With movies, it's fortunately simple enough to just arrive around 10 minutes after the posted start time, in time to catch a preview or two or maybe just get there at the exact time the movie starts. This doesn't work in the first week or so of popular films, especially on weekends, if you care about where you sit, but since the movie doesn't change any after that time, why not just wait a bit when the crowds thin and you can get away from the aggravation and get a good seat at the same time? I'm hearing-impaired, though, so I don't go to actual theaters that often -- it's a lot easier to wait for the DVD (four months, average, these days) and just watch the movie at home on my own DVD player, on my own time, with the captioning turned on and without watching the coming-soon stuff. (Which is out of date eventually anyway!)
I don't see why it seems so difficult for high-paid execs and consultants to see that they've created their own problem. I guess, like far too many people on internet forums (this isn't a comment about you, just a generalization!) it's apparently easier to spend more time bitching than it is to fix a problem.
The example you gave is pathetic. I don't want to waste more time on ads than I do on the content I wanted to see! It'd take me five minutes to view that with my TiVo, and whoever put ads in would be wasting their money. If the ad breaks were short but interesting, I'd look.
(Note to ad writers: if you want me to buy your stuff, I do research things I buy. Put a URL in there that I can use to find out all about what you're selling, and don't put it in those stupid unreadable microprint disclaimers, either).
You made your bed, now lie in it. Or, maybe, you dug your own hole. Pick your metaphor.
I use Sprint (until recently I had a hearing aid that wasn't GSM compatible) and it depends on your plan... I get a 23% employer discount, admittedly, but I get 300 min/month (don't talk on the phone that much) and unlimited data for $40something a month. I value the data more than I do the minutes.
I just bought (it'll be here next week) a Treo 650 from a friend who got kicked off Sprint for complaining too much about the crappy service in his area (works fine for me where I am). I get the phone, a 256MB SD card, a case, for less than the subsidized cost of the phone -- which means I don't have to get back into a contract; I like being a month-to-month customer. If I ever want to leave, I can. I don't want to right now, but it's nice to know I won't get raped if I choose in the future to go to Cingular, which my new hearing aid allows me to use now.
How many minutes were in the plan you were looking at?
The creative side comes through long practice and mostly failing, not through reading books. I'm improving, but I use a digital camera (Nikon D70) that lets me see what I get right away and I don't have to pay development costs. I was never into photography in the film age because I'd never get the film developed and found the clutter and cost to be wasteful, but digital is great.
I've gotten a lot of compliments on my work, and people tell me I have a talent for it, but I'm not perfectly happy yet -- and I don't think I should be, because if I ever stop wanting to improve, I'll end up stagnating.
Feel free to check out my gallery; I'd be happy to look at yours if you have one.
Maybe. However, that doesn't create an obligation for anyone to do what the network wants. I should also point out that a lot of the backlash they're seeing right now is due to their increasingly annoying people with the ads. I recently watched a movie at my parents' house (they don't have a TiVo; I do) and it was teeth-grindingly annoying because the ad breaks were not only frequent, but very long. This behavior is new (I used to watch TV live all the time and it wasn't anywhere near this bad) and it has pushed more and more people over the edge to the point where they use DVRs or other methods of skipping the ads or at least fast-forwarding through them, like using VCRs or BitTorrent files.
It is rather laughable to me that they complain about people skipping the advertisements -- that came about in large part because the advertisements have gotten more and more insufferable and the actual content shorter and shorter. Instead of doing the right thing and actually fixing the problems (less of it, make it more interesting; I'll watch a good ad but those are too rare these days), they just pile on more crap and then go whining when people protest.
Right now they have little sympathy from the public. They have the power to fix this by catering to what the public wants (less intrusiveness and better content and more content), and they don't. I'm not obligated to help them out any so long as they aren't helping me out any.
They violated their end of the bargain by making people feel that it's no longer worth it. People now have the power to fight back instead of passively taking it, and I'm not going to start passively taking it just because an exec doesn't like it. Big Media is too used to force-feeding us what they think we want the way we think we want it.
