I know whatcha mean with insta-death... our DM loved it. He'd use it if he bought a new book and wanted to alter systems. Then he'd use it again if he decided he didn't like that system and wanted to go back.
A good friend of mine used the point system to build twins who shared a soul... completely out of the book, completely by points so not even a chance of faked rolls, 100% legit. We got to play it for all of one session before he decided we were "Too powerful", mostly because we played very well as a team. So we rerolled for his newest adventure in lycanthropy. Those characters also lasted one session before they were "too powerful".
This is the same guy who got mad when he let my friend take several ranks of the fault "Curiosity", to the point that he was recklessly curious... and my friend jumped into a portal when a voice said "riches await within".
At first I thought it was me, because I am a power-gamer, not by intent, but just by nature of how I think. But when he was doing it to our pure RP'ers, I figured it was a sign the end was nigh.
Fortunately, I got to show him how to die with style... I GM'd a C&S every other week, and he'd gotten bored with his (highly valued and useful) character... so, in an accident, his little halfling was in the way when our large tolkien Troll missed a swing at the last survivor of a good battle (rolled a 1), slipped on some blood, did a triple pirouette (each one rolled for chance to stop and missed by the Troll), and had his very large mace come down right on the halflings head... and of course, THAT is when the Troll rolled a 10. If I'd autopiloted him to death, that would have been one thing... but the dice doing it was just priceless.
Now I'm remembering how happy I was to get rid of that guy. He spent the rest of the campaign that I was running muttering "bored, bored, bored" under his breath every time he wasn't the centre of attention (all the other players independantly agreed they were quite happy), whilst "autopiloting" us when it was his campaign (in what we called "public displays of literary masturbation"). When he decided to kill the last vampire, he basically dropped a big burning something behind this guy, and then went "ok, you're scared witless, you're not in control of your actions... here's you running through a burning building and down the stairs... here's the building collapsing behind you so your friends can't get in... here's an antimagic zone so you can't heal... here's you running headlong into a throng of enemy soldiers... now, let's roll and see what happens!"
One of my favourite moments came in a game of Magic a few years ago. The DM was a dick whom we shortly thereafter stopped playing with, but at the time we were giving him the benefit of the doubt... so he decides he wants to kill us all, for some unknown reason. So he sends us into this large, open field, with only a small shack and a few trash cans to hide behind, and then pops a Black Ops helicopter with mega armour and 6 turrets of chain-gun goodness up from no-where. One of our mates tries to shoot it. "Whoops, no natural 10, your bullets bounce off harmlessly. Now, let's calculate your damage taken from being shot by it." (picks up 6d10)... Yeah, he was a real winner. So, anyways, bullets don't work, rocks don't work, apparently the structure of the chopper is magic-resistant so melting it or turning it into a giant donut isn't an option. So, with half the party shredded, up comes my turn. Me, the mental/hand-to-hand guy.
Me: Can I see the pilot? DM: Yeah, I suppose, through the bullet-proof canopy. Me: I plant a suggestion in his head. DM: Hah! He's a trained soldier, getting him to go back to base or crash into the ground is gonna take a natural 10! Pfft, go ahead, what's your suggestion? Me: You know his control panel? DM: Hah! He's a trained soldier, you'd need a 9 to get him to think snakes are coming out of it! Give it up! Me: The "engine fire" light is on. DM:... DM:... DM:... DM:... crap...
We broke up that gaming group shortly after, but I'll always remember with great relish and glee, the moment that he had to grudgingly admit that getting someone to believe some simple tiny light bulbs was on wasn't really that hard, and that the absolute, unavoidable consequence of a pilot seeing all his Engine Fire lights on would be to stop fighting and immediately land somewhere close and safe to inspect the aircraft.
I'm sure this is completely unrelated to the article, but your story just reminded me of that, and how much I enjoy finding novel solutions to problems.
It's true, and it's not just scientology and source code and things that already have lawyer threats. There was a post last year in a thread that ended up talking about kiddie porn, and although he wasn't explicit or linky or anything, one guy managed to get not only his post (and all replies) deleted, his account was gone too. I'd tabbed it open to reply to, and Slash started doing weird things when I went to reply that evening.... turns out it was because he was wiped off the map. Which was interesting, considering the kind of troll material (tubgirl?) that doesn't get deleted off here at all...
