I know, explosions don't have to be a part of every trailer or movie, but there was something a bit....lacking.... in that trailer. 10 seconds of a blurry object, with fonts coming in every 4 seconds, then some fingers? Then some aerial run-down of some cartoon circuits. They could have done all that with 95K of FLASH.
At least the online trailers for Lord Of The Ring & Star Wars were worth downloading.
Wrong.
Magazines don't have 6 pre-paid postals in each magazine...at 500,000 to 1,000,000 magazines ---already paid for. That would be a ridiculous cost of something that only gets less than 1% used. (or whatever the stat is) They could give the magazine away at that cost!!!!!!!!
Yes, they pay to get an account, pay an annual or per-issuance cost, meet a minimum, and THEN pay for each USED one. It's all barcoded to their account or OCR'd, and tracked that way. Pre-paid postcards or envelopes must follow VERY strict guidelines ranging from size, paper, and positioning to make sure they are completely usable through the automative process.
You on the other hand, must work for the government, or on crack if you say "Self-sufficient" "Cut costs" and "Post office" in the same sentence.
There are 10 times the number of small post offices compared to large post offices. Only the entry point of large periodicals start at large BMC's.
No one argues that pre-sorted mail is faster and cheaper to sort than non-sorted mail. Einstein! But the money saved from the automation process decreases every year as the technology margin narrows, while the cost of processing non-sorted mail increases, due to human labor, increases mail weight, etc. Your logic is similar to a car race...where you say you're gaining on this guy 10% faster, because you're driving 55mph instead of 50mph, but he's still going 70mph.
I don't "SAVE 10%" of my money when I buy a bag of chips that says "10% more FREE!" when the weight is the same and the cost is the same from the day before.
This supposed 8% report you made up is just one-sided numbers. They don't take these "million$ saved" and subsidize the 1st-class stamp...it goes back into the system to purchase more automation machines, build new Bulk Mail Centers, new semis for transport, more carriers to handle the increase in mail. Unfortunately it is impossible to draw the line where costs are afflicted, so an increase in new mail carriers might get attributed to 1st-class, so maybe the stamp has to be raised a penny.
Well over 1/2 my mail is junk mail. If I'm a typical John Doe, then multiply that out. You're trying to say that this increase in all our junk mail has somehow saved them money over-all just because it was presorted?
You are correct, pallets of bundled, zip+4 magazines never crossed my mind, since all mail qualifying for automation have 11-digit delivery point zip codes.
Nice guess, but it doesn't work that way. Automated postage (1st, 2nd, and 3rd class) are given a discount. Theoretically because they don't need as much work done with them due to bar coding, automation equipment, etc. (Barcoding is done on many units: The article itself, the bundled units, mail bags, pallets). The horrid truth though, is that most of these expensive automative machines weren't even into effect until recently...even though you'd have guessed they'd been around for decades.
Other types of mail income are used to offset these costs. 2nd class postage is a great example: a new subdivision called "Priority 2nd Class" has been given to monstrous magazines (think: U.S. News, Time, etc) To get their business, the USPS has given special treatment and costs, while those not qualifying (any magazine/newspaper under a zillion subscribers) have seen significant increase in postage. Example: 14% increase every other year. The post office has made it clear that these types of mailers are a hindrance, and a pain in the ass to the USPS. They would rather deliver sorted pallets by the truckload than break it down further.
On a smaller scale you'll see the same with 1st class. It's harder for the USPS to do this, because every citizen is affected by increases in 1st class mail, while only publishers are affected by 2nd class increases...Fewer people can complain..and so the raping of 2nd class continues.
Anyway, in the beginning, the USPS was in business to deliver your personal mail. As they grew, and tried to take more money, get more customers (Like all the dirty tricks they used to (and still do) against UPS) and allow bulk mail, etc, etc, they have since had to buy more facilities, more equipment, and many many many more employees. As they continue to make better bottom lines on large customers, they will continue to abhor your mail and mine. Our costs will increase. Eventually the cost will make us cut down our mailing. It already has. How many stamps can you get for $1. Ooops, not even 3 now.
