Darkling

Damn, and I just had to reactivate my game from switching Hard Drives and upgrading the Memory. A motherboard switch is definitely going to trigger another Activation, and the thing said I had Zero reactivations left.

I predict that now that Sam Walton is gone, and the average Walmart employee doesn't even speak english, they will eventually follow Sears & K-Mart into bankruptcy within the next 20 years. True Story... I went to Walmart in Boynton Beach for the Midnight Launch of the Xbox 360. After waiting around for a bit, we were told, "Sorry, it seems that our employees STOLE all the Xboxes, we only have the games" The biggest problem with "Big Box" outfits, is that they lose way too much money in "Shrink", which basically is lost merchandise due to theft, employee theft, and errors in transactions (mostly from incoming inventory). while Walmart has done an exemplary job in the latter, with their computerized inventory controls, it's only a matter of time before the first 2 catch up to them. The more they try to rely on lower and lower cost labor to get the job done, the more problems they will have with both theft and employee theft and this will eventually bring the company down. Sam Walton kept the employees motivated with frequent pay raises and a generous stock purchase plan, so they attracted some of the best employees in Retail, once both of those incentives were gone, after Sam Died, Walmart has had a hard time recruiting new employees. Go to the average Super Walmart these days and there will be a sign proclaiming that they're hiring 50 cashiers. In the end they end up hiring the least employable people, because that's all that is left and unfortunately, these are the same types of people that have a high incidence of theft and carelessness. Personally, I refuse to shop there anymore and I'm sure there are thousands, if not millions like me who have already given up on them.

Soback, What's funny to me is that when I look at your map, Florida looks like it's Completely full. Yet when I drive 4Hrs from S. Florida to Central Florida (to Disney World), I'm amazed at all the empty land that I'm passing through. The VAST majority of the land between here and there is completly undeveloped. If I were to drive another 4 Hrs. to the State's Borders, I would find EVEN LESS development, since 70% of Florida's Population lives in South Florida, and a huge chunk of the remainder, lives in Central Florida, and I'm not even talking about the Pan Handle, and how BARELY populated that area is. Most people don't seem to realize that the entire world population can fit in the State of Texas. and if you were to use the same population density as you have in Manhatten , you would only use 37% of the total land area of Texas. No, it's not the 1/2 Acre per person rumor that's been spreading around, but it also doesn't have to be as Dense as NY, if we were to fit everyone in Texas, considering that we would have the rest of the US (and the world for that matter) to leave unpopulated. Another thing that most people don't realize is that WE DON'T HAVE AN ENERGY SHORTAGE! God, I'm so sick of hearing this. The problem is our reliance on one specific type of energy... Oil. The US has an overabundance of Coal, which using new technology can be cleanly burned to produce power. The US also has very large deposits of Natural Gas, that has not been fully utilized because, until just very recently, there hasn't been a great demand. I remember reading an article in my 20's (about 15 years ago), about a community of about 250 homes that decided to build their own Solar Power Generator, in the alleyway between their homes. This Array provided them with over 75% of their Power. when you consider that Solar Panels efficiency is MUCH more efficient today, this means that something similar would probably generate 90 to 95% of the power needed. Once electricity, Gas and other forms of energy that we're using start to become "too expensive" then you will have the Market bring solutions. I would safely bet that if the current rise in prices continues, in a very short period, you will see more and more cars come out with "Hybrid" and Diesel models, along with homes that come with their own power generating, capacity in either Solar Panels, Hot Water Heating Panels and/or Wind Generators. At the same time, Electricity providors will move more and more of their production away from Oil & Gas, to things like Coal & Natural Gas. Who knows, the US might even lift the ban on growing Hemp to supply Ethanol as a direct fuel replacement in cars!

I've said it many times in this Forum that while the numbers may be showing rising "Poverty" in the US, because of the way that they count "Poverty" it is not REAL poverty in that people are starving or anything like that. This data now proves what I've been talking about all along, that REAL poverty barely exists in the US, people here pretty much have all they need. Only a VERY small minority live in REAL poverty conditions. Census data find an ever-growing material prosperity, with formerly high-dollar luxury items now commonplace in even poor households.