Why would you ever make a combat robot that walks? All you have to do is destroy one of its legs, or, hell, trip it up with a cable. Yeah, you're right man. And what is up with "treads"? Seriously, all you have to do is break one link in a tread, or nail one of those juicy, open wheels, and the entire thing is disabled. And really, what kind of an "armoured vehicle" can't even go into a steep ditch? Heck, you can stop it with a dinky little concrete barrier that you or I could step over! How lame is that?
Seriously, each design has pluses and minuses. It's just a matter of how it's implemented and what countermeasures come up.
I've always wondered about underseas cables (and haven't really found an answer)... they lay on the bottom, so what happens when you come to an underseas trench? Surely they don't go down the cliff to the bottom of a 20-000 foot trench.... but does that mean they suspend it across? Or do they go hundreds of KM out of their way to avoid trenches altogether?
"Aren't you being a little too harsh on a person who spent more than 1/3rd of his life's savings in philanthropy Yeah, and stealing from the poor and middle class (via Microsoft) is a great way to get that money in the first place.
It also ignores the fact that he's wastes more resources on frivolous personal expenses than most people will ever see in a lifetime. Holy shit on a stick man, get off your soapbox! First off, there was no "stealing", people willingly gave their money for a product. Secondly, if anything, years of super-lax anti-pirating measures made MS give more to the poor than it ever got. I can't think of many homeless people waiting outside in the line so they could be the first to buy Windows 98 First Edition. And thirdly, if you make the money, you're allowed to spend the money! I've "wasted more on frivolous personal expenses" than most 3rd world folks will ever see in a lifetime... hell, if you've bought a computer you've spent more than a lot of people on this planet will ever make in a lifetime.
None of that changes the fact that in terms of percentage, BG has given more money than the vast majority of people (I sure as hell haven't given 1/3 of my money to charity) and also in terms of absolute dollars, he's given a contribution to society that rivals the amount that some nations have put out. Now, while you may not agree with the fine details of exactly how he went about his business transactions, the fact is that he built his own business, made lots of money that middle and upper class people willingly gave to him, and then instead of giving it all to his kids or building his own private space station, or giving it to some huge inefficient charity (United Way, anyone?), he makes his own organization dedicated to fixing many of the overlooked wrongs in the world. And you know what, if the price of that world-changing event is that he takes a few hundred million to build himself a house embedded in a hill with all sorts of cool gizmos... well, fuck you, he worked damn hard for 30 years, he's giving back more to society in percentage and gross than you or I or 99.999% of the world ever could or would, and he doesn't even have to do it, he's doing it because he wants to.
Don't go spewing stupid shit like "he stole from the poor and middle class". This isn't the 1900's, he's not an oil tycoon or a land stealer... he helped make a product that lots of people want, and he made lots of money off of it, and now he's giving back, not to the people who helped him become rich, but to the people who don't have a hope in hell of ever owning a computer in the first place.
Yes, I'll get -1 Troll for defending BG on Slash, but seriously folks, it's bullshit like this that makes us look like raving lunatics to the rest of the world, and it's bullshit like this that stops us from getting taken seriously. Grow the fuck up and get some sense of scale and priority, wouldya?
This is business as usual at the NRO. The NRO is the most pathetic of the US intelligence agencies, and is known for failing more often than not in just about all endeavors. For the NRO, a satellite making it into space at all is a big deal, because NRO projects have a history of dying in the design stage, and there have been other big failures such as a specialized launch vehicle blowing up on the launch pad, taking satellites with it.
If you're wondering why you've never heard of the NRO before, it's because the government does everything it can to keep the agency under wraps, mostly because it doesn't want the taxpayers to realize how many billions of dollars are flushed down this worthless toilet of a spy agency yearly. So, which do you work for, the CIA, FBI or NSA?
This is just another example of how they're an unaccountable batch of trouble.
If your bank said "we have your money, but we're not going to give it to you for 6 months" you could work your way up the bank chain, or to the appropriate government agency.
Same if your employer said "yeah, we owe you money, but we'll pay it out in June".
Paypal? Nothing. They say no, and you're screwed. And they say no a lot. I think they just hired David Spade, actually...
What tweaks me is that in other cases (the Katrina fund issues, specifically) is they said "nope, sorry, we can only donate to United Way (?!?)... but here, they say "sorry, we think you're a bad man... so we're going to make you wait 6 months, and then put the money directly into your account. WTF? Paypal thinks that bad people are also chronically impatient?
