Sure, Mac OS was a lot prettier but then it cost the moon and the stars along with both your arms and legs.
Macintosh cost more in initial cash outlay, but did it increase productivity?
I think back over the endless days I've spent fixing Windows problems, the loss of data when Windows has bluescreened, the loss of billable time and the loss of my hair......and I think, hey, if MacOS puts an end to that sort of bullshit, I'm actually coming out far ahead of the game.
The cost of an operating system and applications is one helluva lot more than merely the sticker price.
Buddy, I wholly agree that the website was condemnable. No argument there whatsoever. There may even be grounds for prosecuting the person who posted the pictures, or the web site operator himself.
That's all beside the point.
Access to that which is legal must be made available. It is not Telus' role to act as judge and jury.
There is simply no other practical option.
As an aside:
Telus did not stop access to the site. It simply made it damn difficult for me, having paid them to provide me access to all that is legal on the internet, to view some 700-odd websites for a week.
They broke the contract I believe I have with them (and as a very, very earlier subscriber, I rather suspect the contract I signed did not contain weaselwords about that which they think they should stop me from seeing).
I am pissed, and I want them slapped for it. I phoned the Executive Offices and chewed the ass out of someone there, I phoned the Telus PR guy, I phoned a few other Telus numbers, I emailed the CRTC, I emailed executive directors, and I finally got around to cancelling some services I've not found worthwhile. And if there's a C.A. lawsuit, I'm in like Flynn.
There needs to be such a severe backlash from this stupid, stupid move on their part that no ISP in the Western world dares be so stupid again.
Does anyone know of a class action lawsuit against Telus for this act? I am *mighty* pissed that they blocked my access to the site, and I want to make them pay for it: I want to join a lawsuit against them.
Please post a reply to this message if you know of a class-action lawsuit against Telus for IP blocking.
Stupid even in cases of substance abuse or crime so long as they do not adversely affect one's ability to do the required work.
It ain't nobodies business if you do.
Getting fired from work should involve performing incompetently at work. It should have nothing to do with one's after-hours recreation.
I don't care if it's smoking pot, breaking the speed limit, shooting smack, or ass-raping your own father: there are legal consequences for such things, of course, but so long as it doesn't harm your ability to perform your work functions the next day, you should not be subject to firing.
Truth be told, same for me. For several years I held out against easy music piracy, figuring that it was unfair to the musicians.
The implementation of the levy, and the revelation that musicians see S.F.A. of the sales profits, pissed me off so thoroughly that I now have no qualms about taking music from the net.
The irony is, I've purchased more music this past couple years than the past decade, simply because piracy gave me a no-risk opportunity to experiment with my musical choices. Finding MP3 quality to be less than great, I've purchased CDs of those artists/albums I've most enjoyed/play most often.
If the recording industry ever manages to stomp out piracy, I'll become a non-consumer once again. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay their prices on the chance that I might like an album!
...is to make alcohol illegal and pot legal. You don't get this kind of idiocy with pot: it's impossible to overtoke, everyone gets mellow instead of looking for a fight, and most stoners can't be arsed to drive if there's any sort of edible left in the house.
Whole nation would be safer if it were stoned instead of drunk.
Touche'. Let's take Alaska while we're at it, then. They seem more like Canucks than Americans anyways, what with their marijuana initiatives, salmon, and midnight sun.
While Canada is not a very good claimant its the only claimant that is compatible with US interests.
If that's what it comes down to, I say we give it to Denmark, just to spite the USA. Those fuckers are still screwing us over softwood trade despite several international rulings that what they are doing is wholly illegal. And there's the beef embargo. And there's the assholes in some podunk state wanting to pump all their polluted water into Manitoba. And there's the whole issue of NAFTA and its screwing-Canada terms on all natural resources.
Sure as hell it won't be Denmark that has to deal with tanker spills, pollution turning the ice black and melting it, endangered species, and military protection of the other zillion islands in the Arctic.
So IMO, Denmark can just F.R.O. They bring nothing to the party, but want to take it all away.
I have just had a most frustrating conversation with someone in the Executive offices at Telus.
PLEASE SPEND A BUCK TO CALL THEM.
They seem to have no idea that their action is plain stupid. Most of you can access the site: it is only a small subset, those of us with Telus ADSL, that can not access it.
Please help get them on the cluetrain.
