(Not so) Frequently Asked Questions - The Waffle Pod

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(Not so) Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is under low-priority construction. Direct any questions not answered here to: WallyWaffles@yahoo.com.

I haven't writen any search-script, so push Ctrl-F to search for your keyword. Or just read everthing, including the stupid questions.

Q: How can I contact Wally Waffles?

By e-mail! My address is WallyWaffles@yahoo.com. If that's too hard to remember, just click on my name in the “Legal Stuff” at the bottom of any page. (Ctrl-End is the hotkey that takes you there.)

Q: Why can't I reach Wally Waffles by e-mail?

This could be because your message is recognized by the automatic filters as spam, which would direct it to the bulk mailing directory. I check that occasionally, but because of the high-volume of spam, I usually just delete the bulk mail.

If your message makes it past the bulk filters, my personalized filters may send it to the trash:

if From contains “MISSING-HOST-NAME”

if From contains “<>”

if Subject contains “Must be 18 to Look”

if Subject contains “WARNING ADULT MATERIAL”

if Subject contains “(adv)”

if To/CC contains “w a l l y w a f f l e s @ g e o c i t i e s . c o m”

This is synonymous with my Yahoo! address, since Yahoo! bought GeoCities. Only

spammers use the GeoCities address. Therefore, some of my spam comes in duplicate. Bläh.

If your message makes it past all the filters, I might simply delete it myself if the email address and/or subject contains what appears to be a long string of random characters (like many junk mails do).

And then there's the occasional system fart that makes a message disappear in transit.

Q: Why I can't I reach Wally Waffles by telephone?

We have Caller I.D. If your call comes in as “Out of Area,” you're most likely a solicitor, in which case we let the machine get it. (Identified calls have come in from as far as Indiana.) If the machine answers, don't hang up--identify yourself and leave a message. Unless you're a solicitor, in which case you can promptly remove us from your lists.

Q: I'm sure I've dialed the right telephone number, but I'm answered by a German or Chinese man.

That's because your call came in on the Caller I.D. as “Out of Area!” Sometimes I like to play with the telephone solicitors (or just confuse Jon when he calls), so I'll answer in a foreign language. I don't really know Chinese, but I know enough to answer the phone properly, and the reactions are hilarious!

If this happens, you could take a bold stab like one woman did and just ask for whom it is you want.

Q: I can't find a file I'm looking for, or the link is broken.

E-mail me and ask. If the file's not too big, I'll most likely be more than happy to email it to you.

Q: What's with the weird email-subject tag at the bottom of your pages? (for example “subject=[Tripod:help.htm]”)

It gives me a statistical idea of where people are emailing me from. Plus, it gives me a better idea of what somebody's talking about if their question/statement somehow manages to avoid mentioning the topic. (It happens.)

At the very least, it's helpful for people who can't decide upon a subject.

Q: Is your name really Wally Waffles?

Nope.

Q: Why did you pick a stupid user-name like Wally Waffles?

It was the most original alias I could come up with that wasn't already taken by half the planet, and I did not want a stupid looking serialized name, like “Tenchi42*10^8@yahoo.com.” Plus, it's unique and easy to remember.

Q: What's with the waffle obsession?

It's the theme that goes with my name. “The House of Waffles” because it's my original homepage (home = house), “The Library of Waffles” because libraries are where you find literary works, and “The Waffle Pod” to go with Tripod's name. (I also had “The Waffle Xoo” at XOOM.com, but they were closed in a hostile takeover by M$-NB¢.com. Members were removed with extreme prejudice to Homestead.com and promptly deficated upon.)

Q: GeoCities and Tripod now provide personalized URLs (based on your user name) for free. Why don't you use these instead of your old community-type addresses?

Because the old URLs still work, and that's where I'm established.

Q: Some of the owner-oriented links at the Library of Waffles contain refrence to “Splatterhead³.” What is that?

Splatterhead³ is the user-name associated with Athens/Thebes/2292. “Splatterhead” is one of my fondest user names for deathmatch. “Splatterhead” was already taken by somebody at GeoCities, so I chose “Splatterhead³” in tribute to the Splatterhouse video game trilogy.

