It started as a test project, but after a couple hundred 'success stories' we've got those big mysterious grey boxes at certain key intersections. I haven't been nabbed by one yet, they really do seem to catch the red-light-runners only - as long as you enter the intersection while the lights are green or yellow you're fine.. I've had a yellows turn red on me just a few times and was not nailed with a ticket. I think the initial hype around the test project made drivers keenly aware of this technology, but since then the devices have sunken in to obscurity; a lot of people I know aren't even aware of them.. I can't say that I feel this is some kind of invasion of privacy, rather, it does strike me as an acceptable means of catching those nutters that blaze through red lights when they think no one is looking..
"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law." - Henry David Thoreau
"As long as the superstition that people should obey unjust laws exists, so long will slavery exist. And a passive resister alone can remove such superstition." - Mahatma Ghandi
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." - Martin Luther King Jr.
There's few things I hate more, but what incredible motivation to have to get something done by a certain date/time. I'm sure a bunch of you will agree that you find yourself forced in to "the zone" when your work is due the next morning.
I suppose it all has to do with how you deal with pressure and how self-disciplined you are, but I found that I could harness the power of said "zone" when I set deadlines for even the smallest tasks that otherwise would only be in the form of a to-do list in my head. Granted, it makes life easier when I've got a lot of Iced Tea, Jolt or Cola at arms reach, have little or no distractions, am comfortable and have the repetitive beat of some fine techno playing in the background.. But when you come to that point where you're afraid to look at the clock because you just know you're running on limited time -- boy do things click!
Of course it all falls apart in to a horrible disaster of dreaming up excuses (be it to your boss or yourself) and your stomach eventually knotting up in to a big ball of stress when you just can't find that 'catalyst of motivation' (tm) to get you in to that "zone".. But hey, it comes with the territory!
I'd assume so, I've only used such a service twice and haven't created any coasters. You pay up front for the CD and the service (three Canadian plus two for the CD) - though this is nothing fancy - they've simply got Nero installed on the boxes, and by paying them for the service and blank CD they won't freak when they see you shuffling CDs at the workstation; tons of room for abuse here.
Some of our Internet Cafes here in Ontario offer CD burning on the premises for a reasonable fee. The same rules seem to apply; the copyright infringement is up to you not to break. Granted, these aren't some kind of coin-operated specialized burning solutions, but it's still the same. Of course these same outfits (or the slightly more savvy of the bunch) add a heavy dose of temptation in to the mix by letting you run amok with file-sharing software already installed on the machine in question before you get to burning your CD.
As far back as I can remember there's always been a rule when it comes to April fools; fool anyone before noon, but after noon you're the fool. Continuing with stupid April 1st pranks after lunch is rewarded with a charlie horse or affixing someone upside-down to a telephone pole with duct tape. In the case of/. our oh-so-not-funny editors are asking for a massive community DoS, or black eye.. They're so lucky to be hiding behind their monitors giggling away at this stupid stuff, no one would stand for it if these were pranksters in meatspace..
From the web site: "Heat is generated inside the Ontro container through a remarkably simple process... namely, the reaction of crushed limestone (also known as calcium oxide) and water. The user activates the container by merely pushing a button on the bottom. This breaks an internal seal and releases water into the heating cone where it mixes with the crushed limestone. Once these materials combine, the heating process begins (users will first feel the heat approximately two minutes after activating the container)." - 10 million dollars worth of investment and they come up with something equivalent to a high school senior chemistry project? There's got to be something more to this?!
If it weren't for the Apple II's that were in my grade school back in the day then I sincerely doubt that I would be living and enjoying the same life as I do today.
But perhaps it was a balance between the time I was allowed to spend on them and the fact that I could do whatever I wanted on them that really served me well - limited time on the computers in the lab drove me in to a creative frenzy where I would go home and hand write BASIC code to be ready for the next day so that I could just type it all in and have a go at it; not quite like the punchcard methodology of years before, but without a doubt it sparked my interest at an early age, enough so that I could find some related work by the time I was 14, and never stopped since then..
My fascination came early on from the realization of what these boxes were truly capable of - granted, I was mezmerized just like any kid could be the first time they see a Nintendo; but from that first time I hit Control-C the walls of mysticism crumbled and the real fun and interest started.
