Alternatively, if you use credit cards (for rewards etc.), use a service like Mint.com and make a habit of checking your finances once a week to see where your money is going and adjust your budget accordingly. I went from saving $1000 a year before I started using Mint to averaging $6000 a year over the last 2…

Dark World Theme from link to the past.

Vending Machines are everywhere in Japan - it has the highest vending machine to population ratio in the world. There are a lot of areas of the country that have a lot of pedestrians, but the property rent is so expensive that an entire storefront would not be cost effective - thus the use of a vending machine on the…

My (Japanese) wife is amazed by the western obsession with Ninjas. Things that are foreign have a unique appeal due to their foreignness.

I really hope that TESO turns out to be something special, but I just haven't seen much that has got me excited about it... And this is coming from a fan of the series from the very beginning.

Gimp is a great program, and can do the basics just as well as photoshop (cropping, lighten/darken, etc, removing background objects etc.) but Photoshop still better in a number of areas including working with RAW files. I like starting in lightroom and doing a lot of work there and then bringing files into photoshop…

I think it is less that the workers take pride in their work, and more that the Japanese consumer expects more of the people that provide service to them (my wife has worked Japanese customer service for various companies for 6 years)

I only check my score if I'm applying for new credit (car etc.), but I do check my credit reports 3 times a year (one from each of the credit bureaus each 4 months) for free from annualcreditreport.com. I also have credit monitoring through creditkarma.com that sends me email alerts of any changes.

Can you explain what it was about the announcer and music that turned you off to the game? Was it just the fact that everything you did was narrated that irked you? I'm just interested because I was the complete opposite - it was the music of the game that got me interested in the game in the first place and I doubt…

For those of you that have built their own NAS, what software did you use. I helped my cousin set up a system based on FreeNAS, but I understand there are a few other options out there and I was wondering what suggestions the lifehacker community had. I'm thinking of building one myself to host all of my media files…

VOTE: Build your own with FreeNAS!

Thanks. I'll look into this. I purchased the games not too long ago and was planning on playing the first one over the Christmas break.

Now that blockbuster and Hollywood video are pretty much gone, this isn't as relevant, but I remember going to the video stores and deciding to rent a game because it looked interesting.

Are you a contract attorney?

These type of issues fall under contract law, which will vary from relationship to relationship, so there isn't always going to be a lot consistency in this area.

That would be Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot.

"Hasbro is not to be blamed here, they wrote. 'As per U.S. Trademark law, as soon as an infringement comes to light, they are obligated to defend the trademark, or they will lose it.'"

This is one of only 2 game soundtracks that I keep on my phone for regular listening - the other is Bastion.

It really depends on the specific dub. There are really terrible voice actors in Japan as well, so being in Japanese doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to be better. I think the main reason why the voice acting tends to be better in Japanese in Anime is that a larger budget generally goes into the original…

This is a real shame. Mitsubishi's DLPs were fantastic TVs for the price. My last TV was a 65" DLP that I purchased a few years back on black Friday for $650. No other display technology comes close in the <$1000 range. It obviously doesn't work for people that want to hang their tv on the wall, but if you have an…