These issues are bigger than your fucking day to day life.
Dear protesters,
It's interesting, living in Alberta here, how the G8 and possible events surrounding the summit have been in the media daily, but I have yet to hear just what these mystery issues are.
Please, don't give me that undemocratic crap.. these guys have all been elected in a democratic process in their respective countries.
Please, don't cry to me about labour abundant countries engaging in labour intensive production activities while capital abundant countries engage in capital intensive production activities. Adam Smith would be happy to see such efficieny. This is how trade works. Take 'International Trade Theory' then come talk to me. I have 100 pages of math that tells me what you want won't work.
Please, don't cry to me about shitty wages in 3rd world countries. 2 bux a day isn't so bad when a loaf of bread is 5 cents. My loaf of bread is $2, I need more than 2 bux.
Please, don't hug trees 2 days during the summit. Hug them 365 days a year. Riding your bike down Hwy 2 is lame when you drive your SUV every other fucking day of your hypocrit life.
Please, don't cry to me about corporate capitalists while you stand there in your Nike running shoes and Gap shirt. Put your money where your mouth is, once and for all.
And Please, be nice to our wonderful city of Calgary. The above poster says that violence will be necessary to get your point across. But ask yourself, are you really protesting the G8... or are you just protesting the police presence?Because protesting the police presence is a scary spiral with no end.
G. W. Bush coming to dinner is obviously not a simple task. I am 100% percent behind the RCMP and the military next week. Take away my liberty, freedom for a couple days, whatever. Do whatever you have to do.
Next week is going to be total chaos. People are protesting Bush's war, capitalists, famine, aids, the list goes one and on. I think maybe why I can't seem to grasp a central issue from all you people is because YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. You're all protesting 126 different things. And you're using the G8 summmit to do it. Fuck that, learn how to lobby to your government. You are the people that don't even go out and vote on election day. THAT IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE.
I just want to say that I do not believe these 8 men can stop aids, famine, and war any easier than Miss America can. This is one fucked up world, today. But getting together to talk about it is a good start.
I think what that anonymous source meant was that the tech *thought* he destroyed them.
"The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take, including the take on" the suspect, the memo said. A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night that the e-mails were not destroyed.
Ya'll would be surprised what forensics software can do. I've worked with it at the government level. I think what the anon source was getting at is that they have recovered the "destroyed" data. It is almost impossible to destroy data. You pretty much have to run over your hdd with your car. Anyone that thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. The forensics software that governments are using is unbelievable. Deleted, Formatted 8 times and written over 20 times? no problem. You're damn right that destroying the data would be a lengthy job. You have to light the fire that will burn the hdd after all.:)
I agree... record stores (or CD stores, whatever you kids call 'em these days;) ) will probably dry up in this scenario.
hmm. I cant believe over the past few years, I never thought about that part. It's interesting that I never considered that all the record stores will die along with it.
UNLESS they get smart. They should become types of "down the street" recording places for anyone who wants to make a CD (and mp3s)... and subsequently, a library of music for consumers. I think they have a chance if they arent dumb about the digital revolution like the RIAA is. (and could still be called "record stores" if you will. Except prounounced "record" as the verb, not the noun.. heh)
This whole thing is totally crazy. Dangit.. we have front row seats to the best years this world will ever see. The Digital Revolution. Are you having fun yet?
Producing CDs that lock up computers... in 2002? you have GOT to be kidding me. Launching lawsuits left right and centre? fire your lawyers and hire some 20-something pot-smoking audiophiles for crying out loud. They'll show you how to sell music.
Get the assholes that mass produce bootleg CDS and profit off them, OK... but leave our personal use alone dammit.
I won't be buying any CDs after Dec. 31. Because when I buy blank CDs to burn artists' songs onto myself, they are going to be getting 77 cents per CD I buy! Even if they're full of media or data I have created! As far as I'm concerned, I'm paying them. I've had it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you can't feed youself playing your guitar, then you're in the wrong profession. Get a fscking job.
Just for the record... I've recently finished my econ major, and I've been doing some research/investigation in the past few months into the future of the RIAA for shits and giggles (I might turn it into a thesis I havent decided yet). They are going to experience a major market failure. I'm going to go ahead and be an assface and predict that within the next decade, they will go down. The question is, will they take the rest of the entertainment industry down with them?
I take it you're not broke. If you are considering a certification, I would assume you still have some money, or room for a bit more debt as they are not cheap. Rather than some certification that may or may not be a crap shoot, have you considered other post grad education options? A housemate I had at school last year just completed his BSc in CS last month. He's a very good coder, but knew he would not have much luck diving into the job market right now. SO instead, he opted for a bit more debt, and headed down to the states for some more school, specifically, a "gaming programming" program with a private school. He loves gaming, and wants to work for one of the big boys (such as dreamworks) He did a lot of research into the school and found it to be quite reputable in the industry. It seems you are willing to do just about anything as a job description, but perhaps what you need to do is a little soul searching, and narrow down your interests. There is a lot of schooling out there for specific careers that are only open to people who take that specific route.
but it's nice to know that this kind of stuff happens to the/. boys too. Comforting at least. There is a customer service epidemic going on in North America. I remember watching a special once (I think it was on W5) about the customer service crisis. And even went so far as to say that companies use things such as color codes beside your account to indicate if you are a "good" customer, you don't pay now and then, you're wealthy, if they've had problems with you in the past {with a link to the details of that Tuesday when you lost it on them}, or "do not do anything under any circumstances to upset this customer.. they are always right.. they are very important... you will be fired instantly if you make them mad" (gold star). It seems absurd, but it's very possible that a lot of companies are using practices such as this.
With respect to John's experience, a similar thing has happened to me with my local telco company called Telus. (since we're naming names) Adding services to my phone line is VERY easy. Cancelling them is rather difficult. I had a basic line with voice mail, call waiting, call display, and DSL. I added on a few features during the past year, such as call forwarding, call return, and domain hosting on my dsl account (the latter - $15 extra) well, I didn't get enough use of some of the phone extras, and simply hated the domain hosting. (I couldn't even setup an email account.. wtf kind of domain hosting is that)
Over the year, I would occasionaly phone Telus to cancel some of these services I had added. They would cooperate and be pleasant, and on next month's bill, the service would be gone. Good. But wait.. Then I would get the *next* bill. And the services would show up again! (I'm not receiving the services anymore, but I'm suddenly paying for them again 2 months after I cancel them) This happened on 3 different occassions with 3 different services.
