As for `hearing both sides', one need only look at the stated aims of the UNHRC to see the absurdity of listening to `both sides'. In a committee allegedly dedicated to basic human rights, it is not sensible to hear the pro-human rights and anti-human rights side, as only one of these sides is in line with the aims of the comission, and the presence of the other undermines any credibility the comission may have held.
Wrong -- it is important to hear the sides of those who you are trying to change. If you think that a lot of these human right violators think that they are doing something wrong, you really need to open your eyes. A lot of cases, the people doing the sweat shop work and child laborists getting beaten in the back room, these people are disliked minorities. You wouldn't see them as people, only as tools. How can tools have rights? In order to solve a problem, you must understand all the variables. The countries you list have a very good place on the committee.
"Consequences dictate our course of action and it doesn't matter what's right. It's only wrong if you get caught."
Placing nations that violate basic human rights on the committee is not hypocrisy. What you view as right, I view as acceptable. When is murder justified? What would drive you to murder? Why is it murder when you kill one, but a war when you kill millions? If you can get the worst countries on the committee, and convince them, as well as educate, that they are wrong than the goal is achieved. Not giving these countries a chance to speak, or listen, to what goes on in the committee, but only handing mandates for them to cease the way they've done things for the duration of the people in charges lifespan is not the way to go about it. That will result in hostile conflicts.
Did you know in Morocco it is illegal to take a picture of a member of the military? You go to jail for that. Does that make sense? It does to them. I had an AK-47 pointed at my head and was one step away from being shot for hiking and stumbling across the king's beach house. That's there version of a no tresspassing sign. A lot of things in the world don't make sense to outsiders. Racists aren't wrong in their hate because that is what they were raised with, right? Well, go tell them that they are wrong. I'm sure they will listen with open minds.
As for the larger thread, I happen to feel the idea of `too fat for their own good' is just silly -- it stems from a basic misunderstanding of how economics works, namely the mistake of considering economics as a zero-sum game. Arguing that the US is not the fattest in the world is even sillier though, as even a basic look at the statistics will show you.
I never said that the US is not the fattest. I'm arguing it's "own good" and the fact other nations don't need as much to live a much more extravagant and posh life.
Defining the fatness of a nation as it's GDP is pointless, because there are a great number of other economic factors that relate to the actual quality of life. I think that the reason why the US is perceived as too fat for it's own good does not rely at all on the GDP or any other economic factors, but the corporate ethics and government buy-in programs that senators and congressmen love so much.
As for the factbooks, it seems the CIA is estimate for 1999. The figures I'm looking at are 2001 est. I can't find a link online, but I doubt the changes from 1999 and 2001 are as drastic as the deficit between the figures. Maybe my source is wrong, I don't really know. Statistics can be skewed by whoever is writing or reading them. That's the wonderful thing about them.
As for the UN appointing Syria, China, and the Sudan to it's human rights committee, why not? Is it not better to have both sides on a committee? What's wrong in one persons eyes is acceptable in another. Education, and compromise can make the world a better place -- not forcing other people to converge to your way of life. I do not agree with sweatshops, ethnic cleansing, and all that. Then again, what they do in their country is their business. If they don't want it, have a bloody revolution or a democratic reformation. The masses can win, the US did it as did many other nations. I have no sympathy for countries that support a government they hate so much. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the whole, if you believe in the cause.
Uh, I can do basic math. I can even do advanced math, all the way into multivariable calculus. Please find a spelling error I made as well, and my math error previously wasn't one in math -- it was assuming his stupid comments carried on and progressed.
Well-documented statistics that don't back my worldview? No, that isn't it. I'm more trusting in the UN Fact Book which has different well-documented statistics. I didn't say I don't trust the CIA Worldbook, I just trust the UN a bit more than an agency that is known for skewing facts and statistics to better suit it's agenda. It's not tin-foil conspiracy, it's just the way life goes.
The citizens of the US have the honor of living in the most free, the most democratic, and the most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth. Where are you arguing that they should prefer to live?
