I was about to say wasn't there rape in the GAP series? Been some time since I read them. I think it was a guy named Thermopyle or something like that. Perhaps I am just confused.
That said I read the Covenant series when I was pretty young and really liked it.
As soon as there was email there were schemes from companies to "sign up' your friends, and for every friend that joins, you get a month of free service, or an additional entry into some lotto, or some such incentive.
What follows, is I ask my friends nicely not to do that anymore. If they persist when you get a new email address, they do not get it (and you likely block them in the meantime). Which leads to loss of communication, which leads to them not really being a close friend (which they likely are not anyway if they refused to obey your wishes).
I have the same ire for dumb ass friends that send me chain letter emails. If you want to send me something funny, I don't mind, but some drivel trying to pressure you to send it to all your friends is just garbage.
Seriously with the price of oil, in a few years unless we start building nuclear super commercial ships, we may have to hearken back to the days of sail and yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The new kind of data pirate will scuttle your schooner full of legitimate DVD's made in China.
Avast ye maties! Thar sloop be havin' a belly full of DVD's, CD's, IPOD's an other loot and treasure to be a takin'! Yar!
Yeah I just got a letter in the mail this week from Bell Mobility in Ontario, Canada explaining that "due to rising costs" my text messaging costs would be going from 0.10$ cents to 0.15$ cents as of August 1st.
OMGWTFBBQ! Thats like a 50% increase! The high oil prices must really be hitting the telecommunications industry hard! I mean like how can cell phones function in these high priced oil economy?
Seriously though I felt like calling and ranting. I know how high the margin is on texting, and to blame it on "rising costs" is just insulting. Just come out and say it and be honest, "We are increasing your text messaging from 10 cents to 15 cents because we want more money, and you will pay it"
Industry doesn't help either with their marketing ploys. Though they would never admit to it, I swear they use branding and naming conventions to intentionally confuse people. Heck I know sometimes I even have to do a double take (Video card names are my favorite). It is down right brutal sometimes and the only result really is they become meaningless. Trusted review sites, and trusting people who seem to know what they are talking about seems to be the only way to tell. Even then it can be hard as companies will try and bribe reviewers for good reviews, and for every one person you find that seems to know what he is talking about, there are 10 that are basically full of it. Makes for some muddy information. Not to mention companies that outright lie about specifications and all the crazy benchmark cheating and what not.
Although my favorite is when friends ask your advice about components, and where and what to buy. You give them the answers, they go and buy the cheap piece of crap that is on sale that some crappy company is trying to get rid of because it is already old technology.
"What do you mean there is a difference between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo?" Hearing them bitch and whine about how crappy their pre-built badly conceived system is off set only by the sweet ability to say "I told you so". Of course say that too much and you may get a punch in the teeth.:)
I get the same at work though, and I have absolutely no sympathy. If you are going to waste my time and ask my advice and then ignore it, well you get what you deserve.
Seriously though how about some decent security for a change. It would be nice to have a browser that doesn't let malware pown you system with a million vulnerabilities or so. Integrate an adware/spyware protection system.
That and boobies.
and tabs, and decent memory management. Speed is good also. Sharks with frikin' lasers...
That said, again it comes down to knowing where to go and what to get.
Also for me what you said is exactly it. "The way I want it". The problem with Apple, Dell, etc.. is that they are limited to what you can pick. In many cases what you pick is optimized to make them money not be product which you want. A prime example of this from Day 1 to current, try to buy a good mid ranged video card from Dell or even a slightly out of date but powerful alternative. Thing is you can't. Your options are Bargain Basement Crappy 10$ Video, or Uber bleeding edge 600$. Typically the best bang for your buck is 200-250$, but they never sell 'em. Not to mention brand motherboards, etc... crap and bloatware, etc... trying to sell you support and warranties, etc...
So for me I ordered all my components from NCIX.COM and they all arrive within a couple of days. Took me 4 hours and I am up and running (would probably been more like 1.5 hours, but Vista was a brutal install, so many patches). Dell would not have been any faster, nor I would imagine would Apple.
The extra benefit is I find it also fun! Well apart from patching everything to run with Vista, that was annoying and frustrating (I am sure it is better now though)... Actually doing the building and assembling though to me in an enjoyable process.
My computer before that was a Dell, and I can't say anything bad about it (other than it came with Windows ME pre-installed..lol) because it was a tank and is still running today (with linux though now) and never had anything fail on it (circa 2000!). However I decided that I wouldn't get one again, only due to the limitations that are intrinsic to the business. I want to pick exactly what I want and not be limited to A, B, or C.
