How many people has this happened to? Goes to show that marketing really fucked up with this one, though I'm not quite sure how...I have respect for this show too, after having been forced to watch it many times with my wife and her sister. The same does not go for Xena, which I have been forced to endure in the same circumstance...I absolutely loathe that show - take everything that is wrong with shows that portray the dominant smart man stereotype who saves the weak dumb woman stereotype, flip it, make everybody lesbians, and you have Xena. I think it's because from the ads, Buffy wasn't any different from Xena to me and others...just some run-of-the-mill action show with a female lead. This is so far from the truth, it's not even funny. However, the first episode you watch isn't enough, as Buffy the character doesn't become interesting until you get a handle for the interactions with the other characters (both male and female, with strengths and weaknesses in different areas). I think the turning point for Buffy with me was last season's finale with Willow unearthing the Satanic temple en route to destroying the world. That was really really cool.
But I digress. Another good and interesting show goes off the air. I might as well unplug the coax when the Simpsons depart.
All the episodes they list are classics, and yes with only 25 out of 300 (MOST of which are brilliant, and 99.9% of the rest are just really really goodl, especially in the earlier seasons) on the list, there's going to be some left out. But leaving off "You Only Move Twice" (the Hank Scorpio episode and origin of my most persistent i-net handle) and "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is criminal in my mind.
There's a difference with the cars vs. programmers though...the quality situation is flipped.
People didn't buy Japanese cars because they were cheaper, though that certainly was a benefit...people bought Japanese cars because they weren't built to break in a few years like Detroit's in the 70's. They also got better gas mileage at a time when that was important.
It's the opposite with computer-related field outsourcing. I formerly worked for an extremly large telecom co. doing e-mail customer service, and they also had a facility in Bangalore, India who handled the handwritten letters. The quality of work was so substandard that they had to start bringing a lot of it back to the USA (and let me tell you, this wasn't rocket science). And these people don't even talk to customers on the phone...as I understand it, phone customer service is being outsourced to India too, fluent English merely preferred rather than required. With programmers, they're hiring 3 Indians (the non-Native American kind) for $30,000 instead of one American at $60,000. More code, less money, though it's not a true 30k savings because the quality isn't as good.
I'm buying a foreign car for my next car because I'm tired of the low gas mileage on even the compact cars, short warranties, outdated stylings, and yet the prices are still 5-10k more than the foreign cars with 100k mile warranties, 40 mpg, and are much more stylish to boot. However, I would actively avoid any product/service/company where 1) I knew in advance that I would need to call customer support more than once and 2) could not get a fluent English speaker on the line without having to hang up and try again.
What businesses fail to realize, and what will be their downfall if they continue on this path, is that just like Linux/Windows/Solaris is not the solution to all computer-related task, neither will outsourcing meet all the needs of every workforce requirement.
I work for a good company who pays and treats me well. I don't have a degree yet (first my wife, then me). I'm typing this on an almost top of the line computer I built myself in February 2002 on cable internet. I consider myself to be very lucky.
Yeah, I really like the drum sound on every Albini album I've heard. Sometimes the whole "band in a cave" sound gets a little tiring for me, but Surfer Rosa is a great album.
You should really check out "Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind" the next time you're in B&N or Borders or whatever. This thread got me to reread it again. A short, interesting read.
Say what you want about those other bands he produced first (which were good, but small potatoes), but Nevermind was Vig's first major label record. Geffen was uneasy because he was just some indie producer at the time, like Albini later.
And I'd sure love to see where Kurt gives his credit to Gil Norton, especially since he's not credited on the album, and is not mentioned in Charles Cross's wonderful "Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind" book. Or maybe you're referring to the Pixies, which Kurt definitely gives the nod to as a major influence, but I fail to see what your point would be bringing up a producer for a band who influenced the band in question, when we're talking about a specific album by the latter band?
I would surmise that Vig's payment on Nevermind was more like 30k + points, because originally the label had budgeted 60k and then Nirvana took a while longer than planned, then had it remixed by Wallace when Vig's mixes weren't up to par. But that's all up for conjecture.
