Mindstorm is a perfect example of the problem. They had a $200 set, and once you bought it, there wasn't any hook to make you buy more. So no one did. It didn't matter that they made huge profit on that $200 set that would have probably been more like $20 to create. If you aren't continuing to buy, then they failed.
Geez, with businesses and people both thinking like this, it's no wonder we can't get anything anymore without a 2 year contract with DRM and a penalty for buying something else.
Why do we have to turn everything in to a time limited, disposable, keep repurchasing nightmare? Mindstorms failed because as you said, it took $20 to make and cost $200 -- they sold it above the price point the market was willing and able to bear. No one wants to pay 1000% markup.
Sell your quality products like Mindstorms at a reasonable price and they will fly off the shelves, its Christmas even. The typical price point is somewhere in the $35-50 range these days for most things (a video game, a couple of CDs, etc..) and I imagine most parents would be happier giving quality legos than 50 Cent and Grand Theft Auto.
You seem to have fallen prey to the alpha geek mentality. The implication of your post amounts to:
"It works for me. If it doesn't work for you, you must be stupid".
No, it doesn't. The OP made a claim, I provided a counterexample, that's all. You may be correct, that some, or even many, might require a floppy disk, but it is not all.
This is the same logic commonly used in discussion about P2P Software and networking protocols. The Slashdot Community (which may or may not in this instance share the same view as yourself) is always ready to reply that P2P helps them get their Linux ISOs faster and at less cost to the host which is almost always a non-profit organization. In that case, they have made one example to the **AA-driven crusade that all P2P must be banned because it is only used for piracy. Again, Some or even most of P2P traffic may indeed be copyright violations; but a single legit use proves the claim of the **AA invalid.
btw, if you're the R K Callaghan i think you are i know where you live;)
That just might be the creepiest reply I've ever gotten on Slashdot. Though, all the same, feel free to send your guess to my userid at gmail.com:)
~Rebecca
If you indend to install Microsoft Windows to a SATA drive you must install the drivers from a floppy disk.
This got modded up solely because it says something bad about Windows.
I personally have a recently (well, a year ago, I know that is a lifetime in the computing world.) built machine that contains a SATA drive and I installed Windows flawlessly without anything other than the legit Windows install CD.
Relavent System Stats:
Proc: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
HD: Seagate Barracuda SATA 150 (Model: ST3250823AS)
SW: Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition
There isn't a floppy drive in the whole house, and it didn't take any goofy net configuration or reburning the disc, either.
Parent: You actually don't need a Media Center PC. There is software freely available from Microsoft called Windows Media Connect, which will allow you to stream media from a PC to an Xbox 360.
Um, even with the free software, in your own words, don't I need a "PC"?
Is my Personal Computer running Linux, BSD, or OS X sufficient? How about my antiquitated Compaq with a dial up modem, Windows 98, and a 350 MHz Pentium?
Ohh, it isn't? Well then, wouldn't I have to buy something special? Not even a modern machine with a new Windows license? Or a NIC for the Win98 Compaq?
Being a Libertarian myself (Registered, Active Voter and Supporter), I must respectfully disagree regarding your "yes" answer on taxes.
I hate taxes as much as the next person. I will also grant you that in our country, and in probably most if not all communities, taxation has degraded in to "popular mob theft"; as the resources are misspent and the population is locked in by outside forces (corporate slavery).
However, in its pure form, an individual member of a community may not have voted for a particular tax; but they have their implicit agreement to the other members of the community -- In order to gain the benefits of being a part of this community, I have agreed to honor the system of the community itself, and that means going along with votes I don't like, or I can leave. Thus taxation is not theft when the taxed are able to leave the community.
As I mentioned though before, in our country, few are really able to leave their communities (whether it be corporate slavery, international working visas, or civil war fallout not allowing states to leave their community either).
Yes, yes, this requires secret receipts for votes, and tax levies become a bit complex, but hey, that's what computers are for.