The executive claims that Telus is working with other ISPs to block access to the website, instead of using proper legal channels to force the TWU to remove the disputed photographs.
555 Robson Street Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6B 3K9 phone (604) 697-8044 fax (604) 432-9681
It's worth the couple bucks it'll cost to clue these mofo's in that WE WILL NOT CONDONE SUCH ACTIONS.
I've had it with the hodge-podge accumulation of hacks of a Wintel-based computers and the excrecable Windows craptastical OS.
I. Want. Something. That. Just. Works.
So I'm making the switch to Mac.
I don't give a flying fart for what's inside the box, just so long as it works. I want to plug stuff in and have it work. I want to install software and have it work. I want to do my work, without having to work on making stuff work.
Windows has never made that possible. Wintel hardware has never made that possible. Linux certainly hasn't made that possible.
So I'm hoping OSX does the trick. It certainly can't be any worse.
You haven't the balls to do it, Microsoft, because if you do, you'll not be shooting yourself in the foot -- you'll be chopping yourself off at the knees.
If DRM of audio and video media comes to my OS, I will find another OS.
My hope is that Apple will be sensible and avoid making the mistakes Microsoft seems intent on making.
If Apple isn't that clueful, then I'm sure the BSD and Linux communities are.
Because here's the bottom line: OSes are irrelevent now. It's the applications that matter.
The difference is that most of the world's nations have not, in the past fifty years, invaded other nations, worked to overthrow democratically elected governments, misappropriated other nations' incomes (cf. Cda/US softwood lumber dispute, repeatedly settled in Cda's favor, yet USA continues to withhold billions in illegal tariffs), created banana republics, and so on and so forth.
The US government has been both a wonderful benefactor to other (favored) nations, and a terrible destroyer of other nations.
It is the latter that is placing the USA under greater and greater risk. Terrorism has struck the homeland, and if behaviours do not change, it will inevitably strike again.
In this modern world, nations can no longer assume mere military and economic domination will ensure their citizens safety. It's a damned scary and unfortunate thing, but true.
That's why The Zipper at the local once-a-year carnival is so damn fun: the bloody thing was assembled by carnie apes who only bothered finger-tightening the handful of nuts they scrounged out of the coffeecan, leaving the rest of the bolts to fend for themselves unaided.
Get in the cage and... the door doesn't lock closed. Gonna have to hold it shut. Lap bar comes down... but only partially. The machine starts with a jarring clunk, and you notice the clove pin on the right-hand bearing is absent. A few sparks fly from a misaligned pulley, and you're off! Deathgrip on the door, head bashing the ceiling every time the cage flips, and an alarming squeal from the right-hand bearing... my god, is that Death looking at us from the opposing cage? It is!
When the ride finally stops, life begins anew. The colours are brighter, the crush of people is comforting, and all the worries of the past year slip away: Death was cheated, and damn it feels good!
If Maltron keyboards are supposed to be so damn ergonomic, why in the world are the keys arranged in rigid, square columns? No one's hands work like that.
At the very least, the left and right sides of that keyboard ought be angled slightly outward, so that one's wrists don't have to awkwardly bend to align the fingers with the keys. Splay the pattern just a bit, and it'd be a lot more ergonomic.
Even standard QWERTY keyboards get it better, what with the TFC/UJM index-finger keys being aligned closer to parallel with the wrists and forearm.
Colour me distinctly unimpressed with Maltrons flat keyboards.
Opera has Firefox beat hands-down when it comes to plain ol' usability. There are so many things it makes so very, very easy to do, that Firefox either does not do or does not do easily.
Whenever I move from Opera to Firefox, I find myself frustrated and going back.
It continues to surprise me that people don't see thirty bucks of value in Opera, and settle instead for the piss-poor experience of MSIE and the clumsy experience of Firefox.
They need to leverage Bittorrent as the means to distribute new versions of Opera. This is a perfectly legitimate use, and should stand up nicely in court.
Slashdot Mirror
...er, plus $20ish/mo for line lease, which includes unlimited local calling.
1.5Mhps 30Gb cap (unenforced) $30ish/month.
Sure, Mac OS was a lot prettier but then it cost the moon and the stars along with both your arms and legs.
...and I think, hey, if MacOS puts an end to that sort of bullshit, I'm actually coming out far ahead of the game.
Macintosh cost more in initial cash outlay, but did it increase productivity?
I think back over the endless days I've spent fixing Windows problems, the loss of data when Windows has bluescreened, the loss of billable time and the loss of my hair...