Anywho, I'm nitpicking, but Nirvana is the wrong band to use as an example for the point that all the money goes to the producer! Endino charged $600 total, Vig made less than six figures for an album that is currently twelve-times platinum (certainly he made a lot from points), and Albini took $100,000 flat, no points, for In Utero, five-times platinum last time I checked.
Bleach actually cost $600 odd dollars to record. It also sounds like ass IMO, the tracks they did with the same producer a year earlier (of which 2 appear on Bleach, 5 or so on Incesticide) are much better...part of that is because they had a much better drummer for those sessions (Dale Crover of the Melvins, vs. Chad Channing).
Nevermind cost $120,000 to make. They did not have a "big name" producer, it was Butch Vig, whom you may all know now as the drummer for Garbage, but his claim to faim prior to Nevermind was the first Smashing Pumpkins record, "Gish". Not exactly a big hit. He also recorded tracks a year prior to Nevermind for what was intended to be Nirvana's 2nd Sub Pop album, later aborted.
There WAS a "big name" involved with Nevermind, however, and that was Andy Wallace, who mixed the album. He's done tons and tons of big name acts, including Slayer (I'm sure there's bigger than that, but that's only off the top of my head).
OT: While on the subject of Nirvana, my favorite studio recording sound for them was with their soundman who wanted a chance to do Nevermind, Craig Montgomery. He recorded 7 tracks with them in early 91 [2 of which, Even in his Youth and Aneurysm (a different and superior version to what appears on Incesticide), appear as B-sides to the Smells Like Teen Spirt Single] and the sound has some gloss to it like Nevermind, but still sounds good and rough like Nirvana should. In Utero is great too but I think it's a bit overstated (in an understated sort of way:) ).
I'm all for any sales tax they want to put on anything...IF they get rid of income tax. I'm tired of being taxed for making money, and then taxed for spending it. It should be one, or the other, not both, and I think sales tax is a lot better because it's a lot easier to enforce...nobody reports all of their tips as a waiter, kids washing cars don't report their income (in general)...just go to an all sales tax system. The poor would benefit, because the ones paying the majority of the taxes would be the rich people buying mercedes' and yachts! You could even make it MORE beneficial by taking the tax off life's necessities (food, water, home, clothes).
I agree with everything in this post. Slashdotters (in general) complain when CEO's cut jobs/wages and not their own wage, and now they're complaining about CEO's that ARE cutting their salary...makes you wonder what it would take to make these people (who obviously don't understand why there is 1 CEO and thousands of blue collars, and why the latter is paid more than the former) happy?
The area I live in is served by Mediacom. I get basic cable service for $14.95/month, and that's only because I would have to pay a "you're going to steal cable anyway" fee of $10.00 per month if I don't take it along with my cable internet (DSL is too slow, expensive, or both here). The only "extra" channel I get is the Food Network (which rules), but I would love to get The History Channel, Comedy Central, and MTV2, but can't unless I go for digital cable, which starts at like $60/month and gives me a bazillion channels I don't want. Sorry, but I'd rather do without than to overpay for things I'm not going to even use. I hope this legislation will bring about some positive change in the near future.
Actually, no. My wife works 20 hours per week and I work 40. I make 27k/year and my wife is paid pretty decently as well, so occassionally between our two incomes we can afford nice things. We have a dinky apartment and 1 car (a chevy cavalier, not a beamer), so that also helps. Sorry that you think a $200 TV is an extravagant purchase...previous to that we were using her 7 year old 13".
However, I am aware of the phenomenom you speak of. She attends the University of Iowa (I'm currently not going anywhere) and it seems like most of the student population is made up of kids from Naperville who couldn't get into U of Illinois so they came here...they all have SUV's and convertibles and whatnot. But I don't resent them for this, I more resent them for being unappreciative of it, because a lot of them spend their time and money getting drunk nightly, rather than experiencing the plethora of other things to experience at college (yes, including class).