No anonymous system can ever allow any form of reciept without losing that anonyminity(sp?). The way you describe it seems to indicate you're already aware of secret voting issues; but for those that need it spelled out for them:
Thug: Vote for Quimby, or I'll kill your kids.
You: Okay, I voted for Quimby.
Thug: Show me your secret reciept.
You: No.
Thug: *BANG*
Feel free to replace thugs with any other power that be that fits your vision of "what could really happen"; but if you don't think vote coercion is a possibility at all, my post isn't going to help you regardless.
I live in Arizona, where we have a rather large illegal immigrant problem. While there is no "program" that I know of, in reality what happens is if you are here illegally, you get treated as if you were fully insured. Then the hospital sends the bill to the government, and they pay it with our tax dollars. It's one of those crazy things that came out of several court cases and existing laws where the hospital can't turn you in, due to doctor/patient privledge, and they can't send you a bill because you're "not here", and they can't turn you away if you say you'll pay (even if both the doctor and the patient know they're bullshitting). So hospitals complained and now the government pays for it, since its "their fault" both for failing in their border-guarding duties and for the convoluted court case mess that created the situation at the hospital.
Denver sounds like a nice place right about now:) Sadly if gas prices were sane I could probably have driven to denver and paid $5 or $20 and it'd be better.
I am a good person and just can't bring myself to go "lie about it" and ask them to send me a huge bill I know I don't have a chance in hell of paying, and ruining my credit, thus endangering my ability to get housing loans while I am in school (different from the stafford loans, which don't pay out nearly enough to cover room and board).
No, but when you add up the $100,000+ treatment costs of the millions of uninsured Americans who do get cancer that the government pays... well, guess what? Billions of dollars.
I am a full time student and uninsured. I pay my taxes, in full, on time, every year. I am an American Citizen and have been for all of my 25 years on this earth. I have no criminal record of any kind.
My foot is currently broken, and I believe I have established that I am both 'uninsured' and an 'American' (one in good standing, too). I do not have the resources to pay for X-Rays, Doctors, a Cast, or possible therapy. How can I get the government to pay for my treatment?
Oh yea, I can't, because we're the only country in the world where our government sponsored healthcare only helps non-Americans, such as illegal immigrants and Iraqis. I've tried, I can't get shit for myself. I would be more than happy for you to prove me wrong, because a cast really would be nice.
1$ is a small price to pay to spread their wings like this. Google has the branding for their website, of which google has become a household term in the American language. They support IE for its massive install base, but I think its pretty clear Google wants its own software, and who can blame them!
Google makes stuff good enough you actually want it. Are you listening, Linux on the Desktop Zealots? Half of all articles on/. talk about how Linux is "oh so close", and has been for years. In that time, I've been a linux supporter, I have a linux machine -- but now all my machines look more like Google machines than Linux or Windows. See the comparison here too with iPod/iTunes? Apple made a player that you would actually want, and sold music in a format you would actually want.
Here's my question, do lawmakers really know enough about WiFi security and firewalls to write a coherent law requiring this?
That's never stopped them before. I'd draw the parallel between certain aspects of "War on Drugs" laws that have left lawyers and lobbyists dictating how to treat cancer patients while doctors pay boatloads in malpractice insurance to cover the inevitable failure to treat someone and spend half of their training time not studying how to treat patients, but how to do so legally.
If you were up to no good is an open AP the way to do it?
The short answer, YES.
The long answer, if its not a honeypot and you can evade physical detection, YES. The former may be harder to detect on the fly, but the latter is as simple as hiding in plain sight in the parking lot of an apartment complex or frat house.
Uh huh. A gaming machine that doesn't run Windows? Or are they just yo ho ho pirates at Tom's and expecting everyone to be loading it up from the bootleg.iso of Windows XP Corporate Edition that 'everybody' has in their shoebox of warez?
Oh, and I know they only cost $20 sans P/S but they also forgot a case. Idiots.
While I realize it was bad form not to mention it directly; neither of those items is exactly rare in the typical Tom's reader's closet. I've got a few legit Windows licenses and extra chassis. They're aren't hard to come by.
