Banks have lost something like 90% of their business over the last 30 years.
See, back in the old days banks held the loans for everything! They had everybody's checking accounts, savings accounts, etc.
Nowadays you go to Merril-Lynch for your Roth-IRA.
You go to Morgan Stanley for your mortgage.
You go somewhere else for that college loan.
And you can go somewhere else for your other investments--CDs, Mutuals, etc.
And you use a credit union for your checking account.
Banks have sucked for years now. Just now that they have lost ALOT of their business they've devised these schemes to suck even more(i.e. ATM charges, high checking account fees, stop payment fees increases, you name it), and try to make a buck.
Banks are merging like crazy because they are dying. I don't know about little credit unions being swallowed by larger banks--my credit union has been serving my state since 1922. And the big banks drove me away from them with their shitty policies! I actually got my CU to *refund* an overdraft fee that I (legitimately) got nailed with when I pointed out that their policy was confusing.:)
I think that mail-in rebates are definatly a scam!
I've been screwed twice in the past year--the only two rebates I have ever sent back. One was for $69.99 for the bag/spare battery/other crap that was an addition to my camcorder purchase. The other was for an ATI graphics card for $39.99
Swindled out of 110 dollars! Liars suck! But bureaucratic corporations, where there is NO ONE to blame(or to take responsibility) suck the worst. Capitalism has its faults--all of which I can live with the exception of corporations who take zero responsibility!
No, its not cheating. Its real life intruding on the games that we play. Who wouldn't rather spend their free time reaping the rewards of their work time(where lets say they make $80 and hour). Their time is obviously better spent working.:) But they gotta have a break, right? Maybe they don't like scraping and scrounging to build their character on EQ. They have the means not to, so why should they?
>In the end I think the quality of the game experience is the most important thing to me - its why I play - if it gets turned into another place for pathetic, useless, and utterly dispicable individuals to try to exploit and make another buck from equally useless wretches who are unable to do something for themselves...
Thats capitalism pal. It invades every fibre of our society, down to the games that we play. Money IS the root of all evil.:)
WTF! I seem to be on an anti-capitalism rant today, does that make me a hippie?! Hippies are so goofy, I can't be a hippy! HELP! Capitalism sucks(but so does socialism!)
WHOA! When was the last time you checked out the economy on UO! Its not fine! A small cottage costs upwards of 300,000 gold(for those of you who don't play, thats about how much I have earned in 4 months of play, being a non-addict, but serious player).
Castles sell for $1000 on e-bay! Or 12,000,000 gold, if you can find someone who would rather have the ingame gold than the $1000 and wants to sell.:)
Unlimited money ruins any economy. Think about it. Inflation; yes you've heard that word before...Oh YES, INFLATION, that does ruin an economy doesn't it?! Gold is limitless in UO, therefore the economy runs rampant. 100,000 gold for a magic sword, no matter how good, is ridiculous. But they are sold for that price because people buy. Hey, they have the money. So why not? Not everybody has the money, tho. Inflation is bad.
I am happy for you that your priorities are straight. Really, I am. Its my belief that there is not room in Capitalism for everybody; there will always be have-nots under our socio-economic system, here in America. Thats the way it works. I don't like it, but I don't see anything better, so I guess I'm stuck here. I think I'd rather be a rich punk and be stuck here tho...
No, its not. Its the closest thing to immersive VR we have, and VR will mimic RL to the best of its ability. See below, comments about organized crime, and retards with money running things.:)
...for the lack of insight in the posts on this thread.
I have played Ultima Online since September, so I have a little expierence in the MMORPG arena. Not alot, but enough to understand that these games mimic real life. Thats right, if you are rich, you will be more successful! OMG! The travesty! Thats life. Get over it. You are going to be pretty miserable in life if you can't get over it and that's a fact.
For those folks who think that "its only a game." I agree! Okay, okay...I did buy one particularly neat piece of equipment for my character. $25 for a suit of "Ranger Armor" off of E-Bay. My purchase will never hurt anybody else's game experience(its a rare item, but not a very good one). Other purchases can and do hurt others game play.