I remember back in the '80s, once a month, letter mail that used to take 1 day to get here, took 2 days instead. What was going on? Turned out that it was all related to the day the new Playboy issue came out. Playboy paid a cheap automation rate that covered the automation costs of the USPS, but it was our 1st class mail that suffered, and paid for the extra employees and leg work that was needed.
Some people think buying intel is a waste of money.
Anyway, your 4 points that you just made...WTF?
I made those my requirements a year and a half ago. Some people already have this kind of stuff. I see other posts here bitching that you should spend the money on more RAM or something. I have more RAM already. My computer has what I need---and if I don't, it's something really expensive that I can't justify getting yet. But playing around with your computer for a small amount of money...who cares! Sounds like a good idea. One thing I like about these ideas, are they're not going to become obsolete or something. It's something you can re-use, even after upgrading video cards, m/b, or CPU, etc.
If you're a 14 yr-old snot that only gets $1 allowance, then yes, this is a waste of money. But some of us have a little money to waste.
Hey, actually that's a good idea...getting a calvin/hobbes thing going with pissing on a brand you don't want.
Personally, I'd want mine pissing on an Apple logo, but YMMV.
Although your one line message was probably a bite, you actually really identified exactly where some of these accessories are heading! Thinkgeek already sells a rearview mirror (it's actually a small concave mirror called the CHIMP, that allows you to know when someone is behind you while at your cubicle...) There are a lot of Audio-3D games out there, and having a surround sound for games is a great experience. Having a bass is nothing new for Unreal explosions, or playing Mp3's...even movies. (Divx/DVD) since sound cards have 5.1 outputs, and computer speakers to go with it. I suppose some people hook up their sound to their home-theater system, so they might indeed has 12" subs.
And if 1/2 the trucks I see out there have a piss-on-ford, or piss-on-dodge sticker, the same mentality can be said for anyone wanting one for their computer? Maybe. I just wonder how mud-flaps could be used...
I saw boom mikes where I was at too. However, more than 3 times...probably around 9 different times. One of them actually SWIVELED!! talk about distracting.
Sad thing was...I saw garbage light below the screen, so I know that the projectionist could have moved the movie up and helped remove most of the boom mike sightings...
Oh well...it wasn't like the movie was really taking me away into it's magical land.
By the way... I got to see the "premiere" showing of Lord of the Rings trailer during this movie (of course, thank to the internet, we could see some of those over a year ago...) Pretty cool. Hope it's a hit. We need some success in the fantasy genre..and obviously the D&D movie isn't doing it for us:)
If I order pay-per-view for the next Super Heavy Weight fight, and tape it to watch the next day (Maybe I had to work) that doesn't mean I'm asking the boxers to come to my house and put on another fight for me. Nor would it mean the Packers and Broncos have to come play the Superbowl in my front yard either.
People that trade concert tapes are not promoting people to stay home and not go to concerts. You pay money to go to a concert (or go to the football stadium), and you get a live, visual, experience. Huge fans & completists that want as many concert tapes possible does not keep them from going to a conert. Ticketmaster prices might though.
Content providers are making money off of consumers. To stay in business they have to stay competitive to the consumers. They don't have the RIGHT to our money. They have to earn it, but the rewards can be high, of course. If they want to cripple their products, they shouldn't say Boo Hoo whent he consumers get mad.
If we were able to use VCR's when all TV content was "lo-fi", then why can't we use a similar type of Recording device once all TV content goes High-Quality?
Who is pushing the HDTV movement? Not me. THey are. A few years ago, they were even saying that all of our TV's would become obsolete once the change occurred. They are making all the rules, but they can't bitch and moan if the consumers complain. They work for our money.
If I want my future Tivo3 to record HDTV shows I'm not home for, why can't it record it in all it's splendor? Are they worried it'll cut into their DVD version they *might* sell? Bullshit, then add some features to it, put nice artwork on it, and do that. Or better yet, why don't they just come up with their OWN version of instant-access-online-watch-what-I-want-right-now service. They'd make a fortune. And do it now.
