The thing about a Blog is the simple fact that while it may contain information that is of value to a person, most of the time it is simply a day-to-day journal of random thoughts and events.
A Web Page created by a person is usually created for a task in mind - Showing off a project (case mods, hacks on furbys, peep surgery), a fan information page (Dr. Who, Anime, Star Trek, Babylon 5), or a page created for a group (Local SCA Group, Computer User's Group, MMORPG Guild Page).
A Blog is usually created as a online journal or diary, often for a group of friends.
What tends to trip off the search engines are the Blog sites that link to other people by common interestes. WWW.Livejournal.com allows you to have linke by friends, and common interests. Were I to have a blog with them and I set up as one of my interests as Star Trek, then I'll likely end up with several hundred names of people that also like star trek.
Google goes out and farms new sites. It hits so-and-so's blog in Livejounal. It sees a link mentioning Star Trek and follows it...then it sees about 1000 more ST links... 1001 ST links that likely won't have a dang thing about Star Trek on the pages (unless someone happens to brag about how he scored ST:TNG season 1 on ebay for a song).
More and more people are blogging and hence this is why blogs (which have been around for quite a while) are now starting to become a concern for the search engines trying to filter out the signal to noise ratio.
I like Google's idea. One of the reasons blogs like together is often so people can network with people who share common interests. If you don't and want to learn about Star Trek can find real information by going to hte main page while the people looking for fellow ST fans can go to the blog page.
Makes sense to me
Phoenix
Shuttles, Safety, and Politics
on
Shuttle Politics
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Frankly I agree with him on one point. The STS program needs to be replaced. The Shuttle is an aging piece of antiquated hardware that is probally getting to the end of it's lifespan.
However
I do not believe that we have to send the rest of the Shuttles to the Graveyard just yet.
The two shuttles lost are so far, the first that actually made it into space (Enterprise being little more than a test platform) and the Challenger which (if memory serves and if I'm wrong I do apologize) is the second oldest orbiter.
Secondly, It's Space we're dealing with. It's an unknown and we're trying to learn how to get into space without killing ourselves. If you think about all the manned spaceflights that we have done as the world as a whole, mankind has a pretty damn good track record.
I agree that the Shuttle needs to go, but with a little care, it CAN still serve it's purpose until the replacement is designed, tested and ready. Give the remaining Shuttles a once over, fix the problem and get them back up.
Actually it's not that rare anymore. I've picked up a few months ago at my local SunCoast Video, and a quick check of Amazon.com shows that you can snag it for 13 bucks.
God that was a bad spoof of Doctor Who though. They took every bad cliche from the series and made it worse. Had us in stitches the whole time.
"Here's my sonic screwdriver. Oh Look! It has three settings"
Please note I mentioned New Jersey Traffic. As you're not a NJ resident (and I'm pretty sure that you are not as you wouldn't even blink at that number if you were) I'll explain one little fact about NJ driving. The traffic sucks and jams up at the drop of a hat. Listen to George Carlin and his rants about NJ and he mentions that after a trip through "I need a fucking brake job".
Also I drive a truck (not an SUV)which gets me 28MPG on the highway going at full speed. I live 10 miles from my mall and either I'm driving the surface roads (traffic lights, stop and go, people turning on and off) or I'm on the highway in stop and go traffic just because some poor chap blew a tire and everyone is rubbernecking and rather disapointed that it wasn't a horrific accident.
If I can get full Highway speeds it means that one of the seven signs of the end of the world has occured -or- I'm driving along at o-dark-thirty.
Also the point here I was trying to make here wasn't the fuel efficiency of my main mode of transportation, but the fact that services like iTunes, Listen.com's Rhapsody, etc. are worth it even if you still pay $20 for a full CD when you consider the fact you don't have to deal with the following:
* Time spent in traffic, crowds, lines, etc * Wear and tear on your vehicle * Fuel useage * The fact that a $20 CD's often aren't filled to the full 60/74 minutes capacity (many are 30-45 minutes) * On said CD you might only like 2 songs and -maybe- grow to like one or two more
Phoenix
(BTW: Do people like you always have to pick one nit-picky detail that has little to do with the main point and beat people to death with it? If you're doing it to annoy me then it's not really working as I take that as a complement. Either my point was so well made that the only way to refute it is to make fun at something unrelated or you are simply less talented than I am in the areas of open and free debate giving me the cheap thrill of being better than you in this area)
Lets what I can buy at the mall and how much it costs.
Chumbawumba's "Tubthumper" cd with 12 songs, 10 of them that I didn't like when I got the CD nor have they grown on me as time goes on. Cost: $20
1.5 gallons of gas at $1.75/gal for the round trip. Cost: $2.65
Wear and tear of NJ Traffic getting to and from the mall at $0.05/mile for the 20 mile trip. Cost: $1
Bottle of Excredrin at the drugstore in the mall for migrane developed during the drive through NJ. Cost: 4.95
Total cost: 28.60
Compared to the service I have with Listen.com where I pay $10/month for the service and $0.99/track. For that same $28.60 (and another $0.40 in a couch dive) I can have the 2 tubthumper songs I wanted as well as 17 other tracks from a multitude of other albums that I also like. Plus the reduced wtress of not having to tackle NJ roads
I will grant you that many people are barking up the wrong tree here and it *is* better to pay for the inexpensive printer and then pay a little extra for the ink itself. You are paying the same, just over time and that certainly is easier on the budget than buying it in one lump chunk.
I even agree that it's well in HP's pervue to smart-chip the systems to ensure that the carts aren't refilled. I made the mistake once of using third party ink on my BJC-600 canon printer and regretted it as it killed the poor thing. smart-chipping the carts allows HP (or whomever)to ensure that someone isn't breaking a printer by doing somehing it wasn't meant to do (push *that* type of ink)and then expecting the company to honor warranty.
However I'm not too sure about the concept of "time-stamping" the printer carts. It's still in HP's rights, but with that hanging over my head and the vast reduction in color laser prices I would have to consider switching away from ink and going to toner.
especially considering that my new color laser allows me to refill the toner bays (nice bottles of the proper toner from the manufacturer on the cheap) and the only thing I have to replace are the drums (and then only when they degrade performance.
You're right on one major point though. People need to stop bitching randomly at people who have the right to make thier products they way that they want them and do something constructive in instead...like excercise thier consumer power and buy a product that does what they want and nothing more.
Yes the spam load is doubling every three months by itself. Do we need to quadruple it every three months instead?
