OK. I can tell by the mods that this one missed the mark. Let me clarify for the thick:
The end users who abuse their internet connection + the ISPs who oversell their bandwidth = BIG PROBLEM. Verizon wanting to keep some bandwidth for their actual services to run ISN'T the problem. If they stop claiming unlimited internet access at ten gagillion bits per second to people like I was parodying up above, that would take care of part of the problem. The other thing that would help is the enforcement of QoS on their entire portion of the internet. Same with other ISPs. If they can determine levels of priority for srvices and then divvy that up to the customers, the problems become minimal. Grandma doesn't always need ten gagillion bits per second to send normal e-mail or look at the dancing Jesus page. She might need a bit more bandwidth to watch some streaming video but that's about it. However, someone like me who runs multiple servers at home because I don't trust any ISP to manage my data might want a dedicated 1 Mbit line at all times. That's why I pay more for my bandwidth. Is that clearer?
Jim is THE ULTIMATE bandwidth hog. He leaves SETI running ALL the time, has four P2P clients on various networks going, runs a "warez" FTP server, and since he's got it all running on a few Windows boxes that have been rooted, he's also unwittingingly spamming everyone in the world as well as scanning for more machines to infect. But not to worry. Jim's got it all under control because he sez, "I'm a computer expert. I've only been workin' with these things for the past four years, but I can do just about anything in Windows. I'm really into webpage development on myspace.com. I've developed about 20 webpages there for my friends and charged them reasonable rates. After all my time is money and I didn't spend my time learning all this PC shit just to give my knowledge away for free". So as you can see, Jim is an expert and we needen't worry about how much bandwidth he's using. Even if it is bleeding Verizon (his ISP) dry. Hmmm... there's a moral in there somewhere.;P
...that just this morning while poking around in my Barracuda Spam Firewall I found a checkbox to enable "Chinese Government Compliance (PRC)". This would impose extra filtering on mail that is likely weighed against some kind of RBL maintatined by the PRC government. It made me think (me a liberal/anti-big business guy) what have we come to when our businesses are supporting political regimes that are violating human rights? This is quite an interesting and non-partisan issue at the core.
There were also a few other key developments that weren't possible on the older fre *nixes. Mainly that driver development for supporting new and useful hardware (TV capture cards for example) was much easier to get going. Look at how much hardware Linux supports in the 2.6 series kernels and compare that with all the caveats about hardware you can't use with the BSDs. I'm not slamming BSDs, but just stating a fact. If you want to build a PVR, you aren't going to spend time using BSD in most cases.
News flash MBRaynerd... sex ISN'T just for procreation anymore. Sex has been proven both in and out of laboratory settings to provide immense amounts of pleasure for the participants regardless of the combination of genders or number of simultaneous partners involved! Anyone who thinks that sex is only to perpetuate the species is an idiot. However, as soon as you mentioned Exodus, that fact became obvious. Consider this. I've been experiencing the pleasure that orgasm brings since age three when I first became conscious of the sensation. (Call me Onan) I don't intend to stop anytime soon just because I am recently a father. I pity anyone who thinks the way you imply that you do.
How many of you actually take anything posted on Slashdot seriously anymore?
Think about it. Sure, the editorial staff has always been a bit subpar and the quality of the stories has dropped considerably since/. started. But the real problem are the people who flooded in during the dotbomb boom. (Note: I've been on Slashdot from the very beginning and have had several accounts) As soon as people here started getting obsessed with how technology can be used to make money, and political aspects of technology, it all went to hell. Here's an example. Something that SHOULD be front page news: xen.sourceforge.net has some pretty incredible virtualization technology and it's only getting better as Intel and AMD roll out their hardware support for virtualization (VTx and Pacifica respectively). But I've never seen any mention of this on the front page. I mean this IS a "geek" site after all. What are most geeks interested in? COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY. Virtualization on the x86 platform being the biggest thing to hit in decades. And it's NOT being covered on/.? What gives?
Troll? TROLL?? Huh? Look mister jandrese or whatever your name is. Get this through your head. This is America now!! Land of the free and home of the brave! Love it or leave it! The commies have been put down and we're smokin' out terrorists daily. You're next if you don't watch your mouth. Freedom doesn't come without a price.
You're a gamer. You buy a CD-ROM with SOMEONE ELSE'S intellectual property on it and a license to use said property. They go out of their way to keep honest people honest and all of the sudden, it's a crime? What's this country coming to? You can't have it both ways folks! We live in a (read it with me now people) CAPITALIST SOCIETY. That means that people here are beholden to businesses to make boost their profits by ANY means necessary. Be it, making a useful product and selling it. Be it, offering a helpful service and renting it. Be it, eating babies and producing fertilizer. So you say you're a red-blooded American in one breath and that you "support the troops" and are "pro-business" but then you turn around and start complaining about those businesses unleashing the troops on you to protect their profits? What kind of logic is that! Either your a true American or your agin' us! That's what our president continues to say at every opportunity. Shape up or ship out folks! You got the country you voted for (in corporations we trust), LIVE with it and shut the fuck up.
