From the article, it looks like they are a service company, not a railway builder. So, from what I have heard, the Japanese haven't smiled like Americans traditionally do. This system is like daily training on smiling for customers. Very odd, but I guess if they want smiling employees they have to teach them how?
I take issue with the conclusion of the study. They claimed: "these studies clearly show that "people exposed to violent media become 'comfortably numb' to the pain and suffering of others and are consequently less helpful"." However, I would like to propose a different conclusion: "these studies clearly show that "people exposed to violent media become more concerned about experiencing pain and suffering and are consequently less helpful to others who may be in pain or suffering as seen through hesitation". I don't believe they proved anything about 'comfort' with pain or suffering or any 'numbness' too it. They simply suggest through the study that people hesitated, which I do believe to be more likely through apprehension and fear rather than apathy and desensitization.
I suppose the only way to test my theory would be a similar study, with a way to stall the subjects for a moderate period of time and retest, or perhaps even show them a non violent movie clip after a shorter delay, trying to clear the mind, and then retest similarly. Sounds a bit complex though and I am not an expert at such things.
That would be the City staff using the logins for the already hired employees to vote on their behalf. Its right there on page 1,324 of the employee handbook.
I agree completely, you cannot trademark single words in common use. I am sure someday the courts will go ahead and take care of the few tiny companies who think they have such trademarks. I mean the courts are slow and it isn't like they could be aware of any companies with such trademarks....
In a completely unrelated topic I think there was an announcement today by Apple®....
Yes they both went out of business, and AFTER that Tiger Direct bought the remainders. I need to clarify that Tiger Direct is owned by Systemax, and Systemax is who made the purchases I am speaking about. I believe for CompUSA it was 12 or so actual store buildings and the name CompUSA. The Circuit City purchase included IP, the Circuit City name, and their webpage. So now Systemax operates Tiger Direct as a eTailer, and CompUSA as a B&M retailer. Their plans for the Circuit City properties haven't been announced yet as far as I know. You can find other non Wiki announcements but I linked it below since it refers to both deals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemax
I have built 4 computers in the last 4 years, and I purchased about half of the parts for each from Tiger Direct and half from Newegg with a part here and there from local stores. I never had any problems with Tiger Direct myself, but I have seen alot of people complain about issues. I don't buy full computer however and maybe that is where they really show their issues.
I figured when Tiger Direct bought CompUSA and kept a few stores open that it was hoping to have 2 brands out there. Then they recently purchased Circuit City IP, which iirc includes the webpage and name. Now that I read this, I think their plan is to let Tiger Direct become the cheap brand compared to their NewEgg competition, and keep the other 2 brands running but named separately so customers don't equate the quality/value of each brand with the other. It is an interesting plan, I have heard people like the new CompUSA and I thought Tiger Direct was going to make a solid retail comeback with CompUSA, I hope this doesn't change that.
It sounds to me like your local community has the real problem. We have a Gates Foundation school that was planned, and paid for by the foundation and it is run by the school board just like all the other high schools. Attendance, grades, and the same hours are all mandatory. In fact it isn't a tech school, it is a school focusing on showing students aspects of the health system beyond being a doctor. It is in a very low income area, and virtually none of those students could afford to become doctors, but they could get into schools and become X-ray Techs, Nurses, etc instead of just flipping burgers. There is no emphasis on any MS software, most of the stuff they look at is small proprietary stuff based in the medical industry, laser scans of cells, hardware designed for various medical scanners. It is meant to show them that small companies do a lot of work providing services, hardware, and skills to the larger medical industry.
If other schools are being run without the same rules as the local schools, then that is obviously a bad idea, but to just proclaim that the reason it is done is to further Windows is just ignorant. Perhaps the people you need to blame are those who set the school up. The principal at this school busted his tail to get everything set up, keeps it running well, and even teaches teachers about writing grants, new teaching styles, anything he thinks can help them. I think that is pretty solid from a school built by Bill, for kids who usually don't have pencil and paper.
PS. All the posts about Parental involvement being the issue.... right on.
i feel much the same way. GTA in a jungle and I catch malaria right away....ready go!
The graphics are beautiful, playing with fire can be a serious tactical advantage, but all in all it was not nearly as much fun as the previous.
