Wow... check out the prices the Vista beta's getting on eBay...

Un-effin'-believable!

Some dude paid $124.50 for the Vista Beta on DVD. A couple of others paid
$99. Plenty of sales in the $50 range.

I wish there was a flag that could be set in this NG that indicated some
idiot, er, excuse me, some guy with money to burn, paid $100 for the Vista
beta...

Understand that just cause the sale completed at that price doesn't mean the
seller got paid, but, whoa, too many bids at those, what I consider to be
stratospheric prices, for every sale to be bogus. Unless there's a Mac Nut
conspiracy happening... ;-D

<shaking head>

Woe is the world when folks are willing to pay in the $100 range for beta
software. MS could make a killing by selling the beta to the unwashed and
unread (is that a word?) at $29.99 per pop. Whatever...

Crazy...

Lang

 

That goes to show that at both ends of the spectrum there are incredibly
brilliant and consumately stupid people. I'd like to fix whatever has moved
them to pay $125 for a Vista Beta DVD but I think it would be a compelling
psychiatric component that would be overriding anything to do with software
or hdw.

This adds fuel to my pipe dream of requiring a license before a computer
could be turned on.

CH

 

In europe there is ECDL, European Computer Driving Liscence.

This works a bit.... but computers will become such a part of our lives that
you will have to learn how to use them... all schoolwork will be done via
computers,
the kids will learn and the older will have to re-educate themselves if they
want to keep up.

Now if only we had a good OS... like Vista was supposed to be!

 

A major problem is the high price of Windows + Office especially for the
public sector which is close to being bankrupt, all funds going to
social security, health, and Israel and Iraq and Afghanistan...

rOy

 

Its is left for the individual to peruse his own prosperity...
and perhaps he can bring more people with him to the same result.

 

Back before 5384, I had fun. Anytime a idiot would put vista up on ebay, I'd
report them to MS and eBay.... How can people (buyers) not know, that that is
illegal?

 

They know. They don't care.

 

Nancy Anderson, Deputy General Counsel at MSFT who has piracy as one of her
duties, is probably not using her legal staff and tools to go after Joe
Blow 6 pack on Ebay, but rather to people who pirate in considerable volume.
They've been known to have private eyes in European countries wait in cars
trying to catch larger pirates, but that's a finger in a very very large
space in the dike that an 18 wheeler and one of Paul Allan's 3 yachts or
multiple Gulf Streams could sail or fly through.

CH

 

A lot of funds are going to the pimps on K street, the whores in Congress
and the Johns who are major corporations outsourcing to other countries.
That's why you're subsidizing major airlines like Delta who went broke--so
you're paying premium prices fo their seats in the next couple months and
you're paying the pension programs they went bust on courtesy of your
congress people.

Part of why they went broke was oil and oil dependancey and gee I wonder how
SUVs in the garage of every federal building and every driveway could
possibly relate to oil dependance--hmmm--hand on chin slapping forehead
would there, could there be a relationship--what in the world could Tom
Friedman from the NY Times possibly be thinking about oil dependance?

Watch the current series of indictments of Congress that will unfold as
Vista marches toward RTM. It's the reason Bob Ney dropped out of the
Congressional race in Ohio before the 21st so they could still have another
candidate and not get into the situation that Texas got it with the clown
Delay. Abramoff and Randy Cunningham, their snitching and Randy's tapes
will leave a wide trail of political corpses.

Those SUV trucks are a marvelous help to America. They kill 1000 people per
year because of the height of the front end. They have a 16% higher
fatality and C-Spine fracture rate in single SUV accidents than any other
vehicle. They do an unparalleled job of funding terrorists at both ends,
and they are the major reason the US is in an unprecedented death producing
fiasco in Iraq where inevitable withdrawal is going to be unbelievably
deadly and messy.

Stay the course there is like saying "my accelerator got stuck, I ran down
my garage, I can't wait to try it again tomorrow."

CH

GM keeps the gas flowing and U.S. soldiers in danger
By Thomas L. Friedman

Friday June 2, 2006 (The Same day MSFT met with the DOJ in Washington about
turning over their customer information secretly to DOJ along with any MSN
searches for years) Gotta love that WGA phoning home but you can remove
the component that phones home or anything they ever spyware in like it.

