Recent Posts

9851

Living Room / Re: In the "What the Hell?" department...

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2010, 09:22 AM »

Simply stunning...

Is the next merit badge for the boy with the biggest playboy collection to prove that he's not gay?

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Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2010, 09:19 AM »

1) Used iPhones go for around $60 or so, well under $100. Used iPhones on eBay

2) In addition to being used, the product wasn't even finished. What is the value of an phone that you know doesn't work properly? This should further devalue it.

3) There is no support for the product, so if there are any issues, it's basically a worthless chunk of plastic and metal. This again should further devalue it.

-Renegade (April 29, 2010, 03:19 AM)

The value here is the value to the owner, and to Apple this phone was very, very valuable! That it was bought goes a long way to showing it was also considered a valuable item to others too. Just because 'most people' wouldn't see the value in it doesn't inherently devalue the item.

-Eóin (April 29, 2010, 06:23 AM)

Sorry, but I'm going to have to insist on this point. I really don't think that it is up for debate.

Value in a legal sense cannot be determined by a single individual/agent/company. If it were, in any given lawsuit, people could value their time at astronomical amounts. However, this doesn't happen, and the courts do not recognize those sorts of claims.

Like I mentioned above, just because you value something, doesn't mean that it actually has that value in the broad sense of the term.

Here's another example:

My laptop is worth a very great deal to me. The value to me is at least $10,000 at the absolute minimum. However, if it were stolen, and I made an insurance claim for it, I most certainly would not get that amount for it. Just because I value it very highly doesn't give it that value in the real world.

For yet another opportunity to flog a dead horse (though perhaps a horse of a slightly different color)... Read virtually any agreement for any software or hardware you have and you will see that damages are almost invariably limited to either $5.00 or $50.00.

If I leave something anywhere, and someone sells it, I would feel violated.

-wraith808 (April 28, 2010, 07:16 PM)

I agree. But I think this is a little bit different.

For instance, if you lost something and the person who found it tried to return it to you--and you refused to take it back--would that change your opinion about them selling it?

-Deozaan (April 28, 2010, 07:55 PM)

This is being used as a reasoning in a lot of posts in this thread... so reference?  And even so- why call tech support?  Why not call apple and ask for the person?  Even after the phone was wiped, he knew the person's name... else why did it appear in the article?

-wraith808 (April 29, 2010, 08:35 AM)

I'm not sure that he knew the person's name. All of this came out well after the fact. The articles had the benefit of hindsight. For the specific details, I have not seen anything in depth to support that he knew or did not know the name of the engineer that lost the phone. If anyone has seen that, it would be nice if they could post a link.

But to be honest, I seriously doubt that most people know how to get somebody's name out of a phone. Even if it wasn't wiped quickly, and he had time to check, I don't know that he would have been able to find the guys name.

This thread should erase anyone's doubt that finding a name in a phone could be, errrr, ummmm... "difficult": People are really (really, really) stupid (Muahahahahaha~! I just loved that! Absolutely wonderfully entertaining! )

Ultimately, I don't think that we really have enough details to determine some things.

9853

Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 29, 2010, 03:19 AM »

While I appreciate your position philosophically Renegade, it doesn't jive with California law, which is what I was trying to point out:
http://law.justia.co...iv/2080-2080.10.html
or
http://www.animallaw..._2080_2082.htm#s2080

2080.1.  (a) If the owner is unknown or has not claimed the property, the person saving or finding the property shall, if the property is of the value of one hundred dollars ($100) or more, within a reasonable time turn the property over to the police department of the city or city and county, if found therein, or to the sheriff's department of the county if found outside of city
limits

So, according to what I understand of the story yes, what the finder did was illegal. Now how does that affect gizmodo? Well, the legal interpretation of what the item in question becomes when the statute above is not followed is a bit unclearer to me; does it become stolen property then? I don't know. But if that is the case, then Gizmodo absolutely committed a crime by "buying, acquiring, or possessing" stolen property.

