ABC shut down the show because Mahr made an unpatriotic statement when he responded to one of his panelists by saying (paraphrasing) we are/were cowards for lobbing missles from thousands of miles away.
That was one of the best news discussion shows around.
I don't see what the big deal is. It gives you the option of turning it off, but it doesn't automatically turn them off or include rival products as alternatives.
What that boils down to is the average user still using them anyway. Does anyone think Mom & Pop are messing with this stuff?
"Expert users" would have already found the options to change file associations so "hiding IE" does nothing (in fact you can change.html file associations by simply installing Netscape).
Not that I don't think people should have the option (to use or not to use the MS programs), but at the same time I don't see this as any large threat to their browser dominance, etc.
If I'm not mistaken, the UN had getting Iraq out of Kuwait in mind a long time before the no-fly zones, which were implemented during the settlement after the war (along with trade & economic sanctions, weapons inspections, etc.).
The country on defense has a significantly high advantage. This advantage is why we didn't finish Saddam Hussein in the 90's.
I'm game with the rest of what you have to say, but I think we pretty much ruled the landscape in Iraq before we pulled out. Not to say it wouldn't have cost lives to march up to Saddam's house and knock on the door, but the opportunity was certainly there. Heck, their soldiers were giving up left and right, by the thousands. We didn't even have anywhere to put all the of prisoners.
The reason we didn't finish the job was because someone got cold feet. This wasn't the same as the island hopping and Japanese mainland of WWII or Vietnam.
I have no experience with a Quake or MUD like communities but one and a half years ago a member of my online fantasy hockey league died in a car crash leaving a wife and two young daughters. I think about him often because of what he brought to the league (in which I am still a part of), our commonality in fanship, and the fact that he was just a great guy.
His loss effected me, and other members of our league, greatly despite only knowing him through conversations over the internet. We posted our good-byes on the messageboard for his widow and children to have/save, changed his former team's arena name to reflect him, went the rest of the year w/o filling the vacant GM spot in respect of him, dedicated the season to him, and even created a trophy in his name given annually to the GM who represents the best dedication to his team and the league (because that's what he was known for).
Maybe your brother didn't spend that much time with his clanmates yucking it up, maybe they're just too young and immature to understand/care, or maybe you just don't see them mourn, who knows.
But I'm not buying the opinion that there isn't room for caring and mourning of online friends. Not when I've been there and done that.
It appears to me that there was a little babyboom in the more-is-more 1980s, and those kids are coming of age. I wish there was a way to get credible census information in this kind of detail, but I'll bet $1 that there are more 18-25 year olds today than there have ever been in history.
Sorry, but this undoubtedly incorrect. The graph shown here from 1994 would plot 18-25 year olds as 10-17 year olds. The logic partly plays out in that there certainly isn't a shortage of kids coming from the babyboomers, but it still doesn't meet the ~42-52 age period of today.
I think it just seems like there are so many kids 18-25 these days because the ecomony took a dive and it's difficult for those inexperienced people to find jobs (especially techies).
If someone knew how to parent they'd know that if they had a real relationship with their kid they wouldn't have to snooping around all the time in order to figure out what the heck they were doing.
There is a difference between being aware/concerned and asking questions and rummaging through their stuff (diary, notebooks, etc). It's one thing if you have a specific reason to be suspicious (as I previously noted) but otherwise you're just putting yourself in a position for more harm than good.
If one can't see that then maybe they should be looking into the mirror when they say "you've got some growing up to do."
Fowler said the software would be useful for parents who want to watch their children's e-mail activity in the early afternoon hours, when children are home from school but parents are still at work.
Yeah just what kids need, their parents reading their e-mail. As if they didn't have enough to deal with.
Sure, in some cases this could actually be an asset (as in if you're afraid your kid is going to run off with some 40 year old child molester) but otherwise parents should let it be.
Besides, if they really knew their kids they'd be able to guess their password;D
One interpretation is that they internally conclude they must like you more, in order to explain to themselves why they would do something difficult for you.
Also known as, "cognitive dissonance."
