There's a difference between looking at the big picture and being willfully ignorant. The pride he takes in being sheltered and out of touch is just as scary as the rose-colored pictures his advisors provide.
As far as hardware, you need to run games well, but not to bleeding edge.
You might think about having a few (maybe even just one) top-notch rig. You can either rent them at a slightly higher price or make them VIP machines. Give them to the winner of the last tournament when he/she is around, or maybe to the guy/woman who is currently in last place during the tournament as a sort of consolation prize.
If all else fails, you can use it when you want to get in on the action.
Maybe also have some open ethernet connections (and perhaps monitors) for people to bring their own computers and play. Of course then you have to worry about cheaters more, but it might be worth it. Whatever you do, don't let the cheaters get away with it or they'll be the only ones playing at your store.
Oh wait - nevermind. I just realized i am dealing with a child.
I'm sorry if i frightened you with my big bad words. My tone WAS rather confrontational and i can understand how a little kid like you could misinterpret that to be some sort of threat that you ought to fear! It's ok. Don't cry.
And what a brave little man you are to respond to those "threats" with insults and sarcasm that hid your fear! "Loser." That was a really clever insult for such a little tyke! Did you have to ask your mommy to help you spell it?
You are obviously living in some techno-elite fantasy where those who can't deal with the spam problem on their own should be barred from using email. It's must be lonely there with noone to talk to and nothing to do but kiss your own ass.
I can deal with the spam that gets sent my way. Unlike you, rather than just sitting around investigating my own colon and praising myself on its technical superiority, i'm motivated to help others deal with their spam problems. I'll do that by encouraging the government (through direct involvement if needed) to keep revising the anti-spam laws until they protect ordinary citizens from the scammers and nuisances, and by encouraging ISPs and other tech companies to come up with technical fixes as well.
Try pulling your head out for a while and doing something to help someone else.
(And while you're at it, use your own fucking account you karma-whoring coward. AC is for people who want or need to protect their identity, not for pansies who can't stand by their words.)
I don't think you are reading the same post i am. He didn't say ISPs should do this, he said this is what HE does and implying that WE should all do this instead of passing laws about spam.
It doesn't matter if your solution is technologically better than his solution, it still continues the same arms race. It also doesn't matter if you move your solution to the ISP level - same results there.
I'm all for cool technological ways to deal with the spam that's out there, but i think we also need to be decreasing the overall amount of spam - deterrence, not defense. That's where the laws come in.
Your solution is not simple (can your grandma set it up?) and it will be overcome by the spammers eventually. Technological solutions have technological circumventions. We're not going to win this "arms race" unless it's too expensive for the spammers to compete. Laws, fines, and the threat of prison time are what make that happen.
This law may not be perfect, it may even be a step backward compared to some state laws, but it's a starting place. Keep your technological solution in place and maybe this law will grow into a more useful tool to complement yours.
P.S. - This law does not put the gov't in your email - there's no snooping involved.
He used more logic in his rebuttal than you did in both of your posts. You got schooled, now either shut up and take it like a man or reply with an actual argument.
Your general government sucks line does not show how this specific law sucks. What is this fabled technological solution you seem to think exists?
And while i'm at it: If you stick your head so far up your ass that it comes out of your mouth again, does the resulting paradox rip asunder the very fabric of space and time?
I think if you really look at it though, you're probably going to find a lot of dateless car geeks who are hanging out with other dateless car geeks on the weekends, rebuilding and tuning up engines, talking about "The Fast and the Furious".
You'll probably also find a bunch of computer geeks hanging out with their friends and girlfriends, having Super Smash Bros tournaments.
Yes, well name-callers, especially of the sort that use nerd, geek, and/or dork as insults don't tend to be terribly careful with their analysis, do they?
It doesn't matter what anyone calls you or what category they try to put you in. It's your self-image that counts. I see myself as embodying a lot of stereotypes of nerds/geeks/dorks and i am trying to embrace them rether than be ashamed of it.
Maybe you don't fit into my definitions, but noone says you have to. I just find these to be convenient ways of thinking about those terms. They are entirely subjective and altogether meaningless in a greater sense because every individual has more to them than any simple grouping can encompass.
