I'm guessing this app will come in handy in the southern border states.
Hell, even in Houston last time I was there, I saw more and more signs and postings I could not read, I won't even get into how many radio stations I had to scan to get one that spoke English.
It is a shame that in parts of the US mainland, that you are starting to have to take spanish lessons in order to function.
"So, maybe a better question is...why would anyone in the US particularly CARE what the world view of sports cars are?
And people wonder why the rest of the world hates us...."
Well, it is easy to see that opinion. I mean, I try to keep up somewhat with world events, etc. But in all honesty, there is very little that goes on in this world, that even remotely touches my day to day life. Sure, occasionally, there is some catastrophic occurance...but for the most part, if I never listened again to a news report on something happening outside the US, I could likely pretty easily never see my life change here and it wouldn't affect me at all.
I've been outside the US, and it was fun. But for most people, what other countries do they go to? We're only touching 2 of them. This isn't like Europe, where you can cross a couple of countries in a day in a car, and they all touch multiple countries. In the US, most people haven't even been to all 50 states. The county here is big, and fairly isolated from the rest of the world. For the most part, what happens in the rest of the world very seldom has any perceptible affect on the average US citizen's life. With that being the case, it is easy to see why most of us don't really pay attention to what the rest of the world wants or thinks.
"And it would analyze your surroundings and give you details about people you see.. like "single and looking.." when you see a hot girl on street."
That's easy. If she doesn't have a ring on her finger, she's looking. If she's not gay, you have a shot.
It is up to you to approach her. Simple as that. Walk up, and say hello...or try something like asking her the time, chat a little, then tell her "actually, I didn't need to know the time, but I saw you over here and just had to come talk to you"...and take it from there.
If she doesn't respond, well, move on to the next one...
But, if they're single, they are ALL looking for someone.
Even if they aren't single, often they are looking for someone, but I don't fsck with married chicks.
"Funny, I find that southwest is the least nice option out there- the seats are the smallest, the flights are cramped. The only good thing about is its cheap."
Interesting. Maybe it is due to me losing weight, but the seats seem fine to me. I find the flight crews to be great. I always have full drink during the flight, and often they outright make me laugh with some of the stuff they say over the intercoms.
I find the people manning the check-in counters, etc, to be friendly and professional.
I also like their track record for keeping flights on schedule. And on the cost side, I've been appreciating them NOT gouging you for luggage check onboard.
Fortunately, they fly to just about everywhere I generally travel...and at the bottom line, I'm only flying to GET to a destination. The trip really wouldn't be that important to me, but since I find that they have great service, then I take that as an added bonus.
I guess I wonder how anyone that has any eye for quality can shop only at Wal-Mart.
Their meat is atrocious. I dunno how they can legally label some of the choice grade beef they have as choice, it looks, feels like and tastes low rent.
Their produce is often decently ok, but man, I can NOT buy meat there.
Conversely, at Sam's Club, I've gotten great cuts of meat...although I tend to buy the whole vac-pacs of ribeye's and cut them myself, but Wally World meat...ick.
"Actually I didn't. I stated a larger world view to which many American's, and in particular, American Corvette owners, took offense."
Well, with the US being as large and diverse as it is...quite often, America *is* the world to most of us. Many people never leave this country, and honestly, there isn't a real need to. You could do a lifetime exploring the US and not get tired of it.
So, maybe a better question is...why would anyone in the US particularly CARE what the world view of sports cars are?
"They are intentionally using an antiquated engine design with 1950s tech and marketing like anything more advanced "ain't shit". I mean, they are still air cooled for goodness sake..."
Nothing wrong with an air cooled engine. I have a Yamaha Roadliner that is only a few years old, it is just shy of a 1900 engine, air-cooled. I'd hardly call it an inferior, antiquated motorcycle.
"As an example, let's look at Corvettes and Harleys. On the world stage, the Corvette is generally considered a crap, plastic car. It sells well in the US because of its American heritage and perceived prestige. The reality is, a much, much better car can be had for the money."
Wow..you could have picked SO many other examples and had a good argument, but not for a Corvette.
What other car, exactly, CAN you buy for less money with the performance specs of the Corvette?
