Nolan Bushnell is still a pretty neat guy. I remember years ago when slashdot posted his email and he'd answer just about everything.
I asked about the rumored "Kramer vs Kramer" game where you lure your kid to your side of the screen with gifts and threats. He said if they worked on that, it was past the time he worked there.
I wonder if Bill Gates will answer my question about a possible bug in my Windows 1.0 version of Reversi.
People don't starve to death because of lack of food in the world. Yes, that makes no sense. They starve because of lack of infrastructure to get them food.
Local failure means no easy to access food, but warlords and other people out for a buck, hold up food in ports to distribute it at a profit. Without the profit they want, they let it rot at the dock.
It's great to see this on/. I hope something finally gets fixed.
My cars (1963 NSU, 1967 Corvair) and bikes (1965 Ducati 250, 1966 Montgomery Wards) don't like ethanol much. Ethanol and the changes in oil have been all over the car/bike email lists for years. This is a huge problem for people who own vintage iron.
Old cars and bikes don't like the new oils. It's designed for catalytic converters and doesn't do the lubrication job correctly anymore.
Ethanol is corrosive, chews up fuel lines and rubber gaskets, and doesn't burn "right". Engines aren't designed for it.
Valves burn up. Motorcycle clutches don't work correctly. Engines seize through lack of proper lubrication.
Things like lead additives, Marvel Mystery Oil and other related hocus-pocus stuff helps, but not enough.
Ha, my username was chosen before I found out what chimpo means in Japanese. It was a high school era joke about speaking Spanish by adding an "o" to words that a classmate used to use in class. But I'm sure you know that, Senor Stephanrubyo.
Actually, I live alone. Please don't tell my mother that my new pregnant fiance starred on Lancelot Link.
I think you have a problem communicating with your clients. I was thinking that as I read your 2nd sentence.
Of course, you should be upfront with the charges for the equipment. If you don't charge extra for the equipment (and I don't think it's a problem if you do because you're going through the trouble of sourcing it), just say, "These folks offer this piece for $100". Let them know that it's off eBay and they can't return it. Let them know if it's store bought, there's a restocking fee that they're responsible for. If they change their mind, they'll be stuck with those charges.
Tell them that you research equipment all the time and if they think they can find a better price, you're happy for them to buy it and you'll remember to start checking their place since they have a cheaper item than what you could find. I doubt they'll go through all that trouble.
It's the same basic idea when they had the "it has to be run on Microsoft" bit.
If they're hiring someone to do this, most of the time, the less questions you ask of them is better after you find out what they think they want. Make corrections since you're the paid professional. Why pay 5 grand for a super computer that'll turn off their lights when they'd be happier with a Clapper. You know what you're doing. Others can fake it and most clients won't know the difference.
You need to figure out how much responsibility they want in the decision but don't overpressure them because you're the paid professional.
In a bad car analogy, you're a mechanic. You call up and say the transmission is shot. It's a Ford, and you can rebuild a Ford tranny. Or they can pay extra and get a new Ford tranny. Of course, Ford also offers a heavy duty tranny. And Acme has a high end tranny that costs even more than the high end Ford tranny. And because you overshare, Slackme offers a low end tranny that's worse than the above.
Some will ask you to drain and change the fluid and will bitch when that doesn't work. For some it's buy a new tranny. Some want rebuild one. Some want an OEM new tranny. Some want the Acme, some want the Slackme.
Most want what works best for them (that's the important part). They don't know shit about transmissions so you have to find out what's best for them and let them know. Sure, there's a few cheapskates that want the fluid changed and will bitch to every last man on the earth that you ripped them off by changing the fluid then also charging them to rebuild the tranny because they're idiots about some things. Never forget the idiot factor but don't live by the idiot factor. Then there's others who are selling the car and have no problems with the Slackme transmission that'll blow up in 5,000 miles.
You ask a few rough questions to figure out how much input they want. But for many clients, it's just fix it and they don't care about every detail.
It's back to you're the trained professional. To me, it sounds like you misread your clients and offer too many options. It's a weird thing when you know all the details but if they knew the details, they wouldn't be calling you.
But what do I know? I walked away from working with computers a few years ago.