However, like I said Google has figured out how to make the ads non-annoying. A lot of people let Google's ads run. But, yaknow, if people block you anyway maybe you need to find a line of business that doesn't irritate your customers. Or increase your sales of stuff to corporations. Or whatever. I'm not going to cry because some company can't make money off of me. I *AM* going to control what MY STUFF does in such a way that it benefits ME, not them.
I don't care what some ad puke says about contracts. I didn't sign a damned thing. If someone tries to guilt me like that and make me think I have obligations that I don't have (especially people who think I'm obligated to make them richer without making ME richer), I respond by actively blocking whatever it is they're trying to push. Guy's an asshole.
"I was just doing my job" or "I was just following orders" isn't an excuse, either; if someone asks you to do something like trying to impose your will on others or try to create false nonexistent obligations, you can always refuse. Doesn't work in court, either.
If a website offers to remove the ads if I pay, I usually don't notice the ads were ever there because I blocked them for free (Adblock) on my free browser (Firefox). I honestly don't understand why anyone would pay for something they can do for free. (I have donated photo content to a few photo sites before, though, that attract page views due to the photos people post).
Google gets money from stock sales and selling search appliances. They have so much money that I'm not worried about adblocking killling them. That, and so many people don't block them because it's not worth it (they don't get annoying).
And sometimes for some reason the project in question gets built anyway. I've heard of it happening with both cell towers and wal-marts. I just got back tonight from a visit to friends in Austin, TX and I asked about some road construction we were driving past and was told it was a new toll road. I then asked why they were putting in a toll road.
I was told that a survey was done (typical government snafu, AFTER construction began) and it was found that 79% of the populace replied they DIDN'T want toll roads. Was the road design changed? Nope.
Typical government BS. They do whatever they want. If you don't like it, they only pretend to give in if you don't like their plans. If the tower plans went away, most likely somehow they found a cheaper place to build it.
Garbage companies bear the full costs of using landfills. If we were running out of landfill space, that would be reflected in the cost of g garbage disposal.
Perhaps. But does that make it any more responsible to waste that capacity when there's no need to artificially limit the usefulness of an item that doesn't biodegrade? Yes, decay is slowed in a landfill environment -- but plastic (most plastic) will never decay, or at least for such a long time that it's just about the same thing as "never".
Regarding pollution, I don't know how much pollution is created in forming and stamping a DVD, but I'd venture it's a lot less than you regularly spew out of your car every day.
I drive a low-emissions vehicle so my car pollutes very little, and it's a fuel-efficient five-door hatchback, so I use a lot less gas than average vehicles do. It does pollute only a little bit -- but again -- it's irresponsible to waste raw materials and pollute to make junk that's only good for a limited time before it gets thrown away (and face it, a lot of people are just going to chuck them in the trash, not the recycle bin).
if you're against producing stuff with a limited life, are you also against paper plate manufacturers for making a product that doesn't last forever?
I don't use paper plates much (I use regular plates and wash them when the dishwasher gets full rather than every day) but again, the problem is biodegradability. Toss out a paper plate and it will decay. Throw out a DVD and it won't.
Oh, it's "such a shame" that there's one fewer way to fill landfills with this crap, there's one fewer way to use polluting manufacturing processes to make this crap, when we can make stuff that isn't artificially limited?
(And technically I could buy a new phone now, but there's some funding uncertainty about our research grant and I need to wait til December to be sure I'm still funded, hence will stay in this job. I'm being smart and waiting and not just using my savings for it. My current phone works fine).
Not sure what you mean by "smellin'" but, yeah, I know what you mean. I'm paying about half again as much for net service as they charge new customers. And I'm not the only one to complain -- the local paper ran an article about it.