I'll agree the older ones, like the C4 series were very plastic and cheaply done on the interior, but starting with the C5 series, they have been really improving the interiors. To get another car that would perform like a stock entry level vette you'd pay 10's of thousands of dollars more. For something that matches the Z06 Corvette, you 'd better start looking at 6-digits from foreign companies.
Sadly, the Vette is pretty much the last of the American sports/muscle cars.
You really should do a bit more research in it...the torque, braking, 0-60mph...and yes...take a look at the mileage you can get? My '97 C5 was a 6 speed. I could put that thing on cruise control at 85 mph or a bit more, and I got close to 36 Mpg.
They have gotten a bit more pricey since I've had mine...but in no way are they a low quality car bought only for the name/label. Heck, that is about the ONLY American made car I'd even think of purchasing. Every thing else pretty much sucks from a quality and performance point of view.
I view a car as something to enjoy every time I fire it up. To me, a car is not merely transportation, it is something for ME to enjoy. Not much better than cranking up the tunes, and letting your right foot get a little heavy while out on the road.
"It feels less crap when it's the same store. I wouldn't have any problem with going into an electrical retailer..."
The trouble with that approach is, if they have a store in your area, the website is going to charge you sales tax, and on big ticket electronic items, that can start to get significant really quickly. The sales tax down here in the New Orleans area is in the 10% ballpark.
I just pulled the trigger (so to speak) and ordered the PS3 slim. I got the 160GB version bundled with a BR movie, and a game called Uncharted 2, and I got a Batman: Arkham Asylum pretty cheap, and saw one that got good reviews and looked different..Red Dead Redemption.
I figure if nothing else, the BR player will be nice, it streams Netflix...and I can try to see how I get into gaming! I have a feeling, from watching youtube videos of people playing the games I got, that it will take me FOREVER to learn all the controls on this thing...
Yes, please post in the journal, I'll try to read up on it. Thank you!
"Let me introduce to you a foreign concept --- gaming with friends. You know, before there were computers the activity used to be with board games and usually family members."
Well, I'm a little older...I don't know of any of my friends my age really that play games (assuming you meant video games on computer/console). Their kids do, but I don't know of many adults my age that play games much. Shame..I was toying with the idea of getting one of these PS3 bundle deals for myself, since it is a BR player and does netflix, and as a bonus, plays games. I've been reading that the online stuff with it is pretty fun.
I've not really played games at all since the old days of networking and playing Descent 1...so,I'd like to try it, but not many people I know play them.
"I realized that I was watching TV, not so much because I was actually interested in anything that was on it, but rather because I just wanted something (preferably with moving colors and shapes) to stare at while I didn't think. Pretty much anything can substitute for that. So, for those few shows that I did find interesting, there's still Hulu, Netflix, and the network websites, all of which allow me to watch shows whenever I want, rather than on someone else's schedule. You also have the benefit with Netflix of saving almost 15 minutes every hour just by ditching the commercials, which means that you suddenly have a lot more free time to use on more TV or other activities. That said, you'd be amazed at just how few shows you are probably actually interested in once they're not being advertised constantly and they're not in front of your eyeballs by default when you come home each night. "
While I agree with not a TON of good stuff on TV, and I don't like going with their schedule either...having a MythTV box set up (and even back with old tivo) lets me have exactly what I want to watch queued up and waiting for me. Timeshifting really made TV a great thing to me again. MythTV is great for skipping commercials.
I do enjoy some live stuff, the news programs...I like to switch back and forth between MSNBC and Fox news, and try to balance out vitriol some of the hosts have on both sides. I like to watch the odd sporting events live, etc.
Also, with hulu and the other web based 'tv' stations...well, they are all low resolution, and kinda wastes a nice HDTV or HD type monitor doesn't it?
I do, however, miss reading...been a couple decades or more really. As a kid, I was a ravenous reader...now, mostly just read technical at work, and surf the net a bit there too.
In some ways, I do kinda wish I could pull the plug..but I'm so addicted, I don't think I could very easily.
When I walk into my house, the first thing I do is basically turn on every TV I walk past as I go through the house. They are all on pretty much any time I am there and awake. I fall asleep with one on in my bedroom, as that I have a hard time going to sleep in a completely quiet room, that is pitch black. The TV is my nightlight. I set the time to turn itself off after I fall asleep tho, so that it won't wake me during periods of lighter sleep during the night.