Yes we are already losing E-Mail in the poor signal-to-noise ratio out there, need we find a way to lose more?
Yes again that the spammers don't give a damn about the fact that they'll use alphabet attacks and don't give a damn about the spam and bounce. Should we stand at thier level?
Yes there is going to be collateral damage by any attempt that me make to stop it, but what is suggested here is the spam version of using a weapon of mass destruction in retaliation to the use of a WMD.
No I am not a 'peacenik' who finds the damage caused by the spammers to be acceptable yet not the damage caused by the retaliation. I do not condone *ANY* of the damage caused on either side.
No, I am not a person who 'does nothing' and therefore part of the problem. Granted I couldn't code my ass out of a wet paper subroutine but I still can and am doing something. I'm writing letters to my elected officials on a constant basis to either do something about the spammers OR to allow the people out there who know how to code to implement all the wonderful ideas that I've read about on/. and other sites about new and different ways of E-Mail that aren't prone to this kind of abuse.
Lets face it, it's been said here and abroad that the main reason that spam in the massive form that it does stems from the fact that the current e-mail protocals are so simple that abuse is far easier than it should be.
Also, this is a board where people are supposed to be able to share ideas. Was the brusk tone and all caps shouting really needed? Also your tone in this message seems to say that you blame me for it being modded to +5. Were you to read and understand the moderator guidelines you would see that I or anyone for that matter cannot mod their own posts. Hell they can't even mod someone elses posts in a discussion thread that they themselves posted in. So kindly allow your blood pressure to drop to healthy levels before you stroke out. You might also want to cut down on the caffeene a bit and go herbal for a while...sleep does wonders for the stress levels.
Also again there's that word again...Discussion thread. Screaming at me as if I were a repo man is not a discussion. Try toning your messages as if you were willing to discuss a subject instead of flaming at whim. You do not have to agree with the poster nor with me for that matter, just keep it civil, keep it polite, be passionate about what you're saying yet at the same time don't try to drive your Karma over everyone elses Dogma.
Do that a few times and you might not have to hide behind that Anonymous Coward tag and join the ranks of the people who have friends and fans in the forums.
"Wouldn't that clog it up on their end with bounces? And maybe change the pages every few days with a new list, maybe there's a random email generator thing to come up with fake domains, like a password generator?"
Yes it would, but there in lies the problem. Say for example you are on someISP.net as your internat provider. Some one else decides to start spamming through someISP.net (either by an open relay, spoofing or even by actually having an account there. Buhzillions of bouncebacks start swarming someISP.net's servers and BAM! You dont get that e-card from your mother on your birthday.
The other problem is by having all those fake addresses. Let's say that spamboy sends out that proverbial "buhzillion" messages. That's all traffic that the backbones have to route. NOW since those e-mails are fake they have to bounce back...that's a "buhzillion" autogenerated nessages that the servers have to route again.
Congrats, we've just doubled the spamload. Phoenix
And how would you propose they get the oil out of the ground without a working infrastructure? Picks, shovels to dig the holes and then suck-siphon it out of the ground with garden hoses?
Don't get me wrong by what I am about to say here...I'm all for what we're doing over there to help the Iraqi people but...
Consider the following: In order to protect ourselves and out allies *we* decided to take out Saddam. In order to carry out that mission *we* crossed Iraqi borders. To protect our troops *we* crippled the Iraqi infrastructure to impair Saddam's ability to wage war. *We* killed the power. *We* bombed buildings. *We* destroyed TV Transmitter towers. *We* decided that those actions were reasonable and justified.
Like I said, I'm all for what was done, watching the Iraqi people dancing in the streets thanking the US and UK troops proves it to me at least that this was needed and the (rather well hidden) wish of the Iraqi people to see the end of Saddam. However deep down we have to admit that *we* as a nation are responsible for every crater caused my us that used to be a transfomer sub-station and every burned out hulk that used to be a power generating station.
Yes *we* as a nation. For we are all responsible for what happens in there. Either we are in the government, we voted in the government or we sat at home bitching how voting doesn't do a goddamn bit of good and thus decided that you weren't going to miss Survivor over it. Even those of us who took responsibility and voted against the current government has some responsibility as a caring human being seeing a people in trouble and lending a helping hand.
I'm quite sure that people are aware of the fact that damn near all of the Iraqi infrastructure is pretty well hosed.
We're not that dumb.
Instead of pissing and moaning about a company that seems to be acting like vultures circling over roadkill, perhaps consider the possibility that they might be looking into the long term?
Yes the Iraqi people need food and water, that's a given. Yes they need stable power before the 'net can be rebuilt (that qualifies as a "no shit Sherlock"). But these are short term goals. If you want stability in the area you need to build (or in this case help build) a stable government and you need an economic foundation.
It's a wonderful thing that SoDamn Insane is either dead or so far in hiding that they have to import sunlight. It's the greatest thing in the Iraqi world since sliced bread that the regime is falling down under the "Rolling Victory" of the US/UK troops. It's a blessed thing that food, water and other humanitarian aid is starting to trickle in as areas get cleared out.
But without some way to build an economy, then it's all for naught. The Iraqi love us now. If we left them as a bombed out huck of a country then the attitude would change, they would hate us and we would probally end up once again with another warlord like Saddam and more terrorist acts against us.
Frankly I'd like to think that by helping them re-build and to become a player in the global economy (for which the internet is a damn handy tool), then the goodwill for the US/UK will grow and we'll have another ally in the middle east.
Or did you think that we'd just go over there, blow a whole lot of shit up for fun and oil profits then bugger back home in time for the summer trips to Disney World?
1. First of all there is a tradition of fooling people on the first day of april...that's kinda why we call it April Fools Day in the first place.
2. If/. didn't come up with a gag of some kind, most of us here would think of something and prank someone. It's part of the tradition mentioned above.
3. We all know that/. always and I mean *ALWAYS* pulls something like this every year. Sometimes it's the "Find the fake story", others it's the "Find the real story" game. If we all know that they do this then why don't you pissed off people go and read something else today.
People in here need to chill out. They way that half of the people in here are bitching I think they must really need to get laid.
Oh I love this. Everyone is so pissed off at the EULA that they forget one simple thing...you DON'T have to agree to it. -----snip----- - You can only use your microwave for this list of approved food manufacturing companies, who happen to have a large share in the company who makes your microwave.
