I haven't seen the RobotWars shows yet, but Junkyard Wars has Battlebots beat anyday in my book. The whole sportscaster thing on Battlebots was ok and even funny at first but it's just annoying now. If I wanted to watch sportscasters, I'd watch ESPN or something.
That's the funniest april fools work on any site I've seen yet.
But have you checked out The Register lately? You'll have to go to one of the stories on the main page (try the one about Microsoft no longer being blamed for Foot & Mouth, it's funny) and you'll see their lovely new format!!
In my area there's about 6 local ISP's I can think of that have each been in business a good two years minimum. The only national service I know of that's available here is AOL, and it's limited (not enough lines). The "big guys" haven't seen fit to come in and buy up our small local ISP's. It seems that maybe in our case, companies like SWBell has it better if they DON'T buy these ISP's. They can either provide 6 customers high-end lines, such as T1's or better, or they can buy the ISP's, take all their customers and have to support and collect money from all of them. Seems to me it would be easier to support and collect from 6 than 60,000.
And where is broadband in this situation? Virtually non-existent. Cable modems just came into play here in the past year and they have a so-so reputation. (Tried it myself, it sucked. Upload speeds of 1k/sec.? Uh, no thanks!) DSL? Only available in a very, very limited area downtown, to be expanded in about 2 years. ISDN is the only choice where I am, and it's $200+ a month.
Is our market ripe for a "big player" to come in an offer something good for once? It seems there's only one city in the whole state that ever gets any of the new services. Our city has a population over 50,000. Are we the only decent sized place being forgotten?
I'm with SWBell for ISDN service and internet service. If you call tech support all you get is someone who just wants to know what version of your browser you are using and to make sure you know how to plug in the line to your modem.
I have used local services but they all (get this) refuse to provide me with ISDN service that I can use all I want. When I mention wanting to leave the modem connected 24/7 they freak and tell me that if they see me on for more than a "reasonable time" at one clip they'll cut me off. It "ties up their lines." So I'm stuck paying a fortune to use SWBell who has nothing but 1st tier support; I'm not too sure anything past that exists there.
What kind of results did you get from doing this? Also, has anyone else truly sent in a request to be removed and seen any results, either good or bad?
Here's what bothers me:
Do you know anyone, anyone at all that has any bit of respect for Clinton?
To me, if you clearly can't handle your personal life in a dignified manner, then you have no business running our country.
Re:Too small, Americans need an air powered SUV
on
Air-Powered Cars
·
· Score: 1
SUV? Dodge is stepping in that direction. CNN has a very short article about a hybrid Dodge Durango. "DaimlerChrysler boasts that the gas-electric hybrid Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle it plans to offer for the 2003 model year is 20 percent more fuel efficient than the current model, without losing power." It's not quite air-powered I presume but you can still get your dose of SUV macho and save on the 'ole hefty gas bill that goes with it.
That was my point. I've yet to see a president that wasn't a slave to the lobbists.
But then again, does the president really truly have that much power? Is it more congress? Or does it all come down to lobbists, and from there who's got the most money?
Great idea, but will it ever really make it?
on
Air-Powered Cars
·
· Score: 2
In reality, a car like this succeeding is unfortunately unlikely. They've got a HUGE battle to fight against:
1.Big Oil companies
2.Current big car manufacturers (don't want to change out those assembly lines)
3.Governments of large oil producing companies
4.Politicians who are controlled (oops I mean lobbied) by the oil companies
5.Car parts manufacturers (have to start making parts they may be unfamiliar with)
And the list just goes on...
It's a great idea, but if you think gaining widespread acceptance will happen anytime soon, think again. Alternative fuel-source cars have made their way into the market, yet the above groups haven't worried about them because they know these cars so far have limits on them that keep the average driver from purchasing them. Either the cost of the vehicle itself or the cost of maintenance is too high, they are limited on distance of travel at one time, etc. A vehicle that could stand up against a regular car in performance, reliability, travel distance without refueling, ease of maintenance and cost would be reason for these guys to worry. A lot.