Although it wastes a lot of cycles, the screen saver has 2 very important rolex. One is to get as many people to do it. One thing we've all seen from this project: It's power in numbers. Whether you use the screen saver or not doesn't make much of a difference. But having maybe 400,000 of the people join up because they thought it "looked cool", makes a BIG difference. Even if they run the screen saver and waste cycles.
The other important role of the SETI screen saver is how it catches OTHER co-worker's attention. *MY* numbers might not be important, but the fact I got 10 other co-workers into it, and eventually became fanatics is.
I think a compromise of setting the screen saver portion to blank out after an hour is a good solution. No one (at least here) is going to see it running at night for 9 hours. Even if SETI@HOME was to rewrite it so it was twice as fast... it would only help them by a factor of 2, not a huge factor compared to the 2.6 million people.
Well, it looks like Robert Mruczek is on his way to getting a perfect score at Pitfall 2. Robert is one of the people mentioned in this article as being one of the better players, and can be seen listed as only 5 points off of getting a perfect score in Pitfall.
He is currently listed at 198,700 points for Pitfall 2. Looks like he'll get the official score long before I could dust of my 2600 and relearn the game. I don't think I have the undying patience I did as the kid I once was with nothing better to do. I guess I can take a small satisfaction that he screwed up at the very end...Since I know that happened to me quite a few times before I finally got a perfect score.
I got a perfect Pitfall 2 score when I was in 8th grade. (I'm 27 now) I have to say... Getting a perfect score in the original Pitfall would probably be 10 times harder.
At least where I lived at the time...getting the diamond was the hard part. (well, atleast the first time) You had to jump off these walls and bounce back and forth and land on the right ledge. After that, the hardest part was going up the final stage without getting hit by one of those flying vultures, or whatever they were. I think the diamond gave you 50,000 points, and a perfect score was: 199,000.
Or for those that would like to get into building ther own machines, and cut the price even more...
Go for the 600/650 Duron & Socket-A motherboard combination. The Duron can be had for under $50, and the m/b for well under $150.
Go to Tomshardware.com and easily overclock the chip to 800.
The performance is great (close to PIII-650/700), and next summer you can buy one of those 1.4ghz Thunderbirds for probably another $50. Great upgrade price. (P.S. RAM couldn't be any cheaper either - under $50 for 128mb)
Thanks for your defense of NBC, but I'd have to say... If the choices were so hard, why did they make them THEIR choices alone.
In other words, they took away our rights to watch what we wanted when. They payed a bazillion dollars to have exclusive coverage, so that they were our only [american] choice. They took away the rights of other broadcast stations that could have made different choices, and choose to air at other times, other formats, other events. (There was more than just swimming this year, right?)
It makes me boil to listen to NBC whine about ratings, money lost, etc, when it was THEM that spent a ton of money. And did a bad job at it. Actually I take that part back...they can do a bad job at it if they want, but let someone else have a chance to make it good!
I give an "F" to NBC this year. They made me mad on so many levels, I could actually shoot them.
First of all, splitting up events and spreading them out is ridiculous. Delaying them 1/2 a day for prime time is ridiculous. Pushing gymnastics till almost midnight, while saying it's prime time is outright mean. Come on, 12 year old girls are suppose to stay up every night till midnight, just to watch their "prime time" event? What a bunch of crap. You can't postpone events half a day (when you can get on the internet and find out who wins live) in the name of prime time, and then spread the crap to midnight.
What a joke. I hope they take a beating so bad in ratings that it'll go back to the good ol' days. I ****LOVED**** waking up in the middle of the night, or middle of the day, turn the channel to some odd ESPN or even odder channel (many choices), and watch CURLING, or spit ball shooting, or ANYTHING. The event was live (or almost live), fascinating, and much more educational than some stupid heart-to-heart interest story about how someone amputated both legs, and still came back for the 1 mile run. Then you watch the race, and they lose anyway.
