Currently , federal trade laws require any 'online' store that has a brick & morter store in a state that an order is taken from [err.. so if you live in CA, and we have a store in CA, and you order off our website in Towson MD] you are charged sales tax.
No choice in the matter.
So basically, California's Gov isn't making a new law, he is enforcing a federal trade thang-a-mabob. He is ALSO protecting the REAL small business from closet industry. [which is good and bad i suppose.]
Makes sence to me actually, as bad as it sounds, why SHOULDN'T an internet store have to pay sales tax? if you have a physical location where you ship goods from, and ACT like a business (and expect to rake in the $$), you should be expected to have to behave like a business.
[And before all you 'free as in beer' folks start yelling.. I spent five years of my life running a rather successful game/hobby store in NewEngland. I know how taxes suck, but I also remember how folks used to order crap online (back when the www first started taking off.) at wholesale + 5% with no tax from jerks who simply opened up an account with WOTC or Chessex [or god forbid.. Max at the armoury.] These folks would sell out of their house, and not have to pay sales tax, or operate as a business. [or for that matter, make money.] yet I was expected to compeate with all my overhead, YET pay taxes quarterly. (Which I did, rather well infact.)]
In the end of the day, business is business. Be it online, or offline - the laws are in place already.
Sure, it would really suck to be selling cold-cast reproductions of klingon's out of my mom's basement and have to *gasp* actually have a merchant ID and pay taxes on sales. [keeping in mind, you don't have to pay INCOME tax unless you make profit, or make over X a year in sales.] But these are not the folks he is going after. $10 in taxes a year from the 3 models this kid sells isn't going to make a big dent in 35 million/billion/whatever.
California is going after the folks who are using the internet as a loophole to avoid business taxes.. LEGITIMATE business taxes. One of the reasons we *HAVE* the law that you have to pay taxes in a state you have brick & morter in.. is *because* of a retail chain in california who would not 'sell' things at their cash register, but instead point the shopper to an internet terminal NEXT to the cash register and have them buy from there (and pick their product up at the end of the counter - thus avoiding sales tax, and keeping the business's bottom line better to boot.)
Not like I begrudge the chain from TRYING:) thats what free market is all about. Use a loophole until it gets plugged:) heh.
Blarg.. Im sure Wil Wheaton won't agree, damn bleeding heart that he is.. but I still admire the guy's guts. *grin*
A while ago our MS rep came in for his bi-monthly visit. And he let something slip.
The next desktop version of windows is supposed to be a database structured OS. SO basically everything from word documents, to e-mail, to images are essentially.NET datatypes.
Sounds kinda cool actually. Now walk with me...
Any file could be shared with another computer, by basically sending it to a 'routing' computer. So e-mail wouldn't be like it is now, nor would web pages, they would be sent to a.NET server which would pass the 'package' on to the reciepient. [This is all out of memory, which is fuzzy.. so who knows if im getting it all EXACT.]
What I do remember with shocking clairity was having the epiphany that if everything has to be routed through a.NET server (which our REP said would make it a lot more secure than it is now.. har-har) then WHO is going to be making those servers ?
MS is pushing SOOO very hard for.NET now.. because simply - if it DOESNT get widely adopted than Stage II(tm): Take over the server market by making the desktops REQUIRE MS.NET routing servers, will be as successful as Licence 6.0.
Whats the easiest way to get rid of Apache ? make windows not play with it. They can't control the *nix OS's out there, and they cant put the genie back in the bottle, but they CAN alter their OS to ignore the genie, and maybe make it look like he is wearing a dunce cap.
That being said..NET [or Dot-Nyet as my russian friends call it.] is kinda neat. Once you get used to the 10-15% loss of speed. And the higher memory requirements on your servers.
I'm just afraid that this innovation in programming languages is more about gaining control, than improving computer science.
After all - most of our cars still run on gasoline WHY ?
Pan of child vigiourously tugging mom through toy department. [mom looks haggard.]
Mom: 'Honey, just pick something out.. we're going to be late.'
Child: 'It has to be just right mommy, It susie's birthday, its important.' [earnest child psudo-whine voice.]
Mom: 'How about this one?' Picking up Strawberry Shortcake Doll
Child: (looking stern) 'Now mommy, we can't buy HER , her manufacturer supresses free speech by threatening to persecute adult parodies of it on the web!'
[Jerking record sound, freeze frame on the kid looking reproachful.]
Announcer: Are your children more concerned with their civil rigths than you are ? Make a difference, donate to the EFF. We're looking out for you.
So going with the 'Bigger' not 'Better' approach Microsoft seems so fond of . its safe to state that they want to be the Walmart of search engines.
Walmart being a HUGE, kinda crappy department/discount store here in the states for folks whos countries have not been cursed with.. err.. don't have knowledge of Walmart.
There is a difference between being academically trained in something, and in 'picking it up yourself.'
I have this argument all the time with some of the web guys here at work - who never finished college.
I took up to calc 3 in college. Linear Algebra, Matricies Math, and all the generic staples. Theory of Computational Numbers, [basically an entire semester on Turing and the math behind the most basic machines] Graphics and computer programming [we were doing 3d cams in a world view in a windows 3.1 envrionment.] Algorithm Design, Compiler Design, Logic Circut Design (to help design chips and circut boards)etc,etc,etc.