The link in the article didn't work, but here's another about the same thing.
At a price tag of $10,000 I'd have to consider it for a commute to work car. And at a price of 30 cents for 120 miles??? You know the oil companies hate to hear about this stuff. So does OPEC.:)
So they really do stand behind the 12 year warranty? I just ordered my a few weeks ago, got all the extra bells & whistles (picked my color and all). I wondered how well they last the day-to-day use and abuse of an office. It better last for the $1100 it's costing me!
Clearly you've never tried out a Herman Miller Aeron chair.
Mine's currently on order. I paid an obscene amount for it, and I've got some pretty wicked systems to go with it. Worth every penny!
How about these weird items, in addition to mosch's "normal" list:
massive stack of receipts
bendy gumby
photo of my husband - (the only dead giveaway I'm not a guy)
basket of assorted office supplies
bottle of Excedrin
and two car models, a Lamborghini and a Porche.
plus the required palm cradle and graphics tablet pen (in it's base).
What qualifies as "normal" desk stuff these days anyway?
"Why is that up to me to work out? It's not like they make it easy to opt-out. "
I couldn't agree more. And to save everyone time, here's the path to opt-out that I found: Click here to get to their site.
Click on GET THE FACTS on their main page.
Read page and get a little irritated over it.
Find "Please click here to read our complete privacy policy." at the bottom of the page and click it.
Read more about how your privacy is not being invaded. Find "Visit our Opt-out page for more information." at the bottom of the page and click it.
Decide if you really want to get all pissed off or not, thus determining if you should read all of this page. Otherwise, click on "Opt-Out Now," which is this time conveniently located near the top of the page.
Finally make your choice to opt-out on this page. And they do ask you again to confirm this decision. AND they offer you the grand opportunity to opt-in, just in case you accidentally opted-out. How you'd accidentally do that is beyond me, given how many steps it takes to get to the opt-out option!!
I think this is an excellent suggestion. Now how do we get the government to support this idea?
Something else I've noticed is that you can with about 99% accuracy detect a telemarketing call by the delay of their inital response. When you answer the phone and say "Hello" it usually takes a second for them to respond. Next time you get a telemarketing call, take note of this... if the person on the other end doesn't initially respond as quick as a normal caller would, odds are good it's a telemarketer. And I have a one sound answer to those calls.... "click."
I presume here that you do not have quite the extensive legal means at your disposal as Mattel does. Zinger is exactly right that you should use the means you do have. Sic the media on them. Bad press will either 1.) make them back down 2.) try to buy you out just to shut you up (big $$ maybe?) or 3.) really piss them off. Just make sure have no skeletons in your closet before you pursue that direction. Also, someone suggested that you specifically say on your site that you are not referring to Barbie, as in the doll. Get that idea in 'legalese' and include it on your site, with a link to Mattel's site. That way you are actually directing those who are looking for Mattel's Barbie to the right place. I'd also throw in the link to the bbq site for good measure, to show that the word 'Barbie' means more than just their 'very valuable' doll. How about you also look up 'Barbie' in several respected dictionaries, like Webster's for example, and place their definitions on the site? Could be interesting.
I'm going to try this out on Eudora Pro's filters and see if it works well there too. Has anyone else tried it using Eudora Pro? I'd love to filter out the "hot young naked girls want you" junk I get from who knows where given I'm female and straight.:)
I saw the film. It's older and somewhat cheesy, but that adds to the humor of it. Be prepared, its LONG. I failed to notice the length of it when I rented it and ended up on the couch a lot longer than I planned to be.
The only time I've ever seen a CPU overheat (and I'm a K6 user too) was the time my cpu fan went out. I use a better-than-the-cheapie type of fan, ones that cost in the $20-$30 range, and I run the machine 24/7.
