What am I supposed to do with this thing? Admit that you made a mistake, figure out how much you can sell it for, and if it's still worth more to you than the unit's entertainment value (in your personal opinion), take the money.
Yeah, it probably sucks if you're taking a major loss over the original price, but if the alternative is that it gets shut away in a drawer and never used, you're effectively wasting the *whole* price anyway; it's just taking up space and its value will inevitably fall further.
Sure, I can play Pirates! on my desktop, but when I plan on taking a nice long dump, I want it to be portable. You want to carry your shit around? Eeewwwwww....
You're relying on pedantry to win the argument. These are just variants of games that have already appeared on other platforms, basically the same formats with a few tweaks.
Why don't you just put temporary labels on the keys, either on the front or on the top? Yes, they're probably slightly annoying, but less annoying (I'd guess) than the day-in, day-out irritation of making mistakes all the time. Or assuming the part is replacable- it is on my Compaq Armada- perhaps you should even consider buying a replacement keyboard for one or both of your laptops. Even if you have to pay for it yourself, it's probably worth it, and if your laptop series has been out for a while, you might find the part cheap secondhand on eBay.
The diversification in keyboard layouts is something that shouldn't have happened ever. My home workstation is US (qwerty), my home laptop is BE (azerty) and my work laptop is SF (qwertz). Then why don't you just decide which one you prefer and settle on that? You do realise that the legends printed on the keys have no bearing on the operating system, and that you can choose whichever one suits you.... right?
Of course, this is much better if you can touch type, but even if you can't, this still seems preferable to your current situation.
Why would it suddenly be applicable for computer software except for M$'s desperate attempt to malign Linux users Because I wasn't discussing Linux users, I was discussing Linux fans and advocates.
And not for lack of seriously violent crimes in the State -- they are not going to execute a computer hacker, if they let murderers and rapists live. Uh... not saying that Britain is perfect, but given some of the f****d-up, topsy-turvy values and morality we see coming out of the States at times, I certainly wouldn't take that for granted.
What is it with this continued bashing of Linux users, that somehow Linux users are responsible for the actions of other Linux users, or that Linux companies are responsible for the actions of Linux users. Like it or not, it's human nature to group people together when they are arguing a common cause. As a Linux user, the actions of these people reflect on me. Personally, I'd have no problems with them acting like idiots if they were seen for what they were; a bunch of arrogant, immature, clueless fanboys who were not representative of the community as a whole. As to whether I have any business criticising them for their actions; definitely so, they were telling this company how to run its own business.
When it's MS, I'm not in a pro-MS camp, let alone working for them, so their opinions are not seen as mine.
Now this is a completely different situation from my example but some people feel (very strongly) that this is a bad decision for the company to take. Probably because something will go bad (ie licensing, Microsoft FUD, etc) and then there will be news everywhere saying, "See! Linux Sucks because Microsoft Linux (Micronix? Linusoft?) screwed over this company!!" There may be the risk of that happening, but (a) Talking to a company like that over something that is fundamentally *their* business and doesn't have the same moral justification as the slave labour case is likely to have no effect at best, and (b) The bad publicity received by this will likely outweigh any FUD.
These people are likely to be seen for their true motivations and perceived (rightly) as interfering, arrogant fanboys.
Oh man - do you know what happened to the Beatles when John Lennon said that? Pfft... I love the irony that since his death, John Lennon has been practically deified, his every bloody work treated as if it were the work of God himself. That Lennon wrote some damn fine tunes does *not* make his sub-Spike Milliganesque doodlings (done for his children) worthy of an exhibition...
I smirk at the folks in Starbucks buying or selling "fair trade" coffee. None of them, I'd bet, has ever travelled to Latin America or even seen a coffee bean before it's been picked and roasted, or met a coffee farmer. So what?
Whilst I think the Starbucks stuff smacks of fashion-compassion, and think that the "fair trade" concept in general can be (and has been) exploited by some, there's nothing wrong with the principle of paying people a fair wage.
More seriously, I can't see why their having travelled to Latin America and/or met the farmers personally (or not) should have any bearing on the issue. Your comment smacks of smug elitism, reminiscent of those who go on eco-holidays doing "worthy" projects in third world countries and supposedly "saving the planet", by travelling around the world in a fat aeroplane that pumps out countless tonnes of CO2.