Same here, 64 X2 3800 looking REAL good

Has anyone in here been participating in the Recent Battles in JU and surrounding areas? These Fleet Battles have been pretty frikin Awsome lately, with each side bringing out Dreads to Boot! We lost 2 Dreads a week ago and repaid the favor yesterday and took out 2 of BOB's Dreads.

quote:Originally posted by LostInSpace: Flavia Nunes and Richard Norris have offered an article worthy of freshman geology students. I'm completely shocked over this article. I had thought that the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California was a place of high standards. I don't know much about these two but it doesn't say anywhere that they are paleo geologists. They also have woefully neglected many other variables (other than the most often used increased volcanic activity). Sure, volcanic activity may have increased and caused this past phenomena but what caused this increase in volcanic activity? Anyway, before I believe any scientist anymore, I want to know everything about them. As in, do they have an agenda etc... This is why people on this board get to say things like "Well how come the whole scientific community is behind Global Warming" It's because idiots like this, who clearly show ZERO scientific standards pretty much get a free pass as long as they back the 'Official" Global Warming Stand.

quote:Originally posted by nomad: quote:Originally posted by Wolferz: We have the resources to put you in any ship that you are licensed to fly. LOL. Will get back to you when I'am ready to fly dreads Ditto for me give me another Month!

quote:Originally posted by DeepFreeze: I finally got around to trying the 14 day trial. I quit after a couple hours. Seemed like a generic MMO with a spaceship faceplate. Yes and we all know that it only takes a couple of hrs to figure out everything that you need to know about a game with Thousands of Stations, Areas of interests, and different play styles.

I didn't say WoW I said Wow. BTW $ilk, what corp are you in?

Wow, now with Red Moon Rising update, there's almost 20K simultanious players on ONE Universe with zero sharding. Pretty soon, they'll be listing the Eve Cluster on the top 250 list of the top Supercomputers.

A couple of years ago, when Movie prices were around $5.00, almost every major chain of Theaters had filed for bankruptcy. The only one that was OK was Movieco, they not only charged about 50% more for the movies, but they also had the highest concession stand prices of anyone. Why, because they had Stadium Seating. Now almost everyone has Stadium seating. Now, the big thing is Blockbuster IMAX, just TRY to see Polar Express, which is ALREADY out on DVD at an Imax, it's always sold out.... Just an observation.

Well, as they said: "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Witch, The Lion and The Wardrobe" have sent holiday ticket sales up 11 percent and attendance up 9 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations." If you take a look at this movie season, that is one of the ONLY original big production movies out there. Almost everything else seems to be a Remake of an older movie. Maybe when they start doing original stuff again, peole will be interested in seeing it.

quote:Originally posted by Grizzle: Darkling, that's hardly the trend for the oil industry. Over the last several years the trend has been towards consolidation through multiple mergers. Market competition hasn't been and likely won't be an issue in the oil industry. We're headed towards monopolies, which make it even harder for startups. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/08/oilmergersrpt.htm The other problem is that they have not been investing those profits in improving the infrastructure. I posted a link about that somewhere earlier in this thread. Just watch and wait, this issue will become greater as time goes by and elections get closer. Whenever you see consolidation in an industry, it's because it's been deemed that it's more profitable to buy out your opponents, than it is to expand your business by other means. Usually, you can only buy out your opponents, if they are posting poor profits. If an opponent's profits are increasing at say 30% a year and the outlook seems the same, then that company usually will trade for around 30X profits. An INSANE level for any company to purchase at that price. However, when profits are flat, the company usually trades for around 5 to 10X earnings, and at that level is where all the Mergers and Aquisitions take place. The thinking is that with the Merger of Backend processes that the customer doesn't see, and the elimination of overlapping territorial assets, there would be more profits to be had. However, if the trend in the Oil and Gas industry was "Record Profits" you would not see these mergers at all. Instead you would see increased players, and increased competition, which in turn would lower prices. Just as what happened in the late 70's, which caused energy prices to collapse by the 80's and lasted for around 20 years. Also, how do you think they would make it harder for startups, by Lowering prices? Hmmm, who would that benefit? No the only thing that is making it harder for startups is the excess regulation of this industry.

quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: Id is Religion, trying to disguise itself as science. It is religion, no matter how you look at it, because there is NO scientific evidence of an intelligent designer. Until that is done, which is HIGHLY doubtful, then it cannot be and will not be considered scientific. Let the discovery institute try and scientifically prove the existence of god, in the meantime, science will never answer the question. ID is a religious doctrine, NOT a scientific one, so yes, a disclaimer like that SHOULD be unconstitutional. There is NO scientific evidence of the Big Bang Theory either, is that a religion too?

quote:Originally posted by Race Bannon IV: ... What happened in France was tragic, but what was more tragic to me was the brazen politicization of it to advance your reactionary views. ... No, what would be even MORE trajic is to ignore what happened in France, Russia and China as some sort of "Anomoly" in the Socialist Agenda. In China's Tienemen Square Incident, the Socialists say that there were just some "Radical" elements that didn't quite "Fit in". In Russia, the Socialist want to say that the only reason it didn't work there was because there wasn't, "Enough Democracy" in the process, as if taking money from me and giving it to the "Poor" is somehow democratic. And now, in France, they say that the reason for all of this is the "Disaffected Youth" that don't feel they are being "Integrated into the Social Fabric" and that's why it's happening there. This is a CLEAR warning to Socialist Countries. Your Methods don't work! Cutting back the workweek to 35Hrs, to force companies to hire more peole doesn't work. Giving everyone virtually unlimited unemployment benefits doesn't work. Giving the "Poor" unlimited supplies of Food Stamps and Welfare doesn't work. Giving everyone in the country "Free" healthcare doesn't work. Promising rediculous retirement benefits, to the point that people don't have to save to take care of themselves doesn't work. Overburdening the employers with MASSIVE levels of paperwork and regulations doesn't work. If you give a society something for free, the only thing they will do is expect more and more for free. In addition, since it's "Free" they won't care what the actual costs are, since well, it's "FREE"! The costs will continue to balloon to the point that the benefits will HAVE to be cut back, then when that happens you have RIOTING. In addition, you end up driving the wealth and employers away from your country because it's too expensive to do business with you and so when there are no more jobs, you have MORE RIOTING. Yes, the REAL tragedy, is that this will most likely be spun and explained away into some sort of "Anomoly" in the Socialist Utopian Dream or Terrorist led Jijad or something, when in truth it's another by-product of a failed Socialist Agenda. They will try and try to get more time, but it won't matter. The Socialists don't know HOW to change, hopefully the people aren't sooooo brainwashed by the current government that they can see through the lies and decide that it's time for them to go.

Walmart is already starting to implode, just give EA a few more years. 10 years ago I predicted that Sears, back then the #1 Retailer in America would go bankrupt with their new polcies of eliminating all the Full time help and replacing them with cheaper part time help, and that has already happened. I'm predicting the same fate for Walmart in about 20 years. As for EA, not really too knowledgable with thier Management, so I can only speculate, but it might take 10 years before they are no longer on top. No one stays on top forever.

quote:Originally posted by nomad: .... a country should be ruled the way a majority of its citizens see it fit ....At one point, the Majority thought that Women Shouldn't vote, that Blacks should be kept segregated and Child Labor was OK. Clearly, sometimes the Majority "Herd" mentality needs to be overlooked or overridden.

Well, now we know what Idiots can do with that game "The Movies"

quote:Originally posted by LostInSpace: Yeah, I should have title this thread: And so it begins again and again..... BTW: Thanks to whoever moved the thread out of the science section. I couldn't decide where this thing should be posted. Another post that was a gray line on to where it should go, for me anyway. I played it safe, however, by keeping it with the other discussions on ID. So what you're saying is that it's appropriate to believe in the "Big Bang" Theory, you know, everything in the universe was once the size of a spec, then BANG!!! The Universe was born and has been expanding ever since. Oh yeah, that's VERY scientific. Please, it takes even MORE Faith to believe that than Intelligent Design. It only defies EVERY law of Nature that there is. However, even if we move Billions of years into the future to the puddle of muck/water/whatever, to say that Life somehow evolved from "Nothing", there's another one that takes BLIND faith to believe in. First of all, water is a Solvent, it doesn't cause things to "Come Together". And Second of all the number of Enzymes, Protiens, Nucleic acids and so forth that would have to come together at just the right time, at just the right amount for even the absolute "simplest" single celled life form to spontaneously form is so rediculously minute and so far fetched, that if Darwin would have understood the complexity, I guarantee you that he would not have put together his theory. Take apart a Swiss Watch, then imagine something about 1000X more complex and say to yourself, would this be able to put itself together... I don't think so.

