Price. They're significantly more expensive than a CRT, and a good bit more than a flatscreen LCD display. That being said, I'm currently shopping for touchscreens for our store right now.
Does overwhelming force indicate cowardice? Or does it indicate a winning strategy?
Winning what, exactly? What was the point of Iraq? Last I checked, every single intelligence agency on the planet said that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11... so what is going to be won, exactly? But then, that's what real life bullies do, too. They may be mad at somebody or something completely unrelated, but rest assured, they find the easiest targets to go after and attempt to use overwhelming force.
Call me nuts... but what do these things have in common? Why in the hell would somebody want this? You're listening to music, you have an incoming call... and then what? You can't talk to somebody and listen to music at the same time. You have a device that is much more expensive and complicated than it needs to be. Similarly, I had to go into Best Buy a few months ago to help out a friend, and they had this refrigerator WITH A TV EMBEDDED IN THE DOOR. Who buys this shit? Seriously. I want to know names! They have entirely too much money, and I could use some!
If the WTC were rebuilt tomorrow, it would be a bulls-eye.
I think that you're really underestimating the intelligence of the terrorists. With so many other, large, unfortified targets, why in the hell would they try to hit that target again? American security is like a wall holding back water that's leaky as hell (due in part to US foreign policy). the US gov't plugs one hole an unbelievable amount (I can only begin to imagine the security around the new WTC), and says, "Well, that's that". In reality, there are tons and tons of other, much easier targets that will be hit for a long, long time.
You're exactly right. The thing is, basic psychology says that "bullies" are bullies because they are actually very, very scared people. So I agree completely. It's just that, as you pointed out, a massive, overwhelming use of unwarranted force doesn't prove bravery, but the exact opposite.
Iraq would look like a playground. The US would level it and make it the 52nd state (behind Canada).
Of course the US would. They wouldn't work it out. They wouldn't single out the offenders. They wouldn't try to get to the root of the problem. They'd kill every living thing because hey, you never know... KIDS could be terrorists! The US public is terrified. Why do you think Bush got elected? It wasn't for his intellect or his diplomacy. It was because his administration preyed on fear. He repeated his "We will kill all of them them" lines to cheering crowds everywhere. Yeah. Hit a 3rd world nation with massive firepower. Yeah. That's real brave.
American society didn't fall apart after Pearl Harbor.
No, not at all. But the Consitution certainly did. Remember the Japanese internment camps. Americans have become a country of real wimps (I'm embarassed to say).
I like the way the reviewer (and the book, apparently) say that Americans are pussies:
One significant difference between Israel and America is demonstrated by the way Israeli citizens deal psychologically with terrorism. In an interview with financial consultant Danny Halpern, Carrison asks how many people would rent office space in the World Trade Center in New York City, were it completely rebuilt and reopened tomorrow. Halpern doubts the World Trade Center would have the same occupancy level as before 9/11. But he notes that in Israel, office are repopulated after they are bombed, and customers frequent bombed cafes and restaurants as soon as they are repaired.
I am a movie *freak*, and I play all of my movies (and games and music, for that part), through my super-schweet modded PS2. I know that as long as people are modding boxes like the PS2, that adding in a workaround to silly copy protection like this would be very very simple (since they already allow you to play any DVD movie, original or backup, from any region, any PS2 or PS1 game, original or backup, and any music CD). There will ALWAYS be an easy way around this. When is the industry going to learn...?
Remember, people weren't exactly rational at that time.
Unfortunately, I don't think that things are any better. The public is now completely ignorant about what the US gov't does behind closed doors, and that's now accepted as normal. I used to be angry about it, but now I'm resigned to that being normal for this country now. Personally, I'm working to make enough to retire, then I'll leave and never come back. It's already too far gone.
What in the hell is this article about, exactly? The articles are unclear, at best. There's nothing about a government clampdown on free speech (which is what the first amendment is about). Who are these companies, and what do they do? Slashdot's editorial ability (not that it was ever good) is just getting worse.
I've said it before... Yahoo has done single sign in, and they've done it well without being abusive. Why MSN couldn't compete, I have no idea (since I never used their stuff). With Yahoo, it's all tied together relatively seamlessly, with extra security when you go to buy stuff. But with one sign in, you can get customized mail (of course), weather, financial info, news, message boards (Yahoo Groups), bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. So it's not that it can't be done and done well.
