It will be interesting to see how many people drop out of society as this rollercoaster of privacy invasion builds up speed.
I for one will never carry a card that has my fingerprints, dna or iris scan on. Even if it means I can't get basic services... They can kiss my hairy ass.
I don't have anything worth encrypting but if I did I wouldn't give them the keys even if they threaten me with jail... They can kiss my sweaty gonads.
The pathetic excuses they are using to force unwanted ideas on us (e.g. biometric id cards) & invade the general populations privacy is unbelievable.
The scary part is that most people are dimwitted sheep who believe what the evening news tells them without thinking it through for themselves and without the numbers to fight it they will get their way. And on top of that they will vote the governments back in even if they diagree with their policies, as long as they keep the economy healthy for them.
Baaaa baaaaa baaaa
Stuff the dumb consoles I just spent my money on a $500 Gainwood "Gold Sample" 512Mb 7900 GT which leaves these dumb consoles for dead, especially pumped through my projectors DVI port.
Oblivion at 1024 x 768 on a 3 Metre screen at full detail and Anti Aliasing, this kicks ass.
You enjoy your sad looking consoles now ya hear Mwuahhahahahaaaa.
Ahhh... yes I do have green skin and a large axe.:-)
You could be onto something there.
Americans drink less beer because they have to drink that awful american beer (if you can call it beer, more like gnats piss) so less beer = more illness.
Free beer for all is the solution.
Minidisc is the way to go if you are a musician, plug the disc into your mixing desk and record using your digital optical in.
MP3 players are great for listening to music but Minidisc is the way to go to create those demo masters.
I have to agree, I originally came from Europe and have been in Australia for the past 12 years.
It is sad the way Australian kids are dumping its own colourful culture and taken on an American culture (which is a real shame as the American social patterns and beliefs are a template for a real sick society, as looking at America for the outside in clearly shows)
I have also been stunned at the way Australia does not have its own foreign policy but simply adopts American foreign policy on nearly all matters.
Australia would do far better to start thinking for itself.
(but that will never happen until Howard is kicked out of the PM job)
I have seen this scenario in many companies before and it is usually budget issues.
Don't beat up on the IT staff they are probably doing all they can with the resources they have and if you annoy them too much they are not going to be too keen to help you any further than they absolutely have to.
No I will not sit around lamenting the end either, but those who just brush off the inevitable problem that is facing this oil addicted planet are in for a big shock. They probably do not realise how oil is in so many things we use (nearly everything). And miss the soaring coasts that will hit basic items because of the enormous distribution costs that we suddenly will face.
I hope someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat to push this problem beyond my lifetime, but there is no doubt it will change the world in a unimaginable way for our kids, and not for the better. (or maybe it will be better, forcing people back into more civilisied village size groups who have to learn to work together and shun the selfishness and greed that has characterised the last 20 years or so)
But those that blow raspberries and say there is no problem have not thought it through or are choosing to ignore it because it is too scary.
This is all good but the cost to extract these oils is very high. Can you afford to run your car if oil is $10 a litre??? it could well eventually get to that.
I have been following Peak Oil Theory for the past 20 years and those that just scoff at the idea are in for a big shock. I like many others have seen it coming and I have seen the governments ignoring it.
A world with no affordable oil???
As the rich and privileged hog the remaining oil and leave the masses to fight it out society will collapse, there is no doubt about that. I am just glad I do not live in a society where every man and his dog has a firearm, now that society would truly descend into a hellish nightmare.
Scoff at your peril, or learn how to grow your own food (because there will be no distribution to your local supermarket) and then learn how to defend your food, because everyone will want what you have.
Consumers right number 1
- The product must be capable of performing the task for which it was sold!
It seems to me, that Microsoft have been marketing this as a living room, multimedia/game centre and as such should expect it to be put into video cabinets and tv units... where it promptly overheats!
They should recall them all and redesign the power unit or cooling so it can perform the task it was designed to do in the expected environment for this type of unit./.ers trying to insinuate that the blame is with the stupid end user for putting it in a cupboard with his dvd player is nonesense. This is precisely where Microsoft want to be in your TV cabinet and that is how they marketed it.
They blew it and should fix the mess up with a recall.
(that would be the right thing to do, but we all know they will not do the right thing)
- A mediocre shooter/beatem up - A mediocre car/bike game - A mediocre story - Ok it has a massive world to explore
But at the end of the day it is no more than mediocre at everything it tries to do. Every aspect of GTA is done soo much better in other games.
And I couldn't help thinking while playing San Andreas that the graphics engine is looking very playstation and that is with a 6800GT with all vid settings maxed out.
