Yeah, enough with the boring business-analysis posts, let's dish some horror-story shopping experiences! Four years ago, I bought a DVD player at Circuit City for $30. I also needed cables to hook it up. The sales rep insisted that, for best results, I should get the Monster cables for $100. Right, three times the cost of the damn component. I couldn't believe the audacity of the little weasel. I'm sure there are schmucks who fall for pitches like that, but I was appalled.
Alas, in comedy, timing is everything. I really don't even go in for that frist prost crap. Check my history -- I have never done this before and will probably never do it again.
But tonight, something was different. The first post was mine for the taking. It was there, I tell you! I felt the adrenaline rush, the dry mouth. The first post could be mine and I decided that I WOULD take it! I just needed to come up with something clever. No, just saying "frst prst" or whatever it is those morons write was not going to be enough for someone like me -- my id is in the low 100,000's after all. Okay, so that's not super low, but I don't mind pointing it out! And sure enough, a clever idea came to me, or so it seemed at the time. It even had a slight hint of self-deprecation, always good for earning karma. And it would have been clever, too, if it hadn't turned out to be the SECOND POST! Damn it all to hell, I was too long typing it out! I guess I just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing after all.
When Fiats were sold in the US (i.e., the 70's and 80's), the joke was that Fiat stood for "Fix It Again, Tony." Even by American car standards, they were pretty unreliable, and rust-prone, and you couldn't get a decent wiring diagram to save your life.
The quality has improved, and the new Cinquecento, which was like the Italian Mini Cooper, may even be imported to the States. Even so, I can't resist offering my favorite anti-Italian-quality acronym, for Alitalia: Always Late In Take-off, Always Late in Arrival.
If effective treatments or antidotes for the medical causes of death are found, the dumbassery will only increase. Everest is already littered with empty oxygen bottles and other garbage discarded by arrogant twits who climb it for the bragging rights.
I second that. I switched a year ago, and sleep works great. What a surprise, after years of really crappy experiences with Windows laptops. Can't tell you how many demonstrations were delayed by having to reboot. Not anymore.
Actually, in On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins defines intelligence as memory AND prediction. That definition and the model that he develops in the book are pretty compelling and explain a tremendous amount of how our brains work, like how we figure out problems that computers can't, and how our performing a simple act like catching a baseball is fundamentally different from the way a computer works. So, yeah, if you only have memory, you're missing the other half of the model.
Yes, excellent point. Not to rain on anyone's donation parade, but if the school's IT staff can't or won't integrate them, your pc's may go unused.
I teach high school math, and my school is slowly rolling out pc's to every classroom. Our building, along with its wiring, is pretty old, and power requirements were a big concern for many years; it doesn't take much to blow a fuse or trip a breaker. Newer equipment draws a lot less power. Are you sure your facility can handle a bunch of big old watt-sucking behemoths?
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Microsoft submitted the code on a napkin and specified inches instead of feet.
Best hand-holder? He gave his wife an iTouch. They're beyond hand-holding, know what I mean, know what I mean, nudge nudge, say no more?
Yeah, enough with the boring business-analysis posts, let's dish some horror-story shopping experiences! Four years ago, I bought a DVD player at Circuit City for $30. I also needed cables to hook it up. The sales rep insisted that, for best results, I should get the Monster cables for $100. Right, three times the cost of the damn component. I couldn't believe the audacity of the little weasel. I'm sure there are schmucks who fall for pitches like that, but I was appalled.
Those are some big shoes to fill. But then maybe he'd have some help from Jerry Seinfeld! Ba dum cha!
Ha ha. See, there was this series of ads -- great stuff, too, very edgy -- where he was shopping for shoes, and...
Oh, fuck it.
Here's a video site that features it.
I disagree. Slashdotters submit hilarious stuff from "work" most afternoons.
We've all had creepy bosses. What really matters is that you and your colleagues put in a hard day's work.
What will slashdot be without Cowboy Neal?
And the next thing you know, you're saying "Get off my lawn!"
I thought he watched it on his Zune.
Alas, in comedy, timing is everything. I really don't even go in for that frist prost crap. Check my history -- I have never done this before and will probably never do it again.
But tonight, something was different. The first post was mine for the taking. It was there, I tell you! I felt the adrenaline rush, the dry mouth. The first post could be mine and I decided that I WOULD take it! I just needed to come up with something clever. No, just saying "frst prst" or whatever it is those morons write was not going to be enough for someone like me -- my id is in the low 100,000's after all. Okay, so that's not super low, but I don't mind pointing it out! And sure enough, a clever idea came to me, or so it seemed at the time. It even had a slight hint of self-deprecation, always good for earning karma. And it would have been clever, too, if it hadn't turned out to be the SECOND POST! Damn it all to hell, I was too long typing it out! I guess I just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing after all.
and yet I'm able to get first post? This can't be right.
When Fiats were sold in the US (i.e., the 70's and 80's), the joke was that Fiat stood for "Fix It Again, Tony." Even by American car standards, they were pretty unreliable, and rust-prone, and you couldn't get a decent wiring diagram to save your life.
The quality has improved, and the new Cinquecento, which was like the Italian Mini Cooper, may even be imported to the States.
Even so, I can't resist offering my favorite anti-Italian-quality acronym, for Alitalia: Always Late In Take-off, Always Late in Arrival.
The jerk store called. They want the third derivative of the position function back.
Insert joke here.
It was the best of puns, it was the worst of puns.
If effective treatments or antidotes for the medical causes of death are found, the dumbassery will only increase. Everest is already littered with empty oxygen bottles and other garbage discarded by arrogant twits who climb it for the bragging rights.
You managed to get a laugh without revealing that the doctor regenerates -- very sporting of you.
I second that. I switched a year ago, and sleep works great. What a surprise, after years of really crappy experiences with Windows laptops. Can't tell you how many demonstrations were delayed by having to reboot. Not anymore.
Yes, that's why I traded mine for a bone saw long ago, because, well, you never know.
Stories like this make me wonder if cell phones will be the devices that actually deliver on the promise of OLPC.
Actually, in On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins defines intelligence as memory AND prediction. That definition and the model that he develops in the book are pretty compelling and explain a tremendous amount of how our brains work, like how we figure out problems that computers can't, and how our performing a simple act like catching a baseball is fundamentally different from the way a computer works. So, yeah, if you only have memory, you're missing the other half of the model.
Or at least confucius the issue.
But will they still call it beta?
Yes, excellent point. Not to rain on anyone's donation parade, but if the school's IT staff can't or won't integrate them, your pc's may go unused.
I teach high school math, and my school is slowly rolling out pc's to every classroom. Our building, along with its wiring, is pretty old, and power requirements were a big concern for many years; it doesn't take much to blow a fuse or trip a breaker. Newer equipment draws a lot less power. Are you sure your facility can handle a bunch of big old watt-sucking behemoths?