I'll agree with you that you're best off buying the best you can afford when it comes to most parts, but you can get about eight of these fan/heatsinks for the price of one MC2001. Buy two of these, and that way if you see one going out, just shut down, pop one off, pop the other one on, and you're back in business.
Besides, according to IRS rules, 5 years is the depreciation time of most PC's/Servers. In the real world, we know that if you get 5 years out of a machine (be it used for a PC, Server, or whatever) you've gotten your money's worth many times over.
I tried the 'normal office job' thing for about two years as an accountant. I now am self-employed and work from home. I can say that the peace and quiet of working from home can be relaxing, however it does require a tremendous amount of self-motivation. Some days it would be much much easier to just roll back over and forget the day.
The comments suggesting you to make SURE you have a hobby that requires you to leave the house are right on target. I work out at the gym during the early afternoon and much to my advantage it's not crowded (no one but the retirees, self-employed, tele-commuters, and housewives/husbands). There are definite advantages to having your time completely up to you. Just make sure you're motivated enough to use it wisely. And invest in GOOD time management / project management software to help keep you on track!
Generally, if "they" (being the critics) give a movie a great review, the best tip is to RUN. FAST. Stay as far away as possible from whatever movie it is. After all, they loved "Elizabeth" and while Cate Blanchett did a heck of a job acting it's one of those movies you watch and then wonder "What the heck did I just watch?!" In defense of/., I can say that/. has been usually right on target with their reviews, especially when you include all the comments that are sure to follow.
One other thought - movie reviews are very relevant to/. in that geeks do have a life and like to go catch a movie occasionally. Life isn't completely made up of the net, as much as we try to make it that way./. is just providing a little nudge to those of us who live at our computers to get out and live sometimes!
Besides, movie reviews allow us to spend our free time more efficently by helping us thin out the "Critic's Choice" movies and spend our time on the good ones!
That's why they (who are they anyway?) call it HOTLANTA heh heh and i'm sure that the brainiac who came up with this idea lives there in hotlana and was thinking... it's HOT here, how can I make some money off that????
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I haven't seen the RobotWars shows yet, but Junkyard Wars has Battlebots beat anyday in my book. The whole sportscaster thing on Battlebots was ok and even funny at first but it's just annoying now. If I wanted to watch sportscasters, I'd watch ESPN or something.
That's the funniest april fools work on any site I've seen yet. But have you checked out The Register lately? You'll have to go to one of the stories on the main page (try the one about Microsoft no longer being blamed for Foot & Mouth, it's funny) and you'll see their lovely new format!!
In my area there's about 6 local ISP's I can think of that have each been in business a good two years minimum. The only national service I know of that's available here is AOL, and it's limited (not enough lines). The "big guys" haven't seen fit to come in and buy up our small local ISP's. It seems that maybe in our case, companies like SWBell has it better if they DON'T buy these ISP's. They can either provide 6 customers high-end lines, such as T1's or better, or they can buy the ISP's, take all their customers and have to support and collect money from all of them. Seems to me it would be easier to support and collect from 6 than 60,000.
And where is broadband in this situation? Virtually non-existent. Cable modems just came into play here in the past year and they have a so-so reputation. (Tried it myself, it sucked. Upload speeds of 1k/sec.? Uh, no thanks!) DSL? Only available in a very, very limited area downtown, to be expanded in about 2 years. ISDN is the only choice where I am, and it's $200+ a month.
Is our market ripe for a "big player" to come in an offer something good for once? It seems there's only one city in the whole state that ever gets any of the new services. Our city has a population over 50,000. Are we the only decent sized place being forgotten?
I'm with SWBell for ISDN service and internet service. If you call tech support all you get is someone who just wants to know what version of your browser you are using and to make sure you know how to plug in the line to your modem.
I have used local services but they all (get this) refuse to provide me with ISDN service that I can use all I want. When I mention wanting to leave the modem connected 24/7 they freak and tell me that if they see me on for more than a "reasonable time" at one clip they'll cut me off. It "ties up their lines." So I'm stuck paying a fortune to use SWBell who has nothing but 1st tier support; I'm not too sure anything past that exists there.