- You can only drive you car on these roads, and only on these days. You are not allowed to sell your car, or listen to any radio stations except those on this approved list. -----snip-----
If the company is that damn stupid to make such a demand in thier product's EULA then DON'T buy the damn thing. Get a car that doesn't restrict your useage. Buy the microwave that allows you to nuke last night's pizza. Buy the software that doesn't bend you over and analy violate your rights.
THIS is the power that YOU as the consumer hold. You want to make a statement then don't buy that software.
-----snip----- Er, no they are not. Consider that the product is borken. Are you saying that if I buy a product, open it, find out it is broken that I can't return it? PS. You also have no rights to look in any bags I am carrying either. -----snip----- Oh yes they are. Granted that my statement needs to be clarified a bit. Broken or damaged merchandise is covered under warranties and most stores honor that. But once a product is sold and the agreements are accepted on both sides you are bound to that deal. I have no responsibility to take something back for some of the damn silly reasons that people try to do...ie: next version came out a month later, MS word doesn't have the feature that wordperfect has (then why didn't you BUY wordperfect in the first damn place)
Also people have replied that software companies are trying to have it both ways. This I agree is a problem. They want to make it a sale so they can rape you on the service charges, but then claim that it is a license stating that you can't use it to look at your daughter's birthday pictures on days starting with the letters T and S unless you agree to THIS OTHER EULA and pay $400 bucks. But again this is the right of the company. If they want to piss off thier customer base then it is on them. They are well within thier rights to shoot themselves in the wallet by doing stupid things like this.
Quit pissing and moaning, quit trying to sue everyone and their mother for the stupid shit that people sue for and please, just for once, do the intelligent thing......Stop fucking buying from any company that makes you cry, bitch and moan about. Hate Microsoft? go Linux or Apple. Hate Roxio? Buy Nero. Hate ID Software? Stop playing Quake.
It's that goddamn simple, why doesn't anyone ELSE see that?
Granted now to sell your product you can now call thousands of people in the country and you can send millions of spam to the world at large. Granted that this is very efficient as one person can send off several thousands of E-Mails with a single click or can make hundreds of calls in a day's time thanks to the new computerized dialer systems.
But is it really worth it to the company? Or is it efficiency at the cost of bad consumer feeling?
I'm betting on the latter.
Take X-10.com and thier products. When I forst heard of them and their home automation equipment I was interested. When I learned that it could work under Linux I was thinking of the major geek factor there. I had an old touch screen pentium wall mount case that I could have made the heart of the system in nothing flat. I was really seriously considering doing my house up into my own little nerdvana.
Then the spam came.
All I ever got was pop-ups everywhere I went and the only way to get rid of them was to go to their site and beg to be left alone for 30 days...one lousy month. And the quality of the ads were starting to get offensive. Scantily clad women in ads that implied (if not flat out said) "Use this camera to spy on people".
Not "Use this camera for security" or "This product will let you monitor yout infant child from anywhere in the house" or even "Use our products to make toast in the kitchen with a command from the bathroom". No, it was and still is the semi-nekkid women and the implication that you too can become a high tech peeping tom.
After a steady barage of that message I decided to spend my money on getting a home theatre system instead. They cost themselves a customer and perhaps more than just I with all the others whom I've talked to who feel the same way.
Telemarketers are the same way. I don't want to have to be reminded that I'm going to die in 50 years by some guy from a funeral parlor. I don't want to be bothered during dinner by my long distance carrier asking if I want to switch to them (do they NOT check to make sure that I'm not already a customer first?)
Something like this would be a godsend enabling me to be able to spend time with my family and friends in peace. It'd be an ever greater godsend if they could get rid of those stupid "International Drivers License" spams I get 100 times a day as well.
It's probally going to have a limited adverse effect on surveys. Those who don't mind taking surveys (such as yourself) are probally going to be blocking those callers. While on the other hand it's probally not going to make that much of a difference for those of us who are likely to enjoy blocking them.
"There was already some suggestion that in this past election, statistical projections were skewed because of people using call blocking technology, etc."
Honestly I don't see how they'd be getting statistical data off of me this past election since my resposnse to all of them (my own party included) was "sod off".
...if it's a legit company who has someone who has a person actually reading the replies.
This is a letter I sent off to a company who offered me ways to enlarge my breasts. Being male and having no desire for hooters I felt obliged to reply.
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Do you people simply not bother to see to whom this message is going to? Do you not bother to do market research to see if I'm even going to be able to use the product? I am a man. I have a penis and not breasts. I am a guy, a bloke packing a "willie", a "johnson", "meat and two veg", a "one-eyed trouser snake", a "little fellow", a thingie, the "outy" parts to match up with the "inny" bits of the people to whom you should be sending this spam to and not me and my "Collection of dangly bits".
To put it simply people..."A DICK"
I have no interest in your product for the enlargement of breasts and request that you remove me from your list.
Thank You, [name removed] BTW: I'm also happy with the size of my naughty bits and request that you not send me information on that product should you offer that as well.
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To which I actually got this as a response:
---------- ROFL
Sir we are deeply sorry that you have recieved this advertisment and we are taking you off our contact list. We thank you for your polite and amusing letter.
Again sorry for the inconvience ----------
That was in August and to this day I have not seen any messages offering to give me "Huge...tracts of Land" since that date.
I think that this is a problem with the Retailers and the Software Manufacturers. Granted that the EULA's are a bit restrictive, but they made the software and are allowed to make whatever demands that they wish in the EULA.
The retailers are also within thier rights to make all purchases final on opened products. In fact many retailers have that very policy on hardware as well.
What needs to be done is the Software makers and the Retailers need to sit down and make an effort to make the EULA available BEFORE the sale is made. Perhaps with every case of the software, the EULA should come on a lamanated card, ready for display. This way the customer has the option of reading and agreeing to the EULA before they buy it.
This way no one can be sued if John Q. Sillyperson can't be bothered to read the EULA. To really cover one's butt, you can have a notice on the sales floor and on the sales slip stating that you are bound to the EULA even if you were too stupid to read it.
I'm in retail and I make sure that before the person buys a copy of XP that they know that you are bound to one copy, one machine only BEFORE they sign the invoice. Many once told just shrug and buy it anyway, others scream, yell, bitch and complain and leave...But at least MY ass is covered
If they have access to the License Agreement, don't read it and buy it anyway...I've no sympathy for them at all. However if they're dragooned into it because the agreement is not available until it is purchased (and most are assumed as agreed when purchased) then I feel sorry for them and stand behind them in a suit
Ok people...Forget the future. Between the actions of Kirk and Picard and to an extent Sisko, the future is bright and shiny and getting brighter and brighter as time goes on. Borg are not as great a threat as they once were, Klingons are allies, Romulans are now talking to us, Dominion is not a threat, the cardassians are worse than the bajorans were. There's nothing left to 'darken the future'
What needs to be done if you want movies is to cover things in the ST Past. The Romulan war, the first war with the klingons...all sorts of things that can be done.