Maybe you missed Sean's retarded comment of, "Only the US is too fat for it's own good." That's what started this, not freedom or democracy. Standards of living is a touchy subject, because it all goes onto whose standards one is talking about. Thanks for changing the subject, if you don't have anything to do with this thread (Which you don't as it seems, because you were not aware of the original topic of the thread (Fatness of US)) why are you commenting? Are you Sean's locker mate or something?
Sorry, I guess I assumed it went alon with the rest of what you were saying and was stupid as well. So you made one valid point, to one source of information that is off from other sources.
At least you didn't try to spew more stupid shit.
US quality of life is definitely not top. Try travelling around and maybe you'll see that. My guess is you are 15, and your parents wont let you leave your much-disliked country anyway.
Get a fucking high school education, then go travel.
I admit, I made one mistake. What's that to your 3. I'll give you a hint, my previous statements were from an economic fact book that was sponsored by the UN. I'm sure they have a website, go look it up.
Look at other economic sources, and you'll see different numbers. I don't really trust the CIAs figures. Most other sources report the US GDP per capita at approximately $22K (+-$1K). Even so, in the sources you cited I'm not sure how a GDP of $24,900 is 50% of $36,200. You sure do have a problem with big numbers. Have you thought of retaking 6th grade math where they teach percentages?
Indeed, I don't know where you got the idea that I ever said "The US is the only country too fat for its own good."
Gee, I don't know where I could have gotten that idea.
I still stand, I don't care if the US does have the highest GDP per capita, because people here still can't have half what someone else has elsewhere. Short of London where a decent residence to buy is going to cost you well over 500K.
You've discredited yourself again by not even remembering your own dumbass comment that started this. We've successfully proven you don't have any math skills what so ever, have no memory span, and trust what the CIA tells you in contradiction to a lot of other economic reports.
Yeah, I'm going to really believe you. At least I know that 36/2 is 18 not 24. And I didn't even have to use a calculator! 48 is a lot different than 36.
What's worse than clueless Americans? Clueless Americans who think their cultured.
GNP per capita, actually. Go check out statistics charts, UN economic papers they are readily available. Japan is higher, just for your information. Quite a few other countries are too. You seem to be forgetting all the people in the US that live in poverty too.
Have you been to Africa? Well, I have. Can't say I liked it much really. I stepped over a corpse that was in the center of a city sidewalk. Looked like it has been there for a few weeks too.
It's all relative though. I know someone who lives in Morocco who makes $300 a month, and has a really nice apartment. His brother, who has a doctorate and teaches lives a lifestyle that would make 75% of USians green with envy and makes 75% less than they do. Yeah, you gotta live in Morocco to do it, though.
I've read books. I've seen sights with my own eyes. Try a little harder. I still think you are an absolute idiot. More so since you say that my comment was a "web of lies" without doing the slightest bit of research into it. I'm thinking your web of lies, "The US is the only country too fat for it's own good.", and your calculator error is the worst of all. tsk tsk.
Funny that Japan has less than half the population that the US does and it's total GNP is 70% of the US. Yeah, the US is sure the pinnacle of it all isn't it?
Still didn't answer if you were a USian too. Sounding more like one of those green peace equal rights clueless folk.
Why does being a Navy ROTC and football player equate to a good fighter.
If you will note the hall of fame for best fighters in the world, none include "Football Player" or "ROTC recruit".
It's real fun when people like you spout off and think that. A friend of mine did that to a fairly small black guy who was military and for the most part a goliath. The fight was over in 30 seconds and the little guy didn't get touched.
After the fight he said, "I'm a golden gloves, don't think cause your big you can fight."
Ummm... only the US is too fat for its own good. You sound very USian-trying-to-be-cultured here. The US is not the only country to fat for it's own good. The US does not have the highest GNP. Don't say it is, it's called 1st world country here.
Second, do you really expect to be taken seriously when you can't even do simple mathematics to accurately compute the US population percentage in regards to the world? 0.04%? Are you nuts? That would mean that the US consists of about 26 million people. That's pretty small.
Humanity does not enjoy better material conditions than ever before, unless you count humans as only the ones living in the good ol' US of A.