Anyway I'm not the only one that doesn't see it as clear cut as you seem to:
http://www.businessi...mitted-felony-2010-4

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 28, 2010, 09:19 PM)

Good points. Not sure if I'm willing to give up that fast though. (Although I really don't care for laws at all and still don't see Gizmodo as having done anything wrong. i.e. Just because something is legal or illegal doesn't make it right or wrong.)

If you can value the phone at under $100, then the laws there are moot and it can't be claimed that the phone was stolen.

I think a strong case can be made there:

1) Used iPhones go for around $60 or so, well under $100. Used iPhones on eBay

2) In addition to being used, the product wasn't even finished. What is the value of an phone that you know doesn't work properly? This should further devalue it.

3) There is no support for the product, so if there are any issues, it's basically a worthless chunk of plastic and metal. This again should further devalue it.

4) That Gizmodo paid $5,000 is not relevant. Would you pay for dirty underwear? Probably not. The value of dirty underwear is zero. But, there are people that will pay for dirty underwear. That doesn't make them generally valuable though. The existence of 1 person/agent that will pay for something doesn't necessarily give that something an intrinsic value.

To make that last point in a different way... Take my dirty underwear. I do not sell it to people, and neither to I give it to anyone. It isn't on the market. So, it is unobtainable. Nobody can get any of my dirty underwear. There is an incredible scarcity of it on the market. So, does that scarcity of my dirty underwear elevate it's value? Is it priceless? A work of art, or rather, a work of fart.

Ok, very silly, I know. But, the general principle still holds.

In a perhaps more relevant way, take some insignificant personal item of yours that you attach some sentimental value to. Now, to anyone else it has no value, but to you, the value is, well, whatever you attach to it, which can easily be more than $100.

Apple's attachment of more than $100 (or Gizmodo's attachment of $5,000 to it) does not necessarily give it that value.

* Used
* Incomplete
* Unsupported

Those 3 criteria generally make something less valuable.

For most people, the phone would only be a curiosity and utterly useless with no value at all.

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Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 08:17 PM »

i find some satisfying irony in this story of so-called "journalists" who are literally losing their minds with orgasmic anticipation and apoplexy, and willing to shell out thousands, just to have the possibility of getting a sneak peek at the some new apple-product-in-production, and then being treated so poorly by the very company they are so damn obsessed with.

perhaps they would be better served by calming down a bit about the next un-released apple product, and just wait till the damn thing comes out.

-mouser (April 28, 2010, 08:14 PM)

Excellent point. The irony is simply stupefying.

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Living Room / Re: People are really (really, really) stupid

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 08:14 PM »

The human race is doomed.

-Stoic Joker (April 28, 2010, 05:05 PM)

Idiocracy. Nuff said.

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Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 08:08 PM »

SUMMARY: APPLE ABANDONED THE PHONE WHEN THEY WIPED IT AND PREVENTED THE PERSON THAT FOUND IT FROM RETURNING IT.

Contacting tech support or whatever is enough effort to try to return the device. It isn't his fault if the company (Apple) doesn't have reasonable communication channels for situations like that. He tried. They weren't able to receive his communications. Not his fault. Apple's fault.

As for returning the phone to police??? Huh? Why? Why should the police (or airports) profit be default? Why do they deserve to sell off lost articles more than the average Joe? The police don't make an effort to return things. They just wait until somebody shows up asking. If not, they sell it and keep the money. What inherently gives them the right to essentially confiscate all lost items? I have a very hard time seeing why anyone would have a moral responsibility to give a lost item to somebody that IS NOT THE OWNER. Sure - try to return it to its RIGHTFUL OWNER, but give something to someone that isn't the owner? That's nonsense.

Lost is lost. Saying that it was stolen is spinning the story and it's dishonest.

Put it this way, the average person has no way of knowing how to return a lost phone that has been remotely wiped of all data and disabled. It *IS* possible, but the amount of background information needed to do it is simply far beyond what a normal person can be expected to know. And even then, actually doing it is extremely difficult (that's an understatement).