It's too bad you didn't have the balls to post non-AC. I'm probably just feeding a troll, but oh well, I thought an explanation was in order:)
I was just in the market for flat screen TV's for my wife's birthday back in September (we're students and our apartment small, don't need any bigger) and I had a choice between a no-name brand for $199, the Toshiba for $279, and the Sony WEGA for $399. After playing with the controls, I found that the flaws were as follows: The off-brand had poor sharpness (for a flat screen). The Toshiba had limited color range close to black. And the Sony had some weird shadows with bright colors. As for pros, the off brand had price, the Sony was sharper...and the Toshiba was sharper yet. I went with the Toshiba and have been pretty happy with it. It's built-in speakers sound pretty decent for a TV and it has component video inputs, which is going to rock when I get that $60 monster cable for the PS2 (just got one for Christmas for us). So in the end, even though the WEGA's are highly touted, I found the performance to be better with the Toshiba, so I got it and saved 30% on the cost.
Of course, YMMV. But it always helps to check things out like TV's in the store first.
Red Hat is THE de facto best newbie Linux distro now as far as I'm concerned, and you can't go wrong with the Red Hat Linux 8 Bible. This, in combination with O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell is all you need to get started with Linux. You've got the RH book for your GUI, distro-specific stuff and you've got Nutshell for all the command line stuff. Any gaps in this combination can be filled in with man pages/websites/IRC/bulletin boards/usenet/etc.
My "ask slashdot?" submission a couple of weeks ago for discussion on Xfree86 alternatives was rejected, and now there's this one based on a specific alternative. I've never had a story accepted. Oh well, no one loves me:(
Slashdot Mirror
How many people has this happened to? Goes to show that marketing really fucked up with this one, though I'm not quite sure how...I have respect for this show too, after having been forced to watch it many times with my wife and her sister. The same does not go for Xena, which I have been forced to endure in the same circumstance...I absolutely loathe that show - take everything that is wrong with shows that portray the dominant smart man stereotype who saves the weak dumb woman stereotype, flip it, make everybody lesbians, and you have Xena. I think it's because from the ads, Buffy wasn't any different from Xena to me and others...just some run-of-the-mill action show with a female lead. This is so far from the truth, it's not even funny. However, the first episode you watch isn't enough, as Buffy the character doesn't become interesting until you get a handle for the interactions with the other characters (both male and female, with strengths and weaknesses in different areas). I think the turning point for Buffy with me was last season's finale with Willow unearthing the Satanic temple en route to destroying the world. That was really really cool.
But I digress. Another good and interesting show goes off the air. I might as well unplug the coax when the Simpsons depart.
Chris
Mod parent up!
Chris
I am a very simple programmer with very small penis!
I cannot achieve much with so small penis! But, you NAI! Wow! Penis so big! SO BIG PENIS!
http://www.mrhatshellhole.com/scripts/310.htm
Chris
I know, I saw that and I was pissed. They ripped me off!!! I've been using this screen name since like, 99.
Chris
All the episodes they list are classics, and yes with only 25 out of 300 (MOST of which are brilliant, and 99.9% of the rest are just really really goodl, especially in the earlier seasons) on the list, there's going to be some left out. But leaving off "You Only Move Twice" (the Hank Scorpio episode and origin of my most persistent i-net handle) and "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is criminal in my mind.
But I'm mostly happy with it.
Chris
Yeah, it is wrong...you don't have a girlfriend, you post at slashdot ;)
Chris
There's a difference with the cars vs. programmers though...the quality situation is flipped.
People didn't buy Japanese cars because they were cheaper, though that certainly was a benefit...people bought Japanese cars because they weren't built to break in a few years like Detroit's in the 70's. They also got better gas mileage at a time when that was important.
It's the opposite with computer-related field outsourcing. I formerly worked for an extremly large telecom co. doing e-mail customer service, and they also had a facility in Bangalore, India who handled the handwritten letters. The quality of work was so substandard that they had to start bringing a lot of it back to the USA (and let me tell you, this wasn't rocket science). And these people don't even talk to customers on the phone...as I understand it, phone customer service is being outsourced to India too, fluent English merely preferred rather than required. With programmers, they're hiring 3 Indians (the non-Native American kind) for $30,000 instead of one American at $60,000. More code, less money, though it's not a true 30k savings because the quality isn't as good.
