whats today's rant?

[wellington1869]

i found out recently that one of my grandfathers (grandpa's brother) served in wwii with the allies (italian invasion, he was an army doctor). Made me feel kind of proud.

[RickyJ]

^ You should be!

[quadibloc]

And here's another important news story:

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/mum-of-five-given-blasphemy-death-sentence/story-e6frfku0-1225952413642

[wellington1869]

And here's another important news story:

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/mum-of-five-given-blasphemy-death-sentence/story-e6frfku0-1225952413642

its amazing how we went within a decade from post-cold-war and internet-induced euphoria about the utopian future -- to a neo-feudal, medieval reality.  21st century, my ass. Just the beginning of the end for us all.

[Lanx]

But that's in pakistan pretty much one of those countries defined by a religion. If you want to practice a different religion than a religious nation and be part of the 3%... Isn't this the same ppls who got freaked out when Michelle obama shook one of these leader's hands? Time/Forbes magazine say's she's the most powerful woman in the world she could roll over on one side of the bed and say "honey press the red button nuke those customer service offshore job stealing bastards(this is what fox news said!)"

[zefrer]

Well if Fox news said so it must be true >.>

[keyboardlover]

Well if Fox news said so it must be true >.>

And what do you know about American news?

[zefrer]

Enough to know that their "fair and balanced" moto is highly ironic.

[keyboardlover]

Enough to know that their "fair and balanced" moto is highly ironic.

If you know anything, you should know that Fox is no more balanced than any other news channel. But Fox has become the way that it is because the MAJORITY of news companies in the USA are liberally-biased, therefore American media, in and of itself, is liberally-biased. Imagine trying to fight that as a news channel, and having to become more and more biased yourself. That's why Fox News is the way it is today. It wasn't that way even 10, 15 years ago.

Speaking of biased, that's one of the most biased news articles I've ever read. It reads like a Michael Moore film. The majority of it is propaganda.

[zefrer]

The article is a student publication - not professional writers. I just picked something published today from google randomly, just as an example.

And yeah, I know that but that's beside the point isn't it? "It's not their fault they're biased" is no excuse. They're still biased. So is the majority of everyone else.

[keyboardlover]

All I'm saying is don't make Fox news the scapegoat. Everyone else is just as bad, if not worse.

[Earth Worm Jim]

Fat people stop saying you have a disease. Your fat because you eat too much, STOP IT!

Have a good long hard look at yourself and ask yourself why you are really fat. You have not got a disease, you've probably got a burger in your hand/face. Get a flipin' grip!

[zefrer]

Of course, I never claimed otherwise. Why do you think I don't watch TV anymore.

[wellington1869]

All I'm saying is don't make Fox news the scapegoat. Everyone else is just as bad, if not worse.

i dont think everyone else is as bad -- fox news has far more employees and journalists who openly advocate for and give contributions to the republican party than any other channel has for the democrats (poor keith tried to and got his ass fired for it).  Fox news bias is legendary and for good reason.

secondly, as zefrer said, even if others were as bad, that does not get fox news off the hook anyway.

third, so you're admitting that the fox news motto is in fact bull****.

[keyboardlover]

i dont think everyone else is as bad -- fox news has far more employees and journalists who openly advocate for and give contributions to the republican party than any other channel has for the democrats (poor keith tried to and got his ass fired for it).  Fox news bias is legendary and for good reason.

That's total bull****. Fox is no more biased than any other major news station. Liberals just always make them the scapegoat because Fox is conservatively-biased. And IMO Keith is an ass. But he got fired because he went against his own company's policy anyway, so who cares?

Edit: Assuming you don't know what policy he violated this is it:
Any political contributions must be cleared with the president of the company.

secondly, as zefrer said, even if others were as bad, that does not get fox news off the hook anyway.

Never said it did, but they're always the scapegoat. Which is stupid and lame.

[wellington1869]

But Fox has become the way that it is because the MAJORITY of news companies in the USA are liberally-biased... Imagine trying to fight that as a news channel, and having to become more and more biased yourself. That's why Fox News is the way it is today.

the other thing is, even IF fox thought the other networks were liberally biased (which is questionable btw), its interesting that they thought the most appropriate response was to be EVEN MORE biased in the other direction, as opposed to, say, reacting by trying to actually be objective.
so it goes against fox news credibility that their response to bias was to be just as, or even more, biased.  It doesnt make sense. Its like saying, everyone has a disease, so I'm going to get 5 diseases! that'll show em!

it speaks to their lack of credibility, because it implies that they *wanted* to be biased all along, and would have been, and the claim that others are biased merely provides the PRETEXT by which they can be as biased as they please now.

