On a sidenote, the article also notes an issue involving South Korea/Japan and US beef imports. If I remember the South Korea situation correctly, the agreement (or rather, the lifting of the ban on US beef imports) involved the possibility of 30+ month old cattle. The agreement was then revised after much protesting to exclude cattle older than 30 months. 30+ months and less than 24 months in the US are..not exactly the same. I can see why people would be worried then.
Until the 2003 ban, South Korea was the third-largest market for U.S. beef exporters. The U.S. beef industry has lost up to $4 billion since the market closed, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
While there is the possibility that the USDA is doing a good thing by doing this, you have to consider the impact this may have on foreign markets concerned about the beef they are importing.
It doesn't, and it's a preposterous argument. Jon Johansen argues that in the context of Steve Jobs' little blurb about DRM, it's not a valid argument that popularity matters, but everywhere else it does matter, and it's plain stupidity when you consider anything not in the context of the number of users.
Doesn't mean anything when you consider the market share of Apple vs. all of the Microsoft-licensed stores combined.
Clearly people will be cracking the more-popular DRM, and that happens to be Apple's FairPlay.
1. Control keys can be changed in the preferences for the OS, and for RDC and VPC as well. Plus, it wouldn't be horrendously difficult to change the key mapping to make it more convenient as well.
2. Save buttons on toolbars are up to the developers. And in all honesty, I think a lot more people use keyboard commands to save, instead of clicking on a tiny little button in a toolbar that not even every app has. This definitely is not an OS specific thing...they're available if you need it, but nobody's forcing anyone to use it..
3. My Logitech MX518 works on my Macs. So does my MX900 bluetooth mouse. And all of the other multi-button mice I've ever bothered to connect via USB or bluetooth. end of argument, unless you're trying to say that Apple should ship multi-button mice with their computers. They shouldn't. There's almost nothing worth having a multi-button mouse for that you can't do with a one button mouse, or with the keyboard (except when it comes to gaming and the likes). Now, with the coming Intel Macs, maybe they should. But that's only assuming the person buying the machine will install another OS on it as well.
4. Why on earth do you need to see only the relevant file types? Sometimes OS X will grey out the ones that aren't relevant or not selectable, but what good is it going to do? Afraid of accidentally naming your file a name that already exists?!
5. Useless. In all honesty, Spotlight/Quicksilver/Launchbar sort of get rid of the need for that, like the article mentioned.
6. Why on earth is this supposed to be a Windows thing? It's not. It's in OS X. Blame the developer(s) if it's lacking in the software you're using and complaining about.
Frankly it sounds like the author is just an idiot, but that's my two cents. All of his points are almost completely irrelevant or not applicable.
On top of that, might I add that Microsoft and Apple have copied each other too many times to count, and it's not necessarily good.
if you spend the time learning your way around VoiceOver, like most blind/low vision people do with other screenreaders, you might encounter that VoiceOver isn't as comprehensive as Jaws, but reads enough to be of some use as a screenreader.
Apple continued the work that Freedom Scientific and all the other companies abandoned when they realized the Mac platform was just too tiny to develop anything for, and if VoiceOver is the result of the work, then I am very impressed. If anything, the current VoiceOver a huge leap from what the VoiceOver beta was.
And by the way, I'm navigating my way around the Universal Access prefpane, and what I hear is "Black on White, selected radio button one of two", and then when you select white on black, it says "White on Black, selected radio button two of two". I think that's pretty accessible, if you ask me.
What I love most about VoiceOver is the wide variety of voices, the unbelievable amount of customizability (as compared to Jaws, imho) and that the Xcode/Developer tools come with accessibility tools that make it easy for developers of applications to check if their software works well with the Accessibility features of OS X. And the best thing is, VoiceOver is an Apple product, built into the OS, and is just beautiful.
Every single little touch by the Accessibility team...from the VoiceOver enabled install process (Jaws and Windows doesn't have that kind of feature, obviously because Jaws doesn't come preinstalled with Windows), the VoiceOver enabled login menu and to the little tutorial when you install OS X is a much appreciated little gesture that makes life easier.
Mind you, I'm not blind or anything, but I do do volunteer work helping the blind use computers, and the little things make all the difference.