And hey...sometimes you want to catch a bit of Sportscenter while she's giving you a blowjob in bed.
"So from the marketdroids point of view, when you are both watching the TV and using a computer, which one do you pay more attention to. So for you has the TV just become background, whilst you a really actually focused on your computer. "
Well, likely a bit more attention to the TV than the internet...but, often, when doing stuff around the house, and going to sleep at night, the TV is just for background. I can't go to sleep very easily in a completely quiet, pitch black room, the TV is a bit of a night light to me, but I set the timer on it to turn off after I fall asleep, so that during the night it won't wake me up during periods of lighter sleep.
But I do watch a LOT of tv...
I'd say when on the computer and the TV is on, I'm about 50-50 in attention on both...maybe slightly more tv than computer.
"Wow, makes you wonder if Disney was able to make them pull it, or if (far more likely) people just kept and re-sold the discs when the price for new and used copies headed north of $60...."
God, let's hope Disney isn't "redoing" the original movie, leading to us all soon to be arguing that Tron shot first?!?!?!
"In general, a movie's quality is inversely correlated to how heavily it's marketed. Tron has been so heavily marketed, with almost all of the marketing concentrating on the eye candy special effects, that I would be absolutely shocked if it turned out to be a really good movie."
Really?
I've only recently started seeing any ads for Tron, and with it coming out Friday, I don't think that's all that bad.
I've been seeing TONS more ads for the Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie action movie coming out. They've been showing ads for that almost every hour on the hour here.
"Look at the videogames of 1982 and earlier - the opposite of realistic. Which is why they were fun and the Original Tron tried to capture that feel, and I think it worked."
Well, they didn't have the graphics or audio...so, they had to make up for that in gameplay.
I think that is something largely lost today. I mean, once you've played a FPS (which was kind of new in the Doom days) you've pretty much played them all, just newer ones have better sound and graphics. But,where are the new and unique games?
I still take Robotron 2084 on my MAME machine over most new games out there today.
Damned thing still gives me tennis elbow after playing too long a session on it...
When I am home...pretty much every TV in the house is on too. However, I pretty much also have some form of computer in every room of the house, so I'm connected to the internet in every room too.
I only pay for a business connection from my cable company, and I splice off that line to get the analog stations (extended basic), and the unencrypted HD channels. That plus antenna satisfies my 'live' TV needs. Anything else, I can get off Netflix or Usenet.
" Employees are a commodity that can be bought (hired) and sold (fired). Who cares if you lay off the entire department, you can find replacements that are happy to do the same job until they too are terminated. The idea of loyalty is now a one way street. The employer expects the employee to be completely loyal and dedicated to the company. When it's time for the employee to rely on the employer, you're screwed. The idea of "I've been a hard worker, sacrificing my nights, weekends, and holidays for the company, they won't fire me", is long since gone."
That's why I've long since advocated incorporating yourself, and doing contract work. You make sure you get PAID for every hour your work. Not more of this unpaid time worked. They'll think twice whether they really need you at midnight or not.
Also, if you do it right...looking to do a subchapter "S" corporation, you can save serious money on what you have to dole out to SS and Medicare. You also can write off so many things...it is about the only way to keep the tax man OUT of your hard earned money.
And finally, if you are going to be treated like contractor, and have the job security of a contractor, you might as well be one and at least get the bill rate, independence and tax breaks of a contractor.
The days of loyal employment (both ways) is long gone, yet most people still try to work that system, and are somehow shocked when tney find out how easily disposable they are.
If you are good, look into govt./DoD contracting...LONG term contracts there, you can stay on those for years at a time.
"OSHA says you have to have an office where phone calls can be private? Fine, we'll give you one "private phone room" for 20 employees. OSHA says you have to have a 30 minute lunch break? Fine, but we'll stick the kitchen in another building 10 minutes walk away, good luck getting there and back and still managing to do anything but bolt your lunch at choking-hazard speeds, sucker, or you can take a bag lunch in and keep it in your desk and you might as well work while eating anyways."
