This is all totally off topic, but who cares... In the slightly-less-extreme category, there are those of us who buy old cars and keep them running. I own a 10+ year old Audi that with a few hundred dollars in modifications has 280hp, all wheel drive, 5-speed(these are getting rarer and rarer-dammit, I don't WANT an automatic!) an ENORMOUS amount of interior space and trunk space, gets about 22-24mpg highway, weighs 3600lb(that's VERY light compared to cars its size today- full-size luxury cars nowadays tip the scale at well over 4,000lb- often much more!) It looks like "some old Audi"(nobody will ever steal it.) I get to blow the doors off most everything save the cream of the crop of sports cars.
I know what you mean about them not making the car I want. I don't even know if you can get cars without power everything, and cloth seats anymore. I am all for advancing technology, but don't force it on us.
Heh, that must be one of those Audis that got spanked by the M3. Of course, EVERYONE got spanked by the M3 in the late 80s early 90s.:-) I own a 1988 M3 and I definitely know what you are talking about. The only things you have on me are HP and AWD, and if I had the $$ I could match you on the HP.
I know what you mean about the posers. It was very satisfying to pass a 911 on the track, and to have the guy in the NSX go off track twice trying to catch me. Of course, if we were at a bigger track, like Road America, they would have blown by me on the straights, but this was at Gingerman. You have to watch out for some of those P cars though, if you can afford one and learn how to drive it, they are pretty top-notch. Of course, if I could afford a new 911, I'd rather get a couple E30 M3s instead.
Maybe Linux UI people can get a jump on MS by making KDE/Gnome more accessible to more females.
Yeah - because now all of a sudden Linux geeks will have some insight into what women want? If they could do that, they might make themselves presentable to women, not design a UI for them.
You may think that your algorithm is really unique and unguessable but thats what most people think about their passwords as well.
That is why my algorithm isn't based on anything observable. Purely hypothetical situation, since I have no kids, but you get the idea:
When my wife told me she was pregnant, I was listening to Mozart in the car. So I would take Mozart, replace the M with P, for pregnant, and add the 3 letter abbreviation for the month she told me at the end. Now it is PozartFeb. Now when I have to change the password after a few months, I rotate first and second vowels to the next letter in the alphabet. PozartFeb becomes PpzbrtFeb. The next one would be PqzcrtFeb, etc.
If I forget my password, I have rules that the original was based on, and I can eventually guess it by starting over. I doubt anyone would be able to guess this password, they'd have to brute force it. If I want to use the same password for multiple accounts, I can prepend or append an identifier for the type of account. So to use this password for Slashdot (or Slash Dot), I could add S to the front, and D to the end.
Now it is SPqzbrtFebD.
What is also good about my method is that I can write down a reminder on how to recreate it without giving it away. I could write - baby password, 4th rotation, plus SlashDot. I know what that means, but anyone else looking at it wouldn't have a clue.
At work I have at least 10 passwords. Do you want my network login, SAP, ClearQuest, TestManager, RequisitePro, screensaver, Visual Source Safe, 401k, voicemail, or any of the other 10 applications I have to log into to get my job done? They all have different expiration and reset rules too.
In my personal life, I have about half that. So yeah, I do use the same password in different places. But I usually have a "low" "medium" and "high" security password algorithm that I use. My more secure ones are up to 15 characters, my least secure are blank. (for dumb apps at work)
Managing passwords can get pretty cumbersome, but I do it because I know it needs to be done. Most people don't realize that.
I still remember working in the computer lab in college, and having to reset people's passwords daily because they would forget them. In true suave-geek fashion, every hot chick got her password changed to my name. (that never did work out the way I had hoped):-)
Most of the people I know with a clue have an algorithm for coming up with their password. I do. I just don't tell anyone what it is.
I still remember one guys password, because when he left the company he told me what it was in case I needed any of the information locked up in his account. It was CIrpotb,
It was the first letter of every word in a line from Jeremy, by Pearl Jam. "Clearly I remember picking on the boy," I am sure the comma was thrown in for variety. The other rule of the algorithm is to have one thing that violates the algorithm.
