Not all mobile devices are made for annoying the piss out of someone on their day off (although I will admit that the cell-phone/beeper craze has bothered me on more than one vacation day). Now, if you are talking about something that would/could need fifteen GB of storage capacity, I don't really see that as a annoyance device. It would probably be (at a minimum) and entertainment device (like MP3 player, or maybe even movie storage device?) or a full-fledged laptop computer. Granted, a laptop can annoy you at times too, but I've used mine as a portable juke-box to listen to tunes with the wifey while having a picnic out in the middle of nowhere. I don't see every advance as a negative, and I'm having a tough time thinking of some annoyance device that would need fifteen GB of storage. Can anybody else come up with something?
I had problems with one dial-up provider in this area, but any others I've ever dealt with have been pretty good about dealing with Linux. They don't know it, but they accept it as long as I can take care of it and help them discover networking errors if I'm having problems. But when it comes to high-speed. Well, only @home is available in my area. As the local monopoly, they probably feel they can tell you anything they want, and you can either comply or go fuck yourself. Maddening, but I suppose they see it as justified. Maybe if there was local competition, but the cable companies would never allow that.
A) Blind faith in all things Microsoft. Microsoft is what matters now. Anything else must just be a reactionary pile of shit (in their eyes).
And
B) Totally ignorance. The few people that have heard of Linux at all in these organizations have heard of it as a terrible hackers tool used to thwart big-businesses by avoiding paying for software. Not to mention that it comes with all sorts of evil software that can be used for hacking (cracking) systems, like compilers, network sniffers and port scanning tools. That little bit of knowledge is enough to scare the common manager into telling his underlings (in this case the service people) that Linux/BSD/etc. is evil and must be prevented from 'penetrating' their network.
@Home itself, on its pages does say that Linux is supported, but the @Home provider in this area, Midcontinent Communications is totally against it (at least from anyone they allow you to contact, that seems to be the case). They also have a web-form when you try to sign up online that allows you to choose between Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS, and Other Operating System. But, if you choose other, you are directed to a page describing the terrible sins of us evil hackers and rejected from submitting your application until you choose Windows. If you choose Macintosh, they will accept it, but then someone will call you to tell you that their technicians will not be able to install your service and you must install Windows on your system (aren't these people even smart enough to know that a Macintosh can't run Windows?).
Anyway, after all that run-around (done on my wife's behalf when she wanted high-speed internet access to the family computers) we settled on a second dial-up account for our home (the one I usually use is on my laptop and doesn't allow multiple connections at once, I tried). So, they lose a potential customer. I probably would have dropped them at the slightest sign of trouble anyway after all the bullshit they put me through just trying to get signed up. So, it was no great loss. And as far as I'm concerned, the twenty minutes a week that my wife is on the Internet I doubt would be worth the extra $60 a month anyway.
I wonder if Microsoft didn't make some big investment in @home recently. It seems to me that they used to at least tolerate Linux systems being on their network, but now it seems they are more and more apt to tell you that is a violation of your contract and you are hosed. At least, that's what it seems to me.
Maybe there's some under the carpet deal going down, but there is definite hostility in the @home world when you make any mention of an OS other than Microsoft Windows. Even asking about Macintosh got me shut down when talking to Midcontinent, which is suprising because that was even listed as suported on their web page. Oh well. If I spent as much time surfing as I used to it might matter more to me. But I guess dial-up is as good as it's going to get in my area (unless I want to shell out for a T1, yeah, right).
Re:The @Home Tech Support People Snoop, etc
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That's the usual reaction when a Windows box isn't picking up it's net connection properly. Most techs will just start removing protocols and expect it to work. Whether it does or not, they will never assume that the error could be with their network. That's one of the reasons I like to take care of my own systems (and refused to deal with the @home bullshit). I won't use Windows (which I was told is the only supported operating system by Midcontinet@home) and I won't put up with some idiot destroying my computer's settings just because he thinks he knows what he's doing.
Let's not forget that Microsoft invented computers, not to mention everything to do with them, like networking, the Internet, and business manipulation, er um, sales of computer products. (I know this isn't true, but it is increasingly the attitude in my area. I'm kind of tired of being five years behind the times. South Dakota sucks ass. Oh, and the weather is good too;-)
I realize this is flamebait, I don't care. Everyone needs to blow off some steam at some point. Either that or I'll just lock the door to my office and see if I can cause spontaneous human combustion purely from anger.