Sorry. That was me. My Troll Tuesday antics got a little out of hand and I started calling everyone in my address book (Lycos People Search) and threatening to sue for unspecified amounts under the DMCA just to make a point. You can disregard the call. Sometimes a joke CAN go too far, can't it?;P
If memory serves me correctly Cisco is playing by the Microsoft rulebook. If you can't create great new technologies, BUY THEM!!! Now all we have to do is wait for Microsoft to buy Cisco and Bill Gates will finally have ULTIMATE POWAR!!!!
Good point. I wonder what would happen if someone who had the financial means went directly to various government agencies/bodies and demanded to buy some laws just as the corporations do. And they made a big stink about it too. Made sure the media took notice, etc... Would be a great prank really. My ultimate fantasy is to troll the PotUS,Senate and Congress not to mention the Supreme Court.;P Of course that would probably be counted as some kind of treason or "terra" and I'd get thrown in the slammer in Gitmo like all other "Unamerican" Americans.
...in the multi-billion year quest to attract mates, practices such as bathing in putrid whale vomit are just as common today as wearing stoat carcass on one's head once was. Yep. We've progressed alright.;p
...a "reality distortion field" but it's a virtual construct within the mind of the individual! I THOUGHT so!;P It's a good thing I see everything in an unbiased and clear way compared to all conservatives and Republicans.
Why... Linux. But of course. It's always first in anything that's interesting in the IT industry.;) 64-bit computing for the Intel desktop, Linux was there first. Internet connection sharing, Linux was there first. Remote application serving, Unix as a whole and Linux as a subset with the use of X Window System was there first. Unless Bill feels like licking Steve's ass again to get MS in first...
...there are very few reasons most guys do ANYTHING at all except to "get chicks". It's the truth as mush as it might be unpleasant for people to accept. The whole concept of the "booth babe" isn't only to sell the product but to also attract males to the industry as a whole. If you're a guy, put some thought into it. Why did you work hard at a particular interest? I mean at the core... You did it because at some very core point you really wanted to attract female attention. This is why I got into music and then later computers. I won't lie and say I had some noble interest in music and the arts or technology. When I was a five year old boy, I enjoyed playing music and was given music lessons. But when I was fifteen, I REALLy got interested because I was hoping I could be a new wave star and get a girlfriend through that. Then when I moved on to post-college life and saw that a career in music was going to be difficult and possibly fruitless, I took my innate interest in electronics and computers and lucked into an admin job. But what was at the core? I had a girlfriend who I wanted to eventually have as my wife and I knew that if I had a stable job with a secure income, I'd get what I wanted. And in the end, I did. Everything I've ever done (learning to cook really well, photography, composing my own music, home repair) has all gone back to one core thing: sex with women. So I think this article isn't being genuine about reality. The only reason men do anything is to get sex. Period. Or I could be trolling...;P Or maybe not. You decide.
Oh... and I forgot to mention that YES I do find your post funny. For a few reasons. The most obvious being the face value of the subject matter itself. The other being the fact that I'm not some kind of communist revolutionary who wants to tear down the capitalist economic system. So you're intimation that I am anti-business is comical in itself. I am not anti-business. I'm anti-abusive-business-practices. If a company has a product or service to sell me and it actually has real value AND I actually want or need it, I'll buy it. They don't have to try and force me to buy it or make me think that I need it when I don't. That's just insulting. If I don't want to buy something, it's not a crime and I shouldn't be treated like I'm some kind of weirdo for being cautious and thoughtful about my purchases. If the company wants my business they should be providing products and services I actually want or need. And if they don't do that, they need to accept that they won't get my money.
If there are competing products (services assumed) that I'm interested in, these companies should accept that fact that I'm going to carefully research what I buy to try and find the product that fits the best to my needs and costs the least in relative terms. A perfect example follows:
As much as I'm loathe to buy extended warranties that cost almost as much as the product itself, I DID buy one for the new Westinghouse 37" LCD monitor (to be used with my Linux based media cetner) I got for the family for Xmas. You want to know why? Because the monitor was expensive ($1900) and the four year extended warranty was relatively inexpensive ($80). That's a ratio I could live with for paying wht amounts to insurance on a very expensive item. I also accept that the cost of this monitor was justifiable for my needs because I'm being a bit of an early adopter here. I assume that similar monitors will be available at more reasonable prices in five to ten years. But I WANTED this item now and was willing to pay for it. However, in the larger scheme of comparison pricing vs. features, this monitor was a steal for my purposes. So as much as I feel spending $2000+ on screen is a bit much, I feel like I got the best I can get for $2000.
