Saturday, December 15, 2007  Another Substantial Change in Home
Entertainment  We went shopping today...  In Best Buy, I had one
of those life-changing experiences. I can think of two times in
my lifetime that I've experienced something as mind-boggling as
this (in the category of computers, electronics, and
technology).  The first time was in like 1993 when I got to use
a computer with a SoundBlaster card for the first time. A friend
showed me the game Castle Wolfenstein - the first FPS (First-
Person Shooter) type game I had ever seen. Instead of the
standard PC "beep" noise, it was actually making real lifelike
sounds like the German guards' voices yelling, "HALT!" I was in
awe and HAD to get a SoundBlaster card for my computer. Now we
just accept that as the norm. EVERY computer has a super-
whamodyne sound system these days. Who in their right mind would
buy a computer WITHOUT a sound system built in?  The second time
was in 1995 when I went over to my friend Vince's room in the
Susse Chalet in Groton duri