Thank you! I hate talking on the phone at the best of times, but it's even worse when I'm dealing with customer service. I have an unusual name and my accent makes it hard for me to spell things out, I have to start talking Golf, Oscar, Whiskey, Alpha etc. on them. And I hate the awkward pauses when they're doing something at their end and we're both sitting there in silence. With chat it's so much easier to communicate, plus the ability to copy and paste any mile-long error messages.
On a broader point, to me there's something unnatural about the phone that I never got my head around. Talking to someone I cannot see and who can't see me? That's just wrong! How do I know they're not making faces at me? How do I know they're not making rude gestures every time I ask a question which is reasonable from my point of view but stupid from theirs since they get asked the same thing a hundred times? At least with chat I have a bit of time to compose what I'm going to say.
Me neither. I gave it up years ago and found better things to do with my time.
If supermarkets worked like Cable TV you'd have your cereal sealed into the same container as hamburgers, frozen peas, a pound of apples, two candy bars, six loaves of bread, and you'd be forced to buy the whole container even if the only thing you wanted was that one brand of cereal.
Edward George Ruddy died today! Edward George Ruddy was the Chairman of the Board of the Union Broadcasting Systems, and he died at eleven o'clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!
So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube! This tube is the Gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers... This tube is the most awesome God-damned force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls in to the hands of the wrong people, and that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA - the Communication Corporation of America. There's a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the twentieth floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome God-damned propoganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network?
So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth... Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.
But, man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear; we lie like hell. We'll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer, or that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker's house, and no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry, just look at your watch; at the end of the hour he's going to win. We'll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in *illusions*, man! None of it is true! But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds... We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even *think* like the tube! This is mass madness, you maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing! *WE* are the illusion! So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I'm speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF...
Wasn't she? For all her faults, she de-throned the trade union bosses from their positions as the most powerful men in the country with the ability to hold society to ransom at the drop of a hat. People younger than 20 might find this hard to believe but there once was a time in the UK when trade unions were too damn powerful for their own good, and it took someone like Thatcher to take them on. (Sure, she went a little too far, but the point stands.)
She made tough decisions that had to be made, euthanized obsolete industries, and put much of industry back into the public sector where it had a far better chance of succeeding.
She was also responsible for re-taking the Falklands back from a posturing dictator who thought he could distract his people from the poverty and beggary he had plunged them into by invading the islands thinking that the Brits weren't able to do anything about it. (Belgrano and other controversies aside, you have to admit she played a blinder on that one.)
General election hat-trick, longest-serving Prime Minister up to that point, a record unsurpassed until Blair. Not bad for a shopkeeper's daughter.
The cut-and-thrust of parliamentary politics ensures that only qualified people who know their shit can work their way to the front benches and get anywhere near power. Nimrods like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman would be laughed out of the House of Commons. Literally.
I have scoured the web for a good recording of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies (amazing, IMHO) that is not marred by unwelcome commentary, and have not found it. The US, UK, French, and Japanese versions are all similar - all of them are full of blabbing commentators.
Beijing's opening was a great show all right.
The BBC commentary on the London opening ceremony was first rate. They spent most of the time in silence letting the visuals do the talking, and only ever interjected occasionally and discreetly to add a bit of context. I thoroughly enjoyed the BBC coverage.
I was watching a bit of streaming from the BBC via Overplay the other day (I think it was live) and had to click a button to say that I have a TV license. So I clicked yes. Honest, guv!
"Uwingu" sounds like the ookings of a gorilla resting on his haunches and chewing on a grub in the midst of third-world filth. It evokes action of a primate Uwinging / from tree to tree / but only in between / poo flinging
You are a disgusting, disgraceful, half-educated racist motherfucker. Just thought you should know.
I've been to Boston many times and have had many dealings with Boston people. I cannot stand them. They are abrasive, they are rude, and and I fucking hate them.
I take no chances. I shoot first and ask questions later. I have a zero tolerance policy for sloppy reading on/., you were simply an unfortunate victim of mistaken identity.
As for there being "nothing to do," I'm not sure where you get that notion; we get the same movies/music/etc as everywhere else... Plus, unlike Cali, we get to play with guns and 4x4's pretty much unfettered.
The fact that you consider movies and music to be the sum total of "things to do" says it all.
If only the Valley could cut its property prices by like 80%, then they might survive the next decade and still be on top:P. I'm sorry, but the cost of living there is just outrageous compared to more-reasonable places that are also full of hackers and startups.