I was also fortunate enough to have parents who witnessed my early interest and acted upon it - but only after observing my new found passion. Back then, I believe it would have been hard for an 11 year old to convince his folks that he really had a need for such an expensive "high tech" device. A couple months later my parents took me to the department store (!) which resulted in me picking out a brand new Apple//c which launched my career right then and there. From that point on just having access to a computer at school was not enough and I continued to pursue my passion on my own terms..
Only Futurama's "what if" machine could answer the question of how life would have been like had my school not had a computer lab, but I imagine that a bunch of you/.'ers also got their start in a similar way..
Believe you me, I seek alternatives to a bad situation - I don't run Windows anymore because I can now fully function with Linux; but with a lack of any alternatives what would you have me do? Cut my connection altogether and rely on a 56k modem? Rogers is the ONLY company in my area that offers anything even remotely comparable to what I desire. If I had a choice, I would employ it. I have recently been alerted to an alternate cable (TV) provider which I will pursue.. But it still leaves my Internet problem unanswered. Either way, I'm not trolling for anyone's sympathy, but thanks for piping in!
I'm going to pull out my Rogers monthly bill for your edification:
Cable Services:
21.29 - Basic Cable Service
12.96 - Cable Plus Combo
Information Services:
39.95 - Rogers @Home Service
9.95 - Rogers @Home Network Connection
0.00 - Rogers @Home Cable Modem Rental
Digital Cable
10.95 - Digital Terminal
11.95 - The Movie Network
2.00 - Superstation Pack
3.00 - Moviepix
Tax
4.97 - PST
7.84 - GST
Total: $124.86
This is what I fork out on a monthly basis; this is after already having to scale back my TV channels due to their outrageous cost and my bare usage of them (an additional $85.99), I also removed a third extra "IP" (another $9.95) since they switched to DHCP. So if I wanted to get everything that I'd like from this company and add in an additional forty bucks for maximum bandwidth usage, I'm looking at roughly $260.80 a month, paid out to the same company. That hurts.
Now for all the wiseguys that're thinking about sauntering over to yahoo to convert that figure to your oh-so-powerful US dollar: think twice and factor in your wages/cost of living before you even attempt such a comparison. Either way you cut it, having TV and Internet cable is already darned expensive. If they want to raise prices then their customer service, TV and cable service in general needs to improve; I've experienced countless annoying, lengthy and unexplained downtime. I've been blatantly lied to by tech support staff that are either feeding out lines passed down from their manager, or refuse to deal with their cluelessness. I've also had the entire network mysteriously switch to a DHCP setup - of which I was informed by snail mail a full seven days after the fact. My entire building was denied access to free preview channels due to some "technical" issues, and after having the buck passed back and forth between building management and Rogers, Rogers still had the gall to call when the free previews finally ran out (all we saw was a black screen) to try to sell us on them ("We hope you've enjoyed your free preview, now you can buy all of these channels.."). I'm going to feel ripped off no matter what they charge for TV or Internet; this is one heck of a disorganized company, where the left hand has no clue what the right is doing.
As I see it, NASA has spent far too much time, money and effort in building a plethora of complicated guidelines that can be simply summarized in one commonly used phrase:
"We reserve the right to refuse admission at any time for any reason".
And that's it! It would be preposterous to believe that for all the people who have gone up to space on successful NASA missions, not ONE of them have a quality that would be seen as grounds for rejection according to NASA. They've simply passed below the NASA Radar of Morality (tm) - they're humans, aren't they? Don't believe for a second that there hasn't already been a pathological liar, someone who inhaled, or someone with a "questionable" (according to NASA) background or associations shot up in to space - they just didn't know, that's all. These are private details that people keep close to themselves, and save for any physical evidence there's no way to prove it without going on a witch hunt.
That said, I think this is a rather transparent move at introducing enough variables to enforce a broad refusal of admission policy under the guise of "keeping things safe and fair" while providing avenues for plausible denial in the case of some problems arising that could have otherwise be blamed on NASA. With such guidelines in place they've got carte blanche in these matters..
..this new Poma doesn't seem to use the same cables as the other Poma..
Re:E-Paper could bring about social injustice
on
Electronic Paper
·
· Score: 1
If e-paper ever becomes standard, only people with computers or access to a computer will be able to write books and letters.
I'd be willing to place a wager on e-paper not becoming a standard until everyone has access to a computer anyway. That either means "never" or "in a really long time", as we all know. I don't think this is a realistic concern - after all, everyone on this planet is acutely aware of the advantage that a pencil and piece of paper have over any kind of e-paper, any place, any day. The pulp and paper industry has a long road ahead of them still..
