Seriously, not a one made it on time. Which isn't a bad thing, but it misses the question:
On-time, (relatively) bug free.
Blizzard has consistently been late on every product offering since Warcraft 2. I am not complaining but to claim their 3 year Dev cycle is adhered to is laughable.
we've been over this but you choose to ignore it:
The price breaks are for promotional specials. Grocery stores have always done this, the only difference is they now want to use cards to track stuff. (whether or not they should be tracking us is non-relevant to your assertion)
The prices are BELOW their normal everyday prices and the goods basket revolves on a weekly basis. Just like it always did. It's an incentive to get more shoppers in the door with the expectation that they're still going to buy goods that are not on sale.
Now if you can back up an assertion that they've upcharged everything and now gouge on all but the promotionals, heck I'll even take an intarweb blog as a beginning of proof, then you've got something.
Otherwise this is just Chicken Little stuff. And we should probably change nicks.
Oracle on the Applications side - anything that is a new release is so full of bugs and unworkable they end up paying the early adopters to implement (in free consultant hours after all is said and done) - it has patchsets galore.
SAP - same thing. Patches and the like are a regular occurrence. TBH I don't know how bad their new releases are in comparison to Oracle, but I'd wager they're on about the same page.
Almost every enterprise level, and every gaming company release buggy packages.
Please name a couple that manage on-time bug-free releases. (or relatively bug free)
No change of subject - this is a price differential associated with a product. Same as the grocery store thang.
Perhaps this is a different card than I'm used to - you're talking about a Kroger/Jewel preferred shopper card, right? Jewel's card don't require an SSN, only a home address and DL number. There's no "approval" process for them anyway. You get your card and you're good to go.
Personally I don't know if I'd consider it a rip-off. It's based on the same logic that existed 10 years ago: there are store specials for different products that are cheaper than the every day price. These specials change on a weekly/daily basis.
The major differential is now you have to be part of the "preferred shopper" club. Again, there's no credit report with this thing. Hell, you can put together totally bogus information and get a card.
But I didn't chime in in a meeting earlier today and I wanted to add something useless to SOME conversation.
And say something about wimmens work. HR told me to stop doing it in the office.
Umm, you opt-in for lower prices.
Or you don't and fail to take advantage of the specials.
Or you do what I do, and tell them "I forgot my card" every time and punch in a fake phone number, thereby taking advantage of the savings without opting in. Hooray!
the entire aisle is ads. Every single product box is designed to be picked up and bought, as the decision to buy is known to be pretty darn close to point of purchase.
Anyway, this sort of thing (the big ads everywhere) won't be happening at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods I'd wager. . . which is where my girlfriend shops anyway.
I don't shop, that's wimmins work. *ducks* I keed, I keed. But I do make her shop or promise not to complain about stuff I bought at Jewel. Her choice.
It's really a determinant of where you are. Here in Ohio and Illinois the strip clubs aren't all that. Standard cock tease, go home and whack off, probably ruin the sheets.
Key West though. . . the only rule is "don't put your fingers in my poon" . . . and they encourage you to squeeze their fake breasts.
I lost hundreds of dollars finding that out, then "experimenting" with the rules. I should have just gone right for the poon and gotten banned for life.
But it never works out that way. Mostly because my field is still very pricey (Oracle Apps) and they just don't believe they should have to pay that much for someone with a comprehensive skillset.
It normally takes them about 6 weeks to discover I'm a competitive rate with the rest of the industry, with broader experience to boot.
Anyway, no sense pissing and moaning about it to you, you have people to hire;)
I've been forced to turn down every single "permanent" position I apply for because it takes the HR dept 6 weeks to get back to me. Then they scratch their heads on why I'm no longer available and won't be for another 6 months until my current contracting position is up.
I just wish they had the same amount of speed/courtesy that they expect their applicants to have. Instead, I feel they are looking for supplicants.
Simply put: I'm great at what I do and am in demand. I'd like to leave contracting because you never get to do really interesting stuff like implement process change and watch a company's IT solution set become world-class. It's all fire-fighting and implementation. Nice, but there's ultimately no ability to build.
Under no circumstances, however, am I going to sit on my butt for 8 weeks hoping the 2 perm positions I applied for will call me back. *shrug*
I'm not sure how the other composites are doing nowadays (Amazing Race, Survivor, Family Makeover) but they don't have to do that well to turn a profit.
Among the intelligensia, sure, reality programming bites it, but we're not the targets.
Fat Tire is a Denver beer.
And I personally don't like it at all. It's bland. Not very hoppy, not very malty. Reminds me of Newcastle - just not much personality in it.
Give me a Bell's any day of the week. Or hell, even a Sierra Nevada. But Fat Tire. . meh. Overhyped and overpriced.
Here's one of the fun things about 2 party politics:
In order to protect their party's status, the party tends to shift left and right according to the "hot issues" and their constituency.
