You need to pay closer attention my friend. I never said I didn't read your post, I merely lost interest in whatever point you were attempting to make because of your ad hominem opening.

It's amazing how much correlation there is between poverty and bitterness.

Hear hear. What people apparently don't realize about those arguments is the fact that they're describing Communism. Everyone should work to the common good, nobody should have more than anybody else, ...

But hey, it worked so well in the Soviet Union, right?

As I said, there's this trend that's cropped up lately that's decidedly anti-money, anti-success, etc. I can get behind the whole anti-corporation and anti-monopoly arguments but aren't we all out to improve ourselves and our lives? If not; why are we here?

Perhaps Slashdot just has a higher than average representation of the lowest rung of the technical ladder. I suppose it makes sense that the most lowly employees of any given company and the unemployed would have disproportionately more time to comment on stories and therefore their group-think would overwhelm the discussions at hand.

Alas, I digress ...

See, you lost me right there. I never said I was rich, I just said I was far from bring poor. I work a lot of hours and yes, I make a decent living. Your sour grapes go nowhere to further your argument and instead make you appear to be a sad, pathetic retch who would rather complain than change something about their life.

As I said before; If you don't like your lot in life, change it. If you don't want to change your lot in life, quit bitching about it. I didn't like my lot in life so I worked to change it. I worked hard and earned every damned penny. So if you think your tirade against people who have earned their success is going to take anything away from me then you're delusional.

Go sit at a free show and delude yourself into thinking this is the be-all and end-all to music. But always remember that the band you're seeing is most likely doing this so they can ultimately wind up in a large venue playing to thousands of fans. That's what drives musicians and that's what created the music industry and those mega successful bands are where your local, indy bands got their inspiration.

Go sit and suffer in silence in the filth you've created for yourself and let the world be.

This I'll agree with. TicketMaster have created a monopoly on the ticket industry and therefore the "convenience" of buying tickets from them is rather akin to a convenience charge to buy Microsoft Windows or gasoline anymore.

This, however, I will wholeheartedly disagree with. The last rock concert I went to at {$Major_Venue} was phenomenal. The crowd of thousands was entirely into the show to the point where people stood when the band fired some cannon shots to start the show and never sat down again. Screaming, yelling, cheering, chanting and thousands of people belting out lyrics to the more lively songs is something you can never experience at a bar. That and extreme pyrotechnics.

There's vast differences between a show at a bar (I've been to hundreds) and a rock concert. Namely a show at a bar is something you can do because it's Friday. A major concert event is an uncommon special occasion.

I've noticed quite a trend of people on Slashdot being anti-money. Is there a problem with people who work hard and earn more than $40k/year (or 50, 60; whatever the waterline may be) or something? Or must one suffer and live in one's parents' basement earning paltry sums in order to maintain credibility?

It's simple market economics. You price a good at a level the market will bear. If you sell tickets for $100 apiece and the show sells out in 6 minutes, you price the next show at $120. If it also sells out in under 10 minutes you know your good is priced below market value and you make future pricing decisions accordingly.

The notion that "real fans" are people who have no money and must go to shows only on half price pint night is rather insulting. I'm a music lover and I assure you I am not poor.

If you don't like your lot in life, change it. If you don't want to change your lot in life, quit bitching about it.

MADD are the reason why in Ontario, if you get stopped at .05 BAC you now get a 3 day suspension and a mark on your insurance history for DUI, which subsequently raises your insurance premiums and could make you unemployable. It used to get you a 12 hour suspension and your car towed to an impound lot. Since you need your license to get your car back it made for quite the inconvenience. Now, however, it could ruin your life even though you're not beyond the legal limit for BAC levels.

Every time we hear about drunk drivers causing harm to themselves or others, the driver is typically reported as having "XX number of times the legal limit" for BAC, meaning 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, etc. The new laws, sadly, are sensationalist and emotionally driven by an organization who strive to prevent anybody but themselves from setting up roadside memorials! They actually stated not so long ago that they wanted to charge some sort of licensing fee, or failing that, punitive fines for anybody who put so much as a wreath or a cross at the site of a vehicular fatality!!

