I really felt old for the first time in my life awhile back when I saw that video. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I couldn't believe that they got away with making that and showing in on television in the middle of the day, nor could I understand what she was thinking when she agreed to make that video. (Not that I didn't find her to be incredibly skanky before that...)
Re:Why the griping about stupid certificates?
on
Redirecting NASA
·
· Score: 2
No, I'm sorry, I don't equate moon rocks with Bryan Adams and Michael Bolton CDs that somehow become magical items of Immense Value and Rarity once they escape the earth's atmosphere. Big boxes of junk being put on the space shuttle just adding weight and taking up space isn't the same as something brought back from space with some legitimate value and scientific study possibility. The certificates are not usually flown in the shuttle, they just give those out to anyone and everyone. And they also give out very nice silver and/or gold plated coins, miniature flags, pins, and all other sorts of junk which I would prefer a publicly funded organization to not just willy-nilly buy and pass out. These are not going to kids (indeed, my opinion would be much different if they were), these are going to fully grown adults that are already employees of NASA.
As for the $900 frame, it was for an office of someone who works at NASA, for himself; I doubt his private office is a high-traffic area where it would attract much attention beyond Wow, how much did that cost to do? I don't approve of that any more than I would approve of a Senator or any other employee buying $900 worth of framing to hang in their office with public money.
If you had any idea of the amount and sheer absurdity of some of this stuff that gets brought in, you would probably be a bit jaded too. I suppose you just have to see some of it to believe it. As for the painting of RMS, he liked it, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the only opinion of it that matters to me.
Well, I am shipping paintings and original artwork. (I don't know if you looked at my site or not.) Since I can never exactly duplicate something (nor do I want to), I fully insure everything with a tracking number and delivery confirmation to protect myself and the buyer. I usually round up my estimates but they're typically within $2-3 of actual shipping costs. And I do have to buy special boxes and mailers because everything is different
sizes. Sometimes I can get free boxes, then I don't charge for them, but not always. A large picture frame box is $11, which I think is outrageous, so for large stuff I try to find free ones or find a box I can cut down to the size I need.
Also in the case of larger work, UPS does charge extra if boxes go over a certain size limit, which many of my things do. I have had individual packages with two or three pictures in them that did cost about $45 after shipping and $300 or $400 insurance. A big painting in its box typically costs around $35 to ship. In those instances I typically just charge the $35 and don't include a handling charge. For my stuff at least, it is a bit more than just throwing it in a box and handing it to the UPS guy.
I appreciate that you don't like high shipping charges, and for anything I could easily replace I would agree with you completely. So far, though, I haven't had anything damaged and no one has complained.
Stop printing out stupid certificates...
on
Redirecting NASA
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I'd like to know just how much money a year NASA spends on all the stupid certificates, medals, and Bryan Adams CDs mailed out on the space shuttle. (Apparently each crew member gets a little box they can fill with bad CDs and crucifixes and other unexplainable crap.) It seems like they give even their janitor a certificate and medal/commemerative coin for "contributing to work on the ISS/making it possible." I work in a custom frame shop fairly close to NASA and people have no idea how much pointless NASA crud is brought in for us to frame. We had two women in once talking about how they had helped work on the space station, very proud of themselves... turned out they were like assistants to the secretary of one of the engineers or something two or three times removed like that.
I want to frame this... it was in spaAAAace. I have handled so much stuff that "was in space" "on the space shuttle!!!" that they probably should give me a medal for being an astronaught by proxy.
I recently had a woman have me do a frame of a piece that was formerly part of the space station, with a photo and a brass plaque -- the total bill was about $900. For someone's office. Paid with corporate credit card. If they're wasting this much money on wall decorations and passing out meaningless medals, I don't even want to know what they spend some of the rest of their money on. I like NASA and I think they should continue to exist... but sheesh.