I'm buying a foreign car for my next car because I'm tired of the low gas mileage on even the compact cars, short warranties, outdated stylings, and yet the prices are still 5-10k more than the foreign cars with 100k mile warranties, 40 mpg, and are much more stylish to boot. However, I would actively avoid any product/service/company where 1) I knew in advance that I would need to call customer support more than once and 2) could not get a fluent English speaker on the line without having to hang up and try again.
What businesses fail to realize, and what will be their downfall if they continue on this path, is that just like Linux/Windows/Solaris is not the solution to all computer-related task, neither will outsourcing meet all the needs of every workforce requirement.
I work for a good company who pays and treats me well. I don't have a degree yet (first my wife, then me). I'm typing this on an almost top of the line computer I built myself in February 2002 on cable internet. I consider myself to be very lucky.
Chris
Yeah, I really like the drum sound on every Albini album I've heard. Sometimes the whole "band in a cave" sound gets a little tiring for me, but Surfer Rosa is a great album.
You should really check out "Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind" the next time you're in B&N or Borders or whatever. This thread got me to reread it again. A short, interesting read.
Chris
Say what you want about those other bands he produced first (which were good, but small potatoes), but Nevermind was Vig's first major label record. Geffen was uneasy because he was just some indie producer at the time, like Albini later.
And I'd sure love to see where Kurt gives his credit to Gil Norton, especially since he's not credited on the album, and is not mentioned in Charles Cross's wonderful "Classic Rock Albums: Nevermind" book. Or maybe you're referring to the Pixies, which Kurt definitely gives the nod to as a major influence, but I fail to see what your point would be bringing up a producer for a band who influenced the band in question, when we're talking about a specific album by the latter band?
I would surmise that Vig's payment on Nevermind was more like 30k + points, because originally the label had budgeted 60k and then Nirvana took a while longer than planned, then had it remixed by Wallace when Vig's mixes weren't up to par. But that's all up for conjecture.
Anywho, I'm nitpicking, but Nirvana is the wrong band to use as an example for the point that all the money goes to the producer! Endino charged $600 total, Vig made less than six figures for an album that is currently twelve-times platinum (certainly he made a lot from points), and Albini took $100,000 flat, no points, for In Utero, five-times platinum last time I checked.
Chris
Bleach actually cost $600 odd dollars to record. It also sounds like ass IMO, the tracks they did with the same producer a year earlier (of which 2 appear on Bleach, 5 or so on Incesticide) are much better...part of that is because they had a much better drummer for those sessions (Dale Crover of the Melvins, vs. Chad Channing).
:) ).
Nevermind cost $120,000 to make. They did not have a "big name" producer, it was Butch Vig, whom you may all know now as the drummer for Garbage, but his claim to faim prior to Nevermind was the first Smashing Pumpkins record, "Gish". Not exactly a big hit. He also recorded tracks a year prior to Nevermind for what was intended to be Nirvana's 2nd Sub Pop album, later aborted.
There WAS a "big name" involved with Nevermind, however, and that was Andy Wallace, who mixed the album. He's done tons and tons of big name acts, including Slayer (I'm sure there's bigger than that, but that's only off the top of my head).
OT: While on the subject of Nirvana, my favorite studio recording sound for them was with their soundman who wanted a chance to do Nevermind, Craig Montgomery. He recorded 7 tracks with them in early 91 [2 of which, Even in his Youth and Aneurysm (a different and superior version to what appears on Incesticide), appear as B-sides to the Smells Like Teen Spirt Single] and the sound has some gloss to it like Nevermind, but still sounds good and rough like Nirvana should. In Utero is great too but I think it's a bit overstated (in an understated sort of way
Chris
Indeed, I did leave out Tool, and I feel bad now :)
Though I don't feel that they're THAT heavy, they're more "progressive", have a pop twinge (on their latest album), with a slice of heavy.
But yeah, they're great.
Chris
Are you a truck driver, or do you just have a strange attraction to the desolate areas of the USA? :)
Chris
Yeah, Static-X blows goats.
The only innovative heavy band in the mainstream right now is System of a Down. (note my qualifier: MAINSTREAM.)