Re:Pay? @Home Does Allow Linux
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That might be dependant on the area you are in. I know I live in the bum-fuck middle of nowhere (midcontinent is the provider of @home service if that tells you anything) and the very concept that someone would do something different (i.e. evil) is just completely beyond them. The above quoted conversation was exactly as it happened. They refuse to even talk to me if I bring up the L(inux) word. Either I can install Windows, or I can fuck off. Which is fine, I don't have any problem just ignoring them. Supposedly sometime in the next three to four years the idiots in charge of telco will complete the upgrade and DSL will be available to me. But it is galling that two blocks away it is available relatively cheap, but I'm 'outside' the service area. Woopee!
I won't comment on the sign-up drop and sign-up deal (other than to say that would be a gaint pain in the ass for those of us with something else to do). The problem for some of us on this one would be that we would have to keep on OS around that we don't ever use except for the day you have to take off of work to wait on the moron from @home to show up. At least, in this are, they refuse to let you set up the service yourself. They insist that you have to get their technicians to do it for you, and they also insist that you absolutely have to have Microsoft Windows in order to use their service. Now, I can make Linux or FreeBSD work fine with it (at a friend's house, I refuse to support @home myself because of thier absolutely abysmal customer service), but they will literally hang up on you if you try to talk them into letting you use one of those operating systems. In fact, the last time I called in they said, "Linux will not work with our service." I said, "Yes it will, I have a friend using it." They said, "We do not support renegade operating systems. Your friend is in violation of our policy and if we find out who it is his service agreement will be terminated." *CLICK*. Nice pleasant customer service people.
Anyway, even if I had a windows machine ready to go (which I don't at my own home, and I won't install just to get the sometimes up @home service installed) the fact that they need to come and snoop around your system before they will install the service just sucks ass totally. Maybe it's different in other places, but I don't really like the idea of being told I'm too stupid to hook something up to my computer. Maybe some people don't like doing it themselves, but I do.
Your attitude is as bad as the one that he's complaining about; in fact it's the same attitude. You are putting people in boxes based on their age instead of treating them as individuals. If you pull that crap on your superiors, then I don't blame them for not respecting you.
I suspect, with your attitude, that you will become one of the bosses that he is complaining about, and will also not respect anyone youger than you.
I respect a person until they prove to me that they don't deserve my respect. If that means I 'put people in boxes' then so be it.
BTW, what crap exactly, am I pulling on my superiors? Doing the work they tell me to do? Oh god, don't let anyone know that! I am a fucker aren't I!?
You're probably some angry company head that doesn't understand why the people you crap on all day don't worship you. Am I right? Would you admit it if I was? Bah!
If you think management is clueless at tech companies, try being a developer or sysadmin for, oh, say, a construction company. Might as well just stick your head in the toilet and flush repeatedly.
Precisely. I work for a wood-working company. Does that explain my situation? The red-necks in charge think that e-mail is like some kind of curse from satan himself. And that doesn't even begin to describe the contortions I need to go through to accomplish my daily tasks.
As far as the toilet thing, I actually think that would be far, far more pleasurable than this. Even if it was a just used toilet.
This reminds me of the previous slashdot article about how we now have scientific proof that kids are stupid.
But, let's face it. Nobody is going to respect you that is older than you. It just doesn't happen. Unless of course, you happen to be lucky enough to know someone that was so abused when they were younger that they respect you because you are young.
I'm currently in a very similar position to yours. I do far more than what I ever thought I possibly could, being the only computer person working in the company, yet the only things I ever hear about from my 'superiors' are the things that I haven't accomplished. It would just be too much for them to ever remark on what has been accomplished. Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people that's always begging for an ass-kissing from my bosses, but it would be nice if when I gave them something they've been asking for I get something along the lines of a thank you. Know what I got told the last time I completed a development project for the boss?
So, why haven't you done that other thing I asked you to do?
Finally, another sane author speaks. I find it extremely disturbing that authors are blamed (in that these people are always screaming about the 'artists rights' whether it's authors or musicians) for what the publishers are going for. I'm a small time author too (in my real-world persona, and no I'm not giving out my name). I too give away large amounts of books. I usually buy between 100 and 200 copies of a book with my first publishers check just for the purpose of giving them away to people that I feel would be interested. Why on earth would anyone do that? Simple, it's just like doing an open-air concert if you are musician (where you don't ask for pay). You get your work 'out there' generate some interest, and if it is any good, other people will come and buy of their own free will. People aren't evil by nature (something that more and more corporations are forgetting now, and the government is falling for it hook line and sinker). If they like something, and they have the ability, they will support it. But demanding money is just wrong. As a musician and an author, I don't see the point of all this "protect the artist" bullshit that the industry is spewing forth. Most of the 'artists' that I know couldn't give a rip about what the industry terms piracy. If you do this for a living, as long as you make enough to keep doing it, you don't really care about the kids that buy one copy because they can't afford to buy one per person and pass it to ten friends. We've all been involved in that sort of thing, especially as youngsters. Why go after these 'evil, evil pirates', when all they are really guilty of is not being rich? It's a frightening trend.