This my friend, is a scandal. I don't care if it is a mistake, an internal problem with Telus, or a deliberate way to fuck over customers in the hopes that the bill is so damn confusing that people just pay the bottom line. I don't care right now because I recently moved, and cut off the whole damn line (try to charge me for that). But, I will say that the next time I have a line with Telus, and they start harrassing me to add all their flashy features, I will state plain and simply, "you send me a written and signed promise that if I cancel my fricken voice mail, you will never ever charge me for it again" then I will sign up with your crackpot operation.
Getting rid of services is IMPOSSIBLE!
All I want in a phone line is a little fricken perfect competition (I'd even settle for an oligopoly as long as there is no collusion). Telus, your monopoly ass stinks. We'll see who's crying if local phone line competition ever comes to town.
What am I trying to do here? Give bad plublicity of course, with the hopes that some Albertans are reading this and are aware this has ahppened, and cautious in the future about adding services with Telus. You John, just picked up a megaphone and took Earthlink and AOL down to China Town. That's halarious.
In a world where it ought to be a universal right to get connected instantly, you ought to be able to get disconnected without calling a lawyer, a hit man or the FTC. I couldn't have said it better. Go yell it on a mountain!(oh, you just did)
We are in a world filled with technology, trying to learn how to use it all, while the guy on the other end of the line is doing the exact same thing. I don't know how to solve the tech support problem. I'm one of the pretentious people that never calls it because I think I know more than they do, how the hell are they going to help me? The only time I'll phone it is if the light is red. Hi, my name is ___, my username is ___, I've reset, yes, yes, done,.. skip to page 5 please. If I have a problem and it's on my end, I can fix it, and if I can't fix it, then it's not on my end. I don't need support.. it's probably them that needs support.
of course, there's this whole group of the population that can't fix problems on their end. So tech support has become this "learn how to use a computer" hotline.
what would I like to see about tech support?
If nothing else can be reliable, make the webserver reliable. And overload that "about" section with as much possible documentation as you possible can. People with an actual education that know how to solve problems. There's too many people that talk on the phone for 8 hours a day that aren't good problem solvers. Common sense.
I'm reading this CNN article because I'm waiting for my mail server to come back online. Is it gone forever? Probably not. It's just taking a long time. Longer than I'm happy with because I pay money for it. I keep drifting over to their system status page on the web to see if there's any news.
If it's a gadget that you buy and you can't get it to work (as the guy was described at the beginning of the article), it's not good tech support that the guy needs. It's a good return policy. RTFM, and if that doesn't work, take it back. There are billions of products being sold with chips in them in this world, probably daily. There are bound to be defects.
Warranties are stupid. The only reason warranties are used is because the cost of them to the firms is still lower than the cost of making sure every product that's released to the market works perfectly. Make it a simple, returnable product for x years. (providing it didn't quit working because the user ran over it with his car)
But as for services, this is where the problems are. What this world needs is some good consumer reports. The track records of companies need to be easily available information for every single consumer, only then will service problems be solved. Technology still has a lot of kinks in it, so I guess a little patience also never hurts.
Re:we are not your target demographic
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Dog Bites Website
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I bought his book. But I stopped reading it after chapter 9:)
Get rid of ALL tariffs, subsidies, and embargoes, and the American capitalist system will succeed like no other in the world -- industries that rely on subsidies will fail, and those that have been embargoed and tariffed will blossom. That's what the laws of supply and demand dictate.
you have no concept of externalities and how government involvement ensures the most efficient outcome of certain situations. so let me get this straight... you don't think things like vaccinations should be subsidized? get rid of ALL subsidizations? thats the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. There's a reason a lot of things are subsidized. They create positive externalities and the marginal social benefit of them is worth the marginal social cost.
Don't get me wrong... I'm the biggest capitalist of them all. I'm all for the free market guiding our resources to the best possible uses but some things need to be subsidized. I think you forgot about positive externalities.
if you're a business and are actually interested in DOING business, then don't use the things that completely alienate a considerable market force I agree with that. I'm not really sure who in the heck this ask slashdot person was to begin with or how it got posted.. but his model seems flawed to begin with.
you, Cebe, are a complete and utter Smeghead that is also true most days. That's why I'm here I think.:)
I know this is a quick way to lose some MASSIVE Karma... (Heavy Sigh) May you be struck blind. Struck blind? I'm afraid I don't understand if you meant struck blind by moderators or actually struck *blind*. I know what I wrote about text only browsers was a very silly thing to write on slashdot of all places.. but karma is not something I am worried about. I've been even steven for years here... never lose or gain points, moderate very frequently, I thought no one even read anything I put on here... this is all very exciting for me. Wouldn't you know it.. I flame a bit and get points. (oh so *thats* how it works)
And it's not just private sites, which you can shrug off and go find something else to browse, but banks, credit card company "customer service" pages... there are alot of sites made by massive corporations that wouldn't know their average surfer if they dropped out of the sky. It's a shame that this happening, yes, I know what you are talking about. remember, the web is still very young, and survival of the fittest will be very observable in a few decades. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but as average surfers become more educated (and the kids growing up these days.. yikes.. just wait till they are consumers)
yes, I'm a flash hugger. But I agree, there is something to be said for accessibility. Flash has it's place on the web, and shouldn't step out of that place. I don't think flash deserves to be bashed because it has no use for blind people.
I'm in the process of building a site for a friend who has had new found fame and stardom come knocking on her door. I like what I'm doing with flash but I also know that a large percentage of her fan base is probably on aol. (it seems like most of the USA is) It's hard to remember that sometimes up here in canada because everyone (almost) has broadband. so thank you for kicking *me* off *my* soapbox and opening my eyes. You probably have saved me from making a couple aweful mistakes.
that is not an accurate or mature attitude towards flash. yes.. the blink tag is dead, and for good reason, but in case you haven't seen any promotional websites for things such as movies or events lately, you might be interested in knowing that your version of the future of the web is boring. Yes, a good website is one that offers dialup and text only browsers lusers an escape trap, but flash has some very entertaining possibilities on the web. Of course it has no place on a site like slashdot.. but fine.. move on from sites that use it.. you are seriously missing out. I happened to have loved the recent E.T. website, completely done in flash. The sounds, images, and interactivity were very interesting.
Sorry about your connection, or browser, or lack of interest in web media. It must be boring where you live. flaimbait? perhaps.
As for the slashdot question, If you want to build Flash and you don't want to pay $500, how do you do it you do it with swish. it's not as fancy but it will do the basics.
actually up here that could be said to be true. They *are* spreading corruption. The poor kids are being downright brainwashed.