So here's the lesson "MCraigW": we might have differing opinions on certain things, but neither you, nor I can assume that the other person is so totally evil/off base that foeing is worth it. I suspect there might be areas in which we agree with each other as well, but your actions indicate that you don't think so. Try these on for size:
1. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I don't drink alcohol or use drugs because I don't think they have a good effect on the body 2. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I get very disgusted with the "Champagne liberals" who are really out of touch with the average person. The kind of people like the Satellite Sisters on NPR or Gail Sheehy, author of "Sex and the Seasoned Woman" who think that people should "find themselves" via very expensive interests. 3. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I find myself disagreeing with many liberal politicians who seem to do absolutely nothing but pay lip service to liberal values and ideals rather than acting on them.
Now this is what I'm talking about. You have foed me based on my comments about investing, money, corporations, etc... Why is it that people who are pro-business, pro-money are so quick to assume that someone is worth foeing? I was even cautious about making sure to let people know that I don't hold people who do this kind of thing in disrespect. I just don't share the views. How are people like us supposed to get along in a non-partisan way to get the business of society done when we are instantly going to hate each other based on a few differences of opinion? Or to put it another way: What'd I do to you?
Your attitude towards your mutual funds genuinely confuses me. If you dislike them so much, why do you bother putting any money in?
Because I'm being forced into doing it since society seems so hell bent on destroying Social Security instead of building it up into a system that guarantees everyone a decent BASELINE quality of life. Not rich. But not so poor that you have to decide between meds or food. I KNOW I have to do something even though I want nothing to do with the market at all, otherwise I'll really be screwed.
If you don't see any real growth, why do you carry on the investment?
Because I'm highly financially conservative. The advice of my friend (who did pretty well himself) was to NOT diversify until I had $10,000. Thanks to Enron (one of my funds was raped by them) I had a huge setback. But I also kept his advice that in the long haul, I'd still come out with more money than I'd put into the system compared to if I didn't do ANYTHING. Pretty reasonable thinking if I do say so myself.
On the one hand, you're upset that your money hasn't grown. You "REALLY don't want to have to think about this shit. Someone should do it for [you]." So you're saying that someone should take care of and grow your money for you without you having to put in any effort. On the other hand you declare that you're 'old fashioned' and insist on working for your money, and that people who gain money without working (at something you define as legitimate work) for it are somehow in the wrong. So which is it? The good ol' Protestant Work Ethic, or "Someone should make my money more money for me because doing it myself is hard and I don't get it?"
Now that's just silly. I didn't say that. It's not hard to do. It's just a monumental time sink. Just like Joe Average doesn't like to do the basics to keep his Windows PC going. He shouldn't really have to. But he also shouldn't get raped taking it to CompUSA, having them re-install the OS (even if it was a problem that could have been fixed by someone knowledgable) and then being charged an overblown rate for very little valuable work. I know if I do something like eTrade, I'm dealing with low-rent "experts" much like the techs at CompUSA or Best Buy. If I want quality investment advice, then I'm going to pay through the nose. It's not right. I could do it myself (play with my investments), but where would that leave me with my own time to do the things I like to do?
The Sony Mavicam purchase - First you complain about how the manufacturer's warranty is "unacceptable"....yet you obviously accept it because you're buying their product. An angst-ridden teenager working a shitty job (and earning comission, most likely, for each warranty he sells) looks at you funny for not going for it. But in the end, you gave him your money.
What was I supposed to do? Not buy a digital camera? That's pretty stupid reasoning don't you think? I wanted the camera, and this particular model was the only game in town. My point is that I SHOULDN'T be held captive in that way by a business. If I didn't buy the camera to stand on my convictions, do you really think the world would change? I'm reasonable enough to know that it won't. I'm also reasonable enough to know that I have a right to bitch about it because it's abusive on the part of the business. Hopefully my bitching (here and in the real world) will make some people think and perhaps make a bigger dent in sales than my avoidance of a product.
If you're going to hem and haw about how "you need it" or you "can't do without"...then deal with the fact that you're going to get raped. Sometimes this can't be avoided. I need electricity and Con Ed's the only game in town...they can do what they want to me because I need electricity, and I can't complain about Con Ed's service or policies that much because I keep paying them. But for everything else? Guess what - I don't buy audio CDs because I don't support the RIAA. I do
One quick question before I get into my reply here: what exactly IS a "zero sum game"? I hear this thrown around a lot but have no clue what it means or where it comes from. I assume it has something to do with money matters since that's when it usually comes up.
There are people doing that. Thing is, $10K is a very small amount to have invested, small enough that it's simply not a paying proposition to be dealing with it for you.
I'm kind of aware of that. But $10,000 is a LOT of money to me. Im' sure I'm not alone in that thinking. Putting $10,000 away would take me a VERY long time to do while still paying for all the essentials. I'm just commenting here though. Not really criticizing. So what would be considered a "good sum" of money in this game?
The nice thing is that it doesn't matter. Really. Even when knowing just the very basics, you'll do exactly as well as the professionals. You need to choose your risk-level, high-risk acceptance, but high expected return, or low risk-acceptance, but also lower expected return. Other than that, you can invest randomly and do aswell as anyone.