I don't know if you're lib/con but if you look at some of the things MoveOn.org is doing, it's pretty refreshing.
They're funding progressive candidates to challenge incumbent conservative democrats, for starters.
They're doing their fancy little petition things all the time.
They're quite the fund-raising PAC at this point, generating a not-insignificant amount for a PAC, and distributing it to progressive candidates.
Bottom line is the parties tend to shuck and jive to maintain power, and that often means shifting their stances on issues.
Yes, there's corporatism (business welfare has been an issue since we were founded, however)
Yes, there's shenanigans.
But your choices are rather clear:
Throw up your hands in disgust/capitulation and embrace disenfranchisement, ensuring the system will only get worse
OR
Attempt to make a difference. You know, that whole Gandhi thing of "be the change you wish to see in the world". OK maybe that's not a great quote for this application but I really thought Gandhi had nice legs.
1) Honest critique of something he doesn't think would help, as he's honestly a giving guy and attempting to better the world
2) Businessman interested in protecting his market (computing) and preventing the competitors (linux) from gaining a significant foothold in the developing countries.
I'm guessing it's a little bit of a mix between the two; his bias will naturally have him play devil's advocate.
Would like to get in on this down-mod off topic love fest.
Better this than the mods waste their time (and points!) reading things that they might find interesting, insightful, or informative.
I'm on a roll this week, everything I've posted has been down modded. Yet I still have excellent karma. Take that, biches!
Not to mention it will be heavily influenced by what happens in 2006. There's an outside chance that the party majority will flip.
It's not a great chance in the House, gerrymandering has guaranteed that. There's really only about 6-10 seats up for grabs. But, if Dems win all of them, the balance of power flips.
I'd think if that does happen we'll see a lot worse than censure of Bush. I could be wrong, but I'm running off the implication that democrats winning implies they grew a spine and (to borrow from Twisted Sister) they aren't gonna take it anymore. (cue picture of Bush falling into a pool with some sort of grenade glued to his hand, in a cartoony manner not at all like what he's exposed our troops to)
The lack of an incumbent running is actually a great thing for the Dems: it means they have to develop a plan and show why they should be in charge, instead of keying their party line to the "Hey, we're not that guy!" bullshit they tried to pull in 2004. Which failed. (allegations of voter fraud aside - it shouldn't have been close enough for voter fraud to swing it, if the Democrats had been able get serious)
Who knows. The Democratic Party is a lot like being a Mets fan - their division kind of sucks and you see them hovering around or above.500 at the all star break. You think "hey, they have a legitimate chance at the playoffs" and then it all goes to hell.
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, not a one made it on time. Which isn't a bad thing, but it misses the question:
On-time, (relatively) bug free.
Blizzard has consistently been late on every product offering since Warcraft 2. I am not complaining but to claim their 3 year Dev cycle is adhered to is laughable.
The price breaks are for promotional specials. Grocery stores have always done this, the only difference is they now want to use cards to track stuff. (whether or not they should be tracking us is non-relevant to your assertion)
The prices are BELOW their normal everyday prices and the goods basket revolves on a weekly basis. Just like it always did. It's an incentive to get more shoppers in the door with the expectation that they're still going to buy goods that are not on sale.
Now if you can back up an assertion that they've upcharged everything and now gouge on all but the promotionals, heck I'll even take an intarweb blog as a beginning of proof, then you've got something.
Otherwise this is just Chicken Little stuff. And we should probably change nicks.
Oracle on the Applications side - anything that is a new release is so full of bugs and unworkable they end up paying the early adopters to implement (in free consultant hours after all is said and done) - it has patchsets galore.
SAP - same thing. Patches and the like are a regular occurrence. TBH I don't know how bad their new releases are in comparison to Oracle, but I'd wager they're on about the same page.
Almost every enterprise level, and every gaming company release buggy packages.
Please name a couple that manage on-time bug-free releases. (or relatively bug free)
Perhaps this is a different card than I'm used to - you're talking about a Kroger/Jewel preferred shopper card, right? Jewel's card don't require an SSN, only a home address and DL number. There's no "approval" process for them anyway. You get your card and you're good to go.
Personally I don't know if I'd consider it a rip-off. It's based on the same logic that existed 10 years ago: there are store specials for different products that are cheaper than the every day price. These specials change on a weekly/daily basis.
The major differential is now you have to be part of the "preferred shopper" club. Again, there's no credit report with this thing. Hell, you can put together totally bogus information and get a card.
Is also a rip-off?
But I didn't chime in in a meeting earlier today and I wanted to add something useless to SOME conversation.
And say something about wimmens work. HR told me to stop doing it in the office.
Umm, you opt-in for lower prices.
Or you don't and fail to take advantage of the specials.
Or you do what I do, and tell them "I forgot my card" every time and punch in a fake phone number, thereby taking advantage of the savings without opting in. Hooray!