But that's offtopic. Thank you Roger Ebert. I don't have a fucking CD factory in operation here.. I just like my mp3s. People like Roger Ebert who are "getting this" are refreshing to read.
yep. that's how i've felt the past few days too. The other troll notion I have seen a lot is "oh come on.. cough up your 5 bux you cheapo you know you like slashdot" To me, this has nothing to do with the utility I get from slashdot or the 5 bux (which I for one actually don't have.. my university took all my money.. but would have no problem paying in the near future and multiple times)
It has everything to do with: Poorly thought out, badly implemented, causing more problems than it fixes.
I totally agree with that comment. I have a lot of pros and cons with slashdot and definaelty a love-hate relationship for everyone (the slashdot staff and all of you). I wont withold my money because you can't spell. I wont withold my money because I get a submission rejected only to find it posted 2 days later. I don't care about that stuff. I can't spell either. I will withhold my money because I'm not so sure that you did this the best way you could have. I'll say it again, but I don't care about the ads.. I'll pay *and* look at ads.. that's not what this is about to me.
The very first question in the IRC log addresses potential inequality between payers and non-payers. We do plan to offer other plums for subscribers eventually, but we won't take *away* features. that says it all right there. I don't give a shit about the ads.. I'm advertised to all the live long day... but don't make slashdot a "pay for features" site unless you want to start looking through the classifieds like everyone else. I for am also quite sad at how they went about this... and you're right there's a lot of i dunno, and maybe this, maybe that in that log. I thought these guys were geniuses... and I just found out they're not.. I'm disappointed.
My University School newspaper hot off the press this week had the classy headline of "I feel like I just got Laid for the First Time!" draped in maple leafs and pictures of people cheering in the campus pub surely taken after sakic's breakaway goal. I'm still celebrating myself. One thing about Canada: we don't need a national tragedy to show our flags. The kids across the street have a shrine in the snow consisting of their hockey net with so many holes in the net that it's pretty much just the red metal posts and corssbar with their sticks and flags waving in the Lethbridge wind. I Love it.
In the words of Fred Willard, "Everything is a little sweeter up there". I would welcome Americans to Canada. Our dollar may be a peso ATM but I think they may find that life is quite nice up here if you can survive the winter. If we are going to be infested with any nationalality I would hope it's Americans.
I don't think I say eh much but maybe I can't even tell anymore. It's the French Canadians speaking English that makes me laugh... with all due respect they sound "dumb" but I have no doubt that my french sounds dumb to them.
This is unbelievably interesting because I just got home from my Agriculture policy lecture where we were discussing this very thing. Precision farming. The thing to keep in mind here is that this kind of technology only benefits farmers that are already efficiently using the things that aid agriculture (like fertilizer and pesticides). For instance... if you take a developing nation, precision farming doesnt help at all... the technology will spit out data that says "you need to use more of input A, input B, and input C, *everywhere*." However, in North America, the benefits of this technology have unbelievable possibilities. The economic advantages of using your inputs in the most efficient way possible will produce the greatest yields farmers have ever seen. Farmers typically are having trouble making profits (or so they say). profits are revenues minus costs, and the costs of agriculture are big. For large farms, these inputs are on such large economies of scale that the smallest advantages in using the inputs better will create very large increases in profits.
Net Still Not At Olympics?
whats surprising is that people think the net is still not "at" the olympics.
it's too bad I can't find an article on Athlete's Village cuz I bet it really rocks. I bet those athlete's have unprecedented (and by that I mean -Having no previous example) technology at their fingertips. More digital camera accessories than you can shake a hockey stick at and a phat pipe to boot.
Saying the net is not at the olympics is hard to do for anyone who is not at the olympics isn't it?
I can find LOTS of information about the olympics on the net. what more do you want? the ability to capitalize on the athlete's without their knowledge or consent? No.. I don't think you can (or should) do that.
yea there's a lot of commercialization but someone's gotta pay for those flashy team outfits. (nice going roots... we looked good!)
Would you rather your nation's athlete's dress themselves? The fact that there are corporations out there that are willing to give money to these athletes is enough for me to want to support those corporations so I don't mind knowing who the olympic sponsers are of the national team.
www.saltlake2002.com has live results.. but if you ph33r MSNBC I suggest you don't. What I found on there (spectator's FAQ) was:
Video - Can I use my video camera at Olympic venues? Photography of any kind for personal use is permitted. Unauthorized broadcasting or photography for commercial purposes is not permitted.
If it's the live streaming video over TCP/IP that you want, it's not up to the IOC. It's up to CBC cuz they are the ones allowed to stick a camera in the snow.
I still don't understand how the net isn't at the olympics.. I bet every single athlete has access to the internet to email their family, "GTG race now!! Wish me Luck!!! bye!!!" Hell I bet some of them were doing it wireless during the ceremonies last night.
This isn't about protecting the television broadcasters' multi-million dollar rights deals, as the article suggests. It's about protecting the athletes. And for good reason. I am totally surrounded by 24 hr olympics here on a sat. afternoon between my television, radio, and internet connection.. and comfy for 2 weeks of the hype.. I love it. It's all about the Olympians still so something must be working.. they have the best facilities they could ever dream of competing in. The net is very much at the olympics. (bah and go canada go!)
terrorists create terror
most days i am terrified to download my email because of "want to see me naked?" subject lines flooding my inbox (99% from yahoo addresses)
I for one am fucking sick of the shit i get... and offended that the spammers assume i am a male (or a lesbian)
i see what you're saying, and agree (i almost modded you up but sacrificed my right to do so by replying to you), except for your definition of terrorists as killers... you dont need to kill someone to be a terrorist. it needs to come to an end... its a waste of resources and i should have the right to use my university email account without being forced to look at dirty sluts who will get naked for anyone because they are too stupid to do anything else with their lives, and waste my time filtering all the shit
i for one think spammers *are* terrorizing the internet
I've finally rolled out of bed.. breakfast after the show didnt get our house full of students to bed until 6am
the digital cam was useless.. but WOW
that was the most amazing thing I have ever seen (and here in western canada.. i've seen some northern lights that you wouldnt believe)
we headed out to a lake outside of the city and after realizing we were looking the wrong way, we kept our eyes focused north... but then they began appearing all over the sky, north, south east west... everywhere.
we tried to take some numbers... i counted during 5 different ten second intervals and saw anywhere between 6-9 in those intervals
the nasa calculations were dead on (for peak times in our area and expected numbers) I'm just amazed that theres people who can calculate these kind of things and be so dead on correct.
it was something I'll never forget... western canada had a good show and "shooting stars" will never look as good after some of the crazy fire ball looking ones I saw. there was a lot of "ooooh", "aaaah", "that one *had* to have hit the earth"
what a night
we're taking a digital cam with us and escaping the lights (3 hours till departure)
hope we get some good shots.. dont know what the heck we're doing but we should have enough time for trial and error!:)
western canada (brrr)
I just finished a 4 month work term (summer job) for the federal government at a federal prison... in short.. it was probably one of the most difficult jobs i have ever had to do... and as far as i'm concerned... will ever have to do.. but I think my university education prepared me for the most unusual environment i had to enter... university taught me how to think about things that werent in the textbook. you'd be surprised how much getting up in front of your class to analyze nova scotia's fiscal budget, then learning about the different native tribes prepares you for. The two things that got me through 'my prison time' were communication skills, and constant decision making. (thank you management classes:)
universities have a purpose and vocational schools (private or public) also have a purpose.