It does. Slashdot has a tiny fraction of the traffic of something like Amazon, a much, much simpler database, isn't mission critical, and goes down more than a $20 whore in Vegas. So, I'm not sure what your point would be...
It's funny you say that... I just got finished reading some article (CNN, I think), in which a tourist said that she was surprised that after the waves, the area where she was staying no longer stank of sewage. She was shocked at how clean it smelled. That struck me as very fitting...
I use Spamvampire almost constantly. It works great. It sucks up their bandwidth, and while it doesn't DOS them, it does make the business of spam a hell of a lot less financially viable. I regularly pound on spammer sites (the sites actually selling the garbage) for a few days, then the site dies. Now, there's no way to know if it's because these sites are only designed to be live for a week or so at a time, or if I really am hitting them in the pocketbook, but I'd like to think that it works. At the VERY least, it makes me feel better knowing that somebody is going to be very shocked when they see their bandwith bill at the end of the month. And, the info that the guy who wrote the SmapVampire scripts concerning the 97% billing is very true, so the results he describes are actually quite realistic.
In fact, I'm about $200/month less than I need to maintain my lifestyle.
While I applaud your honesty, is this lifestyle really one that should be expected, given the state of the world? That's one thing that is going to fuck US consumers: The expectation of a certain level of lifestyle that is so far and above how most of the rest of the planet lives that it's ridiculous. Now, I'm not one to throw stones. I've got a maid, and I go out for a drink or two every night. Granted, I know that that is excessive (I don't have other luxuries like cable TV, etc), and if push comes to shove, they're both gone. I'm very grateful to be able to (barely) afford those things, but I in no way expect them, or feel that I'm entitled to them, and I certainly will not go any further into debt because of them. If I have to, I could be relatively content living much leaner than I do, and I have in the past.
Ok. I agree that the excessive outsourcing going on is, well, excessive. HOWEVER, this book is about knowledge based industry people. People with college degrees, and relatively comfortable lifestyles. Worst case scenario: move overseas. Buy a plane ticket, and move. Big deal.
I truly feel bad for all of the people made destitute by the manufacturing industries leaving the US. These are people that are mostly not college educated, and often not even high school educated. These are people living hand to mouth, as their families have been for generations. These people are the ones getting fucked. They can't just get online, buy a plane ticket, and move to Asia for a job.
So while it's too bad that so much outsourcing is happening so quickly, I find it hard to feel bad for information type people when there are millions of truly poor people in the US who are much worse off.
Am I just sick, or do other people find the possibility of this thing hitting to be pretty damn exciting? The chaos, the devestation, the panic, the collapse of all social systems... jeez, that would honestly be one of the coolest (And last) things to ever happen in most of our lives. The timeframe is nice too... many of us that are currently in our late 20's, early 30's will be wiped out before things start going really downhill for us (physically), but we'll have enough time to get a decent bit of fun stuff done too. Bring it on!
A lack of privacy is simply one of the small concessions that people must make when living in a society. There is no way to have anywhere close to absolute privacy while living in a modern society. Period. If you want that much privacy, you can easily find a remote corner of the world to live in.
Which is different exactly how from the insane amount of time learning and dicking around with Windows trying to get it to work properly?
Ummm.... no. I install Windows. Everything works. I install Linux, and half of the very, very generic hardware we have doesn't work, and you have to start looking through fucking newgroup messages to find the answers. I haven't had to do that with Windows since NT 3.51.
And I'll be 55. That's the perfect age for a giant humanity-ending disaster. It's all downhill after that, so why not go out with a bang? Personally, I'm hoping it hits! Now where are those cigarettes?
You still have to spend an insane amount of time keeping everything updated to combat the threat of the day and even that won't stop all the crap. It's insane. Get off Windows.
As opposed to the insane amount of time learning and dicking around with Linux trying to get it to work properly? Or what about the tens thousands needed to pay programmers to develop Linux based apps that simply don't exist yet?
Your assumption that every (or even most) computer users simply email, surf the web, and print up pretty documents is wrong at best. Linux is not even remotely a possiblity for me and my business because we use apps that are not available (or even good counterparts) for Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
Price. They're significantly more expensive than a CRT, and a good bit more than a flatscreen LCD display. That being said, I'm currently shopping for touchscreens for our store right now.