(However, based on the little you've told us, i'd probably say you were a Linux geek, a WWII nerd and a Python/RPG dork in addition to the other qualities that round you out as a human being.)
I am a nerd. I am also a dork and a geek. I think of these as three separate but related identities and have spent way too much of my free time developing discrete definitions of the three.
Nerds are defined by what they know. We tend to stick to societally acceptable topics, but dive in much deeper or cover a wider variety of subjects than most. We are the grad students of the world, the academics, researchers and general know-it-alls.
Dorks are defined by what they like. Similar to the nerd, we dive in much deeper than the average person, but the topics we pursue tend to be much more nontraditional. We learn to speak Klingon or Elvish or know the plot lines, writers, and artists of all the major comic books and most of the minor ones.
Geeks are defined by what they can do. We may not know as much as the nerd on any given topic, but we can do more with what we know. We can hook up a home theater, fix a computer, or super-charge a lawnmower. We are the tinkerers, programmers, and garage inventors.
Some broad examples of my taxonomy: Nerds get A's in AP classes. Dorks play D&D. Geeks set up LANs.
All of our incarnations have spent more time learning about stuff than we have interacting with other people, hence our reputation for social awkwardness. We are handy, interesting, and often downright annoying to have around when our specialty areas come up, but are otherwise generally avoided.
I'm a nerd/dork/geek, but that's not the entirety of my identity. I like myself and my life, and against all odds, I've managed to find a life partner who feels the same. Of course, she's a bit nerdy/dorky/geeky herself, but aren't we all?
What part of "250,000 paying subscribers" (right there in the headline) don't you understand?
Thanks for pointing out what i missed, and for doing it in such a nice, friendly way, dickhead!;)
As far as churn, what part of "46% growth in the quarter" don't you understand?
The part where it doesn't actually answer my question. Is that 46% a result of everyone who was previously subscribed staying on plus them gaining 46% new people, or did everyone from before cancel, and 146% of that number join up new? What portion of those were gained in their acquisition of Listen.com? 250,000 subscribers is a hard number, 46% change can mean different things.
And since we're picking nits now, what portion of all these numbers is Rhapsody and what part is from their "premium radio". Those two are lumped in together everywhere. Is one a giant sucking drain while the other is doing ok, and if so which is which?
Perhaps the fact that their revenue only grew by 4% while subscriptions grew by 46% indicates that they got a bunch of new subscribers by slashing their fees? Would that be because the service blows or just that it was overpriced before?
These are not equivocal statements - these are hard numbers in an earnings report, not something any CFO who doesn't want to go to jail is going to mess with.
Actually, those are numbers from a press release summarizing an earnings report. Press releases are self-serving public relations tools that bend and spin things to make the company look good. As a matter of fact, companies have gone to court to protect their right to flat-out lie, claiming it as protected (first ammendment) speech. (Note that the case was settled before the supreme court could issue a ruling. Why did Nike settle if they had already suffered all the negative PR from the trials? Because they didn't want the additional negative PR from losing. Their strategy worked - hardly another peep came of the whole thing.)
And as far as CFO's being honest because they're worried about going to jail - yeah right! WorldCom, Enron, etc. How many CFO's went to jail? I have no reason to believe that any of those numbers are false, but they don't tell the whole story.
Look, my post was not a personal attack on you or even a refutation of your claims or Real's, so untwist your knickers. As i said, i have nothing to gain either way, and not much interest anyway, but i do like to be well-informed in case i do decide to sign up or a friend asks for my advice. At this point it would be "Go with Apple, their system is simpler and the only person with whom i've interacted who liked Rhapsody was kind of defensive about it, so i don't know what's up with that."
How many of those "subscribers" just signed up for a free trial period? (Elsewhere they make a point of mentioning "paying subscribers", so i think that's a valid question.)
How many subscribers cancelled or went inactive during the quarter?
There's lots of stuff that gets glossed-over or left out of official press releases. I don't use either service, nor do i own an Apple product, so i have nothing to gain from either one, but i distrust anything a company says about itself.
