The thing is, some write-ups have mentioned Isaiah talking about how he also stood in line for an Xbox 360, while he specifically opted to avoid the insanity of the PS3 launch.
"Obviously it's possible to extrapolate 3D from 2D, just difficult."
So's quantum tunneling a person through a wall.
What we're talking about here is a fairly complicated function of the human brain. Considering the difficulty and expense involved in getting a computer that can handle walking, why should I believe that anything short of big iron can figure out how to do this, let alone on the fly?
Except that what I cut and pasted isn't talking about getting 3D from a 2D display but rather from 2D content, the "pre-recorded DVDs" mentioned in what I cut and pasted. That's saying that I could toss in Toy Story and this technology will magically make it 3D.
Getting 3D off of a 2D display is easy enough; the most common way people have tried to do it on PCs is the past is with flicker glasses (the screen rapidly alternates between left and right eye information, while you wear glasses with LCD lenses that alternate between making the left and right lens opaque). But with PC games you have 3D information to work with, the same information your video card is crunching to begin with to curn out those polygons. But to say you can get this not from a game but from a movie is just plain fanciful, almost as fanciful as their claims to be including 150 games with the hardware.
If that were all that is needed to upconvert any 2D images to 3D, we'd all be watching all shows with those goofy glasses on.
Simply putting the glasses on doesn't change the fact that what you're watching was fimled from only one perspective at a time. No stereoscopic photography = no stereoscopic picture.
"it will never satisfy anyone who knows how flawed the spoken and written languages are with regard to absolute truth. The word is only ever cousin to the deed,"
Glass houses, stones, etc.
"so why persist in misunderstanding people and not trying to find truth in what people say but only point out how your presumptions of what they said is wrong?"
I do not doubt what you say about your own thoughts and opinions (if anything, the idea that those words are thruthful frightens me). I feel that what you did was wrong.
"You totally skipped over the relevance of communicating excitement, enthusiasm, etc."
You seem to enjoy pointing out the hardships that you and others like you faced in pursuit of a PS3 this past weekend, and you do so with pride. But why did you put yoruself through all this? The only answer you have is this "excitement" and "enthusiasm" you cite, nothing more. If jeopardizing your health (if not your life) is a worthwhile exchange for nothing more than excitement, then what is the difference between what you did and playing Russian Roulette, if not degree?
"my points on corporate culture;"
The store's behavior towards you does not justify your own reckless behavior with your own well-being. If nothing else, being aware that the store does not care whether you live or die, and yet continuing anyway, makes me doubt your judgment.
"Aha! You're just an average every day/. PS3 troll (I hate name-calling/labeling, but this is how you're acting, friend)"
If that is all there is to me, I'd be out standing in line for a Wii right now.
"Though parking lots have cameras,"
Taken out of context; I was referring to the safety and well-being of the store employees in that post, responding to the idea that those standing in line could take vengeance on the store employees, or at least to the idea that they could get away with it.
"I'm proud of my group and how we conducted ourselves in line."
Again, you are painting your time in line as if it were an expedition to scale Mount McKinley, except you didn't. You were never more than three minutes away from getting into your car and turning on the heat, and likely not more than ten minutes away from going to your local Denny's. Any and all environmental hazards you faced could be reproduced by camping in your own back yard. The only true obstacle you faced was either your unwillingness to expend the minimal effort to return to civilization, or your own inability to recognize that option; both obstacles are very dangerous, but only in a Darwinian sense.
When I went to bed last night, instead of turning on the hall light, I decided to skip past the light switch and instead move down the hallway in the dark. I managed to make it without stubbing any of my toes. Would I be justified in boasting this "great" accomplishment to all within earshot, describing the way I survived this great adventure, talking about my conduct in avoiding any invisible obstacles as my chest swells with pride? Should I celebrate my decision to risk broken toes in the name of "excitement?"
And you still haven't answered whether or not you voted this month.
"In all reality, if we hadn't banded together to do trips inside while saving others' spots there would be at the least frostbite and at the worst, well, you can imagine."
If you're trying to ilicit pity, it's not working. You were there voluntarily, your car was parked not 500 feet away, you could have gone home at any time. The fact that you and those around you risked life and limb for a piece of metal and plastic that anybody with the money to spare will be able to easily pick up in three months impresses me only in the amount of foolishness you've shown in pursuing it.