I love it when people pull out the psychology stuff.:)
I've heard a lot of good things about Falcon NW building solid gaming PCs, but I feel bad for people who have to pay their hugely inflated prices from something most avid computer people can do on their own; build a PC.
I really don't see why more people don't try out vehicular shooter games like Descent and Freespace, which feel realistic because your flying a ship, not moving a person, which means that collisions feel much more real (a real bump or knock). Also, they're alot more challenging and you're given a lot more freedom, as you can move in all different directions.
I can agree with your general sentiment. A lot of the FPS aren't very original at all.
Yet the above quote doesn't make much sense to me. The most recent FPS I've played (SoFII & Medal of Honor) have the screen jerk when you're hit thereby messing up your aim, etc. Some of them also give you the ability to lean around corners, crawl, and when you walk your cross hair goes up and down (i.e. more accurately simulating what it would do if you were actually walking).
I also don't quite understand the comment about freedom and moving in all directions. I don't see any difference between FPS and vehicle games/shooters in that regard besides the limitation of a characters horizontal jump in a FPS. Yet I can't say that's a very useful comparison.
Try out Descent (1-3) or Tomb Raider (1-6), or Resident Evil
Tomb Raider? Resident Evil? Isn't there a lot of shoot'em up characteristics in those games too?
It would be great to have some sort of say in what training I recieve and who they are.
Unfortunately, my experience is that employers shuffle you to whatever courses the think you need and whatever is cheap.
It's basically a coporate feel good technique.
Of course when you really need training on something their pockets are dry.
I guess I just need to be a contractor. With the gobs of money they absorb from their workers, I'm guessing they're willing to train their people in just about whatever they want.
Similarly, just because there is really great writing on TV doesn't change the fact that you're sitting there, doing nothing, being hand-fed the whole thing. In books the imagination is stimulated. Games can teach logic. Group activities teach teamwork. But TV just entertains.
Just curious but if watching TV is this big lazy act of ones mind not working yadda yadda, do you ever go see a play or a concert or movie?
And wouldn't that be just as lazy?
Moreover, can you honestly claim that there are shows on TV that don't teach people things? Jeopardy, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Junkyard Wars (removes that functional fixedness), news...even sitcoms (though perhaps rarely) can bring about personal discussion concerning certain social issues.
I don't even watch that much TV but I think perhaps you haven't been watching enough of it to know what it does or does not do.
I'd keep my TV for the same reason I keep my internet access.
The adds work. We don't really know how, but the they do, as evidenced by finincial sucess that the companie reap by their effectivness.
Yeah, they work but pyschologists do know why they work. They work for several different reasons such as having an "expert" support it (even the Doc from the Loveboat recommending drugs works, because he's "trustworthy"), celebrity effect (pathetic, but it works), repetition, catchy songs/slogans, etc.
They don't even have to get your full attention because your brain is always working. In fact, in some cases the commercials are more effective when you're not paying full attention (for instance if there using an agrument as the reason to buy you might not take the time to determine that it's faulty).
Of course there is a lot more to this. I'm leaving a lot out, but I can't recall everything from my social psych class.
This is something I researched before I bought my 40/12/40 Plextor a month or so ago (although with this megahertz myth going around, I should lie and sue CDR makers for the meager difference between 32x & 40x).
In my case I went from ~40 minutes down to less than 4. That's when you know things are worth upgrading!
While the requirements are high, people ought to understand that's the way things are with games. Gamers should especially be aware of this fact.
Besides, the way you describe it...
More than likely, anyone with less than a Geforce3, or Radeon 8500 (i.e. has programmable vertex and pixel shaders and DDR memory), 128mb or ram, and ~750mhz will not be able to play this game at playable frame rates.
...most serious gamers have that or well beyond and I don't know what games you've been playing lately, but most already run poorly with anything less.
The only real reason I have to buy a new computer these days is for computer game support. Game environments are an ever improving assortment of eye-candy and I wouldn't want it any other way.
And if game makers can get their products out faster and make them run better because they don't support the more legacy components that's fine by me.