I think you're asking a bit much for a game. I know there's plenty of open-source solutions that could be plugged-in, but there's stil a lot of overhead involved there that a very small portion of people will ever care about.
It's a combo. It has a linux version and it's based on the uber-geeky D&D. Those two things make it quintessential News for Nerds by/.'s definition.
Plus it's a pretty cool thing. RPG plus toolset that allows you to create your own stories plus DM client that lets you play god in real-time for a group of other players.
The original NWN story was panned widely, but the toolset is awesome. I think the game suffered from too many Baldur's Gate comparisons. If you take it on its own terms it's pretty good. Let me reiterate though: the toolset, which lets you create your own modules, is awesome!
The first expansion, Shadows of Udrentide got much better story reviews and added a few good things to the toolset. Its story is not a sequel to the original storyline.
The second expansion, Hordes of the Underdark is still too fresh to have any really reliable consensus of reviews, but early indications are good. It IS a sequel to the storyline from SoU, NOT of the original. The toolset additions for this release look great!
I like this folk artist named Peter Mayer. My wife and i saw him perform live and wanted to buy his CDs but didn't have any cash on us so we went home and resolved to buy them on-line. One thing leads to another and we're busy and we forget.
A few months later i'm goofing around and i search for him on Amazon. I am surprised to find such a "small" artist on a mainstream site, but happy to see that he has some freedownloads! (Don't ask me why there are two separate pages for "all free song downloads by Peter Mayer.")
I download the songs and spend a few days enjoying them. I copy them for my wife and for a few friends, then decide i really do want to support this guy. So i go to his label's site, Peppermint Records order his stuff (No money for Amazon today!) and check out some other artists while i'm there. Some sound good, but Anne Heatonreally impresses me. Amazon has some downloads for her too. Turns out i'm crazy for one song and not so hot on the others so i don't order but i enjoy (and share) the mp3 and vow to check her out live if i get the chance and to look out for any new CDs she makes.
At the same time, my friends are doing the same thing because of the stuff i shared with them. They've bought several of Peter's CDs and some of them thought Anne's was worth the investment too. We were all being responsible and trading publicly available stuff, but when my CDs arrive i'll be ripping them to listen via WinAmp and if the occasion arises, i won't hesitate to give a few out.
I didn't have to buy anything, nor did my friends. I've got what amounts to a nearly complete album of Peter Mayer's Greatest Hits on my hard drive, but i know that if i don't send some cash his way, he'll have to go get a real job and i won't be hearing any more of his thoughtful, beautiful songs.
So is this post for or against file sharing? On the one hand, i didn't engage in any Napster-scale swapping. On the other hand, if Peppermint put some DRM crap on their CDs that made it a hassle for me to rip them i probably wouldn't buy them as a protest.
I think the RIAA doesn't take people like me into account. Most of what made me buy Peter's CDs was the music, but a part of it was my desire to support an independant label and artist. The only major-label CD i've bought lately was the Dixie Chicks. I like their music, but i was content to hear it on the radio on those infrequent occasions when i turn off NPR. I bought their CD to counteract some of the crap they were getting for exercising their first amendment rights.
I'm using my cash to reward those whose products and policies i like and withholding it from those i don't like. Maybe the RIAA doesn't have to take people like me into account. Maybe i'm just an insignificant statistical blip to them, but i'm talking to my friends and family about this stuff and some of them are doing the same thing, so maybe that blip will become significant if they don't change their ways.
Slashdot Mirror
It was modded funny because anyone who really believes that people who annoy and inconvenience them should be put to death is a FUCKING PSYCHOPATH.
Wars have been fought and thousands been killed for less.
Unjust wars. Senseless wars. Wars that were crimes against humanity.
Don't you think that maybe (just maybe) you are blowing things a little bit out of proportion?
Since he denies having any actual disabilities, we have to assume he's just a dumbass. It's always ok to make fun of dumbasses.
There's a difference between looking at the big picture and being willfully ignorant. The pride he takes in being sheltered and out of touch is just as scary as the rose-colored pictures his advisors provide.
I will do a hard reset before i sit through one of those. And after the first time a site throws one of them at me i won't be back.