"Clearly, it ought to be an every man for himself situation with no rules, no allies, no cops, and no order."
No, clearly you should have just gone home instead of putting up with it.
"Again, why defend this behavior?"
Because it is your behavior that's putting them into such an untenable position to begin with. You are attempting to hold them accountable for the outcome of your actions. Again, you had your car keys.
"The novelty of Halo C/E and Halo 2 have long since worn off, but yet somehow I still enjoy every moment I play them. I didn't buy the PS3 on a whim or as some impulsive purchase. I have a few options: open it and keep it, open it/play/sell at Christmas, sell it untouched. All of which have lasting value to me, thus making it a no-lose scenario for me. Novelty isn't everything."
Novelty isn't everything, but it is the only reason anybody could possibly line themselves up under such conditions. You mention Halo and Halo 2; they're both still for sale. I could go into any video game store, right now, and pick them both up for around $50. There is no reason for you, I, or any other person to, for example, camp out in sub-freezing temperatures just to play Halo or Halo 2. True, the copies of Halo available aren't the "Collector's Edition," but neither is your PS3.
I do not doubt the console's lasting value in and of itself. The question is whether the extra three months of use you've bought yourself with your experience is worthwhile; you could have waited three months for the console to become readily available. You didn't camp out because it's what you needed to do to get a PS3, you camped out because it's what you needed to do to get a PS3 now.
"Well, this certainly came out of no where. Not only is it off topic, but it's mildly insulting."
Off-topic? Both involve an investment of time waiting in line. One usually involves a relatively short wait and no expenditure (amendment 24), the other one a wait of several days and an expenditure of $600 if you're lucky. One brings about rather esoteric results and, at best, gives one a sense of civic involvement fulfillment of duty, the other brings about the epitome of shiney flashiness and instant gratification.
Considering that Slashdot now has a poitics section, I think it's important to know what kind of priorities Slashdotters and gamers have. It's obvious what I suspect the general answer to be, but feel free to surprise me and let me know that there may yet still be hope for the Union.
"Can't wait!"
Yeah, that seems to be your personal motto in life. There may be irony in that you waited those two days in the elements, but all you waited for was to avoid having to wait three long, agonizing months until you can get your PS3 like a sane person.
"Any store that required a police presence should be forced to pay...
They should have either forced these people to go home..."
No, pick one. These are not the sort of people who would have been turned away easily ("Can I stand in line now? How about now? Is now OK?"), and the police would have needed to be involved one way or the other (the stores pay taxes as well).
If these shennanigans happened after the store allowed the shantytowns to be set up and happened during store hours, you may have a case. But holding the property owner accountable for what happens after the store is closed up and everybody but the vagrants have gone home for the night? I see no reasonable expectation of the store looking out for the interests of these people then.
Heck, with the possible exception of the Wal-Mart that decided to play musical chairs, I don't see how the simple act of allowing a person to occupy a particular space for a particular ammount of time automatically means that the grantor assumes responsibility for your well-being, any more than any other customer in the store.
Or did you not notice the "This store is not responsible..." signs on most such large establishments when you walked in?
"If this is something you want then I see nothing wrong with camping out for it."
This isn't "Camping out to get something that only happens once," this is "Camping out to get something that anybody will be able to walk into a store and buy in three months." Camping out for a PS3 does nothing but highlight your own impatience, and any rational person should be embarassed by such a display (which is where my proposed litmus test comes from).
"Also, camping out for it could net a very nice profit...more than you would make working at most jobs."
"Could" is not "will." Waiting in line in order to resell it is a gamble, nothing more. And if that's how you want to try to make money, take a trip out to Nevada.
"Some people get excited about things...just let them have a good time. "
Then have a good time somewhere else. Your pursuit of a "good time" shouldn't interfere with my ability to walk into my local Sam's Club and get myself some freakin' groceries.
"The people who are robbing and shooting, they are just criminals exploiting a situation."
My question is "What did people do after somebody in line got shot?" Did they decide "OK, this isn't fun any more, this isn't worth it," or did they move up to take up the now-empty slot?