Disclaimer: i am canadian
here, you can take a 2 year certificate program at a college, or attend a vocational school for specific skills and a lot of people do... it's quick.. and you learn a lot about a little. You come out, and you're set to enter the workforce in your chosen industry.
If you go to university, be prepared to learn a little about A LOT. Universities have a lot of history to them... and they are diffrent institutions... they really are higher learning, and they are also not for everyone.
I think you are right that a lot of people these days want to turn uni's into vocational schools.. but that is not what they are or should be. we have very strict general liberal education requirements for every degree program at my uni and that may be the only thing that prevents it.
these kind of requirements encourage literacy, oral expression, critical thinking, problem solving, sense of historical conciousness, and a grasp about what the sciences tell us about the world... this kind of depth of knowledge is only taught at universities, and as far as i'm concerned... will ever be. It has made me much more mature than i was only a few years ago.
I have no idea what i'm going to do when i have my degree in my hand... but i do know that i can enter almost any industry that i want to... and i'm as "well-rounded" as they get (i'm one of those who has changed my major 3 times)
no troll intended... but I really do think that university graduates, degree holders... are much smarter people than those that aren't.. but NOT more important. We need rocket scientists at nasa.. but we also need people to package the food they're taking to the moon with them. they're also a lot more pretentious, but they've been forced to think in different ways that no other educational institute could make you do... and thats what makes degree holders "well-rounded". The whole "think outside the box" thing is nothing new... you cant survive university without doing it.
I too have issues with my school... I think they're doing an excellent job with technology (that's available to us) but not necessarily with teaching us different ways of doing things with the technology available to us (it's alot easier to just buy all the microsoft licenses and teach that)
university education is very essential to our society... we need people to build bridges, represent us in governemnt, and play with bacteria all day to make sure we can still drink the water. we also need people to climb up electrical poles and turn our power back on after a storm... and frankly.. i'm glad those ppl know a lot about a little rather than a little about a lot. A well rounded education IS a good one.. it might just not be your destiny.
or maybe the "broadband for all goodness" you were referring to was the same as I was:)
my apoligies eh... yea... should be soon (telus is working their ass off here i know)
us canucks have WAY better Broadband-for-All goodness than the americans. have you hugged your national broadband taskforce today?:)
The reason this didn't work is because the amount of people with dialup modems is inversely related to the amount of mini dishes being nailed on houses, you just can't see it well.
if people can afford a couple grand on their PC they'll pay to have decent net access. the reason this didnt work is becase free dialup is for poor people, and poor people don't own computers.
:)
fewer posts would be nice... i remember when i could actually read everything
who cares about the slashdot effect... if people put something on the web they obviously want it to get some attention... if their server crashes because a gizillion people hit it at once, it's a good lesson. if nothing else, it's funny. Like when victoria secret crashed during the superbowl.. who were the ad wizards that came up with that.. and why wasn't IT informed (or formed:)
However... the reason that/. is so visited is because everytime you come back... there's a boatload of new stories to poke through.. this site moves at a very fast pace. slow down the traffic, and everything will slow down i bet. Dont forget that slashdot is unique.. and special.. yes even the trolls.. without people to mod down, the +,- equilibrium change would almost throw off the whole balance of what has come to be. It would significantly change... so be careful what you wish for.
I wouldn't pay for slashdot but I *would*.
that means if I payed for slashdot like I pay for a newspaper and a coffee everyday I would pay. But I'm a minority in this world who doesnt see the efficiency of paying 10-30% interest on things I buy, when I'm already paying 7% tax. hence, you won't find a credit card in my wallet. (i seriously doubt i would pay the whole thing off every month)
trust me... this seems to be getting harder and harder everyday. We have a very efficient and reliable direct payment system here in Canada (interac) but paying online for anything... sucks.
I'll probably have to get a credit card soon, but if interac figures out a way for websites to take money straight out of my chequing account like McDonalds does, you can put your money on.. nope:) (and yes our ATM system is light years ahead of the US i'll be the first to troll it.. i've seen both and don't feel bad... we just have a better federal banking system... but I can proudly say i carry less than 10% of cash i spend and the only person who gets a cheque is my landlord)
well this turned into more of an anti-credit card thing, and I know 95% can't imagine living without theirs but web content isn't the same as tangible content and that's a fact. one more analogy... yea i pay for my digital cable every month but if CNN went pay per view, (think internet costs over and above your ISP subscription) I'd just watch CTV newsnet.
but my favorite online station is still online...
radio1 out of the bbc is hands down the best station in the world (yeah... the world)
the music is about 3 months ahead of north america, no ads, best real audio stream online and ya gotta love the brits eh.
so the average aol idiot wont be able to partake in the art of pirating because windows ownz them... boofarkinhoo
whatever idiot idea the RIAA comes up with for this little encryption scheme of theirs... they're wasting their time and money and i cant believe dvd didnt teach them that
have you hugged a software/hardware creator today? to all of you with vision, values, mad skills, independent attitudes and maybe lots of money... you are my vision of the future of technology getting better, not worse.
I dont know about the big time movers (like Depp's character) but that certainly would be true for small dealers. I know there are people on campuses using ICQ of all things to communicate meeting times and amounts. People dont want to say "quarter of dope" over the phone, so they're using the internet. I wouldnt trust either.
As for the movie, I loved it. Saw it friday night. One previous comment described it as played out like an A&E biography. I totally agree.
I don't think it would be safe to compare the movie to Traffic. Both are masterpieces for different reasons. Traffic gave you a look at every side of the spectrum on the drug trade. The FBI werent necessarily the "bad guys" in traffic. Blow gave you the inside look at the biggest coccaine mover of the 70's. Whether people agree with what he did or how he did it, people will see it and like it because everyone (unless its their day job) is facsinated with the fact that if you have a plane, you can do whatever the hell you want.
Slashdot Mirror
These issues are bigger than your fucking day to day life.
Dear protesters,
It's interesting, living in Alberta here, how the G8 and possible events surrounding the summit have been in the media daily, but I have yet to hear just what these mystery issues are.
