The dollar has always been overvalued. Yet the doom and gloom isn't for the US when the dollar's value comes down, its usually for the other side. Usually its the other side who does the majority of exporting. Exporters to the US will take it on the chin.
Its Apple's turn to see what the world is all about.
Until now they didn't really have a mass appeal product that people felt needed to be different. iPods and such do what they do and most people could care less. However Apple had the advantage of essentially setting a standard by putting out a really good product when everyone else was essentially fumbling the ball.
Now they entered a truly competitive market in a big way, a market where users expect certain things, and a market where there are a lot of people capable of making it happen. They also entered a market with a lot of experienced players who have too much money on the table to just ignore Apple. So figure it this way, even if Apple can make life hard for the hackers and lock their phone down you can guarantee someone, if not many, will come up with products to compete well with the iPhone. The iPhone is neat, I'll give it that, but it doesn't change the game enough for me to justify buying one. Someone will take the best of what they offer and repackage it as all cell phone companies do to each other now.
So either Apple gets real friendly with the community or they can play hardball, but only until someone comes along with better.
The question remains, when will that happen, not if.
"They" don't agree with the new scheduler; face it this is where most of the divide is; so "they" want their own version but they know damn well that unless they have Linus's blessing its dead in the water. As such expect attempts to guilt him. As such see attempts to deflect attention from their real peeve by suggesting 'multiples' instead of just their way and his way.
Arrogant from the standpoint that since they can't have their way and cannot get support for their own on their own they want Linus to do that for them. If 'they' are so right then 'they' will win out in the end. Regardless its their Linux and they will have to name it something people will cleary understand is not Linus
Off the top, I have both XP and OS X machines at home. On my XP machine I have the Office Suite and on the Mac I have NeoOffice. Yes there are alternatives to Powerpoint but the fact is, I don't care, Powerpoint does what I need and if I need advice I can find it so fast its just beyond compare.
In the end most people don't care, the MS products and those of other companies work. Its bad enough learning a new application because you have too but when your time is valuable learning one you don't need doesn't usually occur
The first page is where I noticed the biggest difference between Blizzard and "the other mmorpg" studios. This representative wasn't dismissing his competition or making disparaging remarks about it. He was playing nice. I figure down deep they know that these two games are not real threats to WOW... too many have been given that title only to falter.
I did appreciate his comments on developers. The job is pretty much thankless when everything is going right. Do your job right and most people don't care. Have problems creep up and your the center of some not so good attention.
It was also interesting to see how many people they "admit" to working on WOW and Starcraft 2. I assume the other is D3. 2000+ others? Most support. I can see that considering they are selling a service when it comes to the numbers WOW has.
The rule is, always talk nice about your competition. Then again when your at the top you don't have a reason to trash talk
is an indication that Apple is trying to get noticed for more than just their iPods.
I recently purchased my first Mac, an Imac, off of E-bay from one of those diehard Apple fans. The type that replaces perfectly good machines for newer models; mine was just 10 months old. Looking at his auction history he replaced a less than 6 month Mac Book Pro for one of the LED versions in February.
I think what Apple is missing is a headless Mac that sports more capability than the Mac Mini. They could do very well using the Apple TV form factor and have a system with good discreet graphics leveraging their use of similar tech in iMacs. Sell the unit with a mac keyboard and mouse, with notes that "your windows mouse" will work just fine. Price it in the range of 899 to 1699 depending on disk space and graphics power. Lure those Window's "gamers" that use the excuse. Hell, help Microsoft by having an OEM version of Windows available for bootcamp via coupon. People won't have to use Windows, won't being paying a Windows Tax, but with an OEM disk already made to install on a partition of their Mac from Apple they could make the whole thing a breeze.
I would move my parents to Mac but they have some Windows only software an no non-OEM Windows install meaning I would need to buy them both the Mac and Windows so they could continue as they do now.
While I find OS X pretty nice overall its not without aggravation. Its very easy to lose application configurations doing stupid things like changing user names and some software out there; cough FIREFOX; doesn't use the install process properly lending to the aggravation of converting to the platform.