People got robbed. People got injured. People got injured, had their cars towed, were exposed to the elements, and all sorts of other negative events. But they stayed in line, they played along, they fought over musical chairs, they got bones broken, all for a $600 piece of plastic that I will be able to buy in less than five minutes after three months.
That, if nothing else, indicates a fucked-up belief system.
"I am sure you have bought frivolous, high-priced items as well."
I have never camped overnight to make any purchase.
"We heard many comments from assholes such as yourself calling us idiots and stupid and retards."
Oh, no, I didn't bother anybody standing in such a line. I shopped where there was no line. I don't like shopping places where I'm going to be accosted by panhandlers and, as I believe I've already said, I don't consider your sort to be much different. So I was not one of the ones who accosted you or your ilk.
"and I yelled back "I AM working!".
I only stayed till 11pm, after waiting 8 hours in line. I was number 5, and the night manager came out and said that there were only 4 consoles in the store."
Yeah, nice pay you got "working" there.
What you were doing wasn't working, it's called "gambling." You punched the monkey and you lost. You can try to blame the store for not telling you this, but ultimately it is not their job to help you make your bets.
Of course, did you bother asking how many they would receive before you staked out your claim in line? Or did you just assume the wage slaves would make your time easier out of the kindness of their hearts? Your presence wasn't making their lives any easier (just the opposite), nor were you making them any more money, so why should they care about some fool in a tent on a sidewalk?
The upshot is those wage slaves made more money in those 8 hours than you did.
"The first 4 had gotten there two days before me so I didnt feel so bad about loosing out to them."
And you assume that they will make money? All those people in that line with you who were making the same gamble, and you don't recall meeting anybody who actually intended to keep the console? Here's something to ask yourself: If you were willing to pay $2000 for a $600 console, and you made $20 an hour, wouldn't it have been worth your time to take two days off of work ($320, before taxes) to save that $1400? Heck, to make the break-even, your time would have to be worth $87.50/hr.
Do you really think that all the consoles that sold would be taking in those $2000+ bids? This assumes that the inflated bids are truly legitimate bidders, which remains to be seen.
Not only were you gambling that the store would have enough, you were gambling that you were waiting for the must-have toy of the season. Before you take your superior tone, perhaps you should wait a few weeks to see whether even that wager was correct, and see just how much your "work" yesterday was a complete waste of time.
Also, I'd advise against playing the stock market or visiting Vegas.
"The employees were fine and enthusiastic, but the corporate policies were inane. For instance, no tents while they're open"
"Inane?" They're a retail store, not a campground! If anything, you should just be happy that you were allowed to loiter outside the store to begin with, as your presence no doubt had an intimidating effect on the store's more legitimate customers. The people in the lines I saw differed from the people I see on streetcorners holding their cardboard signs only by degree.
"Along with that, no official rules for the line from Target (read this as ass covering) "
No, read it as "Not their fucking job."
"After work today is going to be insane!"
And after Monday? After next week? Next month? Next year? Will the insanity you participated in still have been worth it once the novelty has worn off?
Here's a question: of all the people who stood in line for a PS3 in the US, how many voted ten days ago?
"and shot one person who wouldn't hand over their money."
And all the people behind the shooting victim worked hard to contain their glee at being able to move up a spot, no doubt.
Seriously, the only people who own a PS3 right now are those who literally have more money than brains. I don't know if this is a sign of the susceptability of young people to marketing/groupthink or what, but there is no rational reason to put up with this nonsense for something that will likely continue to be manufactured and sold for years ("one night only," maybe, but not the launch of a flagship product). If nothing else, the high price of the console is is made all the more unaffordable due to the missed hours of work spent standing in line.
Here's a litmus test: is standing in line for a PS3 something you would be proud to tell your children about a decade from now?
I had to brush past a Hooverville (Sonyville?) to get into the local Sam's Club and get some groceries. I really wouldn't be surprised if stores were losing business because of these lines (personally, I went off to line-free Toys R Us to pick up Children of Mana instead of Best Buy). Between intimidating other customers and the razor-thin profit margin (if any) on consoles, one has to wonder what it is that's causing these stores to allow such behavior. All I can think of is either the store worrying about the loss of future business from the sacred 18-24 year-olds they'd be frustrating, or there's some deal between the retailers and Sony that requires the retailers to tolerate these lines.