Apple is better at business that me! Oh Snap! Served!
Of course they are better at business than I am, what am I going to do, argue that? I never said that they didn't know their business. I can summarize: Most (not all) Apple users are not technical by their very nature of selecting Apple in the first place. Apple knows this, and armed with knowlege can successfully charge 200% for technical support and upgrades and thus PROFIT!!!
I was just saying that your analogy was crap. Who the hell cares that you are running a Model M keyboard anyway. Dell with Kubuntu? Big deal. Does that somehow make your analogy better, or your views more credible? I suppose its you saying that you are not typing it on a Apple right now, which may or may not show that your not a fan boy. I also have a old Dell with a distro of linux running on it, a custom built dual proc celly on a bp6 with another version of linux on it, a C2D custom with Vista, and I am typing this on a HP Xeon workstation running XP so there! You know what that means? Nothing, other than I don't own or use an Apple.
So in closing, your analogy sucks, and your arguments are lame and irrelevant.:)
Like any industry the customer will get charged the maximum which the company feels they will pay. In most cases this seems to be about equal to the amount they person knows about said product. If I know squat, I go to what is easy, and that company knowing who its clients are and what they know, will charge accordingly (Apple probably knows MOST of its users are not technically that well versed). If I am going to Newegg, I probably know what the hell I am doing (maybe), and have shopped around, so that company will have a more competitive price. There is everywhere in between. This same thing can be said for Car, Law, Medical, or pretty much any product that requires specialized training or education. So if I am a Lawyer, I don't feel bad when Apple rips me off, as I will just play that forward to some smuck who knows nothing of law, or housing, or cars, etc... Of course if you have no specialized knowlege, well you get screwed. But thats ok, you probably don't know about it anyway.:)
Not quite. This analogy would work better if they were not all built using the exact same components. Apple has its OS, but everything physical about it are the same parts made by the same companies (point out to me an Apple brand Hard drive, cpu, memory, etc..).
A better comparison would be paying 100$ for a radio upgrade from on BMW dealer, and right next door another dealer doing the same upgrade for 200$. Crazy I know.
I am sorry fan boy, you are paying for exactly 3 things. 1) Brand 2) Style 3)Status which can really all just be called the same thing. You also get the OS that isn't Windows. Thats it.
When some douchebag buys a BMW he is buying all the above, but is also banking on the fact that he is getting a higher quality car, made of quality components, that are designed better. The degree to which this is true is debatable and it is mostly just a status symbol IMO.
To use the Car analogy that seems to be ripe in this forum. It is like the rice rockets. That Snazzy paint job, tweeter on your exhaust, and 500 Jiggawatt stereo make your car go 300% faster!
Your first comment is silly and I am not sure of its accuracy. If your going with the more guns the safer you are argument, it is falling on deaf ears. The more guns the more potential there is for problems.
Your second comment sounds crazy, but I live in Canada and don't have your second Amendment, so who am I to judge how it is interpreted.
I hate your third comment as the gun nuts (yes we have 'em also) up here say it like a mantra. Criminals don't follow laws! OK then by that definition why bother having any at all? Hell if criminals are just going to ignore law, lets just frickin have anarchy. It is a stupid circular argument that does not have any weight. You propose laws to better the society you live in, and those that do not follow are punished, we call them criminals.
As for the last, I don't know about disassembled, in Canada they do not to my knowlege have to be. Unloaded yes. They have to be locked in some manner, be it a cabinet or a trigger lock yes. What do you propose leaving 32 loaded handguns around the house in random locations. Thats stupid. (also in Canada your handgun would have to be locked and unloaded as well so perhaps there is where my perspective is skewed).
OK you are right at last in the end. Gov should only ban something at the peoples behest, not based on their precived need.
OK I would agree with I would also rather be shot with a 22 than a shotgun (unless the shotgun was very very far away). Which might be a short term result of a handgun ban. That would be bad news.
The thing is so long as they have a permit (which I will admit a criminal may not bother with) you can carry around a handgun. However a sawed off shotgun is illegal in of itself. Simply possessing one let alone using one is an offense.
I know down in the states that have that wacky Amendment. Hell up here in Canada we tried a gun registry which hasn't really worked so well.
To me it makes very simple sense. Ban handguns. I try and think of legitimate users of handguns, and I can think of two. 1) Law, 2) Target and collectors, but really they make up, what, part of one percentage point of the population?
The only other two users are criminals, and those people that think owning a hand gun will protect them from said criminals.