It makes sense to me to have old stuff and long past horror stories out there. People that are growing up now are used to it and I don't think they'll be as "shocked" at the shenanigans of the past. People have gotten drunk underaged and had premarital sex since booze laws and marriage were invented.
When it starts to affect the older generations, they'll be forced to deal with it in a reasonable way. People forget their past difficulties too easily.
They're stuck in a "the best years of life are high school" without thinking "Oh yeah, high school really sucks". Although if you're a jock, then maybe high school was the best time of your life, and I almost feel sorry for you.
College burglary. I don't know anything about the case. Did he steal beer? Who cares? It happened in 1983 and if he continued to be a criminal, he'd more than likely be behind bars.
I'll get off my "who the hell cares" soapbox now and will probably read another post saying the same thing, only better written.
How many of those have we put on the endangered list? There's predators but nothing that specifically looks for people to thin our herd.
The only predator that does any damage to humans is the occasional plague. Even human vs human doesn't keep us in check. Right now there's 6.77 billion of us.
I was waiting for Kirk to pull out a light saber while he walked across Hoth and find a tauntaun to sleep in. Maybe he could've slept in Spock, but that's might be a little to slash fiction for the PG-13. I was expecting a Star Wars reference and was disappointed when there wasn't one.
Also, being chased by a giant lobster on an ice planet? How the hell did that thing evolve?
The green skinned woman not done in CGI was the best special effect in that movie.
There's no way anyone is going to believe you when you say, "I just had 2 beers". That's a magic number that screams, "I'm lying" even if it is true.
Ask cops, paramedics, and emergency room personnel and "I just had 2 beers" is a running joke. Like "I was sitting on my porch minding my own business".
They're not using my server, they've changed the reply to. Same as what tinkerghost said. The responses don't give me any header info so no idea who is doing it, not that there's much I could do. If you have any ideas, I'm wide open.
The risk of the Offtopic response to a "piss on my computer" joke didn't seem worthy enough for Anonymous Coward. That'll teach me a lesson.
Someone is using one of my domains to send out spam to cell phones. The responses are pretty good and I'm sure lots would piss on their computers.
"Won what some MONEY" (x10 variations)
"I'd like buy viagra and fleshlight"
"THIS IS A FBI LINE..... DELETE IT NOW!!!!"
"How bout we say I did and don't you spam mail texting asslicking donkey shit eating mother fucker.:-D" (that guy has sent in about 4 replies but that's the funniest)
"These fonky hoes left me in da club and when i was lookin for em some nigga poured his fuckin drink on me. I see how it feel ta have haters"
After I posted that, I got sucked into reading more about Budvar v Budweiser and how this has gone through courts for about 45 different cases.
When I first heard about it in the late 80s or early 90s, the rumor was that A-B Budweiser had swiped their logo and name from Budvar, but since Czech was behind the Iron Curtain, too bad. After the fall, Budvar sued. It's even better that they've been suing each other since the 1870s.
Now that the A-B is now owned by InBev, they should be gunning for Budvar to finally settle the issue.
The original Budweiser Bier or Budweiser BürgerbrÃu, had been founded in 1785 in Budweis, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire and had started exports to the US in 1871 resp. 1875. In the U.S., Anheuser-Busch started using the Budweiser brand in 1876 and registered it two years later.
In Budweis, a new company (now named Budvar) was established in 1895 by mainly Czech brewers, which also started exporting beer with the adjective Budweiser ("BudÄjovický" in Czech). This led to the Budweiser trademark dispute. Negotiations between the three companies, the two from the original town and the American Anheuser-Busch, about using "Budweiser" reached an agreement in 1911 that allowed Anheuser-Busch to use the brand "Budweiser" only in North America.
Slashdot Mirror
Pirating Atari software. Tsk, tsk.
Nolan Bushnell is still a pretty neat guy. I remember years ago when slashdot posted his email and he'd answer just about everything.
I asked about the rumored "Kramer vs Kramer" game where you lure your kid to your side of the screen with gifts and threats. He said if they worked on that, it was past the time he worked there.
I wonder if Bill Gates will answer my question about a possible bug in my Windows 1.0 version of Reversi.
Hey, that's not funny!
I've got a Brazilian couchsurfer here right now. I'm sure she'll understand if I sock her one.
Isn't the idea of the Supreme Court to act as a balance for Legislative and Executive?