Real Estate brokering has become quite lucrative for people who know what they are doing on UO and makes a hard situation even harder for people who don't have a house to try and get one. Yes, if you own 6 houses(you are only allowed one per account on UO) you are helping to ruin the game for other people. Yes, if you are camping powerful items to sell them on E-bay, you are ruining the game for others. But we (Americans) live in a Capitalist Culture. If you can make a buck, legally, then it is your RIGHT to do so. And I think its a safe bet to say that most/. readers think EULAs aren't worth a bag of dingo's kidnies.
Pointing to the EULA is not a valid argument until the EULA is upheld in a court of law, until then I don't want to hear it. These guys can write whatever they want in their EULAs, I for one, am only agreeing to the terms that I deem enforceable. I don't have to do what the EULA says unless the company who wrote said EULA can come after me about it. If they can't, then it shouldn't be in the EULA. This is how contract law works.
For Jesus' sake people! It was bound to happen! We are capitalists at heart. This is the American way(not that I think that its good, but its the way things are).
Look towards the future: there is a market in virtual objects in crappy games like UO and EQ? Wait until we get even more immersive 3d technology!
VR is coming, be prepared to waste your life at your computer like you never have before.:)
Actually, from watching police tv shows like COPS and other such sundry crap, the cops many times will throw a corded phone through the window of a house during a hostage-type situation, giving them a direct line to the guy with the gun.
The movies are ALWAYS WRONG. WTF did you grow up? LA LA LAND???!
E-mail is legal under the Digital Signature Act, but you need to use a system described by the Act to be covered by it. Like the system Verisign uses.
IANAL but check out some digital signature companies to find out what they use and how they do it.
Well, I'm not a biologist or ecologist or whatever, but aren't wolves the natural predators of deer?
Thing about wolves is, people tend to think they are extremely dangerous and hunt them to near extinction. There was a time when hunters were ENCOURAGED to hunt wolves by EVERYBODY. They were dangerous beasts!!!
Hell, people are TRYING to rebuild the wolf population in a handful of preserves across America but their efforts have been opposed left and right--wolves are dangerous beasts, remember?
Lovely, terrified creature my ass! How do you feel about cows, pigs and lambs, bah-ah-ah-ah. They get slaughtered for food everyday AND they generally don't cause mass damage to speeding cars because they are not in the fucking road!
Deers are a major fucking annoyance for many people. You obviously don't even know the difference bewteen jack shit and bull shit you are so fucking stupid.
There are 3 credit reporting agecies, and you may have to do this several times before getting a letter indicated all 3 so you can write to them for free info.
Being turned down several times in a row shows up on your credit history and looks very bad.:)
Whoops, I meant the television "event."
As a an avid fan of the Dune books, I was dissapointed the first time I saw the movie. Then again, I was younger. Lynch's Dune captures the dark, feudal society that is Shaddam's Empire, and the harsh world of Arrakis. The acting was poor, the character developement was poor, and the plot was chopped to pieces.
What Lynch's movie did was tell the Dune story in a different voice, a different perspective(which was, I think shoddy at times). But my whole feeling of Lynch's movie is that it had alot of great -parts- The Shooting was fantastic. The editing sucked. I don't know if the actors really sucked, or if it was just poor dialogue that they were stuck with.
I don't nitpick Lynch's Dune tho. I accept it for what it is. Dumbed down, fit for the everyman's entertainment. It had a flavor that I have never seen in another movie tho, a mood.
This Mini-series, I don't expect to be better or worse than Lynch's. I expect it to be different. Different sandworms, different sets, different story(longer, shorter, cut, uncut, it won't be the book no matter what they do). I noticed that they've mangled the dialogues quite a bit, and changed the story to boot! For example, Paul and Irulan's chat on the upper level of the ballroom/main hall. That never happened! But hey, if they work it into the story, it may be interesting. That is my greatest hope for this Dune: that they justify their changes by entertaining me(well) with them. Soap Opera's have pretty complex character development(and pretty far fetched, but...) so if the miniseries can AT LEAST capture that, no matter what happens with the plot, the characters may just be memorable.
