Bravo! I really wish I had mod points right now, because that was the best post I have read all day. I was about to reply to that guy myself, until I saw your post, which said everything that I had thought to say, only much better than I ever could.
This is standard operating procedure for Bush. Never answer
a question directly, always refer the questioner to a previous
statement that was made (which also doesn't answer the question)
I think what you are not understanding is that the vast majority of Americans don't know or care much about Politics. Oh, if you ask them, they will usually parrot some sound-bite they heard recently on a commercial, but they have no real knowledge of what is going on. (believe me, I grew up in the midwest. most people here have no fucking clue)
I don't see how game programming could have anything to do with the little "Restore... Close" menu that pops up with a right click. The menu is a function of the windows manager (explorer.exe) I believe.
Actually, that menu is called the system menu if I recall correctly, and each application must handle the messages sent by it - usually by letting DefWindowProc() handle them. Or something like that, it's been years since I did any Win32 programming. The problem is that there are game programmers out there who insist on trying to disable things like Alt-Tab and the WindowsKey from switching away from their precious game, and in the process they end up disabling the whole sysmenu. I used to read the Direct3D dev mail list and about once a week some guy would ask how to keep people from switching back to the desktop. The answer of course was "Don't do that", but evidently, they didn't all listen.
On a somewhat related subject,(heat) I was just installing memory in my iBook and couldn't decide whether to remove the stickers (from the ram-chips) or not. I know the bottom of the thing can get fairly toasty at times. This is the only laptop I have ever owned, so I have no experience with this. Will the sticker cause problems?
The point is that blasphemy and adultery now have ZERO punishment for the offenders, an obvious reduction from what it used to be.
Ok, I won't argue with that. I guess I just feel compelled to argue about how bad our (USA) justice system is getting. There are SO many laws that I feel are totally unjust... I kinda tend to fly off the handle.
Yes, you're right. Why, just this morning on the way to work, I stopped by the town square to throw tomatoes at two blasphemers currently locked up in stocks. And I noticed one of my neighbors now has a very red "A" on her forehead. May have to stop by her place after work tonight, see if her cows need milking....
I know you're being funny here, but seriously, if given the choice of a few weeks in the stocks or taking it in the ass in a prison, I would probably opt for the stocks. Also, although I haven't seen anybody with the red "A"s, many (most?) places now publish lists of criminal offenders so that all their neighbors will know what they have done. (sex offenders, DUIs, even deadbeat dads, sure some deserve such treatment, but others get screwed over then end up with their name on such a list forever) So I don't really see much difference...
I'm curious to know if you actually own a Zen player or have just seen one in a store or something?
Because I have actually owned both a Creative Zen Xtra 30gb and an iPod 30gb, and I returned the Zen in disgust after two days. The iPod blows it away in every way except price.
I'd be happy to enumerate all the things I hated about the Zen, but I doubt it is really necessary. Please note that I hardly qualify as a maczealot since I only own one iBook, and 6 PCs with various OSes. So 14% of my computers are macs... hmm, I guess I am a little above the average mac marketshare - one more mac could put me into the reality-distortion field I hear so much about.
I've had that same problem with my mom and Outlook. I've decided that the problem is that Outlook has too much unnecessary crap that just serves to confuse her. I am planning to switch her over to something simpler. Not sure what yet though.
Another problem is that she is worried about viruses and stuff and has to ask me if certain emails are safe for her to open or not. I really would like to move her over to an ibook or emac to make that a little less of a problem. yeah, that's it, I'll give her my ibook and buy myself a new one. I've been looking for an excuse.
According to Rackspace's co-chairman, one-third of users approached via chat engage in conversation with a salesperson, and half of those take the discussion to the next level.
I've thought about this quite a bit myself, as I have a chronic illness that requires me to have lots of expensive medical equipment and treatment. In many cases they overcharge because they know that charging less will not expand their market. People who need a special device for medical reasons really have no choice but to pay up. If you need it you need it. If they are lucky, insurance will pay for it. Also, for many devices gov't regulations have driven the prices up considerably as well as liability insurance and whatnot.