Geez, WTF do you work at?
I've never seen conditions bad like that at any place I've worked at. Most (commercial) places were comfy, had nice kitchens on every floor, etc. Only when I've done govt. contracting, where govt. can't pay for things like that..do conditions occasionally get poor. But in general, not even that bad, you just don't get perks and have to pay for them yourself (like coffee...etc), and even then like where I'm at, we all just chip in annually for a coffee/snack fund and have all we want.
"So if you want to do right this time around, you need to pay a good price. Go and look up what the games cost to buy either from their site, or from Impulse or Steam. Right now looks like Braid is $10, Cortex Command is $18 (or $38 for the 'support us' version), Machinarium is $20, Osmos is $10, and Revenge of the Titans is $13. So $71 is the current market price for those games. Now give yourself a reasonable discount, since that is the point of a bundle. 25% would be a pretty normal bundle discount so $53, maybe round it off to an even $50.
THAT would be a purchase that shows support, that says "I understand games take time and effort to produce and will pay a reasonable price." If Linux users pay that, it says something. However $10 or less? Hell no. It's fine if you cannot afford any more (particularly in non-OECD countries where you just have far less money) and you aren't on about how great you are, you are just trying to pay what you can affird and do the right thing. That's fine. However if you like in the US, Canada or the EU and you give that, recognize you are being very cheap and you really aren't supporting them, or showing your platform as being that supportive."
I've not played computer/console games much since I was a kid (in the Doom days). I was thinking these looked interesting, but I'd want to take a look at them first, to decide if I wanted them, and how much they were worth.
I don't see a trial version of this on the Bundle site....?
I'd likely pay more money if I knew I liked the games and would play them...but if I was buying sight unseen..I'd be a bit hesitant to put out more than $10 or so...
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, even in Houston last time I was there, I saw more and more signs and postings I could not read, I won't even get into how many radio stations I had to scan to get one that spoke English.
It is a shame that in parts of the US mainland, that you are starting to have to take spanish lessons in order to function.
And people wonder why the rest of the world hates us...."
Well, it is easy to see that opinion. I mean, I try to keep up somewhat with world events, etc. But in all honesty, there is very little that goes on in this world, that even remotely touches my day to day life. Sure, occasionally, there is some catastrophic occurance...but for the most part, if I never listened again to a news report on something happening outside the US, I could likely pretty easily never see my life change here and it wouldn't affect me at all.
I've been outside the US, and it was fun. But for most people, what other countries do they go to? We're only touching 2 of them. This isn't like Europe, where you can cross a couple of countries in a day in a car, and they all touch multiple countries. In the US, most people haven't even been to all 50 states. The county here is big, and fairly isolated from the rest of the world. For the most part, what happens in the rest of the world very seldom has any perceptible affect on the average US citizen's life. With that being the case, it is easy to see why most of us don't really pay attention to what the rest of the world wants or thinks.
That's easy. If she doesn't have a ring on her finger, she's looking. If she's not gay, you have a shot.
It is up to you to approach her. Simple as that. Walk up, and say hello...or try something like asking her the time, chat a little, then tell her "actually, I didn't need to know the time, but I saw you over here and just had to come talk to you"...and take it from there.
If she doesn't respond, well, move on to the next one...
But, if they're single, they are ALL looking for someone.
Even if they aren't single, often they are looking for someone, but I don't fsck with married chicks.
Interesting. Maybe it is due to me losing weight, but the seats seem fine to me. I find the flight crews to be great. I always have full drink during the flight, and often they outright make me laugh with some of the stuff they say over the intercoms.
I find the people manning the check-in counters, etc, to be friendly and professional.
I also like their track record for keeping flights on schedule. And on the cost side, I've been appreciating them NOT gouging you for luggage check onboard.
Fortunately, they fly to just about everywhere I generally travel...and at the bottom line, I'm only flying to GET to a destination. The trip really wouldn't be that important to me, but since I find that they have great service, then I take that as an added bonus.
Their meat is atrocious. I dunno how they can legally label some of the choice grade beef they have as choice, it looks, feels like and tastes low rent.
Their produce is often decently ok, but man, I can NOT buy meat there.