Oh and to the guy who said Gurney is a doofus in this miniseries? I say to you: Heheh:)
Maybe, but a deadly one.
Most [ambitious] employees see training as a perk.
Yes, it raises their value on the job market, and yes they may leave because of it. But if your pay is competative, if your employees like the work environment, if there is the possibility of more training in the future, more training becomes another reason for them to stay.
Thats right, true democracy means mob rules.
Thats why the electoral college is a -good- idea.
If there were no electoral college, then the candidates would only have to campaign in the largest states, or the states that lean the most towards their party. The electoral college ensures minority rights.
I'm surprised at the vast swath of ignorance about the electoral college that I have seen this election, when it only took me 5 minutes on the internet to find relevant explanation.
http://www.avagara.com/e_c/reference/00012001.ht m
Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Didn't you pay any attention to the Clinton-Bush Race? If Ross Perot hadn't dropped out of the race there COULD have been a modern situation where the Electoral College had to vote for who THEY decided would be the best president. It is not overhyped! There was a good chance of it happening in 1992! Where were you?
Not to see that it would have happened. I don't believe that votes can be predicted(unlike all those pollsters). But there was a chance. And don't you forget it. So there. Nyeah.
Check it out, it tells the story about how Gore never claimed he invented the internet.
I finally got curious about this one myself last week, so I looked it up online, and...AMAZING! The information is right there! Gore never claimed to invent the Internet!
No, I believe that.wap stands for Wireless Application Protocol. Which makes no sense, considering that alot of web pages that can be accessed by your cell phone or palm forgo the www. for.wap
For example wap.slashdot.org, speaking of wap.slashdot...when will/. be available to WAP browsers Taco?(or is it already?)
The Cellular Phone companies have the contract thing down perfect. People -expect- to have to sign a contract nowadays to be able to get a phone. Not that you could do the same thing with a Cue:Cat. Its a pretty useless device, honestly. I went out the day that I read about it and got one, but I haven't even had the time to install it. Now, TiVo on the other hand could get away with it especially because they are so cheap.
Slashdot Mirror
Banks have lost something like 90% of their business over the last 30 years. :)
See, back in the old days banks held the loans for everything! They had everybody's checking accounts, savings accounts, etc.
Nowadays you go to Merril-Lynch for your Roth-IRA.
You go to Morgan Stanley for your mortgage.
You go somewhere else for that college loan.
And you can go somewhere else for your other investments--CDs, Mutuals, etc.
And you use a credit union for your checking account.
Banks have sucked for years now. Just now that they have lost ALOT of their business they've devised these schemes to suck even more(i.e. ATM charges, high checking account fees, stop payment fees increases, you name it), and try to make a buck.
Banks are merging like crazy because they are dying. I don't know about little credit unions being swallowed by larger banks--my credit union has been serving my state since 1922. And the big banks drove me away from them with their shitty policies! I actually got my CU to *refund* an overdraft fee that I (legitimately) got nailed with when I pointed out that their policy was confusing.
You're rich, aren't you?
Trying to pretend you're not a greedy bastard.
Well, you're not going to fool me! No way! 48% tax on you!
I think that mail-in rebates are definatly a scam!
I've been screwed twice in the past year--the only two rebates I have ever sent back. One was for $69.99 for the bag/spare battery/other crap that was an addition to my camcorder purchase. The other was for an ATI graphics card for $39.99
Swindled out of 110 dollars! Liars suck! But bureaucratic corporations, where there is NO ONE to blame(or to take responsibility) suck the worst. Capitalism has its faults--all of which I can live with the exception of corporations who take zero responsibility!
No, its not cheating. Its real life intruding on the games that we play. Who wouldn't rather spend their free time reaping the rewards of their work time(where lets say they make $80 and hour). Their time is obviously better spent working. :) But they gotta have a break, right? Maybe they don't like scraping and scrounging to build their character on EQ. They have the means not to, so why should they?
>In the end I think the quality of the game experience is the most important thing to me - its why I play - if it gets turned into another place for pathetic, useless, and utterly dispicable individuals to try to exploit and make another buck from equally useless wretches who are unable to do something for themselves...