If the authors of the Star Trek Novels can keep putting out good stuff, there has to be something that the scriptwriters can bring to a big screen.
Or the best idea of all...
Give it a rest for another 15 years, keep it in syndication, THEN come out with stuff after the new blood gets behind the wheel.
The biggest problem that I see is the simple fact that the first and most logical use of the RFID tag is in shoplifting prevention. Granted that it would be a great way of tracking and ensuring that some klepto doesn't bugger off with as much merchandice as they can get thier gurbby hands on, but if they are debating whether or not the tags should be disabled after purchase there could be problems arising here.
Say I buy a winter coat from Walmart in the fall. Then near the end of winter I go back to buy a windbreaker for spring's warmer weather. Am I going to have to keep a recipt in my pocket to prove that I bought the jacket?
Or I go and buy a PDA from Circuit City then come back a week later and buy a printer (using the PDA as my check register)...how do I prove that it is now mine and not lifted?
Sure some of you are going to say "the security tags get removed at checkout" or "The RFID signature will be removed from the database and will not exist anymore to bother you", but consider......how many times have you bought a DVD had it 'cleared' of the security tag only to get beeped at the door?...what if you buy something, thier computer crashes and they have to pull fro ma backup from the previous day? Won't the RFID tag be in the database again?
Good idea, but I'm too familiar about the quality and the ability of the people who try to implement it. Some of these people can't pour sand out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
One word comes to mind that explains the value of LED Lights.
Waste
First year on my own I bought a controlable string of 200 lights for $20 at Sams Club. Loved them to death with all the various settings it had (favorite was the slow fade between colors) But then next year, regardless of the fact that I put it away nicely in it's original package and inspected it before putting it in the closet, next year I had to buy a $2.00 string for spare bulbs.
Year after that I had to do it all over again so I said the hell with it and bought the $2 string and used it, tossing out the broken controled string and the previous string that was canabalized for parts. Year after than same damn thing...dead bulbs and I bought another string.
$26 spent on bulbs and all that copper, plastic and glass sent to the landfill.
Year after that I learned about the LED bulbs. Spent $20 on them. Used them for my third year now and still no dead bulbs, no frustration, no waste.
$2 dollar strings every year for 10 years, or $20 dollars for a string that will last you the same 10 years. Advantage, no waste.
And if it does hold true that they will last 20 times longer than a standard string (my personal record for an intact string has been 2 years with an average of only one) You'll save money in string costs, energy costs, and trips to the stylist to hide the fact that you ripped two huge chunks of hair out and need to hide it.
I say it all comes down to an issue of responsibility. I've seen too many macho, knuckle-dragging rednecks owning enough guns to arm a terrorist cell but whose understanding on the proper use involves holding "grippy end", making sure the "pointy end" faces the thing you want a hole in and pulling on the little "squeezy bit" when you want the hole made. Other people buy a gun and learn how to use them from an accredited gun safty course (frontsight as an example) and actually know how to use, maintain, carry, and most importantly...when and how to present the weapon when it gets intense.
Contrary to popular belief guns are no more or less dangerous than anything else you can find in a home as long as they are *properly* stored. A child running around with the turkey carving knife he pulled out of the knife rack on the counter has as much damage potential as an unsecured gun.
Also there's the issue of guns and crime. Sure we've all heard the expression "If we outlaw guns then only outlaws will have guns" till we're sick of it, but it *is* a true saying nonetheless. We outlaw drugs and they're all over the place. We outlawed Booze once...that worked well didn't it? You can restrict and outlaw and ban all you want, but as long as there are criminals who will pay for the guns, other criminals will figure out how to get guns in from other sources.
Guns used in crime. This is a tricky one as the facts differ from person to person. There is evidence that the "Wild West" wasn't as wild as people claim. This makes sense to me as only a fool would start something in a saloon where everyone including the showgirls are packing some sort of hand cannon. Also there are the anecdotes of the idiots who have tried to commit armed robery of gunstores (some with police officers picking up their sidarms) and the results of such encounter.
Personaly I'd LOVE (not that I'm holding me breath) to see a law that requires everyone over 18 with no police record to start learning the proper useages of a handgun and to be expected to actually openly carry at the age of 21. It's a little harder to rape a woman who is packing heat and is trained in it's proper use. It's even harder to knock over a convience store when the clerk, the manager, the guy behind the deli counter and the guy picking up a pint of ice cream for the missus is armed.
I'm not trying to be flamebait here, but I'm confused on why Math doesn't deal with reality very well.
Example:
Using Standard measurements, a 10ft length can be split into three equal lengths of 3ft 4in.
Why can't that same 10' length be broken with decimal math? Why is it 3.33333333333...ad infinitum?
Also: If I were to take a 10' length and bend it on itself so it made a circle I have a 10' circumfrence right? Then in theory I could get out my ruler and measure the radius and get a measurement that made sense. I can get real numbers by measuring, but the math doesn't agree...Why?
Ah, but what if the problem is with the control surfaces of the craft itself. It's damn hard to 'dead stick' a plane to a safe landing when you have an aeleron stuck in the down position.
Or there are the many times I've seen small craft crashes where the control surface fell off the plane.
Or (as we have seen with alarming frequency here in NJ) mid-air collisions. How do you dead stick a plane that has it's wing sheared off by some moron who isn't paying to the traffic while he's showboating?
And there's problems even if you have only a dead engine. in the case of a dead engine over water perhaps. Ditching in the drink was and is the fear of every neval pilot since there is no garantee that the water will not swell at the last moment and slap you hard.
It's an added safty feature that gives the pilot more chances to have a good landing...one that they can walk away from.
Slashdot Mirror
The thing about a Blog is the simple fact that while it may contain information that is of value to a person, most of the time it is simply a day-to-day journal of random thoughts and events.
A Web Page created by a person is usually created for a task in mind - Showing off a project (case mods, hacks on furbys, peep surgery), a fan information page (Dr. Who, Anime, Star Trek, Babylon 5), or a page created for a group (Local SCA Group, Computer User's Group, MMORPG Guild Page).
