SATA-III 120 GB
WD Blue Desktop 2013 (WD10EZEX-00WN4A0) SATA-III 1 TB (how a Blue drive can actually outperform a Black drive that costs 30% more, I have absolutely no idea. And yes, that was before the sector woes had even begun)
WD Black Desktop 2013 (WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0) SATA-III 1 TB (died after a year, now using a recertified drive post-RMA... That has also started reporting low counts of read and write errors.�  :/ )
Seasonic G-Series 650W SSR-650RM (S/N: R17###)
ViewSonic VX2253mh-LED 21.5" FHD 1920x1080
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 / Windows 8.1 Pro x64 / Windows 10 Pro 1511 x64 (ugh, yuck) / Linux Mint 17.1 MATE Edition x64

Former components:
HIS ATi "R700" Radeon HD 4870 (RV770 XT) IceQ 4+ Turbo 1 GB GDDR5 @ factory OC (R.I.P. VRAM chips)
WD Caviar Black 2008 (WD5001AALS-00J7B0) SATA-II 500 GB (retired but still fully functional)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (ST3500320AS) SATA-II 500 GB (now a very secure and valuable brick, thanks to irresponsible Seagate)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (ST3500630AS) SATA-II 500 GB (clickety-click-click-KLANG-click-click-click)
OCZ StealthXStream 600W (actual OEM: FSP; dead after ~8 years, what a champ it truly was �  :< )

Notebook 1:
Asus VivoBook K451LB-WX109H (essentially an S451LB without the touchscreen)
Intel "Haswell-ULT" Core i5-4200U C0 @ 0.798 - 1.60 <-> 2.30/2.60 GHz, 0.6658 - 0.8934V ( pre- offset by -70.3125mV)
Intel HD Graphics 4400 (HSW-ULT GT2) 2 GB @ 599 - 1000 MHz
nVIDIA "Kepler" GeForce GT 740M (GK208M) 2 GB @ 980/1032/1600 MHz (Core/Boost/Effective VRAM)
8 GB DDR3L-1600 (Micron soldered onboard + Apotop) @ 800 MHz, 1.35V, 11-11-11-28-1T
Samsung SSD 840 EVO (MZ-7TE250BW, firmware: EXT0DB6Q) SATA-III 250 GB
Seagate Laptop Thin SSHD (ST500LM000-1EJ162) SATA-III 500+8 GB (moved to external enclosure)
14.0" WXGA 1366x768
Windows 8.1 Core x64 / Linux Mint 17 MATE Edition x64 [www.linlap.com]

Notebook 2 (On the way out after >6 years):
Acer TravelMate 3274WXMI
Intel "Core (Merom-2M)" Core 2 Duo T5600 B2 @ 1.83 GHz, 0.950V
nVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 (G72M) 384 MB TurboCache (128 MB GDDR2 + 256 MB System) @ 350 MHz/700 MHz (Core/Effective VRAM)
2 GB DDR2-667 (Hynix + Kingston)
Hitachi Travelstar 5K320 (HTS543212L9A300) SATA-II 120 GB
WD Scorpio Black 2008 (WD3200BEKT-00PVMT0) SATA-II 320 GB (head crash, R.I.P.)
14.1" WXGA 1280x800
Windows Vista Business SP2 x86
Still alive, but replaced with a newer system now.

Nets (Fiber Optic 300 Mbps symmetric, over Cat 5e, Windows 7) [www.speedtest.net]
Nets (over Cat 5e, Linux Mint 17.1) [www.speedtest.net]
And then once in a while you get gems like this [www.speedtest.net].
Nets (over 802.11n when it isn't an utter clusterfest) [www.speedtest.net]
Nets (over 802.11n when it's actively flipping me the bird) [www.speedtest.net]
Good riddance, awful wireless junk.
________

For <whomever>'s sake, please learn to spell. Really. :T [theoatmeal.com]
It's a lot , not alot . Stop summoning the beast already, jeez. [hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com]
________

02:36 AM - FlameOfHeaven: Remember: if your internet gets slower, you need to move because there's no internet left in the soil below your house
02:36 AM - Mediocrity: LOL
02:36 AM - FlameOfHeaven: This is why ISPs throttle you
-
02:42 AM - Mediocrity: What if that was how Mars was formed?
02:44 AM - FlameOfHeaven: They got so advanced, they invented 100 Tb/s internet and were instantly wiped out
________

Oh look, you've reached the end. You were expecting a witty line, but it was me, the footer.