Its like the 'defense' argument of the islamists. They would be imperialists anyway, regardless of the situation on the ground, but by claiming they are 'resisting' something, they get to use that as a COVER for their inherent imperialism. its like that with fox and bias.

If fox was really against bias, they'd try to be objective, not even more biased.

but fox is ultimately rupert murdoch's *****, and rupert is an arch conservative and this is what he wants.

[kill will]

why do they call it ovaltine? the mug is round, the jar is round...

they should call it roundtine....

[wellington1869]

why do they call it ovaltine? the mug is round, the jar is round...

they should call it roundtine....

lol. thats gold, jerry! gold!

[keyboardlover]

Welly, your nonsense arguments are impossible to argue against.
Just please stop trolling, for the love of god.
Or the muppet gets it, see?

[wellington1869]

Welly, your nonsense arguments are impossible to argue against.

lol, by 'nonsense arguments' i assume you mean reason and logic... and i know you're powerless agianst those (because you watch fox news and fox news alone, i think)
dude, seriously, i dont care if you watch fox news, but mix in some other viewpoints now and then, seriously, and then make up your own mind, you know?

[quadibloc]

That's total bull****. Fox is no more biased than any other major news station. Liberals just always make them the scapegoat because Fox is conservatively-biased.

It's certainly true that Liberals don't notice liberal bias, because they imagine their own views to be objective.

However, Fox is still altogether too biased for it to be credible. So what good is that going to do? It'll just convince people that the liberals are right. A station that has a moderate conservative orientation - so it covers the things stations with liberal biases leave out - but which still tries to be accurate and objective will have a lot more credibility, and therefore more effectiveness in counteracting biased views elsewhere, than one nobody takes seriously.

[Brian8bit]

**** Christmas.

[itlnstln]

Most news organizations contribute money to both parties.  Fox only donates to the Republicans.  They're not even trying to be fair and balanced.  Regardless of slant, at least the other networks are reporting news and not just opinions and FUD.

[keyboardlover]

Most news organizations contribute money to both parties.  Fox only donates to the Republicans.  They're not even trying to be fair and balanced.  Regardless of slant, at least the other networks are reporting news and not just opinions and FUD.

I highly doubt your first opinion is true. I'd like to see some evidence of that. Seems like FUD to me.

Fox reports real news as well. If you actually watched it instead of trashing what you know nothing about you would know that.

[RoboKrikit]

fox is no more biased than any other major news station.

lol

[Lanx]

i think we can safely say
fox=gop centric news
msnbc=dem centric news

cnn= who watches cnn anymore lol

but it's true what they say, fox=more hot looking anchor women(sorry ladies i don't know what men are good looking you'll have to put in your 2 cents for that)
i think that's why fox also draws in more ratings than TWO other news networks combined, don't agree here's comparison links
fox
http://www.gogomag.com/talkingheads/foxnews.php
nbc
http://www.gogomag.com/talkingheads/msnbc.php

i used to watch news especially lots of cnbc, but then after a while it all just made me feel regurgiative.

but if you want to learn spanish, i think univision is giving these other networks a run for pretty!
http://www.gogomag.com/talkingheads/misc_univision_f.php

go google
Ines Sainz
she was in the news recently for locker room hijinks.
(but women sports anchors are a whole nother story, i mean really? i'm not saying women don't know sports, especially since i don't watch any but... come on)

BTW fox news tries to convey that it has lot's of "opinionators" vs. "news anchors" "we" the "people" just have to understand the difference. I've figured out an easy way.
a fox news anchor will say
Barak Obama
a fox news opinionator will say
Barak HUSSEIN obama

you can go make your own opinion why an opinionator would always say the full name of the president.

[keyboardlover]

I don't often watch the news. But when I do, I watch Fox.

...For the female news anchors.

[microsoft windows]

Today's rant:

THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!

[itlnstln]

I highly doubt your first opinion is true. I'd like to see some evidence of that. Seems like FUD to me.

Fox reports real news as well. If you actually watched it instead of trashing what you know nothing about you would know that.

Maybe if you watched anything other than Fox News, you wouldn't spout such bull****: check it.  Public records are public.