This typo completely changes the point of the comment, so it's worth correcting here.
This isn't a small lawsuit either. MP3.com wants $175 million.
Here's the relavent quote from the original article:
The suit, MP3.com Inc. v. Cooley Godward, 266625, says MP3.com has paid out in excess of $175 million in settlements, judgments and legal fees.
I thought the same things probably everyone else did, wondering if that was sarcasm or MP3.com being silly; so I actually looked (holy shit someone RTFLink on/.)
This is supposed to mean what? That it's a good thing because it's happening already?
It's part of a circular logic error that is responsible for most undesireable things taking root. It goes a little something like this:
The first time it happens: "This will get [ignored and driven out of the market] / [shot down by a higher court] / [etc], we don't need to worry about it".
The second-infinite times: "Newsflash, where were you, this has been happening for years! There's no going back now!".
To name rocks, I mean? Ones that are smaller than, say, a city block?
I'm sure we won't be the first culture to 'discover' an area and start out with many small and localized names and eventually end up with a few that are still with us. And people throughout history have been naming ares smaller than what we consider a city block. (Like say, some hypothetical area in colonial england called "The Old Farm")
Likely, most of these names will become temporary scientific community jargon, and eventually replaced by something more serious than naming a local hill after a music club.
I do expect a few will stick though and it'd be interesting to see how the "telephone game" affects the history behind the more comical names that stuck.
You know people, not getting what you want IMMEDIATELY isn't a bad thing.
Taken independantly, your sentiment is certainly valid. Taken in the context of the article, on Slashdot, again it's alright -- the slashdot crowd more than most other cliques can tend to wait (or pirate it, and face it, lots of slashdotters do).
But for most people, movies do need to be seen relatively soon as they come out. It's all about water cooler chitchat, and last years or last seasons movies don't cut it.
This should really be taken to heart too -- Slashdot is filled with guys that can't socialize (and hence, get dates). To some degree, that is affected by an inability to realize that if someone asks you about the latest movie; they're trying to start a conversation -- not looking to get preached to about the evil movie industry.
Personally, I got to use Opera at my last job (I've since gone back to school) and not Firefox because my boss was a classic PHB, and wouldn't allow any of that "freeware junk" on the company systems. But since I could buy Opera, it was all good.
Rather than do the usual slashdot "Science is EViL" thing, why not really think about the potential here...
I'm pretty sure you got modded up just because you insulted Slashdot, which is so ironic it's stupid.
Not only is Slashdot usually quite excited about new scientific discoveries, at the time of your post there is only one overarcing concern among the other posts -- That the drug if successful would lead to futher destruction of our already overworked lives. This isn't "Science is EViL" it's "Corporations are EViL, and pointing the starvation gun at our heads already saying 'WORK more!' ".
~Rebecca
PS-- For futher irony, mod me up for insulting a mod.
Linda *is* a female (Was: Re: One of ...)
on
V For Vendetta Trailer
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Grow up?
One of the W brothers wants to be a woman. Don't you find that a little odd/disgusting/unstable?
If you don't, maybe you should grow up!
Wrong. One of the Wachowski's is a woman, and her name is Linda. Despite what you've seen on Jerry Springer, genuine intersexed and transgendered conditions do in fact exist, and they have nothing to do with "wants".
Some keywords for your Google searches: Gender Identity Disorder, Klinefelter's Syndrome, Intersexed, and probably many others.
Perhaps, AC, you should grow up and realize modern science and medicine has long past the point where gender is a binary designation. I thought about trying to explain the genetic information, but chances are you aren't reading and anyone that is going to mod me up is already aware of the distinction.
On Thursday this week, I went in to a local Staples store, found a desk and a chair that I liked. I went ahead and ordered it.
A nice man helped me get it all set up for delivery, and gave me the information on some people that can assemble it for me. Wonderful. He says they can email me a delivery time estimate, and that he knows personally they don't sell it or anything like that, so no spam even from them. Very cool.