The cost of an operating system and applications is one helluva lot more than merely the sticker price.
Buddy, I wholly agree that the website was condemnable. No argument there whatsoever. There may even be grounds for prosecuting the person who posted the pictures, or the web site operator himself.
That's all beside the point.
Access to that which is legal must be made available. It is not Telus' role to act as judge and jury.
There is simply no other practical option.
As an aside:
Telus did not stop access to the site. It simply made it damn difficult for me, having paid them to provide me access to all that is legal on the internet, to view some 700-odd websites for a week.
They broke the contract I believe I have with them (and as a very, very earlier subscriber, I rather suspect the contract I signed did not contain weaselwords about that which they think they should stop me from seeing).
I am pissed, and I want them slapped for it. I phoned the Executive Offices and chewed the ass out of someone there, I phoned the Telus PR guy, I phoned a few other Telus numbers, I emailed the CRTC, I emailed executive directors, and I finally got around to cancelling some services I've not found worthwhile. And if there's a C.A. lawsuit, I'm in like Flynn.
There needs to be such a severe backlash from this stupid, stupid move on their part that no ISP in the Western world dares be so stupid again.
I think our cable ISP in town is Rogers.
I'll eat my own balls before I use Rogers.
Does anyone know of a class action lawsuit against Telus for this act? I am *mighty* pissed that they blocked my access to the site, and I want to make them pay for it: I want to join a lawsuit against them.
Please post a reply to this message if you know of a class-action lawsuit against Telus for IP blocking.
Stupid even in cases of substance abuse or crime so long as they do not adversely affect one's ability to do the required work.
It ain't nobodies business if you do.
Getting fired from work should involve performing incompetently at work. It should have nothing to do with one's after-hours recreation.
I don't care if it's smoking pot, breaking the speed limit, shooting smack, or ass-raping your own father: there are legal consequences for such things, of course, but so long as it doesn't harm your ability to perform your work functions the next day, you should not be subject to firing.
Truth be told, same for me. For several years I held out against easy music piracy, figuring that it was unfair to the musicians.
The implementation of the levy, and the revelation that musicians see S.F.A. of the sales profits, pissed me off so thoroughly that I now have no qualms about taking music from the net.
The irony is, I've purchased more music this past couple years than the past decade, simply because piracy gave me a no-risk opportunity to experiment with my musical choices. Finding MP3 quality to be less than great, I've purchased CDs of those artists/albums I've most enjoyed/play most often.
If the recording industry ever manages to stomp out piracy, I'll become a non-consumer once again. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay their prices on the chance that I might like an album!
...is to make alcohol illegal and pot legal. You don't get this kind of idiocy with pot: it's impossible to overtoke, everyone gets mellow instead of looking for a fight, and most stoners can't be arsed to drive if there's any sort of edible left in the house.
Whole nation would be safer if it were stoned instead of drunk.
Touche'. Let's take Alaska while we're at it, then. They seem more like Canucks than Americans anyways, what with their marijuana initiatives, salmon, and midnight sun.
While Canada is not a very good claimant its the only claimant that is compatible with US interests.
If that's what it comes down to, I say we give it to Denmark, just to spite the USA. Those fuckers are still screwing us over softwood trade despite several international rulings that what they are doing is wholly illegal. And there's the beef embargo. And there's the assholes in some podunk state wanting to pump all their polluted water into Manitoba. And there's the whole issue of NAFTA and its screwing-Canada terms on all natural resources.
Grrr. Being allied with the USA sucks.
Sure as hell it won't be Denmark that has to deal with tanker spills, pollution turning the ice black and melting it, endangered species, and military protection of the other zillion islands in the Arctic.
So IMO, Denmark can just F.R.O. They bring nothing to the party, but want to take it all away.
So why in gods' names do we pay a levy on blank CDs, when blank CDs are MUCH more likely to be used for non-music purposes?
I hate politicians and special interest groups.
It's terrible that something like that would happen. It isn't legal and it isn't moral.
On the other hand, this message is about all the empathy and concern I can work myself up to. Good riddance to bad trash.
I have just had a most frustrating conversation with someone in the Executive offices at Telus.
PLEASE SPEND A BUCK TO CALL THEM.
They seem to have no idea that their action is plain stupid. Most of you can access the site: it is only a small subset, those of us with Telus ADSL, that can not access it.