Fanboyism, whether directed at linux, wikipedia, apple, terry pratchet, HHGTG or whatever, really only acheives the following: It attracts more fanboys. [..] That this happened can only damage Linux's reputation. Spot on. These people are an embarrassment to the Linux community; it makes me cringe just to think of being associated with them. Their actions are juvenile and counter-productive.
Actually, it makes you wonder whether it's a clever anti-Linux campaign by one of the big vendors. But then, I've seen enough rabid Linux fanboyism here to know that there really are people out there who'd do this; a minority, admittedly, but a vocal minority who make the rest of us look like stupid narrow-minded zealots.
Blade Runner is a convoluted mess of crap [..] a plot that made the final 10 minutes of 2001 seem easy-to-follow by comparison. You and others equate this style of writing and directing with high-brow Sci-Fi Actually, Blade Runner is often compared to Film Noir. The plot of The Big Sleep was so convoluted that Raymond Chandler himself apparently had trouble following it; The Maltese Falcon isn't exactly straightforward either. Yet I'd argue that the appeal of both those films didn't rely on being able to follow every aspect of the plot.
The same is true of Blade Runner; well, maybe... maybe not. Thing is, in the two films I mentioned, the plot thread is still important, it still provides a context for the atmosphere and the character interaction.
Whereas with Blade Runner, what one would consider the "plot" in a conventional sense is actually quite underdeveloped (Deckard's detective work) and/or simplistic (capturing the replicants). Ford's criticism that he played a detective that doesn't do any detecting isn't entirely misplaced, and what there is, although superficially reminiscent of Film Noir is more opaque than convoluted. Meanwhile, his attempts to capture them are not- in themselves- particularly compelling or sophisticated plot lines. It could be argued that neither are they in action-oriented films, but BR isn't an action-oriented film.
What I'm trying to say is that the plot as such in Blade Runner is neither strongly nor clearly drawn; and ultimately isn't the "point" of the film. Although I can understand why people like BR, it's also understandable why it wasn't a hit at the box office. It lacks a layer; between the totally superficial level where it looks fantastic, and the much deeper levels where there's a lot going on. If all you're looking for is an enjoyable film with a clearly developed plot- even a convoluted one- you're going to be disappointed, and that's probably why it wasn't a major hit when it first came out.
I don't think the obvious defence- that BR was character-driven- would hold either; well, not at that level, anyway. Sure, a lot of people have said a lot of things about the characters, but generally after considering the more in-depth aspects of the film.
Please don't take this as an attack on Blade Runner- it was meant as an analysis, and to criticise the film on these aspects is to somewhat miss the point.
Sheesh, some of the early 8-bit artwork from small British companies wasn't that hot. I could probably get some of those old "Your Computer" magazines I got from my Dad, and scan a few examples from them, but I'm too lazy.:-)
This Timeslip budget reissue cover is actually a later example, but it's still quite bad; it looks like they got a child from secondary school on work experience to do it.
Apparently the Japanese creator of Sudoku has claimed that computer-generated puzzles lack the charm and personality of human-created ones. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.
As a matter of fact it's fine up until the "little boy" part, because that's simply an appeal to emotion No, it's not. It's a statement that (in my opinion) their behaviour is the juvenile "masculinity" of small boys pretending to be men, but not really being men because they're simply following some image given to them by the media.
The same with stating that it's "gay". No; it may be a statement of opinion, but it wasn't thrown in there to piss them off.
not insults. You assumed that I meant "gay" as an insult; you were wrong, and you should have realised this when I attacked them for being homophobic.
You can't ridicule them for using masculinity as a measuring tool by insulting their masculinity, without thereby validating it as a valid measuring tool. I'm sorry, can you please explain that again?(!)
I was ridiculing them for defining their masculinity by following the stupid "man-phrase" of the week, relying on stupid media/advertising originated values and phrases, and in general noting that the people who seem most obsessed with being men also seem to be the least self-confident and willing to rely on the "safest" definitions of masculinity (usually put forward by advertisers and the like).
If it is true (and let's all hope so), I expect dozens of Apple haters who have been claiming that Steve was lying about Apple's preference for no DRM to man up and apologize here in this thread. I notice that you're not sure enough about this to "man up", stand by your assertion for posterity and at least log in to say this.
By the way, "man up" is one hell of a stupid phrase, of the type spouted duckspeak-style by morons who base their definition of manhood on stupid, pseudo-macho, group-approved, adolescent language. The same type of people who'll buy any old crap if enough money is spent advertising it with a "macho" image. You're not men, you're insecure, immature and easily-influenced little boys.
