i remember, must be 6 years ago, i bought one of those plans for a portable cd player...this was when they were still usually around 99 dollars, for 30 dollars. I replaced it twice, because i left it out in my car in the winter and it would stop working, and they did it no questions asked. I felt like i made off like a bandit then.
Of course, now i'm older and wiser, and don't leave my cd player out in the car in first place.:)
Re:All our hopes are on Halo 2
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Halo 2 Reviews
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I'm going to have to disagree with you on the computer being teh only true playform. It all depends on what the game was first designed for. Golden Eye and Halo 1 are some of the finest first person shooters out there. Why? A fun single player campaign combined with excellent multiplayer, and excellent controls. I repeat, halo and golden eye used the controller correctly, so instead of feeling limited to a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse, i felt like i could do things i couldn't do on a keyboard and mouse. And it's so easy to play with someone else. Yes, most good first person shooters come out for the computer, but these two games are simply masterpieces.
ummm... please reread the book. And don't call me an idiot. I just read the book a couple of months ago, and yes, the machines did replace many of the workers. However, there was a large computer (known as EPICAC) that made decisions based on a person's skills and tempermant and decided what job they should do. They then decided which jobs were no longer necessary. It is only a part of the story, but an important part.
While you are right, Player Piano is about human beings replaced by machines, it's also about how people are put into certain castes based on a series of variables that computer computes.
those of you who like science fiction, kurt vonnegut or are worried about these types of situations should read PLAYER PIANO by kurt vonnegut. It was written in 1952 (!) i think, and is about computers making decisions about which jobs are important, and which jobs are unnecessary. Yeah, it's a worst case scenario, but computers and databases are just going to become more and more prevelant in our lives.
I think your analogy is slightly off. According to the statistics i was able to find google has 29% of the search engine market. Thus, it would be like an the largest art gallery in the world, with a full 29% of the population who go to their art gallery deciding not to show something that a large percentage of the population has stated is important to them.
You're right, when it's a private company censoring, it's not an issue of free speech, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be up in arms about it. A small art gallery deciding not to show some artwork is very different than what is happening here, simply due to scale.
Walt, i don't know if these are lies or not. I guess i want people to make a stink about it because it's the only way i see the politicians forcing a paper trail. I also think that there was enough monkey business from these companies to make me question whether or not their machines accurately counted the votes. I want a commision to investigate it. I'm upset bush won, but i don't expect this to change this election. I just don't want it to happen again. if it did in fact happen.
-Bill
thank you for letting me know about this. For those of you interested in doing something about this, i would recommend checking in at www.indymedia.us for any news of protests happening in your area. There is a big enough statistical case that can be made that the votes have been tampered with. Hopefully, we can turn this into a large enough issue, that there won't be such doubt about each vote counting.
I think it's the fact that there is less judicial overview in this case. If one person does not have protection from search and sesure, then none of us do, because the very same thing could happen to us. They didn't have a search warrant. They didn't even investigate the claim, because a 2 minute purusal would have shown that the claim was bogus. that's why that amendment was added. This is not the first case of the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act being used for very un-terrorist activities. Bush, could you please explain to us just what a terrorist is?
i think one thing that frustrates people is they seperate tech jobs from entertainment jobs. Many people think that entertainment jobs aren't as important as tech jobs. Tech jobs add something tangeble to the economy, while entertainment jobs are there only to entertain us. It just doesn't seem as vital as a tech job. I see all the sides of this argument, but irregardless, the yankees lost.
I was going to waste a mod point, but then i thought i'd respond personally. I think you are totally correct with most television stations, except for HBO and the like. In this case, you really are the consumer, or partially the consumer.
I think you have brought up a good point, that with the current state of advertising invading all forms of entertainment, that we can no longer see ourselves as the only consumer in the equation, or that that is our only role in this economic transaction.
Yeah, i use the handbaskets too. Living by myself, there's little need to buy much more than would require a handbasket. I really hope all stores don't go to this. I just don't see this really making anyone's life better. And how about instead of all these fancy "improvements" to shopping, they just gave us more choice and lower prices? Or is that harder to advertise?
-Bill
i understand that the actual product "value"(in economic terms) doesn't change, but i think that where a product is has something to do with it's value to the consumer. A product that sits in large warehouses is of little benifit to the consumer. Therefore, a store owner does add some apparent value to the product, by placing it in a location that the average consumer is able to locate and purchase. just my two cents. And yes, the last time i took economics was 10 years ago, so it's a little fuzzy, but i always thought economics was fuzzy math anyways.
While patronage might be a more appropriate model, i hate the idea of those wealthy enough to afford to be a patron of the arts to control where our artistic culture is headed.
they do add value. They present the cd or album in a store near where you live where you are able to purchase it. That is a value. Although, now it's a value that is worth less than it used to be.
