I realize Parallel Parking isn't a big deal in California, land of the parking lot, but I assume in big cities like LA or San Fran, people backing up into your car will damage the plate.
I live in NJ, but drive into Manhattan often, and I've had to squeeze my car into some pretty tricky spots. While the rear plate is OK, my front plate, which attaches to the bumper, is practically bent in half, has the paint peeling off; basically it's in bad shape. Can you imagine if this was an LCD screen? It wouldn't even display the plate number at this point, much less any ads.
So when the cop pulls me over, is it my fault or the state's that they made a fragile device that breaks if some other guy hits it? So now, not only do you have to worry about a broken tail-light every time you go to the supermarket, you also have to worry about your license plate being out.
And how long a line will you have to wait in to get your broken plate replaced? Or is this something dealerships will have to service?
I predict a lot of hacks for these plates to display porn. In fact, I have to wonder if the porn industry wouldn't be the first to advertise on these plates! After all, they were the first to advertise on the internet.
Do you realise how many people believe that there were "WMD"s in Iraq, and how many people believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11 ?
Yes, people are stupid. Nothing new here, and yes, we'll all be happier when that rock comes falling out of the sky and sends us the way of the dinosaur.
On a bright note, however, when 7 billion of us are dead, just think of the vast quantities of oil we'll be creating for next species that dominates...
In July 1994, federal prosecutors won an obscenity conviction in Tennessee against the operators of a computer bulletin board system (BBS) called the Amateur Action BBS, a private porn subscription service. The BBS was located in California, where there were no such obscenity laws.
The case came into being because two postal workers in TN were logging into the BBS and downloading porn. The OWNERS of the BBS were the ones extridited and prosecuted. This was pre-internet, BBS's back then used dial-up modems to connect computer to computer.
I can see it now. Your new LCD monitor is sold to you as a 22 inch, but 1/4 of the screen is actually an ad server, so your actual display area is smaller than 22 inches.
This is the new way.
I see it happening on TV. Between the logos, the market ticker, the oil gusher cam, and the pop-up ads promoting upcoming shows, all we're left with on TV is a talking head and all you can see of him/her is an eye or nose jiggling about the screen.
Spamhaus is a reporting agency that identifies spammers. And yet, they got sued, and lost. In that case, all bets are off people, we can now sue for anything, and it's high time we stuck it to the reporting agencies, and I mean the CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES.
Ever try and get your credit report fixed because it's littered with errors? And the three different agencies have three different reports, and these days, to even get your report, you need to sign up for (and then cancel) some idioting "membership"?
Well, no more going through hell to fix your credit report. Based on this case, I'd say it's now do-able to just sue them (preferably for 11 million, although you could go RIAA on 'em and initially sue for 1.5 Trillion), and when you win, you should have enough money to not care about your credit report.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'd love to hear from one willing to take this case!
See, I knew they'd find the cause of all this reckless driving. Now if they could only unearth what videogame causes all those Catholic Priests to become pedophiles. And which videogame turns ordinary muslims into suicide bombers. Then we'd have all the world's problems solved.
I have a friend who gets over-the-air TV. (I have FIOS)... He used to get about a dozen channels badly between VHF and UHF, now he gets about 5 channels intermittently.
The picture either comes in great or not at all. The audio gets chopped up so badly, it's like those old cell-phones "be -... ch... ack... fu... da... cuh..." there's not enough to even guess what the person is saying. And don't even try to read lips, because the audio, even when it's coming in good, is out of synch with the image.
But the worst of it is that the "TV" portion of the screen is about 2/3 of the overall image broadcast, while the other 1/3 is either ads or other information meant to "enhance" the viewing of the Tv portion (The ABC weather channel or whatever that is, is the most annoying)... In the end, it's more like watching TV over the web, where the "full screen" of traditional TV seems to have disappeared.
Between that and the constant layering of logos and ads/previews on top over every program, it's soon going to get that all you'll ever see on TV is an eye or a nose jiggling about.