Yesterday I get a call on my cell, its the delivery guy at my apartment and the managers office won't take delivery or let him in (even at my request) to drop off my stuff. The delivery guy is very friendly, especially considering he's gonna have to come back. He gives me the number I can call to reschedule.
I'm dreading this call. Ohhhhh gawd I think, I'm gonna have to talk to some phone jockey retard who couldn't care less about helping me. So I call. It asks me if I want English or Spanish. BEEP! For a moment, I start to groan to myself as the customer service hoop jumping is about to begin. Wait? What's this? Hello? Holy smokes! A live person, right away! He's friendly and asks me for my name and whats wrong before my order number. He tells me he's going to have to get someone from another department. My stomach sinks again, oh junk, here we go, its the run around. I get about a minute of hold music, and then, woah wait a minute, its the same guy! He's doing a warm/live transfer, and the new guy already has all my info and knows my situation! WOW!
The new guy is friendly too, he gets me set up for a new delivery time, and we part ways.
What's the moral of this story? I mean you'd think it sounded pretty plain. These days, it doesn't. I've come to expect to be punted, lied to, have to jump through 3 dozen hoops until I yell at a manager, just to get the simplest requests past the call center guys that are paid to reduce the amount of customers that want stuff that costs the company more money. Treat me right, give me a little customer service with no bullshit, don't get in arguements with me over who's fault it was I didn't get the email, answer the phone when I call, don't cold dump/punt me, and I am now a Staples customer for life (or at least until they go down the shitty customer service is cheaper route).
Slashdot Mirror
Mindstorm is a perfect example of the problem. They had a $200 set, and once you bought it, there wasn't any hook to make you buy more. So no one did. It didn't matter that they made huge profit on that $200 set that would have probably been more like $20 to create. If you aren't continuing to buy, then they failed.
Geez, with businesses and people both thinking like this, it's no wonder we can't get anything anymore without a 2 year contract with DRM and a penalty for buying something else.
Why do we have to turn everything in to a time limited, disposable, keep repurchasing nightmare? Mindstorms failed because as you said, it took $20 to make and cost $200 -- they sold it above the price point the market was willing and able to bear. No one wants to pay 1000% markup.
Sell your quality products like Mindstorms at a reasonable price and they will fly off the shelves, its Christmas even. The typical price point is somewhere in the $35-50 range these days for most things (a video game, a couple of CDs, etc..) and I imagine most parents would be happier giving quality legos than 50 Cent and Grand Theft Auto.
~Rebecca
But what exactly was unethical about lab workers also being donors in the first place?
~Rebecca
To an end user, what is there to tout so that they can be 'more convinced' than when the 1.0 marketing first came around?
Coca-Cola hasn't changed its formula since the famous fiasco in the 80s; but that doesn't mean they need to stop promoting the product.
~Rebecca
You seem to have fallen prey to the alpha geek mentality. The implication of your post amounts to:
"It works for me. If it doesn't work for you, you must be stupid".
No, it doesn't. The OP made a claim, I provided a counterexample, that's all. You may be correct, that some, or even many, might require a floppy disk, but it is not all.
This is the same logic commonly used in discussion about P2P Software and networking protocols. The Slashdot Community (which may or may not in this instance share the same view as yourself) is always ready to reply that P2P helps them get their Linux ISOs faster and at less cost to the host which is almost always a non-profit organization. In that case, they have made one example to the **AA-driven crusade that all P2P must be banned because it is only used for piracy. Again, Some or even most of P2P traffic may indeed be copyright violations; but a single legit use proves the claim of the **AA invalid.
~Rebecca
btw, if you're the R K Callaghan i think you are i know where you live ;)
:)
~Rebecca
That just might be the creepiest reply I've ever gotten on Slashdot. Though, all the same, feel free to send your guess to my userid at gmail.com
If you indend to install Microsoft Windows to a SATA drive you must install the drivers from a floppy disk.
This got modded up solely because it says something bad about Windows.
I personally have a recently (well, a year ago, I know that is a lifetime in the computing world.) built machine that contains a SATA drive and I installed Windows flawlessly without anything other than the legit Windows install CD.