I don't know. The Phantom Menace was pretty bad.
People don't starve to death because of lack of food in the world. Yes, that makes no sense. They starve because of lack of infrastructure to get them food.
Local failure means no easy to access food, but warlords and other people out for a buck, hold up food in ports to distribute it at a profit. Without the profit they want, they let it rot at the dock.
Still, the cartoon is good but misleading.
Sorry to respond to myself, but I forgot to mention what ethanol does to fiberglass fuel tanks. It eats through the glue and they start to leak.
It's great to see this on /. I hope something finally gets fixed.
My cars (1963 NSU, 1967 Corvair) and bikes (1965 Ducati 250, 1966 Montgomery Wards) don't like ethanol much. Ethanol and the changes in oil have been all over the car/bike email lists for years. This is a huge problem for people who own vintage iron.
Old cars and bikes don't like the new oils. It's designed for catalytic converters and doesn't do the lubrication job correctly anymore.
Ethanol is corrosive, chews up fuel lines and rubber gaskets, and doesn't burn "right". Engines aren't designed for it.
Valves burn up. Motorcycle clutches don't work correctly. Engines seize through lack of proper lubrication.
Things like lead additives, Marvel Mystery Oil and other related hocus-pocus stuff helps, but not enough.
Ha, my username was chosen before I found out what chimpo means in Japanese. It was a high school era joke about speaking Spanish by adding an "o" to words that a classmate used to use in class. But I'm sure you know that, Senor Stephanrubyo.
Actually, I live alone. Please don't tell my mother that my new pregnant fiance starred on Lancelot Link.
I think you have a problem communicating with your clients. I was thinking that as I read your 2nd sentence.
Of course, you should be upfront with the charges for the equipment. If you don't charge extra for the equipment (and I don't think it's a problem if you do because you're going through the trouble of sourcing it), just say, "These folks offer this piece for $100". Let them know that it's off eBay and they can't return it. Let them know if it's store bought, there's a restocking fee that they're responsible for. If they change their mind, they'll be stuck with those charges.
Tell them that you research equipment all the time and if they think they can find a better price, you're happy for them to buy it and you'll remember to start checking their place since they have a cheaper item than what you could find. I doubt they'll go through all that trouble.
It's the same basic idea when they had the "it has to be run on Microsoft" bit.
If they're hiring someone to do this, most of the time, the less questions you ask of them is better after you find out what they think they want. Make corrections since you're the paid professional. Why pay 5 grand for a super computer that'll turn off their lights when they'd be happier with a Clapper. You know what you're doing. Others can fake it and most clients won't know the difference.
You need to figure out how much responsibility they want in the decision but don't overpressure them because you're the paid professional.
In a bad car analogy, you're a mechanic. You call up and say the transmission is shot. It's a Ford, and you can rebuild a Ford tranny. Or they can pay extra and get a new Ford tranny. Of course, Ford also offers a heavy duty tranny. And Acme has a high end tranny that costs even more than the high end Ford tranny. And because you overshare, Slackme offers a low end tranny that's worse than the above.
Some will ask you to drain and change the fluid and will bitch when that doesn't work. For some it's buy a new tranny. Some want rebuild one. Some want an OEM new tranny. Some want the Acme, some want the Slackme.
Most want what works best for them (that's the important part). They don't know shit about transmissions so you have to find out what's best for them and let them know. Sure, there's a few cheapskates that want the fluid changed and will bitch to every last man on the earth that you ripped them off by changing the fluid then also charging them to rebuild the tranny because they're idiots about some things. Never forget the idiot factor but don't live by the idiot factor. Then there's others who are selling the car and have no problems with the Slackme transmission that'll blow up in 5,000 miles.
You ask a few rough questions to figure out how much input they want. But for many clients, it's just fix it and they don't care about every detail.
It's back to you're the trained professional. To me, it sounds like you misread your clients and offer too many options. It's a weird thing when you know all the details but if they knew the details, they wouldn't be calling you.
But what do I know? I walked away from working with computers a few years ago.
I'd put money that my roommate, a bottle of tequila, a fertile chimp and 3 hours that we come out with a pregnant chimp and a thankful roommate.