Hey, someone puts a useless "bomb" that wouldn't have killed anyone in Times Square, and in less than a week, they've got the guy and he'll never see the light of day again.
BP on the other hand, kills 11 people, and wipes out the entire gulf coast, and so far, the only thing that has happened is that their stock price has dropped a bit. If you're moaning because there's no justice in the world, all I gotta say is wake up and smell the coffee.
As I've been saying for a long time now, Corporations have *more* rights than people.
So now, if you get spammed, because AT&T gave out your email address for any script that asks for it, does that count against your draconian "unlimited" 2GB data-plan? How can they ALLOW you to get spammed, all the while charging you for every packet you get. Pretty double-faced of them, eh?
I agree. It was super awesome. First of all, it delivered what was expected. It was a LOUD, in your face, rocking experience. The music was just right for the film, and the casting was even good. There were some pretty good fight scenes. The chick playing Sonia was a super-hottie.
Ironically, I didn't get the see the Jonny Cage/Scorpion fight because a REAL fight broke out in the theater right in front of me and security had to haul some dudes away. Overall, I rated the experience A+ because that was way better than a 3D movie.
Ask any airline CEO what the chances are of a crash, and they'll say "so close to zero that it doesn't matter" So why should they spend money on airline safety?
When planes are on the ground being serviced, they aren't making money and that cuts into profit. Profit needs to be prime motivator, not safety, which is highly over-rated.
We'll fix those planes AFTER there's a problem. Now get off our back with all that darned regulation.
So ask yourself, would you fly if that was the prevailing attitude?
Wow, by most estimates the Iraq war only cost about a Trillion. And I don't even think it's up to that yet. The entire financial bailout wasn't a Trillion. So the RIAA is saying that they could pay off a signifgant portion of the US debt if limewire pays up?
And where exactly does Limewire get this money that doesn't exist? Is the entire internet, as a whole, all businesses on the internet combined, even total a Trillion? Does the RIAA really believe they are 10% of GDP? And are they willing to pay taxes on that kind of income?
I think it's high time someone started informing the IRS of the RIAA's tax evasion practices, because I'm sure if they believe that lost sales are $1.5 trillion, then figuring 50% of sales are lost, they should still be owing the goverment taxes on their OTHER $1.5 trillion -- which is money they are obviously hiding.
And no mention of bluetooth drivers to support a bluetooth keyboard. How is it that my 5yr old TREO can still be used at meetings to take notes, but the frigging iDoesEverything doesn't seem to do that? I guess Steve just assumes we'll all be emailing videos of ourselves to each other, and yet, if we try that, we'll eat through our "unlimited" AT&T data plan with the very first email!
Jesus, do I have to use a jailbroken phone? Is that really the only way to get something that actually "just works"?
I'm always amazed at just how far off apple's hype from reality is. I guess Steve's reality Distortion field just grows larger each year.
Actually, I'm not sure of current numbers but I found a report from 2004 that says that we import more food here in the USA then we export. And since a lot of corn is now going to ethanol production, I'm assuming we export even less now.
Just because we have a lot of farmland doesn't mean we are making any money from that farmland. Think about that $2 jug of apple juice you just bought at walmart -- you think the apples that made that juice were grown here??? Those apples were grown in China. I am not kidding.
As the other reply pointed out, most "middle class" Americans can only "afford" these things because they juggle debt. Most of what you described (sans the house) is paid for on credit cards, and even the house is based on a mortgage that is paid off over 30+ years (and look how many defaulted).
I'm considered middle class (and I live in the USA). I cannot afford a huge house in the suburbs, and a wide screen TV in every room, unless I am willing to incurr crushing debt.
I'd like to point out however that the Chinese middle class are buying houses (or rather high-rise apartments) and cars. Remember how GM axed the Pontiac brand but kept Buick? Did you ever wonder about that decision?
It turns out that Buick is a well-respected brand in China. Buick is considered classy, and well-to-do, kind of like how Cadillac was percieved here in the 70's. The Chinese middle class are buying a lot of Buicks. So GM kept that brand rolling off the assembly line for the Chinese.