Do i remember all these equations ? Actually, I remember a lot of them. But more importantly, I know the theory behind them, and even MORE importantly, the thought process involved to solve them. So when I need to use a formula to determine a rate of time function. I can turn that into code. [In polish notation if need be:P]
the 16 year old kid (who may be smarter, until he gets a steady girlfriend.) has a handful of code books from barnes & noble. These books teach him how to recreate answers to common problems, but they can't even begin to scratch the surface in learning the theory behind CS. They can't teach him to create NEW solutions to NEW problems. [Although, it can be argued that many CS departments in colleges now are in the same boat.]
Computer Science isn't drag-and-dropping VB components, thats code monkey work. Computer Science is the science of computers. The land where not only do you learn how to write algorithms.. but to do the math to determine exactly how system intensive that algorithm is going to be. Sure, part of your job might be to code in VB, but a Computer Scientist will have the entire system designed before he starts to 'hack' away at a keyboard.
'Advertising is targeted communication with your audiance. Spam is Blind-Monkey-Flailing at anyone who is listening.'
was the full quote.. read it a few times.
now.. by your final statement: 'Why do I keep seeing ads that assume I'm a 60 year old woman then?'
You are agreeing with me, which both nullifies your argument, and makes you look the fool. Since the spam you recieve is not even in the NEAR ballpark of your interests.. [im even willing to go out on a limb and say the MAJORITY of the spam you get.] you are stating that it is totally random.
and thus.. *NOT* viable advertising. Someone certainly didn't say 'hey.. this guy should get this e-mail because he might BUY something.'
Its the equlivant of dropping 10,000,000 paper flyers off the empire state building during the macy's day parade or newyears eve - except of course, that would actually cost you money.
Companies do *NOT* inccur costs friviously and stay afloat. Sending a solicitation for athleats foot powder to the international-people-missing-both-legs-running-clu b mailing list is just a waste of time and bandwith.
Bandwith that SOMEONE.. SOMEWHERE has to pay for.
If your spam emailers were incurring these costs themselves, this wouldn't even be an issue, because they would have learned long ago that.01% return on 10,000,000 emails [which is about what they expect last i checked] is NOT a good financial decision.
However, since they are basically thieves and oppurtunists - hey.. anything for nothing is a profit huh ?
This puts spammers on the level of folks who try to sell stolen goods out of their trunks downtown.
Sorry , there is much confusion in house as to what these things are called.
No.. we do not use a closed loop confirmation at the moment [but trust me.. I have been fighting for it for about 2 years now.] We do however, ONLY email customers who ask to be put on a mailing list. Worst case, if there was an error, they might have to unsubscribe after 1 mailing if there was some confusion - or foul play. [to be honest, in the 2 years of this program so far.. i can only think of 3 instances where someone 'maliciously' signed somone else up by giving us their e-mail. 2 of those cases were rather suspect, as the 'evildooer' also provided us with their correct address, phone, and various other personal info as well.. ]
As for what we do with the e-mail address that we DONT mail to. We track user information. If a user doesn't want to be 'annonymous' and wants to.. for example.. fill out a gift regestry or other such nonsence, then we use their e-mail address as a userid along with a password as a UID.. [we previously used user defined names and passwords however after some 40,000 calls to our customer service department because people forgot their user ids.. I managed to convince folks that I was right in the first place.]
if the customer [being the person on the website] doesnt say they want it.. they don't get it.
Sorry for the confusion.. when this program first started a contracter told the marketing department that we would default opt-out people.. with the definition of opt-out meaning that they are not e-mailed. [long story]
These are people who can not install a mouse on their machines without issues. So after awhile it just got easier to 'translate' their definitions.
We also receive e-mail address from product registration cards [believe it or not] that are sent in.
So.. to adress your last line.. im not perfect, but we don't spam people on *MY* watch here.
Anyone who gets an e-mail from us.. at some point.. checked a little box on a webform that said 'Yes, please send me more infomation from XXXXXXX' [and they would have had to check it, because by dafault 'no' is checked.
We are honestly a very conservative company, with a very strong brand, and know how much that brand can be hurt if it were to be associated with spam tactics and other questionable marketing.
it may take a few hours of development to make sure we don't spam people.. but as a company we(even the over entheasutic sales guys) know that to 'win back' a customer who lost faith in our brand could cost thousands and thousands of dollers in 'conventional' advertising campaigns.
At the bottom line, not only is SPAM offensive, but it just doesn't make financial sence.
Sending unsolicited e-mail is NOT a legitimate business practice. Sending unsolicited e-mail is closer to harassment than it is to legitimate communication.
If your theory held, then people wouldn't get spammed with crap like penis/breast enlarging cream, ugoslavian tractor deals, or offers to become ordained ministers - they would get spam about things that INTERESTED THEM, 100% of the time.
You are confusing the issue, by assuming that all businesses have a right to free (as in beer) advertising, which as common sence dictates, is totally 180 from the true.
I work for a fortune 500. We send e-mail. We ONLY send email to folks who have opted into our mailing lists (by default, we are, across the board, and opt-out company - meaning we will assume you wanted to opt-out before we send you a lick of e-mail.)
One important nugget of info you glossed over in advertsising is the basic concept of 'target'. We make power tools, as a result, we normally do NOT advertise in.. lets say.. Cosmo Magazine, or Mother Earth News etc.
We follow the same practices with e-mail we send. Believe it or not, I actually DOES cost money to send bulk e-mail. As much as a TV ad ? no, but it still costs money, and as anyone who ever worked for big business can tell you - coming across ANY money is not always easy.
So, my long rambling has this point : Advertising is targeted communication with your audiance. Spam is Blind-Monkey-Flailing at anyone who is listening.
