I'm reading a lot of "We can't let that happen" on message boards when it comes to such things.
As a non-American anti-Bush propagandist (yes, I like to be a shitdisturber;)) I often rant and rage about the current state of the US. But now that the same stupid ideas hit my own continent I'm at a loss what about to do. What CAN we do?
I'm really not the pessimistic type most of the time when it comes to personal stuff. But when it involves the gathering of the people I'm pessimistic like hell. Because I know that we almost can't change anything about this stuff.
Let's be honest most of us try to survive. Not in the old fashioned "hunt for food" way but in a modern society where it's not only our body that must survive but our mind as well. Most of us try to stay the heck out of things that could get us in trouble (understandably). And most of us try to not concern ourselves with things we deem not so important. And this is "not so important" for a lot of people because "I'm not a criminal so why should this make me nervous".
So my question to the/. community, which is a certain elite and not a gathering of your average Joe, what can we from a realistic point of view do? Is there a way to get your average Joe to actually write his political representative?
Not using E-Mail at all would be a great idea. Why not invent a new system of delivering and archieving passwords and documents like NIC requests and the like? Quite frankly, I don't use email for much more nowadays.
Another idea would be to generate user designed passkeys that would be sent along the mail. No passkey, no arriving of the email. You'd be able to determine the ttl of each passkey so managing the stuff would be easy... Newsletters that you can't unsubscribe? Passé.
This doesn't only apply to open source... Writing code is cool. It's like building a car engine. Or like putting together a PC. It's just fun and it is achallenge... but explaining it afterwards in a way that even a monkey is supposed tu understand it is just boring.
The big difference between paid programmers and oss coder is that some of them get paid while others usually don't. So I don't blame them. I mean they do us a favor. So nobody can expect to be treated like a well paying customer.
I rather like this "search for message board posts on the topic" kind of documentation. Because even when there is a great documentation it's always the error they didn't think of that you're having. So you'll be left to search the web once again anyway.
What I am asking myself: How in the seven hells did I get along without the net?
Nice thing.... but since I don't remember one single moment where I actually said "Gee, wouldn't a zoom button be nice right now?" I'm asking myself how much I will have to spend on future TVs. And I'm not talking cash here... Those features alone don't make the price.
But what I'm talking about is zapping through all the functions of those home entertainment monsters. When I was in school I had the time to try out every simple function in every single electronic device in our home. But today, where time is worth more than money, I won't use such gimmicks anyway. It's the same with my wireless ISDN phone, with my car hifi and so on. I mainly use the main functions and that's it. Heck I can't even use the sleep timer on my TV because I won't fall asleep before the TV shuts off anyway.
So I'm asing myself when do we get price reduction by leaving out certain functions in our electronic devices? No zoom? No problem, take 20 bucks off the price. That would be cool. (Of course there will be a lot of self-kicking when you take it home turn it on and see just the scene you'd have liked to get a zoomed and frozen image of;))
Okay, sure it's cheaper than buying an old NES off of eBay.... especially when youconsider all the freely downloadable games for emulators...
But honestly... someone who'd give a damn about whether he's using an authentic controler or not would not hesitate to spend a few bucks more (let's say another 50) and get the stuff in real plastic. Perhaps I'm stupid but I would rather have the nice old NES standing beside my TV set than playing the stuff on my computer.
I don't quite understand why people have to do this and have to do that. Why should they put a side a perfectly profitable product (which it must be considering that they haven't put it away yet)?
Some people like Star Trek with all the nonsense and brilliance it brings. I like Voyager very much. And I can barely stand watching DS9. So what? I seldomly make someone watch the stuff with me.
Why not let the market decide whether ST is good enough or not? They don't owe us anything, we don't owe them anything. It's just a business and when enough people don't like something then it will be replaced. Unless you are a monopolist which ST isn't.
There is so much great fiction out there. Why not just look for new material there, make a statement by that and wait for ST to return to something that one personally lokes again? Whining just pisses producers off... lack of income makes them move their butts.
Hey, wasn't there a device on/. a few months back that could actually recharge a laptop or a mobile phone just by putting them onto a mat?
Well, perhaps this is just a prototype in a field test?;)
The idea sounds quite good but the problem I have with MMORPGs is that they get boring fast. The last game I played was City of Heroes... didn't take one single month before I got bored. Before that it was Final Fantasy XI.
Am I really the only one who can't stick to such games for very long? I always ask myself what exactely I had been expecting when playing gets frustrating. Is there any concept of a MMORPG at all which does not involve killing enemies to get stronger which you'd want to do in order be able to kill stronger enemies, which you'd want to do in order to get a higher level thus more power which you'd want to have in order to kill more enemies.... and so on.
Isn't it time for a completely innovative new concept in MMORPGing? Because trying to make a living is what I do on a daily basis... no need to pay 15 bucks a month to do it some more with a 3D character...
I have actually thought about that but the problem is who would actually bow their knees before a new, hostile leader because of losing a game? If that worked out people could have switched to using sport challenges long ago to decide who will lead their country in the future.
The fact that we remain animals will always have us rely on brute force if all else fails. Mankind only relies on a more complicated modus operandi if this promises to pay out somehow. If it doesn't they will switch to "the old ways". Always. So your idea is nice but will strangle itself at the hands of reality that is mankinds true self.
If they declare it a great country under GOD they can't be very smart after all, can they? As far as history teaches us, every state that was bult in any gods name ended up stripping people of their rights in the name of aforementioned god. Afghanistan is a good example for a muslim state that did that. Amerika or medieval Britain are good examples for christian aequivalents.