I like the phone! I'd probably have to hold it in my hand to know for sure, but it looks pretty durable and solid. Yeah, it is kind of gimmicky, but I like the design - simple, but cool. It actually looks like a phone, and not a piece of jewelry. I really like the ring tone that is just the phone ringing instead of some dumb song. Of course, it is the phone ringing from the movie.
I usually don't go for gimmicks, which this is, but I like the looks of it. You are right though, weak on specs and details.
how irritatating it would be to try and dial that thing, with the buttons not layed out in the traditional, muscle memory configuration.
You know you are old when you look at it and say "dude, that is the way the numbers used to be laid out - on rotary phones". Now *THAT* would be cool, to have a rotary dial mobile phone.:-)
My parents still have some rotary phones. One time, and this was back around '85, my brother brought home a date who was a "city girl". She went to use the phone, and she didn't know how to use a rotary phone. She was just pushing the numbers, not actually "dialing" them. It was so funny. Do people even wonder today how we got the term "dialing" a number?
I remember when someone could be protective of their own intellectual property, and not be sanctimoniously lectured about it.
I do too. It was back when it wasn't called intellectual property.
I feel a rant coming on....
The problem is, Sony didn't make a Spiderman movie, make some money, and that's that. They are trying to establish the Spiderman Franchise. Nothing is "normal" anymore, everything has to be pushed way too far. You can't just get something good and then appreciate it for that - you have to have it repeatedly crammed down your throat until you are so sick of it you'll embrace anything that is just SOMETHING ELSE.
Everything has to be capitalized on, to squeeze every frigging drop of life out of it. Everything is to the extreme, hardcore, in your face, number one, top selling, smash hit. Every week I see a commercial about the "number one movie in America", or the "new hit series" that has only aired two episodes. It is why a simple book like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" had every imaginable bastardization of it hit the market. That book may be pretty good, but I'll never read it because I am so SICK of seeing variations of that title. It's why the TV show The Osbournes was ruined after the first season. The first season was original, and genuinely funny. Now it is all engineered.
It can all be summed up by the geniuses behind The Simpsons. Last night they aired the episode of Poochie the Dog. Spiderman is becoming Poochie, just like Batman did, just like Star Wars did, just like 99% of all movies and music are today. We live in a world of Poochies.
I just thought of the simplest solution that would please everyone. The Mozilla team simply puts a link on their website to the Firebird SQL site. Put it under a heading "Firebird browser is not affiliated with Firebird SQL" with Firebird SQL's logo.
Firebird SQL gets more visibility, Mozilla clears up any potential confusion (?). They both get to keep their project names.
Why does everything need to be such a big deal? Can anyone come up with a good idea why this won't work?
The worrisome digital divide is the one that affects young people and children from poor areas. Those are very likely to be in a disadvantageous position when looking for jobs in the future.
While I agree with this, it also assumes that most jobs in the future will involve the internet. Someone coming from a poor area will most likely have a lower level of education. THAT is a much bigger hurdle in getting a job than not having internet access, IMO. Having internet access can aid in education, but it won't ensure a good education. I just think that we have bigger problems to fix. Putting computers (and TVs, and cellphones) into every home will not fix the real problems.
Non-users say they feel no need or desire to use the Internet, or that going online is not a good use of their time. This nonchalance and resistance is often related to a general misconception of what the Web and email have to offer. In other cases, reluctance is connected to specific obstacles, fears, or previous online experiences.
I found the above portion of the article to be a little disturbing. It implies that everyone should be using the internet, yet some people resist it because of unfounded reasoning.
How about the fact that it's OK if you don't want to use the internet? If over half of the people not on the net now don't want it, I don't see what the big deal is. It isn't for everyone, and maybe shouldn't be. TV isn't for everyone, cellphones aren't for everyone. So what?
Within a couple of years you will not even be able to log into windows without standing with your hand on your heart, pledging allegiance to the gilded image of Chairman Gates and singing the anthem.
