Disqus - Latest Comments for BillV

Re: Sometime the conversation does need some rules – and respect

BillV — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:46:39 -0000

Semi-anonymous instant communication and social (snort) networking has de-evolved our social abilities. Many like to point out anecdotes that would seem to counter this, but I see the results every day. We're going backwards. There are new tools all the time giving the deviants among us the ability to *be* deviants with almost zero risk.

Re: CobWEBs Daily Edition podcast – Newspapers can’t be saved and shouldn’t be

BillV — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:00:55 -0000

While they're at it, they should bail out the steam engine and 8-track industries.

Re: Facebook is really beginning to worry me

BillV — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:41:55 -0000

Their ballistic growth may just be temporary, making all this moot. If they don't expand their server capacity soon, they're going to start shedding users like a mutt in the bathtub shedding fleas. Facebook and all it's applications have been growing buggier by the day, with some functions being totally down for hours at a time.

Re: Confusing Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Chart

BillV — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:12:00 -0000

Makes perfect sense to me, although I think there are still too many versions. Should be one tweaked for home users, one tweaked for business applications. Or better, ONE version, that prompts you for the modules you want, depending on whether you say you're a home user, or a business user. Any more than that just over-complicates things. I love it when I get a tech-sup call, and the first 5 minutes is trying to figure out what version of Vista they have so I know what route to take. I sincerely hope the next big OS release is module-based, even if you have to pay for them individually.

Re: So sick of seeing this

BillV — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:11:12 -0000

So what should they do? Stop doing business?

Re: Why is a company that geotards the world worth $35 million in funding

BillV — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:02:05 -0000

Well, keep in mind....other countries don't pay royalties to US artists for the most part. The game you're discussing is very complicated and convoluted. There are also pending lawsuits regarding terrestrial stations...the RIAA and the like are demanding that they, too, pay up huge fees...the 'free advertising' agreement which has worked for over 100 years is apparently no longer good enough..but if they get what they want it would shut down all but the corporate-backed stations. I know a DJ at a local station here...ANY fee would shut them down..they operate 'hand to mouth'..and many others do, too. "Greed" is the order of today.

Re: It’s no wonder people think Mac’s are elitists

BillV — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:28:17 -0000

This is the internet, so good luck with that.

Refer to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory.

Normal Person + Relative Anonymity + An Audience = Instant Dickwad.

Re: It’s no wonder people think Mac’s are elitists

BillV — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:09:48 -0000

Dang...I forgot to fun of the typos HE made in his complaint about yours.

Re: It’s no wonder people think Mac’s are elitists

BillV — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:08:59 -0000

Wow...all those interesting points he made, and all you can come up with is a missing apostrophe? I'm a bit of a grammar Nazi myself, and even I let that kind of thing slide. So I suppose now we're all supposed to bow to your obviously superior intellect, since nobody else could have possibly ferreted out that glaring error.

Tool.

Re: Twitter fallout after the Oprah Effect

BillV — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:19:50 -0000

I'm seeing something here....I'm reminded of the first time I saw it for what it was, and hate to use the word 'elitism' because that's not quite right. I was about 15 years old, and I was talking to a friend who I knew liked Green Day, and had for quite some time. Green Day had just released their first major album, so I asked him about it. "Pfft." he said, waving his hand at me. "Now everyone listens to them..they sold out, they're not cool anymore." I analyzed his comment for a while, because it was odd, the album was good...very good. Better than much of the stuff they'd done pre-label. They'd found 'their sound" and were doing what they wanted to do, and doing it well.
Now that Twitter is finally REALLY mainstream, the early-adopters are just going to have to do some soul-searching: Do I bail on it now that it's doing what some of us actually SAID we hoped it would do, or do I stick with it, and adapt to change?

Your call.

Re: We Want These: Crayon Rings You Can Wear and Color With -Refinery29 Pipeline-

BillV — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:16:36 -0000

Also only size 7, far too small for the office meeting crowd.

Re: We Want These: Crayon Rings You Can Wear and Color With -Refinery29 Pipeline-

BillV — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:15:50 -0000

Very interesting, but WAY overpriced, considering how little work goes into making them. I've made various objects out of crayon wax, it's not a huge chore.

Re: Don’t judge a proggie by it’s UI

BillV — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:32:20 -0000

I also run Firefox, and had no trouble downloading whatsoever. I also found No-Script to be far more trouble than it's worth, for reasons just like this. Don't blame Super© for your choice of FF plugins.

Re: Don’t judge a proggie by it’s UI

BillV — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:43:38 -0000

Excellent point, Rassie. While most of the core code is borrowed via open-source and the like, they DiD put it all together into one powerful converter. I'd be very pleased to see more effort on their part to streamline the UI. It's intimidating at first, and they'd likely get more followers if this could be improved, who might then actually purchase some of their other non-free releases.