Yes, humanity is on a whole. Go read a damn book.
By the way, I should point out that the sky is not falling, and human ingenuity will win out and make the ingenious fat. But ingenuity cannot just help the one, it harms the other. As one person grows fat, another one or two will starve. Keep that in mind as you wallow in American blindness.
Nice troll, but anyone with half a brain and math skills can see how pointless your arguments are.
What's worse, American blindness or Blindly thinking Americans are the root of all evil?
Take what he said to heart, for he's correct. Granted it's offtopic but learning to spell correctly, and speak correctly, is very important in a professional life.
If you desire a professional life, go check out Toast Masters. If not, continue the way that you are and don't complain when you hit your glass ceiling which will happen very soon. I know a few people who are very skilled in their job but want to advance their career and can't understand why they are stuck doing the same thing they were doing 5 years ago for the same (or less) money.
Simple answer: They do not instill confidence in the ability to do a job right.
I perused your site briefly (RealisticWeb.com) and found plenty of spelling and grammer errors through-out it. If you make a comfortable living, fine. If you are trying to expand your services and market, fix it. Run spellcheck. It's not hard. Hire a college student to read through at $10/hour for a few hours. It's worth it.
You're assuming that the people who make Gator are the only one's in this loop. And those sites that stand to make money off of it don't do sneaky things to make sure it gets installed without the user knowing. Just a theory.
If you knew anything about the internals of Gator you would understand you made yourself sound very stupid right then.
I don't see how this is possible, considering how much work the programmers at Gator put into making sure it's obvious that you are installing their software when you do it.
Simple, I clicked 'Yes' on a screen I shouldn't have and Gator got installed. It requires some level of user intervention directly related to Gators installation to be installed. Sometimes you don't mean to give it, but you still did.
This coming from the guy who traded a Mercedes and a Toyota for a Chevy Cavalier -- and installed Gator accidentally once. I'm sorry, you were trying to say something?
I do not regret my decision on the Cavalier. Right now I'm driving a Lexus, the Cavalier was simply a temporary vehicle until I found a different car I liked. I stated that when I got the Cavalier, as well. Apparently you have a huge problem reading the full text and only taking your interpretation and spewing it as right. Try harder, it's really fun to read your bizarre logic.
And I can guarantee that you are wrong. As I was, on my Win2k machine at work, presented a "Thank you for installing Gator" dialog (or something like that, it was NOT a "click here to install Gator" dialog) when I'm quite certain that I never agreed to install Gator. I never agree to install anything on my work machine. If I need a particular plugin to view some site, I just move on because that's the machine I do development on and I don't want any freaky thing fooling with its performance or reliablility.
I have very very reliable inside information that makes me 100% confident that you did something to install gator. I know several people that work for Gator, and they all have made very sure that you are always prompted to install Gator. The problem resides between the chair and the keyboard.
What's worse, removing Gator from that machine proved, well, challenging.
I'm sorry, but I've accidently installed gator once and purposefully twice. I would go no where near the word challenging on it's uninstallation. And I'm a unix geek, I barely know shit about windows and it was still rather simple. You discredited yourself with that statement.
Breath man, I see your point and you are definitely correct. fmaxwell has a point, and it is somewhat valid. My guess is that if you only have one pediatric urologist in your area it's a fairly low populous area. Hell, I grew up in an area of about 20K-30K people and we had 2.
Living in a large city, there is always the back up. I know a few doctors and specialists who are on call. When they are on call they make sure that they don't do anything that would be interruptive. It's called courtesy. The problem is most of the young drones and lackeys of corporate culture think their servers are more important than those around them. They think because they're the ones that get called they're important. They aren't, but let them live that way -- when they grow up they'll realize otherwise. I'd say most doctors and actual important people don't like to be interruptive or make a scene at all. That's why you rarely see one scamper out of a movie theater.
Just my $0.02. But, you are right, and I'd help with the anal-retentive beating:)
Finally, I disagree that Gator properly informs the end-user about their product at installation:
I'd bet that most people who have Gator installed have never been to Gator.com and GAIN.com -- the software was installed silently by accident (described better in other comments).