Anyway, "man up" actually sounds pretty gay when you think about it; ironic when you consider that such adolescent pseudo-men are the most likely to spout such crap *and* be the most homophobic.
EMI's share price has been plummeting for months. My guess is they're desperate to try anything. I tell you it was all a frame, they only did it 'cos of fame - who? EMI.
With content, it is exactly the other way 'round: Stealing it increases its value. There is no region code, no [etc] And no condescending and insulting anti-piracy advert/propoganda whenever the ******* DVD starts up. I just paid you for the **** thing, and you shove this crap in my face? Nice irony that this sort of anti-piracy BS can be removed if you break the copy protection and make pirate copies.
This was a Warner video, by the way. It also came with a leaflet that attempted to link piracy with the case of the 21 Chinese illegal immigrants who drowned whilst picking cockles in Morecambe Bay. The reason was when they searched the gangmaster's houses, "they found over 4000 counterfeit DVDs and computers containing counterfeit material". I'm sure that they also found milk in the fridge, but so what?
Yeah, they'd argue that the message was that some nasty people are involved in DVD piracy, and we shouldn't support them. Fair enough, but the style of the leaflet was pure propoganda, attempting to associate the deaths of the cocklers with piracy in general; as if supporting piracy had encouraged their deaths, or that the illegal immigrants wouldn't have been out there if pirate DVDs hadn't been bought, or..... whatever. I can't really argue against it because, being propoganda, there wasn't any real substance as such, just a nasty and underhand discussion-bypassing attempt to smear DVD piracy with another tragic incident in thoroughly exploitative manner.
I'm not too happy with the way the author recommends one particular brand over others like that without any hard data to back it up. To be fair, whilst I'm not claiming that I've never come across criticism of Taiyo Yuden, they seem to be consistently ranked #1 in reliability and quality. In fact, come to think of it I can't recall seeing any reviews where their media (overall) weren't the top rated.
I believe that Verbatim (owned by Mitsubishi) are also very highly rated (except for a brief period in 2002 when they switched to a far less reputable media supplier). More info in this article.
Bear in mind that a *large* number of major brands don't make their own media; these include companies such as Memorex, Fuji and Emtec (formerly BASF). Apparently you can look at the cakebox/packaging style and media type and figure out if it's good-quality rebranded media inside, but I don't buy enough discs for this to be worth my time; more sensible just to buy from companies that do their own.
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Yeah, it probably sucks if you're taking a major loss over the original price, but if the alternative is that it gets shut away in a drawer and never used, you're effectively wasting the *whole* price anyway; it's just taking up space and its value will inevitably fall further.
You're relying on pedantry to win the argument. These are just variants of games that have already appeared on other platforms, basically the same formats with a few tweaks.
Damn, I made that joke the first time this story was reported on Slashdot. Yep, it's another dupe...
Why don't you just put temporary labels on the keys, either on the front or on the top? Yes, they're probably slightly annoying, but less annoying (I'd guess) than the day-in, day-out irritation of making mistakes all the time. Or assuming the part is replacable- it is on my Compaq Armada- perhaps you should even consider buying a replacement keyboard for one or both of your laptops. Even if you have to pay for it yourself, it's probably worth it, and if your laptop series has been out for a while, you might find the part cheap secondhand on eBay.
Of course, this is much better if you can touch type, but even if you can't, this still seems preferable to your current situation.
When it's MS, I'm not in a pro-MS camp, let alone working for them, so their opinions are not seen as mine.
These people are likely to be seen for their true motivations and perceived (rightly) as interfering, arrogant fanboys.
Whilst I think the Starbucks stuff smacks of fashion-compassion, and think that the "fair trade" concept in general can be (and has been) exploited by some, there's nothing wrong with the principle of paying people a fair wage.
More seriously, I can't see why their having travelled to Latin America and/or met the farmers personally (or not) should have any bearing on the issue. Your comment smacks of smug elitism, reminiscent of those who go on eco-holidays doing "worthy" projects in third world countries and supposedly "saving the planet", by travelling around the world in a fat aeroplane that pumps out countless tonnes of CO2.
Actually, it makes you wonder whether it's a clever anti-Linux campaign by one of the big vendors. But then, I've seen enough rabid Linux fanboyism here to know that there really are people out there who'd do this; a minority, admittedly, but a vocal minority who make the rest of us look like stupid narrow-minded zealots.
The same is true of Blade Runner; well, maybe... maybe not. Thing is, in the two films I mentioned, the plot thread is still important, it still provides a context for the atmosphere and the character interaction.