The digital divide is not the one that we should be worried about right now. The divide between the rich and the poor that seems to be growing more and more powerful is the one that should concern us. As the rich push to make that divide stronger, and the poor struggle against it, we see again and again that the poor are labelled evil, vile, disgusting names for their crime of being poor. It's very frightening, and I hope that we wake up before we become totally entwined in our own stupidity.
Thank you Mr. AC. Actually, the song I was referring to was An Act of Attrition I believe. Psychosexuality was about the porno industry. Both songs were disturbing to say the least, but both looked at the dark side of the subject and, without being preachy about it, showed how vile and evil the actions described really were.
Dark Angel rocked! Have you heard the latest album from the old Dark Angel guitarist? I can't remember the name of it off-hand, but it's a little more death-metal oriented. A buddy of mine just bought it a while back. Very cool guitar wise, but the lyrics aren't nearly as deep (or as cool sounding) as the old-school Dark Angel.
Wow, I guess I am misinformed (and so are some of my gay friends). So, when a gay couple says they are married I guess that's more of a symbolic thing huh? That really sucks. I thought at least a few states had moved past that stage of pessimism towards gay couples. For some reason I was under the impression that a few states had already started allowing same-sex marriages and a few states had it on the table, so to speak. This might be another reason for me to hate politics.
Kurt's going to have to do something real serious to make himself a "good guy" in my family's eyes;-). We're so sick of him being champ that we would probably kick his ass ourselves if we ever met him.
As for the XFL, my general take so far has been that people that get into WWF will pretty much like the XFL. It isn't exactly the same, the XFL seems a little more 'real' than the WWF, but it's got enough of the same vibe to be lined up pretty good to impress the same people the WWF impresses.
Hope you enjoy it. I'd like to think I'm not the only one rooting for them. See ya around.
1) Estate tax. Straight married couples can pass
their estates to their surviving spouses tax
free. Same-sex partners get taxed heavily by this.
Well, estate taxes aren't exactly fair anywhere. I wasn't even aware that people could pass estates to spouses without being taxed. I know that you have to jump through incredible numbers of hoops to pass your estate to the next generation without getting taxed into oblivion. My thought would be that it gets taxed as you earn it, the government should keep their goddamned hands off of it unless you "spend" it on something. Why the government has the right to tax you at all just because a family member died is completely beyond my comprehension to understand.
Just out of curiosity, is this also true in states where same-sex marriage is allowed? I thought that once a couple was married (same-sex or not) all the laws were equal regardless of the 'type' of marriage.
2) Straight married couples can put each other
on employer health insurance plans without getting
taxed. If my partner puts me on his insurance plan
(if it is even possible), the !#$% federal
goverment will consider it taxable income and I
would have to pay tax on it.
Are you positive on that one? Again, I think in states where same-sex marriage is allowed the same laws/rules apply to same-sex couple as apply to opposite sex couples.
Of course, if you aren't married to or won't marry your same-sex partner than I think all of this is moot as these "benefits" aren't available to same-sex couples that aren't married either. But if you live in a state that doesn't allow same-sex marriages, then I feel for you. I feel it should be allowed in all states. But, most straight people seem to disagree with me on that. I guess that's another reason I occasionally get mistaken for a gay man, I take the 'wrong' side on a lot of issues like that.
Yep, god knows that listening to heavy metal, much like watching a horror movie, is proof of guilt.
If I hear one more person say that I should be a good little boy and put my evil, vile, disgusting guitars away for good I'm gonna puke. I'm a 27 year old that plays and listens to heavy metal. While I probably wouldn't listen to music where the lyrics are what you are claiming, if the music was cool enough I might. Does that make me a terribly evil man? If you even heard this (which is doubtful), it was probably a song about the evils of pedophilia (just like people thought the song about how evil and terrible rape is done by Dark Angel was thought to be a diatribe about how good it feels to rape someone by the elite christian idiots).
Grow up. People express themselves in different ways. The violent music is a way to work out your agressions without hurting anyone. If I were forced to stop playing violent music, who knows what evil things I would actually do. I feel pent up enough if I don't play for a couple of weeks to do something um, not very nice. If I was told I could never play again, I don't even want to think about where that would lead.
Some people have a violent nature, or need to blow off some steam every now and then due to stress in their life. Some of us have found constructive ways of dealing with our violent tendencies, or the stress that causes serious mental problems for us otherwise. People that claim this is proof of just how fucked up we are are the fucked up ones in my mind. What kind of shit are you holding back? You've never watched a horror movie? You've never had an evil thought? You've never written a naughty poem? Come on, dude. Nobody would believe that of even the most tight-laced anal son-of-a-****. People are guilty of nothing just for creating or listening to music, writing or reading a story, or creating or watching a movie which depicts terrible acts. Unless you want to start arresting Stephen King and all the other good horror writers? Ah, just as well go ahead. It won't be long before that will be on the governmental "policing" efforts radar anyway.