Honestly, I think this is an excellent use of JavaScript (and the whole reverting to good ol' CSS if javascript is disabled thing). It gives control of layout to the designer, but you can't forget the disabled users. They exist, just like you and me. I volunteer to help blind people, and you won't believe what a pain in the !@#$ jaws for windows, voiceover for OS X and speakup for linux are when it comes to surfing the web...all because some developer wanted to use some font he/she liked and implemented that by using flash or putting some stupid image as a replacement (and often forget to include the alt attribute, which noone seems to really use *frown*).
I can't thank people like the sIFR devs enough for trying to make peoples lives easier.
yes, i'm weak. oh my god.
i've been to a psychologist. i'm on zoloft. i'm still depressed, i'm still feeling a bit too obsessed with suicide. i dont know what to do about the zoloft either, it's not like it like "cures my disease" or something.
i have friends who have committed suicide.
smoking weed hasn't killed me yet either.
you might call it selfish, but it's just there, and i can't do anything about it.
and while you're insulting me for being weak, week, selfish, tainting the gene pool and other miscellaneous stuff, i'm going to start ranting on my blog about the guy who just rejected me. life is fun.
argh, why can't people leave others alone? If they feel miserable enough to consider suicide, then respect their decision. you don't always know the whole story behind it, so just automatically saying "oh dont kill yourself, get professional help" goes in one ear and out the other. Seriously, I just ignore the default-talking-out-of-suicide talks because they're unbelievably redundant and irritating. Save yourself the trouble.
When I go through my suicidal phases, what helps most is talking to close friends who have dealt with similar issues, especially if they listen to you ranting (which really feels good). Not $random_person telling me it's a bad idea, blah blah.
when will they ever make mice like that for people who use mice with their left hands? That's my frustration with like 90% of the awesome "ergonomic" mice - they're only for the right hand. It's utterly insane.
Actually, I shouldn't be speaking, 2 of my computers are laptops, and I like using the one-button Apple mouse. Unfortunately my favourite mouse is the logitech mx900...
It might seem bad enough to you, but sometimes stuff like this makes you wake up and realize that you might be encountering the same issues..
What people say on the internet is very useful, even if it's taken with a grain of salt, and that's how I realized i had asthma. I thought I was just out of shape, just wheezing and feeling like I was going to pass out for like a year, until one day when I was bored... I made my way to medline, webmd and some forums to see if it was anything in particular. It soon dawned on me that I wasn't really out of shape but more along the lines of something I really didn't even think of. So I went to my doctor, and now I'm happily puffing away at my inhaler and gaining weight because of the advair. If I didn't do that, i wouldn't have known until I was in serious trouble, or decided to ask my doctor about it (which would be after being in serious trouble).
It's not being lazy so much as it is asking for advice from people I suppose he/she can relate to.
I can get one of those DVD players (well at the minimum region free, progressive scan, composite/component video and probably more i cannot think of) for $40, mostly because I had one a few weeks ago.
Of course, I live in Los Angeles and on top of that I know where to get that kind of a DVD player. Trust me, if you had a bunch of region 1, 2, 3 and 4 DVDs, you would know where to look for one too.
Don't expect a place like Fry's or Best Buy to have them. Heh.
everyone knew something like this would happen. its starting to be known. god (that i dont believe in) knows what's going to happen next...a few thousand more votes lost, especially in important swing states?
If we only hear about the minor problems, how many other problems are we not in the know about?
I'm not one who worships conspiracy theories, but what http://blackboxvoting.org/ talks about is entirely possible, on both small and large scales.
Actually, I don't want to know. Better to get the four years out of the way and then elect a more progressive president. (Sorry, but I'm a bit on the liberal side, seeing as how I'm almost everything that current republicans seem to despise and refuse to give rights to.)
it should be happening in places like florida and other important/swing states, and all places that use voting machines that are as vulnerable as Diebold's pieces of junk...and this election is so much more important than the 2006 election in california ):
well my boyfriend for one, he lives in los angeles...hehe.
No, just kidding.
Gorgeous girl Mac devs are hard to come by, unfortunately. You might find a gorgeous guy Mac dev one in one of those IRC channels for mac apps though.
But...I meant gorgeous as in stunning, gorgeous as in well-written, gorgeous as in something id easily fall in love with.
...with a few linux and *bsd PCs and such...and windows occasionally...