There is a distinct difference between articles that contain contact information that can be used to return an item, e.g. a wallet or purse, and articles that are essentially "nameless". If Apple wiped the phone, then it's their own fault for not getting it back sooner. They sabotaged the 1 way that the guy that found it had to actually return it.

Ok, here's another angle... a pretty obvious one at that... If you lose your phone, WHY NOT CALL THE PHONE AND ASK FOR IT BACK??? Most people would answer and arrange for you to get it back. This is what most reasonable people do.

But nope. Apple wiped the phone (making it virtually impossible to return) and abandoned it. Lost. Not stolen. Apple then criminally deceived the courts into allowing them to ransack an innocent person's house.

Apple abandoned the phone, and then demonstrated their vicious, malevolent nature when it surfaced in the news.

Steve Jobs would make an excellent Sith.

9857

General Software Discussion / Re: What free multi-user CMS best matches this description?

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 09:36 AM »

Wordpress with the multi-blogger option is one route.

DotNetNuke should fit the bill as well.

Joomla or Drupal could do it.

However, I think that for all of those you'd need to customize them a bit to get exactly what you want.

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Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 09:31 AM »

ROFLMAO - You obviously hate Apple much better than I do

It was AFTER Gizmodo returned the phone that the police ransacked Jason's house.

-Renegade (April 28, 2010, 06:04 AM)

Very interesting - I did not know that part.

Apple is despicable. They are a petty, vindictive, sinister, secretive, closed, greedy, back-stabbing, disgraceful and evil company.

...I just though this needed repeating (hehe).

-Stoic Joker (April 28, 2010, 06:33 AM)

Hehehe!

I started a blog to chronicle my pain as I start developing for Apple platforms - http://microsoft2apple.com/. I bought an iMac just before all this insanity broke out. So, it has kind of devolved into a series of rants. As such, I've taken a break from it until my anger subsides.

Like really! I spent $2,000 on a computer and another $238 in Apple developer fees only to be ambushed with a major policy change that no other comparable platform company would ever consider. Grrrr...

I was mostly neutral towards Apple before, and even positively predisposed towards them in a lot of ways (though I still loathe fanboys), but it's really hard to think about them positively when they pull underhanded dirty tricks like this.

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Living Room / Re: Apple instigates Police Raid over lost/stolen iPhone 4G

« Last post by Renegade on April 28, 2010, 06:04 AM »

There seems to be a number of misunderstandings here in what happened. Let me clarify a few things first before I respond/rant.

In order:

• Apple engineer loses 4G iPhone - http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone
• Somebody finds iPhone
• The person tries to RETURN THE IPHONE TO APPLE
• Apple ignores all (several) attempts to return the phone
• Gizmodo gets phone for $5,000
• Gizmodo publishes story
• Apple changes mind - decides it wants iPhone back
• Apple lawyer contacts Gizmodo and demands phone back - http://gizmodo.com/5...s-secret-iphone-back
• Gizmodo returns phone
• Apple decides to be vindictive and gets a search warrant for Jason Chen's house despite the fact that journalists are protected from such things
• Police kick in Jason's door and ransack his house, stealing a number of computers, storage devices, etc. http://gizmodo.com/5...ason-chens-computers

It is APPLE that would not accept the iPhone back. So what's the problem? Gizmodo published a story and RETURNED THE PHONE WHEN ASKED FOR IT.

It was AFTER Gizmodo returned the phone that the police ransacked Jason's house.

Apple is despicable. They are a petty, vindictive, sinister, secretive, closed, greedy, back-stabbing, disgraceful and evil company.

Gizmodo did nothing wrong. The phone was never stolen. It was lost. It was also returned after the OWNER REFUSED TO TAKE IT BACK then changed their minds and SENT A LAWYER TO ASK FOR THE ***LOST*** PHONE BACK.

Not sure if I mentioned this, but Apple is despicable. They are a petty, vindictive, sinister, secretive, closed, greedy, back-stabbing, disgraceful and evil company.