I can guarantee you with any question of a doubt that you are always prompted with the Gator install screen. It has a link to their website. If the user doesn't click through and accepts that some software that they have no clue what it does is going to be installed on their system, so what?
The only way you can install Gator by accident is by slipping and clicking the acknowledgement button. It has a fucking orange and green logo, it's not like it's camouflaged or anything.
The problem is people are stupid. They think the computer is some mystical box that does something magical. Blaming Gator because they are bundled with shareware applications is plain ass stupid. At least Gator posts on their home page what they do. Did KaZaa do that? Yet you rally support around them. The reason why I don't think Gator is above all a shithole company is because they announce and declare everything they do.
I just have to say cry me a river. I think that Gator for the most part, completely and thoroughly, is ass. It serves a purpose, and has an absolute plethora of people using it (and hating it) -- the end user installed it, it's a published feature of the software. If the users are too naive and ignorant to figure it out, oh well. It's their program, they run it voluntarily.
Coming down on Gator for this is hypocritical. Yes, they are an evil advert firm. If nytimes.com doesn't like it, I'm sure they could pay Gator to host their ads on the nytimes site. Maybe that's what Gator wants, who knows. Either way, I seriously doubt this lawsuit will make it very far.
In this case, however, the intent is to do this behind peoples' backs. Uhm, with all due respect you are absolutely and completely wrong. They publish on their front page what they do:
The Gator eWallet and OfferCompanion are ad-supported software. They are part of the Gator Advertising and Information Network (GAIN), which helps keep software free by delivering messages based on the sites you view.
And now go visit the GAIN site, you will see that they say clearly that they do this. They aren't doing it behind anyones back.
From the GAIN site:
Most GAIN messages currently come in the form of Pop-Up Windows on top of or underneath other windows on your computer desktop. Some are displayed in windows that float over web sites you are viewing. To learn more about these ad vehicles, click here.
This is on the front page on the GAIN site. So take your conspiracy theory intent-to-deceive bullshit FUD somewhere else. You are just like the end-users and webmasters that are pissed off about this, too damn proud/naive/ignorant/stupid/clueless to read the documentation they post right in front of your face.
The sad thing is you probably thought you were being sarcastic there.
sarcasm Pronunciation Key (särkzm) n.
1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
3. The use of sarcasm. See Synonyms at wit1.
Ah, I'm sorry for missing such a wonderful use of clever rhetoric. Perhaps I can take lessons from someone so inclined as you. Oh, that's right, he states before that:
If I recall correctly (but correct me if i'm wrong), everything is being monitored by the government, I might even recall that they only open up small parts of the internet to prevent people from seeing anything that isn't in line with the government's opnion.
Hmmm.. yeah, that sounds like he was answering his own rhetorical question. He was searching for answers that were already provided. Go back and read the comment. 0/3, try again.
Not if you read on to the rest of the post, where the question is answered in the same post (which is why it's rhetorical.)
Uhhh.. go read the original post. No where in there does he answer why the door was locked. He says, "Everything in China is monitored" but doesn't answer why the door was locked.
I'm not bashing slashdot. I'm bashing the stupid readers who post stupid comments. I think that Slashdot, for the most part, is a valuable and enjoyable resource. I just think that the percentage of people attempting to contribute to the conversation just to establish their own opinions and irrelevant two cents could stand to be decreased. If you want to spew your opinions, go to your journal. I'm being slightly hypocritical now, but you brought it up so it's somewhat on topic.
Now, as for the question being rhetorical I highly doubt that it was because it asks, "but do you have any idea why the door was locked at the time of the fire?" not "why are the doors typically locked at cyber cafes?" The original question pleads ignorance, not clever rhetoric.
Uhm, sorry, but how is Penny Arcade serialized in any way? 99.999% of the time you can jump into Penny Arcade without knowledge of it's past and not miss anything -- that's one of the things that makes it great. It's complete lack of continuity.
Slashdot Mirror
My area is significantly smaller than NY, Chicago, LA, etc.
Don't worry kid, that's normal. Not everyone can be in porn.