[opinion] the one button mouse is okay most of the time. Some programs (ie Shake) will require a mouse with more than one button. Those are rare though, and I think you'll quickly learn how to use control+click as a substitute.
The one upside about the one button mouse is that its great for both people who mouse with their right and left hands. Microsoft mice and such rarely are comfortable for the minority of people who are left handed mousers.
[/opinion]
The one huge bizarre difference between OS X and Windows would be the interface. Application windows won't have menu bars for the most part in each window, the three buttons (close/minimize/shrink) are on opposite sides, the dock is a bigger version of those little icons next to the start menu you can click (forgot what those were called), the menu bar could be considered the less customizable Mac equivalent.
Icons are on the opposite side of the screen (along the right, not the left) generally unless you move the icons, and windows-only wallpaper will be useless.
On the flip side, I find that the Mac community (sans the n00bs) is absolutely wonderful to go to help for, but just make sure to google first. Mac developers and programs for the Mac are absolutely gorgeous. Once in a while you'll come across something that won't quite be the same, like FCP or Blender, but thats rare.
There's also the BSD foundation, which is quite handy. If you're used to working with *BSD or Linux, you'll feel right at home. for development theres the free xcode tools, gcc, et cetera. if you want, there's also gentoo for mac os x (basically just portage), darwinports, and fink to make your life easier
It'll probably take around a week or so to get used to it. But after you switch, you'll wish you could use it all the time (:
Good luck, and nice machine.
well, if you're not running servers or anything...
i dont see a point to turning these things off - dsl modem, both airport base stations, computers, external drives, cellphone, so what (:
my solution is simply some tape and a post it note...maybe folded once or twice or some electrical tape. LEDs are useful (especially with that airport express and other routers like that), dont remove them or something:p
they sell the aeron and the mirra
both chairs are like the epitome of comfortable chairs
and instead of buying another iPod, i'm considering purchasing the Mirra. VERY comfortable, I've worked in Aeron chairs too...
they really rock:)
regardless of how unstable it is, i am a high school student that is constantly being talked out of even consideringdouble-majoring in (for example) psychology and compsci. I would like to just get my MSc in compsci, nothing wrong with that is there?
no matter what anyone says, I have gone through people cheering me on or calling me names, and I can tell why not many of my peers are not interested in it at all.
I can't care less about the male-oriented attitude in the industry/field/whatever you want to call it. I can't care less about masturbation jokes on/. (like someone before me noted). What frustrates me is how a significant (not the majority, but still big) number of males feel a need to jeer and scoff at members of the opposite sex, believe that their work is inferior to less experienced males and complete bullshite like that. I'm tired of guys who think that they have an innate ability and advantage when it comes to computer science, I'm tired of everyday laymen who think along the lines of "oh she cant possibly show an interest in computers, she's a girl! girls arent supposed to be good at those kinds of things!".
Having gender neutral names on forums and chatrooms also shows how differently people are treated. One minute people assume you are male and they'll respect you and listen to you and all those things. Next moment you tell them you're not a guy, but in fact a gal, they'll virtually ignore you, or treat you different and in a lesser manner because of something you really never had/have/will have any choice over.
Not many treat women with an equal amount of respect as their male counterparts. To those that do, I thank them. Not all girls are uninterested in engineering/technology and their related fields.
you have to know english to sign up for orkut, seeing as how the default invitation and all the questions and boxes to fill in are all in english, as well as the terms of service or whatever else you have to read before signing up. so clearly orkut is a place where everyone can speak english to be understood by most if not all of the members. Orkut, the whole interface, all the features, even the help pages are all 100% english.
most brazilian people i've encountered on orkut are plenty friendly but a noticeable few are downright inane and rude (see posts in community titled "WTF A CRAZY BRAZILIAN INVASION", et cetera), posting in their native tongue in an English-only community, bashing everyone else based on unfounded stereotypes, spamming people with Portuguese messages in a community as diverse as (for example) the Simpsons community with 13000 members and growing - jeez!
The non-English posts outnumber the "plz gimme gmail invite kthx" messages. Crazyness.
Slashdot Mirror
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/29/skorea.beef/index.html
Until the 2003 ban, South Korea was the third-largest market for U.S. beef exporters. The U.S. beef industry has lost up to $4 billion since the market closed, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
While there is the possibility that the USDA is doing a good thing by doing this, you have to consider the impact this may have on foreign markets concerned about the beef they are importing.