The Chinese are in a wonderful and unique position to take over as the number one superpower and number one consumer of goods, turning the USA into a number 2 or 3 within a few years. Let's start off with the fact that China now has a "middle class" of fairly affluent working class people that is over 300 million strong.
Let me repeat that in case you missed it: Their middle class is as large (or larger) than the entire population of the USA. This middle class is buying. China can now self-sustain. In other words, there are enough people now in China with the money to buy stuff made in China.
So, we, the USA, need the Chinese more than than China needs the USA. Furthermore, the Chinese are smart enough to both "outsource" to cheaper countries than themselves, while acting as middle-men to their USA 'bosses', and while we will eventually get around to cutting them out (as we did to Japan), it will be too late by then, China will be selling in the USA directly (as the Japanese do, with established brands), and, as I said, they can self-sustain.
China, however, may "import" slave-labor (or nearly so, within boundaries of international law), allowing the Chinese a more relaxed lifestyle while imported workers do the grunt work for low wages. This will allow them to keep prices low and maintain their existing infrastructure of factories.
We just need to be careful though that *we* aren't the slave labor they decide to import.
No, we upgraded to the C=128D. Actually, I've used and owned both. The 128D may be the best 8-bit computer of all time, and I say that because it was, essentially, almost every 8-bit computer that came before it, all rolled into one.
Yeah! And BP *had* to ignore all those safety protocols or else they wouldn't have been profitable and they would have gone out of business. Let's forgive them too! After all, they only way the could have survived was to dump 800 gazillion gallons of oil into a Louisiana swamp. And then run away.
In other words, I agree. Stop apologizing for giant corporations who happily screw you in the name of profits. The CEO of AT&T probably makes enough in bonuses alone to pay for everyone's unlimited data plans. He probably spends more on lunch than you make in a year. This year's new yacht could probably cover everyone's data plans handily.
Stop being apologists. Those guys can get by on normal salaries just like you and me. They won't starve to death if they are forced to only make a million a year instead of 20 million. If executive pay weren't so ludicrous, I'm sure large companies would be even more profitable, and yet, you're happliy giving them even more of your money in return for even less -- just so a few can retain their mansions, and the company can be even more profitable doing less.
If you're limited to 2GB of data, and half of that data turns out to be web-based advertising you don't want, then call up AT&T customer service *every time* you download an ad, and demand a credit to your 2GB limit.
After all, if you started getting unwanted text messages every time you got on your phone, and you were paying 20 cents per text message, I bet you'd call them up to demand a credit. Or let's say you recieved long, unsolicited sales calls about buying time-shares or something on your cell, which you are paying airtime for, and I bet you'd complain.
So, the only way to get them to change is to cost them a zillion dollars in customer service time by calling them up EVERY TIME you download an ad. Otherwise, you're paying twice.
Ah you beat me to it. I was just about to mention the Tucker and the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car ?" It seems that every new innovation gets killed by government and big business collusion.
Look at our current situation with BP. Turns out that the government regulators who were supposed to keep BP from doing everything it did to help this accident become a disaster were a little too "cozy" with the BP people. I guess "cozy" is a media euphamism for hookers and blow.
And then we wonder why the rest of the industrialized world is kicking our ass.
What I find so hysterical is that the Ford Model T got 20mpg and would run on damn-near anything that burned (talk about flex-fuel!), and yet somehow, after 100 years of innovation, most cars still can't do much better. In fact, many do worse, I doubt a GM "hummer" can navigate the muddy rutted cow-paths that a Model T was expected to traverse.
It seems that for every step this country takes forward, we take two steps backwards.
Slashdot Mirror
I realize Parallel Parking isn't a big deal in California, land of the parking lot, but I assume in big cities like LA or San Fran, people backing up into your car will damage the plate.
I live in NJ, but drive into Manhattan often, and I've had to squeeze my car into some pretty tricky spots. While the rear plate is OK, my front plate, which attaches to the bumper, is practically bent in half, has the paint peeling off; basically it's in bad shape. Can you imagine if this was an LCD screen? It wouldn't even display the plate number at this point, much less any ads.
