Apparently someone else remembered the A-Sign Sound Bar, some chap named C-Bhudda:
"...I was there in 1987-9..."
"...In the middle of Okinawa City was the Air Force base called Kadena. Kadena is one the largest bases on Okinawa and is definately [sic] the largest base that is in a heavily populated area..."
"...Each entrance to the base is numbered and the rear gate is called "Gate Two." Outside gate two is a street with many retail businesses and bars geared toward the American serviceman. The G.I.'s referred to the street, in typical Americanese [sic], as Gate Two Street..."
"...We eventually wander towards Gate Two Street and the bar we like to go to late at night called the "A Sign." We never figured out what that meant but it had a cool wooden interior and they played rock album sides. Perfect for us..."
I remember living in Okinawa back in 1993, JASRAC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JASRAC cracked down (and again in 2006) on club owners that played pre-recorded music at bars and nightclubs and profited by selling drinks and food to customers. Some clubs faced retroactive fines in the tens of thousands of Yen and were forced to close down. Just outside the gate near Kadena was the 'A-Sign Sound Bar' that used to play requests, the entire side of an album, man those were good times. Ah, the good old days: Okinawa and lots of Orion beer.
I think id re-releasing 'classic' versions of their early games for the iPhone/iTouch like Wolf3d and Classic Doom and Valve's Steam distribution of old games like Hexen and re-imaginings like The Secret of Monkey Island, and even with Wii and the virtual console are great examples of the past coming full circle to the present. Where before a game property would languish in a company's vault for years awaiting some new market, those that aren't bound by convoluted legal constraints (owned completely by their original company or a company that acquired their back library) are seeing new life and in some cases, polishing and optimizing of the code. In some rare instances, old games like Bethesda's 1996 Daggerfall are released for free http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/downloads_games.htm.
You'll get no argument from me that providing a more diverse and global selection of countries will undoubtedly display a deeper reaching, less biased result. Two factors: (1) I Yahoo! searched the phrase "browser market share" and clicked the first link I came across. After reviewing the results it displayed and read that the browser market penetration data included country-level weighting (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/weighting.aspx) and even went so far as to comment on specific browsers, saying that Opera's usage had doubled due to users in East Europe and Asia, I felt reasonably assured they knew what they were talking about, since that did seem to address those kind of details. (2) I don't have the time to delve into a more compehensive country-specific usage project myself. It's that simple that since I can't back up the data with hard won effort that I produced myself, to rely on the efforts of others and compare and contrast it to see if there are any stand-outs, spikes or other statistical differences. I also searched the second link on Yahoo! using the phrase "browser market share" and got this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers. Under the heading 'Summary Table', subheading 'Net Applications', the results match identically with those provided by hitslink.com. Other catagories show other numbers with the respective browsers climbing or descending by various values. Thecounter.com shows in aggregate IE at 72% and 18%, Safari at 5%, Netscape compatible (presumably Chrome) at 3% and Opera at 1%. Onstat.com shows different numbers with the same ranking order for the top 5. It really depends on what you want to see. The end interpretation is left up to the reader. BTW, this post was made from Opera10.
I've been using IE since forever, as have most people. And like those same people, I've had to tolerate session-ending bugs and glitches that get fixed in one version, only to reappear in another. I did some research on market penetration for browsers http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
and IE commands nearly 67%, Firefox is nearly at 23%, Safari is at 4%, Chrome is at 2.8% and Opera is just a hair over 2%.
I've been using Opera 10 since it was released a few days ago and the one thing that stands out is that showstopping bugs and glitches occur more often in Opera than in IE. My browser preferences are simple in that I'm not fixated on the toolbar appearance, tabs or addressbar search options, or page layout. It's one simple feature - how long I can continue to use it before it shuts down due to an unrecoverable error.
I've got to say that I like Opera, I want to love them the product is solid and clean but when Opera10 starts to slowdown and fail to open a page, IE always comes through. There's a reason why they are at 66% with at least 20 free mainstream browsers on the market to choose from. A large part of that market penetration came from and is still commanded because IE is proven. It's not especially fancy or prettied up with features that a lot of the newer generation browsers flaunt, but 66% is still nothing to laugh at.