When Faulty Dreams started we were accused of being everything from a cult to a covert bunch of baby rapers out to destroy civilization. It never occured to anyone that we actually were a heavy metal band that enjoyed writing stories and poetry.
The fact is that we didn't/haven't drawn enough attention to bring down the big guns on our heads, but if the right group heard about us we would be in the same boat as these poor guys. Once the accusation line starts, there is no stopping it. Fear rules this society we live in. Especially fear of those who use and understand technology. Forget about being rational in the face of such accusations. It's the modern day witch-hunt. They ask you to prove you aren't a hacker, you say you can't, they say, 'AH-HA! WE KNEW IT!' and you are hosed.
They may not stick your head in a bucket of water(the old test for being a witch, drown and you are 'innocent' live and you are guilty), but I would look soon for suspected hackers to be asked to program something. If they succeed, they will be termed hacker and locked away. If they fail, it will be said that they are trying to hide their true powers and locked away. Freedom means nothing nowadays. Fear and accusations are all that really matter. Especially if it gives the establishment the opportunity to grab just a little more power (baby-steps). I can't wait to see how totally hosed society is by the time my kids have to deal with this garbage.
I'll give the original author the benefit of the doubt and say he knew what he wanted to say and chose poor wording to express what he was saying. The problem with evolutionary scientists is two-fold. Some of them actually believe that evolution is a replacement for God (in the Christian sense of the word) and always try to fit emotions, thought, plans and dreams into the "reasons" behind evolution (much like Christians pretend to understand the motivations behind God's supposed actions). Others, knowing full well that evolution isn't a being try very, very hard to speak in this evolution as god riddle so as to show the common man how superior they are (because they know the intentions of the "real" god, EVOLUTION).
The fact is that evolution is no more real the the Christian god if you are looking for a supreme intelligence/being. They are both random purposes brought about by the very, very chaotic nature that they somehow made into seemingly non-chaotic matter. A human being is an extremely organized creature, but when you begin studying the organization you begin to realize that no one, no thing would ever intentionally design a creature the way we have been 'designed' (if you can call it that). With so many inneffecient body parts, and body parts that just don't really seem to do much, there is no way you can attribute it to anything but chaos breeding a sort of psuedo-order through evolutionary means (when something works, go with it, something doesn't, get rid of it). No mystical powers involved, just a beautiful coincidence.
I thought McMahon was babbling about how each team was a franchise, just governed by the central body. Of course, I suppose I forgot that you can never really be sure if McMahon is speaking as Vince McMahon the person, or Vince McMahon the WWF 'star'.
Personally, to me at least, the XFL games didn't 'feel' scripted like the WWF matches are. If it is scripted, or even 'pushed' in a direction, they did a much, much better job of hiding it than they do in the WWF. And considering the pay, I really doubt that they could convince a team to throw a game (like they obviously script winners and losers in the WWF). But I could say that some of the fights and stuff on the field was probably just because these guys finally had a chance to be as bad-ass as they wanted to be while playing. How about the guy that came out with the words, "HE HATE ME" on the back of his shirt instead of his name? That guy was all attitude. And I would say that the "big names" that had previously been in the NFL didn't get nearly the camera time as the small time, new guys.
But, time will tell if as the XFL becomes more polished it also becomes more recognizable as a scripted bunch of non-sense (but even non-sense can be entertaining, I love the WWF!).
What did you think last night when Kurt went from telling Vince how fair he was to telling him "that's not fair" when he had to team with the Rock? (Sorry for the OTness, but I don't get a chance to 'talk' WWF very often with anybody but my wife.)
So, out of curiosity, what did you think of the XFL, or did you get a chance to catch a game?
McMahon doesn't own all the teams. It's a franchise deal, just like local restaraunts that are part of a franchise chain. The local team is owned by local people under a franchising deal with McMahon (or XFL league) so that they can use the XFL promo images and such, and the XFL can use their team name and logo in promos, but the team and stadium is still owned by the (hopefully) local owners. Unless someone from out of town decided to purchase the franchise for the town. But it still wouldn't be owned by McMahon or the XFL specifically.
There were a lot of shots from what they called the XCam, especially as replays, where they use a camera mounted above the field (from what I could tall it travelled on wires or cables or something) that followed behind the quarterback. Actually, the 'odd' camera angle that you mentioned was probably the field level off-center camera angel, not really NFL-esque, but not really different either. It took about an hour to get used to the different camera angles when I started watching the game, but by then it seemed perfectly natural to be looking over the shoulder of the wide recievers right before the play was called. I actually enjoyed the games quite a bit, even though the Hitmen sucked big-time.