Name one.
There's a reason why it's cheaper to live in Hicksville. It sucks out there. There's nothing to do.
There's a reason why it's expensive in the valley. It's awesome. It's where you can walk out of a tech job and still have thousands of other companies in the same field in the same metropolitan area that you can apply to. It's where you can go for lunch and overhear intelligent conversations everywhere. It has a buzz thanks to being full of people bouncing ideas off of each other and venture capital not too far away if investors see an opportunity that might go somewhere. It's where it's at. It has a pleasant climate. It has great outdoor pursuits close by. There's stuff to do. People want to live here.
"The valley" is not a sentient being with the power to "cut its property prices by like 80%", it's a highly south-after location and the wages in the place make it possible to live here.
This (which was conveniently left out of the summary) sounds pretty violent to me: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick"
The summary conveniently left out this little gem: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick"
and why nbc sucks is that they edited the opening ceremony and showed it time delayed(the reasoning is that americans are too stupid for the un-edited version, basically).
It wasn't just that. It was the incessant inane commentary when they should have shut their traps and let the image do the talking. It was cutting out some of the best parts. It was spoiling the carefully crafted continuity with a constant bombardment of commercials. It was not knowing/giving a shit who Tim Berners Lee was and leaving it to the audience to google him; how ironic is that?
All of the people griping about how "bad" the opening ceremony was have two things in common: 1 they're American, and 2 They watched it on NBC.
I watched it on the BBC's feed and was blown away by it. I was a bit shocked when I started seeing comment threads from yanks complaining about it being "boring", I was wondering if they'd watched the same show as me.
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Thank you! I hate talking on the phone at the best of times, but it's even worse when I'm dealing with customer service. I have an unusual name and my accent makes it hard for me to spell things out, I have to start talking Golf, Oscar, Whiskey, Alpha etc. on them. And I hate the awkward pauses when they're doing something at their end and we're both sitting there in silence. With chat it's so much easier to communicate, plus the ability to copy and paste any mile-long error messages.
On a broader point, to me there's something unnatural about the phone that I never got my head around. Talking to someone I cannot see and who can't see me? That's just wrong! How do I know they're not making faces at me? How do I know they're not making rude gestures every time I ask a question which is reasonable from my point of view but stupid from theirs since they get asked the same thing a hundred times? At least with chat I have a bit of time to compose what I'm going to say.
Me neither. I gave it up years ago and found better things to do with my time.
If supermarkets worked like Cable TV you'd have your cereal sealed into the same container as hamburgers, frozen peas, a pound of apples, two candy bars, six loaves of bread, and you'd be forced to buy the whole container even if the only thing you wanted was that one brand of cereal.
Edward George Ruddy died today! Edward George Ruddy was the Chairman of the Board of the Union Broadcasting Systems, and he died at eleven o'clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!
So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube! This tube is the Gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers... This tube is the most awesome God-damned force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls in to the hands of the wrong people, and that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA - the Communication Corporation of America. There's a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the twentieth floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome God-damned propoganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network?
So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth... Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.
But, man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear; we lie like hell. We'll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer, or that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker's house, and no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry, just look at your watch; at the end of the hour he's going to win. We'll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in *illusions*, man! None of it is true! But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds... We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even *think* like the tube! This is mass madness, you maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing! *WE* are the illusion! So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I'm speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF...
She "incited" the Falklands war? How did she do that? She had actually made defence cuts leaving the South Atlantic less defended.
Thatcher wasn't such a great example.
Wasn't she? For all her faults, she de-throned the trade union bosses from their positions as the most powerful men in the country with the ability to hold society to ransom at the drop of a hat. People younger than 20 might find this hard to believe but there once was a time in the UK when trade unions were too damn powerful for their own good, and it took someone like Thatcher to take them on. (Sure, she went a little too far, but the point stands.)
She made tough decisions that had to be made, euthanized obsolete industries, and put much of industry back into the public sector where it had a far better chance of succeeding.
She was also responsible for re-taking the Falklands back from a posturing dictator who thought he could distract his people from the poverty and beggary he had plunged them into by invading the islands thinking that the Brits weren't able to do anything about it. (Belgrano and other controversies aside, you have to admit she played a blinder on that one.)
General election hat-trick, longest-serving Prime Minister up to that point, a record unsurpassed until Blair. Not bad for a shopkeeper's daughter.