I still have issues with the Kindle lack of 'right of first sale'. What if I wanted to create and sell the ultimate sci-fi edition? What if I wanted to run a 'used Kindle' store? What if... not with a Kindle.
Why not just copy Sega's exemption and emulate BASIC as a rom. Then the C-64 program could essentially be MAME and access a directory where ROMs are located, one being for BASIC.
The link below provides a great snapshot of the current browser market share, with country-level weighting. In a nutshell, good luck to Firefox in the 43.99% climb to match IE's 66.97 marketshare. Trailing a distant 3rd place is Safari at a meager 4%, followed by Chrome in 4th place at 2.84% and Opera in 5th place at 2.04%. It's clear to me that the real battlefield is in the 2-4% range. According to this source, Opera has doubled their marketshare with help from users from eastern Europe and Asia. An interesting footnote is Netscape in 6th place at.49% and Opera's own Mini in 7th place at.31%. There's no mention in this rollcall of 20 browsers of Opera Mobile, which costs US$24.99 while the bulk of the other browsers are free.
REF: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
That's the rub, there's no false claim because in this hypothetical marketing project, Apple informed the authorities and perhaps invited or paid off-duty officers to supervise a "dramatic re-enactment designed to promote brand loyalty and increase perceived product value". If it were a commercial, there would have to be small print at the bottom of the screen, a disclaimer. If it's a live staged re-enactment of a non-emergency with superficial interaction by local authorities, detailed merchandise inventory, is it mandatory that law enforcement inform the media it was fake, especially if the law enforcement officials involved were compensated, signed NDAs and all city safety protocols were observed. It would be even more compelling if Apple paid a separate company to handle the production if anything backfired.
Wouldn't it be sad if this was an elaborate Apple marketing strategy? Apple paid to insure and supply this 'newsitem'. Every single person involved signed a non-disclosure agreement and were actors, the police where informed it was a conbination product promotion and security training seminar about high-dollar burglaries that occur in under a minute. "Thankfully, no one was injured. Police are investigating the robbery".
You're right, it does seem a bit hungry: 1 120mm fan, 1 90mm fan, 2 80mm fans, a Cool Master cpu cooler, 4 DDR2 500meg dimms, 2 Maxtor 300g HDs, 1 SB Audigy 24bit, 1 Trendnet wi-fi adapter, 1 ATI x1300 video card, 1 usb keyboard, 1 usb mouse, 1 usb camera, 1 usb bluetoth dongle, 1 usb HP printer, all powered by 400w with Asus saying I need a 500w psu.
I don't know why they didn't open up bidding on the last module slot (for this revised construction proposal) to a hotel chain and start luring consumers to spend the weekend in orbit in luxury. What a missed opportunity, they could have been working on testing sheets and bathrobes for orbital space-worthiness.
Yes a good example is Galaxian for a limited number of projectiles on screen at any one time. An example of a shooting pause was Centipede. Both instances you fire projectiles at different speeds, but both seem to have an ai exploit where an incoming opponent "knows" you are approaching your shooting pause and will attempt to collide with you. The Centipede example depicts an extremely frustrating experience since you are essentially on rapid-fire with random pauses. The Galaxian example is also strange because it has the player locked at a shot-limit that is also the shooting pause, which makes no sense when there aren't incoming opponents and you can't move along the Y axis, which should not to be confused with Galaga which allowed you to advance along the Y axis and had the option of powerups if I'm not mistaken.
I'm running a P4 and an ATI x1300 adapter. After using the Asus PSU calculator http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.aspx?SLanguage=en-us, I found out that will all my extras connected, I'm not providing enough juice! What's interesting is that after selecting my mobo, cpu and ram, the 200w juice requirements don't change when I add my video adapter. It's when I tack on all the case fans, hard drives and usb stuff that it spikes to 500w. If I wanted to trim my power consumption, I' be better off buying a multi drive, and picking up a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Something I never understood in arcade games was the "shooting pause", where a maximum amount of button presses (usually associated with the fire button) yielded a maximum number of projectiles before failing to register additional button presses. A noticable break in visual projectiles was observed before the additional button presses are again registered.
