GurnB

I haven't been to a comedy club in 15 years but in my opinion a large part of the fun is actually being at the club. (And the over priced, 2 drink minimums)

I do applaud these performers trying to find a alternative in these trying times.

The best part of this anecdote is that you mentioned Banyan Vines. Spent a handful of years installing/maintaining Banyan Vines network in the early 90's.

I recommend the following book that details the U.S.S. Indianapolis.

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton (Mass Market Paperback)

Try buying a PS4/PS3/Xbox controller. There is a good chance it is a good looking fake. Apple accessories are another hit or miss target.

I assume Surface.

Yes, but ONLY if you get the Suck via the new Microsoft store.

173K Songs since Nov 2004. http://www.last.fm/user/GurnB But I took 4 or 5 years off.

Pete Frame's book are very fun to read. Good luck finding them. My first introduction to Pete's work was from a poster that was included in a Paul McCartney Box set for Flowers In The Dirt.

I've had better response from @amazon than contacting them directly. My normal method now is to post first, then contact them directly. Direct contact has become their Tier 0 support.

Only speaking as an IT professional that has spend a couple of decades working in various distribution environments. If you are a pool manager in a warehouse this is a real problem. Warehouse employees working the receiving docks seem to always find a way to empty a truck at the end of a shift, even if that means shoving pallets of product in the nearest open rack slot. Yes, the WMS will eventually catch the problem and track it back to the employee. In a warehouse working with food/consumables there are lot controls that are suppose to be adhered too. (For tracking and recall purposes). The barcodes on a 'quality' knock off is going to be the same as the original product. Warehouse workers don't care if the product in a pick location is genuine or not. They are managed/measured on their picks per hour & accuracy. (Accuracy based on where they were directed in the warehouse to pick and the correct quantity) Most warehouse employees are through temp agencies and their work ethics can be, though certainly not always, somewhat lacking. Honestly, they typically aren't treated with respect from the start. This article is fairly representative of what I have seen in at least 2 of the 3 warehouse environments I have been associated. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-f...

That is certainly one way. If Amazon is getting product from multiple suppliers, they can easily taint their inventory with a single bad vendor. Then there is always the human element. Amazon has a reputation as a somewhat 'crummy' employer. Warehouse workers, when pressed to meet order/put-away quotas, tend to put inventory in pick locations based on the product type, NOT where the warehouse management system directs them to. (This of course causes all kinds of stock level issues not to mention accounting issues for those third-party suppliers that Amazon is acting as a sell-through for) I do not believe that Amazon is intentionally buying knock-off products with the intent to scam customers but just based on their physical size & the variety of products that pass through their facilities, it is going to happen.

Back in the late 90's, early 2000's before Amazon was as big as they are now, I worked in the commercial music distribution arm of Sony/BMG. We were the ONLY people that were manufacturing (In our own facilities) CD's for bands on our music labels and yet bootleg copies of CD's were going out Amazon's doors to customers. How? Amazon doesn't keep an abundance of stock on hand. If they run to low, they would buy product for One Stops (at a higher price than we sold to them) because the One Stops could get several thousand CD's in a few hours while an order from our warehouse might take 36 hours to get there. It was a stop gap for them to not go Out Of Stock. Those One Stops should only have been getting their product directly from us also, but no one watched their inventory as closely, and they would at times buy product from unofficial manufacturers. Those One Stops were trying to scam people. (Mostly Mom and Pop CD retailers)

Again, I have not had any problem returning product to Amazon.

I understand the difference between SOLD by Amazon, and Amazon doing fulfillment. Products SOLD by Amazon are still not 100% guaranteed legit. That being said, I have not had any problem returning/getting credit for knockoff (or questionable) product.

Buying from Amazon is NOT a guarantee of authenticity. Popular items such as PlayStation controllers & Beats Headphones have a bad reputation for being knock offs.

This. I don't think you can fly direct out of IND to anywhere without going through ORD. And if I had to guess, to fly from IND to ORD I bet you have to route through DET. Obviously this is sarcasm but it is very frustrating. It is easier to just drive to ORD and fly from there. By the time you get to IND x number of hours before your 45min flight and then land & change planes in ORD, it is just easier to start in ORD.

I was surprised to find how much the sounds of the engine added to my general enjoyment of the racing.

Thanks for the advice. I've sure we already have all of these in the house, (2 kids now 16 & 22), but with so many to choose from, I was looking for a good jumping in point.

Somewhat unrelated....If I've never played a Zelda game, what would be a good starting point in the series?

No, it is a sign of choice/design.

Living in a Reds/Cubs/White Sox blackout umbrella here. Which VPN service are you using if you don't mind me asking?

Fully agree. I would love to see a modern version (complete with control wheel) in HD with smooth frame rates. Still have found memories of sitting in front of an RCA XL-100 console tv with my eyes burning trying to catch all those bombs. Wish I would have sent in my score back in the day to get the Patch from Activision.

I just played AoE II (HD) on my MacBook Pro this weekend while stranded in a Hotel. What am I missing?

Getting the same results from my laptop at the moment also. Everything is returning 'Nothing Found' Error. It was working earlier today. (Can you tell it is Friday?)

Now this would be an interesting collection of data to analyze. Is the #7 lunch special Beef with Broccoli in more than 90% of the menu's?

> Pretty much every one of these deals turned into a financial disaster. The biggest of these was probably Mariah Carey, who ended up being paid $28m not to sing

I worked in the entertainment industry during this time.

Great point to remember specific to Mariah Carey was that she was originally signed by Tommy Mottola who she eventually married WHILE he was the head of the label (Columbia) & Music division. This 'business' decision had a very personal side. It was more than just a financial disaster.

This just reminded me that my first PC was an AT&T 6300. I hadn't thought about that machine in years.

I believe my first exposure to Turtle was via a Logo cartridge for the C64.

This is why I never had problems with multiples of 7. 8's on the otherhand can still give me pause...

I admit that I have used @Amazon to make a Smart Alec comment about a missing/delayed delivery and was pleasently surprised that I was contacted within an hour to DM them the details so they could resolve the matter.

There was a recent article in WIRED of a similar situation regarding John Deere tractors. http://www.wired.com/2015/04/dmca-ownership-john-deere/

You would think this type of device would be a FireWire 800 connection not USB.