A friend of mine in SF has a '01 TDI Jetta, I have an A4 Quatro, and we've taken a few trips in his car to Seattle and it's very nice to rarely have to stop and get gas, you can't notice any performance issues compared to my sister's '98 Jetta, and it's great. Incredible mileage, fine performance, though I really love my A4 Quattro and the AWD since it's usually rainy in the NW, but his Jetta is far cheaper for a road trip than buying Supreme for my Audi.
They can charge you that much for diesel because they control the market and you will pay it. The stuff also doesn't have to be refined well because they bought off the republican half of the government and prevented them from enforcing any new standards for at least 5 years.
I don't care if I get flamed for this, but we should be paying $3+ a gallon for gas because otherwise, people aren't going to change their driving habits at all. If people were really worried about the price of gas they would buy a car that got decent mileage instead of an SUV that has a high center of gravity, can't go off-road, and gets 10 MPG because the thing looks cool. I don't feel a damn bit of shame for people paying a ton for gas now, I do as well, and you know what, I just drive less. I drive myself to class, to the grocery store, and that's about it. I don't drive to someplace like Barnes and Noble anymore just to read books because it's going to cost me $2-3 in gas alone for the trip there and back, and I don't spend that money now unless I have to.
I don't think that semi's are bad, they are probably the most efficient way to move large payloads and do the least environmental damage of the options. Can you imagine the cost of food if they had to fly it in instead of trucking it? However, before people expect me to give a damn that they are paying $3 a gallon for gas, look at the car you are driving, look at the public transportation options, and try driving less.
Do I ever wish I had moderation powers right now I could could send this down to 0 or -1 where it belongs. I'm sorry, finding the humor in someone that's 13 killing themselves is pretty sick. I'm all for freedom of speech, but there's also taste, which you seem to be lacking.
I also graduate in CS in June and can tell you that lots of people in my classes also don't deserve their degrees. The worst example has to be last term where we had a Java program made up of 5-6 classes, and the teacher would post the other classes so we could work on ours without having to have written the whole thing initially, and people would just decompile the code and turn it in with changes in variable names and such. It gives people like me, who acually like coding and have worked hard to get good at it, a bad image when anyone can get the same grade because they downloaded a decompiler.
Re:Maybe I'm missing something but...
on
Eazel On The Ropes
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· Score: 2
I really don't think it's that complex. Eazel would make Mandrake, RedHat, et all easier to use, and therefore more consumer friendly. Consumers are more likely to go pay $50 at the store for their OS than they are to download the ISO and burn it. Making your OS friendlier and easier for people to use gives you more market share, therefore more power, therefore more earnings potential. I really don't think it's any more complicated than that.
I finally saw this last night
on
Review: Memento
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· Score: 2
and still am not sure how everything finished up. I'll definately be watching the movie again in the next day or two. I'd been waiting for weeks for it to open here and went as soon as I was able to. As much as I loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic last year, this movie did more for me than any movie since Fight Club or American Beauty.
As far as this not playing in the local multiplex, if this movie (with a confusing plot, no stars, an unknown director) had opened wide, it would have died fast since it's hard to market. When American Beauty opened a couple years ago, it started in small theaters, built up word of mouth from people, kept selling out like crazy, then expanded where it was showing once they knew that people had heard about the movie and it would succeed. If Memento keeps getting tons of people to showings (and since you really need to see it twice, I'm sure it will), it might eventually expand to larger theaters after more people have heard of it. Crouching Tiger even followed this same path. It's used by studios all the time to open movies that might not open well if they start wide, but by starting small, they can build momemtum and then become a success. If it's not playing where you live yet, it will get there, but I know the feeling of waiting. I drove 4 hours to see Crouching Tiger early last year.
Um, this isn't from the director of The Usual Suspects. The Usual Suspects is by Bryan Singer, who also directed The X-Men last summer. Memento is by Christopher Nolan, who directed some little movie I've never heard of last year. Nolan's brother also wrote the story that the screenplay for Memento was based on as well. It's definately not by the director of The Usual Suspects, though.
I can get 99b if I really want it, but is it really worth the trouble? Until there is a unified standard, I'll deal with 2000b, where I've removed the ads, and wait. Using 99b won't solve the problem. Also don't say that quality software in contradictary, that's my future job there! Anyone hiring a Java/C++ programmer out of college, let me know!
I didn't keep a backup of 99b around, though. When 2000 first came out, I tried it, hated it, got rid of it. Since then, I've bought two new computers (including the laptop I use for everything now) and the file at download.com is 2000b, so I just grab it. The ads are easily the WORST new part of ICQ, and the program I used to get rid of them makes it do the message response window grows everytime I reply to someone. The first version of ICQ did everything I wanted - Messages, files, and the occational chat. Now, it's just huge, but I have to use ICQ since me and almost all my contacts use it. All I really want is a message program that can use any format (or introduces a new "standard" format) where I can message people, send them URL's, run a chat where I can add more people to it, and then send them files, and hopefully lets them send it thru a NAT (ICQ is awful in this regard). I shouldn't have to keep a copy of 99b around (my last HD died, anyway, and I lacked a CD-R at the time) to make ICQ good, they should let me install what I want, and we need a standard anyway.