Conversely, at Sam's Club, I've gotten great cuts of meat...although I tend to buy the whole vac-pacs of ribeye's and cut them myself, but Wally World meat...ick.
Well, with the US being as large and diverse as it is...quite often, America *is* the world to most of us. Many people never leave this country, and honestly, there isn't a real need to. You could do a lifetime exploring the US and not get tired of it.
So, maybe a better question is...why would anyone in the US particularly CARE what the world view of sports cars are?
Nothing wrong with an air cooled engine. I have a Yamaha Roadliner that is only a few years old, it is just shy of a 1900 engine, air-cooled. I'd hardly call it an inferior, antiquated motorcycle.
Wow..you could have picked SO many other examples and had a good argument, but not for a Corvette.
What other car, exactly, CAN you buy for less money with the performance specs of the Corvette?
I'll agree the older ones, like the C4 series were very plastic and cheaply done on the interior, but starting with the C5 series, they have been really improving the interiors. To get another car that would perform like a stock entry level vette you'd pay 10's of thousands of dollars more. For something that matches the Z06 Corvette, you 'd better start looking at 6-digits from foreign companies.
Sadly, the Vette is pretty much the last of the American sports/muscle cars.
You really should do a bit more research in it...the torque, braking, 0-60mph...and yes...take a look at the mileage you can get? My '97 C5 was a 6 speed. I could put that thing on cruise control at 85 mph or a bit more, and I got close to 36 Mpg.
They have gotten a bit more pricey since I've had mine...but in no way are they a low quality car bought only for the name/label. Heck, that is about the ONLY American made car I'd even think of purchasing. Every thing else pretty much sucks from a quality and performance point of view.
I view a car as something to enjoy every time I fire it up. To me, a car is not merely transportation, it is something for ME to enjoy. Not much better than cranking up the tunes, and letting your right foot get a little heavy while out on the road.
The trouble with that approach is, if they have a store in your area, the website is going to charge you sales tax, and on big ticket electronic items, that can start to get significant really quickly. The sales tax down here in the New Orleans area is in the 10% ballpark.
Not all of them...
I try to fly Southwest whenever I can..they are about the cheapest out there, but they run usually on time, and they are always friendly and helpful.
I actually enjoy most of my flights with SWA.
LOL...I don't know, I've found myself expressing a multitude of opinions during an online poker match!!
Many of them unfit for people under the age of 18yrs.
I just pulled the trigger (so to speak) and ordered the PS3 slim. I got the 160GB version bundled with a BR movie, and a game called Uncharted 2, and I got a Batman: Arkham Asylum pretty cheap, and saw one that got good reviews and looked different..Red Dead Redemption.
I figure if nothing else, the BR player will be nice, it streams Netflix...and I can try to see how I get into gaming! I have a feeling, from watching youtube videos of people playing the games I got, that it will take me FOREVER to learn all the controls on this thing...
Yes, please post in the journal, I'll try to read up on it. Thank you!
Well, I'm a little older...I don't know of any of my friends my age really that play games (assuming you meant video games on computer/console). Their kids do, but I don't know of many adults my age that play games much. Shame..I was toying with the idea of getting one of these PS3 bundle deals for myself, since it is a BR player and does netflix, and as a bonus, plays games. I've been reading that the online stuff with it is pretty fun.
I've not really played games at all since the old days of networking and playing Descent 1...so,I'd like to try it, but not many people I know play them.
I'm talking in the 39+ age range...
While I agree with not a TON of good stuff on TV, and I don't like going with their schedule either...having a MythTV box set up (and even back with old tivo) lets me have exactly what I want to watch queued up and waiting for me. Timeshifting really made TV a great thing to me again. MythTV is great for skipping commercials.
I do enjoy some live stuff, the news programs...I like to switch back and forth between MSNBC and Fox news, and try to balance out vitriol some of the hosts have on both sides. I like to watch the odd sporting events live, etc.
Also, with hulu and the other web based 'tv' stations...well, they are all low resolution, and kinda wastes a nice HDTV or HD type monitor doesn't it?
I do, however, miss reading...been a couple decades or more really. As a kid, I was a ravenous reader...now, mostly just read technical at work, and surf the net a bit there too.