Please, don't give me that undemocratic crap.. these guys have all been elected in a democratic process in their respective countries.
Please, don't cry to me about labour abundant countries engaging in labour intensive production activities while capital abundant countries engage in capital intensive production activities. Adam Smith would be happy to see such efficieny. This is how trade works. Take 'International Trade Theory' then come talk to me. I have 100 pages of math that tells me what you want won't work.
Please, don't cry to me about shitty wages in 3rd world countries. 2 bux a day isn't so bad when a loaf of bread is 5 cents. My loaf of bread is $2, I need more than 2 bux.
Please, don't hug trees 2 days during the summit. Hug them 365 days a year. Riding your bike down Hwy 2 is lame when you drive your SUV every other fucking day of your hypocrit life.
Please, don't cry to me about corporate capitalists while you stand there in your Nike running shoes and Gap shirt. Put your money where your mouth is, once and for all.
And Please, be nice to our wonderful city of Calgary. The above poster says that violence will be necessary to get your point across. But ask yourself, are you really protesting the G8... or are you just protesting the police presence?Because protesting the police presence is a scary spiral with no end.
G. W. Bush coming to dinner is obviously not a simple task. I am 100% percent behind the RCMP and the military next week. Take away my liberty, freedom for a couple days, whatever. Do whatever you have to do.
Next week is going to be total chaos. People are protesting Bush's war, capitalists, famine, aids, the list goes one and on. I think maybe why I can't seem to grasp a central issue from all you people is because YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. You're all protesting 126 different things. And you're using the G8 summmit to do it. Fuck that, learn how to lobby to your government. You are the people that don't even go out and vote on election day. THAT IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE.
I just want to say that I do not believe these 8 men can stop aids, famine, and war any easier than Miss America can. This is one fucked up world, today. But getting together to talk about it is a good start.
I think what that anonymous source meant was that the tech *thought* he destroyed them.
:)
"The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take, including the take on" the suspect, the memo said.
A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night that the e-mails were not destroyed.
Ya'll would be surprised what forensics software can do. I've worked with it at the government level. I think what the anon source was getting at is that they have recovered the "destroyed" data.
It is almost impossible to destroy data. You pretty much have to run over your hdd with your car. Anyone that thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. The forensics software that governments are using is unbelievable. Deleted, Formatted 8 times and written over 20 times? no problem. You're damn right that destroying the data would be a lengthy job. You have to light the fire that will burn the hdd after all.
I agree... record stores (or CD stores, whatever you kids call 'em these days ;) ) will probably dry up in this scenario.
hmm. I cant believe over the past few years, I never thought about that part. It's interesting that I never considered that all the record stores will die along with it.
UNLESS they get smart. They should become types of "down the street" recording places for anyone who wants to make a CD (and mp3s)... and subsequently, a library of music for consumers. I think they have a chance if they arent dumb about the digital revolution like the RIAA is. (and could still be called "record stores" if you will. Except prounounced "record" as the verb, not the noun.. heh)
This whole thing is totally crazy. Dangit.. we have front row seats to the best years this world will ever see. The Digital Revolution. Are you having fun yet?
Producing CDs that lock up computers... in 2002? you have GOT to be kidding me. Launching lawsuits left right and centre? fire your lawyers and hire some 20-something pot-smoking audiophiles for crying out loud. They'll show you how to sell music.
Get the assholes that mass produce bootleg CDS and profit off them, OK... but leave our personal use alone dammit.
I won't be buying any CDs after Dec. 31. Because when I buy blank CDs to burn artists' songs onto myself, they are going to be getting 77 cents per CD I buy! Even if they're full of media or data I have created! As far as I'm concerned, I'm paying them. I've had it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you can't feed youself playing your guitar, then you're in the wrong profession. Get a fscking job.
Just for the record... I've recently finished my econ major, and I've been doing some research/investigation in the past few months into the future of the RIAA for shits and giggles (I might turn it into a thesis I havent decided yet). They are going to experience a major market failure. I'm going to go ahead and be an assface and predict that within the next decade, they will go down. The question is, will they take the rest of the entertainment industry down with them?
I take it you're not broke. If you are considering a certification, I would assume you still have some money, or room for a bit more debt as they are not cheap. Rather than some certification that may or may not be a crap shoot, have you considered other post grad education options? A housemate I had at school last year just completed his BSc in CS last month. He's a very good coder, but knew he would not have much luck diving into the job market right now. SO instead, he opted for a bit more debt, and headed down to the states for some more school, specifically, a "gaming programming" program with a private school. He loves gaming, and wants to work for one of the big boys (such as dreamworks) He did a lot of research into the school and found it to be quite reputable in the industry.
It seems you are willing to do just about anything as a job description, but perhaps what you need to do is a little soul searching, and narrow down your interests. There is a lot of schooling out there for specific careers that are only open to people who take that specific route.
but it's nice to know that this kind of stuff happens to the /. boys too. Comforting at least. There is a customer service epidemic going on in North America. I remember watching a special once (I think it was on W5) about the customer service crisis. And even went so far as to say that companies use things such as color codes beside your account to indicate if you are a "good" customer, you don't pay now and then, you're wealthy, if they've had problems with you in the past {with a link to the details of that Tuesday when you lost it on them}, or "do not do anything under any circumstances to upset this customer.. they are always right.. they are very important... you will be fired instantly if you make them mad" (gold star). It seems absurd, but it's very possible that a lot of companies are using practices such as this.
With respect to John's experience, a similar thing has happened to me with my local telco company called Telus. (since we're naming names) Adding services to my phone line is VERY easy. Cancelling them is rather difficult. I had a basic line with voice mail, call waiting, call display, and DSL. I added on a few features during the past year, such as call forwarding, call return, and domain hosting on my dsl account (the latter - $15 extra) well, I didn't get enough use of some of the phone extras, and simply hated the domain hosting. (I couldn't even setup an email account.. wtf kind of domain hosting is that)
Over the year, I would occasionaly phone Telus to cancel some of these services I had added. They would cooperate and be pleasant, and on next month's bill, the service would be gone. Good. But wait.. Then I would get the *next* bill. And the services would show up again! (I'm not receiving the services anymore, but I'm suddenly paying for them again 2 months after I cancel them) This happened on 3 different occassions with 3 different services.
This my friend, is a scandal. I don't care if it is a mistake, an internal problem with Telus, or a deliberate way to fuck over customers in the hopes that the bill is so damn confusing that people just pay the bottom line. I don't care right now because I recently moved, and cut off the whole damn line (try to charge me for that). But, I will say that the next time I have a line with Telus, and they start harrassing me to add all their flashy features, I will state plain and simply, "you send me a written and signed promise that if I cancel my fricken voice mail, you will never ever charge me for it again" then I will sign up with your crackpot operation.