For a game that excels at being mediocre, why so popular??? *shrugs shoulders*
Due to its questionable foreign policy history the US's refusal to relinquish control over a planetwide communications structure should be viewed with suspicion.
The argument that the US started it is irrelavent.
There is no logical or technical explanation as to why the US will not allow the internet to be governed by a worldwide body and no one here has posted a decent argument either!!!
Why exactly are they so adamant that they want to retain control, it makes you wonder?
Any single country controlling the top level Net is bad and open to possible abuse. Say the US went to war with (pick a country) say China, currently they could stop all routing to Chinese websites and no one could do a thing about it.(and don't say but they would never do such a thing, sure they would)
If the Net was in the hands of a multicountry agency like the UN they would not be able to do such a thing.
That is what is all about, countries worried that the US could abuse its position. (fuelled even more by their refusal to relinquish control, especially as it makes a lot of sense on many levels)
To all the US posters saying "FU why should we?" the question on the EU (and many others) minds is "Why wouldn't you?!!!" and the US has no reasonable answer to that question, so it is fair to be suspicious of their motives.
I say give it up US, give it to a UN body. it is the obvious solution, unless of course you do have more sinister motives for refusing!
I agree totally.
I run a small business providing support to home users and small businesses and when it comes to Anti Virus Symantec NAV & IS is the biggest pain in the ass out there.
When it comes to upgrading it, uninstalling it & reinstalling it it will regularly screw up the machine forcing you to use the symantec cleanup tools they provide (in addition to manually cleaning entries up in the reg and removing shared folders) before you can try to get a clean install happening.
I see 20-30 people a week and you can bet 3-4 of them are along the lines of "I was trying to upgrade to the latest version of NAV..." or "I just upgraded to NAV 200X and now my internet/email doesn't work."
I rarely see these issues with the other AV software out there, and generally advise my customers to not use Norton AV products.
You can't seriously think sending some youngster on a training course is going to replace the 20-30 years of experience and knowledge of an older senior staff member.
Yes they may manage to get by, if it all goes well, but when it goes pear shaped you are gonna wish you had that more experienced staff member around.
I once heard a good definition of an expert: An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes there are to be made in a particular field of expertise.
Sending a youngster on a training course is no replacement for years of experience.
The Wavebird for the Gamecube is excellent, my batteries seem to last for ages. And as I use rechargables when it does start flashing I simply recharge them.
I have been using this controller for a few years now and it has never once missed a button press or suffered any sort of interference.
So not all Wireless Controllers suck, perhaps just the ones you have tried sucked.
I personally don't think it is real smart to hold a microwave transmitter against your head.
I am sure loads of pointy headed/. peeps will rabbit on about doses and distances but the bottom line is no one knows for sure and if they do they ain't saying (who is funding these studies?)
But I have a feeling that someone will finally conclusively prove that it is not a good idea to use your mobile phone too much.
Thats funny I've just been reading a thread on the WoW forums that is now upto page 42 and is full of posts from Australians moaning that they are getting pings in the range of 800-3000ms even on the "unofficial Aussie" WoW servers. Guess you are lucky.
I do not get your comment "they are not going to throw it away"
I appreciate their big players bases would be in Europe and the US but that said they have sold enough units in this region to justify at least one server somewhere in oceania. They have skipped this region and jumped to setting up China servers.
Game companies setting up MMOG should do the right thing and look after this region, not overlook this region.
As much as I would like to play WOW and explore the world I have no interest in supporting Blizzards game until they do the right thing by Australian players and put a server in Oceania. Its not like they are short on cash.
Good call, the Gamecube Wavebird controller is sweet.
I have my gamecube connected to a projector so can sit on the futon, get nice and comfy and game away without worrying about wires. It has worked faultlessly for as long as I have had it(must be a few years now) and never misses a button press.
I have often wondered why Sony & MS hadn't pushed the wireless controller thing?
Everyone has their own favorite based on their own individual experiences.
I have been playing games since 1980 when you just had a knob to twist and have played with nearly all the controllers since. Of the latest batch I personally like the PS2 and Gamecube controllers, the Gamecube being the most comfortable for long sessions.
Not to bash the Xbox but it has to be said (and you all know its true deep down) the XBox controller was a train wreck and damn uncomfortable to play with (I couldn't believe that they could get it soo wrong), they remedied this to some degree with the S model, I just hope they have learnt their lesson and give the 360 a comfortable controller.