Is there a company more dangerous to America's future than General Motors?
Surely, the sooner this company gets taken over by Toyota, the better off
our country will be.
Why? Like a crack dealer looking to keep his addicts on a tight leash,
GM announced its "fuel price protection program" on May 23. If you live in
Florida or California and buy certain GM vehicles by July 5, the company
will guarantee you gasoline at a cap price of $1.99 a gallon for one year -
with no limit on mileage. Guzzle away.
As the Associated Press explained the program, each month for one
year, GM will give customers who buy these cars "a credit on a prepaid card
based on their estimated fuel usage. Fuel usage will be calculated by the
miles they drive, as recorded by OnStar, and the vehicle's fuel economy
rating. GM will credit drivers the difference between the average price per
gallon in their state and the $1.99 cap." Consumers won't get any credits if
gas prices fall below $1.99.
"This program gives consumers an opportunity to experience the highly
fuel-efficient vehicles GM has to offer in the midsize segment," Dave
Borchelt, GM's southeast general manager, said in the company's official
statement. Oh, really?
Eligible vehicles in California include the 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet
Tahoe and Suburban (half-ton models only), Impala and Monte Carlo sedans,
GMC Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs (half-ton models only), Hummer H2 and H3 SUVs,
the Cadillac SRX SUV, and the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Lucerne sedans.
Eligible vehicles in Florida include the 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet Impala and
Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick LaCrosse.
Let's see, the 6,400-pound Hummer H2 averages around nine miles per
gallon. It really is great that GM is giving more Americans the opportunity
to experience nine-miles-per-gallon driving. And the hulking Chevy Suburban
gets around 15 miles per gallon. It will be wonderful if more Americans can
experience that, too - with GM-subsidized gas.
Our military is in a war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan with an
enemy who is fueled by our gasoline purchases. So we are financing both
sides in the war on terror. And what are we doing about that? Not only is GM
subsidizing its gas-guzzlers, but not a single member of Congress, liberal
or conservative, will stand up and demand what most of them know: that we
must have some kind of gasoline tax to compel Americans to buy more
fuel-efficient vehicles and to compel Detroit to make them.
Where are the presidential aspirants on this issue? I have yet to hear
John McCain, Mitt Romney, George Allen, Al Gore or Hillary Clinton support
at least a $3.50 floor price for gasoline, so that it will never fall below
that level and the alternatives can really flower and spread.
But if you go to GM's Web site, you will see an ad with a young
African-American boy saluting an American flag, above the following offer
for U.S. military personnel: "In appreciation of your commitment to our
country, GM extends a $500 exclusive offer to active duty military and
reserves when you purchase or lease select 2005, 2006 or 2007 GM cars,
trucks and SUVs - just show your military ID!"
That's really touching. First GM offers a gasoline subsidy so more
Americans can get hooked on nine-mile-per-gallon Hummers, and then it offers
a discount to the soldiers who have to protect the oil lines to keep GM's
gas guzzlers guzzling. Here's a rule of thumb: The more Hummers we have on
the road in America, the more military Humvees we will need in the Middle
East.
You want to do something patriotic, GM, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler? Why
don't you stop using your diminishing pools of cash to buy votes so Congress
will never impose improved mileage standards? That kind of strategy is why
Toyota today is worth $198.9 billion and GM $15.8 billion. GM is worth just
slightly more than Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle company ($13.6 billion).
President Bush remarked the other day how agonizingly tough it is for
a president to send young Americans to war. Yet, he's ready to do that, but
he's not ready to look Detroit or Congress in the eye and demand that we put
in place the fuel-efficiency legislation that will weaken the forces of
theocracy and autocracy that are killing our soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan - because it might cost Republicans votes or campaign
contributions.
This whole thing is a travesty. We can't keep asking young Americans
to make the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan if we as a society
are not ready to make even the most minimal sacrifice to help them.

 

Whoops it's Paul Allen.

CH

 

Doesn't England require a license before a TV can be used? Or is
there something else about TVs they require licenses for. Apparently,
England requires a license for most anything.

Anyway, I would probably fail any test anyway. Unless, of course,
it's multiple choice, with no "True/False" or essay questions.

Myself, I've never used eBay before (maybe once? Not sure. My old
memory is almost as old and beat-up as myself). Nor do I ever intend
to.

By the way, "unread" is a proper English word, even used by the
Intelligensia (a lot, it seems. They must have some fetis...Um, HABIT
of reading, or, something.

Personally, I think reading is highly-overrated, and I try to take as
few baths as possible, since it always makes my cat unable to
recognize me, and she hisses and growls at me for a day or two after I
take one.

You just can't afford to have a cat in a foul mood, at least not
often. They always take their pique out on you in many unusual -- and
sometimes, uncomfortable and malodorus -- ways. (Have you ever
discovered that your slipper had somehow turned into a catbox
overnight, just as you stepped into it in the morning? Then you'll
know what I'm talking about, and I really feel for ya.)

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

That isn't a problem for the "public sector" it is a problem for those
who pay for the "public sector".

 

I think the British are smarter for whatever dyanmics and reasons and their
schools are better. In America, you should have a license before you buy a
VCR or Tivo.

I love the fact that in the great O'Reilly Hacks series there is an Ebay
Hacks book. Ebay has become a real cliche in the language, but a lot of
people forget or don't know that Amazon has a similar type setup for sales
as do others.