Of course there are the whack jobs who say they want them to overthrow the government should they get all tyrannical on their ass. To which I saw 3 things: 1) That boat has sailed my friends, and people fight, not guns. 2) Last I checked I have not seen a successful civil war, or any war for that matter that was decided with handguns. and 3) While having guns in the 1800's may have made some difference, wars are typically fought with like tanks, and planes, rockets and shit like that now. So maybe it is your constitutional right to bear those as well. Heck I know I want a tank, might be a tad expensive, particularly with the cost of oil these days!
The thing with handguns is that you can conceal them. So criminals love that shit. Make it illegal to have one, and all you have to do is catch them with one to arrest them. Also take enough out of circulation, and it will become very hard to obtain one.
This isn't to say ban long guns, no not at all. A rifle is good for hunting and for you wackos a staple of war and uprising. You just can't conceal them. Sure you can cut the barrel down, but it is illegal, again instant arrest if found. A criminal is gonna look mighty suspicious walking into a store with a rifle. Also for those wishing to protect your home, well I think I would find a shotgun a bit more intimating than you standard 9mm pee shooter. Besides what does a home owner need with a small concealable fire arm? Hide it from the kids? These are all supposed to be in a locked gun case (at least in Canada) anyway.
Anyway thats my take. Get rid of 'em. I have never fired one, nor will I, for what use do I have for one? Heck if you want to, have a program to trade in your handgun for a rifle or shotgun. Just get rid of them.
Back in the day in college I had this real dick of a professor (he also happened to be the chair of the program, not good). Anyway the one course he taught was C++. Now this program was for (GIS, Geographical Information Systems), so the students came from a multi discipline background, though probably about 1/3 were former CS students/grads.
Now having already taken C++ in a CS degree in University, I didn't need this mickey mouse stuff. So after attending the first lecture (which was horrible, EVERYTHING off of an overhead which was littered with mistakes... this guy also has a PHd somehow). I decided I would be better served to spend my time elsewhere. I still went to all the labs and completed all my course work, going into the exam I had a 87%.
Now it comes time to write the exam (which was worth a lot, I forget now, but 40-60%). We get in there and he hands out the exam. It is basically 3 problems. He wants handwritten code to solve each problem. We are told we cannot use our textbooks, or anything else. Now it is one thing to test for known solutions to problems, but to make up complex problems and expect someone to code by hand using pencil and paper in my mind is stupid.
Does anyone in any reality ever do this? I know when I code, I leverage old programs I have written, look up obscure syntax I haven't used in awhile in the text book, found examples of particular parts in the program to try and integrate, use bug finders, the compiler, etc... I could see if you are working and all you are doing is C++ then you could probably pound something out that is reasonably free of errors.
Anyway in the end he gave me a 10%. 10%! It was ridiculous. Then upon seeing some of the trash that others wrote, I asked him to go over my exam with me. (He way of correcting was just an X, no comments) When I sat down with him, he refused to explain how a certain passage was wrong, or even how he marked. He would only say that it was "wrong". CS should not be marked subjectively (though there is some style involved). Now remember he is the chair of the program, so the only place I could appeal would be like the dean of the entire school.
I ended up passing the course and the program anyway as my other mark was so high so I didn't bother with an appeal. However afterwards I found out my overall mark was a 79.9 and that I needed to get a 80% to get a full year 5 credits at my home university (they have a joint thing going on). I had to then fight with my university, to which to this day I don't think they give me credit for (despite them saying they would after I got a letter from the chair of the University Dept.). Thats a full year of university. Thats a lot of money. Now I did graduate, and I ended up have a ton too many credits anyway, however it was something I could have used towards a 2nd degree, or masters, or on to professional graduate school or something I am sure.
Personally I think he was just being a dick and want to make an example of a smartass student and he knew he had the power to do so.
So the moral of the story is, if the chair of the dept is teaching one of your courses, no matter how stupid you think he is, or his teaching ability, or how easy the course work is, attend every frikin' calls, smile, kiss ass, and don't do anything to get his ire, as you may regret it down the line.
I always wondered about this myself. As soon as the oil crisis started and people started going nuts with the hybrid this, and hydrogen that cars. Which is fine for your Joe 6-pack compact car, but international trade is done with huge ships with like 60,000 horsepower desiel engines.
All the tree hugging Hydrogen, biodeisel, solar, geothermal, wind (well maybe lots of sail boats like the old days..lol), etc.. isn't going to make a lick of difference. The cost to transport stuff will increase so dramatically as to stop it altogether. Domestic production will become more important. Those countries geared towards extreme exports or imports will be hurt the most.