The cut-and-thrust of parliamentary politics ensures that only qualified people who know their shit can work their way to the front benches and get anywhere near power. Nimrods like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman would be laughed out of the House of Commons. Literally.
"You can't object to that, that's political correctness." The age-old defense of the racist.
Rrrrrrrracist!!
I have scoured the web for a good recording of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies (amazing, IMHO) that is not marred by unwelcome commentary, and have not found it. The US, UK, French, and Japanese versions are all similar - all of them are full of blabbing commentators.
Beijing's opening was a great show all right.
The BBC commentary on the London opening ceremony was first rate. They spent most of the time in silence letting the visuals do the talking, and only ever interjected occasionally and discreetly to add a bit of context. I thoroughly enjoyed the BBC coverage.
I was watching a bit of streaming from the BBC via Overplay the other day (I think it was live) and had to click a button to say that I have a TV license. So I clicked yes. Honest, guv!
Additionally, whoever came up with the name "Uwingu" for a space program should be smacked in the mouth with a rolled-up newspaper.
My thoughts exactly. Swahili for 'sky' ???
You want to appeal to my wallet? Start by naming it something from a civilization that at least got as far as indoor plumbing.
Racist prick.
"Uwingu" sounds like the ookings of a gorilla resting on his haunches and chewing on a grub in the midst of third-world filth. It evokes action of a primate Uwinging / from tree to tree / but only in between / poo flinging
You are a disgusting, disgraceful, half-educated racist motherfucker. Just thought you should know.
I've been to Boston many times and have had many dealings with Boston people. I cannot stand them. They are abrasive, they are rude, and and I fucking hate them.
Carry on.
I take no chances. I shoot first and ask questions later. I have a zero tolerance policy for sloppy reading on /., you were simply an unfortunate victim of mistaken identity.
Carry on.
That's precisely my point. It says in big letters at the start of the paragraph "the valley". Do try to keep up.
As for there being "nothing to do," I'm not sure where you get that notion; we get the same movies/music/etc as everywhere else... Plus, unlike Cali, we get to play with guns and 4x4's pretty much unfettered.
The fact that you consider movies and music to be the sum total of "things to do" says it all.
Name one.
Boston!
Boston's great if you like abrasive people with an unbearable accent.
If only the Valley could cut its property prices by like 80%, then they might survive the next decade and still be on top :P. I'm sorry, but the cost of living there is just outrageous compared to more-reasonable places that are also full of hackers and startups.
Name one.
There's a reason why it's cheaper to live in Hicksville. It sucks out there. There's nothing to do.
There's a reason why it's expensive in the valley. It's awesome. It's where you can walk out of a tech job and still have thousands of other companies in the same field in the same metropolitan area that you can apply to. It's where you can go for lunch and overhear intelligent conversations everywhere. It has a buzz thanks to being full of people bouncing ideas off of each other and venture capital not too far away if investors see an opportunity that might go somewhere. It's where it's at. It has a pleasant climate. It has great outdoor pursuits close by. There's stuff to do. People want to live here.
"The valley" is not a sentient being with the power to "cut its property prices by like 80%", it's a highly south-after location and the wages in the place make it possible to live here.
Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies.
This (which was conveniently left out of the summary) sounds pretty violent to me: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick"
The summary conveniently left out this little gem: "i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick"
It wasn't shit. It was the greatest thing since the outside toilet. So there.
and why nbc sucks is that they edited the opening ceremony and showed it time delayed(the reasoning is that americans are too stupid for the un-edited version, basically).
It wasn't just that. It was the incessant inane commentary when they should have shut their traps and let the image do the talking. It was cutting out some of the best parts. It was spoiling the carefully crafted continuity with a constant bombardment of commercials. It was not knowing/giving a shit who Tim Berners Lee was and leaving it to the audience to google him; how ironic is that?
All of the people griping about how "bad" the opening ceremony was have two things in common: 1 they're American, and 2 They watched it on NBC.
I watched it on the BBC's feed and was blown away by it. I was a bit shocked when I started seeing comment threads from yanks complaining about it being "boring", I was wondering if they'd watched the same show as me.
BS. Only in America can you walk into a Wal Mart and buy a machine gun.
Yeah, armed to the teeth. Where else in the world are people so paranoid that they feel the need to carry guns everywhere?
Oh you mean the administration. When I hear "the government" in the USA it generally refers to institutions.