As for `hearing both sides', one need only look at the stated aims of the UNHRC to see the absurdity of listening to `both sides'. In a committee allegedly dedicated to basic human rights, it is not sensible to hear the pro-human rights and anti-human rights side, as only one of these sides is in line with the aims of the comission, and the presence of the other undermines any credibility the comission may have held.
Wrong -- it is important to hear the sides of those who you are trying to change. If you think that a lot of these human right violators think that they are doing something wrong, you really need to open your eyes. A lot of cases, the people doing the sweat shop work and child laborists getting beaten in the back room, these people are disliked minorities. You wouldn't see them as people, only as tools. How can tools have rights? In order to solve a problem, you must understand all the variables. The countries you list have a very good place on the committee.
"Consequences dictate our course of action and it doesn't matter what's right. It's only wrong if you get caught."
Placing nations that violate basic human rights on the committee is not hypocrisy. What you view as right, I view as acceptable. When is murder justified? What would drive you to murder? Why is it murder when you kill one, but a war when you kill millions? If you can get the worst countries on the committee, and convince them, as well as educate, that they are wrong than the goal is achieved. Not giving these countries a chance to speak, or listen, to what goes on in the committee, but only handing mandates for them to cease the way they've done things for the duration of the people in charges lifespan is not the way to go about it. That will result in hostile conflicts.
Did you know in Morocco it is illegal to take a picture of a member of the military? You go to jail for that. Does that make sense? It does to them. I had an AK-47 pointed at my head and was one step away from being shot for hiking and stumbling across the king's beach house. That's there version of a no tresspassing sign. A lot of things in the world don't make sense to outsiders. Racists aren't wrong in their hate because that is what they were raised with, right? Well, go tell them that they are wrong. I'm sure they will listen with open minds.
As for the larger thread, I happen to feel the idea of `too fat for their own good' is just silly -- it stems from a basic misunderstanding of how economics works, namely the mistake of considering economics as a zero-sum game. Arguing that the US is not the fattest in the world is even sillier though, as even a basic look at the statistics will show you.
I never said that the US is not the fattest. I'm arguing it's "own good" and the fact other nations don't need as much to live a much more extravagant and posh life.
Defining the fatness of a nation as it's GDP is pointless, because there are a great number of other economic factors that relate to the actual quality of life. I think that the reason why the US is perceived as too fat for it's own good does not rely at all on the GDP or any other economic factors, but the corporate ethics and government buy-in programs that senators and congressmen love so much.
As for the factbooks, it seems the CIA is estimate for 1999. The figures I'm looking at are 2001 est. I can't find a link online, but I doubt the changes from 1999 and 2001 are as drastic as the deficit between the figures. Maybe my source is wrong, I don't really know. Statistics can be skewed by whoever is writing or reading them. That's the wonderful thing about them.
As for the UN appointing Syria, China, and the Sudan to it's human rights committee, why not? Is it not better to have both sides on a committee? What's wrong in one persons eyes is acceptable in another. Education, and compromise can make the world a better place -- not forcing other people to converge to your way of life. I do not agree with sweatshops, ethnic cleansing, and all that. Then again, what they do in their country is their business. If they don't want it, have a bloody revolution or a democratic reformation. The masses can win, the US did it as did many other nations. I have no sympathy for countries that support a government they hate so much. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the whole, if you believe in the cause.
Uh, I can do basic math. I can even do advanced math, all the way into multivariable calculus. Please find a spelling error I made as well, and my math error previously wasn't one in math -- it was assuming his stupid comments carried on and progressed.
Well-documented statistics that don't back my worldview? No, that isn't it. I'm more trusting in the UN Fact Book which has different well-documented statistics. I didn't say I don't trust the CIA Worldbook, I just trust the UN a bit more than an agency that is known for skewing facts and statistics to better suit it's agenda. It's not tin-foil conspiracy, it's just the way life goes.
The citizens of the US have the honor of living in the most free, the most democratic, and the most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth. Where are you arguing that they should prefer to live?