Getting rid of services is IMPOSSIBLE!
All I want in a phone line is a little fricken perfect competition (I'd even settle for an oligopoly as long as there is no collusion). Telus, your monopoly ass stinks. We'll see who's crying if local phone line competition ever comes to town.
What am I trying to do here? Give bad plublicity of course, with the hopes that some Albertans are reading this and are aware this has ahppened, and cautious in the future about adding services with Telus. You John, just picked up a megaphone and took Earthlink and AOL down to China Town. That's halarious.
In a world where it ought to be a universal right to get connected instantly, you ought to be able to get disconnected without calling a lawyer, a hit man or the FTC.
I couldn't have said it better. Go yell it on a mountain!(oh, you just did)
We are in a world filled with technology, trying to learn how to use it all, while the guy on the other end of the line is doing the exact same thing. I don't know how to solve the tech support problem. I'm one of the pretentious people that never calls it because I think I know more than they do, how the hell are they going to help me? The only time I'll phone it is if the light is red. Hi, my name is ___, my username is ___, I've reset, yes, yes, done,.. skip to page 5 please. If I have a problem and it's on my end, I can fix it, and if I can't fix it, then it's not on my end. I don't need support.. it's probably them that needs support.
of course, there's this whole group of the population that can't fix problems on their end. So tech support has become this "learn how to use a computer" hotline.
what would I like to see about tech support?
If nothing else can be reliable, make the webserver reliable. And overload that "about" section with as much possible documentation as you possible can.
People with an actual education that know how to solve problems. There's too many people that talk on the phone for 8 hours a day that aren't good problem solvers. Common sense.
I'm reading this CNN article because I'm waiting for my mail server to come back online. Is it gone forever? Probably not. It's just taking a long time. Longer than I'm happy with because I pay money for it. I keep drifting over to their system status page on the web to see if there's any news.
If it's a gadget that you buy and you can't get it to work (as the guy was described at the beginning of the article), it's not good tech support that the guy needs. It's a good return policy. RTFM, and if that doesn't work, take it back. There are billions of products being sold with chips in them in this world, probably daily. There are bound to be defects.
Warranties are stupid. The only reason warranties are used is because the cost of them to the firms is still lower than the cost of making sure every product that's released to the market works perfectly. Make it a simple, returnable product for x years. (providing it didn't quit working because the user ran over it with his car)
But as for services, this is where the problems are. What this world needs is some good consumer reports. The track records of companies need to be easily available information for every single consumer, only then will service problems be solved. Technology still has a lot of kinks in it, so I guess a little patience also never hurts.
I bought his book. :)
But I stopped reading it after chapter 9
Get rid of ALL tariffs, subsidies, and embargoes, and the American capitalist system will succeed like no other in the world -- industries that rely on subsidies will fail, and those that have been embargoed and tariffed will blossom. That's what the laws of supply and demand dictate.
you have no concept of externalities and how government involvement ensures the most efficient outcome of certain situations.
so let me get this straight... you don't think things like vaccinations should be subsidized?
get rid of ALL subsidizations?
thats the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.
There's a reason a lot of things are subsidized. They create positive externalities and the marginal social benefit of them is worth the marginal social cost.
Don't get me wrong... I'm the biggest capitalist of them all. I'm all for the free market guiding our resources to the best possible uses but some things need to be subsidized. I think you forgot about positive externalities.
if you're a business and are actually interested in DOING business, then don't use the things that completely alienate a considerable market force
:)
I agree with that. I'm not really sure who in the heck this ask slashdot person was to begin with or how it got posted.. but his model seems flawed to begin with.
you, Cebe, are a complete and utter Smeghead
that is also true most days. That's why I'm here I think.
I know this is a quick way to lose some MASSIVE Karma... (Heavy Sigh) May you be struck blind.
Struck blind? I'm afraid I don't understand if you meant struck blind by moderators or actually struck *blind*. I know what I wrote about text only browsers was a very silly thing to write on slashdot of all places.. but karma is not something I am worried about. I've been even steven for years here... never lose or gain points, moderate very frequently, I thought no one even read anything I put on here... this is all very exciting for me. Wouldn't you know it.. I flame a bit and get points. (oh so *thats* how it works)
And it's not just private sites, which you can shrug off and go find something else to browse, but banks, credit card company "customer service" pages...
there are alot of sites made by massive corporations that wouldn't know their average surfer if they dropped out of the sky. It's a shame that this happening, yes, I know what you are talking about. remember, the web is still very young, and survival of the fittest will be very observable in a few decades. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but as average surfers become more educated (and the kids growing up these days.. yikes.. just wait till they are consumers)
yes, I'm a flash hugger. But I agree, there is something to be said for accessibility. Flash has it's place on the web, and shouldn't step out of that place. I don't think flash deserves to be bashed because it has no use for blind people.
I'm in the process of building a site for a friend who has had new found fame and stardom come knocking on her door. I like what I'm doing with flash but I also know that a large percentage of her fan base is probably on aol. (it seems like most of the USA is) It's hard to remember that sometimes up here in canada because everyone (almost) has broadband. so thank you for kicking *me* off *my* soapbox and opening my eyes. You probably have saved me from making a couple aweful mistakes.
There is a reason the BLINK tag is dead.
that is not an accurate or mature attitude towards flash. yes.. the blink tag is dead, and for good reason, but in case you haven't seen any promotional websites for things such as movies or events lately, you might be interested in knowing that your version of the future of the web is boring. Yes, a good website is one that offers dialup and text only browsers lusers an escape trap, but flash has some very entertaining possibilities on the web. Of course it has no place on a site like slashdot.. but fine.. move on from sites that use it.. you are seriously missing out.
I happened to have loved the recent E.T. website, completely done in flash. The sounds, images, and interactivity were very interesting.
Sorry about your connection, or browser, or lack of interest in web media. It must be boring where you live.
flaimbait? perhaps.
As for the slashdot question,
If you want to build Flash and you don't want to pay $500, how do you do it
you do it with swish.
it's not as fancy but it will do the basics.
actually up here that could be said to be true. They *are* spreading corruption. The poor kids are being downright brainwashed.
But that's offtopic. Thank you Roger Ebert. I don't have a fucking CD factory in operation here.. I just like my mp3s. People like Roger Ebert who are "getting this" are refreshing to read.
yep. that's how i've felt the past few days too.
