After reading this thread on digg, I felt compelled to share some tips for managing your cash flow by using and abusing those nice credit card companies which send you junk mail every week.

Credit cards are a scam in many, many ways. First and foremost they’re a tax on people who pay cash at vendors who accept credit cards. If things were fair, people who paid cash would be given a 3-5% discount at the register.

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My last experience with an MMORPG beta (Vanguard) was less enjoyable than I expected. The game wasn’t very fun and did not seem ready for release. Now I’m playing in the Lord of the Rings Online beta. Since the NDA (non disclosure agreement) has been lifted, I’m free to discuss my experiences. So here are a few of my first impressions.

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First impressions last in the world of gaming. It is inescapable. Beta testing can either make or break a game… before it is even released. A good way to build a solid player base for a game is to have a solid beta. The game should be playable for the most part, and large bugs should be mostly ironed out before this time. World of Warcraft is an excellent example of this. Blizzard opted to go through beta testing without an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). This meant that all beta testers were allowed to discuss their testing experiences, both good and bad, post screenshots, etc. It was quite a risk to take, but Blizzard triumphed because the beta made a great first impression.

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I have put together a list of my top ten most relaxing soundtrack cues. They are individual tracks from various original score soundtracks. Some of these come from soundtracks with many relaxing cues, while others are part of a more diverse score. Piano and string instruments are pretty common here, as well as romantic or tragic themes. If you want some soundtrack music to relax to, these are the cues I recommend.

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I’m a big fan of musical scores for movies. Recently, more and more music used in trailers for these movies has been original compositions by music production companies made specifically for trailers. Most of these tracks are unavailable to the general public, and only made available to the trailer producers. However, there are a few CDs of this type of music available for purchase: Epicon by Globus, Unearthed by E. S. Posthumus, and The Savage Tongue by Ars Arcana.

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