:)
Thats capitalism pal. It invades every fibre of our society, down to the games that we play. Money IS the root of all evil.
WTF! I seem to be on an anti-capitalism rant today, does that make me a hippie?! Hippies are so goofy, I can't be a hippy! HELP! Capitalism sucks(but so does socialism!)
WHOA! When was the last time you checked out the economy on UO! Its not fine! A small cottage costs upwards of 300,000 gold(for those of you who don't play, thats about how much I have earned in 4 months of play, being a non-addict, but serious player). Castles sell for $1000 on e-bay! Or 12,000,000 gold, if you can find someone who would rather have the ingame gold than the $1000 and wants to sell. :)
Unlimited money ruins any economy. Think about it. Inflation; yes you've heard that word before...Oh YES, INFLATION, that does ruin an economy doesn't it?! Gold is limitless in UO, therefore the economy runs rampant. 100,000 gold for a magic sword, no matter how good, is ridiculous. But they are sold for that price because people buy. Hey, they have the money. So why not? Not everybody has the money, tho. Inflation is bad.
I am happy for you that your priorities are straight. Really, I am. Its my belief that there is not room in Capitalism for everybody; there will always be have-nots under our socio-economic system, here in America. Thats the way it works. I don't like it, but I don't see anything better, so I guess I'm stuck here. I think I'd rather be a rich punk and be stuck here tho...
No, its not. Its the closest thing to immersive VR we have, and VR will mimic RL to the best of its ability. See below, comments about organized crime, and retards with money running things. :)
...for the lack of insight in the posts on this thread. /. readers think EULAs aren't worth a bag of dingo's kidnies.
:)
I have played Ultima Online since September, so I have a little expierence in the MMORPG arena. Not alot, but enough to understand that these games mimic real life. Thats right, if you are rich, you will be more successful! OMG! The travesty! Thats life. Get over it. You are going to be pretty miserable in life if you can't get over it and that's a fact.
For those folks who think that "its only a game." I agree! Okay, okay...I did buy one particularly neat piece of equipment for my character. $25 for a suit of "Ranger Armor" off of E-Bay. My purchase will never hurt anybody else's game experience(its a rare item, but not a very good one). Other purchases can and do hurt others game play.
Real Estate brokering has become quite lucrative for people who know what they are doing on UO and makes a hard situation even harder for people who don't have a house to try and get one. Yes, if you own 6 houses(you are only allowed one per account on UO) you are helping to ruin the game for other people. Yes, if you are camping powerful items to sell them on E-bay, you are ruining the game for others. But we (Americans) live in a Capitalist Culture. If you can make a buck, legally, then it is your RIGHT to do so. And I think its a safe bet to say that most
Pointing to the EULA is not a valid argument until the EULA is upheld in a court of law, until then I don't want to hear it. These guys can write whatever they want in their EULAs, I for one, am only agreeing to the terms that I deem enforceable. I don't have to do what the EULA says unless the company who wrote said EULA can come after me about it. If they can't, then it shouldn't be in the EULA. This is how contract law works.
For Jesus' sake people! It was bound to happen! We are capitalists at heart. This is the American way(not that I think that its good, but its the way things are).
Look towards the future: there is a market in virtual objects in crappy games like UO and EQ? Wait until we get even more immersive 3d technology!
VR is coming, be prepared to waste your life at your computer like you never have before.
Actually, from watching police tv shows like COPS and other such sundry crap, the cops many times will throw a corded phone through the window of a house during a hostage-type situation, giving them a direct line to the guy with the gun. The movies are ALWAYS WRONG. WTF did you grow up? LA LA LAND???!
E-mail is legal under the Digital Signature Act, but you need to use a system described by the Act to be covered by it. Like the system Verisign uses. IANAL but check out some digital signature companies to find out what they use and how they do it.