I want my game to be all it can be, even if I have to wait a few more months to play it so I can upgrade my system first (as I just did, waiting 6 months to upgrade w/o buying any new games...luckily Wizardry 8 has a long playing life and most of the good games of 2002 didn't start coming out until Q2).
I agree that is sucks when you're at that stage when only games can run (or run well) on your system but I think it's worth it in the long run.
If anyone is trying to hype anything as being fact or for certain it is the media. The scientists state over and over about more things being involved, them being many years away from fully understanding it, and there being disputes concerning theories, etc.
Even the poster has a question mark after the title.
At least science tries to support their theories with evidence as opposed to religion which has long been an oppressive force against the search for the truth (e.g. Socrates, Galileo, etc.).
"Appreciation and repeat buisiness are two totally different things"
So you do repeat business with companies' services you don't appreciate? That's a new one. One might be getting a new one ripped by a company but you still appreciate their service enough if you go with them.
I lost my "appreciation" for Dell's pre-built computer services (again, do I need to repeat myself? apparently) more so because of my experience building my own computer.
I also clearly stated that I'd recommend them to someone else.
And unfortunately you or Dell didn't enlighten me. It has nothing to do with a credit limit. It was a debit card in which I either guess wrong about it's daily limit or they messed up like the another person mentioned.
"When you appreciate a company until you have one bad experience."
I plainly said that the reason I wouldn't order another computer from Dell had more to do with my excellent experience building my own than the one experience with Dell.
"This isn't even Tech Support"
Hmmm, perhaps that's why I called it customer support or customer sales support.
"But how do you pay for support to non-customers who's payment couldn't be processed? "
Ok, you have someone who is trying to be a third time customer on the line who already made the decision to buy an expensive piece of hardware from your company AND made the decision to try to get things worked out according to an e-mail your company sent him (i.e. this person defintely wants to buy it if he's going to call any sort of support line).
So...Dell handling it bad doesn't give me a reason to be soured, not call back that night (hence order cancelled & price breaks no longer available), therefore not buying a Dell computer in the immediate future and eventually ending up waiting a few months, building my own, realizing making my own machine is better and cheaper than a Dell causing me to make the decision never to buy a pre-build machine (e.g. Dell)?
My experience is singular and I would still recommend Dell to a PC user that is not as inclined as myself to build thier own machin.
Not going back to Dell has more to do with me prefering my gradifying experience of building my own computer than my frustrating support call with Dell. Dell just got the ball rolling for me. In a sick sort of way, I owe it to their customer sales support...or whomever they sent me to...
Truth be told I resorted to buying one of their keyboards (what is with all these 200 extra button keyboards...can't a gal/guy get a plain old keyboard these days?), a logitech mouse, and a headset/mic just a few days ago from them because I was able to get a good deal.
But you're right about Dell losing a (desktop) customer. Eventually I probably would have evolved to the point of building my own systems, but they moved the inevitable up at least one major purchase.
I have no problem with them trying to detect fraud. Although in reality, it's the card issuer's problem since they imposed the limit.
The issue is that they e-mailed me with options on how to fix the problem. The method that would have worked fine in my case was changing my payment method to online check.
However, with their sh(odd/itt)y customer support, I never even got to the point over the phone when that became an option. They merely shuffled me around.
Maybe it's just me, but one would think they'd be a little more careful with a customer in the situation I was in.
Slashdot Mirror
Excuse me?
WWI, WWII? How much money did the United States make during those wars? They weren't for a good cause?
Riiiiiight...
That was one of the best news discussion shows around.
What that boils down to is the average user still using them anyway. Does anyone think Mom & Pop are messing with this stuff?
"Expert users" would have already found the options to change file associations so "hiding IE" does nothing (in fact you can change .html file associations by simply installing Netscape).
Not that I don't think people should have the option (to use or not to use the MS programs), but at the same time I don't see this as any large threat to their browser dominance, etc.
