The concept is excellent. With much less ambitious concepts Apple has had double-digit return rates and famously peeved customers. I'm hopeful v1.1 has 70% of the goodness shown in the demo and can retain 75% of that for a year.
Apart from entertainment value why are people doing such things on the telephone?
I've never had a problem cancelling a service or getting a reliable explanation when I write a letter and have it delivered certified, return receipt requested. That is because a company can't ignore or refuse to honor something provably written and sent to their attention. If they do nothing, there's a presumption that your communication is right; if they reply, then you have a document you can take to court.
If someone calls in response to a letter you sent them, you simply say "I won't discuss this except in writing". No company policy trumps law.
I'm a mechanical engineer and never thought industrial design would come into my orbit, but it did. I find a lot of creative scope there. My designs tell people "I'm robust and fit for my purpose, you can't break me and I will faithfully do what you bought me for, for many years". This pleases me a great deal, especially because I engineer the insides and the design speaks the truth. When my job was strictly engineering I thought ID was a woo-woo, beret-and-goatee field but it isn't and I have had a bunch of come-uppances on my path to learning it.
If you want to discuss this off-list, email in my profile's current.
"When a hard disk is heated above its Curie temperature, the temperature at which it becomes nonmagnetic, data will be permanently and truly destroyed. This could mean heating your hard disk to around 1,340 degrees Fahrenheit to delete data that no government agent on earth could recover. Anything less than that, and you are stuck with it."
Step 1, decide what you want your computer to -do-. Linux is cool and all - so is BSD. If you enumerate what you need done (like: "I want to drag and drop x into y and get z") then you can verify that whatever kernel, WM and applications you select will do that. It takes searching.
Many many programs don't "carry over". The M$ programs you cite don't run on Linux at all. OpenOffice has similar functionality to the Office suite, including PowerPoint.
If you use Linux on the internet you will probably suffer fewer attempts to interfere with your machine.
Yes, if you format your entire hard drive to work with Linux you will lose the Windows functionality. It isn't easy to dual-boot Windows and Linux, and the more recent the Windows version, the more difficult, but it is do-able.
If you like such reading, Thomas Hoving's "False Impressions" has a bunch of tales of fakers. He covers van Meegeren with a little more hauteur than does the present article, but he has a wonderful time with the art collection of
Ante Topic Mimara - almost all of it he claims is fake.
You can get the previously noted Chef's magazine cook book, or Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles, and learn lots of tricks.
Someone - perhaps Bourdain himself, but maybe it is Madeleine Kamman - noted in a cook book that if you're cooking and you're a little nervous, the flavors will seem lopsided toward salty and sour, so until you're pretty sure of your perceptions don't try to adjust things at the last minute.
The honeybees in my area (northern California) certainly seem to be doing well, there's a toyon tree in my front yard that has more bees than usual and all the fruit sets in the garden are heavy this year - but I have seen not a single bumblebee.
Ladybugs seem to like hay bales, and if we open one in the spring it's almost sure to have a cluster in it.
Enigma, Trancevision, Delerium, Dead Can Dance and certain Strawpeople tracks, if I'm letting someone else hear them. They tend to attract the kind of people I like.
The concept is excellent. With much less ambitious concepts Apple has had double-digit return rates and famously peeved customers. I'm hopeful v1.1 has 70% of the goodness shown in the demo and can retain 75% of that for a year.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Plural the same as Singular"
Pants, scissors.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In " Your surname"
Sorry the surname Holmes does not exist in our database.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Verizon CSRs confused by math(s)"
Apart from entertainment value why are people doing such things on the telephone? I've never had a problem cancelling a service or getting a reliable explanation when I write a letter and have it delivered certified, return receipt requested. That is because a company can't ignore or refuse to honor something provably written and sent to their attention. If they do nothing, there's a presumption that your communication is right; if they reply, then you have a document you can take to court. If someone calls in response to a letter you sent them, you simply say "I won't discuss this except in writing". No company policy trumps law.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Curious George: What should I do in life?"
I'm a mechanical engineer and never thought industrial design would come into my orbit, but it did. I find a lot of creative scope there. My designs tell people "I'm robust and fit for my purpose, you can't break me and I will faithfully do what you bought me for, for many years". This pleases me a great deal, especially because I engineer the insides and the design speaks the truth. When my job was strictly engineering I thought ID was a woo-woo, beret-and-goatee field but it isn't and I have had a bunch of come-uppances on my path to learning it. If you want to discuss this off-list, email in my profile's current.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Microsoft offers free domain names and web hosting. "
Sorry, Bill, that's not free, that's "free".
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Curious George: Who would want to be me anyway?"
"When a hard disk is heated above its Curie temperature, the temperature at which it becomes nonmagnetic, data will be permanently and truly destroyed. This could mean heating your hard disk to around 1,340 degrees Fahrenheit to delete data that no government agent on earth could recover. Anything less than that, and you are stuck with it."
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Linux-Curious"
Step 1, decide what you want your computer to -do-. Linux is cool and all - so is BSD. If you enumerate what you need done (like: "I want to drag and drop x into y and get z") then you can verify that whatever kernel, WM and applications you select will do that. It takes searching. Many many programs don't "carry over". The M$ programs you cite don't run on Linux at all. OpenOffice has similar functionality to the Office suite, including PowerPoint. If you use Linux on the internet you will probably suffer fewer attempts to interfere with your machine. Yes, if you format your entire hard drive to work with Linux you will lose the Windows functionality. It isn't easy to dual-boot Windows and Linux, and the more recent the Windows version, the more difficult, but it is do-able.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Man wants op to remove extra organ"
Stacy Brown Got Two.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "The Forger Who Fooled the World"
If you like such reading, Thomas Hoving's "False Impressions" has a bunch of tales of fakers. He covers van Meegeren with a little more hauteur than does the present article, but he has a wonderful time with the art collection of Ante Topic Mimara - almost all of it he claims is fake.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Pic of Prince Harry groping a blonde"
Poor bastard. What a way to live, on public view all his life. And good on him, for going for it anyway.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "CuriousGeorge: What happened to phone etiquette?"
Phone etiquette has been going downhill since people quit saying Hoy Hoy when they pick up.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Control rooms"
I had no idea there was a control room given over to surly service and lost luggage. Thanks for showing Delta's control room.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "De-Frenched Fries Stripped of "Freedom""
Ney wanted this little incident forgotten: Chirac's retort. Truly French, that.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Curious, George: Recipe Hacks"
You can get the previously noted Chef's magazine cook book, or Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles, and learn lots of tricks. Someone - perhaps Bourdain himself, but maybe it is Madeleine Kamman - noted in a cook book that if you're cooking and you're a little nervous, the flavors will seem lopsided toward salty and sour, so until you're pretty sure of your perceptions don't try to adjust things at the last minute.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Killer Kangaroos and the Demon Duck of Dooooooom!"
Got your Quack of Dooooooooom right here.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "The Vanishing"
The honeybees in my area (northern California) certainly seem to be doing well, there's a toyon tree in my front yard that has more bees than usual and all the fruit sets in the garden are heavy this year - but I have seen not a single bumblebee. Ladybugs seem to like hay bales, and if we open one in the spring it's almost sure to have a cluster in it.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Knob, $485"
I'll see your knob and raise you a jar full of Brilliant Pebbles .
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "What's on your desktop?"
The desktop is a good metaphor for the way my actual desk looks.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
In "Curious George and his car tunes."
Enigma, Trancevision, Delerium, Dead Can Dance and certain Strawpeople tracks, if I'm letting someone else hear them. They tend to attract the kind of people I like.
posted by jet_silver 17 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)