Maybe you missed Sean's retarded comment of, "Only the US is too fat for it's own good." That's what started this, not freedom or democracy. Standards of living is a touchy subject, because it all goes onto whose standards one is talking about. Thanks for changing the subject, if you don't have anything to do with this thread (Which you don't as it seems, because you were not aware of the original topic of the thread (Fatness of US)) why are you commenting? Are you Sean's locker mate or something?
Wow, that took me back. I used to have a huge issue with this, and have since completely forgotten and accepted it.
Scary thing, complacency is.
Sorry, I guess I assumed it went alon with the rest of what you were saying and was stupid as well. So you made one valid point, to one source of information that is off from other sources.
At least you didn't try to spew more stupid shit.
US quality of life is definitely not top. Try travelling around and maybe you'll see that. My guess is you are 15, and your parents wont let you leave your much-disliked country anyway.
Get a fucking high school education, then go travel.
I admit, I made one mistake. What's that to your 3. I'll give you a hint, my previous statements were from an economic fact book that was sponsored by the UN. I'm sure they have a website, go look it up.
Anyway, if that's all you can say: YHL. HAND.
Look at other economic sources, and you'll see different numbers. I don't really trust the CIAs figures. Most other sources report the US GDP per capita at approximately $22K (+-$1K). Even so, in the sources you cited I'm not sure how a GDP of $24,900 is 50% of $36,200. You sure do have a problem with big numbers. Have you thought of retaking 6th grade math where they teach percentages?
Indeed, I don't know where you got the idea that I ever said "The US is the only country too fat for its own good."
Gee, I don't know where I could have gotten that idea.
I still stand, I don't care if the US does have the highest GDP per capita, because people here still can't have half what someone else has elsewhere. Short of London where a decent residence to buy is going to cost you well over 500K.
You've discredited yourself again by not even remembering your own dumbass comment that started this. We've successfully proven you don't have any math skills what so ever, have no memory span, and trust what the CIA tells you in contradiction to a lot of other economic reports.
Yeah, I'm going to really believe you. At least I know that 36/2 is 18 not 24. And I didn't even have to use a calculator! 48 is a lot different than 36.
What's worse than clueless Americans? Clueless Americans who think their cultured.
GNP per capita, actually. Go check out statistics charts, UN economic papers they are readily available. Japan is higher, just for your information. Quite a few other countries are too. You seem to be forgetting all the people in the US that live in poverty too.
Have you been to Africa? Well, I have. Can't say I liked it much really. I stepped over a corpse that was in the center of a city sidewalk. Looked like it has been there for a few weeks too.
It's all relative though. I know someone who lives in Morocco who makes $300 a month, and has a really nice apartment. His brother, who has a doctorate and teaches lives a lifestyle that would make 75% of USians green with envy and makes 75% less than they do. Yeah, you gotta live in Morocco to do it, though.
I've read books. I've seen sights with my own eyes. Try a little harder. I still think you are an absolute idiot. More so since you say that my comment was a "web of lies" without doing the slightest bit of research into it. I'm thinking your web of lies, "The US is the only country too fat for it's own good.", and your calculator error is the worst of all. tsk tsk.
Funny that Japan has less than half the population that the US does and it's total GNP is 70% of the US. Yeah, the US is sure the pinnacle of it all isn't it?
Still didn't answer if you were a USian too. Sounding more like one of those green peace equal rights clueless folk.
Why does being a Navy ROTC and football player equate to a good fighter.
If you will note the hall of fame for best fighters in the world, none include "Football Player" or "ROTC recruit".
It's real fun when people like you spout off and think that. A friend of mine did that to a fairly small black guy who was military and for the most part a goliath. The fight was over in 30 seconds and the little guy didn't get touched.
After the fight he said, "I'm a golden gloves, don't think cause your big you can fight."
Ummm... only the US is too fat for its own good.
You sound very USian-trying-to-be-cultured here. The US is not the only country to fat for it's own good. The US does not have the highest GNP. Don't say it is, it's called 1st world country here.