If I'm not mistaken, the UN had getting Iraq out of Kuwait in mind a long time before the no-fly zones, which were implemented during the settlement after the war (along with trade & economic sanctions, weapons inspections, etc.).
I'm game with the rest of what you have to say, but I think we pretty much ruled the landscape in Iraq before we pulled out. Not to say it wouldn't have cost lives to march up to Saddam's house and knock on the door, but the opportunity was certainly there. Heck, their soldiers were giving up left and right, by the thousands. We didn't even have anywhere to put all the of prisoners.
The reason we didn't finish the job was because someone got cold feet. This wasn't the same as the island hopping and Japanese mainland of WWII or Vietnam.
His loss effected me, and other members of our league, greatly despite only knowing him through conversations over the internet. We posted our good-byes on the messageboard for his widow and children to have/save, changed his former team's arena name to reflect him, went the rest of the year w/o filling the vacant GM spot in respect of him, dedicated the season to him, and even created a trophy in his name given annually to the GM who represents the best dedication to his team and the league (because that's what he was known for).
Maybe your brother didn't spend that much time with his clanmates yucking it up, maybe they're just too young and immature to understand/care, or maybe you just don't see them mourn, who knows.
But I'm not buying the opinion that there isn't room for caring and mourning of online friends. Not when I've been there and done that.
I think it just seems like there are so many kids 18-25 these days because the ecomony took a dive and it's difficult for those inexperienced people to find jobs (especially techies).
There is a difference between being aware/concerned and asking questions and rummaging through their stuff (diary, notebooks, etc). It's one thing if you have a specific reason to be suspicious (as I previously noted) but otherwise you're just putting yourself in a position for more harm than good.
If one can't see that then maybe they should be looking into the mirror when they say "you've got some growing up to do."
Yeah just what kids need, their parents reading their e-mail. As if they didn't have enough to deal with.
Sure, in some cases this could actually be an asset (as in if you're afraid your kid is going to run off with some 40 year old child molester) but otherwise parents should let it be.
Besides, if they really knew their kids they'd be able to guess their password ;D
I shortchanged it in that I didn't add the word theory.
Thanks for taking an entire page to point that out.
Also known as, "cognitive dissonance."
I love it when people pull out the psychology stuff. :)
I've heard a lot of good things about Falcon NW building solid gaming PCs, but I feel bad for people who have to pay their hugely inflated prices from something most avid computer people can do on their own; build a PC.
I can agree with your general sentiment. A lot of the FPS aren't very original at all.
Yet the above quote doesn't make much sense to me. The most recent FPS I've played (SoFII & Medal of Honor) have the screen jerk when you're hit thereby messing up your aim, etc. Some of them also give you the ability to lean around corners, crawl, and when you walk your cross hair goes up and down (i.e. more accurately simulating what it would do if you were actually walking).
I also don't quite understand the comment about freedom and moving in all directions. I don't see any difference between FPS and vehicle games/shooters in that regard besides the limitation of a characters horizontal jump in a FPS. Yet I can't say that's a very useful comparison.
Tomb Raider? Resident Evil? Isn't there a lot of shoot'em up characteristics in those games too?
Unfortunately, my experience is that employers shuffle you to whatever courses the think you need and whatever is cheap.
It's basically a coporate feel good technique.
Of course when you really need training on something their pockets are dry.
I guess I just need to be a contractor. With the gobs of money they absorb from their workers, I'm guessing they're willing to train their people in just about whatever they want.
Just curious but if watching TV is this big lazy act of ones mind not working yadda yadda, do you ever go see a play or a concert or movie?
And wouldn't that be just as lazy?
Moreover, can you honestly claim that there are shows on TV that don't teach people things? Jeopardy, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Junkyard Wars (removes that functional fixedness), news...even sitcoms (though perhaps rarely) can bring about personal discussion concerning certain social issues.
I don't even watch that much TV but I think perhaps you haven't been watching enough of it to know what it does or does not do.
I'd keep my TV for the same reason I keep my internet access.
It's a stimulating information source.