The police raid on Jason Chen's home -- where the police bashed in his front door -- was illegal and motivated by nothing more than pure malice and spite on Apple's part, and everyone knows it. Journalists are protected as the Gizmodo legal counsel pointed out to the police.

Type "apple is" into Google and the autocomplete will show you "apple is an evil evil company" as the first option. I doubt that's a coincidence.

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Living Room / Re: People are really (really, really) stupid

« Last post by Renegade on April 26, 2010, 07:32 PM »

It's really more a matter of: "There's my way -- and the wrong way."

-esoito (April 26, 2010, 06:00 PM)

I think you meant to post that in a discussion thread about Apple and Steve Jobs.

But seriously, how stupid do you need to be to walk into a 7-Eleven and complain because you can't find the women's clothing section? Or go to McDonalds and wonder why they don't have steak tartar on the menu?

Both sites are clearly labeled as to what they are at the top. You have to be blind not to see/read the big print.

Nah. Most Some people are just morons.

What have they done now. It's not simple enough for me to figure out.

Posted by: Benny Hough | February 10, 2010 10:46 AM

Does any more need to be said?

Well, there are (at the moment) 49 pages of that kind of drivel with 415 posts. Here are 2 commentaries (posts 414 and 415):

#

Wow, i never realised there were so many retards around.
Is this what facebook brings to the net?

Posted by: Kit | April 26, 2010 12:35 PM


#

You are all fantastic people. Each and every one of you is a gorgeous, unique, mind-boggling contribution to the human race. I thank God that such people are alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7w64fbqYQY

Chet Martin Posted by: Chet Martin Author Profile Page | April 26, 2010 4:02 PM

415 has a point there as that kind of stuff really is very entertaining to read, in a Jerry Springer kind of way.

If it really is just a matter of perception, then some people need to lay off the psychedelic hallucinogens.

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Living Room / Re: Free printable shopping lists - neat idea

« Last post by Renegade on April 26, 2010, 01:55 AM »

Nifty. Reminds me of http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/. Similar thing, but just for blank sheet music. Hmmm... Might be fun to program some similar types of things...

9862

Living Room / Apple Attacks Adobe

« Last post by Renegade on April 13, 2010, 07:53 PM »

Has anyone been paying any attention to the Apple iPhone developer license 3.3.1 issue?

I've already posted a few of my own thoughts at my new blog, Microsoft 2 Apple. (NSFW warning: Contains profanity - no nudity or anything else.)

There's even a Facebook group about it: I'm With Adobe

Any thoughts on it from anyone?

For those not familiar with it already, Apple has restricted all iPhone development to Objective-C, C, and C++ (written/compiled in Xcode) (with some other allowances for HTML5 and JavaScript that have strict limitations). They are torpedoing a whole whack of technologies that people use for iPhone development:

• Flash
• MonoTouch
• Unity3D
• Lua
• ...and others...

The general reaction so far is pretty vicious against Apple.

Novell (makers of MonoTouch) have been very diplomatic saying that they are asking for "clarifications", or in other words, they're looking to see if Apple wants to screw everyone, or just Adobe.

Thoughts?

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Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Renegade on April 05, 2010, 09:02 PM »

Just from my own experience, I'd recommend checking your video card to see if it can handle a 64 bit OS reasonably. I've got a box (laptop) with a good NVidia card that cannot handle a second monitor -- there is a critical bug that's been there for years that NVidia hasn't fixed (they are aware of it). BSOD-type stuff - not fun.

Other than that hiccup, I've had no issues with 64-bit Windows. Everything has been seamless.

9864

Living Room / Re: First iPad Reviews Are In

« Last post by Renegade on April 03, 2010, 04:45 AM »

The tablet form factor has failed numerous times in the past. Let's see what kind of orgy the Apple marketing department and the fanboys can whip the masses into though. I'm sure they'll do well. (I'd rather have an iPad than a MacBook.)

I am waiting to see what happens with the Microsoft Courier - looks sweet.