The other troll notion I have seen a lot is "oh come on.. cough up your 5 bux you cheapo you know you like slashdot"
To me, this has nothing to do with the utility I get from slashdot or the 5 bux (which I for one actually don't have.. my university took all my money.. but would have no problem paying in the near future and multiple times)
It has everything to do with:
Poorly thought out, badly implemented, causing more problems than it fixes.
I totally agree with that comment. I have a lot of pros and cons with slashdot and definaelty a love-hate relationship for everyone (the slashdot staff and all of you). I wont withold my money because you can't spell. I wont withold my money because I get a submission rejected only to find it posted 2 days later. I don't care about that stuff. I can't spell either. I will withhold my money because I'm not so sure that you did this the best way you could have. I'll say it again, but I don't care about the ads.. I'll pay *and* look at ads.. that's not what this is about to me.
The very first question in the IRC log addresses potential inequality between payers and non-payers.
We do plan to offer other plums for subscribers eventually, but we won't take *away* features.
that says it all right there.
I don't give a shit about the ads.. I'm advertised to all the live long day... but don't make slashdot a "pay for features" site unless you want to start looking through the classifieds like everyone else.
I for am also quite sad at how they went about this... and you're right there's a lot of i dunno, and maybe this, maybe that in that log. I thought these guys were geniuses... and I just found out they're not.. I'm disappointed.
YAAA!
:)
My University School newspaper hot off the press this week had the classy headline of
"I feel like I just got Laid for the First Time!" draped in maple leafs and pictures of people cheering in the campus pub surely taken after sakic's breakaway goal. I'm still celebrating myself. One thing about Canada: we don't need a national tragedy to show our flags. The kids across the street have a shrine in the snow consisting of their hockey net with so many holes in the net that it's pretty much just the red metal posts and corssbar with their sticks and flags waving in the Lethbridge wind. I Love it.
In the words of Fred Willard, "Everything is a little sweeter up there".
I would welcome Americans to Canada. Our dollar may be a peso ATM but I think they may find that life is quite nice up here if you can survive the winter. If we are going to be infested with any nationalality I would hope it's Americans.
I don't think I say eh much but maybe I can't even tell anymore. It's the French Canadians speaking English that makes me laugh... with all due respect they sound "dumb" but I have no doubt that my french sounds dumb to them.
Oh, and my Canada includes Quebec
This is unbelievably interesting because I just got home from my Agriculture policy lecture where we were discussing this very thing. Precision farming.
The thing to keep in mind here is that this kind of technology only benefits farmers that are already efficiently using the things that aid agriculture (like fertilizer and pesticides). For instance... if you take a developing nation, precision farming doesnt help at all... the technology will spit out data that says "you need to use more of input A, input B, and input C, *everywhere*."
However, in North America, the benefits of this technology have unbelievable possibilities. The economic advantages of using your inputs in the most efficient way possible will produce the greatest yields farmers have ever seen.
Farmers typically are having trouble making profits (or so they say). profits are revenues minus costs, and the costs of agriculture are big. For large farms, these inputs are on such large economies of scale that the smallest advantages in using the inputs better will create very large increases in profits.
Net Still Not At Olympics?
whats surprising is that people think the net is still not "at" the olympics.
it's too bad I can't find an article on Athlete's Village cuz I bet it really rocks. I bet those athlete's have unprecedented (and by that I mean -Having no previous example) technology at their fingertips. More digital camera accessories than you can shake a hockey stick at and a phat pipe to boot.
Saying the net is not at the olympics is hard to do for anyone who is not at the olympics isn't it?
I can find LOTS of information about the olympics on the net. what more do you want? the ability to capitalize on the athlete's without their knowledge or consent? No.. I don't think you can (or should) do that.
yea there's a lot of commercialization but someone's gotta pay for those flashy team outfits. (nice going roots... we looked good!)
Would you rather your nation's athlete's dress themselves? The fact that there are corporations out there that are willing to give money to these athletes is enough for me to want to support those corporations so I don't mind knowing who the olympic sponsers are of the national team.
www.saltlake2002.com has live results.. but if you ph33r MSNBC I suggest you don't. What I found on there (spectator's FAQ) was:
Video - Can I use my video camera at Olympic venues? Photography of any kind for personal use is permitted. Unauthorized broadcasting or photography for commercial purposes is not permitted.
If it's the live streaming video over TCP/IP that you want, it's not up to the IOC. It's up to CBC cuz they are the ones allowed to stick a camera in the snow.
I still don't understand how the net isn't at the olympics.. I bet every single athlete has access to the internet to email their family, "GTG race now!! Wish me Luck!!! bye!!!" Hell I bet some of them were doing it wireless during the ceremonies last night.
This isn't about protecting the television broadcasters' multi-million dollar rights deals, as the article suggests. It's about protecting the athletes. And for good reason. I am totally surrounded by 24 hr olympics here on a sat. afternoon between my television, radio, and internet connection.. and comfy for 2 weeks of the hype.. I love it. It's all about the Olympians still so something must be working.. they have the best facilities they could ever dream of competing in. The net is very much at the olympics. (bah and go canada go!)
I pick (a) and (b)
terrorists create terror
most days i am terrified to download my email because of "want to see me naked?" subject lines flooding my inbox (99% from yahoo addresses)
I for one am fucking sick of the shit i get... and offended that the spammers assume i am a male (or a lesbian)
i see what you're saying, and agree (i almost modded you up but sacrificed my right to do so by replying to you), except for your definition of terrorists as killers... you dont need to kill someone to be a terrorist. it needs to come to an end... its a waste of resources and i should have the right to use my university email account without being forced to look at dirty sluts who will get naked for anyone because they are too stupid to do anything else with their lives, and waste my time filtering all the shit
i for one think spammers *are* terrorizing the internet
I've finally rolled out of bed.. breakfast after the show didnt get our house full of students to bed until 6am
the digital cam was useless.. but WOW
that was the most amazing thing I have ever seen (and here in western canada.. i've seen some northern lights that you wouldnt believe)
we headed out to a lake outside of the city and after realizing we were looking the wrong way, we kept our eyes focused north... but then they began appearing all over the sky, north, south east west... everywhere.
we tried to take some numbers... i counted during 5 different ten second intervals and saw anywhere between 6-9 in those intervals
the nasa calculations were dead on (for peak times in our area and expected numbers) I'm just amazed that theres people who can calculate these kind of things and be so dead on correct.
it was something I'll never forget... western canada had a good show and "shooting stars" will never look as good after some of the crazy fire ball looking ones I saw. there was a lot of "ooooh", "aaaah", "that one *had* to have hit the earth"
what a night
we're taking a digital cam with us and escaping the lights (3 hours till departure) :)
hope we get some good shots.. dont know what the heck we're doing but we should have enough time for trial and error!
western canada (brrr)
exactly.