I did hear about this news story on Marketplace/NPR at work tonight. I already have to collect state sales taxes for stuff I ship within Texas, and it's complicated enough keeping track of and filing monthly for the little tax zone that I'm in. I understand that's the cost of doing business, but for someone who does an extremely small volume in a sole proprietorship this is quite frustrating. This just adds another (probably) half-inch thick stack of paperwork I have to deal with at tax time and year-round, more forms I have to fill out and more opportunities for me to get confused, screw something up, be audited and be fined or worse. I can't afford to hire an accountant or a tax attourney, so I have to learn all this myself.
Not to mention the fact that people are not going to want to pay sales tax for something after they're already paying $10-20 plus for shipping costs. Unless they plan on making sales tax an even amount for all counties, cities and metro areas across the country, I don't even see how this is possible -- nor can I see how it will serve any purpose except to hurt online sales that are already hurting to begin with. This just seems so unwise and poorly considered to me, both from the point of view of a small online business owner and as a person who orders many things online myself.
Re:New voting method being used in Nevada
on
Indecision 2002
·
· Score: 3, Informative
This was probably invented by Wallace & Gromit, right? It sort of reminds me of the NASA program to create a pen that could write in space. NASA (and american taxpayers) "invested" close to one million dollars on that. The russians used pencils.
Admittedly I don't know any other female gamers myself, but I don't know too many gamers in general. I do know that I've never had a hard time putting myself in the game. Back when I had a Playstation, one of my favourite games was Spyro the Dragon (I had both of them), and you have no idea how many times I caught myself physically readjusting my position trying to see around corners and stuff. I'm just glad no one was watching. I probably looked pretty silly trying to see around the corners inside a television set.:)
The reason I've never played Tomb Raider or Duke Nukem is that I'm not really attracted to games with lots of guns in them. I like racing games, though. Maybe the subject matter has more to do with why less females play, than the actual style of gameplay or way of thinking.
is the planet's name, for anyone who wants to do a Google search or look on Art's site about it. I should also mention that they expect highly evolved alien races to accompany this giant planet/spaceship.:)
There are many people that believe in the year 2003, another planet is going to enter our solar system from either outside the solar system or another dimension. It's known either as Planet X, or a name that starts with N, which escapes me at the moment... I do find it an interesting coincidence that a story was just posted about the discovery of a new planet, and now to hear of these bizarre fireballs. I'm sure they're having a field day with this on the Art Bell show tonight. I'm a skeptic on all things "extraterrestrial" and paranormal, but it's still really interesting to listen to.:)
Not exactly... many films lean towards more green or red, and there are a lot more variables involved than the light source. Differences in developing can also make a very noticable difference in colour. Even so-called black and white images often have a green, blue or reddish cast to them. (I stare at photos all day at my job, professional and not.) The age and quality of the developing fluids, etc, all factor in. As someone who photographs a lot of artwork, I probably see this a bit more often than a lot of people. I usually have to take anywhere from 3-6 photos to get one that looks suitably like the original artwork. I often still have to digitally alter them once they're scanned, anyway. So as far as colour is concerned, I don't think the quality is any better between analog and digital, esp. for the average person (myself included) who doesn't do their own developing and doesn't have much more than a point-and-click knowledge of cameras.
I do agree with you that analog is still currently superior to digital, but that's mostly to do with the fact that the really impressive digital cameras are way beyond the price range of most people, and the less expensive ones leave enough to be desired that film still has the advantage.
Aren't they coming out with one of these stories every week or so? Pretty soon they're going to just throw their arms in the air and say there's bacteria everywhere. (Isn't there, anyway?)
Please wake me up and let me know when 1. Someone discovers some exotic alien species of fish, and 2. When I can buy said fish as an entrée at Red Lobster. (Mmm...cheese biscuits...)
Yes, but where are the flying cars?
on
The Future in Gear
·
· Score: 3, Funny
how much are they expecting to charge me now to "opt out" of this? I already pay a couple of bucks a month for the "privilege" of having an unlisted number.