It makes sense to me to have old stuff and long past horror stories out there. People that are growing up now are used to it and I don't think they'll be as "shocked" at the shenanigans of the past. People have gotten drunk underaged and had premarital sex since booze laws and marriage were invented.
When it starts to affect the older generations, they'll be forced to deal with it in a reasonable way. People forget their past difficulties too easily.
They're stuck in a "the best years of life are high school" without thinking "Oh yeah, high school really sucks". Although if you're a jock, then maybe high school was the best time of your life, and I almost feel sorry for you.
College burglary. I don't know anything about the case. Did he steal beer? Who cares? It happened in 1983 and if he continued to be a criminal, he'd more than likely be behind bars.
I'll get off my "who the hell cares" soapbox now and will probably read another post saying the same thing, only better written.
Dr. Bronner makes sites as well as soap?
How many of those have we put on the endangered list? There's predators but nothing that specifically looks for people to thin our herd.
The only predator that does any damage to humans is the occasional plague. Even human vs human doesn't keep us in check. Right now there's 6.77 billion of us.
Since Homo sapiens only natural predator is itself, this is a very good move at controlling population.
Now to provide background music. Monkey vs Robot
I was waiting for Kirk to pull out a light saber while he walked across Hoth and find a tauntaun to sleep in. Maybe he could've slept in Spock, but that's might be a little to slash fiction for the PG-13. I was expecting a Star Wars reference and was disappointed when there wasn't one.
Also, being chased by a giant lobster on an ice planet? How the hell did that thing evolve?
The green skinned woman not done in CGI was the best special effect in that movie.
There's no way anyone is going to believe you when you say, "I just had 2 beers". That's a magic number that screams, "I'm lying" even if it is true.
Ask cops, paramedics, and emergency room personnel and "I just had 2 beers" is a running joke. Like "I was sitting on my porch minding my own business".
I'm taking that back as I read more posts further down. Too bad my lawyer girlfriend and ex-federal attorney dumped my ass. She'd know.
Not true in California. I'm sure there's other states that require photo id when you're outside.
Diamonds of any size or quality are almost completely worthless.
Diamonds, eh? Remember that next time you're fighting the Gorn. Kirk thought the same thing at first.
They're not using my server, they've changed the reply to. Same as what tinkerghost said. The responses don't give me any header info so no idea who is doing it, not that there's much I could do. If you have any ideas, I'm wide open.
The risk of the Offtopic response to a "piss on my computer" joke didn't seem worthy enough for Anonymous Coward. That'll teach me a lesson.
Someone is using one of my domains to send out spam to cell phones. The responses are pretty good and I'm sure lots would piss on their computers.
"Won what some MONEY" (x10 variations)
"I'd like buy viagra and fleshlight"
"THIS IS A FBI LINE..... DELETE IT NOW!!!!"
"How bout we say I did and don't you spam mail texting asslicking donkey shit eating mother fucker. :-D" (that guy has sent in about 4 replies but that's the funniest)
"These fonky hoes left me in da club and when i was lookin for em some nigga poured his fuckin drink on me. I see how it feel ta have haters"
After I posted that, I got sucked into reading more about Budvar v Budweiser and how this has gone through courts for about 45 different cases.
When I first heard about it in the late 80s or early 90s, the rumor was that A-B Budweiser had swiped their logo and name from Budvar, but since Czech was behind the Iron Curtain, too bad. After the fall, Budvar sued. It's even better that they've been suing each other since the 1870s.
Now that the A-B is now owned by InBev, they should be gunning for Budvar to finally settle the issue.
Argh, that's what I get for hitting respond and then answering the phone before submitting.
You're a bit backwards. From the wiki page:
The original Budweiser Bier or Budweiser BürgerbrÃu, had been founded in 1785 in Budweis, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire and had started exports to the US in 1871 resp. 1875. In the U.S., Anheuser-Busch started using the Budweiser brand in 1876 and registered it two years later.
In Budweis, a new company (now named Budvar) was established in 1895 by mainly Czech brewers, which also started exporting beer with the adjective Budweiser ("BudÄjovický" in Czech). This led to the Budweiser trademark dispute. Negotiations between the three companies, the two from the original town and the American Anheuser-Busch, about using "Budweiser" reached an agreement in 1911 that allowed Anheuser-Busch to use the brand "Budweiser" only in North America.