Never said anything to the contrary, in fact I agreed with you: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=221484&cid=179 44918
It doesn't, and it's a preposterous argument. Jon Johansen argues that in the context of Steve Jobs' little blurb about DRM, it's not a valid argument that popularity matters, but everywhere else it does matter, and it's plain stupidity when you consider anything not in the context of the number of users.
Doesn't mean anything when you consider the market share of Apple vs. all of the Microsoft-licensed stores combined. Clearly people will be cracking the more-popular DRM, and that happens to be Apple's FairPlay.
1. Control keys can be changed in the preferences for the OS, and for RDC and VPC as well. Plus, it wouldn't be horrendously difficult to change the key mapping to make it more convenient as well.
2. Save buttons on toolbars are up to the developers. And in all honesty, I think a lot more people use keyboard commands to save, instead of clicking on a tiny little button in a toolbar that not even every app has. This definitely is not an OS specific thing...they're available if you need it, but nobody's forcing anyone to use it..
3. My Logitech MX518 works on my Macs. So does my MX900 bluetooth mouse. And all of the other multi-button mice I've ever bothered to connect via USB or bluetooth. end of argument, unless you're trying to say that Apple should ship multi-button mice with their computers. They shouldn't. There's almost nothing worth having a multi-button mouse for that you can't do with a one button mouse, or with the keyboard (except when it comes to gaming and the likes). Now, with the coming Intel Macs, maybe they should. But that's only assuming the person buying the machine will install another OS on it as well.
4. Why on earth do you need to see only the relevant file types? Sometimes OS X will grey out the ones that aren't relevant or not selectable, but what good is it going to do? Afraid of accidentally naming your file a name that already exists?!
5. Useless. In all honesty, Spotlight/Quicksilver/Launchbar sort of get rid of the need for that, like the article mentioned.
6. Why on earth is this supposed to be a Windows thing? It's not. It's in OS X. Blame the developer(s) if it's lacking in the software you're using and complaining about.
Frankly it sounds like the author is just an idiot, but that's my two cents. All of his points are almost completely irrelevant or not applicable.
On top of that, might I add that Microsoft and Apple have copied each other too many times to count, and it's not necessarily good.
http://bugmenot.com/ useful website people always neglect to mention for logins to websites like nytimes.com :(
you just missed the link. http://www.apple.com/quicktime/hdgallery/ is the link to the 720p/1080p trailers :)
if you spend the time learning your way around VoiceOver, like most blind/low vision people do with other screenreaders, you might encounter that VoiceOver isn't as comprehensive as Jaws, but reads enough to be of some use as a screenreader.
Apple continued the work that Freedom Scientific and all the other companies abandoned when they realized the Mac platform was just too tiny to develop anything for, and if VoiceOver is the result of the work, then I am very impressed. If anything, the current VoiceOver a huge leap from what the VoiceOver beta was.
And by the way, I'm navigating my way around the Universal Access prefpane, and what I hear is "Black on White, selected radio button one of two", and then when you select white on black, it says "White on Black, selected radio button two of two". I think that's pretty accessible, if you ask me.
What I love most about VoiceOver is the wide variety of voices, the unbelievable amount of customizability (as compared to Jaws, imho) and that the Xcode/Developer tools come with accessibility tools that make it easy for developers of applications to check if their software works well with the Accessibility features of OS X. And the best thing is, VoiceOver is an Apple product, built into the OS, and is just beautiful.
Every single little touch by the Accessibility team...from the VoiceOver enabled install process (Jaws and Windows doesn't have that kind of feature, obviously because Jaws doesn't come preinstalled with Windows), the VoiceOver enabled login menu and to the little tutorial when you install OS X is a much appreciated little gesture that makes life easier.
Mind you, I'm not blind or anything, but I do do volunteer work helping the blind use computers, and the little things make all the difference.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/universalacce ss/
http://linux-speakup.org/
Both speakup and voiceover are free. Helps a lot when you can't afford the likes of Jaws.
