May I also remind you that not everyone lives in the US. We don't all have a fair use doctrine to hide behind:(
And may I remind you that most of the posters here on Slashdot do. How you got the idea that we all live in your little backwater of the planet is beyond me. Certainly made you like like an idiot, though.
Religious zealotry. Seriously. The hard-core 'free software' folks are pretty rabid when it comes to smacking down anyone who doesn't chant the party line along with them, and they (like the Billy Boys) don't seem to have a problem ganging up and slamming your karma to 'teach you a lesson'. Unfortunately it seems that a number of slashdotters actually seem to care about their karma scores, so they go AC to preserve their regular accounts.
For the record I could give two shits about free software. I support open source, but that's simply because I hate the idea of running black boxes on equipment I paid for and own. Paranoia, you know.
More than the historical inaccuracies, it's the fact that of all the European countries, the French as a culture tend to be more fond of Americans than anywhere else.
Goddamn, what the hell are you smoking? French fond of Americans? Pull your head out of your ass; an American is far, far more likely to get a warm welcome in Holland, Sweden, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, etc. An American will get a warmer welcome in *Russia* than in France, the country we engaged in a cold war with for fifty years.
France is known for its wines, its cheeses, and its inability to grasp the fact that its days of greatness ended in 1815 at Waterloo. It sure as hell isn't known for its hospitality, especially when it comes to Americans.
We don't like to give the time of day to nazi apologists, nor waste any more time arguing with them.
So freedom of speech is just fine, so long as it happens to be speech you don't disagree with. Great argument there, son. I'm sure your government-controlled, government-regulated search engine will suit you just fine. Have fun living in your little fantasy-land where you can pretend neo-Nazis don't exist because they aren't allowed to be public about their beliefs.
Fortunately for the rest of us, there's still Google and Yahoo.
I don't like waiting in line behind joe sixpack while he fumbles around in his wallet trying to yank out his card, then can't even figure out which way to swipe the damn thing. Neither does anyone else.
Fortunately we live in a society which has no legal guarantee of personal convenience, so if Joe Sixpack wants to do that your only choice is to suck it up and deal with it.
Hell, I hate waiting in line at the store because some fuckwit has to run his bank card to buy groceries since he's too fucking lazy to hit the ATM and get some actual cash out, but that's his choice whether I like it or not. And so long as *I* have to suck it up, sit tight, and be polite, so do you.
In my experience it is not the actual document formats or application retraining that is the stumbling block to migrating to open systems, but very often one rogue IT manager or employee who can best described as a "Microsoft guy."
Ain't this the truth. When I was contracting I ran into this time and again - some prick who didn't give a shit about the organization he worked for, but practically had an altar to Bill Gates in his bedroom. For him it was Microsoft, and everything else was a tool of the Great Satan.
And it doesn't have to be management to cause a problem. Any fat-assed Gates-worshipping geek in the right position can create problems with roll-outs or fixes or installs. It's active sabotage but as far as they're concerned they're doing it for their god, so it's all good. It amazed me what some people would do out of a fanatical devotion to a man who they'd never met and who didn't give a fuck whether they lived or died.
Before we get suckered any further, we should remember that this is just another Zonk propaganda piece. The guy publishes tripe, then adds his own insulting comments to the mix to stir up the pot. He's like a little kid throwing rocks into a bee hive just to piss off the bees.
I'm doing something I've never done before: culling his stories in my preferences. I've had enough of this wanker to last me a lifetime.
Eliminate all dangerous states and replace them with democracies structured in such a way to make it very difficult for them to wage war.
Great plan. And how exactly do you plan to implement this? America is a republic, yet our government goes off to war with damn near every new president, apparently just to prove that the guy in the Oval really does have a big dick. And the Germans, if you've forgotten, had a republic in the 1930s - and they *voted in* a dictatorship, because the republic wasn't working for them. Which led to the worst war in human history.