Saying that Spam is advertising, is like saying that the Homeless-Eveangelist-Guy who shouts about the *End of the World*(tm) in the middle of Times Square - is actually the pope.
all e-mail lists and or mailings should be OPT-IN. if a customer opts in.. then yes.. you are correct, their targeted e-mail is acceptable.
however, if you just happen to 'get' their e-mail for example.. from any of the credit industry companies, or from web trolling etc - assume they are gamers, and send them 'targeted' e-mail, then you are no better than the bastards who call me at 8:00 am on a monday morning because they know I bought a lawnmower last month, and *know* i like outdoor power equipment - and want to sell me more.
I believe the exact conversation went something like this:
Telemarketer: 'Mr Walk, I see here that you recently bought an electric lawn mower at Home Depot, I am authorised to offer you an electric hedge trimmer through my company at a steep discount ! Does that sound interesting to you?'
me: 'I am authorized to remind you that you just woke me the fuck up, that you are to remove me from your calling list, and any calling lists your company uses.'
Telemarketer: 'But Mr. Walk, this is a great deal.. '
me: (interrupting) ' I am *NOW* authorized to tell you to remove me from your calling list, and any calling lists your company uses, and to tell you to 'go fuck yourself' *click*
Now with 'targed' non opted e-mail.. I am denied the simple retaliation of telling someone to go screw.
So.. *no* its not the same.. and *no* I don't approve.
Aside from the fact that pinball isnt really dead.. only in the arcades:P Stern is still making them.. some folks even still operate them, but with the death of the privatly owned arcade - most of them that get operated have only a brief reprise before they break from neglect.
Have 6 of them in my basement alone though, I'll preserve whatever I can afford:P [http://www.remsbox.com/index.php?content=0000 0000 08] and [http://www.remsbox.com/showPhoto.php?album=Addams %20Family%20Gold]
But I agree, arcades are not the same feel that they used to be. And yes, video games have evolved. Street fighter was more a culpurate to that than the growth of technology though. That is the game that taught the general unwashed (heh-heh) masses that playing against PEOPLE was a hell of a lot more challenging. [even though Karate Champ started that trend about 5 years earlier]
Arcades (at least the ones near me) all seem like skee-ball [which has been transformed into the ever hip 'basketball freethrow'] ticket collecting place to throw the kids while you shop for presents at the mall.
Well lit, maybe 12-15 machines [granted.. that might have a lot to do with Maryland's exorborant 'entertainment licencing fees'. A licence per machine, a licence to OPERATE machines, and a 50% 'entertainment' tax.. and folks wonder why the few arcades that are still around suck wind.] they just don't seem to be the same smelly, dark places of isolation where I dropped hundreds of quarters into defender and crazy climer. I may have thrown all my bell-bottoms away, but man.. still miss the 70's arcades.
I still love pinball.. [as shown at http://www.remsbox.com on occation] and have devoted 1/2 my basement to keepign some of these awesome beasts around.
[and to answer jonas' question below.. yeah.. Bally/Midway design the 'fruit' machines in casinos now.]
Its a self-reinforcing downward spiral. At some point person-A becomes convinced that their recient sickness/ailment is due to something in their environment/diet/etc. So they alter that environment. Use more anti-bacterial soaps, and strangely enough.. continue to get sick even more frequently.
I had a pal who ate only alge cultures and tofu, hardly ever went outside, wore sunblock constantly, never used deodorents, and took showers at least 4 times a day.
After 5 years of this he was admitted to the ER with a severe case of pnuemoneia (in August) and when he tried to tell the Dr. that was treating him that he had severe allergic reactions to any 'toxins' the doctor took a culture.
The doctor then brought in the test results (along with some kind of a picture of the cuture from his mouth) and showed them to him. He carefully explained that he had accute pnuemoneia which he believed was caused by his body loosing its tollerance to the.. ready for it.. COMMON COLD.
Apparantly my friend Paul isolated himself so well from germs, that his immune system no longer felt it needed/could produce antibodys to the germs that are part of our everyday life.
Paul resumed normal life, and started eating acutal food again etc. And what do you know - he gets sick a lot less.
of course.. he still can't eat meat, apparantly after an extended time without processing meats, the body doesnt start producing the enzymes needed to break it down quickly.
I mean.. teen pregnancies hardly EVER occour anymore, Folks don't steal, rob, or beat people anymore.
Preists in certain religions certainly have stopped abusing small boys.
hell, maybe its just me, but the idea that you need to have other folks WATCH you to keep you from looking at pr0n should be a REAL BIG INDICATOR that you have a problem.
I once new a lady.. who was very religious, and told me once : 'Every day I am afraid that I will Sin, before I do anything, I ask myself if it will cause me to sin in the eyes of the Lord.'
Anyone here who rides motorcycles can tell you what happens if you stare at that rock in the middle of the road.. no matter HOW far away it is.
It doesn't bother me when folks are religious. It doesn't bother me when folks have faith. It DOES bother me when organized religion PREYS (a little play on words there:P) on people who are SOO damn weak willed, that they cant seem to NOT go to www.hotyoungsluts.com no matter what they try.
My wife's cousins tithe 10% of their income to their church (and they make less than 40k combined) because their church makes everyone do it. the peer pressure there is if you are not 'holy' enough to give your tithe.. your not worthey of God.. WTF is that ??
It goes back to preying on the poor/underprivelaged/uneducated. Imagine if boss said "In order for you to keep your job, you need to give me 10% of your salery monthly." How quickly would *HE* be out on his ass ?
