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[Muz]

The point is that the Jonas brothers don't even write their songs, as far as I know. They certainly don't play their instruments, and chances are their voices are touched up with Studio magic. I don't dislike them because of their success, I dislike them because they got successful on little to no talent, and there are plenty of incredible bands who never made it because they had bad managers or no money. For example, Diamond Head. They should have been one of the big successes of the NWOBHM, but because of very poor management and a few bad decisions, they just vanished.
It's hardly as if I trawl around their youtube videos and post a load of senseless vitriol. I also don't give a damn if loads of people hate my music.

The Jonas Brothers do work hard. Any band, even with poor management could make it if they're good enough and work hard enough. I'll give them that at least. Even bad musicians, with a lot of hard work could make it. It doesn't even matter that they don't play their own instruments.. why the hell the people who are playing the real instruments happy to stay unknown? The Jonas Brothers have something that can't be replicated.. whether it's the brand name or whatever.

Heh.. and that brings me to the i-whatevers. It's a brand name. It is a good product.. iphones are better than Nokia/Sony phones and all. But really, it is just a phone. And a toy. I dunno... it seems pretty lame to brag about your toy to me. Go ahead, it's your own money. But if you brag about wasting your money on a toy that reacts to the way you shake it.. well, that makes you look like a fool. A phone is a phone.. you shouldn't judge people by their choice in it, nor should you base your ego on it.

That's the funny thing about technology. The people who understand it the least are the most excited about it. Same goes for hybrid cars, 'organic foods', or whatever the next fad is.

[Sensei]

Agreed.

Anyway, I take a similar stance on pretending to play instruments and stealing songs and studio magic as I would use of performance-enhancing drugs in any other sport. Not quite as serious, mind. But it still sure doesn't earn my respect.

Trawling youtube videos? I didn't know you could get fish that way... (Seen left: Average youtube comment intelligence)

As for i-Products? Quoted and quoted. The marketing peddles to idiots, even if they may be legitimately good products.

[JoshuaFH]

Agreed.

Anyway, I take a similar stance on pretending to play instruments and stealing songs and studio magic as I would use of performance-enhancing drugs in any other sport. Not quite as serious, mind. But it still sure doesn't earn my respect.

Trawling youtube videos? I didn't know you could get fish that way... (Seen left: Average youtube comment intelligence)

As for i-Products? Quoted and quoted. The marketing peddles to idiots, even if they may be legitimately good products.

May I ask what the alternative to the I-products are? I'm not so knowledgeable when it comes to brand names.

[Vester]

Well, Sony makes some very good mp3 players.

[Sensei]

Zune has its proponents who say it's more customizable, not that I know much about that. I still tend to see iPod as the definitive MP3 player, though there's lots of MP3 players out there.

The iPhone has plenty of competition.

Mac Computers: You're doing it wrong.

[umiman]

I love my Cowon D2. It's the supreme king of MP3 players.

Features:
1. 52 hour battery life. Yes. I personally left it on for more than 48 hours and it was still fine. Recharges in about 3 hours.
2. Very easy to use UI with full touch screen capability.
3. Plays practically every single music format and most video formats with no problem. This includes .ogg, .flac, .ape, etc.
4. Fully intergrated sd card memory extension slot. Unlike other mp3 players, when you insert a sd card into the Cowon D2, it treats it as 100% part of the internal memory so you will have no problems turning the original 16gb memory into 30gb or more.
5. Exceptional sound quality. Rated one of the best in the industry by music critics all over.
6. Capability to play flash media like games or flash movies.
7. Works with all OSes in the world, including Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.
8. Instant plug and play. No drivers needed whatsoever.
9. Fantastic playlist management settings with a full range of choices comparable to a computer based media player.
10. Lyrics display.
11. Podcast support.
12. TV out.
13. Internal radio tuner with savable stations and full radio recording.
14. Voice recording.
15. Ability to choose your own personal wallpaper.
16. Small enough to fit into your pocket with no problems.

In short, it's awesome. Just trying to find an mp3 player that can play .ogg or .flac is hard enough on its own but with 52 hours of battery life? Nothing beats it. I can actually watch all three Lord of the Rings movies on this back to back without any problems.

[Alexhans]

I have a Philips GoGear Mix (4gb).

It's small (good to run with), elegant, fast, it has a lock that works as read-only when you plug it to a USB port, random by folders, random all, etc, etc...

I'm very fond of it.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I'm about to rant about a very specific situation.
Ragh. I hate it when I haven't taken the precaution to procure some london dry gin and I am suddenly seized with the urge to make a martini. I don't want to make a vodka martini, it's simply not as nice. It's even worse when there's no vermouth, because then I just can't make one. It's not even as if I drink a lot of martinis, it's just that whenever I am possessed by the urge to make a masterpiece martini, menacing with spikes of lemon peel, there is never any gin.

As you might be able to tell, I've just had to make a vodka martini. In a clandestine way, as my parents don't like me drinking. They want me to be 12 instead of 18, I think.

[Muz]

Man, the Life Advice forum fails.

Someone comes in with a genuine problem. Most of the time, the trolls get to the thread first. They post a trollish response along the lines of "that's not a problem; ignore it", "be less of a loser", or "pay someone to solve it".

And then there's the people who offer advice, but really bad ones. The type of intellectual posers who act as if they if they know the answer, but just made it up on the spot. And these same people sometimes get into hollow arguments defending a point that isn't true, but can't be proven false. Also, these people tend to derail the thread by ranting about stuff tangential to the main problem.

Then there are the people who actually offer advice that works. These people offer one-shot pieces of advice, but there's just so many other trolls and non-helpful people derailing the thread that they don't really get noticed. They probably make up like 35-65% of the people who respond, but they don't really write that much.

Also, sometimes all the trolling and the derailing pisses off the OP enough that he tends to get annoyed when someone gives a genuine answer. I don't think I've ever really seen it help someone (other than that time I asked about engagement rings)



EDIT: RANT 2.. after looking at the Atheists thread.

I hate how Internet arguments are about discrediting the other person. They don't argue whether a point is true or false.. they argue whether the other person is worth listening to. I especially hate it when someone points out a typo and uses it to point out that the other person has no intelligence because he can't spell. Or Godwin's Law.

[redacted123]

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[umiman]

It's true. Winning arguments nowadays, especially among the general populace, is not a matter of facts. In fact, I can't really think of a time when it ever was. The idea is that the more people paying attention to the argument, the less actual sense it has to make and the more appealing it has to be. Of course, being appealing usually has nothing to do with truths.

[Leafsnail]

Hence politics.  It was always this way.

[umiman]

Unfortunately, you see this in major science or medical journals too. The longer two parties drag out an argument over, say... the ability for computers to simulate human minds, the more it turns into a slugfest of personal ability rather than actual facts.

It's really funny to see, since it's usually a bunch of doctorates and Ph.D holders or even Nobel prize winners acting not much different from internet Youtube commenters.

[redacted123]

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[Leafsnail]

Prime Minister's Questions always reminds me more of bear baiting than playground activities.  At least you can leave if it gets too tough in the playground.  It also means that politicians are actually selected to be crafty and manipulative (and often corrupt) - after all, anyone not fitting those features would never get far.