The alternative of course as you mentioned is nukes. However, even that supply will not last long once everyone starts using it that way and more plants are built, the cost of Uranium prices will then skyrocket. You also mention the potential security risks with civilian nuke ships. Though if I had to predict, might make the super ships of today seem small. The super nuke trade ships of the future may dwarf those of old, and as was said contain some armourment and security force. Anyway should be interesting.
One thing that the USA and Canada has going for it into this future, is that both are the others largest trading partner by far, energy or otherwise. This will certainly reduce impact.
Or maybe we will just go back to sailing ships... YARR!
Yeah, also I guess I was reading it as the reason they had for not releasing it was due to "current" competition (aka Rogers).
I agree that not limiting independents by shaping their traffic would create "future" competition, but I think Bell would have to really have a pair of balls to use that as their rational to the CRTC!
I mean are they actually saying that "yes we maintain our competitive edge by degrading service we sell to our competitors!"
I mean wow. Big brass ones.
If that is the case, now that I think about it, its sort of like getting pulled over for speeding, and spiting on the cop when he tries to talk to you. What arrogance.
Offering dry DSL must be very new then. I was told by a bell representative that the DO NOT offer it (nor is it advertised anywhere as an alternative, most people wouldn't know what such a thing is nor that it is an option) in the last 6 months.
I had just discovered that my current provider Cogeco changed my EULA (which is was at the time only posted on some obscure buried website, which they give you the link to when you go over the Cap). I had just bought a new computer with some serious HD capacity, so I went a bit nuts downloading and went way over. They disconnected me with no notice.
Needless to say I was Very Very pissed. So I went looking for alternatives (after a terse phone conversation with Cogeco I wanted to quit). I don't have a land line (I canceled it because I got fed up with Bell) just a cell phone, and since Cogeco is cable, there really isn't anything else but phone. I read about Dry DSL and found that some smattering of independents offered it in Ontario. When I called Bell, the answer was no. Could be just brain dead support, who knows. Anyway the end result was to grind my teeth and stick with Cogeco, as the was no real alternative really.
I was also told by Cogeco that the only way to check my bandwidth usage was to call tech support (at which time they would try and sell me stuff), which ended up being a lie. Again if it was policy or just brain dead staff, who knows. Now that I know how to monitor my bandwidth I just work within the cap limit. The whole situation is ridiculous however. Both Bell and Cogeco are taking advantage of Canadians I think. There is exploitation and then there is exploitation.
Yes I have noticed this as well. They will go to great lengths to get you out of your old contract and into a new one that is more expensive. I think at one point they actually said I couldn't keep my current deal, that I could only choose one of their newer packages.
I actually have a pretty good plan right now through Bell Mobility, though it is of no fault of their own. I belong to a larger union, and there is a union plan that they probably negotiated which is quite good. If you belong to a large company or union I would look into it. Many don't really advertise and it might just be a link buried on a website, or something else equally obscure.
I can't complain much about bell mobility. They had some billing issues a few years ago when they got a new billing system that really pissed me off (I would get my bills mailed to me very late (like after the DUE date) consistently for about 6 months, then they would try to say I was on the hook for late changes. I don't think so.) Anyway it was solved by just going with a preauthorized payment plan (and I think they have probably ironed out the kinks by now).
While I am at it, a hearty "Here Here!" to the CRTC who are doing their job as oversight of the industry. I only hope they follow through with Rogers Communications as well, and when it is all out in the open they actual make some sort of decision with teeth.
Quit pissing about. The #1 question is are these companies working in Canadians best interest? If the answer is no, then something MUST be done about it.
For all your radical capitalists out there that will immediately point out that these are publicly traded companies, and that they ultimately report to the shareholders. I will preemptively smash your argument saying in this case their is a 3 way conflict in that 1) the infrastructure is subsidized by tax dollars, 2) is a government regulated industry, and 3) today telecommunication s are vital and important role of any country's security and growth.
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I was about to say wasn't there rape in the GAP series? Been some time since I read them. I think it was a guy named Thermopyle or something like that. Perhaps I am just confused.
That said I read the Covenant series when I was pretty young and really liked it.
From my childhood:
Two of the first fantasy book series I ever read:
Black Calderon - Lloyd Alexander
Lion Witch and Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
One series I read in grade 7 that some might consider "trash" fantasy, but I swear is what got me really interested in reading:
Dragonlance - Legends Trilogy - Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Science fiction is a bit harder to remember at that age. Two that come to mind are:
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Chrysalids - John Wyndham
I could name off a ton more books both fantasy and science fiction, but those would be my youngest selections.