I would NOT want to be a Target employee this week. At any level."
The parking lot likely has security cameras, the store itself is private property, and most places have people called "police officers." If the store suddenly decides they don't like you camping on their sidewalk, you will, to say the least, lose your place in line.
"Affordable to me equals crappy. Might as well grab a Flashback Atari and have yourself some affordable fun."
When inflation is taken into account, the launch price of the PS3 is about as high as the launch price of the 2600. Remember how that wonderfully expensive 2600 ended up?
How about, instead of focusing solely on the price tag, you consider the ratio of bang/buck?
"If you have a massive State run organisation dedicated to space travel, funded by the taxpayer, are YOU going to invest your companies money in space travel?"
"I could do a better job if I felt like it" isn't a very convincing argument.
"or would you let the taxpayer pay the bill till nice cheap technology is *finally* invented and *then* get involved?"
I'll go with the option that produces tangible results, however minor, rather than the one that "promises" to produce results "eventually." I believe the phrase is "guaranteed return on investment." And if the government-run program is as wasteful and inefficient as you insist, then it should be all the more easier for private enterprise to produce something better.
"These companies don't exist in the first place *BECAUSE* NASA exists."
First off, you dodged the question. I did not ask which private enterprise actually attempted a moon landing, I asked which ones existed that both had the assets and weren't run by committee, since you seem to believe the biggest source of the government waste you cite is because it is run by committee. I can think of several companies that would have the assets needed to launch a private moon expedition (General Electric comes to mind), but they certainly aren't run by a single person.
Secondly, if they can't compete against the government, how could any such private enterprise hope to compete against any other potential monopoly? Aerospace wouldn't be the first industry for such a monopoly or oligopoly to arise in a market that approached anarcho-capitalism, why should be believe that it would be immune to what happened to oil and automobiles?
"the existance of State organisations in a field is like penicillin in a petri dish."
Are you aware that your own metaphor just equated anarcho-capitalism with a disease?
Compared to whom? Where are the moon landings accomplished by private enterprise?
"We need solutions to fundamental problems. You don't get that from a committee."
Name one private enterprise with the assets to attempt a moon landing that isn't run by committee.
Until you anarcho-capitalists can show me something concrete, I'm not willing to let these things be thrown to the wolves of your illusory free market. Perhaps if you'd accomplished more in space exploration than, say, the communist Soviet Union, your words might have weight.
NASA talks about this and that, shuffles around some papers, maybe changes the names of certain desk jobs, and nothing concrete comes out of it. This has been going on for, oh, a decade now (at least).
Whether we should blame NASA, Congress or the White House for this current situation is moot. Anything NASA says about future manned missions that involve something other than putting people into low-earh orbit in an aging space shuttle is a pipe dream, isn't particularly noteworthy and I fail to see why it belongs on the front page here.
Gaming magazines for me died the day they changed the format of Nintendo Power. Yeah, they were nothing but 30+ pages of a Nintendo advertisement, but at least they were a good advertisement.
"and the technomage Galen (Woodward) are returning"
Oh, nevermind then.
I liked the series Babylon 5. I really liked it. But the franchise took a nosedive since the end of the series, and between Crusade and the post-series TV movies, the only change is that the fall has accelerated.
I'm about ready to put B5 in the same category as Star Wars, the one labelled "Should have known when to stop writing."
Drop the D&D/Kung Fu in space, drop the "technomage" and give me back my Garibaldi, Bester and Vir.
Slashdot Mirror
"Only about 2 million units instead of 4."
2 million to the Americas, 4 million worldwide. Nintendo still has to sell consoles to Japan and (unlike Sony) Europe.
The thing is, some write-ups have mentioned Isaiah talking about how he also stood in line for an Xbox 360, while he specifically opted to avoid the insanity of the PS3 launch.
"Obviously it's possible to extrapolate 3D from 2D, just difficult."
So's quantum tunneling a person through a wall.
What we're talking about here is a fairly complicated function of the human brain. Considering the difficulty and expense involved in getting a computer that can handle walking, why should I believe that anything short of big iron can figure out how to do this, let alone on the fly?