In some ways, I do kinda wish I could pull the plug..but I'm so addicted, I don't think I could very easily.
When I walk into my house, the first thing I do is basically turn on every TV I walk past as I go through the house. They are all on pretty much any time I am there and awake. I fall asleep with one on in my bedroom, as that I have a hard time going to sleep in a completely quiet room, that is pitch black. The TV is my nightlight. I set the time to turn itself off after I fall asleep tho, so that it won't wake me during periods of lighter sleep during the night.
And hey...sometimes you want to catch a bit of Sportscenter while she's giving you a blowjob in bed.
Well, likely a bit more attention to the TV than the internet...but, often, when doing stuff around the house, and going to sleep at night, the TV is just for background. I can't go to sleep very easily in a completely quiet, pitch black room, the TV is a bit of a night light to me, but I set the timer on it to turn off after I fall asleep, so that during the night it won't wake me up during periods of lighter sleep.
But I do watch a LOT of tv...
I'd say when on the computer and the TV is on, I'm about 50-50 in attention on both...maybe slightly more tv than computer.
No TV? How do you do that? What do you stare at when you come home in the evenings after work?
God, let's hope Disney isn't "redoing" the original movie, leading to us all soon to be arguing that Tron shot first?!?!?!
Really?
I've only recently started seeing any ads for Tron, and with it coming out Friday, I don't think that's all that bad.
I've been seeing TONS more ads for the Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie action movie coming out. They've been showing ads for that almost every hour on the hour here.
Well, they didn't have the graphics or audio...so, they had to make up for that in gameplay. I think that is something largely lost today. I mean, once you've played a FPS (which was kind of new in the Doom days) you've pretty much played them all, just newer ones have better sound and graphics. But,where are the new and unique games?
I still take Robotron 2084 on my MAME machine over most new games out there today.
Damned thing still gives me tennis elbow after playing too long a session on it...
I only pay for a business connection from my cable company, and I splice off that line to get the analog stations (extended basic), and the unencrypted HD channels. That plus antenna satisfies my 'live' TV needs. Anything else, I can get off Netflix or Usenet.
That's why I've long since advocated incorporating yourself, and doing contract work. You make sure you get PAID for every hour your work. Not more of this unpaid time worked. They'll think twice whether they really need you at midnight or not.
Also, if you do it right...looking to do a subchapter "S" corporation, you can save serious money on what you have to dole out to SS and Medicare. You also can write off so many things...it is about the only way to keep the tax man OUT of your hard earned money.
And finally, if you are going to be treated like contractor, and have the job security of a contractor, you might as well be one and at least get the bill rate, independence and tax breaks of a contractor.
The days of loyal employment (both ways) is long gone, yet most people still try to work that system, and are somehow shocked when tney find out how easily disposable they are.
If you are good, look into govt./DoD contracting...LONG term contracts there, you can stay on those for years at a time.
Geez, WTF do you work at?
I've never seen conditions bad like that at any place I've worked at. Most (commercial) places were comfy, had nice kitchens on every floor, etc. Only when I've done govt. contracting, where govt. can't pay for things like that..do conditions occasionally get poor. But in general, not even that bad, you just don't get perks and have to pay for them yourself (like coffee...etc), and even then like where I'm at, we all just chip in annually for a coffee/snack fund and have all we want.
THAT would be a purchase that shows support, that says "I understand games take time and effort to produce and will pay a reasonable price." If Linux users pay that, it says something. However $10 or less? Hell no. It's fine if you cannot afford any more (particularly in non-OECD countries where you just have far less money) and you aren't on about how great you are, you are just trying to pay what you can affird and do the right thing. That's fine. However if you like in the US, Canada or the EU and you give that, recognize you are being very cheap and you really aren't supporting them, or showing your platform as being that supportive."
I've not played computer/console games much since I was a kid (in the Doom days). I was thinking these looked interesting, but I'd want to take a look at them first, to decide if I wanted them, and how much they were worth.
I don't see a trial version of this on the Bundle site....?
I'd likely pay more money if I knew I liked the games and would play them...but if I was buying sight unseen..I'd be a bit hesitant to put out more than $10 or so...
Does it come with and egg roll and fried lice?
Easy...LOSE WEIGHT.