Re:God I'm sick of the whining
on
Half Mast
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· Score: 1
See.. im going to take a few shots here.. nothing personal mind you:
"What the f--k is the difference between being physically abused by a peer or being physically abused by a parent? The difference is if your physically abused by a parent you can call family services and theyll act."
two words for you 'Emotional Blackmale'
Kids who are REALLY abused, don't call social services - because most of them grew UP with being abused and consider it normal. They don't KNOW that it doesnt happen to everyone, they assume it does.
These children inturn.. treat other children how they learned to be treated. Slapping someone around might be what they understand as a show of affection. does the phrase "I'm doing this because I love you." hold and weight here ?
The kids that call social services on their parents are trying to HURT their parents. If they are abused children, then there is some outside influence pressuring them to call social services. *VERY* few children will ever think to betray their parents without outside influence. Kids who do this are trying to get something out of their folks.. be it freedom, power, control, the car.. stuff like that. [especially when real abused children are operating under the assumption that the abuse is how ALL families work.]
I was a sierious 'outsider' in middle & highschool (13 years ago i graduated) in the 80's. I was a goth when goth was described at punk, and it meant you were just as likley to hit someone in the head with your skateboard as mope around depressed. I had a bunch of friends, some outcasts.. some not.
By the time i hit 16-17.. I got over it. I learned that some people THRIVED on being rejected / outcast / picked on by other people. Because it gave them an excuse. I decided that I didn't want to give anyone that kind of control over my life. Some of my friends refused to talk to me.. Some of my enemies started thinking I wasnt so bad. I think that was one of the first steps for me becoming [more or less] an adult.[I realized that I couldn't hold onto dogged values just because I had held them at one point. And to constantly re-evaulate how I interact with the world. - but this is getting off topic.]
Its my opinion that the people who don't do this are the ones who 10-15 years later.. still hate their protagonist from highschool.
If you ever watch these folks, they are ALWAYS the victim, they thrive on it - it makes them feel comfortable. They are the 30 year olds who complain that their spleens are in bad shape, or their choloresteral is too high. They are always down on themselves, have no self confidence, no control over their lives because they dont *WANT* that control.
Being the victim gives them a scapegoat to blame everything that they don't like in life on. 'Damn, I would be making more a year if Mr. Bourasa didn't pick on me so much in Algebra class, I might have learned it better.' or 'That Jimmy Stalwart, him and his football cronies made me too scared to go to the prom. I wish I had asked Shiela to go!'
a 17 or 18 year old who still harbors these regrets / pains is acceptable - learning to dismiss them is after all , part of growing up. a 25-30 year old (especially one who continued school) who still has these regrets really DOES need to let go and stop living in the past.
See a shrink, get some therapy, get on paxil or thoramine if you need it.
But don't actually think, that events that happened to you in highschool REALLY have an effect on your life 15 years later. Your just letting shadows from your past take over your life.
[And just as an aside.. I actually went to both my class reunions [I skipped 1/2 a grade - long story] And most of the folks that tortured me horribly in highschool were the most fun to talk to. Some didn't change - and were like a bad characture.. some grew up and totally forgot about it , one or two even appologized for being jerks. By the end of both reunions - I discovered that I had my own share of crow to eat - and that was pretty cool too.]
I particurly like how Loebner out foxed Marvin Minsky with the ammunition Minsky gave him.
Sure the guy may be a pot head, might not want a lasting relationship with a woman, and is probally a horribly annoying git from hell.
He did however, manage to outthink the 'brightest' mind in AI research. Maybe the reasons he did were purile.. but he still did it.
As a programmer I know I was taught to think in small steps, think ahead to the probable issues my code might cause, and to double check my work before dropping it on a production box.
Apparantly Minsky forgot he was a computer scientist when he wrote that news group response. I'm sure it was just a flame mail, a very human response to frustration and irritation. But as one of the Leading names in AI research, he should have known better.
So, if for nothing else, my hats off to the 'Disco-Floor-Maker' for out thinking one of the 'leaders' in AI research.
Its always nice to watch an acidemic geek get smacked down by someone who lives with the rest of society.
I remember being in college and having to scam the washers just to have clean clothes. or carry food out of the dining halls (which was against school policy) because I couldn't afford 0.45 for cupcakes from the vending machine if I was hungry at 3:00 am.
$20 is a lot of money for essentually doing NOTHING to a kid that has to scrounge for nickles to buy a pepsi
Slashdot Mirror
[lemmi get my crow pie]
.. my bad .. its not a federal trade law .. (although they are proposing it be so.)
.. damn hippies, they want their $$ AND their tax breaks :P
Whoops
Its actually approved state by state.
The rest of my heartless rant still stands
heh
Currently , federal trade laws require any 'online' store that has a brick & morter store in a state that an order is taken from [err .. so if you live in CA, and we have a store in CA, and you order off our website in Towson MD] you are charged sales tax.
.. I spent five years of my life running a rather successful game/hobby store in NewEngland. I know how taxes suck, but I also remember how folks used to order crap online (back when the www first started taking off.) at wholesale + 5% with no tax from jerks who simply opened up an account with WOTC or Chessex [or god forbid .. Max at the armoury.] These folks would sell out of their house, and not have to pay sales tax, or operate as a business. [or for that matter, make money.] yet I was expected to compeate with all my overhead, YET pay taxes quarterly. (Which I did, rather well infact.)]