I would love another company (BidPay?) to step up here and create an easy effective method of dealing with nonprofit or charity collections like this. I don't think it would take much change in their existing infrastructure, and the good PR and long term advertising benefits would be substantial. The question is, who's gonna step up to the plate?
" I guess Apple has made a fairly secure system but they can't expect all third party developers to follow the same rigorous standards."
So, when Apple does it, it's OK, but when Microsoft does it, they've obviously made a flawed system and deserve to be beaten about the head with an office chair?
I know this is/. , but I have a relatively high user ID, so I just want to be sure I understand the logic...
I'll agree with you that it's worth it, but I find that too many pay sites these days just don't have enough content... and too many of them like to keep charging you your membership fees, even after you've said "Hey, I've seen all 5 pictures you have, I'm outta here"
As a fellow redhead/teen/anal enthusiast, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for subsidizing the redhead/teen/anal porn market with your hard-earned money, so cheap bastards like me can continue to choose our time over our money, and download it for free.
Most of the people who haven't RTFA are just screaming their fool heads off, but please, RTFA.
The police knew the specific account number of the kiddie porn site. They knew the specific cost. And they knew the specific time range that the site was operational.
So, instead of saying "Here is one person, give me everything they've ever done on their CC", they said "here is one receiving account, tell me everyone who paid into it for 24.99 between June 1 and Aug 30" (amount and dates pulled out of my ass)
I would construe that as a fairly specific search. They're not getting a list of everyone who's every paid 24.99 to anyone, nor are they getting a list of all CC activity from June 1 to Aug 30. Their specific starting point is the kiddieporn CC account, filtered by date and amount. I think that's pretty fair, even, doesn't give the cops access to stuff they shouldn't see or too much info, and does give them a list of directly associated transactions.
As for porn, I cannot BELIEVE that people on/. are advocating restricting porn to people you would allow violent video games too. George Carlin said he'd much rather for kids to watch a movie of 2 people making love than 2 people trying to kill each other. Seriously, if a kid is old enough for violent video games, he's old enough for porn too. I, for one, cannot believe that George Carlin ever used the phrase "making love" instead of screaming "two people FUUUUUCCCCKKKKIIIINNNNG" followed by 5 minutes of demonstrative wild hip gyrations around the stage...
That's right folks... Paypal. The people who brought you trustworthy and hassle-free online banking, now want to install something on your computer. Nothing could possibl-ii go wrong.
Oh my. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong. Hm, how about that?
(end hackneys Simpsons reference)
I'd love to yell and scream about this more, but unfortunately (and unfathomably), Paypal has wide market acceptance. Sure, BidPay is making inroads, but the sad point is that Paypal has become commonplace... so this will take off, and another round of unwitting saps will be rudely reminded that Paypal isn't really a bank, and they can do whatever the fudge they want.
You didn't beat procrastination, you just replaced it with overly excessive planning that takes so long, and makes you miss your deadlines so much, that it might as well be procrastination.
That is, however, a bang-up relabling job you've done.
I work for the most profitable division in the country. We set new records this year. Our bonus? The same as it is every year... $25 gift certificates to the local grocery store. Management makes 4 or 5 figure bonuses on top of their 6 digit salaries, but the people who make it happen? $25 christmas bonus, and the mandatory %3 raise every April (which barely keeps pace with inflation).
I'd rather they just didn't do anything, or made a charitable donation in our names or something. A christmas bonus should be just that, a "oh, wow, nice bonus"... not a slap in the face.
For comparison, my ex worked at a place that gave biannual bonuses based on profitability. She was there 6 months when she got a bonus equal to an entire paycheck. My roomie worked at the same place for less than a month, he still got a few hundred. The next year, thanks to some hard work and good business, he got a 2k bonus at the beginning of the year, and 5 or 6k at the end... pretty good compared to his 30k wage.
I don't expect thousands of dollars, but I do think that a bonus should at least be able to buy the turkey for the holidays. If it can't, it just seems like an insult... this is how much we think of your dedicated service. The point of a bonus is that it actually feels like a bonus.
Regardless of what a poor showing the defendant made, this is still one of those cases that demonstrates how basing an entire system of justice on "prior law" is a bad idea... because now, and until it's overturned, this piece of crap is there as a reference for every scumbag lawyer who wants to make a few bucks.