A Blog is usually created as a online journal or diary, often for a group of friends.
What tends to trip off the search engines are the Blog sites that link to other people by common interestes. WWW.Livejournal.com allows you to have linke by friends, and common interests. Were I to have a blog with them and I set up as one of my interests as Star Trek, then I'll likely end up with several hundred names of people that also like star trek.
Google goes out and farms new sites. It hits so-and-so's blog in Livejounal. It sees a link mentioning Star Trek and follows it...then it sees about 1000 more ST links... 1001 ST links that likely won't have a dang thing about Star Trek on the pages (unless someone happens to brag about how he scored ST:TNG season 1 on ebay for a song).
More and more people are blogging and hence this is why blogs (which have been around for quite a while) are now starting to become a concern for the search engines trying to filter out the signal to noise ratio.
I like Google's idea. One of the reasons blogs like together is often so people can network with people who share common interests. If you don't and want to learn about Star Trek can find real information by going to hte main page while the people looking for fellow ST fans can go to the blog page.
Makes sense to me
Phoenix
Frankly I agree with him on one point. The STS program needs to be replaced. The Shuttle is an aging piece of antiquated hardware that is probally getting to the end of it's lifespan.
However
I do not believe that we have to send the rest of the Shuttles to the Graveyard just yet.
The two shuttles lost are so far, the first that actually made it into space (Enterprise being little more than a test platform) and the Challenger which (if memory serves and if I'm wrong I do apologize) is the second oldest orbiter.
Secondly, It's Space we're dealing with. It's an unknown and we're trying to learn how to get into space without killing ourselves. If you think about all the manned spaceflights that we have done as the world as a whole, mankind has a pretty damn good track record.
I agree that the Shuttle needs to go, but with a little care, it CAN still serve it's purpose until the replacement is designed, tested and ready. Give the remaining Shuttles a once over, fix the problem and get them back up.
Phoenix
Actually it's not that rare anymore. I've picked up a few months ago at my local SunCoast Video, and a quick check of Amazon.com shows that you can snag it for 13 bucks.
God that was a bad spoof of Doctor Who though. They took every bad cliche from the series and made it worse. Had us in stitches the whole time.
"Here's my sonic screwdriver. Oh Look! It has three settings"
Can you imaging if the device comes with a booster antenna that you can put on your other hand? Say on the finger.
Now you have the phone arm bent to have it closer to the face and the other arm in the air. You now look like you're in the "Staying Alive" video.
It's a conspiracy to bring back disco I tells ya.
Phoenix
Please note I mentioned New Jersey Traffic. As you're not a NJ resident (and I'm pretty sure that you are not as you wouldn't even blink at that number if you were) I'll explain one little fact about NJ driving. The traffic sucks and jams up at the drop of a hat. Listen to George Carlin and his rants about NJ and he mentions that after a trip through "I need a fucking brake job".
Also I drive a truck (not an SUV)which gets me 28MPG on the highway going at full speed. I live 10 miles from my mall and either I'm driving the surface roads (traffic lights, stop and go, people turning on and off) or I'm on the highway in stop and go traffic just because some poor chap blew a tire and everyone is rubbernecking and rather disapointed that it wasn't a horrific accident.
If I can get full Highway speeds it means that one of the seven signs of the end of the world has occured -or- I'm driving along at o-dark-thirty.
Also the point here I was trying to make here wasn't the fuel efficiency of my main mode of transportation, but the fact that services like iTunes, Listen.com's Rhapsody, etc. are worth it even if you still pay $20 for a full CD when you consider the fact you don't have to deal with the following:
* Time spent in traffic, crowds, lines, etc
* Wear and tear on your vehicle
* Fuel useage
* The fact that a $20 CD's often aren't filled to the full 60/74 minutes capacity (many are 30-45 minutes)
* On said CD you might only like 2 songs and -maybe- grow to like one or two more
Phoenix
(BTW: Do people like you always have to pick one nit-picky detail that has little to do with the main point and beat people to death with it? If you're doing it to annoy me then it's not really working as I take that as a complement. Either my point was so well made that the only way to refute it is to make fun at something unrelated or you are simply less talented than I am in the areas of open and free debate giving me the cheap thrill of being better than you in this area)
Lets what I can buy at the mall and how much it costs.
Chumbawumba's "Tubthumper" cd with 12 songs, 10 of them that I didn't like when I got the CD nor have they grown on me as time goes on. Cost: $20
1.5 gallons of gas at $1.75/gal for the round trip. Cost: $2.65
Wear and tear of NJ Traffic getting to and from the mall at $0.05/mile for the 20 mile trip. Cost: $1
Bottle of Excredrin at the drugstore in the mall for migrane developed during the drive through NJ. Cost: 4.95
Total cost: 28.60
Compared to the service I have with Listen.com where I pay $10/month for the service and $0.99/track. For that same $28.60 (and another $0.40 in a couch dive) I can have the 2 tubthumper songs I wanted as well as 17 other tracks from a multitude of other albums that I also like. Plus the reduced wtress of not having to tackle NJ roads
I know what I'd choose
I will grant you that many people are barking up the wrong tree here and it *is* better to pay for the inexpensive printer and then pay a little extra for the ink itself. You are paying the same, just over time and that certainly is easier on the budget than buying it in one lump chunk.
I even agree that it's well in HP's pervue to smart-chip the systems to ensure that the carts aren't refilled. I made the mistake once of using third party ink on my BJC-600 canon printer and regretted it as it killed the poor thing. smart-chipping the carts allows HP (or whomever)to ensure that someone isn't breaking a printer by doing somehing it wasn't meant to do (push *that* type of ink)and then expecting the company to honor warranty.
However I'm not too sure about the concept of "time-stamping" the printer carts. It's still in HP's rights, but with that hanging over my head and the vast reduction in color laser prices I would have to consider switching away from ink and going to toner.
especially considering that my new color laser allows me to refill the toner bays (nice bottles of the proper toner from the manufacturer on the cheap) and the only thing I have to replace are the drums (and then only when they degrade performance.
You're right on one major point though. People need to stop bitching randomly at people who have the right to make thier products they way that they want them and do something constructive in instead...like excercise thier consumer power and buy a product that does what they want and nothing more.
Phoenix
Yes the spam load is doubling every three months by itself. Do we need to quadruple it every three months instead?
/. and other sites about new and different ways of E-Mail that aren't prone to this kind of abuse.
Yes we are already losing E-Mail in the poor signal-to-noise ratio out there, need we find a way to lose more?