:)
I just finished a 4 month work term (summer job) for the federal government at a federal prison... in short.. it was probably one of the most difficult jobs i have ever had to do... and as far as i'm concerned... will ever have to do.. but I think my university education prepared me for the most unusual environment i had to enter... university taught me how to think about things that werent in the textbook. you'd be surprised how much getting up in front of your class to analyze nova scotia's fiscal budget, then learning about the different native tribes prepares you for. The two things that got me through 'my prison time' were communication skills, and constant decision making. (thank you management classes
universities have a purpose and vocational schools (private or public) also have a purpose.
Disclaimer: i am canadian
here, you can take a 2 year certificate program at a college, or attend a vocational school for specific skills and a lot of people do... it's quick.. and you learn a lot about a little. You come out, and you're set to enter the workforce in your chosen industry.
If you go to university, be prepared to learn a little about A LOT. Universities have a lot of history to them... and they are diffrent institutions... they really are higher learning, and they are also not for everyone.
I think you are right that a lot of people these days want to turn uni's into vocational schools.. but that is not what they are or should be. we have very strict general liberal education requirements for every degree program at my uni and that may be the only thing that prevents it.
these kind of requirements encourage literacy, oral expression, critical thinking, problem solving, sense of historical conciousness, and a grasp about what the sciences tell us about the world... this kind of depth of knowledge is only taught at universities, and as far as i'm concerned... will ever be. It has made me much more mature than i was only a few years ago.
I have no idea what i'm going to do when i have my degree in my hand... but i do know that i can enter almost any industry that i want to... and i'm as "well-rounded" as they get (i'm one of those who has changed my major 3 times)
no troll intended... but I really do think that university graduates, degree holders... are much smarter people than those that aren't.. but NOT more important. We need rocket scientists at nasa.. but we also need people to package the food they're taking to the moon with them. they're also a lot more pretentious, but they've been forced to think in different ways that no other educational institute could make you do... and thats what makes degree holders "well-rounded". The whole "think outside the box" thing is nothing new... you cant survive university without doing it.
I too have issues with my school... I think they're doing an excellent job with technology (that's available to us) but not necessarily with teaching us different ways of doing things with the technology available to us (it's alot easier to just buy all the microsoft licenses and teach that)
university education is very essential to our society... we need people to build bridges, represent us in governemnt, and play with bacteria all day to make sure we can still drink the water. we also need people to climb up electrical poles and turn our power back on after a storm... and frankly.. i'm glad those ppl know a lot about a little rather than a little about a lot. A well rounded education IS a good one.. it might just not be your destiny.
or maybe the "broadband for all goodness" you were referring to was the same as I was :)
my apoligies eh... yea... should be soon (telus is working their ass off here i know)
us canucks have WAY better Broadband-for-All goodness than the americans. have you hugged your national broadband taskforce today? :)
The reason this didn't work is because the amount of people with dialup modems is inversely related to the amount of mini dishes being nailed on houses, you just can't see it well.
the only people who have no better option than a dialup anymore live in buttcrack sask... but have no fear... buttcrack will soon have a big phat pipe too
if people can afford a couple grand on their PC they'll pay to have decent net access. the reason this didnt work is becase free dialup is for poor people, and poor people don't own computers.
:)
:)
/. is so visited is because everytime you come back... there's a boatload of new stories to poke through.. this site moves at a very fast pace. slow down the traffic, and everything will slow down i bet. Dont forget that slashdot is unique.. and special.. yes even the trolls.. without people to mod down, the +,- equilibrium change would almost throw off the whole balance of what has come to be. It would significantly change... so be careful what you wish for.
:) (and yes our ATM system is light years ahead of the US i'll be the first to troll it.. i've seen both and don't feel bad... we just have a better federal banking system... but I can proudly say i carry less than 10% of cash i spend and the only person who gets a cheque is my landlord)
fewer posts would be nice... i remember when i could actually read everything
who cares about the slashdot effect... if people put something on the web they obviously want it to get some attention... if their server crashes because a gizillion people hit it at once, it's a good lesson. if nothing else, it's funny. Like when victoria secret crashed during the superbowl.. who were the ad wizards that came up with that.. and why wasn't IT informed (or formed
However... the reason that
I wouldn't pay for slashdot but I *would*.
that means if I payed for slashdot like I pay for a newspaper and a coffee everyday I would pay. But I'm a minority in this world who doesnt see the efficiency of paying 10-30% interest on things I buy, when I'm already paying 7% tax. hence, you won't find a credit card in my wallet. (i seriously doubt i would pay the whole thing off every month)
trust me... this seems to be getting harder and harder everyday. We have a very efficient and reliable direct payment system here in Canada (interac) but paying online for anything... sucks.
I'll probably have to get a credit card soon, but if interac figures out a way for websites to take money straight out of my chequing account like McDonalds does, you can put your money on.. nope
well this turned into more of an anti-credit card thing, and I know 95% can't imagine living without theirs but web content isn't the same as tangible content and that's a fact. one more analogy... yea i pay for my digital cable every month but if CNN went pay per view, (think internet costs over and above your ISP subscription) I'd just watch CTV newsnet.
what a sad day for the internet
but my favorite online station is still online...
radio1 out of the bbc is hands down the best station in the world (yeah... the world)
the music is about 3 months ahead of north america, no ads, best real audio stream online and ya gotta love the brits eh.
so the average aol idiot wont be able to partake in the art of pirating because windows ownz them... boofarkinhoo
whatever idiot idea the RIAA comes up with for this little encryption scheme of theirs... they're wasting their time and money and i cant believe dvd didnt teach them that
have you hugged a software/hardware creator today? to all of you with vision, values, mad skills, independent attitudes and maybe lots of money... you are my vision of the future of technology getting better, not worse.
I dont know about the big time movers (like Depp's character) but that certainly would be true for small dealers. I know there are people on campuses using ICQ of all things to communicate meeting times and amounts. People dont want to say "quarter of dope" over the phone, so they're using the internet. I wouldnt trust either.
As for the movie, I loved it. Saw it friday night. One previous comment described it as played out like an A&E biography. I totally agree.
I don't think it would be safe to compare the movie to Traffic. Both are masterpieces for different reasons. Traffic gave you a look at every side of the spectrum on the drug trade. The FBI werent necessarily the "bad guys" in traffic. Blow gave you the inside look at the biggest coccaine mover of the 70's. Whether people agree with what he did or how he did it, people will see it and like it because everyone (unless its their day job) is facsinated with the fact that if you have a plane, you can do whatever the hell you want.