“apostrophe: why is the word for such a small punctuation mark so long” — creatrixtiara
“
Also, if I can be a bit of a computer snob for a moment, the use of a simplified interface has lead to a whole generation of people who own computers, but who don’t really know much about using them beyond double-clicking icons and dragging stuff onto the desktop. If you were to go into someone’s Windows system and rename the Desktop and Start Menu directories so that the system couldn’t find them, leading to all the shortcuts disappearing, 99% of the computer owners today would have to pay someone to fix it for them. They would be completely at a loss as to what to do, despite the fact that they can still open a window from the My Computer icon and browse the contents of the entire system.
Why does this matter? Because most users today don’t have a clue what they’re doing. They install so much crap like toolbars and junk, that even if they manage to avoid getting infected with a virus, the system takes 10+ minutes to boot and requires a 45 second drive access just to open a window. Then they throw it out because it’s too slow, buy a new one and the cycle starts anew. Check the computer of anyone with a digital camera and I guarantee that you’ll find at least three copies of every photo, in different directories. Most people’s idea of computer gaming is going to Pogo.com and playing flash games. Hotmail is the only form of email they know and they wouldn’t be able to setup a dedicated email client if their life depended on it. When using one person’s computer, Zone Alarm firewall popped up asking if I wanted to allow a connection. The owner told me “Oh, just keep clicking ‘Allow’ until it goes away.”
See if you can find ten people who know what speed internet connection they’re paying for. See if you can find even 3 people who know what the actual speed they’re getting is. Hell, see if you can find even one person who knows what resolution their desktop is set to without having to check.
” — A comment on a techdirt article Being First Isn’t The Most Important Thing, Getting It Right Is by Rekrul.
I thought I’d pick out some of the discussion around this topic that stood out to me.
I find I’m constantly defending myself when people ask why I download all my shows. I personally do it for the convenience of being able to watch them at my leisure.
~ Lope31 (Reddit OP)
The combination of RSS + BitTorrent […] a legal and useful way for TV broadcasters to embrace the internet with shows that had ads on them
~ Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
If you want me to watch your commercials, you need to sneak them in quietly. High volume, strobing bright colors, etc., will only get you skipped.
~ oditogre (Comment)
People […] really just hate bad advertising, and don’t realize that they actually like good advertising
~ Mike Masnick (Techdirt)
Or discussions about advertising… like The Gruen Transfer.
If ads are reasonably targeted and polite, I generally watch them without even thinking about it. I don’t mind leaving adblock off on sites like reddit, either. Polite, likely to be relevant to me…yeah, I’m ok with that. [I don’t like] LOUD (both in terms of audio and also visually) [ads, or ads that are] not relevant to me / things I have even a remote chance of spending money on in the foreseeable future.
~ oditogre (Comment)
Most pirates today aren’t pirating for any moral reason. The fact of the matter is that pirating is popular because it’s free and convenient. If the broadcasting companies meet those stipulations, they’re going to get a lot of support, mine included. Commercials aren’t a big deal.
~ masked_felix (Comment)
For me it is (I think) quite straightforward. I will watch video (purposefully a generic term - doesn’t need to be TV shows or movies) when I want to or am able to. I often simply can’t watch TV at certain times. I dislike or am not interested in most of what is on, anyway. Pirates are indeed simply underserved customers.
“The entertainment industry seems to forget the file-sharing elephant in the room, perhaps due to Industry-Vision™ corrective lenses rendering it as a “scapegoat”.” — Techdirt - Starz, Netflix And How Industry Jealousies Strangle A Golden Goose
…missing from zoo.
(via pandastuff)
WHOEVER THIS IS HAS THE BEST NEIGHBORS EVER.
all your bandwith r belong to us
I AM DYING THESE ARE QUALITY
ABRAHAM LINKSYS
HIDE YOUR KIDS, HIDE YOUR WI-FI
oh my gosh you guise! THE BANANA STAND THOUGH! :’)
This is so clearly fake. Funny, but fake.
Most likely fake, but so awesome if real!
(via winifredjay)
So bummed I’m missing out on the census this year, for serious.
I remember having only been in Australia a couple of weeks the last time there was a census (my first ever!!) and having a panic attack over the religion question. I didn’t know whether to put what was officially on my Malaysian ID (Islam) or go with what I was feeling at the time (some version of Pagan) - in Malaysia this would be serious cause for concern and I wasn’t sure how much information crosses between borders! Thankfully the question is optional, but this time round I’d probably put Possibilianism.
My amusement at a govt org having a sense of humour is getting the better of me…. hahahha, excellent! More humour, please!
Where is this awesome book store?
(Source: helsinki-syndrome, via winifredjay)
Origami - Panda
(via pandastuff)
“the mathematics we have today is something that is a direct historical consequence of ideas that existed in ancient Babylon, arithmetic and geometry and so on, that got sort of generalized to give us the mathematics we have today and that is the mathematics that we use to kind of make our descriptions in physics and do our engineering and so on.” — Can We Automate Invention? - Stephen Wolfram