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My formula for that went along these lines:
Old, basically useless laptop (as far as day to day work).
New, very big portable hard drive that would fit in the old system.
Linux with MP3 blaster (command line MP3 player with playlist capability).
Avoid buying a 200-300 dollar MP3 player that had 32 MB storage (that money went into the large hard drive in the old throw away system).
Most of my music collection goes on the road with me.
I guess I'm one of those people that never wants to throw stuff out. I just happened to come up with a use for this one.
Not all mobile devices are made for annoying the piss out of someone on their day off (although I will admit that the cell-phone/beeper craze has bothered me on more than one vacation day). Now, if you are talking about something that would/could need fifteen GB of storage capacity, I don't really see that as a annoyance device. It would probably be (at a minimum) and entertainment device (like MP3 player, or maybe even movie storage device?) or a full-fledged laptop computer. Granted, a laptop can annoy you at times too, but I've used mine as a portable juke-box to listen to tunes with the wifey while having a picnic out in the middle of nowhere. I don't see every advance as a negative, and I'm having a tough time thinking of some annoyance device that would need fifteen GB of storage. Can anybody else come up with something?
I had problems with one dial-up provider in this area, but any others I've ever dealt with have been pretty good about dealing with Linux. They don't know it, but they accept it as long as I can take care of it and help them discover networking errors if I'm having problems. But when it comes to high-speed. Well, only @home is available in my area. As the local monopoly, they probably feel they can tell you anything they want, and you can either comply or go fuck yourself. Maddening, but I suppose they see it as justified. Maybe if there was local competition, but the cable companies would never allow that.
I would say the real reasons are probably:
A) Blind faith in all things Microsoft. Microsoft is what matters now. Anything else must just be a reactionary pile of shit (in their eyes).
And
B) Totally ignorance. The few people that have heard of Linux at all in these organizations have heard of it as a terrible hackers tool used to thwart big-businesses by avoiding paying for software. Not to mention that it comes with all sorts of evil software that can be used for hacking (cracking) systems, like compilers, network sniffers and port scanning tools. That little bit of knowledge is enough to scare the common manager into telling his underlings (in this case the service people) that Linux/BSD/etc. is evil and must be prevented from 'penetrating' their network.
@Home itself, on its pages does say that Linux is supported, but the @Home provider in this area, Midcontinent Communications is totally against it (at least from anyone they allow you to contact, that seems to be the case). They also have a web-form when you try to sign up online that allows you to choose between Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS, and Other Operating System. But, if you choose other, you are directed to a page describing the terrible sins of us evil hackers and rejected from submitting your application until you choose Windows. If you choose Macintosh, they will accept it, but then someone will call you to tell you that their technicians will not be able to install your service and you must install Windows on your system (aren't these people even smart enough to know that a Macintosh can't run Windows?).
Anyway, after all that run-around (done on my wife's behalf when she wanted high-speed internet access to the family computers) we settled on a second dial-up account for our home (the one I usually use is on my laptop and doesn't allow multiple connections at once, I tried). So, they lose a potential customer. I probably would have dropped them at the slightest sign of trouble anyway after all the bullshit they put me through just trying to get signed up. So, it was no great loss. And as far as I'm concerned, the twenty minutes a week that my wife is on the Internet I doubt would be worth the extra $60 a month anyway.
I wonder if Microsoft didn't make some big investment in @home recently. It seems to me that they used to at least tolerate Linux systems being on their network, but now it seems they are more and more apt to tell you that is a violation of your contract and you are hosed. At least, that's what it seems to me.
Maybe there's some under the carpet deal going down, but there is definite hostility in the @home world when you make any mention of an OS other than Microsoft Windows. Even asking about Macintosh got me shut down when talking to Midcontinent, which is suprising because that was even listed as suported on their web page. Oh well. If I spent as much time surfing as I used to it might matter more to me. But I guess dial-up is as good as it's going to get in my area (unless I want to shell out for a T1, yeah, right).
That's the usual reaction when a Windows box isn't picking up it's net connection properly. Most techs will just start removing protocols and expect it to work. Whether it does or not, they will never assume that the error could be with their network. That's one of the reasons I like to take care of my own systems (and refused to deal with the @home bullshit). I won't use Windows (which I was told is the only supported operating system by Midcontinet@home) and I won't put up with some idiot destroying my computer's settings just because he thinks he knows what he's doing.
