I constantly get e-mail from other people signing up for things who apparently don't know their own e-mail address.
My e-mail address is also my full name with a "dot net" at the end, and I have chronic issues with customer service reps who don't know how to type anything other than "dot com".
That is pretty ridiculous about not being able to unsubscribe, though.
I just tried it. Looks to me like Facebook has a problem with users who enter the wrong e-mail address and can't figure out why their logon isn't working. Hence, the "Not you? Click here." option beside the picture.
It's entirely possible that the idiocy behind the interface design is in an ongoing stupidity arms race with the consumers on the other end.
What's so hard to understand about "Standard", "Standard with Ethernet", "High Speed", "High Speed with Ethernet", etc? Honestly, this makes a lot more sense to me than 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, gold plated, nickel shielded, and all the impenetrable techno-babble currently in use.
I often hear fellow customers ask whether they really need that platinum reinforced quad shielded $80 cable, because they're not sure what those features actually add to a digital signal. I'd love to lean over and help them, but honestly I haven't got a clue either. I buy mine for $8 from Amazon and have never had a problem.
Sounds to me like these new labels will clearly indicate what types of signals each cable is certified to carry. Instead of asking "do I need gold plating," customers can zero in on "do I need high speed? Ethernet?" Maybe someone with more experience in the matter can explain to me how this is not a win.
I highly doubt they apply this cap if you buy Comcast brand movies on demand.
I'm no cable apologist, but in all fairness they probably also wouldn't apply the cap if everyone was paying movies on demand pricing times 40 for the same bandwidth.
Those who modify "their religion" based on political influences truly have no religion, or at best, have a cult.
This depends on your definition of religion. In a generic sense, a religion is a set of beliefs that explore the nature and meaning of everything around us and our relationship to it. I can believe that humanity by nature is good and that we should be kind to one another. Someone else might claim that this is a fairy tale and life's a big game of every man for himself, but that's just another religion.
The stories we tell in support of faith are intended to illustrate the rationale for our beliefs, in much the way anyone's experiences set the tone for their relationship to those around them. It's possible to appreciate the morals of the stories without feeling the necessity to debate their complete factual basis. If someone were to prove without a doubt that there was no Good Samaritan, I'd still tell my children the story for its lessons alone.
Not everyone who claims to practice faith also believes that the world was snorted out of a walrus' nose 5000 years ago, and that any evidence to the contrary was intentionally placed by that walrus to test our faith in him. I consider myself a spiritual person, but I figured out a long time ago that fairy tales aren't real.
In a sense, everyone projects some sort of belief system, regardless of whether they openly embrace or eschew scientific reason.
"You've been cleared, Mr. Dodger. Sorry for all the inconvenience. On the other hand, your DNA shows markers for pancreatic cancer, and we strongly suspect that the man who bailed you out is not actually your father. Have a nice day."
Playing the Devil's Advocate, everything you just said is already true for fingerprints, except the bit about implicating others with close fingerprint profiles.
Anyone with serious objections to this new law ought to have a response to this comparison, or show evidence for how fingerprinting has been abused to do more harm than good.
I've had some experience with manufacturing in China from a previous job. In this particular rural factory's case, the primary work force was comprised of second sons, daughters, and basically anyone else who didn't inherit family land. The factory provides shelter, food, and entertainment. I'm not sure how many of our dollars end up in workers' pockets, but I'm fairly certain the Chinese Government isn't anywhere near the top of the list preventing them from achieving what we might call the American Dream.
Above the workers, though, are the educated engineer and manager types. The factory owners and managers are Chinese, and I got the impression that they walked the political game in order to achieve their higher social status. The government wants factories (especially to deal with the tremendous number of potential workers), and the owners are in a position to benefit from that. I don't imagine we'd catch them going out on a limb to push for reform. Still, these were kind people who treated their workers well.
A lot of the engineering positions are filled by foreign workers who make pretty good money considering the cost of living. Some are sons of factory owners who were able to pay the cost of education, and these sons stand to inherit the factory or start ones of their own. Neither the foreign workers nor the owners' sons are likely to rock the political boat, either.
I also believe that human rights reform in China is inevitable, but I don't think it'll come from the factories or the pennies the workers earn there. I believe it'll come from the upper class citizens as both education and a desire to interact on a worldwide level become more prevalent.
Or... did you mean Network Solutions charged you to let you transfer the domain away from them?