As far as hardware, you need to run games well, but not to bleeding edge.
You might think about having a few (maybe even just one) top-notch rig. You can either rent them at a slightly higher price or make them VIP machines. Give them to the winner of the last tournament when he/she is around, or maybe to the guy/woman who is currently in last place during the tournament as a sort of consolation prize.
If all else fails, you can use it when you want to get in on the action.
Maybe also have some open ethernet connections (and perhaps monitors) for people to bring their own computers and play. Of course then you have to worry about cheaters more, but it might be worth it. Whatever you do, don't let the cheaters get away with it or they'll be the only ones playing at your store.
Sounds like a winning idea to me! I'm quitting Google and switching to Yahoo! After all, the Corporate Masters know what's best for us!
Oh wait - nevermind. I just realized i am dealing with a child.
I'm sorry if i frightened you with my big bad words. My tone WAS rather confrontational and i can understand how a little kid like you could misinterpret that to be some sort of threat that you ought to fear! It's ok. Don't cry.
And what a brave little man you are to respond to those "threats" with insults and sarcasm that hid your fear! "Loser." That was a really clever insult for such a little tyke! Did you have to ask your mommy to help you spell it?
Have a nice life little troll.
You are obviously living in some techno-elite fantasy where those who can't deal with the spam problem on their own should be barred from using email. It's must be lonely there with noone to talk to and nothing to do but kiss your own ass.
I can deal with the spam that gets sent my way. Unlike you, rather than just sitting around investigating my own colon and praising myself on its technical superiority, i'm motivated to help others deal with their spam problems. I'll do that by encouraging the government (through direct involvement if needed) to keep revising the anti-spam laws until they protect ordinary citizens from the scammers and nuisances, and by encouraging ISPs and other tech companies to come up with technical fixes as well.
Try pulling your head out for a while and doing something to help someone else.
(And while you're at it, use your own fucking account you karma-whoring coward. AC is for people who want or need to protect their identity, not for pansies who can't stand by their words.)
I don't think you are reading the same post i am. He didn't say ISPs should do this, he said this is what HE does and implying that WE should all do this instead of passing laws about spam.
It doesn't matter if your solution is technologically better than his solution, it still continues the same arms race. It also doesn't matter if you move your solution to the ISP level - same results there.
I'm all for cool technological ways to deal with the spam that's out there, but i think we also need to be decreasing the overall amount of spam - deterrence, not defense. That's where the laws come in.
Yet another head-up-the-ass technophile.
Your solution is not simple (can your grandma set it up?) and it will be overcome by the spammers eventually. Technological solutions have technological circumventions. We're not going to win this "arms race" unless it's too expensive for the spammers to compete. Laws, fines, and the threat of prison time are what make that happen.
This law may not be perfect, it may even be a step backward compared to some state laws, but it's a starting place. Keep your technological solution in place and maybe this law will grow into a more useful tool to complement yours.
P.S. - This law does not put the gov't in your email - there's no snooping involved.
He used more logic in his rebuttal than you did in both of your posts. You got schooled, now either shut up and take it like a man or reply with an actual argument.
Your general government sucks line does not show how this specific law sucks. What is this fabled technological solution you seem to think exists?
And while i'm at it: If you stick your head so far up your ass that it comes out of your mouth again, does the resulting paradox rip asunder the very fabric of space and time?
Someone else pointed this out to me in a conversation as well, but i consider "dweeb" to be a generic term of denigration, not a significant category.
Still, proud dweebs are welcome to create their own self-definition.
I'm going with D20 modern rules for this - you can multiclass all you want with no penalty.
Sure - that's the media portrayal.
I think if you really look at it though, you're probably going to find a lot of dateless car geeks who are hanging out with other dateless car geeks on the weekends, rebuilding and tuning up engines, talking about "The Fast and the Furious".
You'll probably also find a bunch of computer geeks hanging out with their friends and girlfriends, having Super Smash Bros tournaments.
Yes, well name-callers, especially of the sort that use nerd, geek, and/or dork as insults don't tend to be terribly careful with their analysis, do they?