Let's not forget that Microsoft invented computers, not to mention everything to do with them, like networking, the Internet, and business manipulation, er um, sales of computer products. (I know this isn't true, but it is increasingly the attitude in my area. I'm kind of tired of being five years behind the times. South Dakota sucks ass. Oh, and the weather is good too;-)
I realize this is flamebait, I don't care. Everyone needs to blow off some steam at some point. Either that or I'll just lock the door to my office and see if I can cause spontaneous human combustion purely from anger.
That might be dependant on the area you are in. I know I live in the bum-fuck middle of nowhere (midcontinent is the provider of @home service if that tells you anything) and the very concept that someone would do something different (i.e. evil) is just completely beyond them. The above quoted conversation was exactly as it happened. They refuse to even talk to me if I bring up the L(inux) word. Either I can install Windows, or I can fuck off. Which is fine, I don't have any problem just ignoring them. Supposedly sometime in the next three to four years the idiots in charge of telco will complete the upgrade and DSL will be available to me. But it is galling that two blocks away it is available relatively cheap, but I'm 'outside' the service area. Woopee!
I won't comment on the sign-up drop and sign-up deal (other than to say that would be a gaint pain in the ass for those of us with something else to do). The problem for some of us on this one would be that we would have to keep on OS around that we don't ever use except for the day you have to take off of work to wait on the moron from @home to show up. At least, in this are, they refuse to let you set up the service yourself. They insist that you have to get their technicians to do it for you, and they also insist that you absolutely have to have Microsoft Windows in order to use their service. Now, I can make Linux or FreeBSD work fine with it (at a friend's house, I refuse to support @home myself because of thier absolutely abysmal customer service), but they will literally hang up on you if you try to talk them into letting you use one of those operating systems. In fact, the last time I called in they said, "Linux will not work with our service." I said, "Yes it will, I have a friend using it." They said, "We do not support renegade operating systems. Your friend is in violation of our policy and if we find out who it is his service agreement will be terminated." *CLICK*. Nice pleasant customer service people.
Anyway, even if I had a windows machine ready to go (which I don't at my own home, and I won't install just to get the sometimes up @home service installed) the fact that they need to come and snoop around your system before they will install the service just sucks ass totally. Maybe it's different in other places, but I don't really like the idea of being told I'm too stupid to hook something up to my computer. Maybe some people don't like doing it themselves, but I do.
But maybe I'm just a hard-ass. *SHRUG*
I respect a person until they prove to me that they don't deserve my respect. If that means I 'put people in boxes' then so be it.
BTW, what crap exactly, am I pulling on my superiors? Doing the work they tell me to do? Oh god, don't let anyone know that! I am a fucker aren't I!?
You're probably some angry company head that doesn't understand why the people you crap on all day don't worship you. Am I right? Would you admit it if I was? Bah!
Precisely. I work for a wood-working company. Does that explain my situation? The red-necks in charge think that e-mail is like some kind of curse from satan himself. And that doesn't even begin to describe the contortions I need to go through to accomplish my daily tasks.
As far as the toilet thing, I actually think that would be far, far more pleasurable than this. Even if it was a just used toilet.
But, let's face it. Nobody is going to respect you that is older than you. It just doesn't happen. Unless of course, you happen to be lucky enough to know someone that was so abused when they were younger that they respect you because you are young.
I'm currently in a very similar position to yours. I do far more than what I ever thought I possibly could, being the only computer person working in the company, yet the only things I ever hear about from my 'superiors' are the things that I haven't accomplished. It would just be too much for them to ever remark on what has been accomplished. Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people that's always begging for an ass-kissing from my bosses, but it would be nice if when I gave them something they've been asking for I get something along the lines of a thank you. Know what I got told the last time I completed a development project for the boss?
Thanks asshole.
Pardon the anger. I'm going job searching.
Finally, another sane author speaks. I find it extremely disturbing that authors are blamed (in that these people are always screaming about the 'artists rights' whether it's authors or musicians) for what the publishers are going for. I'm a small time author too (in my real-world persona, and no I'm not giving out my name). I too give away large amounts of books. I usually buy between 100 and 200 copies of a book with my first publishers check just for the purpose of giving them away to people that I feel would be interested. Why on earth would anyone do that? Simple, it's just like doing an open-air concert if you are musician (where you don't ask for pay). You get your work 'out there' generate some interest, and if it is any good, other people will come and buy of their own free will. People aren't evil by nature (something that more and more corporations are forgetting now, and the government is falling for it hook line and sinker). If they like something, and they have the ability, they will support it. But demanding money is just wrong. As a musician and an author, I don't see the point of all this "protect the artist" bullshit that the industry is spewing forth. Most of the 'artists' that I know couldn't give a rip about what the industry terms piracy. If you do this for a living, as long as you make enough to keep doing it, you don't really care about the kids that buy one copy because they can't afford to buy one per person and pass it to ten friends. We've all been involved in that sort of thing, especially as youngsters. Why go after these 'evil, evil pirates', when all they are really guilty of is not being rich? It's a frightening trend.