It doesn't matter if you replace every government in the world with a democracy or republic or parliamentary system, or whatever you think the magic bullet is. Somewhere the citizens will do a Germany and replace their republic, via elections, with a dictatorship. Or they'll become like the U.S. and start kicking ass just because they can.
Elected government is no panacea. Elected governments seem to be just as likely to go to war as non-elected ones, if history is any indication.
Just look at history and you can see the value of such a plan.
I have, and I don't have a clue what you're talking about. As I said, there's nothing stopping elected governments from going to war - they've done it plenty of times in the past.
to claim that more than a small percentage of Americans aren't outraged by him is a gross distortion of the truth.
Definitely true. Only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population identifies itself as fundamentalist - approximately 5 million out of a total of 285 million folks. We only know about them because the press loves to print sensationalist articles on lunatics, and because they're powerful in a few localized areas (e.g., the intelligent design nonsense). It's the same approach the press takes to groups like PETA, whose membership is so tiny as to be insignificant but who're guaranteed to do something so obnoxious it'll make for a good sound bite or article clipping.
Some Europeans make the mistake of thinking that these folks actually represent the majority of Americans, which is just ignorant, unintelligent nonsense. Good for the bigots though, I suppose.
Regrettably, many Americans view Europeans as uncompetitive.
Cites? Sources? A single sociological study published in an accredited, peer-reviewed journal? Or did you just pull this anecdotal piece of shit directly out of your ass and present it as fact?
The American urban legend says
No, YOU say that. Probably because you're an idiot who believes that whatever he thinks must be true, the facts be damned. Good christ, what a moron....
Americans conveniently overlook the fact
Yep, looks like I was right. Hey, get back to us when you're done congratulating yourself in the mirror over presenting your tripe as truth. Asshole.
The US has not been behaving well towards the EU of late.
What a load of horseshit. We've done nothing to the EU that would constitute "bad" behavior, unless you somehow think that not bowing down to the wishes of certain segments of the population of Europe when it comes to other non-European nations (e.g., Iraq) is said behavior. In which case I'd say "piss off - you aren't our elected officials, you don't get a say in how we conduct business outside of Europe."
If that bothers you, too bad. You don't get a say and that's just the way it is, seeing as how the nations of Europe are no longer world powers. But as for our behavior with respect to the EU itself, it's certainly been better than the behavior of the EU towards us.
Your desires have nothing to do with the way the universe works.
Which has nothing to do with anything that's gone before. Try shoving the strawman where the sun don't shine.
Tough guy bullshit. You stupid fuck. Look at the universe around you.
Typical pseudo-liberal cunt. "I know the way - the rest of you are stupid fucks". Your kind are a dime a dozen, pal.
Cheap energy is a historical blip
Uh-huh. Power generation and transmission has become uniformly cheaper across the whole of human history. That's some blip.
there is nothing written into the laws that govern the universe that says it should or will continue indefinitely.
Which again, has nothing to do with anything being talked about here. Have a hard time staying on topic, do you?
You sound like some stupid fucking libertarian
I am a libertarian. And you're a stupid fucking socialist, by the sound of it.
living life with complete disregard for the effects of their actions.
That isn't libertarianism, but I doubt you have the grey matter to comprehend the actual concepts behind the philosophy. No doubt you'd rather use force, at government gunpoint, to MAKE everyone else follow whatever regiment you've decided is best for all of us - for "the greater good", of course. Your kind is enamored of that argument, using it as a justification for all sorts of totalitarian bullshit.
Thank the gods that you and yours will never be anything more than impotent, powerless gits. I can't imagine the dystopian abomination you'd force on the rest of us, should you ever be more than a fringe element.
Then you have a problem: the difference between what you want to have and going to get, will only increase in the decades to come, as prices will rise and supplies dwindle.