It doesn't matter what anyone calls you or what category they try to put you in. It's your self-image that counts. I see myself as embodying a lot of stereotypes of nerds/geeks/dorks and i am trying to embrace them rether than be ashamed of it.
Maybe you don't fit into my definitions, but noone says you have to. I just find these to be convenient ways of thinking about those terms. They are entirely subjective and altogether meaningless in a greater sense because every individual has more to them than any simple grouping can encompass.
(However, based on the little you've told us, i'd probably say you were a Linux geek, a WWII nerd and a Python/RPG dork in addition to the other qualities that round you out as a human being.)
Say I can can fix an engine or plumbing, but I don't know how to set up a LAN?
Not every geek is a computer geek. It's quite possible to be a car geek or even a plumbing geek.
I am a nerd. I am also a dork and a geek. I think of these as three separate but related identities and have spent way too much of my free time developing discrete definitions of the three.
Nerds are defined by what they know. We tend to stick to societally acceptable topics, but dive in much deeper or cover a wider variety of subjects than most. We are the grad students of the world, the academics, researchers and general know-it-alls.
Dorks are defined by what they like. Similar to the nerd, we dive in much deeper than the average person, but the topics we pursue tend to be much more nontraditional. We learn to speak Klingon or Elvish or know the plot lines, writers, and artists of all the major comic books and most of the minor ones.
Geeks are defined by what they can do. We may not know as much as the nerd on any given topic, but we can do more with what we know. We can hook up a home theater, fix a computer, or super-charge a lawnmower. We are the tinkerers, programmers, and garage inventors.
Some broad examples of my taxonomy: Nerds get A's in AP classes. Dorks play D&D. Geeks set up LANs.
All of our incarnations have spent more time learning about stuff than we have interacting with other people, hence our reputation for social awkwardness. We are handy, interesting, and often downright annoying to have around when our specialty areas come up, but are otherwise generally avoided.
I'm a nerd/dork/geek, but that's not the entirety of my identity. I like myself and my life, and against all odds, I've managed to find a life partner who feels the same. Of course, she's a bit nerdy/dorky/geeky herself, but aren't we all?
What part of "250,000 paying subscribers" (right there in the headline) don't you understand?
;)
Thanks for pointing out what i missed, and for doing it in such a nice, friendly way, dickhead!
As far as churn, what part of "46% growth in the quarter" don't you understand?
The part where it doesn't actually answer my question. Is that 46% a result of everyone who was previously subscribed staying on plus them gaining 46% new people, or did everyone from before cancel, and 146% of that number join up new? What portion of those were gained in their acquisition of Listen.com? 250,000 subscribers is a hard number, 46% change can mean different things.
And since we're picking nits now, what portion of all these numbers is Rhapsody and what part is from their "premium radio". Those two are lumped in together everywhere. Is one a giant sucking drain while the other is doing ok, and if so which is which?
Perhaps the fact that their revenue only grew by 4% while subscriptions grew by 46% indicates that they got a bunch of new subscribers by slashing their fees? Would that be because the service blows or just that it was overpriced before?
These are not equivocal statements - these are hard numbers in an earnings report, not something any CFO who doesn't want to go to jail is going to mess with.
Actually, those are numbers from a press release summarizing an earnings report. Press releases are self-serving public relations tools that bend and spin things to make the company look good. As a matter of fact, companies have gone to court to protect their right to flat-out lie, claiming it as protected (first ammendment) speech. (Note that the case was settled before the supreme court could issue a ruling. Why did Nike settle if they had already suffered all the negative PR from the trials? Because they didn't want the additional negative PR from losing. Their strategy worked - hardly another peep came of the whole thing.)
And as far as CFO's being honest because they're worried about going to jail - yeah right! WorldCom, Enron, etc. How many CFO's went to jail? I have no reason to believe that any of those numbers are false, but they don't tell the whole story.
Look, my post was not a personal attack on you or even a refutation of your claims or Real's, so untwist your knickers. As i said, i have nothing to gain either way, and not much interest anyway, but i do like to be well-informed in case i do decide to sign up or a friend asks for my advice. At this point it would be "Go with Apple, their system is simpler and the only person with whom i've interacted who liked Rhapsody was kind of defensive about it, so i don't know what's up with that."