That's exactly the reason that I have a disclaimer on my site that says I don't have any kind of advertising or pop-ups. So if some program is slapping advertising on my page, at least the user has a chance of figuring out what's up. (And that I don't approve of it...)
It's frustrating knowing that it might happen, but I haven't found a better solution. At least the pop-ups are external from the content... I know I'd be very upset if something was inserting graphical banner ads actually into the HTML, or converting the page text into paid advertisements.
If Gator is even replacing existing ads or adding them where there were none, then I certainly hope they get what they deserve. At least when someone uses a program like Junkbuster, they're aware that the website's content is being altered. Too many people are not aware these programs are on their computer... and to expect someone to actually read to the letter through the novel-sized click-through "agreements" these things come with is IMO, unrealistic.
It's weird, but I've been sitting here reading a book called "Tax Savvy for the Small Business" the last hour, trying to make some sense of this stuff.
I started my own business "officially" last year selling my artwork and artistic services through my website, and from what I've seen it seems like the whole system is setup to make it almost impossible for anyone without a verifiable team of tax experts at beck-and-call to operate a business. I'm already having to keep complicated books and records and collect state sales tax, pay a self-employment tax and fill out a ton of US tax forms.
Now they're saying that should they decide to tax physical goods shipped to Europe, I would have to keep track of and report to some-15 different tax rates and countries overseas? Let's just close the internet now and go home; I may as well just set up a stand on my street-corner and be done with it. I'd never have time to paint because I'd be buried in paperwork.
If this kind of thing becomes popular, the only people that anyone will be able to purchase items from will be SuperMegaStore-Mart, because they'll be the only ones with the funds and volume to justify a team of 100 people just to do their taxes. Way to kill off small struggling businesses, guys.
Very few people are comfortable with the idea that what you see in meatspace is all there is. Everyone wants to believe there's an afterlife; that there's more to reality than what we know. Accepting life for pure physical reality is an extremely difficult concept to swallow (and one I've been struggling with myself for a long time). People want to believe in things like ESP, astrology and alien abduction because there is evidence for it (no matter how shaky) and because it's easier to convince yourself there might be even more than that. While my views towards them are more agnostic, I don't see how belief in any of these things is exclusive to an understanding of common, solid science. As a person who is interested in parapsychology and ufology purely from a curiousity point of view, I've read a lot of the material on the subject matters, and they do utilize a lot of sound ideas when coming up with more miraculous conclusions. Just because you believe UFOs are from outer space doesn't mean you don't believe in the theory of relativity or that the earth revolves around the sun. To say otherwise is ridiculous.
Besides, people have believed in ghosts and goblins and the boogyman for almost as long as mankind has lived. It's called fear of the unknown and wishful thinking. As far as I know, most people don't think the earth is flat any more. I can't see any backwards-moving trend here, just the same beliefs in the unknown and supernatural that we've always had (as a whole.) The only thing different here is that things like ESP and aliens are more compatible with the general ideas of science we have at this point in time. Some of them are a bit silly, yes... but not so silly that they're totally implausible.
Remember, there are people like doctors, lawyers and even real scientists that believe in things like aliens (or claim to have been abducted.) I personally think it's a psychological phenomena, but that's besides the point. Obviously not everyone who claims to have been abducted (or believe in it) is some kind of moron.
I like it, in a silly sort of way. Except for the part where the guy dipped his swords in the fire and they burned for about ten minutes. Since when are swords flammable? That was so stupid it literally almost ruined the end of the movie for me.
I was also disappointed that no one got hit over the head with a folded steel chair at any point in the movie.
I routinely get about 7-10 hours of sleep a night, and four to five days out of the week, I barely make it to 5:00 before I'm about to fall over asleep. I don't regularly drink caffiene for unrelated health reasons, but even when I do it has little effect on keeping me awake... I am talking dragging your hands on the floor, head propped up with a stick, tip over and pass out tired.