Well, that's nice. And your historical evidence supporting this conclusion is - what, again? Nothing? The price of power over time has always declined because of technological improvements in production and delivery, without exception. Are you going to tell me that someway, somehow, we're suddenly going to STOP advancing technologically and simply rot in stagnation? We're suddenly going to become stuck in the year 2006 and never advance again?
it is actually the leftish energy-conserving people, hated by you
Where the hell did you get that one? Pulled out of your ass, I suppose? Why don't you find that part of my post where I said I "hated" leftish energy-conserving people. Really, go ahead - I'll wait.
are actually helping you get your energy because they use less, so more is available for others.
Great, be noble and self-sacrificing if it makes you feel better. Just don't insist that everyone else believe the way that you believe, or act the way that you act. Do that and you're no better than any religious fanatic.
Whereas people who think like you, are actually stealing your energy because they consume something that could have gone to you.
Yep, religious fanatic. I'm "stealing" from other people by not following the One True and Right Path(TM). Please, get over yourself. Either that, or move to a country where cramming your ideology down the throats of others by force is an accepted way of doing business.
I really hate the shitheads that worry more about their land values than about the world they are leaving behind.
And I really hate the shitheads who think they've got some moral right to tell everyone else what they "should" do with their private property. But there do seem to be a lot of them around lately, all yammering on about their personal agendas, usually telling all and sundry that it's for "the greater good".
They want to have their cute little yards and attractive houses while they ship all the trash they produce off to somewhere else.
Kinda like so-called environmentalists and the logging industry. Let's shut down the logging industry in America - and ship it to the Third World! Excellent fucking idea, that. Hey, so long as it isn't in my back yard....
Grid-tied alternative energy is really good for most people.
Says who? You? Apparently most people don't agree with you, since most people don't give a fuck about alternative energy.
Using alternative power should be a civic responsibility like not commiting crimes and voting.
Not telling other people how to live their lives should be a civic responsibility, like not committing crimes or voting. Minding your own goddamned business would also be nice.
Helps what, exactly? Push your personal agenda? I don't want to live in a world where my neighbors get their panties in a wad because I leave the lights on, or worse, think they actually have the right to get in my face about it. Nor do I want to live in a world where people count watts like diet-addicts count calories. I don't want less power, I want *more* power. More power to do whatever I please, whenever I please.
If you're talking about making power so plentiful it goes for pennies on the dollar at todays prices, I'm with you. If you're going to go off on some environmental rant about how we should all live on tiny amounts of power, use solar heaters, and grow organic vegetables in our back yards, then forget that shit - I'm not interested.
I have no idea why you couldn't revive his computer. At worst you'd have to reformat the disks and reinstall; no virus, trojan, or piece of spyware is going to survive that. No matter how bad the software it isn't going to be able to rewire his hardware.
if laws get passed that state your are responsible for your computers actions in dos attacks or if your computer is hijacked and made into a child porn depot, things might change.
And these laws would be both stupid and unconstitutional. If a drug dealer grows a small field of pot on a wooded area of the back forty you never use, the law can't hold you responsible for not patrolling the land on the off-chance that drug dealers might hijack a piece of it for their own use when you aren't looking. If we lived in such a state we might as well use the Constitution to wipe our asses with, since it'd be nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.
They do. For example, it's been proven time and again that using a cell phone while driving impairs the driver the same way that being legally drunk does. And yet every clueless fucking prick out there either claims a) that the science is wrong, and their own personal belief trumps all facts, or b) that THEY are somehow special, better drivers completed unaffected and therefore not one of 'those' people who shouldn't be using a cell phone while driving.
For examples, just take a look at slashdot. Assholes left and right claim that THEY are superior to the "unwashed masses" at the drop of a hat. They call the average computer user "clueless" and blame failures in security on them - and then they get in their cars and hold conversations with friends and family from the time they leave the drive to the time they pull in at their destination, never realizing (and certainly never willing to admit) that they're just as fucking stupid when it comes to driving as those "lusers" are on the computer.
Of course, accidentally installing spyware on your computer isn't going to kill anyone. So the real "lusers", I'd say, are the high-and-mighty fuckers on their cell phones, complaining to their pals about how stupid the average computer user is while they themselves are weaving about the road like a bunch of drunken cunts.