Except that what I cut and pasted isn't talking about getting 3D from a 2D display but rather from 2D content, the "pre-recorded DVDs" mentioned in what I cut and pasted. That's saying that I could toss in Toy Story and this technology will magically make it 3D.
Getting 3D off of a 2D display is easy enough; the most common way people have tried to do it on PCs is the past is with flicker glasses (the screen rapidly alternates between left and right eye information, while you wear glasses with LCD lenses that alternate between making the left and right lens opaque). But with PC games you have 3D information to work with, the same information your video card is crunching to begin with to curn out those polygons. But to say you can get this not from a game but from a movie is just plain fanciful, almost as fanciful as their claims to be including 150 games with the hardware.
If that were all that is needed to upconvert any 2D images to 3D, we'd all be watching all shows with those goofy glasses on.
Simply putting the glasses on doesn't change the fact that what you're watching was fimled from only one perspective at a time. No stereoscopic photography = no stereoscopic picture.
... ends here:
"and even the ability to convert 2D live television into 3D live television, as well as pre-recorded movies on DVD, Blu-ray and HD-DVD."
How can you "upconvert" 2D images to 3D when there is no 3D information to work with, hm?
Will this be bundled with the Phantom? Launch alongside DNF?
"it will never satisfy anyone who knows how flawed the spoken and written languages are with regard to absolute truth. The word is only ever cousin to the deed,"
/. PS3 troll (I hate name-calling/labeling, but this is how you're acting, friend)"
Glass houses, stones, etc.
"so why persist in misunderstanding people and not trying to find truth in what people say but only point out how your presumptions of what they said is wrong?"
I do not doubt what you say about your own thoughts and opinions (if anything, the idea that those words are thruthful frightens me). I feel that what you did was wrong.
"You totally skipped over the relevance of communicating excitement, enthusiasm, etc."
You seem to enjoy pointing out the hardships that you and others like you faced in pursuit of a PS3 this past weekend, and you do so with pride. But why did you put yoruself through all this? The only answer you have is this "excitement" and "enthusiasm" you cite, nothing more. If jeopardizing your health (if not your life) is a worthwhile exchange for nothing more than excitement, then what is the difference between what you did and playing Russian Roulette, if not degree?
"my points on corporate culture;"
The store's behavior towards you does not justify your own reckless behavior with your own well-being. If nothing else, being aware that the store does not care whether you live or die, and yet continuing anyway, makes me doubt your judgment.
"Aha! You're just an average every day
If that is all there is to me, I'd be out standing in line for a Wii right now.
"Though parking lots have cameras,"
Taken out of context; I was referring to the safety and well-being of the store employees in that post, responding to the idea that those standing in line could take vengeance on the store employees, or at least to the idea that they could get away with it.
"I'm proud of my group and how we conducted ourselves in line."
Again, you are painting your time in line as if it were an expedition to scale Mount McKinley, except you didn't. You were never more than three minutes away from getting into your car and turning on the heat, and likely not more than ten minutes away from going to your local Denny's. Any and all environmental hazards you faced could be reproduced by camping in your own back yard. The only true obstacle you faced was either your unwillingness to expend the minimal effort to return to civilization, or your own inability to recognize that option; both obstacles are very dangerous, but only in a Darwinian sense.
When I went to bed last night, instead of turning on the hall light, I decided to skip past the light switch and instead move down the hallway in the dark. I managed to make it without stubbing any of my toes. Would I be justified in boasting this "great" accomplishment to all within earshot, describing the way I survived this great adventure, talking about my conduct in avoiding any invisible obstacles as my chest swells with pride? Should I celebrate my decision to risk broken toes in the name of "excitement?"
And you still haven't answered whether or not you voted this month.
"Google Now Officially a Nuclear Power; Microsoft Sets Pants to Brown Alert"
Oldie but goodie.
"In all reality, if we hadn't banded together to do trips inside while saving others' spots there would be at the least frostbite and at the worst, well, you can imagine."
If you're trying to ilicit pity, it's not working. You were there voluntarily, your car was parked not 500 feet away, you could have gone home at any time. The fact that you and those around you risked life and limb for a piece of metal and plastic that anybody with the money to spare will be able to easily pick up in three months impresses me only in the amount of foolishness you've shown in pursuing it.
