One time I ordered an exercise machine and had it shipped UPS. The guy who delivered it handed me a mangled box that was falling apart in his hands and stuff was falling out of it. I couldn't believe he delivered that box with a straight face. Anyway, I opened it up and all the parts were scratched and they somehow even managed to crush the batteries! I called UPS and complained and was basically told "I'm sorry." Needless to say, I consider UPS one of the worst shipping companies out there. They should change their slogan to "What can brown destroy for you?" I've never had a problem with USPS (other than poor tracking info), so I plan on sticking with them.
I've used both good and bad automated checkouts. For example, at one store named Price Chopper in my area, the automated checkouts are a nightmare. After you scan an item, you have to place it in a bag and it must remain on the small counter until after you pay or the machine shuts down and keeps saying "please do not remove items". So basically, if you have more than four bags of groceries, you're screwed.
But at another store I frequent, called Weis, their automated checkout system is amazing. It's fast, it asks you for coupons, it's precise and it even helps you look up the proper price for produce. So the technology seems to vary widely. I assume it all depends on how willing the supermarket is to make the initial investment and purchase a quality machine to save money in the long run.
I have no problem paying full price for a game that will give me many hours of enjoyment. I look at it as an investment in future games I'm going to like. It takes money to create new games. While it would be nice to see lower priced games, I don't want to sacrifice innovation and creativity to save a few bucks.
Every time somebody does something to Microsoft, why do people say that they did Microsoft a favor and that they demonstrated flaws and vulnerabilities, etc... For everybody out there contemplating "demonstrating another flaw", try to understand MICROSOFT GETS IT!!! You aren't hurting Bill Gates or any high paid executive. The people you're hurting are the normal computer users and IT professionals, who already have stressful jobs. Microsft knows their operating systems are crap and they know there a million holes in it. They simply don't care because they have the market cornered.
Yeah, I'm concerned about the cost of the new systems too. I know I'm probably in the minority on this but I miss the days when I payed for a game system that just played games. It seems like with each new system, they get further removed from the sale of game systems and they keep inching closer to some multimedia powerhouse. I wish they'd lower the price by removing all the crap. I don't need HDTV, I don't need a DVD player, etc.
Xbox concernes me the most because Microsoft has alot to gain from making their game systems miniature computers. Oh well. I suppose at some point they'll have to stop because I think they're getting close to the cost where people will wait for the cost to come down before buying a new system.
We all harbor murderous fantasies and anybody who tries saying they don't is a damn liar! That's one of the biggest reasons why violent games are so popular.
The difference is whether or not a person acts on those fantasies.
I saw this one game called Dragonrealms that is entirely text based and you'll never believe how much they charge. The last time I checked, their rates were around $40 for a premium account (basically gives you a text based house and a few extra characters) and around $15 for a standard account (just one character). So considering that there's actually graphics in these games, $15 hardly seems unreasonable.
Every time a new violent video game is released, I get excited then I want to pound my head off of a wall when I hear people complaining about how violent the game is.
It's not the government's responsiblity to parent children. The parents need to look at the RATINGS on games (which are clearly marked) and take some responsibility.
I've grown up with violent games and I've never gone on a killing spree (or even had the urge to). There's nothing wrong with adults participating in adult entertainment. These games are not made for young children and if the soccer moms would just stop and read the package, there wouldn't be a problem.
"And finally....you and others keep saying "In the long run, it will be better". Better for who? I cannot see how this benefits the US at all....shipping off jobs and creating unemployment for our citizens....giving no incentive for our young to go into tech fields..sure, we get some cheaper goods, but, in the end,"
Many republicans like to call this the "trickle down eddect". They say that when corporations make more money from decreased operating expenses or increased exports to foreign countries, they will share the wealth. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect world and that rarely happens.
"if we have no decent paying jobs...who will be able to buy these cheap goods?"
Well, the medical field has some very nice paying jobs but it is sad to see so many tech jobs leaving this country. Computers has always been my main interest but I didn't want to pay thousands for a degree that I'd never be able to find a job with, so I went into medicine.
Yahoo has a way to make people have to enter their user name and password in order to get into "adult" profiles. I don't see why they can't do this with user created chatrooms. I mean, there's a bunch of ways that a determined kid could get around this but at least Yahoo would be making an effort.
Even if Google somehow puts Paypal out of business, they'll just become abusive to their customers. Once the competition is gone, that's when rates go up and customer service decreases.
It's kind of like how Walmart operates. When they move into a new area, they are fine with that store taking a loss for the first year (sometimes more) until the local small businesses go under. Once that happens, they raise prices.
I don't feel that the government should be able to be this invasive in my life. Not everybody who buys a book about Urban Warfare (or something else that would raise an eyebrow or two with the FBI) is planning to use it. If I choose to buy a book about that, it's my constitutionally protected right to do so.
The government is never going to be able to prevent 100% of terrorist attacks. I think this will only cause more people to become victims of the government than it will stop terrorists. In my opinion, even if one innocent person's life is ruined, the price is too high. This is America. Our founders fathers would be so disappointed in us to see the amount of freedom we've given up as it is. This is just going to far. The president may be good at choking on pretzels but his domestic policies are horrible.