Still I cannot believe they entered Best Buy without the expressed idea of appealing to a wider audience. It would be corporate stupidity not to try and grow your market. Mac users are not special. Their incentive to move away from their low volume high profit strategy is that they are close to the limits of what that market will support. The new trick is getting window users to their platform by making it so simple as to be a non-issue.
Too many of them think "it won't happen to me" and the end result is a visit to the hospital or worse. The number of motorcycle accidents that are single vehicle accidents is astounding.
I know high level professionals who as soon as crossing the state border take their helmets off. Some ride around locally with party helmets (the fake looking ones or just skull caps). After all "THEY" are entitled to do as they see and "THEY" are not going to get hurt and "THEY" are too skillful to need it and "THEY" are too inconvienced.
"THEY" can end up in the paper the next day too. Like the article recently about the girl killed riding a motorcycle for fun in a parking lot, she fell over and hit her head on a car. Or the owner of a Florida BMW motorcycle shop who was riding a bike in his own parking lot and crashed.
If an activity has risks you can reduce or eliminate its best to do so because you cannot control all the variables. Yet ego prevails over intelligence way too often.
If you want me to view your advertisement it better not.
1. Have sound. If it does your so forever block from my browser and wallet its not even funny
2. Overlay what I am reading. Having to click your ad away from the article text means I know exactly who I am never buying from.
3. Pop a window, over or under, its the same, your gone.
4. Any ad which causes my HD to spin up to load the damn support required for it, aka Flash and JAVA. If it pauses my experience it ends your chances.
5. Heaven forbid you dare ask me to download something.
You want might business. Then target those pages with simple and to the point banners and block ads. Do not animate my webpage. Put in bold letters why I should even pay attention to you. If you animate, make noise, or otherwise disturb my surfing you are intruding into my life and don't have that right
blame the governments, local, state, and federal, for this crap.
If they didn't have so many different ways to steal our money do you think Cellphone companies would have this sort of problem?
It is just like the junk fees we have with plane tickets. The flight is only "X" dollars - what the airline wants for the ticket, but you have to tack on taxes, some nearly double digit, landing fees, luggage fees, security fees, and anything else the locals can dream up (stadium fees anyone). Fees are just taxes with a different name but I don't see people bitching about the government, no they go off in their little brainwashed way blaming the corporations because the politicians vilify those entities with aplomb
Its not like I actually notice the speed of my browser on a daily basis. I have 3 browsers to choose from between my laptop and iMac. Those are Firefox, IE, and Safari. I tend to use FireFox on both machines as it provides a consistent experience regardless of platform. I also find many of the plug ins to be very useful.
Should I care? With today's machines the only performance issue I ever encounter is my connection. Frankly, if someone wants to sell me on a new browser then speed isn't the way to do it. Provide some convienence or functionality I can't live without. You are probably going to have to work hard at it and it will have to be something most of us haven't thought of. Sorry, but browsers are not rocket science and in this day they really aren't viable commercial products - you just have to have one and its expected your OS provider will have one for you.
The current spike in corn prices has nothing to do with less land being farmed, it has to do with a misguided energy policy as Congress caters to big business who has found their new golden goose : ethanol. Didn't you notice how Global Warming took off once people found a way to profit from it? From bogus carbon credits (read: papal indulgences of the 21st century) to profitable yet environmentally irresponsible production of ethanol?
We still trash more food in this country than is necessary. If anything the global economy has encouraged better farming to serve a world which has awakened to the fact that we no longer have to look to one place to feed our desires or stomachs. When the price point is met you can be sure that even Africa will be turned into large farm belts producing local wealth and food for the world around it. Then, that area of the world may actually crawl out of its hell hole of despots and warring.
What is it with successful companies and the average/. poster? There seems to be some assumed hatred for any company that is big and successful. Take WOW. Look at almost all the first postings, nothing on topic, all mocking the people who play the game or the people who created it. Why?