What kind of results did you get from doing this? Also, has anyone else truly sent in a request to be removed and seen any results, either good or bad?
Here's what bothers me:
Do you know anyone, anyone at all that has any bit of respect for Clinton?
To me, if you clearly can't handle your personal life in a dignified manner, then you have no business running our country.
SUV? Dodge is stepping in that direction. CNN has a very short article about a hybrid Dodge Durango. "DaimlerChrysler boasts that the gas-electric hybrid Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle it plans to offer for the 2003 model year is 20 percent more fuel efficient than the current model, without losing power." It's not quite air-powered I presume but you can still get your dose of SUV macho and save on the 'ole hefty gas bill that goes with it.
That was my point. I've yet to see a president that wasn't a slave to the lobbists.
But then again, does the president really truly have that much power? Is it more congress? Or does it all come down to lobbists, and from there who's got the most money?
In reality, a car like this succeeding is unfortunately unlikely. They've got a HUGE battle to fight against:
1.Big Oil companies
2.Current big car manufacturers (don't want to change out those assembly lines)
3.Governments of large oil producing companies
4.Politicians who are controlled (oops I mean lobbied) by the oil companies
5.Car parts manufacturers (have to start making parts they may be unfamiliar with)
And the list just goes on...
It's a great idea, but if you think gaining widespread acceptance will happen anytime soon, think again. Alternative fuel-source cars have made their way into the market, yet the above groups haven't worried about them because they know these cars so far have limits on them that keep the average driver from purchasing them. Either the cost of the vehicle itself or the cost of maintenance is too high, they are limited on distance of travel at one time, etc. A vehicle that could stand up against a regular car in performance, reliability, travel distance without refueling, ease of maintenance and cost would be reason for these guys to worry. A lot.
As long as there are career politicians running the government they'll have a gimp to lobby to. Who it is won't really matter.
The link in the article didn't work, but here's another about the same thing. At a price tag of $10,000 I'd have to consider it for a commute to work car. And at a price of 30 cents for 120 miles??? You know the oil companies hate to hear about this stuff. So does OPEC. :)
So they really do stand behind the 12 year warranty? I just ordered my a few weeks ago, got all the extra bells & whistles (picked my color and all). I wondered how well they last the day-to-day use and abuse of an office. It better last for the $1100 it's costing me!
Clearly you've never tried out a Herman Miller Aeron chair.
Mine's currently on order. I paid an obscene amount for it, and I've got some pretty wicked systems to go with it. Worth every penny!
I'd rather be a woman who's a geek :)
How about these weird items, in addition to mosch's "normal" list:
massive stack of receipts
bendy gumby
photo of my husband - (the only dead giveaway I'm not a guy)
basket of assorted office supplies
bottle of Excedrin
and two car models, a Lamborghini and a Porche.
plus the required palm cradle and graphics tablet pen (in it's base).
What qualifies as "normal" desk stuff these days anyway?
"Why is that up to me to work out? It's not like they make it easy to opt-out. "
I couldn't agree more. And to save everyone time, here's the path to opt-out that I found:
Click here to get to their site.
Click on GET THE FACTS on their main page.
Read page and get a little irritated over it.
Find "Please click here to read our complete privacy policy." at the bottom of the page and click it.
Read more about how your privacy is not being invaded. Find "Visit our Opt-out page for more information." at the bottom of the page and click it.
Decide if you really want to get all pissed off or not, thus determining if you should read all of this page. Otherwise, click on "Opt-Out Now," which is this time conveniently located near the top of the page.
Finally make your choice to opt-out on this page. And they do ask you again to confirm this decision. AND they offer you the grand opportunity to opt-in, just in case you accidentally opted-out. How you'd accidentally do that is beyond me, given how many steps it takes to get to the opt-out option!!
I think this is an excellent suggestion. Now how do we get the government to support this idea?