I've left standing instructions that any and all comers are permitted to make deposits to my bank account.

(So long as the cheque clears, that is)

That's quite the rash judgment. An Audi A4, BMW 330, Mercedes C300 are all capable of driving the Autobahn and they're quite reasonably priced for their segments. You'll pay nearly as much for a Nissan Maxima or Toyota Camry XLE.

Incidentally, "Sports Cars" are priced to what the market will bear. These cars are built to handle significantly higher speeds and G forces, contain more luxury appointments and make their drivers feel good about their success.

If you're jealous of somebody who drives a nicer car than you, lives in a nicer dwelling, has nicer things, wears nicer clothes, takes nicer (and/or more frequent) vacations than you; my advice is to either suck up your pride or start working at bettering your lifestyle. Should you be satisfied with your lifestyle, stop taking jabs at people who do live to a higher standard than yourself. Life is too short for such pettiness.

ISTM that "balanced" and "biased" in this context are direct contradictions. But I could be wrong.

Sooo.. Boycott Google if it offends you so much. Otherwise lighten up and quit bitching over petty nonsense?

Just a suggestion. Life is too short.

If my boss walked by when I opened Google and asked what was going on, I'd tell him to go to his computer and go to Google as well. I'd take 10 seconds to explain that it's the 30th anniversary of the game and Google put up a tribute to it, then we'd resume talking about business (or he'd resume walking wherever he was going) and that would be the end of the discussion.

If I ever worked for a boss that was so anal retentive they'd consider discipline for such a thing, or if ever I found myself in a position where by boss trusted me so little as to believe I was wasting time on the company's dime, I'd quit my job and promptly find another.

You can't put hardly anything on a rescue floppy. Conversely, I can put a full suite of diagnostic tools, partition software, anti-virus applications, password recovery tools and then some on a CD and still have plenty of room for expansion. Alternatively, I can put an entire usable Linux distribution on a CD.

I haven't used a rescue floppy in well over a decade.

I think you'll find it can be quite the opposite, actually. In Ontario, Canada we've had new legislation implemented that's aimed at protecting consumers and forcing them to be aware of their rights and obligations under an automotive contract, yet people still brazenly autograph it as quickly as possible so as to move on with other things.

In point of fact, it is now mandated by law in Ontario that all sales contracts contain the following text, in bold-face 12 point font, with the first two words being mandated to be in 14 point font. The wording must be directly adjacent to the signature line so as to give the consumer every opportunity to read it prior to finalizing the contract. Vis;

Sales Final. Please review the entire contract, including all attached statements, before signing. This contract is final and binding once I have signed it unless the motor vehicle dealer has failed to comply with certain legal obligations. No other promises or terms have been made to me that are not part of this contract.

It's amazing how many customers come into the dealership days later asking why they can't just "forget the whole thing", or who demand other things be "thrown in" that are not part of the contract, or who don't understand the clauses on the reverse of the contract that talk about liquidation of damages from one's deposit should they fail to accept delivery or pay. "Oh, I didn't know that's what that said"

I'm not asking people to read the fine print, but it would be nice if they'd atleast read the 14 point bold face print that's 1 inch away from their signature.

I don't think you quite understand the sub-prime finance market.

Try this. Start paying half the minimum payments on all your credit cards and loans, skip every other month on everything, pick 2-3 debts that you don't like and just stop paying for them entirely. After about a year, go into your bank and ask if that 4.9% is still available.

Who's arguing?

My bone of contention is with people who object to the way these flakes are treated. They've already proven that they can't handle debt responsibly, so they go to near-prime lenders. Then they prove they can't handle that responsibly, so they go to sub-prime lenders who install tracking devices in their vehicles with remote kill switches. They're lucky to have a car at their disposal in the first place. (n.b. Many of these people don't have the credit card room available to put a deposit down on a rental car, nor do they typically have the cash on hand to leave a cash deposit)

If they disable the device, they also disable their car. Further, the device either sends an SOS or, failing that, the system sends an alert that the device has gone offline and the lien holder immediately dispatches somebody to collect the vehicle.