I have to say that their stores seem a pretty solid concept - at least they're always busy. And if they lost the stores they would be just vying for shelf (or web page) space alongside their competitors. So I think its a brave call, and they've done the right thing, just because of their very unique sales model.
This may all be true - but they why shut down the e-tailers? If there is a great community in these stores, then why are the internet sites a threat? It seems like the people who like the community aspect would still have it, and those not near a store could buy the product as well.
Something smells, folks. MS -bought- their way into this one, probably via strong-arming or simply bribing with free hardware+licenses. By the way, PBS dropped Quicktime recently too.
I have never heard an Apple advertisement on NPR, but I hear them from Microsoft all the time. (OK, so they don't have ads, but those quick blurbs like "this is being brought to you by....")
I really hope that NPR wouldn't let MS do that though.
Well, GW games are targetted towards teenage boys. These kids want the games and ask their parents to buy them. Parents don't have a clue about what a Skaven army is, so they go to the friendly, clean and well-lit GW store and ask questions.
So do the kids have any idea what a Skaven army is? If not, then why the hell do they want the game? If all their friends have it, then they should be talking about it with their friends. Do you think the parent will be able to relay the information from the Comic Book Guy ^W^W^W GW store guy to the kid? Probably not.
Not sure how much expierence you have with war gamming but there are a lot of factors to take into account. Basically with Warhammer (and a lot of other games), you have several various 'factions'. Humans, Eldar, Orkz, Necron ect. Each faction tends to have different strengths and weaknesses. In those 'factions' you then have tons of different sub factions...
I can sum up my experience by saying by the time I had read the first three sentences of your post, I was lost. I know the concept of these games, but I don't get the attraction. If the point is to use your skills, read up on it, and build your army of whatever and come up with a strategy, then why are you asking some clerk about it? I would think you would read up on it, and come up with your own ideas and strategy. Need to talk to others? Gee, I have to imagine that there is some internet discussion forum where this is the topic of heated debates.:-)
I don't get these games, just like I didn't get D&D back in the day. It's just not my bag. But from what I've observed, part of the fun was figuring it out, being creative. Or maybe talking with your friends about it - not some salesman at a store.
For instance, what a lot of people do is talk to the local guy, use up all his time and ideas, and then buy online from someone who is cheaper because they don't spend all day helping customers and providing a value-add. Therefore, you see the people who were providing all the quality customer service go out of business because they can't spend all that time helping people and compete with the low price guys.
Seriously, pardon my ignorance, but why exactly do you need to consult with a salesperson about buying miniatures? What value do they add? Consulting a salesperson on a computer if you don't know much about them? I can buy that. But purchasing miniatures for a game? I don't get it.
I have actually been in a GameWorks, I went to lunch with a couple of friends who were into it and they went in to buy some stuff. To tell you the truth, the place kind of creeped me out. And I didn't see anyone working too hard in there either.
In the USA and perhaps a few other countries perhaps - the rest of the world isn't drowning itself in stupid laws quite like the USA is at the moment. Microsoft has a long legal reach but it doesn't extend over the entire planet.
I can imagine 7 years or more down the track, when innovation has been finally eradicated from the US economic landscape, India (for example) will have observed and learned from the USA's mistakes, and become the largest economic superpower on Earth.
Once again, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know deep in my heart that no matter how you look at it, I don't live or work in the USA:)
Heyyyy, that's great.
But what about this? . Really, don't be patting yourself on the back too much, or you will fall into the same pit that we have in the U.S. Some dumbass law will get passed wherever you live because your politicians are just as greedy as our politicians. They'll pass it under your nose, or through some back door, or right in front of your face. Then you will be just as screwed as we are.
People from other countries like to think that they are above laws like this. I hope you are right, because it will give me more options when I finally decide I have to leave this country.:-) Just make sure that while you are laughing at our stupid laws, the same ones don't get passed where you live.
Don't get me wrong, I was born here, but my eyes are open. Is the DMCA as bad as some of the human rights violations that occur around the world? No, of course not. But corporations run America, and there is little chance of that changing. I don't know how much longer I can take it.