Re:Real advance is...Streaming Video ALL OVER
on
Electronic Paper
·
· Score: 1
1. Advertisings displays out of BRunner and Neuromancer, entire urban Downtowns morphed into 24/7 streaming video walls
Just give it time.. Here in Toronto we are already being submitted to huge, full-colour video ads in several key locations throughout the city. Granted, it's not e-paper, but it's big, bright and fast moving and obviously affordable enough for the companies to go through with using. It's no longer hard to try to imagine what the city would look like with 'bladerunner' sytle ads.
My main observation on these video walls - they look great, but are very distracting - especially when they're running PS2 ads with in-game videos showing all types of stunning imagery at what looks like 60fps.. I've been late more often than once on starting on a green light when driving because my vision naturally gravitates toward the bright flashy ads. If the whole city were covered with these things I think I'd be tripping over my own feet:)
..regardless of affordability, mileage, etc. - this thing is going to do a lot more than just get you to work - it'll also get you either mugged, beat up or ridiculed!
It's about as sexy as a wheelchair, and it's sad that seemingly no effort or consideration was put in to how it looks. In fact, I'm still holding my sides in fear that I hurt something from the laughter that forced itself out of me when I saw this device. I am aware that aesthetics are subjective, but you're already doing yourself a disservice by tagging yourself as an individual who can't/won't walk/run/jog to your destination - do you really need to add any more humiliation to that?
Think about it, do you REALLY want to be the first one seen riding this thing in your neighborhood? If you do in my 'hood I promise you a Nelson-style 'HA HA' and finger point at the very least..
..forcing American values on other countries, and looking at other countries with American eyes without disclaiming oneself appropriately. (Are you a Muslim living in Saudi Arabia? Did you put any effort in to researching the Saudi opinion?)
..assuming that the Internet is some sort of automatic purveyor of your personalized notion of freedom. (It isn't, in fact it can be quite repressive - heck, you don't even have to look much further than this site, what with all the people right here who are far more qualified to have their opinions posted on the front page but are continually ignored in favour of this kind of rubbish)
..calling any perceived 'misuse' of the Internet a 'perversion'. (Is there some kind of manual on the proper use of the Internet? You know, the American and Saudi definitions of 'perversion' might also vary. Who are you to dictate how people are to use the Internet? By doing so, aren't you guilty of contradicting yourself when crying out for a 'free' Internet?)
..demonstrating complete and total lack of cultural sensitivity and/or awareness. (Not everyone wants to have access to porn or American propaganda. Some cultures want to shield themselves from certain elements, who are you to dictate how said culture should operate?!)
I received my notice a few days ago that my ad affiliate bla-bla was merging with UGO, this is doubly sad in that I chose bla-bla as a clear cut alternative to UGO. I now quote from the annoyingly upbeat e-mail that was sent to me:
UGO has always been known as a giant and Bla-Bla has also grown to become one of the largest internet networks today. Together we will be unstoppable! UGO has sales offices on both coasts and has demonstrated the ability to
maximize revenue potential. That spells more traffic and more revenues for
your websites. And the best is yet to come...
Seems to me like there's two stories contradicting themselves here. Furthermore, promises of increased traffic are highly exaggerated - bla-bla never generated any significant traffic of it's own, if I had a front page feature on their site I'd be lucky to get 100 unique visitors a day from that feature, on the first day. They all seem quite fond of speaking in collective terms; "traffic" is defined as the total traffic of their affiliate sites, don't fall for this trick. As for increased revenues, boy would I like to see that - payouts have been extremely weak and (IMHO) undervalued, with all the shaving going on with "Direct Costs" and "ICP Share" you're lucky to come out with your shirt still on. Needless to say, I'm letting my contract expire and am going to pursue alternative methods for generating some dough from my web site.
...what happens when the pump dies? Will your OC'd CPU bake to kingdom come? One advantage with having fans is that you can often hear when they are on the fritz and about to die, giving you time to compensate and put a replacement in. But if the pump is so quiet, would you know when it's about to croak? How can you tell? How quickly and easily could you get a replacement pump for it?
Don't underestimate the subtle power of proper placement. Advertisements can be displayed at crucial waypoints or conveniently located near a significant landmark - "Team Alpha, meet me at the Coke sign beside the dumpster" - when you're playing games you don't tune out as you might when watching television, otherwise you might get your head served to you on a virtual platter.