I "get that" too. My friend advised me to just start putting money into a mutual fund until I hit the $10,000 mark and then diversify. He also advised me that no matter what kinds of dips there are in the market, that over the long haul, the money will grow considerably comared to the starting point. I "get" that too. But I still don't feel too confident about it since I don't trust the system to keep working forever.
The other factor here for me is that I don't like spending time studying this kind of stuff. It's less fun than watching paint peel. It's just not my passion. Again folks, don't misread me as insulting the interest. I'm saying that *I* don't find it interesting. Just as I'm sure some of you don't care to type './configure && make && make install' to install new software from source on your PC. So my question is... what are people who don't like to do this sort of thing supposed to do to work within a system like this and actually benefit and not get screwed? You know all those friends who hate to defrag their Windows boxes and keep up with updates but bitch when they get hit with a worm or their overall performance slows down? That's me, only in the investment realm. You can't fault those folks for being dumb about computers any more than you can fault me for being "dumb" about investing. Both subjects are just as important as the other, but not everyone is capable. Don't assume that because you can do it, or enjoy doing it that everyone else will.
Of course it is. A share of stock is a share of ownership of a company; the price of a share and the value of a company are one-in-the-same. Share price is determined by how much the investor is willing to pay for a share, meaning a company's value is dependent on it's shareholders. Pursuing a higher share price means bettering the company. That's what you want the higher-ups doing, right?
Where do people learn stuff like this? Is there some kind of indoctrination center that certain people attend that I've somehow missed out on? I have to say that I really don't see what big businesses offer me these days. Most of them sell shitty products at inflated prices with no guarantee on craftsmanship or longevity. Or they sell crap services at unbelievably high rates while offering little of value in return other than the most basic portion of their services. (see below for an expansion on my thinking) I have some mutual funds that I pay into only at the advice of a friend otherwise I wouldn't have any. But, I don't feel like I own anything.
All I know is that my money goes somewhere every pay period and after the dot bomb crash I lost about 75% of what I put into it. Only now (last quarter of 2005) am I just starting to break even. I've put in about $10,000 and have $9,470 over the lifetime of the annuity (had it since 1999). I know I'm supposed to "diversify" that crap. But I REALLY don't want to have to think about this shit. Someone should do it for me. Just as a lot of people aren't talented at taking care of their Windows boxes, I have no talent (or interest) in managing money. Not to mention that I have very little respect for the market since I see investing as nothing more than a game that some people (not me) like playing. I can't figure out why they like it. But then they can't figure out why I like to compile software from source, so go figure. I guess I'm old fashioned enough to feel that unless I've actually done some work for my money (ie. work being an activity that produces something useful), I don't deserve to make money. Working on a computer system all day equates to real work in my opinion. Sitting around and making guesses as to which stock is better to invest in this week amounts to a guy who knows how to use a pool cue to move billiard balls around a table. Nothing more, nothing less.
Honestly, I don't mean to be insulting (as I figure some folks will be insulted by what I'm saying) but I really don't see where anything of value is created by playing the stock market. I can understand something like buying a home, renovating it (ethically) and reselling it. In that case, you're doing something that helps the community as well as puts a little extra money in your pocket. That's REAL work. Even better if you actually do the work yourself instead of hiring contractors to do it for you. Work should have some kind of energy expenditure involved and I just don't see that in speculative investing.
Now... getting back to what I was saying before about shoddy products and carp service. Consider this. I went to a Best Buy back in 2002 to buy a digital camera. I bought a Sony Mavicam (CD-R/RW based storage) 5 megapixel camera. It cost me $800. At the register I was asked if I wanted to buy the extended warranty plan. This ALWAYS burns me up. The manufacturer should be providing a suitable warranty to begin with. At least a one year warranty would suffice instead of the customary 90 or 60 days you get now. Think about it. I'm spending almost $1000 for a digital camera!!! How insane is that? And to top it off, it only has a 90 day warranty from the manufacturer. That is the first problem. Manufacturers should shoulder the responsibility for the quality of their products. If not, then they should DRASTICALLY lower the price of their products. That camera should have been $99 if they only warranty the camera for 90 days. Since all manufacturers have gone this route, we now have created a business opportunity driven by profit moti
Or... I'll be enjoying my homemade eggplant sandwich which cost me next to nothing to make other than the time and knowledge expended to formulate this tasty treat. While I laugh at you for actually considering a steak dinner to be any good.;P I also think that with knowledge, you can make money. But your knowledge doesn't have to have anything to do with HOW to make money to be useful in that way. You should have said, "Knowledge that could be used to make money". This implies that your knowledge is more valuable than money because it isn't soley focused on making money. Come back to me when you're past your 20s and we'll talk again.
Actually when he phones his bank he's got to work through the phone tree and then be put on hold by at least three reps totalling to about 31 minutes at $10 trillion a minute. So he'd be in debt $10 trillion when all was said and done. That's why money SUCKS!!! The only thing of value is knowledge.