"Clearly, it ought to be an every man for himself situation with no rules, no allies, no cops, and no order."
No, clearly you should have just gone home instead of putting up with it.
"Again, why defend this behavior?"
Because it is your behavior that's putting them into such an untenable position to begin with. You are attempting to hold them accountable for the outcome of your actions. Again, you had your car keys.
"The novelty of Halo C/E and Halo 2 have long since worn off, but yet somehow I still enjoy every moment I play them. I didn't buy the PS3 on a whim or as some impulsive purchase. I have a few options: open it and keep it, open it/play/sell at Christmas, sell it untouched. All of which have lasting value to me, thus making it a no-lose scenario for me. Novelty isn't everything."
Novelty isn't everything, but it is the only reason anybody could possibly line themselves up under such conditions. You mention Halo and Halo 2; they're both still for sale. I could go into any video game store, right now, and pick them both up for around $50. There is no reason for you, I, or any other person to, for example, camp out in sub-freezing temperatures just to play Halo or Halo 2. True, the copies of Halo available aren't the "Collector's Edition," but neither is your PS3.
I do not doubt the console's lasting value in and of itself. The question is whether the extra three months of use you've bought yourself with your experience is worthwhile; you could have waited three months for the console to become readily available. You didn't camp out because it's what you needed to do to get a PS3, you camped out because it's what you needed to do to get a PS3 now.
"Well, this certainly came out of no where. Not only is it off topic, but it's mildly insulting."
Off-topic? Both involve an investment of time waiting in line. One usually involves a relatively short wait and no expenditure (amendment 24), the other one a wait of several days and an expenditure of $600 if you're lucky. One brings about rather esoteric results and, at best, gives one a sense of civic involvement fulfillment of duty, the other brings about the epitome of shiney flashiness and instant gratification.
Considering that Slashdot now has a poitics section, I think it's important to know what kind of priorities Slashdotters and gamers have. It's obvious what I suspect the general answer to be, but feel free to surprise me and let me know that there may yet still be hope for the Union.
"Can't wait!"
Yeah, that seems to be your personal motto in life. There may be irony in that you waited those two days in the elements, but all you waited for was to avoid having to wait three long, agonizing months until you can get your PS3 like a sane person.
"Any store that required a police presence should be forced to pay...
They should have either forced these people to go home..."
No, pick one. These are not the sort of people who would have been turned away easily ("Can I stand in line now? How about now? Is now OK?"), and the police would have needed to be involved one way or the other (the stores pay taxes as well).
If these shennanigans happened after the store allowed the shantytowns to be set up and happened during store hours, you may have a case. But holding the property owner accountable for what happens after the store is closed up and everybody but the vagrants have gone home for the night? I see no reasonable expectation of the store looking out for the interests of these people then.
Heck, with the possible exception of the Wal-Mart that decided to play musical chairs, I don't see how the simple act of allowing a person to occupy a particular space for a particular ammount of time automatically means that the grantor assumes responsibility for your well-being, any more than any other customer in the store.
Or did you not notice the "This store is not responsible..." signs on most such large establishments when you walked in?
"I stood in line for 3 days, and I have already made a little over $4000."
Then you can point to the completed online auction(s) that have already been paid for with a credit card?
If I were the sort to wait in line like that, I wouldn't consider myself to have made money until that money is in my hand (or at least bank account).
"If this is something you want then I see nothing wrong with camping out for it."
This isn't "Camping out to get something that only happens once," this is "Camping out to get something that anybody will be able to walk into a store and buy in three months." Camping out for a PS3 does nothing but highlight your own impatience, and any rational person should be embarassed by such a display (which is where my proposed litmus test comes from).
"Also, camping out for it could net a very nice profit...more than you would make working at most jobs."
"Could" is not "will." Waiting in line in order to resell it is a gamble, nothing more. And if that's how you want to try to make money, take a trip out to Nevada.
"Some people get excited about things...just let them have a good time. "
Then have a good time somewhere else. Your pursuit of a "good time" shouldn't interfere with my ability to walk into my local Sam's Club and get myself some freakin' groceries.