Q: You have two GeoCities accounts. Isn't that against the GeoCities TOS?

Nope. The GeoCities Terms of Service (section 5-p) clearly states that a member may have more than one homepage as long as the contents are thematically diverse. That's part of the reason why I continue to use the old community-based URLs: TimesSquare/Fortress/1896 belongs to the videogames community, and Athens/Thebes/2292 belongs to the literary community.

Q: It's late; shouldn't you be in bed?

Yes. Next question.

Q: Why do you watch so many Chinese movies?

They're usually excellently priced. I'm guessing that my average DVD cost is between 10 and 15 US dollars. Most people will pay $20 and think they're getting a bargain. The Yakuza-pinky bargain is more like it.
Most are all-region compatible. (No special equipment required.)
Although rarely dubbed, they're usually subtitled (so I can understand them, even though I don't know Chinese).
They're usually just as good as any Hollywood production (if not sometimes better). Sometimes, an old Sammo Hung film has more appeal than a computer-enhanced Ben Affleck flick.
Another culture's sense of humor is a refreshing variation.
It adds to the variety. C'mon, let's see more Foreign films marketed for the U.S.!

I would buy Japanese (and German) DVD's too, but they're usually non-Region 1, and the Japanese ones are very expensive. (But I have started buying Region 3 DVDs...)

Q: What's the difference between Faye Wong and Fei Long?

Fei Long doesn't sing.

Q: Why do most of your pages have dark backgrounds with light text?

Because it's so much softer on the eyes. You try staring at a bright white screen for hours on end and see if you don't get a headache! Sorry about the few pages that are bright.

Q: Who are Max & Annie?

They are the two main drivers from Carmageddon, behind the wheels of the red Eagle and the yellow Hawk, respectively. In the English version, they are “Max Damage” and “Die Anna,” and in the German version they are „Max Schaden” und „Anna Fatal.”

Q: Who are Max & Moritz?

They are two mischievous children from the Middle Ages who end up being ground up into birdfeed, or something. It's a German children's book.

They did not drive cars.

“Max & Moritz” is also the name of a bar in Remscheid, Germany, that I walked past almost everyday on my way to the Hauptbahnhof. (Nö, I never stopped in.) „Nächste Haltestelle: Solingen Hole-Bahnhof!”

Q: What is DVD Region?

DVD Region is a video market region of the world, indicated by a specific number, for example North America is Region 1 and Japan is Region 2. A DVD player checks the Region Code of the disk (or in the case of Disney videos, the Disk checks the player) and if the codes don't match, the player chokes. (There are region-free DVD players, but Disney videos are often programmed not to cooperate with them.)

The greedy SOB's who put out DVD's do this to prevent consumers from buying a new release abroad before it's released locally. (This is were the difference between NTSC and PAL video originated.) So if a really great foreign movie you want to see never comes to your country, or like me, you like to watch American films dubbed in other languages--for the learning experience--tough feces! Better start saving up for a region-free player.

Click here to see YesAsia's Region Info Page that shows the world's region divisions.

Q: How do you get your paragraphs to indent nicely like that?

The HTML paragraphing tag is <dd>. I don't remember where I stumbled upon that one, but I love it so much better than <br><br>. And <p> is evil!

Q: How come your paragraphs look crappy like a German noval, even though you're using the <dd> tag? (Paragraphs in German novals usually aren't indented.)

Because several idiots decided to NOT make their browsers standard HTML complient. Netscape used to be good at supporting various HTML tags, but v7.0+ suddenly doesn't support a ton of commenly used tags.

I still use Netscape Communicator 4.73, because it works.

Q: When I view your pages, many of them have a fat waste of space on each side. Why?

Because you've set your desktop resolution highter than 800x600. I try to optimize my pages for this resolution, so that the text doesn't “flood about” and look generally crappy.

Q: When I view your pages, there's an irritating horizontal scroll bar at the bottom. Can I get rid of this?

Yes! First of all, ensure that you've maximized your browser window. If it's still there, try going to "full screen." Some browsers support this feature, usually by pressing F11.