So when the cop pulls me over, is it my fault or the state's that they made a fragile device that breaks if some other guy hits it? So now, not only do you have to worry about a broken tail-light every time you go to the supermarket, you also have to worry about your license plate being out.
And how long a line will you have to wait in to get your broken plate replaced? Or is this something dealerships will have to service?
I predict a lot of hacks for these plates to display porn. In fact, I have to wonder if the porn industry wouldn't be the first to advertise on these plates! After all, they were the first to advertise on the internet.
Do you realise how many people believe that there were "WMD"s in Iraq, and how many people believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11 ?
Yes, people are stupid. Nothing new here, and yes, we'll all be happier when that rock comes falling out of the sky and sends us the way of the dinosaur.
On a bright note, however, when 7 billion of us are dead, just think of the vast quantities of oil we'll be creating for next species that dominates...
In July 1994, federal prosecutors won an obscenity conviction in Tennessee against the operators of a computer bulletin board system (BBS) called the Amateur Action BBS, a private porn subscription service. The BBS was located in California, where there were no such obscenity laws.
The case came into being because two postal workers in TN were logging into the BBS and downloading porn. The OWNERS of the BBS were the ones extridited and prosecuted. This was pre-internet, BBS's back then used dial-up modems to connect computer to computer.
All the Pakistanis have to do is give us Osama Bin Laden first!
In the meantime, we'll keep Mark in a nice safe cave built by the CIA.
I can see it now. Your new LCD monitor is sold to you as a 22 inch, but 1/4 of the screen is actually an ad server, so your actual display area is smaller than 22 inches.
This is the new way.
I see it happening on TV. Between the logos, the market ticker, the oil gusher cam, and the pop-up ads promoting upcoming shows, all we're left with on TV is a talking head and all you can see of him/her is an eye or nose jiggling about the screen.
Spamhaus is a reporting agency that identifies spammers. And yet, they got sued, and lost. In that case, all bets are off people, we can now sue for anything, and it's high time we stuck it to the reporting agencies, and I mean the CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES.
Ever try and get your credit report fixed because it's littered with errors? And the three different agencies have three different reports, and these days, to even get your report, you need to sign up for (and then cancel) some idioting "membership"?
Well, no more going through hell to fix your credit report. Based on this case, I'd say it's now do-able to just sue them (preferably for 11 million, although you could go RIAA on 'em and initially sue for 1.5 Trillion), and when you win, you should have enough money to not care about your credit report.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'd love to hear from one willing to take this case!
See, I knew they'd find the cause of all this reckless driving. Now if they could only unearth what videogame causes all those Catholic Priests to become pedophiles. And which videogame turns ordinary muslims into suicide bombers. Then we'd have all the world's problems solved.
After all, the world is ending in 2012 !!!
Duh, stupid scientists, don't they know anything?
In the 40 watt range.
"Hey, just what you see here pal."
Uzi 9 millimeter.
"You really know your guns. This baby's perfect for home defense...."
I have a friend who gets over-the-air TV. (I have FIOS)... He used to get about a dozen channels badly between VHF and UHF, now he gets about 5 channels intermittently.
The picture either comes in great or not at all. The audio gets chopped up so badly, it's like those old cell-phones "be -... ch... ack... fu... da... cuh..." there's not enough to even guess what the person is saying. And don't even try to read lips, because the audio, even when it's coming in good, is out of synch with the image.
But the worst of it is that the "TV" portion of the screen is about 2/3 of the overall image broadcast, while the other 1/3 is either ads or other information meant to "enhance" the viewing of the Tv portion (The ABC weather channel or whatever that is, is the most annoying)... In the end, it's more like watching TV over the web, where the "full screen" of traditional TV seems to have disappeared.
Between that and the constant layering of logos and ads/previews on top over every program, it's soon going to get that all you'll ever see on TV is an eye or a nose jiggling about.
Off the main deflector dish;
That's the way do things lad;
just makin' shit up as we wish.