Anyway, this sort of thing (the big ads everywhere) won't be happening at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods I'd wager. . . which is where my girlfriend shops anyway.
I don't shop, that's wimmins work. *ducks* I keed, I keed. But I do make her shop or promise not to complain about stuff I bought at Jewel. Her choice.
Key West though. . . the only rule is "don't put your fingers in my poon" . . . and they encourage you to squeeze their fake breasts. I lost hundreds of dollars finding that out, then "experimenting" with the rules. I should have just gone right for the poon and gotten banned for life.
My mom comes up as an unknown caller, and I have no Mr Smithers to take care of it.
It normally takes them about 6 weeks to discover I'm a competitive rate with the rest of the industry, with broader experience to boot.
Anyway, no sense pissing and moaning about it to you, you have people to hire ;)
I just wish they had the same amount of speed/courtesy that they expect their applicants to have. Instead, I feel they are looking for supplicants.
Simply put: I'm great at what I do and am in demand. I'd like to leave contracting because you never get to do really interesting stuff like implement process change and watch a company's IT solution set become world-class. It's all fire-fighting and implementation. Nice, but there's ultimately no ability to build.
Under no circumstances, however, am I going to sit on my butt for 8 weeks hoping the 2 perm positions I applied for will call me back. *shrug*
My SpeedHack was 4 days, with a valkyrie.
I'm not sure how the other composites are doing nowadays (Amazing Race, Survivor, Family Makeover) but they don't have to do that well to turn a profit.
Among the intelligensia, sure, reality programming bites it, but we're not the targets.
I thought it was still running Internet Explorer?
I always was partial to Curse of the Azure Bonds growing up. And Fallout, naturally.
My tastes changed later and I don't like non-multi ones anymore.
And I personally don't like it at all. It's bland. Not very hoppy, not very malty. Reminds me of Newcastle - just not much personality in it.
Give me a Bell's any day of the week. Or hell, even a Sierra Nevada. But Fat Tire. . meh. Overhyped and overpriced.
Us Chicagoans make it possible for you to even have schools and stuff. You want facts? You came to the wrong place. Da Bears!
In order to protect their party's status, the party tends to shift left and right according to the "hot issues" and their constituency.
I don't know if you're lib/con but if you look at some of the things MoveOn.org is doing, it's pretty refreshing.
They're funding progressive candidates to challenge incumbent conservative democrats, for starters.
They're doing their fancy little petition things all the time.
They're quite the fund-raising PAC at this point, generating a not-insignificant amount for a PAC, and distributing it to progressive candidates.
Bottom line is the parties tend to shuck and jive to maintain power, and that often means shifting their stances on issues.
Yes, there's corporatism (business welfare has been an issue since we were founded, however)
Yes, there's shenanigans.
But your choices are rather clear:
Throw up your hands in disgust/capitulation and embrace disenfranchisement, ensuring the system will only get worse
OR
Attempt to make a difference. You know, that whole Gandhi thing of "be the change you wish to see in the world". OK maybe that's not a great quote for this application but I really thought Gandhi had nice legs.
2) Businessman interested in protecting his market (computing) and preventing the competitors (linux) from gaining a significant foothold in the developing countries.
I'm guessing it's a little bit of a mix between the two; his bias will naturally have him play devil's advocate.
If that isn't a sign of an Intelligent Creator, I don't know what is.
*removes tongue from cheek*
Well, shit.
Taste my sad, Michael.
It could be worse -
I'm a Mets fan AND a Michigan State alum. I'm bitch slapped every sports season of the year.
Would like to get in on this down-mod off topic love fest.
Better this than the mods waste their time (and points!) reading things that they might find interesting, insightful, or informative.
I'm on a roll this week, everything I've posted has been down modded. Yet I still have excellent karma. Take that, biches!
Not to mention it will be heavily influenced by what happens in 2006. There's an outside chance that the party majority will flip.
It's not a great chance in the House, gerrymandering has guaranteed that. There's really only about 6-10 seats up for grabs. But, if Dems win all of them, the balance of power flips.
I'd think if that does happen we'll see a lot worse than censure of Bush. I could be wrong, but I'm running off the implication that democrats winning implies they grew a spine and (to borrow from Twisted Sister) they aren't gonna take it anymore. (cue picture of Bush falling into a pool with some sort of grenade glued to his hand, in a cartoony manner not at all like what he's exposed our troops to)
The lack of an incumbent running is actually a great thing for the Dems: it means they have to develop a plan and show why they should be in charge, instead of keying their party line to the "Hey, we're not that guy!" bullshit they tried to pull in 2004. Which failed. (allegations of voter fraud aside - it shouldn't have been close enough for voter fraud to swing it, if the Democrats had been able get serious)
Who knows. The Democratic Party is a lot like being a Mets fan - their division kind of sucks and you see them hovering around or above .500 at the all star break. You think "hey, they have a legitimate chance at the playoffs" and then it all goes to hell.