A similar situation: people say the dot.coms "blew" all their investment money. But money goes somewhere. Well, they were spending it on goods and services provided by other companies and individuals. In a way it was a great redistribution of wealth, while it lasted: e.g., rich investors money gets spent on web design and previously unemployable philosophy degree holding designer makes 40k then 60k then 80k a year. Wish it would have lasted...
I bought a Dell, on a payment plan, and then returned it within 30 days because I convinced my employer that it would be good for me to have a Mac instead (I'm a designer) and therefore I decided to get a new Mac for home too instead of a PC. There was nothing I could do to keep them from sending me my monthly payment bill each month! Lots of phone calls and emails later and heck, they are probably still sending out a monthly bill to my old address 3 years later! It never showed a past due balance though which was curious. So...I don't know about their tech support, but their accounting folks could use a little help.
Having more true designers (not frontpage html hacks) that can program would be a big benefit to software development. There are way too many sites and apps out there that function the way they do simply because it was the easiest or cleanest way to program. Sometimes this makes the app easy to use by other geeks, because they can guess how it works, but often it is absolutely horrible to use from the non-geek user's perspective. Even in cases where designers and info architects (anyone still use this job title? ha!) specify something that would be very easy to use often times the programmers will say it's just not possible: often it is possible but the programmers just don't want to do it. If the designers know more about programming, the programmers won't be able to bail out anymore. The end result will be better applications for non-geek users.
There needs to be a certain amount of cross-pollenation for the good of the gene pool: It's certainly got to be easier to turn designers into programmers than programmers into designers.
same goes for WWW vs. world wide web
on
High Score
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· Score: 1
Saying WWW takes 9 syllables while saying "world wide web" only takes 4 (or 3 if you slur "world").
Writing to standards would be nice except IE and Netscape have different interpretations of the standards! Need an example? Put an image in a table cell and IE will put it flush bottom but Netscape will put it on the font baseline (leaving space below for where decenders would go). Both are possible interpretations of the standards. Working around this is a pain in the ass. Sure, we can do it: but we shouldn't have to!
I'm all for different browsers but they should certainly display html the exact same was as IE. It is the default standard. Others can differ on security issues and other important things but should read html like the browser that already has a 90% market share.
Well, we shouldn't have much trouble making fake lenses to wear for work, and then a different pair for each activity we engage in - multiple identities. Make 'em look like this this perhaps, ha!
Very good point. I pay $50 a month to AT&T and I can make 600 peak minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and free longdistance anytime. This covers any use I have for a phone and if weren't for occasionally needing the fax machine and to make international calls, I'd even cancel my land line service and use the cell exclusively.
Voice over IP would be great for international calls though. I can't even place an overseas call from the cell.
They already have electronic gadgets that allow Japanese to choose a phrase from the menu, push the button, and it speaks the English phrase out loud. This won't be much better. Most Japanese construct their sentences without subjects and often without objects. Actual rules of grammar are ignored when not necessary to get the meaning across. The listener is already familiar with what/who they are talking about and can make sense of it: the computer will have no chance.
People should stop being lazy. If you want to speak a foreign langauge, just learn the damn language. It's not that hard to do when you really need to (even Japanese).
There is no "right" or "wrong" that is of significance. All that matters is which we choose to believe in and how that influences our behavior.
We have come this far even though much past scientific "right" is now seen to have be incorrect; or at least seen as not the only correct description possible.
Was the work of Kant any less beneficial to mankind because his 'proof' that man has an apriori understanding of the physical world used pre-non-Euclidian geometry as the understanding that we are supposedly born with? Of course not. Kant may not have been correct but his views prompted other investigations that led to much of the social and scientific structures we live under today. (BTW, I'm not saying Wolfram is Kant!)
In the end, judgement of any work, any theory, any book of this scale, should not be based on whether the author is "right". It should be judged simply by the effect it has on the world. What actions does it prompt in other scientists? Does it alter the behavior of the man on the street? Will either praise or criticism of the book change mankind in any way and which is preferable?
"In-cab e-mail allows you to send and receive e-mail through the satellite hook-up in your tractor"
I am so all over this.
-Rich
I got it cancelled this time!
on
Disconnecting
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Here's how it went using the earthlink support chat thing. Enjoy.
Earthlink: Please wait for a site operator to respond. While you are waiting, please feel free to begin typing your issue in the box below. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Once an operator responds, click SEND to transmit what you have typed.
Earthlink: All operators are currently assisting other customers. Thank you for your patience. An operator will be with you shortly.
[this thing repeated 9 times, then...]