Honestly, I think this is an excellent use of JavaScript (and the whole reverting to good ol' CSS if javascript is disabled thing). It gives control of layout to the designer, but you can't forget the disabled users. They exist, just like you and me. I volunteer to help blind people, and you won't believe what a pain in the !@#$ jaws for windows, voiceover for OS X and speakup for linux are when it comes to surfing the web...all because some developer wanted to use some font he/she liked and implemented that by using flash or putting some stupid image as a replacement (and often forget to include the alt attribute, which noone seems to really use *frown*).
I can't thank people like the sIFR devs enough for trying to make peoples lives easier.
yes, i'm weak. oh my god. i've been to a psychologist. i'm on zoloft. i'm still depressed, i'm still feeling a bit too obsessed with suicide. i dont know what to do about the zoloft either, it's not like it like "cures my disease" or something. i have friends who have committed suicide. smoking weed hasn't killed me yet either. you might call it selfish, but it's just there, and i can't do anything about it. and while you're insulting me for being weak, week, selfish, tainting the gene pool and other miscellaneous stuff, i'm going to start ranting on my blog about the guy who just rejected me. life is fun.
argh, why can't people leave others alone? If they feel miserable enough to consider suicide, then respect their decision. you don't always know the whole story behind it, so just automatically saying "oh dont kill yourself, get professional help" goes in one ear and out the other. Seriously, I just ignore the default-talking-out-of-suicide talks because they're unbelievably redundant and irritating. Save yourself the trouble.
When I go through my suicidal phases, what helps most is talking to close friends who have dealt with similar issues, especially if they listen to you ranting (which really feels good). Not $random_person telling me it's a bad idea, blah blah.
Sorry for ranting.
when will they ever make mice like that for people who use mice with their left hands? That's my frustration with like 90% of the awesome "ergonomic" mice - they're only for the right hand. It's utterly insane.
Actually, I shouldn't be speaking, 2 of my computers are laptops, and I like using the one-button Apple mouse. Unfortunately my favourite mouse is the logitech mx900...
It might seem bad enough to you, but sometimes stuff like this makes you wake up and realize that you might be encountering the same issues..
What people say on the internet is very useful, even if it's taken with a grain of salt, and that's how I realized i had asthma. I thought I was just out of shape, just wheezing and feeling like I was going to pass out for like a year, until one day when I was bored... I made my way to medline, webmd and some forums to see if it was anything in particular. It soon dawned on me that I wasn't really out of shape but more along the lines of something I really didn't even think of. So I went to my doctor, and now I'm happily puffing away at my inhaler and gaining weight because of the advair. If I didn't do that, i wouldn't have known until I was in serious trouble, or decided to ask my doctor about it (which would be after being in serious trouble).
It's not being lazy so much as it is asking for advice from people I suppose he/she can relate to.
I can get one of those DVD players (well at the minimum region free, progressive scan, composite/component video and probably more i cannot think of) for $40, mostly because I had one a few weeks ago.
Of course, I live in Los Angeles and on top of that I know where to get that kind of a DVD player. Trust me, if you had a bunch of region 1, 2, 3 and 4 DVDs, you would know where to look for one too.
Don't expect a place like Fry's or Best Buy to have them. Heh.
everyone knew something like this would happen. its starting to be known. god (that i dont believe in) knows what's going to happen next...a few thousand more votes lost, especially in important swing states?
If we only hear about the minor problems, how many other problems are we not in the know about?
I'm not one who worships conspiracy theories, but what http://blackboxvoting.org/ talks about is entirely possible, on both small and large scales.
Actually, I don't want to know. Better to get the four years out of the way and then elect a more progressive president. (Sorry, but I'm a bit on the liberal side, seeing as how I'm almost everything that current republicans seem to despise and refuse to give rights to.)
http://bugmenot.com/
it should be happening in places like florida and other important/swing states, and all places that use voting machines that are as vulnerable as Diebold's pieces of junk...and this election is so much more important than the 2006 election in california ):
well my boyfriend for one, he lives in los angeles...hehe.
No, just kidding.
Gorgeous girl Mac devs are hard to come by, unfortunately. You might find a gorgeous guy Mac dev one in one of those IRC channels for mac apps though.
But...I meant gorgeous as in stunning, gorgeous as in well-written, gorgeous as in something id easily fall in love with.
...with a few linux and *bsd PCs and such...and windows occasionally...