Ebay Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips and Tools
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ebayhks/

CH

 

Isn't it grand to be poor, like me? The poor seldom pay Social
Security Taxes, since we usually have such low incomes. Many of us
have such low incomes, we have none at all. And we NEVER pay Income
Taxes. Almost ALL the poor get a reverse-income tax payment every
year, in the form of "Earned Income Credit" (wonder how long THAT will
last with old George in power). Hey! sometimes, its as much as $1000
(more money than many have seen all year, I betcha) And the more
children they have, the more they get back. Isn't that a big whoop?

But, not to be unfair to the rich, they also get an "Earned Income
Credit" (of sorts) in the form of generous Government subsidies and
other such rich-folk "welfare payments". Don't forget they may no
longer have to pay Estate taxes, if the Torries have their way this
year. After all, thats what the poor get for being poor (allowed to
have a non-living wage increase --again) so those fat-cats can pass
the greatest majority of their Estates to their mistresses or "trophy
wives", when they die. Or maybe they will just try to take it with
'em, the old misers.

But too bad for the poor, now, since they'll just have to get by on
their $5.15/hr -- down from the hoped-for $7.25 [non-living] wage
increase ("They just don't DESERVE it, those rank-smelling
wage-slaves! I'd rather lose my 40th mansion to the IRS than let THEM
have another damn dime!"), and now those bastards the Rebublicans can
have bragging rights in the next election, and the weak-willied Dems
can go home and wring their hands in false sorrow for the Poor, and
whimper to us "we tried, so vote for us in '08". But guess who WE'LL
be voting for in '08. It sure won't be you (or, hopefully, either of
you), cause you can't even help us put a decent meal on our tables,
much less get out of debt to the Sonder Kommandos who make HUGE
profits on over-priced loans, while taking the INTEREST we deserve for
trusting them with our pitiful life savings in their fancy-dancy banks
out of our children's pockets, so they can purchase fancier and more
powerful computers and gadgets to show their ooohing and aaahing
stockholders, so they'll feel like they're getting a return on their
investments. Where's OUR return on OUR investments? HIGHER interest
on our plastic, while we get DEEPER AND DEEPER into debt to the
"company store"?

The only ones who lost in THAT debate were the POOR. Oh, well, maybe
next year I can move into a larger hovel, if those devils, the
Democrats, can find the gonads to snatch it out of the present
Government's tightly-clenched fists).

And our GI's (the greatest majority of whom are drawn largely from the
poor and minorities) have to get by without BODY ARMOR, while the
energy companies rake in HUGE RECORD-BREAKING profits because of
George's personal "war".

How ig-NOBLE of such GENEROUS-ly-endowed men.

No wonder so few Americans vote anymore...

Our "masters" are all a bunch of pirates and highway-men. Is it any
wonder WE have to become drug dealers just to better our lives? And
even THAT those demons try to take away from us. We live in squalor,
enslaved to them, without hope, and use a little Bud to take us away
from it for awhile. And they won't even let us have THAT small mercy.
Hell, man, they won't even let us grow the weed in the privacy of our
own homes! They're all a bunch of monsters!!! How DARE they call us
"drug addicts", and try to "reform us" (by putting us into overcrowded
prisons with murderers and rapists). Yeah, that will surely "reform
us!!! But into WHAT? Into nice little Democrats and Republicans?
Somehow, I doubt it. But hey, any port in a storm...

They have absolutely NO MORAL ground on which to stand anymore!! The
ONLY things propping them up are their OWN highly-inflated egos and
money. They're all a bunch of little men behind the curtain in Ozz,
cranking their Wizard machines. But are certainly not as nice as he
turned out to be.

WHY do we even put up with them, for God's sake? Why have we put up
with them for COUNTLESS YEARS, while WE sit here wasting away from
their "reforms" and "wars". They must be right about us. We MUST be
a bunch of ignorant ninnies, always sucking on Uncle Sugar's tits, and
deserving of nothing more than their insults and handouts.

Now I have to go vomit....

==

Donald L McDaniel
Please Reply to the Original Thread.
========================================================

 

Donald,

eBay's a pretty good place to get stuff you can't get locally for, possibly,
a pretty good price. I don't think $124.50 is a pretty good price for beta
code.

I bet your cat isn't the only one who can "recognize" you if you decline to
bathe regularly. ;-) And, no, can't say I"ve ever stepped into a "cat poop"
slipper. I would imagine the combination of the slippery goo and the
enhanced (by one's stepping in it..) release of the malodorous cloud would
make for a rather unpleasant experience first thing after waking. Can you
say "Yeah, weird, but my cat died of unnatural causes"? Just kiddin'... no
offense intended.