Anything you say in Fox's defense from now on will be considered pure trollage and responded to accordingly.

[keyboardlover]

Lol, funny thing is I don't even watch it. I don't watch any news stations actually. But...where does your source prove that no Fox news employee has ever donated to anyone but a Republican??? So...who's spouting the bull****?

Well you are, buddy.

[microsoft windows]

Maybe if you watched anything other than Fox News, you wouldn't spout such bull****: check it.  Public records are public.

Anything you say in Fox's defense from now on will be considered pure trollage and responded to accordingly.

It appears that you know about as much about politics as a retarded kindergartener. Please read these articles I kindly link to you below:

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/msnbc-confirms-liberal-media-bias/

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2008/07/24/medias-campaign-donations-tilt-100-1-favor-democrats

These are just two examples of the liberal media bias that is rampant in America. If FOX News wants to donate to the GOP, they can go right ahead. It's very likely an effort to help balance out the campaign contributions from media.

I watch Fox News, along with CBS and ABC. I can tell you for a fact that the news reported on Fox News does not contain much of a bias. However, many people are misled by the fact that Fox hosts many conservative commentators on separate shows.

[wellington1869]

problem is even the concept of objectivity is considered 'liberal' now; so any traditional journalistic eduction will be 'by definition' liberal. By fox news' definition, and so they take up the right to be as openly conservative as they like.

we see the same problem in academe. Conservatives cry and moan that studies show majority of professors are liberal. No ****! By liberal they mean professors back things like separation of state interests from academic pursuit, requiring things like evidence, introducing multiple viewpoints, secular rather than religious education -- ie, the traditional notion of objectivity - is now considered 'liberal'.

You can damn liberals for not following their own ideals, but its a little retarded to say they're liberal simply because they claim to value objectivity.

And so like I said, if one thinks the media is biased, the right response is to try to be more objective; the right response is not to become even more biased, or take that as a license to be as biased as you please. That is precisely what fox news has done.  All fox news does is damn itself every day by being exactly what it complains about others.  Imagine if it could have emulated the BBC instead. Aim higher rather than lower.

[wellington1869]

today's rant: had a lousy lousy day. was playing with my nablet (netbook-tablet, an asus t91mt). Really sweet as an ereader. Its brand new, havent even put fingerprints all over its glossy cover yet.

First, one of the covers over the screws fell off, couldnt find it again.

Then my attempt at upgrading memory failed miserably, turns out only certain makes and models of dimms (regardless of specs) will work and it will be trial and error to find the right one (thanks, asus).

Then even worse: was showing it off to a friend in a diner, and I freaking lost the stylus. Left it there by accident; went back an hour later hoping to find it, but its gone. The freaking stylus - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.  

hate when i lose things, so sad, and the nablet is just one day old.  Hate to see what happens to it on day two.

[msiegel]

damn, welly. you really do have a screw loose this time

i'm sure your natbloot will be ok, it's just adjusting to life with a dyed-in-the-wool hardware modder.

now, what will make a good replacement stylus...

[wellington1869]

now, what will make a good replacement stylus...

well, if the answer isnt 'velcro' or 'duct tape', then i'll have to think about that one ;-)

(i stopped sobbing long enough to google, and asus may have a replacement - for $30. Which caused me to start sobbing again).

[mike]

I think people should be able to use goats as lawnmowers.

A former colleague from a farming background had a brother who got rid of his sheep farm but not the sheep. He rented out the sheep as lawnmowers; or in other words his sheep farm now has a negative rent.

[mr_a500]

A former colleague from a farming background had a brother who got rid of his sheep farm but not the sheep. He rented out the sheep as lawnmowers; or in other words his sheep farm now has a negative rent.

That's awesome. I was considering starting a business like that myself. There's also a goat business in California, called Goats 'R Us. (I like their retirement plan)

But this is the rant thread, so I better get ranting...

I hate the stupid concept of "save on shutdown" or "save on exit". Why isn't a settings change saved instantly? You see this on every device now. It's utterly stupid for two reasons: a) this makes exit or shutdown take way longer than it should, and b) settings are lost (or corrupted) if there is a crash before shutdown or exit. I got screwed by this twice yesterday. My browser crashed on exit, corrupting my settings. My MP3 player crashed while playing, losing settings I thought were "saved".