I think this is the model you're going to see come first to the internet, for broadband users. A person will be able to buy the rights to download a season of a show (call it 20 eps) for a fixed price; or a single show for a higher price. The first couple of shows will be free in order to get people hooked. There won't be any commercials (who'd watch 'em?) but there will be obvious product placement (e.g., the main character is often seen drinking a Pepsi). Advertising will also be sold on the web site that offers the shows, for very high prices. But most of the money will be made in fees, which even if it only amounts to, say, $1.50/show/person, is far, far greater than the overall returns on normal TV.
This will be coupled with a service, which we'll call MovieWatcher or TVWatcher (both of which I hereby copyright, for future reference). The Watcher programs run in the background on your computer and download the shows you've paid for as they become available, flagging a notice when the downloads are complete ("You've Got TV!"). That way you don't have to do *anything* - you pay for the shows and they automagically appear on your computer as the episodes are completed. You can watch them anytime you want, keep copies for your personal library, etc. And I'm claiming this idea under the DMCA as well, just in case anyone thinks of trying to cut me out of my fair share.;-)
Not only is this blazingly convenient, it also comes without the annoyance of those goddamned commercials we all hate so much. We can watch what we want when we want, only directly supporting the shows that we're interested in. Nobody else gets a 'piece' of our action. And if a particular studio wants to hawk a new, unknown show, next will come the concept of 'bundling' - get 3 shows for the price of 2! Buy an entire one year subscription to show X and you'll get a season of show Y for just an additional $5! Etc, etc.
Why would anyone pay for shows when you can just torrent them? For the same reason 95% of us still pay for music when we could easily download it for free: because 95% of us aren't thieving little college shits who think they 'deserve' free music and free TV and free movies just because they're wasting good oxygen.
Watch; it'll happen. And sooner than people think.
Fox didn't reveal it, Gail Berman did. And you can bet the bitch/cunt/whore did it out of spite, probably after it was revealed that the show was going to be sold to SciFi. She has a reputation in the business for poisoning everything she touches, but knows where so many bodies are buried that nobody dares to take her down. She is personally attributed with killing at least a half-dozen shows because she hated one or more of the women on those shows - not because of some personal conflict, but simply because they were beautiful, popular, and the talk of the office. One of those shows is "Dark Angel", for those who are wondering, which was doing well enough ratings-wise to continue but became one of her personal crusades of vindictiveness because the effect that Jessica Alba had on her male co-slime enraged her. She so despised Ms. Alba she didn't even bother trying to be subtle about it, telling quite a few people that she was going to torpedo the show just because she couldn't stand Ms. Alba.
Gail Berman has a rep in the business, and none of it is good. She's the worst thing to ever happen to Fox, and if she didn't have so much blackmail material she'd've been shit-canned years ago. But that's how things work in TV and movie-land; the quality of a show rarely has anything to do with whether it lives or dies. Berman will be around until the day she dies, which, if the way she treats her staff is any indication, will probably be due to something other than natural causes.
of course the crapfest Invasion will probably be on air for years to come.
I certainly hope so. Invasion has two very hot babes: the sheriff's daughter (yum yum!) and the girl I call "Daylight" for reasons best left unexplained (second wife of the ranger guy). Really, the babes are enough to keep my interest for years to come....
It's easy to let your emotions get the better of you.
Part of being an adult is to *not* let your emotions get the better of you. When you do you suck it up, be a man, and pay the price. This cowardly little fat-ass couldn't even summon up the balls to do that.
Slashdot Mirror
That's because people use Tor to troll Slashdot
People use *their own accounts* to troll Slashdot as well, not to mention regular AC posts. How the fuck is using Tor any different?
Max
May I also remind you that not everyone lives in the US. We don't all have a fair use doctrine to hide behind :(
And may I remind you that most of the posters here on Slashdot do. How you got the idea that we all live in your little backwater of the planet is beyond me. Certainly made you like like an idiot, though.