Yes again that the spammers don't give a damn about the fact that they'll use alphabet attacks and don't give a damn about the spam and bounce. Should we stand at thier level?
Yes there is going to be collateral damage by any attempt that me make to stop it, but what is suggested here is the spam version of using a weapon of mass destruction in retaliation to the use of a WMD.
No I am not a 'peacenik' who finds the damage caused by the spammers to be acceptable yet not the damage caused by the retaliation. I do not condone *ANY* of the damage caused on either side.
No, I am not a person who 'does nothing' and therefore part of the problem. Granted I couldn't code my ass out of a wet paper subroutine but I still can and am doing something. I'm writing letters to my elected officials on a constant basis to either do something about the spammers OR to allow the people out there who know how to code to implement all the wonderful ideas that I've read about on
Lets face it, it's been said here and abroad that the main reason that spam in the massive form that it does stems from the fact that the current e-mail protocals are so simple that abuse is far easier than it should be.
Also, this is a board where people are supposed to be able to share ideas. Was the brusk tone and all caps shouting really needed? Also your tone in this message seems to say that you blame me for it being modded to +5. Were you to read and understand the moderator guidelines you would see that I or anyone for that matter cannot mod their own posts. Hell they can't even mod someone elses posts in a discussion thread that they themselves posted in. So kindly allow your blood pressure to drop to healthy levels before you stroke out. You might also want to cut down on the caffeene a bit and go herbal for a while...sleep does wonders for the stress levels.
Also again there's that word again...Discussion thread. Screaming at me as if I were a repo man is not a discussion. Try toning your messages as if you were willing to discuss a subject instead of flaming at whim. You do not have to agree with the poster nor with me for that matter, just keep it civil, keep it polite, be passionate about what you're saying yet at the same time don't try to drive your Karma over everyone elses Dogma.
Do that a few times and you might not have to hide behind that Anonymous Coward tag and join the ranks of the people who have friends and fans in the forums.
Just a suggestion,
Phoenix
"Wouldn't that clog it up on their end with bounces? And maybe change the pages every few days with a new list, maybe there's a random email generator thing to come up with fake domains, like a password generator?"
Yes it would, but there in lies the problem. Say for example you are on someISP.net as your internat provider. Some one else decides to start spamming through someISP.net (either by an open relay, spoofing or even by actually having an account there. Buhzillions of bouncebacks start swarming someISP.net's servers and BAM! You dont get that e-card from your mother on your birthday.
The other problem is by having all those fake addresses. Let's say that spamboy sends out that proverbial "buhzillion" messages. That's all traffic that the backbones have to route. NOW since those e-mails are fake they have to bounce back...that's a "buhzillion" autogenerated nessages that the servers have to route again.
Congrats, we've just doubled the spamload.
Phoenix
And how would you propose they get the oil out of the ground without a working infrastructure? Picks, shovels to dig the holes and then suck-siphon it out of the ground with garden hoses?
Don't get me wrong by what I am about to say here...I'm all for what we're doing over there to help the Iraqi people but...
Consider the following:
In order to protect ourselves and out allies *we* decided to take out Saddam. In order to carry out that mission *we* crossed Iraqi borders. To protect our troops *we* crippled the Iraqi infrastructure to impair Saddam's ability to wage war. *We* killed the power. *We* bombed buildings. *We* destroyed TV Transmitter towers. *We* decided that those actions were reasonable and justified.
Like I said, I'm all for what was done, watching the Iraqi people dancing in the streets thanking the US and UK troops proves it to me at least that this was needed and the (rather well hidden) wish of the Iraqi people to see the end of Saddam. However deep down we have to admit that *we* as a nation are responsible for every crater caused my us that used to be a transfomer sub-station and every burned out hulk that used to be a power generating station.
Yes *we* as a nation. For we are all responsible for what happens in there. Either we are in the government, we voted in the government or we sat at home bitching how voting doesn't do a goddamn bit of good and thus decided that you weren't going to miss Survivor over it. Even those of us who took responsibility and voted against the current government has some responsibility as a caring human being seeing a people in trouble and lending a helping hand.
Phoenix
I'm quite sure that people are aware of the fact that damn near all of the Iraqi infrastructure is pretty well hosed.
We're not that dumb.
Instead of pissing and moaning about a company that seems to be acting like vultures circling over roadkill, perhaps consider the possibility that they might be looking into the long term?
Yes the Iraqi people need food and water, that's a given. Yes they need stable power before the 'net can be rebuilt (that qualifies as a "no shit Sherlock"). But these are short term goals. If you want stability in the area you need to build (or in this case help build) a stable government and you need an economic foundation.
It's a wonderful thing that SoDamn Insane is either dead or so far in hiding that they have to import sunlight. It's the greatest thing in the Iraqi world since sliced bread that the regime is falling down under the "Rolling Victory" of the US/UK troops. It's a blessed thing that food, water and other humanitarian aid is starting to trickle in as areas get cleared out.
But without some way to build an economy, then it's all for naught. The Iraqi love us now. If we left them as a bombed out huck of a country then the attitude would change, they would hate us and we would probally end up once again with another warlord like Saddam and more terrorist acts against us.
Frankly I'd like to think that by helping them re-build and to become a player in the global economy (for which the internet is a damn handy tool), then the goodwill for the US/UK will grow and we'll have another ally in the middle east.
Or did you think that we'd just go over there, blow a whole lot of shit up for fun and oil profits then bugger back home in time for the summer trips to Disney World?
Phoenix
1. First of all there is a tradition of fooling people on the first day of april...that's kinda why we call it April Fools Day in the first place.
/. didn't come up with a gag of some kind, most of us here would think of something and prank someone. It's part of the tradition mentioned above.
/. always and I mean *ALWAYS* pulls something like this every year. Sometimes it's the "Find the fake story", others it's the "Find the real story" game. If we all know that they do this then why don't you pissed off people go and read something else today.
2. If
3. We all know that
People in here need to chill out. They way that half of the people in here are bitching I think they must really need to get laid.
I KNEW that today was April Fools, I told myself watchout for /. and their little games. I prepared myself.
Oh My God! They Pranked Phoenix...You Bastards!
(good one though)
Phoenix
Oh I love this. Everyone is so pissed off at the EULA that they forget one simple thing...you DON'T have to agree to it.
...Stop fucking buying from any company that makes you cry, bitch and moan about. Hate Microsoft? go Linux or Apple. Hate Roxio? Buy Nero. Hate ID Software? Stop playing Quake.