I'd rather watch some person in the stands holding a camcorder, talking in Italian, with a budget of only 5 pesos, than watch NBC spend millions of dollars on making McCrap again.
I've heard $1/album is used sometimes. Let's see $1/$16 is 6.125%
Let's try Toni Braxton?(Whitney?) rate that made her file bankrupt. $.07 / $16 = 0.4 %
Exactly. I read the headlines, and thought "This does not affect any normal mp3 traders".
Here's a widely unknown hint: Even if you have Cable (or better) connection, and download mp3 albums every night from some FTP/Newsgroup/IRC/Etc source, it doesn't even come CLOSE to the amount of mp3's you can get by trading via snail mail. Much less work too.
Slashdot Mirror
Rader
I guess it is a teaser.
I guess I should just not download teasers then.
Rader
well of course, you're connected at the same speed the slashdot server is obviously on!
Rader
At least the online trailers for Lord Of The Ring & Star Wars were worth downloading.
Rader
Magazines don't have 6 pre-paid postals in each magazine...at 500,000 to 1,000,000 magazines ---already paid for. That would be a ridiculous cost of something that only gets less than 1% used. (or whatever the stat is) They could give the magazine away at that cost!!!!!!!!
Yes, they pay to get an account, pay an annual or per-issuance cost, meet a minimum, and THEN pay for each USED one. It's all barcoded to their account or OCR'd, and tracked that way. Pre-paid postcards or envelopes must follow VERY strict guidelines ranging from size, paper, and positioning to make sure they are completely usable through the automative process.
Rader
Rader
You on the other hand, must work for the government, or on crack if you say "Self-sufficient" "Cut costs" and "Post office" in the same sentence.
There are 10 times the number of small post offices compared to large post offices. Only the entry point of large periodicals start at large BMC's.
No one argues that pre-sorted mail is faster and cheaper to sort than non-sorted mail. Einstein! But the money saved from the automation process decreases every year as the technology margin narrows, while the cost of processing non-sorted mail increases, due to human labor, increases mail weight, etc. Your logic is similar to a car race...where you say you're gaining on this guy 10% faster, because you're driving 55mph instead of 50mph, but he's still going 70mph.
I don't "SAVE 10%" of my money when I buy a bag of chips that says "10% more FREE!" when the weight is the same and the cost is the same from the day before.
This supposed 8% report you made up is just one-sided numbers. They don't take these "million$ saved" and subsidize the 1st-class stamp...it goes back into the system to purchase more automation machines, build new Bulk Mail Centers, new semis for transport, more carriers to handle the increase in mail. Unfortunately it is impossible to draw the line where costs are afflicted, so an increase in new mail carriers might get attributed to 1st-class, so maybe the stamp has to be raised a penny.
Well over 1/2 my mail is junk mail. If I'm a typical John Doe, then multiply that out. You're trying to say that this increase in all our junk mail has somehow saved them money over-all just because it was presorted?
You are correct, pallets of bundled, zip+4 magazines never crossed my mind, since all mail qualifying for automation have 11-digit delivery point zip codes.
Other types of mail income are used to offset these costs. 2nd class postage is a great example: a new subdivision called "Priority 2nd Class" has been given to monstrous magazines (think: U.S. News, Time, etc) To get their business, the USPS has given special treatment and costs, while those not qualifying (any magazine/newspaper under a zillion subscribers) have seen significant increase in postage. Example: 14% increase every other year. The post office has made it clear that these types of mailers are a hindrance, and a pain in the ass to the USPS. They would rather deliver sorted pallets by the truckload than break it down further.
On a smaller scale you'll see the same with 1st class. It's harder for the USPS to do this, because every citizen is affected by increases in 1st class mail, while only publishers are affected by 2nd class increases...Fewer people can complain..and so the raping of 2nd class continues.