Also, most people don't like to think too much about sick or disabled people, so they don't take them into consideration when designing products. Think about all the resistance there was to the ADA when so many businesses had to put in wheelchair ramps and stuff. I've never heard so much moaning...
man don't get me started, i could go on a Huge rant. Suffice to say, it makes me happy to see a company doing something that will help some disabled people for a change, instead of taking advantage.
Anyone who followed the advice given here has made a very tidy profit on SCOX.
That depends very much on WHEN they followed the advice. If, for example, you had shorted SCOX last July(at $10) when a lot of slashdotters were advocating that, you would have lost your ass when it continued to go up to over $20 last fall. Many times, it is a good idea to do just the OPPOSITE of what the slashdot "experts" say. There's a lot more to trading stocks than just having "tech-knowledge".
To be fair, you must admit that Amiga had a superior architecture for multitasking in 1985. Of course, that doesn't excuse MS for all the years of crap we had to endure later, but really I think starting out on 8088 was a big setback for them.
I completely agree with everything else you said, esp. w/ regard to all the big mergers recently.
You see the Fnords? your conditioning must be wearing off. Remember:
IF YOU DON'T SEE THE FNORD IT CAN'T EAT YOU, DON'T
SEE THE FNORD, DON'T SEE THE FNORD . . .
The Illuminati must be trying to Immanentize the Eschaton!
That problem is mainly caused by the winner-takes-all system employed in Canada and USA. Introducing proportional representation will help that (along with other things)...
The majority of USians would never comprehend proportional representation. Most don't even understand the electoral system we have now. I'm not saying that proportional representation isn't superior, but I think it would be impossible to make a change like that especially since the powers that be would fight it tooth and nail.
IMHO, the final episode of Farscape was surpassed as most painful ending 20 years ago by the final episode of Blake's 7. I remember being really pissed off about that. And I don't usually care about these kind of things. Back then I had better things to do than sit around watching tube.
I agree with you completely about Firefly BTW.
As far as Star Trek goes, I thought Enterprise was watchable, moreso than Voyager, which I just couldn't bring myself to watch.
This is insane....no patriot would even consider allowing this....
I totally agree
Let's just pretend that we no longer have a "Bill of Rights".... or just that it simply has a dollar figure at the bottom that we're supposed to mail in....
Do we even need to pretend? It seems to me they've been wiping their asses with the Bill of Rights ever since around 2001-09-11.
If you're really curious about how and when corporations acquired all the rights (and none of the responsibilities) of people, there's a good article which talks about that(in the context of a more recent case) here:
This is, to my mind, one of the worst things that happened in the 19th century. It paved the way for a lot of the problems we encounter today with corporations controlling everything. As for how it could be turned around, your guess is as good as mine. (a good start would be to get rid of Bush and his cronies, but don't think the Dems are much better when it comes to this subject, they know which side their bread is buttered on)
This reminds me of when I was "The guy with the truck", and everyone at my office who moved would ask me if I could help. I had volunteered to help someone once, and the word must have gotten out. I swear I must have moved 6 or 8 people in a 3 year period. I finally started telling everyone that the truck was broke down, and I just drove my RX7 to work from then on. Now of course, I have the same problem with computer repairs for my family and friends, but most don't really bother me that much.
I have one of those(it's my first trackball device) and I like it, except that I have it connected to a KVM switch and evidently the kvm doesn't pass all the button and scroll events properly, because when I try to scroll up with the wheel it generates a "Back" event and my browser (any of them - IE, Moz, Firebird) goes back to the previous page. You can imagine how annoying that could be, especially when a big page has to reload and I have crappy starband internet. Argh!
Slashdot Mirror
Bravo! I really wish I had mod points right now, because that was the best post I have read all day. I was about to reply to that guy myself, until I saw your post, which said everything that I had thought to say, only much better than I ever could.
This is standard operating procedure for Bush. Never answer a question directly, always refer the questioner to a previous statement that was made (which also doesn't answer the question)
I think what you are not understanding is that the vast majority of Americans don't know or care much about Politics. Oh, if you ask them, they will usually parrot some sound-bite they heard recently on a commercial, but they have no real knowledge of what is going on. (believe me, I grew up in the midwest. most people here have no fucking clue)
On a somewhat related subject,(heat) I was just installing memory in my iBook and couldn't decide whether to remove the stickers (from the ram-chips) or not. I know the bottom of the thing can get fairly toasty at times. This is the only laptop I have ever owned, so I have no experience with this. Will the sticker cause problems?