Man, my picture on there was REALLY bad, I can hardly recognize myself.

quote:Originally posted by Grizzle: I don't think anyone is against profit. The issue is that the recent profits by the gasoline giants seem a bit exorbitant considering the price increases were explained as being due to the increase in oil costs and the temporary loss of some refineries. .... when the oil industries are lining their pockets with excessive profits. Obviously you JUST DON'T GET IT. I WANT the Oil and Gas industry to have Exorbitant Profits, Why you ask, because it will promt new players to enter the field. New Players entering the field will start the whole cycle all over (re-read my last post) Your problem is that you see only the short term benefits of limiting their profits, whereas I see the long term benefits of increased market competition.

I remember when I first got into the Computer Business. I used to buy parts for around $500.00, assemble everything and sell the computer installed for $2000.00. Is that considered "Excess" Profits? Probably. However, here's how the free market works. Everyone else, not just me, saw how profitable it was, prompting THOUSANDS of companies to get into the business. Today you could buy a computer 1000X more powerfull for only $500.00 or less (emachinesm, Dell). The point is, when there is very little Regulation, the free market will always correct an imbalance, and make the industry more efficient. Since excess regulation takes people out of the business, you have less competition, which results in higher prices. If you want to see gas and oil prices come down, you need to think of ways to reduce regulation, not increase it. Think of it this way, if there was practically zero regulation in this industry right now, with high profits to be had, how many new entrants would we get into this industry? Eventually the new entrants into the industry would overwhelm the current supply with Excess inventory. Excess Inventory would then have to be sold at a markdown from one or more of the new entrants, or old timers, resulting in a price war. The price war would result in cost cutting, increased efficiencies and lower prices accross the board. Eventually the least efficient of these would be driven out of the business. Look at what happened in the late 70's with the first oil crisis, BEFORE there were excessive regulations on the industry. EVERYONE got into the Oil and Gas exploration business, leading to thousands of new discoveries. EVERYONE got into the Drilling Business resulting in excess supply of oil. EVERYONE got into the Oil Tanker Business resulting in a MASSIVE Oil Glut that resulted in Tankers sitting at the docks with no where to Unload. EVERYONE got into the Oil Storage Business resulting in the complete collapse of oil prices with supply EVERYWHERE and not enough buyers. Next EVERYONE got into the Gas Refinery business to take advantage of the spread in collapsing oil prices and high gas prices. Eventually the massively excess capacity resulted in the complete collapse of Gas prices in the early 80's that lasted for almost 20 years! The whole cycle might start all over again, but I'm afraid that with all the Excess regulation in the industry, this time we'll be stuck with the current players and the current high prices.

Got power a couple of Days ago, but my office is GONE, after that heavy rain last night, I found out that my Roof was leaking, so I guess the damage is worse than I thought. This whole situation really sucks!

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: I'm fine guys. Just got power back on (I'm one of the luck 3,600 out of 850K that got power) here in Weston. It keeps going on/off; but at least it comes on for a few hours.Lucky Bastard! I'm in Delray Beach and we still don't have Power over here. Running off of a Generator, but it's costing around $18.00 a day in Gas! Just got my Internet and Cellphone Service back yesterday, and regular telephones today. Unlike you, I don't live so close to the Western Grid that they've been working on all week to get back online, so I have to wait for them to move east and clean up all these lines all over the place. Like you, my area uses underground Wiring, but we're fed from an overground grid that runs from way out west (I'm closer to I-95 than the Turnpike). Just checked FPL's website and they're saying that my area won't have power again until NOVEMBER 22!!! AAAaaahhhh! OH well, I can't complain too much, my office in Deerfeild got flooded out, but my Server with all my info is OK and my house only lost a few tiles in around a 5'X10' section, so it shouldn't cost TOO much to get fixed. Mostly just sucks not being able to work for a week, especially during a month that is so crucial to my business.