Here's an idea... let's all pool our money, and we'll put up big billboards in every city, and those billboards will say "IT'S THE INTERNET, YOU FUCKWAD, IT'S ALL PUBLIC, ALL THE TIME. IF YOU DON'T WANT IT PUBLIC, DON'T PUT IT UP" I think that's pretty much to the point, without using too many bad words.
Seriously, if you want to control access to a page, you make people login to see it, even if it's free to log in. If you put it up where everyone can get to it, then don't be surprised that they DO JUST THAT. And since when is adver-fucking-tising revenue a god-given right? What's up with that? What, you have a huge page of banners at the start of your site, and you're hoping people will just click them blindly? Are you too dumb to put your adverts on the same page as your content? Do you need donations to pay for the doctor to help pull your head out of your ass?
We need to put a stop to thinking like this, before the fuckwads take over teh intarwebs. It's all doomed otherwise. You young-uns may not remember this, but at one time the internet was FREE. Like speech, not beer. If it was there, it was there for everyone. If it was offensive, you just went somewhere else or closed your window. One of the most popular sites in the mid-90's was 'titties and beer'. Do you hear me? TITTIES AND BEER. It was a long, poorly formatted page, filled with nothing but pictures of titties and pictures of beer. Fuck, I remember Yahoo indexing porn. And REVIEWING the porn. Even the SICK porn. I'm not kidding. Yahoo used to have a short blurb on most of the sites in their index, and they'd review every link they had, sick or not. "Farmlove.com is a large site with many pictures of unattractive women and comparatively attractive farm animals. Not for the weak of heart, or PETA. But if you like this sort of thing, I guess this is the place for you".
Now what do we have? "Well, sure, you put this stuff up on TEH INTARWEBS, but you're not making enough money off of it, so I'll agree that deep linking is illegal". FUCK.
Dear Santa: All I want for Wintereenmas is for Google to pull the fucktards from their index and never let them back in. Sincerely, Cervy
I agree the Zune hasn't, and maybe it won't. The difference is that the iPod was the device that opened up the market to the average consumer. Prior to that, 128mb mp3 players and sony minidiscs were the way to go, and frankly most average folks didn't consider them anything but a complicated techie toy. iPod put a friendly face on the gizmo and really helped the market for the device take off. Now Zune is trying to break into an established market where there aren't many innovations left to set it apart.
So, while it may fail (unlikely), succeed wildly (also unlikely), or get a decent slice of the market and stay stable until MS pulls the plug in 4 or 5 years (likely), I don't think it's fair to try and compare Zune and iPod at all... they may be similar devices, but they're in completely different environments. And as much as I like ripping on MS, I think we should at least feign being fair about it.
Slashdot Mirror
I know whatcha mean with insta-death... our DM loved it. He'd use it if he bought a new book and wanted to alter systems. Then he'd use it again if he decided he didn't like that system and wanted to go back.
A good friend of mine used the point system to build twins who shared a soul... completely out of the book, completely by points so not even a chance of faked rolls, 100% legit. We got to play it for all of one session before he decided we were "Too powerful", mostly because we played very well as a team. So we rerolled for his newest adventure in lycanthropy. Those characters also lasted one session before they were "too powerful".
This is the same guy who got mad when he let my friend take several ranks of the fault "Curiosity", to the point that he was recklessly curious... and my friend jumped into a portal when a voice said "riches await within".
At first I thought it was me, because I am a power-gamer, not by intent, but just by nature of how I think. But when he was doing it to our pure RP'ers, I figured it was a sign the end was nigh.
Fortunately, I got to show him how to die with style... I GM'd a C&S every other week, and he'd gotten bored with his (highly valued and useful) character... so, in an accident, his little halfling was in the way when our large tolkien Troll missed a swing at the last survivor of a good battle (rolled a 1), slipped on some blood, did a triple pirouette (each one rolled for chance to stop and missed by the Troll), and had his very large mace come down right on the halflings head... and of course, THAT is when the Troll rolled a 10.
If I'd autopiloted him to death, that would have been one thing... but the dice doing it was just priceless.
Now I'm remembering how happy I was to get rid of that guy. He spent the rest of the campaign that I was running muttering "bored, bored, bored" under his breath every time he wasn't the centre of attention (all the other players independantly agreed they were quite happy), whilst "autopiloting" us when it was his campaign (in what we called "public displays of literary masturbation"). When he decided to kill the last vampire, he basically dropped a big burning something behind this guy, and then went "ok, you're scared witless, you're not in control of your actions... here's you running through a burning building and down the stairs... here's the building collapsing behind you so your friends can't get in... here's an antimagic zone so you can't heal... here's you running headlong into a throng of enemy soldiers... now, let's roll and see what happens!"