I also hate the stupid concept of "press & hold". You see this everywhere now, too. There used to be actual on/off switches. If you wanted it off, you flick it off - instantly. You didn't have to press and hold a button, wait, make sure it detected a "hold", not just a "press", then if it didn't work, look at the device to see why it didn't ****ing work, then try again. On every device I've ever owned that has a button for "press & hold", the button eventually becomes a "crush & hold" before failing completely.

Edit: (rant wasn't finished)
I hate how everything seems to have a "boot up" now. You turn on the TV and it isn't instantly ready - it has to "boot up" for a few seconds. During that time, it ignores any button presses. Same with the DVD, stereos & MP3 players, nearly every electronic gadget. Things used to come on instantly.

Also, devices don't instantly do what the user commands. They seem to have the option to ignore the user. On my DVD player, pressing "open" doesn't open it. First, the player decides to check the DVD. I didn't ask it to check the DVD, I just want the damn thing open! Then, half the time, it will decide to start playing the DVD. I said OPEN! When the DVD has little scratches and the picture gets corrupted, pressing "OFF" usually won't turn it off! It ignores all input and just keeps trying to play the DVD. If I want it off, I have to pull out the plug. ("Yeah, well **** you, DVD player!")

[Rajagra]

Traffic lights. The theory that they help control traffic flow is complete bollocks. All they do is stop you. Roundabouts do the job infinitely better because they are automatic / self-regulating. Until some moron adds traffic lights to them, then you get instant traffic jams.

[mr_a500]

I hate digital volume controls (that have steps between volume levels that are too big). You turn it up one notch and it's too loud, but down one notch and it's too quiet. Analogue controls were way better. You could fine-tune the exact level you want.

I hate DVD movies with the voice track way too low and the music & sound effects way too loud. You turn it up so that you can hear them talk, but then the music and sound effects blast your head off.

I hate on-screen TV displays - for volume, channel (non-set-up things). Separate LED display was better because it didn't block the screen. My TV has a volume display that covers almost 1/4 the damn screen. Any adjustment and you can't see what's going on. (and that's with "display off"!)

Edit: (wasn't finished this rant, either)
When you go to buy a TV, DVD player, camera, stereo, etc. - why in the hell don't the stores have the user manuals available to view? How can you make a decision about whether you like the features of a device if you have no idea how those features work? Do they expect people to choose a device based on how fancy the case looks? Sometimes, you can play with the device and figure out some features (if they have the damn thing on), but most of the time you just have to guess and hope it will work the way you want.

[mike]

This news story

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3222753/Sick-protesters-torch-poppy.html

It is interesting to see that :-

1) Just for once this isn't a complete fabrication by The Sun.

2) They still got the numbers wrong; it was 35 poppy-burners rather than 30.

3) The poppy-burners were outnumbered by the people protesting at the poppy burning.

It seems that Islamic extremism is in a pretty poor state in the UK if all they can get out at this protest is 35 people - when they're numbered by the fringe fanatics like the EDL.

[mike]

It appears that you know about as much about politics as a retarded kindergartener.

Congratulations! Insulting others whilst coming up with nothing more than noise yourself is very amusing ...

 Please read these articles I kindly link to you below:

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/msnbc-confirms-liberal-media-bias/

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2008/07/24/medias-campaign-donations-tilt-100-1-favor-democrats

These are just two examples of the liberal media bias that is rampant in America.

They're nothing of the kind. Firstly they are articles documenting potential bias in the media; not examples of it. An example would be an article in the allegedly biased press denying Stalin's crimes or something.

Secondly those articles show that journalists are biased; which has only slightly more to do with media bias than our own prejudices. Journalists "write" stories to suit the editor (and through him or her the proprietor(s)); journalists who insist their own bias is more important than the editor's bias very quickly find themselves covering flower shows in the unpopular parts of Hicksville.

This doesn't mean that US media doesn't have a liberal bias to it of course - just that looking at journalists is the wrong stone to look underneath. Look into the editors and those in power over them!

[wellington1869]

paying $30 for a stupid plastic stylus. what can possibly be worse than that?

[microsoft windows]

Buying a Mac is definitely worse.

[Lanx]

About as amusing as listening to Ann Coulter.

At least when Ann coulter argues a point, or her point she can back it up with some good talking points, rather than just defaulting to, "well god said it so i'll just believe it" or "or it's in the bible, duh".
With this particular point, i'm in agreement, it's just like Sarah palin, running around and parading her disabled son like this quote.
"My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes." made by a down syndromed actress.

at least after that she stopped doing it.