I enjoyed the Stealth aspect of FarCry 1 much more than FarCry 2. The missions make FarCry 2 feel to me much more forced than Far Cry 1 which was pretty linear. In FarCry 1 they told you why you were doing what you were doing and that was that, in Far Cry 2.... you just run mission after mission and in a few it feels like it didnt matter what you did, it was ending a certain way.
Far Cry 2 was just ok, and not nearly as much fun as I had hoped it would be.
My computer is 2.5 years old and there aren't any game out there that I haven't been able to play up to this 1/1/09. Only 1 game I cannot get to run well and that was due to this Xmas me receiving a video card, Mass Effect PC evidently likes older nVidia cards more than newer ones. So I am tempted to swap my card back to the old one till I am done with that game.
People always complain that after 1 year you can't play new games, and honestly that is just not true. If you go to the local parts shop and make sure you only buy parts that are $80 or less, then yeah I can see it happening. However a mid range system at purchase should be fine for 3 years with 99% of all releases, very possibly 100% will be playable without the bells and whistles.
If you want to give up on PC gaming because of a bad experience, I can understand. This weekend I sure wished I had an Xbox 360 w/ Mass Effect so I could play it rather than my PC copy. However, you don't have to go console in order to play the newer games.
I also think people need to stop thinking (at least when gaming is concerned) that Laptop = PC. Its not the same thing. 2 Years ago 1GB was not good for a Desktop PC, 2GB was the solid average/min. People don't complain about "Next gen" console graphics by pointing at non HiDef releases on the DS or PSP. "PC" gaming on laptops is definitely the hardest way to go about playing games, you have the costs of needing mid range or better hardware, with it needing to be small and portable. Yikes! They are going to charge through the teeth for it.
I built my PC exactly 2 years ago. I am playing GTA IV right now. I live in America so I will try to convert the currency...
I spent $1200 before any rebates, about $950 after. So that would be roughly 900Euro without rebates. I have a Dual Core CPU, a nVidia 8800GTX (most expensive part at the time), and I reused my monitor. I am playing GTA IV on high graphics, no problems.
You don't need a Quad Core machine, hell I don't even know if GTA utilizes 4 cores, it'd be surprising. You *definitely* don't need SLI, cmon that would be like if the PC user demanded that PS3/etc consoles were only playable on 65inch HD flat screens, it's nice but nowhere *NEAR* necessary.
I don't forsee any reason why console gaming and PC gaming cannot both exist, and even thrive. I don't understand why people have to hate one or the other for no real reason. I prefer my PC, but I enjoyed playing GTA IV on my PS3 when it was released, and now I get to replay it with, imo, better controls and graphics. My PC cannot give me the same cost effective multiplayer gaming experience that my PS3 or Wii can give. It just doesn't have that feel for it, the ease of set up much less the cost factor. My wife and I played a TON of LAN Age of Empires.... that meant 2 computers, 2 copies of the game and each expansion. It was fun, but it was much easier and cheaper for us to get a Wii and play Wii Sports, and Mario Kart together.
I would love it if Sony/MS/Nintendo all made PCIe add on cards which created a VM for their consoles in my PC and let me play them that way, I'd own all 3 consoles no doubt. I don't think it is likely however.
Do you recall who hosted the interview you are citing? All I was able to find was that she is against abortion even in cases of rape, and that was her stance in her live debates for her run at the governor's office in her home state.
Last movie I went too, about one to two weeks ago, they added texting to the "Please stop being an ass and don't use your phone in the theater" announcements. Honestly, I hope they do assume anyone using a phone is trying to do something illegal, then maybe people will only watch movies when they have the time to not interrupt other people's entertainment.
I think a big part of Google's 'timing' was their seizure of the opportunity to embrace web based ads far better than Yahoo or anyone else. This gives them the $$$ to do all those wonderful things they do now. Just a guess though, I've never really looked into other companies attempts at the Google ad business.
It's not his fault he assumed you were a boy who never goes outside and is surrounded by idiots. He is after all on the internet, where only boys who have at least a 50pt IQ Advantage over the rest of their society are welcome. Besides, not everyone can grasp that your name phonetically spells A Foxy Mom (A Phoxe Ma)
While I agree that the concept used here is very silly and could likely do more harm than good, I think perhaps the moniker of "borderline terrorism" is a bit overblown. Perhaps there needs to be a Godwin v2.0 with terrorism as the focal point.