When I was in high school, everyone I needed to talk to went to school with me, or was on Prodigy, my online service of choice at that point. Once I started college, ICQ came out and I started using it then, all my friends (who were computer literate) started using it, and I've used it since. However, the internet has changed a lot in those 5 years. Lots of friends who didn't know a thing about computers and what do they use for online chatting? MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, or whatever comes recomended by their mail account or online service.
I try to convert them to ICQ, but even I admit ICQ is far worse than it was at the beginning - horribly bloated and adding features no one I know gives a damn about. I have ICQ and MSN Messenger running on my system now since it's what friends of mine use. I have two people on MSN, but have to use it to chat with them. If a good friend was using AOL Messenger, I'm sure I'd add that as well.
We don't need AOL Messenger opened up as much as we need a new standard for everyone to use. If we had to use different mail programs to write to people we would be up in arms, but we put up with this IM isolation because we have to. I've tried alternatives to ICQ a couple years ago and they were all substandard. What will it take until some standards body moves in and gives us a standard that everyone has to adopt to? Maybe it's just a pipe dream, but AOL staying private seems like nothing compared to having different standards in my book.
While I don't have kids of my own, I have younger siblings that are growing up now with a whole world of online access I couldn't dream about. When I was my brothers age, I had an 8088, a 1200 baud modem, and CompuServe. He's growing up with his own P2/300 with DSL access in his bedroom.
My parents have asked me about installing censorship programs for them on the computers some and everytime they have asked, I've refused to do so. It doesn't make them happy, but I have reasons for it. I think that, as soon as I don't think I can trust my kids to be online and use it as a resource and that it's going to corrupt them, I'm going to just cut off from it. While I'm sure the censorware programs do a pretty good job at cutting off access, they will just go to the house of a friend who has parents that don't care and find that stuff if they really want to find it, or they'll find it other ways, like kids my age had to.
There are extreme examples, like the one cited in the article about the mother whose son searched for basketball, but overall, if they kids don't go looking for it, they probably won't find it. If they do go looking for it, then not allowing them access won't stop them from wanting to get it, it will just make them find a way around that. Only teaching your kids what you think about such actions will influence them, cutting them off just throws up a barrier they will find a way around.
Maybe when I have kids I won't have to deal with this, everything online will require ID to check, read from a smartcard, who knows. However, for now, I think parents have to take the responsibility for not allowing their kids to search out things, not relying on someone else to filter it out for them. It's a big world out there, and eventually they are going to see it, you just have to prepare them for it instead of slamming the door and not allowing them out. I think AOL is fine for censoring names and profiles if they want to create a safer service, and if you don't like that idea then get a real ISP instead of AOL, but parents shouldn't rely on it.
What we need to do now is come up with a naming standard to work with the new Napster filters. From renaming every mp3 from "Metallica" to "napMetallica" or something similar. Can Napster be held responsible if they don't know that napMetallica isn't a real band? Just an idea since trying to get around the filters will work best if we can decide on a standard first.
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A friend of mine in SF has a '01 TDI Jetta, I have an A4 Quatro, and we've taken a few trips in his car to Seattle and it's very nice to rarely have to stop and get gas, you can't notice any performance issues compared to my sister's '98 Jetta, and it's great. Incredible mileage, fine performance, though I really love my A4 Quattro and the AWD since it's usually rainy in the NW, but his Jetta is far cheaper for a road trip than buying Supreme for my Audi.
I don't care if I get flamed for this, but we should be paying $3+ a gallon for gas because otherwise, people aren't going to change their driving habits at all. If people were really worried about the price of gas they would buy a car that got decent mileage instead of an SUV that has a high center of gravity, can't go off-road, and gets 10 MPG because the thing looks cool. I don't feel a damn bit of shame for people paying a ton for gas now, I do as well, and you know what, I just drive less. I drive myself to class, to the grocery store, and that's about it. I don't drive to someplace like Barnes and Noble anymore just to read books because it's going to cost me $2-3 in gas alone for the trip there and back, and I don't spend that money now unless I have to.
I don't think that semi's are bad, they are probably the most efficient way to move large payloads and do the least environmental damage of the options. Can you imagine the cost of food if they had to fly it in instead of trucking it? However, before people expect me to give a damn that they are paying $3 a gallon for gas, look at the car you are driving, look at the public transportation options, and try driving less.
Do I ever wish I had moderation powers right now I could could send this down to 0 or -1 where it belongs. I'm sorry, finding the humor in someone that's 13 killing themselves is pretty sick. I'm all for freedom of speech, but there's also taste, which you seem to be lacking.
I also graduate in CS in June and can tell you that lots of people in my classes also don't deserve their degrees. The worst example has to be last term where we had a Java program made up of 5-6 classes, and the teacher would post the other classes so we could work on ours without having to have written the whole thing initially, and people would just decompile the code and turn it in with changes in variable names and such. It gives people like me, who acually like coding and have worked hard to get good at it, a bad image when anyone can get the same grade because they downloaded a decompiler.