Mmmmm evil Talia Winters...
"Control!"
This is not a new idea.
As soon as there was email there were schemes from companies to "sign up' your friends, and for every friend that joins, you get a month of free service, or an additional entry into some lotto, or some such incentive.
What follows, is I ask my friends nicely not to do that anymore. If they persist when you get a new email address, they do not get it (and you likely block them in the meantime). Which leads to loss of communication, which leads to them not really being a close friend (which they likely are not anyway if they refused to obey your wishes).
I have the same ire for dumb ass friends that send me chain letter emails. If you want to send me something funny, I don't mind, but some drivel trying to pressure you to send it to all your friends is just garbage.
Seriously with the price of oil, in a few years unless we start building nuclear super commercial ships, we may have to hearken back to the days of sail and yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The new kind of data pirate will scuttle your schooner full of legitimate DVD's made in China.
Avast ye maties! Thar sloop be havin' a belly full of DVD's, CD's, IPOD's an other loot and treasure to be a takin'! Yar!
Yeah I just got a letter in the mail this week from Bell Mobility in Ontario, Canada explaining that "due to rising costs" my text messaging costs would be going from 0.10$ cents to 0.15$ cents as of August 1st.
OMGWTFBBQ! Thats like a 50% increase! The high oil prices must really be hitting the telecommunications industry hard! I mean like how can cell phones function in these high priced oil economy?
Seriously though I felt like calling and ranting. I know how high the margin is on texting, and to blame it on "rising costs" is just insulting. Just come out and say it and be honest, "We are increasing your text messaging from 10 cents to 15 cents because we want more money, and you will pay it"
Industry doesn't help either with their marketing ploys. Though they would never admit to it, I swear they use branding and naming conventions to intentionally confuse people. Heck I know sometimes I even have to do a double take (Video card names are my favorite). It is down right brutal sometimes and the only result really is they become meaningless. Trusted review sites, and trusting people who seem to know what they are talking about seems to be the only way to tell. Even then it can be hard as companies will try and bribe reviewers for good reviews, and for every one person you find that seems to know what he is talking about, there are 10 that are basically full of it. Makes for some muddy information. Not to mention companies that outright lie about specifications and all the crazy benchmark cheating and what not.
Although my favorite is when friends ask your advice about components, and where and what to buy. You give them the answers, they go and buy the cheap piece of crap that is on sale that some crappy company is trying to get rid of because it is already old technology.
"What do you mean there is a difference between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo?" Hearing them bitch and whine about how crappy their pre-built badly conceived system is off set only by the sweet ability to say "I told you so". Of course say that too much and you may get a punch in the teeth. :)
I get the same at work though, and I have absolutely no sympathy. If you are going to waste my time and ask my advice and then ignore it, well you get what you deserve.
Seriously though how about some decent security for a change. It would be nice to have a browser that doesn't let malware pown you system with a million vulnerabilities or so. Integrate an adware/spyware protection system.
That and boobies.
and tabs, and decent memory management. Speed is good also. Sharks with frikin' lasers...
True, there is something to that.
However cheap I may be, I am way more lazy.
That said, again it comes down to knowing where to go and what to get.
Also for me what you said is exactly it. "The way I want it". The problem with Apple, Dell, etc.. is that they are limited to what you can pick. In many cases what you pick is optimized to make them money not be product which you want. A prime example of this from Day 1 to current, try to buy a good mid ranged video card from Dell or even a slightly out of date but powerful alternative. Thing is you can't. Your options are Bargain Basement Crappy 10$ Video, or Uber bleeding edge 600$. Typically the best bang for your buck is 200-250$, but they never sell 'em. Not to mention brand motherboards, etc... crap and bloatware, etc... trying to sell you support and warranties, etc...
So for me I ordered all my components from NCIX.COM and they all arrive within a couple of days. Took me 4 hours and I am up and running (would probably been more like 1.5 hours, but Vista was a brutal install, so many patches). Dell would not have been any faster, nor I would imagine would Apple.
The extra benefit is I find it also fun! Well apart from patching everything to run with Vista, that was annoying and frustrating (I am sure it is better now though)... Actually doing the building and assembling though to me in an enjoyable process.