We can learn a lot from what these companies do right and wrong. Amazingly they are pretty open with many failings. Its important to understand what they think went wrong because we on the outside never have the big picture. We tend to focus like a laser on our one little issue, find a 3 or 4 more people and declare it a national emergency.
Diablo and WOW are impressive feats. I don't think we will see another WOW for some time. Its one of those seminal moments in gaming history, when a company just "got it right". It was the right game at the right time. Pretty much the same with Diablo. I doubt they can do it three times but they might just be the only people do so.
I have to laugh at all the people who claim they are quitting over change X or how many people they know who are quitting because if I had a nickle, well you know the story. The same goes for competitors to WOW. I laugh at the claims "we aren't here to compete with WOW" or "we don't consider WOW competition" . This is almost like an admission of failure. If your not going to aim high why bother taking the shot? This is especially true for known names who are releasing new games.
Too many games have tanked for the simple reason they released when they were not ready. They most likely failed to clamp donw on features and design and got bit in the ass by feature creep and the fuck up fairy - she loves to poke her head in when you change things. I have played MMORPGs from Yserbius, UO, EQ, DAOC, AC, AC2, LOTR, and yes WOW. None compare to the polish that WOW has. While there are those who legitimately can say they don't like the graphic style of WOW or the class play or even the raiding you cannot fault it for the polish and stability it has.
Because parents who let their kids stay in front of a TV for hours on end are not teaching their kids responsibility. All they are teaching is selfishness and the like. I say this because I have seen ADD kids do just fine playing games for hours on, its because they want to do it. ADD is just an excuse for not teaching a child that there is a time and place for everything. Its because you don't take an active interest in what they are doing, as such they do not know what to place importance on. Don't claim they don't know how to focus , the do damn well when its what they want to do.
Occupy their time. Involve them. You would be amazed at the difference between children of parents who actively engage them throughout the day and those that don't. I bet you can tell which children are which. ADD should renamed ARD - Adult Responsibility Disorder.
if you move out of the city to get away from it you may get away from some things you cannot live without.
Frankly, the net doesn't matter to me at home. I did the get away from it move but I still have all the access I ever need because I checked what was available before making the final decision.
I do not believe the majority of rural people want high speed internet, let alone want the net to begin with.
I do not believe hard wiring rural areas is the way to go, wireless is the more efficient method
Because they are not trying to grab markets where there is a lot of money spent. They still spend their time making nice looking machines that run a proprietary operating system. They claim at a recent developer conference that they want/desire/whatever gaming on Mac systems yet they don't offer anything with a good price and performance ratio.
I have a iMac24 on order... I do wish to use it for games, I don't need a $1800 "The iMac is the mid-range desktop solution, it comes with an OK graphics card" machine to just sit there for email and the like. I mean, get real, its $1800 and thats their offering hardware wise? The profit ratio must be extreme on these things.
Apple needs to get serious. They don't have a console. They don't have a viable platform for games compared to other contenders at HALF their price point. You honestly don't think Apple could grow even faster if they were to offer BTOs with better graphic options? I would love a user upgradeable MXM module for the graphics in the iMac... or at least a factory option for a better card. It is a much more elegant lan gaming machine than any "box" that most people use.
Gamers have money. They like style WITH performance. Apple is ignorant not to have offerings for them.
Some of the comments in the previous story bear all the marks of being grudges. It amazes me how people justify one entry and then can completely dismiss another. Your self description makes you one person I would not want to edit ANYTHING. You portrayed yourself as a victim and branded corporations as your oppressor. I mean, get real. Grow the fuck up.
It might be fine to live and think that way when your a teenager but the real world isn't concerned about your personal angst. Don't take it out on others and that includes companies you feel somehow slighted you personally. If you can't think beyond that then seek professional help.
or the political bias at times that persists in Wikipedia?