I am only have a mild arachnophobia. If I see a small spider across the room I dont flip out, but once its gone I get really nervous and jump if anything touches me. Once at home I was asleep and rolled over facing the wall I saw a large spider on the wall so I jumped outta bed turned the lights on but it was gone. I ripped the room apart, not damaging anything but dismantled the bed etc, and since I couldnt find it I slept in a different room wrapped in blankets.
If I ever had an episode where I saw spiders crawling out of everything, I'd probably flip out and kill shit ninja style until the police got me, although it may look more like star wars kid. That sounds terrifying!
Obviously the WoW player is worth more. He or she has after all discovered a method to introduce at least 6 extra hours into a day. Perhaps using this technology he or she also adds an additional 12 hours for work, school and lotto time! You just assume he or she has no job because you are a lazy "24 Hour" human, incapable of the real commitment a 42 hour day commands!
I believe he is referring to the fact that alcohol was used, in large quantities, by the researchers while coming up with the system. In that regard it is heavily based on alcohol, and Cheetos too if memory serves, but there is again no Wiki reference.
Dad?
I was the same way in school. I was taken at the 3rd grade to a School for the Gifted, given the test and promptly earned the first perfect score: 0 I was very careful in shifting each of the answers 1 to the right. My father was in the navy and I had just gotten to my new non gifted school and been there 1 month, so I didn't want another school. Noone had taken the time to tell me four of the other kids in my class, including the one I had identified with the most, already attended. Doh on me!
The time it really upset me, was in High School. I had several upperclassmen friends via the music program...ok ok band there I said it. One of whom was headed for Comp Eng at Va Tech. He knew of my interest and told me which classes to take and how to prepare. Only problem was when I signed up for PASCAL, there wasnt enough kids taking it so it was canceled. However the AP Bio teacher had the same issue and she forced some of her better students, who weren't going to take AP Bio, to sign up and drop it after the first week. Money was already allocated, so they got to have their class. I got stuck taking BASIC with a math teacher who literally had to tell me over and over: I don't know how to do that, that cant be done. Luckily my nerdiest friend knew BASIC well and he taught me what she couldn't.
The chart you linked to is 3DMark, in which the new GTX 280 does in fact top the list. However if you slide a few pages to the games section its a very different picture.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/10 Call of Duty, which is topped by the 9800GX2 http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/11 Half Life 2, is alot closer and lets face it both cards should be rolling through HL2 w/o any issues, however the GX2 is again on the top, by a small to tiny margin http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/12 ET:QW finally a real split, the GX2 tops out the 1920x1200 resolution and below, but the GTX280 takes the crown come high end 2560x1600 http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/13This Chart shows Crysis and Assasins Creed info, both of which the 9800GX2 tops the average with a 10-20% margin.
So it isnt as clear cut as you make it sound at all. Everyone has their own opinion on which is more important, for me, I'll take game performance over numbers crunching, though I do use 3DMark as well.
That actually could get them some press and fundraising if they got their own show... Ivoryline, with host Chris Hansen.
"Hello, I'm Chris, yeah we spoke in the chatroom...er on the phone rather. What are you doing here? Oh yeah you live here, what am I doing here....I'm here for the Ivory figurine. Actually don't go get it just yet, just take a seat over there.......
My only real issue with Cancellation fees are when you AREN'T getting a subsidized phone. I had my Treo for 2.5 years, I changed jobs and suddenly I needed significantly more minutes. I called them up, they had no problems getting me set up with a new more expensive plan, all was well. After 4 months of incorrect billing I called them and they found there was an error in the way my new plan was set up, it was fixed, all was well. Except when they made that change, they restarted my 2 year contract without telling me. So when my 2 years was up and I was moving, I wanted to combine my Cell/TV/ISP/Home phone to get a deal with another company. My current Wireless Provider wanted to charge me $200 per line, as my wife and I each have a cell on this account, to cancel. It should have been over for 2 months, but now they wanted to go by the new date and ruin my plans of consolidation which would have saved me over $100 monthly. Luckily for me I found out on the internet that the company had changed a charge on their bill and this meant they altered the plans and I was allowed to cite this change and cancel the contract w/o paying. I wont ever go back to that carrier.
I don't have a major issue with the subsidized phones and the eventual charge if you bail out before your contract has paid up on the phone really, however after that I really cant see any reason other than a cash grab.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that WoW did not in fact introduce the idea that Theives/Rogues were primarily high damage output classes. EQ had rogues which were a "DPS" class prior to WoW at launch, I'm not even sure EQ was first.