I can't think of a single game I've ever played where the shooting pause increased dramatic tension, added to the atmosphere of enjoyment or balanced the playability. I've always suspected the shooting pause must be a deliberate software coded effect rather than a hardware limitation.
I think there's a huge attraction for young people to communicate without prying ears. I can remember at home using the wired landline and having to stay in one area to have a conversation that was overheard by others. Back then, there were no text messages, emails, instant messages or private lines. Today it's much easier to communicate and share information. It's understood that parents should be involved to some degree in what their children are up to, but part of growing is the cycle of having trust extended and earned. At one point, barring any other extinuating circumstances (pending discipline, recent inapproprate behavior, neglect of responsibility, loss of privledges) kids should have an opportunity to use the trust they have earned while balancing their other obligations.
With that said, we all know the upsides to text messages versus phone conversation. It's convenient, you can abbreviate and use symbols, send attchments, communicate silently and have contacts that are in various geographical locations worldwide. I remember speaking in code on the phone back in the day to convey some kid-important message to a friend. We know kids want to talk about what they want to talk about and feel comforatable doing it, why force them to announce it within earshot?
What is the feasability of starting a local wi-fi co-ops scheme where someone pays for a highspeed broadband connection that's connected to a wi-fi router with open access In otherwords, a number of users with a wi-fi card and compatible software can connect and enjoy relatively fast speed access.
Then like clockwork each month, everyone in the area gets a notice (doorhanger or network instant message) asking them to donate $10.00 each month (via a Paypal account or money order to a P.O. box) to support the connection and maintain the hardware. A simple agreement protects paying supporters from any reprisal from the user hosting the wi-fi connection.
This would work great in apartment complexes or townhouses where people live in close proximity. The host user could set max clients and block people not paying. Obviously if the ISP got wind of subleting they would retaliate, but if people are getting anonymous unlimited wi-fi broadband for $10 a month, what's not to like. Someone please punch holes in this notion..
My eyes get tired now from looking intently at a screen for hours each day, imagine the new ailments that can arise from such an invention! This reminds me of a Mad Magazine parody of the Six Million Dollar Man, where his targeting crosshairs blocked what he was looking at, begging the question - how do you turn it off? On the upside, you could browse the internet, send messages, play games and watch movies in perfect privacy. It could allow more taboo segments of the entertainment industry a legitimate platform. Videodrome anyone?
I've been doing pay as you go for the past 8 months with Virgin Mobile which uses the Sprint network. It's been convenient to top up since I get the topup cards at Wal Mart while I'm shopping for my weekly goods. I buy a $20/200 minute card and could get better/minute rates if I did a minute pack and paid more for each topup. All in all it's a good setup, although there are a couple of times where my remaining minutes were exhausted before I could topup and had to go get a card to call back, which was mildly embarrassing due to poor planning on my part.
I'm not sure which general assumed command of the SW:Ep III attack on the Death Star or what other plans were rejected in favor of that method. I employed a similar strategy when I played Battle Of Endor on the Gamecube's Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. My wing flew at a distance perpendicular to the oncoming assault, then we circled around to attack from the side, near the rear of 3 star destroyer towers. Since the objective was to destroy key points on each Star Destroyer to complete the mission (pop the ball underneath, the two balls on the tower and the tower bridge window), I avoided the frontal onslaught and the relentless barrage that it would bring. I would have recommended a similar strategy of entering the battle nearest the exhaust port on the original Death Star. A game of this nature is about the only way to pit your own stratagies against what actually appeared in the films.
I have always thought there was a serious strategic flaw in the assault of the Death Star that put fighters in the trenches approaching the exhaust port. Other than the visual pop of watching combat spacecraft navigating a narrow eqitorial corridor, it occured to me that drop-troops in powered space suits with rocket packs, magnetic boots and missile launchers amid a rain of similarly-sized chaff would pose a serious threat. You could still witness the fatal blow money shot with Luke standing over the venting exhaust port staring down into the abyss as he launches his warhead.