Anyway, in the beginning, the USPS was in business to deliver your personal mail. As they grew, and tried to take more money, get more customers (Like all the dirty tricks they used to (and still do) against UPS) and allow bulk mail, etc, etc, they have since had to buy more facilities, more equipment, and many many many more employees. As they continue to make better bottom lines on large customers, they will continue to abhor your mail and mine. Our costs will increase. Eventually the cost will make us cut down our mailing. It already has. How many stamps can you get for $1. Ooops, not even 3 now.
I remember back in the '80s, once a month, letter mail that used to take 1 day to get here, took 2 days instead. What was going on? Turned out that it was all related to the day the new Playboy issue came out. Playboy paid a cheap automation rate that covered the automation costs of the USPS, but it was our 1st class mail that suffered, and paid for the extra employees and leg work that was needed.
Rader
Anyway, your 4 points that you just made...WTF?
I made those my requirements a year and a half ago. Some people already have this kind of stuff. I see other posts here bitching that you should spend the money on more RAM or something. I have more RAM already. My computer has what I need---and if I don't, it's something really expensive that I can't justify getting yet. But playing around with your computer for a small amount of money...who cares! Sounds like a good idea. One thing I like about these ideas, are they're not going to become obsolete or something. It's something you can re-use, even after upgrading video cards, m/b, or CPU, etc.
If you're a 14 yr-old snot that only gets $1 allowance, then yes, this is a waste of money. But some of us have a little money to waste.
Rader
Personally, I'd want mine pissing on an Apple logo, but YMMV.
Although your one line message was probably a bite, you actually really identified exactly where some of these accessories are heading! Thinkgeek already sells a rearview mirror (it's actually a small concave mirror called the CHIMP, that allows you to know when someone is behind you while at your cubicle...) There are a lot of Audio-3D games out there, and having a surround sound for games is a great experience. Having a bass is nothing new for Unreal explosions, or playing Mp3's...even movies. (Divx/DVD) since sound cards have 5.1 outputs, and computer speakers to go with it. I suppose some people hook up their sound to their home-theater system, so they might indeed has 12" subs. And if 1/2 the trucks I see out there have a piss-on-ford, or piss-on-dodge sticker, the same mentality can be said for anyone wanting one for their computer? Maybe. I just wonder how mud-flaps could be used...
Rader
Sad thing was...I saw garbage light below the screen, so I know that the projectionist could have moved the movie up and helped remove most of the boom mike sightings...
Oh well...it wasn't like the movie was really taking me away into it's magical land.
By the way... I got to see the "premiere" showing of Lord of the Rings trailer during this movie (of course, thank to the internet, we could see some of those over a year ago...) Pretty cool. Hope it's a hit. We need some success in the fantasy genre..and obviously the D&D movie isn't doing it for us :)
Rader
Rader
Rader
If I order pay-per-view for the next Super Heavy Weight fight, and tape it to watch the next day (Maybe I had to work) that doesn't mean I'm asking the boxers to come to my house and put on another fight for me. Nor would it mean the Packers and Broncos have to come play the Superbowl in my front yard either.
People that trade concert tapes are not promoting people to stay home and not go to concerts. You pay money to go to a concert (or go to the football stadium), and you get a live, visual, experience. Huge fans & completists that want as many concert tapes possible does not keep them from going to a conert. Ticketmaster prices might though.
Content providers are making money off of consumers. To stay in business they have to stay competitive to the consumers. They don't have the RIGHT to our money. They have to earn it, but the rewards can be high, of course. If they want to cripple their products, they shouldn't say Boo Hoo whent he consumers get mad.
If we were able to use VCR's when all TV content was "lo-fi", then why can't we use a similar type of Recording device once all TV content goes High-Quality?
Who is pushing the HDTV movement? Not me. THey are. A few years ago, they were even saying that all of our TV's would become obsolete once the change occurred. They are making all the rules, but they can't bitch and moan if the consumers complain. They work for our money.
If I want my future Tivo3 to record HDTV shows I'm not home for, why can't it record it in all it's splendor? Are they worried it'll cut into their DVD version they *might* sell? Bullshit, then add some features to it, put nice artwork on it, and do that. Or better yet, why don't they just come up with their OWN version of instant-access-online-watch-what-I-want-right-now service. They'd make a fortune. And do it now.
