Step 5) Don't be whiny. Be tough.

Since graduating from high school in 87 I've had several careers: linguist, nurse, CS, network security, and now am looking for an entree into the world of crypto. Yes, this has translated into lots of school (2 BS, 2 MS). Career change is possible if you are driven and are willing and able to start at the bottom again after starting in a new field.

If I were feeling particularly cynical, I'd be inclined to see the interface change as a means of reducing the variability of title selection and increasing page dwell time. It's now takes much longer to search through Netflix's movie options. Given this, people will probably tend to examine movie descriptions more closely and choose a title that appears on one of the first few pages of available choices. This could be a rather effective means of shaping which movies get selected the most frequently. Personally, I dislike the new interface. It blows.

:) Same here. ... Al Qaida in Pakistan wearing bright yellow life vests? Huh? ....ohhhhhh, now I get it: search and rescue NOT search and destroy. Oh man, I think our war-focused culture is warping my mind.

I agree. What a horrible proposal this is. Really, the slow, creaky federal government thinks that it can possibly regulate something as dynamic as computer/network security. It's completely laughable. You know what happens when the government and "private" industry get together to regulate, don't you? You get fat-cat, lobbyist heavy companies paying off corrupt politicians to pass rules that benefit them at the expense of everyone else. Beyond this, every company with a computer network will be at the mercy of class action lawyers should they run afoul of the regulations. Humph.

Was this really a surprise? Sure, no one probably saw this particular problem coming, but we all knew something really screwed up would be discovered soon after MS released its "Win7" mobile OS. The only question here is whether "MS certified" is a lame attempt to make excuses for the problem or if represents a new revenue stream creation strategy. Watch out, now MicoSD cards have to be "certified" to work in a MS product. Something tells me that the certification comes cheap. Thank God that we all still have MS to point to and laugh at!

Oh non-North-Americans, you are so sensitive about your cricket. Never said that cricket wasn't popular, only that it was an anachronism. It has held on well to its pre-Victorian affectations.

elsewhere, in the world of anachronistic sports ...

1. Gertrude, "the Beast", Rosensplinter wins 2010 Grosvenor championship.

2. Punjabi Cricket referee sanctioned for under-regulation sock length.

3. Bull-baiting champion Clive Rosenrochflockensberger retires after 15 years. Recalls many fine seasons at Hockley-in-the-Hole. Disparages Tutbury.

I have to agree. I took a look at the PopBox website and don't see the need that this device fills. Would be better to by a cheap netbook, laptop, or small-footprint desktop with HDMI-out. Would get all the "functionality" of PopBox plus a multi-purpose computer. Could be wrong, but I think that PopBox will be DOA.

I'm not sure much has changed other than degree of problem. Bought a Dell Inspiron laptop. It started to overheat toward the end of the extended warranty (2yrs). You guess it. Bad caps somewhere on MB (couldn't get any more info than this). Sent it back to Dell for repair. Was fine for a few months (until the warranty expired), then started to overheat again. Gee, I wonder what the problem was. Dell does not guarantee the quality of its repairs. I'm out of luck and will never buy another Dell.

Bought a Samsung LCD HD TV a few years ago from Best Buy (hey, they price matched!). Luckily, I also bought the extended warranty. LCD TV started to crap out at about the 3yr mark. Geek Squad guy came out yesterday, popped off the back. Bam, 4 bad caps!

Interesting tidbit was that Geek Squad replaced the bad caps with better quality caps. Repair guy claimed the original caps were rated for 10V and he replaced them with 25V. According to repair guy, the 10V caps regularly fail and that the problem is not limited to Samsung.

Probably not news to many, but ... It's pretty clear. Laptop, LCD TV, other manufacturers cheap out on the device components, which leads to failure in an unacceptably short period of time. This requires that consumers purchase expensive extended warranty plans or resign themselves to replace every few years. Shady man. Should be a special, dedicated level in Hell for these dishonest electronic device manufacturers.

Screw satellites. Sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their head! ...Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here!

Security is: 386 dx 40 (my first computer), BSD kernel, and Lynx non-graphical web browser. Only down side.... ascii-art porn (sigh).

Crap! Soon we'll get T.V.s that know that their being watched, who is watching, and exactly what viewers are looking at. ...Coming soon to a T.V. near you.

Viewer: (thinking to himself) Oh great, a commercial. Time for a potty break. la, la, la (walks away from T.V.)

T.V.: (in loud voice) Alert, Alert, Alert. Viewer, you have been away from the television for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You now risk violating your television and cable provider's ULA and risk violating section 5, paragraph 10, subsection a of the 2010 DMCA redux and expansion act.

Viewer: Coming, coming...just have to give a quick shake....O.K., I'm here. Whew, that was close.

T.V.: Alert, Alert, Alert!!

Viewer: Wha!, I'm here. I'm watching again for God's sake.

T.V.: Viewer, you twice failed to take visual notice of the coke can product placement in this episode of Friends. You have now violated your television and cable provider's ULA and thus also violated the aforementioned DCMA act. Please place your hands on your head and wait for the authorities to arrive....a little higher please...there you go.

This topic highlights why nerds don't have friends. Normal people are tolerant of others. Nerds use knowledge as a weapon. I suppose it's a coping mechanism or some such thing.

Computer smart, cool people understand that non-tech smart people are generally insecure about to their total lack of l33tn355. The illiterate are generally just trying to inch their way through life.

Please, in the future, be kind

Thanks! I tend to be most creative whilst I am procrastinating. Instead of reading/posting to /., I should have been working on a final project that is already over-due and required for me to graduate next week. As a matter of fact, I shouldn't even be typing this email...crap, gotta go!