My computer before that was a Dell, and I can't say anything bad about it (other than it came with Windows ME pre-installed..lol) because it was a tank and is still running today (with linux though now) and never had anything fail on it (circa 2000!). However I decided that I wouldn't get one again, only due to the limitations that are intrinsic to the business. I want to pick exactly what I want and not be limited to A, B, or C.
*GASP*
Apple is better at business that me! Oh Snap! Served!
Of course they are better at business than I am, what am I going to do, argue that? I never said that they didn't know their business. I can summarize: Most (not all) Apple users are not technical by their very nature of selecting Apple in the first place. Apple knows this, and armed with knowlege can successfully charge 200% for technical support and upgrades and thus PROFIT!!!
I was just saying that your analogy was crap. Who the hell cares that you are running a Model M keyboard anyway. Dell with Kubuntu? Big deal. Does that somehow make your analogy better, or your views more credible? I suppose its you saying that you are not typing it on a Apple right now, which may or may not show that your not a fan boy. I also have a old Dell with a distro of linux running on it, a custom built dual proc celly on a bp6 with another version of linux on it, a C2D custom with Vista, and I am typing this on a HP Xeon workstation running XP so there! You know what that means? Nothing, other than I don't own or use an Apple.
So in closing, your analogy sucks, and your arguments are lame and irrelevant. :)
Like any industry the customer will get charged the maximum which the company feels they will pay. In most cases this seems to be about equal to the amount they person knows about said product. If I know squat, I go to what is easy, and that company knowing who its clients are and what they know, will charge accordingly (Apple probably knows MOST of its users are not technically that well versed). If I am going to Newegg, I probably know what the hell I am doing (maybe), and have shopped around, so that company will have a more competitive price. There is everywhere in between. This same thing can be said for Car, Law, Medical, or pretty much any product that requires specialized training or education. So if I am a Lawyer, I don't feel bad when Apple rips me off, as I will just play that forward to some smuck who knows nothing of law, or housing, or cars, etc... Of course if you have no specialized knowlege, well you get screwed. But thats ok, you probably don't know about it anyway. :)
Not quite. This analogy would work better if they were not all built using the exact same components. Apple has its OS, but everything physical about it are the same parts made by the same companies (point out to me an Apple brand Hard drive, cpu, memory, etc..).
A better comparison would be paying 100$ for a radio upgrade from on BMW dealer, and right next door another dealer doing the same upgrade for 200$. Crazy I know.
I am sorry fan boy, you are paying for exactly 3 things. 1) Brand 2) Style 3)Status which can really all just be called the same thing. You also get the OS that isn't Windows. Thats it.
When some douchebag buys a BMW he is buying all the above, but is also banking on the fact that he is getting a higher quality car, made of quality components, that are designed better. The degree to which this is true is debatable and it is mostly just a status symbol IMO.
To use the Car analogy that seems to be ripe in this forum. It is like the rice rockets. That Snazzy paint job, tweeter on your exhaust, and 500 Jiggawatt stereo make your car go 300% faster!
Your first comment is silly and I am not sure of its accuracy. If your going with the more guns the safer you are argument, it is falling on deaf ears. The more guns the more potential there is for problems.
Your second comment sounds crazy, but I live in Canada and don't have your second Amendment, so who am I to judge how it is interpreted.
I hate your third comment as the gun nuts (yes we have 'em also) up here say it like a mantra. Criminals don't follow laws! OK then by that definition why bother having any at all? Hell if criminals are just going to ignore law, lets just frickin have anarchy. It is a stupid circular argument that does not have any weight. You propose laws to better the society you live in, and those that do not follow are punished, we call them criminals.
As for the last, I don't know about disassembled, in Canada they do not to my knowlege have to be. Unloaded yes. They have to be locked in some manner, be it a cabinet or a trigger lock yes. What do you propose leaving 32 loaded handguns around the house in random locations. Thats stupid. (also in Canada your handgun would have to be locked and unloaded as well so perhaps there is where my perspective is skewed).
OK you are right at last in the end. Gov should only ban something at the peoples behest, not based on their precived need.
OK I would agree with I would also rather be shot with a 22 than a shotgun (unless the shotgun was very very far away). Which might be a short term result of a handgun ban. That would be bad news.
The thing is so long as they have a permit (which I will admit a criminal may not bother with) you can carry around a handgun. However a sawed off shotgun is illegal in of itself. Simply possessing one let alone using one is an offense.
I know down in the states that have that wacky Amendment. Hell up here in Canada we tried a gun registry which hasn't really worked so well.
To me it makes very simple sense. Ban handguns. I try and think of legitimate users of handguns, and I can think of two.