Relavent System Stats:
Proc: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
HD: Seagate Barracuda SATA 150 (Model: ST3250823AS)
SW: Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition
There isn't a floppy drive in the whole house, and it didn't take any goofy net configuration or reburning the disc, either.
~Rebecca
Mod Parent (-1, Missed the Boat)
Parent: You actually don't need a Media Center PC. There is software freely available from Microsoft called Windows Media Connect, which will allow you to stream media from a PC to an Xbox 360.
Um, even with the free software, in your own words, don't I need a "PC"?
Is my Personal Computer running Linux, BSD, or OS X sufficient? How about my antiquitated Compaq with a dial up modem, Windows 98, and a 350 MHz Pentium?
Ohh, it isn't? Well then, wouldn't I have to buy something special? Not even a modern machine with a new Windows license? Or a NIC for the Win98 Compaq?
~Rebecca
This is a tangent, but I wanted to reply to you.
Being a Libertarian myself (Registered, Active Voter and Supporter), I must respectfully disagree regarding your "yes" answer on taxes.
I hate taxes as much as the next person. I will also grant you that in our country, and in probably most if not all communities, taxation has degraded in to "popular mob theft"; as the resources are misspent and the population is locked in by outside forces (corporate slavery).
However, in its pure form, an individual member of a community may not have voted for a particular tax; but they have their implicit agreement to the other members of the community -- In order to gain the benefits of being a part of this community, I have agreed to honor the system of the community itself, and that means going along with votes I don't like, or I can leave. Thus taxation is not theft when the taxed are able to leave the community.
As I mentioned though before, in our country, few are really able to leave their communities (whether it be corporate slavery, international working visas, or civil war fallout not allowing states to leave their community either).
~Rebecca
Yes, yes, this requires secret receipts for votes, and tax levies become a bit complex, but hey, that's what computers are for.
No anonymous system can ever allow any form of reciept without losing that anonyminity(sp?). The way you describe it seems to indicate you're already aware of secret voting issues; but for those that need it spelled out for them:
Thug: Vote for Quimby, or I'll kill your kids.
You: Okay, I voted for Quimby.
Thug: Show me your secret reciept.
You: No.
Thug: *BANG*
Feel free to replace thugs with any other power that be that fits your vision of "what could really happen"; but if you don't think vote coercion is a possibility at all, my post isn't going to help you regardless.
~Rebecca
I live in Arizona, where we have a rather large illegal immigrant problem. While there is no "program" that I know of, in reality what happens is if you are here illegally, you get treated as if you were fully insured. Then the hospital sends the bill to the government, and they pay it with our tax dollars. It's one of those crazy things that came out of several court cases and existing laws where the hospital can't turn you in, due to doctor/patient privledge, and they can't send you a bill because you're "not here", and they can't turn you away if you say you'll pay (even if both the doctor and the patient know they're bullshitting). So hospitals complained and now the government pays for it, since its "their fault" both for failing in their border-guarding duties and for the convoluted court case mess that created the situation at the hospital.
:) Sadly if gas prices were sane I could probably have driven to denver and paid $5 or $20 and it'd be better.
Denver sounds like a nice place right about now
I am a good person and just can't bring myself to go "lie about it" and ask them to send me a huge bill I know I don't have a chance in hell of paying, and ruining my credit, thus endangering my ability to get housing loans while I am in school (different from the stafford loans, which don't pay out nearly enough to cover room and board).
~Rebecca
No, but when you add up the $100,000+ treatment costs of the millions of uninsured Americans who do get cancer that the government pays... well, guess what? Billions of dollars.
I am a full time student and uninsured. I pay my taxes, in full, on time, every year. I am an American Citizen and have been for all of my 25 years on this earth. I have no criminal record of any kind.
My foot is currently broken, and I believe I have established that I am both 'uninsured' and an 'American' (one in good standing, too). I do not have the resources to pay for X-Rays, Doctors, a Cast, or possible therapy. How can I get the government to pay for my treatment?