Max
Religious zealotry. Seriously. The hard-core 'free software' folks are pretty rabid when it comes to smacking down anyone who doesn't chant the party line along with them, and they (like the Billy Boys) don't seem to have a problem ganging up and slamming your karma to 'teach you a lesson'. Unfortunately it seems that a number of slashdotters actually seem to care about their karma scores, so they go AC to preserve their regular accounts.
For the record I could give two shits about free software. I support open source, but that's simply because I hate the idea of running black boxes on equipment I paid for and own. Paranoia, you know.
Max
Also government censorship is in some cases illegal.
You gotta love a country where it's perfectly acceptable to say something like this with a straight face.
Max
More than the historical inaccuracies, it's the fact that of all the European countries, the French as a culture tend to be more fond of Americans than anywhere else.
Goddamn, what the hell are you smoking? French fond of Americans? Pull your head out of your ass; an American is far, far more likely to get a warm welcome in Holland, Sweden, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, etc. An American will get a warmer welcome in *Russia* than in France, the country we engaged in a cold war with for fifty years.
France is known for its wines, its cheeses, and its inability to grasp the fact that its days of greatness ended in 1815 at Waterloo. It sure as hell isn't known for its hospitality, especially when it comes to Americans.
Max
We don't like to give the time of day to nazi apologists, nor waste any more time arguing with them.
So freedom of speech is just fine, so long as it happens to be speech you don't disagree with. Great argument there, son. I'm sure your government-controlled, government-regulated search engine will suit you just fine. Have fun living in your little fantasy-land where you can pretend neo-Nazis don't exist because they aren't allowed to be public about their beliefs.
Fortunately for the rest of us, there's still Google and Yahoo.
Max
I don't like waiting in line behind joe sixpack while he fumbles around in his wallet trying to yank out his card, then can't even figure out which way to swipe the damn thing. Neither does anyone else.
Fortunately we live in a society which has no legal guarantee of personal convenience, so if Joe Sixpack wants to do that your only choice is to suck it up and deal with it.
Hell, I hate waiting in line at the store because some fuckwit has to run his bank card to buy groceries since he's too fucking lazy to hit the ATM and get some actual cash out, but that's his choice whether I like it or not. And so long as *I* have to suck it up, sit tight, and be polite, so do you.
Max
In my experience it is not the actual document formats or application retraining that is the stumbling block to migrating to open systems, but very often one rogue IT manager or employee who can best described as a "Microsoft guy."
Ain't this the truth. When I was contracting I ran into this time and again - some prick who didn't give a shit about the organization he worked for, but practically had an altar to Bill Gates in his bedroom. For him it was Microsoft, and everything else was a tool of the Great Satan.
And it doesn't have to be management to cause a problem. Any fat-assed Gates-worshipping geek in the right position can create problems with roll-outs or fixes or installs. It's active sabotage but as far as they're concerned they're doing it for their god, so it's all good. It amazed me what some people would do out of a fanatical devotion to a man who they'd never met and who didn't give a fuck whether they lived or died.
Max
Before we get suckered any further, we should remember that this is just another Zonk propaganda piece. The guy publishes tripe, then adds his own insulting comments to the mix to stir up the pot. He's like a little kid throwing rocks into a bee hive just to piss off the bees.
I'm doing something I've never done before: culling his stories in my preferences. I've had enough of this wanker to last me a lifetime.
Max
Eliminate all dangerous states and replace them with democracies structured in such a way to make it very difficult for them to wage war.
Great plan. And how exactly do you plan to implement this? America is a republic, yet our government goes off to war with damn near every new president, apparently just to prove that the guy in the Oval really does have a big dick. And the Germans, if you've forgotten, had a republic in the 1930s - and they *voted in* a dictatorship, because the republic wasn't working for them. Which led to the worst war in human history.
It doesn't matter if you replace every government in the world with a democracy or republic or parliamentary system, or whatever you think the magic bullet is. Somewhere the citizens will do a Germany and replace their republic, via elections, with a dictatorship. Or they'll become like the U.S. and start kicking ass just because they can.