[Lanx]

i know this guy who called one of his kids joules. I was like the sci fi guy? he's like no the measure of energy, i was like wow, that's dorkier than naming a kid after a writer. He named his other kid something science like too as well.

[clickclack]

I hate digital volume controls (that have steps between volume levels that are too big). You turn it up one notch and it's too loud, but down one notch and it's too quiet. Analogue controls were way better. You could fine-tune the exact level you want.

I hate DVD movies with the voice track way too low and the music & sound effects way too loud. You turn it up so that you can hear them talk, but then the music and sound effects blast your head off.

I hate on-screen TV displays - for volume, channel (non-set-up things). Separate LED display was better because it didn't block the screen. My TV has a volume display that covers almost 1/4 the damn screen. Any adjustment and you can't see what's going on. (and that's with "display off"!)

Edit: (wasn't finished this rant, either)
When you go to buy a TV, DVD player, camera, stereo, etc. - why in the hell don't the stores have the user manuals available to view? How can you make a decision about whether you like the features of a device if you have no idea how those features work? Do they expect people to choose a device based on how fancy the case looks? Sometimes, you can play with the device and figure out some features (if they have the damn thing on), but most of the time you just have to guess and hope it will work the way you want.

give this man a beer! 100% spot on!

I guess I have a little rant-

I have been having a harder time getting pages to load on this site. One second it's ok (not great) and then it hardly works, takes forever, or just goes to a page that says something like "website is too busy, try again later". It's has been slowly getting worse over the past six months for me. I have noticed that it is not just on my computers/connection.

Could this actually be from more people joining? If so that's pretty impressive!


=)

[Rajagra]

I have been having a harder time getting pages to load on this site. One second it's ok (not great) and then it hardly works, takes forever, or just goes to a page that says something like "website is too busy, try again later". It's has been slowly getting worse over the past six months for me.

Same here, though I have suspected my being across the pond was a part of the problem, or at least exacerbating an existing problem. Or Firefox compatiblity?

Sometimes when I submit a comment there is a long delay, I wait patiently, but it eventually says: "you need to wait 30s between submissions" as if I submitted twice (I haven't.) If I reload the thread my comment is there.

But when it works normally there is no speed problem.

[wellington1869]

Nice stylus.
Why not just get one of those keychain ones?

yea its a nice enough stylus (it telescopes), but i still feel robbed for having to pay $30 (after shipping and tax; decided to buy direct from asus rather than take my chances elsewhere, its actually a discontinued piece).

why not get a keychain one? a) to punish myself. I rarely lose things, and a $30 sting will again remind me for a long time not to lose things. b) its freaking brand new and I want it to be as whole as possible. I've already damaged it enough on day one. c) the original stylus fits nicely into the stylus slots, the others wont, and would only increase the chances that i'd lose those too. d) at some point when I upgrade my nablet i'll want to sell this and things sell for top dollar only if all the pieces are there.

Hate myself for losing it but my consolation is this sort of thing doesnt happen too often with me. I dont remember the last time I lost something. Still, kicking myself. Got caught up in the excitement of showing it off and got careless. Like a little girl. $30 sting is what I deserve.

On another topic, I now have three tablets in my room plus an e-ink ereader. This sounds excessive. I might consolidate the machines once I figured out my new e-workflows. On the other hand, since the goal here is to go all digital and use as little paper as possible, maybe it makes sense to have multiple machines. We'll see.

On top of those machines i'm also eyeing that HP slate 500. It would fill another ereader niche in my life, quite nicely.  Maybe in a year i'll pick up a used one on ebay.

[microsoft windows]

If you ever need a stylus in an emergency, you can easily make a nice, non-abrasive stylus out of a Bic Round-Stic pen.

What you do is you break off the little clip on the pen cap, and then remove the tip (in the picture, the black plastic portion at the tip). You take the ink cartridge out of the tip, and then stick in the clip you broke off the cap. And then you got yourself a good, non-abrasive stylus that'll work great with capacitive touch screens. I've used these for years.

[Oqsy]

[Stephen Wright Voice]I just bought an e-eraser, but I don't have any e-readers or a stylus to use it with, so I walk into coffee shops and drop it onto random yuppies laps erasing stuff from their pda, tablet, or laptop.[/Stephen Wright Voice]