Oh yea, I can't, because we're the only country in the world where our government sponsored healthcare only helps non-Americans, such as illegal immigrants and Iraqis. I've tried, I can't get shit for myself. I would be more than happy for you to prove me wrong, because a cast really would be nice.
~Rebecca
1$ is a small price to pay to spread their wings like this. Google has the branding for their website, of which google has become a household term in the American language. They support IE for its massive install base, but I think its pretty clear Google wants its own software, and who can blame them!
/. talk about how Linux is "oh so close", and has been for years. In that time, I've been a linux supporter, I have a linux machine -- but now all my machines look more like Google machines than Linux or Windows. See the comparison here too with iPod/iTunes? Apple made a player that you would actually want, and sold music in a format you would actually want.
Google makes stuff good enough you actually want it. Are you listening, Linux on the Desktop Zealots? Half of all articles on
~Rebecca
Here's my question, do lawmakers really know enough about WiFi security and firewalls to write a coherent law requiring this?
That's never stopped them before. I'd draw the parallel between certain aspects of "War on Drugs" laws that have left lawyers and lobbyists dictating how to treat cancer patients while doctors pay boatloads in malpractice insurance to cover the inevitable failure to treat someone and spend half of their training time not studying how to treat patients, but how to do so legally.
~Rebecca
If you were up to no good is an open AP the way to do it?
The short answer, YES.
The long answer, if its not a honeypot and you can evade physical detection, YES. The former may be harder to detect on the fly, but the latter is as simple as hiding in plain sight in the parking lot of an apartment complex or frat house.
~Rebecca
I suspect that the proposed legislation has zero chance of getting anywhere.
:).
Cornwallis: You dream, general.
(Taking a moment to quote my favorite movie that reminds me of the people we once were, The Patriot.)
We no longer have the chutzpah to stand up against the tea act
~Rebecca
Uh huh. A gaming machine that doesn't run Windows? Or are they just yo ho ho pirates at Tom's and expecting everyone to be loading it up from the bootleg .iso of Windows XP Corporate Edition that 'everybody' has in their shoebox of warez?
Oh, and I know they only cost $20 sans P/S but they also forgot a case. Idiots.
While I realize it was bad form not to mention it directly; neither of those items is exactly rare in the typical Tom's reader's closet. I've got a few legit Windows licenses and extra chassis. They're aren't hard to come by.
~Rebecca
This typo completely changes the point of the comment, so it's worth correcting here.
/.)
This isn't a small lawsuit either. MP3.com wants $175 million.
Here's the relavent quote from the original article:
The suit, MP3.com Inc. v. Cooley Godward, 266625, says MP3.com has paid out in excess of $175 million in settlements, judgments and legal fees.
I thought the same things probably everyone else did, wondering if that was sarcasm or MP3.com being silly; so I actually looked (holy shit someone RTFLink on
~Rebecca
This is supposed to mean what? That it's a good thing because it's happening already?
It's part of a circular logic error that is responsible for most undesireable things taking root. It goes a little something like this:
The first time it happens: "This will get [ignored and driven out of the market] / [shot down by a higher court] / [etc], we don't need to worry about it".
The second-infinite times: "Newsflash, where were you, this has been happening for years! There's no going back now!".
~Rebecca
To name rocks, I mean? Ones that are smaller than, say, a city block?
I'm sure we won't be the first culture to 'discover' an area and start out with many small and localized names and eventually end up with a few that are still with us. And people throughout history have been naming ares smaller than what we consider a city block. (Like say, some hypothetical area in colonial england called "The Old Farm")
Likely, most of these names will become temporary scientific community jargon, and eventually replaced by something more serious than naming a local hill after a music club.
I do expect a few will stick though and it'd be interesting to see how the "telephone game" affects the history behind the more comical names that stuck.
~Rebecca
You know people, not getting what you want IMMEDIATELY isn't a bad thing.
Taken independantly, your sentiment is certainly valid. Taken in the context of the article, on Slashdot, again it's alright -- the slashdot crowd more than most other cliques can tend to wait (or pirate it, and face it, lots of slashdotters do).