Elected government is no panacea. Elected governments seem to be just as likely to go to war as non-elected ones, if history is any indication.
Just look at history and you can see the value of such a plan.
I have, and I don't have a clue what you're talking about. As I said, there's nothing stopping elected governments from going to war - they've done it plenty of times in the past.
to claim that more than a small percentage of Americans aren't outraged by him is a gross distortion of the truth.
Definitely true. Only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population identifies itself as fundamentalist - approximately 5 million out of a total of 285 million folks. We only know about them because the press loves to print sensationalist articles on lunatics, and because they're powerful in a few localized areas (e.g., the intelligent design nonsense). It's the same approach the press takes to groups like PETA, whose membership is so tiny as to be insignificant but who're guaranteed to do something so obnoxious it'll make for a good sound bite or article clipping.
Some Europeans make the mistake of thinking that these folks actually represent the majority of Americans, which is just ignorant, unintelligent nonsense. Good for the bigots though, I suppose.
Max
Regrettably, many Americans view Europeans as uncompetitive.
Cites? Sources? A single sociological study published in an accredited, peer-reviewed journal? Or did you just pull this anecdotal piece of shit directly out of your ass and present it as fact?
The American urban legend says
No, YOU say that. Probably because you're an idiot who believes that whatever he thinks must be true, the facts be damned. Good christ, what a moron....
Americans conveniently overlook the fact
Yep, looks like I was right. Hey, get back to us when you're done congratulating yourself in the mirror over presenting your tripe as truth. Asshole.
Max
The US has not been behaving well towards the EU of late.
What a load of horseshit. We've done nothing to the EU that would constitute "bad" behavior, unless you somehow think that not bowing down to the wishes of certain segments of the population of Europe when it comes to other non-European nations (e.g., Iraq) is said behavior. In which case I'd say "piss off - you aren't our elected officials, you don't get a say in how we conduct business outside of Europe."
If that bothers you, too bad. You don't get a say and that's just the way it is, seeing as how the nations of Europe are no longer world powers. But as for our behavior with respect to the EU itself, it's certainly been better than the behavior of the EU towards us.
Max
Your desires have nothing to do with the way the universe works.
Which has nothing to do with anything that's gone before. Try shoving the strawman where the sun don't shine.
Tough guy bullshit. You stupid fuck. Look at the universe around you.
Typical pseudo-liberal cunt. "I know the way - the rest of you are stupid fucks". Your kind are a dime a dozen, pal.
Cheap energy is a historical blip
Uh-huh. Power generation and transmission has become uniformly cheaper across the whole of human history. That's some blip.
there is nothing written into the laws that govern the universe that says it should or will continue indefinitely.
Which again, has nothing to do with anything being talked about here. Have a hard time staying on topic, do you?
You sound like some stupid fucking libertarian
I am a libertarian. And you're a stupid fucking socialist, by the sound of it.
living life with complete disregard for the effects of their actions.
That isn't libertarianism, but I doubt you have the grey matter to comprehend the actual concepts behind the philosophy. No doubt you'd rather use force, at government gunpoint, to MAKE everyone else follow whatever regiment you've decided is best for all of us - for "the greater good", of course. Your kind is enamored of that argument, using it as a justification for all sorts of totalitarian bullshit.
Thank the gods that you and yours will never be anything more than impotent, powerless gits. I can't imagine the dystopian abomination you'd force on the rest of us, should you ever be more than a fringe element.
Max
Then you have a problem: the difference between what you want to have and going to get, will only increase in the decades to come, as prices will rise and supplies dwindle.
Well, that's nice. And your historical evidence supporting this conclusion is - what, again? Nothing? The price of power over time has always declined because of technological improvements in production and delivery, without exception. Are you going to tell me that someway, somehow, we're suddenly going to STOP advancing technologically and simply rot in stagnation? We're suddenly going to become stuck in the year 2006 and never advance again?
it is actually the leftish energy-conserving people, hated by you
Where the hell did you get that one? Pulled out of your ass, I suppose? Why don't you find that part of my post where I said I "hated" leftish energy-conserving people. Really, go ahead - I'll wait.
are actually helping you get your energy because they use less, so more is available for others.