Whereas with Blade Runner, what one would consider the "plot" in a conventional sense is actually quite underdeveloped (Deckard's detective work) and/or simplistic (capturing the replicants). Ford's criticism that he played a detective that doesn't do any detecting isn't entirely misplaced, and what there is, although superficially reminiscent of Film Noir is more opaque than convoluted. Meanwhile, his attempts to capture them are not- in themselves- particularly compelling or sophisticated plot lines. It could be argued that neither are they in action-oriented films, but BR isn't an action-oriented film.
What I'm trying to say is that the plot as such in Blade Runner is neither strongly nor clearly drawn; and ultimately isn't the "point" of the film. Although I can understand why people like BR, it's also understandable why it wasn't a hit at the box office. It lacks a layer; between the totally superficial level where it looks fantastic, and the much deeper levels where there's a lot going on. If all you're looking for is an enjoyable film with a clearly developed plot- even a convoluted one- you're going to be disappointed, and that's probably why it wasn't a major hit when it first came out.
I don't think the obvious defence- that BR was character-driven- would hold either; well, not at that level, anyway. Sure, a lot of people have said a lot of things about the characters, but generally after considering the more in-depth aspects of the film.
Please don't take this as an attack on Blade Runner- it was meant as an analysis, and to criticise the film on these aspects is to somewhat miss the point.
Sheesh, some of the early 8-bit artwork from small British companies wasn't that hot. I could probably get some of those old "Your Computer" magazines I got from my Dad, and scan a few examples from them, but I'm too lazy. :-)
This Timeslip budget reissue cover is actually a later example, but it's still quite bad; it looks like they got a child from secondary school on work experience to do it.
Apparently the Japanese creator of Sudoku has claimed that computer-generated puzzles lack the charm and personality of human-created ones. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.
I was ridiculing them for defining their masculinity by following the stupid "man-phrase" of the week, relying on stupid media/advertising originated values and phrases, and in general noting that the people who seem most obsessed with being men also seem to be the least self-confident and willing to rely on the "safest" definitions of masculinity (usually put forward by advertisers and the like).
By the way, "man up" is one hell of a stupid phrase, of the type spouted duckspeak-style by morons who base their definition of manhood on stupid, pseudo-macho, group-approved, adolescent language. The same type of people who'll buy any old crap if enough money is spent advertising it with a "macho" image. You're not men, you're insecure, immature and easily-influenced little boys.
Anyway, "man up" actually sounds pretty gay when you think about it; ironic when you consider that such adolescent pseudo-men are the most likely to spout such crap *and* be the most homophobic.
This was a Warner video, by the way. It also came with a leaflet that attempted to link piracy with the case of the 21 Chinese illegal immigrants who drowned whilst picking cockles in Morecambe Bay. The reason was when they searched the gangmaster's houses, "they found over 4000 counterfeit DVDs and computers containing counterfeit material". I'm sure that they also found milk in the fridge, but so what?
Yeah, they'd argue that the message was that some nasty people are involved in DVD piracy, and we shouldn't support them. Fair enough, but the style of the leaflet was pure propoganda, attempting to associate the deaths of the cocklers with piracy in general; as if supporting piracy had encouraged their deaths, or that the illegal immigrants wouldn't have been out there if pirate DVDs hadn't been bought, or..... whatever. I can't really argue against it because, being propoganda, there wasn't any real substance as such, just a nasty and underhand discussion-bypassing attempt to smear DVD piracy with another tragic incident in thoroughly exploitative manner.
Anyway, I've scanned the leaflet and put it online, here (side 1) and here (side 2).
April Fools?! NEVER!!!!
BTW, this story is so bad that even the Digg crowd haven't gone for it; the "Digg it!" box on its page has reached the grand total of 9.
I'll believe that this is "news for nerds" when the Slashdottit rating is "i".
I believe that Verbatim (owned by Mitsubishi) are also very highly rated (except for a brief period in 2002 when they switched to a far less reputable media supplier). More info in this article.
Bear in mind that a *large* number of major brands don't make their own media; these include companies such as Memorex, Fuji and Emtec (formerly BASF). Apparently you can look at the cakebox/packaging style and media type and figure out if it's good-quality rebranded media inside, but I don't buy enough discs for this to be worth my time; more sensible just to buy from companies that do their own.
Hmm... anyone remember Logo? I think you'd be much safer with that and a turtle...