Their top level admins are no where near as impartial as they claim to be. Obvious subjects to avoid on Wikipedia are those which are based on religious, political, or environmental, concerns. People have taken "maintaining" those types of entries to ridiculous levels that whole pages of discussion exist behind the page where the various factions bitch at each other. The best way to see the bias is to watch what they require to have accredited links and what they do not, let alone what sites they consider credible sources for disputed information.
While it has much useful information there are just certain subjects to avoid
by a teacher than by a total stranger on the internet.
While we do get some sensational stories on occasion, usually involving hottie female teacher or some male gym coach, there are hundreds of cases that never get national press attention. There are some estimates that children are more in danger from teachers and other school employees than any other source (they were comparing to the scare on churches)
Because 15:1 the same environmentalist that oppose oil drilling because of the disturbance to the land would also scream about geothermal plants and their attendant power lines. After all many places will be "pristine nature" and as such require "protection". Even if its a great source of energy that is clean there will be groups that will oppose regardless of reason or potential improvement.
We coddle way too many people who have no right to exist in any society. While some think its barbaric to kill murderers and such I think its barbaric to ever let them back out on the street. If we are not to let them out again why does society have to suffer them to live?
Oh, ditch the strawman argument about "what if 1 innocent man" crap, we have confessed killers and rapists who will one day be out among us...
How do you reform what doesn't want to be reform and doesn't know it needs to be reformed?
So if the system only needs my face... how does it know I am not under threat to perform whatever action is required?
With my home security system I have two codes, one deactivates the system allowing entry, the second allows entry but immediately calls the police. Both operate exactly the same from the stand point of someone who doesn't know the number.
I guess we could "combine" features, use facial, iris, or other physical, identification with PIN numbers and such for sensitive activities and just allow the non-PIN activities for items not considered critical.
Slashdot Mirror
It seems to imply that running any 3rd party software on the phone voids your warranty.
I wonder how long Apple will be able to play hardball before they are in court on the wrong end of a class action suit?
Where the local government requires it to be carried?
I don't want them, in fact I have never seen content on them to interest me.
Whose economy tanked? Japan's.
The dollar has always been overvalued. Yet the doom and gloom isn't for the US when the dollar's value comes down, its usually for the other side. Usually its the other side who does the majority of exporting. Exporters to the US will take it on the chin.
Its Apple's turn to see what the world is all about.
Until now they didn't really have a mass appeal product that people felt needed to be different. iPods and such do what they do and most people could care less. However Apple had the advantage of essentially setting a standard by putting out a really good product when everyone else was essentially fumbling the ball.
Now they entered a truly competitive market in a big way, a market where users expect certain things, and a market where there are a lot of people capable of making it happen. They also entered a market with a lot of experienced players who have too much money on the table to just ignore Apple. So figure it this way, even if Apple can make life hard for the hackers and lock their phone down you can guarantee someone, if not many, will come up with products to compete well with the iPhone. The iPhone is neat, I'll give it that, but it doesn't change the game enough for me to justify buying one. Someone will take the best of what they offer and repackage it as all cell phone companies do to each other now.
So either Apple gets real friendly with the community or they can play hardball, but only until someone comes along with better.
The question remains, when will that happen, not if.
"They" don't agree with the new scheduler; face it this is where most of the divide is; so "they" want their own version but they know damn well that unless they have Linus's blessing its dead in the water. As such expect attempts to guilt him. As such see attempts to deflect attention from their real peeve by suggesting 'multiples' instead of just their way and his way.
Arrogant from the standpoint that since they can't have their way and cannot get support for their own on their own they want Linus to do that for them. If 'they' are so right then 'they' will win out in the end. Regardless its their Linux and they will have to name it something people will cleary understand is not Linus
if many of us
a) actually cared
b) didn't have a working solution now.
Off the top, I have both XP and OS X machines at home. On my XP machine I have the Office Suite and on the Mac I have NeoOffice. Yes there are alternatives to Powerpoint but the fact is, I don't care, Powerpoint does what I need and if I need advice I can find it so fast its just beyond compare.