It's unfortunate, but referencing the particulars of this case and comparing them to racial overtones and perceptions, I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. It's a tribute to employer screening and training of their field reps, a matter of luck or a bit of both. Either way, apparently it can be dangerous to ask a stranger to show identification at your door. Companies don't want to get sued for the inappropriate actions of a loose cannon, yet they are the first line of defense against this kind of behavior. Ironically, the Verizon rep was irritated by the request (or the way the request was presented) to produce identification and validate his integrity. Yet his overreaction made it mandatory to produce that very same information when he was apprehended for assaulting the client; clearly he wasn't thinking too far ahead. It wouldn't surprise me if the employee had previous behavioral issues that had been noticed or addressed by his Verizon supervisors. It wouldn't surprise me if Verizon distanced themselves from this individual by mandating a drug test and a no-pay suspension for inappropriate behavior pending formal investigative findings.
My first hands on experience with Vista was through Home Basic 32-bit. I had to format my hard drive which seemed so counter-intuitive, when Home Premium didn't have that restriction yet Basic offered an 'anytime upgrade' capability. After swapping out PC parts that weren't compatible or weren't signed I was never able to aactivate the product. I called MS activation, read the info from the inner ring, proved beyond a doubt that I had an authentic retail version but it never validated. In the end I put the disc back in the case and it sits under my desk unused, a $100 mistake.
I see the EU being first in a lot of consumer areas. Their own version of Windows, devices that are released in Europe before the US and now a standard mobile phone adapter. I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.
I forsee Witricity adapters and a slew of 3rd party knock-off components for home and travel that allow us to bathe ourselves in a continuous blanket of electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day. I think some independant studies should be conducted to see the prolonged effects of real-world impact of this convenience. We are no longer happy with the two-hours it takes to recharge a day's worth of mobile device use, we have to charge it wirelessly while it's in use performing wireless tasks. If breaking the grip of proprietary adapter plugs is the point of contention, move the industry to a standard docking cradle, like walkie-talkies. Put the electronic toys down and go do something else. The upside of course would be the eventual decline of questions like, "can I borrow your charger?".
Slashdot Mirror
Apparently someone else remembered the A-Sign Sound Bar, some chap named C-Bhudda:
"...I was there in 1987-9..."
"...In the middle of Okinawa City was the Air Force base called Kadena. Kadena is one the largest bases on Okinawa and is definately [sic] the largest base that is in a heavily populated area..."
"...Each entrance to the base is numbered and the rear gate is called "Gate Two." Outside gate two is a street with many retail businesses and bars geared toward the American serviceman. The G.I.'s referred to the street, in typical Americanese [sic], as Gate Two Street..."
"...We eventually wander towards Gate Two Street and the bar we like to go to late at night called the "A Sign." We never figured out what that meant but it had a cool wooden interior and they played rock album sides. Perfect for us..."
This was posted back in 2003 http://www.eddiemcdonald.com/2003_01_01_archive.html, and I left Okinawa in 1994.
I remember living in Okinawa back in 1993, JASRAC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JASRAC cracked down (and again in 2006) on club owners that played pre-recorded music at bars and nightclubs and profited by selling drinks and food to customers. Some clubs faced retroactive fines in the tens of thousands of Yen and were forced to close down. Just outside the gate near Kadena was the 'A-Sign Sound Bar' that used to play requests, the entire side of an album, man those were good times. Ah, the good old days: Okinawa and lots of Orion beer.
I think id re-releasing 'classic' versions of their early games for the iPhone/iTouch like Wolf3d and Classic Doom and Valve's Steam distribution of old games like Hexen and re-imaginings like The Secret of Monkey Island, and even with Wii and the virtual console are great examples of the past coming full circle to the present. Where before a game property would languish in a company's vault for years awaiting some new market, those that aren't bound by convoluted legal constraints (owned completely by their original company or a company that acquired their back library) are seeing new life and in some cases, polishing and optimizing of the code. In some rare instances, old games like Bethesda's 1996 Daggerfall are released for free http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/downloads_games.htm.