I prefer the Atkins [atkinscenter.com] approach. I researched it for many months and spoke with my doctor about it. In spite of rumors to the contrary, it is quite healthy if done correctly. I have lost 20 pounds, 10 more to go, and feel better than I ever have. I lose it slow, and never go hungry. Ever.
Please, don't confuse the ability to lose weight with being healthy. You could starve yourself and lose weight, but not be healthy. Read this article from Scientific American. Read other scientific articles on health. If you follow some crazy diet just to lose weight, you may face bigger health problems down the road.
This could really give MS quite a bit of leverage if it ever needed it - "Upgrade now, get 50 free songs for Windows Media Player" or some such thing.
As opposed to their current scheme, "Upgrade now, or we will audit you". Corporate America is their bread-and-butter, they have shown time and time again they don't care about the average consooooomer.
if there wasnt so much of a focus on crap like "productivity" and "getting things done" and "using the right tools" and everyone just switched to GNU/Linux, KDE and OpenOffice.
Sure, your business will more than likely tank as your employees struggle to get even rudimentary things like printing working, but oh my goodness MicroSoft is bad for producing a working product which has lasted for what, almost two decades now.
Pssst. Open Office runs on Windows you know, so cut the Linux FUD (or is it just ignorance?).
And MS Office has not lasted for almost two decades now. Every couple of years they force everyone to upgrade. At best you'll get 4 years out of a version before you have to upgrade. Unless you are currently running MS Office 1985, you should ponder the facts.
...we still can't wait to see X-Men XVII, The Matrix Reloaded Again and Again, Armageddon III, Terminator XV, et. al.
We still put money in their pockets, the same money they use to buy these legislators.
What is wrong with us?
Americans are sheep. We have to be told what to do and what to buy. We have bought into this status and money game, we are consumers. Why was there a Hummer driving next to me on the commute to work today? Why is there an insane amount of suburban sprawl? Why is the answer to so many questions "you should sue them"?
To your specific point, The Matrix was a great movie. The Terminator (and T2) were good movies. X-Men was done pretty well, for a story that has been around for as long as it has been. Armageddon probably sucked, but I never saw it. It was too predictable, and just a typical hollywood movie.
In one respect, I hate the entertainment industry because it is so un-authentic. On the other hand, I enjoy good entertainment. There are the occasional glimmers of hope, but those are quickly exploited TO THE EXTREME! I just rented My Big Fat Greek Wedding this weekend. Good movie, worth seeing. Was it worth creating a sitcom of it? No. Lethal Weapon was a good movie, but they ruined the hell out of it. The original Star Wars trilogy was great, but it has been ruined as well. The list goes on and on and on.
The same holds true for the music industry. So many bands have great breakthrough albums, but quickly start to make music that will "sell". It is the difference between true art and faux-art. We go see movie sequels, and buy follow-up albums, because we are promised that they are as good if not better than the originals. It rarely happens. We are also taught to get something NOW NOW NOW. Don't wait, get it now!
I think the real problem is that the American public is so stupid that they don't think for themselves anymore. They are told so many times that "Star Wars Episode II" is great that they start to believe it. I can't wait to see the next Matrix movie because I loved the first one. I have seen the trailers, I have read the articles on the technology used. Now I am going to sit back, and wait until it comes out. I'll even wait a week or two to go see it, just to try to avoid some of the hype. And if it sucks, I'll admit it sucks.
I want what everyone else wants - good entertainment. I think the American public needs to get some taste.
nor will I watch XMEN2 to see a superb ensemble cast.
*cough* Patrick Stewart *cough* Ian McKellen *cough*
What about Hugh Jackman. Just before X-Men came out, I saw a picture of him. I thought "THIS is Wolverine? They got the wrong freakin guy to play Wolverine!" Then I saw the movie. He was one of the best characters in it, he really pulled it off. The ones who seemed to be a better fit for the part were just OK. (Storm, Cyclops) And Jean? woo baby. I usually don't look forward to too many movies, but X-men2 and the Matrix sequels have me itching to get in the theater. It is going to be hard for me to wait my self-imposed mandatory week before going to see them. I hate seeing movies in crowded theatres, there are too many.... people... there. A bunch of cud-chewing noisy cows they are.