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You described the end of civilization so calmly. You should work for FEMA.
One time I ordered an exercise machine and had it shipped UPS. The guy who delivered it handed me a mangled box that was falling apart in his hands and stuff was falling out of it. I couldn't believe he delivered that box with a straight face. Anyway, I opened it up and all the parts were scratched and they somehow even managed to crush the batteries! I called UPS and complained and was basically told "I'm sorry." Needless to say, I consider UPS one of the worst shipping companies out there. They should change their slogan to "What can brown destroy for you?" I've never had a problem with USPS (other than poor tracking info), so I plan on sticking with them.
I've used both good and bad automated checkouts. For example, at one store named Price Chopper in my area, the automated checkouts are a nightmare. After you scan an item, you have to place it in a bag and it must remain on the small counter until after you pay or the machine shuts down and keeps saying "please do not remove items". So basically, if you have more than four bags of groceries, you're screwed. But at another store I frequent, called Weis, their automated checkout system is amazing. It's fast, it asks you for coupons, it's precise and it even helps you look up the proper price for produce. So the technology seems to vary widely. I assume it all depends on how willing the supermarket is to make the initial investment and purchase a quality machine to save money in the long run.
I have no problem paying full price for a game that will give me many hours of enjoyment. I look at it as an investment in future games I'm going to like. It takes money to create new games. While it would be nice to see lower priced games, I don't want to sacrifice innovation and creativity to save a few bucks.
Every time somebody does something to Microsoft, why do people say that they did Microsoft a favor and that they demonstrated flaws and vulnerabilities, etc... For everybody out there contemplating "demonstrating another flaw", try to understand MICROSOFT GETS IT!!! You aren't hurting Bill Gates or any high paid executive. The people you're hurting are the normal computer users and IT professionals, who already have stressful jobs. Microsft knows their operating systems are crap and they know there a million holes in it. They simply don't care because they have the market cornered.
Yeah, I'm concerned about the cost of the new systems too. I know I'm probably in the minority on this but I miss the days when I payed for a game system that just played games. It seems like with each new system, they get further removed from the sale of game systems and they keep inching closer to some multimedia powerhouse. I wish they'd lower the price by removing all the crap. I don't need HDTV, I don't need a DVD player, etc. Xbox concernes me the most because Microsoft has alot to gain from making their game systems miniature computers. Oh well. I suppose at some point they'll have to stop because I think they're getting close to the cost where people will wait for the cost to come down before buying a new system.
We all harbor murderous fantasies and anybody who tries saying they don't is a damn liar! That's one of the biggest reasons why violent games are so popular. The difference is whether or not a person acts on those fantasies.
I saw this one game called Dragonrealms that is entirely text based and you'll never believe how much they charge. The last time I checked, their rates were around $40 for a premium account (basically gives you a text based house and a few extra characters) and around $15 for a standard account (just one character). So considering that there's actually graphics in these games, $15 hardly seems unreasonable.
Every time a new violent video game is released, I get excited then I want to pound my head off of a wall when I hear people complaining about how violent the game is. It's not the government's responsiblity to parent children. The parents need to look at the RATINGS on games (which are clearly marked) and take some responsibility. I've grown up with violent games and I've never gone on a killing spree (or even had the urge to). There's nothing wrong with adults participating in adult entertainment. These games are not made for young children and if the soccer moms would just stop and read the package, there wouldn't be a problem.
"And finally....you and others keep saying "In the long run, it will be better". Better for who? I cannot see how this benefits the US at all....shipping off jobs and creating unemployment for our citizens....giving no incentive for our young to go into tech fields..sure, we get some cheaper goods, but, in the end," Many republicans like to call this the "trickle down eddect". They say that when corporations make more money from decreased operating expenses or increased exports to foreign countries, they will share the wealth. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect world and that rarely happens. "if we have no decent paying jobs...who will be able to buy these cheap goods?" Well, the medical field has some very nice paying jobs but it is sad to see so many tech jobs leaving this country. Computers has always been my main interest but I didn't want to pay thousands for a degree that I'd never be able to find a job with, so I went into medicine.
Yahoo has a way to make people have to enter their user name and password in order to get into "adult" profiles. I don't see why they can't do this with user created chatrooms. I mean, there's a bunch of ways that a determined kid could get around this but at least Yahoo would be making an effort.
Even if Google somehow puts Paypal out of business, they'll just become abusive to their customers. Once the competition is gone, that's when rates go up and customer service decreases. It's kind of like how Walmart operates. When they move into a new area, they are fine with that store taking a loss for the first year (sometimes more) until the local small businesses go under. Once that happens, they raise prices.
I don't feel that the government should be able to be this invasive in my life. Not everybody who buys a book about Urban Warfare (or something else that would raise an eyebrow or two with the FBI) is planning to use it. If I choose to buy a book about that, it's my constitutionally protected right to do so. The government is never going to be able to prevent 100% of terrorist attacks. I think this will only cause more people to become victims of the government than it will stop terrorists. In my opinion, even if one innocent person's life is ruined, the price is too high. This is America. Our founders fathers would be so disappointed in us to see the amount of freedom we've given up as it is. This is just going to far. The president may be good at choking on pretzels but his domestic policies are horrible.