Slashdot Mirror
OK. I can tell by the mods that this one missed the mark. Let me clarify for the thick:
The end users who abuse their internet connection + the ISPs who oversell their bandwidth = BIG PROBLEM. Verizon wanting to keep some bandwidth for their actual services to run ISN'T the problem. If they stop claiming unlimited internet access at ten gagillion bits per second to people like I was parodying up above, that would take care of part of the problem. The other thing that would help is the enforcement of QoS on their entire portion of the internet. Same with other ISPs. If they can determine levels of priority for srvices and then divvy that up to the customers, the problems become minimal. Grandma doesn't always need ten gagillion bits per second to send normal e-mail or look at the dancing Jesus page. She might need a bit more bandwidth to watch some streaming video but that's about it. However, someone like me who runs multiple servers at home because I don't trust any ISP to manage my data might want a dedicated 1 Mbit line at all times. That's why I pay more for my bandwidth. Is that clearer?
Wake up boy!!! I'm here with a crowbar what sez yer gonna be givin' up them systems right quick. Now fork em over... ;P
Jim is THE ULTIMATE bandwidth hog. He leaves SETI running ALL the time, has four P2P clients on various networks going, runs a "warez" FTP server, and since he's got it all running on a few Windows boxes that have been rooted, he's also unwittingingly spamming everyone in the world as well as scanning for more machines to infect. But not to worry. Jim's got it all under control because he sez, "I'm a computer expert. I've only been workin' with these things for the past four years, but I can do just about anything in Windows. I'm really into webpage development on myspace.com. I've developed about 20 webpages there for my friends and charged them reasonable rates. After all my time is money and I didn't spend my time learning all this PC shit just to give my knowledge away for free". So as you can see, Jim is an expert and we needen't worry about how much bandwidth he's using. Even if it is bleeding Verizon (his ISP) dry. Hmmm... there's a moral in there somewhere. ;P
...that just this morning while poking around in my Barracuda Spam Firewall I found a checkbox to enable "Chinese Government Compliance (PRC)". This would impose extra filtering on mail that is likely weighed against some kind of RBL maintatined by the PRC government. It made me think (me a liberal/anti-big business guy) what have we come to when our businesses are supporting political regimes that are violating human rights? This is quite an interesting and non-partisan issue at the core.
There were also a few other key developments that weren't possible on the older fre *nixes. Mainly that driver development for supporting new and useful hardware (TV capture cards for example) was much easier to get going. Look at how much hardware Linux supports in the 2.6 series kernels and compare that with all the caveats about hardware you can't use with the BSDs. I'm not slamming BSDs, but just stating a fact. If you want to build a PVR, you aren't going to spend time using BSD in most cases.
News flash MBRaynerd... sex ISN'T just for procreation anymore. Sex has been proven both in and out of laboratory settings to provide immense amounts of pleasure for the participants regardless of the combination of genders or number of simultaneous partners involved! Anyone who thinks that sex is only to perpetuate the species is an idiot. However, as soon as you mentioned Exodus, that fact became obvious. Consider this. I've been experiencing the pleasure that orgasm brings since age three when I first became conscious of the sensation. (Call me Onan) I don't intend to stop anytime soon just because I am recently a father. I pity anyone who thinks the way you imply that you do.
How many of you actually take anything posted on Slashdot seriously anymore?
/. started. But the real problem are the people who flooded in during the dotbomb boom. (Note: I've been on Slashdot from the very beginning and have had several accounts) As soon as people here started getting obsessed with how technology can be used to make money, and political aspects of technology, it all went to hell. Here's an example. Something that SHOULD be front page news: xen.sourceforge.net has some pretty incredible virtualization technology and it's only getting better as Intel and AMD roll out their hardware support for virtualization (VTx and Pacifica respectively). But I've never seen any mention of this on the front page. I mean this IS a "geek" site after all. What are most geeks interested in? COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY. Virtualization on the x86 platform being the biggest thing to hit in decades. And it's NOT being covered on /.? What gives?
Think about it. Sure, the editorial staff has always been a bit subpar and the quality of the stories has dropped considerably since
Troll? TROLL?? Huh? Look mister jandrese or whatever your name is. Get this through your head. This is America now!! Land of the free and home of the brave! Love it or leave it! The commies have been put down and we're smokin' out terrorists daily. You're next if you don't watch your mouth. Freedom doesn't come without a price.
You're a gamer. You buy a CD-ROM with SOMEONE ELSE'S intellectual property on it and a license to use said property. They go out of their way to keep honest people honest and all of the sudden, it's a crime? What's this country coming to? You can't have it both ways folks! We live in a (read it with me now people) CAPITALIST SOCIETY. That means that people here are beholden to businesses to make boost their profits by ANY means necessary. Be it, making a useful product and selling it. Be it, offering a helpful service and renting it.