"The people who are robbing and shooting, they are just criminals exploiting a situation."
My question is "What did people do after somebody in line got shot?" Did they decide "OK, this isn't fun any more, this isn't worth it," or did they move up to take up the now-empty slot?
People got robbed. People got injured. People got injured, had their cars towed, were exposed to the elements, and all sorts of other negative events. But they stayed in line, they played along, they fought over musical chairs, they got bones broken, all for a $600 piece of plastic that I will be able to buy in less than five minutes after three months.
That, if nothing else, indicates a fucked-up belief system.
"I am sure you have bought frivolous, high-priced items as well."
I have never camped overnight to make any purchase.
"We heard many comments from assholes such as yourself calling us idiots and stupid and retards."
Oh, no, I didn't bother anybody standing in such a line. I shopped where there was no line. I don't like shopping places where I'm going to be accosted by panhandlers and, as I believe I've already said, I don't consider your sort to be much different. So I was not one of the ones who accosted you or your ilk.
"and I yelled back "I AM working!".
I only stayed till 11pm, after waiting 8 hours in line. I was number 5, and the night manager came out and said that there were only 4 consoles in the store."
Yeah, nice pay you got "working" there.
What you were doing wasn't working, it's called "gambling." You punched the monkey and you lost. You can try to blame the store for not telling you this, but ultimately it is not their job to help you make your bets.
Of course, did you bother asking how many they would receive before you staked out your claim in line? Or did you just assume the wage slaves would make your time easier out of the kindness of their hearts? Your presence wasn't making their lives any easier (just the opposite), nor were you making them any more money, so why should they care about some fool in a tent on a sidewalk?
The upshot is those wage slaves made more money in those 8 hours than you did.
"The first 4 had gotten there two days before me so I didnt feel so bad about loosing out to them."
And you assume that they will make money? All those people in that line with you who were making the same gamble, and you don't recall meeting anybody who actually intended to keep the console? Here's something to ask yourself: If you were willing to pay $2000 for a $600 console, and you made $20 an hour, wouldn't it have been worth your time to take two days off of work ($320, before taxes) to save that $1400? Heck, to make the break-even, your time would have to be worth $87.50/hr.
Do you really think that all the consoles that sold would be taking in those $2000+ bids? This assumes that the inflated bids are truly legitimate bidders, which remains to be seen.
Not only were you gambling that the store would have enough, you were gambling that you were waiting for the must-have toy of the season. Before you take your superior tone, perhaps you should wait a few weeks to see whether even that wager was correct, and see just how much your "work" yesterday was a complete waste of time.
Also, I'd advise against playing the stock market or visiting Vegas.
"The employees were fine and enthusiastic, but the corporate policies were inane. For instance, no tents while they're open"
"Inane?" They're a retail store, not a campground! If anything, you should just be happy that you were allowed to loiter outside the store to begin with, as your presence no doubt had an intimidating effect on the store's more legitimate customers. The people in the lines I saw differed from the people I see on streetcorners holding their cardboard signs only by degree.
"Along with that, no official rules for the line from Target (read this as ass covering) "
No, read it as "Not their fucking job."
"After work today is going to be insane!"
And after Monday? After next week? Next month? Next year? Will the insanity you participated in still have been worth it once the novelty has worn off?
Here's a question: of all the people who stood in line for a PS3 in the US, how many voted ten days ago?
"and shot one person who wouldn't hand over their money."
And all the people behind the shooting victim worked hard to contain their glee at being able to move up a spot, no doubt.
Seriously, the only people who own a PS3 right now are those who literally have more money than brains. I don't know if this is a sign of the susceptability of young people to marketing/groupthink or what, but there is no rational reason to put up with this nonsense for something that will likely continue to be manufactured and sold for years ("one night only," maybe, but not the launch of a flagship product). If nothing else, the high price of the console is is made all the more unaffordable due to the missed hours of work spent standing in line.
Here's a litmus test: is standing in line for a PS3 something you would be proud to tell your children about a decade from now?
More importantly, how can something be "mainstream" if its only sold in limited numbers and most end-users will end up paying over a grand for theirs?
The PS3 isn't mainstream, it's conspicuous consumption. If it will ever be mainstream, it won't be before 2008.