Slashdot Mirror
It started as a test project, but after a couple hundred 'success stories' we've got those big mysterious grey boxes at certain key intersections. I haven't been nabbed by one yet, they really do seem to catch the red-light-runners only - as long as you enter the intersection while the lights are green or yellow you're fine.. I've had a yellows turn red on me just a few times and was not nailed with a ticket. I think the initial hype around the test project made drivers keenly aware of this technology, but since then the devices have sunken in to obscurity; a lot of people I know aren't even aware of them.. I can't say that I feel this is some kind of invasion of privacy, rather, it does strike me as an acceptable means of catching those nutters that blaze through red lights when they think no one is looking..
"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law."
- Henry David Thoreau
"As long as the superstition that people should obey unjust laws exists, so long will slavery exist. And a passive resister alone can remove such superstition."
- Mahatma Ghandi
"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
There's few things I hate more, but what incredible motivation to have to get something done by a certain date/time. I'm sure a bunch of you will agree that you find yourself forced in to "the zone" when your work is due the next morning.
I suppose it all has to do with how you deal with pressure and how self-disciplined you are, but I found that I could harness the power of said "zone" when I set deadlines for even the smallest tasks that otherwise would only be in the form of a to-do list in my head. Granted, it makes life easier when I've got a lot of Iced Tea, Jolt or Cola at arms reach, have little or no distractions, am comfortable and have the repetitive beat of some fine techno playing in the background.. But when you come to that point where you're afraid to look at the clock because you just know you're running on limited time -- boy do things click!
Of course it all falls apart in to a horrible disaster of dreaming up excuses (be it to your boss or yourself) and your stomach eventually knotting up in to a big ball of stress when you just can't find that 'catalyst of motivation' (tm) to get you in to that "zone".. But hey, it comes with the territory!
I'd assume so, I've only used such a service twice and haven't created any coasters. You pay up front for the CD and the service (three Canadian plus two for the CD) - though this is nothing fancy - they've simply got Nero installed on the boxes, and by paying them for the service and blank CD they won't freak when they see you shuffling CDs at the workstation; tons of room for abuse here.
Some of our Internet Cafes here in Ontario offer CD burning on the premises for a reasonable fee. The same rules seem to apply; the copyright infringement is up to you not to break. Granted, these aren't some kind of coin-operated specialized burning solutions, but it's still the same. Of course these same outfits (or the slightly more savvy of the bunch) add a heavy dose of temptation in to the mix by letting you run amok with file-sharing software already installed on the machine in question before you get to burning your CD.
I think it would be fair to apply the rule to the time zone in which the prank originated.
As far back as I can remember there's always been a rule when it comes to April fools; fool anyone before noon, but after noon you're the fool. Continuing with stupid April 1st pranks after lunch is rewarded with a charlie horse or affixing someone upside-down to a telephone pole with duct tape. In the case of /. our oh-so-not-funny editors are asking for a massive community DoS, or black eye.. They're so lucky to be hiding behind their monitors giggling away at this stupid stuff, no one would stand for it if these were pranksters in meatspace..
Ha
ha
ha
/me removes feather from under armpit
From the web site: "Heat is generated inside the Ontro container through a remarkably simple process ... namely, the reaction of crushed limestone (also known as calcium oxide) and water. The user activates the container by merely pushing a button on the bottom. This breaks an internal seal and releases water into the heating cone where it mixes with the crushed limestone. Once these materials combine, the heating process begins (users will first feel the heat approximately two minutes after activating the container)." - 10 million dollars worth of investment and they come up with something equivalent to a high school senior chemistry project? There's got to be something more to this?!
..the bus shelter sure as heck is going to be a lot more interesting from now on!
1. Pay, so that you don't have to see ads inserted in to stories and comments that YOU have authored.
2. The more people that pay, the less attractive ad space becomes to advertisers.
Aren't these self-defeating especially when placed within the context of a community that really likes their stuff to be free?
So rather than cigars do we get karma handouts?
If it weren't for the Apple II's that were in my grade school back in the day then I sincerely doubt that I would be living and enjoying the same life as I do today.
//c which launched my career right then and there. From that point on just having access to a computer at school was not enough and I continued to pursue my passion on my own terms..
/.'ers also got their start in a similar way..