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From the article, it looks like they are a service company, not a railway builder. So, from what I have heard, the Japanese haven't smiled like Americans traditionally do. This system is like daily training on smiling for customers. Very odd, but I guess if they want smiling employees they have to teach them how?
I take issue with the conclusion of the study. They claimed: "these studies clearly show that "people exposed to violent media become 'comfortably numb' to the pain and suffering of others and are consequently less helpful"."
However, I would like to propose a different conclusion: "these studies clearly show that "people exposed to violent media become more concerned about experiencing pain and suffering and are consequently less helpful to others who may be in pain or suffering as seen through hesitation". I don't believe they proved anything about 'comfort' with pain or suffering or any 'numbness' too it. They simply suggest through the study that people hesitated, which I do believe to be more likely through apprehension and fear rather than apathy and desensitization.
I suppose the only way to test my theory would be a similar study, with a way to stall the subjects for a moderate period of time and retest, or perhaps even show them a non violent movie clip after a shorter delay, trying to clear the mind, and then retest similarly. Sounds a bit complex though and I am not an expert at such things.
That would be the City staff using the logins for the already hired employees to vote on their behalf. Its right there on page 1,324 of the employee handbook.
That's easy, the Mormon church will send it on over from Utah! They're so nice!
Dad is that you?
I agree completely, you cannot trademark single words in common use. I am sure someday the courts will go ahead and take care of the few tiny companies who think they have such trademarks. I mean the courts are slow and it isn't like they could be aware of any companies with such trademarks.... In a completely unrelated topic I think there was an announcement today by Apple®....
Yes they both went out of business, and AFTER that Tiger Direct bought the remainders. I need to clarify that Tiger Direct is owned by Systemax, and Systemax is who made the purchases I am speaking about. I believe for CompUSA it was 12 or so actual store buildings and the name CompUSA. The Circuit City purchase included IP, the Circuit City name, and their webpage. So now Systemax operates Tiger Direct as a eTailer, and CompUSA as a B&M retailer. Their plans for the Circuit City properties haven't been announced yet as far as I know. You can find other non Wiki announcements but I linked it below since it refers to both deals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemax
I have built 4 computers in the last 4 years, and I purchased about half of the parts for each from Tiger Direct and half from Newegg with a part here and there from local stores. I never had any problems with Tiger Direct myself, but I have seen alot of people complain about issues. I don't buy full computer however and maybe that is where they really show their issues. I figured when Tiger Direct bought CompUSA and kept a few stores open that it was hoping to have 2 brands out there. Then they recently purchased Circuit City IP, which iirc includes the webpage and name. Now that I read this, I think their plan is to let Tiger Direct become the cheap brand compared to their NewEgg competition, and keep the other 2 brands running but named separately so customers don't equate the quality/value of each brand with the other. It is an interesting plan, I have heard people like the new CompUSA and I thought Tiger Direct was going to make a solid retail comeback with CompUSA, I hope this doesn't change that.
It sounds to me like your local community has the real problem. We have a Gates Foundation school that was planned, and paid for by the foundation and it is run by the school board just like all the other high schools. Attendance, grades, and the same hours are all mandatory. In fact it isn't a tech school, it is a school focusing on showing students aspects of the health system beyond being a doctor. It is in a very low income area, and virtually none of those students could afford to become doctors, but they could get into schools and become X-ray Techs, Nurses, etc instead of just flipping burgers. There is no emphasis on any MS software, most of the stuff they look at is small proprietary stuff based in the medical industry, laser scans of cells, hardware designed for various medical scanners. It is meant to show them that small companies do a lot of work providing services, hardware, and skills to the larger medical industry.
If other schools are being run without the same rules as the local schools, then that is obviously a bad idea, but to just proclaim that the reason it is done is to further Windows is just ignorant. Perhaps the people you need to blame are those who set the school up. The principal at this school busted his tail to get everything set up, keeps it running well, and even teaches teachers about writing grants, new teaching styles, anything he thinks can help them. I think that is pretty solid from a school built by Bill, for kids who usually don't have pencil and paper.
PS. All the posts about Parental involvement being the issue.... right on.
i feel much the same way. GTA in a jungle and I catch malaria right away....ready go! The graphics are beautiful, playing with fire can be a serious tactical advantage, but all in all it was not nearly as much fun as the previous. I enjoyed the Stealth aspect of FarCry 1 much more than FarCry 2. The missions make FarCry 2 feel to me much more forced than Far Cry 1 which was pretty linear. In FarCry 1 they told you why you were doing what you were doing and that was that, in Far Cry 2.... you just run mission after mission and in a few it feels like it didnt matter what you did, it was ending a certain way. Far Cry 2 was just ok, and not nearly as much fun as I had hoped it would be.