'JoselynR': Thank you for contacting Earthlink LiveChat. How may I help you today?
me@earthlink.net: I'd like to try for like the 10th time to cancel my DSL account, and in fact, every account with earthlink. I haven't lived at that address since December, the pac bell line was cancelled, but yet my earthlink dsl account remains active (or so it seems). The credit card used for billing that account has been cancelled so you haven't been able to bill me (thank god). But you might as well cancel my account and stop sending me e-mails about it. Thanks!
me@earthlink.net: hopefully your database is not "down" again...
JoselynR: what is the last4 numbers of the visa
JoselynR: card
me@earthlink.net: I have no idea. The card was cancelled long ago.
JoselynR: what is the password
(since they are cancelling me I don't mind giving this to them...)
me@earthlink.net: (xxxxxxxx). luckily i remembered!
JoselynR: ok did you want dial up or cancel out the whole acct
me@earthlink.net: the whole account please
JoselynR: ok one moment
JoselynR: Ok, I have set the account to close at the end of this billing cycle for you. Was there anything else I could help with today? c4nc3l
JoselynR: the acct will close on 05-25-02
me@earthlink.net: Thanks Joselyn! You are the first person who actually could do it! Thanks! BTW, here's a story about another person's problems trying to close their account: it will be read by many people today. http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/ 14/0138249&mode=thread&tid=95
JoselynR: You're welcome and thank you for using EarthLink LiveChat. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us again.
me@earthlink.net: thanks. you (personally) get an A+
JoselynR: hhehhe
JoselynR: thank you
JoselynR::0)
=============
and thus my relationship with Earthlink has ended...
They will still bug you though
on
Disconnecting
·
· Score: 1
My credit card was cancelled. But they still bug me and try to make me pay. I've been on the phone for way too many attempts and have tried the support chat twice but they claim their database was down so they couldn't cancel me. The phone line that the dsl was connected to hasn't existed for six months when I moved but that's not a big enough hint for them. I'm giving the chat thing another try right now (I'm on the 9th repeat of the automatic "all operators are busy").
I never used the @earthlink e-mail address and so set it up to forward to my real mail in case they had something important to say (scheduled downtime? like they'd really tell me anyway, huh?). So I still get their e-mails begging for money from me. It is not possible to cancel your account by e-mailing them ("security reasons").
Will today be the day my dsl account is finally cancelled?
Yes, pasting in the url will defeat the referer check once you are on the home page. Same thing for links to images on geocities, etc. Everyone above thought they were so smart to advocate a technical "solution" for these guys instead of a legal one, but it isn't much of a solution...
Slashdot Mirror
Yes! Money goes somewhere!
A similar situation: people say the dot.coms "blew" all their investment money. But money goes somewhere. Well, they were spending it on goods and services provided by other companies and individuals. In a way it was a great redistribution of wealth, while it lasted: e.g., rich investors money gets spent on web design and previously unemployable philosophy degree holding designer makes 40k then 60k then 80k a year. Wish it would have lasted...
I bought a Dell, on a payment plan, and then returned it within 30 days because I convinced my employer that it would be good for me to have a Mac instead (I'm a designer) and therefore I decided to get a new Mac for home too instead of a PC. There was nothing I could do to keep them from sending me my monthly payment bill each month! Lots of phone calls and emails later and heck, they are probably still sending out a monthly bill to my old address 3 years later! It never showed a past due balance though which was curious. So...I don't know about their tech support, but their accounting folks could use a little help.
Time to get a new girlfriend! I couldn't possibly date/marry any woman that doesn't enjoy naked female bodies...
Having more true designers (not frontpage html hacks) that can program would be a big benefit to software development. There are way too many sites and apps out there that function the way they do simply because it was the easiest or cleanest way to program. Sometimes this makes the app easy to use by other geeks, because they can guess how it works, but often it is absolutely horrible to use from the non-geek user's perspective. Even in cases where designers and info architects (anyone still use this job title? ha!) specify something that would be very easy to use often times the programmers will say it's just not possible: often it is possible but the programmers just don't want to do it. If the designers know more about programming, the programmers won't be able to bail out anymore. The end result will be better applications for non-geek users.
There needs to be a certain amount of cross-pollenation for the good of the gene pool: It's certainly got to be easier to turn designers into programmers than programmers into designers.
Saying WWW takes 9 syllables while saying "world wide web" only takes 4 (or 3 if you slur "world").
Writing to standards would be nice except IE and Netscape have different interpretations of the standards! Need an example? Put an image in a table cell and IE will put it flush bottom but Netscape will put it on the font baseline (leaving space below for where decenders would go). Both are possible interpretations of the standards. Working around this is a pain in the ass. Sure, we can do it: but we shouldn't have to!