I have things to do, though, and even if I'm tired or not, I have to be awake. If someone can make a pill that doesn't almost give me a heart attack, that can just give me a boost to get through the middle of the day, then I say go for it. I can't sleep 12 or 14 hours a day, and neither can most people. Nor do I have the luxury of just driving home and climbing in bed when I decide I need a nap.
I see it as similar to treating the common cold -- right now I have no idea how to "cure" the cause, so my only choice is to treat the symptom.
I very, very rarely get spam, but I got the Nigerian message literally two or three minutes before reloading/. to see this story posted. And it's already Slashdotted.:)
When I got my first computer, I signed up for AOL because one of my friends had it and it was the only ISP I had heard of. (This was about five years ago, I was 17, so cut me some slack.:)
I can honestly say that of all the things that eventually irritated me about AOL, the mail has to be the absolute worst. I don't know if they'll allow you to download it with a seperate program now, but when I had it you had to get the mail in the provided portion of the AOL...um... desktop? I'm not sure what to call it, since it took up most of my screen all the time.
Anyway, I'm not surprised about misdirected and deleted mail. AOL would delete old mail at its own discretion after a certain length of time, and anything I wanted to save I had to manually cut and paste as a text file because there was no good, clean way of backing anything up. The fact that AOL mail reads HTML by default is terrible; the fact that it doesn't educate the users or explain to them the concept of HTML mail is even worse -- half the things you get from other AOL members are yellow text on a hot pink background just as bad as any poorly made Geocities page (they even let you use images as backgrounds for mail). The fonts and colours may or may not show up when sending the mail to addresses outside AOL. The "unsend" feature is just a bad idea all around. I remember being frustrated with the attachment limits when trying to send ZIP files of artwork to my friends. One of the most irritating things at the time was that AOL refused to open/read many MIME types of attachments, so when someone not on AOL sent me a file, nine times out of ten I couldn't open it.
I fail to see how AOL mail could be useful to anyone except the most basic internet users. I also fail to see how anyone with any amount of intelligence could think it capable of being used for anything more. I, by no means, use e-mail at any kind of a "corporate" level (I get maybe two dozen messages a day at the most), and it wasn't even adequate for my purposes.
Slashdot Mirror
And I've got a telephone, but I've not heard anything about this laying, blowing or cramming until now. Evidently I am in the wrong field.
All I ever get are wrong numbers.
I really felt old for the first time in my life awhile back when I saw that video. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I couldn't believe that they got away with making that and showing in on television in the middle of the day, nor could I understand what she was thinking when she agreed to make that video. (Not that I didn't find her to be incredibly skanky before that...)
But I'm not a sir. ;)
As for the $900 frame, it was for an office of someone who works at NASA, for himself; I doubt his private office is a high-traffic area where it would attract much attention beyond Wow, how much did that cost to do? I don't approve of that any more than I would approve of a Senator or any other employee buying $900 worth of framing to hang in their office with public money.
If you had any idea of the amount and sheer absurdity of some of this stuff that gets brought in, you would probably be a bit jaded too. I suppose you just have to see some of it to believe it. As for the painting of RMS, he liked it, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the only opinion of it that matters to me.
Well, I am shipping paintings and original artwork. (I don't know if you looked at my site or not.) Since I can never exactly duplicate something (nor do I want to), I fully insure everything with a tracking number and delivery confirmation to protect myself and the buyer. I usually round up my estimates but they're typically within $2-3 of actual shipping costs. And I do have to buy special boxes and mailers because everything is different sizes. Sometimes I can get free boxes, then I don't charge for them, but not always. A large picture frame box is $11, which I think is outrageous, so for large stuff I try to find free ones or find a box I can cut down to the size I need.