The digital divide is not the one that we should be worried about right now. The divide between the rich and the poor that seems to be growing more and more powerful is the one that should concern us. As the rich push to make that divide stronger, and the poor struggle against it, we see again and again that the poor are labelled evil, vile, disgusting names for their crime of being poor. It's very frightening, and I hope that we wake up before we become totally entwined in our own stupidity.
Thank you Mr. AC. Actually, the song I was referring to was An Act of Attrition I believe. Psychosexuality was about the porno industry. Both songs were disturbing to say the least, but both looked at the dark side of the subject and, without being preachy about it, showed how vile and evil the actions described really were.
Dark Angel rocked! Have you heard the latest album from the old Dark Angel guitarist? I can't remember the name of it off-hand, but it's a little more death-metal oriented. A buddy of mine just bought it a while back. Very cool guitar wise, but the lyrics aren't nearly as deep (or as cool sounding) as the old-school Dark Angel.
Wow, I guess I am misinformed (and so are some of my gay friends). So, when a gay couple says they are married I guess that's more of a symbolic thing huh? That really sucks. I thought at least a few states had moved past that stage of pessimism towards gay couples. For some reason I was under the impression that a few states had already started allowing same-sex marriages and a few states had it on the table, so to speak. This might be another reason for me to hate politics.
Kurt's going to have to do something real serious to make himself a "good guy" in my family's eyes;-). We're so sick of him being champ that we would probably kick his ass ourselves if we ever met him.
As for the XFL, my general take so far has been that people that get into WWF will pretty much like the XFL. It isn't exactly the same, the XFL seems a little more 'real' than the WWF, but it's got enough of the same vibe to be lined up pretty good to impress the same people the WWF impresses.
Hope you enjoy it. I'd like to think I'm not the only one rooting for them. See ya around.
Well, estate taxes aren't exactly fair anywhere. I wasn't even aware that people could pass estates to spouses without being taxed. I know that you have to jump through incredible numbers of hoops to pass your estate to the next generation without getting taxed into oblivion. My thought would be that it gets taxed as you earn it, the government should keep their goddamned hands off of it unless you "spend" it on something. Why the government has the right to tax you at all just because a family member died is completely beyond my comprehension to understand.
Just out of curiosity, is this also true in states where same-sex marriage is allowed? I thought that once a couple was married (same-sex or not) all the laws were equal regardless of the 'type' of marriage.
Are you positive on that one? Again, I think in states where same-sex marriage is allowed the same laws/rules apply to same-sex couple as apply to opposite sex couples.
Of course, if you aren't married to or won't marry your same-sex partner than I think all of this is moot as these "benefits" aren't available to same-sex couples that aren't married either. But if you live in a state that doesn't allow same-sex marriages, then I feel for you. I feel it should be allowed in all states. But, most straight people seem to disagree with me on that. I guess that's another reason I occasionally get mistaken for a gay man, I take the 'wrong' side on a lot of issues like that.
Yep, god knows that listening to heavy metal, much like watching a horror movie, is proof of guilt.
If I hear one more person say that I should be a good little boy and put my evil, vile, disgusting guitars away for good I'm gonna puke. I'm a 27 year old that plays and listens to heavy metal. While I probably wouldn't listen to music where the lyrics are what you are claiming, if the music was cool enough I might. Does that make me a terribly evil man? If you even heard this (which is doubtful), it was probably a song about the evils of pedophilia (just like people thought the song about how evil and terrible rape is done by Dark Angel was thought to be a diatribe about how good it feels to rape someone by the elite christian idiots).
Grow up. People express themselves in different ways. The violent music is a way to work out your agressions without hurting anyone. If I were forced to stop playing violent music, who knows what evil things I would actually do. I feel pent up enough if I don't play for a couple of weeks to do something um, not very nice. If I was told I could never play again, I don't even want to think about where that would lead.
Some people have a violent nature, or need to blow off some steam every now and then due to stress in their life. Some of us have found constructive ways of dealing with our violent tendencies, or the stress that causes serious mental problems for us otherwise. People that claim this is proof of just how fucked up we are are the fucked up ones in my mind. What kind of shit are you holding back? You've never watched a horror movie? You've never had an evil thought? You've never written a naughty poem? Come on, dude. Nobody would believe that of even the most tight-laced anal son-of-a-****. People are guilty of nothing just for creating or listening to music, writing or reading a story, or creating or watching a movie which depicts terrible acts. Unless you want to start arresting Stephen King and all the other good horror writers? Ah, just as well go ahead. It won't be long before that will be on the governmental "policing" efforts radar anyway.