Prick.
Whoops, didn't mean Magic, sorry. :) It's been a really long day.
Of course, now I can't remember the name of the damn system at all... it was one of the fun ones though.
One of my favourite moments came in a game of Magic a few years ago. The DM was a dick whom we shortly thereafter stopped playing with, but at the time we were giving him the benefit of the doubt... so he decides he wants to kill us all, for some unknown reason. So he sends us into this large, open field, with only a small shack and a few trash cans to hide behind, and then pops a Black Ops helicopter with mega armour and 6 turrets of chain-gun goodness up from no-where. One of our mates tries to shoot it. "Whoops, no natural 10, your bullets bounce off harmlessly. Now, let's calculate your damage taken from being shot by it." (picks up 6d10)...
... ... ... ... crap ...
Yeah, he was a real winner.
So, anyways, bullets don't work, rocks don't work, apparently the structure of the chopper is magic-resistant so melting it or turning it into a giant donut isn't an option. So, with half the party shredded, up comes my turn. Me, the mental/hand-to-hand guy.
Me: Can I see the pilot?
DM: Yeah, I suppose, through the bullet-proof canopy.
Me: I plant a suggestion in his head.
DM: Hah! He's a trained soldier, getting him to go back to base or crash into the ground is gonna take a natural 10! Pfft, go ahead, what's your suggestion?
Me: You know his control panel?
DM: Hah! He's a trained soldier, you'd need a 9 to get him to think snakes are coming out of it! Give it up!
Me: The "engine fire" light is on.
DM:
DM:
DM:
DM:
We broke up that gaming group shortly after, but I'll always remember with great relish and glee, the moment that he had to grudgingly admit that getting someone to believe some simple tiny light bulbs was on wasn't really that hard, and that the absolute, unavoidable consequence of a pilot seeing all his Engine Fire lights on would be to stop fighting and immediately land somewhere close and safe to inspect the aircraft.
I'm sure this is completely unrelated to the article, but your story just reminded me of that, and how much I enjoy finding novel solutions to problems.
I'll agree, the high centre of mass could be an issue. I can visualize designs that would overcome that, but not without tradeoffs (like anything).
:) Much more practical than a standard bipedal idea.
The MIT designs were darn snazzy though.
It's true, and it's not just scientology and source code and things that already have lawyer threats. There was a post last year in a thread that ended up talking about kiddie porn, and although he wasn't explicit or linky or anything, one guy managed to get not only his post (and all replies) deleted, his account was gone too. I'd tabbed it open to reply to, and Slash started doing weird things when I went to reply that evening.... turns out it was because he was wiped off the map. Which was interesting, considering the kind of troll material (tubgirl?) that doesn't get deleted off here at all...
Seriously, each design has pluses and minuses. It's just a matter of how it's implemented and what countermeasures come up.
I've always wondered about underseas cables (and haven't really found an answer)... they lay on the bottom, so what happens when you come to an underseas trench? Surely they don't go down the cliff to the bottom of a 20-000 foot trench.... but does that mean they suspend it across? Or do they go hundreds of KM out of their way to avoid trenches altogether?
Who else is unsurprised that a guy named "Frosty" is against the teaching of Global Warming?
It also ignores the fact that he's wastes more resources on frivolous personal expenses than most people will ever see in a lifetime. Holy shit on a stick man, get off your soapbox! First off, there was no "stealing", people willingly gave their money for a product. Secondly, if anything, years of super-lax anti-pirating measures made MS give more to the poor than it ever got. I can't think of many homeless people waiting outside in the line so they could be the first to buy Windows 98 First Edition. And thirdly, if you make the money, you're allowed to spend the money! I've "wasted more on frivolous personal expenses" than most 3rd world folks will ever see in a lifetime... hell, if you've bought a computer you've spent more than a lot of people on this planet will ever make in a lifetime.