Slashdot Mirror
It will be interesting to see how many people drop out of society as this rollercoaster of privacy invasion builds up speed. I for one will never carry a card that has my fingerprints, dna or iris scan on. Even if it means I can't get basic services... They can kiss my hairy ass. I don't have anything worth encrypting but if I did I wouldn't give them the keys even if they threaten me with jail... They can kiss my sweaty gonads. The pathetic excuses they are using to force unwanted ideas on us (e.g. biometric id cards) & invade the general populations privacy is unbelievable. The scary part is that most people are dimwitted sheep who believe what the evening news tells them without thinking it through for themselves and without the numbers to fight it they will get their way. And on top of that they will vote the governments back in even if they diagree with their policies, as long as they keep the economy healthy for them. Baaaa baaaaa baaaa
Stuff the dumb consoles I just spent my money on a $500 Gainwood "Gold Sample" 512Mb 7900 GT which leaves these dumb consoles for dead, especially pumped through my projectors DVI port. Oblivion at 1024 x 768 on a 3 Metre screen at full detail and Anti Aliasing, this kicks ass. You enjoy your sad looking consoles now ya hear Mwuahhahahahaaaa. Ahhh... yes I do have green skin and a large axe. :-)
You could be onto something there. Americans drink less beer because they have to drink that awful american beer (if you can call it beer, more like gnats piss) so less beer = more illness. Free beer for all is the solution.
Minidisc is the way to go if you are a musician, plug the disc into your mixing desk and record using your digital optical in. MP3 players are great for listening to music but Minidisc is the way to go to create those demo masters.
Those paying attention would have noticed most western nations are trying to remove many checks and balances on government activities.
I have to agree, I originally came from Europe and have been in Australia for the past 12 years. It is sad the way Australian kids are dumping its own colourful culture and taken on an American culture (which is a real shame as the American social patterns and beliefs are a template for a real sick society, as looking at America for the outside in clearly shows) I have also been stunned at the way Australia does not have its own foreign policy but simply adopts American foreign policy on nearly all matters. Australia would do far better to start thinking for itself. (but that will never happen until Howard is kicked out of the PM job)
I have seen this scenario in many companies before and it is usually budget issues. Don't beat up on the IT staff they are probably doing all they can with the resources they have and if you annoy them too much they are not going to be too keen to help you any further than they absolutely have to.
No I will not sit around lamenting the end either, but those who just brush off the inevitable problem that is facing this oil addicted planet are in for a big shock. They probably do not realise how oil is in so many things we use (nearly everything). And miss the soaring coasts that will hit basic items because of the enormous distribution costs that we suddenly will face. I hope someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat to push this problem beyond my lifetime, but there is no doubt it will change the world in a unimaginable way for our kids, and not for the better. (or maybe it will be better, forcing people back into more civilisied village size groups who have to learn to work together and shun the selfishness and greed that has characterised the last 20 years or so) But those that blow raspberries and say there is no problem have not thought it through or are choosing to ignore it because it is too scary.
They are a bunch of dicks (oh we know what is best for you grown adults!!!) and should be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!
This is all good but the cost to extract these oils is very high. Can you afford to run your car if oil is $10 a litre??? it could well eventually get to that.
Interesting thoughts but one problem on the power production side, coal is not an option, coal production has peaked as well.
I have been following Peak Oil Theory for the past 20 years and those that just scoff at the idea are in for a big shock. I like many others have seen it coming and I have seen the governments ignoring it.
A world with no affordable oil???
As the rich and privileged hog the remaining oil and leave the masses to fight it out society will collapse, there is no doubt about that. I am just glad I do not live in a society where every man and his dog has a firearm, now that society would truly descend into a hellish nightmare.
Scoff at your peril, or learn how to grow your own food (because there will be no distribution to your local supermarket) and then learn how to defend your food, because everyone will want what you have.
Consumers right number 1 - The product must be capable of performing the task for which it was sold! It seems to me, that Microsoft have been marketing this as a living room, multimedia/game centre and as such should expect it to be put into video cabinets and tv units... where it promptly overheats! They should recall them all and redesign the power unit or cooling so it can perform the task it was designed to do in the expected environment for this type of unit. /.ers trying to insinuate that the blame is with the stupid end user for putting it in a cupboard with his dvd player is nonesense. This is precisely where Microsoft want to be in your TV cabinet and that is how they marketed it.
They blew it and should fix the mess up with a recall.
(that would be the right thing to do, but we all know they will not do the right thing)
Lets face it GTA is:
- A mediocre shooter/beatem up
- A mediocre car/bike game
- A mediocre story
- Ok it has a massive world to explore
But at the end of the day it is no more than mediocre at everything it tries to do. Every aspect of GTA is done soo much better in other games.