Q: Where can I get your home-made videos?

From me. None are presently available for download and they're too large to email. But if you really REALLY want to see the videos, I could be persuaded to mail you a disk. Since the current demand isn't massive, I wouldn't charge anything (within the U.S.), but I would welcome donations to help with the costs of materials and shipping. CDNOW and YesAsia sell gift certificates. Hint hint.

Q: What system specs does your computer have?

Win-d'oh!s '98 (as of May 2002--before that it was '95b)
Pentium 200 with MMX
3 Gig harddrive, partitioned 3 ways
3½-inch disk drive
Removable disk ZIP 100 drive, that screwed up my '95 system and chewed up a brand new disk after being installed in 2001, but now that Win-dohs has been reinstalled, it usually works.
Funai 16x CD-ROM, with headphone jack but no bloody external playbutton! Can you say, “redundant feature”?
Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE-32 soundcard. The best (32-bit) reproduction of MIDI, only to be screwed over in Win-dohs DOS.
The crappiest speakers on earth--wait, no, they're not as bad as speakers built into the monitor. And they work alright as long as you keep the volume at deafening levels. Bläh.
A microphone! It's a cheapy, but it's pretty good.
15½-inch Hewlett Packard monitor, borrowed from my brother-in-law since he doesn't need it. My (fourth) 15-inch Techmedia is in the closet. (I think it still works, but the first three sure crapped out fast just before my warrenty expired.)
PC Fighter 6-button gamepad. (I haven't been able to find the better one since I got back from Germany...)
On 10.Oct.2002, I finally replaced the CPU fan after spending the last year with just half a fan spinning in there.
Perhaps most importantly: A reset button. When the three-finger solute doesn't work, give your machine the good old one-finger salute.

Q: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

Forty-Two. If you don't believe me, just ask Douglas Adams.

Q: Do you know the muffin man?

Why yes, I do! According the Andrew, he is the muffin man.

Q: What's the difference between MS-DOS and Win-d'oh!s?

MS-DOS has a blank, black screen, with a blinking cursor, and can run usually only one program at a time (some DOS programs can run a “DOS Shell,” allowing you to go to the DOS prompt without exiting the program). Win-d'oh!s has a colorful Graphical User Interface (GUI) and can run multiple programs -- including all those damn unused tray programs that waste system resource. These Operating Systems (OS) are otherwise identical -- except that Win-d'oh!s hates my AWE-32 soundcard. Spiteful little OS won't let me hear Bobby Prince & Lee Jackson's music when I play Duke Nukem 3D . . .

Supposedly Win-d'oh!s X

is finally DOS-independant, which is why none of your favorite short-hand DOS commands work any more. (i.e.: "DIR.TXT" is no longer the same as "DIR *.TXT"!)

I once tried to install Win-d'oh!s X

, but it refused to install to my freshly reformatted *blank* (Win-d'oh!s-free, i.e. DOS-only) harddrive. “This program is not designed to run in DOS.” What a load of rubbish; I reformatted the harddrive because I didn't have enough free space, but before reformatting, I did try to install Win-d'oh!s X

and it restarted into DOS to install. Take away Win-d'oh!s' graphical interface, and what do you have? DOS!

Also, Mi¢ro$oft can't spy on your computer unless you've booted into Win-d'oh!s (and connected to the internet), so that's why it's so importing that you get the latest Mi¢ro$oft Win-d'oh!s software and drivers. I think “Mr. H” got reincarnated as a computer nerd. They should have called the company „Übersoft.” Heil Gates!

Q: What do CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, SVCD, AVCD, DVD stand for?