.. LEGITIMATE business taxes. One of the reasons we *HAVE* the law that you have to pay taxes in a state you have brick & morter in .. is *because* of a retail chain in california who would not 'sell' things at their cash register, but instead point the shopper to an internet terminal NEXT to the cash register and have them buy from there (and pick their product up at the end of the counter - thus avoiding sales tax, and keeping the business's bottom line better to boot.)
:) heh.
.. Im sure Wil Wheaton won't agree, damn bleeding heart that he is .. but I still admire the guy's guts. *grin*
No choice in the matter.
So basically, California's Gov isn't making a new law, he is enforcing a federal trade thang-a-mabob. He is ALSO protecting the REAL small business from closet industry. [which is good and bad i suppose.]
Makes sence to me actually, as bad as it sounds, why SHOULDN'T an internet store have to pay sales tax? if you have a physical location where you ship goods from, and ACT like a business (and expect to rake in the $$), you should be expected to have to behave like a business.
[And before all you 'free as in beer' folks start yelling
In the end of the day, business is business. Be it online, or offline - the laws are in place already.
Sure, it would really suck to be selling cold-cast reproductions of klingon's out of my mom's basement and have to *gasp* actually have a merchant ID and pay taxes on sales. [keeping in mind, you don't have to pay INCOME tax unless you make profit, or make over X a year in sales.] But these are not the folks he is going after. $10 in taxes a year from the 3 models this kid sells isn't going to make a big dent in 35 million/billion/whatever.
California is going after the folks who are using the internet as a loophole to avoid business taxes
Not like I begrudge the chain from TRYING:) thats what free market is all about. Use a loophole until it gets plugged
Blarg
"THEY FELL FROM SPACE !!!"
"Once they reached our oxygin rich atmosphere, their space metobolisms allowed them to become SUPER WORMS!"
"Mindless SPACE WORMS rampage through a small mountain town. ONLY OUR HERO CAN STOP THEM."
"CAN HE STOP THEM IN TIME ??!! FIND OUT !
COME SEE
yes .. and our rep was saying how COOL it would be to send e-mail and files in that framework.
.. whos servers are going to relay it ? your normal smtp server ?
do you REALLY think that stuff will work with MYSQL ? MS is going to use MSSQL to do it.
And when your OS sends e-mail using MSSQL
I'm not paranoid, I just know what *I* would do if I wanted the server marketshare, and had the $$ and clout that MS does.
Agreed .. check my post above yours. Our MS rep here basically said that this was the way they are headed.
A while ago our MS rep came in for his bi-monthly visit. And he let something slip.
.NET datatypes.
...
.NET server which would pass the 'package' on to the reciepient. [This is all out of memory, which is fuzzy .. so who knows if im getting it all EXACT.]
.NET server (which our REP said would make it a lot more secure than it is now .. har-har) then WHO is going to be making those servers ?
.NET now .. because simply - if it DOESNT get widely adopted than Stage II(tm): Take over the server market by making the desktops REQUIRE MS.NET routing servers, will be as successful as Licence 6.0.
.NET [or Dot-Nyet as my russian friends call it.] is kinda neat. Once you get used to the 10-15% loss of speed. And the higher memory requirements on your servers.
The next desktop version of windows is supposed to be a database structured OS. SO basically everything from word documents, to e-mail, to images are essentially
Sounds kinda cool actually. Now walk with me
Any file could be shared with another computer, by basically sending it to a 'routing' computer.
So e-mail wouldn't be like it is now, nor would web pages, they would be sent to a
What I do remember with shocking clairity was having the epiphany that if everything has to be routed through a
MS is pushing SOOO very hard for
Whats the easiest way to get rid of Apache ? make windows not play with it. They can't control the *nix OS's out there, and they cant put the genie back in the bottle, but they CAN alter their OS to ignore the genie, and maybe make it look like he is wearing a dunce cap.
That being said.
I'm just afraid that this innovation in programming languages is more about gaining control, than improving computer science.
After all - most of our cars still run on gasoline WHY ?
Pan of child vigiourously tugging mom through toy department. [mom looks haggard.]
.. we're going to be late.'
.. thank-you.
Mom: 'Honey, just pick something out
Child: 'It has to be just right mommy, It susie's birthday, its important.' [earnest child psudo-whine voice.]
Mom: 'How about this one?' Picking up Strawberry Shortcake Doll
Child: (looking stern) 'Now mommy, we can't buy HER , her manufacturer supresses free speech by threatening to persecute adult parodies of it on the web!'
[Jerking record sound, freeze frame on the kid looking reproachful.]
Announcer: Are your children more concerned with their civil rigths than you are ? Make a difference, donate to the EFF. We're looking out for you.
*bows* thank-you
So going with the 'Bigger' not 'Better' approach Microsoft seems so fond of . its safe to state that they want to be the Walmart of search engines.
.. err .. don't have knowledge of Walmart.
Walmart being a HUGE, kinda crappy department/discount store here in the states for folks whos countries have not been cursed with
There is a difference between being academically trained in something, and in 'picking it up yourself.'
:P]
.. but to do the math to determine exactly how system intensive that algorithm is going to be. Sure, part of your job might be to code in VB, but a Computer Scientist will have the entire system designed before he starts to 'hack' away at a keyboard.
I have this argument all the time with some of the web guys here at work - who never finished college.
I took up to calc 3 in college. Linear Algebra, Matricies Math, and all the generic staples. Theory of Computational Numbers, [basically an entire semester on Turing and the math behind the most basic machines] Graphics and computer programming [we were doing 3d cams in a world view in a windows 3.1 envrionment.] Algorithm Design, Compiler Design, Logic Circut Design (to help design chips and circut boards)etc,etc,etc.