None of that changes the fact that in terms of percentage, BG has given more money than the vast majority of people (I sure as hell haven't given 1/3 of my money to charity) and also in terms of absolute dollars, he's given a contribution to society that rivals the amount that some nations have put out. Now, while you may not agree with the fine details of exactly how he went about his business transactions, the fact is that he built his own business, made lots of money that middle and upper class people willingly gave to him, and then instead of giving it all to his kids or building his own private space station, or giving it to some huge inefficient charity (United Way, anyone?), he makes his own organization dedicated to fixing many of the overlooked wrongs in the world. And you know what, if the price of that world-changing event is that he takes a few hundred million to build himself a house embedded in a hill with all sorts of cool gizmos... well, fuck you, he worked damn hard for 30 years, he's giving back more to society in percentage and gross than you or I or 99.999% of the world ever could or would, and he doesn't even have to do it, he's doing it because he wants to.
Don't go spewing stupid shit like "he stole from the poor and middle class". This isn't the 1900's, he's not an oil tycoon or a land stealer
Yes, I'll get -1 Troll for defending BG on Slash, but seriously folks, it's bullshit like this that makes us look like raving lunatics to the rest of the world, and it's bullshit like this that stops us from getting taken seriously. Grow the fuck up and get some sense of scale and priority, wouldya?
If you're wondering why you've never heard of the NRO before, it's because the government does everything it can to keep the agency under wraps, mostly because it doesn't want the taxpayers to realize how many billions of dollars are flushed down this worthless toilet of a spy agency yearly. So, which do you work for, the CIA, FBI or NSA?
This is just another example of how they're an unaccountable batch of trouble.
If your bank said "we have your money, but we're not going to give it to you for 6 months" you could work your way up the bank chain, or to the appropriate government agency.
Same if your employer said "yeah, we owe you money, but we'll pay it out in June".
Paypal? Nothing. They say no, and you're screwed. And they say no a lot. I think they just hired David Spade, actually...
What tweaks me is that in other cases (the Katrina fund issues, specifically) is they said "nope, sorry, we can only donate to United Way (?!?)... but here, they say "sorry, we think you're a bad man... so we're going to make you wait 6 months, and then put the money directly into your account. WTF? Paypal thinks that bad people are also chronically impatient?
I would love another company (BidPay?) to step up here and create an easy effective method of dealing with nonprofit or charity collections like this. I don't think it would take much change in their existing infrastructure, and the good PR and long term advertising benefits would be substantial. The question is, who's gonna step up to the plate?
"So it's Linus' fault if Apache or Sendmail has a security problem?"
Why not? It's Bills fault whenever a bug on WinTel platforms is found.
" I guess Apple has made a fairly secure system but they can't expect all third party developers to follow the same rigorous standards."
/. , but I have a relatively high user ID, so I just want to be sure I understand the logic...
So, when Apple does it, it's OK, but when Microsoft does it, they've obviously made a flawed system and deserve to be beaten about the head with an office chair?
I know this is
I'll agree with you that it's worth it, but I find that too many pay sites these days just don't have enough content... and too many of them like to keep charging you your membership fees, even after you've said "Hey, I've seen all 5 pictures you have, I'm outta here"
As a fellow redhead/teen/anal enthusiast, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for subsidizing the redhead/teen/anal porn market with your hard-earned money, so cheap bastards like me can continue to choose our time over our money, and download it for free.
Most of the people who haven't RTFA are just screaming their fool heads off, but please, RTFA.
The police knew the specific account number of the kiddie porn site. They knew the specific cost. And they knew the specific time range that the site was operational.
So, instead of saying "Here is one person, give me everything they've ever done on their CC", they said "here is one receiving account, tell me everyone who paid into it for 24.99 between June 1 and Aug 30" (amount and dates pulled out of my ass)
I would construe that as a fairly specific search. They're not getting a list of everyone who's every paid 24.99 to anyone, nor are they getting a list of all CC activity from June 1 to Aug 30. Their specific starting point is the kiddieporn CC account, filtered by date and amount. I think that's pretty fair, even, doesn't give the cops access to stuff they shouldn't see or too much info, and does give them a list of directly associated transactions.
Who couldn't find that fair?
That's right folks... Paypal. The people who brought you trustworthy and hassle-free online banking, now want to install something on your computer. Nothing could possibl-ii go wrong.
Oh my. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong. Hm, how about that?
(end hackneys Simpsons reference)
I'd love to yell and scream about this more, but unfortunately (and unfathomably), Paypal has wide market acceptance. Sure, BidPay is making inroads, but the sad point is that Paypal has become commonplace... so this will take off, and another round of unwitting saps will be rudely reminded that Paypal isn't really a bank, and they can do whatever the fudge they want.