Ok, in an attempt to slightly justify that price that people in england pay... they do not have to put up with nearly 10 minutes out of every 30 devoted to comercials. The amount of comercials per hour is less in europe than in the united states. I mean even if you get cable, you still have to put up with the same amount of commercials. So, what you are seeing here, is a slightly decreased amount of comercials, which is then ofset by the payment of fees on the part of the viewers.
Now, that said, i still think that's ridiculous. I'm glad that i'm still able to get broadcast channels without paying a dime here in the united states. And let me also tell you tv moguls/fcc, i ain't moving to HDTV until the cost of them aren't simply high way robery. Why the heck do i need to see your stupid sitcoms and reality tv in high definition? How is that going to improve my life?
Ahhh...got that off my chest. Sorry if it was bit off-topic.
Perhaps as a compromise, have one debate with only the canidates having more than 7% in a national poll, and 2 with all the canidates who could concievably win. Because, it makes sense to allow the two( or more) with the greatest chance to win the most amount of time in front of the us public, but there should also be debates where all canidates are allowed to participate.
I like to think that the third parties help push the two major parties toward policy changes. Look at the Right To life Party. Once it started stealing enough of the vote, the republican party made it a part of their platform.
Gore did not run a very liberal campaign, but Kerry's campaign is more liberal, and that is in part to mitigate the effect of ralph nader sniping from the far left votes Kerry needs.
That is what third parties do, they force the major parties to rethink their platforms.
that's a really good question... i was going to mod you up, but then realized i had lost my mod points...:(
But, I think this needs to be decided on soon by the courts: At what point does a EULA come into effect, and if it can come into effect just by opening the shrinkwrap (the infamous shrinkwrap license), can people reasonably be expected to sign away significant rights?
Because I agree that people can sign away these rights of "First Sale" and other rights in a contract, but what effectively is occuring here is that you have no choice in choosing the contract, you are coerced into aggreeing to the contract, because if you refuse the EULA on a piece of software, you are stuck with a very expensive cd coaster.
let me tell you about a little program called livetext.com. God damn, my graduate school started using it to keep our portfolios, and all it did was make us do more work, for less return, and then in the end, we had to make hard copy versions anyways. Grrr... that was $95 well-spent.
i can't speak for caltech, but university of chicago's girls aren't any great shakes either. Of course the guys are worse, but at least that meant less competition...
i finally got an invite, but i think that's because i'm the most techie of all my friends, and so they could care less about gmail. Also, gmail is still in beta, i imagine it will soon be available to those without an invite.
Now that i have one, i'm going, ok, now what? I already have an e-mail address.
"as long as you are making enough to keep from depending on others for anything"
I know this was a side comment, but i do take issue with this sort of attitude. You depend on so many people during your day, that it can boggle the mind. Just imagine how many people you rely on to have that roof over your head, or that car in your driveway, or the fact that you are educated, and are able to be self-employed.
"The more people that do this, the more employers will support it and you don't have to resort to being self-employed if you don't want to do that."
You should really consider connecting everything to a power strip, and then shuting everything down ever night. After starting to do that, I'm saving at least 5 dollars a month on electric bills. Living in the dorms it doesn't really matter, as far as costs go, but it's good to get into the habit.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, now i'm older and wiser, and don't leave my cd player out in the car in first place. :)
I'm going to have to disagree with you on the computer being teh only true playform. It all depends on what the game was first designed for. Golden Eye and Halo 1 are some of the finest first person shooters out there. Why? A fun single player campaign combined with excellent multiplayer, and excellent controls. I repeat, halo and golden eye used the controller correctly, so instead of feeling limited to a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse, i felt like i could do things i couldn't do on a keyboard and mouse. And it's so easy to play with someone else. Yes, most good first person shooters come out for the computer, but these two games are simply masterpieces.
While you are right, Player Piano is about human beings replaced by machines, it's also about how people are put into certain castes based on a series of variables that computer computes.
those of you who like science fiction, kurt vonnegut or are worried about these types of situations should read PLAYER PIANO by kurt vonnegut. It was written in 1952 (!) i think, and is about computers making decisions about which jobs are important, and which jobs are unnecessary. Yeah, it's a worst case scenario, but computers and databases are just going to become more and more prevelant in our lives.
You're right, when it's a private company censoring, it's not an issue of free speech, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't be up in arms about it. A small art gallery deciding not to show some artwork is very different than what is happening here, simply due to scale.