Please help get them on the cluetrain.
The executive claims that Telus is working with other ISPs to block access to the website, instead of using proper legal channels to force the TWU to remove the disputed photographs.
555 Robson Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6B 3K9
phone (604) 697-8044
fax (604) 432-9681
It's worth the couple bucks it'll cost to clue these mofo's in that WE WILL NOT CONDONE SUCH ACTIONS.
I've had it with the hodge-podge accumulation of hacks of a Wintel-based computers and the excrecable Windows craptastical OS.
I. Want. Something. That. Just. Works.
So I'm making the switch to Mac.
I don't give a flying fart for what's inside the box, just so long as it works. I want to plug stuff in and have it work. I want to install software and have it work. I want to do my work, without having to work on making stuff work.
Windows has never made that possible. Wintel hardware has never made that possible. Linux certainly hasn't made that possible.
So I'm hoping OSX does the trick. It certainly can't be any worse.
You haven't the balls to do it, Microsoft, because if you do, you'll not be shooting yourself in the foot -- you'll be chopping yourself off at the knees.
If DRM of audio and video media comes to my OS, I will find another OS.
My hope is that Apple will be sensible and avoid making the mistakes Microsoft seems intent on making.
If Apple isn't that clueful, then I'm sure the BSD and Linux communities are.
Because here's the bottom line: OSes are irrelevent now. It's the applications that matter.
Many of the world's nations are run by creeps.
The difference is that most of the world's nations have not, in the past fifty years, invaded other nations, worked to overthrow democratically elected governments, misappropriated other nations' incomes (cf. Cda/US softwood lumber dispute, repeatedly settled in Cda's favor, yet USA continues to withhold billions in illegal tariffs), created banana republics, and so on and so forth.
The US government has been both a wonderful benefactor to other (favored) nations, and a terrible destroyer of other nations.
It is the latter that is placing the USA under greater and greater risk. Terrorism has struck the homeland, and if behaviours do not change, it will inevitably strike again.
In this modern world, nations can no longer assume mere military and economic domination will ensure their citizens safety. It's a damned scary and unfortunate thing, but true.
It's stupid shit like this that makes other nations despise you.
I think most American citizens are fine people. It's time for you citizens to wrest control back from the evil scum who run your country.
If you do not, the inevitable outcome will be further degradation of your personal safety. You can not afford to let this happen.
Damn straight!
That's why The Zipper at the local once-a-year carnival is so damn fun: the bloody thing was assembled by carnie apes who only bothered finger-tightening the handful of nuts they scrounged out of the coffeecan, leaving the rest of the bolts to fend for themselves unaided.
Get in the cage and... the door doesn't lock closed. Gonna have to hold it shut. Lap bar comes down... but only partially. The machine starts with a jarring clunk, and you notice the clove pin on the right-hand bearing is absent. A few sparks fly from a misaligned pulley, and you're off! Deathgrip on the door, head bashing the ceiling every time the cage flips, and an alarming squeal from the right-hand bearing... my god, is that Death looking at us from the opposing cage? It is!
When the ride finally stops, life begins anew. The colours are brighter, the crush of people is comforting, and all the worries of the past year slip away: Death was cheated, and damn it feels good!
...to publish the first and last chapters.
Using ROT13 encoding.
(their "Flat 'Finger Length Adapted' Keyboard" is a little better.)
If Maltron keyboards are supposed to be so damn ergonomic, why in the world are the keys arranged in rigid, square columns? No one's hands work like that.
At the very least, the left and right sides of that keyboard ought be angled slightly outward, so that one's wrists don't have to awkwardly bend to align the fingers with the keys. Splay the pattern just a bit, and it'd be a lot more ergonomic.
Even standard QWERTY keyboards get it better, what with the TFC/UJM index-finger keys being aligned closer to parallel with the wrists and forearm.
Colour me distinctly unimpressed with Maltrons flat keyboards.
Opera has Firefox beat hands-down when it comes to plain ol' usability. There are so many things it makes so very, very easy to do, that Firefox either does not do or does not do easily.
Whenever I move from Opera to Firefox, I find myself frustrated and going back.
It continues to surprise me that people don't see thirty bucks of value in Opera, and settle instead for the piss-poor experience of MSIE and the clumsy experience of Firefox.
They need to leverage Bittorrent as the means to distribute new versions of Opera. This is a perfectly legitimate use, and should stand up nicely in court.