I really don't think it's that complex. Eazel would make Mandrake, RedHat, et all easier to use, and therefore more consumer friendly. Consumers are more likely to go pay $50 at the store for their OS than they are to download the ISO and burn it. Making your OS friendlier and easier for people to use gives you more market share, therefore more power, therefore more earnings potential. I really don't think it's any more complicated than that.
As far as this not playing in the local multiplex, if this movie (with a confusing plot, no stars, an unknown director) had opened wide, it would have died fast since it's hard to market. When American Beauty opened a couple years ago, it started in small theaters, built up word of mouth from people, kept selling out like crazy, then expanded where it was showing once they knew that people had heard about the movie and it would succeed. If Memento keeps getting tons of people to showings (and since you really need to see it twice, I'm sure it will), it might eventually expand to larger theaters after more people have heard of it. Crouching Tiger even followed this same path. It's used by studios all the time to open movies that might not open well if they start wide, but by starting small, they can build momemtum and then become a success. If it's not playing where you live yet, it will get there, but I know the feeling of waiting. I drove 4 hours to see Crouching Tiger early last year.
Um, this isn't from the director of The Usual Suspects. The Usual Suspects is by Bryan Singer, who also directed The X-Men last summer. Memento is by Christopher Nolan, who directed some little movie I've never heard of last year. Nolan's brother also wrote the story that the screenplay for Memento was based on as well. It's definately not by the director of The Usual Suspects, though.
I can get 99b if I really want it, but is it really worth the trouble? Until there is a unified standard, I'll deal with 2000b, where I've removed the ads, and wait. Using 99b won't solve the problem. Also don't say that quality software in contradictary, that's my future job there! Anyone hiring a Java/C++ programmer out of college, let me know!
I didn't keep a backup of 99b around, though. When 2000 first came out, I tried it, hated it, got rid of it. Since then, I've bought two new computers (including the laptop I use for everything now) and the file at download.com is 2000b, so I just grab it. The ads are easily the WORST new part of ICQ, and the program I used to get rid of them makes it do the message response window grows everytime I reply to someone. The first version of ICQ did everything I wanted - Messages, files, and the occational chat. Now, it's just huge, but I have to use ICQ since me and almost all my contacts use it. All I really want is a message program that can use any format (or introduces a new "standard" format) where I can message people, send them URL's, run a chat where I can add more people to it, and then send them files, and hopefully lets them send it thru a NAT (ICQ is awful in this regard). I shouldn't have to keep a copy of 99b around (my last HD died, anyway, and I lacked a CD-R at the time) to make ICQ good, they should let me install what I want, and we need a standard anyway.
I try to convert them to ICQ, but even I admit ICQ is far worse than it was at the beginning - horribly bloated and adding features no one I know gives a damn about. I have ICQ and MSN Messenger running on my system now since it's what friends of mine use. I have two people on MSN, but have to use it to chat with them. If a good friend was using AOL Messenger, I'm sure I'd add that as well.
We don't need AOL Messenger opened up as much as we need a new standard for everyone to use. If we had to use different mail programs to write to people we would be up in arms, but we put up with this IM isolation because we have to. I've tried alternatives to ICQ a couple years ago and they were all substandard. What will it take until some standards body moves in and gives us a standard that everyone has to adopt to? Maybe it's just a pipe dream, but AOL staying private seems like nothing compared to having different standards in my book.
My parents have asked me about installing censorship programs for them on the computers some and everytime they have asked, I've refused to do so. It doesn't make them happy, but I have reasons for it. I think that, as soon as I don't think I can trust my kids to be online and use it as a resource and that it's going to corrupt them, I'm going to just cut off from it. While I'm sure the censorware programs do a pretty good job at cutting off access, they will just go to the house of a friend who has parents that don't care and find that stuff if they really want to find it, or they'll find it other ways, like kids my age had to.
There are extreme examples, like the one cited in the article about the mother whose son searched for basketball, but overall, if they kids don't go looking for it, they probably won't find it. If they do go looking for it, then not allowing them access won't stop them from wanting to get it, it will just make them find a way around that. Only teaching your kids what you think about such actions will influence them, cutting them off just throws up a barrier they will find a way around.
Maybe when I have kids I won't have to deal with this, everything online will require ID to check, read from a smartcard, who knows. However, for now, I think parents have to take the responsibility for not allowing their kids to search out things, not relying on someone else to filter it out for them. It's a big world out there, and eventually they are going to see it, you just have to prepare them for it instead of slamming the door and not allowing them out. I think AOL is fine for censoring names and profiles if they want to create a safer service, and if you don't like that idea then get a real ISP instead of AOL, but parents shouldn't rely on it.
What we need to do now is come up with a naming standard to work with the new Napster filters. From renaming every mp3 from "Metallica" to "napMetallica" or something similar. Can Napster be held responsible if they don't know that napMetallica isn't a real band? Just an idea since trying to get around the filters will work best if we can decide on a standard first.