Walt, i don't know if these are lies or not. I guess i want people to make a stink about it because it's the only way i see the politicians forcing a paper trail. I also think that there was enough monkey business from these companies to make me question whether or not their machines accurately counted the votes. I want a commision to investigate it. I'm upset bush won, but i don't expect this to change this election. I just don't want it to happen again. if it did in fact happen. -Bill
thank you for letting me know about this. For those of you interested in doing something about this, i would recommend checking in at www.indymedia.us for any news of protests happening in your area. There is a big enough statistical case that can be made that the votes have been tampered with. Hopefully, we can turn this into a large enough issue, that there won't be such doubt about each vote counting.
I think it's the fact that there is less judicial overview in this case. If one person does not have protection from search and sesure, then none of us do, because the very same thing could happen to us. They didn't have a search warrant. They didn't even investigate the claim, because a 2 minute purusal would have shown that the claim was bogus. that's why that amendment was added. This is not the first case of the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act being used for very un-terrorist activities. Bush, could you please explain to us just what a terrorist is?
i think one thing that frustrates people is they seperate tech jobs from entertainment jobs. Many people think that entertainment jobs aren't as important as tech jobs. Tech jobs add something tangeble to the economy, while entertainment jobs are there only to entertain us. It just doesn't seem as vital as a tech job. I see all the sides of this argument, but irregardless, the yankees lost.
I think you have brought up a good point, that with the current state of advertising invading all forms of entertainment, that we can no longer see ourselves as the only consumer in the equation, or that that is our only role in this economic transaction.
Yeah, i use the handbaskets too. Living by myself, there's little need to buy much more than would require a handbasket. I really hope all stores don't go to this. I just don't see this really making anyone's life better. And how about instead of all these fancy "improvements" to shopping, they just gave us more choice and lower prices? Or is that harder to advertise? -Bill
i understand that the actual product "value"(in economic terms) doesn't change, but i think that where a product is has something to do with it's value to the consumer. A product that sits in large warehouses is of little benifit to the consumer. Therefore, a store owner does add some apparent value to the product, by placing it in a location that the average consumer is able to locate and purchase. just my two cents. And yes, the last time i took economics was 10 years ago, so it's a little fuzzy, but i always thought economics was fuzzy math anyways.
While patronage might be a more appropriate model, i hate the idea of those wealthy enough to afford to be a patron of the arts to control where our artistic culture is headed.
they do add value. They present the cd or album in a store near where you live where you are able to purchase it. That is a value. Although, now it's a value that is worth less than it used to be.
Now, that said, i still think that's ridiculous. I'm glad that i'm still able to get broadcast channels without paying a dime here in the united states. And let me also tell you tv moguls/fcc, i ain't moving to HDTV until the cost of them aren't simply high way robery. Why the heck do i need to see your stupid sitcoms and reality tv in high definition? How is that going to improve my life?
Ahhh...got that off my chest. Sorry if it was bit off-topic.
Gore did not run a very liberal campaign, but Kerry's campaign is more liberal, and that is in part to mitigate the effect of ralph nader sniping from the far left votes Kerry needs.
That is what third parties do, they force the major parties to rethink their platforms.
But, I think this needs to be decided on soon by the courts: At what point does a EULA come into effect, and if it can come into effect just by opening the shrinkwrap (the infamous shrinkwrap license), can people reasonably be expected to sign away significant rights?
Because I agree that people can sign away these rights of "First Sale" and other rights in a contract, but what effectively is occuring here is that you have no choice in choosing the contract, you are coerced into aggreeing to the contract, because if you refuse the EULA on a piece of software, you are stuck with a very expensive cd coaster.
wow, a slashdot discussion actually ending in an acceptance that both parties are right... i thought i'd never see the day.
let me tell you about a little program called livetext.com. God damn, my graduate school started using it to keep our portfolios, and all it did was make us do more work, for less return, and then in the end, we had to make hard copy versions anyways. Grrr... that was $95 well-spent.
i can't speak for caltech, but university of chicago's girls aren't any great shakes either. Of course the guys are worse, but at least that meant less competition...
Now that i have one, i'm going, ok, now what? I already have an e-mail address.
I know this was a side comment, but i do take issue with this sort of attitude. You depend on so many people during your day, that it can boggle the mind. Just imagine how many people you rely on to have that roof over your head, or that car in your driveway, or the fact that you are educated, and are able to be self-employed.
"The more people that do this, the more employers will support it and you don't have to resort to being self-employed if you don't want to do that."
Isn't that what unions try to do?
You should really consider connecting everything to a power strip, and then shuting everything down ever night. After starting to do that, I'm saving at least 5 dollars a month on electric bills. Living in the dorms it doesn't really matter, as far as costs go, but it's good to get into the habit.
i think that's why his name is "halfbaked plan".