The speeds at which the garden-variety nerd rules out possible mating partners is both superhuman and subatomic.

-- You assume this is voluntary and/or recognized behavior... Your point is nonetheless valid :)

Actually, I believe it is the very definition of quantum computing:

The speeds at which the garden-variety nerd rules out possible mating partners is both superhuman and subatomic.

I am the Store Manager at a top-tier gaming retailer in rural Australia.

Why do we open boxes/cases? Because the disc and relevant DLC coupon/manual for an $80 game would be stolen five seconds after it was put on the shelf as shipped. Want an untouched copy? Pay the (less than normal retail, usually) price and pre-order a copy.

I will be more than happy to look out for great games for you, advise you in spending your hard-earned dollar, and offer considerate after-sales service.

If you want to walk in, make me price match somewhere 200km away, and never come back -- you get what you get. Which is: shut up.

the mass unwashed just don't care

I know that graph doesn't show owners under 18, but i'm sure it's still climbing. With each generation of console we move away from being able to pay $50 to some dude in his momma's basement to solder a few wires for us. They've (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) made it hard enough, and it'll get harder. And the 14 year olds who need their fix'll JUST BUY THE GAME.

I tried to develop some kind of cogent, informed commentary re: your snide comment. I failed.

a) How the hell does my post relate more to the OP than the AC post?

b) I honestly couldn't care about some kind of imaginary ranking; I made this account 4-5 years back and have _maybe_ posted 5-6 times.

c) Internet avatars != Human sentimentality, unless they have acquired some HAL-9000esque quality i'm not yet aware of. Are you suggesting that a picture has manifested itself as a version of me? Trolling /.? I've been in a hospital as a result of self-inflicted maladies, because I honestly wished I was dead at that point. Was I crazy? Of FUCKING course.

I don't want to die, and nobody i've ever known isn't inherently shit scared of death. I just want to stop the mental masturbation.

Oh freakin' hell --

This is such baloney. It's not influencing beliefs, it's good 'ol human sentimentality. Which I value very highly. THIS IS WHAT MAKES US HUMAN. Think of everything you love, and hold dear. Now imagine your life without it. You are not on a horse, you are dead, in a blank void, as you clearly stated.

I have a 6 year old son. Tell me why I would not be scared of losing the chance to see him grow up?

And as an aside, please tell me how you managed to cognitively grasp the concept of thought if there was no thought itself.

Yes. In addition the latter group drove their Chevy there and found it was dry. It does not bode well.

Film @ 11.

Right now all I can think of is penguins facing down at high noon, silence punctuated only by the creak of flexing pocket protectors and the swish of the aforementioned knotted weeds as they sail by.

Yes. Sanity has departed me.

Don't think the Virgin Mary ever thought her offspring would be Bind-on-Account. Makes you wonder what would have happened to organized religion if someone had already conceived (terrible pun, i know) the morning-after pill (aka. swift punch to the stomach)

The Virgin Mary never thought her spawn would be Bind-on-Account.

because any article, any rational examination of the competition, only serves to prove the following point:

If it was truly the Year of the Linux Desktop, if Ubuntu offered everything that Windows 7 does; overarching ease-of-use, wide ranging software compatibility, (mostly) seamless integration of certain apps, support of the big software developers...

IT WOULD BE WINDOWS.

The market has evolved to best suit the front-runner in a game of percentages. Why does 'everyone' run Windows? Because the big apps are built for Windows. Why are the big apps built for Windows? Because everyone runs Windows!

I've used Ubuntu extensively. Loved the no-frills media players, the customization options, apt and the huge software repository, the freedom that comes from the command line. Why am I running Windows 7? Because World of Warcraft via Wine suffered from a kernel bug on AMD64 systems post 2.6.33. Because I couldn't interface with my Zune except thru VirtualBox (I didn't buy it, it was a gift :-), because I had to go thru 16 million steps to make the Plymouth bootloader do anything but 640x480. I love fooling around with all different types of Linux and Unix, and I have had said as my desktop OS many a time. I do it because it's fun, because it piques my interest as a nerd. Do I smash the keyboard in a fit of rage when I get booted from signing onto WoW for the 7th time and then succeed on the 8th for no apparent reason? You bet your ass I do. And then I install Windows 7.

I love open source, I get a kick out of installing a Linux distro, but I go to the status quo for the it-must-work stuff. And I have no problem with that, because you can't be all things to all people, and for Ubuntu to have the scope of something like Windows it would have to forgo so much of what makes it great.

To make an overly simplistic (slashdot-approved) analogy: You see a really nice car. It's nicer than yours. It has a Bose audio system and BBS rims, a turbo. You drive a Pinto. You are overcome with lust. You buy this car, and then you realize it still shifts the same, the sound, while better quality, is still the same music, and it gets you faster to a place you didn't really want to go. But the top is down, so you're free, as in freedom. You garage it and drive the Pinto. Why? Because the seat fits your ass _just_ right.

I second that. PS3, PS3 media server [http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/], HDMI into your TV. Transcodes anything the PS3 can't handle. That simple, and all for a ~$300 outlay, plus you get BD capability into the bargain. Can't be beat.