Also in the case of larger work, UPS does charge extra if boxes go over a certain size limit, which many of my things do. I have had individual packages with two or three pictures in them that did cost about $45 after shipping and $300 or $400 insurance. A big painting in its box typically costs around $35 to ship. In those instances I typically just charge the $35 and don't include a handling charge. For my stuff at least, it is a bit more than just throwing it in a box and handing it to the UPS guy.
I appreciate that you don't like high shipping charges, and for anything I could easily replace I would agree with you completely. So far, though, I haven't had anything damaged and no one has complained.
I'd like to know just how much money a year NASA spends on all the stupid certificates, medals, and Bryan Adams CDs mailed out on the space shuttle. (Apparently each crew member gets a little box they can fill with bad CDs and crucifixes and other unexplainable crap.) It seems like they give even their janitor a certificate and medal/commemerative coin for "contributing to work on the ISS/making it possible." I work in a custom frame shop fairly close to NASA and people have no idea how much pointless NASA crud is brought in for us to frame. We had two women in once talking about how they had helped work on the space station, very proud of themselves... turned out they were like assistants to the secretary of one of the engineers or something two or three times removed like that.
I want to frame this... it was in spaAAAace. I have handled so much stuff that "was in space" "on the space shuttle!!!" that they probably should give me a medal for being an astronaught by proxy.
I recently had a woman have me do a frame of a piece that was formerly part of the space station, with a photo and a brass plaque -- the total bill was about $900. For someone's office. Paid with corporate credit card. If they're wasting this much money on wall decorations and passing out meaningless medals, I don't even want to know what they spend some of the rest of their money on. I like NASA and I think they should continue to exist... but sheesh.
I did hear about this news story on Marketplace/NPR at work tonight. I already have to collect state sales taxes for stuff I ship within Texas, and it's complicated enough keeping track of and filing monthly for the little tax zone that I'm in. I understand that's the cost of doing business, but for someone who does an extremely small volume in a sole proprietorship this is quite frustrating. This just adds another (probably) half-inch thick stack of paperwork I have to deal with at tax time and year-round, more forms I have to fill out and more opportunities for me to get confused, screw something up, be audited and be fined or worse. I can't afford to hire an accountant or a tax attourney, so I have to learn all this myself.
Not to mention the fact that people are not going to want to pay sales tax for something after they're already paying $10-20 plus for shipping costs. Unless they plan on making sales tax an even amount for all counties, cities and metro areas across the country, I don't even see how this is possible -- nor can I see how it will serve any purpose except to hurt online sales that are already hurting to begin with. This just seems so unwise and poorly considered to me, both from the point of view of a small online business owner and as a person who orders many things online myself.
Actually, that is an urban legend.
Admittedly I don't know any other female gamers myself, but I don't know too many gamers in general. I do know that I've never had a hard time putting myself in the game. Back when I had a Playstation, one of my favourite games was Spyro the Dragon (I had both of them), and you have no idea how many times I caught myself physically readjusting my position trying to see around corners and stuff. I'm just glad no one was watching. I probably looked pretty silly trying to see around the corners inside a television set. :)
The reason I've never played Tomb Raider or Duke Nukem is that I'm not really attracted to games with lots of guns in them. I like racing games, though. Maybe the subject matter has more to do with why less females play, than the actual style of gameplay or way of thinking.
is the planet's name, for anyone who wants to do a Google search or look on Art's site about it. I should also mention that they expect highly evolved alien races to accompany this giant planet/spaceship. :)
There are many people that believe in the year 2003, another planet is going to enter our solar system from either outside the solar system or another dimension. It's known either as Planet X, or a name that starts with N, which escapes me at the moment... I do find it an interesting coincidence that a story was just posted about the discovery of a new planet, and now to hear of these bizarre fireballs. I'm sure they're having a field day with this on the Art Bell show tonight. I'm a skeptic on all things "extraterrestrial" and paranormal, but it's still really interesting to listen to. :)
Not exactly... many films lean towards more green or red, and there are a lot more variables involved than the light source. Differences in developing can also make a very noticable difference in colour. Even so-called black and white images often have a green, blue or reddish cast to them. (I stare at photos all day at my job, professional and not.) The age and quality of the developing fluids, etc, all factor in. As someone who photographs a lot of artwork, I probably see this a bit more often than a lot of people. I usually have to take anywhere from 3-6 photos to get one that looks suitably like the original artwork. I often still have to digitally alter them once they're scanned, anyway. So as far as colour is concerned, I don't think the quality is any better between analog and digital, esp. for the average person (myself included) who doesn't do their own developing and doesn't have much more than a point-and-click knowledge of cameras.