And I couldn't help thinking while playing San Andreas that the graphics engine is looking very playstation and that is with a 6800GT with all vid settings maxed out.
For a game that excels at being mediocre, why so popular??? *shrugs shoulders*
Due to its questionable foreign policy history the US's refusal to relinquish control over a planetwide communications structure should be viewed with suspicion. The argument that the US started it is irrelavent. There is no logical or technical explanation as to why the US will not allow the internet to be governed by a worldwide body and no one here has posted a decent argument either!!! Why exactly are they so adamant that they want to retain control, it makes you wonder?
No it is about Control.
Any single country controlling the top level Net is bad and open to possible abuse.
Say the US went to war with (pick a country) say China, currently they could stop all routing to Chinese websites and no one could do a thing about it.(and don't say but they would never do such a thing, sure they would)
If the Net was in the hands of a multicountry agency like the UN they would not be able to do such a thing.
That is what is all about, countries worried that the US could abuse its position. (fuelled even more by their refusal to relinquish control, especially as it makes a lot of sense on many levels)
To all the US posters saying "FU why should we?" the question on the EU (and many others) minds is "Why wouldn't you?!!!" and the US has no reasonable answer to that question, so it is fair to be suspicious of their motives.
I say give it up US, give it to a UN body. it is the obvious solution, unless of course you do have more sinister motives for refusing!
I agree totally. I run a small business providing support to home users and small businesses and when it comes to Anti Virus Symantec NAV & IS is the biggest pain in the ass out there. When it comes to upgrading it, uninstalling it & reinstalling it it will regularly screw up the machine forcing you to use the symantec cleanup tools they provide (in addition to manually cleaning entries up in the reg and removing shared folders) before you can try to get a clean install happening. I see 20-30 people a week and you can bet 3-4 of them are along the lines of "I was trying to upgrade to the latest version of NAV..." or "I just upgraded to NAV 200X and now my internet/email doesn't work." I rarely see these issues with the other AV software out there, and generally advise my customers to not use Norton AV products.
What a crock.
You can't seriously think sending some youngster on a training course is going to replace the 20-30 years of experience and knowledge of an older senior staff member.
Yes they may manage to get by, if it all goes well, but when it goes pear shaped you are gonna wish you had that more experienced staff member around.
I once heard a good definition of an expert:
An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes there are to be made in a particular field of expertise.
Sending a youngster on a training course is no replacement for years of experience.
The Wavebird for the Gamecube is excellent, my batteries seem to last for ages. And as I use rechargables when it does start flashing I simply recharge them.
I have been using this controller for a few years now and it has never once missed a button press or suffered any sort of interference.
So not all Wireless Controllers suck, perhaps just the ones you have tried sucked.
I personally don't think it is real smart to hold a microwave transmitter against your head. I am sure loads of pointy headed /. peeps will rabbit on about doses and distances but the bottom line is no one knows for sure and if they do they ain't saying (who is funding these studies?)
But I have a feeling that someone will finally conclusively prove that it is not a good idea to use your mobile phone too much.
The correct answer would be: "I believe I was doing the speed limit officer, is there a problem?"
Thats funny I've just been reading a thread on the WoW forums that is now upto page 42 and is full of posts from Australians moaning that they are getting pings in the range of 800-3000ms even on the "unofficial Aussie" WoW servers. Guess you are lucky. I do not get your comment "they are not going to throw it away" I appreciate their big players bases would be in Europe and the US but that said they have sold enough units in this region to justify at least one server somewhere in oceania. They have skipped this region and jumped to setting up China servers. Game companies setting up MMOG should do the right thing and look after this region, not overlook this region.
As much as I would like to play WOW and explore the world I have no interest in supporting Blizzards game until they do the right thing by Australian players and put a server in Oceania. Its not like they are short on cash.
Good call, the Gamecube Wavebird controller is sweet. I have my gamecube connected to a projector so can sit on the futon, get nice and comfy and game away without worrying about wires. It has worked faultlessly for as long as I have had it(must be a few years now) and never misses a button press. I have often wondered why Sony & MS hadn't pushed the wireless controller thing?
Everyone has their own favorite based on their own individual experiences. I have been playing games since 1980 when you just had a knob to twist and have played with nearly all the controllers since. Of the latest batch I personally like the PS2 and Gamecube controllers, the Gamecube being the most comfortable for long sessions. Not to bash the Xbox but it has to be said (and you all know its true deep down) the XBox controller was a train wreck and damn uncomfortable to play with (I couldn't believe that they could get it soo wrong), they remedied this to some degree with the S model, I just hope they have learnt their lesson and give the 360 a comfortable controller.