You'll get no argument from me that providing a more diverse and global selection of countries will undoubtedly display a deeper reaching, less biased result. Two factors: (1) I Yahoo! searched the phrase "browser market share" and clicked the first link I came across. After reviewing the results it displayed and read that the browser market penetration data included country-level weighting (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/weighting.aspx) and even went so far as to comment on specific browsers, saying that Opera's usage had doubled due to users in East Europe and Asia, I felt reasonably assured they knew what they were talking about, since that did seem to address those kind of details. (2) I don't have the time to delve into a more compehensive country-specific usage project myself. It's that simple that since I can't back up the data with hard won effort that I produced myself, to rely on the efforts of others and compare and contrast it to see if there are any stand-outs, spikes or other statistical differences. I also searched the second link on Yahoo! using the phrase "browser market share" and got this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers. Under the heading 'Summary Table', subheading 'Net Applications', the results match identically with those provided by hitslink.com. Other catagories show other numbers with the respective browsers climbing or descending by various values. Thecounter.com shows in aggregate IE at 72% and 18%, Safari at 5%, Netscape compatible (presumably Chrome) at 3% and Opera at 1%. Onstat.com shows different numbers with the same ranking order for the top 5. It really depends on what you want to see. The end interpretation is left up to the reader. BTW, this post was made from Opera10.
I've been using IE since forever, as have most people. And like those same people, I've had to tolerate session-ending bugs and glitches that get fixed in one version, only to reappear in another. I did some research on market penetration for browsers http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0 and IE commands nearly 67%, Firefox is nearly at 23%, Safari is at 4%, Chrome is at 2.8% and Opera is just a hair over 2%. I've been using Opera 10 since it was released a few days ago and the one thing that stands out is that showstopping bugs and glitches occur more often in Opera than in IE. My browser preferences are simple in that I'm not fixated on the toolbar appearance, tabs or addressbar search options, or page layout. It's one simple feature - how long I can continue to use it before it shuts down due to an unrecoverable error. I've got to say that I like Opera, I want to love them the product is solid and clean but when Opera10 starts to slowdown and fail to open a page, IE always comes through. There's a reason why they are at 66% with at least 20 free mainstream browsers on the market to choose from. A large part of that market penetration came from and is still commanded because IE is proven. It's not especially fancy or prettied up with features that a lot of the newer generation browsers flaunt, but 66% is still nothing to laugh at.
I still have issues with the Kindle lack of 'right of first sale'. What if I wanted to create and sell the ultimate sci-fi edition? What if I wanted to run a 'used Kindle' store? What if... not with a Kindle.
Why not just copy Sega's exemption and emulate BASIC as a rom. Then the C-64 program could essentially be MAME and access a directory where ROMs are located, one being for BASIC.
The link below provides a great snapshot of the current browser market share, with country-level weighting. In a nutshell, good luck to Firefox in the 43.99% climb to match IE's 66.97 marketshare. Trailing a distant 3rd place is Safari at a meager 4%, followed by Chrome in 4th place at 2.84% and Opera in 5th place at 2.04%. It's clear to me that the real battlefield is in the 2-4% range. According to this source, Opera has doubled their marketshare with help from users from eastern Europe and Asia. An interesting footnote is Netscape in 6th place at .49% and Opera's own Mini in 7th place at .31%. There's no mention in this rollcall of 20 browsers of Opera Mobile, which costs US$24.99 while the bulk of the other browsers are free.
REF: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
That's the rub, there's no false claim because in this hypothetical marketing project, Apple informed the authorities and perhaps invited or paid off-duty officers to supervise a "dramatic re-enactment designed to promote brand loyalty and increase perceived product value". If it were a commercial, there would have to be small print at the bottom of the screen, a disclaimer. If it's a live staged re-enactment of a non-emergency with superficial interaction by local authorities, detailed merchandise inventory, is it mandatory that law enforcement inform the media it was fake, especially if the law enforcement officials involved were compensated, signed NDAs and all city safety protocols were observed. It would be even more compelling if Apple paid a separate company to handle the production if anything backfired.
Wouldn't it be sad if this was an elaborate Apple marketing strategy? Apple paid to insure and supply this 'newsitem'. Every single person involved signed a non-disclosure agreement and were actors, the police where informed it was a conbination product promotion and security training seminar about high-dollar burglaries that occur in under a minute. "Thankfully, no one was injured. Police are investigating the robbery".