Which press? Links?
Earnings report link?
How many of those "subscribers" just signed up for a free trial period? (Elsewhere they make a point of mentioning "paying subscribers", so i think that's a valid question.)
How many subscribers cancelled or went inactive during the quarter?
There's lots of stuff that gets glossed-over or left out of official press releases. I don't use either service, nor do i own an Apple product, so i have nothing to gain from either one, but i distrust anything a company says about itself.
Good point, but still probably not worth integrating it into the toolset itself. Sounds like stand-alone CVS would work just fine.
I think you're asking a bit much for a game. I know there's plenty of open-source solutions that could be plugged-in, but there's stil a lot of overhead involved there that a very small portion of people will ever care about.
It's a combo. It has a linux version and it's based on the uber-geeky D&D. Those two things make it quintessential News for Nerds by /.'s definition.
Plus it's a pretty cool thing. RPG plus toolset that allows you to create your own stories plus DM client that lets you play god in real-time for a group of other players.
The original NWN story was panned widely, but the toolset is awesome. I think the game suffered from too many Baldur's Gate comparisons. If you take it on its own terms it's pretty good. Let me reiterate though: the toolset, which lets you create your own modules, is awesome!
The first expansion, Shadows of Udrentide got much better story reviews and added a few good things to the toolset. Its story is not a sequel to the original storyline.
The second expansion, Hordes of the Underdark is still too fresh to have any really reliable consensus of reviews, but early indications are good. It IS a sequel to the storyline from SoU, NOT of the original. The toolset additions for this release look great!
I like this folk artist named Peter Mayer. My wife and i saw him perform live and wanted to buy his CDs but didn't have any cash on us so we went home and resolved to buy them on-line. One thing leads to another and we're busy and we forget.
A few months later i'm goofing around and i search for him on Amazon. I am surprised to find such a "small" artist on a mainstream site, but happy to see that he has some free downloads! (Don't ask me why there are two separate pages for "all free song downloads by Peter Mayer.")
I download the songs and spend a few days enjoying them. I copy them for my wife and for a few friends, then decide i really do want to support this guy. So i go to his label's site, Peppermint Records order his stuff (No money for Amazon today!) and check out some other artists while i'm there. Some sound good, but Anne Heaton really impresses me. Amazon has some downloads for her too. Turns out i'm crazy for one song and not so hot on the others so i don't order but i enjoy (and share) the mp3 and vow to check her out live if i get the chance and to look out for any new CDs she makes.
At the same time, my friends are doing the same thing because of the stuff i shared with them. They've bought several of Peter's CDs and some of them thought Anne's was worth the investment too. We were all being responsible and trading publicly available stuff, but when my CDs arrive i'll be ripping them to listen via WinAmp and if the occasion arises, i won't hesitate to give a few out.
I didn't have to buy anything, nor did my friends. I've got what amounts to a nearly complete album of Peter Mayer's Greatest Hits on my hard drive, but i know that if i don't send some cash his way, he'll have to go get a real job and i won't be hearing any more of his thoughtful, beautiful songs.
So is this post for or against file sharing? On the one hand, i didn't engage in any Napster-scale swapping. On the other hand, if Peppermint put some DRM crap on their CDs that made it a hassle for me to rip them i probably wouldn't buy them as a protest.
I think the RIAA doesn't take people like me into account. Most of what made me buy Peter's CDs was the music, but a part of it was my desire to support an independant label and artist. The only major-label CD i've bought lately was the Dixie Chicks. I like their music, but i was content to hear it on the radio on those infrequent occasions when i turn off NPR. I bought their CD to counteract some of the crap they were getting for exercising their first amendment rights.
I'm using my cash to reward those whose products and policies i like and withholding it from those i don't like. Maybe the RIAA doesn't have to take people like me into account. Maybe i'm just an insignificant statistical blip to them, but i'm talking to my friends and family about this stuff and some of them are doing the same thing, so maybe that blip will become significant if they don't change their ways.
Got keep up with the times. Wouldn't want to miss my chance at being hit with a lawsuit because they thought i wasn't talking about them.