I can't afford a new phone right now either, FWIW, but I'm eligible for a loyalty discount... alas, you only get the $150 discount every 2 year s with Sprint, which I can honestly say has been pretty good to me. I'm not too worried about international travel, so GSM is a must. Fortunately, my new hearing aid is compatible with GSM phones, so it's a choice now -- previously I was restricted to Verizon/Sprint. (which means it's good that Sprint hasn't sucked for me!)
What's stopping you from just buying another phone anyway? They don't stop you from doing that whenever you like. They just can't afford to cut too many discounts. If you look around you can find unlocked phones and just buy one of those. I know you can get an unlocked GSM Treo 650, the phone I'm planning to get (the Sprint version, though).
So if it's inevitable for bills to return over and over and over and over, then why don't we see the same bills over and over and over and over in every single session? We don't; bills don't pass, and don't come back. Every session has a far wider variety of bills than can be explained by the rubber bouncing bill that just won't die.
No, it's not inevitable. Far from it. And laws do get repealed, you know, there's this thing called "prohibition" that once was a law, but isn't anymore because enough, but not all, of the people didn't want it to be a law.
You did consider the fact that it's very possible for people to do unexpected (for the cause they claim to support) things that do in fact support that cause, even if at first glance that doesn't seem to be so, don't you? Do you even know why he acted the way he did? He did, you know, have plans in mind that didn't involve blasting someone away at a theater. It's actually a rather interesting story, and it does make you think about the motivations of people like Booth, but most people don't know it.
Sure. Just put a "hot mirror" filter over the lens that prevents IR from passing through. Commercially available since some digital camera CCDs don't have an internal hot mirror filter and so the washout effect shows up on its own sometimes -- when shooting fire-lit scenes, for example.
Slashdot Mirror
With movies, it's fortunately simple enough to just arrive around 10 minutes after the posted start time, in time to catch a preview or two or maybe just get there at the exact time the movie starts. This doesn't work in the first week or so of popular films, especially on weekends, if you care about where you sit, but since the movie doesn't change any after that time, why not just wait a bit when the crowds thin and you can get away from the aggravation and get a good seat at the same time? I'm hearing-impaired, though, so I don't go to actual theaters that often -- it's a lot easier to wait for the DVD (four months, average, these days) and just watch the movie at home on my own DVD player, on my own time, with the captioning turned on and without watching the coming-soon stuff. (Which is out of date eventually anyway!)
I don't see why it seems so difficult for high-paid execs and consultants to see that they've created their own problem. I guess, like far too many people on internet forums (this isn't a comment about you, just a generalization!) it's apparently easier to spend more time bitching than it is to fix a problem.
The example you gave is pathetic. I don't want to waste more time on ads than I do on the content I wanted to see! It'd take me five minutes to view that with my TiVo, and whoever put ads in would be wasting their money. If the ad breaks were short but interesting, I'd look.
(Note to ad writers: if you want me to buy your stuff, I do research things I buy. Put a URL in there that I can use to find out all about what you're selling, and don't put it in those stupid unreadable microprint disclaimers, either).
You made your bed, now lie in it. Or, maybe, you dug your own hole. Pick your metaphor.
I use Sprint (until recently I had a hearing aid that wasn't GSM compatible) and it depends on your plan ... I get a 23% employer discount, admittedly, but I get 300 min/month (don't talk on the phone that much) and unlimited data for $40something a month. I value the data more than I do the minutes.
I just bought (it'll be here next week) a Treo 650 from a friend who got kicked off Sprint for complaining too much about the crappy service in his area (works fine for me where I am). I get the phone, a 256MB SD card, a case, for less than the subsidized cost of the phone -- which means I don't have to get back into a contract; I like being a month-to-month customer. If I ever want to leave, I can. I don't want to right now, but it's nice to know I won't get raped if I choose in the future to go to Cingular, which my new hearing aid allows me to use now.
How many minutes were in the plan you were looking at?
That's because the scientists did, too.
The creative side comes through long practice and mostly failing, not through reading books. I'm improving, but I use a digital camera (Nikon D70) that lets me see what I get right away and I don't have to pay development costs. I was never into photography in the film age because I'd never get the film developed and found the clutter and cost to be wasteful, but digital is great.