But for most people, movies do need to be seen relatively soon as they come out. It's all about water cooler chitchat, and last years or last seasons movies don't cut it.
This should really be taken to heart too -- Slashdot is filled with guys that can't socialize (and hence, get dates). To some degree, that is affected by an inability to realize that if someone asks you about the latest movie; they're trying to start a conversation -- not looking to get preached to about the evil movie industry.
~Rebecca
Personally, I got to use Opera at my last job (I've since gone back to school) and not Firefox because my boss was a classic PHB, and wouldn't allow any of that "freeware junk" on the company systems. But since I could buy Opera, it was all good.
Sometimes you have to play the game.
~Rebecca
Rather than do the usual slashdot "Science is EViL" thing, why not really think about the potential here...
I'm pretty sure you got modded up just because you insulted Slashdot, which is so ironic it's stupid.
Not only is Slashdot usually quite excited about new scientific discoveries, at the time of your post there is only one overarcing concern among the other posts -- That the drug if successful would lead to futher destruction of our already overworked lives. This isn't "Science is EViL" it's "Corporations are EViL, and pointing the starvation gun at our heads already saying 'WORK more!' ".
~Rebecca
PS-- For futher irony, mod me up for insulting a mod.
Grow up?
One of the W brothers wants to be a woman. Don't you find that a little odd/disgusting/unstable? If you don't, maybe you should grow up!
Wrong. One of the Wachowski's is a woman, and her name is Linda. Despite what you've seen on Jerry Springer, genuine intersexed and transgendered conditions do in fact exist, and they have nothing to do with "wants".
Some keywords for your Google searches: Gender Identity Disorder, Klinefelter's Syndrome, Intersexed, and probably many others.
Perhaps, AC, you should grow up and realize modern science and medicine has long past the point where gender is a binary designation. I thought about trying to explain the genetic information, but chances are you aren't reading and anyone that is going to mod me up is already aware of the distinction.
~Rebecca
On Thursday this week, I went in to a local Staples store, found a desk and a chair that I liked. I went ahead and ordered it.
A nice man helped me get it all set up for delivery, and gave me the information on some people that can assemble it for me. Wonderful. He says they can email me a delivery time estimate, and that he knows personally they don't sell it or anything like that, so no spam even from them. Very cool.
Yesterday I get a call on my cell, its the delivery guy at my apartment and the managers office won't take delivery or let him in (even at my request) to drop off my stuff. The delivery guy is very friendly, especially considering he's gonna have to come back. He gives me the number I can call to reschedule.
I'm dreading this call. Ohhhhh gawd I think, I'm gonna have to talk to some phone jockey retard who couldn't care less about helping me. So I call. It asks me if I want English or Spanish. BEEP! For a moment, I start to groan to myself as the customer service hoop jumping is about to begin. Wait? What's this? Hello? Holy smokes! A live person, right away! He's friendly and asks me for my name and whats wrong before my order number. He tells me he's going to have to get someone from another department. My stomach sinks again, oh junk, here we go, its the run around. I get about a minute of hold music, and then, woah wait a minute, its the same guy! He's doing a warm/live transfer, and the new guy already has all my info and knows my situation! WOW!
The new guy is friendly too, he gets me set up for a new delivery time, and we part ways.
What's the moral of this story? I mean you'd think it sounded pretty plain. These days, it doesn't. I've come to expect to be punted, lied to, have to jump through 3 dozen hoops until I yell at a manager, just to get the simplest requests past the call center guys that are paid to reduce the amount of customers that want stuff that costs the company more money. Treat me right, give me a little customer service with no bullshit, don't get in arguements with me over who's fault it was I didn't get the email, answer the phone when I call, don't cold dump/punt me, and I am now a Staples customer for life (or at least until they go down the shitty customer service is cheaper route).
~Rebecca
I wonder why this madness cannot be seen by those on positions of power. WHY?
Those in power are benefitting both in terms of more power and lined pockets.
~Rebecca