In the end most people don't care, the MS products and those of other companies work. Its bad enough learning a new application because you have too but when your time is valuable learning one you don't need doesn't usually occur
The first page is where I noticed the biggest difference between Blizzard and "the other mmorpg" studios. This representative wasn't dismissing his competition or making disparaging remarks about it. He was playing nice. I figure down deep they know that these two games are not real threats to WOW... too many have been given that title only to falter.
I did appreciate his comments on developers. The job is pretty much thankless when everything is going right. Do your job right and most people don't care. Have problems creep up and your the center of some not so good attention.
It was also interesting to see how many people they "admit" to working on WOW and Starcraft 2. I assume the other is D3. 2000+ others? Most support. I can see that considering they are selling a service when it comes to the numbers WOW has.
The rule is, always talk nice about your competition. Then again when your at the top you don't have a reason to trash talk
is an indication that Apple is trying to get noticed for more than just their iPods.
I recently purchased my first Mac, an Imac, off of E-bay from one of those diehard Apple fans. The type that replaces perfectly good machines for newer models; mine was just 10 months old. Looking at his auction history he replaced a less than 6 month Mac Book Pro for one of the LED versions in February.
I think what Apple is missing is a headless Mac that sports more capability than the Mac Mini. They could do very well using the Apple TV form factor and have a system with good discreet graphics leveraging their use of similar tech in iMacs. Sell the unit with a mac keyboard and mouse, with notes that "your windows mouse" will work just fine. Price it in the range of 899 to 1699 depending on disk space and graphics power. Lure those Window's "gamers" that use the excuse. Hell, help Microsoft by having an OEM version of Windows available for bootcamp via coupon. People won't have to use Windows, won't being paying a Windows Tax, but with an OEM disk already made to install on a partition of their Mac from Apple they could make the whole thing a breeze.
I would move my parents to Mac but they have some Windows only software an no non-OEM Windows install meaning I would need to buy them both the Mac and Windows so they could continue as they do now.
While I find OS X pretty nice overall its not without aggravation. Its very easy to lose application configurations doing stupid things like changing user names and some software out there; cough FIREFOX; doesn't use the install process properly lending to the aggravation of converting to the platform.
Still I cannot believe they entered Best Buy without the expressed idea of appealing to a wider audience. It would be corporate stupidity not to try and grow your market. Mac users are not special. Their incentive to move away from their low volume high profit strategy is that they are close to the limits of what that market will support. The new trick is getting window users to their platform by making it so simple as to be a non-issue.
Too many of them think "it won't happen to me" and the end result is a visit to the hospital or worse. The number of motorcycle accidents that are single vehicle accidents is astounding.
I know high level professionals who as soon as crossing the state border take their helmets off. Some ride around locally with party helmets (the fake looking ones or just skull caps). After all "THEY" are entitled to do as they see and "THEY" are not going to get hurt and "THEY" are too skillful to need it and "THEY" are too inconvienced.
"THEY" can end up in the paper the next day too. Like the article recently about the girl killed riding a motorcycle for fun in a parking lot, she fell over and hit her head on a car. Or the owner of a Florida BMW motorcycle shop who was riding a bike in his own parking lot and crashed.
If an activity has risks you can reduce or eliminate its best to do so because you cannot control all the variables. Yet ego prevails over intelligence way too often.
If you want me to view your advertisement it better not.
1. Have sound. If it does your so forever block from my browser and wallet its not even funny
2. Overlay what I am reading. Having to click your ad away from the article text means I know exactly who I am never buying from.
3. Pop a window, over or under, its the same, your gone.
4. Any ad which causes my HD to spin up to load the damn support required for it, aka Flash and JAVA. If it pauses my experience it ends your chances.
5. Heaven forbid you dare ask me to download something.
You want might business. Then target those pages with simple and to the point banners and block ads. Do not animate my webpage. Put in bold letters why I should even pay attention to you. If you animate, make noise, or otherwise disturb my surfing you are intruding into my life and don't have that right
blame the governments, local, state, and federal, for this crap.