CD = Compact Disk, generally referring to audio media.
CD-ROM = Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (can't be modified--only read). Technically, any compact disk medium that you can't write to is a CD-ROM, but generally speaking, it's a CD meant explicitly for use with any personal computer.
CD-R = Compact Disk Recordable. This a blank disk that can be written to (once).
Be aware that there is no difference between a CD-R for data storage and a CD-R “made just for music!” except the price.
CD-RW = Compact Disk Rewritable. Can be written to multiple times, but not in the same convienent manner as a floppy/removable disk.
VCD = Video Compact Disk. MPEG videos arranged into tracks like an audio CD. Most DVD players will play them. Depending on whether it's designed for NTSC or PAL, the resolution is about 352x240 at 29.7 fps (but still looks incredibly good on a big screen!). I haven't met too many Americans who've even heard of this, but it's a really big thing in East Asia.
SVCD = Super Video Compact Disk. Just like VCD, except the resolution is something like 450x450. (I saw Lord of the Rings on SVCD, and it looked like DVD quality.)
AVCD = Audio-Video Compact Disk. Has both video and audio tracks. A great idea, but DVD players tend to ignore the audio tracks and play just the video tracks.
DVD = Digital Versitile Disk. I prefere to think of it as “Digital Video Disk.” This is essentially a menu-driven VCD, pumped up into a VHS killer. (But VHS will never die since your DVD player can't record your favorite shows while you're out of town.)
The (perhaps) unnoticed difference that makes DVD possible is the higher-capacity methed of data-writing (the pits are smaller, closer together, and sometimes dual-layered), allowing for several Gigabytes, as apposed to CD-ROM's 650-700 Megabyte capacity.
PlayStation 2 disks are the same media as DVD. Go ahead and stick one in your DVD-ROM and see if you can read the table of contents. (But don't hold me responsible if you do something stupid and ruin your disk or computer.) Anybody written a PlayStation 2 media ripper yet?

Q: What are J-Pop, C-Pop, K-Pop?

These are all forms of Asian pop music: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

Q: What is romanization?

Romanization is taking a language that is traditionally NOT written in the Roman alphabet, such as Japanese, and writing it in the Roman alphabet. For example, the Japanese phrase

is romanized as “aoi ringo.”

Note that romanization and phoneticization are not the same thing. Each language has its own set rules of romanization, while phoneticization is dependant upon the target language (such as German phoneticized for English speakers) and tends to look really messy.

Q: What is Denglisch or Germanglish?

Denglisch (Deutsch-Englisch) or Germanglish (German-English) is a conversational combination of English and German, which occurs when English speakers who have been in Germany a long time get together and try to speak English with each other.

Q: What is Konglish?

Konglish refers to the romanization of Korean. This is a term, however, that I strongly disagree with, because the word itself implies the combination of Korean and English, which it is not. I prefer the term “romanized Korean.” But everyone at K-Pop Music says “Konglish,” so what can one do about it?

Q: How do I read the date on the Waffles Network's pages?

I meander between two methods: DAY-MONTH-YEAR, like the Germans, or YEAR-MONTH-DAY, like the Easterners. For example, as of this writing, today is the Tenth of March, Two-thouasand-four, or 2004 3 10 . Both are totally unambiguous, being that the month is always in the center and only the year has four digits. (I don't like abreviating the year to two digits because this intruduces ambiguity. For example, what date is 02/01/03 supposed to be?)

I use the Eastern dating method because alphanumerically sorting items also places them in chronological order. (Useful for date-specific files that aren't necessarily created/edited in chronoligical order.) I use the German dating method mostly because it became habit after living in Germany, but also because people don't like it when I use Kanji to write the date on legal documents.

Q: What is Kanji?

Kanji is the Japanese term for Chinese characters. This is the kanji writing of "kanji":

In Chinese it is called han zi.

Both Japanese and Chinese use kanji, but Japanese uses it in combination with kana (hiragana and katakana). Chinese readings of kanji tend to be 99% consistant, while the Japanese readings of kanji tend to be 99% inconsistant.

Q: Why hasn't much gone on at the House of Waffles during 2003-2004?

Because I actually got a (near full-time) job. And I'm also a full-time student.

Here's a lesson for y'all: If you find yourself in a similar situation, DON'T TAKE A CALCULUS CLASS! Unless 30 minutes of study per day is all you need to pass.

(Not so) Frequently Asked Questions

Legal stuff: This page ©2002-2004 Wally Waffles Last Updated: 2004.03.10

Legal stuff:
This page ©2002-2004 Wally Waffles Last Updated: 2004.03.10