Yes. I transferred several over a couple years, but one that sticks out in my memory was a case where Network Solutions policy would not allow me to transfer a domain because it was scheduled to expire soon. Not expired, just expiring within 30 days or so. Believe it or not, the restriction was right there in their service terms that I didn't bother reading.
In another case they claimed I didn't respond properly to a transfer request and I had to start the process all over again even though I never received anything.
This was all within a year or so after the deregulation chaos when Network Solutions was losing many of their customers. It's quite possible they've improved their customer relations since then, but the bad flavor still lingers in my mind.
Young says there is a “NetSol ‘Legal Lock’ on the domain name to prevent it being transferred to another ISP until the “dispute” is settled; All Cryptome pages other than the home page now generate a 404 message.”
It astonishes me that anyone still uses Network Solutions. Their extensive list of blocks for transferring domain services (read: anytime you'd actually want to, you're prevented) is mind-boggling.
I had several domains with them back when they were the only game in town, and every transfer has been a nightmare that usually involves paying for another year of service before a transfer is approved.
You're missing the part where media networks bid major bucks for the exclusive right to set up cameras, hire announcers, and broadcast the game to your comfortable living room. It's not so exclusive if anyone can take that work and rebroadcast it for profit.
I think your point would carry more weight if you argued that anyone should be able to set up their own cameras in the public stadium, but this has repercussions for any venue including ballets, theatre, and rock concerts. I'm pretty sure that the NFL considers the game itself a copyrighted performance.
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw!
Here's my sad Radio Shack story. I'm the one likely to buy electronic parts and remember buying crystals for my CB radio at Radio Shack back in the 80's.
This past Christmas we wanted to get a prepaid cell phone for one of our kids, figuring that if he lost it we could replace it for $20. Heaven help me, I actually thought of Radio Shack first, after having been accosted by them for cell phone purchases every time I needed wire or components.
There I was, a couple weeks before Christmas, walking into Radio Shack for the purpose of buying a cell phone. I asked questions; they had no answers. The clerk was utterly clueless about the pay-as-you-go phone plans, their options, and which would be best for my son.
I'm thinking that the point got lost somewhere along the way.
They do tend to take more responsibility for their actions than we do in the West.
In some ways, they have a refreshingly direct way to deal with many problems, such as requiring that all their airline executives be on flights during the Y2K changeover (cnn.com).
Now all we need is a novel whose climactic ending details the heroic efforts of quack scientists to destroy the proliferating microbes with tiny black holes from the LHC.
This is just another reason why CONTENT providers should be prohibited from making any kind of business deals with SERVICE providers.
While I agree in principle, I'm not completely opposed to an Internet subscription model where I get to choose between Package A (basic Internet with no frills) and Package B (basic plus ESPN.com). If I don't want that crap then I don't have to pay for it.
Seriously, who's to say that it wouldn't be a reasonable business move for AT&T to offer Internet Plus that comes with built-in subscriptions to Wall Street Journal, New York Times, ESPN, etc., for a fraction of the cost of subscribing to each individually. I don't consider that a challenge to Net Neutrality as long as the option exists for me to subscribe, at will, to those services like we do today.
Right now, however, the Internet providers aren't particularly interested in giving me any choices, including choices between different providers (Time Warner is the only provider in my area in the middle of freaking south Austin -- we can't even get DSL). In the rush to provide the illusion of "more" in order to raise prices, nobody seems interested in providing "less."
I'm wondering why alcohol was made freely available to them in the first place. Is it standard practice to provide alcohol to rats during cancer studies, or did some intern feel sorry for them?
I always figured it was because so many features of the system libraries were wired into IE. The help system, the active desktop, file thumbnail previews, any HTML display object created by application code -- seems like all of these would be wired into the same dynamic library for optimal support and space/memory efficiency.
Given that the user might still expect all that other stuff to work after "removing" IE, what are you really removing? A windowed presentation with some bookmark functionality?
Perhaps someone else can comment on how close Windows is to allowing some other browser vendor to be a plug-in replacement for all that other functionality.
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up. Very clever, Blizzard!
I constantly get e-mail from other people signing up for things who apparently don't know their own e-mail address.
My e-mail address is also my full name with a "dot net" at the end, and I have chronic issues with customer service reps who don't know how to type anything other than "dot com".
That is pretty ridiculous about not being able to unsubscribe, though.
I just tried it. Looks to me like Facebook has a problem with users who enter the wrong e-mail address and can't figure out why their logon isn't working. Hence, the "Not you? Click here." option beside the picture.