If they didn't have so many different ways to steal our money do you think Cellphone companies would have this sort of problem?
It is just like the junk fees we have with plane tickets. The flight is only "X" dollars - what the airline wants for the ticket, but you have to tack on taxes, some nearly double digit, landing fees, luggage fees, security fees, and anything else the locals can dream up (stadium fees anyone). Fees are just taxes with a different name but I don't see people bitching about the government, no they go off in their little brainwashed way blaming the corporations because the politicians vilify those entities with aplomb
Its not like I actually notice the speed of my browser on a daily basis. I have 3 browsers to choose from between my laptop and iMac. Those are Firefox, IE, and Safari. I tend to use FireFox on both machines as it provides a consistent experience regardless of platform. I also find many of the plug ins to be very useful.
Should I care? With today's machines the only performance issue I ever encounter is my connection. Frankly, if someone wants to sell me on a new browser then speed isn't the way to do it. Provide some convienence or functionality I can't live without. You are probably going to have to work hard at it and it will have to be something most of us haven't thought of. Sorry, but browsers are not rocket science and in this day they really aren't viable commercial products - you just have to have one and its expected your OS provider will have one for you.
Wrong.
The current spike in corn prices has nothing to do with less land being farmed, it has to do with a misguided energy policy as Congress caters to big business who has found their new golden goose : ethanol. Didn't you notice how Global Warming took off once people found a way to profit from it? From bogus carbon credits (read: papal indulgences of the 21st century) to profitable yet environmentally irresponsible production of ethanol?
We still trash more food in this country than is necessary. If anything the global economy has encouraged better farming to serve a world which has awakened to the fact that we no longer have to look to one place to feed our desires or stomachs. When the price point is met you can be sure that even Africa will be turned into large farm belts producing local wealth and food for the world around it. Then, that area of the world may actually crawl out of its hell hole of despots and warring.
What is it with successful companies and the average /. poster? There seems to be some assumed hatred for any company that is big and successful. Take WOW. Look at almost all the first postings, nothing on topic, all mocking the people who play the game or the people who created it. Why?
We can learn a lot from what these companies do right and wrong. Amazingly they are pretty open with many failings. Its important to understand what they think went wrong because we on the outside never have the big picture. We tend to focus like a laser on our one little issue, find a 3 or 4 more people and declare it a national emergency.
Diablo and WOW are impressive feats. I don't think we will see another WOW for some time. Its one of those seminal moments in gaming history, when a company just "got it right". It was the right game at the right time. Pretty much the same with Diablo. I doubt they can do it three times but they might just be the only people do so.
I have to laugh at all the people who claim they are quitting over change X or how many people they know who are quitting because if I had a nickle, well you know the story. The same goes for competitors to WOW. I laugh at the claims "we aren't here to compete with WOW" or "we don't consider WOW competition" . This is almost like an admission of failure. If your not going to aim high why bother taking the shot? This is especially true for known names who are releasing new games.
Too many games have tanked for the simple reason they released when they were not ready. They most likely failed to clamp donw on features and design and got bit in the ass by feature creep and the fuck up fairy - she loves to poke her head in when you change things. I have played MMORPGs from Yserbius, UO, EQ, DAOC, AC, AC2, LOTR, and yes WOW. None compare to the polish that WOW has. While there are those who legitimately can say they don't like the graphic style of WOW or the class play or even the raiding you cannot fault it for the polish and stability it has.
Why?
Because parents who let their kids stay in front of a TV for hours on end are not teaching their kids responsibility. All they are teaching is selfishness and the like. I say this because I have seen ADD kids do just fine playing games for hours on, its because they want to do it. ADD is just an excuse for not teaching a child that there is a time and place for everything. Its because you don't take an active interest in what they are doing, as such they do not know what to place importance on. Don't claim they don't know how to focus , the do damn well when its what they want to do.