-Darwin (April 02, 2010, 11:23 PM)

WOW! Now THAT looks like a seriously cool little tool! I've been hoping that a digital book would come out, and that looks like it!

9865

Living Room / Re: C-Span Finishes Project to Put Full (US Govt) Video Archives on the Web

« Last post by Renegade on March 17, 2010, 01:49 AM »

In a word, WOW! That's one big resource!

You can't "download", but you can buy DVDs for $30.

For interest, here's a bit on "Internet Piracy" (came across it by accident) - http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/192047-3

9866

Living Room / Re: Facebook urged over 'panic button'

« Last post by Renegade on March 17, 2010, 01:44 AM »

Kids claim to be 'smart' these days, so tell them to tighten their security settings!

-CleverCat (March 17, 2010, 01:28 AM)

It's the parents that need to tighten the security settings for the kids. The parents should know better. Kids are, well, kids.

9867

Living Room / Re: Donationcoder: How did you find it + What has your experience been like so far.

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2010, 11:15 PM »

Hi. My name is Michael and I am a software addict.

-Darwin (March 16, 2010, 11:08 PM)

Muahahaahahahaah~! 

I found DC through the compression software review back when I worked for ESTsoft. ALZip was reviewed, and there were a couple factual things that I wanted clarified.

Anyways, I liked the place and stayed.

However, I have basically been absent and only occasionally lurking for the last year or more. I've simply been too busy to keep up. The pace of things here is quite fast, and reading so much simply isn't possible. I can only even open maybe 25% of threads if I'm lucky, and can only read a couple posts. My general ability to participate has been reduced, though I am back and do plan on being more active now that things have settled down.

9868

Living Room / Re: Facebook urged over 'panic button'

« Last post by Renegade on March 16, 2010, 11:04 PM »

The problem isn't with Facebook, it's with the pedophiles using it. Laws need to address/restrict the source problems, and not to restrict/address victims of problems. Laws are supposed to protect people, and not to punish good citizens.

Facebook here is a victim as they have been misused by a seriously deranged fellow. Punishing Facebook doesn't solve the problem.

Roads can be dangerous places, and if you're careless, you're liable to injure yourself or others, but you don't find them all lined with rubber padding and whatnot. Similarly, the Internet presents dangers as well. There are lots of ways to put on an "Internet seat belt" or install "Internet airbags", but most people just simply won't do it (e.g. Internet nanny programs, firewalls, etc.). People need to actually do something to protect their children rather than just sit back and let the state try to do it (which can ONLY end in disaster).

We see absolutely no reason why sites should not do so.

WTF??? Reality check! I can think of a million reasons not to! Do you seriously want to have kids flagging people as pedophiles? You know what that would do? It would turn into a witch-hunt complete with stakes, bonfires, and burning flesh. (Note that CEPO, a government organization in the country with the most CCTV cameras per capita of anywhere in the world, wants reports to go directly to them!)

Having children falsely report people would ruin a lot of lives. The amount of information available to governments now is already far too much. Every time something like this gets into the system erroneously (kids reporting falsely), somebody is going to get pulled aside at customs when the go through a border, have troubles with police for a parking ticket, lose a job opportunity because a red flag came up, or something else. The information will not be used responsibly. We have many years of governments abusing power as evidence and very little in the way of evidence to show that a system like that wouldn't be grossly abused.

A fellow I know had his medical records fraudulently stolen (which obviously required complicity on the part of the medical community) and used against him politically. He had no realistic recourse against those that held (and released) his medical records. Jeez... The system is already working soooooo well... Sigh...

It would be a very good idea to simply delete your account at any site that did adopt something that insane.

I would much rather see a "Facebook Jr." site that was restricted with no adults allowed. With an appropriate license agreement, any adult signing up fraudulently could be prosecuted.

The potential for abuse with a system like that is just far too high.

9869

Living Room / Re: Sex Doesn't Sell

« Last post by Renegade on January 04, 2010, 04:57 PM »

If I wanted to see two people having sex in a movie I would rent a porn flick.  Seeing simulated or even partially real sex in a movie is just desperation to me.  I prefer to have the real thing rather than fantasize about having sex, porn or even soft core never made any sense to me.