I do agree with you that analog is still currently superior to digital, but that's mostly to do with the fact that the really impressive digital cameras are way beyond the price range of most people, and the less expensive ones leave enough to be desired that film still has the advantage.
Aren't they coming out with one of these stories every week or so? Pretty soon they're going to just throw their arms in the air and say there's bacteria everywhere. (Isn't there, anyway?)
Please wake me up and let me know when 1. Someone discovers some exotic alien species of fish, and 2. When I can buy said fish as an entrée at Red Lobster. (Mmm...cheese biscuits...)
I want my flying car.
how much are they expecting to charge me now to "opt out" of this? I already pay a couple of bucks a month for the "privilege" of having an unlisted number.
That's exactly the reason that I have a disclaimer on my site that says I don't have any kind of advertising or pop-ups. So if some program is slapping advertising on my page, at least the user has a chance of figuring out what's up. (And that I don't approve of it...)
It's frustrating knowing that it might happen, but I haven't found a better solution. At least the pop-ups are external from the content... I know I'd be very upset if something was inserting graphical banner ads actually into the HTML, or converting the page text into paid advertisements.
If Gator is even replacing existing ads or adding them where there were none, then I certainly hope they get what they deserve. At least when someone uses a program like Junkbuster, they're aware that the website's content is being altered. Too many people are not aware these programs are on their computer... and to expect someone to actually read to the letter through the novel-sized click-through "agreements" these things come with is IMO, unrealistic.
I really don't appreciate being compared to a kitchen appliance.
It's actually on the X-Files: Fight the Future soundtrack (the movie). Songs in the Key of X is a "soundtrack" for the TV show.
The conspiracy track might be on the TV one; I don't own it, but I know it is on the movie soundtrack.
It's weird, but I've been sitting here reading a book called "Tax Savvy for the Small Business" the last hour, trying to make some sense of this stuff.
I started my own business "officially" last year selling my artwork and artistic services through my website, and from what I've seen it seems like the whole system is setup to make it almost impossible for anyone without a verifiable team of tax experts at beck-and-call to operate a business. I'm already having to keep complicated books and records and collect state sales tax, pay a self-employment tax and fill out a ton of US tax forms.
Now they're saying that should they decide to tax physical goods shipped to Europe, I would have to keep track of and report to some-15 different tax rates and countries overseas? Let's just close the internet now and go home; I may as well just set up a stand on my street-corner and be done with it. I'd never have time to paint because I'd be buried in paperwork.
If this kind of thing becomes popular, the only people that anyone will be able to purchase items from will be SuperMegaStore-Mart, because they'll be the only ones with the funds and volume to justify a team of 100 people just to do their taxes. Way to kill off small struggling businesses, guys.
Very few people are comfortable with the idea that what you see in meatspace is all there is. Everyone wants to believe there's an afterlife; that there's more to reality than what we know. Accepting life for pure physical reality is an extremely difficult concept to swallow (and one I've been struggling with myself for a long time). People want to believe in things like ESP, astrology and alien abduction because there is evidence for it (no matter how shaky) and because it's easier to convince yourself there might be even more than that. While my views towards them are more agnostic, I don't see how belief in any of these things is exclusive to an understanding of common, solid science. As a person who is interested in parapsychology and ufology purely from a curiousity point of view, I've read a lot of the material on the subject matters, and they do utilize a lot of sound ideas when coming up with more miraculous conclusions. Just because you believe UFOs are from outer space doesn't mean you don't believe in the theory of relativity or that the earth revolves around the sun. To say otherwise is ridiculous.