I'm all for different browsers but they should certainly display html the exact same was as IE. It is the default standard. Others can differ on security issues and other important things but should read html like the browser that already has a 90% market share.
How come they always say Nolan Bushnell "invented" pong. Seems Baer did so much earlier. What gives?
Well, we shouldn't have much trouble making fake lenses to wear for work, and then a different pair for each activity we engage in - multiple identities. Make 'em look like this this perhaps, ha!
Very good point. I pay $50 a month to AT&T and I can make 600 peak minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and free longdistance anytime. This covers any use I have for a phone and if weren't for occasionally needing the fax machine and to make international calls, I'd even cancel my land line service and use the cell exclusively.
Voice over IP would be great for international calls though. I can't even place an overseas call from the cell.
People should stop being lazy. If you want to speak a foreign langauge, just learn the damn language. It's not that hard to do when you really need to (even Japanese).
There is no "right" or "wrong" that is of significance. All that matters is which we choose to believe in and how that influences our behavior.
We have come this far even though much past scientific "right" is now seen to have be incorrect; or at least seen as not the only correct description possible.
Was the work of Kant any less beneficial to mankind because his 'proof' that man has an apriori understanding of the physical world used pre-non-Euclidian geometry as the understanding that we are supposedly born with? Of course not. Kant may not have been correct but his views prompted other investigations that led to much of the social and scientific structures we live under today. (BTW, I'm not saying Wolfram is Kant!)
In the end, judgement of any work, any theory, any book of this scale, should not be based on whether the author is "right". It should be judged simply by the effect it has on the world. What actions does it prompt in other scientists? Does it alter the behavior of the man on the street? Will either praise or criticism of the book change mankind in any way and which is preferable?
"In-cab e-mail allows you to send and receive e-mail through the satellite hook-up in your tractor"
I am so all over this.
-Rich
Here's how it went using the earthlink support chat thing. Enjoy. Earthlink: Please wait for a site operator to respond. While you are waiting, please feel free to begin typing your issue in the box below. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Once an operator responds, click SEND to transmit what you have typed. Earthlink: All operators are currently assisting other customers. Thank you for your patience. An operator will be with you shortly. [this thing repeated 9 times, then...] 'JoselynR': Thank you for contacting Earthlink LiveChat. How may I help you today? me@earthlink.net: I'd like to try for like the 10th time to cancel my DSL account, and in fact, every account with earthlink. I haven't lived at that address since December, the pac bell line was cancelled, but yet my earthlink dsl account remains active (or so it seems). The credit card used for billing that account has been cancelled so you haven't been able to bill me (thank god). But you might as well cancel my account and stop sending me e-mails about it. Thanks! me@earthlink.net: hopefully your database is not "down" again... JoselynR: what is the last4 numbers of the visa JoselynR: card me@earthlink.net: I have no idea. The card was cancelled long ago. JoselynR: what is the password (since they are cancelling me I don't mind giving this to them...) me@earthlink.net: (xxxxxxxx). luckily i remembered! JoselynR: ok did you want dial up or cancel out the whole acct me@earthlink.net: the whole account please JoselynR: ok one moment JoselynR: Ok, I have set the account to close at the end of this billing cycle for you. Was there anything else I could help with today? c4nc3l JoselynR: the acct will close on 05-25-02 me@earthlink.net: Thanks Joselyn! You are the first person who actually could do it! Thanks! BTW, here's a story about another person's problems trying to close their account: it will be read by many people today. http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/ 14/0138249&mode=thread&tid=95
JoselynR: You're welcome and thank you for using EarthLink LiveChat. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us again.
me@earthlink.net: thanks. you (personally) get an A+
JoselynR: hhehhe
JoselynR: thank you
JoselynR: :0)
=============
and thus my relationship with Earthlink has ended...
My credit card was cancelled. But they still bug me and try to make me pay. I've been on the phone for way too many attempts and have tried the support chat twice but they claim their database was down so they couldn't cancel me. The phone line that the dsl was connected to hasn't existed for six months when I moved but that's not a big enough hint for them. I'm giving the chat thing another try right now (I'm on the 9th repeat of the automatic "all operators are busy"). I never used the @earthlink e-mail address and so set it up to forward to my real mail in case they had something important to say (scheduled downtime? like they'd really tell me anyway, huh?). So I still get their e-mails begging for money from me. It is not possible to cancel your account by e-mailing them ("security reasons"). Will today be the day my dsl account is finally cancelled?
Yes, pasting in the url will defeat the referer check once you are on the home page. Same thing for links to images on geocities, etc. Everyone above thought they were so smart to advocate a technical "solution" for these guys instead of a legal one, but it isn't much of a solution...