Do i remember all these equations ? Actually, I remember a lot of them. But more importantly, I know the theory behind them, and even MORE importantly, the thought process involved to solve them. So when I need to use a formula to determine a rate of time function. I can turn that into code. [In polish notation if need be
the 16 year old kid (who may be smarter, until he gets a steady girlfriend.) has a handful of code books from barnes & noble. These books teach him how to recreate answers to common problems, but they can't even begin to scratch the surface in learning the theory behind CS. They can't teach him to create NEW solutions to NEW problems. [Although, it can be argued that many CS departments in colleges now are in the same boat.]
Computer Science isn't drag-and-dropping VB components, thats code monkey work. Computer Science is the science of computers. The land where not only do you learn how to write algorithms
wow .. way to TOTALLY misquote me ..
.. read it a few times.
.. by your final statement :
.. [im even willing to go out on a limb and say the MAJORITY of the spam you get.] you are stating that it is totally random.
.. *NOT* viable advertising. Someone certainly didn't say 'hey .. this guy should get this e-mail because he might BUY something.'
u b mailing list is just a waste of time and bandwith.
.. SOMEWHERE has to pay for.
.01% return on 10,000,000 emails [which is about what they expect last i checked] is NOT a good financial decision.
.. anything for nothing is a profit huh ?
'Advertising is targeted communication with your audiance. Spam is Blind-Monkey-Flailing at anyone who is listening.'
was the full quote
now
'Why do I keep seeing ads that assume I'm a 60 year old woman then?'
You are agreeing with me, which both nullifies your argument, and makes you look the fool. Since the spam you recieve is not even in the NEAR ballpark of your interests
and thus
Its the equlivant of dropping 10,000,000 paper flyers off the empire state building during the macy's day parade or newyears eve - except of course, that would actually cost you money.
Companies do *NOT* inccur costs friviously and stay afloat. Sending a solicitation for athleats foot powder to the international-people-missing-both-legs-running-cl
Bandwith that SOMEONE
If your spam emailers were incurring these costs themselves, this wouldn't even be an issue, because they would have learned long ago that
However, since they are basically thieves and oppurtunists - hey
This puts spammers on the level of folks who try to sell stolen goods out of their trunks downtown.
Not exactly the model business-man
Sorry , there is much confusion in house as to what these things are called.
.. we do not use a closed loop confirmation at the moment [but trust me .. I have been fighting for it for about 2 years now.] We do however, ONLY email customers who ask to be put on a mailing list. Worst case, if there was an error, they might have to unsubscribe after 1 mailing if there was some confusion - or foul play. [to be honest, in the 2 years of this program so far .. i can only think of 3 instances where someone 'maliciously' signed somone else up by giving us their e-mail. 2 of those cases were rather suspect, as the 'evildooer' also provided us with their correct address, phone, and various other personal info as well .. ]
.. for example .. fill out a gift regestry or other such nonsence, then we use their e-mail address as a userid along with a password as a UID .. [we previously used user defined names and passwords however after some 40,000 calls to our customer service department because people forgot their user ids .. I managed to convince folks that I was right in the first place.]
.. they don't get it.
.. when this program first started a contracter told the marketing department that we would default opt-out people .. with the definition of opt-out meaning that they are not e-mailed. [long story]
.. to adress your last line .. im not perfect, but we don't spam people on *MY* watch here.
.. at some point .. checked a little box on a webform that said 'Yes, please send me more infomation from XXXXXXX' [and they would have had to check it, because by dafault 'no' is checked.
.. but as a company we(even the over entheasutic sales guys) know that to 'win back' a customer who lost faith in our brand could cost thousands and thousands of dollers in 'conventional' advertising campaigns.
No
As for what we do with the e-mail address that we DONT mail to. We track user information. If a user doesn't want to be 'annonymous' and wants to
if the customer [being the person on the website] doesnt say they want it
Sorry for the confusion
These are people who can not install a mouse on their machines without issues. So after awhile it just got easier to 'translate' their definitions.
We also receive e-mail address from product registration cards [believe it or not] that are sent in.
So
Anyone who gets an e-mail from us
We are honestly a very conservative company, with a very strong brand, and know how much that brand can be hurt if it were to be associated with spam tactics and other questionable marketing.
it may take a few hours of development to make sure we don't spam people
At the bottom line, not only is SPAM offensive, but it just doesn't make financial sence.
Do you like telemarketers too ?
.. lets say .. Cosmo Magazine, or Mother Earth News etc.
Sending unsolicited e-mail is NOT a legitimate business practice. Sending unsolicited e-mail is closer to harassment than it is to legitimate communication.
If your theory held, then people wouldn't get spammed with crap like penis/breast enlarging cream, ugoslavian tractor deals, or offers to become ordained ministers - they would get spam about things that INTERESTED THEM, 100% of the time.
You are confusing the issue, by assuming that all businesses have a right to free (as in beer) advertising, which as common sence dictates, is totally 180 from the true.
I work for a fortune 500. We send e-mail. We ONLY send email to folks who have opted into our mailing lists (by default, we are, across the board, and opt-out company - meaning we will assume you wanted to opt-out before we send you a lick of e-mail.)