Occupy their time. Involve them. You would be amazed at the difference between children of parents who actively engage them throughout the day and those that don't. I bet you can tell which children are which. ADD should renamed ARD - Adult Responsibility Disorder.
unless it is consistent with what I already know to be true or have had time to verify against other sources.
too many zealots rule certain categories and unfortunately too many of the same are the very powers that be.
if you move out of the city to get away from it you may get away from some things you cannot live without.
Frankly, the net doesn't matter to me at home. I did the get away from it move but I still have all the access I ever need because I checked what was available before making the final decision.
I do not believe the majority of rural people want high speed internet, let alone want the net to begin with.
I do not believe hard wiring rural areas is the way to go, wireless is the more efficient method
d) or V'ger it and send it back with an army of lightsaber wielding sharks!
Because they are not trying to grab markets where there is a lot of money spent. They still spend their time making nice looking machines that run a proprietary operating system. They claim at a recent developer conference that they want/desire/whatever gaming on Mac systems yet they don't offer anything with a good price and performance ratio.
I have a iMac24 on order... I do wish to use it for games, I don't need a $1800 "The iMac is the mid-range desktop solution, it comes with an OK graphics card" machine to just sit there for email and the like. I mean, get real, its $1800 and thats their offering hardware wise? The profit ratio must be extreme on these things.
Apple needs to get serious. They don't have a console. They don't have a viable platform for games compared to other contenders at HALF their price point. You honestly don't think Apple could grow even faster if they were to offer BTOs with better graphic options? I would love a user upgradeable MXM module for the graphics in the iMac... or at least a factory option for a better card. It is a much more elegant lan gaming machine than any "box" that most people use.
Gamers have money. They like style WITH performance. Apple is ignorant not to have offerings for them.
Some of the comments in the previous story bear all the marks of being grudges. It amazes me how people justify one entry and then can completely dismiss another. Your self description makes you one person I would not want to edit ANYTHING. You portrayed yourself as a victim and branded corporations as your oppressor. I mean, get real. Grow the fuck up.
It might be fine to live and think that way when your a teenager but the real world isn't concerned about your personal angst. Don't take it out on others and that includes companies you feel somehow slighted you personally. If you can't think beyond that then seek professional help.
or the political bias at times that persists in Wikipedia?
Their top level admins are no where near as impartial as they claim to be. Obvious subjects to avoid on Wikipedia are those which are based on religious, political, or environmental, concerns. People have taken "maintaining" those types of entries to ridiculous levels that whole pages of discussion exist behind the page where the various factions bitch at each other. The best way to see the bias is to watch what they require to have accredited links and what they do not, let alone what sites they consider credible sources for disputed information.
While it has much useful information there are just certain subjects to avoid
by a teacher than by a total stranger on the internet.
While we do get some sensational stories on occasion, usually involving hottie female teacher or some male gym coach, there are hundreds of cases that never get national press attention. There are some estimates that children are more in danger from teachers and other school employees than any other source (they were comparing to the scare on churches)
Because 15:1 the same environmentalist that oppose oil drilling because of the disturbance to the land would also scream about geothermal plants and their attendant power lines. After all many places will be "pristine nature" and as such require "protection". Even if its a great source of energy that is clean there will be groups that will oppose regardless of reason or potential improvement.
When its nearly absolute in its application.
We coddle way too many people who have no right to exist in any society. While some think its barbaric to kill murderers and such I think its barbaric to ever let them back out on the street. If we are not to let them out again why does society have to suffer them to live?
Oh, ditch the strawman argument about "what if 1 innocent man" crap, we have confessed killers and rapists who will one day be out among us...
How do you reform what doesn't want to be reform and doesn't know it needs to be reformed?
So if the system only needs my face... how does it know I am not under threat to perform whatever action is required?
With my home security system I have two codes, one deactivates the system allowing entry, the second allows entry but immediately calls the police. Both operate exactly the same from the stand point of someone who doesn't know the number.
I guess we could "combine" features, use facial, iris, or other physical, identification with PIN numbers and such for sensitive activities and just allow the non-PIN activities for items not considered critical.