Something else I've noticed is that you can with about 99% accuracy detect a telemarketing call by the delay of their inital response. When you answer the phone and say "Hello" it usually takes a second for them to respond. Next time you get a telemarketing call, take note of this... if the person on the other end doesn't initially respond as quick as a normal caller would, odds are good it's a telemarketer. And I have a one sound answer to those calls.... "click."
I presume here that you do not have quite the extensive legal means at your disposal as Mattel does. Zinger is exactly right that you should use the means you do have. Sic the media on them. Bad press will either 1.) make them back down 2.) try to buy you out just to shut you up (big $$ maybe?) or 3.) really piss them off. Just make sure have no skeletons in your closet before you pursue that direction.
Also, someone suggested that you specifically say on your site that you are not referring to Barbie, as in the doll. Get that idea in 'legalese' and include it on your site, with a link to Mattel's site. That way you are actually directing those who are looking for Mattel's Barbie to the right place. I'd also throw in the link to the bbq site for good measure, to show that the word 'Barbie' means more than just their 'very valuable' doll.
How about you also look up 'Barbie' in several respected dictionaries, like Webster's for example, and place their definitions on the site? Could be interesting.
I'm going to try this out on Eudora Pro's filters and see if it works well there too. Has anyone else tried it using Eudora Pro? I'd love to filter out the "hot young naked girls want you" junk I get from who knows where given I'm female and straight. :)
I saw the film. It's older and somewhat cheesy, but that adds to the humor of it. Be prepared, its LONG. I failed to notice the length of it when I rented it and ended up on the couch a lot longer than I planned to be.
The only time I've ever seen a CPU overheat (and I'm a K6 user too) was the time my cpu fan went out. I use a better-than-the-cheapie type of fan, ones that cost in the $20-$30 range, and I run the machine 24/7.
I'll agree with you that you're best off buying the best you can afford when it comes to most parts, but you can get about eight of these fan/heatsinks for the price of one MC2001. Buy two of these, and that way if you see one going out, just shut down, pop one off, pop the other one on, and you're back in business.
Besides, according to IRS rules, 5 years is the depreciation time of most PC's/Servers. In the real world, we know that if you get 5 years out of a machine (be it used for a PC, Server, or whatever) you've gotten your money's worth many times over.
I tried the 'normal office job' thing for about two years as an accountant. I now am self-employed and work from home. I can say that the peace and quiet of working from home can be relaxing, however it does require a tremendous amount of self-motivation. Some days it would be much much easier to just roll back over and forget the day.
The comments suggesting you to make SURE you have a hobby that requires you to leave the house are right on target. I work out at the gym during the early afternoon and much to my advantage it's not crowded (no one but the retirees, self-employed, tele-commuters, and housewives/husbands). There are definite advantages to having your time completely up to you. Just make sure you're motivated enough to use it wisely. And invest in GOOD time management / project management software to help keep you on track!
Generally, if "they" (being the critics) give a movie a great review, the best tip is to RUN. FAST. Stay as far away as possible from whatever movie it is. After all, they loved "Elizabeth" and while Cate Blanchett did a heck of a job acting it's one of those movies you watch and then wonder "What the heck did I just watch?!" In defense of /., I can say that /. has been usually right on target with their reviews, especially when you include all the comments that are sure to follow.
/. in that geeks do have a life and like to go catch a movie occasionally. Life isn't completely made up of the net, as much as we try to make it that way. /. is just providing a little nudge to those of us who live at our computers to get out and live sometimes!
One other thought - movie reviews are very relevant to
Besides, movie reviews allow us to spend our free time more efficently by helping us thin out the "Critic's Choice" movies and spend our time on the good ones!
That's why they (who are they anyway?) call it HOTLANTA heh heh and i'm sure that the brainiac who came up with this idea lives there in hotlana and was thinking... it's HOT here, how can I make some money off that????
You got that right! Just call me a proud female geek :)