Yeah, they work but pyschologists do know why they work. They work for several different reasons such as having an "expert" support it (even the Doc from the Loveboat recommending drugs works, because he's "trustworthy"), celebrity effect (pathetic, but it works), repetition, catchy songs/slogans, etc.
They don't even have to get your full attention because your brain is always working. In fact, in some cases the commercials are more effective when you're not paying full attention (for instance if there using an agrument as the reason to buy you might not take the time to determine that it's faulty).
Of course there is a lot more to this. I'm leaving a lot out, but I can't recall everything from my social psych class.
Point is, advertising effectivenes is no mystery.
In my case I went from ~40 minutes down to less than 4. That's when you know things are worth upgrading!
Apparently some people think a dissenting opinion is a troll...
Why don't you grow up and join the discussion if my post was so false.
Besides, the way you describe it...
The only real reason I have to buy a new computer these days is for computer game support. Game environments are an ever improving assortment of eye-candy and I wouldn't want it any other way.
And if game makers can get their products out faster and make them run better because they don't support the more legacy components that's fine by me.
I want my game to be all it can be, even if I have to wait a few more months to play it so I can upgrade my system first (as I just did, waiting 6 months to upgrade w/o buying any new games...luckily Wizardry 8 has a long playing life and most of the good games of 2002 didn't start coming out until Q2).
I agree that is sucks when you're at that stage when only games can run (or run well) on your system but I think it's worth it in the long run.
Even the poster has a question mark after the title.
At least science tries to support their theories with evidence as opposed to religion which has long been an oppressive force against the search for the truth (e.g. Socrates, Galileo, etc.).
Hopefully everyone will react with nothing but class.
So you do repeat business with companies' services you don't appreciate? That's a new one. One might be getting a new one ripped by a company but you still appreciate their service enough if you go with them.
I lost my "appreciation" for Dell's pre-built computer services (again, do I need to repeat myself? apparently) more so because of my experience building my own computer.
I also clearly stated that I'd recommend them to someone else.
And unfortunately you or Dell didn't enlighten me. It has nothing to do with a credit limit. It was a debit card in which I either guess wrong about it's daily limit or they messed up like the another person mentioned.
"When you appreciate a company until you have one bad experience."
I plainly said that the reason I wouldn't order another computer from Dell had more to do with my excellent experience building my own than the one experience with Dell.
"This isn't even Tech Support"
Hmmm, perhaps that's why I called it customer support or customer sales support.
"But how do you pay for support to non-customers who's payment couldn't be processed? " Ok, you have someone who is trying to be a third time customer on the line who already made the decision to buy an expensive piece of hardware from your company AND made the decision to try to get things worked out according to an e-mail your company sent him (i.e. this person defintely wants to buy it if he's going to call any sort of support line).
So...Dell handling it bad doesn't give me a reason to be soured, not call back that night (hence order cancelled & price breaks no longer available), therefore not buying a Dell computer in the immediate future and eventually ending up waiting a few months, building my own, realizing making my own machine is better and cheaper than a Dell causing me to make the decision never to buy a pre-build machine (e.g. Dell)?
My experience is singular and I would still recommend Dell to a PC user that is not as inclined as myself to build thier own machin.
Not going back to Dell has more to do with me prefering my gradifying experience of building my own computer than my frustrating support call with Dell. Dell just got the ball rolling for me. In a sick sort of way, I owe it to their customer sales support...or whomever they sent me to...
Truth be told I resorted to buying one of their keyboards (what is with all these 200 extra button keyboards...can't a gal/guy get a plain old keyboard these days?), a logitech mouse, and a headset/mic just a few days ago from them because I was able to get a good deal.
But you're right about Dell losing a (desktop) customer. Eventually I probably would have evolved to the point of building my own systems, but they moved the inevitable up at least one major purchase.
The issue is that they e-mailed me with options on how to fix the problem. The method that would have worked fine in my case was changing my payment method to online check.
However, with their sh(odd/itt)y customer support, I never even got to the point over the phone when that became an option. They merely shuffled me around.
Maybe it's just me, but one would think they'd be a little more careful with a customer in the situation I was in.