You're right, it does seem a bit hungry: 1 120mm fan, 1 90mm fan, 2 80mm fans, a Cool Master cpu cooler, 4 DDR2 500meg dimms, 2 Maxtor 300g HDs, 1 SB Audigy 24bit, 1 Trendnet wi-fi adapter, 1 ATI x1300 video card, 1 usb keyboard, 1 usb mouse, 1 usb camera, 1 usb bluetoth dongle, 1 usb HP printer, all powered by 400w with Asus saying I need a 500w psu.
I don't know why they didn't open up bidding on the last module slot (for this revised construction proposal) to a hotel chain and start luring consumers to spend the weekend in orbit in luxury. What a missed opportunity, they could have been working on testing sheets and bathrobes for orbital space-worthiness.
Yes a good example is Galaxian for a limited number of projectiles on screen at any one time. An example of a shooting pause was Centipede. Both instances you fire projectiles at different speeds, but both seem to have an ai exploit where an incoming opponent "knows" you are approaching your shooting pause and will attempt to collide with you. The Centipede example depicts an extremely frustrating experience since you are essentially on rapid-fire with random pauses. The Galaxian example is also strange because it has the player locked at a shot-limit that is also the shooting pause, which makes no sense when there aren't incoming opponents and you can't move along the Y axis, which should not to be confused with Galaga which allowed you to advance along the Y axis and had the option of powerups if I'm not mistaken.
I'm running a P4 and an ATI x1300 adapter. After using the Asus PSU calculator http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PSCalculator.aspx?SLanguage=en-us, I found out that will all my extras connected, I'm not providing enough juice! What's interesting is that after selecting my mobo, cpu and ram, the 200w juice requirements don't change when I add my video adapter. It's when I tack on all the case fans, hard drives and usb stuff that it spikes to 500w. If I wanted to trim my power consumption, I' be better off buying a multi drive, and picking up a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Something I never understood in arcade games was the "shooting pause", where a maximum amount of button presses (usually associated with the fire button) yielded a maximum number of projectiles before failing to register additional button presses. A noticable break in visual projectiles was observed before the additional button presses are again registered. I can't think of a single game I've ever played where the shooting pause increased dramatic tension, added to the atmosphere of enjoyment or balanced the playability. I've always suspected the shooting pause must be a deliberate software coded effect rather than a hardware limitation.
I think there's a huge attraction for young people to communicate without prying ears. I can remember at home using the wired landline and having to stay in one area to have a conversation that was overheard by others. Back then, there were no text messages, emails, instant messages or private lines. Today it's much easier to communicate and share information. It's understood that parents should be involved to some degree in what their children are up to, but part of growing is the cycle of having trust extended and earned. At one point, barring any other extinuating circumstances (pending discipline, recent inapproprate behavior, neglect of responsibility, loss of privledges) kids should have an opportunity to use the trust they have earned while balancing their other obligations. With that said, we all know the upsides to text messages versus phone conversation. It's convenient, you can abbreviate and use symbols, send attchments, communicate silently and have contacts that are in various geographical locations worldwide. I remember speaking in code on the phone back in the day to convey some kid-important message to a friend. We know kids want to talk about what they want to talk about and feel comforatable doing it, why force them to announce it within earshot?
What is the feasability of starting a local wi-fi co-ops scheme where someone pays for a highspeed broadband connection that's connected to a wi-fi router with open access In otherwords, a number of users with a wi-fi card and compatible software can connect and enjoy relatively fast speed access. Then like clockwork each month, everyone in the area gets a notice (doorhanger or network instant message) asking them to donate $10.00 each month (via a Paypal account or money order to a P.O. box) to support the connection and maintain the hardware. A simple agreement protects paying supporters from any reprisal from the user hosting the wi-fi connection. This would work great in apartment complexes or townhouses where people live in close proximity. The host user could set max clients and block people not paying. Obviously if the ISP got wind of subleting they would retaliate, but if people are getting anonymous unlimited wi-fi broadband for $10 a month, what's not to like. Someone please punch holes in this notion..