Be it, eating babies and producing fertilizer. So you say you're a red-blooded American in one breath and that you "support the troops" and are "pro-business" but then you turn around and start complaining about those businesses unleashing the troops on you to protect their profits? What kind of logic is that! Either your a true American or your agin' us! That's what our president continues to say at every opportunity. Shape up or ship out folks! You got the country you voted for (in corporations we trust), LIVE with it and shut the fuck up.
Sorry. That was me. My Troll Tuesday antics got a little out of hand and I started calling everyone in my address book (Lycos People Search) and threatening to sue for unspecified amounts under the DMCA just to make a point. You can disregard the call. Sometimes a joke CAN go too far, can't it? ;P
If memory serves me correctly Cisco is playing by the Microsoft rulebook. If you can't create great new technologies, BUY THEM!!! Now all we have to do is wait for Microsoft to buy Cisco and Bill Gates will finally have ULTIMATE POWAR!!!!
What?! Are they worried that the hackers might fix the "holes" in Windows and there goes MS's support revenue flow? Bwawhawhawhaw!!!
Good point. I wonder what would happen if someone who had the financial means went directly to various government agencies/bodies and demanded to buy some laws just as the corporations do. And they made a big stink about it too. Made sure the media took notice, etc... Would be a great prank really. My ultimate fantasy is to troll the PotUS,Senate and Congress not to mention the Supreme Court. ;P Of course that would probably be counted as some kind of treason or "terra" and I'd get thrown in the slammer in Gitmo like all other "Unamerican" Americans.
...in the multi-billion year quest to attract mates, practices such as bathing in putrid whale vomit are just as common today as wearing stoat carcass on one's head once was. Yep. We've progressed alright. ;p
...a "reality distortion field" but it's a virtual construct within the mind of the individual! I THOUGHT so! ;P It's a good thing I see everything in an unbiased and clear way compared to all conservatives and Republicans.
Why... Linux. But of course. It's always first in anything that's interesting in the IT industry. ;) 64-bit computing for the Intel desktop, Linux was there first. Internet connection sharing, Linux was there first. Remote application serving, Unix as a whole and Linux as a subset with the use of X Window System was there first. Unless Bill feels like licking Steve's ass again to get MS in first...
...there are very few reasons most guys do ANYTHING at all except to "get chicks". It's the truth as mush as it might be unpleasant for people to accept. The whole concept of the "booth babe" isn't only to sell the product but to also attract males to the industry as a whole. If you're a guy, put some thought into it. Why did you work hard at a particular interest? I mean at the core... You did it because at some very core point you really wanted to attract female attention. This is why I got into music and then later computers. I won't lie and say I had some noble interest in music and the arts or technology. When I was a five year old boy, I enjoyed playing music and was given music lessons. But when I was fifteen, I REALLy got interested because I was hoping I could be a new wave star and get a girlfriend through that. Then when I moved on to post-college life and saw that a career in music was going to be difficult and possibly fruitless, I took my innate interest in electronics and computers and lucked into an admin job. But what was at the core? I had a girlfriend who I wanted to eventually have as my wife and I knew that if I had a stable job with a secure income, I'd get what I wanted. And in the end, I did. Everything I've ever done (learning to cook really well, photography, composing my own music, home repair) has all gone back to one core thing: sex with women. So I think this article isn't being genuine about reality. The only reason men do anything is to get sex. Period. Or I could be trolling... ;P Or maybe not. You decide.
Oh... and I forgot to mention that YES I do find your post funny. For a few reasons. The most obvious being the face value of the subject matter itself. The other being the fact that I'm not some kind of communist revolutionary who wants to tear down the capitalist economic system. So you're intimation that I am anti-business is comical in itself. I am not anti-business. I'm anti-abusive-business-practices. If a company has a product or service to sell me and it actually has real value AND I actually want or need it, I'll buy it. They don't have to try and force me to buy it or make me think that I need it when I don't. That's just insulting. If I don't want to buy something, it's not a crime and I shouldn't be treated like I'm some kind of weirdo for being cautious and thoughtful about my purchases. If the company wants my business they should be providing products and services I actually want or need. And if they don't do that, they need to accept that they won't get my money.
If there are competing products (services assumed) that I'm interested in, these companies should accept that fact that I'm going to carefully research what I buy to try and find the product that fits the best to my needs and costs the least in relative terms. A perfect example follows:
As much as I'm loathe to buy extended warranties that cost almost as much as the product itself, I DID buy one for the new Westinghouse 37" LCD monitor (to be used with my Linux based media cetner) I got for the family for Xmas. You want to know why? Because the monitor was expensive ($1900) and the four year extended warranty was relatively inexpensive ($80). That's a ratio I could live with for paying wht amounts to insurance on a very expensive item. I also accept that the cost of this monitor was justifiable for my needs because I'm being a bit of an early adopter here. I assume that similar monitors will be available at more reasonable prices in five to ten years. But I WANTED this item now and was willing to pay for it. However, in the larger scheme of comparison pricing vs. features, this monitor was a steal for my purposes. So as much as I feel spending $2000+ on screen is a bit much, I feel like I got the best I can get for $2000.