It's entirely possible that the idiocy behind the interface design is in an ongoing stupidity arms race with the consumers on the other end.
What's so hard to understand about "Standard", "Standard with Ethernet", "High Speed", "High Speed with Ethernet", etc? Honestly, this makes a lot more sense to me than 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, gold plated, nickel shielded, and all the impenetrable techno-babble currently in use.
I often hear fellow customers ask whether they really need that platinum reinforced quad shielded $80 cable, because they're not sure what those features actually add to a digital signal. I'd love to lean over and help them, but honestly I haven't got a clue either. I buy mine for $8 from Amazon and have never had a problem.
Sounds to me like these new labels will clearly indicate what types of signals each cable is certified to carry. Instead of asking "do I need gold plating," customers can zero in on "do I need high speed? Ethernet?" Maybe someone with more experience in the matter can explain to me how this is not a win.
I highly doubt they apply this cap if you buy Comcast brand movies on demand.
I'm no cable apologist, but in all fairness they probably also wouldn't apply the cap if everyone was paying movies on demand pricing times 40 for the same bandwidth.
Those who modify "their religion" based on political influences truly have no religion, or at best, have a cult.
This depends on your definition of religion. In a generic sense, a religion is a set of beliefs that explore the nature and meaning of everything around us and our relationship to it. I can believe that humanity by nature is good and that we should be kind to one another. Someone else might claim that this is a fairy tale and life's a big game of every man for himself, but that's just another religion.
The stories we tell in support of faith are intended to illustrate the rationale for our beliefs, in much the way anyone's experiences set the tone for their relationship to those around them. It's possible to appreciate the morals of the stories without feeling the necessity to debate their complete factual basis. If someone were to prove without a doubt that there was no Good Samaritan, I'd still tell my children the story for its lessons alone.
Not everyone who claims to practice faith also believes that the world was snorted out of a walrus' nose 5000 years ago, and that any evidence to the contrary was intentionally placed by that walrus to test our faith in him. I consider myself a spiritual person, but I figured out a long time ago that fairy tales aren't real.
In a sense, everyone projects some sort of belief system, regardless of whether they openly embrace or eschew scientific reason.
Look at the bright side, though:
"You've been cleared, Mr. Dodger. Sorry for all the inconvenience. On the other hand, your DNA shows markers for pancreatic cancer, and we strongly suspect that the man who bailed you out is not actually your father. Have a nice day."
Did I just step in it?
Playing the Devil's Advocate, everything you just said is already true for fingerprints, except the bit about implicating others with close fingerprint profiles.
Anyone with serious objections to this new law ought to have a response to this comparison, or show evidence for how fingerprinting has been abused to do more harm than good.
In this case, the profit motive is not, in my opinion serving the public interest.
Without those tax-paying profit seekers, who's paying the health care and retirement expenses of your potato chip factory workers?
Perhaps the profit motive has something valuable to contribute after all.
I've had some experience with manufacturing in China from a previous job. In this particular rural factory's case, the primary work force was comprised of second sons, daughters, and basically anyone else who didn't inherit family land. The factory provides shelter, food, and entertainment. I'm not sure how many of our dollars end up in workers' pockets, but I'm fairly certain the Chinese Government isn't anywhere near the top of the list preventing them from achieving what we might call the American Dream.
Above the workers, though, are the educated engineer and manager types. The factory owners and managers are Chinese, and I got the impression that they walked the political game in order to achieve their higher social status. The government wants factories (especially to deal with the tremendous number of potential workers), and the owners are in a position to benefit from that. I don't imagine we'd catch them going out on a limb to push for reform. Still, these were kind people who treated their workers well.
A lot of the engineering positions are filled by foreign workers who make pretty good money considering the cost of living. Some are sons of factory owners who were able to pay the cost of education, and these sons stand to inherit the factory or start ones of their own. Neither the foreign workers nor the owners' sons are likely to rock the political boat, either.
I also believe that human rights reform in China is inevitable, but I don't think it'll come from the factories or the pennies the workers earn there. I believe it'll come from the upper class citizens as both education and a desire to interact on a worldwide level become more prevalent.
Sounds like the problem is Internet access, not the laptops. I wonder if today's professors know the difference.
Or... did you mean Network Solutions charged you to let you transfer the domain away from them?