My eyes get tired now from looking intently at a screen for hours each day, imagine the new ailments that can arise from such an invention! This reminds me of a Mad Magazine parody of the Six Million Dollar Man, where his targeting crosshairs blocked what he was looking at, begging the question - how do you turn it off? On the upside, you could browse the internet, send messages, play games and watch movies in perfect privacy. It could allow more taboo segments of the entertainment industry a legitimate platform. Videodrome anyone?
I've been doing pay as you go for the past 8 months with Virgin Mobile which uses the Sprint network. It's been convenient to top up since I get the topup cards at Wal Mart while I'm shopping for my weekly goods. I buy a $20/200 minute card and could get better /minute rates if I did a minute pack and paid more for each topup. All in all it's a good setup, although there are a couple of times where my remaining minutes were exhausted before I could topup and had to go get a card to call back, which was mildly embarrassing due to poor planning on my part.
I'm not sure which general assumed command of the SW:Ep III attack on the Death Star or what other plans were rejected in favor of that method. I employed a similar strategy when I played Battle Of Endor on the Gamecube's Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. My wing flew at a distance perpendicular to the oncoming assault, then we circled around to attack from the side, near the rear of 3 star destroyer towers. Since the objective was to destroy key points on each Star Destroyer to complete the mission (pop the ball underneath, the two balls on the tower and the tower bridge window), I avoided the frontal onslaught and the relentless barrage that it would bring. I would have recommended a similar strategy of entering the battle nearest the exhaust port on the original Death Star. A game of this nature is about the only way to pit your own stratagies against what actually appeared in the films.
I have always thought there was a serious strategic flaw in the assault of the Death Star that put fighters in the trenches approaching the exhaust port. Other than the visual pop of watching combat spacecraft navigating a narrow eqitorial corridor, it occured to me that drop-troops in powered space suits with rocket packs, magnetic boots and missile launchers amid a rain of similarly-sized chaff would pose a serious threat. You could still witness the fatal blow money shot with Luke standing over the venting exhaust port staring down into the abyss as he launches his warhead.
It's unfortunate, but referencing the particulars of this case and comparing them to racial overtones and perceptions, I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. It's a tribute to employer screening and training of their field reps, a matter of luck or a bit of both. Either way, apparently it can be dangerous to ask a stranger to show identification at your door. Companies don't want to get sued for the inappropriate actions of a loose cannon, yet they are the first line of defense against this kind of behavior. Ironically, the Verizon rep was irritated by the request (or the way the request was presented) to produce identification and validate his integrity. Yet his overreaction made it mandatory to produce that very same information when he was apprehended for assaulting the client; clearly he wasn't thinking too far ahead. It wouldn't surprise me if the employee had previous behavioral issues that had been noticed or addressed by his Verizon supervisors. It wouldn't surprise me if Verizon distanced themselves from this individual by mandating a drug test and a no-pay suspension for inappropriate behavior pending formal investigative findings.
My first hands on experience with Vista was through Home Basic 32-bit. I had to format my hard drive which seemed so counter-intuitive, when Home Premium didn't have that restriction yet Basic offered an 'anytime upgrade' capability. After swapping out PC parts that weren't compatible or weren't signed I was never able to aactivate the product. I called MS activation, read the info from the inner ring, proved beyond a doubt that I had an authentic retail version but it never validated. In the end I put the disc back in the case and it sits under my desk unused, a $100 mistake.
I see the EU being first in a lot of consumer areas. Their own version of Windows, devices that are released in Europe before the US and now a standard mobile phone adapter. I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.
I forsee Witricity adapters and a slew of 3rd party knock-off components for home and travel that allow us to bathe ourselves in a continuous blanket of electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day. I think some independant studies should be conducted to see the prolonged effects of real-world impact of this convenience. We are no longer happy with the two-hours it takes to recharge a day's worth of mobile device use, we have to charge it wirelessly while it's in use performing wireless tasks. If breaking the grip of proprietary adapter plugs is the point of contention, move the industry to a standard docking cradle, like walkie-talkies. Put the electronic toys down and go do something else. The upside of course would be the eventual decline of questions like, "can I borrow your charger?".