Re: Having a problem with all this Social Media crap

BillV — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:32:02 -0000

The modern westerner is getting lazier and lazier, with no recollection or knowledge of the days when "networking" had to be done face to face, going to clubs, doing lunches, have a quick martini after work to keep in touch with former collegues. I know so many people with thousands of "friends" that have zero social skills because they spend all their time in front of the computer or hunched over the Blackberry. Social networking is a plague. It would be useful if not taken to extreme, but we all know, that taking things to extremes is something our civilization thrives on and encourages.

Re: So close yet so far away

BillV — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:25:01 -0000

I've never owned an ATI card, but I hear endless complaints about their drivers, and delays in releasing/fixing them. Don't hold your breath, brother. You might be sitting on that pretty little thing for a while.

Re: Police Comments

BillV — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:33:41 -0000

Some cops are jerks, just like some chefs are jerks, some firemen are jerks. Cops get nailed as jerks because they bite back when people treat them like shit, which most people do. Here's a tip jerks: Don't break the law, and be halfway decent to any cops you run into, and 95% of them will be decent right back. Really. They're just people, doing a damned hard job, and spending their days dealing people trying to bullshit their way out of things that both the suspect and the cop know damn well that they actually did.

Re: Furong Reservoir - Giant Man Eating Catfish Hoax

BillV — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:12:46 -0000

That specimen is over 12 feet long, hardly a "baby". It is an adult. Far from maximum size of 40 feet, but nowhere near being a "baby". I also see no indication that the animal is "being held down". A live whale shark is far more powerful than a handful of humans, and would toss them off like toys if it were still living. Also, whale-sharks are not air-breathers, so this animal would expire rather quickly once removed from the water. They appear to be attempting to move the carcass, but a still image is poor evidence of activity. There is also no indication in the article or photos of how the animal died. It may have died of illness, stranded itself on the beach, been trapped or netted, among many other possibilities.

I'm so tired of people going off about things like this before actually learning something about the subject first. Like it or not, subscribed to ill-educated bleeding-heart hippie culture or not, animals eat other animals, animals use other animals for resources and survival. It's not "horrendous"...it's called LIFE.

Get over yourselves.

All that said, I'd like to see less whale sharks taken, since they have been placed on the "vulnerable" section of the IUCN Red List.

Re: Attention Psion Teklogix – you bunch of idiots

BillV — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:40:17 -0000

Or, as pointed out on FF, they're hoping the big boys will just toss them some cash to stfu. It's a pretty common business model, really. They may have been waiting on purpose until the companies with deep enough pockets used the term.

Oh...netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook .netbook

Re: Attention Psion Teklogix – you bunch of idiots

BillV — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:29:52 -0000

If you wait to defend your trademarked term for so long it becomes an integral part of modern speech, you're screwed. If you then try to defend it after this point, you simply open yourself to being made fun of. Nobody is going to take them seriously. This issue has been tackled in court before, and the entity filing suit usually loses. Imagine Johnson & Johnson sending C&D's to everyone that refers to adhesive bandages as Band-Aids. How successful do you think they'd be?

Idiots. Either they're hoping bad press is better than no press, or they're as clueless as they appear.

Re: One down .. one to go

BillV — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:57:28 -0000

How long did it take you to clean your desk for the pic? <snicker>

Re: My wife’s Valentine card to me

BillV — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:55:35 -0000

LOL, you go Kim:)

On another note, from what I've read, pictures less risque' than that one dropped off at photo processing centers have landed parents on the sex offender lists. Of course, that's here in the US, where we've taken such things beyond the realm of insanity.

Re: It might only be an illusion but DAMN!

BillV — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:58:10 -0000

I love this guy's work. Most of the blogs that post his stuff end up with comments of "OMG WTF HAX that's shopped I ca see the pixels fake blarg"

He's amazing.

Re: File Archiver: 7-Zip - Compact your crap!

BillV — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:47:59 -0000

I like to use open source whenever I can. The lack of a direct price tag, obviously, the fact that my donations are helping more than just some suits' bonus, and open source software is usually just plain BETTER than the stuff you pay money for. It's built by people who build what they themselves would use. No bloat, no crap, no useless features that some advisory panel told them is the Next Big Thing.

Re: Boy does Apple know how to give it to the fan boys

BillV — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:25:36 -0000

I've owned 2 iPods, both of which needed battery replacements, neither of which I ever bothered to get. They're still around here somewhere......dead, for a total of 400 USD worth of hardware that I can't use until I spend another 140 USD, perhaps less if I have them done by someone other than Apple. I'll have to ship, because the nearest "Genius" Bar is over 200 miles away.