Second, do you really expect to be taken seriously when you can't even do simple mathematics to accurately compute the US population percentage in regards to the world? 0.04%? Are you nuts? That would mean that the US consists of about 26 million people. That's pretty small.
Humanity does not enjoy better material conditions than ever before, unless you count humans as only the ones living in the good ol' US of A.
Yes, humanity is on a whole. Go read a damn book.
By the way, I should point out that the sky is not falling, and human ingenuity will win out and make the ingenious fat. But ingenuity cannot just help the one, it harms the other. As one person grows fat, another one or two will starve. Keep that in mind as you wallow in American blindness.
Nice troll, but anyone with half a brain and math skills can see how pointless your arguments are.
What's worse, American blindness or Blindly thinking Americans are the root of all evil?
Ok, the Xbox-Linux team knows who the donor is. It says that clearly in the site that the donor is known to them.
Do you think they would partner up with Microsoft for it? I don't... but then again, that's just my thoughts..
Take what he said to heart, for he's correct. Granted it's offtopic but learning to spell correctly, and speak correctly, is very important in a professional life.
If you desire a professional life, go check out Toast Masters. If not, continue the way that you are and don't complain when you hit your glass ceiling which will happen very soon. I know a few people who are very skilled in their job but want to advance their career and can't understand why they are stuck doing the same thing they were doing 5 years ago for the same (or less) money.
Simple answer: They do not instill confidence in the ability to do a job right.
I perused your site briefly (RealisticWeb.com) and found plenty of spelling and grammer errors through-out it. If you make a comfortable living, fine. If you are trying to expand your services and market, fix it. Run spellcheck. It's not hard. Hire a college student to read through at $10/hour for a few hours. It's worth it.
You're assuming that the people who make Gator are the only one's in this loop. And those sites that stand to make money off of it don't do sneaky things to make sure it gets installed without the user knowing. Just a theory.
If you knew anything about the internals of Gator you would understand you made yourself sound very stupid right then.
I don't see how this is possible, considering how much work the programmers at Gator put into making sure it's obvious that you are installing their software when you do it.
Simple, I clicked 'Yes' on a screen I shouldn't have and Gator got installed. It requires some level of user intervention directly related to Gators installation to be installed. Sometimes you don't mean to give it, but you still did.
This coming from the guy who traded a Mercedes and a Toyota for a Chevy Cavalier -- and installed Gator accidentally once. I'm sorry, you were trying to say something?
I do not regret my decision on the Cavalier. Right now I'm driving a Lexus, the Cavalier was simply a temporary vehicle until I found a different car I liked. I stated that when I got the Cavalier, as well. Apparently you have a huge problem reading the full text and only taking your interpretation and spewing it as right. Try harder, it's really fun to read your bizarre logic.
How about this: Does someone die if you can't get in touch with that person?
And I can guarantee that you are wrong. As I was, on my Win2k machine at work, presented a "Thank you for installing Gator" dialog (or something like that, it was NOT a "click here to install Gator" dialog) when I'm quite certain that I never agreed to install Gator. I never agree to install anything on my work machine. If I need a particular plugin to view some site, I just move on because that's the machine I do development on and I don't want any freaky thing fooling with its performance or reliablility.
I have very very reliable inside information that makes me 100% confident that you did something to install gator. I know several people that work for Gator, and they all have made very sure that you are always prompted to install Gator. The problem resides between the chair and the keyboard.
What's worse, removing Gator from that machine proved, well, challenging.
I'm sorry, but I've accidently installed gator once and purposefully twice. I would go no where near the word challenging on it's uninstallation. And I'm a unix geek, I barely know shit about windows and it was still rather simple. You discredited yourself with that statement.
Breath man, I see your point and you are definitely correct. fmaxwell has a point, and it is somewhat valid. My guess is that if you only have one pediatric urologist in your area it's a fairly low populous area. Hell, I grew up in an area of about 20K-30K people and we had 2.
:)
Living in a large city, there is always the back up. I know a few doctors and specialists who are on call. When they are on call they make sure that they don't do anything that would be interruptive. It's called courtesy. The problem is most of the young drones and lackeys of corporate culture think their servers are more important than those around them. They think because they're the ones that get called they're important. They aren't, but let them live that way -- when they grow up they'll realize otherwise. I'd say most doctors and actual important people don't like to be interruptive or make a scene at all. That's why you rarely see one scamper out of a movie theater.