The klingons and the romulans,
they pose no threat to us!
'Cause when we find, we're in a bind;
we just make some shit up
Hey, someone puts a useless "bomb" that wouldn't have killed anyone in Times Square, and in less than a week, they've got the guy and he'll never see the light of day again.
BP on the other hand, kills 11 people, and wipes out the entire gulf coast, and so far, the only thing that has happened is that their stock price has dropped a bit. If you're moaning because there's no justice in the world, all I gotta say is wake up and smell the coffee.
As I've been saying for a long time now, Corporations have *more* rights than people.
So now, if you get spammed, because AT&T gave out your email address for any script that asks for it, does that count against your draconian "unlimited" 2GB data-plan? How can they ALLOW you to get spammed, all the while charging you for every packet you get. Pretty double-faced of them, eh?
And retitle this summary as "Why are Movies so awful" ?
I mean really. 99% of what comes out of Hollywoodland is utter garbage.
I see better from 1st year film students. There's more creativity on Youtube.
I agree. It was super awesome. First of all, it delivered what was expected. It was a LOUD, in your face, rocking experience. The music was just right for the film, and the casting was even good. There were some pretty good fight scenes. The chick playing Sonia was a super-hottie.
Ironically, I didn't get the see the Jonny Cage/Scorpion fight because a REAL fight broke out in the theater right in front of me and security had to haul some dudes away. Overall, I rated the experience A+ because that was way better than a 3D movie.
Ask any airline CEO what the chances are of a crash, and they'll say "so close to zero that it doesn't matter" So why should they spend money on airline safety?
When planes are on the ground being serviced, they aren't making money and that cuts into profit. Profit needs to be prime motivator, not safety, which is highly over-rated.
We'll fix those planes AFTER there's a problem. Now get off our back with all that darned regulation.
So ask yourself, would you fly if that was the prevailing attitude?
Wow, by most estimates the Iraq war only cost about a Trillion. And I don't even think it's up to that yet. The entire financial bailout wasn't a Trillion. So the RIAA is saying that they could pay off a signifgant portion of the US debt if limewire pays up?
And where exactly does Limewire get this money that doesn't exist? Is the entire internet, as a whole, all businesses on the internet combined, even total a Trillion? Does the RIAA really believe they are 10% of GDP? And are they willing to pay taxes on that kind of income?
I think it's high time someone started informing the IRS of the RIAA's tax evasion practices, because I'm sure if they believe that lost sales are $1.5 trillion, then figuring 50% of sales are lost, they should still be owing the goverment taxes on their OTHER $1.5 trillion -- which is money they are obviously hiding.
And no mention of bluetooth drivers to support a bluetooth keyboard. How is it that my 5yr old TREO can still be used at meetings to take notes, but the frigging iDoesEverything doesn't seem to do that? I guess Steve just assumes we'll all be emailing videos of ourselves to each other, and yet, if we try that, we'll eat through our "unlimited" AT&T data plan with the very first email!
Jesus, do I have to use a jailbroken phone?
Is that really the only way to get something that actually "just works"?
I'm always amazed at just how far off apple's hype from reality is.
I guess Steve's reality Distortion field just grows larger each year.
Actually, I'm not sure of current numbers but I found a report from 2004 that says that we import more food here in the USA then we export. And since a lot of corn is now going to ethanol production, I'm assuming we export even less now.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/exports111204.cfm
Just because we have a lot of farmland doesn't mean we are making any money from that farmland. Think about that $2 jug of apple juice you just bought at walmart -- you think the apples that made that juice were grown here??? Those apples were grown in China. I am not kidding.
As the other reply pointed out, most "middle class" Americans can only "afford" these things because they juggle debt. Most of what you described (sans the house) is paid for on credit cards, and even the house is based on a mortgage that is paid off over 30+ years (and look how many defaulted).
I'm considered middle class (and I live in the USA).
I cannot afford a huge house in the suburbs, and a wide screen TV in every room, unless I am willing to incurr crushing debt.