So here's the lesson "MCraigW": we might have differing opinions on certain things, but neither you, nor I can assume that the other person is so totally evil/off base that foeing is worth it. I suspect there might be areas in which we agree with each other as well, but your actions indicate that you don't think so. Try these on for size:
1. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I don't drink alcohol or use drugs because I don't think they have a good effect on the body
2. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I get very disgusted with the "Champagne liberals" who are really out of touch with the average person. The kind of people like the Satellite Sisters on NPR or Gail Sheehy, author of "Sex and the Seasoned Woman" who think that people should "find themselves" via very expensive interests.
3. I might be a "dirty liberal", but I find myself disagreeing with many liberal politicians who seem to do absolutely nothing but pay lip service to liberal values and ideals rather than acting on them.
But this is all "just a suggestion".
Now this is what I'm talking about. You have foed me based on my comments about investing, money, corporations, etc... Why is it that people who are pro-business, pro-money are so quick to assume that someone is worth foeing? I was even cautious about making sure to let people know that I don't hold people who do this kind of thing in disrespect. I just don't share the views. How are people like us supposed to get along in a non-partisan way to get the business of society done when we are instantly going to hate each other based on a few differences of opinion? Or to put it another way: What'd I do to you?
Because I'm being forced into doing it since society seems so hell bent on destroying Social Security instead of building it up into a system that guarantees everyone a decent BASELINE quality of life. Not rich. But not so poor that you have to decide between meds or food. I KNOW I have to do something even though I want nothing to do with the market at all, otherwise I'll really be screwed.
If you don't see any real growth, why do you carry on the investment?
Because I'm highly financially conservative. The advice of my friend (who did pretty well himself) was to NOT diversify until I had $10,000. Thanks to Enron (one of my funds was raped by them) I had a huge setback. But I also kept his advice that in the long haul, I'd still come out with more money than I'd put into the system compared to if I didn't do ANYTHING. Pretty reasonable thinking if I do say so myself.
On the one hand, you're upset that your money hasn't grown. You "REALLY don't want to have to think about this shit. Someone should do it for [you]." So you're saying that someone should take care of and grow your money for you without you having to put in any effort. On the other hand you declare that you're 'old fashioned' and insist on working for your money, and that people who gain money without working (at something you define as legitimate work) for it are somehow in the wrong. So which is it? The good ol' Protestant Work Ethic, or "Someone should make my money more money for me because doing it myself is hard and I don't get it?"
Now that's just silly. I didn't say that. It's not hard to do. It's just a monumental time sink. Just like Joe Average doesn't like to do the basics to keep his Windows PC going. He shouldn't really have to. But he also shouldn't get raped taking it to CompUSA, having them re-install the OS (even if it was a problem that could have been fixed by someone knowledgable) and then being charged an overblown rate for very little valuable work. I know if I do something like eTrade, I'm dealing with low-rent "experts" much like the techs at CompUSA or Best Buy. If I want quality investment advice, then I'm going to pay through the nose. It's not right. I could do it myself (play with my investments), but where would that leave me with my own time to do the things I like to do?
The Sony Mavicam purchase - First you complain about how the manufacturer's warranty is "unacceptable"....yet you obviously accept it because you're buying their product. An angst-ridden teenager working a shitty job (and earning comission, most likely, for each warranty he sells) looks at you funny for not going for it. But in the end, you gave him your money.
What was I supposed to do? Not buy a digital camera? That's pretty stupid reasoning don't you think? I wanted the camera, and this particular model was the only game in town. My point is that I SHOULDN'T be held captive in that way by a business. If I didn't buy the camera to stand on my convictions, do you really think the world would change? I'm reasonable enough to know that it won't. I'm also reasonable enough to know that I have a right to bitch about it because it's abusive on the part of the business. Hopefully my bitching (here and in the real world) will make some people think and perhaps make a bigger dent in sales than my avoidance of a product.
If you're going to hem and haw about how "you need it" or you "can't do without"...then deal with the fact that you're going to get raped. Sometimes this can't be avoided. I need electricity and Con Ed's the only game in town...they can do what they want to me because I need electricity, and I can't complain about Con Ed's service or policies that much because I keep paying them. But for everything else? Guess what - I don't buy audio CDs because I don't support the RIAA. I do
There are people doing that. Thing is, $10K is a very small amount to have invested, small enough that it's simply not a paying proposition to be dealing with it for you.
I'm kind of aware of that. But $10,000 is a LOT of money to me. Im' sure I'm not alone in that thinking. Putting $10,000 away would take me a VERY long time to do while still paying for all the essentials. I'm just commenting here though. Not really criticizing. So what would be considered a "good sum" of money in this game?