Just my $0.02. But, you are right, and I'd help with the anal-retentive beating
Finally, I disagree that Gator properly informs the end-user about their product at installation:
I'd bet that most people who have Gator installed have never been to Gator.com and GAIN.com -- the software was installed silently by accident (described better in other comments).
I can guarantee you with any question of a doubt that you are always prompted with the Gator install screen. It has a link to their website. If the user doesn't click through and accepts that some software that they have no clue what it does is going to be installed on their system, so what?
The only way you can install Gator by accident is by slipping and clicking the acknowledgement button. It has a fucking orange and green logo, it's not like it's camouflaged or anything.
The problem is people are stupid. They think the computer is some mystical box that does something magical. Blaming Gator because they are bundled with shareware applications is plain ass stupid. At least Gator posts on their home page what they do. Did KaZaa do that? Yet you rally support around them. The reason why I don't think Gator is above all a shithole company is because they announce and declare everything they do.
To me it just proves the end user is stupid.
Sometimes people should stop to think how consistent their arguments are.
A. It's Slashdot.
B. if ( dislikeCompany(featuredCompany) ) flame();
I don't think stopping to think will change this.
Coming down on Gator for this is hypocritical. Yes, they are an evil advert firm. If nytimes.com doesn't like it, I'm sure they could pay Gator to host their ads on the nytimes site. Maybe that's what Gator wants, who knows. Either way, I seriously doubt this lawsuit will make it very far.
In this case, however, the intent is to do this behind peoples' backs.
Uhm, with all due respect you are absolutely and completely wrong. They publish on their front page what they do:
And now go visit the GAIN site, you will see that they say clearly that they do this. They aren't doing it behind anyones back.
From the GAIN site:
This is on the front page on the GAIN site. So take your conspiracy theory intent-to-deceive bullshit FUD somewhere else. You are just like the end-users and webmasters that are pissed off about this, too damn proud/naive/ignorant/stupid/clueless to read the documentation they post right in front of your face.
The sad thing is you probably thought you were being sarcastic there.
sarcasm Pronunciation Key (särkzm)
n.
1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
3. The use of sarcasm. See Synonyms at wit1.
Keep trying mate.
Ah, I'm sorry for missing such a wonderful use of clever rhetoric. Perhaps I can take lessons from someone so inclined as you. Oh, that's right, he states before that:
Hmmm.. yeah, that sounds like he was answering his own rhetorical question. He was searching for answers that were already provided. Go back and read the comment. 0/3, try again.
Not if you read on to the rest of the post, where the question is answered in the same post (which is why it's rhetorical.)
Uhhh.. go read the original post. No where in there does he answer why the door was locked. He says, "Everything in China is monitored" but doesn't answer why the door was locked.
Try again, you're 0/2 now.
I'm not bashing slashdot. I'm bashing the stupid readers who post stupid comments. I think that Slashdot, for the most part, is a valuable and enjoyable resource. I just think that the percentage of people attempting to contribute to the conversation just to establish their own opinions and irrelevant two cents could stand to be decreased. If you want to spew your opinions, go to your journal. I'm being slightly hypocritical now, but you brought it up so it's somewhat on topic.
Now, as for the question being rhetorical I highly doubt that it was because it asks, "but do you have any idea why the door was locked at the time of the fire?" not "why are the doors typically locked at cyber cafes?" The original question pleads ignorance, not clever rhetoric.
It might not be directly an action against civilians' Internet access, but do you have any idea why the door was locked at the time of the fire?
Typical slashdotter.. go back and re-read the comment.
The door was locked to prevent a surprise inspection. The windows were barred to prevent thievery.
Uhm, sorry, but how is Penny Arcade serialized in any way? 99.999% of the time you can jump into Penny Arcade without knowledge of it's past and not miss anything -- that's one of the things that makes it great. It's complete lack of continuity.