No, if trees ever became a strategic asset we would no doubt be told that Canada is now in need of being liberated. :-)
howdja get all the funk out?
Because I have actually owned both a Creative Zen Xtra 30gb and an iPod 30gb, and I returned the Zen in disgust after two days. The iPod blows it away in every way except price.
I'd be happy to enumerate all the things I hated about the Zen, but I doubt it is really necessary. Please note that I hardly qualify as a maczealot since I only own one iBook, and 6 PCs with various OSes. So 14% of my computers are macs... hmm, I guess I am a little above the average mac marketshare - one more mac could put me into the reality-distortion field I hear so much about.
I've had that same problem with my mom and Outlook. I've decided that the problem is that Outlook has too much unnecessary crap that just serves to confuse her. I am planning to switch her over to something simpler. Not sure what yet though.
Another problem is that she is worried about viruses and stuff and has to ask me if certain emails are safe for her to open or not. I really would like to move her over to an ibook or emac to make that a little less of a problem. yeah, that's it, I'll give her my ibook and buy myself a new one. I've been looking for an excuse.
Hey now, don't sully the good name of drug dealers by associating them with spammers!
Also, most people don't like to think too much about sick or disabled people, so they don't take them into consideration when designing products. Think about all the resistance there was to the ADA when so many businesses had to put in wheelchair ramps and stuff. I've never heard so much moaning...
man don't get me started, i could go on a Huge rant. Suffice to say, it makes me happy to see a company doing something that will help some disabled people for a change, instead of taking advantage.
That depends very much on WHEN they followed the advice. If, for example, you had shorted SCOX last July(at $10) when a lot of slashdotters were advocating that, you would have lost your ass when it continued to go up to over $20 last fall. Many times, it is a good idea to do just the OPPOSITE of what the slashdot "experts" say. There's a lot more to trading stocks than just having "tech-knowledge".
I completely agree with everything else you said, esp. w/ regard to all the big mergers recently.
You see the Fnords? your conditioning must be wearing off. Remember: IF YOU DON'T SEE THE FNORD IT CAN'T EAT YOU, DON'T SEE THE FNORD, DON'T SEE THE FNORD . . . The Illuminati must be trying to Immanentize the Eschaton!
The majority of USians would never comprehend proportional representation. Most don't even understand the electoral system we have now. I'm not saying that proportional representation isn't superior, but I think it would be impossible to make a change like that especially since the powers that be would fight it tooth and nail.
I agree with you completely about Firefly BTW. As far as Star Trek goes, I thought Enterprise was watchable, moreso than Voyager, which I just couldn't bring myself to watch.
If you're really curious about how and when corporations acquired all the rights (and none of the responsibilities) of people, there's a good article which talks about that(in the context of a more recent case) here:
d
d
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhoo
Also wikipedia has a comprehensive article on the subject:
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhoo
This is, to my mind, one of the worst things that happened in the 19th century. It paved the way for a lot of the problems we encounter today with corporations controlling everything. As for how it could be turned around, your guess is as good as mine. (a good start would be to get rid of Bush and his cronies, but don't think the Dems are much better when it comes to this subject, they know which side their bread is buttered on)
This reminds me of when I was "The guy with the truck", and everyone at my office who moved would ask me if I could help. I had volunteered to help someone once, and the word must have gotten out. I swear I must have moved 6 or 8 people in a 3 year period. I finally started telling everyone that the truck was broke down, and I just drove my RX7 to work from then on. Now of course, I have the same problem with computer repairs for my family and friends, but most don't really bother me that much.
I have one of those(it's my first trackball device) and I like it, except that I have it connected to a KVM switch and evidently the kvm doesn't pass all the button and scroll events properly, because when I try to scroll up with the wheel it generates a "Back" event and my browser (any of them - IE, Moz, Firebird) goes back to the previous page. You can imagine how annoying that could be, especially when a big page has to reload and I have crappy starband internet. Argh!