Does overwhelming force indicate cowardice? Or does it indicate a winning strategy?
Winning what, exactly? What was the point of Iraq? Last I checked, every single intelligence agency on the planet said that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11... so what is going to be won, exactly? But then, that's what real life bullies do, too. They may be mad at somebody or something completely unrelated, but rest assured, they find the easiest targets to go after and attempt to use overwhelming force.
Call me nuts... but what do these things have in common? Why in the hell would somebody want this? You're listening to music, you have an incoming call... and then what? You can't talk to somebody and listen to music at the same time. You have a device that is much more expensive and complicated than it needs to be. Similarly, I had to go into Best Buy a few months ago to help out a friend, and they had this refrigerator WITH A TV EMBEDDED IN THE DOOR. Who buys this shit? Seriously. I want to know names! They have entirely too much money, and I could use some!
If the WTC were rebuilt tomorrow, it would be a bulls-eye.
I think that you're really underestimating the intelligence of the terrorists. With so many other, large, unfortified targets, why in the hell would they try to hit that target again? American security is like a wall holding back water that's leaky as hell (due in part to US foreign policy). the US gov't plugs one hole an unbelievable amount (I can only begin to imagine the security around the new WTC), and says, "Well, that's that". In reality, there are tons and tons of other, much easier targets that will be hit for a long, long time.
You're exactly right. The thing is, basic psychology says that "bullies" are bullies because they are actually very, very scared people. So I agree completely. It's just that, as you pointed out, a massive, overwhelming use of unwarranted force doesn't prove bravery, but the exact opposite.
Iraq would look like a playground. The US would level it and make it the 52nd state (behind Canada).
Of course the US would. They wouldn't work it out. They wouldn't single out the offenders. They wouldn't try to get to the root of the problem. They'd kill every living thing because hey, you never know... KIDS could be terrorists! The US public is terrified. Why do you think Bush got elected? It wasn't for his intellect or his diplomacy. It was because his administration preyed on fear. He repeated his "We will kill all of them them" lines to cheering crowds everywhere. Yeah. Hit a 3rd world nation with massive firepower. Yeah. That's real brave.
American society didn't fall apart after Pearl Harbor.
No, not at all. But the Consitution certainly did. Remember the Japanese internment camps. Americans have become a country of real wimps (I'm embarassed to say).
I like the way the reviewer (and the book, apparently) say that Americans are pussies:
One significant difference between Israel and America is demonstrated by the way Israeli citizens deal psychologically with terrorism. In an interview with financial consultant Danny Halpern, Carrison asks how many people would rent office space in the World Trade Center in New York City, were it completely rebuilt and reopened tomorrow. Halpern doubts the World Trade Center would have the same occupancy level as before 9/11. But he notes that in Israel, office are repopulated after they are bombed, and customers frequent bombed cafes and restaurants as soon as they are repaired.
I tend to agree (and yes, I'm an American).
I am a movie *freak*, and I play all of my movies (and games and music, for that part), through my super-schweet modded PS2. I know that as long as people are modding boxes like the PS2, that adding in a workaround to silly copy protection like this would be very very simple (since they already allow you to play any DVD movie, original or backup, from any region, any PS2 or PS1 game, original or backup, and any music CD). There will ALWAYS be an easy way around this. When is the industry going to learn...?
Remember, people weren't exactly rational at that time.
Unfortunately, I don't think that things are any better. The public is now completely ignorant about what the US gov't does behind closed doors, and that's now accepted as normal. I used to be angry about it, but now I'm resigned to that being normal for this country now. Personally, I'm working to make enough to retire, then I'll leave and never come back. It's already too far gone.
What in the hell is this article about, exactly? The articles are unclear, at best. There's nothing about a government clampdown on free speech (which is what the first amendment is about). Who are these companies, and what do they do? Slashdot's editorial ability (not that it was ever good) is just getting worse.
I've said it before... Yahoo has done single sign in, and they've done it well without being abusive. Why MSN couldn't compete, I have no idea (since I never used their stuff). With Yahoo, it's all tied together relatively seamlessly, with extra security when you go to buy stuff. But with one sign in, you can get customized mail (of course), weather, financial info, news, message boards (Yahoo Groups), bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. So it's not that it can't be done and done well.