-y0himba (January 03, 2010, 09:23 AM)

Oh... My... God...

When did get inside my head and write down my thoughts?

Seriously. Amen to that! I loathe sex scenes in mainstream film. If I want to see sex, I'll get a porn movie. They do it much better than mainstream Hollywood anyways. The "ancient" way of fading to black is really much better. There are rare circumstances when a sex scene can be a part of a plot, but like I said... rare.

Back to your point -- Watch it or do it? Doing is better.

I have the same view of professional sports though. Why would I want to watch somebody play a game if I can play the game myself? It just seems insane to me. Watching other people have fun rather than having fun yourself?

Voyeurism is a demented sort of living vicariously through others. Is it fear? Are people afraid to do it themselves? I'd put bets on that. (Yeah... I know... I just offended every sports and porn fan by calling them cowards or chickens or whatever.)

When I go to a movie I go for entertainment, not to wank in the back row.  Commercials that feature sex or sex appeal just make me change the channel.  You want to sell me a product?  Show me facts, demonstrations, show me it works.  Don't give me smoke and mirrors or try to assume I am some lowbrow wanker that will buy it because of a 'hot chick'.  Look at al the idiots running around using Axe body spray because they assume the smell of musky animal urine combined with laundry soap is somehow going to make them smell good and be attractive, because they fell into the Lemming style trap of the commercials that caused a fad.  Seems that the highly underrated movie "Idiocracy" is more than just a mere sarcastic statement on society?

Sorry folks, I am one person that sex doesn't sell.  Unless it is my wife trying to convince me to buy her something....then I'm easy :p

-y0himba (January 03, 2010, 09:23 AM)

I am SICK of advertising that pitches sex to me. "Buy our product and you'll get laid." It's lame and insulting. The underlying message (or rather, implications), are that:

• You are too stupid to understand our product
• You are ruled by your genitals and have little self control
• You cannot get laid on your own
• Corollary to the immediately above point: You are a loser
• Corollary to the immediately above point: You can be a winner by buying our product
• Winners get laid
• Corollary to the immediately above 2 points: You can get laid by buying our product
• ******************
• Conclusion: Buy our product
• 

How insulting is that? You are basically being called a total moron by every company that advertises to you. Clothing marketing is the worst. "Look at our sexy 15-year-old models. Buy our products and you too can live in pedophile heaven."

I would rather just walk down the street and see billboards with hard core pornography. At least it would be a bit more honest.

Seems that the highly underrated movie "Idiocracy" is more than just a mere sarcastic statement on society?

-y0himba (January 03, 2010, 09:23 AM)

AMEN! The movie was simply a brilliant reflection of the world we live in. If I had to rate Idiocracy, I'd say that it goes to 11.

 

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Living Room / Re: WINSTEP V1.0 - All Windows at the same time !!!

« Last post by Renegade on November 10, 2009, 09:19 PM »

You might be better off asking the makers instead. They have a regular support email address. Check if they have forums though.

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Living Room / Re: Legal Insanity

« Last post by Renegade on November 10, 2009, 06:13 PM »

There is no "rule of law" in Korea, and laws are loosely applied or bent quite often

-Renegade (November 10, 2009, 09:01 AM)

That's kinda my point, if Korea is different in that respect then it is up to us travellers to adapt to that.

-Eóin (November 10, 2009, 02:29 PM)

It's not anything to do with travelers. It's for everyone.

Soooo...aren't you glad you're getting out of there?   

-skwire (November 10, 2009, 02:52 PM)

Well, yes and no. I'll miss Seoul for sure.

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Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Renegade on November 10, 2009, 11:08 AM »

Actually I have a serious point to make ... its all very well for the press to enjoy the joke when something like this happens but science has been getting a really bad press mostly from technology numb-skulls and religious ignorami who would still be on a flat earth if they had their way. It's about time scientific advances and adventures were actually applauded - try living for a week without the scientific and technological advances you enjoy!!