1) Law,
2) Target and collectors, but really they make up, what, part of one percentage point of the population?
The only other two users are criminals, and those people that think owning a hand gun will protect them from said criminals.
Of course there are the whack jobs who say they want them to overthrow the government should they get all tyrannical on their ass. To which I saw 3 things:
1) That boat has sailed my friends, and people fight, not guns.
2) Last I checked I have not seen a successful civil war, or any war for that matter that was decided with handguns. and
3) While having guns in the 1800's may have made some difference, wars are typically fought with like tanks, and planes, rockets and shit like that now. So maybe it is your constitutional right to bear those as well. Heck I know I want a tank, might be a tad expensive, particularly with the cost of oil these days!
The thing with handguns is that you can conceal them. So criminals love that shit. Make it illegal to have one, and all you have to do is catch them with one to arrest them. Also take enough out of circulation, and it will become very hard to obtain one.
This isn't to say ban long guns, no not at all. A rifle is good for hunting and for you wackos a staple of war and uprising. You just can't conceal them. Sure you can cut the barrel down, but it is illegal, again instant arrest if found. A criminal is gonna look mighty suspicious walking into a store with a rifle. Also for those wishing to protect your home, well I think I would find a shotgun a bit more intimating than you standard 9mm pee shooter. Besides what does a home owner need with a small concealable fire arm? Hide it from the kids? These are all supposed to be in a locked gun case (at least in Canada) anyway.
Anyway thats my take. Get rid of 'em. I have never fired one, nor will I, for what use do I have for one? Heck if you want to, have a program to trade in your handgun for a rifle or shotgun. Just get rid of them.
I agree and would go one step further.
Back in the day in college I had this real dick of a professor (he also happened to be the chair of the program, not good). Anyway the one course he taught was C++. Now this program was for (GIS, Geographical Information Systems), so the students came from a multi discipline background, though probably about 1/3 were former CS students/grads.
Now having already taken C++ in a CS degree in University, I didn't need this mickey mouse stuff. So after attending the first lecture (which was horrible, EVERYTHING off of an overhead which was littered with mistakes... this guy also has a PHd somehow). I decided I would be better served to spend my time elsewhere. I still went to all the labs and completed all my course work, going into the exam I had a 87%.
Now it comes time to write the exam (which was worth a lot, I forget now, but 40-60%). We get in there and he hands out the exam. It is basically 3 problems. He wants handwritten code to solve each problem. We are told we cannot use our textbooks, or anything else. Now it is one thing to test for known solutions to problems, but to make up complex problems and expect someone to code by hand using pencil and paper in my mind is stupid.
Does anyone in any reality ever do this? I know when I code, I leverage old programs I have written, look up obscure syntax I haven't used in awhile in the text book, found examples of particular parts in the program to try and integrate, use bug finders, the compiler, etc... I could see if you are working and all you are doing is C++ then you could probably pound something out that is reasonably free of errors.
Anyway in the end he gave me a 10%. 10%! It was ridiculous. Then upon seeing some of the trash that others wrote, I asked him to go over my exam with me. (He way of correcting was just an X, no comments) When I sat down with him, he refused to explain how a certain passage was wrong, or even how he marked. He would only say that it was "wrong". CS should not be marked subjectively (though there is some style involved). Now remember he is the chair of the program, so the only place I could appeal would be like the dean of the entire school.
I ended up passing the course and the program anyway as my other mark was so high so I didn't bother with an appeal. However afterwards I found out my overall mark was a 79.9 and that I needed to get a 80% to get a full year 5 credits at my home university (they have a joint thing going on). I had to then fight with my university, to which to this day I don't think they give me credit for (despite them saying they would after I got a letter from the chair of the University Dept.). Thats a full year of university. Thats a lot of money. Now I did graduate, and I ended up have a ton too many credits anyway, however it was something I could have used towards a 2nd degree, or masters, or on to professional graduate school or something I am sure.
Personally I think he was just being a dick and want to make an example of a smartass student and he knew he had the power to do so.
So the moral of the story is, if the chair of the dept is teaching one of your courses, no matter how stupid you think he is, or his teaching ability, or how easy the course work is, attend every frikin' calls, smile, kiss ass, and don't do anything to get his ire, as you may regret it down the line.
I always wondered about this myself. As soon as the oil crisis started and people started going nuts with the hybrid this, and hydrogen that cars. Which is fine for your Joe 6-pack compact car, but international trade is done with huge ships with like 60,000 horsepower desiel engines.