The nice thing is that it doesn't matter. Really. Even when knowing just the very basics, you'll do exactly as well as the professionals. You need to choose your risk-level, high-risk acceptance, but high expected return, or low risk-acceptance, but also lower expected return. Other than that, you can invest randomly and do aswell as anyone.
I "get that" too. My friend advised me to just start putting money into a mutual fund until I hit the $10,000 mark and then diversify. He also advised me that no matter what kinds of dips there are in the market, that over the long haul, the money will grow considerably comared to the starting point. I "get" that too. But I still don't feel too confident about it since I don't trust the system to keep working forever.
The other factor here for me is that I don't like spending time studying this kind of stuff. It's less fun than watching paint peel. It's just not my passion. Again folks, don't misread me as insulting the interest. I'm saying that *I* don't find it interesting. Just as I'm sure some of you don't care to type './configure && make && make install' to install new software from source on your PC. So my question is... what are people who don't like to do this sort of thing supposed to do to work within a system like this and actually benefit and not get screwed? You know all those friends who hate to defrag their Windows boxes and keep up with updates but bitch when they get hit with a worm or their overall performance slows down? That's me, only in the investment realm. You can't fault those folks for being dumb about computers any more than you can fault me for being "dumb" about investing. Both subjects are just as important as the other, but not everyone is capable. Don't assume that because you can do it, or enjoy doing it that everyone else will.
Where do people learn stuff like this? Is there some kind of indoctrination center that certain people attend that I've somehow missed out on? I have to say that I really don't see what big businesses offer me these days. Most of them sell shitty products at inflated prices with no guarantee on craftsmanship or longevity. Or they sell crap services at unbelievably high rates while offering little of value in return other than the most basic portion of their services. (see below for an expansion on my thinking) I have some mutual funds that I pay into only at the advice of a friend otherwise I wouldn't have any. But, I don't feel like I own anything.
All I know is that my money goes somewhere every pay period and after the dot bomb crash I lost about 75% of what I put into it. Only now (last quarter of 2005) am I just starting to break even. I've put in about $10,000 and have $9,470 over the lifetime of the annuity (had it since 1999). I know I'm supposed to "diversify" that crap. But I REALLY don't want to have to think about this shit. Someone should do it for me. Just as a lot of people aren't talented at taking care of their Windows boxes, I have no talent (or interest) in managing money. Not to mention that I have very little respect for the market since I see investing as nothing more than a game that some people (not me) like playing. I can't figure out why they like it. But then they can't figure out why I like to compile software from source, so go figure. I guess I'm old fashioned enough to feel that unless I've actually done some work for my money (ie. work being an activity that produces something useful), I don't deserve to make money. Working on a computer system all day equates to real work in my opinion. Sitting around and making guesses as to which stock is better to invest in this week amounts to a guy who knows how to use a pool cue to move billiard balls around a table. Nothing more, nothing less.
Honestly, I don't mean to be insulting (as I figure some folks will be insulted by what I'm saying) but I really don't see where anything of value is created by playing the stock market. I can understand something like buying a home, renovating it (ethically) and reselling it. In that case, you're doing something that helps the community as well as puts a little extra money in your pocket. That's REAL work. Even better if you actually do the work yourself instead of hiring contractors to do it for you. Work should have some kind of energy expenditure involved and I just don't see that in speculative investing.
Now... getting back to what I was saying before about shoddy products and carp service. Consider this. I went to a Best Buy back in 2002 to buy a digital camera. I bought a Sony Mavicam (CD-R/RW based storage) 5 megapixel camera. It cost me $800. At the register I was asked if I wanted to buy the extended warranty plan. This ALWAYS burns me up. The manufacturer should be providing a suitable warranty to begin with. At least a one year warranty would suffice instead of the customary 90 or 60 days you get now. Think about it. I'm spending almost $1000 for a digital camera!!! How insane is that? And to top it off, it only has a 90 day warranty from the manufacturer. That is the first problem. Manufacturers should shoulder the responsibility for the quality of their products. If not, then they should DRASTICALLY lower the price of their products. That camera should have been $99 if they only warranty the camera for 90 days. Since all manufacturers have gone this route, we now have created a business opportunity driven by profit moti
Or... I'll be enjoying my homemade eggplant sandwich which cost me next to nothing to make other than the time and knowledge expended to formulate this tasty treat. While I laugh at you for actually considering a steak dinner to be any good. ;P I also think that with knowledge, you can make money. But your knowledge doesn't have to have anything to do with HOW to make money to be useful in that way. You should have said, "Knowledge that could be used to make money". This implies that your knowledge is more valuable than money because it isn't soley focused on making money. Come back to me when you're past your 20s and we'll talk again.
Actually when he phones his bank he's got to work through the phone tree and then be put on hold by at least three reps totalling to about 31 minutes at $10 trillion a minute. So he'd be in debt $10 trillion when all was said and done. That's why money SUCKS!!! The only thing of value is knowledge.
Suck it gamerz!!!!