One important nugget of info you glossed over in advertsising is the basic concept of 'target'. We make power tools, as a result, we normally do NOT advertise in
We follow the same practices with e-mail we send. Believe it or not, I actually DOES cost money to send bulk e-mail. As much as a TV ad ? no, but it still costs money, and as anyone who ever worked for big business can tell you - coming across ANY money is not always easy.
So, my long rambling has this point : Advertising is targeted communication with your audiance. Spam is Blind-Monkey-Flailing at anyone who is listening.
Saying that Spam is advertising, is like saying that the Homeless-Eveangelist-Guy who shouts about the *End of the World*(tm) in the middle of Times Square - is actually the pope.
its also illegal for them to call you before 9:00 I believe, but they don't seem to let that stop them either.
I bet you believe that more strict gun control laws will keep guns out of criminal's hands too.
all e-mail lists and or mailings should be OPT-IN. .. then yes .. you are correct, their targeted e-mail is acceptable.
.. from any of the credit industry companies, or from web trolling etc - assume they are gamers, and send them 'targeted' e-mail, then you are no better than the bastards who call me at 8:00 am on a monday morning because they know I bought a lawnmower last month, and *know* i like outdoor power equipment - and want to sell me more.
:
.. '
.. I am denied the simple retaliation of telling someone to go screw.
.. *no* its not the same .. and *no* I don't approve.
if a customer opts in
however, if you just happen to 'get' their e-mail for example
I believe the exact conversation went something like this
Telemarketer: 'Mr Walk, I see here that you recently bought an electric lawn mower at Home Depot, I am authorised to offer you an electric hedge trimmer through my company at a steep discount ! Does that sound interesting to you?'
me: 'I am authorized to remind you that you just woke me the fuck up, that you are to remove me from your calling list, and any calling lists your company uses.'
Telemarketer: 'But Mr. Walk, this is a great deal
me: (interrupting) ' I am *NOW* authorized to tell you to remove me from your calling list, and any calling lists your company uses, and to tell you to 'go fuck yourself' *click*
Now with 'targed' non opted e-mail
So
Aside from the fact that pinball isnt really dead .. only in the arcades :P Stern is still making them .. some folks even still operate them, but with the death of the privatly owned arcade - most of them that get operated have only a brief reprise before they break from neglect.
:P0 0000 08] and [http://www.remsbox.com/showPhoto.php?album=Addams %20Family%20Gold]
.. that might have a lot to do with Maryland's exorborant 'entertainment licencing fees'. A licence per machine, a licence to OPERATE machines, and a 50% 'entertainment' tax .. and folks wonder why the few arcades that are still around suck wind.] they just don't seem to be the same smelly, dark places of isolation where I dropped hundreds of quarters into defender and crazy climer. I may have thrown all my bell-bottoms away, but man .. still miss the 70's arcades.
Have 6 of them in my basement alone though, I'll preserve whatever I can afford
[http://www.remsbox.com/index.php?content=000
But I agree, arcades are not the same feel that they used to be. And yes, video games have evolved. Street fighter was more a culpurate to that than the growth of technology though. That is the game that taught the general unwashed (heh-heh) masses that playing against PEOPLE was a hell of a lot more challenging. [even though Karate Champ started that trend about 5 years earlier]
Arcades (at least the ones near me) all seem like skee-ball [which has been transformed into the ever hip 'basketball freethrow'] ticket collecting place to throw the kids while you shop for presents at the mall.
Well lit, maybe 12-15 machines [granted
actually
they opened up the RioReciever to projects like jreceiver.sourceforge.net.
so they have a history of helping out folks with 'defunct' products on that level.
Didn't Microsoft just give Russia and China the source code for windows ?
Kinda kills the whole 'piracy causes terror' spin when you give the commies the keys to the back door.
I still love pinball .. [as shown at http://www.remsbox.com on occation] and have devoted 1/2 my basement to keepign some of these awesome beasts around.
.. yeah .. Bally/Midway design the 'fruit' machines in casinos now.]
[and to answer jonas' question below
I too know folks like this.
.. continue to get sick even more frequently.
.. ready for it .. COMMON COLD.
.. he still can't eat meat, apparantly after an extended time without processing meats, the body doesnt start producing the enzymes needed to break it down quickly.
Its a self-reinforcing downward spiral. At some point person-A becomes convinced that their recient sickness/ailment is due to something in their environment/diet/etc. So they alter that environment. Use more anti-bacterial soaps, and strangely enough
I had a pal who ate only alge cultures and tofu, hardly ever went outside, wore sunblock constantly, never used deodorents, and took showers at least 4 times a day.
After 5 years of this he was admitted to the ER with a severe case of pnuemoneia (in August) and when he tried to tell the Dr. that was treating him that he had severe allergic reactions to any 'toxins' the doctor took a culture.
The doctor then brought in the test results (along with some kind of a picture of the cuture from his mouth) and showed them to him. He carefully explained that he had accute pnuemoneia which he believed was caused by his body loosing its tollerance to the
Apparantly my friend Paul isolated himself so well from germs, that his immune system no longer felt it needed/could produce antibodys to the germs that are part of our everyday life.
Paul resumed normal life, and started eating acutal food again etc. And what do you know - he gets sick a lot less.
of course
now THERE is a sci-fi book I read years ago .. forgot all about that one :) :)
Thanks
Now I can drink all I want, and never have to worry about how many braincells I destroy.
Hell, I bet I can sit as close to the T.V. as my heart desires too !
I mean .. teen pregnancies hardly EVER occour anymore, Folks don't steal, rob, or beat people anymore.