Any "law" that gives the government the right to spy on people will not last... and if laws like this are not repealed, then other laws with similar or worse implications will slowly be approved. The people simply won't tollorate it!
You know, people like to say this, but they don't really mean it. What do you mean by "won't tollorate[sic] it"? What will they do? Nothing. They'll drive their fat fucking ass to McDonalds in their SUV, while talking on their phone to their spouse that they hate, asking if they want the super-size or the super-fucking-duper size freedom fries.
People will tolerate it. All you might see is a Fox News report about it, in between the reports on the latest revolutionary diet and the current Hollywood scandal. The American public doesn't care about what their government is doing, because if they do care all of the local sheep will bleat at them "liiiiibbberaaaaal". And it isn't limited to our public, even our officials were ignorant enough stage a "protest" by renaming food with the word French in it, even though french fries are Belgian, and french toast was created in New York.
Americans are happy in their ignorance. Shortly after 9/11, there was true compassion and solidarity. But it waned very quickly, and soon there were towel-head slurs, T-shirts with Bin Laden on them with a crosshairs on his face, and business as usual. And if you think I am un-American, you are wrong. I love this country for all of the good, but I want to see it change for the better. I don't like the way it is turning out, it needs to change. We are a joke in other countries for good reason, and if you react to that with defensive attitudes like "Fuck them, we are the USA" then YOU are part of the problem. And it doesn't matter if GWB was right about Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction, the way he went about it was wrong. Liberate Iraq my ass. Yes, it is good that they are liberated, but it is funny how the same people who make the towel-head jokes are suddenly the ones supporting the so-called liberation. When this is all over, I am betting that it will be a matter of weeks before I hear my first deragatory joke around the office about the Iraqi people.
Bush is part of the fucking problem. The Patriot Act is part of the problem, and most likely if you live in the USA YOU are part of the problem. And I don't have any easy answers, so don't ask for them. Whey does everything have to be an easy answer? If everyone would just wake up and see the problem, the real problem, then they could start to change. If you can't see that, then you are a short-sighted sheep, just waiting to be led to the slaughter.
Slashdot Mirror
In the slightly-less-extreme category, there are those of us who buy old cars and keep them running. I own a 10+ year old Audi that with a few hundred dollars in modifications has 280hp, all wheel drive, 5-speed(these are getting rarer and rarer-dammit, I don't WANT an automatic!) an ENORMOUS amount of interior space and trunk space, gets about 22-24mpg highway, weighs 3600lb(that's VERY light compared to cars its size today- full-size luxury cars nowadays tip the scale at well over 4,000lb- often much more!) It looks like "some old Audi"(nobody will ever steal it.) I get to blow the doors off most everything save the cream of the crop of sports cars.
I know what you mean about them not making the car I want. I don't even know if you can get cars without power everything, and cloth seats anymore. I am all for advancing technology, but don't force it on us.
Heh, that must be one of those Audis that got spanked by the M3. Of course, EVERYONE got spanked by the M3 in the late 80s early 90s. :-) I own a 1988 M3 and I definitely know what you are talking about. The only things you have on me are HP and AWD, and if I had the $$ I could match you on the HP.
I know what you mean about the posers. It was very satisfying to pass a 911 on the track, and to have the guy in the NSX go off track twice trying to catch me. Of course, if we were at a bigger track, like Road America, they would have blown by me on the straights, but this was at Gingerman. You have to watch out for some of those P cars though, if you can afford one and learn how to drive it, they are pretty top-notch. Of course, if I could afford a new 911, I'd rather get a couple E30 M3s instead.
Yeah - because now all of a sudden Linux geeks will have some insight into what women want? If they could do that, they might make themselves presentable to women, not design a UI for them.
On second thought, which is more likely?