Well, I'm not a biologist or ecologist or whatever, but aren't wolves the natural predators of deer? Thing about wolves is, people tend to think they are extremely dangerous and hunt them to near extinction. There was a time when hunters were ENCOURAGED to hunt wolves by EVERYBODY. They were dangerous beasts!!! Hell, people are TRYING to rebuild the wolf population in a handful of preserves across America but their efforts have been opposed left and right--wolves are dangerous beasts, remember? Lovely, terrified creature my ass! How do you feel about cows, pigs and lambs, bah-ah-ah-ah. They get slaughtered for food everyday AND they generally don't cause mass damage to speeding cars because they are not in the fucking road! Deers are a major fucking annoyance for many people. You obviously don't even know the difference bewteen jack shit and bull shit you are so fucking stupid.
There are 3 credit reporting agecies, and you may have to do this several times before getting a letter indicated all 3 so you can write to them for free info. Being turned down several times in a row shows up on your credit history and looks very bad. :)
Whoops, I meant the television "event." :)
As a an avid fan of the Dune books, I was dissapointed the first time I saw the movie. Then again, I was younger. Lynch's Dune captures the dark, feudal society that is Shaddam's Empire, and the harsh world of Arrakis. The acting was poor, the character developement was poor, and the plot was chopped to pieces.
What Lynch's movie did was tell the Dune story in a different voice, a different perspective(which was, I think shoddy at times). But my whole feeling of Lynch's movie is that it had alot of great -parts- The Shooting was fantastic. The editing sucked. I don't know if the actors really sucked, or if it was just poor dialogue that they were stuck with.
I don't nitpick Lynch's Dune tho. I accept it for what it is. Dumbed down, fit for the everyman's entertainment. It had a flavor that I have never seen in another movie tho, a mood.
This Mini-series, I don't expect to be better or worse than Lynch's. I expect it to be different. Different sandworms, different sets, different story(longer, shorter, cut, uncut, it won't be the book no matter what they do). I noticed that they've mangled the dialogues quite a bit, and changed the story to boot! For example, Paul and Irulan's chat on the upper level of the ballroom/main hall. That never happened! But hey, if they work it into the story, it may be interesting. That is my greatest hope for this Dune: that they justify their changes by entertaining me(well) with them. Soap Opera's have pretty complex character development(and pretty far fetched, but...) so if the miniseries can AT LEAST capture that, no matter what happens with the plot, the characters may just be memorable.
Oh and to the guy who said Gurney is a doofus in this miniseries? I say to you: Heheh
Maybe, but a deadly one.
Most [ambitious] employees see training as a perk. Yes, it raises their value on the job market, and yes they may leave because of it. But if your pay is competative, if your employees like the work environment, if there is the possibility of more training in the future, more training becomes another reason for them to stay.
Thats right, true democracy means mob rules.t m
Thats why the electoral college is a -good- idea.
If there were no electoral college, then the candidates would only have to campaign in the largest states, or the states that lean the most towards their party. The electoral college ensures minority rights.
I'm surprised at the vast swath of ignorance about the electoral college that I have seen this election, when it only took me 5 minutes on the internet to find relevant explanation.
http://www.avagara.com/e_c/reference/00012001.h
Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Didn't you pay any attention to the Clinton-Bush Race? If Ross Perot hadn't dropped out of the race there COULD have been a modern situation where the Electoral College had to vote for who THEY decided would be the best president. It is not overhyped! There was a good chance of it happening in 1992! Where were you? Not to see that it would have happened. I don't believe that votes can be predicted(unlike all those pollsters). But there was a chance. And don't you forget it. So there. Nyeah.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/10/05/gore _internet/index.html
Check it out, it tells the story about how Gore never claimed he invented the internet.
I finally got curious about this one myself last week, so I looked it up online, and...AMAZING! The information is right there! Gore never claimed to invent the Internet!
No, I believe that .wap stands for Wireless Application Protocol. Which makes no sense, considering that alot of web pages that can be accessed by your cell phone or palm forgo the www. for .wap
For example wap.slashdot.org, speaking of wap.slashdot...when will /. be available to WAP browsers Taco?(or is it already?)
The Cellular Phone companies have the contract thing down perfect. People -expect- to have to sign a contract nowadays to be able to get a phone. Not that you could do the same thing with a Cue:Cat. Its a pretty useless device, honestly. I went out the day that I read about it and got one, but I haven't even had the time to install it. Now, TiVo on the other hand could get away with it especially because they are so cheap.