I've gotten a lot of compliments on my work, and people tell me I have a talent for it, but I'm not perfectly happy yet -- and I don't think I should be, because if I ever stop wanting to improve, I'll end up stagnating.
Feel free to check out my gallery; I'd be happy to look at yours if you have one.
Maybe. However, that doesn't create an obligation for anyone to do what the network wants. I should also point out that a lot of the backlash they're seeing right now is due to their increasingly annoying people with the ads. I recently watched a movie at my parents' house (they don't have a TiVo; I do) and it was teeth-grindingly annoying because the ad breaks were not only frequent, but very long. This behavior is new (I used to watch TV live all the time and it wasn't anywhere near this bad) and it has pushed more and more people over the edge to the point where they use DVRs or other methods of skipping the ads or at least fast-forwarding through them, like using VCRs or BitTorrent files.
It is rather laughable to me that they complain about people skipping the advertisements -- that came about in large part because the advertisements have gotten more and more insufferable and the actual content shorter and shorter. Instead of doing the right thing and actually fixing the problems (less of it, make it more interesting; I'll watch a good ad but those are too rare these days), they just pile on more crap and then go whining when people protest.
Right now they have little sympathy from the public. They have the power to fix this by catering to what the public wants (less intrusiveness and better content and more content), and they don't. I'm not obligated to help them out any so long as they aren't helping me out any.
They violated their end of the bargain by making people feel that it's no longer worth it. People now have the power to fight back instead of passively taking it, and I'm not going to start passively taking it just because an exec doesn't like it. Big Media is too used to force-feeding us what they think we want the way we think we want it.
Times have changed. The power is ours now.
However, like I said Google has figured out how to make the ads non-annoying. A lot of people let Google's ads run. But, yaknow, if people block you anyway maybe you need to find a line of business that doesn't irritate your customers. Or increase your sales of stuff to corporations. Or whatever. I'm not going to cry because some company can't make money off of me. I *AM* going to control what MY STUFF does in such a way that it benefits ME, not them.
I don't care what some ad puke says about contracts. I didn't sign a damned thing. If someone tries to guilt me like that and make me think I have obligations that I don't have (especially people who think I'm obligated to make them richer without making ME richer), I respond by actively blocking whatever it is they're trying to push. Guy's an asshole.
"I was just doing my job" or "I was just following orders" isn't an excuse, either; if someone asks you to do something like trying to impose your will on others or try to create false nonexistent obligations, you can always refuse. Doesn't work in court, either.
If a website offers to remove the ads if I pay, I usually don't notice the ads were ever there because I blocked them for free (Adblock) on my free browser (Firefox). I honestly don't understand why anyone would pay for something they can do for free. (I have donated photo content to a few photo sites before, though, that attract page views due to the photos people post).
I'm also a hobbyist photographer. Can you recommend any magazines?
Google gets money from stock sales and selling search appliances. They have so much money that I'm not worried about adblocking killling them. That, and so many people don't block them because it's not worth it (they don't get annoying).
And would someone please explain how linking to an article about my own hometown is fucking FLAMEBAIT?
I live in St. Louis, where the X Prize started.
X Prize connection did little for region
And sometimes for some reason the project in question gets built anyway. I've heard of it happening with both cell towers and wal-marts. I just got back tonight from a visit to friends in Austin, TX and I asked about some road construction we were driving past and was told it was a new toll road. I then asked why they were putting in a toll road.
I was told that a survey was done (typical government snafu, AFTER construction began) and it was found that 79% of the populace replied they DIDN'T want toll roads. Was the road design changed? Nope.
Typical government BS. They do whatever they want. If you don't like it, they only pretend to give in if you don't like their plans. If the tower plans went away, most likely somehow they found a cheaper place to build it.
Garbage companies bear the full costs of using landfills. If we were running out of landfill space, that would be reflected in the cost of g
garbage disposal.