That is why my algorithm isn't based on anything observable. Purely hypothetical situation, since I have no kids, but you get the idea:
When my wife told me she was pregnant, I was listening to Mozart in the car. So I would take Mozart, replace the M with P, for pregnant, and add the 3 letter abbreviation for the month she told me at the end. Now it is PozartFeb. Now when I have to change the password after a few months, I rotate first and second vowels to the next letter in the alphabet. PozartFeb becomes PpzbrtFeb. The next one would be PqzcrtFeb, etc.
If I forget my password, I have rules that the original was based on, and I can eventually guess it by starting over. I doubt anyone would be able to guess this password, they'd have to brute force it. If I want to use the same password for multiple accounts, I can prepend or append an identifier for the type of account. So to use this password for Slashdot (or Slash Dot), I could add S to the front, and D to the end. Now it is SPqzbrtFebD.
What is also good about my method is that I can write down a reminder on how to recreate it without giving it away. I could write - baby password, 4th rotation, plus SlashDot. I know what that means, but anyone else looking at it wouldn't have a clue.
In my personal life, I have about half that. So yeah, I do use the same password in different places. But I usually have a "low" "medium" and "high" security password algorithm that I use. My more secure ones are up to 15 characters, my least secure are blank. (for dumb apps at work)
Managing passwords can get pretty cumbersome, but I do it because I know it needs to be done. Most people don't realize that.
I still remember working in the computer lab in college, and having to reset people's passwords daily because they would forget them. In true suave-geek fashion, every hot chick got her password changed to my name. (that never did work out the way I had hoped) :-)
I still remember one guys password, because when he left the company he told me what it was in case I needed any of the information locked up in his account. It was CIrpotb,
It was the first letter of every word in a line from Jeremy, by Pearl Jam. "Clearly I remember picking on the boy," I am sure the comma was thrown in for variety. The other rule of the algorithm is to have one thing that violates the algorithm.
I usually don't go for gimmicks, which this is, but I like the looks of it. You are right though, weak on specs and details.
You know you are old when you look at it and say "dude, that is the way the numbers used to be laid out - on rotary phones". Now *THAT* would be cool, to have a rotary dial mobile phone. :-)
My parents still have some rotary phones. One time, and this was back around '85, my brother brought home a date who was a "city girl". She went to use the phone, and she didn't know how to use a rotary phone. She was just pushing the numbers, not actually "dialing" them. It was so funny. Do people even wonder today how we got the term "dialing" a number?
I do too. It was back when it wasn't called intellectual property.
I feel a rant coming on....
The problem is, Sony didn't make a Spiderman movie, make some money, and that's that. They are trying to establish the Spiderman Franchise. Nothing is "normal" anymore, everything has to be pushed way too far. You can't just get something good and then appreciate it for that - you have to have it repeatedly crammed down your throat until you are so sick of it you'll embrace anything that is just SOMETHING ELSE.
Everything has to be capitalized on, to squeeze every frigging drop of life out of it. Everything is to the extreme, hardcore, in your face, number one, top selling, smash hit. Every week I see a commercial about the "number one movie in America", or the "new hit series" that has only aired two episodes. It is why a simple book like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" had every imaginable bastardization of it hit the market. That book may be pretty good, but I'll never read it because I am so SICK of seeing variations of that title. It's why the TV show The Osbournes was ruined after the first season. The first season was original, and genuinely funny. Now it is all engineered.
It can all be summed up by the geniuses behind The Simpsons. Last night they aired the episode of Poochie the Dog. Spiderman is becoming Poochie, just like Batman did, just like Star Wars did, just like 99% of all movies and music are today. We live in a world of Poochies.
Firebird SQL gets more visibility, Mozilla clears up any potential confusion (?). They both get to keep their project names.
Why does everything need to be such a big deal? Can anyone come up with a good idea why this won't work?
While I agree with this, it also assumes that most jobs in the future will involve the internet. Someone coming from a poor area will most likely have a lower level of education. THAT is a much bigger hurdle in getting a job than not having internet access, IMO. Having internet access can aid in education, but it won't ensure a good education. I just think that we have bigger problems to fix. Putting computers (and TVs, and cellphones) into every home will not fix the real problems.