All the tree hugging Hydrogen, biodeisel, solar, geothermal, wind (well maybe lots of sail boats like the old days..lol), etc.. isn't going to make a lick of difference. The cost to transport stuff will increase so dramatically as to stop it altogether. Domestic production will become more important. Those countries geared towards extreme exports or imports will be hurt the most.
The alternative of course as you mentioned is nukes. However, even that supply will not last long once everyone starts using it that way and more plants are built, the cost of Uranium prices will then skyrocket. You also mention the potential security risks with civilian nuke ships. Though if I had to predict, might make the super ships of today seem small. The super nuke trade ships of the future may dwarf those of old, and as was said contain some armourment and security force. Anyway should be interesting.
One thing that the USA and Canada has going for it into this future, is that both are the others largest trading partner by far, energy or otherwise. This will certainly reduce impact.
Or maybe we will just go back to sailing ships... YARR!
Oops try that again... http://books.google.ca/books?id=0qmO19BnQk8C&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=dilbert+project+management+zombie&source=web&ots=xdbnRLJusA&sig=kZuXH1Iq6zqTRyNHzF4w0vkniqs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1
Yeah, also I guess I was reading it as the reason they had for not releasing it was due to "current" competition (aka Rogers).
I agree that not limiting independents by shaping their traffic would create "future" competition, but I think Bell would have to really have a pair of balls to use that as their rational to the CRTC!
I mean are they actually saying that "yes we maintain our competitive edge by degrading service we sell to our competitors!"
I mean wow. Big brass ones.
If that is the case, now that I think about it, its sort of like getting pulled over for speeding, and spiting on the cop when he tries to talk to you. What arrogance.
How long have you had it for? Recently or quite a while? Did you ask for it specifically?
Offering dry DSL must be very new then. I was told by a bell representative that the DO NOT offer it (nor is it advertised anywhere as an alternative, most people wouldn't know what such a thing is nor that it is an option) in the last 6 months.
I had just discovered that my current provider Cogeco changed my EULA (which is was at the time only posted on some obscure buried website, which they give you the link to when you go over the Cap). I had just bought a new computer with some serious HD capacity, so I went a bit nuts downloading and went way over. They disconnected me with no notice.
Needless to say I was Very Very pissed. So I went looking for alternatives (after a terse phone conversation with Cogeco I wanted to quit). I don't have a land line (I canceled it because I got fed up with Bell) just a cell phone, and since Cogeco is cable, there really isn't anything else but phone. I read about Dry DSL and found that some smattering of independents offered it in Ontario. When I called Bell, the answer was no. Could be just brain dead support, who knows. Anyway the end result was to grind my teeth and stick with Cogeco, as the was no real alternative really.
I was also told by Cogeco that the only way to check my bandwidth usage was to call tech support (at which time they would try and sell me stuff), which ended up being a lie. Again if it was policy or just brain dead staff, who knows. Now that I know how to monitor my bandwidth I just work within the cap limit. The whole situation is ridiculous however. Both Bell and Cogeco are taking advantage of Canadians I think. There is exploitation and then there is exploitation.
Yes I have noticed this as well. They will go to great lengths to get you out of your old contract and into a new one that is more expensive. I think at one point they actually said I couldn't keep my current deal, that I could only choose one of their newer packages.
I actually have a pretty good plan right now through Bell Mobility, though it is of no fault of their own. I belong to a larger union, and there is a union plan that they probably negotiated which is quite good. If you belong to a large company or union I would look into it. Many don't really advertise and it might just be a link buried on a website, or something else equally obscure.
I can't complain much about bell mobility. They had some billing issues a few years ago when they got a new billing system that really pissed me off (I would get my bills mailed to me very late (like after the DUE date) consistently for about 6 months, then they would try to say I was on the hook for late changes. I don't think so.) Anyway it was solved by just going with a preauthorized payment plan (and I think they have probably ironed out the kinks by now).
While I am at it, a hearty "Here Here!" to the CRTC who are doing their job as oversight of the industry. I only hope they follow through with Rogers Communications as well, and when it is all out in the open they actual make some sort of decision with teeth.
Quit pissing about. The #1 question is are these companies working in Canadians best interest? If the answer is no, then something MUST be done about it.
For all your radical capitalists out there that will immediately point out that these are publicly traded companies, and that they ultimately report to the shareholders. I will preemptively smash your argument saying in this case their is a 3 way conflict in that 1) the infrastructure is subsidized by tax dollars, 2) is a government regulated industry, and 3) today telecommunication s are vital and important role of any country's security and growth.