My computer is 2.5 years old and there aren't any game out there that I haven't been able to play up to this 1/1/09. Only 1 game I cannot get to run well and that was due to this Xmas me receiving a video card, Mass Effect PC evidently likes older nVidia cards more than newer ones. So I am tempted to swap my card back to the old one till I am done with that game. People always complain that after 1 year you can't play new games, and honestly that is just not true. If you go to the local parts shop and make sure you only buy parts that are $80 or less, then yeah I can see it happening. However a mid range system at purchase should be fine for 3 years with 99% of all releases, very possibly 100% will be playable without the bells and whistles. If you want to give up on PC gaming because of a bad experience, I can understand. This weekend I sure wished I had an Xbox 360 w/ Mass Effect so I could play it rather than my PC copy. However, you don't have to go console in order to play the newer games. I also think people need to stop thinking (at least when gaming is concerned) that Laptop = PC. Its not the same thing. 2 Years ago 1GB was not good for a Desktop PC, 2GB was the solid average/min. People don't complain about "Next gen" console graphics by pointing at non HiDef releases on the DS or PSP. "PC" gaming on laptops is definitely the hardest way to go about playing games, you have the costs of needing mid range or better hardware, with it needing to be small and portable. Yikes! They are going to charge through the teeth for it.
I built my PC exactly 2 years ago. I am playing GTA IV right now. I live in America so I will try to convert the currency... I spent $1200 before any rebates, about $950 after. So that would be roughly 900Euro without rebates. I have a Dual Core CPU, a nVidia 8800GTX (most expensive part at the time), and I reused my monitor. I am playing GTA IV on high graphics, no problems. You don't need a Quad Core machine, hell I don't even know if GTA utilizes 4 cores, it'd be surprising. You *definitely* don't need SLI, cmon that would be like if the PC user demanded that PS3/etc consoles were only playable on 65inch HD flat screens, it's nice but nowhere *NEAR* necessary. I don't forsee any reason why console gaming and PC gaming cannot both exist, and even thrive. I don't understand why people have to hate one or the other for no real reason. I prefer my PC, but I enjoyed playing GTA IV on my PS3 when it was released, and now I get to replay it with, imo, better controls and graphics. My PC cannot give me the same cost effective multiplayer gaming experience that my PS3 or Wii can give. It just doesn't have that feel for it, the ease of set up much less the cost factor. My wife and I played a TON of LAN Age of Empires.... that meant 2 computers, 2 copies of the game and each expansion. It was fun, but it was much easier and cheaper for us to get a Wii and play Wii Sports, and Mario Kart together. I would love it if Sony/MS/Nintendo all made PCIe add on cards which created a VM for their consoles in my PC and let me play them that way, I'd own all 3 consoles no doubt. I don't think it is likely however.
Do you recall who hosted the interview you are citing? All I was able to find was that she is against abortion even in cases of rape, and that was her stance in her live debates for her run at the governor's office in her home state.
Last movie I went too, about one to two weeks ago, they added texting to the "Please stop being an ass and don't use your phone in the theater" announcements. Honestly, I hope they do assume anyone using a phone is trying to do something illegal, then maybe people will only watch movies when they have the time to not interrupt other people's entertainment.
I think a big part of Google's 'timing' was their seizure of the opportunity to embrace web based ads far better than Yahoo or anyone else. This gives them the $$$ to do all those wonderful things they do now. Just a guess though, I've never really looked into other companies attempts at the Google ad business.
It's not his fault he assumed you were a boy who never goes outside and is surrounded by idiots. He is after all on the internet, where only boys who have at least a 50pt IQ Advantage over the rest of their society are welcome. Besides, not everyone can grasp that your name phonetically spells A Foxy Mom (A Phoxe Ma)
While I agree that the concept used here is very silly and could likely do more harm than good, I think perhaps the moniker of "borderline terrorism" is a bit overblown. Perhaps there needs to be a Godwin v2.0 with terrorism as the focal point.