.. who was very religious, and told me once : 'Every day I am afraid that I will Sin, before I do anything, I ask myself if it will cause me to sin in the eyes of the Lord.'
.. no matter HOW far away it is.
:P) on people who are SOO damn weak willed, that they cant seem to NOT go to www.hotyoungsluts.com no matter what they try.
.. your not worthey of God .. WTF is that ??
Preists in certain religions certainly have stopped abusing small boys.
hell, maybe its just me, but the idea that you need to have other folks WATCH you to keep you from looking at pr0n should be a REAL BIG INDICATOR that you have a problem.
I once new a lady
Anyone here who rides motorcycles can tell you what happens if you stare at that rock in the middle of the road
It doesn't bother me when folks are religious. It doesn't bother me when folks have faith. It DOES bother me when organized religion PREYS (a little play on words there
My wife's cousins tithe 10% of their income to their church (and they make less than 40k combined) because their church makes everyone do it. the peer pressure there is if you are not 'holy' enough to give your tithe
It goes back to preying on the poor/underprivelaged/uneducated. Imagine if boss said "In order for you to keep your job, you need to give me 10% of your salery monthly." How quickly would *HE* be out on his ass ?
See .. im going to take a few shots here .. nothing personal mind you :
.. treat other children how they learned to be treated. Slapping someone around might be what they understand as a show of affection. does the phrase "I'm doing this because I love you." hold and weight here ?
.. be it freedom, power, control, the car .. stuff like that. [especially when real abused children are operating under the assumption that the abuse is how ALL families work.]
.. some not.
.. I got over it. I learned that some people THRIVED on being rejected / outcast / picked on by other people. Because it gave them an excuse. I decided that I didn't want to give anyone that kind of control over my life. Some of my friends refused to talk to me .. Some of my enemies started thinking I wasnt so bad. I think that was one of the first steps for me becoming [more or less] an adult.[I realized that I couldn't hold onto dogged values just because I had held them at one point. And to constantly re-evaulate how I interact with the world. - but this is getting off topic.]
.. still hate their protagonist from highschool.
.. I actually went to both my class reunions [I skipped 1/2 a grade - long story] And most of the folks that tortured me horribly in highschool were the most fun to talk to. Some didn't change - and were like a bad characture .. some grew up and totally forgot about it , one or two even appologized for being jerks. By the end of both reunions - I discovered that I had my own share of crow to eat - and that was pretty cool too.]
"What the f--k is the difference between being physically abused by a peer or being physically abused by a parent? The difference is if your physically abused by a parent you can call family services and theyll act."
two words for you 'Emotional Blackmale'
Kids who are REALLY abused, don't call social services - because most of them grew UP with being abused and consider it normal. They don't KNOW that it doesnt happen to everyone, they assume it does.
These children inturn
The kids that call social services on their parents are trying to HURT their parents. If they are abused children, then there is some outside influence pressuring them to call social services. *VERY* few children will ever think to betray their parents without outside influence. Kids who do this are trying to get something out of their folks
I was a sierious 'outsider' in middle & highschool (13 years ago i graduated) in the 80's. I was a goth when goth was described at punk, and it meant you were just as likley to hit someone in the head with your skateboard as mope around depressed. I had a bunch of friends, some outcasts
By the time i hit 16-17
Its my opinion that the people who don't do this are the ones who 10-15 years later
If you ever watch these folks, they are ALWAYS the victim, they thrive on it - it makes them feel comfortable. They are the 30 year olds who complain that their spleens are in bad shape, or their choloresteral is too high. They are always down on themselves, have no self confidence, no control over their lives because they dont *WANT* that control.
Being the victim gives them a scapegoat to blame everything that they don't like in life on. 'Damn, I would be making more a year if Mr. Bourasa didn't pick on me so much in Algebra class, I might have learned it better.' or 'That Jimmy Stalwart, him and his football cronies made me too scared to go to the prom. I wish I had asked Shiela to go!'
a 17 or 18 year old who still harbors these regrets / pains is acceptable - learning to dismiss them is after all , part of growing up. a 25-30 year old (especially one who continued school) who still has these regrets really DOES need to let go and stop living in the past.
See a shrink, get some therapy, get on paxil or thoramine if you need it.
But don't actually think, that events that happened to you in highschool REALLY have an effect on your life 15 years later. Your just letting shadows from your past take over your life.
[And just as an aside
I particurly like how Loebner out foxed Marvin Minsky with the ammunition Minsky gave him.
.. but he still did it.
Sure the guy may be a pot head, might not want a lasting relationship with a woman, and is probally a horribly annoying git from hell.
He did however, manage to outthink the 'brightest' mind in AI research. Maybe the reasons he did were purile
As a programmer I know I was taught to think in small steps, think ahead to the probable issues my code might cause, and to double check my work before dropping it on a production box.
Apparantly Minsky forgot he was a computer scientist when he wrote that news group response.
I'm sure it was just a flame mail, a very human response to frustration and irritation. But as one of the Leading names in AI research, he should have known better.
So, if for nothing else, my hats off to the 'Disco-Floor-Maker' for out thinking one of the 'leaders' in AI research.
Its always nice to watch an acidemic geek get smacked down by someone who lives with the rest of society.
college kids have no $$.
I remember being in college and having to scam the washers just to have clean clothes. or carry food out of the dining halls (which was against school policy) because I couldn't afford 0.45 for cupcakes from the vending machine if I was hungry at 3:00 am.
$20 is a lot of money for essentually doing NOTHING to a kid that has to scrounge for nickles to buy a pepsi