Rader
Maybe it's defensive patenting.
Patent something important so that others won't be able to sue you when they beat you to it.
Maybe even "eeeelectronic auction"
Rader
what do you mean where to go after programming? That would be death, right?
Rader
The other important role of the SETI screen saver is how it catches OTHER co-worker's attention. *MY* numbers might not be important, but the fact I got 10 other co-workers into it, and eventually became fanatics is.
I think a compromise of setting the screen saver portion to blank out after an hour is a good solution. No one (at least here) is going to see it running at night for 9 hours. Even if SETI@HOME was to rewrite it so it was twice as fast... it would only help them by a factor of 2, not a huge factor compared to the 2.6 million people.
Rader
He is currently listed at 198,700 points for Pitfall 2. Looks like he'll get the official score long before I could dust of my 2600 and relearn the game. I don't think I have the undying patience I did as the kid I once was with nothing better to do. I guess I can take a small satisfaction that he screwed up at the very end...Since I know that happened to me quite a few times before I finally got a perfect score.
Rader
At least where I lived at the time...getting the diamond was the hard part. (well, atleast the first time) You had to jump off these walls and bounce back and forth and land on the right ledge. After that, the hardest part was going up the final stage without getting hit by one of those flying vultures, or whatever they were. I think the diamond gave you 50,000 points, and a perfect score was: 199,000.
Rader
Go for the 600/650 Duron & Socket-A motherboard combination. The Duron can be had for under $50, and the m/b for well under $150.
Go to Tomshardware.com and easily overclock the chip to 800.
The performance is great (close to PIII-650/700), and next summer you can buy one of those 1.4ghz Thunderbirds for probably another $50. Great upgrade price. (P.S. RAM couldn't be any cheaper either - under $50 for 128mb)
Rader
In other words, they took away our rights to watch what we wanted when. They payed a bazillion dollars to have exclusive coverage, so that they were our only [american] choice. They took away the rights of other broadcast stations that could have made different choices, and choose to air at other times, other formats, other events. (There was more than just swimming this year, right?)
It makes me boil to listen to NBC whine about ratings, money lost, etc, when it was THEM that spent a ton of money. And did a bad job at it. Actually I take that part back...they can do a bad job at it if they want, but let someone else have a chance to make it good!
Rader
First of all, splitting up events and spreading them out is ridiculous. Delaying them 1/2 a day for prime time is ridiculous. Pushing gymnastics till almost midnight, while saying it's prime time is outright mean. Come on, 12 year old girls are suppose to stay up every night till midnight, just to watch their "prime time" event? What a bunch of crap. You can't postpone events half a day (when you can get on the internet and find out who wins live) in the name of prime time, and then spread the crap to midnight.
What a joke. I hope they take a beating so bad in ratings that it'll go back to the good ol' days. I ****LOVED**** waking up in the middle of the night, or middle of the day, turn the channel to some odd ESPN or even odder channel (many choices), and watch CURLING, or spit ball shooting, or ANYTHING. The event was live (or almost live), fascinating, and much more educational than some stupid heart-to-heart interest story about how someone amputated both legs, and still came back for the 1 mile run. Then you watch the race, and they lose anyway.
I'd rather watch some person in the stands holding a camcorder, talking in Italian, with a budget of only 5 pesos, than watch NBC spend millions of dollars on making McCrap again.
Rader
That's a bit high!
I've heard $1/album is used sometimes. Let's see $1/$16 is 6.125%
Let's try Toni Braxton?(Whitney?) rate that made her file bankrupt. $.07 / $16 = 0.4 %
Rader
Here's a widely unknown hint: Even if you have Cable (or better) connection, and download mp3 albums every night from some FTP/Newsgroup/IRC/Etc source, it doesn't even come CLOSE to the amount of mp3's you can get by trading via snail mail. Much less work too.
Rader