I am only have a mild arachnophobia. If I see a small spider across the room I dont flip out, but once its gone I get really nervous and jump if anything touches me. Once at home I was asleep and rolled over facing the wall I saw a large spider on the wall so I jumped outta bed turned the lights on but it was gone. I ripped the room apart, not damaging anything but dismantled the bed etc, and since I couldnt find it I slept in a different room wrapped in blankets. If I ever had an episode where I saw spiders crawling out of everything, I'd probably flip out and kill shit ninja style until the police got me, although it may look more like star wars kid. That sounds terrifying!
Obviously the WoW player is worth more. He or she has after all discovered a method to introduce at least 6 extra hours into a day. Perhaps using this technology he or she also adds an additional 12 hours for work, school and lotto time! You just assume he or she has no job because you are a lazy "24 Hour" human, incapable of the real commitment a 42 hour day commands!
I believe he is referring to the fact that alcohol was used, in large quantities, by the researchers while coming up with the system. In that regard it is heavily based on alcohol, and Cheetos too if memory serves, but there is again no Wiki reference.
Dad? I was the same way in school. I was taken at the 3rd grade to a School for the Gifted, given the test and promptly earned the first perfect score: 0 I was very careful in shifting each of the answers 1 to the right. My father was in the navy and I had just gotten to my new non gifted school and been there 1 month, so I didn't want another school. Noone had taken the time to tell me four of the other kids in my class, including the one I had identified with the most, already attended. Doh on me! The time it really upset me, was in High School. I had several upperclassmen friends via the music program...ok ok band there I said it. One of whom was headed for Comp Eng at Va Tech. He knew of my interest and told me which classes to take and how to prepare. Only problem was when I signed up for PASCAL, there wasnt enough kids taking it so it was canceled. However the AP Bio teacher had the same issue and she forced some of her better students, who weren't going to take AP Bio, to sign up and drop it after the first week. Money was already allocated, so they got to have their class. I got stuck taking BASIC with a math teacher who literally had to tell me over and over: I don't know how to do that, that cant be done. Luckily my nerdiest friend knew BASIC well and he taught me what she couldn't.
The chart you linked to is 3DMark, in which the new GTX 280 does in fact top the list. However if you slide a few pages to the games section its a very different picture. http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/10 Call of Duty, which is topped by the 9800GX2
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/11 Half Life 2, is alot closer and lets face it both cards should be rolling through HL2 w/o any issues, however the GX2 is again on the top, by a small to tiny margin
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/12 ET:QW finally a real split, the GX2 tops out the 1920x1200 resolution and below, but the GTX280 takes the crown come high end 2560x1600
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14934/13This Chart shows Crysis and Assasins Creed info, both of which the 9800GX2 tops the average with a 10-20% margin.
So it isnt as clear cut as you make it sound at all. Everyone has their own opinion on which is more important, for me, I'll take game performance over numbers crunching, though I do use 3DMark as well.
That actually could get them some press and fundraising if they got their own show... Ivoryline, with host Chris Hansen. "Hello, I'm Chris, yeah we spoke in the chatroom...er on the phone rather. What are you doing here? Oh yeah you live here, what am I doing here....I'm here for the Ivory figurine. Actually don't go get it just yet, just take a seat over there.......
My only real issue with Cancellation fees are when you AREN'T getting a subsidized phone. I had my Treo for 2.5 years, I changed jobs and suddenly I needed significantly more minutes. I called them up, they had no problems getting me set up with a new more expensive plan, all was well. After 4 months of incorrect billing I called them and they found there was an error in the way my new plan was set up, it was fixed, all was well. Except when they made that change, they restarted my 2 year contract without telling me. So when my 2 years was up and I was moving, I wanted to combine my Cell/TV/ISP/Home phone to get a deal with another company. My current Wireless Provider wanted to charge me $200 per line, as my wife and I each have a cell on this account, to cancel. It should have been over for 2 months, but now they wanted to go by the new date and ruin my plans of consolidation which would have saved me over $100 monthly. Luckily for me I found out on the internet that the company had changed a charge on their bill and this meant they altered the plans and I was allowed to cite this change and cancel the contract w/o paying. I wont ever go back to that carrier. I don't have a major issue with the subsidized phones and the eventual charge if you bail out before your contract has paid up on the phone really, however after that I really cant see any reason other than a cash grab.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that WoW did not in fact introduce the idea that Theives/Rogues were primarily high damage output classes. EQ had rogues which were a "DPS" class prior to WoW at launch, I'm not even sure EQ was first.