I'd like to point out however that the Chinese middle class are buying houses (or rather high-rise apartments) and cars. Remember how GM axed the Pontiac brand but kept Buick? Did you ever wonder about that decision?
It turns out that Buick is a well-respected brand in China. Buick is considered classy, and well-to-do, kind of like how Cadillac was percieved here in the 70's. The Chinese middle class are buying a lot of Buicks. So GM kept that brand rolling off the assembly line for the Chinese.
The Chinese are in a wonderful and unique position to take over as the number one superpower and number one consumer of goods, turning the USA into a number 2 or 3 within a few years. Let's start off with the fact that China now has a "middle class" of fairly affluent working class people that is over 300 million strong.
Let me repeat that in case you missed it: Their middle class is as large (or larger) than the entire population of the USA. This middle class is buying. China can now self-sustain. In other words, there are enough people now in China with the money to buy stuff made in China.
So, we, the USA, need the Chinese more than than China needs the USA. Furthermore, the Chinese are smart enough to both "outsource" to cheaper countries than themselves, while acting as middle-men to their USA 'bosses', and while we will eventually get around to cutting them out (as we did to Japan), it will be too late by then, China will be selling in the USA directly (as the Japanese do, with established brands), and, as I said, they can self-sustain.
China, however, may "import" slave-labor (or nearly so, within boundaries of international law), allowing the Chinese a more relaxed lifestyle while imported workers do the grunt work for low wages. This will allow them to keep prices low and maintain their existing infrastructure of factories.
We just need to be careful though that *we* aren't the slave labor they decide to import.
No, we upgraded to the C=128D. Actually, I've used and owned both. The 128D may be the best 8-bit computer of all time, and I say that because it was, essentially, almost every 8-bit computer that came before it, all rolled into one.
Yeah! And BP *had* to ignore all those safety protocols or else they wouldn't have been profitable and they would have gone out of business. Let's forgive them too! After all, they only way the could have survived was to dump 800 gazillion gallons of oil into a Louisiana swamp. And then run away.
In other words, I agree. Stop apologizing for giant corporations who happily screw you in the name of profits. The CEO of AT&T probably makes enough in bonuses alone to pay for everyone's unlimited data plans. He probably spends more on lunch than you make in a year. This year's new yacht could probably cover everyone's data plans handily.
Stop being apologists. Those guys can get by on normal salaries just like you and me. They won't starve to death if they are forced to only make a million a year instead of 20 million. If executive pay weren't so ludicrous, I'm sure large companies would be even more profitable, and yet, you're happliy giving them even more of your money in return for even less -- just so a few can retain their mansions, and the company can be even more profitable doing less.
If you're limited to 2GB of data, and half of that data turns out to be web-based advertising you don't want, then call up AT&T customer service *every time* you download an ad, and demand a credit to your 2GB limit.
After all, if you started getting unwanted text messages every time you got on your phone, and you were paying 20 cents per text message, I bet you'd call them up to demand a credit. Or let's say you recieved long, unsolicited sales calls about buying time-shares or something on your cell, which you are paying airtime for, and I bet you'd complain.
So, the only way to get them to change is to cost them a zillion dollars in customer service time by calling them up EVERY TIME you download an ad. Otherwise, you're paying twice.
Ah you beat me to it. I was just about to mention the Tucker and the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car ?" It seems that every new innovation gets killed by government and big business collusion.
Look at our current situation with BP. Turns out that the government regulators who were supposed to keep BP from doing everything it did to help this accident become a disaster were a little too "cozy" with the BP people. I guess "cozy" is a media euphamism for hookers and blow.
And then we wonder why the rest of the industrialized world is kicking our ass.
What I find so hysterical is that the Ford Model T got 20mpg and would run on damn-near anything that burned (talk about flex-fuel!), and yet somehow, after 100 years of innovation, most cars still can't do much better. In fact, many do worse, I doubt a GM "hummer" can navigate the muddy rutted cow-paths that a Model T was expected to traverse.
It seems that for every step this country takes forward, we take two steps backwards.