Yes. I transferred several over a couple years, but one that sticks out in my memory was a case where Network Solutions policy would not allow me to transfer a domain because it was scheduled to expire soon. Not expired, just expiring within 30 days or so. Believe it or not, the restriction was right there in their service terms that I didn't bother reading.
In another case they claimed I didn't respond properly to a transfer request and I had to start the process all over again even though I never received anything.
This was all within a year or so after the deregulation chaos when Network Solutions was losing many of their customers. It's quite possible they've improved their customer relations since then, but the bad flavor still lingers in my mind.
Young says there is a “NetSol ‘Legal Lock’ on the domain name to prevent it being transferred to another ISP until the “dispute” is settled; All Cryptome pages other than the home page now generate a 404 message.”
It astonishes me that anyone still uses Network Solutions. Their extensive list of blocks for transferring domain services (read: anytime you'd actually want to, you're prevented) is mind-boggling.
I had several domains with them back when they were the only game in town, and every transfer has been a nightmare that usually involves paying for another year of service before a transfer is approved.
You're missing the part where media networks bid major bucks for the exclusive right to set up cameras, hire announcers, and broadcast the game to your comfortable living room. It's not so exclusive if anyone can take that work and rebroadcast it for profit.
I think your point would carry more weight if you argued that anyone should be able to set up their own cameras in the public stadium, but this has repercussions for any venue including ballets, theatre, and rock concerts. I'm pretty sure that the NFL considers the game itself a copyrighted performance.
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw!
... and wonder why so many people resist surrendering top-level Internet domain control to an international organization.
They don't have them. They do have cell phones...
Here's my sad Radio Shack story. I'm the one likely to buy electronic parts and remember buying crystals for my CB radio at Radio Shack back in the 80's.
This past Christmas we wanted to get a prepaid cell phone for one of our kids, figuring that if he lost it we could replace it for $20. Heaven help me, I actually thought of Radio Shack first, after having been accosted by them for cell phone purchases every time I needed wire or components.
There I was, a couple weeks before Christmas, walking into Radio Shack for the purpose of buying a cell phone. I asked questions; they had no answers. The clerk was utterly clueless about the pay-as-you-go phone plans, their options, and which would be best for my son.
I'm thinking that the point got lost somewhere along the way.
They do tend to take more responsibility for their actions than we do in the West.
In some ways, they have a refreshingly direct way to deal with many problems, such as requiring that all their airline executives be on flights during the Y2K changeover (cnn.com).
... assuming of course that the microbes didn't revive themselves in order to prevent the launch in the first place.
Now all we need is a novel whose climactic ending details the heroic efforts of quack scientists to destroy the proliferating microbes with tiny black holes from the LHC.
This is just another reason why CONTENT providers should be prohibited from making any kind of business deals with SERVICE providers.
While I agree in principle, I'm not completely opposed to an Internet subscription model where I get to choose between Package A (basic Internet with no frills) and Package B (basic plus ESPN.com). If I don't want that crap then I don't have to pay for it.
Seriously, who's to say that it wouldn't be a reasonable business move for AT&T to offer Internet Plus that comes with built-in subscriptions to Wall Street Journal, New York Times, ESPN, etc., for a fraction of the cost of subscribing to each individually. I don't consider that a challenge to Net Neutrality as long as the option exists for me to subscribe, at will, to those services like we do today.
Right now, however, the Internet providers aren't particularly interested in giving me any choices, including choices between different providers (Time Warner is the only provider in my area in the middle of freaking south Austin -- we can't even get DSL). In the rush to provide the illusion of "more" in order to raise prices, nobody seems interested in providing "less."
Over the last 5 years more people have been killed in the US by swine flu than by terrorists.
You can't be serious. What about the last eight years?
Your analogy would have worked better with automobile accidents, heart attacks related to poor health habits, lightning strikes, or even suicides.
I'm wondering why alcohol was made freely available to them in the first place. Is it standard practice to provide alcohol to rats during cancer studies, or did some intern feel sorry for them?
What else do they make available? Milk? Viagra?
You're both exactly right, which is why I'm ordering one while I still can.
I always figured it was because so many features of the system libraries were wired into IE. The help system, the active desktop, file thumbnail previews, any HTML display object created by application code -- seems like all of these would be wired into the same dynamic library for optimal support and space/memory efficiency.
Given that the user might still expect all that other stuff to work after "removing" IE, what are you really removing? A windowed presentation with some bookmark functionality?
Perhaps someone else can comment on how close Windows is to allowing some other browser vendor to be a plug-in replacement for all that other functionality.