-----snip-----
- You can only use your microwave for this list of approved food manufacturing companies, who happen to have a large share in the company who makes your microwave.
- You can only drive you car on these roads, and only on these days. You are not allowed to sell your car, or listen to any radio stations except those on this approved list.
-----snip-----
If the company is that damn stupid to make such a demand in thier product's EULA then DON'T buy the damn thing. Get a car that doesn't restrict your useage. Buy the microwave that allows you to nuke last night's pizza. Buy the software that doesn't bend you over and analy violate your rights.
THIS is the power that YOU as the consumer hold. You want to make a statement then don't buy that software.
-----snip-----
Er, no they are not. Consider that the product is borken. Are you saying that if I buy a product, open it, find out it is broken that I can't return it? PS. You also have no rights to look in any bags I am carrying either.
-----snip-----
Oh yes they are. Granted that my statement needs to be clarified a bit. Broken or damaged merchandise is covered under warranties and most stores honor that. But once a product is sold and the agreements are accepted on both sides you are bound to that deal. I have no responsibility to take something back for some of the damn silly reasons that people try to do...ie: next version came out a month later, MS word doesn't have the feature that wordperfect has (then why didn't you BUY wordperfect in the first damn place)
Also people have replied that software companies are trying to have it both ways. This I agree is a problem. They want to make it a sale so they can rape you on the service charges, but then claim that it is a license stating that you can't use it to look at your daughter's birthday pictures on days starting with the letters T and S unless you agree to THIS OTHER EULA and pay $400 bucks. But again this is the right of the company. If they want to piss off thier customer base then it is on them. They are well within thier rights to shoot themselves in the wallet by doing stupid things like this.
Quit pissing and moaning, quit trying to sue everyone and their mother for the stupid shit that people sue for and please, just for once, do the intelligent thing...
It's that goddamn simple, why doesn't anyone ELSE see that?
Phoenix
Is it really?
Granted now to sell your product you can now call thousands of people in the country and you can send millions of spam to the world at large. Granted that this is very efficient as one person can send off several thousands of E-Mails with a single click or can make hundreds of calls in a day's time thanks to the new computerized dialer systems.
But is it really worth it to the company? Or is it efficiency at the cost of bad consumer feeling?
I'm betting on the latter.
Take X-10.com and thier products. When I forst heard of them and their home automation equipment I was interested. When I learned that it could work under Linux I was thinking of the major geek factor there. I had an old touch screen pentium wall mount case that I could have made the heart of the system in nothing flat. I was really seriously considering doing my house up into my own little nerdvana.
Then the spam came.
All I ever got was pop-ups everywhere I went and the only way to get rid of them was to go to their site and beg to be left alone for 30 days...one lousy month. And the quality of the ads were starting to get offensive. Scantily clad women in ads that implied (if not flat out said) "Use this camera to spy on people".
Not "Use this camera for security" or "This product will let you monitor yout infant child from anywhere in the house" or even "Use our products to make toast in the kitchen with a command from the bathroom". No, it was and still is the semi-nekkid women and the implication that you too can become a high tech peeping tom.
After a steady barage of that message I decided to spend my money on getting a home theatre system instead. They cost themselves a customer and perhaps more than just I with all the others whom I've talked to who feel the same way.
Telemarketers are the same way. I don't want to have to be reminded that I'm going to die in 50 years by some guy from a funeral parlor. I don't want to be bothered during dinner by my long distance carrier asking if I want to switch to them (do they NOT check to make sure that I'm not already a customer first?)
Something like this would be a godsend enabling me to be able to spend time with my family and friends in peace. It'd be an ever greater godsend if they could get rid of those stupid "International Drivers License" spams I get 100 times a day as well.
Phoenix
It's probally going to have a limited adverse effect on surveys. Those who don't mind taking surveys (such as yourself) are probally going to be blocking those callers. While on the other hand it's probally not going to make that much of a difference for those of us who are likely to enjoy blocking them.
"There was already some suggestion that in this past election, statistical projections were skewed because of people using call blocking technology, etc."
Honestly I don't see how they'd be getting statistical data off of me this past election since my resposnse to all of them (my own party included) was "sod off".
...if it's a legit company who has someone who has a person actually reading the replies.
This is a letter I sent off to a company who offered me ways to enlarge my breasts. Being male and having no desire for hooters I felt obliged to reply.
----------
Do you people simply not bother to see to whom this message is going to? Do you not bother to do market research to see if I'm even going to be able to use the product? I am a man. I have a penis and not breasts. I am a guy, a bloke packing a "willie", a "johnson", "meat and two veg", a "one-eyed trouser snake", a "little fellow", a thingie, the "outy" parts to match up with the "inny" bits of the people to whom you should be sending this spam to and not me and my "Collection of dangly bits".
To put it simply people..."A DICK"
I have no interest in your product for the enlargement of breasts and request that you remove me from your list.
Thank You,
[name removed]
BTW: I'm also happy with the size of my naughty bits and request that you not send me information on that product should you offer that as well.
----------
To which I actually got this as a response:
----------
ROFL
Sir we are deeply sorry that you have recieved this advertisment and we are taking you off our contact list. We thank you for your polite and amusing letter.
Again sorry for the inconvience
----------
That was in August and to this day I have not seen any messages offering to give me "Huge...tracts of Land" since that date.
Sometimes it pays to answer a spam
Phoenix
I think that this is a problem with the Retailers and the Software Manufacturers. Granted that the EULA's are a bit restrictive, but they made the software and are allowed to make whatever demands that they wish in the EULA.
The retailers are also within thier rights to make all purchases final on opened products. In fact many retailers have that very policy on hardware as well.
What needs to be done is the Software makers and the Retailers need to sit down and make an effort to make the EULA available BEFORE the sale is made. Perhaps with every case of the software, the EULA should come on a lamanated card, ready for display. This way the customer has the option of reading and agreeing to the EULA before they buy it.
This way no one can be sued if John Q. Sillyperson can't be bothered to read the EULA. To really cover one's butt, you can have a notice on the sales floor and on the sales slip stating that you are bound to the EULA even if you were too stupid to read it.