I found the above portion of the article to be a little disturbing. It implies that everyone should be using the internet, yet some people resist it because of unfounded reasoning.
How about the fact that it's OK if you don't want to use the internet? If over half of the people not on the net now don't want it, I don't see what the big deal is. It isn't for everyone, and maybe shouldn't be. TV isn't for everyone, cellphones aren't for everyone. So what?
Dang, I thought you said gelded .
This may all be true - but they why shut down the e-tailers? If there is a great community in these stores, then why are the internet sites a threat? It seems like the people who like the community aspect would still have it, and those not near a store could buy the product as well.
I have never heard an Apple advertisement on NPR, but I hear them from Microsoft all the time. ....")
(OK, so they don't have ads, but those quick blurbs like "this is being brought to you by
I really hope that NPR wouldn't let MS do that though.
Parents don't have a clue about what a Skaven army is, so they go to the friendly, clean and well-lit GW store and ask questions.
So do the kids have any idea what a Skaven army is? If not, then why the hell do they want the game? If all their friends have it, then they should be talking about it with their friends. Do you think the parent will be able to relay the information from the Comic Book Guy ^W^W^W GW store guy to the kid? Probably not.
I can sum up my experience by saying by the time I had read the first three sentences of your post, I was lost. I know the concept of these games, but I don't get the attraction. If the point is to use your skills, read up on it, and build your army of whatever and come up with a strategy, then why are you asking some clerk about it? I would think you would read up on it, and come up with your own ideas and strategy. Need to talk to others? Gee, I have to imagine that there is some internet discussion forum where this is the topic of heated debates. :-)
I don't get these games, just like I didn't get D&D back in the day. It's just not my bag. But from what I've observed, part of the fun was figuring it out, being creative. Or maybe talking with your friends about it - not some salesman at a store.
Seriously, pardon my ignorance, but why exactly do you need to consult with a salesperson about buying miniatures? What value do they add? Consulting a salesperson on a computer if you don't know much about them? I can buy that. But purchasing miniatures for a game? I don't get it.
I have actually been in a GameWorks, I went to lunch with a couple of friends who were into it and they went in to buy some stuff. To tell you the truth, the place kind of creeped me out. And I didn't see anyone working too hard in there either.
Heyyyy, that's great.
But what about this? . Really, don't be patting yourself on the back too much, or you will fall into the same pit that we have in the U.S. Some dumbass law will get passed wherever you live because your politicians are just as greedy as our politicians. They'll pass it under your nose, or through some back door, or right in front of your face. Then you will be just as screwed as we are.
People from other countries like to think that they are above laws like this. I hope you are right, because it will give me more options when I finally decide I have to leave this country. :-) Just make sure that while you are laughing at our stupid laws, the same ones don't get passed where you live.
Don't get me wrong, I was born here, but my eyes are open. Is the DMCA as bad as some of the human rights violations that occur around the world? No, of course not. But corporations run America, and there is little chance of that changing. I don't know how much longer I can take it.
Sorry, I thought it was implied that I was only talking about their Office software. It pretty much applies to their OSs too.
Please, don't confuse the ability to lose weight with being healthy. You could starve yourself and lose weight, but not be healthy. Read this article from Scientific American. Read other scientific articles on health. If you follow some crazy diet just to lose weight, you may face bigger health problems down the road.
As opposed to their current scheme, "Upgrade now, or we will audit you". Corporate America is their bread-and-butter, they have shown time and time again they don't care about the average consooooomer.
Pssst. Open Office runs on Windows you know, so cut the Linux FUD (or is it just ignorance?).
And MS Office has not lasted for almost two decades now. Every couple of years they force everyone to upgrade. At best you'll get 4 years out of a version before you have to upgrade. Unless you are currently running MS Office 1985, you should ponder the facts.
Americans are sheep. We have to be told what to do and what to buy. We have bought into this status and money game, we are consumers. Why was there a Hummer driving next to me on the commute to work today? Why is there an insane amount of suburban sprawl? Why is the answer to so many questions "you should sue them"?