I've got a couple of "unwashed and unread" people in my house. Others call
them teenagers. I started playing the West Side Story soundtrack on my PC
the other day and my son turned around (in our "computer room") and said
"What the hell is THAT?" I said, not that anyone cares, "DUDE! You have got
to expand your cultural menu! This may be some of the greatest American
music ever!" He looked at me like I was from New Jersey and turned around
and put his headphones on, no doubt to blast some heavy metal to cleanse his
ears of the melody that had so rudely interrupted his surfing for used cars.

Lang

Living in GA... Ex-NYer, hence the Jersey poke...

 

Wait until your son falls for a girl named "Maria"--He'll learn the value of
Leonard Bernstein.

CH

 

So ... you think all the rich people should give you all their money, right?
Move to China.

First of all, before I go into this diatribe, because I think many people
will hate me afterwards, I want to point out that I am NOT, by ANY means, a
republican. I suppose I am more of the Teddy Roosevelt sort of republican.
(He called it the "Bull Moose" party) I believe that there should be almost
NO federal government. No welfare. Ect... I call myself undeclared
because I vote for whoever I think will do the best job, not by whether they
have a "D" or an "R" after their name. I voted for the Alaska Independance
Party candidate for president. He didn't stand a chance, and there were a
LOT of things about him I didn't like, but he sure as hell was a better
proposition than Kerry. (I hate liars...)

(i.e.: If you want the government to give you money for food, you had
better not sit on yer butt getting welfare. There are a LOT of places that
need cleaning, repair, etc... I've always believed in public works
programs...much different than welfare and people who are just lazy don't
get to collect money simply because they think the world owes them
something. Our Bill of Rights promises us Life, Liberty and the PURSUIT of
happiness. It doesn't promise us that we will be happy. You're on your own
to do that.

To the people who say they can't find a job: Move up here to Alaska. There
are HUNDREDS of jobs waiting. If you aren't willing to move up here to get
a job, then you are just lazy and are trying to get money for being lazy. As
a matter of fact, I don't EVER remember a time when I didn't see help wanted
signs on some shop in ANY town I went to. Might be a menial job, but hey,
if you aren't willing to get off yer butt looking, then that's what you get.

What I don't understand: If you don't like Capitalism, why do you live
here? If you don't like the fact that there are people with more money than
you, move somewhere like France, where they claim that isn't the case.

One of the things I wonder is why, when the "eastern" culture people sit
around screaming how much the american culture is evil, they are STILL
trying to come here and get into our universities, hospitals, etc. Many
come here ONLY to get on welfare.

There are a LOT of things I don't like about the government and how they do
things. I hate the democrats a little MORE than the rest, but as of yet, I
haven't seen a politician who wasn't a liar in some form or another. So, if
YOU have better ideas than those we have, get off yer ass and run for
office. Lets here what YOUR better ideas are and maybe I'll vote for YOU.
Everyone wants to complain about what's there, but no one wants to step up
to the plate and change it. Hypocrites and Whiners.

THAT'S what's wrong with this country. The fact that there are people who
have more money than you and they don't give that money to you has no
bearing on it what-so-ever.

To those who live here and think they have it bad because they are poor: I
am "poor" also. I make about 10k a year. But I don't sit around and cry
that it's the "rich people's fault" that I'm poor. As a matter of fact, I
make less now than I have since I left home at 12 years old...and I'm
probably happier now than I ever have been, because I grew up and realized
that this world doesn't OWE me anything. I owe mySELF, and if I want more,
then I go out and do more work. I pity the people who can't think of
anything other than how it's the rich people's fault that they are poor.
You will grow old and bitter ... if you grow old...

If you think that being poor locks you into that all your life, you
obviously don't know anything about the history of most of the people who
ARE rich. And if you think that this country/government/president is at
fault for you being poor, you should move somewhere like India, where you
don't ever have the chance to be anything BUT what you're born to.

Okay...I'm done ranting now...sorry for the topic break, but people who
EXPECT the world to coddle them REALLY piss me off.

 

You know...what's funny with that is that a LOT of songs from the 60s and
70s are being "covered" (remade) by the newer bands, and not a single
listener seems to realize that that great song they're listening to was
written by John Denver in 1968...lol

I am 42. My wife is 20. She was listening to a band called "Ugly Kid Joe"
(I guess it's a band...not sure...) and they were doing a song called
"Cat's in the cradle" ... So I got out my cassette tape of Harry Chapin (who
wrote the song in 1974) Album "Verities & Balderdash" and started playing
the original. She was excited that I had found someone doing a "cover" of
Ugly Kid Joe's song...lol

So I've been having a LOT of fun taking the CD she buys and finding the
original of the songs from MY era.

 

Katelyn is 18. Actual quote:

"Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings??"

I can't make this stuff up...

 

Heh, heh, heh... current flame is "Heather." Doubt very much that LB ever
put music to lyrics with the name Heather in em...