Perhaps. But does that make it any more responsible to waste that capacity when there's no need to artificially limit the usefulness of an item that doesn't biodegrade? Yes, decay is slowed in a landfill environment -- but plastic (most plastic) will never decay, or at least for such a long time that it's just about the same thing as "never".
Regarding pollution, I don't know how much pollution is created in forming and stamping a DVD, but I'd venture it's a lot less than you regularly spew out of your car every day.
I drive a low-emissions vehicle so my car pollutes very little, and it's a fuel-efficient five-door hatchback, so I use a lot less gas than average vehicles do. It does pollute only a little bit -- but again -- it's irresponsible to waste raw materials and pollute to make junk that's only good for a limited time before it gets thrown away (and face it, a lot of people are just going to chuck them in the trash, not the recycle bin).
if you're against producing stuff with a limited life, are you also against paper plate manufacturers for making a product that doesn't last forever?
I don't use paper plates much (I use regular plates and wash them when the dishwasher gets full rather than every day) but again, the problem is biodegradability. Toss out a paper plate and it will decay. Throw out a DVD and it won't.
If you're going to complain about attribution, make sure it's already been fixed. Which it has. Comment #13726232
Geez. Slashdotters don't even read the COMMENTS anymore.
Oh, it's "such a shame" that there's one fewer way to fill landfills with this crap, there's one fewer way to use polluting manufacturing processes to make this crap, when we can make stuff that isn't artificially limited?
Give me a break. Thumbs down to you.
I'd be happy with $1.5 million! (But I'd love the skycar too...)
... blah, sorry. Should say: "GSM is not a must".
(And technically I could buy a new phone now, but there's some funding uncertainty about our research grant and I need to wait til December to be sure I'm still funded, hence will stay in this job. I'm being smart and waiting and not just using my savings for it. My current phone works fine).
Not sure what you mean by "smellin'" but, yeah, I know what you mean. I'm paying about half again as much for net service as they charge new customers. And I'm not the only one to complain -- the local paper ran an article about it.
... alas, you only get the $150 discount every 2 year s with Sprint, which I can honestly say has been pretty good to me. I'm not too worried about international travel, so GSM is a must. Fortunately, my new hearing aid is compatible with GSM phones, so it's a choice now -- previously I was restricted to Verizon/Sprint. (which means it's good that Sprint hasn't sucked for me!)
I can't afford a new phone right now either, FWIW, but I'm eligible for a loyalty discount
What's stopping you from just buying another phone anyway? They don't stop you from doing that whenever you like. They just can't afford to cut too many discounts. If you look around you can find unlocked phones and just buy one of those. I know you can get an unlocked GSM Treo 650, the phone I'm planning to get (the Sprint version, though).
There has, however, never been a constitutional amendment banning any controlled substance other than alcohol.
So if it's inevitable for bills to return over and over and over and over, then why don't we see the same bills over and over and over and over in every single session? We don't; bills don't pass, and don't come back. Every session has a far wider variety of bills than can be explained by the rubber bouncing bill that just won't die.
No, it's not inevitable. Far from it. And laws do get repealed, you know, there's this thing called "prohibition" that once was a law, but isn't anymore because enough, but not all, of the people didn't want it to be a law.
You did consider the fact that it's very possible for people to do unexpected (for the cause they claim to support) things that do in fact support that cause, even if at first glance that doesn't seem to be so, don't you? Do you even know why he acted the way he did? He did, you know, have plans in mind that didn't involve blasting someone away at a theater. It's actually a rather interesting story, and it does make you think about the motivations of people like Booth, but most people don't know it.
Sssh, you aren't supposed to reveal undercover cops!
Sure. Just put a "hot mirror" filter over the lens that prevents IR from passing through. Commercially available since some digital camera CCDs don't have an internal hot mirror filter and so the washout effect shows up on its own sometimes -- when shooting fire-lit scenes, for example.