Great, be noble and self-sacrificing if it makes you feel better. Just don't insist that everyone else believe the way that you believe, or act the way that you act. Do that and you're no better than any religious fanatic.
Whereas people who think like you, are actually stealing your energy because they consume something that could have gone to you.
Yep, religious fanatic. I'm "stealing" from other people by not following the One True and Right Path(TM). Please, get over yourself. Either that, or move to a country where cramming your ideology down the throats of others by force is an accepted way of doing business.
Max
Using alternative power should be a civic responsibility like not commiting crimes and voting.
Spoken like a person who isn't going to have government come in, seize a piece of his farm, and build a giant windmill there.
It's always easy to tell the other guy to suck it up and deal with it. No doubt you'll be the one screaming bloody murder when your turn comes around.
Max
I really hate the shitheads that worry more about their land values than about the world they are leaving behind.
And I really hate the shitheads who think they've got some moral right to tell everyone else what they "should" do with their private property. But there do seem to be a lot of them around lately, all yammering on about their personal agendas, usually telling all and sundry that it's for "the greater good".
They want to have their cute little yards and attractive houses while they ship all the trash they produce off to somewhere else.
Kinda like so-called environmentalists and the logging industry. Let's shut down the logging industry in America - and ship it to the Third World! Excellent fucking idea, that. Hey, so long as it isn't in my back yard....
Grid-tied alternative energy is really good for most people.
Says who? You? Apparently most people don't agree with you, since most people don't give a fuck about alternative energy.
Using alternative power should be a civic responsibility like not commiting crimes and voting.
Not telling other people how to live their lives should be a civic responsibility, like not committing crimes or voting. Minding your own goddamned business would also be nice.
Max
Helps what, exactly? Push your personal agenda? I don't want to live in a world where my neighbors get their panties in a wad because I leave the lights on, or worse, think they actually have the right to get in my face about it. Nor do I want to live in a world where people count watts like diet-addicts count calories. I don't want less power, I want *more* power. More power to do whatever I please, whenever I please.
If you're talking about making power so plentiful it goes for pennies on the dollar at todays prices, I'm with you. If you're going to go off on some environmental rant about how we should all live on tiny amounts of power, use solar heaters, and grow organic vegetables in our back yards, then forget that shit - I'm not interested.
Max
I have no idea why you couldn't revive his computer. At worst you'd have to reformat the disks and reinstall; no virus, trojan, or piece of spyware is going to survive that. No matter how bad the software it isn't going to be able to rewire his hardware.
Max
if laws get passed that state your are responsible for your computers actions in dos attacks or if your computer is hijacked and made into a child porn depot, things might change.
And these laws would be both stupid and unconstitutional. If a drug dealer grows a small field of pot on a wooded area of the back forty you never use, the law can't hold you responsible for not patrolling the land on the off-chance that drug dealers might hijack a piece of it for their own use when you aren't looking. If we lived in such a state we might as well use the Constitution to wipe our asses with, since it'd be nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.
Thanks, I think I'll pass.
Max
If people drove cars the way they use computers
They do. For example, it's been proven time and again that using a cell phone while driving impairs the driver the same way that being legally drunk does. And yet every clueless fucking prick out there either claims a) that the science is wrong, and their own personal belief trumps all facts, or b) that THEY are somehow special, better drivers completed unaffected and therefore not one of 'those' people who shouldn't be using a cell phone while driving.
For examples, just take a look at slashdot. Assholes left and right claim that THEY are superior to the "unwashed masses" at the drop of a hat. They call the average computer user "clueless" and blame failures in security on them - and then they get in their cars and hold conversations with friends and family from the time they leave the drive to the time they pull in at their destination, never realizing (and certainly never willing to admit) that they're just as fucking stupid when it comes to driving as those "lusers" are on the computer.