But perhaps it was a balance between the time I was allowed to spend on them and the fact that I could do whatever I wanted on them that really served me well - limited time on the computers in the lab drove me in to a creative frenzy where I would go home and hand write BASIC code to be ready for the next day so that I could just type it all in and have a go at it; not quite like the punchcard methodology of years before, but without a doubt it sparked my interest at an early age, enough so that I could find some related work by the time I was 14, and never stopped since then..
My fascination came early on from the realization of what these boxes were truly capable of - granted, I was mezmerized just like any kid could be the first time they see a Nintendo; but from that first time I hit Control-C the walls of mysticism crumbled and the real fun and interest started.
I was also fortunate enough to have parents who witnessed my early interest and acted upon it - but only after observing my new found passion. Back then, I believe it would have been hard for an 11 year old to convince his folks that he really had a need for such an expensive "high tech" device. A couple months later my parents took me to the department store (!) which resulted in me picking out a brand new Apple
Only Futurama's "what if" machine could answer the question of how life would have been like had my school not had a computer lab, but I imagine that a bunch of you
Believe you me, I seek alternatives to a bad situation - I don't run Windows anymore because I can now fully function with Linux; but with a lack of any alternatives what would you have me do? Cut my connection altogether and rely on a 56k modem? Rogers is the ONLY company in my area that offers anything even remotely comparable to what I desire. If I had a choice, I would employ it. I have recently been alerted to an alternate cable (TV) provider which I will pursue.. But it still leaves my Internet problem unanswered. Either way, I'm not trolling for anyone's sympathy, but thanks for piping in!
I'm going to pull out my Rogers monthly bill for your edification:
Cable Services:
21.29 - Basic Cable Service
12.96 - Cable Plus Combo
Information Services:
39.95 - Rogers @Home Service
9.95 - Rogers @Home Network Connection
0.00 - Rogers @Home Cable Modem Rental
Digital Cable
10.95 - Digital Terminal
11.95 - The Movie Network
2.00 - Superstation Pack
3.00 - Moviepix
Tax
4.97 - PST
7.84 - GST
Total: $124.86
This is what I fork out on a monthly basis; this is after already having to scale back my TV channels due to their outrageous cost and my bare usage of them (an additional $85.99), I also removed a third extra "IP" (another $9.95) since they switched to DHCP. So if I wanted to get everything that I'd like from this company and add in an additional forty bucks for maximum bandwidth usage, I'm looking at roughly $260.80 a month, paid out to the same company. That hurts.
Now for all the wiseguys that're thinking about sauntering over to yahoo to convert that figure to your oh-so-powerful US dollar: think twice and factor in your wages/cost of living before you even attempt such a comparison. Either way you cut it, having TV and Internet cable is already darned expensive. If they want to raise prices then their customer service, TV and cable service in general needs to improve; I've experienced countless annoying, lengthy and unexplained downtime. I've been blatantly lied to by tech support staff that are either feeding out lines passed down from their manager, or refuse to deal with their cluelessness. I've also had the entire network mysteriously switch to a DHCP setup - of which I was informed by snail mail a full seven days after the fact. My entire building was denied access to free preview channels due to some "technical" issues, and after having the buck passed back and forth between building management and Rogers, Rogers still had the gall to call when the free previews finally ran out (all we saw was a black screen) to try to sell us on them ("We hope you've enjoyed your free preview, now you can buy all of these channels.."). I'm going to feel ripped off no matter what they charge for TV or Internet; this is one heck of a disorganized company, where the left hand has no clue what the right is doing.
As I see it, NASA has spent far too much time, money and effort in building a plethora of complicated guidelines that can be simply summarized in one commonly used phrase:
"We reserve the right to refuse admission at any time for any reason".
And that's it! It would be preposterous to believe that for all the people who have gone up to space on successful NASA missions, not ONE of them have a quality that would be seen as grounds for rejection according to NASA. They've simply passed below the NASA Radar of Morality (tm) - they're humans, aren't they? Don't believe for a second that there hasn't already been a pathological liar, someone who inhaled, or someone with a "questionable" (according to NASA) background or associations shot up in to space - they just didn't know, that's all. These are private details that people keep close to themselves, and save for any physical evidence there's no way to prove it without going on a witch hunt.
That said, I think this is a rather transparent move at introducing enough variables to enforce a broad refusal of admission policy under the guise of "keeping things safe and fair" while providing avenues for plausible denial in the case of some problems arising that could have otherwise be blamed on NASA. With such guidelines in place they've got carte blanche in these matters..