Besides, people have believed in ghosts and goblins and the boogyman for almost as long as mankind has lived. It's called fear of the unknown and wishful thinking. As far as I know, most people don't think the earth is flat any more. I can't see any backwards-moving trend here, just the same beliefs in the unknown and supernatural that we've always had (as a whole.) The only thing different here is that things like ESP and aliens are more compatible with the general ideas of science we have at this point in time. Some of them are a bit silly, yes... but not so silly that they're totally implausible.
Remember, there are people like doctors, lawyers and even real scientists that believe in things like aliens (or claim to have been abducted.) I personally think it's a psychological phenomena, but that's besides the point. Obviously not everyone who claims to have been abducted (or believe in it) is some kind of moron.
They evidently got the metal swords from the same place that Kelly Hu got her gold-scaled bra and underpants.
I like it, in a silly sort of way. Except for the part where the guy dipped his swords in the fire and they burned for about ten minutes. Since when are swords flammable? That was so stupid it literally almost ruined the end of the movie for me.
I was also disappointed that no one got hit over the head with a folded steel chair at any point in the movie.
But other than that, it was ok. :)
I disagree.
I routinely get about 7-10 hours of sleep a night, and four to five days out of the week, I barely make it to 5:00 before I'm about to fall over asleep. I don't regularly drink caffiene for unrelated health reasons, but even when I do it has little effect on keeping me awake... I am talking dragging your hands on the floor, head propped up with a stick, tip over and pass out tired.
I have things to do, though, and even if I'm tired or not, I have to be awake. If someone can make a pill that doesn't almost give me a heart attack, that can just give me a boost to get through the middle of the day, then I say go for it. I can't sleep 12 or 14 hours a day, and neither can most people. Nor do I have the luxury of just driving home and climbing in bed when I decide I need a nap.
I see it as similar to treating the common cold -- right now I have no idea how to "cure" the cause, so my only choice is to treat the symptom.
I very, very rarely get spam, but I got the Nigerian message literally two or three minutes before reloading /. to see this story posted. And it's already Slashdotted. :)
When I got my first computer, I signed up for AOL because one of my friends had it and it was the only ISP I had heard of. (This was about five years ago, I was 17, so cut me some slack.:)
I can honestly say that of all the things that eventually irritated me about AOL, the mail has to be the absolute worst. I don't know if they'll allow you to download it with a seperate program now, but when I had it you had to get the mail in the provided portion of the AOL...um... desktop? I'm not sure what to call it, since it took up most of my screen all the time.
Anyway, I'm not surprised about misdirected and deleted mail. AOL would delete old mail at its own discretion after a certain length of time, and anything I wanted to save I had to manually cut and paste as a text file because there was no good, clean way of backing anything up. The fact that AOL mail reads HTML by default is terrible; the fact that it doesn't educate the users or explain to them the concept of HTML mail is even worse -- half the things you get from other AOL members are yellow text on a hot pink background just as bad as any poorly made Geocities page (they even let you use images as backgrounds for mail). The fonts and colours may or may not show up when sending the mail to addresses outside AOL. The "unsend" feature is just a bad idea all around. I remember being frustrated with the attachment limits when trying to send ZIP files of artwork to my friends. One of the most irritating things at the time was that AOL refused to open/read many MIME types of attachments, so when someone not on AOL sent me a file, nine times out of ten I couldn't open it.
I fail to see how AOL mail could be useful to anyone except the most basic internet users. I also fail to see how anyone with any amount of intelligence could think it capable of being used for anything more. I, by no means, use e-mail at any kind of a "corporate" level (I get maybe two dozen messages a day at the most), and it wasn't even adequate for my purposes.