Yeah, that huge library of spectacular PS3 launch titles look so absorbing, they might not be back for months!
I had to brush past a Hooverville (Sonyville?) to get into the local Sam's Club and get some groceries. I really wouldn't be surprised if stores were losing business because of these lines (personally, I went off to line-free Toys R Us to pick up Children of Mana instead of Best Buy). Between intimidating other customers and the razor-thin profit margin (if any) on consoles, one has to wonder what it is that's causing these stores to allow such behavior. All I can think of is either the store worrying about the loss of future business from the sacred 18-24 year-olds they'd be frustrating, or there's some deal between the retailers and Sony that requires the retailers to tolerate these lines.
"They can also observe where the managers park...
I would NOT want to be a Target employee this week. At any level."
The parking lot likely has security cameras, the store itself is private property, and most places have people called "police officers." If the store suddenly decides they don't like you camping on their sidewalk, you will, to say the least, lose your place in line.
"Affordable to me equals crappy. Might as well grab a Flashback Atari and have yourself some affordable fun."
When inflation is taken into account, the launch price of the PS3 is about as high as the launch price of the 2600. Remember how that wonderfully expensive 2600 ended up?
How about, instead of focusing solely on the price tag, you consider the ratio of bang/buck?
"If you have a massive State run organisation dedicated to space travel, funded by the taxpayer, are YOU going to invest your companies money in space travel?"
"I could do a better job if I felt like it" isn't a very convincing argument.
"or would you let the taxpayer pay the bill till nice cheap technology is *finally* invented and *then* get involved?"
I'll go with the option that produces tangible results, however minor, rather than the one that "promises" to produce results "eventually." I believe the phrase is "guaranteed return on investment." And if the government-run program is as wasteful and inefficient as you insist, then it should be all the more easier for private enterprise to produce something better.
"These companies don't exist in the first place *BECAUSE* NASA exists."
First off, you dodged the question. I did not ask which private enterprise actually attempted a moon landing, I asked which ones existed that both had the assets and weren't run by committee, since you seem to believe the biggest source of the government waste you cite is because it is run by committee. I can think of several companies that would have the assets needed to launch a private moon expedition (General Electric comes to mind), but they certainly aren't run by a single person.
Secondly, if they can't compete against the government, how could any such private enterprise hope to compete against any other potential monopoly? Aerospace wouldn't be the first industry for such a monopoly or oligopoly to arise in a market that approached anarcho-capitalism, why should be believe that it would be immune to what happened to oil and automobiles?
"the existance of State organisations in a field is like penicillin in a petri dish."
Are you aware that your own metaphor just equated anarcho-capitalism with a disease?
"State run companies *DO NOT INNOVATE*."
Compared to whom? Where are the moon landings accomplished by private enterprise?
"We need solutions to fundamental problems. You don't get that from a committee."
Name one private enterprise with the assets to attempt a moon landing that isn't run by committee.
Until you anarcho-capitalists can show me something concrete, I'm not willing to let these things be thrown to the wolves of your illusory free market. Perhaps if you'd accomplished more in space exploration than, say, the communist Soviet Union, your words might have weight.
NASA talks about this and that, shuffles around some papers, maybe changes the names of certain desk jobs, and nothing concrete comes out of it. This has been going on for, oh, a decade now (at least).
Whether we should blame NASA, Congress or the White House for this current situation is moot. Anything NASA says about future manned missions that involve something other than putting people into low-earh orbit in an aging space shuttle is a pipe dream, isn't particularly noteworthy and I fail to see why it belongs on the front page here.
Gaming magazines for me died the day they changed the format of Nintendo Power. Yeah, they were nothing but 30+ pages of a Nintendo advertisement, but at least they were a good advertisement.
"and the technomage Galen (Woodward) are returning"
Oh, nevermind then.
I liked the series Babylon 5. I really liked it. But the franchise took a nosedive since the end of the series, and between Crusade and the post-series TV movies, the only change is that the fall has accelerated.
I'm about ready to put B5 in the same category as Star Wars, the one labelled "Should have known when to stop writing."
Drop the D&D/Kung Fu in space, drop the "technomage" and give me back my Garibaldi, Bester and Vir.