I'm in retail and I make sure that before the person buys a copy of XP that they know that you are bound to one copy, one machine only BEFORE they sign the invoice. Many once told just shrug and buy it anyway, others scream, yell, bitch and complain and leave...But at least MY ass is covered
If they have access to the License Agreement, don't read it and buy it anyway...I've no sympathy for them at all. However if they're dragooned into it because the agreement is not available until it is purchased (and most are assumed as agreed when purchased) then I feel sorry for them and stand behind them in a suit
Ok people...Forget the future. Between the actions of Kirk and Picard and to an extent Sisko, the future is bright and shiny and getting brighter and brighter as time goes on. Borg are not as great a threat as they once were, Klingons are allies, Romulans are now talking to us, Dominion is not a threat, the cardassians are worse than the bajorans were. There's nothing left to 'darken the future'
What needs to be done if you want movies is to cover things in the ST Past. The Romulan war, the first war with the klingons...all sorts of things that can be done.
If the authors of the Star Trek Novels can keep putting out good stuff, there has to be something that the scriptwriters can bring to a big screen.
Or the best idea of all...
Give it a rest for another 15 years, keep it in syndication, THEN come out with stuff after the new blood gets behind the wheel.
You know...kinda like what happened with ST:TNG.
Phoenix
The biggest problem that I see is the simple fact that the first and most logical use of the RFID tag is in shoplifting prevention. Granted that it would be a great way of tracking and ensuring that some klepto doesn't bugger off with as much merchandice as they can get thier gurbby hands on, but if they are debating whether or not the tags should be disabled after purchase there could be problems arising here.
...how many times have you bought a DVD had it 'cleared' of the security tag only to get beeped at the door? ...what if you buy something, thier computer crashes and they have to pull fro ma backup from the previous day? Won't the RFID tag be in the database again?
Say I buy a winter coat from Walmart in the fall. Then near the end of winter I go back to buy a windbreaker for spring's warmer weather. Am I going to have to keep a recipt in my pocket to prove that I bought the jacket?
Or I go and buy a PDA from Circuit City then come back a week later and buy a printer (using the PDA as my check register)...how do I prove that it is now mine and not lifted?
Sure some of you are going to say "the security tags get removed at checkout" or "The RFID signature will be removed from the database and will not exist anymore to bother you", but consider...
Good idea, but I'm too familiar about the quality and the ability of the people who try to implement it. Some of these people can't pour sand out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
Phoenix
One word comes to mind that explains the value of LED Lights.
Waste
First year on my own I bought a controlable string of 200 lights for $20 at Sams Club. Loved them to death with all the various settings it had (favorite was the slow fade between colors) But then next year, regardless of the fact that I put it away nicely in it's original package and inspected it before putting it in the closet, next year I had to buy a $2.00 string for spare bulbs.
Year after that I had to do it all over again so I said the hell with it and bought the $2 string and used it, tossing out the broken controled string and the previous string that was canabalized for parts. Year after than same damn thing...dead bulbs and I bought another string.
$26 spent on bulbs and all that copper, plastic and glass sent to the landfill.
Year after that I learned about the LED bulbs. Spent $20 on them. Used them for my third year now and still no dead bulbs, no frustration, no waste.
$2 dollar strings every year for 10 years, or $20 dollars for a string that will last you the same 10 years. Advantage, no waste.
And if it does hold true that they will last 20 times longer than a standard string (my personal record for an intact string has been 2 years with an average of only one) You'll save money in string costs, energy costs, and trips to the stylist to hide the fact that you ripped two huge chunks of hair out and need to hide it.
Phoenix
I say it all comes down to an issue of responsibility. I've seen too many macho, knuckle-dragging rednecks owning enough guns to arm a terrorist cell but whose understanding on the proper use involves holding "grippy end", making sure the "pointy end" faces the thing you want a hole in and pulling on the little "squeezy bit" when you want the hole made. Other people buy a gun and learn how to use them from an accredited gun safty course (frontsight as an example) and
actually know how to use, maintain, carry, and most importantly...when and how to present the weapon when it gets intense.
Contrary to popular belief guns are no more or less dangerous than anything else you can find in a home as long as they are *properly* stored. A child running around with the turkey carving knife he pulled out of the knife rack on the counter has as much damage potential as an unsecured gun.
Also there's the issue of guns and crime. Sure we've all heard the expression "If we outlaw guns then only outlaws will have guns" till we're sick of it, but it *is* a true saying nonetheless. We outlaw drugs and they're all over the place. We outlawed Booze once...that worked well didn't it? You can restrict and outlaw and ban all you want, but as long as there are criminals who will pay for the guns, other criminals will figure out how to get guns in from other sources.
Guns used in crime. This is a tricky one as the facts differ from person to person. There is evidence that the "Wild West" wasn't as wild as people claim. This makes sense to me as only a fool would start something in a saloon where everyone including the showgirls are packing some sort of hand cannon. Also there are the anecdotes of the idiots who have tried to commit armed robery of gunstores (some with police officers picking up their sidarms) and the results of such encounter.
Personaly I'd LOVE (not that I'm holding me breath) to see a law that requires everyone over 18 with no police record to start learning the proper useages of a handgun and to be expected to actually openly carry at the age of 21. It's a little harder to rape a woman who is packing heat and is trained in it's proper use. It's even harder to knock over a convience store when the clerk, the manager, the guy behind the deli counter and the guy picking up a pint of ice cream for the missus is armed.
But that's just MY dream and my opinions
You know, that was the most sense of an answer I've ever gotten. I never figured it to be a matter of Base-n before.
Thanks
I'm not trying to be flamebait here, but I'm confused on why Math doesn't deal with reality very well.
Example:
Using Standard measurements, a 10ft length can be split into three equal lengths of 3ft 4in.
Why can't that same 10' length be broken with decimal math? Why is it 3.33333333333...ad infinitum?
Also:
If I were to take a 10' length and bend it on itself so it made a circle I have a 10' circumfrence right? Then in theory I could get out my ruler and measure the radius and get a measurement that made sense. I can get real numbers by measuring, but the math doesn't agree...Why?
Ah, but what if the problem is with the control surfaces of the craft itself. It's damn hard to 'dead stick' a plane to a safe landing when you have an aeleron stuck in the down position.
Or there are the many times I've seen small craft crashes where the control surface fell off the plane.
Or (as we have seen with alarming frequency here in NJ) mid-air collisions. How do you dead stick a plane that has it's wing sheared off by some moron who isn't paying to the traffic while he's showboating?
And there's problems even if you have only a dead engine. in the case of a dead engine over water perhaps. Ditching in the drink was and is the fear of every neval pilot since there is no garantee that the water will not swell at the last moment and slap you hard.
It's an added safty feature that gives the pilot more chances to have a good landing...one that they can walk away from.