..this new Poma doesn't seem to use the same cables as the other Poma..
If e-paper ever becomes standard, only people with computers or access to a computer will be able to write books and letters.
I'd be willing to place a wager on e-paper not becoming a standard until everyone has access to a computer anyway. That either means "never" or "in a really long time", as we all know. I don't think this is a realistic concern - after all, everyone on this planet is acutely aware of the advantage that a pencil and piece of paper have over any kind of e-paper, any place, any day. The pulp and paper industry has a long road ahead of them still..
1. Advertisings displays out of BRunner and Neuromancer, entire urban Downtowns morphed into 24/7 streaming video walls
:)
Just give it time.. Here in Toronto we are already being submitted to huge, full-colour video ads in several key locations throughout the city. Granted, it's not e-paper, but it's big, bright and fast moving and obviously affordable enough for the companies to go through with using. It's no longer hard to try to imagine what the city would look like with 'bladerunner' sytle ads.
My main observation on these video walls - they look great, but are very distracting - especially when they're running PS2 ads with in-game videos showing all types of stunning imagery at what looks like 60fps.. I've been late more often than once on starting on a green light when driving because my vision naturally gravitates toward the bright flashy ads. If the whole city were covered with these things I think I'd be tripping over my own feet
..regardless of affordability, mileage, etc. - this thing is going to do a lot more than just get you to work - it'll also get you either mugged, beat up or ridiculed!
It's about as sexy as a wheelchair, and it's sad that seemingly no effort or consideration was put in to how it looks. In fact, I'm still holding my sides in fear that I hurt something from the laughter that forced itself out of me when I saw this device. I am aware that aesthetics are subjective, but you're already doing yourself a disservice by tagging yourself as an individual who can't/won't walk/run/jog to your destination - do you really need to add any more humiliation to that?
Think about it, do you REALLY want to be the first one seen riding this thing in your neighborhood? If you do in my 'hood I promise you a Nelson-style 'HA HA' and finger point at the very least..
..forcing American values on other countries, and looking at other countries with American eyes without disclaiming oneself appropriately. (Are you a Muslim living in Saudi Arabia? Did you put any effort in to researching the Saudi opinion?)
..assuming that the Internet is some sort of automatic purveyor of your personalized notion of freedom. (It isn't, in fact it can be quite repressive - heck, you don't even have to look much further than this site, what with all the people right here who are far more qualified to have their opinions posted on the front page but are continually ignored in favour of this kind of rubbish)
..calling any perceived 'misuse' of the Internet a 'perversion'. (Is there some kind of manual on the proper use of the Internet? You know, the American and Saudi definitions of 'perversion' might also vary. Who are you to dictate how people are to use the Internet? By doing so, aren't you guilty of contradicting yourself when crying out for a 'free' Internet?)
..demonstrating complete and total lack of cultural sensitivity and/or awareness. (Not everyone wants to have access to porn or American propaganda. Some cultures want to shield themselves from certain elements, who are you to dictate how said culture should operate?!)
Besides, can't they technically afford to have at least the Xbox fail? How much is investing "too much" for a financial powerhouse like MS?
Seems to me like there's two stories contradicting themselves here. Furthermore, promises of increased traffic are highly exaggerated - bla-bla never generated any significant traffic of it's own, if I had a front page feature on their site I'd be lucky to get 100 unique visitors a day from that feature, on the first day. They all seem quite fond of speaking in collective terms; "traffic" is defined as the total traffic of their affiliate sites, don't fall for this trick. As for increased revenues, boy would I like to see that - payouts have been extremely weak and (IMHO) undervalued, with all the shaving going on with "Direct Costs" and "ICP Share" you're lucky to come out with your shirt still on. Needless to say, I'm letting my contract expire and am going to pursue alternative methods for generating some dough from my web site.
...what happens when the pump dies? Will your OC'd CPU bake to kingdom come? One advantage with having fans is that you can often hear when they are on the fritz and about to die, giving you time to compensate and put a replacement in. But if the pump is so quiet, would you know when it's about to croak? How can you tell? How quickly and easily could you get a replacement pump for it?
Don't underestimate the subtle power of proper placement. Advertisements can be displayed at crucial waypoints or conveniently located near a significant landmark - "Team Alpha, meet me at the Coke sign beside the dumpster" - when you're playing games you don't tune out as you might when watching television, otherwise you might get your head served to you on a virtual platter.