[opinion]
the one button mouse is okay most of the time. Some programs (ie Shake) will require a mouse with more than one button. Those are rare though, and I think you'll quickly learn how to use control+click as a substitute.
The one upside about the one button mouse is that its great for both people who mouse with their right and left hands. Microsoft mice and such rarely are comfortable for the minority of people who are left handed mousers.
[/opinion]
The one huge bizarre difference between OS X and Windows would be the interface. Application windows won't have menu bars for the most part in each window, the three buttons (close/minimize/shrink) are on opposite sides, the dock is a bigger version of those little icons next to the start menu you can click (forgot what those were called), the menu bar could be considered the less customizable Mac equivalent.
Icons are on the opposite side of the screen (along the right, not the left) generally unless you move the icons, and windows-only wallpaper will be useless.
On the flip side, I find that the Mac community (sans the n00bs) is absolutely wonderful to go to help for, but just make sure to google first. Mac developers and programs for the Mac are absolutely gorgeous. Once in a while you'll come across something that won't quite be the same, like FCP or Blender, but thats rare.
There's also the BSD foundation, which is quite handy. If you're used to working with *BSD or Linux, you'll feel right at home. for development theres the free xcode tools, gcc, et cetera. if you want, there's also gentoo for mac os x (basically just portage), darwinports, and fink to make your life easier
It'll probably take around a week or so to get used to it. But after you switch, you'll wish you could use it all the time (: Good luck, and nice machine.
well, if you're not running servers or anything... :p
i dont see a point to turning these things off - dsl modem, both airport base stations, computers, external drives, cellphone, so what (:
my solution is simply some tape and a post it note...maybe folded once or twice or some electrical tape. LEDs are useful (especially with that airport express and other routers like that), dont remove them or something
they sell the aeron and the mirra both chairs are like the epitome of comfortable chairs and instead of buying another iPod, i'm considering purchasing the Mirra. VERY comfortable, I've worked in Aeron chairs too... they really rock :)
Texas Instruments makes a keyboard compatible with some of their (older) graphing calculators. With their NoteFolio program it cant be too hard to take notes in class with a graphing calculator like the TI-89 and the keyboard. http://education.ti.com/us/product/accessory/keybo ard/features/features.html
regardless of how unstable it is, i am a high school student that is constantly being talked out of even considering double-majoring in (for example) psychology and compsci. I would like to just get my MSc in compsci, nothing wrong with that is there?
/. (like someone before me noted). What frustrates me is how a significant (not the majority, but still big) number of males feel a need to jeer and scoff at members of the opposite sex, believe that their work is inferior to less experienced males and complete bullshite like that. I'm tired of guys who think that they have an innate ability and advantage when it comes to computer science, I'm tired of everyday laymen who think along the lines of "oh she cant possibly show an interest in computers, she's a girl! girls arent supposed to be good at those kinds of things!".
no matter what anyone says, I have gone through people cheering me on or calling me names, and I can tell why not many of my peers are not interested in it at all. I can't care less about the male-oriented attitude in the industry/field/whatever you want to call it. I can't care less about masturbation jokes on
Having gender neutral names on forums and chatrooms also shows how differently people are treated. One minute people assume you are male and they'll respect you and listen to you and all those things. Next moment you tell them you're not a guy, but in fact a gal, they'll virtually ignore you, or treat you different and in a lesser manner because of something you really never had/have/will have any choice over.
Not many treat women with an equal amount of respect as their male counterparts. To those that do, I thank them. Not all girls are uninterested in engineering/technology and their related fields.
you have to know english to sign up for orkut, seeing as how the default invitation and all the questions and boxes to fill in are all in english, as well as the terms of service or whatever else you have to read before signing up. so clearly orkut is a place where everyone can speak english to be understood by most if not all of the members. Orkut, the whole interface, all the features, even the help pages are all 100% english.
most brazilian people i've encountered on orkut are plenty friendly but a noticeable few are downright inane and rude (see posts in community titled "WTF A CRAZY BRAZILIAN INVASION", et cetera), posting in their native tongue in an English-only community, bashing everyone else based on unfounded stereotypes, spamming people with Portuguese messages in a community as diverse as (for example) the Simpsons community with 13000 members and growing - jeez!
The non-English posts outnumber the "plz gimme gmail invite kthx" messages. Crazyness.