Of course, accidentally installing spyware on your computer isn't going to kill anyone. So the real "lusers", I'd say, are the high-and-mighty fuckers on their cell phones, complaining to their pals about how stupid the average computer user is while they themselves are weaving about the road like a bunch of drunken cunts.
Max
I think this is the model you're going to see come first to the internet, for broadband users. A person will be able to buy the rights to download a season of a show (call it 20 eps) for a fixed price; or a single show for a higher price. The first couple of shows will be free in order to get people hooked. There won't be any commercials (who'd watch 'em?) but there will be obvious product placement (e.g., the main character is often seen drinking a Pepsi). Advertising will also be sold on the web site that offers the shows, for very high prices. But most of the money will be made in fees, which even if it only amounts to, say, $1.50/show/person, is far, far greater than the overall returns on normal TV.
;-)
This will be coupled with a service, which we'll call MovieWatcher or TVWatcher (both of which I hereby copyright, for future reference). The Watcher programs run in the background on your computer and download the shows you've paid for as they become available, flagging a notice when the downloads are complete ("You've Got TV!"). That way you don't have to do *anything* - you pay for the shows and they automagically appear on your computer as the episodes are completed. You can watch them anytime you want, keep copies for your personal library, etc. And I'm claiming this idea under the DMCA as well, just in case anyone thinks of trying to cut me out of my fair share.
Not only is this blazingly convenient, it also comes without the annoyance of those goddamned commercials we all hate so much. We can watch what we want when we want, only directly supporting the shows that we're interested in. Nobody else gets a 'piece' of our action. And if a particular studio wants to hawk a new, unknown show, next will come the concept of 'bundling' - get 3 shows for the price of 2! Buy an entire one year subscription to show X and you'll get a season of show Y for just an additional $5! Etc, etc.
Why would anyone pay for shows when you can just torrent them? For the same reason 95% of us still pay for music when we could easily download it for free: because 95% of us aren't thieving little college shits who think they 'deserve' free music and free TV and free movies just because they're wasting good oxygen.
Watch; it'll happen. And sooner than people think.
Max
Fox didn't reveal it, Gail Berman did. And you can bet the bitch/cunt/whore did it out of spite, probably after it was revealed that the show was going to be sold to SciFi. She has a reputation in the business for poisoning everything she touches, but knows where so many bodies are buried that nobody dares to take her down. She is personally attributed with killing at least a half-dozen shows because she hated one or more of the women on those shows - not because of some personal conflict, but simply because they were beautiful, popular, and the talk of the office. One of those shows is "Dark Angel", for those who are wondering, which was doing well enough ratings-wise to continue but became one of her personal crusades of vindictiveness because the effect that Jessica Alba had on her male co-slime enraged her. She so despised Ms. Alba she didn't even bother trying to be subtle about it, telling quite a few people that she was going to torpedo the show just because she couldn't stand Ms. Alba.
Gail Berman has a rep in the business, and none of it is good. She's the worst thing to ever happen to Fox, and if she didn't have so much blackmail material she'd've been shit-canned years ago. But that's how things work in TV and movie-land; the quality of a show rarely has anything to do with whether it lives or dies. Berman will be around until the day she dies, which, if the way she treats her staff is any indication, will probably be due to something other than natural causes.
Here's hoping she gets hit by a bus. And soon.
Max
I can't think of more obvious way to come out to the world as gay than to say that ANYTHING with Jessica Alba in it is boring.
Max
of course the crapfest Invasion will probably be on air for years to come.
I certainly hope so. Invasion has two very hot babes: the sheriff's daughter (yum yum!) and the girl I call "Daylight" for reasons best left unexplained (second wife of the ranger guy). Really, the babes are enough to keep my interest for years to come....
Max
It's easy to let your emotions get the better of you.
Part of being an adult is to *not* let your emotions get the better of you. When you do you suck it up, be a man, and pay the price. This cowardly little fat-ass couldn't even summon up the balls to do that.
Max