Isn't _______ (designer clothes, ring tones, dry cleaning, nail salons, drm music, starbucks coffee, professional sports, or anything else I personally have no interest in) totally useless and a huge waste of money?
I am sure everyone can fill out their own list of "useless".
But we are a thousand times better off letting people freely waste their resources than to have someone who thinks they know better tell us what to spend our money on.
Personally, I like the fact that we have an economy that can employ a guy at a car wash, and a scientist working on SETI.
Generally the people who bitch about wasted money are the same ones who would love to take your money and redistribute it for you.
There seems to be a lot of thrashing about on the issues of privacy, identity theft, and security, etc...
The obvious answer is to submit everyone to an incontrovertible form of ID, so that you know that anyone presenting themselves as someone is that somebody...
Soon (hand-wavingly-vague here), there will be the technological means to do that.
Do you really want that?
Right now you can always say "it wastn't me" and hopefully get a majority jury to agree with you. Do you want a future where there is no leeway?
Most piracy today, typically has help of an inside man.
Typically it will be at night, in the straights south of Singapore. 4-5 guys suddenly appear with big machetes, and they know where to be because the inside guy told them when and where. Oh, yeah, the traitors are on watch at the time...
Cell phones and text messages work for good and ill.
I am an gung-ho as the next guy, but If I am one seaman in a crew of 12 on a small freighter and I don't know which of my mates are "in on it", shooting it out with the pirates in front and the traitors at my back is not worth it. Take the stuff, it is not mine anyhow.
Seriously, if you want to stop piracy, shipping companies need to do better background checks on their employees.
A consumer GPS speed indicator is typically accurate to within.75 mph.
So should I get some sort of prize for my Highlander that can go 352 MPH, based on my Garmin 350 "trip max" history?
I personally don't remember driving 352 MPH, even when driving up I15 to Vegas, but then again, maybe my wife did it when I wasn't in the car with her... yeah that must be it.
by definition tickets are worth what willing buyers will pay.
Seems to me the tickets are under-priced from the get-go.
There wouldn't be a problem if sports teams, concert venues, etc. just charged scalper like fees to begin with, then discounted the unsold tickets closer to the event time, if needed.
That gives all the profit to the right people, not artificial middle-men (scalpers).
... when it is so buggy they had to stick poles in the ground with a rope between them as a "safety"?
It seems like they are not following a good test protocol or proper milestones before loading it up with live ammo.
I hope I never have to, but I would consider trusting my life to a robotic surgeon -- but not if there are ropes and poles involved, "just in case". Get over the fact that this thing is a weapon, the same QA principals should apply to any machine. I don't hear of auto workers getting car parts dropped on them by robots.
I put 0.0 for the price and then checked my "basket" - I was put in a "queue"...
I exited my browser at that point because I didn't want to wait, and no, I didn't go looking elsewhere (maybe my kids will) for the same content. I really don't care, just looking, really.
What I wonder, is if non-zero amounts "jump the queue", so to speak? Not that I blame them if that is the case, in fact, I would advertise and explain it that way - "free, wait your turn, pay, you get faster service..."
This is a class action lawsuit, so if they win, the legal team will get millions of actual dollars and the class participants will get coupons for use at Best Buy and MSN.
Slashdot Mirror
Come take a drink from the firehose!
Isn't _______ (designer clothes, ring tones, dry cleaning, nail salons, drm music, starbucks coffee, professional sports, or anything else I personally have no interest in) totally useless and a huge waste of money?
I am sure everyone can fill out their own list of "useless".
But we are a thousand times better off letting people freely waste their resources than to have someone who thinks they know better tell us what to spend our money on.
Personally, I like the fact that we have an economy that can employ a guy at a car wash, and a scientist working on SETI.
Generally the people who bitch about wasted money are the same ones who would love to take your money and redistribute it for you.
The obvious answer is to submit everyone to an incontrovertible form of ID, so that you know that anyone presenting themselves as someone is that somebody...
Soon (hand-wavingly-vague here), there will be the technological means to do that.
Do you really want that?
Right now you can always say "it wastn't me" and hopefully get a majority jury to agree with you. Do you want a future where there is no leeway?
Wine into water - that's the work of a beast!
Someone will just have to build a better mousetrap!
Oh god, with RIAA Lawyers? You disgust me.
Of course, I am not surprised. Lawyers screw people all the time.
Typically it will be at night, in the straights south of Singapore. 4-5 guys suddenly appear with big machetes, and they know where to be because the inside guy told them when and where. Oh, yeah, the traitors are on watch at the time...
Cell phones and text messages work for good and ill.
I am an gung-ho as the next guy, but If I am one seaman in a crew of 12 on a small freighter and I don't know which of my mates are "in on it", shooting it out with the pirates in front and the traitors at my back is not worth it. Take the stuff, it is not mine anyhow.
Seriously, if you want to stop piracy, shipping companies need to do better background checks on their employees.
So should I get some sort of prize for my Highlander that can go 352 MPH, based on my Garmin 350 "trip max" history?
I personally don't remember driving 352 MPH, even when driving up I15 to Vegas, but then again, maybe my wife did it when I wasn't in the car with her... yeah that must be it.
That government is best which governs least. - Thomas Paine
I can sell you a certainty policy that guarantees your data is safe, as long as you do not access it.
Low annual premiums available.
Just look at this post!
I will pay a small extra fee if I can be subscriber number 000001.
Seems to me the tickets are under-priced from the get-go.
There wouldn't be a problem if sports teams, concert venues, etc. just charged scalper like fees to begin with, then discounted the unsold tickets closer to the event time, if needed.
That gives all the profit to the right people, not artificial middle-men (scalpers).
It seems like they are not following a good test protocol or proper milestones before loading it up with live ammo.
I hope I never have to, but I would consider trusting my life to a robotic surgeon -- but not if there are ropes and poles involved, "just in case". Get over the fact that this thing is a weapon, the same QA principals should apply to any machine. I don't hear of auto workers getting car parts dropped on them by robots.
I exited my browser at that point because I didn't want to wait, and no, I didn't go looking elsewhere (maybe my kids will) for the same content. I really don't care, just looking, really.
What I wonder, is if non-zero amounts "jump the queue", so to speak? Not that I blame them if that is the case, in fact, I would advertise and explain it that way - "free, wait your turn, pay, you get faster service..."
Metric electricity vs Imperial electricity...
This is a class action lawsuit, so if they win, the legal team will get millions of actual dollars and the class participants will get coupons for use at Best Buy and MSN.
We let too many stupid people vote? Is that what you are saying?
The lowest of them all: politics.
How much of any amount that anyone spends on anything is "worth it"?
The irony is that Go does use natural technology - stone and wood.
Hey, results are results, right? And if it lessens my spam, oh well.
As a MSFT shareholder, it might be nice if the company split in to OS, Software, Entertainment, Hardware, etc. complanies.
At least then I could sell off the losers (Zune, cough, cough).
Examples: cool hats
I bet the French even mandate that you use Arabic numerals on all cell phones. ;-)