Chris
I guess we're not all clear on how Murray feels about this...
Chris
Elrond?
Chris
I'm all for any sales tax they want to put on anything...IF they get rid of income tax. I'm tired of being taxed for making money, and then taxed for spending it. It should be one, or the other, not both, and I think sales tax is a lot better because it's a lot easier to enforce...nobody reports all of their tips as a waiter, kids washing cars don't report their income (in general)...just go to an all sales tax system. The poor would benefit, because the ones paying the majority of the taxes would be the rich people buying mercedes' and yachts! You could even make it MORE beneficial by taking the tax off life's necessities (food, water, home, clothes).
Chris
I agree with everything in this post. Slashdotters (in general) complain when CEO's cut jobs/wages and not their own wage, and now they're complaining about CEO's that ARE cutting their salary...makes you wonder what it would take to make these people (who obviously don't understand why there is 1 CEO and thousands of blue collars, and why the latter is paid more than the former) happy?
Chris
Well, that wouldn't be too much of a stretch when they already put the chewing tobbaco next to the baseball cards :(
Chris
The area I live in is served by Mediacom. I get basic cable service for $14.95/month, and that's only because I would have to pay a "you're going to steal cable anyway" fee of $10.00 per month if I don't take it along with my cable internet (DSL is too slow, expensive, or both here). The only "extra" channel I get is the Food Network (which rules), but I would love to get The History Channel, Comedy Central, and MTV2, but can't unless I go for digital cable, which starts at like $60/month and gives me a bazillion channels I don't want. Sorry, but I'd rather do without than to overpay for things I'm not going to even use. I hope this legislation will bring about some positive change in the near future.
Chris
Gentoo, right? ;)
Chris
Actually, no. My wife works 20 hours per week and I work 40. I make 27k/year and my wife is paid pretty decently as well, so occassionally between our two incomes we can afford nice things. We have a dinky apartment and 1 car (a chevy cavalier, not a beamer), so that also helps. Sorry that you think a $200 TV is an extravagant purchase...previous to that we were using her 7 year old 13".
:)
However, I am aware of the phenomenom you speak of. She attends the University of Iowa (I'm currently not going anywhere) and it seems like most of the student population is made up of kids from Naperville who couldn't get into U of Illinois so they came here...they all have SUV's and convertibles and whatnot. But I don't resent them for this, I more resent them for being unappreciative of it, because a lot of them spend their time and money getting drunk nightly, rather than experiencing the plethora of other things to experience at college (yes, including class).
It's too bad you didn't have the balls to post non-AC. I'm probably just feeding a troll, but oh well, I thought an explanation was in order
Chris
I was just in the market for flat screen TV's for my wife's birthday back in September (we're students and our apartment small, don't need any bigger) and I had a choice between a no-name brand for $199, the Toshiba for $279, and the Sony WEGA for $399. After playing with the controls, I found that the flaws were as follows: The off-brand had poor sharpness (for a flat screen). The Toshiba had limited color range close to black. And the Sony had some weird shadows with bright colors. As for pros, the off brand had price, the Sony was sharper...and the Toshiba was sharper yet. I went with the Toshiba and have been pretty happy with it. It's built-in speakers sound pretty decent for a TV and it has component video inputs, which is going to rock when I get that $60 monster cable for the PS2 (just got one for Christmas for us). So in the end, even though the WEGA's are highly touted, I found the performance to be better with the Toshiba, so I got it and saved 30% on the cost.
Of course, YMMV. But it always helps to check things out like TV's in the store first.
Chris
Red Hat is THE de facto best newbie Linux distro now as far as I'm concerned, and you can't go wrong with the Red Hat Linux 8 Bible. This, in combination with O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell is all you need to get started with Linux. You've got the RH book for your GUI, distro-specific stuff and you've got Nutshell for all the command line stuff. Any gaps in this combination can be filled in with man pages/websites/IRC/bulletin boards/usenet/etc.
Chris
My "ask slashdot?" submission a couple of weeks ago for discussion on Xfree86 alternatives was rejected, and now there's this one based on a specific alternative. I've never had a story accepted. Oh well, no one loves me :(
Chris