Why hasn't there been a class-action suit yet?
You didn't beat procrastination, you just replaced it with overly excessive planning that takes so long, and makes you miss your deadlines so much, that it might as well be procrastination.
That is, however, a bang-up relabling job you've done.
I work for the most profitable division in the country. We set new records this year. Our bonus? The same as it is every year... $25 gift certificates to the local grocery store. Management makes 4 or 5 figure bonuses on top of their 6 digit salaries, but the people who make it happen? $25 christmas bonus, and the mandatory %3 raise every April (which barely keeps pace with inflation).
I'd rather they just didn't do anything, or made a charitable donation in our names or something. A christmas bonus should be just that, a "oh, wow, nice bonus"... not a slap in the face.
For comparison, my ex worked at a place that gave biannual bonuses based on profitability. She was there 6 months when she got a bonus equal to an entire paycheck. My roomie worked at the same place for less than a month, he still got a few hundred. The next year, thanks to some hard work and good business, he got a 2k bonus at the beginning of the year, and 5 or 6k at the end... pretty good compared to his 30k wage.
I don't expect thousands of dollars, but I do think that a bonus should at least be able to buy the turkey for the holidays. If it can't, it just seems like an insult... this is how much we think of your dedicated service. The point of a bonus is that it actually feels like a bonus.
Regardless of what a poor showing the defendant made, this is still one of those cases that demonstrates how basing an entire system of justice on "prior law" is a bad idea... because now, and until it's overturned, this piece of crap is there as a reference for every scumbag lawyer who wants to make a few bucks.
Here's an idea... let's all pool our money, and we'll put up big billboards in every city, and those billboards will say "IT'S THE INTERNET, YOU FUCKWAD, IT'S ALL PUBLIC, ALL THE TIME. IF YOU DON'T WANT IT PUBLIC, DON'T PUT IT UP"
I think that's pretty much to the point, without using too many bad words.
Seriously, if you want to control access to a page, you make people login to see it, even if it's free to log in. If you put it up where everyone can get to it, then don't be surprised that they DO JUST THAT. And since when is adver-fucking-tising revenue a god-given right? What's up with that? What, you have a huge page of banners at the start of your site, and you're hoping people will just click them blindly? Are you too dumb to put your adverts on the same page as your content? Do you need donations to pay for the doctor to help pull your head out of your ass?
We need to put a stop to thinking like this, before the fuckwads take over teh intarwebs. It's all doomed otherwise. You young-uns may not remember this, but at one time the internet was FREE. Like speech, not beer. If it was there, it was there for everyone. If it was offensive, you just went somewhere else or closed your window. One of the most popular sites in the mid-90's was 'titties and beer'. Do you hear me? TITTIES AND BEER. It was a long, poorly formatted page, filled with nothing but pictures of titties and pictures of beer. Fuck, I remember Yahoo indexing porn. And REVIEWING the porn. Even the SICK porn. I'm not kidding. Yahoo used to have a short blurb on most of the sites in their index, and they'd review every link they had, sick or not. "Farmlove.com is a large site with many pictures of unattractive women and comparatively attractive farm animals. Not for the weak of heart, or PETA. But if you like this sort of thing, I guess this is the place for you".
Now what do we have? "Well, sure, you put this stuff up on TEH INTARWEBS, but you're not making enough money off of it, so I'll agree that deep linking is illegal". FUCK.
Dear Santa:
All I want for Wintereenmas is for Google to pull the fucktards from their index and never let them back in.
Sincerely,
Cervy
What's the model? That sounds exactly like what I've been hunting for.
:)
Well, ok, not really hunting, just sort of idly speculating about, but still....
I agree the Zune hasn't, and maybe it won't. The difference is that the iPod was the device that opened up the market to the average consumer. Prior to that, 128mb mp3 players and sony minidiscs were the way to go, and frankly most average folks didn't consider them anything but a complicated techie toy. iPod put a friendly face on the gizmo and really helped the market for the device take off. Now Zune is trying to break into an established market where there aren't many innovations left to set it apart.
So, while it may fail (unlikely), succeed wildly (also unlikely), or get a decent slice of the market and stay stable until MS pulls the plug in 4 or 5 years (likely), I don't think it's fair to try and compare Zune and iPod at all... they may be similar devices, but they're in completely different environments. And as much as I like ripping on MS, I think we should at least feign being fair about it.
It's so crazy, it just might work!