It does. Slashdot has a tiny fraction of the traffic of something like Amazon, a much, much simpler database, isn't mission critical, and goes down more than a $20 whore in Vegas. So, I'm not sure what your point would be...
It's funny you say that... I just got finished reading some article (CNN, I think), in which a tourist said that she was surprised that after the waves, the area where she was staying no longer stank of sewage. She was shocked at how clean it smelled. That struck me as very fitting...
I'd like to point out that Amazon DOES NOT use MySQL before the MySQL kiddies say "see, it can scale!"
I use Spamvampire almost constantly. It works great. It sucks up their bandwidth, and while it doesn't DOS them, it does make the business of spam a hell of a lot less financially viable. I regularly pound on spammer sites (the sites actually selling the garbage) for a few days, then the site dies. Now, there's no way to know if it's because these sites are only designed to be live for a week or so at a time, or if I really am hitting them in the pocketbook, but I'd like to think that it works. At the VERY least, it makes me feel better knowing that somebody is going to be very shocked when they see their bandwith bill at the end of the month. And, the info that the guy who wrote the SmapVampire scripts concerning the 97% billing is very true, so the results he describes are actually quite realistic.
In fact, I'm about $200/month less than I need to maintain my lifestyle.
While I applaud your honesty, is this lifestyle really one that should be expected, given the state of the world? That's one thing that is going to fuck US consumers: The expectation of a certain level of lifestyle that is so far and above how most of the rest of the planet lives that it's ridiculous. Now, I'm not one to throw stones. I've got a maid, and I go out for a drink or two every night. Granted, I know that that is excessive (I don't have other luxuries like cable TV, etc), and if push comes to shove, they're both gone. I'm very grateful to be able to (barely) afford those things, but I in no way expect them, or feel that I'm entitled to them, and I certainly will not go any further into debt because of them. If I have to, I could be relatively content living much leaner than I do, and I have in the past.
Ok. I agree that the excessive outsourcing going on is, well, excessive. HOWEVER, this book is about knowledge based industry people. People with college degrees, and relatively comfortable lifestyles. Worst case scenario: move overseas. Buy a plane ticket, and move. Big deal.
I truly feel bad for all of the people made destitute by the manufacturing industries leaving the US. These are people that are mostly not college educated, and often not even high school educated. These are people living hand to mouth, as their families have been for generations. These people are the ones getting fucked. They can't just get online, buy a plane ticket, and move to Asia for a job.
So while it's too bad that so much outsourcing is happening so quickly, I find it hard to feel bad for information type people when there are millions of truly poor people in the US who are much worse off.
C'mon.... Since when have the wealthy been effected by natural disasters? The poor people living in shacks are the ones you should be worried about.
Am I just sick, or do other people find the possibility of this thing hitting to be pretty damn exciting? The chaos, the devestation, the panic, the collapse of all social systems... jeez, that would honestly be one of the coolest (And last) things to ever happen in most of our lives. The timeframe is nice too... many of us that are currently in our late 20's, early 30's will be wiped out before things start going really downhill for us (physically), but we'll have enough time to get a decent bit of fun stuff done too. Bring it on!
It's Crimbo. Slow day. They figured that nobody would notice.
A lack of privacy is simply one of the small concessions that people must make when living in a society. There is no way to have anywhere close to absolute privacy while living in a modern society. Period. If you want that much privacy, you can easily find a remote corner of the world to live in.
Which is different exactly how from the insane amount of time learning and dicking around with Windows trying to get it to work properly?
Ummm.... no. I install Windows. Everything works. I install Linux, and half of the very, very generic hardware we have doesn't work, and you have to start looking through fucking newgroup messages to find the answers. I haven't had to do that with Windows since NT 3.51.
And I'll be 55. That's the perfect age for a giant humanity-ending disaster. It's all downhill after that, so why not go out with a bang? Personally, I'm hoping it hits! Now where are those cigarettes?
You still have to spend an insane amount of time keeping everything updated to combat the threat of the day and even that won't stop all the crap. It's insane. Get off Windows.
As opposed to the insane amount of time learning and dicking around with Linux trying to get it to work properly? Or what about the tens thousands needed to pay programmers to develop Linux based apps that simply don't exist yet?
Your assumption that every (or even most) computer users simply email, surf the web, and print up pretty documents is wrong at best. Linux is not even remotely a possiblity for me and my business because we use apps that are not available (or even good counterparts) for Linux.