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I'm reading a lot of "We can't let that happen" on message boards when it comes to such things. As a non-American anti-Bush propagandist (yes, I like to be a shitdisturber ;)) I often rant and rage about the current state of the US. But now that the same stupid ideas hit my own continent I'm at a loss what about to do. What CAN we do?
I'm really not the pessimistic type most of the time when it comes to personal stuff. But when it involves the gathering of the people I'm pessimistic like hell. Because I know that we almost can't change anything about this stuff.
Let's be honest most of us try to survive. Not in the old fashioned "hunt for food" way but in a modern society where it's not only our body that must survive but our mind as well. Most of us try to stay the heck out of things that could get us in trouble (understandably). And most of us try to not concern ourselves with things we deem not so important. And this is "not so important" for a lot of people because "I'm not a criminal so why should this make me nervous".
So my question to the /. community, which is a certain elite and not a gathering of your average Joe, what can we from a realistic point of view do? Is there a way to get your average Joe to actually write his political representative?
Not using E-Mail at all would be a great idea. Why not invent a new system of delivering and archieving passwords and documents like NIC requests and the like?
Quite frankly, I don't use email for much more nowadays.
Another idea would be to generate user designed passkeys that would be sent along the mail. No passkey, no arriving of the email. You'd be able to determine the ttl of each passkey so managing the stuff would be easy... Newsletters that you can't unsubscribe? Passé.
This doesn't only apply to open source... Writing code is cool. It's like building a car engine. Or like putting together a PC. It's just fun and it is achallenge... but explaining it afterwards in a way that even a monkey is supposed tu understand it is just boring. The big difference between paid programmers and oss coder is that some of them get paid while others usually don't. So I don't blame them. I mean they do us a favor. So nobody can expect to be treated like a well paying customer. I rather like this "search for message board posts on the topic" kind of documentation. Because even when there is a great documentation it's always the error they didn't think of that you're having. So you'll be left to search the web once again anyway. What I am asking myself: How in the seven hells did I get along without the net?
Nice thing.... but since I don't remember one single moment where I actually said "Gee, wouldn't a zoom button be nice right now?" I'm asking myself how much I will have to spend on future TVs. And I'm not talking cash here... Those features alone don't make the price. But what I'm talking about is zapping through all the functions of those home entertainment monsters. When I was in school I had the time to try out every simple function in every single electronic device in our home. But today, where time is worth more than money, I won't use such gimmicks anyway. It's the same with my wireless ISDN phone, with my car hifi and so on. I mainly use the main functions and that's it. Heck I can't even use the sleep timer on my TV because I won't fall asleep before the TV shuts off anyway. So I'm asing myself when do we get price reduction by leaving out certain functions in our electronic devices? No zoom? No problem, take 20 bucks off the price. That would be cool. (Of course there will be a lot of self-kicking when you take it home turn it on and see just the scene you'd have liked to get a zoomed and frozen image of ;))
Okay, sure it's cheaper than buying an old NES off of eBay.... especially when youconsider all the freely downloadable games for emulators... But honestly... someone who'd give a damn about whether he's using an authentic controler or not would not hesitate to spend a few bucks more (let's say another 50) and get the stuff in real plastic. Perhaps I'm stupid but I would rather have the nice old NES standing beside my TV set than playing the stuff on my computer.
I don't quite understand why people have to do this and have to do that. Why should they put a side a perfectly profitable product (which it must be considering that they haven't put it away yet)? Some people like Star Trek with all the nonsense and brilliance it brings. I like Voyager very much. And I can barely stand watching DS9. So what? I seldomly make someone watch the stuff with me. Why not let the market decide whether ST is good enough or not? They don't owe us anything, we don't owe them anything. It's just a business and when enough people don't like something then it will be replaced. Unless you are a monopolist which ST isn't. There is so much great fiction out there. Why not just look for new material there, make a statement by that and wait for ST to return to something that one personally lokes again? Whining just pisses producers off... lack of income makes them move their butts.
Hey, wasn't there a device on /. a few months back that could actually recharge a laptop or a mobile phone just by putting them onto a mat?
Well, perhaps this is just a prototype in a field test? ;)
The idea sounds quite good but the problem I have with MMORPGs is that they get boring fast. The last game I played was City of Heroes... didn't take one single month before I got bored. Before that it was Final Fantasy XI. Am I really the only one who can't stick to such games for very long? I always ask myself what exactely I had been expecting when playing gets frustrating. Is there any concept of a MMORPG at all which does not involve killing enemies to get stronger which you'd want to do in order be able to kill stronger enemies, which you'd want to do in order to get a higher level thus more power which you'd want to have in order to kill more enemies.... and so on. Isn't it time for a completely innovative new concept in MMORPGing? Because trying to make a living is what I do on a daily basis... no need to pay 15 bucks a month to do it some more with a 3D character...
I have actually thought about that but the problem is who would actually bow their knees before a new, hostile leader because of losing a game? If that worked out people could have switched to using sport challenges long ago to decide who will lead their country in the future.
The fact that we remain animals will always have us rely on brute force if all else fails. Mankind only relies on a more complicated modus operandi if this promises to pay out somehow. If it doesn't they will switch to "the old ways". Always. So your idea is nice but will strangle itself at the hands of reality that is mankinds true self.
If they declare it a great country under GOD they can't be very smart after all, can they? As far as history teaches us, every state that was bult in any gods name ended up stripping people of their rights in the name of aforementioned god. Afghanistan is a good example for a muslim state that did that. Amerika or medieval Britain are good examples for christian aequivalents.
You are an idiot... and off topic.