To your specific point, The Matrix was a great movie. The Terminator (and T2) were good movies. X-Men was done pretty well, for a story that has been around for as long as it has been. Armageddon probably sucked, but I never saw it. It was too predictable, and just a typical hollywood movie.
In one respect, I hate the entertainment industry because it is so un-authentic. On the other hand, I enjoy good entertainment. There are the occasional glimmers of hope, but those are quickly exploited TO THE EXTREME! I just rented My Big Fat Greek Wedding this weekend. Good movie, worth seeing. Was it worth creating a sitcom of it? No. Lethal Weapon was a good movie, but they ruined the hell out of it. The original Star Wars trilogy was great, but it has been ruined as well. The list goes on and on and on.
The same holds true for the music industry. So many bands have great breakthrough albums, but quickly start to make music that will "sell". It is the difference between true art and faux-art. We go see movie sequels, and buy follow-up albums, because we are promised that they are as good if not better than the originals. It rarely happens. We are also taught to get something NOW NOW NOW. Don't wait, get it now!
I think the real problem is that the American public is so stupid that they don't think for themselves anymore. They are told so many times that "Star Wars Episode II" is great that they start to believe it. I can't wait to see the next Matrix movie because I loved the first one. I have seen the trailers, I have read the articles on the technology used. Now I am going to sit back, and wait until it comes out. I'll even wait a week or two to go see it, just to try to avoid some of the hype. And if it sucks, I'll admit it sucks.
I want what everyone else wants - good entertainment. I think the American public needs to get some taste.
*cough* Patrick Stewart *cough* Ian McKellen *cough*
What about Hugh Jackman. Just before X-Men came out, I saw a picture of him. I thought "THIS is Wolverine? They got the wrong freakin guy to play Wolverine!" Then I saw the movie. He was one of the best characters in it, he really pulled it off. The ones who seemed to be a better fit for the part were just OK. (Storm, Cyclops) And Jean? woo baby. I usually don't look forward to too many movies, but X-men2 and the Matrix sequels have me itching to get in the theater. It is going to be hard for me to wait my self-imposed mandatory week before going to see them. I hate seeing movies in crowded theatres, there are too many
You know, people like to say this, but they don't really mean it. What do you mean by "won't tollorate[sic] it"? What will they do? Nothing. They'll drive their fat fucking ass to McDonalds in their SUV, while talking on their phone to their spouse that they hate, asking if they want the super-size or the super-fucking-duper size freedom fries.
People will tolerate it. All you might see is a Fox News report about it, in between the reports on the latest revolutionary diet and the current Hollywood scandal. The American public doesn't care about what their government is doing, because if they do care all of the local sheep will bleat at them "liiiiibbberaaaaal". And it isn't limited to our public, even our officials were ignorant enough stage a "protest" by renaming food with the word French in it, even though french fries are Belgian, and french toast was created in New York.
Americans are happy in their ignorance. Shortly after 9/11, there was true compassion and solidarity. But it waned very quickly, and soon there were towel-head slurs, T-shirts with Bin Laden on them with a crosshairs on his face, and business as usual. And if you think I am un-American, you are wrong. I love this country for all of the good, but I want to see it change for the better. I don't like the way it is turning out, it needs to change. We are a joke in other countries for good reason, and if you react to that with defensive attitudes like "Fuck them, we are the USA" then YOU are part of the problem. And it doesn't matter if GWB was right about Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction, the way he went about it was wrong. Liberate Iraq my ass. Yes, it is good that they are liberated, but it is funny how the same people who make the towel-head jokes are suddenly the ones supporting the so-called liberation. When this is all over, I am betting that it will be a matter of weeks before I hear my first deragatory joke around the office about the Iraqi people.
Bush is part of the fucking problem. The Patriot Act is part of the problem, and most likely if you live in the USA YOU are part of the problem. And I don't have any easy answers, so don't ask for them. Whey does everything have to be an easy answer? If everyone would just wake up and see the problem, the real problem, then they could start to change. If you can't see that, then you are a short-sighted sheep, just waiting to be led to the slaughter.