When Faulty Dreams started we were accused of being everything from a cult to a covert bunch of baby rapers out to destroy civilization. It never occured to anyone that we actually were a heavy metal band that enjoyed writing stories and poetry.
The fact is that we didn't/haven't drawn enough attention to bring down the big guns on our heads, but if the right group heard about us we would be in the same boat as these poor guys. Once the accusation line starts, there is no stopping it. Fear rules this society we live in. Especially fear of those who use and understand technology. Forget about being rational in the face of such accusations. It's the modern day witch-hunt. They ask you to prove you aren't a hacker, you say you can't, they say, 'AH-HA! WE KNEW IT!' and you are hosed.
They may not stick your head in a bucket of water(the old test for being a witch, drown and you are 'innocent' live and you are guilty), but I would look soon for suspected hackers to be asked to program something. If they succeed, they will be termed hacker and locked away. If they fail, it will be said that they are trying to hide their true powers and locked away. Freedom means nothing nowadays. Fear and accusations are all that really matter. Especially if it gives the establishment the opportunity to grab just a little more power (baby-steps). I can't wait to see how totally hosed society is by the time my kids have to deal with this garbage.
I'll give the original author the benefit of the doubt and say he knew what he wanted to say and chose poor wording to express what he was saying. The problem with evolutionary scientists is two-fold. Some of them actually believe that evolution is a replacement for God (in the Christian sense of the word) and always try to fit emotions, thought, plans and dreams into the "reasons" behind evolution (much like Christians pretend to understand the motivations behind God's supposed actions). Others, knowing full well that evolution isn't a being try very, very hard to speak in this evolution as god riddle so as to show the common man how superior they are (because they know the intentions of the "real" god, EVOLUTION).
The fact is that evolution is no more real the the Christian god if you are looking for a supreme intelligence/being. They are both random purposes brought about by the very, very chaotic nature that they somehow made into seemingly non-chaotic matter. A human being is an extremely organized creature, but when you begin studying the organization you begin to realize that no one, no thing would ever intentionally design a creature the way we have been 'designed' (if you can call it that). With so many inneffecient body parts, and body parts that just don't really seem to do much, there is no way you can attribute it to anything but chaos breeding a sort of psuedo-order through evolutionary means (when something works, go with it, something doesn't, get rid of it). No mystical powers involved, just a beautiful coincidence.
I thought McMahon was babbling about how each team was a franchise, just governed by the central body. Of course, I suppose I forgot that you can never really be sure if McMahon is speaking as Vince McMahon the person, or Vince McMahon the WWF 'star'.
Oh well.
Personally, to me at least, the XFL games didn't 'feel' scripted like the WWF matches are. If it is scripted, or even 'pushed' in a direction, they did a much, much better job of hiding it than they do in the WWF. And considering the pay, I really doubt that they could convince a team to throw a game (like they obviously script winners and losers in the WWF). But I could say that some of the fights and stuff on the field was probably just because these guys finally had a chance to be as bad-ass as they wanted to be while playing. How about the guy that came out with the words, "HE HATE ME" on the back of his shirt instead of his name? That guy was all attitude. And I would say that the "big names" that had previously been in the NFL didn't get nearly the camera time as the small time, new guys.
But, time will tell if as the XFL becomes more polished it also becomes more recognizable as a scripted bunch of non-sense (but even non-sense can be entertaining, I love the WWF!).
Oh my god, another WWF fan on slashdot?
What did you think last night when Kurt went from telling Vince how fair he was to telling him "that's not fair" when he had to team with the Rock? (Sorry for the OTness, but I don't get a chance to 'talk' WWF very often with anybody but my wife.) So, out of curiosity, what did you think of the XFL, or did you get a chance to catch a game?
McMahon doesn't own all the teams. It's a franchise deal, just like local restaraunts that are part of a franchise chain. The local team is owned by local people under a franchising deal with McMahon (or XFL league) so that they can use the XFL promo images and such, and the XFL can use their team name and logo in promos, but the team and stadium is still owned by the (hopefully) local owners. Unless someone from out of town decided to purchase the franchise for the town. But it still wouldn't be owned by McMahon or the XFL specifically.
There were a lot of shots from what they called the XCam, especially as replays, where they use a camera mounted above the field (from what I could tall it travelled on wires or cables or something) that followed behind the quarterback. Actually, the 'odd' camera angle that you mentioned was probably the field level off-center camera angel, not really NFL-esque, but not really different either. It took about an hour to get used to the different camera angles when I started watching the game, but by then it seemed perfectly natural to be looking over the shoulder of the wide recievers right before the play was called. I actually enjoyed the games quite a bit, even though the Hitmen sucked big-time.