Before you respond with "what's the point" of experiments with no practical applications who would have thought most kitchens would have refigerators and microwave ovens a hundred years ago or hospitals would have the imaging devices they have now. I bet back in the early 20th century Marie Curie & co. were fighting to keep their funding too!

-Carol Haynes (November 10, 2009, 10:13 AM)

+1 for that!

Physics is the most important and the most expensive of all sciences. No branch of science would be anywhere without physics. A few billion dollars to gain some insight into the nature of reality is a small price.

Applauded? Not enough. Praised? That's a good start.

It's these kinds of things that will propel knowledge and scientific advancement and technology.

www.symphonyofscience.com - A beautiful testament. (And thanks to posts from others here at DC for pointing me to it -- I truly appreciated that!)

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Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Renegade on November 10, 2009, 09:03 AM »

Those who watched Angels And Demons would know why this happened 

-rgdot (November 10, 2009, 01:49 AM)

I think there was a South Park episode that something on this as well... Stan's dad dressed up as Princess Leia and all that.

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Living Room / Re: Legal Insanity

« Last post by Renegade on November 10, 2009, 09:01 AM »

Devils advocate here, but different countries have different laws and different interpretations of the law. The guy in question may genuinely been in the wrong by Korean standards even if he wouldn't have been in another country.

It's the travellers duty to adapt to a foreign culture, in law and also in their definitions of common sense and appropriate behaviour.

-Eóin (November 10, 2009, 03:38 AM)

Unfortunately, he was perfectly in line with the law. That's where the insanity lies. There is no "rule of law" in Korea, and laws are loosely applied or bent quite often. That's where problems begin; you cannot predict what the law is 100% of the time, and you cannot necessarily abide by the law even if you try.

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Living Room / Re: I'm Going to HELL! Please feel sorry for me... :(

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2009, 10:44 PM »

I most certainly won't be looking forward to funnel webs though... Yikes! Spiders just creep me out entirely!

-Renegade (November 09, 2009, 08:03 PM)

You're lucky then, funnel webs are predominant in Sydney.

We just have snakes, redbacks, european wasps, more european wasps (come and take the bl**dy things back you b*ggers!), etc down here in Melbourne, (as well as some excellent four-wheel driving).

As for beaches, the Mornington peninsula both bay and ocean side.  Or travel a little further east to Ninety Mile beach/Gippsland Lakes or west down the great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay, etc, etc.

Regarding internet, basically you're screwed - welcome to the real world.

Although when you get here and have a place go to Whirlpool and use their plan finder to find an ISP but whatever you do, DO NOT choose BigPongd.

EDIT: Oh yeah, regarding the spiders please don't hurt the Huntsman^w spider if you find him in your house, just pick him up on a broom or something and stick him outside.  They're not poisonous and do a good job wandering around eating insects although they do get rather large so you might be surprised by one staring down at you while sitting on the toilet.

You'll also get the shock of your life when you flip down the sun visor in the car and have one drop in your lap  

-4wd (November 09, 2009, 10:00 PM)

Oh Jeez... When I said spiders freak me out... I meant...

SPIDERS FREAK ME OUT~!

Huntsman? Use a broom? CRIPES! You need a forklift for those things~! Up to 30cm?  

...So... what are the laws in Australia regarding fully automatic weapons?   (I assume that Howitzers and bazookas are out of the question...) And what's the largest legal caliber?

As for being screwed... I've been so spoiled here in Korea... 10 Mbps is slow. Uncapped. That's the part where I cry!! I looked at Australian ISPs... They're seriously primitive in comparison. All my friends that have moved there complained about it. Well... All my friends that move out of Korea period complain about crappy ISPs, slow speeds, and ridiculous caps and policies. Sigh... $140 AUD for... Sob sob sob sob~!

I heard that the entire Australian Internet infrastructure is up for a rehaul though. I'm sure that will be very welcome.